1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Monday, April 24, 2006 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 April 24, 2006 2 PAGE --- Commissioners' Comments 5 3 1.1 Presentation on Kerr County 4-H Youth Building 4 Community Inclusion Project 9 5 1.2 Update on local activity of Kerr Crime Stoppers Board 15 6 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 7 rescind Commissioners' Court Order #29624 regarding Kerr County Juvenile Detention Center 19 8 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 9 interlocal agreement between UGRA and Kerr County that provides match funding required by TWDB 10 contract for preliminary planning and engineering for Center Point wastewater collection project 21 11 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 12 request to display at Kerr County Courthouse flags of all nations participating in World Cup Shooting 13 event in Kerr County 5-4-06 through 5-11-06 23 14 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to apply for membership in "Texas Yes!" program administered 15 by Texas Agricultural Department 28 16 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding updating telephone system and renewing contract 17 with Kerrville Telephone Business Systems 32 18 1.6 Report & presentation from Kerrville Area Chamber of Commerce and Kerr County Sesquicentennial 19 Committee on sesquicentennial celebration 48 20 1.8 Public Hearing concerning revision of plat of Kerrville South Ranches No. Two, Lot 51, Pct. 1 53 21 1.7 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 22 approve revision of plat of Kerrville South Ranches No. Two, Lot 51, Pct. 1 53 23 1.9 Public Hearing concerning revision of plat of 24 Falling Water, Lots 117-A & 116-D into 117-R, Pct. 3 59 25 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) April 24, 2006 2 PAGE 3 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to request TexDOT to consider lowering speed limit 4 on SH-27 in vicinity of the Kerrville/Kerr County Municipal Airport to 55 mph 59 5 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 6 hiring consulting engineer to review subdivision engineering documents 62 7 1.14 Consider/discuss, approve appointment of Steve 8 King to the Kerrville/Kerr County Joint Airport Board 65 9 10 4.1 Pay Bills 68 4.2 Budget Amendments 76 11 4.3 Late Bills -- 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 88 12 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee 13 Assignments 88 14 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 15 modify or change status of Kerr County Juvenile Facility from a facility operated pursuant to 16 Chapter 63, Human Resources Code, to a status which is appropriate for a short-term 17 preadjudication juvenile detention facility 108 18 --- Adjourned 112 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 On Monday, April 24, 2006, at 9:00 a.m., a special 2 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in the 3 Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, Kerrville, 4 Texas, and the following proceedings were had in open court: 5 P R O C E E D I N G S 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me call to order the regular 7 Commissioners Court meeting scheduled for this date and time, 8 Monday, April the 24th, 2006, at 9 a.m. It -- best I can 9 tell, looking through that screen, it's that time now. 10 Commissioner Williams? 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Will you please rise for a 12 moment of prayer and join me in the pledge of allegiance to 13 the flag? 14 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. At this time, if there's 16 any member of the audience or the public that wishes to be 17 heard on a matter that is not a listed agenda item, please 18 feel free to come forward at this time and tell us what's on 19 your mind. If you wish to be heard on an agenda item or in 20 connection with an agenda item, we'd ask that you fill out a 21 participation form. They're located at the back of the room. 22 It's not essential, but it helps me to not overlook you when 23 we get to that item. If we get to the item and you haven't 24 filled out one of those, get my attention, or if you don't 25 wish to be heard now, but when we get there, you do wish to be 4-24-06 5 1 heard, why, get my attention some way or another, wave your 2 hand, speak up so that I can recognize you. But if there's 3 any member of the public or the audience that wishes to be 4 heard on an item that is not listed on the agenda, please feel 5 free to come forward at this time. Seeing no one coming 6 forward, we'll move on. Commissioner Williams, do you have 7 anything for us this morning? 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, sir, just glad we had 9 some rain. I see a lot people doing some burning; I hope they 10 get it done correctly. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Commissioner Letz? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just ditto those comments. 13 That's it. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Nicholson? 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: The same issues with the -- 16 in the 600-square-mile Precinct 4, we got a lot of weather. 17 We got as little at three-quarters of an inch of rain, and I 18 understand some places got as much as 2 inches, and a pretty 19 good hailstorm and a lot of wind, and there was some damage. 20 The subject of the burn ban is one I hear a lot about, and 21 before the burn ban was lifted, we did have some illegal 22 burning going on. And what I do is call the Sheriff's Office 23 or the constable and ask him to go out and issue a citation. 24 I'm told a citation is -- the penalties for that are 25 misdemeanors. Depending on the circumstances, it can be an A, 4-24-06 6 1 B, or a C; anything from a fine, really, like a traffic 2 ticket, to jail time. So -- in fact, one of the calls I got 3 on Thursday was complaining about the burn ban being on, and I 4 got it on my cell phone. I had to tell the person at that 5 time that I was on the scene of a runaway fire that was 6 deliberately set and unlawfully set, so I'd have to talk to 7 them later about -- about whether or not we needed a burn ban. 8 It's off now, and the people can burn, and they are. The 9 whole -- whole North Fork valley was full of smoke Saturday 10 and Sunday, so I presume a lot of people got their burning 11 done. It's still dangerous. I talk to the fire chiefs pretty 12 regularly. There's still a lot of fuel out there, so I hope 13 people use good judgment. For the foreseeable future, I've 14 lifted the burn ban in Precinct 4. That's it. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Commissioner Baldwin? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. I just wanted to 17 echo all the comments about fire and burn bans. The burn ban 18 is on in Precinct 1. It's too dangerous for me; I'm just not 19 going to take that chance out there. They had an opportunity 20 to burn Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and if they can't get it 21 done then, they need -- they're going to wait a while until it 22 rains. I wanted to talk about congratulations to Rex and his 23 family. He has a daughter, and she's not a giant of a person. 24 She's a little old -- dried-up, tiny little skinny little girl 25 that is absolutely precious. She's in the 9th grade at Tivy 4-24-06 7 1 High School, and she's kind of new to this athletic thing, 2 particularly varsity track at Tivy, but she runs the 800-meter 3 run, which is one of the better runs -- more fun runs in the 4 game. Which is -- for some of the old geezers, that's the old 5 880 or the half-mile, basically. I saw her break the Tivy 6 High School record twice in one week. We were down in San 7 Antonio at Judson High School this last weekend, and she -- 8 doggone if she didn't break it again down there. And she goes 9 to regions this week at Alamo Stadium, and she -- down there, 10 they take the top -- first and second place that goes to the 11 state championship, and she really and truly has a shot at 12 that thing. And it's just neat to see a little old kid excel 13 like that and just come out of absolutely nowhere to do this 14 in the last couple of weeks. So, we're proud of Leigh Ann. 15 Congratulations, Rex. That's all. 16 MR. EMERSON: Thank you. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, if I may add one more 18 comment on burn ban, and it's -- even though I know we all 19 take a little bit of heat as Commissioners from having to deal 20 with this on an almost daily basis this time of year, I think 21 we have developed what I consider probably the best system I 22 know of in the state. Many -- in most of the other counties 23 surrounding us, it's up to the Court to do the whole burn ban. 24 I know Kendall County has not had -- has had their burn ban on 25 with no possibility of variance because of the way they do it 4-24-06 8 1 all year, and there are so many brush piles scattered 2 throughout that county right now that if they ever lifted -- 3 and hopefully they may lift it today; I don't know. But I 4 think that we are able to much better gauge the burning by 5 precinct and be able to put it on and off. I know it's a 6 little bit confusing sometimes, but I think we've come up with 7 a pretty good system overall for the county. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. The only thing I would 10 add with regard to the burn ban is, even if the burn ban is 11 lifted, I think it behooves people using good common sense to 12 -- if they're going to do a burn, that they call their local 13 volunteer fire department or whatever -- whatever fire 14 department has jurisdiction in the area where they live or are 15 going to conduct the burn; let them know what their plans are, 16 for a couple reasons. Number one, if the thing does get out 17 of control, they'll have a better handle on where it is and be 18 able to get there quicker. And, secondly, if there's a call 19 for an out-of-control burn, and they already have knowledge 20 that the burn was being done as a control burn or -- or brush 21 piles or things of that nature, they may avoid a responding to 22 false alarm. And the other reason is, if they're talking with 23 the -- with the fire department officials, while a burn ban 24 may be lifted, the wind conditions, humidity, all these other 25 factors that come into play, the fire department people may 4-24-06 9 1 say, "Well, notwithstanding the fact that the burn ban's been 2 lifted, you probably ought to wait till the wind lays a little 3 bit or -- or the humidity gets up a little bit higher, where 4 it's not near as conducive to getting out of control." Let 5 the people who have the experience knowing about how to keep 6 those things under control give you a little guidance. So, 7 just use some good common sense and coordinate that with your 8 fire department. Let's get on with our agenda, if we might. 9 The first item on the agenda is a presentation by the Kerr 10 County 4-H Youth Building Community Inclusion project. 11 Ms. Boyd? 12 MS. BOYD: Boys? 13 JUDGE TINLEY: If you gentlemen would be kind enough 14 to identify yourselves so that the court reporter will know 15 who we've got giving us these presentations, we'd appreciate 16 it. 17 MR. MUEHLSTEIN: All right. I'm Chance Muehlstein, 18 and we're all from the Kerr County Senior Council. I'm the 19 chairman, and I'm from East Kerr 4-H Club. 20 MR. BAUER: I'm Lance Bauer. I'm the first vice 21 chairman, and I'm from the West Kerr 4-H Club. 22 MR. WEAVER: I'm Bryan Weaver. I'm the second vice 23 chairman, and I'm from Center Point 4-H Club. 24 MR. MUEHLSTEIN: We'd just like to tell you about 25 some of the activities we focus on, and these are leadership 4-24-06 10 1 development, teamwork, community service, community -- 2 building community inclusion, and character building. One of 3 the main projects we do is the fishing derby, which we hold in 4 July. We've done it for the past 20 years. We hold it behind 5 the Kerr County Ag Barn at the river. We have a lot of fun. 6 Kids from the local day cares and from the Texas Lion's Camp 7 come out, and when they catch a fish, we have many awards, and 8 they just have a great time. 9 MR. BAUER: Last July, we conducted a mini-camp for 10 the Salvation Army day care. At the mini-camp, we exposed all 11 the kids to different activities that are available through 12 4-H, such as rocketry, food and nutrition, animals, and 13 leadership skills and sport fishing. At the end of the day -- 14 the kids had a great time, and at the end of the day, they got 15 to make their own rockets. And then at the camp, we also had 16 a petting zoo. At the petting zoo, we had turtles and horses 17 and goats and other animals, and the kids had a great time 18 there, because this -- for a lot of kids, it was their first 19 time to ever get to see and handle the animals and have a lot 20 of fun with them. 21 MR. WEAVER: In September, council members and the 22 master gardeners went to a workshop in Uvalde. They learned a 23 lot about how to handle different situations with role-playing 24 and learned hands-on projects to do at the after-school 25 program at the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army 4-24-06 11 1 after-school Dream Team 4-H Club is a club that we helped 2 create at their after-school program. Council members go 3 there the first Friday of every month after school and lead 4 their club meetings, and a lot of different other activities 5 they have there. At the after-school program, we have skits, 6 we mentor to the kids, lead -- and lead the other activities, 7 and the kids have a lot of fun. 8 MR. MUEHLSTEIN: This year is our first year for the 9 friends and family night at Billy Gene's Restaurant. We had 10 this in November. The -- this was to raise money for the 11 Salvation Army Angel Tree project. We served as hosts and 12 hostesses. We cleaned tables, wrapped silverware, greeted 13 people at the front door. It was a lot of fun. We raised 14 about $1,200 for the Salvation Army Angel Tree, and our 15 council then went to Walmart with this money and picked an 16 angel from the angel tree. We each got a certain amount of 17 money that we were allowed to spend on this, and we learned 18 budgeting skills and leadership skills and decision-making 19 skills to buy stuff for each angel. This year, some of the 20 junior council members went to the Junior Leadership Retreat 21 at the Texas 4-H Center in Brownwood. They train ages from 22 6th to 8th grade, and they learn leadership skills, teamwork, 23 and social skills. They played games and met new kids from 24 all across the state. 25 MR. BAUER: And then also up in Brownwood, a little 4-24-06 12 1 later we had a group of our senior council members. We went 2 up there, and there was a leadership ambassador and recreation 3 training camp. There we learned different team-building 4 activities, different leadership activities and games that we 5 could bring back and share with everybody else in 4-H. And we 6 had a whole -- a lot of fun, and we met a whole lot of new 7 people up there. And then we also sponsored an Any Baby Can 8 Christmas party at the Ag Barn this year. And we -- it was 9 for Any Baby Can, and it just helped us to learn to give back 10 to the community. And we decorated, provided entertainment, 11 and served the meal that evening. We had a lot of fun. We 12 had people dressed up as reindeer and elves, and we had a 13 great time just interacting with all the kids and everybody 14 else. 15 MR. WEAVER: Each May, the 4-H council cohosts the 16 Ag Awareness Day. 500 area 4th graders come into the 17 Exhibition Center, and we -- so we teach them a lot about the 18 agriculture. Many of them don't know where their food, milk, 19 clothes come from; they think it just comes from a store, and 20 we help them -- we help teach them that it comes from farms, 21 ranches, that sort of thing. We -- we each get a group of 22 kids and lead them around, make snacks for them, and we all 23 have a great time. 24 MR. BAUER: Our 4-H council strives to promote 25 education through 4-H club work, provide learning situations 4-24-06 13 1 for the development of leadership responsibility and effective 2 citizenship, and we also strive to help each member experience 3 personal growth and achievement, as well as being a -- or as 4 well as being of service to others. 5 MR. MUEHLSTEIN: I just wanted to share a little 6 part of my District 4-H council speech that I gave over the 7 summer. I was just thinking the other day about how much 8 4-H'ers and rednecks are alike. Think about this. If you 9 look in your closet and all you see are Green Out T-shirts and 10 Wrangler jeans, you might be a 4-Her. If you use Mane and 11 Tail instead of Head and Shoulders to wash your hair, you 12 might be a 4-Her. If you chant the 4-H motto and pledge 13 instead of counting sheep at night, you might be a 4-Her. If 14 your 4-H animal eats better and is sweeter-smelling than you, 15 you might be a 4-Her. If your mom cuts your hair with the 16 same clippers you just trimmed your heifer or your goat with, 17 you might be a 4-Her. If getting up at 7 a.m. is your idea of 18 sleeping in, you might be a 4-Her. If everything you do 19 somehow becomes an item for your record book, you might be a 20 4-Her. If every "yes" or "no" is immediately followed by 21 "sir" or "ma'am," you might be a 4-Her. And last, if you were 22 more respectful, more appreciative, and have goals for your 23 life, you might be a 4-Her. Do y'all have any questions? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't have a question; I 25 just have a comment. 4-24-06 14 1 MR. MUEHLSTEIN: Sir? 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I got to tell you how 3 personally proud I am of each of you and your colleagues. 4 MR. MUEHLSTEIN: Thank you. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And if there are any kids in 6 this community on the path of good citizenship, it's you guys. 7 MR. MUEHLSTEIN: Thank you so much. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Hear, hear. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Steve Bauer, don't you work 10 at the feed store there in Ingram? 11 MR. BAUER: Sometimes. 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I don't know if any of 13 y'all have been in there. They got a new -- two or three 14 years ago, they built a new facility, and they got a whole lot 15 more than corn and hay in there. And one of the things I like 16 about -- about Lance is, when I go in there, they load the 17 stuff for me, those 50-pound bags. If I can figure out some 18 way to get them to follow me home and unload it, I'll be even 19 happier. It's a great store. Thanks for all you guys do. 20 MR. MUEHLSTEIN: Thank you. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. You're on the right 22 road, definitely. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 24 (Applause.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. We appreciate you young 4-24-06 15 1 men being here with us today, and your work that you're doing 2 in 4-H. Are you really going to let me see the clock up 3 there? 4 MS. BOYD: Well, yeah we're fixing to. Won't take 5 us but a second and we'll be out of here. 6 (Discussion off the record.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you for your presentation. 8 MS. BOYD: Thank y'all for having us. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 2 on the agenda, if 10 we might, and that is an update on the local activity of the 11 Kerr County Crime Stoppers Board. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Tough act to follow, Mr. 13 Alford. 14 MR. ALFORD: Be real hard to follow these guys. 15 MS. BOYD: Actually, if Alford hadn't shown up and 16 fixed my computer, y'all wouldn't have had it. 17 MR. ALFORD: Gentlemen, I gave y'all a handout; I 18 laid it on your -- in front of you before you arrived in the 19 office. What I'd like to talk to you about is just some of 20 the items that we've done here in Kerr County locally. They 21 have loosened up our guidelines on what we can and cannot do 22 with reward moneys that we receive from Kerr County. The 23 District Judges -- both District Judges, County Court at Law, 24 whenever they have a conviction, part of the court costs is 25 paying Crime Stoppers an amount of court costs. So we, in 4-24-06 16 1 return, take that money; that's what we pay our tips from. 2 Well, now they loosened up the guidelines and allowed us to 3 kind of use that money to do our tips also into Crime 4 Stoppers. We also have Crime Stoppers on campus. We have one 5 at Tivy, at Hal Peterson, have them in Ingram Tom Moore, 6 Ingram Middle School, Center Point High School and Middle 7 School. Last year we paid out a little over $5,000 in rewards 8 on campuses directed towards weapons, narcotics, tobacco, and 9 other items. 10 Our local coordinator here for law enforcement is 11 George McHorse, and through the Sheriff's Office, he and Rusty 12 play a very important role in our local Crime Stoppers and 13 helping us and assisting us in all kinds of different matters. 14 But this money that we're able to spend this year, I want it 15 to be known that the criminals gave us this money to spend. 16 Not necessarily to thank them for anything, but I think it's 17 kind of ironic that the criminals themselves helped us support 18 local law enforcement. We've bought over 36 hand-held radios 19 for the -- I believe the Sheriff's Office Command Center. And 20 what this allows you to do is come in in national disasters, 21 such as floods and our local wildfires, and we're able to pass 22 these radios out and have a generalized communication system 23 throughout all the fire departments. We also purchased a 24 repeater for the command center, along with all the licensing 25 and equipment we needed to get it up and running. Bought two 4-24-06 17 1 new computers for the Kerr County Jail booking room. We feel 2 like that was very important, 'cause that would help all law 3 enforcement agencies speed up the booking process. 4 Ingram City Marshal's office, we've purchased a 5 desktop computer for them in their patrol room, along with 6 four laptops that Marshal Zachry hopes to be able to mobilize 7 in their patrol units. We've also purchased recording 8 equipment, cameras, computers, and furniture for the police 9 department to help upgrade their interview rooms, and we've 10 purchased several of the -- I call them drunk glasses, the DWI 11 glasses. When the kids put them on, they simulate being 12 drunk. We've bought some of those for the local schools so 13 they can kind of get a grasp on that. Also, we purchased a 14 computer for constable Precinct 1. We've purchased several 15 laptops for the Doyle Community Center for use of the 16 after-school program. And as these funds keep coming in 17 through the prosecutor and courts, we'll keep spending this 18 money back into the community through our local law 19 enforcement, which I think helps y'all a little bit on the 20 bottom line. As we all know, it's coming up pretty quick. 21 So, that's really it. We just wanted to tell y'all that, that 22 we're trying to help out in the community. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: How much money comes into this 24 program on an annual basis? 25 MR. ALFORD: Probably $50,000 to $60,000. Our -- 4-24-06 18 1 what really allowed us to do this over the last couple years, 2 our rewards account had got upwards of $100,000, and that 3 allowed to us transfer $50,000 out to put back in the 4 community. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, you keep a balance of 6 $50,000? 7 MR. ALFORD: Yes, in our rewards account alone. We 8 always keep it at $50,000, and that comes in real important -- 9 such as in a murder case, we're able to really offer a large 10 amount. In the recent hit and run here in the community, a 11 fatality, we were able to offer a larger reward. So, we try 12 to keep a very big amount in there. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How many rewards do y'all pay 14 out on average a year? 15 MR. ALFORD: You've got me on that one. Probably, I 16 would say, between 75 to 100. And it ranges from misdemeanor 17 warrants all the way up to murder, so there's a very -- just 18 any crime in general. 19 MS. LAVENDER: 100 on misdemeanors. 20 MR. ALFORD: And that's something we do do. We're 21 one of the few agencies in the state that pay on misdemeanor 22 warrants -- misdemeanor crimes. We feel like, fortunately, we 23 have a lot of misdemeanors here, and that helps the Sheriff's 24 Office keep their misdemeanor warrants down. So, we have what 25 they call a quick 100. You'll see every once in a while a 4-24-06 19 1 warrants list. Caller calls in, we get an arrest; that makes 2 $100 for them, no questions asked. Of course, we don't have 3 any questions on anything. We just simply -- we want them to 4 remain anonymous. In order to be eligible for Crime Stoppers, 5 they must remain anonymous. So, the first thing that law 6 enforcement agencies try to do is, we'll time-out, call Crime 7 Stoppers and go through that system. It helps protect them. 8 MS. LAVENDER: $300 for felonies. 9 MR. ALFORD: And $300 for our felony warrants. 10 Thank you. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Anybody have any questions for 12 Mr. Alford? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just one quickie, Brad. 15 MR. ALFORD: Yes, sir? 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The eight items on the first 17 page, that's essentially the 50,000 which you transferred out? 18 MR. ALFORD: Yes, sir. Thank you. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. We appreciate that 20 update. Let's move to Item 3. Consider, discuss, and take 21 appropriate action to rescind Commissioners Court Order Number 22 29624 regarding Kerr County Juvenile Detention Center. 23 Commissioner Williams? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: After we took action on 25 Court Order 29624, it was subsequently called to our attention 4-24-06 20 1 that the action of the Court was to Kerr County Juvenile 2 Facility Board of Directors, so therefore, this court order 3 should be rescinded. We've got a subsequent action to replace 4 it. So moved. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 7 of the agenda item rescinding Commissioners Court Order Number 8 29624 regarding the Kerr County Juvenile Detention Center. Is 9 there any question or discussion? All in favor of the 10 motion -- 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I've got a question. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Excuse me. 13 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We're -- earlier on, we had 14 a court order to set it back to preadjudicated only and have 15 that organization headed by the Juvenile Probation Officer, 16 and now we've gone a different route; we're going to have two 17 different managers there. Is this undoing the order that did 18 the -- 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, this is the very first 20 one we did in Commissioners Court. It should have been done 21 and was done a week later as the Board of Trustees. 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: And, again, we made that 23 decision at one time to combine those two jobs. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Do we have to take steps to 4-24-06 21 1 undo that decision? 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think we've already done 3 that. 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We've already done that? 5 That's all I needed. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion on 7 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 8 your right hand. 9 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 11 (No response.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to 13 Item 4; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 14 interlocal agreement between the Upper Guadalupe River 15 Authority and Kerr County that provides match funding required 16 by the Texas Water Development Board contract for preliminary 17 planning and engineering for the Center Point wastewater 18 collection project. Commissioner Williams? 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I had this before the Court 20 two weeks ago. It had not been reviewed by the County 21 Attorney at that time. It has been reviewed by the County 22 Attorney. There are a couple of corrections that were made to 23 the document which is now in front of you. The only notation 24 I would add to what Mr. Emerson penned in his comments has to 25 do with scope of work. The scope of work was approved by the 4-24-06 22 1 Texas Water Development Board, and it will be incorporated in 2 a subcontract that we do with whomever it is we select to do 3 the work. Not necessarily -- doesn't have to be in this 4 document. Move approval. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 7 of the agenda item and approval of the interlocal agreement 8 between U.G.R.A. and Kerr County relating to the match funding 9 required by the Texas Water Development Board contract for 10 preliminary planning and engineering for the Center Point 11 wastewater collection project. Any question or discussion on 12 the motion? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a question. Is this 14 -- is this agreement exactly the same as the previous project, 15 other than names and amounts, numbers and et cetera? 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's not quite as 17 complicated as the one with Kerrville South, because all this 18 deals with is U.G.R.A.'s willingness to put up the match 19 funds. Once we get the engineering and all that stuff, then 20 we get into some serious interlocal agreements. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or discussion on 23 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 24 your right hand. 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4-24-06 23 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 2 (No response.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Ray. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: It is -- thank you, Mr. Buck. It is 6 9:30, effectively, so we'll take up Item 5; consider, discuss, 7 and take appropriate action on the request to display at the 8 Kerr County Courthouse the flags of all nations participating 9 in the World Cup shooting event in Kerr County from May the 10 4th of this year through May the 11th of this year. I placed 11 this on the agenda at the request of Ms. Sudie Burditt at the 12 Convention and Visitors Bureau. There are a number of 13 different nations that will have shooters participating in the 14 World Cup shoot out at the Hill Country Shooting Sports Center 15 in the early part of May coming up. It's going to be a major, 16 major event. My recollection is that there are some 600 or 17 700 shooters total that will be participating, and they will 18 be from a multitude of nations, because it is a world cup 19 match. It's -- this match, combined with the match that's 20 already been conducted, will -- the scores will be combined in 21 order to determine placement at future international shoots, 22 official representation at -- at official international 23 shoots. In order to commemorate and give recognition to the 24 countries who have participants there, the Convention and 25 Visitors Bureau requested that they be permitted to display 4-24-06 24 1 the flags of the nations having participants here at the 2 courthouse during the time period indicated. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I have a question. I 4 assume that you're talking about these -- the little flag 5 holes around the driveway out here? 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, around the perimeter of the 7 courthouse. And I think there's going to have to be some more 8 installed. And they're working with the -- I believe it's the 9 Heart of the Hills Lions -- or would work with the Heart of 10 the Hills Lions in order to make those inserts at the 11 appropriate places, I think across the front here, in order to 12 accomplish that. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is it an issue -- it is to 14 me. Is it an issue to you that the other nations' flags fly 15 at the same level as the United States flag? 16 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm not certain of -- of whether or 17 not they intend to fly the U.S. flag out there with those 18 other flags, rather than on the flagpole. I think Mr. Miller 19 can -- 20 MR. MILLER: Yeah, I'm here for Sudie, 'cause Sudie 21 could not be here this morning. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Come tell us what your -- 23 MR. MILLER: Thirty seconds late. You guys are on 24 time today. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: The Commissioner has a very valid 4-24-06 25 1 question. The U.S. flag, of course, needs to be in a position 2 of slightly elevated stature. 3 MR. MILLER: Should be larger or more of them or 4 whatever? 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: All of the above. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Higher. 7 MR. MILLER: Higher, okay. 8 MR. ODOM: Only Texas. 9 MR. MILLER: At this point, there's 50 countries 10 attending. We've got flags for all 50 countries that will be 11 here. The only American flags that I'm aware of at this time 12 that would be available would be those that the Lion's Club 13 has. You know, Sudie's been in contact with the Lion's Club. 14 They've offered the use of the holes that are out here at the 15 courthouse, and we're going to -- Sudie's group is going to go 16 install -- I think they need seven more holes. There's 17 40-something-odd holes; they need 50. I'd like to fly the 18 Texas flag, too, at the same time. I don't know what it would 19 take to do that, but I'm sure we can do something. I'm not 20 sure how it gets prominence, knowing where those holes are 21 around the street. I mean, that's -- happy to try to do 22 whatever we can. I understand your concern. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If there's -- it appears to me 24 that if there's -- if you're just going to fly the American 25 flag on the flagpole, if you put the other ones around the 4-24-06 26 1 perimeter, that solves the problem. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, I think that's the solution to 3 it. The U.S. and Texas flags be on the flagpole where they're 4 displayed daily, and -- and the other flags of the other 5 nations be spread around, would probably be the solution that 6 would occur to me. 7 MR. MILLER: And those are already in place? That 8 will already happen, right? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Oh, yeah. Yeah, we keep that up. 11 It's up 24/7, because it's lighted and it's all-weather flags. 12 MR. MILLER: Anything else? 13 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: On a related issue, I like 14 -- well, I like the idea that these kinds of events come to 15 Kerr County. I don't have any idea of the scope of the 16 economic impact, but if we've got people coming from 50 17 countries, it's got to have a good impact on our local 18 economy. The last two weeks out at Camp Stewart and Camp 19 Waldemar, we've had polocrosse matches, the Irish national 20 team and the U.S. national team. And, of course, that's in my 21 neighborhood, and I drive back and forth there going to church 22 and town, and it brings in a lot of people, hundreds. So, 23 those kind of activities have a beneficial impact on our 24 community economically, and I sure would like to encourage 25 that kind of thing any way we can. 4-24-06 27 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 2 MR. MILLER: On your comment, Commissioner 3 Nicholson, just the entries that are coming to shoot or be 4 coaches, there is right at -- there was 426 before the last 5 five countries were added. So -- plus whatever family members 6 they bring. Some of those will be bringing some family 7 members. So, have y'all seen the breakout of who's coming? 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Not yet. 9 MR. MILLER: I've got a copy of it here, part of 10 another bid which I can pass around to you. It is impressive. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Just about everybody. 12 MR. MILLER: From countries we can't even pronounce. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Does the U.S. Olympic 14 flag -- or not the U.S. Does the Olympic flag also fly? 15 MR. MILLER: I don't think it does. This is a U.S. 16 shooting sports -- 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 18 MR. MILLER: -- World Cup. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 20 MR. MILLER: So I think that is the -- the event. 21 But I'm not sure. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm not certain whether this has any 23 Olympic connection or not. Of course, as I'm sure most of you 24 know, the -- the Hill Country Shooting Sports Center has now 25 been officially designated, and the contract signed, as an 4-24-06 28 1 official United States Olympic training center. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: So, there is an official Olympic 4 designation out at this facility now. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 8 of the agenda item, I assume on the basis indicated with the 9 American flag? 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any question or discussion? 12 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 13 hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 16 (No response.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, I asked for 10:15 on 19 Item 10, just to give Mr. Miller a time certain. There's no 20 other public, I think, involved, and if no one has any 21 objections, since he's here, we could take that item up. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Any objection by anybody on the 23 Court? 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: None. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move, then, to Item 10, which 4-24-06 29 1 was otherwise a timed item for, I understand, the convenience 2 of Mr. Miller only. 3 MR. MILLER: Thank you. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: And we'll take up that item. 5 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to apply for 6 membership in the "Texas Yes!" Program administered by the 7 Texas Agricultural Department. Mr. Miller? 8 MR. MILLER: In January 2006, I came before you all 9 to submit a grant application under your name, with me as the 10 applicant's agent, for the "Texas Yes!" Program. "Texas Yes!" 11 is a Department of Agriculture program specifically designated 12 to promote rural tourism, and the grant program is a matching 13 grant to reimburse you for marketing dollars. There's two of 14 them available to a county. I think it's on a one-time basis, 15 or maybe a four- or five-year basis; it's not an annual grant. 16 In January, you all approved both my application and the 17 application of another gentleman whose name I do not remember 18 who has a B and B, who is going to do an event for the benefit 19 of the Boardwalk, I believe, which is really inside the city, 20 but that works somehow. We have been -- I think both of us 21 have been awarded the grant, a $10,000 matching grant. I 22 thought we were done. I got a letter in the other day saying 23 that the County needs to be a member of "Texas Yes!". There 24 is no cost to being a member; it's literally filling out the 25 application form and sending it in. It also gives you, as a 4-24-06 30 1 county, an opportunity to put other events in the county on 2 their web site and get promoted by the Department of 3 Agriculture. I can't imagine any negative to be attached to 4 it at all. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I asked the administrative 6 assistant of the Court to call the Department of Agriculture 7 because we did, in fact, do what you said in January, and join 8 in order to enable that grant. And she did so and reminded 9 those good folks that we had joined, and their response was, 10 "Well, join again. Everyone requires a new application." 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 12 MR. MILLER: I'm just following letters, as you all 13 are too. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval of the Court's 15 application to participate in the "Texas Yes!" Program 16 administered by the Texas Agricultural Department, and with 17 the understanding Mr. Miller will fill out the paperwork and 18 file the grant for the purpose of the Texas -- 19 MR. MILLER: The grant's been filed. The 20 application, you all need to sign. I'll be happy to fill it 21 out -- 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We can sign it, -- 23 MR. MILLER: -- if you still have it. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- can't we, Judge? 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, if that's part of your motion. 4-24-06 31 1 I assume it is. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It is part of the motion. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 4 MR. MILLER: Do you still have that application? 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The clerk does. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 8 of the agenda item -- 9 MR. MILLER: Thank you very much. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: -- as indicated. Any question or 11 discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, please 12 indicate by raising your right hand. 13 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 15 (No response.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Quick comment before we leave 18 that related to this. That facility looks great. Y'all have 19 done a great job out there. 20 MR. MILLER: Oh, thank you. Thank you. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Really, you've made a lot of 22 improvements. 23 MR. MILLER: We have our brand-new pavilion out 24 there that is done. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Between the park benches -- I, 4-24-06 32 1 obviously drive by it twice a day, three times a day, and 2 it's -- y'all have done a lot of work, and hats off to y'all. 3 MR. MILLER: Thank you. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Got some of those shade trees 5 starting to get a little size on them now. It's going to be a 6 great facility. Let's move to Item 11. Consider, discuss, 7 and take appropriate action regarding the updating of the 8 telephone system and renewing the contract with Kerrville 9 Telephone Business Systems. Mr. Sheriff? 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Same thing, just brought it 11 back. Curtis did go in and do some other proposals, but the 12 first part I wanted to address was the memorandum that the 13 Judge sent to me concerning, you know, what problems we had in 14 the voice over IP situation and things like that. Okay. To 15 start that off with Kerrville Telephone Company, I have no 16 problems at all. I'm not having problems with the equipment 17 that we have. I haven't had problems. And under our lease 18 contract which expires next month or the month after, we 19 haven't had any problem getting replacements. My phone went 20 out last week; they brought a new phone, put it in. No 21 problems. I haven't had any kind of service-type problems. 22 The situation we're at is, there are times now that when you 23 call the Sheriff's Office, you may get a busy signal, or when 24 we try and call out, we get a busy signal. We don't have 25 enough lines coming into the Sheriff's Office. The current 4-24-06 33 1 system and the current modules, or whatever it is they have in 2 the phone closet, will not allow us any more extension -- or 3 expansion on the system. We're full. And, so, what the 4 upgrade would do is give us the came capability of adding more 5 incoming lines and outgoing lines so that we can expand the 6 system as we need to expand it. It doesn't install those 7 lines; this is just taking care of the equipment problem. 8 What -- the other problem with the voice over IP 9 that Jonathan had mentioned last time we were here, one of the 10 things that I can express to you in that was the memos that I 11 had from Todd Burdick, who -- Todd Burdick was the D.A. 12 investigator that had an office out at our office, and he was 13 the one that kind of got stuck being the guinea pig using the 14 one voice over IP line that we had had for a while. In his 15 e-mails back and forth at the time to Trolinger -- John 16 Trolinger, the I.T. guy, he said that on several occasions, he 17 was calling -- and he gave three different numbers, and it 18 appeared to me that the majority of the problem was out to the 19 west and not towards the big cities, if that makes any sense. 20 He wasn't able to get through, wasn't able to get lines 21 through, wasn't able to get phone calls through. Then the 22 last part of his trouble stuff was, he said a lot of the lines 23 sound like I'm talking inside a tunnel. I hear the other 24 party, but they do not hear me, or sometimes in my 25 conversation with -- he said sometimes they hear him, but, you 4-24-06 34 1 know, he doesn't hear them. Sometimes it sounds like they're 2 on a speakerphone when they're not. And the clarity for being 3 recorded, 'cause we record all our incoming, was not capable, 4 so he even quit using it. And when I talked to Trolinger the 5 other day, it's even been kind of disabled or deactivated out 6 at our office at this time, just 'cause nobody would use it 7 any more. So, that's the situation we were at with voice over 8 IP. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. So, what we got before us is 10 an equipment lease. If there are additional service lines 11 installed, those will be line service charges for each 12 particular line? 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's correct. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: But what we're dealing with here 15 today is equipment only. And the initial presentation which 16 you gave us was for a continuation -- in essence, a 17 continuation of a lease of existing equipment, but with the 18 proviso that as that equipment becomes inoperative, it would 19 continue to be replaced under this agreement. The options 20 that the Court asked you to get are a one-year and three-year 21 for brand-new equipment, which you included. One year would 22 be $3,652 a month. Three years would be $1,504 a month. A 23 five-year new equipment would be 1,217, with a purchase option 24 of -- a purchase feature; we would purchase all that equipment 25 at 40,000-plus, weighed against the original proposal for the 4-24-06 35 1 existing equipment to be replaced under a warranty of $618 a 2 month. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. But the original -- and 4 that's true on equipment. The only addition that this does is 5 -- such as, like, right now, our voicemail system's full, not 6 just the incoming lines. And the Narcotics Division have one 7 phone to share between five of them, because we have no more 8 phones back there in that office we added, all right? This 9 does put phones in there. The -- you know, any of these 10 options goes ahead and puts the phones in there, expands those 11 systems and all that, so that's all on a level playing field 12 with the options. The -- the first proposal I gave y'all, 13 which is on the page by itself, which is the $618, you were 14 exactly right, Judge. What that does is, it's a new five-year 15 lease, all right, where we're paying 580 or 590-something 16 right now. This ups that to 618 a month, which I can handle 17 in my budget as it is. And as our equipment -- like my phone 18 going out last week, they just come in and replace that phone, 19 okay? It keeps that lease deal going to where I don't have 20 any problems with equipment. If we do, they respond very well 21 and come out to fix it. It does not replace all our phones 22 like all these other proposals do, all our phones and 23 equipment. And I -- my phone's working fine right now; I 24 don't see a need to replace it right now. If it goes bad, I 25 want them to come out and replace it. 4-24-06 36 1 JUDGE TINLEY: The additional monthly charge is the 2 expansion that's going to be built into the existing equipment 3 so that it'll accomplish what you need do right now? 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's correct. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Anybody got any questions for the 6 Sheriff? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there a -- the first page is 8 618? 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Increase. Is there an option to 11 -- or a cost to do that on a three-year or a one-year? 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, the purchase price with 13 the one-year of that equipment is right below that, $12,260. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that would eliminate -- that 15 eliminates the monthly charge? 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It would not eliminate all of 17 our monthly charge, no. But it may -- Curtis, do you know 18 what part of that will be eliminated? 19 MR. THOMPSON: I'm Curtis with Kerrville Telephone 20 Company. The $12,260 covers the upgrade on equipment only, 21 with no maintenance. The $618 a month for five years covers 22 the finance of this equipment, along with the maintenance 23 built in, so if the Sheriff's phone dies or the phone system 24 quits, we'll go out and replace it. So, I built in 25 maintenance in the lease. 4-24-06 37 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If we go with a three-year 2 lease, what does maintenance -- what does that number become? 3 MR. THOMPSON: I would have to do some numbers on a 4 three-year. The typical telecommunications lease is generally 5 five years, so -- but I could make provisions to do a 6 three-year if you would like to see that. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I believe our current one is 8 five that we're fixing to run out on. 9 MR. THOMPSON: That's correct. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, we've already done a 11 five on the same equipment. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We've done a five. This is 13 another identical one, except adding a little bit more 14 equipment than we had. We did a five right after I took 15 office, and we added four more lines then at that time, 'cause 16 we were getting busy signals, and it has -- it lasted us right 17 at five years. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rusty, I guess my hesitation 19 with going to a five-year lease is that, one, I think it's 20 a -- well, technology is changing rapidly in this field. The 21 courthouse system is now seven or eight years old. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Easily. 23 MR. THOMPSON: Eight. Yeah, it's a little over 24 eight -- well, I think it's nine, actually. It's nine years 25 old. 4-24-06 38 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So I think the courthouse will 2 have to get upgraded before long. And it seems we -- it's -- 3 to me, it makes a lot more sense to try to do it all at once, 4 so we don't do your department and then Road and Bridge, as 5 they have their own separate deal, and the courthouse is our 6 separate deal, and then who knows what's going on at Ingram at 7 the annex. It seems if we could get all these things under 8 one thing, we should get a better deal. And -- 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, this -- and I can 10 understand -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I know you need something 12 right now. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I'm just getting to the point 14 where -- it doesn't happen every day; about once -- once, 15 maybe twice a week, you know, I can pick up the line to call 16 out and have a busy signal. It's starting to happen more than 17 I'm -- 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Could you put in some 19 expansion cards on your rack and take care of your needs? 20 MR. THOMPSON: That's what this is. This -- he's 21 maxed out right now. He's maxed out on lines. He's maxed out 22 on extensions and voice mailboxes. And, so, what we have done 23 is -- it's a modular system, very good telephone system. 24 We've added some modules to it for expansions, and at the same 25 time, upgraded the software. Because right now, we're at 4-24-06 39 1 Release 7 on software, brand-new, right off the shelf. You're 2 at a Release 1 on that phone system. So, what we did is, we 3 upgraded the software, and that will enable you guys to use 4 brand-new phones, so when the Sheriff's phone quits, we can go 5 get brand-new phones and put them in on the telephone system 6 as we go. So, I built in maintenance for this. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: So, the upgraded technology, 8 Jonathan, that you're talking about, this includes that as the 9 basic deal, and you can go from there. And -- 10 MR. THOMPSON: This takes care of the Sheriff's 11 Office only. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The upgrade in technology. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: If I'm -- if I'm getting the drift of 14 what Commissioner Letz, I think, is inquiring about, we've got 15 a separate lease for Road and Bridge; we've got a separate 16 lease for Extension, we have a separate lease for Sheriff, we 17 have a separate lease for courthouse. I believe those are the 18 four. 19 MR. THOMPSON: No, sir, this one's purchased. This 20 one is paid for here at the courthouse. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We have a maintenance 23 contract? 24 MR. THOMPSON: No maintenance. It was purchased 25 several years back. 4-24-06 40 1 JUDGE TINLEY: I think what Commissioner Letz may be 2 suggesting is that maybe you pull those -- all of those, and 3 you take a look at trying to come up with one concurrent lease 4 term where we can incorporate everything under one lease so 5 that it suits our needs, the Sheriff's needs, Road and Bridge, 6 Extension and so forth, with the idea in mind that maybe if we 7 wrap it all up into one, maybe the bottom line gets more 8 attractive for all of them. Is that unrealistic to think that 9 way? 10 MR. THOMPSON: No, sir, it's not. We -- we could 11 upgrade -- I believe we're at Release 4 here at the 12 courthouse, going from memory. It starts at 1, goes -- we're 13 at 7 right now, so we could look at upgrading the phone 14 systems and giving you a price for one -- one upgrade for all. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Pulling it all together 16 makes real good sense to me. I'd like to see that done. 17 However, that doesn't deal with the issue of obsolescence and 18 the way things are -- I fully agree with Commissioner Letz. 19 The way things are moving, anything you buy today in the area 20 of electronics and communication is likely to be obsolete in 21 five years. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, there certainly could be other 23 options that he could present to us on pulling all these 24 together. Let me ask a question, if I might. If we had a -- 25 a service problem here at the courthouse -- we own the 4-24-06 41 1 equipment. If we have a service problem here, take me through 2 that. What am I looking at in terms of obtaining service and 3 the cost? 4 MR. THOMPSON: The cost is our hourly rate, and 5 we're at 60 bucks an hour. And then we -- it's just equipment 6 charge. Whatever equipment has failed, we'd replace it. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do we -- do we have problems 8 here? I mean, probably a stupid question. 9 MR. THOMPSON: Very few. It's -- Northern Telecom's 10 top of the line, and the good thing about Northern Telecom, 11 they have green philosophy, back to the obsolescence. They 12 always have a good migration path to the new telephones, new 13 softwares, and it allows you to keep your existing phones, 14 existing equipment. Just a matter of upgrading when -- when 15 new phones come out, new technology comes out. They allow you 16 to migrate your existing path to save your in-house phones, 17 dollars on cards, phones, and equipment. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is Kerrville Telephone looking 19 at, or do they already have the broadband capability, or are 20 they going to expand into that market? 21 MR. THOMPSON: I'm assuming you're talking about 22 voice over IP. At this time, voice over IP has not been a 23 very reliable option, so what we do as far as reliability and 24 security, we have conventional telephone lines. For you guys, 25 that's what we recommend. 4-24-06 42 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, I know you do for us. 2 But I'm saying -- I mean, you know, as voice over IP improves, 3 is that something that Kerrville Telephone -- 4 MR. THOMPSON: Then we'll look at it at that point. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: My understanding from Curtis is 6 that this upgrade, you know, and the additional equipment with 7 the technology, that it is capable of doing voice over IP. If 8 voice over IP ever gets stable enough, you don't have to 9 replace all this equipment again. So, the technology is where 10 they're under digital or voice over IP. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: What is voice over IP? 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Internet. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Voice over internet 14 protocol. 15 MR. THOMPSON: Yeah, and it's not necessarily over 16 the internet. It could be on your net -- computer network. 17 Like, I can make a call from my phone in-house to your phone 18 in-house across your computer network using IP. 19 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I thought that's what it 20 was, but -- 21 MR. THOMPSON: And then you take a different -- you 22 take a different step when you get -- you start using your 23 trunking there. That's quite different. Then you start 24 competing over bandwidth for other files that are being 25 transmitted on the internet, so that's why you have the 4-24-06 43 1 quality of service issues that you have to address. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Curtis, one more question. Of 3 the 618 a month, what portion of that is maintenance? 4 MR. THOMPSON: Let's see if I've got that listed 5 out. You know, I may not have that listed out right here with 6 me. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I have a contract. 8 MR. THOMPSON: I believe that is -- let's see, 9 somewhere in the neighborhood of $177 a month, I believe. 10 That may be wrong; I may have to get back with you on that. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. My preference would be 12 really to have you take a look at -- it doesn't sound like the 13 situation is critical for the Sheriff. It does need to be 14 addressed, but I think that -- you know, could you look at all 15 the other -- the four other systems that y'all are handling 16 right now, what it would cost to tie it all together, get them 17 to the same phase or level, whatever you -- you know, whatever 18 the word -- Level 7 now, or -- 19 MR. THOMPSON: To upgrade it to get to the current 20 software at each location. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mm-hmm. 22 MR. THOMPSON: And what that will do is, that will 23 give you the capability of using the newer type phones that 24 are in place right now. We have some -- right now, we're at 25 the M series phones. Good telephones, but when we upgrade to 4-24-06 44 1 the newer software, there's a few buttons on it that it does 2 not support. I mean, one would be the hands-free 3 speakerphone; it has a hard-coded button on it. The 4 message-waiting light on it does not work. Message waiting 5 works fine on the display. Speakerphone works fine if we put 6 it on a different button, but there's a few little buttons 7 that just will not work until we upgrade the telephone system. 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: My only concern, Jonathan -- 9 and you're right, we're not at a critical stage right now. 10 Like I said, there are times you get a busy signal. My 11 concern is -- one, of course, the lease is up, but that's a 12 month-by-month after it's expired. But two is, going into the 13 summer months and -- and the storms and the fires and 14 different things like that, it would not take a very large 15 event to pretty well shut down our phone system; that 16 everybody's going to get busy signals. I won't say that 17 adding four more lines will solve that problem either if we 18 get something major, but it is a risk factor, and what 19 we're -- we're taking on getting busy signals. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Curtis, could you have that new 21 number back to us in two weeks? 22 MR. THOMPSON: Yes, sir. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: I think as many options as you can 24 give us. My thinking is, since we already own the -- the 25 courthouse system, two different options there; a lease 4-24-06 45 1 option, a purchase option, and maintenance factors on there. 2 I don't know if we want to buy a maintenance factor as we 3 continue to own, or if we want to purchase the new upgrade and 4 merely want to do an outright purchase and then acquire 5 maintenance for that. My point is, as many options as you can 6 give us to -- to review so that we can try and make an overall 7 good decision. 8 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And term is important, from the 10 standpoint of trying to get them all so that we're not doing 11 one this year, one the next year. We can at least get them 12 all -- figure out how to get them all, so a year from now, 13 we're going to look -- 14 MR. THOMPSON: The same level. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Same level, same time. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I agree with that. I'm just 17 curious, does any member of the Court remember why we 18 purchased these to begin with, as opposed to leasing? 19 MR. THOMPSON: Well, at -- 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The courthouse system? 21 MR. THOMPSON: At the end -- I don't know, but at 22 the end of a contract, you have options that you can either -- 23 you can purchase it for a dollar, you can upgrade. Of course, 24 that's kind of like what we're doing to the Sheriff's Office; 25 they're doing an upgrade and adding some more dollars to it. 4-24-06 46 1 Or you can surrender the equipment and start all over. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is that what we did 3 originally, a lease-purchase? 4 MR. THOMPSON: It was -- 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: On the courthouse system? 6 MR. THOMPSON: That one was a lease, fair market 7 value, and at the end of the fair market value, you owe the 8 fair market value amount. So, we -- what we did was, instead 9 of purchasing that fair market value amount at that time, we 10 extended that contract three years and financed the fair 11 market value over 36 months. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I see. All right. 13 MR. THOMPSON: And so now we're at the end of that; 14 now we've got these other options. You can either purchase it 15 with upgraded equipment or lease with upgraded equipment, and 16 that will get you up to the newest software level. Then the 17 other option -- the last option was a brand-new telephone 18 system, all new phones, all new software, all new equipment, 19 and that -- that option was the one that we talked about; it 20 was 40,000. That phone system will allow you to do voice over 21 IP. The existing one we have right now, we would have to 22 upgrade the KSU, the key system on the -- on the brain on the 23 wall, to get you the voice over IP, if that's the way you want 24 to head. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that part of the reason that 4-24-06 47 1 there was problems with the voice over IP when they tried to 2 use it? The equipment didn't mesh well? 3 MR. THOMPSON: It's the -- on our side, on the 4 telephone system, what we've done is put just regular 5 conventional trunks that are very reliable, and the equipment, 6 of course, the Nortel network. And we do not propose voice 7 over IP trunking inbound/outbound. We can propose voice over 8 IP between the phones, and basically instead of using your 9 Category 3/Category 5 wiring that is outside of your computer 10 network, we would put it on your network on all your switches. 11 That way it's basically like a computer; all the programming 12 is across your network. All your phone calls are across your 13 network, and so is the -- so is the bandwidth. Your bandwidth 14 for file-sharing transfers, printing, and your voice calls 15 would be on your network at that point if they -- if we did 16 that. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just want to remind 18 everybody that we're dealing with emergency services here. 19 And there are -- not everyone uses a 9-1-1 service to get in 20 to him, and they use the -- these land lines at times to call 21 Rusty with an emergency, and I'd hate to see us get caught 22 with our -- in a deal with that. So, I would hope that the 23 next time we're in here dealing with this, that we're ready to 24 do something. If we're not ready to do the entire system, 25 that at least we'd take care of the emergency services. 4-24-06 48 1 JUDGE TINLEY: The quicker you can get us that 2 information, you know, we'd be most appreciative. We really 3 would. 4 MR. THOMPSON: Sure. Thank you. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Thank you. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other member of the Court have 7 anything further to offer on that item? Let's, if we might, 8 go to our 9:45 item. I apologize for being a little bit late. 9 I have a report and presentation from the Kerrville Area 10 Chamber of Commerce and the Kerr County Sesquicentennial 11 Committee relative to the Kerr County Sesquicentennial 12 celebration. Mr. Bondy, Mr. Herring, thank you for being here 13 today. 14 MR. BONDY: Thank you very much, Judge and 15 Commissioners. We really just wanted to come before you all 16 to kind of give you an update on the weekend's activities. 17 Most of you were there, and we probably don't need to spend a 18 lot of time on it, but really, it's a way for us just to say 19 thank you for letting us create history, because that's, in 20 essence, what we did. The turnout at all the events was 21 stellar. The timing on all the events was as smooth as you 22 could anticipate for planning an event of this magnitude, and 23 we had a lot of really good people that -- that made the whole 24 thing come together. Joe and I were just cogs in the wheel, 25 but the entire steering committee put a lot of time and effort 4-24-06 49 1 into it, and as you all saw, it was a very successful weekend. 2 MR. HERRING: Also, our moms taught us to say thank 3 you, and that's why we're here today. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Listen, gentlemen, I want to thank 5 both of you and the organizations you represent. You're being 6 entirely too modest when you say you were merely cogs in the 7 wheel, 'cause I watched you, and you guys were scrambling and 8 hustling and -- and really grabbed hold of this thing and ran 9 with it, and I am just most, most appreciative of everything 10 that you guys did. And it's because of your efforts and the 11 efforts of your organizations and the committees that you 12 formed to handle the various facets of this thing that that 13 entire celebration was the success that it was, and I want to 14 thank you for it. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It was the biggest party I've 16 been to in 150 years. 17 MR. BONDY: That was the goal. 18 MR. HERRING: We have a little token of our 19 appreciation for each of you. 20 MR. BONDY: As you know, we have a commemorative 21 coin that was commissioned for the event, and some of the 22 foresight that Joe had was to have a few of them cast in fine 23 silver. And, as our discussions rolled out, we decided that a 24 good way would be to share those with some of the people that 25 made it possible, so we hope that you'll accept these tokens 4-24-06 50 1 of our appreciation in the way of commemorating each of you 2 for your participation in the Kerr County 150th 3 Sesquicentennial celebration. We have one for each of you. 4 I'll work my way around the room. Mr. Baldwin, this would be 5 for you. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. I saw 7 the governor get one of these and I got a little mad. Thank 8 you. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: It wasn't his birthday; it was ours, 11 right? 12 MR. BONDY: Judge Tinley, this would be for you. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Golly, what an honor. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's too good. Thank 16 you. 17 MR. BONDY: Who didn't get one? That would be 18 Commissioner Williams. 19 MR. HERRING: If you don't want it, you can always 20 give it back and we'll scratch through your name. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you very much. 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'm going to put this on 23 the wall of my library until we celebrate 200 years, and 24 remind me of it then. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll see you there. 4-24-06 51 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you for everything you 2 did. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Thank you so much. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you for this. 6 MR. BONDY: One last thing. I'm not sure if you 7 were aware, Joe pointed out that there were several other 8 counties in our state that also celebrated their 9 sesquicentennial this year, and -- what were they? 10 MR. HERRING: I believe it's Burnet, Lampasas, and 11 Bandera Counties, at least. 12 MR. BONDY: And the best that the rest could do was 13 an evening reception, and there wasn't any organization that 14 came close to what we all collectively did for Kerr County. 15 So, thank you again. 16 MR. HERRING: Thanks. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's my understanding -- and 18 you can help me here. I think that the County Progress, which 19 is a statewide county magazine, is going to do a little story 20 on us. 21 MR. BONDY: Yes, sir. In fact, we uploaded, I 22 think, 10 or 15 photos from the parade to them, and they're 23 going to be using them in the next issue. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Super. Thank you so much. 25 MR. HERRING: We note that the city of 4-24-06 52 1 Fredericksburg is celebrating its 160th birthday in May, but 2 they don't have the governor or fireworks or -- so I e-mailed 3 a friend; he said, "We just didn't want to show off." 4 JUDGE TINLEY: I recall you gentlemen telling me 5 that part of the challenge that you folks accepted in taking 6 this thing on was you wanted to put the bar way on up there so 7 when it came time for the bicentennial 50 years from now, that 8 there'd be a real nice target to shoot at, and if they could 9 top it, fine, but you wanted to make them hustle to do it. 10 MR. BONDY: That's right. And the last thing I will 11 add before we leave is that the event paid for itself, 12 100 percent. The balance right now is about $2,000, with 13 still a couple of bills to come in, so it was a break-even 14 proposition, which is what our goal was going into it. Didn't 15 make money, didn't lose money. The event stood on its own. 16 So -- 17 MR. HERRING: The plane will come into the landing 18 strip with just a little gas. (Laughter.) 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank y'all very much. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, thank you, thank you. 21 Let's move now to our 10 o'clock timed item, Item Number 8. 22 At this time, I will recess the Commissioners Court meeting, 23 and I will convene a public hearing concerning the revision of 24 plat of Kerrville South Ranches Number Two, Lot 51, located in 25 Precinct 1. 4-24-06 53 1 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10:10 a.m., and a public hearing was held in open 2 court, as follows:) 3 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the public 5 that wishes to be heard concerning the revision of a plat of 6 Lot 51 in Kerrville South Ranches Number Two? Any member of 7 the public wishing to be heard concerning the revision of a 8 plat of Lot 51 of Kerrville South Ranches Number Two? Seeing 9 no one stepping forward, I will close the public hearing, and 10 I will reconvene the Commissioners Court meeting. 11 (The public hearing was concluded at 10:10 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 12 reopened.) 13 - - - - - - - - - - 14 JUDGE TINLEY: And we'll take up Item 7; consider, 15 discuss, and take appropriate action to approve the revision 16 of plat of Lot 51 in Kerrville South Ranches Number Two 17 located in Precinct 1. Mr. Odom? 18 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. Thank you, Judge. I have the 19 mylar before you with the pen, so -- if the Court approves 20 this. This is a family division of property, from the father 21 to a son. It's on Monroe Drive. These lots -- they chose to 22 plat it. Could have been done by metes and bounds, but it's 23 cleaner. Also, Jacks Road -- Jacks Drive, I believe, has one 24 lot there. There's 13.72 acres. It's four lots. It's 25 community water out there, and the average is 3.43 acres per 4-24-06 54 1 lot. I don't have a problem. I would ask the Court to give a 2 final approval on this plat. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do we have to give a variance on 4 that -- on 51-B because of the amount of -- it's only 60 foot 5 frontage. 6 MR. ODOM: Well, since it is -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or can it be done under that 8 rule? 9 MR. ODOM: 1.03, we have no discretion; they can 10 divide it up. I mean, there's no -- no specification under 11 150 feet. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, but if we're going to plat 13 it, we have to -- I mean, we have to give a variance to it. 14 I'm not saying don't do it. I'm just saying you can't not -- 15 you can't have a plat and then not follow the rules. 16 MR. ODOM: Right. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 1.03, is that the family 18 issue? 19 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. There's about eight exceptions 20 in there, and that falls under the family. The father's 21 giving all the rest of it. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let's talk about that for a 23 minute. That is a little bit cloudy. 1.03 says that if it's 24 a family transaction, then you don't have to go through the 25 platting process, so how would you -- 4-24-06 55 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They chose to go through the 2 platting process. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand, but how would 4 you address -- if they didn't go through the platting process, 5 how would you address the frontage issue? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It wouldn't be addressed, 'cause 7 it's not -- 8 MR. ODOM: It would be on metes and bounds. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But it could be 100 feet. 12 MR. ODOM: Could be 100 feet. It could be 60 feet. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or it could be 20 feet. 14 MR. ODOM: Could be 20. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No variance of record. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I just think if we're going 17 to do the plat, we should give them a variance on that, and we 18 could have a problem with that variance. I mean, I think -- 19 if -- I can't remember the language offhand, but we may be 20 able -- I believe we have some latitude on the frontage. 21 MR. ODOM: Well, we discussed that before. This has 22 come up before, but we decided at this point there was nothing 23 in the statutes that said specifically that you would follow. 24 So -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, but I thought there was 4-24-06 56 1 discretion there that we may -- we can just do a variance. 2 MR. ODOM: I don't think so. I would ask for a 3 variance, then, on Lot 51-B at 60 foot. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, which is fine. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is -- can we do that under 6 this -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- verbiage? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're approving it subject to 10 granting a variance and doing it. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I move for approval of 12 the revision of plat of Kerrville South Ranches II, Lot 51, 13 and grant a variance on the frontage issue on Lot 51-B. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded in 16 accordance with the language of the motion. Any question or 17 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 18 your right hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 21 (No response.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Leonard, let me ask you a 24 question about this. 25 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir? 4-24-06 57 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If I didn't have a steel-trap 2 mind and remember absolutely everything I've ever done in 3 life, I would have come up here today not knowing what the 4 revision was. I mean, I can't -- I can't look at this and 5 tell what we were revising from/to. 6 MR. ODOM: It was one lot -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, he means -- I saw that same 8 thing, Commissioner. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Glad you mentioned that. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's no picture of the before 12 and after. 13 MR. ODOM: Oh, the before and the -- 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The before and after. But we 15 all remember absolutely everything, and I knew what we were 16 dealing with here. But I -- I can see how a lesser person 17 could get on this Court and not be up to snuff like that. So, 18 I don't know if you -- if it's -- 19 MR. ODOM: I missed it. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- a phone call or a picture. 21 I don't know. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It doesn't show previously 23 platted or whatever. 24 MR. ODOM: It wasn't platted. It was -- I mean -- 25 well, I take that back. I missed it. I've been working with 4-24-06 58 1 this -- it wasn't going to be done, and then it came up to be 2 done, to be platted. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just remember that we don't 4 work with it every day like you do, and we're not -- maybe not 5 quite as in-tune with what we're -- what the change is. 6 MR. ODOM: Well noted. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner, we do not require 8 a variance. He has authority to grant one. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: "Minimum lot frontage distances 11 may be reviewed by the Commissioners Court and lesser 12 distances may be approved based on lot density, topography and 13 other mitigating factors recommended by the County Subdivision 14 Administrator." So, it's not a variance; it's your 15 recommendation. Since you're recommending it... 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll remember that. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. At this time, I will 18 recess the Commissioners Court meeting -- 19 MR. ODOM: Sir, may -- before you do that, may I 20 just point out that I had a final, but we did not receive the 21 finals, and what this is -- I don't know if you received any 22 documentation. We sent it up for a public hearing as well as 23 a final, and I had to pull that final. And what you have 24 before you is -- no action is needed other than a public 25 hearing for this, but it was a revision of two lots into one. 4-24-06 59 1 We were reducing two into one, is what the information is 2 about. Precinct 3. I just need a public hearing. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: That's what I'm about to give you. 4 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: I will at this time recess the 6 Commissioners Court meeting, and I will convene a public 7 hearing concerning the revision of plat of Falling Water, Lots 8 117-A and 116-D, into 117-R, all located in Precinct 3. 9 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10:17 a.m., and a public hearing was held in open 10 court, as follows:) 11 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the public 13 that wishes to be heard concerning the revision of plat of 14 Falling Water, Lots 117-A and 116-D, into 117-R? Any member 15 of the public that wishes to be heard with regard to that 16 revision? Seeing no one coming forward or otherwise asking to 17 be heard, I will close the public hearing concerning the 18 revision of plat of Falling Water, Lots 117-A and 116-D into 19 117-R, and I will reconvene the Commissioners Court meeting. 20 (The public hearing was concluded at 10:17 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 21 reopened.) 22 - - - - - - - - - - 23 JUDGE TINLEY: And we will move to Item 12, that 24 item being consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 25 request the Texas Department of Transportation to consider 4-24-06 60 1 lowering the speed limit on State Highway 27 in the vicinity 2 of the Kerrville-Kerr County Municipal Airport to 55 miles an 3 hour. Commissioner Williams? 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I placed this on the agenda, 5 gentlemen, because I've had numerous people contact me 6 subsequent to the most recent accident that resulted in the 7 death of -- of one individual and the serious injury to 8 another. It's not the first accident that's happened on that 9 stretch of highway. We've had deaths occur in proximity of 10 the airport entrance. And my purpose is to ask you to think 11 about, or the Court to take an action requesting that -- can't 12 do anything but request TexDOT to take a look at the posted 13 speed limit. Seems to me that that stretch lends itself to 14 higher speeds than are necessary, and you know what the result 15 is when that occurs on some occasions. So, I'm open to 16 discussion; see if we can head in this direction. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I fully support this action. I 18 think that that area -- that stretch needs to -- more needs to 19 be done. I think it's on their long-range plan, and because 20 of this most recent accident, the way TexDOT works, I would 21 not at all be surprised to see some upgrades of that coming 22 soon, next couple of years. I'm just saying that based on 23 serious accidents like recently occurred, a fatality gets 24 their attention in a hurry at TexDOT, and I suspect they may 25 want to put a -- you know, do something with the widening or 4-24-06 61 1 put a turn lane in part of that stretch. But speed limit 2 certainly can be done right away. It would certainly -- and 3 for the entire stretch. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The folks who contacted me 5 asked me to support it. That's fine. I indicated I would do 6 that, but it carries a great deal more weight and support if 7 Commissioners Court as a whole makes a request formally for 8 that purpose. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it can even be done, in my 10 mind, by just a letter. Draft a letter, and -- 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Which -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we -- do 13 you want to make the motion? 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll move that the Court 15 support a request to Texas Department of Highways to reduce 16 the speed limit on the 3.1-mile stretch of highway on Highway 17 27 parallel to Kerr County Airport. That, essentially, is 18 from Al Mooney Road to just a bit west of Center Point. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would rather see it go all the 20 way to Center Point. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, it does reduce down; 22 that's where I'm talking about. It reduces down to -- there's 23 a sign there for that purpose. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Second. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded that the 4-24-06 62 1 Court express support for the reduction of the speed limit on 2 Highway 27 from Kerrville-Kerr County Municipal Airport all 3 the way to Center Point, or where it reduces prior to getting 4 to Center Point, to 55 -- to the posted speed limit of 55 5 miles an hour. Any question or discussion on the motion? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And authorize the Judge to sign 7 that letter -- or write the letter. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, that's part of the 9 motion. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any question or discussion? 11 All in favor of that motion, signify by raising your right 12 hand. 13 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 15 (No response.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 13, if we might. 19 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on hiring a 20 consulting engineer to review subdivision engineering 21 documents. Commissioner Letz? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There won't be any action on 23 this today again, but there is movement on this item. I'm 24 trying -- I have a meeting set up today at 3 o'clock with 25 Mr. Wayne Wells, who is an engineer in Gillespie County. He 4-24-06 63 1 does work for Gillespie County Commissioners Court similar to 2 this; he's interested in doing it for us. I visited with him 3 by phone, but we're to meet today at 3 o'clock, and at that 4 point, after I visit with him, I really want to hear a little 5 bit about how they do it in Gillespie County. I want to get 6 with Leonard and see how -- you know, and see how we -- how we 7 get some idea of meshing the two. We really haven't discussed 8 how this would work directly. So, a little bit more 9 exploratory talk this week, and it'll be on our next agenda 10 hopefully to be able to -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask you a question. 12 What all is included in subdivision engineering documents? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's pretty much drainage and 14 street design. It's only those two items. It's -- we have 15 engineering required for -- and, of course, there's surveying 16 and all that part of it, but that's not -- that's -- 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, that's a different -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Different issue, in my mind. 19 It's specifically for drainage studies and street layout and 20 design and specifications. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's street design, but not 22 inspection type thing? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. It would just be that 24 the -- the drawings that are submitted by the developer, just 25 to have an engineer -- those that are prepared by an engineer, 4-24-06 64 1 to have an engineer look at those as state law requires, 2 actually. To review them. And then, if there's a -- a 3 problem, I'm not sure how we'd go -- I presume at that point, 4 it would go back to Leonard; Leonard would bring it to court, 5 or whoever the engineer may be would bring it to court 6 directly and work it out. We have some provision if there is 7 a disagreement or a challenge to the engineer's documents as 8 to how that proceeds, which is that the County hires another 9 engineer to, you know, look at them. But I'm really 10 interested to see how they're doing it in Gillespie County, 11 'cause they're doing the exact same thing that we're looking 12 at doing, and see how that works and what the inter -- the 13 whole relationship is between both their permitting 14 subdivision department and also the Commissioners Court. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I appreciate you doing it, 16 because -- 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Me too. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- the creation of roads and 19 the layout of roads makes for a more impervious surface, 20 changes the velocity of water, and I think we really need that 21 expertise when that happens to know exactly what's taking 22 place. 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I really like the concept 24 of finding out how somebody else can do it and borrowing their 25 good ideas instead of us trying to reinvent it. So -- 4-24-06 65 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the other thing -- the 2 other -- when we make a decision on this, I think we'll also 3 revisit a little bit about how Kerr County evolved into the 4 system that we have of having a non-engineer over our Road and 5 Bridge Department. And this, I think, is a -- you know, I've 6 talked to Rex a little bit about this. It's probably a good 7 idea to -- there may be some recent Attorney General opinions, 8 and actually an Attorney General opinion request -- to put 9 everyone in the public on notice as to why we did this when we 10 did. I think we had pretty good justification for it. So, 11 anyway, it should be back on the agenda next time. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else to be offered in 13 connection with that particular agenda item? Let's move on to 14 Item 14; consider, discuss, and approve appointment of Steve 15 King to the Kerrville-Kerr County Joint Airport Board. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Y'all probably will think you 17 did this once. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Only did half of it. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's a convoluted process. 20 Under the governance agreement, the way it actually works is 21 that there's nominations that go in to the four constituent 22 representatives, which Bill and I are two of them, and out of 23 that group of four -- two others are on the City Council -- 24 then those four appoint the person subject to approval by the 25 two governmental bodies, being us and the City Council. So, 4-24-06 66 1 I'll make a motion that we approve the appointment of the -- 2 of Steve King to the Airport Board. 3 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded that Steve 6 King be appointed to the Kerrville-Kerr County Joint Airport 7 Board. Is there any question or discussion on the motion? 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, I'll just make a -- 9 reserve a comment later, Judge. Not on the motion. Motion's 10 good. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, is it going to take this 12 time? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it takes this time. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Hope so. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It was a little iffy in between. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or comments on 17 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 18 your right hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 21 (No response.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. You had a 23 comment, Commissioner? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I just think it's important 25 for the Court to note that we, as the constituent agency 4-24-06 67 1 representatives, had a -- had an in-depth discussion about the 2 process, and we are -- we still represent -- three of us 3 represent the four that negotiated the agreement, but this is 4 the first time that it has practically been put into effect, 5 or the process has been initiated; maybe that's a better way 6 to state it. All of which is to say that we four also agree 7 that the governance agreement needs to be revisited for the 8 purpose of refining this process. And we, by motion at a past 9 board meeting, a posted meeting, agreed to do that. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: In other words, we -- the three 11 of us and the one that's no longer -- former Mayor Fine, we 12 negotiated a horrible agreement in this one area. It was -- 13 it's a convoluted mess trying to figure out how to get a 14 replacement. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just not a smooth process. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It definitely didn't work 17 smoothly this time. It's going to be resolved. But we got 18 through it. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We did. Using the mayor's 20 words, we muddled through it, successfully. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: What the board did was, the board has 22 agreed to rework that portion? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 4-24-06 68 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that will come back to the 2 City and the County. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Oh, okay. Sure. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Between the City and the County. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Okay. Why don't we stand in 7 recess until a quarter of? 8 (Recess taken from 10:28 a.m. to 10:49 a.m.) 9 - - - - - - - - - - 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's come back to order. We 11 were in recess, and let us resume our Commissioners Court 12 meeting. First off, is there any member of the Court that has 13 any item that they feel is appropriate we go into executive 14 session about? Okay. Let's get down to the approval agenda. 15 Ms. Williams? Let's go down to item -- Section 4, payment of 16 the bills. Anybody have any questions question about the 17 bills? 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move we pay the bills. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I'd like to second 21 that motion. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and second to pay 25 the bills. Any question or comments concerning the motion? 4-24-06 69 1 I've only got a comment. In looking at Indigent Health Care, 2 we've got over $93,000. In reviewing that, it appears that 3 over 62,000 of that amount went downstream to San Antonio. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I noted that. 5 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. And Beth Taylor is going 6 to be here at the next Commissioners Court meeting to go over 7 the Indigent Health Care programming, and bring to you 8 gentlemen some concerns she has with the program. I did talk 9 to her, and she said that these bills that we are paying to 10 providers out of the Kerrville area, she verifies that they 11 have been referred by a Kerrville physician before she even 12 processes them. So, unfortunately, they are legitimate 13 expenses. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, do we want to invite 15 that physician over here to meet with us privately out in the 16 yard? Or -- 17 MS. WILLIAMS: You might want to. I mean, that's 18 your option. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm -- you know, I'm sure 20 that that guy, whoever that person might be, doesn't see it 21 like we do. 22 MS. WILLIAMS: It's possible. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You know, people don't 24 understand that taxpayers -- I mean, this is kind of a strange 25 animal anyway, but indigent health Care, sending our 4-24-06 70 1 taxpayers' money out of the county, that's distasteful, 2 period. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Good terminology. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: "Distasteful"? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Good terminology. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. 7 MS. WILLIAMS: I'm sure that Ms. Taylor can probably 8 give you more information on that -- that area. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that the lady at Sid 10 Peterson? 11 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: I've been into some discussions with 13 her, and I think we're going to be in a position to lay some 14 things before the Court, hopefully, that will give a little 15 bit more definition and certainty to the program, and -- and 16 be clear on qualification under the program. Whereas there 17 may be some aspects of it that are a little loose right now, 18 and we're going to try and tighten that up a little. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mindy? 20 MS. WILLIAMS: Sir? 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm just jumping ahead, but 22 it's related. If I'm looking at Budget Amendment Number 1 23 correctly, we're saying that Indigent Health Care expense, 24 we've already -- we're down to $175,000; is that correct? 25 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir, correct. 4-24-06 71 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Out of almost 750,000. We 2 still have five months to go; is that correct? 3 MS. WILLIAMS: Basically, yes. Because the bills 4 that we are paying right now that are being processed are -- 5 some of them are up through March. Majority of them are 6 February. But we still have April, May, June, July, and 7 August. Right, five months. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sort of sounds like we've 9 got a hook of misery looking at us in the face. 10 MS. WILLIAMS: Very -- very possible. Beth told me 11 that it seems like it has slowed down a little bit, but 12 there's always a possibility of people coming in and applying. 13 Doesn't mean that they're eligible. They still have to meet 14 the eligibility criteria, and she is going over it with a 15 fine-tooth comb, you know, really trying to make sure that 16 these people are eligible. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And she'll be here to 18 address the Court next time? 19 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir, the 8th meeting. I believe 20 May the 8th. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: That's what we're working on, is 22 trying to have things all lined up to come here on the 8th. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One other question is, if you or 24 maybe the Judge would ask her, is it an all-or-nothing? Is 25 there any way that you can do any sort of a graduated type 4-24-06 72 1 program? It seems like you have it -- I mean, it's either you 2 are indigent or you're not indigent. And if you can -- if 3 there's some sort of a way to get them to pay a portion of it 4 up to a -- you know, kind of -- you know, the totally 5 destitute get 100 percent coverage. If you have some funds, 6 you get 75 percent covered, and something like that, if you 7 can do that. 8 MS. WILLIAMS: I'm not real sure what the answer is 9 to that. I think that she probably can address that better 10 than I can. I do know that she has to follow state 11 guidelines. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. So, anyway, that's just 13 something I'd be interested in. Be interesting to see if 14 there's something we can do, 'cause this is a problem area. 15 Do you know what we budgeted this year, the maximum amount? 16 Or did we go a little bit under, based on historical -- 17 MS. WILLIAMS: I believe our general revenue tax 18 levy, 8 percent maximum, is 840-some thousand dollars, I 19 believe. So -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, we're under a little bit. 21 MS. WILLIAMS: Yeah. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: About 100,000. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: About 100,000. 24 MS. WILLIAMS: Yeah. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 4-24-06 73 1 JUDGE TINLEY: But looking at these numbers, as 2 Commissioner Williams indicated, we -- we might get there. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. But it -- 4 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're almost certainly going to 6 need to go into reserves, it looks like, or find money 7 somewhere in the budget. 8 MS. WILLIAMS: And just an F.Y.I.; Alice Simms, who 9 is our third-party administrator at the present time, is going 10 to be here next Friday, I believe the 5th, and the reason 11 she's coming by is because she's a little concerned that we're 12 getting close to the 6 percent amount of our general revenue 13 tax levy. And at 6 percent, we have the option to either 14 notify the state or not. If we notify them, and we go and hit 15 the 8 percent, then they will come in and they will do an 16 audit of this year's records, go through it. If we qualify, 17 they will help us. If they find anything that is out of the 18 ordinary, they'll throw it out, and then we basically have to 19 pay that again. So, that -- that's what she wants to address. 20 She wants to meet with Beth and myself and Mr. Tomlinson. He 21 said he would sit in on the meeting also. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a question -- one 24 question, Judge. I just want to clear up something I spotted 25 here. I don't know -- I don't think I understand everything. 4-24-06 74 1 I know about it. On Page 20 -- 2 MS. WILLIAMS: Okay, which department? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let's see. Department 495. 4 MS. WILLIAMS: Okay, County Auditor. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That would be you. 6 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me see here. 01-1047. 8 MS. WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. That's Contract 10 Services, from the third month to the -- from third month, 11 30th day, through fourth month, 12th day. Is that what I'm 12 reading here? 13 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And it's $1,387.50 for two 15 weeks of part-time work? Or tell me how that works. How does 16 this thing work? 17 MS. WILLIAMS: He bills so many hours at a certain 18 set rate. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. Is that -- I know -- 20 I can't remember. I know we shifted some things around in 21 your -- in your office. 22 MS. WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: These moneys are part of the 24 budgeted moneys? 25 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes. We moved some of the money that 4-24-06 75 1 was budgeted under Official Salary, and I believe Assistant 2 Salary, down to Contract Services, to pay him out of that line 3 item instead of Official Salary. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, that's what I thought I 5 was reading. Thank you for the explanation. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A follow-up to that. What -- 7 how long have the District Judges decided that they're going 8 to have Mr. Tomlinson paid on a contract basis? 9 MS. WILLIAMS: The contract that they signed with 10 him is through September 30th. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: September 30. At this point, I 12 mean, have they given any indication that they plan on hiring 13 a full-time auditor at this point, or what their plan is? 14 MS. WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm, but I can't say at this 15 moment. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, come on. 17 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes. I can tell you it will not be 18 me. But if you ask me next week, I can tell you. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Because you will know anyway. 20 MS. WILLIAMS: That's right. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is it me? 22 MS. WILLIAMS: No. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They're planning on an auditor? 24 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 4-24-06 76 1 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Did you all know that Tommy 2 Tomlinson and I attended the same accounting classes together? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What happened? 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: He got better grades and he 5 turned into an auditor. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Did you apply for the auditor's job? 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: No, sir, I did not. I'm 8 not looking for more work; I'm looking for less. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or discussion on 10 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 11 your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 16 Amendment Request Number 1. 17 MS. WILLIAMS: Okay. This budget amendment is for 18 the Indigent Health Care program. We have a bill that I'm 19 holding for our third-party administrator. It is for one of 20 the batches of claims that we paid this go-around, but we 21 didn't have enough money to process her fee for that 22 particular batch of claims. The bill is for $2,498.64. We 23 need to move 2,119.57. I'm suggesting we move it out of 24 Eligible Expenses at this point in time. I looked at the 25 Admin. line item in Indigent Health Care, and there is not 4-24-06 77 1 enough money there to make up this difference. I took into 2 consideration what we will be paying the hospital for Beth 3 Taylor's salary through the end of September. There's not 4 enough there, and I can't see taking it out of there and then 5 taking a little bit out of here. We're probably going to wind 6 up having to come back and maybe amend this -- this Eligible 7 Expense line item at a later date in the budget year. 8 Hopefully not. I'm hoping that we'll make it, but at this 9 point in time, I couldn't see asking the Court to declare it 10 an emergency and take it out of surplus. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 14 of Budget Amendment Request Number 1. Any question or 15 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 16 your right hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 19 (No response.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 21 Amendment Request Number 2. 22 MS. WILLIAMS: Okay. This budget amendment is for 23 the Juvenile Detention Facility. Again, we have some medical 24 expenses that came in after the last court date that we need 25 to set up to pay. Total on those expenses is $3,451.76, and I 4-24-06 78 1 would like to get the Court's approval to basically move the 2 balance of the money out of Marketing, which is $2,408.28, and 3 then take the difference of $138.76 out of 109, Contract 4 Services, move it up to Resident Medical so that we can pay 5 the bills. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, I had a question. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for the 10 approval of Budget Amendment Request Number 2. Any question 11 or discussion? 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are these expenses for Kerr 13 County juveniles, or are these some that were expended in 14 advance of being reimbursed by other counties? 15 MS. WILLIAMS: I believe that this is a child that 16 belongs to another county. Do you know if Francisco Salazar 17 is one of ours? 18 MR. STANTON: No, he's not. 19 MS. WILLIAMS: No, this young person is one of the 20 other counties', and I believe they have been billed for those 21 expenses. If not, I will doublecheck and make sure that they 22 are billed so that we do recoup the moneys. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion on 4-24-06 79 1 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 2 your right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 5 (No response.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 7 Amendment Request Number 3. 8 MS. WILLIAMS: Okay. This budget amendment affects 9 the Detention Facility Maintenance line item, which is in 10 general fund. We have bills totaling $1,627.12. Basically, 11 there is no money left in the Maintenance and Custodial Supply 12 line item in Fund 10. I would like to move the $1,627.12 out 13 of 76-572-334, which is the Resident Supplies line item. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 17 of Budget Amendment Request Number 3. Any question or 18 discussion? 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Resident Supplies? What is 20 Resident Supplies? 21 MS. WILLIAMS: Supplies that they use for the 22 residents out there, like cleaning -- 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Toothbrush? 24 MS. WILLIAMS: Toothbrush, hand soap, things like 25 that. 4-24-06 80 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question, also. Kevin, can you 2 get with Mindy and go through the budget out there, and let's 3 do, at the next meeting, a one-time change to get some of 4 these -- like, the categories we're obviously going to need 5 more money in, get a good idea for the rest of the year. 6 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or discussion? 8 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 9 hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 14 Amendment Request Number 4. 15 MS. WILLIAMS: Okay. This also affects the 16 Detention Facility Maintenance budget in Fund 10. This bill 17 came in after I had already done the previous budget 18 amendment, but this one is for detention repairs. We have a 19 couple of bills here that total up to $5,249.72. I left the 20 "transfer out of" line item open, because I wasn't real sure 21 what the Court -- what direction you wanted me to go on this 22 one. We could take it out of 109 like we did on the other 23 one -- 24 (Discussion off the record.) 25 MS. WILLIAMS: Okay, Kevin just told me we can take 4-24-06 81 1 it out of the Juvenile Detention Officers Salary line item 2 also. I think there's probably a large surplus in that line 3 item. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Shhhh. 5 MS. WILLIAMS: It won't be after a while, though. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do that. 7 MS. WILLIAMS: Okay. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The cat's out of the bag. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Question. 10 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir? 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is this for the old building 12 or the newer building? 13 MS. WILLIAMS: That's a good question. 14 MR. HOLEKAMP: Mindy, what is the bills -- from who? 15 MS. WILLIAMS: One of them is from Compton's. 16 MR. HOLEKAMP: That's old building. 17 MS. WILLIAMS: Is that the old building? The pest 18 control services, is that both buildings? 19 MR. HOLEKAMP: Yes. 20 MS. WILLIAMS: Okay, the pest control services would 21 be for both buildings. The Compton's bill which was 22 $3,337.50, that was for the old building, and there's another 23 one for 1,862.22, and I believe that's the old building also. 24 Correct, Glenn? 25 MR. HOLEKAMP: Compton also? 4-24-06 82 1 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes. 2 MR. HOLEKAMP: Yes, they both are the old building. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And these are for repairs 4 already made? 5 MR. HOLEKAMP: Yes, sir. 6 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 8 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second for 10 approval of Budget Amendment Request Number 3. Any question 11 or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 12 your right hand. 13 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 15 (No response.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Wait a 17 minute. That was Budget Amendment Request Number 4, wasn't 18 it? 19 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Budget Amendment Request 21 Number 4 was just approved. Let's go to Budget Amendment 22 Request Number 5. 23 MS. WILLIAMS: Okay. This one deals with -- one of 24 our Sheriff's patrol cars was hit by an individual. Their 25 insurance has paid off on the claim. We've gotten the check, 4-24-06 83 1 and I need now to go ahead and recognize those funds that 2 we've received into the revenue area, and also in the 3 expenditure area, so that we can pay for having the Sheriff's 4 patrol car repaired. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 8 of Budget Amendment Request Number 5. Any question or 9 discussion? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is this that Various Refunds 11 line that you put the money in, and then you move it out into 12 other places? 13 MS. WILLIAMS: Basically, what we do -- 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that a recommendation from 15 the outside auditors to do it that way? 16 MS. WILLIAMS: Right. And, actually, we're not 17 moving the moneys. What we're doing is we're increasing the 18 revenue side that we budgeted to account for the moneys that 19 we're getting in, because this money really wasn't budgeted 20 during the year. This came in -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see, okay. 22 MS. WILLIAMS: -- as an exception, and then we have 23 to budget on the expenditure side so we raise that to where we 24 can pay for it. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, good. Thank you -- 4-24-06 84 1 MS. WILLIAMS: You're welcome. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- for that explanation. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or discussion on 4 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 5 your right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 10 Amendment Request Number 6. 11 MS. WILLIAMS: Okay. This one involves Road and 12 Bridge Department. We added two pieces of equipment, I think 13 leased equipment. The insurance coverage costs $138. Their 14 Insurance line item at this point in time is zeroed, so I got 15 with Truby and she got with Leonard, and they said we should 16 move -- we could move it out of the Contingencies line item if 17 the Court will so approve. 18 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Move to approve. 19 MS. WILLIAMS: Need 138 bucks. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 22 of Budget Amendment Request Number 6. Any question or 23 discussion? 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: These are things -- vehicles 25 that we have leased just this year? 4-24-06 85 1 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. They're the two new 2 backhoes. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 4 MS. WILLIAMS: Loaders that we just got not too long 5 ago. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: When we talk about the 7 tractor and the cost of it and all that, do we -- did he talk 8 about insurance? 9 JUDGE TINLEY: I think we knew there was a 10 requirement that -- you've got the option of rolling -- 11 letting the vendor or the lessor in this case procure the 12 insurance, and then you pay them, or we can add it into our 13 existing policy and they can pay the premium direct. I think 14 experience has shown that it's cheaper for us to add it to our 15 existing policy and pay that additional expense like we're 16 doing here, rather than letting the vendor or the lessor roll 17 it into their coverage and -- and we just include it as part 18 of the -- part of the payment. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's a lot cheaper. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. So, that's why we're here. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good. Thank you. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or discussion on 23 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 24 your right hand. 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4-24-06 86 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 2 (No response.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 4 Amendment Request Number 7. 5 MS. WILLIAMS: Okay. This one involves the 216th 6 District Court. We received a check from the State 7 Comptroller reimbursing us for attorneys expenses on a capital 8 case. If you remember back a couple meetings ago, there was a 9 question about -- we were paying an attorney out of San 10 Antonio $25,000 on a capital case. We recovered $6,550 of 11 that 25,000, and the reason being is the State will only go 12 back the current year and two previous years. His time went 13 back a little farther, so they could only pay us from, like, I 14 believe September 1st of two years ago till now on his time 15 sheet, and all we got was the 6,550. But I wanted to go ahead 16 and, again, increase the revenue line item, and then put this 17 money in Court-Appointed Attorneys in 216th so that we can pay 18 some existing attorneys' timesheets that we have pending right 19 now. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second -- so moved. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 24 of Budget Amendment Request Number 7. Any question or 25 discussion? 4-24-06 87 1 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Just curiosity. We go to 2 San Antonio to appoint a -- or we appointed a San Antonio 3 attorney. Does that mean that attorneys in Kerr County aren't 4 -- don't have the capability to handle capital cases? 5 MS. WILLIAMS: I think this was on an appeal, and I 6 believe that perhaps the State may have appointed him; I'm not 7 sure. Not sure how the process works. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: By way of explanation, Commissioner, 9 the -- there is a separate eligibility for court appointments 10 of capital cases, and they maintain a separate list. We have 11 a number of lawyers here locally that are on that list. I 12 don't know the particular case that Ms. Williams is talking 13 about, but we've got three or four, or maybe even more than 14 that, that are on the eligibility for capital case 15 appointments here locally. Four? Okay. Any other question 16 or discussion on the motion? All in favor, indicate by 17 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. Any other 22 budget amendments? 23 MS. WILLIAMS: No, sir, that's it. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Any late bills? 25 MS. WILLIAMS: No, sir. 4-24-06 88 1 JUDGE TINLEY: I have before me the monthly reports 2 as submitted by the Sheriff's Department, Justice of the 3 Peace, Precinct Number 2, Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4 Number 4, County Clerk Trust Fund, Justice of the Peace, 5 Precinct Number 3, Justice of the Peace, Precinct Number 1, 6 and the District Clerk. Do I hear a motion that these reports 7 be approved as submitted? 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded that the 11 indicated reports be approved as submitted. Any question or 12 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 13 your right hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 16 (No response.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Is there any 18 member of the Court that has anything they wish to offer with 19 respect to their committee or liaison assignments respective 20 functions? 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Only one -- I'm sorry, Dave. 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Go ahead. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: There's a meeting coming up 24 in Fredericksburg on Thursday, co-sponsorship by Alamo 25 Resource and Conservation, U.S.D.A. and oil conservation 4-24-06 89 1 people and one other agency, and the purpose of it is to 2 advise elected public officials of funding opportunities for 3 public events facilities. I confirmed attendance for 4 Commissioner Letz and myself, and one or the other or both of 5 us will try and make it. 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's good. I want to 7 talk about the library for a second. Since our last meeting, 8 I've attended another Library Board meeting. And prior to 9 that meeting, I -- as the Court directed, I submitted some 10 questions to John David Lipscomb, our chairman of the board -- 11 of the Library Board, the questions that we raised in this 12 Commissioners Court. And the first document that you see 13 there is a copy of an e-mail that lists those six questions 14 that were raised in Commissioners Court. And I don't -- I'm 15 not suggesting we go over this item by item in detail; it's 16 mostly for your information. I wanted to clarify a couple 17 things. Second page is answers to those six questions 18 prepared by the Library Director and provided to the members 19 of the Library Board. I'll draw your attention to the 20 Question Number 4, which would -- the question is, What would 21 be the impact of charging library users who are not Kerrville 22 residents for -- a fee for using the library? And the Library 23 Director says, "I think Commissioner Nicholson meant users who 24 are not Kerr County residents." And that's not what I meant. 25 So, we had -- what we asked here is, if you charged a fee for 4-24-06 90 1 those Kerr County residents who were not residents of the City 2 of Kerrville, what's the implications of that? 3 So, coincidentally, I did at the same time get a 4 document that would tend to provide the answers to that 5 question; it's the third document there. Or it actually 6 answers a couple questions. And I think Commissioner Letz was 7 the one who said that we need to re-enroll. Do we have a real 8 handle on how many patrons there are? And here's the answer 9 to that question. And it would also provide information 10 needed to know what it would take to -- to charge for library 11 cards of Kerr County residents who are not city residents. We 12 have some different numbers here. You can see there the 13 active patrons, adult Kerr County, juvenile Kerr County, 14 retired Kerr County. If you -- if you total those three 15 categories and then divide that into, oh, some $460,000 or 16 $470,000, which might be the amount of money we might be asked 17 to pay for the next year, if every single one of them paid and 18 got a new library card, it would be on the order of $135 per 19 year apiece. Just a piece of information. I don't know what 20 to do with that information. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Help me understand this. I 22 think I understand what an active patron is. 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What is an expired patron? 25 Is that a person that's no longer an active patron? 4-24-06 91 1 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes, Commissioner. And I 2 think the definition is, if you haven't used your card in two 3 years, then you're deemed not to be an active patron. That's 4 my recollection. But it's a time period. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do they -- and -- 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me -- one more. So, if I 7 were going to play with some numbers and do some ciphering 8 here, I would really only use the Active Patron column. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My question, I guess, is the -- 11 when you enter the library, you only show your card if you're 12 using the materials or something like that, correct? 13 (Commissioner Nicholson nodded.) 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's no idea -- there's no -- 15 I mean, you can use the library, and I'm sure many do, that 16 are not members. 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I've done that. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the -- 19 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Now, if you've got a 20 transaction of some kind, your library card -- I looked at the 21 library cards. They're bar-coded, so there is a way of 22 recording and accumulating that transaction data. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there -- I mean, and I'm just 24 recalling back to many years ago when I was in Houston as a 25 child. It seems I had to show my library card to get into the 4-24-06 92 1 library back then. I was wondering, is there a way -- I mean, 2 they have -- you mentioned they had the bar code. Seems to me 3 it would be a pretty simple task to just have a bar code 4 machine. That way you could keep track of exactly who's using 5 the library, and we get the -- and it would solve a lot of the 6 uncertainty about who is using it and when they're using it 7 and how much they're using it. 8 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'm going to get the answer 9 to that, and I don't know. I do know that we -- in addition 10 to this data, we have what we call "gate count," and it may be 11 they're doing exactly what you're saying, but -- I don't know 12 if you go through a turnstile or what, but somehow or another, 13 they -- I don't know the answer to that, 'cause I enter from 14 the back way up the elevator. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My other comment would be, I 16 guess I would question slightly Item 5, the second sentence, 17 that there would be a substantial cost of labor and customer 18 anxiety to reregister people. I don't know that I quite agree 19 that customer anxiety would happen. And from a budget 20 standpoint, it's not a huge concern. I mean, I think we need 21 to get a handle on who's using the library first, and if that 22 means we reregister people, we should reregister people. 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Commissioner, the -- what I 24 see in these answers and other indicators dealing with the 25 library is that there's a very strong reluctance to change. 4-24-06 93 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Question, Commissioner. If someone 2 goes into the library and uses the computer, are they required 3 to log in in some way with their library card, or do they just 4 sit down and use it? 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I think they're -- 6 MS. VAN WINKLE: You don't use a card; you just sign 7 your name. The only time you use the card is if you take a 8 book out. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, nonmembers can use the 10 computers? 11 MS. VAN WINKLE: Mm-hmm. There is a gate, and they 12 may be able to count bodies as they go through. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is it -- 14 MS. VAN WINKLE: There's a little gateway. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: If you're wondering -- I 17 think some time ago, I said something about how libraries are 18 changing; I used the term "internet cafe." And, by the way, 19 some libraries are making deals with Starbucks and others and 20 changing the way they do business. But if you're wondering 21 whether or not the users of computers are doing literary 22 research, they're not, 'cause you can see what's on there; 23 it's e-mail, 'cause I walk through there and look over their 24 shoulders. It's -- it's a service. It's a valuable service. 25 I don't know if taxpayers ought to be underwriting it, but 4-24-06 94 1 going to the library to use the internet is -- is very 2 attractive to a lot of people. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If I understand your -- this 5 chart correctly, only about 25 percent of the utilization 6 comes from outside the city limits; is that correct? Would 7 that be a fair assumption? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How do you see that? 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I just totaled up the three 10 categories, adult Kerrville, juvenile Kerrville, retired 11 Kerrville, and I got a total of 12,427. And the total is 12 16,339; that tells me it's about 25 percent. Or, in the 13 alternative, three-quarters of the percent of utilization 14 comes from within the city limits. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, "Adult Kerrville," that 16 means inside the incorporated -- 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That would be my 18 interpretation. I'm looking for somebody to tell me that's 19 not correct. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think that's a good 21 question. And then you have the adult Kerr County. Is that 22 outside the -- or does that include the city of Kerrville? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would think it would be in the 24 county, not the city. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 4-24-06 95 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Otherwise, they wouldn't break 2 it out that way. 3 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's true. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That would be my assumption. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know about that. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I think you can clarify 7 that, but I think it's useful information to -- even what we 8 have here, and I appreciate the discussion we're continuing to 9 have on this and appreciate your efforts in trying to get it, 10 and the whole Library Board's. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I think it will be helpful 12 in our budgeting discussions. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that all you have? 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I want to talk a little bit 17 about Airport Board. We received, Commissioner Williams and 18 I, the first pass at the proposed airport budget. And 19 Commissioner Williams had to leave due to illness, and he was 20 not present for the discussion. It was very limited, so he 21 didn't miss much. But what -- and the numbers, basically, 22 from my standpoint, were thrown out, and said, "Go back to the 23 drawing board, City of Kerrville." The issue that the airport 24 has I think is very similar to what the library has, in that 25 the -- it is very difficult for the City to divorce itself 4-24-06 96 1 from its ownership feeling of the airport, even though they 2 clearly understand that they don't own it; it's half -- it's 3 50-50. I think the same thing happens at the library, but I 4 think the Airport Board has a little bit stronger position, 5 and I think it will require the City to justify every penny 6 that they put in their budget. Their first blush that they 7 handed out at the meeting, there were some extremely 8 out-of-line items. 9 As an example, the one that just -- you know, the 10 City's looking at -- they were billing the Airport Board for 11 12 hours per week of the City Attorney's time, 25 -- almost 25 12 percent of -- and it may not have been the City Attorney; 13 maybe it's the assistant, but one of the two were being billed 14 at that hourly rate, or hourly amount. I couldn't see it, and 15 I asked them -- I said we wanted to see justification for how 16 they came up with that, and Councilman Coleman agreed with me 17 on that. And we basically threw it back to the City, and 18 said -- City staff, and said any -- the top six categories 19 that they have in their budget for man hours, we want to see a 20 line-by-line breakdown at our next meeting, which will be in 21 early May. So, anyway, it's just a -- I think it's just 22 a difficult situation both the library and the airport are 23 going under. 24 And I think the airport is, like I said, at a point 25 that it's going to get the information this year, and it's 4-24-06 97 1 going to be real information. There are -- we may have a -- a 2 lengthy spring in budget hearings over at the airport, but the 3 board will understand, I think, by the time we're done, and so 4 will the City and the County, where every penny goes. And 5 we're looking at -- Commissioner Williams and I have talked 6 about it; we're really looking at a lot of these numbers, you 7 know, to see whether they should even be billed to -- some of 8 the -- the economic development number they had on there, I'm 9 having a hard time wrapping my brain around why this Airport 10 Board should be paying for economic development when the 11 County is funding it and the City is funding that through 12 KEDF. I know the City has their own economic development 13 group, but I don't know that that -- you know, I'm still 14 trying to wrestle with how all that ties together. So, I 15 think the good news is, though, the members of the City 16 Council on the Airport Board, and certainly the County and, I 17 think, at-large members all are very interested in getting a 18 very clear picture of the airport operation and the true 19 budgetary impact to the County and the City. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Want to talk about the 21 terminal? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, yeah. Go ahead. I'll let 23 you go ahead and do that. Or do you want me to do that? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, I was in that part of 25 the discussion before I lost my voice and my brain and took 4-24-06 98 1 leave of the meeting. There was an item to amend the -- to 2 amend the budget to enable the award to the low bidder for the 3 construction of the terminal. Keep in mind that the last time 4 Commissioner Letz and I saw this project, it was $300,000-plus 5 underfunded. So, using the Judge's word, one with reasonable 6 sensibilities would ask the question, where did the $300,000 7 come from? And we were told that there were funds remaining 8 in other airport and capital improvement projects that TexDOT 9 had funded on a 90/10 basis in the past, and that all that was 10 required to use those funds was a budget amendment. So, that 11 clarified which budget, because we weren't told which budget. 12 So, it turns it to be the terminal budget. And a lot of 13 questions ensued about where those dollars were, and how did 14 we get the authority to use those dollars? We were assured by 15 staff and staff's immediate executive in charge, which would 16 be the City Manager, that budget amendments of this type and 17 effect are not uncommon. What would you like to add, 18 Commissioner? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Only thing I want to add to that 20 is the -- I guess a little bit further, the new bids that came 21 in were still 300,000 -- the low bidder was Huser 22 Construction. The bid was still $300,000 short of what the 23 budget -- the amount was that we had to build the terminal. 24 And TexDOT agreed to go -- as Commissioner Williams said, go 25 back and use unexpended funds from other projects at the 4-24-06 99 1 airport and apply those funds to the terminal project, which 2 they had told Commissioner Williams and I they wouldn't do 3 previously, but they agreed to do that. We did ask the 4 question, what happened -- I mean, are these funds that come 5 back to the City and the County if we don't -- if we choose 6 not to do this? And the answer was, no, they don't. They 7 have to be expended at the airport. They're not dollars -- 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, the 10 percent match is 9 City/County. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's in place. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Part of it came from the fencing 13 project we did several years ago, and I think a large portion 14 of that project came in under bid or under project. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. The apron project. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the apron project did. So 17 these unused portions of that fund were -- the grant funds 18 will then be applied to this new project, and they -- there 19 was not an option for the City or County to take the funds out 20 in cash or anything. They had to be used on an airport 21 project. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And, so, in -- with that, in 23 that thinking right there, there was over $300,000 laying 24 around? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 4-24-06 100 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good way to put it. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The good news -- 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Doesn't that sound like a lot 4 of money? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It is a lot of money, in my 6 mind. But the very good news is -- a couple. One is that 7 it's a positive thing; terminal's going up, which is very good 8 for Kerrville airport and everybody else. The other thing is 9 that it shows a lot of work and imaginative thinking by TexDOT 10 Aviation, and we -- the Kerrville airport has been the 11 recipient of a lot of funds, huge grants in recent years, and 12 this is kind of -- kind of goes onto TexDOT Aviation is 13 somewhat taking Kerrville airport under its wing and is doing 14 everything I think it can to push grants our way. 'Cause, I 15 mean, the whole thing was very -- is very good. I think 16 there's -- you might have little bit of a -- 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Surprise. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- surprise, as Commissioner 19 Williams said, and I think the surprise goes in that the 20 Airport Board was left out of the loop in all of this. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It is positive. It is 22 positive, and I don't want to reflect any negative connotation 23 to it, because we will get the terminal built. And TexDOT has 24 -- has seen fit to pour a lot of its capital improvement 25 moneys and grant moneys and all that kind of funds that they 4-24-06 101 1 have into this airport, and that's very, very wonderful. 2 There is, however, one other issue that is confronting us that 3 you need to know about, and that is that on our application 4 before the F.A.A. for a waiver of, for lack of a better -- 5 there is a formal terminology for this, but highway intrusion 6 into landing -- into the landing strip air space. And Highway 7 27 does, in fact, intrude into this particular air space that 8 they have -- delineate as bare minimums in two locations, and 9 if you drive it as often as Commissioner Letz and I do, you'll 10 know exactly where those two spots are. And the question is, 11 what do you do about that? It could rock along the way it is 12 and nothing happen, and the taxiways will continue to be 13 improved, but that would -- that would not allow us to do an 14 instrument landing system at a later date because of these 15 highway intrusions. And the F.A.A. has not granted us a 16 waiver for these two highway intrusions. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And will not. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And has said they will not 19 grant a waiver on their rules for this purpose. So, that 20 means you either move the runway or you move the highway, 21 either of which is a very, very costly, costly project. 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The last time I had any 24 discussion with TexDOT on both this level and the district 25 level, there was no inclination in their immediate future to 4-24-06 102 1 moving that highway at their expense. Now, they'll consider 2 anything if you want to fund it, but they're not too sanguine 3 about doing it. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are there other holdups other 5 than the I.L.S. system? 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. We could continue to -- 7 and this is a question that Commissioner Letz and I have asked 8 and will continue to ask. Air traffic can continue to move up 9 and down the way it does right now, unimpeded because of this 10 refusal to grant this waiver. Instrument landing becomes an 11 issue, but also, there is other technology out there, the 12 geo-positioning type technology which very soon, within the 13 next four or five years, could replace instrument landing as 14 we know and love it. So, I -- you know, I think we have a lot 15 of brainstorming to do about this issue, but you need to know 16 about it. It's an issue that has to be resolved. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's real important. Under 18 current technology, it halts the instrument landing system -- 19 I.L.S. system we're trying to get. There are other options. 20 There's options that they're -- I mean, there's -- you know, 21 it's -- the road does run parallel to the runway; it runs at 22 an angle to the runway, and it angles closer and closer as you 23 get to Center Point. There's a couple of things that can be 24 done. You can shift -- there's a problem at that end, and 25 also a problem at the Kerrville end. You can shift the 4-24-06 103 1 landing zone down the runway a little bit and you can solve 2 the problem in near Kerrville where there's -- Central Freight 3 is in that area where it kind of hooks -- the highway hooks 4 around. That can be solved by shifting where you land on the 5 runway coming from that direction. The other end is a little 6 bit harder, 'cause there you have to either shift -- pivot the 7 runway or pivot the highway; one of the two have to get moved 8 further apart. But there are other things that we can look 9 at, and there's other -- and there's ways to fund it, 10 possibly. 11 Dr. Davis let us know that the same situation 12 occurred at Ruidoso airport, and he flies out there a fair 13 amount, and he inquired as to how they were able to solve the 14 problem, and it was solved through a line item in the federal 15 budget. That's how -- the dollars we're talking to move the 16 highway is about 10 million; probably to move the runway, 17 about the same, so we're probably talking about a bunch of 18 money on this thing to get it done. And it's the type of 19 items that other airports, when they do get them solved, are 20 basically going into the federal budget through our 21 congressional representation and getting a line item that this 22 needs to be done, and it's funded that way. That's really the 23 only chance to get it funded under the current I.L.S. system. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We would call it pork. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think they're "earmarks." 4-24-06 104 1 Congressional earmarks. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Earmarks. They call it pork 3 in some other -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, it's national security 5 issues. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: A lot of ways to examine it. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Lots of things there are being 9 looked at. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Your comments about -- 11 issue about the Airport Board being out of the loop on some of 12 the decision-making process reminded me of a conversation that 13 we had about a year and a half, two years ago, a couple of 14 City Managers ago, where we were acknowledging that, unlike 15 some boards, the Airport Board has some pretty clear and 16 direct management responsibility. And I think we may have had 17 a consensus that it would be good if the Airport Manager 18 reported to the Airport Board, and I personally believe that 19 would be a step-rate improvement. And then not long ago, I 20 see where the Airport Manager has been pushed further down in 21 the Kerrville organization. Not only does he not -- now not 22 report to the City Manager, but he reports to a level of 23 management below that. I really think it would -- that we 24 could do a lot better job of managing our airport if that 25 Airport Manager reported to the Airport Board. 4-24-06 105 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That will probably come up 2 at budget time. 3 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I hope so. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And there's some way it's -- I 5 think it can be handled. And it is -- I would suspect, 6 anyway, that with his insurance and benefits and that type of 7 package, it has to do with interlocal agreement -- 8 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- with the City or the County. 10 Anyway, we're looking at making progress, bottom line on that. 11 And they also -- the good news is that the -- it's just a -- 12 it's working through the municipal system of City staff. We 13 have, it appears to me, full support from the two City 14 Councilmen to try to -- that entered in this agreement with 15 us. It's not like they're saying, "No, no, no," and trying to 16 protect the City staff. And they're not doing anything wrong; 17 they're just not used to operating in this manner. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just -- the final note I 19 have is that it was Huser Construction of Kerrville was the 20 low bidder. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: And the Airport Board did, in fact, 22 award that? 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's basically awarded by 4-24-06 106 1 TexDOT; we just nod our heads and agree. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, TexDOT actually does 3 it. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Do we have any other -- before we 5 move on, it was my understanding, because of the new 6 technology that's coming on stream, that the F.A.A. had at 7 some point declared a moratorium on new I.L.S. systems being 8 installed. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They declared the moratorium 10 on -- they have taken the position not to fund them. They 11 used to be involved in the funding mechanism to some extent. 12 They no longer will provide direct funding for I.L.S. I don't 13 know about geo-positioning. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I believe on the others, the 15 geo-positioning system and some of the other systems coming 16 online, they have not -- you have to be specifically cited as 17 approved, and I think 35 have been approved up till now to try 18 as test cases. I think the direction is that the idea -- or 19 the thought of people I've talked to in the industry is that 20 more airports will be, and they're going that direction to 21 make that the -- the format. But right now, they're just -- 22 it's not -- anything other than I.L.S. is not approved without 23 an exception or some kind of a test designation. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Is it realistic for us to think that, 25 without some F.A.A. or other federal funding for an I.L.S. 4-24-06 107 1 system, that we could go forward, even with an I.L.S. system? 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't think we can go 3 forward with the road -- 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's leave that out of it. I'm just 5 talking about the cost. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's -- we've -- actually, we 7 have been able to do -- about half of it's already paid for. 8 The only components of the I.L.S. that we don't have now is 9 the guide slope -- glide slope, which is a -- that's, like, 10 400-some thousand. And it is -- I think if the road issue is 11 resolved, that can probably be overcome. There's -- 12 JUDGE TINLEY: With federal funding? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's a match -- or, yes. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other member of the Court have 15 anything to offer in connection with their liaison or 16 committee assignments? Any elected officials have any reports 17 they wish to give the Court today? Any other reports? At 18 this time, I'm going to recess the Commissioners Court 19 meeting, and I will convene a meeting of the Kerr County 20 Juvenile Facility Board of Trustees posted for Monday, April 21 the 24th, 2006, at 11 a.m. It's past that time now. We were 22 delayed because of Commissioners Court business. 23 (The Commissioners Court meeting was recessed at 11:41 a.m., and a Kerr County Juvenile Facility 24 Board of Trustees meeting was held, the transcript of which is contained in a separate document.) 25 - - - - - - - - - - 4-24-06 108 1 (The Kerr County Juvenile Facility Board of Trustees meeting was concluded at 11:55 a.m., and the regular 2 Commissioners Court meeting was reopened.) 3 - - - - - - - - - - 4 JUDGE TINLEY: I will reconvene the Kerr County 5 Commissioners Court agenda, and let's come to Item 15, the 6 last item on our agenda. Consider, discuss, and take 7 appropriate action to modify or change the status of Kerr 8 County Juvenile Facility from a facility operated pursuant to 9 Chapter 63, Human Resources Code, to a status which is 10 appropriate for a short-term preadjudication juvenile 11 detention facility. I put this on the agenda because there 12 was recently a change in the nature of use of the detention 13 facility. It had previously been a long-term post- and a 14 short-term preadjudication facility, and last year, while it 15 was being used for that purpose, the Court adopted an order to 16 operate it pursuant to Chapter 63 of the Human Resources Code, 17 which provides for the ownership, establishment, operation, 18 and staffing of a long-term residential facility. And as I 19 see it, with the change in the type of operation we've got out 20 here, it's no longer a long-term residential facility, but 21 rather a short-term. And what status would be appropriate, 22 I'm not sure, but it appears that the status of the long-term 23 under Chapter 63 of the Human Resources Code is not 24 appropriate. And I think the County Attorney has some 25 thoughts or ideas on this issue. 4-24-06 109 1 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. The status actually 2 requires a one-digit change; y'all need to move from 63 to 62, 3 Chapter 62 of the Human Resources Code. I believe I gave 4 everybody a copy of the statute this morning. Under 62.001, 5 it states that any county may establish detention homes. And 6 "detention homes," while it doesn't say exactly preadjudicated 7 facilities, has been interpreted by T.J.P.C. to include, 8 pursuant to the Family Code, secure juvenile preadjudication 9 detention facilities. And, so, if you move from Chapter 63 to 10 Chapter 62, that'll alleviate the problem. Practically 11 speaking, it means that you -- technically, you don't need 12 your trustee status any more,, either. It also means that 13 Commissioners Court can make direct decisions about the 14 facility without moving into an additional status. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How do we do that second point? 16 Do you -- how do the trustees eliminate themselves? Not 17 permanently; just from being trustees. 18 MR. EMERSON: I think Commissioners Court itself can 19 take care of that, because Commissioners Court established the 20 trustees to start with. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We'll need a separate agenda 22 item to specifically do that, I presume? 23 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: A separate agenda item at a 25 subsequent date? Or can it be addressed today under the 4-24-06 110 1 current -- under the styling of the current agenda item? 2 MR. EMERSON: I don't have the styling in front of 3 me, I'm sorry. But -- 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It says change the status 5 from a facility operated under 63 to a status which is 6 appropriate. 7 MR. EMERSON: Yeah, I think -- 8 JUDGE TINLEY: It seems like we've got both ends 9 covered. 10 MR. EMERSON: I believe so. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: All it requires is a motion 12 to discontinue operating the Juvenile Detention Facility under 13 Chapter 63 of the Human Recourses Code and establish as a 14 Commissioners Court that we are going to continue the 15 operation under Chapter 62-point whatever -- 001? Is that 16 correct? 17 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 19 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to 21 discontinue the operation of the Kerr County Juvenile Facility 22 under Chapter 63 of the Human Resources Code, and to change it 23 to an operation under Commissioners Court under Chapter 62 of 24 the Human Resources Code. Does that correctly state your 25 motion? 4-24-06 111 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I believe so. If the County 2 Attorney's happy, I'm happy. 3 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, I have a motion and second. 5 Any question or discussion? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that includes 62.001 and 7 62.002, the way I heard that motion. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It would be the entire 9 chapter, would it not, Mr. County Attorney? 10 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Now, the other question I have 12 is that the -- if there was a reason or something came up to 13 use it as a postadjudicated facility in the future, we would 14 just go back and change it back to a 63 and a 62, maybe, or 15 something like that, and then do -- set up the trustees if 16 necessary again? 17 MR. EMERSON: Correct. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or discussion? 20 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 21 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. 4-24-06 112 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This could turn into our new 2 burn ban. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's on and it's off. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Any member of the Court have anything 5 further to offer on the agenda for today? We'll stand 6 adjourned. 7 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 12:00 p.m.) 8 - - - - - - - - - - 9 10 STATE OF TEXAS | 11 COUNTY OF KERR | 12 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 13 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my 14 capacity as County Clerk of the Commissioners Court 15 of Kerr County, Texas, at the time and place 16 heretofore set forth. 17 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 27th day of 18 April, 2006. 19 20 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk BY: _________________________________ 21 Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk Certified Shorthand Reporter 22 23 24 25 4-24-06