1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Tuesday, May 29, 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 WILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2 24 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 BRUCE OEHLER, Commissioner Pct. 4 25 ABSENT: H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 2 1 I N D E X May 29, 2007 2 PAGE --- Commissioners' Comments 5 3 1.1 Update on diabetes program 10 4 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding 5 allowing separate line item for County Extension budgeting to conform to Texas A&M and/or State 6 requirements to itemize their budgeting 15 7 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding allowing Kerr County Juvenile Detention Center to 8 transfer the blue van to Animal Control for utilization in areas including, but not limited to: 9 school visits, animal transport, and public education regarding animal control 20 10 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 11 designate the local Rabies Control Authority for Kerr County 22 12 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding 13 recommendations for bonds and/or insurance for county elected officials, department heads, and 14 all employees that handle or have access to county funds or assets 23 15 1.6 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 16 examine County's ability to obtain groundwater pumping rights from HGCD for all property/ 17 easements owned by Kerr County 29 18 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on accepting right-of-way dedication to Kerr County 19 relating to Benham Woods Subdivision plat in ETJ 35 20 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for concept of Lots R-8-B & R-7-B of unrecorded plat 21 of Turtle Creek Ranches, Precinct 1 42 22 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding approval of 2008 Texas VINE Annual Maintenance Grant 23 Contract 46 24 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding approval to replace emergency UPS system to run the 25 communication center 47, 57 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) May 29, 2007 2 PAGE 1.7 Open annual bids for road materials; consider/ 3 discuss, take appropriate action to award same 53, 74 4 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding 5 the ongoing project of updating procedures and policies regarding Hill Country Youth Exhibit 6 Center and Union Church 55 7 1.14 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on proposed Resolution to designate June 2007 as 8 Traffic Safety Awareness Month 55 9 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on proposed building plan at Hill Country Youth 10 Exhibit Center 58 11 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to authorize negotiations with prospective lessee(s) 12 of Kerr County Juvenile Detention Facility (Executive Session) 77 13 1.16 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 14 consider hiring employee for Code Enforcement/ Solid Waste (Executive Session) 87 15 3.1 Action as may be required on matters discussed 16 in executive session 99 17 4.1 Pay Bills 104 4.2 Budget Amendments 104 18 4.3 Late Bills --- 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 116 19 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee 20 Assignments 116 21 --- Adjourned 130 22 23 24 25 4 1 On Tuesday, May 29, 2007, at 9:00 a.m., a special 2 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in the 3 Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, Kerrville, 4 Texas, and the following proceedings were had in open court: 5 P R O C E E D I N G S 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning. Let me call to order 7 this regularly scheduled meeting of the Kerr County 8 Commissioners Court posted and scheduled for this time and 9 date, Tuesday, May 29, 2007, at 9 a.m., as opposed to our 10 regular fourth Monday meeting, which was a holiday. 11 Commissioner Letz? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Would everyone please join me in 13 prayer, followed by the pledge, please. 14 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. At this time, if there's 16 any member of the public or the audience that wishes to be 17 heard on a matter that is not a listed agenda item, this is 18 the time for you to come forward and tell us what's on your 19 mind. If you wish to be heard on an item that is a listed 20 agenda item, we'd ask that you fill out a participation form. 21 They can be found at the rear of the room. I think there's 22 some back there. If not, or if you don't think you want to be 23 heard on that, but later as we get there, you do, get my 24 attention in some way and I'll see that you have an 25 opportunity to be heard. But right now, if there's any member 5-29-07 5 1 of the public that wishes to be heard on any item that is not 2 a listed agenda item, feel forward -- feel free to come 3 forward at this time. Seeing no one coming forward, we'll 4 move on. Commissioner Letz, what do you have for us this 5 morning? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a little bit on rain in the 7 eastern part of the county. We really fared fantastic. We 8 had no major flooding that I'm aware of. Creeks were up some. 9 Creeks are still up pretty -- higher than normal, certainly, 10 but I think we ended up with -- oh, during the eight days, 11 probably around 5, 5 and a half, maybe 6 inches, somewhere in 12 that range, but no damage that I'm aware of. Unlike, I think, 13 a little bit of west Kerr County. So, we're just happy for 14 the rain, and happy for the sunshine the rest of this week, it 15 looks like. That's all I have. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Oehler? 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, it's a good thing that 18 all three forks didn't come down like Johnson Creek and like 19 Dry Branch did, because if they had, the country would have 20 been pretty well damaged, I think. There were areas up there 21 that had as much as 9 inches in about a five-hour period. And 22 I've heard one report of 15 inches in one area, but -- and 23 there's -- close to where I live, there was some people that 24 lost a lot of fence, and covered up the highway with boulders 25 and trees, and all the way down 479. It was -- was almost 5-29-07 6 1 level across. It's not as big as it's been, but it was pretty 2 big for a short time. But, anyway, other than that, 3 everything's fine. We're green, wonderful. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that it? 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's all for now. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Williams? 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The Arts and Crafts Fair 8 came and went, and experienced some rain. It was good to see 9 that that old -- old Road and Bridge dump ground, which now 10 has been restored and beautiful, was able to take the water 11 off and move it to the Guadalupe. Somebody observed that 12 while the crowds were down, maybe the -- maybe the rains kept 13 the tire-kickers home and bidders came out, because most of 14 those artists enjoyed a pretty -- pretty good day -- pretty 15 good fair, all things considered. So, it was fun. Saw you 16 out there, Judge. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. I got essentially the 18 same report you did on the fair; that the number of bodies 19 were -- was down, but that the lookers and the people there to 20 kill time stayed home, and the folks that wanted to part with 21 their money showed up. So, that was good from the exhibitors' 22 standpoint; it always brings them back. I just have one item. 23 Since we were here last, I think I reported the last time we 24 were here that we got the -- the first installment, as it 25 were, on our insurance settlement on our litigation against 5-29-07 7 1 E.B.A. and Union Labor Life. That first check came in at a 2 hundred and -- almost 135,000. Since we met last time, we got 3 the balance in from E.B.A.'s portion, which is another 75, 4 which gave us a total net recovery of just under 210,000. So, 5 that matter is now laid to rest, but we've got $210,000 in the 6 bank to show for it. So, I want to thank Mr. Emerson and, of 7 course, our outside counsel, Mr. Walraven, who has done such a 8 fabulous job on getting that -- getting that thing to come 9 down that way. 10 Also, I was notified by Mr. Charles Donallen, who 11 has been our county representative to the Alamo Area on Aging 12 Board -- advisory board, and who served as chairman of that 13 board, that he found it necessary to resign as our 14 representative because of moving from the area because of some 15 health difficulties that he needed to address. And we 16 appreciate his service, and wish him well in -- in his 17 recovery from his health difficulties. But in the near 18 future, why, hopefully we'll have folks that will express an 19 interest to serve on that advisory board of the Area Agency on 20 Aging -- that's kind of a tongue-twister -- down at AACOG. 21 And maybe the media will help us give some notice to that 22 vacancy so that we might get that filled. We'd appreciate any 23 help that they might give us. That's all I've got. Let's 24 move on with our agenda. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We got one more thing. 5-29-07 8 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Oops. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Janie Roman. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me defer to you on that, then. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I thought you were going 5 to do it, so I guess that you're going to put it over on me. 6 That's just fine. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't really understand or 9 know what award it was that Janie received last week, and she 10 has the award with her, and I'd like for her to get up and 11 tell us a little bit about what -- what the award was that she 12 got. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: I apologize. I didn't have the full 14 particulars, and that's the reason I chucked it to you. 15 MS. ROMAN: The Texas Department of State and Health 16 Services gives out an award for the most valuable rabies and 17 bite investigator. They give it out once every five years, 18 and I won it this year. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: That is absolutely fabulous. 21 (Applause.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Once every five years, and we're one 23 of 254 counties. That's -- that's pretty long odds you 24 overcame, Janie. We appreciate your work. 25 MS. ROMAN: Thank you. 5-29-07 9 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: She's done very, very well 2 handling that situation out there and investigations and 3 everything. Done really well, and I think that department is 4 really, really doing a fine job. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's another -- I think it's a 6 good point to bring up, the purpose of that department. It's 7 not -- I mean, it's -- rabies prevention is probably one of 8 our biggest things, and getting rid of dangerous dogs and 9 things of that nature, but operating the pound is kind of 10 ancillary to what the purpose of the -- and the reason the 11 County is even involved. There are lots of other nonprofits 12 that do the rest -- do the pounds and the adoption and all 13 that. That's above and beyond. What's called for is -- the 14 job is protecting the public. That's what this award shows. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And I do believe that she -- 16 that we do have a couple new cases of rabies in the west end 17 of the county that's reoccurring. A ranch -- they had 18 problems last year, and she's on top of that as well, and will 19 deal with it. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: I appreciate you pulling me up short 21 before we got rolling here. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I appreciate you not 23 going on with the agenda before... 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's move forward, if we 25 might. The first item on the agenda is an update on the 5-29-07 10 1 diabetes program, and we have with us Jody Osteen with the -- 2 she's the Family and Consumer Science rep with the Extension 3 Office. 4 MS. OSTEEN: Judge Tinley and Commissioners, good 5 morning. It's a pleasure to be here and to be able to update 6 you on my diabetes program. Statistics show that 7.7 percent 7 of Texans 18 years and older have a diagnosis of diabetes. 8 Approximately another 402,000 Texans are believed to have 9 undiagnosed diabetes. This number is projected to increase 10 43 percent by the year 2020. Health care costs now average 11 approximately $13,000 per year for persons with diabetes. 12 Almost $1 out of every $5 spent on health care is for persons 13 with diabetes. Currently, only 7 percent of people with 14 diabetes are at the recommended levels for blood glucose, 15 blood pressure, and blood cholesterol. People with diabetes 16 who maintain their blood glucose, blood pressure, and 17 cholesterol numbers within the recommended ranges can keep 18 their costs, health risks, quality of life, and productivity 19 very close to those without the disease. While diabetes is 20 not curable, it is manageable, but education is the key. 21 Diabetes education is not readily available, so Extension 22 health professionals developed the "Do Well, Be Well With 23 Diabetes" program, and this is a series of classes that cover 24 nine self-care and nutrition topics delivered in five 25 sessions. 5-29-07 11 1 The primary goal of this program is to improve the 2 blood glucose management. Here in Kerr County, local 3 volunteer health professionals from Sid Peterson Memorial 4 Hospital, Methodist Health Care Ministries, the Veterans 5 Administration Hospital, the Family Sports Center, along with 6 the Salvation Army received leadership from me and helped to 7 teach the Do Well, Be Well With Diabetes classes. I am here 8 to report the impact of this program to Kerr County. The 9 classes were taught at the Salvation Army Community Center for 10 five consecutive week nights. 28 people with diabetes 11 participated in these classes. The average age of the 12 participants with diabetes was 65 years of age. 82 percent of 13 the participants reported having no previous diabetes classes, 14 indicating a critical need for diabetes education. 50 percent 15 reported they had a diagnosis of diabetes two or more years 16 prior to receiving these classes, while 50 percent reported 17 having diabetes one year or less. 36 percent reported 18 receiving no meal plan from their doctor. 34 percent reported 19 only -- their type of insurance was only Medicare, while 20 2 percent reported that they had no insurance coverage. 21 74 percent reported being retired or not working outside of 22 the home. 23 Because of these classes, the blood glucose level 24 was improved, declining on an average from 127 at the 25 beginning of class to 103 at the end of classes. The blood 5-29-07 12 1 glucose two hours after meals also improved, declining on an 2 average from 120 at the beginning of classes to 111 at the 3 end. Participants demonstrated an improved ability to 4 recognize and to limit their foods that are likely to 5 significantly raise their blood glucose. 100 percent of the 6 participants said that the classes were either excellent or 7 good, and another 100 percent also said that the speakers were 8 excellent and good. The participants will attend a follow-up 9 class this fall to once again monitor and see how their 10 glucose management is progressing. The economic impact of the 11 Do Well, Be Well With Diabetes classes to Kerr County is 12 substantial, with a lifetime health care cost savings 13 resulting from improved management of diabetes by these 28 14 participants at an estimated $1,545,734. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Osteen? 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes? 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Do you have any idea what percentage 18 of those that are -- were previously undiagnosed fall within 19 the eligibility of our Indigent Health care program? 20 MS. OSTEEN: I do not. I do not. I don't know. I 21 can find that out for you, but I do not know that offhand. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, it occurs to me that -- that 23 the educational component of what you're doing for those that 24 are undiagnosed -- 25 MS. OSTEEN: Mm-hmm. 5-29-07 13 1 JUDGE TINLEY: -- because of low incidence of health 2 care -- 3 MS. OSTEEN: Yeah. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: -- would -- would possibly have a 5 significant impact on our Indigent Health Care program. 6 Because if these folks learn of their diabetes condition by 7 virtue of some sort of a -- a major incident and they end up 8 going in the hospital, my understanding is that, more often 9 than not, if it's a serious incident, they're kept in ICU at 10 least overnight, for one day. 11 MS. OSTEEN: Yeah. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Until they can become stabilized, and 13 then they've got some stabilization treatment, and those 14 numbers can be pretty frightening from a -- from a cost scale 15 to the County. And it occurs to me that you have the ability 16 to make a pretty strong impact on -- on that particular aspect 17 of our economic impact here. 18 MS. OSTEEN: I think we can. With continued 19 education about, you know, diabetes and the education that is 20 out there, and ways to even prevent diabetes through 21 education, I know that we can make a continued impact. And 22 I've been asked to conduct the Do Well, Be Well With Diabetes 23 program out at the Dietert Center this fall, which will go 24 ahead and bring in, you know, a larger audience there, and 25 continue to market the program and provide that education in 5-29-07 14 1 our county. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: What about other possible venues to 3 conduct that? Are you doing what outreach you can to try and 4 get your foot in the door wherever you can? 5 MS. OSTEEN: Yes. Wherever I can, yes. And the 6 county volunteers, you know, have been very receptive to the 7 program, and lots of people have stepped up and helped with it 8 and have opened up their doors, like the Salvation Army, you 9 know, making their Community Center available with that and 10 helping to market the program through their outreach to reach, 11 you know, a different type of a population of people. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Is -- is not the incidence of 13 diabetes somewhat prevalent with the aging process? 14 MS. OSTEEN: It is, yes. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 16 MS. OSTEEN: Uh-huh. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: So, with our elderly population here, 18 it would seem that we're probably more at risk than the 19 average population? 20 MS. OSTEEN: We are, certainly, here in our 21 community, because of our age of our community. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we appreciate your efforts 23 on -- 24 MS. OSTEEN: Thank you. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: -- on an educational program. 5-29-07 15 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Thank you. Living with a 2 diabetic and having one for a wife for quite a while now who's 3 had Type 1 diabetes for 37 years, -- 4 MS. OSTEEN: Uh-huh. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- anything that can be done 6 educationally would be a big benefit. She is one that has 7 taken care of herself, and she can probably teach the class. 8 MS. OSTEEN: I bet so. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But she is -- she pays real 10 close attention to it, because if she doesn't, it's really 11 bad. 12 MS. OSTEEN: That's the key. I'm glad to hear that. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: She -- I'll tell you, after 14 living with it, I'd never -- I didn't know anything about 15 diabetes until about 12 years ago, but I know quite a bit now, 16 and I'm glad that I do, but I wish that it would not have been 17 her experience. 18 MS. OSTEEN: That's right. That's right. Well, 19 thank you. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Thank you. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. Any other member 22 of the Court have anything in connection with that particular 23 agenda item? Let's move on to Item 2; consider, discuss, and 24 take appropriate action regarding allowing a separate line 25 item for County Extension budgeting to conform to Texas A & M 5-29-07 16 1 and/or state requirements to itemize their budgeting. 2 Mr. Walston? Go straight to the bottom line and tell us -- 3 MR. WALSTON: Tell you what we need? 4 JUDGE TINLEY: -- why we need to go this way. 5 MR. WALSTON: What we've got is -- 6 JUDGE TINLEY: And deviate from our standard 7 budgeting. 8 MR. WALSTON: It's a matter of reporting, as far as 9 when -- when I'm asked to report on our county budget, as far 10 as in line items on the County portion, as to what y'all -- 11 what we spend our money on. Okay. When we look at it, we 12 have all our salary lumped together. Okay. Extension wants 13 to assign a certain portion of that to travel, travel 14 allotments for both agents, Jody Osteen and myself. So, they 15 -- they take $5,000 out of our salary and assign it to travel. 16 They -- each. $5,000 each. And so, at that time, that -- 17 that takes, you know, some -- just some changing and 18 reporting. And seems like every year when we do that, it's -- 19 there's errors made in -- in either their end or our end, and 20 it would simplify a lot of things if we could separate out -- 21 just go ahead and take the 5,000 each and set up a separate 22 line item in travel, and then reduce our salary portion by 23 that much, and basically be paid the same. I visited with Eva 24 and Tommy, and they can -- as far as our monthly income or 25 checks will be the same, but -- and they'll -- but it will 5-29-07 17 1 come out of two separate line items to make our -- our checks. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Don't you already have a travel 3 line item, though? I mean -- 4 MR. WALSTON: I've got a Stock Show Travel line 5 item. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is different than that? 7 MR. WALSTON: It's basically -- yeah, the stock show 8 travel line item is a -- is a reimbursement for stock show 9 expenses. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: I think the problem we've had 11 heretofore in having a travel line item for anybody is the 12 I.R.S. requirements where you've got to make submissions for 13 mileage, travel, and -- and charge off against that. Then I 14 think we may also have some -- some FICA issues that relate to 15 it, maybe some retirement issues, and I don't have any 16 particular problem with it if we don't encounter those issues. 17 Is there a problem with that, just lumping it and paying it, 18 Tommy? 19 MR. TOMLINSON: No, I don't -- there's no problem. 20 We just -- we just -- we started to include it in salaries 21 some years ago. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 23 MR. TOMLINSON: For all elected officials that have 24 travel allowance, and the same thing happened with these. I 25 don't -- I don't have any issue with separating the line 5-29-07 18 1 items. I mean, we're still going to treat it as salary. It's 2 still going to be taxable, just like it is now. It's just 3 going to be -- we'll have two accounts instead of one to pay 4 from. 5 MR. WALSTON: We basically -- on mine, as far as my 6 taxes, I keep a monthly log on travel as far as our travel 7 goes, and I turn that in, and that's -- that's what is 8 assigned for travel. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are we going to -- is it easier 10 to do it next budget year or easier to do it now? 11 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, he has asked me to do it for 12 next budget year. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion -- 14 MR. TOMLINSON: I got his budget. I already did it. 15 I set it up -- 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 17 MR. TOMLINSON: -- with two line items. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Is this going to have any impact 19 insofar as I.R.S. reporting? 20 MR. TOMLINSON: No. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Retirement? Okay. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we 23 authorize the Auditor to set up a travel allowance line item 24 for the two Extension Agents for $5,000 -- or for whatever the 25 amount is in the future. 5-29-07 19 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 3 MR. TOMLINSON: The request I got was for 5,500 4 each. 5 MR. WALSTON: That would be on our next year's 6 budget that was sent up. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It will be whatever the amount 8 needs to be based on what's turned in in the budget. This 9 just authorizes to set up a separate line item for travel 10 allowance for these two -- 11 JUDGE TINLEY: It'll just be carved out of the 12 salary line and allocated over in a separate line item for 13 travel. 14 MR. WALSTON: Thank you. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion on 16 that motion? All in favor, signify by raising your right 17 hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 20 (No response.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 22 MR. WALSTON: Thank you, gentlemen. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mm-hmm. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's move to Item 3; consider, 25 discuss, and take appropriate action regarding allowing the 5-29-07 20 1 Kerr County Juvenile Detention Center to transfer the blue van 2 to Animal Control for utilization in areas including, but not 3 limited to, school visits, animal transports, and public 4 education regarding animal control. Kevin? Janie? Who wants 5 to take the lead on this? 6 MR. STANTON: Go ahead. 7 MS. ROMAN: The Juvenile Detention Center has a blue 8 minivan that is not currently being used, and we would like to 9 transfer this van from the Juvenile Detention Center to Animal 10 Control. We can use that for numerous things; transport 11 animals to and from the vet, injured animals that we can't fit 12 into the trucks, school programs, things of that nature. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'll second. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 16 of the agenda item. Any question or discussion? Kevin, 17 you're not currently using that van, are you? 18 MR. STANTON: No, sir. No, we've got a white van -- 19 newer white van, and we've also got also a car. So, no, sir, 20 we're not using it. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: One thing I'd like to say 23 about that is that this is another way that the Animal Control 24 is going to use to try to get more animals adopted out so that 25 we don't have as many that we have to euthanize. I believe 5-29-07 21 1 this is a positive move, primarily with what we plan on doing. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How would that be, 3 Commissioner? 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Because she's going to be able 5 to transport them around to schools, and also to various 6 things like Market Days, and have them available for the 7 public to see, and maybe we can get more adopted out. 8 MS. ROMAN: Right. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: There are two or three different pet 10 food or pet stores in the area that occasionally will have 11 special events to draw public attention, and I suspect you're 12 going to be taking some of your animals to those to try -- 13 because I know other organizations do also. 14 MS. ROMAN: Correct. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: For that same purpose. 16 MS. ROMAN: Yeah, we'll definitely be involved in 17 those things. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any other questions or 19 comments? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 20 right hand. 21 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 23 (No response.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to 25 Item 4; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 5-29-07 22 1 designate the local Rabies Control Authority for Kerr County. 2 I understand this is a state requirement that the County must 3 designate a specific person as the Rabies Control Authority; 4 is that correct? 5 MS. ROMAN: Correct. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. 7 MS. ROMAN: In years past -- and we've also -- Eva 8 and I also checked around with other facilities. I know in 9 years past, the Animal Control Manager was also the local 10 Rabies Control Authority. And when I was designated the 11 manager, I was not designated the local Rabies Control 12 Authority. Therefore, -- 13 MS. HYDE: We need it. 14 MS. ROMAN: -- we need to do that. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I move that we designate 16 Janie Roman as the local Rabies Control Authority for Kerr 17 County. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second -- third. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 21 indicated. Any further question or discussion? All in favor 22 of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 5-29-07 23 1 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's move 2 to Item 5; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 3 regarding recommendations for bonds and/or insurance for 4 county elected officials, department heads, and all employees 5 that handle or have access to county funds or assets. 6 Ms. Hyde, are you or -- 7 MS. HYDE: Tommy. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: -- Mr. Tomlinson going to take the 9 lead on this? 10 MR. TOMLINSON: I filed an application with Texas 11 Association of Counties for that -- that coverage. The -- I 12 found out that they -- they're not in the bonding business, 13 but they have insurance that -- what they term as crime -- as 14 a crime policy. Basically covers the same thing as a bond 15 does. It has -- let's see. It has Form O, which is employee 16 dishonesty. It's for 100,000. It has Form B, which is for 17 forgery, for 20,000. And Form C is for theft, disappearance, 18 and destruction for money and securities, for 20,000. And 19 Form D is robbery and safe burglary other than for money and 20 securities for 20,000. And then it has Form R that I don't 21 know that we need, but it's for counterfeit currency, and that 22 is also for 20,000. And they -- they base their -- their 23 premium -- their cost of this by employees, and the quote I 24 received was on the basis of 350 -- 350 employees. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: 350? 5-29-07 24 1 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. And they -- for a $1,000 2 deductible, which is a minimum deductible, it turns out to 3 be -- it's $13.71 per employee. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: 13-what, Tommy? 5 MR. TOMLINSON: 13.71. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Per employee. 7 MR. TOMLINSON: Which is a total annual amount of 8 $4,800. 4,800. Or they have a $5,000 deductible, and that 9 would be $10.85 per employee. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I like the 1,000. 11 MR. TOMLINSON: I think we can trim that some, 12 because there are some employees that are -- that are already 13 bonded because of -- because they're required to be by state 14 law. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Required to have bond coverage in 16 place? 17 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Or some -- some sort of other 19 coverage in place. 20 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. You know, the Tax Office is an 21 example. They have to have it, and so we could -- we could 22 eliminate those, because they're already bonded. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: The -- the 350 employees, does that 24 cover those over in the Adult Probation Department? Because 25 they're on our payroll. 5-29-07 25 1 MR. TOMLINSON: No, it -- I excluded them. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 3 MR. TOMLINSON: Actually, I gave them an estimate of 4 310 employees. I don't know why they used 350, but that's 5 what they used. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: They probably have breaks of 300, 7 350, and so they're going to cap it at 350, I would imagine. 8 MR. TOMLINSON: But I -- you know, my thought would 9 be to use them, because I hate to -- I don't -- I don't really 10 like to break up coverage. I would like to have coverage with 11 the same -- same people that we have our property and casualty 12 with, and our liability coverage. Because you don't -- they 13 -- you know, TAC wrote the coverage, and they know what's in 14 their liability coverage, so you don't have any -- any -- an 15 issue about gaps in coverage or over-coverage. So, I -- I 16 would personally like to keep -- 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, what would that increase 18 our annual premium to TAC right now for the balance of this 19 budget year? 20 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, let's see. We have -- it 21 would be approximately $2,400 for -- 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The balance of the budget 23 year? 24 MR. TOMLINSON: -- for the balance of the budget 25 year. 5-29-07 26 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Have you identified where 2 that comes from? 3 MR. TOMLINSON: No. No, not yet. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: When is -- when is our policy 5 anniversary date? 6 MR. TOMLINSON: October 1. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We're on the fiscal with our 8 -- with -- 9 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: -- all our coverages except health 11 benefits? 12 MR. TOMLINSON: That's correct. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm in favor of doing this, and 15 we can either -- I make a motion to authorize the County 16 Auditor to procure us this coverage through TAC with a $1,000 17 deductible, and bring a budget amendment forward that we can 18 approve if we locate the funds. 19 MR. TOMLINSON: All right. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second it. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion and second as indicated. Any 22 further question or discussion? Sheriff? 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Just a question. Under the 24 employee dishonesty, most of the cases you have involve theft 25 or something like that, and you have 20,000 theft. But you 5-29-07 27 1 may have an employee that, you know, steals 50,000 or 2 whatever. Can it also be claimed under the employee 3 dishonesty part of that policy? Or is it only going to cover 4 up to 20,000 under the theft? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: I think the question is, do we have 6 a -- a cumulative claim -- 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, are we -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- limit, or are we talking 9 about 20,000 per occurrence? 10 MR. TOMLINSON: Per occurrence. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: What my deal was is you have a 13 100,000 -- is the 100,000, then, just the overall total? 14 MR. TOMLINSON: No. No, that's per occurrence also. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay. So -- but if -- say if 16 you have an employee that steals, you know, 50,000. 17 MR. TOMLINSON: It would have to be for -- the limit 18 on the dishonesty would be 100,000. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay. But if they steal 20 50,000, you have a theft option. 21 MR. TOMLINSON: You also have that. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Is it only going to be able to 23 be claimed under the theft, or can it be claimed -- 24 MR. TOMLINSON: I can't answer that. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- under the dishonesty? 5-29-07 28 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's a good -- 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Are we limiting ourselves? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- good question, but I think 4 the -- a lot of the other measures that we've put in place 5 greatly reduce the larger theft items. It's more the smaller 6 ones that I think we're -- you know, are still -- I guess 7 potentially could happen. 8 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, you have to look at what's at 9 risk on a daily basis. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 12 MR. TOMLINSON: And if you -- I mean, you would 13 have to have more than 100,000 at risk on a daily basis under 14 our -- 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, and there's very few. 16 MR. TOMLINSON: -- our procedures for there to be a 17 risk of great -- of anything greater than -- than what's at 18 risk. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's very few that would have 20 -- those that have access to that amount are bonded under -- 21 MR. TOMLINSON: Are already bonded. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Already bonded. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. Any other questions or 24 discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify 25 by raising your right hand. 5-29-07 29 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Thank you. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Tommy, I would be interested to 6 see what a definition of dishonesty is, 'cause I think -- I 7 mean, all those are dishonesty as well. So, what's 8 "dishonest" and what's "theft"? I mean, if you're stealing, 9 it's dishonest to me. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Theft would seem to be a form of 11 dishonesty, yes. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To me. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I would think so. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Should we call upon the Sheriff for a 15 definition under the Penal Code? Let's move to Item 6; 16 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to examine the 17 County's ability to obtain groundwater pumping rights from the 18 Headwaters Groundwater Conservation District for all property 19 and easements owned by Kerr County. Commissioner Williams? 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Judge. I placed 21 this on the agenda after reading in the Express News what 22 Guadalupe County was pursuing in this particular vein, and I 23 thought I'd just put it on there for discussion, see if 24 there's anything that we wish to pursue. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I discussed this with Gene 5-29-07 30 1 Williams, who's in the audience as well, and he wanted my 2 thoughts from -- I guess just in general on this, and I think 3 it's something very interesting, worth monitoring. I think 4 it's something that we still need to do. I'd be very -- I 5 don't know that we have a -- the County has a need for 6 water -- groundwater right now on a large scale, but I think 7 this is a very interesting legal case that needs to be 8 tracked, because there may be a need for it down the road, and 9 it may give the County some -- some opportunity with -- who 10 knows where we go with water. So, anyway, I think it's a very 11 interesting case. I'm sure it's going to get litigated 12 somewhere along the line, because it's a brand-new area, and I 13 would assume we'll let that be done in Guadalupe County rather 14 than -- 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh, yeah. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- than our taxpayers picking up 17 the bill. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If there's going to be 19 litigation, let them do it. But I just wanted to get -- 20 elicit some comments a bit further as to whether or not this 21 was something that ultimately could have value for us, and -- 22 and something we should pursue. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: An interesting side note on this 24 is -- and I'm not sure if it was Gene that brought it up to me 25 or someone else -- that Region J asked -- brought this up in 5-29-07 31 1 relation to the City of Kerrville and possibly a remote well 2 field, and about what the City's -- who owns on the state 3 right-of-ways, if the City could get that -- that use of the 4 water, or lease it from the state or something like that, and 5 asked Representative Hilderbran to carry a bill to clarify 6 that, and it didn't go anywhere. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Didn't happen. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It didn't -- you know, and I'm 9 -- you know, Harvey's concern was, I think, some -- I don't 10 want to put words in his mouth, but my recollection is, 11 precedent on water marketing and things of that nature, and 12 didn't want to even go down that road as to who has those 13 rights. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And I think in the case of 15 Guadalupe County, water marketing might be at the basis of 16 their decision making; that they wish to pursue that for sales 17 to some smaller communities. And that wasn't in the back of 18 my head. I just wanted to get the topic in front of us and 19 see if there's -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would be very opposed to using 21 county water from a water marketing standpoint. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. I don't -- I don't 23 disagree with that. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But there may be some benefit to 25 have it down the road. So -- 5-29-07 32 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Odom, do you have any idea how 2 many acres we have underlying our county roadway system? 3 MR. ODOM: Of the ones that I know, I'm going to 4 guess, sir, 4 to -- 3 to 5 acres that I know that are -- 5 there's 7 -- you're talking about property? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, talking about under roads. 7 MR. ODOM: Oh, under roads. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Roads and easements. 9 MR. ODOM: I'm sorry, I thought you meant land 10 outside my right-of-ways. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 400-plus miles of roads. 12 How much does that total? 13 MR. ODOM: 470. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 50-foot probably, and then you 15 have to discount -- a lot of that's prescriptive, which would 16 bring up a whole new issue as to who owns those. 17 MR. ODOM: Whole new issue. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, probably would. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We don't want to tackle that 21 one, I can assure you. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Please, no. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: We got a job for you, Mr. County 24 Attorney. How'd you like to litigate that one? 25 MR. EMERSON: I believe we need to wait on Guadalupe 5-29-07 33 1 County, Judge. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Good plan. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I wouldn't mind getting an 4 estimate, though, Leonard, sometime when you're sitting around 5 with nothing to do. (Laughter.) 6 MR. ODOM: Truby's brought up a good point. The 7 Auditor should have a pretty good idea, because under GASB, he 8 has to have the square yardage, I think is the way it's done. 9 So, you know, it's a matter of me calculating what we have, 10 but I bet you Tommy already has that for GASB, for the 11 auditing purposes. That would tell you how much we have of 12 square yardage. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I understand we had to place a 14 value on all of our roads -- 15 MR. ODOM: Yes. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- maybe last year. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That was the purpose of 18 Tommy doing it, to place a value. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: That's the roads. What about the 20 right-of-ways? You've got some additional in the 21 right-of-ways. That -- we figure 75 percent are 22 non-prescriptive. 23 MR. ODOM: I'm going to guess that you're probably 24 somewhere, like, 100 million square feet. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Per? 5-29-07 34 1 MR. ODOM: A hundred million square feet would be my 2 guess, off the top of my head. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 180 square feet per? 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Hundred million. 5 MS. HYDE: Hundred million. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: 43,000-plus per acre. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: 43,560. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If you calculate the 470 miles 9 at 50-foot right-of-way, which we don't have that, it would 10 come out to 3,460 acres, and you discount the -- you know, 11 half of that, because the right-of-ways are narrower, and a 12 lot of it's prescriptive, so you're probably looking at around 13 2,000 acres. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's a sizeable pumping 15 right. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But that's a ballpark. I'd say 18 2,000 is probably not too far off. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 2,000 or 2,500. 20 MR. ODOM: What about the state right-of-way? 21 Doesn't that belong to the County? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: State right-of-way? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, there's -- 24 MR. ODOM: We bought it. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But that was what I said; 5-29-07 35 1 Representative Hilderbran looked at that as to -- that was an 2 issue that is unclear who probably owns that water. He didn't 3 want to pursue it at a state level. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In those situations, don't 5 we deed that to the state? No? I'm hearing a no and seeing a 6 yes. Which is it? 7 MR. ODOM: I don't know. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Now there's an I don't know. 9 I don't -- okay, a yes and a no means, "I don't know." 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's an interesting -- very 11 interesting and novel. I think it's the first time I've heard 12 of it on county roads. Certainly, it has been contemplated 13 under state, and certainly under the interstate system. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right, exactly. And that's 15 an underlying issue in terms of Trans Texas Corridor as well. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Who owns the -- 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Far as the state's 18 concerned. So, we'll just keep it in the back of our noodle 19 and watch Guadalupe County, and I'll report to the Court 20 periodically and read the Express News. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Anybody else have anything 22 further to offer on that one? Let's go to Item 8, if we 23 might. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 24 accepting a right-of-way dedication to Kerr County relating to 25 Benham Woods Subdivision plat in the ETJ. 5-29-07 36 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put -- well, I guess I might 2 be able to answer this quickly, 'cause Leonard was out and I 3 talked to Truby about this. And if I can recall why this is 4 on here, an issue has come up in that, under the system where 5 the City does the approval in the ETJ, in this situation, the 6 roadway is being expanded -- or the right-of-way for the 7 road's being expanded slightly. It's a county road, so it has 8 to become county property. But the city -- normally this 9 would be handled through the platting process; on the plat, we 10 would accept that dedication. But since we don't ever see 11 this plat because it goes to the city, the question is, how do 12 we accept it, that additional property? And the City won't 13 approve the final plat until we sign off on it, but we have no 14 authority to sign off on a plat in the ETJ any longer. So, 15 anyway, it's kind of -- it's a round-robin thing, and I 16 thought it best to put it before the Court. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is this the Joe Benham that 18 comes before the Court every now and then? 19 JUDGE TINLEY: No, I don't think so. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Did I summarize that correctly? 21 MR. ODOM: That's correct. 22 MS. HARDIN: Yes, but there's another issue, too. 23 When they delivered the plat this morning, they had a place on 24 there for him to sign for floodplain as well. 25 MR. ODOM: Yeah. They should have been signing. 5-29-07 37 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They need to sign the 2 floodplain. 3 MR. ODOM: They did not sign it; they told Truby to 4 tell me that I need to sign it. So, I signed it anyway, but, 5 you know, that is -- this one-stop concept is not working. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, the problem with the 7 floodplain is, the floodplain wasn't contemplated by law, so 8 actually, I'll agree with the City on that; you're going to 9 have to do floodplain, because the law didn't talk about 10 floodplain. The law talked about platting, and platting and 11 floodplain have nothing to do with each other. 12 MR. ODOM: Did you hear that, Truby? 13 MS. HARDIN: I heard that. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Isn't that right, Rex? The law 15 is very -- and this is a -- it's the same problem with 16 Environmental Health. It didn't address septic at all, so 17 anything that comes up with the septic still has to go through 18 the county anyway. You're right, Leonard, it was -- it's a 19 law that may have been well-intentioned, but certainly did not 20 make things simpler for the public. 21 MR. ODOM: I was thinking that at our meeting 22 with -- with Mr. Baldwin and yourself and I and with the 23 city -- the City Manager, that we discussed that matter, and 24 that they agreed at that time that if it was in the ETJ, 25 because it -- platting was something that I brought up at that 5-29-07 38 1 point, 'cause we had some issues at that point. And they said 2 yes, that if they were platting this, they would do that. If 3 they weren't platting -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They don't have any authority to 5 do it right now. The problem is, they don't have authority to 6 sign the floodplain. You know, we can enter into another 7 interlocal agreement for that purpose, but that would be the 8 only way to let them sign the floodplain that I see. I mean, 9 they may -- you know, intentions, they may be willing to do 10 it, but maybe what we need to do is enter into an interlocal 11 agreement for floodplain and enforcement in the ETJ. 12 MR. ODOM: Well, one stop. That was the concept, 13 and they agreed to that. But -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, the City's -- I'm going to 15 say no, it's not the City's fault. 16 MR. ODOM: They probably can't read my handwriting 17 anyway. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Talk to the State. It's the 19 State's issue, not the City's issue. 20 MR. ODOM: Okay. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Anyway, in this situation, I 22 think that, subject to Leonard's recommendation, we should 23 accept this dedication. I think we have to give him the 24 specific authority to sign this plat. 25 MR. ODOM: Well, they didn't even have a place for 5-29-07 39 1 me to sign it, just the Judge. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: No, it appears to me, in looking at 4 it, there may be two places to sign it. 5 MR. ODOM: Well, there is two, but it was left 6 blank, and my understanding was that the Judge was supposed to 7 sign both. Right? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: There's a space here. "Kerr County 9 hereby accepts the dedication of road right-of-ways depicted 10 hereon." Space for a date, and then a long line, presumably 11 for a signature. And then below that -- 12 MR. ODOM: Is your signature. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: -- approval of the Commissioners 14 Court, and then there's additional language, "This plat 15 revision has been submitted to and considered by the 16 Commissioners Court. Hereby approved by the Court," space for 17 signature -- for dating, and then a space for signature, with 18 the indication "County Judge." So, it would appear to me 19 that, you know, you or I or somebody needs to sign that first 20 one. 21 MR. ODOM: I'll sign the first one. I will accept 22 it. We need the right -- I would rather have the 23 right-of-way. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I think -- but I don't 25 understand the second one. I understand that Leonard needs to 5-29-07 40 1 sign the first one, but we don't sign the plats in the ETJ. I 2 mean, I think Len should sign it and send it back over to 3 them. They're the ones that do it. We never -- I'm 4 uncomfortable with us signing a plat that we haven't reviewed. 5 I don't think that's right. 6 MR. EMERSON: It's been a long time since we started 7 this procedure, but didn't it incorporate once an ETJ plat was 8 submitted to the City, that it would be kicked back to Road 9 and Bridge for the County's review prior to the City approval? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mm-hmm. 11 MR. EMERSON: Wasn't that the process that was 12 supposed to -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. But it's not -- I mean, 14 I don't think we should sign the plat. I think -- I can 15 understand the dedication language. That's -- this is 16 something that we don't want the City accepting right-of-way 17 for the County, so I think we need to sign off on that. I 18 think we need to maybe bring it back at the next meeting to 19 give Leonard that authority from here forward, where it's 20 appropriate, but I don't know that we should sign the plat. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Have the appropriate -- are 22 the appropriate signatures of the City in place? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we've got the approval of 24 the -- of the City Engineer. We've got the approval of the 25 chair of the Planning Commission, but beyond that, it appears 5-29-07 41 1 the only other -- we've got the obvious O.S.S.F. and 2 Floodplain Administration where Leonard signed that we've 3 talked about, but -- but there's no space for the -- other 4 than as indicated for the City to sign off on it. There are 5 two separate spaces, one for the -- for the dedication of the 6 road right-of-way to be accepted by Kerr County, but then 7 there's a general acceptance of the plat by Commissioners 8 Court, which, according to Commissioner Letz, is not 9 appropriate under the ETJ rules that we're under. 10 MR. ODOM: Well, I didn't feel like it was 11 appropriate for me -- that I had the authority to accept the 12 right-of-way. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think you do. I think 14 that -- 15 MR. ODOM: That's the reason I didn't sign it. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- that we need to give you -- 17 the Court to give you that authority specifically on this 18 event, on this plat. But it's -- my feeling is -- and I'll be 19 -- I have no problem with making a motion to give Leonard the 20 authority to accept the right-of-way on Benham Woods Addition. 21 I'll make that motion, but that's it. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second that. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion to accept the 24 right-of-way dedication and authorize Mr. Odom, as County Road 25 Administrator, to note that acceptance on the plat of Benham 5-29-07 42 1 Woods Addition. Any question or discussion on the motion? 2 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 3 hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Leonard, would you rather -- on 9 future ones, would you rather get a blanket authority to do 10 this, or do you want to bring them each to the Court 11 individually? 12 MR. ODOM: I'd rather just have a blanket authority. 13 I mean, I don't have a problem with it. I hate to take the 14 time, if you just give me that authority to do it. But I 15 didn't feel like I had it, so that's the reason I wouldn't 16 sign it. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Why don't we -- on our next 18 agenda, I'll put something to do that. 19 MR. ODOM: That's fine. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Anything further on that item, 21 gentlemen? Let's move forward to Item 9; consider, discuss, 22 and take appropriate action for concept of Lots R-8-B & R-7-B 23 of the unrecorded plat of Turtle Creek Ranches. 24 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. If you -- in your packet, you 25 will see the copy of the plat. Lots 7 and 8, currently 5-29-07 43 1 Mr. Smith owns Lot 8 and Mr. Arthur owns Lot 7. As the lots 2 are currently laid out, they are divided by Pike's Peak Road, 3 which is in Precinct 1. The owners would like to exchange the 4 land to make their lots contiguous. As you can basically see 5 there, that you have two of them side-by-side. One wishes -- 6 well, both wish to take the odd side and combine it into one 7 lot. I had several questions. Since this is an unrecorded 8 subdivision, the lots were sold by metes and bounds, and they 9 are not creating a new lot. Would it be necessary to plat 10 this property? If they must plat, A, would it be a revision 11 of plat or a two-lot subdivision done under the alternate plat 12 process? Or, B, the total acreage is 9.5 acres. When 13 reconfigured, Lot 8 would be approximately 5.25, and already 14 has a home with a well and septic. Lot 7 would be an 15 approximately 4.25-acre lot, and does not have any 16 improvements. Would the Court grant a variance to the lot 17 size, or would you put a note on there to say that it's 18 nonbuildable? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would -- I'll make a stab at 20 it. Your first question is yes, it needs to be platted, in my 21 opinion. The other part of it is, that is a new subdivision, 22 a two-lot subdivision, and a variance has to be granted. And 23 I think that variance is in line with what this Court has done 24 in situations where we're basically -- we're going from four 25 lots here to two lots. 5-29-07 44 1 MR. ODOM: We're not creating any more lots. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're going -- it is a better 3 situation than we currently have, even though they technically 4 don't meet our current rules. But that's the only variance, 5 as to that lot size. 6 MR. ODOM: To the lot size. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it's up to the landowners to 8 deal with Environmental Health and Headwaters if it comes to 9 wells and septic issues. That's not being addressed here. 10 And the reason I say that, there is language about that they 11 want to grandfather well and septic and some other stuff, and 12 we're not grandfathering anything. We're giving them a 13 variance on lot size. 14 MR. ODOM: All right. Yes, it has to be replatted 15 and be into a two-lot subdivision, and with this variance on 16 the lot size. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. I'll make a motion to 18 that effect. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm curious as to why the 20 larger lot would not be the one that doesn't contain the well 21 and the septic, so that they qualify for a well, and the 22 smaller lot be the one designated as the lot that has -- 23 currently has improvements in place. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think they did the lots 25 just -- as I understand it, they each had -- if you look at 5-29-07 45 1 the first picture, they had alternate sides of the road; they 2 were real long, skinny lots, and they're making them more 3 square lots. 4 MR. ODOM: Making square lots. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They had -- they were -- each 6 lot was on both sides of the road, or they each had a lot on 7 both sides of the road, and they're doing an acreage swap back 8 and forth so that they each own a larger lot, one larger lot 9 rather than four small lots. 10 MR. ODOM: That's right. And that smaller lot size 11 is -- backs up to a large ranch right there, and that gives 12 them better access up there to the ranch itself. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 14 MR. ODOM: Was the reason. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's -- I would share your -- I 16 have no idea why they ever bought lots in this configuration, 17 but they did. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: One would wonder, wouldn't 19 they? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One would wonder why. They do 21 that all the time, but this is a bad -- bottom line is, this 22 is a better situation than currently exists out there. And 23 the -- I don't know that this affects us in any way. In all 24 likelihood, one of these lots is never going to get built on; 25 it's going to be access to a ranch, but that's not the point. 5-29-07 46 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Did you make a motion? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think I made a motion. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm, he did. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Anybody second it? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Haven't heard it. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Waiting on you. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Cat got your tongue today? 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'll second it. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and second as 10 indicated. Any further question or discussion on that motion? 11 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 12 hand. 13 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 15 (No response.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to 17 Item 10; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 18 regarding approval of the 2008 Texas VINE annual maintenance 19 grant contract. Mr. Sheriff? 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: This is just a renewal, no 21 different than we've had for several years. The only issue we 22 have -- but the Attorney General's office knows about it; 23 they've been up here -- is that currently, because of Odyssey, 24 and because they've changed systems, the two systems aren't 25 talking to each other, so it's currently not working, okay? 5-29-07 47 1 But they have -- the A.G.'s office came up themselves, looked 2 at our stuff, and they're working that out. But they still 3 want us to continue in the -- in the grant deal, and I agree 4 with it. It's the Victim Instant Notification where people 5 can sign up through telephone and that to be notified 6 automatically by phone, by leaving a message when a suspect 7 gets outs of jail, has a court date or anything else. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 11 of the agenda item. Any question or discussion? All in favor 12 of that motion, signify by raising you your right hand. 13 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 15 (No response.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 11; -- 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It needs to be signed in blue, 18 is what they have on there. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: -- consider, discuss, and take 20 appropriate action regarding approval to replace the emergency 21 UPS system to run the communication center. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: What this is, the Sheriff's 23 Office has, ever since it was built -- in fact, I think even 24 though we opened in '95, the UPS system running dispatch was 25 installed in '94 during construction. That UPS system, which 5-29-07 48 1 is the battery backup to run everything in our dispatch, we 2 have had problems with it. Number one, it's right at, what, 3 13 years old. It went out the other day when we did a 4 generator test, and when it did, it deprogrammed all our 5 computers, our 911 phones, our radio consoles and everything 6 else, 'cause they have to have a constant feed of electricity 7 without any type of surges at all. And our radio system and 8 everything shut down for about 45 minutes, which is totally 9 unacceptable. The problem I have with it is, we can fix it, 10 'cause they each hold about 48 batteries that run this thing, 11 and run it for about 15, 16 minutes while the generator's 12 kicking on, and it keeps any kind of fluctuation from 13 happening in anything in our -- in our dispatch center. The 14 problem I have with the current one, they will replace the 15 batteries, which is one tray of them for about $2,800, $3,000 16 to fix it right now. And then the maintenance contract with 17 this same company is 3,800 a year, which all they do on 18 October 1 is come in and look at it and test it and leave, and 19 that's your whole maintenance for the year, and that's what 20 we've been paying, which I think is a big rip-off. I'm 21 totally in disagreement with it. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there not something in the Penal 23 Code that may -- 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I wish I could find something. 25 'Cause -- and I don't think Trolinger's in here; he used to do 5-29-07 49 1 these before he went to work for the County. We can replace 2 that entire system at a cost of $17,000, is what it costs to 3 replace and put in a new one. It's under a two-year warranty, 4 and we will not have a maintenance contract on it, because it 5 will be added in with our maintenance contract on all our 6 radios and everything else that this thing operates anyhow 7 through Dailey Wells. We've talked to them. It would be a 8 purchase through them, and it's our machine, but that's -- the 9 total cost would be 17,000. Then we have the warranty, and 10 then we don't have a $3,800-a-year maintenance contract on it. 11 It's just included in with the radio maintenance contract that 12 we have in place. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Will it increase the radio 14 maintenance contract? 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: He said it definitely will not 16 for at least about three years. If it did after that -- and 17 what we have for them is that it would not increase it more 18 than about $100 a year, because our radio maintenance is so 19 much, and they have another one of these out at the -- our 20 main tower site that they maintain anyhow. So -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What is UPS? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Uninterruptible power. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Un -- yeah. It's a battery 24 backup that runs everything for -- when power goes out, it 25 takes just a few seconds, about 10, 15 seconds for the 5-29-07 50 1 generator to kick on, and keep -- you know, and bring 2 everything back up to power into that generator. And then 3 when power comes back on, you have the same type of 4 fluctuation when the generator cuts off. It's a little bit of 5 fluctuation in the power, and you cannot have that with the 6 equipment that we have in there. It has to be constant. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sheriff, you just have the 8 UPS system for the communications system, or for the entire 9 jail? 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No, UPS is only for the 11 communications center. That one. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Do you have another one? 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We have individual little ones 14 on different computers throughout the -- the department. 15 They're -- a large -- this UPS system will run the entire deal 16 for 17 minutes. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's really what I'm 18 asking. It will run the entire what? Communications center? 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Communications center. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Or entire jail? 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Communications center. Okay? 22 Trolinger -- 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What happens if you have a 24 power outage and your electric locks and so forth -- 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The generator kicks on in a few 5-29-07 51 1 seconds. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You have another generator? 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No, we have one main generator, 4 okay, that runs -- 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: But only one small UPS? 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And it's not very small. It's 7 very large. But it does run everything in the communications 8 center. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay. But the generator is 11 what runs everything else. Now, we put individual little 12 UPS's on computers and that to keep any power fluctuations 13 until the generator kicks on, but the generator is tested 14 every week automatically, and then it's tested with a full 15 load once a month, okay? Where we have a problem -- and later 16 in budget or whatever with Trolinger, I think that also what 17 needs to seriously be looked at, when they remodeled this 18 courthouse, they took out the generator for the courthouse, so 19 there is no generator to run the courthouse. So, when the 20 mainframe of the computer system shuts down at the courthouse, 21 we lose our CAD system, we lose everything out there as far as 22 computers, because everything is run from here, and there is 23 no generator on this. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We need to do -- or probably 25 address that at budget time. 5-29-07 52 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think for the courthouse. 2 But my deal is, it is a serious situation at this point, 3 because if I have any kind of power outage -- and we said our 4 prayers all weekend with the storms -- then I lose everything, 5 'cause I have no backup at this point. It just -- there's so 6 much in there that it deprograms it all. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Where do you have the funds? 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, I don't know what y'all 9 did to my extra salary line item last month, but -- 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What we did to it? 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes, while I wasn't here. But 12 the one thing that I will say is, we did have -- and I don't 13 know where Tommy put it. We did get, on those two cars -- on 14 the settlement on those two cars, we got 11,000 for one and 15 8,000-something for the other. I seriously wanted to replace 16 with a car. I do have one spare car right now, patrol car, 17 and we can just use that and see what the budget does. And 18 that would give me almost 19,000 that we could probably draw. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Why don't you get with Tommy 20 before we do our budget amendments and figure out exactly 21 how -- you want to make sure that money's still available. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. I don't know on that. I 23 should -- you know, there are places in there that we could -- 24 should be able to get it. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What's the total amount of 5-29-07 53 1 expenditure? 19? 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: $17,313.65. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 17,3. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we 5 approve the new -- a UPS -- our UPS system for the 6 communications at the jail, to go with Dailey Wells 7 communications proposal of $17,313.65, and the Sheriff would 8 come back with a budget amendment to locate those funds prior 9 to the end of the day. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Within his budget. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Within his budget. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Bruce. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second as 15 indicated. Any further question or discussion? All in favor, 16 signify by raising your right hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 19 (No response.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's return 21 to our 10 o'clock timed item, if we might. Open annual bids 22 for road materials and consider, discuss, and take appropriate 23 action to make award. Okay. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Get you started, anyway. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. First bid we have is on 5-29-07 54 1 emulsion oils from Sem Materials. I think that's the only 2 submission they made, is on emulsion oils. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not sure those two go together, 4 but -- 5 JUDGE TINLEY: The next one we have is Wilson 6 Culverts, dealing with -- their bid is on corrugated metal 7 pipe. Next bid we have is from Ergon Asphalt and Emulsions, 8 bidding on emulsion oils. Next one is from Edmund Jenschke, 9 Incorporated, bidding on -- two different bids, apparently 10 from different locations on base material. The next one is 11 from Vulcan Construction Materials, bidding on paving 12 aggregates and on hot mix, cold laid asphaltic concrete 13 pavement material. The next one is from Reeh Quarry on base 14 material. That's R-e-e-h. Next one is from Contech 15 Construction Products, Incorporated on corrugated metal pipe. 16 Next one is from Texas Corrugators, South Texas region, on 17 corrugated metal pipe. Next one is from Allen Keller Company 18 on base material. And the last one we have is from 19 Wheatcraft, Incorporated, on base material. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move we accept all bids and 21 defer them to Road and Bridge -- 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- Department for 24 recommendations. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second to 5-29-07 55 1 accept the bids and refer them to Road and Bridge for 2 recommendation -- review and recommendation. Any question or 3 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 4 your right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. We'll go back to 9 order on the agenda. Let's take up Item Number 12, if we 10 might. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 11 regarding the ongoing project of updating procedures and 12 policies regarding the Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center and 13 the Union Church. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Judge, I'd like to pass this 15 till the next meeting. We're not quite ready to present this 16 yet. We thought we would be, but we aren't. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. We'll -- let's move to 18 Item 14; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 19 proposed resolution to designate June 2007 as Traffic Safety 20 Awareness Month. I put this on the agenda at the request of 21 the Honorable Gene Smith, mayor of the City of Kerrville, 22 who's making an effort to call attention to safe driving in 23 our local area. And the City Council of the City of Kerrville 24 has passed a similar resolution, and Mayor Smith has asked me 25 to present it to the Court for -- for its consideration. The 5-29-07 56 1 resolution that is offered for consideration I will read into 2 the record. It's a resolution of Kerr County Commissioners 3 Court expressing support for declaring June 2007 as Traffic 4 Safety Awareness Month in Kerr County. "Whereas, the citizens 5 of Kerr County and its surrounding areas are vitally important 6 to the welfare of our community; and whereas, a large segment 7 of these citizens operate motor vehicles on our county 8 streets, area highways and other thoroughfares; and whereas, 9 injuries and death from traffic accidents bring loss and 10 suffering to the citizens of this community; and whereas, the 11 cost of such injuries brings economic hardship to families; 12 and whereas, the community's health care system and emergency 13 response resources are significantly impacted by injuries of 14 traffic accidents; and whereas, it is the responsibility of 15 every citizen to abide by the traffic laws of the state of 16 Texas, Kerr County, and the City of Kerrville; now, therefore, 17 be it resolved, the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, Texas, 18 does hereby proclaim the month of June 2007 to be Traffic 19 Safety Awareness Month and urges all citizens of Kerr County 20 to recognize and abide by all traffic laws of the state of 21 Texas, Kerr County, and the City of Kerrville." To be adopted 22 this 29th day of May, 2007, and signed by all members of the 23 Court present. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 5-29-07 57 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for adoption 3 of the resolution. Any question or discussion? All in favor 4 of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Judge? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: I would like to point out also that 11 Mayor Smith scheduled a press conference for noon this coming 12 Friday, June 1st, at the Cailloux City Center, which is a half 13 a block down the street to the east, to call attention to this 14 effort here in Kerr County, and any of you that can be there, 15 and we'd appreciate any publicity that the media may be able 16 to generate for us to have as many folks there as possible so 17 that the proper amount of attention can be given to this 18 particular effort. Let's move on to Item 13, if we might. 19 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action -- 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Can I back up real quick, after 21 talking with Tommy on Item Number 11? No, we found plenty 22 of -- it was 22,000 we got -- found. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me recall the item, okay? Let me 24 recall Item 11; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 25 regarding approval to replace the emergency UPS system to run 5-29-07 58 1 the communications center. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: There was 22,000 on the 3 settlement on the two vehicles. Tommy's going to bring in a 4 budget amendment for you. But if you actually look at that 5 sheet of paper, two things that I did not count was the $350 6 shipping, and then it actually has to be hooked up at our cost 7 to hook it into the system, which should be another couple -- 8 so I asked Tommy if he'd make that budget amendment for 9 $18,000. Be a change there. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Why do you make these so 11 difficult, Sheriff? I'll make a motion to, I guess, amend the 12 -- my previous -- previous motion to the amount for the new 13 UPS system not to exceed $18,000. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to amend the 16 previous court order with regard to Agenda Item 11 as 17 indicated. Any further questions or discussion? All in favor 18 of the motion, 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: The motion does carry. Let's go back 23 now to Item 13, if we might. Consider, discuss, and take 24 appropriate action on a proposed building plan at the Hill 25 Country Youth Exhibit Center. Commissioner Letz? 5-29-07 59 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner Letz and 2 Commissioner Oehler. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: And -- excuse me, and Commissioner 4 Oehler, yeah. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll start. Bruce and I met out 6 there -- oh, I don't know, several times, and gone over this. 7 We're kind of trying to get something moving out there, 8 improvements that we think are needed, and I think the Court 9 probably agrees are needed, and kind of came up with a -- a 10 plan as outlined. I'll just verbally go over what it is, and 11 it's the -- kind of in the order that things would happen if 12 this is approved. The current covered area where the horse 13 stalls are, the horse stalls has been moved out of that. The 14 portion of them that are usable would go up into an area on 15 the east side of the arena, one of those kind of off-arena 16 areas, and make them go -- put them there. And then if 17 there's some excess ones, you might make a -- put them along a 18 fence and put just a shed roof over them. Bruce and I both 19 feel, I think, that that is a total waste of a very good 20 facility to put horse stalls under there that are rarely used, 21 and we virtually get no revenue off of. 22 Then that facility would be renovated. About 23 two-thirds -- half to two-thirds of it would be used for youth 24 exhibits. Roy Walston has come to us several times -- come to 25 me several times saying that they need a spot for county 5-29-07 60 1 projects to be put for kids that don't have ranches or, you 2 know, places to actually do it. He always has to ask for it; 3 we just don't have a spot for it. Never have in recent years. 4 And I think it would be -- the idea would be to make part of 5 that facility youth projects. The other half to a third, 6 depending on exactly where the lines are drawn, would be 7 converted into permanent storage. One of those facilities 8 would be earmarked for the County Fair Association. They've 9 come to us; they want to move a facility in. Rather than move 10 another little building out there, I'd much rather have them 11 use their funds to renovate their piece. The 216th task -- or 12 not task force, the Community Service, they've got a couple of 13 little outbuildings out there. I thought it would be -- Bruce 14 and I could kind of move them to another storage segment, and 15 that would leave another pretty good-sized area that would be 16 enclosed for county storage. The whole barn would have a 17 concrete floor put in, and that's kind of Phase 1. 18 Phase 2 would be to build a new outdoor rodeo -- or 19 horse arena. And I think Bruce and I talked this morning; 20 it's not intended to be a full rodeo arena. It's more a horse 21 arena with lights, comparable to what's there. Nicer, better 22 than what's there, using what, you know, good components that 23 we can salvage, use them, but build a new facility. And this 24 would be off on the east side of the property. On the 25 drawings that are attached, I kind of put three different 5-29-07 61 1 configurations as to how it would go, and I don't know enough 2 about that group as to -- if the sun is a big issue. 3 Certainly, I would think it probably is, but how it's 4 configured is really flexible. There's a lot of property over 5 there. Then a new barn would be built on the east side of the 6 arena that is 150 by 300 feet, and after that is completed, 7 the hog barn portion will be torn down. And then the arena -- 8 then, of course, the old outdoor arena will be torn down, and 9 then that area -- those two areas will be converted to 10 parking, so there'll be a parking area on both sides of the 11 facility, which I think works a lot better. 12 The idea would be that in the new barn, probably on 13 the northern end of it, probably close off an area, and that 14 would become a new auction ring for any kind of -- I guess add 15 some HVAC, maybe put in HVAC where they would do auctions in a 16 little bit nicer area. And this is to keep animals completely 17 out of the Exhibit Hall. That could be used for things that 18 we use an exhibit hall for, primarily. We put some numbers 19 together. They're probably on the high side. I think these 20 are on the high side. There's a -- but, you know, if we were 21 to contract this whole project out right now, I think these 22 numbers are probably not too far off. We don't -- that's not 23 our proposal. Our proposal is to kind of do it some with 24 volunteers, get some of the community involved, go out for 25 some grants and do it piecemeal. Do part of it with our 5-29-07 62 1 county workers, whether it be community service, maintenance, 2 whatever. But it will be, over the next couple of years, a -- 3 I'm guessing a million to a million and a quarter, if we find 4 a really good benefactor somewhere, expenditure from the 5 County. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You may have just answered 7 the question. What's your timeline for this? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, the renovation of the -- 9 that building would be A.S.A.P. I would recommend that -- we 10 have money budgeted for the outdoor arena; I think it's 11 50-some thousand. I would transfer -- recommend we transfer 12 that money in for the -- to pour the concrete slab in, at 13 least a portion of that, for the 4-H projects so we can get 14 that going. If that's going to be done for this next stock 15 show season, it needs to be done really in the next couple of 16 months. And then the rest of it will be handled through the 17 next budget process. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Does the new barn that 19 you're proposing -- you guys are proposing, does it 20 adequately, in conjunction with the existing arena, take care 21 of the needs of the stock show and give them some room for 22 growth? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. I mean, yes, it's bigger. 24 It's more than they have now. I mean, I don't know how much 25 growth it allows for from the standpoint of we have not met 5-29-07 63 1 with them. This the is first time we've really talked 2 publicly about it, Bruce and I. I think, informally, they're 3 -- some of the stock show people are aware that we're, I 4 think, working on it. I've told some of them; I think Bruce 5 has too. You know, I think the answer is yes, this is a -- 6 the barn is quite a bit larger than the hog barn, and 7 certainly a lot more efficient use of space. The idea would 8 be probably for a freestanding building, which would give you 9 a lot more functionality. So -- whereas the current hog barn 10 is -- is -- 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Multiple-use facility. 12 Because, you know, having a concrete slab out there on the 13 whole thing, you'll increase the amount of things that can 14 utilize that facility. Whereas the indoor arena, you know, is 15 really -- was really meant to be an indoor arena, not an 16 exhibit hall for -- for various shows and functions. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And I believe that all that 19 the new area could be used for that, being that it would be 20 more universal, and the size of it is at least a third larger 21 than what they have now. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's a stand-alone building? 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Stand-alone. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Or tied into the arena? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Stand-alone. And you see on the 5-29-07 64 1 drawing there, it's about a -- and we have a -- you know, I 2 think I drew it here, a 20-foot space between the two that you 3 would have some covered walkways. My view of tying -- 4 connecting them is, it just adds a whole bunch of problems. I 5 think we've seen those problems if you look at the west side 6 of the current arena where they've added that office space, 7 and kind of the hodgepodge, trying to use the supports that we 8 built, and plus you also get some engineering issues. You 9 know, that exterior wall is not meant to be a load-supporting 10 wall more than -- so that if you add another building to it, 11 you got to redo the whole thing anyway, so why not build a 12 separate building? But the idea, this is a -- probably a two- 13 to three-year project, start to finish. I mean, I think we -- 14 you know, my -- I just think we get started this year. By the 15 end of next budget year, get the arena moved, rebuilt, that 16 area cleaned up, and hopefully maybe start on the barn. And 17 then in the -- the subsequent budget year, which would be 2009 18 year, complete the barn and then do the demolition of the hog 19 barn. So it would be -- you know, by the end of 2009, I think 20 it will be complete. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: When the Court approved the 22 purchase of those horse stalls several years ago, we were 23 assured that that was the thing to do, and they were going to 24 be used repeatedly and often, and were going to be a money 25 generator. To my knowledge, they haven't been used 5-29-07 65 1 repeatedly, often, and nor are they generating any money. If 2 they're moved into the arena -- on the eastern shed slope, I 3 think, is what you planned, right? -- do you see a better 4 utilization of them? 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I believe that you'll have 6 rentals up to 20, 25 stalls every time you have some kind of a 7 horse function. But having the number that we have now, that 8 is just -- it's just too many. They might be utilized one 9 time a year, maybe, and that's just not enough usage, in my 10 opinion, to keep them. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So we wouldn't be moving all 12 of them? 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No, just 20 or 25 to move for 14 -- for the functions that require stalls. And then we'd have 15 them inside of the -- of, basically, the indoor arena on -- 16 like you say, on the eastern shed roof side of it, where it 17 could be controlled access to them. What happens now is that 18 somebody comes and gets a key, and they go back, and one key 19 fits all, and they may have several of their buddies come in 20 right behind them with more horses. They put them all in 21 stalls, and it's so far out of sight, nobody can tell if there 22 are horses in there or not. They come get them, they pay $10 23 or whatever, and all load up and leave. And so it's not 24 controllable, and it's not -- you know, there's no way to 25 control access to it the way it is now. If they're moved on 5-29-07 66 1 the inside, you can -- if you find a horse in there, you close 2 the doors, and somebody will come and claim their horse 3 eventually. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Would we then dismantle the 5 rest of them and sell them for scrap iron? 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think some of them should be 7 sold, and maybe some of them should be put, like Jonathan 8 says, along the exterior fence, and maybe build a very 9 inexpensive little pole shed and put over them for various 10 uses. But they don't need to be taking up -- that building 11 is, best I can calculate it without measuring, is about 18,000 12 square feet, where they're sitting now. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Current shed? 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Current shed. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's a good barn, and as long as 16 I've been a Commissioner, it's been a wasted barn. It has 17 never been used for anything but storage, and that's an 18 expensive storage building. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, I agree with that. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And the -- 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The -- 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The Fair Association has 23 agreed that they will -- will finish out the portion for their 24 storage area, which would be located underneath one part of 25 this existing building. 5-29-07 67 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That would work out well for 2 them. Several years ago, when we really talked seriously 3 about moving the outdoor arena, Mr. Holekamp and I kind of 4 spec'd out an area. I see have you two iterations of where 5 you might -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have three. Three, actually. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Three? The one that -- 8 yeah, I see it, okay. Well, whatever. Whatever's best. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that's kind of -- you 10 know -- you know, I -- clearly, the one with the -- at an 11 angle is the best utilization of space. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's the one that I would 13 favor. That's the one that Mr. Holekamp and I laid out, the 14 one that's on there. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 'Cause it leaves the most 16 parking. And I put the others in there saying that this -- 17 the intent of this is really to start moving forward on really 18 the first part of it, which is renovating the shed -- the shed 19 building, getting -- you know, Roy's, I think, hoping to be 20 able to get donations for some of that renovation, a good part 21 of it, 'cause they know we don't have the money in our budget 22 to do it this year. If they're going to use it this year, 23 he's got to find the money somewhere other than our budget. 24 We do have $50,000 that can go quite a long ways in the 25 concrete, that area, and may cover it. 5-29-07 68 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And also asked Roy to think 2 about -- and not just think about, but make it part of the 3 plan, is to hook that into the city sewer so we don't have the 4 waste problem around that thing. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh, I would hope so. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It needs to be done. And we 7 do have city sewer out there now, and we need to utilize it 8 for that purpose. We don't need to create a bigger problem by 9 not hooking it up. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I agree with that. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The City would probably not 13 appreciate it. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And -- 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Nor would anybody else, nor 16 would I. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- the wash racks and so 18 forth. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And we might -- you know, and 20 I'm saying that we're not going to -- Bruce and I may not come 21 back with a budget amendment of increasing the budget or 22 something, or find money this year to get some of this done, 23 start it. But the -- really, the part that I'd like to get 24 approval today, this is really so that Roy can then go forward 25 and we can get Maintenance to go forward on moving the stalls 5-29-07 69 1 around, on renovation of the shed area where the horse stalls 2 currently are, and authorize Maintenance to move those out, 3 dismantle some, and then get the space available for the Fair 4 Association and for Roy to start doing actual planning and 5 construction. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And moving the outdoor 7 arena. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That'll be next budget year. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Next budget. Believe it or 10 not, gentlemen, I favor the plan, because it's a step in the 11 right direction. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Roy, you had something? 13 MR. WALSTON: I just wanted to ask, on the outdoor 14 arena, because I'll probably want to go ahead and start 15 working on greasing some wheels and trying to get them -- 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I've already been working on 17 that. 18 MR. WALSTON: Have you? Okay, good. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Will that be designated as 20 still a 4-H arena, or where 4-H is -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. It's priority, yes. 22 MR. WALSTON: Same as -- same principle as the arena 23 we've got. It's just -- and that's what I was thinking, is so 24 that they still understand that they're not losing use of an 25 arena. 5-29-07 70 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Exactly. 2 MR. WALSTON: Okay. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's 4-H's primary arena. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I've already talked to Hazel 5 for quite a while about it, and I figured that was my first 6 big hurdle, and then -- jumped the big one first, and then 7 I've talked to -- to Snow -- Billy Snow about it for quite a 8 while one day, and I think that they're going to be -- you 9 know, they don't really like moving, but I really don't 10 understand why. 11 MR. WALSTON: Well -- 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Get a little bit better 13 facility, and they'll have a better area. And a part of this 14 -- this existing barn out there could be made into a 15 concession stand area as well, and all that be hooked into the 16 same sewer. 17 MR. WALSTON: I think part of it is they're just 18 unsure exactly as to what's going to happen. And they know 19 what they've got, but they're not sure -- 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. I think that -- that 21 won't be a problem. You know, they may -- they may not be all 22 happy about it, but I think that in the overall scheme of 23 things, it'll be a better facility than what they have now, 24 and it will make the area a lot more usable. 25 MR. WALSTON: Okay. 5-29-07 71 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: For a lot more things than 2 it's been right now. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think all we need today, 4 really, is approval of the concept of the renovations, 5 specifically of the storage building area, and get Roy going 6 and Maintenance going. And then we can come back with a 7 budget amendment to transfer that $50,000 into that, and get a 8 little bit of a dollar figure by our next meeting. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: But you're not asking for anything 10 that would include -- anything that would involve expenditure 11 of any funds in addition to what we've already budgeted? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Correct. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not at this time. Not really -- 15 and -- but I really don't want to go much further than that 16 until Commissioner Baldwin's here. He'll be back, I think, at 17 our next meeting, but I think he's -- you know, I visited with 18 him. He knows of the basic plan, and I think he was 19 supportive of it last time I talked to him about it. That 20 doesn't mean he's still supportive of it, but that's as far as 21 I want to go, 'cause I think it's important, before we go with 22 the whole concept, that we really have the whole court, and 23 I'll put it back on the agenda when he comes back at the next 24 meeting. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Irrespective of what happens to the 5-29-07 72 1 other components, this -- this first step is something that 2 appears to be -- there's gross underutilization of that horse 3 barn facility, and we need to -- we need to convert that into 4 something that's usable and satisfying the needs that we've 5 got presently. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We can also utilize community 7 service and the present staff to do what we're trying to do in 8 the first part of the -- first phase. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Without expending anything 11 further, really. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: At what point do you see 13 fleshing out the true costs of the arena and so forth and 14 getting a real plan? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I think -- I mean, I think 16 the numbers are pretty good. I talked to some builders. 17 These are real numbers. Bruce has done -- talked to 18 Metcalf -- is that where you got your numbers from? 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Mueller. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mueller on costs of buildings. 21 And you know the cost of concrete; that's a real number here. 22 It's about $6 a square foot right now to build the 23 pre-engineered building. So, I mean, you'll need -- you know, 24 obviously, installation -- well, installation is included in 25 this. $25 a foot should build that building right now. 5-29-07 73 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I think at some point 2 we'll need to come with a set of plans to -- that have 3 actually been designed. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Properly put together so we 6 can go out for bids. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think that will probably 8 be, you know, through the budget process at the earliest. I 9 mean, 'cause I really don't see -- certainly, no money will be 10 expended this year. And a pre-engineered building, you know, 11 it's almost -- it's not much cost, if any, to get the plans. 12 We're not starting -- I don't want to start from scratch on a 13 -- you know, I don't think you need an architect. I mean, I 14 think you need a pre-engineered building, and those plans are 15 certified, and then you figure out how to pay for it. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Comes with the deal. Comes with the 17 building, sure. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Basically, you put it out for 19 bid for installation. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. And -- 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Construction. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sounds like a plan. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Should be. We'll see. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion, then, that 25 we proceed with the renovation of the structure that currently 5-29-07 74 1 houses the horse stalls, authorize Maintenance and/or 2 community service to move those stalls out and reconfigure 3 them in the area on the east side of the arena, one of the 4 shed areas, and begin working on design and plans for 5 renovating that facility. Largely, that will be done by Roy 6 Walston. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and second as 9 indicated. Any further question or discussion on that motion? 10 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 11 hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Why don't we 16 take about a 15-minute recess. 17 (Recess taken from 10:34 a.m. to 10:53 a.m.) 18 - - - - - - - - - - 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's come become to order, if 20 we might. We were in recess. Let me recall Item Number 7; 21 open annual bids for road materials and consider, discuss, and 22 take appropriate action to make award. The bids were opened 23 and referred to Road and Bridge Administrator for review and 24 recommendation, and I believe Mr. Odom has a recommendation to 25 make to the Court so that we might take appropriate action 5-29-07 75 1 with regard to the award of those bids. 2 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. Thank you, Judge. On base 3 material, I have four bids. It went from $5.25 to $6, 4 depending on the location. The low bid was Keller. My 5 recommendation is that we accept. I will use Keller, but I 6 would like to be able to use all the bids that I have, because 7 they're spread out from Comfort area to 479, all the way back 8 out there. But I will use Keller as predominant when I can, 9 when it's cost-effective as far as travel. On the emulsions, 10 we had two bids, and the low bid was a dollar -- approximately 11 $1.51 per gallon, and the other one was $1.64. The AEP, the 12 tack oil, was $1.72 versus $1.86. So, Ergon is the low bid, 13 and recommend that Ergon be selected as the emulsion supplier. 14 Unfortunately, it's about 30 cents higher than what I had last 15 year, and I didn't plug that in. I -- being this crystal ball 16 guesser with the petroleum products, I sort of backed up. You 17 can't tell. So, what we have is what I've got, and that's 18 what we'll deal with as far as the budget's concerned. 19 Culverts, Contech was the low bidder. We were running about 20 $2 a linear foot difference in price, which is good and will 21 be substantial savings there, so I recommend Contech as low 22 bid for culvert. And cold mix, as far as -- C.C. was Vulcan, 23 as well as aggregate with trap rock. And it ended up, Vulcan 24 aggregate was 25.35, slight increase, which is -- apparently 25 must be for freight, that adjustment. And cold mix was 34.34, 5-29-07 76 1 so everything's going up that's asphalt-based. But I 2 recommend Vulcan Material as our C.C. and aggregate for our 3 sealcoat program this year. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Odom, on the -- on the base 5 material, you want the ability to use any of the bidders, 6 depending upon location and how freight costs figure in? 7 MR. ODOM: That's correct. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: With your primary being the low 9 bidder, Keller Materials? 10 MR. ODOM: That is correct. Based upon that, I 11 mean, you could run -- he would not be the low bid if I was 12 running someplace out there with the freight charges and all. 13 So, I think Keller would be the low bid, and we'll use him as 14 primary, and when it's appropriate and closer to another site, 15 it be will be cost-effective to do that as far as fuel and 16 time and wear and tear on machinery. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move we accept the bids as 18 recommended by the Road Administrator. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as indicated 21 to accept the bids as recommended by the Road and Bridge 22 Administrator. Any question or discussion? 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I have one question. 24 Mr. Odom? 25 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir? 5-29-07 77 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Do you want to name the 2 other -- other base providers -- bidders? 3 MR. ODOM: Yes. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't -- 5 MR. ODOM: Joe Ed Jenschke was one. Reeh Materials, 6 the other side of Comfort, and Wheatcraft, Yellow Rose over 7 there off 1341. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. That's -- I just wanted 9 that to be part of the record, to know who the bidders were. 10 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. And Keller is off Harper Road, 11 just before you get to Tierra Linda right there. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion on 14 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 15 your right hand. 16 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 18 (No response.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Thank you, 20 Mr. Odom. 21 MR. ODOM: Thank you. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: That brings us to Item 15; consider, 23 discuss, and take appropriate action to authorize negotiations 24 with prospective lessees of Kerr County Juvenile Detention 25 Facility. I think the appropriate question at this point in 5-29-07 78 1 time would be if any member of the Court has anything to bring 2 forward in the open or public session of our meeting before we 3 go into executive or closed session to discuss that under real 4 property negotiations. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. I think it would 6 be appropriate, Judge, if I brought the Court up to speed on 7 how we got to this point before we engage in any further 8 discussions, and there are two gentlemen in the audience who 9 I'd like to introduce to the Court for whatever comments they 10 wish to make. About eight or nine days ago, Kevin Stanton and 11 I were both contacted by Mr. Glen McKenzie, who represents 12 Eckerd Youth Alternatives. You may recognize the name Eckerd. 13 That's -- that, I'm advised, are the folks who used to own the 14 Eckerd Drug Store chains -- chain, and they have now created 15 another entity based, I think, off a foundation. 16 Mr. Nedelkoff will be prepared to talk about that. The 17 purpose of the contact was to take a look at our Juvenile 18 Detention Facility, the large building, which has been vacant 19 now for a couple years, and to talk to us about the potential 20 of leasing that facility. I believe it is the intention of 21 this group to contract with Texas Youth Corrections, T.Y.C., 22 for a contract to -- to get into the juvenile detention 23 business. So, that's kind of the background. The specifics 24 we can talk about later, but I invited these gentlemen to come 25 to court today and introduce themselves, tell us a little bit 5-29-07 79 1 about themselves and their foundation and their principles, 2 and we'll take it from there. So, who's first? Mr. McKenzie 3 or Mr. Nedelkoff? 4 MR. McKENZIE: I'm Glen McKenzie. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Come on up. 6 MR. McKENZIE: Oh, excuse me. My name is Glen 7 McKenzie, and I have worked with the Eckerd Youth Alternatives 8 for a short period of time. I know their history and their 9 reputation, and I was delighted to be associated with them. 10 Richard Nedelkoff will come up and tell you about the Eckerd 11 Youth Alternatives, and I appreciate Commissioner Williams' 12 assistance and Mr. Stanton's help in showing me around the 13 facility. With that, I'll just let Mr. Nedelkoff come speak 14 to you, then. Thank you. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 16 MR. NEDELKOFF: Thank you. Good morning. My name 17 is Richard Nedelkoff. I'm the Chief Operating Officer of 18 Eckerd Youth Alternatives. I live and work out of Austin, 19 Texas. I also spent a good portion of my career here in Texas 20 working in Dallas County Juvenile Department and Travis County 21 Juvenile Department, the Governor's office. Eckerd is a 22 national nonprofit organization. It was actually founded by 23 Jack Eckerd, the owner of Eckerd Drug Stores, 40 years ago, 24 when he wanted to give back to the community somehow and help 25 kids and families, so he created a wilderness camp 40 years 5-29-07 80 1 ago in Brooksville, Florida. And that one wilderness camp 2 serving delinquent youth has now spread to 10 different 3 states. They provide a wide variety of services, residential 4 services, all types. Not only just the wilderness camps, but 5 secure programs for -- for youth offenders, youth that are in 6 the children and families and protective services population, 7 all types of nonresidential services, after care and re-entry 8 services for kids. We currently employ about 1,500 employees 9 in 10 states, serve about 1,000 kids in the residential 10 programs and about 10,000 kids total. 11 We are very interested in working with your 12 community, and potentially we're in the process of responding 13 to a Request for Proposals that was issued by the Texas Youth 14 Commission that's due next week, and Eckerd would like to 15 respond to that. And we hope that we can enter into 16 negotiations with your county regarding using the facility 17 here in Kerr County. That would serve as the -- the site for 18 that program that Texas Youth Commission has sought applicants 19 for, and it's a program for youth in a secure setting, and we 20 think your facility is ideal for that setting and that type of 21 population, and we look forward to the possibility of talking 22 with you about the lease of that facility, and then hopefully 23 working with your community to help, if we're successful, 24 bring jobs to the community and -- and help staff the 25 community so we can serve kids that are from the T.Y.C. 5-29-07 81 1 population, but might be folks from this community and the 2 regional area here. So -- 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Have you filed your 4 application with the T.Y.C. yet? 5 MR. NEDELKOFF: It's due next week, so we're in the 6 last stages of -- of putting our proposal together, and it's 7 coming together. And -- and one of the most important pieces 8 is facility -- is identifying the facility for use, so 9 we're -- we're very interested and anxious in possibly talking 10 with you about that. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Nedelkoff, the -- the proposal 12 from T.Y.C., would this be for children that would be housed 13 on a pre-release or halfway house type status? Or would this 14 be just a general contract for -- for residents out of the 15 T.Y.C. that are -- that are there under required secure 16 commitments from juvenile courts? 17 MR. NEDELKOFF: Well, T.Y.C. put out several 18 different proposals. One in particular is for a secure 19 facility, a locked facility, which -- which your facility 20 meets that definition for. These are youth that are -- youth 21 that have been committed to the Texas Youth Commission from 22 around -- from probably around the state, maybe some in this 23 community or in the region. We're not sure exactly the 24 geographic range that T.Y.C. will -- will refer youth, but 25 they'll be in their care and custody. They'll contract with 5-29-07 82 1 hopefully a provider like Eckerd to provide those residential 2 services in a secure setting for that population. And, you 3 know, we're estimating the average length of stay might be 4 anywhere from nine months to a year, so this is a longer-term 5 residential treatment program, but in a secure setting. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: So, then, it would be children 7 that -- that would be required to be in a secure facility 8 only, as opposed to a given class of -- or status of -- of the 9 rest? 10 MR. NEDELKOFF: Yes. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How many facilities like 12 this do you currently operate? 13 MR. NEDELKOFF: We operate probably about 25 14 different residential facilities in I'm guessing probably 15 eight or nine different states. Some of the other states that 16 we have programs in are nonresidential in nature, but probably 17 about 25. And, again, we provide services in a secure setting 18 very much like Kerr County in Okeechobee, Florida, about a 19 200-bed facility, so we know how to operate and have operated 20 successfully secure programs as well as more nonsecure, and 21 wilderness-based programs as well. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are you applying for -- is this 23 the only one you're applying for in Texas with the T.Y.C.'s 24 current -- 25 MR. NEDELKOFF: No, we are contemplating and working 5-29-07 83 1 on a proposal for a nonsecure. We've identified a nonsecure 2 facility in Texas, and we're going to be responding to that. 3 So, at this point, we hope to submit two proposals next week, 4 one for a secure program, and hopefully here, and a nonsecure 5 program as well. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are you currently operating in 7 Texas? 8 MR. NEDELKOFF: We don't have programs in Texas, but 9 as I said, I work and live out of Texas and have a lot of 10 experience in Texas, and we are actively talking with folks at 11 the local level regarding their needs, as well as responding 12 to Texas Youth Commission and proposals as well. So -- 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Is your proposal going to 14 require having some kind of an agreement cut with Kerr County 15 before you are able to complete that proposal to the state? 16 MR. NEDELKOFF: Well, we -- we've got to submit a 17 budget, and we're working on the budget, and we hope to engage 18 in enough discussions with you that we can identify an 19 appropriate budget figure for the leasing costs. I think -- I 20 think, generally, everything is subject to negotiation with 21 the state after the proposal is submitted. You have oral 22 interviews and -- and there's potentially even negotiations 23 between the State and Eckerd's. So -- but I think what the 24 proposal needs is a single facility to be identified as the 25 one that we have the intent to place the youth in. I don't 5-29-07 84 1 think we have to have things sort of signed, sealed, and 2 delivered, but we have to have some kind of assurance that 3 it's likely that T.Y.C. -- and also, you know, gives us 4 time -- Texas Youth Commission, I think, has set out a time 5 frame where they're probably going to be having oral 6 interviews around July 1. They'll be making decisions 7 sometime the first week of July, so there'll be a -- you know, 8 a four- to six-week period after the proposal is submitted 9 before T.Y.C. makes a decision that we could continue to -- to 10 engage in discussions. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Basically, you don't really 12 have an agreement with the State to provide this service at 13 this point? It's kind of contingent on finding a place to 14 have it? 15 MR. NEDELKOFF: Finding a place and winning the 16 proposal. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And winning the proposal. So, 18 you're -- this is all contingent? 19 MR. NEDELKOFF: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 21 MR. NEDELKOFF: Yes. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: So, any -- any agreement you would 23 wish to strike with us would be contingent upon your ability 24 to be awarded the contract by T.Y.C. that you're competing 25 for? 5-29-07 85 1 MR. NEDELKOFF: Yes. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 3 MR. NEDELKOFF: Yes. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Assuming that took place, 5 that, you know, those assumptions were fulfilled, after T.Y.C. 6 makes its decisions and you knew that you were going to be one 7 of the successful applicants, what do you see as the time 8 frame for taking occupancy, perhaps? 9 MR. NEDELKOFF: Well, T.Y.C. would ideally like the 10 program to be operational in 90 to 120 days. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: From the time they give you 12 the award? 13 MR. NEDELKOFF: From the time they make the 14 decision, there's going to be about a four-month period where 15 we're going to be moving quickly to recruit staff and hire 16 staff and train staff and finalize negotiations and leases and 17 all that -- purchase the necessary equipment and so forth that 18 might be needed and furniture, et cetera. So, we've -- it's 19 ambitious, but it's been done; we've opened programs in much 20 less time in the past. We -- I'd also like to say that, you 21 know, Eckerd is very much interested in doing work in Texas, 22 and we will continue hopefully to, regardless of the outcome 23 of this RFP, look for opportunities in Texas, and particularly 24 look for potential -- potential use of your facility here for 25 -- for programs, whether they're for the state or they're 5-29-07 86 1 local entities. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Rehabilitative-type 3 programs? 4 MR. NEDELKOFF: Yes. That -- yes. Eckerd's -- 5 that's what it's all about, is having impact on -- on kids and 6 providing the proper therapeutic environment, working with 7 kids, getting them ready to transition back into communities, 8 providing whatever services they need while they're in the 9 facilities. You've got a long enough period of time, you 10 know, to do something. And so we -- we just have an interest 11 in working with your community and -- and potentially, you 12 know, starting a program in that facility, and we're 13 optimistic that it might be this -- this time at Texas Youth 14 Commission, this proposal. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. We appreciate it. 16 MR. NEDELKOFF: Okay. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Any more questions for this gentleman 18 by any member of the Court? Thank you, sir. We appreciate 19 you being here. 20 MR. NEDELKOFF: Appreciate your time. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else you have to offer in 22 open or public session? 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, sir. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: In order that we might be able to 25 proceed, let me go ahead and call the other item, since we're 5-29-07 87 1 obviously going to be going into executive. Item 16, to 2 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to consider 3 hiring employee for Code Enforcement/Solid Waste. I 4 anticipate this being a personnel matter. We'll be discussing 5 specific individual particulars in executive. Commissioner 6 Oehler, do you have anything you wish to offer in public or 7 open session? 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I think that we need to 9 probably talk about some of what's brought this up, and then 10 when we get ready to talk about an individual and a salary, we 11 probably need to discuss that in executive, in my opinion. 12 Does that sound right to you? 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Sounds in the ballpark to me, sir. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okey-doke. Let me see if I 15 can find my -- Ms. Hyde, do you have -- 16 MS. HYDE: I need the books back again, gentlemen. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- the books? You notice I 18 did say "Ms." Hyde. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I saw that -- I heard that. 20 MS. HYDE: This is for Cheryl. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You giving her different 22 information? 23 MS. HYDE: This one's for Commissioner Letz. This 24 one's for Commissioner Baldwin, Commissioner Williams, Judge 25 Tinley. 5-29-07 88 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. 2 MS. HYDE: And Rex. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Is this how you identify which ones 4 you get back? 5 MS. HYDE: Just as long as I get all the green ones 6 back, please. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Why? 8 MS. HYDE: Because my budget doesn't have money in 9 it for green books. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: That nasty budget officer dit it to 11 you again. 12 MS. HYDE: I have to make sure I've got enough money 13 in my budget. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I guess what I need to do is, 15 I'll read this into the record of what the -- the rationale is 16 for why we're proposing this. Currently, Code Enforcement 17 consists of only one patrol officer -- or what is P.T.? 18 MS. HYDE: Part-time. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Part-time officer, okay. The 20 amount of cases and workload documentation for these cases 21 necessary -- necessitates requesting adding a full-time 22 officer to the staff. Caseloads continue to trend upward, and 23 our ability to close cases diminished due to the lack of 24 certified personnel. Environmental Health has attempted to 25 lessen the negative impact by utilizing clerical personnel to 5-29-07 89 1 supplement the work. That has caused difficulties because of 2 the training, certification, and knowledge needed to complete 3 scheduling priorities, documentation, reporting, citing, code 4 violations, and timely follow-up to close or escalate cases. 5 Resolving cases began having challenges after we downsized the 6 Code Enforcement Officer and began trying to supplement using 7 O.S.S.F. clerical staffing. The increased workload and 8 knowledge required to complete the task for Code Enforcement 9 has continued to erode O.S.S.F.'s ability to complete their 10 primary task. 11 Beginning with 2005, Code Enforcement resolved 12 78.33 percent of their cases. Since that time and the 13 reduction in force, the Code Enforcement has trended downward, 14 resolving 46.97 percent in 2006 and only 23.26 percent 15 year-to-date in 2007. Code Enforcement pending cases are 16 still open and entail reoccurring investigation. Currently, 17 there are 177 pending cases from 2005 through year-to-date 18 2007. 2005 total cases, 180; resolved, 141, pending, 39. 19 2006, there were 190 total cases; 93 were resolved, 105 20 pending. 46.7 percent resolved. 2007, 43 cases is all that's 21 been reported; 10 have been resolved, 33 pending. Only 22 23.26 percent have been resolved. 23 In addition to these alarming numbers, we are 24 experiencing increasing challenges in the O.S.S.F. area due to 25 overly extending personnel, attempting to cover both O.S.S.F. 5-29-07 90 1 and Code Enforcement needs. During the past year, the 2 delegation of responsibility within Code Enforcement has 3 modified in an attempt to keep up with priority issues. 4 Utilizing trained and noncertified O.S.S.F. administrative 5 personnel within the Code Enforcement area continues to have 6 challenges. O.S.S.F. has struggled during the past 60 days 7 due to the prior manager leaving, and that left one Designated 8 Representative for the office and field work. We have hired a 9 Designated Representative trainee, but it will be three to six 10 months before the new hire will be completely up to speed and 11 certified. As Kerr County continues to grow in population, 12 the solid waste violations also persist in escalating, and our 13 single part-time officer can not keep up. The following 14 illustrates the cost-efficient and effective job methodology 15 in contrast to the job -- current job practice attempting to 16 complete the responsibilities using O.S.S.F. personnel. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Oehler, I think the -- 18 probably the issue that a lot of us are interested in is the 19 economic impact to bring on -- 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: -- the hire at this time. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Exactly. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Have you put that together for us? 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: What we've come up with is 25 that we can -- we have a person in mind that will either go 5-29-07 91 1 full-time or part-time. He has experience, and has actually 2 done this job before. And the impact, from what I understand, 3 would be about $7,500 between now and the end of the year -- 4 budget year. And I think Mr. Tomlinson has identified some 5 funds that could be used to fill that position until budget 6 time. You have some -- some pictures that have been taken, 7 and I will say that one reason that there are more in 8 Mr. William's precinct than in mine is because the time frame 9 was short in going around taking pictures. We have those same 10 kinds of areas in my precinct. I know Jonathan has them in 11 his, and Buster has them in his, so it's not -- it's not 12 targeted at Precinct 2. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. No. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's a county-wide problem. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It is. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And I really think we need to 17 look seriously at doing something about it. It's -- 18 JUDGE TINLEY: You think the need is -- is critical 19 enough that we need to start on it immediately, as opposed to 20 addressing it as a new budget year item? 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I agree. One reason for that 22 is that we have a person that is available to us that does 23 have some experience, but is not certified. But he would be 24 able to work under our part-time person to gain his 25 certification and move toward that as we move toward budget 5-29-07 92 1 year. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Commissioner, what are we 3 buying for $7,500, a full-time or part-time? 4 MS. HYDE: Part-time. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Full-time. 6 MS. HYDE: Part-time. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Part-time. 8 MS. HYDE: Three days a week. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. So that would give 10 us, in effect, one -- 11 MS. HYDE: Full-time person. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- full-time officer? 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Exactly. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Two people, one position. 15 Okay. For this -- for the remainder of this budget year? 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: For the remainder of this 17 budget year, and then take up with -- you know, at budget 18 time, the salary for a full-time. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And the person that you have 20 in mind is willing to go along with that type of program? 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: From what we understand, he 22 is. I just feel like it's -- you know, we brought this up 23 last meeting, but the money thing is always a problem, and I 24 know that it's during the budget year when you don't have a 25 bunch of funds budgeted for that purpose, but I feel like that 5-29-07 93 1 we're -- we have had -- with the resignation of the department 2 head in the O.S.S.F. -- O.S.S.F. department, that will leave a 3 certain amount of money. We used part of that to hire a 4 replacement or a new person to be a Designated Representative, 5 and I don't know where Tommy's come up with the rest of the 6 money. 7 MR. TOMLINSON: It's in the budget amendment. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. I don't have a copy of 9 your budget amendments. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Have you identified where 11 the money comes from? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Tommy has. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Tommy has. 14 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, this is supposed to be in your 15 packet. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I looked and I didn't 17 see it. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: So, Commissioner, what you're asking 19 for now in open session is that the Court authorize -- 20 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 10. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: -- that part-time position for three 22 days a week for Solid Waste/Code Enforcement? 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes, sir. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: And with the funding to come from -- 25 in the amount as you've indicated, from the source that -- 5-29-07 94 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Tommy. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: -- the Auditor has identified, and 3 for which I think he's already prepared a budget amendment? 4 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes, Number 10 in your packet. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I didn't see it in mine. 6 Maybe -- of course, I'm half blind anyway. Half shot for 7 sure. 8 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, unless it was -- unless it got 9 in late -- 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I didn't get one. I have -- 9 11 is the last one I have. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: I've got 10. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Wait a minute. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Authorize transfer from Workers Comp 15 over to Inspector Salaries over in Environmental Health. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The -- I think you -- I mean, 18 probably the Court is aware of my feeling about hiring people 19 out of sync with the budget process, and -- but I will 20 acknowledge that there are some concerns that have developed. 21 But the only way that I will go along with this is if it is 22 made very clear to this person that this is only till the end 23 of the budget year. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That what? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Only through the budget year. 5-29-07 95 1 And this spot and that whole organization down there is up for 2 review during budget, because I don't think this fixes the 3 problems. I think this is a -- and I think it is a mistake to 4 get the word in to this individual or anyone in that 5 department that this is how we're planning to fix things down 6 there. I think we have some other issues we need to talk 7 about in executive session. So, I will be willing to go with 8 a part-time only till September 30th, and this person needs to 9 be very much aware that this is only -- and the only reason, 10 in my mind, that I'm willing to do this is because of the 11 resignation and the backlog that created. And I'm really more 12 concerned about Environmental Health than I am O.S.S.F., and 13 that person needs to work in both departments, both sides of 14 that. They need to -- need to do -- solid waste is fine, but 15 I am more concerned about some of the O.S.S.F. problems that 16 are, to me, more time-sensitive than solid waste. Solid waste 17 is bad; I acknowledge we need to clean it up, and I'll support 18 doing that better in the long-term, but some of the septic 19 problems we have are totally unacceptable, and those are 20 actual public health violations right now, in my opinion. 21 So -- 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, I understand what you're 23 saying -- I think I understand what you're saying. I don't 24 disagree with you. What you're really saying is that we're 25 going to put the entire department under review, and during 5-29-07 96 1 the budget discussions, we're going to come in with a new plan 2 for the organization or reorganization of that department; is 3 that correct? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And this is a short-term fix to 7 get us through the current situation, both in the Solid Waste 8 side and the O.S.S.F. side. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Got you. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This person needs to be able to 11 help on both sides. And that being said, I mean, I'm glad to 12 go in executive session, but that's what I see that I can go 13 along with. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Go for it. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My other comment -- and this 16 doesn't mean to say that this person may not have a -- a job 17 after September 30th, but he may not. Just depends on how -- 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He might emerge to be the 19 chief of the whole thing. Who knows? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let's not get too carried away. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I said, "Who knows?" 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well -- 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else you want to offer in -- 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Not in open session. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Okay. 5-29-07 97 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think that pretty well 2 covers it. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Anybody else have anything for 4 open or public session? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I will make one other comment. 6 This is in keeping with what this Court has done at other 7 times of authorizing hiring part-time people to help out in a 8 short -- short-term. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I do have one other comment, 10 Judge, and it goes to the knowledge of this individual in 11 terms of the policy that the Court adopted for cleaning up 12 this type of stuff, the ability to enforce the cleanup under 13 the policy. He's familiar with that, I hope? Or if he's not, 14 somebody will make him familiar? 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You can rest assured that will 16 happen. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Also, you know, I believe 19 AACOG gave the $18,000 camera -- 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. Wasn't being used. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- to put in different 22 locations, trying to catch people dumping, and it has not been 23 able to be used because it takes somebody that can -- that can 24 climb and mount them up in poles or up in trees to be able to 25 utilize them, and nothing bad against the person that we have, 5-29-07 98 1 but he's not able to do that. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I did discuss it with Julie 3 and worked with her in terms of finessing the answer that had 4 to go back about the utilization of that equipment, and I 5 expect I'll have to do a little song and dance subsequently to 6 make sure -- 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Maybe we won't have to do much 8 of one if we go ahead and authorize this. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- make sure we keep this 10 equipment. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Is that it? 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do we need to -- 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We can do it in open court, 15 approve the hire. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The position hopefully has to be 17 created. I guess using the part-time person probably has to 18 be done in open court, and then the individual will be in 19 closed. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: We can -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or do them both. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: We can consider that now or wait 23 until we come back into open, either way. Okay, we'll go out 24 of public or open session at 11:25. 25 \ 5-29-07 99 1 (The open session was closed at 11:25 a.m., and an executive session was held, the transcript of which 2 is contained in a separate document.) 3 - - - - - - - - - - 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, we will come back into public 5 or open session at 11:45. Does any member of the Court have 6 anything to offer as a result of matters considered in 7 executive session? 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, on Item 1.15, I would 9 offer a motion to ask the Court to authorize negotiations with 10 the respective lessees for the Kerr County Juvenile Detention 11 Facility. I would ask the County Attorney to join with me or 12 whomever the Court designates to assist in that process. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I -- I'll second, with you being 14 the designee and the County Judge being the designee. Both of 15 you have been involved with that. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, motion and a second. Any 18 question or discussion on that motion? All in favor of the 19 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Anyone have 24 anything else to offer as a result of matters considered in 25 executive session? 5-29-07 100 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Eva, what is the man's name? 2 JUDGE TINLEY: We probably need to authorize the 3 position first. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. I move that we 5 authorize a part-time position for Solid Waste and Code 6 Enforcement in the O.S.S.F. office. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: For the remainder of this 8 budget year? 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: For the remainder of the 10 budget year. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Only? 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Only. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 15 indicated. Any question or discussion on the motion? All in 16 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 19 (No response.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Anything 21 else? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The person. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Authorize the hiring? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, authorize -- 25 MS. HYDE: Do what? I'm sorry. 5-29-07 101 1 MR. EMERSON: Ray Garcia. 2 MS. HYDE: Ray Garcia. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Ray Garcia. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Raymond. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I move that we hire Raymond 6 Garcia as Solid Waste part-time in Environmental Health office 7 for the remainder -- 8 JUDGE TINLEY: For the remainder of this fiscal 9 year? 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: For the remainder of this 11 fiscal year. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 14 indicated. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. At what salary level, 16 and what-all -- where's the money coming from? 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Money's coming from Budget 18 Amendment -- where did I put it? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's in a budget amendment? 20 That's okay, we can handle that one there. But the step? 21 MS. HYDE: Start at a 17-5, just like we brought Roy 22 Shaver in. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: A what? 24 MS. HYDE: We'll start at a 17-5, just like we 25 brought Roy Shaver in. 5-29-07 102 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Your motion included that he come on 2 at -- 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: At a 17-5. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Anything else I need to add to 6 that? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just have a problem with -- 8 well, I'll go along with it, but we're going to have to have a 9 discussion on our step and grade system, 'cause we never use 10 it. I mean, we bring in -- supposed to bring people in at 11 17-1 unless there's a documented reason as to why we're not, 12 and I don't see that in this case. I know that he has prior 13 experience, but it seems to me we hire people based on -- we 14 figure out what we want to pay them and make it fit somewhere. 15 That's not the appropriate way to do it, in my mind. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In this case, prior 17 experience in the job. He had the job. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, but we're -- we're jumping 19 a lot of longtime employees in this county, just bringing 20 people in way above a 17-1 and give them a two-step or -- so 21 he's getting an automatic increase. Of course, this is only 22 through the end of this year, but I just think that we need to 23 take a serious look at our step and grade system if we're 24 going to start hiring someone at 17-5, 17-6, whatever we did. 25 We did the same thing with -- was it Maintenance? We did that 5-29-07 103 1 recently with all our juggling around in Maintenance, and with 2 some others. So I just think we need to really look at our 3 step and grade system. If it doesn't work, fix it. But that 4 won't -- I understand this is a short -- this is a short-term 5 fix. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: And a part-time. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A short-term, part-time fix. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We have a motion and a second. 10 Any further question or discussion? All in favor of the 11 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, I'll excuse myself. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Why don't we stand in recess 18 until 1:45? We'll be in recess till 1:45. 19 (Recess taken from 11:50 a.m. until 1:50 p.m.) 20 - - - - - - - - - - 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's come back to order. We 22 were in recess. Gentlemen, as far as I know, we're through 23 with all of the main portion of the agenda, and we're now 24 ready to go with Section 4; is that correct? 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Correct. 5-29-07 104 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Payment of the bills. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move we pay the bills. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and second to pay the 5 bills. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the 6 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 7 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 9 (No response.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Budget 11 amendments. Budget Amendment Request Number 1. 12 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 1 is for Election Services 13 from the County Clerk, to transfer $12.25 to Election Supplies 14 from Ballot Expense. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any 18 question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify 19 by raising your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 24 Amendment Request 2. 25 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 2 is for the County Judge, to 5-29-07 105 1 move $90.69 from Conferences to Out-of-County Mileage. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any 5 question or discussion? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All that is over? No more 7 trips? 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, he's not going to San 9 Antonio. He's got other fish to fry. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? All 11 in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Budget Amendment 16 Request 3. 17 MR. TOMLINSON: Three is for the Sheriff's Office, 18 to transfer $180 from the Dispatchers line item to Employee 19 Medical Exams. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and second. Any 24 question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify 25 by raising your right hand. 5-29-07 106 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion carried. Budget Amendment 5 Request 4. 6 MR. TOMLINSON: Four is for the County Jail, to 7 transfer $10,048.86 from Jailer Salaries to Prisoner Medical. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is this going to take care 9 of the rest of the budget year? 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. 11 MR. TOMLINSON: No, this is just to make up for what 12 we're off right now. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's a healthy balance 14 there. 15 MR. TOMLINSON: Plus the bill of 271.67. 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Plus we have a lot more bills 17 that just came in. That's not going to be anywhere near 18 enough even to get us through the month. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How much excess do you think 20 you're going to have in that Jailer Salaries? 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Oh, in Jailers' Salary? What 22 percentage are we at right now? Do you have it in there? 23 MR. TOMLINSON: I don't have that. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Less than 50. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Two-thirds of the budget 5-29-07 107 1 year gone. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I still have five openings in 3 there. 4 MR. TOMLINSON: You have. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And I would expect that to 6 probably pretty well carry through until the end of the budget 7 year. So -- 8 MR. TOMLINSON: Looks like it's about 50 percent. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: So you're going to end up with 11 well over 100,000 in there that y'all -- 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's wonderful news. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Sure is. We heard him. He 14 admitted it; it's on tape. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: That's hidey hole number one. 16 There's some others. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Are there? 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We just passed the one before. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just passed one. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: There's going to be some -- 21 medical is going to be major. I expect vehicles to be over, 22 and the employee medical exams, because I am doing more 23 psychologicals, and it's going to be over some. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: We have nothing on that. 5-29-07 108 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and second. Any 4 question or discussion? All in favor, signify by raising your 5 right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Budget 10 Amendment Request 5. 11 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Five is for the 198th 12 District Court. We need to transfer $1,262.17 to 13 Court-Appointed Attorneys, $1,120 into Civil Court-Appointed 14 Attorney, $969.06 into Special Court Reporter line item, and 15 $260.50 into Court Transcripts. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Where do you recommend this 17 come from? 18 MR. TOMLINSON: That's the reason I left it blank. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 10-512-104? 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 21 MR. TOMLINSON: I remembered that conversation the 22 last meeting, but -- but I wasn't sure, so I didn't put 23 anything in there. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: 10-512-104? Is that what 25 you're suggesting? 5-29-07 109 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's what I'm suggesting. 2 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. That's what I thought the 3 answer would be. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay with you? 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any 8 question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify 9 by raising your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Easy come, easy go, Rusty. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The only part that's 16 heartbreaking is, I'm giving that up to pay lawyers. 17 (Laughter.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Budget Amendment Request 6. 19 MR. TOMLINSON: Let me -- let me tell the Sheriff 20 something here. I did this -- I don't know if you got it in 21 your box or not, but my estimate for the remainder of the year 22 is about $100,000 deficit in -- in Court-Appointed Attorneys. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: I think everybody got a copy of that. 24 I directed Jody to give you a copy, and it netted out just 25 about that. 5-29-07 110 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir, we got it. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And I would really seriously 3 expect that that would probably be available in that line 4 item, the way we're going. Only thing that concerns me is 5 medical. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'm sure glad he's agreeable. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: As if he had a choice. 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Budget Amendment Request 10 Number 6. 11 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Six is for Commissioners 12 Court, to transfer 149.21 from Books, Publications, and Dues 13 into Notices. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any 17 question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify 18 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. Budget 23 Amendment Request 7. 24 MR. TOMLINSON: Seven is for the Jury, to transfer 25 $257 from Operating Supplies into Interpreter line item. 5-29-07 111 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. Need a hand check for 2 that? 3 MR. TOMLINSON: No. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. So moved. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any 7 question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify 8 by raising your right hand. 9 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 11 (No response.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Budget Amendment 13 Request 8. 14 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Eight is for County Court at 15 Law, to transfer $115.34 from Master Court Appointments to 16 Special Court Reporter. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What is a special court 18 reporter? 19 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, in this case, it could be 20 that -- to take the place of -- of the current court reporter 21 for vacation or -- 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 23 MR. TOMLINSON: -- something like that. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 5-29-07 112 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any 2 question or discussion? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What happened to the legislation 4 that affected court reporters' salaries? 5 MR. TOMLINSON: I don't know. I haven't seen it. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I haven't heard anything on it. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So it probably died. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: I suspect it did, yeah. If I were to 9 have to guess, the -- I think the judges probably did what 10 they could to retain control. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I would imagine. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion? 13 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 14 hand. 15 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 17 (No response.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Budget 19 Amendment Request 9. 20 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Nine is for J.P. Number 4, to 21 transfer $2,000 from his Secretary Salary line item to 22 Part-Time Salaries. I think this is for -- for his regular 23 clerk to -- to recover from some surgery. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: I think she's on family medical 25 leave. 5-29-07 113 1 MR. TOMLINSON: Right. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Which is uncompensated. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: 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 10. 13 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Ten is one we've already -- 14 we've already discussed, about -- between Nondepartmental and 15 Environmental Health for the transfer of $7,500 from the 16 Workers Comp line item to Inspector Salaries. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So moved. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any 20 question or discussion? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is it better to go into 22 Inspector Salaries or to go into Part-Time? 23 MR. TOMLINSON: I put it there. It didn't -- it 24 doesn't necessarily have to go there. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: From a tracking standpoint, I 5-29-07 114 1 think I'd rather have it go to Part-Time. 2 MR. TOMLINSON: That's fine. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Shows where it is. I mean -- 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Good point. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Fine with me. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion? 7 All in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Do you have any more 12 budget amendments? 13 MR. TOMLINSON: Yeah, I have one more, and it's for 14 the Sheriff for $18,000, and it's to -- actually to increase 15 -- actually to increase the budget by the amount of -- of some 16 insurance proceeds for two vehicles. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Notice, I didn't take it out of 18 Employee Salaries. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Now you're going to want two 20 new vehicles later. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, I heard that at lunch. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I bet you did. 23 MR. TOMLINSON: The gross amount of the -- of the 24 proceeds is 22,000, so his request is for 18, to increase the 25 budget for capital -- in Capital Outlay for 18,000. 5-29-07 115 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the balance would go into 2 general funds -- general revenue? 3 MR. TOMLINSON: It is a general revenue account. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's already there? All right. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The balance I could need for 6 vehicle repairs before the end of the year, just to have it 7 there. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: When are you going to want 9 to come talk about new cars? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Budget. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: When y'all are ready to listen. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Budget time. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah, that's what I have. I'm 14 going to try and survive with the one deal right now. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any 18 question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify 19 by raising your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Is that all of the 24 budget amendments? 25 MR. TOMLINSON: That's them. 5-29-07 116 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Do we have any late bills? 2 MR. TOMLINSON: No. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I have been presented with 4 monthly reports from the District Clerk for March and April 5 2007, from Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3, and from the 6 County Clerk, General and Trust Fund. Do I hear a motion that 7 these reports be approved as presented? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved -- second. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any 11 question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify 12 by raising your right hand. 13 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 15 (No response.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Okay. 17 Gentlemen, do we have any reports from any of the 18 Commissioners on their assignments or liaison duties? 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll try to get our 20 application all put together and get it up to T.W.D.B. either 21 tomorrow or the next day. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. What about -- what about 23 U.G.R.A.? Where are they? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thanks for reminding me, 25 Judge. They approved the water component, and they too are 5-29-07 117 1 going to move to the next level, seeking funding for planning, 2 acquisition, and development -- design. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: And try and get in ahead of the 4 June 1 deadline? 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: That's good news. That was a good 9 part of the discussion -- 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: -- at lunch with the folks from 12 Kendall, Bandera, and Gillespie today. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If you got another minute, 14 I'll fill the Court in on a conversation I had with 15 Commissioner Letz. I had a telephone call from the City 16 Manager's office asking me to meet with them, ostensibly to 17 talk about economic development at the airport, and so I said 18 okay. And in that meeting was going to be the City Manager, 19 David Pearce, the Airport Manager, Charlie Hastings, Public 20 Works guy, Mindy Wendele, and their new planner, Kevin 21 Coleman, I think his name is, was supposed to be there, and 22 that is who was there. And so we agreed to meet last Friday, 23 and did, and the City Manager started talking a little bit 24 about economic development at the airport and long-range 25 planning and how it ties into future things that the County 5-29-07 118 1 may be anticipating doing and so forth. And he had some 2 concerns, he said, about land use in the vicinity of the 3 airport and how that might all take shape. Okay. So, we 4 started talking about heighth hazards and what the City's 5 authority might be, since that is in the city limits, the 6 airport, in terms of regulating heighth hazards as it might 7 apply to future growth and development to the east of the 8 airport. Don't let your eyes glaze over, Judge; we're not 9 there yet. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're in the smokescreen still. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We're just in the 12 smokescreen part, really. And so, you know, we got done 13 looking at all the maps that the Airport Manager had 14 presented. We came to the conclusion that we'd almost have to 15 build a World Trade Center in the eastern part of Kerr County 16 to have any influence on -- make a heighth hazard on flight 17 approach into the airport. Then we talked about land use, 18 and -- and certainly didn't want to encourage any development 19 where people would be complaining about an airport. The 20 airport's been there a long time. Okay. He said, "Do you 21 know anything, Commissioner, about this plan for the -- that 22 the County has for infrastructure in the east?" I said, 23 "Well, if anybody does, I do." So, now we're getting -- now 24 the smoke's clearing; we're getting to the issue. 25 And so I told him what it was all about, and 5-29-07 119 1 explained to him what the options were and the option that we 2 preferred, which was taking the effluent eastward. And he 3 said, "Well, why -- why would you want to do that?" And I 4 said, "Well, several reasons. First of all, it offers Kerr 5 County more long-term benefit going east for a lot of reasons. 6 Secondly, your -- your fee structure is such that we really 7 kind of discount it, because you want one and a half times the 8 rate that you charge in city, and charging out to those people 9 there is something we are not in favor of. The capital 10 recovery costs are too great, and we have opportunities to do 11 something different." He said, "Well, why -- I can't speak 12 for the City Council," but he said, you know, "we could 13 negotiate those things. Well, can we meet?" And I said, 14 "Sure, we can meet." 15 So, he wants to put together a meeting with 16 U.G.R.A., after I told him about the water thing, and our 17 engineer and yours truly, and we'll talk about these things. 18 But the real unspoken issue, when you sort through all of this 19 garbage, right, was the fact that if we put this in play and 20 make it happen, all that wastewater goes east and the recovery 21 of gray water -- they lose the recovery of gray water and the 22 potential sale of gray water. That's a revenue source that 23 they're not going to get, plus they don't get the credit for 24 putting any of that back in the river ultimately. So, those 25 were the unspoken ones. And I guess he thought maybe we 5-29-07 120 1 weren't smart enough to sort through all that and see where he 2 was coming from or what was on his mind. So, just thought I'd 3 fill you in. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mentioned to Commissioner 5 Williams, and I would tell the City Manager or any of the City 6 Council the same, is that since I've been a Commissioner, they 7 haven't been overly cooperative with this county when it comes 8 to getting any kind of a break for anything; building fees, 9 sidewalks, -- 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Or sewer hookups. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- giving wastewater to Little 12 League, on down the line. And that the only time we were able 13 to get anything is when Little League -- through Little 14 League, we got one free hookup over by the Ag Barn. I said, 15 you know, the City, you know, hasn't been real cooperative in 16 the wastewater area with the County. And around the 17 airport -- even some of the people right around the airport 18 that wanted to get tied in, and they were flat turned down. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I hear from Shady Grove 20 people all the time. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So I think that the -- I find 22 I'm not at all surprised the City's interested, but I think it 23 certainly doesn't change my opinion. It's far more beneficial 24 to the County to go to the east. And it also does another 25 thing. I mean, there is a little bit -- this is more a 5-29-07 121 1 U.G.R.A. issue than a county issue, but in using their water 2 permit of 2,000 acre-feet, the City has not been extremely 3 cooperative in negotiating with U.G.R.A. about -- about 4 service in the ETJ. And I think that from a long-term water 5 standpoint, U.G.R.A. needs to figure out a way to use their 6 2,000 acre foot that has been extended by the Legislature, and 7 the way for them to do that is to market that water outside of 8 the ETJ in eastern Kerr County. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because the more water we get, 11 you know -- not that I -- I think everyone knows I'm not a 12 real big -- you know, or don't think that we're running out of 13 groundwater, but there's no reason not to use the surface 14 water where we can, and U.G.R.A. has 2,000 acre foot, which is 15 about 25 percent of the gross usage in the county right now, 16 and we should try to use it, and the City has not helped try 17 to figure out a way to use that water up till now. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Anytime you can use surface water, 19 it's an advantage. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Much better. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: 'Cause otherwise, it's going to go on 22 down the road. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that's -- and that one issue 24 alone is enough, if everything is equal, for me to push it to 25 go to the east, because I think that it does do a whole lot 5-29-07 122 1 more for the groundwater situation in eastern Kerr County. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They weren't familiar with 3 the fact that U.G.R.A. had approved their -- their moving 4 forward with their plans, and I apprised them of that and 5 said, "I'm sure they're going to contact you. I can't give -- 6 talk to you about their specifics." I said, "They have 7 specific issues they're going to have to come talk to you 8 about, not the least of which is moving the diversion point 9 from here to there," and that's important. And the use of 10 their permit, 'cause it's a bifurcated permit. So, anyhow, 11 that was my conversation, my one hour in the city chambers. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: I appreciate the benefit of that 13 information. You got anything else for us? 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Only thing I have is a little 16 bit of an update. Commissioner Baldwin and myself and the 17 rest of the dispatch committee met, and hit a brick wall. Not 18 surprising. There's -- at this point, there's zero interest 19 in pursuing it from the Police Chief's standpoint, and in my 20 opinion, it seems -- I think that joint dispatch is dead 21 without ever getting started. I think that the -- the Sheriff 22 and the rest of the Kerr County representatives came up with a 23 very interesting concept, which was -- I'm not sure if I -- 24 most of y'all probably have heard it, but it's basically for 25 the -- the County has about 17 acres around the jail that 5-29-07 123 1 really has no future use; that it would not include the 2 expansion area, if they ever do expand the jail. The acreage 3 is kind of, I guess, more on the north side. 4 The idea was to basically long-term lease it to the 5 City for a dollar a year, whatever; basically give it to the 6 City and let them have a spot where we could kind of build a 7 new joint dispatch. They could build a new police station, 8 with two separate complete entities. There would be one 9 dispatch facility manned by both entities, the County people 10 being there, the City people being there. Which the Sheriff 11 has seen some that worked very well, or fairly well like that. 12 So, anyway -- and 911 thinks it's a good approach, but there 13 was not much interest in it. The municipal court would be out 14 there, could use the courtroom, which is way underutilized 15 right now, so it'd kind of be two buildings connected by a 16 walkway. A lot of -- certainly no economies of scale on the 17 dispatch side, but from our perspective, a huge benefit to the 18 City, and basically giving them -- you know, I would just put 19 a ballpark figure of a million dollars worth of property free. 20 They had no interest in pursuing it. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: They were particularly -- there was 22 particular mention made about facilities for their municipal 23 court? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mm-hmm, yeah. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: 'Cause that's an issue I know that 5-29-07 124 1 they're -- they've got under discussion now. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On renovation. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, that's back before them. And I 4 think -- I think they're fixing to find the buzzsaw that was 5 put in the box when they quit discussing it the first time. 6 They're going to see it again. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, and what I was -- I talked 8 to the Sheriff briefly at lunch about this. I'll put it 9 probably on our next agenda. I think it may be a good move 10 for this County to pass a resolution offering that property to 11 the City and making the public aware that we have acreage 12 there; we're willing to lease it to the City, basically free, 13 for specifically law enforcement -- city law enforcement 14 purpose. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's an excellent idea. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that way, we can get some -- 17 I mean -- 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think the City Councilman on 19 that committee -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- he was very open to it and 22 thought it was a very decent proposal. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, Scott -- Mr. Gross thought 24 it was a good -- 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But the -- the comment from the 5-29-07 125 1 leader at the police department was that it wasn't in their 2 long-range plans. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He certainly cut it off pretty 4 quick. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It would require a bond issue, 6 but you could share things such as training room, you know, 7 break room, courtroom. That's where you'd save your money. 8 And then put all your dispatch, all your city warrants, 9 everything's right there with the jail, and let them build a 10 department, 'cause they need a new police department. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And they are undertaking a 12 long-range facility plan, and this, I think, would be a very 13 opportune time for us to come out and offer this up to 14 really -- I really think it would be a huge benefit to this 15 county to get their law enforcement facility located next to 16 the jail. If that means giving them land, I have no problem 17 with that, because we have no long-term use for that land. It 18 does not affect where we would -- how we would expand the 19 jail, if that ever has to happen, and I think it would be a 20 good move for the taxpayers of this county. So -- 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think it's a great idea to 22 do that. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: The real resistance was the Chief? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The Chief, and -- and it is -- 5-29-07 126 1 you know, it's preliminary. It was a suggestion and a 2 solution. And I think you do have a big issue with the 3 Chief's attitude towards it, but otherwise, I think if -- if 4 there could just be more talk about it, that it would be 5 extremely beneficial to both the county and the city in so 6 many aspects that it would be unreal. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And there is -- you know, if 9 somebody were to actually act on it a little bit sooner, 10 there's another pie-shaped piece of property that goes along 11 the new portion of East Main and Clearwater -- end at 12 Clearwater Paseo that goes back to Schreiner College. There's 13 a little, bitty -- not little-bitty; it's a pretty decent 14 piece of land right there, but I think Harvey Brinkman was 15 still handling it for the same -- whoever the County purchased 16 the land that the jail is on now, or the same group of 17 investors that own that. And Harvey Brinkman's handling it, 18 but that little piece of land would give them everything from 19 KPUB to Schreiner College to East Main, which would fit any 20 possible expansion needs for the next, you know, 50, 100 years 21 for all of it, and allow fabulous room to really do a good 22 criminal justice center. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think the resistance 24 wasn't as much against totally on the concept of the joint 25 dispatch as we discussed it or kind of framed it. It was more 5-29-07 127 1 that this is a -- a long-range facility plan, and he has no 2 plans for a new police station. Therefore, that killed the 3 whole thing. Because, I mean, he's not going to -- he didn't 4 want to go into any kind of a building plan out there, period. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They know -- they admitted they 6 need a new police station. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it's not in their five-year 8 plan. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's not in their five-year 10 plan. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not his five-year plan. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And it would probably take a 13 joint -- because there are going to be -- the County's going 14 to benefit from it, because in the expansion, if it were to 15 ever get down to that, there are office and administrative 16 space in the Sheriff's Office that, when it was built, it was 17 built to house what we had at that movement, so there was no 18 expansion there. The jail's a different issue going out the 19 back. That doesn't interfere with anything. But there's a 20 lot of other issues right there that could all be handled at 21 the same time in one joint City/County bond deal. That would 22 cover them building a police station, you know, renovating or, 23 you know, redesigning, whatever, some of our existing stuff 24 that would give us more office space. And then sharing a lot 25 of facilities together, instead of having a courtroom that 5-29-07 128 1 sits out there empty, you know, nine days out of ten, and a 2 training room that could also be used, because we have the -- 3 the deal with AACOG where we can visually talk back and forth 4 as an emergency EOC, everything else deal. Won't happen while 5 I'm Sheriff, I can promise you that. But -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I think it's -- I think a 7 resolution, may be a good time for that. I think we get some 8 good -- get a good -- 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: From our side of the city, I 10 think one thing we do need to come up with is a -- a value of 11 10 acres there. I mean, or whatever -- however much -- 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Whatever that is there. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Whatever they may need. 14 Probably 5 acres. But you come up with a value so we can kind 15 of put that, because I think the -- you know, one way to get 16 some of this to happen, which, if the Court thinks this is 17 good, as I do, show the value that we're giving them. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And the willingness to do 19 it. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the willingness to do it. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, and it's -- it's not something 22 that -- it's a real genuine effort to try and create 23 efficiency of operations for both of us, and to do something 24 that's going to benefit all the citizens. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, you might work -- I might 5-29-07 129 1 try to start working on that a little bit when Commissioner 2 Baldwin gets back, and -- or maybe I'll just talk -- we'll 3 figure out how to get this done. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I don't think there's 6 anything else that I have, other than -- I think that's it. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Do you got anything for us? 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, you know, you're talking 9 about the five -- five-year plan, the master plan the City 10 has. Well, I understand from going to the Library Board 11 meeting a week or so ago that they're going to modify the 12 five-year plan; that maybe some of the priorities have 13 changed. And so, you know, that was the -- what came out of 14 that meeting, because included in this new five-year plan may 15 be a -- a plan for another library facility somewhere else, 16 some other location, and that was not considered in their 17 original five-year plan. So, you know, plans are subject to 18 change. And I always thought City Council was the one that 19 made those decisions, not the Police Chief, for my two cent's 20 worth on that issue. But library budget is going to be 21 presented basically the same as it was last year. They did 22 have an increase for the County's portion of some $8,300 more, 23 and I asked why, because it didn't show that to be on the city 24 side; it was just on the county side. And so I think that's 25 going to go away. And it wasn't the librarian that presented 5-29-07 130 1 the budget; it was the financial folks from the City of 2 Kerrville. And they proposed it as a base budget, and didn't 3 really have any increase in much of anything. So, that -- 4 and, well, you know about Animal Control. Environmental 5 Health, you know pretty much about what's going on there. 6 Jonathan drew the plan today for the Ag Barn, so that's my 7 bailiwick, I guess, for this round. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Appreciate the update. 9 Anything else, gentlemen? Let's fold it up. We'll be 10 adjourned. 11 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 2:21 p.m.) 12 - - - - - - - - - - 13 STATE OF TEXAS | 14 COUNTY OF KERR | 15 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 16 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my 17 capacity as County Clerk of the Commissioners Court 18 of Kerr County, Texas, at the time and place 19 heretofore set forth. 20 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 1st day of 21 June, 2007. 22 23 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 24 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 25 Certified Shorthand Reporter 5-29-07