1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Monday, March 26, 2007 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 BRUCE OEHLER, Commissioner Pct. 4 2 1 I N D E X March 26, 2007 2 PAGE --- Visitors' Input 5 3 --- Commissioners' Comments 6 4 1.1 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on renewal of Hill Country ADR Center contract 15 5 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 6 approve lease-purchase agreement for four 2007 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors, authorize 7 County Judge to sign same 23 8 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to name a private road in Precinct 4 per 911 Guidelines 24 9 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for 10 final plat of Estates of Johnson Creek 25 11 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for final plat of Ranches on Sunset Ridge 26 12 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 13 appoint county members to Joint Dispatch Committee 29 14 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on request to utilize portion of Flat Rock Lake Park 15 for Rio de Vino Triathlon on September 1, 2007 38 16 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on request to declare April 2007 as Child Abuse Awareness Month 17 in Kerr County, Texas, and adoption of Proclamation in support of same 40 18 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 19 adoption of resolution and waiver letter concerning TexDOT off-system bridge program for Lazy Valley 20 Road at Cypress Creek 42 21 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on adoption of resolution and waiver letter concerning 22 TexDOT off-system bridge program for Bartel (Cypress Creek Loop) at Cypress Creek 43 23 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action on 24 adoption of resolution and waiver letter concerning TexDOT off-system bridge program for Ehler's Road 25 at Guadalupe River 44 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) March 26, 2007 2 PAGE 1.6 Public Hearing to abandon, discontinue and vacate 3 Louise Ehler Road as a County-maintained road 45 4 1.7 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to abandon, discontinue and vacate Louise Ehler 5 Road as a County-maintained road 46 6 1.14 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on adoption of resolution and waiver letter concerning 7 TexDOT off-system bridge program for Crossing Creek at Guadalupe River 48 8 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 9 adoption of resolution and waiver letter concerning TexDOT off-system bridge program for Camp YMCA- 10 Arrowhead at Guadalupe River 49 11 1.16 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on adoption of resolution and waiver letter concerning 12 TexDOT off-system bridge program for Hoot Owl Road at Johnson Creek 51 13 1.17 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to post 14 and/or advertise for hiring of Environmental Health Inspector 54 15 1.18 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 16 adoption of resolution in support of a portion of House Bill 1 which will provide Mental Health 17 Crisis funding 56 18 4.1 Pay Bills 59 4.2 Budget Amendments 64 19 4.3 Late Bills -- 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 73 20 1.19 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 21 management reorganization of several departments reporting to Commissioners' Court, and hiring a 22 new department head 74 23 --- Adjourned 107 24 25 4 1 On Monday, March 26, 2007, 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 and 8 posted for this time and date, Monday, March 26th, 2007, at 9 9 a.m. It's that time now. Commissioner Oehler? 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Please stand for a word of 11 prayer. 12 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. At this time, if there's 14 any member of the public or the audience that wishes to be 15 heard on any matter that is not a listed agenda item, we'd be 16 happy to hear what you have to say at this point. If you wish 17 to be heard on a listed agenda item, we'd ask that you fill 18 out a participation form. They're at the back of the room. 19 It's not essential, but it helps me to know that there is 20 someone who wishes to speak from the audience or the public on 21 a given item if that form is filled out. If we get to a 22 particular agenda item and you haven't filled out a form, 23 please get my attention if you wish to be heard on it, and 24 I'll see that you're recognized and have an opportunity to 25 speak. But if there's any member of the public that wishes to 3-26-07 5 1 be heard on a matter that is not a listed agenda item, why, 2 feel forward to -- feel free to come forward at this time. 3 Seeing no one coming forward -- oh. 4 MR. EMERSON: At the request of the esteemed 5 Commissioner Letz, a quick update on subdivision issues. 6 Boerne Falls, which is the one on the east end of the county 7 in Precinct 3 -- it's the one that's actually located in Kerr 8 County, but the entrance is in Kendall County -- was in court 9 for two days last week in litigation in Kendall County. The 10 end result is that nobody knows what the judge did. That's 11 probably the short answer. He overruled the injunction as to 12 the enforcement of Kendall County's traffic code, where they 13 were prohibiting truck traffic on county roads, but he upheld 14 the injunction as to the developer connecting their 15 subdivision road to an existing road pursuant to the new 16 Kendall County Subdivision Rules. My understanding from 17 talking to all parties concerned is everybody's kind of 18 scratching their head trying to figure out where that leaves 19 them, and that's the most I can tell you right now. So, Kerr 20 County's still sitting on the sideline waiting for those guys 21 to figure out what's going on. 22 On the opposite end of the county, Commissioner 23 Oehler's, Stablewood Springs, we're still waiting on 24 T.C.E.Q.'s opinion as to exactly what kind of sewage disposal 25 system those condominiums can use. Their -- their initial 3-26-07 6 1 plan was for a cluster system. We responded with the standard 2 answer that cluster systems are not statutorily legal at this 3 point. They tried to push the issue. We referred it to 4 T.C.E.Q. in San Antonio, which passed us to Austin. When we 5 talked to Austin, we received conflicting answers, so we've 6 requested a formal opinion out of T.C.E.Q., and that's where 7 we stand. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. 9 MR. EMERSON: Any questions? 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other member of the public or the 12 audience that wishes to be heard on anything that is not a 13 listed agenda item? Okay. Seeing no one else to come 14 forward, we will move on. Before we get started, I'd like to 15 take a few moments to give public recognition to some folks 16 that -- in our Kerr County family, and some others, who really 17 did an extraordinary job this past weekend. As most of you 18 know, the West Texas County Judges and Commissioners 19 Association meeting was here in Kerrville Tuesday through 20 Friday of last week. Our own Commissioner Buster Baldwin was 21 the president of the association at that time, and had the 22 primary responsibility for that meeting. He's since been 23 turned into the past president's pasture, I guess you might 24 say, but everything seemed to go extraordinarily well, and 25 he's to be commended for doing an excellent job during his 3-26-07 7 1 tenure as president of the West Texas County Judges and 2 Commissioners Association. That association comprises 110, 3 115 -- 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 118. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: -- 118 counties stretching all the 6 way to the panhandle. So, it -- it was a pretty good rash of 7 folks we had down here. I think the numbers ran somewhere 8 between 800 and 850, in that range, so there were quite a few 9 logistics to take care of. As is the tradition, Kerr County 10 did the host court night, and as -- as our host court function 11 that evening, Kerr County hosted all the members that were 12 here and their spouses and other guests to a fish fry. And 13 Commissioner Bruce Oehler was the chief cook and bottle 14 washer, I guess you might say. He was in charge of ramroding 15 that operation, and it went off extraordinarily well. When 16 you figure you're trying to cook fresh fish, not cook it and 17 hold it and wait on the folks, but to cook it and drop it in 18 their plates right after it comes out from cooking, it gets to 19 be a pretty dicey operation, but Commissioner Oehler and all 20 of his gang did an excellent job, and I heard nothing but lots 21 of smiles and lots of kudos going around. 22 We had a number of our Kerr County family, both 23 elected officials and -- and other County employees that were 24 participating in that. It was truly a family affair. Jannett 25 Pieper, our County Clerk, participated. Diane Bolin, our Tax 3-26-07 8 1 Assessor, participated. Rex Emerson, our County Attorney, 2 participated. Linda Uecker, our District Clerk, participated. 3 We had Eva Hyde and Jackie Magenheimer from the Human 4 Resources Department, Jody Grinstead, our Commissioners Court 5 Coordinator. Out of the Maintenance and Facilities, of 6 course, we had Alyce Davidson and Shel Evans. We also had 7 some other folks on the crew; Emil Uecker, who Linda Uecker's 8 married to, Pat and Garland Reece, Bill Walding, Tina Gordon; 9 there were a few others. Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't 10 mention my wife and Bruce's wife, who are kind of on the 11 permanent crew, I guess you might say. We were honored to 12 have participation from our good friends, the Commissioners 13 from Gillespie County. They're not even members of the West 14 Texas association, and they came over and -- and cooked the 15 beans and did an excellent job, had a lot of good compliments 16 on their work, and we were tickled to death to have them 17 helping us. 18 Also, Buster's wife Debbie was in charge of the 19 decorations that were out on the tables at the Ag Barn, and I 20 have to tell you, I was just proud as I could be of how that 21 exhibit hall looked. It really looked good. We had plenty of 22 room; everything was bright and shiny and clean, and things 23 really, really looked fine there. And I want to thank 24 everybody for their participation. During the course of the 25 conference, we also had a number of elected officials and 3-26-07 9 1 employees who participated in that conference in various and 2 sundry capacities. For example, Commissioner Letz was a panel 3 moderator at one of the sessions, and judge -- J.P. Vance 4 Elliott handled a workshop for J.P.'s. 5 Leonard Odom, our Road Administrator, was on an 6 experts panel, and despite disclaiming his expertise, I was 7 amazed at the attention that was paid to his presentation, 8 which was the last presentation of the conference, where 9 everybody was trying to figure out their plans to get checked 10 out and go home, and I think Leonard did an extraordinary job. 11 And during the course of his presentation, he threw out some 12 numbers that I think made those folks sit up and take notice, 13 and I predict that his phone is going to be ringing for a good 14 while to come about how he is able to achieve some of the 15 efficiencies that he's achieved as our Kerr County Road 16 Administrator. And he just did an excellent, excellent job at 17 that conference, I thought. 18 Back to our Commissioner, Bruce Oehler, the chief 19 cook and bottle washer, I had the honor and privilege of -- of 20 recognizing him at the West Kerr County Chamber of Commerce 21 banquet, their annual event here not too long ago, and I was 22 pleased to be able to do that as being their latest inductee 23 into their Hall of Fame. At the time, unfortunately, we -- we 24 did not have the award to present to him; however, I've been 25 furnished with that, and I'd like to present that to him now. 3-26-07 10 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You sly dog. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: There you go, Bruce. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Thank you. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Bruce Oehler, Hall of Fame 2006. 5 (Applause.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: That's all I've got, folks. You got 7 anything for us, Bruce? 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Oh. Well, Jonathan's next. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just echo everything that the 10 Judge said. I think it was an outstanding conference. Thanks 11 to all my colleagues, both on the Court and other elected 12 officials, department heads, employees. It really went off 13 without a hitch. Only comment I have is on a different note, 14 slightly. I imagine most of the Court's probably aware that 15 three of our youth of our community were in a very serious car 16 accident over the weekend. All three were air-lifted to San 17 Antonio. Two of them are -- are very close friends of mine -- 18 their parents are, and so my prayers are with them. Happened 19 out on Harper Road. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Williams? 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Did you skip him? 22 JUDGE TINLEY: No, we'll go back around this way, 23 since Bruce wanted to come this way. I'll come back to him. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. Well, I just want -- 25 I echo what you said about the conference, Judge. It was 3-26-07 11 1 great. But I think I need to pay a little more closer 2 attention to Commissioner Baldwin, who worked -- who has 3 slaved, not just worked, for the last year trying to get this 4 thing put together, fundraising and all the myriad of details 5 he went through, and so if we had any award to give him, I 6 would give him the Chief Herder of Cats, because that's what 7 he did. He was a cat herder for about four days this week, 8 and did a really fine job. Congratulations, Commissioner. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. Juggling cats. I 10 juggled. I just want to make a couple of comments about the 11 conference. Thank you guys for working so hard to see that it 12 got done. But Bruce's dinner program, the fried catfish 13 program, I echo everything that the Judge has said, but he not 14 only provided all those services for us, but behind the scene, 15 shopped and saved us a tremendous amount of money. He 16 prepared catfish and all the trimmings for 800 people, and it 17 was -- came in right at $2,000, which is incredible. 18 Absolutely incredible. I wish other places had tried to do 19 the same thing. There was a couple of people that screwed me 20 financially on a couple of issues, but that will be dealt 21 with. And they're through functioning in Kerr County; I can 22 tell you that. But, Bruce, thank you for what you did, and 23 your -- your team and your family. 24 But I want to go back to the final panel of the 25 conference. We had -- there's a three-man panel of experts. 3-26-07 12 1 One was the Executive Director of Jail Standards statewide, 2 and one was legal counsel for the Texas -- not Texas 3 Association of Counties; County Judges and Commissioners 4 Association, the state lawyer. And -- and Leonard Odom. By 5 far, Leonard outshined them all. He was -- Leonard, you were 6 incredible. Absolutely incredible. You brought a lot of 7 pride to me, and I know anybody that's around Kerr County 8 would have been extremely proud of you. And those numbers, 9 how he has reduced his budget by manpower and equipment and -- 10 and fuels and all of those things that he has done through the 11 years, and he's getting more work done and more quality work 12 done at the same time. It's just an incredible statement. 13 And, you know, most of those other counties, you know, they 14 brag, "Well, we got 500 miles of road, and we've got 200 of 15 them paved," you know. And I think whoop-de-do. Leonard's 16 got almost all 500 miles paved, and quality paved too. So, 17 anyway, my hat's off to you, my friend, and I appreciate your 18 participating in our -- in that conference. And you did 19 extraordinary, fantastic. Actually, the best presentation in 20 the entire conference, in my opinion. 21 But if you boil it all down, nobody really cares but 22 us on this thing. To give you an example, the headlines of 23 today's Kerrville Daily Times is -- and I don't care if 24 they're in here or not -- Daily Times is, they took a little 25 poll of some sort in Kerrville of, "What should we do about 3-26-07 13 1 the war in Iraq?" Well, out of 40,000 people in the county, I 2 think -- what was it, 30? -- responded to it, and the majority 3 says, "We've got to get out of Iraq today." You know, just 4 headlines. Well, who gives a flip about that? And, you know, 5 there's so many things going on in our county and our 6 community that are positive, like our conference, spending a 7 large amount of money into this economy locally, and a lot of 8 statewide officials and just all kinds of neat people came 9 into town for a week, and what do we see in the paper today, 10 is 30 -- 13 people think that we need to pull out of Iraq 11 immediately. And it just blows my mind. Nothing I can do 12 about it, but that's just the way things are in our community 13 today. I'll stop there, before I get mad. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me come back to you, Bruce. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I would say that 16 receiving this Hall of Fame honor is a pretty big thing to me. 17 I never expected it, and I thought somebody -- Pat was talking 18 about somebody else when they -- my name came up. But, 19 anyway, I appreciate that, that honor from West Kerr Chamber. 20 And we do -- and the way we're able to pull these kind of 21 things off is because of all the volunteers I'm able to get 22 together. And it was a -- it was a hard -- hard thing to do, 23 but it was also easy once everybody did their job and had -- 24 you know, if we gave them something to do, they did it, and 25 it just worked so great. We're glad to do it, and for sure to 3-26-07 14 1 save the money that doesn't need to be spent, when it doesn't 2 need to be spent. And we can make it better, I believe, than 3 most caterers can for a whole lot less money. But, anyway, I 4 do -- I do want to say that I worked with the -- with the Ag 5 Barn people, Shel and Alyce, and also Eva was in helping set 6 up a lot of that stuff and making sure it was clean, and 7 getting -- did an outstanding job, and she stayed with us and 8 helped us throughout the whole evening, and it was -- it was 9 very nice to see county -- you know, elected officials getting 10 involved as well. That's probably a first for all of us, to 11 get that many of them together and working in the same 12 direction. And I think that -- that was a good lick, and I 13 hope it carries over to some more positive things in the 14 future. That's all I have. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One other quick comment, a 16 follow-up on something Commissioner Baldwin said, and I was 17 going to say it and forgot. Going back to our local daily 18 paper, I don't think there's one article about this conference 19 the entire time, and it's a -- had a huge economic impact to 20 this community, not to mention the -- the leadership of the 21 county was involved, from the City Mayor through the Court. 22 Virtually every elected official was almost around and 23 involved in some capacity, and I don't really think -- it's 24 very -- it's embarrassing that the paper didn't -- chose not 25 to run one article about it during that time. And since I 3-26-07 15 1 know the reporter is in the room, there are photos available 2 if they do want to run an article at some point. That's it. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And I have to thank Buster for 4 all he did, too. That was a fine effort on your part, and at 5 least it's over now and you won't have to do it again for a 6 long time. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're right. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I thought they were going to 9 make him president for life. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Any of you folks want to see how 12 Commissioner Oehler does his catfish thing, why, just come to 13 the wild game dinner this next Saturday, and he'll be doing it 14 there too. Okay, let's get on with the agenda. First item, 15 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on a renewal of 16 the Hill Country A.D.R. Center contract. Did you ever think 17 we were going to get to you, Ed? 18 MR. REAVES: Good morning, sir. We are asking your 19 consideration of renewal of our contract to provide mediation 20 services for all citizens of Kerr County. In the little 21 performance report that we included in your package, you'll 22 note that the number of mediations grew by 32 percent in 2006, 23 up from 104 in 2005 to 137 cases. Pardon me. We're 24 requesting funding in the amount of 14,000, which is the 25 amount that I understand was budgeted by the Commissioners for 3-26-07 16 1 this purpose this year. And in a phone call last week, I was 2 advised that there's a little over 15,000 in there right now. 3 The 137 cases we did included 61 Kerr County cases, and that's 4 up from 53 from the year before. Now, two years ago, Judge 5 Tinley asked me to, you know, shake the other counties and try 6 and get a little more contributions from them, and I'm glad to 7 report that we have been successful in that regard. There was 8 some 43,000, 44,000 in county contributions altogether last 9 year, and the 17,000 that Kerr County provided was some 10 39 percent of that moneys. But the 61 cases, Kerr County 11 folks, represented about 45 percent of our activity, so you 12 got more bang for your Kerrville buck here. 13 And I did provide a profit and loss statement. 14 We're still -- I guess the emphasis is on "non" in nonprofit. 15 And -- but thanks to your support, with the increase in fees 16 that were initiated, I think we're going to see more money 17 come in next year. And you may have some questions about some 18 of the specific line items. Putting myself in your shoes, I 19 might want to know how come it costs $1,300 for meals over 20 there. You know, we have a real hungry group. And I wanted 21 to bring that to your attention and share that when we're 22 mediating, if it's going well, we'll call one of the local 23 pizza places or somewhere like that and bring in sandwiches or 24 pizza, and keep the process going. We find that it -- we're 25 more apt to be successful, because otherwise, people go away 3-26-07 17 1 and they come back with more issues than they had when they 2 left, and so we find that to be a good investment of the -- 3 the money per pizza. 4 We are -- as you've noted before, Judge Tinley, 5 there is a very high success rate in mediation. There's just 6 something about the process of getting two people face-to-face 7 across a table that really does a lot of good. And it's -- 8 it's a big footstep, bigger than the statistics indicate. For 9 one thing, a lot of people procrastinate, and when a mediation 10 is set and they got to consider, "Well, am I going to pay my 11 attorney 'X' number of bucks to sit with me in mediation all 12 day, or can I go ahead and make a decision?" Some cases fall 13 out right there. Then we have a number of cases that are 14 settled during mediation itself, which is usually between 15 about 75 and 80 percent. And after that, we see a substantial 16 number of cases that settle on the courthouse steps, or we 17 have so narrowed the issues that a judge can make a ruling on 18 one issue, and the parties will say, as they told me last 19 week, "We've settled everything else thanks to mediation." 20 Are there any questions, sir? 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Ed, I noticed you had a 22 negative balance net income at the end of December. Did you 23 open the year with a fund balance to be able to take care of 24 that or not? How did you handle that? 25 MR. REAVES: Yes, sir. We've got -- as of the 3-26-07 18 1 moment, we've got a little less than $10,000 in our various 2 accounts, and we did open with a positive account. And I 3 think that we're going to see, in addition to the increase in 4 A.D.R. fees, a continued increase in demand for the mediation 5 services. For example, this month we have conducted 13 6 mediations, and we have three more scheduled, so at that rate, 7 we would exceed last year's total and bring in that additional 8 revenue. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What's the percentage 10 increase in your fee structure? 11 MR. REAVES: Well, for a very long period of time, 12 since the 1986 A.D.R. Act, the fees were frozen at one level, 13 and then last -- I guess it was a year ago, the Legislature 14 authorized an increase in the fees to what is now -- where 15 they now stand. And I have to check the -- I'd have to check 16 with Linda Uecker as far as the exact amount, but it's, like, 17 about $20 per district or county court case. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: What -- what types of cases have the 19 lowest successful mediation rate? 20 MR. REAVES: I think it's pretty well spread out. I 21 would have expected it would be the Child Protective Service 22 cases that we do a lot of, but actually we have a -- about 23 almost as good -- a similar rate in C.P.S. as we do elsewhere. 24 It's just a matter of some people are not really ready to 25 settle on the day of the mediation. Sometimes there's just 3-26-07 19 1 not quite enough discovery. Some people want their, 2 quote-unquote, day in court, even though in mediation, they 3 really get a lot more attention, much more focus than they can 4 normally be given on the witness stand because of the hearsay 5 rules and things like that. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: And your overall success rate runs 7 75, 80 percent? 8 MR. REAVES: Yes, sir. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that -- 10 MR. REAVES: And sometimes higher. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 12 MR. REAVES: We had one quarter where it was 13 93 percent. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: What's the state or national average? 15 MR. REAVES: The state average is 75 percent. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 17 MR. REAVES: Some of the big cities, like Dallas, 18 their annual report indicated 55 percent success rate. But 19 here we're small enough that we can find out what -- what's 20 involved in each case and try and recruit the best mediator 21 for those particular issues, and that helps us a lot. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Have you reviewed the contract, 23 Mr. Emerson? 24 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Everything in order from your 3-26-07 20 1 standpoint? 2 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll move approval of the 5 contract between the Hill Country -- Hill Country Alternative 6 Dispute Resolution Center and Kerr County, and authorize the 7 Judge to sign same. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and second for 10 approval of the agenda item as indicated. Any question or 11 discussion on that motion? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I do. I wanted to ask Ed, 13 first of all, I don't think that we give -- give enough 14 attention to what your -- your agency does. As an example, 15 you guys come to resolution in kind of a private, quiet 16 manner, and you take that load off of our courtrooms, and I 17 think that is a major thing. That's not talked about enough. 18 My question is -- just one simple question. In your budget 19 here, the payroll expenses, is that -- how many people is 20 that? 21 MR. REAVES: Two. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's two people? 23 MR. REAVES: Myself and a young college graduate who 24 majored in communications who has really added a lot to -- to 25 what we do. 3-26-07 21 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, you guys -- there's 2 another donation back to the community. Thank you. 3 MR. REAVES: Thank you, sir. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Not a very large number for 5 two people. You've done a very large -- 6 MR. REAVES: That brings up the point that there's 7 about -- oh, according to all the judges I've talked to, Judge 8 Dubose and Judge Hofmann, $5,000 a day savings for every 9 C.P.S. case that's settled. And both of them told me that if 10 there's a jury trial, those are five-day cases. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 12 MR. REAVES: Every time. And hopefully it also does 13 allow the judges to concentrate on the growing criminal 14 dockets and the other things that we can't control. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The only other thing I can 16 add to it, I just -- I really don't think that the Kerr County 17 taxpayers should be paying for another county, so we need to 18 get them -- get those folks involved A.S.A.P. 19 MR. REAVES: Yes, sir. That -- that's the -- of the 20 43 and a half thousand that was brought in, 17 was from Kerr 21 County, and the rest was -- some 61 percent was from the other 22 counties, primarily Gillespie and Kendall and Bandera, where 23 the trial volume is very active. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Do -- 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 3-26-07 22 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm sorry, Buster. Do you 2 get county support from those other counties? 3 MR. REAVES: Yes, sir. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 5 MR. REAVES: In fact, we just -- we got our first 6 ever check from McCulloch County in 2006, after years of 7 effort. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, all of the funds come 9 from -- there's a dedicated fund. It comes from the amount 10 that's collected. 11 MR. REAVES: Yes, sir. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it can only be used for 13 this, correct? So it really doesn't -- it makes sense for the 14 counties to contribute, because they can't use the money for 15 anything else. But -- 16 MR. REAVES: Yes, sir. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. There's a -- for each case 18 that's filed in the courts, the there's a separate fee for 19 A.D.R. that can only be used for that purpose. And if I 20 understand your numbers, we contributed 39 percent of the 21 overall cost, but we had 42 percent of the cases that were 22 mediated in Kerr County; is that correct? 23 MR. REAVES: I believe it was actually 44.5 percent, 24 yes, sir. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Oh, okay. Even better. 3-26-07 23 1 MR. REAVES: Yes, sir. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any other questions or 3 comments? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 4 right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Thank you, 9 Mr. Reeves. 10 MR. REAVES: Thank you, sir. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll move to Item 2; consider, 12 discuss, and take appropriate action to approve the 13 lease/purchase agreement for four 2007 Ford Crown Victoria 14 Police Interceptors for the Sheriff's Department, and 15 authorize County Judge to sign same. I put this on the agenda 16 as a formality to approval of the contract. I realize that 17 the funds are already budgeted, and -- but I thought that 18 because it was a contract involved, we needed to have the 19 contract approved. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll move approval of the agenda 21 item and authorize County Judge to sign same. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 24 of the agenda item. Any question or discussion on the motion? 25 All in favor of that motion, signify by raising your right 3-26-07 24 1 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'll move 6 to Item 3; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 7 name a private road in Precinct 4 per 911 guidelines. 8 MR. ODOM: Good morning. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Morning. 10 MR. ODOM: Truby's named, but I told her I would 11 come up here and take care of it. This road -- this is not a 12 road; this is a driveway. And -- but it's off Indian Creek 13 right past the bridge there on the right-hand side. And I 14 would just like to make a point, that I want the Court and 15 this gentleman to understand that this is not a road; this is 16 a driveway, and he can name it, but should there come up 17 anything in the future to try to subdivide off this, 'cause it 18 has a name, it's not a road. It's a driveway. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's required by 911 guidelines? 20 MR. ODOM: That's right. Right. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'll move that we approve the 22 agenda request to name the road La Posada, a private driveway 23 in Precinct 4. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for agenda 3-26-07 25 1 -- for approval of the agenda item as indicated. Any question 2 or discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, 3 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. We'll move 8 to Item 4; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action for 9 the final plat of Estates of Johnson Creek located in 10 Precinct 4. 11 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. The -- this is off Highway 27. 12 The road is to be a privately maintained road, and developer 13 has put up the letter of credit. We have the general notes 14 here about the sharing of the well. And in accordance with 15 Kerr County Subdivision Rules and Regulations, this 16 subdivision is permitted up to four lots only. It appears 17 that they've addressed all the concerns of the Court and 18 Headwaters; therefore, I recommend that we accept the final 19 plat as presented. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I move we accept the final 21 plat on -- what is the name of that thing? 22 MR. ODOM: Estates at Johnson Creek. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Estates at Johnson Creek in 24 Precinct 4. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 3-26-07 26 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 2 of the agenda item as indicated. Any question or discussion 3 on that motion? All in favor of that motion, signify by 4 raising your right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's move 9 to Item 5; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action for 10 final plat of Ranches on Sunset Ridge located in Precinct 3. 11 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. This is off Wilson Road in 3. 12 This subdivision contains 246.13 acres and has 10 lots, with 13 all lots being over 20 acres. The roads are to be built to 14 Kerr County standards for a local road to be maintained by the 15 County. Road profiles and road drainage have been reviewed by 16 Wayne Wells, and letter of credit is in place to assure the 17 roads are built. At this time, everything seems to be in 18 order; therefore, I recommend this final plat be accepted as 19 presented. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 23 of the agenda item. Any question or discussion on the motion? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Couple of -- one comment. 25 Leonard, I think this is the first subdivision I can remember 3-26-07 27 1 that the roads have been turned over to the County in seems 2 like an awful long time, if not -- I mean, I can't remember. 3 We use a lot of private roads. 4 MR. ODOM: The only other one is Lasso will become a 5 County-maintained, so you're right, it is -- most of them have 6 been private. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, it's interesting. It's a 8 little bit of a trend change, at least in Precinct 3, that 9 we're getting the -- two of the more recent ones are going to 10 be county roads. Another question. There was an issue about 11 right-of-way clearing. Was that worked out to everyone's 12 satisfaction? About where the -- every tree had to be clear 13 cut out of the right-of-way? 14 MR. ODOM: I'm sorry, say again? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Where every tree had to be clear 16 cut out of the right-of-way. 17 MR. ODOM: I think that it states in the rules that 18 we have that prerogative, and normally I look at it. If it's 19 close -- if we got a 60-foot right-of-way and it's over close 20 to it, I don't have a problem. But if you're close within the 21 roadway itself, with the drainage ditch right there, I might 22 have a problem, 'cause they have to mow it. But if it's -- I 23 don't see a problem. I normally take a look at it and try to 24 resolve that issue. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Good. I mean, looks like a good 3-26-07 28 1 subdivision, good development. 2 MR. ODOM: Yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask you a question. 4 What is it exactly that we're adopting here today? A final 5 plat? 6 MR. ODOM: The final plat. They've given a letter 7 of credit. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I see all of this stuff 9 back here. 10 MR. ODOM: Part of it has to do with the -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are we adopting this in the 12 official county record, this stuff? 13 MR. ODOM: Well, the articles are for their sub -- 14 for their homeowners' association. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Correct. 16 MR. ODOM: I don't think that we -- I'm just 17 presenting that to you, that they do have that. And if they 18 do have a homeowners' -- it says in the rules that they are 19 presented to the Court. Normally they don't have it, but this 20 -- this group was very proficient in what they were doing and 21 already had it in place, so I present it to the Court, so -- 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 23 MR. ODOM: -- it's just part of the record, 24 Commissioner. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We don't typically approve 3-26-07 29 1 that. 2 MR. ODOM: We don't approve that. It's just for the 3 record. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We don't approve it, but it's 5 required to be submitted. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand that. I 7 understand that. I just don't want any -- because we're 8 approving today the agenda item, I don't want anybody to think 9 that this court has anything to do with the covenants. 10 MR. ODOM: No, sir. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And about half of this stuff 12 is what that is. 13 MR. ODOM: That's -- it's the articles of their 14 homeowners' association. It's just presented as required. 15 But all we're doing is presenting for a final plat. That's 16 all we're -- you're going to agree to. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Das gut. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions 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: That motion does carry. Let's move 25 to Item 8; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 3-26-07 30 1 appoint county members to the Joint Dispatch Committee. 2 Commissioner Baldwin? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. I'm going to 4 try to talk y'all into amending our order. We had listed in 5 our order members of our committee, including a First 6 Responder. Number one, I don't -- the more I think about it, 7 the more I can't get my brain to tie First Responder to 8 dispatch. There is some there, but it's not a major tie. So, 9 if we did appoint the fire department guy -- he's the Fire 10 Chief of Turtle Creek. He is also a First Responder, so we're 11 getting two for the price of one there. And what I think 12 would be more compatible to this whole program than a First 13 Responder would be to replace First Responder with Ingram City 14 Marshal. The present Ingram City Marshal in particular is 15 well in tune with dispatching issues; formerly owned an 16 ambulance service here in Kerrville many years ago before we 17 moved it into the city. He has expressed interest in serving 18 or helping in some way, and I just thought that that was a -- 19 that's really a better fit than a First Responder, so I would 20 ask you guys to consider that, amending our original order. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have no problem with that. I 22 mean -- 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do you, Bruce? 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I have no problem at all. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Precinct 4. 3-26-07 31 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's a good point. We 2 frequently in these communities overlook Ingram, and I think 3 they need to be included. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And you really got one of the 5 brighter minds out there. I mean, when people have a -- even 6 people -- when people have radio problems -- I was talking to 7 the Fire Chief out at Turtle Creek last night, and he says, 8 "When I have a problem, Rowan Zachary's who I go to." That's 9 who they all go to. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Rowan's been around a long 11 time. He has a lot of experience. I think he'd be an 12 excellent choice. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't have any problem 14 with the concept of what you're advancing, because it probably 15 makes a lot of sense. I'm just wondering about the logistics 16 of how we would do that, since it's not styled to amend 17 that -- amend that court order, and secondly, if, as, and when 18 we get around to changing the court order, do we need to go 19 back to the City? Because they adopted the resolution on a 20 companion basis. I like your approach. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, that's kind of what I see, 22 Commissioner, is that maybe we ought to holler "Whoa" where we 23 are right now, go back and -- 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No question of that. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: -- and rework that order. I -- I 3-26-07 32 1 concur with your thinking, particularly with the individual 2 that -- that you're suggesting. But let's go back and 3 probably get it on the next agenda to rework that order. My 4 understanding of the -- of the representatives on that 5 committee was that there was to be a VFD-slash-First 6 Responder, which gave you the option of one or the other. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That may have been. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Or same person being both. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's the way it is printed, 10 you're right. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, without looking at it, I 12 couldn't tell you, but -- but you're exactly right; City of 13 Ingram, they're very much in the mix of this thing, and they 14 need to be considered, and so if -- let's go back and take a 15 look at that. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Find out again -- 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, if it turns out to be 19 the way it's written, then we don't really have to change it. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We'd have to add someone from 21 Ingram. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You have to add the -- 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Who else from a volunteer 24 fire department do you have? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't. I have my 3-26-07 33 1 suggestion on the table. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't have your suggestion. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If it's VFD-slash-First 5 Responder, why would we have to change it? 6 JUDGE TINLEY: I think -- I think Commissioner 7 Baldwin is talking about amending it to provide specifically 8 that there be a representative from the City of Ingram on 9 there. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Correct. That is exactly 11 right. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: And that would have to be in the -- 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I know that we can't do 14 that today. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I guess -- I guess my 17 thinking is, do you -- is it smarter to move forward with what 18 we do have here? We have -- we have an Auditor and we have a 19 Sheriff, and we have two Commissioners. Or do you want to 20 just scrap the whole thing, come back with a complete package 21 next time? Personally, I'd rather see us move forward with 22 something. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would, too. I'd rather get 24 it -- let's go ahead and pick the people. Then we can work on 25 the amendment, and then we can discuss adding that to it, be 3-26-07 34 1 done with it. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Not -- we're not asking for a change. 3 We're asking for an addition later on to the committee. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Correct. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: That might be appropriate. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that's what the agenda 7 item says, or representatives. So, who's the two 8 Commissioners? Unless somebody else has a -- 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, who wants to do it? 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, we got -- 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Who wants to be the 13 Commissioner representative? 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh, the Commissioner? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have two slots, don't we? Or 16 one? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Two. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You should be one of them. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I should? 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And what kind of thinking -- 22 I mean, what process did you use to arrive at that? 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, first of all, you're 24 sitting right next to me, and that's part of the process. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's a good one. 3-26-07 35 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Secondly, you're involved 2 with the Sheriff's Department in liaison-type matters, and 3 thirdly, you're involved with the EMS and First Responders. 4 If you couple all that together, that makes for a pretty good 5 mix. I think you ought to be one of the two. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He's not Sheriff's liaison, but 7 I agree with your choice, though. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I didn't say he was. I said 9 involved with. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Bill, I took a -- the 11 Sheriff's Department's kind enough to take me out on an annual 12 tour occasionally. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And it was the first time I'd 15 ever ridden in the front seat of a police car. (Laughter.) So 16 exciting. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Did you ever get your 18 ambulance ride? 19 JUDGE TINLEY: This may be your opportunity, 20 Commissioner, to get that ambulance ride in your half of that 21 ambulance. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's right. This is not -- 23 this is a shot, you're right. That's why I've worked so hard, 24 so I thought maybe y'all would appoint me to this thing. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I think -- I think it's coming. 3-26-07 36 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's actually happening. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think, being as Commissioner 3 Williams has so much knowledge of all this, he ought to be the 4 other one. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh, no. The real liaison to 6 the Sheriff's Department is right there. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Oh. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Number 3. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. I just want to be sure 10 that you didn't really want to be there. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, I got enough on my 12 plate, thank you, Commissioner. Appreciate the vote of 13 confidence. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are you sure you want to put 15 Buster and I in charge of something with the City? It's taken 16 us two years, and we still haven't got the ETJ worked out. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, if you consider my 18 relationship with the City on airport matters, you may want to 19 rethink that as well. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Doesn't make any difference to 21 me. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 1 and 3. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 1 and 3. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Makes -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's fine. 3-26-07 37 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. We have the Auditor, 2 Tommy Tomlinson. Or just Kerr County Auditor? Do we have to 3 have a name there? Whoever the Auditor is there? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Tommy. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tommy. Sheriff -- how do you 6 pronounce that? -- Hierholzer. Turtle Creek Volunteer Fire 7 Department Chief Michael Heath, and I think you got some 8 background on him today. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Bright young man. And 11 Commissioner 1 and Commissioner 3. And then next -- that's a 12 motion. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second that motion. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second. Any 15 question or discussion on the motion? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Not necessarily on the 17 motion, but next time, we'll come back with an amendment to 18 the original order to include City of Ingram. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any further discussion on the 20 motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 21 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. Let's move 3-26-07 38 1 to Item Number 9; consider, discuss, and take appropriate 2 action on request by Soler's Tri Sports to utilize a portion 3 of Flat Rock Lake Park for Rio de Vino Triathlon on 4 September 1, 2007. I put this on the agenda at the request of 5 those folks. In looking at the material, the involvement of 6 Flat Rock Lake Park is going to be incidental at best, but 7 because there was even incidental utilization, I advised those 8 folks that I would put it on the agenda. It appears to me 9 that everything is headquartered over at the city 10 Schreiner-Kerrville Park, and then part of their activities is 11 coming across that old low-water bridge, then going down 12 Riverside Drive, which I -- that's a public roadway, though. 13 I can't see that they really have any -- any significant 14 involvement, but I told them I'd present it so that they 15 wouldn't have that to worry about. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree. It seems the impact is 17 more on the Sheriff's Department than anybody else. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Haven't seen anything or heard 19 anything about it. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's a 5-K run and an 18-mile 21 bike ride through -- a lot of it's on state highway, but it 22 does wind down River Road in Center Point a little bit. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: I have -- 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: September? 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I have suggested that -- September 1, 3-26-07 39 1 I think -- suggested that those folks contact Nancy to set up 2 the arrangements as to what all that was going to involve 3 because of the public safety issues, and they indicated they 4 would be doing that. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it's -- a lot of it's on 6 Highway 27. Some of it's on 173, Wharton Road, Riverside, 7 back in that area. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Question. If -- if they did 9 use our park side of the river, are they allowed to overnight? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Oh, no. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They're not going to. Way 12 I'm reading it, they're not going to. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd say the estimate of 300 14 people will be around for this thing. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: That's good news from your 16 standpoint. The Sheriff's got a frown on his face. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sheriff has to chase them 18 all over the county. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And keep them from getting run 20 over. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: September 1's a little late 22 for this kind of activity. You know, all the running stuff's 23 going on right now. You know, marathons are all starting and 24 all that stuff. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll move approval. 3-26-07 40 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll second it. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 3 of the agenda item. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To allow them use of the park. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion? 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That part doesn't bother me. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All in favor, signify by raising your 8 right hand. 9 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 11 (No response.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to 13 Item 10; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 14 request to declare April 2007 as Child Abuse Awareness Month 15 in Kerr County, Texas, and adoption of a proclamation in 16 support of same. Commissioner Baldwin? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. Thank you. I 18 don't see Mr. Billeiter in the room, so I'm just going to grab 19 the ball and run with it. This is an annual request of this 20 Court to name April as Child Abuse Awareness Month, and there 21 in your packet, there is a proclamation that I'd like to read 22 into the record, if I may. "Whereas, nearly 200,000 children 23 in Texas are reported as abused or neglected every year; and 24 whereas, child abuse and neglect is a complex and ongoing 25 problem in our society affecting many children in Kerr County; 3-26-07 41 1 and whereas, communities must make every effort to promote 2 programs that benefit children and their families; whereas, 3 effective child abuse prevention programs succeed because of 4 partnerships among agencies, schools, religious organizations, 5 law enforcement agencies, and the business community; and 6 whereas, everyone in the community should become more aware of 7 child abuse prevention and consider helping parents raise 8 their children in a safe, nurturing environment. Now, 9 therefore, be it resolved the Commissioners Court of Kerr 10 County, Texas does hereby proclaim the month of April 2007 to 11 be Child Abuse Prevention Month in Kerr County, and urges all 12 citizens to work together to help reduce child abuse and 13 neglect significantly in years to come." Dated the 26th of 14 March, 2007, and signed by the Commissioners Court. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that a motion? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That was a motion. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 19 of the agenda item and the proclamation. Any question or 20 discussion on that motion? 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Question. Does this -- is 22 this the time when they tie ribbons around the trees on the 23 courthouse lawn? 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. Don't know that 25 that's going to happen -- yes, we'd like to tie some ribbons 3-26-07 42 1 around the trees as well. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion on 3 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 4 your right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Not quite 9 10 o'clock, so we'll move to Item 11; consider, discuss, and 10 take appropriate action on adoption of resolution and waiver 11 letter concerning TexDOT off-system bridge program for Lazy 12 Valley Road at Cypress Creek, National Bridge Inventory 13 Structure Number 15-133-0-AA02-88-001, Local Designation 14 Number 133-AA02-88-001 Bridge. Commissioner Letz? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think everyone's aware of 16 the -- kind of all that came about because of the Cade Loop 17 project, and all of these are tied together. Each of those 18 bridges, each of these items -- successive items are 19 individually listed. The first three, I think, are in my 20 precinct, this being the first of those. This is a -- 21 probably the best out of my three. It's a highly traveled 22 road and a very busy area. It's -- the bridge is over Cypress 23 Creek, right off of 1341 where it turns onto Stoneleigh. And 24 I move approval. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 3-26-07 43 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 3 of the agenda item. Any question or discussion? All in favor 4 of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's move 9 to Item 12; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 10 adoption of resolution and waiver letter concerning TexDOT 11 off-system bridge program for Bartel, Cypress Creek Loop at 12 Cypress Creek, National Bridge Inventory Structure Number 13 15-133-0-AA02-91-001, Local Designation Number 133-AA02-91-001 14 Bridge. Commissioner Letz? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: As I said previously, this is 16 the second one in my precinct. This is also crossing Cypress 17 Creek. It's a narrow bridge. This one's a little bit -- it's 18 a highly used road and a little bit, probably, more dangerous 19 one from the standpoint of the -- it's a one-lane bridge 20 coming down from a lack of good sight from either side. Only 21 problem on this one is, there are some large cypress trees on 22 both sides of the bridge, and a cypress tree -- one is going 23 to have to be removed. But I think it needs to be done. And 24 just another comment; what we're -- the process, as I 25 understand it, the resolution basically is telling TexDOT that 3-26-07 44 1 we want to proceed with this at this time, and then the letter 2 of waiver is saying that the -- it's in-kind work will be done 3 through the Cade Loop project. That's just -- as I stated 4 earlier, that's kind of why we're doing all these. And move 5 approval. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 9 of the agenda item. Any question or discussion? All in favor 10 of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 11 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. That motion 13 does carry. Let's go to Item 13; consider, discuss, and take 14 appropriate action to on adoption of resolution and waiver 15 letter concerning TexDOT off-system bridge program for Ehler's 16 Road at Guadalupe River, National Bridge Inventory Structure 17 Number 15-133-0-AA02-81-001, Local Designation Number 18 133-AA02-81-001 Bridge. Commissioner Letz? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is one -- it's my final 20 one. Probably the -- it is in the county system. It is a 21 county bridge. We need to do it, but if I had to drop one, 22 this would be the one I would drop. This serves two property 23 owners, two pretty large tracts. One of them is up for sale 24 right now; may get development over there. This bridge is an 25 extremely low-water bridge currently. With the current -- 3-26-07 45 1 well, even before the rains, before we had these rains, it's 2 underwater. It is a -- it is just an old bridge. The river's 3 changed course. It does need to be done. I'll make a motion 4 for approval. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 7 of the agenda item. Any question or discussion on the motion? 8 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 9 hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. That motion 12 does carry. At this time, I will recess the Commissioners 13 Court meeting, and I will convene a public hearing, that 14 public hearing being to abandon, discontinue, and vacate 15 Louise Ehler Road as a County-maintained road, same being 16 located in Precinct 3. 17 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10 a.m., and a public hearing was held in open 18 court, as follows:) 19 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the public 21 that wishes to be heard with regard to the abandonment, 22 discontinuance, or vacation of Louise Ehler Road as a 23 County-maintained road? 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Seeing no one seeking to be 3-26-07 46 1 recognized or otherwise coming forward, I will close the 2 public hearing to abandon, discontinue, and vacate Louise 3 Ehler Road as a County-maintained road, and I will reconvene 4 the Commissioners Court meeting. 5 (The public hearing was concluded at 10:01 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 6 reopened.) 7 - - - - - - - - - - 8 JUDGE TINLEY: And we will go to Item 7; consider, 9 discuss, and take appropriate action to abandon, discontinue, 10 and vacate Louise Ehler Road as a County-maintained road. 11 Commissioner Letz? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is a road off of Lane 13 Valley. It's a -- we've been looking at this for quite a 14 while. It was a road that was modified and moved when the new 15 Lane Valley bridge was built -- bridge was built to allow for 16 alternative access. We got it into our county road system. I 17 don't think there was ever the actual intent. The people that 18 use this road, there are four families plus a community 19 center. They're all aware of it. I've talked to a 20 representative of the families about the public hearing. They 21 are specifically aware of this, and they have also all worked 22 out new right-of-way agreements with Dr. Delmer, who's in the 23 audience today. Welcome, Mr. Delmer. And I will move 24 approval of the agenda item. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 3-26-07 47 1 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and second -- 2 (Discussion off the record.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second for 4 approval as indicated. Any question or discussion on the 5 motion? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just one question, Jon. This 7 Ehler and the other Ehler -- Ehler is two different Ehlers? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They're -- 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The bridge and -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Two different roads. Same 11 family. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Same family? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Different -- 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The bridge is in the Cypress 15 Creek area? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The bridge crosses the 17 Guadalupe. The road does not cross the river. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This runs -- they're different 20 roads. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And the spelling is E-h-l-e-r. 22 It's not my -- it's not the way you spell mine. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But on that item, Commissioner, 24 I'm glad you brought that up. On our next agenda, there will 25 be a name change for this one to avoid that confusion, and 3-26-07 48 1 this road will be renamed Barbary Way. We wanted to get this 2 process done first, 'cause it's much simpler to change a 3 private road than a public road, so it'll be a -- have a new 4 name at our next meeting. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I just have one more 6 question. Commissioner Letz, are you painting your 7 fingernails? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, I'm just -- just kind of 9 smashed them a little bit. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, I see. Okay. He kept 11 flashing -- looked like maybe he was painting his fingernails. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not painting my fingernails. 13 Not yet. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Failing to remove them from the car 15 doorjamb before he closes the door. Any other questions or 16 comments? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 17 right hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 20 (No response.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. We will 22 return to Item 14; consider, discuss, and take appropriate 23 action on adoption of resolution and waiver letter concerning 24 TexDOT off-system bridge program for Crossing Creek at 25 Guadalupe River, National Bridge Inventory Structure Number 3-26-07 49 1 15-133-0-AA02-50-001, Local Designation Number 133-AA02-50-001 2 Bridge. Commissioner Williams? 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Judge. Just one 4 little modification on the agenda item. It says Crossing 5 Creek; it should say Crossing Street, as does the resolution 6 and the -- and the letter. This is the bridge underneath the 7 Center Point Dam. That's an extension of C.P. River Road, and 8 it was designated as crossing road at that point. It's a -- 9 it's a low-water crossing that is in pretty bad shape. Tears 10 up the road because of the structure, which I think only has a 11 couple box culverts, which -- to let the water through. So, 12 the water ponds behind the low-water crossing and makes it 13 very, very difficult for our people to maintain that road 14 coming up the grade by the small park that the County owns. 15 So, I would move approval of this agenda item. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 18 approval. Any question or discussion on the motion? 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: That motion does carry. We'll go to 24 Item 15; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 25 adoption of resolution and waiver letter concerning TexDOT 3-26-07 50 1 off-system bridge program for Camp YMCA-Arrowhead at Guadalupe 2 River, National Bridge Inventory Structure Number 3 15-133-0-AA04-13-001, Local Designation Number 133-AA-dash -- 4 excuse me, 133-AA04-13-001 Bridge. Commissioner Oehler? 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: This bridge is -- is a very 6 low bridge. It's going to continue -- even the replacement 7 bridge will still be as low as possible. But it's so narrow 8 that the buses that take kids into Flaming Arrow as well as 9 Camp Arrowhead have a real hard time getting across there. 10 Should have been done a long time ago, and this is an 11 opportunity for us to fix it. And the residents and people 12 there have been -- I've talked to several of them, and 13 they're -- they're in favor of doing it, as long as we don't 14 make it too big. They like the low -- low deal. Mike Coward 15 and I have met on it, and I support it, and I believe I've got 16 the support of the community, so therefore, I move approval -- 17 make a motion to approve this agenda item. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 21 indicated. Any question or discussion on the motion? 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.) 3-26-07 51 1 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's go to 2 Item 16; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 3 adoption of resolution and waiver letter concerning TexDOT 4 off-system bridge program for Hoot Owl Road at Johnson Creek, 5 National Bridge Inventory Structure Number 15-133-40-AA01- 6 09-001, Local Designation Number 133-AA01-09-001 Bridge. 7 Commissioner Oehler? 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's another one of the 9 bridges. It's on Johnson Creek above Ingram. Every time it 10 floods there, the people are stranded. There's probably not 11 more than maybe 15, 20 people that live up there, but there's 12 so much gravel that comes down that it piles up on top of what 13 is there, which is not really a bridge; we call it a bridge, 14 and it takes Road and Bridge a while to get it cleared off 15 just so people can get in and out. Only way in, only way out. 16 It's -- and I support this project, Hoot Owl Road. I move for 17 approval. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 20 of the agenda item as indicated. Any question or discussion? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I will make one -- a 22 general comment after all these. We've wound through these 23 pretty quick today. This is a big deal. This is a -- I mean, 24 it takes -- since I've been a Commissioner, I think we've had 25 a total of, over the last 11 years, three other bridges built, 3-26-07 52 1 and one of those was an emergency structure at Hermann Sons. 2 We don't get these very often. My hat's off to Bruce Oehler, 3 and I think the Judge was at that meeting also, and to TexDOT, 4 for figuring out -- using -- putting their, you know, thinking 5 hats on and really coming up with an imaginative way to help 6 the entire county. This will basically clean up our inventory 7 of bad bridges throughout the county, and it's being done in a 8 way that that's really not going to cost the county hardly 9 anything because of us being able to swap out services, and 10 along with a project at Cade Loop that's being funded by 11 TexDOT. I think that they have, really, a great program, 12 great opportunity for the County to really save a lot of 13 taxpayers; makes the county a lot safer. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Unbelievable, is what it is. 15 I don't know that this -- I know that it hasn't happened 16 before. I know that it's taken years to get one of those 17 projects done. And this has all come about really, really 18 fast, and -- and has allowed us to basically spend money we 19 were going to have to put in one project; now we're going to 20 be able to spend it on multiple projects. I wish we could 21 come up with this kind of deal more often. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I agree, it has come about 23 fast. I got a call from Mike Coward about my bridge out of 24 the clear blue sky. I didn't know that that was even in the 25 mix. Which is great. 3-26-07 53 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We just got lucky, is all I 2 can tell you. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And also, hats off to Mike 4 Coward and David Casteel in San Antonio. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes. We're very fortunate to 6 have those two as our people for TexDOT in this county. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're absolutely correct. 8 Two great guys. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Truly a win-win situation. The -- 10 with the approval of this one, all of those that we're 11 approving today on the off-bridge inventory is going to be a 12 total of $271,931, which leaves remaining of the 350,000, 13 $78,069, and I'm sure there are enough other bridges in the 14 county that need upgrading that Leonard and -- and you 15 gentlemen can come up with how we allocate those remaining 16 funds. Bottom line is, we're using our money for our own 17 bridges rather than TexDOT bridges, and it works out -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The 271,000 is our 10 percent. 19 This project overall is 2,710,000 for these county bridges, as 20 I understand it. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or comment on the 23 motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 24 right hand. 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 3-26-07 54 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 2 (No response.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's go to 4 Item 17, if we might. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 5 action to post and/or advertise for the hiring of an 6 Environmental Health inspector. Commissioner Oehler? 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We have had, as you well know, 8 a resignation in the Environmental Health Department, which is 9 Miguel Arreola, and he being one of the -- one of two 10 inspectors that we had, I feel it necessary that we advertise 11 for another inspector. Not necessarily a department head, but 12 just an inspector, so that we can continue to go forward with 13 doing timely inspections for people that are requiring on-site 14 sewage facilities. And so, I would -- I would ask that we 15 have Ms. Hyde, our H.R. Director, to come up with a -- with 16 a -- basically, an advertisement for that particular person to 17 be -- be hired, and that does -- those -- those applications 18 be sent to her office. Once they're received, I believe she 19 should do the interviewing and get that person down to at 20 least two, and then come to the Court for approval of one of 21 the two people that she recommends. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Was that a motion? 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's a motion, and it also 24 should be done within the next 30 days. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second, with some comments. 3-26-07 55 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Question 3 or comments? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The comment is -- two things. 5 One of them, you know, as long -- well, as short a period as 6 possible. You said 30 days. You know, put it in the paper 7 this week, see if we can try to get it done within two weeks. 8 The other part is -- and I don't -- we -- I don't know if we 9 can act on it on the agenda item; I think we can put it in the 10 advertisement, is that we've discussed this person needing to 11 be a licensed sanitarian, or at least a desire of the Court 12 for that direction. That's not a requirement of that job, as 13 I understand it right now, though I think that we -- I'd like 14 to see it come back at our next meeting that we make that a 15 requirement for the current person to obtain that 16 certification, and the new hire to have that certification. 17 But that's one -- 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I totally agree, and that was 19 going to be another one of my statements, that that needs to 20 be done, a policy change at our next Commissioners Court 21 meeting, and needs to be on the agenda. I will make sure it's 22 on there and have Ms. Hyde to draft an amendment to our 23 present policy. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: And job description for that? 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And job description for those 3-26-07 56 1 people. I think that's an area that we -- we just discovered 2 some things about this department that I don't think any of us 3 knew for sure, and I believe this is a chance to clean it up. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think -- and I think that 5 it's -- you know, we need to allow a certain amount of time 6 for the person to get -- I don't know how long. Six months? 7 And give time to allow our current person to get it, and new 8 person to get that same certification. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: This is a motion to advertise 11 for a new -- 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any further question or 13 discussion on that motion? All in favor of the motion, 14 signify by raising your right hand. 15 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 17 (No response.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's move 19 to Item 18. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 20 adoption of resolution in support of a portion of House Bill 21 1, which will provide mental health crisis funding. I put 22 this on the agenda in connection with our local civil 23 commitment mental health services. As you'll recall, sometime 24 back, there was a resolution in support of House Bill 654, I 25 believe it was, which would authorize the establishment of a 3-26-07 57 1 -- of an inpatient acute care psychiatric facility to be 2 operated by the local Mental Health Authority because of our 3 loss on a permanent basis of the -- of the mental health beds 4 at Kerrville State Hospital. That, of course, resolution 5 was -- was passed unanimously and sent forward in support of 6 Representative Hilderbran's bill for that purpose. House Bill 7 1 contains the funding provision of that for the mental health 8 crisis provisions of -- under the health services section, and 9 the portion that I'm asking for the Court to adopt in support 10 of the resolution is for that portion. So, this would -- this 11 would fund what we've urged Commissioner Hilderbran to get 12 passed in House Bill 654. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You mean Representative 14 Hilderbran. You said "Commissioner." Representative. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, yeah. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I second the motion. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. I didn't hear a motion. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I thought that you were 19 making a motion. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: No, I didn't make a motion. I'm just 21 telling you why I put it on the agenda. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion to approve 23 the resolution. You second my motion? 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know, man. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not making a painting my 3-26-07 58 1 fingernails policy. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second. Any 4 question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify 5 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. Let me ask 10 the members of the Court, we've got one item that might be 11 appropriate for executive session. Do we want to go ahead and 12 try and do the tail end of the agenda on the bills and so 13 forth, then take our break and come back, and -- 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sure. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. If somebody will get the 16 Auditor for us, we'll try and take up the last portion. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: While we're doing that, 18 Judge, let me distribute some talking papers for the next 19 item. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 21 (Discussion off the record.) 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can I make a motion to pay the 23 bills? 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's get back on the record. I hope 25 we get our Auditor in here -- here he comes. 3-26-07 59 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Here he comes. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We're back on the record now. 3 We're down to Section IV of the agenda, payment of the bills. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion we pay the 5 bills. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to pay the 8 bills. Any question or discussion on the motion? On Page 55, 9 the payment to Tetra Tech, I assume everything's in place for 10 that, Commissioner, for the -- 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's in place, but T.W.D.B. 12 asked for some breakout of the numbers, and so I've got to 13 work it out with them, breaking out expenses for this versus 14 that. Tommy had a memo which he passed on to me, and I'll be 15 taking that up on Friday. We'll get that -- that ready to go. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: We do need to go ahead and authorize 17 the expenditure now? 18 (Commissioner Williams nodded.) 19 MR. TOMLINSON: I've sent a letter to U.G.R.A. for 20 their half, too. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, we do, Judge. We'll 22 get the breakouts taken care of. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Page 34, Sheriff's Department. 24 Vehicle repair, $4,263. Was that one vehicle? 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah, transmission. That -- 3-26-07 60 1 no, I'm sure that's more than one vehicle, Judge. If you look 2 at the bill itself, they're all from Krauss, so it's going to 3 be several. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: There was one bill for 360, and then 5 this one for 4,263. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That very well could have been 7 the transmission. We've had two transmissions -- probably had 8 two go out the last -- 9 JUDGE TINLEY: I would hope that's at least two 10 transmissions. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. We've had two go out the 12 last few months. I'd have to look at the bill itself to tell 13 you. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Who's fixing those? 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's Krauss. That's who works 16 on our stuff. And the reality, Bruce, he does -- our price is 17 better than we could find anywhere else in the county. And we 18 have all of our vehicles on a set preventive maintenance, so 19 everything gets inspected. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rusty, do you -- you don't go 21 out for bid, though, do you? 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: On the vehicle, no. Those are 23 individual. Maintenance is all individual. We had checked -- 24 I'll stand up. We had checked one time, and I don't mind 25 checking again on a contract, like, with the City, the city 3-26-07 61 1 garage. But when we came up with that on oil changes and all 2 that, it really ended up being more, because the amount of 3 miles on our vehicles and the number, and then the City was -- 4 made it very plain that they would do theirs first in line, 5 and ours came second, and I just couldn't go with those type 6 of deals. But, you know, unfortunately -- and that's -- we're 7 late getting the new cars on the road this year, which y'all 8 can tell; you just approved the contract. Normally we have 9 them right after the first, and I do have patrol vehicles 10 still on the road working patrol with 200,000 miles on them. 11 We're just getting -- vehicles are getting older. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I used to think it's something 13 that, during the budget process, we might look at these 14 repairs and things again. You know, 'cause we get into a 15 repair -- I guess you are pretty clear; you can't budget for 16 a repair. But you get into some bid issues when we start 17 spending a whole lot of money on an annual basis on vehicle 18 repairs. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Only other thing I would have 20 to look at, which could be on those, and I just have to look 21 at the bill, some of that is -- could be damage. It would be 22 from where a deer got hit or where the vehicle was involved in 23 a wreck and some other type of damage, and that is the repair 24 bill from that, with the J.D.S. or one of those. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Somebody that's qualified. 3-26-07 62 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Everything I have regarding 2 vehicles comes out of that budget, so I'd have to actually 3 look at the bills. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. While I've got you here, 5 another couple of items. I notice 1,900 in A/C repairs at the 6 jail. We -- I think I made a comment last time that our A/C 7 repairs at the jail seemed to be rather extraordinary. Are 8 those things just -- 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Those air-conditioner units are 10 12 years old, and I think in one of y'all's items, when we get 11 to your department heads, it can be discussed in that if 12 you're going to executive session. But I think that should be 13 a lot better. I don't -- I don't have the maintenance, okay? 14 And, actually, that bill is probably approved by me, but comes 15 out of your Maintenance Department, I believe, 'cause I don't 16 have a maintenance budget for that. 17 MR. TOMLINSON: Right. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But a lot of that is, I think, 19 also -- and the Human Resource person and I talked about it 20 the other day. There is a very good structured preventive 21 maintenance program on that. I think they had gotten -- after 22 Glenn wasn't doing it any more, they got to where they were 23 replacing filters -- and some of those air-conditioner units 24 have eight filters in one unit, and they're replacing them 25 once every 90 days. And that's fine for your house or -- 3-26-07 63 1 or -- I think they recommend 30, but house or courthouse, but 2 that building is running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 3 you've got to invest in the filters and replace them every 30 4 days regardless of the cost. But you're going to have that. 5 We had a couple compressors go out, and I think that's a lot 6 of the reason. We've got to really stay on top more of the 7 preventive maintenance. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree totally. It's the 9 age -- aging of our buildings. We have to address it. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: One more item for you, Sheriff. Our 11 pharmaceutical bills are almost $5,300. My question to you 12 is, is the Indigent Health Care Solutions program, is that 13 bringing the net cost to Kerr County down? 14 MR. TOMLINSON: Oh, yes. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: He would have to answer that, 17 'cause I get the original bill, and it ain't down. But I 18 don't know what -- 19 MR. TOMLINSON: We're paying -- we're paying what 20 Indigent Health Care would pay, even on the ones that are not 21 indigent. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: So, our investment in that program is 23 some, what, $12,000, $14,000 a year additional cost for their 24 administration of that program. We're -- we're getting that 25 back, plus some more. 3-26-07 64 1 MR. TOMLINSON: Because we saved 30,000 on the 2 contract -- on the contract. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I do believe if you look at the 5 overall -- 'cause remember at budget time, we only put, like, 6 80 or so in that budget line. I think if you look at it right 7 now, we're going to be way below, and it's going to run out 8 pretty quick, because there have been some bad medical 9 situations. Two in the hospital over the weekend that 10 actually got admitted to ICU and stayed there for a few days, 11 and those get extremely expensive, and we're going to have 12 some medical issues with that budget line before the end of 13 the year. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments on 15 the bills? 16 MR. TOMLINSON: Vendors aren't liking it, but -- but 17 that's what we pay. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any other questions? 19 Comments? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 20 right hand. 21 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. That motion 23 does carry. Let's move to budget amendments. Budget 24 Amendment Request Number 1. 25 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Number 1 is for Election 3-26-07 65 1 Services from the County Clerk, to transfer $17.12 from Judges 2 and Clerks line item to Election Supplies. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 6 approval. Any question or discussion? Why are we making this 7 amendment? It doesn't show any current expense. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good question. 9 MR. TOMLINSON: She must have one in the works. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 11 MR. TOMLINSON: That she knows -- that she knows 12 about. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any other question or comment? 14 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 15 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. Budget 20 Amendment Request 2. 21 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Budget Amendment 2 is from 22 the County Treasurer to increase line items. One is -- the 23 first one is for Conferences at 540.04. The Books and Dues 24 line item is for 20. Part-time Salaries is for 1,715. Office 25 Supplies for 432.58, Postage for 700, Elected Official's 3-26-07 66 1 Salary of 998.14, FICA for 207.56, Retirement for 238.49, and 2 Telephone for $425. I think she's attached all the 3 explanations you need for that. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Where's it going to come from? 5 MR. TOMLINSON: I would say we just -- we can -- I 6 think we still have enough money in Workers Comp line item to 7 do that. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval, the funds to come 10 from Workers Comp line item. I'm sorry. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Pardon me? 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Whose motion is it? 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't care. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: But you've got the funds coming from 15 Workers Comp? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, I got a motion. Got a second? 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I have a motion and second. 20 Any question or discussion on the motion? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Question. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, sir? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This Number 3, salary 24 expense, is that person working down there? I never see that 25 person down there. I see that person elsewhere. 3-26-07 67 1 MR. TOMLINSON: No, but that -- she doesn't have the 2 funds -- she won't have the funds to hire another person 3 for -- part-time person for the remainder of the year. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So this is -- this is the -- 5 really, the request here is to hire a part-time person -- 6 MR. TOMLINSON: No. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- for the remainder of the 8 year? 9 MR. TOMLINSON: I'm sure she will, but -- or hire a 10 person. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Why are we paying this 12 particular person's name in here when she doesn't work down 13 there? 14 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, they -- the prior -- prior 15 Treasurer used all the funds in the period that she was there, 16 or more than was budgeted for that period of time. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Not sure I understand that. 18 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, she was budgeted a number of 19 hours per week -- 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 21 MR. TOMLINSON: -- on an annual basis, and spent -- 22 spent many more hours than that, and was paid more hours -- 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 24 MR. TOMLINSON: -- than that. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: This indicates the expense was from 3-26-07 68 1 February 1 through March 15 of this year. I think the salary 2 of that individual was being charged to this particular 3 budget, if I'm not mistaken. 4 MR. TOMLINSON: That's true. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Even though this individual, I think, 6 had been used as somewhat of a floater working in various 7 capacities. 8 MR. TOMLINSON: But she needs to replenish that to 9 be able to pay someone for -- for the remainder of the year. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm still not understanding. 11 I think -- I mean, I understand what y'all are talking about. 12 I see the floating issue and we actually talked about that, 13 but it looks like to me that this money that we're putting in 14 here, the $1,715, is to pay prior to today, not anything -- 15 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, it is, but this person was 16 paid from that budget, and there wasn't anyplace, really, else 17 to pay for that person. And so, in order to bring the budget 18 for the part-time salary line item back into -- to enough to 19 be able to finish the year, she's -- she's asking that it be 20 placed back in her budget. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: To finish the year. See, 22 that's where you and I are falling apart. Today is 23 March 26th. This is paid through the 15th. I mean, I'm -- is 24 this for the future? Or is it -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think she -- I think what -- 3-26-07 69 1 let me take a stab at it, see if I understand. What you're 2 saying, Tommy, is that the funds out of that line item were 3 used to pay this individual who was floating around, and to 4 get the funds back into this budget so that they can hire a 5 part-time person in the future. Is that right? 6 MR. TOMLINSON: That's right. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But it's paid through 8 March 15th, which was last week. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. What do we do next 11 month? 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is it fair to assume that 13 this individual is on a different budget now? 14 MR. TOMLINSON: She's going to a different 15 department that she'll be paid out of. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, we got there. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely not. Thank you, 21 Tommy. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Personally, I appreciate the amount 23 of explanation given for this particular budget amendment. I 24 think it was -- particularly as lengthy and detailed as it is. 25 Any other questions or comments? All in favor of the motion, 3-26-07 70 1 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: The motion does carry. Let's go to 6 Budget Amendment Request Number 3. 7 MR. TOMLINSON: Three is for the Sheriff, to 8 transfer $30 from Dispatchers line item to Employee Medical 9 Exams. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 13 approval. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the 14 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 15 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 17 (No response.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Budget 19 Amendment Request Number 4. 20 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Four is for the County Judge, 21 to transfer $95.24 from Miscellaneous to Out-of-County 22 Mileage. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 3-26-07 71 1 approval. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the 2 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 5 (No response.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Budget 7 Amendment Request Number 5. 8 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Five is for Commissioners 9 Court and Nondepartmental. I'm requesting a transfer of 10 461.51 from Workers Comp line item to Professional Services, 11 and it's for the Esquire Deposition for -- 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: For what? 13 MR. TOMLINSON: Esquire Deposition, for the 14 depositions for -- 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 18 approval. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the 19 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 24 Amendment Request 6. 25 MR. TOMLINSON: Six is for County Court at Law. 3-26-07 72 1 This is a transfer for statement of facts for court reporter; 2 transfer $2,741 from Master Court Appointments to Statement of 3 Facts. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 7 approval. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the 8 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 9 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 11 (No response.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Budget Amendment 13 Request 7. 14 MR. TOMLINSON: Seven is for the Juvenile Detention 15 Facility; request from Kevin to transfer 174.60 from 16 Professional Services to Copier Lease. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This takes us through the 18 end of the year on this? 19 MR. TOMLINSON: I don't think so, no. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No? So moved. 21 MR. TOMLINSON: This is for one bill. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 3-26-07 73 1 approval. Any question or discussion? All in favor, signify 2 by raising your right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 5 (No response.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Any more budget 7 amendments? 8 MR. TOMLINSON: No. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Any late bills? 10 MR. TOMLINSON: No. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: I've been presented with monthly 12 reports for Justice of the Peace, Precinct 2; Justice of the 13 Peace, Precinct 4; County Clerk, General and Trust Funds; 14 District Clerk, and District Clerk Amended Report. Do I hear 15 a motion that these reports be approved as presented? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 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. We'll be in 25 recess for about 15, 20 minutes. 3-26-07 74 1 (Recess taken from 10:37 a.m. to 10:53 a.m.) 2 - - - - - - - - - - 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's come back to order, if 4 we might. The only remaining item that we have as an agenda 5 item is Item 19; consider, discuss, and take appropriate 6 action on management reorganization of several departments 7 reporting to Commissioners Court, and hiring a new department 8 head. This was placed on the agenda at the request of 9 Commissioner Williams and Commissioner Letz. If we're going 10 to talk generally about management structure, I think it's 11 probably an open session item. If we're going to talk about 12 individuals, we need to go into executive. But what do we 13 have that we might do in open at this point? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we can talk about the 15 structure, certainly, in open. I guess that's probably 16 appropriate. And we have for several years looked at how we 17 structure some of our departments, and the main ones we've 18 talked about are Environmental Health, Animal Control, 19 Facilities; Parks has always been in here. Flood -- 20 floodplain has actually been in here a couple of times. I'm 21 not sure that's going to be a part of this deal, in my mind, 22 but it may be. And, I'd -- I really thought this was probably 23 going to be more of a discussion we had during our budget 24 period, but because of the resignation of -- of Miguel 25 Arreola, we do have now two departments that do not have 3-26-07 75 1 supervision, essentially, which is the -- or a manager. They 2 have supervision, just don't have a manager. Environmental 3 Health and our Maintenance broad group, which we've split into 4 three small supervisory units. And, you know, I think it's 5 a -- we need to do something on a supervisory or management 6 level. And Commissioner Williams and I met, kind of looked at 7 various options, and put these all out here, and whether we 8 want to hire someone to -- having the broad -- to oversee 9 these areas or not. That's why it's on the agenda. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, this is kind of a 11 follow-up to the Court -- an earlier discussion we had as to 12 possibilities, and so I frame the possibilities here and see 13 where it takes us. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll go back to the maintenance. 15 I think our Maintenance supervisors are fine. I think they're 16 doing an adequate job. We do not have the broad vision that I 17 think -- and I alluded to this during the earlier meeting 18 tonight -- or today. We have aging buildings. We have got to 19 get a handle on our preventive maintenance in all areas. The 20 Ag Barn continues to be something that we could spend, you 21 know, time out there every day fixing things up. But the 22 jail, as Rusty mentioned earlier, is 12 years old; it is a 23 maintenance nightmare. It may be a maintenance nightmare from 24 the standpoint it's a jail with lots of inmates that are 25 trying to tear things up all the time, and it's got aging 3-26-07 76 1 equipment. We, I think, have been kind of lucky, or whatever 2 you want to call it, the fact we have a lot of new facilities 3 in this county. 4 The annex, that's going on what now, 8, 10 years 5 old? The renovation of this building is 8, 10 years old, 6 pretty much when we did all that. The jail's 12 years old. 7 So we have all of our -- or the majority of our buildings, 8 including Road and Bridge and the Extension Office too, 9 majority of our buildings are less than 15 years old or had a 10 major update about 10, 15 years ago, and nothing's been done 11 significant since then. And that's just a -- a problem 12 waiting to happen, so we've got to get a handle on our 13 long-term maintenance of all these buildings. And I think we 14 need a manager to do that, not do it at the supervisory level. 15 And if we can get a better person by putting some other 16 departments under it, so be it. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's kind of where I'm 18 coming from. Framing this out and picking up on what the 19 Court had said in the past, I think it all goes to 20 organization, finding the person that has the skills to do it, 21 and if we need to put more things in the pot to find that 22 right person in terms of salary, then let's see if we can -- 23 let's see if we can make that happen. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think we need to ask two 25 questions. And I -- up front, I want to say to you that I'm 3-26-07 77 1 not totally -- or even opposed at this point to -- to the plan 2 of hiring a Director of Services, but I think we need to ask 3 two questions. Have we looked at each one of these in a 4 precise, magnified way to make sure that we can't make these 5 departments run the way we want them to run with what we have 6 today? And do we want -- the other question would be to ask 7 ourselves, do we want -- I think once we hire a Director of 8 Services, I think we take a step across the line into being 9 known as big government. And I don't know if our -- I know 10 that population growth causes these things, and I know that 11 growth has affected Rusty's department, in particular, 12 tremendously. When there's growth, there's more crime; 13 there's more everything, more people to put in jail. And I -- 14 probably the same thing here. You know, when you get into 15 subdivisions and septic tanks and all that kind of thing, the 16 growth goes on. But I don't know that we have really studied 17 the -- no, I don't like the word "studied" -- just looked at 18 it close enough to come to the conclusion that we need to step 19 across that line into the big government arena. I don't know 20 that -- I mean, I'm saying I don't know. I certainly have 21 not. I'm not saying that you all haven't. But I think we 22 need to ask ourselves those two questions before we take that 23 step. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree, and I -- actually, I'm 25 not there yet either. That's why I think -- in the 3-26-07 78 1 discussion, I think we -- we need to get more management in 2 Maintenance, I know. That, I know we need. And that -- 3 that's all three of the Maintenance -- that's custodial, 4 that's maintenance, and that's Ag Barn. I think we have very 5 good supervisors in that group. We don't have someone with a 6 -- you know, who has the time or the -- I think the expertise, 7 really, to go into a -- a true management, looking long-term 8 at what we need. My problem is that I don't know how we can 9 hire a good person within, you know, the budget, necessarily, 10 of just having it be that one job. And then you get into what 11 Buster's talking about, and I agree with it, big government. 12 I really think that we should be able to find a -- have a 13 working manager of Environmental Health and a working manager 14 of Animal Control, and Animal Control's really working all 15 right, and just try -- we're not quite big enough to cross 16 that line yet. We're getting close. And I'm just -- I'm at a 17 little bit of a loss as to how we fix one without putting 18 someone over all of it to make -- financially make some sense. 19 That's the only way I can get the numbers high enough, in my 20 mind, is to lump some of them together. But I'm not -- if I 21 had to vote right now, I wouldn't vote for it, I don't think. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I appreciate Commissioner 23 Baldwin's comments about big government, but these departments 24 are already in place; these services are already there, and 25 we're not creating these offices, not adding to the 3-26-07 79 1 governmental structure. If anything, we're trying to pull 2 them together to make them more cohesive, and hopefully 3 function better. So... 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I feel like that there's 5 -- there are some things here that probably should be left 6 alone. We should address the ones that seem to be the -- the 7 greatest need. And -- and I do believe that, you know, we are 8 needing someone with some real expertise when it comes to some 9 of these big maintenance issues like we're having with the 10 jail. Those are things that not everybody knows how to deal 11 with, other than just dial somebody up on the phone and have 12 them go fix it. And those -- that building is used 24/7. It 13 is a big maintenance issue constantly, and I'm not sure that 14 we have the people on board that can address all the problems 15 and the needs that come about when they occur. 16 And maybe we need to spend some time writing a -- a 17 job description for an individual like that. And I believe we 18 need to advertise for those kind of -- that person, whoever it 19 is, if we decide to go that route and go through the process, 20 just like it is with every other department. Just like we do 21 an inspector right now, and did the same thing when Ms. Hyde 22 was hired. You know, and that way, when you advertise and you 23 put specifics that need to be performed by that person, and 24 then it gives her a tool to work with to interview these 25 people, do background checks on them, and make sure that we're 3-26-07 80 1 not getting something other than what we're advertising for. 2 But I do believe the advertising process is a very important 3 process to do, and not just think about one in particular 4 individual that may or may not be -- be thought to take this 5 job. 6 As far as Environmental Health goes, I think what 7 needs to happen there is, there needs to be a policy revision 8 and some supervision to make sure that those policies are 9 carried out. That's why we're in the shape we're in right 10 now, is because some of the -- even the policies that are in 11 place haven't been followed. And that's where somebody -- an 12 overseer, manager, whatever you want to call it, you know, 13 would be an important thing in that department, as well as in 14 the Maintenance Department. I think the parks maintenance 15 stuff can pretty well be handled with in-house, kind of the 16 way it is now. Road and Bridge is part of that, plus we have 17 Shel who does some of that, and from what I've seen, he's 18 doing a nice job of it, and doing it for not a lot of money. 19 Still cost-effective. 20 As far as Rabies and Animal Control, Eva and I have 21 spent a lot of time working with them, and they are -- they 22 have come farther faster than any department that I know of 23 that -- that has been getting some time spent on their behalf. 24 And they're -- they're wearing their uniforms, they're locking 25 their trucks. We got the guns behind the seats. They're 3-26-07 81 1 following policy and procedures. They're trained, and they 2 don't need a real big bunch of management. I think, between 3 the H.R. Director and myself, we've been doing it. I believe 4 we can continue to do that, and we have a good working 5 relationship with them. Environmental Health is going to be 6 one of those things that's always a problem. You know, even 7 when you get policies and procedures in place, it is an 8 emotional thing. It is dealing with people's property and 9 their property rights, and -- but at the same time, we're 10 going to have to insure that -- that some rules are followed 11 all the way through where people get what they're paying for, 12 and not be left hanging with substandard things that wind up 13 getting put in the ground that wind up failing. We don't have 14 a lot of those, but we do have some history of that, and I 15 believe that it needs to -- that department could, I believe, 16 be included in maybe the managing duties of somebody that does 17 have managerial skills in with the Maintenance. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's the problem I have, is 19 right there at that point, is the -- how do you find somebody 20 who's truly technically qualified enough in maintenance to do 21 what we need, and then also have -- do Environmental Health? 22 I mean, that's totally different, and I have a real hard time 23 of -- that's where I have a breakdown of the -- of a plan, and 24 that's where we've had a breakdown -- I've had a breakdown 25 ever since the time we've looked at it, is that -- and 3-26-07 82 1 Animal -- you know, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me to 2 put Maintenance and Environmental Health together. I just 3 don't -- I don't see it, unless you put in -- have someone 4 over all of it, and then you're going where -- down the road 5 where Buster's talking about big government. So, you know, 6 it's a -- I see a long-range thing. 7 I certainly don't want to do anything to change 8 anything out at Road and Bridge, but they're in the mix that 9 gets into a lot of these other departments, in my mind. 10 Which, at the point, whenever that may be, that Leonard 11 decides to retire -- I don't want to fiddle with that right 12 now. We've asked Leonard to do a lot; he's doing a lot, and 13 it's working very well, in my mind. But that's the one that 14 you can -- you can do a director of -- quote, of public 15 services type thing out of that department and get that -- the 16 next administrator into -- you know, divide it there. Makes 17 much more sense to me. We might just have to wait. I don't 18 know. I know Leonard's going to be at least, what, four or 19 five more years? Something like that. Maybe longer than 20 that. Who knows? But I think we can get -- probably get by 21 without making a change. 22 And, you know, Maintenance may just need to run -- 23 and Environmental, you know, Animal Control -- as we have 24 been; just get a little bit more involved. I think if we're 25 going to have a Commissioner liaison that's very involved in 3-26-07 83 1 that, as we do with Animal Control, I think it is not fair to 2 have both of those under Commissioner Oehler. I think we 3 might need to look at our responsibilities a little bit. I 4 think Commissioner Williams would be a real good choice to 5 take over that. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with that last 7 statement. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: As it stands right now, I 9 believe Ms. Hyde and I are -- we're going to -- we're 10 continuing to do Environmental Health, I believe, until she 11 decides -- 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sewers, not O.S.S.F. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We'll continue to do it and 14 come up with some new policies and procedures to be adopted by 15 the Court, because that is under the direction of this Court 16 at this time. Now, I think if we give up some of that to 17 someone else, it might not be a good thing right now. I 18 think -- 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with you. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- we need to work into it 21 slowly. And as it grows, there's going to be time that -- you 22 know, we have so much growth going on that we need to be sure 23 that we have enough inspectors to -- to handle the jobs at 24 hand. Because if they're not able to go and do -- and do 25 their inspections in a timely fashion, the prices of these 3-26-07 84 1 systems are going to go up, because you're holding the 2 installers up. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And, I mean, they can't afford 5 to go onto a job and stay there for a week when it should take 6 two, three days. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What -- 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If putting those two 9 together, Environmental Health and -- and Buildings and 10 Facilities together, is not the answer -- and I can see some 11 problems there; I really can, in the work, when you get down 12 to it -- then maybe we need to set up -- instead of looking 13 just for a sanitarian, we need to find a department head. The 14 department has to be managed. Somebody has to be on top of it 15 and take care of the day-to-day and answer to the Court, and 16 be able to provide some direction for the people who they 17 expect to do the work. So, maybe we ought to take a second 18 look at how -- if we're not willing to incorporate it in 19 something bigger, then we got to make it function on its own. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: You're suggesting that maybe on the 21 inspector that we're going to be advertising for, we need to 22 include in that the ability to act as the acting manager of 23 that department? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, I think so, Judge. I 25 think we need to -- if we're not going to -- not -- we're not 3-26-07 85 1 ready to do our broader scale, the revision or amalgamation or 2 whatever you want to call it, then we need to find somebody 3 that has some managerial skills. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: I think I'm probably very close to 5 where Commissioner Baldwin is. I -- I see some needs, but I'm 6 not sure we've got a good enough evaluation at this point to 7 decide exactly where we want to go. We've got -- we've got a 8 vacancy in Environmental Health and some problems there. And 9 it may well be that even though we have a manager of that 10 department, some of these problems are a result -- are the 11 result of a lack of management practices or failure to follow 12 the policies down there. Over on the Animal Control side, 13 there have been some things going on there recently, and 14 between Commissioner Oehler and Ms. Hyde working out there, 15 that -- things are -- things are really, really improving out 16 there, and that thing is -- best I can tell, is -- it's pretty 17 much stabilized, and with significant improvement. 18 Over on the Maintenance side, there's an indication 19 that we -- we may need to do something different. But 20 we've -- we've been fussing with that thing now for about six 21 or eight months, and every few months we're -- we're adjusting 22 it or otherwise maybe moving things around a little bit, and 23 I'm not sure we've given the people that are there really an 24 opportunity to get things settled in enough so that we can 25 really make a fair analysis of that operation because of all 3-26-07 86 1 this moving around. It may well be we need -- we need a 2 Maintenance and Facilities Manager down the road, but I'm not 3 sure we got a good enough handle to -- to go out and plug 4 somebody in at this point to -- as an overall manager of all 5 of these various services. I'm just not -- not sure we're 6 there yet. We need to -- I think the work that Commissioner 7 Oehler's done, both in Environmental Health and Animal 8 Control, more of a hands-on situation, that's shown some -- 9 some significant benefit, and maybe we need to -- including 10 myself, maybe we need to be a little bit more focused on these 11 other operations, and -- and maybe straighten some of those 12 things out. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Before you go to Rusty, -- 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah, I was going to -- 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- I have a comment. On the -- 16 back to Commissioner Williams, Environmental Health, I don't 17 think we want to change and share a supervisor there. I think 18 we may want to keep that in the back of our mind during the 19 interview process, as to how that works. And it may be -- you 20 know, it may work to have an office manager down there, as 21 opposed to a supervisor who's wearing that hat. I mean, an 22 inspector doesn't have to be the supervisor down there, and 23 there are four people down there, and I really think we may 24 want to give that a little bit of a chance to settle. And, 25 yes, it's going to be more work for one of the -- one of us up 3-26-07 87 1 here, and Eva, 'cause I think it will be a little more 2 hands-on for a while, and look internally and see what's there 3 rather than go out and try to hire a supervisor right away. 4 I'd rather kind of lay off on a supervisor, but think about 5 that long-range as we're doing the hiring. That's the only 6 comment I -- and I don't disagree with what the Judge said 7 about getting Maintenance to work a little bit more. It could 8 be in Maintenance, we just need a good, qualified person who 9 understands some of the air-conditioning type stuff that we 10 seem to have a lot of problems with. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Somebody that's certified to 12 do it, licensed. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We could save ourselves 15 probably quite a bit of money. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But, you know, I don't disagree 17 with anything that I'm hearing stated. I think it's -- you 18 know, Commissioner Williams and I put this on the agenda just 19 so we could have this discussion, figure out where we're going 20 to go. And I -- final item in response to something 21 Commissioner Oehler said, there's no -- we have advertised for 22 a Maintenance Supervisor already. This isn't anything new. 23 You weren't on the Court at the time. And I wouldn't have any 24 problem with going out and advertising again, but this isn't 25 an effort at all to put someone in a job without advertising. 3-26-07 88 1 We've advertised, went through all the applications, and kind 2 of sorted through it once, and we, you know, very well could 3 do it again, if we decide to do that. Rusty? 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The only comments -- and I 5 can't comment about Environmental Health or Animal Control; 6 that's none of mine. But maintenance and where I'm going 7 from, and just to let you know, is, of course, it is out 8 there. At the jail -- that's the only one I'll comment -- 9 it's 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And I think we're way 10 past the point we want to do preventive maintenance. There 11 has got to be somebody out there full-time. It's not a 12 part-time job any more. Now, I've got -- and I'll ask -- I 13 was advised that Eva's temporary over that department right 14 now, so she got a grand tour of all our maintenance stuff last 15 week. And part of that is, even going through the regular 16 maintenance stuff, opening up some of the pipe chases and 17 finding water standing in them, you know, with five jailers on 18 duty, I don't have the -- the ability and the time to 19 individually inspect inmates, especially with our population, 20 to go around and check all this stuff. 21 We climbed up on top of the jail. There's -- 22 there's vents up there that are sewer gas vents that actually 23 run by a motor and run 24 hours a day, that even a few months 24 ago, I checked them. You're probably talking 20 or 30 of them 25 up there that belts are off, some motors have burned up 3-26-07 89 1 because they sat there in the rain without belts on them. You 2 know, we've had that. There's -- there's no telling -- 3 probably 100 miles of water line inside that with all the 4 different chases and that, and it's -- it is a drastic 5 full-time -- 6 MS. HYDE: I took the list -- and, I mean, I'm not a 7 maintenance person, but I took -- we walked through Friday in 8 the morning and in the afternoon, probably about five hours 9 worth, and just listed all the things, from simple things like 10 gun lockboxes to the sallyport doors, to up on the roof where 11 you've got 56 exhaust vents, and maybe a fifth of them are 12 working. You know, those type of things where we opened them 13 up and actually looked, where the belts on them have been 14 sitting in the same spot for so long that they're rusted, that 15 they're pulled. The dryers, the dryer maintenance. In the 16 front they're clean; they look great, but you walk around 17 back, again, the belts, the motors, you've got shavings in 18 with where those parts are moving, that I think we've gotten 19 away from some of the preventive maintenance to help save us 20 some money in the long run. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think we ever have. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't think we've gotten 23 away from them; I don't think we've ever done them. And I 24 think you're making the point -- 25 MS. HYDE: Well, I'm trying to make sure, because 3-26-07 90 1 this is -- it's already been brought to my attention. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- we need to do that and 3 see it and advise -- 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's the point I'm making. 5 There was a part-time that helped at one point, but a lot of 6 it is, what they're doing now -- and the Maintenance 7 Department stays busy. They do come out there; I'm not 8 knocking any of them, but we have maintenance request forms, 9 and then there's a check deal of 24 hours, 72 hours, 48, you 10 know, however quickly we need it done, depending on the 11 security. And that is all they do, is come in in the 12 mornings, look at our maintenance request forms, and do 13 maintenance, and then they're out of there. And we've got to 14 have more than that to keep that place running. There's got 15 to be some serious repair. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask you a question. 17 Did you have the Maintenance Supervisor with you on the tour? 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I had -- in the afternoon we 19 did, but I had been advised that she was over Maintenance, and 20 so that morning she came with me alone. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Maybe that's my question. 22 When did she come over with Maintenance? 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I was told last week that she 24 had been put in over -- interim over Maintenance. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not true. 3-26-07 91 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Who's "she"? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: She's writing job descriptions down 4 there, trying to put that together. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I thought Tim was the 6 Maintenance Director. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I did too. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, if y'all are making tours 9 and you're finding things wrong, he needs to be there. If -- 10 MS. HYDE: He was there. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: He was there in the afternoon 12 tour. But I had been told the day before that -- by Eva, and 13 not trying to do anything -- that she had been put over 14 Maintenance interim, and so that's when I invited her out to 15 come look at our preventive maintenance. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I missed a court meeting, 17 then. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I was told she was over 19 Maintenance. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: When you called me about 21 that, I told you I had no recollection that the Court had done 22 that particular -- taken that step. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's why I called. That was 24 after the tour. But that's what I have been told, and that's 25 why I got her out there to see that. Nothing against anybody. 3-26-07 92 1 And then she invited Tim out there Friday afternoon to come 2 back with her, 'cause we hadn't finished Friday morning 3 because of all the stuff. And she was making notes. But that 4 was what I was advised. 5 MS. HYDE: Wasn't that the essence of the executive 6 session the last time? Did I completely misunderstand, and so 7 did Rex? 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The essence being what? 9 MS. HYDE: That you guys asked me to be interim to 10 look over them and to help them and to write job descriptions 11 and to work with those folks out there. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- my recollection is 13 that it was to have you help coordinate them, but not to be 14 over that department. It was to help do job descriptions. 15 MS. HYDE: Coordinate as far as making sure that 16 they were doing what they were supposed to be doing? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, no, no. Making sure that 18 they get moved where -- that -- 'cause Alyce wasn't present; 19 to make sure Alyce got moved to her location, she had her new 20 job responsibilities, Tim had his, and Maria had hers. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think that went to the 22 division of the responsibilities as they exist for the 23 supervisors, and the separation of them. That's the way I saw 24 it, which is about the way you saw it. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Somebody may want to visit with 3-26-07 93 1 Tim, because I think there's a lot of confusion there. Is 2 that -- but the bottom line is, I think it does need to be 3 looked at. I don't know that you could -- I don't agree with 4 Jonathan -- you could ever get somebody that could be over the 5 public service part, the Environmental Health and Animal 6 Control. To me, that's a total different personality and 7 education than somebody over county maintenance. And 8 preventive, I think you're looking at two different people. 9 But I'm getting to the point where I got to have somebody for 10 preventive full-time. 11 (Commissioner Letz left the courtroom.) 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, the thing is, we did 13 it -- without putting Ms. Hyde into doing something, you know, 14 nothing was really going to change, and Alyce wasn't going to 15 get moved, and nobody really had any direction. And I think 16 that's the way -- 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's what I thought we 18 directed her to do, was to see that that happened. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You know, it's not really 20 being the manager of all of them, but also -- but she is being 21 responsible for seeing that those things happen that need to 22 happen with Maintenance. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, there was kind of a 24 reallocation and redesignation. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I appreciate her coming out 3-26-07 94 1 there and actually looking at it. It brings a lot of that to 2 the attention that needed to be brought to -- 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: She's been busy. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: I can understand where the confusion 5 came about. Doing that reallocation and writing the job 6 descriptions, she's got to be in the middle of it in order to 7 be able to do that. But my -- my thinking is, we -- we 8 continue on the Court to be actively involved in what -- what 9 those functions are and how they're carried out, and you're 10 working on new policies for Environmental Health. I think 11 that would be of significant help. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We have some -- we have some 13 ideas of some policy changes that need to be made, and those 14 will be brought to the Court as soon as they're good for 15 approval or for -- for changing or however you'd like to do 16 it, you know. If you have other input, we'd like to hear it. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You know, the way I see that 18 is -- I mean, I kind of see it black and white. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's -- to me, it's not a 21 gigantic thing, but -- because you have the state rules. When 22 you're installing something, it's pretty much in -- written 23 down in ink of what you can do and what you can't do. And 24 that's one of the reasons that -- that we adopted the state 25 rules and didn't go into any more Chapter 10 stuff that allows 3-26-07 95 1 the counties to tack on new rules and that kind of stuff. 2 Let's just get it down simple, adopt the state rules and go 3 on, and keep it as simple as possible. And then the makeup of 4 the office and who's running what, you know, that -- I see 5 that's where you -- you and Ms. Hyde are working, doing -- you 6 know, doing -- I don't know what kind of policies you're 7 talking about. I'm sure that they're there; I just don't see 8 them. But it can't be -- can't be a gigantic thing. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No, it's not. It's not. It's 10 not any real change as far as the -- the model -- model order. 11 This is office policy changes. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And requirements of whoever 14 works down there that they will have certain documentation, 15 that they will do certain things. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see, yeah. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's the direction. Not to 18 mess with the rules as far as the state. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Technical requirements. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. It's just -- it's all 21 just manager -- manager policy. And -- 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Where -- where this person -- 23 this person does this, this, this, and this. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. 3-26-07 96 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's just basically office 2 policies and procedures, and then some -- some documents that 3 need to -- that I believe they need to have in order to be in 4 the position they're in. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Very good. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That need to be -- that policy 7 change needs to be made. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me ask -- 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So it's not real complicated. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The only other thing with the 11 jail maintenance that needs to be considered and kind of 12 causes us problems right now is, a person out there working, 13 if he's going to work inside the cells because of all the 14 water lines, unless I assign a certified jailer with him the 15 whole time he's in there, he's got to be certified as a state 16 corrections officer also. Okay? Otherwise, he can't be 17 around inmates. You know, the locking mechanisms and 18 everything out there, we sent two employees -- the County 19 Maintenance did at one time. One of them's gone. They have 20 to be certified by Southern Steel in all those locks to be 21 able to work on them, so when you start rotating just regular 22 maintenance people, it doesn't work, okay? It really hurts 23 trying to get things done. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Do you have a person that's a 25 jailer that wants to take over the maintenance out there? 3-26-07 97 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. This Court took 2 maintenance out of the Sheriff's budget before I became 3 Sheriff, and I sure ain't complaining about it. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We were thinking about maybe 5 putting it back in. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. No, I don't want it. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is there not a maintenance 8 person there all the time? 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What happened to the -- 11 Sonny? Oh, we moved Sonny to Road and Bridge. What about 12 Shel's brother? What's his name? 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: When -- after Tim was appointed 14 over Maintenance and he asked for an extra person, and he told 15 me there would be one full-time out there, that's when I came 16 in and supported and all on that, but I do not have one 17 full-time. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We had someone quit about 19 six months ago. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think you've had a lot of 21 different changes in whatever different things going at the Ag 22 Barn, different whatever. It's nobody's -- no individual's 23 fault. But no, they come out in the morning, they check 24 everything, and then we have to call them back. And where I 25 really have a problem is when it gets to security. For about 3-26-07 98 1 two weeks, three weeks, I have one of my sallyport doors down, 2 okay? And "down," I mean standing open this far. That is a 3 major security issue, so yes, I screamed, hollered, and did 4 everything else that you can imagine where a door won't shut 5 because it's not tracking right, you know. I mean, those, 6 unfortunately, can't wait. And the deal of, "We don't have 7 the overtime; I got to, you know, wait until Monday," and it's 8 on a weekend, just doesn't work for us. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. I agree with that. 10 I thought we had somebody out there full-time. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think -- and probably no 12 intent on Maintenance; it's just I think the county's got -- 13 what all of y'all are saying; with all the buildings and 14 everything that are around, it is a major, almost, nightmare 15 keeping up with maintenance. And they just -- especially if 16 you want to not just keep up with it, but do some preventive. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: You had a system in place where I 18 believe you had one that was designated out there for -- I 19 believe it was a half day, wasn't it, at one time? 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Year or so ago? Glenn Holekamp 21 had one that was assigned out there for most of the day, and 22 then they'd use him other places, and -- 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And that's the gentleman 24 that quit about six months ago when we did our reorganization? 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: He quit -- that's correct, 3-26-07 99 1 about that same time. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Now, that individual was out there, 3 according to information that was given to me, approximately a 4 half a day every day. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Actually, that individual, when 6 it first started out, was out there full-time. Then it 7 dropped down to probably a little more than half a day. He 8 was a certified corrections officer. In fact, he had been an 9 employee that was a corrections officer, and then that ended 10 up going to work for Maintenance. And then he was called in a 11 lot at night to work on the locks, 'cause he was both 12 certified on the locks and corrections. But he also had some 13 other issues that -- that made it not so favorable. But I 14 think, you know, it's just the age, and it's -- it's obvious, 15 too, that -- when we look at motors and we take off those 16 motors, a lot of those weren't being maintained, those vents, 17 even prior to that individual leaving, okay? I mean, it's a 18 rotation. When you talk hundreds of air-conditioner filters, 19 2 inches thick, and every 30 days, it's major. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. And it's very 21 simple. I mean, it's a simple maintenance schedule. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's a simple maintenance 23 schedule. It's very time-consuming, 'cause on those humongous 24 commercial air-conditioners up there, you have to take off 25 panels, you have to loosen wires and move different things to 3-26-07 100 1 be able to even get those eight filters out. They're not very 2 user-friendly. And then you have to get them back, so it 3 takes a lot of time, okay? It's not difficult work; it just 4 takes a lot of time to keep that stuff going, especially if 5 you're going to change them every 30 days. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Have they not been being 7 changed? 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think they went to doing it 9 -- when the other prior guy -- before he left, when Glenn was 10 around, they were doing them pretty close to every 30 days. I 11 think after that, they've been doing them about every 90 days, 12 and that's when I've noticed -- and I think this Court's 13 probably noticed a drastic increase in -- in problems with 14 compressors and different things on those units, you know. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I need to ask a question at 16 this point, I guess. Did that person that -- when he left, 17 was he replaced by somebody else that doesn't have his skills? 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Ultimately, there was a 19 replacement hired, I believe, but I don't believe he had the 20 same skillset. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think they combined a couple 22 part-time into a full-time, and that person that was hired 23 definitely didn't have those skills. I do have one that is 24 trained on the locks, okay? I think there is still one in 25 Maintenance that's trained, if I'm not mistaken. 3-26-07 101 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's Shane? 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think so. Okay. But I think 3 that's the only one. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It seems to me like this -- if 5 this is the biggest -- the biggest and most important issue we 6 have right now is the jail, that needs to be addressed somehow 7 or another. Maybe we need to -- 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Insofar as things that could be 9 done -- 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: In -- 11 JUDGE TINLEY: -- in-house, I think you're probably 12 right. We've got some other issues. We keep hearing about 13 the windows. It's going to take an old-world craftsman to be 14 able to do something about these windows -- 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No doubt about that. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: -- here in this courthouse. That -- 17 that's not something for in-house type stuff. But the 18 in-house type thing, that jack-of-all-trades type, apparently 19 the jail -- 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: When we do the job descriptions 21 and all that you're talking about, Glenn and I had a deal 22 where we would just call each other on the phone. "Okay, 23 Maintenance takes care of that?" "Nope, I take care of that," 24 like cameras and that. I've been maintaining those jail 25 cameras. Or different things, we just look at it, and without 3-26-07 102 1 that -- you know, just from years of Glenn and I working, it's 2 a little bit different over who's going to get that bill? 3 Who's going to get this bill? When y'all are looking at job 4 descriptions and duties and responsibilities, that would be 5 nice to -- that way Maintenance even knows, "Okay, can I call 6 to get this fixed?" "No, Sheriff's got to." Or it's just a 7 very close working relationship we all have to have. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Sounds like what we need worse 9 than we need a manager, we need somebody to actually do some 10 work for us and save us some money, instead of having to call, 11 you know, other people to do those things. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask -- let me ask the 13 Court a question. A couple of months ago, we were -- we had 14 put in this plan where we were going to bid on the maintenance 15 at the airport, and my recollection says that we moved a 16 maintenance person over to Road and Bridge, and seemed like 17 that maintenance guy at one time was the jail maintenance -- 18 Sonny? 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Sonny had been out at the jail. 20 I've never had a full-time one -- or -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And we have moved him to Road 22 and Bridge, thinking we were going to get this contract to 23 maintain the airport, and he is still over there. And he 24 really needs to be either put back or reassigned again. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He does he needs to come 3-26-07 103 1 back. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. He was doing parks also. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I can't remember -- I know at 4 one time, he was working on the jail. I just -- I don't know 5 how long ago all that was, but I just remember him doing that. 6 And that possibly -- 'cause Sonny's a pretty bright guy and he 7 knows -- you know, he knows what work is. And that may be the 8 answer to fix that thing that we were doing in the beginning. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I agree, he needs to come 10 back. And the idea was, he was transferred over 'cause he was 11 doing parks maintenance, so the idea was we were going to just 12 include parks maintenance -- 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- under Leonard and move 15 this guy over. If we got the airport, that would all just fit 16 in together like so. We didn't get the airport, so he's 17 hanging out there, and I'm not sure -- I guess he's doing 18 parks maintenance, but he also has had some maintenance 19 skills. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And they could probably be 22 used right now. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Changing filters and -- 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- and replacing belts and 3-26-07 104 1 things like that. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Small motors. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. While the jail is the 4 most visible, as Rusty indicates to us, and it probably is, 5 and may even be the more critical right now, I think there's a 6 lot of other -- there's a lot of other areas that need -- that 7 are invisible that need some attention before they come in 8 hard focus like the jail. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: He could come back and be -- 10 be designated at the jail for, you know, six hours a day, and 11 then maybe the other two hours or so, he could troubleshoot 12 some of these other areas. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Maybe. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And when you get some of those 15 maintenance issues done, like changing out belts and motors 16 and stuff like that, that's not something that has to be done 17 again for a long time. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Get caught up, and then use 20 that person to do some other things. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with Rusty. You 22 know, the simple thing of replacing these air filters, that 23 should be on a regular 30-day -- at least 30-day, at a maximum 24 30-day. It should just be on a regular system. First of 25 every month, you go change the filters. 3-26-07 105 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. I guess we kicked 2 this dog to death. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, how do we get Sonny back? 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It'll take a court order. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Ask for him back. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Maybe we can get our H.R. 8 lady to do that. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: I think it's going to take a change 10 in the personnel schedule, so we'll need to bring that before 11 the next court on moving him back over to the Maintenance 12 Department. He's currently apparently assigned to Road and 13 Bridge. That's something we need to investigate. 14 MS. HYDE: So, do you want to move him back as a 15 maintenance person under Tim, or do you want him to be the 16 jail person? Or is Shane going to be the -- 17 MR. ALFORD: Do you got just a second? If y'all can 18 stop, they sent me to tell you the bottom of the courthouse is 19 flooding. They're wanting to ask Road and Bridge -- water's 20 all coming in off Sidney Baker. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That means the pump's out. 22 MR. ALFORD: The pump's out. The computers are 23 fixing to flood. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Have you tried to push that 25 reset button on that pump? 3-26-07 106 1 MR. ALFORD: Might work. I'm just letting y'all 2 know. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Has Maintenance been 4 notified? 5 MR. ALFORD: Yes, sir, Maintenance is running 6 through themselves, but John just called wanting sandbags, and 7 I thought before I call out the National Guard, I'd better let 8 somebody know. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: John wants sandbags? 10 MR. ALFORD: Yes, Trolinger. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: They have the I.T. guy now 12 running the Maintenance Department. 13 MR. ALFORD: So, anyway... 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He's into sandbags now. 15 MR. ALFORD: So, would y'all like for me to call 16 Road and Bridge? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're on our way. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Anybody got anything to offer 19 on that agenda item? 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything further to come before the 22 Court this morning? 23 MS. HYDE: Do you want him to come back for the 24 jail? Or what do you want? 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Maintenance for now. 3-26-07 107 1 MS. HYDE: Just maintenance? 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Maintenance for now. Anything 3 further? We'll stand adjourned. 4 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 11:40 a.m.) 5 - - - - - - - - - - 6 7 STATE OF TEXAS | 8 COUNTY OF KERR | 9 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 10 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my 11 capacity as County Clerk of the Commissioners Court 12 of Kerr County, Texas, at the time and place 13 heretofore set forth. 14 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 29th day of 15 March, 2007. 16 17 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 18 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 19 Certified Shorthand Reporter 20 21 22 23 24 25 3-26-07