1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Monday, December 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 December 22, 2008 2 PAGE --- Commissioners' Comments 6 3 1.1 Consider/discuss and approve, in compliance 4 with Local Government Code Section 151.001, authority to appoint a deputy Constable in 5 Precinct 1, effective January 1, 2009 6 6 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on presentation of Application Under Oath of Officer 7 to the Commissioners Court for appointment of deputies (Treasurer) 7 8 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 9 presentation of County Treasurer's monthly report for November 2008 for examination and acceptance 8 10 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 11 authorize County Auditor to send out a letter to all school districts requesting their population 12 census in order to refund the funds remaining in the Kerr County Divide Permanent School Fund in 13 accordance with the determination of those funds by David A. Anderson, General Counsel, Texas 14 Education Agency; authorize payment of said funds 10 15 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve purchase of a 12-passenger van from 16 Caldwell Country Chevrolet 12 17 1.11 Present a rebate check from Buy Board in the amount of $1,037.75 for Kerr County's 18 participation in the program 13 19 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to accept a sub-grant for fiscal year 2008 Homeland 20 Security Grant Program from the Division of Emergency Management 14 21 1.3 Presentation by Kerrville/Kerr County Airport 22 Board regarding storm water infrastructure and taxiway relocation project 17 23 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action 24 regarding Application Under Oath of Officer to Commissioners Court for appointment of 25 deputies for 2009-2012 term of office (Tax Assessor/Collector) 41 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) December 22, 2008 2 PAGE 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 3 all elected and appointed officials' bonds 42 4 1.16 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on update to the Court on progress made in first 5 quarter of budget year in the Kerr County Indigent Health Program 44 6 1.6 Public Hearing concerning final revision of plat 7 for Lots 46-A & 47-A of Cypress Springs Estates Phase I, Precinct 4 49 8 1.7 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 9 final revision of plat for Lots 46-A & 47-A of Cypress Springs Estates, Phase I, Precinct 4 50 10 1.19 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 11 appoint or reappoint members to the Board of Commissioners for E.S.D. #2 51 12 1.17 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action 13 regarding health insurance -- 14 1.18 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on H.R. capital loan 51, 102 15 1.20 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action 16 regarding Applications Under Oath of Officers for deputies of each elected and appointed 17 official 53 18 1.12 Presentation by Dean Danos, Deputy Director AACOG on proposed Alamo Regional Transit (ART) 19 routes in Kerrville/Kerr County 58 20 1.14 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on joint agreement between Kerr County and City 21 of Kerrville with the Normandy Group for governmental relations assistance to obtain 22 federal government funding or other assistance for economic development projects, and projects, 23 installations, infrastructure, and/or facilities needs for Kerrville and Kerr County 73 24 1.13 Consider and discuss proposed agreement between 25 Kerr County Historical Commission and Schreiner University 84 4 1 I N D E X (Continued) December 22, 2008 2 PAGE 3 4.1 Pay Bills 102 4.2 Budget Amendments --- 4 4.3 Late Bills --- 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 103 5 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee 6 Assignments 103 5.2 Reports from Elected Officials/Department Heads 110 7 --- Adjourned 115 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 5 1 On Monday, December 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 time and date, Monday, December 22nd, 2008, at 9 a.m. It is 11 that time now. If you would please rise and join me in a 12 moment of prayer, followed by the pledge of allegiance. 13 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. At this time, if there's 15 any member of the public or audience that wishes to be heard 16 on a matter which is not a listed agenda item, feel free to 17 come forward at this time and tell us what's on your mind. 18 If you wish to be heard on an agenda item, we'd ask that you 19 fill out a participation form. They can be found at the back 20 of the room. I think there are some there. If there are 21 none there, or if you just fail to fill one out and we get to 22 an item that you wish to be heard on, get my attention in 23 some manner; I'll see that you have the opportunity to be 24 heard on that item. But right now, if there's any member of 25 the public that wishes to be heard on any matter that is not 12-22-08 6 1 a listed agenda item, come forward and tell us what's on your 2 mind. Seeing no one moving to the front, we'll move on. 3 Commissioner Baldwin, what do you have for us this morning? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You know, Judge, I don't -- 5 don't have much to talk about. We'll get into some things a 6 little later on in the agenda, but at this time, I don't have 7 anything for you. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Williams? 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Pass. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Letz? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm just glad to be here today. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Oehler? 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Not a thing, Judge. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Well, let's move right on 15 into our agenda. The first item on the agenda is to 16 consider, discuss, and approve, in compliance with Local 17 Government Code Section 151.001, authority to appoint a 18 deputy constable in Precinct 1, appointment to be effective 19 January 1, 2009. Constable Lavender? 20 MR. LAVENDER: Judge, Commissioners, good morning. 21 That's what this is about, is to keep the County in 22 compliance with Local Government Code 151, and authorize my 23 deputy, so I ask you to do that. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll make the motion for 25 approval, but I -- do we need a name? Do we need to put a 12-22-08 7 1 name in there? 2 MR. LAVENDER: Ray Garcia will continue in that 3 capacity. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Probably not. I guess 5 just -- just the deputy constable slot is what's we're 6 looking for. 7 MR. LAVENDER: That's what the code calls for. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 11 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion on that 12 motion? All in favor of that motion, signify by raising your 13 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. We'll go to 18 Item 4; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 19 presentation of application under oath of officer to the 20 Commissioners Court for appointment of deputies. 21 MS. WILLIAMS: Morning. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Williams. 23 MS. WILLIAMS: How are you? Yes, that was brought 24 to my attention, along with the constable, that we needed to 25 put this on the agenda to have the Court approve my chief 12-22-08 8 1 deputy. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 5 approval. Question or discussion on that motion? All in 6 favor of the 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. 11 MS. WILLIAMS: Thank you. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Don't run off. 13 MS. WILLIAMS: Oh, okay. Get rid of mine at one 14 time? 15 JUDGE TINLEY: I'll call Item 5; consider, discuss, 16 and take appropriate action on presentation of the County 17 Treasurer's monthly report for November 2008 to Commissioners 18 Court for the Court's examination and acceptance. 19 Ms. Williams again. 20 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. This -- when I was here 21 at the last meeting, I had mentioned that I would try to get 22 this one to you guys today, so this is the November report -- 23 Treasurer's report. If there's any questions, I'll be glad 24 to answer them. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do you have any idea on the -- 12-22-08 9 1 the receipts, being the cash receipts? I mean, the taxes, 2 are they up? Same as last year? Comparable? 3 MS. WILLIAMS: They're about the same. It's a 4 little bit slower. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Little slower? 6 MS. WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. We just got our first check 7 from the Tax Office this month for November's receipts, 8 because the tax statements didn't go out, you know, as timely 9 as we had hoped they would. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 11 MS. WILLIAMS: But it's a little slow right now. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Move approval. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Do you have any idea about 15 the receipts of sales tax? 16 MS. WILLIAMS: It's -- 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Is it up or down? 18 MS. WILLIAMS: It's down a little bit, I believe. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second for 21 approval. Question or discussion on the motion? All in 22 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 12-22-08 10 1 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's move 2 to Item 8, if we might; consider, discuss, and take 3 appropriate action regarding the application under oath of 4 officer for the Commissioners Court for appointment of 5 deputies for the 2009-2012 term of office. Ms. Bolin? She's 6 not here yet. Well, we'll pass that item. Is Ms. Hargis -- 7 yeah, there she is. Let's go to Item 10, if we might; 8 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to authorize 9 County Auditor to send out a letter to all of the school 10 districts requesting population census in order to refund the 11 funds remaining in the Kerr County Divide Permanent School 12 Fund in accordance with the determination of those funds by 13 David A. Anderson, general counsel of the Texas Education 14 Agency, in a letter of November 24, 2008, and authorize 15 payment of those funds in accordance with the per-scholastic 16 basis as outlined in that letter. Ms. Hargis? 17 MS. HARGIS: I think y'all have a copy of the 18 letter that -- that states basically that we have a checking 19 account that we've had since 1985 that belongs to the school 20 districts, and received a legal opinion that we need to 21 divide that up between all the school districts. So, I just 22 need your permission to do that. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do you know what the 24 division of funds amounts to? 25 MS. HARGIS: Not till I get the population. It's 12-22-08 11 1 about $27,000, is all it is. So -- 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And it's population-based? 3 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Division of funds is 5 population-based? 6 MS. HARGIS: All the school districts in Kerr 7 County. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So moved. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 11 approval of the agenda item. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Where do these funds come from 13 originally, Ms. Hargis? 14 MS. HARGIS: Apparently, they've been there since 15 1985. We couldn't find out where they came from. That's one 16 of the reasons we needed to get a legal opinion. There is 17 some school of thought that it may have been Divide School's 18 money originally, but we have nothing to show that, and 19 because it says "Permanent School Funds," a lot of the 20 permanent school funds are sometimes set up for a special 21 gift that may be given to the County to distribute to 22 schools, and the County becomes the fiduciary person who 23 takes care of that responsibility. But in this case, we 24 can't find where it belongs. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Further question or discussion on 12-22-08 12 1 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 2 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 move 7 to a timed item for 9:10. Item 2; consider, discuss, and 8 take appropriate action to approve the purchase of a 9 12-passenger van from Caldwell Country Chevrolet. 10 Mr. Walston? 11 MR. WALSTON: Yes, sir. Appreciate y'all having me 12 this morning. I just wanted to bring to the Court final 13 approval on purchasing this van. I did test drive it a week 14 or so ago, and looks like it'll meet the needs we need by our 15 Kerr County 4-H program. So, if y'all would like, it carries 16 along with it a three-year, 36,000 mile bumper-to-bumper 17 warranty, along with a five-year, 100,000 mile power train 18 warranty. Let me give y'all the rest of it, in case -- 19 that's not anything different, I don't think, Judge, than 20 what you've probably seen. But... 21 JUDGE TINLEY: You say did you test drive it? 22 MR. WALSTON: Yes, sir. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: And the -- you felt -- what's that 24 new suspension system they got called StabiliTrak or 25 something, that -- 12-22-08 13 1 MR. WALSTON: Yeah. It's -- I mean, as far as what 2 I could tell, it -- I think it'll work fine. You know, until 3 you get -- get it loaded down and -- and you can really tell 4 then, I mean, but -- 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. But you feel like that'll 6 take care of the needs? 7 MR. WALSTON: I think so. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Good enough. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 13 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion on the 14 motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 15 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. 20 MR. WALSTON: Thank you, sirs. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 11; presentation 24 of a rebate check from Buy Board in the amount of $1,037.75 25 for Kerr County's participation in that program. 12-22-08 14 1 MS. HARGIS: I just wanted to bring this to the 2 Court's attention. By all of us taking that little program 3 with Buy Board, and more people using it, we received a 4 rebate back from using this service, which it saves us time 5 and money by not having to bid our products, and we can get 6 them at a better price, so we do get a rebate. So, the more 7 people that use it, the larger our rebate will be, so this 8 year we got $1,000, which I thought was a pretty good check. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Super. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: No action needed on that item, is 11 there? 12 MS. HARGIS: No, sir. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Kind of like the banker; if the 14 money's coming in, we don't need anything special. Going 15 out, it's a little different ball game; is that right? 16 MS. HARGIS: That's right. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Thank you, ma'am. Let's move 18 to Item 15; consider, discuss, take appropriate action to 19 accept a sub-grant for the fiscal year 2008 Homeland Security 20 Grant Program from the Division of Emergency Management. I 21 put this on the agenda. We got a -- a deadline of 22 January 9th to -- to confirm acceptance of that. It can be 23 used for a number of various purposes. The Sheriff advised 24 me that -- that my research indicating that is not 25 necessarily correct. Do you want to come tell us why, 12-22-08 15 1 Sheriff? 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: This was a grant that the 3 Sheriff's Department sought and applied for a number of 4 months ago to assist the County in -- in replacing our car 5 radios with radios that are capable of going digital. The 6 total cost to replace all the County's radios is about 7 180,000. This is a 90,900-something dollar grant that we 8 sought seeking to help this year replace half of those 9 radios, and that's all it -- it will cover, is those radios. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So, next year you'll reapply 11 again for the other half? 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's our intention. We're 13 getting word that, because of the economic or government, 14 next year it may end up having to be a matching grant. I 15 don't know. But either way, it's -- it's assisting the 16 County greatly in paying for that high cost. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: With this, then, at least half 18 of the -- of your deputies will be able to communicate with 19 the city police? 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: These radios are going in the 21 patrol deputies' cars. They will be able to if they switch 22 over to the P.D.'s channel, okay? You have to actually 23 change the channel. If they're on our regular channel, since 24 ours is analog, the scanning won't pick that up. They'll 25 have to switch over to theirs, which is going to be digital. 12-22-08 16 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, this gets the radios 2 compatible, but not our system. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. To get our system 4 compatible, we're still looking at right at a million 5 dollars. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Rusty, this is 90,000? This 8 grant's 90? 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: 90,000. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And what's the cost, 110? 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: 180 total. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 180, I see. Okay, I 13 misunderstood. Thank you. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do we accept this, Judge? What 15 do we -- 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move acceptance. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. And I think it would be 18 appropriate to authorize me to sign necessary documents, 19 along with Ms. Hargis as the finance officer, in connection 20 with it. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move acceptance and 22 authorize the County Judge and the Auditor to sign the 23 appropriate documents. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 12-22-08 17 1 approval as indicated. Question or discussion on the motion? 2 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 3 hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's now 8 move to a timed 9:15 item, Item 3. This will be a 9 presentation by Kerrville/Kerr County Airport Board regarding 10 stormwater, infrastructure, and taxiway relocation project. 11 Commissioner Williams? 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: At the request of the Board 13 Chairman Bobertz, I placed this on the agenda. The Court is 14 familiar with the quarterly reports, the first of several 15 quarterly reports, we anticipate, and it was very concise and 16 very thorough, and appreciate that very much. So, we've 17 asked the Airport Board to come talk to us about what's going 18 on out at the airport. It's been commonly known as a taxiway 19 relocation project, but the reality of the matter is that 20 it's much more extensive than just that. So, with no further 21 ado, I'll ask Mr. Bobertz and the Airport Manager, 22 Mr. McKenzie, to tell us what's going on. 23 MR. BOBERTZ: Thank you Commissioner. Judge, 24 Commissioners, appreciate this opportunity to come and talk 25 to you a little bit about our airport, what's going on. What 12-22-08 18 1 we want to do today is explain to you what's going on now, 2 what's coming up, how much is it going to cost, and why is 3 our airport worth all that money, which is a good bit. I'm 4 accompanied today by one of my board members, Mark Cowden. 5 Fred Vogt said he was coming, but is obviously otherwise 6 detained. Two other members have chosen to spend this week 7 with their out-of-town families. I don't really understand 8 that, but that's what they've done. (Laughter.) So, also, 9 our -- my good friend Bruce is here, Airport Manager and 10 Power Point operator, who will lead me through this whole 11 thing. 12 So, what we're here today to do is explain to you 13 those things; what's going on, what's coming up next, how 14 much it's going to cost, and why are we worth all that money. 15 And why we did this in the first place was, we had an 16 invitation from Guy Overby at the economic -- Economic 17 Development Foundation to make such a presentation to their 18 executive board, and Judge Tinley has actually sat through 19 this once already. Hope you can stand it twice, Judge. 20 We'll do our best to make it entertaining. So, we did it for 21 them, and in the process of doing that, I -- I mentioned to 22 Commissioner Williams that we were doing it; would the 23 Commissioners Court perhaps be interested in seeing what we 24 told these other people? And he said yeah, but let's see 25 what you said to the executive council first -- or executive 12-22-08 19 1 committee. I think that was a very wise move, Bill. 2 So, I consulted with Judge Tinley afterwards, and 3 he said yeah, this would be a worthy thing to do, so we're 4 doing it here today. We have a parallel invitation from City 5 Council in early January, so we'll be showing to it them as 6 well. And this is just sort of the basic facts of the 7 situation. We're not making any advocation of what's to be 8 done. We just want to highlight what we see as the realities 9 of the situation, and hopefully when the debate begins about 10 coming up with the extra money, everybody will be operating 11 off the same set of base information. So, without further 12 ado, here comes what's going on at the airport. 13 This is our new terminal building, and we thank the 14 Commissioners Court for their help in -- in getting that, 15 making that a reality. We have four rental offices there, 16 and Bruce's office is in the far right corner, so if you're 17 ever out at the airport, stop by and see Bruce and he'll 18 explain to you what's going on, and if you like, give you a 19 tour around. But this is a very important front door for 20 Kerrville and Kerr County, and it says Kerrville/Kerr County 21 Airport up there. The people who come in in their own 22 aircraft, they're kind of the movers and shakers of the 23 world, and they're important to our economy for the things 24 and potentials that they bring with them. So, that's the -- 25 for the Court, here's an orientation view of the airport. 12-22-08 20 1 Coming around the -- the top, you see the river. Flat Rock 2 Lake up there comes around and loops around to the left side 3 of the picture. Highway 27 comes down closer. The runway 4 you see is our main runway; it's 6,000 feet long, except now, 5 during construction, we have the further end of it blocked 6 off. We also have a second runway, 4,000 feet long, running 7 perpendicular to that, which is really handy when the wind 8 isn't right for landing and taking off. So, that's what the 9 airport looks like now. It's under construction. 10 Here's what's going to happen. As Bill mentioned, 11 we originally started with the concept of relocating the 12 taxiway. F.A.A. standards for an airport -- that's Federal 13 Aviation Administration standards for an airport serving the 14 types of aircraft that ours -- the larger ones that our 15 airport serves, the business jets, their requirement is a 16 400-foot separation between the taxiway and the runway. 17 Currently we have 250 feet. So, the need was to move that 18 taxiway, the black stripe you see down there, 150 feet 19 further to the right to where the dotted black line is, and 20 that was the original concept. We approached TexDOT, who 21 gets F.A.A. grant money and they, in turn, redistribute it 22 for purposes like this, for the project to relocate that 23 taxiway. They came out and looked it over and said, "Hey, 24 you guys got a bigger problem than just this taxiway; you 25 have an erosion problem." And Bruce can give you lots of 12-22-08 21 1 testimony about that if you want, because in his previous 2 life, Bruce was superintendent of the Streets Division for 3 the City of Kerrville, and he's the guy that had to come out 4 and fix the taxiway and the runway as the erosion problems 5 arose. 6 The way things work out there, because of the 7 terrain -- you see the blue arrows on the right; that's high 8 ground. And if it ever rains here again, the rain will come 9 down off that -- off that high ground across the airport and 10 out to the river. We have drainage in place now, drainage 11 facilities that try to take care of it, but they're 12 completely inadequate for heavy rains. So, what happens is, 13 the -- the water comes down from the right onto the airport 14 property and crosses the property. Some of it stays on the 15 surface, and that causes some headaches, but the real 16 headaches are caused by the water that percolates down 17 through an overburden of about 3 feet of earth, down to a 18 rock ledge, a rock layer. The water stays on top of that 19 rock layer 3 feet down and migrates under the taxiway, under 20 the -- the runway, and under the highway, all the way out 21 into the river, and it erodes beneath the surface, and that 22 causes potholes, cracks, uneven surfaces, and things of that 23 nature. We've actually had one business jet break through 24 that taxiway in the not too distant past because of that 25 erosion. 12-22-08 22 1 So, the project that we're -- that's underway is to 2 take care of an erosion problem by producing a much better 3 drainage infrastructure than we have in place now, and 4 relocate the taxiway. What you see here is some of the work 5 in progress. This area right here is the intersection of the 6 main runway, which you can see the bottom of the picture, and 7 the short runway, which has been sliced off, running off the 8 -- the upper left-hand side. So, then -- slow down, Bruce; 9 you're getting ahead of me. 10 MR. McKENZIE: I'll back up. 11 MR. BOBERTZ: The area you see with the whitish 12 rock surface, that was an area where we encountered -- we -- 13 the contractors encountered a very dense rock layer, so dense 14 that they couldn't break it up with mechanical equipment, and 15 had to resort to blasting. The blasting is done. It was not 16 particularly spectacular. It involved fracturing the rock, 17 and I think Commissioner Williams was actually present for 18 one of the blasts, which was, I'm told, sort of a dull thud 19 followed by a little bit of dust, and that was it. But it 20 did fracture the rock and enable them to get it out. So, 21 what they're doing there is moving a lot of dirt to create 22 the proper profile to enable the drainage to take place to 23 run this way on the -- on the picture you see there, past the 24 Mooney factory, under the runway, under the highway to 25 Mooney, out into the spillway into the creek, and that'll run 12-22-08 23 1 it into the river. So, that's the big drainage effort going 2 on. We're having to move -- I think it's 209,000 cubic yards 3 of dirt in this part of the project. 4 I neglected to say -- can we go back to the blue 5 arrow slide with the drainage and so forth? See the red line 6 there parallel to the top and bottom of the picture? That 7 separates what's now known as Phase 1, the upper part where 8 you see all the work being done, from Phase 2, which is the 9 lower part. TexDOT came in and did all this engineering to 10 survey what needed to be done, and they said, "Okay, this is 11 going to be a $14 million project, all told, and if it's okay 12 with you folks," TexDOT said, "we'd like to separate that 13 into two phases." Because they don't have all that much 14 money to spend on this. Their -- I think their annual budget 15 for things like this is in the vicinity of $20 million. If 16 they did this all at once, we being one of roughly 400 17 general aviation airports in Texas, would consume a huge part 18 of their budget. So, they proposed two phases, one 19 originally designed for fiscal '08, which is what's being 20 done now, and the second part, fiscal '09, which is what was 21 this Phase 2, which the first phase is 6 million; second 22 phase is 8 million. 23 They came back to us subsequently and said, "Hey, 24 we'd really like to defer Phase 2 into fiscal 2010, if that 25 would be all right with you folks." And we agreed to that. 12-22-08 24 1 So, Phase 1 is fully funded. It's a 90/10 grant that was -- 2 was estimated at 6 million; it came in at 5.06, the low bid. 3 We put up 600,000, which all came from the Economic 4 Improvement Corporation. We have 100,000 -- obviously, 5 because of the lower bid, 100,000 in excess, which is being 6 held by TexDOT for use as a contingency fund. The second 7 phase, $8 million, TexDOT money is committed. The 800,000, 8 10 percent match on our end is not yet committed. 9 I neglected to mention also, you see the blue 10 dotted line there on the -- just in front of the blue arrows 11 is where you have to relocate the Airport Loop Road as part 12 of this project too. That's where the new loop road will be 13 going. Okay, back where we were, operator. Isn't he good? 14 I couldn't do that. This is where that 209,000 cubic yards 15 of dirt is going. It's up in the northeast corner of the 16 airport. We're going to make a nice, smooth mound out of it, 17 and grass will be planted on top of it, and we're going to -- 18 it'll look just fine. Big pieces of rock coming out -- we 19 like to show this picture. It's a fun -- trucks and rocks 20 and things, and Bruce really enjoyed that part. This is some 21 of the old drainage equipment taken out in the forefront, 22 those 12-inch diameter pipes which were part of the 23 inadequate prior drains -- drainage system. These huge 24 things are 8 feet across, and looks like about 3 feet high. 25 Those are the new drainage boxes, I call them. There's 12-22-08 25 1 probably a better term. Those are being installed now. 2 More pictures of the big boxes. These are larger 3 diameter drainage pipes which will run parallel to the 4 shorter runway on both sides, empty into the main drain, and 5 which will run under the -- the road to Mooney and out into 6 the spillway into the creek. That's the collection box for 7 those. Here's some of the big boxes being installed. If 8 your eyes are really sharp, up in the upper right-hand 9 corner, you can see a 1930's or '40's vintage aircraft taking 10 off. In spite of that appearance, this is a very recent 11 picture. Here's what those big boxes look like installed. 12 Two of them, you know, running parallel, so we have two 13 8-footers, 16-foot wide drainage system running under the 14 second runway parallel to the main runway, under the road and 15 out into the spillway into the creek. From this point 16 towards me -- toward us, that's going to be an open ditch to 17 handle the drainage. 18 Okay. That's what's going on, and what's coming 19 up. Now let's talk a little bit about the aircraft based 20 here, and why our airport is important, why it's worth all 21 this money. Some of this may come as a surprise to you. We 22 have over 180 aircraft based at our airport. Six of those 23 are corporate jets, six of them are helicopters, and I prefer 24 to think of the remaining 170 or so as proper aircraft, like 25 this Mooney on the runway. One of the 180-plus aircraft is 12-22-08 26 1 near and dear to my heart. We average 164 take-offs and 2 landings every day. Multiplied by 365, that comes out to 3 pretty close to 60,000 take-offs and landings every year, and 4 80 percent of that is transients. 80 percent of those 5 aircraft taking off and landing are not resident at our 6 airport. We're important because of the business use. We 7 have corporate jets, aircraft based here. I'd like to tell 8 you the names of the companies, but they're not very anxious 9 for me to do that for their own security reasons, but a major 10 energy and investment corporation has more than one jet here. 11 Two major San Antonio corporations have their jets based at 12 our airport, because they find it more economical, more 13 convenient, and, in fact, just more convivial to operate out 14 of Kerrville than to operate out of San Antonio. 15 We'd like more of that to happen, because when one 16 of those guys stops by or is based here, several good things 17 happen, one of which is fuel sales, but I'll get to the 18 others in a minute. The airport collects 9 cents a gallon 19 for every gallon of fuel sold at our airport, and that fuel 20 flowage fee is an important part of our revenue generation. 21 If you see the list of notable frequent visitor aircraft, 22 Lowe's, H.E.B., McCoy's, Hastings, several banks. Last, but 23 not least, ESPN, the sports news network. The reason they're 24 on the list is, one of their principals owns some land in 25 this vicinity, and we have heard that individual speaking 12-22-08 27 1 glowingly about coming to the Kerrville airport. He finds it 2 a very friendly and useful place to visit. So, that's the 3 business use. 4 Something else that's come up in the last couple of 5 years is, TexDOT did a study on the economic impact of 6 general aviation airports in Texas. A general aviation 7 airport is one that does not have scheduled airliner service. 8 So, they surveyed -- I think it's 234 airports in Texas. 9 They used a consultant called Wilbur Smith and Associates to 10 do that, but it's a TexDOT study, and we just lifted out of 11 that 200 -- list of 284, some in our general vicinity. You 12 see the names of the airports on the left. On the right, you 13 see something called total output, total impact on the local 14 community coming from these airports. And you'll see on that 15 list, nobody even gets to half of what Kerrville is. Now, 16 obviously, the big reason for that is Mooney and its 17 pre-hibernation state. If they took Mooney out of that 18 picture, that number would go down by more than half on our 19 account; we'd start to look like the rest of them. But 20 Mooney is here, and we hope Mooney comes back as it has so 21 often in the past. But that picture is taken -- I'm not done 22 yet, Bruce. We need a clicker or something. On past that 23 one -- here we go. 24 This study was done in -- I think it was published 25 in 2006; it used 2005 data, so that's a snapshot taken at 12-22-08 28 1 that point in time, and that's how things looked. We came 2 out number 8 of 234 airports listed on that, so that puts us 3 in the top 4 percent in terms of total output. That's a huge 4 economic engine. To give you an idea, some of the ones that 5 outranked us, Alliance Airport in Fort Worth is not -- has no 6 scheduled airliner service, so it's a general aviation 7 airport. Addison near Dallas, and Lone Star Executive near 8 Houston, those are all big-time operations, and that's the 9 company we're in because of our economic output. Okay, 10 click. Another interesting statistic coming out of this 11 study, you see there the third column from the left, 12 estimated true transient arrivals, 7,865. A true transient 13 is an airplane that comes to our airport that started more 14 than 150 miles away from our airport. You may recall that 15 definition of an expert. But, anyway, those are true 16 transient aircraft coming to our airport. They dropped off 17 19,000 visitors, and those visitors produced 14,000 hotel 18 nights, and they spent $11 million in our local economy for 19 room, board, and sundries. These are all ratios developed by 20 this consultant based on traffic numbers, but they're tried 21 and true, so we believe the numbers are reasonably reliable. 22 These -- these pictures are taken at our airport of 23 jets who are here. Direct employment at our airport, 509 24 jobs. Based on Mooney's hibernation state, you need to take 25 300 out of direct employment. Secondary employment, those 12-22-08 29 1 are the jobs created because we have these jobs. These are 2 jobs created in relation to other kinds of services for those 3 folks who want to spend their salaries in our economy. So, 4 the total employment impact, based on this snapshot taken in 5 2005, is 933 jobs. Big-time operation. If your eyes are 6 close enough, just a little aside here, that aircraft that 7 you see, the tail number's N200AP. That aircraft plane is a 8 frequent visitor to our airport. It's not based here, but it 9 spends lots of time here overnight and things. This "AP" is 10 because that aircraft originally belonged to Arnold Palmer. 11 Doesn't belong to him now, but it still has some -- some 12 celebrity value, I think, once you know that, so keep your 13 eye out for it. It shows up from time to time. 14 Payroll. Again, 2005 snapshot. $19 million direct 15 payroll at our airport. Secondary payroll for those jobs 16 created is 14 million. Total payroll produced, $34 million. 17 A real significant impact in our local economy. The output 18 numbers, again, based on payroll and other things, money 19 spent, and you can argue even the way some of those output 20 numbers were put together. The big number for Mooney is 21 Mooney's gross sales. Well, that's not really economic value 22 added by Mooney; it's Mooney's gross sales, but the -- all 23 the other airports that were measured the same way, so the 24 relativity, I think, is still appropriate. We are a big-time 25 operator in the Texas general aviation economy. 12-22-08 30 1 Here's something I think is really interesting. It 2 costs about $600,000 to operate our airport every year. Now, 3 that's -- as I mentioned in the prior discussion before the 4 Judge and the executive council, most of that is Bruce's 5 salary. (Laughter.) We have a few hundred bucks left over to 6 mow the grass and change the light bulbs and things. But 7 $600,000 to operate and maintain the airport, excluding 8 capital improvement, like the big project underway, for 9 example. Airport produces revenues from leases and fees of 10 about $200,000. Part of that's the fuel flowage fee I 11 mentioned. We lease land to people. We lease office space, 12 and we have a couple of buildings that are currently 13 available for lease. That leaves a deficit of $400,000, and 14 under the interlocal agreement, that deficit is made up by 15 the City and the County. 16 But the -- the little known fact here is that this 17 airport generates about $400,000 in tax revenues. Part of 18 that, the big part of it, comes from ad valorem taxes on 19 these guys like you see in the picture. The large aircraft 20 who are based here are paying ad valorem taxes on the value 21 of the aircraft, those that are in business. Such taxes are 22 not collected on privately owned aircraft, but on 23 business-owned aircraft, they are. So, the tax revenue based 24 generated by the City and the County is about $400,000, 25 making this a wash. Net cost to the taxpayers is zero. And, 12-22-08 31 1 you can argue with these numbers too, if you want. This is a 2 snapshot, again, probably about 2007. With the economy being 3 down, the tax revenues would be lower than that. The -- the 4 revenue from leases and fees is probably going to be fairly 5 stable. But in 2007, actually, the revenue from leases and 6 fees was significantly higher than $200,000, and the tax 7 revenue generated by the City and County probably was higher, 8 too. 9 So, this is a good way to get -- sort of have an 10 idea of the tax balance at the airport. I think that's a 11 very important consideration. So, the airport's very 12 important. We have an $8 million Phase 2 project coming up 13 for which we need to produce $800,000 between the City and 14 the County for fiscal year 2010. You're probably wondering, 15 what happens if we don't do that? Well, if we don't, TexDOT 16 and the Federal Aviation Administration will consider that we 17 have reneged on a deal. They came to us with a proposal for 18 a $14 million project; they split it into two pieces. We've 19 met the first piece. And I think, because of passage of time 20 and other things, the idea that this is all part of one 21 project may have become a little bit blurred in some people's 22 mind, but it is part of one project. So, they'll see us as 23 reneging if we don't come up with the matching funds. 24 And if they do come to that conclusion, then 25 possibly costly penalties are possible. They're not very 12-22-08 32 1 likely. They're draconian. The easiest thing they could do, 2 if they chose to do it, would be to say, "Okay, you guys 3 reneged. Give us the four million bucks back that we spent 4 on Phase 1." Or they would be equally entitled to say, "Not 5 only that, we want you to give back all the money we ever 6 spent on your airport." That would bring the tab up to over 7 $25 million. Neither of those is really likely to happen. 8 They wouldn't see that as a responsible action, I think, on 9 their part. But because we did back down, and because this 10 is a very competitive world we live in, getting these grant 11 funds from TexDOT, future funding for our airport would very 12 likely dry up from that source. We don't want that to 13 happen. So, those -- that's the -- that's sort of the 14 challenge we face. 15 So, the airport's very important. It's very 16 important to our local economy; it's very important to our 17 local business. It's an important strategic development 18 asset. The economic development strategic plan that was 19 recently produced pointed to our airport as a unique 20 development asset in this area. TexDOT sees us as an 21 important -- as an important airport, and they are willing to 22 make this huge commitment, 90 percent grant. Our 10 percent 23 is equally huge; it's going to be very difficult to come by; 24 I know that. There's bound to be some debate on it, and our 25 real interest today is to sort of lay out this landscape of 12-22-08 33 1 information so that everybody's sort of working off the same 2 base of information. Our real goal is to keep these guys 3 flying. We want aircraft like these two to keep seeing our 4 airport as a good place to come, because they do good things 5 for us. So, with that, we'll be happy to answer any 6 questions you may have about the airport. Bruce is going to 7 take care of all the hard ones. Any questions, gentlemen? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: You had mentioned that a portion of 9 the revenue stream for that airport comes from the tax base 10 that is created by the basic -- or the basing of business 11 aircraft. One of those corporate jets, such as the one we're 12 looking at there, what does that go on the tax rolls for, 13 just to -- at what dollar value, just to give these folks an 14 idea of what kind of money it generates? 15 MR. BOBERTZ: Well, what does it cost to buy one of 16 those, Bruce? 17 MR. McKENZIE: The aircraft on the right is a 18 Citation, and new, that aircraft is about $6 million. The 19 one on the left is a G-2, with a -- actually, it's a G-2 with 20 a G-3 wing on it, but that aircraft new costs about 21 $30 million. The one that's just rotating, that's the type 22 of aircraft we're talking about. 23 MR. BOBERTZ: "Rotating" is taking off. Airplane 24 talk. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Also, when it comes to general 12-22-08 34 1 aviation facilities, you indicated we hold a pretty high 2 priority with TexDOT Aviation. What -- what portion of the 3 total TexDOT Aviation budget have we been a recipient of? 4 MR. BOBERTZ: Well, they have about $20 million, 5 our understanding, to distribute among the general aviation 6 airports. This year we're getting 25 percent of that. And 7 we're going to -- the total number's about 400. This study 8 looked at 234, so we're -- we're getting a very large portion 9 of it. In 2010, if it stays at 20 million, we'll be getting 10 almost a third of it. Future years -- these are unusual 11 years. We still -- we get routine grants from them every 12 year of how much? 13 MR. McKENZIE: 50,000. 14 MR. BOBERTZ: 50,000. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: RAMP grant? 16 MR. BOBERTZ: Yeah, RAMP, routine airport 17 maintenance stuff. But we do get -- even in the 18 nonspectacular years, we are getting our fair share of that. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: The point is, out of as many 20 airports -- general aviation airports that there are in 21 Texas, TexDOT is putting a whole lot of eggs in this basket 22 right here. 23 MR. BOBERTZ: You bet they are, yes. We're happy 24 about that, and pleased that they understand things the way 25 they do. 12-22-08 35 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: One of the things, Roger, 2 that wasn't mentioned with respect to the infrastructure, 3 stormwater takeoff part of the project was the corrective 4 aspects of that project to the Mooney Aircraft factory 5 itself. 6 MR. BOBERTZ: Yes. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Now, while you mentioned 8 that Mooney's in hibernation, and that's a pretty good way to 9 put it, we hope they wake up one of these days. 10 MR. BOBERTZ: We hope so too. They've made some 11 noises like they're going to, but -- 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If anybody had ever been in 13 that building -- or some of those buildings during a major 14 rain event, you would have experienced water two or 15 three inches deep on the floors -- 16 MR. BOBERTZ: Yes. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- inside that 18 manufacturing facility. Some of that area was where they did 19 welding. Not exactly a -- a safety-type measure. And so all 20 this corrects that. 21 MR. BOBERTZ: Yes. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Takes that water out of 23 that building and takes it down to the creek into the river. 24 MR. BOBERTZ: Good point. Thank you. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Roger, what -- aside from the 12-22-08 36 1 $8 million continuation of the final part of this project, 2 what other projects are on the horizon on the five-year plan? 3 MR. BOBERTZ: Well, the remaining substantial one 4 is a -- a fire suppression water supply issue, which affects 5 the leasability of the two buildings I mentioned in passing, 6 and a good bit of the vacant land at the moment. The problem 7 is, current fire code requirements are that we produce a 8 water flow of 1,500 gallons per minute for an hour on that -- 9 that whole area. Our current capacity is about 900 gallons 10 per minute for an hour. We need larger diameter pipes for 11 part of it. We need -- at the moment, we have two water 12 lines running out -- one runs parallel to Highway 27; one 13 runs parallel to that access road. They're not connected. 14 They're both separate. By connecting those two, we'll bring 15 our water flow up to close to what the minimum requirement 16 is; not completely, but close enough to work with it. And 17 that's, round numbers, $400,000. But we see continuation of 18 this project as so important, we've sort of eased that one 19 back into the background, but that's another major 20 infrastructure improvement that's needed out there to make 21 the land leasable. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On that topic, before you go 23 off that, Roger, I might add that the -- the reason for that 24 is no one's fault. It's an unfunded mandate. The fire code 25 changed nationally. I don't know who does that; someone up 12-22-08 37 1 in Washington, I presume. But they raised the standards, and 2 for us now to be able to lease it and utilize this type of 3 space at airports, that's what drove the cost. It's nothing 4 that anyone locally ever did. Just an unfunded mandate, 5 which we hear about frequently, and they say they don't do to 6 us, but there's a good example of one being done to us. 7 MR. BOBERTZ: Yeah. And it's -- it has a very 8 definite economic value, too. If we did this, and if we -- 9 you know, unlikely, surely, but, you know, this order of 10 magnitude thinking if we were able to do this and 11 subsequently lease all of the land inside that -- that fire 12 protection loop, Bruce and I did some fast, 13 back-of-an-envelope arithmetic one day and came up with a 14 lease revenue of about $175,000 a year on that land if we 15 could lease it with the proper fire protection. So, it's -- 16 there's a real economic payback for that, but money's tough. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: If you wouldn't mind, for the 18 members of the audience that are here, give us the roster of 19 your entire board, and tell us something about each of those 20 individuals serving on the board. I think it would be 21 interesting to these folks. 22 MR. BOBERTZ: All right. First of all, Mark Cowden 23 is here with us today. Mark is a relatively new addition to 24 the board. He was approved by the Court and the City 25 Council. Mark is the General Manager and vice president of a 12-22-08 38 1 local bank, and he's been very active in civic affairs and 2 economic development activities in Kerrville for some time. 3 And I'm sure many of you know Mark already, but we're 4 delighted to have him on board. Another recent addition is 5 Tom Moser. Tom is a very well-respected figure in the 6 aerospace industry. He's a retired executive from the 7 engineering side of NASA, and has done consulting work in his 8 post-retirement life, and been a member of an organization 9 that was the Texas Aeronautic -- Aeronautical Commission or 10 something like that. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 12 MR. BOBERTZ: Which was roughly analogous to the 13 economic development foundation here in Kerrville. It was an 14 advocacy group. So, Tom is very well respected there. Some 15 of our longer-toothed members, Fred Vogt. Fred is a retired 16 navy fighter pilot, and achieved the responsibility of air 17 boss on an aircraft carrier, which is no small 18 accomplishment. When he retired from the Navy, he went to 19 work for the State of Tennessee, State Department of 20 Transportation, Aviation Division, and when he refired from 21 that position, he was the director of the Aviation Division. 22 So, Fred brings to the -- to our work a very thorough 23 knowledge of the government side of general aviation. He 24 also worked as a consultant following his experience with the 25 State of Tennessee, so very well versed in all of that. Our 12-22-08 39 1 vice president, Steve King, is a -- how would you describe 2 Steve? Well, a local entrepreneur. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Entrepreneur here in the 4 oil patch. 5 MR. BOBERTZ: Yeah. Steve is also very active in 6 the affairs here in the city and county, and has been a big 7 help in that regard. I'm the -- mostly because nobody else 8 wanted to do it, I was elected president of the board about a 9 year ago, and I'm also retired. I worked for Scott Paper 10 company before I retired, and my credit card said "executive" 11 on it, so that's what I tell everybody I was, but mostly I 12 just wrote memos and worried. Part of my job. And it was a 13 great comfort to me to know that whenever things got really 14 rough, all I had to do was remind myself all I was doing was 15 helping to make toilet paper. (Laughter.) And that's a good 16 business to be in in times like this. 17 MS. WILLIAMS: Any time. 18 MR. BOBERTZ: That's right. So, that's our board. 19 Bruce is our Airport Manager. Bruce came to us as Interim 20 Airport Manager when Dave Pearce resigned to go on to grander 21 things, and Bruce, in his roughly one year as interim 22 manager, walked in there having a good idea about all the 23 drainage problems we had. Since that time, he's mastered a 24 huge array of information and knowledge, and we were just 25 absolutely delighted to be able to talk him into becoming 12-22-08 40 1 our, so to speak, permanent Airport Manager. Took the 2 "interim" off his title, and Bruce is serving us very well, 3 and we're delighted that he's there. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let me add one thing to that, 5 which was kind of passed over, but every member of the board 6 has aviation and business experience, or aviation and 7 government experience, or -- and almost all of them are 8 pilots. I guess they -- probably all five are pilots. And I 9 think it's -- we're really fortunate to be able to get 10 together a group that have people like Roger, who's retired 11 here, who brings in -- and Fred has outside experience in 12 other areas, and people like Mark, who is a local Kerrville 13 resident all his life. And I think that, you know, we really 14 are -- have been able to put together and assemble a board 15 that's phenomenal, and one of the reasons I think the 16 airport's progressing as rapidly as we are right now. 17 MR. BOBERTZ: Thank you. We're all pretty excited. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Any member of the audience have any 20 questions in connection with our airport or this 21 presentation? Thank you very much. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 23 MR. BOBERTZ: Thank you, Commissioners. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you for coming here. Thank 25 you and other members of your board for your service. Bruce, 12-22-08 41 1 we appreciate what you're doing. 2 MR. McKENZIE: Thank you. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: We appreciate that. 4 MR. BOBERTZ: Thank you very much. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Tremendous, tremendous economic 6 generator out there. 7 MR. BOBERTZ: You bet it is. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's move to Item 8, if we 9 might; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 10 regarding application under oath of officer to the 11 Commissioners Court for appointment of deputies for the 12 2009-2012 term of office. Ms. Bolin? 13 MS. BOLIN: This is -- first off, good morning, 14 gentlemen, and Merry Christmas. This is a requirement, so 15 that when I get sworn in on the 1st, I have to reswear my 16 deputies. It's a formality. All positions remain the same. 17 Nothing's changed from our last meeting. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 21 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion on the 22 that motion? All in favor of that motion, signify by raising 23 your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12-22-08 42 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 3 MS. BOLIN: Thank you. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 9, if we might. 5 Consider, discuss, take appropriate action on all elected and 6 appointed officials' bonds. Mr. Emerson? 7 MR. EMERSON: Judge, I think the best thing I can 8 say about that is, Jeannie and Jannett have been working very 9 diligently to get all those bonds approved, and last I heard, 10 they were all in the system, subject to the Court -- for the 11 Court's approval. Now, I don't -- 12 MS. HARGIS: They're all here. 13 MR. EMERSON: So, they're all present. 14 MS. PIEPER: Just been handed them. 15 MR. EMERSON: Yeah. We would respectfully request 16 to approve and accept the bonds for elected officials and 17 appointed officials. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. The deputy clerk has given me 19 12 bonds, as follows: Linda Uecker, District Clerk; H.A. 20 Buster Baldwin, Commissioner, Precinct 1; Jonathan Letz, 21 Precinct 3 Commissioner; Mindy Williams, Kerr County 22 Treasurer; David Billeiter, Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1; 23 John Lavender, Constable, Precinct 1; Rex Emerson, County 24 Attorney; Angel Garza, Constable, Precinct 3; Joel Ayala, 25 Constable, Precinct 2; Robert Terrill, Constable, Precinct 4; 12-22-08 43 1 and two bonds for Diane Bolin, who is the Tax 2 Assessor/Collector. These are the bonds presented to me for 3 approval; is that correct, Mr. Emerson? 4 MR. EMERSON: Yes, Judge. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval of the bonds. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 8 approval of the bonds as indicated. Question or discussion? 9 MS. HARGIS: We want to include the Sheriff's bond, 10 because it's a continuous bond that we didn't have to bring 11 you a new bond for, but he's also included in that. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: His is a rollover? Carry-over? 13 MS. HARGIS: It's a rollover, carry-over bond. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: And that's considered part of this 15 list? 16 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And it requires approval? 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's -- unless the County 19 Judge cancels it, it's automatically approved every time. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Uh-huh. We've got him. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is that an option? 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I hope not. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Ask him. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: How come someone just now told me 25 this? 12-22-08 44 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We didn't want -- 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Too late, Judge. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We can use that at budget 4 time. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: I could have used it a whole lot 6 sooner than that. Any other question or discussion on the 7 motion? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are we going to include the 9 Sheriff's in there? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Why don't we go ahead and include 11 that, just so that -- I'd rather do something twice that 12 didn't need to be done than not do it. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll amend the motion to 16 include the Sheriff in all the other bonds. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Further question or discussion? All 18 in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 21 (No response.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Okay, let me 23 see where we go from here. Why don't we go to Item 16; 24 consider, discuss, take appropriate action on update to the 25 Court on progress made in the first quarter of the budget 12-22-08 45 1 year in Kerr County Indigent Health Care program. 2 MS. LAVENDER: Good morning, gentlemen. Just to -- 3 a real quick review. In early September, the Court decided 4 to bring the Indigent Health Care program to the county 5 courthouse. In late September, we approved a position as our 6 Indigent Health Coordinator, and in October, Dawn was hired, 7 and in October we went to Austin for the training. And so 8 you have in your packet a report, and I want Dawn to kind of 9 tell you about what's happened with the office since she took 10 over, and I think you'll be very pleased with where our 11 indigent program is progressing. 12 MS. LANTZ: We've kind of narrowed down a little 13 bit of the qualifications and so forth. I've gone through 14 all the files that were in the indigent health care, and 15 currently we have approximately 50 indigent clients on file, 16 and also 19 jail indigents on file, where when I came in, it 17 started at about 79. We were able to get a lot of those onto 18 different programs, which they were unaware they qualified 19 for, which do help them as far as medical issues, as far as 20 getting health care besides with the County. So, hopefully, 21 we will be helping those that do need the health care, as far 22 as those that have just been using the program. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Would you tell -- I'm sorry 24 to interrupt you, but would you tell me where we -- where we 25 went from last year down to -- what was the numbers? 12-22-08 46 1 MS. LANTZ: Last year, what we paid out in November 2 was $130,000, approximately, and so far in November, what 3 they've paid out is 32,000. Now, as far as the billing's 4 going, we still have some things that are going to be billed 5 out in December which we're trying to catch up from October 6 and November, but hopefully our numbers will go way down as 7 far as what we are paying out in indigent health care. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Wow, what a change from 9 what it's been with the hospital. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, incredible. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I note that the number of 12 individuals on the program in your report in September, 13 October, November, and December has reduced significantly. 14 In addition to that, I assume, because of these savings that 15 you've advised us about, not only has the number of claims -- 16 claimants been reduced, but perhaps the number of claims that 17 are eligible for reimbursement; is that correct? 18 MS. LANTZ: Yes, sir. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay, thank you. This 20 reflects that, really. Good report. 21 MS. LANTZ: Thank you. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Lantz, we also -- in addition to 23 a reduction on the payout or expense side, have there not 24 been some benefits derived on the income side? 25 MS. LANTZ: Yes. 12-22-08 47 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Reimbursements? 2 MS. LANTZ: Yes, sir. We're currently working on 3 some reimbursements for some of the clients that did get 4 Social Security. We are able to recoup up to three months 5 back and up to a year back on some of those funds as well, 6 and currently I'm in the process -- and I've only gotten 7 2,300, but I did get another check for 7,000 back this past 8 Friday as recouping some of our expenses that we've paid out. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: When they qualify for Social 10 Security disability, then you can go back and recoup some of 11 that that was paid during the period of time that it's 12 retroactive to. 13 MS. LANTZ: Yes, sir. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I note you have two columns 15 here. You have the regular indigent health care, and then 16 you have the jail indigents. 17 MS. LANTZ: Mm-hmm. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, the reality is, in the 19 program, we take the total of those two, and that's -- that's 20 the numbers in the program? 21 MS. LANTZ: That's currently what we have in the 22 program. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are there any unique or 24 distinct differences in your approach to handling these 25 claims from those who are indigent and incarcerated versus 12-22-08 48 1 others? 2 MS. LANTZ: They are both -- both -- any indigent 3 has the same qualifications they have to meet. They cannot 4 have any income. Just because they're in jail doesn't mean 5 they're indigent, and they can have outside resources. You 6 know, they are still paying the bills; they get money into a 7 commissary account, and that counts as income as well. So, 8 the qualifications for the clients are the same as if you 9 were outside, not incarcerated. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Any more questions? 12 MS. LAVENDER: We might also tell you that 13 everybody that's on indigent health, that was on it at the 14 time that we took over the program, we're in the process of 15 reviewing, and the policy that you all adopted two weeks ago 16 will go into effect the 1st of February, and we're passing 17 out copies of that policy to our current clients. And with 18 my newspaper column in the coming week, we're going to be 19 publicizing, with the help of the media, the new policy 20 that'll be going into effect the 1st of February, and we 21 expect to see some significant changes also once that's in 22 place. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I want to add, unless you 24 want to add it, that any of those -- any and all those policy 25 changes are in compliance with current state statutes. 12-22-08 49 1 MS. LAVENDER: Absolutely. Yes, sir. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any more questions for any of 4 these ladies? 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you for your work. We 7 appreciate it. At this time, it is 10 o'clock, so I will 8 recess the Commissioners Court meeting at this time, and I 9 will convene a public hearing concerning the final revision 10 of plat for Lots 46A and 47A of Cypress Springs Estates, 11 Phase 1, as set forth in Volume 7, Page 126 of the Plat 12 Records, and located in Precinct 4 of Kerr County. 13 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10 a.m., and a public hearing was held in open 14 court, as follows:) 15 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the public 17 that wishes to be heard concerning the final revision of plat 18 for Lots 46 A and 47 A of Cypress Springs Estates, Phase 1, 19 as set forth in Volume 7, Page 126, Plat Records? Seeing no 20 one seeking to be recognized, I will close the public hearing 21 concerning the final revision of plat for Lots 46A and 47A of 22 Cypress Springs Estates, Phase 1, as set forth in Volume 7, 23 Page 126, Plat Records. 24 (The public hearing was concluded at 10:01 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 25 reopened.) - - - - - - - - - - 12-22-08 50 1 JUDGE TINLEY: And I will reconvene the 2 Commissioners Court hearing, and we'll now take up Item 7; 3 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on final 4 revision of plat for Lots 46A and 47A of Cypress Springs 5 Estates, Phase 1, as set forth in Volume 7, Page 126, Plat 6 Records. 7 MS. HOFFER: Good morning. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning. 9 MS. HOFFER: Dent and Doris White would like to 10 combine Lot 46A, which is 1.61 acres, and Lot 47A, which is 11 1.77 acres, making the revised Lot 46R-1 3.38 acres. The 12 lots in Cypress Springs Estates, Phase 1, are served by a 13 central water system and individual O.S.S.F. Lee Voelkel 14 from Voelkel Engineering is here if you have any questions. 15 If not, at this time we ask that you accept the final 16 revision of plat for Lots 46A and 47A in Cypress Springs 17 Estates, Phase 1, Volume 7, Page 126, and it's in Precinct 4. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Move approval. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 21 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion on that 22 motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 23 right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12-22-08 51 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's move 3 to Item 19 on the addendum, if we might. Consider, discuss, 4 and take appropriate action to appoint or reappoint members 5 of the Board of Commissioners for Emergency Services District 6 Number 2. Commissioner Oehler? 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes. It's time to appoint -- 8 or reappoint two Commissioners to the ESD Number 2. I move 9 that we appoint Garland Reece and Perrin Wells -- that we 10 reappoint them for three-year terms. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 13 approval as indicated. Question or discussion on that 14 motion? All in favor of that motion, signify by raising your 15 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 me call 20 Item 17; consider, discuss, take appropriate action regarding 21 health insurance. Due to lack of information -- some 22 information that was to be presented in connection with this 23 item, Ms. Hyde asked that it be passed, so we'll move to Item 24 18; consider, discuss, take appropriate action on H.R. 25 capital loan. Mr. Emerson? 12-22-08 52 1 MR. EMERSON: Thank you, Judge. As I believe has 2 been discussed in court before, the Court approved money last 3 year, and we installed a teleprompter system to be used by 4 County Court at Law and other courts as available. That 5 system has very successfully been used, not only to arraign 6 prisoners, but to plea out prisoners in the county jail, 7 reducing transportation and multiple other costs associated 8 with it, including security issues. It has come to our 9 attention that the system will be much more efficient and can 10 be utilized by District Court if we put in a second 11 teleprompter system. The issue that, of course, arose was 12 money, and my understanding is that Ms. Hyde, in working with 13 Mr. Trolinger, has put together an estimated cost of 14 approximately 20,000 to put in a second teleprompter system. 15 Ms. Hyde had money left over in the bond from last year that 16 was already predesignated by the Court for I.T. use, software 17 issues, and she was gracious enough to donate 20,000 of it to 18 the new project. I believe what we need from the Court today 19 is approval to spend that 20,000 or less for the new I.T. 20 system. 21 MS. HARGIS: I don't have 20,000; we only have 14. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I couldn't hear you. 23 MS. HARGIS: I don't have 20,000; I only have 14. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: There's 14,000 remaining in the I.T. 25 component of that capital project fund? 12-22-08 53 1 MS. HARGIS: Not 20. 2 MR. EMERSON: I think what we need to do, then, is 3 pass it, because Ms. Hyde was actually under the impression 4 that she had about two and a half times this amount in her 5 fund. So -- 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with your -- 7 MR. EMERSON: -- I think we need to work this out 8 before we come back to the Court. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Oh, yeah. Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Doesn't surprise me. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll bring that matter back. Why 12 don't we be in recess for about 20 minutes. 13 (Recess taken from 10:08 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.) 14 - - - - - - - - - - 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, let's come back to 16 order, if we might. We were in recess. We do have a 10:30 17 timed item, and I will call that now. Item Number 20 on your 18 second addendum; consider, discuss, and take appropriate 19 action regarding applications under oath of officers for the 20 deputies of each elected and appointed official. 21 MR. EMERSON: Judge, this is the same issue that's 22 been presented by three previous officials. What I tried to 23 do is put together a generic issue that everybody can bail in 24 under the same one to save time for efficiency. I have an 25 application in, Ms. Uecker does, and the Sheriff does. And 12-22-08 54 1 I'm not sure what other elected officials -- 2 MS. PIEPER: I do too. 3 MR. EMERSON: -- have submitted -- Jannett? The 4 reason this has popped up, Jannett ran into this, and I went 5 in and researched it, and it's Chapter 151 of the Local 6 Government Code. And what it appears, in going back looking 7 at the legislative history and A.G. opinions and cases, 8 from -- from '84 to '86, there was a major war brewing in a 9 lot of the counties between the elected officials and the 10 Commissioners Court over -- specifically over authority over 11 their individual employees. And what the Legislature did in 12 '87 was jump in with this statute. Well, if you look at the 13 statute, it's essentially all the requirements of budgeting; 14 it's what we already do. The only difference is that under 15 this one, the application has to be sworn to. So I think we 16 can remedy that in the future. If every elected official 17 will just swear to their request for budget, it'll take care 18 of it, 'cause it will address all the employees, 19 expenditures, the receipts, everything that we automatically 20 look at. But, in the meantime, to be compliant, the statute 21 says we shall submit these. So, for this budget year, we're 22 standing in line like everybody else requesting the Court's 23 approval of our submissions. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move approval of the 25 acceptance of all applications under oath of officers for the 12-22-08 55 1 deputies of each elected official and appointed official of 2 all that have been presented. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 5 indicated. Question or discussion on that motion? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Those that have been presented 7 in addition to the ones we handled individually are the 8 County Attorney, Sheriff, County Clerk, and the District 9 Clerk, correct? Those four? 10 MR. EMERSON: Correct. And I need to make clear 11 that it's not just deputies. It's -- the code specifically 12 requests appointment of clerks and assistants and deputies, 13 so it's essentially all your employees -- employees in the 14 office. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, it's all employees of all 16 elected officials. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And department heads. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And department heads. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And department heads? 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. So, that's what we're -- 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Further question or discussion on 23 that motion? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Wait, wait. Go back a minute. 25 Have all the department heads sworn to this? 12-22-08 56 1 MR. EMERSON: I don't know. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would suspect not. 3 MR. EMERSON: This issue jumped up last week, and 4 we researched it, responded as quickly as we could. I know 5 we sent out a bunch of faxes and e-mails. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll amend my -- 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Department heads couldn't be 8 included, because they're under the direction of the Court 9 and they're not elected. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's right. That's what I'm 11 saying. I would think it would just be elected officials. 12 But I hear a -- I hear -- 13 MR. EMERSON: I'm sorry, I'm blind. Under 151.001, 14 Subsection (a), a district, county, or precinct officer who 15 requires the services of deputies, assistants, or clerks in 16 the performance of the officer's duties shall apply. It 17 doesn't say elected, nonelected. It's anybody and everybody 18 that requires employees. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll amend my motion to 20 authorize the County Judge to accept any others than those 21 mentioned today between now and the end of the year. Can I 22 do that? 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Maybe we ought to start over. 24 MR. EMERSON: Well, hypothetically speaking, the 25 danger with doing that is, if you do that, you know, what's 12-22-08 57 1 to keep a department head from all of a sudden saying, "I 2 need 10 more employees," and you blessed it? 3 MS. PIEPER: Rex, doesn't the code state it has to 4 be in writing and sworn to? 5 MR. EMERSON: Right, it has to be sworn to. So, I 6 mean, they really need to come back to you. They each need 7 to submit their applications. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Does it have to be done 9 before the close of this year? 10 MR. EMERSON: No, sir. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. But if -- if my 12 previous statement is in conformity with the position 13 schedule, which keeps the number of employees and the 14 salaries set -- the reason I'm saying that, I mean, we're 15 not -- 16 MR. EMERSON: What if you do this? What if you 17 accept the ones that are presented to you today, and then 18 we'll put it back on in two weeks and everybody else can come 19 into compliance. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. We can do it after the 21 1st? 22 MR. EMERSON: Sure. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, that's fine. Well, 24 that's pretty -- I'll amend the motion to approve those that 25 were presented, plus the ones we did individually. Okay. 12-22-08 58 1 JUDGE TINLEY: We had a second? 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, I seconded it. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I have a motion and a second. 4 Further question or discussion on the motion? All in favor 5 of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's move 10 to Item 12, if we might. That was an 11 o'clock timed item 11 with Mr. Danos with AACOG. He arrived early, and asked to go 12 ahead on, if we would permit that. It'll be a presentation 13 by Dean Danos, Deputy Director of AACOG, on proposed Alamo 14 Regional Transit routes in Kerrville and Kerr County. 15 Commissioner Williams, I'll let you introduce this. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Judge. We've 17 been working at the AACOG level with the folks from Alamo 18 Regional Transit for some time in terms of restructuring the 19 routes, not only in Kerrville and Kerr County, but all 20 through the ART system, and having engaged a consultant to 21 work with them, we're now at the point of presenting the 22 various route structures to the counties that are affected. 23 So, I asked Mr. Danos if he'd come down and be so good as to 24 present this to us, show us what the routes are going to be, 25 and the cost and the frequency and all that good stuff. 12-22-08 59 1 Mr. Danos? 2 MR. DANOS: Thank you Commissioner. Judge, 3 Commissioners, I have before you some items I passed out, the 4 slide presentation, a page which is blown up of the routes, a 5 cost area that we currently have for Kerr County, and a 6 couple of brochures about a couple programs that are 7 discussed in this presentation. First off, I want to thank 8 you, and happy holidays to each one of you. Before I 9 start -- and thank you to Commissioner Williams for inviting 10 me, and also to mention to you that Commissioner Williams is 11 the incoming chair of the -- of the regional area judges, and 12 that is the responsible authority for the Alamo Regional 13 Transit, and eventually for the regional planning 14 organization. So, Commissioner Williams will have his plate 15 full for the upcoming year in that exercise as the chairman 16 of that organization. So, we'll get up with the next slide. 17 And, basically, I'm going to go through these pretty quickly 18 until we get down to the routes. 19 This is just an overview of what we do, and we 20 provide transportation to an 11-county area. Next slide. 21 That is an 11-county area outside of Bexar County, which 22 happens to be the AACOG region. The next slide -- and, 23 basically, that's who can ride with ART. You need to hit it 24 a couple of times so it can -- come on, click, click, click. 25 There you go. And we're just -- we're just a service for 12-22-08 60 1 everybody. And it's a demand response system; that's what 2 Alamo Regional Transit currently is. In other words, we -- 3 you call, we pick you up at your doorstep and take you 4 wherever you want to go, and take you back to your doorstep. 5 It's a door-to-door assistance. Just click, click, click. 6 Next one, there you go. And next slide, these are just some 7 examples also. Just keep on clicking down till you get down 8 to the bottom. Those are some of the examples of ridership. 9 I won't read them. Just a laundry list of some of the things 10 that we currently do in our program. Next slide. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Danos? 12 MR. DANOS: Yes, sir? 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Do you have any numbers on what the 14 percentage of the ridership actually use that transportation 15 to go to and from their job? 16 MR. DANOS: Yes, sir, I do have those numbers. I 17 don't have them currently; I'd be glad to send it to you, but 18 it is somewhere in the -- upwards of -- it's very small in 19 the Kerr County area; it's a small area. It's something like 20 less than 5 percent. But, overall, it's reaching upwards of 21 10 to 12 percent in the entire region. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 23 MR. DANOS: I can get you more exact figures. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's for commuting to 25 jobs? 12-22-08 61 1 MR. DANOS: Yeah, job only. We're only talking 2 about jobs. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Job-related. 4 MR. DANOS: Yeah. The published fares, that's what 5 this other piece of paper is. That is our published fares as 6 it currently stands. And with the fuel rates very high at 7 one time, these rates were very attractive. With the fuel 8 rate coming down, they're comparable to what an individual 9 would have to drive back and forth. Those are from -- within 10 the areas. Okay, next. And part of this issue is the 11 Medicaid -- we do provide Medicaid services with Medicaid 12 clients, and those go from medical, dental, pharmacy. We 13 have WorkSource training, which is part of the job issue 14 we're talking about, Judge. We go ahead and provide 15 Workforce training for people who need on-the-job training. 16 We have Job Access Reverse Commute, which basically is taking 17 people from a job, and taking them back and forth to -- 18 whether it be going to San Antonio and back, or San Antonio 19 out and back. And then we also provide services to the aging 20 population, 60 and over. That -- and those areas are 21 currently funded by that program, which is medical, dental, 22 pharmacy, and nutrition center. You went one step too far. 23 And then other agencies, local groups -- that's okay. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You have an amateur operator 25 up here. 12-22-08 62 1 MR. DANOS: Now, don't move that. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'm not moving it, I promise. 3 MR. DANOS: Okay. Then we have the dispatchers. 4 This is how you would call -- an individual would call and -- 5 basically, the prior day, an individual would call and make 6 the appointment, so to speak, and the ridership -- you got to 7 start the process, and this is basically how we do it. If 8 you're using wheelchairs, scooters or walkers, all our 9 vehicles are A.D.A. equipped. And now we get down to the 10 area that Commissioner Williams was talking about, the 11 proposed flex routes, which is the next slide and the slide 12 after that. I'll refer you to this large map here that you 13 have in front of you. Basically, there's three routes in 14 here that are discussed in the study that the Commissioner 15 had authorized as part of his role on the regional area 16 judges, and the consultant we hired to look at flex routes, 17 not only in Kerrville, but Fredericksburg, New Braunfels, and 18 Seguin, but the first area -- starting area in Kerrville. 19 And, basically, those are color-coded, Route A, B, and C. 20 Next slide. 21 And that basically was to be -- each route is a 22 one-hour headway. The service will do two buses, and then 23 A -- A and C will just have one bus sharing. And now let's 24 go to proposed Route A, next slide. If you look at this map, 25 you -- and you look at A in red, and we refer to this chart 12-22-08 63 1 there, it tells you basically where it's going to begin in 2 south central Kerrville near the Peterson Regional Ambulatory 3 Care Center, loops around to Sidney Baker Street and 4 Intermodal Facility for transfers. Next route travels north 5 on Sidney Baker and heads westbound on Schreiner Street. 6 This route loops around on Wallace Street, Upper Street, 7 Paschal Street, and then back east on Schreiner Street. Then 8 the route continues northeast. I'm not going to read 9 everything, but basically what we're trying to do is connect 10 the downtown, medical, shopping centers, and so forth. This 11 route is 5.3 miles one way. That's proposed area Route A. 12 Route B, which is on the same slide you have in 13 front of you, which is the blue one, and that route begins in 14 the far western end of Main Street, travels through downtown, 15 stopping at the transfer point, which is Kerrville Intermodal 16 Facility, then proceeding east on Main Street to the V.A. 17 Hospital. The V.A. Hospital -- Commissioner Williams and I 18 visited had with the V.A. Hospital to talk about their issues 19 and concerns with the disabled veterans -- disabled veterans. 20 We had a very good conversation, and we left there with their 21 -- in their in-basket to get back to us, hopefully after the 22 first of the year, about providing potential transportation 23 to help their veterans in Kerrville and going on to San 24 Antonio. This route is 6.2 miles long. 25 Route C is that, I guess, purple type area. This 12-22-08 64 1 route begins in south central Kerrville near Peterson 2 Hospital Ambulatory Care Center on Cully Street and loops 3 around. Again, their major destination includes the downtown 4 area, parks, low-income housing, apartments, and the shopping 5 area. This route is 4.6 miles one way. These routes are -- 6 right now, we're looking at doing it Monday through Friday 7 in -- in the route areas. Now, there -- if there are some 8 additions or deletions, we can -- as we go through this 9 process, obviously, we're subject to change. This is not 10 locked in, but this was the proposal from the consultant that 11 visited up here. How are we going to pay for this thing, is 12 the big issue. 13 And if you turn to the next slide, this is 14 basically some rough figures. This is the round trip per 15 bus. This is total hours, total round trips, the number of 16 operations per day, the operational cost per hour, total 17 cost, number of days of service, total cost per year, and 18 that's our cost. We currently have what -- through our 19 federal funds, 5311 funding, which is rural transportation 20 funding, that's the backbone of the whole operation. That 21 will supply about half the amount of dollars. Thanks to you, 22 Judge, and the Commissioners supplying dollars to the 23 program, those dollars will be applied to this program, 24 leaving a balance of about 174K. Those entities below and 25 others are where we will attempt to find additional funding 12-22-08 65 1 for the program. My goal, as I told Commissioner Williams -- 2 we've discussed this, that we were going to start this 3 program with the current funding we have, and we'll see what 4 we can do. So, we are going to start this program. 5 Obviously, we have to get to -- into the City, 6 because it involves the City's zoning department, so -- and 7 so they understand where we're going on their streets and 8 getting some stops. So, we have to go to their planning 9 department and to the City Council. We'll make those 10 discussions after the first of the year, so you're not 11 hearing this for the last time. We also have, in addition to 12 that, a van pool service -- on the next slide, we're starting 13 a van pool service. And we've been talking -- in fact, 14 that's what we talked to the V.A. Hospital about, was a van 15 pool service. We have 12-passenger vans, one primary and one 16 secondary driver, and the fares are determined based on the 17 amount of distance and so forth, but the job happens to be 18 what it is. The miles of vanpool will include the number of 19 riders. 20 And the next slide is talking about -- this is the 21 Going Your Way Care program; that's this brochure also. 22 Anyway, it's a guaranteed ride program. There are funding 23 capabilities. We have a way that we can guarantee a person 24 that does a van pool program, or even a person that rides a 25 bus, actually, going to work, a way to come home in an 12-22-08 66 1 emergency situation. In other words, if a little one gets 2 sick and they have to leave the job, we'll pay for a taxicab. 3 Only four for the year, but it's a 30-mile radius. The 4 person can come home free; we just charge a one-time fee of 5 $5 to get into it, and then they have four vouchers. But 6 they must be part of the carpool program or van pool program 7 or ride a bus -- it's not on here -- to a job. 8 The second part of this is another program we have 9 that we teamed up with Austin. We have a River Cities 10 Rideshare program, where we have provided -- we provide a 11 carpooling area for individuals that need to travel great 12 distances. We can make -- the individuals that need it, the 13 zip codes can team up and go back and forth. It's a program 14 we've got. And we're also working with Kerrville Bus Company 15 to see if people can go back and forth, drop on a bus and, 16 obviously, go where they need to go. These are some of -- 17 the next slide, that's some of the commuting benefits. And 18 it's just an area that helps everybody out. The tax credits 19 on there deals with the van pool program, especially if an 20 employer pays for it; they do get tax credit under the 21 current codes in Texas -- excuse me, the I.R.S. codes. And 22 the next slide is basically just a picture we already meet. 23 And the last slide deals with some contact information. And 24 that is ten minutes, Judge, and that's -- I think I met that 25 requirement. So, I'm now open for any kind of questions or 12-22-08 67 1 answers, and from any -- 2 JUDGE TINLEY: What information can you give us 3 about the employer tax credits? 4 MR. DANOS: If an employer will go ahead and use 5 this system -- an employer use this system and take it out of 6 employee's paycheck, that becomes before taxes then. It 7 becomes a before-tax issue, and so they're not paying taxes 8 on their ride. So, you're driving -- let's say an individual 9 gets in a van pool program, and it -- for that trip, it costs 10 them 50 bucks a month, and it's tax -- it becomes a tax issue 11 for them if -- if the employer does it. Now, if the 12 individual -- employer says, "I don't want anything to do 13 with it," it becomes an individual issue; it's after tax 14 dollars, Judge. That's in the I.R.S. codes. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Dean, you gave us -- in 16 addition to the routes -- proposed routes for what appears to 17 be, for the most part, within the city. 18 MR. DANOS: Yes, sir. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And you also give us this 20 sheet telling what the -- 21 MR. DANOS: That's demand response routes. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The demand response, and 23 the cost to go from Point A to Point B. 24 MR. DANOS: Right. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: My question is -- two 12-22-08 68 1 questions. First of all, what type of vehicle will you use 2 to service these routes within the city? And secondly, what 3 will be the cost to board the bus? 4 MR. DANOS: We're looking at a dollar charge on 5 that route system, on the flex route system, Commissioner, 6 and that's the cost. The vehicles, we are already -- already 7 the van pool -- for a van pool program, they're in right now, 8 or coming in. We also have the current vehicles, which is a 9 Type 3 vehicle that can hold up to 25 people, or configured 10 to hold not only individuals, but A.D.A. responsibility, so 11 we do have a fleet available right now. We've also increased 12 our rates to hire people anticipating this. We've gone 13 from -- to $9 per hour starting 1st of January for non-CDL, 14 to $10 an hour for CDL license. In order to drive this 15 vehicle will take a CDL-licensed individual, so that starting 16 rate will be $10 per hour. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I might note, Judge, as I'm 18 sure you did, we -- 'cause we had discussions about servicing 19 the area of the city in and around the Doyle School, and one 20 of these routes accomplishes that. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Any questions for Mr. Danos? 22 Comments? Any member of the Court? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: When do you start? 24 MR. DANOS: We're looking at -- well, we haven't 25 even talked to the area judges yet. Commissioner Williams 12-22-08 69 1 kind of jump-started this program by asking me to come up 2 here. This presentation will go to the area judges in 3 January for their approval, and I'm assuming that this 4 will -- that'll be approved, 'cause we've been working on 5 this for well over a year now to try to get the program 6 started. And once that's started, we're looking at coming 7 back up here to talk to the City. And then we hope by two or 8 three months after that -- I'm hoping by no later than June, 9 once we get all the pieces together, we'll come back to 10 Commissioners Court, that we'll be able to start this 11 program, because we do have to do some legwork yet with the 12 City. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What -- where are the 14 trolleys? 15 MR. DANOS: The trolleys were taken away from us by 16 TexDOT. We -- I know it. We fought that; Commissioner 17 Williams can tell you that. We -- they went -- well, we -- 18 TexDOT decided they needed them at a different place. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They went away. 20 MR. DANOS: And they went away. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We lost the battle of the 22 trolley. 23 MR. DANOS: We lost, right. And I -- I might add 24 here, now that you brought that up, the facility -- we are 25 now updating the facility at the -- the Kerrville Intermodal 12-22-08 70 1 Facility by flooring, awnings, new sidewalk areas, and we're 2 also mindful of the drought system that we have in our other 3 regions, so we -- we've redone the landscaping to use less 4 water out in our facility, and I think that's beneficial, 5 that we're -- you know, just like anybody else, we're up here 6 to help and not hinder. But that is a -- a positive thing 7 we're doing for the facility right now. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do they make these vehicles 9 or these buses that are -- that operate on alternate fuels? 10 MR. DANOS: Yes, they do, and we have alternate 11 fuel capability. We have the -- what they call the LEV, 12 which is low emission vehicles. We also have diesel, which 13 uses the clean diesel, which is the ultra low-sulfur diesel 14 vehicles ordered. We do have some of the propane, but the 15 issue with propane is finding a distributor for the propane. 16 We are working now to look at CNG, compressed natural gas, 17 but that is finding the correct plant that has to go through, 18 and then order the vehicles. But we are -- we are very 19 mindful of alternative energy. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Super. Hope we get to move 21 in that direction. 22 MR. DANOS: Yes, sir. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This budget this past year -- 24 MR. DANOS: Yes, sir. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- covers the routes in 12-22-08 71 1 Kerrville? 2 MR. DANOS: Yes, sir. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's the cost of running the 4 routes that go inter-city? 5 MR. DANOS: From city to city? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 7 MR. DANOS: We have some of the -- the charges 8 right here on -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I see the charges are on there, 10 but does it cover the cost of that 100 percent? Or is 11 there -- 12 MR. DANOS: No, that's not -- does not cover the 13 cost 100 percent. That's what the 5311 subsidy dollars do. 14 We get -- like a large metropolitan area, we also get subsidy 15 dollars. An individual may not be able to pay for -- if they 16 have to pay the full cost, I understand they could be very -- 17 hit the pocketbook pretty big. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the 5311 funds that are in 19 here, that 180,000, that covers part of this? 20 MR. DANOS: No. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They're separate? 22 MR. DANOS: This is separate. This is a separate 23 issue. This will still be covered. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 25 MR. DANOS: Two separate issues here. 12-22-08 72 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On the 5311 funds on the 2 Kerrville routes, the 180,000, is that a set amount or is it 3 a percentage of the total? How does -- 4 MR. DANOS: It's a percentage of the total, 50 -- 5 the 5311, by federal law, it's only supposed to cover around 6 50 percent or approximately 50 percent of the cost of doing 7 the operation. They do not cover 100 percent. The other 8 dollars is supposed to come through subscribers, fares, 9 contributions from cities and counties, and the paying 10 public. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 12 MR. DANOS: And that's what's supposed to make up 13 the other dollars. And we've been fortunate in our programs 14 that we've been able to receive those dollars from not only 15 the counties and cities, but the paying public, 16 subscriptions, advertisements, and so forth. So, yes, we 17 cover the cost. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: For the benefit of the 19 public that may not be aware, Alamo Regional Transit provides 20 service in the 11 AACOG counties that surround Bexar County. 21 We do not provide service in Bexar County. That's through 22 VIA; that's their public transportation system, and we don't 23 get involved in that. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Any more questions for Mr. Danos? 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you very much, Dean. 12-22-08 73 1 Appreciate you coming down. 2 MR. DANOS: Thank you, Commissioner. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. Danos. 4 MR. DANOS: Once again, Merry Christmas, happy 5 holidays to you all. I'm sure we'll be seeing you after the 6 first of the year. Thank you very much for inviting me. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's go to Item 14, if we 9 might; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 10 joint agreement between Kerr County and the City of Kerrville 11 -- Kerrville with the Normandy Group for governmental 12 relations assistance to obtain federal government funding or 13 other assistance for economic development projects and 14 projects, installations, infrastructure, and/or facilities 15 needs for Kerrville and Kerr County. I put this on today's 16 agenda as a result of direction given at our joint meeting 17 with the City that occurred -- I guess it was a week ago now. 18 The matter was presented again at a City Council special 19 meeting last Thursday. They took up the matter then, and to 20 report to the Court, as a result of that meeting, the -- the 21 Council directed the mayor to get with myself, and hopefully 22 the mayor and I jointly would then make contact with our 23 elected Washington officials to ascertain what those 24 officials deem as the proper viability of -- of assistance 25 governmental relations firms. So, that's essentially where 12-22-08 74 1 the City is, and -- but as -- as indicated at our meeting a 2 week ago jointly with the City, the matter's back on our 3 agenda. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, you're -- there's no -- 5 it's on hold. Well, it's on hold from the City standpoint, 6 waiting -- waiting on more information. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Development of additional 8 information and report back to the Council, yes. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: In your discussions about it, I 10 guess my point of view, I like the idea a little bit; I think 11 it's a really interesting idea. I think it has a lot of 12 merit, but I have three big problems with it right now. One, 13 it wasn't budgeted, and we really don't have $60,000, or -- 14 you know, which would be our potential half, around. Two, 15 I'm not sure we have any projects that are -- you know, we 16 kind of rushed a little bit on this. I don't know that we 17 have any projects that are really ready to queue up to get 18 into this right now. And, three, if we were to pass those 19 two items, and in addition to talking with our own elected 20 officials -- you know, I like former Congressman Bonilla a 21 lot, but I think we need to do a little bit of a better 22 search than just hiring one -- one firm that came to us, and 23 see -- I mean, when I look at their list of clients, they 24 don't represent one entity similar to a county government. 25 And, you know, I'm not sure they need to, you know. So, I 12-22-08 75 1 just have a concern of whether they would be the right firm, 2 so I'm glad it's on a little bit of a hold, because I don't 3 think we can go forward, at least from my standpoint, at this 4 point. But I think in future years, it may be something very 5 worth looking at. It's just kind of my -- after listening to 6 it and thinking about it, that's kind of my thoughts. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well -- 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Go ahead, I'll wait. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. I tend to agree with 10 Commissioner Letz, only I've got a little bit different 11 slant. Over the weekend, I visited with my friend -- you 12 know, it seems like my friends -- the numbers of my friends 13 are dwindling, but my friend that has been around a while and 14 understands these kinds of things, and that understood and is 15 very familiar with L.B.J. Of course, I'm way too young to 16 remember any of that stuff, but the president from Johnson 17 City brought a lot of -- a lot of money to the state of 18 Texas. And President Bush, recent president -- President 19 Bush has also allowed a lot of money to come to the state of 20 Texas. And it's my understanding that those days are over; 21 that the moneys that Mr. Obama's talking about will more than 22 likely stay in the Chicago area, or anyway, the other side of 23 the Red River. That's one issue. Another issue is, in our 24 joint meeting the other day, I only had one question of -- of 25 Mr. Bonilla, and Councilman Hamilton asked it before I -- it 12-22-08 76 1 got to me, and that was -- his question was, "Do you have any 2 performance-based or contingency contracts?" I can see this 3 thing working on a contingency type plan, where he goes and 4 secures the grants and grant moneys and those kinds of 5 things, and then takes a percentage of that, as opposed to us 6 just paying him a flat monthly salary of -- how much? 7 $10,000? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Ten -- five to ten, depending 9 on if we submit it. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, $5,000 per month from 11 this county to maybe or maybe not find us money. And 12 Mr. Bonilla's answer was that he cannot be paid from these 13 funds legally. Well, now, I don't think anybody ever thought 14 that he would rake off his up front up there, but I'm sure 15 through budgeting and -- and agreements and written 16 agreements and those kind of things, if he secured moneys for 17 us, then we could pay him out of that on the contingency 18 plan. But he -- he obviously didn't want to do that, and so 19 that -- that really turned me off about the whole thing, is 20 the fact that he wouldn't even consider -- wouldn't even 21 discuss the contingency plan. The third issue is that it's 22 not budgeted money, and that is a lot of money to be laying 23 out there. 24 You know, if we -- if we had that kind of money 25 laying around, I -- I see -- I see these Ingram Lake and Flat 12-22-08 77 1 Rock Lake and Ingram Dam and Flat Rock Dam almost as 2 emergency issues. I mean, those things have grown, in my 3 opinion, to the -- almost to the point of where they're truly 4 unsafe for our public, and if we were going to spend money, 5 I'd want to spend money on things like that, that's a direct 6 benefit -- possible direct benefit to the taxpayers of Kerr 7 County. So, with those thoughts and those issues, if I were 8 asked to vote today on this issue, I would vote no. And if 9 we -- if it comes up at budget time to have this same kind of 10 program, I'm probably going to vote no, 'cause it's too damn 11 much money for something that we don't know about, that we're 12 not sure that we're going to get any return from. That's 13 about it. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I've had a lot of 15 discussions since last Monday, both voluntarily and 16 involuntarily, but the net result of most of those 17 discussions was summarized by what some folks say, "Well, I 18 see the County's going to hire a lobbyist." And that is an 19 anathema to a lot of people. That said, I can see where 20 there is some relative value in knowing the ropes in 21 Washington. I don't dispute that at all. And for most of us 22 who comprise local government, we don't -- we don't know that 23 roadmap to get things done in Washington, D.C. But be that 24 as it may, I kind of concur with my two colleagues with 25 respect to cost, and -- and the fact it's not budgeted. But 12-22-08 78 1 I am -- in thinking about it, as opposed to doing something 2 like this directly, I would -- I would like for the City and 3 the County to take a look at this initiative through the eyes 4 of KEDF. I think that there's great merit in the Kerr 5 Economic Development Foundation being the lead pony, as 6 opposed to the City and/or the County. And we support KEDF, 7 as does the City, and Economic Improvement Corporation 8 supports KEDF. 9 And there's not a lot of reason why, if KEDF were 10 to be the lead pony working on behalf of the City and the 11 County, if there were additional fundings necessary to do 12 that in our next budget year, we could certainly consider 13 that. I would also like to remind the Court that Texas 14 Association of Counties was severely chastised in a lawsuit 15 for having hired a lobbyist. Now, the question I would 16 direct to the County Attorney is, was that lawsuit directed 17 at TAC, in which it was settled by TAC backing away from 18 these type of activities, was that the direct result of TAC 19 hiring a lobbyist to lobby the Texas Legislature, or doing 20 lobbying in general? I'd like to know your answer to that, 21 and you can figure that out by going to your many electronic 22 sources and looking up that litigation. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Or you can pick up a phone 24 and call them and ask them. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. And so I think, at 12-22-08 79 1 this point in time, if we -- if we're talking about a model 2 that's the County model doing it directly, or the City doing 3 it directly, or the City and County doing it directly, I 4 would have to say I don't think -- I don't think so at this 5 time. I would like to examine KEDF being the lead pony. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good point. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think that's a good way to 8 pursue it if we're going to do that. I'm totally against 9 hiring a lobbyist; that is just totally absurd to me. We 10 have a lot of elected officials that should be helping us 11 when we have viable projects that need to be funded. We 12 ought to be able to lean on them just like our constituents 13 lean on us to get things done. But I do -- I do have the 14 thought that if we were to need a person to maybe work with 15 the KEDF, just like you suggested, somebody that we would 16 have control over dollars that we spend, expenses, those 17 kinds of things through -- through funding at budget time, I 18 wouldn't be opposed to doing something like that, but I don't 19 feel like that we need to contract with anybody on an 20 open-ended contract with no -- no fee -- or no total amount 21 of dollars that could be spent on expenses. 22 It's bad enough to give somebody $10,000 a month, 23 and then have expenses on top of that that you have no idea 24 how much that might be, and whether that person or people 25 that you hired were actually working on your project, and 12-22-08 80 1 whether -- not that Mr. Bonilla's not honest and upright, 2 but, you know, how do you divide expenses when you're maybe 3 trying to work for one client over here, and maybe they both 4 do the same thing? I mean, it's just -- I can't see it. I'm 5 sorry. But I would -- I would look sometime in the future at 6 budgeting money for a person to find money through the KEDF. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think just a little -- to add 8 to kind of what I said earlier, and kind of what Buster 9 brought up about how you -- where they collect their fees. 10 I'm sure there are agencies -- and maybe Grantworks can do 11 it. Grantworks has been very successful working for us and 12 collecting their fees -- administrative fee kind of from the 13 grants we've received. Primarily, it's all through 14 wastewater -- Kerrville South Wastewater -- 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's correct. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- system. And I think that 17 the -- you know, we may need to spend some money, but I don't 18 know that you can do that with a lobbyist. We have some 19 significant big projects on the horizon that we probably will 20 need some assistance in trying to figure out how to fund, and 21 Youth Exhibit Center, the lake issues, between repairing the 22 dams and cleaning them out, and the water/wastewater east 23 Kerr County project, but those are -- you know, aside from 24 that, I really don't see that we have a whole lot that we 25 need out of Washington. And on those, I think maybe, you 12-22-08 81 1 know, we could send the Judge up there every week for 2 $120,000, put you up -- (Laughter.) Hey, we can put you up 3 there all year. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Just get you a residence up 5 there. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Here's one other point. 7 Mr. -- Mr. Bonilla talked about shovel-ready projects, that 8 they're going to -- the Congress is going to consider 9 shovel-ready projects, whatever that means. Subsequent to 10 that meeting, however, later in the week, there was a 11 front-page picture and an article in the San Antonio Express 12 News talking about City of San Antonio readies its 13 shovel-ready list, right? And one of the things which tied 14 into what Mr. Bonilla talked about was City of San Antonio, 15 103.6 million for transportation projects. Well, that's the 16 key right there, transportation projects. We don't have 17 anything dealing with approaches that's in terms of 18 transportation that would even render us eligible to be 19 involved in the first wave of largesse that's coming out of 20 Washington. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that we have a -- quite 22 a few projects in the queue with TexDOT that may enable them 23 to get funded if the money comes out through Washington. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That are basically 25 shovel-ready? 12-22-08 82 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They are. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But they're -- you know, we've 4 got five bridges and -- four bridges in my precinct, a couple 5 in Bill's, a couple out in your area, and things of that 6 nature that, you know, hopefully these -- they have been held 7 up because of funding. And, you know, hopefully TexDOT is, 8 you know, communicating, as I'm sure they are, with 9 Washington, so -- 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Shovel-ready, that's 11 something of that Washington language. Whew. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Washington-speak? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a participation form that 15 was filed for this particular agenda item. Stephanie Ertel? 16 MS. ERTEL: Good morning. My name is Stephanie 17 Ertel, and I live at 624 Wheless, and I also have property in 18 Precinct 4 across the river from the fish hatchery. And I'm 19 actually here this morning to just remind the Court, along 20 with some of my friends that came with me, that we have a 21 Democratic president elected, and the Democratic party of 22 Kerr County has been very active in this election time, and 23 we've really built a lot of confidence among Democrats in 24 Texas and nationally in what the people of Kerr County and 25 the Hill Country are interested in, and our ability to 12-22-08 83 1 deliver votes and to deliver funding. So, I think that we 2 can be of assistance also to the Commissioners Court. If 3 things come up and people need contacts through some of the 4 representatives who are Democrats, like Ciro Rodriguez and 5 Chet Edwards and Sheila Jackson Lee, people like that who we 6 have contact with, who may be able to help us with some 7 things. And, in fact, in February Sheila Jackson Lee is 8 going to be our guest here in Kerrville of the Democratic 9 groups, and she'll be talking to us. So, it's just an 10 example of how we really try to build a little bit of a 11 profile of Democrats in Kerr County, so we wanted y'all to 12 know about that if you need our help in doing things in the 13 future. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, thank you. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you very much. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's the way it should 18 work. 19 MS. ERTEL: Thank you. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other member of the audience 21 wish to be heard concerning this particular item? Does the 22 Court have any direction for me in response to the Council's 23 direction to the mayor of last week? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think just -- I mean, I 25 think -- 12-22-08 84 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Go if you want to. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just need to find out what 3 our representatives think about firms like this, just, you 4 know, for what it's worth. But I also think that the message 5 when we're talking to our elected officials needs to be that 6 we expect them to do this for us. You know, or we think -- 7 don't think we need to hire them. That's what I heard the 8 Court kind of say. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'd like for you to explore 10 with somebody, Judge, the idea that this should go through 11 KEDF logically, and if that's -- if that shakes itself out 12 that way over the next few months, then we have an 13 opportunity to discuss it again during budget time. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Anybody else have any more 15 input on that? Good enough. Thank you. Let's move on to a 16 timed item for 11:15. Item 13, consider and discuss the 17 proposed agreement between Kerr County Historical Commission 18 and Schreiner University. Mr. Luther -- Dr. Luther? 19 MR. LUTHER: Thank you, Judge. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, are the -- before he 21 starts, the comments in the margin in the copy that I have, 22 your comments? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: No. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No? 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: On the left over here? 12-22-08 85 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, there's a couple of 2 comments in here, question marks. Just wondering where they 3 came from, 'cause they're on my copy. If anyone knows? They 4 may be Mr. Luther's comments. 5 (Low-voice discussion off the record.) 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, they may be comments that 7 Mr. Luther made. There's -- I was wondering who wrote the -- 8 MR. LUTHER: Oh, on the sides? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 10 MR. LUTHER: Would you like me to go ahead and just 11 do that? Good morning, gentlemen. Judge Tinley, 12 Commissioners, my name is Joe Luther. I'm your chairman of 13 the county -- Kerr County Historical Commission. In response 14 to this, what you have is a draft, a review copy. And the 15 comments, I think, were marginal, with people making 16 suggestions. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 18 MR. LUTHER: We do have a final draft of this 19 in-hand, and we are ready to move forward with it. As you 20 know from remarks and discussions that we've had over the 21 past year, this has been a work in progress. For some time, 22 we've been concerned about the condition, and I might say 23 prognosis of the archival holdings of Kerr County. They were 24 scattered in several locations. In one case, they were 25 flooded. The boxes that they were contained in are 12-22-08 86 1 water-stained. They're very valuable, one-of-a-kind 2 collections that were not secure, were not under lock and 3 key, and we were facing a tremendous problem with things 4 walking out the door that were essentially irreplaceable. 5 The situation that we had, as you know, here in the 6 courthouse, these documents were not in a climate-controlled 7 archival situation at all. 8 Through the good relationships that we have with 9 Schreiner University, particularly with Candice Scott, who's 10 in charge of that library operation there, we have managed to 11 work to this point where we have a draft of an agreement 12 before you to have our archival materials digitized and 13 stored at professional level -- professional quality archival 14 standards so that they will be preserved into the future. 15 You might say this is sort of the future history of our 16 archival collection. Let's see, is Fred here? No, it 17 doesn't look like anybody from Schreiner was able to get 18 through the heavy traffic this morning to get down here, so I 19 will -- I will speak to this, and then I'll ask Julia 20 Stehling to be in the on-deck box here to answer detail 21 questions. But I would just say to you, I think this is a 22 wonderful solution to our problem. 23 The situation that probably is most critical in 24 regards to the archival collection is, nobody knows what we 25 have. There's no good inventory of it. It's everybody's 12-22-08 87 1 aunt and uncle and dog and what-have-you. It's never really 2 been sorted and recorded. And Julia Stehling and Jeanne 3 Sutton have spent long hours going through this material and 4 sorting it, and I've just brought another DVD this morning 5 for Jeanne that has probably the equivalent of three Bibles 6 of material that have been scanned and digitally stored on 7 there. By placing it into this collection in the Logan 8 Library, this will become accessible to the public, so we 9 would not have to accompany somebody here to the basement to 10 dig through boxes of unknown material. In fact, somebody 11 could just dial it up and say, "Is there anywhere I could 12 find a picture of Judge Tinley when he graduated from law 13 school?" Or Buster Baldwin when he was a young man with dark 14 hair and a -- and a full beard. We -- we have those sorts of 15 things in our collection, and a person would be able to 16 access them and look at them. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are those for sale, by any 18 chance? 19 MR. LUTHER: Yeah, sure. We can do 50 pocket-size. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: The negative is what you want, 21 Buster. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Did they have cameras 23 back when he was in school? 24 MR. LUTHER: I found a picture of -- of Dell 25 Sheftall in 1943 at the University of Texas that I sent over 12-22-08 88 1 to him the other day that was out there on the web. So, you 2 know, there are these amazing things that you find every day. 3 They go into our collection. So, unless you have more 4 detailed questions you wish to put to me, I'd like to ask 5 Julia Stehling to come up and talk about the nuts and bolts 6 of this operation. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Before -- before we go to 8 Julia, I put this on the agenda because of -- there was a 9 couple of my colleagues here that had been kind of hearing 10 about what y'all were doing -- 11 MR. LUTHER: Yes, sir. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- and had wanted to know 13 about it. So, I wanted you guys to come in to kind of 14 explain to them -- 15 MR. LUTHER: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- what was going on, and I 17 think you have done that, in my mind. And then Rex, in the 18 agreement, I think, had a couple of questions, and I wanted 19 to get -- those are the two things I wanted to get cleared up 20 so that everybody at this table understands what's going on, 21 and as far as the agreement's concerned, that the legal 22 beagle signs off on it. 23 MR. LUTHER: Yes. And Fred Gamble was supposed to 24 be here this morning to answer for the university. Let me 25 say from the outset, it was a worse mess than you would find 12-22-08 89 1 in anybody's garage or attic. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I can imagine. 3 MR. LUTHER: And some of it is still being hoarded 4 in other people's houses that we're slowly prying out of 5 their hands. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Couple questions I had. 7 MR. LUTHER: Yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Who owns this stuff? 9 MR. LUTHER: I have to assume that since we're -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The -- 11 MR. LUTHER: -- an agency of Kerr County and the 12 State, that Kerr County does, and through them, the state, 13 once we acquire it and enter it into our system. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Kerr County owns it? 15 MR. LUTHER: Yeah, that's my interpretation. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Where did it come from? 17 MR. LUTHER: Everywhere. People will bring things 18 and drop it off, and you'll end up with, you know, a 19 cardboard box or a garbage sack full of old photos. Nobody's 20 identified anything in there, and we have Raul Arreola and 21 Fuzzy Swayze working like crazy trying to figure out what 22 these buildings are and who these people are and that sort of 23 thing. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Swayze probably took most of 25 the pictures. 12-22-08 90 1 MR. LUTHER: Yeah, Swayze did. Of course, as you 2 know, Fuzzy Swayze's collection's been lost, and we're trying 3 to resurrect pieces and parts of that as we find it. We are 4 putting on these photographs -- digital photographs an 5 identifier as belonging to the Kerr County Historical 6 Commission, and since we're one of your children, to you. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How are you all -- or are you 8 going through it and determining what is worthy of keeping? 9 I mean, I'm -- if you acquire -- people just give this to 10 you, I mean, how do you decide what -- 11 MR. LUTHER: Well, it is -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- needs to be kept? 13 MR. LUTHER: It is anything that can be identified. 14 There are a lot of pictures of a lot of pet dogs and things 15 of that sort that, to us, don't have significance, but do 16 have historical or emotional, sentimental significance to the 17 donor. And in many cases, we may digitize something and 18 return it to the owner, but we've got a -- a copy of it that 19 can be preserved. Schreiner University and their library 20 staff there have very exacting standards in terms of what's 21 acceptable and what's not -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 23 MR. LUTHER: -- acceptable. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I didn't want just a whole 25 bunch of stuff to be put into -- 12-22-08 91 1 MR. LUTHER: No, it's not going to be like my 2 attic. No. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The Schreiner people just 4 arrived, Mr. Luther. 5 MR. LUTHER: Okay. Well, let's -- 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mr. Gamble's here. 7 MR. LUTHER: Perhaps I can introduce them. Fred? 8 Good morning, sir. Just in time. Candice, just in time. 9 MR. GAMBLE: I'm Fred Gamble. I'm the Vice 10 President for Administration and Finances at Schreiner 11 University. This is Dr. Candice Scott. She's our chief 12 librarian, and recently appointed Vice President for Academic 13 Affairs, and she's the one who actually put together -- who 14 led the charge and put together the Sam Lanham Digital 15 Library. We're excited about the opportunity, and from what 16 Candice tells me, rarely does a historical society -- when I 17 say "rarely," as far as we know, we're probably the only one 18 where a historical society has really reached out and had 19 this kind of collaboration with somebody else. So, we think 20 we're pretty special to do this. Candice, if you want to 21 make a comment? And either one of us can answer any 22 questions you have. If it's technical, that has to be 23 Dr. Scott. 24 DR. SCOTT: I think we just should just answer 25 questions and save time. We're excited. We're very excited 12-22-08 92 1 about the possibility. We want to be sure that the agreement 2 is crystal clear to both sides so that there's no confusion 3 later on; there's no question about intent or -- or purpose 4 at all, and so that's why we're being very picky on both 5 sides as far as what the agreement says. It's a temporary 6 loan agreement, so I guess that's -- that's where we are. 7 Joe? Is that -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A question that I had, Mr. 9 Luther -- Mr. Luther mentioned that Schreiner has, I guess, 10 some precise criteria before something gets digitized and put 11 in. Not necessarily that you have to give it to us right 12 now, but I think if we were given a copy of that criteria, if 13 the public was aware of it, there's probably a lot of other 14 historical information available that fits the criteria; it'd 15 be a good way to get it in. I have -- I suspect, like 16 Mr. Luther said, that what is in the basement, primarily, and 17 other locations is just stuff that no one knew what else to 18 do with and put it in a box and brought it over here. 19 MR. LUTHER: People's grandparents die and we 20 inherit the boxes. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. So I think it would be 22 really helpful for the public to be aware of what the 23 criteria is so that other meaningful documents can find their 24 way into the collection. 25 DR. SCOTT: As far as what we would digitize? 12-22-08 93 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: As to what the -- I mean, you 2 want to -- if you have a picture of an old dog, do you want 3 that, versus -- I mean, an identifier, what all has to be on 4 there before it's worthwhile to -- from Schreiner's 5 standpoint, to go to the effort to digitize it and put it in 6 the permanent records. 7 DR. SCOTT: That's an excellent question, and it's 8 one that we -- we set a foundation for responding to when we 9 created the digital library. And what we have is an advisory 10 board of historians and faculty and community folk whose job 11 it is to be the subject experts. And so when we get a wealth 12 of information -- which, sadly, we don't have that problem; 13 that would be a wonderful problem to have. When we get that 14 problem, these subject specialists are the ones who will look 15 at it and decide whether it's something that meets the 16 mission of either entity, either the Historical Commission or 17 Schreiner University, and then that document will be added to 18 it. Okay. So, it's -- so we don't -- as a librarian, I know 19 how much space I have. I know where my immediate 20 constituents' interests are, but I'm -- I'm not a historian, 21 and so I bow to the views of the local historians, and they 22 would help us select that. And that's all written up under 23 the -- under the digital library guidelines on the website. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Dr. Scott, are we going 12-22-08 94 1 into this with an inventory already prepared as to what 2 the -- what Schreiner University will accept and, in effect, 3 manage for us? Or are we just dumping boxes on your 4 doorstep? 5 DR. SCOTT: No, I hope you're not dumping boxes on 6 our doorstep. We are working on the inventory, right? 7 MR. LUTHER: Yeah. Yeah. Do you want to -- 8 MS. STEHLING: No, I'm fine. 9 DR. SCOTT: Sara Schmidt, our collection 10 development person, and myself have been over to the -- to 11 visit the basement, and we've looked at it. Frankly, I was 12 holding my breath. I was concerned it would be boxes and 13 boxes. We do have a finite amount of space, so we have to be 14 careful what we're committing to your folks as well. It's a 15 very -- right now, if we took everything that's down there, 16 it's very doable. It's very doable for us. I don't believe, 17 necessarily, that that will be the case, although the 18 inventory is being carefully examined. So, I think what they 19 have there is pretty lean and mean, and so I think it's 20 probably pretty relevant to our overarching umbrella of the 21 hill country history. 22 MR. GAMBLE: Also, if you look at the proposed 23 agreement, this will be done -- I mean, the inventory will be 24 updated every year. That's part of the agreement, to make 25 sure that we do have a -- a very good inventory, so part of 12-22-08 95 1 the agreement is that every year you'll update this -- the 2 inventory. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a couple of 4 questions. First is, are you the famous "Truck" Gamble? 5 DR. SCOTT: I think I'll sit down on that one. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I can verify that. 7 MR. GAMBLE: I have been called that as well as 8 many other things, as you well know, Commissioner. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I do know that, as a matter 10 of fact. Good to see you. My real question -- there's two 11 real questions. One is -- goes to ownership. I'm not real 12 clear what -- like, in the final analysis, when we're all 13 gone and this thing -- this program's rocking along, who owns 14 all of this material? 15 MR. GAMBLE: The material is -- will belong to the 16 Historical Society. It is theirs; it is on loan. And so it 17 could be on permanent loan, but even permanent loan can be 18 withdrawn within -- within time parameters, or it can be 19 temporarily withdrawn. But it -- it belongs to the 20 Historical Society. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Historical 22 Commission. 23 MR. GAMBLE: Historical Commission, yes. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And -- and then there was 25 some questions about some cost of -- I don't know what all, 12-22-08 96 1 but one of the recent things, you're going -- we're going to 2 debug some things. And -- 3 DR. SCOTT: We hope there's no bugs in it to begin 4 with. Right, Julia? 5 MS. STEHLING: Correct. 6 DR. SCOTT: Yeah. And we've never actually had 7 that problem as a -- as an archive, and so I -- I don't have 8 a ready cost for you. I did consult our library consortium, 9 which is -- it's the Southwest Regional Consortium. They 10 aren't willing to say it's going to cost 5 cents a document 11 or 10 cents a document either, so while that's a very 12 legitimate question on your part, I -- I would suggest that 13 what we put into the document is simply that nothing will be 14 done without consulting the Commission, and then you'll know 15 -- you'll know what it costs up front if we have to do it, 16 because right now we just can't predict. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, my real question is -- 18 is that who -- regardless of what it costs, who's going to 19 pay for it? And these guys are tightwads, you know? I'm -- 20 I'm here; I like to -- I like to help people and spend money 21 and do the right thing. These guys are tough to get along 22 with. So, I think -- I think that that's the real question. 23 Are we going to pay for it, or is historical -- Historical 24 Commission going to? 25 MR. GAMBLE: Well, I think -- I think whether or 12-22-08 97 1 not it is you or the Historical Commission will be between 2 you guys. I mean, our option would be to either not accept 3 it -- because we're not saying we're going to accept anything 4 that you give us, obviously. So, if it was infested, we 5 would say, you know, "We can't accept it in that condition." 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 7 MR. GAMBLE: And you can decide at that time 8 whether or not it was important enough to have it out there. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm, good. 10 MR. GAMBLE: And whether or not the cost of -- of 11 cleaning up infestation was worth having it out there. I 12 mean, it's not -- I think that decision could be made later. 13 But it would -- it would, I would think, be done by the 14 Historical Commission, or -- or maybe this body. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right. 16 MR. GAMBLE: But I do know that the County Judge is 17 hesitant ever to spend county money, so -- 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 19 MR. LUTHER: At this time -- I'm sorry. At this 20 time, I think we can absorb that cost into the archive 21 section of our budget. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Kathy, did you get that in 23 the record? 24 MR. LUTHER: Without coming back to you in this 25 cycle or in the future. I don't see it as being very 12-22-08 98 1 expensive. I did have one collection that I immediately put 2 in a big plastic bag, because I could see things crawling 3 around in it. And I consulted with the staff at Schreiner, 4 and they said put it in the freezer. Boy, you should have 5 heard my wife. (Laughter.) The meat section, she found this 6 photographic album with all these big white bugs crawling 7 around. But I -- I do think that we'll be able to -- to deal 8 with this adequately within the confines of our budget. I 9 don't see this as being a large item at all, and would be 10 covered by what money we have budgeted for archive of the 11 collections. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Where is the County Attorney with 13 respect to this process? I understand that what we're 14 looking at now is a draft document, but I heard some mention 15 about that it's, quote, now in final form, I believe I heard. 16 MR. LUTHER: Yes. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Emerson, where are you with 18 respect to this process? 19 MR. EMERSON: Essentially, I just received the 20 document and have a bunch of comments written all over it. 21 Probably be better if I had time to discuss that later. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: While you're going through it, 23 one of the questions that I have is, who owns the digitized 24 items? I mean, if you have the originals and you have the 25 digitized copies of them, is the copies the property of 12-22-08 99 1 Schreiner? 2 DR. SCOTT: No, it would still -- we would house it 3 on our server, because we back up the server and take care of 4 it, but the -- the Historical Commission would continue to 5 own every format, every version. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I would ask the County 8 Attorney a question with respect to the signatories on this 9 agreement. Mr. County Attorney, the one I'm looking at talks 10 about Mr. Luther, as chairman of the Historical Commission, 11 signing on behalf of the County. It would be my preference 12 that the County Judge, since this is county property, be the 13 signator. 14 MR. EMERSON: The County Judge or the Court are the 15 only ones that have authority to approve a contract. 16 MS. STEHLING: I'm sorry, who did you say? 17 MR. EMERSON: The only -- the only person, per se, 18 that has the authority to approve a contract on behalf of the 19 County is the Court. 20 MS. STEHLING: Okay. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, the actual signature is the 22 County Judge or -- you know, or the -- the Court designates 23 it, and then Mr. Luther can kind of be just a -- 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: On behalf of the 25 Commission. 12-22-08 100 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On behalf of the Commission, 2 not as a signatory, per se. Okay. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything further with regard to this 4 particular agenda item? 5 MR. LUTHER: I'd just like to say one other thing, 6 Judge, and that is that this is a wonderful opportunity, just 7 a wonderful opportunity, and serves both our interests very 8 well. I happen to go into the web page for the 9 Fredericksburg Historical Preservation Society. They've got 10 80,000 digital photographs, but the public can't get access 11 to them. It's like a book that's misshelved in the library. 12 You know, if you can't see it, you can't use it. If you 13 don't know what's there, it's of no value to you. So, this 14 certainly, I think, will enhance the ability of the people 15 and the students in Kerr County to -- to realize their 16 history. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm in love with what's 18 going on. I think it's one of the neatest things we've ever 19 done, but I just wanted to make sure that all the players are 20 doing their job, and we're -- particularly we're doing our 21 part, and I just wanted to make sure of all that. That's the 22 reason I brought it here today. Are you going to get with 23 somebody later on and ask your questions? 24 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 12-22-08 101 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just not going to answer 2 them. 3 MS. STEHLING: What is the next step? 4 JUDGE TINLEY: My thinking is the next step is to 5 continue to work with the County Attorney to come up with a 6 final document that's acceptable to you folks, and which he 7 can recommend to the Court as being proper from the County's 8 perspective, and then it'll come back here, and if the Court 9 feels that way, it'll get finalized and -- and we'll enter 10 into that agreement. That's my thinking. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with you. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 13 MS. STEHLING: Thank you. 14 DR. SCOTT: When is your next meeting? 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: January 12th. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Next year. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: You guys are really excited about 18 this. That's wonderful. 19 DR. SCOTT: That's right. 20 MR. LUTHER: That's great. 21 DR. SCOTT: Okay. Thank you for your time. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Candice. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Everybody in the world will see our 24 history. 25 DR. SCOTT: That's right. 12-22-08 102 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Thank you. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: If we may, let's go back to Item 18 4 and recall that item. Consider, discuss, take appropriate 5 action on H.R. capital loan. I understand there's been some 6 work done on that during the recess, and that maybe we've got 7 some kinks worked out and some more definitive information. 8 MR. EMERSON: I think the proper answer to that is 9 yes and no. There were some kinks worked out. Jeannie did 10 locate funding, but part of that funding would be wiping out 11 the last of Human Resources' funding in that category, and 12 I'm not comfortable doing that until -- 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Without her. 14 MR. EMERSON: -- we talk to Eva and make sure she 15 doesn't need that money. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Well, we'll just pass -- 17 continue to pass on that for now, then. Okay. That brings 18 us down to, unless I missed something, gentlemen, Section 4, 19 payment of the bills. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move we pay the bills. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to pay the 23 bills. Question or discussion on the motion? All in favor 24 of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 12-22-08 103 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 2 (No response.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Do we have 4 any budget amendments? 5 MS. HARGIS: No. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Any late bills? 7 MS. HARGIS: No. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: I've been presented with monthly 9 reports from Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1; Justice of the 10 Peace, Precinct 4; Justice of the Peace, Precinct 2; and the 11 District Clerk. Do I hear a motion that these reports be 12 approved as presented? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to approve 16 the designated reports as presented. Question or discussion 17 on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by 18 raising your right hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 21 (No response.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Do we have 23 any reports from any of the Commissioners with regard to 24 liaison or committee assignments? Commissioner Baldwin? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, sir. 12-22-08 104 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Williams? 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir, couple things 3 here dealing with AACOG. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is it going to be a bus tour 5 of Kerrville? 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No bus. You mentioned the 7 bus. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thirty bucks to ride to 9 Comfort. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You missed the bus; it 11 left. This is just for your information, gentlemen. It's 12 the AACOG Board as it is currently constituted, and the most 13 recent Kerr County job report, but I would hasten to say to 14 you that the Mooney layoff is not reflected in that 15 4.4 percent unemployment rate. It'll be shown -- it will 16 show up in the next one of these that we get, and that's kind 17 of it. As the -- just as Mr. Danos acknowledged -- or 18 advised you, I'll be heading the rural judges group section 19 of the -- of the AACOG Board, and Judge Tinley and I have 20 talked about a couple items that come before -- are going to 21 routinely come before the rural judges. Not only are they in 22 charge of oversight in the transportation program, but there 23 is forming a rural planning organization to complement the 24 metropolitan planning organization, and the rural judges will 25 be the oversight board for rural planning of transportation 12-22-08 105 1 issues within the 11 counties that surround Bexar County. 2 Our plate's going to be full next year. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It is, and that's a huge 4 responsibility you're taking on. Good. Thank you for doing 5 that. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're welcome. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Bill's done a great job down 8 there -- 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Truly has. Obviously has. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: -- being our continuous voice on 11 that entire organization, being on the executive board, board 12 of directors, you know, heading up the rural judges. Are 13 there any other commissioners on that group? 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, one, Commissioner 15 Millican out of Comal County. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And he also is moving up in 18 the hierarchy. He's on the management committee with me, 19 which is the equivalent of the executive committee, and he's 20 the new vice chair of AACOG, and he'll take the chair over in 21 '10. So -- 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's good. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, sir. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Commissioner Letz? 12-22-08 106 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just kind of two things. 2 First, I had some questions come in from Charlie Digges on 3 the action we did at the last meeting on the abandonment of 4 the Vlasek property, Comanche Caves. Charlie Digges prepares 5 all that as to what needs to be on that. I advised him, 6 since this was not a revision of plat, just a separate item, 7 that my thought would be that only the County Judge, Mr. 8 Digges as the surveyor-slash-engineer, and the subdivision 9 administrator, and then the two parties to the deal are the 10 only signators that I thought would be necessary. So, 11 that's -- unless someone thinks otherwise, they need to 12 contact Road and Bridge. I would not know why we would need 13 anybody -- I mean, all the others that have to normally file 14 plats that -- 911, utilities and all, that I just think -- 15 floodplain, all that stuff, to me, was irrelevant. 16 One other thing. Region J met last week in 17 Bandera. Region J also is going to file an appeal on the 18 actions taken by GMA-9 related to Edwards-Trinity. And I 19 found it very interesting that right after that, I received 20 some calls from -- well, a call from Kendall County 21 representative, very concerned about that decision and what 22 the reason was, and I explained it to him and I said, well, 23 evidently, we're -- this will be the first appeal filed in 24 the GMA process, and the thought is a lot of people are going 25 to be looking at what we're doing. I said, "Well, fine, if 12-22-08 107 1 they want to look at what we're doing." But I said my 2 overall view was that if the GMA process is going to set 3 desired future conditions, the public needs to be aware of 4 what those conditions are, what was done by GMA-9. No one 5 can tell me, including the members that were present at that 6 -- on GMA-9 can't agree as to what was set. So, I said, 7 "These things needs to be clear to the public." And they 8 cannot be arbitrarily debatable down the road, so we'll see 9 where that all ends up. The Water Development Board's trying 10 to figure out, you know, how to walk through the appeal 11 process, exactly how we do it, so they'll be coming back, I'm 12 sure, in January. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's it. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Oehler? 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Just one short thing. We -- 17 Road and Bridge has been doing some cleanout work in on 18 Ingram Lake. I got ahold of the school, and they were 19 getting a place that was closer to dump some of that 20 material, because we lost our spot to dump we've been using 21 for years when Vlasek built a building in the hole we used to 22 dump in, and so we needed to get a place to get rid of some 23 of that. And the school had a little pit that needed to be 24 filled. It's just close by. I got their permission for the 25 Road and Bridge employees to put some of that material in 12-22-08 108 1 there. It's a lot of gravel, and most of it's gravel-like; 2 it's not as much of that silt material, where they've been 3 cleaning the channel out between the boat dock and the main 4 body of the lake. And they didn't have a lot else to do. We 5 already paid for those guys to be on equipment, and the 6 manpower is budgeted, so they didn't really have anything 7 that was pressing, so they -- they've been up there working 8 on what they can get out of that lake before we plug it. 9 Hopefully -- hopefully, they'll get quite a bit of that. The 10 hole at the school is real big, 'cause that's only a very 11 short haul. Maybe where they're driving now is less than a 12 mile round trip, so that will end -- that will do well. And 13 the main reason that we decided to go ahead and -- and try to 14 get some of that out, this is the very first time we've ever 15 drained that thing when we had dry conditions like this, to 16 where you can actually get in there and move a lot of 17 material that wasn't wet. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And so, you know, the drought 20 is a bad thing, but for this, it's a wonderful thing. So, 21 they're going to -- I think they're going to try to get out 22 all they can get, you know, while they have time to do it. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else? 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think that's it. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, I do have -- I was 12-22-08 109 1 checking my e-mail. I got one from Grantworks there. We 2 were talking about the next round of colonia fundings, and 3 the deadline for that is in March. And they're talking to us 4 about the possibility of applying for half a million dollar 5 grant, which would do a couple things, some in your precinct, 6 some ramp-up on Kerrville South. The current Phase 4 in 7 Kerrville South goes down to Ranchero Road, picks up those 8 duplexes and quads, all that kind of stuff, and then the -- 9 Southwind, isn't it, Buster? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Southwind Mobile Home Park. 12 There still remains down there an apartment complex that -- 13 that someday we'd like to hook up, and so this is a little 14 ramp-up work. Also, we're talking about the possibility of 15 finishing out Blue Ridge and that mobile home park, which are 16 the two of those that were started by the City and didn't get 17 finished. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Blue Ridge. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Blue Ridge. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So we would be picking that 21 up. So, I'll come back to the Court with it in January and 22 see where that takes us. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I also think they made some 24 progress -- I haven't gotten to meet with the Ingram City 25 Manager yet, but there's a real interest in the City taking 12-22-08 110 1 some sewer for those businesses along 27, taking it right on 2 down and treating them. That would really be a wonderful 3 thing, and looking real forward to getting that done. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I queried Grantworks about 5 whether or not there are any funds available for that 6 purpose, Bruce, and because they're businesses and they -- 7 you know, they're well above the threshold. There's probably 8 no funding through any of these sources for that purpose. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They can do it on their 11 own. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think most of the 13 businesses along there will be more than willing to pay 14 whatever the expense is to get on that line, get rid of those 15 septics. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Increases the amount of 17 property available. But we can't discuss it. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So, that's all I have. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Do we have any reports from 20 elected officials or department heads? 21 MR. EMERSON: Just -- just one comment, going back 22 to Commissioner 1's comments earlier when he was talking 23 about funding for lobbyists. Just to make one thing clear, 24 as far as I know, this Court does not have any notice of 25 imminent failure of either one of those dams, just to make 12-22-08 111 1 sure that's on the record. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. No, there are not. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's true. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's true. Repairs 6 needed, but not imminent failure. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I didn't say that, 8 either, though. 9 MR. EMERSON: You were walking the top of the fence 10 very carefully. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, no, I -- 12 MR. EMERSON: Just to clarify the record. I 13 understood what you were saying. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You lawyers can take it to 15 mean anything, but I didn't come anywhere near that. But, 16 anyway, thank you for clearing that up. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Barton? 18 MR. BARTON: Thank you. Merry Christmas. I would 19 like to take just a minute and give you an update on some 20 good things that are happening at our office. We have taken 21 some of the approvals in the budget that you guys made 22 earlier this year, and we have kind of revamped our staff. 23 We've brought on -- we'll now have three certified peace 24 officers on staff. With the -- one of the positions that we 25 budgeted for was an office manager. That title's been 12-22-08 112 1 changed to Office Director now, and we have brought in 2 retired Texas Ranger -- soon to be retired Texas Ranger Kyle 3 Dean, so he's going to be the -- double as a law enforcement 4 officer with the D.A.'s office and be an office director, so 5 we're kind of getting two for one there. I'm kind of proud 6 we were able to get that guy on board. 7 I've hired an assistant district attorney, 8 seven-year veteran prosecutor. His name's Brad McCullouch. 9 For those of you that will be at the swearing-in ceremony on 10 the 1st, you'll have an opportunity to meet him. He's a 11 fantastic guy. Like I say, seven years prosecutorial 12 experience in a jurisdiction that's similar in size to ours, 13 so he's -- he's good at handling small city and -- and rural 14 aspects of our district. We have, at no taxpayer expense and 15 no cost to this county, initiated a -- the acquisition of a 16 computer system for the office. We're going to get brought 17 up into at least this decade with regard to case management 18 software, archival, and -- and also integrate with the 19 various law enforcement agencies on submitting cases to the 20 District Attorney's office with our agencies that are here, 21 the Sheriff's Office, the police department, and Ingram. 22 It's pretty easy. You know, I can just run over 23 there and pick up reports from them, but what we're doing 24 with our western counties is giving them a portal into our 25 server where they can upload their cases through a web 12-22-08 113 1 interface. That's something Mr. Trolinger and -- and my I.T. 2 guys will hopefully be conferencing on here in the near 3 future so that we don't compromise any of the county's 4 security, 'cause we -- we will have two systems that are tied 5 together, Kerr County and then the D.A.'s office. And also, 6 I just wanted to be available to answer any questions, if you 7 have any -- any questions. Another person that we've hired, 8 a receptionist position, is Jeri Causey. She was L.D. 9 Brinkman's personal assistant for many, many, many years, so 10 she comes on board ready to hit the ground running. So, 11 we're going to have a staff that's ready to go, I think, day 12 one. We will have a few growing pains as we switch over to 13 the new computer system and the new software, but other than 14 that, you'll have a fully ready to run D.A.'s office 15 January 1. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, you use the same -- 17 basically the same kind of system that we have? 18 MR. BARTON: Odyssey? 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 20 MR. BARTON: We're unable to use Odyssey. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's a blessing. 22 (Laughter.) 23 MR. BARTON: Actually, one of the things that the 24 I.T. guys need to get with Mr. Trolinger on is the ability to 25 pull or mine data out of Odyssey and plug it into our 12-22-08 114 1 program. The reason that we can't do it is 'cause we have 2 four other counties that aren't on Odyssey, so we -- and 3 Mr. Trolinger and I have talked about a few things where that 4 might be an option, but really, I'd rather Kerr County not 5 have to house all the records for four other counties, and 6 the attendant expenses associated with that. So -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's exciting. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Sounds good. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Any other elected 10 officials, department heads have reports? Anything else? 11 Last chance for the year. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Merry Christmas. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Likewise. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: When is that, tomorrow? 15 Tomorrow is the Christmas party. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Tomorrow at noon. Yes, it is. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tomorrow is the Christmas 18 party, and I understand that the real Santa Claus is going to 19 be there. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Really? 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. Yeah, that's what I've heard. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Long gray beard and 24 everything. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's kind of scary. 12-22-08 115 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And then January 1 at 2 10 o'clock upstairs is the swearing-in ceremony. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Is the real Santa Claus going to be 4 there too? 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes. He's going to be 6 dressed a little bit differently. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think I told y'all I will not 9 be at that ceremony. I'll be sworn in right -- probably on 10 the 3rd or 4th. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: You're taking applications for 13 interim, Commissioner? Is that it? 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: For that three-day period there? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Let's see. Is that 17 appointment for sale, by any chance? (Laughter.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: How can you get in on that, right? 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You couldn't pay anybody to 20 take it. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, enough. We're adjourned. 22 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 11:48 a.m.) 23 - - - - - - - - - - 24 25 12-22-08 116 1 STATE OF TEXAS | 2 COUNTY OF KERR | 3 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 4 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 5 County Clerk of the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 6 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 7 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 30th day of December, 8 2008. 9 10 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 11 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 12 Certified Shorthand Reporter 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 12-22-08