1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Regular Session 10 Monday, April 9, 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 April 9, 2007 2 PAGE --- Visitors' Input 5 3 1.1 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 4 request of Clear River Advocates to hold Guadalupe River Parade at Flat Rock Lake Park 5 on August 18, 2007 8 6 1.2 Review, discuss, take appropriate action on resolution to be sent to AACOG to apply for grant 7 funding for Juvenile Probation Department 11 8 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on proposed contract with Freese and Nichols, Inc. 9 to perform assessments of Flat Rock Lake Dam and Ingram Dam, authorize County Judge to sign same 16 10 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to amend 11 Court Order #30082 regarding Joint Dispatch Study Committee to include Rowan Zachary, Ingram City 12 Marshal 22 13 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to appoint Ron McCutcheon as Kerr County representative 14 on the AACOG Criminal Justice Advisory Committee, and appoint Bill Hill as the alternate 22 15 1.6 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 16 acquiring additional right-of-way on Hermann Sons Road from Guadalupe River to Highway 27 24 17 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to accept 18 exchange of right-of-way for the end of Upper Turtle Creek Road and open the new portion of road 27 19 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 20 authorize County Judge to approve public hearing held on March 26, 2007, and issuance of financing 21 or bonds in an amount not to exceed $4,100,000, and construction of student residence facilities project 22 as required by Internal Revenue Code 33 23 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on procedure change regarding final inspection 24 paperwork on OSSF systems 36, 51 25 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) April 9, 2007 2 PAGE 4.1 Pay Bills 41 3 4.2 Budget Amendments 42 4.3 Late Bills -- 4 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports -- 5 1.7 Public Hearing for Revision of Plat, Falling Water, 6 Lots 130, 130A & 127R 51 7 1.11 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action regarding interim Environmental Health Management 8 (Executive Session) 60 9 5.2 Reports from Elected Officials/Department Heads 62 10 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments 80 11 --- Adjourned 103 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 On Monday, April 9, 2007, at 9:00 a.m., a regular 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 (Commissioner Letz not present.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. 8 Let me call to order this regular meeting of the Kerr County 9 Commissioners Court scheduled for this time and date, Monday, 10 April the 9th, 2007, at 9 a.m. It is that time now. If you 11 would, please rise and join me in a moment of prayer. 12 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you very much. Please be 14 seated. At this time, if there's any member of the public or 15 the audience that wishes to be heard on any item which is not 16 a listed agenda item, we'd ask that you feel free to come 17 forward at this time and tell us what's on your mind. We 18 cannot respond, but we can sure as the dickens listen. If you 19 want to be heard on a listed agenda item, we'd ask that you 20 fill out a participation form. They're located at the back of 21 the room, or at least should be. If you've not filled one of 22 those out and we get to an agenda item that you want to be 23 heard on, get my attention in some manner, and I'll see that 24 you're recognized and have your opportunity to be heard. But 25 at this time, if there's any member of the public or the 4-9-07 5 1 audience that wishes to be heard on any matter that is not a 2 listed agenda item, come forward at this time and tell us 3 what's on your mind. Mr. Goebel? Give your us your name and 4 address, please. 5 MR. GOEBEL: Yes, sir. Good morning, everybody, and 6 good morning, gentlemen. I'm Steve Goebel, by the way, and I 7 live at Midway Road in the Precinct 4 portion of Kerr County. 8 Number one, I want to thank y'all for everything you're doing. 9 Keep up the good work. Y'all are very patient. I thank you 10 for everything. In a nutshell, I'm here to discuss issues 11 concerning ESD 2 out in our corner of Kerr County. As some of 12 you may be aware, a few weeks ago, I sent out a little 13 questionnaire to residents and citizens of ESD 2, that list I 14 obtained from the Voter's Registration office downstairs in 15 this building. I asked the respondents to choose one of three 16 options because of continuing problems with ESD. Choice 17 number one for them was to fix the ESD, and to mandate the 18 election of ESD Commissioners. Choice number two was to just 19 disband the ESD, and parenthetically, I would consider that 20 just an experiment that didn't work out. Choice number three 21 was to leave things as they are. 22 I'm only here today to report the results of my 23 survey. People who were content with the status-quo numbered 24 about 30-some-odd. People that were -- people that chose to 25 just disband the ESD numbered about 30-some-odd, virtually 4-9-07 6 1 identical numbers. And people that wanted to fix the ESD 2 numbered over 100. So, in a nutshell, four out of five people 3 in ESD 2 were unhappy with status-quo. Three out of five want 4 to work to make something better. The overriding issue for 5 me, and for many others in our district, is the fact that the 6 ESD commissioners are appointed and not elected. Because they 7 are appointed, they do not answer to the citizens of ESD 2. I 8 would like to work with the County Commissioners, with the 9 County Attorney to see if there are better alternatives to 10 what exists right now. If need be, and finally, I would like 11 to request that this become an agenda item at some subsequent 12 meeting. So, gentlemen, thank you. Any questions, Judge? 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. We appreciate you 14 coming here and being with us today, Mr. Goebel. 15 MR. GOEBEL: Okay. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: As always, we thank you for your work 17 out there. Is there anyone else that wishes to be heard on 18 any matter that is not a listed agenda item? 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Being as that this is an item 20 y'all can't respond on, this is probably the best time for me 21 to make you aware of something. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Uh-oh. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: In the last three weeks, thanks 24 one to high water, and one to an accident that could have been 25 serious, the Sheriff's Office has had two patrol cars totaled. 4-9-07 7 1 And it's just something that, one, the water at Coronado and 2 27 got sucked into the engine, and insurance has already 3 totaled that car. And that was a 2005 with 50-some-thousand 4 miles on it. And then late Thursday night, over by the state 5 park, one of my sergeants was legally parked on the side of 6 the road on the shoulder -- off on the shoulder, and was 7 rear-ended by a couple teenagers, and that totaled that patrol 8 car. Officer was treated and released; he is back at work, 9 but I'm sure insurance is going to total that one, which is 10 leaving me a little short right now. But I will be coming 11 back. I have three vehicles that were seized vehicles that 12 maybe we can trade in along with whatever insurance helps -- 13 gives us on those two patrol cars, to where what I will have 14 to be asking for in a future agenda is trying to replace at 15 least one so that I can keep a spare car in case we have some 16 break down. And I do have two that are having to have 17 transmissions replaced right now, just because of the age. 18 They both have over 150,000 miles on them, and we'll take care 19 of that in budget. But those other two, I'm going to have to 20 come back and visit a little bit, see if we can do something 21 before the end of the year. Thank you. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Sheriff. Anyone else have 23 anything to bring to our attention that relates to something 24 that is not a listed agenda item? Okay, let's move forward, 25 then, with our agenda. The first item is to consider, 4-9-07 8 1 discuss, and take appropriate action on a request of Clear 2 River Advocates to hold the Guadalupe River Parade at Flat 3 Rock Lake Park on August 18th, 2007. Mr. Marvin Willis, come 4 forward, please, sir. 5 MR. WILLIS: Morning, sir. Morning, Commissioners. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: And if you'd give us your address, 7 please? 8 MR. WILLIS: I reside in Ingram at 160 Ingram Hills 9 Road. And it's simply just as stated; we'd like to move our 10 location for our parade. We've been doing it over behind 11 Chili's and Showers of Flowers across from Walmart. The 12 parking is inadequate over there. It's getting a little bit 13 dangerous, we believe, to have the crowd, you know, in and out 14 of that area. And we believe that the area over here would be 15 much more suitable for the parade and for families to be in 16 there, and their safety. Our purpose for the parade, I think 17 some of you know, is to raise money for cleaning the river. 18 And, of course, we'll be continuing to do that, and I think 19 we'll raise more money over in this location. We've pretty 20 much broke even on the parades the last four years; this is 21 our fifth year. We'd like to make a little money. So, that's 22 pretty much what we're asking for, just an opportunity to move 23 to Flat Rock Park. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just a couple questions, 25 Judge. Marvin, how are you? 4-9-07 9 1 MR. WILLIS: I'm good. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I've participated in your 3 parade before, and appreciate the good work you do. 4 MR. WILLIS: Yes, sir. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just a couple questions with 6 respect to the use of Flat Rock Lake Park. 7 MR. WILLIS: Yes, sir. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: There are some limitations 9 down there. I know that they would offer you some 10 improvements, particularly boat ramp and things of that 11 nature. There's only one location where there's power, and I 12 noted you're talking about a band, which requires, obviously, 13 some electricity and hookup for amplifiers and so forth. 14 You're aware of that? 15 MR. WILLIS: Yes, sir. Power -- 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're aware of where the 17 location is for that? 18 MR. WILLIS: No, sir. I went over there looking for 19 it; I couldn't find the power, but we do have generators if it 20 is a problem. Last year we were going to have -- the City was 21 going to come out and put power sources for us, but they never 22 showed, so we ended up using generators, and we still have 23 those. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. And the only other 25 thing -- the only question, while I'm sure that you're 4-9-07 10 1 planning to cover it, I don't see it mentioned in your letter. 2 That would be the cleanup after the event. 3 MR. WILLIS: Absolutely. Goes without saying. All 4 the volunteers will make a sweep of the entire area by the end 5 of the parade, so... 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval of the agenda 7 item as presented, Judge. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and second for 10 approval of the agenda item. Any question or discussion? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a point to make. 12 MR. WILLIS: Yes, sir? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This issue of having 14 electricity for bands, have you ever heard of bluegrass music? 15 MR. WILLIS: Yes, sir. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do you know how many 17 bluegrassers it takes to screw in a light bulb? Three; one to 18 screw in the light bulb, and two to stand there and gripe 19 'cause there's electricity. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh. (Laughter.) 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You may want to consider 22 bluegrass. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well put. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: We appreciate your efforts, and 4-9-07 11 1 you've been plugging on this thing for five years now, and it 2 keeps growing a little every year and getting a little bit 3 more attention. We appreciate your efforts -- 4 MR. WILLIS: Thank you, sir. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: -- in respect to the river. Any 6 other questions or comments on the motion? All in favor of 7 the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Thank you, 12 Mr. Willis. 13 MR. WILLIS: Well, thank you very much. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just have your floaters be 15 careful of the stumps out there. 16 MR. WILLIS: Oh, yeah. Y'all have a good morning. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. Let's move to Item 18 2; review, discuss, and take appropriate action on a 19 resolution to be sent to AACOG to apply for grant funding for 20 the Juvenile Probation Department. Mr. Davis? 21 MR. DAVIS: Yes, Your Honor, Commissioners. 22 Briefly, we have about $50,000 a year that comes from Title 23 IV-E money, which is federal grant money. That money is used 24 for drug and alcohol evaluations for our children, 25 assessments, drug and alcohol classes, parenting classes, 4-9-07 12 1 psychological evaluations, and for our tutoring program, our 2 PAE program. Being that that is a federal grant, it is 3 obviously a nonstable source of funding. We fear losing that 4 funding. For that reason, I'm trying to do some preventive 5 maintenance for that program -- for these programs, and keep 6 them. 7 (Commissioner Letz entered the courtroom.) 8 MR. DAVIS: And that being applying for money from 9 AACOG, with the assistance of especially Rosa Lavender; she's 10 been kind of holding my land and leading me through this 11 process. And we're going to apply -- actually hope to work on 12 this this afternoon. We've got our numbers together to apply 13 for the AACOG funds, and we would ask that the Court approve 14 the resolution, which is a required part of us applying for 15 these funds. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: The -- the proposal that you have 17 before us would not require any matching funds from Kerr 18 County; is that correct? 19 MR. DAVIS: That is correct. This is -- there's no 20 matching funds. There's no obligation for the County to 21 obligate any current or future funding for these programs. 22 We -- the goal of my department is for these programs to find 23 funding through outside sources. Hopefully we can continue 24 the federal grant. If they can't continue, then the AACOG 25 money, in the event that -- just kind of -- in the event that 4-9-07 13 1 we're able to retain the federal IV-E money that we have now, 2 we would use the -- if given, and that's a very big "if," but 3 if received, if we receive any funds from AACOG, that would 4 pay for these programs, and then the IV-E money could go pay 5 for other department programs, such as our 4-H program that's 6 in development now, and then hopefully we can apply other 7 things towards department expenses, with the goal of 8 eventually reducing some county expense through state and 9 federal funding. But, no, there is no requirement for any -- 10 if we lose funding for these programs, they go away, and so 11 that is why it's in our best interest for me to find funding 12 from outside sources. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How many years have you -- 14 have you gotten this grant? 15 MR. DAVIS: Federal IV-E? Three to four, 16 Commissioner. I can't give you exact. It came before I was 17 here, and so -- but I believe three or four years. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Did you say Title III or 19 Title IV? 20 MR. DAVIS: It's actually Title IV-E. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Title IV-E. 22 MR. DAVIS: Yes, sir. It's actually a foster care 23 program. It goes through Protective and Regulatory Services, 24 and goes from the federal level to P.R.S. to T.J.P.C., and 25 then down to us. 4-9-07 14 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, real good system. It's 2 not totally substance abuse related? 3 MR. DAVIS: Oh, no, sir. No, there's -- IV-E -- are 4 you talking about IV-E, or are you talking about our programs? 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What we're applying for 6 today. 7 MR. DAVIS: No, sir. Substance abuse, psychological 8 evaluations, parenting classes, and tutoring programs. This 9 is where we've spent the bulk of our IV-E money in the past, 10 and we would like -- but it's for all of those areas. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. You mentioned 12 possibly having to take away from the -- your 4-H program. Is 13 that something new, the 4-H program? Is that something new 14 in -- 15 MR. DAVIS: That's correct, yes, sir. That program 16 is -- we actually hope to start classes in mid-May at the 17 advisement and recommendation of Juvenile Board, and 18 specifically Juvenile Board Judge Tinley, chairman. We have 19 developed a program -- or are developing a program with Roy 20 Walston with the Kerr County Extension with 4-H; specifically, 21 we have an employee that is a non-County-paid employee, so no 22 other drain on County assets. That's coming specifically out 23 of this IV-E fund program. We're also looking for our grant 24 funding for that position and for that program. We have a 25 curriculum we're developing now. In fact, we already have the 4-9-07 15 1 first two phases of a 12-phase curriculum completed. In fact, 2 we may have three now; I haven't spoken with Carla yet this 3 week. And then that program, we hope to start classes in 4 mid-May, beginning of June at the absolute latest. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. I don't know of 6 anything more beneficial than a 4-H program. 7 MR. DAVIS: Yes, sir. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Jason, the amount you're 9 applying for is 50,000? 10 MR. DAVIS: It's actually 50,000 -- 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Or a designated amount? 12 MR. DAVIS: Right now, Commissioner, we are at -- it 13 depends. I have to talk to Rosa. I have an exact -- we have 14 two figures right now. One is about 39,000; the other is 15 47,625. It depends on where we're going to fall. I realize 16 it's a huge difference, but the variable there is our 17 psychological evaluations. How many are we going to apply 18 for? What success are we going to have if we apply for 38 and 19 hope that we get something, or shoot for 47? And, again, I'm 20 kind of going by -- 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Shoot for 47 and see where 22 it takes you. 23 MR. DAVIS: That's what we're trying, Commissioner, 24 yes, sir. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 4-9-07 16 1 MR. DAVIS: Thank you, Commissioners. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions for Mr. Davis? 3 THE CLERK: There's no motion. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: We don't have a motion. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move that we approve the 6 resolution. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and second for 9 approval of the agenda item and the resolution. Any further 10 question or comment? All in favor of that motion, signify by 11 raising your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Thank you, 16 Mr. Davis. 17 MR. DAVIS: Thank you, Judge. Thank you, 18 Commissioners. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 3; consider, 20 discuss, and take appropriate action on proposed contract with 21 Freese and Nichols, Incorporated, to perform assessment of 22 Flat Rock Lake Dam and Ingram Dam, and authorize County Judge 23 to sign same as applicable. I put this on the agenda when the 24 proposed agreement came in. I realize that we had approved in 25 principle the -- the assessment of these two dams; however, 4-9-07 17 1 when we got the contract, I felt it was necessary to bring 2 that exact instrument before the Court, and I sent it down to 3 the County Attorney for his review and evaluation and 4 analysis. And I think he's got some questions or concerns, 5 based upon the number of post-it notes that were stuck on the 6 copy that he sent back up to me. Do you want to weigh-in on 7 this, Rex? 8 MR. EMERSON: Just several concerns, primarily about 9 the subcontractor that they're going to use. And the way the 10 contract's written specifically allows for three days of 11 testing by -- I think it's Olson Engineering or Testing. And, 12 you know, my concern is that we are -- are we relying on the 13 sun, the moon, and clouds, or do we have something in writing 14 from them? Have they evaluated the site? You know, where's 15 this number coming from? Because the penalty to the County if 16 they exceed that amount is pretty extensive, and will 17 definitely push us over the bid requirements, which although 18 it's not initially included, would cause a problem. The other 19 minor issues concerning indemnity to the extent allowed by the 20 law and so forth are easily taken care of, but that's 21 primarily where most of my questions came from. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I noted that same thing, 23 Judge, in the compensation, where if Olson Engineering 24 requires more than three field testing days, each additional 25 day costs 4,000. Well, we didn't authorize that 4,000, and 4-9-07 18 1 each additional day after one would take us well over the bid 2 -- bid threshold, so maybe we need to get that clarified. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, I would agree with you. 4 There's some -- other than a couple of minor technical legal 5 issues on the indemnity and so forth, I think that -- I don't 6 know what the Court's preference on that, how they want to 7 handle it, how you want to handle it. If it's approving it 8 subject to the County Attorney working that out, or passing it 9 for now and -- and getting some more information on how we're 10 going to nail down that subcontractor's performance, and 11 whether or not we have to come back and specifically amend the 12 contract, or -- 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I was going to suggest that 14 I -- that if the Court wishes, I'll get in touch with 15 Mr. Stefan Schuster, who put this together, and see if we can 16 talk that out so that there's not a contingent liability here 17 for us that would throw us over the bid threshold. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Why don't you just delete the 19 sentence? 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, that could -- that 21 could render the testing incomplete, you know. We don't want 22 the testing incomplete either. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, but I think that puts it 24 on them that they're going to complete the testing for 24,6. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's fine. That's what 4-9-07 19 1 it'll be. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, that's -- I don't think 3 there's any -- to me, my recollection is that this is a -- 4 that is the amount. There was no "what-ifs" in their 5 presentation. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well -- 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They agreed to do the testing 8 for that amount of money, period. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. If not, we're going to 10 put it out for -- I mean, we can't do anything. We'll put it 11 out to bid. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Do we just delete that, Rex? 13 Or do you need to work it out with him? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- 15 MR. EMERSON: You can delete it and send it back 16 that way. They may or may not accept it. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I suspect they will. 19 MR. EMERSON: You certainly have the power to just 20 modify the contract and delete it. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Doesn't make a difference to me 22 how you get there, but to me, that's a solution. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, if that's the number, 24 that is the number. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, of course, that provision of 4-9-07 20 1 the contract specifically states total fee for basic services 2 shall be the lump sum of 24,6. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: That's certainly what was 5 contemplated, but you do have that subcontractor thing hanging 6 out there. I don't know; whatever the Court's pleasure on 7 that, how they wish to proceed. Pass and bring it back with 8 some refinements? That may give the County Attorney an 9 opportunity to work up some of the technical legal issues 10 also. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Fine, do it that way. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's fine. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Anything else to be offered in 14 connection with that agenda item? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, and if -- there's no 16 reason to bring it back to the Court, as long as they put the 17 contract to what we originally talked about. County Judge is 18 authorized to say -- 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Want to approve it 20 contingent on that? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Didn't we already -- 22 JUDGE TINLEY: We -- the contract was not presented 23 to us. We agreed in principle to the 24,6 for both dams, with 24 the subcontractor doing the -- the methodology that's 25 specified. But I felt like it was necessary, since we had a 4-9-07 21 1 specific contract, to bring it back before the Court. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Then work it out and bring it 3 back again. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'm a little concerned that 5 they've bid so close to 25,000 just to keep from having to go 6 to -- go to public bid on this thing. That -- that's a little 7 concerning to me, that if they're going to bid that close, 8 that there's someone else out there that -- that does this 9 same thing that might do a better job. Or is that just -- we 10 just have a -- 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't know if there are 12 any other subs that do this particular nondestructive testing 13 like Olson Engineering does. That, I don't know. There are 14 others like Freese-Nichols who have dams as a specialty. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: We were furnished with a list, as I 16 recall, and most of them were considerably out of the area. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: And would involve some additional 19 expense for travel. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: As long as they follow the -- 21 what our wishes are. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: As long as they don't go 23 over 25, we're within the framework of the law. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I agree. It's just -- it's 25 close. 4-9-07 22 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Do you want to approve it 2 contingent? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think bring it back. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Let's bring it back. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Anything else on that one? 6 Let's move on to Item 4; consider, discuss, and take 7 appropriate action to amend Court Order Number 30082 regarding 8 the Joint Dispatch Study Committee to include Rowan Zachary, 9 Ingram City Marshal. Commissioner Baldwin? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. Well, it's very 11 simple and straight to the point. It's my understanding that 12 the proper way to do this is to amend that court order and 13 include Mr. Zachary's name in it, and then we send it to the 14 City of Kerrville for their approval. Don't really understand 15 why we'd want to send it over there, but that's fine; no big 16 deal. But I move that we -- that we approve the agenda item. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 19 approval. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the 20 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 21 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 23 (No response.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. We'll move 25 to Item 5; consider, discuss, take appropriate action to 4-9-07 23 1 appoint Rob McCutcheon as the Kerr County representative on 2 AACOG Criminal Justice Advisory Committee and appoint Bill 3 Hill as the alternate. We had a prior representative that 4 resigned some time back, and we're trying to get those 5 appointments filled, so I put this matter on the agenda. Rob 6 McCutcheon had been the alternate. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: And since our primary rep has not 9 been serving, Mr. McCutcheon has been kind enough to attend 10 those meetings and to serve in that capacity, and so the 11 logical thing that seemed to be appropriate was to appoint him 12 as the representative, and then fill his alternate slot then 13 with -- with Bill Hill, who's with the -- in charge of the 14 crime task force, as it were, with the Sheriff's Office. He 15 may have a different title out there, but that's the function 16 that he fulfills, so -- 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 20 approval. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the 21 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to 4-9-07 24 1 Item 6; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 2 acquiring additional right-of-way on Hermann Sons Road from 3 the Guadalupe River to Highway 27. Commissioner Letz? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. I apologize, I don't have 5 any backup on this. I intended to have something to hand out, 6 but things just didn't go right this weekend. Two issues 7 here. One is -- the primary issue, Hermann Sons Road doesn't 8 hit Highway 27 at a 90-degree angle; it hits at a pretty good 9 angle pointed towards Comfort, and there has been one fatal 10 accident there because of that. I won't say because of that; 11 someone pulled out and got broadsided. It's a very hard angle 12 to look back. A lot of people out there are elderly, 13 obviously, and a lot of times, you know, their necks are 14 stiffer. (Laughter.) Anyway, it's a dangerous situation. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Your neck will get stiff too 16 someday. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand what you're 18 saying, Jon. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My neck's stiff already. But -- 20 but Len and Mike Coward and I met out there a week or so ago, 21 and TexDOT is willing to probably pay for the majority of the 22 cost of the re -- of the dirt work, moving a portion of it. I 23 met with the property owner, and he's willing to work with us 24 on the right-of-way portion of it to basically shift the 25 intersection about 50 feet to the west. This -- the second 4-9-07 25 1 part of this is, when we did the new bridge construction 2 there, we had hoped at the same time to widen the right-of-way 3 all the way from Highway 27 to the bridge. At the bridge, it 4 goes to 60 feet, but from the bridge to Highway 27, it's 5 30 feet. Very, very narrow. However, because of the problems 6 we were having with Mr. Tijerina at that time, we finally -- I 7 finally decided we just need to get the bridge done, and worry 8 about the right-of-way later. 9 I've also talked to two of the three property owners 10 that may be involved in that. One is Mr. Roerig, who owns the 11 entire west side of Hermann Sons, and we'll be dealing with 12 him on this other issue. Also Mr. Avalos, who owns almost all 13 of the other side of the road. A little corner up there is 14 owned by King -- Roger King Estate. Mr. Avalos and Mr. Roerig 15 are willing to work with us on the long right-of-way portion. 16 I don't think that it's going to be a donation. We're talking 17 about -- to get it to 60 feet, which Len and I feel we need to 18 do that, it's a 2-acre acquisition. There's no money budgeted 19 right now. The agenda item is basically to authorize the 20 County Engineer -- or County Surveyor, excuse me -- County 21 Surveyor to go out there, survey it, get with Len, figure out 22 exactly what the safest alignment is, if it's better to get 23 Mr. Roerig's property on the west or Mr. Avalos and the King 24 property on the east which works best, and come up with a 25 plan. And this will be something -- depending on what the 4-9-07 26 1 acquisition cost is, it will probably be in next budget year, 2 probably. Trying to get everything locked up this year. 3 Len, do you have in your budget somewhere around 4 $1,000, or -- assuming that might be the cost out there to get 5 surveying done. So, I mean, I think it could be done in his 6 budget, though he doesn't have, obviously, the money to do the 7 work. The reason -- there is just a -- and we'll look at this 8 when we're doing the surveying. There are three very large 9 trees in the Roerig property that are -- people don't like 10 losing big, big oak trees, and these are -- they're big, big 11 oak trees. And not live oak -- actually, one's a live oak and 12 two are post -- two are post oaks, and they're right on the 13 property. That's why it may be better to go over onto the 14 Avalos property, but that will all be looked at. I think it 15 really needs to be about safety more than anything else. This 16 is to get approval to authorize the County Surveyor to go out 17 there and do the preliminary work as to what needs to be 18 acquired and how much acreage we're talking about and what the 19 exact alignment should be. I'll make a motion for that 20 authority. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 23 indicated. Any further question or discussion on that motion? 24 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 25 hand. 4-9-07 27 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to 5 Item 8; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 6 accept exchange of right-of-way for the end of Upper Turtle 7 Creek Road and open a new portion of that road, apparently 8 located in Precincts 1 and 4. Mr. Odom? This is a matter 9 that we've looked at before, isn't it? 10 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir, we had this before, and it was 11 a legal question at that point, as well as the metes and 12 bounds. We've just received the metes and bounds for this 13 realignment. The landowner at the end of Upper Turtle Creek 14 asked to move the roadway away from his house. He constructed 15 a new road, paid for the survey and field notes, and will 16 dedicate the right-of-way to Kerr County. Kerr County deeds 17 the old road back to him. At this time, we ask the Court to 18 accept the documents as presented and have the County Attorney 19 do whatever's necessary to complete the transaction. I hate 20 to put that on Rex that way. I just -- I'm not that familiar 21 with the -- all that needs to be done, but I would assume -- 22 last time we were trying to have another -- his attorney to do 23 some of this, and that was the holdup that we had before, but 24 as well as the metes and bounds were not done at the time. 25 So, I'd ask the Court to authorize -- accept this road so that 4-9-07 28 1 I can open it, and to have the County Attorney draw up any 2 legal documents that we need to do to quitclaim that back to 3 the property owner. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 7 approval. Any question or discussion? Mr. County Attorney, 8 have we gone through any requirements that may be necessary in 9 order to hold public hearings or abandon roadways, or 10 petitions or any of that falderal that's necessary when we get 11 to dealing with roads that are previously dedicated public 12 roads? Have we accomplished all of that? 13 MR. EMERSON: The response to that would be, I don't 14 remember, Judge. This issue's been going on for probably a 15 year and a half. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Longer than that. 17 MR. EMERSON: I do not remember if all those hoops 18 were jumped through a long time ago or not. I do know what 19 Len was saying is correct, that at one point we were waiting 20 an extensive amount of time for his attorney to prepare a 21 document, and everything just kind of stalled. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: One of two -- 23 MR. EMERSON: And so I don't remember. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: I've got a very faint recollection 25 that there was -- there was one of two processes that might 4-9-07 29 1 possibly be followed, one of which was a petition, another of 2 which would have avoided a petition. And then there was some 3 postings involved, and I just don't remember where all that 4 came down. 5 MR. EMERSON: Be more than happy to go back and 6 look, but I don't remember. I'm sorry. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Any -- any other question or 8 comments? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, those are good 10 questions. I'm wondering -- you know, the question I'm 11 hearing you -- or the question I'm hearing is that, is there 12 public hearings on closing a public road? 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Closing, abandoning, whatever. 14 Discontinuing, yeah. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're really not -- 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There's another word that's 18 in there. 19 MR. ODOM: Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Seems like that every time 21 that we've ever done that, we have had a public hearing. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: We may have had one, Commissioner. 23 And -- and there was -- and this is from faint recollection. 24 I think it was suggested that there were two different methods 25 to do this, one of which would have been the traditional 4-9-07 30 1 petition, the posting and public hearing and all the other, 2 and another was an alternative method. And, frankly, I don't 3 recall where we came down on that thing, and I -- you know, 4 I'm not trying to create an obstacle. I just want to make 5 sure that -- 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: -- if we're going to finalize this 8 thing, we've done everything we need to do up to that point so 9 that we can finalize it, and somebody's not pointing at 10 something that did or didn't take place previous to the 11 finalized -- 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, I agree with you 100 13 percent. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It appears to me that from 15 past experience on this, too, you're not really -- all you're 16 doing is rerouting the county road, is all you're really 17 doing, so you're not taking away anything from the public's 18 right to travel on the road. All you're really doing is just 19 making a separate -- separate roadway and abandoning one and 20 creating another one that allows the same access to all the 21 properties. I don't -- 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's not really abandoning a 23 road. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's not really abandoning a 25 road. Abandonment -- 4-9-07 31 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're abandoning the 2 right-of-way in favor of the person who gave you -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Quitclaiming the right-of-way. 4 MR. ODOM: Quitclaiming. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So I don't see there's any 6 problem with doing that. I think the public hearing ought to 7 only come in when you're -- actually when you've been 8 petitioned and -- 9 JUDGE TINLEY: To close a road. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: To close a road and 11 discontinue county maintenance. 12 MR. ODOM: Yeah. 13 MR. EMERSON: To the best of my memory, the only 14 impediment that we had was waiting on the landowner to deed 15 the property where the road -- the new road was constructed. 16 We had the road and it was built, but the property -- or the 17 easement had not been deeded, and I think that's where we were 18 stalled out. 'Cause the road's actually been constructed for 19 some period of time, but there was a problem with the transfer 20 on the property. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, obviously, we wouldn't want to 22 deed back the old road to the property owner until we, 23 concurrently with that, had -- had the new dedication, the 24 right-of-way deed. 25 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. 4-9-07 32 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I'm wondering if we 3 should approve this contingent on the County Attorney just 4 researching that, particularly about public hearings. That's 5 what bothers me more than anything. But I think Bruce is -- 6 that all sounds correct. It's just almost too simple. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Makes too much sense. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I understand, Commissioner. 10 THE CLERK: There's a motion and a second. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: I need a motion? 12 THE CLERK: Buster made the motion. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Do you want to make your motion 14 contingent on the County Attorney verifying that, then? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Verifying at least the 16 public -- 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No need for a public 18 hearing? 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, the no need for a 20 public hearing issue. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or we did one and just don't 22 remember that we did it. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. We may have, 'cause 24 it's been going on a little longer than a year. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 4-9-07 33 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Did you amend it? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I did. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll accept that in the 4 second. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Any other questions or 6 comments? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 7 right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to 12 Item 9; consider, discuss, take appropriate action to 13 authorize County Judge to approve the public hearing held on 14 March 26, 2007, and the issuance of financing or bonds in an 15 amount not to exceed $4,100,000 and the construction of 16 student residence facilities project as required by Section 17 149(f) of the Internal Revenue Code. I put this on the agenda 18 at the request of Mr. Fred Gamble at Schreiner University in 19 connection with their program that's underway to create a new 20 residence hall out there. And in order for them to get in 21 position to get favorable funding -- I assume it has to do 22 with tax increment bonds and things of that nature. There's a 23 requirement under the Internal Revenue Code that -- actually, 24 I think it's that the -- the approval of the highest elected 25 official of Kerr County. And I didn't feel comfortable 4-9-07 34 1 without bringing that to the Court to at least get the Court's 2 awareness of it and approval of it. It's a technical 3 requirement, a hoop to jump through in order to -- to assist 4 them in obtaining these funds at a better rate. The -- the 5 resolution, specifically the approval, is solely for the 6 purpose of -- of complying with that section of the code, and 7 neither the County nor the County Judge shall have any 8 responsibility or liability for the financing of the project. 9 That's the express language of the -- of the resolution. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are these H.U.D. bonds? 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Pardon? 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: H.U.D., Housing and Urban 13 Development. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm not -- I'm, frankly, not sure. 15 There's a -- there's a higher education finance corporation 16 that they're dealing through. I assume there is some sort of 17 government underwriting or -- or guarantee in some manner that 18 allows them to obtain a more attractive interest rate in 19 connection with -- with this financing of bonds that they're 20 going to be issuing. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second for 24 approval of the agenda item. Any question or discussion? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I got a question. It says in 4-9-07 35 1 there that it has to go before the highest elected official in 2 the county? 3 JUDGE TINLEY: That's what it says here. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you telling me that you 5 don't think that you're a higher elected official than us? 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, what I'm telling you is I 7 brought that matter to the Court 'cause the Court needs to 8 know what I'm doing, if I'm -- if I'm going to do it, and I 9 want you to be aware of it and I want you to approve it. I 10 didn't feel comfortable just signing my name on the line. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So you -- 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Even though, apparently, he did. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What I'm hearing you say is 14 that you're kind of equal to us deal. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm one of five. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, I'll third that motion. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or comment? All 18 in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 21 (No response.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Got to watch these judges, 24 especially when they're attorneys. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Lawyers. Yeah, got to watch 4-9-07 36 1 them. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 10, if we might. 3 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on procedure 4 change regarding final inspection paperwork on O.S.S.F. 5 systems. Commissioner Oehler? 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I put this on the 7 agenda. In fact, I don't know where the -- we had the backup 8 for this in written form of what we were proposing, and it 9 somehow didn't get put in the packet. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is this related to the executive 11 session item? 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: This is related to the problem 13 that we had down in Environmental Health of people not getting 14 their -- their permit to operate the septic system after all 15 of it was completed. Either the -- either the designers 16 and/or the installers were not bringing the as-built drawings 17 in. The consequence of that was a whole shelf full of people 18 who had not received their permit to operate because of that 19 being undone. And so now we're changing that policy, which is 20 not -- which was pretty much the same for a while. Miguel, I 21 think, modified it. But change it back, basically, to if they 22 don't -- if those drawings are not presented at the time of 23 the final inspection, they will not get that inspection done 24 until they do get that paperwork so that the job could be 25 finished, the file be closed, and the people get their permits 4-9-07 37 1 to operate. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What was -- what was 3 happening down there before? 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: What was happening was that 5 Miguel was not demanding that these final as-built drawings be 6 turned in, and consequently, we wound up with a whole -- how 7 wide? -- about that wide of a shelf full of open files, that 8 those -- that documentation had not been furnished. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: But did he go ahead and do 10 the inspection, even -- 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: He did the inspection. The 12 job was complete. People were operating the septic systems 13 without a permit. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, or license. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. It's actually a permit. 16 Used to be license, but same thing. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They didn't know it. They 19 paid for the service, and the job had been done, but they 20 never received their permit or license to operate. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can we -- 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Because the final drawings 23 weren't presented. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do we have any leverage against 25 the designers-slash-installers to get this backlog work -- you 4-9-07 38 1 know, can we do anything to them? 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's already been worked 3 through. We only have about three, I think, outstanding since 4 we threatened to send letters. Three or four cases, and I 5 think one of those has left town, and one's in jail or 6 something. So, you know, it has actually handled itself by 7 just -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- the fact that -- that we 10 were going to have the County Attorney and Environmental 11 Health send those letters. The other -- the other part of 12 this policy that is going to be -- if we -- if we agree to it, 13 is that, for some reason, if they slip by and they don't get 14 it in on the system, and we find they got to final inspection, 15 but, "Yeah, we'll give it to you Monday," or something like 16 that. Well, they don't do it, and they, say, have two weeks 17 to get it done, and no more than 30 days. But the catch is, 18 they will not get a permit to construct any system that's 19 upcoming until they bring the one from the last one. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. That's what I was 21 getting at. And that's -- can we do that? 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They're not going to get away 23 with this any more. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We can do that? 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah, we can do that. We make 4-9-07 39 1 the policy for Environmental Health, and they're policies and 2 procedures. It's not really modifying the -- I mean, this is 3 office policy. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's not changing the rules 5 at all. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No, not changing the rules. 7 Just making it to where, when people are paid to do a job, 8 they finish the job. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They're procedural -- 10 procedural changes. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's procedural changes. And 12 Tish wrote the -- the new procedure, so between Tish and Eva, 13 it was done, and it's in formal form. I can't believe it's 14 not in here, 'cause I saw it on Wednesday, but that's what it 15 says. If you'd like for me to go get it, I can go get it and 16 let you read it before -- 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Why don't we do this; we'll go ahead 18 and -- and work through some other things, and then at the 19 break -- and come back after the break, maybe, and we can take 20 some final action. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'll get the copies of that, 22 because I do have them. I thought they'd be in the packet. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's fine. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that acceptable to everybody? 4-9-07 40 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Sure, it is to me. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I think probably at this 3 point, let's go ahead and deal with our bills and budget 4 amendments. We've got a public hearing to do at 10:00, and 5 we've got an executive session item, it looks like, is mainly 6 what we've got left. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I apologize for being late this 10 morning. Can I ask you just -- not to change, but to go back 11 to whatever the first item was? 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have a comment, 'cause I 14 received information on that that I was given from U.G.R.A. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Clear River Advocates? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, okay. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I received an e-mail from Ray 19 Buck at U.G.R.A., and they're also doing their Boy Scout joint 20 cleanup that same day, and they had a -- a concern about that. 21 The Clear River one is a -- you know, I guess family-oriented, 22 as is the Boy Scout one. Since they're going to be doing -- 23 both are being done at the same time, and there was some 24 issue -- or concern, I guess, that -- you know, that they were 25 compatible type events. Not that they felt that they -- I 4-9-07 41 1 mean, they didn't have any reason -- and I have the e-mail 2 here to pass around. It says that I have banners already 3 reserved for that day for the Boy -- the joint U.G.R.A. Boy 4 Scout -- 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He was in the audience. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Ray was? 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I talked to him before, and 8 he's okay with it. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. His concern was just that 10 they were compatible from -- 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He's okay with it. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Plenty of river to clean up, I would 14 think. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't -- oh, yeah, it wasn't 16 an issue. It was more the compatibility of events, rather 17 than lack of work to do. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Ought to work together; they'd 20 get a lot more done. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's -- let's get to the 22 Auditor's issues, Section IV of the agenda, if we might. 23 Payment of the bills. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I move we pay our 25 bills. 4-9-07 42 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and second to pay the 3 bills. Any questions or comments? All in favor of the 4 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. We'll move 9 to budget amendments. Amendment Number 1, request from Road 10 and Bridge. Mr. Auditor? 11 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 1 is for Road and Bridge, and 12 this is -- this amendment is to increase the budget by the 13 amount of some O.R.C.A. funds, $15,360.43. And we've added 14 that to the Paving line item for Road and Bridge. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The lion's share of this 16 money was for recovery of -- of our expense in rehabilitating 17 somewhat the Loyal Valley and Frederick and so forth, and we 18 got those moneys back from O.R.C.A.; is that correct? 19 MR. TOMLINSON: That's correct. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: All right. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: And that was -- most of that was 22 paving work that was accomplished. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Where the ditches were dug, and -- 25 MR. TOMLINSON: That's why we're adding it back to 4-9-07 43 1 that line item. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any 6 question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify 7 by raising your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Budget 12 Amendment Request Number 2. 13 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 2 is for the County Judge to 14 transfer $90.69 from Conferences, Dues, and Subscriptions to 15 Out-of-County Mileage. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 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: That motion does carry. Budget 25 Amendment Request 3. 4-9-07 44 1 MR. TOMLINSON: Three is for the 198th District 2 Court. We need to transfer funds from Court-Appointed 3 Services, $3,444.08, $3,015.67 to Civil Court-Appointed 4 Attorney line item and $428.41 to Court Transcripts. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any 8 question or discussion? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What -- 10 MR. TOMLINSON: This is a C.P.S. case. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Who normally does the 12 transcripts for that? C.P.S.? 13 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, this is -- the court reporting 14 is -- is -- I believe is a different -- yeah, this is a 15 different issue. This is for another case. The -- the item 16 for the civil Court-appointed attorney line item is for a 17 C.P.S. case, and the transcripts are for a different case. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Who normally does 19 transcripts? The court reporter? 20 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 198th? 22 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And so we pay them a fat 24 salary, and then we turn around and pay for them to 25 transcribe. We pay them twice for the same work. 4-9-07 45 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Same song, second verse. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The Legislature may take that up 3 this session. Or may not. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: There's a bill in the 5 Legislature. Not that -- 6 JUDGE TINLEY: The court reporters' lobby is highly 7 visible over there also. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Hard at work. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? All 10 in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 11 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 13 (No response.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: By way of information, our reporter 15 for this court, you will note, stays within her bracketed 16 salary and provides this Court with all sorts of transcripts, 17 and we don't get a bill for those. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That is true. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We've noticed that, and we 20 thank you. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I haven't heard of her 22 running to Austin to oppose any kind of bills, either. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Tells me she doesn't have time to go 24 to Austin; she's cranking out these transcripts. Budget 25 Amendment Request 4? 4-9-07 46 1 MR. TOMLINSON: Four is for the Jury Fund, to 2 transfer $446 from Juror Fees to Court Interpreters. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 6 approval. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the 7 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's move 12 to Budget Amendment Request Number 5. 13 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 5 is for the Juvenile 14 Detention Facility, transfer of $3,550 from Professional 15 Services to Copier Lease. This amendment is to cover 16 expenditures for the remainder of the budget year. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We didn't have a copier lease? 18 MR. TOMLINSON: I don't know what happened. 19 Apparently not. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 23 approval. Any -- any question or discussion? Apparently, it 24 was not something that was included in your -- in the original 25 budget? 4-9-07 47 1 MR. TOMLINSON: No, it wasn't. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. They didn't have a copier, and 3 they had a need to acquire one during the course of the budget 4 year. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think that's what 6 happened. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? All 8 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 9 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 11 (No response.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to 13 Budget Amendment Request Number 6. 14 MR. TOMLINSON: Six is for the Tax 15 Assessor/Collector, to transfer $3,142 from Capital Outlay to 16 Software Maintenance. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It appears that the backup 18 letter says that the federal -- federal folks have mandated 19 a -- something to do with H.A.V.A., to Help America Vote. 20 MR. TOMLINSON: That's correct. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And so we're -- we're paying 22 for it. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What I'm curious about is 24 that last sentence in Ms. Bolin's backup statement regarding 25 need for this. Due to the fact that they -- that the software 4-9-07 48 1 company only has six clients, they have substantially 2 increased their maintenance for next year, at which time they 3 plan on discontinuing the voter package. Then what? 4 MR. TOMLINSON: I think that there -- that we have a 5 choice of one; a choice of going to -- I think it's a state -- 6 some software package maintained by the -- I think it's by the 7 Secretary of State's office. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: That's the so-called TEAM -- 9 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: -- package? 11 MR. TOMLINSON: That's the reason they only have six 12 clients right now, is because most counties have already gone 13 to that software. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: To the TEAM? 15 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Why don't we go to the TEAM? 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Good question, Commissioner. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's what I was getting 19 ready to ask as well. Why not go there now? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I know it doesn't function, but 21 I'm not -- better not say anything. If it doesn't function, 22 it's the State's -- I mean, the State should fix it. If it's 23 mandated by the feds, let them pay for it. I don't even know 24 what the purpose of this is. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Why should we not be in as bad of 4-9-07 49 1 shape as the rest of the state? Is that what you're telling 2 me? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Basically, yeah. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Two bad options; being in 5 bad shape, or spending $3,300. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not sure why -- the purpose of 7 this as to how it's going to benefit the taxpayers of Kerr 8 County. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: I think you may have zeroed in on the 10 issue there, Commissioner. We're going to spend over three 11 grand of our taxpayers' money to solve a problem that the 12 State hasn't solved for the rest of the state. But who -- 13 everybody else is willing to stay in the soup with them, I 14 guess. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 239 counties? 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Can we have Ms. Bolin take a 17 second look at this, maybe? 18 MR. TOMLINSON: Sure. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Maybe -- maybe we could, after the 20 break, come back and take another look at that. 21 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, I don't know -- let me look at 22 this bill. Actually, this -- this is in advance. This 23 payment is for software for 4-1-07 through 3-31-08, so it's 24 not for services rendered. It's for -- 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. So, services 4-9-07 50 1 anticipated. 2 MR. TOMLINSON: It's for a contract, yes. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: I think there's less incentive on 5 behalf of the State if counties go out and start buying 6 something that gets them off the hook. 7 MR. TOMLINSON: I think so. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Are we going to sit tight on that one 9 for a little bit, gentlemen? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 13 (Discussion off the record.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any other budget amendments, 15 Mr. Auditor? 16 MR. TOMLINSON: No, that's it. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Do we have any late bills? 18 MR. TOMLINSON: No. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Any monthly reports? We don't have 20 any of those, okay. Why don't we go ahead and take about a 21 15-, 20-minute recess; we'll come back and pick up that public 22 hearing and then finish up the rest of the agenda. We'll be 23 in recess. 24 (Recess taken from 9:56 a.m. to 10:17 a.m.) 25 - - - - - - - - - - 4-9-07 51 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's come back to order, if we 2 might. We were in recess. We'll be back in order. And at 3 this time, I will recess the Commissioners Court meeting and 4 convene a public hearing for the revision of plat for Falling 5 Water, Lots 130, 130A, and 127R, as set forth in Volume 6, 6 Page 393, Volume 7, Page 29, and Volume 7, page 260 of the 7 Plat Records, and located in Precinct 3. 8 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10:17 a.m., and a public hearing was held in open 9 court, as follows:) 10 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the public 12 that wishes to be heard in connection with the revision of the 13 plat for Falling Water, Lots 130, 130A, and 127R? Any member 14 of the public wish to be heard with respect to that item? 15 Seeing no one coming forward or otherwise seeking to gain my 16 attention, I will close the public hearing for the revision of 17 plat for Falling Water, Lots 130, 130A, and 127R, and I will 18 reconvene the Commissioners Court meeting. 19 (The public hearing was concluded at 10:18 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 20 reopened.) 21 - - - - - - - - - - 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's come back to Item 10, if we 23 might. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 24 procedure change regarding final inspection paperwork on 25 O.S.S.F. systems. Commissioner Oehler, I believe we've got 4-9-07 52 1 the backup material now? 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You do have the backup 3 material, and Tish is here. If you'd like to address that, 4 that would be fine. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've got a question, Tish. 6 MS. HULETT: Yes, sir. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: To kind of get this thing 8 going, I guess. In your recommendation, you list four items, 9 and item number one, inform the professionals of the final 10 scale drawing reflecting the actual installation. Does that 11 mean that the system has been installed and in the ground 12 before we require the final scale drawing? 13 MS. HULETT: Usually with the planning materials, 14 they will submit a drawing of what the plan is, where it's 15 supposed to go. And the problem is that a lot of times, you 16 get out to the site, and they may have made some changes and 17 they may have laid out the drainfield a little bit 18 differently; lateral lines might be, you know, shorter in one 19 area, longer in another. And our -- what we would like to get 20 from the installer or the designer of the system is an actual 21 drawing of what was installed, because the homeowner really 22 needs to know that later in the event they want to plant trees 23 or put a building up, a patio, and so it's very important to 24 know exactly where the components of that system were 25 installed. 4-9-07 53 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, we're requiring them to 2 provide that actual drawing of the components after it's put 3 in the ground? 4 MS. HULETT: Yes, sir. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 6 MS. HULETT: And we -- as indicated in Number 2, we 7 really would like to receive that final drawing at the time of 8 the final inspection, or prior to the final inspection. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 10 MS. HULETT: So when the inspector is there, they 11 can actually see how it differs from the original plan. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. That's kind of where I 13 was going in my thinking. Seems like that we would want to 14 know -- we'd want to see -- actually see that the drawing is 15 what's in the ground, and compare it to that drawing. Now, 16 what happens if you go out there to inspect and you see 17 components doing different things, and then your drawing -- 18 the drawing is different? 19 MS. HULETT: We usually will make notes of any 20 changes that are observed at the time of the inspection, and 21 we make our own rough sketch of -- of what we see. So, when 22 we -- and we inform the installer at the time that we will 23 need a final drawing in order to complete their paperwork. 24 And then, once their paperwork comes in, we review that 25 against our notes so we know that it's what we saw before we 4-9-07 54 1 actually issue the permit to operate, and send a copy of that 2 drawing to -- to the owner. That's been our process. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Tish, at final inspection, what 4 is the -- the system is installed. Is it all covered up and 5 cleaned up? 6 MS. HULETT: No, everything's -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Everything's still open? 8 MS. HULETT: Everything is still open. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm a little unclear on one 10 thing, Tish. I listened to Commissioner Oehler earlier 11 explaining this. Is it our intention to have the as-builts in 12 your hands at the time you make the final inspection? Or 13 after you make the final inspection? 14 MS. HULETT: It is preferred to have it at the time 15 of the final inspection, but sometimes that is not always 16 possible to achieve, because an installer may be working with 17 a designer who may not be available to -- to do it right at 18 that time. And so we've kind of been working with people to 19 allow them -- excuse me -- the time to present that drawing to 20 us. The problem is -- is that we're not getting them in a 21 timely manner, and that's why we were wanting to set this -- 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I understand that, and 23 that's good. We -- I just want to be sure that I understood 24 what our intention is, because I look at the language in 25 Number 3, and it says if it is not received within 10 days of 4-9-07 55 1 the final inspection, which suggests to me that they can have 2 an inspection and still wait 10 more days or whatever -- 3 MS. HULETT: Well, we were just trying to -- 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- for the as-builts. 5 MS. HULETT: -- to select a time frame that we 6 thought would be a workable number. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 8 MS. HULETT: To allow them time to get that to us. 9 And then if we don't receive it within a timely manner, then 10 we would send a notice to the homeowner to make sure that 11 they're aware of what is still missing, so hopefully the 12 homeowner can also pursue that with their -- either their 13 installer or their designer to help put some pressure to -- to 14 get what we need. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Based on your experience up 16 until now, do you think this will correct the problem? 17 MS. HULETT: I think it will. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Looks good to me. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I move the approval. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 23 of the policy changes as presented -- procedure changes, I 24 guess is probably a better terminology. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 4-9-07 56 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion on 2 that motion? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: One more question. 4 MS. HULETT: Yes, sir? 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If you go out for the final 6 inspection and you have your little drawing of what you see 7 there, then they cover it up, and they have the authority to 8 present you with some changes? After you leave, then they 9 change some stuff? 10 MS. HULETT: They shouldn't be changing anything. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's what I want to hear 12 you say. 13 MS. HULETT: No, sir, they should not be changing 14 anything. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, what you inspect and 16 approve is the deal? 17 MS. HULETT: Yes, sir. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: When she does the final 20 inspection, then they can then cover it up. I mean, that's 21 what they're waiting for that so they can cover and finish the 22 job. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The Commissioner's question 24 prompts one more. 25 MS. HULETT: Yes, sir? 4-9-07 57 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In the event of a situation 2 like Commissioner Baldwin just said, do you make field notes 3 at that point during your inspection so that when -- when the 4 final as-builts come in, that you compare your field notes 5 against as-builts? 6 MS. HULETT: Oh, absolutely. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 8 MS. HULETT: We have a specific checklist that we go 9 by for each type of system that we inspect. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 11 MS. HULETT: Yes, sir. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I remember years ago -- 14 several years ago, this Court -- there was a problem of people 15 having to wait -- wait on us to get out to inspect the thing, 16 and I remember the Court encouraging you all -- and it may 17 have been prior to you. I'm sorry, I can't remember when. 18 But it was a scheduling issue, of scheduling with these people 19 of when you're going to be there to inspect. Is that all kind 20 of working out, this time frame issue? 21 MS. HULETT: It has been. I'm a little concerned 22 right now, because we're just down to me, and it could become 23 a problem if we don't get a -- you know, a second inspector. 24 Right now, we're trying to change some procedures in the 25 office where I have time in the mornings to be in the office 4-9-07 58 1 to take care of paperwork, plan reviews and so forth, and just 2 limit inspections to the afternoons. We're trying to make 3 sure the installers are all aware of that so that they know to 4 plan accordingly. It clearly states on the authorization to 5 construct that they need to notify us -- give us, you know, 6 time in order to book those inspections, but a lot of them 7 will call that morning and want one, or some call that 8 afternoon and want one that afternoon. So -- but, you know, 9 we will try to do the best service that we can for them. But 10 they need to -- we really need to get that additional position 11 filled -- 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand. 13 MS. HULETT: -- as soon as possible. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: I assume you're telling the 15 installers up front on a frequent basis to give you as much 16 advance notice of when they're going to need these various 17 inspections? 18 MS. HULETT: Yes, sir. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: A continual education process. 20 MS. HULETT: Yes, sir. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: And reminder process. 22 MS. HULETT: Yes, sir. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any other questions or 24 comments? All in favor of that motion, signify by raising 25 your right hand. 4-9-07 59 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Thank you, 5 Ms. Hulett. 6 MS. HULETT: Thank you. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good job, y'all. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Where are we on the budget amendment 9 dealing with the -- 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tax Assessor. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: -- the Voter Registration, I guess, 12 is probably the generic term. We kind of left that open. 13 I've been advised that Ms. Bolin was not in her office. I had 14 Jody call and see if she was able to come down here and give 15 us a little bit more information, but she was not available. 16 I don't believe the amendment was approved, was it? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Well, it's for -- it's for a 19 year in advance, so unless somebody wants to move forward with 20 it, I guess we've done what we can do there. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We need to make sure that she's 22 aware that we did not approve it. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. It would appear at this point 24 that the only remaining item we have left is an executive 25 session item, so at this time, unless any member of the Court 4-9-07 60 1 has anything to offer in public or open session with regard to 2 Item 11 -- let me call that. Consider, discuss, and take 3 appropriate action regarding interim Environmental Health 4 management. Any member of the Court have anything to offer in 5 that connection at this point? At this time, we will go out 6 of public or open session -- it is 10:31 -- to go into 7 executive or closed session. 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Were you going do the 9 informational -- 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, we'll get that to that after 11 this. Yeah, tail end. 12 (The open session was closed at 10:31 a.m., and an executive session was held, the transcript of which 13 is contained in a separate document.) 14 - - - - - - - - - - 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, we're back in open or public 16 session at 10:48, and any member of the Court have anything to 17 offer in connection with anything considered in executive or 18 closed session? 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes. I would like to get 20 authorization for Tish -- 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Hulett. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: What's Tish's last name? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Hulett. 24 MS. HYDE: Hulett. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Hulett to be the interim 4-9-07 61 1 Environmental Health Manager, at the pay scale of an 18-12. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 4 indicated. Any question or discussion on the motion? This is 5 during the time that she's acting in that capacity? 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Any other question or 8 comment? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I guess -- would it be 10 necessary to put in there where the funds come from? Or 11 just -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it comes from -- 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Still comes from Environmental 14 Health. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Under the salary line. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand that, but would 17 it be wise to actually put it in the order itself? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Or just let the Auditor 20 figure that out on their own? 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, it would come from -- we 22 can -- I can include that in the motion. It would come from 23 the Environmental Health budget, from funds remaining from 24 Miguel's salary line item. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 4-9-07 62 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The increase. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? All 4 in favor 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. Anything 9 else on the regular agenda, gentlemen? Reports from elected 10 officials? Mr. Sheriff, do you have anything for us? 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Just a couple things real 12 quick. First, just to let you know, I'm concerned with our 13 budget amount left in Inmate Medical, and I think we're going 14 to run into some problems before the end of the year. I know 15 that Solutions Network or -- I don't see exactly how much they 16 pay on medical; that goes -- all the bills go straight to 17 Tommy. But I know we're down to about 30-some percent now, 18 and I know we had two bills just last week of over $4,000 19 each, for just hospital. We're running about $12,000 in 20 prescription bills. I just see some kind of a train wreck 21 coming where that budget line item is concerned. And I'm a 22 little bit concerned over the jail operational budget line 23 item, due to the fact that the violence cell or padded cell, 24 twice this year we've had that cell tore up. Twice we have 25 had to have it repaired, which is over $4,000 each time on 4-9-07 63 1 those. So, I think we're going to run real close. Just food 2 for thought. The last -- yes, sir? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask you a question on 4 your first one. You were talking about medical expenses. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Can you -- or do you -- can 7 you dip into their -- 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Commissary. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- commissary monies? 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I do. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You do that? 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I do that. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: They don't hardly have any. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The only -- well, sometimes we 15 do, you know, collect some. We collect so much. The only 16 problem is, I don't know where Tommy puts that money when we 17 give it to him, okay? We collect it from commissary, all 18 right? And then we write the Auditor a check for that, and 19 I'm not sure if that goes back in general fund, or if it 20 goes -- actually goes into my expenditure line item, being 21 Inmate Medical. I'm afraid it may go into the general fund. 22 But we do collect as much as we can. We did not all of last 23 year, because, one, there were some legal issues on whether 24 you could. Two, our computer system -- the new system wasn't 25 allowing us to at that time, but this year I started to go 4-9-07 64 1 ahead and do it. We got the system -- computer system worked 2 to where we could, so we started. And then last month -- few 3 weeks ago, we also received an A.G.'s opinion that says you 4 can do it, and -- but we had already been doing it. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: And you can go back to medical which 6 was accrued during a prior stint with -- 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That was the -- 8 JUDGE TINLEY: -- your little hotel, and you can go 9 back and collect it. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. That was the whole 11 thing where the computer system wasn't doing it until earlier 12 this year. It does have a way, and we've been doing that. 13 I'd done it for years. Then, when we went to the new system, 14 I couldn't do it. Then, once the new system got -- January or 15 so, got worked out that I could do it, we started doing it 16 again, and we've been doing it ever since. And now they're 17 even saying that there's nothing wrong with doing it. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are you -- on average a month, 19 how much are we talking about going from the -- from the 20 commissary account to the Auditor? 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It varies greatly. You know, I 22 did have some -- some inmates that we were able to collect 23 over $1,000 out of their -- their individual account for prior 24 medical. Other ones -- and the problem you do have with it is 25 inmates learn that, and they learn the system, so what they do 4-9-07 65 1 is, they have somebody that -- another inmate in their 2 cellblock that has no medical, they'll have that inmate's 3 family put money in that inmate's commissary, and then he buys 4 it for them. But, of course, when -- when we find out that 5 happens, we normally just mix up the cellblock so that they're 6 moved to a different cell. Then they have no way of getting 7 commissary from that other inmate, and then it's a personal 8 problem. They let them put it in his account, so then they 9 may lose their money. But, yeah, they're -- they know; they 10 find ways around it. You have to be very close on it. But we 11 do try and collect that money back. But it's indigency. You 12 can't -- there's -- there are some questions over -- you 13 cannot collect back more than what's actually paid by the 14 County, and there are some issues we're working out there. 15 Because for me to collect it, I got to collect it right away, 16 while the inmate's there and has money, or when he comes back, 17 and then I don't know what the new system is paying on that. 18 But we never collect all of it; I leave them some in their 19 commissary anyhow, so we collect a portion. So, we're still 20 covering, but -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Rusty, I want to get back to 22 the computer system just real quick. Is the new system up and 23 running for you? Yes or no? 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The new system is up and 25 running. Is it doing everything it should or we were told or 4-9-07 66 1 promised that it would do? No. Have I had some very heated 2 exchanges with the company? Yes. I -- 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, you're -- 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I don't like the system the way 5 it is right now. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've been hearing rumblings 7 around the whole courthouse system about it, and I'm wondering 8 if we shouldn't drag the guy back in here that stood right 9 here in this room and said he'd have everything fixed. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, there are a lot of 11 issues. They were -- when I had a private meeting or 12 one-on-one meeting with that same person, he came out to our 13 office before he came here and gave y'all a report. I was 14 told during that meeting that they were not selling the system 15 any more until they got all those fixed, not taking on new 16 clients. I've -- I've had calls from commissioners, county 17 judges, and sheriffs from other counties where they are trying 18 to sell the system. They still have not taken care of our 19 problems. It doesn't do classification right. It doesn't do 20 suicide prevention right. There -- and so I have not given 21 Software Group favorable recommendations with any of those -- 22 it's open. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's open. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm just waving to my friend, 25 my voter. 4-9-07 67 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: With any of those counties. 2 That may hurt us in the long run. I have been told that they 3 are going to have some data programmers come up and visit with 4 me, because they claim it's a data programmer's problem. The 5 programmers claim it's a trainer's problem. And there are 6 just -- it has the potential of being the best law enforcement 7 system I've seen in 27 years. It really does, if it works 8 like they say. If they get the program sharing like they're 9 supposed to do and get all the bugs out of it, it can be the 10 best system. The City of Kerrville has called me, the chief 11 over there; they want to go to the system, which would be the 12 best law enforcement thing this county could ever do, is get 13 all law enforcement on the same system. I mean, that would 14 be, you know, remarkable for us, whether it's later in common 15 dispatch or later in anything. But I told the chief last 16 week, at this time, don't -- don't put it in your budget this 17 year; it's not worth it. I wouldn't give you five cents for 18 it. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What percent of it is working? 20 I mean, if you can put it in that term. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's the little problems that 22 come up. If you said -- if you just want a decent, overall 23 system, probably 75 percent. And that's just a -- a guess off 24 the top of my head. But it's a lot of the little details that 25 don't work. It was supposed to be very user-friendly. It's 4-9-07 68 1 very hard to learn. It's very hard to use. It is not 2 user-friendly, not at this time, okay? It takes us twice as 3 long to book people into the system. It takes us twice as 4 long to release them. It takes my officers twice as long to 5 write reports. I mean, it's -- it's fabulous, because, you 6 know, we purchased scanners out of seized money and we can 7 scan documents in, and I can go and pull up a full report with 8 all the photographs, with everything right there. Which is, 9 you know, a tremendous advantage over what we used to have, 10 and going to have to find the hard copy and look at the 11 photographs and that. So, there are some tremendous 12 advantages to it, but it's just -- it's very clumsy and very 13 hard to use right now. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rex, do we have any recourse 15 about -- or anything we can do? Our maintenance that we pay 16 is, obviously, extremely high. We were given, I guess, a -- 17 quote, "a deal" on this system to get -- to entice us to 18 switch to it early on. Is there any recourse? Are we just 19 pretty much stuck? 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Before you go into that, one 21 other thing. There is some problems that are ours, training 22 issues. And I think maybe in the next budget, maybe, 23 whatever, the County truly needs to look at getting more 24 training hours for every County employee on the system, 25 because we're finding a whole lot of things that the system 4-9-07 69 1 will do that we never knew it did, because during the training 2 that they gave, which was a general overall training, you 3 never knew about those back ways of doing things. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's probably true. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: A big portion of it, that's 6 training. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, that's probably true. 8 MR. EMERSON: Okay. To answer your question, 9 probably not, because there is not any document that exists 10 that I'm aware of that specifically lays out what the system 11 is supposed to do. I've asked for that document multiple 12 times, and I'm not aware that it exists. And if you don't 13 have anything in writing to compare the performance against, 14 what are you going to go after? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Probably, in reality, trying to 16 put it into a document would be such a voluminous document... 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, I can remember when we 18 all went to Ableterm or Software Group back in the late '80's, 19 early '90's, and we did have all these same issues. The first 20 several years, we had inadequate training; the system wasn't 21 good. We had a lot of issues with it, and I won't say this is 22 any different than that was. It's just there is such a 23 greater volume of people using the system, you have more 24 mistakes. There is -- their data entry, you know, is just -- 25 it compounds everything when we're in that same deal starting 4-9-07 70 1 all over. The conversions caused a lot of problems, and it's 2 just a lot of training and a lot of cleanup. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: To the extent -- 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Sir? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: To the extent that they're issues of 6 deficiencies of the provider, it would seem to me that our 7 best leverage is in being a resource to other prospective 8 purchasers of this same system. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's the avenue I've taken, 10 okay? Of course, your computer programmer -- or computer data 11 person didn't like it when I took that attitude, because he 12 said if they don't sell more, they're not going to be able to 13 fix ours better. And I said I don't care; until they fix 14 ours, I'm not going to recommend it to anybody. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't think that should be used as 16 an excuse for us to be untruthful with our contemporaries in 17 other counties. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I can't do that, and I won't, 19 not when it's a law enforcement system and it means that much. 20 Now, the CAD system, like the computer-aided dispatch 21 interface, there are some remarkable things that this system 22 does that have really helped us. But me giving good monthly 23 reports or things and being able to print out good statistical 24 reports as Sheriff and seeing where we are, I can't do it. 25 And that may be a training issue. I'm not saying it's not. 4-9-07 71 1 It's just a very hard system to learn, and we need to spend a 2 lot of money on training a lot of employees. 3 I have my employees at night -- dispatchers, when 4 it's down, are doing nothing but merging people, because 5 there's thousands of duplicate people in the system. And they 6 constantly keep getting added to it, either by the courts or 7 by law enforcement. But a lot by the courts, because one very 8 simple -- if there's a civil case and Bruce Oehler is filed on 9 for -- for a lawsuit, somebody's going to sue him and they 10 know his name is Bruce Oehler, that's the way it has to be 11 entered in the system. If we have him in the system as Bruce 12 E. Oehler, or whatever it is, okay, that's the way we have it 13 and everything, and the court will not go in -- if that 14 attorney filed it as Bruce, that's the way they have to enter 15 it. So, you know, you -- you -- they have to enter a new 16 person as Bruce with no identifiers, because normally your -- 17 your civil lawyers don't have that person's name, date of 18 birth and all that, and so they enter it as Bruce. We already 19 have him in there as Bruce E., so now he's in there twice. 20 It's the same person, but because of the way it's done -- or 21 if it's an indictment which indicts, say, me as Rusty 22 Hierholzer, instead of William R., that's a whole new person, 23 though even though I'm the same person, and you end up with 24 thousands of duplicates. 25 And then where it's serious on my part is, if my 4-9-07 72 1 officers stop William R. Hierholzer on the road and run a 2 check on him and see if he's wanted, he may very well not show 3 having any warrants outstanding for him, but if you ran him as 4 Rusty Hierholzer, he may show he was wanted for murder 5 somewhere, and my officer on the road's not going to know it 6 dealing with him, and so it's a serious safety deal. He has 7 no knowledge of what's he's getting into, because these people 8 are entered so many different ways. So, I have dispatchers at 9 night that are doing nothing but going into documents and all 10 these, trying to merge these people and get rid of the 11 duplicates, and it is a nightmare. But -- so we have that 12 type issue. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: They don't have the ability to do 14 that by virtue of the date of birth and Social Security number 15 or D.L. number yet? 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The courts do have the ability. 17 That's one of the nicest things about this system, is say I 18 want to issue an indictment under Rusty Hierholzer, and that's 19 my alias, okay? Then I can change that alias by clicking on 20 it to my primary name for that purpose, issue the indictment, 21 and it will print out under Rusty Hierholzer. Then go back 22 and change that alias to William R. But it's a training issue 23 on that, too, to let them know they can do that and have 24 access to be able to do that. And it causes -- like I said, a 25 lot of it's training, but there are some serious problems. My 4-9-07 73 1 classifications, suicide prevention did not work. Programming 2 deal. They never told us it didn't work. I got told it 3 didn't work when the jail inspector came in to inspect and 4 said, "You're not classifying them right. You're not doing 5 suicide prevention right." I said, "Yeah, we are. Here it 6 is." "No, you're not. I already know this system, because 7 Hays County or Comal County had it." And he said, "We already 8 found it. Software already knows about it. They've gone back 9 to using four people to classify their inmates, because it 10 takes that much to be able to do it." And Software knew about 11 it and never told us one word that it wasn't working right, 12 wasn't up to state standards, and we continued to use it. And 13 I blew a gasket at those people, because I think they should 14 have let us know instead of waiting a year after we're using 15 it to tell us, and everything we had done was wrong for a 16 year. So, yeah, there were issues, okay. 17 But if we can move on, another thing, just to give 18 you a very brief outline on the investigation of the former 19 County Treasurer, we have -- we are still moving forward. I 20 know there hasn't been much. We have met with the Attorney 21 General's office. Preliminary schedule is that there is a 22 Grand Jury on the 16th of April, 216th Grand Jury. It's very 23 likely to be presented to that Grand Jury. The Attorney 24 General person that would be representing it, though, also is 25 scheduled for another trial in another part of the state 4-9-07 74 1 during that same time. If that goes, it's going to -- the 2 Grand Jury date will have to change. If it -- if that trial 3 doesn't go, then it's very likely to go to Grand Jury on that 4 day. The State will not do a forensic audit. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: State will not what? 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Will not do an audit. We 7 cannot show any state funds missing. And I think this is 8 something that needs to be put on the agenda, maybe by the 9 Judge, for a future court date to consider that. I think 10 there needs to be an executive session in that part, too, to 11 let me explain some of the things so that the Court can make a 12 decision with everything that we've uncovered, and see if 13 y'all think a full-blown expensive audit's necessary. And 14 that's it, gentlemen. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Can I ask the Sheriff one 17 quick question, totally unrelated to either topic? 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes, sir. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just really quickly, Rusty, 20 how's the interactive training going on that takes place out 21 there between you and AACOG academy? 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's been very slow. The -- 23 AACOG has had some problems. It's not on our part; it's on 24 AACOG's. I know the person that was in charge of it, as of 25 last week, is no longer working for AACOG. They have got some 4-9-07 75 1 issues with the designers and the installers are coming back 2 up. I did get an e-mail last week, and my training 3 coordinator was aware they are going to train a few more 4 people, and they are now going to offer it -- as soon as 5 that's finished, offer it to the entire region, at least for 6 core courses, mandated courses, and just about anything is 7 what they're saying in their e-mail, for a while at a total -- 8 totally non-cost basis to get people interested, get people to 9 come in and use it. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's the reason I asked 11 you the question. Thank you. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It is coming, and I'm looking 13 forward to that kicking off. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you talking TCLEOSE? 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes, TCLEOSE-certified courses, 16 everything. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, the TCLEOSE courses. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Free of charge. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: On your screen in your 20 training room. It's about time. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: So, it looks good. They've got 22 some issues with -- you know, they had -- their T-1 line or 23 something was a little bit clogged up 'cause it was the only 24 one that served AACOG; there was some slowness in it, and if 25 you played a video on their end and watched it on this end, it 4-9-07 76 1 was kind of like those old Italian movies where the lip sync 2 and the -- you know, don't work, and it was -- it would really 3 drive you nuts trying to listen to it. But they are working 4 on those, and we're anxious and looking forward to it really 5 kicking off. It's going to be great. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, you're saying that -- 8 like, in the past, you've had jailers that want to become 9 TCLEOSE-certified police officers. They are no longer going 10 to have to drive to San Antonio? 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That long of a course, I'm not 12 sure they're going to offer that yet, okay? Because that is 13 -- you know, if it's a four-hour course in the evenings, 14 you're talking a nine-month academy. I'm not sure they're 15 going to do a full-blown academy. They are going to do a lot 16 of the -- the core courses. They're going to do jailer 17 certification, corrections officer certification, a lot of our 18 mandated courses that each officer has to have every year, and 19 then a lot of elective courses, just better things. And we're 20 going to do some here that they will teach down there to their 21 students, vice-versa, 'cause I have some very good instructors 22 and that that can -- can do all that. And it's -- 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It would be things, like, 24 that would help a police officer work toward his master -- 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. If they, you know, limit 4-9-07 77 1 them to 40-hour courses, like -- well, the jailer's course, 2 which we are going to do some of it, that course is about a 3 96-hour course now, and they're going to offer those type. 4 But when you get into the full-blown law enforcement academy, 5 that's probably going to be a while yet. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I would hope that they move 7 toward that, though. 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I would too. There -- there 9 are some things in that, though, that are actually -- that 10 they do down there that are actually physical, hands-on, which 11 would be hard unless, you know, we had instructors too on the 12 physical parts and things like that, that you can't do here. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Thank you. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: You had something? 16 MR. EMERSON: I do. I'll start out with the 17 computer stuff, since that ended up being a major issue. Bad 18 news is, Hot Check program for Odyssey absolutely stinks. The 19 good news is that we cut it off at the pass before it was ever 20 installed. We've canceled the installation of it. We will 21 not be using it in my office. The existing program we have 22 costs a whopping $700 a year, and works very well. We're 23 going to stay with that program. And on the positive side, 24 it's saved the county 55,000, which, as I understand, Tommy 25 said the money's already allocated and has to be applied to 4-9-07 78 1 the program, so net savings is 110,000, if you take the 55 and 2 throw it at the principal, which is the way it has to happen. 3 So, that's good. On the down side, we've had two computer 4 hard drives crash in the last month in my office. I had 5 enough funds in the budget to cover the first two. If it 6 happens again, I don't know that I do. So -- 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And that's a good point. I've 8 been -- I've bought -- purchased about four computers in the 9 last four months -- three, four months out of seizure funds, 10 'cause ours are crashing, and so we've been doing that. But I 11 think this coming budget year, that the County's probably got 12 a lot of computers that are just not -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How old were these computers 14 that are crashing? 15 MR. EMERSON: Our two were four years. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, about -- 17 MR. EMERSON: And John -- John seemed to think that 18 part of the failure was a direct result of all the power 19 fluctuations that we had down there last year. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: How -- 21 MR. EMERSON: Assuming y'all were aware of that. We 22 had a lot of power fluctuations going on, and after probably 23 six months of searching for them, I think one of the electric 24 companies finally found a break in the main cable and replaced 25 it, where I guess it was getting shorted by the water getting 4-9-07 79 1 into the cable, or something to that effect. We have not had 2 any fluctuations since that time. But -- but John seems to 3 think that really took a toll on the hard drives, so we'll 4 cross our fingers and hope we make it through rest of the 5 budget year. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do you have anything, Ms. Hyde? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes. 9 MS. HYDE: I have some good news. Normally I end up 10 having bad news. 11 (Ms. Hyde handed documents to the Court.) 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's one for everybody. Do 13 you want one? 14 MS. HYDE: I need to give her a different one; this 15 still has the names on it. 16 THE CLERK: I'm special. 17 MS. HYDE: But she gets a special one. And then 18 I'll ask that you give these back. So far -- this is Mutual 19 of Omaha. What they have agreed so far to give us back, which 20 is $8,761.50. This will be applied towards the next billing 21 that we get. The other thing is, the Mutual of Omaha bill was 22 running 30K a month, and due to us terminating and fixing the 23 bill, going back and reviewing the bill, the bills are now 24 running $16,000, $17,000 a month. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. 4-9-07 80 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: How about that? 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Very good. That's good. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Can you do that again next 4 month? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Got to have these back? 6 MS. HYDE: 'Cause they got names on them. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Buster, you got to give it 8 back. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Can't keep it. We'd have to just 10 draw a line through you. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: H.R. Director giveth and she 12 taketh away. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I guess I've seen all I need 14 to see. 15 MS. HYDE: I'll give you one without names, sir. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You've seen all you're going 17 to see. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any reports from Commissioners 19 in connection with their liaison assignments or otherwise? 20 Nudge him. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He's pondering, I think. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, the issue that we 23 addressed today, the joint -- the committee on joint -- 24 dispatch. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Dispatch. 4-9-07 81 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't -- I haven't heard a 2 peep out of the City. Have y'all? I really would like to see 3 this thing get moving, take a step. And that step would be 4 them get their committee together. But in the -- in the 5 interim, Rusty, I'd like to see our committee come together 6 one time and start talking about some goals and -- and some of 7 the -- you know, and actually write down what we think -- you 8 know, just get prepared to -- when we get into the full 9 committee, that -- that the county side of it knows what we're 10 doing, and -- are you going to talk about the same thing? 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Similar, yes. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I'd just like to see the 13 County knowing what they're doing, and kind of on the same 14 page, if we can. Just have -- sit down and have a visit 15 without -- without breaking any kind of Open Meetings Act 16 rules. That's all. Go ahead, I'm curious what you got. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, I agree with you that if 18 this thing is going to go, we need to get the committees 19 together. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're talking about having a 21 damn meeting. How hard is that? I'm not talking about the 22 final product. I mean, just the City/County sit down and have 23 a visit. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: To urge that, let me read you 25 an e-mail from one of my sergeants this weekend. 4-9-07 82 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: On 4-6-07, we responded to this 3 call, which is an aggravated assault call. The problem is how 4 the call was handled by dispatch; specifically, K.P.D. 911. 5 This call came in as a 911 call, and K.P.D. dispatcher told 6 K.S.O. dispatcher to have the K.S.O. west unit call K.P.D. In 7 other words, have our officer call them on the phone. The 8 Yarbrough one-man unit called K.P.D. and was given the 9 information concerning a lady being held at knifepoint for 10 three days by cell phone. Our dispatcher was kept in the dark 11 about this incident, and the call was never transferred by 12 K.P.D. Our dispatcher, Misty, probably knows more, 'cause we 13 got into it. I asked the K.P.D. dispatcher to transfer the 14 call down to -- this was confusing, 'cause our dispatchers 15 didn't know where our officer was even going to or anything, 16 or neither did our sergeant. And she advised that it was just 17 easier to keep the lady on the line, and our dispatchers would 18 just get confused, and that was it. Never gave us a call. 19 And, yes, I sent an e-mail back to the chief saying, "This 20 won't be tolerated." I cannot have them taking a call, 21 refusing to transfer the 911 call to our dispatcher, where it 22 can be dispatched and all my officers know about it, and their 23 dispatcher just gets -- you know, tells our west unit to call 24 them on the phone. "It's just too confusing for us to go 25 transfer it, for that caller to have to go through it again 4-9-07 83 1 with y'all's dispatcher. We're just going to handle it and 2 not let anybody know." There are some problems, okay? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On the dispatch -- this is 4 related to dispatch. The long-negotiated Falling Water 5 situation, from an EMS standpoint, that's going to be -- have 6 to -- and this is Chief Holloway's decision on this. Those 7 calls are going to be routed to Kerrville dispatch, and 8 they're going to have to manually send it over to Boerne to 9 get an ambulance dispatched. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And they can transfer easily; 11 it's just a push of a button. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's a dispatcher issue. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: There are some things -- even 14 if we're not going to do a common dispatch, if we're going to 15 keep going, then I have got to start -- and I think 16 Commissioner Williams may remember the call that I let him 17 listen to where you go through -- and I can see that. That's 18 -- that little girl shouldn't have had to do what she had to 19 do on that particular call. But all I need is, on 911 calls, 20 it shows up on caller ID. And if it doesn't, if it's from a 21 cell phone, if they will ask the person first, "Are you in the 22 city or are you in the county?" And transfer the call. If 23 it's county, don't go through everything with them and then 24 decide, well, we've already got it all; we're not going to 25 transfer it. We'll dispatch it and handle it, and not keep -- 4-9-07 84 1 you know, my officers have no idea what they're going to, and 2 they get different information. So, yes, the meeting needs to 3 take place. We need to either start working on this, or I 4 need to start trying to have one-on-ones with the chief and 5 say things have to change. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm glad you said all those 7 things with the room full of press; get the information out. 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You asked late. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Can't we just communicate 10 with them and tell them we're ready to meet? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, of course, we're going to 13 initially notify them that we -- we saw an omission in the 14 committee, and we've adopted -- we've amended that order to 15 include that, and we hope they would see the propriety in them 16 doing likewise. And we'd ask them to do that, and do whatever 17 they need to do on their end to get this thing expedited so 18 that the committee can start meeting and working. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We could ask that -- you know, 20 put a date in whatever transmittal is going to come up by your 21 office, Judge, that we'd like to have this committee meeting 22 sometime in May. I mean, at least that's, you know, pretty 23 easy to accomplish, in my mind. That gives them three or four 24 City Council meetings. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Hopefully we don't get the 4-9-07 85 1 same response we got from Mrs. Summerlin. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But that's -- I was going to 3 bring that up in a moment. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: That's exactly -- 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I guess -- 6 JUDGE TINLEY: -- the state of my mind. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: May 15th is a good -- good 8 target date. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Are y'all going to say 10 May 15th? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Hmm? 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Is that the date y'all are 13 going to -- 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Suggest to them that we would hope 15 the committee could commence their meetings in that time. 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We will. I don't know when, 17 but after school's out in June, I will be off for at least a 18 few weeks. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Me too. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Is that all you got, 21 Commissioner? 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Yeah, I reckon. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: How about you, Commissioner Williams? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Couple things. We've had a 25 couple initiatives that came through this Court, applications 4-9-07 86 1 which had been approved and moved through the conduit. 2 Recommended favorably, I should say, and that was the Kid Care 3 Safe Haven project, which we asked for $399,903. That 4 received a favorable review and is moving through the conduit 5 to wherever the conduit takes it, as well as the one for the 6 Hill Country Crisis Council for another $349,931. Both of 7 those received favorable review and are moving toward the 8 funding pot -- the great funding pot in the sky. A gentleman 9 named Roscoe Wilson, who represents a company called A.M.I. -- 10 and that's a Florida-based company, A.M.I. is, that operates 11 nonsecure residential boot camps. And these folks are looking 12 to expand their operations in Texas in conjunction with 13 contracts with T.Y.C., if, as, and when T.Y.C. gets its 14 problem straightened out and begins doing contracts once 15 again. Anyhow, Mr. Wilson called and asked for permission to 16 visit the -- the detention facility, take a look at the old 17 building, and he did that. And Kevin provided him with square 18 footage and let him take pictures and whatever, whatever, 19 whatever. And we'll wait to hear -- see whether we hear back 20 from him or not. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Of course, if they're in the business 22 of doing nonsecure, did they talk about wanting to expand into 23 secure detention facilities? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, I honestly don't 25 know -- 4-9-07 87 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- whether he did or not, 3 but it would seem like he might have, by reason of looking at 4 our facility. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm, yeah. 6 MR. EMERSON: One comment to add to that. The 7 T.D.C.A.A. update that we received over the weekend that was 8 on the fax machine this morning basically says that apparently 9 the Legislature and/or the committee that's handling T.Y.C. 10 has pulled a number out of thin air and decided that we don't 11 need more than 3,000 kids in T.Y.C. Even though there's 12 4,600-plus right now. And nobody seemed to know where the 13 number came from, but that's the number. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Stay tuned. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: What's their normal safe operating 16 capacity for their existing facilities? 17 MR. EMERSON: I don't know. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Do you know what that number is? 19 MR. EMERSON: I don't know, but I know the update 20 said that they were definitely removing the two facilities 21 from T.Y.C., giving them back to T.D.C., and had kind of just 22 indicated that I guess they're not going to fund those other 23 1,600 or 1,700 kids. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They're going to release them. 25 What'd Kimbrough do, release 500 the other day? 4-9-07 88 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's all I have, Judge. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Letz? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Kind of a -- it's a question to 4 you, Judge. Where are we with Ms. Summerlin and Headwaters? 5 I thought we were -- at one point, I thought we were having a 6 workshop today. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: At one point, that was suggested. I 8 indicated to her that we had a Commissioners Court meeting, so 9 I -- I didn't -- didn't see that as maybe an available date. 10 And then I told her I would, however, inquire of the other 11 members of the Court. And when I got back to her that, well, 12 maybe the 9th was okay, her response was that, well, during 13 the interim, based upon my initial thought that because we had 14 a Commissioners Court meeting and that maybe that wouldn't 15 work too well, one or more members of her group had made other 16 commitments or whatever, and -- and we're going to have to 17 look for other dates. So, I said I would continue, and that's 18 where we're continuing. The last communication I had from 19 her, as I recall, was that it looks like it's going to be on 20 into May. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: April just got here, but that's 22 fine. One other point, just to invite and remind everyone on 23 the Court that on the 13th at 10 o'clock in the morning is the 24 opening of the new terminal at the airport. Gene Sartin, I 25 believe, is going to be the featured speaker. I believe 4-9-07 89 1 you're speaking briefly? 2 JUDGE TINLEY: I've only got -- they've only allowed 3 me 40 minutes. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Forty minutes? 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Wonderful. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And hopefully it won't rain, 7 because if it does, it will be a little bit muddy. The -- the 8 bids for the landscaping came in over 25,000, so it has all 9 been put on hold, and it's going to have to be a -- go out for 10 sealed bids, or go out for proposals and all -- that whole 11 25,000 and above way to get it done. And it will be back on 12 the Airport Board agenda in May. So, hopefully it won't be a 13 little muddy out there. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Another couple footnotes 15 there on airport matters that the Court might be interested 16 in. We haven't reported back to the Court on our workshop, 17 and we -- and that was a workshop that involved the board 18 without staff, and there were three members of the general 19 public who were there as well and listened, and a couple of 20 them, of course, were economic development inclined people, 21 and one other interested party. And I thought that -- my 22 personal thought on the matter is that it was time well spent, 23 and we managed to get through a lot of sticky-wicket issues, 24 and I'm hopeful that maybe we've turned the corner on the -- 25 on the issue of Airport Manager ultimately reporting to the 4-9-07 90 1 Airport Board. There seems to be -- one of the objectors has 2 now seen the wisdom of that, and so maybe that gives us four 3 votes that -- 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, we got to have names. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- are in favor of that 6 approach. And -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Who's changed their heart? 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: A member of City Council. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Chuck. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Chuck. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: See? When you invite them to 12 feed them catfish, buddy, you get things done. (Laughter.) 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And the other thing is, the 14 mayor and I worked out the advertisement for the new board 15 member to be -- and it's running; it ran in this past 16 weekend's paper, and will run again, as well as perhaps a news 17 story. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not sure -- I'm not sure we 19 updated the Court; Dr. Davis has let us know he will not be 20 reappointed. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I thought we told them 22 Dr. Davis is not going to re-up again. And as of the last 23 Airport Board meeting we had, there were already a bunch of 24 applicants, so we're going to have a lot of folks to choose 25 from. 4-9-07 91 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Who makes that -- 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Which is good. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Who makes that election? 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Commissioner Letz and I, and 5 two City Councilmen. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We'll make a recommendation; it 7 will come before this body and City Council. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you looking for 9 airplane-minded people or business people? 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We're looking for business 11 and aviation people, and I think there are plenty of them out 12 there who have both sets of credentials. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's a lot of interesting -- 14 I mean, -- 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I bet there is. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- I'm amazed at the number of 17 people that want to get on this board. I don't know if it's 18 because of the controversy or because they think it's a fun 19 board. I don't know what the reason is, but it's a -- seems 20 to be quite a bit of interest. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think so. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think so. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Four? 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I guess -- let me see. 4-9-07 92 1 Liaison duties. The Ag Barn got -- the air conditioning part 2 of it -- heating and air part of it got repainted by two 3 community service workers that also provided the paint. No 4 charge to Kerr County. Happened the week after the 5 Commissioners and Judges conference. I thought that was a 6 pretty good deal. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That is interesting. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And they actually provided 9 the paint? 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They provided the paint. They 11 had quite a bit of time, I think, to serve, and -- and Dan 12 Edwards made a deal with them, and lo and behold, they showed 13 up in person with paint and did the job. Looks nice. 14 Ms. Hyde and I have been -- of course, you know, we've been 15 meeting with Environmental Health, trying to keep that thing 16 going until we get another person hired down there. Animal 17 Control has -- has improved their web site, and now they have 18 pictures on their web site of animals to be adopted. And I 19 think last week the cats got put on. Am I correct? 20 MS. HYDE: Yeah. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And so it looks real good. 22 And hopefully that will get more animals adopted and less have 23 to be done away with. Library, oh, my, that's coming up -- 24 the budget on that will be coming up in May. And I assume 25 it's going to be several times before I present it to the 4-9-07 93 1 Court. I think we all have some concerns about that. Let me 2 see, what else? Did I miss anything? 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You might tell Buster they got 4 another mule out there, is what I was just told. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Hey, Buster, we got a mule for 6 Bobby. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I thought it was a donkey. 8 MS. HYDE: It's not a horse; it's got floppy ears. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's more like a donkey. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: May be a big old jackrabbit. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What kind of donkey? Where is 12 it? 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Animal Control had it at the 14 Ag Barn. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: At the Ag Barn in one of those 16 stalls? 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, go by and look at it. 18 Maybe you're interested. You can use it for a training tool 19 for your children. 20 MS. HYDE: But we promised Bobby first dibs, for the 21 Sheriff's -- 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't think it's big enough. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: He's got to have a mule. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Donkey won't work. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Big mule. 4-9-07 94 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: 16-hand or better mule. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: With big fluffy ears. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Big army mule. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's what he needs. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Before -- let me go back to one 6 thing. We have -- at our last meeting, I think we kind of -- 7 I guess we're not doing anything else in Maintenance; we're 8 just going to leave the structure the way we last set it. 9 Who's liaison? Are we going to -- is one person -- is the 10 Judge -- you're the liaison? Are you down as the liaison to 11 all three components? Or -- 12 JUDGE TINLEY: No, I was -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- are we going to divide it up 14 some? 15 JUDGE TINLEY: No, I -- when you went with -- with 16 splitting off the Ag Barn function out there, that probably 17 floated over in y'all's area. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. See, I've been working 19 with that, too. And you've been escaping. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, you were doing such a fine 21 job, I didn't want to interfere. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah, I've got your "fine 23 job." 24 JUDGE TINLEY: I think the record is clear now. 25 He's on the hook, though. 4-9-07 95 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think he is. I've got 2 witnesses. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Boy, am I glad I got out of 5 that. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I do have a question, 8 though, in that context, of Ms. Hyde. Where are we in 9 transferring the parks maintenance guy back to the Maintenance 10 Department? 11 MS. HYDE: That was supposed to be on the 12 Commissioners Court agenda this time, and we didn't put it on. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's why I asked the 14 question. 15 MS. HYDE: It wasn't put on there. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Did I mess that up? 17 MS. HYDE: I'll take the hit for that. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay, you take the hit for 19 that; I'll do it next time. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: I may have some responsibility there, 21 being maintenance -- 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That needs to be on the next 24 agenda. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll get it on the next agenda. 4-9-07 96 1 Okay. 2 MS. HYDE: Because we really need to have Mr. Odom 3 in here as well. 'Cause that -- 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And also, they -- Alyce called 5 me the other day, and in a panic. After all the rain and 6 everything, she couldn't get the park all mowed by herself, 7 and Bobby's crew couldn't do it 'cause they can't run any 8 tractors or any mowers or anything like that. That's kind of 9 against the rules. And it needed to get it done for the 10 Easter festival that was going to happen on -- on the weekend. 11 And so I called Road and Bridge and got them to bring back a 12 little mower over there, and they sent two people over; they 13 mowed the entire park, the part that Alyce didn't get done. 14 And I think they mowed the -- maybe even done the polocrosse 15 field and some other areas that needed mowing. 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They mowed out at our office, 17 too. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So we need to thank them. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What kind of crowd did they 20 have for the Easter deal? Do you know? 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I have no clue; I was out of 22 town. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, I was too. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Had to be miserable. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Had to be pretty miserable 4-9-07 97 1 for them. I saw some pictures in the paper this morning. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You only saw two people in the 3 picture in the paper. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Any of your relatives? 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No. I hope not. Anyway, 6 other than that, I don't know what else to report. I think 7 Commissioner Letz and I are going to do a little -- a little 8 investigative planning after this meeting at the Ag Barn to 9 see about some questions we might ask about -- one being from 10 Sandy Yarbrough on wanting to build a storage facility out 11 there. And -- 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think we authorized that 13 several years ago. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, you may have, but they 15 still -- 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, it's another one. We 17 authorized some smaller temporary one; now they want to build 18 a bigger -- 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They want a 30-by-40 now. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's a new building. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So we need to be careful, look 22 at the future plan. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And Extension's got some ideas 24 for some -- they're looking for -- Roy would like to have a 25 county spot for 4-H projects, so we're looking at that a 4-9-07 98 1 little bit at the same time. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So we're going to hash it out, 3 and then we'll come back to the Court in the very near future, 4 I would imagine, with something we need authorization on. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: That it? 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And your wallets. If you want 7 to just donate money, we'll take money. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I've got one more 9 thing I want to talk about, unless you want to talk for a 10 while. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Are you going to give me an 12 opportunity to talk, let me take my 40 minutes? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Forty? No, I want to go 14 ahead and get into mine. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Well, why don't do you that? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 'Cause we're pretty close. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: You need to get to Buzzie's, right? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, not going to Buzzie's. 19 We need to go somewhere, though. A couple of years ago, the 20 Court authorized me to look into this old fountain out here, 21 of doing something with that, and I want to do something with 22 it. But what we had talked about, and always been in the back 23 of my mind, is probably tear that thing down and build 24 something similar to what the City has across the street, 25 which I think is absolutely beautiful. Because the City did 4-9-07 99 1 it, we can't do anything like that. But -- 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He does that stuff. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, not for the county, I don't. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that your heart 5 medication, or -- 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Pacemaker. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Your pacemaker. Or your 8 telephone? 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Rebooting. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: His color's coming back; 11 don't thump him. (Laughter.) And so I went through the 12 process. I was real uncomfortable about doing anything with 13 it without permission from the family that donated it, and I 14 went to that family, and one member -- or actually a couple of 15 members of that family agreed to let us tear it down and do 16 something. But I -- when I presented it, I presented it in a 17 way that there would be another fountain type thing there. It 18 is a memorial, and kind of want to stay in that vein. I'd 19 rather not do anything to it unless we do a fountain type 20 thing, because that's what the -- the donating family kind of 21 agreed to. And I've always had in the back of my mind that we 22 were going to have a prisoner or a community service person 23 that's going to be here long enough that knew how to lay rock. 24 I began to understand that that's impossible to find a person 25 like that, so I'm thinking that we need to address this 4-9-07 100 1 fountain issue in the budget process. And if you -- if you 2 wad it up, put it in the trash can, that's fine, but I still 3 think we need to talk about it. The thing is ugly. Everybody 4 wants to tear it down. It needs to go; it needs to change, 5 and I'd like to get that done. So, I guess what I'm saying 6 is, I'll bring it up during the budget process, see where it 7 goes from there. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Part of the problem, I think, 9 years ago -- one reason I think it doesn't have any water in 10 it any more, the pump went out multiple times, but also, when 11 it was working, seemed like we had a lot of different things 12 being put into it that created excess suds and bubbles and 13 various things. And so I think that if we address that issue, 14 maybe we need to think about less volume of water. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: We may want -- 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Maybe a smaller pool. Don't 17 you think, Mr. Baldwin? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely. Something like 19 what the City has across the street. That is -- 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's very nice. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That is a neat thing, and it 22 circulates -- it's not -- they don't add new water -- 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- to it all the time. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They can make them pretty easily 4-9-07 101 1 now that don't have any pool, just have an underground 2 reservoir that's kind of covered with gravel, and goes right 3 up where the pump is, so you don't have -- you almost 4 eliminate the maintenance totally almost at this point 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That would be nice. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're donating that part? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A pump? I'll give you a pump. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Put it down. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. One pump, Letz. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: We probably also want to follow the 11 City's lead and make sure that it is recycled water only. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: That is utilized in connection with 14 that, to demonstrate our desire to -- you know, to protect the 15 environment. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rainwater harvesting. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, rainwater harvesting. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Put the barrels out there. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Put some giant tanks all 21 around it. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The spouts on the courthouse, 23 probably get some from that. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: I would suggest to you that there are 25 two folks right there that probably have more ability to 4-9-07 102 1 deliver you a long-term rocklayer than anybody else around. 2 That's a whole 'nother issue. Budget. The Auditor has 3 advised me that he's getting the worksheets together so that I 4 can have those here shortly, and we will be distributing those 5 amongst the various elected officials and department heads, 6 and so that we can start on that process here pretty -- pretty 7 quickly. Other than that, that's about all I got to lay in 8 front of you. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One more last thing. I don't 10 think anyone's going to want to do it, but if anyone wants to, 11 the Auditor recently handed me -- or last week handed me the 12 management discussion thing that I've been working on the last 13 several years. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Boy, you did a great job, 15 too, Jon. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If anyone else wants to do that, 17 I'll be glad to let somebody else take a shot at it. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Man, you did such a good job. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: He's always done so good on the first 20 draft, and then laid it in front of us. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Really didn't have to have a 22 second draft. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't know anything about 24 it; I don't want to know. You're doing great. Did I do good 25 on that one? 4-9-07 103 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You did good on that one, 2 buddy, believe me. We want Letz to do it. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Anything else, gentlemen? We 4 will stand adjourned. 5 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 11:42 a.m.) 6 - - - - - - - - - - 7 8 9 STATE OF TEXAS | 10 COUNTY OF KERR | 11 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 12 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my 13 capacity as County Clerk of the Commissioners Court 14 of Kerr County, Texas, at the time and place 15 heretofore set forth. 16 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 13th day of 17 April, 2007. 18 19 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 20 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 21 Certified Shorthand Reporter 22 23 24 25 4-9-07