1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Friday, May 1, 2009 11 9:45 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 May 1, 2009 2 PAGE 3 1.1 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to authorize and/or request Kerrville/Kerr County 4 Joint Airport Board to make application to and/or request Kerrville Economic Improvement 5 Corporation to fund Phase 2 of the Kerrville/ Kerr County Airport drainage and taxiway project 3 6 --- Adjourned 18 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 On Friday, May 1, 2009, at 9:45 a.m., a special meeting 2 of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in the 3 Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, Kerrville, 4 Texas, and the following proceedings were had in open court: 5 P R O C E E D I N G S 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me call to order this special 7 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court posted and 8 scheduled for this date and time, Friday, May 1, 2009, at 9 9:45 a.m. It is that time now. The agenda item is to 10 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to authorize 11 and request Kerrville/Kerr County Joint Airport Board to make 12 application to and/or request Kerrville Economic -- Kerrville 13 Economic Improvement Corporation to fund Phase 2 of the 14 Kerrville/Kerr County Airport drainage and taxiway project. 15 I put this on the agenda. By way of background, as I'm sure 16 all of you recall -- Mr. Bobertz and Bruce McKenzie, Airport 17 Manager, are here. You recall back in -- I believe it was in 18 December, the Court was initially exposed to a presentation 19 by the Airport Board and the Airport Manager to the entire 20 project going on; that we were in Phase 1, we're going to be 21 going into Phase 2. I believe that was a meeting over at 22 Buzzie's. And then, subsequent to that, they went -- the 23 Airport Board provided that presentation to -- they came to 24 us again, to the Court. They went to the City Council. They 25 went to Economic Improvement Corporation, Lions, Rotary, 5-1-09 4 1 Kiwanis, all sorts of -- for the primary purpose of educating 2 and providing a basis for support for the ongoing nature of 3 the project. 4 My clear understanding, and the understanding of 5 others that I talked to, was that was part and parcel of a -- 6 of a program so that the Airport Board subsequently would end 7 up going to the E.I.C. to obtain the -- the local match 8 required for the funding of Phase 2, inasmuch as the E.I.C. 9 had provided the local match funding for Phase 1 of this same 10 project. It was brought to my attention Monday evening, I 11 believe, that -- that the interlocal agreement under which 12 the Airport Board currently operates pursuant to the 13 authority of the owners, the City and the County, under 14 Paragraph 3(G)(2), provides that the board, meaning the 15 Airport Board, following the prior written consent of each 16 party -- that's City and County -- has the authority to apply 17 for and to execute grant funding agreements. Well, the 18 E.I.C. funds, in all probability, would be grant funding type 19 funds, and would require such an agreement. 20 So, further, we were advised, oh, about the middle 21 of last month, as I'm sure the letter got circulated among 22 the members of the Court, that what we thought was going to 23 be a funding requirement for this coming October had suddenly 24 been moved up to June, so we were under a pretty tight time 25 frame. So, based upon that, I did not want this Court, as 5-1-09 5 1 one of the owners at the airport, to be an obstacle for the 2 board to be able to go forward and make that application to 3 E.I.C., as I had envisioned that they would do from the very 4 beginning of this whole process. So, I knew we were going to 5 be meeting later this morning, so I promptly posted this 6 agenda to authorize the Airport Board, on behalf of the 7 County, to move forward to the E.I.C. for that -- for that 8 funding for Phase 2. That's the background. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This is May. Next month's 10 June. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: That's right. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's pretty quick. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Yep. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, you might point out, 15 too, that the funding -- or the match requirement has been 16 reduced from a 10 percent, that we've heretofore understood 17 and participated with, to a 5 percent match for City and 18 County, and that takes the number down from 400,000 to 19 200,000. Correct? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Per entity. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Per entity. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, yeah. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Would have been an $800,000 24 total match. Now it's 400,000. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: The entire funding match came down 5-1-09 6 1 to approximately 400,000, that's correct, because it became a 2 95/5 instead of a 90/10, as was the first one. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Correct. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: That's right. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It said in there, as far as 6 a motion and a -- a vote here, it's -- you read in there 7 something about "authorize the board in writing"? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: It says following the prior written 9 consent of each party, has authority to apply for. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Written consent. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: I would take that to mean if this 12 Court approves this agenda item, there's a Commissioners 13 Court order approving it; I think that's clear, written 14 authority for them to be authorized as required by this 15 section to proceed with that. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's exactly where I'm 17 going, where I was headed with that. I didn't know if we 18 needed to get -- authorize you to write a letter, or -- 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- or just the court order 21 itself would be sufficient. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: It occurs to me that the court order 23 would be way adequate. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I would move that 25 Commissioners Court take -- authorize the Kerrville/Kerr 5-1-09 7 1 County Joint Airport Board to make application to Kerrville 2 Economic Improvement Corporation to fund Phase 2 match of the 3 Kerrville/Kerr County Airport drainage taxiway project. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second. 6 Question or discussion on the motion? All in favor of the 7 motion, signify by -- yes, sir? 8 MR. BOBERTZ: There's one further development. It 9 was discovered, I think -- and it came up in Council meeting. 10 My name's Roger Bobertz. I'm the current president of the 11 Airport Board. It came up in Council meeting that they had 12 discovered a -- a fund reserve of $250,000 that was in the 13 airport account. It was to be used for Phase 2. So, if we 14 apply that to the $400,000, 5 percent match, that leaves 15 $150,000, which reduces the obligation of each of the owners 16 to $75,000. And -- 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Would you do me a favor and 18 say all of that again? You found some money? 19 MR. BOBERTZ: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The City found some money. 21 MR. BOBERTZ: Yeah. The City's Finance Director 22 found some money. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Did I walk in the right 24 meeting? (Laughter.) The City found some money. That's -- 25 I mean, where was the money? 5-1-09 8 1 MR. BOBERTZ: The money -- 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: In the Airport Board or the 3 library, or where? 4 MR. BOBERTZ: No, it's -- it's in the City's 5 general fund, but it's allocated to the airport. The City, 6 for the present, is doing all of the accounting and 7 bookkeeping for the airport, so we rely on them to manage our 8 books for us, subject, of course, to audit. And apparently 9 during the previous incarnation of the Airport Board, which 10 was a previous interlocal agreement, the City was operating 11 the airport on -- the Airport Manager was a City employee, et 12 cetera, and the City Manager was the principal spokesman for 13 financial matters. And my understanding, which is a little 14 -- obviously, it's obviously subject to question, is that the 15 Airport Manager at the time, and the City Manager at the 16 time, allocated funds to be placed aside in reserve for this 17 taxiway relocation drainage project. Both of those 18 individuals have since moved on, so -- and in reviewing the 19 books for the airport, the City Finance Director found this 20 account of $250,000 that was previously allocated to the 21 airport, and is now available for expenditure on projects 22 such as this. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Are they going to say that 24 those are their funds and not any part of ours? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, that's the question. 5-1-09 9 1 Is it -- is that City/County money? 2 MR. BOBERTZ: It's airport money now. It was 3 allocated by the City to the airport. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Allocated by the City -- 5 MR. BOBERTZ: Yes. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- to the airport. 7 MR. BOBERTZ: Right. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Not City. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Not from the County. City. 10 MR. BOBERTZ: No. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: To the airport. 12 MR. BOBERTZ: No, just the City side. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, that may all be the 15 case, and it probably needs to get sorted out as to who, 16 what, where, when, and why. But I think -- I think the 17 purpose of this is to move it forward, and that -- and the 18 process of going for E.I.C. Now, if that shakes itself out 19 and that pot of gold is, in fact, alive, well, and burning a 20 hole in somebody's pocket, then that's -- that's a plus 21 somewhere down the line. But I'd like to kind of see the 22 process move forward here, and then let all the little -- 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- subordinate things come 25 into play. 5-1-09 10 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, if we go ahead and 2 approve this, that approves the application for funds no 3 matter what the dollar amount is. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Exactly right. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It gives -- the Airport Board 7 has the -- this isn't requiring the Airport Board to do 8 anything; it's just saying we authorize you to go apply for 9 funds. 10 MR. BOBERTZ: We have your permission. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Whatever amount you want, 12 however you want, or if you want. I mean, you do not have 13 to. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, it would relate to Phase 2. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, right. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: That's the only limitation. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But no amount. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: No. No. 19 MR. BOBERTZ: No. I raise this point only to make 20 sure you understood the strong possibility that we're only 21 talking about $75,000, not $200,000. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's great -- 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- if it works out that way. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Reach in your other pocket, 5-1-09 11 1 see what else you can find. (Laughter.) 2 MR. BOBERTZ: We've had a very good year at finding 3 money, I must say. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: What other moneys have you found? 5 MR. BOBERTZ: We found an account about two months 6 ago that we used for two purposes. One was to fund an 7 engineering study for the fire water flow problem we have at 8 the airport, and the -- another piece of it was used to -- to 9 prefund the severance pay for the Airport Manager, should the 10 Airport Manager ever be eligible for severance pay. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How much was in that 13 account? Do you recall? 14 MR. BOBERTZ: Help me, Bruce. I think it was a 15 hundred something. 16 MR. McKENZIE: About 140,000 or 150,000. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 140,000. 18 MR. McKENZIE: Yes, sir. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: And this was another amount that was 20 suddenly found? 21 MR. McKENZIE: The Finance Director found, yes, 22 sir. He was fairly thorough in looking at the last three or 23 four years, and he discovered those moneys were available. 24 They are there. Just like the 250,000 Mr. Bobertz was 25 talking about, the money is there, been verified. 5-1-09 12 1 MR. BOBERTZ: And I think that the -- the reason 2 these -- these funds have been discovered is a creature of 3 the new -- the new interlocal agreement and the departure of 4 the City Manager and the Airport Manager. Those things are 5 more or less in the same -- same level of activity, and 6 because of that, some things got obscured. Otherwise, I'm 7 sure this would be up in front of everybody. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it goes back partially 9 -- I mean, I don't think either -- I won't speak for either 10 one of you, but they probably don't know a great deal about 11 how the County works, either. I've been at some of the 12 meetings, and they -- like, it goes back, I think, to how 13 excess funds from one -- or for a given year were handled in 14 the past. There was money budgeted, you know, put aside 15 for -- whether it be for Phase 2 or whether it was just 16 excess over operations. 17 MR. BOBERTZ: Yes. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that money was in an 19 airport fund that the City had, and the Airport Board didn't 20 have, really, knowledge of what those funds were. And the 21 City had two personnel changes. It was kind of lost for a 22 while. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think that's exactly 24 right, Commissioner. And, Bruce, you can -- you can maybe 25 help me out on this in terms -- 'cause you, for many years, 5-1-09 13 1 were a City employee and you operated under this policy. I 2 believe it was the City's policy that they tried to have a -- 3 have about a 5 or a 7 percent reserve in each account at the 4 end of the year. 5 MR. McKENZIE: That was the goal. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, the goal. And then 7 if they achieved that, then this rolled back to their 8 reserves. And I -- you know, years ago I questioned -- on 9 the joint Airport Advisory Board, I questioned what happened 10 to the County's piece of that if, in fact, you got to the 11 bottom line and had a 5 percent or 7 percent left in your 12 account. So, you know, all that needs to get fleshed out. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it was my understanding 14 that the -- that's another whole agenda item, actually. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But, anyway, it's just the -- 17 it's reserve funds that are dedicated on the City's books to 18 the airport for airport use. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sure. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's -- you know. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's where they need to 22 be used. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Was the City not providing the 24 Airport Manager or the Airport Board regular reports of their 25 financial position? 5-1-09 14 1 MR. BOBERTZ: Yes. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes and no, though. I don't -- 3 'cause I was on the board during that period. Recent -- 4 generally, those funds, the only thing presented as long as I 5 was involved with the -- with the airport, the few years I 6 was on the board, was kind of annual operations. I don't 7 know that I have ever seen a total fund picture for the 8 airport. I mean, you all may have, but I only recall ever 9 getting annual operations, you know, kind of looking at the 10 annual thing. And then the -- the grant part of it and how 11 all the disbursements went through the City, I've never seen 12 that. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: What -- am I hearing that, yeah, 14 they were providing you with regular financial reports, but 15 they were only partial reports, so we only do part of the 16 financial information? Is that what I'm hearing? 17 MR. BOBERTZ: Let me try to -- as the world looks 18 to me. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 20 MR. BOBERTZ: The first pile of money we found, the 21 $140,000, you know, I grew up in a corporate world where, at 22 the end of the fiscal year, if you did not spend all the 23 money authorized for your budget -- your department, it 24 disappeared. It was gone. And I think all the rest of the 25 Airport Board members assumed that. We came to the end of 5-1-09 15 1 last fiscal year and we had roughly $140,000 of unspent 2 allocation due to the excess revenues and underspent budgeted 3 expenses. And somebody asked the -- the Finance Director, 4 "Is that money gone?" He said, "No, that's still money 5 authorized for the Airport Board, and it's available for your 6 use." 7 JUDGE TINLEY: And that was approximately when? 8 MR. BOBERTZ: That was the 140,000, and that was 9 approximately -- October? November? 10 MR. McKENZIE: Last year, before Thanksgiving. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 12 MR. BOBERTZ: End of the prior fiscal year, where 13 the numbers emerged. The existence of this -- this $250,000 14 reserve, that's a surprise to me. I don't know where it was. 15 I think it was a surprise to the City Finance Director. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Surprise, surprise. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: At least it was found. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the question would need 19 to go to the City, Judge, because -- and the reason I'm 20 saying that -- 21 JUDGE TINLEY: It would. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- is the Airport Board is 23 learning, and this is the first year of, really, operations. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: I guess my question -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They've never seen the account 5-1-09 16 1 before. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: I guess my question is, when the 140 3 fell out of the sky, did it not occur to anybody on the board 4 or to Bruce to say, "Gee, that was nice. Is there any more?" 5 Apparently not. 6 MR. BOBERTZ: No, because that was a specific set 7 of circumstances, you know. Excess revenue, underspent 8 budgeted expenses. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, that 140 was a recent 10 vintage. 11 MR. BOBERTZ: Yeah, it was left over from -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Last year. 13 MR. BOBERTZ: -- fiscal 2008. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Oh, okay. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Whereas the other, Judge, 16 could go back several years, where they rolled it into their 17 reserve. 18 MR. BOBERTZ: Yes. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Am I correct, Bruce? 20 MR. McKENZIE: Yes, sir. 21 MR. BOBERTZ: Yes, that's the way I understand it. 22 MR. McKENZIE: That's my understanding. 23 MR. BOBERTZ: The City determined, back in the days 24 when they were operating the airport, that they should start 25 building a reserve for this taxiway project. 5-1-09 17 1 JUDGE TINLEY: So, my question to you as to whether 2 or not you were only getting part of your financial picture 3 would have to be yes, that's all you were getting, because 4 there were obviously -- there was a $140,000 component, and 5 then some sort of -- maybe a capital projects or something, 6 here's another 250. That certainly, I think, was relevant to 7 what you folks needed to know for purposes of -- of operating 8 an airport and planning for future operations, but you 9 weren't given the benefit of that information. That's what 10 I'm hearing. 11 MR. BOBERTZ: The 140 was laying there right in 12 front of us. We just had to ask the question. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 14 MR. BOBERTZ: 'Cause we were assuming it went away. 15 The 250, I think, is something that got started, as 16 Commissioner Williams pointed out, a few years ago. It was 17 an accumulating reserve set up by the City. Some of the key 18 people involved in accumulating it have moved on, and 19 knowledge of that reserve faded away until someone started 20 looking hard at it. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: But the Finance Manager for the City 22 reported to you that that was just discovered early this 23 week? 24 MR. BOBERTZ: Yes. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 5-1-09 18 1 MR. BOBERTZ: And -- 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any other questions or 3 comments on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify 4 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: The motion does carry. We've got 9 nothing else on this agenda, so for the special Commissioners 10 Court meeting posted for 9:45 this date, we will be 11 adjourned. 12 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 10:07 a.m.) 13 - - - - - - - - - - 14 15 STATE OF TEXAS | 16 COUNTY OF KERR | 17 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 18 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 19 County Clerk of the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 20 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 21 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 4th day of May, 2009. 22 23 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 24 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 25 Certified Shorthand Reporter 5-1-09