1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Monday, October 25, 2010 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 October 25, 2010 2 PAGE --- Visitors' Input 6 3 --- Commissioners' Comments 18 4 1.2 Public Hearing for revision of plat for Lots 707 and 708, Cave Springs Addition, Section 7 21 5 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for 6 final approval for revision of plat for Lots 707 and 708 of Cave Springs Addition, Section 7 22 7 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 8 approve revised Proposal for Engineering Services from L. Wayne Wells, P.E. 23 9 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for 10 final approval for revision of plat of Tract 3 of Creekwood III Subdivision and Tract 6 of 11 Creekwood IV Subdivision 25 12 1.6 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to set a public hearing regarding Wise Lane E., 13 a private road off Bear Creek Road, in Staacke Ranch Subdivision 28 14 1.7 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to re- 15 view preliminary revision of plat for Lots 9 and 10 of Ledge Stone Subdivision; set public hearing 29 16 1.1 Consider/discuss, adopt the 2010-2012 Kerr County 17 Community Plan; authorize submission to AACOG 31 18 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to set public hearing regarding private road name 19 of JCRV Drive West 40 20 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for approval to fill the open 14.1 road maintenance 21 position at Road and Bridge 41 22 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve 2011 resolution for Indigent Defense 23 Grant Program; authorize County Judge to sign 43 24 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve use of Flat Rock Lake Park by Women's 25 Auxiliary of the American Legion on April 22 & 23 for annual Easter Fest, Chili and BBQ Cook-off 44 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) October 25, 2010 2 PAGE 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 3 authorize public hearing on 11-1-2010 at 5:30 p.m. to solicit citizen input on proposed Amendment 2 4 to contract TxCDBG No. 728065 45 5 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on resolution for Schreiner debt as furnished by 6 Fulbright & Jaworski 47 7 1.16 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve contracts with Center Point VFD, Tierra 8 Linda VFD, Divide VFD, Elm Pass VFD, and Mountain Home VFD; allow the County Judge to sign same 48 9 1.17 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 10 resolution declaring November 2010 as "Home Care and Hospice Month" 50 11 1.18 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 12 resolution in support of Lower Colorado River Authority 51 13 1.19 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action re- 14 garding Commissioners Court approval to modify Policy 6.05 for Kerr County Policy Handbook 55 15 1.21 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 16 obtaining new office space for Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4, and Tax Assessor/Collector in 17 Ingram; possible location would be portion of the Ingram VFD property, get permission to confer with 18 Peter Lewis for cost estimate/design of new space 57 19 1.22 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to discuss additional future plans for new outdoor 20 arena at Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center, including, but not limited to, outdoor lights, 21 restroom facilities, and concession area 61 22 1.14 Presentation by Dr. Sandra Guerra with Texas Department of State Health Services regarding 23 formal process of appointing a Local Health Authority 69 24 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 25 appoint Dr. Sandra Guerra as Kerr County Local Health Authority 73 4 1 I N D E X (Continued) October 25, 2010 2 PAGE 1.23 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 3 appointing county appointee to Library Advisory Board 76 4 1.24 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 5 Forfeiture Report for Constable, Precinct 2, and Constable, Precinct 1 78 6 1.25 Acknowledge receipt of Quarterly Investment Report 7 from Patterson and Associates for quarter ending 09-30-10 80 8 1.26 Consider/discuss, request approval of minor 9 restructure of staff duties, responsibilities, and compensation with no budget impact 80 10 1.20 Presentation of special awards to numerous Boy 11 Scouts who worked on Kerr County Historical Marker projects 90 12 4.1 Pay Bills 97 13 4.2 Budget Amendments 98 4.3 Late Bills --- 14 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 114 15 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments 115 16 5.2 Reports from Elected Officials/Department Heads 119 17 --- Adjourned 132 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 5 1 On Monday, October 25, 2010, at 9:00 a.m., a special 2 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in 3 the Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, 4 Kerrville, Texas, and the following proceedings were had in 5 open court: 6 P R O C E E D I N G S 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. 8 Let me call to order this regularly scheduled meeting of the 9 Kerr County Commissioners Court posted and scheduled for this 10 date and time, Monday, October the 25th, 2010 at 9 a.m. It 11 is that time now. Commissioner Oehler? 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Would you join me in a word 13 of prayer, and then followed by the pledge of allegiance. 14 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. At this time, if there's 16 any member of the public or audience that wishes to be heard 17 on any matter which is not a listed agenda item, this is your 18 opportunity to be heard. Come forward and tell us what's on 19 your mind. If you wish to be heard on an agenda item, we'd 20 ask that you fill out a participation form. They're located 21 at the rear of the room. If you don't happen to fill one of 22 those out and you want to be heard when we get to an agenda 23 item, get my attention in some manner and we'll give you that 24 opportunity. But right now, if you wish to be heard on any 25 item which is not a listed agenda item, feel free to come 10-25-10 6 1 forward and tell us what's on your mind. I would note that 2 we have several participation forms that have been filed, and 3 reviewing them, it appears as though they are essentially on 4 the same subject, which is not a listed agenda item, which 5 would be appropriate for this time. So, the first one I have 6 listed here is Gary McVey. 7 MR. McVEY: Thank you, Judge. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: And if you'll give the reporter your 9 name and address and tell us what's on your mind, sir. 10 MR. McVEY: I'm Gary McVey, 507 Westway Drive, 11 Kerrville, 257-0698. Judge Tinley and Commissioners, thank 12 you for the opportunity to appear here this morning. I -- 13 I'm here before the Court about the needs of our returning 14 veterans. Been a lot of discussion about this. I am a 15 veteran. I joined an infantry outfit while in college, and 16 then I joined the army, and my daughter and son both served 17 many years in the North Dakota National Guard. So, it just 18 happened that there was relative peace prevailed during our 19 service years, and I'd like to see that again. I did teach 20 many returning Vietnam veterans at the university. Many of 21 them had problems with control of their nervous system, I 22 guess. I was teaching metal fabrication and welding as one 23 of the courses, and if you've welded, the light from the arc, 24 you could read the newspaper 3 feet away, so they had a 25 little problem. And it took time and a lot of effort to 10-25-10 7 1 adjust to, you know, do that. They had a lot of other 2 problems too. 3 Many of these young men and women coming back now 4 are different than the veterans from the Korean era that I 5 was in, and the Vietnam, I think. They went -- many of these 6 went out right out of high school into the service. They 7 were trained as professional soldiers in combat and weapons 8 expertise, and now they're -- out of the 1.2 million that 9 have served in combat areas, they estimate 10 percent, or 10 about 120,000, have some readjustment problems, so it's a big 11 deal. And they have a different profile than veterans. When 12 I was in, you could draft people up to 28. It happens we had 13 an engineer that got drafted 'cause he didn't do the 14 paperwork. He'd helped design the 102 fighter, and one day 15 found out he was drafted. No deferment for him. So, we've 16 got a different profile there. 17 We need -- many of them coming back have physical 18 and psychological challenges. Many are taking prescription 19 drugs, and they have very little work experience beyond 20 weapons and combat experience. Now, some that were in 21 support services in the service did learn some trades, 22 whether you're in transportation and -- and aircraft and that 23 sort of thing. But there's a whole bunch of them that were 24 just our infantry, and they're coming back, and those are the 25 ones we need to worry about. There's a big wave of veterans 10-25-10 8 1 coming. They are filling up -- already the military 2 facilities are overtaxed, and the V.A. facilities are trying 3 to get set up to handle these. As Kerrville is the largest 4 city around, and we have a V.A. Hospital with land, perhaps 5 we should work with the counties around us to help our 6 veterans from our area. At the minimum, we should take care 7 of our veterans' needs. Maybe -- I don't know whether Kerr 8 County has a Veterans Affairs officer. I don't believe so. 9 They might share one. They may need one to -- to work with 10 this. 11 I'd just mention Knoxville, Iowa, about one quarter 12 the size of Kerrville, and they are looking at converting a 13 V.A. Hospital into transitional housing for 400 veterans. 14 Yountville, California, is helping 200 veterans with 18 15 professionals, mainly paid from nonprofit funds. I'd like to 16 quote Bob Herbert, columnist in the New York Times. He 17 describes the veterans care right now; treatment, housing, 18 and support crises we are entering. We don't have enough -- 19 I'm quoting him. "We don't have enough volunteers to fight 20 these endless wars. Americans are big on bumper stickers, 21 and they like to go to sports events and demonstrate their 22 patriotism by chanting, 'U-S-A, U-S-A.' But actually putting 23 on a uniform and getting in harm's way? No thanks." 24 My personal belief, and I'm not -- I'm no big 25 orator kind of a guy, but my personal belief has been that 10-25-10 9 1 every U.S. male -- I won't speak for everyone else -- if 2 you're of sound body and mind, should, if needed, volunteer 3 once to defend the country. No deferment. No excuses. 4 That's just my belief. My uncles instilled that in me, that 5 you only -- you don't need to volunteer to jump out of 6 airplanes or be an explosives expert in the ordinance corps, 7 but you do it once. And these people did volunteer. They're 8 all volunteers, so they must have that same belief. We need 9 to provide for these veterans with compassion and a sense of 10 immediacy. We need to start planning how we are, at the 11 minimum, going to assist the veterans from our area with 12 their transitional housing needs. Thank you for the 13 opportunity. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. McVey. Mr. Jim 15 Myers? Please come forward and give us your name and 16 address; tell us what's on your mind, sir. 17 MR. MYERS: Good morning. My name is Jim Myers. 18 The address is 360 Saddle Club Drive in Kerrville. What's 19 the zip code? What is it -- what is the zip code for 20 Kerrville? That's what it is. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 78028. 22 MR. MYERS: There you go. Thank you very much. 23 Appreciate that. I need some help here this morning. I'd 24 like to also speak to this issue of the so-called homeless 25 veterans. But what we're really talking about is 10-25-10 10 1 reintegration of men and women who have served recently in 2 the military to defend this great country. And I feel -- and 3 I've been here before, and I said it before, and I'm going to 4 continue to say it. The job is not over. Once they have 5 ETS'd out of the service, there is a lot of healing that's 6 going to have to be done by these men and women who have 7 served not one, not two, but sometimes five or six 8 deployments. And the same thing applies to their families. 9 Back in 1987, there was a law that authorized what they 10 called the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program. This is 11 an old program. It's not new. It's not something that was 12 just created in the last couple years. It goes way back. 13 And it was created for a purpose, to care for those who have 14 served and to care for their families and their children. 15 And it was a comprehensive thing where all of the resources 16 that were necessary, be it housing, drug counseling, alcohol 17 counseling, psychological counseling, medications, you know, 18 physical therapy, whatever, all of this stuff is integrated 19 into a program. And we really need to continue that great 20 history here in Kerrville, and support the development of a 21 reintegration program here. 22 Now, we missed an opportunity some time ago. We 23 don't know where that stands. We know that at least the 24 developer who was the principal in this has withdrawn, but we 25 don't know where the V.A. stands yet. But I would encourage 10-25-10 11 1 everyone here to continue to support that and continue to 2 push for that. Because it's just not about homelessness. 3 It's a comprehensive program. I'd also point out that early 4 this month, General Shinseki, the chief of the V.A., 5 announced that there was a $42 million grant and per diem 6 program that's integrated into this reintegration program 7 process. About $24 million of that money goes toward 8 construction and building and rehabilitation of projects to 9 support the homeless veteran. The other remaining part of 10 that has to go toward the actual services that are generated 11 to help these people. Just yesterday -- or a couple days 12 ago, actually; it was October 13, it was announced that the 13 Veterans Administration will now have a program that expands 14 the reintegration process for women and homeless vets with 15 children. 16 This is all going on, and frankly, you know, we're 17 kind of sitting here, the beneficiaries of all their service, 18 and we don't see anything coming up out of the community. We 19 don't see anything coming up out of the county or the city 20 that supports these processes. All we're asking for is 21 support and get behind these things and show that this town 22 cares about these veterans. I always try to look for -- I'm 23 not a very good speaker, I guess. I'm not a very good 24 writer. I don't have that -- that knack for writing things. 25 But about 170 years ago, there was a gentleman wrote a song, 10-25-10 12 1 and it says something like this. "As we pause in life's 2 pleasures and count its many tears, let us all taste the 3 hungers of the poor. There's a song that will linger forever 4 in our ears. Hard times, come again no more." These folks 5 returning are going to face desperately hard times in a bad 6 economy. We need to do everything we can to help them out 7 and get it started. And the consequence of that is that this 8 community will grow, it will prosper, and it will bring -- I 9 don't want to say money to the community, but it certainly 10 will bring some money and jobs in the community to support 11 these folks who have served. 12 Now, the guy who wrote this -- I think this is 13 especially touching. He passed away in 1864 during the 14 height of the Civil War. Those were hard times, just like 15 today they're hard times. He was 38 years old. He died 16 famous, but destitute. He was an alcoholic in the midst of 17 the war. And how many of us can relate to that scenario 18 today for these homecoming veterans? Drugs, alcohol, 19 P.T.S.D.; it's all the same. And he ended up his days 20 singing in bars for tips. In case you would care, his name 21 was Stephen Foster. But his song lives on. And I think 22 there's something in that song that we should think about. 23 We don't want to have hard times no more. Thank you. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. We appreciate it. 25 Mr. Maury Evans? 10-25-10 13 1 MR. EVANS: My name is Maury Evans. I live at 528 2 Camelot here in Kerrville, phone number 895-1695. I support 3 what the previous speakers have said, because I'm a veteran; 4 served in the navy during the Korean war. And I have not had 5 the transitional problems that some of these veterans have 6 had, but I certainly support what Gary and the other person 7 speaking said. I look at it also from another standpoint, 8 from an economic standpoint. It seems like to me we have a 9 situation that there -- what the V.A. was proposing would 10 have economic benefit to Kerr County, as well as serving the 11 veterans, and that economic benefit would come at no expense 12 to the taxpayers. And why we don't want that economic 13 benefit is a surprise to me. So, I would urge people to get 14 behind this, because I think not only is it good for the 15 veterans, but I think it would be good for Kerr County. 16 Thank you. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. Mr. Bill Cantrell? 18 MR. CANTRELL: Good morning. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Morning. 20 MR. CANTRELL: Bill Cantrell, 428 Saddle Club 21 Drive. If you remember, I visited -- what was it, back in 22 May or June? And I'll say some of the same things I said 23 then. I am a combat veteran, Vietnam war. Served a year 24 there, only one tour. I came back, because I was in combat, 25 very troubled. I was one of the lucky ones. I had skills. 10-25-10 14 1 I was a pilot. I later on went to work for an airline and 2 flew for Delta Airlines for 30 years. The thing is, I came 3 to realize -- well, I had troubles, and it was found out that 4 I was suffering from P.T.S.D. I got treatment from the V.A., 5 10 months, once a week, two to three hours every week. It 6 helped me. I was able to go on and live a healthy life. But 7 I can certainly understand these young men and women that 8 have been in combat multiple tours coming back here, maybe 9 not having a very strong job when they left, coming back to 10 this economy and finding that job perhaps gone. 11 The -- the Hill Country Veterans Council voted to 12 oppose this Kerrville V.A. homeless project. When I heard 13 about this, I started attending their meetings. I've 14 attended every meeting since April of the Hill Country 15 Veterans Council, getting there early and staying there until 16 it was over. I've heard all of the briefings that they 17 heard. I heard the briefing by Marie Weldon, who is the 18 director of South Texas V.A. Medical Center. I've heard all 19 of the briefings by Robin Gutierrez, head of the Kerrville 20 V.A. The one meeting I missed was, I believe, July, and 21 that's when they changed their scheduled meeting to get a -- 22 a personal briefing from Justin MacDonald, the developer. 23 Since I missed that, I called Justin and I got my own 24 personal briefing. So, I've heard all of the same things the 25 Hill Country Veterans Council has heard. 10-25-10 15 1 What's more, I've gone back and I have studied 2 their archives from back in 1997 when they started. I've 3 found where they opposed the C.W.T. -- the V.A.'s C.W.T. 4 program, the Compensated Work Therapy program that was to be 5 brought here to Kerrville. It was -- I read the letter from 6 Mr. Coronado, who was then the director of South Texas V.A. 7 Medical Center, saying as per General Schellhase's letter of 8 opposition, they would not bring that program here. So, the 9 Hill Country Veterans Council opposed, and the V.A. responded 10 by not bringing it here. What I'm noticing about this group 11 is it's a very partisan group. I have tried to join their 12 board, because I have all the qualifications it takes to be 13 on their board. But, you see, I don't have their same views. 14 And since they're an ad hoc committee, they can deny my 15 request, which they have. Yet I show up like a bad penny at 16 every meeting. 17 I disagree with them. I went -- they say they 18 represent over 4,000 veterans in this area. Well, I happen 19 to know, by the 2008 census for the V.A., that there are 20 close to 5,000 veterans in this community -- in this county, 21 just this county. And they're saying they represent all the 22 surrounding counties as well. Well, they don't represent me. 23 Having heard all the same things and knowing what these 24 returning veterans are going to be facing, I support this 25 program. I have gone -- I am a member of the American 10-25-10 16 1 Legion. I'm a life member of V.F.W., a life member of 2 Vietnam Veterans of America. I get a disability. I went 3 to -- we made a presentation to the American Legion. I went 4 and talked to the past and the present post commanders. I've 5 talked to the past and present V.F.W. post commanders. I 6 know that they were not privy to any information that the 7 Hill Country Veterans Council had. The only thing they heard 8 was, when they voted to oppose, they sent a letter to each of 9 these organizations asking them to sign off on it. 10 I was at the V.F.W. meeting when that letter was 11 read, and they signed off on it. The American Legion didn't 12 sign off on it because we had informed them. There's -- 13 there are three -- three reasons why the Hill Country 14 Veterans Council said they opposed it. One is it's on V.A. 15 property, and only vets should be on V.A. property. Well, 16 what does the V.A. have out here, 70 or 75 acres? I don't 17 remember which, and they're talking about 5 of those acres 18 that, for decades, all that 5 acres has done is grow grass. 19 The -- one of their arguments also is -- oh, I wanted to make 20 a point about these 5 acres. In the very first meeting I was 21 at, I heard members of the Hill Country Veterans Council say 22 this is just an Obama socialized program for the homeless. 23 Well, it turns out that this 5-acre idea came from the 24 expanded-use lease bill that came up in 2006 under the Bush 25 administration. 10-25-10 17 1 The homeless project started in 2001 under the Bush 2 administration. It's just been put into effect under the 3 Obama administration. That's the only difference. This is 4 not just some Obama socialized care for the homeless. One of 5 the other arguments is they don't want non-veterans on this 6 V.A. property. My argument is we will not run out of 7 veterans. We're going to see an influx, just a flood of 8 veterans returning, needing help. There's one sitting in 9 this room that needed help, and has been getting help. If -- 10 if 70 percent of the people in this project were veterans and 11 got help, I don't care if 10 percent are not veterans and get 12 help, you know. That's about all I have to say. Thank you. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. Cantrell. Is there 14 anyone else that wishes to be heard with respect to any 15 matter which was not a listed agenda item? Ms. Hyde? 16 MS. HYDE: Our County Clerk, Jannett Pieper, asked 17 me to make sure that y'all understood that she has lost 18 another position in her office, and that based on what she 19 told you during budget, that she is not planning on replacing 20 that position at this time. But if it's found that she's -- 21 she does need it, that she would come back and talk to y'all. 22 She can't be here today; she's very sick, but she wanted me 23 to make sure that I told y'all that. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, thank you. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 10-25-10 18 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Anyone else? We appreciate your 2 comments always, and ask you to come forward at any time and 3 on any subject. We're happy to hear what our constituents 4 have to say. We appreciate it. Moving on with our agenda 5 now, Commissioner Oehler? 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We've got a long agenda. 7 I'll save it till later. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Commissioner Baldwin? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll pass, sir. Thank you. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Williams? 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, just a little F.Y.I. 12 for Commissioner Oehler and I. John Paul Jones, Watermaster, 13 pulled the plug on the dam repair because the contractor 14 failed to pull a public water supply permit. So, there's no 15 work going on; probably going to be a meeting out there, but 16 he's going to have to get a public water supply permit. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I tried to make that happen. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Hmm? 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I tried to help him with 20 that. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, good effort. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: He chose to do otherwise. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good effort. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else? 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, sir. 10-25-10 19 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Letz? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Two things. I know there's 3 been some e-mails floating around and some people concerned 4 about the Southern Edwards Plateau Habitat Conservation Plan. 5 I don't want to go into the details of it, but I think 6 there's a lot of misinformation in the e-mails, and that item 7 will be an agenda item at our next meeting. We'll have some 8 of that group here. For those that don't know, I'm co-chair 9 of that group. It's part of the Endangered Species Act. 10 It's very complicated. I don't want to go into right it now; 11 we don't have the time, but it will be on the next agenda. 12 We may try to do it, I don't know, maybe in the afternoon if 13 some people want to attend. It might take 30 minutes or so 14 to do a presentation. 15 The other item -- and most people on the Court know 16 that I'm working on a road district in my precinct. That's 17 coming up in a little bit of a -- with a -- actually, it 18 dawned on them the cost of that to each property owner. 19 They're having some second thoughts. I had a conversation 20 with Tom Spurgeon which was very interesting last week, for a 21 couple things. I want to bring out there's a lot more 22 flexibility in road districts than I was really aware. We've 23 always just had them to get roads up to county maintenance so 24 we can accept them into our system. That's not a legal 25 requirement. They can just go out there, do some road 10-25-10 20 1 repairs, do a -- form a road district, fix the roads up to 2 whatever standard they choose. We have to agree to it 3 because we are the board of directors of it, but the roads do 4 not have to come into our system at the end of it. So, this 5 can be a lot more limited. 6 Second thing that's interesting is that this 7 particular one that's on the ballot for $350,000, we're under 8 no obligation to issue bonds if they vote for it. As board 9 of directors, it's our decision, and it's a fiduciary 10 responsibility there, but multiple bond issues can be done. 11 It can be -- do, like, 50,000 and 100,000 and be done with 12 it. Or, you know, there's a lot of flexibility with it that 13 I really wasn't aware of. So, I think I'll probably get 14 maybe Tom to come down and brief the Court, because there's 15 some opportunities there for some of our residents who have 16 road problems that really is not quite the whole step of 17 going to get them County-maintained. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Wow. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Kind of interesting. Very good 20 conversation with Mr. Spurgeon. That's it. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. On another matter 22 affecting veterans, as most of you can recall, there -- 23 there's been some discussion over the past several months 24 about upgrading and expanding the war memorial out here on 25 the courthouse grounds. I've tried to receive all the ideas 10-25-10 21 1 about the methodology and the schematics about how to expand 2 that memorial. I think it's pretty well come down to one 3 major idea, and that was presented earlier at various 4 veterans groups, been passed out to them, and veterans 5 organizations. And I've just recently been obtaining 6 information with regard to the types of materials and the 7 cost to do that expansion based on that particular schematic 8 or something very, very near to it. I hope to be able to 9 present those to the veterans groups very shortly. Probably 10 be a rollout, if not earlier, by Veterans Day on November the 11 11th. So, we've got that thing moving a little now since 12 we've gotten all the ideas on -- on how to best expand that 13 memorial, so you should expect to hear more about that in the 14 near future. I appreciate everyone's input on that. We've 15 got a fairly lengthy agenda. Let's get on with it today. 16 We've got a whole bunch of timed items that we've passed up, 17 so let me go to Item 2, and at this time I will recess the 18 Commissioners Court meeting, and I will convene a public 19 hearing for the revision of plat for Lots 707 and 708 in Cave 20 Springs Addition, Section 7, as set forth in Volume 6, Page 21 333 of the Plat Records, and located in Precinct 4. 22 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 9:29 a.m., and a public hearing was held in open 23 court, as follows:) 24 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the audience 10-25-10 22 1 or the public that wishes to be heard with respect to the 2 revision of the plat for Lots 707 and 708 of Cave Springs 3 Addition, Section 7, as set forth in Volume 6, Page 333 of 4 the Plat Records? 5 (No response.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Seeing or hearing no one wanting to 7 be recognized, I will close the public hearing for the 8 revision of plat for Lots 707 and 708, Cave Springs Addition, 9 Section 7. 10 (The public hearing was concluded at 9:30 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 11 reopened.) 12 - - - - - - - - - - 13 JUDGE TINLEY: And I will reconvene the 14 Commissioners Court meeting and go to Item 3, which is to 15 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action for the final 16 approval for the revision of plat for Lots 707 and 708 of 17 Cave Springs Addition, Section 7, as set forth in Volume 6, 18 Page 333, Plat Records, and located in Precinct 4. Mr. Odom? 19 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. We have discussed this before 20 in a concept plan, changing the frontage. This is in Cave 21 Springs, and you have the information in front of you. So, 22 at this time, we ask the Court for their final approval of 23 the revision of plat for Lots 707 and 708 of Cave Springs 24 Addition 7, Volume 6, Page 333, Precinct 4. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Move approval of the item. 10-25-10 23 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 4 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion? All in 5 favor 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. We'll move 10 to Item 4, to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 11 to approve revised proposal for engineering services from L. 12 Wayne Wells, professional engineer. Mr. Odom? 13 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. We had brought this proposed 14 contract to Commissioners Court on July the 26th, 2010, but 15 the County Attorney had some questions regarding the 16 contract. Rob and Wayne and myself met on October the 6th, 17 2010, and resolved the issues that were in question. So, at 18 this time, Mr. Wells asks that you review and consider for 19 approval the revised proposal which will go into effect on 20 November of the 1st, 2010. If approved, we ask the Judge to 21 please sign the contract. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Leonard, there's no obligation 23 for us to -- we can stop the contract sooner if we choose? 24 MR. ODOM: I would -- we have that, I think, by 25 law. We don't -- we can stop a contract. 10-25-10 24 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I want to make sure it's -- 2 MR. ODOM: The funds could always be moved to 3 another -- 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What's the extent to which 5 we use his services? 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Two weeks written notice, may be 7 terminated, according to the contractual language. 8 MR. ODOM: Right. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you, Judge. 10 MR. ODOM: Commissioner, I want to say that it 11 runs -- basically, it breaks even. The developer pays for 12 it. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 14 MR. ODOM: And it doesn't really cost -- we -- we 15 pay, and then we bill the developer, so it's -- 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 17 MR. ODOM: -- almost a zero situation. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Except for those services that we -- 19 for our own use. 20 MR. ODOM: That's right. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, sure. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move approval. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 24 MR. ODOM: That property doesn't -- 25 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second for 10-25-10 25 1 approval of the agenda item and the revised proposal. 2 Question or discussion on the motion? All in favor of the 3 motion, signify by raising your right 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 go to Item 5, another timed item for 9:25. Consider, 9 discuss, take appropriate action for final approval for the 10 revision of plat of Tract 3 of Creekwood III Subdivision, set 11 forth in Volume 6, Page 244, Plat Records, and Tract 6 of 12 Creekwood IV Subdivision, and set forth in Volume 6, Page 13 290, and located in Precinct 2. Mr. Odom? 14 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. The public hearing for this 15 revision of plat was held September the 27th, 2010, at 9:30 16 a.m. The survey company at that time was not ready for the 17 final approval, had not got all the signatures. So, at this 18 time, we ask the Court for their final approval for the 19 revision of plat for Tract 3 of Creekwood III Subdivision, 20 Volume 6, Page 244, and Tract 6 of Creekwood IV Subdivision, 21 Volume 6, Page 290, Precinct 2. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 25 approval. Question or discussion on the motion? 10-25-10 26 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. Why is the format 2 different than most of the revisions? We have the as-platted 3 and then as the revision to make it clear as to what we're 4 doing. Why is it not in that format? 5 MR. ODOM: Well, what is it that bothers you, 6 Commissioner? I don't -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, usually we have 8 as-platted, and then it's as-revised. We show how it is 9 before and then how we do it after. And, like, on the last 10 one, it showed -- 11 MR. ODOM: You know -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm just wondering why it 13 wasn't done that way. 14 MR. ODOM: I missed it, that's why. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Answers that. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Mea culpa, huh? 17 MR. ODOM: There's no excuse. I missed it. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just need to make sure that we 19 try to -- 20 MR. ODOM: I went through them several times to -- 21 to get this right, and I ended up with this. And I knew what 22 was coming, and we -- this is a revision of that revision. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it makes it easier for the 24 public. 25 MR. ODOM: Makes it easier to see where it was at. 10-25-10 27 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 2 MR. ODOM: My fault. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or discussion on 4 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 5 your right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Ms. Hoffer? 10 MS. HOFFER: Hey, Jonathan, the surveyor that did 11 that work just walked in, so I don't know if maybe you want 12 to make sure that that gets put on the future plan. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It would be my preference. 14 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. He just walked in; he missed 15 what was said. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right to make a comment? 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Sure, absolutely. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The comment was, on the plat, 19 usually we have the original as-platted, then as-revised. 20 And this only has as-revised. 21 MR. PILLATZKE: I showed the -- David with 22 Guadalupe Survey. I did show the original line in the 23 picture. But since it was -- since hardly anything was 24 changed, I didn't make, really, two pictures. But I showed 25 the original line, as you see. And then there's also a -- 10-25-10 28 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 2 MR. ODOM: The line, that angle changed to make it 3 get -- make it work. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right, thanks. 5 MR. PILLATZKE: Okay. 6 MR. ODOM: Next time we need to catch it. So -- 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything further? Okay. Let's move 8 to Item 6, a 9:30 timed item. Consider, discuss, and take 9 appropriate action to set a public hearing regarding Wise 10 Lane East, a private road off Bear Creek road in the Staacke 11 Ranch Subdivision, located in Precinct 3. Mr. Odom? 12 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. Dr. Wise has gone to 911 and 13 had this road name approved, and also at this time, he has 14 started that construction. We have finished that. So, I 15 would ask the Court to set a public hearing regarding the 16 name of the private road, Wise Lane East, Precinct 3, for 17 Monday, December 13, 2010, at 9:15 a.m. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 21 approval to set a public hearing on December 13th, 2010, at 22 9:15 a.m. Question or discussion on the motion? All in 23 favor of that motion, signify by raising your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10-25-10 29 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. We'll go to 3 Item 7, a 9:35 timed item; to consider, discuss, and take 4 appropriate action to review the preliminary revision of plat 5 for Lots 9 and 10 of Ledge Stone Subdivision, as set forth in 6 Volume 7, Page 320, Plat Records, and to set a public 7 hearing, same being located in Precinct 2. 8 MR. ODOM: Yes. Marvin and Carolyn Grosenbacher 9 own Lot 10 and have an existing well, septic, and home. Paul 10 and Carolyn Pavlovsky own Lot 9, and built a garage across 11 Lot 10 onto the Grosenbacher property. All the lots in Ledge 12 Stone are 5 acres. The lot line between the two lots have 13 changed to reflect both lots still being 5 acres, and the 14 garage now on the Pavlovsky's lot. The road frontage for Lot 15 9 is now 120.58 feet. Will the 120.58 road frontage be an 16 issue in this revision of plat? If the road frontage is not 17 an issue, we ask the Court to set a public hearing for the 18 revision of plat for Lots 9 and 10 of Ledge Stone 19 Subdivision, Volume 7, Page 320, for December 13th, 2010, at 20 9:25 a.m., Precinct 2. And this had them go before 21 Headwaters to clarify this. Particularly, there is a 22 discrepancy in our water availability and their view on -- on 23 wells. But this line was agreed to by Headwaters, so we kept 24 everything 5 acres right there. So, I'm asking the Court's 25 direction. Is this appropriate? 10-25-10 30 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move we set a public 2 hearing for December 13th at 9:30 a.m. for the revision of 3 plat of Lots 9R and 10R in Ledge Stone Subdivision, 4 Precinct 2. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to set a 7 public hearing on the matter at 9:30 a.m. on December the 8 13th, 2010. Further question or discussion on the motion? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The -- is 120 feet all they 10 can get out of that, the road frontage? 11 MR. ODOM: That's all they could get. They moved 12 -- they changed the front and added to the back. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And there's enough -- they 14 could change it, but they're trying to accommodate. It's not 15 going to make that much difference. 16 MR. ODOM: We tried to do that, and Headwaters 17 wouldn't -- wouldn't -- 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Wouldn't bend? 19 MR. ODOM: Wouldn't bend. They said 5 acres, and 20 that's the way it is. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm saying you could 22 reconfigure that lot, keep them 5 acres, and keep the 23 frontage too, but I don't have a real problem giving a waiver 24 in this case. 25 MR. ODOM: This is already an existing subdivision. 10-25-10 31 1 The house is already there, so I don't see a problem with it. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It will require a waiver, I 3 think. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or comment? All 5 in favor 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 go 10 back to Item 1 on the agenda; to consider, discuss, and adopt 11 the 2010-12 Kerr County Community Plan and authorize 12 submission of the plan to the Alamo Area Council of 13 Governments. Ms. Lavender? 14 MS. LAVENDER: Good morning. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning. 16 MS. LAVENDER: This is our -- used to be annual 17 revision of our Kerr County Community Plan. This past year, 18 the Alamo Area Council of Governments and the governor's 19 office decided we could do a two-year plan, and so I will not 20 be back here next fall with the new community plan. We 21 didn't make a lot of changes in the plan, because our plan's 22 a pretty good plan and it addresses the issues that we feel 23 like are the -- are the strongest things that we need to be 24 working on. As you know, the plan is based on some focus 25 topics: Juvenile issues; victims issues; law enforcement, 10-25-10 32 1 courts, and criminal justice. And then the fourth one that 2 we've added to customize for our county is one that has to do 3 with mental health, health and family issues. And I made, 4 after I brought this up to Jody and sent it to her by e-mail, 5 some very small technical changes to the plan, and the Judge 6 has a current copy of it, and Jody will get one to post. 7 This will be posted on the web site, the county web site, as 8 soon as we can get it done. I had an e-mail address for 9 Jason Davis wrong, and a number that I had transposed. Those 10 are the kind of things I'm talking about, nothing that 11 changes anything in the plan. 12 I might want to say to you, this year's plan is 13 going to do us for two years, and so we kind of had to be 14 real careful in crafting this one, that we worded it in a way 15 that it would take care of our issues for two years. One of 16 the highlights of the plan in the juvenile issues is -- and 17 I'm not sure you're aware of, is the program through Baptist 18 Child and Family Services program here that's working with 19 at-risk youth in this community, and they're doing a 20 wonderful job of stepping in and doing what county government 21 couldn't do, or is not best to do, and that's working with 22 these youth and their families. And it's a program that's 23 based on a Bexar County program, that they're doing a similar 24 program down there, and they've seen some real successes with 25 some of our at-risk youth. And the Judge will attest to 10-25-10 33 1 that, because he deals with them in court. 2 Under victim issues, pretty much the same goals are 3 there. With Hill Country Crisis Council, Kids Advocacy 4 Place, and the program we have here at the courthouse, our 5 numbers are doing nothing but going up. Victims' issues are 6 always going to be a priority in a community plan here, and 7 probably in every other county in the state. Over the last 8 two years, we've made some modifications to our plan to bring 9 in underserved areas around Kerr County, to provide an 10 extension of our victims' services program. Hill Country 11 Cares, Kids Advocacy Place, the Crisis Council have been 12 doing it in a multi-county area for a long time, but this 13 program we pretty much had for the county until a couple 14 years ago, but now I have people coming in from Bandera, 15 Gillespie, Real, Kimble, Menard, Mason, and McCullough 16 Counties that are seeking services through my program, and so 17 we're seeing the numbers go up. Hopefully that -- you know, 18 I'm not out looking or recruiting people in these other 19 counties to work with, but they seem to find me. 20 In the law enforcement focus this year, the 21 Sheriff's office, the police department and Ingram City 22 Marshal's office all wanted us to put in the community plan 23 additional money for technology. I don't think we'll ever be 24 able to keep up with technology in those areas, but one of 25 the areas that they want to look at is getting computers -- 10-25-10 34 1 in-car computers. That will allow our officers out on the 2 streets to tie into the National Crime Information System, 3 N.C.I.S., and T.C.I.C., which is the state level, so that 4 these officers out on the street will be able to look in a 5 computer and see that they've got people that have big 6 criminal records, warrants and a lot of other things that can 7 -- can be fed back to the officer. And it's not only better 8 law enforcement, but it's also huge in officer safety on the 9 streets for them to be able to access that information as 10 quickly as possible. 11 The mental health, health and family issues, the 12 primary priorities in mental health, continue to offer the 13 services the best we can. That's an area that's seen an 14 awful lot of funding cut, and so they're always looking for 15 money to help. And as with the veterans' issues too, a lot 16 of the issues that we've got are with mental health issues, 17 and they need all the support they can get right now, looking 18 at going into the legislative session, because we're going to 19 see some additional cuts, I think, in the mental health 20 funding, both at the federal and the state level. And the 21 other thing, and when you read the plan -- I don't have time 22 to look at it -- is that Peterson Hospital is -- Peterson 23 Regional Medical Center and the medical community is working 24 very hard to recruit more primary care physicians into this 25 area, because when or if the federal health care legislation 10-25-10 35 1 goes into effect in 2014, and you add people to your health 2 care rolls, it's going to require physicians to carry a much 3 larger burden. 4 We went to a conference last week in Austin, and 5 they're predicting that they're going to add a million, two 6 people in the state of Texas into Medicaid when this program 7 goes into effect, and so that's going to have a huge impact 8 on our medical community. This plan is good through 2012. I 9 need your authorization to submit it to the Alamo Area 10 Council of Governments, and all of us keep our fingers 11 crossed that the funding that funds these programs that are 12 mentioned here will be available. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask you a question. 14 So, this plan runs through 2012. 15 MS. LAVENDER: Right, we won't do this for two 16 years. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I'm interested here in 18 the city providing ambulance service and fire service to the 19 county, et cetera. What if we actually go crazy and get a 20 county-wide ESD, which would change -- change this? Would 21 you go back and redo it? 22 MS. LAVENDER: No, we won't redo the whole plan, 23 but we can amend it. This is a living document; we can go 24 back and amend, add to, change, whatever we want. There's 25 one other thing in here that I noticed that was good -- 10-25-10 36 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm not through with my 2 question. 3 MS. LAVENDER: Okay, I'm sorry. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: City of Kerrville provides 5 county-wide emergency medical services, plus designated fire 6 service. What do you mean by the word "designated"? 7 MS. LAVENDER: The city has a contract to provide 8 fire service outside of the city limits currently, and in the 9 unincorporated -- 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So "designated" would be in 11 the unincorporated -- 12 MS. LAVENDER: Under the contract that you have 13 now. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. I 15 didn't mean to interrupt you. 16 MS. LAVENDER: That's okay. One other thing -- 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval of the 18 2010-12 Kerr County Community Plan, and authorize submission 19 of the plan to AACOG. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I second. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 22 indicated. Question or discussion? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One number that doesn't look 24 right to me, that's on Page 8. Buildings permits, 2009. 25 MS. LAVENDER: That's correct. 10-25-10 37 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It shows 46. 2 MS. LAVENDER: That's correct. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that's obviously -- the 4 county doesn't issue building permits. I think it needs to 5 be, at a minimum, clarified that that is the city of 6 Kerrville. 7 MS. LAVENDER: Okay, we can do that. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Since the county doesn't. I 9 presume that's new homes? I mean -- 10 MS. LAVENDER: It's commercial included. That's 11 off the census stuff. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's not right. 13 MS. LAVENDER: Okay. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If you change a light bulb in 15 the city of Kerrville, you have to have a building permit, 16 just about. So, I mean, -- 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- that -- 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Any kind of renovation. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Any kind of a change. I mean, 21 I would really question that that number is accurate. 22 MS. LAVENDER: There came straight out of the U.S. 23 Census Bureau stuff. That's exactly the wording that is 24 there. I'll be glad to take it out, but I'm -- I would be 25 hesitant to amend the U.S. Census Bureau quick facts. 10-25-10 38 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, it would be -- you know, 2 I think it needs to be, then, noted where it came from, 3 because it doesn't represent county, and it doesn't, in my 4 opinion, to my knowledge, represent city. 5 MS. LAVENDER: So you're going to authorize me to 6 change the U.S. Census Bureau -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm just going to tell you that 8 you need to cite where it's coming from, because it isn't 9 right. 10 MS. LAVENDER: Well, it is. It's right here at the 11 beginning. If you'll look, it says quick facts from U.S. 12 Census Bureau back on Page 6. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: You might note also that when it 14 says building permits, just parenthetically note, "city of 15 Kerrville." 16 MS. LAVENDER: I can do that. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: We don't issue them, so obviously 18 that comes from somewhere else. 19 MS. LAVENDER: We can do that. I would add also 20 one other little thing, and that is our unemployment rate has 21 dropped from 6.2 down to 6 percent over the last month, and I 22 did make a correction of that number too. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You changed the number? I'm 24 just teasing. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Lavender, how many -- how many 10-25-10 39 1 stakeholders approximately did you have at your meeting 2 that -- 3 MS. LAVENDER: Probably 10 or 12 at each one. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 5 MS. LAVENDER: And then a lot of people e-mailed 6 stuff that we put in the plan, too. So -- 7 JUDGE TINLEY: And I assume, -- 8 MS. LAVENDER: -- it's a good representation. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: -- as in the past, you've done 10 everything to -- to structure the points of your plan so as 11 to take maximum advantage of grant funds that may be 12 available in the future in those various areas? 13 MS. LAVENDER: Absolutely. We hope so. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any other question or 15 discussion on the motion? 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Do I need to amend the 17 motion to include these amendments? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just that one little change. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Hmm? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just adding the city of 21 Kerrville. Or not -- city of Kerrville for permits. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Does your motion include the 23 correction that was made -- addition that was made? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: That's good enough. All in favor of 10-25-10 40 1 the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 2 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 4 (No response.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 6 MS. LAVENDER: Thank you. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: I appreciate your work on this, 8 Ms. Lavender. 9 MS. LAVENDER: I get a vacation next year, see. I 10 don't have to do it. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: I was going to say, that's a big 12 burden you take off me, and I really do appreciate that. 13 Okay. Let's go to Item 8, a 9:45 timed item; to consider, 14 discuss, take appropriate action to set a public hearing 15 regarding the private road name of JCRV Drive West located in 16 Precinct 4. Mr. Odom? 17 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. Tom Cauthen from the Johnson 18 Creek R.V. Resort and Park applied through the 911 office 19 requesting "JCRV Drive West." The 911 office has approved 20 this road name, so at this time, we ask the Court to set a 21 public hearing for December the 13th, 2010, at 9:20 a.m. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Move approval. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to set a 10-25-10 41 1 public hearing for the matter December 13, 2010, at 9:20 a.m. 2 Question or discussion on that motion? All in favor of the 3 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. We'll go to 8 Item 9, which is a 9:50 timed item. Consider, discuss, and 9 take appropriate action for approval to fill the open 14.1 10 road maintenance position at Road and Bridge. Mr. Odom? 11 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. We have an open 14.1 position 12 at Road and Bridge that we would like to fill with the 13 Court's approval. This position is currently in the 14 2010-2011 budget. Road and Bridge is in need of this 15 position and would like to fill it. Our work requests from 16 the public have more than tripled in the last year, and we 17 have been short-handed on mowing in the right-of-way. Also, 18 with Road and Bridge giving up their sealcoat program for the 19 '10-'11 budget year, we predict that our work requests from 20 the public will increase. At this time, we ask the Court for 21 their approval to fill the budgeted 14.1 road maintenance 22 position at the Road and Bridge Department. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Leonard, I can't support it 24 right now, other than to hold this until after the first of 25 the year. Let us look at where we are on our personnel. 10-25-10 42 1 MR. ODOM: Come back after the first of the year? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 3 MR. ODOM: But you understand I'm short-handed? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I understand. 5 MR. ODOM: So if you get phone calls, understand 6 why. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I understand. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We'll take up for you. 9 MR. ODOM: Okay. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me ask you, Mr. Odom, if I 11 might. This particular position, is it part of a designated 12 crew that's in place right now? 13 MR. ODOM: That's -- the mowing crew is basically 14 the swing crew, which is mowing. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 16 MR. ODOM: I have one man out right now mowing. 17 I'll have Douglas' crew finally that we broke loose, and 18 we're up in there, Schladoer, back in that area, trying to 19 get that cut down. But I've got Dietert out by himself. And 20 I don't -- you know, we're going to be finishing up some and 21 then try to get caught up, but on a regular basis, I'm one 22 man short. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I understand. 24 MR. ODOM: Okay. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Bring it back after the first 10-25-10 43 1 of the year. 2 MR. ODOM: After the first of the year, sir. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. Let's go to Item 4 Number 10; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 5 approve the 2011 resolution for the Indigent Defense Grant 6 Program, and authorize County Judge to sign the resolution. 7 Ms. Hargis? 8 MS. HARGIS: Good morning. You have in front of 9 you our annual grant submission for the indigent defense 10 program. We have completed our application and it has been 11 submitted, and now we need you to authorize the resolution so 12 that we can apply for the grant. It's not a huge amount of 13 money. It was around 49,000. It's slated to be 26,000 this 14 year, but last year we received -- actually, this month -- a 15 couple of extra payments for last year. So, generally at the 16 end of the year, they review the amount of money in this fund 17 and we get some reallocated, but it's not great, but it does 18 help. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: This is a continuation of a grant 20 program that's gone on for -- 21 MS. HARGIS: It's been here since I was here, I 22 think. Since 2000 at least, I would think. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's funded out of the 24 governor's office? 25 MS. HARGIS: Yes, it is. 10-25-10 44 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 4 approval of the resolution and the agenda item. Question or 5 discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, 6 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: The motion does carry. Let's move 11 to Item 11; to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 12 to approve the use of Flat Rock Lake Park by the Women's 13 Auxiliary of the American Legion of Kerrville Friday, April 14 the 22nd, and Saturday, April 23rd, 2011, for the annual 15 Easter Fest Chili and Barbecue Cook-off. Commissioner 16 Williams? 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Annual. They make a lot of 18 funds. They have -- kids have a good time, adults have a 19 good time. I move approval. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 22 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion? All in 23 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10-25-10 45 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. We'll go to 3 Item 12; to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 4 authorize public hearing on November the 1st, 2010, at 5 p.m. 5 to solicit citizen input on the proposed Amendment 2 to 6 contract Texas Community Development Block Grant Number 7 728065. Commissioner Williams? 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: When we received our bids, 9 we were over -- we were -- the amount bid was more than we 10 had money for. And the reason for that was that the eight 11 properties on Ranchero Road at the top of 16 to Ripplewood 12 were absolutely incredibly expensive to try to accommodate, 13 and if we were to do so, we would not be able to complete any 14 other aspects of the grant, and so some amendment has to be 15 made. This is to authorize a public hearing to solicit 16 citizen input for a proposed Amendment Number 2 to the 17 contract as called, and it will be for November 1st at 5:30 18 p.m. I will conduct a public hearing and forward the results 19 of that to Grantworks. After that's been signed off on by 20 the appropriate state authorities and those funds can be 21 transferred that were originally identified for the Ranchero 22 Road portion, and reallocated, we'll come down to the 23 Southwind and the other aspects of this particular project. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You are a smart man, and 25 handsome too. 10-25-10 46 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you very much. I 2 appreciate you too. So, I would move authorization of a 3 public hearing on November 1 at 5:30 p.m. -- the rules say 4 that the public hearings have to be after 5 p.m. -- 5 11-1-2010, 5:30 p.m. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The agenda item says 8 December. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What, Jon? 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Agenda item says December the 11 1st. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: November 1st. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Not on mine. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. I can't count. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 11 is still November, 16 Commissioner. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It is. The month I was born. 18 I should know better. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Turkeys in November. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I know. That's when I was 21 born. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: You have a secret Christmas wish 23 that you're hoping gets here early, Commissioner? 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I don't know. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: There's some agenda items later on 10-25-10 47 1 that might indicate that. Where's that to be held, 2 Commissioner? 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In this courtroom. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. We have a motion and a 5 second as indicated to hold a public hearing. Question or 6 discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, 7 signify by raising your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's go to 12 Item 13; to consider, discuss, take appropriate action on 13 resolution for Schreiner University debt as furnished by 14 Fulbright and Jaworski. I put this on the agenda. This is a 15 technical matter that Schreiner University is wishing to get 16 some debt underwritten, not by Kerr County. It's sponsored 17 by City of Castle Hills organization. The technical 18 requirement of the law is that it must be approved by the 19 county where the improvements are to be constructed. There 20 is no liability of Kerr County for the debt. They're 21 proposing to either refinance and/or issue new debt for 22 construction of new housing facilities there at Schreiner 23 University. The approval by this Court -- by the Court 24 giving me authorization to approve this will authorize some 25 tax incidence to this debt that'll be beneficial to Schreiner 10-25-10 48 1 University and facilitate their being able to obtain this 2 financing at more attractive rates under Internal Revenue 3 rules. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, you said -- you said 5 City of Castle Hills. You meant Terrell Hills? 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Terrell Hills, I'm sorry. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move for approval. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 11 approval of the agenda item, to authorize me to approve the 12 same. Question or discussion on that motion? All in favor 13 of the 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. Let's go to 18 Item 16, if we might. Consider, discuss, take appropriate 19 action to approve contracts with Center Point Volunteer Fire 20 Department, Tierra Linda Volunteer Fire Department, Divide 21 Volunteer Fire Department, Elm Pass Volunteer Fire 22 Department, and Mountain Home Volunteer Fire Department; 23 allow the County Judge to sign same. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Standard contract? 10-25-10 49 1 Standard amount the others get? 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, as budgeted. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 5 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion on the 6 motion? You have a question? 7 MS. HYDE: Judge, can I ask that all the 8 Commissioners please talk to their volunteer fire departments 9 and make sure that they get the contracts in as soon as 10 possible, because they will come off of our worker's comp 11 insurance if we don't have them in this month. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Good point. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 14 MS. HYDE: Please. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All except, I think, Hunt. Hunt has 16 their -- does not participate in our worker's comp, but all 17 the rest of them do by virtue of these contracts. 18 MS. HYDE: Right. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Comfort does? 20 MS. HYDE: I'm sorry? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Does Comfort? 22 MS. HYDE: Everybody does. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, we need to make sure that 24 they get these contracts -- 25 MS. HYDE: Please. 10-25-10 50 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- in to us by the end of the 2 month. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And their worker's comp 4 documents back. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I will -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: End of -- 7 MS. HYDE: This month. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- October? 9 MS. HYDE: Yes, sir. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: If we approve them, why don't 11 we have them in-hand? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're only approving some of 13 them. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I know. I'm talking about 15 the ones we're approving. Do we have those in-hand? 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm, yeah. Any other question or 17 discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, 18 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. We'll go to 23 Item 17; consider, discuss, take appropriate action on 24 resolution declaring November 2010 as Home Care and Hospice 25 Month. I put this on the agenda at the request of the -- 10-25-10 51 1 it's a trade organization; let me see if I can get to it 2 here -- Texas Association for Home Care and Hospice. This is 3 a follow-on to the governor's declaration that began last 4 year, and possibly earlier than that, but I know last year, 5 the designation from the state standpoint. And they're going 6 to be requesting it again this year, and they're asking us to 7 participate in that also. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 11 approval. Question or discussion on the motion? All in 12 favor of that motion, signify by raising your right hand. 13 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 15 (No response.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Item 18; 17 consider, discuss, take appropriate action on resolution in 18 support of the Lower Colorado River Authority. This matter 19 grew out of a meeting of county judges and the L.C.R.A. 20 management and -- and staff that was held a few weeks ago, 21 and essentially it asks that the -- the efforts of L.C.R.A., 22 in their dealing with the watershed and water supplies, their 23 efforts to use that water effectively and utilize it 24 efficiently, that they are encouraged to continue those 25 efforts. There were a number of counties participating in 10-25-10 52 1 that meeting, and there seem to be broad-based support among 2 all the counties for that purpose. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, we're passing a 4 resolution to support an organization to do their job. Okay. 5 I'm -- I so move. (Laughter.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: That's pretty much it, Commissioner. 7 Encourage them to continue to aggressively move the efforts 8 forward to protect those interests. Do we have a second? 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 11 approval of the resolution. Question or discussion? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For one, I think -- who wrote 13 the resolution? It's rather weird. (Laughter.) 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That means it didn't come 15 out of here, right? 16 JUDGE TINLEY: It was jointly authored by Judge 17 Donna Klaeger in Burnet County and Judge Nate McDonald in 18 Matagorda County, so you had one at the upper end of the 19 L.C.R.A. water interest and one towards the lower end of it. 20 So, they were the ones that collaborated on it. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For those that -- I'll read the 22 first "whereas" so you understand why I say that. "The Lower 23 Colorado River Authority was conceived in calamity, birthed 24 in controversy, matured to benefit its constituents in the 25 Colorado River Valley." Just an odd way to phrase a 10-25-10 53 1 resolution, in my mind. But -- 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Obviously a poetic license taken 3 there, Commissioner. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I wonder if that came from 5 the south part of the water district or the north. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Must have came from the south 7 end. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess my -- my problem with 9 this is, you know, I support their flood control efforts, and 10 they've done a very good job in the flood control efforts, 11 but their other political endeavors they've gone into, I 12 really don't support. I think they need to be limited to 13 what they're actually doing, and look at their -- I'm a 14 little -- not sure if I like this. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Electricity, for example. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And not just that. They 17 just -- they've really expanded, as other river authorities 18 have, beyond being a -- their original purpose, in my mind, 19 and I think they need to possibly reexamine the original 20 purpose and what they should be doing. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, if they get done 22 reading this resolution, maybe they'll have time to do that. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: This essentially deals with their 24 water -- their water pursuits, Commissioner, as best I can 25 tell. 10-25-10 54 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's what it looks like. 2 It doesn't deal with electrical lines. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I thought about that when I 5 asked Ms. Grinstead to put it on the agenda, and I thought 6 maybe it may be wise to point out that the -- the CREZ lines 7 are -- are L.C.R.A. Transmission Services Corporation, which 8 is a privately held and taxable entity, and the other issue 9 is that I'm not sure whether they asked or didn't ask, but 10 the Legislature tasked them with the construction of the CREZ 11 lines within the hill country area, within that particular 12 segment of -- 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Within a 200-mile-wide range. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I'll have to go against 15 this one. You know, not that it makes that much difference 16 to the rest of the Court, but when I read those whereas's, 17 the second one especially -- I'll read both of them, just for 18 the record. "Now, therefore, be it resolved" -- I'm not sure 19 I understand the first one. The second one I do understand, 20 but I don't agree with. "Therefore, be it resolved that 21 cooperative initiatives, as was the precedent set by the 22 original historic efforts to harness the river, should 23 immediately be employed in the new formation of the WMP with 24 utilization of all interests." I'm not even sure what the 25 means. But, you know -- 10-25-10 55 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Nor am I. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. And then, "Now, 3 therefore, be it resolved that the Kerr County Commissioners 4 Court encourages the L.C.R.A. to aggressively move efforts 5 forward that will enhance water supplies for the Lower Basin 6 and with utilization of all interests." They go into a lot 7 of things about water coming in there as to where they're 8 going, and it's kind of like -- you know, I'm not sure I 9 always agree with G.B.R.A. when it comes to water. It's a 10 little bit broad. I can see this being used for political 11 reasons that I probably don't support, so -- 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I tend to agree with you. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any other question or comment 14 on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by 15 raising your right hand. 16 (Commissioner Baldwin voted in favor of the motion.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed? 18 (Commissioners Williams, Letz, and Oehler voted 19 against the motion.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion fails. Okay, let's go to 21 Item 19; to consider, discuss, take appropriate action 22 regarding Commissioners Court approval to modify Policy 6.05 23 for Kerr County Policy Handbook. Oh, boy. We got us a bunch 24 of homework here. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Did you get one? 10-25-10 56 1 MS. HYDE: You should probably already have that in 2 your backup. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Left-handed. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 5 MS. HYDE: When we did 6.05 on rest and meal 6 periods, we called it "rest and meal periods" instead of 7 "breaks," because we knew this was coming down the pike. We 8 do have to allow nursing mothers, under the Federal Labor 9 Standards Act, to express breast milk during the first year 10 of -- following the birth of a child. So, you have the 11 before policy, and then you have the amended policy. We 12 would give them the 15 minutes in the morning and then in the 13 afternoon that are paid, but anything in addition to that 14 would be unpaid time for them to express. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 18 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion? All in 19 favor of that motion, signify by raising your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's go to 24 Item 21; to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 25 obtaining new office space for Justice of the Peace, Precinct 10-25-10 57 1 4, and Tax Assessor/Collector in Ingram. Possible location 2 would be a portion of the Ingram Volunteer Fire Department 3 property. Obtain permission to confer with Peter Lewis for 4 cost estimates and design of new space. Commissioner Oehler? 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I put this on the 6 agenda. I know that we're having a hard time financially, 7 but at the same time, we do have, I believe, a little money 8 available in our capital -- capital funds that have not been 9 expended. But I wanted to bring it to the Court to discuss 10 the possibility of having our own building for J.P. 4 and our 11 Tax Assessor/Collector, and it be nothing more than a basic 12 metal building that's designed to fit their needs. We've 13 been paying rent for a long, long time on a building that is 14 not a very good building. Every time we get any measurable 15 rainfall, it kind of floods the storeroom. And the heating 16 and air conditioning is not very economical, because the one 17 end of the attic is not even sealed up from the weather, just 18 being a few minor reasons to do this. And I would like to 19 explore, number one, of course, if we do have money available 20 for out of the capital funds for this project, and if the 21 Court so pleases, I would like to involve Peter Lewis in 22 doing basic little design and -- and cost estimate to -- to 23 build a small metal building that would be adequate. And 24 Ingram Fire Department, I asked them if they would be willing 25 to sell a small piece of land to place this on, and they 10-25-10 58 1 agreed that they would. It also will have city sewer 2 available to it, because it will tie onto the one that the 3 fire department's going to use to go down for the collection 4 system. They could have some pluses. I would like to 5 explore it. And if -- if the Court would allow me to do 6 that, I think it would be a good idea. I don't think we're 7 talking about a lot of money, but over the long haul, it's in 8 a really good location. It would be. I don't have a -- we'd 9 have to get the land appraised to get a value, but I don't 10 think over a quarter acre. At the moment, it has good access 11 to it. It's visible from the highway, has a lot of pluses. 12 And I think it would be real accessible to the public and be 13 -- would be a big asset, because that office is being used 14 more and more and more every year. In fact, we're having 15 early voting at the one now, and they've already had, in the 16 first week, over -- close to 600 people vote there. And 17 they're standing outside, which they would be on another 18 building anyway. Was it more than that? 19 MS. BOLIN: Nine hundred is what they ran through 20 last week. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It was 900 for several days. 22 But, anyway, it's -- it's becoming very popular. People -- 23 some of them from Kerrville even go out there and use the 24 facility, because it seems to be more accessible to them, 25 easier. It's quicker than coming in the courthouse. So -- 10-25-10 59 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So you're talking about 2 buying land, hooking up sewers, building a building, and 3 Peter Lewis funds. So, what are you saying? Are you saying 4 that you want to go out and figure out how much that's -- all 5 of that's going to cost? Or you want us to just authorize 6 you to go do this? 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Oh, no. I want to find out 8 what it's going to cost. I wouldn't dare ask that. And -- 9 and in those plans, I would like to incorporate some old 10 lumber that we could recycle from the old teachers' quarters 11 of the Reservation School. Get community service to tear 12 down the building and recycle that lumber, and tag it. 13 'Cause the old school's about to fall down. The old -- the 14 school has been gone for years; it's just the teachers' 15 quarters. And there's no point in wasting, you know, some 16 basically antique stuff. That's just one idea to 17 incorporate, and I would be willing to do the work in 18 installing that for free, -- 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That'd be neat for Ingram. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- is to make it look like a 21 -- kind of like an old Judge Roy Bean court, maybe. But, 22 anyway, I'd like to -- I would like to proceed if the Court 23 would allow me to do that, get Peter Lewis to get us an 24 estimate on size and cost. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do you have an estimate from 10-25-10 60 1 Peter Lewis to what his -- what it will cost for his part of 2 this? 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No, I do not. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have no problem with it, at 5 least to find out what -- to have Peter go out there and do 6 some preliminary site work and look -- I mean, look at it, 7 not doing the work, and then coming up with an estimate. No 8 drawings, just an estimate. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And then -- but I think we kind 11 of need to know how much that might cost. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I agree with that. I'll talk 13 to him and have him come give us a proposal on what his 14 services might be. I know that if we're going to bid the 15 thing, we're going to have to have it specified. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And so somebody's got to do 18 it. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Going to need a survey to 20 determine exactly how much land you need, right? 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. But I think first we 22 need to get an estimate whether we even want to, are able to 23 proceed with this thing. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Okay. I think you can, 25 ballpark, talk to some real estate folks, see what that 10-25-10 61 1 land's worth. Then you could -- or look at the tax rolls 2 around there. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Of course, they're not on the 4 tax rolls. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So -- 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They really were excited 7 about maybe having -- having the county be right there. And 8 also, it would put it right across catty-corner from City 9 Hall, where you have -- your security is a little bit closer 10 than where it is now. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Good location. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So, anyway, I will -- I will 13 get Peter Lewis, if that's what you'd like for me to do, and 14 get an estimate. I'll come back to the Court next meeting. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Anything else on that 17 particular matter? Let's go to Item 22; to consider, 18 discuss, take appropriate action to discuss additional future 19 plans for the new outdoor arena at the Hill Country Youth 20 Exhibit Center, including, but not limited to, outdoor 21 lights, restroom facilities, and concession area. 22 Commissioner Oehler? 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, this is a somewhat 24 similar situation. We -- now, the outdoor arena is -- is 25 complete, I believe. It's ready for use, except we don't 10-25-10 62 1 have any power over there for -- you know, to run any kind of 2 a P.A. system or anything like that. And we do not have any 3 lights. We do not have any restrooms. And this is all stuff 4 we talked about doing after we completed the arena. And I've 5 given this quite a bit of thought, and I'm going to talk to 6 several people about the possibility of -- of covering it in 7 the near future, if possible, if there was some way we could 8 get some grant money from somebody or we could put some money 9 up out of the -- the proceeds from the capital funds. I 10 think the first thing we need to do, though, is we need to 11 get -- get it to where it's really operational. But if we 12 are going to cover it, we don't need to be talking about 13 putting up any big, tall light poles, 'cause if you were -- 14 if it were covered, you pull all your lights under cover in 15 the building, and so I'd hate to spend money on that and then 16 come back in whatever -- you know, whatever amount of time 17 and say, well, you know, we have to pull all those down, and 18 we spent $25,000 or $30,000 for nothing. So, I think it's 19 another area that's worth exploring. 20 I have talked to some people that -- that attend 21 regular roping events in Gonzales, and they seem to have one 22 of these facilities. And they're having all kinds of things 23 in that other than just roping events. They're having a lot 24 of those, but they're having bull ridings; they're having 25 other kinds of shows and things. And I think we could -- it 10-25-10 63 1 could be part of what we might tag as economic development in 2 some form or fashion, because it will -- if we -- if we spend 3 some money on this, it will bring people to town. They will 4 help our economy somewhat. And this is very cheap space, 5 68,000 square feet under roof at a cost of approximately $9 a 6 square foot. And I think, too, by doing -- if we chose and 7 could figure out a way to pay for this, it will eliminate us 8 having to build more of our space onto what we propose to do 9 with the Ag Barn. I think we could have less square footage 10 of the more expensive type by doing this, and actually save 11 money in the long run and have a facility that will do more 12 things. 13 Gonzales, from what I understand, it's really 14 helped their economy, brought in lots of events, lots of 15 people. And they were basically kind of dead in the water, 16 but they've got the facility now. I'm going to make a trip 17 down there, at my own expense; the County doesn't have any 18 money to pay me any mileage, and talk to the city of Gonzales 19 and see what kind of economic impact it's had for them, get 20 an idea of what we might be looking at. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is that a city facility or 22 a county facility? 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's a city facility. I 24 noticed over the last -- last weekend, this past weekend, 25 Fredericksburg had a truck and tractor pull. A month ago 10-25-10 64 1 they had a -- a PBR bull-riding event. Those kinds of things 2 are things that we can do in an outdoor facility like that 3 that's covered. But if it's not covered, we're not going to 4 get near as many functions inside it. Plus it will help us 5 on our stock show. All the cattle shows could move out 6 there. We could move the hog show into the -- into the 7 indoor arena now, and get them out of that area where we're 8 having banquets and those kinds of things, where -- you know, 9 it takes a lot of the disinfectant to get that to where it's 10 presentable for -- 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That will be a plus. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So I think it has a lot of 13 pluses. And just a ballpark figure, without -- you know, 14 just -- I've just called the metal building company and 15 gotten the dimensions to cover that area. The only estimate 16 I have on the -- just the metal building is 300,000, and it 17 costs approximately that much to erect it. In today's world, 18 in today's economy, it can probably be done for a little bit 19 less, but you're looking at 600,000, probably, realistically. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Clear span? 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's all clear span. 22 There'd be no columns in the way of bleachers, any of that. 23 It'll be a very good place to have an event, be 24 spectator-friendly. And with that, we're going to have to do 25 restrooms and concession. And we've been talking about doing 10-25-10 65 1 all of that down under the old horse barn, but I really think 2 it would be better to have it underneath this building, in 3 the middle of the stands somewhere, where it's convenient 4 access. And it also gets the restrooms and concessions 5 uphill a little more so you have a little bit better fall 6 toward our -- our wastewater system or wastewater line. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner, I think I'd kind 8 of go here with the estimate, getting Peter Lewis to find out 9 what it's going to cost him to do an estimate. And you're 10 going to need that anyway before we go out for grants. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think do that. I just don't 13 see that we're going to have -- you know, in my opinion, 14 there's a little bit to this, and I'm not real inclined to 15 allocate county tax dollars at this -- right now, anyway, -- 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I agree. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- for this project. But I 18 think it's good to -- if we can get grants for it, I'd be 100 19 percent in favor of it. I think it's a good idea. I would 20 probably -- you know, maybe if Peter comes to the next 21 meeting, talk a little bit about it. It seems to me you may 22 want to include, when you go for grants on this, what a 23 smaller enclosed facility, or maybe an addition to the -- 24 just 'cause I think we're going to still need a little bit 25 more in the stock show indoor space. If you move the cattle 10-25-10 66 1 out, that works, but that's -- I think that doesn't take care 2 of all the hogs and -- 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we'd need some additional 5 space somewhere else still. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I totally agree. I just 7 think that the additional space can be -- it could be added 8 onto that building. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You can go out the back -- 10 actually go out the back relatively -- just enclose the back 11 part where the cattle pens are right now. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. I just think it -- I 13 think it's something we need to talk about. I think it's 14 going to change -- it's possible for it to change our plans 15 for the future on the Ag Barn. But the main thing is to find 16 the money. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Commissioner, there are 18 funds available for projects like this through U.S.D.A. I'd 19 explore that. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay, that's a good one. If 21 you would help me do that, I'd be more than -- more than 22 appreciative, and I'll work on my end if you can help at that 23 end. 'Cause I can do all the -- the legwork on the 24 building -- 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 10-25-10 67 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- side of it. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Bollier, you had a comment? 3 MR. BOLLIER: I was just going ask you, 4 Commissioner Oehler, we're going to have bleachers, right? 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes, we're going to have to 6 have bleachers. 7 MR. BOLLIER: Okay. 'Cause I just -- I didn't see 8 it. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They have to be, you know, 10 A.D.A. compliant and all that. But we're going to -- all 11 that would be underneath. 12 MR. BOLLIER: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's what Peter can -- he can 14 come up with a full plan of all that. We can find out what 15 his charge is going to be to see if we can even afford that 16 at this point. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's one reason why the 18 cost is up a little more than it would have been, is because 19 the clear span going an extra, I believe -- I wouldn't -- an 20 extra 40 feet to make it two -- it's 300 -- it would be 200 21 and -- let's see, it's 160; be 200 feet wide, 340 feet long, 22 and 20-foot side walls so that you get the heat out. And 23 because of the way the building is designed, you have to get 24 up so high on the sides because of the way the trusses are 25 made. 10-25-10 68 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But that's a big -- that's a 3 big clear span building, but it -- anyway, so I will pursue 4 that. And if we can find some money, Bill, we can do it. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll check with them over 6 there and see what their program is. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Did you say it was 200 by 340? 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: 200 by 340. That's 68,000 10 square feet, I believe. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. Over an acre and a half 12 under roof. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Mm-hmm. And basically, you 14 know, I think you can get it done for 10 -- 10 bucks, the 15 whole thing. And we're talking -- we're going to expand the 16 Ag Barn and have, you know, some of the same things in there 17 that could be functions in there. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That would cause a 19 rethinking of some of that. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's what I -- I think 21 this -- you know, this gives you animal options; it gives us 22 event options that we don't have now, for a -- not a 23 tremendous cost, as compared to $100 a square foot for, you 24 know, other space. That's it. I'm done. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. So you're going to -- you're 10-25-10 69 1 going to get with Mr. Lewis and tell him generally what your 2 idea is, have him come forward and -- 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: -- and give us a presentation? 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes, sir. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, good enough. Thank you. Any 7 member of the Court have anything else to offer on that? 8 Let's go to our 10:30 timed item, Item 14, a presentation by 9 Dr. Sandra Guerra with the Texas Department of State Health 10 Services regarding the process of appointing a local health 11 authority. Dr. Guerra? 12 DR. GUERRA: Thank you, Judge. Thank you, 13 Commissioners. Good morning. My name is Dr. Sandra Guerra, 14 and I have met some of you in the past. I work for the Texas 15 Department of State Health Services. We used to be called 16 T.D.L., or Texas Department of Health. And I appreciate you 17 taking the time to meet with me today. The reason for my 18 visit is that over the last several years, actually since 19 2004, I have been serving as your local health authority here 20 for Kerr County. The way the statute is written -- and 21 hopefully you have received some information about this, but 22 the way the statute's written is actually that the county 23 judge may appoint a local health authority to serve those 24 statutory obligations to protect the health and well-being of 25 a community. 10-25-10 70 1 If a county judge has not appointed one, then by 2 default, the regional medical director -- and the state of 3 Texas is broken up into to eight regions for health -- would 4 serve in that capacity. And for that reason, I have been 5 serving in that capacity over the last several years, which 6 has been a very positive relationship on the side of the 7 Texas Department of State Health Services. We definitely 8 have felt that we have been able to serve those public health 9 needs of this community as best we can. I am physically 10 located in San Antonio, but have spent many hours here, even 11 just recently, meeting with Red Cross and the R.L.O. to talk 12 about things such as emergency sheltering and the medical and 13 health needs attendant to those persons who have to be 14 sheltered on an emergency basis. 15 The local health authority, as defined by statute, 16 is fairly broad. It includes things like outbreak 17 interventions, making sure that if we have an outbreak of a 18 particular communicable disease in a school, a day care, a 19 nursing home, any other congregate setting, a correctional 20 facility, that public health can actually come in, step in 21 and give the appropriate recommendations, and also provide 22 the interventions if necessary, such as medications, 23 vaccines, quarantine, and anything else that we might need. 24 And we have been serving in that capacity for the last 25 several years for Kerr County, and have worked well with all 10-25-10 71 1 of you to do so. But also, the health authority is a 2 resource to you. Questions come up from time to time on 3 those things that perhaps have a health impact; for instance, 4 the number of restrooms that you might need at a large 5 facility. And we can work with you on that to make sure it 6 meets the health and safety codes so that when you build 7 these large facilities, you are definitely in compliance with 8 the law. 9 So, we have general sanitarians that come out and 10 do those inspections and work with you on those things, or 11 anything from -- perhaps people believe that a certain 12 community is having a higher incidence of cancer, for 13 instance, of a certain type of cancer. We can do the 14 investigation around that and determine if there has been an 15 environmental exposure. And other things that come up; 16 fluoride in the water, fluoride not in the water, 17 immunizations, flu vaccines such as H1N1 vaccine, all those 18 other things that come up from time to time. That is where 19 we serve as your public health experts, and that is where we 20 have the staff and the resources to be able to do that. We 21 have a public health nurse here in Kerrville that serves not 22 only Kerr County, but the surrounding counties as well, and 23 several of you may have met her. Her name is Vickie LeBleu. 24 But we will continue to have public health 25 presence. We also have the sanitarians that do inspections 10-25-10 72 1 of different facilities, whether it be schools, day cares, 2 restaurants and the like, depending on the community, if they 3 have their own sanitarian that does that or not. And I 4 believe Kerr County does have one that also does it as well, 5 so we're here to be able to support that. Some of you may 6 have read in the paper this past weekend about a recall of 7 particular products from a -- from a food packing place in 8 San Antonio. We're making sure that all those entities that 9 have perhaps received or have questions, we're locating them 10 to the right places so that their products are recalled 11 safely and people aren't harmed by that. 12 The reason for our visit, though, today is to ask 13 that we -- in order to make transparency for both the medical 14 community as well as the general public, we're asking that 15 you officially appoint someone to be your health authority. 16 And I would be honored if you would consider me to continue 17 to be in that role for you, so that it's not a default role, 18 but actually an appointed role. It is a two-year commitment. 19 It is something that the County does not have to pay for. 20 Liability and everything else is assumed by the State, 21 because I am a State Health Department official serving in an 22 official capacity for the state, working on behalf of the 23 Commissioner of Health, Dr. David Lakey. So, this is 24 something that I hope that we can continue to have an 25 official relationship in that regard. 10-25-10 73 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Dr. Guerra, let me go ahead and call 2 Item 15 in connection with your presentation; consider, 3 discuss, take appropriate action to appoint Dr. Sandra Guerra 4 as the Kerr County Local Health Authority. I think when you 5 -- when you mentioned no cost and no liability, all of that 6 being assumed by the State, you got attention up here pretty 7 much 100 percent, in my estimate. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Woke me up. (Laughter.) 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We don't hear that very 10 often. 11 DR. GUERRA: Well, I think we think of ourselves as 12 very special. It is something that the -- at least the 13 lawmakers have actually written that into the way the law is 14 written, that if you -- for those of us that work in the 15 state capacity, we can actually work in this regard for you. 16 And I think it -- it works on both our ends. Now, the State 17 also has a local presence, which is important so that we have 18 a unified approach in the way we approach public health. 19 We've had, for instance, places that have had a Local Health 20 Authority appointed on their own, and aren't necessarily in 21 line with the way the C.D.C. does things or the way the State 22 Health Department does things, and so it sometimes can cause 23 a conflict. This is a benefit for everyone, so that we do 24 things as consistently as we can, but tailored to that 25 specific community the best we can as well. But primarily, I 10-25-10 74 1 also wanted to introduce myself as a resource to you, so that 2 when those questions do come up, you do not hesitate to call 3 me or my staff. We have a large staff that can assist you 4 with those issues, and it's better to be proactive than it is 5 to be reactive, in my opinion. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Dr. Guerra, you've actually been 7 serving Kerr County as the Local Health Authority, by default 8 or otherwise, -- 9 DR. GUERRA: Yes. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: -- for how long now? 11 DR. GUERRA: I have since 2004. My predecessor did 12 that, I believe, approximately eight years before that. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: My only question is, has our 14 legal beagle taken a look at the -- I mean, I guess the oath 15 of office is not a big deal, but the certificate of 16 appointment or all those things that are here in our -- all 17 those documents that are in here, are they -- 18 JUDGE TINLEY: The Appointment for Local Health 19 Authority, that's, I'm sure, the format described, 'cause 20 it's set up for virtually any entity. It has been 21 promulgated by the Department of State Health Services 22 through -- through state resources, I'm sure, obviously. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's a lawyer answer for 24 you. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 10-25-10 75 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is all the stuff good, man? 2 That's all. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Looks okay. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Groovy. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move approval of the agenda 6 item. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. You're 9 speaking about Item 15, the appointment of Dr. Guerra? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, sir. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: That Dr. Guerra be appointed as the 12 Local Health Authority for Kerr County. Question or 13 discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, 14 signify by raising your right hand. 15 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 17 (No response.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 19 Congratulations, Dr. Guerra. 20 DR. GUERRA: Thank you. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Glad to have -- 22 DR. GUERRA: It's an honor to serve you. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: -- you on board again, continuing. 24 DR. GUERRA: Thank you very much. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you so much. 10-25-10 76 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Why don't we take about a 15-, 2 20-minute recess here, and we will get these documents 3 resolved. 4 (Recess taken from 10:37 a.m. to 10:58 a.m.) 5 - - - - - - - - - - 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's come back to order, if 7 we might. Let's go to Item 23; consider, discuss, and take 8 appropriate action on appointing county appointee to the 9 Library Advisory Board. Commissioner Letz? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I put this on the agenda 11 more as a discussion item rather than giving a name. And the 12 reason was, during the budget process, we talked a lot about 13 the library. It seems to me that we need to determine what 14 our involvement with the library is going to be before we 15 start asking someone to represent us on the Library Board. 16 It seems -- you know, or visit with the City. Now, the 17 Advisory Board makeup right now is based really on a previous 18 agreement, and I'm serving as the county liaison; then we 19 have an appointee. I really would rather talk to the City 20 and see, do they want to keep that structure or do they want 21 to change it? Because, I mean we're -- you know, we have 22 certainly reduced our involvement in the library, and I know 23 it's going to -- from what I recall from the budget process, 24 we're going to discuss the library going forward, so it just 25 seems to me that it, you know, it might be better to hold off 10-25-10 77 1 on making an appointment right there for the immediate 2 future. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Has there been a request to 4 make an appointment? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's a vacancy. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So it's just -- you know, I can 8 come up with a name, but it just seems that it might be a 9 good time just to take a deep breath and visit with the City 10 about it and see kind of where they want to go. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think you're right, because 12 even one of the members that's presently serving that -- that 13 I put the name forward to appoint a couple years ago, you 14 know, she feels kind of useless, actually, because she 15 doesn't feel like she really has -- has much input. Or, you 16 know, what input she has doesn't really seem to carry any -- 17 any weight. So, you know, why waste your time on something 18 that you really feel like is not beneficial? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, my recommendation now is to 20 kind of just hold off on making an appointment. Let's meet 21 with the City when that happens, and at that point we can 22 decide what the best direction with the library is from our 23 standpoint, and what the City's desires are for our 24 involvement. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I have -- as requested, I've sent a 10-25-10 78 1 letter to the City about future discussions concerning our 2 various joint operations. And I -- as most of you know, I 3 was out of town the majority of last week, and so have not 4 been able to wade through what all came in during that 5 period. But to my knowledge, I've not yet received a 6 response about a -- a date to have such a meeting, or -- or 7 who it is that's going to be proposed that -- that meets. 8 So, once I get that, I'll bring it to the Court and we'll -- 9 we'll make a decision to participate. Anything else in 10 connection with that particular item, gentlemen? 11 Let's -- let's move to Item 24, if we might. 12 Consider, discuss, take appropriate action on forfeiture 13 report for Constable, Precinct 2, and Constable, Precinct 1. 14 I put this on the agenda at the request of the constables who 15 filed these reports. The Precinct 1 report is included. The 16 Precinct 2 report I delivered to the Auditor's office for 17 review, and I'm not sure where they are on that. Because I 18 could tell by looking at the report that there -- there 19 needed to be some additional action taken with respect to it. 20 And the Auditor's shaking her head that -- 21 MS. HARGIS: We haven't finished it yet. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: That's not been yet completed, so 23 the only one we have in front of us today is for the Precinct 24 1 Constable. That should be within your materials. In 25 essence, it indicates a balance of $1,216.96 coming in. 10-25-10 79 1 That's the ending balance. There were no expenditures by the 2 constable during that report period for authorized 3 expenditures from the forfeiture fund. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I hope you're not acting 5 surprised that Precinct 1 is the one that turned it in, and 6 done properly. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: It's not a surprise to me at all, 8 no, sir. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just wanted to make sure 10 that -- would you like to accept this, or what do we do? 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Actually, the -- the statute 12 requires that the Commissioners Court audit the report as 13 required by the Code of Criminal Procedure. And the report 14 is in front of you, and approval of the agenda item as to the 15 Precinct 1 Constable would constitute that audit, I would 16 think. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move for approval. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 20 approval of the agenda item and audit as to Constable, 21 Precinct 1. 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.) 10-25-10 80 1 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's go 2 now to Item 25; to acknowledge receipt of quarterly 3 investment report from Patterson and Associates for the 4 quarter ending 9-30-2010. Ms. William? 5 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. It's that time again, 6 another quarter down. And y'all have a copy of the quarterly 7 investment report as of September 30th, and I just need you 8 to acknowledge that you've received it. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Question 12 or discussion? All in favor, signify by raising your right 13 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 MS. WILLIAMS: Thank you. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Ms. Williams. We 20 appreciate it. Let's go to Item 26, which is to consider, 21 discuss, and request approval of minor restructure of staff 22 duties, responsibilities, and compensation with no budget 23 impact, as per the items furnished by Ms. Uecker. 24 Ms. Uecker, is this something we can handle in the clear, or 25 is it necessary that only part of it can be in clear and part 10-25-10 81 1 of it will be in executive? 2 MS. UECKER: I -- 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Or what's appropriate? 4 MS. UECKER: I'm okay with it. I mean, I'm not 5 going to say anything bad about anybody, so it ought to be 6 good. (Laughter.) 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Of course, you haven't 8 started yet. 9 MS. UECKER: I haven't started yet. But the first 10 thing I'm going to -- did everybody get this? I think Jody 11 was going to make that a part of your -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mine doesn't have notes on it, 13 though. 14 MS. UECKER: It doesn't? Mine does. Do you want 15 to see mine? My staff is great. I mean, they're just 16 absolutely wonderful, and they're willing -- they're willing 17 to do whatever I ask them to do and for me to put them 18 wherever I ask them to work. In order for me to continue to 19 try to work smarter and put folks where I think their 20 abilities are, more efficient, and would save some money, 21 I've come up with a proposal to restructure a little bit. 22 The first -- the first two lines would be -- and I'm going to 23 use names, 'cause it's hard for me to talk about positions. 24 And I -- they don't mind. Simona and Rosalie would actually 25 switch places. Currently, Simona is at the front counter. 10-25-10 82 1 Her biggest -- her primary function is the appellate stuff, 2 which is very time-consuming, very exact, and very critical. 3 Currently in that position -- okay, and then my -- I'm 4 proposing in her position to move Rosalie. Rosalie, who's in 5 the back doing the records management stuff, the scanning, 6 data entry, who is already training on the front, because 7 we've had to move her out because we've lost -- lost a person 8 to the D.A.'s office. Switch those two, and put Rosalie in 9 that position without -- with everything, which includes, you 10 know, her taking the cash and working with the public, the 11 same as Simona's doing, except without the appellate issues. 12 What we would do then is move Simona to the back 13 and let her take over the records management issues, and take 14 her appellate stuff to the back, away from the counter where 15 she can concentrate on deadlines, timetables, costs, 16 contacting attorneys, making sure everything is in -- in the 17 appeal record, and get it timely -- timely sent. And in 18 addition to that, we would give her some jury selection. 19 We're -- I think I've talked to you about this before, the 20 new prequalified jury list. That is coming along very well, 21 and we're getting ready to start it. We've got all the cards 22 in, which is going to save us a lot of money. She's going to 23 be helping us with that as well. So, those two I'm asking to 24 switch. Now, Simona is willing to take, you know, a step 25 down so that Rosalie can come up and take those functions and 10-25-10 83 1 take that responsibility of the cash and the -- the customers 2 at the front counter. The nice thing about that is Simona 3 will still be able to come up when -- on pretrial days, when 4 we have three people out, and still work the counter. And 5 they will -- they will kind of just train each other to take 6 over each other's positions, and move. 7 The other -- the third line is Beth that's gone to 8 the D.A.'s office. The current position was -- she was 9 criminal, and primarily civil. She did the cash, front 10 counter, passports, and jury. I would -- I'm replacing her 11 with Darlene from within the office, who's moving over there 12 and is in training, and has already been doing that. The 13 fourth line down is what was Darlene's position is going to 14 be filled with the new person coming in on November the 1st 15 from within the county employees. Hired from within. And 16 that one, Darlene's at a 15-2. She'll remain at a 15-2. 17 She'll have a little bit more responsibilities, but I need to 18 keep this budget neutral, so that's where we're going with 19 this. The new person would be a 15-1, which is the entry 20 level up there. 21 And the last one is Tammy, who was doing the 22 criminal, has moved over to lead now in the criminal, and she 23 does all of the courtroom, jury, counter, passports; she does 24 it all, and she's also -- in her current position, was in 25 training as an accounting clerk to help out Robbin, who does 10-25-10 84 1 all the bookkeeping. She's now been trained on that, and 2 I've moved over to the lead -- moved her over to the lead 3 criminal, and she'll also still be doing everything else that 4 the folks at the front counter do. So, she would move from 5 what was in the old budget as a 15-2, I think currently as a 6 16-1. You know, I'm asking for a 16-2. That's a little bit 7 of increase with the increased responsibilities. Overall, 8 the budget impact is actually less, and would be, you know, 9 if we made no changes and next year's budget would be the 10 same. So -- and that was my goal, to try to rearrange things 11 to help us work smarter, and to maybe plan what the -- 12 depending on what next year's budget's going to do. And so 13 I'm asking approval of this proposal, and we'll go forward 14 with it. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Net impact is about $840 16 less, right? 17 MS. UECKER: Right. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval of the plan 19 as presented. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion. Do I hear a 21 second? 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second. 24 Question or discussion on the motion? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. On the bottom right 10-25-10 85 1 side, Tammy's going over to a new slot and getting a 2 promotion. Why wouldn't that go in as a 16-1? 3 MS. UECKER: Well, that's fine. She's actually -- 4 based on what the new budget figures are, she is a 16-1. I 5 was just asking for it to be a 16-2 because she was at a 6 15-2. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. But I was -- I could be 8 wrong, but my recollection was when people got a promotion, 9 they went back to the 1. 10 MS. UECKER: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, you did that on the 12 other one, looked like. 13 MS. UECKER: Yeah. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the other question I have 15 is, the new position filled from within, that is the slot 16 that Jannett is now open? 17 MS. UECKER: Right. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You always -- you always have 19 your imaginative ways of doing things. I was thinking of -- 20 with the hiring freeze, I mean, I understand what you did. 21 Jannett's gone down a person. But if Jannett needs a 22 person -- it's just a matter of kind of reshuffling a little 23 bit, and somewhat getting around the hiring freeze by hiring 24 from within, but I guess that's okay. 25 MS. UECKER: I actually figured you'd be pleased, 10-25-10 86 1 because you -- you agreed to let me fill that position even 2 before the budget process, and then you implemented 3 attrition. I figured this is what would you want, Jonathan. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, it's -- I mean, it's -- 5 sort of. I mean, we went down -- we have attrition; it's 6 just not in your office, but okay. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I thought in the original 8 plan in the budget, Simona was going to retire and you were 9 going to give up that position. 10 MS. UECKER: Well, that's sometime in the future. 11 That -- I mean, we're looking at that down the road. I don't 12 know what she's going to do. I can't -- you know, and that's 13 kind of what I'm planning toward here. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I guess the problem that I 16 have with this is seeing somebody get an increase during the 17 very beginning of a budget year whenever we've had such a 18 tough time trying to fund the things that we -- just trying 19 to keep everybody on board. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're talking about the 21 16-2 versus 1? 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: She's agreed to go 16-1. 24 MS. UECKER: Yeah, that's fine. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. It's kind of like you 10-25-10 87 1 just move everybody up a slot and you move somebody in. 2 MS. UECKER: Well, Simona's actually taking a 3 decrease. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I understand she's taking a 5 decrease, but there are others that are getting increases. 6 MS. UECKER: Well, like I said, we can move Tammy 7 back to a 16-2 -- 16-1, where she is currently. Where she is 8 right now. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's -- I just want us to 10 be fair with all departments in this thing. 11 MS. UECKER: I understand. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Not be allowing one to do 13 something that the other one shouldn't. And that's the part 14 that -- that bothers me. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: You state that the position should 16 be at a 17-1. Why that comment? 17 MS. UECKER: Well, based on the responsibilities 18 and the supervisory responsibilities she now has. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: So, you're saying the job 20 description carries a classification of Grade 17? 21 MS. UECKER: Right. But, you know, it's like I 22 said during budget time. You know, I'm okay with it as it 23 is, and so are they, as long as we take a close look at it, 24 you know, maybe next year if we can. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, if my crunching of the numbers 10-25-10 88 1 is correct, there's still negative budget impact if that 2 one's brought in, if what you say is correct, at 17-1. 3 MS. UECKER: Well, I'm -- you know, I'm trying to 4 stay within the budget and -- 5 JUDGE TINLEY: I just wasn't sure where the 17-1 6 came from. If it already carries that classification, you're 7 going in at -- at Step 1 of that particular grade that the 8 position calls for. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If we approve the plan, are 10 we, in effect, giving tacit approval to that job becoming a 11 17-1? 12 MS. UECKER: Well, it's not what I asked for. 13 That's just the comment I made on there, so that it would -- 14 you know, maybe you would see that it is -- it is a fair move 15 for her to move to a 16-2. But that's up to you. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I think it's -- it 17 should be either a 16-1 or a 17-1. It should be a 1, 18 whatever it needs to be. I mean, it shouldn't -- 19 MS. UECKER: Okay. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: In fairness to the employee, if -- 21 if the job description is changing, -- 22 MS. UECKER: Which it is. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: -- and it calls for a Grade 17 24 employee in that job description -- 25 MS. UECKER: Well, see, a 17-1 would be 31 -- 10-25-10 89 1 JUDGE TINLEY: I've calculated the numbers, and 2 you're at $844 now, and the difference between -- the 3 difference between that and a 17-1 is $756, so you're still 4 negative -- 5 MS. UECKER: Right. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: -- in your budgetary impact. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But we can't -- we can't just 8 create a new -- a 17. I mean, is it a 17? You're 9 reshuffling, so I think you kind of throw out that it should 10 be a 17-1. It's -- we have to look at the whole office all 11 of a sudden, then, everyone up there, before we start adding 12 a 17 in. I mean, the numbers balance out with the 13 criss-crossing done so far, but if we all of a sudden have a 14 17 in the mix, we need to look at the whole office, that 15 we're not bumping up, you know, your entire -- not your 16 entire staff, but you understand what I'm saying. 17 MS. UECKER: Right. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's a 16-1 at this 19 point, and we look at the whole office at a later date. 20 MS. UECKER: I'm okay with that. That's fine. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Any question or comment further? 22 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 23 hand. 24 (Commissioners Baldwin, Williams, and Letz voted in favor of the motion.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed? 10-25-10 90 1 (Commissioner Oehler voted against the motion.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. 3 MS. UECKER: Thank you. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's go to Item 20. It's a 5 timed item for 11:15, a presentation of special awards to 6 numerous Boy Scouts who worked on Kerr County Historical 7 Marker projects. Commissioner Baldwin? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sir, thank you very much. 9 As you know, we go throughout the year and there's lots of 10 fun things, pleasant things that we get to do, and this is 11 one of those where we're dealing with people of integrity and 12 the Boy Scout program and our future leaders, and my good 13 friend Paul Parks that has put this presentation together, 14 and I want to now turn it over to him and just say thank you 15 for -- Paul, where are you? Thank you for putting this 16 together. It's a -- it's a great thing, and the county 17 fathers -- this is the kind of thing that we do, is honor our 18 future leaders sometimes. So, thank you for putting this 19 together. 20 MR. PARKS: Thank you, Buster. And I appreciate 21 Your Honor and Honorable Commissioners for y'all allowing 22 this honor to be done in open court. I really appreciate 23 this. We have a very difficult time trying to get anybody 24 interested in history, period, and particularly our own 25 county history, our own local history or state history. And 10-25-10 91 1 that's the whole reason that the Texas Historical Commission 2 exists, and it's also why the Kerr County Historical 3 Commission exists, because we look to you all for guidance, 4 and we look to them for guidance as well. I'd like to 5 introduce Julie Leonard. Please stand up, Julie. She is our 6 chair of the -- of the Kerr County Historical Commission. 7 She appointed me to this spot back a few months ago. And 8 there's nothing that I can do that can ever replace 9 Clarabelle Snodgrass, but in a feeble effort, that's what we 10 want to try to do. 11 But right now, we had the opportunity for an Eagle 12 Scout that's earning his merit award to head up this group on 13 refurbishing some of our existing, well-needed markers to be 14 renovated in accordance with the Texas Historical Commission 15 guidelines. All that was done in -- in accordance with that, 16 and the boys had to read how to do this, and then they had to 17 do it and follow it exactly the way that it was prescribed by 18 the State to handle this. And so, in so doing, they -- they 19 were earning their community service merit for both the Eagle 20 and for the Boy Scouts, so we've got both categories here 21 today. And now, with your permission, Your Honor, I'd like 22 for you to make the presentations to the boys, and we'll go 23 from there. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: We've got a good group of scouting 25 individuals here with us today. It's always a good thing to 10-25-10 92 1 have those folks with us. They represent a positive element 2 in our community, certainly not ones that I see as juvenile 3 judge of this county. And the more we can get in the 4 scouting programs and the 4-H and the FFA and the ag 5 programs, that's a good thing. That -- that's young people 6 associating with positive young people, peers of their own, 7 doing positive things, and that's a good thing. Matthew 8 Bauer, would you please stand, sir? Why don't you come up 9 front here, sir, and why don't you tell these folks here 10 today what it was that you did in connection with this 11 project. What was the project? Tell these folks what it 12 was. 13 MR. BAUER: Well, first of all, we went and we got 14 all of the supplies donated, so it cost no cost to the city. 15 And then we went and we scraped off all of the signs and we 16 put lacquer -- we put lacquer all over -- all over the signs. 17 And then we went and scraped off all of the excess paint, and 18 then we went and we would brush off all of the signs to get 19 all of them nice and clean, and then we'd wash them off with 20 water, and then we would go and spray paint the signs with a 21 clear lacquer thinner to give it that shine. And that was 22 about it. And we did it, I believe -- six times? Yes. And 23 I had all of these Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts helping me with 24 the project, and I'd like to thank y'all for that. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: And who's your Scoutmaster, Matthew? 10-25-10 93 1 MR. BAUER: Mr. Weatherred. He was also out there 2 helping us with all of them. And his power sander improved 3 the speed of them. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: He was overseeing you guys, huh? 5 MR. WEATHERRED: No. No, he's the man. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: He's the overseer? 7 MR. WEATHERRED: Eagle project. The Eagle's -- 8 it's the Eagle candidate's responsibility to plan, organize, 9 and supervise the project. I just was another grunt. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: I see. Well, Mr. Weatherred, we 11 appreciate that. And I believe, Matthew, you had a number of 12 young people helping you. I assume these are your -- your 13 brothers, Caleb Bauer, Jacob Bauer, and Seth Bauer? 14 MR. BAUER: Yes, sir. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Are those your brothers? 16 MR. BAUER: Yes, sir. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: You recruited them for this project, 18 right? 19 MR. BAUER: Yes, sir. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Why don't all you guys come up here 21 and stand -- stand in front here. And then you had some more 22 help, didn't you? 23 MR. BAUER: Yes, sir. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Even Lewis, -- 25 MR. WEATHERRED: He's not here today. 10-25-10 94 1 JUDGE TINLEY: -- Conner Richter, Jared Thurmen, 2 Nykle Terry, and Matthew Boyet. Why don't all you folks turn 3 around so those folks out here can see you? I want them to 4 see what -- what the future of our community is that's going 5 to be coming down the pike, and that are going to be the 6 responsible influences in the community. 7 (Applause.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: It's also my privilege to present to 9 each one of these individuals a certificate and a -- there's 10 a patch that was prepared and fabricated dealing with the 11 Community Service Marker Restoration/Historical Commission as 12 an Eagle Scout project. They'll be able to wear this on 13 their uniforms, or possibly their sash; I'm not sure which is 14 appropriate. Maybe my -- my recollection of scouting 15 requirements and the uniform may not be as good as it should 16 be. But it's going to be my pleasure to present to each one 17 of these individuals a certificate, as well as this patch, so 18 that they can have something from which to remember this 19 event. And here's you a patch. 20 SCOUT: Thank you, sir. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. We appreciate your work. 22 MR. PARKS: Could I help? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Sure. Come on over here, young man. 24 Come on over here. You were hiding behind this podium, 25 weren't you. (Laughter.) And Mr. Parks is going to give you 10-25-10 95 1 a patch here. Okay. Thank you very much. We appreciate 2 your work. Okay, here's you a certificate for your work, and 3 a patch. And thank you very much. We appreciate it. And 4 let's get the rest of your crew over here, Matthew. There 5 you go. And a patch for you. Thank you for your work. Let 6 me see. You're a Life Scout, aren't you? Great work. Great 7 work. And a patch for you, young man. And you're a Star, 8 aren't you? Good work. Good work. Okay. There you go. 9 And what are you, first-class? 10 SCOUT: Second-class. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Second-class. Good work. Good 12 work. Appreciate it. What did we do to our hand there, 13 young man? 14 SCOUT: I fell the other day and had to get 15 stitches. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Appreciate your work. 17 Matthew? And here's a patch for you. Thank you very much. 18 And your Scoutmaster, Mr. Weatherred. Thank you, sir. We 19 appreciate your work with those boys. How many of them do 20 you got totally in your troop? 21 MR. WEATHERRED: I believe around 30. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Thirty of them. And this is Troop 23 number? 24 MR. WEATHERRED: 60. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Troop 60. And who's your sponsor? 10-25-10 96 1 MR. WEATHERRED: First United Methodist. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: First United Methodist. Well, we're 3 glad for the support that they give you. Thank you for all 4 the work that you do. 5 MR. WEATHERRED: I've been a scout for many, many 6 years, probably longer than most of you guys been alive. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Don't bet on that one. (Laughter.) 8 MR. PARKS: You gentlemen touched some young people 9 here in a positive way. We appreciate it. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we hope to do that. Thank 11 you, guys. We appreciate it. 12 (Applause.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: And we've got patches and 14 certificates for those that weren't able to be here today 15 that participated. Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I see a city 17 policeman back there. Does he have handcuffs on him? Which 18 one of us -- 19 JUDGE TINLEY: The story I got was that he was 20 looking for you. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Come and get me. 22 AUDIENCE: They told me to come in here and get 23 you, Buster. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Rusty, do your job. 25 (Laughter.) I'm on my own? 10-25-10 97 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You're on your own. They just 2 got to house you in another county. (Laughter.) 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That did it; I'm angry now. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I believe that -- that 5 includes all of the agenda items, unless I've missed 6 something. Let's go to Section 4 of the agenda. First item 7 is payment of the bills. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I move we pay the bills. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to pay the 11 bills. Question or discussion? Ms. Hargis, this is just a 12 comment more than a question. On Page 2, seems like we've 13 had a rash of autopsies. Are we going to be able to support 14 this -- this pace in our budget? 15 MS. HARGIS: No. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Didn't think so. 17 MS. HARGIS: No. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: We probably need to work with the 19 J.P.'s to get that meeting with the medical examiner to see 20 if we can't be a little bit more selective in those cases. 21 The other -- the other one I had is on Page 5. Of course, I 22 think that's after September 30, and that would be the ones 23 that budget year-end, '09-'10. 24 MS. HARGIS: Mm-hmm. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: The -- the payment to Mr. Frigerio 10-25-10 98 1 with respect to that first individual, is that really a 2 county obligation? 3 MS. HARGIS: These were signed by the judges. I'd 4 have to look into it, Judge. I don't know without it in 5 front of me. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: I think that falls under the 7 District Attorney's office, and I'm -- you may have a -- may 8 have a court order, but -- 9 MS. HARGIS: Let me check into that one. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any other question or 11 discussion on the run of bills? All in favor of motion, 12 signify by raising your right hand. 13 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 15 (No response.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. No budget 17 amendments; is that correct? 18 MS. HARGIS: No. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: No late bills? 20 MS. HARGIS: No, we have budget amendments. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: We do have budget amendments? 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah, whole list of them. 23 MS. HARGIS: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I got some questions about 25 it. 10-25-10 99 1 MS. HARGIS: We -- yeah. In fact, you know, we're 2 already doing -- you know, we've already -- you did one for 3 Linda which I have not had the availability to check. I do 4 not know if that one is under or over, because sometimes some 5 of our elected officials tend to look at the salary only, and 6 not the roll-ups. So, I'm not sure. I'd like an opportunity 7 to look at that. I was not given that opportunity. We do 8 have some overtime for the District Clerk's Office for last 9 year, and that's an agenda -- I mean an amendment. Number 10 one, we cannot go back and approve salary obligations after 11 9/30. Once the payroll is done at 9/30, it closes out. It's 12 an I.R.S. function. It goes with every quarterly report at 13 9/30 that we have, and it's done. So if they have something 14 in the last two weeks of that -- of the year, they need to 15 notify in advance that they're going to have to have a 16 special payroll, and that needs to be done on the 29th. 17 She's taking this from the moneys remaining from not filling 18 that position for 30 days. I did check that one. There is 19 funds sufficient there, but I haven't taken this and the 20 change of staff to see if that's going to work. 21 I really am hesitant that they take these budget 22 amendments this early in the year, because I know, as tight 23 as our budget is, there's going to be other problems. But 24 it's not my decision to make, and I'm not going to make that. 25 So, we're going to be bringing a lot of these more to you 10-25-10 100 1 than even in the past. That one, I -- you know, is an 2 overtime item, and that's for the Court to decide. Road and 3 Bridge, what we're doing here is simply moving line items, 4 because he's not using the oil -- what they wanted to do is 5 split those two items in half, so we're just moving from one 6 line item to the other to make sure there's enough money in 7 case he has -- because they can't use all the rock if they 8 don't have the oil anyway. So, they're kind of splitting 9 that in half. The parks, there's a -- when we did the parks, 10 we based it on the budget, and we needed to move those around 11 just a little bit, 'cause the budget changed from the State, 12 so that's really all we're doing is reallocating the original 13 budget. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: For all of these that are 15 listed as parks and transfers, that's to the dam project; is 16 that correct? 17 MS. HARGIS: Right. And we're not increasing the 18 budget. We're just reallocating those line items in 19 accordance with the engineering that we have, okay? So, 20 that's -- that's basically all we're doing here. Keep in 21 mind that the contract originally was an estimate, and then 22 when this first -- after it was approved and the first 23 estimate came in, those are locked in a little bit more by 24 the contractor, so that's all that is. The last one, which 25 is -- we're over by $5,000. And I didn't allocate that, 10-25-10 101 1 because I prefer, when they go over this much, I need to 2 bring them to you. Because it's real easy for me to find a 3 spot, but that's a lot of money that we're going to have to 4 reallocate somewhere. You know, we either take it out of 5 contingency -- there really isn't any room in her budget to 6 take the ballots. The original budget for the ballots was 7 15,000. The bill is 19,000. So, we have to buy the ballots. 8 So, sometimes we need to -- I think perhaps next year, when 9 we're going through this process, justify and trend a lot of 10 these lines a little bit more than we have, and maybe we'll 11 have more evidence behind the number so that perhaps we don't 12 reduce it when we know, in fact, that we can't meet that 13 obligation. Diane is here to go over that. I don't have a 14 problem with it going over. I just don't want to choose 15 where you guys want me to take the money, because we have a 16 tight budget. Wherever I move it, that one's going to be 17 short. 18 MS. BOLIN: I do have one thing on that that I 19 found out after -- like, Saturday, that I haven't had a 20 chance to tell Ms. Hargis, is that there is -- the school 21 districts that we're holding the elections for and U.G.R.A. 22 will give us back a portion of the ballot -- whatever their 23 portion of the ballot cost is. And it runs -- I think Nadene 24 said about $5,400 is what we will get back on that. So, 25 that'll give me $5,400 to manage. 10-25-10 102 1 MS. HARGIS: And then again, we'd like to go back 2 and reissue the first one. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: When was the overtime -- you say the 4 payroll, when it went down on 9/30 -- 5 MS. HARGIS: It's done. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: -- to finish the year, the quarter, 7 the whole thing, when was the overtime payment request -- 8 when was that submitted? Do you recall? 9 MS. HYDE: End of business on the 30th. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Hmm? 11 MS. HYDE: End of business on the 30th. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: So, after the payroll had been 13 processed, after the payroll had been paid on the 30th 14 itself, late in the day? 15 MS. HYDE: We got a piece of paper. It wasn't on 16 the typical form. It was handed to Jackie, and she put it 17 into the next -- into the payroll, because we were done with 18 payroll. All payroll adjustments and exceptions have to be 19 turned in about five days in advance so that we can do them. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: The -- for purposes of reporting to 21 I.R.S., W-2's -- 22 MS. HARGIS: None -- see, all the quarterly reports 23 are done, all the retirement, everything is done. And they 24 -- they have to be done in accordance, you know, with the 25 payroll rule. Those -- that payroll was paid via electronic 10-25-10 103 1 transfer that morning on 9/30. And we would have to redo the 2 941, and that just opens us up for audit, which we've already 3 been under that scrutiny. We don't want to go back there. 4 I.R.S. was just here last year, and we were able to 5 successfully not be penalized for -- for a few things that 6 were really not our fault. But if we -- if we cause things 7 to be, then -- but it would amend a lot of reports. The 8 retirement report goes automatically. All of these funds are 9 issued automatically on the morning of that payroll, because 10 it's the end of the quarter. Not only is it the end of the 11 quarter; it's the end of the year, and you just can't go back 12 on payroll. Now, you can go back in other line items, but 13 you can't go back in payroll. And I can't move it into 14 payroll, because then, when the outside auditors review it, 15 it doesn't balance. So, it's just a perpetual problem. I 16 didn't know about it until maybe the 5th, or it was later 17 than that. And it just happened to be in her office around 18 that time, and so, you know, I really -- she has the money in 19 that line item. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, but that's last year's budget. 21 MS. HARGIS: No, this isn't last year's. She's 22 going to have to take it out of the current year. And the 23 way she's using the money today is she had a vacancy for 30 24 days. That vacancy for 30 days, that particular -- Beth, who 25 moved to the D.A.'s office -- slot was not filled, so there 10-25-10 104 1 is some payroll money for 30 days, and that's how she's going 2 to pay this overtime. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Wait a minute. Are you telling me 4 that the funds which she has available in the line item she's 5 proposing to transfer from is in this year's budget? 6 MS. HARGIS: That's correct. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: But she wants to use it to cover an 8 obligation in last year's budget? 9 MS. HARGIS: That's correct. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: That's a nightmare. 11 MS. HARGIS: There's not much I can do about it. 12 Had she discussed it with our payroll department prior to 13 that, we might have been able to make -- make it happen. If 14 it was during a regular calendar year, that's not as much of 15 a problem either, because then it falls under the I.R.S. 16 quarterly reports of the next quarter. But at the end of the 17 year, it is a problem. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm not sure we can even lawfully 19 adjust last year's budget, much less adjust it with funds 20 from this year's budget. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't think so either. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't think we should. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't think you can. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we can adjust last 25 year's. The only thing -- I mean, question would be, can we 10-25-10 105 1 pay an expenditure from last year in this year's budget? We 2 can't adjust last year's budget. 3 MS. HARGIS: No, not in the payroll. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So the option would be to pay a 5 -- make it an expenditure that was encumbered -- or made last 6 budget year, and paid out of this budget year. 7 MS. HYDE: But keep in mind that the payroll is on 8 an I.R.S. calendar year, so, it does cross over. So, they 9 have two pay periods or 30 days in which to pay -- pay back, 10 so the budget amendment is within this calendar year. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I.R.S. -- it will just come on 12 the last quarter instead of the third quarter from an I.R.S. 13 standpoint. I mean, it's -- 14 MS. HARGIS: Yeah, because we're on a calendar 15 year. 16 MS. WILLIAMS: It'll have to be paid in the current 17 quarter that we're in right now with I.R.S., which is fourth 18 quarter 2010. If we go back to September 30th, we're way out 19 of -- 20 MS. HYDE: We can't. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're not going back. 22 MS. HARGIS: We can move from another line item in 23 her last year's budget up to this year to cover that as well. 24 But I can't -- 25 JUDGE TINLEY: By encumbering that -- 10-25-10 106 1 MS. HARGIS: I can't move from a payroll line item. 2 I'll have to move from some other line item within. And I -- 3 anything to do with payroll, I want the Court to make that 4 decision. I don't think that's my decision to make. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How much? What's the amount? 6 MS. HARGIS: $1,000. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: A thousand bucks. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: 1,100. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: When did -- when was the 10 overtime? 11 MS. HARGIS: The last two weeks -- I haven't seen 12 the exact -- 13 MS. HYDE: Last two weeks of September. 14 MS. HARGIS: Last two weeks of September. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: That's when it was turned in for. 16 MS. HYDE: That's when it was also done. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think from a -- I don't know 19 how you, you know, don't pay someone for doing the work. I 20 mean, the work's going to need to get paid. It's, you know, 21 not the employee's fault that the elected official didn't 22 turn it in properly. My preference would be to encumber a 23 line item, if there's that much out of her last year's 24 budget, move it forward so it doesn't come out of this year's 25 budget. At least we're -- the gross dollars are coming out 10-25-10 107 1 of the right budget year. That's just my feeling. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Can you do that? It's legal? 3 MS. HARGIS: Well, it just -- it will be paid out 4 of this year, and it will go in with this quarter, and I'll 5 just encumber the money from that line item up to her 6 payroll. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Remind me again of the comp time 8 provisions. What's the period of time in which -- 9 MS. HYDE: Two pay periods or 30 days, by court 10 order. And they can either be paid, or at the discretion of 11 the department head or elected official, have time off. And 12 in this case, there was more that wanted paid. The official 13 went back and talked with them, and so we're down to three 14 individuals, and the rest of them are going to take time off. 15 MS. HARGIS: 'Cause it was originally over $2,000. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm seeing some negative 17 reactions from the Treasurer back there. Do you want to 18 speak to that? 19 MS. WILLIAMS: I'm just thinking, if you move money 20 out of last year's budget into this year's budget to cover 21 it, aren't you in fact increasing the bottom line total? 22 MS. HARGIS: Of her budget. 23 MS. WILLIAMS: Of her budget. Wouldn't that be 24 considered a -- what am I looking for? -- an emergency? 25 MS. HYDE: But it's offset because they didn't have 10-25-10 108 1 the position. The only thing that I don't -- 2 MS. HARGIS: No, we're not going to move from a 3 payroll line item. It's got to be moved from another line 4 item. It's going to be a difficult move, because there's 5 really nothing -- there's nowhere for me to put it. You 6 can't really -- it's got to be paid in this -- this month. 7 So, really, I can't -- and I know -- I mean, yeah, I can 8 encumber some money, but I don't have anywhere to offset it. 9 You understand what I'm saying? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is it easier to -- 11 MS. HARGIS: It's easier -- the only way to do it 12 is the way we've got it shown. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just take it out of this year's 14 payroll? Well, that's -- I mean, it doesn't have any net 15 impact to our bottom line. I mean, it's -- 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It has a net impact on our 17 budget for this year, though. If she -- she's not going to 18 have as much money available from that person being gone for 19 30 days, from October 1, basically, till November 1. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: She's not going to have as 22 much to draw from, but that's really her fault. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, yeah, since she's the one that 24 didn't submit it at the proper time. If there's any negative 25 effect, it ought to be borne by her. 10-25-10 109 1 MS. HARGIS: That's why I would like to review your 2 earlier approval, because I'm not sure that she's got $840 3 left. Again, I was not given the information to be able to 4 check all of the roll-ups that go along with this. And 5 people tend only to look at the salary and not to look at the 6 roll-ups, so -- 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, this is not something that we 8 need to defer until next meeting, though, either, is it? 9 MS. HARGIS: Not if we're going to pay them. We 10 need to get them paid. You know, I would just say that you 11 defer -- we defer that motion till I come back and give you 12 -- make sure that there is sufficient amount of money. I 13 would appreciate being able to have the opportunity, when any 14 elected official this year requests any kind of movement in 15 that particular area, to be able to check those figures 16 first. They are not coming to me, and so, therefore, I 17 cannot -- 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You need to say that to 19 them, not us. 20 MS. HARGIS: Well, I have tried saying that to 21 them. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, say it to us. 23 (Laughter.) That'll help. That'll fix it. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, the payment -- you just 25 hit a nerve when you said the roll-ups. Now, it was 10-25-10 110 1 represented to us a while ago that this was not going to have 2 a negative impact on this year's budget -- 3 MS. HYDE: Right. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- amount for salaries. What 5 happens when you include the roll-ups? 6 MS. HYDE: We don't know. We didn't get that 7 information. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, don't you think we 9 really ought to have that at today's meeting before we -- you 10 know, just recess the meeting, and before we adjourn, -- 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, changes the number. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- go back and revisit that 13 item, if it's going to impact negatively that year's budget. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree, 'cause that changes -- 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It changes things. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: All right. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Can you do that by -- after 18 lunch sometime? 19 MS. HARGIS: Mm-hmm. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I would really -- I think 21 that we need to be very careful what we're doing here. 22 MS. HARGIS: All of the salaries are set pretty 23 much in stone, and we're pretty tight on our insurance line 24 items, so we need to be especially careful on any payroll 25 that you have something from myself and from the H.R. 10-25-10 111 1 Director that these have been checked and verified by them. 2 And it's not that we're trying to, you know, circumvent what 3 they can do or not do. But, you know, my staff worked the 4 last two weeks -- we probably left here later than anybody 5 else. John and I left here almost the same time every day 6 last week. The last two weeks of the budget calendar, I -- 7 JUDGE TINLEY: If we're going to talk about who 8 left -- who left latest, maybe we ought to talk about who got 9 here earliest. Do we want to get into that? 10 MS. HARGIS: No. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Probably not. Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I came up here on Sunday. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: As was I. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Was the door locked? 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Can I ask one question about 16 that overtime? Because the way we've done it -- just to make 17 sure it's all right with her. The way I've gone with it, 18 mine is always counted on -- because it's paid 30 days 19 behind, so whatever overtime's paid or earned, worked in 20 September, my budget's always figuring on it being paid out 21 of the new budget year. And it equals out to 12 months, 22 'cause then it's the same thing the following year. We just 23 plan on that. Is that correct, or the wrong way of trying to 24 do it? 25 MS. HARGIS: No. 10-25-10 112 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: 'Cause I don't know what's 2 going to be -- 3 MS. HARGIS: That's fine. That's fine, that you've 4 accommodated that. And that's the other reason, is that we 5 -- if we let one department do it, you know, we've got -- and 6 you just heard what went on. And, you know, it's just that 7 we need to be careful that we're fair and equitable across 8 the board, and because of the tightness that we have. And 9 so -- 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask you something, 11 Ms. Auditor. If you brought the money forward from last 12 year's budget, -- 13 MS. HARGIS: Mm-hmm. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- in my pea brain, that 15 says to me that you're increasing this -- the new budget. 16 MS. HARGIS: That's correct. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're increasing the bottom 18 line of the new budget. Therefore, that requires an 19 emergency to do that. 20 MS. HARGIS: Well -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I just -- you know, we 22 need to -- I think that we need to look at that from a -- 23 from a legal standpoint. 24 MS. HARGIS: In the payroll item, you can't 25 really -- again, that was going to be a very difficult move, 10-25-10 113 1 because I can't add to the payroll line item. All I really 2 can do is cover it. So, you can't really encumber that one, 3 because it's payroll. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't think so, either. 5 That's what I'm saying. 6 MS. HARGIS: No. That's why we -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think it's breaking the 8 rules to -- without declaring an emergency, to increase the 9 budget. 10 MS. HARGIS: Right, so that's why we're going to 11 use the current funds that she has available. And -- and as 12 long as they want to do that -- my biggest fear is that when 13 you start using your funds this early in your budget year, 14 you know, it's just like with Diane. I mean, we had to have 15 the ballots, and so we had to do that one. That one is -- is 16 a no-brainer, so to speak, but it puts us behind. And I'd 17 just caution everyone that when they do these kind of things, 18 you know, we got nine -- we got 12 months to go. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Mm-hmm. 20 MS. HARGIS: And we carried back as much as we 21 could legally, and we're done. Because, basically, it says 22 30 days after the end of the year, your encumbrances are 23 done, unless it is a large asset. We did one year -- the 24 first year I was here, we had a truck that was ordered in 25 June, and it didn't come in. That's the only thing that, 10-25-10 114 1 really, A.I.C.P.A. considers as an encumbrance. The rest of 2 them, we're just kind of pushing the bills that we -- we did 3 in September. So, we're done. And we also are trying to get 4 our audit ready; that's the other reason I'm closing the 5 books down as of October 31, because we have to have our 6 audit done by March 31st, so we're kind of in a bind here. 7 But we can manage this, but let me go and figure all of the 8 payroll and I'll get back with y'all. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Do we have any late bills? 10 MS. HARGIS: No late bills. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: She's going to get back to 13 us today? 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, mm-hmm. Okay. I've been 15 presented with monthly reports from the Treasurer for 16 September 2010; Justice of the Peace, Precinct 2; District 17 Clerk; Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1; and Road and Bridge. 18 Do I hear a motion that those reports be approved -- 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: -- as presented? 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second for 23 approval. Question or discussion on the motion? All in 24 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 10-25-10 115 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 2 (No response.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Reports 4 from Commissioners in connection with their liaison/committee 5 assignments? Commissioner 4? 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Ag Barn. The arena, I 7 believe, is complete. Looks very, very good. I think it's 8 going to be a -- be a good thing, but it just needs more 9 things to happen to finish it all up, make it totally -- 10 other than using it during the daytime hours and somebody 11 standing on top of the announcer's booth and hollering real 12 loud because they don't have a P.A. system, but that's not a 13 big deal. We'll get -- it's going to be good. I don't think 14 there's anything else. Animal Control has a few issues with 15 the City of Kerrville, as usual, but I think those are 16 hopefully going to get resolved at some point in time. That 17 ought to be enough. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner 1? 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sir, the ESD issue, I have 20 run across three pretty much experts on ESD's, and we are 21 going to get together real soon. But what I want to do, 22 what -- the direction I want to take that thing is to get 23 them together and form a presentation to the Commissioners 24 Court, and to -- to brief all of us on how these things work 25 from day one all the way through this thing, and we're going 10-25-10 116 1 to try to -- try to also talk about what agencies or 2 departments that you can fold into it as you go along and, 3 you know, try -- we're going to try to do a complete 4 presentation. And then from that point, if you guys want to 5 pursue it, then we're going to go out and start driving nails 6 in it. But one of my questions was, I think there's going to 7 be quite a bit of interest in this thing; i.e., volunteer 8 fire departments would -- I would think would have an 9 interest in it. So, do you think that we should have a 10 workshop? Do you want to have one, like, during the day, or 11 do you want to have one in the evening to try to make it more 12 available to the general public? Or -- you talk to me, and 13 that's what I'll do. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That would come after 15 discussions here in court from your committee, right? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. No, I'm talking about 17 making that presentation -- 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. To the public? 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- to the Commissioners 20 Court. And the public, of course, is invited. And we -- you 21 know, we want to do it one time; don't want to have to run 22 around and do a dog-and-pony show around the community. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Pretty important issue. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think it is. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We ought to discuss it so 10-25-10 117 1 people can participate. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Maybe it can be in the Ag 3 Barn in the evening. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We can do it in the Ag Barn 5 in the evening, I guess, if that's legal to do. What do 6 y'all think? I mean, do you -- 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I'm just thinking about 8 maybe accommodating all the masses of people that might show 9 up to that. Or they might not, but you don't ever know when 10 you start talking about another taxing entity. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I tell you, I've had several 12 phone calls. I'm a little bit surprised by the amount of 13 interest people want to get in. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm wondering if it doesn't 15 make sense to have it here at the court first and see where 16 we -- where it goes, and then do a public meeting where we 17 kind of know -- I'm afraid if we get into -- I'm sure I'm 18 going to have questions. If we get into a big group, it's 19 going to be hard to have a dialogue back and forth. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's still going to be a 21 presentation to the Commissioners Court. I mean, it's not 22 going to be a wide-open public hearing -- 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- type thing. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think I'd rather, you know, 10-25-10 118 1 have it maybe here, and then if we decide to go forward, I 2 think we need to have several around the county, public 3 meetings, at least one in each precinct. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Count me out. I'm not going 5 to run around the county doing that. But I'll do one here in 6 this courthouse, or -- 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You do not have as big an 8 area to travel over as I do. Surely you could have a public 9 meeting or two. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Don't call me Shirley. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Louise? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Did you hear him call me 13 Shirley? 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. I said Louise. Is that okay? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Louise will work. Lunch. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Whatever you want, I'll be glad 18 to attend. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Now we're getting somewhere. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Especially if he's going to 21 serve something to eat. Besides what he normally -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, he'll get you to serve and 23 cook. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Williams? 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir? 10-25-10 119 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Do you have anything for us? 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Not at the moment, sir. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Commissioner Letz? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not a thing. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Elected officials? 6 Department heads? Ladies first. 7 MS. HYDE: Thank you. Can y'all tell me what we're 8 moving in the motion that y'all made and the order that you 9 passed? I know that we have a 16 that's going down to 10 something. Can y'all tell me what they're going down to? 11 MS. HARGIS: Do you have the paperwork from the -- 12 MS. HYDE: Do you have the paperwork from that? 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Would you like to have my 14 paperwork? 15 MS. HYDE: I would. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: If I can find it. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Here it is right here. There you 18 go. What I've done where it says 16-2, I've circled 16-1. 19 That's coming down to 16-1. You see it there? 20 MS. HYDE: Right here? 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Right inside, yeah. Okay. 22 MS. HYDE: So she's going to maintain the 16-1 that 23 was discussed during the budget? 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And she's moving the one to 10-25-10 120 1 a -- 2 JUDGE TINLEY: They're all on there. They're down 3 there showing 15-2, whatever they are there, with each entry. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The initials are for the 5 people. She has the names in there also. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay? 7 MS. HYDE: Yes, sir. Thank you. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions? Comments? Any 9 other ladies that wish to be heard? 10 MS. BOLIN: I just want to thank y'all for letting 11 us do early voting out in Ingram. It has been a huge hit. 12 We've got numerous phone calls, lots of compliments. They 13 have run those people through there more than we anticipated. 14 We've had over -- right at 900 people as of Friday that went 15 through that little courtroom, and it's just been a huge hit. 16 Y'all did good. Thank you. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's the first time we've 18 ever voted out there? 19 MS. BOLIN: Yes. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: How many overall? 21 MS. BOLIN: Overall, we've had right at 6,000 22 between the two. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that more than normal? 24 MS. BOLIN: Yes. Yes. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Oh, yeah. 10-25-10 121 1 MS. BOLIN: And the mail-in ballots, we've probably 2 done 1,500 mail-in ballots. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Any military overseas? 4 MS. BOLIN: Yes, several. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Anybody voting for me? Can 6 you tell? (Laughter.) How do they tell? I hear them 7 talking about -- on TV, they're talking about, well, it looks 8 like the Democrats is getting an upper hand on this thing. 9 With the absentee -- how do you they do that? It hasn't been 10 counted yet. 11 MS. BOLIN: No, you can't tell that, but you can -- 12 you can do, like, exit polls to see -- 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 14 MS. BOLIN: -- which direction they -- whether it 15 was Republican or Democrat. But we don't have that here. We 16 don't have -- 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm going to try that next 18 time. I'm going to let everybody know I'm winning. 19 MS. BOLIN: And tax statements went in the mail 20 last Monday, and they have been rolling in. So -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's good news. 22 MS. BOLIN: -- they're coming in. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: People have already started 24 paying? 25 MS. BOLIN: Absolutely. 10-25-10 122 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Good. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, one quick thing. I 3 don't want to keep Rusty. I'll put in everyone's box an 4 e-mail that I sent out to the folks in Castle Lake 5 Subdivision, kind of just a little bit -- the middle part of 6 it has some information on road districts and things we can 7 and can't do after -- or if they approve it or, of course, 8 not approve it. But it's just interesting, some of that 9 stuff. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I didn't have any idea that 11 you could just do a little bit and just increase -- you know, 12 you might do a general good maintenance on your road and then 13 obligate yourself for less than a county road. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. The down side we have to 15 remember is the cost to issue the debt. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The smaller the bond issue, the 18 higher percentage that issuance is, and the legal fees for 19 that. So, I mean, you may -- you can borrow 25,000, but it 20 may cost you 60 to get it. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: May cost you 60 to get it. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. But -- and the small 23 issues are very hard to place, evidently. But -- but it does 24 make it a lot more attractive to go in there, maybe pull the 25 ditches, put some material on the road, and have a short 10-25-10 123 1 three-, four-year pay-out. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And be done. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Maybe that'd be good for 5 Buster's -- 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Primrose Lane. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Primrose. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's a holiday. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Not many roses on that lane. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Not Cub Lane; that's a 11 private road. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Sheriff, I guess we're down 14 to you, reluctantly. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No choices left; finally ran 16 out. Just real quick, the jail population is staying right 17 at the mid-140's, upper 140's. Still my issue is, we're up 18 to an average staying right at 25 to 27 females, which is 19 getting us closer and closer. Other than that, the one good 20 news is we did -- I should have the price shortly. We did 21 find out that T.D.C. actually builds security fence, so they 22 were up here last week and walked it. We're going to add 23 that second security fence around the jail. They will bring 24 their own inmates up; we will house them, their trustees, if 25 their bid price comes in at -- normally, what you pay for is 10-25-10 124 1 the guards, hotel room and food and things like that, a few 2 little -- so I'm curious as to where the price will come in. 3 They can use every bit of the material that we have on-hand 4 that we got from the airport. It's exactly the same as what 5 they use. And so hopefully within the next few days, we'll 6 know what that bid is. And once we get that constructed, we 7 can finally possibly give Buster his dream, because I've 8 already talked with Len Odom about scraping and getting some 9 better fill dirt. We'll put about an acre or 2-acre garden 10 up there on top behind the jail, and hopefully come spring, 11 maybe have inmates working the garden. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That will work. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That'd be great. That would 14 be really good. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: We got you some good -- 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The Judge and I got you some 17 dirt. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I've got to check with T.D.C. 19 or with the Jail Commission and the state and see exactly 20 what we can do with that produce and that out of that garden, 21 whether we can only use it inside the jail. Can we sell it 22 to cover the cost of -- of, you know, having the garden area, 23 as extra costs that you have on it, or can we give to it 24 charities? Or -- or just whatever we can do. We'll check on 25 that and see where we are going. 10-25-10 125 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Make sure you give it to 2 Precinct 1. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Precinct 1 doesn't want in 4 on that deal. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The thing is, I want to cover 6 our costs of doing it. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. It's good -- I would 8 think it would be a good thing just to keep the prisoners 9 doing something. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It would solve a lot of, you 11 know, the confinement-type problems you have if we have -- 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Casper Real's doing that now 13 at the jail in Medina County. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Are they doing that now down 15 there? The new building is going real well. We did have a 16 leak in the sprinkler system last week. They were able to 17 get up there and get that fixed. There's been a couple of 18 sewer issues -- problems, but I think most of those are 19 getting worked out. Other than that, I think everybody's 20 moved in. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other elected officials? 22 Department heads? We'll be in recess till 1:45. 23 (Recess taken from 12:07 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.) 24 - - - - - - - - - - - 25 (Commissioners Williams and Letz not present.) 10-25-10 126 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's come back to order. We were 2 in recess until 1:45; it's that time now. I think the issue 3 that we were hung up on has to do with the District Clerk's 4 restructuring and how we're going to handle the $1,100 in 5 requested overtime payment. Ms. Hargis, you want to tell us 6 what all these numbers mean? 7 MS. HARGIS: Yeah. The first one, because she 8 didn't have them across, and I don't know her people and 9 that, I -- I went to the actual payroll records. And this 10 is -- the first column shows what the positions are, the 11 first column. The second column is what they're shown as on 12 the actual payroll records today. The second column is what 13 they were shown at on the position schedule, and then those 14 are the current salaries. And then these two bottom 15 positions both together, 15-1's. Keep in mind, the bottom 16 salary is only for 22 months, because that person is not 17 starting until -- 22 payrolls. So -- so that leaves us -- 18 and then the overtime base rate, not including the roll-ups, 19 she had enough money because of not having the salary -- I 20 dealt with the budget number itself. The budget number is 21 226,458 as compared to 222,952. Now, next year that will 22 increase by 2,342, because that person will have 24 payroll 23 periods. And then the reduction -- so she'll -- she'll have 24 1,100 next year less than she has this year. But you can see 25 that one person is going down a grade, the third one down. 10-25-10 127 1 MS. HYDE: This one right here, she's going to end 2 up being a 15 -- the request is a 15-1. You've got her here 3 in this 28,103. 4 MS. HARGIS: I've got it at 25, because that's what 5 -- I'm trying to carry the 22 months. So, there is -- there 6 is enough money in the budget. But these are all the 7 positions, 'cause I got -- you know, not knowing her people's 8 positions, not dealing with payroll all the time, I had to 9 deal with who they were. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: So, essentially what you're telling 11 us is that, based on what she's requested via her 12 restructuring -- 13 MS. HARGIS: Mm-hmm. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: -- and calculation of those salary 15 costs, and I assume roll-ups too? 16 MS. HARGIS: Well, her total base is -- is 226,458. 17 So -- 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, that's what she's allocated in 19 her budget. 20 MS. HARGIS: Right. That's just gross salaries, 21 so -- 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 23 MS. HARGIS: -- I didn't have to deal with roll-ups 24 because of that. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: She's only requesting 221,851, and 10-25-10 128 1 when we add the 1,100 that would have to be carried over and 2 offset against this year's salary, that only amounts to 3 222,952, so it's within the 226,458. 4 MS. HARGIS: The only thing -- 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It will still roll up for one 6 month on top of that. 7 MS. HARGIS: The only other -- yeah, the one month 8 is 2,342. So, you know, next year she'll be a little less. 9 The only thing that -- and this was what I was playing with. 10 There was the position here, the -- actually, the 16-1 to the 11 15-3. It showed on the position schedule that she should go 12 up to a 15-4. And -- and it wasn't, but it should go up this 13 year, which we didn't take into consideration, which is 14 30,525. So, that puts her closer. It's not a lot of money, 15 but this person will get her regular longevity and go to -- 16 MS. HYDE: She'll get it in '11-'12. She'll get it 17 in the '11-'12 fiscal year, 'cause she started 9/30, so 18 that's where she's confusing -- she won't get it in '10-'11 19 year; she'll get it in the '11-'12 year. 20 MS. HARGIS: Okay. All right. 21 MS. HYDE: So she'll be fine. 22 MS. HARGIS: She'll be fine, okay. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So, you're proposing that we 24 take the money out of this year's line item to pay for the 25 overtime from last year? 10-25-10 129 1 MS. HARGIS: Right, we have to. So, she should be 2 able to pay the overtime and -- and restructure her office. 3 And -- and then at the end of the year next year, if everyone 4 stays the same, doesn't move around, there's no other 5 longevities, which I haven't checked, she should be about 6 1,000 under what she is currently. But I think there are 7 some people that are coming up for longevity, so -- but right 8 now, today, this is -- she has a little bit of play because 9 of the fact that she had that one position vacant for a 10 month. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: So, the budget amendment as 12 evidenced by Request Number 1 -- 13 MS. HARGIS: Mm-hmm, should be okay. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: -- is okay. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And that's what we approved? 16 JUDGE TINLEY: We haven't approved anything. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We didn't vote on that? 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We didn't approve -- we 19 didn't vote on that at all. We held it until she could run 20 the numbers. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We got a motion and second, 23 though, didn't we? I mean, we did something. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No, not on this. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: No. 10-25-10 130 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I got to quit that drinking 2 so early in the day. (Laughter.) 3 MS. UECKER: You approved the other -- the 4 restructure, you approved. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Approved the restructure, 6 okay. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, we did that, sure. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. All right, thank you. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Do I hear a motion that 10 Budget Amendment Request Numbers 1 through 15, as evidenced 11 by the summary sheet dated 25 October 2010, be approved as 12 presented, then? 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So moved. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second to 16 approve the Budget Amendment Requests 1 through 15. Question 17 or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by 18 raising -- 19 THE CLERK: Judge, one question. On the ballot 20 expense, we needed to know what line item that's going to 21 come from. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Excellent. 23 MS. HARGIS: The ballot expense, remember, we were 24 going to delete that one, because we have $5,400 coming from 25 the other entities, so we'll leave that open until we get our 10-25-10 131 1 reimbursement, and then we'll come back for a budget 2 amendment. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So we don't have to go ahead 4 and pay the bill now? 5 MS. HARGIS: We have to pay the bill now, but it 6 can stay outstanding, because you've got revenue -- knowing 7 you've got a receivable coming in against it. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: So, we're approving Budget Amendment 10 Requests 1 through 14? 11 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I will amend my motion to 14 reflect that. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. And -- 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I'll do the same. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: -- that's acceptable? All right. 18 Any further question or discussion? All in favor of the 19 motion signify by raising your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 24 MS. HARGIS: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move we adjourn. 10-25-10 132 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Don't even need a second. We're 2 adjourned. 3 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 1:55 p.m.) 4 - - - - - - - - - - 5 6 7 STATE OF TEXAS | 8 COUNTY OF KERR | 9 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 10 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 11 official reporter for the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 12 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 13 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 28th day of October, 14 2010. 15 16 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 17 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 18 Certified Shorthand Reporter 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 10-25-10