1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Monday, August 28, 2006 11 9:00 a.m. 12 Commissioners' Courtroom 13 Kerr County Courthouse 14 Kerrville, Texas 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 PRESENT: PAT TINLEY, Kerr County Judge H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 24 WILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 25 DAVE NICHOLSON, Commissioner Pct. 4 2 1 I N D E X August 28, 2006 2 PAGE --- Commissioners' Comments 5 3 1.1 Receive report from Mr. Mel Ferguson, 4 District Coordinator for Senator Troy Fraser 10 1.2 Presentation-LCRA Rim Rock to Goat Creek Project 10 5 1.3 Report from Kerr Economic Development Foundation 26 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on pro- 6 posed Memorandum of Understanding with Continuum Healthcare for use of Juvenile Detention Center 7 facility due to mandatory evacuation of Harris County in the event of a natural disaster 38 8 1.4 Consider/discuss ordering the General Election 55 1.10 Public Hearing for revision of plat for Lots 79 9 80, 81, 82 & 83 of The Woods Section Two 56 1.11 Public Hearing for revision of plat for Lots 7A & 10 8, Treasure Hills Ranch 56 1.6 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 11 proposed plan provision changes for TCDRS 2007 Plan Year to include COLA, 20-year service 12 retirement, and partial lump sum 57 1.7 Consider/authorize buy-back into the TCDRS for 13 employees who are rehired or re-elected after a break in service 70 14 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on ASO Appeal Review Request, have County Judge sign same 15 (Executive Session) -- 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 16 approve revision of plat for Lots 7A & 8, Treasure Hills Ranch -- 17 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to consider closing ORCA Contract #781257 74 18 1.9 Approval of Cooperative Agreement regarding child support cases with Office of the Attorney General 79 19 1.14 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on rental rates of Union Church being raised 82 20 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on approving Kerr County Juvenile Detention Facility 21 Policy and Procedures manual for '06-'07 88 1.16 Consider/discuss and take appropriate action to 22 establish procedure for soliciting and screening applicants for Maintenance Dept. Manager, and such 23 other matters related to departmental organization that may be required 88 24 1.17 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve contract with TetraTech Engineering for 25 professional services for Center Point Wastewater Project 91 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) August 28, 2006 2 PAGE 3 1.18 Consider/discuss, approve by record vote the proposed Kerr County 2007 Tax Rate and set date, 4 time and place of first and second public hearings on such tax rate 95,109 5 1.19 Consider and select fee schedule for EMS that will close the shortfall between expenses and revenues 102 6 1.20 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to confirm Kerr County members and composition of City/County 7 Joint Economic Development Strategy Committee 111 1.21 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on hiring 8 of Secretary/Administrative Assistant at Department of Public Safety at Grade 17, Step 1 113 9 1.23 Select and assign a county commissioner to be the Commissioners' Court Liaison with the Human 10 Resources Department 117 1.24 Interview candidates and select a Human Resources 11 Director & Human Resources Administrative Assistant and authorize offers of employment (Exec. Session) --- 12 1.25 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve bonds as required by Texas Tax Code 6.28(a) and 13 TLGC 88.01 for Tax Assessor-Collector 119 1.26 Swearing in of Diane Bolin as Tax Assessor/Collector --- 14 1.27 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve appointment of deputies of Tax Assessor/Collector --- 15 4.1 Pay Bills 121 16 4.2 Budget Amendments 121 4.3 Late Bills --- 17 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 139 18 1.22 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on the "Kerr County Management's Discussion and Analysis" 19 for 2004-2005 audit 141 20 3.1 Action as may be required on matters discussed in executive session 145 21 --- Adjourned 146 22 23 24 25 4 1 On Monday, August 28, 2006, at 9:00 a.m., a special 2 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in the 3 Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, Kerrville, 4 Texas, and the following proceedings were had in open court: 5 P R O C E E D I N G S 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me call to order this regular 7 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court scheduled for 8 this date and time, Monday, August 28, 2006, at 9 a.m. It is 9 that time now. If you would, if you'd please stand and join 10 me in a moment of prayer. 11 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Please be seated. At 13 this time, if there's any member of the audience or the public 14 that wishes to be heard on an agenda item -- or an item that 15 is not on the agenda, excuse me, you're privileged to come 16 forward at this time. If you wish to be heard on an agenda 17 item, a regularly posted agenda item, we'd ask that you wait 18 until that item is called, and we'd prefer that you fill out a 19 participation form. They're found at the back of the room. 20 It's not essential that you do that, but it helps me to be 21 aware that you want to be heard on that item, so that I don't 22 overlook you. Even if you don't file one of those 23 participation forms, if we get to an item that you have an 24 interest in, want to be heard on, get my attention some way, 25 shape, form, or fashion, and I'll see that you have an 8-28-06 5 1 opportunity to be heard. But at this point, if there's any 2 member of the audience or the public that wishes to be heard 3 on any matter that is not a listed agenda item, please feel 4 free to come forward at this time. Seeing no one coming 5 forward, we'll move forward. Commissioner Baldwin, what do 6 you have for us this morning? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I just want to report 8 Saturday afternoon, I went to the Upper Turtle Creek Volunteer 9 Fire Department change of guard ceremony and ate some Big 10 Earl's barbecue, and then hopped in my truck and drove real 11 fast to the 4-H Awards Banquet, which I feel like that you'll 12 probably make some comments about, and ate some barbecue. 13 (Laughter.) Yesterday I spent the day waddling. So -- and 14 today, too. It's a beautiful day, and I'm excited about this 15 agenda, and hope we get through it today. Thank you. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Commissioner Williams? 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, it's good to be back 18 in the hill country. I see while I was gone, we didn't have 19 much rain, if any, to speak of. Spent about seven days in 20 lovely southern California. I'll take their weather, which is 21 about 20 degrees cooler than here, but I won't take all that 22 traffic and all those people and all that other nonsense. So, 23 it's good to be back. Every now and then, we get a letter or 24 get some comment about the things that we do, and I have a 25 letter here. I've showed it to Leonard. It's from a little 8-28-06 6 1 lady and her husband who live way out on Elm Pass Road, and 2 he's a retired fire chief out there. And he says, "First, let 3 me comment on what a good job the road people did on Elm Pass 4 Road." For those of you who don't know, Elm Pass Road's been 5 a work in progress for about three years, but we're finally 6 getting toward the end. So, it says, "...what a good job the 7 road people did on Elm Pass Road. Except for one or two scary 8 places, it's beautiful. Of course, it's not the road that's 9 scary. For the most part, it's the scary people that drive on 10 it." (Laughter.) So, three cheers for the road folks. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Commissioner. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's probably those darn 13 scary natives that live out there. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Wouldn't be surprised. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, that's what it is. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll talk a little bit about 17 water; been dealing a lot with water lately. Region J is in 18 full gear getting the next planning cycle put together. Had a 19 meeting here -- I think it was last week; my days are 20 getting -- all running together. With all the interest from 21 Kerr County, not a whole -- well, several members of the 22 public were there. The press, unfortunately, didn't show up, 23 but we talked a lot about the strategies for Kerr County, 24 what's going on, what studies need to be done to look at the 25 aquifer, surface water options and a lot of things like that, 8-28-06 7 1 and much of that will be incorporated into the scope of work 2 for the next two-year cycle of Region J. 3 As a quick aside, I am devoting a great deal of time 4 to Kinney County water issues at the moment. I will be 5 spending tomorrow in Austin with upper management of the Water 6 Development Board, trying to figure out how to get through 7 some of their problems. Their problem is too much water in 8 many regards, and trying to sell it. And, so, I'm not -- 9 wanting to sell it is a different problem than we have, but it 10 is interesting. And Kinney County, as many of y'all know, is 11 probably the first state that's -- not first state, first 12 county that is really addressing water marketing, and it has 13 state-wide consequences. We're devoting a lot of our time to 14 it. There are contracts pending on the table right now with 15 Kinney County furnishing 40,000 acre feet of water to Laredo; 16 also furnishing water back to San Antonio through the Edwards 17 Aquifer Authority, which is -- Edwards Aquifer is trying to 18 get control of more groundwater in Kinney County. So, lots of 19 things. Pretty interesting, but not directly related to Kerr 20 County, but it's taking some of my time. 21 This Thursday -- is that Thursday? The 30th? Yeah, 22 Thursday, the 30th, there's a public hearing over at U.G.R.A. 23 on the scope of work for Region J. It'll be going over kind 24 of some of -- receiving public comment as to what the public 25 thinks we need to be focusing on. It will be at 5 p.m. at 8-28-06 8 1 the -- probably at the Lecture Hall or the classroom; not sure 2 which one they booked, but it will be -- hopefully the public 3 will attend, turn out, make sure we don't miss anything. We 4 always like to hear what -- you know, where the public 5 perceives problems to be in the water issues. Obviously, with 6 wells going dry, it's usually high on their list. I know 7 they've been doing -- I've talked to Greg Howard quite a bit 8 at Kerr Country Pump. He has been running strong, lowering 9 wells, or pumps in wells in the past week, especially in east 10 Kerr County. Center Point area seems to be the hardest hit 11 right now, and I think we all are aware there are more 12 problems in that area than most of the county. So, that's 13 kind of what I've been working on. Water. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Judge, the prime season for 16 the summer camps and tourism is winding down. And that, of 17 course, has a huge economic impact on the county, particularly 18 west Kerr County, where a lot of those camps are. Probably 19 nobody understands that better than Guy Overby. They bring in 20 a lot of tourism dollars, and it's not just those dollars paid 21 to the camps. It's inns and motels and restaurants, and just 22 about any retail business in town benefits from that. If we 23 didn't have those -- that source of revenues -- business 24 revenues in the county, we'd be a different county. In fact, 25 if we didn't have the summer camps, a whole lot of businesses 8-28-06 9 1 would shut down, wouldn't be able to make it. Some businesses 2 make half or more of their annual revenues in something less 3 than three months. The editorial is that if they didn't have 4 to shut down so early, if schools were out from before 5 Memorial Day till after Labor Day, there would be a 6 significant increase in the tourism activity, the revenues 7 that we derive from it. So, that's something I -- in my 8 opinion, we shouldn't give up on. Everybody has an interest 9 in that. We ought to continue to encourage the Legislature to 10 -- to enact that beneficial legislation. That's all I have. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. As Commissioner Baldwin 12 indicated, he and I were fortunate enough to be at the annual 13 4-H Awards Banquet, and among the many numerous awards that 14 are awarded out there each year, the Commissioners Court gives 15 a volunteer award. And the award this year was presented 16 posthumously to our former county commissioner and director of 17 Maintenance and Facilities, Mr. Glenn Holekamp. I think it 18 was well, well deserved, without any question. And -- and we 19 were privileged to have with us Mr. Holekamp's widow, Edith 20 Holekamp, and his son Wesley and his wife Brandy, and they 21 accepted the award on his behalf, and it was a privilege and 22 an honor for Commissioners Baldwin and I to be there to do 23 that for them. Let's get on with the business at hand. We've 24 got a lot to do. The first item that we have is a timed item 25 set for 9 o'clock. We've run a little past that now. We have 8-28-06 10 1 a report from Mr. Mel Ferguson, the District Coordinator for 2 Senator Troy Fraser. 3 MR. FERGUSON: Judge, good morning. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Come on forward and tell us what you 5 have. 6 MR. FERGUSON: Judge, good morning. Good morning, 7 Commissioners. Thank you so much for allowing me to introduce 8 myself as the new staff member for Senator Troy Fraser. I'm 9 officed in the district office of Marble Falls. Lovely 10 commute this morning to get here, and if I may approach the 11 bench, I'd like to just shamelessly peddle my business card, 12 and -- and just very briefly tell you that I'm returning to 13 the great state of Texas after 30 years in the military. The 14 last seven years I spent at the Pentagon working for the 15 Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and 16 so I'm glad to be back in the great, beautiful, but dry, hill 17 country. And if there's anything that we can do on behalf 18 of -- Senator Troy Fraser on behalf of your county, please let 19 us know. And thank you again for allowing me to come this 20 morning. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. We appreciate you 23 being here. The next item on the agenda is a presentation on 24 the L.C.R.A. Rim Rock-to-Goat Creek project. Mr. Roy Kilgore. 25 Mr. Kilgore, if you'd give your address so that the reporter 8-28-06 11 1 would have that, I'd appreciate it. 2 MR. KILGORE: My name is Roy Kilgore. I live at 118 3 Canter Lane. Judge, Commissioners, I was here two weeks ago, 4 wanted to make a pitch on this. Couldn't find one of these 5 little devices right here, so I now have one courtesy of 6 K.A.C.C. across the street. It has one good bulb; if it craps 7 out, I'm in a bit of trouble. (Laughter.) 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mr. Kilgore? 9 MR. KILGORE: Yes, sir. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I noticed on your request 11 here it says you're going to be 15 minutes, barring 12 interruptions. May I interrupt you with one question? 13 MR. KILGORE: Certainly, sir. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Please? I -- I'm curious, 15 and I think everybody here is curious. What -- what do you 16 wish to accomplish with your presentation? 17 MR. KILGORE: I wish to encourage and, in fact, 18 cajole or in any other way manipulate the Court so that you'd 19 take a position on the L.C.R.A. And I believe I have the 20 methodology that might be politically palatable for you to do 21 that, and that's what I'm here for. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. I doubt that, if it's 23 palatable, but -- 24 MR. KILGORE: I understand. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've been down that road 8-28-06 12 1 before. 2 MR. KILGORE: Yes, I heard that last week. I don't 3 know if y'all can see that. That's as high as we can get this 4 thing. First off, I'm a NIMB; you've heard the acronym 5 before, Not In My Backyard. I've learned what I know now 6 because I'm a NIMB; I look out after my own self-interests. I 7 think it's really important for you to realize -- and that 8 pretty much answers Mr. Baldwin's question again, that only 9 NIMB's understand this very well. And I'd like to point that 10 out by telling you about our good friend and neighbor, Mr. Jim 11 Mortenson here, who has a residence here and in Houston and 12 gets back and forth. His lot -- closest point is probably 100 13 feet from mine. He first heard about this when I talked to 14 him yesterday when he got back in town. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh. 16 MR. KILGORE: All right. L.C.R.A.'s notification 17 criteria, as we discussed last time, I believe, is they send 18 notification out to land owners -- property owners whose 19 property is within 300 feet of a proposed right-of-way center 20 line. The vast majority of your constituents are not aware of 21 where some of these routes could go. That's why, if you take 22 a position on it, even though it's politically unpalatable, 23 you'll get the word out. Folks will have a chance -- people 24 like Mr. Mortenson will have a chance to weigh-in on the 25 matter, probably through y'all, and that's what the bottom 8-28-06 13 1 line says there. The non-NIMB's need some help. They need 2 basically to be made aware, and then they need the bodies 3 politic, which in the case of the county is y'all, to happen 4 -- to make a position known, or at least make all the options 5 known. 6 When I was here last without the projector, you 7 folks made it pretty clear that you don't have any statutory 8 say in how this thing happens, and that you didn't want to 9 take a position. I understand that taking a side on a matter 10 that has no possibility of pleasing everyone is a tough 11 political thing to do. You know, and I know that if you want 12 to be heard, you can be, even though you don't have statutory 13 authority. You do it all the time; resolutions, opinions, 14 publicity. However, you can be an influence in this project 15 if you choose to be. As you already know, and Commissioner 16 Baldwin in particular, this thing is going to be around a long 17 time. I do not have a life span for this from L.C.R.A., but 18 my supposition is that it's in the -- in the decades, at 19 least; if not, perhaps a century. It's going to be here a 20 long time. This Court is the only broadly charged body that 21 can represent the collective citizenry, people like 22 Mr. Mortenson who don't have the direct notification from 23 L.C.R.A., and they're not NIMB's like me. 24 The problem is, how do you, as a body politic, 25 choose a route that's in the best interests of the County of 8-28-06 14 1 Kerr? This -- I'm going to have to read a little bit. This 2 thing is distorted because I've stretched it out, and I put 3 the red lines on it, so let me help you a little bit here with 4 reading some of the text. Now, this one -- this is L.C.R.A.'s 5 criteria, as you can see from the slide, and this one right 6 here says additional parks and/or recreational areas within 7 1,000 feet of the right-of-way center line. This one says, 8 estimated length of right-of-way within foreground visual zone 9 of U.S. and state highways and farm roads -- farm-to-market 10 roads, and parks and recreational areas. I wrote to 11 Mr. Palafox, whom you've all met. He -- for those of you who 12 don't know Mr. Palafox, he is the case manager for L.C.R.A. 13 for this project. And I asked him, among other things, what 14 did he mean by "foreground visual zone"? And let me -- let me 15 find his answer here. Sorry, I should have marked it. The 16 fore -- I'm quoting from his reply. "The foreground visual 17 zone is defined as a one-half mile unobstructed view from U.S. 18 and state highways and farm-to-market roads." Note that it 19 doesn't say anything about county roads. I believe Spur 98 is 20 a county road. Am I correct? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: State. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: State. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: State. 25 MR. ODOM: State. 8-28-06 15 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's a partial county road, 2 yes, sir. 3 MR. KILGORE: So, it does fall within this 4 definition of that -- Spur 98 falls within the definition of 5 state highways, U.S. highways, and farm-to-market roads? 6 Okay. Then I asked him about parks or recreational areas, and 7 I was specifically asking about the Guadalupe River. And his 8 reply was, "The definition of parks or recreational areas does 9 not usually include rivers with public access." I think it's 10 worthwhile to look at L.C.R.A.'s mission statement. I put 11 this underlining on. Bear in mind that I just told you that 12 he said that public access rivers weren't part of his 13 criteria. I find that contradictory to the underlined portion 14 of their mission statement. This is the question that we 15 mentioned about it already. What can you do that is 16 politically and emotional -- the matter politically and 17 emotionally contentious? You never please all of the 18 constituents. You know that. I know that. Public knows 19 that, that segment of the public that's informed at all. 20 L.C.R.A.'s environmental criteria, some of which we looked at, 21 are subjective, and therefore you can't codify them. It's 22 going to be up to people in that loop to make that call. 23 I suggest that the Court start with a constituent's 24 criteria in an attempt to find a palatable approach that the 25 Court could take. I submit that these are the criteria that 8-28-06 16 1 the constituents have, if they're informed at all. The first 2 one is, can I see the thing? It's visually unattractive, 3 unless it's buried. One of my questions to Mr. Palafox was, 4 how many miles of line does L.C.R.A. have, and how much of it 5 is underground? His answer was about 3,900 miles of line, of 6 which six-tenths of a mile runs under the ship channel in 7 Corpus Christi. They did not install that; they bought it 8 from a previous owner. They have no experience in putting the 9 line underground. Notice that this criteria applies to all 10 citizens of the county. People won't like the way it looks. 11 You know that. I know that. But it's a broadly applicable 12 criteria. Can I see the blasted thing? 13 Secondly, will the right-of-way infringe on my 14 property? That's that NIMB issue, and some folks in the paper 15 and elsewhere have asked the question, what about 16 electromagnetic field effects? That's a NIMB-only question, 17 because the field effects only apply to people really close to 18 the line. I assert that a fair, objective criterion, a single 19 criterion that you could use is, choose the route that's 20 visible to the fewest people in the county. How to do that. 21 Pardon the technical approach here, but I think it's valid and 22 doable. You got to somehow measure how much people can see. 23 So, I'm saying from the center of a person's property or his 24 location or his home, the constituent would look out and say, 25 "How much of this line can I see?" 8-28-06 17 1 And I got a graph and a chart that makes it a little 2 bit easier for you to do it. The measure of merit that you're 3 trying to come up with is what I'm going to call a 4 "constituent degree." I'm standing here; I can see this much 5 of it, so I got 70 constituent degrees, or whatever the angle 6 is. That parameter takes into account distance from the line 7 or range. The closer you are, the more -- the bigger the 8 number is, and that means that the NIMB's get more influence, 9 'cause they're closer. It can be done. Many of you are 10 familiar with the city and the county GIS system that has 11 greatly detailed information provided by a cartographic 12 company. That has topographic information. They can overlay 13 demographic information, the 9-1-1 data. It could be done 14 quite precisely. All the Court would have to do, then, once 15 you got that answer, is either choose the route with the 16 lowest aggregate sum; that is, the route that's viewed visible 17 to fewest people. 18 Perhaps this chart will help a little bit here. 19 This guy over here can only see this tiny angle, 'cause he's 20 blocked by this terrain, and he's quite a ways off. So, 21 there's five people in his household. They get five people 22 times this arc angle and degrees, and that goes into judging 23 this portion of the line segment. This guy here at B is 24 closer. He's not blocked by the terrain, so he's got a big 25 angle here, bigger than 90 degrees, let's say. This guy can 8-28-06 18 1 see exactly the same stretch of wire, but he gets less weight 2 because he's further away, and consequently, the angle is 3 smaller. In summary, you can have influence when you want to. 4 The project is going to be around a long time, and it's going 5 to have a huge impact on the Guadalupe River Valley, of which 6 the attractiveness for the campers is a significant part. And 7 there is at least one fair and objective way to do this. 8 Thanks for your time. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: I thank you, sir. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Very interesting. 12 MR. KILGORE: Would you like me to get this out of 13 your way, Judge? 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes. 15 MR. KILGORE: Okay, I'll do that. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I thought maybe we 17 could ask Mr. Palafox if he'd like to respond to some of that. 18 Only if you want to. This could be good. 19 MR. KILGORE: Do you need my charts, Dennis? 20 MR. PALAFOX: That's fine, yes. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do you want some popcorn? 22 MR. PALAFOX: Judge, Commissioners, I'm Dennis 23 Palafox with L.C.R.A., Post Office Box 220 in Austin. I don't 24 necessarily want to respond directly to what Mr. Kilgore has 25 said, other than the fact that he's correct in stating that 8-28-06 19 1 the notification, particularly for the open house, and then 2 when we file our application again in December, will be to 3 those folks who are within 300 feet of the center line of any 4 of the alternatives that -- that we put forward in our 5 application. Outside of that, we have the public notice that 6 went out, published for two times in the two weeks prior to 7 our open house, and then will also be published again when we 8 submit our application in December. So, those folks outside 9 of that category, that -- that notification corridor, would be 10 notified in that manner. 11 Again, we're in the process of identifying routes. 12 And, of course, we have proposed a segment along a portion of 13 Thompson Drive. We have other segments, and most certainly 14 will develop other potential routes that are farther south and 15 not along Thompson Drive. Those segments, again, as I 16 mentioned last time I talked to you, will be linked to form 17 routes. We'll be studying an environmental assessment and 18 routing analysis, and that will be submitted to the Public 19 Utility Commission in December so that they can make a 20 decision, one, whether we can build the route, and two, where 21 the route's going to go. Part of that process, most likely, 22 because of the types of comments we've received, we'll have a 23 hearing -- legal hearing in front of the State Administrative 24 Law Judge in Austin, where landowners and anybody else that is 25 approved by the State Administrative Law Judge to be an 8-28-06 20 1 intervenor, they can provide the type of testimony and 2 cross-examine L.C.R.A. witnesses for the project in that 3 forum. 4 Regarding the issue of aesthetics, Mr. Kilgore has 5 showed you some of those criteria that we use for aesthetics, 6 and he's correct in his information that I provided to him how 7 we measure that. And our consultants, when they do this 8 environmental assessment, will -- will do somewhat of what he 9 described, visually looking at the line from certain aspects, 10 from those state highways, U.S. highways, and farm-to-market 11 roads to come up with a measure of the line that would be 12 viewed from any particular location. That information, along 13 with this 40-some other criteria that we look at, will be 14 considered to -- to rank those lines. And, of course, 15 L.C.R.A. then will come up with a preferred route and 16 alternate routes to present to the Commission as we submit our 17 application. So, there's still the -- the forum for input, 18 not only now, to us, as has been done up to this point, but 19 also to the Commissioners -- P.U.C. Commissioners who make 20 that decision. Still, we would welcome any resolution, any 21 input that the Commissioners Court would have on this project, 22 and certainly will consider that as we move forward with it. 23 So, with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions you might 24 have. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Palafox, are you continuing to -- 8-28-06 21 1 to hear from residents and citizens about factual aspects, 2 concerns that they have concerning this project? 3 MR. PALAFOX: Yes, sir. Judge, we're still 4 continuing to hear from landowners. We're taking that input 5 still, but we're very quickly moving in the process where we 6 really need to consolidate that, study it, develop routes. 7 But we still are open to input from the public. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: The point is, you have continuously 9 been receiving that input, so people are finding you? 10 MR. PALAFOX: People are finding me. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 12 MR. PALAFOX: And I'm telling them, you know, 13 anybody that comes forward, I'd be happy to talk with -- talk 14 with them and receive their input. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: You just got a little more input 16 today. 17 MR. PALAFOX: I sure did. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Appreciate it. Gentlemen, 19 would y'all like for me to put this on the next agenda? We 20 could do it again. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Your call. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. Palafox. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It was a joke. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Appreciate it. 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I've got a comment about 8-28-06 22 1 the Commissioners Court taking a stand on it. I -- as you 2 have, I've gotten letters and e-mails and read letters to the 3 editors, and heard from people in this court that there seems 4 to be some thinking out there that the Commissioners Court 5 won't take a position. I think we have. We first got a 6 resolution that says, if we sign this, we don't want this 7 Rim Rock-to-Goat Creek project. We refused to act on that. 8 That's taking a position. Then we got a -- were able to 9 partially consider another position that says we want you to 10 select Route A-C. We declined to act on that. So, if we come 11 up with a position that I'm comfortable with, I'm going to 12 endorse that position. I haven't seen it yet. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd like to make a comment, too. 15 Just as I've said before, this might not go through my 16 precinct; I have not received as much of the possible comments 17 as others have, but I think this Court has done exactly what 18 Mr. Kilgore has asked, to make the public aware. Commissioner 19 Baldwin has put this now on three agendas. We've spent a 20 great deal of time, and each time the press has written 21 stories about it. So, I think the Commissioners Court has 22 done what you were asking, which was to make this a very 23 visible project, far beyond who the people that received the 24 actual notification within a 300-foot line. So, I think we 25 have done the first part. I looked at the criteria that you 8-28-06 23 1 put up here from L.C.R.A. I think those are reasonable 2 criteria. The part that I have a problem taking a stand on, I 3 don't understand the technical aspects of it and the cost 4 aspects of it. I think those have to be weighed by L.C.R.A., 5 and that goes into the mix. 6 And I think, you know, we have been asked to take 7 stands on lots of things, and many times we don't. I think 8 one recently was Wheatcraft. They wanted us to -- you know, 9 Commissioner Williams brought it to the court because some 10 Center Point residents had a concern about it. We treated 11 that the same as we treated this one, is that we made it 12 public, discussed it publicly, got it out to the public. But 13 that's a private property rights issue, at least the way I 14 look at it. I want to support -- I think people have a right 15 to do what they want with their private property. I think 16 people also need to follow the law. So, I think that we're 17 consistent in what we've done with this. I think Commissioner 18 Baldwin has, you know, certainly brought this forward and made 19 it as public as he could, and the fact of us voting on a 20 resolution isn't going to make it more public. It may make a 21 statement to L.C.R.A., but I don't -- at this point, I don't 22 have enough information to be able to make that decision. I 23 don't understand the technical aspects of it. I don't know 24 that I'll ever get to that point. 25 The aesthetic standpoint, their criteria, what 8-28-06 24 1 they're considering to me makes sense. And it's basically 2 what you said; you had some disagreements between whether a 3 river should be considered a park or not -- or recreational 4 area. But, you know -- but generally, I think that their 5 criteria is looking at the aesthetics; is looking at, you 6 know, most of the things that you were talking about. You 7 know, I'm sure everyone will certainly not agree with whatever 8 they choose to submit to P.U.C., but I think that, you know, 9 the criteria is legitimate. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm kind of like 11 Commissioner Letz, in that the project that's before the Court 12 today, or before the public, hasn't affected the residents of 13 Precinct 2 all that much, just as it hasn't affected people in 14 Precinct 3 all that much. So, I look at it from the 15 perspective of what's good for Kerr County, and the obvious 16 need for improving our electric transmission capabilities is 17 something that concerns the Court, and something of concern to 18 the City and the City Council. From my experience of L.C.R.A. 19 in Precinct 2, they do try to accommodate the requests of the 20 public. They've done a lot of work, both in Precinct 2 and in 21 Precinct 3, and I've not had anybody in my precinct complain 22 about the type of the work or their ability to respond -- or 23 L.C.R.A.'s ability to respond and take into consideration 24 those things that are problematic. So, I think the 25 information you presented is very, very interesting. You 8-28-06 25 1 must -- you must be a mathematical -- must have a mathematical 2 background. If you do, I commend you for that. I don't. But 3 I hope that L.C.R.A. takes into consideration the points that 4 you made. I think they're valid points. I think they can go 5 a long way toward choosing the less invasive route that best 6 serves the needs of Kerr County. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: I'd like to address the issue of 8 underground construction. My best understanding -- we've 9 heard a lot of suggestions of, "Why not put the line 10 underground?" That way we don't have all these concerns. My 11 understanding of what the P.U.C. will allow, insofar as cost 12 recovery is concerned when that line is put in, is the least 13 expensive construction method. And that being the case, if 14 the line is put in underground, which has a multiple 15 construction cost to that of going overhead, it just won't fit 16 the economic model for L.C.R.A. Now, if we're willing to pay 17 for the rates that it will cost to recover that underground 18 cost, that may be a whole different ball game. But the 19 problem is, my understanding is that P.U.C. will only allow 20 cost recovery for the least expensive construction method. 21 Isn't that correct, Mr. Palafox? 22 MR. PALAFOX: Judge, it's true that -- that cost and 23 the length of the route, in some of the most recent decisions 24 that we've heard from the P.U.C., are very important. For -- 25 and when they consider that, the reason they consider that is 8-28-06 26 1 because the ratepayers in Texas would bear -- all the rate 2 base for any particular line is borne by all ratepayers, so 3 that's why they're concerned about that. And if they tell us 4 to put the line underground in our final order, we put the 5 line underground. If they say you can't recover your rates 6 for that, or you can't recover the cost of that through rates, 7 then that's what they tell us. So -- but in the end, we have 8 to do what the Public Utility Commission tells us to do. And 9 it's correct that the cost of burying a line is approximately 10 five times more than it is to put a line above ground. And, 11 certainly, they will make that determination as to whether -- 12 if that is something that the ratepayers of Texas and this 13 line, being the ratepayers in the Electrical Reliability 14 Council of Texas, which is at least two-thirds of the state, 15 would have to bear the cost of -- of burying the line, if 16 that's what the court determines -- I mean the commissioners 17 determine. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Anything else? Let's 19 move on to Item 3, if we might. We have a report from Mr. Guy 20 Overby with the Kerr Economic Development Foundation. Mr. 21 Overby, thank you for being here. 22 MR. OVERBY: Good to see the Commissioners, and glad 23 to be with you again. Guy Overby, president of the Kerr 24 Economic Development Foundation, 1700 Sidney Baker. And I did 25 get in last week to see the Judge, and Commissioner Baldwin 8-28-06 27 1 and I were, last -- this time last week, at the 2 cutting-the-ribbon ceremony for the TexDOT new bridge last 3 week. Great to see you, and I think everybody's already 4 excited about having the new bridge here and in Kerrville and 5 Kerr County. Just thank you again for the opportunity to come 6 update you, and I'm going to try to cover as much as I can 7 here in about the eight minutes that I'm allotted. And I want 8 to go over a few things with you. Basically, I did want to 9 give to you -- of course, you have a copy of the financials of 10 the Kerr Economic Development Foundation through July 31st, 11 just for your information and update. There are several key 12 things that are coming up and that I'd like to take the 13 opportunity to come visit with you about. 14 Kerrville and Kerr County is going to be taking a 15 business delegation -- economic delegation to Washington, D.C. 16 September 20th through the 22nd. Our purpose, again, of our 17 meeting is to -- one of several objectives on it, but the 18 major objective on it, obviously, is to be discussing our 19 U.S.D.A. laboratory, the Knipling-Bushland Laboratory here in 20 Kerrville. As you're all aware, in 2005-2006, the feasibility 21 study was completed for the laboratory as far as it being 22 relocated to another spot in Kerr County. Obviously, this is 23 a retention and an expansion project for us, and one of the 24 things that we want to, of course, accomplish out of our trip 25 to Washington, D.C. is to help in the transition process. As 8-28-06 28 1 you know, with Congressman Bonilla -- the realignment of his 2 district being changed for us officially December 31st, it 3 does have an economic impact on us, basically, and we want to 4 make sure that the communication is opened up with Congressman 5 Smith as he takes over as our congressman again. I know that 6 you had some meetings with him at a lunch meeting here not too 7 long ago, and -- and visiting with him. It's been very 8 positive already, but again, we want to help in that 9 transition period as we go. 10 I do want you to also know that, again, the 2006-07 11 year, the budgeting was approved for the design and 12 engineering of this new laboratory in Kerr County, and so that 13 -- that was about two and a half million dollars, so that's 14 already been approved. Actually, we are on track for '07-'08 15 to be approved for about 36 and a half million dollars for the 16 new, actually, construction of that laboratory. So, again, we 17 have a lot at stake. We just want to make sure that those 18 communications are kept open. We do have tentatively -- and I 19 would say that we have meetings already set Thursday, the 20 21st, with Senator Hutchison and Senator Cornyn, and we do 21 have confirmed times of visiting on Thursday afternoon with 22 Bonilla -- Congressman Bonilla. I'm asking also the 23 Commissioners here today to also, if you would have a 24 representative, obviously, from the County Commissioners to go 25 with us -- County Judge -- to have a representative go with 8-28-06 29 1 our business delegation and to support and to be there with us 2 as a representative for Kerr County. There is something about 3 E.I.C. as I come down the line -- I do want to mention to you 4 as we come down the road on those things. But we're excited 5 about that trip. You remember back in 2004, Kerrville/Kerr 6 County sent a delegation on behalf of the Kerrville V.A. 7 Hospital, on supporting those and retaining some of those 8 services, and that was very effective with some of those 9 efforts, and it's important that we do that. 10 I'm here also to quickly give you a brief update. 11 As you know, the Kerr Economic Development Foundation has -- a 12 lot of times we will use economic impact analyses and studies. 13 And we're also really glad to have L.C.R.A., who helps us with 14 those resources, to help us, provide those studies to us, to 15 give us when we need to analyze an economic project in our 16 community. They've helped us with the V.A., the Kerrville 17 State Hospital, U.S.D.A. facilities, and many more type of 18 other projects. What they've helped us -- this report here 19 that I'm about to go over with you is on the existing hospital 20 downtown. As you know, I wanted to show something about some 21 of the impact that might -- it actually has quite a 22 significant impact in Kerr County. This economic impact study 23 is about the development -- redevelopment of the existing 24 hospital downtown. 25 The Kerr Economic Development Foundation, again, on 8-28-06 30 1 August 9th, at the executive meeting, and also in a report to 2 the City Council last Tuesday, August 22nd, has strongly 3 encouraged the Council to go ahead and to discuss the possible 4 option of moving the city -- City Hall down to the Guy Griggs 5 Professional Building. Again, in looking at it as an option. 6 We know that the City has several options to act on behalf, 7 but one of the things that -- obviously, if they went to the 8 Guy Griggs Building, they could actually help with the efforts 9 of redeveloping our downtown. And in this study, basically, 10 what we looked at -- it's not looking at the Guy Griggs 11 Building or the other properties on Main Street or Clay 12 Street. It's strictly to look at the development of the 13 existing hospital, and what tax benefits would be to Kerrville 14 and Kerr County and to the school district, on behalf of the 15 school. 16 The existing hospital, if it was to be purchased for 17 the reported price that we've seen in the paper of 18 $13 million, and the remediation and the rehabilitation of the 19 existing hospital for 11.145 million, there is quite a benefit 20 during the construction and after completion of the project. 21 One of the things, in talking with the developer, that is 22 going to be happening with the project downtown is the first 23 floor would be developed into 23,500 square feet of retail 24 development. This would be retail development. It would be 25 restaurants; it would be stores, different type of things that 8-28-06 31 1 you would see down there. The second through seventh floor, 2 obviously, would be some type of apartments, condos, those 3 type of developments. I will tell you that I've been very 4 surprised at the amount of people and interest who are looking 5 at wanting to acquire property in those type of developments 6 downtown. I've had at least a half dozen calls where people 7 have been very much interested in acquiring even up to 3,000 8 square feet, as far as being in one of those condos or 9 apartments down there. So, there is quite a lot of interest 10 in that, and how that impacts us. 11 Quickly through the summary, we do want to show you, 12 as far as part of the retail sales development, if -- with the 13 first floor of 23,000 square feet being redeveloped into 14 retail sales, there would be a direct economic impact of -- 15 estimation of about $3.8 million, with a direct and indirect 16 of 5.35 million. One thing that we would also -- with that 17 same type of square footage and also maintenance for that type 18 of building, we would estimate about 108 jobs would be created 19 out of the development of that existing hospital downtown, 20 with about 19 more jobs actually indirectly out in the county, 21 so there's about 127 jobs with that, as far as being there. 22 The tax benefits, basically, getting to that last page there, 23 with the 24.15 -- 15 million dollars coming on the tax books 24 of property now that is not on the tax books, but added to it, 25 actually to the City of Kerrville, would benefit about 8-28-06 32 1 $178,000 annually. The County would have about $118,000 2 annually, which -- well, you do not have right now. And then, 3 of course, the Kerrville Independent School District would 4 have about $403,000 annually as far as the development of the 5 existing hospital downtown. Again, this is only an option 6 that we've asked the City Council to look at. We understand 7 they have several options to look at. But, again, this is one 8 that KEDF has encouraged them to look at, and from their 9 meeting on the 22nd, they did vote unanimously to -- to have 10 City staff and the mayor to actually enter -- to discuss that 11 as an option, one of the options to look at. So, we were glad 12 to see that move forward that way. 13 Then I want to give you, just quickly, and go real 14 quick down our E.I.C. report committee last week. Couple of 15 significant things that happened last week. The award funding 16 agreements were approved last week for the Dietert Center and 17 Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital of about a half million dollars 18 apiece. Those were completed, and, of course, they were 19 approved by City Council on the 22nd. There were some 20 presentations that were made. Two of them I'm going to just 21 briefly mention to you briefly this -- this morning. As you 22 know, the James Avery presentation was last Monday from Chris 23 Avery. His brother Paul was there, and they made a 24 presentation on behalf of James Avery, which is our sixth 25 largest employer in our community, on the request of looking 8-28-06 33 1 at the design and engineering of infrastructure on Harper Road 2 out to the James Avery facility. 3 Again, this is a project that has been talked 4 about -- I know as a young boy, being here since '69, every 10 5 years you hear, "When's that going to happen? When's that 6 going to happen? When's that going to happen?" Well, we're 7 at that point. I think that what we're seeing now, with the 8 Holdsworth project coming in and with the lift station that 9 are being put in place, this is now something that could not 10 have happened before; now it can actually start being 11 discussed about how that's going to happen. If we remember 12 that the Harper Road development is not just strictly for 13 James Avery, the infrastructure out there is going to help 14 open up a corridor out there of business development that is 15 going to be quite needed out in that area. But there is a lot 16 of interest that's coming down, and so the Averys, of course, 17 had made that presentation. E.I.C. did approve to have that 18 brought before a public hearing on September 18th, with a 19 couple of other items that were approved also. 20 I did also want to mention briefly the Hill Country 21 Shooting Sports Center. Mr. Jack Burch did come make a 22 presentation. He is requesting funding, obviously, for the 23 air hall development. And the air hall development is a 24 building of about 36,000 square feet. Mr. Burch has been here 25 before, and you've seen in the newspaper the success of the 8-28-06 34 1 shooting facility out there. And, obviously, you know, it 2 being a U.S.A. shooting facility and an Olympic training site, 3 he is requesting additional funds to help him with the air 4 hall, which is something that's very much needed. And his 5 presentation was approved to go to a public hearing -- meeting 6 on the 18th also. 7 I did also want to mention to you on behalf of 8 E.I.C. just briefly, in August, they did approve 3 percent of 9 their money, or $60,000, to help with economic efforts, of 10 course, towards projects that would be beneficial to Kerrville 11 and Kerr County. You know, before then, it was very difficult 12 to have funds that were set aside, that if we needed to make a 13 trip to follow up with a project or a prospect in our area, we 14 had to go through several presentations to be able to get some 15 of those -- access those funds when we needed to make an 16 immediate decision on something or to follow up with. They 17 did allocate about $60,000 that can help towards some of those 18 projects. Those are funds that could help towards immediate 19 action as far as those type of things. Our trip to 20 Washington, D.C., actually, they will be helping with some of 21 the -- the transportation and the lodging for some of that 22 going up there, which are very beneficial to help our 23 delegation to -- as a group to go. So, we're looking forward 24 to that. 25 I -- just quickly, a couple of other things quickly 8-28-06 35 1 down the road. Look for some activity to start happening out 2 at the Airport Commerce Park, information here probably within 3 the next 45 days. Look for some activity out there to be 4 going. And also, I see on your item today, Item 1.20 today, 5 you'll be talking about the economic development strategy that 6 you're talking about with City Council. I can tell you that 7 KEDF is excited about this strategy. That's been much needed 8 for a long time to give us a game plan, and we encourage you 9 to -- everything that you're doing, appreciate you doing that, 10 and move forward with that. 11 One other thing I would like to say in conclusion. 12 I wanted to go ahead and invite you again to our annual 13 meeting on September 14th at noon. It's an open public 14 meeting, September 14th. That's a Thursday. That's our 15 annual meeting with the County Commissioners and City Council. 16 This will be over at KPUB. We'll have a very brief business 17 meeting, but the last part of our meeting is going to be 18 targeting in on talking issues, talking points, economic 19 issues in Kerrville and Kerr County, and we would encourage 20 you to be there. And if you have some talking points -- and 21 we'll -- we'll get more back to you about that agenda, about 22 economic efforts in Kerrville and Kerr County. We'd like to 23 have you there to be part of our guests and our presentation. 24 Thank you, Judge. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Guy, quick question. 8-28-06 36 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Sure. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do you have any idea what the -- 3 the City Council's time frame is on a decision if they are 4 going to ever -- or relocate? Do they have any -- are they to 5 that point? Or are they just -- 6 MR. OVERBY: I do not think -- again, I'm not going 7 to answer on behalf of the City. I do -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, come on. 9 MR. OVERBY: I'm not going -- oh, no, I don't want 10 to do that, but I do know that at the -- they made a 11 significant point Tuesday night last week to go ahead and to 12 start discussing that as an option. Now, I think -- you know, 13 it's huge. I mean, we have a lot of huge things that are 14 happening right now. You know, Sid Peterson is building our 15 largest economic development project with a new hospital 16 across the river, and, obviously, what happens downtown is 17 going to significantly impact all of us in our county. And, 18 so, you know, I'm hoping, through those discussions with the 19 -- the developer and the City, that it might be something that 20 they're -- that might be very interesting for both parties. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Guy, I want to commend 22 you -- I'm sorry, Judge. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Go ahead, I'm sorry. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I want to commend you for 25 doing this study on -- particularly on the economic impact of 8-28-06 37 1 the revitalization of the hospital project. It's a good 2 project, whomever does it. 3 MR. OVERBY: Yes, sir. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The down side of that is, 5 it's a hole in the middle of town if it doesn't happen. 6 MR. OVERBY: That's correct. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And so I sincerely hope it 8 does happen, and that these numbers can ultimately come to 9 fruition. I commend you for doing it. 10 MR. OVERBY: Yes, sir. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Guy? A minor detail, I 12 suppose. If the City should relocate there and these condos 13 get built out, it's got quite a few residents and quite a 14 large number of employees of retail operations on the floors. 15 Do we know that the parking garage is adequate to handle all 16 that? 17 MR. OVERBY: You know, and again -- I've heard the 18 same question as far as parking is concerned, and again, those 19 will be questions I really feel like the developer should be 20 the one that addresses. There's been talk about, of course, 21 some of the benefits of the City actually moving downtown. 22 They would be, obviously, you know, across the street, 23 neighbors down here across the central location where you're 24 at. It would be great for access for, you know, community 25 folks. But, obviously, the parking lot over there that's in 8-28-06 38 1 the emergency parking lot could be parking there. And then, 2 of course, we have the great benefit of the parking garage 3 downtown. I think that the -- you know, there's -- there's an 4 issue right there that can be discussed. Now, I -- you know, 5 I have seen reports -- not reports, long-term reports talking 6 about parking in our downtown area as being a concern for many 7 years. We've -- we've -- we have a lot of -- we do have a lot 8 more parking than you think downtown. And I think that, 9 again, those are something that can be really looked at to 10 help address that, possibly. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: My understanding of that is, 12 Commissioner and Guy, that -- that when that parking garage 13 was constructed, it was constructed with foundations and piers 14 sufficient to take another floor. 15 MR. OVERBY: Mm-hmm. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions for Mr. Overby? 17 Thank you, sir. 18 MR. OVERBY: Thank you, Judge. Appreciate it. 19 Thank you. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Appreciate you being here. Let's 21 move to our 9:30 timed item. We're a bit past that now. 22 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on proposed 23 Memorandum of Understanding between Continuum Health Care, 24 L.L.C., and Kerr County for use of the Kerr County Juvenile 25 Detention facility due to a mandatory evacuation of Harris 8-28-06 39 1 County in the event of natural disaster. Commissioner 2 Williams? 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Judge. I put 4 this on the agenda after having had the opportunity to meet 5 Mr. Parsons and one other of his colleagues, who had expressed 6 some interest in the Kerr County Juvenile Detention Facility. 7 On two occasions, I escorted folks from Continuum Health Care 8 to look at the facility and to see whether or not it fit their 9 needs. One of the things that Mr. Parsons brought to my 10 attention was a need that they have in the event of a natural 11 disaster, such as Hurricane Rita that devastated the Gulf 12 Coast last year, and would we be amenable to some sort of an 13 arrangement that would enable them to utilize the Kerr County 14 Juvenile Detention Facility if they were faced with a 15 mandatory evacuation. So, I invited him to submit to us his 16 thoughts on the matter, and to come before Commissioners 17 Court, tell us about his company and tell us what's on his 18 mind. Mr. Parsons? 19 MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Judge, Commissioners. Jeff 20 Parsons, 267 Mink, San Antonio, Texas. I thank you so much 21 for allowing me to come here this morning. Just very briefly, 22 I guess as brief as my South Texas roots will allow, my 23 background is, I was Chief Juvenile Probation Officer years 24 ago in Medina and Bandera Counties, spent a lot of time with 25 some of your County employees -- constituents up here, some of 8-28-06 40 1 the past sheriffs, chiefs, that kind of thing. So, I know 2 Kerr County very well, and it's good to be here this morning. 3 Since that time, I developed a company called Community 4 Corrections, Incorporated back in the mid-'80's. We grew to 5 the largest juvenile corrections company in the state, similar 6 project to your secure residential facility out here. Sold 7 that in the mid-90's to a company called Youth Services 8 International, and was their C.E.O. for a brief period of 9 time. We were in 27 states and had 48 projects, and I care 10 not to go back to that level of intensity in my life again. 11 It was crazy, crazy days. 12 I took a sabbatical a year ago -- in fact, it's my 13 anniversary this last Saturday of returning from Iraq for a 14 year. At 48 years old, I took a sabbatical and went over as 15 an adviser to the Army. And I would like to just digress for 16 about 30 seconds, especially in light of the opening prayer 17 and the pledge of allegiance, to give you two quick points 18 that are nonpolitical. One is, the finest young men and women 19 I ever had an occasion to work with. The young folks that are 20 in our armed services over there are unlike anything I ever 21 saw. I came out of the Vietnam era; a lot of good people in 22 those days as well. But it -- they are -- everyone should be 23 proud as an American to -- to observe that. Dedicated, 24 motivated, serious about what they do. And besides just the 25 simple bitching about the food and missing their wives and 8-28-06 41 1 girlfriends and it's hot, they do a wonderful job over there, 2 so we should all be very proud of them. 3 The other thing is, the violence that was over there 4 during that first election period was unlike anything anybody 5 could possibly imagine. The press, while they may try to show 6 the drama of that environment, can only capture a very small 7 portion of that. The violence, in particular, on Iraqi 8 against Iraqi citizen, and the events leading up to that first 9 election -- I was, bright and early, at 6 o'clock in the 10 morning, with a platoon at one of the polling places downtown, 11 and as the sun came up and the curfew lifted, as far as you 12 could see, the Iraqi people lined up to vote. And as 13 politicians here, you know, we worry about if it's going to 14 rain, because there's going to be a poor voter turnout. So, 15 do they want change in their life? I think so. 82 percent of 16 the population voted under extreme conditions. Enough on 17 that. 18 Why am I here? I am vice president currently of 19 operations for a company called Continuum Health Care. I 20 believe all of you probably have that sample MOU, so I don't 21 need to pass that out. It's really two agendas. Most 22 pressing that we have right now is the need, in case of 23 mandatory evacuation in Harris County, to evacuate about 200 24 mentally-impaired individuals. These individuals come -- 25 they're currently living in care homes. These are the small 8-28-06 42 1 mom-and-pop organizations, five or six at a time in little 2 homes across Houston. We actually bus them into our day 3 program every day, where they receive a host of different 4 services; medical, mental health services, social services of 5 one form or fashion. As a courtesy, we have committed to 6 evacuate these individuals in case we need to from that 7 Houston area. We're a little behind the curve, as you can 8 tell. We're well into hurricane season. I watch it every 9 day, 'cause I don't have a place for them. 10 And, so, we initially came up -- and I'll brief the 11 Court on our thoughts and impressions on your residential 12 facilities here as well, but initially came up to look at that 13 as a potential project for us. And the initial thing, being 14 the operations guy, is, boy, this would be a great place to 15 bring all those folks in case we needed to get out of town. 16 So, you can kind of see how that's spelled out. I mean, 17 basically, you know, we're -- and you can tweak that, add to 18 that, delete from it, whatever. I just tried to put down some 19 thoughts and ideas. But, obviously, we'd need to have the 20 facility available in case we did reach mandatory evacuation; 21 we would need to utilize the entire facility. We would 22 provide everything that's needed; staff, supplies, food, 23 operational supplies, whatever is needed. That would be 24 certainly on our nickel. We'd reimburse the County, and 25 however we could do that, that would be up to you guys. But 8-28-06 43 1 any utility costs or any other type of costs that are 2 associated with us actually occupying the site, we would 3 certainly indemnify you and provide whatever form of insurance 4 requirements that the County would need. And then, obviously, 5 we would return the facility in the same condition or better, 6 I would say, as we found it. 7 I guess just another quick thing is, we would also 8 bring -- as short-lived as it may be, there would be some form 9 of economic -- positive economic impact to the county and the 10 city in light of the fact that we would be bringing probably 11 about 60 or 70 of our employees along with their families to 12 service those individuals that we have. So, we'd have 13 housing, of course, food, all the other, you know, things 14 associated with operations, supplies that we'd end up having 15 to buy, those types of things. We've done some, I guess, 16 preliminary legwork as far as looking and at least targeting 17 the areas that -- should the Court allow us to do that, we're 18 going to work with your, you know, hospital district to make 19 sure that we cover our bases there in case our folks need 20 medical care. We actually are looking at some mass transit to 21 actually leave from this area in the way of buses to go into 22 the Houston area and pick up our folks and bring them in and 23 house them. 24 So, with that, I guess -- I don't know how you want 25 to do that, but if we want to act or not act on that 8-28-06 44 1 Memorandum of Understanding, and then I'd like to brief the 2 Court on our thoughts and impressions on just acquiring that 3 site for some future use as well. 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I've got a couple of 5 questions, Judge, for you. You said these are mentally 6 impaired children? 7 MR. PARSONS: Actually adults, sir. 8 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Adults. 9 MR. PARSONS: Yes, this project is adults. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Well, same questions. Are 11 they -- one question is, are they wards of the state? And 12 two, are they involved in the criminal justice system? 13 MR. PARSONS: They are not involved in the criminal 14 justice system whatsoever. They're not wards of the state. 15 These are typically individuals -- in fact, a lot of these 16 are, believe it or not, a lot of individuals out of New 17 Orleans after the first hurricane, so they're a little 18 shell-shocked as well when that wind starts blowing out there. 19 But these are folks that normally are on some form of, you 20 know, disability, S.S.I. checks, that sort of a thing. They 21 turn those checks over to these individual care home owners 22 for room and board, and basically are wards of the state as in 23 indigent care. We receive our funding through Medicare, so 24 they receive Medicare benefits. But they -- you know, they -- 25 I guess, historically, if you can see kind of how a continuum 8-28-06 45 1 of care works, these are folks that have spent time in a 2 psychiatric facility before, you know, to get medication, to 3 get stabilized. They've come out of those. Very low 4 supervision. I mean, again, they're living in these little 5 mom-and-pop care homes across Houston. They come into our 6 facility every day for group therapy, for recreation, for med 7 management, those kind of issues. Very few -- very few issues 8 at all. We have probably, on any given day, anywhere between 9 200 to 250 on site at our project in Harris County. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Let me just follow on your 11 answer. You -- and you probably got good qualifications to 12 answer it, having been involved in juvenile probation. What 13 are the issues of having these adults in close proximity to 14 our incarcerated juveniles? 15 MR. PARSONS: Right. Yeah, it is -- there has to 16 be, as you well know, sight and sound separation. These folks 17 would not wander around; they would be within the facility 18 itself. Probably out in the exercise area as well, but they 19 would not be allowed to wander the grounds. They would not be 20 locked in their rooms, because they're not -- you know, it's 21 not a secure type, you know, environment for them. But all of 22 our staff would be there. And, you know, as -- I'm just 23 thinking in my -- thinking in my head as you pose those 24 questions. You know, if it would please the Court, if it 25 would give you comfort, you know, we'd go to the extent of 8-28-06 46 1 maybe contracting with a local, you know, security agency or 2 possibly even the Sheriff's Department to do some, you know, 3 night watch kind of stuff around there. If that gave the 4 Court a comfort level, we'd be fine with doing that. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mr. Parsons, looking at 6 your -- your information here, number one, minimum notice 7 requirement. Why would there be a minimum notice requirement? 8 You're not like those folks down in New Orleans that doesn't 9 know the storm's coming, are you? 10 MR. PARSONS: Right. I guess we can define that. 11 My -- my thoughts are, I mean, from a logistics perspective 12 from us is that a hurricane is kind of heading for Florida 13 right now. We're watching it. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 15 MR. PARSONS: If it got into the gulf, what we would 16 probably do, knowing the requirements of the County, we'd go 17 ahead and probably send an advance team up here just to stay, 18 put up an advance team of staff, and we would have all systems 19 ready to go. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I was amazed to see on the 21 news this morning that New Orleans is saying, "Here comes a 22 storm. What is the president going to do for us this time?" 23 MR. PARSONS: Right. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You know. Get the hell out 25 of there. I mean, how dumb can you be? 8-28-06 47 1 MR. PARSONS: Wouldn't you think? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Number 2, utilize the 3 entire facility? 4 MR. PARSONS: Yes, sir. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What do you recommend that we 6 do with our children? 7 MR. PARSONS: I'm talking about the -- let me 8 clarify that. Just the empty space right now, the residential 9 portion of that. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. And then Number 6, 11 return the facility in the same condition. That indicates to 12 me that you may change our facility in some way. 13 MR. PARSONS: No, none whatsoever. I mean, it would 14 mainly mean that -- what that indicates is in what I would say 15 the unlikely event, obviously, but if there's any scratches, 16 damages, any kind of -- you know, any kind of damage, which, 17 again, I think would be minimum at best, but we would return 18 it in the same condition we found it. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This seems like fair things 20 to request. But my question is, what are you going to do for 21 us? 22 MR. PARSONS: Yeah. You know, that's a good 23 question, sir. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That is a good question. 25 MR. PARSONS: So -- you know, and I think that's 8-28-06 48 1 open for debate. I mean, you know, we'd certainly put forth 2 some form of consideration, monetary consideration, you know, 3 should we occupy. It's not listed there, 'cause I really 4 don't have a clue. This is not a Kerr County issue or 5 problem, but just so you can kind of know, from our 6 perspective, we do this as a community service for our folks 7 out of Houston. About a third of those are indigent, that we 8 don't get paid for. So, while we understand that -- that the 9 County would -- would request and require, as you should, some 10 form of consideration, we ask that it be cheap, to be honest 11 with you. And what that is, I don't know. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: That's under Number 4, "plus an 13 agreed upon daily usage fee," -- 14 MR. PARSONS: Yes, sir. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: -- I presume? Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My -- I don't think we can act 17 on this today. I mean, I think conceptually, I don't have a 18 problem with this at all. The one thing that comes to mind is 19 that we have had several of these types of backup uses for -- 20 in times of evacuation come before us, and we've approved 21 some. I think we need to be real careful we don't overbook 22 the facility in a disaster, and I'm not sure -- you know, I 23 guess we need to really have Kevin look at that to see 24 exactly -- I think we have one with Nueces County, don't we? 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, but those are for 8-28-06 49 1 youth in detention. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, but still using the 3 facility. So, I mean, if a big hurricane is getting ready to 4 hit around Victoria, I -- it's conceivable they're going to 5 want to evacuate Nueces County and Harris County, and in which 6 case, we would have -- I mean, I think it's a disservice to 7 some of these facilities. We need to make sure we don't 8 overbook it, is all I'm saying. If a storm does come, it hits 9 the Texas coast -- major storm, and people are relying on the 10 use of that facility, we need to make sure it will be 11 available. 12 MR. PARSONS: That's a good point, sir. And I guess 13 just a suggestion, 'cause I -- quite frankly, I didn't think 14 the Commissioners could actually act on that today. I've had 15 plenty of experience with commissioners courts. What may -- 16 if you -- if you want to at least go forward, which we hope 17 that you would, perhaps a point person that I could work with 18 in the way of even negotiating a daily fee, whatever other 19 concerns that the Court may have. And then, if we 20 conceptually can work out those details, then I can come back 21 to the Court again, and then hopefully get some resolution on 22 that and get some action on it. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll -- go ahead. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just want to -- I want to 25 piggyback a question on Commissioner Letz' thought about 8-28-06 50 1 overbooking, and -- who was it that we dealt with last year? 2 Wasn't there -- 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It was Jefferson County. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Jefferson County juveniles? 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right, T.Y.C. youth. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I -- personally, I'd like 7 to know what the County Attorney thinks about -- you know, 8 would we -- is one route better than another? I mean, is a 9 mental health program better than a juvenile group? Or -- I'm 10 a little bit hesitant about jumping in this thing now, with 11 the comments that Letz was making about overbooking. I 12 don't -- you know, are we doing the right thing by going one 13 way or the other? I just think we need to give this some 14 thought. 15 MR. PARSONS: And if I can comment on that, just 16 from my perspective, my thoughts, you know, certainly, you 17 know, I think the Court would be indemnified regardless of 18 which route that you did go. I mean, obviously, your County 19 Attorney would assure that. I think the difference between 20 the two, 'cause I'm qualified to say that since I've worked 21 both, is that one is you're actually working with a higher 22 degree of liability with kids, especially incarcerated kids, 23 and so they are in custody. They are offenders. They are 24 either under state or local jurisdictions. Our folks are 25 basically free citizens that have some mental health issues, 8-28-06 51 1 so -- and adults, so that would be your difference. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: A couple unknowns come to 3 mind, and -- a lot of unknowns, but a couple to focus on. How 4 many -- what would be the maximum number of people that you 5 would seek to evacuate in an emergency situation? 6 MR. PARSONS: I think 200. I think about 200. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 200. So, you obviously are 8 going to -- 9 MR. PARSONS: We'd utilize your gymnasium. We'd 10 utilize your gym with some cots and those kind of things as 11 well. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. And length of stay, 13 of course, is something that even you wouldn't know about, but 14 our experience with Jefferson County was that, although these 15 were kids in detention and we were dealing with T.Y.C., their 16 facility was devastated, and so they became long-term 17 residents up here, as opposed to short-term, because the storm 18 came and went. So, yeah, we -- a couple issues we'd have to 19 work out. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think, to answer your 21 question, the point person, Commissioner Williams is our 22 liaison to work with -- Commissioner Williams and Kevin 23 Stanton, to, you know, look at the feasibility of pursuing it. 24 That's kind of the first step, and then if it's -- if that -- 25 if the answer to that is yes, or comes back recommended yes, 8-28-06 52 1 then the next step is to get the County Attorney and -- and 2 figure out exactly what kind of document we need to have. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We could examine it. I 4 think the point you made about overbooking or cross-booking is 5 one that we need to take a look at, so I'd be happy to do that 6 if that's what the Court wants to do. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Commissioner, I would be 8 inclined to be good-neighborly and support this if we can be 9 assured that -- of the security of our incarcerated juveniles, 10 and that there would be no burden on the taxpayers. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Couple questions. Continuum is a 12 private organization? 13 MR. PARSONS: Yes, sir. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: But, by contract through the 15 government, you obtain Medicare funds for the services you 16 provide to -- 17 MR. PARSONS: That's correct. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: -- the individuals -- 19 MR. PARSONS: That's correct. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: -- who have some sort of 21 classification under federal law of being disabled because of 22 some degree or another of mental health conditions? 23 MR. PARSONS: That's exactly right. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: My concern would be a shade of the 25 old booking-type situation. If we were to decide to use that 8-28-06 53 1 facility for some other purpose, I'd want the ability to 2 terminate any outstanding agreements that we may have for 3 possible use, even, so that we might put that facility to our 4 own use, whatever that may be. And I would assume the thing 5 you'd be concerned about there is as much notice as you could 6 get so that you could attempt to secure other arrangements? 7 MR. PARSONS: Right. That would be good, yeah. 8 Like I said, I'm usually a little quicker on the trigger, but 9 we're a little behind the curve this year, so I'm praying for 10 some grace that we don't get any hurricanes in here this year. 11 So -- 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, don't rule out just 13 rain, though. 14 MR. PARSONS: Well, down -- but, Commissioner, if 15 you know your weather, we need one just right there in north 16 Mexico to blow it up this way, is what we need. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Right. 18 MR. PARSONS: Just not Houston. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Not Houston. 20 MR. PARSONS: Just not Houston. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If it's the Court's desire, 22 I'll schedule another meeting with Mr. Parsons. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I want to hear the second part 24 about him wanting to buy the facility. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I do too. 8-28-06 54 1 MR. PARSONS: That's going -- 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's what I'm interested in. 3 MR. PARSONS: We are very interested in doing -- 4 some form or fashion, looking at the residential facility that 5 you have. Couple of quick thoughts that came into our minds 6 is, you know, possible purchase, possible lease option, lease 7 with an option for purchase, some form or fashion. What we're 8 at -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The County Attorney's waving his 10 hands; we're beyond the agenda item. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Can't get into many 12 specifics here. 13 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Can we listen? 14 MR. EMERSON: You're outside the agenda item 15 completely if you change gears like that. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You need to get with 17 Commissioner Williams and come back. 18 MR. PARSONS: We'll do that. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you for the 20 expression. You and I will talk. 21 MR. PARSONS: Yes, sir, got you. Thank you very 22 much. Thank you for your time. And, Commissioner, I look 23 forward to talking to you. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I will give you a call. 25 MR. PARSONS: All right. 8-28-06 55 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move we have an election. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's quickly do Item 4. 3 Consider/discuss ordering a general election. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion continued past the calling 7 of the agenda item; is that correct, Commissioner? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, good. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move we order a general 11 election. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: And we have a second. Any question 13 or comment on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify 14 by raising your right hand. 15 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 17 (No response.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's move 19 to the first of our two 10 o'clock scheduled items. It's a 20 little past that now. I will recess the Commissioners Court 21 meeting, and I will call a public hearing for the revision of 22 plat for Lots 79, 80, 81, 82, and 83 of The Woods, Section Two 23 as set forth in Volume 4, Page 176 of the Plat Records of Kerr 24 County, and located in Precinct 2. 25 \ 8-28-06 56 1 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10:14 a.m., and a public hearing was held in open 2 court, as follows:) 3 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the public 5 that wishes to be heard on the revision of the plat for Lots 6 79, 80, 81, 82, and 83 of The Woods, Section Two, as set forth 7 in Volume 4, Page 176, Plat Records? 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Seeing no member of the public coming 10 forward wishing to be heard on that item, I will close the 11 public hearing as to Item 10. 12 (The public hearing was concluded at 10:14 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 13 reopened.) 14 - - - - - - - - - - 15 JUDGE TINLEY: And I will open a public hearing on 16 Item 11, and call for a public hearing for the revision of 17 plats for Lots 7A and 8 of Treasure Hills Ranch, as set forth 18 in Volume 5, Page 50 of the Plat Records, as well as Volume 5, 19 Page 397 of the Plat Records, and located in Precinct 1. 20 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10:14 a.m., and a public hearing was held in open 21 court, as follows:) 22 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the public 24 that wishes to be heard with respect to the revision of a plat 25 for Lots 7A and 8 in Treasure Hills Ranch, as set forth in 8-28-06 57 1 Volume 5, Page 50, Plat Records, and Volume 5, Page 397, Plat 2 Records? 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Seeing no one coming forward or 5 asking to be recognized to be heard, I will close the public 6 hearing on Item 11, and I will reconvene the Commissioners 7 Court meeting. 8 (The public hearing was concluded at 10:15 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 9 reopened.) 10 - - - - - - - - - - 11 JUDGE TINLEY: And we will go to Item 6; consider, 12 discuss, and take appropriate action on proposed plan 13 provision changes for T.C.D.R.S. 2007 plan year, to include 14 COLA, 20-year service retirement, and partial lump sum. 15 Ms. Nemec? 16 MS. NEMEC: Yes, good morning. I received some 17 information on the rates after I put this on the agenda, so 18 I'd just like to pass that out. There's one there for the 19 clerk. Are you one short, or do you have enough? Got enough? 20 Okay. This was put back on the agenda as a result of the 21 August 14th meeting, where a representative from the 22 retirement system was here and talked to you all about the 23 20-year service retirement, partial lump sum, and the 24 buy-back. On the buy-back, they requested a letter in writing 25 so that they could go ahead and begin that process, which I 8-28-06 58 1 did send them. I asked them to let me know how soon they 2 could get that information to us, but I have not heard back 3 from them. So, that's what it is on that. 4 The other -- under our current plan, if we leave 5 everything the same, the rate will be 8.12, up from 7.87, 6 which is for this current year. If we include the partial 7 lump sum and the 20-year service, and also a 4 percent 8 cost-of-living for the retirees, then it goes up to 8.70. 9 Unfortunately, they didn't send me the breakdown to where you 10 just go with one or the other, so we could know that. They 11 just put it all in one. I was just noticing that. So, that's 12 up .58 percent if you approve it. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask you a question 14 about that. I mean, there's three issues that we're dealing 15 with, and we should be able to approve one and not approve the 16 other two, or vice-versa. 17 MS. NEMEC: Right. But -- 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How in the world can we make 19 the decision without knowing what the rate's going to? 20 MS. NEMEC: I don't have that information. They 21 just sent it all lump-sum. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just say no to all of it, 23 then. 24 MS. NEMEC: I don't know -- I don't know if they 25 gave you that rate at the last meeting. 8-28-06 59 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Some of it. 2 MS. NEMEC: They might have. I think he might have. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Some of it. 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: What are the three issues, 5 Commissioner? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Buy-back, 20-year service -- 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: COLA. 20 years and COLA. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Partial lump sum. 9 MS. NEMEC: The buy-back is not included in this, 10 because they have to do a study, and it takes them quite a 11 while to do that study. I don't know that we'll get it back 12 before this budget is -- next year's budget is approved. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: As of last Friday, if the members of 14 the Court will recall, we had communication from the people at 15 T.C.D.R.S. indicating they were shooting to have the buy-back 16 information that they were having to do some actuarial study 17 on by this coming Friday. They -- that was their target. 18 They mentioned that -- I believe it was Commissioner Letz who 19 said, "I'd like to have the information by September 15." 20 They said they were shooting for this Friday, September the 21 1st. I do have some information -- they're looking for it 22 now -- as to the particularized cost between these different 23 other elements, the partial lump sum distribution and the -- 24 (Discussion off the record.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I'll find it in just a second. Thank 8-28-06 60 1 you. I do have a breakout, and it's -- I've got the 2 information on the COLA here in front of me. And it depends 3 upon whether you've got a CPI-based COLA or a flat 4 percentage-based COLA. For example, the 4 percent flat 5 increase COLA would add .16 percent. A 3 percent would add 6 .12. 2 percent, .08. 1 percent, .04. A percentage, which is 7 what we did previously -- previous occasion, three years ago, 8 I believe it was, maybe two years ago, we did a 50 percent 9 CPI-based, and I've got a sliding scale on those. They run 10 all the way from 30 percent at .03 to 100 percent at .57. 11 The -- 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I would be interested 13 in knowing how much the bottom line cost is to the County if 14 you -- like, if we stayed with a 50 percent like we did 15 previously. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: You just keep talking, Commissioner, 17 and I'll have that for you in about 30 seconds. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You want me to continue 19 talking to you? 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, that's fine. (Laughter.) 21 (Judge Tinley left the courtroom.) 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And people say that I'm a 23 little strange. Okay. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: A little? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I mean, you saw the 8-28-06 61 1 request. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Keep talking. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree. I mean, without the 5 budget impact, it's all meaningless. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, we can talk about 7 percentages all day long, Judge, and if you don't... 8 (Judge Tinley returned to the courtroom.) 9 MS. NEMEC: The figure here is based on a 4 percent 10 cost-of-living for retirees. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh. 12 MS. NEMEC: 4 percent. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That equates to 1.6 percent; 14 that would be total payroll, so we need to extrapolate that 15 out, see what that number is. 16 MS. NEMEC: And then also, I've included in the 17 agenda item each retiree and what their amounts would be 18 affected by. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Are you ready for those figures, 20 Commissioner? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, and I want to do that, 22 go through this exercise on each one of those items. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And this becomes effective, 25 like, January 1? 8-28-06 62 1 MS. NEMEC: Correct. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, we're talking about the 4 budget issues here. Okay. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: I can give you an annual cost. I 6 can't -- well, yeah, I can give you a -- a budget cost. Sure 7 can. On your partial lump sum distribution, that rate is 8 .25 percent. An annual cost is 20,308, and the budget cost 9 for this year would be $15,231. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Why do you say "this year"? 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Because it starts in January running 12 through September, three-fourths of a year. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: On the reducing the number of years 15 of service, total years of service, retire at any age, from 30 16 years to 20 years, annual cost is 11,373. 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Which one is that? 18 JUDGE TINLEY: That's the reducing 30 to 20. The 19 budget cost for this year would be 8,530. On the 4 percent 20 COLA -- 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: COLA for retirees? 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. The annual cost would be 23 $1,055 -- that's incorrect. That's got to be incorrect. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Too small. 10,000, maybe. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Annual cost is 12,997, and budget 8-28-06 63 1 cost is 9,748. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Don't have the buy-back. Actually, 4 in the information furnished to me by the T.C.D.R.S. people -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that COLA the same as we did 6 last time? 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, he asked that question. 8 We did 50 percent last time, so 50 percent, if we did that -- 9 that would be correct, Judge? We'd be looking at 2 percent, 10 so the annual would be about 6,500, and the budget amount 11 would be, what, 4,500, 4,600? 12 JUDGE TINLEY: If do you a CPI -- a CPI-based COLA 13 at 50 percent, it would be .14, which would be 11,373 annual, 14 or 8,530 for three-fourths of the budget year. It's a sliding 15 scale. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Of a percentage of CPI-based. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What benefits does the 19 changing from the 30-year retirement to a 20-year retirement? 20 MS. NEMEC: What benefits? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. I mean -- 22 MS. NEMEC: For the County, you mean? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How does it benefit anybody? 24 MS. NEMEC: Well, for the employees, they can retire 25 at an earlier age. For the County, I guess you could have 8-28-06 64 1 benefit -- it could benefit the County, and then there could 2 be, you know, a cost to the County. One of the benefits would 3 be that the employee would retire earlier, and you could bring 4 in someone at an entry level position, so the salary that 5 you're going to be paying that person is going to be less than 6 what the person that's been here. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Perhaps, depending on -- 8 MS. NEMEC: Right, just depending. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Really. 10 MS. NEMEC: Also, you know, the longer they're here, 11 the more that goes into the retirement fund, the more that the 12 County has to contribute. Again, if the salary is lower, then 13 that's less of a contribution. So, there's a lot of different 14 ways to look at it. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I tell you how I look at 16 it. We talked about this a little bit last Friday. The good 17 compensation and benefits systems are designed to encourage 18 longevity. They're designed to maintain and retain the skill 19 and experience and know-how that you've got. And I don't 20 think it's good policy to encourage people to leave when 21 they're 40, 45 years old. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't see it either. 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I want them to stay another 24 10 years. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with you. 8-28-06 65 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would agree. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're encouraging people to 3 leave. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That doesn't make sense to 6 me. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm not sympathetic toward 8 that. I am sympathetic toward the COLA for retirees. I'm not 9 too sympathetic about reducing the 30 to 20. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me give the Court the best 11 information I've got on the one item that we can't get 12 quantified, and that's the buy-back. The communication as of 13 last Friday is that they're going to have to figure the 14 likelihood or probability of employees buying back, and the 15 statement is made in that communication that there may not 16 even be additional cost, such as we're looking at for these 17 other changes, the partial lump sum and so forth. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What -- if we know, what has 19 been our experience over the last 10 or more years in terms of 20 people trying to buy back into our system? 21 MS. NEMEC: I probably have had two inquiries. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Two inquiries? 23 MS. NEMEC: Two inquiries. And then, when they look 24 at how much they're going to get at retirement and how much 25 they have to put in to buy back, it's not even a question of 8-28-06 66 1 whether they want to go with it or not. 'Cause we're already 2 entitled to buy back the number -- the years of service. The 3 buy-back would just be monetary. But when you look at what 4 you need to put into the system, you know, it -- for every 5 $5,000, you might get $10 more a month. It's just not worth 6 it to the employee to come up with that kind of money. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, the reality is, what 8 we're talking about here is the County's piece of the 9 buy-back. The employee still has to put up his or her piece 10 of it. 11 MS. NEMEC: Right. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The reality it is, it 13 doesn't happen. 14 MS. NEMEC: Right. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think it's an academic 16 issue. 17 MS. NEMEC: Especially when we approve the years of 18 service. That's what they're looking at, is years of service 19 more than anything. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The Sheriff disagrees. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, I know several people, 22 myself included, that have bought back. We bought back after 23 the Court approved it several years ago. It is a -- I think a 24 larger impact on retirement if you plan on staying around a 25 lot longer. It is a big benefit to the employees to have that 8-28-06 67 1 option. It is a -- a high cost to the employee, 'cause not 2 only does the employee have to buy back what all they took 3 out, plus a -- a percentage interest rate on that, they also 4 have to pay a penalty for that. And at that -- when I bought 5 it back a few years ago, it was, like, a 5 percent penalty. 6 Now, that's doubled after this last year, so I think now it's 7 even a 10 percent penalty, so you're not going to have very 8 many people do it any more. Plus the ones that could, the 9 Court took care of that three years ago, so now you're only 10 dealing with that time period in between. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: But you mentioned that it is a 12 benefit to an employee coming back into service, an 13 experienced employee coming back into service? 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's a definite benefit to an 15 experienced employee coming back into service, if that 16 employee can afford to do it. Because it's kind of like that 17 7 and a half percent interest the County pays on retirement or 18 what you're going to earn, like the guy said. You're going to 19 start getting that again. And there's no other savings 20 account normally that you can get that kind of -- so it is a 21 benefit to the employee if they want to do it. 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We have an individual who's 23 a candidate for -- in the general election in November for 24 re-election to county office after an eight-year break in 25 service, I think. And he understands the requirements for the 8-28-06 68 1 buy-back, and he expresses an interest in being able to buy 2 back -- buy back in. So, I think if we do this, we will have 3 at least one -- one buy-back. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But there's -- you know, there's 5 not a -- well, the Judge said there's not much, if any, of a 6 cost to -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Right. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- budgetary cost to do it, so I 9 wouldn't know why you wouldn't do it. Leave it up to the 10 employees to decide what they'd like to do. I also like the 11 option -- out of the list of them, I probably would rank the 12 partial lump sum distribution and the COLA for retirees, or 13 the 50 percent like we did last time as the two that I would 14 be inclined to do. The buy-back doesn't have much of a 15 consequence. I think the partial lump sum distribution is a 16 benefit, because I think it's -- to the employees, it gives 17 them an option based on their personal situation. And some of 18 them that, you know, have been in the county a long time and 19 retire at a little bit earlier age, possibly, than, you know, 20 the -- before they're 65 or so. You know, that gives them 21 some options what to do with that money, and so I'm in favor 22 of those two. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Hard to argue with the fact that 24 that's their money, too. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's right. They ought to be 8-28-06 69 1 able to do what they want to with it, and hopefully they'll do 2 -- you know, not waste it or be -- you know, that's their 3 option. That's -- 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, that's only point -- 5 .25. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The budgetary impact on that 7 this year is 15,231, and then the -- on the COLA, I don't have 8 a real strong opinion one way or the other if we do the same 9 as we did last time, or -- or the 4 percent. I mean, probably 10 just 50 percent CPI, 'cause that's what we did last time, to 11 be consistent. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 50 percent of CPI. What are 13 they basing it on? Basing it at 4, or are they basing it at 4 14 point -- 15 MS. NEMEC: This one here, what you have in front of 16 you is 4 percent. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 18 MS. NEMEC: That's the rate for 4 percent. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 20 MS. NEMEC: And whatever you all approve, then 21 they'll send the proper documents to include those individual 22 items to be signed at a later time. We just need to let them 23 know. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Maybe it would be appropriate if I go 25 ahead and call the next agenda item, since -- let me go ahead 8-28-06 70 1 and call Item Number 7; consider and authorize a buy-back in 2 the Texas County and District Retirement System for employees 3 who are rehired or re-elected after a break in service. Since 4 we've been working on that subject, it's probably a good idea 5 to get it in the mix here formally. 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Have I heard that we need 7 to wait till September 15th to hear from the retirement system 8 before we take any action on this issue? Or can we go ahead? 9 JUDGE TINLEY: We can go ahead and -- but we do not 10 know what additional cost, if any, to the County will be 11 involved. But based upon this communication as of last 12 Friday, the communication from the gentleman, John Jagou, who 13 was here giving us the presentation, who talked to his 14 colleague, Mr. Howard Miller concerning that issue -- I had 15 asked him for a ballpark figure so that we could have 16 something to -- a benchmark to work from, and he said he 17 wasn't able to do that, because it was based upon probability 18 of employees buying back. And he concluded, so there may not 19 be additional cost to the benefit changes that the -- that 20 Kerr County is looking at, per se. 21 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'd be willing to go ahead 22 and act on it based on that feedback. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, I think that we need to 24 do it. But that brings up a question in my mind, though. 25 When somebody comes back from previous employment and buys 8-28-06 71 1 into it, that means that their moneys are reinstated, the 2 County's part of it is reinstated. Where is this bucket of 3 money? I mean, does it just come out of thin air all of a 4 sudden? And -- 5 MS. NEMEC: It's in Kerr County's fund. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is it? 7 MS. NEMEC: Once they put this -- 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sitting out there? That's 9 been growing all these years? 10 MS. NEMEC: Yes. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And we're sure of that, that 12 it hasn't been -- 13 MS. NEMEC: And that's how they base how much it's 14 going to cost us, because they look at it and see how much our 15 balance is in that fund, and based on that and based on what 16 the probability is of the employees buying back, then they 17 come up with a figure as to if there is going to be any cost 18 or not. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This fund is held by the 20 retirement system? 21 MS. NEMEC: Right. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, Judge, in my opinion, it 23 sounds like that -- well, in my opinion, I think that we need 24 to agree to everything except the years of service issue. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we 8-28-06 72 1 approve the plan -- the retirement plan changes to allow a 2 partial lump sum distribution and a COLA -- see what 3 terminology we use on that -- 50 percent CPI-based COLA for 4 retirees. And the -- that's the only two we can do on this 5 one. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: No, we've got both of them -- both 7 agenda items were called. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But don't we need -- wouldn't it 9 be better to have separate motions for two different agenda 10 items? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, the -- no, I think you 12 can put them -- 13 JUDGE TINLEY: I do, too. We got both agenda items. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And approve the buy-back option. 15 That's it. 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I second the motion. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 18 as indicated. Any further question or discussion? All in 19 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Why don't we take 24 us about a 15-minute recess? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Why don't we? 8-28-06 73 1 (Recess taken from 10:37 a.m. to 10:55 a.m.) 2 - - - - - - - - - - 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go ahead and come back to 4 order, if we might. Item 8, consider, discuss, and take 5 appropriate action on ASO appeal review request and have 6 County Judge sign same. That is a matter that indicates it's 7 appropriate for executive session; is that correct? 8 MS. NEMEC: I can leave names out of it if y'all 9 would like to just take it up. It's pretty cut and dry, 10 really. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: I -- 12 MS. NEMEC: It's up to y'all. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm concerned of maybe stepping on 14 somebody that maybe we shouldn't, and I'd really rather take 15 it up in executive session. 16 MS. NEMEC: Okay. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: And we can take official action in 18 the blind. 19 MS. NEMEC: Okay. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll go ahead and defer on that for 21 now. Item 9, approval of cooperative agreement regarding 22 child support cases between Office of the Attorney General of 23 Texas and Kerr County. Mrs. Uecker was with us here a bit 24 ago. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There's -- I see a 8-28-06 74 1 handwritten note on here from Rex. Of course, you can't read 2 it, but -- 3 MS. PIEPER: Do you want me to go up and see if 4 she's up there? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. Item 12 -- let's move to that. 6 We'll defer on Item 9 for a moment. Item 12. Mr. Odom has 7 indicated that because of some administrative requirements not 8 being complete, the item to consider, discuss, and take 9 appropriate action to approve the revision of plat for Lots 7A 10 and 8 in Treasure Hills Ranch, that this should be passed at 11 this time. Is that correct? 12 MR. ODOM: That's correct, sir. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's move to Item 13 quickly. 14 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to consider 15 closing O.R.C.A. Contract Number 781257. 16 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. I -- Commissioner Williams, I 17 can defer to him, or I may read my memo and then defer any -- 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Read your memo, and then 19 we'll go from there. 20 MR. ODOM: Sir? 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Go ahead with your memo and 22 then we'll go from there. 23 MR. ODOM: June 13th, 2005, the Court authorized us 24 to request an extension of Contract Number 781257, which was a 25 grant for the 2002 flood. That extension was granted, but 8-28-06 75 1 expired the 31st of July of '06. Road and Bridge completed 2 all of its projects in a timely manner and received the 3 funding in 2004. However, the walk bridge at Flat Rock Park 4 is still to be completed. O.R.C.A. funds available for the 5 project are only $2,308. August 22nd of '06, Kelly Odom with 6 O.R.C.A. called to tell us we need to close out this account 7 or it would jeopardize grants that Kerr County might have in 8 the works or apply for in the future. At this time, we ask 9 the Court that you allow us to close out Contract 781257, so 10 the County will be able to use O.R.C.A. funds. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Does that mean that we lose 12 the 23? 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That means we would lose the 14 $2,308 which they were willing to reimburse us for, a piece of 15 the damage from the bridge over Town Creek -- Third Creek. 16 Yes, that would be gone. Now, of course, the issue -- if we 17 asked for the extension and protect these funds for future use 18 for that bridge purpose, we are foreclosing any options we 19 might have to go back to O.R.C.A. for additional funding until 20 that -- those funds are obligated and taken care of. So, the 21 only other thing that might -- you know, we might be going 22 back to O.R.C.A. for additional funding for Phase 4 of the 23 Kerrville South wastewater project. That's the Ranchero Road 24 portion, original Ranchero Road portion. But we've got to get 25 the contractor off of -- finished with what he's doing now 8-28-06 76 1 before we can do that, so I'm not so certain that we're really 2 disenfranchising ourselves, 'cause I don't think he's going to 3 wind it up in the next 30 days or so. Whatever the Court 4 thinks they'd like to do. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Bill, would you go back two 6 and a half sentences and say the part about Kerrville South 7 again? 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If we -- if we close out the 9 account and lose the $2,308, we would then be eligible, by 10 reason of closing out this contract, for any future 11 applications that we might want, one of which could be Phase 4 12 of Kerrville South. But the other part of that equation is 13 that the contractor is not yet to the point where he's ready 14 to wrap it up and clear the way for us to go back to O.R.C.A. 15 for additional funding. So, I'm -- whatever the Court wants 16 to do with this. We're going to lose 2,308 if we close it 17 out. Or if we protect the 2,308 and add it to the bridge 18 funds we need, we foreclose going back to O.R.C.A. for this 19 next funding cycle. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Where is this contractor 21 working? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He's on -- he's in the 23 hook-up stages on Frederick -- Frederick, George Muck. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Kerrville South? 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Loyal Valley, Shannon, all 8-28-06 77 1 in there, hooking up the latter. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right. What about -- 3 actually, I was going to ask this question in a future -- on 4 your Center Point issue, but I want to ask it right now. No, 5 I'll wait till the Center Point issue. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Question. If -- can we even extend 8 that contract now that our extension has expired? 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This one here? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We can ask for one more 12 extension. Correct, Mr. Odom? 13 MR. ODOM: I don't believe so. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I believe we can. 15 MR. ODOM: You're the expert. I'm not, sir. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, the Grantworks folks 17 told me we could ask for one more extension and receive it -- 18 more than likely receive it. Nothing's guaranteed with these 19 people. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Your understanding is, however, if we 21 receive an additional extension and gain the availability of 22 that $2,300, we would not be able to seek funding for other 23 future projects, possibly Stage 4 Kerrville South, Center 24 Point, wherever, until that contract is actually closed out? 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Exactly. Or expired, one or 8-28-06 78 1 the other. Closed out one way or the other, that's correct. 2 So, you know, it's kind of a catch-22. We get the 2,300 -- 3 JUDGE TINLEY: You may miss a bunch more. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We might miss more. And the 5 2,300 is really -- when you get down to it, is only a piece of 6 change of what we need to do the bridge. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: So, your recommendation is 8 we forego the 2,300? 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's okay with me. 10 Foreclose and make certain then that we have no impediments to 11 going back for larger sums. 12 MR. ODOM: That's right. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And that's okay with me. I 14 would move we close -- 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That we do not ask for an 17 extension for Contract 781257. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: And close it? 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Pardon? 20 JUDGE TINLEY: And close it and authorize me to sign 21 that? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. And close and 23 authorize the County Judge to sign same. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Your second holds? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. 8-28-06 79 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Motion made and seconded. 2 Any question or discussion on the motion? All in favor of the 3 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: That motion does carry. Let's go 8 back to Item 9 that we temporarily passed on. Approval of 9 cooperative agreement regarding child support cases between 10 the Office of the Attorney General of Texas and Kerr County. 11 Ms. Uecker? 12 MS. UECKER: Hello. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Hello. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Morning. 15 MS. UECKER: Morning. This is just the annual 16 renewal of the entire contract. A couple of months ago, we 17 did an extension of the existing contract, because we were in 18 negotiations on state case registry entry amounts, and updates 19 to the state case registry and customer service. We've now 20 come to an agreement, and the new -- that is the new contract. 21 It does include -- I think the only substantive change is an 22 increase of 6 cents per new case entry, and a 9.5-cent 23 increase in customer service and updates to existing cases. I 24 think that's the only difference in the contract. The County 25 Attorney has gone over it. He labeled some changes, and I've 8-28-06 80 1 looked at all of them, and I think we both agree that's okay. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There's an increase in the -- 3 in a user fee? 4 MS. UECKER: No, that's -- that's what the federal 5 government pays us to, you know, input those new cases, called 6 Title IV-D cases. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're telling me the federal 8 government is going to pay us more? 9 MS. UECKER: They're going to pay us 6 cents a case 10 more. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This is a great moment. 12 MS. UECKER: And it actually goes -- they pay -- 13 this is all part of the federal -- the Welfare Reform Act that 14 was imposed under President Clinton's -- you know, now there's 15 this giant computer in the sky that tracks all children, the 16 money that's owed them and who owes it to them, and who's 17 paying and who's not and where they are. This is all part of 18 a big program. Eventually we'll be out of the child support 19 business, as far as being the local registry, because of those 20 -- when those children that -- pre-'94 cases, when they reach 21 18, then we'll no longer take any child support at all. And 22 we can see those amounts dwindling annually. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Does that affect the court 24 system that's here? 25 MS. UECKER: No. No. 8-28-06 81 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That still keeps running? 2 MS. UECKER: The cases still go through the courts. 3 It's just that now, any money that's paid goes directly to the 4 State Disbursement Unit in San Antonio, and the federal 5 government pays Texas 66 percent of that money, and that -- 6 and after the 66 percent is calculated, that means a 7 6 percent -- a 6-cent increase to us, and a 9.5 on customer 8 service. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move for approval. 10 MS. UECKER: In other words, what that means, 11 Commissioner, is we get $7.85 for every new case we enter. We 12 get $2.04 for any updating. That could be an address change, 13 that could be an age, that could be anything. Or every time 14 we take a call that requires some customer service from either 15 a managing conservator, possessory conservator on what's going 16 on with the case, we get another $2.04. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and second for 19 approval. Any question or discussion? 20 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: When your office is no 21 longer involved in the child support business, does that mean 22 you'll be able to reduce your staff? 23 MS. UECKER: No. (Laughter.) 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I knew that was coming. 25 MS. UECKER: We are -- right now, we are down to -- 8-28-06 82 1 and that's probably one of the reasons that I have already 2 reduced the staff. We're down to -- from over 100 child 3 support checks a day to about three or four a day. Which 4 is -- 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I was being facetious. 6 MS. UECKER: I know you were. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I think your office is very 8 productive. 9 MS. UECKER: Thank you. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions 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: That motion does carry. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that included authorizing 17 you to sign that, correct? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 14. Consider, 20 discuss, and take appropriate action on rental rates of the 21 Union Church being raised. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What are they today? 23 MS. DAVIDSON: You have a sheet -- you should have a 24 sheet with you. I gave to it everybody. And it's -- half a 25 day rental is $60; that's a four-hour maximum. And they have 8-28-06 83 1 a daily rate of 8:00 to 5:00; it's $100. And an all-day, 8:00 2 to 10:00, is $200. And I don't know why I never use that 3 evening hours only. I don't ever have anybody that really 4 does an evening from 5:00 to 10:00 for $100. They stay in 5 that other area. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The -- you're proposing to go 7 to the half-day rental of $60? 8 MS. DAVIDSON: No, this is what has been already in 9 play. I'm moving up, more than $60 for -- 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What is the proposed number? 11 MS. DAVIDSON: The proposed numbers, I was thinking 12 $50 more. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I misread this. I thought it 14 was -- 15 MS. DAVIDSON: Up to a daily rental of $150, instead 16 of $100. I'm sorry, I didn't put that in there. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's not in here. It says 18 proposed. 19 MS. DAVIDSON: My fault. This is when Jamie and 20 Glenn had this. This is a paper that I've used ever since -- 21 this is what I was given. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Proposed half-day is how much? 23 MS. DAVIDSON: $60. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: What do you propose it being? 25 MS. DAVIDSON: I'm sorry, $110. 8-28-06 84 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, now we're moving. 2 MS. DAVIDSON: All right. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: All day? 4 MS. DAVIDSON: I would like to go to $250, and then 5 drop the evening hour rate. I would do that as -- it's either 6 morning or evening. I don't -- I don't ever use that evening 7 hours. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, we do. 9 MS. DAVIDSON: Do we? 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, we do. 11 MS. DAVIDSON: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: My homeowners' association 13 has had suppers there on several occasions. 14 MS. DAVIDSON: Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They come in at 5 o'clock or 16 4 o'clock or whatever, set up, have a supper there, clean up 17 and leave. 18 MS. DAVIDSON: I did a rental -- or I did the same 19 thing, but I used it under a daily rental as $100, same 20 amount. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Would evening be cheaper than daily 22 rental, say $125, or at $100, or what? 23 MS. DAVIDSON: It's the same right now, daily rental 24 and evening. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I understand. What are you proposing 8-28-06 85 1 that it be? 2 MS. DAVIDSON: $125. Because it's not that -- 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, but I tend to -- it 5 makes sense to me to eliminate one of the categories. 6 MS. DAVIDSON: I feel that the bottom one -- I don't 7 ever -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Why not do a half day for $125 9 and all-day for -- or a -- or do a half-day for $100 and then 10 a daily for $150, and all-day for $250, something like that? 11 MS. DAVIDSON: That sounds good as well. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's all right, as long as 13 you got it covered. 14 MS. DAVIDSON: Correct. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, a half-day rental would 16 be a four-hour maximum? 17 MS. DAVIDSON: Correct. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And what we're proposing is 19 what? 20 MS. DAVIDSON: $100. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: $100. And a daily rental is 22 all day, 8:00 to 5:00? 23 MS. DAVIDSON: 8:00 to 5:00, mm-hmm, would be $150. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Wait a minute. 25 MS. DAVIDSON: And then your all-day is 8 a.m. to 8-28-06 86 1 10 p.m. for $250. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it makes -- I would 3 change the wording. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I would too. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Get rid of -- where it says "all 6 day," I'd say, "half-day rental, daily rental, daily rental 7 extended," or something like that. So it -- 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Go 4, 8, and 12 hours. 9 MS. DAVIDSON: There you go. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Say it again? 11 MS. DAVIDSON: 4, 8, and 12 hours. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Four-hour rental, 8-hour rental, 13 12-hour rental. That's good. Thank you, Sheriff. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: It's going to be nine hours, 8:00 to 15 5:00, though. Here I am messing things up. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Don't take a lunch break. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Four, 9, and 12. 18 MS. DAVIDSON: Four, 9, and 12. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 100, 150, 200. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: 8:00 to 10:00 would be 14. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And you may -- but you may want 22 to put a category that no rentals past 10 p.m. 23 MS. DAVIDSON: Correct. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or before 8 a.m. A lot of 25 people will be there at 6:00 in the morning. 8-28-06 87 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Or parties that run past 2 10 o'clock need to move to General Schellhase's house. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Something like that. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll need to put in the address so 6 that they'll know where to go. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Or the Ag Barn. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Not the Ag Barn. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sounds good. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move to approve the new rental 12 schedule for the Union Church as discussed. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: As discussed. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: At -- okay. Four-hour rental is 15 $100; nine hours, $150; 12 hours, $250. Cannot start before 16 8 a.m., and have to be done by 10 p.m. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Nine hours instead of eight? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 21 of the motion as indicated. Any question or comment? All in 22 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 8-28-06 88 1 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to 2 Item 15. Consider and discuss -- 3 MS. DAVIDSON: Thank you. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: -- and take appropriate action on 5 approving the Kerr County Juvenile Detention Facility policy 6 and procedures manual for 2006-07. I have them here, 7 gentlemen. Everybody's on board, it appears. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 12 of the Kerr County Juvenile Detention Facility policies and 13 procedures for '06-'07, as -- as signed off on. Any question 14 or discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, 15 signify 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. This needs 20 to go to Mr. Stanton, I think. Let's move to Item 16 quickly; 21 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to establish a 22 procedure for soliciting and screening applicants for 23 Maintenance Department Manager and such other matters related 24 to departmental organization that may be required. 25 Commissioner Williams. 8-28-06 89 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I put this on the agenda, 2 gentlemen, essentially because we did, in fact, establish a 3 procedure for Human Resources, and we have a vacancy in a 4 major department -- department head, and we need to have a 5 clear-cut policy as to -- or a procedure as to how we're going 6 to proceed to acquire and screen candidates for that position. 7 So, open for discussion. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the process that you 9 used last time worked great. Use the same one. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: "Last time" meaning the 11 H.R.? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: H.R. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Which was we advertised -- 14 the two of us did it, and we advertised and we posted it. I 15 understand where you're going, Commissioner. That's okay. 16 But are we going to advertise? I think we should. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have to. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And post it. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We need to advertise, post it 20 internally. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And set a date for -- for 22 resumés or applications to be filed. Screen them, select 23 three or four for Court interview. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But because this -- I think it's 25 a different -- I don't think we need to go as broad as before. 8-28-06 90 1 I don't think -- I think it's really local. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, I agree. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think you advertise locally 4 for this and post it internally, and I think we have 5 September 15th as a cutoff date. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That works. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Jonathan, one comment on these. 8 If they're going to be given access to that facility out 9 there, I'm also going to have to be able to do a background 10 check -- criminal background check. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think in the notice, we need 12 to say that all applicants have to have a criminal 13 background -- yeah, all applicants have to, 'cause I don't 14 want to -- as soon as we get them in, you can start running 15 those. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Take applications up until 17 September 15th? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Do we have a motion on that? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's Commissioner Letz. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's right. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I was -- what I said was the 8-28-06 91 1 process, use the same form as was used already. I'll put it 2 in the form of a motion. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: With the same two members of 4 the Court. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: As long as they agree. If they 6 don't want to, I mean, I don't mind working on this one. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, I have a motion. Any question 8 or comments on the motion? Any further question or comments? 9 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 10 hand. 11 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 13 (No response.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Item 17; 15 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to approve 16 contract with Tetra Tech Engineering for professional services 17 for the Center Point wastewater project. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Before you is a draft of 19 what will be hopefully a contract with -- if the Court 20 approves it, to provide preliminary engineering and consulting 21 services for the design of a wastewater collection system for 22 Center Point. This is with Tetra Tech. They were the company 23 that scored first in our scoring process. Submitted this to 24 both the County Attorney and to Texas Water Development Board 25 for scrutiny. Water Development Board came back with some 8-28-06 92 1 recommendations of a few paragraphs that they believe are 2 mandatory by their definition, and those would be Paragraphs 3 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23. Those are mandatory T.W.D.B. 4 paragraphs that they want included in all contracts. I 5 received back -- Ms. Mitchell did on my behalf -- a memorandum 6 from -- or an e-mail from Mr. Kluge of the Texas Water 7 Development Board, and he said he looked over the draft. 8 Looks good, incorporates the suggestions of the subcontractor. 9 He can't speak for the legal department, but he believes 10 everything is going to be all right, and he has no problems 11 with it. County Attorney has reviewed it as well. We made 12 some language changes, nothing substantial. Am I correct, 13 Rex? 14 MR. EMERSON: You're correct. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Everything that's before us 16 has met with his approval. So, I would offer the contract for 17 approval, and County Judge to sign the same. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 20 of the agenda item and the -- the proffered contract, with the 21 County Judge authorized to sign same. Any question or 22 discussion on the motion? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a question here, and I 24 need an answer before I can vote. The status of Phase 4 in 25 Kerrville South. 8-28-06 93 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Status of Phase 4 is that we 2 have to go back by application for funding for Phase 4, 3 because the Court will remember that the bids to do Phases 2 4 and 3 were only one bidder, and the cost was so high that we 5 had to shift the funding that was approved from Phase 4 to -- 6 to do Phases 2 and 3 to accomplish what's under construction 7 now. But the next thing I would bring back before the Court 8 would be an application for funding for Phase 4. The 9 engineering in that case is already done. It's a matter of 10 going back to O.R.C.A. for funding so that we can wrap that 11 project up. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, you're not -- but by 13 taking action on this issue in Center Point today, we're not 14 setting aside something that we had already started? 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, sir. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And starting a brand new one? 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Absolutely not. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's different funding. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I will bring it back for us 20 to -- now that we cleared out that other little impediment for 21 us earlier, for us to go back as quickly as we can. We got to 22 get the contractor off the job as quickly as we can, and we'll 23 go back for funding for Phase 4. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: These are different funding 8-28-06 94 1 sources, correct? 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. Yes. You may recall 3 that Kerrville South is a combination of two funding sources, 4 Colonias money and the T.C.D.P. money, all of which comes 5 through O.R.C.A., but they're two different pots. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And so whatever pot's 8 available to us, as soon as the contractor has got finished up 9 out there on what he's doing, we'll go back with an 10 application, hopefully through Grantworks, to get funding for 11 Phase 4. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But this is under T.W.D.B. This 13 is different than the -- 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This is -- Water Development 15 Board's a whole different animal. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. This -- the other 17 question, the -- I'm trying to figure out how to ask the 18 question without -- is there an opportunity in your mind to 19 expand this to a surface water study if funding is coming from 20 Region J? I mean, based on -- 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I know where you're going, 22 Commissioner, 'cause I participated with you in some of those 23 discussions. And I think -- I think there's always that 24 possibility, and I think it would behoove us to examine it. 25 And if it were a possibility to do what you are noodling in 8-28-06 95 1 your head, then we'd go back to T.W.D.B. and ask for that 2 funding, and ask for it to be tacked on as an addendum to 3 this, or an added -- added scope of service. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll try to clear this up. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, you do that. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Region J has some money from 7 another pot coming in, and it makes sense; may be some 8 economies of scale to having the engineering for the surface 9 water or for drinking water and sewer done at the same time, 10 as opposed to have two completely different studies done, 11 because they run hand-in-hand frequently. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think it's a great idea, 13 and if we can expand the scope of services and use those 14 dollars, that would be great. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it probably might be easier 16 to just do a separate -- probably would have to be a separate 17 contract. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion on 19 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 20 your right hand. 21 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 23 (No response.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to 25 Item 18; consider, discuss, and approve by record vote the 8-28-06 96 1 proposed Kerr County 2007 tax rate and set date, time, and 2 place of first and second public hearings on such tax rate. 3 Mr. Auditor? 4 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: We've got some -- last Friday, I gave 6 everyone the summary sheet from the most recent run. There's 7 been some -- some modifications to that. The Auditor said he 8 would be happy to explain those as to where we are right now. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge -- 10 JUDGE TINLEY: I had each one of you get a run -- he 11 gave each one of you a run this morning with a new summary 12 sheet. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That would be this? 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, mm-hmm. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Could -- is there any reason 16 that we can't do this after the workshop? Or during the 17 workshop or at the time of the workshop when I'm -- because, I 18 mean, there's a -- I mean, I think -- I really don't see the 19 tax rate changing, but there might be some adjustments to the 20 budget. But I guess we can go ahead and -- I mean, we can go 21 ahead and do this now. I'll retract that objection. Because, 22 I mean, it's not going to change the tax rate, but there may 23 be some -- it may affect the end reserve balance, the final 24 tweaking we make of the budget. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: There have already been some since 8-28-06 97 1 Friday, and -- and based upon some action we took here earlier 2 today, there's going to be a minor adjustment made. But -- 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just affects the -- it just 4 affects the fund balances. Doesn't affect the -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. So, I have no problem. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Tommy, do you want to tell us 7 what we've got here? 8 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, the current rate is .3896 9 total rate. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: .3896? 11 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. .0309 is for Road and Bridge, 12 and .3578 is M & O. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What was the last one? 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: M & O. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What are those two numbers 16 again, Tommy? 17 MR. TOMLINSON: .3578 is the Maintenance/Operation 18 rate, and .0309 is the Lateral Road. Is that correct? 19 MS. RECTOR: Our current rate? Mm-hmm. 20 MR. TOMLINSON: Yeah. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's the rollback rate? 22 JUDGE TINLEY: 4325. Way off that. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. I'm glad. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: I believe that -- 25 MR. TOMLINSON: That's right. 8-28-06 98 1 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm speaking from recollection, but I 2 think it's accurate. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the budget numbers are -- 4 that we've discussed heretofore are based on maintaining the 5 current tax rate, correct? 6 MR. TOMLINSON: That's correct. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we -- we 8 need to break it out separate. Is the breakout going to be 9 the same between the M & O and Road and Bridge? 10 MR. TOMLINSON: It can be. Doesn't have to be. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well -- 12 MR. TOMLINSON: I mean, it works as the same rate. 13 I mean, the road -- if you have this worksheet -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't have it, I mean, with 15 me. It's in my office. 16 MR. TOMLINSON: With that -- with the lateral road 17 rate at last year's rate, it generates fund balances of almost 18 25 percent. The M & O rate for the general fund is .23 -- 19 236, with a total of .217. And overall, the ratio is .255 for 20 total -- total funds. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we set the 22 tax rate for 2006-2007 at point -- total tax rate at .3896, 23 being divided as .0309 for Road and Bridge and .3578 as M & O. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: That's a proposed tax rate. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Proposed. 8-28-06 99 1 MS. RECTOR: Not setting the rate. You're only 2 proposing the rate. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm proposing the tax rate, 4 sorry. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: And we need to have -- 6 MS. RECTOR: You need to set -- 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We need to decide on two 8 hearings. 9 MS. RECTOR: Yes, two public hearings; date, time, 10 place. We need a record vote on the proposed rate today. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: When should we set those 12 hearings? 13 MS. RECTOR: First hearing would be September the 14 8th. Second hearing will be September the 15th. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the date for public hearings 16 will be September 8th, and the second public hearing will be 17 September 15th at -- what time are we doing them? 18 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: 10:00. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 10 a.m.? At 10 a.m. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as indicated 22 for the proposed tax rate and public hearings. Any further 23 question or comment? 24 MS. RECTOR: I need a record vote of the -- you're 25 going there? Okay. 8-28-06 100 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 2 MS. RECTOR: Okay. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or comment? 4 Record vote now. Commissioner Baldwin? 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Aye. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Williams? 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Aye. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Letz? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Aye. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Nicholson? 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Aye. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: And I vote aye also. Does that solve 13 your problem for today, Ms. Rector? 14 MS. RECTOR: Yeah. We need to name the place of 15 these public hearings. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Here. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I think that was assumed, 18 probably, in the motion. Was it? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, it was. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's move to Item 19; 21 consider and select a fee schedule from EMS that -- that will 22 close the shortfall between expenses and revenues. 23 Commissioner Nicholson. 24 MR. EMERSON: Can I ask one quick question, Judge? 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes. 8-28-06 101 1 MR. EMERSON: And pardon my ignorance, 'cause I'm 2 new to all this, but are the two rates, the Road and Bridge 3 and the Maintenance and Operations, supposed to add up to that 4 final number? Because if they are, they don't. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Let's ask the Auditor. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, they do -- they should. 8 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Mr. Auditor? 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Tommy? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Tommy? The numbers don't add up 11 to the total. .3578 plus .0309 don't equal .3896. 12 MR. TOMLINSON: .3896 -- I wrote it down wrong. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: One of three numbers is wrong. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's not 97, either. 87. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm, that's right. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: .3887. 17 MR. TOMLINSON: I didn't read my last year's. I had 18 it out to bring, and I don't have -- 19 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll come back to that shortly when 20 we get our numbers straight, folks. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let me -- before we leave that, 22 then, let me make a motion to rescind our previous vote. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I second that motion. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Of the proposed tax rate. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I second the motion. 8-28-06 102 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All in favor of that motion, signify 2 by raising your right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Previous action is rescinded. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You got a calculator with a 6 fresh battery? 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move on to the EMS schedule 8 that I called. Commissioner Nicholson? 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes, Judge. I provided you 10 and the Commissioners with several documents relating to the 11 fees charged by Kerrville EMS, comparing them to other 12 benchmarks. A copy of the 2006 Kerrville EMS fee schedule. 13 You got a copy of a price comparison, a survey of five hill 14 country EMS fee schedules that was provided to me by Bandera 15 County EMS, and those five departments are Canyon Lake, Medina 16 Valley, Community, Kendall, and Bandera County. I had a 17 breakout of the Bandera County EMS rates in some detail. And 18 the one final thing you have is a -- some data on EMS rates 19 for Williamson County that I was able to pick off the 20 internet. What -- what we see here is that the fees charged 21 by Kerrville EMS are too low. They're slightly more than -- 22 roughly more than -- slightly more than half of what some 23 benchmark EMS services charge. 24 Without belaboring it, for example, the basic life 25 support rates for EMS in Kerr County is $331.22. I don't know 8-28-06 103 1 how we came up with 22 cents, but it's $331.22. And that same 2 rate for these five others is a high of $787; again, compared 3 to $322, three counties that are -- or three services at $600, 4 and then Bandera County at $425. Now, what we know about 5 Bandera County is that it's staffed, I think, entirely by 6 volunteers, but if not entirely, largely. And here we have an 7 EMS system that's staffed by volunteers. They don't have 8 payroll costs, and they still charge a good bit more for their 9 services than does Kerrville. I can -- I can only conclude 10 that our -- our rates for EMS services are far too low. And 11 that's the major contributor to our large shortfall and having 12 to provide taxpayer funds to make up the shortfall. 13 The other contributor is a -- is not -- is poor 14 collection experience. We don't have very good experience in 15 collecting the amounts that we do bill. That should improve 16 also. What I'm recommending is that Kerr County adopt a 17 user-pay strategy for 2006-2007, and that we adopt fees that 18 are equal to the Kendall County structure. And, specifically, 19 that would mean that our base -- base rate would increase -- 20 by the way, I'm proposing that we do this for services that 21 initiate outside of Kerrville city limits, in the county. And 22 then we additionally recommend to Kerrville that they also 23 adopt these rates. So, for example, that would mean that a 24 basic life support fee would be revised from $331.22 to $787. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I totally support this concept. 8-28-06 104 1 I have a little question about us unilaterally doing this 2 without figuring out how we do it with the current structure 3 that I think we're committed to use this year. I think 4 Kendall County is a very good benchmark to use in this regard. 5 They're very similar. Even though they're half the size 6 generally, it's a similar situation where they have a -- a 7 city in the middle, and the rest of the county's rural. They 8 also have a large part of the interstate or the highway, you 9 know, as we do. It is a -- a smaller picture of Kerr County 10 in many ways. And they provide -- you know, they have a -- 11 the main difference is their system is run by the County, as 12 opposed to our system is run by the City of Kerrville. But 13 they are staffed, they are paid, they have a coordinator. So, 14 I think it's a good approach. My question is -- like I said 15 when I first started, is how we do it. I think my 16 recollection of our joint meeting with the City and County was 17 that they agreed to look at this, but they didn't agree to 18 adopt our fee schedule. And so -- 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You know, and I agree with 20 what you're saying, but I also -- I see this motion as an 21 encouragement to the City of that -- saying this is what the 22 County wants to do. Let's do it. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. And if it's -- if it's 24 framed in that framework, you know, I think that's good, 25 because -- but I don't know how we unilaterally do it. I 8-28-06 105 1 think it has to be, "This is what we want." You know, "You 2 come back to us and tell us how we get there." 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree, it has to be that 4 way. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is it your understanding, 6 Commissioner, that the copy of this fee schedule that's -- 7 this 2006 approved fee schedule for the City is one that they 8 have adopted to go forward for '06-'07? 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I don't know that, 10 Commissioner. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Or in place for '05-'06? 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: It's in place for the 13 current fiscal year. I have not -- I don't have any 14 information about their intention to change it for next year. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. I think that's 16 probably a fair assumption, that this is what's in place for 17 the budget year '05-'06. And I think if we were to take the 18 -- adopt a strategy of encouraging them to look at the 19 comparative rates being charged, with a view toward 20 eliminating taxpayer subsidy, we could encourage them to take 21 a look at it and take a similar action. I think that's a good 22 strategy. We ought to go for something along that line. 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We should -- that's a good 24 plan, and that should be very timely. We need to do it so 25 that when we reach agreement and we reduce the shortfall, we 8-28-06 106 1 can run that into our budget. I think that reducing -- or 2 adopting Kendall County rates, for example, would not 3 eliminate the shortfall, but it would -- it would reduce it a 4 whole lot. And one reason it won't eliminate it is, there's a 5 lapse between the time the service is provided and the time 6 you collect. So, if we adopted this, for example, October 1, 7 I'm guessing that the next couple months or so, we would still 8 be -- our revenues would still be at the old rates before 9 we're collecting it -- full impact of it. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Actually longer than that, 11 probably. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would -- 13 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: But I think we could 14 forecast what the impact would be. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, what we really would be 16 doing would be to -- this would become a suggested fee 17 schedule that this Court is recommending the City put in place 18 for EMS services for the '06-'07 budget year; is that correct? 19 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I would make that as a 21 motion. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Wait, hold on. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He already made a motion. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm sorry. 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I withdraw that. That was 8-28-06 107 1 to act unilaterally. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I want to add something, too. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sure, go ahead. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: To this discussion. This 5 internet information that you got from Williamson County, I 6 see this as a policy statement, and I would like to read it 7 and encourage us to adopt something very similar. It says, 8 "Emergency medical services are clearly a necessity for people 9 in the county, but only one out of ten people actually use 10 these services in a year. Rather than burden all taxpayers 11 with the cost of these services, the County Commissioners have 12 agreed to bill only those people who use them. Fees are 13 intended to be high enough to offset the actual cost of the 14 services, but no higher." I mean, that is really close to 15 what we've been talking about. Don't know that it hits the 16 nail exactly on the head, but that -- I think that's an 17 interesting statement. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That is a good statement, 19 and it really frames -- it really does frame the sense of this 20 discussion we're having this morning. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm, sure does. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think you could almost -- only 23 thing I think you would take off, on the third line from the 24 bottom, after the word "bill" -- it says, "...bill only those 25 people who use them." I think I'd take out the word "only" 8-28-06 108 1 because I don't think -- 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: There's still a subsidy. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This is true. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree with that. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Basically, it's our 7 intention, those people that use the service pay for it. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Which is what you've been 9 saying for a long time. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, you want to adopt this 11 policy statement? 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh, yeah. I would amend my 13 own motion to add the policy statement, as revised, as the 14 basis for the Court's action. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I second that motion. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's a question from the 17 County Attorney, I think, as to whether we can do policy 18 statements under the -- as posted. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Picky, picky, picky. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: A fee schedule in accordance with 21 that policy schedule -- policy statement. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think that would make the 23 County Attorney a little happier. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I second that motion also. 8-28-06 109 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any question or discussion on 4 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 5 your right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the County Judge will relay 11 this court order with the fee schedule to the City? 12 JUDGE TINLEY: That's my intention. Let's move to 13 Item 20 -- or let's come back to Item 18. Maybe we can come 14 back -- are ready to come back to Item 18? 15 MR. TOMLINSON: Yeah. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me call Item 18. 17 MR. TOMLINSON: I had a little case of dyslexia. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Consider, discuss, and approve by 19 record vote the proposed Kerr County 2007 tax rate; set date, 20 time, and place of first and second public hearings. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And the rates are? 22 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, the total rate is correct at 23 .3896. I transposed the last two numbers on the M & O -- 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I can't hear you, Tommy. 25 MR. TOMLINSON: I transposed the last two numbers on 8-28-06 110 1 the M & O rate. It should be .3587 instead of 78. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. I make a motion that 3 we set the proposed tax rate for total tax rate of .3896, to 4 be broken up as follows: M & O, proposed tax rate at .3587, 5 and proposed Road and Bridge tax rate at .0309, and set public 6 hearings at 10 a.m. in this courtroom for September 8th and 7 September 15th. 8 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: At 10 a.m. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second that. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 11 indicated. 12 MS. RECTOR: Well done. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Any question or discussion? We have 14 a gold star from the Tax Assessor at this point. 15 MS. RECTOR: You got it. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: All in favor of the motion -- let me 17 get a record vote. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Aye. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Baldwin votes? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Aye. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Williams votes? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Aye. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Letz votes? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Aye. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Nicholson votes? 8-28-06 111 1 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Aye. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: County Judge Tinley votes aye. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We'll get this right by the 4 end of the day. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Before noon. Let's go to Item 20, if 6 we might. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 7 confirm Kerr County members and composition of the City of 8 Kerrville-slash-Kerr County Joint Economic Development 9 Strategy Committee. As members of the Court will recall, 10 we -- I raised this issue at the beginning of our joint 11 City/County meeting, essentially with a suggestion that there 12 were two members of this Court, two members of the City 13 Council who were more focused on economic development members 14 -- matters than other members of those bodies, and suggested 15 that those four individuals be the nucleus of the committee, 16 who would then comprise the balance of the committee and go to 17 work. Last City Council meeting, the City Council approved 18 Councilman Chuck Coleman and Todd Bock as the two city members 19 of that committee to join with the two to be appointed by this 20 body, and that those four collectively approve the other 21 members of the committee and go forward. My suggestion at the 22 joint meeting with the City was that Commissioner Williams and 23 I be put on that committee as the County reps. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move for approval. 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 8-28-06 112 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 2 approval. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the 3 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 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I just hope you all will 8 bring some more good jobs to Kerr County. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: We have every intention of doing 10 everything we can, increasing those that are already here. 11 Let's move to Item 21. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Before you go off that, I had -- 13 that's a really big point. That's one of the points that I 14 get hammered on occasionally by some of our business people, 15 is that we neglect our local businesses in an effort to go out 16 and search for new ones. And I really hope that this 17 committee looks at ways of assisting James Avery and his 18 business, which continues to grow and be a huge part -- and 19 development of the hospital, whatever it is. I think these 20 are very important, critical elements of our community. And 21 -- and a year or so ago, we came very close to losing B.A. 22 Products. We just need to make sure we take care of what's 23 here before we really go out and start searching for others. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Point well made. Extension 25 and retention are two vital parts of it. 8-28-06 113 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it's a lot easier to keep 2 them rather than go out and bring new ones in. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: You're exactly right. We've already 4 got the one bird in hand; it's helping it multiply. I think 5 what we fail to do is to give as much notice to expansion of 6 existing business activity that we have. The -- the emphasis 7 on expansion is just as great or greater than it is on 8 attraction of new -- in fact, I think the ratio I commonly 9 hear is 80 percent expansion, 20 percent new. You just don't 10 talk about it enough, but that emphasis is there, and we're 11 mindful of it. Let's move, if we could, to Item 21; consider, 12 discuss, and take appropriate action on hiring a 13 secretary-slash-administrative assistant at Department of 14 Public Safety at Grade 17, Step 1. Do we have the -- 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tommie's here. Sergeant 16 Tommie. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: More like captain over there. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Colonel? 20 JUDGE TINLEY: I think you've got a specific 21 individual for us to approve in that position? 22 MS. DAMRON: Yes, sir. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: At Grade 17, Step 1? 24 MS. DAMRON: Yes, sir. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: That has been screened and reviewed 8-28-06 114 1 by your people over at D.P.S., and they're recommending to the 2 Court; is that correct? 3 MS. DAMRON: Yes, sir. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: And who is that, please? 5 MS. DAMRON: Her name is Barbara Charles. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Barbara -- spell the last name? 7 MS. DAMRON: C-h-a-r-l-e-s. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Charles, okay. 9 MS. DAMRON: Charles. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll move that we accept the 12 recommendation of the Department of Public Safety, and 13 authorize the hiring of Barbara Charles at Step 17-1 for the 14 secretary/administrative position. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: To begin? 16 MS. DAMRON: September the 7th. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To begin September 7th. 18 MS. DAMRON: The Auditor has a budget amendment to 19 present later on. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Funding? 21 MS. DAMRON: Funding. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: For this year, and we've got the 23 funding plugged in for next year in the budget as -- as 24 already laid out. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Ma'am, would you stand up? 8-28-06 115 1 MS. DAMRON: No, I like to sit down. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and second. Any 3 question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify 4 by raising your right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Quick question, Tommie. Do 10 you think it would be inappropriate for this Commissioners 11 Court to meet our new employee? 12 MS. DAMRON: Sure. I can -- 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just thought it would be 14 kind of neat to -- 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It took some thought, Buster. 16 MS. DAMRON: Well, she's presently working. She 17 works for the city of -- Gillespie County right now. And -- 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: City of Gillespie? 19 MS. DAMRON: She's given notice to them. 20 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Good thing we approved it. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, really. 22 MS. DAMRON: I'm really glad you did. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, yeah, it would be great 24 to -- 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Bring her by sometime. 8-28-06 116 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Bring her by. 2 MS. DAMRON: Okay. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you for all your work, Tommie. 4 We appreciate it. 5 MS. DAMRON: You're very welcome. I've enjoyed it. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I tell you, y'all missed -- 7 y'all missed a retirement party. I don't know what that food 8 was, and they wouldn't tell me, but boy, it was good. I don't 9 know -- what were those little things wrapped in bacon? 10 MS. DAMRON: Axis. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Dove? Axis. 12 MS. DAMRON: Axis. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Man, good stuff. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Well you found two barbecues on 15 Saturday. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: When was this one? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: When was that, Friday? 19 MS. DAMRON: Thursday. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What other feedbags did you 21 put on lately? 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Should have seen him waddling 23 in H.E.B. yesterday. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Pardon? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: At least I had clothes on. 8-28-06 117 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's true. I did too. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: You get food at H.E.B.? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just wander around. I 4 don't -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He can eat there; he picks up 6 the samples. 7 (Discussion off the record.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 22. Consider, 9 discuss, and take appropriate action on the Kerr County 10 Management Discussion and Analysis for the 2004-2005 audit. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I forgot -- I have a -- 12 can we defer on this? I want to read it more one time. I've 13 read through it, found a couple of mistakes, and I'd like to 14 read through it one more time. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Do you want to pass that for this 16 meeting? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, not this meeting. We'll 18 do it after -- we'll be here after lunch, do it at 1:30. I 19 just want to read it one more time, make sure we get all the 20 typos out of it. It'll be done today, though, Tommy. 21 MR. TOMLINSON: Thanks. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 23. Select and 23 assign a County Commissioner to be the Commissioners Court 24 liaison with the County Human Resources Department. 25 Commissioner Nicholson? 8-28-06 118 1 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Later today, we're going to 2 be asked to staff the County's new Human Resources Department, 3 and I think that -- that person, whoever it is, is going to 4 need pretty good guidance for some period of time from 5 Commissioners Court, a go-to person, someone they can ask for 6 help or ask for advice. And, so, like we do with every other 7 department, I think we need to establish a liaison, and it 8 should be one of you Commissioners. Shouldn't be me. We need 9 the continuity of somebody starting out with a brand -- from 10 day one, and -- being available for some period of time. So, 11 I would recommend Commissioner Williams. He's intimately 12 involved in the process of selection -- selecting the 13 candidates for the department. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that a motion? 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's a motion. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 18 selection of Commissioner Williams to act as Commissioners 19 Court liaison with county Human Resources Department. Any 20 question or discussion? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's either Commissioner 22 Williams or Commissioner Oehler. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's right. 24 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Well, Oehler's going to 25 write the -- the summary for the budget next fiscal year. 8-28-06 119 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Keep it up, this is going to 3 become a full-time job. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It isn't already? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Any -- any other questions or 6 comments? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 7 right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's move 12 to Item 25. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 13 approve the bonds as required by Texas Tax Code, Section 14 6.28(a) and Texas Local Government Code 88.01 for the Tax 15 Assessor/Collector. The bonds are as, I think, indicated. 16 Two different bonds? Is that correct? 17 MS. RECTOR: Yes. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: One is to the state. I believe the 19 other's to Kerr County, isn't it? 20 MS. RECTOR: That's right. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Those are $500 apiece? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Premium, yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Premium. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion we approve the 8-28-06 120 1 bonds as submitted. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 4 of the bonds as submitted. Any question or discussion? All 5 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. We'll defer 10 on Item 26, pursuant to the suggestion of the Secretary of 11 State's office, and that matter will be taken up on 12 September 1, which is Friday this week. Let's move to Item 13 27; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to approve 14 the appointment of deputies of the Tax Assessor/Collector's 15 office. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Wouldn't you do that on 17 Friday as well? 18 JUDGE TINLEY: We -- we could follow up with that on 19 Friday also. May be more appropriate to do it then. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Probably move it to Friday. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, we'll defer on that until 22 Friday. Okay. What's the Court's pleasure? It's almost 23 noon. Do you want to go ahead and take care of the approval 24 agenda on payment of the bills and whatnot? 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. 8-28-06 121 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We'll move to Section 4 of the 2 agenda. First item is pay the bills. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move we pay the bills. 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for payment 6 of the bills. Any question or discussion? All in favor of 7 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. Let's go to 12 budget amendments. Budget Amendment Number 1. 13 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 1 is for the County Clerk and 14 Elections Department. The request from the County Clerk is to 15 transfer $1,583 from Ballot Expense to Election Supplies. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 19 approval. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the 20 motion signify by raising your right hand. 21 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 23 (No response.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 25 Amendment Request Number 2. 8-28-06 122 1 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 2 is to -- actually to 2 increase the budget by the amount of a FEMA grant that we 3 received for each of the fire departments. The total is 4 $7,552.82, and that -- that's allocated to -- for $653.89 to 5 Center Point, $79.50 to Comfort, $765.19 to Mountain Home, 6 $3,060.75 to Ingram, $1,272 to Tierra Linda, and $1,431 to the 7 various other departments. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Various others? How do you 10 do that? 11 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, they're out of the county. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What -- what is this for? 13 MR. TOMLINSON: It's for -- 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Reimbursement for wildfire 15 assistance. 16 MR. TOMLINSON: For wildfires that -- whatever year 17 it was. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Sheppard Rees fire. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: No, no, no, no. This was just 20 recently on some of these wildfires during that drought 21 disaster period. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's right. You had one at 23 Ingram back behind the Hill Country Youth Ranch, and then one 24 out above Hunt. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, yeah. 8-28-06 123 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And then we had one actually 2 over here off Cypress Creek Road. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You had two out there. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Two separate ones. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Turtle Creek wasn't involved 6 in any of that, huh? 7 MR. TOMLINSON: Apparently not. They weren't named 8 in the -- in the grant application. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Second. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Hunt wasn't named in the 11 grant? 12 (Mr. Tomlinson shook his head negatively.) 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: See, that's what I question. 14 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Who filed the application? 15 JUDGE TINLEY: I put out an inquiry to all of the 16 fire departments, and FEMA had from the U.S. Forest Service 17 who had participated, and it was only a particular time frame 18 that these wildfire incidents were approved for. And we filed 19 it, and this -- this is what we got. That's all they -- 20 that's all in the green books. 21 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Commissioner Baldwin, I 22 guess we'll just have to have another barbecue. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I guess so. 24 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: See if we can pick up a few 25 dollars. 8-28-06 124 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: These funds go to volunteer fire 2 departments, passed through us, in additional funds? 3 JUDGE TINLEY: We were required to be the grant 4 applicant. They are subcontractors under that grant, and 5 these funds are channeled back to them. It's based upon what 6 they expended in the way of supplies and equipment at these 7 fires. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess Comfort and Center Point 9 are much better at keeping -- of -- 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Holding down their costs. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- increasing -- keeping their 12 costs. Filing for money. 13 MR. TOMLINSON: The two others was Fredericksburg 14 Volunteer Fire Department and Harper Volunteer Fire 15 Department. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, there's a possibility 17 that Hunt and Upper Turtle -- or Turtle Creek just simply 18 didn't respond back to your inquiry? 19 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't think they were covered, 20 because I specified in my letter the time frames that they 21 were eligible to recover these things from. And I suppose 22 it's possible that they didn't respond administratively, but 23 we made a specific attempt to contact all of the departments. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, I don't question that. 25 It's just -- I cannot imagine those two fires in Hunt, and 8-28-06 125 1 Hunt not being there. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just cannot imagine it. 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: They were there. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Got water at their fire 6 station. Now, Turtle Creek, at either one of those fires or 7 all three, I'm not positive Turtle Creek ever was at any of 8 those fires. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, they were probably 10 taking care of the other part of the county. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. The other ones were, 12 but Hunt was big in that. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: That was the major one. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah, that was the main fire. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Maybe it's something that it was 17 in Hunt's primary area, whereas it was outside the primary 18 area for the other fire departments. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But Ingram was there; Ingram's 20 the primary -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't know. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: These are not just one fire; 23 these are several different fires. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, any of them that fell within 25 the disaster wildfire declaration, counties within specific 8-28-06 126 1 time frames -- that occurred within specific time frames. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Well, I'm wondering if we 3 should defer spending these moneys until we determine whether 4 or not Hunt had an opportunity to participate. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Any funds they would be due would be 6 in addition to these. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, to follow it up. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They'd have to submit 9 their -- 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I see. 11 MR. TOMLINSON: I have a letter here from FEMA. 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: From who? 13 MR. TOMLINSON: From FEMA. 14 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: What does it say? 15 MR. TOMLINSON: It just names those departments that 16 I have on my list. Hunt is not included. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Does it give the time span? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Maybe Hunt -- 19 (Low-voice discussion off the record.) 20 MR. TOMLINSON: It says December the 27th through 21 April the 30th. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That may have -- April may have 23 been before those Hunt fires, Buster. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, the Hunt fire and 25 Ingram fire was on the very same day. 8-28-06 127 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But it could be a different 2 fire than even those three we're thinking about. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I'm just not positive. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And FEMA could have said, 6 "Please send Hunt's share to Ray Nagin in New Orleans. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right, to open his new office 8 in Houston. 9 (Discussion off the record.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further discussion on the motion? 11 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 12 hand. 13 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 15 (no response.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 17 Amendment Request 3. 18 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Three is for Rabies and 19 Animal Control. The request from the director is to transfer 20 $2,200 from Vehicle Gas and Oil; $300 to Uniforms, $1,000 to 21 Operating Expenses, and $900 to Utilities. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any 25 question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify 8-28-06 128 1 by raising your right hand. 2 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 4 (No response.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 6 Amendment Request 4. 7 MR. TOMLINSON: Four is for the County Jail. We 8 need to transfer $18,481.34 from Nurses Salaries; $10,052.41 9 to Overtime, $255 to Employee Medical Exams, $244.39 to 10 Operating Supplies, $7,849.85 to Prisoner Medical, and $80.69 11 to Utilities. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any 16 question or discussion? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Question. Employee Medical 18 Exams. That indicates to me you're having a turnover. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We had -- unfortunately, there 20 was a law enforcement academy that graduated several months 21 ago that some of mine went through in San Antonio, and -- 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- I ended up with a turnover 24 on that. Then we had the changes in Jail Administrator and 25 that, and there were some there. They kind of didn't like the 8-28-06 129 1 way we were going, and for whatever purpose. And I had a 2 couple left because of family health problems with relatives. 3 So, yes, there was -- 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, everything's hunky-dory 5 and rosy and lovely? 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I wish. It's never that way, 7 but we are doing good. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question? Comments? All 9 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Budget Amendment Request 5. 14 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Five is for the Juvenile 15 Detention Facility. We need to move $135 from Professional 16 Services to Residential Medical. 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Move to approve. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 20 approval. Any question or comment? All in favor of the 21 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 8-28-06 130 1 Amendment Request 6. 2 MR. TOMLINSON: Six is for Nondepartmental. We have 3 a need to move $165 from Pauper Burial into Autopsies and 4 Inquests. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Move to approve. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 8 approval. Any question or comment? 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You're going to have two more. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All in favor, signify by raising your 11 right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Budget Amendment 16 7. 17 MR. TOMLINSON: Seven is for Ag Extension. Let's 18 see. Part of this is for -- for the month of September, and 19 what we were anticipating is a need for an additional $1,000 20 for utilities, so we're requesting a transfer of $7.34 in 21 Operating Equipment, $1,000 from Extension Agents Salaries, 22 with $7.34 going to Repairs and Maintenance and $1,000 into 23 Utilities. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 8-28-06 131 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 2 approval. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the 3 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: Budget Amendment Request Number 8. 8 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 8 is for the 216th Adult 9 Probation Department. This amendment is in anticipation of 10 additional funds needed for utilities, so we're asking for a 11 transfer of $1,500 from the DOEP Instructor's line item to add 12 to the Utilities and Maintenance. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Why do we have money left 14 over in DOEP Instructor? 15 MR. TOMLINSON: We -- we budget whatever is budgeted 16 from the State. We -- Kerr County has an agreement with the 17 C.S.C.D. to pay that instructor, and we budget it in that 18 department. The funds actually come from the State, and 19 they -- they reimburse us for -- for those expenditures. He 20 can't -- the C.S.C.D. Department cannot pay him directly for 21 that. It's a drug education program, and we're -- we're -- 22 the County has an agreement to pay that instructor. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, if you do not have a 24 motion, I'd love to make one. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Try it. 8-28-06 132 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move we pay that bill. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Pay the bill? Or make the budget 3 amendment? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The budget amendment. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Forgive me. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 9 approval. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the 10 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 11 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 13 (No response.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Budget Amendment Request 9. 15 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 9 is for County Court at Law. 16 We need to have $1,965.83 in Master Court Appointment line 17 item, and $1,043.18 into Special Court Reporter's line item. 18 We have bills currently for that amount -- for those amounts. 19 We have really no place to take money from in that department, 20 so I'm recommending that we take this from surplus to pay 21 that. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move we declare an emergency 23 and take the required funding from surplus, Fund Number 10, 24 for $1,965.83, Master Court Appointments, and $1,043.18 for 25 Special Court Reporter. 8-28-06 133 1 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to declare 3 an emergency and approve the budget amendment. Any question 4 or discussion? All in favor, signify by raising your right 5 hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 10 Amendment Request 10. 11 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Ten is for the 198th District 12 Court and the Commissioners Court. The request is to transfer 13 $1,678.30 from Special District Judge line item, and $5 from 14 Books, Publications, and Dues from Commissioners Court budget, 15 with $5 going to the Books, Publications, and Dues line item 16 in the 198th Court, $333.30 to Court-Appointed Services, and 17 $1,345 to Court-Appointed Attorneys. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What part of this is 19 Commissioners Court? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Five bucks. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: $5? 22 MR. TOMLINSON: $5. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Wonderful. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're propping the district 25 courts up now. 8-28-06 134 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 4 approval. Any question or comment? All in favor of the 5 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Budget amendment 10 request 11. 11 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Eleven is for 216th District 12 Court. We have current bills for Court-Appointed Services for 13 $1,040.90, and Court-Appointed Attorneys for $4,498.90. We 14 need to declare an emergency and take funds from surplus to 15 pay those bills. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to declare 19 an emergency and approval of Budget Amendment Request 11. Any 20 question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify 21 by raising your right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Budget Amendment 8-28-06 135 1 Request 12. 2 MR. TOMLINSON: Twelve is for the Courthouse and 3 Related Buildings and Jail Maintenance. We have repairs and 4 maintenance for the courthouse for 7,500 -- $756.98. We're 5 requesting a transfer of $1,522.21 from Maintenance and 6 Custodial in Jail Maintenance, with $765.23 to Utilities for 7 Courthouse and Related Buildings and $756.98 to Repairs and 8 Maintenance. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 12 approval. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the 13 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 16 (No response.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Budget Amendment 18 Request 13. 19 MR. TOMLINSON: Thirteen is for the County 20 Treasurer. The request from the Treasurer is to transfer $300 21 from Employee Training and move that into Office Supplies. 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Move to approve. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any 25 question or discussion? All in favor, signify by raising your 8-28-06 136 1 right hand. 2 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 4 (No response.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 6 Amendment Request 14. 7 MR. TOMLINSON: Fourteen actually is a request to 8 transfer funds from the General Fund into the Indigent Health 9 Care fund for the amount of $47,898.14. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: That's the amount of current 11 payables? 12 MR. TOMLINSON: Right. These -- these bills we'll 13 approve today, and we don't have the cash in the Indigent 14 Health Care fund to pay those, so we're asking for -- 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 16 MR. TOMLINSON: -- a transfer of funds. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 19 approval. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the 20 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 21 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 23 (No response.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Now, the Budget 25 Amendment Request 15 is the same item? 8-28-06 137 1 MR. TOMLINSON: Fifteen is for Indigent Health Care. 2 We need to declare an emergency and pay the Eligible Expenses, 3 $45,872.65, and Third-Party Administration for $2,025.49. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tommy, remind me. What is 5 Fund 50? 6 MR. TOMLINSON: That's Indigent Health Care. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Indigent Health Care. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is because of the previous 9 one, correct? 10 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The reason we need to pay this 12 is administration of the other one. So moved. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Does this move us up against 14 our 8 percent? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Getting close. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Should be. 17 MR. TOMLINSON: It's -- it's within about 50,000, 18 60,000. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Within 50 to 60? 20 MR. TOMLINSON: This is the end. This is the end of 21 the State's year, so -- 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I second that. It's the 23 end. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 25 approval. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the 8-28-06 138 1 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 2 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 4 (No response.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. We're 6 getting Budget Amendment Request Number 16. 7 MR. TOMLINSON: This is for the D.P.S. secretary. 8 (Discussion off the record.) 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Holy smokes. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh my goodness. This is to 11 facilitate the training, right? The transfer? 12 MR. TOMLINSON: Yeah, that's correct. To have -- to 13 have those two people in the office at the same time. For, I 14 think, eight days, I believe it is. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: As well as the secretary's salary for 16 the remainder of this fiscal year. 17 MR. TOMLINSON: That's right, yes. So, we -- we 18 found -- we tried to find every place we can to handle this, 19 and we found it within the two departments, the D.P.S. 20 department and the D.P.S. License and Weights department. So, 21 we're asking to move $150 from Operating Equipment and 22 $1,477.15 from License and Weights Communications, and $555.80 23 from Operating Expense. All this comes out of the K.D.P.S. 24 License and Weights Department. And then $191.67 from Group 25 Insurance and $288 from Telephone out of the D.P.S. 8-28-06 139 1 Department, $2,304.89 for the Salary line item and $176.33 to 2 FICA and $181.40 to Retirement. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 6 approval. Any question or comment? All in favor of the 7 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Do we have 12 any other budget amendments? 13 MR. TOMLINSON: No. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Do we have any late bills? 15 MR. TOMLINSON: No. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: I have before me monthly reports for 17 Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4; County Clerk, General and 18 Trust Funds; and the District Clerk. Do I hear a motion that 19 these reports be approved as submitted? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 21 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 23 of the designated reports as submitted. Any question or 24 comment? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 25 right hand. 8-28-06 140 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Why don't we 5 be in recess until about 1:30. 6 (Discussion off the record.) 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just a word about the 8 process at 2 o'clock, Judge. Commissioner Nicholson and I 9 talked about it. We have three interviews. We'll conduct 10 them in executive session. They're scheduled 15 to 20 minutes 11 apart -- apiece, and we thought we would recess, let our 12 applicants have a chance to move out, and we'll go back in 13 exec and talk. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm trying to figure out, what do we 15 have between 1:30 and 2:00? We got one executive session 16 item? 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We have one. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Which is very short. Why don't we 19 come back at 1:45? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The management discussion, I 21 just have to -- that won't take that long. We got to approve 22 that, but I got to check with Tommy -- 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- about some of those numbers. 25 (Recess taken from 12:19 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.) 8-28-06 141 1 - - - - - - - - - - 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's come back to order, if 3 we might. We were in recess for lunch. And I think we're 4 back to Item -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 22. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, Item 22. Consider, discuss, and 7 take appropriate action on the Kerr County Management 8 Discussion and Analysis for the '04-'05 audit. Commissioner 9 Letz wanted to bring this back up this afternoon. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. The -- I met with the 11 Auditor during the break, and we've gone through and 12 reconciled a few other issues. Only problem now is that I 13 have the only computer file of this, so we have to go through 14 it, note the changes. Then we can adopt it. Then I'll have 15 to reprint it and send it back to the Auditor. 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That will work. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the changes are not too 18 significant. On Page 2, the last bullet at the top of the 19 page, it says all current long-term -- you can insert the word 20 "debt" -- will be required. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The year is good, though? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. Page 3, about -- about 23 midway down, there's a paragraph titled "Proprietary Funds." 24 That entire paragraph can be deleted. We don't have those any 25 more. That was when we had the Juvenile Detention Facility in 8-28-06 142 1 prior years. On Page 5, the first paragraph, the second 2 sentence needs to read, "The combined property tax rate for 3 general and non-major funds changed from 2004-2005" -- 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Take out "remained"? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: "Remained unchanged." It didn't 6 remain unchanged. It changed. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Take that out, okay. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: From 2004-2005 at 24 -- or, 9 excuse me, .3412 to -- add the word "to" -- .3587. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: .3587? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: To what? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 3587. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 3587, okay. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The rest of that states the Road 16 and Bridge tax did not change from '04-'05. It was the same 17 as -- same as it currently is. Actually, the first sentence 18 also needs to change. Where we say "For the 2005...," it 19 should say, "From the 2005-06 fiscal year" instead of -- it 20 says 2005-'05 fiscal year -- "the County adopted a property 21 tax rate of .3896. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What page are you on there? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Same page. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Same page? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Up at the top. 8-28-06 143 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I see it. '05 -- should be 2 '06. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What's the new rate? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: .3896. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: .3896. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Got you. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that's it. Those are the 8 only changes. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you moving for adoption 10 or approval or -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll second that emotion. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any 14 question or discussion? 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: The motion does carry. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm sure you'll read this in 21 great depth. It really is pretty interesting. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It is. It is interesting 23 stuff. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good reading. I did read 25 it. 8-28-06 144 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Unless I missed something, gentlemen, 2 the only item that we have remaining on the agenda -- the 3 regular agenda is Item 8, which the Treasurer placed on here. 4 That's an executive session item. Do we have anything else we 5 need to do right now in public or open session? 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just to be sure, we have 7 a -- a budget discussion coming up later, correct? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm, yeah. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What -- isn't there another 10 -- isn't there another agenda -- executive session agenda item 11 as well? 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, the -- the Human Resources -- 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: H.R. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: -- item is in executive session. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that all? 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: That's all we got left, I think. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Ten-four. 20 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: What is the budget session? 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Budget session is at 3:00. 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Somehow, I didn't pick up 23 my e-mail on that one, so I missed it. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: I posted it just so that -- you know, 25 I've got another one posted for Friday, if need be, so that 8-28-06 145 1 any items that we can continue to discuss. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: At 3 o'clock, is it just 3 open to whatever we want to talk about? 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, it's going to be wide-open. 5 Okay. Nothing else on the -- okay. At this time, it's 10 6 minutes till 2:00. We will go out of open or public session, 7 and we will go into to closed or executive session. 8 (The open session was closed at 1:50 p.m., and an executive session was held, the transcript of which 9 is contained in a separate document.) 10 - - - - - - - - - - 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, we're back in open or public 12 session. It's 4 minutes until 2:00. Does any member of the 13 Court have anything to offer in the way of action based on 14 matters discussed in closed or executive session? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we uphold 16 the original determination made by Mutual of Omaha regarding 17 the appeal. 18 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 20 indicated. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the 21 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Anyone else 8-28-06 146 1 have anything to offer before we go into executive session 2 with regard to the 2 o'clock item on personnel, interviewing 3 candidates for Human Resources Director and Administrative 4 Assistant? If not, we will go out of open or public session 5 at 3 minutes until 2:00. 6 (The open session was closed at 1:57 p.m., and an Executive Session was held, the transcript of which 7 is contained in a separate document.) 8 - - - - - - - - - - 9 (Judge Tinley was not present when court resumed.) 10 - - - - - - - - - - 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. We're going to 12 reopen our Commissioners Court meeting, and we're going to 13 adjourn the Commissioners Court meeting if there's no other 14 action. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Very good. 16 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 3:50 p.m.) 17 - - - - - - - - - - 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 8-28-06 147 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 1st day of 9 September, 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 8-28-06