1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Regular Session 10 Monday, February 11, 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 February 11, 2008 2 PAGE --- Commissioners' Comments ............................. 6 3 1.1 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 4 complaint against Animal Control Department from Karen Engle ................................... 13 5 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on request from David Mark Scott to peacefully 6 assemble at Courthouse, Ag Barn, and precinct polling places on 2-16-08 & 3-1-08 to promote 7 presidential candidate for upcoming primaries March 4, 2008 ...................................... 30 8 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to authorize Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking 9 firm to provide Colonia Area Planning Services under Kerr County's Texas CDBG Program ............. 35 10 1.6 Consider/discuss pending CDBG grant for Ranchero Road, Phase IV, Kerrville South Wastewater project 11 and upcoming CD and Colonia cycles for which Kerr County will be eligible to submit applications ..... 35 12 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve posting of signs in Flat Rock Lake Park 13 to encourage pet owners to clean up after their animals ............................................ 47 14 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve resolution approving and adopting the 15 Kerrville/Kerr County Economic Development Strategic Plan and establish Economic Development 16 Incentives Committee ............................... 52 1.14 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for 17 release and termination of road easement to drill new well ..................................... 78 18 1.17 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on request from Kerr County Fair Association to 19 utilize space of approximately 30' x 50' on the southeast corner of project pavilion at the Hill 20 Country Youth Exhibit Center ....................... 81 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 21 implementation of the burn ban ..................... 86 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 22 go out for annual bids for road base, cold mix, aggregate, emulsion oil, & corrugated metal pipe ... 87 23 1.9 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action for final revision of plat on Lots 5A & 5B, 24 Grotto Springs Ranch II ............................ 88 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 25 request from Hill Country Council on Alcohol & Drug Abuse to have County Judge sign a memorandum 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) February 11, 2008 2 PAGE (1.11) of understanding so they may apply for funding 3 with the Department of State Health Services ....... 89 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on fee 4 schedule for Kerr County Subdivision Rules and Regulations ........................................ 89 5 1.13 Consider/discuss, approve service contract with Peter W. Lewis Architect and Associates, and 6 discuss design planning for the Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center ............................... 92 7 1.18 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve 2007 Racial Profiling Report for the 8 office of Constable, Precinct 3 .................... 95 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 9 approve 2007 Racial Profiling Report for the office of Constable, Precinct 2 .................... 96 10 1.16 Report to Commissioners Court on status of investments made under Section 887(b) of the 11 Probate Code ....................................... 98 1.19 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 12 approve additional $25,000 to $30,000 associated with obtaining a long-term capital loan ............ 99 13 1.21 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve ESD #2's annual compilation report as 14 submitted to Commissioners' Court at the January 28, 2008 meeting .......................... 100 15 1.22 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve preparing RFP for an actuary to prepare 16 actuarial study in compliance with GASB 43 & 45 to establish liability for other post-employment 17 healthcare benefits ............................... 101 1.23 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 18 approve resolution in support of Kerr County Juvenile Probation Department applying for an 19 AACOG grant for their L.I.F.E. skills program ..... 105 1.27 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 20 approval of resolution changing authorized representatives for LOGIC account ................. 111 21 4.1 Pay Bills ......................................... 113 22 4.2 Budget Amendments ................................. 117 4.3 Late Bills ........................................ --- 23 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports ................ 119 24 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Assignments .... 119 25 1.7 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on establishing a County Information person .......... 125 4 1 I N D E X (Continued) February 11, 2008 2 PAGE 1.20 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 3 give a merit raise to Nona Tucker (executive session)................................ --- 4 1.24 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on coordination and work redistribution for admin- 5 istration of elections (executive session)......... --- 1.25 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 6 the exploratory phase of potentially combining City and County health benefits platforms 7 (executive session)................................ --- 1.26 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 8 full-time position for Human Resources Depart- ment (Executive Session)........................... --- 9 3.1 Action as may be required on matters discussed 10 in executive session .............................. 133 11 --- Adjourned ......................................... 134 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 5 1 On Monday, February 11, 2008, at 9:00 a.m., a regular 2 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in 3 the Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, 4 Kerrville, Texas, and the following proceedings were had in 5 open court: 6 P R O C E E D I N G S 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. 8 Let me call to order this regular meeting of the Kerr County 9 Commissioners Court which is posted and scheduled for this 10 time and date, Monday, February 11th, 2008, at 9 o'clock. It 11 is that time now. Commissioner Oehler? 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Let's stand for a word of 13 prayer and the pledge of allegiance. 14 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. At this time, if there's 16 a member of the public that wishes to be heard on any matter 17 that is not listed as an agenda item, this is the time for 18 you to come forward and tell us what's on your mind. If you 19 wish to be heard on an agenda item, there's a participation 20 form at the back of the room. We would ask that you fill 21 that out. It helps me when we get to that item, to know that 22 you wish to be heard on that item. Notwithstanding that, if 23 you fail to fill out a participation form and wish to be 24 heard on an agenda item, get my attention when we get to that 25 item and I'll see that you have an opportunity to be heard. 2-11-08 6 1 But right now, if there's anyone that wishes to be heard on 2 any matter that is not a listed agenda item, please come 3 forward at this time and tell us what's on your mind. Seeing 4 no one coming forward, Commissioner Oehler, do you have 5 anything for us this morning? 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I think we have a -- 7 quite a few things, actually, and then we have a fairly 8 lengthy agenda, but I believe we need to make -- we need to 9 congratulate some of our Kerr County employees for doing some 10 things. I think you're going to do some more of this in a 11 little bit, and also a lot of the volunteer fire departments 12 that participated in the fires, and Animal Control and 13 various things. But, first of all, I'd like to say that one 14 of my liaison duties is Animal Control, and we have two 15 employees out there that have just received their 16 certification as Animal Control officers, that being Charity 17 Everett and Justin Gazaway, and I'm glad that they've gotten 18 their certification so that we can actually be a little more 19 efficient out there. With those things happening, we have 20 almost everybody, I believe, out there certified now, except 21 for maybe one employee, and that is -- that's a wonderful 22 thing to finally have more than one or two people that can 23 just do that job. And -- 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Get them to stand up so we 25 can see them. 2-11-08 7 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Stand up. 2 (Applause.) 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Congratulations. Glad y'all 4 got your deal. 5 MS. EVERETT: Thank you. 6 MR. GAZAWAY: Thank you. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'm sure you're going to be 8 doing a good job for us in the future, as well as you have in 9 the past. And just a small word, 'cause I think the Judge is 10 going to say something about all the things that have been 11 happening with the fires and things like that, but I would 12 like to thank him for getting involved in the first round of 13 fires we had by declaring an emergency. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That allowed for the Forest 16 Service to bring in some helicopters quickly to put down a 17 fire that was really gaining force, and volunteers -- I think 18 they were doing an outstanding job, but I don't believe they 19 could have kept up with it if they hadn't had the support 20 from the Forest Service, and so I appreciate the fact that he 21 got involved and got people involved that could help us. 22 Other than that, I'm going to leave it alone for a while. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I saw a comedy act on 24 TV yesterday that just reminded me of something, that made me 25 want to say -- (Laughter.) 2-11-08 8 1 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't know where this is going, 2 but it sounds interesting. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, it's going to be -- 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Left turn. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's going to be good. 6 Actually, it's going to be a right turn. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh, okay. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Going to be good until the 9 end. But they were talking about -- President Bush comes on 10 TV and is talking about John McCain being a real 11 conservative. How in the world would he know? You have to 12 know what a conservative is before you recognize one. I was 13 sitting there watching that and I thought those people, you 14 know, not only don't know what a conservative is, or what 15 their -- how their neighbor thinks or feels about things; 16 they don't even know their neighbors any more. And it just 17 made me think and reflect on how good we have it here, and 18 how -- how neat you guys are to work with, and -- and truly 19 conservatives. You know, Mr. Bush needs to come down here 20 and watch this crowd a little bit so he can learn what that 21 is. But not just you guys, but the entire courthouse family, 22 like these folks that just got certified at the Animal 23 Shelter. What a pleasure and an honor it is to work with 24 people like that. We have a good -- we have a good thing. 25 That's all. 2-11-08 9 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Thank you. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We do indeed. I want to 3 echo Commissioners 4's comments about the volunteer fire 4 departments, what a tremendous job they did. I never cease 5 to be amazed, though -- reading the stories afterward, I 6 never cease to be amazed at the lapses of good common sense 7 that take place among people and how fires get started. And 8 in the recent rash we had, there were two pretty good 9 illustrations there of lapses of good judgment, and -- and 10 the penalty you pay thereafter. The Judge and I had a 11 pleasant Saturday evening over in Center Point, as we do 12 every year about this same time, eating pancakes and sausage 13 and talking to the good folks in eastern Kerr County. And a 14 lot of -- a lot of my conversation that night had to do with 15 just the topic you were talking about, about people talking 16 about how conflicted they are over -- over the current turn 17 of events with respect to the primaries that are going on, on 18 the national level, and so they're going to have to do a lot 19 of sorting out between now and November and make some sense 20 out of all of it. 21 And speaking of primaries, we are getting ready for 22 the primary in Kerr County on March 4, I believe it is -- in 23 Texas on March 4. And there are -- there's a whole raft of 24 forums for those of the electorate who wish to avail 25 themselves of some information about the various candidates. 2-11-08 10 1 There was one last week which was very informative, 2 particularly on the -- on the issues that -- of sorting out 3 the judges, 216th District Court Judge race and the District 4 Attorney's race. Some good candidates have some pretty good 5 answers, and there were some pretty difficult questions. So, 6 if you haven't had the opportunity to avail yourself of the 7 opportunity to -- to listen in on one of those, there are a 8 couple more opportunities. There's going to be -- League of 9 Women Voters is going to do two of them. There's another one 10 in Center Point on the 14th, and I think 12th, 14th, and 11 19th, there are three opportunities, and then there will be a 12 televised one on the 18th. So, take the opportunity to learn 13 a little bit about the candidates. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Commissioner Letz? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think I really have 16 anything to add at this time. I have some comments more 17 towards the end of the meeting, though, you know, liaison 18 responsibilities and things like that. But I think I'll 19 probably hold off until that point. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: As Commissioner Oehler mentioned, we 21 had some extraordinary performance by volunteers and public 22 personnel in connection with these recent fires, a number of 23 -- all of our local fire -- volunteer fire departments, a 24 number of area fire departments that come -- come help us on 25 a mutual aid basis. Neighbors helping neighbors; that's what 2-11-08 11 1 it's all about. I was out at the fire command post, and 2 things were pretty well brought under control and contained, 3 and up rolls three units from the Wall Volunteer Fire 4 Department. Now, for those of you that don't know where Wall 5 is, it's just a few miles this side of San Angelo. Others 6 had come from -- or were coming from about the same distance, 7 and were turned back while they were en route after things 8 were brought under control, but they were ready, willing, and 9 able and on the way. And there was an extraordinary amount 10 of cooperation out there that the command personnel -- strike 11 unit out of San Antonio came up with the Forest Service, our 12 law enforcement people. I think the Sheriff had -- had all 13 of his people committed. Anybody that -- that was awake and 14 walking was there, and we had a lot of other personnel. 15 Road and Bridge stepped up with a lot of their 16 assets, their water trucks. Animal Control was 17 extraordinarily helpful because of taking in some animals 18 that -- that were at risk because of the fire. We had Janie 19 and her people, of course, Freeman-Fritts, Town and Country 20 Animal Hospital, the Ingram Vet Clinic. Kerr County 21 Maintenance personnel went to the -- went to the Ag Barn and 22 set up some temporary holding areas, cages -- pens, as it 23 were -- for animals that were going to be brought in there. 24 They rose to the occasion. One particular employee of this 25 county that's been extraordinarily helpful in animal issues 2-11-08 12 1 is Christine McEntyre. She's a legal assistant for our 2 County Attorney. She has the Diamond Dachshund Rescue. She 3 is at the leading edge of animal issues in this state when it 4 comes to emergency response matters. I think she's in Austin 5 today, probably working on those things. She's due to be a 6 speaker at a statewide seminar in San Antonio later this 7 month. She has been drafting emergency response documents 8 and sending them to the state, and I haven't taken the 9 opportunity to compare what's coming back from the state that 10 they're promulgating to everybody else, but I'll bet you a 11 dollar to a doughnut hole, it's basically her work that they 12 polished and tweaked a little bit and taken the benefit of, 13 and they're using it for the rest of the state. That's the 14 kind of individuals we got that are -- that are doing this. 15 I had one other item that came into play. The 16 issue of emergency notification. Sometimes we wonder how 17 that's going to be accomplished, and I noticed several weeks 18 ago, I guess, we had a -- a presentation from a group that 19 does this on a for-profit basis. I had a call from -- from a 20 local organization, T.R.C. Telecom, and they have the 21 capability, if given the block of numbers, to do these sorts 22 of notifications. That offer was made to us free of charge 23 for that to be done, if -- if we would give them the block of 24 numbers that needed to be notified for evacuation or warning 25 or otherwise. I appreciate the way all elements of the 2-11-08 13 1 community and the area came together. It was a fantastic 2 effort. All in all, the -- with the first fire, I think we 3 were extremely fortunate, when given the wind conditions of 4 35 mile an hour plus. The good news about the high wind was 5 that it moved so fast, it went right on by and didn't damage 6 too many oak trees. Bad news, of course, was getting it 7 under control, and thank goodness we were able to. I think 8 we were real fortunate. But I probably missed some folks 9 that were very helpful in the effort, but I thank them all. 10 We thank them all. And I think the citizens of Kerr County 11 owe them a great deal of thanks, and so when you see these 12 people that are offering up their services above and beyond, 13 thank them. Thank them for what they do. They're working 14 for you. They're protecting you and taking care of you. 15 Let's get on with the agenda. First item we've got 16 is to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on a 17 complaint against the Animal Control Department from Karen 18 Engle. Commissioner Oehler, you asked that this be put on 19 the agenda. All the members of the Court have a copy of the 20 communication from Ms. Engle that was forwarded in connection 21 with this matter, so I'll turn it to you at this time. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, Ms. Engle called me and 23 was -- and expressed a concern about Animal Control, and 24 wanted to file a complaint, and so I encouraged her to write 25 a letter, and that we'd put her on the agenda to listen to 2-11-08 14 1 her side of the story and make a determination, as well as 2 listen to both sides of the story, not just -- just one. 3 That way we can air it out and everybody can have -- can have 4 a say in what they think should be done about it. So, 5 Ms. Engle, I guess if you want to come forward and present 6 what you have, and -- 7 MS. ENGLE: On January -- it was a Tuesday, I went 8 to a meeting and my dog got out of my house, and I left 9 somebody there to hook him back up, because he darted out the 10 door. My dog occasionally gets out. I live by myself. I 11 don't have a fenced yard. And I -- I work by -- I pay all my 12 bills by myself. You know, I've got to go to work. This day 13 when I got home from my meeting at 6 o'clock, there was blood 14 all over my front porch, and the little neighbor boy down the 15 street told me that a man had shot my dog on my front porch 16 and then dragged him off in his truck. And I asked him, did 17 -- did he shoot the dog while he was on the porch? He said 18 yes. Now, evidently, the man that I left there to hook my 19 dog up did not succeed in his mission there, and he did not 20 get my dog hooked up. I appreciate them getting my dog out 21 of the street, but there was blood everywhere on my front 22 porch. I had no clue. There was no note from them as to 23 where my dog was. A child saw this guy shoot my dog, and he 24 will never forget that. 25 My dog has never bitten anybody. He has never 2-11-08 15 1 attacked another dog, he's never attacked a person, he's 2 never done anything like that. And I just think that Animal 3 Control has been a little excessive in this, used excessive 4 force in getting my dog. I think if they would befriend my 5 dog instead of going for its throat every time they see it, 6 that I think that they might have a better response from me, 7 as well as my dog. My dog now, every time he sees a white 8 truck, goes crazy; absolutely berserk every time he sees a 9 white truck now. He -- he has nightmares. He wakes up in 10 the middle of the night barking for no reason, and it's ever 11 since this has happened. This is the third time that Animal 12 Control has gotten my dog in a period of two or three years 13 since I've lived here. I live on the outskirts of town. I 14 don't live in a well populated area. It's a busy 15 intersection there. 16 But, you know, she makes it sound like I'm letting 17 my dog run around the neighborhood just because I want to let 18 my dog run around the neighborhood, and it's not true. I 19 hook my dog up every time he goes out, unless he darts the 20 door, which is very seldom these days does it happen. And I 21 just really wish that Animal Control would either work with 22 me and be a little nicer to me, and -- and be a little bit 23 nicer to my dog, because my dog is absolutely nuts now. Any 24 time he sees a county truck, a white truck of any kind in 25 front of my house, he goes nuts. You know, and the little 2-11-08 16 1 boy said that -- that he did fire while he was on the porch. 2 He was on my front porch when the gun was fired at my dog. 3 There was no note. Really, you know, I think that they know 4 whose dog it is. They really do know whose dog it is, and 5 they left no note, they left no -- nothing. I had to call 6 the police to find out what happened to my dog, and I really 7 think that they should address some of these issues. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Ms. Engle? 9 MS. ENGLE: Yes? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Was the dog -- I mean, the 11 dog's alive, huh? 12 MS. ENGLE: Oh, yeah, the dog's alive. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So they didn't shoot to 14 kill? 15 MS. ENGLE: He shot him with a dart, from what I 16 understand. That's what the police officer told me. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah? 18 MS. ENGLE: Although when I came home, I had no 19 idea what it was. All I saw was blood, three -- three hours 20 old, that had not dried yet. It was that coagulated -- it 21 was that much blood that it had not dried yet in three hours. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm going to be interested 23 in hearing how a dart gun would create that much -- 24 MS. ENGLE: Well, I would too. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- that much blood. 2-11-08 17 1 MS. ENGLE: I would too. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But I understand the dog's 3 fears after -- I mean, I see Rusty's cars come by and I just 4 -- I quake in my boots. (Laughter.) You know, it's the same 5 thing. 6 MS. ENGLE: Me too, because I never know when I'm 7 going to get another ticket from these guys. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: See? 9 MS. ENGLE: Yeah. You know, I get a ticket every 10 time he gets out, and I frankly can't afford tickets, you 11 know. I'm not letting my dog run around. I can't afford a 12 ticket of any kind. I can barely afford to pay my bills. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Where was your dog when you 14 came home? 15 MS. ENGLE: He was -- he was nowhere to be found. 16 When I came home, I had to call the police because there was 17 so much blood on my front porch. That -- and Richard saw the 18 blood on the front porch; he can tell you how much blood was 19 on the front porch. I called the police because my neighbor 20 said some guy shot my dog -- quote, "shot my dog on my front 21 porch and hauled him off." That's all we knew. We didn't 22 even know it was Animal Control. So, I called the police, 23 and the police called a man named Oscar, I believe, at Animal 24 Control, or somebody -- I don't know exactly what his name 25 is, and found out that my dog was incarcerated at Animal 2-11-08 18 1 Control. You know, which, you know, god, you know, you come 2 home to all that blood, you leave a note. They know whose 3 dog it is; they know where I live. The phone number is on 4 the back of his tag. My phone number is on the back of his 5 tag, and they didn't even call me to tell me they have my 6 dog. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Were any veterinary 8 services provided for your dog after it was shot? 9 MS. ENGLE: I took my dog to Freeman-Fritts, yes. 10 And I took him to the vet and I had him checked out, and then 11 he had to be seen back a week later for an infection at the 12 shooting -- at the site where they shot him in the leg. He 13 had to go back into the -- into Freeman-Fritts and have more 14 vet bills, because they gave -- they had to give him a shot 15 of antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory, because the shot -- 16 the place where they shot him on the leg started getting 17 swelled up and hardening. They call it some sort of fibrosis 18 or something of that nature. And my dog has never attacked 19 anybody. My dog is a friendly dog. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Engle, you said that there were 21 three occasions during the last three years that your dog's 22 been picked up? 23 MS. ENGLE: Mm-hmm. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Was the dog loose on all of those 25 occasions? 2-11-08 19 1 MS. ENGLE: Yes, sir. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: As far as you know? 3 MS. ENGLE: Yes, sir. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 5 MS. ENGLE: Yes, he was. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Are you not aware that it's the 7 obligation and the duty of Animal Control -- 8 MS. ENGLE: Yes, sir. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: -- to pick up dogs that are loose 10 and -- 11 MS. ENGLE: Yes, I do understand that. All's I'm 12 requesting is a little note saying they've got him. When 13 I've come home to blood all over my driveway, a little phone 14 call would have been nice, saying, "Hey, we had to dart your 15 dog. We had to dart your dog; it was running loose in the 16 traffic. We had to dart him. We've got him over here. He's 17 okay." That would have been real nice. That would have been 18 real nice. The three times that he got out, once was when he 19 was a puppy. It was New Year's Eve. He got startled by all 20 the fireworks; he was going crazy. They -- they took him 21 then. The next time was, I don't know, about six or eight 22 months ago when I had a broken window in my house, and he got 23 out through my window; I didn't realize that he was getting 24 out through my window. And then this time. And I -- I try 25 to keep my dog contained at all times. 2-11-08 20 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Did -- did they give you a call on 2 either of the first two occasions? 3 MS. ENGLE: No. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 5 MS. ENGLE: They have never contacted me. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Had -- had you received a 7 call on this third occasion, as you indicated, that, hey, we 8 got your dog, we had to dart him, -- 9 MS. ENGLE: I wouldn't be as angry as I am now. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: -- you wouldn't be here today; is 11 that right? 12 MS. ENGLE: I wouldn't be as angry as I am now. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 14 MS. ENGLE: You know, but Janie has told me that 15 time -- there was a time where she had chased my dog back to 16 the house and hooked up the dog on the other side of the 17 highway, and he was out. So, I guess there's actually been 18 four times where they've actually confronted my dog. They 19 chased him home. They didn't take him that time. They let 20 me take my dog, because he was in my yard. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Issued you a warning at that time? 22 Not to let -- 23 MS. ENGLE: A verbal warning. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 25 MS. ENGLE: Verbal warning. And so I had my dog -- 2-11-08 21 1 the second time he got caught, I had him neutered because I 2 thought, well, maybe this is the problem, because she was 3 concerned over all these pregnancies all over the 4 neighborhood, so I even had my dog neutered for this, you 5 know, so that -- so that that wouldn't happen, you know. And 6 I've tried -- I've tried very hard to keep my dog hooked up. 7 My dog has learned how to trigger the -- the leash to -- if 8 he gets up against a tree in the right way, he can trigger 9 the leash and get off his leash. You know, dogs aren't 10 stupid; they're pretty smart. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 12 MS. ENGLE: And I'm trying real hard to do my job, 13 and I just really wish that I would have better 14 communication. And I moved here to this community because 15 it's a friendly community. I never in my life would have 16 ever thought anything like this would have happened to my dog 17 in this community, ever. Ever, really. And I've got 18 pictures of my dog and the pictures of the boy that saw it, 19 if you need to see it. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. The -- I mean, 21 nothing on the phone call bit. Would you -- it sounds like 22 you would have preferred Animal Control left your dog alone 23 and get killed in the traffic, rather than take -- 24 MS. ENGLE: No. Actually -- actually, if they -- 25 if they were going to shoot it with a dart, I would rather 2-11-08 22 1 them leave me a note, and if they are going to pick up my dog 2 from -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You don't have a problem -- 4 your only problem is they didn't leave you a note? 5 MS. ENGLE: They never called me. They've never -- 6 they've called -- I think they called the vet's office the 7 first time that he got caught. They have never called -- 8 called me or contacted me, let me know my dog is down there. 9 Never. And, no, I don't want my dog to get hit by a car. 10 Yes, I would rather them pick up my dog than have that 11 happen. But to go out with such animosity and such hatred 12 and to issue me a ticket every single time that my dog gets 13 loose -- I can't help it if my dog gets loose every now and 14 then. I mean, I don't have a fence. I don't -- I'm one 15 person. I don't have a big income, you know. I'm a 16 waitress. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I understand that. I guess I'm 18 trying to find -- 19 MS. ENGLE: I don't -- no, I don't want my dog to 20 get hit by a car. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What I hear from your story is 22 a whole lot different at the end of it than I heard it during 23 -- I heard the dog being shot and shot and shot. Turns out 24 it was shot with a dart to keep it from being killed in the 25 traffic. And that's a whole lot -- that's a lot different -- 2-11-08 23 1 MS. ENGLE: That's -- 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- than the way you presented 3 it originally. Now, I'm not -- 4 MS. ENGLE: Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. 5 When I first came home, that's how it was presented to me by 6 my neighbor boy. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I understand that. 8 MS. ENGLE: So, you know, the way that you just 9 looked at it is the way that I looked at it for the first 10 couple of hours after that incident, okay? So -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But, anyway, that's just kind 12 of changed in my -- as to what I heard. And I think it's the 13 responsibility of Animal Control and the direction of the 14 Court to pick up animals are that are stray and loose. 15 MS. ENGLE: That -- yes, that's true. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So I think they're doing their 17 appropriate job. Anyway, but as to the policy, I'm not 18 sure -- you know, I don't know that they -- you know, that 19 they call everyone all the time, or anyone. 20 MS. ENGLE: Do they always -- do they always dart 21 dogs in their yards? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's a judgment call 23 that I presume they make for the safety of the animal. 24 MS. ENGLE: Why wouldn't they leave a note? Why 25 wouldn't they leave a message saying, you know, anything? 2-11-08 24 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: As usual, there's two sides 2 to every story. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I figured. That's why I'm not 4 talking about it. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think you have to hear both 6 sides before you make a determination. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Ms. Engle. 8 MS. ROMAN: Good morning. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Morning. 10 MS. ROMAN: As Ms. Engle stated, we have had 11 problems with her dog. And I've got copies of all of the 12 impounds that date back to January 1st of '06. Prior to 13 that, we had one incident where -- actually, I'm sorry, not 14 prior to that. It was after that, back in May -- June -- 15 July of '05 -- I mean of '06. Charity Everett and I were out 16 on Highway 173, the Mini-Mart on 173 and Loop 534. There's a 17 mobile home park back there. Well, we got a complaint about 18 a Shar-Pei dog -- black Shar-Pei that was hooked up with a 19 three-legged Border Collie. So, we drive out there, we look 20 at the -- we see this, and -- 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Don't go there. 22 MS. ROMAN: -- the black Shar-Pei started growling 23 at us and took off running, and it literally drug the Border 24 Collie with it -- 25 MS. ENGLE: I felt really bad about that. 2-11-08 25 1 MS. ROMAN: -- for quite a distance. Finally, on 2 the bridge of Loop 534, it finally -- they finally separated, 3 and we chased the dog back to Ms. Cole's residence. She does 4 live at a very busy intersection. She lives on Riverside 5 Drive and Loop 534 right at the corner. So, we stopped and 6 spoke with her, gave her a verbal warning, asked her to, you 7 know, to please keep her dog contained. At that point, 8 Ms. Charity -- Ms. Charity was sitting on the passenger side. 9 The dog was lunging at her window. The dog is aggressive. 10 If the dog doesn't know you, the dog is very aggressive. We 11 have had numerous complaints from people at the Town and 12 Country store. We've had complaints about the dog running 13 loose in the neighborhood. We've dealt with Ms. Cole quite a 14 few times. Do you want to come up here and -- let them know 15 a little bit about it? 16 MS. EVERETT: The dog is very aggressive. Every 17 time -- and whenever we get the dog -- I have called her 18 twice to let her know that we've had her dog, because her 19 number is on the back of the tag. And whenever we did go to 20 pick up the dog, as soon as we pulled up to the house, the 21 dog did go straight for my window, and I had to roll my 22 window up really fast. The dog is very aggressive to people 23 that it doesn't know. I'm sure it's fine with people that it 24 does know. We've dealt -- we've had it at least five times. 25 At least. 2-11-08 26 1 MS. ENGLE: Five times? 2 MS. EVERETT: We have documentation. And then 3 whenever we did get to the house, this gentleman that's 4 sitting right there was very upset about the fact that we had 5 chased -- that they were -- that we were going to write him a 6 ticket, so that's why we decided -- we said, "Well, we'll cut 7 you a break and we'll just tell you -- give you a verbal 8 warning, try to keep the dog contained." And it hasn't 9 happened. The dog has not stayed contained. 10 MS. ROMAN: Basically, what it boils down to is 11 they do live in the city of Kerrville, and the law requires 12 them to keep their dog contained at all times, whether it be 13 behind a fence, on a chain, inside. The dog cannot be loose. 14 If the dog is sitting on your front porch and you don't have 15 a fenced yard, you are in violation. This last incident, 16 Officer Gazaway was literally driving down the road and he 17 heard barking, and when he looked back, the dog was on Loop 18 534 in the middle of traffic. He chased the dog. The dog 19 took off running. He didn't have a choice but to dart the 20 dog, pick it up and impound it. It did happen at the very -- 21 at the end of the day, so we did not contact Ms. Cole that 22 morning. We were going to contact her the next morning -- 23 early the next morning, but that night she contacted the 24 police department to find out where her dog was at. So -- 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Was the dog actually darted while it 2-11-08 27 1 sat on her front porch? 2 MS. ROMAN: The dog was on -- at the edge of her 3 property, and then it ran on the front porch. 4 MS. ENGLE: No, ma'am. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm uncertain as to where 6 it was the dog was when the lady came home to find -- where 7 did she find her dog at the end of day when she came home 8 from work or whatever? 9 MS. ROMAN: Where did she find the dog? 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Where was the dog? 11 MS. ROMAN: The dog was impounded at the shelter, 12 because the dog had been running loose. But even if the dog 13 had been on her front porch and it was darted, I mean, the 14 dog's -- not only is it a public nuisance, but it's a traffic 15 hazard. If that dog causes a traffic accident, she's liable. 16 Someone can get injured by this dog. Not only is it 17 aggressive, but it's a public nuisance. The dog continues to 18 run loose. And, yes, she has been issued a citation -- she 19 has been issued two citations for her dog running loose. 20 However, we've given her breaks. We've given her warnings. 21 We've tried to educate her, and the problem still continues. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Any questions -- 23 MS. ROMAN: That's all I have. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: -- from any member of the Court for 25 Ms. Roman, or any of her people? 2-11-08 28 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is this a boy dog? 2 MS. ENGLE: Yes. 3 MS. ROMAN: Yes. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: See, that explains, you 5 know, the broken window, sneaking in and out. Boys are like 6 that. (Laughter.) But I'm a little concerned about -- Janie, 7 did you just say that you intended to call her the next 8 morning? 9 MS. ROMAN: Yes. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Why would you put off -- 11 MS. ROMAN: Because it happened at the end -- it 12 happened at the end of the day. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If there was -- if I came 14 home and I found that my dog -- a little neighbor boy told me 15 my dog had been shot by somebody, and there's blood all over 16 my porch, -- 17 MS. ROMAN: Mm-hmm. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- I'm 100 percent with this 19 lady; I would expect a phone call, a note or something. I 20 mean, you just have to -- you have to think -- you know, you 21 have to put yourself in that position. I mean, I know you're 22 -- y'all are doing your job and all that, and kind of focused 23 on what you're doing. I understand that part. But you have 24 to kind of understand the -- the dog owner, too. 25 MS. ROMAN: Oh, yeah. Yeah. 2-11-08 29 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You know? And that phone 2 call, in my opinion, because -- you know, any other time -- I 3 mean, if the dog's just sneaking out -- in and out of the 4 window and getting hung up with three-legged whatever's, 5 which is kind of -- if that ever happens again, call me. I 6 want to come see all that. But -- 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Wow. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm telling you, there's 9 money in those films. There's money in the films, buddy. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We won't call M.H.M.R., 11 Buster. 12 MS. ROMAN: I do agree with what you're saying, 13 Buster, and with Ms. Cole. I can say, I had had a 14 mini-stroke prior to this, so I wasn't at work when all of 15 this happened. I wasn't notified until that night when the 16 police department contacted me as well. I didn't know what 17 was going on. I hadn't been at work for a couple of days, so 18 I can honestly say I don't know -- all I was told was that 19 they did not contact her because it happened at the very end 20 of the day, and they were extremely busy because we were 21 short-handed, and that's all I was told, and that we were 22 going to notify her the following morning. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Maybe you can say we're 24 going to put forth more effort to make -- 25 MS. ROMAN: Absolutely. 2-11-08 30 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- phone calls. 2 MS. ROMAN: Absolutely. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm happy. Thank you. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Only other thing I'd like to 5 interject in here is, I think this brings up a good point. 6 Our department has had to deal with a lot of dogs lately in 7 our county that are running loose, whether in the city or out 8 in the county. In fact, less than two weeks ago, we had to 9 shoot one, and it's not with a dart gun, because it 10 actually -- after being pepper-sprayed and everything else, 11 it still lunged at the officer, and he didn't have a choice. 12 But citizens really need to help us with this -- this problem 13 of keeping their dog contained. Doesn't matter that it gets 14 out once in a while; it's still a problem. They need to fix 15 fences or keep them in the house. But this is an ongoing 16 problem that seems to be getting a lot worse. And ours, we 17 had to shoot it before we could get Janie on the scene, 18 'cause it was just too dangerous, and it was a Pit Bull, and 19 there were kids there, and it was a bad situation. But we 20 need people to help. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Sheriff. Anything else 22 on this? Let's move on to our 9:05 timed item, Item 2. 23 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on a request 24 from David Mark Scott to peaceably -- peacefully assemble at 25 the courthouse, Ag Barn, and precinct polling places on 2-11-08 31 1 February the 16th, 2008, and March 1, 2008, to promote 2 presidential candidate for upcoming primaries on March 4, 3 2008. Is Mr. Scott here present? 4 (No response.) 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, if you -- what I'm 6 wondering about here is, if you -- if I want to go pro -- is 7 it protest? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: No, assemble. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Assemble. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Peacefully assemble. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right. If I want to go 12 in with my little friends, all three of them, and we want to 13 go to a polling place, do I have to get permission from the 14 Commissioners Court? 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I think the issue is probably 16 if you're going to be there on any election day and you're 17 inside the distance markers, it's a no-no. Otherwise -- 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I agree with that. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But it appears to me that 21 this person is asking permission from the Commissioners Court 22 to assemble -- peacefully assemble. I mean, I don't 23 understand what this is about. Somebody help me understand 24 this. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm kind of like you. It's 2-11-08 32 1 not an issue unless he's asking to be inside the markers 2 which -- which keep you away from the polling place by a 3 certain distance, whatever that distance is. Ms. Pieper? 4 MS. PIEPER: Gentlemen, this gentleman, I believe, 5 is the same one that called me and asked me about assembly. 6 I don't know what his -- what he's going to do once he 7 assembles, but I told him I thought he needed to come before 8 the Court to get permission, because it's county property. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. 10 MS. PIEPER: But I did let him know that there 11 could be no politicking within 100 feet of the entrance to 12 the polling location. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But outside that 100 feet, 14 he can promote and put his signs up and -- 15 MS. PIEPER: Well, I know at the courthouse here -- 16 well, the last election, if there were signs being posted up 17 or something, the bailiff would go take them down. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 19 MS. PIEPER: Therefore -- 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We have a court order 21 saying we don't want signs stuck all over the lawn. 22 MS. PIEPER: The courthouse and the Ag Barn is 23 county property; therefore, I suggested to this gentleman 24 that he come ask y'all for permission, so that's how this got 25 on the agenda. I don't know if he's here today. 2-11-08 33 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, you're making us throw 2 him out of the room, is what you're doing. 3 MS. PIEPER: No, you can enforce your policy. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, the only policy I 5 think we've established is we just don't want signs stuck all 6 over the courthouse lawn like some other courthouses in the 7 immediate vicinity have done for years. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's right. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: But that doesn't prohibit 10 any group of citizens who wish to assemble peacefully -- 11 MS. PIEPER: I have no idea what his intentions 12 are. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- from doing so, as long 14 as they're outside the boundary. Am I correct, or am I 15 incorrect? 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Sounds like a constitutional 17 right to me. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Me too. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And you're exactly right; I 21 remember specifically that conversation. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Nonissue. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- you're definitely right, but 25 it depends on the word "assembly," how big that's going to 2-11-08 34 1 be. 'Cause I think we do have some -- 2 JUDGE TINLEY: State law. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- law regarding assemblies, as 4 to what that means. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Permits, mm-hmm. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And permits -- need to get a 7 permit and things of that nature. If we're just talking him 8 and a couple friends, they can do what they want, but if he's 9 talking about 100 people, I think that changes things. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll be there. I'm going to 11 be there, now that I know. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rex, what's the cutoff point on 13 assembly? Do you recall? 14 MR. EMERSON: I don't recall off the top of my 15 head, but there is some state statutes allowing for permits 16 for larger groups. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the guy can do what he can 18 within state law. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It might be helpful if we 20 know that so that maybe the County Clerk or somebody can 21 convey the information back, saying if you're going to exceed 22 the state regulations of "X" number of people, it's an 23 assembly, and you need a permit of some kind. 24 MR. EMERSON: The statute's actually worded, I 25 think, around the term "event," is the way it's worded. I'll 2-11-08 35 1 be more than happy to pull that. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's move to Item 5, a 9:30 3 timed item, to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 4 to authorize request for proposals seeking a firm to provide 5 colonia area planning services under Kerr County's Texas 6 Community Development Block Grant program, Contract Number 7 727175. Commissioner Williams? 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Judge. We do 9 have a contract identified by that number for planning 10 services. I think the amount of that grant is $25,000 or 11 $30,000. I've invited the folks from Grantworks, who have 12 assisted us on numerous occasions in obtaining these grants, 13 to come down and give the Court an update on this particular 14 one. And the subsequent one, Judge, which it might not be a 15 bad idea if you went ahead and called it. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me go ahead and call Item 6 17 also; consider/discuss pending 2008 Community Development 18 Block Grant for Ranchero Road, Phase IV, Kerrville South 19 Wastewater Project, and upcoming 2009 -- fiscal 2009-10 20 community development and colonia cycles for which Kerr 21 County will be eligible to submit applications. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. Eric Hartzell 23 and one of his colleagues is with us today. Eric's going to 24 talk about where we are on this Colonia Area Planning 25 Services grant and what the moneys are for and how we're 2-11-08 36 1 going to use it, and then we're going to talk about Kerrville 2 South Wastewater and anything else that you think Kerr County 3 is eligible to participate in. Eric? 4 MR. HARTZELL: Thank you, Judge and Commissioners, 5 for having us here. Eric Hartzell with Grantworks out of 6 Austin. It's a pleasure to be back. I haven't been here in 7 a little while, but it's good to be back. Now that the 8 first, I guess, four phases of -- or three phases of 9 Kerrville South are completed, we're ready to keep on moving 10 to finish it up. The first thing to talk about is the 11 Colonia Area Planning Grant that the County's been awarded. 12 This is a sort of detailed area study for the Center Point 13 area. It also covers an area called Hill River Country 14 Estates, which some of y'all may be familiar with. Pretty 15 low-income, smaller community to the west, I think, on 16 Skyline. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Skyline Drive, yeah. 18 MR. HARTZELL: West of Center Point. Then also the 19 Westwood Park area, which is up towards Comfort. Those are 20 the three low-income colonia areas that were identified in 21 the eastern part of the county back during the County's 22 comprehensive plan, which was completed, I think, in 2002. 23 The reason that Mr. -- Commissioner Williams was interested 24 in this grant was, I think, that y'all are probably aware 25 that U.G.R.A. and other folks are kind of looking at the 2-11-08 37 1 water and the sewer situations in the Center Point area 2 for -- for possible centralized collection and centralized 3 water distribution, and there's some Water Development Board 4 money that's in the works, I believe, that the County and 5 U.G.R.A. are both looking at. What this grant is going to be 6 useful for is to provide some of the groundwork that's 7 necessary to pursue these other larger grant opportunities 8 from Water Development Board; namely, to identify the incomes 9 and the types of folks that are -- the incomes, basically, of 10 the folks who are living in these areas. 11 Also, the types of housing, the location of private 12 wells and septic systems, cesspools, those kind of things 13 that are in these areas, all of which are necessary and 14 helpful to have a handle on when you're pursuing these grant 15 programs for larger scale projects. The Colonia Planning 16 Grant will also look at the streets and drainage and do 17 planning as to potential improvements that could be done in 18 those colonia areas in -- with the drainage system and -- and 19 the roads that are there. This is a no-match grant, so it's 20 basically federal money that's coming straight to the County 21 without any sort of match commitment from the County, and it 22 was awarded in December to the County. And so what the 23 agenda item is, is to allow the first step, which is to 24 complete the RFP process to hire the -- the firm to move 25 forward with these plans. 2-11-08 38 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, that's Item 1 that we 2 would need to -- we would need to approve seeking RFP's for 3 someone to provide those planning services under the C.D.B.G. 4 program for this particular contract number; is that correct? 5 MR. HARTZELL: That's right. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's what we need to do. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's the amount of this 8 grant? 9 MR. HARTZELL: The grant is $30,000. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: $30,000. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: $30,000. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. The only thing that 13 you mentioned, Eric, that I -- that probably we don't need to 14 do with these dollars is a median income -- household income 15 study. That is underway right now by Community Resource 16 Group out of Austin. In fact, I believe those letters are 17 already in the mail, and we're anticipating that the 18 responses are on their way back for tabulation and so forth, 19 so we would scratch that out of the scope of work. 20 MR. HARTZELL: Actually, the Water Development 21 Board's income restrictions are slightly different than the 22 Community Development program. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 24 MR. HARTZELL: And, actually, we'll probably still 25 want to do it, because the Center Point area income surveys 2-11-08 39 1 expired -- they're good for ten years, and someone had done 2 one in 1997 to qualify the area for the Community Development 3 grants. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 5 MR. HARTZELL: And they're expired. And so, 6 actually, they've changed the methodology too. We also have 7 to ask more -- additional personal questions of the 8 respondents, unfortunately, about their incomes, narrowing it 9 down to whether they're -- not only are they low to moderate 10 income, but whether they're very low income. And that's 11 something that H.U.D. is requiring, so for any grants that we 12 would do through the Community Development program, we would 13 need to have those kinds of surveys done. So, it will 14 actually be a slightly different type of income survey than 15 the one that's being done now for Water Development Board. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The one that you would do 17 would be for -- strictly for C.D.B.G.? 18 MR. HARTZELL: It could cover both, but it's more 19 specific, and so it would work for C.D.B.G. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are you going to do this 21 door-to-door or by mail? 22 MR. HARTZELL: Door-to-door. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. All right. That's 24 different, then. We need to move this particular one -- I 25 would move that we authorize a request for proposals seeking 2-11-08 40 1 a firm to provide colonia area planning services under Kerr 2 County's C.D.B.G. program contract number 727175. That's the 3 motion. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 6 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion? All in 7 favor of that motion, signify by raising your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: On the second agenda 13 item -- thank you, Eric, on that one. On the second agenda 14 item, Judge, we wanted to talk a little bit about -- and I 15 think Eric has prepared something for the Court -- talk about 16 where we are in terms of Ranchero Road, Phase IV, and 17 anything else that -- that we may be eligible to participate 18 in. Here, Judge, I have one. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 20 MR. HARTZELL: All right. This memo that I'm 21 passing out just -- it's kind of for your, maybe, future 22 reference. You don't necessarily have to read it right now. 23 I'll go over it real quick for you. There's actually several 24 things going on with these Community Development grants right 25 now. The County has a pending 2008 Community Development 2-11-08 41 1 grant to put additional sewer -- new sewer lines and 2 connections into the Kerrville South area along Ranchero 3 Road, pretty much the entire length of Ranchero down to, I 4 believe, Quail Valley, and then there's also a small amount 5 of Quail Valley that's in this grant that will -- I think the 6 first, maybe, six houses on the south end of Quail Valley, 7 the dead-end side, are in this grant as well. The State has 8 its funding allocation. They have not made the formal awards 9 yet, but the County's score was high enough that it looks 10 like you'll get a 2008 grant. You'll be getting this grant 11 probably in the next month or two. And you may get a call 12 from someone at the State to set up a site visit, and if you 13 do, that's what it's for is for this new grant. They want to 14 come and look at the target area and meet with you and tell 15 you what your responsibilities might be for that grant, so 16 that might be coming in the next couple weeks from O.R.C.A. 17 Let's see, U.G.R.A. is providing the match for that grant, 18 $12,500. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It says 25 here. 20 MR. HARTZELL: Oh, I'm sorry, that's right. It 21 is -- it is $25,000, I'm sorry. This is a Colonia Fund 22 grant, so the match is 25,000, that's right. Sorry. Let's 23 see. The next time that the County will able to apply -- 24 you're eligible to apply for the 2009-10 cycle, which will 25 have applications later this summer, maybe early fall, and 2-11-08 42 1 that's for two different programs. One's the Community 2 Development Block -- the Community Development Fund, which is 3 a 20 -- I'm sorry, $250,000 grant. The second is Colonia 4 Fund, $500,000 grants. These are -- these funds have 5 exclusively been used in the Kerrville South area thus far. 6 The City of Kerrville's used one, their Community Development 7 grant, to do the Blue Ridge-Ocaso, first phase of that. And 8 I have mentioned at the bottom that Ingram also is going to 9 receive a new grant to do sewer connections for their sewer 10 system, so there's lots of sewer going on, it sounds like, 11 all over the place. Which is, you know, a good thing, with 12 the river that you guys have flowing through here. So, those 13 two grants will be -- will be coming back in the next couple 14 months. They're still ironing out some details on those 15 grants. In fact, Judge Tinley, I think, is on -- he's on -- 16 the chair of a committee that's basically reimagining, I 17 guess, the entire scoring process for how these grants are 18 funded. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: That's a polite term. 20 MR. HARTZELL: Yeah, exactly. It's quite a 21 rigmarole, from what everyone's saying. The regions have 22 kind of gotten dumped on them, and they're getting some 23 guidance from the State about it. There were some changes 24 made in the types of projects that are funded, I believe, at 25 the Alamo meeting. Correct me if I'm wrong, but streets may 2-11-08 43 1 actually be fundable before they're all done. Is that 2 something that y'all are kicking around? 3 JUDGE TINLEY: We -- we adjusted the weighting of 4 the projects such that it may allow for some of those 5 projects to get funded, whereas under previous weighting and 6 our guidelines, there probably wasn't a Chinaman's chance. 7 MR. HARTZELL: Right. These grants have long been 8 kind of water/sewer grants, and -- but they're -- actually, 9 they're federal funds, and they're eligible -- the eligible 10 activities are quite broad. And, so, some of the committees 11 around the state, the regional committees to set up the 12 scoring for these things, are looking at maybe putting 13 drainage or streets into a higher category, so that could be 14 something that the County might be interested in for its 15 Community Development grant, which will be again this summer. 16 The Colonia funds there would still remain for water and 17 sewer use only, so those are coming up in the next couple 18 months. We'll be back to talk more about those as they draw 19 closer. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I notice on the fourth -- 21 the third item that you've included in the '09-'10 C.D.B.G. 22 Colonia Fund, public water, sewer service, infrastructure and 23 connections, and the replacement of failing septic 24 tanks/cesspools in designated colonia areas. That is similar 25 to some of the funding that we got for Kerrville South, 2-11-08 44 1 correct? 2 MR. HARTZELL: That is -- 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We did provide funds for 4 hookup and the remediation of septics; is that correct? Same 5 thing. 6 MR. HARTZELL: That's correct. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Now, do you see the 8 possibility that we could file for and -- and perhaps obtain 9 a grant for this same purpose in conjunction with what we're 10 seeking to do through the Texas Water Development Board in 11 Center Point, eastern Kerr County, and for the same purpose? 12 MR. HARTZELL: Definitely, yes. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 14 MR. HARTZELL: In fact, these funds are often used 15 to provide that -- that portion of the -- of the work. The 16 private yard -- private service lines, and the 17 removal/mitigation of the septic tanks or cesspools or 18 whatever the folks were using previously. In fact, we can 19 even go as far as, in some cases, folks who are on private 20 wells, we've -- we've used the money to take them and put 21 them on public water when there's a problem with a lot being 22 too small or something like that. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're going to advise us 24 as to when it's appropriate to -- to approve the filing of an 25 application? 2-11-08 45 1 MR. HARTZELL: Yes. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And that is not today? 3 MR. HARTZELL: That is not today. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 5 MR. HARTZELL: This is just information. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. First, do you pretty 8 much work exclusively with these Colonia Fund grants and -- 9 and Community Development grants? Is that your expertise? 10 MR. HARTZELL: Primarily, yeah. There's actually 11 some other programs within -- within this. There's economic 12 development type grants. We do a lot of park -- Parks and 13 Wildlife grants. We're actually working with City of 14 Kerrville; they have four -- we just helped them to get 15 funded four Safe Routes to School grants. I don't know if 16 y'all have heard about that, to get the sidewalks and all 17 that in the areas around some of the elementary schools. We 18 do other grants like that, that primarily focus on 19 infrastructure and community development, economic 20 development, housing, stuff like that. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. And one other comment; 22 it's more just a general comment. I think it's just a good 23 opportunity, when we get a summary like this, to -- to look 24 at -- it's amazing what we've been able to accomplish, along 25 with our partners in this area, with U.G.R.A. They've 2-11-08 46 1 provided the bulk of the match funds along the way. And 2 it's -- I mean, in the last, I don't know, ten years, however 3 long we've been doing it -- five, six, whatever it is, we 4 have done a phenomenal amount of projects to improve the 5 water quality of the Guadalupe River, basically through 6 septic systems and things like that. And I just think it's a 7 good opportunity just to, you know, thank our friends over at 8 U.G.R.A. that have partnered with us in this whole area. 9 Certainly, Commissioner Williams has been kind of 10 spearheading this, and had the vision from day one to proceed 11 with Grantworks down this road. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think you're absolutely 13 right, Commissioner. U.G.R.A.'s been a good partner, and 14 will continue to be, I hope, in all these things that we're 15 doing, and commend them for their diligence and willingness 16 to do that. A lot of people lose sight of the fact that, in 17 addition to helping people in terms of their own situation, 18 they are also cleaning up creeks and -- and our natural 19 resources. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And this -- I think it all 21 really got started because of Camp -- 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Camp Meeting Creek. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: When it got to being as 24 polluted as it was, and that was noted by the state, 25 T.C.E.Q., and they had some pretty serious -- 2-11-08 47 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- concerns about that. And 3 this pretty much has gone a long way to help clearing that 4 up, correcting -- making the water quality much greater in 5 the whole river, actually. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Exactly right. Okay. So, 7 we've got the RFP taken care of for today. That has to be 8 advertised, I assume? 9 MR. HARTZELL: Yeah. We'll provide the information 10 to the County to take care of that process. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay, very good. And then 12 you'll keep us appraised of where we are. 13 MR. HARTZELL: Sounds good. Thank you. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. Hartzell. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you for coming down. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Nice to see you. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 3; consider, 18 discuss, and take appropriate action to approve the posting 19 of signs in Flat Rock Lake Park to encourage pet owners to 20 clean up after their animals. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Pet subject. 22 MR. BOLLIER: We have a problem with people with -- 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No pun intended. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Sure. 2-11-08 48 1 MR. BOLLIER: We have a problem with people with 2 their animals down in the park, just basically their dogs. 3 They're just letting them -- you know, they don't clean up 4 after them. There -- there's -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Piles. 6 MR. BOLLIER: -- dog poo, okay? There are a lot of 7 people that like to come down there at lunch and have picnics 8 or whatever, and, you know, you can't put a blanket on the 9 ground if there's dog poo on the ground. So, you know, I 10 would just like to see something done in the parks that 11 would -- you know, that would encourage these people to clean 12 up after -- after their animals. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What does the sign say that 14 we put up at the entrance? Did it have something to do with 15 keeping your animal on a leash or within verbal control and 16 cleaning up after their animal? 17 MS. ROMAN: Basic -- it doesn't say anything about 18 them cleaning up after their animals. Tim approached me with 19 this about two months ago. I did explain to him that there 20 was nothing in the county order -- there's no poop scoop law, 21 nothing of that nature. I can say that I have had several 22 complaints, people calling me, wanting to know if we can do 23 something about it. I can't enforce a law that's not in 24 place. So, Tim and I talked about it -- Tim and I talked 25 about it and decided that maybe we could come to y'all and 2-11-08 49 1 see if there was just a sign that we could put up, just 2 asking people to be kind enough to, you know, maybe pick up 3 after their own animals. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I seem to recall that one 5 of the strong advocates of "letting my dog run loose in Flat 6 Rock Lake Park" stood before this Court and said something to 7 the effect that if the Commissioners Court doesn't put on 8 these restrictions and deny us this right and privilege, that 9 we will clean up after our dogs, and we'll even put those 10 plastic gloves out there that you can do that with. 11 MS. ROMAN: That's correct. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Has that happened? 13 MS. ROMAN: No, sir. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I didn't think so. 15 MS. ROMAN: That's why we're asking that a sign be 16 placed up there with -- you know, just asking them to please 17 clean up after their pets. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you talking a permanent 19 sign? 20 MS. ROMAN: Yes. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If we can do that. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I hate signs. The -- I 23 remember we had a -- we had a resident engineer with TexDOT 24 here one time that literally talked about putting a sign up 25 that says please beware, there's a sign ahead. You know, 2-11-08 50 1 just signs everywhere you go. I think we ought to unleash 2 that dog that lives up there on the corner on these -- on 3 these folks. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: With or without the dart in 5 him. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. With or -- with the 7 dart in him. That would do it. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Why can't we put -- have you 9 done the -- can we put the verbiage on the same sign? 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. The one we've got is 11 on the largest plate that Road and Bridge has, and it's 12 pretty well full of verbiage. And it's at the entrance, I 13 believe, -- 14 MS. ROMAN: Yes, sir. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- as you come into Flat 16 Rock Lake Park, but everybody ignores it. And, as Tim knows, 17 they come in from the other entrance too. I think part of 18 your problem had to do -- or was down there where the bridge 19 is under construction as well, in that area of the park as 20 well. 21 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So they come in from all 23 different angles, and they -- some read the sign, some ignore 24 it. Most ignore the sign. Some don't even know it's there. 25 So, I guess we need to have some park regulations again 2-11-08 51 1 that -- as Janie's referring to, that deal with this subject. 2 And if it doesn't get better, then we need to think about 3 some alternative matters. So, maybe you and I can get 4 together, and Commissioner Oehler, and we'll figure out what 5 we need to do in terms of signage -- 6 MS. ROMAN: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- and park regulations 8 that deal with this. And we'll have all of our friends -- 9 our furry-friend friends here in court again, and we'll go 10 through this issue one more time. 11 MS. ROMAN: Okay, sounds good. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner, while we're 13 looking at that, I think one of the things we talked about 14 previously was having one side of Third Creek or the other 15 leash-free and the other side leashed, or something like 16 that. Since the bridge is nearing -- is approaching -- 17 sometime, it is approaching completion, that would allow 18 people to get to the other side, that might be another -- a 19 way to look at it to keep, you know, part of the park 20 leash-free and part of it leashed. 21 MS. ROMAN: I think that would be a great idea if 22 you could have one part, just as you said, leash-free and the 23 other one leashed. I think that would solve a lot of 24 problems. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's something for us to 2-11-08 52 1 talk about. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Something to look at when 3 you -- 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 5 MS. ROMAN: Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We can get together and talk 7 about that in the near future, maybe come back at another 8 meeting with a recommendation. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Tim. 10 MR. BOLLIER: Thank you very much. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Would that possibly include darting 12 the owners of animals that don't pick up after the animals? 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What a novel approach, 14 Judge. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else on that item? We've 16 got a 10 o'clock timed item to consider, discuss, and take 17 appropriate action to approve a resolution approving and 18 adopting the Kerrville/Kerr County Economic Development 19 Strategic Plan and establishing the Economic Development 20 Incentives Committee. As I'm sure all of you remember, back 21 in June of '06, this Court and the City Council of the City 22 of Kerrville jointly passed a resolution calling for the 23 establishment of a committee to explore and develop an 24 economic development strategic plan. And pursuant to that, 25 Commissioner Williams and I, as representatives of this 2-11-08 53 1 Court, and Councilman Todd Bock and Chuck Coleman, as 2 representatives of the Kerrville City Council, and five other 3 fine citizens of this community, which we believe were 4 broadly representing, and also we had a number of resources 5 to the committee -- some of those people are in this room 6 right now, and we appreciate your being here -- we worked for 7 about a year and a half, and eventually getting the 8 assistance of an expert consulting organization, TXP, which 9 was obtained through funding which was graciously provided by 10 the Economic Improvement Corporation, which we greatly 11 appreciate. And at the end of the day, we came up with a 12 Kerrville/Kerr County Economic Development Strategic Plan. 13 We rolled that out to the public -- I believe it 14 was the 24th of last month. And one of the ringing comments 15 that we got was, "That's great. Keep it moving forward." 16 That's what we're here for today, is to keep it moving 17 forward. And what you have before you today, gentlemen -- 18 I'm sure all of you have digested this to the n'th degree, of 19 course -- is to ask this Court, jointly with the City 20 Council, which will consider it tomorrow evening, to approve 21 a joint resolution which approves and adopts this plan, and 22 further, goes one step further to establish the -- the 23 Economic Development Incentives Committee, which the plan 24 recommends be established in order to start moving this thing 25 forward. And that's essentially where we are today. 2-11-08 54 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Incentive. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Incentives Committee. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Incentive Committee. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. Now, the committee -- let 5 me quickly point out, that committee will have no authority 6 to make any binding decisions on either the City Council or 7 this Court. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: But it will be a unified effort, as 10 this thing has been since the very beginning, and I think 11 that's very, very important, to develop guidelines, number 12 one, and number two, look at specific instances of economic 13 development proposals, and based upon a thorough review of 14 both of those, make recommendations to this Court and to the 15 Kerrville City Council for incentives or considerations to be 16 given, with the final authority to make those policy 17 decisions resting in both the City Council and this Court. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, sir? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I might not have read to the 21 n'th degree, but in reading the document, what came out to me 22 as the most important thing, and the next step, is setting up 23 basically one entity to deal with economic development, as 24 opposed -- you know, I mean, and it didn't really say how 25 that's done; just kind of talked about that there needs to be 2-11-08 55 1 a local contact person, things of that nature. Wouldn't that 2 be what the first committee should look at, as to how we do 3 that? Because, to me, if we don't tackle that first, the 4 rest of it might as well just go in the waste can. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think -- I think -- the 6 Judge is going to answer that. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: I think what you're referring to is 8 what's referred to in the plan as "Economic Development 9 Policy Council," I believe is the terminology used. That 10 organization or group is, in fact, in our way of thinking -- 11 the committee's way of thinking, the incentives committee, to 12 put together the guidelines, the -- the matrix, the proposed 13 policy recommendations for consideration, and then using 14 those to look at specific instances, and studying whether or 15 not, on a case-by-case basis, to deviate up, down, or 16 wherever. But I -- I think, essentially, that's what this 17 incentives committee, as recommended by the plan, 18 accomplishes. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Let me add one thought to 20 that, Commissioner. Hold your thought just a second. The 21 Judge and I have had some discussions with members of Council 22 about this, and what -- what this incentives committee has to 23 have in conjunction with what it does is a process, and I 24 think your question goes to the process. What happens when a 25 business or industry, either coming in from outside or one 2-11-08 56 1 who's already here, determines that it wants to move 2 something forward, to expand its business, to come here to 3 take a look and so forth. So, that particular business, 4 whomever, from outside or inside, makes a contact, and 5 perhaps, not knowing where to go since we don't have an 6 economic development person as a staff person for 7 Commissioners Court, that person makes a -- a query to Mr. 8 Overby at KEDF. 9 What we envision, in working with two members of 10 Council -- and they'll be talking about this same thing 11 tomorrow night -- we envision that that query from whomever 12 at that point triggers two things. It triggers the 13 application for incentive consideration, and it triggers 14 immediate notification to the other entities, KEDF being part 15 of it, Chamber or whomever, or the City, so that everybody is 16 on board and knows exactly what and who has made an 17 application, and what their business is and what they're 18 seeking, and then the process begins in terms of the 19 application. So that the application then comes before this 20 committee, that incentives committee, and is reviewed in 21 terms of what it is that person is proposing -- that business 22 is proposing, how it proposes to do it, what's the time 23 frame, how many jobs, what it's seeking in terms of 24 consideration from this Court or the City Council or 25 whomever, so that we're all on the same page at the same 2-11-08 57 1 time, doing the same thing for the same purpose. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I don't -- that doesn't 3 answer my -- or is not what I got when I read through this a 4 little bit. My problem is that you're still telling people 5 they have to deal with the Chamber, KEDF, the City, and the 6 County. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, we're having some 9 incentive -- what you're saying -- 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You just said that. To me, we 12 need to have one entity handling economic development, 13 period. We don't need to have people talking to the City, to 14 the Chamber, to KEDF. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's what he's trying to 16 say. But how you get there is my question. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well -- 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: As an example, tax 19 abatements, which are a big thing with me. Somebody comes in 20 and wants to know specifically, what is the County going to 21 offer us? Well, is Mr. Overby going to know what the County 22 offers us? How do we get to the point to where he has the 23 knowledge and understanding of what the County's going to 24 offer? 25 JUDGE TINLEY: He will have some guidelines. 2-11-08 58 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: That will have been developed by the 3 committee and approved by the constituent agencies, be it 4 Commissioners Court, City Council, both Kerrville and 5 Ingram -- City of Ingram. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, your committee will come 7 in here with a recommendation of some sort. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Now, those -- those will be 9 guidelines, but a process will be developed by which 10 individual consideration will be given, and that will be the 11 one place where the process starts, through this committee, 12 for the purpose of reviewing and staffing and gathering the 13 necessary information, plugging in the guidelines, looking at 14 the pros and the cons, and making a recommendation on a 15 particular case basis to whatever agencies are involved. If 16 it's something in the City of Kerrville, in all probability 17 it's going to go to the City and the County, because we both 18 have taxing jurisdiction there, assuming it falls in that 19 sort of a consideration. But a process will also be 20 developed which will determine how it's handled, and I think 21 that's where you're concerned, is how -- how -- rather than 22 have someone being a proverbial ping-pong ball back and 23 forth, that's what this is hopefully going to resolve, that 24 that doesn't occur. What will come before this Court in the 25 final analysis, after all the work is done inside the 2-11-08 59 1 committee, is a recommendation for this Court to consider. 2 Same with the City Council of Kerrville or Ingram, depending 3 upon who's involved. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's kind of where it is. 5 I understand your concern, because we've had that problem 6 over and over again. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And applicants get bounced 9 back and forth, and sometimes they get discouraged and just 10 go away, saying nothing's going to happen. We recognize 11 that, and we recognize that as one of the things that has to 12 be cured. And it has to be cured within the framework of 13 guidelines that the committee is going to develop for things 14 that would be legitimate to consider by us, and we're going 15 to approve those recommendations before this committee starts 16 its work. Hopefully the City Council will do the same thing. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The -- who is on this 18 committee? 19 JUDGE TINLEY: It's spelled out in the -- in the 20 resolution. There are essentially six stakeholders. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do I have the resolution? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You should have. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. Let me give you a copy. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: There it is. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It wasn't there late Friday. 2-11-08 60 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Item Number 2. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We got this this morning. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Section 2 down in the resolution 4 portion of it. There'll be nine members on that committee, 5 comprised of myself, or whoever occupies this position; 6 President of the Kerr Economic Development Foundation, 7 presently Mr. Guy Overby; President of Kerrville Area Chamber 8 of Commerce, Mr. Bondy presently; President of Kerrville 9 Economic Improvement Corporation, Mr. Priour, who presently 10 presides as president of that body; Kerrville City Manager; 11 the mayor of the city -- of the city of Ingram, or his 12 designee; with the remaining three members to be designated 13 by those individuals as may be designated by those first six 14 named, essentially, stakeholders, as we see it, looking at 15 community and -- and business members, very much as we did 16 with the -- the committee that was authorized by the joint 17 resolution of the City and the County, to get this plan done. 18 We had -- we had a number of individuals, and they, in turn, 19 comprise the balance of the committee and the resources to 20 the committee, and that seemed to work very well. It was a 21 unified effort, a unified result, and that's exactly the way 22 we want it to continue and go forward. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Basically, this committee 24 would screen applications that wanted to have tax abatements, 25 or whatever else we could do to help them economically, 2-11-08 61 1 before it would ever come before the Court and the Council. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Exactly. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: But they would screen 4 them -- 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And make a recommendation. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They would screen them 7 within the guidelines that are going to be developed and 8 approved by the Court to begin with. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it's not only -- what if 11 someone doesn't want an abatement? Say, I mean -- 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I know. But, I mean, is it 14 going through the same process then? 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Application process. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Only if they're seeking some sort of 17 an incentive which is available under the law from either the 18 County or the City. There -- there are -- there are 19 incentives offered by the State of Texas, for example. We 20 obviously would have no control over that. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Here's a great 22 illustration. I don't know if you saw this article or not 23 in the Express News this past week. Unfortunately, our 24 erstwhile reporter, Zeke MacCormack, did not write this; it 25 was written by one of his colleagues, but it has to do with 2-11-08 62 1 New Braunfels gaining the biggest U.S. pool factory. It's an 2 interesting story, and it deals with the point we're talking 3 about. It talks about the New Braunfels community got it 4 right, said the -- says the co-director of this particular 5 pool company. Your business leaders, your Chamber of 6 Commerce, your political leaders all worked together very 7 well to create the incentives that this particular pool 8 company needed and wanted to move from San Antonio to New 9 Braunfels. New Braunfels provided a $50,000 grant -- case in 10 point -- and a $450,000 loan to entice them. It came from 11 their Economic Improvement Corporation. There are all sorts 12 of incentives, not necessarily tax abatements. Every single 13 time, different things can happen, depending on what it is 14 that they're presenting and so forth. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I -- I guess my question 16 goes -- I mean, if someone doesn't want incentives, do they 17 still go through the same process? 18 JUDGE TINLEY: They don't have to. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, how are they going to be 20 handled? Have to just talk to people? Like, if somebody 21 calls Guy up and says, "I want to locate a" -- you know, "a 22 pecan plant here." 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Heard that before, haven't 24 we? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I know. "Help me find a 2-11-08 63 1 location." What is that person going to do? I would like 2 that person to go through the same one-stop shopping, rather 3 than having to deal with looking -- you know, go out to the 4 airport, look at property, look over here at property, and do 5 all this. I mean, the assistance. I don't see why they have 6 to be asking for incentives to get the benefit of centralized 7 efforts. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think your point's valid. 9 And I think -- I think there should be an application 10 process. And that -- that illustration is a pretty good one. 11 Supposing that they -- they move -- as you and I both know, 12 proposed to move out on the airport grounds, and one of the 13 things they needed was the moving of the -- of the gas 14 transmission lines to accommodate that particular piece of 15 property. That may not be an incentive, but it's an issue, 16 and it has to be dealt with. What if they needed a road to 17 get there? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or just wanted help as to where 19 to go. Guy? 20 MR. OVERBY: Okay. Commissioners and County Judge, 21 glad to be here with you this morning. First of all, I just 22 wanted to come back and answer the question about the 23 incentive committee and the question that Commissioner Letz 24 is talking about. I would like to say, on behalf of -- of 25 the Economic Development Foundation, who's the applicant on 2-11-08 64 1 behalf of the committee, it was -- it was a great opportunity 2 to work with County Commissioners, County Judge, our City 3 Council folks and our business folks and our resource people 4 on this process of developing a strategic plan. The plan 5 that you have before you has a lot of things in there, as we 6 look at economic development plans for Kerrville and Kerr 7 County in the next five years or beyond, of how we can have a 8 strategy and a plan to move forward. This -- this survey and 9 the plan itself took in great numbers from our communities 10 and surrounding area. We had a great chance to get the voice 11 of Kerrville and Kerr County in our numbers and our polls, 12 and the numbers gave us a strong message on how we're going 13 to do economic development, and recommendations how we can do 14 it. This is where it's at today, how we can talk about that. 15 One of the strong things that we're talking about 16 today, and as Judge Tinley and Commissioner Williams both 17 talked about, is the need for the -- the incentive committee 18 to be part of that process for recommendations that come from 19 this plan to move forward. Part of the process in the past 20 has been the -- not having that identified, and what we could 21 do and what are those type of things in place. And, of 22 course, in today's century -- 21st century today, we've got 23 to be able to have those types of things in place so we can 24 streamline those type of decisions that need to be made; our 25 local Economic Improvement Corporation, our 4B sales tax that 2-11-08 65 1 we have here in the Kerrville/Kerr County area. We have an 2 Initial Response Team that takes those applications in the 3 process of coming in when people want to make applications to 4 the 4B, and that I.R.T. team is a committee that actually 5 hears those applications and looks at those applications and 6 gives a recommendation to the E.I.C. board for their 7 consideration at that time to discuss. The committee that 8 we're talking about here, of course -- that process of having 9 that committee, I think it's an education process. 10 Obviously, with economic development, something 11 that's always ongoing, that will have to -- you know, the 12 opportunity to educate our folks who are wanting to come here 13 and expand and those type of things, and they're seeking 14 those type of resources that they want to do that. The 15 strategic plan that we have, I can tell you, Commissioner 16 Letz, that right now, it's -- it's so crucial right now to -- 17 to have the support and to move forward. There are so many 18 opportunities right now in our community that -- that are 19 in need of those type of resources that we're talking about. 20 I think the Judge mentioned some of those. It doesn't have 21 to necessarily be abatement, but there can be a whole array 22 of economic tools that could be used for that. 23 The thing that we're finding out from our strategic 24 plan, one thing that we do know about is that most -- the 25 most important jobs are the jobs that we have here right now, 2-11-08 66 1 and 85 percent of our growth in our area in the next five 2 years is going to come from existing businesses that are 3 right here, right now. There are companies that are here 4 right now that are -- are waiting, and developments and 5 projects that are waiting to exactly hear the support that 6 comes from our leaders in our community, from the County and 7 City right now, and the adoption and hopefully the passing of 8 -- and the forming of an incentive committee so that we can 9 look at expansion opportunities and development opportunities 10 in our community right now. So, the incentive committee is a 11 very important -- it is a committee that looks at and gives 12 recommendations back to our County Commissioners where you 13 folks have that. 14 The plan also -- and this gives -- if you read the 15 plan, in there, there's several examples of guidelines that 16 talks about what different projects and schemes of projects 17 would be and what recommendations would be, so we have some 18 type of guidelines to look at in our recommendations that 19 would come back to our government entities. But I will say 20 that we're real excited about the opportunity to move 21 forward. I can tell you that K.E.D.F., as far as the 22 applicants coming in, we have a lot of folks that knock on 23 our door first when they're looking for things, and we try to 24 get them -- get them formatted and where they need to go and 25 those type of things. And I think with the development of 2-11-08 67 1 this plan, we can identify right off the bat if -- if they're 2 going to come in and help our ad valorem tax long-term, our 3 primary job growth, if we're able to help our median wage 4 income in our community, which is low, to be more on the 5 state level, and our quality of life is going to be -- also 6 is going to be enhanced with that type of development. This 7 is the kind of plan that we're trying to put in place so that 8 we can make those recommendations to you. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've got a couple of 10 questions for you, -- 11 MR. OVERBY: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- if you don't mind, about 13 specifics in here. I was thumbing through it, and a couple 14 of things jumped off the page -- 15 MR. OVERBY: Mm-hmm. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- that I have questions 17 about. And in the very front end, Executive Summary 18 Highlights, SWOT analysis. I can't find any reference 19 anywhere else to -- would you tell me what S.W.O.T. analysis 20 is? 21 MR. OVERBY: The acronym? 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 23 MR. OVERBY: Strengths, weaknesses -- 24 AUDIENCE: Opportunities. 25 MR. OVERBY: -- opportunities, and threats. 2-11-08 68 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, you guys have all been 2 to the same little meetings, haven't you? 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We learned that one. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This is good. And then -- 5 MR. OVERBY: That's a good question, though. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Of course it is a good 7 question. (Laughter.) Number 7, I highlighted, "Labor force 8 is perhaps the most significant economic development 9 challenge facing Kerrville-slash-Kerr County." 10 MR. OVERBY: That's correct. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Labor force. Would you talk 12 about that just for a second? What do you mean by that? 13 MR. OVERBY: Well, it's our work force. And, 14 Commissioner Baldwin, you know, the one thing that we've had 15 in Kerrville since 2000 -- 2006, we have had an 8 percent 16 growth in Kerrville and Kerr County. Our surrounding 17 counties around us, Kendall County's had a 26 percent growth; 18 Gillespie County is 14 percent, Bandera is 15 percent. Since 19 2000, we have had a 16 percent increase in full-time 20 positions here in the Kerrville/Kerr County area, but we've 21 had an 8 percent growth during that period. And of that 22 8 percent growth, our primary population is going to be over 23 55 percent retirees that are coming here, who are no longer 24 working. So, if you take the numbers and you look at the 25 full-time jobs, and then we look at what numbers are coming 2-11-08 69 1 in to fill those positions, that's why we struggle. And we 2 can pick up the newspaper, and we see that there's a lot of 3 jobs out there that -- that aren't being filled in those 4 positions. 5 So, the work force is going to be a long-term 6 commitment from this community that we have to address, and 7 that is going to be working with our schools, working with 8 the Alamo Workforce folks. We have been looking at pilot 9 programs that we have been doing last year in those type of 10 stages where we've been looking at work force. We've 11 actually started doing some type of training with life skill 12 training, and that's customer service training. Obviously, 13 it's going to be something that we're going to have to invest 14 in, and it's something that we're going to have to do for a 15 long time, and something that probably will be always 16 ongoing. So, our work force is a critical, critical issue 17 that we're going to have to address. There's no quick fix to 18 it, and we're going to have to look internally, and we're 19 going to have to invest internally to address those issues 20 for this community. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. Excellent 22 answer. One more. Housing is a key issue. It talks about 23 the building permits from 2003 to the present year, the 24 increase, which is -- in my mind, is an incredible increase. 25 MR. OVERBY: Yes, sir. 2-11-08 70 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And, so, what's that -- what 2 is that saying? 3 MR. OVERBY: Well, that's -- that's something, 4 again, this same type of thing that we're talking about with 5 work force. We're going to have to address those situations 6 as a community. And what we're talking about, for example, 7 the city of Kerrville, since October 1st of '96 through 8 September 30th of last year, their average job -- I mean 9 average home that was being built was $237,000. And that's 10 continuing out in the county. Average home sales in our area 11 are well over $210,000 over the last year, from our real 12 estate numbers that we're hearing, as far as houses that are 13 being sold. I think that the plan mentions in there -- I 14 think as we start talking about economic development, when 15 companies are wanting to come into our area that enhance 16 different businesses that we've got here, there needs to be 17 an opportunity that we sit down with the developer and say, 18 you know, We're glad that you're having these jobs come in, 19 and this is going to be helping enhance our area, but, you 20 know what? We have another issue in our community that we 21 need to help with. How can we partner together? How can we 22 work together? Maybe through some type of working together 23 on those -- those type of housing issues. 24 I think another thing that this report also 25 mentions in here is to further define what the opportunities 2-11-08 71 1 are out in the Center Point/eastern Kerr County areas, to 2 look at that possibility long-term for our area, and what it 3 might mean not only for Kerr County, but our regional 4 partnership with economic people and housing developments 5 that can help also Kerr County, Kendall County, Gillespie, 6 and Bandera County. So, it's going to be an issue that's 7 always going to be ongoing. I think Bob Waller answered it 8 probably best when we rolled this out on the 24th to our open 9 community meeting, or public meeting at the high school. 10 Lots that go for $45,000, $15,000, $30,000 a lot, they just 11 don't exist. You know, we are in an area that's a 12 destination area for -- for people that are retiring, and 13 it's going to continue to be a destination, a place where 14 people are wanting to come. I think that the baby boomers 15 that are retiring -- this is the first year of this '46 group 16 that are retiring at 62, drawing Social Security. And in the 17 future, Kerr County and Kerrville and, of course, surrounding 18 areas are going to be always on the radar screen. We're in a 19 unique situation. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, we don't have -- we 21 don't have a work force because everyone that lives here is 22 retirees and -- and are rich, so they are purchasing -- 23 building homes, $275,000 and up, and even if we had a work 24 force, they don't -- there's no place for them to live, -- 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Bingo. 2-11-08 72 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- is what we're saying. 3 I'm almost through. Just one more sentence or two. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Three. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, has it occurred to you 6 all that maybe we should stop going out to the east coast and 7 saying, "Please come to Kerrville and retire"? 8 MR. OVERBY: Mm-hmm. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: "Don't come to Kerrville and 10 retire." 11 MR. OVERBY: And I can tell you, the one thing that 12 we are doing in this community, in this plan, we realize 13 that, first of all, that's where economic -- this is the 14 education process that -- and this is where we need to 15 educate our community as best as we can. Over the period of 16 economic development, for years, it used to be attract, 17 attract, attract, attract. That's not what we're about. We 18 realize as a community that 85 to 86 percent of our job 19 growth in our community, what we can digest as a community, 20 is already here. And we need to help the gentlemen that are 21 out in the -- and I'm just using examples -- out at the 22 Commerce Park, out at Mooney Airplane, at the industrial 23 park, those companies that come to us and say, "Oh, by the 24 way, we'd like to double our size of our building that we 25 have here, and we'd like to add 10 or 20 employees. How can 2-11-08 73 1 you help us?" And I think that's the reason why this plan is 2 trying to -- to be addressed and go from there. 3 I think this plan also talks about, for those 4 companies that we do attract, Commissioner, that we bring 5 here, we obviously want those companies to come in and 6 enhance what we already have here. So, if we have an H.E.B. 7 who is the mother store here, for example, if we're able to 8 go to H.E.B. and say, How can we bring another -- do you have 9 something in your long-term plan with the food industry 10 that -- with your company? Can we rekindle the opportunity 11 to expand in that area in our community with you? And let 12 you know that Kerrville could be there. And that's one of 13 those things that we're enhancing one of our existing 14 businesses, and those are the type of things that we can 15 digest. We cannot go out and bring in a -- a company that 16 wants 300 jobs here right now; we don't have the work force 17 to do that. So, we can digest those companies that are here 18 that want to expand, and that's the best way in our plan now 19 we want to proceed with. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A couple -- I want to 22 piggy-back a little with what Commissioner Baldwin was 23 saying. I think what you're saying is you need a balanced 24 growth. Because I -- while, hypothetically, I may agree with 25 Commissioner Baldwin putting the sign up, "We don't want you 2-11-08 74 1 to come here any more" -- 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I didn't say that. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I know. I know. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I didn't say that. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I think that if you look at 6 the job generation that we have had, I would suspect the 7 majority of it's in the construction sector, and we don't 8 want to lose that sector that is doing quite well in this 9 community, the new jobs. We just need to expand more and 10 have, you know, some additional jobs -- like I say, more the 11 manufacturing, more non-construction type jobs, things that 12 folks are going to target the type of jobs. On your point 13 about housing, I think, you know, it's -- just to tie it 14 together, this is why the whole Center Point/east Kerr County 15 water and sewer project is so critical, because it is how we 16 get lot sizes smaller, and smaller means less expensive. 17 We -- in the county right now, you cannot build -- I mean, 18 the average person can't afford land. Just can't; it's too 19 expensive right now. With 5-acre minimum lot size, it just 20 isn't going to happen. So, you've got to get -- and that is 21 the direction I think the County -- we're trying to go that 22 direction, and we've hit a few road bumps along the way. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We tried to make that 24 comment -- that very point at the tail end, when this was 25 presented at Tivy High School here, what, two or three weeks 2-11-08 75 1 ago, after Bob Waller made his response to a realtor 2 complaining about the fact that there wasn't any work force 3 housing in Kerrville. Well, there's not going to be to any 4 great extent. It's going to come at another area where land 5 prices are less and we participate in getting the 6 infrastructure in place. That's where it's going to happen; 7 you're absolutely right. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And as my -- I think I had 9 another point, but I forgot it, which I'm sure makes y'all 10 very happy. The -- I have no problem with approving 11 everything y'all want. I just think that still -- I still 12 think we probably need to focus a little bit more on one-stop 13 shopping. That's what I was hoping was going to be coming 14 out of this. I don't see that totally in here. I see, you 15 know, working towards it, getting closer, and certainly we do 16 need to proceed. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: I see -- I see it as moving that 18 direction. For folks that don't want anything that -- that 19 falls into the incentives -- under that umbrella, I guess my 20 initial question is, what authority would we have to require 21 them to come before that group? Certainly, if they have to 22 get permits -- building permits from some jurisdiction, or if 23 they have to -- if they have to get septic, you know, that 24 falls under our Environmental Health. With regard to the 25 balanced growth you're speaking of, Commissioner, we don't 2-11-08 76 1 have to solicit the retirees. I mean, I don't think we can 2 keep them out at the point of a gun, frankly. What we need 3 to do is to build more balance in our tax base, and folks 4 need to get used to the idea that the -- the real solution to 5 the heavy ad valorem tax burden on their home, their 6 residence, is economic development. It's not the tax freeze. 7 The tax freeze for the over 65 may give a little temporary 8 respite, but the real solution is a better distribution of 9 this tax base between residential and business and 10 commercial. It's a losing proposition over on the 11 residential, and we need to throw that -- we're terribly out 12 of balance over there. We need to throw as much as we can 13 over into the industrial, business, commercial. The 14 residential's going to continue to grow. I don't think we 15 can keep it away. But this is a start, and hopefully it'll 16 work. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Don't you guys go back to 18 your place and tell anybody that I was agreeing with a 19 lawyer, -- (Laughter) -- but he -- what he's saying there, in 20 my opinion, is probably the most important part of this 21 entire issue. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No question. Been out of 23 balance for many, many years. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: If you attract a business 2-11-08 77 1 that would -- that would bring in middle income type people 2 to service that industry, that's going to be a big, big 3 uplift to the economy around here. The service industry is 4 probably one of the biggest things we have right now, with 5 these retirement communities. And those people get paid 6 quite well for their -- for their work, but it's not the same 7 as bringing in industry and middle income. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion we approve the 10 resolution submitted, and adopt the Kerrville/Kerr County 11 Economic Development Strategic Plan, and establish an 12 Economic Development Incentives Committee as set forth 13 therein. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 16 approval of the agenda item as indicated. Further question 17 or discussion? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just want to make one 19 point, that -- and rightfully so, the Commissioners Court's 20 doing it before the City. (Laughter.) 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well put. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Other questions or discussion? All 23 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 2-11-08 78 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's go 3 ahead and take about a 10-, 15-minute recess. 4 (Recess taken from 10:40 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.) 5 - - - - - - - - - - - 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's come bark to order, if 7 we might. We were in a brief recess. We'll go to our 10:30 8 timed item, Item 14, to consider, discuss, and take 9 appropriate action for release and termination of a road 10 easement to drill a new well. Mr. Richards? 11 MR. RICHARDS: Morning, Judge, Commissioners. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Morning. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Morning. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Morning. 15 MR. RICHARDS: Well, this may be the simplest item 16 on your agenda this morning. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That would be a good thing. 18 MR. RICHARDS: Back in August of last year, 19 Mr. Wiedenfeld came before you seeking a release or an 20 abandonment of a road easement out in Oak Ridge Estates. You 21 sent him to go dot his I's and cross his T's, and so he's 22 done that. The road easement was dedicated pursuant to a 23 plat for Oak Ridge Estates back in 1978. And two of the 24 questions I think Mr. Wiedenfeld came away from that 25 Commissioners Court hearing with were, who owns the property? 2-11-08 79 1 And we've determined, both by title search and survey, that 2 the location of this road easement is wholly within Lot 13, 3 and we know that lot 13 is owned by Mr. and Mrs. Ibarra, and 4 they have since deeded about a quarter of an acre to 5 Wiedenfeld Water Works, and that deed is in your package. 6 And so we're asking the County to just abandon the road 7 easement only as to that .029-acre tract, so that Wiedenfeld 8 Water Works can drill a new well to serve both that 9 subdivision, as well as potentially serve adjacent needs. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Refresh my memory. Is there a 11 road -- what is that -- what kind of road is it? 12 MR. RICHARDS: I don't know. Charlie, is there a 13 road there? 14 MR. WIEDENFELD: Just a gravel road that leads up 15 to my well, 50 foot. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not a County-maintained road? 17 MR. WIEDENFELD: No. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we don't need to have any 19 kind of public hearing; we can just get rid of this one, 20 right? 21 JUDGE TINLEY: The -- was the well drilled at the 22 time the plat was outstanding? 23 MR. RICHARDS: The original well? 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 25 MR. RICHARDS: I don't know when the original well 2-11-08 80 1 was drilled. 2 MR. WIEDENFELD: I'm not -- 3 JUDGE TINLEY: I guess my question is, how did it 4 come to happen that a well, a tank, a well house, two other 5 tanks were placed within a roadway easement of a platted 6 subdivision? 7 MR. RICHARDS: They weren't. If you go back and 8 you look back on the original plat, that well lot was 9 dedicated as a well lot, and the road easement only went up 10 to it. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. So it went up to the northern 13 boundary of that 0.29-acre tract? 14 MR. RICHARDS: It went up -- the easement went up 15 to the southern -- you're right, yeah, the northern boundary 16 of the .029-acres. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: So, what's designated on the plat as 18 "well lot" is not actually part of the road easement, and all 19 you're asking is for that additional 0.29. 20 MR. RICHARDS: Yeah. It's just 25 feet of road 21 that we want the County to abandon the easement as to so that 22 he can drill a new well on it. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Okay. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we 25 abandon the .029-acre portion of the road easement, and that 2-11-08 81 1 is the northern 25-foot section of that 50-foot road 2 easement. 3 MR. RICHARDS: Correct. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 6 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think if the Ibarras have 8 deeded the property, I mean, it's -- this is a no-brainer, to 9 me. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. Further question or 11 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 12 your right hand. 13 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 15 (No response.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How much did that cost you? 18 MR. RICHARDS: Don't answer that. (Laughter.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's move to our 11 o'clock 20 timed item; consider, discuss, take appropriate action on 21 request from the Kerr County Fair Association, Incorporated, 22 to utilize space of approximately 30 feet by 50 feet on the 23 southeast corner of the project pavilion, formerly known as 24 the horse barn, at the Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center. 25 How are you, Ms. Yarbrough? 2-11-08 82 1 MS. YARBROUGH: I'm fine. Good morning. I 2 appreciate y'all's time. I'm representing the Kerr County 3 Fair Association Board, and in the development of the horse 4 barn into the project center, we are requesting to utilize 5 the southeast corner, approximately a 30- by 50-foot space, 6 and we would like to enclose that for storage. And in that 7 storage, we want to put our float, which now sits out in the 8 weather, and move other items that we have in a smaller 9 storage building out on the grounds and put everything in one 10 place and clean it up out there. We will comply with 11 whatever standards you want us to develop that enclosed area 12 by, and keep in close contact with y'all. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that part of the plan? 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Ms. Yarbrough -- I met with 15 her the other day; I don't remember what day it was exactly. 16 It was Wednesday, and we discussed this, and it seemed like 17 that was a logical place for them to do it, and they are in 18 agreement with that. We had talked about it some, like, over 19 a year ago when I first got in office. She called and asked 20 me if they couldn't meet with us, Jonathan and I, to decide 21 where they could put a permanent storage. At that time, we 22 were kind of already beginning to take and make plans of some 23 new improvements going on out there, and hated to designate 24 an area that wouldn't be within the scope of what we felt 25 like we wanted to do with some of the area that's available. 2-11-08 83 1 And this is an existing place under the horse stall barn, 2 and, you know, the horse stalls are gone, thank goodness, and 3 we have a project area for 4-H. And it's only -- seems to me 4 like I believe we have enough room to let the Fair 5 Association have that area, and we can also build a shop 6 area, hopefully, for Maintenance, and maybe some other 7 storage and some other things that won't really -- it won't 8 take up all the space, in other words. We'll still have room 9 to do everything else we need to do under there. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: This fits within the project that 11 you guys are contemplating for that horse barn project? 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It does in my mind. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, it does. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's part of the original 15 plan. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's just a matter -- we've 19 come to the point where they'd like to have the designation 20 of the use of that area, and I felt like it needed to be 21 something the Court authorized. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I do have one question, 23 though, with respect to -- you do have an existing storage 24 building -- 25 MS. YARBROUGH: Right. 2-11-08 84 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- right now. Is that 2 going to be -- to continue to be there, or is that going to 3 go away? 4 MS. YARBROUGH: We're going to take everything from 5 there and put it in one place, and remove that building and 6 clean that area up. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I believe this cleans up the 9 area, and it's going to make it good for them. They're going 10 to have a little -- they originally requested something like 11 a 30-by-40, but what's available that's kind of within the 12 post design out there, it makes it much easier to enclose if 13 you have an extra 10 feet. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Have we talked -- or have you 15 thought about materials, what you're going to make it out of? 16 MS. YARBROUGH: As I discussed with Mr. Oehler 17 here, we want to do whatever complies with the rest of the 18 stuff that you're doing out there. We're going to be going 19 out for grant funding, and that's another reason for coming 20 to y'all, that we need to show them that we do have 21 permission to do this. And we're looking at doing a metal 22 building like the existing structure out there, and if y'all 23 have color schemes and stuff, we will go with that too. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I believe we ought to stay 25 with the color scheme that's on the existing barn on the east 2-11-08 85 1 side, the existing indoor arena, which is kind of a cream 2 color, so that everything matches and we don't have -- look 3 like, you know, -- 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Easy. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- the rainbow. 6 MS. YARBROUGH: Right. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just work with Maintenance on 8 that. 9 MS. YARBROUGH: Right. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Make sure they approve anything 11 like that. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good deal. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I move that we allow the Kerr 15 County Fair Association to utilize an approximately 30-by-50 16 foot space at the -- in the existing project barn at the Kerr 17 County Exhibit Center. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 21 indicated. Question or discussion on the motion? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the only other part of 23 this, we probably ought to put into the motion that this will 24 cancel Court Order 26874 that Commissioner Baldwin 25 researched, which allows you to put the temporary building 2-11-08 86 1 out there. 2 MS. YARBROUGH: Right. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That will be part of the 4 motion. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Upon the movement into -- into the 6 new space. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Further question or 10 discussion? All in favor of that motion, signify by raising 11 your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion carries. Thank you, 16 Ms. Yarbrough. 17 MS. YARBROUGH: Thank y'all for your time. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go back to Item 4, quickly; 19 consider, discuss, take appropriate action on implementation 20 of the burn ban. Is this the annual -- annual authorization 21 that we've got to do under state law? 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Quarterly. 23 MS. GRINSTEAD: Every 90 days. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move approval. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 2-11-08 87 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 2 indicated. Question or discussion? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just A comment. And I know 4 there's been a little bit of confusion regarding the 5 governor's declaration, and I asked Jody to do some research 6 on that, and that declaration is -- really has no impact on 7 our burn ban. It's -- it's a declaration of emergency, I 8 guess because of conditions, but we still have full authority 9 to lift or impose the burn ban as we see fit in the county. 10 And there's just a lot of -- there's confusion between, you 11 know, the Sheriff and NRCS as to who -- whose rules were 12 trumping whose rules, and this really does not do it. Though 13 I did talk to Joe Franklin this morning, and -- and his 14 feeling is that no prescribed burns will be allowed in the 15 county until further notice, because of that declaration, for 16 the most part. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Further question or discussion on 18 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 19 your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. We'll go to 24 Item 7 -- excuse me, scratch that. We'll go to Item 8; 25 consider, discuss, take appropriate action to go out for 2-11-08 88 1 annual bids for road base, cold mix, aggregate, emulsion oil, 2 and corrugated metal pipe. Mr. Odom? 3 MR. ODOM: Good morning, gentlemen. We're asking 4 the Court to give authorization for us to go out for annual 5 bids on road base, cold mix, aggregate, and emulsion oil and 6 corrugated metal pipe. Once we put out the bids, we will 7 come back to the Court for awarding the contracts March 24th, 8 2008, at 10 a.m., in Commissioners Court. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 12 indicated. Question or discussion? 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: The motion does carry. We'll go to 18 Item 9; consider, discuss, take appropriate action for final 19 revision of plat on Lots 5A and 5B, Grotto Springs Ranch 20 Number II, as set forth in Volume 7, Page 287 of Plat Records 21 and located in Precinct 3. 22 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. Mr. Voelkel came to me just a 23 little while ago and asked that -- he could not get all the 24 signatures for the plat, so I would ask the Court to pass on 25 this, and I'll bring it back next -- next time. 2-11-08 89 1 JUDGE TINLEY: No problem. Anyone on the Court 2 have anything to offer on that? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll move to Item 11; consider, 5 discuss, take appropriate action on request from Hill Country 6 Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Inc., to have the County 7 Judge sign a memorandum of understanding between the Kerr 8 County Court and Hill Country Council on Alcohol and Drug 9 Abuse so they may apply for funding with the Department of 10 State Health Services. Is a representative of the Hill 11 Country Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse present? 12 Ms. Grinstead, what -- what's the timeline on this particular 13 item? Other than their request and it being placed on the 14 agenda, I've not had any specific communication from them. 15 Have you? 16 MS. GRINSTEAD: I have not either. Just the letter 17 we received. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: I'd like to confirm that this is not 19 something that's not in conformity with what we've done 20 previously before we go forward on that. So, why don't we 21 pass on that one for now, and go to Item 12; consider, 22 discuss, take appropriate action on fee schedule for the Kerr 23 County Subdivision Rules and regulations. Commissioner Letz? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I believe everyone got in their 25 box this morning some additional language related to the 2-11-08 90 1 fees. We talked about it last time about in certain 2 situations where we're really not changing lots, to not 3 charge somebody the full fee, the way it's worded -- worded 4 right now. And what it is, it's -- I'll just read it. It's 5 all "amending plats" or "revision of plats" that modify less 6 than five lots shall be subject to -- shall not be subject to 7 the $10 per lot review fee, and shall be assessed at a $20 8 subdivision -- or $20 -- $20 subdivision with less than five 9 lots fee, even though the subdivision may contain a total of 10 more than five lots. I know that's a confusing way to get 11 there, but when I looked at the rules, what we're doing -- 12 saying here is that if you take a subdivision that has 50 13 lots, it gets pretty expensive. If you end up with 200 -- I 14 think -- I think a $200 initial fee, plus a per-lot fee, it 15 gets up to approaching $1,000. 16 If somebody came in, like in Bruce's the other day, 17 where they just changed where a road met the subdivision, 18 didn't really change anything, to me, they should pay the 19 minimum amount. There's no review from our standpoint. 20 That's the purpose of the fees. And this person would just 21 pay a $20 fee plus the recording fees, and just -- and I 22 think I had one in my precinct not long ago, changing a road 23 name in a subdivision. It was a large subdivision, and 24 again, it would be the same thing. They'd be hit with a 25 whole lot of fees for not doing anything different. 2-11-08 91 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you saying -- are you 2 saying that a flat $20 fee? Or $20 per lot? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: $20 flat fee. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Now it makes sense. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I wasn't reading it that 7 way, though. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's a lot of ands and ors 9 in there. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the second one is doing 12 basically the same thing with O.S.S.F. It's -- their fee 13 structure's a little bit different. They have a $35 fee and 14 a $10 fee based on lot size. It's the same thing. They pay 15 the basic minimum fee for O.S.S.F. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with you. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that a motion? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's a motion. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 21 indicated. Question or discussion on the motion? All in 22 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 2-11-08 92 1 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. We'll go to 2 Item 13; consider, discuss, and approve a service contract 3 with Peter W. Lewis Architects and Associates, and discuss 4 design planning for the Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. I put this on the 6 agenda. We asked Mr. Lewis to give a copy of his -- I guess, 7 of an in-house contract for the service we've hired him to 8 do, the planning at the Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center. I 9 passed it on to Rex; Rex has made some changes. I don't know 10 if Peter had time to look at the changes. 11 MR. LEWIS: Haven't seen them. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I left you a voice mail. 13 MR. LEWIS: Sorry. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Anyway, they're pretty minor. 15 I think we're -- on the first two pages, there was no 16 recommendation from the County Attorney. On the third page, 17 which is the first page of the Professional Services 18 Agreement, is deleting Number 1 under Indemnification. And 19 then the second line of that, towards the end of that -- or 20 under Number 2 under Indemnification, end of the first line, 21 it's deleting two words, "and indemnify." And then under 22 Risk Allocation, the fourth line, delete the word 23 "negligence." And then on the second page of that, under 24 Billings/Payments, we'll pay in 30 days, not 21 days, on the 25 first line. And those are the only changes the County 2-11-08 93 1 Attorney recommended. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Commissioner, is -- is this 3 22,500 -- tell me -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's budgeted. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How much did we put in 6 there? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's budgeted, 22,5. I think 8 we put 25, actually, so it's under -- 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the next part of this, 11 after we approve the contract, is kind of to talk about a 12 schedule real briefly. So, I make a motion to approve the 13 contract as revised. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 16 indicated. Now, question or discussion? All in favor of the 17 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: Further items in connection with 22 Item 13? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. Kind of -- just a little 24 bit as to where we go from here. I think we need a workshop, 25 probably, with Mr. Lewis. Is that kind of what you see, 2-11-08 94 1 Peter? 2 MR. LEWIS: And that's what we proposed originally. 3 We had some discussion about that, the nature -- I think 4 that's appropriate. I think a workshop with Commissioners, 5 with staff is appropriate, with any other stakeholders in the 6 community that might have an impact, maybe user groups. And 7 then I think we can really discern the compelling needs very 8 quickly that way, as opposed to trying to visit with 9 different groups at different times. It's -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I would -- the only thing 11 I'd do different, I think it would be best to get -- before 12 we get all the stakeholders involved, I think we need to come 13 up with an outline, anyway, that we're comfortable with as a 14 Court, and then get others involved. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So you're suggesting two 16 sets of meetings, one where the Court meets with -- 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- with Mr. Lewis? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think one just with the 20 Court. Maybe do it maybe on our next Commissioners Court 21 date, and then after we get a little bit further down, have 22 more of a meeting bringing it to the stakeholders. 'Cause I 23 think Bruce and I really visited with most of the 24 stakeholders so they would know what we're doing here, and 25 rather than getting us going off on different tangents, I 2-11-08 95 1 think we need to keep this a little bit focused. That's kind 2 of what Bruce and I have. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I like that approach. Last 4 time we did that, we had all the stakeholders together; we 5 kind of -- it was kind of like herding cats. We went off in 6 two different directions -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Juggling cats. 8 MR. LEWIS: Well, that's part of my responsibility, 9 is to facilitate the juggling and herding of those cats. 10 (Laughter.) 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, we'll just put it in a 12 workshop, maybe at 1:30 at our next meeting, Jody. Does that 13 work for you, Peter? 14 MR. LEWIS: Yeah. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Super. Good to see y'all 17 moving. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything further on that particular 19 item? Let's go to Item 18; consider, discuss, take 20 appropriate action to approve the 2007 racial profiling 21 report for the office of Constable, Precinct 3. Are we 22 required to approve those, or only receive them? 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think receive or accept. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Accept or receive. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 15? 2-11-08 96 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. No, we're on 18. I'm -- I'm 2 out of order here, but we're on 18. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: It's 3. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What about 15? 6 JUDGE TINLEY: I'll get there. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I've never seen one that had 8 all zeros on it. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm not saying a word. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's all I'm going to say 11 about it. Not my precinct. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move that we accept the 13 racial profiling report as submitted by Constable, Precinct 14 3. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 17 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion? 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: That motion does carry. We'll move 23 to Item 15; consider, discuss, take appropriate action to 24 approve the 2007 racial profiling report for the office of 25 Constable, Precinct 2. 2-11-08 97 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The only thing I would 2 offer, other than the fact that it's here and it's in front 3 of you, is that maybe we ought to figure out a way to have a 4 uniform presentation of these racial profilings. You know, 5 we've had -- this is the third one that's been presented, and 6 there are three different formats or presentations, so maybe 7 we ought to -- maybe we ought to counsel with our constable 8 to figure out a better way to do it. Move approval. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They're actually due March the 11 1st of each year, and the -- if everything were inputted into 12 the Odyssey computer program, it will print it out all in the 13 same format. But a lot of your constables don't use that. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Very good. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You'll see that when you 16 get -- 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: After we see that, maybe we 18 can implore our constable to use it. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You may rather not, depending 20 on what part of it you print out. It can be this thick. 21 But, yeah, it should be -- 22 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second for 23 approval of the agenda item. Further question or discussion 24 on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by 25 raising your right hand. 2-11-08 98 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. We'll move 5 to Item 16; report to Commissioners Court of the status of 6 investments made under Section 887(b) of the Probate Code 7 held in trust in various accountings by the County Clerk. 8 The report is a report that she is required by law to submit 9 annually to the Court, I believe. The materials submitted to 10 you gives the status of each and every account that she's 11 holding in trust for the benefit of various individuals. 12 MS. PIEPER: That is correct. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's it, isn't it? 14 MS. PIEPER: That's it. It's just an annual report 15 that's due by March the 1st of every year. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do we accept or do we 17 receive? Do we -- 18 MS. PIEPER: It just says that I'm supposed to give 19 you an annual report of the status of the accounts. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Why don't we accept the report? 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move that we accept this 23 report. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to accept 2-11-08 99 1 the report. Question or discussion? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a quick question. 3 Jannett, why are the majority of them with our depository 4 bank, but not all of them? 5 MS. PIEPER: Depending on what the court order 6 states. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The Court orders that? Okay. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Further question or discussion on 9 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 10 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 19; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 16 approve an additional $25,000 to $30,000 associated with 17 obtaining the long-term capital loan. Original amount 18 approved by Commissioners Court on 28 January '08 was 19 1.75 million. We just need to adjust the amount, is all 20 you're looking for, because of some add-ons? 21 MS. HARGIS: We forgot to add the fees that the 22 financial adviser and the banks will be charging us, so 23 that's -- 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And that's all this is? 25 MS. HARGIS: That's all this is. 2-11-08 100 1 JUDGE TINLEY: How much exactly are you wanting to 2 add, 25 or 30? Or 30? 3 MS. HARGIS: I want to -- let's put 30, just in 4 case. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to add 9 $30,000 to the original cap of 1.75 million. Any question or 10 discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, 11 signify by raising your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. We'll move 16 to Item 21; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 17 approve ESD Number 2's annual compilation report as submitted 18 to Commissioners Court at the January 28th, 2008 meeting. 19 MS. HARGIS: As y'all recall, you couldn't approve 20 it because I didn't have the agenda item in the proper 21 format, so I just need you to -- to accept -- 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So moved. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Third. 2-11-08 101 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 2 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 3 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: That motion does carry. Let's go to 8 Item 22; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 9 approve preparing an RFP for an actuary to prepare an 10 actuarial study in compliance with GASB 43 and 45, to 11 establish the liability for other post-employment health care 12 benefits. County will be required to have this liability 13 posted to the books after December 15, 2009. Study will take 14 around six to nine months to prepare. Average cost of 15 services ranges from $5,000 to $10,000. In order to meet the 16 deadline as set out by GASB, we will need to start the RFP 17 process and award the bid shortly thereafter. Actually, all 18 you're asking for is authorization to go out for proposals? 19 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 23 approval. Question or discussion? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Where's -- is the money in the 25 budget to do it? 2-11-08 102 1 MS. HARGIS: I'm going to have to find it. Because 2 I didn't know the -- you know, when the budget was being 3 prepared, I wasn't aware of exactly where we would fall, but 4 because we do provide post health care benefits, we do have 5 to -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, I don't recall having 8 past conversations about this in the budget issue with 9 GASB -- around GASB. I don't recall this particular issue. 10 Have we talked about this? 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We did, but not at budget 12 time. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But not at budget time, so 14 we did not budget money for it. 15 MS. HARGIS: Well, I don't think that you talked 16 about it at the budget time, because I was fairly new, as you 17 recall, at that particular time, and I wasn't sure of the 18 deadline. And I've been to several seminars that -- where 19 it's -- because there's so many studies going on, it is 20 taking a little bit longer than anticipated, you know, and so 21 I think we need to get it done. And they finally defined the 22 time frame. 45 just really came out and was made -- the 23 dates made available within the last year, so it's a fairly 24 new standard. 43 was in existence; you didn't really fall 25 under 43, but then 45 came in and further defined it, and 2-11-08 103 1 when they did that, it picked us up. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Is this -- 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, you knew that was coming, 4 sure. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, sure. Absolutely. 6 The -- is this a state issue or is this a federal issue? 7 MS. HARGIS: This is an American Institute of 8 Certified Public Accountants. This is -- this is really a 9 federal issue. This is what is required on your books in 10 order for you to be in compliance with the accounting 11 standards and rules. This is the big boo-hah that the State 12 of Texas decided that they didn't want to comply with. As 13 you recall, this was something on our -- that everyone voted 14 on, and they said that they didn't want to comply because 15 they budget on an annual basis, and therefore, they really 16 didn't have to. But most of the cities and the counties 17 within the state of Texas who want to go after bonds or loans 18 would prefer following the standards, and it will show a very 19 large liability on our books, so you have to get ready for 20 that, but it's better to show it. And they understand that 21 it's a future liability. That's why we have to have the 22 actuary. The actuarial study will need to be done -- it's 23 suggested every two years or every three years, and I think, 24 as small as we are, I think every three years will be fine. 25 It's just one of those -- GASB just bit us in a lot of -- 2-11-08 104 1 they're trying to pull them back. They really are. They're 2 trying to dissolve the commission, but that doesn't work. 3 So -- 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, in other words, if we 5 ever want any of our own money back -- 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Back. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- again, we have to play by 8 the rules. 9 MS. HYDE: There you go. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Makes all the sense in the 11 world to me. I mean, those conservative guys up there 12 recognizing each other yesterday on TV, that's great stuff, 13 I'm telling you. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Great theater. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Great theater. 16 MS. HARGIS: Thank you. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Further question or discussion on 18 the motion? We do have a motion, don't we? 19 THE CLERK: Yes, sir. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. All in favor of the motion, 21 signify by raising your right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. We'll move 2-11-08 105 1 to Item 23; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 2 approve resolution in support of the Kerr County Juvenile 3 Probation Department's applying for an AACOG grant for their 4 L.I.F.E. Skills program. Chief probation -- Juvenile 5 Probation Officer, Jason Davis. 6 MR. DAVIS: Morning, Judge. Good morning, 7 Commissioners. How are you all? We have a resolution that I 8 would ask this Court to -- to discuss, and open myself up for 9 any questions. This is a standard resolution that would be 10 submitted with an application to AACOG for a grant through 11 the governor's office. This is specifically for our L.I.F.E. 12 Skills or leadership program. It was developed under the 13 guidance of the County Judge, and where we take the Senior 14 Leadership Council curriculum used by 4-H and Texas 15 Extension, and are attempting to educate our juvenile 16 populations, specifically children that have referrals to 17 this county's Juvenile Probation Department, in that 18 curriculum. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is there a specific amount 20 you're seeking in this grant? 21 MR. DAVIS: Yes, sir, there will be after tomorrow, 22 when I write the grant. They're due on February 22nd to -- 23 to San Antonio, to AACOG. We are looking at, right now, 24 between $30,000 and $35,000 will be the amount that we're 25 going to request from AACOG. The majority of that will be 2-11-08 106 1 salary for the -- salary and fringe, some travel and expenses 2 and some program materials, although we're kind of limited 3 through AACOG on the restriction on the governor's office, 4 but the majority of that will be for salary. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Can you give us just one 6 example of a -- of something that we would be teaching 7 children? 8 MR. DAVIS: Yes, sir. Twelve pillars of character, 9 basically. The initial program that we looked at was the 10 Character Counts model; that's what is used by 4-H as a 11 foundation for the Senior Leadership -- Junior and Senior 12 Leadership Councils. You take these pillars, and then what 13 Roy Walston, Laurinda Boyd, and Jamie and Carla Schuster have 14 done is they've kind of looked at a lot of the curriculum 15 that are available through 4-H and through Extension, and 16 they've kind of gone through and cut and pasted, basically, 17 the curriculum that we use now. Trustworthiness, honesty, 18 citizenship, communication; we have 12 different programs, 19 each one basically 30 days in length, that we pull together 20 to make a one -- to make a yearlong program. Obviously, the 21 children -- most of them aren't on probation for that long, 22 so they kind of get bits and pieces of different points or 23 different things. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, can you, like -- can 25 you order a kid to this? 2-11-08 107 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Absolutely. That's why it's -- part 2 of why it's in place. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. You don't have to 4 yell; I'm sitting right here. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: It -- Commissioner, it's really not 6 rocket science. The kids that I don't see in my juvenile 7 court are the kids that are participating in those kind of 8 programs, and there's probably a good reason for that. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: They're exposed to the right kind of 11 things. So, what we're trying to do is to take these others 12 that are having some difficulty and maybe don't have the 13 parental supervision that they need, and maybe associating 14 with bad peers, put them in a positive environment with 15 positive peers, and maybe turn some of these kids around 16 where we don't see them again. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do you envision ordering a 18 kid there that is not a Kerr County resident? 19 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't have any jurisdiction over 20 kids that -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Or would you recommend it to 22 another -- 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I -- I would have. I would 24 have, possibly, if a case got transferred. There are very 25 limited circumstances under which a kid from another court, 2-11-08 108 1 out-of-county court, ends up here. And there may be some 2 jurisdiction ceded to me, but that would be very, very 3 limited. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But we would recommend to 5 Llano County Probation office that we have this program going 6 here, and we think it's a good thing for kids, and -- 7 MR. DAVIS: Yes, sir, we have. And, in fact, we -- 8 I was in Austin a couple weeks ago. There is -- there's 9 already some interest in the curriculum. Ward County 10 specifically said, "I want a copy of your curriculum as soon 11 as you can get it to me," and there were some other counties 12 that said, "I want to know more about this." This is our 13 first year. We started actually beginning classes in June, 14 and we basically went on the premise we need a full year to 15 work the curriculum, just to see -- cut and paste what we 16 need to do, what's going to work and what's not going to. As 17 of June, we think we're going to have -- we already have set 18 guidelines, an outline that we're following, but we're 19 finding there's certain things that are -- you know, we need 20 to spend more time on this and less time on that. And we're 21 going to, obviously, give, you know, anybody that requests 22 information that information, and then the copy of the MOU 23 that we have with A & M, with Extension, and that -- and kind 24 of give them a guideline of what we're doing. I don't expect 25 until June or July, though, to have a complete packaged thing 2-11-08 109 1 that we can give out to other counties, 'cause it's going to 2 take us that long to really see where we're at. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure. Sure. 4 MR. DAVIS: And then from there, we hope to build 5 in future years with actual 4-H activities and projects, and 6 that type of thing. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What is the use of this -- of 8 the funds here, if we're currently using -- it's really 9 Extension, correct? What's -- where's the money going? 10 MR. DAVIS: Right now -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If we get the grant, where is 12 that money going to go? 13 MR. DAVIS: The money would go to the -- 14 Ms. Schuster's salary, primarily, and then again, pay for 15 pens, you know, copy supplies, things -- notebooks, things 16 along those lines is what we're looking at. If you start 17 looking at the grant requirements from AACOG, they're pretty 18 limited on that we can't spend -- we cannot spend AACOG money 19 or governor's money on what they consider recreational 20 activities, so we have to be very careful in how we do that. 21 What's educational? What's recreational? Right now, the -- 22 the program is currently funded through federal grant money 23 that we're receiving, and that grant money, we are being 24 told, very well may go away. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 2-11-08 110 1 MR. DAVIS: That's the big concern. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And my last question is a 3 little bit more to the Judge. The fourth Whereas, are you 4 sure you want all that authority? Or is this boilerplate 5 that we have to do it? Usually the Judge doesn't want to 6 have all the power to do -- to act unilaterally, which that 7 gives him. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: I think if this application is going 9 to be signed on behalf the County, I got to. And -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's boilerplate for this 11 grant? 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, I think that's what I get. 13 MR. DAVIS: And in the Judge's defense, I don't 14 think he's seen this resolution. I typed it up Friday 15 afternoon, and so -- 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's broader -- the grant's a 17 little bit -- or the authority to the Judge is a little bit 18 stronger than usual. 19 MR. DAVIS: It actually wasn't delivered to him 20 until right before court started this morning, so he kind of 21 got blindsided. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And do we have any pull at 23 AACOG? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Very little. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Old buddy? I think this is 2-11-08 111 1 an excellent program. All for it, big time. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I do too. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval of the resolution 4 in support of Kerr County Juvenile Probation Department -- 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- applying for an AACOG grant 7 for the L.I.F.E. Skills program. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I still second it. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 10 indicated. Further question or discussion? All in favor of 11 the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: We will go to our 11:30 timed item; 16 consider, discuss, take appropriate action on approval of 17 resolution changing authorized representatives for the LOGIC 18 account. Ms. Williams? 19 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. What we were trying to 20 do, we were going to do some maintenance on this one small 21 investment account, and we were basically informed there was 22 one signer on the account, and that was the former County 23 Treasurer. We can't do anything until we get an amended 24 resolution and add new signers so that we can make some 25 changes. 2-11-08 112 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 2 MS. WILLIAMS: That is what I'm asking for. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 5 approval of the agenda item, to authorize Mindy Williams to 6 be on that account as County Treasurer. 7 MS. WILLIAMS: And also the County Auditor. We 8 need two signers. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: And County Auditor. Would that be a 10 counter-signature required, or either? 11 MS. WILLIAMS: Either, I believe. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. All right. Question or 13 discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, 14 signify by raising your right hand. 15 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 17 (No response.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 19 MS. WILLIAMS: Thank you. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to our financials quickly. 21 The remaining items we have deal with, actually, our -- or 22 potentially are designated as executive session items, and 23 I'd like to take those up after lunch. Let's go to our 24 financials right quick and see if we can get those out of the 25 way. 2-11-08 113 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, did we skip 7, or 2 was that withdrawn? 3 JUDGE TINLEY: We didn't skip 7. We're going to 4 come back with our -- 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: -- personnel items on that one. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. First item, payment of the 9 bills. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a couple of 11 questions, if y'all will allow me to get started. May want 12 to call out for some pizza, 'cause it's more than one here. 13 Page 2, County Judge. Can you guess which one I'm asking 14 about? 15 JUDGE TINLEY: You're going to have to identify it. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, the only one there. 17 What I'm reading is conference due and annual dues. Is that 18 not -- am I not reading that correctly? You know, I -- we've 19 got to do something about this -- the way you -- the way you 20 lay this out, 'cause I can't read these things about half the 21 time. I mean, what is "DU"? Is that short for dues? 22 MS. HARGIS: Yes, sir. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, maybe I can remember 24 some of this stuff. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Or Ducks Unlimited. 2-11-08 114 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Conference, Ducks Unlimited. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Ducks Unlimited. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: That's a good event, Commissioner. 5 I recommend it to you. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, the next one's in 7 Commissioners Court. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Oh, you're going too? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Conference dues, and 10 annual dues. As a member of the Judges and Commissioners 11 Association, I'm assuming. 12 MS. HARGIS: This one is annual dues. The Books 13 and Publications is the name of the account, and it prints on 14 top of that, and that's what you're seeing, Mr. Baldwin. 15 When she prints that description, it prints the name of the 16 account, and it's right next to it. So -- 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, conference -- 18 MS. HARGIS: -- if you stop at 2008, the public -- 19 the Books and Publications is actually the name of the 20 account. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, we're on Commissioners 22 Court now. 23 MS. HARGIS: Uh-huh. That's the name of the 24 account. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: On Page 3. 2-11-08 115 1 MS. HARGIS: It's the same thing with the first 2 one. The Conference Dues is the name of the account, and it 3 just looks like the description, but it -- it prints -- for 4 instance, you've got 10-400-485; the name of that account is 5 Conference Dues. Are you with me? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, ma'am. 7 MS. HARGIS: And so the description kind of -- the 8 description just prints right behind it, so you just have to 9 -- you just draw a line between them. The same thing on the 10 second -- on the County Judge's, 401-315. The name of that 11 account is Books and Publications, but this particular item 12 is for payment of the 2008 annual dues. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, I'm just going to take 14 your word for it. Now, annual dues is our membership to the 15 association. Let's -- yeah, let's go to the Judge -- let's 16 stay on the Judge's page here just for a second. Annual 17 dues. Is his annual dues for him being a member of the 18 Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas? 19 MS. HARGIS: That's his -- his -- 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: He's not going to go off to 21 some conference? 22 MS. HARGIS: No. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. All right. 24 MS. HARGIS: The second one -- 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right. 2-11-08 116 1 MS. HARGIS: -- that you're referring to is for all 2 of y'all. There are four of you at $220 each, so that's 3 $880. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, why would -- just 6 following up on Commissioner Baldwin's question, why would it 7 say Conference Dues if this is the annual dues for the 8 association? The word "conference" is what's confusing. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I guess it is. 10 MS. HARGIS: It's the name of the account. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's the name of the 12 account, Bill. Didn't you know that? 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I guess I'm learning 14 something. Thank you. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How long have you been here? 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Too long. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Actually, I think 18 that was all I had. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Shall we cancel the pizza order? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 22 MS. HARGIS: Anyone else? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval of the bills. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 2-11-08 117 1 approval of payment of the bills. Question or discussion? 2 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 3 hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. We have a 8 budget amendment summary that has been presented with four 9 different items. Do I hear a motion that the budget 10 amendments as specified on the summary be approved? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 14 approval of the budget amendments as per the summary. 15 Question or discussion? How in the world did we suddenly get 16 over nine grand upside down in Court Transcripts? 17 MS. HARGIS: Because of that special transcript 18 that -- for that trial that was about $6,000 from, I think, 19 2004. Remember, there was a murder trial and we had to give 20 a special transcript -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What murder trial? 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Probably that one that just 23 got upheld that went to the appeals court. It was a Kerr 24 County murder trial that actually took place in -- it was 25 early in 2000; I think it got tried in 2004 in Bandera 2-11-08 118 1 County. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: And Ms. Hyde is doing hers the right 3 way. She's asking that her budget be amended before she's 4 upside down. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: As opposed to after she got that 7 way, correct? 8 MS. HARGIS: Right. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 10 MS. HARGIS: And the County Attorney's is actually 11 new money, and it's all he's gotten to-date, so it's coming 12 back with additional funds. That's a new fee that we didn't 13 budget. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: We already have a motion and second. 18 THE CLERK: We got a motion and second. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion? 20 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 21 hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion carries. Any late bills? 2-11-08 119 1 MS. HARGIS: No. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Any monthly reports? I've been 3 presented with monthly reports from Constable, Precinct 1; 4 Constable, Precinct 4; Constable, Precinct 4, Racial 5 Profiling; County Clerk, General and Trust Funds; Constable, 6 Precinct 3; J.P., Precinct 3; Road and Bridge; J.P., Precinct 7 2; and Environmental Health. Do I hear a motion that those 8 reports be approved as presented? 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 12 indicated. Question or discussion? 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: The motion does carry. Do we have 18 any reports from Commissioners in connection with their 19 committee or liaison reports? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I was sitting here 21 trying to read through some of this stuff a while ago, and I 22 noticed this glare coming out of the light off of -- I can't 23 tell what that is in the back of the room. There's a glare 24 that comes off there, and I just was temporarily blinded. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Do you want to explain what 2-11-08 120 1 it is? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, maybe a bald head. 3 What are you doing in here? 4 MR. BUCKALOO: Just come by to say hello and see 5 what goes on behind the door here. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We usually have it locked. 7 Glad you're here. Good to see you. 8 MR. BUCKALOO: Thank you, Commissioner Baldwin. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Be careful with those 10 "glaring" comments. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, I noticed there was 12 one -- actually, it's kind of spreading around the room. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: You might be outnumbered. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You're just lucky enough to 16 have hair. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Don't spin around and show us the 18 back of your head. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's true. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Anybody else? 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Only just kind of a little 22 bit of follow-up to the Grantworks thing. The median 23 income -- household income study that Water Development Board 24 is requiring of us is underway. About 600 letters -- 633, I 25 believe, letters have gone out for people who we believe are 2-11-08 121 1 in that income strata that would be in the proposed service 2 area, from Center Point all the way east to -- to Comfort. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And you're going to continue 4 with the other study, the same study by the other group? 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, 'cause he explained 6 it would be used for a different funding source. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And the criteria might be a 9 little bit different. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Three items. One related to 12 the airport -- just short; won't take long. One related to 13 the airport is that just -- I'm rather annoyed that we had an 14 economic development plan that was coming -- coming out of 15 the airport through TexDOT and some consultants that was due 16 in November, and we still have not received it, to my 17 knowledge. It may be at the city somewhere; I don't know, 18 but we -- I have not seen it. Just a -- just a comment. 19 That may be brought up on Friday. Subdivision Rules, Jody 20 and I are going through the final revision of the -- the 21 draft we approved in December to get all of the typos 22 corrected and all that, and that should be online and 23 available by the end of the week. Third item, at the last 24 joint meeting with the City, Mack Hamilton and myself -- 25 Councilman Hamilton and myself were appointed to do some 2-11-08 122 1 study, and I really forgot what the study was, but he went on 2 and started working on it, and met with me last week. And 3 the reason I bring it up is, he's going to present this at 4 the meeting coming up, and what he has done, he's gone 5 through, and without -- without working with anyone in the 6 County, analyzed the County's budget, the City's budget, and 7 looking at various measures, primarily ad valorem taxes and 8 some on sales tax, and is attempting to prove that the 9 residents of the city of Kerrville are paying three-to-one 10 more taxes for the same services than county taxpayers are 11 paying. And I'm just bringing this up because he's going to 12 plop this thing out. I've not seen the final draft. I was 13 able to get a few footnotes added to it when I looked at it. 14 My recommendation is for us to not even hardly look at it and 15 react to it at the meeting. I think that it -- you know, and 16 I don't think it's -- he's going to object to that. I don't 17 want to get into a discussion on this. I think it's 18 meaningless at this point until we really look at it and ask 19 the Auditor to spend some time looking at the numbers also, 20 as our consultant related to numbers and finances and sales 21 tax and who's getting what, and where all these funds are 22 going. So, I'm just kind of putting it on the table, that I 23 hope we just go right over this when he hands it out 24 relatively quickly, and we can discuss it at a later date. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Go back to your item one 2-11-08 123 1 with respect to the consultant's report that was supposed to 2 be due for the airport. What kind of annoyed me, and not 3 only is it late -- three months late, but they're blaming 4 TXP, who did this one for us -- for the Economic Development; 5 they're blaming TXP for the lateness of the report, and 6 that's just a lot of nonsense. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I don't know that they're 8 blaming them. I know the City's blaming them. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Somebody's blaming them. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Whatever. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Got anything for us, Bruce? 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No, not a whole lot. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: That's good. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I could talk for a long time; 16 it doesn't serve a whole lot of purpose. Ray is doing a 17 really good job on Environmental Health and staying on top of 18 some issues that have been ongoing for a long time, Camp 19 Verde Store being one of them, Ingram school. Some -- some 20 severe solid waste issues in certain areas that he's 21 following up on, and I think in time we're going to see a 22 change in -- in the way people are doing their dumping and 23 things, messing up the county. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They're doing a great job down 25 there. 2-11-08 124 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I agree. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They've been working really 3 hard at it, and -- and I believe Roy -- Roy's been back to 4 work for a while, so we now have things cranking out of that 5 Environmental Health office; in most cases, a one- to two-day 6 turnaround when applications come in to construct and/or for 7 approval, review, or whatever. And I believe that some of 8 those issues are getting put to bed that we've had problems 9 with in the past, so we'll give them credit for working with 10 the public. And, again, I can't talk enough about Animal 11 Control and about Christine McEntyre doing their jobs and 12 doing them well in the face of a disaster which was about to 13 occur. And -- and the plan worked; Christine's plan worked, 14 and the people that were called showed up. And -- 15 JUDGE TINLEY: She had -- she had already rehearsed 16 that plan. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: They had had a rehearsal, I think, 19 probably a year ago, or maybe further back than that. She'd 20 already had a complete drill, and they'd gone through the 21 whole process, and they had everybody allocated. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It worked, and it worked 23 well. And response time, I think, was as quickly as it could 24 have been. I don't know how they could have improved on it a 25 whole lot. It may be improved on after having to go through 2-11-08 125 1 the real thing one time. But, anyway, that's about all I 2 have. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, thank you. We'll be in recess 4 till 1:30. 5 (Recess taken from 11:52 a.m. to 1:35 p.m.) 6 - - - - - - - - - - 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's come back to order. We 8 were in recess. We're now back in order. First thing we're 9 going to do is go out of -- first, let me ask you about the 10 one item that -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's open, I think. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I'll call Item 7; consider, 13 discuss, and take appropriate action on establishing a County 14 Information person. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Probably the hardest thing 16 about this agenda item is what to call this person, because I 17 didn't want to give the impression we want to create a 18 department or anything fancy. My idea was just to have 19 somebody do press releases occasionally, and maybe write some 20 articles that could go to all the local papers, information 21 type, such as the sewer projects that we've been involved 22 with, such as highlighting the Animal Control Department, 23 just things of that nature, just to let the public know what 24 -- what county government does. And I kind of got this idea 25 by looking at the Kerrville Daily Times and seeing what the 2-11-08 126 1 City of Kerrville was doing there. I don't know if you 2 noticed; they have a pretty regular -- people from the City 3 staff writing articles. And, you know, I'm sure they want -- 4 I could tell quickly there was a plan that they put together. 5 And not that I want to mimic what the City of Kerrville's 6 doing, but I think it's a good idea. The local press does 7 not give governments enough coverage, whether it be the city 8 or the county, and I think we need to take it upon ourselves 9 to put a little information out there. And I think the press 10 releases will be -- we'll send them to the paper; if they 11 want to write an article with that information, great. The 12 other part would be more, I guess, a column written in-house, 13 and they do it. I talked to Rosa Lavender. She has agreed 14 to do this. We're talking about probably three articles, two 15 to three times a month, whether it be press releases or 16 articles. It would -- she doesn't want to do it free, and I 17 don't think it should be done free. It would be handled as a 18 stipend in the budget. Jeannie has -- I asked Jeannie to 19 find some money, an amount of $750, which should be 20 sufficient to get us through this year, and next budget year 21 we can kind of look at it, see if it's something we want to 22 add. It'd probably come under Nondepartmental if we do add a 23 budget item for it as a stipend. And my idea is to do it 24 kind of $25 per time, just kind of the amount. No? 25 MS. LAVENDER: Just whatever that -- whatever the 2-11-08 127 1 stipend is; just don't make it a per-time. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Well, $750 through the 3 rest of this budget year. I think Ms. Hargis found the money 4 somewhere, or will find the money somewhere. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, Jon, you have always been 6 very, very quick to replicate and want to replicate -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. No. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: -- everything the City of Kerrville 9 does. You find them such a wonderful governmental model 10 that, you know, it's really -- really hard to argue with your 11 position there, wouldn't you say, Commissioner? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I would, Judge, and I 13 appreciate you asking me that, because I have something to 14 say about it. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, that's the sense I'm getting. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm just wondering if -- and 17 I know what Jon really means is -- is that we want to be 18 bigger and better than the City. And, like, when you -- I 19 mean, I'm not sure how to do that, but, you know, some bells 20 and whistles, when you open up the newspaper and there's the 21 county article in there, something kind of jumps out at you, 22 like, "Vote for Buster" or something. You know, some kind 23 of -- something like that. A whole lot like that. I don't 24 know how to do that, but I'm sure that that's exactly what he 25 has on his mind. 2-11-08 128 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Ms. Lavender said we will have 2 a photograph with every article. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Photograph of who, though? 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Not you. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Of the topic. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Not me. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A topic-generated photo. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Now, if the article's about 10 you, Buster, we can do -- 11 MS. LAVENDER: Just wait till you see the one for 12 the sewer. (Laughter.) 13 MS. HYDE: Oh, boy. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think it's a good idea. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think that's a great idea. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And when Commissioner Letz 17 and I talked about who could do this, it really boiled down 18 to only one person who is currently in our employ. And it's 19 not going to be me, I can tell you, if that's what you were 20 thinking. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: I was thinking you probably had 22 someone else in mind in your own defense. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, and it's not going to 24 be my wife, either. I think Ms. Lavender -- we need somebody 25 that has newspaper experience, is literate, has a command of 2-11-08 129 1 the English language, and the only person that came to my 2 mind in our employ was Ms. Lavender. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That rules Buster and I 4 completely out. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, kind of fell in there 6 for a minute. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The only thing that needs to be 8 done -- I think Rosa and I can put it together. I think it 9 needs to be a definite policy as to how she finds the topics. 10 I think the Court should -- should have control over that. I 11 mean, and I don't think we want to proof the articles; I'm 12 not saying that, but I just think as a -- today, the sewer 13 issues and the grants we've received, that's a good topic. I 14 think we need to figure out a mechanism for us to come up 15 with topics and get those to Rosa so she can then write on 16 those topics. I think she -- I think her comment to me, her 17 only concern was she didn't want me telling her to do one 18 thing and the Judge saying write something else, and Buster 19 saying write something else. She wanted just kind of 20 basically one voice telling her, "Here are the topics. Pick 21 from them." 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think there ought to be a 23 systematic approach to publicizing the role of elected 24 officials. All you got to do is go to election campaigns and 25 talk to people, as we are all doing right now, talking to 2-11-08 130 1 people; you find out how little they know about county 2 government and its function, and you find out how -- how many 3 people do not have a clue as to the differences in how county 4 government operates versus city government. And I think, you 5 know, those things -- we need to shed some light on those 6 things. It's a good thing to do. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But, on the other hand, the 8 flip side of that, I just ran into a fellow -- the 9 bald-headed one with the pen in his mouth right there -- a 10 while ago, that -- 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: There's a bald-headed guy 12 right in front of him. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Now, that's funny; you 14 started talking about bald-headed people this morning. Hell, 15 everybody's bald-headed, everywhere I look. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But this guy knew about the 18 ordinance-making powers that counties have. You -- you 19 really have to search the alleyways to find somebody that 20 understands that. And I ran into one right here in this room 21 that knew that we -- we have zero authority to do anything. 22 I just thought that was kind of neat. But I didn't mean 23 to... 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Anyway, if it's to proceed, 25 I'll put it back on the next agenda with kind of a formal -- 2-11-08 131 1 I think we need to have something formal, probably, from the 2 standpoint of an agreement. Maybe Rex and I can get 3 together, write something real simple, just do it as a 4 stipend. And, Jeannie, have you found the money somewhere? 5 She's nodding yes. We'll do that as a budget amendment next 6 time. 7 MR. LUTHER: Judge, Commissioner Letz, just as a 8 point of information, the county Historical Commission is 9 going to be putting quite a bit in the paper over this next 10 year. We've got a lot of markers that have been approved 11 that we're going to be doing releases on. And also, I have 12 been working with Thornton Secor on sort of an atlas of the 13 old roads and trails, and I thought it would be a nice 14 feature in the paper to take one of those at a time. There's 15 a lot up your way that are from 1885 topos that show the 16 Great Western Trail of the Town Creek and that sort of thing. 17 Take small portions of it, put an illustration in there with 18 a little story to go with it. So, I would see something at 19 least once a month. I was just hesitant about which would be 20 the best paper to put that in, and whether we want to use one 21 paper or rotate it around. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: West Kerr Current's a good 23 one. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On that topic, my idea in 25 talking with Rosa about the information would be to give it 2-11-08 132 1 to all the papers, and it's up to them to do what they want 2 to do with it. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sure, use them all. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, it'll be a -- we'll proceed 5 then and get something written up and put a budget -- or line 6 item in there, figure out how to get the stipend. Okay. 7 MS. LAVENDER: Okay. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, that's all we got for public 9 session at this time, so at 1:43, we'll go out of open or 10 public session, and go into executive session to consider 11 some remaining items on the agenda. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How long will we be, Judge? 13 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't know; they're not my agenda 14 items. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think real long. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Twenty minutes? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: About 20 minutes. About 20 18 minutes? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No more. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: I apologize, gentlemen. We just got 21 rolled over here. So -- 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Of course, some of us were 23 back in here ready to go to work at 1:15. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I was here at 1:30 when I said 25 we'd be back. 2-11-08 133 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, but we said 1:15. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: I want to get it on the record so we 3 can get you crabbing about stuff. Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right. 5 (The open session was closed at 1:44 p.m., and an executive session was held, the transcript of which 6 is contained in a separate document.) 7 - - - - - - - - - - 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. It's 2:16, and we will go now 9 into open or public session. Any member of the Court have 10 anything to offer as a result of matters considered in 11 executive session? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. I'll make a motion that 13 we change Nona Tucker's pay grade to a 17-9 due to changes in 14 job description and increased duties. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 17 indicated. Further question or discussion on the motion? 18 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 19 hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Anything 24 else to come before the meeting posted for 9 a.m. this day? 25 Hearing nothing further, that meeting will be adjourned. 2-11-08 134 1 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 2:20 p.m.) 2 - - - - - - - - - - 3 4 STATE OF TEXAS | 5 COUNTY OF KERR | 6 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 7 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 8 County Clerk of the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 9 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 10 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 14th day of February, 11 2008. 12 13 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 14 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 15 Certified Shorthand Reporter 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 2-11-08