1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Wednesday, November 13, 2008 11 10:30 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 November 13, 2008 2 PAGE 3 --- Commissioners' Comments 3 4 1.1 Canvass the Official Election Results for the 5 2008 November General Election as per TEC §67 6 6 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to set a public hearing concerning the final 7 revision of plat for Lots 46-A & 47-A of Cypress Springs Estates, Phase I, Volume 7, 8 Page 126, Precinct 4 12 9 --- Adjourned 19 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 On Wednesday, November 13, 2008, at 10:34 a.m., a 2 special meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was 3 held in 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: Let me call to order this special 8 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court posted and 9 scheduled for this time and date, Thursday, November the 10 13th, 2008, at 10:30 a.m. It is that time now. Because 11 there is a visitor's input section on the agenda, I will ask 12 if there's any member of the public or the audience that 13 wishes to be heard on any matter that is not a listed agenda 14 item for this meeting. Seeing no one coming forward, we'll 15 move on. Any Commissioners' comments? Baldwin? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, I don't guess. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Williams? 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Not yet. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Letz? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a real quick one. On the 21 county coalition topic, I have -- there's a meeting next -- 22 well, the 20th, whenever that is, in Gillespie County for 23 anyone that wants to go. But -- and that will be kind of the 24 final meeting to look at the final draft of the two bills. I 25 met this week both with the Home Builders Association and 11-13-08 4 1 with Representative Hilderbran and brought them up to speed 2 on where all that was. The Home Builders are going to -- or 3 do object to impact fees. The rest of it they're okay with. 4 The -- there's three items or four items; one's the cleanup 5 up of 232, setbacks, and more clearly defined -- or giving us 6 authority for lot sizes, average minimum lot sizes. They 7 don't have a problem with any of those, but they are going to 8 object to and do object to impact fees, even though it's done 9 by county option, and I said I understood it. I said, you 10 know, I didn't know what the Court was going to do. They may 11 or may not want that on the -- in the resolution. There will 12 be a resolution on our next meeting about all this stuff that 13 some of the representatives, including Representative 14 Hilderbran, have asked to us weigh in on. 15 So, anyway, it's kind of moving along. But I was 16 actually -- I was very encouraged that the Home Builders were 17 agreeable to most of what we wanted to do, and I knew we 18 were -- just on that one point, I said I don't know how the 19 Court feels on that, if it's that critical or not. I said I 20 think there's -- I don't see a need for it, really, in Kerr 21 County at this time, impact fees, but I said I can see 22 counties that do have a need for it, and I said we may at 23 some point in the future. I said I don't think it's that bad 24 of a thing; depends how it's all implemented, but I said 25 that's why we went 395. And Representative Hilderbran was 11-13-08 5 1 supportive of it. He did not commit to carrying the 2 legislation, but he said that he may. He just wanted to look 3 at it in final version and see who else is lined up on it. 4 So, anyway -- 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that it? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's it. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Oehler, you got 8 anything you want to throw out this morning? 9 MR. OEHLER: No -- I'll just mention that we have 10 three bridges under construction up on Highway 39, two Smith 11 Crossings that we're redoing the bridges, and the Panther 12 Creek Crossing has just started, which is there prior -- 13 right past Fisher Road. We had a bridge committee meeting on 14 Tuesday morning with TexDOT, and I think we're going to come 15 to an agreement with TexDOT on the Hunt Crossing and the 16 design that it's going to be -- how it's going to be built. 17 And we talked about Shoemaker Crossing, and I believe that 18 there's going to be some consensus on that one as well. 19 Those projects are scheduled to start sometime in '09, so 20 they need to get an answer from the committee. The committee 21 will vote and support or make changes on what's been 22 proposed, but more than likely, what they -- what was 23 proposed on Tuesday will probably be met with agreement by 24 the committee. That's it. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, thank you. Let's get to our 11-13-08 6 1 agenda. The first item is to canvass the official election 2 results for the 2008 November general election as per Texas 3 Election Code, Section 67. Ms. Alford? 4 MS. ALFORD: Yes, sir. Before y'all, you have the 5 canvass report of the general election, and I believe the 6 Judge has to read out the votes of each race -- each person. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Get your magnifying glass 8 there, Judge. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What does he read, the total 10 number and the percentage? Or just the percentage, or what? 11 MS. ALFORD: Total number. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Total number. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Of each race? Is that what you want 14 me to read into the record? 15 MS. ALFORD: Yes, sir, of each candidate. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: You want me to read the straight 17 party vote also? 18 MS. ALFORD: Yes, sir. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. I will proceed, then. 20 Under straight party voting, Republican party, total of 21 10,564. Democratic party, a total of 2,563. The Libertarian 22 party, a total of 109. Over votes -- the cast votes were 23 13,236. The over votes were 1. Under votes, 9,445. 24 Now, in the individual races for president and vice 25 president, John McCain/Sarah Palin, a total of 16,752. 11-13-08 7 1 Democratic, Barack Obama/Joe Biden, total of 5,570. 2 Libertarian, Bob Barr and Wayne A. Root, total of 156. 3 Jonathan Allen/Jeffrey D. Stath, one vote. Chuck 4 Baldwin/Darrell L. Castle, -- 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: -- 22 votes. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're gaining on them there. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Taddaus Hill/Gordon F. Bailey, zero 9 votes. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Didn't they even vote for 11 theirselves? 12 JUDGE TINLEY: They may not be registered voters in 13 Kerr County. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Probably aren't. 15 MS. ALFORD: Correct. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm having a problem, why they even 17 put them on there. Apparently -- 18 MS. ALFORD: These are the write-in candidates. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: -- they qualified by giving notice 20 as a write-in candidate. 21 MS. ALFORD: Yes, sir. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Allen Keys/Marvin Sprouse, Jr., 23 total of 13. Cynthia McKinney/Rosa Clements, one vote. 24 Brian Moore/Stewart A. Alexander, zero. Ralph Nader/Matt 25 Gonzales, 41. Total votes cast, presidential, 22,556. Over 11-13-08 8 1 votes, 2. Under votes, 202. 2 United States Senator. Republican, John Cornyn, 3 16,249. Democrat, Richard J. "Rick" Noriega, 5,391. 4 Libertarian, Yvonne Adams Schick, 569. Total votes cast, 5 22,209. Over votes, 6. Under votes, 467. 6 For United States Representative, District 21, 7 Lamar Smith, Republican, 17,706. Libertarian, James Arthur 8 Strohm, 2,124. Cast votes, 19,830. Over votes, 4. Under 9 votes, 2,848. 10 For Railroad Commissioner, Republican, Michael L. 11 Williams, 15,576. Democrat, Mark Thompson, 5,074. 12 Libertarian, David Floyd, 789. Total cast votes, 21,439. 13 Over votes, 4. Under votes, 1,239. 14 Chief Justice, Supreme Court. Republican, Wallace 15 B. Jefferson, 15,919. Democrat, Jim Jordan, 4,888. 16 Republican -- or, excuse me, Libertarian, Tom Oxford, 735. 17 Total cast votes, 21,542. Over votes, zero. Under votes, 18 1,140. 19 For Justice, Supreme Court, Place 7, Republican, 20 Dale Wainwright, 15,395. Democrat, Sam Houston, 5,343. 21 Libertarian, David G. Smith, 733. Total votes cast, 21,471. 22 Over votes, 3. Under votes, 1,208. 23 For Justice, Supreme Court, Place 8, Republican, 24 Phil Johnson, 15,544. Democrat, Linda Reyna Yañez, 5,082. 25 Libertarian, Drew Shirley, 759. Total votes, 21,385. Over 11-13-08 9 1 votes, 3. Under votes, 1,294. 2 For Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 3, 3 Republican, Tom Price, 15,187. Democrat, Susan Strawn, 4 5,445. Libertarian, Matthew E. Ellers, 684. Total cast 5 votes, 21,316. Over votes, 2. Under votes, 1,364. 6 Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 4. 7 Republican, Paul Womack, 15,820. Democrat, J.R. Molina, 8 4,660. Libertarian, Dave Howard, 818. Total cast votes, 9 21,298. Over votes, 3. Under votes, 1,381. 10 For Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 9, 11 Cathy Cochran, 16,974. Libertarian, William Bryan Strange, 12 III, 2,039. Total cast votes, 19,013. Over votes, zero. 13 Under votes, 3,668. 14 For State Senator, District 24, Republican, Troy 15 Fraser, 16,846. Libertarian, Bill Oliver, 2,258. Total cast 16 votes, 19,104. Over votes, 3. Under votes, 3,575. 17 State Representative, District 53. Republican, 18 Harvey Hilderbran, 17,568. Libertarian, Brian W. Holk, 19 2,013. Total votes cast, 19,581. Over votes, 2. Under 20 votes, 3,099. 21 Chief Justice, Court of -- Fourth Court of Appeals. 22 Republican, Ann Comerio, 14,629. Republican -- Democrat, 23 Catherine Stone, 6,605. Total votes cast, 21,234. Over 24 votes, 10. Under votes, 1,438. 25 For District Judge, 216th Judicial District, 11-13-08 10 1 Republican, Keith Williams, 17,563. Total votes cast, 2 17,563. Over votes, zero. Under votes, 5,117. 3 For District Attorney, 198th Judicial District, 4 Republican, Amos L. Barton, 16,272. Democrat, Richard L. 5 Ellison, 5,277. Total cast votes, 21,549. Over votes, 3. 6 Under votes, 1,130. 7 For District Attorney, 216th Judicial District, 8 E. Bruce Curry, 17,494. Total votes cast, 17,494. Over 9 votes, zero. Under votes, 5,188. 10 For Justice of the Peace, Precinct Number 1, 11 unexpired term, Republican, David Billeiter, 4,641. 12 Democrat, Nancy Banks, 1,459. Total votes cast, 6,100. Over 13 votes, one. Under votes, 336. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion to accept -- 15 is that what we do? 16 MS. ALFORD: Yes. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Make a motion we accept the 18 results as read by the County Judge. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second it, but I have 20 a question I want to ask. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Questions 22 or discussion on the motion? 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you for the report; 24 it's really good. I have in front of me the Secretary of 25 State's returns from election night that were given to me 11-13-08 11 1 from some of our political folk out in the -- out in the 2 street area. 3 MS. ALFORD: Yes, sir. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And there's a disparity in 5 terms of -- of what we're reporting to the Secretary of State 6 and what the Secretary of State's reporting back. I was just 7 curious as to why that might have happened. This is the 8 report -- your numbers today of 24,671 are pretty close to 9 what you reported the night after election, which was 24,558. 10 MS. ALFORD: Mm-hmm. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Secretary of State's 12 office, the next day, comes back and says there are 22,527, 13 or about a 65 percent vote ratio, as opposed to the 14 70 percent -- or 73 percent you report. Any idea why -- why 15 that would be the case? 16 MS. ALFORD: Yes, sir. This total number -- the 17 24,671 includes the Hunt ISD, the Center Point ISD voters in 18 that number. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh, okay. And not just the 20 general election, as we know it? 21 MS. ALFORD: Correct. That's -- 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay, thank you. 23 MS. ALFORD: It's over beyond. Those are included 24 in that. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: In addition to that, you 11-13-08 12 1 have all of your -- the 50 that came in from the 2 out-of-country, and -- 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Military ballots. 4 MS. ALFORD: Yes, sir. That's why that number went 5 up. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay, thank you. 7 Appreciate the answer. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Other questions? Discussion? All 9 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 14 MS. ALFORD: Thank you. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: We will move to the other item on 16 the agenda -- 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Lee's smiling. Must be 18 something down on the agenda. 19 MR. VOELKEL: It's got to be me. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Don't you have something to 21 do? 22 MR. VOELKEL: No, I do not. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: The second item on the agenda is to 24 consider, discuss, take appropriate action to set a public 25 hearing concerning the final revision of plat for Lots 46A 11-13-08 13 1 and 47A of Cypress Springs Estates, Phase I, as set forth in 2 Volume 7, Page 126, Plat Records, and located in Precinct 4. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: What is the date we can -- 4 the earliest date we can have that? 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I thought she had a 6 recommendation. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: It was on the last agenda, and I 8 didn't attach it. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Most of those were set on the 10 8th of December, but I'm not sure that gives us -- we can't 11 do it. 12 MR. VOELKEL: That's too soon. Could do it the 13 22nd if y'all meet on the 22nd. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: We couldn't have done it on the 10th 15 of November -- or the 8th of December, anyway. 16 MR. VOELKEL: That's correct. It was -- 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It would be the second 18 meeting in December. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Be the second meeting in 20 December. We're meeting the 8th, so 14 on that would be 22. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are we going to have a long 22 agenda or a short agenda? Sometimes we -- I mean, this -- it 23 makes no difference to me. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, we have to decide, 25 because the second meeting date is the 24th, and I think 11-13-08 14 1 we're closed on the 24th. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: 22nd. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sorry. 4 MR. VOELKEL: 22nd. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Wrong month, pardon me. 6 December. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Bill, get it right, would 8 you? 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I got it right. 22nd. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, it doesn't take very 11 long to have a public hearing, normally. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I'm fine with having a 13 long agenda on that day. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I move that we set a public 15 hearing on the agenda item, on the revised plat, 46 -- what 16 was it, 46A? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 46A and 47A. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And 47A, for December 22nd, 19 2008, at 10 o'clock. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to set a 22 public hearing on the final revision of plat for Lots 46A and 23 47A of Cypress Springs Estates, Phase I, as set forth in 24 Volume 7, Page 126, Plat Records, for December the 22nd, 25 2008, at 10 a.m. Question or discussion on the motion? All 11-13-08 15 1 in favor of the motion, 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: That motion does carry. Okay. 6 We've got the information agenda here. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move we pay the bills. 8 Just thought I'd throw that out. No? 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just in case? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just in case there are some. 11 That was a joke. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Any member of the Court have 15 anything further to offer? 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just one quickie. I met 17 yesterday afternoon out at Road and Bridge with the engineer 18 on Kerrville South Wastewater IV and City Engineer, Mike 19 Wellborn, and Road and Bridge people to talk about some 20 easement situations we're going to have to deal with, and 21 about boring under Ranchero Road to get from one side of the 22 pond to the other side of the pond, and we also talked about 23 some other potential things looking down the pipe. I was 24 given the other day in court -- and this is what I really 25 wanted to mention to the Court. When the fellow from Comfort 11-13-08 16 1 was here -- 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Keith Marquardt. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, Keith Marquardt was 4 here. At the end of the meeting, he gave me an e-mail that 5 he'd received from Grantworks -- one of the Grantworks people 6 talking about the -- the need for any projects of any scope 7 that could be cobbled together quickly for purposes of 8 consideration in the next economic stimulus bill, which 9 Congress is going to heap zillions of dollars onto. And, so, 10 a lot of things come to mind, but I just wanted to bring it 11 to the Court's attention. If there are things that we really 12 would like to consider and put together a summary -- an 13 executive summary of the type of proposal -- of the project, 14 and some estimated -- quick estimate of costs, it wouldn't 15 hurt us to put some bait on the water and see what happens. 16 That's all I got. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Do you see a -- do you see maybe a 18 C.C.C. type -- mini C.C.C. type situation coming down the 19 pike? 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I see it right on the 21 horizon, Judge. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's a C.C.C.? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Civilian Conservation Corps. 24 Franklin Roosevelt. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, indeed. 11-13-08 17 1 JUDGE TINLEY: In the '30's, W.P.A. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We're not old enough to know 3 that, Jonathan. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's right. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I tell you, what was wrong 6 with that? I haven't seen what was wrong with that. Look at 7 all the -- you go to these state parks and see all the stuff 8 that they have done. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They did a lot of public 10 works. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Unbelievable. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: That's -- that's what bootstrapped 13 the country out of the depression. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But people worked back then. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But people worked. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's not going to work if 18 they do it again. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: May not be to the extent or 20 magnitude of the original, but I see something coming. 21 That's all I got. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, Commissioner, a thought occurs 23 to me. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Ag Barn? 25 JUDGE TINLEY: If you've got some ideas there, 11-13-08 18 1 other Commissioners do, why don't we initially pour them to 2 you to put them together with whatever you see on the horizon 3 with east Kerr and so forth, and -- 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Doesn't hurt. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: -- maybe we can figure out a way to 6 get them up there under somebody's nose to maybe get us some 7 dough. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What -- I mean, I guess -- Rex 9 isn't here; you're a lot easier. (Laughter.) 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I was going to say, there's a 11 difference between comments and discussion. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We're under commissioners' 13 comments. 14 MS. BAILEY: I think there's too much commenting 15 going on. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What do you do with the list? 17 Anyway, that -- 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll -- Jon, I'll get more 19 information on that. It's coming down from Grantworks. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How we proceed with it, I 22 don't know. I just wanted to call it to the Court's 23 attention. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because one that sort of comes 25 to mind is the airport and Mooney, because there's some 11-13-08 19 1 situations -- okay, I'll be quiet. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Hear no evil, see no evil. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Anything else, folks? We're 4 adjourned. 5 (Commissioners Court was adjourned at 10:57 a.m.) 6 - - - - - - - - - - 7 8 9 STATE OF TEXAS | 10 COUNTY OF KERR | 11 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 12 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 13 County Clerk of the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 14 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 15 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 14th day of November, 16 2008. 17 18 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 19 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 20 Certified Shorthand Reporter 21 22 23 24 25 11-13-08