1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Monday, March 24, 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 March 24, 2008 2 PAGE 3 --- Visitors' Comments 6 --- Commissioners' Comments 11 4 1.1 Consider/discuss take appropriate action on 5 request from A Child's Place Learning Center to waive fees & allow them to use Hill Country 6 Youth Exhibit Center on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 17 7 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on request from District Clerk, Linda Uecker, to 8 approve budget amendment to allocate additional $24,000 from the remaining Records Preservation 9 money to finish the project of imaging all old records currently on microfilm 20 10 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 11 purchase of new vehicles for the Environmental Health Department and Animal Control 23 12 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 13 adopt a Proclamation declaring April 2008 as Child Abuse Prevention & Awareness Month; 14 approve use of courthouse grounds for a kickoff event on April 1st, 2008, and blue ribbons to be 15 tied on courthouse trees during month of April 29 16 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to abandon, vacate, and discontinue Fossler Road 17 and set public hearing for same 31 18 1.6 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action concerning Final Plat of Headwaters Ranch, 19 Phase 1 & 2 38 20 1.7 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to open annual bids for road base, cold mix, aggregate, 21 emulsion oil, and corrugated metal pipe 41 22 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action concerning the Western Surety Maintenance Bond 23 #70271788 for Misty Lane in Megan Manor 43 24 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on approving road list to forward to City of 25 Kerrville for evaluation of possible annexation 46 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) March 24, 2008 2 PAGE 3 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to set date of May 12, 2008, at 1:30 p.m., for a 4 Transportation Priorities Planning Workshop with Texas Department of Transportation 53 5 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to set 6 date of April 14, 2008, at 1:30 p.m., for a workshop presentation on possible establishment 7 of "Paddling Trails" in conjunction with Texas Parks and Wildlife along stretches of the 8 Guadalupe River in Kerr County 57 9 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on updating and overseeing Kerr County website 60 10 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 11 approve Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Regional Water and Wastewater Matters and Range 12 Improvements 71 13 1.14 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to designate by resolution Grantworks as the 14 planning service provider for 2007 Texas Community Development Block Grant Colonia 15 Planning Project 727125 79 16 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to designate by resolution authorized signators for 17 2007 Texas CDBG Colonia Planning Project 727125 82 18 1.16 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on Resolution from Texas Farm Bureau concerning 19 eminent domain 85 20 1.18 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding real estate transactions 21 (Executive Session) -- 22 1.19 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on Road and Bridge Audit 100 23 4.1 Pay Bills 101 24 4.2 Budget Amendments --- 4.3 Late Bills --- 25 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 102 4 1 I N D E X (Continued) March 24, 2008 2 PAGE 3 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments --- 4 5.2 Reports from Elected Officials/Department Heads 103 5 1.17 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to finalize job descriptions of Human Resources 6 Director and employees of the Human Resources Department 105 7 1.18 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action 8 regarding real estate transactions (Exec. Session) --- 9 --- Adjourned 116 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 5 1 On Monday, March 24, 2008, at 9:00 a.m., a special 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 regularly scheduled meeting of the 9 Kerr County Commissioners Court which is scheduled and posted 10 for this time and date, Monday, March 24th, 2008, at 9 a.m. 11 It is that time now. Commissioner Williams? 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Judge. Will you 13 please rise and join me for our morning opening prayer, 14 followed by the pledge of allegiance. 15 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. At this time, if there's 17 any member of the public that wishes to be heard on any 18 matter that is not a listed agenda item, feel free to come 19 forward at this time. If you wish to be heard on an agenda 20 item, we would ask that you fill out a participation form. 21 They can be found at the back of the room. It's not critical 22 that you do that; it just helps me to make sure that when we 23 get to that item, I'm aware that you do wish to be heard on 24 that item. But if we do get to an agenda item that you wish 25 to be heard on and you haven't filed a participation form, 3-24-08 6 1 get my attention in some shape or manner and I'll see that 2 you have the opportunity to be heard. But right now, if 3 there's any member of the audience that wishes to be heard on 4 any matter that is not a listed agenda item, feel free to 5 come forward at this time. Mr. Bohnert, if you'll come 6 forward and give us your name and address and tell us what's 7 on your mind. 8 MR. BOHNERT: I'm Richard Bohnert, 200 Weston Road. 9 I'm not sure if something that I want to discuss is on the 10 agenda or not. I -- I turned in the form, and that may come 11 up in something that's on the agenda, so I don't know -- it's 12 discussion of some private property. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's -- I did not put 14 anything on. I didn't put anything on the agenda related to 15 anything on Wilson Creek Road. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I didn't. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: If this relates to that item, of 18 course, -- 19 MR. BOHNERT: Yes, it does. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: -- this is your time to let us know 21 what you're -- 22 MR. BOHNERT: Okay. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: -- what you have to say. 24 MR. BOHNERT: I have some items highlighted on some 25 e-mails that I have received, if y'all would like to have a 3-24-08 7 1 copy of that. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. Judge, this 3 looks like it may take about an hour and a half. Are we sure 4 we want to do it this way? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Oh, I'm sure Mr. Bohnert's going to 6 make it brief for us. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right. I'm leaving at 8 lunchtime; I can just give you fair warning. 9 MR. BOHNERT: To me, there's some things that just 10 haven't been cleared up. I read over the minutes, and there 11 are some issues on there that I'm still not clear of. And 12 some of the property owners that we have sold property to, 13 they're confused and don't understand what's going on, so 14 they are seeking advice from their attorneys. And on these 15 items, I'm kind of confused about this myself. I don't know 16 if there's some personal issues or what, but when we were 17 first put on the agenda, I have an e-mail here that says the 18 agenda for March the 11th, 2008, and it should have been 19 March the 10th. I did not find out about this until one of 20 the neighbors told me, "No, it's always the second and fourth 21 Monday." So, I called Mr. Letz about that. I don't know if 22 this was intentional or what, but that's the feeling I got, 23 that it was intentional that I would miss the Commissioners 24 Court. 25 And by some of the comments that are made on these 3-24-08 8 1 e-mails, I don't know where Mr. Letz gets this, that we have 2 other property to sell and that we have sold so much property 3 and caused problems on that road. There have been two houses 4 built on the property that we sold. One of those families 5 just moved in after the 1st of February. Their house was 6 just completed. Nothing on that road had been damaged up to 7 the point where those houses were put in. The property that 8 we sold up above, north of Wilson Creek Road, that was 9 246.99 acres. We had nothing to do with that development. 10 We sold it to some people and they started developing that 11 property -- that property, not us. Mr. Letz made a comment 12 in there referenced to us having unsold tracts. I don't know 13 if Mr. Letz has had some properties surveyed and platted out 14 there and is wanting to sell some of our property or what. 15 We sold all of the property we were going to sell, which the 16 closing date on the last piece of property, which was the 17 150 acres, was on -- in January of 2007. The -- the closing 18 was delayed because the purchasers could not make the final 19 closing in December of 2006. 20 The properties that have changed and caused these 21 problems were out east of our property. The cattle guards 22 that were removed, I still don't understand that. On Lane 23 Valley Road, which is the road that Commissioner Letz lives 24 on, those cattle guards are still out there. Why was our 25 property chosen as the first piece of property for this to 3-24-08 9 1 take effect, when where our property is is the widest 2 easement on Wilson Creek Road from Highway 27 all the way 3 over to Schladoer Road? The other properties were -- one of 4 the men that dictated to the property owners there where to 5 put their property -- their fence line, at his residence, the 6 fence is 30 feet from one fence of the road to the other 7 fence of the road. And this is a man that works for the 8 County, and he goes over to -- to people that purchase 9 property from us and tells us where to put the fence. My 10 question is, what authority does an employee of the County 11 have to tell someone where they need to put their fence line, 12 and then make it 10 feet past the County's easement? 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me interrupt you for just a 14 moment, Mr. Bohnert, -- 15 MR. BOHNERT: Yes, sir. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: -- to tell you that in this 17 particular segment of the meeting, because of the nature of 18 it and since it's not a listed agenda item, no member of this 19 Court has the ability to respond to anything that you say. 20 We're here to listen about your thoughts, suggestions, or 21 concerns, but we cannot respond. 22 MR. BOHNERT: That's fine. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Continue. 24 MR. BOHNERT: That's fine. So, Frank Manitzas 25 surveyed out 4 acres for his son, and that's at 535 Wilson 3-24-08 10 1 Creek Road. That house has been put in since we started 2 selling property on Wilson Creek Road. Mr. J.B. Beesland -- 3 Beeland, I'm sorry, from Richmond, Texas, has bought what was 4 the Holdsworth property out on Wilson Creek Road. He has 5 added a house and another resident out there. That is right 6 next to Clarence Burow's property. Sakewitz Lane has had, I 7 know, at least one house put in there, because I put a bid on 8 the air conditioning on that house. That house was just 9 completed in 2007. This is three houses already that have -- 10 have people living in there prior to when someone moved into 11 one of the houses that -- built on the property that we sold. 12 That has increased the traffic. Chester Kirchhoff's property 13 there shows houses being built out there. That is also on 14 Wilson Creek Road. Gordon Green is one of the people that is 15 having a house built out there; it may be completed by now. 16 The county road had been resurfaced in that area, and has 17 since been damaged. There's areas where the blacktop of that 18 road is already damaged, several locations. 19 I would challenge each of you to go and take a look 20 at this issue on Wilson Creek Road and see for yourself what 21 is happening. I feel like I am being targeted, and the 22 property owners who we sold property to are being targeted to 23 make some kind of a -- of a statement here to the rest of the 24 county. The people on Lane Valley Road have a lot of money, 25 and they are not being affected by this. There are cattle 3-24-08 11 1 guards out there too that have livestock running across the 2 cattle guard -- I mean across the county road, and the fence 3 goes up to that cattle guard -- or to the county road. The 4 cattle guard goes across it to keep their livestock on their 5 property. Those cattle guards are what is preventing open 6 range. That is part of the fence. That's all I have to say. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. Is there any other 8 member of the public that wishes to be heard on any matter 9 that is not a listed agenda item? Okay, we'll move on, then. 10 Commissioner Williams? 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Nothing really, Judge. It 12 was a great Easter weekend, and good to be back to work, and 13 let's do our job. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Letz? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just one thing, that I had some 16 conversations with some members of the City Council last 17 week, and I'm looking forward to their meeting tomorrow where 18 they're going to address a couple issues that I think the 19 County's been really anxious for them to work on. One's the 20 airport governance, and the other is to respond to us on more 21 of a policy level, what my understanding is, on where we're 22 going with some of our joint operations. Having said that, 23 you know, to me, we didn't need to -- we've already met on 24 these individually for, oh, years and years, and that we 25 really need to figure out where we're trying to go long-term, 3-24-08 12 1 and then try to get there. And I know my most recent visit 2 with Councilman Hamilton, and from his views, anyway, it will 3 be interesting to see what we get back from City Council 4 tomorrow, if anything. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And to preface all -- what 6 you just said, you and I had a very nonproductive meeting, to 7 say the very least, because we were dealing with a staff 8 member who is marching to the orders as crafted by somebody 9 other than, perhaps, City Council. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What Commissioner Williams is 11 referring to, we were assigned the task of, I guess, a 12 committee to work with the library, airport, and animal 13 control. And we were told by the City -- 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you fixing to translate 15 that? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. As soon as -- you'll 17 appreciate this, Commissioner Baldwin. I think we've heard 18 this once before several years ago. We were told as soon as 19 we sat down that we can't talk about the airport, 'cause it's 20 off the table. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I said, "Okay, that's fine." 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Primary focus. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We say that's good. We didn't 25 get a whole lot of comments in an hour and a half, but 3-24-08 13 1 anyway, that's all. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: What do you have for us, 3 Commissioner Oehler? 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Only thing that I really have 5 is the burn ban situation has caused me a lot of grief. I 6 think it's probably one of the things that we -- we dread the 7 most about making decisions on, and my situation where I have 8 over half the area of the county in my precinct, and they 9 tend to get more rain on the east end than we do on the west 10 end, and the ones on the east end that join on Precinct 1 are 11 raising stink and wanting to be able to burn, and they don't 12 seem to understand that you can't just give individual 13 permits, or if we can, I don't know how you do that. Just 14 another one of those little challenges that we have to deal 15 with, and people somewhat have to be understanding that, you 16 know, it's better for us to err on the side of caution than 17 it is to do it the other way. So, that's one of those things 18 we have to deal with. And it is somewhat -- it's much better 19 than it used to be, but -- by doing it county-wide, which was 20 really bad whenever we had differential rainfall. But, 21 anyway, that's just one of those things. And -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Incidentally, I'm putting the 23 burn ban on at 6 o'clock this evening. There's some pretty 24 high winds. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, mine hasn't been off 3-24-08 14 1 but a few days during this time. We just haven't gotten the 2 rain. You've been real fortunate on the east end. On the 3 west end, we are just dry as a bone. I think we've had a 4 total of about maybe an inch in the last month, and that just 5 is not enough to justify taking the -- taking it off for any 6 great length of time. So, anyway, just one of those little 7 challenges, but that's probably one of the most controversial 8 things that I face on my end. I'll be quiet. Go ahead, 9 Buster. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I used to think that 11 the septic tank program was the one that was going to put me 12 in my grave, but I began to wonder if it's not the burn ban. 13 That's major, major stuff. I tell you, the burn ban is one 14 of my most unfavorite things on the face of the earth, 15 because we're telling people what to do with their lives and 16 property, which borders on insanity to me. You have the 17 government telling people what to do. But the key is, you've 18 got to, or they'll burn the goddern country up and all their 19 neighbor's belongings. So, it's damned if you do and damned 20 if you don't. But, you know, this thing -- I guess I'm 21 becoming a crotchety old coot, maybe, but -- 22 JUDGE TINLEY: I've heard that. I've heard that 23 asserted numerous times. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, here's a -- actually, 25 I became a rabbi over the weekend. But -- 3-24-08 15 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: See his picture in the 2 paper? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Did y'all see my picture in 4 the paper, Rabbi Baldwin? I got to get me one of those 5 little hat things to wear. I don't know what they are, but I 6 need one. But -- 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: With a propeller? 8 (Laughter.) 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That'll work. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Get one with a propeller on 11 it. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Touche'. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The -- but when they -- I've 14 had a few phone calls in the last week about, "Well, the burn 15 ban in Precinct 2 and Precinct 3 is lifted. Why aren't..." 16 I really don't care what they do down there. I couldn't care 17 less what they do in Precinct 2 and Precinct 3. I'm 18 responsible for people in Precinct 1. They don't like that, 19 but that's just tough. That's part of life; I agree with you 20 100 percent. Easter's one of my favorite times, what it 21 represents and what it means and everything. I just think 22 it's just so neat, and it's -- how it relates to family and 23 getting together with family. Well, this -- and I spent some 24 good quality time with part of my family. They're -- of 25 course, my daughter and them are still gone to New Zealand. 3-24-08 16 1 But I ran into -- this morning, real early, when I was out 2 with my dogs, I ran into one of Rusty's deputies that spent 3 the Easter weekend with his family, which includes three 4 children that are stationed -- all three of them are 5 stationed in Iraq. And they -- they all got to come home and 6 be a part of the family unit this Easter. And I -- boy, as 7 I'm walking through the woods this morning, trying to get 8 home with my dogs, all those thoughts of what that's like 9 just flooded me, and how -- how grateful we are that we have 10 our family, and probably the most perfect commissioners court 11 in the nation. (Laughter.) That wasn't funny; that was 12 serious. But just remembering these -- these folks that are 13 out giving their lives so that we can be here doing this, and 14 living life and going to Retreat Center and hunting Easter 15 eggs with grandkids. You know, anyway, that's all. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Commissioner. You know, 17 this -- this conflict we're in over in the mid-east is far 18 different, as was Vietnam -- to a somewhat lesser degree, 19 Vietnam -- than earlier conflicts in our country. Those of 20 you that can recall World War II remember that everyone was 21 invested in that conflict. I mean, from the tiniest child to 22 the oldest individual, there was some sort of sacrifice -- 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: -- that was being endured because of 25 that war effort. We probably do not stop and think about 3-24-08 17 1 what sacrifices are being made by our armed forces this day 2 and time, because the general population is not invested in 3 that conflict. You know, we're worried about the major 4 investment banks on Wall Street having a tough time of it, as 5 opposed to what we can do in order to do our part in 6 sacrifice for that war effort. Just yesterday, of course, we 7 hit the 4,000 mark of troops lost, and, of course, there's 8 many, many more that are wounded that we are responsible for, 9 and I hope that we will properly discharge that 10 responsibility to them in the coming months and years. But 11 you're exactly right; we don't think about that enough, and 12 we should. And I suppose the Easter season, when it comes to 13 sacrifice, would be a really good time to think about that, 14 and I appreciate your comment. Let's get on with the 15 business at hand, if we might. First item is to consider, 16 discuss, and take appropriate action on request from A 17 Child's Place Learning Center to waive the fees and allow 18 them to use Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center on Tuesday, May 19 13th, 2008. Ms. Fitzpatrick? 20 MS. SMITH: I'm Julie Smith. I'm here for Sherri. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. If you'll come forward and 22 give us your name and address, and tell us what -- what your 23 thoughts are on this? 24 MS. SMITH: Okay. My name is Julie Smith. I live 25 at 298 McDonald Loop in Center Point, and I'm the Executive 3-24-08 18 1 Director over at A Child's Place Learning Center. And our 2 center is a nonprofit early childhood and early education 3 center. And every year we have about 20 children that 4 graduate, I guess, so to speak, out of our preschool program 5 into kindergarten, and we have a big ceremony for families 6 and those kinds of things, and we have just outgrown our 7 center in the last few years and being able to house extra -- 8 especially grown-ups in our center, 'cause everything is so 9 child-oriented. And last year we were fortunate enough to be 10 able to use the just the swine area of the Exhibition Center 11 for about four hours on an afternoon, and just have our 12 little ceremony and let families come in and visit and, you 13 know, kind of enjoy their last preschool moment with their 14 child, and then finish up. And we were cleaned up and out of 15 there by -- I guess by 9 o'clock. I think we were in there 16 about 3:00 and we were out by 9:00, set-up, clean-up and 17 everything. And so we're just requesting waiver of those 18 fees again, if possible, for us to have that ceremony. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: What sort of -- of reduction or 20 waiver did you receive in years past? 21 MS. SMITH: Well, we -- last year was the first 22 year that we did it, and they just waived the -- the fee for 23 -- the rental fee. And we added onto -- the County as 24 additionally insured onto our current insurance so that we 25 didn't have to purchase insurance through the County, and we 3-24-08 19 1 provided documentation to the County as proof of that 2 insurance, so that there was no liability left on the County. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Are you a 501(c)(3) organization? 4 MS. SMITH: Yes, we are. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: You have documentation to that 6 effect? 7 MS. SMITH: Yes, sir. I don't have it with me, but 8 it should have been included in the things I sent to Jody. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Included in your -- 11 JUDGE TINLEY: We have totally reworked that entire 12 rental scheme out there, as I'm sure Mrs. Grinstead told you. 13 MS. SMITH: Yes. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Probably since you used it last 15 year. 16 MS. SMITH: I think so. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: And the way it's being handled now 18 is on a discounted basis. 19 MS. SMITH: Okay. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: And the maximum discount for a 21 501(c)(3) is what, 75 percent? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 50 percent. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: 50? 24 MS. GRINSTEAD: You've agreed to waive the $350 25 rental fee, but they still pay for tables and chairs. 3-24-08 20 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 2 MS. GRINSTEAD: That's how we're doing nonprofits. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we include 4 A Child's Place Learning Center on our nonprofit list. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 7 indicated. Question or discussion on the motion? All in 8 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 9 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 11 (No response.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. The bottom 13 line of what was just done is, whatever discount is offered 14 or -- or waivers for 501(c)(3)'s, you will be included on 15 that list. 16 MS. SMITH: Okay. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: And you'll be treated the same as 18 everyone else with 501(c)(3) status. 19 MS. SMITH: Okay, thank you. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. The next item is 21 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on request 22 from the District Clerk, Linda Uecker, to approve a budget 23 amendment to allocate an additional $24,000 from the 24 $78,629.90 remaining in Records Preservation budget, 25 28-635-411, to finish the project of imaging all old records 3-24-08 21 1 currently on microfilm. Ms. Uecker? 2 MS. UECKER: Yeah. Good morning. When Judge 3 Tinley and I met on the budget last year, the amount that we 4 came up with to finish this project was, you know, an 5 estimate on our part. It's difficult to pin it down exactly, 6 because we don't know how many images are on every roll of 7 microfilm. All we can do was take an average and guess at 8 how many rolls there were left. It's going to be a little 9 bit short. Well, in my request, I'm asking for 24. I don't 10 think it's going to take quite that, but I don't know. The 11 money that this would be coming from is from the -- the 12 general Records Preservation fund, which currently has 13 78-plus thousand dollars in it, and can be used for no other 14 purpose. This would finish that particular project now, and 15 I wouldn't have to deal with it next budget session. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Linda, the $78,000 fund, 17 that fund in there that can't -- that money can't be used for 18 anything else -- 19 MS. UECKER: Right. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- but records preservation, 21 that's generated from where? 22 MS. UECKER: From court costs and fees from my 23 office, as well as the County Clerk's office. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So it is not -- there's no 25 taxpayers' -- I mean, we don't budget that money there. 3-24-08 22 1 MS. UECKER: No, that's a user fee, and that's why 2 the Legislature has established that. There are actually 3 three of those funds, one that is recent, that's fairly new 4 that's just for my office, that doesn't have a whole lot of 5 money in it yet. I think the County Clerk has one that does 6 generate a lot that she uses. And this one is for anyone in 7 the county; even the Commissioners Court can use this money 8 to, say, maintain records of the Commissioners Court. The 9 Treasurer can use it; anyone can use it. But the money is 10 generated from court costs and fees. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: And is limited to records 12 preservation purposes. 13 MS. UECKER: Only. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: By whomever used. 15 MS. UECKER: That's right. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 17 MS. UECKER: Absolutely. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval of the 19 request. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I'm seconding it. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second for 25 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion on the 3-24-08 23 1 motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 2 right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 5 (No response.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. We'll move 7 now to Item 3; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 8 on purchase of new vehicles for the Environmental Health 9 Department and Animal Control. 10 MR. GARCIA: Morning. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Good morning. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Morning, sir. 13 MR. GARCIA: You should have a copy of all the 14 quotes there. Ken Stoepel came in with the lowest bid at 15 17,974, and also for one 4x4 vehicle for Animal Control at 16 20,000. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, the second one, even 18 though it has your name on it, is for the Animal Control? 19 MR. GARCIA: Yes, sir. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. Okay. 21 MR. GARCIA: All the bids were put in through my 22 department. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 24 MR. GARCIA: We just incorporated Animal Control 25 with it. 3-24-08 24 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: One for your department, 2 one for Animal Control? 3 MR. GARCIA: Three vehicles for my department and 4 two vehicles for Animal Control. 5 MS. ROMAN: Two for Animal Control. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay, let me make sure I 7 understand this. We're not talking about purchasing -- 8 you're not -- the request here before us today is not to 9 purchase two vehicles? 10 MS. ROMAN: Two vehicles for Animal Control and 11 three for -- 12 MR. GARCIA: Three vehicles for Environmental 13 Health. 14 MS. ROMAN: Five total. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. That clears that up. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What was the budgeted amount 19 for this? 20 MS. HARGIS: That was not a budget issue of -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What was the dollar amount? 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: 60,000. 23 MS. HARGIS: 60 in one. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: In Environmental Health. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 60? 3-24-08 25 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And the two was 40,000. 2 MS. HARGIS: I think it was 100 all together. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It'd be 100; 60 and 40. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: The total amount would cover all of 5 them. Be a little short in Animal Control, but a little long 6 in the -- in the Environmental Health, it sounds like, based 7 upon the figures you just gave me. 8 MS. HARGIS: You have some vehicles to sell or to 9 trade in -- 10 MS. ROMAN: Trade in. 11 MS. HARGIS: -- that should offset the difference. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Janie, do you need both your 13 vehicles 4-wheel drives? 14 MS. ROMAN: No, we're just asking for one 4-wheel 15 drive. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, there's three of the 17 regular and one 4-wheel drive, or four -- 18 MR. GARCIA: There's four 4x2's and one 4x4. 19 MS. ROMAN: 4x4. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is there not a more 21 fuel-efficient vehicle that would meet your needs than these 22 F-150's? That's a question. 23 MS. ROMAN: We're thinking. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Which generally requires an 25 answer. 3-24-08 26 1 MS. ROMAN: For what we're using them for, I don't 2 see -- I mean, like, the 4x4 -- I have to have a 4x4 to be 3 able to pull the trailer that we just purchased. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 5 MS. ROMAN: With livestock and -- 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. That's an answer. 7 MS. ROMAN: So I would say no. 8 MR. GARCIA: And the mileage -- the gas mileage for 9 the 4.6 V-8 versus the 6-cylinder is not that much difference 10 as far as the mileage that we drive for inspections across 11 the county. It's -- it's -- 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Are these V-6's or straight-line 13 sixes -- 6-cylinder that you're referring to? 14 MR. GARCIA: 6-cylinder. Yeah, V-6. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: It's V-6's? 16 MR. GARCIA: Yes, sir, but that's -- 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Doesn't make much difference. 18 MR. GARCIA: No, these are the smaller V-8's. 4.6 19 V-8. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll move approval -- 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- of the five vehicles. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 24 approval of the purchase of the five vehicles as requested, 25 which would be four 4x2's and one 4x4, two of which go to 3-24-08 27 1 Animal Control, including the 4x4, and three of which would 2 go to Environmental Health. Am I correct? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's correct. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is budgeted items that 6 were under the -- 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: One question, Judge. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, sir? 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Do these prices include the 10 cost of markings and so forth that you would put on the 11 vehicle? 12 MR. GARCIA: No. 13 MS. ROMAN: For my department, we -- 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Either department. 15 MS. ROMAN: Okay. 16 MR. GARCIA: No. 17 MS. ROMAN: No. But for my department, I don't 18 need it, because we just purchased the new magnets that we're 19 going to transfer over to the new -- to the new vehicles. 20 So -- 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. Same with you? 22 MR. GARCIA: I have the magnets from the other 23 vehicles. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay, thank you. 25 MS. ROMAN: And the cages -- excuse me, the cages 3-24-08 28 1 that we currently have on our trucks are able to be modified 2 for the new trucks, to fit the new trucks. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Other questions or discussion? 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a question about the 6 bond. What is the status -- where are we in the bonding 7 issue? If we order these trucks today, do we have actual 8 money to hand -- 9 MS. HARGIS: Cash -- actually, cash was received a 10 week ago last Thursday -- Thursday, and is in the bank. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Super. Thank you very much. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Quick. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: You had a question? 14 MR. EMERSON: Just a general question. Since I 15 didn't know anything about it, I'm assuming that the 16 purchasing requirements in the code were followed to get the 17 bids? 18 MS. HARGIS: H.G.A.C. 19 MR. EMERSON: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And for the -- it's a 21 short-term debt. It's not a bond, per se; it's really -- we 22 refer to it as bonds. It's actually a tax obligation 23 certificate. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: I've been trying to modify the 25 Auditor's vocabulary now for a period of weeks. I just 3-24-08 29 1 haven't gotten there yet. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: A difference in terminology 3 between county and city. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: There you go. There you go. Any 5 other question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, 6 signify by raising your right hand. 7 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 9 (No response.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. We'll move 11 to our 9:30 item; consider, discuss, and take appropriate 12 action to adopt a proclamation declaring April 2008 as Child 13 Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month in Kerr County, and 14 approve use of courthouse grounds for a kickoff event on 15 April the 1st, 2008, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., and blue ribbons to 16 be tied on the courthouse trees during the month of April. 17 Commissioner Baldwin? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. I don't see 19 any of our people, so we're going to go ahead and do this and 20 take care of it. Fairly explanatory here. The -- we've done 21 this annually now for three or four years. But the point I 22 want to make is that this particular group -- and I've said 23 this every year -- is my favorite group that I work with, 24 because they actually do something. And you can see in your 25 backup now that they are not alone any longer. There are 3-24-08 30 1 groups that are coming along beside them now and assisting 2 and participating in the things -- in the things that this 3 group does. And it's a very basic issue, and that is 4 declaring Child Abuse Prevention Month, and doing everything 5 that we can to get what that means out into the public. So, 6 I'm going to make a motion that -- that we do declare 7 April 2008 as Child Abuse Prevention/Awareness month. And 8 also in that motion is the use of the courthouse grounds for 9 a kickoff event on April the 1st, 2008, and they've requested 10 that if you -- all you guys can be there, it would be most 11 appreciated. That'll be from 5:30 to 7:00. And the blue 12 ribbons will be tied on the trees like we've always done in 13 the past. In order to kick this thing off, this is a -- this 14 is a gift from -- from that group to the Commissioners Court. 15 And it's the -- it's the little -- along in here are the 16 little blue ribbons, as you can see, that you take and put on 17 your lapel for each one of us to start wearing and 18 representing this little group. And there just happens to be 19 some potato chips and stuff in there. I don't know what this 20 is, but here. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: That says "Commissioners." 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, could be. So, anyway, 23 there -- there's that. And I get the basket. But that would 24 be my motion, Judge, I think. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 3-24-08 31 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Let me see what the card 2 says. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second. 4 Question or discussion on the motion? Wait a minute, there 5 may be cash in there. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. I thought there was 7 going to be a gift certificate to Belk, but it's not. Child 8 Abuse Awareness Month, April 2008. Please join us for an 9 awareness event at the courthouse Tuesday, April 1, 5:30 to 10 7:00, sponsored by Kerr County Child Services Board, and it's 11 addressed to Commissioners Court. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or discussion on 13 that motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 14 your right hand. 15 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 17 (No response.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: It's time to eat, Buster. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Getting close. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's move to Item 5; 21 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to abandon, 22 vacate, and discontinue Fossler Road and set a public hearing 23 for the same. 24 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. It came to our attention that 25 while Headwaters Ranch was being platted, that the deed 3-24-08 32 1 records showed a county road through their property and into 2 Mrs. Walton's property. The road is not maintained by the 3 County, and to our knowledge, has not been used for over 20 4 years. As the map in your packet shows, Mrs. Walton accesses 5 her property through the Houston-Schumacher Road, and 911 has 6 named her private drive as Fossler Road, the highlighted 7 portion. Ranchland Enterprises and Mr. Walton own all land 8 abutting the road, and want the county road to be abandoned, 9 vacated, and discontinued, leaving Ranchland to plat and 10 build their portion of the road as Midwaters Drive, and 11 Mrs. Walton's portion to be a private drive. At this time, 12 we ask that you set a public hearing for April the 28th, 13 2008, at 10 a.m. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Question. 15 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The old road that comes in 17 off of 1340, old Fossler Road, I guess, what is the status of 18 that? 19 MR. ODOM: That was -- that coming off 1340 is what 20 goes through Mr. Poorman's property here, this development. 21 And what it is, actually, was maybe an old road, Buster, 22 years and years ago. We haven't maintained it at all. It -- 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I know. 24 MR. ODOM: Ms. Walton -- you know, when you were 25 out there, no one's, to my knowledge -- well, when you were a 3-24-08 33 1 precinct commissioner. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, when I was a 3 commissioner out there. 4 MR. ODOM: That has never been maintained by the 5 County, and so what we wish to do is acknowledge that and to 6 eliminate that easement, because the surveyor picked it up 7 and it was on a deed record in '92. For whatever reason, 8 they picked it up, and we need to displace that -- that 9 thought that we don't have a road. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You have the new Fossler 11 Road highlighted here, but the old Fossler Road is not 12 highlighted. That makes me ask the question, what about the 13 old Fossler Road? How did they -- Bruce, how did they get in 14 -- how did they get into ranch headquarters? 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The Fosslers, right now they 16 get in off -- through the Kerr Wildlife area down Schumacher 17 Road. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But there was a road on 19 1340, and that's the one I'm seeing here. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right there. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So they just abandoned -- 22 quit using that. 23 MR. ODOM: That's right. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Actually, what happened, I 25 believe, Buster, years ago, was they could come in off of 3-24-08 34 1 1340 through Headwaters Ranch, which is now being developed 2 into Headwaters Ranch. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Through that and into 5 Fossler, and kind of a loop system in there. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, it was. I understand. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But everybody has access -- 8 everybody does have access to their property. This in no way 9 hinders anybody's ability to access their property. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 11 MR. ODOM: Doesn't create any problem for 12 Mrs. Walton or anybody. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Both property owners are 14 willing to do this, and this will stop any kind of 15 encumbrance to any future owners of the property. And it's 16 just really a trail through there; it was only used minimally 17 at times in the past. And felt like this was a good way to 18 clean up and get rid of an old easement that basically has 19 been abandoned already, and the County just needs to do it, I 20 believe, for the future owners of the property. 'Cause 21 what'll happen is -- is two of the tracts in the new 22 development are going to be encumbered by this easement, 23 which really doesn't do anything, except it just encumbers it 24 for something to go wrong in the future. 25 MR. ODOM: In the future. Muddy the water in the 3-24-08 35 1 future. We want to eliminate that, because you still have to 2 show that up in Mrs. Walton's property. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: In her -- in her letter, it 4 says that she is not opposed to the formal closing, provided 5 that the whole route is closed. And that -- and we're doing 6 that? 7 MR. ODOM: Yes, whole thing. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That -- 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That got to the point to 11 where we needed a letter from the Headwaters owners as well 12 as Mrs. Walton that would take care of all parties. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That way we wouldn't have 15 somebody left hanging out to dry. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: What you're seeking today is for the 17 Court to set a public hearing on April 28th, '08, at 10 a.m. 18 on this matter, on the closing -- 19 MR. ODOM: The closing of this matter. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: -- of this road? 21 MR. ODOM: That's correct. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I move for the agenda item, 23 that we set the public hearing on the 28th of April. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 3-24-08 36 1 indicated. Question or discussion? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I have one more 3 question. On the property coming in right here, is -- that 4 piece right here -- Bruce, that road, is it saying where it 5 is? 6 MR. ODOM: It shows -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's the -- 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That would be on -- 9 MR. ODOM: -- to Mrs. Walton's. I don't know; I 10 don't have -- 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Be this right here. Wait a 12 minute, I'm turned around. Come on, Bruce -- yeah, that 13 would be accessing right here. 14 MR. ODOM: What you see through Headwaters is the 15 center line of the road was laid out by those metes and 16 bounds all the way up to Mrs. Walton's. And I don't have any 17 data -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 19 MR. ODOM: -- on Mrs. Walton's, other than showing 20 that part coming up against Headwaters development. So, what 21 we want to do is to take any doubt that Mrs. Walton's -- 22 whatever's called by 911 "Fossler Road" is eliminated, and 23 that eliminates -- if we do this on Headwaters, it eliminates 24 any thoughts of a road followed on those metes and bounds. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we're abandoning the piece 3-24-08 37 1 over here, too? 2 MR. ODOM: That's correct, Mrs. Walton's. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah, abandoning the -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I didn't want us to leave a 5 certain length at the end. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's what we're not doing. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The entire road. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The entire road. Anything 9 left to interpretation. 10 MR. ODOM: And anything construed, because you can 11 see how 911 laid it out on the other page there. We just 12 want to say, anything that's construed in there as -- as 13 County-maintained road is eliminated. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's actually county 15 easement. 16 MR. ODOM: Or county easement. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We don't really have -- we 18 don't need this easement, and we sure don't want it any more. 19 MR. ODOM: Certainly. It's been over 20 years, and 20 by our actions, it was abandoned a long time ago. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or discussion on 22 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 23 your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3-24-08 38 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. We'll move 3 to Item 6; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 4 concerning the final plat of Headwaters Ranch, Phase 1 and 2, 5 located in Precinct 4. 6 MR. ODOM: The Court approved the preliminary plat 7 of all phases of Headwaters, granting a variance to make the 8 road in Phase 1 a paved country lane, and the roads in 2 and 9 3 a local road. All lots in the subdivision over 20 acres, 10 so no overall drainage plan was required. Street profiles, 11 ditches, and cross-drainage plan for 1 and 2 were submitted 12 and reviewed by our consulting engineer. Ranchland has 13 furnished everything we asked for in the platting process. 14 The only issue at this time is vacating, abandoning, and 15 discontinuing a road shown in the deed records as Old Fossler 16 Road in Phase 2. They're building a road to be 17 County-maintained within that right-of-way that terminates at 18 a cul-de-sac. They also made a notation of where the old 19 center line was located. At this time, we recommend approval 20 of the final plat for Headwaters Ranch, Phases 1 and 2. For 21 your information, there is also a third phase which they're 22 working on, and we'll be coming to court on that when they 23 finish it. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Leonard -- go ahead. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Question. Because that notation of 3-24-08 39 1 this road is not indicated on this final plat, and the 2 discontinuance and abandonment of that road is only a pending 3 item for which we just set a public hearing, -- 4 MR. ODOM: Right. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: -- is it appropriate for us to 6 approve this final plat without that notation on it? 7 (Low-voice discussion off the record.) 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good point. 9 MR. ODOM: Well, we do -- what I did, just -- we 10 just got through with that. That's a very good question. 11 But I would say that our intent was -- and that we've shown 12 it in the previous -- 13 JUDGE TINLEY: I may be looking at the wrong plat; 14 let me make sure. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Which one's the road? Two, 16 or -- 17 MR. POORMAN: Two is the one. There is a notation 18 on there -- 19 MR. ODOM: There's a notation. 20 MR. POORMAN: If you'll look at that center line 21 between those two tracts. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Just a minute. There is a notation; 23 I was looking at the wrong plat. 24 MR. ODOM: There is a notation on 2. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 3-24-08 40 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Leonard, my question was, 2 Mr. Wells had some -- a couple of concerns in his letter that 3 was attached. Have those been addressed? 4 MR. ODOM: Yes. As of -- we had a letter from Mark 5 Haufler that it had it coming, and I have a note here that we 6 just received it this morning in the office, so I have no 7 reservations now about that as far as the bond. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This isn't the bond; this is 9 related to the horizontal curves. 10 MR. ODOM: Oh, I'm sorry, you're talking about 11 Wayne Wells. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Wayne Wells, not Wells Fargo. 13 MR. ODOM: Aggie brain here. We've worked that 14 out. We did that through signage. And what we had was, as 15 we worked this through, Jonathan, it had to do -- we had to 16 follow the deed until we got this corrected on Phase 2. 17 Phase 1 didn't require a whole lot, and so we looked at Phase 18 1 and 2 with the engineer and went over signage and curves. 19 We've done that in Live Springs before, so we felt like that 20 was comfortable. With Phase 3, we told them no, that you 21 will redesign this by our standards that we had up there, and 22 Phase 2 was the one on a local road we -- I had concerns on, 23 because of the way we had to follow the metes and bounds on 24 that old county road that they had in the deed. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 3-24-08 41 1 MR. ODOM: So, we feel comfortable that we've 2 resolved the issue -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 4 MR. ODOM: -- with signage. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just want to make sure there 6 wasn't something, you know -- 7 MR. ODOM: We got it back down to a 30, and got off 8 of 30 to 35. We felt like the signs would work this way. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'll move for final plat 11 approval of Headwaters Ranch, Phases 1 and 2. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 14 approval of the agenda item as indicated. Further question 15 or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by 16 raising your right hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 19 (No response.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Thank you, 21 gentlemen. 22 MR. POORMAN: Thank you, Commissioners. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 7; consider, 24 discuss, and take appropriate action to open annual bids for 25 road base, cold mix, aggregate, emulsion oil, and corrugated 3-24-08 42 1 metal pipe. 2 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. You should have the bids for 3 the road base, cold mix, aggregate, and emulsion oils and 4 corrugated metal pipe. We ask that you open the bids and 5 allow us to come back on the next agenda to award. So -- 6 JUDGE TINLEY: First bid we have is for base 7 material from Walter Masters. Next bid that we have is for 8 corrugated metal pipe from Wilson Culverts, Incorporated. 9 The next bid is for emulsion oils from Ergon Asphalt and 10 Emulsions, Incorporated. The next bid is for base material 11 from Wheatcraft, Incorporated. The next bid is for emulsion 12 oils from Sem, S-e-m, Materials. The next bid is for base 13 material from Allen Keller Company. The next bid is for 14 paving aggregates from Vulcan Construction Materials, and 15 also hot mix, cold-laid asphaltic material from Vulcan 16 Construction Materials. The next bid is for base material 17 from Reeh Quarry. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Those all came together. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: The next bid, paving aggregates from 20 Martin Marietta Materials. Hot mix, cold-laid asphaltic 21 material from Martin Marietta Materials, and base material 22 from Martin Marietta Materials. The next bid, corrugated 23 metal pipe from Contech. And that seems to be all of them. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move we accept all bids and 25 refer them to Road and Bridge for recommendation. 3-24-08 43 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to accept 3 all bids and refer them to Road and Bridge for review and 4 recommendation. Question or discussion on the motion? All 5 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's move 10 to Item 8; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 11 concerning Western Surety Maintenance Bond Number 70271788 12 for Misty Lane in Megan Manor, located in Precinct 4. 13 Mr. Odom? 14 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. Megan Manor is a subdivision 15 that was platted in the '80's, but never built until last 16 year. Kevin Spraggins did the engineering for Nava 17 Development, Limited. They wanted Misty Lane to be a 18 County-maintained road and put up a maintenance bond for 19 $25,086. It expires March 26th, 2008. On March 4th, 2008, 20 the enclosed letter was sent to Kevin explaining the road 21 would not be accepted for maintenance by Kerr County Road and 22 Bridge till the listed items were addressed. I'll also say 23 that I met out there with our consulting engineer, Mr. Wells. 24 Mr. Spraggins went over the deficiencies that we noted. At 25 this time, I would like a directive from the Court on the 3-24-08 44 1 disposition of the maintenance bond, and suggest the road not 2 be accepted until such time the list is of deficiencies are 3 met and the consulting engineering firm pays the fees of 4 $239.34 -- until they're paid. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To me, they renew the bond -- 6 their bond until they get everything taken care of. That -- 7 MR. ODOM: You want to renew it, then? Or -- we 8 don't have to maintain it. Under -- under private road, a 9 maintenance bond is not necessary. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. I mean, that -- I mean, 11 if that's what they want to do. 12 MR. ODOM: I haven't got a directive. I will be 13 contacting -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Those are the two options that 15 I see. 16 MR. ODOM: Those are the only two options, and he 17 was informed of that. And they said that they would take 18 care of it. But I don't know how you take care of the grass 19 growing at 80 percent until -- you know, till it's -- till it 20 gets warmer. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Leonard, they can renew it, 22 but the second time around, they can only renew it for one 23 year? 24 MR. ODOM: One year. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And then that's it? 3-24-08 45 1 MR. ODOM: That's it. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: They can't renew it a second 3 time, can they? 4 MR. ODOM: It would come to the Court, unless you 5 gave a variance off it of it. But by our rules, you could 6 extend it for another year. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: One year. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And they could -- if they have 9 it ready in six months, they can come and we can release it 10 early. 11 MR. ODOM: We could take it over for maintenance. 12 It's not that severe as far as to take -- you know, it has to 13 do with ditches, siltation dams cleaned up or rebuilt, and 14 some vegetation growing back up in some areas. But it's 15 basically -- it's a maintenance issue, and it's not something 16 I want to pick up after. They should be able to take care of 17 it. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is anyone working to 19 correct these things now? 20 MR. ODOM: As of Friday, there was -- I'm sorry, as 21 of Tuesday, I believe, it was not, 'cause I went out and 22 checked it Tuesday. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's pretty simple to me. 24 They either renew their bond -- get permission from you to 25 renew their bond and renew it, or that's it. 3-24-08 46 1 MR. ODOM: That's it. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Life goes on. 3 MR. ODOM: Okay, they'll be informed. Thank y'all. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: You need -- you don't need any 5 formal action from the Court, do you? 6 MR. ODOM: No, I've -- a directive is what I need 7 right there. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 9 MR. ODOM: I want to let them make their decision. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 9, then; consider, 11 discuss, take appropriate action on approving road list for 12 the City of Kerrville for possible annexation. Commissioner 13 Letz? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is a follow-up to the -- 15 our joint meeting with the City. I talked about a couple 16 roads in my precinct, and we brought out that we probably 17 should look at it for all precincts. I contacted Road and 18 Bridge, and this is the list they have come up with of roads 19 that are right at the edge of the city limits. These are 20 more city roads than county roads, in our mind -- or my mind 21 and their mind. Also, it's interesting that when they did 22 this, TexDOT has not given the County credit for these roads, 23 'cause they view these as city streets, and so we're not 24 getting our funding there. And 911 also views these as city 25 streets from an addressing standpoint. But to follow up, to 3-24-08 47 1 put the list out and send it over to the City and have 2 them -- this is what they said they wanted from us, so I'm 3 just trying to get along with them, give them what they want. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I have some concerns about 5 this I want to kind of touch on with you, Commissioner. When 6 we send this over for consideration, are we suggesting then 7 that these be annexed? And if so, are we doing that knowing 8 full well that the people who live on these roads, if they're 9 annexed, are going to be subject to city taxation, something 10 that they perhaps did not reckon for? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Cities cannot annex without 12 permission. This is for the City to go out and look at 13 these, and then it's up to them to contact these people and 14 see if they want to be in the city limits. Some of these 15 people, from talking to me, do want to be in the city limits. 16 I think it's to their benefit. Some of them probably do not. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, I see a couple in my 18 precinct that I can probably guarantee you they do not. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, if you want to delete it, 20 delete any names -- I thought this was circulated to 21 everybody. If you want to delete any of them, delete them. 22 I mean, it's -- the ones that I was concerned about are right 23 around Roy Street, where I have a lot of problems. That's 24 what brought this up. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's what kind of 3-24-08 48 1 prompted all this, right. But we're not -- if we do this, 2 take this action and send this list down there, we're not 3 doing this for the recommendation of this Court to -- that 4 these roads be annexed, are we? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think this would be for them 6 to evaluate, from my standpoint. But I think it is implied 7 that, yes, they should look at probably some of these for 8 annexation. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Then I want a couple of 10 them removed. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Which ones? 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Particularly, I want Loma 13 Vuelta. 14 THE REPORTER: I'm sorry, what was the street name? 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Loma Vuelta, V-u-e-l-t-a, 16 and Royal Oaks removed. I suspect the folks in the area 17 where we did all the sewer work are not going to be too happy 18 about an annexation plan that would -- that would carry some 19 imprimatur from the Court that we are in favor of it, and 20 that would be Frederick, George Muck, Royal Oaks, Shannon, 21 and Loyal Valley. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Go over those again, please. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Frederick, George Muck, Loyal 24 Valley -- 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Shannon. 3-24-08 49 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Quail Valley is going to be in the 2 next phase, isn't it? Isn't it? 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's Commissioner 1's 4 street. The next stage. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: What about Contour? 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Contour is not -- it wasn't 7 -- well, that's in Commissioner 1's precinct also. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: You got Shannon? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I got Shannon. Commissioner 10 Baldwin, do you want to -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think I'd like to see them 12 stay, just see what happens here. If the City feels like 13 that -- or if the citizens feel like that I'm recommending 14 annexation, they need to think again. I'm not recommending 15 anything. I want to see how this -- your thinking will play 16 out. I wouldn't bet on it either way. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I wouldn't either, but I think 18 that some of these, the residents do want it. And I don't -- 19 I'm not saying the majority of the residents on Roy want it, 20 but I do know that some have expressed an interest in it, and 21 I think it's of value. It's a matter of the City has 22 overlooked a lot of these areas, because most of them have 23 been problem areas and lower income, and I think that the -- 24 I don't think that's fair to the citizens. And what has 25 happened is, because of the lack of services -- the ones that 3-24-08 50 1 Commissioner Williams took off are a little bit different, 2 because we, with the joint venture with U.G.R.A., have put in 3 sewer, but a lot of these are tracts that these people are 4 kind of hamstrung. They can't do much with them because of 5 our -- they're on septic, and they -- you know, it really is 6 an adverse effect. So, anyway, I think this is good for the 7 City to look at. They say we've never asked them to look at 8 them, so now we're asking them to look at them. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: One of them that falls in 10 that category you talk about is not even on the list, and 11 that would be there behind Mack Hollimon, right between Mack 12 Hollimon and the state park, what is now a city park. 13 Right -- right where 534 intersects with 173, on 14 Mrs. Hollimon's -- the fireworks stand there; there's a whole 15 strip of land that runs behind Mack Hollimon that's -- that's 16 problematic, and that's always been talked about as a need to 17 correct that. And that would be fine, but it's not on the 18 list. If it is, I'm missing it. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not sure of the name of the 20 road. 21 MR. ODOM: I'm not sure, but the city limits comes 22 up almost at the entrance to the park, is the city limits, so 23 everything else comes by it. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Am I right, Sheriff? Right 25 there behind Ms. Mack -- Ms. Hollimon's old home, there's a 3-24-08 51 1 fireworks stand there. Goes straight back, parallels with 2 the back line fences of the people who live on Mack Hollimon. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's actually not a road in 4 there, just that strip. 5 MR. ODOM: I know where you're talking about. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And it's not on this list. 7 MR. ODOM: It's not on there. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, from my part of this, 9 Blue Ridge has -- they have just gotten some of their problem 10 areas tied onto city sewer, and there's another one that's 11 about to tie on; it's behind what was already -- the City of 12 Kerrville allowed them to run a line down through, and the 13 line runs right down the middle of Gasoline Alley. And so, 14 you know, there's several businesses in there that would 15 benefit by being able to tie onto that sewer line and be 16 annexed. But even if they weren't annexed, it would be nice 17 if they were allowed to eliminate some of those problems 18 without having really enough space for septic. The others on 19 the list would be -- well, Gasoline Alley is one of them, and 20 Cummings. Those are right -- you know, those, part of one of 21 them runs into the other. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Ridge would be another one 23 that I would want to take off as well. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But I kind of agree with 25 Commissioner Baldwin. You know, let's see what happens with 3-24-08 52 1 this. It's not something that I feel like that has to be 2 promoted for them to do, but if the businesses and the people 3 that live in those areas want it, then they should be allowed 4 to have a say. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that's what it is. I 6 believe -- well, I know the the City's current law is they 7 cannot annex unless people consent to it. So -- 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: There is a process. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The City Manager -- 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: There is a process. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: I think there is. I think there can 12 be involuntary annexation under -- under the appropriate 13 service plan. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The City -- and, you know, I 15 rely on the City Manager on this, but the City Manager says 16 the city's -- the type of charter the City of Kerrville has, 17 they cannot force people, except under possibly some very 18 extreme circumstances, to annex. But, anyway, it's -- 19 JUDGE TINLEY: I'll leave that to the municipal 20 lawyers. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it's -- you know, this is a 22 -- at first they said they've never been asked to evaluate 23 anything. I'm just asking them to evaluate those in my 24 precinct and the list as noted. Any other changes? I'll 25 make a motion to approve the list and authorize the County 3-24-08 53 1 Judge to send a letter -- cover letter to the City Manager 2 stating this list, as amended, has done so. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The list, as amended? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Which excludes the ones that 6 Commissioner Williams mentioned in his precinct that he 7 wishes to exclude? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Including Ridge Road. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, I got Ridge, too. We have a 12 motion. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a second. Any further 15 question or discussion on the motion? All in favor of that 16 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 19 (No response.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. We'll move 21 to Item 10; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 22 set the date of May 12th, 2008, at 1:30 p.m. for a 23 Transportation Priority Plan Workshop with Texas Department 24 of Transportation, with other entities being invited to 25 attend and participate, being City of Kerrville, U.G.R.A., 3-24-08 54 1 K.E.D.F., and Kerrville Area Chamber of Commerce. 2 Commissioner Williams? 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Judge. My 4 backup statement pretty well sums it up. I've had 5 discussions with Mike Coward about river crossing, basically, 6 and what needs -- and from those discussions, we got to 7 talking about a priority plan, which then led to us talking 8 about a priority plan workshop. And although Mr. Coward says 9 TexDOT has no money to do anything, he still thinks it's 10 probably advisable that we give a priority -- put together a 11 priority opportunity for people to list the things they think 12 they'd like to see occur in the future. He contends that we 13 haven't done this in about three years. I think that's 14 probably right. And that lots of things that were 15 identified, with some exceptions, have either been 16 accomplished or are in the process of being scheduled to be 17 accomplished. So, he's prepared to invite his superiors and 18 others from TexDOT to come down from -- come up from San 19 Antonio, and they'll have a full-fledged priority planning 20 workshop. I omitted one entity that should be included for 21 invitation, Judge, and that would be the City of Ingram, and 22 so I would want to include them as well for an invitation to 23 the workshop. So, I would move that we set May 12th, 2008 at 24 1:30 p.m. for a Transportation Priority Planning Workshop 25 hosted by Kerr County Commissioners Court. 3-24-08 55 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 3 indicated. Question or discussion on the motion? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I wonder -- I wonder if 5 we'll talk about at this workshop -- we'll discuss building a 6 road south of the river from Kerrville to Hunt, like we have 7 every year for the last 49 years. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's probably one of the 9 things that hasn't been accomplished yet. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's time to talk about it. 11 MR. ODOM: At least the study. At least the study. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, if we can't do that, 13 maybe we could tie in Ingram to Upper Turtle Creek. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. God, wouldn't that be 15 something? 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. And 27 over to Hunt. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner, -- 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That gave me goosebumps when 19 you said that. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- is TexDOT going to give a 21 presentation of what they have, I mean, on their list? I 22 know the last time we did this, they had widening 27 from 23 Kerrville to Center Point as one phase, and Center Point to 24 Comfort another phase, and things of that nature. Are those 25 going to all be on -- I mean, if they were going to do this, 3-24-08 56 1 I wish they'd present what we have on our list first, and 2 then we can go off that list for discussion. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The 10- or 15-year plan. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think that's what's on 5 his mind, but I'll convey that back, Commissioner, because 6 it's a good point. We need to talk about what has been done, 7 what's on the boards to be done, and what hasn't been 8 prioritized yet before we start adding to that list. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. But I think -- yeah, 10 those roads you mentioned I know were discussed the last time 11 we went through this. So -- 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They've been discussed for a 13 long time. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: For a long, long time. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And the window of opportunity 16 is -- is diminishing in some of those areas. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rapidly. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, that's part of the 19 problem. You think you can get something accomplished, and 20 all of a sudden, the land is sucked up for other purposes. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You have a row of houses 22 right where the road should have been. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Or Baldwin Cemetery. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah, Baldwin Cemetery. Be 25 easy to move Baldwin cemetery. 3-24-08 57 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: One Baldwin at a time. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. I don't recommend it 3 any more, though. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay, Rabbi. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Rabbi. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Not as long as you become a 7 rabbi. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Are we through kicking that 9 one around? Let's go to Item 11 -- 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We didn't vote on it. 11 THE CLERK: We have a motion and a second. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and second. 13 Further discussion on the motion? All in favor of the 14 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 15 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 17 (No response.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Now we'll 19 go to Item 11; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 20 to set a date of April 14, '08, at 1:30 p.m. for a workshop 21 presentation on the possible establishment of paddling trails 22 in conjunction with Texas Parks and Wildlife along stretches 23 of the Guadalupe River in Kerr County. You're just 24 workshop-prone today, aren't you? 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, I am, Judge. And 3-24-08 58 1 paddling would be defined as something you do from some sort 2 of a flotation device in the water. It would have nothing to 3 do with your children or a paddle. Bob Miller, who I think, 4 as of the end of this month, ceased to be the -- the 5 Executive Director of Texas State Arts and Crafts Educational 6 Foundation, had came -- came to me about this idea of his, 7 and wants to establish paddling trails in the Guadalupe 8 River. And I said, you know, what you need to do is talk to 9 people who have some interest, like Upper Guadalupe River 10 Authority, for one. I'm not sure whether or not he's talked 11 to you good folks sitting back there in the back or not, but 12 another good way to get the discussion on the table would be 13 to have a workshop and you tell us what's involved, what you 14 might anticipate, and what do you think various entities' 15 participation would have to be to make this happen. So, if 16 you're of a mind to hear from Mr. Miller about this thing, 17 then suggesting a workshop on April 14th at 1:30 p.m. He 18 would be the presenter, not me. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I can tell you right 20 now, I'm not interested in hearing his presentation. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've been through this. You 23 know, a couple of negatives about something like this is, 24 one, you open up the -- you just think open range is a war. 25 The navigable stream that Rusty has dealt with his entire 3-24-08 59 1 life here in Kerr County as a police officer, that issue is 2 back on the table in a horrible, horrible way. I dealt with 3 a paddling group one time when I worked for the State 4 Representative over the other side of Fredericksburg, and it 5 was a navigable stream; the state couldn't -- couldn't stop 6 them. But within 30 days, they were demanding 10 feet of 7 property on each side of the river to get out and do -- have 8 life and picnics and sit around and hum and smoke dope or 9 whatever it is they -- that those folks do, and then it 10 turned into a storm. It turned into a private property 11 issue. And those old Germans don't care a whole lot about 12 paddling. And, you know, maybe I was just brought up wrong 13 or something, but that's -- that's my experience in this kind 14 of thing, and I won't participate in it. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I understand your concern, 16 and certainly those are issues. This -- this is something 17 that apparently is in conjunction with Texas Parks and 18 Wildlife, but there are some issues that are listed in this 19 T.P.W. material which, you know, can be problematic, 20 particularly access. If you're talking about private 21 property, you're talking about access. That becomes an 22 issue. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think I tend to agree with 24 Commissioner Baldwin. I think this is just opening up a 25 Pandora's box to -- I mean, people have the right to use the 3-24-08 60 1 river. People use the river; they float down the river. I 2 don't know that we need to advertise floating down the river. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I've heard all I need to 4 hear. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah, I agree with the 6 previous two. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: So much for workshops, right, 8 Commissioner? 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: One-on-one's not bad. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. We'll move to Item 12; 11 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on updating 12 and overseeing the Kerr County web site. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on the agenda -- it 14 really came out of a discussion with our Human Resources 15 Director -- are you a director? Is that what you're called 16 now? Whatever she's called. As to -- and during that 17 discussion, it was a matter of, I -- I asked -- Commissioner 18 Williams brought it to my attention that when we advertised 19 for our Commissioner's Court administrative assistant, that 20 in that advertisement, this job function went with that job. 21 But it never came to our administrative assistant, because at 22 the time, Mr. Alford was doing that work primarily through 23 another department, and we didn't change anything. But since 24 then, obviously, a lot of changes have happened in the 25 county, and I really -- you know, I know Mr. Trolinger is 3-24-08 61 1 certainly capable of doing this, but I don't think this is 2 what he needs to spending his time on, is updating our web 3 site. So, I think he could train somebody -- what I'm really 4 looking for is where the Court feels this function should go. 5 I think we should work with -- I think we need to have one 6 person as a responsible party. My preference is probably to 7 give it to our administrative assistant. But -- 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Since she's close to hand and you 9 can enforce that responsibility, huh? 10 MR. TROLINGER: I do have some input. And -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A little bit. 12 MR. TROLINGER: And I -- I believe if I just get 13 direction on the content for the web site, say the -- you 14 know, start with the home page. If Ms. Grinstead could help 15 with that, I'd be glad to do the actual manipulation -- 16 changes that are necessary. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's fine. We just need to 18 have a system to get things up there timely. I mean, I 19 know -- 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Or taken off. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or taken off timely. And 22 someone that is monitoring it, so that I don't get e-mails 23 about different things that are -- "Why don't we have this?" 24 Or, "Why do we have old rules up there?" You know, "Why 25 hasn't the burn ban been changed?" I mean, whatever the 3-24-08 62 1 issue is, we need to have a -- if we're going to have a web 2 site, it needs to be up -- kept up in a timely manner. And 3 whatever the best mechanism is, I'll defer to you as to how 4 to do that, 'cause you know the whole technology system. 5 MR. TROLINGER: Are there any issues right now that 6 I don't know about? I didn't know there were any problems 7 with keeping it up to date. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't know, but I haven't 9 looked at it recently. I haven't received any e-mails 10 recently. This came just as -- it's on the agenda based on a 11 conversation I had with Ms. Hyde, and just about who's doing 12 it now and where should this be. Because -- and if it's not 13 going to be done by Ms. Grinstead, it needs to come off of 14 that job description. That may -- it may be in there still 15 from a long time ago. 16 MS. HYDE: Part of the job description was that, at 17 the time when we had Brad doing a lot of the web updates, 18 what Jody was supposed to do is give that information to Brad 19 so that Brad could update it. And I think that we just need 20 to redirect that so that, okay, you guys want something 21 changed, Jody can give it to John. John can do the magic. 22 Instead -- 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In your experience, Mr. 24 Trolinger, as a -- as being a web master -- I guess that's 25 what we're really talking about. Is that something that's 3-24-08 63 1 done every day? Once a week? How often do people typically 2 do this? 3 MR. TROLINGER: For county government, I'd expect 4 to see it updated every time there's a major event. For 5 example, the blue ribbons for next month, that should be on 6 the web site. Newsworthy events. It should be updated, so 7 that can be -- there's no particular time period. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, what you're recommending is 9 that Jody monitor the web page and be, you know, kind of the 10 keeper of information that goes on and off, and then just get 11 that to you and you'll take care of it? 12 MR. TROLINGER: And all the departments. I went 13 and actively polled the departments and said, "Hey, please 14 give me content for your web site," about a year ago. Maybe 15 it was two. And I'm -- I feel like I've got to extract -- 16 you know, "Please post this." And I'd like to see it the 17 other way around. I'd like to see people come to me or come 18 to Ms. Grinstead and say, "Here, please put this on the web 19 site," keep it up to date. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, but -- and taking off 21 is of equal importance. 22 MR. TROLINGER: Very important. So, any 23 participation would be good. I'd be glad to make the 24 changes. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That sound like a reasonable 3-24-08 64 1 path to follow? 2 MS. GRINSTEAD: Well, that's fine by me. And like 3 we talked about before, I was going to give Brad the 4 information, and he had everything pretty much ready to go, 5 but I don't think it's ever made it to the web site, as far 6 as, like, calendared events for the courthouse, community 7 links, that kind of stuff. 8 MR. TROLINGER: True. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: See, that's the stuff that 10 I'm -- you know, we talk about things in court. We say it 11 one time, and I assume it's getting on the web site, and it 12 doesn't, like that and some of these things we discussed. We 13 just need to have a system to monitor, and that's why I want 14 one person who is responsible for monitoring it, and not 15 necessarily doing the inputting on it. That -- you know, 16 that's -- and I don't think it's a -- a function that you 17 need to be spending your time on. I don't think that's 18 what -- I'm trying to get it out of your bailiwick, John. 19 You need to be fixing computers and doing the actual work on 20 the web site. Someone else needs to be monitoring the web 21 site, in my mind. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: The -- making it the responsibility 23 of Ms. Grinstead, certainly as to matters that affect the 24 Court, that's one thing. But I don't think it's appropriate 25 to make her responsible for, maybe, information from other 3-24-08 65 1 elected officials' offices. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't either. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: As it pertains to postings for the 5 burn ban, certainly, she can pass that information on. 6 Things from County Attorney's office, I think, should be 7 handled by the County Attorney's office to the I.T. 8 Department. I mean, that's -- I see that as part of the I.T. 9 Department's overall responsibility. I don't want to make 10 Ms. Grinstead responsible for all the courthouse and Road and 11 Bridge and Sheriff and everybody else. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, there's fixing to be 13 three different functions. You have this blue ribbon issue, 14 you have a car show that -- somebody's doing a car show on 15 the front lawn, and National Day of Prayer. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's important to a lot of 18 people. And those three things need to land -- 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Those would be appropriate for -- 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, they would be 21 appropriate. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: When we put that in 23 Ms. Grinstead's job description, I think, typically, like a 24 lot of things, we thought that was a place for it because it 25 would be convenient, and that Commissioners Court items would 3-24-08 66 1 be at her command. But I think you made a very good point, 2 Judge. Trying to ask her to round up things from every other 3 department in county government is just asking a little bit 4 too much. Her job description has expanded considerably 5 since she came on board. So, taking care of what we do is 6 one thing. I'm all for that. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there -- is Mr. Trolinger, 9 then, to look at the clerk's web site, which certainly is an 10 example, if things are updated or not updated? Or I guess 11 the concern is that if we're going to have a county web site 12 that this Commissioners Court basically said we want, someone 13 needs to be responsible for that, that it's accurate and 14 current information. I don't want outdated information from 15 any department on there. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: There needs to be a real 17 process, a form that's filled out. What is it you want on 18 there? When do you want it on, and when do you want it to 19 come down, and what do you want it to say? And I don't -- I 20 don't think we have that, do we, Mr. Trolinger? 21 MR. TROLINGER: Well, informally via e-mail, yes. 22 For instance, a job posting from H.R., I'll get an e-mail 23 that specifies, "Post this for this time period." 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, but I think if the County 25 Clerk wants something on there, it's the County Clerk's 3-24-08 67 1 responsibility to communicate that to Mr. Trolinger, and if 2 it needs to go on a specific date, come off a specific date, 3 that communication needs to be made by him. But I don't -- I 4 don't think he should have a responsibility to be rattling up 5 all these various folks on a daily or weekly basis to say, 6 "You got anything to update?" 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't either. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: It's each individual or department's 9 responsibility, and they're accountable for their own web 10 site and material. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think you're missing what I'm 12 saying. It's a reflection on this Court and the County when 13 there's bad information on that web site; I don't care what 14 department it's in. And I don't know how we can make the 15 elected officials monitor the information they have. If 16 there's a -- a document up there, whatever type it is, and 17 it's outdated, it needs to come off. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I don't know how -- you 20 know, maybe just a memorandum from you telling people they 21 need to monitor it. I think I really like what Commissioner 22 Williams said about a form as to when it comes on, when it 23 goes off, and make it -- you know, I think coming-off 24 information is probably more important than coming-on 25 information, because that's -- you know, it's just kind of 3-24-08 68 1 ridiculous sometimes. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I agree with that. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: But that ought to be a discharge of 4 direct responsibility between that elected official or 5 department head and the I.T. Department. Now, granted -- 6 granted, if your phone rings because of something that was 7 put on there that is now outdated by, say, the County Clerk's 8 office, and there was no direction to take it off, yeah, your 9 phone may ring, but your response to that is you don't 10 control what goes on from the County Clerk's office. That's 11 done via the County Clerk and the I.T. Department. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mr. Trolinger, could we not 13 develop a form in electronic format that you circulate once 14 and forever to every department head or elected official 15 that -- that states what's required for a posting on our web 16 site, the item, when it goes on, when it comes off, and they 17 fill that out electronically and send it back to you? 18 MR. TROLINGER: Yes. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Can we do that? 20 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, I can make an addendum to the 21 I.T. policies and post it on the I.T. page to make it 22 available quickly. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's a good starting point. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think that's great. 25 MR. TROLINGER: I will do that. 3-24-08 69 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Good solution. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Sheriff? 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: My only issue, our office has 4 had a separate web page for years, even longer than I.T. has, 5 that we keep updated, okay? I have one person in my office 6 that keeps that. It's a totally separate deal with the link 7 from the county one. Now, I don't anticipate making any 8 changes to mine. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the -- my view is, the 10 counties -- or the departments that have their own web site, 11 that's their own responsibility. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Thank you. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 14 MS. HYDE: That would include the County Clerk's 15 office at this time. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I understand. I mean, I just 17 used that as an example. First one that popped to mind. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Are we done with that 19 question? 20 MS. GRINSTEAD: We talked about putting on the 21 calendar of events, things that happen at the courthouse. Do 22 you want us to include what happens at the Youth Exhibit 23 Center when there's an event that the public's welcome at? I 24 assume we're putting that on too? 25 JUDGE TINLEY: If it's an event to which the public 3-24-08 70 1 is invited, there's not some sort of membership in an 2 organization or something -- for example, the wild game 3 dinner, week from -- well, it's this coming Saturday. That 4 would be one. 5 MS. GRINSTEAD: Exactly. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I wouldn't ask you to post 7 going out to the home tool show or whatever out there. 8 That's private enterprise, by example. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we're being paid to -- for the 10 use of that facility for that period of time. Just a 11 thought. 12 MS. HYDE: We had -- when we talked about this 13 before, if y'all think way back, Brad was supposed to get 14 that information, and that calendar was to include everything 15 at the Hill Country Exhibit Center, because people were 16 paying for it. And that gave people where they could go out 17 and look at that calendar in advance so they could plan or 18 try to help plan events in the future. And then the other 19 part of that had to do with our community page that had links 20 to local organizations within the community, but you guys set 21 guidelines for who could be on that. It couldn't be, you 22 know, to sell happy tools, or whatever the tool thing is. 23 You know, it had to be approved through the Court. And 24 that's in the order, so I'm sure that we could pull the order 25 back out. And we had a guideline; we had paperwork on how it 3-24-08 71 1 was supposed to be turned in, the whole nine yards. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: I suppose an amendment to the I.T. 3 policy needs to take those things into consideration, 4 wouldn't you think, Mr. Trolinger? 5 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, sir. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 7 MR. TROLINGER: The H.R.'s point being that should 8 we or should we not have a calendar that the Commissioners 9 Court sponsors as part of the oversight of the Youth Exhibit 10 Center. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, then, that leads to 13 the question of who's going to keep the calendar, doesn't it? 14 MS. HYDE: We had determined in the order that Jody 15 would keep the calendar, present that calendar to Brad, or 16 the I.T. Department, and they would post it on the web site. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Weekly. 18 MS. HYDE: It was supposed to be done weekly, I 19 think is what y'all said. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Sounds like a good idea. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: That squares. Okay, thank you. 22 Let's move to Item 13 and see if we can get that done before 23 our break. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 24 approve the memorandum of understanding regarding regional 25 water and wastewater matters and range improvements. Which 3-24-08 72 1 one of you guys want to launch this balloon? 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: My colleague from Precinct 3 3 probably -- 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- will lead this 6 discussion. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we received, several 8 months ago, a draft memorandum of understanding from U.G.R.A. 9 Commissioner Williams and I met with members from U.G.R.A. 10 and went over some comments and changes and recommendations 11 that we had. I think they have incorporated our changes into 12 the document. In the backup, there's a draft -- 4, I 13 believe, is the most recent one. I'll turn it over to Curg 14 in a minute. The other red-line version shows comments 15 that -- or changes that were made based on Commissioner 16 Williams and my recommendation, and also changes that were 17 requested by either City of Kerrville and Headwaters. That's 18 kind of where we are. Curg, do you have anything to add? 19 MR. STARKEY: We'd appreciate passage. You're the 20 first step. City Council's tomorrow night. Wednesday is 21 Ingram, and Headwaters will be in April. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And just -- I think the -- you 23 know, I think everyone's read it, but just the overall -- my 24 understanding, the purpose of this is to show the community 25 and to show the entities that we're going to work together on 3-24-08 73 1 regional water and wastewater issues. There's nothing in 2 that document that commits anybody to do anything, to 3 spend -- no money is addressed. It's just a matter of, you 4 know, that we're going to work together. It sets out a lot 5 of the, I guess, issues such as the U.G.R.A. permits, City of 6 Kerrville's permits, that shared permit that they have which 7 is bulk of surface water available to the public of Kerr 8 County. Also, the memorandum of understanding the County has 9 with G.B.R.A. This kind of puts everything into one 10 document. I think it's a good -- you know, a good thing to 11 do to get everyone on the same page and commit to work 12 together. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Does it enhance in any way 14 anybody's ability to get grants? To gets grants? 15 MR. STARKEY: Yes, because we're all working 16 together. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's a good thing. 18 MR. STARKEY: Each of the government entities -- 19 there are no private entities mentioned in this MOU, 20 obviously, but each of the entities has a particular role to 21 play right now. They have an asset to bring to the table. 22 In some cases, some have several. Some have one. But those 23 roles we envision will be changing as the county grows and as 24 situations change and projects become from thinking to 25 reality. Roles will change. And if we all work together, 3-24-08 74 1 then, one, we can enhance the availability of the water that 2 we do have right now, maybe improve that, and also work on 3 our wastewater projects throughout the county to enhance 4 quality of life, protect the quality of groundwater, surface 5 water, et cetera. And we do that as a cost-effective means 6 to the taxpayer, because we all work together. We all work 7 it out. This memorandum of understanding does not mandate 8 any spending at this point in time. It does not mandate any 9 contractual agreement at this point in time. What it does 10 ask, and what it does ask in good faith, is that we do all 11 really seriously work together for the common good of the 12 common citizen in this county, for those that are here now 13 and those that are to come. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'd like to respond to 15 Commissioner Baldwin's comment, because it's a good question. 16 It does show those agencies from whom we're seeking grants 17 that we're on the same page on these issues and we're willing 18 to work together. To me, this is just memorializing what 19 we've done in Kerrville South. 20 MR. STARKEY: Right. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And what we intend to do 22 going forward in the Center Point and the eastern Kerr County 23 sewer project and water project. And it's a lot easier to 24 explain to Texas Water Development Board or U.S.D.A., R.U.S. 25 or whomever, that, yes, everybody's on the same page. We 3-24-08 75 1 agree these are good projects, and we're going to work 2 together. There are some other things in this memorandum 3 which I think are important, and it shows that we're willing 4 to lend support to the River Authority in its efforts with 5 respect to obtaining water rights, not that we -- not that we 6 have any tremendous expertise other than Commissioner Letz' 7 expertise, which is -- which is probably greater than all of 8 us put together. But I think it's just a good step forward, 9 and I support it along with -- only other comment I would add 10 is, while it looks like Kerr County has rewritten the whole 11 thing, that's really not the case. I sometimes have a -- 12 have a desire to state things a little more succinctly, and 13 that's what we've done here. So, I support it. 14 MR. STARKEY: This issue was a hangover from a 15 previous life. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One thing that I really haven't 17 spent much time on, probably one of the really important 18 parts, is range improvement. That is an issue that Kerr 19 County has been left out of the limited state funding that's 20 come out, and probably some of the federal funding that's 21 come out because we really haven't had a specific plan in 22 place. And U.G.R.A. has taken the foresight here, and I 23 really commend them for it, to do a study which is currently 24 underway to really memorialize some of the data and look at 25 some spring flows and things of that nature. But the purpose 3-24-08 76 1 of this and this current study is to go to the Legislature in 2 Austin, and to the U.S.D.A., and figure out how we can get 3 additional funds for range improvement, whether it be cedar 4 eradication, spreader dams, spring flow, you know, studies, 5 whatever we need to really improve the quality and the 6 quantity of water in the river. Because this is probably the 7 cheapest way for us to get more water to Kerr County, is to 8 get increased spring flow, especially in the western part of 9 the county. I think it's a real good -- 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with you. And that 11 actually was the only area that I was disappointed in this 12 entire document, Chairman Starkey, is the fact that verbiage 13 like, "God created cedar trees to cut down" -- (Laughter.) 14 That's what they're for. They're not to drink water, and we 15 need to cut the cedars. And I was kind of hoping to see that 16 kind of language in there. 17 MR. STARKEY: Honorable Commissioner -- 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I assume when you go to 19 Austin, I will hear that kind of language? 20 MR. STARKEY: Honorable Commissioner, we are trying 21 to be -- 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What's this? 23 MR. STARKEY: -- very politically correct today. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand. But you've 25 got to take the gloves off on those guys up there. 3-24-08 77 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner, I hate -- or 2 Mr. Starkey, I hate to come to this thing so late in the 3 game. I've got one very tiny question about wording. 4 MR. STARKEY: Sir? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Page 1, under Item 2, the sixth line 6 down. "Appoint representatives who will mutually identify 7 senior water rights..." The word "mutually," I think, either 8 needs to be eliminated or substituted with the word "each." 9 Either way, I think, works. But that's the only -- and, like 10 I say, I apologize for coming at this late date. I realize 11 y'all are in pretty much a final format. 12 MR. STARKEY: Well, "mutual" would be to the mutual 13 of benefit of all, in that context. Not that we would get 14 into a competing -- competing bidding war between various 15 entities to purchase water rights, so we mutually go out and 16 do these things together. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Actually, -- 18 MR. STARKEY: It also speaks -- 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- the point -- I think the 20 Judge's point is right. "Mutually" should come out of there. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Or put it in before the word 22 "attempt" in the next line, where it deals with the 23 negotiation either way. I see your point, though. We're not 24 going to try and get in some sort of a contest of who can 25 acquire various rights -- 3-24-08 78 1 MR. STARKEY: For the mutual benefit of all. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: -- to the detriment of someone else. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion we approve 4 the memorandum of understanding -- is that with or without 5 this change? 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not sure if it's with or 8 without at this point. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Take a look at it. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We just suggest you take a 11 look at it. 12 MR. STARKEY: We'll do that. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Been looking at it for months, 14 right? 15 MR. STARKEY: Yeah, for a while. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good things come to those 18 who wait. 19 MR. STARKEY: Three years to get to the starting 20 point. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good things come to those 22 who wait. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: We're going to launch this balloon. 24 MR. STARKEY: Pragmatism works on occasion. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Any question or discussion on the 3-24-08 79 1 motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 2 right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 5 (No response.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. We'll be in 7 recess for 15 minutes. 8 MR. STARKEY: Thank you, gentlemen. We appreciate 9 it. 10 (Recess taken from 10:39 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.) 11 - - - - - - - - - - 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's come back to order, if 13 we might. We were in a short recess, and we'll take up our 14 timed item for 10:45, Number 14, to discuss and take 15 appropriate action to designate, by resolution, Grantworks as 16 the planning service provider for the 2007 Texas Community 17 Development Block Grant Colonia Planning project 727125. 18 Commissioner Williams? 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Judge. With us 20 here today is Ms. Betty Collier of Grantworks. She came down 21 from Austin to talk to the Court and answer the questions and 22 find out whether or not her company's going to be designated. 23 And I can assure you, you are going to be designated, 'cause 24 you're the only one that submitted a proposal, and therefore, 25 we don't have to score; we can award. But I think it would 3-24-08 80 1 be helpful, Betty, if you would step the Court through 2 exactly what is planned, which I believe is entailed in your 3 response; what you plan to do for Kerr County, Center Point, 4 Westwood Park, Hill River Country Estates, and then we'll get 5 to the resolution and see if we can make that happen. 6 MS. COLLIER: Okay. Well, first, thank you for 7 letting us be here today, and congratulations on getting this 8 -- this grant. It is considered an area Colonia Planning 9 Grant, which, as the Commissioner said, was focused on Center 10 Point and the area right around Center Point. It's a $30,000 11 grant, which we will be driving the areas, mapping the -- 12 doing a base map of all those areas, and then doing what we 13 call a housing inventory and an analysis showing you the 14 conditions of the housing, and then your road system and your 15 storm drainage systems. All of this will be outlined on 16 about five or six different maps. And at the -- after we've 17 done the initial drive-through and initial mapping, we will 18 come to you with those maps and do a short workshop and make 19 sure that we haven't missed anything, or if there's not 20 something that you need a little more explanation on, or any 21 of the areas that maybe you feel like we just didn't quite do 22 enough for, but we -- then we'll have a -- we'll go back and 23 revise the maps under your advisement, and then we'll come 24 back to you with the final product and a final written 25 analysis of all of those areas, and a 10-year comprehensive 3-24-08 81 1 plan for those areas. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This is particularly 3 valuable for future planning with respect to road 4 improvements, waste -- stormwater takeoff, if that's a 5 problem. You don't get into such things as environmental 6 type things, such as sewers and so forth, water? 7 MS. COLLIER: This -- this particular amount of 8 money doesn't go into your -- well, you don't have water 9 systems or sewer systems servicing any of those areas, 10 correct? 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We have engineering going 12 on right now for that purpose. 13 MS. COLLIER: Okay. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: For a Water Development 15 Board grant. 16 MS. COLLIER: But this will give us some guidance 17 on future community development grants that may be eligible 18 projects in those areas for -- for the County to consider. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This is a Texas Community 20 Development Block Grant; is that correct, through the -- 21 MS. COLLIER: Yes, it is. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- U.S. Department of 23 Housing and Urban Development? 24 MS. COLLIER: Yes. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. Well, let me move 3-24-08 82 1 the resolution and see if anybody has any questions. There 2 is a resolution in your packet, gentlemen, that awards this 3 grant in the amount of $30,000 to Grantworks to do the work 4 as detailed in their -- in their presentation to the 5 Commissioners Court. And as I noted earlier, they were the 6 only submittal to the RFP -- through the RFP process; 7 therefore, we don't have to go through the scoring mechanism 8 that we would if we had two or more responses. So, with 9 that, I would move the resolution that's contained in your 10 packet awarding this work to Grantworks for professional 11 services, planning services under the Colonia Planning Fund 12 Contract 727125. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 15 indicated. Question or discussion on the motion? All in 16 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 19 (No response.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. We will go 21 to Item 15; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 22 designate by resolution authorized signators, being the 23 County Judge, County Treasurer, and County Auditor, for the 24 2007 Texas Community Development Block Grant Colonia Planning 25 Project 727125. Commissioner Williams? 3-24-08 83 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This is a companion 2 resolution, Judge, and it does exactly what you said. It 3 sets out who are the signators on behalf of the County with 4 respect to this particular grant. And so everybody clearly 5 understands, Grantworks does all the paperwork. Is that 6 correct? 7 MS. COLLIER: Yes, sir. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And it would be -- any 9 documents that have to be signed will be signed by the County 10 Judge, or perhaps the Treasurer or the Auditor in the absence 11 of the County Judge; is that correct? 12 MS. COLLIER: This is setting up the signators for 13 the -- the Judge has already been assigned as the executive 14 officer. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 16 MS. COLLIER: This assigns all the other 17 documentation. This is more for the money part. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 19 MS. COLLIER: This will be who signs the check and 20 who signs the draw and the purchase -- the purchase form -- 21 purchase voucher forms. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's more the Treasurer 23 and the Auditor. 24 MS. COLLIER: Right. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. Move the resolution 3-24-08 84 1 as presented. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second -- third. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 5 approval of the resolution, as per the agenda item. Question 6 or discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, 7 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. Thank you, 12 Ms. Collier. 13 MS. COLLIER: Thank you, Judge. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And let us know when you're 15 going to be get started, please. 16 MR. STARKEY: Okay, we will. It won't be long. I 17 guess I'll see you next week. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 19 MS. COLLIER: In San Antonio. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 31st -- 21 MS. COLLIER: Yes, sir. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: -- I believe is our -- hopefully it 23 won't be an all-day session. 24 MS. COLLIER: I hope not. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll move to our 11 o'clock timed 3-24-08 85 1 item, Number 16; consider, discuss, and take appropriate 2 action on resolution from the Texas Farm Bureau concerning 3 eminent domain. Commissioner Letz? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. I put this on the agenda 5 at the request of the Texas Farm Bureau. And after I visited 6 with one of their local representatives, I talked to Bob 7 Dittmar about this topic, and it's something I support, and 8 I'll turn it over to the Farm Bureau. 9 MR. DUNCAN: Yes, sir. I appreciate the 10 opportunity to appear before the Court today. My name is 11 Les Duncan -- 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Please give your name and address to 13 the court reporter. 14 MR. DUNCAN: I'm sorry. My name is Les Duncan; I'm 15 president of Kerr County Farm Bureau, and my address is 1257 16 F.M. 1340, Hunt, Texas, 78024. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. 18 MR. DUNCAN: This resolution is being called for 19 because in 2006, the Texas Legislature passed an eminent 20 domain reform bill, and Governor Perry vetoed that bill. The 21 Legislature overwhelmingly passed that bill, and it was 22 vetoed too late in the session for it to be -- for the veto 23 to be overturned. The Farm Bureau -- Texas Farm Bureau is 24 attempting to get that bill passed again in the next 25 legislative session. We are coming to you because the 3-24-08 86 1 governor cited opposition by city and county officials across 2 the state to the bill as part -- as part of the reason for 3 his veto. The resolution is before you. We have presented 4 two -- two different resolutions, and give you a choice of 5 signing either one, or rejecting both, I guess. But if you 6 have any questions or -- 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I guess I have one. I was 8 just commenting to the Judge -- or showing the Judge 9 something here. Basically, I'm supporting what you're about, 10 but I do have one question that goes to Item Number 5 on the 11 survey of eminent domain reform, which says, "I support a 12 definition of public use that prohibits the condemnation of 13 private property for economic development." There are 14 situations that arise where -- where eminent domain has been 15 used for the public's benefit -- not public use, but public 16 benefit, through economic development. Does this wording in 17 your survey -- it would seem to me that it would -- that it 18 would stifle that. What if we had an opportunity -- I just 19 ask the question rhetorically. What if we had an opportunity 20 to acquire through eminent domain a piece of property upon 21 which some sort of a facility that was going to ultimately 22 provide 25, 50, or 100 jobs for Kerr County? That's not 23 public use in the -- in the typical sense, but that is to the 24 public's benefit by reason of economic development in that 25 definition. How do you respond to that? 3-24-08 87 1 MR. DUNCAN: Well, do you mind if I refer to an 2 expert in the -- more of an expert? 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Whomever. 4 MR. DUNCAN: Regan Beck is a legislative -- from 5 Austin, and I'll let him respond to that. 6 MR. BECK: Thank you. My name is Regan Beck. I 7 live in Austin, Texas, at 5112 Crestway Drive. And, in 8 response to your question, I guess there was a huge outcry 9 about that very type of thing with the Kelo case up in 10 Connecticut. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. 12 MR. BECK: What they were doing is, they were 13 taking houses and they were condemning them so they could 14 have an economic development in that area, because it would 15 raise more tax money and have more jobs. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I remember that issue. 17 MR. BECK: Yes, sir. And that's probably one of 18 the things that really brought the whole eminent domain 19 situation to the forefront of a lot of people's attention. 20 We would be opposed to condemning property for economic 21 development. If there's a secondary -- if you condemn 22 property for a public use, for actually a public facility, 23 that's fine. And if there's a secondary economic benefit, 24 that's fine too. But to condemn property and take it from 25 individuals to give to other individuals for economic 3-24-08 88 1 development, we're opposed to that. We think that that is 2 not truly a public use. And you should only have this great 3 power if it's for a public use. And that kind of situation 4 where it's for economic development, we think you need to 5 negotiate with those property owners, pay them the fair 6 market value, and then go on with that economic development. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Essentially, what you're saying is 8 your position on this matter is that any ultimate or 9 subsequent use by the private sector of property which is 10 taken through the eminent domain process is something that 11 you're against, period. 12 MR. BECK: We're very concerned -- yes. Yes, we 13 are. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 15 MR. BECK: We would think if you take this, it 16 should be either used by the public or have some benefit to 17 the public, not given to other private individuals, no, sir. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that's the key point, 19 and I support this. I think it is fine to use it for 20 economic development to build -- say you want to build a 21 convention center that's going to be operated or owned by the 22 county. I probably wouldn't support it in this county, but, 23 you know, I could see that being a public use. But for -- to 24 use a governmental entity to condemn a piece of private 25 property and turn it over to a developer to make a profit off 3-24-08 89 1 of, I am totally against that. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I agree. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's what they're addressing 4 here, as I read it. 5 MR. BECK: Yes, sir. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I agree with that point. 7 And that goes back to the Connecticut situation, where -- 8 where they condemned the whole block or two or whatever, 9 turned it over to the developer, and he's going to make 10 apartment houses or something out of it. I agree with that. 11 MR. BECK: That's -- yes, sir, and that's what 12 we're really aiming towards. And, in fact, the Legislature 13 already addressed that somewhat in Senate Bill 7 back in 14 2005. And we just want to carry that on further in the 15 statute to solidify it, because -- so we don't have that 16 situation in the future. There's a case down on the coast 17 right now; they're trying to condemn some property that 18 belongs to these people that do shrimping; it's a shrimp 19 house. They want to make a marina, so they want to take away 20 that property from these people and make this marina, and 21 they want to do it by condemnation instead of just 22 negotiating with these people, giving them fair market value. 23 And that's what we're opposed to, those kind of things. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: The ultimate owner and operator of 25 the marina would become a private sector organization. 3-24-08 90 1 MR. BECK: That's true. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Or -- okay. 3 MR. BECK: Yes, sir. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Question. There was a 5 constitutional amendment issue placed on the ballot, if I'm 6 not mistaken, was there not, dealing with this very -- very 7 issue, on eminent domain? 8 MR. BECK: Yes, sir. You're talking about the one 9 in the last election, this last vote? There was -- there was 10 a constitutional amendment that said that if you're a 11 condemning entity and you take somebody's property and you 12 don't use it for the next ten years for that public purpose, 13 it can revert back to those property owners. Right now, the 14 way it works is, if you take that property ten years ago, 15 whatever the fair market value is, ten years later when you 16 was going to sell it back to those property owners, you would 17 sell it at the fair market value at that time. What that 18 amendment did was say, you can sell it back to those property 19 owners at the same price that you paid for it, so those 20 property owners are not hurt. They go on and get the 21 appreciation in value, because you never actually used their 22 property that was really those property owners' in the first 23 place. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Was there not -- maybe it was a 25 referendum dealing with this very issue that you're placing 3-24-08 91 1 before us today, exercise of eminent domain power to -- to 2 benefit economic development by -- by private owner. 3 MR. BECK: Not that I'm aware. There is Senate 4 Bill 7, which passed in 2005, and it dealt with this very 5 same issue. The only problem with that Senate Bill that we 6 see is there's a lot of exceptions, a lot of holes in it. 7 And the biggest example, I would say, from that bill is the 8 Dallas Cowboy stadium. They exempted that and excepted it so 9 they could condemn that property for that stadium, and that's 10 really been a -- I would say a black eye on stopping that 11 kind of abuse. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. 13 MR. BECK: Thank y'all very much. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: My only question is -- I want you to 15 hang in here for me just for a second. 16 MR. BECK: Yes, sir. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: On the survey, the Number 18 4 -- and I talked with Dr. Dittmar about it the other day 19 briefly. It says, I support compensating a property owner 20 for the devaluation of the remaining portion of the property 21 because of lack -- because of loss of access to the property. 22 I'm 110 percent with you except on that one. I can't quite 23 get my brain wrapped around that. To give you an example -- 24 just give you a small example, let's say this county condemns 25 a strip -- a very narrow, but long, strip of property for a 3-24-08 92 1 road right-of-way. And that may total up a full acre at some 2 point. And then we compensate that property owner for that 3 500 acres that's back there that he can't get to his 4 property, or the 1 acre that he can't get to his property? 5 See, in my mind, that needs to be defined more clearly. I 6 mean, are we going to compensate him for -- who knows what's 7 back there? 8 MR. BECK: Well, sir -- 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is this an open-ended -- 10 MR. BECK: No, sir, it's not. Not at all. And the 11 reason this case -- or the reason we have this as part of our 12 survey is, currently, the courts have imposed a threshold 13 test. If you've got a piece of property and, say, you take 14 part of that property and the property owner still has a 15 remainder, if the -- the remaining property is devalued 16 because of the diminished access, the courts currently say, 17 well, if they have any kind of access -- if this is a main 18 road, but they've got a caliche road around the back, they 19 don't have diminished access. It's got to be completely cut 20 off. What we're saying is, if you -- say a roadway -- you go 21 out and extend it out and you widen that roadway. All we're 22 asking for is, whatever that property -- how much it's 23 decreased in value because it's lost that access, you pay for 24 that. In fact, in a lot of cases when you have a new roadway 25 coming through, the remaining property is increased in value 3-24-08 93 1 because they have better access. You know, they have the new 2 road. But in those particular situations where they're cut 3 off and just -- one example that we really see is, like, the 4 Trans Texas Corridor. If you've got this big road coming 5 through and all these people are cut off from going around to 6 their property, and they've got to go 20 miles around, you've 7 really diminished their access. Or they -- or they've got a 8 farm-to-market road that's going across there, and it's cut 9 off and they no longer have that farm-to-market road, they've 10 lost part of their property to this, you've really hurt them. 11 And this only applies to people that actually lose property 12 to the condemnation. It doesn't apply to other people that 13 are back away from it, but if you actually lose part of your 14 property, that's when it would come into effect. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You won me over when you 16 used the term "Trans Texas Corridor." I'm with you. 17 MR. BECK: Yes, sir, thank you. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know how a 19 government entity would budget for something like that. I 20 mean, how do you get prepared for it? I guess you just bite 21 that bullet when it comes along. But I'm there. Okay. I'm 22 ready. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the -- and I think it 24 happened a great deal with that when I-10 went in; I'm sure 25 all interstates, but I know there are quite of few of my 3-24-08 94 1 constituents -- I know -- I'm sure Bruce has some that ended 2 up with landlocked pieces of property adjoining the 3 interstate. They couldn't get to -- I mean, I guess you 4 could walk down the interstate right-of-way, but you could 5 never be granted access to the interstate, and it was -- and, 6 you know, that's just the way it was done. I mean, and it's 7 been a -- a huge financial hit to some of those people as to 8 the value of the property. Now that the cities have grown, 9 population's coming up, the larger tracts, those people are 10 generally able to negotiate underpasses over the interstate 11 or something like that. It's the little slivers that were 12 cut off where people got hit pretty hard on that. One thing 13 I would -- just a general comment. I like the format of 14 coming up with a resolution, you know, that doesn't address a 15 specific bill. Bills change so much, I always really have a 16 problem with doing resolutions on a specific bill. This is a 17 much more a general philosophy-type approach that I prefer, 18 something like this. And which resolution, I mean, I think 19 the -- my preference would be the first one. It's shorter. 20 They say the same thing; the whereas's are almost identical. 21 Doesn't make that much difference to me. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: From past experience with 23 dealing with eminent domain and acquiring right-of-way for 24 various things in my precinct, most times the people are not 25 willing to sell. They're not willing to negotiate at any 3-24-08 95 1 price, and so it winds up going to district court to make 2 that determination. And by doing that, they normally are 3 compensated more than they would have been if they would have 4 agreed to what would have been a fair market price that could 5 have been agreed on by the county or state or government. 6 And in that process, they wind up getting a tremendous amount 7 of money for a -- for very small pieces of property lots of 8 times, and access problems or whatever. But I don't -- you 9 know, I actually support what you're trying to do. But the 10 court system in the past has insured that a lot of that 11 already happened. Even when the -- and that's what happens 12 when the entities and the owners can not agree. But I know 13 for sure that they were well compensated, more so than they 14 would have been had they agreed to some price before it went 15 to court. So, they have been protected in most cases, 16 especially, I would say, in the last 15 or 20 years. The 17 Interstate 10 thing was back in the '60's, and I know of 18 instances where there was no access at all, and the property 19 was just there and the only people that had an advantage were 20 the ones that owned property adjacent to it that actually 21 wound up purchasing it for very little, because it had no 22 access. 23 MR. BECK: Right. And what we've seen is there's 24 been a number of recent cases that have really sort of eroded 25 those property owners' rights, and that's what we're sort of 3-24-08 96 1 trying to address here, and as far as having somebody that's 2 recalcitrant and won't even work with you, that's what we 3 think eminent domain is for. So, you've got to go on and 4 negotiate. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Totally agree. 6 MR. BECK: But we just can't it done in a fair 7 manner. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Totally agree. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion to approve 10 the first shorter resolution as presented. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second. 13 Question or discussion on the motion? 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I do have one more -- 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, sir? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- one more question, 17 please. I've made kind of a study of Governor Perry. I 18 can't figure out what makes the guy tick and work, and it's a 19 full-time job. And you're -- 20 MR. BECK: We would appreciate any insight you 21 could give us as well. (Laughter.) 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, he understands clearly 23 how I feel, believe me. In your talking points here, when 24 you talk about the reason for him vetoing the bill -- I'm 25 assuming this is yours. 3-24-08 97 1 MR. BECK: Yes, sir. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Whatever. Is that one of 3 the excuse -- reasons? It would require compensation to be 4 paid to property owners whose land was not even condemned? 5 And I go back to our picture that we drew earlier where we -- 6 the County condemned a piece of property for the 7 right-of-way, and that property owner still had some land in 8 the back, and so we're going to compensate him, because you 9 can't access it, can't get to it, can't do anything with it. 10 Now, what about someone else, somebody else's property back 11 there that wasn't affected in the condemnation? 12 MR. BECK: And this only affects people that have 13 lost property due to condemnation. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Right. 15 MR. BECK: And it's lessened in value because of 16 that. If you have not actually had any of your property 17 taken, you get no compensation at all. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right. But the governor 19 tried to say that that was a part of the picture. 20 MR. BECK: They went back -- there was a case in 21 1993 called Schmidt that was in Austin; it's where they did 22 that 183 overpass. I don't know if y'all have ever seen it, 23 but it was a lot of stop lights, and they made, like, an 24 overpass, and some people sued and they said that they've 25 lost value because the circuitry of travel, visibility, 3-24-08 98 1 traffic patterns, all of these things, and the Court said you 2 cannot get paid for those things and those are more community 3 damages than special damages just to you. And sort of what 4 we heard his reasoning is, what we were trying to put back in 5 there were those different factors, and we're not. We don't 6 want that. We think that the only people who get paid is if 7 you lose property. And, really, we're just interested in 8 diminished access. We think that's what would really help, 9 or could really hurt rural property owners. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Thank you very much. 11 MR. BECK: Sir, thank you. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The survey is just for us to -- 13 if we choose to fill it out and send back to you at some 14 future time? 15 MR. BECK: Yes, sir. In fact, I guess that's what 16 we had asked for first, is the survey, if y'all wouldn't mind 17 just filling it out individually, that we had asked y'all to 18 do that. And I guess, from my understanding, you prefer a 19 resolution, so that would be fine with us as well. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I think y'all prepared 21 the resolution. I just thought the resolution made more 22 sense, if y'all were trying to get input to the governor. 23 MR. BOHNERT: Could I ask a question on that? When 24 you're talking about property immediately being affected, 25 does that include if property beyond that piece of property 3-24-08 99 1 had an easement, and that easement was affected to get to 2 that piece of property? I mean, his access would actually be 3 cut off also. 4 MR. BECK: The way it is right now, no, they would 5 not get compensated for that loss of the easement. The only 6 people in the -- in the statute, that governor's condemnation 7 and eminent domain, the only people that get compensated are 8 the ones that actually lose property to part of that 9 condemnation. Now, it may be a legal question that you have 10 to research. If there was an easement or part of the 11 easement, maybe they did lose part of their property. That 12 would be a special situation we have to look into. But, 13 generally, you have actually to lose some property, or 14 possibly an easement, so possibly so. 15 MR. BOHNERT: That would be legal access, is what I 16 was getting at. 17 MR. BECK: Right. Right. That question has not 18 been brought up yet, so I can't say for sure. Thank y'all. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It would appear to me that 21 you're not -- that the state -- state agency or entity would 22 not be able to landlock somebody who already had an existing 23 easement. You couldn't just cut the thing off. That's 24 illegal. 25 MR. DUNCAN: I have -- 3-24-08 100 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Can't do it. 2 MR. DUNCAN: I have a resolution that's already 3 been filled out, the blanks, that I've already -- 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Maybe we need to look at that one, 5 yeah. Okay. Any further question or discussion on the 6 motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 7 right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 12 MR. DUNCAN: Thank you. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's go to Item 19, if we 14 might; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on the 15 Road and Bridge audit, internal audit for Road and Bridge 16 having been completed. Ms. Hargis? 17 MS. HARGIS: I think all of you have in front of 18 you a copy of the audit stating that the internal audit found 19 the Road and Bridge in very good condition, that they were 20 following the internal control well, and we found no 21 deficiencies. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: So-called clean audit. 23 MS. HARGIS: So -- 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You need a motion to 25 accept? Is that what you need? 3-24-08 101 1 MS. HARGIS: Not on this one. I just wanted you to 2 have a copy of it. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Okay. Let's go to Section 4 4 of our agenda at this point, if we might. We'll come back to 5 the last two listed agenda items; they may have some 6 executive session implications. Item 4.1, payment of the 7 bills. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move we pay the bills. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to pay the 11 bills. Question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, 12 signify by raising your right hand. 13 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 15 (No response.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Do we have 17 any budget amendments? 18 MS. HARGIS: Not at this time. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Do we have any late bills? 20 MS. HARGIS: No late bills. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 22 MS. HARGIS: And you've got a copy in your packets 23 of the Five Star savings for the first -- first month. And I 24 just wanted to clarify, the word "bonds" comes from my 30 25 years in Houston, not from here. Because that's all I saw 3-24-08 102 1 for 30 years, so it's kind of hard for me to change my 2 language. Sorry. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: It's not going to take me 30 years 4 to change it, is it? 5 MS. HARGIS: I hope not. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I've been presented with 7 monthly reports for Justice of the Peace, Precinct 2; Justice 8 of the Peace, Precinct 4; and District Clerk. Do I hear a 9 motion to approve those reports as presented? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to approve 13 the named reports as presented. Question or discussion? All 14 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 15 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 17 (No response.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Do we have 19 any reports from any of -- any of you gentlemen concerning 20 your liaison or committee assignments? Commissioner 1? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, sir. Thank you. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Two? 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think we've dealt with 24 some of ours at the beginning of the meeting. No. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Three? 3-24-08 103 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Nothing additional. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Four? 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Most of you, I think, have 5 received an e-mail or a copy of an e-mail dealing with the 6 inquiry that's gone on concerning possible pooling health 7 benefits with the City. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Because of -- 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I didn't see it. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, you didn't see it. Bottom 12 line is -- we'll get you copies of it -- the demographics are 13 such that they just -- doesn't seem like it's worth pursuing 14 at this time, because -- because the demographics are too far 15 apart to make it feasible to pursue. We haven't even run 16 this by our own consultant. The City's consultant says his 17 analysis of the demographics indicates that, so that'll be on 18 the shelf. If we need to look at it later, we will. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In that case, I don't need 20 to see the e-mail. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. If it's not going to 22 work, don't send me a copy. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We got out of that, didn't 24 we? Okay. Any reports from elected officials? Department 25 heads? 3-24-08 104 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sheriff. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The Sheriff. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's a good one. You and I 4 already talked about it. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And I just want to make sure 7 y'all were aware -- the meeting did get canceled last week -- 8 the Sheriff's Office was approached and consequently received 9 a grant for $135,000 to upgrade security here at the 10 courthouse and at the J.P. 4 and Tax Office in Ingram. That 11 will include cameras, panic systems that would be straight to 12 Sheriff's Office radios and that, and below level downstairs, 13 badge entry on that. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that below level going to 15 get the card entry? 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah, below level will be card 17 entry. We'll get more of an exact as soon as their people 18 can come up and we do the final walk-through and see exactly 19 where they're going to start and how they're going to install 20 everything, which should be about third week of April. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Sounds like a winner. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Sheriff. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Welcome. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other elected officials? 25 Department heads? Okay, let's go back on our agenda to Items 3-24-08 105 1 17 and 18. Item 18 is definitely going to be an executive 2 session item. Item 17, let me call that item. Consider, 3 discuss, and take appropriate action to finalize job 4 descriptions of Human Resources Director and employees of the 5 Human Resources Department. Far as I know, most of that 6 should be something we can handle in the clear, open and 7 public. Anybody think any differently about that? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Particularly the County Attorney? 10 MR. EMERSON: No, sir. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. If there are any executive 12 matters, we'll do those when we go to consider Item 17. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Hello, Ms. Hyde. 14 MS. HYDE: Hello. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: That thing has been staffed almost 16 into oblivion, hasn't it? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a few changes. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, just a few. Yeah, okay. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Minor. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Most of them are minor. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: I see. 22 MS. HYDE: There were a few recommended word 23 changes. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me go to Page 2, if I might. 25 There's an inquiry you have in the middle of the page, when 3-24-08 106 1 you're talking about retirement and 457. Should the worker's 2 comp and unemployment be added? That's essentially a -- a 3 payroll and personnel-type function, isn't it? 4 (Ms. Hyde nodded.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Wouldn't that naturally follow from 6 the functions of your office of payroll administration and 7 also the safety program, the personnel status, whether or not 8 they're present for duty, whether they're on leave or sick or 9 whatever? 10 MS. HYDE: Right. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- I don't think you 12 had them here; I think they're already implied. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I had marked my copy okay, 14 because in our discussions, I think maybe we failed to talk 15 about workmen's comp and unemployment as such in this 16 context, but I don't have a problem with it either way, in or 17 out, you know. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If it's added, I don't think it 19 should be added under this bullet. 'Cause these are -- I 20 think this bullet came out of discussions about -- 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Retirement. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- retirement and the 457 -- 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- issues. And, to, me the 25 worker's comp/unemployment comes either under insurance stuff 3-24-08 107 1 or dealing with payroll-type functions. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Frankly, that's a better 3 place for it, under insurance matters such as that. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But if you need -- if you think 5 you need to add it under one of those two other areas -- 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just a comment, because 7 there are a lot of things that are underlined and changed and 8 so forth. And going back to Ms. Hyde's notation at the back 9 that the changes within the document were recommended by 10 Commissioners Letz and Williams, during the discussion, 11 Jonathan and I had a long discussion with Ms. Hyde, and what 12 we tried really to do was to get a little better 13 understanding of her -- for everybody's purposes, as to what 14 her intent was with respect to the Human Resources Director's 15 job description. And the changes that we've suggested, we 16 think, accomplish that. At least in our minds, they 17 accomplish that. They're better understood; they leave less 18 to misinterpretation. They -- in my mind, they put down 19 any -- any thought of job description expansion into areas 20 that are not intended to be there, and I think it just leads 21 to a better understanding of what the position's all about. 22 But when we finished with that, and Eva was good enough to 23 prepare this red-line for all these suggested changes, it was 24 our thought that this discussion needed to take place here 25 today. These were just the suggestions of two Commissioners. 3-24-08 108 1 They may not be acceptable to other people at this table. 2 (Cell phone rang.) I'll call you back. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you still talking to us? 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll call you back, too. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: What are your feelings about how 6 this thing has evolved and where it is right now in draft 7 form? Do you think it properly encompasses the things that 8 appropriately fit within your office that -- not only what 9 you've been tasked to do, but also what should logically 10 follow with the other functions that you are required to 11 perform? 12 MS. HYDE: I know this could come with some 13 disagreement, so I ask that you give me a second to voice the 14 entire concept. Everything that was in here that talked 15 about financials has been marked out, but there's a large 16 portion of my duties right now that deal with financials, so 17 I feel at times I've gotten crossways because of some 18 wording, or implied, this is what part of my job is. And I 19 just want to make sure that y'all do understand that paying 20 the bills, reconciling those bills, researching those bills, 21 and then requesting for those bills to be paid is done in 22 H.R. right now. So, I just want to make sure that you guys 23 are in agreement with that, because if not, then we need to 24 pull them out. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, I don't have a 3-24-08 109 1 problem with what you just described in terms of reconciling 2 all the insurance coverages to make certain that those bills 3 are correct, because we went through an experience where we 4 paid bills that were incorrect. 5 MS. HYDE: Right. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So I don't have any problem 7 with that at all, nor do I have a problem with -- with your 8 being on top of the issues related to payroll. None 9 whatsoever. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- yeah, and I agree 11 with that. I mean, to me, yes, there's a lot of things that 12 you do have a little working with financial on the insurance 13 side and the pension plan types, payroll. Obviously, your 14 own personal -- well, not your own personal, but your -- your 15 department budget. But I don't see that you have -- outside 16 of payroll, I don't think you have any business with the 17 Sheriff's budget and financial matters. Which I knew would 18 get his attention. And that's all I'm saying. I think it 19 needs to be -- I mean, your focus is -- I mean, and that area 20 is the Sheriff's, bills between his department and the 21 Auditor and the Treasurer. 22 MS. HYDE: I don't think there's anything in there 23 that says that. I think that where there is some -- like we 24 talked about in our meeting, my assumption had been that 25 anything in here, it was understood it was relating to H.R. 3-24-08 110 1 and personnel, but I don't think that everyone took it that 2 way. And I think you guys brought up a really good point, 3 because they can be read or misread. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 5 MS. HYDE: So, you know, there's a lot of H.R. in 6 there and personnel in there now. But, again, there's 7 nothing in there that says you guys really want me to pay 8 those bills or be responsible for them. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, the actual disbursements, no, 10 but everything up to the point of directing disbursement -- 11 MS. HYDE: No, the reason -- 12 JUDGE TINLEY: -- relative to all those functions, 13 I think, is appropriately yours. 14 MS. HYDE: I think that what we do right now, how 15 we've put it together is, I get the bills, I reconcile the 16 bills, and then I request payment. I take that upstairs to 17 the Auditor. The Auditor looks it over, makes sure it's 18 okay. I give it to them. They send it downstairs to be 19 paid. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To me, when you administer -- 21 develop and administer H.R. functions, I don't see how you 22 can do the H.R. function if you're not authorizing payment of 23 payroll. I mean, I don't -- 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: She's basically authorizing 25 it to be paid based on what has been presented her as the 3-24-08 111 1 timesheets by all the elected officials, where she has 2 reconciled all that to make sure that it's correct before it 3 goes to the Auditor, and ultimately to the Treasurer to be 4 paid. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. And I don't see how you 6 can administer without doing that. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah, you can't. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It says "administer" in here. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Everybody's saying the same 10 thing. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They are. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Sounds to me like there may have 13 just been a -- a misunderstanding of communication, or maybe 14 a failure of communication. What you're seeking, then, is 15 confirmation of that concept? 16 MS. HYDE: Oh, absolutely. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, okay. Okay. Sounds to me 18 like you got it. Okay. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Whether it was meant to have 20 her to do as many things as she's doing or not, it is 21 necessary she do all of the things relating to personnel, 22 which includes, you know, reconciling the amounts to be paid. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Sure. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And insurance and all that 25 stuff to be submitted for payment, make sure we don't overpay 3-24-08 112 1 or underpay our insurance. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That -- and that -- I think 3 that where it came out, in and my discussion -- or Bill was 4 there too. Because of the timing of a lot of things that 5 happened, when she first came on, she was asked to do things 6 and did things that, I think, were in other departments, 7 primarily Maintenance. For example, we were in a little bit 8 of turnover and change in Maintenance, and I think she got 9 more involved in that department than, by her job 10 description, she should have. And you did it -- not that you 11 should have -- because you were asked to do it, and you did 12 it, but that's not something that should be your normal job 13 description to work with other department heads on their 14 personal budget, other than a training standpoint to teach 15 them one time. If we have anyone in any department that 16 works for Commissioners Court that can't prepare their own 17 budgets, we need to find new department heads. That's -- I 18 think they need to be given the tools how to do it, and work 19 with -- primarily with the Auditor or whoever to learn that. 20 But that's kind of where I was on the financial side. I 21 think that, you know, from a training standpoint, we 22 certainly have to give all of our people the tools to be able 23 to do their job, and that will mean, for some people, getting 24 sent to some financial schools to understand budgeting. And 25 that can be done in-house through you or through the Auditor 3-24-08 113 1 or through whoever. But at some point, you know, the -- the 2 apron strings need to be cut. They need to be on their own, 3 or, you know -- or whatever. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Go ahead and finish it. 5 Don't just stop there. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll stop there. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Probably need to train 9 somebody to deal with the cattle guards in Precinct 3. You 10 know, there's a -- there's a whole damn job all by itself, 11 right there. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sounds that way. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Probably requires staff. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: A career opportunity. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Career opportunity. Just don't 16 take out cattle guards without talking to people. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Probably going to require some 18 foreign language training, too, wouldn't you think? 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Taking out cattle guards 21 comes in under Commissioner 101. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. What's your pleasure, 23 gentlemen? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What are you asking today 25 in this agenda item? 3-24-08 114 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Approval? 2 MS. HYDE: If y'all -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion we approve 4 the H.R. Director's job description as presented, which has 5 had modifications, or as presented. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second that. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Question 8 or discussion? 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Does that get you where you 10 need to be? 11 MS. HYDE: Mm-hmm. I'll have copies of the notes, 12 and that way I can attach the notes. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So, we're all in agreement 14 here? 15 MS. HYDE: I hope so. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. Including you? 17 MS. HYDE: I hope so. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay, that's what I wanted to 19 know. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Any question or discussion? All in 21 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. The only 3-24-08 115 1 other item we have is without question an executive session 2 item. So, it is 11:47, and we will go out of open or public 3 session to go into executive session to consider Item 18. 4 (The open session was closed at 11:47 a.m., and an executive session was held, the transcript of which 5 is contained in a separate document.) 6 - - - - - - - - - - 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. It is -- it is 12:06, and 8 we'll go into public or open session. Does any member of the 9 Court have anything to offer in connection with matters 10 considered in executive session? Does any member of the 11 Court feel like it may be necessary to give any further 12 consideration to any matters that are on this agenda, that it 13 might be more appropriate to recess, as opposed to adjourn 14 the meeting? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are you -- are you thinking 16 about related to major executive session type items, or is 17 there something else you're thinking about? 18 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm not thinking about anything. 19 I'm just trying to keep the options open if we want to keep 20 them open. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- I don't know of any. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't have anything, 24 Judge. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: In that case, we'll be adjourned. 3-24-08 116 1 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 12:07 p.m.) 2 - - - - - - - - - - 3 4 5 STATE OF TEXAS | 6 COUNTY OF KERR | 7 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 8 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 9 County Clerk of the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 10 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 11 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 27th day of March, 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 3-24-08