1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Regular Session 10 Monday, January 14, 2008 11 9:00 a.m. 12 Commissioners' Courtroom 13 Kerr County Courthouse 14 Kerrville, Texas 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 PRESENT: PAT TINLEY, Kerr County Judge H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 24 WILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 25 BRUCE OEHLER, Commissioner Pct. 4 2 1 I N D E X January 14, 2008 2 PAGE 3 --- Commissioners' Comments 7 4 1.1 Annual Report of Kerr County Historical Commission 9 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on tax 5 abatement for Guthrie Building 19 1.7 Presentation and discussion of Wide Area Rapid 6 Notification System (WARN) 26 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 7 authorize Kerr County Maintenance Coordinator to go out for bid for electrical/plumbing/HVAC/pest 8 control services 42 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on request 9 by Community Council of South Central Texas to be approved as local non-profit agency to utilize the 10 Youth Exhibit Center at discounted rate & waive $300 setup/take down fee 44 11 1.12 Public Hearing for revision of plat for 707 Ranch 52 1.14 Public Hearing for revision of plat for Lots 14, 12 15, 16 & 17 of Solar Village 52 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 13 approve application submitted to TDHCA by Community Council of South Central Texas to participate in 14 emergency shelter grant program; authorize County Judge to sign same 53 15 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on Texas Cooperative Extension's request to fill County 16 Extension Agent-Family &Consumer Sciences position 59 1.18 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 17 authorizing financial adviser to prepare recom- mendations for the type of short-term financing 18 that would be most economical/beneficial for the County and begin documentation necessary for 19 short-term financing application 62 1.19 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 20 approve resolution in support of Hill Country Shooting Sports Center, Inc. and approval of their 21 application for funding from State of Texas Enter- prise Fund; authorize County Judge to sign same 73 22 1.23 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on reducing registration fee to $1.00 during Kerr 23 County Rabies Drive 77 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 24 approve amended order pertaining to filing certain cases of concurrent jurisdiction between 198th & 25 216th District Courts and County Court At Law; authorize County Judge to sign same 78 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) January 14, 2008 2 PAGE 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action 3 regarding Court Compliance Department collecting fees/fines for 198th District Court 80 4 1.6 Master Gardener Presentation 92 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on the 5 "Road and Bridge Department Emergency Response" and make changes if necessary 96 6 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for final revision of plat for Lot 9 of 707 Ranch 106 7 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for acceptance of Vista Hills Drive to Kerr County 8 road maintenance 107 1.16 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for a 9 variance to road rate-of-grade for Calle Poco Road in Vistas Grande Subdivision, Precinct 2 108 10 1.17 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for lease/purchase of small maintainer 120 11 1.20 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for accepting deeded right-of-way for Spur 100 Road 124 12 1.21 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for preliminary plat of Headwaters Ranch, Phases 1-3 129 13 1.22 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to amend revision of plat, Lots 2-11, Privilege Creek 14 Ranches 130 1.35 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 15 reappoint two Commissioners to ESD #2 and appoint one new Commissioner 132 16 1.24 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve cell phone contract with Five Star Wire- 17 less for all Kerr County officials/employees, excluding law enforcement; authorize County 18 Judge to sign same 133 1.25 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 19 accept a $3,810 grant from LCRA to purchase and install defibrillators on 1st & 2nd floor of 20 courthouse; authorize County Judge to sign same 135 1.26 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to file 21 Secretary of State report and dissolve Kerr County Juvenile Facility Corporation 135 22 1.27 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on authorizing increase of attorney's fees for 23 delinquent taxes on real property from 15% to 20%; approve addendum to delinquent tax contract 24 concerning personal property taxes, amendment to contract for collection of delinquent taxes, and 25 approval of order authorizing increase of additional penalty on delinquent tax collections 138 4 1 I N D E X (Continued) January 14, 2008 2 PAGE 1.28 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 3 motion to reconsider appeal of development permit granted to Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. 140 4 1.29 Consider/discuss, formulate and adopt Kerr County's official position regarding utilization 5 of Kerr County Airport Authority; forward same to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott appropriate 6 action as may be required 143 1.30 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 7 approve statement of grant award for FY 2008 Formula Grant from Task Force on Indigent Defense; 8 authorize County Judge to sign same 147 1.31 Consider/discuss, approve resolution for the 9 submission of Victims of Crime Act grant proposal for 2008-2009 to Office of the Governor, Criminal 10 Justice Division 148 1.32 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 11 approving burn ban notification procedures, updated information for web page, and enforcement 12 option for violation of burn ban or state Law 149 1.33 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 13 designate Commissioners' and Judge's liaison appointments for various functions for 2008 154 14 1.34 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to declare 10 metal desks as surplus property and 15 distribute them to other governmental agencies 157 1.36 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 16 approve contract with Turtle Creek VFD; allow County Judge to sign same 158 17 1.37 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on request for letter of support for Kerrville 18 Gardens at Clearwater Apartments, L.P. 158 1.38 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 19 authorize Human Resources Department to seek application for open position of department head 20 for Court Compliance Department 160 1.39 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to make 21 determination of employee's status for medical benefits premium purposes (Executive Session) 160 22 1.40 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action as necessary on Road & Bridge staffing due to 23 pending probable retirement(s) of existing personnel (Executive Session) 161 24 1.41 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on request by Kerrville VA Medical Center for water 25 well sanitary easement on Kerr County Juvenile Detention Facility property 161 5 1 I N D E X (Continued) January 14, 2008 2 PAGE 4.1 Pay Bills 164 3 4.2 Budget Amendments --- 4.3 Late Bills --- 4 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 170 5 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments 171 6 3.1 Action as may be required on matters discussed 7 in Executive Session 177 8 --- Adjourned 178 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1-14-08 6 1 On Monday, January 14, 2008, at 9:00 a.m., a regular 2 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in the 3 Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, Kerrville, 4 Texas, and the following proceedings were had in open court: 5 P R O C E E D I N G S 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. 7 Let me call to order this regular meeting of the Kerr County 8 Commissioners Court scheduled and posted for this time and 9 date, Monday, January the 14th, 2008. It is that time now. 10 Commissioner Williams? 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Will you please rise and 12 join me for a moment of prayer followed by pledge of 13 allegiance? 14 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. At this time, if there's 16 any member of the public that wishes to be heard on any 17 matter that is not a listed agenda item, this is your 18 opportunity to tell us what's on your mind. If you wish to 19 be heard on an agenda item, we would ask that you fill out a 20 participation form -- they're located at the back of the 21 room -- so that we might give you consideration at that time, 22 when that agenda item comes up. It's not absolutely 23 essential that you fill out that form; it just helps me to be 24 sure and include you when we get to that agenda item. But if 25 we get to an agenda item and you haven't filled out a 1-14-08 7 1 participation form and you wish to be heard on it, get my 2 attention in some shape, form, or manner, and I'll see that 3 you have an opportunity to be heard. But right now, if 4 there's any member of the public that wishes to be heard on 5 any matter that is not a listed agenda item, come forward, 6 please, and tell us what's on your mind. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Seeing no one coming forward, we'll 9 move on. Commissioner Williams, what do you have for us this 10 morning? 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good to be back, Judge. 12 Here we go, another year. Looks like we have plenty of 13 business of the people to keep us occupied for today. That's 14 it. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Letz? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just glad to be here. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Lots to do. Let's get at it. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Dittos. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I'm going to break the 20 silence, then, I suppose. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Here we go. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: A couple of items. Again this year, 23 for the -- I'm not sure which number time it is, our County 24 Clerk's office received a -- I believe they call it a Five 25 Star Award or Award of Excellence for their work in Vital 1-14-08 8 1 Statistics, recordkeeping and reporting, dealing with birth 2 and death certificates. And I think they -- they got the 3 recognition they so well deserved, and there's only a few 4 offices throughout the state that routinely get that award, 5 and our -- our County Clerk's office is one of them. And I 6 want to thank them and you, Ms. Thompson, for all of your 7 work. 8 MS. THOMPSON: Thank you. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Another item we had, most of you may 10 have seen it. Last week our Congressman, Lamar Smith, was in 11 town, and was here to apprise us of some work that went on in 12 the United States Congress in the appropriations bill. We 13 were fortunate enough to get some funding for some projects 14 here locally. One was the second phase of funding for the 15 new agriculture research center in the U.S. Department of 16 Agriculture. As you know, we've had the -- what's known as 17 the entomology station out here just north of town for some, 18 gosh, 60 years now that was so instrumental in the 19 eradication of screw worm and a lot of other parasite insect 20 matters throughout the many years it's been there. We -- 21 we've got an initiative underway to try and get those folks a 22 brand-new facility so that they're out of those World War II 23 Quonset huts that are so expensive to maintain and to heat 24 and cool, and we've got that initiative underway. 25 There's been a feasibility study that's already 1-14-08 9 1 been completed with federal funding, and this funding that 2 Congressman Smith announced this past week in the amount of 3 $1.4 million is for the design and engineering phase of that 4 project. Once that's complete, hopefully we'll be able to go 5 forward. The -- the other funding that he was in town to 6 announce was provided to the Kerrville Police Department; I 7 believe it was $352,500 for -- for homeland security type 8 work that they have underway to upgrade their technology. At 9 the announcement of that last week, they assured the public 10 that they had very good use for that money to upgrade some of 11 the dispatching and other systems over there. So, we're 12 happy to report that. Let's get on with the business of 13 today. We got a long agenda. The first item on the agenda 14 is an annual report of Kerr County Historical Commission. 15 Mr. Luther? 16 MR. LUTHER: Yes, sir. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 18 MR. LUTHER: Thank you, Judge, members of the 19 Commission. I had sent you each a copy of this report by 20 e-mail, but, of course, I didn't send it till yesterday. But 21 you may find it in your box. And I will leave this copy with 22 the clerk, as it is a living document, as I'm constantly 23 finding misspelled words and that sort of thing. I know that 24 you got 41 items on the agenda today, so I'll move through 25 this fairly rapidly and then answer any questions that you 1-14-08 10 1 might have. We have elected new officers for the next year, 2 and I have been elected as chair for the next couple years. 3 Sue Dyke has taken over as the vice chair. Jeannie Webb is 4 the secretary, and Julia Stehling as the Treasurer. And we 5 would like to extend our appreciation to Haskell Fine as the 6 outgoing chair and Ann Bethel as the Treasurer and Lew 7 Williams as outgoing secretary. We currently now have 21 8 members. We've added some in 2007, and are bringing on a 9 couple here in 2008. 10 And the new people joining in 2008 include Raul 11 Arreola, who I'm sure most of you know, who will become sort 12 of our keeper of the legend. And also Thornton Secor and 13 Jeanne Shoemaker Sutton, who're going to help us with a lot 14 of the work up in the western part of the county. As you may 15 know, Tom Alexander of Kerrville is on the State Commission 16 and is their professional historian. And I was very pleased 17 to find out that Commissioner Baldwin is our liaison, and we 18 intend to make good use of that. This year we've had a 19 number of resignations for one reason or another. Walter 20 Schellhase has just got too much to do. Michael Bowlin, Lea 21 Bell, Paul Parks, Janie Crum, Kathryn Mitchell, and Renee 22 Sherman have all come off. I won't go through the members of 23 the commission; I'll just kind of skip to some of our 24 reports. 25 This year, we dedicated -- or rededicated three 1-14-08 11 1 markers; the First Christian Church, the Guthrie Building, 2 and the Mountain Sun. We currently have the following 3 applications in process on my desk at this time, and the 4 deadline is midnight tonight. The Starkey Cemetery, the 5 Sheftall Building, a subject marker for Mary Ann Kent Byas 6 Chambers Morriss, out by the Nichols Cemetery. She was a 7 pioneer woman. Also, the Naylor Ranch application. And I'm 8 working very closely with the Former Texas Rangers Foundation 9 to get a marker for the Texas Ranger Patrol Trail, but we 10 don't want to put that in place until they finish 11 construction. So, now we have about 63 sites here in the 12 county. In terms of the Union Church Building, Julius 13 Neunhoffer is working on that. We have had to deal with the 14 sound system that was hit by lightning, replace some of the 15 shades on the lights, window shades, and just seasonal decor. 16 Our big project with the Union Church is the fence project, 17 as you know. We're taking the old mark -- I'm sorry, the old 18 fence that used to be around the courthouse, and putting that 19 out around the Union Church Building, and Julius is working 20 very closely with the people in the city and the county both 21 to get this done. 22 The new project that we're working on this year, 23 Joe Burkett is going to be working with us to finish GPS'ing 24 the old historic cemeteries so that we can get these as a 25 matter of record. We're very concerned, because we're 1-14-08 12 1 getting reports that cemeteries in remote areas have been 2 plowed under or bulldozed or something else, so we want to 3 make sure that we've got this. The oral history project is 4 sort of turning a new leaf. This year we purchased a new 5 excellent video camera that records directly digitally to a 6 disk, and we also bought a 500-gigabyte hard drive to build 7 our digital collection, move a lot of our materials onto a 8 digital hard drive. And this will make it easier for the 9 public to access as well. If they e-mail us requesting 10 something, we can just e-mail it right back to them. 11 Archives is our biggest critical problem. As you know, we're 12 in a small room downstairs. We've got to somehow deal with 13 this. The solution at the regional history center over by 14 the library is just not working out, for a number of reasons. 15 It's just not a workable space, and at present the City and 16 the library people are talking about building a new library, 17 so why -- why make the effort? I think, in the meantime, we 18 need to deal with this. 19 Exhibits. Jeannie Webb and Francelle Collins, as 20 you know, have been putting up exhibits out here in your 21 hallway. We did a couple this year on maps, and then the old 22 Sid Peterson Hospital. We did an exhibit this last year at 23 the Kerrville Arts and Cultural Center that dealt with the 24 old maps of Kerr County. This year we'll be doing an 25 exhibition on the indigenous peoples of Kerr County from 1-14-08 13 1 about 1730 to 1880, and primarily focusing on the -- the 2 Comanche and Apache peoples that were here. Bryant Saner and 3 Bill Rector are working with me on that. I've been in touch 4 with the -- the Apache Nation and the Comanche Nation, and 5 everybody seems to be pretty exited about this, as is Deedee 6 over there. We made a bunch of presentations this year. 7 The web site is something I'm really proud of, 8 since I'm the web master. But we've got that up and running 9 this year, and looking at the statistics that John Trolinger 10 has on your site, of the 1,923 different web site pages that 11 are offered on the Kerr County list, we've got three in the 12 top five in terms of hits, so I'm very surprised at that. 13 The -- the top one was County Data, 358 hits. The next was 14 Historic Republic of Texas page, 328, followed immediately by 15 Spanish and Mexican Influences with 265. So, it was real 16 revealing. It wasn't the things I thought they'd be looking 17 at. In fact, the things I thought they'd be looking at are 18 way down the list. So, either somebody's using this for 19 class, or it's just very popular with the Hispanic aspect of 20 the -- of the population here. By way of comparison -- and 21 I'm sure I'll get in trouble for saying this -- Cooperative 22 Extension had 13 hits. 23 Lew Williams is doing an excellent job for us on 24 publicity, and she should be preparing a press release on the 25 start -- plans for the new year. We have nominated 1-14-08 14 1 Clarabelle Snodgrass for the Governor's Award for Historic 2 Preservation. As you know, Clarabelle is 94, has been on the 3 commission for some 30 years. She's been marker chair for 20 4 years. She's still going strong. I've got an appointment 5 with her later this morning. The other person that we have 6 nominated for an award is our friend Irene Van Winkle, who, 7 as you know, has written more now than 98 newspaper articles 8 since 2006. I have faithfully saved every one of these, and 9 in a digital format. This has resulted in publication by the 10 West Kerr Current newspaper, the "Family Chronicles - The Way 11 We Were." And they're getting ready to do a second series of 12 that, I believe. 13 This last year, our budget was $3,500. Of that, we 14 spent $3,464. That's about as close as we could get. In 15 terms of plan of work for the next year, the door on the 16 Union Church building needs to be refinished somehow. The UV 17 values and the sun are just eating up every finish that we 18 put on there, and we got to solve that somehow. And we'll 19 finish the -- the fence project. Thornton Secor has come on 20 our commission, and he is taking charge of a new committee to 21 map the trails -- old trails, roads, and bridges of Kerr 22 county. We're also going to photograph these. Our hope is 23 to put together a little driving atlas that visitors and 24 tourists can use to go around and look at those old historic 25 sites. Many of them are still visible. We're doing a photo 1-14-08 15 1 project this year. Julius and I are working on this to 2 photograph the gaps in our collection, but also to photograph 3 new buildings, because someday they're going to be historic. 4 So, for example, Sid -- the new Sid Peterson Hospital, we 5 need to take photographs of it now. Santa brought me a new 6 camera. 7 The oral history, something that has changed here 8 is that we are working with the folks over at Schreiner 9 Institute now and using their digital facilities over there. 10 I'm really excited about partnering with Schreiner 11 University. And, again, we will use that big 500-gigabyte 12 hard drive to record this. The Junior Historians program has 13 been sort of left in the lurch with the departure of Paul 14 Parks, and we're working to solve this. We want to get very 15 active with the local schools on the Junior Historians 16 project, and we've got somebody in mind that we're going to 17 talk to about this. Jeannie Webb has taken over as chair of 18 the historical markers. Everything on that has changed this 19 year. Everything has to be submitted electronically. So, 20 for example, today I'm sending in Dell Sheftall's application 21 for a state marker for his Masonic Building. He's already 22 got a national marker. But I put everything together and -- 23 and fill in the blank forms, and trans -- e-mail it to the 24 state office, so it goes very fast once it gets there. 25 Another project that we have online for this year 1-14-08 16 1 is to work on this problem of a Kerr County historical 2 museum. We're one of only a very, very few counties -- I 3 think less than two -- in the state of Texas that doesn't 4 have a county historical museum. So, let me just say we're 5 working on that. We're also following the lead of the Texas 6 Commission to look at endangered historic properties that we 7 need to take some action to protect. Julia Stehling, I think 8 I said, is working on the archives, and that is probably our 9 number-one priority and our critical area. There will be an 10 annual conference of the state association or the state 11 commission in May, and since we have two nominees for awards, 12 I would like to take as many commissioners there as possible, 13 so I've asked for a small increase in the budget. This being 14 my first year to report to you, I have no idea what the 15 protocol is, except to say "please." 16 Something new that we're doing, working on with 17 Sudie and Wendy and others, is heritage tourism. And we've 18 been doing a lot of serious thinking about, how will you know 19 when you're in Kerrville? What is the symbol or the icon of 20 Kerrville? As you arrive at the exit at Highway 16, there's 21 no sign that says "Historic Downtown Kerrville." There's no 22 sign that says historic markers in town. There's no sign 23 that says "Schreiner University." There's no sign. And as 24 you come in, all the images that you have are national 25 franchise images; Holiday Inn, Dairy Queen, golden arches of 1-14-08 17 1 McDonald's, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. If somebody was 2 in San Saba and you said "Kerrville," what image would come 3 into their mind? Well, we've talked to a number of people on 4 this, and we thought, let's take advantage of the initiative 5 that the Former Texas Ranger Foundation is taking in the 6 construction. They're going to break ground this year on a 7 $3 million museum and educational center. I've seen the 8 plans on this; it's marvelous. I've talked with their board 9 on several occasions, and we want to use that to leverage an 10 identity for Kerrville which would focus on Texas Rangers. 11 This is a very exciting prospect. We're thinking 12 about having one statue of a Ranger -- the Foundation already 13 has it -- at the foot of Earl Garrett Street there where the 14 Bank of America parking lots is, so that as you came along 15 Water Street, it would be there. It would be raised up on a 16 pedestal to protect it. But also, we're looking at extending 17 that historical corridor up Earl Garrett Street to Jefferson 18 street, so that the buildings along the east side right over 19 here could be part of that historical appearance or 20 historical nature, and then using this lawn out here of the 21 courthouse for activities, exhibitions, demonstrations, and 22 that sort of thing. What we would like to see -- and, 23 needless to say, the Rangers are pretty darn excited about 24 this -- would be a very small roundabout with a little 25 obelisk in it that would have the names of the old Texas 1-14-08 18 1 Rangers in Kerr County that served here, so we would then 2 have a closure on both ends of that Earl Garrett Street 3 corridor that would establish that as a historic corridor. 4 But also, then, when somebody in San Saba said, "Let's go to 5 Kerrville," the image they think of is the statuary downtown, 6 the historic statuary. 7 In talking to Deedee over at the Kerrville Arts and 8 Cultural Center, she's quite excited about this, about sort 9 of getting an art walk, a sculpture collection here in 10 Kerrville. I happened to notice last night on the internet 11 that San Marcos has a big statue downtown in honor of John 12 Coffee Hays, and we can certainly do that with some of ours. 13 In terms of our budget for this year, I'm asking just for a 14 very modest increase of about $500, and I have provided in 15 here some detail on where that would go. But we've got a lot 16 of work to do on the archives. We have a little 17 transcription work to do on oral history, the Union Church 18 Building. But also, a couple of additional items now would 19 be the GPS project, and Thornton -- Thornton's field mapping 20 work, and the photography work that Julius and I have done. 21 So, I'll be happy to answer any questions that you have. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Any questions for Mr. Luther? 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you for your report. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. 25 MR. LUTHER: Well, thank you. 1-14-08 19 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. We appreciate you 2 being here. 3 MR. LUTHER: I'll see you again. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to the second item on the 6 agenda, to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 7 a tax abatement for the Guthrie Building. Mr. Feldt, if 8 you'd give your name and address for the record, please. 9 MR. FELDT: Yes, sir. Thank you, gentlemen. My 10 name is Harrell Feldt. H-a-r-r-e-l-l, last name Feldt, 11 F-e-l-d-t. The Guthrie Building is at 241 Earl Garrett. My 12 home address is P.O. Box 786, Hunt, Texas. Thank you, 13 gentlemen, for allowing me some time. I'll try to get my 14 arms around this presentation in a way where it retains some 15 interest to you, and at the same time move it along. Let me 16 say this; the reason I stand before you here today is not 17 just to save a few hundred dollars on my taxes. I've been 18 coming to Kerr County since I was seven years old off and on, 19 and I've enjoyed the Guadalupe River and everything that goes 20 with the county. And my concern is -- and I recognize to 21 each of you gentlemen that I'm very much a new boy on the 22 block, and I recognize that you gentlemen have been a part of 23 this community for many years. But as I had the opportunity 24 to participate in ownership of the Guthrie Building, I saw 25 what was involved in maintaining a building that was built in 1-14-08 20 1 1887, and I'm going to give you gentlemen, just as a matter 2 of interest, just to have a look at some pictures, some of 3 them taken before I even knew you could take photographs, of 4 the Guthrie Building and some of the things that were on Earl 5 Garrett. Later pictures show the building as they were 6 building the post office; they were putting the roof on the 7 post office. 8 And the reason I'm here before you is, I have a 9 very strong feeling and commitment, and I want to say to each 10 of you that I want to be supportive of the County and 11 supportive of the Commissioners in seeing that anything that 12 can be done to help and preserve the downtown area and give 13 it the charm -- as I just heard Mr. Luther say, to preserve 14 old downtown Kerrville in a way that is attractive for this 15 community, I want to be part of it. I'm not here shouldering 16 the burden of the expenses of getting it designated as a 17 historic site, or to make a long presentation of all the 18 dollars and cents it takes to maintain a building such as 19 this, but I am here to carry the banner for the fact that the 20 tax abatement, which you all, in your sole discretion, have 21 the power and the ability to undertake, will do something to 22 preserve downtown, to encourage people like Mr. Sheftall, who 23 I've talked to, to spend the money to have a historic site 24 and to preserve buildings like his building. If that is 25 something that will encourage people to come in and develop 1-14-08 21 1 downtown, then I don't want the precedential effect to be, 2 "Well, Mr. Feldt, if we have the precedent of doing one of 3 these, won't we have to do others?" I view the precedential 4 effect as being a good thing that could have some effect on 5 encouraging people to come in and do something with downtown 6 Kerrville. 7 I was at a dinner party only last night, and some 8 of the old Kerrville people were telling me what the 9 Schreiner's store looked like and what's behind the tile that 10 is at Schreiner's store, and how attractive that building was 11 and can continue to be as an centerpiece of downtown. And so 12 that's -- just to be candid with you, that's what my pitch 13 is. I'm a lawyer. I've been a zoning lawyer. I've been a 14 president of chamber of commerces. I've been interested in 15 beautification and redevelopment of areas. I've raised money 16 to build civic centers. I'm not patting myself on the back; 17 I'm just simply here to try to make an impression on you that 18 I'm very genuine in trying to say that study, work, anything 19 I can do to help the Commissioners to see whether tax 20 abatement is something that will go with that statue of the 21 Ranger that will go on Earl Garrett Street, where my building 22 resides, I want to do it. 23 And, you know, I stand here -- I'd kind of like to 24 be conversational about this. I don't know whether I'm 25 whistling in the wind, and these are things you guys have 1-14-08 22 1 heard for years and years, and your thinking is, "Hey, man, 2 we got to pay the bills." And I understand that. I have the 3 personal opinion that paying the bills is helped by anything 4 that can increase the valuation of downtown. Even if you 5 give some a tax abatement, you do not have to say you don't 6 have to pay any taxes. You can lower the value on it because 7 it's a historic site, or you believe, separate than an action 8 from the Texas Historic Commission, that it would be 9 something good for our community. That's my pitch, 10 gentlemen, and I'm happy to answer any questions. 11 As I've stood before juries through the years, I 12 always want to pound the table and say, "I hope I can do 13 something so you can remember a few of my comments and they 14 have just a little bit of impact on you." But I'm with you; 15 I want to help. I do think it's a good thing. And I 16 would -- just because they were so interesting to me -- and 17 I'll say this. I know you guys have been around for a while, 18 but you haven't seen some of these pictures, because the only 19 thing on the streets are horses. They didn't even have cars 20 when some of them were taken. But I'll just pass them 21 around, and you might have some interest in having a look at 22 them. The Guthrie Building as it stands today is on top. 23 Some of the old pictures are on the bottom, and it's pretty 24 surprising as to how much of that building looks like it did 25 in years past. Thank you very much, and it's a pleasure to 1-14-08 23 1 be a Kerr County person and appear before you guys for the 2 first time. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Any questions for Mr. Feldt? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I -- just a comment. I think 6 that the issue seems to be a general policy issue 7 county-wide, not looking at individual properties. And I 8 think it's a worthy thing for us to look at. I think, 9 timing-wise, we -- it's a good time to bring it forward. 10 This could be set in place if we were to choose to do some 11 sort of abatement for historical buildings prior to the tax 12 statements going out, which is in July -- in June. So, 13 really, we have a window from now till probably end of May to 14 take action if we want -- if we want to. And I think it's 15 something that, when the Tax Assessor's back, we will have 16 some other -- we have some other tax-type issues which I 17 think, for lack of a better definition, come under the 18 category of incentives which tie directly into economic 19 development, and Judge Tinley and I have been working on that 20 now for about a year, and we're going to get serious about 21 concept in terms of that coming up. There certainly is no 22 reason why the point that Mr. Feldt brings could not be 23 incorporated into that discussion when the time comes. 24 MR. FELDT: Mr. Letz, if I may, please, sir, I -- I 25 agree with what you said. I mean, I think that it is -- as I 1-14-08 24 1 view it, the downtown area is the reason I stand before you. 2 I realize there are other things going on in the county, but 3 I do think, candidly, that the most appropriate and practical 4 way to handle it is some sort of broad policy commitment by 5 the Commissioners in a way that gives you some flexibility to 6 work with it. But, at the same time, it's something that 7 people that have the interest I have, or developers that come 8 in here and want to do something special, perhaps, for 9 downtown, which I understand that's very ripe right now, can 10 have something to sink their teeth in, in order to know the 11 views of the Commissioners, the policies of the 12 Commissioners, if you please. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. I -- we have the ability to 14 exempt a specific dollar amount up to the entire value, a 15 percentage of assessed value, possibly with a cap on -- on a 16 dollar amount with a cap on percentage of total assessed 17 value. We've got all sorts of options. But, as Commissioner 18 Williams said, this is something that probably needs to be 19 considered as part of the entire package for development and 20 improvement. And in historical designation, certainly the 21 qualifications as set forth in the statute, you meet those 22 qualifications, and they're very specific. I don't see that 23 as a problem. I think it's a matter of the Court developing 24 a specific policy for that general category. And as you 25 said, it's a very ripe subject right now, with downtown 1-14-08 25 1 redevelopment literally hanging in the balance. And it is. 2 MR. FELDT: Yes, sir. And one other thought. 3 There's always one other thought, but one other thought I 4 perhaps will leave you with is, I've heard several times the 5 mention of Mr. Sheftall. As whatever happens, happens to 6 downtown, the issue comes up with the property owner, what 7 should I do? Or a developer, what should I do? Should I 8 tear the Sheftall Building down? Should I spend the money to 9 preserve it? Should I spend the money to preserve it 10 forevermore with historical designation? What should I do? 11 And that's the reason that financial issues such as tax 12 abatement in some fashion enter the picture when somebody has 13 their accountant waiting on numbers, as opposed to just their 14 desire and love for old things. Well, thank you very much. 15 I -- in order to -- and I understand the lawyer in me comes 16 out to make a record about what I'm about. I have, you know, 17 tax statements and those sort of things, and I'll just file 18 them with the clerk, and I don't need to talk about them. 19 Thanks very much. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you for being here today. 21 MR. FELDT: It's a first for me, and it's a 22 pleasure to have the opportunity, gentlemen. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much, sir. 24 MR. FELDT: Yeah, thank you. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a 9:30 timed item, and we're 1-14-08 26 1 a bit past that now, so we will go to that item, being Item 2 Number 7 on the agenda, a presentation and discussion of the 3 Wide Area Rapid Notification system. Commissioner Williams? 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Judge. This -- 5 this issue has been before the Court for information 6 purposes, essentially, a couple times a few years ago. And 7 while it has value and merit, the cost was rather prohibitive 8 in the past, and probably the technology and the need to tie 9 up a lot of communications was, likewise, not conducive to 10 moving forward. In the interim period of time, a lot has 11 been done with respect to what we knew originally as Reverse 12 911. It's now called WARN, Wide Area response -- or Rapid 13 Notification system. And I'm pleased to introduce to you for 14 a short presentation the folks from Austin Biometrics, Sherri 15 Lyles and David Musselman. I see our friend Mr. Amerine in 16 audience from 911. And they're going to tell you what the 17 latest is, which is Internet-based technology, and we'll go 18 from there. Thank you. Sherri? David? 19 MR. MUSSELMAN: Yes. My name is David Musselman. 20 This is my partner, Sherri Lyles. Your Honor, I'd like to 21 thank you and the Commissioners for having us here today, 22 giving us an opportunity to present this to the County. For 23 those of you who can't see, I've got everything in here. If 24 you open up the proposal, behind the letter on the left-hand 25 side is an exact copy of the presentation, so if you have the 1-14-08 27 1 opportunity to read it. Also on the front of that is 2 actually a letter just outlining a little bit about Austin 3 Biometrics. Certainly, this is a hefty package here, 4 gentlemen. I'm not going to read it to you, trust me. What 5 I want to do is, I want to talk a little bit about what 6 Austin Biometrics is, what we're doing, why we're here, and 7 what we can do to help the County. As he said, Austin 8 Biometrics is a woman-owned hub, certified Texas hub. We are 9 operated out of Austin Biometrics, and we sell a number of 10 safety and security products to police departments, sheriff's 11 offices, State Department, and so forth, even the Austin -- 12 Oklahoma Bureau of Investigations. 13 What we're here today to talk about is one of our 14 products called WARN, which stands for Wide Area Rapid 15 Notification systems. And that's one of the products that we 16 sell to a lot of municipalities, police departments and 17 EMS's, and in a generic term, is used as Reverse 911. And 18 what it does is, it gives the county an opportunity to 19 continue to manage their communications to their 20 constituents, whatever that kind of response may be. And 21 I've given you an opportunity to -- there's actually a 22 laundry list at back on the right-hand side of all the kind 23 of applications that this thing's used for. It's used, 24 really, primarily for emergency notification. We actually 25 have some counties that use it to collect taxes, okay? 1-14-08 28 1 So, let's go to the next slide. This is just a -- 2 a map of Kerr County; I'm sure you're all familiar with it. 3 Okay, we'll just go to the next one. Really, just move on, 4 Sherri. Okay. Now, really, the core result for this 5 product -- the purpose for this product is, very simply, to 6 protect the safety and security of your citizens. That's 7 really all it's designed for. Like I said, it's used for 8 fire; it's used for floods, tornadoes, hazmats. You can take 9 a geo-mapping, which we all included in it, and, you know, 10 say you have a chemical spill. You can just do a circle, 11 square, any type of geometric figure you want on a map, and 12 do a blast call to those people saying, "Hey, we've got a 13 hazmat here; you need to avoid this area." Or prior to an 14 Amber Alert, say, "Hey, we've just had a child that's 15 missing." We actually have it deployed in Longview, Texas, 16 and they don't call -- they wait about 20 minutes if they get 17 a missing child report. The chances are sometimes the kid's 18 underneath the bed, so they'll wait about 20 minutes, and 19 they can go ahead and do an 8-area -- 8-block square mile -- 20 I'm sorry, 8-block radius of where that child was, and say, 21 "Hey, we want to call these people. We have a missing child 22 in this area, you know. Keep a lookout." So, we want to try 23 to do some of these proactively, pre-Amber. 24 It also does elderly checks. We actually have a 25 situation in El Paso where they actually have to send out the 1-14-08 29 1 fire department to go check on elderly people. This system 2 is smart enough, you can actually program your elderly 3 community -- their schedules in the system. We know that 4 they're in church on Sundays. We know who their caregivers 5 are; we know who their visiting nurse association is. And in 6 the event -- you know, it's hard to teach people new things, 7 but everybody knows how to pick up a telephone, so we can 8 have this thing scheduled -- system scheduled to call all of 9 your elderly people at a set time. If they don't answer the 10 telephone, it can elevate it to the next level. Say, let's 11 go ahead and call the caregiver. "Can you can check on this 12 person?" Yes or no. "Yes, I can." "Can you check on them 13 now?" And it waits for the response. 14 So, basically what you have is, you have a 15 documented work flow, if you will, of how this thing's 16 managed, and it's actually -- you have a trail. And if they 17 can't, it will go to the next person, and so forth and so on, 18 so you can actually take care of those elderly people, know 19 that they've been taken care of, know that they've been 20 called, and have it tracked so anybody, whether it's the fire 21 department, whether it's the police department, whoever the 22 initiator is, can actually look online. And I neglected to 23 say this; this is not something that's installed. It's not a 24 box that sits anywhere. It's actually hosted by us. It's 25 hosted by WARN Communications, and it's a software and 1-14-08 30 1 service. So, really, you're using a web browser. So, 2 anybody that's an initiator is going to use a web browser, 3 and they get live updates every 15 minutes about what's 4 actually happened in the community, okay? And we have 5 redundant databases, redundant backup support. We have a 6 database -- data center in Richardson, Texas. There's one in 7 Chicago; there's one in San Diego. You never really know 8 where the information is being supported from. And they do 9 that because most incidents are regionalized. 10 Next one. Turn it around. Now, the nice thing 11 about this product is it does two-way communication, and you 12 can actually have your constituents sign up for their cell 13 phones. You can have them sign up for text messaging. We 14 obviously do land lines. We can tie into your sirens, 15 anything that you're using out there to communicate to the 16 public. We can launch e-mail; we can send pages, whether 17 it's one-way or two-way communication. We also do TTY, TTO, 18 satellite telephones. We can launch Amber Alerts for you, 19 and we can do even 800 Megahertz radios, which I haven't 20 found a police department yet that wants us to do that, but 21 we can. So, basically, based on your population in Kerr 22 County, we want to find out what's going to be the amount of 23 time it's going to take us to notify your constituents of any 24 type of an emergency. 25 We went with a 2006 -- 2006 statistic, that Kerr 1-14-08 31 1 County's population is 47,254. That's about what we came up 2 with. Ingram -- Ingram represents 1,868 of those. 3 Kerrville, 22,361, and the balance of Kerr County would be 4 23,025. Our system can process the 47,254 calls in 15 5 minutes, okay? Now, if you refer to this document that's 6 just behind the one on the left-hand side, it will give you 7 the -- you have two different telephone companies out here in 8 Kerr County. The first one is Windstream Communications, and 9 they handle pretty much everything outside of Kerrville. And 10 I actually wound up talking to -- actually -- yeah. Yeah, 11 they handle -- no, they handle Kerrville, I'm sorry. I think 12 I made a mistake, misspoke. They handle Kerrville. I wound 13 up talking to Arkansas; they wound up finally getting me to 14 Richard Smith, who's actually the area manager for 15 Windstream. He's headquartered out of Sugarland. 16 When we process a call, we deliver it to the phone 17 company. The phone company is the one that ultimately has 18 what we call in this business the "last mile." They're the 19 ones that deliver the message to the home or wherever it's 20 going. How you basically come up with a rough estimate about 21 how that's going to be delivered is the availability of toll 22 trunks. How many toll trunks come into this town? In 23 Kerrville, you have 1,786 toll trunks. Now, they're not all 24 going to be available at any given point in time of day, so 25 what we do to be conservative, we back out 40 percent. We 1-14-08 32 1 say 40 percent are not going to be available, regardless of 2 what time of day it is, so we use an estimate of 3 60 percent -- in your case, 60 percent of your available toll 4 trunks will be 10,000 -- 1,072 toll trunks of availability. 5 So, if you go to the third page -- I'm sorry -- 6 yeah, the third page on there, what we've done is, we've come 7 up with an estimate of how, if we wanted to call everyone in 8 Kerrville, what would it take us? On the top, basically, we 9 have 19,293 homes/households, and we've equated it to one 10 minute -- one-minute messages per home, which would be 19,293 11 minutes. We divide that by toll trunks, divide that, and it 12 calculates out to 18 minutes plus 6 minutes and 12 seconds 13 for us to deliver. So, to deliver the messages to the entire 14 community of Kerrville is 24 minutes and 12 seconds, and this 15 is how I did my math. I did not break out Ingram or any 16 other cities, but it's pretty much the same. It's not an 17 exact science. You know, I don't want you to say, "Well, it 18 took, you know, 24 minutes and 15 seconds," because it 19 varies. What time of day it is, it varies. Depends on how 20 much redialing we have to do. But that's basically what it 21 would take to accomplish that, according to the phone 22 companies, according to us. So, we process, we deliver the 23 calls; they deliver them to the home. 24 Next one. Okay. First-year cost of this program 25 -- of this software service for the entire county is $31,150. 1-14-08 33 1 Second, third year, $18,000, respectively. The initial cost 2 is setup, training, just getting -- getting everything up and 3 running, getting all of your data, which we've been talking 4 to Bill about. Loading it into the system, setting up a web 5 page so that your community members can sign up if they want 6 to have cell phones and so forth in there. And, in addition 7 to that, obviously, there's going to be phone calls involved, 8 so you have a setup cost, but to make additional phone calls 9 or doing text messages, there's a cost involved with that. 10 Sorry. 11 MS. LYLES: That's the last one. 12 MR. MUSSELMAN: Okay. Text messages cost. And 13 this is just a whole host of information and services; you 14 guys can read that at your leisure, different things that we 15 do. WARN Communications is the only service provider that 16 offers five separate powerful call applications for networks. 17 And that's too hard to read; we'll just skip that. Let's go 18 to the next one. 19 MS. LYLES: That's it. 20 MR. MUSSELMAN: That's it? Okay. If you look on 21 your right-hand side, you'll see the brochures. What we're 22 talking about including in this package of delivery, based on 23 the application and your environment, is the one broadcast 24 system, the geo power, which is behind that. That includes 25 the mapping feature so that you can map out your community as 1-14-08 34 1 you get down to street level. And behind that, I've put a 2 whole list of applications that are being used for the type 3 of system. So, with that, I will stop, and -- 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just a couple quick 5 questions. 6 MR. MUSSELMAN: Yes, sir. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And then Mr. Amerine's in 8 the audience, and I'd like to ask him to make a comment or 9 two if we wishes to do so. Some of our concerns, as you well 10 know, have to do with flooding, Guadalupe River when it gets 11 out of its banks, and the problems that that causes. I'm 12 given to understand that with your particular system, we can 13 identify areas where the river may be cresting, and move 14 those call blocks down as the river continues to crest and 15 move south and eastward; is that correct? 16 MR. MUSSELMAN: That's correct. You have gauges in 17 those areas, correct? 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Something, yeah. 19 MR. MUSSELMAN: What we would do, we would have -- 20 those gauges would alert our system to launch a 21 notification -- 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And same would apply -- 23 MR. MUSSELMAN: -- based on your requirement. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The same would apply to 25 fires, right? 1-14-08 35 1 MR. MUSSELMAN: Correct. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We can identify an area, 3 perhaps, like the large area we had in Kerrville South, and 4 we can outline where the fire is and notify people within a 5 certain radius of that fire to give that kind of a warning? 6 MR. MUSSELMAN: That's correct. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 8 MR. MUSSELMAN: And you'll know that they've been 9 notified. It'll tell you that the call went out, they 10 answered it at this time, and they responded, positive or 11 negative. But you'll have -- you'll have control of that 12 communication, knowing that that person answered the 13 telephone. We can set this thing up so it will call until 14 you get an answer, and until you get -- until you get some 15 type of affirmation as to what that particular person did, 16 that constituent. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And there is no cost for 18 the use of the trunk lines through Windstream? 19 MR. MUSSELMAN: No, there's not. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's an improvement over 21 the last time. 22 MR. AMERINE: There is a cost per call. 23 MR. MUSSELMAN: Phone calls -- 24 MR. AMERINE: On top of the -- I'll let David -- 25 it's his cost, so I'll let him explain. 1-14-08 36 1 MR. MUSSELMAN: It's whatever your regular phone 2 calls are now. It's not going to be -- we don't make a 3 profit on those type of phone calls. 4 MR. AMERINE: No, but explain -- David, explain 5 beyond the licensing fee, the fact that if you initiate 6 10,000 calls, use 10,000 minutes, what the cost of that is. 7 MR. MUSSELMAN: Okay. 8 MR. AMERINE: Because you do charge for each call 9 that's made. 10 MR. MUSSELMAN: Okay. I don't have those numbers 11 with me, but -- 12 MR. AMERINE: There is a cost per call, above and 13 beyond the licensing fee. So, you know, it's not just you 14 pay the $18,000 in the second year and you make as many calls 15 as you want; there's no cost. There is a cost associated 16 with that. 17 MR. MUSSELMAN: I can get those numbers for you 18 guys. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I would appreciate that. 20 That would kind of firm up the rest of the presentation. 21 Mr. Amerine, do you have any other comments you'd like to 22 make? 23 MR. AMERINE: Well, you know, this has come up for 24 three or four years about providing a service like this. A 25 lot of counties are doing this, and I think Commissioner 1-14-08 37 1 Williams' interest is having 911 do this. As a matter of 2 fact, I kept him in the loop last year with some action in 3 the State Legislature to actually mandate that 911 agencies 4 provide the service across the state. Unfortunately, it 5 didn't make it out of committee in either the Senate or 6 House, because there was no funding mechanism put in place 7 along with the language of the law. I would suspect it's 8 going to come back. It's going to come back to 911 at some 9 point in time. So, when that would happen, of course, your 10 911 agency would have the funding mechanism and the ability 11 to provide the service to the community. At this point in 12 time, we don't. Other than that, this is a service that most 13 counties have. It's of great use. 14 The graphic interface tool that David alluded to is 15 quite easy; requires minimum training for anybody in the 16 county, Sheriff's Office or anywhere else that would be 17 suitable to learn to use this. Essentially, you build a 18 polygon or a circle or an area of interest around a disaster, 19 and it builds a call list, and then initiates a canned, 20 recorded message to those citizens to warn them of the 21 disaster or the -- the event. I think, for your 22 consideration, David and Sherri can provide you a total cost 23 of ownership, which it would include those costs per each 24 call, because when this presentation was provided to the 25 Sheriff and the Chief of Police, that information was 1-14-08 38 1 provided by a gentleman -- I don't remember his name. 2 MR. MUSSELMAN: Don. 3 MR. AMERINE: Don. It's not a huge cost, but there 4 is a cost there. The other thing that was discussed at that 5 meeting that's kind of hit a roadblock, that we will continue 6 to try to work with, is the fact that this would be an 7 application that would be suitably shared between the County 8 and the -- and the City of Kerrville, as far as annual 9 licensing cost, and then the individual usage could be 10 carried by that jurisdiction that uses that service. So, if 11 the City used 10,000 minutes, they they'd pay for that 10,000 12 minutes. If the County used 35,000 minutes, then they would 13 pay for that, and they could split the licensing cost year to 14 year. That was the proposal at the meeting that we held a 15 couple months ago. So, I'd answer any other questions you 16 might have. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. I just have one 18 other footnote. Sheriff Hierholzer noticed that this was on 19 the agenda, and as you mentioned, he and his chief deputy as 20 well as I attended the demonstration that you had over in 21 your offices, and the Sheriff wants the Court to know that 22 he's highly supportive of this; he likes it and so forth. I 23 want to thank you both for coming down from Austin. 24 Appreciate you being here today. 25 MR. MUSSELMAN: Yes, sir. 1-14-08 39 1 JUDGE TINLEY: I've got a couple of questions, if I 2 might. But, Bill, do you think this is something that's 3 probably best implemented through 911, in coordination with 4 your office? 5 MR. AMERINE: Well, it would have to be in 6 coordination with our office, because to make that geo-tool 7 that David referred to is going to require us to provide the 8 actual information, the citizens' information, the location 9 of where they're at and their phone number. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 11 MR. AMERINE: There is one little sticking point, 12 and David's been providing me some references on this. 13 Unlike some of the other open government information that we 14 hold, there's a specific reference in the Health and Safety 15 Code that makes our information confidential. However, I do 16 believe there is an Attorney General opinion that says for 17 this purpose, which is very specific to public safety, that 18 we can make that information available to the application. 19 But we'll make sure that that's the case before we release 20 any information. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: David, another question, if I might. 22 MR. MUSSELMAN: Yes, sir. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: You mentioned in your presentation 24 that it can be a two-way communication. The citizen can, I 25 understood you to say, subscribe or request that service. Is 1-14-08 40 1 there any cost to the citizen for this to be a two-way 2 communication? 3 MR. MUSSELMAN: There would be -- there would be a 4 cost associated if there's going to be a cell phone call, if 5 they're going to text a text message, you know. The cost 6 would come from one side. I think text messages are, like, 7 15 or 20 cents, but depending on whatever carrier they're 8 using. But, yes, there is a cost associated with text 9 messages. There is also a cost associated with a cell phone 10 call. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: But those are the normal costs that 12 are -- that are -- 13 MR. MUSSELMAN: Yes. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: -- put in place by whoever the 15 particular carrier is? 16 MR. MUSSELMAN: That's correct. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: There's not an additional cost as a 18 result of the utilization of your service? 19 MR. MUSSELMAN: Well, they process it -- I guess 20 they put it all in one. I'll clarify that -- 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 22 MR. MUSSELMAN: -- piece of it. But I did want to 23 mention this; we are on the state contract. We're the only 24 emergency notification system available on DIR in the state 25 of Texas, so right, wrong, or indifferent, we've certainly 1-14-08 41 1 gone through that process, so we've been vetted. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Where are we going from here? 3 I mean, sounds like, obviously, you've talked to the Sheriff, 4 the City -- or the police department, anyway, that part of 5 the City. 6 MR. AMERINE: I've suggested to the Sheriff and 7 David that they get with Mr. Hofmann with the City and try to 8 get on the city agenda for City Council to present this 9 information, and see where it will go from there, as far as 10 getting a joint -- 'cause I really do -- this is another one 11 of those things that is best shared, and not -- you know, not 12 to have a redundant cost for the City and the County. It's 13 something that could be -- the individual costs of usage 14 could be borne by each of the jurisdictions. But getting 15 this started should be something that's a joint venture, to 16 save money for the taxpayers. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But -- I mean, but kind of what 18 I want, it appears what makes sense to me is to have it go 19 through you. 20 MR. AMERINE: Well, I have no problem facilitating 21 this. But, again, since there is no equipment and there is 22 no -- you know, it's not like it's going to be installed in 23 the call center or going to be installed in our PSAP. It's 24 simply an internet access that you need. You're going to 25 provide a specific password and access to individual users. 1-14-08 42 1 Their account will be specifically charged back to whoever is 2 using the tool. But I -- I'm perfectly happy to stay 3 involved and facilitate the process of trying to get this for 4 the County and the City. I do think, though -- just to pick 5 up on what you're saying, I do believe that what was 6 introduced in 2007 mandating that 911 provide this service 7 will come back. I do think when it comes back, there'll be a 8 funding mechanism put in place, a new surcharge or way to 9 get -- recover the cost of this. So, there may be a point in 10 time in 2008 or '9 where the City and the County will not be 11 administrating this process. We will at 911. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It makes more sense to me to 13 kind of point in that direction right now. And -- and if it 14 takes an interlocal agreement with the City and the County 15 and 911, and have you administer it, I mean, I think it just 16 makes a lot more sense. Otherwise, you're going to get 12 17 different systems. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you all for coming. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Appreciate it. 20 MR. MUSSELMAN: Thank you. 21 MS. LYLES: Thank you. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: We've got a 9:45 item that we've run 23 past, so we'll go to that timed item. Item 10, consider, 24 discuss, and take appropriate action to authorize Kerr County 25 Maintenance Coordinator to go out for bid for electrical, 1-14-08 43 1 plumbing, HVAC, and pest control services. 2 (Commissioner Baldwin left the courtroom.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Bollier, our Maintenance 4 Supervisor, is here. This is something that we customarily 5 do on an annual basis; is that not true? 6 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Same as last year? 8 MR. BOLLIER: Sir? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You want to go after the same 10 types of bids, same as last year? 11 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir, I do. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 15 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion? All in 16 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He was trying to say something. 18 MR. BOLLIER: Do we want to run these contracts at 19 the start of the fiscal year from now on, or do we want to 20 run them through -- at the calendar year? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Fiscal year. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Fiscal year. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. For budgeting purposes, I 24 would think. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 1-14-08 44 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Now I'll vote. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Now, all in favor of the motion, 3 signify by raising your right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Thank you, 8 Mr. Bollier. 9 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Sorry for running past you there. 11 Let's go to Item 3; consider, discuss, and take appropriate 12 action on a request by Community Council of South Central 13 Texas to be approved as a local nonprofit agency in order to 14 utilize the Youth Exhibit Center at a discounted rate and 15 waive the $300 setup and take-down fee. Ms. Pope? 16 MS. POPE: Good morning. Yes. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: How are you? 18 MS. POPE: I'm wonderful. How are y'all doing 19 today? 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Fine. 21 MS. POPE: Thank you for having us. My name is 22 Brandi Pope. I am the county coordinator for Community 23 Council of South Central Texas. This is Shannon Muniz; she 24 is also a county coordinator for Community Council of South 25 Central Texas. Community Council has been a nonprofit agency 1-14-08 45 1 within Kerr County for over 20 years, and I was a bit 2 surprised that we weren't on the approval list already. What 3 we are planning on doing is facilitating a Kerr County-wide 4 informational expo that we would like to hold at the Youth 5 Exhibition Center. We are wanting to request the Court to 6 waive the fees involved, because we are going to be inviting 7 other area nonprofit agencies that, as you know, normally 8 don't budget for fairs. We are going to have a blood drive. 9 We're having a child safety seat demonstration, an 10 installation inspection. 11 (Commissioner Baldwin returned to the courtroom.) 12 MS. POPE: We're going to have health checks. 13 We're going to have all different sorts of vendors come in 14 that are going to be an informational exposition for the 15 residents of Kerr County. We are petitioning the Court to 16 waive the fees, because that way we can get more people 17 involved within the community. As Community Council, we 18 don't have a budgeted set amount of money to go towards 19 outside of helping the residents of Kerr County, and this 20 would really benefit us to be able to do more county events 21 for the residents. I have with me an annual report that 22 shows that for fiscal year 2007, for Kerr County alone, we've 23 spent over $89,000 to help the residents of Kerr County. 24 That's Center Point, Kerrville, Hunt, Ingram, and the 25 surrounding areas within Kerr County. We help people with 1-14-08 46 1 utility bills, and we've transitioned 14 families out of 2 poverty, and it has been a great success for the year. And 3 we're hoping that in 2008, we'll be able to exceed that. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Your funding comes through 5 AACOG? 6 MS. POPE: It comes through T.D.H.C.A., the state 7 federal fund. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Direct, or through AACOG? 9 MS. POPE: I think -- 10 MS. MUNIZ: It is not through AACOG, sir. Most of 11 it is direct through state funding. We do have -- in some of 12 our other counties, and also in Kerrville, we do have some 13 federal fundings that we get for the people that we help with 14 the emergency utility bills or with rent bills. Brandi does 15 not have that in her county yet, though. We also do private 16 donations. We do drives to raise money for funding for any 17 need that the -- that the county may have. And in the 18 future, if there's anything that you see that the county 19 needs that we might be able to provide, we're more than happy 20 to do so. Right now, Brandi is doing a blanket drive for 21 elderly, disabled, or families with low income that may not 22 have blankets, and in the future she might want to increase 23 that to heaters or something else that you might see that you 24 need, or this county needs. 25 MS. POPE: Right. 1-14-08 47 1 MS. MUNIZ: So, we are willing to do anything that 2 is not already being provided, if you'll just let Brandi 3 know. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You serve Kerr County 5 through offices in Seguin; is that correct? 6 MS. MUNIZ: No, sir, we do have an office here in 7 Kerrville. Brandi's office is located on Guadalupe Street. 8 Seguin is actually our main office, but we do have 11 9 satellite offices in the 11 counties surrounding Bexar 10 County, so there is a field person in each county. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Letz, Commissioner 12 Oehler, how -- how are similar nonprofits similar to this 13 organization treated for purposes of utilization of the -- of 14 the Youth Exhibit Center? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's a 50 percent 16 reduction, and I'm in favor of that, but not beyond that. I 17 mean, I think we need to treat all nonprofits the same. I'll 18 make a motion that we -- isn't it 50 percent? 19 MS. GRINSTEAD: I think you've been waiving the 20 $350 for the fee, but not the setup fee. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I'm just giving the 22 50 percent reduction. 23 MS. GRINSTEAD: Be about the same off the total. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 1-14-08 48 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 2 indicated for 50 percent reduction of normal fees, same 3 treatment as other similar nonprofits. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: In essence, adding them to the 6 nonprofit list. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 8 MS. POPE: Thank you. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Question or discussion on the 10 motion? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Couple of questions. Is 12 that what they're asking for? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: No. 15 MS. POPE: No, sir. I was -- from what I 16 understand, as long as a nonprofit agency is approved by the 17 Commissioners Court, the initial rental of the facility is 18 waived. That's an initial $350. However, it is at the 19 Court's discretion to go ahead and waive an additional $300, 20 which is for a setup and tear-down of the tables and chairs. 21 That is at your discretion of whether you can waive that or 22 not. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 24 MS. POPE: And that's what I was requesting, is to 25 have the additional $300 waived. 1-14-08 49 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. And we're not going 2 to give you that. Is that your understanding? 3 MS. POPE: That's my understanding. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you happy with that? 5 MS. POPE: It'll be fine, yes, sir. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask you one other 7 question. I served on this board many years ago, and so I've 8 kind of -- I've had an ear tuned to this program for a long 9 time. You recently had some legal problems? 10 MS. POPE: I'm not -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This lady behind you can 12 answer it, though. Would you mind bringing us up to date? 13 MS. POPE: Yes. I'm new. This has been my first 14 year. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I'm glad you're here. 16 I'm glad you're in Kerrville. 17 MS. MUNIZ: Yes, sir, we have had some legal 18 problems. We are still under what is called cost 19 reimbursement by the Texas Department of Housing and 20 Community Affairs. I do want to let you know that our 21 executive director, Mr. Ramirez, did resign. He did make a 22 motion to have our board of directors review his resignation. 23 They, in fact, did, and his resignation does stand. We do 24 have an interim director right now, Ms. Mary Lou Castillo, 25 and she was actually the executive assistant underneath 1-14-08 50 1 Mr. Ramirez. She will not be the executive director; has 2 already made mention to the board of directors that she does 3 not want that position. Right now, we are working on other 4 sources of revenue, because we are on cost reimbursement, and 5 basically what that means is that before, T.D.H.C.A. would 6 award us funding, so we'd always have working capital. They 7 are no longer going to award us this funding. We are going 8 to have to spend the -- spend money on the utility bills or 9 whatever the program might be, submit that to T.D.H.C.A. 10 They will review it for accuracy, also the documentation, 11 making sure that we did everything accordingly, and then 12 reimburse us. So, we are working hard to get out of cost 13 reimbursement, and we project that we should be out of that 14 by March. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you for being so 16 honest. I appreciate that. 17 MS. MUNIZ: Thank you. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's refreshing. 19 MS. MUNIZ: And we will be looking for a board 20 member in this county soon, so... (Laughter.) 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm ready to vote. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: I think we already have that in 23 place for you, ma'am. 24 MS. MUNIZ: That's great. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Very experienced. 1-14-08 51 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner, for your information, 2 at the request of your good friend, Judge Danny Sheel from 3 Comal County, I was at the meeting in Hondo that these 4 matters all kind of got thrashed out, and -- and the 5 director, Mr. Ramirez, resigned, and indications are they're 6 trying to put those problems behind them. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Super. That's fantastic. 8 MS. MUNIZ: Yes, sir. And I just also want you to 9 know that a lot of the problems that are now arising after 10 that resignation, our board is working diligently to try to 11 answer all those questions. They were not aware of some of 12 the things that were done before. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We have a motion and second. 14 Any further question or discussion? All in favor of the 15 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 16 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 18 (No response.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. If you'll 20 bear with us for just a moment, we've got some timed matters 21 we've got to attend to. At this time, I will recess the 22 Commissioners Court meeting, and I will convene and open a 23 public hearing for the revision of plat for 707 Ranch, as set 24 forth in Volume 7, Page 347 of the Plat Records, and located 25 in Precinct 4. 1-14-08 52 1 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10:05 a.m., and a public hearing was held in 2 open court, as follows:) 3 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the public 5 that wishes to be heard with respect to the revision of plat 6 for the 707 Ranch, as set forth in Volume 7, Page 347, and 7 located in Precinct 4? 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Seeing no one seeking to have input 10 to that, I will close the public hearing pertaining to the 11 revision of the plat for 707 Ranch, as set forth in Volume 7, 12 Page 347. 13 (The public hearing was concluded at 10:05 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 14 reopened.) 15 - - - - - - - - - - 16 JUDGE TINLEY: And I will convene and open a public 17 hearing for the revision of plat for Lots 14, 15, 16, and 17 18 of Solar Village, as scheduled for 10:05 this morning, that 19 plat being in volume 4, Page 277, and located in Precinct 1. 20 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10:05 a.m., and a public hearing was held in 21 open court, as follows:) 22 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the public 24 that wishes to be heard with regard to the revision of a plat 25 for Lots 14, 15, 16, and 17 of Solar Village, as set forth in 1-14-08 53 1 Volume 4, Page 277 of the Plat Records? 2 (No response.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Seeing no one coming forward on that 4 particular item, I will close that public hearing, and I will 5 reconvene the Commissioners Court meeting. 6 (The public hearing was concluded at 10:06 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 7 reopened.) 8 - - - - - - - - - - 9 JUDGE TINLEY: And we'll go to Item 4; consider, 10 discuss, and take appropriate action to approve an 11 application submitted through the Texas Department of Housing 12 and Community Affairs by the Community Council of South 13 Central Texas, Incorporated, to participate in emergency 14 Shelter Grant Program with respect to program activities 15 located in Kerrville and/or Kerr County, and authorize the 16 County Judge to sign same. Ms. Pope again. 17 MS. POPE: Yes, sir. What this is, the Emergency 18 Shelter Grant Program is a grant that we were trying to apply 19 for for fiscal year '08. It is a grant that provides 20 emergency rent and mortgage assistance for families in the 21 area. As we know, there are a lot of families right now that 22 are having difficulties; their homes are being foreclosed on 23 because of them unable to pay their mortgage. The grant 24 requires that -- that the County Judge sign an approval form 25 that gives us permission to apply for the grant in the area. 1-14-08 54 1 It is a competitive grant. Signing the approval form giving 2 us permission to apply for it does not guarantee that we will 3 win the grant. Due to timing restraints, this year it was 4 just a -- the timing factor; we weren't able to apply for the 5 grant this year because we weren't able to come before the 6 Commissioners Court in time to submit the application. So, I 7 was wanting to request that the County Judge be given 8 permission to annually sign the application form without 9 having to go before the Commissioners Court, so that we won't 10 miss out on an opportunity to apply for a grant. Because it 11 was $100,000 that we were applying for. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Why don't you just come in 13 here in a timely manner? 14 MS. POPE: It was just something that we received 15 the information, and we didn't have enough time to get in. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Next year. Next year, why 17 don't you just come in in a timely manner, instead of us just 18 giving carte blanche to the County Judge to sign things? 19 MS. POPE: Well, if we get the -- the discrepancy 20 this year was that we received notification that we were able 21 to apply too late for Community Council to get on the 22 Commissioners Court. It was -- we had -- we notified -- 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's a problem, isn't it? 24 MS. POPE: Yes, sir. So it was just -- it was just 25 a timing restraint that we don't know what it's going to be 1-14-08 55 1 like next year. This year we just missed out on the 2 opportunity -- 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there -- 4 MS. POPE: -- to have it. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there some way that you can have 6 some sort of communication coordination with the folks 7 that -- 8 MS. POPE: At the state? 9 JUDGE TINLEY: -- that handle these things to get a 10 little bit better heads-up from those folks? 11 MS. POPE: This would be the first year that we 12 were trying to apply for it for Kerr County. Shannon has had 13 this grant program before. 14 MS. MUNIZ: And what happened this year is, because 15 of the other problems that we were facing as an agency, we 16 weren't even sure if we were going to be able to apply for 17 the grant. We thought, because we were under cost 18 reimbursement, that we wouldn't be eligible. Well, even 19 though we weren't eligible, we still had to place an 20 application in order to qualify for '09 funding. So, 21 normally Brandi will know ahead of time, but just in the 22 event that this should happen again, or cost reimbursement is 23 not removed by March, we just wanted to see if we could get 24 permission for this. It would just be for us to be able to 25 apply for it. It would not be -- additional problems that 1-14-08 56 1 might arise, we can come before the Commissioners Court. It 2 would just be for this one application, just for us to be 3 able to apply on time. You know, I don't see it being a 4 problem in the future, but in the event that it is, we wanted 5 to be prepared. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Would you explain the 7 relationship between your news release that's contained in 8 our packet and this application? In your news release, you 9 talk about a block grant has been allocated in the amount of 10 $472,000 from T.D.H.C.A. to administer the C.S.B.G. funds for 11 '08. What is the correlation here? 12 MS. MUNIZ: That C.S.B.G. block grant, that is the 13 funding that we use for administrative purposes. That pays 14 our salaries, our rents, our utilities, office supplies. It 15 also plays -- pays the administrative fees of our program 16 director, assistant director, and the executive director. 17 This is not funding that can actually be used to help 18 families. We've been awarded this funding. Now, that 19 doesn't mean that we actually have it in-hand, because we are 20 under cost reimbursement. Again, we have to spend it and 21 then draw down from it, but that is how much, essentially, we 22 have to work with this year. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. You anticipated 24 my question, thank you. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: You indicated that, really, the 1-14-08 57 1 problem this year was the hiatus that you were in because of 2 some -- some legal and similar type issues. I gather from 3 what you're saying that you normally get notice of these type 4 of potential grant programs far enough in advance that you 5 could bring those to the Court? 6 MS. MUNIZ: Yes, sir, normally we do. This is the 7 one grant that I can say does not run January to December. 8 It actually starts in September and ends in August, so we 9 would usually have ample time. Because of the problem, it -- 10 the information came to Brandi in December, and in the past, 11 Kerr County was not a county that was assisted with this 12 program, so she actually got the information in the middle of 13 December and was not able to bring it before you in time. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, my thinking is that I -- I'm 15 really not in favor of an open-ended or carte blanche 16 authority for me to go forward with these applications. For 17 example, everything might be hunky-dory and going along fine, 18 and if we have some other of these issues like we had 19 recently that occur in the interim period of time, I'd want 20 this Court to be aware of them before making that decision of 21 authorizing me to go forward. That's my thinking. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: So, I'd like to handle this on an 24 annual year-by-year basis, program-by-program basis, and to 25 know exactly where we're going and what your situation is 1-14-08 58 1 each time we authorize you to go forward. That's my 2 thinking. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree 100 percent. And 4 may I suggest something? That we have a dear friend here in 5 Kerrville, and his name is Harvey Hilderbran, one of the 6 nicest, smartest men on the face of the earth. 7 MS. POPE: I know Harvey. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: His partner is sitting back 9 there; I'm thinking maybe he'll take word back to Harvey 10 about how nice we think he is. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I doubt it. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This guy can perform 13 miracles. Is that pretty good? 14 AUDIENCE: That's good. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I'll bet he could get 16 the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs to 17 communicate with you folks anytime you wanted them to. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In a more timely fashion. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Anytime. Any time, day or 20 night, 24/7. Because he is nice. And handsome. Did I say 21 handsome? So, that settles that agenda item, doesn't it? 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 23 MS. POPE: Thank you very much. 24 MS. MUNIZ: And, Judge, we do plan to keep you 25 aware of the situations that are happening with the agency. 1-14-08 59 1 JUDGE TINLEY: I appreciate that. 2 MS. MUNIZ: Thank you. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. 4 MS. MUNIZ: Thank you for meeting with us today. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're welcome. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me see. It's not quite 10:15, 7 so we'll go to Item 5; consider, discuss, and take 8 appropriate action on Texas Cooperative Extension's request 9 to fill the County Extension Agent, Family/Consumer Science 10 position here in Kerr County. Mr. Walston? That's not 11 Mr. Walston; he's back there. Ms. Mapston, good to see you 12 here. 13 MS. MAPSTON: Yes. Good morning, Judge. Good 14 morning, Commissioners. I'm pleased to be here today to 15 bring forth an applicant for the vacant Family/Consumer 16 Science position. I'd like to introduce to you Ms. Renee 17 Walls. Renee is a graduate of University of North Texas with 18 a degree in Applied Gerontology and a minor in Recreation and 19 Leisure Services. Renee, while she was in college, she did a 20 -- completed an internship in Haltom City at the Haltom City 21 Senior Center, and after graduation, she was employed at the 22 Keller Senior Center, where she was there for three years. 23 While she was at the Senior Center in Keller, she programmed 24 trips, activities, exercise classes, nutrition education 25 classes, the feeding program, and also the budget, and then 1-14-08 60 1 prepared paperwork for Tarrant County and their senior 2 services. So, I'm pleased to be able to recommend her as 3 County Extension Agent here. 4 And I wanted to bring up that we do have a -- a new 5 name, some new programs, some changes within Extension, and 6 one of the those changes that I'm very pleased to talk about 7 today is called the First Step For Success program. Renee, 8 being a fresh person out of school with minimum experience, 9 qualifies for the First Step for Success program, where, for 10 the first month, Renee will be assigned to a similar type 11 county to shadow, observe, learn the day-to-day workings of a 12 county extension office, complete all of her paperwork, her 13 passwords, all of the things that it takes to become 14 processed and on board with Extension. And I would like to 15 assign Renee to Bandera County, working with Janna Osbourn in 16 FCS and Warren Thigpen in Agriculture and Natural Resources 17 for the month of February, and we will pay full salary, full 18 travel, registration fees and everything that goes into that 19 first month of employment. 20 I'd like to recommend her starting here in Kerr 21 County on March the 1st at the -- at your regularly budgeted 22 salary and travel. So, we would pay the first 30 days -- or 23 first 28 days of her employment, and she'll be working with 24 Roy and Laurinda and Carla in the area of Family/Consumer 25 Sciences. We'll be doing a lot of training during the first 1-14-08 61 1 two years. In addition to the First Step For Success 2 program, New Agent's Orientation, which will take place in 3 College Station on campus. Then some things within our west 4 region, and then she'll be assigned a mentor in FCS, and that 5 will be Shea Nebgen, who's the County Extension Agent over in 6 Gillespie County will be assigned with Renee for her first 7 full year to help her get her feet on the ground and get 8 trained and ready to go. So, it's my recommendation for 9 appointment of Renee. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: And you're asking us to approve that 11 here this morning? 12 MS. MAPSTON: Yes, sir. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 16 approval as indicated. Further question or discussion? All 17 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 20 (No response.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Welcome 22 aboard, Renee. 23 MS. WALLS: Thank you so much. 24 MS. MAPSTON: Thanks. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We have a 10:15 timed item 1-14-08 62 1 that we have gone slightly over. We'll take that item up. 2 That's Item 18, to consider, discuss, and take appropriate 3 action on authorizing the financial adviser to prepare 4 recommendation for the type of short-term financing that 5 would be most economical and beneficial for the County, and 6 to begin the documentation necessary for the short-term 7 financing application. Ms. Hargis, you asked that this item 8 be placed on the agenda, and I note that Mr. Bob Henderson, 9 our Kerr County financial adviser, from RBC and Dain Rauscher 10 is here. We're happy to have you here. 11 MR. HENDERSON: Thank you Your Honor. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Proceed. 13 MS. HARGIS: Well, I'm going to probably turn it 14 over to Bob for the majority of it. We have, as you know, a 15 tentative list of the things that we want to do. Those 16 tentatively are our computer program -- our capital outlay on 17 our computer program, the windows for this building, the 18 addition to the Ag Barn, and we have some software things 19 that are also in addition that have come along. We also have 20 a list from Leonard of some vehicles and some equipment that 21 he would like you to consider when we're putting this 22 together, to come out to the dollar figure that we discussed 23 that would be economically feasible to do this. So, I really 24 -- you know, I mean, that's all kind of tentative. I think 25 it, you know, rolls up to about a million, a million-plus. I 1-14-08 63 1 think that what I want to hear from Bob today is what kind of 2 financing he thinks we might need to get, and then we need to 3 firm up that list, because we've already bought a lot of the 4 computer equipment because it was pretty much ordered and 5 needed. And some of the other people are waiting now to 6 obtain their -- their different portions of their capital 7 outlays. As you know, we pretty much stripped capital outlay 8 from the budget, so I really think we need to get on this as 9 soon as possible. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: What you're asking us, in essence, 11 Ms. Hargis, is to allow Mr. Henderson to move forward to look 12 at it, review the marketplace, and see what the best route to 13 travel is insofar as debt instruments in view of what we are 14 putting in place, and just get him to go forward to kind of 15 get that ready for when we get ready to pull the trigger on 16 it? 17 MS. HARGIS: And then I need the Court to decide 18 what items are going to be on that list so we can define the 19 amount of the funding that we're going to obtain. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: But that will be another issue for 21 another day? 22 MS. HARGIS: Right. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 24 MS. HARGIS: So I'm going to let Bob, since we just 25 met -- 1-14-08 64 1 MR. HENDERSON: We've talked on the phone several 2 times, but haven't met. Good morning. For the record -- 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Bob? 4 MR. HENDERSON: Yes, sir? 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Before you get too cranked 6 up there, we're talking -- 7 MR. HENDERSON: Have we met? (Laughter.) 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just this morning. And 9 that's exactly what I wanted to ask you about. The -- being 10 as we're talking about a fairly large sum of money for us 11 Kerr Countians, taxpayers' money, I wanted to reassure the 12 taxpayers of this county that we didn't find you hitchhiking 13 down Interstate 10 or anything. How long have you done 14 business with Kerr County? How long have you worked for Kerr 15 County? 16 MR. HENDERSON: I would have to check my files to 17 get the exact date, but if memory serves me correctly, 18 approximately 1984, so about 23 years. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 20 MR. HENDERSON: And, you know, the Judge introduced 21 us as RBC Dain Rauscher. In the 24 years that I've been -- 22 the 26 years I've been in this business, I've worked for two 23 firms, but they've had, like, nine different names because of 24 all the -- the mergers and acquisitions and so forth. Our 25 current name is RBC Capital Markets. We got -- 1-14-08 65 1 JUDGE TINLEY: You've done it again. 2 MR. HENDERSON: We've done it again. We went from 3 Dain Rauscher, which is our U.S. fixed income group, to being 4 affiliated with the international global fixed markets group. 5 But same guy for 23 years, you know, here at Kerr County. 6 And I have been with this same company -- although it's 7 changed its name several times, I've been with the same 8 company since 1992. And, for the record, you know, Robert 9 Henderson with RBC Capital Markets in San Antonio. As the 10 Commissioners Court is aware, there was a reimbursement 11 resolution that was passed by the Commissioners Court prior 12 to Christmas that gave the Court the authority to go ahead 13 and start spending money for the computers that Ms. Hargis 14 just mentioned, and be able to reimburse your general fund at 15 a later date out of the proceeds of the tax-exempt financing. 16 The vehicle that we have talked about tentatively has been 17 tax notes. We can do that without having to do the public 18 offering and the notice of intent and all the things that are 19 affiliated with the certificates of obligation. 20 The Commissioners Court has, on multiple occasions, 21 done certificates of obligation, but those types of 22 financings -- that type of financing is really more 23 appropriate for large permanent items, such as courthouse 24 renovation or roads and bridges and those sorts of things 25 that are going to have a much longer useful life. We're 1-14-08 66 1 expecting that this financing will have a term of less than 2 seven years, given the useful life of the items that we're 3 financing. You're very familiar with, I know, from the 4 5 o'clock news, all the volatility in the financial markets, 5 primarily having to do with subprime mortgage lending. What 6 you probably are not aware of is that the subprime mortgage 7 problems have actually spilled over into the municipal bond 8 market in a very, very big way. 9 And the way that that happened is that the -- we 10 have in the municipal bond business what we call monoline 11 insurance companies; Ambac Insurance, MBIA, FSA, and several 12 others, FGIC. And these are insurance companies that for 30 13 years had been insuring municipal bond transactions issued by 14 cities and schools and county governments to a triple-A bond 15 rating for marketing purposes. And -- and as unrelated as 16 municipal bonds issued by cities and schools and counties are 17 to subprime mortgage lending, there has been a connection, 18 because these same insurance companies also got into the 19 business of insuring mortgage pools, mortgage-backed 20 securities pools, a lot of which had mortgages -- residential 21 mortgages from subprime borrowers. The result of that has 22 been that there has been significant disarray in the 23 municipal bond industry, particularly as it applies to 24 municipal bond insured transactions in the last four to six 25 months. 1-14-08 67 1 The great news is, that's not going to impact Kerr 2 County on this transaction, and the reason being -- except 3 for in a positive way. As you know, the Federal Reserve has 4 lowered interest rates three times in the last six months, 5 trying to bail out the subprime mortgage industry. We know 6 that the leading presidential candidates are calling for a 7 freeze on adjustable rate mortgages for the subprime market. 8 And, finally, we know that just last week, Chairman 9 Bernanke -- I can't even pronounce his name, the new -- where 10 is Alan Greenspan when you need him, right? -- Barnecki or 11 Bernacki or however you pronounce his name, announced last 12 week that he is certain that the fed will continue to cut 13 interest rates to -- to bring stability to the financial 14 markets. The next Federal Open Market Committee meeting is 15 going to take place at the end of this month, the 30th -- 16 29th or 30th, something like that, and the markets are 17 generally expecting a -- a 50 basis point cut in the federal 18 funds rate. As of this morning, the 10-year treasury is at a 19 3.89, and so that's a very attractive interest rate compared 20 to where it was last year, which was in the upper 4's. 21 With respect to this financing, again, we would 22 expect a tax note with a final maturity of no more than seven 23 years, so we ought to be looking at interest rates that ought 24 to be under 4 percent for the County. Because of the size 25 and the duration of the -- of the borrowing, we would not 1-14-08 68 1 expect to need municipal bond insurance, so we'll get to 2 avoid all the problems of the monoline insurance companies, 3 yet take advantage of the lower interest rates that these 4 problems have brought to the market. So, it is a great time 5 for the County to be undertaking -- or anybody to be 6 undertaking a short-term tax-exempt borrowing, because it is 7 so short-term. And, again, and because it is such a small 8 amount, we would not anticipate a public offering of the 9 debt, but rather what we call a limited private placement 10 method of sale. 11 And that is to say that once the Commissioners 12 Court has decided exactly what items they're going to 13 undertake to sell, Ms. Hargis and I will get together to 14 devise a structure, and we'll go to a combination of national 15 private placement buyers; Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Frost 16 Bank, Alliance National, SAW National. We also, as a routine 17 matter, contact your local banks, 'cause we don't want those 18 guys to feel left out. And we will basically take bids from 19 all of these firms on a private placement basis. The 20 significant difference in the private placement is because 21 there aren't any offering documents, we'll be asking whoever 22 buys the bonds to sign what we call an institutional investor 23 letter, which says that they're going to hold the bonds in 24 their own portfolio until maturity, so we don't have to worry 25 about the continuing disclosure and all the things that are 1-14-08 69 1 affiliated with a public one, which means your cost of 2 issuance will be quite a bit lower as well. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What's the timetable, Bob? 4 MR. HENDERSON: From the time that you give me a 5 definitive number to the time that we can effect a -- a sale 6 would be 10 days. We still have to have these approved by 7 the Attorney General's office, and they require three weeks 8 to approve, so we need about four weeks to close the 9 transaction after we've negotiated it. So, from the time you 10 give me a definitive number till money's in the bank is 11 approximately six weeks. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 13 MR. HENDERSON: Happy to answer any other questions 14 you might have. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions for 16 Mr. Henderson? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there any magic number? 18 Like, can there be, you know, slightly over a million? At a 19 million exactly? I mean, does the dollar amount make that 20 much difference? 21 MR. HENDERSON: No, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just whatever it happens to be? 23 MR. HENDERSON: No, sir, and that's a very good 24 question, 'cause we've talked about that in the past with 25 respect to certificates of obligation. If we were doing a 1-14-08 70 1 20-year transaction that we were going to go deal with 2 municipal bond insurance companies and monoline insurance 3 companies, there is a break-over amount that occurs around a 4 million, three to a million, five, below which it's not 5 cost-effective to do municipal bond insurance. But because 6 we're borrowing for less than seven years, we're not going to 7 consider municipal bond insurance under any circumstances, so 8 the amount is not nearly as critical as it might be on a 9 long-term transaction. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Cost of issuance is not a material 12 factor in this particular type? 13 MR. HENDERSON: No, sir. There will be no rating 14 fees, no municipal bond insurance companies, there's going to 15 be no public offering documents, so the cost of issuance on 16 this transaction would probably be a good 30 percent, 17 35 percent lower than if we were doing a million and a half 18 dollar C.O. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We need a motion to 20 authorize that, correct, Judge? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Today? Not -- 23 JUDGE TINLEY: You know, I think just -- just for 24 informational purposes, the direction to move forward on the 25 basis that they're speaking of I think is adequate. 1-14-08 71 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 2 MR. HENDERSON: I think the real point, again, as 3 Ms. Hargis pointed out, is the Court deciding exactly what it 4 is you're going to finance and how much money you need. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And so how is that going to 6 come about? Are you going to come back in another meeting 7 and provide us with a proposed Christmas list of things -- 8 like you mentioned Road and Bridge had a few things they 9 would like to throw in. So, at what point will we get that 10 list to start playing with it? 11 MS. HARGIS: Well, I'd like to get that together 12 and get it to you guys probably in the next week or so, so 13 that you can start reviewing that list, and then we'll put it 14 on the agenda for the next court. But I'd like for you to 15 have some time to look at it, to ask questions, and so we can 16 do research that you might require on those items before we 17 bring it back. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I -- just in general, I would 20 rather at this point, you know, get the list larger, and we 21 can take things off rather than, you know, trying to scramble 22 if you want to decide to do a little bit more or change 23 something. I'd rather have it as all-inclusive as we can 24 come up with, and then we can draw a line through items we 25 don't want to do. 1-14-08 72 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, and we probably want to 2 consider maybe a buffer in there, so that if there's an 3 inflationary factor in some of these projects. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: If we got more money than we need, 6 we can always prepay -- prepay on the debt. 7 MR. HENDERSON: Yes, sir. Usually in a private 8 placement, we can negotiate terms that will allow you to 9 prepay any time. As opposed to -- 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 11 MR. HENDERSON: -- 10-year call. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, in a bonded indebtedness type 13 issue, or certificates of obligation. 14 MR. HENDERSON: Yes, sir. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is it going to be worthwhile to 16 have a meeting prior to our next meeting so we can kind of 17 talk about this, Judge? Or can we just have enough 18 information, be far enough along to do it all at one meeting? 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I think the first -- the first 20 step is for Ms. Hargis to start compiling the items to be 21 included and the associated cost, so that we've got that to 22 look at. And we can do that individually, and then if it's 23 thought that maybe we need a workshop on capital 24 improvements, we can certainly have that before we make any 25 final decision on going forward. 1-14-08 73 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We could also do a special 2 meeting right after the meeting. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Sure. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else? 6 MR. HENDERSON: Can't think of it. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Appreciate you being 8 here, Mr. Henderson. 9 MR. HENDERSON: Good to see y'all again. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a 10:30 item. Let's go 11 ahead and consider that now, to -- it's Item 19; consider, 12 discuss, and take appropriate action to approve a resolution 13 in support of Hill Country Shooting Sports Center, 14 Incorporated, and approval of the application by Hill Country 15 Shooting Sports Center for funding from the State of Texas 16 Enterprise Fund, and authorize the County Judge to sign the 17 same. I saw Mr. Burch here a little bit ago. 18 MR. BURCH: Morning, Judge, Commissioners. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Burch with Hill Country Shooting 20 Sports Center. 21 MR. BURCH: Yes, sir. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning. 23 MR. BURCH: Good morning. And how are y'all today? 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Good. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Good. 1-14-08 74 1 MR. BURCH: Good. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Burch is intending to make an 3 application for further improvements to the center out there, 4 and it's my understanding that the application to the 5 Enterprise Fund must be signed by a public official. 6 MR. BURCH: That's correct. Yes, sir. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 8 MR. BURCH: Yes, sir. There's a one-page document 9 that needs to be signed, and the obvious choice is the 10 Commissioners Court, since it's out in the county. At the 11 appropriate time, we'll bring that in for the Commissioners 12 to see, and have the Judge sign it. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is this your -- is this -- 14 Jack, is this your first time to apply for this particular -- 15 MR. BURCH: Yes, it is. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. It wasn't -- I 17 thought we talked about this last year, but -- 18 MR. BURCH: No, you approved the resolution in 19 support of us going in front of the Parks and Wildlife to go 20 after Pippin-Robinson Range Grant Funds, which we did, and we 21 received. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How much are you seeking 24 from the Enterprise -- 25 MR. BURCH: Somewhere between 4 and 5 million. 1-14-08 75 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Wow. 2 MR. BURCH: That will complete the facility. I 3 might add a couple of interesting notes for you time-wise of 4 what's going to happen this year. The 8th through the 16th 5 of March will be the Olympic trials. We'll actually select 6 the Olympic team for shotgun out there. The first day that 7 we'll hand out medals will be on the 13th. We'd love to have 8 all of y'all come and watch that. It's going to be 9 interesting. The field is really wide-open right now for all 10 of the different disciplines. So, love to have y'all come 11 out and see it. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Exciting stuff. 13 MR. BURCH: It really is. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, we're approving this 15 document here today? 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Jack has furnished us with a 17 resolution which incorporates -- he and I talked about, 18 rather than just a bare-bones approval, possibly also having 19 a resolution which shows that the Court is solidly behind 20 that facility. And in that regard, when I mentioned in my 21 opening comments about the funding that we got for the design 22 and engineering phase of the agriculture research facility, I 23 noted in Congressman Smith's press release, it specifically 24 recited that this Court passed a resolution requesting and 25 supporting that funding. So, that gives some degree of 1-14-08 76 1 credence that -- that the level of support that we're able to 2 offer may be perceived as helpful over there. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And you'll come back with the 4 actual -- 5 MR. BURCH: We'll come back with the actual 6 document. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval of the resolution 8 in support. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 11 approval of the resolution. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And the Judge -- oh, you're 13 going to bring the -- the application back at a separate 14 time? Totally separate issue? 15 MR. BURCH: Yes. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Any question or discussion on the 18 motion? 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, the thing with Lamar 20 there, if somebody was to point out that those were earmarks, 21 the dreadful earmarks, then he could blame the Commissioners 22 Court for it. That's how that works. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I'll give you -- I'll give you 24 Congressman Smith's response. Earmarks are things that are 25 done in the dark of night, in the middle of the night. Good 1-14-08 77 1 projects, such as the one that he supported here, he's proud 2 to publicly stand up and say -- 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: -- "I'm in favor of it" before they 5 get considered. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Call them whatever you want 7 to call them. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? 9 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 10 hand. 11 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 13 (No response.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Thank you, 15 Mr. Burch. Why don't we take about a 15-minute mid-morning 16 recess, and we'll get back on the agenda. 17 (Recess taken from 10:40 a.m. to 10:55 a.m.) 18 - - - - - - - - - - 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's come back to order, if we 20 might. We have a 10:45 timed item, Item 23; consider, 21 discuss, and take appropriate objection reducing registration 22 fee to $1 during the Kerr County Rabies Drive. This is our 23 animal registration. Ms. Roman? 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Janie's not able to be here 25 this morning; she's had a little bit of a health problem, and 1-14-08 78 1 so I'm going to take this and run with it. This is an annual 2 thing that we do to try to encourage people to vaccinate 3 their animals, as well as register them. She assures me that 4 they have all the flyers ready to go out and to be 5 distributed by her office all over town, as well as she is 6 going to have an article put in the newspaper to promote 7 this. And I think we need to support it. It is a good 8 thing. It's where the annual county registration fee will be 9 reduced from February 4th through the 16th, and make that fee 10 a dollar to register your animals, and I believe the total 11 cost is $7 for the vaccination, which is a deal compared to 12 what you have to pay if you go to the vet. And the flyers 13 will be out around town, and if the newspapers will publish 14 these things, maybe we can get some people interested in 15 doing it. I move that we approve the agenda item to reduce 16 the registration rate to $1 fee for Kerr County. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 19 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion on the 20 agenda -- on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify 21 by raising your right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's go to 1-14-08 79 1 Item 11; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 2 approve amending the amended order pertaining to the filing 3 of certain cases of concurrent jurisdiction between the 198th 4 and 216th District Courts and the County Court at Law of Kerr 5 County, and authorize County Judge to sign same. 6 Ms. Uecker -- 7 MS. UECKER: No, Item 9. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: We just called Item 11. 9 MS. UECKER: Okay. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: That's not Item 9; that's Item 11, 11 okay? 12 MS. UECKER: Thank you. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: I put this on the agenda at the 14 request of Ms. Uecker, who has had contact with the judges 15 and the clerks of the courts involved. In essence, all of 16 the civil cases in Kerr County that are under the 17 jurisdiction of the County Court at Law and the District 18 Courts would be filed in her office. That's something that 19 all the judges and her office and the County Clerk have 20 agreed to, and she's brought it to this Court for approval. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Brought what? It looks like 22 to me that this is an order of some sort. What do we do, 23 then? 24 JUDGE TINLEY: We just approve it. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll move we approve what 1-14-08 80 1 I'm ordered to do. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that kind of it? 4 JUDGE TINLEY: That's good enough. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Under Item 11. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, under Item 11. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Not item 9. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Not taking any orders on 9. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second. 12 Question or discussion on the motion? All in favor of the 13 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 16 (No response.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Now we'll 18 go to Item 9, and that being to consider, discuss, and take 19 appropriate action regarding Court Compliance Department 20 collecting fees and fines for the 198th District Court. 21 Commissioner Baldwin? 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. Thank you. I had 23 just been hearing rumors around that -- that the County was 24 going to start collecting the fees for 198th District Court 25 again, and I kind of vaguely remember in the back of my mind 1-14-08 81 1 where we did that at one time before, and it moved out of 2 here and moved to -- I don't know what it did. We weren't 3 collecting for it, though; I know -- I understand that much. 4 And then I started -- recently started hearing that -- that 5 they're bringing back the 198th collection for us. And -- 6 and we're in that process of hiring another person in the 7 Collections Department -- or the Court Compliance Department, 8 and what triggered my thinking was, we're doing pretty good 9 in there right now with this one guy, and if we start taking 10 on other offices, collecting for other courts, then there's a 11 possibility, gosh, we really are going to need to hire 12 somebody to help with that process. You know, in other 13 words, it's an impact to the taxpayers, or a possible impact 14 to the taxpayers of Kerr County. So, I was thinking if 15 that's the case, then this Commissioners Court needs to be, 16 at the very least, notified and explained to of what's going 17 on with it. Personally, I -- if it -- I think that if it 18 impacts the taxpayers of Kerr County, we need to approve it, 19 but I may not get any help in that arena, and that's fine. 20 But at least we need to be formally notified that these 21 people are floating in and out of our -- our system. So, I 22 guess I'm being a little bit nosey about all this stuff. 23 MS. UECKER: Would you like for me to explain? 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm going to ask you to do 25 that in just a moment. 1-14-08 82 1 MS. UECKER: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And, so, in my nosing 3 around, I go down to the Court Compliance Department, and he 4 tells me that he had been asked by the District Clerk's 5 Office to set up again for the 198th court system. So, 6 Mrs. Uecker, would you explain -- 7 MS. UECKER: Yes. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- to me, please? I'm sure 9 all these other guys are up on it and understand it clearly, 10 but I do not. 11 MS. UECKER: Well, first of all, having the 12 Collections or Compliance Department not collect -- or 13 enforce compliance is like asking the plumber not to fix the 14 leak. I mean, this is the Compliance Department. Back when 15 the 198th Probation Department was established, which hasn't 16 been that long ago, they said that they were going to do 17 their own collections. That was against statutes at the 18 time, but I didn't -- I thought, okay, let's see how this is 19 going to work. As it went on, problems occurred. Situations 20 came up that I don't want to go into. So, I finally said, 21 okay, this is the time to insist on the enforcement of the 22 statutes under Code of Criminal Procedure 103.003, which says 23 that a community supervision, which is probation, can only 24 collect fees with the written approval of the District Clerk 25 or the clerk of the court or the fee officer, which I had not 1-14-08 83 1 given written approval, so I felt like it was time that we 2 needed to do that. 3 As far as me directing Compliance to do that, no, 4 that was not the case. It just kind of happened that way, 5 because it was the -- when I talked to the judge of that 6 court, I said the only thing that's going to change is the 7 place of payment. And the reason for that, Commissioner, is 8 because the 198th was collecting fees -- let's just have an 9 example. In November, they were depositing it into a Kerr 10 County bank, writing a check that went to Brady, where they 11 deposited it into a different bank, where they wrote a check 12 to the District Clerk after they separated all their fees 13 out, sent to it me in the mail, and I got it in the mail the 14 next month. So, it ended up going on our report for the end 15 of December, which actually went in, reported to the 16 Comptroller in January. What happened there, the big -- the 17 biggest reason I said, "Okay, this is going to stop now," is 18 because we're being penalized by the Comptroller's office for 19 not reporting fees timely. All the statutes on those fees 20 say that you have to report those fees by the 15th day after 21 the month that it was collected. Well, we were a month 22 behind, so we were -- the County's being penalized all of 23 these fees. So that's -- that's the main reason that all of 24 that took place. 25 Back when our Compliance Department was 1-14-08 84 1 established, the felonies -- of course, it's a lot harder to 2 collect on felony cases, and we all know that. We've tried 3 to do something about that, but the way the statutes are 4 written, our hands are -- are tied. But when we had the 5 person that originally set up the Compliance Department, they 6 actually brought compliance collections on felony cases up to 7 about 70 percent. In the last five years, that's dropped 8 back down to, like, 20-something, I think, so I think we need 9 to establish something to bring that back up. We're talking 10 about over $2 million left laying on the table. So, that's 11 one of the reasons why I think we need to go back to having 12 our Compliance Department do some real serious attempts to 13 collect on these felony cases. 14 First of all, and I think y'all -- everybody knows 15 this, that the Collections Department-slash-Compliance 16 Department does not collect any money. They collect no 17 money. So, all they're going to do is, just like they've 18 been doing in the past -- except, again, for the 198th -- is 19 send out the letters and try to get them to come in and pay. 20 "You need to go to the District Clerk's Office, pay your fine 21 and court costs." Or work with Parole, that after they're 22 paroled from T.D.C.J., they have to come in and set up a 23 payment agreement with Compliance agreeing to come to the 24 District Clerk's Office and pay that money. The only 25 difference is -- is the place of payment. 1-14-08 85 1 Now, at the time I decided to do this, I did not 2 realize that -- well, let me see, what gentle way to say 3 this? The 198th said, you know, "We don't want to use Kerr 4 County's Compliance Department." And I said, "Okay, fine. 5 The only thing we want you to do is tell those probationers 6 or the felons to come pay their costs and fines to the 7 District Clerk's Office." Well, as it happened, those people 8 that started doing that, when they came in January the 1st, 9 they didn't know what they were supposed to be paying. They 10 didn't know what their agreement said that they had signed 11 with the Probation Department. They didn't understand. They 12 were happy that we were now doing this. So, we had no other 13 choice but to send them down to our Compliance Department to 14 set up a payment agreement that they actually understood and 15 could work with. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Why didn't they want to use the 17 Compliance Department? 18 MS. UECKER: I don't know. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or don't want to say. 20 MS. UECKER: No, I really don't know. No, I don't 21 understand that. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Who are "they"? That's one 23 of the things that I'm looking for. 24 MS. UECKER: Well, "they" is the 198th District 25 Court. Their Probation Department, their Judge, their -- 1-14-08 86 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 2 MS. UECKER: Which, you know, we've got that all 3 worked out now. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You need to understand, one 5 thing I found out is they're -- you know, like, the 216th 6 Probation Department is here. You have -- you know, we rent 7 that building over there and their nice setup and all that 8 stuff. The 198th is in a totally different town. 9 MS. UECKER: In Brady. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Brady, Texas. 11 MS. UECKER: Yeah. Now, see, the 216th, they've 12 been sending all their probationers and parolees and 13 everything over to the clerk's -- to my office, and they 14 faithfully pay their fines and costs there. See, what's 15 happened is, the 198th Probation Department, for some 16 reason -- for the same reason, I'm sure -- did not want to 17 use Odyssey, although the clerk is the official record of the 18 fines and costs due. Now, if they were actively on 19 Odyssey -- I understand that they may be going to try to 20 start using it now, but they would have been able to look at 21 our court -- the court costs bills and see exactly what was 22 due and owing, and where -- when the payments were made. But 23 it ended up that there were some discrepancies in their 24 record with ours, so it was just a big mess all the way 25 around. 1-14-08 87 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: "They" being the folks over 2 in Brady? 3 MS. UECKER: Yeah. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. And they're -- they 5 are hooked up to Odyssey now? 6 MS. UECKER: Now, I don't -- yeah, they have the 7 capability. Whether or not they're using it now or not, I 8 don't know. 9 MR. TROLINGER: The 198th Probation's Kerrville 10 office just switched service providers and is just now 11 getting capability to go onto Odyssey as of this week. 12 MS. UECKER: And I think that maybe that's a good 13 thing that came out of all of this, in addition to the fact 14 that we're not going to have to pay the penalties to the 15 Comptroller any longer. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Who -- why does the 198th want 17 to do everything different? Who's the person in charge of 18 that? I think that maybe that needs to -- Linda, you think 19 is it the Judge? 20 MS. UECKER: Are you trying to get me killed? 21 (Laughter.) 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is it the Judge or District 23 Attorney? 24 MS. UECKER: I think it's a combination of both, 25 yeah. I mean, I don't know. Judge Prohl and I have 1-14-08 88 1 everything -- 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's the reason for this 3 agenda item, is to find out who really and truly is driving 4 the thing. Now, I see Linda in the background doing her job, 5 by law. And -- but I know that it's really driven some -- 6 possibly some -- from somewhere else. And I want to know. I 7 just want to know that. I want to know who makes a decision 8 to impact the taxpayers of Kerr County by coming into our -- 9 our Collections Department and moving right out next week, 10 and then here we come again with the possibility we may be 11 having to hire employees. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Mm-hmm. Well, and probably 13 that's my fault. Maybe I should have said back when they 14 started doing this, "No, this is not..." -- you know, and 15 then it would have never gone out. But just trying to see 16 how it would work. Now, I didn't -- I didn't say anything, 17 but when I saw issues come up that I felt like it was in the 18 best interests of the County and the taxpayers to pull it 19 back in to where it needed to be, that's when I made the 20 move. Now, of course, 216th Probation, they're -- you know, 21 they're tickled to death. They don't have to worry about 22 taking the money and depositing it and bringing it to us. 23 And then, when it comes to us, we have to do an audit, 24 because their check was in one check. I mean, it was 25 thousands of dollars. 1-14-08 89 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Yeah. 2 MS. UECKER: And some of those payments were $15. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 4 MS. UECKER: Plus there was a $2 administration 5 fee, so you had to calculate and audit all of that, and many 6 times it didn't -- it didn't calculate or come out properly. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are you going to run into 8 that same problem with 198th? 9 MS. UECKER: That was the 198th. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. Do you see any 11 budgetary impact to the department? 12 MS. UECKER: To my department? 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, to the Court 14 Collections Department. 15 MS. UECKER: Well, they were doing it before, so -- 16 when there was two folks -- or one or two in there. They 17 were doing it before. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 19 MS. UECKER: And they had the collection rate up to 20 70 percent. It's now back down to 20-something, and that's 21 money that the County's leaving laying on the table. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that combined, 198th and 23 216th, or is this just 216th, that 70 to 20? 24 MS. UECKER: That's all felonies. All. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, combined, both courts. 1-14-08 90 1 MS. UECKER: Yeah. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, can we break out as to what 3 the collections rate is between the two courts? 4 MS. UECKER: I'm sorry, what? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The collection rate -- 6 MS. UECKER: No. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- between the two. 8 MS. UECKER: I don't know that. Will may know it. 9 I don't know. But as far as the impact on the -- on our 10 offices, the head of the 198th Probation called me, and he 11 said, "Well, you know, that would be a lot less work on me, 12 but have you got the staff to do all of that?" And I said, 13 "Who the heck do you think was doing it before your 14 department was even established?" "Oh, okay." So, it's just 15 collecting money, doing my job. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, thank you very much. 17 MS. UECKER: Does that help? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Do you want to add 19 anything or take anything away? 20 MR. BROWN: I do know they did send a list over, 21 Judge, that there was -- there's only, like, 280 people. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Who are "they"? They sent 23 it over. 24 MR. BROWN: 198th -- 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 1-14-08 91 1 MR. BROWN: -- Department did send a list over. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: From Brady? 3 MR. BROWN: From Brady, that shows how many people 4 they have on current probation. Now, that's not counting 5 the -- so -- and just looking at the money out there, it is 6 close to probably half a million, so there's a lot of money 7 out there to collect. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, let's collect it. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Anything else, 10 Commissioner? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, that's fine. Thank you 12 very much. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Anybody else have anything to offer 14 on that agenda item? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not sure we progressed any, 16 but... 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, no, I was looking 18 for -- 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Information. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- who really and truly 21 drives the boat. She said Karl Prohl does. That's what I 22 was looking for. 23 MS. UECKER: I did not say that. Now, you take 24 that back. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I heard her say that. 1-14-08 92 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I heard her say it. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's move to Item 6; Master 3 Gardener presentation. Are you through? 4 MR. WALSTON: Thank you, Judge and Commissioners. 5 Randy Simmons, Hill Country Master Gardener president, and I, 6 on behalf of the Hill Country Master Gardeners, would like to 7 make this presentation illustrating the economic impact the 8 Master Gardeners had on Kerr County in 2007. As you may be 9 aware, our Master Gardener program is made up of members of 10 our local community who take an active interest in 11 horticulture and enthusiasm -- and are enthusiastic about 12 willing to learn and serve the people of Kerr County. The 13 Hill Country Master Gardeners hosted the Texas Master 14 Gardeners Association annual meeting in April 2007, and 15 generated $229,868 to the community of Kerrville, with over 16 600 participants coming in and sharing rooms and spending 17 nights, and meals and -- and expenses here to Kerrville. 18 Of course, volunteerism is a key component to our 19 Hill Country Master Gardener program. We currently have 86 20 active volunteer Master Gardeners here in Kerr County. This 21 past year, they generated 5,937 volunteer hours in the areas 22 of volunteer service through educational programs, various 23 educational programs around the county, also in Market Days 24 and answering phone calls and e-mails to the people here in 25 Kerr County. And I will comment, our web site that we have 1-14-08 93 1 going through A & M, we currently had in December 1,288 hits. 2 Our -- our December -- our county web site that goes through 3 the county web page may not be that high, but the A & M 4 server that we actually use is fairly accurate. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Are you suggesting that maybe we 6 ought to put all of our contacts through the A & M system 7 here in Kerr County? 8 MR. WALSTON: Well, I'm just saying where our 9 contacts are going through. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. 11 MR. ODOM: Is that a motion? I second. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: I was going to say that Leonard 13 would probably be in support of that. 14 MR. WALSTON: I don't know -- I'm not sure I 15 understand, you know, as far as why, if they come through the 16 county web site, why they don't show up on ours, but -- which 17 I'm sure they do. But -- 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Ask Mr. Trolinger. He'll 19 tell you. 20 MR. WALSTON: Yeah. But the 5,937 hours that were 21 donated as far as volunteer service generates a total value 22 of $80,505 to the community after -- after tax value. This 23 gives a total contribution economic impact to Kerr County of 24 $310,374.72, and this illustrates a lot of time and effort 25 for volunteers, and -- and really at a minimal cost to Kerr 1-14-08 94 1 County. Without having a horticulture agent, this -- this 2 group basically fills in where a horticulture agent would -- 3 would be taking care of. With that, I'd like to turn it over 4 to Randy, and I believe he has a few comments he'd like to 5 make. 6 MR. SIMMONS: I wanted -- when Roy volunteered that 7 we do the state convention, he said, "We got two goals. One 8 is, I want it to be the best convention the state's ever 9 had." And we did a -- after polling, we found out that it 10 was far better than any state convention they'd ever had, so 11 Roy gets a lot of kudos for that. Secondly, he said, "We 12 can't -- we've got to break even. We can't finance this; the 13 County won't let us." So, we went through our people and 14 said: How do we do this?" Well, you'd be surprised the 15 skills that these retired folks bring with them. Tremendous 16 skills, computer skills for accounting and registration and 17 computer graphics. What all the other state conventions had 18 done in the past was went out, hired people to come in and do 19 that for them. We did that all internally. We didn't do any 20 outsourcing except for one, and that was to the Texas 21 Extension Education Association, where they helped us with 22 our gift bags, and so we gave them -- put some money in the 23 local organization doing that. 24 So, when the final accounting came down, we had 25 $50,000 in excess of what -- what our expenses were. So, no 1-14-08 95 1 other organization in the state had done that, so they're 2 going to be looking back to us to say, "How did you do that?" 3 Well, we were fortunate; we had very good local people to 4 pull from. What did we do with that $50,000? We bought a 5 C.D., and we're going to take the 5 percent that C.D. money 6 gives us, and we've got a scholarship now for people to apply 7 to use in the horticulture area for local -- applicants from 8 the local county. So, the people that are in our class that 9 starts tomorrow, we've got a graphic artist, an executive 10 director of a nonprofit organization, elementary principal, 11 feed lot manager, registered nurse, office manager, a curator 12 from the Dallas Zoo, and a lady who was a mayor for eight 13 years in a Colorado community. So, you're drawing a lot of 14 talent to this community, and this is one place they're able 15 to use it to the advantage of the local people. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Fantastic. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Very good. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. 19 MR. WALSTON: We do want to thank the Commissioners 20 for their support for Extension and all our programs, as well 21 as to the Master Gardeners. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One comment. Y'all didn't 23 mention that there was a Master Gardeners group that did the 24 landscaping at the new airport terminal, and we appreciate 25 y'all's help. 1-14-08 96 1 MR. SIMMONS: Thank you. 2 MR. WALSTON: Thank you. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They did a good job at no cost. 4 Volunteers spent a lot of time out there working with 5 primarily City staff, Bruce McKenzie, and getting all that 6 job done, and it looks real nice. 7 MR. WALSTON: We've got a lot of expertise that we 8 like to pull from. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. We appreciate your work. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Your services may be needed 11 again for the courthouse area. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 13 MR. WALSTON: We're working on that. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Courthouse grounds. 15 MR. WALSTON: We're working on it. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 8, if we might. 17 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on the Road 18 and Bridge Department emergency response, and make changes as 19 necessary. Commissioner Baldwin. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, Judge. I had 21 recently had a phone call that one of the Road and Bridge 22 employees was using a Road and Bridge vehicle to go to work 23 and back home, and so I started looking into this and 24 researching it, and the only -- the only actual policy that I 25 could find was the court order that I have in your backup. 1-14-08 97 1 There may be something a little more -- we couldn't find it. 2 But that policy basically says -- it's a policy for Road and 3 Bridge Department emergency response, and that is -- let's 4 see, in time of a flood or any other emergency like that, 5 that what employees of the Road and Bridge Department are 6 called out to handle -- let's use a flood as an example. In 7 the policy, Mr. Franklin Johnston -- he was the County 8 Engineer at that time -- decided that he wanted the foreman 9 from the east, west, north, and south -- that would be four 10 foremen -- a sign person, and the Road Administrator to be 11 able to take public vehicles -- public-owned vehicles home 12 with them so that it would be more of a rapid response. 13 Well, the phone call that I received last week or 14 the week before stated that one of the Road and Bridge 15 employees did not fit this criteria. And -- or this list of 16 folks that are assigned the County vehicles to take home. 17 And I wanted to bring that to light. And Mr. Odom and I had 18 a -- somewhat of a heated conversation over the phone last 19 week about this -- or I was heated; he seemed to keep his 20 cool. Because this particular person, he says, fits as the 21 sign person on this list. And I can't make that work, in my 22 mind. I know -- I know that she bills signs, and has for a 23 number of years, but I think that's a total stretch. So, 24 what I'm going to do in the final analysis here is probably 25 make a motion to remove the sign person from -- from this 1-14-08 98 1 list. You want to bring something new? 2 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir, I would like to bring 3 something to this conversation. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: New? 5 MR. ODOM: In 19 -- what Buster had talked to you 6 about is this 1999 authorization, and at that time, then 7 Frank was asked to write a vehicle policy, which we have. 8 Out of that, there was five things that were listed that 9 Frank had, and which we explained to the supervisors what 10 they were to do and how the policy would work, and to be 11 appropriate in the use. Number one said each Grade 20 -- 12 each Grade 20 foreman, the sign person, and the Road 13 Administrator will take an assigned county vehicle home in 14 the evenings and on weekends. During severe weather, these 15 men will use the assigned truck to go out in the problem 16 areas. While in the truck, he has radio contact with the 17 following: The Sheriff's Department, the S.O. The central 18 fire station makes severe weather announcements on our radio 19 frequency. They have contact with each other, our office, 20 and Animal Control. 21 Now, the 20 grade, Ms. Hardin is a 20 or greater, 22 so it fits into that. And at the time we wrote this -- this 23 has even been modified now. Instead of north, south, east 24 and west, Precinct 4 is half the county, and I divided that 25 up. I used to have a swing crew, and I divided that up to 1-14-08 99 1 have two service areas in 4. We think it's working. We've 2 made progress. Commissioner Oehler was here before, and 3 still; he can state his opinion whether we have been 4 successful in that or not. But we felt like dividing that 5 up, we could get better service and better roads out of it, 6 and that's what we did there, so I have five now. 7 And the sign person that we had -- and this is what 8 I talked to Buster about; it's not that I'm trying to make it 9 up, is that we had one person -- when I first came here, we 10 had one man that the Court assigned to that. That was the 11 reason the Court did that. That individual retired. I took 12 another person that was doing it before that individual, that 13 knew the county pretty well. Four was a problem with people, 14 because they didn't know it. That individual had it for a 15 while, and then he retired. And what I did, when I took 16 this -- and Truby has a list now that will tell you who the 17 call is for the S.O. What we did was take this and start to 18 stockpile barricades. Before, they could go to the office or 19 to Center Point and pick up barricades. Well, we placed them 20 in areas that we knew were bad, so when the supervisor gets a 21 call out -- and an emergency is totally different. It's -- 22 there can be a rise of 3 inches on Brinks Crossing and be 23 called out, or there could be an initial flood. Depending -- 24 since -- '91, since I've been here, '91, '92 flood, I think 25 '95, '98, 2001, 2002, so that's when we manned the office. 1-14-08 100 1 So, I'm not making that up. Basically, what we did was take 2 one individual that works for Truby, totally under Truby, as 3 well as Michael Jackson, who does patching, and she does the 4 signs. She has a sign budget. Now, do I expect Truby to go 5 out? No. That individual that does the signs is not 6 necessarily called out during the weekend, and doesn't have 7 what I believe is the qualities that -- I want someone to be 8 able to read the M.U.T.C.D. and to be able to set it properly 9 by the code. Truby has that knowledge. I have that 10 knowledge. Everyone's got a basic knowledge of them, 'cause 11 we send them to schools. So, we feel that signs is in. 12 There's reports there, but he does not get a vehicle to go 13 home. So, whatever the Court wishes to do, that's fine with 14 me. Just tell us what the policy is. You can certainly set 15 the policy. Just tell us from there, and then we'll go from 16 there. We'll -- 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I apologize, Leonard. I 18 didn't realize that this particular vehicle policy had been 19 amended. I could not find that anywhere. 20 MR. ODOM: Well, I'm sorry, I don't know if it was 21 posted or not. This -- 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We don't have what you're 23 looking at. 24 MR. ODOM: Well, I'm sorry. This is what we had in 25 our files here. This is what the Court asked Frank to do, 1-14-08 101 1 and that's what we did, and so I didn't differentiate a 20 2 from any -- because it -- you notice what it said, "men." 3 Men. Well, this is an opposite gender. And I can't see to 4 distinguish male or female one way or another. She's a 20, 5 and she meets that criteria, and she has signs. So -- 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, I'm having a little 7 trouble getting my mind wrapped around an individual, 8 regardless of grade, that makes a sign in-house, as opposed 9 to an individual who responds to an emergency and places a 10 sign at the point of emergency. Will you help me understand 11 that? 12 MR. ODOM: Well, I don't know -- I thought I 13 explained that. I'm not asking her to go out to do that. If 14 you're asking me if she's the sign person, that's in her job 15 description. If you're asking me if she's a Grade 20, then 16 this policy was set up that all 20's have that 17 responsibility -- I mean, can do that. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's the date of that policy 19 that we adopted? 20 MR. ODOM: I don't -- I don't see it printed up 21 here. It's after '99 whenever the Court directed Frank to do 22 this. 23 MS. HARDIN: It was written in '02, but I don't 24 think it was ever filed with the clerk. Do you want these? 25 MR. ODOM: Yes, let them look at that. 1-14-08 102 1 MS. HARDIN: This is just a list. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Leonard, one action by the 3 clerk -- one action by the Court which says the '99 one is in 4 effect. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This is the only thing 6 that's in the computer system by court order. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Where'd she go? 9 MS. HARDIN: She went to make copies. 10 MR. ODOM: She went to make copies. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Looks to me like we need to 12 look at our policy. 13 MR. ODOM: Sure. Road and Bridge doesn't have a 14 problem with it. We just tried to follow what Frank put up 15 years back when the Court asked him to do this. And we put 16 the policy into play, and that's the way I've been running 17 it. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: See, I beg to differ with 19 you, because we have the policy in our packets, the court 20 order policy. That doesn't even use the words "20 grade." 21 Any grade. It doesn't even talk about that. 22 MR. ODOM: I understand. I saw your '99. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. That -- 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's the policy, because the 25 Court has never changed that policy. That is the court 1-14-08 103 1 order. 2 MR. ODOM: All right. Then you need to -- I mean, 3 am I going to cut off one of these crews and do four? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, you need to come to the 5 Court with a new policy. 6 MR. ODOM: What is the directive of the Court? 7 That's what I'm asking. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Odom, if I'm understanding you 9 correctly, for emergency response, there's been one 10 significant change since the '99 policy, and that is we've 11 got a north, a south, and an east, but then we've got two in 12 the west, not just one in the west, because you divided that 13 larger territory up into two -- 14 MR. ODOM: That's right. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: -- separate territories. So, you've 16 got essentially two foremen out there. 17 MR. ODOM: I've got five crews now instead of four, 18 as originally done. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. And that means you've got 20 five foremen that you want to be able to call upon 21 immediately to hit the road without having to report in to 22 the office to draw a vehicle? 23 MR. ODOM: That's it exactly, the reason this was 24 done in '99. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: And so you've got five foremen, and 1-14-08 104 1 if for no other reason, we need to take a look at it there. 2 MR. ODOM: And -- 3 JUDGE TINLEY: It's obvious to me what we need to 4 do is get a new policy in place, if for no other reason, to 5 address that. 6 MR. ODOM: To address that. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It sounds like you've also done 8 job -- some job description changes since '99. 9 MR. ODOM: That's right. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That needs to be incorporated 11 into that policy. 12 MR. ODOM: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: In case we have an ice storm in 14 the next two weeks, till you get a new policy written. 15 MR. ODOM: Could be this week. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We could make a motion today to 17 allow all five foremen to use their vehicles. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: See, have I zero heartburn 19 about that at all. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: That's the way it should be. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That is fantastic. I love 22 that. But to have the -- what's Truby's title? 23 MR. ODOM: Administrative assistant. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: To have the admin. assistant 25 to have a County-owned vehicle to go home and come to work 1-14-08 105 1 with is totally out of the question, in my opinion. It does 2 nothing other than provide her with a vehicle. Maybe we 3 should provide the Commissioners Court administrative 4 assistant with a vehicle. It's the same thing to me. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Slippery slope. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If you were -- I can see the 7 sign guy that installs the signs, I can see where maybe he 8 might be a person that would have a vehicle to help install 9 signs that say do not drive off into this tree. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Leonard says he's changed his 11 way of doing it. Those signs are now placed out -- 12 MR. ODOM: Placed out there. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand. 14 MR. ODOM: And let me say -- 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But if you're going to have 16 a sign person doing any of these things, using a county 17 vehicle, they could go out there and help them do that stuff. 18 I don't see it any other way, though. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that until 20 Road and Bridge comes forward with a new policy, all five 21 foremen and the Road Administrator have authority to take 22 vehicles home. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Only? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Only. 1-14-08 106 1 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second as 2 indicated. Question or discussion on the motion? All in 3 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Leonard, we probably ought to 9 bring -- or if you want to bring a policy forward. If you 10 want to bring a policy back -- 11 MR. ODOM: We'll bring it to the Court for an 12 agenda item. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's move to Item 13; 15 consider, discuss, take appropriate action for final revision 16 of plat of 707 Ranch, as set forth in Volume 7, page 347, 17 Plat Records. 18 MR. ODOM: Okay. And for the record, that should 19 be -- Lot 1 is a typo -- error. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: The public hearing that we had was 21 as to the plat. 22 MR. ODOM: As to the plat, that's right. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: That's the reason I called the 24 agenda item that way. 25 MR. ODOM: Thank you. 1-14-08 107 1 JUDGE TINLEY: To conform with the public hearing. 2 MR. ODOM: The original plat of 707 Ranch is 3 16.07 acres with two lots. The owner of Lot 1 is dividing 4 his 9-acre tract, making a three-lot subdivision. The 5 average lot size is over 5 acres, and each lot is over 6 3 acres and served by Aqua Texas Water System. We ask that 7 you approve this plat. And I believe that the owner of Lot 2 8 is buying this 1B. 9 MR. CARSWELL: Yes. 10 MR. ODOM: That's correct. So, it's going to only 11 be two people. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I move for approval. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 15 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 16 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. We will 21 move to Item 15; consider, discuss, and take appropriate 22 action for the acceptance of Vista Hills Drive to Kerr County 23 road maintenance located in Precinct 1. Mr. Odom? 24 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. Just a second. Vista Hills 25 Drive was a County-maintained road from 1988 to 1999, when 1-14-08 108 1 the homeowners requested it be abandoned. It was abandoned 2 by Court Order Number 25891, and the road was gated. In 3 September 2006, the homeowners of Vista Hills asked that Kerr 4 County return their road to county maintenance. They were 5 assured by the Court that if they did the necessary repairs 6 and resurfaced the road, it would be accepted. I've met with 7 them and their contractor several times, and the repairs and 8 resurfacing of the road is completed. Therefore, at this 9 time, they ask that you accept Vista Hills Drive for county 10 maintenance. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that your recommendation? 12 MR. ODOM: That is my recommendation. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Upon the recommendation of 14 the Road and Bridge Administrator, I move for approval. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 17 approval. Any question or discussion on the motion? All in 18 favor 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. We'll move 23 to Item 16; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 24 for a variance to the rate of grade for Calle Poco Road in 25 Vistas Grande Subdivision located in Precinct 2. 1-14-08 109 1 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. The developers of Vistas 2 Grande Subdivision received approval of a preliminary plat on 3 October 8th, 2007, with a variance to building setback on the 4 lot adjacent to Calle Poco, the short street road. It was 5 discussed at that time that the City would be imposing their 6 rules and inspecting the road. The City of Kerrville rules 7 says 10 to 15 percent grades are acceptable. Ours are no 8 more than 12 percent. Enclosed in your packet, you will find 9 a letter from the City Fire Marshal that states they approve, 10 but note, "the fire apparatus that our department has makes 11 it difficult to travel on the roadways when grades are more 12 than 10 percent. Please make note of this on future 13 projects." 14 I had Wayne wells review the plans, and he states 15 that if the engineer from the City of Kerrville approves this 16 grade, he would be inclined to require the road be paved with 17 trap rock or -- or possibly a no-skid asphalt, which is 18 available. He also points out that this steep grade could 19 present a major problem with traction. And it would -- I 20 assure you, it would be slipping and sliding. As more work 21 is done in the ETJ, we will find differences in the two 22 entities' rules, and my belief is that the most stringent 23 should apply. Since this road is to be County-maintained, 24 I'm hesitant to accept a 15 percent grade on this 500-foot 25 road, and I would ask the developer's engineer, Kevin 1-14-08 110 1 Spraggin -- which I believe is here -- if there is an 2 engineering reason why the subdivision could not be designed 3 to have a road that meets our Kerr County specifications to 4 12 percent. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good for you. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To start with, just one 7 comment. I clearly -- and I believe I'm accurate on this. I 8 have to go back to my notes, but the City rules in the ETJ is 9 12 percent. They are supposed to meet our rules, so they 10 don't follow our rules, evidently. 11 MR. ODOM: Apparently -- I talked to Mike Wellborn. 12 I asked Gordon Browning, and he had not seen this. I had not 13 seen the plans, so I asked for it. And I asked Gordon; he 14 said, "I haven't seen it." I said, "Well, it's been to your 15 P & Z," and I said, "You haven't seen it?" He said no. And 16 I said, "What about Wellborn?" So I called Wellborn. He 17 said, "Wellborn's sick." Wellborn was out. Wellborn came 18 back in, and I talked to him Monday morning before we went 19 ahead with this, and he said that he did look at it, and that 20 their rules says 10 to 15. I asked him if he would maintain 21 it. He said no. I said, "Well, then, maybe you're a private 22 road. I've got to maintain it." I do not -- that's very 23 steep in such a short distance. Can it be done? Yeah. But 24 I -- I asked Mr. Spraggin to come to the Court to put this 25 on, because I didn't want this road completed, and then come 1-14-08 111 1 up here for y'all's acceptance. I think it's better to be 2 right straight up front, and put it to the Court. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Notwithstanding any 4 comments that the engineer may have about it, I'm troubled by 5 a couple aspects of it, just as you are, Mr. Odom. This 6 states the grade shall not exceed 10 percent. I'm very 7 curious as to why the fire marshal would say that, "the fire 8 apparatus that our department has makes it difficult to 9 travel on roadways when grades are more than 10 percent. 10 Please make note of this on future projects." Well, if 11 we're -- we're going to make note of it on future projects, 12 why don't we make note of it on this project? 13 MR. ODOM: My assumption would be, Commissioner, is 14 that they don't have to provide fire protection out there. I 15 think it is a volunteer fire department. They might do 16 backup. That would be my first logical guess on this, since 17 I have to maintain it. That is something that Mr. Wellborn 18 said that they have in their rules, and that they needed to 19 change it. That's what he told me, that he would work 20 through that process to do that. I told him that in law -- 21 I'm not a lawyer, but in law, that the stricter prevails, and 22 ours was 12 percent. And, you know, I didn't have any time 23 to really review this, 'cause I kept wanting this to see what 24 the grade was. But once we saw it, then I have a concern. 25 But Mr. -- 1-14-08 112 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess my biggest issue is not 2 to accept it for county maintenance, period, not at that 3 grade. The grade has to be within our rules. Or, you 4 know -- 5 MR. ODOM: Can it be a private road? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I want to go back to 7 something that Commissioner Letz mentioned a few minutes ago 8 about the County's rule, the 12 percent. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I thought that we had an 11 agreement with the City to where the City -- in the ETJ, that 12 the City was -- is this in the ETJ? 13 MR. ODOM: This is -- part of it's in the ETJ. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The City was adopting the 15 County's numbers. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's correct. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. So why is it not 18 12 percent? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: City didn't follow their own 20 rules. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Say it again? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: City didn't follow the rules. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: City did not follow the 24 rules. Is that what you're saying? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 1-14-08 113 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I can't hear real well 2 today. There lies the problem. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's no impact to the City. I 4 mean -- 5 MR. ODOM: So, what we're -- I'll be more than 6 happy to turn time over to Kevin to -- 7 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm not sure he wants any time. 8 MR. ODOM: -- explain it, but I -- the way it 9 sounds to me, the Court says this is not going to be 10 County-maintained. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Not under the current circumstances. 12 That's a -- 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Outside the rules, we're not 14 going to do it. 15 MR. ODOM: Okay. Kevin? 16 MR. SPRAGGINS: Kevin Spraggins, Vordenbaum 17 Engineering. The -- the way we looked at it, it was our 18 understanding that it was in the ETJ, and so we go to the 19 City for the ETJ. Looked up the city code; it said 20 15 percent. We designed the road for 15 percent, and then 21 here we are. So, we've got 15 percent with the City. We've 22 got the County Engineer that says he would be okay, I guess, 23 maybe with 15 percent if we put the trap rock, and we have 24 Mr. Odom who says 12 percent. So -- and I'm not even sure if 25 we're asking for a variance for just the portion that is only 1-14-08 114 1 in the county, or if we're asking for a variance on the whole 2 550 feet. That's another question. 3 MR. ODOM: I think it would be very difficult at a 4 3 percent change about, what, 200 feet up? 5 MR. SPRAGGINS: Well, yeah. What you do, you go 51 6 percent, 12 percent, 15. So, anyway, that's my only comment. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, the City -- the City's 8 rules are 10, 15 percent, but the City has adopted the county 9 rules in the ETJ. 10 MR. SPRAGGINS: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, I mean, you were misled or 12 misinformed by City staff. 13 MR. SPRAGGINS: Okay. So, what I should do with 14 any -- any of the projects that -- we just had another 15 project that was completed last year that was in the ETJ. We 16 need to look up both the city and the county standards and 17 look up to see which one's the most stringent? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, you have to look at the 19 City's rules for the city -- that the City has adopted, and 20 you did not follow those. They may have told you that, but 21 that's their error. We have an interlocal agreement with -- 22 what it is, Rex, an interlocal? Interlocal agreement with 23 the City that has a different set of rules for the ETJ. 24 They're not the County rules or the City rules; they're a 25 different set. And the City evidently didn't provide you 1-14-08 115 1 with those rules. 2 MR. SPRAGGINS: Okay. Just -- does the -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The City -- 4 MR. SPRAGGINS: There's a separate -- there's a 5 separate set of rules? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The City manages that for the 9 County. 10 MR. SPRAGGINS: Okay. And if those set of rules 11 don't -- don't talk about rate of grade? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They do. 13 MR. SPRAGGINS: They do? 14 JUDGE TINLEY: 'Cause they adopted our rules. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They adopted our rules. 16 MR. SPRAGGINS: Okay. All right. And, so, then 17 the other option would be for it to be for a private road? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or a variance and a private 19 road. I mean, first thing would be a variance from the 20 county standpoint. 21 MR. ODOM: Variance first. 22 MR. SPRAGGINS: Okay. So we need to be at 23 12 percent for a public road. We need to be at -- so I guess 24 I need to let them know if they want to have that to be a 25 private road as an option. Is the variance -- I guess I need 1-14-08 116 1 to request the variance be granted for private road at 2 12 percent. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think we have to know 4 where you're going before we -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 6 MR. SPRAGGINS: I just want to give them the 7 option, that's all. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would say -- and based on 9 what Mr. Wells said -- that our engineer said, if you're 10 going to go to 15 percent, you need to change to trap rock or 11 ag -- the non-skid asphalt. 12 MR. ODOM: Non-skid asphalt. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because 15 percent doesn't meet 14 a private road specification for the county, so that would be 15 a variance on the grade. And Mr. Wells is saying if we go 16 that route -- as I read his letter, anyway, if we go that 17 route and give him a variance, then he has to change the rock 18 type. 19 MR. SPRAGGINS: Okay. So, I know where I need to 20 be on the public road. On a private road, is the option 21 available to do 15 percent with the trap rock? 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Providing we give you a 23 variance. 24 MR. SPRAGGINS: Correct. That's what -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: As I look at -- yeah. I mean, 1-14-08 117 1 that's kind of -- I'll listen to Len on that. 'Cause, I 2 mean, he's our -- it's a private road. And I'm thinking of 3 the precedent. The precedent -- think of the precedent 4 you're setting. 5 MR. ODOM: I think the skid resistance is there. 6 You know, I would probably prefer the non-skid asphalt, 7 because the City's going to require asphalt to be laid, I 8 would assume. Am I right, Kevin? 9 MR. SPRAGGINS: There's two options. One's the -- 10 there's two-course or asphalt, so you do have a two-course 11 option. 12 MR. ODOM: Then either of those options -- trap 13 rock would work fine, as well as that non-skid asphalt, which 14 has trap rock in it. It just grips. But -- 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So -- 16 MR. ODOM: -- I would, if I was doing it, sealcoat, 17 because I like the larger aggregate, and it's got more bite 18 for ice. And we're -- we've got extreme weather now, so I 19 think we'll probably have more ice, so that's protection of 20 the people up there. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there a -- is that -- is 22 your -- I guess what I'm hearing is, the recommendation for a 23 variance, is that because of the situation that this 24 individual was put in? Or something that you're going to be 25 willing to do for other developers? 1-14-08 118 1 MR. ODOM: Well, this is a private road. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 3 MR. ODOM: And this is a variance. I don't make 4 that decision; y'all do. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I know. But what I'm getting 6 at, what's the reason for the variance? Is the variance 7 because the developer's been kind of hung out to dry by the 8 City on this one? 9 MR. ODOM: Well, I think that the -- this is my 10 opinion, that it's to the developer's benefit not to cut the 11 15 to the 12. Can it can done? Yes, it can, but it costs 12 more. And one of the last paragraphs in variance is 13 economic -- difficult for a developer to have more cost. 14 It's not -- not necessarily in that words, but if it's more 15 difficult, that's not a reason for the variance. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's right. 17 MR. ODOM: So -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, there's -- so you're not 19 recommending a variance? 20 MR. ODOM: I'm not recommending a variance to -- 21 for us to build that road -- I mean, for them to build a road 22 and me maintain it. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How is public safety 25 affected differently on private and public by allowing 1-14-08 119 1 15 percent? 2 MR. ODOM: It would be steeper, sir. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I realize that. 4 MR. ODOM: You're going to slide at 12 percent with 5 an ice storm. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're going to slide on a 7 private road as well as you are on a public read. 8 MR. ODOM: That's absolutely correct. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's my point. 10 MR. ODOM: Well, Scenic Hills is that way, and I 11 slide all the way down it to Highway 16. And I maintain it, 12 and we do the best we can, and I use trap rock on it. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Here's my solution -- I mean, 14 just a thought. I hate to kind of push it back a little bit. 15 The developer needs to go back to the City and ask the City 16 to come to the County and ask for a variance on the grade. 17 MR. ODOM: That would be nice. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Why is it being done? Because 19 it can't be done for financial reasons. Let the City come 20 back to us and say, well -- 21 MR. ODOM: Would you like me to ask the City 22 Engineer to give his reasoning? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, because they've approved 24 it. They didn't follow the rules. 25 MR. ODOM: Okay. 1-14-08 120 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Does the word "begging" come 2 in anywhere? 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Knee pads? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Knee pads. We'll furnish 5 the knee pads. 6 MR. ODOM: You know, it is -- the way they word it, 7 when zero -- I mean, from 10 to 15, so they're in that 8 parameter. They chose -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's in their rules. 10 MR. ODOM: That's not in our rules. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But that's not the rules 12 they've adopted for the ETJ. 13 MR. ODOM: That I don't know. I just talked to 14 Wellborn, and he said that's what was run; that's what they 15 were doing. I said, "Wellborn, mine's 12." 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's not the rules that 17 they've agreed to adopt, put it that way. 18 MR. ODOM: Well, I wasn't there with the agreement, 19 so I don't know. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Does any member of the Court have a 21 motion they want to offer on this particular item at this 22 point? 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's move forward. Item 17; 25 consider, discuss, take appropriate action for the 1-14-08 121 1 lease/purchase -- lease and/or purchase of a small 2 maintainer. 3 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. A while back, we told you 4 about the expiration of leases on a loader and a motor 5 grader. The 924 loader was purchased, and we asked about 6 purchasing a smaller motor grader. There are not very many 7 smaller machines on the market today. Conley-Lott sells Lee 8 Boy, Cooper has Champion, and I found a 2004 Volvo which has 9 maybe 1,100, 1,200 hours on it -- and a Volvo is really a 10 Champion -- which is no longer made, the Volvo. At this 11 time, I would like to lease each of these machines for a 12 month or two to try them and find out which one meets our 13 needs. Let the supervisor use them, put them out in the 14 field. I have the money in the line item -- in that lease 15 item. It will not hurt me or hurt the budget. I have lease 16 money in Equipment Lease line item. We need an order to 17 allow us to purchase the machine that best meets our needs 18 through the Buy Board when the Auditor has funds available. 19 Y'all discussed that. 20 I had talked to the Auditor. There wasn't a 21 certain timeline last week when we were going over this. So, 22 you know, I -- I'm going to have that 12-H come up, and we're 23 taking it back as of 1st of February to Cat, so I'm going to 24 be short a maintainer. And I'd like the option to take a 25 look at purchasing a smaller one to facilitate, I think, our 1-14-08 122 1 needs in the future, as it goes to a smaller machine. But 2 I'm limited. John Deere doesn't make it. Cat doesn't make 3 it. 120 is the smallest that Cat has, and that's essentially 4 a 12-H. It's not much different except in weight, and maybe 5 horsepower a little bit, is the only differentiation. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's a good idea. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think it's a great idea, 8 and the reason for it being that we have so many roads that 9 we have such a narrow right-of-way on, and these smaller 10 machines are much easier to handle and turn around. We don't 11 need the bigger graders for a lot of the work that we do, the 12 maintenance work. 13 MR. ODOM: Fuel efficient -- more fuel efficient. 14 So, you know -- 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: This is something I suggested 16 to him a while back, and I'm all for it to get some smaller 17 machines that are going to be much more useful than some of 18 these large ones. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I got a '53 Model D, if you 20 want it. 21 MR. ODOM: I have a 112 -- I have a 112, and that's 22 probably the best one I have. No. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The 112 is worth more than it 24 was when it was new. 25 MR. ODOM: We keep that as the backup. 1-14-08 123 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 2 MR. ODOM: Keep it as a backup. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You still have your 635? 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 7 approval. Question or discussion? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Only discussion is, Len, if 9 you're thinking of purchasing one, and you're thinking of 10 doing it through our tax note, you got about ten days to make 11 -- get a dollar figure in. 12 MR. ODOM: We already have, sir. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 14 MR. ODOM: We gave, like Mr. Baldwin said, our wish 15 list. So, -- 16 JUDGE TINLEY: She's got it. 17 MR. ODOM: -- we have turned that in to the 18 Auditor. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. All right, good. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or discussion? 21 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 22 hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 1-14-08 124 1 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 2 (Commissioner Baldwin left the courtroom.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll move to Item 20; consider, 4 discuss, take appropriate action for accepting deeded 5 right-of-way for Spur 100 road located in Precinct 2. 6 Mr. Odom? 7 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. Jimmy Reno, for the sellers, 8 is requesting a concept hearing at the next Commissioners 9 Court, which is today, the 14th, to convey Spur 100 10 right-of-way to Kerr County. Mr. Harrell and Mr. Hightower 11 presently own approximately 255 acres, which is split by Spur 12 100. It is our understanding Spur 100 is a County-maintained 13 road. Well, it is from our perspective, the County's. The 14 potential buyer under contract wishes to convey the 15 right-of-way, as presently fenced, to Kerr County. You have 16 an attached colored map with a reference that came from Lee 17 Voelkel. At that time -- it's contingent upon the 18 acquisition of the property, and which he will -- the owners 19 of that property will deed that to -- metes and bounds to the 20 County. And should he not purchase the property, the 21 ownership -- the right-of-way will remain with Harrell and 22 Hightower, which doesn't bother me one way or the other. If 23 they subdivide it, they'd have to deed it to us. It is -- it 24 is ours. It has been. That's what we explained to him. I 25 don't know where the tort liability would be, but we have no 1-14-08 125 1 problems. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The only thing I have -- only 3 question -- I have no problem with it, except that if they 4 are buying it and then develop it, I want 60 foot along that 5 road at a minimum. 6 MR. ODOM: It would be -- the minimum would be 60 7 foot, but it depends how -- what they do. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 9 MR. ODOM: What's behind it and everything else, 10 too. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But you're talking about 12 between the fences. I don't know what the right-of-way is 13 right now. Didn't you say between the two existing fences 14 you're going to deed to the County? 15 MR. ODOM: We discussed it. Did we see where that 16 was at? 17 MR. RENO: Between the fences? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is it 60 foot? What's the 19 distance? 20 MR. RENO: Looks like it probably -- I didn't go 21 out and measure it or what-have-you, but, I mean, looking at 22 it on the -- on the -- I don't know if you have a big plat of 23 it, but looking at it compared to the other -- other 60 foot, 24 it's looking like it's 60 foot. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just want to make sure that 1-14-08 126 1 if we do this and it does become a development, we definitely 2 at that point want to get this updated to our minimum 3 right-of-way, and maybe even go -- depending on the 4 classification of that road, may go to -- 5 MR. ODOM: To a 90. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- to a 90. 7 MR. ODOM: 90 foot all the way to the end, 'cause 8 that would be an outlet. 9 MR. RENO: No, this is in the middle of the road, 10 so there's other places before it and afterwards that -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We understand that, but we got 12 to start somewhere. 13 MR. RENO: Yeah, I understand. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: With developments going in on 15 both sides, I think we're going to want this. 16 MR. ODOM: They're going to have to come to us if 17 they start to develop it. We'll get the 60 foot, whatever we 18 have. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 20 MR. ODOM: By metes and bounds. Some of this may 21 be wider or shorter, but the fences may be on our -- outside 22 the meets and bounds anyway. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: County Attorney, do you 24 have any problem with doing an order of acceptance on a 25 contingent basis? 1-14-08 127 1 MR. EMERSON: I think that's a little tough to do. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's kind of what I 3 thought. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: It's conditional. 5 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, what we really need is 7 to know that the transaction is concluded, and there seems to 8 be a sense of the Court to do this. So, we -- 9 MR. RENO: Maybe just a sense of the Court to do it 10 maybe is fine. 'Cause I'm dealing with two parties, one that 11 if they buy it, they want it. For tort liability or 12 whatever. They don't want -- that's the reason. They don't 13 want the road, but the other guy that owns it now does. He 14 doesn't mind it. He doesn't feel there is any liability, 15 because it's a County-maintained road, so he's not worried 16 about it. So -- 17 MR. ODOM: This is a case of where their counselor 18 had reservations about tort liability, and the buyers were 19 worried about it. But I'm like Letz; I'll just make as a 20 general order, I don't see the tort liability's there. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: As a general statement, I 22 think. I make a motion that the Commissioners Court would 23 entertain right-of-way being deeded to it on Spur 100. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second that. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 60 foot. 1-14-08 128 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 60 foot. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, if they don't have 60 3 foot, they can't deed 60 foot, but deed the right-of-way. 4 We've done that on many, many roads throughout the county, 5 that people deed prescriptive right-of-way to the County. 6 MS. HARDIN: They own land on both sides. The road 7 splits there. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we'll entertain it, and 9 take it upon that they have a specific -- I mean, an actual 10 conveyance they want to discuss with us, we'll certainly look 11 at it. What else can you say? Don't know what they're going 12 to do. 13 MR. RENO: That's fine. 14 MR. ODOM: You have a direction now, which way to 15 go. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Essentially, the County Attorney is 17 telling us that we shouldn't take a -- 18 MR. RENO: Contingency. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: -- conditional conveyance. 20 MR. RENO: Sure. I thought that might be an issue, 21 so... 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- did I make a motion? 23 I'll withdraw the motion, and the second. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll withdraw the second. 25 Okay. You know where to go, Len. 1-14-08 129 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Are we through with that one? 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 21; consider, 4 discuss, take appropriate action for the preliminary plat 5 of Headwaters Ranch, Phases 1, 2, and 3, and located in 6 Precinct 4. 7 MR. ODOM: Headwaters Ranch submitted their concept 8 for approval of Phases 1, 2, and 3. The Court granted a 9 variance to make the roads in Phase 1 a paved country lane 10 instead of a local road because of lot sizes and projected 11 traffic volume. Roads in Phases 2 and 3 will be local roads. 12 All lots in the subdivision over 20 acres, so no overall 13 drainage plan is required. Street profiles, ditches, and 14 cross-drainage will be required. Today they are requesting 15 preliminary approval on Phase 1, 2, and 3 of Headwaters 16 Ranch. And Sam Poorman is here to answer any questions you 17 might have. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I move approval. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 21 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 22 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 1-14-08 130 1 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. We'll move 2 to Item 22; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 3 amend the revision of plat, Lots 2 through 11, Privilege 4 Creek Ranches, as set forth in Volume 8 -- Volume 8, Page 21, 5 and located in Precinct 3. 6 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: I would note that I have at least 8 one participation form that was filed in connection with this 9 matter. The fact that we're doing this matter just a couple 10 of minutes before lunch is probably intentional, so as to try 11 and conserve as much time as possible. Hopefully you 12 gentlemen are as anxious to go eat lunch as the rest of us 13 are. So, Mr. Odom? 14 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. BTEX Ranch, L.P., is asking 15 to amend the plat recorded in Volume 8, Page 21, known as 16 Privilege Creek Ranches, Lots 2 through 11. The amend -- the 17 amendment will change Turkey Knob Road from a public 18 County-maintained road to a private road. The County 19 Attorney advised us that this could be done with -- as an 20 amendment if no lots had been sold. You have in your packet 21 a letter from the developer and his attorney stating they 22 have none -- have not sold any at this time. We ask the 23 Court to accept this amended plat. And those notes were made 24 on the plat essentially in the general notes saying that all 25 roads are private, and that there's a boxed area saying that 1-14-08 131 1 Turkey Knob went from a public road to a private road. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: County Attorney, this is an 3 amendment that's authorized under that new Legislative 4 amendment that says if there's an error in course and 5 distance or -- or other clerical-type situation, minor item, 6 that you can do it just by going back and amending the plat? 7 MR. EMERSON: Under the clerical exception, I think 8 you can, since no lots have been sold and you're not changing 9 any of the layout. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You have somebody that 11 wants to speak? Move approval. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and second for 14 approval. Mr. Jackson, do you wish to be heard? 15 MR. JACKSON: No, Your Honor. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Question or discussion on the 17 motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 18 right hand. 19 (Commissioners Williams and Oehler voted in favor of the motion.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 21 (No response.) 22 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Let the record reflect that 24 Commissioner Letz did not participate, and the matter was 25 approved. 1-14-08 132 1 (Discussion off the record.) 2 MS. HARDIN: Can I ask a question? For filing 3 purposes, would that be filed under the old volume and page, 4 or will it have a new volume and page? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: New. 6 MR. ODOM: That's the reason we documented the plat 7 with that volume and page of the old one right there. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. You guys want to knock out a 9 couple more right quick? 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I would like to go and do the 11 one on the appointment of precinct -- I mean ESD Number 2, 12 because I think they have some members that need to be sworn 13 in today. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, we'll take up Item 35; 15 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to reappoint 16 two commissioners to Emergency Services District Number 2, 17 and appoint one new commissioner to that district. 18 Commissioner Oehler? 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We have three vacancies whose 20 terms have expired in ESD Number 2. I move that we reappoint 21 Evelyn Bloys and Ben Alves to two-year terms, and appoint 22 Debbie White to a two-year term as a new commissioner on ESD 23 Number 2. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 1-14-08 133 1 approval as indicated in the motion. Question or discussion 2 on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by 3 raising your right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. What's the 8 Court's pleasure? Why don't we go ahead and break till 1:30. 9 We'll be in recess till 1:30. 10 (Recess taken from 12:05 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.) 11 - - - - - - - - - - 12 (Commissioner Baldwin not present.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's come back to order, if 14 we might. We were in recess for lunch, and we are now back 15 in session, and Item 24 is where we left off, my best 16 recollection. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Consider, discuss, take appropriate 19 action to approve cell phone contract with Five Star Wireless 20 for all Kerr County officials and employees, excluding law 21 enforcement, and authorize County Judge to sign the same. As 22 most of you on the Court know, we've been working on this 23 thing for a while, and I think we're finally to the point, by 24 putting a couple of add-ons to the contract agreement, that 25 we're there. Is that correct, County Attorney? 1-14-08 134 1 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 6 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 7 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The -- 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Someone -- or H.R. will send 15 that out as the policy for cell phones, so all employees -- 16 everyone's aware that's in place now? 17 JUDGE TINLEY: It's already been sent out. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That has been sent? 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Oh, yeah. It was sent out, 20 actually, effective December 1. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 22 MS. HYDE: I just need a copy. I just need a copy 23 of the last one via e-mail so I don't have to retype it, so I 24 can put it in the policy booklets. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 1-14-08 135 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 25; consider, 2 discuss, and take appropriate action to accept a $3,810 grant 3 from L.C.R.A. to purchase and install defibrillators on the 4 first and second floor of the courthouse, and authorize the 5 County Judge to sign the grant acceptance agreement. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 9 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 10 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 11 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 13 (No response.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move 15 to Item 26; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 16 file Secretary of State report and dissolve the Kerr County 17 Juvenile Facility Corporation. Mr. Emerson? 18 MR. EMERSON: Thank you. We received a request 19 from the office of the Secretary of State requesting an 20 update on the Kerr County Juvenile Facility Corporation. 21 It's my understanding that that corporation was formed 22 sometime back when the building was originally purchased and 23 financed as a public facilities corporation. Effectively, it 24 has not been used for at least two years, and I think it 25 would be prudent at this point to dissolve the corporation. 1-14-08 136 1 Request permission to do it. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I have a question. If we 4 dissolve the corporation as per your recommendation, does 5 that have any effect on the agenda item, I think, Number 41, 6 that has to do with granting a sanitary easement, I believe, 7 by that corporation to the South Texas Veterans Health Care 8 System? 9 MR. EMERSON: I think it was requested from the 10 corporation because the corporation is probably -- it's 11 probably the managing entity that was showing originally on 12 the books, but that should have all been changed two years 13 ago when the County refinanced all that property, and it was 14 basically transferred from the public facilities corporation 15 to the County. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. Title of the property is 17 now in the -- in Kerr County, as opposed to the public 18 facilities corp. It was placed in the public facilities 19 corporation -- that entity was formed solely to hold title to 20 the property so that that three-step process that was 21 previously in place where it was leased to the County, and 22 then the -- by the public facilities corp., and then the 23 Juvenile Board did an operating agreement with the County. 24 All of that got collapsed when -- when it was reworked, 25 whatever it was, two or three years ago, when we ended up 1-14-08 137 1 buying the bondholders' position, as it were. Title at that 2 time went into Kerr County, so Kerr County owns it. The only 3 reason I can see to keeping a public facilities corporation 4 around is if we would want to use it down the road for some 5 process, and because it's denominated a -- 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Would this mean that the V.A. 7 would need to make another agenda request at the next meeting 8 to ask for that easement from the County rather than from the 9 corporation? 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's really where I was 11 going. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: No, because it's -- the property and 13 the grantor in any easement would be Kerr County. Now, since 14 title of the property is now over into Kerr County -- 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And so it doesn't really 16 matter whether that is in force or not? 17 JUDGE TINLEY: That's right. 18 MR. EMERSON: And I would suspect the way the V.A. 19 acquired that name was four or five years ago, when the 20 County had requested an easement to go across the V.A.'s 21 property and was denied on the sewer easement; ended up doing 22 the pump lift station and going out to the loop instead of 23 straight up to Schreiner Street. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval. 1-14-08 138 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 3 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion? All in 4 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Item 27; 9 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on authorizing 10 increase of attorney's fees for delinquent taxes on real 11 property from 15 to 20 percent, and approve addendum to 12 delinquent tax contract concerning personal property, taxes, 13 amendment to contract for the collection of delinquent taxes, 14 and approval of order authorizing increase of additional 15 penalty from 15 to 20 percent on delinquent tax collections. 16 You will recall two, three, four meetings ago, possibly, we 17 authorized an earlier action by the tax attorneys to pursue 18 tax collections on personal property, delinquent personal 19 property taxes, and also we increased from 15 to 20 percent, 20 which was authorized under state law, the attorney's fees 21 allowable to be paid by the -- by the taxpayer. The -- the 22 delinquent tax attorney is requesting that we increase the 23 delinquent tax attorney's fees generally across the board, as 24 authorized by law, from 15 to 20 percent on all delinquent 25 tax collections, not just personal property, and to amend his 1-14-08 139 1 contract to permit that to happen. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge? 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah? 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I had a communication from 5 Walter Schellhase on behalf of U.G.R.A. with respect to a 6 similar resolution that the River Authority got, and so I got 7 to looking at the language. It does look like -- what you're 8 saying is, it's an additional 5 percent. We're going from 15 9 to 20. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: That's correct. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: But if you look at order 12 number whatever that's in our packet, it talks about "adopts 13 and ratifies the additional 20 percent penalties," and that 14 was a question that was raised by General Schellhase with 15 respect to the resolution U.G.R.A. received talking about an 16 additional 20 percent. Which would suggest that the total 17 levy could be 35 percent, 'cause 15 percent is already in 18 place. Does that need to be clarified? 19 JUDGE TINLEY: It's a -- it's a semantics question 20 that you raise. And I see what you're -- as opposed to 21 saying an additional 20 percent, increasing from 15 to 22 20 percent is -- is -- 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is more appropriate. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: -- is more appropriate. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: More clear. 1-14-08 140 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So we need to amend that 2 order, and tell General Schellhase they need to amend their 3 order. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would think so. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, where does that leave 6 us? I would move that we authorize an increase in attorney's 7 fees for delinquent taxes on real property from 15 to 8 20 percent, and adjust language in the order which, at this 9 point, is unnumbered, to reflect that the increase is from 15 10 to 20 percent, and not an additional 20 percent. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Would that include the addendum to 12 the delinquent tax contract to make that same adjustment? 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir, it would. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 18 indicated. Question or discussion? All in favor of that 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. That brings 24 us to Item 28; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 25 on motion to reconsider appeal of development permit granted 1-14-08 141 1 to Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. I put this on the agenda. 2 As the Court will recall, we acted as a -- as a body to 3 consider an appeal from the granting of a floodplain permit 4 by our floodplain administrator to Martin Marietta Materials. 5 An appeal was brought from that. This Court sat as an 6 appellate body, and we affirmed the floodplain 7 administrator's granting of that permit. The person who 8 originally appealed that action by the floodplain 9 administrator has filed a motion to reconsider appeal of that 10 development permit being granted to Martin Marietta 11 Materials. I'm not sure the procedural basis, but it's 12 somewhat similar to a motion for rehearing in an appellate 13 court, I would presume. But in order for this matter to move 14 forward on -- however it's going to move forward, I think we 15 need to act on this motion to reconsider. We do have some 16 folks who have asked to be -- to participate in this matter, 17 and at this point -- Mr. Figueroa, are you here, sir? 18 MR. FIGUEROA: Yes. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: You're appearing on behalf of Martin 20 Marietta, and you are with Cox Smith Matthews; is that 21 correct? 22 MR. FIGUEROA: That's correct. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Do you wish to be heard at this 24 time? 25 MR. FIGUEROA: Just if there are any questions from 1-14-08 142 1 the Commissioners, we're here and ready -- and ready to 2 answer any question you may have. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Any questions? 4 MR. FIGUEROA: We would like to point out that, 5 under the Flood Damage Prevention Order, that the procedure 6 to appeal floodplain development permit is set out, and it's 7 fairly clear that the decision of the floodplain 8 administrator is appealed, as you mentioned, to the County 9 Commissioners, and that decision is appealed to the court. 10 So, we believe that any appeal is properly before a district 11 court, and not -- not the County Commissioners at this point. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Any questions for Mr. Figueroa? 13 Mr. Machann? You had filed a participation form, I believe. 14 Do you wish to be heard at this point? 15 MR. MACHANN: Not at this time. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Thank you, sir. Anyone 17 else that wishes to be heard on this matter? Do I hear -- do 18 I hear a motion? 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, sir. Just let the 20 record reflect, I recuse myself from the discussion and will 21 abstain from any vote that may be taken. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Very well. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No action means that we 24 affirm what we did before? 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I guess the question is, do we need 1-14-08 143 1 to take any action in order for this matter to move forward? 2 Mr. Figueroa, you said it's your understanding that this 3 matter is already before the district court. As I indicated, 4 I'm not -- I'm not sure if there's any -- if there's any 5 availability for -- for a rehearing or reconsideration. 6 MR. EMERSON: Mr. Figueroa is correct; the 7 procedures are very clearly laid out. Next step up is 8 district court. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: So, we do not have -- we don't have 10 to do anything, then. Is that -- 11 MR. EMERSON: Correct, Judge. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that your opinion? 13 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Very well. Any member of the Court 15 have anything further to offer? We'll move on to Item 29; 16 consider, discuss, formulate, and adopt Kerr County's 17 official position regarding the utilization of the Kerr 18 County Airport Authority created under House Bill 956, and 19 approved by the voters of Kerr County May 22nd, 1970, and 20 forward same to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. 21 Appropriate action as may be required. Commissioner 22 Williams? Commissioner Letz? Who wants to lead off? 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll let Commissioner Letz 24 do most of it. He and I have been working back and forth, 25 cross-pollinating this particular statement and adjusting 1-14-08 144 1 accordingly. And go ahead, Commissioner Letz. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we discussed it briefly 3 at one of our last couple meetings, and I tried to put down 4 the basic facts in outline form -- you surely don't want to 5 read too much more information -- as I understood the facts 6 to be, and then put a summary statement, which basically says 7 that the intent of the voters should be followed. And I -- 8 and the options may require legislative action. That's not 9 for us to decide. I mean, you know, if some changes are made 10 to get in line with state law. And I also say, you know, 11 it's going to -- if it's going to be dissolved, if that's an 12 option that the entities want to pursue, that needs to be put 13 back before the voters, in my -- as I would see it, because, 14 I mean, I don't see how you can undo a vote of the voters. 15 And that's kind of the gist I got the last time we discussed 16 it. That's what I tried for, more or less. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: In essence, the voters have 18 expressed an intent that they wanted an independent body to 19 be responsible for operation of the airport, and that ought 20 to be the prevailing -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That ought to be the end -- the 22 outcome. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's really the bottom 24 line. Autonomous board. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You can get there either by, I 1-14-08 145 1 guess, going back to the original authority, and upon 2 populating it, or if it's possible to do the other way, is 3 for the direction of the -- for the City and the County to do 4 the same thing within the current rules, so to speak. But, 5 you know, I think you have to take legislative action in 6 either event, almost, if you're going to make any kind of a 7 change. I mean, I think the law was pretty clear that that 8 vote took place, and I don't know -- around 37 years ago, and 9 I just don't see how you can summarily -- any entity can 10 summarily say we didn't like that vote, so we're not going to 11 do it. I mean -- 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Also, there's no repealer 13 language in House Bill 956. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. And that's why I say it 15 may take -- if something's going to be changed, it has to go 16 back to the Legislature to give that authority, the ability 17 to make some changes. So, that's kind of to summarize it. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, what we're saying is, 19 if the Court weighs in on this and approves it, this will 20 become our statement to be submitted to the Attorney General. 21 We can either all sign it, or we can have the Judge sign a 22 letter and attach it or whatever. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: If that's what the Court wants -- 24 the Court wants to adopt, I'll be glad to forward it to the 25 Attorney General. 1-14-08 146 1 (Low-voice discussion off the record.) 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My -- on the summary portion, 3 it's very brief. I didn't intentionally -- I know some of 4 y'all know more about this. Certainly, if you want to be 5 more -- a little more verbose or add language, it won't hurt 6 my feelings, anyway, if you make some changes. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval of the 8 position statement for Kerr County as outlined and presented 9 to the Court, and forward same, if approved, to the Attorney 10 General Greg Abbott to be included in his deliberations; ask 11 the County Judge to sign a letter attaching the same. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I second it. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Third. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second. 16 Question or discussion on that motion? All in favor of the 17 motion -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A quick question on the agenda 19 item. It says May the 22nd was the election. I thought the 20 election was -- I know the agenda item said 22nd. I think it 21 was canvassed on the 22nd. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, the election was the 23 22nd. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Election was 22nd? 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Either way, it was approved by the 1-14-08 147 1 voters on that date. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I double-checked it. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Well, I just -- if the 4 verbiage is correct in the second paragraph -- 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It was canvassed on the 6 22nd, Jon. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I just want to make sure 8 we have our dates right. We need to verify that date and 9 that date to make sure those are correct. And the election 10 was the 16th? 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The election was the 16th. 12 It was canvassed on the 22nd. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It says that in the 15 paragraph above. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Further question or discussion? All 17 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 20 (No response.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carried. Let's move to Item 22 30; consider, discuss, take appropriate action to approve 23 statement of grant award for F.Y. 2008 Formula Grant from 24 Task Force on Indigent Defense, and authorize County Judge to 25 sign same. This is the same that we get every year. 1-14-08 148 1 Actually, they've got $27,005. We're not sure that's the 2 exact amount of it. It's a formula grant; they pay us 5,000 3 up front; then they figure out the rest of it later. It's 4 estimated to be a total of $27,005. Grant conditions are the 5 same as they've been for the last umpteen years. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 9 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 10 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 11 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 13 (No response.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. We'll move 15 to Item 31; consider, discuss, and approve the resolution for 16 the submission of the Victims of Crime Act grant proposal for 17 2008-2009 to the Office of the Governor, Criminal Justice 18 Division. Purpose of the grant, to fund the Kerr County 19 Crime Victims Coordinator program for another year. This was 20 submitted by our Crime Victims Coordinator, Rosa Lavender. 21 She's been doing those grants to keep herself going 22 essentially for a number of years. Do you have something? 23 MR. EMERSON: Yes, Judge. Rosa is in San Antonio 24 right now actually talking to AACOG about this grant, it's my 25 understanding, and she just wanted me to make sure that y'all 1-14-08 149 1 were aware of the fact that the grant begins July 1st. The 2 County's match is office space, health insurance, and a $600 3 travel allowance. And that she recovered approximately 4 $300,000 in victims' funds last year. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: And a lot of those funds were funds 6 that we would otherwise pay under Indigent Health care, 7 probably. 8 MR. EMERSON: Correct. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Sounds like a good program to 10 me. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval of the 12 resolution. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 15 approval. Question -- questions or comments? All in favor 16 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: Motion carries. Item 32; consider, 21 discuss, and take appropriate action on approving burn ban 22 notification procedures, updated information for web page, 23 and enforcement options for violation of the burn ban or 24 state law. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll start this with a couple 1-14-08 150 1 of easy parts. First, the burn ban notification procedures 2 that are attached, those are petty much, I think, a done 3 deal. I believe the Sheriff's Department is already set up 4 to do the tone-out to the pagers. John -- I think we 5 probably ought to test that to make sure it's working. We 6 probably need to get with Rusty and do that, and that's in 7 place. The other part of that is in the backup also. It's 8 the sheet that's got the e-mail distribution list. I've been 9 working with Jody and some others on figuring out who needs 10 to be notified every time we change the burn ban, and I 11 talked with John Trolinger. He thinks that all the volunteer 12 fire departments probably have e-mail access. We're going to 13 add the chief of all of the volunteer fire departments, if we 14 can get their e-mails, trying to get as many people aware 15 when we make a change as possible. And then Jody -- the 16 tone-out will be the responsibility of the Sheriff's 17 Department dispatch. The e-mail will be the responsibility 18 of Jody. And if it's done on the weekend, the Commissioners 19 can send it out. And I think John can put together a -- kind 20 of a -- I don't know what you call it; a group e-mail list 21 that makes it very easy. You don't have to type in all the 22 names. You just type in "burn ban," and it can go from our 23 home computers or any computer you have to all of our 24 necessary recipients so we can get everyone informed quickly. 25 Those were those two items. 1-14-08 151 1 In the backup also is -- John Trolinger found this 2 off the Comal County web site, and this is a little bit -- 3 we're going to hold off. I read this and did some of my very 4 limited legal research, and decided quickly this needed to 5 get to Rex. Comal County has come up with a very innovative 6 way to make these very severe penalties for violating the 7 burn ban. They're going back and using the Clean Air Act, 8 basically. And Rex is going through -- he has not finished 9 his review -- to see if he agrees with how they got there, 10 because it goes up to a $1,000 to $10,000 -- a $1,000 to 11 $50,000 fine for violating the burn ban, which makes it a 12 pretty stiff penalty. I don't know that I'd want to go after 13 $50,000 for writing a brush pile up, but some action may get 14 some people to quit violating the burn ban. $1,000, I'd be 15 very much in favor of that kind of fine. But, anyway, this 16 is the first time that I've seen a really stiff penalty 17 imposed, and Rex is looking into it to see if he agrees that 18 we can go that direction. 19 The other item is, one thing that I am going to ask 20 John to put on the web site is the -- under the Texas 21 Administrative Code, Title 30, Part 1, Chapter 3. It's 22 outdoor burning, sets out state law for burning anytime, and 23 it's very clear when you can and can't burn. If winds are 24 over 23 miles an hour, you can never light a fire, period. I 25 think people need to be aware of some of those rules -- or 1-14-08 152 1 forecast to be over 23 miles an hour. And the last item is 2 that I talked briefly to Joe Franklin this morning, and he 3 has requested and says that his bosses have told him that he 4 is not allowed to participate in a burn during a burn ban 5 unless we give him a specific letter stating that. And I 6 believe I'll do that in a motion in a minute, but I really 7 don't know that we need to -- a motion for a lot of these 8 items. I think with this one, we do. The rest of them, I 9 think, are just kind of procedural things, talking about more 10 of an update, and John Trolinger, Jody, and I are kind of 11 working through that. I know the Sheriff's Department worked 12 out this issue on the toning out with John's cell and 911, 13 and that's already in place. Did I leave anything out, John? 14 MR. TROLINGER: No, sir. I just wanted to 15 emphasize that before we page all the volunteer fire 16 department pagers for the first time, that they should be 17 notified -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 19 MR. TROLINGER: -- manually. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Why don't you send out a 21 test? 22 MR. TROLINGER: Well, that's my thought. If 23 someone just got off duty at 6 a.m., and we test the system 24 at 8:00, he's going to be calling dispatch, and we might want 25 to avoid that. 1-14-08 153 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But sometime, as soon as we get 2 the -- when we get -- put all that together in one e-mail, 3 send it out to all the parties there. So, only thing we need 4 so far, I think, are the e-mail addresses for the volunteer 5 fire departments. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The bottom line is -- 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I call all my volunteer fire 8 departments as soon as I impose the burn ban so they can go 9 ahead and post that. They have signs and flags they put out 10 so that everybody can be made aware of it immediately. 11 Rather than -- this is another -- this will be a secondary 12 way to do it, and if I miss, that'll get it. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Bottom line is, they'll get 15 a pager message. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They get a pager -- volunteer 17 fire departments, they're the only ones who will get the 18 pager message. Everyone else will get an e-mail. Now, as 19 the procedures say, it's up to the Commissioner to call the 20 Sheriff's Department if it's on the weekend. They can do it 21 that way. And if they can send an e-mail out, if they have 22 that capability wherever they are. But I will make a motion 23 to authorize the NRCS to participate in prescribed burns 24 during a burn ban, and authorize the County Judge to send a 25 copy of that court order to NRCS office, attention Joe 1-14-08 154 1 Franklin. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Would this be an amendment to 3 a prior order? Or would it be -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's just a new one, just a 5 little bit different. We've already authorized doing 6 prescribed burns during a burn ban, but we never -- they want 7 specific authority that they can do a prescribed burn during 8 a burn ban, 'cause they don't do -- I mean, they're kind 9 of -- they're the ones overseeing it. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think just a liability. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 14 indicated. Further question or discussion on the motion? 15 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 16 hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 19 (No response.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I'll put it on the next 22 agenda for the -- Comal County, what they're doing, and if we 23 can impose some stiffer penalties for breaking the burn ban. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 33; consider, 25 discuss, take appropriate action to designate Commissioners' 1-14-08 155 1 and Judge's liaison appointments for various functions for 2 calendar year 2008. This is something we review every year. 3 With Commissioner Baldwin being absent this afternoon, that 4 might be an excellent opportunity for those that are placed 5 in undesired positions -- 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I like that idea. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We can slip a couple his 8 way, right? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't see any changes. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: The Auditor's looking at me like, 11 "That was tacky of you to say that." 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Maybe she needs some liaison 13 duties. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval of the 16 Commissioners' and Judge's liaison appointments as stipulated 17 in the agenda item. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 20 approval of the liaison appointments as attached to the 21 agenda item. Any question or discussion on the motion? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I see a hand up out there. 23 MS. HYDE: Is it on there for the census for 2010? 24 Because next year we need -- this year and next year, we 25 really need to get started on the census information and 1-14-08 156 1 who's going to work on it and who's going to help insure that 2 that information gets out. 'Cause I think it's in the 3 County's best interest. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Typically -- I shouldn't 5 say typically, but in the 2000 census, we retained counsel to 6 help guide us through that maze, and the Court as a whole 7 participated in a number of workshops, if I recall. 8 MS. HYDE: Okay. I just want to make sure, 'cause 9 I'm getting more information; they're getting ready to gear 10 it up. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's a good time. You 12 know, I don't know if it's too early or not to make the 13 selection of who's going to help us with it. I guess we can 14 get going on it. I mean, I think that -- I certainly don't 15 want to lose out on having our choice of consultants or law 16 firms or whatever, Department of Justice. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. One out of 18 Washington, I recall. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, Bickerstaff Heath. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Bickerstaff. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Bickerstaff. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And Judge Reddington was 23 the one that was assigned to us. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Okay. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion 1-14-08 157 1 on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by 2 raising your right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 5 (No response.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. We'll go to 7 Item 34; consider, discuss, take appropriate action to 8 declare 10 metal desks as surplus property and distribute 9 them to other governmental agencies. This came to us via the 10 Adult Probation Department. It's their department, but it's 11 Kerr County property. So, I think he's identified some 12 potential users, governmental agencies. He would have the 13 option of going to other governmental agencies and 14 nonprofits, if -- if I'm correct. Is that correct, 15 Mr. County Attorney? 16 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Make a motion to declare the 10 19 metal desks surplus. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 22 indicated. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 23 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 1-14-08 158 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carried. Item 36; consider, 3 discuss, take appropriate action to approve a contract with 4 Turtle Creek Volunteer Fire Department, have the County Judge 5 to sign same. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Standard contract? 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, sir. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 11 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 12 motion, signify 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: Motion carries. We'll move to Item 17 37; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on a 18 request for letter of support for Kerrville Gardens at 19 Clearwater Apartments, L.P., a development dedicated solely 20 to independent living for seniors aged 55 and older for 21 affordable housing units. I put this on the agenda at the 22 request of the Kerrville Gardens at Clearwater Apartments, 23 L.P. This is one of those tax credits housing. According to 24 the information furnished, all of the units are income 25 restricted, which means it'll be on a graduated income basis, 1-14-08 159 1 based upon a standard sliding scale that they use in that 2 activity. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, I checked with the 4 developer also on this. I think we all got a certified 5 letter -- 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- to this effect, and just 8 to be assured that we are cognizant -- aware this is intended 9 to be constructed, Mr. McDonald's group is about to build 10 some apartments on Clearwater Paseo across the street from 11 the Law Enforcement Center. He has, I think, two or three 12 parcels of land all contiguous one to the other. It is 13 intended that this particular facility, separate from the one 14 that he's doing in terms of apartments, will be constructed 15 at Clearwater Paseo facing Main Street, as opposed to just 16 facing Clearwater Paseo across from the Law Enforcement 17 Center. Move approval. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 20 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 21 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's move 1-14-08 160 1 to Item 38; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 2 seek -- to authorize Human Resources Department to seek 3 applications for open position of department head for Court 4 Compliance Department. Commissioner Letz? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this back on the agenda. 6 I think it was on at the last meeting, and additional feeling 7 right now is to push it off one more meeting, unless there's 8 a compelling reason. I'd like to have Commissioner Baldwin 9 here; I think it needs the full Court. We just need to look 10 at this a little bit, and let's defer till the next meeting. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I agree. I think there's 12 some other plans that are surfacing that may be beneficial. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. And it doesn't need to 14 -- it can go beyond the next meeting, in my mind. H.R. will 15 put it back next meeting, if you think it's necessary to put 16 it on. Or you can tell me whether -- 17 MS. HYDE: Probably the next one, so we can get a 18 little bit of clarification, 'cause we got some good ideas. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me go ahead and call Item 39; 21 consider, discuss, take appropriate action to make 22 determination of employee's status for medical benefits 23 premium purposes. That's an item that you think requires 24 executive session consideration? 25 MS. HYDE: Yes, sir. 1-14-08 161 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Very well. I'll call Item 40; 2 consider, discuss, take appropriate action as necessary on 3 Road and Bridge staffing due to pending and probable 4 retirement of existing personnel. That also, you say, is an 5 executive session item? 6 (Ms. Hyde nodded.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, we'll defer on those for now. 8 Let's go to Item 41; consider, discuss, and take appropriate 9 action on request by Kerrville V.A. Medical Center for water 10 well sanitary easement on Kerr County Juvenile Detention 11 Facility property. This got added belatedly. Apparently, 12 the V.A. has got the T.C.E.Q. leaning on them with respect to 13 the well at the back portion of their property near their 14 laundry and their other industrial-type facilities. There's 15 a 150 -- 150-foot radius around that well, and part of that 16 comes over onto the Juvenile Detention Facility property. 17 The -- the bad news is, I don't know exactly where that comes 18 over onto our property and what we've got there now that 19 would be included in that radius. The engineering that I 20 asked for from the folks at V.A. that called me I've got 21 here, and it shows us where the well is, which is fairly 22 close to their back fence line, but it doesn't tell me how 23 much, so, therefore, I don't know how much it comes over 24 under the -- 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Is that located on our 1-14-08 162 1 facility? 2 JUDGE TINLEY: No. It does not, no. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Doesn't have a tail on it 4 either, does it? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, it does. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, there in the middle? 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. Yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Seems to me that they need to 9 come up with a -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Legal description. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- legal description of what 12 they're wanting and position it on the property. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, that's kind of what I thought, 14 too, Commissioner. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: If we're going to -- we're 16 going to grant them a blanket easement under our building 17 easement. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, amazingly enough, the easement 19 permits the construction of homes or buildings upon the 20 easement, so long as there's certain things followed. There 21 are two main caveats that must be adhered to. It would -- it 22 would require that the construction/operation of an 23 underground petroleum or chemical storage tank and liquid 24 transmission pipelines, stock pens, feedlots, dump grounds, 25 et cetera, would be prohibited. And the construction of tile 1-14-08 163 1 sanitary sewers, sewer appurtenances, septic tanks, storm 2 stewers, and cemeteries would be prohibited within a 50-foot 3 radius of the water well. But even though -- even though you 4 could construct buildings and so forth without knowing where 5 that falls on the property, what we got there, what we're 6 doing there, what we have done there, I don't think we can, 7 in good conscience, give them any definitive answer at this 8 point in time without more information. Apparently, this 9 thing has been kicking around for a couple of years out 10 there, based upon some of the documentation. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It would seem to me that if 12 we were asking them for something, we would have to be a 13 little more definitive in our request than what they're being 14 with us. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I also think -- yeah, I think 17 we need to try to find out exactly where it is, and -- 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Locate it on the property. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- and have them provide a 20 plat. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Exactly. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And then we need to defer to 24 the County Attorney for review. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All makes good sense to me. Okay. 1-14-08 164 1 Are we ready to pay the bills before we go to executive 2 session? 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move we pay the bills. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'll second it. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second to pay 6 the bills. Any question or discussion? Question. Neal and 7 Neal Concrete, $25,300. Has that work been inspected and 8 approved? 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It is completed, and it looks 10 very, very good. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: That tells me it's been inspected 12 and approved. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I wouldn't know -- maybe not 15 officially, but -- 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'm not sure what you mean by 17 "inspected," other than a visual. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Have you looked at it? 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I have. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: And you think it's good work? 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think it's good work. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: It's been inspected and approved. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Glad you spoke up first. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You could have, you know, 25 gone ahead and said you did, too. 1-14-08 165 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I did. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I drove by it. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: I've not looked at it, but -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's not -- 5 JUDGE TINLEY: -- I'll trust Commissioner Oehler's 6 judgment. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: What we should do, too, is 8 thank Mr. Neal for -- for the amount of effort he put into 9 that, and he did not make any money out of it. That 10 basically was the cost of concrete. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: You're kidding. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You're talking about less 13 than $3 a square foot in today's $7 market. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He did a -- 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Wow. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's how much it -- that's 17 the reality of what happened. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He did a really good job. Heck 19 of a deal. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Wasn't it 8,700 square feet 21 for $25,300? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It was a good deal. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I believe the math is pretty 25 easy to figure on that one. 1-14-08 166 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Plus he did a good job. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: He did a good job. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, okay. I have a motion and a 4 second. Other question or discussion? All in favor of the 5 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Do we have any 10 budget amendments? 11 MS. HARGIS: No. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Any late bills? 13 MS. HARGIS: No, but I have a couple other things. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Say what? 15 MS. HARGIS: I have a couple other things. At the 16 last Commissioners meeting, we had a bill for Sew What, y'all 17 may recall, for embroidery. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. 19 MS. HARGIS: And you have done that in the past for 20 the other constables, and we went back and researched it. 21 So, these were -- and they've always taken it from that line 22 item. So, we kind of set a precedent, if we're not going to 23 do it there, so I'd like to release this check. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This is a clothing item? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Uniforms. 1-14-08 167 1 MS. HARGIS: Yeah, it's their jackets. These were 2 jackets, and I think one shirt. Two jackets and a shirt. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: My statement to that is that 4 I believe if we're going to expend those funds for that 5 particular reason, we need to establish a line item that says 6 what that money's to be spent for. That is uniforms. That 7 is not -- not even miscellaneous. What it was under was -- 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Operating equipment. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- operating equipment. And 10 operating equipment, to me, does not sound like uniforms. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I agree with you. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree with you. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Can we adjust that and put 14 it in a line item it belongs in? 15 MS. HARGIS: If y'all vote for me to basically do a 16 budget amendment. So, let me put it on the next agenda. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We need to establish a line 18 item for that and put an amount of money so everybody gets 19 that in their budget, and not just -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Some deciding to use it. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: And the basis upon which it's 23 authorized is that we're dealing with law enforcement 24 officers. 25 MS. HARGIS: It's uniforms. 1-14-08 168 1 JUDGE TINLEY: And we provide those uniforms, for 2 example, to Sheriff's deputies. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I have no problem with paying 6 the money. I have a problem with what it's coming out of. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Or how it's being charged. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That does not tell the public 9 what the money's being spent for. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And approving the bills, 11 was that in the bill list in time? 12 MS. HARGIS: No, that was the last time, and I 13 brought it back as a separate item this time. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 15 MS. HARGIS: The Sew What, you asked me to bring it 16 back to you this time to clarify that it was uniforms, and 17 had we done it in the past. That was -- that's the way you 18 got it on last time. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, do we need to have it 20 brought back a third time so that you can establish a new 21 line item? 22 MS. HARGIS: No, I just need to go ahead and be 23 able to release the check, and I will make sure -- we will do 24 a budget amendment and get it in the proper line item at the 25 next meeting. 1-14-08 169 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Move we release the -- 2 authorize paying that bill. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Did you move that? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and second to pay 7 the Constable, Precinct 2, Sew What bill, with it being 8 placed into a uniform line item. Question or discussion? 9 All in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. What else do you 14 have, Ms. Hargis? 15 MS. HARGIS: Well, we have some good news. In the 16 month of December, we received a total of $15,655.57 in 17 reimbursements from Sid Peterson Hospital in the form of 18 Medicaid reimbursements, and we have another 30,000 that's on 19 its way. The patients were eligible for Medicaid, and so 20 they're refunding us our money. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: That's Indigent Health care funds? 23 That has to go back in to be allocated to that account? 24 MR. EMERSON: I would throw two more cents in on 25 that, too, in that the lady that's running that at Sid 1-14-08 170 1 Peterson did catch two different people filing fraudulent 2 documents, and criminal charges have been filed. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Good. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Excellent. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I talked with Ms. Taylor, and 6 she said that her replacement from over there was due to be 7 in schooling last week, I believe it was, in training, and 8 she was going to follow up. We were going to have a 9 discussion with her to make sure that they're holding the 10 line on their indigent health care, because here again -- 11 MS. HARGIS: It is getting -- 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Topped $70,000. 13 MS. HARGIS: We'll we've already had, I believe, 14 three -- three people to go over the $30,000 limit, so we've 15 got a lot of very large bills. In fact, there's a very large 16 hospital bill in this one, so we're really going to have to 17 watch that we don't go over what we budgeted. But receiving 18 that 45,000 back will be a big help. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. Anything else, Ms. Hargis? 20 MS. HARGIS: No, that's all I have. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: I've been presented with monthly 22 reports from Constable, Precinct 4; Constable, Precinct 1; 23 County Clerk, both General and Trust Fund; Constable, 24 Precinct 2; Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1; Justice of the 25 Peace, Precinct 4; Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3; and 1-14-08 171 1 Justice of the Peace, Precinct 2; District Clerk; 2 Environmental Health; Constable, Precinct 3, both November 3 and December of '07. Do I hear a motion that these reports 4 be approved as presented? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 8 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 9 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion carries. Any reports 14 from Commissioners in connection with their liaison 15 assignments? 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Got a couple quickies here, 17 Judge. AACOG responsibilities pick up again this week, and 18 I've been selected to be the vice chairman on Area W 19 leadership group for the ensuing year, as well as the vice 20 chair of the Alamo Area Development Corporation, and that's 21 the corporation that runs the one-stop shopping center 22 workforce. The other thing is not such good news. I'm not 23 sure that one was, either. (Laughter.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Were you absent that day, 25 Commissioner? 1-14-08 172 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. Either that, or I 2 was asleep, one or the other. I had an e-mail on my computer 3 from Gary Miller of Cornerstone Programs, sent to me Saturday 4 morning. And he says, "Bill, heard late last night" -- this 5 is dated Saturday, January 12th. "Heard late last night," 6 meaning last Friday, "Kerrville has been eliminated as a 7 potential site. T.Y.C. has decided at this time not to 8 pursue a secure setting for the FPP's for the younger-age 9 group. I will call you Monday and discuss this." I haven't 10 heard from him yet. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: There went the windfall. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Darn. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, don't know what the rationale 15 is, but based upon what's happened at T.Y.C., I'm not sure 16 that will be ultimately the last word. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think you're right, 18 Judge. I think that's kind of an agency in disarray right 19 now, total disarray. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else? 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just one quick thing, and this 23 is kind of to let y'all know a little thought process I'm 24 having, and I'll probably -- or may put it on the agenda 25 coming up. I've noticed a -- a great deal of press coverage 1-14-08 173 1 on City of Kerrville; there's articles there all the time. I 2 know what they're doing. I know they basically have a P.R. 3 department working over there writing articles for the 4 newspaper. Which is good; nothing against that, but it may 5 not be a bad idea for us to do that. And I think it probably 6 would be for all departments, and I'd probably put that on 7 the agenda; talk to one person who is willing to do it. 8 Probably should compensate that person a little bit for doing 9 it. Pretty nominal amount; couple thousand, something like 10 that, as an additional job function. But I'll visit a little 11 bit and then I'll bring it back when it's a little more 12 firmed up. If y'all have any ideas, let me know. That's it. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think it's a good idea if 14 we select somebody who is -- has experience in public 15 relations. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not really a P.R.; it's more 17 information items. I mean, write a story on the County 18 Attorney one time and the Animal Control, just different 19 departments, just to get the public really aware as to what 20 we do in county government. And I think it would go a long 21 ways for, you know, informing people. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Long as they'll print it, 23 we're in good shape. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I can assure you, if you write 25 it, they'll print it. 1-14-08 174 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Oh, okay. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They're short on copy over 3 there usually. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah, I can't see much paper; 5 it gets smaller every week. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: You got anything for us, 7 Commissioner? 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Not too much. Stock show's 9 coming up this week. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So's cold weather. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So is the stock show weather, 12 presenting itself just in a timely manner like it normally 13 does. And -- and Mr. Letz and I are going to do some sharing 14 of the pigs this year, as far as the announcing goes. He can 15 have them all if he'd like. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I was there for many years. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I know. Well, I was too. 18 I'm thinking that we need to share the joy of doing that a 19 little more. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Great choice of words. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You need to wear old clothes, 22 'cause you need to throw them away when you leave there. 23 But, anyway, that's coming up. Everything seems to be going 24 real well with Environmental Health office. Ray Garcia and 25 the group down there and Tish are all working very hard. 1-14-08 175 1 They've been getting some -- some good comments from T.C.E.Q. 2 and Region 13. They're doing an excellent job, and they have 3 actually started writing some citations for some loads that 4 are untarped going through town spreading trash all over the 5 roads. They've written some warnings. They have written 6 some citations. They have also filed some cases for illegal 7 dumping, solid waste. They have issued a couple of, I know, 8 warnings to installers who may have started their process of 9 installing a system prior to a permit to construct. They're 10 on notice, so that maybe we can start getting a handle on 11 these things and making everybody follow the same process and 12 be fair to all. And they've done an excellent job of that, 13 and I want to commend them for that. Ag Barn. Well, we know 14 what's going on there pretty much. I think in February we'll 15 get some kind of a report back from our designer/planner guy 16 to have some ideas of where we need to proceed, and pick and 17 choose what we think is important out there. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Do you see us having a workshop once 19 we start to get some of that -- 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: -- in-hand? 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Definitely a workshop for 23 that, and I believe we also need a workshop for our grounds 24 improvement of the courthouse square, where we all can have 25 input and decide what direction to go in. 1-14-08 176 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On that one, I've talked to Tim 2 quite a bit about that. I've got a lot of, you know, ideas 3 and ways to save a lot of money. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah, I agree with saving 5 money and doing a good job. Anyway, that's about all I have, 6 except we got a Library Board meeting tomorrow, and I will 7 inform them of a report that -- the Court's request to get a 8 check for excess funds out of that budget from last year. We 9 haven't had a meeting since November, so I couldn't very well 10 do it. What we'll probably wind up doing is making a formal 11 request to the City to do just that, because otherwise we 12 probably won't get it. But I'm going to drop the bombshell 13 tomorrow, let them know, and then we will decide what we'll 14 do with the money in excess once we receive it. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Have any idea how much it 16 is? 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Not exactly. They haven't -- 18 they didn't know exactly. I've asked that question a couple 19 times. Somewhere between $15,000 and $20,000, I think. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Pretty good chunk. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It is. It's worth -- you 22 know, and if it's left over, it doesn't need to go in the 23 general fund. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else? 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Nope. 1-14-08 177 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Any reports from elected officials? 2 Okay. It is 2:31, and we will go out of open or public 3 session to go into executive or closed session to consider 4 the items on the agenda that call for that. 5 (The open session was closed at 2:31 p.m., and an executive session was held, the transcript of which 6 is contained in a separate document.) 7 - - - - - - - - - - 8 (Commissioners Baldwin and Letz not present.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Any member of the Court have any -- 10 it's 3:06, and we'll come back into public or open session. 11 Does any member of the Court have anything to offer as a 12 result of matters considered in executive session? 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'm trying to think what it 14 was we needed to make a motion on. I believe -- 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: On the Road and Bridge, the 16 individual's name -- 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't know her last name. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Kelly Hofer. 19 MS. HYDE: Hofer. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Kelly Hofer. I move that we 21 allow Road and Bridge to advance Kelly Hofer, already 22 employed by Road and Bridge, to administrative assistant 23 trainee for a period of 90 days, at an increase -- 24 JUDGE TINLEY: 19-4, $2,000. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- increase to her salary to 1-14-08 178 1 a 19-4. 2 MS. HYDE: At the end of 90 days, -- 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: For a period of 90 days. 4 MS. HYDE: -- she gets another one. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: To receive training to do 6 this job. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: At that time, the end of 90 8 days, if successful, her salary will be increased another 9 $1,000. 10 MS. HYDE: Yes, sir. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second that motion. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 14 indicated. 15 MS. HYDE: Thank you. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Any question or discussion on the 17 motion? All in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 20 (No response.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's hard to spit out. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other member of the Court have 24 anything further to offer? We will stand adjourned. 25 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 3:10 p.m.) - - - - - - - - - - 1-14-08 179 1 STATE OF TEXAS | 2 COUNTY OF KERR | 3 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 4 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 5 County Clerk of the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 6 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 7 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 19th day of January, 8 2008. 9 10 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 11 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 12 Certified Shorthand Reporter 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1-14-08