1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Regular Session 10 Monday, May 8, 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 May 8, 2006 2 PAGE --- Commissioners' Comments 5 3 1.1 Status of Kerr County Indigent Health Care program; 4 consider/discuss, take appropriate action to modify or revise Indigent Health Care policy provisions 8 5 1.2 Presentation on Outdoor Burning 33 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 6 approve a resolution of support for Center Point Volunteer Fire Department grant application to 7 FEMA, Department of Homeland Security 46 1.4 Consider/discuss, approve application for 8 Comptroller's Tobacco Compliance Grant 47 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 9 reappoint Commissioner Williams to Airport Board for a two-year term effective June 1, 2006 48 10 1.6 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to open bids for Town Creek Crossing improvements, 11 Pct. 1 & 3 49 1.7 Public Hearing for preliminary revision of plat 12 for Lot 7 and Privilege Creek Road right-of-way, Privilege Creek Ranches, Pct. 3 51 13 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on contracting with consulting engineer for review 14 of engineer documents in Kerr County Subdivision Rules and Regulations 52 15 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on modifications to Road Construction Standards in 16 Kerr County Subdivision Rules and Regulations 57 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for 17 concept plan of Falls Ranch, Pct. 3 58 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 18 have the 1978 "Simplified Method to Establish Base Flood Elevations" for Kerr County updated 19 and to consider a workshop on floodplain 63 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for 20 Road & Bridge to purchase a ditch bucket attachment 73 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 21 abandon, vacate, and discontinue approximately 95 feet of Drummond Drive in Precinct 1 75 22 1.14 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action con- cerning the bid award to Martin Marietta Materials 23 for cold mix and black base 77 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action con- 24 cerning Manufactured Home Rental Communities Rules, how they apply to property at 150 Lydick, and the 25 possibility of a variance from same, Pct. 1 80 3 1 I N D E X May 8, 2006 2 PAGE 1.16 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 3 review revision of plat for Lots 19 & 20 of Hidden Hills and set public hearing for same 86 4 1.17 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to review revision of plat for Lot 25 of Twin 5 Springs Ranch II and set public hearing for same 92 1.18 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for 6 revision of plat for Falling Water, Lot 117A & 116D, creating Lot 117R, Pct. 3 104 7 1.19 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on Employees' Health Insurance coverage for 2007 8 with regards to process and timing 105 1.20 Consider "Library Agreement" between Kerr County 9 and Kerrville and authorize County Judge to give notice to City of Kerrville of County's intent to 10 terminate and renegotiate the agreement 109 1.21 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 11 approve grant agreements with Texas Department of Agriculture for award under "Texas Yes!" Program 12 in connection with event under sponsorship of Kerrville CVB to benefit Kerrville Boardwalk Fund 115 13 1.22 Reports from the following departments: 14 Information Technology 122 Road and Bridge 127 15 Facilities and Maintenance 129 Collections 135 16 4.1 Pay Bills 138 17 4.2 Budget Amendments 142 4.3 Late Bills --- 18 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 157 19 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments 158 20 --- Adjourned 163 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 On Monday, May 8, 2006, at 9:00 a.m., a regular meeting 2 of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in the 3 Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, Kerrville, 4 Texas, and the following proceedings were had in open court: 5 P R O C E E D I N G S 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. 7 Let me call to order this regularly scheduled meeting of the 8 Kerr County Commissioners Court posted for this date and time, 9 Monday, May the 8th, 2006, at 9 a.m. It is that time now. 10 Commissioner Letz? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Would everyone please stand and 12 join me in a moment of prayer, followed by the pledge? 13 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. At this time, if there's 15 any member of the public or the audience that wishes to be 16 heard on an item that is not a listed agenda item, feel free 17 to come forward at this time. If you wish to speak on a 18 designated agenda item, we'd ask that you wait until that 19 time, and it would help me if you'll fill out a participation 20 form at the back of the room so that I won't miss you when 21 that item comes up. It's not absolutely essential. When we 22 get to that item, if you wish to be heard, get my attention in 23 some fashion and we'll see that you're heard. But at this 24 time, if there's any member of the audience or the public that 25 wishes to be heard on an item that is not a listed agenda 5-8-06 5 1 item, please come forward at this time. Seeing no one to come 2 forward, we'll move on. Commissioner Letz, what do you have 3 for us this morning? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just we had some pretty good 5 rain over most of the eastern part of the county. Out in the 6 far southern part of the county where I live, there was only 7 about 2 and a half inches, but up north of Comfort, they had 8 about 5 and a half inches, so it was a -- pretty general. 9 Other than that, that's all I have. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: It's good -- it's good and 11 muddy out in the western part of the county, too. I like 12 that. Just a comment on the series of articles that the West 13 Kerr Current's been publishing on some of the pioneer west 14 Kerr County families, and the last one was on the Baldwin 15 family. Previously, they had one done on the Oehler family 16 and some others, and I -- I really like this. It gives you -- 17 the reader a little better grasp of the culture of west Kerr 18 County. I didn't know that Commissioner Baldwin came from 19 such a distinguished lineage, but I could have guessed that. 20 But, anyhow, thanks for doing these. They're really well 21 done. That's all I've got. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Seems like it would bring a 23 little more respect to some of us, too. (Laughter.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Here's your opportunity, Commissioner 25 Baldwin. 5-8-06 6 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Only thing I wanted to 2 say was congratulations to the Tivy golf team making -- going 3 to state, to the state championship. It's not an individual, 4 but the whole team, and I think it's -- that's tremendous in 5 itself. We have one girl from Tivy going to state in the 6 track and field, and that means that she is one of eight 7 people -- eight girls left in the state of Texas, so that's a 8 feat in itself. I'm telling you, it's not an easy thing to 9 get to the state tournament in Austin, so congratulations to 10 them. And I understand there's some kids from down in the 11 eastern end of the county that are doing the same, too, but I 12 won't mention it to anybody. That's all. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Williams? 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, it was a moment of 15 pride, I thought, on Friday afternoon to see the United States 16 Olympic flag raised over Kerr County, and I think that's quite 17 an event and quite a big deal. And I note also with interest 18 that, in connection with that, almost 3,700 or 3,800 room 19 nights were booked in Kerr County hotels -- Kerrville hotels 20 for -- to accommodate the visitors to Kerr County, which I 21 sort of translate into a pretty halfway decent economic impact 22 for all of us here in the days ahead. That's it. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. I, too, was privileged to 24 be out at the Hill Country Shooting Sports Center on Friday 25 evening where they kicked off that World Cup Shoot. Some of 5-8-06 7 1 you may have wondered why we had all these flags out here in 2 front of the courthouse. Those flags represent the 3 approximately 50 nations that are shooting, competing in the 4 events being held out there. That started the end of last 5 week, will continue through this week, and I believe will run 6 through the first part of the following week, if I'm not 7 mistaken. I don't have the exact schedule, but as 8 Commissioner Williams said, I -- I'm not sure people really 9 realize the full economic impact that these kind of people 10 have, and the number of people, and then the -- the support 11 staff and groups that they bring with them. There's about 325 12 shooters, I believe, but they -- they then have other members 13 of the teams, the coaches, the families, and it -- it stacks 14 up to a pretty high number. And if there were some real 15 professional effort made to calculate the economic impact of 16 what this one event is -- is going to mean for Kerr County, I 17 think folks would be absolutely amazed. 18 It -- it doesn't impact some of the areas where we 19 would otherwise be lacking. It doesn't impact our 20 infrastructure; doesn't pose any additional requirements on 21 it. We've just got some very widely traveled visitors coming 22 to our city with full pockets, and leaving with them less than 23 full. So, it's a wonderful event, and the distinction of 24 being one of the handful of official Olympic training sites I 25 think is a fabulous distinction for -- for Kerr County and 5-8-06 8 1 this area, and I think it's going to bring a lot of 2 recognition to us. And I'd invite all of you to go out and 3 observe some of the goings on out there. I think you'll be 4 amazed at the international cultures exhibited and -- and the 5 professionalism that's exhibited out there. And it's really 6 going to be a fabulous thing for this area. 7 Let's move on with the agenda, if we might. First 8 item on the agenda is the status of the Kerr County Indigent 9 Health Care Program and consider, discuss, and take 10 appropriate action to modify or revise Kerr County Indigent 11 Health Care policy provision. Beth Taylor, our Indigent 12 Health Care Coordinator at the local hospital, is with us 13 today, and she and I have been talking about maybe some 14 modifications or changes or additions to our policies that 15 might be of benefit in bringing in a little bit more 16 definition to those policies so that it's easier for her to 17 qualify those people and to impose requirements on them as a 18 condition of their eligibility. She's provided us with 19 some -- some suggestions, some ideas, and certainly if there 20 are any others that occur to her over the -- over the coming 21 months, I've asked her to bring those to our attention. And, 22 of course, if any member of the Court has any. Ms. Taylor 23 tells me that, at the outset, she has a -- a policy handbook 24 that I presume is mandated down through the feds down through 25 the states and so forth, and it's somewhat akin to the San 5-8-06 9 1 Antonio telephone directory. But so long as any policies we 2 adopt do not conflict with the provisions of -- of that 3 mandated voluminous policies that she's given to deal with, 4 that we can do so, essentially. So, I'll turn it over to her. 5 Thank you for being here. 6 MS. TAYLOR: Thank y'all for letting me come and 7 share with you. I know that you're vastly aware of how many 8 payments that I've been certifying since I've been here, so I 9 thought maybe you'd want to see who was doing all that. I 10 went to training in Austin in January, and -- you know, 'cause 11 I was kind of thrown to the wolves in this, and the program 12 had been -- no personnel had been handling it for several 13 months. So, to be honest, it was -- it was quite backlogged, 14 and that is the reason for so many carry-overs from the last 15 fiscal year, and why our -- our payments have been so high so 16 far this year. I brought, for anybody that would like to have 17 one, a copy of the applications, and I've put -- kind of 18 adapted some cover sheets to give people a lot of information 19 about the program, what I need when they submit their 20 applications. But the applications that the State wants us to 21 use are pretty generic. I mean, they, you know, ask for a 22 reasonable amount of information, but it's up to the 23 coordinators to decide, you know, how much they want each 24 applicant -- you know, how in-depth they want to go to prove 25 it. 5-8-06 10 1 So, I brought copies of those for anybody that wants 2 to see it. And what I'm asking for from the Commissioners 3 Court is to be able -- and I don't know how else to put it, 4 but to give me more teeth to work with. You know, to -- 5 there's a lot of people that are in and out of the program, 6 and so I'm kind of just going to give you some of my -- what 7 I've seen in the past few months that I've been there. My 8 office, of course, is over at the hospital, and I think a lot 9 of people don't see the indigent program as being anything but 10 a part of the hospital. I think because the office is there, 11 and that there is a medical third-party person who will go to 12 a person's room who doesn't have insurance and have them fill 13 out the -- the application, or assist them to fill out the 14 application, I get a lot of applications for people who are in 15 the hospital that don't have insurance. Which is great; this 16 is what the program is for, is for people who qualify and 17 don't have any other source of payment. 18 But what I see a lot of, too, is that because I'm 19 there, it's really convenient. There's a lot of paperwork. 20 Any time I receive an application, that's going to generate a 21 lot of paperwork, because not only do you have to go through 22 it; then I have to send out notification of an interview, you 23 know. And a lot of people, once the crisis is over, they 24 don't care, until they -- they're -- okay, back up. They're 25 denied if they don't make the interview. There is an 5-8-06 11 1 automatic denial, and at that point, the handbook just kind of 2 leaves it open. They come in 'cause either they start getting 3 the bills or they have another medical crisis. Then we fill 4 out another application; we go through the whole process 5 again. 6 So, one of the things that I thought would be good 7 for Kerr County to put in place is, if you're denied because 8 you do not respond to the appeal for an interview to come in, 9 or you don't get the paperwork that I need, the -- you know, 10 copies of whatever information I need back in a reasonable 11 amount of time, which is 14 days, then not only are you 12 denied, but you can't reapply again for "X" amount of time. I 13 think that would help lessen the paperwork load, and also have 14 the people understand this is not just something that we're 15 just throwing out there all the time; that it's not going to 16 be easy to do. You know, to understand that -- you know, that 17 when we ask for something, we want you to come in, it's 18 serious business. So, that's one of the things. Another 19 thing is getting -- giving false information to me. Now, I 20 think they're denied once we prove that it's been false 21 information. I think we should have -- be able to have a 22 penalty passed that they can't reapply for a year, two years, 23 however you want to do it. So, these are some of the things. 24 I think y'all all got the printout that I had sent 25 over there about some of the ideas I had had of what we could 5-8-06 12 1 do, again, with -- for lack of a better word, to give me more 2 teeth to work with. Another thing is, I would like to be able 3 to -- I know everybody's busy. And I think at one point, 4 there -- we -- the indigent coordinator could call over to the 5 Tax Assessor's office and find out, are there any more 6 vehicles registered under this person's name? The hardest 7 thing to work with on the applications is, people say, "No, 8 I'm not working. No, I don't have anything. No, no, no." 9 Well, it's hard to prove a negative, you know. "Okay, I'm not 10 working. Prove it." I -- "This is the only car I have," or 11 "I don't have any car." So I thought, well, is there a way 12 that I could work with the Tax Assessor's office to not take 13 up so much of their time, maybe create a faxable form that, 14 once a week, I could, you know, send over? 'Cause I have 14 15 days to process the application. You know, "Do you have any 16 other vehicles registered to this person under this name?" 17 And at their convenience, they could be able to look it up and 18 fax it back to me. That was a thought I had. 19 I know the jail nurse is busy, busy, busy, and I 20 thought maybe, too, we could have a faxable form back and 21 forth to her as clients -- I call them clients -- as inmates 22 that are on the indigent program are discharged or sent to 23 T.D.C., that she could let me know so we could keep better 24 track of -- of who is actually on the program and who is no 25 longer on the program. Let me see. I've got a whole list of 5-8-06 13 1 stuff, and I don't want to take up so much of your time. I 2 know that Tommy Tomlinson and Mindy and I had met with a 3 company that has software for this program, and I really 4 think, if it's at all possible, that we -- that would help 5 keep better track of clients and their eligibility, 6 everything. I mean, it will track things that we're not able 7 to track, like duplicate Social Security numbers. It's never 8 been used somewhere else, and when I first came into the 9 office over there, everything was done by pencil and paper, so 10 I've put a lot on spreadsheets on the computer. That's easier 11 to -- excuse me -- pull up information. But I think that 12 software would certainly give us, you know, more ways to be 13 able to control duplicate claims and things like that, that 14 come through. Excuse me, allergies. 15 There are some times -- and I don't know how y'all 16 would feel about this, and it would be totally, you know, if I 17 feel like there was no other way, but I think sometimes if I 18 would have -- could have the authority to go to someone's 19 house. I mean, I did that in a previous job, and it doesn't 20 intimidate me. I know it's a different clientele that I'll be 21 working with, but, you know, to verify some things, you know, 22 as far as what they're telling me on it. Some concerns that I 23 have identified is, again, I think everything that I send to 24 people on the application, everything has Sid Peterson logo on 25 it, and I would -- I think it probably would behoove the 5-8-06 14 1 program if I could have, you know, some -- a County seal, some 2 stationary, anything. In other words, it would come from the 3 County, so they would understand this is not the hospital. 4 'Cause I'm totally always confused with all the other 5 programs, like financial aid and stuff like that. They 6 automatically send them up to me. So, there is a very blurred 7 line between the County indigent program and people 8 understanding that it is a government program that is offered, 9 and it's not through the hospital. I mean, that line really 10 has become very blurred. I think that's pretty much 11 everything that I had on here. I'll probably -- when I leave 12 here, I'll think of some other things, but I will open it up 13 to you. Do y'all have any questions for me? 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Ms. Taylor? 15 MS. TAYLOR: I thought you might have one or two. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The -- it's the first time 17 that I've ever seen anyone from the Indigent Health Care come 18 over and actually offer some ideas to make the program better, 19 and I appreciate that very much. We have talked about -- and 20 I think it's worth talking about again, is -- is this idea of 21 linking via computer different entities. I could see a 22 possibility here of being linked to the Tax Assessor's office, 23 the Appraisal District office and those kinds of things, for 24 her to just automatically get -- get the information that she 25 needs. I guess we can ask our I.T. guy about that with our 5-8-06 15 1 new programs. My big question is, do you have a lot of 2 illegal aliens apply? And the key word is "illegal." And if 3 so, do -- do we grant some of them some of our services? 4 MS. TAYLOR: According to the handbook by the State, 5 it -- the illegal aliens, even though they are here illegally, 6 if they are residents of Kerr County, or any county in Texas, 7 that that -- it does not make them ineligible because they're 8 here illegally. But to answer your other question, as far as 9 I know, I only have two people on the program that don't have 10 Social Security cards, and I saw their -- their green cards, 11 so I don't think that's a big problem. I mean, it hasn't been 12 since I've been there. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. What triggered that 14 was, I just saw in the national news this morning -- 15 MS. TAYLOR: Mm-hmm. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You know, they've got to 17 focus on something, and today they're looking at the drain on 18 the health programs across the nation. I was just wondering. 19 I'm sure there are some. Thank you very much. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Beth, thank you for coming. 21 Appreciate it very much, and thank you for your efforts on 22 behalf of the County and this program. It's a major 23 program -- it's a major expense, and if there's any way that 24 we can tighten up the rules and the regulations within the 25 boundaries of the law, we want to do that. 5-8-06 16 1 MS. TAYLOR: Sure. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If you can, can you tell me, 3 what is a Form 117 and what's on it? 4 MS. TAYLOR: A Form 117 is the notice of 5 ineligibility, and that basically is what I send out when 6 someone, again, does not come in for an interview, doesn't 7 submit what I need, or I -- I get information that they are no 8 longer eligible. Like, this one lady called the other day and 9 left me a call-back number, which happened to be a Bandera 10 number, and she was on the program -- excuse me. So, I 11 answered her questions and stuff, and then said, "Why are you 12 at the Bandera number?" She said, well, she'd had surgery, 13 and this was the people who could take care of her. And I 14 happened to know when she applied that she was living with a 15 boyfriend in Ingram, so I said, "Are you going back to this 16 address?" And she said, "No, never." I said, "Do you have 17 somewhere -- are you planning on coming back to Kerr County in 18 the near future?" And she said, "Well, I don't have anything 19 planned." So I said, "I'm sorry, you're now ineligible for 20 this program." And at that point -- so, there are different 21 reasons that people -- but Form 117 is the notice of 22 ineligibility. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And there are several 24 categories that would put an individual ineligible? 25 MS. TAYLOR: Right. Yes, sir, there are. They have 5-8-06 17 1 to be residents, income -- there are four of them, and of 2 course, I'm standing in front of you and I can't remember 3 them, but there are four different reasons why people qualify 4 as ineligible. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In all cases, indigent 6 health care is a reimbursable type program? The amount of 7 money we spend either goes directly to the hospital or to the 8 health care provider? 9 MS. TAYLOR: Yes, sir. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It never goes to the 11 individual? 12 MS. TAYLOR: No. No. And I've had that come up. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's always after-the-fact; 14 is that correct? 15 MS. TAYLOR: Yes, mm-hmm. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. So, really -- okay. 17 You identified -- you identify as a concern Indigent Health 18 Care clients who consistently use the emergency room as their 19 means to obtain the services of a physician. 20 MS. TAYLOR: Right. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Do you have suggestions on 22 how that can be remedied? 23 MS. TAYLOR: I thought about it, and that's why I 24 kind of brought it out, to see if anybody else did, 'cause I 25 don't know how -- how to -- other than to try to talk with 5-8-06 18 1 them. We all know how difficult it is to find -- at times to 2 find a physician in Kerrville, and I do get people who are 3 made eligible on the programs; they will say, "Well, what 4 doctor? I can't find a doctor to go to." So, often they end 5 up in the E.R. There are some cases that I see as the claims 6 come through that they're continually using the E.R. for 7 whatever reason. They're in pain, so they come in, and those 8 are the ones that I wish there was something. And, no, I'm 9 sorry to say, I don't have a really good solution to that one. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Generally speaking, anyone 11 who shows up at an emergency room for treatment is given 12 treatment, right? 13 MS. TAYLOR: Yes. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's the policy of the 15 hospital? 16 MS. TAYLOR: Yes, mm-hmm. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And then they figure out how 18 the payment's going to come? 19 MS. TAYLOR: Right. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, it's a real sticky 21 issue, isn't it? 22 MS. TAYLOR: Mm-hmm. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there a -- on that issue with 24 the physician, do other counties contract with a specific 25 physician or physicians' group? 5-8-06 19 1 MS. TAYLOR: Some do. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that is who they have to go 3 to? 4 MS. TAYLOR: Yes, some do. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that something you could 6 inquire about? 7 MS. TAYLOR: We could, but I will tell you, because 8 we pay on DRG, or similar to Medicaid, that, you know, a 9 physician usually will only have so many of his patient load 10 be indigent or Medicaid and stuff, because they get reimbursed 11 on a lesser amount. So, I don't know -- I don't know how easy 12 that would be. I certainly could look into it, but I don't 13 know. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One thing I was thinking of was 15 Franklin Clinic. 16 MS. TAYLOR: Franklin Clinic doesn't see any of our 17 clients. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And won't? 19 MS. TAYLOR: Not as far as I know. I know they 20 don't see -- I've never had contact with them, but they don't 21 see any of our clients. 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Ms. Taylor, I also 23 appreciate you being here. 24 MS. TAYLOR: Thank you. 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Offering to help us with 5-8-06 20 1 this expensive issue. Eligibility requirements include where 2 you reside? 3 MS. TAYLOR: Yes. 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Things like that, but they 5 also include income, assets? 6 MS. TAYLOR: Mm-hmm. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Can you just give me an 8 idea of who's indigent and who's not? 9 MS. TAYLOR: The -- it went up $4 recently. After 10 you go through the formula that the State gives us to -- you 11 know, this is the amount, we have to determine the household. 12 Who is eligible people in the household? If there's a spouse, 13 but the spouse is on S.S.I., we can't look at any of the 14 spouse's income, so that would be a one-member household. 15 But, anyway, once we figure out the size of the household, 16 then -- and we go through the gyrations of, you know, 17 deducting this, dividing it by this and stuff, we get down to 18 a single-member household has to have under $172 a month or 19 less. Which is very, very low. I mean, I understand that. 20 Again, have you people that -- and you're always going to have 21 them, I understand that, who know how to work the system, who 22 know how to answer the questions. And, like I said, how do 23 you prove a negative? That's the biggest obstacle I have. 24 You know, you say no, no, no. Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: You're an employee of Sid 5-8-06 21 1 Peterson? 2 MS. TAYLOR: Mm-hmm. 3 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Do you have other duties 4 other than -- 5 MS. TAYLOR: Yes. And I will tell you, this -- this 6 is a full-time job. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: What other kind of things 8 do you do? 9 MS. TAYLOR: I work with the -- in the Social 10 Services department, and mostly data entry, and when the other 11 lady's not there, answering the phone. I mean, it's not that 12 much, but 25 percent of my time is supposed to be dedicated to 13 Social Services. 14 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Are prisoners' medical 15 expenses paid under this program? 16 MS. TAYLOR: Some are. Most of them are for 17 medications. Some of them do come into the emergency room for 18 whatever reason, but most of them are for -- 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They're not paid under this 20 budget line; they're paid under my budget line. 21 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's another issue. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. Same thing. 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's all I've got. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The -- 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: My turn. 5-8-06 22 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I had a very short -- 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, you took -- you had 3 your time. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do you need to -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Go ahead. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, thank you. My question 8 is, we've noticed in our bills -- and today there's a couple 9 of thousand dollars that are being paid outside this 10 community -- that the local taxpayers are paying someone else, 11 San Antonio, et cetera, for some services. 12 MS. TAYLOR: Right. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How does that work? Why -- 14 why are we paying Tejas $700, as opposed to paying a local -- 15 MS. TAYLOR: Several -- most of them are heart 16 patients that are referred to San Antonio or sent to San 17 Antonio. I have had one incident where a gentleman was in an 18 accident and was picked up from the accident scene, taken by 19 helicopter to San Antonio. And I will tell you, the San 20 Antonio hospitals are extremely aggressive about -- I mean, 21 they will almost call daily. They have so many hours to 22 notify a county that there is a patient there that is a 23 possible candidate. I mean, they -- they are very aggressive 24 about making sure I get the paperwork, that it's processed, 25 and to see if they are eligible for it. But a lot of them are 5-8-06 23 1 -- like I said, are transferred heart patients. And I believe 2 that there are two different claims on Tejas, on two different 3 people. I think they're both heart patients. Accident 4 victims. And then there's one gentleman who has just been 5 referred from a Kerr -- and that -- therein lies the key. 6 They have to be referred from a Kerr County provider to an 7 outside of the county. And people understand that when they 8 apply, that, you know, we want you to see local providers and 9 things. I think there was some Gillespie County from several 10 months back -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There's one in here today. 12 MS. TAYLOR: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: From Gillespie County. 14 MS. TAYLOR: And the lady was having back problems, 15 went to Fredericksburg to stay with friends, 'cause she 16 couldn't stay by herself. She lived by herself. They ended 17 up taking her to the Hill Country Memorial Hospital emergency 18 room, things like that. Then she comes in, 'cause we can go 19 back -- if you qualify, you qualify for three months previous; 20 we can go retroactive, previously, and that's how sometimes we 21 can pick up the out-of-county providers. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: In your -- in the backup, there 24 were four suggestions -- 25 MS. TAYLOR: Mm-hmm. 5-8-06 24 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- that we could implement that 2 would give you a little bit more teeth. 3 MS. TAYLOR: Mm-hmm. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: First thing, I'd like to make a 5 motion that we adopt the four outlined suggestions, Kerr 6 County I.H.C.P. policies addendum to the program. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: There are actually five, 8 Commissioner, if you take a look on the second page, Number 1. 9 She's posed it in the form of a question, really, the appeals 10 process. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, I'll add that first one on 12 item -- under additional suggestions. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Do any of those involve the 14 jail, Jonathan? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, they're all -- I'll read 16 them. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second the motion. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: First one is, if an applicant to 19 the I.H.C.P. does not appear for a prescheduled appointment or 20 call ahead of the appointment time to reschedule, the 21 applicant may not reapply to the I.H.C.P. for a period of six 22 months from the date of missed appointment. Number two, if an 23 I.H.C.P. client does not respond to written request for review 24 or fails to provide requested information to complete review 25 within the designated time frame, he or she may not reapply 5-8-06 25 1 for a period of six months from the date set for review. 2 Number three, if an applicant or client gives false 3 information to I.H.C.P., he/she may not reapply for a period 4 of one year from the time the false information was 5 identified. Number four, if an I.H.C.P. client fails to 6 report a change within 14 days of a change, and that change 7 affects their eligibility, he or she may not reapply for a 8 period of one year from the date change was identified. And 9 the next is, need a plan for appeal. 10 MS. TAYLOR: That is just -- we do need a plan for 11 appeal. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They need a plan for appeal, who 13 will review application and denial when applicant appeals a 14 decision made by I.H.C. Coordinator. But who's the -- 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Who do they appeal to? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Who's -- 17 MS. TAYLOR: And that's what I wanted to identify. 18 I've had two people appeal, and it's -- and when we ask in 19 Austin, "What do you do?" Well, "The County comes up with a 20 plan on how to appeal." And that was the answer that we got 21 in Austin; "Well, the County has to do this." 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let me -- go back to my motion. 23 Let me take that out of my motion, 'cause that's -- we can 24 address that at our next meeting. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We'll set that up as a 5-8-06 26 1 separate item. 2 MS. TAYLOR: Right. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I have a motion and a second 4 as indicated. Any question or discussion on the motion? 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: One. I'm sure that you're 6 in contact with other people that do the same kind of work 7 that you do. You can exchange information with them. If you 8 know of or hear about an appeal process that somebody has 9 that's working, who does it? 10 MS. TAYLOR: I haven't yet, but -- 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: If you hear about that -- 12 MS. TAYLOR: I sure will. I sure will. 13 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: -- tell us that. 14 MS. TAYLOR: One suggestion that was from Gillespie 15 County was that, you know, go to Gillespie -- you know, 16 another coordinator and let them review, since they're very 17 familiar with all the rules and regulations to it. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Say that again? Go to 19 another county? 20 MS. TAYLOR: Right. In other words, like the lady 21 over at Gillespie County, if she had somebody appeal it, then 22 she would give me the information to review it, to see if I 23 would come up with the same decision. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know if I'd want 25 somebody in Fredericksburg making the decision about 5-8-06 27 1 taxpayers' money at Kerr County. But I do see Rit Jons in the 2 audience. He may be the one that -- be this person. Come on, 3 Rit. 4 MR. JONS: I have no independent knowledge or input 5 into this area, Commissioner, but I'll be glad to help any 6 other way. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just one quick question, 8 Judge. On Items 1 through 4, to the extent that you are 9 familiar with the federal rules and state rules and 10 regulations, these things are appropriate? 11 MS. TAYLOR: Yes. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And within the law? 13 MS. TAYLOR: These are not in conflict at all. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or comments on the 15 motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 16 right hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 19 (No response.) 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I might have another 21 comment on this. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: As do I. Go ahead, Commissioner. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Please, on the appeal, see if 24 you can figure out a process, and I'd encourage you to talk 25 with the Tax Assessor, or probably first talk to our I.T. 5-8-06 28 1 Manager, John Trolinger, and see how you can maybe link to get 2 more information that we already have available, so that you 3 have access to it. Second, I don't see any problem at all 4 with using Kerr County letterhead; I think that's a good idea. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Me too. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Get with our court coordinator. 7 We can get letterhead printed for you out of our Commissioners 8 Court budget to start with. I think that's not a huge 9 expense, and I think it's a very good idea. I think it would 10 probably be beneficial to -- I don't know if you have a -- 11 MS. TAYLOR: Or even just e-mail me, you know, 12 something that I can have on the computer. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Get with Kathy on that -- 14 Ms. Mitchell, and she can help you with that. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm going to raise the 16 question, Judge, about the stationary and other things like 17 that, and including the software, if these were eligible 18 expenses that can be charged to the program. And the Auditor 19 should know the answer to that. As opposed to being charged 20 to Commissioners Court. 21 MS. TAYLOR: Are you asking me? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm looking through you to 23 the Auditor. 24 MS. WILLIAMS: Excuse me, he's sitting back here. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Either one of the auditors. 5-8-06 29 1 MS. WILLIAMS: I'm sorry, you have to repeat the 2 question. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The question is, is 4 stationary and items like that, and perhaps the software 5 package that Ms. Taylor is referencing, are those legitimate 6 expenses that can be charged against the program, or do we 7 have to fund them some other way? 8 MR. TOMLINSON: We can fund them through that fund, 9 but, I mean, they're -- they're not part of the -- of the 10 amount that gets applied to -- to our 8 percent, so it's a 11 county expense. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, that was a yes and a no, 13 right? 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. You can, but we don't have 15 any money there, is what he's saying. 16 MR. TOMLINSON: We'll be out of money in that fund, 17 is what I'm saying. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: I have some questions for Ms. Taylor. 19 Of this software program we've been hearing about, that's the 20 Indigent Health Care Solutions that -- 21 MS. TAYLOR: Yes. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: -- that there's been so much talk 23 about in recent months. 24 MS. TAYLOR: Right. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: And those people are due back here -- 5-8-06 30 1 they're going to be setting up a system in Kendall County, and 2 they promised me they would come here and make a -- a test 3 review of some of the Sheriff's things out there, I believe. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I hope that happens. I haven't 5 heard anything, but that would be a fabulous solution. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: That's what they indicated to me. 7 The Indigent Health Care Solutions representative has 8 indicated that, at no obligation to the County, he's willing 9 to do that. He says that's probably his best methodology 10 for -- for selling his software. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I know that Tommy had brought 12 up -- 13 MR. TOMLINSON: We're tentatively set up to install 14 that program. The reason we haven't is we have -- we have a 15 contract with a third-party -- another party that expires in 16 September, and we -- we can't enter into -- we can't do 17 anything until we notify that party that we intend to cancel 18 that contract. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: But I.H.C. has -- I.H.S. has not done 20 a test of any of the Sheriff's -- review of his bills or 21 anything? 22 MR. TOMLINSON: I haven't seen a test that they've 23 done from other counties, so I wouldn't anticipate any 24 different outcome from -- from one county to the other as far 25 as that's concerned. 5-8-06 31 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Taylor, let me ask you another 2 question, and I realize this is just going to be your best 3 judgment. You mentioned having the -- the availability to you 4 of going out and doing an on-site review to verify 5 eligibility. Do you have any idea of what percentage of 6 the -- 7 MS. TAYLOR: It would be very small. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, not the percentage of -- of 9 reviews that you would make, but you had mentioned that there 10 are some that have learned how to work the system. Do you 11 think, from a cost benefit analysis, that would be very 12 productive? 13 MS. TAYLOR: I think -- I think so. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: My -- a few years ago, I 16 was in Rome and had a medical emergency and went to the 17 hospital at 2 o'clock in the morning, and got a lot -- got 18 some really good treatment. It would have cost several 19 thousand dollars at Sid Pete. And when I -- they didn't even 20 ask my name. When I went to leave, I said, "Who do I pay?" 21 And they thought that crazy American was really humorous. 22 They -- they -- not only did they have no interest in the fact 23 that I was not a -- not a citizen of Italy, they had no 24 procedures for making payments for anybody. Socialized 25 medicine may not be as bad as we think it is. 5-8-06 32 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Another thing I might mention to you, 2 Ms. Taylor, on trying to do asset reviews and things of that 3 nature, our Court Collections Department might be another 4 resource to you. They have -- they subscribe to some search 5 services, and may already have at their disposal information 6 on a number of people that apply into your system. 7 MS. TAYLOR: Okay. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: I'd say on probably 50 percent or 9 more, we probably have some information in our collections 10 system about them. 11 MS. TAYLOR: Okay. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else on this particular 13 item? Thank you for being here. 14 MS. TAYLOR: Thank you. I appreciate it. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: I appreciate your interest and -- 16 MS. TAYLOR: I did want to share a -- 17 JUDGE TINLEY: -- desire to help. 18 MS. TAYLOR: Well, thank you. Our medical 19 third-party person was driving in Friday, and she met with 20 Mindy over here, and Tommy and I. And it was so funny, 21 because she said she hadn't been here in a while, and was 22 going to Junction for a wedding on Saturday and driving down 23 Sidney Baker, and her husband was saying, "Well, how are you 24 going to know when you find the courthouse?" She said, "Keep 25 driving, and look on the left, and there's -- you know, the 5-8-06 33 1 courthouse always has flags out front." So, they drove up and 2 went, "Oh my gosh." So, that was the understatement. Thank 3 you all. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's funny. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to the next item on our 7 agenda. Item Number 2, presentation on outdoor burning. Do 8 you want to run with this, Commissioner? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll just turn it over to Rex. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 11 MR. EMERSON: That was short and sweet. We'll 12 attempt to do this the modern way, but we'll see. We're kind 13 of pieced together here. Commissioner Letz had talked about 14 making a presentation on outdoor burning to educate the Court 15 and the public on what the rules are, and that's what I've 16 attempted to do. Interestingly enough, T.C.E.Q. does not have 17 any kind of presentation prepared for this, even though it's 18 their responsibility. I talked to Austin, San Antonio, and a 19 couple of other regions. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's nothing strange about 21 that. 22 MR. EMERSON: The general rule in Texas is that 23 there is no outdoor burning, period. All outdoor burning is 24 illegal, with the exception of firefighter training, disposal 25 or land clearing, prescribed burns, pipeline breaks, or 5-8-06 34 1 recreation/ceremonial. Camping out, basically. If you don't 2 fit in those exceptions, you're not allowed to burn without, 3 basically, significant repercussions. Firefighter training. 4 It's important to note that the volunteer fire departments can 5 do their training, but they have to obtain written 6 authorization from T.C.E.Q. prior to performing the training. 7 If they don't, then their subsequent -- T.C.E.Q. can basically 8 shut them down and refuse to issue any future permits for 9 doing such. When they're doing the training, they do not have 10 to conform to the general burning requirements, which we'll 11 get to in a minute. 12 Disposal or land clearing, which is what we have the 13 most of around here, includes domestic waste, household trash, 14 but does not include non-burnables. Multiple non-burnables 15 that we'll go through; electrical wiring, tires, things like 16 that. Does not -- it's very restricted. Residents can burn 17 household trash when the government entity having jurisdiction 18 does not provide on-site trash removal. So, it's pretty 19 restricted. If you're in the city, you can't do it unless the 20 City specifically allows you to, because there is provided 21 on-site trash disposal. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Rex, I saw throughout this 23 document several times that the -- what you do burn has to be 24 produced on that same piece of property; that you can't cut 25 brush on your ranch and bring it -- take it to Letz's and burn 5-8-06 35 1 it over there. 2 MR. EMERSON: Correct. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And it talks about that 4 several times throughout here. I don't know what the 5 importance is of that, but obviously, that's important. 6 MR. EMERSON: Well, the way T.C.E.Q. looks at it is 7 if you have a piece of property that you accumulate other 8 people's waste onto, you're operating a de facto landfill, and 9 you're subject to additional regulations. So, that's why it's 10 worded that way. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: There are areas in the 12 county where -- well, first of all, the County doesn't provide 13 the service to begin with, but there are areas of the county 14 where individuals pay for pick-up service. How does that 15 relate to this? 16 MR. EMERSON: What T.C.E.Q. says is that the mere 17 fact that the government says its okay for somebody to 18 contract does not meet that requirement. So, that doesn't 19 constitute -- or authorize trash service. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 21 MR. EMERSON: So, they're still okay burning out in 22 the rural areas where that happens. Domestic waste, as it's 23 described in here, is what normally results from life in your 24 house. Now, it does not include trees, construction waste, 25 carpet, furniture, anything like that. You know, it's 5-8-06 36 1 household trash, clothing, minor issues. Diseased animal 2 carcasses, which is the next one, may be burned out on the 3 ranches when it's the most effective method of controlling 4 spread of the disease. When they do that, the general 5 requirements for burning do not apply. Animal remains and 6 waste byproducts. It's important, this applies to a 7 veterinarian. It doesn't apply to you or I out on our 8 ranches. The veterinarian is the only one this applies to. 9 It has to be an animal that they're either currently treating 10 or have treated, and it has to be burned on the veterinarian's 11 property. The veterinarian can't come out to your ranch, 12 Jonathan, and treat your cow and it dies, and then burn it on 13 the spot, okay? You can, but the vet can't, interestingly 14 enough. 15 Maintenance and land clearing includes trees, brush, 16 any other kind of overgrowth. It's used for clearing land, 17 maintaining right-of-ways and streams. Back to what 18 Commissioner Baldwin was asking, it's when the materials are 19 generated only from the property on which the burning occurs. 20 You have to conform to the general requirements for outdoor 21 burning. And I know I keep referring to that, but we're going 22 to get into that in a minute. There's quite a few details 23 that go with that. And you must not produce adverse effects 24 for structures containing sensitive receptors. How's that for 25 a government definition? Okay. Structures containing 5-8-06 37 1 sensitive receptors -- and the best way I can do it is just 2 read it to you -- is a man-made structure utilized for human 3 residence or business, containment of livestock, housing of 4 sensitive live vegetation. The term "man-made structure" does 5 not include such things as ranch fences, bridges, hunting 6 blinds, or facilities used solely for the storage of hay or 7 other livestock feeds. So, it's basically housing. And 8 "sensitive live vegetation," quote, unquote, is defined as 9 vegetation which has potential to be damaged by smoke and 10 heat, examples of which include, but are not limited to, 11 nursery production, mushroom cultivation, pharmaceutical plant 12 production, or laboratory experiments involving plants. And, 13 Buster, mushroom cultivation does not mean going out to the 14 pasture and getting mushrooms out of the poop, okay? 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It doesn't apply to 16 individuals with serious respiratory problems? 17 MR. EMERSON: It applies to individuals that have a 18 residence or a structure. The fact that they may have a 19 respiratory problem is over and above. The main thing is that 20 there's a residence there. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there a distance, or is it 22 just a matter of "affected"? I mean -- 23 MR. EMERSON: There is in the general rules, and I 24 can't remember if it's 300 feet or 300 yards, but -- 25 MR. ARREOLA: It's 300 feet. 5-8-06 38 1 MR. EMERSON: Thank you. Crop residues. When 2 there's no practical alternative, they can be burned for 3 agricultural management. Item C primarily applies to the 4 burning of sugar cane, from what I can tell. There seem to be 5 specific rules for burning of sugar cane. Otherwise, there 6 doesn't appear to be any. Brush, trees, and other plant 7 material off-site, which is different, can be performed by 8 county or municipal government. We have to request burn 9 approval from T.C.E.Q. It says "may" in the code. T.C.E.Q. 10 analysis says "must." So, as far as they're concerned, we 11 have to have written approval from them to burn accumulations 12 of brush, trees, anything else, primarily used for obstruction 13 of water flow and causing flooding, or anything that provides 14 habitat for vermin, is the definition of protecting the health 15 and safety, and it must occur on a site owned by the local 16 government. And, interestingly enough, it cannot be used to 17 augment a normal brush control procedure, so you can't use it 18 to jump around normal brush control procedures. 19 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Who owns the site that 20 B.F.I. operates? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: City. 22 MR. EMERSON: The city, I believe. 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: It is the city? 24 MR. EMERSON: May also be authorized only when 25 there's no other practical alternative, and the County can't 5-8-06 39 1 do it more than once every two months, so you can't burn all 2 the time. And if you look at (i), it may not occur at the 3 municipal solid waste landfill without prior permission from 4 T.C.E.Q. Okay. Prescribed burns, Jonathan. Burning for 5 ecological restoration. It's recommended that you notify 6 T.C.E.Q. of your intent to burn. It's subject to the general 7 requirements for outdoor burning, and if there's a lack of 8 notice, T.C.E.Q. can fine you anywhere from $1,000 to 9 $250,000. So, it's important to notify T.C.E.Q. if you're 10 going to do that. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Now, "prescribed burn" 12 means some authority is given, permission for a specific burn? 13 Is that -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's -- "prescribed 15 burn" is when you're burning to improve range or -- range 16 habitat or wildlife habitat, I think would probably be a 17 general -- there is -- I think it's a described term, but 18 that's kind of what it covers. We call it controlled burn a 19 lot, but that's not really defined. "Prescribed burn" I 20 believe is defined. There's a whole set of rules that kind of 21 go with that, and some legislation about prescribed burns. 22 But, generally -- and it's actually -- essentially, you have 23 to call T.C.E.Q. It's not the common practice by most people 24 in this county; most of them just call the Sheriff's 25 Department. I think it's -- maybe we should add something to 5-8-06 40 1 Dispatch. Maybe they should -- you know, if they can, or 2 maybe we should put it on our recording that they have to let 3 T.C.E.Q. know. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Now, part of -- part of the 5 prescribed burn is all kinds of conditions, barometric 6 pressure and all those things. So, if a guy gets up in the 7 morning; i.e., the wildlife management area out near you that 8 does prescribed burns once a year, they're not -- they don't 9 -- you know, when that pressure's right, that's when they 10 burn. They don't burn when the T.C.E.Q. hippies come to work. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Now, the way we administer 12 our burn ban rules is we allow prescribed burns during the 13 burn ban. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Under -- 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Which means they phone 16 T.C.E.Q., and they're adhering to all of the -- 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The way we did it last year, and 18 it's kind of -- it's been a work in progress, is that we kind 19 of pawned it off on the Soil Conservation, or NRCS -- 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- group, that they have to 22 approve the burn plan. And then they can -- you can do 23 prescribed burns during those conditions. Around here, that's 24 pretty much exclusively during the winter months. And it also 25 should be probably noted that there is now a Hill Country 5-8-06 41 1 Prescribed Burn Association -- 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- that's been founded and 4 trying to be active in this, and probably future requirements 5 will be they're going to have to be a member of that, and that 6 will be -- you know, give you some training that goes along 7 with that. 8 MR. EMERSON: Pipelines. You can only burn if 9 T.C.E.Q. says it's okay, so if there's a major spill, don't 10 light it up. Recreation. Typically, what everybody thinks 11 about; it's camping, cook fires and so forth, but it has to be 12 exclusively for recreational or ceremonial purposes, and it 13 cannot be commercial purpose -- commercial in basis, I should 14 say. Fires in general may not contain electrical, insulation, 15 treated lumber, plastic construction materials that are not 16 wood. They don't want you sending a bunch of carcinogens into 17 the atmosphere. These are your definitions that we went 18 through. "Practical alternative" is an economically, 19 technologically, ecologically, and logistically viable option. 20 And there's actually a Senate Bill that's -- that has passed, 21 that will go into effect shortly, that changes that a little 22 bit, and we'll go into that at the end of the -- at the end of 23 the presentation. We've already gone through structure 24 containing sensitive receptors and sensitive live vegetation. 25 Sunrise and sunset as set forth under U.S. Naval Observatory 5-8-06 42 1 tables on the National Weather site. And "distinguished," as 2 it's referred to in the code, means the absence of any visible 3 flames, glowing coals, or smoke. And that's going to come up 4 in the general requirements, which we're fixing to go through. 5 General requirements. These are the general 6 requirements for all outdoor burning if you fit an exception. 7 Okay. It says outdoor burning which is otherwise authorized 8 shall also be subject to the following: Prior to the 9 prescribed or controlled burn, notify the Texas Forest Service 10 and T.C.E.Q. I didn't put T.C.E.Q. in there, but that's what 11 they recommend. Must be outside the corporate limits of the 12 city or the town. Burning shall be commenced and conducted 13 only when the wind direction and other meteorological 14 conditions are such that smoke and other pollutants will not 15 cause adverse effects to public land, landing strips, and 16 navigable water; i.e., the Guadalupe, or off-site structure 17 containing sensitive receptors, which goes back to the 18 housing. If the burning causes or -- or may cause smoke to go 19 across a highway or roadway, it's the responsibility of the 20 person burning to put a flag person out there. 21 You have to be a little proactive on that. It's not 22 just the fact that it does. If it has the possibility of 23 doing it, they're supposed to provide a flag person. Must be 24 conducted downwind of or at least 300 feet from any structure 25 containing sensitive receptors, okay, unless you receive prior 5-8-06 43 1 written approval from the person with possession of that 2 residence. So, not necessarily the landlord, but the person 3 actually living there. Shall be conducted in compliance, no 4 earlier than one hour after sunrise, no later than one hour 5 before sunset. Has to be attended by a responsible person at 6 all times during the active burn phase. That doesn't mean 7 someone has to be there when the fire is virtually complete 8 and not advancing. If it's principally glowing coals, 9 T.C.E.Q. says it's okay to walk away from it. If the smoke 10 continues after the active burn, residual fire or smouldering 11 shall be extinguished if there is a potential for nuisance or 12 traffic hazard. So, if you're burning close to the road, you 13 have to put it out. And the burn area shall not be allowed to 14 increase after the times stated above. 15 Burning shall not be commenced when surface wind 16 speed is less than 6 miles an hour or more than 23. Okay. 17 And that's not just actual, that's predicted. So, when you 18 get up in the morning, if you can look at -- the best place to 19 look is the National Weather Service web site, and it's 20 detailed by region. The web site address is www.weather.gov. 21 It's pretty simple and easy to find, and the reason those -- 22 those wind speeds are in there is to be appropriate for the 23 smoke to dissipate at the low end, and for you to be able to 24 control your burn at the high end. Same thing we went through 25 before. Can't burn carcinogens. They don't want you or 5-8-06 44 1 anybody else breathing it. Responsibility. Even if you 2 follow the rules, you're not exempt from liability for 3 burning, so it's important to know. Penalties. Violate -- 4 simply violate the burn code, you're liable for up to a $500 5 fine, mandatory community service. In certain situations, if 6 you're performing outdoor burning under certain situations and 7 it gets away from you; i.e., you're reckless, you could be 8 looking at 2 to 10 years in prison and up to a $150,000 fine, 9 depending on the amount of damage you cause. Need more 10 information? Kerr County burn ban number, fire risk 11 assessment, Texas Forest Service, and T.C.E.Q. 12 Now, we talked about a Senate Bill. Effective 13 June 14th, there's a Senate Bill that takes effect. It's 14 currently in the rule making stages, and it has not come out 15 in writing yet, but what they sent me is the preliminary. Is 16 that on domestic plant material in attainment areas, it 17 removes the restriction on burning plant material when on-site 18 trash service is provided. There's still a restriction that 19 applies to garbage, but as far as plant material, there's some 20 relief there. Maintenance and land clearing removes the 21 requirements to consider practical alternatives in 22 nonattainment areas, but Kerr County's not one of them, so 23 that doesn't have much effect on us. Off-site burning of 24 plant material removes the requirement to obtain T.C.E.Q. 25 approval if it's supervised by fire protection personnel, it's 5-8-06 45 1 located outside the municipality and it's in a county under 2 50,000, conducted -- and it's conducted at a site designated 3 for consolidating burning waste generated from residential 4 properties. And that's it. After the slide presentation, 5 there's a series of general questions that I copied out of the 6 T.C.E.Q. web page; the Administrative Code is attached to 7 that. And then in the very back is the Health and Safety 8 Code, Chapter 352, that backs up the material. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you, Rex. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Is this information 11 available on request from your office? 12 MR. ARREOLA: Yes, sir. We have a package basically 13 with the Administrative Code 111. It's all -- what he was 14 explaining, it's all in there. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: So, people who have 16 questions about burning, we should refer them to your office? 17 MR. ARREOLA: Yeah. We have -- I just have a 18 question on domestic waste burning. Is it allowed in the 19 county, basically burning in a barrel? 20 MR. EMERSON: (Nodded.) As long as you don't burn 21 what you're not supposed to burn. 22 MR. ARREOLA: Obviously, it's just domestic waste. 23 MR. EMERSON: Correct. 24 MR. ARREOLA: I have another question, but I'll get 25 with you later. 5-8-06 46 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that it? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Very interesting. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Let's move to Item 3, if 4 we might. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 5 approve a resolution of support for the Center Point Volunteer 6 Fire Department grant application to FEMA, Department of 7 Homeland Security. Commissioner Williams. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This resolution is asking 9 the Court to support the application for Center Point 10 Volunteer Fire Department and their request for FEMA funding 11 to purchase a 2,000-gallon pumper-tanker, and to obtain 12 additional funding for training funds in firefighting and 13 defensive driving. I know we typically support other fire 14 companies, so I'm asking for support in this. Also, I'd like 15 to point out to the Court that the Fire Chief in Center Point 16 has indicated to me that they're going to set up a training 17 class for NIMS training, which I think all of us still have to 18 obtain that particular training block sometime this year 19 pretty soon. And in my discussions with him on Saturday, he 20 said he'd be more than happy to -- first of all, he's going to 21 set it up for his own fire company, and he'd be happy to have 22 us participate if any of us want to obtain our training at the 23 Center Point Volunteer Fire Department. 24 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Commissioner, there's two 25 of those courses required. Will this be both of them? 5-8-06 47 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He said there's three hours 2 worth of training. If it's -- it very likely could be, but I 3 could ask that question. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, it's just the NIMS. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just the NIMS, N-I-M-S. 6 Okay. So, I would move the resolution of support. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to approve 9 the resolution of support. Any question or discussion on the 10 motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 11 right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to 16 Item 4, if we might. Consider, discuss, and approve 17 application for Comptroller's Tobacco Compliance Grant. 18 Mr. Sheriff? 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: This is just renewing what we 20 normally get each year. But backing up a little real quick on 21 your NIMS training, Commissioner Williams, there are about 10 22 or 12 different NIMS courses, and you can actually get online, 23 even at your own computer at your home, and take them. 24 Everybody in my department's had about six of those different 25 NIMS training. 5-8-06 48 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I pulled them down off of 2 the web site. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They're real -- 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This gives us an opportunity 5 just to do the lecture. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And they're good courses. They 7 do point out some good things. But that's what this is. And 8 this tobacco grant, we've done it every year. It just helps 9 with offsetting some of our costs of our D.A.R.E. instructor, 10 doing tobacco compliance inspections at retail stores, things 11 like that, and educating our kids. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Move for approval. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 16 of the agenda item. Any question or discussion? All in favor 17 of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 20 (No response.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to 22 the next item; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 23 to reappoint Commissioner Williams to the Airport Board for a 24 two-year term effective June 1, 2006. Commissioner Letz? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on the agenda. You 5-8-06 49 1 may recall that we're under staggered terms. My term expires 2 a year from June 1st. Commissioner Williams' expires 3 June 1st, and I make a motion that we reappoint Commissioner 4 Williams to the Airport Board. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 7 of the agenda item. Any question or discussion? All in favor 8 of the motion, signify by raising 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. 13 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Do that one quick, before 14 he backs out. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Congratulations, 16 Commissioner. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you very much. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Amazingly, that brings us right on 19 schedule up to our 10 o'clock item. Consider, discuss, and 20 take appropriate action to open bids for Town Creek Crossing 21 improvements. Looks like we've got a couple of bids here that 22 have been submitted. First bid is submitted on behalf of 23 Allen Keller Company. There are various components listed in 24 the bid proposal. The total as submitted by Allen Keller for 25 the total project bid price is $81,142. The second bid was 5-8-06 50 1 submitted by MPB, Inc. Again, various components listed. 2 However, the total bid price on MPB, Inc. bid is $109,139.96. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, that's it? Can I see 4 that? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: That's all I have. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move we accept both bids and 7 refer them to Road and Bridge for recommendation. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 10 acceptance of both bids and referral to Road and Bridge for 11 review and recommendation. Any question or discussion on the 12 motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 13 right hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 16 (No response.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Leonard, do you come back in 19 two weeks? Or -- 20 MR. ODOM: Yes. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We should have made an agenda 22 item today. 23 MR. ODOM: Well, it needs to be reviewed on who the 24 bidder is. We had -- we thought we'd have more bidders than 25 this right here. We put out a lot of packets. So -- 5-8-06 51 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, two weeks? Or do we need 2 to get on this thing? 3 MR. ODOM: Well, can we just -- can we put it off 4 till this afternoon? What do you think? How much time do you 5 need to review this right here? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's not an agenda item. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: We can't -- I don't think we can 8 approve it anyway. 9 AUDIENCE: I think the award is good the 22nd. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, whatever. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: At this time, I am recessing the 12 Commissioners Court meeting of this date, and I am opening a 13 public hearing for preliminary revision of a plat for Lot 7 14 and Privilege Creek Road right-of-way, Privilege Creek 15 Ranches, as shown in Volume 7, Page 136 and 137, Plat Records. 16 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10:05 a.m., and a public hearing was held in open 17 court, as follows:) 18 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the public 20 present here today that wishes to be heard on the preliminary 21 revision of a plat for Lot 7 and Privilege Creek Road 22 right-of-way in Privilege Creek Ranches, as shown in Volume 7, 23 Page 136 and -7 in the Plat Records? Any member of the public 24 wishing to be heard on that item? Seeing no one seeking 25 recognition, I will close the public hearing for the 5-8-06 52 1 preliminary revision of plat for Lot 7 and Privilege Creek 2 Road right-of-way in Privilege Creek Ranches, as shown in 3 Volume 7, Pages 136 and 137 of the Plat Records, and located 4 in Precinct 3. 5 (The public hearing was concluded at 10:05 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 6 reopened.) 7 - - - - - - - - - - 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move on to the next item. I 9 will now reconvene the Commissioners Court meeting and call 10 Item 8, to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 11 contracting with a consulting engineer for review of engineer 12 documents in the Kerr County Subdivision Rules and 13 Regulations. Commissioner Letz? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let me hand out some additional 15 information. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: You got one? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I got one. I think I mentioned 18 last time, I have been in discussions with the engineer that's 19 handling the same type of work for Gillespie County, Mr. Wayne 20 Wells. He's in our audience today in the back. And I 21 received last night from Mr. Wells a -- a proposal, which is 22 pretty much what he and I discussed originally, to doing 23 contract work to review these documents at a rate of $35 an 24 hour, and then travel time is billed at $20 an hour plus the 25 standard I.R.S. amount for mileage reimbursement. The -- I'm 5-8-06 53 1 not real sure where we want to go with this today. I think 2 the -- you know, I'm satisfied that Mr. Wells will be someone 3 I'd like to try working with. I think he'd do a good job. 4 But we have some details to work out. One, the contract. We 5 need to get a contract worked out with our -- through the 6 County Attorney's office. I think you need to look at the 7 proposal, see if Mr. Wells is -- also, we need to figure out 8 procedurally how we're going to handle this with our Road and 9 Bridge Department. We have not done this before, so we -- I 10 think it's something that we need to work out. 11 I don't think it's a -- a real time-urgent issue 12 from a platting standpoint, but the next agenda item does give 13 it a little bit of some importance; that is, with time 14 urgency, looking at some of our subdivision -- current -- I 15 guess our recently adopted requirements that need some 16 adjustment, I think. So, I don't know if we want to try to, 17 you know, hold off for two weeks and kind of work out the 18 details a little bit further, or I -- we probably could wait 19 on the next agenda item two weeks, or on the next agenda item, 20 I could -- you know, we authorize possibly, just for a minor 21 amount of money, several hours of his time to look through -- 22 maybe five hours or something like that, to look through our 23 Subdivision Rules and get some guidance so we can get those 24 rules moving forward. And then in the interim two weeks, we 25 can work on an actual contract to get in place and figure out 5-8-06 54 1 how the details will work out. That's probably the 2 recommendation of the route that I'd like to go to keep us 3 moving forward. I believe we budgeted $5,000 for this 4 purpose. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Five, wasn't it? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think we've taken that 7 money out of that budget. It was a line item for engineer 8 review, I think in the Road and Bridge budget -- or I'm not 9 sure, maybe the Commissioners Court budget. 10 MR. ODOM: It's 2,500. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 2,500? 12 MR. ODOM: Yeah. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, there's funds budgeted for 14 this purpose, and so I think, you know -- well, does anyone 15 have any questions of Mr. Wells, or comments? 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: One question for him. 17 Where do you live? 18 MR. WELLS: Sir? 19 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Where do you live? 20 MR. WELLS: I live in Fredericksburg. 21 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Thank you. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What are the logistics that 23 you're concerned about? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I've not talked with Leonard 25 about this at all, or Mr. Wells. So, that's the logistics 5-8-06 55 1 right there. The key is to look at our rules a little bit and 2 to figure out a time -- you know, we're under some state law 3 requirements that reviews do have to get fairly timely done. 4 We need to figure out -- and I only see this happening, 5 really, on larger subdivisions that we really require the 6 engineering, 'cause we don't require drainage studies, things 7 like that, if it's less than five lots, ten lots. I can't 8 remember what the number is in our new rules. 9 MR. ODOM: Three. I think it's three if it's less 10 than 20 acres. Then it has to be a drainage plan, if it's 11 less than 20 acres. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We need to figure out time-wise 13 how long -- how we're going to get the documents from -- to 14 Len from the developer, to the Court through Road and Bridge, 15 up to Mr. Wells, and then what time we expect to get them 16 back. To allow time -- we just need to have some procedures, 17 I think, that everyone understands and is comfortable with, so 18 that we're not just, you know, having things left in limbo too 19 long. And I don't see that it's real hard. I think it's 20 something that if Mr. Wells, Len, and I would sit down 30 21 minutes, we could iron this out. And then, at the same time, 22 the County Attorney could be working on a contract. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Sure seems appropriate to me to have 24 some professional engineering expertise to work out -- help 25 you work out the kinks, the remaining kinks in the changes 5-8-06 56 1 that we're making to our subdivision regulations. I think, 2 initially, that's very, very helpful, irrespective of the 3 contract. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think so. And I know 5 Mr. Wells has read our rules. I gave him the draft copy, and 6 he has -- so he's, you know, spent some time on it already. 7 That's why I'm real comfortable with, just initially, maybe 8 authorizing up to five hours of time for he and I to get 9 together and go over some of the road specifications and 10 drainage specifications, make sure that we have everything 11 correct. I know in the road specifications, we have some 12 problems. And then come back at the next meeting with an 13 actual long-term -- or, you know, I think it would be as 14 needed and at will, but more of a formal contract. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And you said that he does 16 this same kind of work for the Gillespie County Commissioners 17 Court? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I believe that's correct. Is 19 that correct, Mr. Wells? 20 MR. WELLS: Yes, sir. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If he can work for them, he 22 can work for us. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That was kind of my attitude 24 when I first came across him. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If he can work for them, he 5-8-06 57 1 can -- he can work for anybody. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we 3 authorize myself to meet with Mr. Wells and Len Odom to work 4 out the details of how this would work, get with the County 5 Attorney on an agreement, and then authorize -- and in that 6 motion, authorize up to five hours of his time at $35 an hour 7 to do a review of our current rules. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Are you sure you want to restrict 9 yourself to five hours? That may not be quite enough. I 10 don't see it as a real debilitating expenditure, and I'd hate 11 for that to kind of hang us up time-wise. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I think five hours should 13 be sufficient. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second the motion. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any 17 question or discussion on the motion? All in favor of the 18 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 21 (No response.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion carried. Let's move to 23 Item 9, a companion item; consider, discuss, and take 24 appropriate action on modifications to road construction 25 standards in Kerr County Subdivision Rules and Regulations. I 5-8-06 58 1 think probably the action we took was as appropriate under 2 this as it was under the previous item. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think they go hand-in-hand. 4 The consulting engineer, the problems we have, there's a 5 couple of things that have come up; traffic counts and how you 6 calculate traffic counts, and road grades and things of that 7 nature, and how either you work with some of the new -- I 8 mean, I don't see any change in the intent of our rules, but 9 they've become confusing in a few -- in two subdivisions that 10 have come up recently. So, I just think it would be wise, 11 before we do the final version, to spend a little bit of time 12 looking at those minor points, and I can either bring them 13 back to the Court if I think there's substantive changes, or I 14 previously was authorized just to go ahead and make a few 15 minor changes, as long as we're not changing the intent. That 16 way, we can get the rules -- hopefully, final version -- out 17 to the public. And I don't know that we need a motion after 18 what we did with the last one. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't think so. Any further action 20 on that item? Let's move to Item 10, if we might; consider, 21 discuss, and take appropriate action for a concept plan of 22 Falls Ranch located in Precinct 3. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Before I turn it over to Len, as 24 I previously noted, this involves some of my property, and 25 I'll abstain from voting. I have filed an appropriate 5-8-06 59 1 affidavit with the County Clerk related to my interest in this 2 development. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Odom? 4 MR. ODOM: Yes. Good morning, Judge. This -- the 5 engineer is here and will be presenting this. This is a 6 concept plan for Privilege Creek Road. This is up at Kendall 7 County line and our line, and it was proposed before; we had 8 been before the Court talking about connecting Lane Valley 9 Road to -- I think that's Turkey Knob Road; is that correct? 10 Or -- 11 MR. KOLACNY: Lane Valley. 12 MR. ODOM: -- Ranger Creek, something like that, 13 coming out of Boerne right there. So, I'll at this time turn 14 it over to Ken to present this. Should I set this up on here, 15 maybe? All right, here we go. 16 MR. KOLACNY: Good morning, Judge, Commissioners. 17 Thank you, Mr. Odom. My name's Ken Kolacny with Matkin-Hoover 18 Engineering. I'm representing the Falls Ranch development. I 19 know you all have copies of this concept plan in front of you, 20 but I thought I'd mount this up here so we could all look at 21 it. Basically, what we're proposing is a high-end, 22 low-density residential development. It's on the eastern edge 23 of Kerr County, bordering with Kendall County. And we are 24 proposing basically two different -- two different types of 25 residential developments, one being a larger lot -- like, 12- 5-8-06 60 1 to 30-acre lots, something large enough to maintain wildlife 2 exemption and so forth, and then in the -- the higher -- top 3 of the ridges with the better views and everything, we're 4 proposing 5- to 10-acre lots, which will be similar to, like, 5 The Reserve development, where they're clustered more on the 6 hilltops to maximize the beautiful views and everything out 7 there. 8 As this table shows here, there's -- we're proposing 9 approximately 70 of the smaller lots and 130 of the larger, a 10 total of approximately 200 lots on 2,200 acres. And that 11 gives you a density of -- actually, an average lot size of 12 approximately 11 acres per lot, which, as you know, is well 13 above the 5-acre requirement. And what we've done is 14 highlighted in yellow the portion of the 2,200 acres that's in 15 Kendall County, just so everybody knows that that's proposing 16 that as future development. We want to focus on the Kerr 17 County part of it right now, and -- and deal with Kendall 18 County later. And then, as far as traffic, like Mr. Odom 19 said, this would be the extension of Turkey Knob, which is 20 currently Privilege Lane, which, as y'all know, is a private 21 country lane street, which would be basically upgraded to an 22 arterial street, and ending right here. This right here is 23 the division, or the outer boundary of the current Privilege 24 Creek Ranches, which, you know, that previous agenda item, Lot 25 7 is in. Basically, I've shown this line here to delineate it 5-8-06 61 1 from the rest of the development. And we have Lane Valley 2 Road being extended from the northwest as an arterial road 3 also to this point, and we've made a point there to end each 4 road in cul-de-sacs at that division line. We don't want to 5 be presumptive in assuming that those two roads definitely can 6 be connected, but we're -- we want to proceed with this 7 development from both sides. Each one can stand on its own. 8 And, overall, it's going to be a real nice -- nice development 9 there. I'll answer any questions that y'all might have. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: There -- it's individual 11 water wells and septic tanks? 12 MR. KOLACNY: That's correct. 13 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: What's the size of Lot 14 Number 5? 15 MR. KOLACNY: Lot Number 5 -- oh, that would be 16 existing -- yeah, that would be an existing lot in the 17 Privilege Creek Ranches, and I believe that is around 5 acres. 18 This -- Privilege Creek Ranches, by the way, would be vacated 19 and replatted to correlate with our proposed development, 20 basically. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You said the average lot size 22 was 11-something acres? 23 MR. KOLACNY: Overall, over the total 2,200 acres. 24 With, like I said, the two different types of developments, 25 the larger one being -- being about 15 acres per lot and the 5-8-06 62 1 smaller being 7 acres per lot. And that has to do with the 2 fact that the topography just doesn't allow for more density 3 than that. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Works well. 5 MR. KOLACNY: Mm-hmm. 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: It's the kind of 7 development I think we like to see. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Large acreage, upscale, 10 puts more taxable property on the rolls. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: You don't have anything less than 12 5 acres? No lot less than 5 acres? 13 MR. KOLACNY: No. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are you saying an extension 15 of Lane Valley Road? 16 MR. KOLACNY: Correct. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is that what you were 18 saying? 19 MR. KOLACNY: Correct. It would be extended as an 20 arterial with at least a 90-foot right-of-way. We may even 21 bump that up to 100 foot so it could be extended in the 22 future, or widened or anything like that in the future, if 23 need be. 24 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: What kind of motion do we 25 need here? Just accept the concept plan? I move to accept 5-8-06 63 1 the concept plan. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to accept 4 the concept plan as presented. Any question or discussion? 5 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 6 hand. 7 (Commissioners Baldwin, Williams, and Nicholson voted in favor of the motion.) 8 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Let the record reflect that 12 Commissioner Letz abstained. 13 MR. KOLACNY: Thank you. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 11, if we might. 15 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to have the 16 1978 "Simplified Method to Establish Base Flood Elevations" 17 for Kerr County updated, and consider a workshop on 18 floodplain. 19 MR. ODOM: Yes. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Odom? 21 MR. ODOM: Thank you. What I'm proposing before the 22 Court is updating the Simplified Methods which was done in 23 1978 by Colonel Bernie Bruns, and it's something that we use 24 in the rural area. It is a study that I think needs to be 25 updated to have the most current available information. That 5-8-06 64 1 cost will run me $17,400, or approximately $17,500. I have 2 $9,000 in Flood Damages, and I'm asking the Court to consider 3 us to spend these funds and the remainder out of Flood 4 Reserves to have this updated information, something a little 5 bit more current than 1978. We'd also like you to consider 6 setting up a workshop with other entities during the budget 7 process to find out how floodplain impacts them and how we 8 might work together and not to duplicate services, and have 9 detailed studies in Zone A, those unstudied areas that have 10 the greatest potential for development. And I wanted to look 11 at something that comes from the Comfort area, works itself 12 down into Town Creek, and then eventually look from Ingram, 13 the other side where the detailed studies that FEMA's done, 14 and to move toward Hunt, maybe the north fork. But I wanted 15 y'all's input to look at areas, tributaries that feed into the 16 Guadalupe that haven't been studied. And I think that if we 17 do this, that in the next three to four years, FEMA's going to 18 come in. We can add that to their -- to the study that 19 they're proposing to do. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Leonard, what does the City of 21 Kerrville do? Do they handle floodplain totally internally? 22 They have their own department? 23 MR. ODOM: They have their own department. As a 24 matter of fact, they're out -- putting out now for an engineer 25 to do roads and floodplain. That's what we saw in the paper. 5-8-06 65 1 So, there is an individual totally that's going to be doing 2 that right there with the city. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It seems -- is the mayor still 4 here, or did he leave? It seems that's an area that 5 interlocal agreement may work very well. I mean, we're doing 6 it right now. I don't see why we would have two sets of rules 7 that -- two people doing it, basically, in the county. That 8 may be something that we want to explore with the City, to -- 9 if they'd be interested in contracting with us. Maybe we 10 could add a little -- some additional personnel and get the -- 11 kind of as a -- you know, an expanded program. I think it's 12 very important for the county. It's something that may help 13 save tax dollars overall if we had only one entity doing it in 14 the county. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Leonard, to -- to have a base 16 plan and to know and understand and have all that information 17 that you're talking about, how does that benefit the taxpayers 18 of Kerr County? 19 MR. ODOM: Well, it helps reduce -- keep them from 20 doing a detailed study. If it's an unstudied area, you can 21 take a look at -- this method that we have is a simplified 22 method; gives you watershed, gives you drainage area, versus 23 the square -- square mile or feed. So, it is a simple thing 24 that's designed for Kerr County, and it tells us that 25 elevation off the stream. Otherwise, you would have to have 5-8-06 66 1 an engineer come in for a detailed study to do some 2 cross-sections, and that could run $8,000 to $12,000. It can 3 even go higher, depending where you're at and how much feed 4 you've got to look at that. So, it is a method in which 5 someone wishes to -- to save some money. And that's the 6 purpose of floodplain, is to make it safer, that they can get 7 insurance, and in a method that's the most available 8 information, either from the feds or from the state, which 9 T.C.E.Q. doesn't really have anything. FEMA has a detailed 10 study, and all they use is contours, and those contours could 11 or could not be right. In some cases, they're not right. And 12 in a rural area, this simplified method is a process that's 13 very simple to get the square miles of feed and that relates 14 to this curve, how much water above that stream. So, it's a 15 simplified method to keep those homes away from the water and 16 try to get them up in a reasonable manner. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, could it possibly affect 18 the flood tax rate for a citizen? 19 MR. ODOM: Well, that's the reason I would like to 20 do this latter part that I said. I would like to study more 21 and more of the "A" areas, all of us; Kerrville, Ingram, all 22 of us look at this, and what's reasonable of the growth. And 23 if we have detailed studies, I think that the community rating 24 system, we might be able to move up in that rating system, 25 which would reduce our insurance here. That is one method of 5-8-06 67 1 doing it. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Is this something that 3 U.G.R.A. should be doing instead of Kerr County? 4 MR. ODOM: I'll be more than happy to allow -- I 5 think it's something that should be explored, as Commissioner 6 Letz said, whether it's with the City or whether it's U.G.R.A. 7 They're a taxing entity; they do work on the water. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, that was originally 9 done when Colonel Bruns was head of the U.G.R.A. 10 MR. ODOM: That's right. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: My question follows up on 12 what Commissioner Letz was talking about. Is the process 13 that's used or methodology used by the City different than the 14 one you're currently using? 15 MR. ODOM: I'm not quite sure. I -- I haven't 16 worked with them. I -- the system that I'm proposing for 17 17,000 will not work in an urban area. It is designed for a 18 rural area; it's a totally different situation. There's -- 19 there's bridges, there's a lot of things that raises that 20 level. And this is not -- even under 44, on the floodplain 21 that FEMA works on, it's not the -- using the simplified 22 method. You're probably going into a detailed study, then, to 23 the cities. In most cases, they probably have it, but in 24 their ETJ, they probably don't have it. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, are there any creeks 5-8-06 68 1 that the City would examine that don't start someplace in the 2 county first? 3 MR. ODOM: I'm -- ask me again? 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are there any creeks that 5 the City would be looking at for base flood elevations that 6 don't originate someplace else in the county? 7 MR. ODOM: No. No. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't think so. 9 MR. ODOM: But they would have something like Town 10 Creek. Development's going to start there. You've got 11 tributaries -- as a matter of fact, Headwaters should be 12 interested in this. U.G.R.A. really should be interested in 13 this, because I believe, talking to Gordon Morgan, that 14 even -- and I may be wrong, but the impression I got is that 15 there's a lot of water from -- feed from tributaries that we 16 don't get credit for, as far as surface water amount, and it's 17 going downstream. So, I think that Headwaters, U.G.R.A., the 18 City of Kerrville, us, we should all have an interest in 19 looking at studying these "A" areas and how much runoff, and 20 to see if we can get more credit for the amount of water we 21 got up here. I think in some cases, we're not getting credit 22 for the runoff that goes into the Guadalupe. I don't know. 23 Don't ask me; I'm just telling you what I think. So, to be 24 explicit -- 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Don't ask. 5-8-06 69 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It seems to me that we're 2 talking about two different things here, spending some funds 3 to do a study -- 4 MR. ODOM: For me, right. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- and having a workshop. It 6 just seems to me that we definitely need to have the workshop 7 with other entities, and then talk about expending funds and 8 how much funds. 'Cause it may be that other entities would 9 like to cough up some bread. 10 MR. ODOM: I would agree. But this -- it will be a 11 larger amount than this 17,000. This 17,000 would still work, 12 whether -- whomever may do it. I think that you -- we need to 13 update that 1978 data, and that's what this 17,440 is for. 14 The other's going to be a greater amount, and I think we 15 should all be involved. I think we should all be discussing 16 it anyway to see how we cannot duplicate that effort. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: The area to be studied on this 18 proposal for 17,000, are you saying that the U.G.R.A., the 19 Headwaters, and the City would not have any interest in? 20 MR. ODOM: No, they should have an interest in it. 21 They should have an interest in it. I believe that they 22 should. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: It appears to me like we might get 24 some participation -- 25 MR. ODOM: Possibility that they would do that. 5-8-06 70 1 JUDGE TINLEY: -- from those entities, then. 2 MR. ODOM: But that would be -- that has nothing to 3 do -- well, it may be on the 17,000, might have that. Maybe. 4 But I would like to move forward. Some of that stalls in 5 negotiation. 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I like the idea of getting 7 at least the City and the U.G.R.A. to sit down with us, and -- 8 MR. ODOM: I even think Headwaters would have an 9 interest. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Headwaters possibly, too. 11 It's my recollection that U.G.R.A. brings in about $800,000 a 12 year, I think, in taxes. 13 MR. ODOM: Three and a half percent, I think, 14 something like that, of taxes. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: They should have a keen 16 interest in the outcome of this kind of study. So, it just 17 makes sense, before we -- we go off on our own, we sit down 18 with them and find out what their interest is. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, the original -- the 20 letter that Mr. Bruns sent out in 1978 to Turner, Collie and 21 Braden talked about the need to do that for flood insurance 22 studies of the City of Kerrville and the unincorporated areas 23 of Kerr County, so that was the basic reason why they did it. 24 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't know what credit 5-8-06 71 1 you're talking about for flow, whether you're talking about 2 stream flow. 3 MR. ODOM: I just got the -- there was some areas 4 off Scenic Hill and Scenic Valley that I was told that they've 5 never looked at, and that those flows are there. And that 6 that goes down into the Guadalupe, and my understanding, the 7 State doesn't consider some of that. If that is the case up 8 there off Scenic Hills and Scenic Valley, I'm sure there's 9 other feeds, too, that are -- that we're getting water, and 10 apparently that it's in our best interests to -- to 11 investigate that to see if we could have more water rights. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I would be greatly surprised 13 if the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority didn't measure the 14 flow from all sources coming out of Kerr County down the 15 county line. 16 MR. ODOM: I'm just telling you what I heard. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would -- I mean, to me, it 18 seems that the first step is for you to contact Headwaters, 19 U.G.R.A., City of Kerrville, and see if they have an interest 20 in joining us on the study. And if they do, offer to set up a 21 workshop, or y'all get together and come back with a proposal 22 for us to look at. I mean, we can do either format. I don't 23 know if we have to have a workshop; I think it can be handled, 24 really, by Eugene Williams, Ray Buck, and whoever the City 25 designates. Need to come up with a proposal and then take it 5-8-06 72 1 to the entities for funding. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's what I want to do. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If we need to do a full 4 workshop, we can do that, but I think the first step is for 5 you to visit with them. 6 MR. ODOM: I will contact them. But are we saying 7 that we're going to separate this 17,440 out? It's something 8 that I think -- it's a tool that I'm doing right now. I think 9 I would like to -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't understand how -- what 11 the -- getting the other entities involved would expand the 12 17,400, and I don't see why we would start it until we knew if 13 they were going to join us or not. 14 MR. ODOM: Right. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Leonard, I have a couple of 16 other unrelated issues that I'd like to talk with U.G.R.A. 17 about helping us with, so if you decide to meet with Mr. Buck, 18 I wouldn't mind being invited to that. 19 MR. ODOM: All right, sir. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else on that particular 21 agenda item? Why don't we take our mid-morning recess? We'll 22 stand in recess until a quarter till. 23 (Recess taken from 10:33 a.m. to 10:49 a.m.) 24 - - - - - - - - - - 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's come back to order, if we 5-8-06 73 1 might. Next item on the agenda is Item Number 12; consider, 2 discuss, and take appropriate action for Road and Bridge to 3 purchase a ditch bucket attachment. 4 MR. ODOM: Yes. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Odom? 6 MR. ODOM: Thank you, Judge. We recently leased two 7 new backhoes, and would like to purchase a new ditch bucket 8 attachment to use with them. And that's just one bucket. It 9 will cost approximately $1,500. Because we made good buys on 10 the capital purchases this year, we still have the funds 11 available in Capital Outlay, but this item was not on the list 12 of approved items for the current budget; therefore, we need 13 your permission to purchase the ditch bucket to be used on 14 these two machines. I'm open for any questions. Yes, sir? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Boy-dummy question of the 16 day. 17 MR. ODOM: All right, sir. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What is a ditch bucket? 19 MR. ODOM: Well, a ditch bucket is something -- what 20 we ordered was around a 36-inch bucket we thought would work, 21 but it had steel teeth on it. We thought that bucket -- we 22 could remove the teeth, but it doesn't; it's welded to it. 23 And a ditch bucket is a smooth angle across there. In other 24 words, it -- in a high concentrated area like your area and 25 all, where there's a lot of driveways and all, we need 5-8-06 74 1 something that's got a smooth edge to it, there's no teeth on 2 it. And that's what this would give us. The same thing as a 3 grade-all bucket. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 5 MR. ODOM: Smooth -- a smooth blade across that. 6 I -- Mr. Letz is smiling at me. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I was just going to give him a 8 cheaper alternative, but I'll keep my mouth shut. 9 MR. ODOM: What is that? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Put a plate across the teeth. 11 MR. ODOM: We heard that one and we thought about 12 it, but I -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think you'd have to put it on 14 and off all the time, but that's -- 15 MR. ODOM: We don't want to be cutting on that edge. 16 That cutting edge is a smooth edge compared to what I've got, 17 and those teeth are welded on. If we thought we could unbolt 18 them, I'd make it work, and we even discussed about putting 19 that -- but there's -- we'd have to drill through. And -- you 20 know, that's Aggie engineering at its best. And I think that 21 we would be better -- we'd have a better job, particularly 22 where there's a large concentration of people, to have the 23 same thing that I have with the Gradall, have a smooth edge -- 24 cutting edge on that thing. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Leonard, you mentioned my 5-8-06 75 1 precinct and my precinct only, so I move for approval of this 2 item. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Does that mean we can't use 4 it in my precinct? 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I didn't say that. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second it. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 8 approval. Any question or discussion on the motion? All in 9 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to 14 Item 13; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 15 abandon, vacate, and discontinue approximately 95 feet of 16 Drummond Drive, as recorded in the Kerr County Subdivision 17 Records and in Volume 4, Page 111, Plat Records, and located 18 in Precinct 1. 19 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. This is a portion of Drummond 20 and extends approximately 95 feet. It is -- the property is 21 owned by Mr. Jons on both sides. This is a process which is 22 under 251 in the Transportation Code. We also have a way that 23 we normally do it under the Governmental Code, but this 24 accomplishes the same thing. We're trying to get -- to 25 abandon that 95 feet that we don't need to maintain, and it 5-8-06 76 1 does it in a manner which will save money. We didn't have to 2 put it out for notice and mailing or anything like that. So, 3 I recommend that we abandon, by 251 here, that 95 feet. And 4 I've also gone through legal, and legal has said that this is 5 an appropriate way to do it. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move for approval as 7 described in the backup material here. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 10 of the agenda item as indicated in the backup material 11 furnished to the Court. Any question or discussion on the 12 motion? 13 (Discussion off the record.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: This order -- have you looked at this 15 order that's been tendered? 16 MR. EMERSON: I don't believe so. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Why don't you take a quick look at 18 it? 19 MR. EMERSON: Thank you. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Any question or discussion on the 21 motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 22 right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 5-8-06 77 1 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Mr. Jons, the 2 order which you tendered has been submitted to the County 3 attorney. If he finds that in due form, why, that's the one 4 we'll enter. If there's any question, why, of course, he'll 5 get back with you. 6 MR. JONS: Thank you, Your Honor. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Are there any other items on that 8 particular agenda item? Next item; consider, discuss, and 9 take appropriate action concerning the bid award to Martin 10 Marietta Materials for cold mix and black base. Mr. Odom? 11 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. We'd sent out a summary 12 before, I think, last budget on the annual bids that were 13 awarded in Court Order 29629, and in response to that mailing, 14 we received the attached letter from Martin Marietta 15 explaining an error in their bid, which is in that agenda 16 material that we sent you on this item. Therefore, we ask the 17 Court to change the award of the bid of cold mix and black 18 base to Vulcan instead of Martin Marietta. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 20 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to approve 22 the request by the Road and Bridge Administrator with 23 reference to the bid award to Martin Marietta Materials for 24 cold mix and black base. Any question or discussion on the 25 motion? 5-8-06 78 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I'm going to have to 2 think about this for a minute. But do we just automatically 3 change it? Or do we rescind the previous order? Seems like 4 there would be more to it than just changing a name. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I thought about that in my -- I 6 actually don't think we need to do anything. I mean, I think, 7 because we accept all bids, and you have the discretion to go 8 on down the line, their line just went up, so the next low one 9 is that. So, I mean, I think we could do it that way. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I do too. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Except the previous court 12 order said to "award" the bid. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Did it? 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And Martin Marietta -- it 15 was awarded to Martin Marietta for cold mix and black base. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Actual order? Well, we 17 awarded bids to everybody. I think Commissioner Letz is on 18 the right track. 'Cause we -- we accept all the bids, 19 probably for this very reason. 20 MR. ODOM: For this reason, for backup. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Whatever. What do you think? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, I'd like to hear from 23 the County Attorney. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's not a big deal. I mean, 25 we -- if we feel like we need to clean it up, we just rescind 5-8-06 79 1 the old order, and -- 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That -- yeah, right. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- go on with life. Or do we 4 need to do that at all? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's the -- what's the agenda 6 say? 7 JUDGE TINLEY: The award from -- the bid from Martin 8 Marietta as to those two items did not specify f.o.b. their 9 yard or point of origin, did they? 10 MR. ODOM: No, it was f.o.b. Kerrville. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Kerrville being a -- 12 MR. ODOM: 25-mile radius. 25-mile radius of that. 13 That's the way we had that. Not down there in San Antonio. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let -- let me rephrase my 15 motion, if I might, Judge. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we -- 18 based on Martin Marietta changing their price after we awarded 19 the bids, we cancel the award to Martin Marietta and award the 20 bid for cold mix and black base to the next low bidder, which 21 is Vulcan Materials. 22 MR. ODOM: That's correct. Does that sound 23 appropriate? Without rescinding a court order? Just amend 24 it? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That canceled the -- 5-8-06 80 1 MR. ODOM: The award. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To Martin Marietta. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We do have a motion. Do I 4 hear a second? 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Motion made and seconded as 7 indicated. Any question or discussion on the motion? All in 8 favor of the motion, signify by raising 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 15; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 14 concerning the Manufactured Home Rental Communities Rules, how 15 they apply to property at 150 Lydick, and the possibility of a 16 variance from the same. Mr. Odom? 17 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. Recently, the Howards had 18 bought some property, a little bit over 2 acres, at the end of 19 Lydick. When they purchased the property, there was a house 20 and one manufactured home rental on the property. They 21 proposed to -- I believe in the house, they were going to make 22 their office. They moved in another manufactured home, and 23 when they applied for a septic permit to add two manufactured 24 homes to the lot, they were told by Environmental Health that 25 they needed to check with about the rules for a rental 5-8-06 81 1 community. They use the house for an office, rent one 2 manufactured home, and are asking the Court for a variance to 3 rent the second home without platting as a manufactured home 4 rental community. So, that's -- they asked to be put on. 5 So, I've given you supporting documents. Basically, 6 it says just in the rules -- the definitions, 1.02, the 7 Manufactured Rental Home Community says that means a plot or 8 tract of land that is separated into two or more spaces or 9 lots that are rented, leased, or offered for rent or lease for 10 a term of less than 60 months without a purchase option for 11 the installation of manufactured homes for use and occupancy 12 as residences. You also have some minutes of a meeting that I 13 think that Judge Henneke was involved in, and where that 14 question came up. And I think, specifically, if it's two or 15 more, then you'd have to comply to the rules. But I will turn 16 that at this time to the Howards -- or Mr. Howard here that 17 wishes to address the Court. 18 MR. HOWARD: Yeah. I was just wanting to -- what he 19 was saying, if we can have a variance. We don't want to put 20 no more mobile homes on there, just what we got. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You have two on there 22 already? 23 MR. HOWARD: Yeah. One's rented, and we moved one 24 on there to be rented. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, that would mean that 5-8-06 82 1 there -- that that is a rental community. Is that what you're 2 saying, Leonard? 3 MR. ODOM: That's by the rules. By the definition, 4 that's what it says. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's pretty clear. I 6 mean, we haven't given a variance from this in the past; I 7 don't think we grant a variance here. My personal opinion. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: In looking at the -- the 9 Commissioners Court order on Manufactured Home Rental 10 Communities, if there's authority to grant a variance, I don't 11 see it contained in that order. 12 MR. HOWARD: I didn't know if it makes any 13 difference, but the one mobile home's been surrendered to the 14 property, so there is no title on it or anything. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If they're rented, they're 16 subject to the provisions, as I read the article -- order. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, if the Judge is looking 18 at the -- the rules, and it does -- it does -- you're thinking 19 it does not give us the authority to grant a variance? 20 JUDGE TINLEY: A quick review of it does not 21 indicate that. I don't want to say I've made an exhaustive 22 review, but -- 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, even if it did, I'm 24 reluctant to grant a variance of this -- of this kind, because 25 once you start granting variances in this -- in this arena, I 5-8-06 83 1 mean, why have rules? 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Commissioner, I -- my 3 reading of it is the rules do apply in this case, and it would 4 take a variance. But I also see that the rules are very 5 restrictive. What public interest is served by disallowing 6 putting two rental properties on this -- on this property? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the -- the interest is, 8 it's just a -- where do you draw the line? And the state law 9 says you draw it at two. We basically adopted state law. I 10 mean, I think I can certainly argue your point of view, but I 11 think when you -- okay, what about 10? What about 15? You 12 know, and that's why they said two or more. It's kind of a -- 13 modeled very much after our Subdivision Rules, where certain 14 provisions are applicable, and the idea was just to keep, you 15 know, substandard developments from starting in this county or 16 any other county. And nothing against this particular one, 17 but I think that's the reason for it. And we spent -- 18 unfortunately, Kerr County was the test case that went -- was 19 appealed and filed a lawsuit against us by the state 20 association, and the -- what we have is a compromise from that 21 lawsuit. So -- 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Generally, our Subdivision 23 Rules have got some basis set in protecting the public health, 24 protecting the water, conserving water, safety with regards to 25 driveway access, to roads and things like that. I get back to 5-8-06 84 1 the same -- maybe the rules could or should be different. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's -- 3 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I agree they apply, but 4 that may be just too restrictive. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's the same as roads and same 6 as drainage, you know. It's the same, I think, requirement 7 that you come up with as to why you do it. You make sure the 8 roads are to a standard for both the public and the emergency 9 services, things of that nature, and also with the drainage 10 from a public safety -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If it were a county rule, I 12 would probably vote with you on that. But, I mean, we -- we 13 can get our hands around Harvey's neck, I guess, and get him 14 to change that -- that type thing, but that's -- you know, if 15 it's state law, it's state law. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: County Attorney's -- 17 MR. EMERSON: In talking to Mr. Jons, I think 18 there's a -- a legitimate legal issue on the abandoned title 19 of that one residence, whether it still qualifies under the 20 manufactured home rentals. And until I can do some research, 21 I can't tell you one way or another if it fits. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's -- you know, if it 23 doesn't apply, I mean, if this isn't applicable, that's fine. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What are you saying? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Wait two weeks. 5-8-06 85 1 MR. EMERSON: Manufactured homes are titled, kind of 2 like a car, okay? They come with a -- with a title. And if 3 the title's abandoned and the manufactured home is affixed to 4 the property, essentially, it becomes a fixture, practically 5 speaking. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. And that's what he's 7 saying? 8 MR. EMERSON: Right. In this particular situation, 9 I do not know how the Attorney General has interpreted that 10 for purposes of this statute. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, if that goes away, then 12 there's just one -- one home there on that property -- or one 13 manufactured home on that property, and there's no reason for 14 this guy to be in this building. 15 MR. EMERSON: Correct. But I can't give you an 16 answer till I have time to go research the issue. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, he's saying that there'd be 18 one rented home and one rented manufactured home, and that's 19 not -- 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Depends on how -- how "manufactured 21 home" is construed. The definitions in the court order itself 22 do not define a manufactured home, so we've got to go back to 23 other -- other legal sources, and that's what the County 24 Attorney is suggesting that we need to look at. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Still alive. 5-8-06 86 1 MR. HOWARD: So, what do we do now? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're going to wait on -- 3 and so we're going to wait on Rex to make a legal decision. 4 MR. HOWARD: Okay. So, does he contact me, or do we 5 need to come back or what? 6 JUDGE TINLEY: I guess the collateral issue would be 7 if -- if you've got a mobile home park and you can avoid the 8 applicability of this by just killing the titles on all the -- 9 all the units there. 10 MR. EMERSON: That's the magic question. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Anybody have anything else to offer? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I need to address this 13 thing. Probably, this issue will not be addressed for two 14 more weeks -- 15 MR. HOWARD: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- from today. 17 MR. HOWARD: Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And you can call and probably 19 visit with Rex to find out what he has -- you know, so you'll 20 know what's going to happen. 21 MR. HOWARD: Okay. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else on that agenda item? 23 Let's move to Item 16, if we might. Consider, discuss, and 24 take appropriate action to review revision of plat for Lots 19 25 and 20 of Hidden Hills as set forth in Volume 6, Page 362 of 5-8-06 87 1 the Plat Records, and set a public hearing for same. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What precinct is this in? 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Last time I checked, it was 4 in Precinct 2. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: But it doesn't tell you 7 that. 8 MR. ODOM: I'm sorry. We -- I believe this one came 9 in at 3 o'clock or something like that. Yes, we had a -- we 10 had 11, and we tried to make sure, and I missed this one here, 11 because we had to pencil it in. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Basically, what you're needing is a 13 public hearing on this? 14 MR. ODOM: Pardon me? 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Mainly, what you're needing is a 16 public hearing? 17 MR. ODOM: That's right, sir. This is combining two 18 lots into one and making 80 acres in 19-A, is what -- we're 19 revising two lots into one, is what this is about. And we ask 20 that the -- we set a public hearing for June 12, 2006, at 10 21 a.m. And then also, the final plat, this is -- vocabulary is 22 a difficult thing with Don Voelkel sometimes. "Revision" does 23 not get in his mind; it's "as revised." And so the final plat 24 will show "revision" instead of "as revised." I had to throw 25 that in. I'm sorry. 5-8-06 88 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Just a minor Aggie skirmish we have 2 going on? 3 MR. ODOM: Well, there's always an Aggie skirmish, 4 it seems like. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This would work just if you 6 take "a-s" out of it, as. "As platted and revised." 7 MR. ODOM: He's -- I don't know why he cannot change 8 the language. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We're not going to even get 10 in an English debate. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just handle it this way. 12 Tell him the Commissioners Court wants it done right. 13 MR. ODOM: I already told him that. This came in at 14 3 o'clock on Friday, and I was gone. It was Monday morning 15 when we started looking at it. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Get it straight. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I move we set a public 18 hearing -- 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're going to do it anyway. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- for the revision of plat 21 for Lots 19 and 20, Hidden Hills, which is located in Precinct 22 2, for June 12. 10 a.m.? 23 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm going to vote no, 'cause 25 I want the verbiage on the plat correct. 5-8-06 89 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And correct the verbiage. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm not sure what I'm voting 3 on. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And correct the verbiage. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm not sure what I'm voting 6 on. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What verbiage? Just that 8 one? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we're voting on a public 10 hearing, aren't we? 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To revise some plats. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion. Do I have a second? 14 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion and second to hold a public 16 hearing on the agenda item for June 12, this year, at 10 a.m. 17 Any question or discussion on the motion? All in favor of the 18 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 21 (No response.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to 23 Item 17. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Before we leave on that, Judge, 25 can I make a brief comment? 5-8-06 90 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Seems to me our rules say that 3 they have to provide this 21 days -- 4 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- ahead of time. And I think 6 -- I understand that there's a certain amount of pressure, and 7 that they try to accommodate the developers, and I appreciate 8 that. And -- but, you know, I think that the -- I have no 9 problem with you setting up a policy that -- that's pretty 10 absolute that -- I think 21 days is a little bit long, 11 personally; I don't think it takes that long for you to review 12 something like this, which is pretty simple, but I also think 13 that coming in on a Friday or a Monday, like you have had 14 several on this agenda, is -- is not appropriate either. 15 MR. ODOM: It's not appropriate. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, I think I don't have a 17 problem at all, you know, Wednesday or something like that, 18 before -- 19 MR. ODOM: Within reason. But I understand, too, 20 with Mr. Wells here, that's something -- we'll discuss this. 21 And there needs to be that timeline, and I don't know where 22 that timeline's at that's reasonable that he can review some 23 drainage plans before the preliminaries are given. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think that -- I think 25 every subdivision isn't the same. I mean, clearly, putting on 5-8-06 91 1 a request for a public hearing is a lot less work than it is 2 to -- 3 MR. ODOM: Or a concept plan. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or a concept plan is less work. 5 But it's -- compared to a preliminary plat on a large 6 subdivision, I think it takes -- clearly, 21 days is probably 7 going to be rushing your department. So, I think that -- you 8 know, I want to bring this up. I think you have the ability 9 to not rush these on. But I know as soon as you do that, 10 whoever it is, whether it's Mr. Voelkel or any other developer 11 or surveyor in the community, we're going to hear about it. 12 We need to be able to support it. 13 MR. ODOM: That's right. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: I might mention that if you -- if you 15 do decide to adopt a hard and fast policy, you might consider 16 sending out written notification of, "Henceforth, these are 17 the timelines, and we're not going to be making any 18 exceptions," with maybe a brief explanation that we've got 19 certain tasks that have to be performed that we need, and even 20 just getting it on the agenda is not a simple task. I 21 remember Ms. Hardin coming in, and she had a cardboard box 22 full of these things. 23 MR. ODOM: Box full, that's correct. It is very 24 difficult for us to make all the copies and do everything and 25 try to catch it. This next one, I missed Precinct 2 on it, 5-8-06 92 1 too. But we've gone through and tried to -- we -- we go a 2 week ahead of time trying to get all this together, and then 3 the last minute on stuff -- I had one at 10 o'clock on Tuesday 4 morning. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, you're absolutely 6 correct. We're all correct here. But this is not the first 7 time we've had this conversation. That's the reason we built 8 the time frame in the rules, was because -- the only way to 9 make that stand and to get -- is shut them down. Do not take 10 them. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: They get the picture real 13 quick that way. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: I've got a sign that was very 15 graciously given to me by a now deceased former member of this 16 Court that says, "What part of 'no' do you not understand?" 17 Maybe I can bring -- bring that out and dust it off a little. 18 We have a motion and a second -- no we don't; we concluded 19 that. Let's go on to Item 17. Consider, discuss, and take 20 appropriate action to review revision of plat for Lot 25 of 21 Twin Springs Ranch, Section II, as set out in Volume 7, Page 22 167 of the Plat Records. There's a parenthetical, "Creekwood 23 Section II-A, Volume 6, Page 106, and set a public hearing for 24 same. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well -- 5-8-06 93 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Located in Precinct 2? 2 MR. ODOM: Precinct 2. 3 MS. HARDIN: And 3. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And 3. 5 MR. ODOM: And 3. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: What you're asking today for is a 7 public hearing? 8 MR. ODOM: What am I -- yes. Accept as a 9 preliminary and a public hearing. But there's some questions 10 I have to the Court on how we would go about it, whether it 11 was an alternate plat process or preliminary plat process. 12 This was submitted under the alternate plat process. Lot 25 13 of Twin Springs Ranch II, Volume 7, Page 167, will be divided 14 into four parts. One part is to be added to the Creekwood 15 II-A subdivision, Volume 6, Page 106, and in order to 16 accomplish this, the portion of Lot 25-A to be added to 17 Creekwood II-A needs to be vacated from Twin Springs Ranch II. 18 The other three parcels will remain in Twin Springs Ranch and 19 numbered 25-A, -B, and -C. If it is done under the alternate 20 plat process, they will not be required to send letters to the 21 other landowners, just do the publication and have a public 22 hearing and final plat approval. If it's done as a 23 preliminary and final plat process, they are required to pay 24 more fees and send letters to the landowners of both 25 subdivisions. With all this in mind, do we accept this as a 5-8-06 94 1 preliminary and set the public hearing, or do we do it as an 2 alternate plat and set the public hearing as June 12, 2006, at 3 10:10 a.m.? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, there -- there's a 5 reason for notifying everybody. And we probably -- the way I 6 see it, we could probably not notify anybody and sneak this 7 thing through, or we can notify all the taxpayers and their 8 neighbors to let them know what's going on in their community 9 and allow them to have a voice. I mean, that's the way I see 10 it. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Leonard -- 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm not a big fan of sneaking 13 it through, to be honest with you. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Leonard and I met with 15 Mr. Voelkel -- 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Which one? 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Lee -- on this item. And 18 they -- the other property owners in Twin Springs -- is it 19 two, Leonard? 20 MR. ODOM: Yes. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In Twin Springs have, in 22 fact, signed off on this, and they are -- there's a 23 declaration of all of that. And all the other property owners 24 have -- have signed off on that. That's included in your 25 packet. I guess the real question is, does it come under the 5-8-06 95 1 alternate plat review or does it come under -- does the Court 2 want to take it on as a whole? 'Cause this property's going 3 to be taken out of one subdivision and put into another. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But you -- it can't be in two 5 subdivisions. So, I mean, both subdivisions have to be 6 addressed. As I understand, that piece over here that's in 7 Twin Springs Ranches -- or it's in Creekwood right now? 8 Whichever one it's in. 9 MR. ODOM: No, it's in Twin Springs right now. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: In Twin Springs now. It's got 11 to be removed from Twin Springs before it can be put into 12 Creekwood. 13 MR. ODOM: It's just got to be abandoned. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's what this is about, 15 removing it from Twin Springs, and it will ultimately come 16 back to us as a part of Creekwood. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. But the initial -- it's 18 a revision of the plat. First part of it is just deleting it 19 and -- you know, from Creekwood. And there's another public 20 hearing to add it as a revision of plat to bring it into 21 Creekwood. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Deleting it from Twin 23 Springs. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's the first action, to me. 25 That has to be done. Once it's deleted, then it can be added 5-8-06 96 1 to the other one. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, two different actions need 4 to be taken. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. And one of them we 6 discussed does that first one, the removal of it from Twin 7 Springs. That can be done under the alternate plat review 8 process. But the second one we know cannot be done under the 9 alternate plat process. The adding it to Creekwood cannot be. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't -- I think you probably 11 can do it under the -- it can be removed from Twin Springs 12 under the alternate plat process. You're just deleting a lot. 13 Is it a single lot? Well -- 14 MR. ODOM: Portion of this 25. One portion of about 15 25 acres. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- you're revising a lot and -- 17 and subdivision boundary, 'cause it's on the perimeter of the 18 subdivision. But -- 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And then you're changing the 20 boundaries of the -- 21 MR. ODOM: Creekwood II. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, the first subdivision. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, do you notify all the 25 properties in there -- property owners in there that they -- 5-8-06 97 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They've already been 2 notified. They've already signed off on it. 3 MR. ODOM: Right. Twin Springs has done a petition 4 to allow them to do this. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, the alternate -- what is 6 different in the -- what's different about the alternate plat 7 process? 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The -- you don't need to go 9 through the public hearing process. Is that correct? 10 MR. ODOM: You still have to go through the public 11 hearing, but you don't have to send out notification. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, you don't -- you're 13 telling me you don't have to send them out anyway, because 14 they're -- everybody's already signed off on it, so what's the 15 question here? 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's a good question. 17 MR. ODOM: Well, Creekwood is going to be going -- 18 it's totally separate. You're going to take a portion -- Twin 19 Springs, if I had my druthers, I would take it out of it, have 20 less traffic on one side. Now, you're going to take 25 and 21 you're going to put it in another subdivision, and the 22 question is, has Creekwood II been notified? Have they 23 accepted -- can you -- can we do that? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, the answer to your 25 question is no, the Creekwood II people have not been. Twin 5-8-06 98 1 Springs people have been. 2 MR. ODOM: I understand. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And the question, to me, 4 that I heard that occurs to me, following up on Commissioner 5 Baldwin, is does this -- what if we did it under the alternate 6 plat process? We've got a piece of property just hanging in 7 limbo. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's not in one and it 10 hasn't been determined to put it in the second. 11 MR. ODOM: In the second. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What if the second property 13 owner says, "Absolutely not. We're not going to have that 14 over here." What do you do then? 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, he has to come back to 16 us on putting it into Creekwood. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And there's going to be a 19 bunch of them come out of the woodwork to talk about roads and 20 -- and traffic and whatever. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm going back to a question, 22 and I'm looking, going -- reading quickly through the rules. 23 The fact that that's an alternate plat process doesn't relieve 24 the public hearing. 25 MR. ODOM: No. 5-8-06 99 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, public notification. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're right. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Notification by letter. 4 MR. ODOM: Notification to Creekwood II is something 5 that I question. You're taking one and trying to put it in 6 another subdivision. If we're trying to do this as one piece, 7 would not Twin Springs and Creekwood II need to be notified of 8 the public hearing set in June? Or -- or -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think you have to notify the 10 public. I think that notice has to be for both of them. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If it were me, I would do it 12 that way, especially if they're going to pack the courtroom 13 and start talking about roads. Let them know -- 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, when you and I met, 15 the issue -- the secondary or the second part of this was not 16 discussed in terms of -- of the Creekwood part. All that he 17 was asking to do was to take action to remove it from Twin 18 Springs. He said he was going to make it a part of Creekwood, 19 but that notification hasn't taken place. 20 MR. ODOM: All right. What do you do -- where is 21 this piece of land that's in limbo? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think I just raised that 23 question. 24 MR. ODOM: Is it in paradise? We're going to just 25 set it out here? The question is, once you divide this, then 5-8-06 100 1 it's no longer in Twin Springs; it goes in Creekwood II. I 2 would assume that is -- 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's -- that's an 4 assumption. 5 MR. ODOM: Assumption. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I -- 7 MR. ODOM: And he told us that he owns this property 8 directly next to it. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm sorry, I wasn't paying 10 attention; I was reading this again. I don't see that the 11 notification requirements change if it's an alternate plat. 12 MR. ODOM: So it would still be Creekwood II, right. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm saying you have to -- 14 it's -- you have to give -- and I don't -- I understand that 15 they received sign-offs on a petition, but I don't see that 16 the law allows for that. It says here if all or part of the 17 subdivided tract has been sold to nondeveloper owners, the 18 Court shall give notice to each of those owners by certified 19 registered mail. It doesn't say they can sign another 20 statement; it says they have to get it by certified mail, 21 period. So, I think every member of both subdivisions needs 22 to get it by certified mail. That's what our rules say. I 23 mean, there's no gray area, to me. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: The sign-off that was done by the 25 Twin Springs Ranch owners was done in connection with the 5-8-06 101 1 restrictions and covenants that were previously imposed on the 2 property. 3 MR. ODOM: That's right. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: The sign-off was done to allow the 5 amendment to exclude that. It wasn't done as a waiver of 6 notice, for example, of the requirements under the -- under 7 the plat rules, that they be given notice under these rules by 8 certified or registered mail. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's fine. I'm cool with 10 that. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think they both need to -- I 12 mean, I think both can be done as the alternate plat process, 13 which just speeds it up; it comes in one time. But everyone 14 has to get a certified letter saying that this is happening, 15 and it has to be put in the paper. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's fine. 17 MR. ODOM: And -- and to go back to Mr. Williams, I 18 received this, again -- his brother did the same thing -- on 19 Friday, and I really didn't have a lot of time when we met to 20 go over this on the weekend, looking at this and trying to 21 understand it a little bit more, that we were trying to get it 22 in here. It seemed to be -- it was a little bit vague where 23 25 was going. After I read it, then I felt like Creekwood II 24 needed to be notified. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: In the agenda item that you have, 5-8-06 102 1 Mr. Odom, you're asking for a public hearing on deleting this 2 acreage from the Twin Springs Ranch. That's what you're 3 asking for the public hearing on? 4 MR. ODOM: That's right. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: And that only? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Wouldn't we do Creekwood II? 7 MR. ODOM: Well, to me, it would -- I think both of 8 them need to be notified. I can't see moving 25-A into 9 someone's subdivision without them knowing about it. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Let me see if I can move it 11 along those lines; that we approve the appropriate 12 notification -- notification to all property owners in Twin 13 Springs and Creekwood II, and publication of same, and set a 14 public hearing for the revision -- proposed revision of plat 15 for Lot 25 in Twin Springs 2, for June -- 16 MR. ODOM: 12. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- 12, at 10:10 a.m. Does 18 that fit? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll second it, if I can make 20 a -- 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- slight modification to it. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think you need to do the -- 25 the first public hearing on Twin Springs at 10 o'clock, and 5-8-06 103 1 then a second one at 10:05 on Creekwood II. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's fine. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll second that. 4 MS. HARDIN: You already have one set at 10:00. You 5 already have one set for 10:00. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Pardon? 7 MS. HARDIN: Hidden Hills is set for 10:00. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Well, 10:05 and 10:10. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's fine. That's good. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: If we don't do the first 11 one, the second one's a moot point. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: My question is whether or not the 13 agenda item and the materials submitted for an alternate plat 14 process to include this within Creekwood is -- if we 15 sufficiently have that in front of us. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, the reason Creekwood II is 17 in parentheses in the agenda posting is because I asked it to 18 be, because I thought this is what needed to happen. I 19 visited with Truby on this, and we -- and I -- you know, I was 20 hoping that the County Attorney would say that since we had 21 Creekwood II listed under the agenda item, we could do it for 22 both public hearings if that's what we decided to do. 23 MR. EMERSON: For purposes of today, I think there's 24 probably adequate notice that you're talking about both 25 subdivisions. But -- 5-8-06 104 1 JUDGE TINLEY: For the purpose of setting public 2 hearings on both of those, only as indicated in the motion? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For today only. 4 MR. EMERSON: Yeah. I think you need two separate 5 hearings. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, we're doing it in two 7 hearings. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We have a motion and second. 9 Any question or discussion on the motion? All in favor of the 10 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 11 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 13 (No response.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We know what precinct this 16 next one's in. 17 MR. ODOM: Precinct 3. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's come to Item 18, if we 19 might. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action for 20 revision of plat for Falling Water, Lot 117-A and 116-D, 21 creating Lot 117-R, and located in Precinct 3. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're trying to set a record for 23 the most revisions of a plat ever. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, this by far has the 25 record. 5-8-06 105 1 MR. ODOM: This is combining two lots into one, as 2 it's proposed, and I'd ask the Court to accept that revision 3 of plat for Falling Water. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 7 of the agenda item -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And we did the public hearing 9 last time? 10 MR. ODOM: Yes. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: -- to approve the revision of plat 12 for Falling Water, Lot 117-A and Lot 116-D, creating Lot 13 117-R. Any question or discussion on the motion? All in 14 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 15 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 17 (No response.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to 19 Item 19; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 20 employees' health insurance coverage for 2007 with regards to 21 the process and timing. Commissioner Nicholson? 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: What I'd like to see happen 23 here is that the risk management consultant, Gary Looney, work 24 with us in the month of July to -- to decide on employee 25 health coverage for 2007. I'd like to get that done before -- 5-8-06 106 1 coincident with the budget process. There may be some changes 2 that we want to make in our coverage and premiums. I'm 3 looking at a letter from last year -- December 24, 2005 -- 4 where we were still working the last week in December on 5 insurance. I don't want that to happen again. Even though if 6 it carries over one more week, I won't be here anyhow, so I 7 won't have to worry about it, but I think we ought to get it 8 done more timely this year. So, I'm proposing that we meet 9 with Mr. Looney in July and hear his proposals for -- for 10 employee health coverage. It's my understanding that the -- 11 that the contract with the administrator goes for two more 12 years. It's a three-year contract, so we would just be 13 dealing with -- I think we'd just be dealing only with the -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Coverage. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's a good idea. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I do too. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's good. You make a 19 motion to set it -- do it in July? 20 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded that we deal 23 with the health insurance consultant in July -- relative to 24 the coverage issues? Is that what you're talking about? 25 (Commissioner Nicholson nodded.) 5-8-06 107 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we should have a 2 workshop to do that. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or discussion? 4 As -- as I'm sure the members of the Court remember, in early 5 January of this year, after we ran into difficulties because 6 of the time frame problems dealing with the health insurance 7 issue way late in the year, and the problem we had with 8 getting enrollments done timely, getting the benefit cards 9 activated in a timely manner, I wrote to Mr. Looney and asked 10 him to give us a timeline on how that process should proceed 11 so that we wouldn't have those difficulties. And I've given 12 each member of the Court a copy of the memorandum that he 13 returned to me to give us a timeline, and his closing question 14 was, "When do you need budget projections for 2007?" And 15 that's, obviously, the purpose of Commissioner Nicholson's 16 question, in order so we can incorporate that in the budget 17 process. And I will respond accordingly, depending upon how 18 the vote occurs. Any other questions or comments? All in 19 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 24 MAYOR SMITH: Judge, I'd like to mention, the City 25 is still interested in trying to obtain a mutually beneficial 5-8-06 108 1 savings by combining our employees. It would have to be 2 mutually beneficial, and you couldn't do it before 2008, but 3 the City is still interested in doing that. Thank you. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I -- I was 5 present in a Council meeting when that was suggested, to at 6 least look into the process of creating a large group to be 7 comprised of all public employees and possibly even school 8 district employees, or at least local public employees. In my 9 last discussion with Mr. Looney, he had received some inquiry 10 from -- from a representative of the City's plan, making 11 preliminary inquiry about that, so I think those discussions 12 are underway, at least on a preliminary basis. 13 MAYOR SMITH: Thank you. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think just a comment on that. 16 I don't -- I think we need to make sure that we, at our 17 workshop, invite members of the City to come and -- you know, 18 the full Council, if they so choose, or representative of 19 the City or whoever, so they can listen to our conversation, 20 even if they're not going to necessarily participate in the 21 plan next year. That way, you get an idea what the County's 22 doing. 23 MAYOR SMITH: This is something that, if we work 24 together, should be mutually beneficial to both parties. 25 Thank you. 5-8-06 109 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 20, consider the 2 library agreement between Kerr County and City of Kerrville 3 and authorize the County Judge to give notice to the City of 4 Kerrville of the County's intent to terminate and renegotiate 5 the agreement. Commissioner Nicholson? 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Judge, this is a procedural 7 matter. I'll read two provisions of the contract to you; 8 that's the interlocal agreement between Kerrville and Kerr 9 County on the library. Part 11 says, in part, "This agreement 10 shall remain in full force and effect for a period of one year 11 beginning October 1, 2005. It shall continue automatically 12 for successive year, unless either party gives notice in 13 writing by July 1st of the year that they want to terminate 14 the agreement at the end of then current year." So, what that 15 says is if either party desires to make changes in the 16 interlocal agreement, that notice has to be given by -- before 17 July 1. I'm proposing to give notice. And the reason I'm 18 proposing to give notice has got to do with Part 9. The first 19 sentence says, "The parties agree that the County's minimum 20 contribution for Fiscal Year 2005-2006 shall be $300,000." 21 And then it goes on to talk about both parties need to approve 22 their budgets and that sort of thing. First sentence of Part 23 9 will obviously be obsolete as of October 1, so at a minimum, 24 I think it would be good to -- to agree with the City of 25 Kerrville to strike that -- that language. I don't know of 5-8-06 110 1 any other revisions that might be desirable in the contract. 2 It could be that some will surface during the budgeting 3 process, but I don't have any idea what they'd be. But, 4 anyhow, the sole reason for serving notice that we intend to 5 alter the contract would be to change that first part, first 6 sentence in Part 9. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: To take out a specific 8 figure? 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes. Then, Commissioner, 10 if you took that sentence out, it would say, "In future 11 years" -- you can leave that -- "the parties agree that it is 12 the intent of both the City and the County to evenly 13 participate in the proposed net operational expenses as 14 recommended by the Library Board subject to approval by both 15 the City Council and Commissioners Court." So, the City's 16 control and the County's control over their spending will be 17 the process that requires approval by both entities of the 18 proposed budget. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: As a matter of fact, that 20 number does not accurately reflect our participation this 21 year. 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes. So, I -- I move that 23 we authorize the County Judge to give notice to the City of 24 Kerrville that we intend to -- I have to say "terminate"; 25 that's the language in the agreement -- the library interlocal 5-8-06 111 1 agreement and to propose changes to it. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are we saying "terminate" or 3 "terminate/renegotiate"? 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes, let's do that. And, 5 again, my only intent is to clean up the agreement. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll second. And I'll also just 7 add that I think the Judge can give a little bit more 8 explanation in the letter that it's not the intent to 9 terminate. The intent is to clean up some language in the 10 current agreement. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's good. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second. Do we 13 have any questions or discussion on the motion? I've been 14 presented with some public participation forms. The first one 15 is by Mr. Joe Benham. Mr. Benham? 16 MR. BENHAM: Judge, I'd be happy to defer to the 17 mayor if he wants to go first. 18 MAYOR SMITH: Thank you. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Gene Smith, mayor of Kerrville, has 20 also filed a public participation form. Mr. Mayor? 21 MAYOR SMITH: Right. Thank you. I'm not speaking 22 as mayor; I'm more or less speaking as myself. The City Clerk 23 e-mails the Commissioners Court agenda to each Councilman, and 24 I received it Friday, and I looked at this agenda item and I 25 thought, well, we must have some major problems here. And I 5-8-06 112 1 thought since we have a Library Advisory Board, that if you 2 had problems, that should have been addressed by the Library 3 Advisory Board. But after listening to Commissioner 4 Nicholson's explanation, I understand fully and I have no 5 objections to this. And my -- I hate to be so negative to 6 think that there was some problem between the dear old city 7 and the dear old county, so I'm glad to find out that this was 8 relatively minor, and I appreciate you pointing out the 9 correction that's necessary. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Why would you ever think 11 that, Mr. Mayor? 12 MAYOR SMITH: Well, you know how it is. Thank you 13 very much. There's no problem here, as far as I'm concerned, 14 with the City. Thank you. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. Mr. Benham? 16 MR. BENHAM: Thank you, Your Honor. Good morning, 17 gentlemen. For the record, I'm Joseph Benham; I live at 522 18 Rolling Green, Kerrville, Kerr County. Proud resident and 19 taxpayer. I beg your indulgence in prefacing my remarks about 20 the library to remind you of and invite you to the Memorial 21 Day observance, which will take place right out here at the 22 war memorial on the Kerr County Courthouse grounds at 2 p.m. 23 on May the 29th. I know some of you, the Judge and 24 Commissioner Williams, have been pretty regular attendants. 25 It's a very moving ceremony with a lot of World War II 5-8-06 113 1 veterans, and veterans of more recent vintage present. 2 Wreaths from a lot of civic patriotic organizations are laid 3 at the war memorial, and we have a ceremonial rifle volley and 4 Taps, and I would certainly hope that all of you -- I want you 5 to know that you're all invited, and I hope that all of you 6 will be able to attend. 7 I'd also like to thank the County Commissioners -- I 8 put on -- that was wearing my Veteran's Council hat. I'll put 9 on my Kerr County 150th birthday Steering Committee hat, and 10 thank you for the hard work that went into that 150th birthday 11 observance. This county can be extraordinarily proud of how 12 we showed what can be done in something like that. We had 13 more people at any one of our events, from what we can find 14 out, than other counties which were formed at the same time as 15 Kerr had for all of their festivities. So, you can 16 congratulate yourselves for the county's participation and 17 support. As president of the symphony -- that's another 18 hat -- it was my privilege to introduce Judge Tinley and 19 Mrs. Tinley at the last concert and, again, thank them in 20 person for their participation, and through them, all of you 21 in the county. 22 Now I'll put on the other hat, which is Friends of 23 the Library. I'm greatly relieved to hear what Commissioner 24 Nicholson had to say, and I won't take up a lot of your time, 25 except to say that when you do get into the process of 5-8-06 114 1 amending the contract, renegotiating it, that it will -- that 2 will not lead to any reduction in your contributions. I 3 started covering Texas politics 51 years ago in Austin, and I 4 have never seen a renegotiation process in which the party 5 that wanted it renegotiated said, "Let's renegotiate this so 6 we can put more funding in this agreement." And I've served 7 on enough boards and committees -- school board, utility 8 district board and so forth; I know money's always short. But 9 please remember the importance of this library. Let me just 10 wrap it up with a couple of mottos, which those of us who grew 11 up in rural areas I think probably know and, I suspect, honor. 12 One of them is the saying that you put the hurt -- I'm sorry, 13 you put the medicine where the hurt is. Well, the hurt in 14 this sense is a distinct need to maintain and, indeed, improve 15 on the library, which is one of the most heavily used 16 facilities in the state of Texas. And I'll be happy to work 17 with you on any -- to deal with that in more detail, as I'm 18 sure Mr. Lipscomb from the Library Advisory Board will. 19 The other is by the immortal Bum Phillips, who said, 20 "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Well, we have a 21 magnificent library here, folks, and we just want to see it 22 grow and prosper, and we'd hate to see it fixed in such a way 23 that it hurt the library. And I would simply ask you to 24 remember those things as you move into the budget process and 25 as you address this contract. And I'm grateful to you for 5-8-06 115 1 your time. Thank you. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. Benham. We appreciate 4 you being here. Anyone else have a desire to be heard on this 5 issue? I have a motion and second before the court. Any 6 further discussion on the motion? All in favor of that 7 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to 12 Item 21, if we might. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 13 action to approve grant agreements with Texas Department of 14 Agriculture for award under the "Texas Yes!" Program in 15 connection with event under sponsorship of the Kerrville 16 Convention and Visitors Bureau to benefit the Kerrville 17 Boardwalk Fund. The Court will recall that sometime back, the 18 Court approved our becoming a member -- I think it was making 19 application to the "Texas Yes!" program -- for an event to be 20 held out at a local bed and breakfast, actually under the 21 sponsorship of the Kerrville Convention and Visitors Bureau, 22 with the funding to be derived to benefit the Kerrville 23 Boardwalk Fund. The -- the request -- the membership and 24 application to the "Texas Yes!" would be to facilitate their 25 obtaining certain -- I believe it was advertising funds in 5-8-06 116 1 order to publicize the event, get participation to increase 2 the amount of funds gained for the benefit of the Boardwalk. 3 Last week I received a rather voluminous package that came in 4 with regard to certain agreements concerning grant funds to be 5 awarded, and I forwarded those to the County Attorney's 6 office, and he responded. And I'm not going to steal his 7 thunder; I'm going to let him come tell us what his thinking 8 was in regard to those grant agreements. And I've got them 9 here if he wants to refer to his information. 10 MR. EMERSON: I have it -- 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 12 MR. EMERSON: -- designated in the letter. I 13 forwarded a copy of my answer to the Judge, to each of you, as 14 well as a copy of the transcript from the original January 9th 15 Commissioners Court meeting. And my primary concern is, I 16 don't think the agreements, as presented, mirror what the 17 Court had in mind when they approved it in January. If you 18 refer back to the January transcript, there's quite a bit of 19 discussion, but specifically, on Page 55, Line 6, Commissioner 20 Williams says, "If the grant is awarded and it's administered 21 by the Boardwalk people, are they obligated to use it solely 22 and exclusively to promote your event?" And the rest of the 23 conversation works around that. I'm not sure the 24 Commissioners Court understood that if this grant was 25 approved, that the grant would be awarded and the County would 5-8-06 117 1 be responsible for managing the grant, the paperwork for the 2 grant, the expenditures from the grant, as well as having the 3 liability for any misapplication that might come up as a 4 result of it. 5 And the documents, as they're presented, state under 6 Paragraph 2.5 that Kerr County is the grantee, that the 7 grantee's agent is the gentleman that applied for it. The 8 grantee is required to perform all proposed project 9 activities; that's under Section 3.2. Section 4.6, failure to 10 comply may result in grantee's future ineligibility; i.e., 11 Kerr County's. Under 5.1, Kerr County must have 12 possession/access of all records for potential audit. Under 13 6.3, Kerr County has the liability for the misuse of the 14 funds. Under 8.1 to 8.4, that the property shall be used in 15 accordance with the agreements and records and shall be 16 maintained, and grantee, Kerr County, shall develop a control 17 system to insure adequate safeguards to prevent loss, damage, 18 and theft. And then under 10.1, and I quote, "Grantee is not 19 relieved of its duties and obligations imposed by this 20 agreement through delegation by grantee to a third party." 21 So, as I'm reading it, Kerr County has all the liability, all 22 the responsibility, but no real control over the process, 23 unless Kerr County delegates an overseer to work specifically 24 with the applicant in this case. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My recollection is that a lot of 5-8-06 118 1 this was brought up, and I think one of my concerns I had at 2 the time was that it appeared that there was a lot of benefit 3 to a private entity. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And somehow we got over that 6 hurdle. But I don't -- I recall that the County was not going 7 to have all the responsibilities, and don't want them. I 8 mean, especially under this situation -- particular situation. 9 So, I mean, I think at this point, you know, you might refer 10 it back to the Convention and Visitors Bureau -- Convention 11 and Visitor Bureau; refer to it them saying that we're not 12 willing to participate in this manner, and let them decide 13 what they want to do. 14 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes. I wonder how it was 15 determined that we would be grantee instead of the Boardwalk 16 Association, Convention and Visitors Bureau or somebody else. 17 I think if -- if someone else was designated to be the 18 grantee, then we wouldn't have any problems with this, 19 wouldn't have any liability. I don't know how you change 20 that. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We just went through that 22 last meeting with a similar application that was requested by 23 Texas State Arts and Crafts Educational Foundation for a grant 24 also for the "Texas Yes!" Agriculture Department. I guess the 25 only difference that I can see in my mind about that is that 5-8-06 119 1 they're doing the improvements on county property. We still 2 own that property, and those are -- those dollars are going to 3 go there. But, you know, we raised this issue before, and it 4 was kind of glossed over in terms of -- of who's going to 5 administer that. C.V.B., admittedly, is not set up to do 6 that, and doesn't particularly want to do that. And the 7 response came from this gentleman, Well, it's going to be done 8 by the Boardwalk Association. Which goes back to your 9 question, then. Wouldn't they be the grantee if that's the 10 case? 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I think what I'm hearing is 12 we're saying we don't want to be the grantee, so we don't want 13 the grant if somebody else can't be the grantee. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: My recollection at the time was that 15 our -- our involvement was going to be merely applying for 16 membership -- 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: -- in this program, and then all the 19 rest of it would be handled away from us, without any further 20 action or responsibility on our part. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it -- unless I'm mistaken, 22 it can be handled that way, because that's the way the River 23 Star is handling it. The membership -- we're not 24 administering that grant, I don't believe. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think that's what Judge 5-8-06 120 1 Tinley said, is what was represented to us is that all that 2 was required of us was just to apply and do whatever, be the 3 applicant. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, what do we need to do? 5 I agree with everything that's been said here. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we refer it to 7 Convention and Visitors Bureau and see if they want to figure 8 out how to amend it. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Convention and Visitors 10 Bureau or the Boardwalk? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well -- 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Convention and Visitors 13 Bureau wasn't going to benefit by this. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Or the -- or the project proponent, 15 maybe all three of them. Say, "You guys figure it out." 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That would work. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We don't need to do any kind 21 of court order? 22 JUDGE TINLEY: I'll handle the notification to those 23 entities, and -- 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we probably do need a 25 court order on this. 5-8-06 121 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I would think so. 'Cause it 2 looks like that we've made a commitment prior to. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll just make a motion that, at 4 this time, Commissioners Court does not want Kerr County to be 5 the grantee under this grant. 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And that's the part of "no" 8 we understand. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Does that include any notification to 10 these entities? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And please notify them and see 12 if they have some additional information they want to provide 13 the County. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Do we have a second on that? 15 MS. THOMPSON: Yes. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Motion made and seconded as 17 indicated. Any question or discussion on the motion? 18 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Just to say I appreciate 19 the County Attorney's diligence in bringing this kind of thing 20 to our attention. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Hear, hear. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: All in favor of the motion, signify 24 by raising your right hand. 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5-8-06 122 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 2 (No response.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to 4 Item 22, if we might, reports from the departments. I.T.? 5 MR. TROLINGER: Good morning. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Before you launch off into 7 your deal -- 8 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, sir? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We had -- in one of our 10 previous agenda items this morning, there was a lady here from 11 the Indigent Health Care program that is employed by us, as 12 well as Peterson Hospital. And one of her concerns -- or one 13 of her suggestions or recommendations to make her function 14 better was to -- it was suggested that there's a possibility 15 that we could link up via computer with other government 16 entities so that she can research and get information that 17 would help her make decisions in her business. Would you be 18 kind enough to touch base with her and sit down with her and 19 find out what her needs are, and see if there's possibly a way 20 that we could link up? 21 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, sir. We had a meeting with a 22 vendor -- I.H.C., I think it was -- to discuss exactly that, 23 and we had asked the vendor to come back to us with a solution 24 where they hosted the computers in their facility, instead of 25 the County and the hospital trying to host their own hardware. 5-8-06 123 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, she mentioned new 2 software, but we're thinking -- what we're thinking is, go 3 ahead and give her access to the Tax Assessor's -- some of 4 their information, and Appraisal District, and so that she can 5 -- you know, and she may have access to it already. I mean, 6 just -- I mean -- 7 MR. TROLINGER: I understand. So, they're asking 8 for access to county public records. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Correct. 10 MR. TROLINGER: Oh, very good. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And maybe access to the 12 Collections Department to, you know, somehow -- it seems we've 13 spent a lot of money on a lot of software already, and we 14 might be able to -- not buy more, but just give her access to 15 something that the County's already doing. 16 MR. ALFORD: We met with her this morning after 17 y'all's meeting, and opened up our doors and started a 18 procedure on how she can access -- we will access it for her, 19 but how she will have full access to what she needs through 20 our department. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Some of the search capability that 22 you have? 23 MR. ALFORD: Which will cover some of the stuff that 24 you were just talking to Mr. Trolinger about; tax records, 25 motor vehicles and that type of stuff, as to how many they 5-8-06 124 1 own, what they own, if there's any liens, bankruptcy, what 2 property's in their name. We already have access to that 3 through some other programs, so she will already have a head 4 in the door. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mr. Trolinger, just pretend I 6 didn't say a word. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Some of it may be as simple 8 as she may not know how to access KCAD data. I can get on 9 there and answer questions, 'cause I've done it recently, but 10 it takes a little know-how to do it. 11 MR. TROLINGER: And the County public access website 12 that has all the courts and tax office information is -- is 13 going to start probably at the end of this week, and by the 14 end of the month, I anticipate we'll have the first pieces of 15 county data online that are similar to Central Appraisal 16 District's website. 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Obviously, what our 18 objective in all that would be is to help improve those 19 processes so that we can reduce our liability for indigent 20 health care. 21 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: So, if there's any 23 information that will help her do that, we ought to do it. 24 Save a bunch of money. 25 MR. TROLINGER: My initial answer was speaking to 5-8-06 125 1 the actual software and hardware systems that were proposed. 2 Okay. Over the past two months, the tax, financial, and 3 software upgrade has been underway. We're about 80 percent 4 complete. Two projects left, Jury and Hot Checks. And 5 although they're relatively small, they're important, but 6 those are not scheduled yet. Those are the only two pieces 7 left. Law enforcement's online today, and they just started 8 working with the computer-aided dispatch this morning. And 9 the project's going very well, in my view. Now -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I was going to say -- 11 MR. TROLINGER: -- there are issues, and there 12 always will be. But Software Group's bending over backwards 13 and going above and beyond the contract hours to make sure 14 that additional people that need it get the training, and that 15 additional customization is going to be provided. One -- one 16 item that's not on my written report is that the police chief 17 at Kerrville Police Department and the Sheriff have been 18 discussing the City's integration into Odyssey, and basically 19 integrating those two functions. The Software Group's 20 evaluating that. It's the same thing that Gillespie County 21 does; their municipal and county is using Odyssey. And it 22 looks like the Police Chief is getting serious about it, 23 considering it. And everything else is in my written report. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Are you satisfied with the level of 25 training, both that being given and the reception of that 5-8-06 126 1 training, and the progress of our employees under that 2 training? 3 MR. TROLINGER: The -- with a few exceptions, and 4 the few exceptions are being addressed. But as far as 5 Software Group and their -- their ability to find the weak 6 areas and, just on their own initiative, spend extra time 7 on-site, I'm very satisfied. But we do have some people in a 8 couple of departments that need additional training once the 9 big project's rolled out. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: And have you received a commitment 11 from Software Group to provide that training? 12 MR. TROLINGER: We're going to provide it in-house, 13 I believe. It's for view-only users, typically. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: When do you anticipate this 15 transition to Odyssey will be complete? 16 MR. TROLINGER: Friday. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Entirely? 18 MR. TROLINGER: We'll be at -- with the exception of 19 the public web site and, as I mentioned, Jury and Hot Checks, 20 the software will be installed and live. It's going very 21 well. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Any more questions for 23 Mr. Trolinger? 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Appreciate it. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. Appreciate your 5-8-06 127 1 efforts. 2 MR. TROLINGER: You're welcome. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Road and Bridge. Mr. Odom. 4 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. The road projects we have, in 5 April we completed sealcoat on Lower Reservation and 6 Weatherby. We had about 1.4 miles that we redid, around 7 seven-tenths of a mile on each one. We propose next year, in 8 the next budget year, to pick up from there and to go on over 9 the next couple of budgets and redo that area. Also, as you 10 see, office projects, the subdivisions and meeting on concept 11 plans, as you can see from the number of subdivisions being 12 brought to you, there's a lot of interest in development of 13 land in Kerr County. We understand that all the surveyors are 14 really busy, but we need your help in handling all of these 15 requests. The Subdivision Rules provide a certain number of 16 days for us to review the drawings and documents before they 17 are placed on the agenda. We've already discussed that, and 18 we have a direction, basically, the Court wants me to follow. 19 And I know that these surveyors are -- are booked. Everybody 20 is. But they wait till the last minute to bring it in. It 21 makes it quite difficult to get all the information, or to 22 look at something and present it to y'all, and so we ask you 23 to bear with us. We've been as accommodating as we can. 24 Depending upon the circumstances, we'll do that. But it's 25 very tough for the office to get all this together and get it 5-8-06 128 1 to Kathy, and for her to get it on the agenda for a final. 2 So, we ask to have your support with these surveyors and 3 developers and all when they come in at the last minute, to 4 give us a reasonable amount of time to review it. 5 As you see also, the floodplain, all of those 6 listed, there's quite a lot of time with meetings, telephone 7 calls, and inspections. However, there are many more that are 8 handled by the office staff. Most of those are inquiries by 9 realtors and citizens looking for property to purchase. These 10 usually require the time to look them up on the computer, 11 print a copy for the inquirer, and supply a name with whatever 12 information we have on the property. Many times a piece of 13 property is checked numerous times. We have them coming in -- 14 if a realtor can't sell it to one, he's got another one, and 15 so they'll come in, and we -- we repeat the same scenario. 16 The employees. Since the last report, two employees have 17 left. I thought I replaced one; I'm not quite sure. We have 18 to wait and see how the physical turns out, but we're 19 interviewing for another position. One took a job, I think, 20 overseas somewhere, and another one, because of health 21 reasons, left. We've had no accident reports in the last two 22 months. And our budget -- our current budget is right on 23 track with percentages. As we approach the new budget, I 24 would like for you to consider replacing those things which we 25 cut last year, which definitely we'll be talking about dump 5-8-06 129 1 trucks and looking at how I might be able to handle 2 inspections and things like that with Doug and Joe, maybe one 3 more person put back into the budget. I'm open for any 4 questions. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Questions for Mr. Odom? Thank you, 6 sir. 7 MR. ODOM: Thank you. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Appreciate you being here. 9 Facilities and Maintenance. Mr. Holekamp. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Before you go, I have a 11 question -- quick question. Sorry. On the list here, where 12 you go -- your code off to the side, when you say 13 "preliminary," does that mean preliminary's been approved on 14 those, or preliminary is pending? 15 MS. HARDIN: Preliminary's pending. 16 MR. ODOM: Pending. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Pending? 18 MR. ODOM: It will say "C" when it's completed. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well -- 20 MS. HARDIN: We actually have those preliminary 21 plats in our office. They haven't been -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You have -- the plats are there, 23 but we -- so the preliminary that's been approved is in the 24 "N.F." group? 25 MS. HARDIN: Yes. 5-8-06 130 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Needs filing. And then "C" 2 would be the final had been approved? 3 MR. ODOM: That's right. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: "Sealcoat Baldwin Road." 7 Is that Buster's driveway? (Laughter.) 8 MR. ALFORD: His future driveway. 9 MR. HOLEKAMP: Okay, I gave y'all a report. I think 10 it was in your box. Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center, Indoor 11 Arena, and Union Church's activity for March and April. And 12 also, I brought my calendar for the future. I have a -- we 13 have three available weekend dates between now and the first 14 of 2007 in the Exhibit Hall. We have -- we've had a big run 15 on rental. Fortunately -- or unfortunately, I guess, might be 16 -- depends on your perspective, is that there's really no 17 place in this community for rental -- reasonable rental for 18 wedding receptions, Quinceaneras and that sort of thing, and 19 we've gotten a big, big run on those, and begging for a whole 20 lot more slots if they can get them. 21 We -- as y'all were -- I think everybody was pretty 22 much aware that about a month and a half ago, we lost our -- 23 our trustee program, because the supervisor of the trustees, 24 B.J., had rotor cuff surgery. So, he's back, but he's on -- 25 we call it light duty, and light duty at the Sheriff's is -- 5-8-06 131 1 is that he stays over there. So, we really don't have him 2 mowing in parks. We're going try to keep up with parks as 3 much as we can without -- until he's back on track again, but 4 if you get some reports that the grass is getting a little 5 tall, be patient. We'll -- we're trying to get to all of 6 them, and then do the courthouse and everything also. Another 7 employee went down on me over the weekend. Accident. Alice 8 fell off her bicycle and broke an arm, I think, or a wrist or 9 something. And it's her right arm, so you can imagine, when 10 she comes back, she's going to be kind of handicapped to doing 11 a lot of the things that she was doing. So, we have got 12 several projects in the mill that are working right now. 13 We've got -- I got somebody that is agreeing to put 14 the drop ceiling in the basement down here. I've got the 15 electricians coming to give us a price on dropping the lights. 16 But the ceiling has already been contracted to be done. It 17 just -- timing is real important, because we got an election, 18 I think, Saturday, and some of these things we just don't 19 start unless we know we have a window of opportunity to 20 complete them. We're -- that's a project that I want to 21 complete by the end of this fiscal year for sure, because it's 22 been long overdue. We've been spending a lot of time at the 23 J.D.C. center with Kevin. Things are going very well, as far 24 as I can tell. It's been taking a lot of time. We -- he just 25 informed me a while ago they did those floors this weekend, 5-8-06 132 1 and -- and they really look good. 2 So, there's several issues that we're working out, 3 and at the rate it's been going the last two weeks, I'm hoping 4 we can make some adjustments on this budget thing this coming 5 year to not make it so high, hopefully. That particular 6 building is -- has got some little dings. It's got some 7 little problems, but I think, between Mr. Stanton and our 8 department and -- and some vendors that are willing to show up 9 and work, I think we're going to get a lot of those things 10 resolved, and they shouldn't be reoccurring so often. That's 11 my hope. Because we really need a little turn of luck out 12 there. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In more ways than one. 14 MR. HOLEKAMP: Yes, sir, I understand that. But 15 part of that I don't control. Any questions? 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Mr. Holekamp, sometime last 17 year, we -- we revised the processes and procedure for booking 18 and utilization of the Youth -- 19 MR. HOLEKAMP: Uh-huh. 20 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: -- Exhibit Center, and made 21 that a little more formal and a little more systematic. How's 22 that working? 23 MR. HOLEKAMP: Very well. Some people lack patience 24 with it. I don't know. It's working really well. We're 25 still fine-tuning some of the -- let me call -- let me call it 5-8-06 133 1 kind of the background information. We -- we had not, prior 2 to now, got enough information when you book it. The booking 3 part is working fine. I mean, that -- that's working good. 4 People like -- they say they just can't believe that we're 5 booked up that much. But, no, it's working pretty well. I -- 6 like I said, there's some questionnaires that need to go to 7 these people that rent it with more specific answers, so -- 8 but that's an in-house issue that I'm trying to resolve. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: One of the major issues 10 that we were dealing with that was whether or not the facility 11 was available for booking reservation on an equal access -- 12 MR. HOLEKAMP: Oh, yes, sir. 13 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Has that been taken care 14 of? 15 MR. HOLEKAMP: Oh, yeah. 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I've got the same chance of 17 renting it same time next year as anybody else? 18 MR. HOLEKAMP: If it's available on those dates. If 19 they're protected dates, based on our rules, you may not be 20 able to get the weekend you want, but most of those issues are 21 going to be with the -- the indoor arena, because the Exhibit 22 Center, like I said, it's covered up till the first of the 23 year, pretty much. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are we covering our costs on the 25 exhibit hall? 5-8-06 134 1 MR. HOLEKAMP: Excuse me. I'd have to run some 2 numbers. I can't give you that answer just off the top of my 3 head. Now, I can -- I can probably get with Mindy or Tommy, 4 and start -- and I could put a pencil, because we're getting 5 some history in the last two or three months of -- of what 6 we're getting and what it's costing. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd like to see those numbers, 8 'cause I don't want to be subsidizing the public in that area. 9 MR. HOLEKAMP: I understand that. I don't either. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Glenn, how is the new heat and air 11 conditioning equipment working? 12 MR. HOLEKAMP: Fine. The only problem we have is 13 some -- some people believe that it needs to be 65, 14 68 degrees, and I'm hard-headed, and I think 70 is cool 15 enough. It'll hold 70 fine for an event, but people think 16 that they're not supposed to sweat when they dance, so they 17 want it cooler. And I -- I kind of butt heads, because those 18 units -- I don't care where they are; you start dropping them 19 that low, you will freeze them up. So, I'm kind of 20 hard-headed about locking those things at 70 for these events. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Have you been able to communicate to 22 the users about these areas where there's -- 23 MR. HOLEKAMP: Yeah. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: -- heat loss and that sort of thing? 25 MR. HOLEKAMP: We try our best. We try our best. 5-8-06 135 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else? 2 MR. HOLEKAMP: Commissioner, I'll get you some 3 comparisons for the Court as to costs. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not a rush. I just think we 5 need to make sure our expenses are covered when we're using 6 the facilities we have. 7 MR. HOLEKAMP: Yes, okay. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Glenn, we might even want 10 to rethink our policy of letting that for free to 11 not-for-profits. May not change it, but we might want to 12 rethink it. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Alford? 14 MR. ALFORD: Yes, sir. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm the rascal that sicced the 16 indigent health care people on you. 17 MR. ALFORD: So you're the one. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: If you got a complaint about that, 19 bring it to me. 20 MR. ALFORD: I know Ms. Taylor from a different 21 world, so no, there's no problem. She didn't have time to sit 22 down this morning, but we pretty much told her what we thought 23 we could get for her. What we access is public records, so 24 there's not a confidentiality with or without the county 25 employee issue, so I think we'll be able to do something for 5-8-06 136 1 her. I really think we'll be able to find a lot of these 2 people she's looking for, anyway. I don't know how far we can 3 carry it as far as tax liens and motor vehicles and that, and 4 that it might -- I don't know how accurate our information is, 5 but I think it will give her a starting point, so I think it 6 would be beneficial. And -- 7 JUDGE TINLEY: I think there may be a lot of people 8 in your system that are going to be people that she has apply 9 for eligibility in her system. 10 MR. ALFORD: Yes. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: And you may have some numbers that 12 are different from what she's getting, too, and that might be 13 some very telling information in itself. 14 MR. ALFORD: I believe you're correct. A very large 15 number of hers will be a very large number of ours. So, I 16 foresee us working very close, hand-in-hand, 'cause I know how 17 much a priority it is for the Commissioners Court. So, 18 there's no holds barred from us. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: As I understand our -- based on 20 today's actions, if she determines that she was given false 21 information, they're ineligible for a year. 22 MR. ALFORD: Yeah, that's what I think. Didn't 23 y'all -- y'all passed that not too long ago? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This morning. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We approved that this morning. 5-8-06 137 1 MR. ALFORD: Good. I think the same thing. I gave 2 y'all a report that also should be in your boxes. Just quick 3 figures; I know y'all are getting ready to get out of here. 4 This year, we're up to $253,000 collected for County Court at 5 Law. We were at $229,000 last year, so we're up 4 or 5 6 percentage points. The best we can tell, and I kind of take 7 it with a grain of salt, that so far for 2005, last budget 8 year, we're up to 793,000. And the reason I say the best we 9 can calculate is some of the changes, and personnel in other 10 departments are not real familiar with their computer 11 softwares yet, so whenever I ask for some of these reports, I 12 kind of get the deer-in-the-headlights look. And we think 13 this is a close number. If nothing else, I think we'd 14 probably have a higher collection rate. Probably not by much. 15 Maybe, you know, couple thousand dollars, but I think that's 16 pretty accurate for last year's budget so far. 17 On the Odyssey program, it is -- it's going to work 18 real good for the clerks and for them. We're still playing 19 with it. Fortunately, we're probably more of the experienced 20 computer operators in the county, so I think in the future 21 it's going to be even better for us. We do have one issue to 22 report. I'm not real sure, from this point forward, how my 23 reports to y'all will look each month. Different fields, 24 different buttons, different whistles, but we'll get you 25 something that tries to accurately depict what our collection 5-8-06 138 1 rate is and what's assessed and how much y'all are bringing 2 in. I've been working with Mr. Trolinger on different things, 3 different issues around the courthouse, trying to keep him 4 freed up and essentially doing okay. I have some comments 5 that I'm not going to repeat, but just to back up 6 Mr. Trolinger, there is a lot of the stuff that the Odyssey 7 program will do, you know, that the employees will learn in 8 the future that will really help the County out. And just -- 9 it's just a matter of getting them to think outside the box. 10 We talked about one this morning at 7:15. That was like, "Oh, 11 yeah, they can be doing this instead." So, I think in the 12 future, with the growing pains, it will be a whole lot better. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Any questions for Mr. Alford? Thank 14 you, sir. 15 MR. ALFORD: Thank you, sir. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Appreciate you being here. Okay. 17 Any member of the Court have anything to consider in closed or 18 executive session? If not, we'll move on to the fourth 19 section of our agenda. Let's talk about the bills, the 20 finances. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move we pay the bills. 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to pay the 24 bills. Any questions or comments? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just a quick question. It's 5-8-06 139 1 probably to our airport guys here. On Page 30 is our -- one 2 of our payments of 21,000. How many of those -- I mean, do we 3 pay this in quarter -- quarterly payments or one time a year? 4 MR. TOMLINSON: They're monthly. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I believe it's monthly. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We pay it monthly, and a 7 large piece of that goes for grant match of what we're 8 funding. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: $21,000 a month. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: 253,000 that we were obligated for 12 this budget year, if my recollection is correct. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? I'm 15 looking at Page 44, portable toilets at Flat Rock Lake. Was 16 that for the function out there -- the Easter function? I 17 guess my question really is, if there's a function taking 18 place out there, would not those toilets be the obligation of 19 the -- of whoever's holding -- 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sponsors. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Sponsor, yes. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Absolutely, it would be. 23 Absolutely. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't know what the date is there. 25 MR. TOMLINSON: We have -- we have had portable 5-8-06 140 1 toilets out there during certain months of the year that we 2 paid before. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We do? 4 MR. TOMLINSON: Yeah. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's interesting. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What page? 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Ingram Park also. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: 44. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Maybe that's routine, then. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, let's look that one up, 11 just for fun. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We have a new program, and we 14 have never looked one up. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And what do I look for 17 nowadays? 18 MR. TOMLINSON: I'm looking it up. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Is it under vendor number? 20 MR. TOMLINSON: I'll look it up. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, come on. Goddamn, he 22 comes right back and just takes over. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Look under 505. 24 MR. TOMLINSON: Look under 2006, 05012058. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Here, you do it. 5-8-06 141 1 MR. TOMLINSON: That's what I said. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't want to have to do 3 everything. 4 MR. TOMLINSON: That's why I said I'll do it. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If you think I'm going to do 6 your work for you, you're crazy. I want you to show me the 7 number. 8 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay, I will. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: 2058. 10 (Discussion off the record.) 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Where's this number you keep 12 talking about? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Underneath. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Item number. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The "I" item. 16 MR. TOMLINSON: The item number. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, good lord. 18 MR. TOMLINSON: You can actually look at the last 19 four numbers and find it. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 2058? 22 MR. TOMLINSON: It just says two portable toilets at 23 Ingram Dam. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, Ingram Dam. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Here it says Flat Rock Lake. 5-8-06 142 1 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Well, they miscoded it, then, 2 but that's what this is. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Your party, Commissioner. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, that's something we do 5 every year? 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'll talk to the U.G.R.A. 7 about paying for that, too. It's their -- 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Won't pollute the river. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: It's their river we're 10 keeping clean. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's right. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, this will be changed to 13 Ingram Dam? 14 MR. TOMLINSON: Yeah. They put the wrong 15 description in there. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? All 17 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 20 (No response.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 22 Amendment Request Number 1. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Kathy, are you all right? Need 24 a break? There's 12 of them. 25 MR. TOMLINSON: The first one is for Elections, for 5-8-06 143 1 some ballots. The Clerk has asked for a transfer of $760.31 2 from Ballot Expense to Election Supplies. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 6 approval. Any question or discussion? All in favor, signify 7 by raising your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 12 Amendment Request Number 2. 13 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 2 is for Indigent Health 14 Care. We need a hand check for this to VeriClaims, Inc., for 15 353.65. We're requesting a transfer from Eligible Expenses to 16 the Third-Party Administrator line item. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, Tommy wouldn't -- 18 wasn't there a VeriClaims in the regular set of bills too? 19 MR. TOMLINSON: There probably was. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What was the amount? 21 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, actually -- wait a, minute 22 there's two. I didn't catch that. There's one for 353.65 and 23 another one for 689.38. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Making a total of 1,043? 25 MR. TOMLINSON: Mm-hmm. 5-8-06 144 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Got you. Thank you. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And this one in the bills is 3 $2,500. 4 MR. TOMLINSON: That was probably for the previous 5 month. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. So, we're dealing with 7 time here. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 12 of Budget Amendment Request Number 2 and issuance of hand 13 check to VeriClaims for $1,043.03. Any question or 14 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 15 your right hand. 16 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 18 (No response.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Budget 20 Amendment Request Number 3. 21 MR. TOMLINSON: Let me mention something, Judge. 22 This is -- this is the firm that we have a contract with that 23 I referenced previously during the day. That expires in -- in 24 September. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: VeriClaims? 5-8-06 145 1 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. That's the firm I'm referring 2 to. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there a notice period that we 4 have to give them? 5 MR. TOMLINSON: I believe there is. Isn't there, 6 Rex? 7 MR. EMERSON: I couldn't tell you off the top of my 8 head. 9 MR. TOMLINSON: I don't remember either. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We need to make sure that that 11 doesn't slip out and we don't somehow automatically renew 12 that. 13 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, no. Actually, I talked to 14 this person -- the person Friday -- Friday, and they are 15 sending us a new contract, so she recognizes that the contract 16 expires in September. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 18 MR. TOMLINSON: And so I told her to go ahead and 19 send it to us so we would have it in-hand to know that we -- 20 that we want to dispose of it. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We ought to be looking at 23 all of our contracts, interlocal agreements to see if there's 24 any we need to open. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mm-hmm. 5-8-06 146 1 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 3 is -- we're requesting a 2 transfer of $87 from Operating Expenses to Vehicle Insurance 3 for the Sheriff's Department, and it's for coverage -- it's to 4 the Texas Association of Counties for $87, and it's additional 5 charge -- coverage on two additional vehicles. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 9 of Budget Amendment Request Number 3. Any question or 10 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 11 your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 16 Amendment Request Number 4. 17 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 4 is actually for two 18 budgets, for the jail and Commissioners Court. We have -- we 19 have an invoice from Columbia Casualty, and it's -- it's for a 20 claim involving the jail, and it's our -- it's the deductible 21 on our coverage. So, we're -- and, actually, it's legal 22 expenses, and we're asking for a transfer of $2,035 from the 23 Nurses line item in the jail budget to -- to Professional 24 Services in the Commissioners Court budget to make this 25 $10,000 payment. 5-8-06 147 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 4 of Budget Amendment Request Number 4. Any question or 5 discussion? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a question. Recently, 7 I think I -- you and I were visiting, Judge, about this 8 Professional Services line, and I think you had told me that 9 our insurance guru comes out of this, and that he had not 10 billed us for last year's work yet. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: I think he's since submitted some 12 billings, and there was a question about -- he had not billed 13 for a number of months, and I think we got that straightened 14 out. I think we've -- 15 MR. TOMLINSON: I can't answer that. I don't know. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: But, yeah, we had the discussion that 17 his -- he falls under Professional Services, or at least that 18 was my belief. 19 MR. TOMLINSON: Yeah. He would, yes. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. All right, thank you. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: But I think we got that straightened 22 out. 23 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, apparently -- I think there 24 was 15,000 originally in there. I believe that's right. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thirteen. 5-8-06 148 1 MR. TOMLINSON: There's 13,000. So, we have made 2 some payments out of it, out of that line item, previous to 3 this request. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That was just on something 5 that -- 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, if he's billing monthly, we may 7 run short on him. If we wipe this thing out to take care of 8 that deductible. 9 MR. TOMLINSON: We will. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: And we're going to have to. Because 11 my recollection was, I think it was $12,000 or something for 12 total annual cost for his services. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, but the deductible we're 14 transferring in there from the jail budget, so it'd be a zero 15 net effect on our Professional Service line item. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: No, we're going to wipe it out. 17 We're adding enough to it to make $10,000 for the deductible. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, okay. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's the reason we're 20 moving money into it. Goes to zero. 21 MR. TOMLINSON: It will be zero. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: So I guess the bottom line, if he's 23 not been fully paid yet, well, when we get the next billing, 24 we're going to have to come back and figure out where it's 25 going to come from. 5-8-06 149 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Did I call for a vote on that? 3 MR. TOMLINSON: I don't think so. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Do we have a motion and second? 5 MS. THOMPSON: And a vote. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We handled Item 4? 7 MS. THOMPSON: Mm-hmm. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's move on to Budget 9 Amendment Request Number 5. 10 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 5 is to recognize a claim on 11 our insurance from Texas Association of Counties to -- for 12 $1,465.55 -- I mean, $1,464.55 to the revenue, and increasing 13 the Vehicle Repairs and Maintenance line item at the Sheriff's 14 Office for that amount. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 18 of Budget Amendment Request Number 5. Any question or 19 discussion? All in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 24 Amendment Request Number 6. 25 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 6 actually takes care of two 5-8-06 150 1 departments. The first part is to the County Court at Law. 2 We're transferring $152.31 from the Special County Court at 3 Law Judge's line item, to Special Court Reporter. And for the 4 216th District Court, we're transferring $1,281.39 from 5 Special District Judge's line item to Special Court Reporter. 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Move to approve. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 9 of Budget Amendment Request Number 6. Any question or 10 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 11 your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Budget Amendment 16 Request 7. 17 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay, 7 is for the Detention 18 Facility, transferring $683.19 from Detention Officers 19 Salaries in the -- in the Facilities budget to Maintenance -- 20 $633.53 to Maintenance and Custodial Supplies, and $49.66 to 21 Repairs. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 25 of Budget Amendment Number 7. Any question or discussion? 5-8-06 151 1 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Well, I wonder if this may 2 be kind of a red flag. We've cut our staff out there about 3 half or something like that, and so there's going to be a 4 large amount of unexpended salary for that facility. And I 5 think we need to be real careful we don't use that as free 6 money; that we actually realize that the same -- 7 MR. TOMLINSON: I think the only time we've ever -- 8 we've transferred anything out is for this purpose, for 9 maintenance. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: For the facility -- 11 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: -- itself, yeah. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But we're also running low in an 14 awful lot of items this early in the year. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good point. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or comments? All 17 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 20 (No response.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 22 Amendment Request Number 8. 23 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 8 is for the 216th District 24 Court. We have Court-Appointed Attorney line item 25 expenditures of $8,961.10. We're trying -- asking for a 5-8-06 152 1 transfer from Special Trials of $8,946.60 into Court-Appointed 2 Attorneys line item. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is this for one case? Or -- 4 MR. TOMLINSON: No, it's -- looks like for six or 5 eight cases. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. So moved. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We'll pay anybody. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 10 of Budget Amendment Request Number 8. Any questions or 11 discussion? 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I don't think it makes any 13 difference if we got a typo there in the department name, 14 215th versus 216th. 15 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I don't want to transfer it 18 to another court. 19 MR. TOMLINSON: I did what I was talking about. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All in favor of the motion, signify 21 by raising your right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 5-8-06 153 1 Amendment Request Number 9. 2 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Nine is also for the 3 Detention Facility. I have a request from the director to 4 transfer $2,636.17 from Detention Officers Salaries to 5 Resident Medical Expenses. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Question. Would this be for 7 medical expenses that might be reimbursable from other 8 counties, or at least are these for Kerr County youth? 9 MR. STANTON: It would be expenses that are all 10 reimbursable from other counties. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 12 MR. STANTON: And some of them would fall under Kerr 13 County kids also, but we're reimbursed for those medical 14 expenses also through the Probation Department. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 18 of Budget Amendment Request Number 9. Any question or 19 comments? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 20 right hand. 21 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 23 (No response.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 25 Amendment Request Number 10. 5-8-06 154 1 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 10 is for the Auditor's 2 office. We're asking for a transfer of $6,731 from Group 3 Insurance, and $9,571.87 from Contract Fees, 2,462.08 from 4 Software Maintenance, with $1,885.52 into the Official Salary 5 line item and $15,113.76 into Assistants Salaries, and $562.94 6 into FICA Expense, and $1,110.23 to Retirement, and $92.50 to 7 the Bonds line item. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How'd this happen? 9 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, when Mindy decided that she 10 didn't want to take this as a full-time job, and the budget 11 was forthcoming, and she didn't want to have to deal with -- 12 with budget issues, so I agreed to take it back, and so the 13 Judges appointed me effective May the 1st. And so this is to 14 put her salary back into where she was to start with. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Basically, it's a reversal of a bunch 16 of the changes we made previously, when she was made Interim 17 Auditor? 18 MR. TOMLINSON: That's right. That's correct, yes. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Welcome back. 20 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, thank you. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are you going to be around for a 22 while, we hope? 23 MR. TOMLINSON: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not leaving again? Played 25 enough golf? 5-8-06 155 1 MR. TOMLINSON: I felt sorry for her. I told her 2 that I wouldn't expect her to go through the budget process if 3 she didn't want to do this. So -- so it was an act of mercy. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You get a gold star. I move 5 approval. 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I just might say, the time 7 she served, she was very helpful. She was always willing to 8 answer our questions and find answers, so from that point of 9 view, she did a good job. 10 MR. TOMLINSON: That's always been her track. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Actually, that's the best 12 auditing job I've seen around here in I don't know when. Huge 13 improvement over that last character. (Laughter.) 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion and second to approve Budget 16 Amendment Request Number 10. Any question or comment? All in 17 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 20 (No response.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 22 Amendment Request Number 11. 23 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 11, I'm going to change. For 24 this -- this AACOG Environmental Health Proceeds line item, 25 I'm going to change that to Nondepartmental. It would be Line 5-8-06 156 1 Item 10-409-207. That's -- I believe that's the Unemployment 2 line item that we pay quarterly. But what we -- the situation 3 we have here is -- is a grant that's -- from AACOG that's been 4 approved and accepted for Environmental Health to purchase 5 some equipment. We actually have to purchase the equipment 6 before we are reimbursed, so if -- if we can get -- we ought 7 to transfer the funds into his Capital Outlay line item to 8 allow him to make that purchase. So, we'll have the invoice 9 and the check to be able to submit to AACOG to get our 10 reimbursement. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do they reimburse 100 12 percent? 13 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. And once this is done, we'll 14 reverse what we've done. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Cool. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 19 of Budget Amendment Request Number 11. Any question or 20 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 21 your right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Budget Amendment 5-8-06 157 1 Request 12. 2 MR. TOMLINSON: Twelve is a request from J.P. 3 Precinct 2, Dawn Wright, to cover salary expenses for a new 4 clerk. She's requested the transfer of $209.96 from Secretary 5 Salary, $561 from Group Insurance, and $100 from 6 Miscellaneous, totaling $870.96 to Part-Time Salaries. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This is for training a new 8 clerk to replace the existing clerk? 9 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes, her clerk resigned. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 13 of Budget Amendment Request Number 12. Any question or 14 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 15 your right hand. 16 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 18 (No response.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Do we have 20 any late bills? 21 MR. TOMLINSON: No. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: I've been presented with monthly 23 reports from the Sheriff's Department and Environmental Health 24 Department. Do I hear a motion that these reports be approved 25 as submitted? 5-8-06 158 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Guess I don't. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll move that, yeah. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded that the 6 named reports be approved as presented. Any question or 7 discussion? 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. Any member of 13 the Court have any reports in connection with their liaison or 14 committee assignments or otherwise? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just a couple things. I 17 told the Court I was going to go to a regional meeting for the 18 purpose of learning about where to find funds for public 19 events facilities. I did do that. That meeting was in 20 Fredericksburg, and it was -- essentially, I guess it was 21 called by R.C.& D., and it involved several different 22 agencies. But the bottom line is, when you really get down to 23 it, for trying to find large blocks of funding for public 24 events -- multi-purpose public events facilities, it's going 25 to boil down to the U.S.D.A. And the second part of that 5-8-06 159 1 bottom line is that if you're going to do that, you got to 2 have a plan. You got to know what you want and what you got 3 to propose and what the cost is going to be, and we're not 4 there yet. And the only other thing I've got is just to tell 5 the Court that I learned that the Alamo Worksource folk, 6 having experienced a major whack at their budget -- whack in 7 their budget of almost $3 million, I believe, are going to be 8 looking around in the rural counties for -- in those counties 9 in which they have one-stop Worksource centers, they're going 10 to be looking around for cheaper space. So, I just want the 11 Court to keep that in mind. If they're looking for 12 rehabilitating space that may be available, that these folks 13 might be interested. And then I'll remind you that on 14 May 19th, I believe it is, Judge, the ribbon-cutting ceremony 15 at the Sheriff's Department for the first Distance Learning 16 Center created for law enforcement purposes by AACOG for their 17 Law Enforcement Academy. That'll be out here at the Sheriff's 18 Office where the equipment's in place, and I guess we'll greet 19 each other in two locations, by distance learning cameras and 20 so forth. That's all I have. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Anything else? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Couple of brief comments about 23 the Airport Board. I think the -- I'm very happy that the 24 Airport Board as whole seems to be willing and somewhat eager 25 to tackle the whole issue of operations at the airport. And 5-8-06 160 1 it was brought up at our last meeting, and direction given to 2 look at the possibility of the Airport Manager and a small 3 staff reporting straight to the Airport Board, and not through 4 the City of Kerrville system, and also the possibility of 5 contracting the entire operations to a third party. They 6 asked if the County would be interested in taking over that 7 operations, and we said no. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: But there are those private 9 resources who do that, though. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But there are private entities 11 that do it. And I'm not sure that -- our airport's probably a 12 little bit small for that, but maybe not. But, anyway, we're 13 looking at other options, and I think the full board is -- 14 from some recent discussions we've had, is aware that there 15 may be better financial alternatives than our current 16 arrangement with the City of Kerrville. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is there other things they do 18 outside of mowing? What else do they do? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They just -- there's a fair 20 amount of time that does go into keeping the lighting and such 21 like that operational and correct. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, then you're getting down 23 to some kind of specialized training, huh? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You have to be trained to do it. 25 I wouldn't say it's specialized. I mean, I think it's 5-8-06 161 1 something that -- I mean, there's a lot of people that can -- 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Can the same guy ride the 3 tractor and mow? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Probably. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And adjust the light? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Probably. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: But I don't know -- 8 following up on what Commissioner Letz is saying, in addition 9 to the private sector proposals to run that, in addition to 10 the City and/or the County, if the Airport Manager worked 11 directly for the Airport Board, which is something we're 12 discussing, every single thing could be put out for bid. It 13 could be put out as a package, or could be put out as 14 individual items, and find the best possible price. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's the way it should be, 16 in my opinion. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, we're -- but the Airport 18 Board is in agreement to do this -- this looking into this, 19 both the members from the City Council and members at large. 20 So, I think it's a -- everyone, for the first time, is really 21 looking at it seriously. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Bonnie's asleep, so I'll go 24 ahead and make this statement. But the -- the only problem 25 you're going to have with that is the turf deal over at the 5-8-06 162 1 City. The City Manager's going to be in -- have to be in 2 charge and want the report directly to him. That's -- I can't 3 imagine anything -- any other thing that would hold that up, 4 of him reporting directly to the board. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we've been able to point 6 out some items that they had in the proposed budget where the 7 private sector would do it cheaper -- private sector or the 8 County would do it cheaper than the City's amount. And 9 because of that, I think that they -- they don't have an 10 option but looking at it. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, I hear you. 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Judge, I notice that our 13 brothers in Bee County Commissioners Court passed an order 14 supporting a boycott of their local Exxon stations. And then 15 I found out that the first day of the boycott, those local 16 stations' sales increased by 25 percent. And now I've got two 17 of my constituents that own gasoline stations wanting us to 18 boycott them so they can get a sales increase. That may be a 19 matter for -- for a future Commissioners Court meeting. 20 (Laughter.) 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Sounds like a marketing tool to me. 23 Anything else, gentlemen? 24 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Sounds like our brothers in 25 Bee County ought to take on, you know global peace or border 5-8-06 163 1 security or something a little easier next time. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Arab petroleum. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else? We'll stand 4 adjourned. 5 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 12:46 p.m.) 6 - - - - - - - - - - 7 8 STATE OF TEXAS | 9 COUNTY OF KERR | 10 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 11 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my 12 capacity as County Clerk of the Commissioners Court 13 of Kerr County, Texas, at the time and place 14 heretofore set forth. 15 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 12th day of 16 May, 2006. 17 18 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk BY: _________________________________ 19 Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk Certified Shorthand Reporter 20 21 22 23 24 25 5-8-06