1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Monday, September 22, 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 September 22, 2008 2 PAGE --- Commissioners' Comments 6 3 1.1 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action 4 regarding annual Courthouse Lighting Agreement between Kerrville Christmas Lighting Corporation 5 and Kerr County 10 6 1.2 Presentation on status of current Alamo Regional Transit operations and review of proposed new 7 service routes 12 8 1.3 Consider/discuss, approve replacement of election judges and alternates for term of one year in 9 accordance with Texas Election Code 20 10 1.4 Consider/discuss, amend Court Order #30969 to add County Treasurer and issue an order that 11 unopposed candidates are elected 21 12 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate actions to approve the cost of proposed budget and the cost 13 of the final budget of $25 each for FY 08/09 22 14 1.6 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve the Sheriff and Constable fees 22 15 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 16 approve Time-Warner contract for County Attorney's office & take appropriate action to insure IT's 17 timely cooperation with transition 25 18 1.7 Public Hearing on proposed 2008 Kerr County tax rate 32 19 1.9 Open bids for electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and 20 pest control services 33 21 1.8 Consider/discuss, set date for adoption of 2008 county tax rate 34 22 1.14 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on tele- 23 phone answering system/additional phone lines to accomplish telephone system for J.P. offices 36, 24 128 1.11 Public Hearing on proposed salary, expenses, and 25 other allowance of Kerr County elected county or precinct officers for FY 08-09 42 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) 2 September 22, 2008 PAGE 3 1.20 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve interlocal agreement between Kerr County 4 and Kerrville-Kerr County Joint Airport Board for employment benefit and related services for 5 airport personnel 44 6 1.22 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to apply for 2009 Indigent Defense Formula Grant 46 7 1.23 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 8 approve a resolution regarding recycling 47 9 1.12 Public Hearing on Kerr County budget for FY 08-09 55 10 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 11 approve a tax exemption under Property Tax Code 11.184.b(1) for B.P.O. Elks Lodge #2081 56 12 1.16 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 13 make any changes in proposed and filed FY 08-09 budget deemed warranted by the law and required 14 by the interest of taxpayers, and adopt budget 75 15 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to adopt a budget that will require raising more 16 revenue from property taxes than in the previous year, and ratify property tax increase reflected 17 in the budget 95 18 1.19 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on proposed Kerr 9-1-1 budget 97 19 1.17 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to set 20 and adopt salary, expenses, & other allowances of elected county or precinct officers for FY 08-09 101 21 1.18 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 22 adopt the position schedule, step and grade schedule, and general provisions for FY 08-09 104, 23 113 1.26 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action 24 regarding the agreement with Correctional Healthcare Management to provide inmate medical 25 services effective October 1, 2008 109 4 1 I N D E X (Continued) September 22, 2008 2 PAGE 1.21 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 3 additional pay due to Kerr County Court at Law Judge for FY 07-08 because of change in state 4 Statutes and offsets to same due Kerr County for FY 07-08 and prior years 114 5 1.24 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action 6 regarding policy and procedures for Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center 121 7 1.27 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 8 creating an Indigent Health Care full-time employee position with a minimum of 14.1 step/ 9 grade for FY 08-09, and appoint a supervisor 139 10 1.25 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 11 accept any certifications, licenses, and/or registrations from department heads that report 12 directly to Commissioners' Court that are required by law for their Department 152 13 1.28 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 14 authorize building office space for office of Indigent Health Care and Crime Victims Coordinator 15 in existing open area in the basement 156 16 1.29 Approval of promotion for current secretary to office manager 160 17 1.30 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 18 rescind Court Order #30988 which set a public hearing on October 13, 2008 at 10:10 a.m. for 19 revision of plat for The Woods, Section Two, Revision of Lots 79, 80, 81, 82 & 83 163 20 4.1 Pay Bills 164 21 4.2 Budget Amendments 165 4.3 Late Bills --- 22 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 171 23 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments 172 24 5.2 Reports from Elected Officials/Department Heads 173 25 --- Adjourned 173 5 1 On Monday, September 22, 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 posted and scheduled for this 10 date, Monday, September the 22nd, 2008, at 9 a.m. It is that 11 time now. Commissioner Oehler? 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Let's rise and have a word of 13 prayer, and followed by the pledge of allegiance. 14 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. At this time, if there's 16 any member of the public or the audience that wishes to be 17 heard on any matter that is not a listed agenda item, this is 18 your opportunity to tell us what's on your mind. If you wish 19 to be heard on an agenda item, we'd ask that you fill out a 20 participation form. They're located at the rear of the room, 21 and get that up here to us. The main purpose is so that I -- 22 I'll have that, and I won't -- I won't pass over you when we 23 get to that item, and be sure to include you and recognize 24 you on that item. However, if you do wish to be heard on an 25 agenda item, and you've not filed a participation form, just 9-22-08 6 1 get my attention in some fashion and I'll give you the 2 opportunity to be heard. But right now, if there's any 3 member of the public or the audience that wishes to be heard 4 on any matter that is not a listed agenda item, feel free to 5 come forward at this time and tell us what's on your mind. 6 Seeing no one making an effort to come forward, we'll move 7 on. Commissioner Oehler? 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's getting dry again; grass 9 is getting dead. I'm going to put the burn ban back on 10 today. That's about it. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that it? One? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir, I have a couple of 13 things. I heard on the newscast this morning that -- 14 something very, very interesting. Down in the state of 15 Alabama, they have completely run out of ammunition and 16 firearms down there. I mean, Walmart or anybody; you can't 17 find any. The Alabamans are saying that Russia may invade 18 Georgia, but they're not coming into Alabama. (Laughter.) 19 Plus, we're honored by the presence of -- of a partner of 20 Kerr County's. The Department of Public Safety has a new 21 sergeant in town, and Chris Lalonde is with us, and I wanted 22 to introduce Chris not only to the Commissioners Court, but 23 to the general public. And Chris came from Eagle Pass, 24 Texas, so welcome to God's country. 25 SERGEANT LALONDE: Thank you. 9-22-08 7 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good to have you. 2 SERGEANT LALONDE: Okay. I just wanted to put a 3 face and a body with, you know, a rumor that, you know, there 4 was a new sergeant in town. So -- and I look forward to 5 working with y'all, and if there's something I can do, you 6 know, just to talk, or if there's a complaint or something, 7 my door's always open. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sergeant. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else, Commissioner? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, that'll do it. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Commissioner Williams? 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just want to express my 15 thanks to you, Judge, for telling the public who was here 16 last Monday night that it wasn't through indifference that I 17 missed the meeting. I did have a house full of company from 18 California, some of which are looking at moving to Kerr 19 County, and which would be good. I thank Kathy for giving me 20 the minutes as quickly as possible. I have read them. I 21 noted the comments of the eight members of the public who 22 spoke and the two county officials or county employees that 23 spoke, so thank you. We'll go from there. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else? 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, sir. 9-22-08 8 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Letz? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I, likewise, am going to put 3 the burn ban on today. And the other item is, I think we've 4 been there before, but for those that aren't aware, and 5 hopefully the press will start looking at this a little bit 6 as to inform the public, we're about to be besieged by power 7 lines again. It's primarily going to be Commissioner 8 Baldwin's and my precinct this time that are hit. But there 9 are three new power lines on their way to Comfort right now. 10 I didn't -- I was not aware until recently that Comfort is a 11 major player in the -- in the worldwide grid of electricity, 12 especially in Texas. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Wind power. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Wind power. But there are two 15 public lines and one private line that are in the works. The 16 private line is a little bit less onerous, because they don't 17 have eminent domain capabilities. And Florida Power and 18 Light, they're buying right away at a pretty hefty price, and 19 there was a 180-foot right-of-way. Right-of-ways were also 20 180 foot wide each. One will be coming somewhere from 21 McCamey through just north of Kerrville to Comfort; it's on 22 the north side of the interstate. The other one's coming at 23 a little bit steeper angle. Not sure where it originated 24 from, but it's up past Abilene, I believe, and it's going be 25 to be coming a little bit right along the county line, 9-22-08 9 1 Kendall-Gillespie-Kerr County line. These are all big lines 2 that will be coming in; going to have some impact on lots of 3 issues. We've already been there once, so I just thought I'd 4 bring it up again. Get ready for round two. That's it. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: I was in Washington, D.C. for three 6 days last week on behalf of Kerr County. There was a 7 delegation of six of us that went to D.C. to see and talk 8 with our elected officials there, our congressional and 9 senatorial delegations in Washington. We had the mayor from 10 the City of Kerrville, Mr. Bock, and we had the KEDF reps, 11 Guy Overby and Sue Tiemann, and also we had the Chamber 12 people represented, Brian Bondy and Steve Chapman. I think 13 it was a productive meeting. We got to talk with our elected 14 officials about some ideas and needs that we have here 15 locally, and I'm -- I think, all in all, it -- it will be 16 productive in the long run. This is the third year that we 17 have done this, and each year it seems to be a little bit 18 more productive. So, hopefully we -- we've planted some 19 seeds and we're growing some seeds that have been previously 20 planted for the benefit of this community and this county, 21 and I think it was a very productive trip overall. I suspect 22 that the mayor will be making a report to City Council 23 sometime early next month, and we'll possibly bring issues to 24 the Court and to the City Council in connection with things 25 arising out of that visit, but we'll see what develops. And, 9-22-08 10 1 again, I think it was quite productive. Let's get on with 2 our agenda, if we might. The first item on the agenda is to 3 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action regarding the 4 annual courthouse lighting agreement between Kerrville 5 Christmas Lighting Corporation and Kerr County. Mr. Bond 6 from the lighting corporation. 7 MR. BOND: Good morning. We met two weeks ago, and 8 we had a couple of -- or, actually, one minor revision to the 9 annual agreement. I've added that line to the agreement and 10 submitted it to both Tim and Rex, and I believe they both 11 agree that it meets the requirements that they asked for, as 12 well as yourselves. I just want to make sure that everything 13 looks okay to you on the license agreement. It's pretty -- I 14 think in a little while, we'll get this thing perfect to 15 where we won't have to revise it each year. But I think 16 we're good to go this year, unless you guys have a concern. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 20 approval of the license agreement. Further question or 21 discussion on that motion? All in favor of the motion, 22 signify by raising your right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 9-22-08 11 1 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Thank you 2 very much for being here, Mr. Bond. 3 MR. BOND: Gentlemen, I wanted to just bring up one 4 last sub-note. I sent an e-mail to you, Judge, over the 5 weekend about a related issue. We're excited to announce 6 this year that -- coincidentally, the Kerr County Market Days 7 and the Christmas lighting actually fall on the same day. 8 It's the fourth Saturday of the month, which gives us a 9 unique opportunity to turn our annual lighting into an 10 all-day event in the downtown square. We're excited to bring 11 in some additional music and food and things like that to 12 turn this into an all-day celebration in the hill country, 13 and I think it's going to be a good thing for downtown, as 14 well as Kerrville in general. I just -- there's not a 15 significant need for y'all to do anything for this. It's not 16 going to affect anything, other than maybe having a few of 17 her vendors stay a little later in the day on that day on the 18 courthouse lawn. But other than that, it's going to be 19 primarily for downtown. I just wanted to make it -- as a 20 courtesy to the Court, to let y'all know that this is 21 something we're excited about; think it's going to be a good 22 thing for Kerrville. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. Bond. We look 24 forward to that event. 25 MR. BOND: Thanks. 9-22-08 12 1 JUDGE TINLEY: The next item on the agenda is 2 presentation on the status of the current Alamo Regional 3 Transit operations and a review of the proposed new service 4 routes. Commissioner Williams? 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Judge. It's my 6 pleasure to introduce to the Court Gary Washington, who is 7 the new manager of Alamo Regional Transit, which operates out 8 of the bus depot on Schreiner Street in the vicinity of 9 Francisco Lemos. Incidentally, before Gary starts, the Court 10 may not be aware that AACOG acquired that piece of property 11 and financed it with a five-year note to purchase it from 12 Dietert Senior Center, and it is now totally paid off and is 13 owned totally by AACOG for the purposes of Alamo Regional 14 Transit. I asked Mr. Washington to come here just to give us 15 a brief review of what's taking place, and to talk to us a 16 little bit about some proposed restructuring or new routes 17 that will take place in Kerr County. Gary Washington. Gary? 18 MR. WASHINGTON: Morning, Your Honor, County 19 Commissioners. Commissioner Williams, I did attempt to send 20 a Power Point presentation to you, but it was so big that it 21 kicked back, so I brought copies. If anybody else would like 22 a copy, I have a few more. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If it was that big, it 24 would have blown a fuse here, so that's good. 25 MR. WASHINGTON: Okay. Don't want that to happen. 9-22-08 13 1 Okay. I'm Gary Washington, Transportation Coordinator for 2 Kerrville. On the second page, you'll see our service area. 3 It's for 11 counties, and we have a service area to all 11 4 counties. And third page, it's basically we're a service for 5 all ages; senior citizens, middle age, and the youth too. We 6 provide curb-to-curb transportation, also door-to-door 7 services. Third page is examples of our ridership are 8 medical-dental, pharmacy, senior citizen nutrition programs, 9 adult day care centers, job and job training, school. Kids 10 that live within the 2-mile radius that cannot ride the bus, 11 we offer transportation to them before school and after 12 school, like after-school programs like the Y.M.C.A., some of 13 the day care centers. We take passengers to pay bills, to 14 the grocery store. 15 On the fifth page, I thought it would be important 16 to include what our -- what our major ridership is in Kerr 17 County. The major transportation needs right now are 18 medical/dental appointments, followed by treatments to 19 physical therapy and other therapies. We have shopping trips 20 for nursing homes once a month; we take seniors from one 21 nursing home and transport them to San Antonio or wherever 22 they want to go to shop for the day. Health Occupations 23 Students of America, that was something we put on last -- 24 last month for the Chamber of Commerce. Some of the students 25 needed a ride from the Y.O. to the -- West Mount? I'm not 9-22-08 14 1 sure -- 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Mount Wesley? 3 MR. WASHINGTON: Mount Wesley, okay. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mount Wesley. 5 MR. WASHINGTON: We took them there. We provide 6 transportation for Workforce Solutions, the Dietert Senior 7 Center, hair appointments, the grocery store, laundry, and 8 even to see friends. We have a published fare that hasn't 9 changed since 2004. We'd like to keep it that way. Also, 10 some of the sources of -- some of the other sources are 11 Medicaid, the Worksource Solutions, Alamo Area of Aging. And 12 one of the things I thought is pretty important, too, is that 13 we also get money from local churches and local groups to 14 transport people in their congregation to different places 15 they need to go. So, on the sixth page, you'll see my staff 16 doing their pitch on the lower right-hand corner. We think 17 it's important that you call before 12 o'clock noon for your 18 appointment for the next day, and that's going to be provided 19 depending on availability. Be ready for 30 minutes -- be 20 ready for pickup 30 minutes before the scheduled pickup time, 21 and inform the dispatchers if you're -- if you have a 22 wheelchair, a scooter, or walker, and if you have an escort 23 to ride with you. Of course, there's a picture of our bus. 24 Contact us with information. If you have any kind of plans 25 or you see a need for us to give you service in any kind of 9-22-08 15 1 way, just give me a call; we'll see if we can work that out. 2 Commissioner Williams asked me to bring this sheet 3 right here. This is an example of the ridership for your 4 districts. I was trying to go into our software and see 5 exactly if I could pinpoint them in the zip codes, and I 6 couldn't. So, I basically went through and wrote down where 7 all of our riders were, different zip codes, so you can see 8 exactly where or how your representatives are being 9 represented. So, that's the example of the ridership. And 10 also, too, we just completed -- our consultant just completed 11 our -- our proposed routes, our proposed fixed routes for 12 next year and following. That's this page right here. There 13 are three proposed routes, A, B, and C, which basically they 14 cover all the major points in Kerrville. They're going -- 15 we're going to see if we can get our ridership up and add 16 Route A and B, then C. Or maybe A and C, if it makes better 17 sense. So, basically, that's my presentation. And I left 18 everybody with a copy of this -- of the proposed published 19 fares. Any questions? 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Washington, the -- the hours of 21 operation for your service, what are those hours of 22 operation? 23 MR. WASHINGTON: Basically, we're 8:00 to 5:00. 24 But a lot of times, what we have to do for Medicaid, if we 25 got to pick up somebody to go to San Antonio for dialysis, we 9-22-08 16 1 usually have to pick them up at 5 o'clock in the morning, and 2 then we try to get them in there, because since we only drive 3 until 5 o'clock, we have to get them in there as early as 4 possible. So, we're flexible. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: It appears that you're trying to 6 tailor your service to whatever the particular needs are that 7 arise -- 8 MR. WASHINGTON: Sure. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: -- in this community, and I 10 appreciate that. Have you had a demand for service earlier 11 than 8 o'clock in the morning for people needing 12 transportation to work? 13 MR. WASHINGTON: Sure. Yes, we have. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: And? 15 MR. WASHINGTON: And we are accommodating that, 16 just as long as it fits into our schedule. It doesn't 17 really -- wouldn't make a lot of sense to transport one 18 person all the way to, say, San Antonio, but if we can get a 19 busload of people going there, that would make sense to us. 20 'Cause with the price of fuel and everything else going up, 21 it has to be fiscally responsible for us, too. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. It occurs to me that maybe, 23 you know, around 7 o'clock or something in the morning, 24 people -- if you had a large enough group in a -- in a fairly 25 confined area that could, you know, maybe at least half fill 9-22-08 17 1 up your bus, -- 2 MR. WASHINGTON: Sure. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: -- that would be something that 4 would be doable? 5 MR. WASHINGTON: Sure. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Okay. 7 MR. WASHINGTON: Yes, it would. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: 'Cause I've had that question posed 9 to me about that being a particular problem for employers, 10 that their employees don't have transportation to get to 11 work. And if those employers can be made aware of service 12 you offer and then get their employees to gather up, as it 13 were, -- 14 MR. WASHINGTON: Sure. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: -- then maybe you guys could give 16 them that help. 17 MR. WASHINGTON: We'll entertain all -- all those 18 suggestions. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Same thing later in the evening when 20 they get off, and maybe they don't get off till 6 o'clock in 21 the evening. If there's a large enough group, you could 22 accommodate them, transporting them back home from work? 23 MR. WASHINGTON: Yes. Yes, we could. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Thank you, sir. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Gary, when you and I spoke, 9-22-08 18 1 we were talking about when the consultant's report was going 2 to be completed that would detail some routes in Kerr County. 3 MR. WASHINGTON: Sure. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Inside and within the city 5 limits and outside the city limits. And I noticed from your 6 map here, it appears that you have accommodated one of the 7 areas of need that I indicated to you, which is around the 8 Doyle School. 9 MR. WASHINGTON: Yes. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Wallace, Swigert, Webster, 11 Paschal, and off of Schreiner Street. My question to you is, 12 when are these routes going into effect, and secondly, how 13 frequently do they -- do they run? 14 MR. WASHINGTON: Right now, it's just a proposal. 15 We're looking at how we're going to fund that. I was 16 proposing that -- that they have four -- at least four trips 17 in the morning and four trips in the afternoon, but if 18 there's a need to go earlier or make more trips and we can 19 support it, we will. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And what size vehicle would 21 you anticipate using? 22 MR. WASHINGTON: Right now, we're going to use the 23 Type 2, which is 11-passenger. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 25 MR. WASHINGTON: We've got six vehicles that are on 9-22-08 19 1 order. We recently, last week, received a Type 3, which is a 2 24-passenger van. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 4 MR. WASHINGTON: So, we're currently using those 5 for the nursing homes, for the shopping trips to San Antonio. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. Alamo Regional 7 operates a lot of vehicles in the 11 counties surrounding 8 Bexar County. How many of them are stationed here in Kerr 9 County permanently? 10 MR. WASHINGTON: We have 17. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. So -- 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Kerr County alone, 17? 13 MR. WASHINGTON: Yes. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Ah. 15 MR. WASHINGTON: Seventeen are based in Kerrville. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, if the Court 17 remembers, every now and then I share with you some ridership 18 statistics, and we drive a lot of miles in Kerr County. 19 MR. WASHINGTON: Yes, we do. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's a very valuable 21 service. And Gary's new to the job. His predecessor went 22 from Alamo Regional Transit over to Worksource and is now 23 employed there, and so Gary's learning. He's learning well 24 and quickly and on the job, and we thank you. 25 MR. WASHINGTON: Thank you. 9-22-08 20 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you for coming. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions for 3 Mr. Washington? Thank you, sir. We appreciate you bringing 4 us this information. 5 MR. WASHINGTON: Last comment. How about those 6 Cowboys last night? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, indeed. (Laughter.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: I knew somebody was going to get 9 that in. Thank you, sir. 10 MR. WASHINGTON: Uh-huh. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 3, if we might. 12 Consider, discuss, and approve the replacement of election 13 judges and alternates for the term of one year in accordance 14 with the Texas Election Code, Section 32. Ms. Alford? 15 MS. ALFORD: Good morning. In Precinct 211, we 16 were going to replace Dee Speaker, but I was notified this 17 weekend that Pam Crumwin -- 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Crumrine. 19 MS. ALFORD: -- Crumrine cannot do it, and I don't 20 have a replacement there yet, but I need to replace 406, Jane 21 Trolinger, with John Romero, 'cause he lives in Precinct 406. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Good man. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, we're not approving 24 anybody for 211, then? That means you're coming back? 25 MS. ALFORD: Correct. 9-22-08 21 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I move approval of election 2 judges for Precinct 406, Jane Trolinger with John Romero. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 5 indicated. Further question or discussion on the motion? 6 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 7 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. We'll go to 12 Item 4; consider, discuss, and amend Court Order Number 13 30969, certification of unopposed candidates to add County 14 Treasurer and issue an order that the unopposed candidates 15 are elected. We omitted the Treasurer last time? 16 MS. ALFORD: We omitted the Treasurer from the 17 first one, so we need -- 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 21 approval of the agenda item. Further question or discussion? 22 Apologies to Ms. Williams. All in favor of the motion, 23 signify by raising your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 9-22-08 22 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 3 MS. ALFORD: Thank you. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll go to Item 5; consider, 5 discuss, take appropriate action to approve the cost of the 6 proposed budget and the cost of final budget of $25 each for 7 FY 2008-09. Rather than a dollar a page, you're just 8 proposing that -- 9 MS. PIEPER: Correct, just a flat fee. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: -- for a copy of the complete 11 budget, they pay 25 bucks? 12 MS. PIEPER: Correct. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 16 indicated. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 17 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 20 (No response.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Item 6, 22 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to approve 23 Sheriff and constable fees. 24 MS. PIEPER: I'll turn that over to the Sheriff; 25 it's his fees. 9-22-08 23 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, come on. We've got to 2 get out of here today sometime. 3 MS. PIEPER: I'm sorry. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That may not that many. We 5 haven't changed any of our fees since 2000, I guess, was the 6 last time we raised or changed any, so there are a few 7 changes on these that I think just economics is sort of -- 8 kind of necessitating, and that's such as all the subpoenas, 9 summonses, executions, small claims, justice courts. All 10 those that were $60 each, have changed those to -- I'm asking 11 to change those to $65. And then on the writ of possession, 12 which is the big ones that the constables normally have to 13 do, we've left that at $200, but then also added $50 an hour 14 after the first hour. Those can end up taking a long time 15 and cost the constables days of sitting there kind of 16 guarding -- 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: $50 an hour for the 18 constable to be there on -- on duty, guarding somebody 19 else's -- 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: He's required to be there when 21 they move everything out, and, you know, if it's a -- if it's 22 a writ of possession, giving the house or apartment or 23 whatever back to the landowner or landlord. And it's that 24 cost that gets expensive. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: How -- how do those proposed fees 9-22-08 24 1 fit in with comparable fees charged by -- 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Just about -- 3 JUDGE TINLEY: -- other counties? 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Just about in the middle. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Some of these -- some people 7 had said, you know, "Well, we ought to do the -- the small 8 claims and the citations higher." That's, you know, what it 9 costs to file a lawsuit. The thing is, these fees are not 10 the filing fee. They're just the service fee that the 11 constable or the -- or my deputy has to do, okay? The filing 12 fee's different, and if you get them up too much, then people 13 can't even file their small claims suits, because it costs 14 more to file it than it's worth, so I don't think that's 15 appropriate. And I did change the bailiff fee from $15 to 16 $20. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval of the fee 18 schedule as presented by the Sheriff. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 21 approval of the Sheriff and Constables 2009 fee schedule. 22 Question or discussion on the motion? All in favor of the 23 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 9-22-08 25 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. We'll move 3 to Item 10; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 4 approve a Time-Warner contract for the County Attorney's 5 office, and take appropriate action to insure I.T. 6 Department's timely cooperation with the transition. 7 MR. EMERSON: Morning, gentlemen. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning. 9 MR. EMERSON: We are taking three to four of our 10 computers off the County's network in our office. In the 11 past, historically, there's been a concern for security on 12 the County's network on certain websites and certain 13 information that was accessed. A lot of that information, we 14 need to access that to do our job in the prosecution. 15 There's an amazing number of things that we can find out 16 about some of our defendants when we go into some of those 17 websites, but John's indicated it's a security risk for the 18 County. So, what we would like to do is, we've talked to 19 Time-Warner. I've also talked to Windstream, but Time-Warner 20 seems to be the better opportunity at this point. There's 21 two options for a contract. There's a one-year deal that 22 would cost us $119 a month. There's three years that we can 23 sign up for $99.95 a month. The three-year is actually the 24 better opportunity, and not only because we save $20 a month, 25 but when you take the $20 a month off, even if we cancel, by 9-22-08 26 1 the time you build in the cancellation fee, we're still not 2 back to as expensive as the one-year is, so it's a better 3 opportunity. If there is any administrative duties that are 4 required to be done to the computers that we take off the 5 County's network, you know, we would appreciate the 6 cooperation of I.T. Since y'all are I.T.'s boss, that's why 7 that's on there. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I understand the nature of 9 your request, but I'm really -- I'm really kind of interested 10 in why staying on the county system, as you have been, to do 11 the things you need to do poses a security risk to the rest 12 of the system. I'd like somebody to explain that to me. 13 MR. TROLINGER: Well, actually, it really boils 14 down to service, I believe. And I believe the responsiveness 15 to the County Attorney's office has been lacking in the past 16 two months, and that's what this boils down to. We can 17 certainly accommodate the County Attorney's request with the 18 existing network by making changes to allow certain computers 19 full access to the internet. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: However? 21 MR. TROLINGER: Well, that's the bottom line. We 22 simply need to work better with the County Attorney's office. 23 I.T.'s fallen down on the job on it. That's the bottom line. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Emerson, if -- if there's the 25 proper input from I.T., is it -- is it necessary that you 9-22-08 27 1 take this step to go to the Time-Warner service? 2 MR. EMERSON: Not if we can get the access and -- 3 and timely response. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, now that we got that 5 on the table, let's find out if we can or we can't. Can we? 6 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, sir. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But, wait. The issue is that, 8 as I understand -- let me make sure I understand what we're 9 even talking about here -- is that the County Attorney needs 10 to go to lots of different websites, whether it be law stuff 11 or background, whatever they do, and they're blocked because 12 of security settings that we have -- you have set on the 13 system. 14 MR. TROLINGER: Correct, county-wide -- or 15 courthouse-wide settings that are set for everyone in the 16 network. They're blanket settings, yes. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Are there adjustments that can be 18 made to -- to the computers in the County Attorney's office 19 to give them access they need to those sites that would 20 otherwise be outside of what you want the general courthouse 21 to have access to? 22 MR. TROLINGER: Yes. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But -- 24 JUDGE TINLEY: What's it going to take to make that 25 happen? 9-22-08 28 1 MR. TROLINGER: Making the changes for those 2 particular computers and segregating them, as the County 3 Attorney wants to do. Segregating them. But, really, the 4 bottom line is, we just need to be more responsive and listen 5 to what he needs and wants, and get it done. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: So, what we wants is doable without 7 doing the Time-Warner deal? Is that what I'm hearing? 8 MR. TROLINGER: It is. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He'll be able to access 10 whatever he wants? 11 MR. TROLINGER: Yes. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How quickly can you make 13 that happen? 14 MR. TROLINGER: Well, that's the issue. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 16 MR. TROLINGER: Today I'll just stay late, do 17 whatever we need to do. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Does that resolve your issue, 19 Mr. Emerson? 20 MR. EMERSON: Just one more question. Can we get 21 the administrative block removed to where we can input new 22 programs and download programs on those set computers? 23 MR. TROLINGER: Yes. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Just the same ones? 25 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. 9-22-08 29 1 MR. TROLINGER: And that's much of the issue, is 2 that administrative allowance per the I.T. policy to allow 3 the installation of programs from the internet is -- is not 4 there on those computers, and for those particular computers, 5 we just need to open it up and say, okay, those are 6 sacrificial lambs. If -- you know, they're segregated from 7 the network, and if they get infected, then we'll have to 8 just spend some time fixing them. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Corollary question here, 10 unless the County Attorney raises his hand and says I can't 11 ask it. But I'm going to ask it; then he'll raise his hand. 12 Quite often, you refer to an I.T. policy that guides the 13 actions of your department with respect to the system and its 14 utilization. My question to you is, has this Court seen the 15 entire I.T. policy, and have we approved it? 16 MR. TROLINGER: Yes. It was effective in 2004, 17 before I started, and it's posted on the I.T. web page, so 18 it's been in effect for quite some time. We've discussed it 19 a few times, but no action's been taken on modifying it. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is the posted -- the '04 21 posted policy, has it ever been amended? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The hand's -- 23 MR. EMERSON: The hand's up. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Good try, Bill. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I knew sooner or later I'd 9-22-08 30 1 get that. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: But the two items, the 3 administrative and then the access to the other things that 4 the County Attorney wants, is doable with the existing 5 equipment and the timely cooperation of your office? 6 MR. TROLINGER: And that's the bottom line, yes, 7 sir. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. And you're willing to commit 9 to do whatever is necessary in the earliest possible time 10 frame in order to accomplish that for his benefit? 11 MR. TROLINGER: Yes. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Meaning today. Before 13 tomorrow. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Starting today. 15 MR. TROLINGER: Yes. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The -- the next question I 17 have, then, is -- is there are -- I see other elected 18 officials and department heads in the audience that are -- 19 that their eyes are listening at the moment, because they see 20 a change in policy coming. How hard is it -- is this 21 something you can do for other departments? 22 MR. TROLINGER: Well, if we want to relax the 23 security or review it again, if I can get some feedback, 24 that's number one. And I got some feedback from the Sheriff 25 last week. I had no idea, you know, we can't do this or 9-22-08 31 1 that. And I'm just not -- maybe I'm not listening or asking 2 the right questions when I see the various offices as to what 3 they need access to. And not knowing that they can't get to 4 something is the number one issue. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we need to -- I mean, I 6 hear from other departments, and the Sheriff being one, and 7 others. I think that it's a -- we need to put it on the next 8 agenda to figure out a system to do this, because I think 9 that it's -- the security settings for the county are pretty 10 strict, and when we adopted the policy, I thought it was such 11 that we needed it that way to keep viruses and things out. 12 We need to protect the system, but we need to allow our 13 department heads and elected officials the ability to work. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Jon, I'd like to see also at 15 the next meeting the agenda item be broad enough to answer 16 the question, why didn't they work this issue -- why is this 17 issue in the Commissioners Court? 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Good question, Commissioner. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Why didn't he just go to him 20 and say, "Do this," and he says, "Okay," like he's saying 21 today? That tells me there's an underlying problem there 22 that needs to be addressed. So, that's all. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: I think it's called teamwork, 24 Commissioner. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I believe it is, something 9-22-08 32 1 like that. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 3 MR. TROLINGER: And I'll admit, approachability and 4 my availability has not been the best. I've been mostly gone 5 the past two weeks. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm hearing a pledge from you to 7 improve that significantly? 8 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, sir. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that correct? 10 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, sir. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Anything else on that item, 12 gentlemen? I will recess the Commissioners Court meeting at 13 this time, and I will convene a public hearing on the 14 proposed 2008 Kerr County tax rate. 15 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 9:36 a.m., and a public hearing was held in open 16 court, as follows:) 17 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the public or 19 the audience that wishes to be heard with -- with respect to 20 the proposed 2008 Kerr County tax rate? Again, anybody 21 wishing to be heard with regard to the proposed 2008 Kerr 22 County tax rate? 23 (No response.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Seeing no one wishing to be 25 recognized or coming forward to speak, I will close the 9-22-08 33 1 public hearing with respect to the proposed 2008 Kerr County 2 tax rate, and I will reconvene the Commissioners Court 3 meeting. 4 (The public hearing was concluded at 9:36 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 5 reopened.) 6 - - - - - - - - - - 7 JUDGE TINLEY: And we'll go to Item 9, a timed item 8 for 9:30, and that is to open bids for electrical, plumbing, 9 HVAC, and pest control services. Mr. Bollier? 10 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You need a real knife, 12 Jonathan? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I got a real knife. Appreciate 14 the assistance. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: We don't want any Bowie knives. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How big is your real knife? 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It still fits in my pocket. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. The first proposal is from 19 Compton's of Kerrville, with regard to -- looks like it's 20 electrical, plumbing, HVAC. They don't indicate which. I 21 don't know whether -- I don't think he's in the plumbing 22 business or the electrical business; I think it's all HVAC. 23 The next one is from Foss Pest Control with regard to pest 24 control services. Next proposal is for pest control from 25 Hill Country Pest Control. The next one is from Whelan 9-22-08 34 1 Plumbing, dealing with plumbing services. We have one from 2 Kerrville Service Company dealing with HVAC, and we have 3 another one from Kerrville Service Company dealing with HVAC. 4 I'm not -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Maybe it's a different one, 6 Judge. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: -- certain why we had -- 8 THE CLERK: One could be the original and one could 9 be a copy. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Or they could have amended 11 their bid. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move we accept all bids and 13 refer them to Maintenance for recommendation -- Maintenance 14 Director. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for -- to 17 accept the bids and refer them to Maintenance for review and 18 recommendation. Question or discussion on that motion? All 19 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's go 24 back to Item 8, if we might. Consider, discuss, and set date 25 for adoption of 2008 county tax rate. Earliest date, 9-22-08 35 1 gentlemen, is probably going to be Friday morning, because of 2 the posting requirement. We obviously have until -- I think 3 notice must be given not less than three days. 4 MS. BOLIN: And not more than 14. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: And not more than 14. 6 MS. BOLIN: Yes. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: So, we basically got till the end of 8 the month -- 9 MS. BOLIN: Right. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: -- to set that. Obviously, the two 11 odds-on favorites will be Friday and next Monday. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'd say Monday. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Monday. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 9 a.m.? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 9 a.m. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's fine. 17 MS. BOLIN: 9 o'clock Monday? 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Or is there some other time that's 19 more preferable? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We did good with 7:00 this 21 morning, didn't we? Except for Bruce. Bruce had to do the 22 milking out in Mountain Home. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Cow was hurting. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: We're looking at next Monday, the 25 29th of September, 2008, at 9 a.m. Or a different time? 9-22-08 36 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 9:00 is fine. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: 9 a.m.? Is that acceptable, 3 Ms. Bolin? 4 MS. BOLIN: Fine by me. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Who was it made that motion? 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Commissioner Baldwin. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: You made that motion? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I made that motion. Yes, 10 sir, I did. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And I'll second it. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: And we have a second. Question or 13 discussion on that motion? All in favor of the motion to set 14 and adopt the 2008 county tax rate Monday, the 29th of 15 September, 2008, at 9 a.m., signify by raising your right 16 hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 19 (No response.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move 21 to Item 14; consider, discuss, take appropriate action on 22 telephone answering system and additional phone lines to 23 accomplish telephone system for Justice of the Peace offices. 24 Is Judge Ragsdale here? He was working on this particular 25 item. As the Court will recall, he wanted a setup for 9-22-08 37 1 answering that would create an efficiency by having a 2 standard message for all four J.P. courts with respect to 3 their various options, so as to allow the clerks in those 4 offices to be able to more efficiently handle their paperwork 5 and still provide the service to the public. He had provided 6 some information with respect to the cost involved to do that 7 to Hill Country Telephone Co-op. The material for that is 8 included with your -- 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let's see. If I remember, 10 there was lease numbers as well as purchase numbers. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, there's a lease-purchase -- 12 lease and/or purchase of the equipment, number one, and 13 number two, there's a monthly charge for the lines. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. The thing about the 16 lease option, instead of there being a $1 buy-out at the end 17 of the lease, it's apparently fair market value; there's no 18 specification of the cost at the end of the lease period. We 19 could be paying a significant amount for that equipment. 20 But -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I apologize; I don't 22 remember. What's this supposed to do? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, when -- it's an intercept 24 line, where -- 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How does it help the 9-22-08 38 1 citizens of Kerr County? 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, presumably, it allows the 3 clerks, who we have heard are boat-loaded now with regard to 4 the amount of work they're doing with the cases and so forth, 5 and presumably it's going to allow us to not have to increase 6 that staffing. That's what we were told. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, the lease, I don't -- I 8 don't see the need to be a lease system. I mean, I don't 9 understand why -- I mean, the cost -- just go to Walmart and 10 buy a telephone with an answering machine on it, or use AT&T. 11 I mean, it seems like how they lease -- I see the need for 12 it, but it seems that we need a commitment from all the 13 J.P.'s that -- I mean, to me, my recollection is that they -- 14 the concern was that when people get a ticket, they 15 immediately call the J.P.'s, and, you know, it's bogging down 16 the clerks of J.P.'s office, and I see that. If all J.P.'s 17 put the same number on all the tickets going out in Kerr 18 County, and it says -- and then refer them to a recorded 19 message that says, you know, whatever they want to say, and 20 then if you need to talk to J.P. 1, you call this number; 21 J.P. 2, this number. I think -- I mean, I don't know why you 22 need four lines to do that. I don't know why you can't just 23 add one line and -- you know. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think that's what this 25 proposal is, is for one line, one system to do all the 9-22-08 39 1 answering; is that not correct? 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, he's talking -- 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'm not saying I support 4 this. I'm just saying that's what the idea is, is to have 5 one line where all those calls tunnel into where they can get 6 directions on how to take care of their tickets. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On here, each line -- three 8 lines would cost this much, and four lines would cost, you 9 know, this much. Why -- I don't understand why we need more 10 than one new line to do this. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Just have the J.P. 12 information number, looks to me like. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: At the tail end of his 14 proposal, he has a Norstar compact digital integrated 15 communication system for 5,200 bucks. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Sounds pretty high to me. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is this a lease or 18 purchase? Or -- 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I believe that's purchase. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's purchase. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To me, can't you go with KTC or 22 Wind -- whatever you call them, Windstream, and get, like, a 23 voicemail, get a recording when you call the number? 24 JUDGE TINLEY: I think the difficulty was, the 25 reason that it was suggested to check with the co-op was 9-22-08 40 1 because of the monthly line charge being significantly 2 greater in -- in the Kerrville system, Windstream system. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well -- 4 JUDGE TINLEY: That was the reasoning for -- for 5 Judge Ragsdale getting the proposal from the telephone co-op. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I don't know -- anyway, and 7 I recall fine, but I still don't see why we need more than 8 one line that you put a recording on. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Maybe the J.P.'s could tell 10 us. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge Wright, do you have any 12 idea? Since you're the one here, we'll pick on you. 13 JUDGE WRIGHT: I think this is to take away some of 14 the time that our clerks spend -- are spending answering the 15 same questions over and over. This one phone number would 16 only be on the letter that goes to the person that gets a 17 traffic ticket. They won't ever read the letter, but if we 18 had the recording, "Do you want to take defensive driving?" 19 You answer all the questions, and then if it didn't answer 20 whatever questions they had, they would be directed to the 21 clerk to take it further. But it would just be one phone 22 number, one line, one answering machine. This is my 23 understanding; I don't know. Judge Ragsdale did all of the 24 inquiring about it. But it would just be to answer all those 25 questions that they continually answer all day long, because 9-22-08 41 1 people won't read their letter that they've got. Our local 2 numbers will remain the same in the telephone book. This is 3 just to go on the letter to recipients of a traffic ticket. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, this is important for 5 Judge Ragsdale. Is it important for you too? 6 JUDGE WRIGHT: All of us. Our girls spend about 7 half their time answering the same -- I'm not going to say 8 stupid questions, but the same questions. And it's all 9 explained in the letter they get with the ticket, but they 10 don't read the letter. They call -- they call and say, "I 11 need to speak to the Judge. Well, the officer told me I 12 needed to call the Judge." Well, the Judge can't talk to 13 them, so she's stuck answering the questions, plus asking, 14 "Does this pertain to a case?" He's got the particulars on 15 it. I'm sorry he's not here to explain it further. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: According to my calculations, 17 you know, I mean, $450 would cover it. It's one phone line, 18 initial charge, and $31 a month. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I think that we 20 should wait till Judge Ragsdale is in here to, you know, do 21 this thing. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, I think we got some open 23 questions that... Anything more from anybody here present 24 today on this issue? Let's move to our 9:45 item. I will 25 recess the Commissioners Court meeting at this time, and I 9-22-08 42 1 will convene a public hearing on proposed salary, expenses, 2 and other allowances of Kerr County elected county or 3 precinct officers for Fiscal Year 2008-09. 4 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 9:50, and a public hearing was held in open 5 court, as follows:) 6 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the public 8 that wishes to be heard with respect to the proposed salary, 9 expenses, and other allowances of Kerr County elected county 10 or precinct officers for Fiscal Year 2008-09? Again, any -- 11 any member of the public wishing to be heard on the proposed 12 salary, expenses, and/or allowances of Kerr County elected 13 county or precinct officers for Fiscal Year 2008-09? 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Seeing no one trying to be 16 recognized or otherwise coming forward to be heard, I will 17 close the public hearing on the proposed salary, expenses, 18 and other allowances of Kerr County elected county or 19 precinct officers for Fiscal Year 2008-09, and I will 20 reconvene the Commissioners Court meeting. 21 (The public hearing was concluded at 9:51 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 22 reopened.) 23 - - - - - - - - - - 24 JUDGE TINLEY: And let us go to Item 17; consider, 25 discuss, and take appropriate action to set and adopt the 9-22-08 43 1 salary expenses and/or allowances of elected Kerr County or 2 precinct officers for FY 2008-09. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, aren't we -- 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me just ask the question, 5 Commissioner. Do you want to consider that item after the 6 budget item? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's defer on Item 17. How 9 about we look at 18? Will you go for that? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll go for 18. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Item 18 will be consider, discuss, 12 take appropriate action to adopt the position schedule, step 13 and grade schedule, and general provisions for FY 2008-09. 14 We normally adopt those, or had been in the past, as a part 15 of the budget, but now we're adopting them separately, and 16 they are within the materials with your agenda item. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Ms. Hyde, you have a question? 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Ms. Hyde has her hand up. 19 MS. HYDE: I can't give you a position schedule and 20 step and grade that's completed until the other one has been 21 completed. Right? 22 JUDGE TINLEY: We are again looking at the cart 23 before the horse, huh? Or vice-versa. 24 MS. HYDE: I can give you one with names and 25 positions. 9-22-08 44 1 JUDGE TINLEY: But until they're funded, you can't 2 do that? Is that what you're saying? 3 MS. HYDE: I -- Rex? 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Well, let's pass on that 5 particular item, what do you say? 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are we in a catch-22 7 situation here? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. We're going to find something 9 that'll fly here in a minute. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Item 20. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, Item 20. Consider, discuss, 12 take appropriate action to approve interlocal agreement 13 between Kerr County and the Kerrville/Kerr County Joint 14 Airport Board for employment benefits and related services 15 for airport personnel. Commissioner Williams, can we do that 16 one without approving the budget first? 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir, I believe we can, 18 Judge. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Well, take it and run with 20 it. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Let's try. Commissioner 22 Letz and I have attended many of the Airport Board meetings 23 here recently, and they have examined very carefully all of 24 the options for continuing service beginning October 1 that 25 were given to them by the City. They opted to go the 9-22-08 45 1 third-party route, which, in effect, will be Kerr County, and 2 the airport -- interim Airport Manager has been extended and 3 offered to be the Airport Manager. That board was setting 4 his salary and conditions of employment, and what this does 5 for us -- and the County Attorney drafted this agreement 6 that's before you -- is to allow Kerr County to -- through 7 interlocal agreement, to provide the benefit structure, 8 health insurance, life insurance, pensions and so forth by 9 interlocal agreement with the Airport Board. They pay for 10 it; we extend the services, and that's what this agreement's 11 all about. The agreement, as I indicated, was drafted by the 12 County Attorney, forwarded out to the Airport Board. They're 13 waiting on us to set the standard here and approve it, and 14 they'll complete it at their Airport Board meeting. This is 15 the preferred route for them to go. They want to go this 16 way. So, all that said, I would move approval of the 17 interlocal agreement between Kerr County and the Kerr County 18 Joint Airport Board for employment benefit and related 19 services for airport personnel. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. And I see a perplexed 21 look on Commissioner Baldwin. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 23 indicated. Question or discussion on the motion? All in 24 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9-22-08 46 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 2 (No response.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: See how easy that was, 5 Judge? 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. Let's go to Item 22; 7 consider, discuss, take appropriate action to apply for the 8 2009 Indigent Defense Formula Grant. This is something that 9 comes up every year to apply for the Indigent Defense money 10 out of the governor's Criminal Justice office. There's a 11 deadline for applying; sometime in October, I believe. It 12 should indicate in your -- October 21, 2008. The -- the 13 amount estimated at this time is $26,317, which, of course, 14 is a drop in the bucket compared to what we pay for indigent 15 defense. But -- 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We'll take what we can get. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: -- beats nothing at all. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, all we need is a motion 19 to approve this? 20 JUDGE TINLEY: That's right. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 24 approval. Question or discussion on that motion? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If -- if we get the grant, 9-22-08 47 1 who -- who applies it to the program? 2 JUDGE TINLEY: That goes through the Auditor's 3 office. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: And they've been handling that for 6 -- within my memory. Long, long before Ms. Hargis got here, 7 the Auditor handled it, as I recall. Other question or 8 discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, 9 signify by raising your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's go to 14 Item 23; consider, discuss, take appropriate action for 15 approval of a resolution regarding recycling. If you'll give 16 us your name and address and tell us what's on your mind. 17 MS. MOSS: My name's Melissa Moss. Good morning, 18 gentlemen. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Morning. 20 MS. MOSS: This -- this resolution is part of a 21 public awareness campaign. It's statewide, simply to 22 recognize the importance of recycling in regards to trade, 23 keeping jobs in Texas, protecting the environment, landfill 24 preservation, and energy conservation. So, that's -- that's 25 that. I would be happy to answer any questions that y'all 9-22-08 48 1 may have. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't -- I cannot see -- 3 I'm going to vote for this, but -- 4 MS. MOSS: Good. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- I'll tell you, you and I 6 are worlds apart on some of this stuff. What in the world 7 does 3.4 million manufacturing jobs leaving the U.S. have to 8 do with us recycling here in Kerrville? 9 MS. MOSS: Well, it is -- it's kind of hard to 10 see -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Isn't that more of a 12 political statement? 13 MS. MOSS: No, I don't -- 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you sure? 15 MS. MOSS: I don't believe so. What it comes down 16 to is, when you recycle and you're using recycled materials 17 to manufacture products, you're lowering costs and you're 18 using less energy. Lowering costs and using less energy 19 keeps Texas companies on the map when it comes to trade, 20 either globally or domestically, which also translates into 21 better jobs in Texas and increase in pay. I do have, you 22 know, some specific stats on job loss; that's nationwide. 23 Here in Texas, we've lost 200,000 jobs since 2001, and that's 24 just to China. Since 1998, there's been 155,000 25 manufacturing jobs lost in Texas. So, you know, it's pretty 9-22-08 49 1 staggering, and it's very staggering nationwide. But, you 2 know, our focus here is on Texas and keeping y'all's jobs 3 here. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This resolution wasn't 5 written by Mr. Gore, was it? As I read about global climate 6 and -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll tell you, man. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- greenhouse gases. 9 MS. MOSS: No, absolutely not. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're all going to die if we 11 don't do this thing. (Laughter.) 12 MS. MOSS: No, no, no. This is not to inflict any 13 kind of fear, no. I have absolutely nothing to do with Al 14 Gore, no. That's a very funny question, but no. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I may not be at kind as 16 Commissioner Baldwin. I may vote -- I probably will vote 17 against this, and it's because all of this stuff about energy 18 has gotten us into a lot of the problems that we're in right 19 now. When I think of ethanol, well, that's not mentioned in 20 here, and corn and a lot of other stuff, and I just think 21 this stuff is -- needs to be thought out a lot better than 22 sending a blanket resolution to Congress that has messed up 23 our policy to start with. I just can't go along with 24 something like this, sorry. 25 MS. MOSS: That's okay. 9-22-08 50 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Moss, who or what is Moore and 2 Van Allen? 3 MS. MOSS: We are a government relations 4 department. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Does that mean lobbyists? 6 MS. MOSS: We have some lobbyists, yeah. I'm not a 7 lobbyist. We operate within a law firm, so that's Moore and 8 Van Allen. That's mainly because we can get a lot of, you 9 know, funding and various things that way. We're kind of a 10 small department; there's only about 45 of us. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Where is Moore and Van Allen from? 12 MS. MOSS: Based in Charlotte, North Carolina. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 14 MS. MOSS: I'm fortunate to spend most of my time 15 here in Texas, which I like. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Who is ramrodding this particular 17 resolution? 18 MS. MOSS: We represent domestic manufacturers. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 20 MS. MOSS: This is not to -- and I've been asked 21 this question, and I want to make clear that this is, to my 22 knowledge, not going to come across as any kind of mandate 23 for y'all to start recycling more. That's not at all what 24 the focus of this resolution is. It -- but, excuse me, it 25 basically is just going to come down to us saying, you know, 9-22-08 51 1 at the county and city level, we've gathered a lot of support 2 for the congressional delegations and the state delegation to 3 support recycling initiatives statewide. To date, we've had 4 27 counties and municipalities pass this. We actually have 5 19 on agendas today, so it's a big day for us. And in the 6 next few weeks, we've got about 10 more. So, we've kind of 7 just started this in the last few months, and we're just 8 trying to make progress and say, you know, to the state that 9 recycling's a good thing. We need to support it. We need to 10 give recognition to manufacturers that are recycling and that 11 are doing the things that I mentioned earlier, keeping your 12 landfills open, conserving energy. Just on the energy level, 13 just to make one point, and it -- I think it is in the 14 resolution, but manufacturing a product out of recycled 15 material versus virgin material uses about 300 percent less 16 energy, and it also reduces the greenhouse gas emissions. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: You say that there are 27 local 18 government entities that have approved your resolution up to 19 this date? 20 MS. MOSS: In Texas, yes, sir. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: How many local government entities 22 has it been presented to and acted on, or -- one way or the 23 other? 24 MS. MOSS: Or not acted on? 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, up to this time. 9-22-08 52 1 MS. MOSS: I really don't even know that. Very 2 few. I have had one that just took no action, and I'm in the 3 process of getting that back up. But I can only speak from 4 my experience, and we've -- you know, I honestly do not know. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 6 MS. MOSS: We try to keep this very positive. 7 It's -- the media has given a lot of negative attention to 8 job loss and energy use and the environment and all of these 9 things that we hear lots of huge numbers, and, you know, the 10 economy, and we're just trying to put a positive spin on this 11 and say, you know, manufacturers domestically are doing their 12 part recycling, and we're just trying to recognize them for 13 their efforts. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: And your focus here is to obtain 15 support of a resolution which supports domestic manufacturers 16 who is, quote, your clients? 17 MS. MOSS: Recycling. Exactly. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think a better -- you know, a 20 resolution is fine, but I'm a little leery of them; I never 21 know where they're going to end up. I think the marketplace 22 dictates recycling. And I think that -- you mentioned a lot 23 here about steel. Steel is at a point that it makes sense to 24 recycle steel right now, and I'm one of those that are doing 25 it right now. I'm about to haul about 30,000 pounds down to 9-22-08 53 1 San Antonio this week, simply because it's worth about $3,000 2 to me. 3 MS. MOSS: Good for you. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think that capitalism is 5 the best way to get this stuff working, and when it's 6 cost-effective and makes sense to recycle, people recycle. I 7 think it's not -- recycling just for the sake of recycling, I 8 don't think, is always good. I think it can cost energy at 9 times. But when the prices get to where they are right now, 10 I think it makes a lot of sense. 11 MS. MOSS: And I think that's why we focus on the 12 manufacturing aspect of it, and that when it comes to 13 manufacturing, it is a huge decline in energy consumption 14 when it comes to making something out of recycled material 15 versus virgin material. Now, we're not asking you, as a 16 county, to start, you know, upping your recycling. It's 17 really just a recognition/support kind of thing. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments for 19 Ms. Moss on this particular agenda item? 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I like everything 21 except all the parts about "reduces cost of products, enables 22 company to trade competitively in U.S. and abroad, translates 23 into better jobs, greater income." I think a lot of that, 24 like Commissioner Baldwin says, you kind of get away from the 25 recycling part of it; you're getting into the political part 9-22-08 54 1 of it, trying to -- trying to make some kind of impact, in my 2 mind, with maybe the liberal side of politics. 3 MS. MOSS: Well, I don't do any political work. 4 None of us do. I mean, this is really very, very, very 5 focused on recycling. And -- 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Wonderful thing. 7 MS. MOSS: -- like I said earlier, it's kind of 8 hard to find that, where the trade and the jobs come in, but 9 it's there. You know, using recycled materials in 10 manufacturing is going to keep those energy costs down and 11 keep, you know, the jobs here. So -- 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, we do -- we have a 13 recycling place here in Kerrville, and I don't know of 14 anybody that's against recycling. But to couple that with 15 something that appears to be somewhat politically motivated 16 is something I don't agree with. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And if the recycling people 18 come -- our local people come in here and say, "Y'all support 19 us in some kind of a statement that recycling is the coolest 20 thing this year," I think we do that. We do that. But I'm 21 kind of with these guys. Letz made a statement a while ago, 22 just kind of in passing; we're not sure where these things 23 go. I mean, you're a nice person, a good person. I bet your 24 mom and daddy are great people. (Laughter.) However -- 25 MS. MOSS: Thank you. 9-22-08 55 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: However, there's some 2 lawyers involved in the background here somewhere. You know, 3 I just don't know where these things are going, really what 4 we're doing here. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Does any member of the Court have a 6 motion they wish to offer with regard to this particular 7 agenda item? 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's move on. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 11 MS. MOSS: Thank you. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you for being here, Ms. Moss. 13 At this time, I will recess the Commissioners Court meeting, 14 and I will convene a public hearing on the Kerr County budget 15 for Fiscal Year 2008-09. 16 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10:08 a.m., and a public hearing was held in 17 open court, as follows:) 18 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the public 20 that wishes to be heard with respect to the Kerr County 21 budget for FY 2008-09? Again, any member of the public that 22 wishes to be heard with regard to the Kerr County budget for 23 FY 2008-09? 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Seeing no one seeking to be 9-22-08 56 1 recognized or coming forward to be heard, I will close the 2 public hearing on the Kerr County budget for FY 2008-09, and 3 I will reconvene the Commissioners Court meeting. 4 (The public hearing was concluded at 10:08 a.m. And the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 5 reopened.) 6 - - - - - - - - - - 7 JUDGE TINLEY: And we have a 10:05 timed item, Item 8 13, which we will take up now, and that is to consider, 9 discuss, take appropriate action to approve a tax exemption 10 under Property Tax Code Section 11.184(b)(1) for the B.P.O. 11 Elks Kerrville Lodge Number 2081. Mr. Keefe? 12 MR. KEEFE: Good morning. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning again. 14 MR. KEEFE: Nice to see y'all. As you recall, back 15 on April the 14th of this year, we asked for the same item to 16 be approved. You had questions that you had to get answers 17 to before you could take action. I would like to expand a 18 little bit on the answers to those questions. Before I do, 19 however, I'd like to mention that in June of 1958, the Elks 20 Lodge was chartered, so what that means is this past June, we 21 celebrated 50 years of giving service to this community. We 22 had a couple of items that we feel are pretty important. 23 First of all, in answer to the question, how many others 24 might show up to take advantage of the Elks' exemption? 25 Well, only the known and well-established fraternal 9-22-08 57 1 organizations, they being Elks, Moose, Masons, et cetera. 2 Previous laws have already exempted all other nonprofit 3 groups. For example, Lions and all other service clubs, 4 Sheriff's Posse, American Legion, VFW, youth clubs, scouts, 5 community theaters, garden clubs, senior citizen centers, 6 historic sites. There's just nobody left but us charitable 7 fraternal organizations. We hope that you understand that 8 all this -- all these answers can be resourced. 9 All the other exemptions were granted by the 10 Legislature without giving local governments any option to 11 deny or approve, except for senior citizen homestead 12 exemption, but all other I.R.S. 501(c) entities are exempt, 13 period, by act of the Legislature. Now, for all them to be 14 exempt and us still taxed creates an unconstitutional 15 situation of taxation not being uniform and equal among a 16 class of taxpayers. The Legislature, in granting all the 17 other exemptions, did not intend to create an 18 unconstitutional situation, but that is the effect of the 19 many exemptions granted piecemeal over the years. In other 20 words, the result is, by default, we are singled out a class 21 for taxation, and it is unconstitutional to single out part 22 of a class. You may ask, how can we guarantee this? Well, 23 the law, H.B. 1689, requires any organization seeking exempt 24 status to apply to the State Comptroller, who checks out the 25 organization's purpose and budget. The Comptroller has 9-22-08 58 1 approved only the known fraternal groups. If approved, the 2 group must reapply every five years for renewal. I might 3 mention, we do have that determination letter issued to us. 4 You might ask, why can't we qualify under some 5 previous exemptions like the service club exemption? We meet 6 all the tests for a service club exemption except for one. 7 The service club exemption prohibits asking club members 8 about religion. We fraternal orders require the belief in 9 God. What will this exemption cost the County, City, school 10 district? Well, not much. The dollars are big to our 11 charities, but they're really peanuts to the governments, 12 representing as little as .0001 -- it's 1/1000th of their 13 total property tax revenues. If this exemption is granted, 14 what will the Elks do with this money? Well, all the moneys 15 will be given back to the community, such as scholarships. 16 The $1,000-plus that we paid the county in taxes last year 17 would buy approximately 20 food and toy baskets that we could 18 give away this Christmas. That is why this tax exemption is 19 so important to us. We ask that you approve this. Thank 20 you. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mr. Keefe? 22 MR. KEEFE: Yes? 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You've answered some of the 24 questions that, you know, we've had in the past. I'm curious 25 about one issue or element of this, and it's contained in 9-22-08 59 1 Comptroller Susan Combs' letter to you dated February 29, 2 2008, in which, among other things, it says, "Be aware that 3 an organization may be qualified, but receive no benefits 4 from the exemption because it either owns no property, or the 5 appraisal district determines that the property is not used 6 exclusively for qualifying charitable activities." Is the 7 Elks property, by definition, used exclusively for qualifying 8 charitable activities? 9 MR. KEEFE: We feel that it is. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's really not the 11 answer. The question is, is it? 12 MR. KEEFE: The question that you have cannot be 13 answered by me. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Why not? 15 MR. KEEFE: It would have to be answered by the 16 Chief Appraiser. But before we can go to the Chief 17 Appraiser, we need your vote to exempt us. Then the Chief 18 Appraiser has the final answer. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I raise the question 20 because I know for a fact that there are events held in your 21 facility -- 22 MR. KEEFE: Yes, sir. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- that are not charitable. 24 MR. KEEFE: That's correct. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They are political in 9-22-08 60 1 nature. 2 MR. KEEFE: That could be. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So I ask you the question 4 again. Do all of the events that are in your facility -- are 5 they used exclusively for qualifying charitable activity? 6 MR. KEEFE: I don't believe that the law requires 7 that we make the event the subject. I think it's what 8 happens to the income. The income from any of our hall 9 rentals is used for our charitable works, and that, under the 10 law, is permitted. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm only quoting from 12 Ms. Combs' letter to you. 13 MR. KEEFE: I understand. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And it doesn't deal with 15 how you appropriate the dollars you earn from some event 16 that's at your facility that is not charitable by nature. It 17 only talks about that issue. 18 MR. KEEFE: That item is brought up under the Tax 19 Code under Section 11.184, which I have attached. I'm sure 20 that you could go through it and find the answer to your 21 question. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 11.184? If you're 23 referring to one of those blocks that you had highlighted, -- 24 MR. KEEFE: That may not be. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- I'm afraid I don't find 9-22-08 61 1 the answer to my question. 2 MR. KEEFE: If you go to Item C under 11.184(b), 3 Article (1) -- 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Read it. 5 MR. KEEFE: I'm not an attorney, so I don't -- 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Neither am I. 7 MR. KEEFE: So, the -- 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Don't propose to be; don't 9 want to be. 10 MR. KEEFE: And I don't know how the state 11 Legislature allowed this situation to happen in the first 12 place, but it did. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Keefe, you had mentioned that it 15 was your contention that -- that there was some 16 unconstitutional action occurring by virtue of carving your 17 type of organization out and not otherwise giving them the 18 exemption. Is there any litigation pending with regard to 19 that particular constitutional contention or any other 20 contention? 21 MR. KEEFE: Yes, there is, Judge. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: And where is that pending? 23 MR. KEEFE: Senate Bill 1296 was approved by the 24 Senate, came to the House floor for a vote, came out of 25 committee favorably, and then it never got to be voted on 9-22-08 62 1 because of the problems that the House had in the last 2 session. It will be up again for a vote in the 2009 meeting. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: But is there any court action 4 pending with regard to these constitutional issues? 5 MR. KEEFE: Not that I know of. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. But there is legislation that 7 has been filed that would correct -- 8 MR. KEEFE: Well, let me read what -- 9 JUDGE TINLEY: -- the inequity that you claim? 10 MR. KEEFE: From the Senate Research Center, the 11 statement -- the author's statement of intent. "Currently, 12 most nonprofit organizations qualify for ad valorem tax 13 exemption from city, county, and school district taxes for 14 land and buildings that are used by the organization either 15 by statute or under the Texas Constitution. However, 16 fraternal organizations are the only charitable organizations 17 that only receive an exemption from ad valorem taxation if 18 the exemption is adopted by either the governing body of the 19 taxing unit -- you gentlemen -- or by a majority vote of the 20 taxing unit's qualified voters. Statutory change is 21 necessary to extend that exemption to fraternal organizations 22 in the same way it is available to all other charitable 23 organizations." That can be pulled off the internet, sir. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I still -- I still think 25 that in a -- and I thought this the last time you were here, 9-22-08 63 1 and it's good to see you again, by the way. 2 MR. KEEFE: Thank you. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That it -- this is an issue 4 that the Legislature has to deal with, and not this body. I 5 know you're reading there that we can and should, and -- 6 MR. KEEFE: That's what the law says. The law 7 doesn't say you should, but it says you can. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That we can. But it's just 9 -- seems like to me that's something that needs to be cleared 10 up at the state before we take steps. It's just my opinion. 11 MR. KEEFE: Well, you know, I have to agree with 12 you, but by the same token, I think it gives you gentlemen a 13 chance to stand pretty darned tall and say, "Hey, we 14 recognize the fact that there's a problem, and we'd like to 15 correct what we can at our level." You do have that power. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Until -- until the State 17 Legislature takes care of it. 18 MR. KEEFE: Correct. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: See, what I'm -- what I'm 20 hearing you saying -- and Ms. Uecker is in the room, that 21 probably deals with state law as much as anybody in the 22 entire state. You know, it seems like to me that what you're 23 saying is -- is that, well, it came out of committee; it 24 passed the Senate and it went over to the committee, and the 25 committee passed it out favorably, meaning, "Oh, my god, this 9-22-08 64 1 is going to be a law," but the House didn't quite -- wasn't 2 quite comfortable with it. 3 MR. KEEFE: No, that's not -- 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That may never happen. 5 MR. KEEFE: It never got to the floor. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's what I'm saying; it 7 may never happen. 8 MR. KEEFE: It may never happen; that's true. 9 That's why -- that's another reason why we're coming to you 10 folks. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, we come in here and vote 12 on something that -- that the State may never approve. 13 Linda, do you -- would you agree that just because this bill 14 is moved through the system pretty good -- pretty good, that 15 doesn't mean that it's going to be done deal, does it? 16 MS. UECKER: It's pretty easy to get a -- an item 17 out of committee, but it's getting someone strong enough in 18 committee to -- to author the bill, to push it, to bring it 19 before a floor vote. 20 MR. KEEFE: It's my understanding -- 21 MS. UECKER: I don't know what happened. My -- 22 MR. KEEFE: My understanding is that it would have 23 gone to the floor vote except for the problems that the -- 24 Mr. Craddick presented. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, if it's a dead issue, 9-22-08 65 1 what Mr. Craddick says, that's the problem with it, I think. 2 MR. KEEFE: He took up the time. That's why it 3 never got to the floor vote. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Does any member of the Court -- I'm 5 sorry. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He just left. I was going to 7 ask -- I mean, I'm -- I've been reading Subsection (d). We 8 talked about your property thing. You know, I read that to 9 mean that you all probably qualify, but I'm not an attorney 10 either, and I would like to have a little -- you submitted a 11 lot of information and state law. I don't have a problem 12 giving y'all that exemption and voting for that, but I would 13 like the County Attorney to at least look at it and make sure 14 we have the authority -- the County Attorney agrees that we 15 have the authority. 16 MR. KEEFE: I believe that in his letter of 17 April 21st of 2008, addressed to you folks, I believe he 18 recognized that fact. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that in here, Judge? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that -- I don't think, 22 unless I missed it. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: I've got it here. It wasn't 24 included within the agenda item, but -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh. 9-22-08 66 1 JUDGE TINLEY: -- I think the bottom line of his 2 recommendation is, if we're to move forward on it, we 3 probably want to get more specialized legal advice from the 4 one that handles our -- our ad valorem tax issues. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I agree with that. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Rather than the County Attorney? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm not sure we've received that to 9 this point. He, of course, will be able to give us more 10 information on that. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm in favor of that, 'cause 12 I -- I do agree with you that I think it is not right that 13 y'all -- that fraternal organizations be singled out, when 14 every other nonprofit -- and a lot of them do a whole lot 15 less good, in my mind, than your organization and some 16 others. I'm not -- I'm a little bit -- don't understand why 17 the Legislature has such a hard time with this issue, but 18 evidently there's something, or some precedent that they see 19 or some bunny trial they're going down that I don't see right 20 now. But I think -- I do need to know that -- you know, that 21 we can do it. I did not read Rex's memo of April 20th or 22 whenever it was -- April 21st, but I do think we need to 23 forward it to our tax attorney and see if -- if they think 24 this is something that we do have the authority to do. 25 MR. KEEFE: Well, the authority is Commissioners; 9-22-08 67 1 the authority is given to you in the Tax Code. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 3 MR. KEEFE: 11.184 clearly states that either you 4 give us permission or we have an alternative, and that is to 5 petition -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 7 MR. KEEFE: -- an election. But if you give us the 8 exemption, we then have to go to the Appraisal District; the 9 Chief Appraiser has to look it over. We have to go through 10 this whole thing again. He's the one that actually -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 12 MR. KEEFE: -- gives us -- physically gives us this 13 exemption. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: What you're saying is, it's a 15 two-step process, but rather than being the last step, we're 16 the first step, and if we approve it, we just dump it in his 17 lap. 18 MR. KEEFE: You're the first step. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It appears to me that -- I 21 think you answered this question a minute ago -- that the 22 Legislature has made this permissive for taxing authorities, 23 but not mandatory. 24 MR. KEEFE: That's correct. In fact, we are the 25 only ones that you have any say about. 9-22-08 68 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And in the letter from 2 Susan Combs to you, the -- Mr. Lomax, who signed that letter, 3 says that not all taxing jurisdictions offer this property 4 tax exemption. 5 MR. KEEFE: That's correct. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: There's a lady behind you that has 7 some input. 8 MS. JONASON: I'm just dying to get at it. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Give us your name and address, and 10 tell us what's on your mind. 11 MS. JONASON: My name's Diane Jonason, and I'm a 12 volunteer at the Elks. I'm Lecturing Knight right now, which 13 is third vice president, and I've been scholarship chair. 14 This is my sixth year. My son is active duty, so the vets 15 were the reason I joined the Elks; however, I couldn't take 16 it at the hospital seeing those men, so I'm leaving that to 17 others and I'm donating my time for scholarships. We had an 18 article -- I do have a handout, if I can approach. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 20 MS. JONASON: There was an article in the Kerrville 21 Times on the front page about the last time Jim and some 22 others talked about taxes, and it appeared in the paper as if 23 all the Elks do is give one scholarship a year. Now, we do 24 have a bar and we are social; however, the work is done first 25 and then the socializing. And if you'll look at this, over a 9-22-08 69 1 50-year span, year after year -- right now we have about 200 2 members, average age 70 to 71, who are doing all these things 3 with no outside help, other than raffles and things like this 4 that generous merchants give us things -- prizes for. Our 5 scholarship program at the lodge is difficult, because we 6 have so many charities we support, as you can tell, one of 7 them being our children's camp in Texas for disabled and 8 handicapped children. That's so important to us, and the 9 vets, so the scholarship kind of falls behind that. However, 10 we've gotten very involved with state and national 11 scholarships, and because we give a lot of money to Elks 12 National Foundation through our lodge, we receive moneys back 13 in the form of grants. 14 They bought eyeglasses and hearing aids for needy 15 children this year. Three years ago, we bought a van with a 16 -- a chair-lift for a single mother with three children and a 17 boy she couldn't lift any more with multiple sclerosis. 18 Those are our goosebumps. Those are what make us feel good. 19 So, our organization isn't about a bar; it's about all the 20 things we do. And if you can guess that people that are 70 21 and 71 years old are sitting around that bar drinking a lot, 22 it's social time when we can get things done. And if you'll 23 look at this paper, last year it said in the paper we gave 24 one scholarship. Wrong. We got two state scholarships and 25 one national, Elks National Foundation scholarship, with a 9-22-08 70 1 total from our lodge of $10,400. Now, none of these went to 2 Tivy High School. It's not our fault they didn't go to Tivy 3 High School. We have a point system, and it's about 4 academics, school activities, community activities, and 5 financial need. Out of 14 high schools that I sent 6 applications to, we received 101 applications back from 10 7 high schools. Comfort and Ingram were the ones that scored 8 the highest, four pages of a point system. 9 It takes 45 minutes to an hour to score each 10 application. I have three other members on my committee, and 11 their average age -- one of them is 82, one of them's 78. 12 We're doing the job, folks. So, there are dedicated people 13 at this stage. And the Elks National Foundation gave us the 14 -- one of the Most Valuable Student awards. Now, if we can 15 just get more good students in from Tivy High School. I had 16 a talk with a counselor at Tivy High School, because we only 17 got two from Tivy this year, and they didn't qualify. She 18 assured me this year we will get more from Tivy High School, 19 so hopefully we can give them one. But I'm just so 20 passionate about this order and what we do, and that tax 21 abatement, I could give more scholarships, where I'm kind of 22 limited to what I can do as far as locally, besides the state 23 and national. So, please consider our plea. We could sure 24 use it. Thank you. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 9-22-08 71 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Thank you. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Great presentation. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: You're a good spokesperson for 4 senior power, Ms. Jonason. 5 MS. JONASON: Thank you. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: That's a hard act to follow, 7 Mr. Keefe. 8 MR. KEEFE: It is. I'm not even going to say 9 anything, except one thing. Where do we go from here? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rex? We looked at your memo of 11 April 21st. 12 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I just glanced through it. 14 It appears that we have authority to do it, in your opinion, 15 to grant the exemption. You made a comment -- one of your 16 things is that this is applicable to all -- in the event the 17 Court adopts a charitable tax exemption under Section -- 18 whatever it is, it will be applicable to all appraisal 19 district qualified charitable-owned property in Kerr County. 20 What -- what is not covered right now? I mean, isn't most of 21 that -- do you have any idea? 22 MR. EMERSON: I don't have a clue. That's why I 23 also said you need to talk to Mr. Shiever, who's the tax 24 attorney, 'cause I really don't know. All I did was I took 25 the statutes and I read them and looked up the case law and 9-22-08 72 1 supporting information, and that's what I gave you. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 'Cause it seems that most of 3 them don't pay now. But, I mean, I'm not certain of that. I 4 think we need to talk to our tax attorney, Mr. Shievers, who 5 he referred to, and make sure that this is all -- 6 MR. KEEFE: Okay, let me forewarn you. We are -- 7 under the consideration that we might have to go to petition, 8 we contacted Mr. Shievers and asked him what the process 9 would be. He had absolutely no idea, because this has never 10 been done before. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, maybe if we ask him, 12 we'll get a different answer. 13 MR. KEEFE: Maybe you would. Maybe you would. I 14 might mention -- 15 JUDGE TINLEY: I think the real question that we're 16 struggling with is, have we essentially exempted every other 17 nonprofit, as it were, except fraternal organizations, of 18 which there are two or three or four, not that many here 19 locally, or will this be plowing really a new piece of 20 ground, or are we just looking at finishing up what's already 21 been plowed pretty good? 22 MR. KEEFE: Well, Judge, I think that's about the 23 same question as ex-mayor Gene Smith asked in his famous 24 Pandora's box statement. There are no other nonprofits left 25 in the box. 9-22-08 73 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Well, I think we need to 2 confirm that with our -- with our tax attorney. And if, in 3 fact, we can confirm that, I think the attitude of this Court 4 may be considerably different than if we're going to open 5 Pandora's box and there's a whole bunch left in there. 6 MR. KEEFE: Well, if there are any left in that 7 box, remember, they have to go to the State Comptroller's 8 office. They have to submit all their information to the 9 State Comptroller and get a determination letter. As of this 10 time, there are only three such letters issued in Kerr 11 County. One is for us. One is for the Masonic Lodge here in 12 Kerrville. The other is for the Masonic Lodge in Center 13 Point. They are the only ones that the State Comptroller has 14 issued. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is that because no one else 16 has filed? 17 MR. KEEFE: I have no idea, Commissioner. I don't 18 know. You could ask the State Controller's office that. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think another option may be 20 to ask the Chief Appraiser to give us a list of who he's 21 exempting right now, and that will give us -- may not be 22 all-inclusive, but it'll give us a pretty good idea as to 23 what they're doing right now, because there's certainly a lot 24 of nonprofits in the county, and if they're all being -- if 25 they're all being exempted, then that will, I mean, be a 9-22-08 74 1 pretty good guide, in my mind. 2 MR. KEEFE: The other nonprofits, Commissioner, do 3 not have to come to you; they go directly to the Chief 4 Appraiser. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But he'll have the list. I 6 mean -- 7 MR. KEEFE: He will have a list, that's for sure. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That will solve, in my mind, 9 much of the Pandora's box issue. If they're all being 10 exempted right now and he can tell us who he's exempted, then 11 I don't have a problem exempting three more. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I agree. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Do churches fall in the 14 same category? 15 MR. KEEFE: As fraternal organizations? No. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: No. 17 MR. KEEFE: No, they're all -- they're exempt. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, they're -- 19 MR. KEEFE: I read the list of organizations that 20 are already exempted under state law. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: They're not generally exempt, only 22 those properties which are used for that purpose. 23 MR. KEEFE: Well, that's true. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: City of San Antonio and the First 25 Baptist Church got in some litigation a number of years ago 9-22-08 75 1 with regard to a parking lot. 2 MR. KEEFE: Yes. That's -- 3 JUDGE TINLEY: It only relates to specific 4 properties that are used for those charitable purposes. 5 MR. KEEFE: But they did not exempt that property. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 7 MR. KEEFE: So, that -- but you have a letter in 8 your package that is an e-mail from Irene Cage of the Exempt 9 Organizations section of the Comptroller's office. It gives 10 her phone number, her e-mail address. She would probably be 11 the one to contact about the determination letter. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we're getting closer to 13 doing what you want; we're just not quite there. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Any member of the Court have a 15 motion that they wish to offer at this time on this 16 particular agenda issue? Seeing none, we will -- let's take 17 about a 15-minute recess. Thank you, Mr. Keefe. 18 MR. KEEFE: Thank you. 19 (Recess taken from 10:39 a.m. to 10:57 a.m.) 20 - - - - - - - - - - 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's come back to order, if 22 we might. We were in recess. Let's first go to Item 16; 23 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to make any 24 changes in the proposed and filed FY 2008-09 budget deemed 25 warranted by the law and required by the interest of the 9-22-08 76 1 taxpayers, and adopt Kerr County FY 08-09 budget. This is a 2 requirement that we're required to do under the Local 3 Government Code. The budget, of course, which I filed, I'm 4 going to say, the latter part of August, if I recall, as a 5 result of a lot of activity that went on here in 6 Commissioners Court with regard to the various workshops. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are we open? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, turn it loose. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Two items. One goes to the 10 item related to judicial, trying to get the jail -- or keep 11 the jail from getting overcrowded. Seems to me that there 12 were some alternatives that are still on the table as to 13 possible positions or part-time spots or things like that, 14 and I think it would be a good idea to put in the -- under 15 the Commissioners Court Contingency some additional funds to 16 allow us to do that, 'cause I don't think those qualify as an 17 emergency. If we don't do anything, that money isn't going 18 to go anywhere, but I'd recommend we put $50,000 -- or 19 increase Commissioners Court Contingency by 50,000, and with 20 the idea that that's primarily to be used for helping the 21 D.A.'s, the attorneys, County Attorney, wherever the -- the 22 need to help our jail overcrowding problem can be solved with 23 some additional personnel or ideas, things of that nature. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Not visiting judges? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not visiting judges; that's 9-22-08 77 1 already in the budget. And it could be used more for that. 2 You could put more money in there, but just to give us a 3 little bit of -- some money that we can help try to solve 4 this problem. And if we don't come up with something that 5 this Court feels is a viable alternative, we just won't spend 6 the money. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Basically, prosecutorial resources. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just to keep -- rather than 9 inventing a new line item, put it in our contingency fund. 10 The other item, I wanted to look back at the -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Wait a minute. Let's see if 12 we can come to -- I mean, how do you come to a solution on 13 that issue? I agree, so there's two of us. I mean, how do 14 you get to -- 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we add 16 $50,000 to Commissioners Court Contingency to be used for 17 prosecutorial -- 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: God, I wish I'd have thought 19 of that. Second. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: And you agree, so it's a second, 21 right? 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any question or discussion on 24 that motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 25 your right hand. 9-22-08 78 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. You had a second item you 7 wanted to talk about? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The other item was COLA. 9 Ms. Hyde, have you looked at where that COLA is -- 10 MS. HYDE: Yes, I have. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- with another one or two 12 months of information, and can you provide that to us? 13 Because I will also say that I tried to find that stuff on 14 the Department of Labor website, and that's not -- 15 MS. HYDE: It's B.L.S. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's not easy to find. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You remind me a lot of a pet 18 coon, the way you pushed that. 19 MS. HYDE: She's typing. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Did you get that, Kathy? 21 THE REPORTER: I did. 22 MS. HYDE: There's one for Cheryl. As I told you 23 at the last meeting, August is typically a flat -- or it is a 24 slower month, because it is an end-of-season. Add to that 25 the fact that fuel prices did go down a small amount, so it 9-22-08 79 1 did go down just a tad. Not much, but it did go down a tad. 2 So, the maximum COLA from August to August, '07 to '08, is 3 6.40. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Dang, I came up with 6.2 this 5 morning when I was doing it. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Not bad. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: August to August? 8 MS. HYDE: Yes, sir, August to August. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The -- explain to me, either 10 you or maybe the Auditor, I'm not sure which one, why it 11 messes everything up on our step and grade if we don't keep 12 COLA's in this -- on that 2.5 percent. Why can't we just 13 multiply everything by a COLA, and then why does that mess up 14 the separate step and grade system? 15 MS. HYDE: The step and grade is a huge macro; it 16 is a funding fee. So, as you go up each step, if you go up 17 an individual step, it's only 2.5. As you do multiple steps, 18 there are increases. I mean, if you think about it, you go 19 up 2.5, and, you know, if you're at $12 an hour, an 20 additional 2.5 is going to be more on that than it is on a 21 single step, if you just go up one. So, the .381 that was 22 added by staying with that step and grade was because of 23 that, which is nominal. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. So -- but, so, in your 25 mind -- or not -- I mean, I guess to keep the step and grade 9-22-08 80 1 system working properly, we need to do a COLA on 2.5 percent 2 increments. 3 MS. HYDE: Either that, or you do a partial COLA, 4 and then the rest would be an increase. And based on the 5 numbers that we have already discussed, the COLA would be 6 6.4, and the additional increase to employees would be 6.481. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 6.481? 8 MS. HYDE: (Nodded.) Which takes you up to the 9 12.881. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's 12-point -- 11 MS. HYDE: That ends up being the 12.881, which was 12 the 10.381 plus the additional 2.5 that y'all had discussed. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And department heads and 14 elected officials aren't on that system anyway. 15 MS. HYDE: No, sir. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So it doesn't make any 17 difference. 18 MS. HYDE: They're not on the step and grade, but 19 as most of you -- I know y'all listen to the news. As most 20 of y'all heard this weekend, one of the top stories is the 21 inflation rate has significantly outdone the COLA, and the 22 COLA will not detract from what inflation has done to us 23 during this year. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, you're going August to 25 August? 9-22-08 81 1 MS. HYDE: Yes, sir. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: On prior occasions, we 3 talked about your projection for what the COLA would be to 4 the end of this year. 5 MS. HYDE: Yes, sir. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Where is that? 7 MS. HYDE: (Passing out documents.) One's for 8 Cheryl as well. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just in anticipation of my 10 question, you had it all ready to go, huh? 11 MS. HYDE: And I know that, Commissioner Baldwin, 12 you do not like the word "extrapolation," so if you trend it 13 out -- 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I love that word. I love 15 the word. It goes to 8.12? 16 MS. HYDE: Goes to 8.12, which then tells us if we 17 use the same rationale on the 12.881, we're going to do an 18 8.12 percent COLA and 4.761 percent increase for our 19 employees to bring them up to par. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's that total? 21 MS. HYDE: 12.881. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Plus 4-point what? 23 MS. HYDE: 4.761. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: For a total of 12 -- 25 MS. HYDE: 12.881. 9-22-08 82 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Two different ways to 2 arrive at the same conclusion. 3 MS. HYDE: Yes, sir. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Got any other -- 5 MS. HYDE: I'll wait until there's a question. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: -- any others to pitch in here? Do 7 you have some more? 8 MS. HYDE: Only -- only if there's other questions. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Well, let me pitch something, 10 then. The projection of the two major indices for Consumer 11 Price Index, as reported by U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau 12 of Labor Statistics -- of course, there was a significant 13 change based from July and August, and one of the -- one of 14 the numbers that they give you is a -- is a projection of an 15 annual rate based upon the past three months, so that's 16 looking forward, what it will be in the future. And there 17 are two different major indexes. All urban consumers is one, 18 and the second one is C.P.I. for urban wage earners and 19 clerical workers. 20 MS. HYDE: Clerical workers. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Those are the two major indices. 22 MS. HYDE: That's the one that I have used the last 23 two years, is urban and clerical wage earners. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Well, the projected annual 25 rate, based upon the three months ended in July -- 9-22-08 83 1 MS. HYDE: Yes, sir, which would have been higher. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: -- for the all urban is 10.6. 3 MS. HYDE: Yes, sir. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: On the wage earners and clerical 5 workers, it was 11.9. 6 MS. HYDE: Yes, sir. But, if you recall, the Court 7 did ask that I use actual numbers and bring them back 8 year-to-date because of extrapolation. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, if you get into the -- after 10 folding in August, the projection for the last three months, 11 which would be July -- June, July, August, in that case, 12 based on the three months, is 7.2, and wage earners and 13 clerical is projected at 8.0. 14 MS. HYDE: That's what my numbers are, pretty 15 close. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Uh-huh. So, we're -- those two, 17 including this past month -- of course, when you just use the 18 last three months, having one decreased month is going to 19 materially affect that. 20 MS. HYDE: It will skew it, yes, sir. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Those indices. 22 MS. HYDE: Yes, sir. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One more question on it. We're 24 at 12.88 right now, right? 25 MS. HYDE: Yes, sir. 9-22-08 84 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: When you add them together. 2 Why wouldn't we want to target it to be a 12.5, trying to 3 stay in the step and grades? We jump in increments of 2.5; 4 why don't we want to be at 12.5? 5 MS. HARGIS: The compound -- it's a natural 6 compounding. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm sorry? 8 MS. HYDE: It's a natural compound. It's a natural 9 progression. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Compounding, okay. 11 MS. HYDE: Plus, you -- the other part of this is 12 that the step and grade is the step and grade. If we 13 rationalize that the step and grade is a step and grade, and 14 that is part of our -- of what you all passed as an order, 15 and we're trying to maintain some consistency, then we're 16 trying to keep that step and grade whole. Every year, that 17 thing has changed. If y'all recall, the first year I was 18 here, it changed six times in the first six weeks I was here, 19 so the employees get very confused, and we get very confused. 20 The public gets very confused. What is our rates? So, all 21 I'm trying to do is help maintain some consistency in what -- 22 what are we using? What do we really use? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I was looking at this in two 24 phases. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: This also -- what I see in 9-22-08 85 1 here, that this -- this agenda item also would address 2 appointed positions, department heads. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: It can address anybody, any item in 4 the budget. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Except the next one says 6 elected officials, the next item coming up. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: That agenda item is one that's 8 required under state statutes that we consider in that 9 manner, because we've got to give public notice in a 10 particular way. We've got to give -- 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Got to have a public hearing on just 13 that issue alone. That's why that one is there as it is. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I'm still hung up on -- 15 on the same thing I've been hung up on since the very 16 beginning on elected officials and department heads. I just 17 think it's too much in one year, especially for those two 18 categories. When you average it out over two years, I 19 believe it stays up with -- with the COLA, or closely stays 20 to the COLA. If you take the percentage from last year and 21 the percentage -- use 5 percent for this year, you're going 22 to be at an average of 6. Last year, the cost-of-living was 23 less percentage. This year it's higher. But I believe you 24 get the average, and it's somewhat where it should be. 25 That's just my opinion. 9-22-08 86 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we set 2 cost-of-living -- a COLA, as termed -- for all people, 3 elected officials, department heads, entire people, at 4 6.4 percent. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: For all department heads and 6 elected officials? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Everybody. Everybody. That's 8 the COLA portion for the employees as well. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Leaving the employees at -- 10 you're not going to include the additional in there? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, I think you do that in a 12 second motion. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay, I'll second your 14 motion. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second to 16 establish the COLA for Kerr County at -- 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 6.4. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: -- 6.4 percent. Any question or 19 discussion on that motion? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: My question is, is 21 6.4 percent a real, live number? 22 MS. HYDE: Yes, sir. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Very good, thank you. 24 That's all I've been asking. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's live on August to 9-22-08 87 1 August. 2 MS. HYDE: It's August '07 to August '08; that is 3 the COLA. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: August '07 to August '08. 5 MS. HYDE: To August '08. That's how you figure 6 the COLA, yes, sir, the C.P.I. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: But it does not take into 8 account what's going to happen the remainder of this year? 9 MS. HYDE: No, sir, it does not. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's going to get it to 11 8.12? 12 MS. HYDE: At least. And at the time, as the Judge 13 pointed out, depending on the numbers you use, it could be 14 all the way up to 11. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But our pay increase starts 16 October 1, not January 1. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I understand, but people's 18 obligations go on and on. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or discussion on 20 that motion? All in favor of that motion, signify by raising 21 your right hand. 22 (Commissioners Letz and Oehler voted in favor of the motion.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed? 24 (Commissioners Baldwin and Williams voted against 25 the motion.) 9-22-08 88 1 JUDGE TINLEY: You're opposed, Commissioner 2 Baldwin? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, I am. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. The chair votes against 5 the motion. The motion fails. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make -- 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Wouldn't be any good for me 8 to make one that was less, would it? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Probably not. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't believe it would 11 work. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let me try a new one. I make a 13 motion we set the COLA for everyone -- or for elected 14 officials and -- increase for elected officials/department 15 heads at 6.4 percent, and all employees will get the COLA 16 plus whatever it takes to get to 10 point -- 17 MS. HYDE: 12.881. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 12.881. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That would be 8.12 plus 20 4.61? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 6.4 plus. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: 6.4 plus. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 6.4 plus, yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: 6.4 for the elected and 25 department, and the 6.4 plus the other step to get them up 9-22-08 89 1 to -- 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 12.881. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- 12.881. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: That's your motion? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's my motion. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How does that differ from 8 the motion you just -- that just failed? 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: He didn't include -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I combined it so everyone knows 11 where we're going. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: He didn't include the extra 13 six point -- whatever to make the -- the hourly people up to 14 12.881. Motion's the same for elected and department heads. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Do we have a second to that motion? 16 THE CLERK: Yes, we do. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We have a motion and a 18 second. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You seconded? 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Somebody obviously did. 21 THE CLERK: No, we have just a motion. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No second? 23 THE CLERK: No second. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I second your motion. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: We now have a motion and a second, 9-22-08 90 1 and the motion is department heads/elected officials, 6.4; 2 all other employees, 6.4 plus an amount equal to bring the 3 total to 12.881. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, sir. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that it? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's correct. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. All right. Any question or 8 discussion on that motion? 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It seems to me we're just 10 playing semantics with numbers here. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You can also make a motion. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I know. There's one on the 14 floor right now. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I know. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or discussion? 17 All in favor of that motion, signify by raising your right 18 hand. 19 (Commissioners Letz and Oehler voted in favor of the motion.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 21 (Commissioners Baldwin and Williams voted against 22 the motion.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: The chair votes in the negative on 24 the motion. The motion fails. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We got an auction. 9-22-08 91 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In the budget currently is 2 10.381; is that correct, Ms. Hyde? Ms. Hargis? Whomever? 3 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 4 MS. HYDE: For who -- for whom? 5 MS. HARGIS: The elected officials are in there at 6 10.381, as well as the department heads. Employees are in 7 there at 12 -- 8 MS. HYDE: 881. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They're at 12.881 because 10 we talked about a step improvement. And the last time we had 11 this discussion, we did -- we excluded department heads from 12 that step; is that correct? 13 MS. HYDE: Yes, sir. 14 MS. HARGIS: Yes, sir. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Motion -- the motion would 16 be to reaffirm our previous action. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: As stated in the budget, with that 18 one modification? Or -- 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Of excluding the department heads 21 from the additional step? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: From the additional step, 23 yes, sir. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I have a motion. Do we have 25 a second? 9-22-08 92 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What is the COLA? 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 10.381, where it was; where 3 it's been since the beginning. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion. Do I hear a 5 second to that motion? 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion dies for lack of a 8 second. Do you want to take a stab at it, Buster? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The COLA would be 8.12. 12 That's the 6.4 extrapolated out. So, the COLA would be 8.12, 13 and for the hourly wage earners, plus 4.61, for them to reach 14 the 12.881. Department heads and elected officials, 15 8.12 percent COLA. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: And all other employees to receive 17 that COLA plus an amount to equal 12.881? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, that is correct. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll ask a clarification, 21 Commissioner. You said plus -- 8.12 plus 4 point what? 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 61. 23 MS. HYDE: 761. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I thought it was 761. 25 MS. HYDE: 761. 9-22-08 93 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm sorry, I misunderstood 2 you, then. I apologize. 3 MS. HYDE: No problem. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Tivy math. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 761? 6 MS. HYDE: It's 8.12 plus 4.761. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 4.761. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: But the bottom line, Commissioner -- 9 MS. HYDE: 12.881. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Your motion is 8.12 is the COLA? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Right. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: And that amount plus whatever is 13 necessary to equal 12.881 for all employees except elected 14 officials and department heads? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Correct. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: And elected officials and department 17 heads, COLA only at 8.12. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That is correct. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Because 8.12 is a real 21 number. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I second the motion. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Right on time. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second. 9-22-08 94 1 Question or discussion on that motion? All in favor of that 2 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 3 (Commissioners Baldwin and Williams voted in favor of the motion.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 5 (Commissioners Letz and Oehler voted against the 6 motion.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: The chair votes in the affirmative. 8 The motion carries. Okay. We've had two adjustments to the 9 budget as filed. Any other adjustments or changes deemed 10 warranted by the law and required by the interest of the 11 taxpayers? 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I move we adopt the Kerr 13 County budget for Fiscal Year '08-'09, as amended this 14 morning. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to adopt 17 the budget as filed, except as amended here this morning. 18 Question or discussion on that motion? 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Amended this morning. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The two amendments that 21 Commissioner Letz -- 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That includes the -- 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, I take it back -- yeah, 24 the two amendments, yours and Commissioner Letz'. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Which was the 50 grand -- 9-22-08 95 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, and yours. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. On COLA. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: That's two modifications. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Very good. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or discussion on 6 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 7 your right hand. 8 (Commissioners Baldwin, Williams, and Letz voted in favor of the motion. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (Commissioner Oehler voted against the motion.) 11 12 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. We will now 13 move to Item 15; consider, discuss, take appropriate action 14 to adopt a budget that will require raising more revenue from 15 property taxes than in the previous year, and ratify the 16 property tax increase as reflected in the budget. This is a 17 new requirement under state law any time that there's more 18 revenue raised and expended under a current budget than in a 19 previous budget, and that is under Section 111.008(c) of the 20 Local Government Code. That section states that a vote under 21 that section is in addition to and separate from the vote to 22 adopt the budget or a vote to set the tax rate as required by 23 Texas -- the Tax Code or any other law. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What section is that, 25 Judge? 9-22-08 96 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Section 111 -- let me make sure. 2 That's Local Government Code. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we 4 adopt a budget that requires raising more revenue from 5 property taxes than the previous year, and ratify property 6 tax increase reflected in the budget. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second as 9 indicated. Question or discussion on that motion? All in 10 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 11 (Commissioners Baldwin, Williams, and Letz voted in favor of the motion.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 13 (Commissioner Oehler voted against the motion.) 14 15 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, we have a timed 17 11 o'clock item, Mr. Amerine. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Oh. Thank you for reminding me of 19 that. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're welcome. I thought 21 of it all by myself. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. I'm surprised, with the 23 glare, that I didn't get more attention from Mr. Amerine. 24 (Laughter.) He and I can talk about those things; we're 25 basically in the same boat. 9-22-08 97 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, he's been sitting 2 there. His head's getting redder by the minute. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's get to Item 19, if we might, a 4 timed item for 11 o'clock. Mr. Amerine, I apologize. I got 5 so carried away trying to wrap all these budget things up. 6 MR. AMERINE: Budget items. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Consider, discuss, and take 8 appropriate action on proposed Kerr 911 budget. Mr. Amerine? 9 MR. AMERINE: Thank you, Judge Tinley, 10 Commissioners. I'm Bill Amerine with Kerr Emergency 911 11 Network. I'm here to present the 2009 proposed budget. 12 Before I get started on that, though, I'd like Mark Del Toro 13 to stand. He's the associate director of 911. In accordance 14 with Texas Health and Safety Code 772, Subchapter D, the 15 director shall present, under the direction of the board, an 16 annual budget for the district. To be effective, the budget 17 must be approved by the board, which was done on 5 September, 18 2008, be presented to and approved by Commissioners Court -- 19 that's why I'm here today -- and be presented to other 20 governing bodies within the participating jurisdiction. 21 Kerrville we'll be doing tomorrow, and we did Ingram on the 22 16th of September. 23 We're presenting a balanced budget this year. 24 We're proposing a decrease in 911 surcharges for residential 25 and business lines, a 5 percent decrease in that surcharge. 9-22-08 98 1 We're seeing, or proposing -- or expect, I should say, an 2 income increase in 2009 of $28,175, predominantly all from 3 wireless handset users. We have a new expense this year that 4 we actually realized in 2008 that we budgeted for. We'll see 5 it from this point on for wireless location; it's a $90,304 6 budget line item that facilitates the location information 7 for people who use wireless handsets. Which, by the way, as 8 of today, we have four of seven of those wireless providers 9 actually providing wireless locations in Kerr County: Sprint 10 Nextel, Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T Mobility. Five Star 11 Wireless will be early next year. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So it works right now? 13 MR. AMERINE: It works right now for those four 14 providers I listed. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You can find a car from -- 16 with a cell phone? 17 MR. AMERINE: With a cell phone. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Not just the tower, which 19 tower is closest to him? You can actually pinpoint where 20 they are? 21 MR. AMERINE: Yes, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Hallelujah. 23 MR. AMERINE: I should caveat that, though. How 24 many of y'all in here use GPS devices for hunting, fishing, 25 or anything? They work fabulously outdoors if you have clear 9-22-08 99 1 line of sight of the sky. The chip set in your -- in your 2 wireless handset is no different than that one. As a matter 3 of fact, it's not quite as strong. If you're inside of a 4 vehicle or a large building, it's not going to work. It'll 5 connect 911, but we're going to get -- with call Phase 1 6 data, we're going to know what cell tower is handling you, 7 and it's going to give us a physical address for the cell 8 tower, but unless you have clear line of sight with that cell 9 phone, we will not get a latitude and longitude of location 10 of that call. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, if I have a traffic 12 accident with my cell phone, I need to jump out before I hit 13 something? 14 MR. AMERINE: Not on the interstate; I would 15 recommend you go someplace safe to do that. But the -- the 16 reason why we bring that up, and we're going to do some 17 public education on this, is that the tendency is for people, 18 when they hear that we're getting to that point of -- of 19 upgrade in our technology, their inclination is to drop their 20 traditional phone service, and we're recommending -- 21 recommending against that for any number of reasons, this 22 being one of them. It's just not guaranteed, if you have a 23 wireless phone and you call 911, that we're going to get a 24 location for you if you're inside a building or inside of a 25 heavy vehicle. So -- 9-22-08 100 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 2 MR. AMERINE: Staffing increases this year, we're 3 proposing a 3.15 percent COLA. Part of the big increase we 4 had in our salary line item was we added a part-time 5 secretary/receptionist back to our staff. Mark and I were 6 being run ragged with all these network, upgrades and we're 7 frequently absent from our office, and we're missing some of 8 our citizens out there who need our assistance, so we've 9 added a part-time secretary/receptionist back to our staff. 10 Our vision for 2009 is to begin market research for the 2010 11 or '11 PSAP call center upgrade. It will be time to do that 12 again here in just another year and a half. We'll continue 13 to enhance the GIS systems that we currently have in place. 14 We have several different geographic information services 15 that are available to dispatchers, including maps that 16 locate -- actually give an icon that shows a location of the 17 caller. We'll continue to enhance 911 public education and 18 awareness. And as of this year -- last month, we actually 19 started doing addressing for city of Kerrville, so now we're 20 doing addressing for Kerr County and Kerrville and Ingram, 21 and we'll continue to make 911 signs. I'd be glad to answer 22 any questions Commissioners have. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I commend you on the 24 3.15 percent COLA. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Troublemaker. 9-22-08 101 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Any questions for Mr. Amerine? 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move we adopt the 911 3 budget as -- approve the 911 budget as presented by 4 Mr. Amerine. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 7 approval of the budget as presented in the line item. 8 Question or discussion on that motion? All in favor of that 9 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Thank you 14 Mr. Amerine. I apologize -- 15 MR. AMERINE: No problem. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: -- for the delay. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Maybe you can come help me 18 next year. 19 MR. AMERINE: I'll do it, sir. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Maybe I'll do a better job. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 17, if we might; 22 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to set and 23 adopt salary, expenses, and other allowances of elected 24 county or precinct officers for FY 2008-09. I would remind 25 you gentlemen that in the public notification that -- that 9-22-08 102 1 was sent out, the elected officials -- they're not in 2 allowances, but rather in the salary, included a 10.381. 3 And, of course, the budget has -- that provision allows us to 4 not exceed that, because we've given that notice to the 5 public. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is that it? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What are you trying to say? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Trying to say we adopted a budget 9 that's different from what the notice we gave to the public 10 was. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's lower. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: On that schedule. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But it should be lower 14 because of what was just approved. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, the amount the public was 16 given publicly included 10.831. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: And, of course, a few moments ago we 19 approved 8.12. So ... 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do we need to do a -- do we 21 need another hearing? 22 JUDGE TINLEY: No, I don't think so. I don't. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, we can adopt the 24 numbers that were in the previous motion. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Do we need to adopt 9-22-08 103 1 the new numbers on this agenda item? 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, you were setting in this 3 agenda item the salary, expenses, and other allowances of 4 elected Kerr County officials for FY 2008 and '09, and you've 5 effectively already done it in one motion, but -- in adopting 6 the entire budget as amended. But, by law, we must consider 7 this item separately, so I will need a motion, second, and a 8 vote. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: With these numbers? 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: My new numbers? Is that 12 what you want? 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move that we adopt as a 15 COLA 8.12 for everybody, department heads and elected 16 officials -- 17 JUDGE TINLEY: No, let me interrupt you. We're 18 dealing with elected officials only on this item. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Elected officials, 8.12 20 COLA. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Is the 23 8.12 in lieu of the 10.381 increase that was reflected in the 24 public notice and schedule that was provided by notification 25 to the public? 9-22-08 104 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, it is. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We have a motion and a 3 second. Question or discussion on that motion? All in favor 4 of that motion, signify by raising your right hand. 5 (Commissioners Baldwin and Williams voted in favor of the motion.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (Commissioners Letz and Oehler voted against the 8 motion.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Chair votes in the affirmative. 10 Motion carries. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are y'all going to have 12 lunch with me today or not? 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'm not mad. Are you mad? 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. I'm hungry. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm hungry too. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Probably not going to eat 17 lunch with you, though. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: There's a new place open -- 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's go to Item 18; consider, 20 discuss, take appropriate action to adopt the position 21 schedule, step and grade schedule, and general provisions for 22 FY 2008-09. What have we done here today that's going to 23 throw that into chaos? 24 MS. HYDE: The position -- the only thing that they 25 need -- that this change will make is that -- I'm having it 9-22-08 105 1 done right now -- is the elected and appointed official 2 salary needs to change. We already had the rest of it done. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: So, everyone except department heads 4 and elected officials fit within the schedule that you have 5 presently, based upon the action we've taken today? 6 MS. HYDE: Yes, sir. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This has -- this only has to do 9 with the step and grades; this has nothing to do with elected 10 or appointed, right? 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, the position schedule would, 12 so it occurs to me that a motion in adopting this should 13 include the modifications on the -- 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: All positions. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: -- elected officials and department 16 heads to be modified to reflect 8.12 COLA. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And this includes a little bit 18 of an unusual holiday schedule, in that we have a two-day 19 holiday for Thanksgiving and two-day holiday for Christmas, 20 and a two-year (sic) holiday for New Year's. 21 MS. HYDE: Two years? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Two years? Two days. 23 MS. HYDE: All right. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Two days for each of those. 25 JUDGE RAGSDALE: That would make up for that bump 9-22-08 106 1 in pay. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And to accomplish that, to stay 3 within 13 days, what did we eliminate? 4 MS. HYDE: We eliminated Columbus Day. Then we did 5 a Tuesday, which is very different. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And we did a Tuesday for -- 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Veterans Day. 8 MS. HYDE: Veterans Day. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, which is the actual day. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Only thing that concerns me 11 about getting rid of Columbus Day, that's a day that the 12 banks are normally closed, and we're going to be -- our 13 people won't be able to make bank deposits. That's the only 14 thing that bothers me about closing -- or being open on a day 15 when banks and institutions are closed. 16 MS. HYDE: There were 14 days presented. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And 13 approved. 18 MS. HYDE: And 13 approved. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I recognize that as a 20 potential problem, but there's other -- are there not other 21 days, like Presidents Day, same thing? We have Presidents 22 Day off. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They're closed, too. I don't 24 know. They're not closed on Martin Luther King -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, they are. 9-22-08 107 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Are they? 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. That's a January holiday, 3 if I recall. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Guess it doesn't make any 5 sense that, you know, it's okay to close sometimes and open 6 others. 7 MR. EMERSON: She has a safe. 8 AUDIENCE: Shhhh. 9 MR. EMERSON: I'm being kicked, but last time I 10 checked, the Treasurer had a very well-founded safe in her 11 office. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's -- 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 14 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Thanks, Rex. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The County Attorney -- I 16 assume you don't want to -- 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that the -- it doesn't 18 matter how we do the holiday schedule; it's not going to be 19 right for everybody. I think it's the new -- new way of 20 doing it. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Leave it the way it is. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. So, I'll make a 23 motion that we adopt the position schedule, step/grade 24 schedule, and general provisions, as step and grade schedule 25 was modified. Now, what did we modify? 9-22-08 108 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Position. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, position -- as the position 3 schedule was modified today. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That relates to revenue. 5 MS. HYDE: What? 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Relates to pay. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Pay, right. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: The position schedule -- let me 9 clarify this. The position schedule that you have in place 10 has -- has already included the four steps for the 12.881? 11 MS. HYDE: It's got the movement, yes, sir. It's 12 already got the movement. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: So it's already there; we don't have 14 to provide for the four-step -- 15 MS. HYDE: No, sir, it's already got that, and your 16 education, any longevities. It's got all of that. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second as 20 indicated, approving the position schedule, step and grade 21 schedule, and general provisions for FY 2008-09, with the 22 modification on the position schedule dealing with elected 23 officials and department heads. Question? 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: One question was, did it -- 25 does it have the elimination of my one medical staff in 9-22-08 109 1 there, cutting that one back? 'Cause that's in there right 2 now. You'll cut it back if the Court, in a few minutes, 3 approves that medical contract. 4 MS. HYDE: It's in there, but there's no problem to 5 delete; it's just a problem to add. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: 'Cause it is deleting a 8 position. 9 MS. HYDE: I can't delete your position until you 10 delete the position. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You can do that. Just 12 adding is the problem. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Long as it doesn't mess up 14 your approving the position schedule. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? 16 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 17 hand. 18 (Commissioners Baldwin, Williams, and Letz voted in favor of the motion.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 20 (Commissioner Oehler voted against the motion.) 21 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Okay, let's go 23 to Item 26; consider, discuss, take appropriate action 24 regarding the agreement with Correctional Healthcare 25 Management to provide inmate medical services effective 9-22-08 110 1 October 1, 2008. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: This is one that we had talked 3 about during the budget process. We've been going back and 4 forth with that company over the final details in the 5 contract itself. It has been reviewed, changes made, 6 re-reviewed by the County Attorney and that company, and 7 everybody has agreed on the contract as I have it right now, 8 which was the final original that was given to us -- 9 overnighted to us this morning. It has been reviewed. 10 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Rusty, just -- there's some 13 new folks in the room that are not -- probably don't 14 understand what you're talking about. Could you go back over 15 just the highlights, like how much does the thing -- that is 16 a stupid question, isn't it? 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Highlights, two hundred and -- 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If I throw something at you, 19 will you stop talking? 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Depends on what you throw. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, my boot or computer. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Highlights is, this contract 23 will cost us $298,245.54 a year. That's the annual contract, 24 okay? 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: As opposed to what you were 9-22-08 111 1 paying -- 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Which would have been -- 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- if you do it yourself. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It would have been over 5 360,000 a year. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Personnel costs alone. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Personnel costs alone. And 8 then you add your medical and all that -- or close to 9 personnel costs alone. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How many personnel are you 11 eliminating, Sheriff? 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Five, wasn't it? 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Five or six -- five. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Five, what I remember. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Five total positions in 16 medical we've cut out. 17 MS. HYDE: We still have one in there. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We had one until October 1, 19 okay? Until this becomes effective October 1. Then, as of 20 October 1, the one position I have is most likely going to 21 work for this company. They've already been in discussion 22 about that, and pretty with will have come to an agreement. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me inquire of the County 24 Attorney. Do we need to go back to the position schedule and 25 amend that, if we approve the contract, to eliminate those 9-22-08 112 1 employees on the position schedule? Or can we do it on the 2 contract -- as part of the contract approval motion? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are all five in the budget? 4 MS. HYDE: No, sir. Only one remaining. The four 5 were removed. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But they've never been 7 officially removed by the Court, although technically they're 8 not in the budget. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They've been removed if 10 they're not in the budget. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, I mean, and the one's 12 not even in the budget. 13 MS. HYDE: Yes, he is. Well, he's in my position 14 schedule. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: In the position schedule, but 16 he's not budgeted funds, 'cause we're counting on this. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: But you're going to eliminate the 18 one that's in the current position schedule come October 1? 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's talk about the contract 21 first, okay? Any questions for the Sheriff on the contract? 22 Do you have anything you want to throw at him, Commissioner? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move we approve the contract. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 9-22-08 113 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 2 approval of the contract as presented. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Authorization -- 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Further question or discussion on 5 the motion? 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- to let the Judge sign the 7 same. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And authorize the Judge to sign 9 same. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All in favor -- 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: When's it become effective? 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: October 1. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: All in favor of the motion, signify 15 by raising your right hand. 16 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 18 (No response.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's go 20 back, if we could, to Item 18; consider, discuss, take 21 appropriate action to adopt the position schedule, step/grade 22 schedule, and general provisions for FY 2008-09. Does any 23 member of the Court have a motion with regard to the 24 elimination of one of the medical personnel in the Sheriff's 25 budget being eliminated as of October 1? 9-22-08 114 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move that we eliminate the 2 position as the Sheriff detailed, effective October 1. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 5 indicated. Question or discussion on that motion? All in 6 favor of that motion, signify by raising your right hand. 7 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 9 (No response.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's go 11 back to Item 21, if we might; consider, discuss, and take 12 appropriate action on additional pay due to Kerr County Court 13 at Law Judge for FY '07-'08 because of change in state 14 statute, and offsets to same due Kerr County for FY '07-'08 15 and prior years. I put this item on the agenda because, as 16 indicated, the change in state statutes, and we discovered 17 that the -- as part of the supplement that the County Court 18 at Law Judge receives, number one, we're $15,000 short 19 beginning October 1, '07, through September 30, '08, because 20 of the change in state statute that increased that Judge's 21 salary to a sum of not less than $1,000 below the District 22 Judges, which requires an additional 15,000. However, Judge 23 Brown had allocated $5,000 of his supplement to his court 24 coordinator. But in examining the payroll records, that 25 amount had not been deducted from the amount paid to Judge 9-22-08 115 1 Brown, but had, in fact, been paid -- the 5,000 to the court 2 coordinator -- out of Kerr County funds, whereas it should 3 have been deducted from -- from what he received. 4 So, according to the Auditor, we're due a 5 reimbursement of $5,000 for '07-'08. Having discovered that, 6 we went back and looked at previous years, and discovered 7 that the same thing occurred last year, '06-'07, so there was 8 an overpayment of $5,000, and that in the prior budget year, 9 nine months -- I assume that was when that court coordinator 10 came on board -- of the apportionment of that $5,000 was 11 paid, for a total of $3,750.12. The Auditor has advised me 12 that the offset due to Kerr County is $13,750.12. So, 13 essentially, what we owe Judge Brown is the $15,000, less 14 those offsets of $13,750.12, and he's due the net in order to 15 bring him current through this current fiscal year. Is that 16 correct? 17 MS. HARGIS: Five, ten -- okay. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that correct, Ms. Hargis? 19 MS. HARGIS: Yes. I'm trying to think. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Through current year, being 21 2008-2009. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: No, '07-'08. We set his salary in 23 accordance with proper state statutes for '08-'09. We've 24 already done that. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, how much do we owe 9-22-08 116 1 Judge Brown? 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, it's -- 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: 1,500 and something dollars. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: 1249.88. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And that's assuming that we 6 pay him for that -- that we did not know that the cap had 7 been lifted, and I'm not sure whose responsibility that was 8 to tell us that so we would not miss it. But had we known 9 that in advance, this money would not be due Judge Brown, any 10 of it, today. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We would have done it -- 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Or else you would have had to 13 say, "Well, we want to give him the same thing that the other 14 elected officials and department heads received last year." 15 Is that not correct? We didn't automatically approve that. 16 That came to our attention through this; is that not correct? 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, of the -- of the $5,000 that 18 had been paid separately, apart, over and above his total 19 salary? 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'm talking about the 21 7 percent increase that he was due to receive last year in 22 the '07-'08 budget. Is that not correct? Being the cap was 23 lifted, because we addressed that in the last meeting to deal 24 with District Judges and the County Court at Law Judge for 25 the next -- the upcoming year. Does this have anything to do 9-22-08 117 1 with that? 2 JUDGE TINLEY: No. The County Court at Law Judge 3 was not included within the schedule of -- of increases for 4 elected officials in Kerr County that we're required to 5 publish, so that he was -- that position was not even 6 included in that notice that went out by publication. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I guess my question is, 8 how come we owe Judge Brown anything? 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, because the state statutes 10 were amended and said, effective October 1 of last year -- 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's my point. We didn't 12 -- that was not pointed out to us at that time, that that cap 13 had been lifted. If that cap had not been lifted, he would 14 not been entitled to that 7 percent that elected officials 15 and department heads received last year. 16 MS. HARGIS: He didn't get it last year. He didn't 17 get it last year either. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: No. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But are we trying to pay it 20 to him now? 21 MS. HARGIS: No. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: No. No, just -- this is just the 23 base salary that -- that increased him from 124 to 139. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And we are supposed to pay 25 that -- that additional that the state -- 9-22-08 118 1 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- approves for his salary? 3 We pay the 15? 4 JUDGE TINLEY: We pay the 15. The -- the 5 supplement is not paid to Judge Brown directly. The 6 supplement comes into the Kerr County Treasurer's office, and 7 then as part of the total payroll process, Judge Brown is 8 paid what he's due from both Kerr County's apportionment of 9 his salary and the supplement. So, it flows in to us, and 10 then we pay it out. That's why -- that's why it's due to 11 him. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. It's not actually Kerr 13 -- not actual Kerr County funds. These are funds that have 14 flown -- that appeared from the state. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Come down. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Trickled down here, and we 17 just distribute them, so this is actually not Kerr County 18 dollars we're talking about. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, but we've got them in our 20 possession, and have had them in our possession. But he's -- 21 he just hasn't been paid that, because he was not included in 22 the earlier publication. But the Comptroller says we need to 23 pay him. But, by the same token, we have these offsets where 24 it wasn't handled in a manner that -- that the amount he 25 allocated to the court coordinator was deducted from what he 9-22-08 119 1 was to receive, so that's why we got a good offset. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think I understand now. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Hyde, you had a question? 4 MS. HYDE: So, I make a one-time payroll adjustment 5 for $1,249.88, versus the $10,000 that I got before? 6 JUDGE TINLEY: That's correct. Well -- 7 MS. HYDE: And I do it on the September 30th -- 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, depends upon if we get -- we 9 get favorable action by the Court right now. 10 MS. HYDE: Okay, I'm sorry. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: That's what's pending before the 12 Court right now. 13 MS. HYDE: I'm sorry. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: The payment to him of $15,000, less 15 the offsets of $13,750.12. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, have you -- have you 17 or Ms. Hargis or anyone else discussed this with Judge Brown? 18 Does he know about all of this? 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Hargis? 20 MS. HARGIS: I haven't. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Have you not discussed anything with 22 him? 23 MS. HARGIS: Not since we -- he requested the 24 initial funds, no, I have not. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 9-22-08 120 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, y'all are going to let 2 him blow up and come jump on his commissioner, right? 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Precinct 1, too, isn't he? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, it is one. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Your lucky day. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is today my lucky day or 7 what? 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Today's your lucky day. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: As they say, congratulations; you 10 win the turkey. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I can handle it. I can 12 handle it. On the phone. (Laughter.) 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do you have a motion? 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Needs a motion. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we 17 authorize the one-time payment of $1,249.88 to make the 18 salary adjustments as required by the Legislature. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second it. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 21 indicated. Your intent was to pay him the 15,000 that he's 22 due by state statute, less the offsets that -- 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Should we designate in the 25 motion that that is for Judge Spencer Brown? 9-22-08 121 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Actually, we're getting -- 2 we're going to get back 1,200-something dollars. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, we're paying. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I know we're going to pay, 5 but this is pretty screwball, sounds to me like. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We have a motion and a 7 second, I believe. 8 THE CLERK: Yes, sir. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do you think that I'd be a 11 hero to Spencer if I vote against this thing? 12 MS. HYDE: Yeah. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have one "yeah" and one 14 "no." I don't either. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion 16 on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by 17 raising your right hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 20 (No response.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's go to 22 Item 24; consider, discuss, take appropriate action regarding 23 policy and procedures for Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center. 24 Commissioner Oehler. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, we talked about this a 9-22-08 122 1 little bit last meeting, and I believe there's just some 2 changes. I believe the highlighted section, I believe, on 3 Page 3 will prove up -- say what we intended for it to say. 4 It's just a policy change in our agreement. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is this an addition? 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: This is an addition, yes. 7 This is to cover some of the organizations, which I had a 8 talk -- I had a guy call me last night for the upcoming event 9 with 4-H and the Sunrise Lions, and he doesn't really agree 10 with the fact that they ought to have to pay anything, 11 because 4-H is in what they're doing together, and they're -- 12 but it's benefitting both of them, and I think we'll -- I 13 told him we were going to discuss this policy change today, 14 and I told him, I said, "I think we're trying -- we have to 15 be fair to all of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. We 16 can't charge one something and the other one nothing." And 17 that's what this is about. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Commissioner, does this 19 deal with the clean-up aspects of the problem as well? 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I believe it does. We're 21 going to start getting deposits from these people, especially 22 if they don't intend to clean up. And -- but I believe we 23 need to -- something needs to be done. I think, you know, we 24 try to be fair to everybody, and I think this is the only way 25 we can be fair. Even though, of course, they disagree with 9-22-08 123 1 the way I feel about it. And I told him that, you know, the 2 Court could change their mind about it or they can give him 3 an exemption any time if he wanted to request it. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner, what about a 5 not-for-profit organization partnering up with a commercial 6 organization? Should not that be included here also? And a 7 follow-up inquiry to that is, should we base it upon a 8 participation in the benefits derived; i.e., the receipts? 9 You know, they may not be 50/50. They may be 60/40, 75/25. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Would you like to try to 11 rewrite that, being with your legal mind? This was mine and 12 Jody's efforts at doing it, mostly Jody's. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Is it your intention to -- to 14 make the participation and the cost proportionate to the 15 share of the benefits to be received? Or are you just going 16 to assume everybody is 50/50? 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, the thing -- the way I 18 see it is, everybody is 50/50 except for when it -- it 19 involves 50 percent of it being an organization that the 20 County does not charge. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Or we're charging a nonprofit a 22 75 percent reduced rate, but they're partnering with a 23 commercial organization that ought to be paying -- paying 24 full price. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Full price. 9-22-08 124 1 JUDGE TINLEY: And what if the game is, we're going 2 to use this not-for-profit, but they're only going to get 10 3 or 20 percent; the commercial is going to get 80, 90 percent? 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think you have an idea of 5 how -- I hadn't even thought about that aspect. I was more 6 focused on the 4-H and the Sunrise Lions when we did this, 7 because of what's happened in the past. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And I never -- never 10 considered what you're talking about. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Your thinking is that the expense 12 factor ought to be proportionate to the receipt of benefit 13 factor? 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I believe so. Except -- 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But the way the 4-H and the 17 Lions work, according to what the guy told me last night, is 18 that they -- after all expenses are paid, they split 50/50, 19 up to 10,000 each, and anything they get over 10,000 each, 20 4-H gets the balance. His contention was that under that 21 scenario, the 4-H would be paying half of the expenses on the 22 rental, and I said, "I think you need to change the way that 23 you divide up your expenses, because 4-H doesn't pay any, but 24 I feel that the Sunrise Lions, just like any other 25 organization, would." And, of course, he didn't agree with 9-22-08 125 1 me, but that was my intent in what we're doing here. That's 2 the only thing that makes it any more complicated. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, that could conceivably -- if 4 you carry that out, some sort of retroactive audit to see 5 what happened to the funds that -- the net proceeds that were 6 distributed. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. I don't know. I was 8 just trying to fix what I saw was a problem. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: I understand. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think you have expanded it 11 to another problem, that maybe we ought to bring it back next 12 meeting and let -- 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, we'll work on that. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What about the Sunrise Lions? 15 Isn't that event pending pretty soon? 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: October 4th. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, I mean, if we're -- or do 18 you want to let it slide and let them fix it next year? 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Why don't we do this, then? 20 Just agree to bring it back and correct their part. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Add to it next time. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: I think Commissioner Oehler's 23 already put them on notice, "Boys, this is coming." 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I think we did whenever 25 we talked about it last meeting. 9-22-08 126 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And it's just a matter of 3 adding it to our policy. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Let's do this one and come 5 back with another one. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So, I move that we approve 7 the agenda item as presented for the 4-H -- for the Hill 8 Country Youth Exhibition Center regarding policies and 9 procedures. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 12 indicated. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 13 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 16 (No response.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Gentlemen, 18 it appears to be noon. Do you want to charge forward? 19 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Can I just -- you had a question 20 about how many phone lines I needed on my phone system that I 21 proposed. 22 (Low-voice discussion off the record.) 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Don't make him come back, 24 Judge. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Huh? 9-22-08 127 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Can we get him over with now? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd rather charge through, 3 including Judge Ragsdale. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Can we shoot him? 5 JUDGE RAGSDALE: You had a question about how many 6 phone lines. What is the question? "Why," I presume? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, he needs to call the 8 item. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Are you on Item 25? 10 JUDGE RAGSDALE: I have absolutely no idea. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: I think that's your item, 12 Commissioner Baldwin. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Am I on 25? 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I believe it's 25. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Are you willing to yield to go back 17 to an item that was considered early this morning? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On Item 14. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Item 14? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That the person that made 21 the request was not present? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: I think that's the one. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Had an appearance of not 25 caring enough about the agenda item that he just didn't show 9-22-08 128 1 up? Or -- 2 JUDGE TINLEY: One could make that assumption. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, I'll pass up mine for 4 that. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. All right. 6 JUDGE RAGSDALE: We're being funny, right? 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me call Item 14, -- 8 JUDGE RAGSDALE: I just wanted to make sure before 9 I laughed or frowned. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: -- consider, discuss, and take 11 appropriate action on telephone answering system and 12 additional phone lines to accomplish telephone system for 13 Justice of the Peace offices. Judge Ragsdale. 14 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Sir? 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Tell us about this item. 16 JUDGE RAGSDALE: What do you -- I've presented this 17 one time already. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Are we going to one line, or are we 19 going to have four lines? 20 JUDGE RAGSDALE: I presented three lines and four 21 lines, whichever one you'd approve. I think the three 22 lines -- it depends on what kind of service we intend to 23 provide. I really don't care if people get a busy signal, 24 but I imagine we're going to hear about it. I think three 25 lines would be appropriate for the volume of phone calls -- 9-22-08 129 1 incoming phone calls I anticipate. If you want to approve 2 two incoming lines, we're talking about -- this is 3 accommodating four offices; it's not just my office. This is 4 accommodating four offices. So, if you think one phone line 5 would do that -- I don't, but if you think that one phone 6 line would accommodate four offices, then that's what we'll 7 approve. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is this one phone line only 9 for -- only -- the only time this number is used is on 10 tickets, basically? 11 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Which is a -- a dominating 12 inquiry. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How many tickets do we -- are 14 processed a day? 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: A bunch. 16 JUDGE RAGSDALE: I have no idea a day, but there 17 are a lot. I -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think one line will be 19 enough. 20 JUDGE RAGSDALE: No. Loosely, what I -- I asked 21 the other J.P.'s a year ago, I figured out that each clerk 22 spends about eight hours a week on the telephone answering 23 redundant phone calls. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I believe that. I'm just 25 wondering -- to me, it's the -- I think you tend to talk a 9-22-08 130 1 lot more. I think the idea is great. I just would think 2 that one phone line would be enough, and if people get a few 3 busy signals, I really don't care. They need to pay their 4 ticket; they'll take care of it. 5 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Well, you're talking about -- and 6 you're not wrong in the respect that if it's some obligation 7 that presumably they're going to take care of. I'm 8 concerned -- you know, I want to be able to turn over money 9 to the County as rapidly as possible. It's been my 10 experience over 18 years that the longer we delay in a 11 collection, the less likely you are to collect it, period. 12 So, if these people can be accommodated -- I've tried 13 everything I can think of to reduce the phone calls. I've 14 got a website that is seldom visited, although it is some. 15 That reduces it. We have courtesy letters that are given to 16 everybody that gets a ticket. On that thing in three 17 different places in boldface print, it says, "Do not call the 18 office." They all call anyway, and they say, "What can we do 19 to take care of the ticket? The cop told me to call." And, 20 you know, they swear up and down they don't tell them to 21 call. I know for a fact I put three different places and 22 told them not to call, and they call anyway. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. I -- I just think that 24 -- I mean, I agree with what you're trying to do. I think 25 that one phone line -- if they do get a busy signal, maybe 9-22-08 131 1 they'll read the darn letter. 2 JUDGE RAGSDALE: No, sir. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: We can always add other lines after 4 the fact. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We can always add more lines. 6 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Well, but then I don't have it in 7 the budget. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is this in your budget? 9 JUDGE RAGSDALE: I'm working on it right now. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Budget's already been 11 adopted. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This isn't in the budget. 13 JUDGE RAGSDALE: So, if I'm wasting my time, I'll 14 walk off. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm in favor of giving you one 16 line. We can find the money under the Contingency line item. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: What about the purchase of the 18 equipment? We have a $3,800 equipment pool. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't -- that's why we 20 need to talk. See, I don't understand why we can't get Hill 21 Country Co-Op or Windstream just to add a line, then you get 22 a recording hooked up to it. I mean, I'm sure -- why do we 23 need a sophisticated system, is what I'm asking. 24 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Otherwise, we're -- we are 25 going -- this is a non-person phone system. 9-22-08 132 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Recorded message. 2 JUDGE RAGSDALE: This is a system of recorded 3 messages that lead a person to a conclusion, if they want to 4 be led. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: One universal number for 6 all four J.P.'s. 7 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Correct. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Recorded message. 9 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Several recorded messages. This 10 has the ability to go to eight lines total. It's all 11 incoming; it's not outgoing. At the end of it, if they still 12 haven't reached a conclusion, they're instructed to call our 13 regular office numbers and a clerk will talk to them. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Are they required to work off of a 15 menu, and if they want to do this, punch this? 16 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Correct. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Want to do something else, punch 18 this? 19 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Correct. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: That's the automated equipment, 21 then. 22 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Correct. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: We can't just use a regular 24 answering machine that says you call such and such a number, 25 and here's what you need to take care of your -- 9-22-08 133 1 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Correct. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: -- citation issued. 3 JUDGE RAGSDALE: It's not to deliver just a message 4 of, "Leave your message and we'll call you back." That 5 totally defeats the whole idea of it. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, you can't devise -- I 7 was maybe thinking of something different. I was thinking 8 that you call in and you get a recording, "If you're calling 9 about a speeding ticket, read your letter." (Laughter.) 10 That's what -- to me, that's what it needs to say, "Read the 11 letter." 12 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Well, then, how do you accommodate 13 the person that didn't get one or lost it? 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I like that, but it probably 15 won't work. 16 JUDGE RAGSDALE: You're not telling me anything I 17 haven't told several thousand people, okay? But I don't want 18 to have to keep telling them; I've got other stuff to do. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Not the same thousands; you 21 got new thousands now. 22 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Yeah. It's -- it is just 23 superfluous. The reason we need the equipment, first off, 24 it's going to take over the equipment I have in my office 25 already. There was no way to have it separate. But also, 9-22-08 134 1 it -- it would take over all the phone calls for all J.P.'s, 2 only on traffic cases, and it would, like, direct a 3 conclusion. I proposed three incoming phone lines to be able 4 to accommodate multiple inquiries, and I still think that 5 with three phone lines, they would still be getting busys. 6 It's not like -- it's -- this is not Cadillac; this is 7 basic -- very basic technology. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Seems like it's pretty expensive 9 basic technology. 10 JUDGE RAGSDALE: It's not. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Five grand for the machine. 12 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Now, it's -- that's up to you. I 13 think that it will free up -- we came and asked for an 14 additional clerk, which y'all said wasn't a good idea. 15 That's fine. Some of the offices are being pretty well 16 overwhelmed by answering the telephones, especially answering 17 the telephone on redundant trash that you ought not to have 18 to answer. I even had a guy just insist one time that it was 19 my job to explain it all to him. I said, "Read the letter." 20 "I don't want to." "Well, you're going to be in a jam, 21 because I'm not going to sit here and explain it to you 22 again." 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I -- I don't understand -- I 24 mean, I'm not trying -- I'm not fighting on you this. I want 25 to do it. It's just a matter of -- I'll give you my phone 9-22-08 135 1 line in the office, 'cause I don't use that line; I use my 2 cell phone. You got a number there. You can put a recording 3 on it, and then it doesn't cost the taxpayers anything. I 4 don't understand why we need a menu-driven -- all these 5 options. I mean, the instructions are petty simple, I would 6 think. I mean -- 7 JUDGE RAGSDALE: How do you explain to the person 8 who either is learning-disabled, which you have to make 9 accommodations for, or how do you explain to a person who 10 swears up and down they didn't get the letter, or the person 11 who doesn't have internet access to read the letter they 12 didn't get or don't understand? 13 JUDGE TINLEY: We're going to give them about, 14 what, four different options? 15 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Probably about six or eight 16 different options. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: About six? You got trial. You got 18 jury. 19 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Driver's safety course, deferred 20 disposition. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Driver's safety course. You know, 22 and a plea by mail. And anything else, you're going to have 23 to go to the judge. 24 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Mailing addresses, things like 25 that. If you're calling for a mailing address, push this. I 9-22-08 136 1 guess they could sit and listen to the whole thing, but 2 that's just going to tie it up that much longer. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Letz, you know, you -- 4 you just say, "Here's your options," and I guess then they're 5 going to call you and say, "What are my options?" 6 MR. TROLINGER: Judge Ragsdale, wouldn't you say 7 that this gives you 24-hour coverage on these questions, 8 versus just daytime only, and that you do need to replace 9 your office telephone system? 10 JUDGE RAGSDALE: It doesn't work. What I have 11 doesn't work any more. It's about six years old. And it was 12 -- yeah, I bought it at Office Max for $300 or $400. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge Ragsdale, did you 14 present the whole thing to us during budget workshop? 15 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Yes, sir. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, he did. 17 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Sure did. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He did. 19 JUDGE RAGSDALE: The whole thing, and gave copies 20 to everybody, I believe. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: He did. 22 JUDGE RAGSDALE: I was told at that time to give 23 the information to Information Technology, and I did that. 24 And -- 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I remember now. 9-22-08 137 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Anybody want to move forward on this 2 right now? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Were we coming back after 4 lunch? It's a yes or no. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm coming back after lunch, 'cause 6 I got cases to hear. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What about Commissioners 8 Court? 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, if we can get on with the 10 business, we can probably get through here in 15 or 20 11 minutes, in my thinking. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- I want to do what 13 you want to do, but I don't want to spend $5,000 on 14 equipment. 15 JUDGE RAGSDALE: That's a problem. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I don't think -- it seems 17 to me that there is an easier -- a less expensive 18 alternative, based on -- you know, I had a -- I know 19 Windstream; for my personal business I had a number there 20 that didn't exist, it was just a phone number you dialed 21 into, and I had a message on it. And I don't understand why 22 that can't work, and that cost me $30 a month. That's -- 23 that's -- or 35, whatever it was. 24 JUDGE RAGSDALE: I honestly can't speak to what you 25 put on your recording. 9-22-08 138 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 2 JUDGE RAGSDALE: But -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's no options. There was 4 no menu to do this or this. 5 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Correct. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just listen to it, and -- 7 JUDGE RAGSDALE: What I'm trying to do is get 8 somebody on the phone and off the phone as quickly as 9 possible, so they can address their specific need, as opposed 10 to listening to a rendition of maybe eight to ten minutes on 11 the phone. 12 (Commissioner Baldwin left the courtroom.) 13 JUDGE RAGSDALE: To find out the answer that could 14 have been done, and whatever. You know, if I sit there and 15 read the entire courtesy letter to them on this recording, 16 they're going to be tied up for a long time. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Do we have money in the 18 budget for this, or did we just not address it in the budget? 19 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Well, you saved a bunch of money 20 on salaries. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No, we didn't. 22 JUDGE RAGSDALE: On elected officials. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't recall that we put 24 it in. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Can't save it unless you're 9-22-08 139 1 going to pay it out. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't think we had any numbers at 3 that time, is the reason we did not put it in. 4 JUDGE RAGSDALE: I offered you the numbers, yes, 5 sir. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. Yeah. 7 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Okay. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Anybody on the Court want to move 9 forward on this at this point? 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Let's wait till next meeting. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Thank you, sir. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Talk about it a little bit 13 more. 14 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Thank you. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Where'd Buster go? Bailed out. 16 Let's go to Item 27; consider, discuss, take appropriate 17 action on creating an Indigent Health Care full-time employee 18 position with a minimum of 14.1 step and grade for FY 19 '08-'09, and appointing a supervisor. 20 (Commissioner Baldwin returned to the courtroom.) 21 MS. HARGIS: This is on the Indigent Health Care 22 position that we talked about last time. I'm going to ask 23 that we turn this over to Rosa lavender so Rosa can talk to 24 you about it. 25 MS. LAVENDER: I'm going to be quick. You all have 9-22-08 140 1 a copy of the proposal that I prepared on September 9th that 2 would place the Indigent Health Care program under my 3 supervision. It's been suggested that we rename the 4 department, instead of Victims Services, call it "Kerr County 5 Support Services," and have both victims services and 6 indigent health care under that one umbrella. And the net 7 difference in the budget is nothing, because we already have 8 money set aside in the budget, and then my salary is paid for 9 by a grant. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This is a new position, 11 correct? 12 MS. LAVENDER: Correct. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is this a -- is this the best 14 place to put it? Or is it -- I mean, you weren't -- when I 15 was thinking of where this was going, you didn't come up in 16 my -- 17 MS. LAVENDER: I didn't come up on the radar? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You weren't on the radar 19 screen. 20 MS. LAVENDER: Well, as I said in that letter, 21 there's a lot of common -- common denominators with indigent 22 health care and victims' services, because we're really 23 dealing with the same population a lot of the time. And I -- 24 you know, after talking with people about it, we felt like 25 this might be a good option for doing it. When I called 9-22-08 141 1 AACOG, they thought it was an ideal place. And other people 2 that we talked to -- 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I guess so; they don't have 4 to pay for it. 5 MS. LAVENDER: Huh? 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I guess so; they don't have 7 to pay for it. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't have a problem. It 9 just seems like it's an odd spot, but maybe, you know, it's 10 not. It's not a dollar impact. I think it's something we 11 need to do from the County's standpoint. I think the down 12 side is horrible in indigent health care. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I have one question, 14 though. If we're going to do it in this case -- I'm not 15 opposed to it, but if we're going to move -- create the -- 16 the indigent health care position and move the Crime Victims 17 Coordinator, because we have handicapped access issues 18 downstairs, do we not have the same handicapped access issues 19 for the Treasurer who's also down there? 20 MS. LAVENDER: But the public doesn't come to see 21 the Treasurer. 22 MS. HARGIS: The public -- 23 MS. LAVENDER: That's the difference. 24 MS. WILLIAMS: We don't have that many instances 25 when the public comes in that -- that they're handicapped or 9-22-08 142 1 A.D.A. disabled. 2 MS. HYDE: And when they do, they normally come to 3 my office, and then I call. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay, I just wanted to ask 5 the question. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Where is this going? 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In the area right outside 8 the elevator, in the -- 9 MS. LAVENDER: That's a separate item on the -- 10 MS. HARGIS: Yeah. 11 MS. LAVENDER: -- agenda. Let's do the position 12 first. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I think it's a perfect 14 fit. I mean, I can't imagine it going anywhere else. I 15 think when Rosa came up with the idea, I kind of jumped for 16 joy. 17 MS. LAVENDER: And I have quite a number of years 18 in a position of administering over other people that worked 19 under me when I was teaching, so I kind of know the gist of 20 having an employee. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And having, you know, her 22 sitting there dealing with a particular person that deals 23 next door, the exact same people, you know, it's just a -- 24 it's a perfect fit, almost. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You know the build-out 9-22-08 143 1 costs? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, but I don't know about 3 this location. I can't read this thing. Tell me -- tell me 4 where this is. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we'll get to that on another 6 agenda item. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right. I'm all for it. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that a motion? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move that we join forces 10 or whatever it is, however -- 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Approve the agenda item? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's right. That's 13 exactly what I was trying to say. 14 MS. LAVENDER: Next words out of your mouth. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion. Do I hear a 16 second? 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second it. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second. 19 Question or discussion? 20 MS. HYDE: You have to modify the things again, 21 because now we're going to add a position to the position 22 schedule that's not on there. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. If we add a new position, we 24 would necessarily modify the position schedule, I would 25 think. 9-22-08 144 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But there's no budgetary 2 impact? 3 MS. HARGIS: No. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 5 MS. HYDE: Yeah, there is. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm having a hard time understanding 7 that there's no budgetary impact. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I am, too. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: If you're going to put somebody on 10 the payroll, that -- at any step or grade -- any grade or 11 step, you're going to have budgetary impact. 12 MR. TROLINGER: I've established in the past, the 13 cost per computer to support it is about $3,000, $3,400 per 14 year, per user. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Including software? 16 MR. TROLINGER: All. All-inclusive. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, we say there's no 18 budgetary impact. Are we -- were we trying to do an equation 19 here between what we were spending -- 20 MS. HARGIS: Okay. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Would somebody like to 22 explain it to me? 23 MS. HARGIS: Okay. The salary is -- is a 24 non-budgetary item, because currently the -- we pay 25 50 percent of that person to the hospital. That's our 9-22-08 145 1 contract, which includes benefits, FICA, everything. The -- 2 the equipment, Rosa is proposing that she -- because of 3 taking over the supervisory position, AACOG said that 4 5 percent of her time would be used for that supervisory 5 position, so they asked her to move 5 percent of her line 6 item of her salary down to another line item. So, what she's 7 going to do is -- 8 MS. LAVENDER: Office supplies. 9 MS. HARGIS: -- up her office supplies. So, she 10 has proposed that she actually take -- she needs a new 11 computer, and move her old computer over to the new person. 12 So, we're trying to do this on budget-neutral so that there's 13 -- there's no -- she's going to -- you know, we have enough 14 furniture that we can gather up and so forth so that there is 15 no budget cost. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: What about the salary? We're going 17 to have to pay this person. 18 MS. HARGIS: We have to pay this person a salary. 19 We are currently paying 50 percent of that -- this person's 20 salary now, and the hospital is going to now reimburse us for 21 50 percent of the salary, so we -- we're basically doing the 22 same thing that we have been doing. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Where's the other 24 50 percent come from? 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The hospital. 9-22-08 146 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I understand. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We've already been paying; 5 now we're just going to switch it around. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, it's not -- I understand 7 that, but I think what we do need is -- for the record, is to 8 put all that in writing so we can see that this much was 9 coming into one line item. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Hold it. 11 MR. EMERSON: In my lay opinion, okay? I'm not an 12 accountant, but I think you need to budget the whole 13 position, because we don't have an agreement with the 14 hospital right now. And that agreement, even if we do have 15 it, is subject to termination, which means they could back 16 out of it with 30 days notice. So, if you're going to create 17 the position, you need to create the position, and then 18 whatever budget -- or whatever income we derive will be a 19 credit to that position. But -- 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think you're right. 21 MS. HARGIS: But if we don't currently have a 22 contract with the hospital, then the money we currently have 23 budgeted in the indigent defense -- in the Indigent Health 24 Care line item in Fund 50 would then get moved to -- to pay 25 for half the position. So, if we're going to budget for the 9-22-08 147 1 full position, then you have to pay for half. It's not -- 2 but the hospital has agreed. I haven't seen the new 3 contract, so I'm not going there. That was taken out of my 4 hands. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: But if we create this position, I 6 think we've got to fund it. 7 MS. HARGIS: True. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Plain and simple. Then if we get 9 some reimbursement by contract or otherwise, so much the 10 better. But if we hire this person, we're responsible, 11 period. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But -- 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, certainly, my motion, 14 when you create a position, you create the salary to go along 15 with that. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: And it's a 14-1, as indicated in the 17 agenda item. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Where that comes from, I 21 couldn't care less. But -- 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any other discussion on the 23 motion? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I think the -- is this not 25 somewhat contingent on the hospital paying 50 percent of it? 9-22-08 148 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: They can pay 50 percent if 2 they want to; I don't care. That's good. I'd like that. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We've got to have the person. 4 Somebody's got to review the indigent -- 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I thought -- I thought we 6 had talked about that -- that person is going to be full-time 7 Kerr County, and we'll deal with Peterson on a separate issue 8 -- separate level. That's what I thought we were doing. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: You had a question? 10 MR. EMERSON: I was just going to say that I -- 11 I've dabbled in the statutes, okay? I haven't completely 12 ripped apart the indigent health care, but it indicates that 13 the County is supposed to provide somebody to assist the 14 applicants, so I'm assuming that's what this position is. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Correct. Correct. It's 16 just going to be over here, and not over there. 17 MR. EMERSON: Right. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 19 MS. LAVENDER: And Beth Taylor, who works in the 20 Treasurer's office, is -- has been in that position at the 21 hospital, and is in agreement that this is the best way to do 22 it, and has said she's willing to -- to help getting it -- 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Assist. 24 MS. LAVENDER: -- transitioned over here. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is she moving over -- 9-22-08 149 1 MS. LAVENDER: No, she's staying with the 2 Treasurer's office. We'll hire someone new for this, but 3 she's willing -- 4 MS. WILLIAMS: No, she's not moving. 5 MS. LAVENDER: -- she's willing to help with the 6 transition. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Other questions or comments? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, my question is, this 9 amend -- this action is amending the budget we adopted today? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: If we -- we're creating a new 11 position, we're amending the position schedule, necessarily, 12 to provide a 14-1 salary. And if it's not presently budgeted 13 in the current budget, it would amend the budget. 14 MS. HARGIS: Half of it is budgeted. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Half. We need to budget the 16 other half, and -- 17 MS. HARGIS: And get the contract signed. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. I just wanted to 19 know what we were doing. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Mm-hmm. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: One more time -- one more 22 time, on the supervisor issue, it says "and appointing a 23 supervisor." That's going to be Ms. Lavender? 24 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And that compensation is 9-22-08 150 1 going to come from your grant? 2 MS. LAVENDER: No. The compensation will come -- 3 my entire salary is already in the -- in the budget. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We understand that. 5 MS. LAVENDER: Yeah. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: For Crime Victims 7 Coordinator. 8 MS. LAVENDER: Right. And the grant reimburses the 9 County for currently 100 percent. Now it will reimburse the 10 County for 95 percent of my salary, and the other little bit 11 of it, $2,300 or whatever it is, would come from the -- the 12 budget that's already there and been approved. 'Cause we 13 always -- we always -- help me, Judge Tinley. We always put 14 the position in the budget every year, or have been doing it, 15 in case we didn't get the grant. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But doesn't that get paid for 17 by Kerr County, and then the money that comes to fund that -- 18 MS. LAVENDER: Is reimbursed by the State. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Reimbursed, but it goes into 20 the general fund. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Exactly. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: And washes through. The only 23 difference is going to be -- 24 MS. LAVENDER: No, it doesn't go in the general 25 fund. 9-22-08 151 1 JUDGE TINLEY: -- the 5 percent -- 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Where's it go? 3 JUDGE TINLEY: -- of her salary over to the 4 administrative supervision of this new position. That's 5 really all we're losing, is that portion. 6 MS. LAVENDER: That amount of the grant will be 7 transferred. You can transfer up to 10 percent, so we're 8 going to transfer 5 percent of it over into office supplies, 9 and then that'll give us the things that we need to get the 10 office set up. We're not going to make it that way. That's 11 not technically the way you're supposed to do it. It will be 12 for my office, is what it will go for. I had to scarf up a 13 bunch of things when I started my program four years ago, so 14 this new person will get scarfed stuff, basically. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Further discussion? 16 MS. HARGIS: I still think the money that you will 17 save from having this position will more than outweigh the 18 position. You're talking a million-plus dollars a year. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's not an issue. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't doubt that. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We know that. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: You had a question, Ms. Hyde? 23 MS. HYDE: Okay, I just need clarification. First 24 off, I renamed -- if I understand, I'm renaming Indigent 25 Health Care and Crime Victims to Kerr County Support 9-22-08 152 1 Services? 2 MS. LAVENDER: Well, that was a suggestion. We 3 didn't pass that. I mean, that's just kind of what I 4 thought. 5 MS. HYDE: Okay. Then, if we're not doing that, 6 then this person comes under the Indigent Health Care line 7 item. 8 MS. HARGIS: Yes. Yes. 9 MS. HYDE: And we will redo -- we're adding a 14-1, 10 so that's adding a position in the position schedule that's 11 not in there right now in the new '08-'09 budget. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We're amending the position 13 schedule and creating a 14-1, and we're amending the budget 14 to provide for the funding of that position. Other 15 questions? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 16 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 carries. Now -- 21 MS. HARGIS: Now, the space issue. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I'm going to go to 23 Commissioner Baldwin's issue first momentarily, because he 24 was kind enough to yield his place in the scheme of things to 25 somebody out of order. Item 25; consider, discuss, take 9-22-08 153 1 appropriate action to accept any certifications, licenses, 2 and/or registrations from department heads that report 3 directly to Commissioners Court, as required by law for their 4 department. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. You know, we -- 6 we're going to begin the evaluation of our employees pretty 7 soon, and -- and the certificates, those things that -- that 8 are required by the -- by law for them to hold will be a part 9 of the evaluation, so I just thought we'd get a jump on the 10 thing and get -- get it -- get the process going. If there 11 are folks that are in our employment that are behind or don't 12 have their certificates, it's -- it gives us time to -- we 13 will recognize that at this point, and it gives us plenty of 14 time to get everything up and running, get everybody on the 15 -- on the same page. That's all there is to it. I've 16 received from the County Auditor, Road and Bridge, Juvenile 17 Probation, and Juvenile Detention. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is the proper place, 19 Commissioner, to put these in H.R., in personnel files? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're going to hold them 21 here for a while, until we -- we talk about that a little bit 22 later as we get closer to our evaluations. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, they need to get them to 24 Jody? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's right, yeah. That'll 9-22-08 154 1 be fine. Either me or Jody, either one. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, who's missing? 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Is that a motion to require 4 them -- 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. No, I don't -- I don't 6 want to court-order anything. It's just -- it's kind of an 7 information ... 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Information. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Honor system, information. 10 I -- and Commissioner Williams just asked who's missing. I 11 really don't know. I've gotten from four departments, a 12 pretty thick little packet. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You'll have some from Animal 14 Control, some from Environmental Health that I know about. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. And, like, he didn't 16 -- there's nothing required from Information Technology -- is 17 that the name of your department? 18 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, sir. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Information Technology, 20 there's nothing required. And there's -- 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We do have some 22 certifications in Environmental Health, and we have -- we 23 have paid for those people to go get their certifications. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Correct, and they do have 25 them. They just -- 9-22-08 155 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They do have them. You'd 2 just like to have copies of that. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That is correct. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Three down there? 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You have Tish and -- 6 MS. HYDE: Yes. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- and Roy and Ray -- 8 MS. HYDE: And Jesse. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- right now, and Jesse. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Jesse just completed 11 schooling or something. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Jesse just completed his, and 13 then we have Animal Control, and all the -- all of those 14 except for one have their certifications, and Janie has many 15 because of what she does as the manager. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And anybody else that has -- I 17 mean, you know, it's conceivable that Tim could have some. 18 He may not -- he may have something that's not required, but 19 it may be part -- I mean -- 20 MR. BOLLIER: There are some that we can get that 21 aren't required. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Does he even have a certified 23 birth certificate? 24 MR. BOLLIER: What did he say? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do you have a real birth 9-22-08 156 1 certificate. (Laughter.) 2 MR. BOLLIER: You're good. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's my time. 4 MR. BOLLIER: It's your time, brother. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That was my shot for the day. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, gosh. That's all. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Let's move on to Item 8 28; consider, discuss, take appropriate action to authorize 9 building of office space for the office of Indigent Health 10 Care and Crime Victims Coordinator in the existing open area 11 in the basement. Proposed drawing of the location of the 12 offices, as well as cost of construction is included. 13 MS. LAVENDER: And in your book, there's a drawing 14 Timmy and I did. Don't even laugh. If you'll turn it this 15 way, it will make it probably a little more readable. 16 Elevator is right down here, and it didn't come off in the 17 printing. That's the whole problem; you can't tell where the 18 elevator is. Step off the elevator and look, right here. 19 MR. BOLLIER: These offices right here are on the 20 north wall, the ones she's wanting to build. North wall. 21 That -- yeah, north wall. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This is -- this wall 23 connects them with the County Attorney? 24 MS. LAVENDER: No. 25 MR. BOLLIER: No, sir. The -- 9-22-08 157 1 MS. LAVENDER: This wall would be the common wall. 2 MR. BOLLIER: This wall is -- this wall is the 3 maintenance area, and then this wall right here is the -- is 4 Angel's office, male and female bathrooms, and county clerk's 5 just down the road. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Okay. 8 MS. LAVENDER: And it would be two offices. Both 9 of them are about the same size. These two programs both 10 lend themselves to -- a lot of people come to visit us that 11 bring family and children sometimes, and it can be very 12 difficult if you've got children, and we don't want them out 13 in the open area disturbing other things. And so that -- 14 that's one of the reasons, and because of the records 15 storage. Indigent Health Care is required to keep all 16 records for three years, and in my case, I still have most of 17 the records that I've had since I started the program, 18 because I'm still working with a lot of the people. And then 19 this open area over here, we propose to build some portable 20 walls, actually, with rollers. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Screens? 22 MS. LAVENDER: Yeah. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Talking about screens? 24 MS. LAVENDER: Right. And that way, if we decide 25 we want to have an event down there, like the wellness fair 9-22-08 158 1 or whatever, and we need that space, we can roll those walls 2 into one of the offices and use the space. And we -- but the 3 cost, Timmy figured the -- Tim figured -- I call him Timmy -- 4 figured the cost of it at right at $1,000 for the materials. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He's got that funded in his 6 budget? 7 MS. LAVENDER: He's got it in money, yeah. 8 MR. BOLLIER: I won't have it this year; maybe I'll 9 have a little next year. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't mean this year. 11 MR. BOLLIER: I do have it? Okay, Jeannie says I 12 have it. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Tim, do you have any 15 plumbing issues down there? You got some pipes sticking out. 16 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir, but we're going to cover 17 those up. But I will have to -- 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: With duct tape. 19 MR. BOLLIER: -- investigate the one -- I don't 20 know what I have; haven't a clue what it is, where it's just 21 a pipe that comes out of the floor. But the other one, I 22 know what it is. It's a 2- inch drain from upstairs, but I 23 don't -- I don't have a clue what that other one is, so I -- 24 I need to look into that. 25 MS. LAVENDER: It's glued shut. 9-22-08 159 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Maybe we should figure it 2 out before we cover it up. 3 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You ought to ask Mikey 5 Walker. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If I were to venture to say, 7 it's going to be a drainpipe from the old jail. 8 MR. BOLLIER: That big 6-inch pipe? 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. 10 MS. LAVENDER: Just a drain? 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: A drain cleanout pipe that we 12 used to have when we had sewer problems. Go ahead and open 13 it; leave you a good odor in there. (Laughter.) 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we 15 approve the build-out as presented, and funds will come from 16 Maintenance Department's budget. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 19 approval as indicated. Any question or discussion? All in 20 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 21 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 23 (No response.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 25 MS. LAVENDER: Thank you. 9-22-08 160 1 JUDGE TINLEY: We got two addendums, and first is 2 Item 29; approval of promotion of current secretary to office 3 manager. That could apply to nearly anything. 4 MR. WALSTON: That's basically -- instead of office 5 manager, that should be lead secretary, is what I was -- 6 after visiting with Ms. Hyde, I realized the terminology 7 needed to be changed. But as -- as you may know, I guess you 8 should be well aware, we've lost our lead secretary, and 9 we've now replaced -- we'd like to move the current secretary 10 that's there to the lead secretary. And as of today, we've 11 -- we've started our new hire for our secretary. So -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think this requires our 13 action. I think you can do this. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's what I was thinking. 15 Why can't he do it, as long as it doesn't change a -- 16 MR. WALSTON: We want a step -- step increase, I'm 17 sorry. To give her a step increase to go from her current 18 14-1, which I believe should be 14-1 to a 14-2. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: How long has she been on board? 20 MR. WALSTON: Started last October. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, she's going to get one here in 22 just a -- 23 MS. HYDE: Going to get a longevity. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: -- couple days. 25 MR. WALSTON: Getting a longevity, but being the 9-22-08 161 1 lead secretary and being responsible -- she'll be responsible 2 over the actions of both secretaries. I just -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, both of them down there 4 have -- are both 14's? Both secretaries are 14's? 5 MR. WALSTON: Yes. Yes. 6 MS. HYDE: Currently, we were working on making 7 Jamie a 15, based on job responsibilities and things. But 8 with this happening, it will be next year. 9 MR. WALSTON: Jamie's now gone. 10 MS. HYDE: I understand, but that's what I'm 11 talking about. 12 MR. WALSTON: But that's why we're -- you know, we 13 want to make her lead secretary and be responsible. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And what was -- Jamie was a 14? 15 MS. HYDE: 14-6. 16 MR. WALSTON: Jamie -- 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Six? 18 MS. HYDE: 14-5 and 6. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, there's money in the budget 20 to make this adjustment? 21 MR. WALSTON: Yes, it is. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You just want to give a 23 one-step increase? I don't have a problem with that. I'll 24 make a motion that we approve a one-step increase for the 25 lead person in the budget. 9-22-08 162 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Lead secretary. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Lead secretary. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'll second your motion. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second. 5 Question or discussion on the motion? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we need to somewhat put 7 in our personnel -- somewhere, we need to document what we're 8 doing here, 'cause I can see us coming back a year from now 9 and trying to figure out what in the world we're doing. It 10 appears to me the job descriptions should be absolutely 11 different for those two positions. 12 MS. HYDE: They are. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They are different? 14 MS. HYDE: Yes, they are. 15 MR. WALSTON: I can update that job description. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. Okay. 17 MS. HYDE: We changed them when we did Jamie's. 18 MR. WALSTON: Yeah. I just need to update those. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: So, the step increase that we're 20 speaking of is actually due to a change in job duties and 21 responsibilities. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Further question or discussion on 24 the motion? All in favor, signify by raising your right 25 hand. 9-22-08 163 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. 5 MR. WALSTON: Thank you, gentlemen. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Item 30; consider, discuss, take 7 appropriate action to rescind Court Order 30988 which set a 8 public hearing on October 13th, 2008, at 10:10 a.m. for the 9 revision of plat for The Woods, Section Two, revision of Lots 10 79, 80, 81, 82, and 83, as set forth in Volume 7, Page 369, 11 Plat Records, located in Precinct 2. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Judge. I've had 13 several discussions with Mrs. Kilgore, and at this time, she 14 does not wish to pursue -- continue to pursue revision of 15 plat, leaving in place the plat as originally adopted by the 16 Court. So, in order to do that and cancel the public 17 hearing, I would move that we rescind Court Order 30988, 18 which did set the public hearing for October 13th, and this 19 would, in effect, reverse that action and cancel the public 20 hearing until a later date, till she decides what she wants 21 to do. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: There is a motion and second. 25 Further question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, 9-22-08 164 1 signify by raising your right hand. 2 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 4 (No response.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: God bless her. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I would ask Kelly to please 8 notify whomever needs to be notified that the public hearing 9 has been canceled. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Hitch 'em up, Rex. Okay, let's go 11 to Section 4 of the agenda, payment of the bills. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move we pay the bills. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to pay the 15 bills. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Commissioner, did you have 17 any that you wanted to throw in here? 18 MR. NICHOLSON: No, sir. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Aren't you glad that you're 20 down there and not up here? 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Question or discussion on the 22 motion? Okay. I'm showing on Page 5, under Maintenance, 23 Custodial and Grounds, window bids for the courthouse, the 24 publication. 25 MS. HARGIS: That was not the windows; that's the 9-22-08 165 1 electrical. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. That's why there's so -- I'm 3 showing several of them. I'm wondering how many times we 4 paid for the same ad, how many different departments. You've 5 answered it. There were different -- different publications. 6 MS. HARGIS: Yes. I need to run it three times. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or discussion? 8 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 9 hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 14 amendments. The Auditor has presented us with a number of 15 budget amendments, numbered -- 16 MS. HARGIS: Twenty-two. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: -- 1 through 24, one of which -- 18 Item 24 indicates that it's a bust-the-budget. 19 MS. HARGIS: Yes, Item 24 is an Indigent Health 20 Care. And I was told that in prior years, that you had made 21 that an emergency item and actually taken it from the fund 22 balance of that fund, which is Fund 50. We are over by 23 $41,000 in that item. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: But that's the end of that one, 25 isn't it? That runs through September, doesn't it? 9-22-08 166 1 MS. HARGIS: Runs through September. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Excuse me. 3 MS. HARGIS: No. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Runs through August, I believe, on 5 the state year. The Indigent Health Care is carried on -- 6 MS. HARGIS: On their budget. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: These are all August bills? 8 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 10 MS. HARGIS: 'Cause we were behind because of our 11 situation. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Question. Is there not enough money 13 left in the Sheriff's... (Laughter.) 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: There you go. 15 MS. HARGIS: No. 16 MR. TROLINGER: Jailer? 17 MS. HARGIS: We don't -- because this is a separate 18 fund -- I mean, I can cross over funds, but -- 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 20 MS. HARGIS: -- that's the reason why we're asking 21 you not to do that, because you -- if this was set up in the 22 general fund, you could go from general fund to general fund, 23 but this is a separate fund. There is sufficient money in 24 that bank account; there's $265,000 in that bank account, so 25 I would prefer that you take some from that fund balance. 9-22-08 167 1 This is a -- 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Don't want to mix apples and 3 oranges? 4 MS. HARGIS: No, I do not. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 6 MS. HARGIS: And we do not -- we do not have the 7 surplus that you had in the jailers last year. Your surplus 8 is appearing in the deputy salaries. However, hopefully, 9 we're going to skim by a little bit this year. We're -- it's 10 going to be tight. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Question on Item 17, Road and 12 Bridge. 13 MS. HARGIS: Mm-hmm. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Felix Fisher Road, because that's 15 coming out of the -- that first made a note, "Take from 16 equipment rental balance," because I see where he's wanting 17 to do that out of the Schreiner Road Trust. 18 MS. HARGIS: It's an actual Schreiner Road Trust 19 item, and you didn't budget for that, so I need you to 20 actually budget for the item so it can be spent out of there. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. So, the -- the Fund 71 is the 22 Schreiner Road Trust? 23 MS. HARGIS: That is correct. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Okay. 25 MS. HARGIS: And you have no budget there, but I 9-22-08 168 1 think you did approve of this during -- we just have not 2 approved the budget to go in. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion -- we'll do it 4 in two motions, keep it a little bit cleaner. I make a 5 motion that we declare an emergency in Indigent Health Care, 6 take 40 -- in the amount of $41,371.83, and take that out of 7 reserve funds for that -- for Indigent Health Care. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to declare 10 an emergency on the Indigent Health Care budget item under 11 Item 24, as presented. Question or discussion? All in favor 12 of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 13 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 15 (No response.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion to approve 18 the balance of the budget amendments as noted. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: That's 1 through 23? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, sir. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. I have a motion. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second, but I've got a 23 question. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Question 25 or discussion? 9-22-08 169 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Item Number 5. How would 2 you either not have enough money or have too much money? 3 Or -- maybe I'm not reading this correctly. Secretary 4 Salary. 5 MS. HARGIS: There was an overage in that one. I 6 can't -- since I didn't -- I can't answer that, other than 7 they had some part-time money. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But you're the County 9 Auditor. 10 MS. HARGIS: I know, but unfortunately, this was 11 last year when I was just here, and so I don't understand 12 that myself. But he has a little bit of money left in that 13 line item; that's all I can tell you. I'll research it for 14 you. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, maybe -- whatever. 16 Okay. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or discussion? 18 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 19 hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Any other 24 budget amendments? 25 MS. HARGIS: No. 9-22-08 170 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Any late bills? 2 MS. HARGIS: No. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: I've been presented with monthly 4 reports from -- 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, going -- I'm sorry. 6 I was -- I wanted to talk about the cell phone bill just for 7 a second. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Sure. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I know it's part of 10 something else. I just let that slip by me. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: We're back on discussion of payment 12 of the bills, then. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Correct. And I apologize 14 for not -- 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Go for it. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: On the Maintenance and Ag 17 Barn, the -- cost of the old plan, the $66.43, and the new 18 plan is 79. That's the only one that is more now than it 19 used to be. Why is that? 20 MS. HARGIS: Their minutes. They're using more 21 minutes than are allocated on the phone. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, go on. Animal 23 Control, 850 minutes. Used to be 84; now it's 53. 24 MS. HARGIS: I've asked -- I've asked Tim this 25 question. He says that they use -- they only use their cell 9-22-08 171 1 phones, because they're out in the field; that they use them 2 a lot. I don't -- I don't -- again -- 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just don't see how one 4 department can be more nowadays than it used to be, and the 5 others are not. I just -- 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we've had that same problem 7 with D.P.S., I think. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I remember. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: In fact, D.P.S. is showing now more. 10 The washing out, though, gives us -- has consistently given 11 us the benefit of $400 to $500 a month savings on what it was 12 under the previous plan. 13 MS. HARGIS: I'll be glad to analyze that for you, 14 or we can ask Tim. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, it might be something 16 for to us visit about some day. Thank you. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We're now on 4.4. I've been 18 presented monthly reports for Justice of the Peace, Precinct 19 4; Justice of the Peace, Precinct 2; District Clerk; and 20 Constable, Precinct 3. Do I hear a motion that these reports 21 be approved as presented? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to approve 25 the indicated reports as presented. Question or discussion 9-22-08 172 1 on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by 2 raising your right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 5 (No response.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. We'll now go 7 to the information agenda. Commissioner Oehler? Do you have 8 something for us on your liaison or committee assignments? 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Baldwin? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, sir. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Williams? 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: A question of Commissioner 14 Letz. I notice on the City Council agenda, for approval, an 15 interlocal agreement with Kerr County for the regulation of 16 subdivisions within the ETJ. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I suspect that is an item they 18 put on there to discuss it, 'cause there certainly has been 19 no communication with staff on the City. I have discussed 20 this with most of -- the mayor and most of the City Council, 21 and have told them that -- but I think they probably put it 22 on -- Councilman Hamilton told me that he has requested from 23 Mike Hayes a clarification of what the state law is. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The reason I asked, Jon, is 25 it's under the consideration portion of the agenda. 9-22-08 173 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I presume they're going to 2 appoint someone, maybe, to talk with Buster and I, what we've 3 done. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Hopefully they will. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, that would be a good 6 thing, wouldn't it? 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Be unusual, but it would be 8 good. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else? 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, sir. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: What do you got, Jon? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think anything. 13 Just -- the airport seems to be going along. I know they've 14 got a special meeting Wednesday; I'll be at that. Things are 15 progressing out there. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's enough. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Do we have any reports from elected 18 officials or department heads? Any other business -- 19 MS. HYDE: It's quick. It's quick. I know 20 everybody -- all the people have left, but I just wanted 21 to say thank you very much for your consideration and your 22 thought processes about the employees this year, and their 23 increases. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other elected officials? Any 25 other business? We'll be adjourned. 9-22-08 174 1 (Commissioners Court was adjourned at 12:53 p.m.) 2 - - - - - - - - - - 3 4 STATE OF TEXAS | 5 COUNTY OF KERR | 6 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 7 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 8 County Clerk of the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 9 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 10 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 26th day of September, 11 2008. 12 13 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 14 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 15 Certified Shorthand Reporter 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 9-22-08