1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Monday, May 22, 2006 11 9:00 a.m. 12 Commissioners' Courtroom 13 Kerr County Courthouse 14 Kerrville, Texas 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 PRESENT: PAT TINLEY, Kerr County Judge 23 H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 WILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2 24 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 25 ABSENT: DAVE NICHOLSON, Commissioner Pct. 4 2 1 I N D E X May 22, 2006 2 PAGE --- Commissioners' Comments 5 3 1.1 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for 4 preliminary plat of Live Springs Ranch, Pct. 4 9 5 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on request of Texas Cooperative Extension Service 6 to fill County Extension Agent FCS position with appointment of Jody Osteen 11 7 1.3 Consideration and approval to request annexation 8 of identified airport property into city limits 15 9 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on the modified 05-06 KCJF County Budget 18 10 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 11 extend KCJF Comp Time Policy 34 12 1.6 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on the Texas VINE annual maintenance grant contract 36 13 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for 14 purchase of laptop computer with wireless capabilities for field work 37 15 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 16 correct Court Order 29671 to Creekwood V instead of Creekwood II, Pct. 2 40 17 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for 18 preliminary plat of Ranger Park, Precinct 2 41 19 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for preliminary plat of Lasso Ranch, Precinct 3 49 20 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to set 21 a public hearing for revision of plat of Lots 13 & 14 of Cypress Springs, Phase I, Precinct 4 51 22 1.7 Public Hearing for Revision of Lot 60 of Wood 23 Trails Ranch, Precinct 4 53 24 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to award bid for Town Creek Improvements, Precinct 1 & 3 61 25 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) May 22, 2006 2 PAGE 3 1.14 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve final plat of 707 Ranch, Precinct 4 65 4 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 5 review preparation of payroll and other personnel/ human resources functions for Kerr County 67 6 4.1 Pay Bills 73 7 4.2 Budget Amendments 78 4.3 Late Bills -- 8 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 98 9 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments 99 10 --- Adjourned 105 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 On Monday, May 22, 2006, at 9:00 a.m., a special 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: Let me call to order this regularly 7 scheduled meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court 8 posted for this date and time, Monday, May the 22nd, 2006, at 9 9 a.m. We're privileged to have with us this morning one of 10 our county designees to the Library Advisory Board, and my 11 good friend, Pastor Al Schultz, and I'd ask him to please come 12 forward and give us our opening prayer. 13 MR. SCHULTZ: Thank you for the privilege. 14 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. At this time, if there's 16 any member of the public or the audience that wishes to be 17 heard on any matter that is not a listed agenda item, you're 18 free to come forward at this time and tell us what's on your 19 mind. If you wish to be heard on what's a listed agenda item, 20 we'd ask that you fill out a participation form. They can be 21 found at the back of the room. It's not absolutely essential, 22 but it helps me to hopefully not miss you when we get to that 23 item. But if -- if you wish to be heard on anything that is 24 not a listed agenda item, come forward at this time; we'll be 25 happy to entertain you. Seeing no one coming forward, we'll 5-22-06 5 1 move on. Commissioner 1, what do you have for us today? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, thank you, Judge. As 3 we move through the day, I will say some nice things and some 4 positive things as we go along, but I'm going to start with a 5 couple of negatives that I'm a little bit angry about. Number 6 one, I've had -- I've had numerous phone calls and several 7 people visit me in my office in regards to this Commissioners 8 Court not doing their job as far as elected officials in the 9 courthouse. They want us to fire the County Treasurer. And 10 I've talked till I'm blue in the face about it, that we do not 11 have that authority. I just wish there was some way that we 12 could convince folks that what our authority -- where our 13 authority starts and where it ends, by law. I'm not sure 14 that's going to get done, unless I put on it the agenda for 15 next time and ask the County Attorney to make a presentation 16 on it, which is a total waste of time. But I'm just -- you 17 know, we, as a body, are kind of getting beat up out there 18 over this thing, and it's just lack of knowledge on their 19 part. I started to say total ignorance, but I don't talk that 20 way. But it just is -- just angers me that we can't -- that 21 people can't think for themselves and look into issues. And, 22 no, we don't have -- the people -- that's the good thing about 23 county government, is that the people make the decisions who 24 serves here and who doesn't. That's the beauty of county 25 government. 5-22-06 6 1 And I'm off that one; now I'm on my next one. I 2 have -- I heard on the news this morning that our good local 3 friends, the Dixie Chicks, are at it again. They are -- let's 4 see. The original statement was they were ashamed that the 5 president was from Texas, and this morning, he really needs to 6 be removed and run off. Well, I'm calling for a boycott of 7 the Dixie Chicks. I ask everybody not to buy one more piece 8 of their maggot-infested junk they call music. And I 9 understand a couple of them live in the beautiful Texas hill 10 country; they're our neighbors. And I -- I would rather not 11 see them driving on the streets of Kerr County. So, that's 12 it. That's all. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Anybody out there want to fess up to 14 winding him up like an eight-day clock this morning? 15 (Laughter.) 16 MR. HARVEY: I'll just throw an "amen" on it. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, Les. Thank you 18 very much. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Williams, what do you 20 have for us? 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I just want to -- if you'd 22 like to organize a picket, we'll just picket their ranch. I 23 just want to remind everybody that, believe it or not, we're 24 coming up on the end of May, and the end of May means Texas 25 State Arts and Crafts Fair for four days over the Memorial Day 5-22-06 7 1 weekend. It begins -- actually begins this Friday. And if 2 you haven't attended that fair, you need to, for a lot of 3 reasons. First of all, it brings the finest artists in the 4 state of Texas together at one time for the entire Memorial 5 Day weekend, with their goods and their crafts and their art, 6 and it's a really, really fine exposition of Texas art. Plus 7 the fact you get to see the arts and crafts park, which is 8 River Star Park. It's county property which has been 9 rehabilitated beautifully by Texas State Arts and Crafts Board 10 and the foundation, and those people have worked very hard now 11 for three or four years to get that property to the state that 12 it is right now, and when all those tents go up this week and 13 all the flags start flying, it really takes on a -- a 14 tremendous atmosphere. So, I invite y'all to participate. 15 The economics of it are also extra for Kerr County and the 16 City of Kerrville, as every hotel in this town will be booked 17 and people spend the weekend here and spend their money here, 18 both at the fair and they spend it in town. So, do your piece 19 and support it. Go out, take a look at it. It's on county 20 property, and we're proud of it. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Commissioner Letz? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't have a whole lot, but, 23 you know, I'll follow up on both of these two briefly before I 24 get to what my one comment was going to be. Related to that, 25 I think it's just -- to add one more thing on the Arts and 5-22-06 8 1 Crafts Fair, it shows -- it's probably one of the best, if not 2 the best, example of a three-way partnership on that. The 3 City of Kerrville has participated and helped fund some of 4 that and been, you know, very positive in that. Obviously, 5 it's a county property, and then it's a private entity that 6 put it all together, so it's -- it just shows when the City, 7 the County, and then a private enterprise get together, really 8 good things can happen. I think it's a model of what we can 9 do with ideas. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Exactly. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We need to note that your -- the 12 Dixie Chicks, the ones that do live nearby, they're in Bandera 13 County. You all might want to know, they're not in Kerr 14 County. (Laughter.) Just past the -- before you get to 15 Medina, between the boy's home and the -- and town of Medina, 16 so right where -- I think it's 337 that turns off is where 17 their -- their property is, if y'all want to take a look at 18 it. And I think, on a good note, I had -- aside from being a 19 little bit under the weather for the last week, but I'm 20 finally over that, I believe. Sam turned two Saturday, and we 21 had a little family get-together and had a great time out at 22 the ranch, and I think he's beginning to understand material 23 possessions, 'cause he has a whole bunch of them now, and was 24 very protective of them from his friends. That's it. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Let's get on with the 5-22-06 9 1 business at hand. First item on the agenda is to consider, 2 discuss, and take appropriate action for the preliminary plat 3 of Live Springs Ranch located in Precinct 4. 4 MR. ODOM: Good morning. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Morning, sir. 6 MR. ODOM: What you have before you is what was 7 presented before for the concept plan. You have a portion of 8 Live Springs is in our county, about 19 lots, and that the 9 remainder of the 60 lots, so about 60 percent, is in Gillespie 10 County, and probably 40 percent is probably in our county. 11 But 19 lots. They're larger lots, above 20 acres, and that's 12 a good project, and I present it to you. And I'm open for any 13 questions, but I recommend that the Court accept the 14 preliminary plat. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a comment. 16 Commissioner Nicholson is out of town today, and I did meet 17 with the developer and Len a little bit about this. I just 18 want to go over it on a little bit of the mindset of our new 19 rules. There's a little bit more subjectivity being built 20 into the rules as to road standards, as to what type of road. 21 And the roads here, I would recommend, as they have on the 22 plat, to do them as local roads. There are other subdivisions 23 that will be similar in size that I may recommend get 24 collector roads, and there's some reasoning as to long-term 25 future development and use of the road. Based on interstate 5-22-06 10 1 location, lack of access, and large property owners, it's 2 very, very unlikely that anyone would ever come back to the 3 Court -- or, actually, I think it's private roads -- would 4 come back to the developer or subdivision and try to add more 5 lots to any of these roads. For that reason, I think local 6 roads are adequate. I might say that if there was a piece of 7 property beyond this that had a good likelihood of being 8 developed, I probably would not have that opinion. I think 9 our new rules have -- I just wanted to bring that up, 10 because -- so people begin to understand that we're looking 11 not just at what the subdivision traffic is going to be; it's 12 what the area's traffic is going to be and what may happen 13 down the road. Little bit, you know, different way of looking 14 at things. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: "Down the road." Did you 16 hear that? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You heard that? So, anyway, I 18 think it looks like a really good development. 19 MR. ODOM: Good development. And it is private 20 roads; it won't be County-maintained. You have a gated 21 community, and as the Commissioner says, they don't have 22 access to I-10, and it's a private road, and that would be 23 between the owners to allow anything to come in there. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 5-22-06 11 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Whoever moved it -- I'll 2 move it. Whatever. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion to approve the 4 preliminary plat of Live Springs Ranch located in Precinct 4. 5 Any question or discussion on the motion? All in favor of 6 that motion, signify by raising your right hand. 7 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 9 (No response.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to 11 Item 2, if we might. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 12 action on the request of the Texas Cooperative Extension 13 Service to fill the County Extension Agent, Family and 14 Consumer Sciences position for Kerr County with the 15 appointment of Jody Osteen. We have Cheryl Mapston with us 16 today. She is -- I believe her title is District Director or 17 District Manager, or -- 18 MS. MAPSTON: Administrator. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: -- Administrator of the Texas 20 Cooperative Extension Service out of Uvalde that serves this 21 area, and I believe she has Ms. Osteen with her, and I'll turn 22 it over to you. 23 MS. MAPSTON: Yes. Thank you, Judge, Commissioners. 24 It's a pleasure to be here this morning, and to introduce to 25 you our applicant for the position of County Extension Agent 5-22-06 12 1 for Family and Consumer Sciences, and I'd like to tell you a 2 little bit about her at this time. This is Ms. Jody Osteen, 3 and Jody -- her educational background includes a Bachelor's 4 degree in home economics from the University of Nebraska at 5 Lincoln. And she is also currently working on -- or she 6 already has some hours towards her Master's degree in Family 7 and Consumer Sciences, and she will be able to finish that 8 online -- 9 MS. OSTEEN: Yes. 10 MS. MAPSTON: -- at the University of Nebraska in 11 Lincoln. And, so, we're really pleased that she's well on her 12 way to her Master's degree. She has 13 years of teaching 13 experience. She taught in San Felipe Consolidated Independent 14 School District for 13 and a half years, where she taught high 15 school home economics classes, which included family and 16 consumer science. She was the FCCLA, which is the Family 17 Career Community Leadership of America program, which was 18 formerly FHA, and she also was the coordinator of a teen 19 parenting program, which included education to teen parents, 20 as well as their parents at home. So, that was a very 21 intensive program that takes lots of time and lots of energy 22 working with new teen parents. She is a former 4-H member in 23 Nebraska; a truly corn club member, I guess, when you talk 24 about the state of Nebraska. And then, here in Texas, 25 she's -- she served as 4-H volunteer leader in Val Verde 5-22-06 13 1 County, where she worked with the Food and Nutrition project, 2 and then did some things with the County Extension Agent there 3 in Val Verde. 4 She'll be joining Roy and Laurinda as an integral 5 part of the Kerr County team, where she'll be -- her -- one of 6 her main focuses will be diet, nutrition, and health, which 7 will include diabetes education. We plan to look at doing the 8 "Do well, Be Well with Diabetes" plan -- program, which is a 9 12-part series that Jody will go and be trained in and then 10 come back and coordinate that for the county. And she'll also 11 be working in the youth program with the 4-H Food, Nutrition, 12 Clothing and Textiles and Consumer Education program, plus 13 supporting the EEA groups and other groups within the 14 community. So, she'll be planning and implementing, 15 evaluating, and interpreting Extension programs here in the 16 county. And so, this morning, I would like to recommend to 17 the Court the appointment of Jody Osteen as County Extension 18 Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences at the currently 19 budgeted salary level, effective July 15th of 2006. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Jody, we're fixing to vote to 21 approve or disapprove you, and I have one question. 22 MS. OSTEEN: Okay. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you a Dixie Chicks fan? 24 (Laughter.) 25 MS. OSTEEN: I am not. I know the answer to that 5-22-06 14 1 one. I am not. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move that we approve this 3 agenda request. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second that. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 6 of the appointment of Jody Osteen as the County Extension 7 Agent-Family/Consumer Science position. Any question or 8 discussion? 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Effective what date again? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: July 15. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: July 15. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Only question is, I'm a little 13 uneasy as to how you're going to get along with a bunch of 14 Aggies, coming from the University of Nebraska, but you'll 15 have to deal with that yourself. (Laughter.) 16 MS. OSTEEN: I think I can handle it, thank you. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: I indicated to Ms. Osteen that we had 18 two major demographic segments that it looked like she was 19 going to be concentrating on. One dealt with the youth, the 20 4-H'ers, as you and I have talked about considerably, 21 Commissioner Letz, and the other end of the spectrum is the 22 seniors, and I was particularly pleased to hear about the 23 wellness and diabetes and nutritional-type programs that are 24 going to be put in place, 'cause I think those are two very, 25 very important areas of effort that need to be -- need to be 5-22-06 15 1 pushed in that position. Any other questions or comments? 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You don't have one of those 3 corncob hats you wear, do you? 4 MS. OSTEEN: No. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good. 6 MS. OSTEEN: I don't, thank you, no. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Any -- 8 MS. OSTEEN: If I go to a Husker game, I might wear 9 one; I don't know. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: If you were in a large crowd of them 11 and they were looking very menacing at you, you might wear it? 12 MS. OSTEEN: I would slip it on, yes. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? All 14 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 15 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 17 (No response.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Thank you very 19 much. 20 MS. OSTEEN: Thank you. 21 MS. MAPSTON: Thank you, Judge. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's get on to the next item, 23 Item Number 3, consideration/approval to request the 24 annexation of identified airport property into the Kerrville 25 city limits. We have Mr. Dave Pearce, Airport Manager, City 5-22-06 16 1 of Kerrville, here with us today. Good morning, sir. 2 MR. PEARCE: Good morning, Judge Tinley and members 3 of the Court. What you have before you, and I think what best 4 depicts it, is we did a JPEG photo there with some outlines to 5 show the areas that are not annexed into the city that are 6 airport -- jointly airport County/City owned. What this is, 7 is kind of some housecleaning. We have had a number of land 8 purchases over the last three years, starting in 2003, and up 9 to most recently to the west, and right now this will just 10 annex those properties that are jointly owned into the city 11 limits. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Approval to do what, though? 14 I'm not sure what we're -- 15 MR. PEARCE: We -- 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- what we're voting on. 17 MR. PEARCE: Mr. Baldwin, what we need to do is, the 18 owners need to petition for the annexation into the city 19 limits. So, both the Commissioners Court and the City Council 20 members need to petition to have that annexed in, as owners. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: As owners of the property. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it's only the -- 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, it's already owned by us. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see what you're saying. 5-22-06 17 1 Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it's -- it's specifically 3 the three properties -- the three tracts, I should say, that 4 are on here. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second the motion. I 6 have -- I do have a question, though. On this Exhibit A, 7 Dave, those two properties that are identified right at the -- 8 at the curve of Highway 27, those are -- those are properties 9 that we own, but they're -- they're in the flight path; is 10 that right? 11 MR. PEARCE: Yes, sir. We -- we actually purchased 12 some properties, and other properties were -- we had avigation 13 easements, which are just buying air, basically. And the 14 avigation easements we could not annex in without the 15 individual properties making that request. But those are -- 16 those are ones that were in the flight path, and that was a 17 90/10 purchase. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And for the benefit of the 19 Court, the other one up at the top, at the north side, is the 20 property that -- that's the piece -- the parcel that was part 21 of the property swap with KEDF; is that correct? 22 MR. PEARCE: No, sir. No, sir, that property was 23 purchased outright at 90/10 for the expansion -- or the 24 relocation of the road and expansion in that area. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I got you. Okay, thank you. 5-22-06 18 1 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second. Any 2 further question or discussion on the motion? All in favor of 3 the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Thank you 8 very much, Mr. Pearce. 9 MR. PEARCE: Thank you. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: The next item on the agenda is to 11 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on the modified 12 '05-'06 Kerr County Juvenile Facility county budget. 13 Mr. Stanton? 14 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. Good morning. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Morning. 16 MR. STANTON: You should have in your packets a copy 17 of the -- the proposed budget -- or the proposed outline of 18 the budget that I was asked to put together a few weeks ago. 19 If you have any questions about it, I'll be happy to try to 20 answer it for you. The first -- the first column, the current 21 budget as of 4-28-06 is what the -- what was in the budget as 22 of that date. The next column over is what was in the budget 23 added to what we're going to need to make it through, and the 24 next -- the gray column is what is the surplus in that item. 25 The ones in the parentheses, such as the -- the Food line item 5-22-06 19 1 and down, that is what we're going to need to make it through 2 rest of the year. That's what we've had to add into the 3 budget. So, coming out, we should have a surplus/deficit of 4 about $257,000. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Against what was originally 6 budgeted for the juvenile facility? 7 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir, the original budget. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Which means we budgeted 9 about a $288,000 deficit. That means we have reduced that 10 deficit by a significant amount. 11 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, let's examine if we, in fact, 14 reduced that deficit. The $288,000 deficit was a projected 15 deficit for an entire year's operation. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 17 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Correct? 19 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: The deficit that you are presenting 21 today is for approximately a six-month period; is that 22 correct? 23 MR. STANTON: No, sir. The deficit in the gray 24 column in the middle is for the total budget year. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 5-22-06 20 1 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, the difference between 3 257 and 288 -- or you're reducing the 288 by 257; is that 4 correct? 5 MR. STANTON: Well, the 288 -- from what I 6 understand, the 288 figure was a negative 288,000. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Exactly. 8 MR. STANTON: There is a positive 200 -- 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I know, so you're reducing 10 the negative by 257. 11 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The -- let me make sure I 14 understand your columns. The first column is the current 15 budget -- 16 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- that was approved. The 18 second column is how you want the budget line item to be out 19 there? 20 MR. STANTON: Well, what the second column is, is if 21 you take what was spent up through the beginning of the budget 22 cycle through May 1st -- 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 24 MR. STANTON: -- then you add in what we're going to 25 need to make it through the rest of the year, yes, sir. 5-22-06 21 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Then you give the deficit. 2 Okay. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Several weeks ago, you presented us 4 with a 12-bed preadjudicated budget for the remainder of the 5 2006 budget year. Do you recall that? 6 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: And in that -- in that budget, which 8 was actually for the remainder of this year, you indicated 9 that estimated revenues were $164,190. Do you recall that? 10 MR. STANTON: I don't -- I didn't bring a copy of 11 that with me, sir. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Well, I'm looking at one, and 13 you indicated that the total expenditures for the remaining 14 budget were $383,587. 15 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. If you -- yes, sir. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: From an operational standpoint, would 17 you agree with me that for the remaining period indicated on 18 that budget, that during that remaining approximately 19 six-month period, there would be a loss generated of something 20 over $219,000? 21 MR. STANTON: I wouldn't know the -- I don't know, 22 sir. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, if expenses are 383,587, and 24 revenues for that same period are 164,190, whatever the 25 difference is would be the amount of loss, correct? 5-22-06 22 1 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Now, the new budget which you have 3 presented to us shows that for the same period, you made some 4 adjustments, and the estimated total expenditures are down 5 slightly to 369,663 for the remaining approximately six 6 months; is that correct? 7 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: For that same period of time, you're 9 showing estimated revenues of $102,256; is that correct? 10 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Which is almost $62,000 less than the 12 estimated revenue which you gave us a few weeks ago; is that 13 correct? 164,190? 14 MR. STANTON: If -- yes, sir, if you -- yeah. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: The difference between this new one 16 that you've presented to us, between actual revenue and -- and 17 expenditures for the indicated period, shows a negative of 18 267,4, roughly. 19 MR. STANTON: Okay. Are the accounts receivables 20 the same in both budgets? 21 JUDGE TINLEY: No, the accounts receivables, of 22 course, don't enter into operations for the indicated period. 23 I'm looking at income and expenditures. 24 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I don't have the -- I 5-22-06 23 1 didn't bring that. I'm trying to follow, and I'm not sure 2 what you're saying. I mean, what -- 3 JUDGE TINLEY: I think what I'm saying is that it 4 looks to me like that the -- the increase of deficit 5 operations is about approximately $48,000 more than what we 6 were given a few weeks ago, when you strictly look at -- at 7 income and expenditures. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Would that be because one is 9 predicated on 12 beds and the estimate is predicated on 16? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Actually, the 12-bed shows a greater 11 degree of income than the 16, and you would think that the 12 income would be higher on the 16 than on the 12. But the 13 12-bed income was 164; the 16-bed was 102. 14 MR. STANTON: Well, I know that that's the 15 difference of how y'all are looking at the two different 16 budgets. They're both 16 beds. They're both based on 16 17 beds. It was just a grammatical error on the 12 and 16. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 19 MR. STANTON: The estimated revenue for -- from 4/06 20 to 9/06 was based on the income that we've received from the 21 counties based on -- for the rest of -- remainder of the 22 budget cycle. Ms. Williams and I sat down and tried to 23 calculate the best we could a projected revenue for the 24 remainder of the budget year. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Bottom line is that apparently the 5-22-06 24 1 revenue estimates that were initially given several weeks ago 2 appear to be significantly higher than what they should have 3 been. 4 MR. TOMLINSON: Kevin -- 5 MR. STANTON: I'm trying to remember what -- 6 MR. EMERSON: I don't have the old budget. 7 MR. STANTON: You don't have the old budget? Can I 8 look at that one, sir? 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Sure. 10 MR. STANTON: Thank you very much. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: That's the earlier estimate upon 12 which the transition was made several weeks ago, correct? 13 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: And that shows revenues of 164,000 15 during the remaining six-month period. 16 MR. STANTON: And I -- Ms. Williams helped me do 17 this. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Now, down towards the bottom, if 19 you'll just look at estimated revenue -- 20 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir, I see what you mean. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 164. 22 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: That was the initial estimate, and 24 now that's down to 102,250, roughly. 25 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 5-22-06 25 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. That seems to be the major 2 difference of about $62,000 in the going-south direction. 3 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Tommy had his hand up, 6 Judge. 7 MR. TOMLINSON: I don't know what's in the first -- 8 first number, but part of it could be the -- that in the first 9 number, you estimated some revenue from the school lunch 10 program, and since then, that has changed and you're not -- 11 the school has taken that over. We're not -- in the last 12 estimate, we knew that we weren't going to get that any more, 13 and that could amount to 2,000 or 3,000 a month. 14 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 15 MR. TOMLINSON: So, that could be part of it, the 16 difference. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: What's the school lunch program 18 revenue item? 19 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, I thought -- I'm just -- I'm 20 guessing right now. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 22 MR. TOMLINSON: That in the first estimate, that the 23 school lunch program revenue could have been in that first 24 number. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Do we know how much that was? 5-22-06 26 1 MR. TOMLINSON: It's been approximately, what, 2 $2,500, $3,000 a month? 3 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 4 MR. TOMLINSON: Yeah. So, for six months -- 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 6 MR. TOMLINSON: That's part of it -- could be part 7 of the difference. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: A large part. 9 MR. TOMLINSON: I don't know that for sure. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Could be $15,000, then. Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The number -- how many beds are 12 occupied right now? 13 MR. STANTON: Nine -- eight, I'm sorry. We lost one 14 this morning. Eight. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the projected was running, 16 like -- wasn't it, like, seven? It was seven to nine, eight 17 that -- 18 MR. STANTON: Yes, the average is seven to eight, 19 eight to nine kids. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the billing rates haven't 21 changed? 22 MR. STANTON: No, sir. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, is the revenue number 24 based totally on occupancy? 25 MR. STANTON: The revenue numbers -- the projected 5-22-06 27 1 revenue numbers are based totally on taking the average that 2 we've gotten each month from the County previous to this, 3 and -- and expanding it out over the rest of the budget cycle. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Seems that the -- but we bill 5 at -- you're billing at eighty -- 6 MR. STANTON: Three dollars a day. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: $83 a day? 8 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If you take $83 times 180 days, 10 plus or minus a few days, times seven or eight, -- 11 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- what does that give us? I 13 mean, I think it's a -- it's a better way to look at the 14 revenue, is to estimate our occupancy, the daily income or 15 loss. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. Do we still have 17 some accounts receivable coming in from other counties? 18 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The accounts receivable, I'm 20 like the Judge; that will balance itself out during the course 21 of the budget. The Auditor will carry, you know, the account 22 for that. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: The 102 is based, apparently, pretty 24 close to about seven. 25 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. Should be somewhere -- 5-22-06 28 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Best I can figure, I show seven at 2 180 days at 104,5. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, that could be -- the 4 difference could be -- I mean, you know, I don't know how they 5 were calculated, whether they're going by occupancy or the 6 revenue coming in, but to me, I mean, a better way to do it on 7 this one, or future ones for that matter, is based on our 8 occupancy of seven or eight, whatever it's going to be, times 9 the number of days. As opposed to looking at our -- 10 MR. TOMLINSON: You got to remember, in this 11 analysis, that -- that the $288,000 in taxes is in that total 12 revenue. That's part of the total revenue. So -- so, if you 13 eliminate the tax out of that total revenue, then you're still 14 short on an annual basis of approximately the 288,000. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: It's going to be at least that. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 17 MR. TOMLINSON: Yeah. So, I was hearing a while ago 18 that -- that the loss was down to 37,000 or 47,000. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 288 plus 37. 20 MR. TOMLINSON: So, that's what I'm hearing, so, 21 okay, I just wanted to make that clear. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, the new numbers as I've 23 calculated them here on the new modified budget as presented, 24 the difference between estimated expenditures and estimated 25 operational revenues show to be, for that six-month period, 5-22-06 29 1 267,400, roughly. That's the operating loss, as I've 2 calculated it, in rough figures. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 267? 4 JUDGE TINLEY: 267,4 for the indicated six-month 5 period. Any other questions or comments? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, I've got one. Out of 7 the eight kids we have out there -- clients that we have out 8 there today, how many of them are Kerr County? 9 MR. STANTON: All eight. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All of them? So, when we're 11 talking about an income of $102,000, in reality, to me, the 12 reality is -- is that this money moves from one area of the 13 courthouse out to your place, back to another area of the 14 courthouse. 15 MR. STANTON: Probably about 85 percent of it, yes, 16 sir. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just an old boy that grew up 18 out in Hunt, not real smart, but I just don't see how you can 19 figure that as income. 20 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's all I have to say. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval of the revised 23 budget as presented. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 5-22-06 30 1 of the revised budget as presented. Any questions or 2 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 3 your right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Thank you, 8 Mr. Stanton. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I guess a final comment. I 10 mean, and I don't know; it seems that the big change here was 11 on the revenue side. 12 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think we need to amend 14 the budget as we're going on the revenue side. If 15 expenditures vary, which they haven't substantially varied, I 16 think we need to -- obviously, that needs to be brought back 17 to us. Revenue is -- is dependent more on the judges than 18 anything you do. 19 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or -- and the youth, actually. 21 You know, what's happening in the community, since they're 22 Kerr County kids out there now. So, if the expenditure side 23 starts varying beyond these numbers, I think we need to have a 24 budget amendment, but from the revenue side, I think that can 25 -- really gets caught up at the end. 5-22-06 31 1 MR. STANTON: Well, I know that later in the 2 afternoon, they're going to -- or later this morning, they've 3 got some budget requests that they're going to be presenting, 4 and they're having to move some of the excess funds out of 5 572-104 down to some maintenance line items and things like 6 that. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I did have one question 8 about that, but I can save that question till later, or just 9 direct it to you now. I think there was a large medical 10 expense, I believe, in one of them? 11 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. It was an out-of-county 12 kid, I believe. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's what I wanted to 14 know. An out-of-county kid, that's reimbursable to the 15 County? 16 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: In response to your concern, 18 Commissioner Letz, the -- the modified budget has expenditures 19 reduced from the earlier estimate by almost $14,000, so the 20 estimates of expenditures on the modified budget are down by 21 about $14,000 from the original budget presented a few weeks 22 ago. 23 MR. STANTON: The budget that was presented a few 24 weeks ago -- just to clarify, the budget that was -- we now 25 have some solid salary figures that we can go by. Before, we 5-22-06 32 1 were projecting; we didn't know who was going to be staying 2 and who was going to be going, so that had a lot to -- being 3 able to pinpoint it. One other thing, before we leave this 4 and go on with the budget, is that we've been -- and this 5 could affect the budget down the road, is that we've been 6 receiving requests from some of our -- some of the counties 7 down on the coast, wanting to know if we're still going to be 8 able to assist them in hurricane evacuation type situations. 9 And one of the counties, Nueces County, we currently have a 10 contract with for short-term detention. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: At $83 a day? 12 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We need to amend that 14 contract. They need to pay full price. 15 MR. STANTON: And they -- I just received a phone 16 call, I guess last -- last Thursday or Friday, and they're 17 wanting to know if we're still going to be able to do that. 18 So, I guess that's something that we need to put on the agenda 19 to discuss at a later time, but that could have an effect on 20 the budget. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess -- you know, and just -- 22 I think we do need to put it on the agenda to discuss, but I 23 think we end up in a situation -- I don't see how we -- we're 24 certainly not going to increase our staffing just because of a 25 hurricane evacuation, so -- 5-22-06 33 1 MR. STANTON: Well, both counties that I've talked 2 to have -- they're bringing their own staff. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We need to -- yeah. I think, 4 when you put it back on the agenda, let us look at what -- 5 we're also not going to lose any money. 6 MR. STANTON: No, I agree. And they -- and I 7 explained to them that we were running a 24-bed facility now, 8 but that we still had the other building that could be made 9 available if -- if they brought their own staff to staff that 10 with, possible. But I told them that was something that we 11 would need to discuss with the Commissioners Court. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think we need to take a 13 look at what to recommend as a per diem rate, too. 14 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. Well, they're contracted 15 with us at $83 a day. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The contract's going to have to 17 be changed. We're not going to lose money. 18 MR. STANTON: No, I understand. But if we're not 19 having to pay for the staff, I don't believe we'd be losing 20 money. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, there would be a material 22 difference if they're providing staffing for their own 23 residents. 24 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: That's an interesting concept. 5-22-06 34 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It sure is. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's a good concept. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Talking about payroll just getting 4 stabilized, I think that brings us right down to the next 5 item. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 6 extend the Kerr County Juvenile Facility comp time policy. 7 MR. STANTON: I'd like to present y'all with -- this 8 is a new updated version of what y'all have. There was one 9 error in the original one that we corrected. There was one 10 person that their comp time had got left off. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: As I recall, the previous action by 12 the Court extended the comp time rollover through the end of 13 June, if I'm not mistaken. Through June? 14 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 16 MR. STANTON: That's my understanding. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: And -- 18 MR. STANTON: We're coming up on that date, and I 19 was just wondering how you want -- or how the Commissioners 20 Court wanted to go about extending it or -- or paying it off. 21 Those are the numbers that we're looking at, the ones you have 22 in your hand is approximately what it would cost to -- to pay 23 it off. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do you think, if we gave you one 25 more month, is there a -- can you substantially reduce these, 5-22-06 35 1 do you think? 2 MR. STANTON: I doubt we'd be able to substantially 3 reduce it. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Why not till the end of the 5 budget year? Would that help? 6 MR. STANTON: I believe it would help. I mean, I've 7 got people scheduled to take off as much as I can. When our 8 numbers go down, we've been letting people go, just as long as 9 we stay in ratio. We're doing everything we can as far as 10 cutting the numbers down. The one thing we have to keep in 11 mind -- or that I have to keep in mind is that every time I 12 let somebody take vacation or comp time off, I have to -- for 13 staffing ratios, I have to pull in a part-timer, and that -- 14 that brings that line item up and this one down. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, the number's been 16 reduced a lot from where it was originally. It was around 17 28,000, I believe, originally, down to 11. I'd like to try 18 and reduce it. I'd rather try to get -- if we have to write 19 some checks towards the end of the year and be done with it, 20 rather than rushing at the very end, so I don't mind extending 21 it maybe to August 31st. I'd hate to go to September 30th, 22 because we have so much going on that last month trying to do 23 comp time and budgets and all that. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay, August 31st is good. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we 5-22-06 36 1 extend the comp time -- what's the -- we extend the time to 2 allow the comp time to be taken care of or reduced out of the 3 Kerr County Juvenile Detention Facility until -- till 4 August 31st, -- 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- 2006. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 8 indicated. Any question or discussion on the motion? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just one quick question. 10 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: These 14 folks here on this 12 list are presently employed? 13 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, thank you. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion on 16 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 17 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. 22 MR. STANTON: Thank you very much. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Let's go to Item 6; 24 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on the Texas 25 VINE annual maintenance grant contract for Fiscal Year 2006. 5-22-06 37 1 Sheriff Hierholzer? 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: This is just a renewal. This 3 contract hasn't, and I don't expect that it ever costs us 4 anything. The Attorney General's office pays for it. What it 5 is, is victim notification, where people can sign up on the 6 computer and get notified instantly of any act or change in 7 status, court date, get released on bond. And, in fact, we 8 just had their computer go down, and they replaced it Friday. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No cost to the County? 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No cost to the County. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval to extend the VINE 12 grant application. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 15 of the agenda item. Any question or discussion? All in favor 16 of that motion, signify by raising your right hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 19 (No response.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Here's the one that -- two or 22 three copies. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 9, if we might. 24 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action for the 25 purchase of a laptop computer with wireless capability for 5-22-06 38 1 field work. Mr. Odom? 2 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. Thank you, Judge. We would 3 like to use the remainder of our budgeted funds in Capital 4 Outlays to purchase a laptop computer with wireless 5 capabilities to use in the field. I see a head shaking over 6 there. We have 1327, and we would like to use that for the 7 capability, when we go out on complaints, to be able to 8 identify property, find out who the owner is, or if there is a 9 maintenance deal, maybe to contact those people. It's 10 difficult to come back in and start talking about which piece 11 of property again. So, sometimes we have addresses; we can do 12 that. Also, with floodplain, to identify on the floodplain 13 map if there's a complaint, that we can identify property 14 owners and try to get hold of them. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My head shake is not against 16 getting it; my head shake is against getting it now. If it's 17 something you need, I think you should put it in next year's 18 budget. And the reason, Leonard, is that most departments 19 underspend a little bit on their capital outlay, and my 20 feeling is that we should -- is we're approving items as much 21 as -- probably more than money. The item, we may save a 22 little bit there, but if we allow you to spend yours to zero, 23 we're going to get every other department coming in here 24 wanting to spend theirs to zero buying something. I think 25 it's a bad precedent, so I think put it on next year's budget; 5-22-06 39 1 I'll support it. 2 MR. ODOM: I would have to modify that. I did -- we 3 tried to pick up two; one for next budget year, and we thought 4 we might be able to do this one. So, I guess when I talk to 5 the Judge and the Court, we'll see where I can come up with 6 money. Money for next time is pretty tight, trying to make it 7 work. It was -- 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Where would you put this 9 computer, anyhow? Which -- 10 MR. ODOM: I would have it in my truck. Or if I 11 send -- 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You'd have it in your truck? 13 MR. ODOM: Basically, yes, sir. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The -- I'm with Commissioner 15 Letz, only I'm going to add to it that the words, "we have 16 some money left over; let's run out there and spend it," is -- 17 let's don't say that in public. 18 MR. ODOM: Well, if I said that, I apologize. Wrong 19 use of the English language. I have excess money that I have 20 had savings in capital outlays, that I was very expedient and 21 very professional where I saved money. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that close? 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He went into his typical 24 Aggie defensive mode. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Odom's trying to tell you, 5-22-06 40 1 Commissioner Baldwin, that he's been very, very frugal in his 2 scheduled -- 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: -- capital outlay items, and he's 5 been able to achieve significant savings; he wants to continue 6 to do that. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think we understand him. 8 MR. ODOM: And it means 99 percent was right on, so 9 you've got about 1 percent of my Capital Outlay budget. Very 10 frugal. We squeezed dimes out of dollars. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Congratulations on your 12 frugality. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, congratulations. 14 MR. ODOM: Seems like -- 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Odom, I think that's all you're 16 going to get out of this item today. Congratulations. 17 MR. ODOM: I think -- next item, yes, sir. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move, if we might, to Item 10; 19 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to correct Court 20 Order Number 29671 to Creekwood, Roman numeral V, instead of 21 Creekwood, Roman numeral II, located in Precinct 2. 22 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. Last time, Lot 25 of Twin 23 Springs II is adjacent to both Creekwood II and Creekwood V. 24 On May the 8th, we thought it was being added to Creekwood II; 25 however, it's to be added to Creekwood V. This error was 5-22-06 41 1 found before the publications for the public hearing; 2 therefore, we ask that you amend Court Order Number 29671 to 3 read Creekwood V, Volume 7, Page 160. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This does not affect the 5 notifications that we -- the Court asked to you send out? 6 MR. ODOM: No. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Correct? 8 MR. ODOM: Correct. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll so move. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 12 of the agenda item as indicated. Any question or discussion? 13 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 14 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 11; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action for 20 the preliminary plat of Ranger Park, located in Precinct 2. 21 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. This was before you once 22 before as a concept plan. This was the business park in 23 Center Point. What you have before you looks fine, and I 24 would ask the Court that they would accept it as the 25 preliminary plat. 5-22-06 42 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This -- this memorializes 2 all of the points that the Court made with respect to the 3 division of the property and the road and the cul-de-sac and 4 the setbacks and so forth; is that correct? 5 MR. ODOM: That's correct, sir. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I would move approval. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 9 of the agenda item. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mr. Voelkel had his hand up. 11 MR. VOELKEL: Before y'all vote on that, 12 Ms. Cunningham is here with us today. Can we get some 13 direction as to the preliminary plat approval before we move 14 on with the final plat and construction of the road? Could 15 you just go over it one more time? I was not here for that 16 concept plan. The requirements for the road, itself. You'll 17 notice on there that we've got a 50-foot right-of-way, and I 18 understand that was one of the considerations, and a 10-foot 19 setback as opposed to a 20 just was another consideration. As 20 far as the construction of the road, country lane, local road, 21 whatever y'all discussed. If we could just go over that one 22 more time? 23 MR. ODOM: That was 20-foot pavement. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 25 MR. ODOM: And 8 inches of base. 5-22-06 43 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 2 MR. ODOM: We upgraded it because it was a 3 commercial. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, it was upgraded because 5 of commercial. 6 MR. ODOM: That's right. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Because of traffic. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I was also -- I was not present 9 at that concept plan, and I think, Ms. Cunningham, my 10 preference would be to do a 60-foot right-of-way, zero 11 setback. Just because I think the setback is not -- I'm much 12 more inclined to give up on the setback rather than the 13 right-of-way. The net effect doesn't change anything, but I 14 believe that this is how the concept plan was approved. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It is. It's consistent with 16 the concept plan. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just my comment. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I might ask the question, is 19 there any problem with going to the 60-foot and eliminating a 20 setback? 21 MS. CUNNINGHAM: I don't know. I just have to go 22 back and look at it, I guess. I thought that we had, you 23 know, discussed that. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We had. And what -- the 25 motion was consistent with what we had talked about approving 5-22-06 44 1 the concept plan, but we're just raising the question. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't know how it would change 3 anything, other than it changes -- what it does, it reduces 4 the lot sizes to slightly less than an acre, but I don't -- in 5 a commercial development, from our standpoint, it doesn't make 6 any difference. I mean, I don't know that 1 acre is a magic 7 number. There's no meaning from an industrial development 8 standpoint, according to our rules. Going with a -- a 50-foot 9 right-of-way is a departure from our rules, and I think it's a 10 bad precedent. You know, I will say, at the same time, I've 11 said that commercial developments are different, and, you 12 know, I don't think it's a precedent necessarily for our 13 residential. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think that was the whole 15 key to it, Commissioner, that it was not precedent-setting for 16 residential, and that our experience in the commercial 17 development area is modest at best. 18 MR. ODOM: Yes, this is only the second development. 19 So, we got the cul-de-sac with a turn-around down there. We 20 felt like the truck traffic wouldn't be that much up in there, 21 and that was discussed, and so that was the reason we did it. 22 We felt like we could turn around and we would not have -- 23 it's not a through situation, and it's a private road, I 24 believe. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll go along with it. Just -- 5-22-06 45 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't want to tell the lady 2 one thing and then come along later and tell her something 3 else. That's ridiculous to do that. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't either. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But I don't recall -- I 6 recall talking about the base, the thickness of the base and 7 the width of the driving surface and those kinds of things, 8 but I don't remember what the numbers were. Are they -- 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What Leonard represented is 10 correct. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that what it is? 12 MR. ODOM: Yes. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And it's heavier because of 14 the truck traffic. 15 MR. ODOM: Truck traffic. Instead of 6 inches, we 16 went to 8 inches of base, and the cul-de-sac at the end. We 17 had a 20-foot pavement, so we wouldn't have edging on the 18 thing. We modified the 60 to a 50 because we had the 10-foot 19 setback. It just squeezed her -- the acreage she's got is -- 20 it squeezes the business park. But, then again, the rules say 21 this is -- when we go to a business park, it's at y'all's 22 discretion. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: And that's the consensus that you 24 just -- what you just mentioned was the consensus that we 25 indicated to her in the previous meeting. 5-22-06 46 1 MR. ODOM: That's correct. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: I think that's what we need to go 3 with. That's what we told her. 4 MR. ODOM: I would recommend that you accept what we 5 have. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What else, Voelkel? 7 MR. VOELKEL: One other question. With our new 8 rules now, the road needs to be engineered plan profile. I'm 9 making sure -- that's what y'all would like for this road? 10 MR. ODOM: The rules say if it's less than 3, or 20 11 acres or greater. But this is a business park. You know, we 12 were talking about this. It's sort of flat, and we talked 13 about it last week, whether we would go with the detailed 14 study or not. So, we felt like that was probably -- 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm sorry. I missed your 16 question, Lee. 17 MR. VOELKEL: My understanding with the new rules, 18 Commissioner, is that the road has to be engineered, and it 19 has to do what the engineers call plan profiles, which is a 20 design for the road. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh. 22 MR. VOELKEL: My question was, is that what we need 23 to do to get this road approved? 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, again, was the 25 engineering design planning issue on the table when we 5-22-06 47 1 approved it the first time? 2 MR. ODOM: This came under the old rules, is what we 3 were looking at. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's where I'm at, then. 5 Whatever we approved the first time. 6 MR. ODOM: And I would say that that's flat. I do 7 believe that you need the 2- and 5-year, if there's any cross 8 on that, but as far as the major drainage plan, I think we 9 decided that we were not going to do that. It was small and 10 it was isolated there, but we do need to look at the 2- and 11 5-year if have you cross. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's my recollection. 13 MR. ODOM: And we were doing it under the old rules, 14 because we hadn't had anything affirmative as far as the Court 15 accepting the new rules at that time. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Two -- two comments on that. On 17 Lee's question, I think because of the -- I mean, I think 18 it's -- plan profiles, being an industrial park, it's kind of 19 exempted from -- our standard rules just don't apply. But 20 probably, based on the terrain here and the way it's been laid 21 out, I don't have a problem with not having engineered roads. 22 Other side of that, though, is, as Commissioner Baldwin 23 commented, the fact that concept plans are not intended to set 24 out all of our exact requirements, and should never do so. 25 Concept plans are to give us an idea of what a developer is 5-22-06 48 1 trying to do. And because a comment is made at a concept 2 plan, I don't think the Court is bound by it. And I wasn't 3 here at that meeting; I don't know how it was said, if it was 4 said that way. Concept plans are not -- usually, we don't 5 even vote on concept plans. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with you 100 percent. 7 I just -- you know, I just think when we -- when they left 8 here the last time, it was kind of a -- it was kind of, "This 9 is what you need to do, and we'll see you when you" -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- "come back." Of course, 12 the real question is about this Dixie Chick thing. Are any of 13 y'all involved in this subdivision Dixie Chick buyers? 14 MR. ODOM: I heard Mr. Voelkel was dating one of 15 them. (Laughter.) 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 17 MR. ODOM: That's just rumor. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This subdivision is over. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. What action do we need to 20 take, gentlemen? 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Ready for a vote. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Do we have a motion and a second? 23 Okay. Any further question or discussion on the motion? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Do we have a motion? 25 MS. THOMPSON: We have a motion and second. 5-22-06 49 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further questions on the motion? 2 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 3 hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Thank you. 8 Let's move to Item 12; consider, discuss, and take appropriate 9 action for the preliminary plat of Lasso Ranch located in 10 Precinct 3. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll just make a brief comment. 12 This is up in the far -- 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Go ahead. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm the Commissioner of Precinct 15 3. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, is this the one that's up 17 in your neighborhood? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's in my precinct, but no, 21 this is up in -- this is in the far -- far, far northeastern 22 corner of the county, kind of real near Gillespie County, and 23 this is the -- 24 MR. ODOM: Off Hasenwinkel -- or Bear Creek. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it is -- even though it 5-22-06 50 1 refers to the owner as 210 Blanco Ranch L.P., that is actually 2 Mr. Dale Crenwelge at Crenwelge Development. As I understand, 3 it's going to be -- looks like a good development, from what I 4 can see. Large tracts. I believe it's going to be a county 5 road. Correct, Len? Or is it private road? 6 MR. ODOM: Private. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How do you get there? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Go up Hasenwinkel Road, which 9 comes off Cypress Creek Road. It con -- Hasenwinkel continues 10 all the way up to Highway 16. 11 MR. ODOM: Yeah. This is exempt from a drainage 12 plan, because you're over 20 acres; however, it still will 13 need the 2- and 5-year there. And it's a good project, large 14 acreage, and Hasenwinkel's a developing area. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 16 MR. ODOM: A lot of raw land out that way. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The only real, I guess, comment 18 that I have -- and I presume that name went through -- 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 9-1-1. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- 9-1-1? To me, if you're 21 going to call it a loop, it should be a loop, and I don't see 22 this road as being anything but a dead-end. 23 MR. VOELKEL: We talked to Mr. Crenwelge; he's going 24 to get the name -- the word "Loop" removed; it's just going to 25 be Dally Road. 5-22-06 51 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Dally Road, okay. And it's just 2 going to be -- is this going to be private roads? 3 MR. ODOM: Yes, private roads. In Note Number 5, it 4 says it right there at the bottom, the road will be a private 5 road, not maintained by Kerr County. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm just picking up on the 8 language here. This is pretty cool. Lasso. Dally. Need to 9 have a "Pigging String." This is pretty cool. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move approval. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 13 of the agenda item, preliminary plat. Any question or 14 discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify 15 by raising your right hand. 16 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 18 (No response.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's move 20 quickly to Item 13. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 21 action to set a public hearing for revision of plat of Lots 13 22 and 14 of Cypress Springs, Phase I, as set forth in Volume 7, 23 Page 12, Plat Records, and located in Precinct 4. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The request is, Judge, for 25 June 26th at 10 a.m. in the backup here. 5-22-06 52 1 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. This is moving a lot line, and 2 it involves 14 and 13, and it's .08 acres. By moving that 3 line, it is decreasing 14 and increasing 13 by 4 eight-hundredths of an acre. That's all it is, and I ask that 5 the Court go ahead -- 6 MR. VOELKEL: Just another comment, just for 7 information. Both of those lots already have residences on 8 them. Both of those lots have already been permitted with 9 septics. There is a water system. Both of them are served by 10 that water system. These two individuals that own the lots 11 just basically want to square it up, and that's the reason for 12 changing the line. And they will both participate on the plat 13 as owners and agreeing to do so. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: And you're asking for a public 15 hearing on this matter for June the 26th this year at 10 a.m.? 16 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to set a 20 public hearing for June the 26th, 2006, at 10 a.m. for 21 revision of plat of Lots 13 and 14 of Cypress Springs, Phase 22 I, as set forth in Volume 7, Page 12, Plat Records. Any 23 question or discussion on the motion? All in favor of the 24 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5-22-06 53 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 2 (No response.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. At this time, 4 I will recess the Commissioners Court meeting, and I will open 5 a public hearing for the revision of Lot 60 of Wood Trails 6 Ranch, as set forth in Volume 4, Page 98, Plat Records of Kerr 7 County, and located in Precinct 4. 8 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10:03 a.m., and a public hearing was held in open 9 court, as follows:) 10 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the public 12 that wishes to be heard with regard to the revision of Lot 60 13 of Wood Trails Ranch, as set forth in Volume 4, Page 98, Plat 14 Records, located in Precinct 4? Yes, ma'am? 15 MS. SUMMERLIN: Mary Ellen Summerlin. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Come forward, please. We'll be happy 17 to hear what you have to say. 18 MS. SUMMERLIN: Three of us are here from 19 Headwaters, and I'd like you to hear from Gene first. Would 20 that be all right? 21 JUDGE TINLEY: That'd be fine. 22 MS. SUMMERLIN: Gene Williams. 23 MR. WILLIAMS: I'm Gene Williams, General Manager of 24 Headwaters Groundwater Conservation District. I spoke to the 25 Court previously on this matter, and to Mr. Voelkel. I would 5-22-06 54 1 like to point out, I sent Commissioner Letz an e-mail this 2 last week on a situation the same as what we're dealing with 3 here, which is after the fact. It's after a property has been 4 split. The realtor says the new prospective buyer wants to 5 buy the property, but yet doesn't want to share the well along 6 with a neighbor, so he chooses to want to drill his own well 7 on 2.12 acres, and then in the future, split that lot off and 8 put an office on the 2.12 acres and sell the house, which 9 would require another well. So, the main issue that I would 10 like to point out to the Commissioners is to urge you to 11 consider replatting the same as new plats in respect to water 12 availability, the water availability issue of 5 acres per 13 well. 14 I understand you intend to put the language on the 15 plat to prohibit the drilling of individual wells on lots that 16 are split off. On this property in question, I don't believe 17 that would be enforceable. Once the property exchanges hands 18 down the road and owners come to Headwaters, and that would be 19 their only source of water for their house, would be to drill 20 a well, I don't believe we could deny that. Also, our current 21 Headwaters rules state that no well may be drilled on a tract 22 of land less than 5 acres that was divided and/or platted 23 after June 10th of 2002. And I would also like to point out 24 that a shared well is not a community well. I think Chapter 25 35 gives the Commissioners the authority in this situation to 5-22-06 55 1 require that to be a community well if it serves more than one 2 lot, which would go through T.C.E.Q. and become a public water 3 supply well, because it would be required to come up to public 4 drinking water standards. So, that would be the position of 5 Headwaters, that we issue permits to drill wells on 5 acres or 6 more. We can't control what happens after the fact on the 7 property. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me make sure I heard what 9 you said. We have -- we were going -- we were requesting to 10 be put on the plat that you cannot drill a well on this lot in 11 the future. 12 MR. WILLIAMS: Correct. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And then that property 14 changes hands to a new owner, and then they come to you and 15 say, "We want a well," regardless of what Commissioners Court 16 says. And you -- you cannot deny them a well at that point? 17 MR. WILLIAMS: If -- if the existing owner that owns 18 the well on the property that was sharing a well cuts their 19 water off, for whatever reason -- 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 21 MR. WILLIAMS: -- no, sir, I don't believe we can. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, how can we? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I -- I'd like to refer this -- 24 and I think it really -- it's a public hearing. Before we get 25 into a dialogue, I think it needs to be referred to the County 5-22-06 56 1 Attorney, because I disagree that you can't deny it. I think 2 you have to enforce the rule, the laws of the state and the 3 county. And if we put it on a plat, by god, that's the law, 4 the way I look at it. Maybe I've always looked at these plats 5 wrong, but I think you're enforcing the law of the county. 6 MR. VOELKEL: Just like anything on a plat; unless 7 you revise that plat, it's still enforceable. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So I think -- I mean, but the -- 9 to answer, I think the County Attorney needs to give me some 10 guidance on that as to is it a flat law of the state of Texas? 11 Or is -- bottom line, I mean, is it enforceable by other 12 entities? And that's, I think, what you need to find out. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I wasn't jumping on you; I 14 was just trying to clarify. 15 MR. WILLIAMS: The scenario I'm making is the owner 16 of the well cuts the other lots off. They have a home on the 17 lot with no other source of water than to drill a well. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: It's your understanding of the law 20 that is applicable to Headwaters, if a homeowner who's living 21 there, domestic use, is in that position, that you cannot deny 22 them the right to drill a well? That's what you're telling 23 us? 24 MR. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 5-22-06 57 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I'm not going to try to get 2 into it with Headwaters, but to the County Attorney, though, 3 there was an issue that was brought up there about community 4 wells, shared wells. And I really don't know that, but I'd 5 like the County Attorney to look at it from our standpoint, 6 water availability, what our ability and authority is in that 7 area, because it's -- evidently, I didn't know there was ever 8 a difference. I thought it was the same if it was less than 9 15 connections. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Summerlin, Dr. Morgan, do either 11 of you desire to be heard further on this issue? 12 MS. SUMMERLIN: Just briefly, sir. 13 MR. MORGAN: Gordon Morgan, member of Headwaters 14 Board. I think we're probably dealing more with a concept 15 than, you know, with an individual situation just here, I 16 think the concept being that we want to have availability of 17 water. We feel confident that we can if we have 5 acres of 18 land to service a household. If we concentrate those 19 households closer than -- within the 5 acres, then we're 20 beginning to encroach upon the availability in the future of 21 water for their usage. If -- and that is kind of the concept 22 that we're operating on, which, you know, we worked together 23 to have the 5 acres, to come up with that as a guideline that 24 we can all go by that will protect the future availability as 25 well as service and provide water for the people that need it 5-22-06 58 1 at this point in time. So, along with the idea of the 2 concept, if at all possible, we at Headwaters can feel 3 confident we can freely allow people to have wells on 5 acres 4 of land, as long as they use it for the purposes they desire. 5 On the other hand, if we start making smaller 6 subdivisions of land than 5 acres, then we're going to get 7 into more rules, more regulations, more individual permitting 8 rather than across-the-board, always fair, always equitable, 9 and try to keep it that way. That is really our desire. And, 10 as you all had stated in 2002, you all wanted 5 acres, we want 11 5 acres. And that is where I, as an individual board member, 12 would like to take a stand. It's not going to please 13 everyone. But also, if we break it down and make it in 14 smaller acreages, it's certainly not going to please everyone, 15 because everyone will be coming in and asking for an 16 exception, asking for their own particular problems to be 17 solved, and that makes it hard on everyone. So, we would 18 prefer going by the rules, as we have. Our new rules state -- 19 and are designed to go along with the County's rules, that 20 there will not be a lot size less than 5 acres. We consider 21 replats -- as the manager, Gene, said, we consider replats as 22 platting. And, therefore, since 2002, we would prefer to keep 23 all of them at 5 acres. Thank you. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. Ms. Summerlin? 25 MS. SUMMERLIN: My name is Mary Ellen Summerlin. 5-22-06 59 1 I'm the President of the Headwaters Board, and I'm just here 2 to reunderline what Gordon said, and to confirm that although 3 the Headwaters Board has not taken formal action on this 4 position in an open meeting, I know from our rules workshop, 5 and I have doublechecked with all the members over the weekend 6 that this is our unanimous consensus position, and that we 7 really recommend and urge you to take it very seriously; that 8 if we'll stick to the 5-acre rule, we can all feel pretty 9 safe. But if we start cutting down to smaller and smaller 10 size lots, and then people have a fight and the shared well is 11 no longer shared, and they come to us with a house and a 12 family and a lot that's got no water, we're going to be -- our 13 concern is that we're going to be caught between what the plat 14 says and what Chapter 36 says, which is that if somebody's got 15 the necessity for domestic use, we're pretty much stuck. And 16 then we end up with all these little wells all over the 17 county, and pretty soon maybe they are interfering with each 18 other. We want to avoid getting into a situation where one 19 neighbor's well makes the other one have to be lowered or 20 drilled deeper. It's just too expensive. Let's just -- let's 21 just be tight from the start, instead of having to scramble at 22 the end and try to come up with something that's fair and 23 equitable for everybody. That's just what we urge you to 24 consider. Thank you very much. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. Is there any other 5-22-06 60 1 member of the public that wishes to be heard with respect to 2 the revision of Lot 60 of Wood Trails Ranch, as indicated in 3 Volume 4, Page 98, Plat Records, and located in Precinct 4? 4 Seeing no one else seeking to be recognized, I will close the 5 public hearing, and I will reconvene the Commissioners Court 6 meeting. 7 (The public hearing was concluded at 10:14 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 8 reopened.) 9 - - - - - - - - - - 10 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a timed item for 10 o'clock, 11 being Item 8. 12 MR. VOELKEL: Excuse me, Judge. I'm sorry. I 13 thought we were going to discuss this after the public 14 hearing. Can we discuss it some more after the public 15 hearing? 16 JUDGE TINLEY: It's not shown as an agenda item, 17 so -- 18 MR. VOELKEL: As far -- I guess as far as some 19 direction on what -- what we need to do, can this be approved 20 or can this not be approved? Or what -- where do we go from 21 here? 22 JUDGE TINLEY: We're going to have to get it back 23 before us as an agenda item. And I -- the only -- the only 24 indication I can give you, Mr. Voelkel, is that it appears 25 that, from the Court's standpoint, we've kind of laid it off 5-22-06 61 1 into the County Attorney's lap at this point, and I suspect 2 we're going to -- we're going to defer doing anything 3 definitive until such time as we get some response from him. 4 And then, based on what we get from him, we'll go forward on 5 that basis. But we don't have an agenda item that we can go 6 forward on at this point. Okay, sir? 7 MR. VOELKEL: Okay. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: The timed item for 10 o'clock, an 9 additional timed item, Item 8, is to consider, discuss, and 10 take appropriate action to award a bid for the Town Creek 11 Improvements in Precinct 1 and Precinct 3. 12 MS. SUMMERLIN: Judge Tinley? 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, ma'am? 14 MS. SUMMERLIN: May I be recognized for just a 15 minute? I'm afraid I may have misspoken when I was talking to 16 y'all. I think the fact that I said I "polled" the members of 17 the board would put me in violation of the Open Meetings Act. 18 I think that it is legal for me to have visited with -- 19 individually with members of the board. I did not -- I spoke 20 to another board member, who had spoken to another board 21 member. In no way did we vote on any kind of thing over the 22 phone over the weekend. That's -- I just want to make that 23 clear. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Whew. 5-22-06 62 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. What do you have for us, 2 Mr. Odom? 3 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. I would like for the Court to 4 consider awarding our Town Creek project in Precinct 1 and 5 3 -- basically, the splitting line's right along in there -- 6 to Allen Keller and Company, and to authorize the Judge to 7 sign the notice of award. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move for approval. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second, with the direction that 10 most of the money get spent in Precinct 3. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Nay, can't be done. It just 12 cannot be done. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 14 of the awarding of bid to -- on the Town Creek Improvements to 15 Allen Keller Company in accordance with the recommendation of 16 the consulting engineer and Mr. Odom. Any question or 17 discussion? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. What's the timeline 19 for the project, Leonard? 20 MR. ODOM: It is 90 days. We think that it will 21 start by 60 days, construction, so that's calendar days, so 22 we're hoping if we start sometime in August, maybe before 23 school hits, we'll have it opened by September 1st, we ought 24 to have it, if not sooner. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This is work that's required 5-22-06 63 1 because of the Holdsworth Drive cut-across; is that right? 2 MR. ODOM: That is the concept, is to use that. But 3 what it was, was an offset from the Highway Department at 4 Hermann Sons. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I understand that, but the 6 necessity to do it -- 7 MR. ODOM: The necessity is to do that for that 8 Holdsworth right there, sir. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's really more the development 10 coming into the Holdsworth area, anticipated by Holdsworth. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: He said it really more 12 correctly. It's not because that road is coming through 13 there; that didn't affect us. We've been talking about this 14 long before that road -- 15 MR. ODOM: Long before. There's a lot of raw land. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're upgrading County-owned 17 property. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Before the development hits. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Before the development hits. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think that's a great idea. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. And you won't find 22 many commissioners courts that get out in front of the game. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Absolutely. 24 MR. ODOM: Oh, well, y'all are out in front of it. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Is that why most of it's in 3? 5-22-06 64 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, most of it is not in 3; 2 just a tiny part of it is in 3. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: None goes to 2, right? 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Anybody have any other discussion 5 that's germane to the motion? Any other questions or comments 6 on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 7 your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move, 12 if we might, to Item -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I have a quick question 14 that I neglected to ask on that. Leonard, as I recall, it 15 was, like, 100 something -- 16 MR. ODOM: 110,000. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- on Hermann Sons there, 18 something -- 81,000. 19 MR. ODOM: This is 81 plus the engineering that 20 we've done, and what I'm going to be doing is presenting to 21 the Court for y'all's review the engineering hydrology to be 22 done on the other end down there by Old Harper Road, and we'll 23 see where that takes us. And then the next budget year, we'll 24 see if we hit it. But we ought to hit the 110 pretty close by 25 the time we get the hydrology done on the next structure down 5-22-06 65 1 there. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We just need -- I just want to 3 make sure that we track it closely to make sure that we don't 4 end up in violation of the -- 5 MR. ODOM: No, sir. I had three years from the time 6 that that was complete, so we're -- we were a year ahead 7 before it was complete. Last year we looked at hydrology on 8 it; now we're out for bid. We'll look at hydrology on the 9 other portion down by Old Harper Road, and then we'll see 10 where we're at. We ought to hit the 110 and hit the agreement 11 we made with the State, and then we'll look at next budget 12 year to complete that. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I just want to make 14 sure -- we don't want to get in violation of the State, and 15 all of a sudden get a million-dollar bridge from Hermann 16 Sons -- 17 MR. ODOM: Not interested in that. I think y'all 18 would ask me to leave to go to retirement, I think. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: You're very perceptive. Okay. Let's 20 move to Item 14. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 21 action to approve the final plat of 707 Ranch located in 22 Precinct 4. 23 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. We had this before at concept, 24 and then it was an alternate plat; it was raw land. What 25 we're doing is dividing this up, and I ask the Court to accept 5-22-06 66 1 this as a final in Precinct 4. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tell me again -- oh, it's out 3 there off of Goat Creek? 4 MR. ODOM: It is off Shalako, sir. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Shalako. 6 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir, up there at High Point. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: High Point. 8 MR. ODOM: By High Point right there. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I remember it now. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Remember, we were 11 talking about horse trailers going up and down the road. 12 MR. ODOM: It was a private road; still be a private 13 road. We were talking about a cul-de-sac, whether we needed 14 it or not. There's a turnaround down below down there, but 15 we're hitting the 200-foot frontage up here in front, so it 16 works. Lot 2 has no intentions to be built on, other than no 17 obstruction. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion and second to approve the 21 final plat of 707 Ranch located in Precinct 4. Any question 22 or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 23 your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 5-22-06 67 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Why don't we take this opportunity to 3 take our mid-morning break. We'll come back in about 15, 20 4 minutes. 5 (Recess taken from 10:21 a.m. to 10:43 a.m.) 6 - - - - - - - - - - 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's come back to order. We were in 8 recess for 15, 20 minutes, and we'll move now to Item 15; 9 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to review 10 preparation of payroll and other personnel-slash-human 11 resources functions for Kerr County. Commissioner Letz? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. I put this on the agenda 13 based on our last meeting. We -- there was some discussion at 14 that meeting about contacting the private sector and seeing if 15 there are firms that can do this, and if they would give us a 16 proposal. And during that discussion, the question came up, 17 can we legally do that? Can we outsource this portion of it? 18 I asked the County Attorney to look into it. I know I, and I 19 believe everyone on the Court, received comments, and I'll 20 turn it over to the County Attorney to summarize it, but as I 21 read it, yes, we can do that, in his opinion. And, so, Rex, 22 is that -- 23 MR. EMERSON: That's an excellent summary. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Excellent summary, yes. That 25 being said, I'd like to do it; I'd like to go out and just see 5-22-06 68 1 what is available. I'm not saying we're definitely -- this is 2 the right way to go, but until we find out what the private 3 sector can do and what the cost of that is, I think it's hard 4 to -- it's kind of the first step, in my opinion. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What you're talking about is 6 soliciting requests for proposals to prepare a payroll, 7 county-wide -- not just department-wide, county-wide 8 payroll -- up to the point of turning it over for the 9 Treasurer and the Auditor to confirm accuracy and disbursement 10 of payment; is that correct? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's correct. But I would 12 also expand it to other human resources functions while we're 13 doing it. I think the thing that really is -- the payroll 14 function is one of the -- you know, I think is the first thing 15 that I'd like to do; I think it's probably the most 16 reasonable. But I'd also like to see what the private sector 17 can do for some human resources -- some of the insurance 18 stuff, possibly. I don't know what's out there. I hear 19 advertisements on the radio frequently about companies that do 20 this type of thing, and I'd like to see what they really have 21 to offer. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I was in visits with a 23 couple of people over the weekend in regard to this, and a 24 fellow that knows about this kind of stuff highly 25 recommended -- recommended that we do it. It seemed to me 5-22-06 69 1 that the law says that the County, or particularly the County 2 Treasurer, is responsible for disbursement of checks, and that 3 the private sector can do everything else, prepare everything, 4 get the check back in here for the Treasurer's signature, and 5 the Treasurer disburses it and everybody's needs are met, and 6 can be done a lot -- very quickly and cheaply. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I'll just make a comment; I 8 see the Treasurer here. The Treasurer called me, I guess, 9 Friday -- you called me Friday? -- and said she supports us 10 doing this. I mean, this is not -- just so the public's 11 aware, we're not in a fight with the Treasurer's office. She 12 thinks it's a good idea to go out and find out what's out 13 there in the private sector. If it's a better way to do it, 14 let's do it. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, that's good. And I -- 16 as you know, I noted the last time that I thought that we 17 should take a look at the whole human resources package. 18 There's a lot that takes place within the realm of human 19 resources. The question in my mind is, is our employee group 20 large enough to sustain that as a separate entity? And what 21 would we -- what would be embodied in that in a new job? So, 22 I'd like to take a look at all of it. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I -- you know, I guess the 24 biggest question I have on this is -- is, you know, how we go 25 about soliciting -- 5-22-06 70 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Have to develop an RFP. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- the proposals. I mean, I 3 think this is also -- I would think this qualifies as 4 professional services. Does it? I mean, we're talking about 5 an accounting-type function, which would be a professional 6 type service, and I think human resources in general could be 7 professional services. That being -- and assuming that, I'm 8 looking for a nod or a shake of the head of the County 9 Attorney. If it -- if it is a professional service, then I 10 think we need to probably go out and solicit from as many 11 companies as we can. And the reason I think that way is 12 better, I think we can look locally and look in the San 13 Antonio area as well. I hate to just do a -- put it out to 14 the public to find it, because the public may not find it. I 15 just want to make sure that we do get some feedback, and the 16 feedback may be that none of them want to do it, which would 17 tell us something. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We've got to identify the 19 scope of services we're looking for. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. Correct. I think we 21 need to identify the scope of services, and then I think 22 probably have the court coordinator contact the -- do a little 23 bit of research and find the number of people and get that 24 scope of services to them. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, the fellow I was 5-22-06 71 1 dealing with is a C.P.A. guy, and he was -- seemed to be very 2 well-versed in this thing and understood it, and rattled off, 3 like, five or six different companies that, you know, just -- 4 you know, it's just like it wasn't a big deal. You go out 5 there and show -- so I think all that stuff's going to be easy 6 to do. We probably need to -- maybe we can use him to ask 7 him, you know, who these companies are to get the information 8 to. But -- 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Who's "him"? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Sounds like we've identified our lead 11 member of the Court here. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That did it. They've really 13 made me mad now. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that what you heard? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. I have no problems at all 16 with that approach. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, I'll get him in touch 18 with you today. Today. That's how fast -- 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh, that's a slick move 20 there, Commissioner. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, thank you. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we probably need to get 23 a little bit of -- our court coordinator needs -- not court 24 coordinator; our member of the Court needs to also get with 25 the Treasurer's office as well, 'cause I think there's, you 5-22-06 72 1 know, information there as to what specifically they -- I 2 mean, how things are coming in right now, which are going to 3 be part of the question. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, I think if we're 5 looking, we also have to look -- we have to look in terms of 6 payroll-slash-and/or human resources as a whole package. They 7 have to identify the scope of their services in that case. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, I think we need to -- I 9 would agree, we need to identify the scope of services, which 10 is payroll, state filings, federal filings, you know. I mean, 11 you can -- you know, the personnel function, the insurance 12 function. I mean, there's a whole list. I don't know where 13 you draw that line. But I think you try and get as much 14 information up front as you can on the scope of services. 15 Then you -- once we select a company, if we get to that point, 16 then we try to narrow it down on some of, you know, the 17 things, how we do it with our internal organization. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm sure glad Commissioner 19 Baldwin volunteered to do that. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I did not, but I'll volunteer 21 you to do that. I'll work with you, Bill. I'll help you all 22 I can. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I appreciate it. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, at our next meeting, we'll 5-22-06 73 1 have it back on the agenda, hopefully, or maybe the meeting 2 after that, probably. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything further on that particular 4 agenda item? We got some general direction there. Does any 5 member of the Court have anything to offer that needs to be 6 considered in executive or closed session? Okay, we will move 7 on from there. Let's move on to our approval agenda. Payment 8 of the bills. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I'd like to make a 10 motion that we pay our bills. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second the motion. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to pay the 13 bills. Any question or discussion? Mr. Auditor, I've got 14 some questions here. 15 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Under Commissioners Court, tell me a 17 little bit more about this $10,000 payment, Columbia Casualty. 18 Is that our deductible? 19 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Okay, I thought that's what 21 that was. 22 MR. TOMLINSON: That was the -- that's actually -- 23 do you remember last meeting, we had a -- a budget amendment? 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 25 MR. TOMLINSON: That amendment was to handle this 5-22-06 74 1 payment. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Okay, let's go to Page 7, if 3 you wouldn't mind. There's a payment there showing to Grimes 4 for an obvious transport of a -- of a deceased. Looks like 5 it's being charged to a copier lease. 6 MR. TOMLINSON: That's -- we'll research that. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Misspelled Letz, too. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But they did not misspell the 10 deceased's name; that's how you spell his name. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think Loetz is spelled 12 probably correctly, differently. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Lease copier. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Page 23, the V.A.W.A. 15 prosecutor. Is that individual prohibited from any outside 16 practice? 17 MR. EMERSON: You mean civil practice on the side? 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Any kind of practice other than the 19 V.A.W.A. duties. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What is V.A.W.A.? 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Violence against women. 22 MR. EMERSON: I don't recall seeing that in the 23 grant. Now, the V.A.W.A. grant's obviously written as a 24 full-time position, but I don't recall seeing anything in the 25 grant prohibiting them from performing some other function. I 5-22-06 75 1 just have to look at the grant. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Well, I note there that 3 there's -- the Supreme Court dues for the V.A.W.A. prosecutor 4 are included here, so the obvious reason for my question is, 5 if there's a requirement that that individual be licensed, and 6 if there's a further requirement that that individual's only 7 job performance in a legal nature can be performed as that 8 prosecutor, it certainly would be appropriate. If there's 9 anything to be done outside, maybe not. 10 MR. EMERSON: All I can say is, I don't know of -- 11 of her doing anything outside. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 13 MR. EMERSON: I don't know what the restriction in 14 the actual grant wording is. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 16 MR. TOMLINSON: These amounts to the -- to the 17 prosecutor's office -- 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Hmm? 19 MR. TOMLINSON: These amounts payable to the 20 prosecutor's office are as our cash -- part of our cash match 21 for that. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: The payment of the State Bar dues 23 payable to the Supreme Court is part of our cash match? 24 MR. TOMLINSON: No. No, the $3,666. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: That's not what I'm talking about. 5-22-06 76 1 I'm talking about the next entry. 2 MR. TOMLINSON: Just for information, that's what -- 3 that's what that's for, is for the cash match for this grant. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You know, let's stay on that 5 just for a second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: For the last 180 years that I 8 know of, we've argued this point of the public paying our -- 9 our memberships and our dues to be a part of the -- like our 10 association. But you, as an attorney, I've always felt like 11 that the public shouldn't be paying any of your dues to -- to 12 keep your memberships going, your license going, you know, 13 those kinds of things. I can -- you know, to me -- to me, 14 that's a little bit different. And we -- 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I agree. I agree. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We've argued that a hundred 17 times here. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Where -- Commissioner, where I see 19 it, if -- if the position requires one to be a licensed 20 attorney, and the position prohibits any activity in the legal 21 sense outside of the elected or appointed position held, I -- 22 I can see where it would be appropriate for the dues in this 23 instance to be paid. If, however, number one, the position is 24 not required to be a licensed attorney, or there's an 25 opportunity for that individual who is licensed to have some 5-22-06 77 1 outside pursuit, then I don't think it should. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: In my case, for instance, I -- my 4 position does not require me to be a licensed attorney, so 5 that -- that answers the question right there. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What about the situation, 7 Judge, where the Bar Association dues are paid, and it falls 8 in the category you're talking about where it's -- it's an 9 elected judicial position? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: If it's a full-time and there's a 11 requirement of -- of -- that the individual be licensed, and 12 there's no outside ability -- ability to do any outside work, 13 I'd say it's appropriate. For example, the District Judges, 14 Judge Brown, the County Attorney. He's under a position which 15 prohibits outside practice, and he's required to be a licensed 16 attorney, so it's appropriate under those circumstances; as I 17 see it, on all of those circumstances. In mine, it's not. I 18 pay my own. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I can't even go quite that 20 far, actually. If you want to be an attorney, be an attorney. 21 If you don't want to be a District Judge, don't be a District 22 Judge. Don't expect -- it's like, you know, if there was some 23 kind of licensing for -- and there kind of is, and the public 24 pays for it -- for Commissioners, if there was a licensing 25 type thing, I choose to be a Commissioner and I need to pay 5-22-06 78 1 for my own license. I shouldn't expect the taxpayers to pay 2 for my license. It's just -- it's just the way I see it. 3 It's not -- I'm tired of arguing the thing. It's just -- 4 'cause I've never won it. (Laughter.) 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Doesn't look like you're 6 going to today. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, I'm not going to today. 8 Didn't expect to. I just -- you know, it's just a hell of a 9 good fight. If you want to get into one, there's a good one. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Had a few extra minutes, so you 11 thought you'd throw it out again, huh? Okay. Anything else? 12 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 13 hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 16 (No response.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's go to 18 Budget Amendment Request Number 1. 19 MR. TOMLINSON: Budget Amendment 1 was approved by 20 the County Clerk to transfer $98.29 in the Elections 21 Department from Ballot Expense to Election Supplies. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 25 of Budget Amendment Request Number 1. Any question or 5-22-06 79 1 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 2 your right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 5 (No response.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 7 Amendment Request Number 2. 8 MR. TOMLINSON: I'm requesting a transfer of $115 9 from the Telephone Access Fees in Nondepartmental to Liability 10 Insurance. It's for coverage for the new D.P. equipment in 11 relation to the new software. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I move it. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: One of you. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I did. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 19 of Budget Amendment Request Number 2. 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: The motion does carry. Budget 5-22-06 80 1 Amendment Request Number 3. 2 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 3 is for Indigent Health 3 Care. I have late bills attached to this. We need to 4 transfer $618.75 from Eligible Expenses to Third-Party 5 Administration line item. I have a bill -- the hand checks 6 that I need are actually two to VeriClaims, Inc.; one for 7 $499.60, and the other one is for $119.15. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What is the time frame -- I 9 mean, what -- maybe I can -- if I can think just a second, 10 I'll get to my real question. We did this just a month or so 11 ago, VeriClaims. You know, is this -- is this a regular 12 thing? Why don't we know how much they're going to charge us? 13 MR. TOMLINSON: It's based on the eligible expenses 14 that we pay. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So -- 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we're spending more on 17 indigent health than we budgeted; therefore, we're going to be 18 spending more on VeriClaims. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So -- well, when we set the 20 budget on what we think we're going to spend on indigent 21 health care, we set the budget on what VeriClaims is going to 22 get? 23 MR. TOMLINSON: That's right. It's 4 and a half 24 percent. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Four and a half. 5-22-06 81 1 MR. TOMLINSON: Four and a half percent of eligible 2 expenses. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This is one of those areas 4 that we contract out or send out -- 5 MR. TOMLINSON: Right. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- for third party. Is this 7 a good thing? 8 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, we're currently looking at 9 other ways to do it. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, okay. 11 MR. TOMLINSON: We're -- 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Cost less? 13 MR. TOMLINSON: I think that, you know, we're -- 14 we've seen evidence that there's -- there's a better way, and 15 so we're exploring that -- 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 17 MR. TOMLINSON: -- possibility. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I want to ask a question, 19 though, Tommy. If I'm looking at the budget and the budget 20 balances, I'm seeing that we've already spent through May, or 21 almost through May, $601,000. Is that correct? 22 MR. TOMLINSON: That's right. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, my question is, is the 24 134 going to carry us for the next -- June, July, August, 25 September -- four months? 5-22-06 82 1 MR. TOMLINSON: Probably not. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Probably not. 3 MR. TOMLINSON: How -- it's the 8 percent rule. 4 Actually, it ends in August, because of the State's -- the 5 State's fiscal year ends in August. So, we -- the 8 percent 6 rule, we -- well, we anticipate that we will not be beyond the 7 8 percent in August, so we think that the 134 will last us 8 through that period. It'll be really close, but -- but I 9 don't -- the person at VeriClaims -- the principals at 10 VeriClaims, they were here about two weeks ago, and we -- we 11 projected what we thought our -- our claims would be through 12 August, and we don't feel like that we'll be there. So, as 13 far as trying to obtain any -- any help from the State, I 14 don't think that's in the forecast. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: What is the 8 percent? What is that 16 -- how much? 17 MR. TOMLINSON: It's approximately -- 18 JUDGE TINLEY: As against us? 19 MR. TOMLINSON: It's approximately 800,000. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. So -- 21 MR. TOMLINSON: Actually, it's 8 percent of your 22 general tax levy, and that -- that tax levy is not only the ad 23 valorem tax, but it's the sales tax that we -- we collect for 24 the previous year. And, so, when you attach the 8 percent to 25 the ad valorem tax plus the sales tax, it's a substantial 5-22-06 83 1 amount. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: And your -- your ballpark calculation 3 is approximately 800,000? That's in eligible claims? 4 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: But we have to spend that 6 before we go to the State for any reimbursement? 7 MR. TOMLINSON: That's right. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And their budget year ends 9 at the end of August, so that means school's out, doesn't it? 10 MR. TOMLINSON: That's right. And you also have to 11 wonder if the State has any money at that time, too. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: That's a pro rata fund that you're 13 sharing in, if I'm not mistaken. 14 MR. TOMLINSON: That's correct, yes. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 18 of Budget Amendment Request Number 3, and issuance of hand 19 checks -- approval of late bills and issuance of hand checks 20 to VeriClaims for $499.60, and $119.15. Any question or 21 discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify 22 by raising your right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 5-22-06 84 1 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to 2 Budget Amendment Request Number 4. 3 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 4 is for County Court at Law, 4 approved by Judge Brown to transfer $5,074.05 from 5 Court-Appointed Attorney line item to the Master Court 6 Appointment line item. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. But what does that 9 mean? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. 11 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, the Master Court Appointment 12 line item is -- is there for the purpose of -- of paying 13 attorneys to represent juveniles in the -- no. No, it's -- 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Parents. 15 MR. TOMLINSON: -- parents in C.P.S. cases. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is that new unfunded 17 mandate. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And -- 21 MR. TOMLINSON: We established this Master Court 22 Appointment line item to try to address that for this budget 23 year. So, it's turned out to be as bad as we anticipated. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Actually worse. 25 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 5-22-06 85 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, yeah, our new unfunded 2 mandate from our State Legislature so far has cost the 3 taxpayers $40,000 this year. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Judge Brown had -- 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just one. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, this is one unfunded 7 mandate. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Judge Brown had indicated a concern 9 that maybe there were a disproportionate number of cases or 10 dollar volume of attorney's fees that were being charged to 11 his Master Court Appointments-slash-civil budget. Is -- tell 12 me if that's a valid concern, or whether or not all these 13 cases are just being dropped in his lap. 14 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, my -- I understand that when 15 those cases are filed, they're -- they're allocated by the 16 District Clerk's office. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Random filing? 18 MR. TOMLINSON: At random filing. And, so, it just 19 depends on who's next, I think, in line. And I'm assuming 20 that they share equally. That's really a District Clerk 21 question. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, the County Judge -- County 23 Court at Law Judge needs to visit with the District Clerk. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, he may just be getting a bad 25 luck draw here, is what it looks like. 5-22-06 86 1 MR. TOMLINSON: That's what I -- 2 JUDGE TINLEY: 'Cause their accounts are still 3 pretty -- pretty flush, and his is down the tubes. 4 MR. TOMLINSON: Right. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. All in -- any other question 6 or comments upon that motion? All in favor of the motion, 7 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: Motion does carry. Budget Amendment 12 Request Number 5. 13 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 5 is for 216th District 14 Court, and we're requesting a transfer of $10,200.88 from the 15 Civil Court-Appointed Attorney line item, the one we just 16 talked about, and $1,053.40 from Special Trials, with 17 11,179.28 to the Court-Appointed Attorney line item and $75 18 for Special Court Reporter. This -- and this amendment 19 represents, I think, 11 different -- different invoices. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 23 of Budget Amendment Request Number 5. Any question or 24 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 25 your right hand. 5-22-06 87 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Budget Amendment 5 Request Number 6. 6 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 6 is for the 198th District 7 Court. We have a need to transfer 13,449.95 out of Special 8 Trials, with 5,637.14 to Court-Appointed Services and 7,812.81 9 into Court-Appointed Attorney line item. Actually, this 10 represents only one case. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: One of you second. 14 MS. THOMPSON: We just have a motion. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I moved. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Second? 17 (Commissioner Williams raised his hand.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Any question or discussion on the 19 motion? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On your education platform, 21 Commissioner Baldwin, we need to educate the public how much 22 the judicial system of indigents cost this county as well. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, those special trial line items 24 that weren't utilized are fast being eaten up. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sounds that way. 5-22-06 88 1 JUDGE TINLEY: And the Court-appointed attorneys, 2 Court-appointed services, they've long since been eaten up. 3 Any other questions or comments? All in favor of the motion, 4 signify by raising your right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 9 Amendment Request Number 7. 10 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 7 is for the County Jail. 11 This is approved by the Sheriff to transfer $730.11 from 12 Software Maintenance to Vehicle Maintenance. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 16 of Budget Amendment Request Number 7. Any question or 17 discussion? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a quick question, Tommy. 19 Software maintenance is going to be low throughout the county 20 because of the new program, correct? 21 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. They -- we've actually paid 22 only for approximately half a year, so the -- for the rest of 23 the year, we will not be paying any more software maintenance. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mentioned last time, I mean, 25 that's quickly being used as the slush fund for 2005-2006. 5-22-06 89 1 What's the chance -- what's the thought of the Court of moving 2 all that money out of there, if we're not going to pay it, 3 into one line item so it's not used as much, maybe? I guess 4 you have to -- I mean, if people have to use it, they have to 5 use it. But it just seems that as soon as we end up with a 6 line item that has money in it, we start using it. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, if you got money left 8 over at the end of the year, you need to spend it so it 9 doesn't affect your next year's budget. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That seems to be the 11 prevailing mentality. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just an observation. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, I agree with you. 14 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, it is an item that we need to 15 remember when we do budget, but for, I think, some of the 16 software, we -- we don't have any maintenance for a year, so 17 we need to look at -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You need to look pretty 19 carefully at that. 20 MR. TOMLINSON: -- carefully at our maintenance 21 budget. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mr. Trolinger, are you hearing 23 that? 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: He left. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, he left. 5-22-06 90 1 MR. TOMLINSON: John, he's well aware of -- 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 3 MR. TOMLINSON: -- which ones we have to deal with. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Baldwin, there's always 5 the question, what would the Dixie Chicks do? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What would the Dixie Chicks 7 do at a time like this? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Spend it, probably. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, they'd spend it. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or comments? All 11 in favor of the motion, signify by raising 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 8. 17 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Number 8 is -- was approved 18 by the Chief to transfer $203.90 from Attorney Ad Litem Fees 19 to Transportation of Juveniles. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This -- this wasn't done -- oh, 21 this is Juvenile Probation, nevermind. I'm sorry. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. But my question is, 23 whose signature is that? 24 MR. TOMLINSON: Jesse's. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Jesse Herrera? Okay. 5-22-06 91 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 4 of Budget Amendment Request Number 8. Any question or 5 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 6 your right hand. 7 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 9 (No response.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 11 Amendment Request Number 9. 12 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 9 is for Juvenile Detention. 13 We have a need to transfer $311.08 from Detention Officers' 14 Salaries to Residential Medical Expenses. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This -- would this be one 16 that would be reimbursable back to the County? Or is it for 17 one of our own kids? 18 JUDGE TINLEY: It's reimbursable either way. It's 19 just a question of whether it's a fresh pot or not a fresh 20 pot. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. So moved. 22 MR. TOMLINSON: I don't -- I can't tell by the name. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 25 of Budget Amendment Request Number 9. Any question or 5-22-06 92 1 discussion? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. Question is, how does this 3 go with the -- the big blanket change we made this morning for 4 Juvenile Detention Facility? I mean, we changed all these 5 line items today, correct? 6 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Under this? 8 MR. TOMLINSON: Right. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, are we amending this, or is 10 this -- 11 MR. TOMLINSON: This is separate from that. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's under here, though. 13 Resident Medical is on -- on this one, isn't it? 14 MR. TOMLINSON: It should be. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I see Resident Medical, 572-333. 16 572-333. Yeah, I mean, Resident Medical is on here. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How much is in the pot? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The revised should be 25,1. I 19 guess I'm looking at -- we just revised it down this morning 20 so we can amend it this afternoon. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is there enough in the pot 22 to avoid this? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Before we changed it this 24 morning, there was 22,547 in that line item. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What's left? 5-22-06 93 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Now there's 25,183. 2 MR. TOMLINSON: The budget balance, though, is zero. 3 I mean, the original budget, what's left is zero. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, I see that. There was a 5 negative balance on that one, okay. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? All 7 in favor of the 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. Budget 12 Amendment Request Number 10. 13 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 10 is for Detention 14 Maintenance. We need to transfer $1,341.98 from the Detention 15 Facility budget out of Detention Officer line item, with 16 $651.19 to Maintenance and Custodial, and $690.79 in Detention 17 Repairs. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: On the Maintenance and 19 Custodial, was that just to take us up to now? Or does that 20 carry us through in that particular line item? Just current 21 expense? 22 MR. TOMLINSON: That's just current expenses. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. So moved. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 5-22-06 94 1 of Budget Amendment Request Number 10. Any question or 2 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 3 your right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 8 Amendment Request Number 11. 9 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 11 is for Ag Extension. They 10 have requested transfers of $2,000 from the Extension Agents' 11 Salaries and $600 from Operating Equipment, to move $1,000 of 12 that into the Agents' Travel line item, $1,000 into Reimbursed 13 Travel, and $600 into Repairs and Maintenance. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Repairs and Maintenance, I 15 was told, has to do with the splash area behind the sinks. 16 MR. TOMLINSON: That's right. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Of the public room. Is that 18 right? 19 MR. TOMLINSON: That's correct. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. And the other part of 21 that, if I understood correctly, has to do with the fact that 22 fuel expenses have eaten them alive. 23 MR. TOMLINSON: That's correct. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Unanticipated fuel expenses. 25 MR. TOMLINSON: That's right. 5-22-06 95 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that also in part as kind of a 2 setup for the new F.C.S. agent coming on board, to make some 3 allowance for her expenses, maybe? 4 MR. TOMLINSON: I didn't -- I don't think so. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That wasn't represented 6 by -- 7 MR. TOMLINSON: I don't think so. I think it's just 8 for additional fuel costs. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, basically for himself 10 and for Laurinda Boyd. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, you're talking about -- 13 you're talking about $1,000 for them to travel on in the 14 future. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And, obviously, another 17 $1,000 that they've already -- what -- where are they 18 traveling? This is non-stock show time. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I can't answer specifically. 20 He just said there are several things that are still left on 21 their calendar to go to and participate in which involve not 22 only transportation, but overnight expenses as well. So, I 23 didn't press him for what they were. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The travel -- I mean, the travel 25 -- I mean, overnight kind of throws me, unless there's some 5-22-06 96 1 kind of -- some of the 4-H competitions could still be going 2 on, but I think most of it -- 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, all that's -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- is over at the end of the 5 school year. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We've already done the state 7 championship stuff. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The travel, I can see that, 9 'cause, I mean, I -- we don't have extension vehicles, do we? 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: No. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So the travel around the county 13 would be -- 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Reimbursable. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just wondered. If you 16 don't have a motion, I'd like to make one. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't think I have one. 18 MS. THOMPSON: You don't have one. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move that we pay our bills. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Does that include Budget Amendment 22 Request Number 11, bills that might be due under that? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I have a motion for approval 25 of Budget Amendment Request Number 11. Any question or 5-22-06 97 1 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 2 your right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 5 (No response.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 7 Amendment Request Number 12. 8 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 12 is for Road and Bridge. 9 They requested a transfer of $372.20 from -- from Right-of-Way 10 Surveying into Notices. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 14 of Budget Amendment Request Number 12. Any question or 15 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 16 your right hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 19 (No response.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 21 Amendment Request Number 13. 22 MR. TOMLINSON: 13 is a request from the District 23 Clerk to transfer 2,273.64 from the Deputy Clerk Salary line 24 item into Overtime. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 5-22-06 98 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there a reason? 2 MR. TOMLINSON: She lost her chief deputy, and there 3 was also that the -- they were -- the conversion of the new 4 software. So, between those situations -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it was a -- there was an 6 opening that necessitated the overtime? Okay, second. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 8 of Budget Amendment Request Number 13. Any question or 9 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 10 your right hand. 11 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 13 (No response.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Do we have 15 any more budget amendments? 16 MR. TOMLINSON: No. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Do we have any late bills, other than 18 as indicated? 19 MR. TOMLINSON: No. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: There is not. I have -- I've been 21 presented with monthly reports from the Justice of the Peace, 22 Precinct 3; County Clerk, General Fund; Justice of the Peace, 23 Precinct 1; Justice of the Peace Court, Precinct 2 for 24 April 2006; County Clerk, Trust Fund; and Road and Bridge 25 Department. Do I hear a motion that these reports be approved 5-22-06 99 1 as presented? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 5 of the indicated reports as presented. Any question or 6 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 7 your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Any member of 12 the Court have anything to offer in connection with their 13 committee or liaison assignments or otherwise with regard to 14 matters that need to come to the Court's attention? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I want to ask Commissioner 16 Williams if he would like to report to the Court about the -- 17 the function that he's performing for the County in regards to 18 those duties out of the Treasurer's office, maybe getting them 19 outside -- 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You haven't even given me 21 the number of the guy to call. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Damn, it's hard to get good 23 help these days. I was just wondering maybe if you had 24 something to tell us. We had a break. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. I will tell you, I'm 5-22-06 100 1 still waiting on the number. I would like to just bring the 2 Court up to date for just a second on the contract -- the 3 Court's approved the draft contract for engineering services 4 for Center Point, and that's what -- the scope of work went 5 back to T.W.D.B., and far as I know, it was taken to -- with a 6 recommendation to approve the scope of work, and all that 7 stuff was taken to the board meeting on Tuesday. So, I'm 8 waiting for a final document for the County Judge to sign, in 9 which case we'll release the scope of work for publication, 10 solicit proposals. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Somewhat related to that, the 12 Court -- unfortunately, one of my days of not feeling well 13 last week, I was unable to go to Austin, but the Region J plan 14 was presented to the Water Development Board. And normally, I 15 would have presented that plan to the Water Development Board 16 for final approval, and I sent a written comment to them, and 17 the board -- the plan was approved. But the interesting part 18 of that was that the -- several -- one thing they were 19 interested in are the complaints that I've had all along about 20 the population projections, which go into the demand side, and 21 there was some discussion on the board about that. But the 22 other item was from staff; there was a very positive feedback 23 to me about the Center Point Wastewater Project going forward, 24 and the Water Development Board is -- is truly behind that, 25 and I think that's very good news for the county. That's the 5-22-06 101 1 type of project they really are looking at. It fits in with 2 the regional water plan; very important to them for funding, 3 so I think that was all good news, that they're -- that seems 4 to be working. 5 The other item I had was -- I don't know if I need 6 to put it on the agenda, or if we can just discuss it, but I'm 7 bringing it up here. Budget's right around the corner, and I 8 would like to look a little bit -- you know, I don't want to 9 step on the Judge's toes. Traditionally, when the budget's 10 been presented, we've had -- this has been this way ever since 11 I've been a Commissioner; salaries are taken off the table. 12 We kind of do all this figuring out until -- and at the last 13 minute, salaries are brought in, and I think that's one of the 14 reasons we've had a lot of problems, and I'd like the salaries 15 brought in right at the beginning. I see no point in keeping 16 salaries -- we have somewhat of a formula as to how we're 17 going to do cost-of-living adjustments, COLA's. When I first 18 got on the Court, it was a little bit arbitrary. Now we're 19 tying it to an index. That index is available. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Published just a couple days 21 ago. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, I'd like to see the budget 23 presented as a -- as a formal -- as a final budget. 24 Obviously, we're not going to know the revenue picture maybe 25 till after the budget's presented, but the proposal -- anyway, 5-22-06 102 1 that's just an idea. I don't know if we need to discuss it at 2 a workshop or -- or how to do it, but it just seems to me that 3 it doesn't make sense to -- to do a king's "X" on the biggest 4 item in our budget until after sometime -- we get into August. 5 So, I don't know if we need to put it on the agenda, or if we 6 need to have a workshop. It's just kind of an idea on how 7 to -- you know, budget's right around the corner. We need to 8 start looking at schedules and all that stuff. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't disagree with what 10 you're saying, because we do, in fact, put a king's "X" on a 11 huge item. But are you suggesting that elected 12 officials/department heads crank in a COLA adjustment for the 13 max of what may have been published by U.S. Department of 14 Labor and Statistics, which right now is published at about 15 3.5 percent? Or something less, or what? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we need to have it on 17 our next agenda. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think you're right. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Figure out how to do this. 20 Also, I think we need to set the budget workshop -- the 21 workshops and get an idea as to where we are. And I think we 22 need to bring up a feedback from the library and the airport. 23 The airport is -- will be challenging, I think, this year for 24 the Airport Board, and I think that -- you know, we'll discuss 25 that a little bit more. But the preference is to do it as a 5-22-06 103 1 workshop item in the afternoon, or as an agenda item? Or does 2 it make any difference? 3 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't suppose it makes any 4 difference. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Up front, it's not going to be -- 7 it's not going to be finalized, so I would think a workshop 8 would be adequate. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think some -- let's get 10 some guidance from a discussion. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Have a discussion a little bit. 12 We do that pretty much this time of year, discuss kind of 13 where we're going with the budget, how the process goes for 14 the year. Okay, that's all I had. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Kind of following up on what you 16 mentioned, Commissioner, with regard to the library, I -- I 17 received, end of last week, a notification that the -- the 18 Library Advisory Board had, quote, unanimously approved by 19 those present the draft budget as submitted by the Library 20 Director. I received that notification, but the budget itself 21 was not attached. I don't presume either one of -- any of 22 y'all got a copy of that? I'm thinking that you probably 23 didn't. I've passed along a note to our admin to ask that we 24 get a copy of that, so we might take a look at it and see 25 where we are there. I think I'd be interested in seeing it 5-22-06 104 1 before that train gets too far down the track. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think the same applies, 3 Judge, to emergency -- EMS. Are we going to be confronted 4 with another major increase in that service line item? Do you 5 know yet? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm not willing to talk about 7 it in here, but pretty soon, you will start hearing about it. 8 Speaking of that, I wanted to let everybody who may have seen 9 it in the newspaper about KPUB donating the defibrillators to 10 the -- basically, to the First Responders group, and I can't 11 remember how many there were; 8 or 10 or something. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 11 or 12. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 11 or 12, something like 14 that. And those things -- they're making them so simple now 15 that one of those may end up in the courthouse, by the way. 16 They'd like to see one come into the courthouse and be 17 stationed somewhere. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Be for us, if we had a heart 19 attack. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: During budget time. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: For the budget process. We 23 could probably hang it from the lamp or up on the wall here 24 somewhere. But I thought that was just kind of neat. This -- 25 I think this is the third year in a row KPUB has made that 5-22-06 105 1 donation, and that is a neat, neat donation. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that a cooperative project between 3 KPUB and L.C.R.A.? Or is it KPUB only? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, I think it's KPUB. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think it is, too, KPUB. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Pretty neat. Pretty neat 8 deal. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other member of the Court have 10 anything to offer? Any elected officials have anything they 11 wish to offer this morning? Anything else? Going once, 12 twice. We stand adjourned. 13 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 11:31 a.m.) 14 - - - - - - - - - - 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 5-22-06 106 1 STATE OF TEXAS | 2 COUNTY OF KERR | 3 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 4 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my 5 capacity as County Clerk of the Commissioners Court 6 of Kerr County, Texas, at the time and place 7 heretofore set forth. 8 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 25th day of 9 May, 2006. 10 11 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 12 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 13 Certified Shorthand Reporter 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 5-22-06