1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Friday, February 13, 2009 11 10:30 a.m. 12 Commissioners' Courtroom 13 Kerr County Courthouse 14 Kerrville, Texas 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 PRESENT: PAT TINLEY, Kerr County Judge H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 24 WILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 25 BRUCE OEHLER, Commissioner Pct. 4 2 1 I N D E X February 13, 2009 2 PAGE 3 1.1 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 4 award contract for pharmaceutical provider for Kerr County Indigent Health program for the 5 balance of 2009 fiscal year and FY 2010 4 6 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve resolutions, including, but not limited 7 to: dam repair and upgrades, Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center, stimulus funding to go through 8 state agencies, and other stimulus package items 7 9 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on Kerr County FMLA policy 13 10 --- Adjourned 21 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 On Friday, February 13, 2009, at 10:30 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: Okay, let me call to order this 8 special meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court 9 scheduled and posted for this date and time, Friday, 10 February 13th, 2009, at 10:30 a.m. It is a bit past that 11 time now. The agenda calls for a visitors' input, so I will 12 ask if there's any member of the audience or public that 13 wishes to be heard on any matter that is not a listed agenda 14 item. If so, feel free to come forward at this time. Seeing 15 no one coming forward, we will move on. It calls for 16 Commissioners' comments. Do you have anything for us, 17 Commissioner Baldwin? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, I do not. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Commissioner Williams? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Appreciate you asking. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Nothing. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Letz? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Nothing. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Oehler? 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Nothing here. 2-13-09 4 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move on with the agenda. 2 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to award 3 contract for pharmaceutical provider for Kerr County 4 Indigent Health program for the balance of 2009 fiscal year 5 and FY 2010. We provided some bids that we received at our 6 last meeting and referred them to the Indigent Health care 7 people for review and evaluation and recommendation. What do 8 you have for us, Ms. Lavender? 9 MS. LAVENDER: Well, we reviewed them and compared 10 them, and we have one that's outstanding, and it's with the 11 H.E.B. Pharmacy. And I made you kind of a little packet; I 12 wanted you to look at it this morning real quickly. I'll 13 give you -- send one around. She already has all this stuff. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What is "real quickly"? 15 MS. LAVENDER: I'm not going to read it to you. 16 What I was going to tell you is that the H.E.B. Pharmacy 17 people have contracts with Comal, Aransas, Bastrop, Burnet, 18 Calhoun, Ellis, Kendall, Kleberg, Maverick, Medina, and 19 Wharton Counties, so we're not plowing a new field with this 20 thing. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 22 MS. LAVENDER: The -- the lady from H.E.B. is going 23 to be here next Wednesday to set up the contract and go 24 through the enrollment process with us. The indigent health 25 people will be able to enroll online for their pharmacy 2-13-09 5 1 program. If they -- if you choose something or the doctor 2 prescribes something off of this 500 generic list, -- and I 3 gave you a copy of it, 'cause just for curiosity, I thought 4 you might want to look at it -- those are $5 prescriptions. 5 Currently, we've been paying $5.40 just for a dispensing fee 6 per prescription, and if it's a generic, from now on, 7 there'll be no dispensing fee. And you can see that the list 8 is pretty extensive. And then the other part of it is, 9 H.E.B. will give us 13 percent off the average wholesale 10 price on any brand name items, which we do have some of 11 those. And the -- just the convenience of the program; it's 12 well established. 13 What you have there is the printout from the Burnet 14 County program, and we'll have something that's customized 15 for us next week. But we would recommend -- and Dawn had 16 interviews this morning with indigent health clients, and 17 that's the reason she's not here, but we both agree that this 18 is the best option that we have, and certainly will serve our 19 purposes. The budget year for Indigent Health is September 1 20 through August 31st, and so this contract that we are going 21 to have with them will go through August 31st of 2010. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we award 23 the Kerr County Indigent Health Care program prescription 24 drug contract to H.E.B. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 2-13-09 6 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Question 3 or discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, 4 signify by raising your right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 9 MS. LAVENDER: Thank you. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Rosa, you want this back? 11 MS. LAVENDER: You can keep it. Thank you. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Have y'all calculated any ballpark 13 probable cost savings? 14 MS. LAVENDER: Of what this -- 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, mm-hmm. 16 MS. LAVENDER: Not really. It's kind of hard to do 17 that, because we'd have to go back to each specific client 18 and each specific prescription. So -- 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 20 MS. LAVENDER: It would take a lot of time to do 21 that. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll know pretty quick, though, 23 won't we? 24 MS. LAVENDER: Right. We should know, I think, by 25 the end of the contract year in August of this year, August 2-13-09 7 1 '09, that we should see the -- the difference. I think the 2 dispensing fee -- savings in the dispensing fee alone is 3 going to save us, you know, $15 a month per client if they're 4 on three prescriptions a month. And so -- 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Dispensing fee that we're paying now 6 is normally 5.95? 7 MS. LAVENDER: 5.40 per prescription. And if we 8 can get them onto generics, then this will be eliminated. 9 So, anyway, we're going to work on it and see what we can do 10 to save more money. Thank you. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: We will go to the next item on the 14 agenda, to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 15 approve resolutions, including, but not limited to: dam 16 repair and upgrades, Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center, 17 stimulus funding to go through state agencies, and other 18 stimulus package items. I put this on the agenda at the 19 request of several of the Commissioners dealing with various 20 county priority and desired projects. Commissioner Williams 21 was kind enough to do the resolutions, and we appreciate your 22 efforts. And -- 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're welcome. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: And do you want to take off running 25 with it? 2-13-09 8 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think we've covered the 2 bases on all the topics that the Court asked that we cover. 3 The first one -- in no particular order, first one I have in 4 my hand is the -- has to do with lake/dams repair, dredging 5 of the Guadalupe River, lakes -- the dam repair, lake and 6 river dredging, construction of off-channel stormwater 7 reservoir. The language, as you'll see in each one, setting 8 up the resolution is pretty straightforward in all four of 9 them, and the only thing that changes from one to one is 10 the -- the definition at the top telling what it is and the 11 explanation in the middle as to the particular topic. So, 12 the first one has to do with the river -- river dredging, dam 13 repair, and potential of a reclamation project for stormwater 14 cachement reservoir. Want me to move them, Judge, as we go 15 through it? 16 JUDGE TINLEY: You may, surely. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I move adoption of the -- 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- first resolution. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 21 adoption of the resolution dealing with the river dredging -- 22 river and lake dredging, Guadalupe River, dam repairs, and 23 construction of off-channel stormwater cachement reservoirs. 24 Question or discussion on that motion? All in favor of the 25 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 2-13-09 9 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second one, Judge, is -- 6 deals with the replacement of the Hill Country Youth Exhibit 7 Center. Same language, different topic. Move approval. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 10 approval of the resolution urging stimulus funding for the 11 replacement of the Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center. 12 Question or discussion on the motion? All in favor of the 13 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 16 (No response.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Third joint resolution 19 deals with the use of stimulus funds for the Center Point/ 20 East Kerr County wastewater and water projects. Move 21 approval. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Third. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 2-13-09 10 1 approval of the joint resolution concerning use of stimulus 2 funds for the Center Point/East Kerr County wastewater and 3 water projects. Question or discussion on the motion? All 4 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion carries. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And the final one deals 10 with supporting use of stimulus funds for the replacement of 11 six off-system bridges. I identified the six bridges. I 12 assume that I identified them correctly in Precincts 3 and 4, 13 and there's one in Precinct 2. Move approval of the 14 resolution. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 17 approval of the resolution for stimulus funding for the 18 replacement of six off-system bridges. Question or 19 discussion on that motion? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask a question, just 21 kind of off the -- off the beaten path here. Hoot Owl, is 22 there some dispute over property? 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: There was, but there's not. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: There was, but there's not 2-13-09 11 1 any more, huh? 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The dispute on that 3 particular one, we have found out that that piece of property 4 in question is not owned by the person who claims -- 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's right. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- to have some rights to it. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: There went the argument, 8 right? 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The argument is null and 10 void. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Further question or discussion on 12 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 13 your right hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 16 (No response.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. There's one more 18 item on here, funding through state agencies. Commissioner 19 Letz, I believe you wanted to talk about that item? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Talk about that. And I think 21 that the one with the -- the status of the stimulus package, 22 that it's done pretty much -- and in my understanding of how 23 it's going to work, anyway, that's really unnecessary and 24 wouldn't have any impact, really, so no reason to clutter it 25 up. 2-13-09 12 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Anything else on that 2 particular agenda item? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just one -- just a little bit 4 of good news. I know that the Airport Board has -- or one of 5 the board members, Fred Vogt, has been in contact for several 6 weeks now with TexDOT Aviation, and some of the projects that 7 we have on our resolutions have a pretty good shot of getting 8 funded. And they're -- the way this is going to work, and 9 this is kind of on a lot of these, evidently, is that the -- 10 because of the timing, they're going to swap out projects. 11 They're going to swap projects that they have funding for 12 already allocated, like roads and everything else -- like our 13 bridges would be a good example. Those projects are set, 14 ready to go. The funding's kind of the issue. They're going 15 to -- even those that are funded already, they're going to 16 put the stimulus money in, pull the state money out, and then 17 use that -- then they can do 100 percent funding of these new 18 projects, and then reallocate that old money to other 19 projects. And there's a chance, I understand, that at the 20 airport, that can be happening with the drainage project 21 currently underway; that that may be a swap, and they may 22 take their 7.2 million back and replace it with 8 million. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That would eliminate 24 totally our -- our commitment. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the City's. 2-13-09 13 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And fund the entire 2 remainder of the project. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that's the hope as to 4 howsoever that's going to be happening, at least in Texas. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We've passed those two 6 resolutions before, so they weren't part of this. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. So, anyway, you know, 8 there was a -- it appears from TexDOT's standpoint, anyway, 9 that's how they're going to probably use some of these 10 pass-through funds. That's their approach, because they -- 11 obviously, the engineering to start one of these projects 12 takes years, and it would be -- you know, doesn't work. So, 13 that's the way they've done it, basically, which could give 14 us a lot of benefit. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: If that -- if those funds go for 16 that drainage project, and -- and subsequent to that, even, 17 the water project, that would certainly head off a major 18 difficulty that we got looming, at least financially. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else on that particular 21 agenda item? Let's move to Item 3; consider, discuss, take 22 appropriate action on Kerr County FMLA policy. 23 MS. HYDE: One's for Cheryl. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They're all stapled in the 25 right-hand corner. 2-13-09 14 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Aren't they always? 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah, always on the 3 right-hand corner. Left-handed people. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. You're reading my mind, 5 Commissioner. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Are you beating your drum 8 over there? 9 MS. HYDE: There's one for Rex. When we left here 10 the other day, I went over to talk with Mr. Williams with 11 Rusty and myself, and was asked to make some changes. I 12 incorporated those changes into the new document. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You might refresh the 14 Court's memory which paragraphs. 15 MS. HYDE: If you go to Paragraph 1 -- 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Page 75? 17 MS. HYDE: Page 72. First paragraph, last sentence 18 was added. Employees who experience qualifying event shall 19 be placed on FMLA, and any -- I can't read your writing. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Any paid leave available to the 21 employee shall run concurrently with FMLA leave. 22 MS. HYDE: Thank you. Go to Page 75, I think where 23 the Judge was, under types of leave. There's a change there. 24 Instead of substitution of paid leave, it says, "Concurrent 25 use of paid leave and FMLA leave." The same sentence was 2-13-09 15 1 added to the end of that section under vacation and sick. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are those the only two we 3 messed with? 4 MS. HYDE: We changed Page 77. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Wait, can we go back a second? 6 On page 75, employees on continuous FMLA leave. Why is the 7 word "continuous" there? 8 MS. HYDE: Well, because you have continuous FMLA 9 and have you intermittent FMLA. Intermittent means they can 10 take up to one hour of leave at a time, so continuous is when 11 they have -- yes, sir. That's why it's gotten down and 12 intense. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We -- I mean, is it -- will 14 employees understand what "continuous" and "intermittent" 15 mean? 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are they defined anywhere? 17 MS. HYDE: We're going to have to train them. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. But, I mean, it's 19 defined somewhere? 20 MS. HYDE: I got two people talking. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is it defined somewhere? I 22 mean, it seems to me that those are the things that, if we 23 define it somewhere in our policy, or if it's defined by 24 federal law or -- or somewhere -- 25 MS. HYDE: It tells you what continuous is, and it 2-13-09 16 1 tells you what intermittent is. Intermittent has its own 2 section. 3 MS. BAILEY: It would be good to put it in here. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Intermittent leave, 5 okay. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That last sentence on Page 75 7 is -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- the place to do that. Has 10 teeth in it. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The definitions section. 12 MS. HYDE: On Page 72, guys, it -- on Page 72, it 13 tells us what intermittent leave is. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 18 MS. HYDE: Do you want me to put what is 19 continuous? Do you want me to add -- 20 JUDGE TINLEY: I think probably "continuous" is 21 pretty evident, by definition. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is continuous -- well, you say 23 that, but I have a question. Is intermittent only hourly? 24 Say you're gone for five days. Is that intermittent or 25 continuous? 2-13-09 17 1 MS. HYDE: That's continuous. If they're out for 2 an hour a day for five days, that's intermittent. So, 3 somebody that has a migraine, which is considered a serious 4 health -- can be -- can be qualified as a serious medical 5 complaint -- 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This paragraph identifies 7 both of them, Commissioner. "Intermittent leave is leave 8 taken in separate blocks of time for a single illness or 9 injury, rather than one continuous period of time, which may 10 include periods from a portion of an hour or more to several 11 weeks." 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Maybe on that -- could we 13 add -- maybe say "intermittent and continuous leave"? That 14 way -- 'cause that sentence does cover both. 15 MS. HYDE: On Page 72? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 17 MS. HYDE: Or 75? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 72. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 75. 20 MS. HYDE: So, I'll put intermittent leave and 21 continuous leave. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, you can put in a separate 23 paragraph for continuous leave, which is leave taken in one 24 continuous period of time. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. I just think -- you 2-13-09 18 1 know, the more we define it, the -- you know, what's 2 continuous to one may not be continuous to somebody else. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Less chance for 4 misinterpretation. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: But I think you've addressed the 6 issue, the concept issue that we had. 7 MS. HYDE: Okay. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: That clears up -- can you -- can you 9 start on the paid and hold the other one in your pocket? 10 That last sentence on 75 clearly says it starts upon the 11 occurrence. Doesn't say you got to apply for it. Doesn't -- 12 it starts, period, upon a qualifying event. And that's what 13 we want. 14 MS. HYDE: Page 77 we changed to the box. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 77? 16 MS. HYDE: Yes, sir. And then the very last box on 17 Page 79, it was changed. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can we adopt this today, make 19 it effective immediately? 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that what we're doing? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sure. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: That's the agenda item. 24 MS. BAILEY: If you're going to adopt it today, you 25 need to say "with the following change," and do that 2-13-09 19 1 continuous addition, if that's how you're going to do it. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, as amended today. 3 MS. BAILEY: Yeah. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But, I mean, we don't have to 5 -- there's no notice? We can just do it? 6 MS. BAILEY: Is this part of the personnel policy 7 that we're doing? 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we amend 10 the Kerr County Personnel Policy and -- is the previous one 11 the same chapter? 12 MS. HYDE: No, sir, previous one is in three 13 different sections in the old policy book. None of them are 14 the same. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Amend Kerr County personnel 16 policy family medical leave -- I'm trying to think of the 17 right word here. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: In lieu of existing. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: In lieu of existing family 20 medical leave provisions. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In lieu of, or to 22 supersede? Whichever. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: We're going to replace the 24 existing -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We want to replace the existing 2-13-09 20 1 with this. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: With -- with the addition of a 3 "continuous leave" provision as being one continuous period 4 of time. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, correct. And that's 6 basically the existing -- the draft as presented, as amended 7 or revised today. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: See there, Buster? The 9 lawyer in him came out. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Yeah, easy for him to 11 say. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm going to keep my mouth 13 shut. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second. 17 Discussion or questions on the motion? All in favor of the 18 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 21 (No response.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Anything 23 else, gentlemen, under this agenda? We'll be adjourned. 24 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 10:55 a.m.) 25 - - - - - - - - - - 2-13-09 21 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 13th day of February, 8 2009. 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 2-13-09