1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Monday, March 5, 2007 11 1:30 p.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 BRUCE OEHLER, Commissioner Pct. 4 2 1 I N D E X March 5, 2007 2 PAGE 1.1 Consider/discuss and approve appointment of 3 Early Voting Ballot Board as per Section 51.002, Texas Election Code 3 4 1.2 Consider/discuss approving funding for the May 12, 5 2007 election 4 6 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve Central Counting Station personnel 7 pursuant to Chapter 27, Texas Election Code 7 8 1.4 Consider/discuss approving of polling locations in accordance with Chapter 43, Texas Election Code 9 9 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve 10 contract between Kerr County and ImageTek/Edoc Technologies, Inc.; authorize County Judge to sign 10 11 --- Adjourned 20 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 On Monday, March 5, 2007, at 1:30 p.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 special 7 called meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court posted 8 for this time and date, Monday, March 5th, 2007, at 1:30 p.m. 9 It's a bit past that now, so we will get started on the 10 agenda. The first item on the agenda is to consider, discuss, 11 and approve the appointment of the Early Voting Ballot Board 12 in accordance with Section 51.002 of the Texas Election Code, 13 those persons being Joe Armistead as judge, Larry Cornett as 14 alternate judge, and Larry Jelf as clerk. Ms. Pieper? 15 MS. PIEPER: I do need to make one revision on this. 16 Larry Jelf is not able to make it, so I would like to add in 17 Linda Bowman instead. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Instead of Larry Jelf? 19 MS. PIEPER: That is correct. He is unable to work 20 that day. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 24 as indicated. Any question or discussion on the motion? All 25 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 3-5-07 cc 4 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Item 2, 5 consider and discuss approving the funding for the May 12th, 6 2007 election. 7 MS. PIEPER: Okay, gentlemen. Because this is not 8 -- was not going to be a regular election for me, I did not 9 have this in my budget. And I had sent out an e-mail stating 10 how much money I think I need by adding up the workers and the 11 ballots and election supplies, and that's $20,576. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 20,000? 13 MS. PIEPER: Yes. And that is with -- that is with 14 your approval to consolidate into the four locations. Now, if 15 we have to open up other locations, I need more money. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 20,500 what? 17 MS. PIEPER: $76. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Is this subject to preclearance by 19 the Justice Department, just using these four locations? 20 MS. PIEPER: Yes. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Based upon the prior preclearance 22 submissions to the Justice Department, have you got any 23 feeling as to how they're going to view consolidating this 24 into the four polling places? 25 MS. PIEPER: I don't think they're going to have any 3-5-07 cc 5 1 problem with it, because we've done that in the past. And 2 we're also consolidating -- the locations that I am going to 3 request also has the same locations that the city -- the 4 Kerrville city, Kerrville Independent School District, Ingram 5 city, and Ingram Independent School District as well, and 6 that'll keep our voters from having to drive to several 7 locations. On top of that, we have to share machines in order 8 for everybody to have electronic voting equipment. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: And, at the same time, they will be 10 paying some reasonably nominal fee for having that electronic 11 machine available to them? 12 MS. PIEPER: That's correct. And then they will pay 13 their own programming portion of it and their own ballot 14 portions of it. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do you happen to know which one 16 of our wonderful Legislature -- 17 MS. PIEPER: No idea. They're meeting at 2 o'clock 18 today, so ... 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- are responsible for making us 20 have this special election? 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They didn't offer to send 22 any money down, did they? 23 MS. PIEPER: No, they didn't. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Speaking of money, where do 25 you recommend we get it? 3-5-07 cc 6 1 MS. PIEPER: I have no idea. I e-mailed our County 2 Auditor, and I've not heard a response back. I e-mailed him 3 last week. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What do you have in your 5 election budget? 6 MS. PIEPER: I have about 8,000. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How much? 8 MS. PIEPER: About 8,000 left, is all. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You weren't contemplating a 10 May election? 11 MS. PIEPER: No, sir, I wasn't. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On the funding portion, can we 13 defer that until next week, when the Auditor can look at it 14 and see if -- 'cause I know that some of the insurance line 15 items do have some excess, based on his prior conversation. 16 We've obviously got to do elections, so... 17 MS. PIEPER: As long as I have your assurance that 18 y'all won't sue me for ordering something that I don't have 19 money for. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, you -- I won't sue you. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Would we do that? 22 MS. PIEPER: Well, I hope not. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, obviously, we have to do 24 elections. I mean, but I'd rather -- rather than declaring an 25 emergency, my preference would be to -- 3-5-07 cc 7 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Find it somewhere else. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- find it. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let the Auditor find it. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's what I'm saying; let him 5 find it, and do it as a budget amendment at our next meeting. 6 MS. PIEPER: Okay. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. So, we're going to defer on 8 Item 2? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Anybody have anything further on Item 11 2? If not, we'll move to Item 3; consider and discuss, take 12 appropriate action to approve the central counting station 13 personnel pursuant to Chapter 27 of the Texas Election Code. 14 MS. PIEPER: This is just another formality. We'll 15 have Nadene Alford as presiding judge and manager. Tabulating 16 supervisor is Brad Alford. Assistant tabulating supervisor is 17 Nuvia Cruces, and then the calls to the Secretary of the State 18 and the web site will be John Trolinger. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 22 as indicated. Any question or discussion on that motion? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There's a salary on each one 24 of those? 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 3-5-07 cc 8 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And there's -- 2 MS. PIEPER: Well, the way Eva -- she tries to do 3 comp time if possible. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And there's a salary on the 5 first group that we -- 6 MS. PIEPER: Yes, there is. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- appointed? 8 MR. TROLINGER: And I take comp time on mine. I 9 don't take any -- any payment. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: When did you ever take comp 11 time? Don't try to pull our legs, cowboy. So, we're paying 12 two different groups of folks to run the election, and it's by 13 law? 14 MS. PIEPER: Yes. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is that part of your 20,000? 17 MS. PIEPER: Yes. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Motion and second. And a third. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I didn't realize you had a 20 motion; I just heard the second. 21 THE CLERK: I have a motion and two seconds. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. We have a motion and two 23 seconds, as indicated. Any question or discussion on the 24 motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 25 right hand. 3-5-07 cc 9 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to 5 Item 4. Consider and discuss approving of the polling 6 locations in accordance with Chapter 43 of the Texas Election 7 Code. These are the four locations you were speaking of? 8 MS. PIEPER: That is correct. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 10 MS. PIEPER: The four locations, plus early voting 11 being at the Cailloux Center, and that way we will be with the 12 Kerrville school and the Kerrville city. Precinct 1, River 13 Hills Mall. Is that still correct? 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That is correct. 15 MS. PIEPER: Okay. Precinct 2, Commissioner 16 Williams gets to pick his location, 'cause I don't have a 17 preference. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think my first choice 19 would be at the Extension Office. 20 MS. PIEPER: Okay. For Precinct 3, the Cailloux 21 Center, which will be in with the City and the school as well. 22 And Precinct 4, Commissioner, I would like to recommend the 23 Ingram ISD Boardroom. That way, that will keep the City and 24 the school in compliance by using our machines. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Works for me. 3-5-07 cc 10 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Move for approval. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for the 4 polling places as indicated. Any question or discussion on 5 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 6 your right hand. 7 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 9 (No response.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. We'll go to 11 Item 5; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 12 approve the contract between Kerr County and Image Tek/Edoc 13 Technologies, Incorporated, and authorize the County Judge to 14 sign same. 15 MS. PIEPER: Yes. Gentlemen, back when we were 16 doing our budgets in October, this is the -- one of the line 17 items that I had requested funding for and that y'all did 18 approve, so the money is in the budget. And this is just so 19 that we can get our new software for our Commissioners Court, 20 our official public records, fees and collections, marks and 21 brands, military, marriage records, vital statistics, image 22 enable. And should the law come down to where we will 23 continue to have to redact Social Security numbers, this 24 software will also do that as well. So, I would just like to 25 get approval on it, and with the Judge to sign it. 3-5-07 cc 11 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You said, "should the law 2 come down." I think I read an A.G. opinion that said you had 3 to do that, and it gives you 60 days -- 4 MS. PIEPER: Gave a 60-day reprieve. However, the 5 County Attorney's office, because of their opinion, we are 6 still redacting Social Security numbers that are coming out of 7 our office, and we have disabled all imaging on our web sites. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: But this software that 9 you're asking for would do that? 10 MS. PIEPER: It will do that. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And you have the money in 12 your budget? 13 MS. PIEPER: I do have the money in the budget. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Has the County Attorney -- have 15 you looked at the contract? 16 MR. EMERSON: I looked at the original contract, 17 made a number of suggestions and revisions, and I've not had 18 time to read this, but it's my understanding from Jannett that 19 those revisions were made. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The -- I was on a conference 21 call a few days ago in regards to this issue of redacting the 22 Social Security number, and it was -- several horror stories 23 came out of it. One of them was -- I believe it was Comal 24 County, how -- their proposed way to handle this issue of 25 keeping the Social Security numbers out of the public view. 3-5-07 cc 12 1 They're going to Commissioners Court and asking for 10 new 2 employees. And that's happening all over the state. There 3 are some -- there are some Clerk's offices that are completely 4 shutting down so that they can sit there and go through page 5 by page, and -- and when someone comes to want a copy of a 6 document with a Social Security number on it, the clerk takes 7 that document, makes a copy of it, takes that copy, blacks the 8 Social Security number out, makes another copy, and hands it 9 to the citizen. So, there's all kinds of junk going on around 10 the state about that, and I think that our clerk has hit upon 11 the answer to the whole problem. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I agree. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And since the A.G.'s opinion 14 came out, or the -- two-week stay, was it, or something? 15 JUDGE TINLEY: 60 days. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 60-day stay. That supposedly 17 there was going to be -- you know, the lawyers were lined up 18 outside the door. Supposedly, there's all kinds of lawsuits 19 filed now, and just -- the thing's really turned into -- 20 MS. PIEPER: I have a company after me right now. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What? 22 MS. PIEPER: I have a company after me right now, 23 but we're handling them. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, just tell them no. But 25 I think what she's talking about doing -- and John seems to 3-5-07 cc 13 1 think that it'll work, right? 2 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, sir, it will work. 3 MS. PIEPER: John and I sought out five companies, 4 and this was one of the requirements that we had requested, 5 'cause we figured somewhere down the years, it would lead to 6 this. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Even though -- even though in 8 your computer program, you can go in and black out the Social 9 Security number, isn't there -- isn't there Social Security 10 numbers throughout a document in several different places? 11 So, you have to physically go from one and really read that 12 thing close to find the others. And -- 13 MS. PIEPER: Right now we do for sure, yes. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. And you're going to do 15 that yourself? 16 MS. PIEPER: Well, this software will also pick up 17 O.C.R., which is handwritten for the older documents, the 18 handwritten documents that have the Social Security in it, as 19 well as the typed. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: What about driver's license numbers? 21 MS. PIEPER: I think if we ever get to that point, 22 we'll probably be able to do that as well, but I don't know 23 for sure. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: If the Social Security number sticks, 25 I'll bet you the driver's license is right behind it. I don't 3-5-07 cc 14 1 know that it's going to stick. There's a lot of -- there's -- 2 I know that the District and County Clerk's Association, 3 through a good lawyer friend of yours, Mr. Herb Bristow, -- 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: -- who you'll recall with great 6 fondness, I assume, has weighed in on their behalf with a 7 rather lengthy brief asking the A.G. to reverse or withdraw 8 his opinion. Like you say, there's several of them lined up 9 to sue so they can get it into the courts and get an opinion, 10 'cause there's so much of this stuff that's already out there. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: It's already in the public domain. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The thing is, you know, after 14 hearing all those horror stories and, you know, the guy 15 saying, you know, we've got to hire a bunch of people and 16 there is a crisis and all this stuff, I think we're on the 17 cutting edge of the deal. I think we're way out in front of 18 most other counties in the state. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sounds that way. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: John, you've been in on reviewing 21 this -- this equipment to accomplish this purpose that was 22 originally placed in her budget this past year? 23 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, sir. We're -- we're ahead of 24 the curve a little bit. In other ways, we might have done 25 this a little bit earlier, gone to this new software. But we 3-5-07 cc 15 1 want to take the time, because these are vital records, to 2 consider as many different options as possible. Now, the 3 technical problem of being able to redact numbers from 4 documents is twofold. Number one, we can have O.C.R., optical 5 character recognition, to do some of this work for us, to tag 6 some of these pages so that they can be looked at by the 7 person so that they can be blacked out electronically, and 8 that stops us from altering the original document. But it's 9 my opinion, and I've told this to Jannett, and our vendor 10 agrees -- our future vendor, that each page -- each document 11 actually needs to be looked at by a person in order to insure 12 that these numbers have not been written or marked on the -- 13 on the document in some way. That's -- the technical solution 14 is fine, but the end result is, we're going to have to look at 15 every one of these pages before they're provided -- open to 16 the public again. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask you a question. 18 Let's say -- let's say I have a document and all the little 19 lines are filled in, et cetera, and someone has actually 20 hand-written a Social Security number somewhere. Will the -- 21 will the software find it? Or that's really not my question. 22 My question is, how do you go about blacking that out? 23 MR. TROLINGER: The operator that is looking at that 24 page has a tool that they use that puts another image on top 25 of that particular block. 3-5-07 cc 16 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So you can go anywhere on a 2 form, even if it's out in the margin? 3 MR. TROLINGER: Yes. Same as using an electronic 4 highlighter, -- 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 6 MR. TROLINGER: -- basically. And then there's an 7 image over the top of the original, so the original has not 8 been changed. But when someone also goes to view it that 9 doesn't have access to redacted information, they can't see 10 it. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Cool. 12 MR. TROLINGER: So, the original's intact. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Now, in regards to the 14 District Clerk, we're operating under a little different deal, 15 aren't we? 16 MR. TROLINGER: It's my understanding that they're 17 not affected by the ruling. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Because they -- everything 19 they have is either protected or is totally open to the public 20 or something like that? 21 MR. TROLINGER: The District Clerk told me, because 22 of the -- that they were court records, that there was a 23 fundamental difference between the two, but I don't know all 24 the details. But I did check with her to make sure we didn't 25 need to -- 3-5-07 cc 17 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I bet you did. 2 MR. TROLINGER: -- redact, and we do not from what I 3 understand right now. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, if you put this into 6 your mainframe, it's going to be isolated just to the County 7 Clerk's -- for the County Clerk's needs, and won't be 8 available to anyone else? 9 MS. PIEPER: The document -- 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Correct or incorrect? 11 MS. PIEPER: The document -- it just depends on how 12 the user is set up. If I -- if John -- you know, if I have my 13 user ID, then I can see the complete document as it was 14 originally submitted. But for, like, your password, you would 15 not be able to see it until we get everything redacted. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 17 MR. TROLINGER: And -- 18 MS. PIEPER: Go ahead. 19 MR. TROLINGER: And, actually, the -- the -- one of 20 the goals of this project is to store all the data offsite 21 hosted by the vendor via this annual maintenance, which means 22 that a complete copy is stored in Waco, is where the location 23 would be, at -- in a secure data center. But in -- in turn, 24 public access that's allowed, such as Commissioners Court 25 records, would be available via the internet and via direct 3-5-07 cc 18 1 access at the public terminals to the public. But it all -- 2 it all rides on what access level that user's granted. So, 3 once the records are redacted, then we can have that security. 4 Right now, we do not. And to -- to finish that project, I 5 think we're looking at sometime next year. 6 MS. PIEPER: That's possible. 7 MR. TROLINGER: Next summer before that'll be 8 complete. So, there'll be two copies, one here and one -- one 9 at the backup data site, with access based on user security 10 level. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. Based on user 12 security level. So, you put it in the server, and if the 13 District Clerk had a need for it, it would be available to the 14 District Clerk, or if the Sheriff had a need for it, it would 15 be available for the Sheriff as well? 16 MR. TROLINGER: Yes. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: John, the -- the original purpose for 19 which this money was placed in the budget was to put in a 20 system whereby these records could be made available to the 21 public on a total scale basis, virtually, depending -- except 22 for those that are by law confidential, such as birth and 23 death and so forth. Does this equipment solve that original 24 part of the purposes for -- for which it was intended? 25 MR. TROLINGER: It does, and it also accomplishes 3-5-07 cc 19 1 getting the plats scanned. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 3 MR. TROLINGER: Made electronic. The vendors 4 actually wanted to set up and test that portion of the system 5 even before the contract signing, and we've already started 6 that -- that process. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 8 MR. TROLINGER: So, yes, it does -- it does achieve 9 all the original objectives back in October that we said, and 10 more. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: And, in addition, it gives you a 12 vehicle by which you can utilize it to handle this Social 13 Security confidential record ruling. Okay. 14 MS. PIEPER: Right now, we're using The Software 15 Groups's, and they're Ableterm, and in time they're not going 16 to service the Ableterm, so that is another reason we have to 17 have this. This is what started it. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion we -- approve 20 the contract? -- approve the contract between Kerr County and 21 Image Tek/Edoc -- 22 MS. PIEPER: Edoc. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- Edoc, to authorize County 24 Judge to sign same. Pending formal approval by the County 25 Attorney, if you'd look at it one more time, 'cause you did 3-5-07 cc 20 1 have the changes recommended. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 4 indicated. Any question or discussion on that motion? All in 5 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: The motion carries. Anything 10 further, gentlemen? Hearing none, we'll stand adjourned. 11 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 1:56 p.m.) 12 - - - - - - - - - - 13 14 STATE OF TEXAS | 15 COUNTY OF KERR | 16 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 17 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my 18 capacity as County Clerk of the Commissioners Court 19 of Kerr County, Texas, at the time and place 20 heretofore set forth. 21 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 5th day of 22 March, 2007. 23 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 24 BY: _________________________________ 25 Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk Certified Shorthand Reporter 3-5-07 cc