1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Regular Session 10 Monday, March 14, 2011 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 GUY R. OVERBY, Commissioner Pct. 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 25 BRUCE OEHLER, Commissioner Pct. 4 2 1 I N D E X March 14, 2011 2 PAGE --- Visitors' Input 6 3 --- Commissioners' Comments 6 4 1.1 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on request from Partners in Ministry's to have 5 County pay dumping fees accrued during upcoming Community Service Infusion (CSI) Day 14 6 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 7 review preliminary revision of plat on Lot 25 in Ingram Hills Subdivision; set public hearing 18 8 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 9 request from Upper Guadalupe River Authority to have County assistance with trash cleanup of 10 Nichols Creek on April 2, 2010 21 11 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to modify/change policy regarding type of security 12 (TCLEOSE licensed and commissioned peace officer) that must be present for events at HCYEC 27 13 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 14 open, review and accept bid proposals for banking services (RFPs) for Kerr County 38, 15 99, 116 1.6 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 16 accept the tax collection contract between Center Point ISD and Kerr County Tax Assessor/ 17 Collector; authorize County Judge to sign same 39 18 1.7 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to adopt resolution in support of HJR 56/SJR 17 19 which would prohibit future unfunded mandates from the state to counties and cities 40 20 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 21 approve topics to be discussed during pre-budget meetings 41 22 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 23 authorize workshop on budget early discussion resolution of major budget issues 41 24 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 25 presentation from Joe Ramos, AACOG representative, on AACOG Weatherization Program 49 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) March 14, 2011 2 PAGE 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 3 accept Juvenile Detention Facility audit report 53 4 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to accept 2010 Partial Exemption Racial Profiling 5 Report for Kerr County Sheriff's Office 55 6 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve draft of interlocal agreement with City 7 of Kerrville for airport and airport operations 57 8 1.14 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve draft of interlocal agreement with City 9 of Kerrville for animal control 60 10 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve draft of interlocal agreement with City 11 of Kerrville for environmental health 65 12 1.16 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to obtain professional and/or designation of other 13 assistance to assist in solicitation & selection of an EMS provider for Kerr County 65 14 1.17 Consider/discuss pending or proposed interlocal 15 agreements with City of Kerrville for various services and/or operations; take any appropriate 16 action as necessary 67 17 1.18 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to put in bid or request to hold West Texas County 18 Judge and Commissioners Association annual meeting in Kerrville in a future year or years 71 19 1.19 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 20 adopt resolution in support of SB-332 regarding protection of groundwater ownership 78 21 1.20 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 22 request from Child Services Board to use a portion of courthouse square for display during the month 23 of April for Child Abuse Awareness Month 79 24 1.22 Consider/discuss, approve a resolution for Kerr County to join Texas Indigent Health Care 25 Association; appoint Dawn Lantz as Kerr County's representative 80 4 1 I N D E X (Continued) March 14, 2011 2 PAGE 1.23 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 3 approve memorandum of understanding between the Texas Department of Public Safety and Kerr County 4 concerning the livescan fingerprint machines; authorize each responsible elected official to 5 sign for their own machine 85 6 1.26 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to modify current after hours cleaning contract 91 7 4.1 Pay Bills 92 8 4.2 Budget Amendments 93 4.3 Late Bills 95 9 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 98 10 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments 103 11 5.2 Reports from Elected Officials/Department Heads 103 12 1.21 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on petition against replacement of Arrowhead Bridge 117 13 1.24 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 14 possible sale of county surplus real estate (Executive Session) 126 15 1.25 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 16 authorize Kerr County participation in district court litigation regarding PUC's order establishing 17 transmission line route for LCRA Transmission Services Corporation's application for proposed 18 McCamey D to Kendall to Gillespie CREZ project (Executive session as needed) 126 19 --- Adjourned 127 20 21 22 23 24 25 5 1 On Monday, March 14, 2011, at 9:00 a.m., a regular 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, March 14, 2011, at 9 a.m. It is that 11 time now. Commissioner Oehler? 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: If you would please join me 13 in a word of prayer and the pledge. 14 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Be seated, please. At 16 this time, if there's any member of the public or audience 17 that wishes to be heard on a matter which is not a listed 18 agenda item, this is your opportunity to come forward and 19 tell us what's on your mind. If you wish to be heard on an 20 agenda item, we'd ask that you fill out a participation form. 21 There should be some located at the rear of the room. Even 22 if you've not filled out a participation form on an agenda 23 item, if we get to that item and you wish to be heard, get my 24 attention in some manner; I'll give you the opportunity. But 25 right now, if there's any member of the public or audience 3-14-11 6 1 that wishes to be heard on a matter which is not a listed 2 agenda item, this is your opportunity to come forward, tell 3 us what's on your mind. 4 MS. BOLIN: Just a little note. I requested from 5 the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles for another RTS 6 workstation in Ingram. We were approved. They base it on -- 7 do a three-month survey; you have to run at least 70 people 8 per day through that station to warrant a free station from 9 the state. We were approved, because we do -- just in the 10 last two weeks, Karen has run 809 people through there in 11 that little office. And Thursday we will be closed, because 12 the RTS station will go in. They've got to rewire and set 13 everything up, so just so you'll know, that little station 14 will be shut down all day Thursday. So, that's all I had on 15 that one. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Appreciate it. Any 17 other member of the public or audience that wishes to be 18 heard on a matter not listed as an agenda item? Seeing no 19 one else coming forward, we will move on. Commissioner 20 Oehler, do you have anything for us this morning? 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, Judge, I just -- I'm 22 going to say a little bit of something about the joint 23 meeting between the City and the County a week or so ago, 24 whenever it was. And it seems that no matter what we try to 25 do, there's one thing that hasn't come out in the media, 3-14-11 7 1 especially in -- in the Times or the Current. It seems that 2 we continue to take the brunt of, "The County needs to do 3 whatever the City says." But the number that has never been 4 printed, to my knowledge, to this date is the additional 5 almost half a million dollars that they're asking for us to 6 give this year, which is up to almost a million dollars. And 7 two years ago, I think our contribution was 139. It went 8 from there to 242, and now they're asking to go up another 9 almost half a million dollars. So, it's not chickenfeed 10 we're talking about here. We're talking about real dollars 11 that will affect the tax rate on the -- on our citizens, and 12 it'll also affect people inside the city along with those 13 outside the city. So, if we are forced to raise taxes on -- 14 on the public to provide ambulance and fire protection to 15 that extent, it'll be a lot of money. And so that's kind 16 where I think most of us stand. I just wanted to let the 17 public know, and a lot of that hasn't been reported that way. 18 So, that's it. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Commissioner Baldwin? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. Thank you. I 21 agree with Number 4 down there, that -- that some information 22 has not been out -- released to the public. But I wanted to 23 talk about something that I saw in the newspaper over the 24 weekend or sometime in the last few days that I've never seen 25 before, and that is a local government entity calling on the 3-14-11 8 1 public to stand up and fight against another government 2 entity. A city councilman calling for the citizens that live 3 inside the city, as well as outside the city, to "stand up 4 and fight these guys." We're the guys. Stand up and fight. 5 And then the lady member of that board adds in, "And fear 6 them." That's a -- that's just one of the strangest things 7 I've ever read in my entire life. I've never seen two 8 governments do that before, especially on a local level. I'm 9 bumfuzzled by that. If that's negotiations, I -- I don't 10 want to negotiate with anybody. But that's all. I better -- 11 I better shut it off there, Judge, before I blow up over it. 12 Thank you, though, for allowing me to speak my piece. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Commissioner Overby? 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I -- again, I did not attend 15 that particular day of that March 2nd meeting. I was 16 actually in the AACOG mandatory meetings that I need to be in 17 San Antonio that day. I did review and listen to the video 18 of that day. Commissioner Oehler, I agree with you. There's 19 no doubt that in the -- you know, I support the City of 20 Kerrville's fire and EMS services, and those gentlemen and 21 women do a wonderful job. There's no doubt about that. The 22 comments you made, again, about the cost of everything going 23 up, I remember my days in the -- in the business that I used 24 to be in; I anticipated a 5 or 6 percent increase in 25 merchandise, or that I would have to absorb in my cost in 3-14-11 9 1 operating a business. But when those costs become 150 2 percent increased, and sometimes -- or sometimes 75 percent 3 increased all in one year, it's a little questionable about 4 the raise. It's not about -- we understand the services are 5 necessary and important, but I -- again, I agree with you, 6 your comments about the -- that the rationale and the reality 7 of those costs in one year. Again, we support the services, 8 and those men and women do a wonderful job. And I -- I do 9 encourage further dialogue and conversation, but I would hope 10 that it would be realistic conversation, and conversations 11 that we both can work on. Basically, there will be another 12 report that we have later on in our agenda on something else 13 that was positive. That's all I had to say. I appreciate 14 your opening comments. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Letz? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I do want to -- 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Do you want to jump on the 18 bandwagon? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have a couple things I 20 haven't heard said yet about that same meeting, and it's kind 21 of concerning to me. One is that the first meeting we had 22 with the City, I remember the mayor specifically saying -- or 23 we agreed -- as he likes to always tell us, "We agreed to 24 this at the first meeting." One was to not discuss this in 25 the media. Let's try to work this out between the two 3-14-11 10 1 entities. And he and the rest of the City Council have done 2 nothing but have front-page articles and editorials about the 3 process, which shows to me a total, you know, lack of true 4 negotiations and trying to work with the County. And I think 5 that's a little bit despicable, in my mind. They say one 6 thing at a meeting, then they literally turn around the next 7 week, and the mayor went on a tour around to the Rotary and 8 lots of other different organizations and said the exact 9 opposite of what he told us in the meeting. And that's 10 frustrating. 11 The other part of it is -- is a -- and I don't 12 understand if the media is getting fed press releases from 13 the City or what, but one of the things that is pretty 14 interesting to me is I made one phone call about the ISO 15 rate, and the major -- the insurance company in Kerr County 16 that writes the most policies doesn't even use the ISO at 17 all. State Farm. And that -- that would have been very easy 18 to contact. I've been in contact with the State Insurance 19 Board, and I think others on this Court have. You know, a 20 little bit of investigation might realize -- or might -- 21 public might learn that what the City is telling us is flat 22 lies. They are not telling us the truth and telling the 23 public the truth. And trying to go through this through 24 fear-mongering is just -- you know, is not going to work with 25 me. And I think that all that -- you know, I'll do what I 3-14-11 11 1 think is right for the county and the city residents as well; 2 they're all the same. I represent both. But the City is 3 taking a tack on this time that I've never seen before. 4 Disappointing. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How about you, Judge? 6 (Laughter.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, you know, we've got an agenda 8 item, Item 17, that relates strictly to interlocal 9 agreements. What we're all talking about may not be 10 interlocal agreements, so it's just a matter of philosophy, 11 is what I'm hearing. And so, -- 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, true. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: -- you know, I -- I think what the 14 City is failing to acknowledge is that a few years ago, they 15 made a management decision which was wrong. They decided to 16 put in a fourth fire station. The -- if you look around the 17 state at communities this size in terms of population and 18 area, you'll find that very, very few of them have four fire 19 stations. Not many of them have three. The average is 20 somewhere around two, two and a half. Fire stations cost 21 money. They cost money to build, cost money to equip, and 22 they cost money to operate, personnel. And as a result of 23 that, the City has got themselves in a position where they 24 got a gap in their budget. Apparently, their belief is that 25 that gap translates equally to what the additional cost of 3-14-11 12 1 service should be to the County. If they're willing to 2 acknowledge their mistakes and try and provide for some way 3 to rectify them, that's one thing. But they're not willing 4 to do anything with their tax rate. They want to ship it 5 over to us and have us increase our tax rate. Because, very 6 frankly, if we were to increase our contribution to -- to the 7 fire and EMS as they're requesting, that's an increase of in 8 excess of two cents on our tax rate. 9 Now, our EMS contract, this current budget year 10 that we're in right now, that contract for this year 11 increased 75 percent over the prior year. That's not the 12 5 percent you were talking about, Commissioner Overby. 13 That's not what we're all used to when we try and plan our 14 family budgets. This year, they're asking for the combined 15 fire and EMS to increase by more than 100 percent, more than 16 double what we're paying this current year. We just flat 17 cannot sustain that. Now, I'll reiterate what Commissioner 18 Overby said and what I've said numerous times. They provide 19 a good service, but I think they believe that we are a 20 captive audience, and they are in a position to literally 21 hold a gun to our head. The only way, if they want to whip 22 up our constituents, both those residing in the city and 23 outside the city, is for those constituents to tell us that 24 they want their tax rate increased in order to respond to 25 that gun to our head. That's the bottom line. Otherwise, I 3-14-11 13 1 think we have an obligation to all the citizens of this 2 county, including those within the city, to do what we can to 3 provide frugality, but yet again, provide them the best 4 service that's available. 5 If they need to balance their budget, they need to 6 figure out a way to do it, not just lay it on our back and 7 say, "You increase your tax rate and give us what we want." 8 They've got some areas over there -- I -- one thing I'd 9 invite you to look at is look at the salary structure of the 10 City versus the County. Take a look at that, particularly 11 the management, department heads, things of that nature. 12 They're not even close to being comparable. They've got some 13 things they can do over there. They're trying to lay on us, 14 "Well, if you don't sign on, we're going to have to close a 15 fire station and lay off some firemen." Well, folks, I hate 16 to tell you, you shouldn't have built the dang thing in the 17 first place. You shouldn't be there now. But they're there, 18 and, you know, they're not willing to acknowledge their 19 mistake. They -- they got some places they can cut. Help 20 them find those. They obviously need some help; they're not 21 willing to look, or so it appears to me, at least. 22 But I say again, if we're going to accede to the 23 wishes of the City at their present demands, our taxpayers 24 are going to have to tell us, "Increase my tax rate. 25 Increase my taxes." Then we might consider it. But until 3-14-11 14 1 then, I think they got to get right. They've got to truly 2 figure out what the value of that service is they're 3 proposing to give us, put a reasonable cost figure on it, 4 let's sit down, get it negotiated across the table, and then 5 let them fill the rest of their budget the best way they can 6 find. Hopefully, we can make that happen. We're willing to 7 talk. We're -- in fact, we're going to move some of those 8 agreements forward hopefully today and get them on over there 9 to try and narrow these issues that we have to work with on 10 them. We need to achieve efficiency, but it can't all be on 11 our backs; I'm sorry. Let's get on with some business, 12 gentlemen. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There's Bill Blackburn 14 first. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 1. Let me call the 16 agenda item. Consider, discuss, take appropriate action on 17 request from Partners in Ministry to have the County pay the 18 dumping fees accrued during the upcoming Community Service 19 Infusion Day. 20 MR. BLACKBURN: All right. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Bill Blackburn. 22 MR. BLACKBURN: First, I live in the city, but I 23 apologize. (Laughter.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Who else -- 25 MR. BLACKBURN: I'm not going any further down that 3-14-11 15 1 road. (Laughter.) But the -- this is our -- this is our 2 fifth year of CSI day, Community Service Infusion. And the 3 basic idea is using volunteers and materials and supplies 4 that -- some are donated, many are purchased at a discount, 5 to help disabled individuals and families, low-income 6 families, and senior adults who cannot help themselves to do 7 some basic things about their homes, to go in and do 8 wheelchair ramps, weatherization, sometimes -- this is the 9 minority of those, but some paint-up and just general fix-up 10 of homes. And this year -- generally, the last couple of 11 years, we've had about 400 people and about 40 projects. 12 This year we have over 75 projects and over 750 volunteers 13 lined up for March 26th. And some of the work will be done 14 prior to that day getting ready for the crew of volunteers 15 that come in on that -- on that Saturday. 16 And I would say that Schreiner University is a 17 major partner with us in this. And businesses around the 18 community have stepped up to help, and Plaza on the River 19 Senior Center's donating breakfast tacos, as is Acapulco's. 20 And Sodexo, the meal service at Schreiner, is providing 21 lunches, so we've gotten good support. But we come asking 22 for support from you for those projects that we have in the 23 county that require us taking loads to the dump, if you would 24 provide that -- the cost of that that day. Now, as I 25 understand it, your folks have said up to $1,000. We don't 3-14-11 16 1 believe it'll be that. But I will say also that we are 2 working on projects from Center Point to Hunt, and we are 3 working on some projects that the County has asked us to work 4 on as well. So, we feel like with volunteer help that day, 5 the -- the number of projects, and each one of these projects 6 will have been evaluated prior to that day, supplies will be 7 ready and available for the volunteers at each site, and we 8 think it's going to make a difference across this county. 9 So, we would ask for your consideration in regard to those 10 dump fees that -- that day. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I believe that Ray Garcia has 12 said that he would take money out of his budget. Is that 13 correct, Ray? 14 MR. GARCIA: Yes, sir. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: To pay those these dump fees? 16 MR. GARCIA: Yes. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: This is the fifth year? 18 MR. BLACKBURN: Fifth year. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Fifth year. 20 MR. BLACKBURN: Right, uh-huh. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And this is the largest one 22 that you've had up to date? 23 MR. BLACKBURN: Yeah, it's the largest one. And it 24 involves church groups, scout troops, -- 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's great. 3-14-11 17 1 MR. BLACKBURN: -- Schreiner students, civic clubs, 2 individuals, and it goes from low skill to carpenters, 3 plumbers, electricians. So, it -- it covers a wide range in 4 regard to skills that are needed. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's good. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Ray, I presume that you're 7 agreeing for it to come out of your budget basically out of 8 solid waste as basically a cleanup in the county type -- type 9 issue? 10 MR. GARCIA: Yes. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For that reason, I think it's 12 -- makes sense, and is something that is a -- you know, 13 logical that it would come out of your budget, a solid waste 14 issue. 15 MR. GARCIA: Yes, sir. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Fine with me. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I move approval, -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- up to $1,000. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded -- pardon? 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Up to $1,000. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 23 indicated. Question or discussion on the motion? We 24 appreciate your efforts, Bill. 25 MR. BLACKBURN: All right. 3-14-11 18 1 JUDGE TINLEY: And I know we've supported you in 2 the past. 3 MR. BLACKBURN: Yes. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: You're doing a great job. I'm 5 particularly proud of what you've done for children in this 6 county, and I want to thank you. 7 MR. BLACKBURN: Thank you. We're going to 8 continue. I will say that I had one request from one of the 9 Commissioners. I asked Commissioner Oehler if there was 10 anybody up here I needed to jump on or get onto. He 11 suggested Buster. I just can't -- I can't do that. 12 (Laughter.) 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I appreciate that. 14 Thank you. You got my vote. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? 16 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 17 hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 20 (No response.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's go to 22 Item 2; consider, discuss, take appropriate action to review 23 the preliminary revision of plat on Lot 25 in Ingram Hills 24 Subdivision and set a public hearing, same being located in 25 Precinct 4. Mr. Odom? 3-14-11 19 1 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. Good morning, Judge. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning, sir. 3 MR. ODOM: What we have is, Mr. Hardy owns Lot 25 4 in Ingram Hills Subdivision. And Lot 25 is 12.81 acres. 5 Mr. Hardy would like to divide the said 12.81 acres into four 6 parts. It is partially in the ETJ of Ingram, as well as 7 outside ours. By our rules and regulations, it's divisible 8 by four lots, which is acceptable. One-lot minimums can be 9 done up to four lots; three lots, 1 acre, so it meets our 10 criteria. One is 4.55 acres. Mr. Hardy had had a previous 11 public hearing back on May the 27th, 2008, and the timeline 12 expired, so I'm having him come back at this point, or 13 Mr. Voelkel, to present this again. So, at this time, we'd 14 ask the Court for their approval of the preliminary plat, 15 and set a public hearing for Monday, April the 25th, 2011, at 16 9 a.m. concerning the revision of plat for Lot 25 in Ingram 17 Hills Subdivision, Precinct 4. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Move approval. 19 MR. ODOM: And also -- okay, I'm sorry. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion. Do I hear a 21 second? 22 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Second. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 24 approval of the agenda item, to set a public hearing on the 25 matter for April the 25th, 2011, at 9 a.m. Question or 3-14-11 20 1 discussion? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A question. I noticed that 3 it's set up for individual on-site septic. Is this anywhere 4 near where they can tie onto the -- the city sewer? 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No. 6 MR. ODOM: No, this is on up Ingram Hills. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: This is way back away from 8 there. 9 MR. ODOM: This is up Ingram Hills. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah, that won't happen. 11 MR. ODOM: Now, there may be something in the back. 12 I think that, like I say, this is in -- ETJ of Ingram is a 13 half mile, so you're -- part of this lot is split with their 14 ETJ, so you're close, but it would be the back side, and I'm 15 not all that familiar. But there are some streets coming, 16 and eventually that might be feasible to hook that whole area 17 up. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Can't even get them to hook 19 up Phase 1. 20 MR. ODOM: Yeah, we haven't got them -- 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Won't turn the valve on to 22 start flowing it this way. I don't -- I don't know when 23 that's going to happen. 24 MR. ODOM: That lot also is connected by community 25 water, so -- 3-14-11 21 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. That's fine. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or discussion on 3 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 4 your right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Item 3; 9 consider, discuss, take appropriate action on request from 10 the Upper Guadalupe River Authority to have county assistance 11 with trash cleanup of Nichols Creek on April the 2nd, 2010, 12 indicating one dump truck and driver. Mr. Buck from U.G.R.A. 13 Good to see you, sir. 14 MR. BUCK: Good morning. With your permission, I'd 15 like to invite Elizabeth Loggie up here with Schreiner 16 University to help me if you have any questions. Once again, 17 I want to thank you. I know you started off discussion about 18 adversity and fighting and arguing, but we have had nothing 19 but cooperation and coordination with you, and I thank you 20 for that. It's from water planning to environmental health. 21 We love working with Ray Garcia, and there's another 22 opportunity here today to participate together, and I want to 23 -- to bring that to you for consideration. U.G.R.A. has a 24 program that cleans up water crossings throughout the year, 25 as well as an annual river cleanup. I think you might have 3-14-11 22 1 seen the article; we picked up nine tons of garbage last 2 year, kept it out of our river. And there's -- there's an 3 opportunity that Elizabeth brought to me that I wasn't aware 4 of. Schreiner University lets their students out, so they 5 can't participate in our summer cleanup, which is typically 6 in July. So, she asked if there was way that we would kind 7 of coordinate and work together on the -- what is it called? 8 Water -- 9 MS. LOGGIE: It's the Texas Water Symposium, which 10 will be March 31st. It's a lecture series that's in 11 conjunction with Texas Tech university, Texas Public Radio, 12 and Hill Country Alliance and Schreiner University. It's a 13 five-part series that happens over the year, and ours is on 14 March 31st. Our topic is how local communities can take care 15 of their rivers and their watershed. 16 MR. BUCK: So, with that said, with the practical 17 side of actually contracting to pick it up and having people 18 out there, a big part of our program is public awareness and 19 education, and we think that this is an ideal opportunity for 20 that. I visited with Ray Garcia with the Environmental 21 Health Department, and he found a great location for us, and 22 so we've kind of pooled our resources. U.G.R.A. is going to 23 put a port-a-potty out there. We'd like to pay the dump 24 fees, but we need a truck. So, we'd like to ask this Court 25 to consider providing a dump truck for that -- for that April 3-14-11 23 1 2nd Saturday, and we're doing cleanup from 8:00 till 4:00, so 2 I don't know how long you would have to have a truck out 3 there. But -- 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I called Kelly at Road and 5 Bridge last week and asked about that, if that might be 6 possible. Kelly, what did -- or Len, which one of y'all want 7 to -- 8 MR. ODOM: I'll let her. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- respond to that? 10 MS. HOFFER: One thing that we did come up with 11 that we would be willing to do is we could take a truck or 12 two out, park them. They could load them, and then we would 13 go back and pick those trucks up. Being with the comp time, 14 and we have -- we've used quite a bit of comp time on special 15 projects, that would kind of keep us under regular hours, and 16 -- and not have to do that. If that would work for them, 17 we'd be willing to -- if two trucks would work, we would park 18 them, position them where it would work for them having them, 19 and then come and pick them up on Monday. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Two trucks? 21 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Does two work for you? 23 MR. BUCK: I think so. One thing I did forget to 24 mention, and I should have, is that we have -- actually, 25 Kerrville Environmental Health Department made the contact 3-14-11 24 1 with -- help me with this, Ray -- Scrap -- 2 MS. LOGGIE: Scrap Solutions. 3 MR. BUCK: Scrap Solutions has agreed to bring a 4 trailer out there. We're going to put all the metal on that. 5 They'll donate whatever value that is back to the county, and 6 I don't know what that would be at this point in time, but 7 that will be some compensation for providing the truck and 8 staff. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Essentially, you need the trucks in 11 order to transport whatever debris -- 12 MR. BUCK: Yes, sir. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: -- and trash and whatnot that you 14 pick up? 15 MR. BUCK: Yes, sir. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: And by just stationing the trucks at 17 two different locations, that would work for you? 18 MR. BUCK: We believe. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: We'd pick it up later, and we can 20 dispose of it then? 21 MR. BUCK: We believe so, sir. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. It -- it's good to see -- I 23 assume we're going to get the Schreiner students involved? 24 MS. LOGGIE: Yes. Well, actually, we're working on 25 getting our Schreiner students who are in our biology -- our 3-14-11 25 1 field biology program, and then on that Friday previous to 2 that, we're kind of doing a page-to-stage program, putting 3 education into action. So on Friday, we've invited all the 4 local high school students to come out for a -- for lack of a 5 better term, a science fair on Quinlan Creek where they 6 actually get to understand what the leaching of trash and 7 things happen to our water sources. And so then we're also 8 inviting those high school students and our college students 9 to converge together to clean up Nichols Creek, so it's a 10 really great program. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Good to see those students getting 12 involved. Bill's got them involved with his CSI apparently, 13 I think. 14 MR. BLACKBURN: Well, she is primarily the person 15 getting them involved in CSI, the Schreiner students. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's fantastic. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Looks like she's a good one to lean 18 on. 19 MR. BLACKBURN: I know it. She is. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: She makes it happen. 21 MR. BLACKBURN: That's right. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Do we have any more agenda items 23 down here that affect what you folks do at Schreiner? 24 MS. LOGGIE: I don't know, but I'll call the City. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. (Laughter.) 3-14-11 26 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Appreciate you engaging in 2 this. 3 MS. LOGGIE: Not a problem. 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thank you. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: And it's a great educational tool, 6 as you say. 7 MS. LOGGIE: Absolutely. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: It's great for the kids. 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yes. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Keeps them -- keeps them positively 11 occupied, and it's a learning experience, and I think it's a 12 wonderful opportunity. Appreciate you making that effort -- 13 MS. LOGGIE: Thank you. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: -- to make this happen. Do I have a 15 motion? 16 THE CLERK: No, sir. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I move approval of the agenda 18 item, -- 19 JUDGE TINLEY: I do know -- 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- that we provide two trucks 21 at different locations, and to be used by the cleanup crew. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 24 indicated. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 25 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 3-14-11 27 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. 5 MR. BUCK: Thank you. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Let's go to our 9:30 7 timed item; to consider, discuss, take appropriate action to 8 modify and/or change the policy regarding type of security, 9 that being either TCLEOSE-licensed, commissioned peace 10 officers, that must be present for events at the Hill Country 11 Youth Exhibit Center. Is Mr. Flores handy? There he is. 12 MR. FLORES: Good morning. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning, sir. 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Morning. 15 MR. FLORES: Well, still here. (Laughter.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Back again. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Third time's the charm? 18 MR. FLORES: Yeah. Well, I hope so. I don't know 19 what -- what y'all discussed about doing security there, or 20 having my company do security in there at the agriculture 21 building, but I'm still trying to see if -- if my company, 22 Flores Security, can do -- perform security there at the 23 agricultural building. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: The backup material that has been 25 furnished to the Court indicates that events that will 3-14-11 28 1 utilize the facility after 9 p.m. or where there's going to 2 be alcoholic beverages served shall provide at least one 3 TCLEOSE-licensed and commissioned peace officer for security 4 for each 100 persons in attendance, with the proviso that a 5 minimum of two shall be required, apparently, as it reads. 6 But in no event shall there be fewer than two security 7 officers for any event requiring security unless otherwise 8 agreed to in writing between the parties, which will be the 9 County and whoever is sponsoring the event. 10 MR. FLORES: Right. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: How does that strike you, 12 Mr. Flores? 13 MR. FLORES: Well, it's between the person who has 14 the party and -- and the two police officers, and if they 15 want to hire us as extras, you know -- 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, the way it reads is just 17 one TCLEOSE-licensed, but two security officers. So, it 18 would -- basically, as I read it, we're saying you have to 19 have a licensed and commissioned peace officer. 20 MR. FLORES: A peace officer. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The second person does not have 22 to be a licensed security -- do you read it the same way, 23 Judge? 24 JUDGE TINLEY: No, sir, I don't. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You don't? 3-14-11 29 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Lessee shall provide at least one 2 TCLEOSE-licensed and commissioned peace officer for security 3 for each 100 persons in attendance. That tells me if you 4 got -- of course, you got a minimum of two. If there's 5 alcohol or after 9:00, if you've got 240 people, that tells 6 me three licensed and commissioned TCLEOSE-certified 7 officers. If the intent was to have at least one TCLEOSE 8 commissioned -- licensed and commissioned peace officer, and 9 then other commissioned security officers, that's not what 10 that says to me. But I'm going to defer to the man over here 11 that -- the devil's in the details. 12 MR. HENNEKE: It depends on what the Court's intent 13 is. I think, for example, Judge, if you had 99 people at an 14 event, the way that this is written is that, because there's 15 less than 100 people, it would require one TCLEOSE-licensed 16 and commissioned peace officer, but you have to have a 17 minimum of two security officers. So, as this is written, 18 for each 100 people in attendance, the Court is requiring 19 there to be a TCLEOSE-licensed peace officer. I guess you 20 could supplement on top of that with security officers. This 21 is only speaking towards situations where there's alcohol 22 served or events going after 9 o'clock. And so my 23 understanding of what the Court is saying is that for an 24 event that would not go after 9 o'clock, or would not be 25 alcohol served, then it would not require there to be a 3-14-11 30 1 TCLEOSE-licensed and commissioned peace officer. That's how 2 I'm interpreting what this Court has said. I'm not saying 3 that that needs to be the way one way or another. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'm not sure that it needs to 5 be a licensed, commissioned peace officer when there's not 6 being alcohol served. If you're going to have -- I think 7 that that -- that is necessary to have one, and then we need 8 to designate how many people -- how many other security would 9 be required for each additional number, however -- whatever 10 that number would be. But I think you'd have run over one 11 another if you had 500 people, and here you got six people 12 that -- you know, six peace officers for 600 people, that 13 seems like pretty much overkill. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: The -- the general statement for 15 those events that don't go beyond 9:00 or for where alcohol 16 is not served just generally provides that you got to have 17 adequate security. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Generally. It doesn't specify the 20 type or the number. Where you get into an issue is after 21 9 o'clock or alcohol, and I was of the impression that -- 22 that my sense was the Court really wanted, at least in those 23 cases, at least one licensed and commissioned TCLEOSE 24 officer. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I agree with that. 3-14-11 31 1 JUDGE TINLEY: With the remainder being 2 commissioned -- 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Or certified, licensed. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: -- security officers. That they 5 be -- that they be -- carry their -- with a licensed security 6 company. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: And I believe the Sheriff called 9 that "commissioned security officer," if I'm not mistaken? 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, if I -- yes. They ought 11 to -- I feel they ought to be commissioned security officers 12 for anything without alcohol. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: As opposed to just someone that you 14 put a T-shirt on that says "Security"? 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And I think that if it's 18 alcohol, for every 100, I kind of disagree with -- with 19 Bruce. If you got 600 people out there drinking alcohol, I 20 don't think six officers is overkill. But -- 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, may not be overkill, 22 but -- 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- I think you do need at 24 least one licensed, commissioned peace officer for every 100 25 people when you're serving alcohol. I think that should be a 3-14-11 32 1 minimum. And I think if they don't serve alcohol, then you 2 could use just straight commissioned security officers to 3 work the whole event, whether you require one for every 100 4 people that, you know, are commissioned security officers 5 where there's not alcohol. Just divide it up that way. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: So, your break would come not at the 7 9 p.m., but only as to alcohol? 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think it's just with the 9 alcohol. Your alcohol is where you have the issues. Now, 10 you can have events that -- you know, different balls or 11 different things going on that could last past 9 p.m. I 12 don't -- I wouldn't necessarily worry about the time. I'd 13 just say if there's alcohol, there's got to be a minimum. 14 They can have additional security, okay? But they have to 15 have a minimum of one licensed, commissioned officer for 16 every 100 people. And then if they want more security that 17 are just commissioned security officers, that's fine. But 18 the minimum that the Court should require is one licensed, 19 commissioned peace officer for every 100 people in events 20 that alcohol is served. And then one -- and then just use 21 commissioned security officers. It may be a minimum of one 22 commissioned security officer for every 100 people of -- of 23 events that aren't serving alcohol. But no matter what, if 24 you get below the 100, you still need one officer there. 25 From zero to 100 is one, and then one more for everything 3-14-11 33 1 after that. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, the way I'm reading this, if 3 they're -- if they're serving alcohol, you got a minimum of 4 two. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think you -- in reality, I 6 think you have, you know, city officers in most of these, and 7 county officers. That's one of the reasons for the licensed, 8 commissioned officer; he's going to have direct contact with 9 other law enforcement. So, I think if you have a minimum of 10 one, but then an additional one for every 100 people on 11 premise, I think you'll probably be doing okay. And then 12 where it's non-alcohol, a minimum of one commissioned 13 security officer, and an additional one for every 100. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Tim, you had some thoughts? 15 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir, Your Honor. I'm hearing 16 from 9 o'clock or if there's alcohol out there. But I have 17 events out there that they do not serve alcohol at, but they 18 do drink alcohol, believe me, and there is a lot consumed. A 19 lot. And -- I mean, so my question is -- and I'm going to 20 tell you, I'll just tell you straightforward, most of those 21 events that are out there, there's alcohol at, except for 22 maybe the gun shows, the rainwater and those -- those kind. 23 But any of the rest of them have alcohol at them. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Especially if they go on into the 25 evening? 3-14-11 34 1 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir. And most of the -- and I 2 know some of those events, those guys start drinking at about 3 7 o'clock in the morning. (Laughter.) 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You can say alcohol 5 consumption, "consumed" rather than just, you know -- 6 MR. BOLLIER: I'm just thinking about my guys out 7 there, that are out there, you know. So I don't know what 8 needs to be -- 9 MR. FLORES: Well -- 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Kind of like herding cats, isn't it, 11 Mr. Flores? 12 MR. FLORES: Really. I don't know if they start 13 drinking at 7:00 in the morning or not, but the -- the 14 events -- the events that we do security for, there is 15 alcohol. There is no doubt about that. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 17 MR. FLORES: I'm pretty sure that this gentleman 18 here has gone to parties where he has had a little bit. 19 But -- 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Acts like it, doesn't he? 21 MR. FLORES: Yeah. He looks like he could handle 22 one or two. (Laughter.) But if it is required by -- by this 23 Court to have two police officers or deputies for every 100 24 persons that go to that -- to these events, that just blows 25 me out of the water, because the -- the peace officers, 3-14-11 35 1 they're not going to go over there for $10 an hour, you know. 2 So if -- if it requires two, they don't need us. The fact is 3 that we do get a lot of calls to do security there for events 4 there, whether it be weddings, sweet 16's or 15's, parties, 5 just regular -- regular party. We do get a lot of these 6 calls. And that's the only reason I'm here. It's not 7 because I'm going to get rich, you know, doing security over 8 there at the Ag Barn -- Ag Barn. But every time that they 9 would call me, I would go through Jody, and Jody would tell 10 me, "Look, if I can't get somebody, you know, well, then 11 I'll -- you know, come back and see me." And that's the only 12 reason I'm here. I'm not here because I'm going to get rich 13 doing this, you know. So, it's up to y'all. I mean, 14 whatever y'all want. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mr. Flores, I think -- I mean, 16 I think we need to tighten up this language and make it a 17 little bit clearer. The way I read it now, I think it's -- 18 Jody, I guess, has a policy, but by reading this on face 19 value, I can't tell you when you need security, when you 20 don't, other than alcohol. If you have alcohol you have to 21 have security, or after 9 p.m. you have to have security. 22 But, you know, "Lessee agrees to provide sufficient 23 security." What does that mean? I really think this 24 paragraph -- I don't think -- you don't need to come back any 25 more; you come here every week. But I think that we need to 3-14-11 36 1 look at this -- and, you know, I'll listen to the Sheriff 2 when it comes to alcohol consumption primarily, but I think 3 our language really needs to be looked at here, this whole 4 paragraph, and possibly reworked, because I think it needs to 5 be real clear to the public as to when we want security, when 6 we don't want security. I think we need to visit with 7 Maintenance a little bit as to if we're getting a lot more 8 alcohol consumption out there than we think, we need to 9 address that in this policy as well. That if -- you know, to 10 make those people responsible, because I think if we know 11 people are drinking and we're not enforcing, then we have 12 some exposure. 13 MR. FLORES: They bring their ice chests full of 14 beer. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we need to kind of look 16 at this. 17 MR. FLORES: No big secret about that. 18 MR. BOLLIER: Oh, no, they don't hide it. 19 MR. FLORES: They don't have to hide it. They're 20 over 21; they don't have to hide it. 21 MR. BOLLIER: No. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's kind of -- I mean -- 23 MR. FLORES: All right. It's whatever y'all want. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I appreciate you coming, 25 bringing it to our attention. 3-14-11 37 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thanks for coming, very much. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: We appreciate your patience, 3 Mr. Flores. We'll get there eventually. 4 MR. FLORES: Are y'all going to be -- 5 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll continue to get those cats all 6 herded up here. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Put them in a cage. 8 MR. FLORES: Last week -- two weeks ago, you said 9 it was like making sausage, right? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. I think it's going the wrong 11 direction now, isn't it? 12 MR. FLORES: And today it's cats. So, whatever. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Sometimes it's a rope. 14 MR. FLORES: Huh? 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Sometimes you're pushing a 16 rope. 17 MR. FLORES: So, will y'all let me know? You want 18 me to check with Jody, or what do I -- 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You might check with Jody in a 20 month. 21 MR. FLORES: Okay, sounds good. Thank y'all very 22 much. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. Flores. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thank you. 25 MR. FLORES: You bet. 3-14-11 38 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 4. Number 4 is to 2 consider, discuss, take appropriate action to open, review, 3 and accept bid proposals for banking services. Oh, boy. Get 4 out your pocketknife, Jon. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Did you bring your pig 6 sticker? That's pretty good; you must have sharpened it 7 sometime after last year. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Lost it. Had to get a new one. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. The first proposal that we 10 have here, complete with a little C.D., is from Security 11 State Bank and Trust. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They agree to pay us 10 13 percent interest on all the money we have on deposit, Judge? 14 (Laughter.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: I didn't look at the particulars. 16 Next proposal we have here is from Chase Bank. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: From who? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Chase. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Chase. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Oh. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: And the last one we have is from 22 Wells Fargo. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I move we accept all 24 three proposals and submit them to the Auditor for review and 25 recommendation. 3-14-11 39 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to accept 3 all of the proposals, refer to the Auditor for review and 4 recommendation. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 5 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: The motion does carry. Let's go to 10 Item 6; to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 11 accept the tax collection contract between Center Point ISD 12 and the Kerr County Tax Assessor/Collector, and authorize 13 County Judge to sign same. Ms. Bolin? 14 MS. BOLIN: Last month, Center Point School Board 15 voted for us to begin collections for their taxes beginning 16 April the 1st, and Cheryl has the contracts. It reads 17 exactly the same as Ingram. It's just the dates are 18 different and the school district's different. Rob had 19 approved it a long time ago when we first started discussing 20 it. So -- 21 JUDGE TINLEY: And the fee structure is in 22 accordance with what -- 23 MS. BOLIN: Yes, sir. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: -- we've been doing? 25 MS. BOLIN: Exactly the same. 3-14-11 40 1 JUDGE TINLEY: For example, Ingram most recently? 2 MS. BOLIN: Correct. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move we accept the tax 5 collection contract between Center Point ISD and the Tax 6 Office. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Second. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. I assume 9 it's okay for me to sign it? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, sir. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Question or discussion on the 12 motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 13 right hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 16 (No response.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion carries. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thank you. 19 MS. BOLIN: Thank you. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 7 on the agenda, 21 which would be to consider, discuss, and take appropriate 22 action to adopt the resolution in support of House Joint 23 Resolution 56/Senate Joint Resolution 17, which would 24 prohibit future unfunded mandates from state to counties and 25 cities. That's a no-brainer, isn't it, Buster? 3-14-11 41 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's a tough one right 2 there. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Do I have a motion for approval? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Do I hear a second? 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second. 8 Question or discussion on the motion? All in favor of the 9 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's go to 14 Item 9 -- actually, we got 9 and 10; let me bring them both 15 into the fold. They're somewhat similar. Nine: Consider 16 discuss, take appropriate action to approve topics to be 17 discussed during pre-budget meetings. Ten -- that was -- 18 that was placed by Commissioner Letz. Ten: Consider, 19 discuss, take appropriate action to authorize a workshop on 20 budget early discussion resolution of major budget issues. 21 The Auditor, Ms. Hargis. I'll let y'all run with it jointly 22 here. 23 MS. PIEPER: Do you want me to go get her, Judge? 24 She walked out to review the bids. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: No, we don't need -- yeah, go get 3-14-11 42 1 her. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I met with Eva Hyde and 3 Commissioner Oehler last week; we talked about some different 4 things we thought would be good to put on this -- on a 5 meeting agenda. And I think it was worthwhile, because by 6 bouncing things amongst the three of us, we came up with some 7 more than I had originally thought. One of the things that 8 I've asked H.R. to do in preparation for this meeting would 9 be to kind of look at employees of the county that are -- I'm 10 using that broad term as to those that are receiving county 11 benefits of one sort or another, and kind of break it into 12 two categories, and we've kind of done that. Those that are, 13 I guess, conventional employees of the county, and then 14 there's those that are -- the little dotted line that's 15 really not as clear. And the areas that are not as clear 16 that I put are Extension Office, D.P.S., Health Officer, 17 Crime Victims/Indigent, District Judges, 198th D.A., 216th 18 D.A., Adult Probation, and retirees. And it's kind of a lump 19 sum -- it's a group that, to me, that I see that are a little 20 bit different than the regular county employees because of 21 basically supervision and other functions. So, that's one of 22 the things that we took a look at, and I have the numbers for 23 that. 24 The other items that we looked at are some -- 25 really some policy issues that I think we really need. One 3-14-11 43 1 of them is I think we need to look at technology and Odyssey. 2 We have departments that don't use Odyssey for one reason or 3 another, and, you know, we've been hearing finger-pointing 4 between the departments and technology for the better part of 5 four years, since we bought Odyssey, and I think we need to 6 figure out if Odyssey is working or not working. And I think 7 if -- if it is working, I don't think we should fund software 8 for departments that could use it, but choose not to use it 9 because of training or whatever other reason. I think the 10 other thing we need to look at is our supervisory policy as 11 to what constitutes a supervisor in the county. We don't 12 have anything uniform. We have some areas where, you know, 13 supervisors may supervise one or two people; other times they 14 supervise large groups. I think if you're going to be a 15 supervisor, you need to have certain supervisory 16 responsibilities that are -- that are real. 17 And I think that a lot of this has probably changed 18 as we have progressed in time since we did the Nash study, 19 which was what, 2000 or something like that? Which I think 20 most -- most elected officials who were here participated in 21 that, department heads, and that was a painful experience, as 22 I recall, going through that. But we -- it had very definite 23 guidelines. I'm not so sure that we're following a lot of 24 those guidelines, and maybe we shouldn't follow them. I 25 think we need to look at that a little bit. I think it'll 3-14-11 44 1 have a budget impact. Then there's a few other issues that, 2 you know, relate basically to those other departments, but 3 those are the topics I think we need to put on the workshop 4 to discuss. Ms. Hargis, you may have some others that you 5 think we need to add to that agenda. 6 MS. HARGIS: Well, basically, I gave you a list of 7 some of them. Some of them you already have done. I think 8 we may need more than one. To me, it would be really good to 9 probably have one workshop for March, April, and May to hit 10 these hard topics while we're putting the budget together. 11 That way those areas are covered, and -- and it gives us time 12 to be able to get the preliminary roll from the -- from the 13 tax office to know exactly where we're at. But there are 14 some of these that you already covered. And, of course, the 15 biggest issue that we had last year too was the C.P.I. for 16 employees. We need to decide whether we're going to do that 17 or not going to do that fairly early on, I think. The group 18 insurance issue, I think we need to talk about it. I don't 19 know that we can do a whole lot about it, but we need to 20 maybe have a policy as to how we're going to react, rather 21 than to -- you know, last year we -- we hit it almost nine 22 times or more, and we redid it and redid it and redid it. 23 So, I think we need to have kind of a -- where you want to go 24 with it, you know. And I think we can do that in these -- 25 these workshops. 3-14-11 45 1 The other areas, I'd like to hit on the capital a 2 little bit, decide how we're going to reallocate that 2010 3 issue for next year to see where you want to go with that, 4 whether you want to go with the Ag Barn expansion, the 5 building that we have out -- that we're talking about doing 6 out in Ingram. We need to talk about these things, because 7 we need to be sure that we have covered all of the bases that 8 you originally told the bondholders you were going to cover. 9 Once you have done that, then -- then you can branch off and 10 use those, which they would refer to then as -- as surplus 11 funds over and above what you originally allocated those 12 funds for. And, you know, I think you -- some of the things 13 you have, I also have, so I think we covered about the same 14 areas. If there's anything else that any of the rest of you 15 want to cover, that is time-consuming. 'Cause I think when 16 we start looking at the numbers, if we -- if the staffs know, 17 you know, what our philosophy's going to be in the early 18 stages while they're developing their budgets -- 'cause we 19 opened it up for them; they have the ability to start. We 20 know there are some constitutional things that are going to 21 change. We have asked them not to put those in the budget 22 until we know what those are going to be. 23 So, we may have to go back in the months of July 24 and August, depending upon, you know, when they get through, 25 and add some of those, one of those being Juvenile Probation 3-14-11 46 1 will probably not get any of their grants, so that's 2 $110,000. Adult Probation knows that they're going to be cut 3 by about 35 percent, maybe 40 percent, which means they're 4 probably not going to get very much of their grant money; 5 however, we don't fund any of that. That's about -- but they 6 could come back and ask for that. So, there's some of the 7 these offices that do get a lot of grants that we may -- 8 we're not going to get them. Road and Bridge is another one. 9 They are cutting some of the fees. I think you saw that in 10 the paper. There's more of those on the table that they 11 won't be getting the pass-throughs like they get from Diane's 12 office that some of the fees go directly to them. Also, you 13 know, that's one of the things we need to think about. The 14 other thing is that the revenue is still declining. We're 15 getting sales taxes -- don't get excited, because that's 16 generally because of the high gas prices. That's just what 17 we found in '08-'09. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Gas prices doesn't have 19 anything to do with sales tax, that I know of. All that tax 20 is included in the per-gallon cost. Isn't that right? 21 MS. HARGIS: No, there's some sales tax on it. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They have a tax that goes per 23 gallon; that doesn't have anything to do with sales tax. You 24 pay the price at the pump. 25 MS. HARGIS: I think there's a sales tax there. 3-14-11 47 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, there may be, but 2 it's -- but it doesn't increase 'cause the price increases 3 per-gallon. 4 MS. HARGIS: No, I think it does. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I bet you I'm right on this 6 one. I think you better go back and check. Look at the 7 pump; it will tell you how many cents per gallon you're being 8 charged. It's included in the price. 9 MS. HARGIS: I'll check with the Controller's 10 office. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Check with that. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But, you know, it looks to me 13 like we probably need to at least have two meetings, and -- 14 which makes it more workshops. Do we want to try to do them 15 in the afternoon, meeting on court days, or pick another 16 Monday, or pick another day during the week? We seem to kind 17 of -- just need to figure out how we're going to tackle this. 18 April will be the month probably to do it. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Probably on the -- either the off 20 Monday or the -- Monday afternoon's generally my juvenile. 21 Now, of course, Tuesday afternoons, generally I'm okay, and 22 Wednesdays I'm generally okay all day. But Monday afternoons 23 is generally not good for me, because every Monday afternoon 24 I have juvenile. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would say either -- the off 3-14-11 48 1 Monday is fine. Just do it the -- which would be the -- 2 April -- 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Be the first and third. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- 4th and 18th. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: First and third Mondays. 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 4/4 and 4/18 at 9 o'clock? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Need to do it in the morning 10 before y'all start drinking. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And then -- 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Going to have to do it before 7:00, 13 then, aren't we? (Laughter.) 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We'll put together -- I'll get 15 with the Auditor and H.R.; we'll figure out which ones we 16 want to tackle at which meetings. I think they're -- some of 17 them are more policy-related, some more budget-related. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: First one will be set for 19 April 4th? 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 21 MS. HARGIS: I also have -- 22 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: April 4 and 18, 9 o'clock. 23 MS. HARGIS: We're getting a lot of -- of e-mails 24 about classes and stuff, and the -- the G.F.O.A., which is 25 Governmental Finance Officers Association, is doing a special 3-14-11 49 1 budget presentation, and I just went to -- to look at the 2 speakers and some of their budget and their philosophies, so 3 there were some good points in some of them. So, it's not 4 much paperwork, but I thought you might like to look at them. 5 It's the way they tackle some of their hard issues. It just 6 gives us an idea of how we might go about doing it, so I'm 7 going to provide those to -- that to y'all within the next 8 month. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Ms. Hyde? 10 MS. HYDE: Y'all meant the 4th and the 18th, right? 11 Mondays? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Monday, the 4th, and Monday, 13 the 18th. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: First and third. 15 MS. HYDE: Okay. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that it on those two? Good. 17 It's straight-up 10 o'clock. We'll go to our Item Number 8, 18 to consider, discuss, take appropriate action on presentation 19 from Joe Ramos, Alamo Area Council of Governments, 20 representative for AACOG Weatherization Program. Mr. Ramos 21 is to provide updates and an overall summary on the recent 22 Kerr County Weatherization Program day held on Thursday, 23 February 3rd, at the Youth Exhibit Center, program being 24 designed to help low-income people, particularly elderly and 25 handicapped, overcome the high cost of energy through 3-14-11 50 1 installation of weatherization or energy conservation 2 measures at no cost. Commissioner Overby. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yes. Judge and 4 Commissioners, I'm glad to have Mr. Ramos here today. I 5 wanted to have him come and give you an update on the survey 6 of everything that was done on the weatherization day that 7 was held here recently on February 3rd. And -- and, Joe, 8 glad to have you today -- 9 MR. RAMOS: Good morning. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: -- to talk about this. 11 MR. RAMOS: Pleasure to be here. Thanks for 12 inviting me, Judge. Good morning, Commissioners. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning. 14 MR. RAMOS: How are you? Good to see you again. I 15 was here a few weeks ago, and letting you know that we were 16 reaching out to the residents of Kerr County and trying to 17 see how many participants we could get to our program. And 18 thanks to the County for partnering with us and allowing us 19 to have the event at the Ag Barn a few weeks ago, and thanks 20 to Commissioner Overby for helping me and our department get 21 the word out here in Kerr County. We had one of our more 22 successful programs here in Kerr County a couple of weeks 23 ago. We had a total of 75 people show up to the event, and 24 of those 75, we had six that didn't qualify because of their 25 income. The other 69, we had 58 that actually qualified 3-14-11 51 1 income-wise; they turned in their documents, and we're in the 2 process of qualifying those to make sure that they're going 3 to be good candidates. The other 12 are still in some stage 4 of filling out the application and/or providing us the 5 required documentation that we need so that we can try to 6 qualify them for the program. Although I think -- I think of 7 those 58 or so that did actually fill out the application and 8 provide the documentation that's required, and the other 12, 9 that we should get a good 50 or 55 good applications. And if 10 that's the case, if I use my average of $6,500 per home, we 11 should reach our target goal of spending $400,000 here in 12 Kerr County for this program. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Joe, I -- and I'd like to 14 again thank you for coming up today. Again, the note on 15 here, I have February 3rd; should be March 3rd, just for the 16 record; make sure that's corrected. Again, I think the -- 17 Kerr County had $405,000 that was allocated in this 18 weatherization program out of AACOG, and again, I want to 19 thank the Commissioners Court for pushing that. AACOG did a 20 fantastic job in coming up and mobilizing, getting posters 21 out and working with you guys to help get those applications 22 out to help people, really low-income people who really need 23 to benefit from this program. 24 MR. RAMOS: That's correct. 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And I also want to thank our 3-14-11 52 1 economic partners at the city of Ingram and the city of 2 Kerrville for also making those -- pushing as well in our 3 communities. And I know that a lot of folks, these 4 applicants from many precincts across Kerr County, benefited 5 from this program, and thank you for that good report. 6 MR. RAMOS: You're welcome. And even though -- if 7 people didn't get a chance to come out there that day, and 8 even though we're close to completing our total allocation, 9 we can still take more applications. They can still contact 10 us at our 800 number, which is 1-800-749-2010. We'll be glad 11 to take their information down to help them fill in the 12 application. They can also go to our Workforce office here 13 on Sidney Baker; we have applications there as well. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: So, the door's still open? 15 MR. RAMOS: The door's still open. Or they can 16 just go on our web site and look at the little weatherization 17 home icon, click on that, and that will take them right to 18 the application. So, there's various ways of still getting 19 on. We still would like to get more numbers here in Kerr 20 County. I got dollars in other counties that I can move 21 around. So, first come, first served. Wherever I get the 22 numbers, that's where we're going to spend the dollars. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Mr. Ramos, you also said the 24 average is $6,500, but some of those benefits are -- for some 25 of those people can go as high as -- 3-14-11 53 1 MR. RAMOS: As high as 12,000, 13,000. We got a 2 couple of pots of -- different pots of money that we can draw 3 from, depending on what we call health and safety issues. 4 So, yes, the average is 6,500, but we can go as high as 5 13,000. 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Y'all did a great job. 7 MR. RAMOS: Thank you. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Appreciate it. 9 MR. RAMOS: Appreciate your help, thank you. Good 10 seeing you. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Let's move to Item 11; 12 to consider, discuss, take appropriate action to accept the 13 audit report of the Kerr County Juvenile Detention Facility. 14 Ms. Mabry? 15 MS. MABRY: Good morning. I provided you with a 16 copy of the report. They did a very, very good job. They, 17 of course, always do a very, very good job, and they -- I can 18 tell you I was really, really impressed with exactly how well 19 they take care of these kids out there. They should be 20 really, really proud of themselves. Basically, some of the 21 highlights of the report, I did a pretty extensive job out 22 there; it took several months. Our recommendations are that 23 they put a financial policy and procedure in their policy 24 manual, just to kind of tie up some loose ends and make sure 25 everyone's on the same page. Our -- the major one we're 3-14-11 54 1 working with right now is to change the internal controls for 2 billing of the juvenile placements. We are in the works 3 right now with Tyler Technologies to see if there's a way in 4 Odyssey to create a billing automatically, rather than having 5 to do it, and clerical reports, et cetera. And the whole 6 recommendation was that they provide a monthly report to the 7 Auditor's office. We're asking that all the departments do 8 that. It's helping us be able to keep closer tabs on things, 9 and when I go to do an audit, I have the information already, 10 so it's a lot more productive. If you have any questions, 11 I'll be glad to answer them. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: I noted that a lot of the 13 recommendations that you set forward were immediately 14 implemented by the -- 15 MS. MABRY: They were. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: -- detention facility. 17 MS. MABRY: They were. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: The difficult things, they do 19 immediately. The impossible takes just a tad bit longer. 20 MS. MABRY: Just a little bit. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, thank you. We appreciate that 22 report. Any questions for Ms. Mabry? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move we accept the report. 24 It says "accept." 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 3-14-11 55 1 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and second to 2 accept the report. Question or discussion? All in favor of 3 the 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: Motion carries. Let's go to Item 8 12; to consider, discuss, take appropriate action to accept 9 the 2010 Partial Exemption Racial Profiling Report for the 10 Kerr County Sheriff's Office. Sheriff? 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think you have a copy of it 12 provided. The only thing I got to say is, at least from now 13 on, y'all aren't the only ones that get a copy of it. 14 TCLEOSE even gets a copy of it. 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: What does the "partial 16 exemption" aspect of that mean? 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If you have audio and video in 18 your cars that are conducting traffic stops and that, you 19 don't have to provide quite as much detail on every single 20 stop. You do -- you can provide a summary of them all, which 21 is the page you have in there showing the -- 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- the number of stops and 24 classifications. And it just saves us a little bit of 25 paperwork, and as I said, at least now you won't have that 3-14-11 56 1 stack about that high sitting on your counter in there 2 forever. You get about a two-page report. 'Cause the 3 partial exemption which you have in front of you is exactly 4 what we submitted to TCLEOSE. What anybody's going to do 5 with any of it, I don't know. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Number of vehicles stopped, 7 466. Is that for the whole year? 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah, traffic stops. That is 9 the whole year. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I just thought I'd ask. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay. I don't work for the 12 City of Kerrville, I'm sorry. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's actually 512. If you 15 look there, there's 466 and -- 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah, I see 512. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Want to work on the west end a 18 little bit more on traffic? 19 MR. BOLLIER: No. (Laughter.) 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Ethnicity is sure one-sided 21 here. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Kerr County's a little 23 lopsided. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Move we accept this report. 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that. 3-14-11 57 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to accept 2 the report as indicated. Question or discussion? All in 3 favor of the 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: Motion does carry. Let's go to Item 8 13; consider, discuss, take appropriate action to approve 9 draft of interlocal agreement with the City of Kerrville for 10 airport and airport operations. Commissioner Letz? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. I put this on the agenda 12 to try to move down the road, and the City wanted to try to 13 get a lot of these agreements ironed out by the end of this 14 month, and we're doing our part, trying to get this one done. 15 We are the -- I guess you'd say the managing -- or the one 16 who, I guess -- 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Contract operator. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Contractor out at the airport 19 right now, so we thought it makes sense for us to be the one 20 to prepare the new agreement -- or Rob Henneke prepared the 21 new agreement. Rob basically modeled it after the 22 previous -- or the current agreement, made a few changes. 23 The only significant change in the entire agreement is one 24 the City requested, that they have requested that they fund 25 one-half of the maintenance and operation budget going 3-14-11 58 1 forward. Under the current arrangement, we fund 100 percent 2 of that budget. So, I see no reason not to grant their 3 request. If they want to spend half when they were spending 4 nothing in the past, that's fine. I did find it interesting 5 that there was an issue during one of our -- I believe it was 6 at a workshop, about what a capital improvement is out there, 7 and the agreement clearly says that if it's -- and it's a 8 current agreement, that it's only expenditures over 25,000 9 are capital improvement items. So, we talked about putting 10 that into the agreement, and it was already there. Other 11 than that, I mean, it's a pretty -- you know, I guess 12 everything else in the agreement looks good, and I move that 13 we approve the agreement and authorize it to be sent over to 14 the City for execution, as it was presented by the County 15 Attorney. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 18 approval of the draft submission to -- to the City for final 19 approval. Further question or discussion on the motion? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The question I have is, what 21 is the contribution from the City? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, it's going to be one-half 23 of the maintenance and operation budget. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do we know about -- 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We don't know what that is 3-14-11 59 1 yet. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It will be in the neighborhood 3 of -- I would suspect, of between 150,000 and 200,000. 4 Evidently, they have excess funds in their budget to be able 5 to pay this year -- or next year. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Airport Board is being very 7 responsible, in my opinion. They're trying to get us to -- 8 get to the point to where it actually pays and nobody has to 9 put any money out. You know, zero is the way it was years 10 ago, wasn't it, Buster? We didn't fund anything. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's -- and I think it is a -- 12 if the City thinks this is going to keep them more involved, 13 I think it's a great thing, 'cause the City's our partner out 14 there; they need to be involved. They need to participate in 15 things and say -- which they have, and they are following it. 16 They still have to approve the budget, but this is something 17 they will choose to do. It doesn't change the operations or 18 makeup of that board in any way. And all it does is change 19 the funding. Airport Board has the ability to decide who 20 they contract with, and that does not change at all. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or comments on 22 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 23 your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3-14-11 60 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. What I will 3 do is, I will forward a red-line copy, as well as a clean 4 copy over there, executed by myself, and seek for their 5 approval. Let's go to Item 14; to consider, discuss, take 6 appropriate action to approve draft of interlocal agreement 7 with the City of Kerrville for animal control. Commissioner 8 Oehler? 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, this is pretty much the 10 same, pretty much a straightforward contract that I reviewed 11 over the weekend, and about the only major changes, if you 12 want to call them major, is the fact that we get to file all 13 the citations in County Court at Law rather than file them in 14 municipal court, and we do get to keep the funds from that. 15 Which is something that has not been done in the past; the 16 City got the fine money in the past contracts. And also, I 17 believe that we're supposed to operate under all the county 18 rules, as far as rabies and registrations and all that sort 19 of thing, rather than what the City was kind of -- they had a 20 separate deal where they had to have rabies annually, and the 21 County is a three-year rabies shot, so that is one change. 22 But I -- I do agree with -- with the way it's presented, and 23 I move that we approve the interlocal agreement for animal 24 control for the City of Kerrville by this contract. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll second. 3-14-11 61 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 2 indicated. Question or discussion? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge? 4 JUDGE TINLEY: This agreement, as well as the prior 5 one, is one that the City had indicated in our discussions 6 was -- the terms that are embodied here are ones that they 7 had indicated previously were satisfactory to them, so I 8 don't see a problem. There are some changes. One, we're 9 removing the requirement that we have to enforce city 10 ordinances, and it deletes the filling of any cases within 11 the city court system. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. The only reason that I 13 would say we shouldn't approve this is if we were going to 14 try to use it as a bargaining tool. 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And that's 100 percent funded 16 by the County? 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah, it's 100 percent funded 18 by the County. That's the only reason we might want to balk 19 on it. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I think this is a 21 demonstration of good faith. This is what -- 22 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's correct, exactly 23 right. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: -- what we talked to them about, and 25 let's go forward. 3-14-11 62 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I agree, because this doesn't 2 have anything to do with fire protection or EMS. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There was one comment that I 5 have -- and I can't remember who it was. I talked to someone 6 from the city on this -- I don't think it was city staff; 7 someone, a city resident -- that the -- the only -- the city 8 does have, I believe, a leash law in the city limits. And 9 I'm not sure if Ingram has one or not, but that may be 10 something that I don't -- you know, that we still want to 11 include in the agreement. I think that's probably a good 12 provision. But we might, you know, visit with -- or send it 13 over there with that, and maybe a letter addressing that one 14 point. But that -- I think that -- 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Subject to them approving it. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- we just need to look at 17 sending the agreement as a red-line, but I think we ought to 18 raise the issue of -- you know, they may want to, or may -- 19 they may want us to implement a leash law inside the city 20 limits. Can we do that, do you think? 21 MR. HENNEKE: Well, I guess there's some issues 22 that arise. One of the things in the Court's profile that 23 was sent over -- and I took what the Court wanted and 24 incorporated it into what the existing agreement was so that 25 we have the baseline of what we've already agreed upon to 3-14-11 63 1 start from, and just make the specific changes the Court 2 wanted. My recollection in the profile -- and this is one 3 thing that I had to work on -- is that this Court had 4 suggested that the City amend their ordinances to come into 5 conformance with the state law requirements that Animal 6 Control enforces, and I couldn't really figure out a way that 7 we could enforce that. Or, you know, if the ordinances 8 didn't change or -- or weren't good, and we agreed that we 9 were going to still enforce city ordinances, that I could see 10 that would be a future problem. 11 So, you know, we're -- as this agreement is 12 drafted, it's enforcing the state law rules that we have in 13 place for the entire county, including the city limits. If 14 we were going to do something like agree to enforce a 15 municipal ordinance like a leash law, that would have to be 16 filed -- those citations would have to be filed, I believe, 17 in municipal court. And so -- because they're city 18 ordinances, and the J.P. court would not have jurisdiction. 19 So we would have to rework, then, talking about the revenue 20 provision of that, as far as whether fees collected from 21 enforcement of city ordinances would be remitted to the 22 County after collected by the municipal court. We can do 23 anything pretty much by agreement, but there's some kind of 24 ancillary issues that arise if we start trying to do 25 something like that. And I would point out that, you know, 3-14-11 64 1 certainly the Kerrville Police Department has full authority 2 to, you know, serve as a law enforcement entity within the 3 city limits as well. So, I guess it's a topic for 4 discussion, but it complicates some things if we start 5 enforcing city ordinances. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: We -- we have a control provision 7 under what this Court has adopted that they either be on a 8 leash or under control. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Direct control, I believe. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: And -- and, you know, if they want 11 to do something different than what we've got -- you know, if 12 you got a dog running loose, obviously, it's not under 13 control of anything. But -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's true. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: I think that'll solve the issue. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, I'm good with that. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 'Cause I know that we 18 -- any dogs that are running loose and not restrained or 19 controlled are subject to a -- being caught, put into prison. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion 22 on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by 23 raising your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3-14-11 65 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's go to 3 Item 15; to consider, discuss, take appropriate action to 4 approve draft of interlocal agreement with the City of 5 Kerrville for environmental health. Commissioner Oehler 6 again. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Judge, I appreciate you 8 putting all this on here for me. It's pretty much the same 9 thing. I went over the draft over the weekend, and I think 10 it's pretty straightforward. And it kind of says if they 11 turn it over to us to do enforcement, they call us, they need 12 to let us do our job, and Ray's department can do that. So, 13 I'm in agreement with sending this interlocal over as well. 14 I move approval. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 17 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor of that 18 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 21 (No response.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's go to 23 Item 16; consider, discuss, take appropriate action to obtain 24 a professional and/or designation of other assistance to 25 assist in the solicitation and selection of an EMS provider 3-14-11 66 1 for Kerr County. I put this on the agenda as a result of a 2 discussion that -- that Commissioner Baldwin and I had with 3 the County Attorney in trying to solidify our -- our RFP, and 4 the feeling being that maybe we needed to get us some 5 specialized help up front to work with us on the structuring 6 of the RFP, the content of the RFP, and once we get the 7 responses back, help us in analyzing and -- and ranking those 8 services. Insofar as the type of assistance, I don't think 9 any of us came up with any -- any particular solution, but we 10 just felt like some assistance would be helpful. Do you have 11 anything to add to that, Commissioner? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, sir, I don't. Very well 13 worded. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. At this point, I would hope 15 to find that assistance at no cost. I'm not looking for any 16 -- looking for any funds at this point. 'Cause I've got some 17 thoughts, and I was going to discuss -- if the Court decided 18 we could go forward on this, I was going to sit down with 19 Commissioner Baldwin again and the County Attorney, and we'll 20 see if we can't find somebody to help us do the final over 21 this RFP. We've got a pretty good draft already, but before 22 we let it fly, we wanted some help on it. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I appreciate the work 24 that the three of y'all have done on this topic, and go forth 25 and continue. (Laughter.) 3-14-11 67 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Appreciate you. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: As long as it's free, get all the 3 help we want, huh? 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'll go along with that. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We don't need any action on 6 this, do we, Commissioner? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, good enough. Let's go to 17; 9 consider/discuss pending or proposed interlocal agreements 10 with the City of Kerrville for various services and/or 11 operations, and take any appropriate action thereon as 12 necessary. I put this on as a catch-all. I think we may 13 have taken this up before we took up the first agenda item. 14 But if anybody wants to add anything over and above what they 15 did going into the agenda, why, this is your opportunity. 16 It's wide open. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that the one that we 18 have brought up several times, but the City never brings back 19 to us, is Road and Bridge. I think if we're going to 20 continue any kind of relationship with providing services on 21 city roads using county equipment and personnel, whether 22 it's, you know, free or not, I think it should be -- there 23 should be an agreement so that the public at least is fully 24 aware that it's happening. And I think it's going to be a 25 very simple agreement, but I think that my feeling is they 3-14-11 68 1 should pay -- reimburse us for the FEMA rate for the 2 equipment, and pay for the materials. FEMA rate is below 3 market value rate, so it'd still be a heck of a deal for the 4 City. But -- 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I agree. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- I think that we need to have 7 something. And other than that -- 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Are you saying give credit 9 against some other funds that we would turn over? Or -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it needs to be a 11 stand-alone agreement. I don't -- I think -- 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Reimburse the County for the 13 expenses at the FEMA rate? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I agree with that. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For our equipment and 17 personnel, and send it over there to them. And, you know, 18 it's a good -- it has been a good program. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Sure. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For the City, and good for all 21 county residents, and I think we should continue it. But I'm 22 not sure we can afford to do it with the current budget 23 situation at no cost. A subsidized cost with the FEMA rate 24 would be -- I think is acceptable, and we'll find out if they 25 want to continue. And other agreements other than that one, 3-14-11 69 1 we obviously have fire and EMS. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Library. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The library. Fire, EMS, and 4 library, which are the -- you know, and I don't know -- they 5 really haven't responded on the library as to -- after our 6 last meeting, I have no idea what their plan is there. 7 And -- 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The plan was for us to fund 9 it half and half again. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Well, I know what their 11 plan was, but our plan -- at least my plan, what I told at 12 City Council meeting, was that if we're going to fund half 13 and be partners, we will be partners and we'll have a say in 14 all library matters, from personnel staffing, hours of 15 operation, everything else. And they didn't respond to that, 16 so I don't know. I'm not sure what the rest of the Court's 17 feeling is on that. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: You know, you mentioned the library. 19 One thing that I found very interesting was, of course, we 20 had previously, before we hit our three-year agreement, as it 21 were, essentially been -- been each funding one-half of that. 22 And when we hit our three-year agreement, and our -- under 23 that agreement, as our contribution started to decline, it 24 was interesting to note that the City found ways to cut back 25 on the budget of that library as their amount of contribution 3-14-11 70 1 was required to be increased. And I think this demonstrates 2 to me there's some areas that if -- you know, when you got to 3 do something, you got to do something, and you'll find a way 4 to do it. But I find that very, very interesting in that 5 respect. 6 With regard to the sealcoating program, now, when 7 we started that a few years ago, we started as a pilot 8 program, and it seemed to be working well. And I had told 9 Charlie Hastings over at the City that I hoped that we could 10 keep it on an informal basis, you know, as a demonstration of 11 our good faith to want to help them out with some of their 12 needs and reduce their costs, and keeping their streets 13 sealcoated, as opposed to them maybe having to hire a 14 contractor. And there are pretty substantial profit margins 15 in those type of operations. But they continually express 16 their gratitude for our help in that respect, and have -- 17 number one, they've managed -- we allowed them to take 18 advantage of what our contracted price for materials is. 19 That's been beneficial to them. And, of course, they just 20 reimburse us for the cost of materials up to this point. But 21 I -- I suppose, you know, if it's for liability purposes or 22 for other just memorialization purposes, if we've got to put 23 it in the form of a contract, I would like for it to be as 24 simple as possible, as -- as a gesture of good faith going 25 forward. But -- 3-14-11 71 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That particular program is 2 maybe one of the best things that we have going. It's a 3 win-win. The City has needs to build streets, and we just 4 happen to have the best road-building crew known to mankind. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: They do a good job. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: I think they did -- I believe it was 7 13 streets this past year. So, it worked well, and I'd like 8 to see it continue. I think that's the kind of thing that 9 creates an overall efficiency in local government, be it 10 city, county, whatever. But if we can combine those efforts, 11 let them do the things they're best at, let us do the things 12 we're best at, and we create the efficiency. But I want to 13 see it go forward. I think it's a good thing for the 14 citizens of the county, and I think it creates efficiency, 15 and I want to see it continue to happen. But if we got to 16 memorialize it, we'll memorialize it, I suppose, if that's 17 the Court's direction. But anything else on that particular 18 agenda item? 19 Let's go to Item 18, to consider, discuss, take 20 appropriate action to put in bid or request to hold a West 21 Texas County Judge and Commissioners Association annual 22 meeting in Kerrville in a future year or years. The one 23 under focus now is 2013. There's some material that was put 24 out by the association. The primary work that would be done 25 with proposing that bid would come through our hoteliers, 3-14-11 72 1 which would primarily be the host hotel, and maybe others 2 collaborating, and then also the Convention and Visitors 3 Bureau. I know when we've done this in the past, they've -- 4 they've been very, very helpful, and have done the lion's 5 share of the work. I know -- as I recall, Commissioner 6 Overby was working with them as an E.D. project here a number 7 of years ago. Probably the one most directly affected on the 8 Court is Commissioner Oehler, because he -- he got to do the 9 -- be in charge of the food for the host court night, which 10 was -- 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: What year was that? 12 JUDGE TINLEY: -- very well received. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: '07, I believe. 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: '07? 15 JUDGE TINLEY: I think the attendance factor at 16 that particular meeting was -- was as good as they've had in 17 recent years. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: About 600. We fed about 600. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I think, again, it's one of 20 these different type of conferences, again, and I want to 21 reiterate again the need to further explore our Ag Barn 22 renovation/expansion project. I think the application that 23 we see before us here, we see the true benefit to the 24 community as far as the dollars that are generated. I can't 25 tell you that -- you know, just as we considered the 3-14-11 73 1 possibility of hosting this conference again, I know there's 2 a lot of work in it. I think that the community needs to 3 realize there are many conferences that we pass up just 4 strictly because we don't have a facility. Ms. Bolin, I know 5 that you've expressed interest in other things, of other 6 conferences that we could literally go out and attract, so 7 this is another one that's before us. This is why we look at 8 those opportunities that we really need to give a lot of 9 consideration to. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We can have -- we can host 11 this one. It's just a matter that it takes a lot of work and 12 a lot of coordination, and there's not as many dollars 13 available through the Convention and Visitors Bureau as there 14 once was. And some of these conferences are getting to be 15 where they're -- you know, all the counties and all the 16 vendors and everybody is starting to feel the pinch, and so 17 it -- you know, it would be up to the Court to decide whether 18 we want to pursue this or -- or not. But I just -- I feel 19 like that each time we have an opportunity to get a bunch of 20 folks come to town, spend their money and leave, we ought to 21 take advantage of it. 22 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I agree. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Take their problems back home and 24 leave their money. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Like the old birdy bird 3-14-11 74 1 theory over there across the Rhine. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have no problem with trying 3 to get the Convention and Visitors Bureau to put in a bit, 4 but there is a fair amount of work, as I recall, from us -- 5 or required by the Court to -- I guess to raise funds to do 6 something, you know, some of these events. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Got to raise funds to put on 8 the host court night and some other things. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So it's -- and it's pretty 10 substantial. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think Dr. Overby over here 12 would be the prime target for doing it. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Being as he's had experience 15 in this field somewhat. I think he would be a -- 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: How many did we host on host 17 night before? How many was there; do you remember? Host 18 court night, 500, 600? 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: About 600. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It was a full load out there. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Didn't have a dissatisfied customer, 23 either. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: A lot of elected officials 25 and staff helped. 3-14-11 75 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Another thing to look at, 2 those dates of the conference, Monday through Thursday, those 3 are -- those are in-week. Those are weekdays, again, that we 4 see the benefit, that those generate those economic dollars. 5 It's a lot more -- 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, yeah, because weekends 7 are mostly taken. So those -- those in-week -- midweek 8 conferences are -- 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: You ready to take on another load, 11 Guy? 12 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll probably -- maybe 13 Commissioner Oehler will work with me on that as well, or if 14 he wants me to. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't know why you throw it 16 back on me. I just threw it on you. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Experience. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Oh. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My recollection is in the -- in 20 the past when we hosted these, that Sudie was the one that 21 primarily prepares the package and presents it. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So it's not -- I mean, it's -- 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Ask C.V.B. to assist with the 25 process. 3-14-11 76 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They actually do the -- the 2 presentation. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And usually one of us is 5 present. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We have a couple years before 7 it becomes reality if we get it. We don't know that we're 8 going to get the bid. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: No, but we got to move quick if we 10 want to make the effort to be considered for 2013. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They told me it takes 12 about -- they'd have a couple weeks to put this together, but 13 it's got to be done A.S.A.P. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. I think the deadline was 15 sometime in early April. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Pretty competitive for a 17 conference? 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Of course, Kerrville has a 21 little bit of an advantage. People would much rather come 22 here than go to Lubbock, which is where it is this year. I'm 23 going to attend that one, but this is a much more pleasant 24 place to come than Abilene or Midland or Odessa. 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. 3-14-11 77 1 JUDGE TINLEY: They -- they submit the proposal by 2 April 1, with presentation there in Lubbock on April the 3 26th. So, we -- are we going to move to submit a proposal? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can we get one done quick, do 5 you think? 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Sure. Faye said she could do it in 7 a week or two; she can work with Sudie. I think we ought to 8 at least try. There's no guarantee we're going to get it, 9 but I sure think any time we can bring dollars to Kerr 10 County, we need to try to do it. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I move for approval of the 13 agenda item, to go put a bid in for the 2013 Commissioners 14 and Judges conference to be held in Kerrville. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion. Do I hear a 16 second? 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Question 19 or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by 20 raising your right hand. 21 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 23 (No response.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Let's take about 25 a 15-minute recess. 3-14-11 78 1 (Recess taken from 10:37 a.m. to 10:55 a.m.) 2 - - - - - - - - - - 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's come back to order, if 4 we might. Item 19, consider, discuss, take appropriate 5 action to adopt resolution in support of Senate Bill 332 6 regarding protection of groundwater ownership. Commissioner 7 Letz? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. This is some legislation 9 that was submitted or filed by Senator Fraser, and it was 10 kind of done in conjunction with the Farm Bureau, the Texas 11 Southwest Cattle Ranchers Association, and I think Wildlife 12 Association were the three kind of backers of it. And I 13 think the -- it doesn't really change anything in the state 14 law, the bill. It just adds a little bit of language to 15 the -- it basically says that the groundwater is a vested 16 right with the ownership of the land, something that I think 17 is good. It's a good bill. It has a -- basically, it's 18 reaffirming the current state law. And I'll make a motion to 19 approve the resolution in support. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Question 22 or discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, 23 signify by raising your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3-14-11 79 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's go to 3 Item 20; to consider, discuss, take appropriate action on 4 request from Child Services Board to use a portion of the 5 courthouse square for display during the month of April for 6 Child Abuse Awareness Month. Commissioner Baldwin? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. If you all 8 remember, last year the Child Service Board did -- had this 9 display, and it was out and kind of around that corner. And 10 what they do is, they put up a little rectangular sign, and 11 last year there was 397 little signs which represent a child 12 that has been affected by abuse in this -- in this county 13 alone. We don't have any idea what the numbers are going to 14 be, but it'll be around 400 or so. But of all the -- of all 15 the things -- we used to tie the red ribbons around the trees 16 and we did all these things. And that program we had last 17 year with the little placards sitting out there in just a 18 little area, put 397 of them, and it's written on them 19 children that have been affected, that brought more attention 20 and comment to me than anything we've ever done on this -- on 21 this yard. And so the -- the board -- the Child Service 22 Board is coming back to ask for permission to do that again 23 this year, and I move for approval. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 3-14-11 80 1 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion? I too 2 had a lot of feedback on the impact that that had. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It got emotional. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: It creates a strong visual effect on 5 folks. When they see that, they're not sure what it is, and 6 so they go to investigate. And once they investigate, it 7 hits home. Something they really generally don't think 8 about. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So true. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or comment? All 11 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 22; to consider, 18 discuss, and approve resolution for Kerr County to join Texas 19 Indigent Health Care Association, which -- which the 20 association's charter requires, and appoint Dawn Lantz as 21 Kerr County's representative to that organization, the goal 22 of the organization being to provide timely information on 23 upcoming legislative issues and state level changes, as well 24 as providing staff training on program administration. 25 Ms. Lavender? There you are, okay. 3-14-11 81 1 MS. LAVENDER: Hello. When Dawn and I went to the 2 conference last November, we heard about TIHCA, and it is an 3 organization that's kind of a -- a statewide organization. A 4 lot of rural counties belong to it. It provides training; it 5 provides legislative updates. Dues are $200 a year. We 6 should have come back and done this in December, and we just 7 didn't do it, and so now we're asking you to approve the 8 charter of the organization, which is a requirement; also to 9 approve the appointment of Dawn as our representative, and 10 membership. And the County Attorney has looked over the 11 charter and has blessed it, so it's just a matter of 12 approving it. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Do you have a spot in your budget or 14 Ms. Lantz's budget? 15 MS. LAVENDER: We'll have to make a budget 16 adjustment, but we still have about 76 percent of our 17 Indigent Health budget in the bank this year, so I believe -- 18 JUDGE TINLEY: I noticed the recent report, 19 one-half of one percent for five months. That's not too 20 shabby. 21 MS. LAVENDER: We have been inundated, though, with 22 applications the last month, so, you know, we don't know what 23 we're going to do with it. I might -- let me, while I'm up 24 here, say to you about your signs out here, that last year I 25 had a number of people who came to me who were the child 3-14-11 82 1 victims in some abuse cases, and wanted to know if they could 2 have a sign, because, "One of those signs is for me." And I 3 thought that was very touching, that they would come to the 4 courthouse and ask if they could have one of those signs to 5 remember them by. And I sent them to, I think, Kathy to talk 6 to them. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Child abuse. I'm going to 8 put up a sign in my honor, the way y'all treat me round here. 9 MS. LAVENDER: Right. That's exactly right. 10 Anyway -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Back to this thing here. 12 So, we pay an annual fee of $200 -- 13 MS. LAVENDER: Correct. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- for the membership? And 15 is there an annual meeting? 16 MS. LAVENDER: Yes. The annual meeting is in 17 November each year, and that's -- Dawn and I went to the 18 first -- that was the first time I'd ever been to one of them 19 last November. And because of the legislative issues related 20 to indigent health care, as it is with all the other things 21 this year, we were particularly interested in what the 22 legislation was going to look like. And pretty much what 23 they've told us, and then we will be able to get legislative 24 updates e-mailed to us. This will make it more current for 25 us to keep up with it, and the best practices from other 3-14-11 83 1 counties, which are good. 'Cause we think we're -- our best 2 practices are good too, and so it's a sharing and a -- and an 3 update -- legislative update, and they do provide training, 4 which I think is good. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I really support that. And I 6 think that any time that you have an opportunity to help 7 another county to implement this program in their county, 8 it'll be a real service to them, because it has -- it has 9 saved our life in a lot of ways for the last several years. 10 Couple years now for sure, since we got it out of the -- out 11 of the hospital and got it over here, where it's being done 12 the correct way; where, you know, everybody's being treated 13 fairly, and they either get in or they don't, based on what 14 the law says. So, I'm very -- very appreciative of what 15 y'all have done down there, and Dawn Lantz, you know, you 16 can't say enough good things about what's happened in that 17 program. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Some of the things that this 19 association has explored, I think, have been ideas for you 20 and Ms. Lantz to -- to -- 21 MS. LAVENDER: The workshop last year brought us -- 22 JUDGE TINLEY: -- tweak our program some, and 23 modify our policies slightly, and impose some more 24 requirements and exclusions and so forth. 25 MS. LAVENDER: Right. 3-14-11 84 1 JUDGE TINLEY: That are permissible under the law. 2 So, it's been beneficial, and I'm sure we'd save some money 3 as a result of it, so it's a good investment. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I know that when I'm at 5 conferences, commissioners' conferences that we go to, this 6 is the one topic that we are probably leading the state. I 7 mean, everyone I talk to, they just cannot get over as to 8 how -- you know, the program that we've implemented and how 9 it's working and how much money it's saving the taxpayers. I 10 know that the County Judge from Walter County will, I think, 11 probably be contacting Dawn or you about, you know, things, 12 'cause theirs -- they're in excess of 8 percent every year 13 right now. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, we need to make sure she 15 has a travel line in her budget. 16 MS. LAVENDER: And it's a good team effort between 17 what I do and what we're doing there, too. There's a lot of 18 help for each other. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the fees -- the money's in 20 the budget? 21 MS. LAVENDER: Yes. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval of the agenda 23 item. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 3-14-11 85 1 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 2 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 5 (No response.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thank you. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. Let's go to Item 9 23; consider, discuss, take appropriate action to approve 10 memorandum of understanding between Texas Department of 11 Public Safety and Kerr County concerning the Live Scan 12 fingerprint machines and authorize each responsible elected 13 official to sign for their own machine. 14 MS. PIEPER: Gentlemen, just kind of a brief 15 history on this. We've been, for the last year, a pilot 16 project for D.P.S. with fingerprint machines, and in doing 17 so, we get the -- the machines free now, which back a year 18 ago I was told that at one point it's going to be mandatory 19 that we have to do this, so by joining in with them and doing 20 this pilot program, now the machines are ours. The only 21 thing is I think we have to take up the annual maintenance 22 fee of $100 on them. But now we need this M.O.U. signed so 23 that we can take over the machines completely. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: "We" being the County? 25 MS. PIEPER: "We" being the County. And for 3-14-11 86 1 whatever reason, they have e-mailed me saying that each 2 responsible elected official will need to sign for their own, 3 which County Court at Law has one, I have one, Linda Uecker 4 has one, and J.P. 2 has one. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: One what? 6 MS. PIEPER: Fingerprint machine. Live Scan 7 fingerprint machine. 8 MS. UECKER: Isn't there one out at the jail? 9 MS. PIEPER: Well, that's J.P. 2's. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They're different than the 11 type we have to use for the jail, Buster. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do I need to carry one 13 around with me? 14 MS. PIEPER: No. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Why do you? 16 MS. PIEPER: I don't. It's -- we use it for the 17 defendants coming through County Court at Law that haven't 18 been fingerprinted. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. Okay. 20 MS. PIEPER: It's stationary; we don't move it 21 around. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I was kidding about 23 the moving around thing, but I can't see why everybody has to 24 -- needs one. But -- and then D.P.S. is providing them? 25 MS. PIEPER: D.P.S. provided them free of charge, 3-14-11 87 1 as long as we went through this year of testing it. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okey-dokey. 3 MS. PIEPER: So that you -- now when it becomes 4 mandatory, we already have it, so we won't be out that money. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Jannett -- maybe this is really 7 more to Rusty. I thought everybody was fingerprinted when 8 they got booked into jail. 9 MS. PIEPER: Not everybody is booked into jail, 10 though. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: A lot of times the courts will 12 just send the summons or something like that, and they don't 13 ever come to jail. They get immediately put on probation 14 without ever spending any time in jail, so they don't go 15 through the jail fingerprint machine. So, you got to be able 16 to fingerprint them somehow to get it on their criminal 17 history. So, they're -- D.P.S. is trying to hope that the 18 courts will catch these, and that's why they started the 19 pilot program a year ago, and doing it and hoping to get 20 better reporting. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Makes sense. 22 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: So, our only expense will be 23 the maintenance of -- the annual maintenance? You think that 24 will be it? 25 MS. PIEPER: I believe that'll be it. 3-14-11 88 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Has the County Attorney approved the 3 proposed M.O.U.? 4 MS. PIEPER: No, sir. I didn't hear about this 5 until, like, Thursday afternoon, after Jody had already just 6 about completed the agenda, and so I just stuck it on there 7 real quick. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. So, what you're seeking is 9 approval subject to the County Attorney's review and approval 10 of the M.O.U.? 11 MS. PIEPER: Yes. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Does the M.O.U. -- 13 MS. PIEPER: "M.O.U." is a memorandum of 14 understanding, and I have a copy that I can give you. And 15 according to D.P.S., if it's approved by the Court, I have to 16 get it back to them this afternoon by fax or e-mail. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Does this agenda item deal 18 with the money? 19 MS. PIEPER: We won't deal with the money until our 20 budget time. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. Okay. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do we have a choice? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is an unfunded mandate, 25 essentially. 3-14-11 89 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Another -- 2 MS. PIEPER: Well, but by doing this, once -- once 3 they make it mandatory that we have to do it, we've already 4 got the machines, so that will -- I mean, it's going to save 5 us money in the long run. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it's still an unfunded 7 mandate that you have to do it. We have to pay for 8 maintenance, have to have personnel trained to use it. 9 MS. PIEPER: All personnel are trained to use it. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The only issue I would have is 11 normally, like we found with ours, our big machine, is in 12 about three years it's outdated and you got to replace it. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's not the case? You're 14 going to get updated every three years with yours, and at no 15 charge, from D.P.S.? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But this -- but there's -- 17 Legislature passed some law that we have to have these 18 machines? 19 MS. PIEPER: I don't think it passed yet. I 20 haven't heard anything. I just know that they were telling 21 me back over a year ago that it was eventually going to be 22 mandatory. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: But we are currently using those 24 machines? 25 MS. UECKER: Yeah. 3-14-11 90 1 MS. PIEPER: Excuse me? 2 MS. UECKER: It's a laptop and a machine and a 3 printer and all kinds of stuff. And we had to go through 4 training. What happens is -- is, you know, I don't make any 5 big secret that D.P.S. thinks they are God and the law, and 6 they kind of decide what they think we ought to do. So, you 7 know, I've been round and round for years with them. But 8 they decided that, you know, we needed to do this, so -- 9 JUDGE TINLEY: You argue with D.P.S.? 10 MS. UECKER: All the time. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: I see. 12 MS. UECKER: All the time. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Did you ever see her not 14 argue with somebody? (Laughter.) 15 MS. UECKER: But like Jannett said, I think it will 16 become mandatory. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Looking for a motion. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move for approval. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second for 22 approval. Question or discussion? 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Not very enthusiastic. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This is our opportunity to 25 help the great state of Texas. 3-14-11 91 1 JUDGE TINLEY: That helps us somewhat. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Going to get a D.P.S. sticker 4 for the back of our vehicle or something. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: No, that's the association; you have 6 to pay for that too. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Oh, no, we're not doing that. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Further question or discussion? All 9 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's go to 14 Item 26 on the addendum; consider, discuss, take appropriate 15 action to modify current after-hours cleaning contract. 16 Mr. Bollier? 17 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir. I've been with the County 18 Attorney, which we are reworking the contract right now. But 19 the problem I'm having is that we're still making a check out 20 to this person that has quit, and I need to make their -- 21 instead of one money, I have two moneys. I need to combine 22 those two moneys as one whole made to Luis Venegas. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Essentially, on the contract where 24 the individual's no longer performing under that contract, 25 you need to have those services fall under either that 3-14-11 92 1 contract or another global contract. No change in the money, 2 no change in the -- the only change will be in who's going to 3 provide the services? 4 MR. BOLLIER: Right. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 7 MR. HENNEKE: And I'll work on writing that up. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 9 MR. BOLLIER: And -- okay. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Did I hear a second? 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We have a motion and a 13 second. Question or discussion? 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. With regard 19 to Item 25, is that one going to require executive session, 20 or are we -- 21 MR. HENNEKE: Probably. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's go to Section 4 of the 23 agenda, then. Payment of the bills. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move we pay the bills. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 3-14-11 93 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to pay the 2 bills. Question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, 3 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. Budget 8 amendments. I've been presented with a budget amendment 9 summary consisting of three different requests, two from the 10 198th District Attorney and another from the Sheriff's 11 Department. Anybody need an explanation on those? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Hold on just a second. This 13 is the first time I've looked at it. Yeah, why don't you 14 explain this stuff? 15 MS. HARGIS: All right. The 198th District 16 Attorney's office did not have someone who was qualified to 17 receive the state longevity pay for Assistant District 18 Attorney in the past. When he hired Donnie Coleman, she had 19 15 years working as assistant county prosecutor, and that law 20 provides a state supplement; it's directly payable by the 21 state, and it's $20 a month for every year of service that 22 you have. And they have to have worked four years, and then 23 the month following the fourth year, then they start 24 receiving that. In the past, we've had -- Ilse Bailey's 25 received that. The County Attorney and Assistant County 3-14-11 94 1 Attorneys got on board with that in August of '08. And -- 2 and he and Lucy were the only two, and then Johna and Lucy, 3 and now we have practically all of them on board. We'll have 4 two more starting in 2012. So, we're -- we've got some 5 experience in our Assistant D.A.'s. So, basically, though, 6 it is a pass-through. And he asked for his budget to be 7 amended, because there's -- he pays for her out of another 8 fund, and he didn't want any questions about his forfeiture 9 fund. So, we're showing this as an in and an out. We -- 10 basically, this is what you'll receive and this is the amount 11 of money she'll get. Now, it doesn't pay for FICA and the 12 retirement, but he takes care of that from the other fund. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is this state money that is 14 pass-through? 15 MS. HARGIS: Yes, it's state money. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 17 MS. HARGIS: This is a state law. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 19 MS. HARGIS: On the Sheriff's Department, for some 20 reason or other when we did the schedule, and the Excel 21 spreadsheet didn't bring over this particular secretary's 22 line item, and so we're short in that line item by $28,000 23 because it didn't add. It didn't come over and add. So, we 24 needed to move this money to that line item or they'd be 25 short. It's not an additional amount of money; it just -- 3-14-11 95 1 was just -- 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Somehow didn't get included in the 3 clerical roll-up? 4 MS. HARGIS: Just -- it was a clerical oversight, 5 so we just -- you know, it was there. We had it. It just 6 didn't come over -- and in the total column, it was listed. 7 So, we just needed to add it so that they wouldn't show over 8 budget in that line item. So, that's basically what we're 9 doing there. Any other questions? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Do I hear a motion that the budget 11 amendments as evidenced by the summary items 1, 2, and 3 be 12 approved as presented? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Question 16 or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by 17 raising your right hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 20 (No response.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: You guys are testing my hearing 22 aren't you? Okay, late bills. 23 MS. HARGIS: We have three late bills. I'd like to 24 explain them quickly, if I may. We have insurance that we 25 require the -- the people who rent our facility at the Ag 3-14-11 96 1 Barn or any of our other facilities to have. And the 2 insurance company has changed some of their criteria, and 3 we've had to jump through some hoops, but they requested that 4 we prefund $1,000. The people who rent the facility 5 eventually pay us all of that back, so right now we're just 6 basically fronting that money, so that's what the $1,000 is. 7 And they did want it right way, and so we needed to do the 8 late bill. The other one is the Lloyd Gosselink bill. When 9 it came in, there was a discrepancy; we kept seeing a balance 10 forward of this $2,900. We never received a bill for that, 11 so we asked for clarification of the entire bill. And when 12 we got it -- we didn't get it until late Thursday night, and 13 so I authorized this bill. The 2,900 kept showing up as a 14 past-due amount, but we didn't have a bill on it. So, I do 15 want to make y'all aware that we have spent $30,000 in this 16 line item today. But that's the reason. That bill was here 17 on time, but we just needed further clarification. So, it 18 did come in. 19 The third set of late payments is basically a 20 pass-through. This is for a murder trial for Kimble County, 21 and apparently they have already met, and some of our 22 District Attorneys had requested to be paid. So, Kimble 23 County is going to reimburse us this entire $33,982, so this 24 is just a pass -- so most -- two of these will be reimbursed 25 to us at 100 percent. 3-14-11 97 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Could you go back to Number 2 2 for me right quick? The Lloyd Gosselink Rochelle. God, is 3 that somebody? 4 MS. HARGIS: That's a law firm. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that a firm? 6 MR. HENNEKE: That's co-counsel that was in the 7 L.C.R.A. CREZ transmission line. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But actually, there -- I 9 can't remember the lady's name, I'm sorry. 10 MR. HENNEKE: Georgia Crump. It's Georgia Crump. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Crump. And this is her 12 group? 13 MR. HENNEKE: Yes, sir. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, thank you. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions? 16 THE CLERK: I need a motion. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Looking for a motion. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Second. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 21 approval -- 22 MS. HARGIS: Judge, we do have -- 23 JUDGE TINLEY: -- of the late bills. Question or 24 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 25 your right hand. 3-14-11 98 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion carries. I've been 5 presented with monthly reports from Constable, Precinct 1; 6 County Clerk; Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3; Environmental 7 Health; Constable, Precinct 1; District Clerk; and Kerr 8 County Treasurer. Do I hear a motion that the reports as 9 presented be approved as presented? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 13 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 14 motion, 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: Motion does carry. 19 MS. HYDE: Judge, could we go back to Number 4? We 20 do have an evaluation ready on Item Number 4. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On the banking? 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 23 MS. HARGIS: Tess went to get them. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me -- whoa, hold on just -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Slow down. 3-14-11 99 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I'm going to recall Item 4; 2 consider, discuss, take appropriate action to open, review, 3 and accept bid proposals for banking services. And you've 4 had an opportunity to review the -- there were three 5 proposals, as I recall, one from Security State, one from 6 Chase, and one from Wells Fargo; is that correct? 7 MS. HARGIS: Yes. And as you may or may not be 8 aware of, we had some help with this analysis with our 9 investment firm, Linda Patterson and Company. They provide 10 this service as part of our working with them as an investor. 11 Linda actually drafted these, and so she was prepared to open 12 and be able to look at it. She had a C.D. that she could 13 open once that you guys opened them. So, basically, if 14 you'll go to Page 4 -- actually, Page 5 -- 6 -- I'll do like 15 Mindy -- 7. Page 7. On Page 7, the recommendation is the 16 purpose of this analysis was to find the most effective and 17 efficient banking situation for the County. Initially, the 18 evaluation looked at service levels. Although basic services 19 are available from all the banks, Security State Bank does 20 lack some of the services and the level of automation offered 21 by the other two banks, and these two banks would be more 22 capable of adding new technology. Security State does, 23 however, have all the basic services used by the County now. 24 Because Security State Bank does offer the basic 25 services, because they are not requiring any specific balance 3-14-11 100 1 to be maintained in the bank, and because this is the 2 incumbent bank and would not require transition, which 3 involves internal cost, it is our recommendation that the 4 County award the contract to Security State Bank. It is 5 strongly recommended that the interest and the effective rate 6 of interest at the bank be closely monitored on a monthly 7 basis. Security State is tying their rates to the federal 8 fund rates, which is the lowest rate available. As rates 9 raise in general, they -- as they are expected to do during 10 this contract period, it will be critical for the County to 11 compare rates in alternatives, such as the pools and 12 securities, and utilize their funds as efficiently as 13 possible by finding and using those rates. Which we 14 currently do now, because we've been aware of this situation 15 for the last couple of years. Basically, Security State Bank 16 proposal had no fees for any of their services, so that 17 pretty much -- the other two banks had fees, and even though 18 they offer us more automation -- so, based on her 19 recommendation, which I trust because she's in the business, 20 doing this every day, I recommend that we stay with Security 21 State Bank. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move for approval. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 25 approval of Security State Bank being awarded the County's 3-14-11 101 1 depository contract. Question or discussion? This is a 2 rather lengthy analysis. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure is. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: And rather complicated analysis. 5 I'm glad we have Ms. Patterson available to -- to assist with 6 that. 7 MS. HARGIS: It was a very complicated RFP, and it 8 covered everything that we needed. So, I think that we -- we 9 got a good bid, and I think we got a good response. And, you 10 know, I'm sure the other two banks tried really hard to get 11 our business, but one of the bottom lines we have to look at 12 is cost. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. 14 MS. HARGIS: And with them not charging us any 15 cost, and then the transition cost of new checks for the 16 other offices, it -- it just doesn't make sense to change. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Plus all the setup that would be 18 required, the time and manpower that would go into the 19 transitional aspect of it. 20 MS. HARGIS: And keep in mind, the law changed -- I 21 believe it was in 2008. Every two years we have to do this, 22 whether -- you know, so, you know, those banks will have the 23 opportunity, knowing what happened this time, to -- to bid 24 again. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Jeannie, I presume a couple of 3-14-11 102 1 the -- or the smaller banks just don't qualify because of 2 their size, like Bank of the Hills and -- 3 MS. HARGIS: We sent out RFP's to them, and I 4 called them personally as well. And they -- I have letters 5 in my office where they declined to bid. Because one of the 6 things that Linda told me is that the smaller banks are just 7 so -- they have so much money right now because a lot of 8 people aren't investing in the stock market and different 9 things, that they have so much money, they don't want -- they 10 don't care. But they also don't want to follow some of the 11 depository requirements of that third-party security, and a 12 lot of the smaller banks just aren't equipped for that. They 13 don't want to mess with it. You have to be trained, and -- 14 but Bank of the Hills and Hill Country State Bank both turned 15 me down. So, we did give everybody -- every bank in town 16 offer -- we sent something to every single bank in town, and 17 then I personally called them. So -- 18 JUDGE TINLEY: They got lots of money they're 19 holding onto, including TARP money, I guess? 20 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Does she know anything about 23 EMS R.F.P.'s? (Laughter.) Nice try, you have to admit. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Good shot, Commissioner. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, we'll talk about this 3-14-11 103 1 in private. You obviously don't care. Look at her totally 2 avoiding us. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or comment? 4 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 5 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. Reports 10 from Commissioners in connection with their liaison or 11 assignments. Commissioner Baldwin? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't think so. Thank 13 you. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Overby? 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Not today. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Letz? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Oehler? 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Not today. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Reports from elected 21 officials or department heads? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The Sheriff. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Can we take that part out of 24 this agenda? 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. 3-14-11 104 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: If his jail population's not 2 down, we don't want to hear about it. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: My jail population is staying 4 right around 140 to 145. It's gradually starting to increase 5 a little bit, but doing pretty good. I'm not going to 6 complain. The females are starting to climb up more than I 7 like to see it. But a couple of other things I wanted to 8 mention that I think will help, Buster -- and the Judge got 9 to come out last week. Hopefully our fence will be -- that 10 portion of our fence will be complete by this afternoon or 11 tomorrow. You ought to see that. That's a fabulous security 12 fence around that building that I think was needed, and there 13 are some plans, if I can work it out, to add another 365 14 feet, which will give us about a two and a half acre garden. 15 Which that will help us drastically in overcrowding issues 16 with the jail, especially with misdemeanors, 'cause they can 17 actually get them out and work. And I think it can help the 18 community as a whole, because checking with the Health 19 Department and with the few agencies in the state and other 20 states that do it, we could donate the produce grown in that 21 garden either to, like, Meals on Wheels, Dietert Claim, we 22 could do it to food banks, we could do it to other 23 charitable, or we can sell it, but we can't make a profit off 24 of it. Sell it just for the cost of raising it and that, but 25 we can look at it that way. I think it can be a great 3-14-11 105 1 benefit to everybody. But I'll look at funding issues, not 2 from the County, on hopefully the other 365 feet of fence 3 that we can add to that. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sheriff? 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a comment. You might look 7 at -- in that size of area, you might put in some fruit trees 8 and stuff like that. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Very good possibility. I've 10 got -- I'm waiting; hopefully by tomorrow I'll have the bids 11 on the 365 feet of fence, plus running water lines back there 12 to it so that we can make sure it gets water. We'll see how 13 it all works. But it's a good -- I think it's a -- a 14 fabulous program that can help because of the good time. And 15 -- and I've already met one time; I'll meet again this week 16 with the Master Gardener program and Roy. They'll come over, 17 help teach the inmates and maybe possibly certify someone, 18 the home master gardener stuff, which will definitely help 19 with rehabilitation, and I think can help everybody. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Don't we have some soil 21 available for this project? 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We have soil. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: At the Ag Barn, which needs 24 to be hauled out of there. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Which is exactly what we're 3-14-11 106 1 trying to get to, where we can do and use it. That's what I 2 want to do. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Sheriff, I was out there 4 Friday morning; I've seen the progress that they were doing 5 with the fence, and it looks really good. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think they've done a 7 fabulous job, and it's inset enough off the property line to 8 give us a little bit of extra security between it and the 9 property line, so we'll see how it goes. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You were able to get the rest 11 of the fencing so it would all match and -- 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes, that one all matches, and 13 then this other is a cross fence that we would have to do. 14 The additional -- 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So, it may be out of 16 Tightlock or something -- 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No, the cross fence, I'll get 18 T.D.C. there; the price you can't beat. They don't have to 19 bid. And I'll get the prison system to do the cross fence 20 too at that point. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: What is the purpose of the 22 cross fence, I guess is my question. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: To -- it will give us great 24 flexibility. On one, we'll have an impound area that takes 25 in -- which would be kind of the east side and where the new 3-14-11 107 1 building and all that is. That will be separate, but inmates 2 won't have access to it. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But it is impounded to where 5 department vehicles, seized vehicles, you know, just on duty 6 or -- or anything else will be totally secure in that. The 7 cross fence will come off the old fence, the smaller one, the 8 8-foot fence, from that same corner. Kind of the -- that'd 9 be the northeast corner, I guess, off of that one straight 10 back, and will leave a big area directly behind the jail for 11 the garden area. Plus if we ever have to add onto that 12 facility, we don't lose and we don't have to take down any 13 part of the main security fence all the way around. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We may lose that cross fence 16 and garden area if we ever had to -- 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I just didn't want you 18 cross-fencing to a garden. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Inside of a 10-foot fence. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's a definite security 22 issue, you know, and gives you multi-use out of that. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Makes sense. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Rusty, just for -- number 25 one, it's going to be hard to break into that place. But 3-14-11 108 1 the -- can you talk about the guys that are installing the 2 fence? 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Guys that are installing the 4 fence, there are four Texas Department of Criminal Justice, 5 as they call it, the old T.D.C. inmates. They are the ones 6 installing it currently with two of their supervisor guards 7 that stay. We house the inmates, and they do all the work. 8 They do the welding. The prison system actually manufactures 9 the fence, the razor wire, the posts, everything. It's not 10 something they go out and buy wholesale. They manufacture it 11 all at the prison system and then come up and install it, and 12 it's been -- 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Fantastic. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- been an unbelievable 15 program. It's really worked well, and it's given us the best 16 fence we could ever, I think, ask to get. A couple of other 17 things that I would like to mention, especially with the 18 budget coming up. One thing -- and I know it's going to be 19 hard, in listening to the -- to the Legislature, and we're 20 all -- we're getting cut, and what the City's trying to do to 21 the County I think is totally unfair. But one thing I'll 22 harp on, I've got employees already concerned about further 23 layoffs, actual layoffs or salary cuts or benefit cuts. And 24 I think that it's incumbent upon me to -- to at least mention 25 that I think the County should strongly look at the library 3-14-11 109 1 funding this year. I think if the -- if that's a City-owned 2 building, City-operated building, do it as a user-pay to 3 county residents, to let those users pay for it for a little 4 bit more additional in library card, before this Court starts 5 looking at cutting current county employees, or more. I've 6 gone down a lot on mine. 7 And the only other part on the EMS issue, if the 8 County decides to go out and contract, it's not going to be a 9 quick process for my department. The dispatch has already 10 taken on, just in the last couple years, D.P.S. dispatching 11 in the county and all the volunteer fire departments. If we 12 contract out with EMS, City has already advised us, as well 13 as 911, that they will no longer dispatch for any of the 14 medical issues out in the county, which is a whole new 15 training issue for all my dispatchers. And we will answer 16 all our own 911 calls that are -- we're already in the 17 process of figuring out the trunking, and so it's going to be 18 a -- a drastic change for my dispatchers, and it will take 19 time for that training and being able to kick that program 20 off, to be able to do it by October 1. It's just a time 21 crunch. I don't mind doing it, and our dispatchers are 22 definitely capable of doing it. And I think what the City's 23 trying to do is wrong, but this is one of those effects 24 that -- that this Court needs to look at strongly from a time 25 frame issue to be able to do it. 3-14-11 110 1 You can't agree that we're going to go out for a 2 contract, and then within 30 days, expect our county dispatch 3 office to be able to dispatch for EMS out in the county. We 4 can dispatch fire, but EMS is medical calls, whether they're 5 strokes, heart attacks. Being able to tell people and the 6 callers, you've got to have specialized training on that. 7 And that is -- I've got to get up and running an entire new 8 second fully operational station, so that we have two that 9 can accept those calls in case you get two at the same time, 10 which is very likely. We have a larger population out in the 11 county than they do in the city. That's going to take, 12 according to Mr. Amerine, anywhere from around 60, 90 days to 13 get that second station up. The training will take that 14 long. It's going to be a real issue to get it kicked off if 15 we're going to do it in this budget year, and I just would 16 request you give me some guidance as quickly as possible, 17 'cause funding and that's going to -- we got to do something. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Good point. We need to get 19 Bill Amerine over here at our next meeting, probably, and go 20 over the funding side of 911 and what they've been doing for 21 the city. They fund part of that operation, and maybe they 22 need to start funding -- I mean, talk to them about that 23 whole issue. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Bill has offered -- they would 25 help set up and pay for the cost of the second station, pay 3-14-11 111 1 for some of cost of the training and even the furnishings, if 2 I've got to spread it out, 'cause you got to have more 3 separation than what I'm really capable of having. But then 4 moving that equipment's another additional cost. And there's 5 some other funding issues Bill didn't mention that I know 6 they do with the City. I think it needs to be discussed too. 7 But this is a time-sensitive issue, if we're going to be able 8 to take over by October 1. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Have you moved your training 11 facility over into the new building yet? 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The AACOG -- Alamo Area 13 Council of Governments has put out the bid. In fact, they 14 should have gotten them last week, opened them, to move that 15 -- the equipment itself. We do training in the other 16 training room now, okay? The computer -- desktop computers 17 are still in the old one, and the equipment's still there, 18 because Alamo Area Council of Governments is going to pay for 19 all that, move all of their equipment over. We're not going 20 to have to, but -- so it's just a matter of a few weeks. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's coming in the near 22 future. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: My -- my thought is if I have 24 to expand out of the dispatch office where we're at now, if 25 this is what the line of thought is, I'm probably going to 3-14-11 112 1 end up moving civil and warrants into the old training room 2 and expanding dispatch out into that area where civil and 3 warrants is now. Because you have to -- to remember, my 4 dispatch is also the after-hours walk-in complaint, so it's a 5 dispatcher that takes -- that they walk up to, and so I still 6 need that access to a window, but I need the security. And 7 moving that equipment, those big consoles, is not going to be 8 cheap. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think we paid for extra 10 conduit, didn't we, to make that possible? 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Not that I know of. Where 12 that hall is -- 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'm talking about to get the 14 wiring and stuff into the new building. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: For the training room? 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: For the training, not for the 18 -- the AACOG equipment. Y'all set up extra conduit and 19 wiring for our own computers -- county computers as we move 20 those in there. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: There's three of them there. 22 There's three of them that are open. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Three -- 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Three conduits. Three 2-inch 25 conduits available. 3-14-11 113 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That go into that training. 2 And John and them are going to move that once we get to that 3 point. But until we get that other, it's just -- we get the 4 bid on the AACOG equipment. That's the main one; that's the 5 heavy duty stuff. But they are issues that need to be 6 thought about, and we need to really look at doing if we're 7 going to do it. Thank you. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Any other elected 9 officials? Department heads? 10 MS. HYDE: Real quick, A.X.A. will be here the next 11 two days. They are offering some one-on-ones from 3 o'clock 12 to 4 o'clock. We've got a couple of spots that are still 13 open. And then in May, we've been talking with T.C.D.R.S. 14 After the new numbers come out, -- we've talked to the Judge 15 about it; talked to you, Bruce -- I'll bring it back for 16 mandatory retirement meetings with T.C.D.R.S. and let 17 T.C.D.R.S. update all employees, and have special meetings 18 for anyone that's 50 or older that is even close -- getting 19 closer to a retirement package so that they can start 20 reviewing what they're going to do. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Hargis? Just real quick, y'all 23 do remember that in 2012, the Texas Association of County 24 Auditors is coming here in October. There's 300 of them 25 coming. 3-14-11 114 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Good. 2 MS. HARGIS: So -- 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Are you asking -- 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: What's coming here? 5 MS. HARGIS: The Texas Association of County 6 Auditors. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Oh, really? 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: What days are that? 9 MS. HARGIS: It's all week. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: What month? 11 MS. HARGIS: October. Sorry about that. 12 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: What was the comment back 13 there? 14 MS. HARGIS: I believe it's -- it's the second week 15 of October, and I'm not sure of the dates for 2012. Right 16 now I've got 2011 in my brain, but it's 2012, the second week 17 of October. We have to wait for all the budgets to be 18 completed for most of the auditors, and they'll be coming in 19 on Monday and leaving on Friday, so it's a full... Faye's 20 working with me on that. We've got that all tied down; 21 working with Sudie to come up with the business and what 22 we're going to do with activities. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: How many days do you want Bruce to 24 cook? (Laughter.) 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Look here, Judge. If I 3-14-11 115 1 wanted to offer, I'd have opened my mouth. 2 MS. HARGIS: I'm not going to jeopardize that. 3 He's fixing to help a nonprofit group that I work for, so I 4 don't want to jeopardize that one. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I want to know something, 6 Ms. Hargis. Are y'all going to be able to stay within budget 7 when you have this conference? Within your budget for the 8 conference? 9 MS. HARGIS: We don't -- as far as I know, the only 10 thing we raise is -- is just staff moving in and out. And 11 what I plan to do is just one staff member a day, but I'm not 12 spending any of my money on this. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I didn't think you would. 14 MS. WILLIAMS: The County Attorney recommended on 15 the depository contract award, the way the agenda item is 16 styled, we really are not awarding it today, so we want to 17 bring that back on the 28th, the next meeting, to actually 18 award the contract. Is that a problem? 19 MS. HARGIS: Because we didn't -- I didn't put 20 "award" on that; I just put "accept." 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We need to rescind that 22 order, I guess, don't we? 23 MS. WILLIAMS: Item 1.4. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, you were a little late 25 speaking up. 3-14-11 116 1 MS. WILLIAMS: Sorry. Better late than never. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We'll just double it up next 3 time. 4 MS. WILLIAMS: Thank you. 5 MS. HARGIS: Thank you. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Should we go back and withdraw 7 that to clean it up, Judge? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: You can. Let me recall Item 4 on 9 the agenda; consider, discuss, take appropriate action to 10 open, review, and accept bid proposals for banking services 11 for Kerr County. The Court had previously actually voted to 12 award the contract to Security State Bank and Trust. The 13 County Attorney has raised an issue as to the wording on the 14 agenda, that maybe the award at this time is not proper, that 15 it should rather be considered at a later meeting where the 16 language is deemed to be sufficient. Do I hear a motion to 17 rescind the action taken by the Court earlier today on Item 18 4, awarding the contract to Security State Bank and Trust? 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Motion made. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 22 indicated. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 23 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3-14-11 117 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Okay. Any other 3 department heads? Anybody else out there got their two bits 4 they want to throw in here? Okay. It is -- let me first go 5 ahead and address the -- we have an 11:45 item; it's not 6 quite that time now. Item 21, to consider, discuss, take 7 appropriate action on petition against replacement of 8 Arrowhead Bridge. That was placed on the agenda by a 9 Dr. Killion. The information that I have with regard to Item 10 21 indicates that the person who placed it on the agenda 11 called and asked to reschedule this matter for March the 12 28th. Is there anyone here that has any information that's 13 different from that? 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I didn't get that 15 information. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm just looking at a stickum note 17 in Jody's handwriting. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I had people coming in here 19 today because I didn't get any notification of that. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Well -- 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They're here, the ones that 22 are directly affected by the bridge. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Well -- 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But they're not the ones that 25 put it on the agenda. 3-14-11 118 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We can certainly listen to 2 people, and then let's put it back on the agenda at the next 3 meeting. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: The agenda item is to consider, 5 discuss, and take appropriate action on petition against the 6 replacement of Arrowhead Bridge. Is there anybody here 7 that's interested in that agenda item, Number 21, that has a 8 petition? Do you have a petition? 9 MS. NELSON: I'm just here because we live by -- 10 across -- we use that bridge all the time. It's the only way 11 in and out of our property, and we are for the bridge. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, the item is going to be placed 13 back on the agenda on the 28th. But for matters of record, 14 if there's some that are here today that wish to be heard on 15 that agenda item, I think it's appropriate that we give them 16 that opportunity. So, those of you that wish to be heard 17 with respect to that item, feel free to come forward and give 18 us your name and address, tell us your thoughts. 19 MS. NELSON: Thank you. My name is Patricia 20 Nelson. I live at 116 Flaming Arrow Road South in west Kerr 21 County off Highway 39. And I don't know exactly the wording 22 of the petition, but I will speak for the bridge. I believe 23 that bridge was built in about 1934. I've forgotten the 24 exact date. We've had the access to the property since 1937, 25 and I know the bridge was there when we were there. It does 3-14-11 119 1 need replacing; there's no question about it. We need the -- 2 and Mr. Oehler has contacted all the persons that cross that 3 bridge on a daily basis, and we feel that the road needs to 4 be changed as well, and they have adopted that into their 5 changing of the bridge. And I think when that bridge was 6 built, the vehicles were a lot smaller than they are today, 7 so whenever the buses and things that go to the -- Camp 8 Flaming Arrow, they sometimes get stuck on the bridge, and as 9 a result, the -- the curbs are falling off and things. The 10 debris gets stuck under the bridge, and I have to call the 11 County, and they come out and -- and do that. And they've 12 assured us, with the replacement of the bridge, that there 13 will be no cypress trees lost, and our -- and the landscaping 14 will be really good and appropriate. And those of us who use 15 that bridge daily know its limitations, and there's a lot of 16 traffic on that bridge. Some are -- yeah, it's narrow. It's 17 really too narrow for the types of vehicles that are crossing 18 it. And it's the only access bridge to the river in that 19 area. Occasionally the public will drop off things, and they 20 use it for that. But other than that, it's normally used by 21 the occupants or the persons who live on that other side of 22 that bridge. Have I left anything off, Mr. Oehler? 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Do what? 24 MS. NELSON: Have I left anything off? 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't think you left 3-14-11 120 1 anything off. 2 MS. NELSON: And I -- we're certainly willing to 3 cooperate in any way with the machinery that would be 4 necessary to -- you know, to the building of the bridge. 5 We -- our property is right at the top of the hill just 6 before Camp Flaming Arrow, and we certainly have some space 7 there. If they needed to use some vehicles to -- to 8 accommodate that, we'll be glad to do that. So, okay. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Ms. Nelson. You've been 10 utilizing that bridge since 1937? 11 MS. NELSON: Yes, sir. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Is there anyone in that area 13 that has a longer history using that bridge, to your 14 knowledge, than you folks? 15 MS. NELSON: I've been doing some searching of the 16 deed records because of a centennial that's coming up; we 17 want to check property ownership. And the Camp Flaming Arrow 18 was started, I think, in 1927, so they were using the bridge 19 at that time. And the Camp Arrowhead was a camp there in 20 1934, and it was -- they used the bridge a lot. And then we 21 acquired the bridge at the property in 1957, so we have been 22 using that bridge since then. And it's held up very well, 23 but it's beginning to look a little shabby. And I think it 24 could certainly improve the -- 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Could use a redo, huh? 3-14-11 121 1 MS. NELSON: I think it could use a redo. And I'm 2 sure -- I have great confidence in the engineers, and -- 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Were you -- were you or your family 4 affiliated with Flaming Arrow or providing any service to 5 Flaming Arrow over the years? 6 MS. NELSON: No, we have not. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 8 MS. NELSON: Just friendly neighbors. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Thank you, Ms. Nelson. 10 Appreciate it. 11 MS. NELSON: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: A question. I see on this 13 petition there's, like, six signatures. How many folks live 14 over there besides these folks right here, outside of this 15 group? 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, the only ones is the 17 people that bought Camp Arrowhead there within the last 18 couple of years -- in fact, probably the last year. The 19 last -- 20 MS. NELSON: They bought it last year. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Flaming Arrow. There are 22 only three properties, to my knowledge. Isn't that right? 23 MS. NELSON: There's -- yeah. The Elkins; it's 24 called Arrowhead Ranch now, us and the Flaming Arrow. We're 25 the only three owners that use that bridge. 3-14-11 122 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But none of the people that 2 signed this petition access across this bridge -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Use the bridge? 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- to get to their property? 5 MS. NELSON: No, they don't use the bridge. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: None of the petitioners -- 7 there are two affected petitioners that only need to give us 8 a 5-foot temporary construction easement to build this 9 project, and one of those people is the guy that put this on 10 the agenda, and the other one is upstream, Dr. McCubbin. We 11 have a 30-foot easement that is of record that the County was 12 granted in 1929. But this -- these -- none of these people 13 on this list, other than -- actually access their property 14 across that bridge. Not one of them. 15 MS. NELSON: Yes. And we do get cut off many times 16 because vehicles get stuck on the bridge, and also flooding 17 is -- you know, a minor flood will cut that off. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'll also say that Mr. Coward 21 has -- his engineers and TexDOT have redesigned this thing 22 multiple times trying to make it fit in there, because he or 23 I, neither one, wanted to hang from one of those cypress 24 trees if we took one out. And so, you know, it's been -- 25 it's been an ongoing thing. This started about three years 3-14-11 123 1 ago, didn't it, Mike? 2 MR. COWARD: Yes, sir. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We had a meeting with the 4 homeowners, and even some of the ones that are on this list. 5 So, you know, I don't know what -- I know where I stand. I 6 don't care how big a petition they got. But, anyway, that's 7 where I am. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Anyone else interested in this item 9 that wishes to be heard? Well, it'll be back on the 28th as 10 requested, apparently, by the one who placed it on the agenda 11 this time. You folks are welcome to come back and, you know, 12 bring you a fresh load of powder and come on back. You know, 13 we're happy to have you. Appreciate your interest. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I think -- but you don't 15 -- in my mind, you don't need to come back. I've heard what 16 you had to say. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: No, you don't have to. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You're welcome to come back at 19 any time, but I appreciate you coming and giving us your 20 thoughts today. 21 MS. NELSON: And my husband is here today too, and 22 he's also a co-owner of the land, and he is for the bridge 23 too. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: He's also somewhat ornery. 25 (Laughter.) 3-14-11 124 1 JUDGE TINLEY: And -- 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What did he say? 3 JUDGE TINLEY: And you're speaking for him too, and 4 if he disagrees with that, he's got a real problem, right? 5 MS. NELSON: Unfortunately, he doesn't hear out 6 of... (Laughter.) 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: He has selective hearing. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: He has the same condition a lot of 9 husbands have acquired over the years. Thank you, ma'am. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, according to this 11 petition here, Mark Coward, TexDOT Engineering. Mark Coward. 12 It says that this bridge -- there's absolutely nothing wrong 13 with this bridge; it's strong and wonderful, and anything 14 could cross it. 15 MR. COWARD: I'd like -- since you brought that up, 16 I'd like to make a couple corrections. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you Mark? 18 MR. COWARD: My name's Mike. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh. 20 MR. COWARD: But actually, I mean, you know, I'm 21 sorry if it was misinterpreted. The bridges that are made 22 out of river gravel are much less strong than bridges that 23 are made -- modern-day bridges. Our record shows the bridge 24 was constructed around 1936. That time frame is pretty 25 close, and back in those days, you know, they used what was 3-14-11 125 1 available, and river gravel is not what we use today. We 2 like crushed limestone with faces; it makes much stronger 3 concrete. So, that's -- I promise you, I've never said a 4 bridge with that -- made with river gravel is stronger than a 5 bridge made with -- 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's what I was wondering 7 about. Thank you. Mark. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, the comment that it's 9 structurally sound for anything that would cross it, since 10 it's not very big, you can't get much on it, so it probably 11 would hold it up. 12 MR. COWARD: I can't add much to what Ms. Nelson 13 said. I'll just give the numbers. The bridge is 10 foot 14 wide, and that's pretty narrow. I don't know that there's a 15 lot of bridges that we're looking at right now that are 16 narrower than that. Now, that's pretty tight if you're 17 driving a school bus or something like that, and with the 18 curves and stuff like that -- and we promised we would not 19 take out cypress trees. And -- but at the same time, we're 20 improving the radius up there and working with -- with the 21 county folks to do some things to try to improve the radius 22 and improve the ability of school buses or buses that are 23 taking the kids out there to the Y.M.C.A. camp to work. But, 24 you know, 10 foot is pretty narrow, and the only thing I 25 would dispute, the county road -- we're going to be able to 3-14-11 126 1 match the county road on either side. I think that -- that 2 is one of the concerns of the petition; the County would have 3 to come in and widen the county road on either side, but 4 that's not the case. The County could choose to do that. 5 They can do it within their 30-foot easement if they chose to 6 do that, but the road's actually much wider than the bridge. 7 The county road's not 10 foot wide; the county road is about 8 20 foot wide. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. Coward. Anybody else 10 wish to be heard on this? At this time, we will go out of 11 open or public session at 11:53 to go into executive or 12 closed session. 13 (The open session was closed at 11:53 a.m., and an executive session was held, the transcript of which 14 is contained in a separate document.) 15 - - - - - - - - - - 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We are back in open or public 17 session. It is 12:18. Any member of the Court have anything 18 to offer with respect to either Item 24 or Item 25 that were 19 considered in executive session? 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I move that we initiate the 21 process to dispose of unused property that's owned by the 22 County on Ingram Loop in Ingram, Texas, that was once used 23 for a county Precinct 4 maintenance yard. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: I hear a motion. Do I hear a 25 second? 3-14-11 127 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second. 3 Question or discussion on that motion? All in favor of the 4 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Any member 9 of the Court have anything to offer with respect to Item 25, 10 being the participation in district court litigation on the 11 L.C.R.A. - T.S.C. CREZ line? Okay. Hearing nothing, 12 anything else to come before the Court at this time? We 13 stand adjourned. 14 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 12:18 p.m.) 15 - - - - - - - - - - 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3-14-11 128 1 STATE OF TEXAS | 2 COUNTY OF KERR | 3 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 4 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 5 official reporter for the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 6 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 7 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 18th day of March, 2011. 8 9 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 10 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 11 Certified Shorthand Reporter 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3-14-11