1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Monday, March 26, 2012 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 26, 2012 2 PAGE 3 --- Commissioners' Comments 6 4 1.1 Presentation from Marvin Willis regarding ways we can help our economic situation by helping 5 our small businesses 9 6 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to open, read, and award annual bids for road base, 7 cold mix, aggregate, emulsion oil, and corrugated metal pipe 22, 8 71 1.3 Public Hearing concerning revision of plat for 9 Lots 4, 5, and 6 of Cave Springs Addition, Section 5, Phase 1, Block D, Precinct 4 24 10 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for 11 final approval concerning revision of plat for Lots 4, 5, and 6 of Cave Springs Addition 24 12 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 13 accept preliminary revision of plat for Lots 1 and 2 of River Park Estates, Volume 4, Page 42, 14 and set a public hearing, Precinct 3 25 15 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to adopt a resolution regarding an Aqua Texas 16 proposed rate increase 27 17 1.6 Consider/discuss, take appropriation action on invitation to the Court to attend demonstration 18 of emergency communication by Hill Country Amateur Radio Club on June 23, 2012; provide information 19 to the Court regarding available emergency commun- ication resources provided by ham radio operators 49 20 1.7 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 21 adopt a proclamation declaring April 2012 as Child Abuse Prevention & Awareness Month in 22 Kerr County 57 23 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on request from the Child Services Board to use 24 a portion of courthouse square for a display during the month of April for Child Abuse 25 Awareness Month 59 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) March 26, 2012 2 PAGE 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 3 promote Charity Fegenbush to Assistant Director/ ACO at a 17.1; hire a full-time person to fill 4 Assistant ACO/Kennel/Office position at a 14.1 60 5 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to accept recommendation from ESD Committee regarding 6 response to RFQ; authorize representative(s) of Commissioners Court to negotiate terms of 7 agreement with recommended attorney 64 8 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve Chapter 381, Local Government Code, 9 economic development agreement with Fox Tank Company, Inc.; authorize County Judge to sign 66 10 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for 11 American Legion Auxiliary Unit 208, 4th Annual "Here's to the Heroes" Easter Fest and Cookoff 12 event scheduled for April 6-7, 2012 at Flat Rock Lake Park 77 13 1.14 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action 14 regarding approval of agreement between AFIX Technologies, Inc. & Kerr County Sheriff's Office 90 15 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 16 approve revised job descriptions as follows: Airport Maintenance Tech I (14-1); Airport 17 Maintenance Tech II (16-1); classify current employee at airport under management contract 18 as Airport Maintenance Tech II; authorize hiring of Airport Maintenance Tech I to fill current 19 open position as part-time employee 97 20 1.16 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on preparing RFQ for insurance consultant for 21 health insurance and other benefits 105 22 1.17 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action re- regarding update on window removal, relocation 23 of existing HVAC units located on hog barn roof, estimated cost and time frame; update from Peter 24 Lewis regarding cost estimates for various phases of project and bid documents; authorize Peter and 25 Comm. Oehler to meet with Stock Show reps to make cost-saving changes in Phase 2 floor plans 114 4 1 I N D E X (Continued) March 26, 2012 2 PAGE 3 1.18 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to advertise for demolition bids or request Road 4 and Bridge to do it 115 5 1.19 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to open and read cost proposals submitted for 6 County's 710065 OSSF grant for septic system installation and mitigation for approved 7 homeowners 135 8 1.20 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to extend lease with Terry Napper on Ingram Annex 9 building; authorize county judge to sign same 139 10 1.21 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve Chapter 381, Local Government Code, 11 economic development agreement with Robert W. Boerner; authorize County Judge to sign 140 12 1.22 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 13 approve agreement for engineering services with Tetra Tech, Inc., regarding Center Point 14 wastewater improvements project with Clean Water State Revolving Funds; authorize County 15 Judge to sign 141 16 4.1 Pay Bills 143 4.2 Budget Amendments --- 17 4.3 Late Bills --- 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 143 18 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee 19 Assignments 144 5.2 Reports from Elected Officials/Department Heads 144 20 1.23 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 21 Ingram Annex Building lease and/or possible purchase (Executive Session) --- 22 3.1 Action as may be required on matters discussed 23 in Executive Session 151 24 --- Adjourned 151 25 5 1 On Monday, March 26, 2012, at 9:00 a.m., a special 2 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in 3 the Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, 4 Kerrville, Texas, and the following proceedings were had in 5 open court: 6 P R O C E E D I N G S 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. 8 Let me call to order this regularly scheduled meeting of the 9 Kerr County Commissioners Court posted and scheduled for this 10 date and time, Monday, March 26th, 2012, at 9 a.m. It is 11 that time now. Commissioner Oehler? 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Would you please rise and 13 join me in a word of prayer, and followed by 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 any 20 agenda item, we would ask that you fill out a participation 21 form. There should be some located at the rear of the room. 22 That gives me a heads-up that there's someone that wishes to 23 be heard on that, and hopefully I'll be cognizant of that and 24 won't miss you. If we do get to an agenda item that you wish 25 to be heard on, and you haven't filled out a participation 3-26-12 6 1 form, that's okay too. Just get my attention in some manner, 2 and I'll give you that opportunity. But right now, if 3 there's any member of the public or audience that wishes to 4 be heard on any matter which is not a listed agenda item, 5 this is your opportunity to come forward and tell us what's 6 on your mind. Seeing no rush of activity, we'll move on. 7 Commissioner Oehler? 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Not anything this morning, 9 really, Judge. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Baldwin? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. There's a couple 12 -- we have a couple of agenda items of issues that I deal 13 with on a regular basis, and so I'll just save my comments 14 for that time for those -- those programs to come up. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Commissioner Overby? 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Judge and Commissioners, 17 there's one thing I would like to recognize and bring 18 attention to. If we all remember, last Tuesday morning we 19 had a lot of rain and a lightning storm that happened up in 20 Kerr County. Of course, out in Precinct 2, in the Homestead 21 Subdivision where I live at as well, some good friends of 22 ours, and -- and folks that have been in Kerr County for 23 about 15 years, Tom and Janice Nermyr, lost their home due to 24 a lightning strike. It was a catastrophic shot, lightning 25 bolt that hit their house in the garage, and basically their 3-26-12 7 1 car -- cars in the garage blew up, and they literally had 2 about a minute to get out of the house. These folks 3 basically lost everything they had. The only thing that they 4 were able to survive -- or that was salvaged was what was in 5 their fireproof safe. Fortunately, their birth certificates 6 and life insurance policies and those things were in there, 7 their fire insurance information and all that. But they had 8 very little time to get out. 9 But I want to say a special thanks to our fire 10 departments that responded that morning. When the fire 11 happened, we heard the explosion; I ran down there, and 12 immediately our neighborhood went into just a kind of a mode, 13 but our fire department -- we had 26 people out there that 14 morning working. And I just want to say, you guys that have 15 been here on the Commissioners Court longer than I have -- 16 this is my second year, but I was just so proud of the way 17 that our fire departments that were working -- first of all, 18 Turtle Creek Fire Department that responded, there was a 19 situation that Turtle Creek could not get to the home right 20 away because we had four and a half inches of rain. They 21 were unable to get through the low-water crossings; they had 22 to come back around through town. 23 But we had the city of Kerrville respond, Turtle 24 Creek Fire Department responded, Center Point. And, 25 Commissioner Oehler, as I told you in that e-mail that 3-26-12 8 1 morning, even Ingram was there as well. Again, the efforts 2 of our Sheriff's Department, those folks that were out there 3 helping patrol that area, I just want to say a special thanks 4 to our -- our fire departments, and those guys worked their 5 -- just worked as hard as they could. There was nothing they 6 could do to put it out. It was going to lose the whole home, 7 but they were there working together. I'd also like to say 8 that we also take for -- we take for granted a lot of times 9 where we live at and this country, and in Kerr County. I had 10 50 folks out there that morning working in the house, 11 outside. The fire was contained, working out there, trying 12 to get things cleaned that they were able to get out, and 13 working those efforts. And as I went through town that day, 14 at Home Depot and H.E.B., folks were hearing about that, and 15 they were offering their support as well. 16 But I just wanted to say, again, it's good to be a 17 part of Kerr County. It's good to see these services that 18 provide such an interest when you don't really want something 19 -- that you don't think it's ever going to happen to you, and 20 when they're needed, we have some of the best folks and 21 departments in this community. And I just want to make sure 22 that the -- Tom and Jan are going to be okay. The Nermyrs 23 are going to be all right; they will rebuild. They'll get 24 back on their feet. But I just want to say thank you to all 25 our departments and the folks in Kerr County. Thank you, 3-26-12 9 1 Judge. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Letz? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Nothing at the moment. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Well, we've got a fairly 5 lengthy agenda, and let's get on with it, if we might. Our 6 first item is a timed item, a presentation from Mr. Marvin 7 Willis regarding ways we can help our economic situation by 8 helping small businesses in a way that puts real dollars back 9 in their pockets and keeps our money at home. Mr. Willis? 10 Good to see you this morning. 11 MR. WILLIS: Good morning, Your Honor. 12 Commissioners. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Morning. 14 MR. WILLIS: Ladies and gentlemen. Well, Home Town 15 Hero is a program that was started here actually at Schreiner 16 University. At the university, the students were trying to 17 raise money to be able to go to Carnegie Hall, and I actually 18 was attending Schreiner University, and it was quite hard for 19 students to raise money -- that kind of money, and so I 20 created a discount program for the students to sell. It only 21 had 20 businesses on it, and it worked quite well. For about 22 six years, I continued to do that for the kids at the school. 23 It was -- cost no one a penny except the businesses who 24 offered the discount. Businesses received, of course, 25 customers who came to the store. That was their only 3-26-12 10 1 benefit. 2 But over the time of six years of working, doing 3 the charity, I realized that about 500 or 600 other people 4 were walking in the same businesses that I was going into, 5 and saying, "Will you help me?" Including the schools, the 6 Y.M.C.A., the churches; pretty much everybody gets their 7 funding from small businesses. So, what were they getting? 8 Of course, they were getting the good will, but in our 9 economy, it's pretty hard for a small business to just keep 10 handing money out the door. But our -- still, our nonprofits 11 in this area are doing quite well. That's why we have so 12 many, because it's a place where people like to give. And so 13 over time, I realized that if we created benefits for the 14 businesses where they benefited, it would make it much easier 15 for them to give to the charities, and so that's what we did. 16 We came up with an idea to bring businesses up to 17 the 21st century. 25 to 30 percent of all businesses in the 18 United States at this point don't accept debit cards and 19 credit cards. Why do you think that is? It's because of the 20 fees to take debit cards and credit cards. You take a 21 company that is a large corporation. You think that large 22 corporation pays the same fees as the start-up business in 23 the United States? Nowhere near. A start-up business in the 24 United States sometimes pays $700 a year just for the use of 25 each machine that they have to take credit card fees. They 3-26-12 11 1 pay 3 to -- 3 and a half to 5 percent on the credit card fee 2 on everybody that comes in and buys with their credit card. 3 They pay anywhere from 11 to 17 cents every time the card is 4 swiped. That adds up to a great deal of money. 5 Now, that's just one aspect of what Home Town Hero 6 does. By reducing those fees, they bring them up to an equal 7 basis with large companies that don't pay those fees. Now, 8 that's a big boost for small business. Now, many businesses 9 that are already doing well, we can actually take their 10 credit card fees and reduce them, and put thousands of 11 dollars back in their pockets. Now, if you put thousands of 12 dollars back in the pockets of small business, what does that 13 do for the local economy here? Because those are the people 14 that are actually supporting the economy. We have 27 and a 15 half small -- 27 and a half million small businesses in the 16 United States, over 100,000 less start-up business every year 17 right now because of the economy. What is that contributed 18 to? The cost of competing in business. Small businesses, 19 many of them, they compete with the sign that's out in front 20 of their store. That's exactly the only advertisement they 21 have. 22 Now, imagine if you just put up a sign up in front 23 of your store and expected people to come in there, and 24 survive. How many people are not coming to your store in the 25 same town where you live? It's a very low percentage of 3-26-12 12 1 people who are able to do business and be able to afford to 2 advertise, even in our local newspaper. To advertise in your 3 local newspaper for three days costs what it costs to join 4 Home Town Hero for a lifetime membership. Our membership, we 5 give them a website -- a web page for them to be able to 6 promote themselves nationwide. We give them a listing in the 7 area and promote them to all of our thousands of members. 8 What we've done is we've turned the nonprofits into an army 9 of promoters for the small businesses, instead of the other 10 way around. In the past, small businesses were just handing 11 money out the door, but now we have an army of promoters 12 going around saying, "Hey, you really need to buy this Home 13 Town Hero card because you get a discount at Gibson's, get a 14 discount at all these locations," and take you a flyer with 15 them, and they show these people all of the hundreds of 16 businesses that participate. 17 Now, why am I here today? Because I believe what 18 Home Town Hero is doing can save the economy of Kerr County. 19 It's just that simple. Because if we could put $100 a month 20 -- and I can do better than that, but if we could put $100 a 21 month in every one of these small businesses that are here in 22 this community, what would that do for the county? We 23 believe in under -- excuse me. We believe in under-promising 24 and over-delivering, okay? So I'm going to tell you right 25 now, $100 is a very small amount to offer, but I believe we 3-26-12 13 1 can do much more. Not only that; we can take small 2 businesses and put them on the nationwide stage to sell their 3 products. You take a person who creates a product in Kerr 4 County, and he's selling it by his sign out in front of his 5 business, and every so often he goes to the newspaper or 6 someplace and he advertises, but he doesn't reach California. 7 He doesn't reach Idaho. He doesn't reach North Carolina, 8 South Carolina. If he could reach those states and those 9 people in our program could see the fine quality products 10 that he has to offer, wouldn't that increase his sales? 11 Wouldn't that bring him up to the level of another business 12 that does that? 13 We have thousands of businesses that mail out 14 magazines to people all day long that survive specifically on 15 what they can sell nationwide, not on what they can sell in 16 their local community. But what else does Home Town Hero do? 17 It draws people from out of town into this area, because 18 we're not just in Kerrville. We're in San Antonio, we're in 19 Austin, we're in Junction, we're in Center Point, we're in 20 Idaho, North Carolina, South Carolina, and we promote 21 Kerrville to every one of those areas. And every one of our 22 members get promoted constantly. Today at the Neumart gas 23 station, you can save 10 cents a gallon on your gasoline 24 every time you go over there to buy gas, and that should last 25 for three or four weeks. We're in the process of every day 3-26-12 14 1 finding something new to add to the Home Town Hero card to 2 make it beneficial to the consumer who buys it, but we're 3 also every day looking for benefits for the businesses. 4 Bringing them into the 21st century is something that costs 5 them thousands of dollars. What does it cost to build a web 6 page? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just built one. $4,000. 8 MR. WILLIS: $4,000. When you join our program, we 9 create a way where your web page only costs you the $300 in 10 our membership. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: There you go. 12 MR. WILLIS: You should have joined Home Town Hero. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Should have joined. 14 MR. WILLIS: Not only that, let me -- let me make 15 another focus to that. When you built that web page, how 16 many people saw it? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A lot. 18 MR. WILLIS: And how did that happen? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: By the $4,000. 20 MR. WILLIS: There you go. Well, we have about -- 21 I don't know; I can't tell you how many members we have, but 22 we're in four states. We're going to have a lot of people 23 look at you for $300 when you join us. Actually, the web 24 page is free. Now, I brought Rolando Garza with me from 25 First Data. Rolando is head of the -- he actually works 3-26-12 15 1 nationwide, but he's the head of the state of Texas for First 2 Data. First Data is the largest credit card processor in the 3 world. Now, First Data is not working for me. First Data is 4 -- is just like Chili's in our program, okay? They offer a 5 discount to our members just like everybody else. We're not 6 in the credit card business. We do not get a penny from 7 First Data when they go out and they save these companies 8 money. But I wanted to get Rolando -- Rolando, would you 9 mind coming up for just a second? 10 Rolando is not a salesman, okay? So, when he calls 11 on businesses and he says -- he says to them, "You should 12 sign up with First Data," and they've been talking to a guy 13 on the phone that's like, "Oh, man, you can save all this 14 money with me, and you can do this with me," he's like, 15 "Well, we can save you money." So, it's a little harder for 16 him to sign these people up. Plus, what we have to offer is 17 just too good to be true, so people don't believe us. When I 18 tell you that I can save you thousands of dollars, and you've 19 had phone calls -- inundated by phone calls from 20 organizations who are marketing what First Data does, because 21 there's middle men between First Data who go out and sell 22 this program and make a quarter percent, a half percent and 23 so on and so forth, okay? And those people, they call these 24 companies daily, and they don't want to hear anything. When 25 I say, "Oh, by the way, you can save money on credit cards," 3-26-12 16 1 they're like, "Oh, yeah, okay." So, Rolando is here to 2 verify what I'm telling you is true, because I can come in 3 here and tell you anything. What do you say, Rolando? 4 MR. GARZA: Absolutely, it is true. Basically, 5 what happened was Home Town Hero came to us and asked us if 6 we could put some type of pricing together, considering that 7 they had -- you know, at that time it was 2,000-plus members. 8 We have companies like Walmart, you know, H.E.B., Dillard's. 9 We have -- First Data actually has 65 percent of the market 10 in the United States. Obviously, some of those companies are 11 able to get much better pricing just because of -- you know, 12 if you go to Kinko's and get 1,000 copies versus getting 13 20,000 copies, the pricing is going to be different, right? 14 Obviously. And that's what they were trying to do, get 15 better pricing for all their members, and they came to us. 16 And typically, when we -- we get a referral partnership with 17 a company, they ask -- obviously, they -- they get a 18 percentage, things like that. Some of the -- some other 19 companies, they came to us and asked us to get the best 20 possible pricing, you know, as low as we could actually get 21 it, and that's what we did. We put it as if they -- if 22 you're a typical business, a small, you know, gasoline 23 station, it's like if you had 2,000 gasoline stations. So, 24 obviously, the leverage of having those many locations, 25 you're going to get much better pricing, and that's what they 3-26-12 17 1 were trying to do. And, you know, I was kind of amazed that 2 they were not only looking to bring business and clients into 3 their -- into their businesses -- or their clients' 4 businesses, but also reduce their costs. You know, kind of 5 bring business and reduce costs; it makes -- makes sense. 6 So, that's kind of how this came about. 7 MR. WILLIS: Thanks, Rolando. Appreciate that. 8 Anyway, Rolando here is one of the best things that happened 9 to our program. You know, it's nice to have a web page, 10 okay, so you can promote yourself. But the best thing is 11 putting money back in your pockets. You know what happens 12 when a company puts money back in its pocket? He's able to 13 do a lot with that money, but the main goal of Home Town Hero 14 is to attract people to our community, okay? To support our 15 local community, because we're working one community at a 16 time. And the same way to increase the economy -- increase 17 the way our economy works by putting more money back in our 18 business owners, they put more money back in the community. 19 It's just that simple. They may hire someone. They may -- I 20 have people come up to me and told me -- just cardholders, 21 and say to me, you know, "I saved enough money with that card 22 last year to pay for my vacation." Now, tell me, how many of 23 you have a Home Town Hero card? 24 (Commissioners raised their hands.) 25 MR. WILLIS: So -- 3-26-12 18 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: On my desk. 2 MR. WILLIS: They're on the desk, okay. How about 3 out here, folks? Anybody out here have a Home Town Hero 4 card? 5 (Several people raised their hands.) 6 MR. WILLIS: There's a man with a Home Town Hero 7 card. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Here's one. 9 MR. WILLIS: There you go, Home Town Hero card. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Can't live without it. 11 MR. WILLIS: You can't live without it? 12 JUDGE TINLEY: You don't even have a web page. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 14 MR. WILLIS: There you go. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Don't want one. 16 MR. WILLIS: Well, you see, now that's the third 17 part of the program. See, the first part -- let me start 18 with that. I know I need to get out of here and let you guys 19 have your court back, but the first part of this program is 20 designed to help business. The second part, the residual 21 part of this is -- goes to charity. You see, because the 22 charities sell the memberships, and they get the money from 23 selling the memberships. But the really good thing about 24 that is that once a charity sells the membership, if you 25 notice, there's a registration number on that card, okay? 3-26-12 19 1 Well, Home Town Hero takes over selling the card for life and 2 sends that money to the charity. I don't think I ever heard 3 of anybody doing that before. So, over time, that charity is 4 going to build quite a bit of money coming in that's just 5 going to be coming every month from the sales of those cards. 6 So, you know, we take a look at the consumer. And 7 you just said you couldn't live without your card. And so 8 we're lowering the prices for the people in Kerrville that 9 have the card when they go shopping. If you're saving money 10 in Kerrville, are you going to go out of town? No, you're 11 going to stay here. If your gas is 10 cents cheaper here, 12 you're not going over to San Antonio to fill up and go 13 shopping; you're going to stay here. If every restaurant is 14 cheaper here, are you going to go to San Antonio? No. So, 15 it's going to keep us shopping at home, and that's what the 16 big deal is, keeping money at home. Shopping with small 17 businesses keeps the money circulating in this town up to 18 seven times. 19 When you go to a large corporation, it's gone. I 20 mean, just like that, it's out of here. So, Home Town Hero 21 is on a mission to save America one small town at a time, by 22 keeping the money local, by lowering prices for the consumer, 23 by creating a way where the businesses can get their message 24 out, not just here, but locally, by promoting the town to 25 other communities and bringing them in. And that's why I'm 3-26-12 20 1 here today, because I need you guys to support what I'm 2 doing. I need the credibility, because people think it's too 3 good to be true. There's I don't know how many people in 4 town that go, "I can't do it because I'm afraid." But if 5 everybody in town did it, what would it do for our local 6 economy? So, what do you guys think? Do you think I should 7 continue what I'm doing? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: This credit card program that you 9 offer to small businesses, let's say they're paying a 3 10 percent commission on their credit card sales. I think 11 that's probably somewhere -- 2 and a half, 3 percent is -- is 12 normal. By -- by pooling, what is that reduced to? 13 MR. WILLIS: Well, let's just say we reduce it 1 14 percent, and they're -- they're running $100,000 through 15 their business gross a month. A small business running 16 $100,000 is not that big a business to run gross through it. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: It's $1,000. 18 MR. WILLIS: That's $1,000 a month savings. What's 19 $12,000 going to do that year for that business owner? 20 Because where's that $12,000 go? It goes right in his 21 pocket. It's not like any of the other money that he gets, 22 because that's money that he's not getting to keep. You 23 know, he gets to keep it. Now, that's just if we save him 24 1 percent. We didn't even talk about the fact that it's 11 25 to 17 cents a swipe, and we're going to take that down to a 3-26-12 21 1 nickel. That's a big deal too. And if he has several 2 locations and he's having to rent machines, well, that's $50, 3 $60 a machine every month in several locations. What about 4 that? What if he has three locations; he's renting machines, 5 $150, $180 a month. So, to join our program for $300 for 6 life -- and it does cost $50 a year for your maintenance 7 renewal, okay, and that's it. 8 And -- and the thing is, is all you have to do is 9 make an offer that attracts people to come and do business 10 with you. You know, if you ran an ad in the newspaper, would 11 you run an ad in the newspaper that said, "Come by retail 12 from me"? You wouldn't spend the money to say, "Come buy 13 retail," would you? You'd have 70 percent off. Now, you 14 guys have heard of Groupon, haven't you? Here's how Groupon 15 works. They come to a business and say to you, "We want 75 16 percent off; 25 percent for us, 50 percent off for the 17 clients. You keep the -- you get 25 percent." Does that 18 seem like a good deal to you? 19 JUDGE TINLEY: For Groupon. 20 MR. WILLIS: It's a great deal for Groupon. See, 21 our program is totally opposite than that. We have you make 22 the decision on what's going to draw the person in; 10, 23 15 percent, 20 percent, which you get. We don't ask for 24 15 percent of that or 20 percent of that, or any of that, 25 okay? We make our money off of the card sales at a small, 3-26-12 22 1 residual return. We're also hiring nationwide. We're 2 creating jobs for people, and these are high-paying jobs, and 3 jobs that make a difference in their community. Anywhere in 4 America, if I can find a good person, I'll hire them if 5 they're a good person to do this program, and it'll work 6 anywhere you go. You can go -- those 27 and a half million 7 small businesses in America? You can go to any one of them 8 and save them money, so it doesn't matter what town you're 9 in. So, I'm looking to spread this thing nationwide. But, 10 anyway, I've taken up enough of your time, and I appreciate 11 y'all allowing me to come here and talk today, and I hope you 12 guys will spread the word on what we're actually doing. And 13 if you want to save some money, use your Home Town Hero card. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. We appreciate you 15 coming. 16 MR. WILLIS: Thank you, Your Honor. Appreciate it. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's go on to our next item; 18 consider, discuss, take appropriate action to open, read, and 19 award the annual bids for road base, cold mix, aggregate, 20 emulsion oil, and corrugated metal pipe. Mr. Odom? 21 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. Road and Bridge would ask the 22 Court -- after we've opened and read these bids, that we 23 would like to review it immediately and return to the -- on 24 this court date, as soon as we can, and award the annual bids 25 for the road base, cold mix, aggregate, emulsion oil, and 3-26-12 23 1 corrugated metal pipe. All bids prices are to begin April 2 the 1st, 2012, and be in effect until April 1st, 2013. So, 3 at this time, we ask the Court to open and read all material 4 bids. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. The first bid is on emulsion 6 oils, and it's from Ergon Asphalt and emulsions. Looks like 7 they're out of Austin. Next one is base material from 8 Wheatcraft, Incorporated. Next one is for -- let's see what 9 they bid on here -- paving aggregates, hot, cold mix. That 10 is from Vulcan Construction Materials. Next one is from 11 Martin Marietta Materials on paving aggregates, base 12 materials. Looks like that's all of it. Is that it? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's it. Judge, I move we 14 accept all bids and refer them to Road and Bridge for 15 recommendation. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 18 indicated. Question or discussion? All in favor, signify by 19 raising your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. I will now 24 recess the Commissioners Court meeting, and I will open a 25 public hearing concerning the revision of plat for Lots 4, 5, 3-26-12 24 1 and 6 of Cave Springs Addition, Section 5, Phase 1, Block D, 2 and located in Precinct 4. 3 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 9:25 a.m., and a public hearing was held in open 4 court, as follows:) 5 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the public or 7 audience that wishes to be heard with respect to the revision 8 of plat for Lots 4, 5, and 6 of Cave Springs Addition, 9 Section 5, Phase 1, Block D? Seeing no one seeking 10 recognition to be heard, I will close the public hearing 11 concerning the revision of plat for Lots 4, 5, and 6 of Cave 12 Springs Addition, Section 5, Phase 1, Block D, and I will 13 reconvene the Commissioners Court hearing. 14 (The public hearing was concluded at 9:25 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 15 reopened.) 16 - - - - - - - - - - 17 JUDGE TINLEY: And we'll move to Item 4; to 18 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action for the final 19 approval concerning revision of plat for Lots 4, 5, and 6 of 20 Cave Springs Addition, Section 5, Phase 1, Block D, and 21 located in Precinct 4. Mr. Odom? 22 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. Mr. and Mrs. Outland own 23 Lots 4, 5, and 6 of Cave Springs Addition, Section 5, 24 Phase 1, Block D. The Outlands would like to combine all 25 three lots into one lot, which will be a total of 1.78 acres. 3-26-12 25 1 So, at this time, we ask the Court for their final approval 2 for revision of plat for Lots 4, 5, and 6 of Cave Springs 3 Addition, Section 5, Phase 1, Block D, Precinct 4. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Move approval. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 7 approval. Question or discussion on the motion? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's a tough one. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All in favor of the motion, signify 10 by raising your right hand. 11 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 13 (No response.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move 15 to Item 5; to consider, discuss, take appropriate action to 16 accept the preliminary revision of plat for Lots 1 and 2 of 17 River Park Estates as set forth in Volume 4, Page 42, Plat 18 Records, and set a public hearing. Mr. Odom? 19 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. Mr. and Mrs. Walden own 20 Lots 1, 2, and 3 of River Park Estates. Lot 3 will remain 21 the same, and Lot 2 will go from .719 acres to .927 acres, 22 and Lot 1 will go from 738 -- .738 acres to .525 acres and 23 will become an unbuildable lot, as noted in the general notes 24 under Item Number 9. O.S.S.F. has submitted a variance to 25 the rules and regulations regarding Table 5, Page 18 of the 3-26-12 26 1 Kerr County Subdivision Rules and Regulations. Minimum lot 2 size for the subdivision rules and regulations basically are 3 being met. Community water system and O.S.S.F. outside a 4 high density area is 1 acre, so Lot 2R is .927 acres. It 5 appears that -- that O.S.S.F. has given approval for this 6 variance. We've submitted the variance form that Lane 7 Wolters filled out to you in the package. So, at this time, 8 we ask the Court to accept the preliminary revision of plat 9 for Lots 1 and 2 of River Parks Estates, Volume 4, Page 42, 10 and to set a public hearing for Monday, May the 14th, 2012, 11 at 9 a.m., in Precinct 3. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Community water system, did 13 you say? 14 MR. ODOM: Yes. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move we set the public 16 hearing -- 17 MR. ODOM: I'm sorry, sir. What? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're setting a public hearing, 19 right? 20 MR. ODOM: Yes. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: May 14th. 22 MR. HENNEKE: Could I -- I was looking at the 23 backup material, and I guess my question was, it looked to me 24 like Environmental Health -- I don't know if they've approved 25 the variance -- recommended? 3-26-12 27 1 MR. GARCIA: It's a recommendation. 2 MR. HENNEKE: To approve it, okay. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion. Do I hear a 4 second? 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to set a 7 public hearing on the matter for May 14th, 2012, at 9 a.m. 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. We have a 14 9:30 timed item. It is that time now, so we'll go to Item 9; 15 to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to adopt a 16 resolution regarding the Aqua Texas proposed rate increase. 17 Commissioner Letz? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is on the agenda really 19 more as an update. Commissioner Baldwin and I met with some 20 residents in the county this past week, and I wanted to put 21 it on the agenda one more time. The resolution, I'll put 22 forward next month. Every time we -- I kind of get ready to 23 put the resolution on, rewrite it, I get more information. 24 Which has been helpful, 'cause I want the resolution to be 25 factual. Some of the things I said in the first resolution 3-26-12 28 1 I'm backing off of a little bit, or changing the wording. 2 So, really, that's the reason for it to be on the agenda. 3 And I think it's very important for -- you know, for this, 4 you know, long-term issue with Aqua Texas, that any utility 5 be addressed as probably more a legislative issue or a 6 T.C.E.Q. issue. But the -- I think the importance right now 7 is that we keep the public informed on what the process is. 8 And it's my understanding that, you know, T.C.E.Q.'s received 9 over 500 letters to-date, but that's not enough. They need 10 to get more letters, and this is kind of a little bit more 11 information to the public to say, you know, that the 12 public -- there is, you know, something the public can do, 13 and they can write letters to T.C.E.Q. And that's really all 14 I had on the agenda item, but I think there may be a few 15 people from the audience that have some comments. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: You are continuing to work on the 17 resolution? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: And you intend to present it at a 20 future meeting? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It will be at the next meeting. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I did have some 23 participations forms -- I'm sorry, go ahead. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just wanted to make a 25 quick comment -- 3-26-12 29 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Sure. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- on the issues. You know, 3 the more I look at it, you know, the -- we all wish and hope 4 that the issues that come before us are black and white. You 5 know, there's -- but most of it's gray. It's hard to see yes 6 from no. But this issue is just as black and white as you 7 can possibly get. I mean, it is wrong. There's -- there's a 8 right way to do things and there's a wrong way to do things, 9 and these people are doing it exactly the wrong way. They're 10 taking advantage of our citizens, including me, and it's the 11 wrong thing to do. They were -- if they were taking our 12 money, increasing our rates to upgrade the systems locally, 13 that's one thing. I'm kind of there; I'm kind of like that. 14 But if they take our money and completely leave our 15 community, that's wrong. It's just absolutely wrong. 16 (Applause.) 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Uh-oh. Do I leave now? 18 But, anyway, that's all I have to say about that. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, it's wrong, and at the 20 same time, their systems locally are not being upgraded, and 21 they're needing a lot of work, everything from water quality 22 issues to quantity. And Aqua Texas has, to my knowledge, not 23 ever participated in any of the discussions we've had with 24 city of Kerrville, Region J, the East Kerr County project on 25 how to get surface water out there, which is really something 3-26-12 30 1 that they need to be involved with, 'cause they're the 2 largest distributor in the county -- or retailer. But, 3 anyway, I put it on the agenda today just mainly to bring it 4 to the forefront one more time, and at the next meeting I 5 anticipate we should have the agenda -- I've got a -- this is 6 my stack of stuff. I'm sure it's difficult to go through it. 7 I've got some more at home in another office. 8 But when you look at what Aqua Texas sends out to 9 the public, and to try to decipher what's going to even be -- 10 if you can figure out what subdivision you're listed as, 11 that's one challenge, but then trying to figure out how it's 12 going to affect rates, and the rates vary within subdivisions 13 from different amounts, they couldn't develop a more 14 confusing mechanism. And I think a lot of people have found 15 out -- are very discouraged, because the last time some 16 people -- some subdivisions were successful in backing off 17 the rate increase, to find out this time it's just being 18 caught up to where it was before anyway, so their rates -- 19 their last success is being, you know, turned over anyway, 20 and they're going to get back up to -- 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Same thing around Ingram 22 area. We have complaints constantly on the service and the 23 quality of the -- of the water, the pressure, the -- whether 24 it's, you know, adequate enough. And sometimes, you know, 25 it's just shut down; you just don't have anything. 3-26-12 31 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, you also have the issue of the 2 ratepayers. There's an incentive for the ratepayer not to 3 voice objection or not to object to the increase, because 4 under the rules that are set up, whatever the utility spends, 5 and believe me, they do, very freely, and they -- they put 6 lots of P.R. people, lots of lawyers -- I mean, they pay for 7 -- they pay for the best there is to get, and they are 8 entitled to recover that cost from the ratepayer. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Pass it right on to the 10 ratepayer. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: In fact, I think there is still 12 right now a continuing surcharge being charged to ratepayers 13 here in Kerr County from the last rate increase. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, that's right. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: In each of your bills, I think 16 there's -- I don't know what it is, around a dollar a month 17 or something like that being charged every ratepayer from the 18 last rate increase that they rolled in. So, the deck is 19 stacked. And it's also stacked by virtue of the system which 20 allows them to do this regionalization. Well, when you look 21 at each system on its own, you can't have fuzzy accounting, 22 because everything relates to one system. If they're allowed 23 to bring in a whole bunch of systems in one filing, it's a 24 shell game of where the money's going, and it's hard to pin 25 down the costs. And I can understand why the rate setters 3-26-12 32 1 love it; it's less work for them. Gosh, isn't that nice? 2 And -- but the whole thing is stacked for the benefit of the 3 utilities. And it happens to benefit the regulators also, 4 because it lessens their workload. And I'm sure that they're 5 tremendously overworked there in Austin, and we certainly 6 wouldn't want them to give individualized attention to Kerr 7 County citizens. But -- but, really, there's a disincentive 8 to contest, because they just stack that back on your back, 9 and -- and the sky's the limit. They know they're going to 10 get it back, so they just -- their theory is, "Don't worry 11 about the mule; just load the wagon," you know? 12 I do have some participation forms, and I want to 13 welcome you folks who've come here. Maybe you'll have some 14 more information for Commissioner Letz to help him refine his 15 resolution. First one filed was Mr. Jack Millikan with the 16 CAD group in Kerrville South. Mr. Millikan? 17 MR. MILLIKAN: Commissioners, on behalf of the 18 Kerrville South Community Action Group and -- and your 19 constituents who are customers of Aqua, we thank you for 20 putting this Aqua issue on the agenda this morning. I'm Jack 21 Millikan, chairman of the Kerrville South Community Action 22 Group board. And this community action group serves property 23 owners south of the Guadalupe River, west of Highway 16 South 24 to Ranchero Road, and our prime objective is to provide 25 members with a means of unified action in preserving the 3-26-12 33 1 quality of life associated with our unincorporated 2 residential area in Kerr County, and this includes utility 3 rates. The action that you take today -- and we're 4 encouraged by the awareness that you've demonstrated this 5 morning, that you've -- you are staying abreast of what's 6 going on here. But the actions you take today, next week, 7 and next month will be very beneficial to your constituents 8 in communicating the deep concern over the huge rate increase 9 that Aqua has already implemented in this area. 10 Individual Aqua customers have no one to represent 11 them. In fact, as you mentioned, there's no incentive for 12 complaints to go, but it's more than that. There -- there 13 are huge hurdles. There are huge impediments placed in so 14 that we don't do that. And your individual -- we have no one 15 really to represent us because of those hurdles that are 16 placed there. Our CAG members -- and we have many with us, 17 as you see here today -- at our annual meeting in February 18 expressed a deep concern about our Aqua rate increase. For 19 most of us, that increase exceeds 60 percent, with no 20 improvement in water quality and no improvement in service 21 level, and we think that's wrong. Larry Westfall, also an 22 officer of the board, and the chairperson of our Water Rate 23 Committee, will also briefly comment on this issue. Larry? 24 MR. WESTFALL: Good morning, gentlemen. 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Morning. 3-26-12 34 1 MR. WESTFALL: I too would like to thank you for 2 putting this item on the agenda and giving it attention. 3 It's one that is of great importance to many of us. The 4 citizens of the county, and in particular in this case, south 5 Kerrville. The Aqua Texas rate increase was first announced 6 in a 37-page document which was mailed to Kerrville South 7 customers just prior to the Christmas holiday. I think 8 that's the document that you -- that you referenced. While 9 the document is very technical and difficult for most of us 10 to understand -- and believe me, it is. If you -- if you get 11 a chance to look at it and haven't, you quickly see that. 12 The bottom line is, as Jack said, more than a 60 percent 13 increase to us in the cost of our water. 60 percent is a 14 rather astonishing increase. Aqua justifies this increase 15 with what they say is a need to recover an average of $2,300 16 per customer that it has spent on improvements, yet we have 17 virtually no improvement in our water quality or service 18 level that we can see. In fact, by some people's standards, 19 the quality of service is worse than it used to be in a prior 20 time. 21 The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, 22 T.C.E.Q., has rate-setting jurisdiction, as you know, over 23 Texas water rates, and many people regard this to be a 24 misplaced function. They have authorized Aqua Texas to go 25 ahead with implementation of the higher rates effective 3-26-12 35 1 February 21. According to the contact that I made, they felt 2 they had no legitimate basis to set the proposal aside, but 3 -- but chose instead to allow it to go into effect and let 4 the ensuing process begin. So, with the next water bill that 5 we all receive, including you, Buster, you'll see the 6 increase and take note of what your water bill will look like 7 now in the future. So, with the implementation date on 8 February 21, we are now in a 90-day protest period. And we 9 are informed if 1,000 or more households impacted by this 10 protest within the 90-day period, an administrative hearing 11 will be initiated as the first step in questioning and 12 challenging the rate increase action. 13 We are encouraging and supporting our -- our 14 members and other Aqua customers to file protests now, and 15 we've taken a number of actions. We'll continue to take 16 additional actions to encourage more protests to reach this 17 1,000 threshold to at least activate this initial process. 18 We are seeking help from the media and from our county and 19 state officials in -- in informing and supporting taxpayers 20 in their challenge of Aqua's huge rate increase. And as has 21 been acknowledged by you all, this is certainly an uphill 22 battle. I guess it's -- as you look at the overwhelming 23 size, magnitude, complexity of what's been put on the table, 24 and the fact that you can't even find yourself inside of it, 25 you -- you certainly feel frustrated, and feel an inability 3-26-12 36 1 to deal with this in a way that's required. With -- with one 2 side of an issue having the ability to put a million dollars 3 worth of engineering and legal resources on the line, and 4 with CAG and other associations like us existing on nominal 5 membership dues that people pay, we are ill-equipped to fight 6 this in a -- in a substantial legal way. 7 The improvements that Aqua claims to have made that 8 justify a 60 percent increase in water costs remain a great 9 mystery to us. What we see as we look up and down the street 10 is black fire hydrants, because the pressure in the system is 11 inadequate to support the connection with a -- with a fire 12 truck if one is required. And so we can look forward to the 13 likelihood that homes are going to burn, because the pressure 14 in the system is inadequate to provide water to deal with 15 fire problems. That's what we see. So, I think for this 16 purpose, that's probably enough said. You can talk about 17 this issue for days, the -- the detailed complexity is -- is 18 such. I would like to put in the notes of the meeting the 19 address for -- for households to protest. I don't know that 20 I need to read the address here necessarily. If we can do 21 that as one more step in encouraging the submission of 22 protests? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Go ahead and read that out, and it 24 will get into the record. And when the folks at home are 25 reading through our complete transcript of this meeting, that 3-26-12 37 1 -- that address will be right there, sir. 2 MR. WESTFALL: The protest address is the Texas 3 Commission on Environmental Quality, Water Supply Division, 4 Utilities and Districts Section, MC-153, Post Office Box 5 13087, Austin Texas 78711-3087. Thank you very much. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: A couple items, if I might, sir. I 7 read one report about the fire that Commissioner Overby 8 referred to out in his subdivision where the home was totally 9 lost, which may have partially been the result of black fire 10 hydrants that couldn't -- they couldn't find at night. And 11 as a consequence, why, they weren't able to get whatever 12 water may have been available through that black fire 13 hydrant, if any. But the bottom line was they couldn't find 14 the fire hydrant, so -- 15 MR. WESTFALL: They are very black, and they're 16 difficult to see. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Also, has your organization prepared 18 a draft format that might be utilized for the benefit of 19 other households that wish to protest that you can make 20 available through -- through some source so that each of 21 these persons won't be reinventing the wheel? And my second 22 question to you is, I have been advised that -- and I believe 23 it is Aqua Texas that is insisting upon this information -- 24 if an individual wishes to register a protest, they are being 25 asked to, number one, specifically identify which subdivision 3-26-12 38 1 they live in, which rate portion it is that they're -- that 2 is applicable to them, so that they've got to give all the 3 specific detailed information that they may not be able to 4 figure out when it comes to looking at that 37-page document. 5 And do you know whether or not that the T.C.E.Q. is insisting 6 that this information be within that protest in order for it 7 to be a valid protest and considered among the number 8 required to require a public hearing? 9 MR. WESTFALL: First of all, we'll be glad to make 10 our form available. We are within a few days of doing a -- a 11 mail-out to more than 600 of our members, which will include 12 that form, in an effort to -- to encourage substantial flow 13 of additional protests. So, we'll be glad to make that 14 available to anyone who's interested in it. To the second 15 part of the question, my contacts at T.C.E.Q. have indicated 16 a considerably simpler qualification for the submission of 17 protests. There isn't -- I have not seen a stipulated 18 written standard, but essentially what I'm -- what I'm told 19 is that we need the -- the name of the person representing 20 the household. We need the address. We need -- we need a 21 statement -- a simple statement of protest by that 22 individual. We need a date -- dated and signed document. 23 And those five or six elements constitute the essence of what 24 I'm told they will accept as a protest. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Isn't there a case number that's 3-26-12 39 1 applicable to that? 2 MR. WESTFALL: There's a case number that appears 3 on your -- I think it appears on your water bill, and it's 4 also in their document. But my contacts have not indicated 5 that that is a requirement of -- of the submission of a 6 protest. Now, based on what you've said, I'll be -- I'll 7 make another contact at T.C.E.Q. today, because we want to 8 make sure that we are not soliciting protests from impacted 9 households that are not going to be legally accepted. So, I 10 will -- I will follow up on that to make sure what is 11 required. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Don't you think it would be a good 13 idea to include the case number also, so that those get 14 credited if there's otherwise some sort of defects in them? 15 And if so, let's get that case number in the record so that 16 people that read this transcript can have that available. 17 And I might suggest that you preprint that on your format. 18 MR. WESTFALL: I do -- I think it's a good idea to 19 be as specific as we can. I think the balancing aspect of it 20 is -- is what you've mentioned, that the more complex this 21 gets, the more it overwhelms people and drives them away from 22 the protest process. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: 90-day protest date started 24 on February what? 25 MR. WESTFALL: February 21. 3-26-12 40 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: 21? 2 MR. WESTFALL: Yeah, and that's the effective date 3 of the increase, and so May 21 would potentially be the -- 4 the end of the protest period. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: They've currently received 6 500 letters, documented that we know of right now, or we're 7 in that process to do that? 8 MR. WESTFALL: My contact on this, with the 9 engineer assigned to the case about 10 days ago, indicated 10 they had 547 protests at that time, and that they would 11 invoke the hearing process if they reached 1,000. 12 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. How many folks are in 13 our service area underneath Aqua that they service? 14 Commissioner Letz, is that going to be something in the 15 resolution that we know of, or is that something that's very 16 complicated to come up with? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Probably pretty hard to come up 18 with. The only data we have is census tracts and census -- 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: One of the speakers coming 20 up is going to give you that. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Very good, thank you. 22 Appreciate it. 23 MR. WESTFALL: Thank you. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Appreciate it. 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thank you, Commissioner. 3-26-12 41 1 JUDGE TINLEY: I have another participation form 2 from Mr. William H. Cathey. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This must be him. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. You're a soothsayer this 5 morning. 6 MR. CATHEY: Bill Cathey, who is a public water 7 system owner; he owns the Royal Oaks Water Company, and their 8 rates are about two-thirds of what Aqua -- I'm sorry, their 9 rates are -- if and when that water company sells, its rates 10 will go up about 67 percent, which is about the same amount 11 that former Kerrville South Water Company customers rates are 12 going up with this rate increase. Again, thank you for 13 inviting me up. I want to answer that question first about 14 the size of the class here. Kerr County has about -- this is 15 from the filing which I copied from City Hall. Kerrville 16 City Hall has a copy of the filing from Aqua Texas, and they 17 gave me a -- I bought a C.D. of all the Aqua Texas customers 18 in the southwest region. In that filing, there are 3,379 19 Aqua Texas customers in Kerr County. There are 21 water 20 systems owned by Aqua Texas in Kerr County. In this 21 southwest region, there's 13,731 customers, 73 water systems 22 spread across 112 subdivisions. Here in Kerr County, we have 23 47 subdivisions served by Aqua Texas. Pretty good size group 24 of Aqua Texas ratepayers here in Kerr County. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 3,300 in Kerr County? 3-26-12 42 1 MR. CATHEY: That's right. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: 3,379. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Don't let the "Aqua Texas" fool you, 4 either. They're headquartered in Pennsylvania. 5 MR. CATHEY: That's Aqua America, the parent 6 company of the wholly-owned subsidiary, Aqua Texas. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 8 MR. CATHEY: I did want to show you, regarding 9 petitions and information required to -- I've got a petition 10 here that I've had my neighbors sign in The Horizon. I've 11 also circulated a petition like this over to -- to other 12 subdivisions that want to participate. That particular 13 petition names the -- you identify the case; you name the 14 CCN's. Those are the certificates of convenience and 15 necessity. And if you name all -- there's four of them 16 involved. It turns out that the former Kerrville South Water 17 Company is one of them. The former Harper Water Company is 18 another one, and then all the rest of them are -- is all the 19 rest of Aqua Texas southwest region. There's no need, to my 20 knowledge, to be -- to specifically say, "I'm in CCN 11484." 21 And I'll just give you a copy of that if you'd like to look 22 at one. 23 And the -- and there's only one rate -- I've got 24 the T.C.E.Q. rule -- or actually, it's the water -- it's a 25 rule, yes. Request for review of rate change by ratepayer 3-26-12 43 1 pursuant to the Texas Water Code, and it calls for the 2 customer name, address, and a phone number, and so that's 3 what we've got on that petition there. And then the petition 4 identifies which rate increase is being protested. And it 5 doesn't have to be real specific as far as what you're 6 protesting. You know, "Because my rates are going up 60..." 7 It's just for T.C.E.Q. to review the rate increase. And I 8 have that documentation here. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. On the petitions, I 10 mean, I'm hoping that each signature block is counted as a 11 separate protest. 12 MR. CATHEY: Yes. Oh, yes. Yes, and one per 13 ratepayer. I put them up on a clipboard at our mailboxes at 14 the front gate, and I've had multiple signatures, but only 15 one vote per household, please. So, I'll have to go through 16 there, and when I send this petition in for my subdivision, 17 I'm going to specifically identify the page in that -- in 18 that document of customers, and the water system number that 19 -- that Aqua Texas applies to our -- our system. I'll have 20 all sorts of documentation on there to make sure that -- that 21 those people in the water branch out there get the 22 information. Just -- and then I have one more handout here 23 for you, and that is -- this -- and this is for the former 24 Kerrville South Water Company customers. I hope I've got one 25 here for each of the Commissioners and the Judge. And this 3-26-12 44 1 is where we come up with, for our typical 5,000 gallon a 2 month customer, we're talking about a 67 percent rate 3 increase. The base rate goes up from -- for the former 4 Kerrville South Water Company customers, from $33 to $48, so 5 that's around 50 percent, and then they make up the rest with 6 gallonage charges. 7 And I want to direct your attention to the 8 gallonage charge for the regional pass-through gallonage 9 charge, the RPTGC. That's a dollar and -- out to four 10 decimal places per thousand gallons. That -- that, to me, is 11 perhaps the most egregious piece of this rate increase. When 12 you look into the -- into the filing that Aqua Texas prepared 13 and provided to the T.C.E.Q., on Page 12 of the Southwest -- 14 Southwest Texas Regional Water there, they say that the 15 process for implementing these regional pass-through 16 gallonage charge adjustments will be an informal proceeding. 17 That is, if they need to adjust this in the future, they can 18 go to T.C.E.Q. in an informal proceeding with no -- and 19 essentially, my words, no due process for ratepayers. In 20 other words, this cannot be challenged. It will be an 21 informal proceeding between the T.C.E.Q., the executive 22 director, and Aqua Texas, for them to be able to change this 23 dollar and one cent per thousand gallon pass-through charge. 24 That pass-through charge is for Aqua Texas 25 purchasing water and paying pumping charges. To my 3-26-12 45 1 knowledge, Aqua Texas doesn't pay for water here in Kerr 2 County. They don't pay any pumping charges, other than 3 permit fees, and those are probably very nominal. So, we 4 have -- a major part of this rate increase is something that 5 can't be touched in the future, can't be protested. And to 6 me, this is pretty doggone egregious. Let me read something 7 from the filing here, and this is based on the 2004 rate 8 increase, the T.C.E.Q. ruling that declared that all the 9 water systems in the southwest region are substantially 10 similar in terms of facilities, quality of service, and cost 11 of service. Bam. Signed T.C.E.Q. commission. And that's 12 what Aqua Texas is proposing this time. 13 So, as several people mentioned, including the 14 Judge, this is a one-way mirror challenging this thing. 15 They're -- they're relying on the precedent of the 2004 case, 16 where ratepayers here in Kerr County spent a lot of their own 17 money to do this, to fight it. The ratepayers in the 18 southwest region in 2004 through 2008 spent $80,000 of their 19 own money. Aqua Texas spent $2.751 million, which they then 20 put over to the ratepayers for $2.50 a month surcharge, which 21 lasted for two years till they collected their money. So, 22 the -- the eventual answer to this is going to be in 23 legislation. During the interim legislative session, the 24 Texas Senate Natural Resources Committee is holding hearings 25 on this issue. The legislation got up through conference 3-26-12 46 1 committee the last legislative session to put the water 2 rate-making, even sewage rate-making -- to move that from 3 T.C.E.Q. back over to the P.U.C. So, we need to work on our 4 legislators. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. 6 MR. CATHEY: Thank you. And if you need copies of 7 any of those, I can get them to you. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I think one comment. I 9 want to -- 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thank you. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Two things. I want to thank 12 Mr. Cathey and Mr. Millikan, Mr. Westfall, those that came 13 here and spoke, and I thank them. They're the ones doing the 14 legwork and providing me the information. They're the ones 15 that are much more knowledgeable about the details, and I 16 appreciate their work. And I want to emphasize the last 17 thing Mr. Cathey said about legislators. We have -- as a 18 Court, have no say in what happens with this rate increase. 19 All our purpose is, is to really try to raise the awareness 20 to what extent we can. And -- and our resolution is going to 21 our state senator, Troy Fraser, and state representative, 22 Harvey Hilderbran, because those are the two that can make a 23 difference and change this down the road. They have direct 24 influence over T.C.E.Q., and they also have certainly direct 25 influence over the legislative process, especially if it 3-26-12 47 1 comes to natural resources. If it continues, I believe Troy 2 Fraser's chairman of that committee, so I would recommend 3 that, you know, anything that you send to T.C.E.Q., box it 4 up, put it in one group and send a -- a duplicate of every 5 letter, every protest, to our two representatives, because 6 they're the ones that can really make the difference. 7 They're the ones that have the say over T.C.E.Q. and 8 certainly our legislation statewide. 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Good point. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me ask Mr. Cathey, if I might, 11 the recovery of marketing costs that Aqua Texas has -- when I 12 say "marketing," read that "lobbying." Can they recover that 13 from the ratepayers too? 14 MR. CATHEY: If it's not challenged. At the 2004 15 through 2008 protest by the ratepayers, they challenged 16 certain charges that were thrown out. If this is not -- if 17 this is not even reachable in their hearing us, to my 18 understanding, it's a pro forma approval of the rates, 19 stamped "approved." The -- the 21st of May, if there's not 20 1,000 protestors, they don't have a preliminary hearing, it's 21 stamped approved, and whatever went in under that rate 22 increase is going to be in there, and then that rate increase 23 is then part of the base rate, never to be revisited. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Due process. 25 MR. CATHEY: You have to look into the books real 3-26-12 48 1 deep to find things like that, and the only way you can do 2 that is during discovery during a protest, where you're going 3 to an administrative hearing. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thank you. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Anyone else want an opportunity to 7 be heard? Yes, ma'am. Come forward, give us your name and 8 address, and hopefully you're from Aqua Texas to try and 9 explain all of this. 10 MS. ROBINSON: No. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: No? 12 MS. ROBINSON: My name's Jessica Robinson; I live 13 at 693 Rim Rock. And first, I'd like everyone from CAG 14 that's here today, if you could stand? And everyone else 15 that's interested in this rate increase not coming to pass, 16 if could you also stand. So I think -- yeah, we're pretty 17 much all in agreement here. I wanted to ask if it would be 18 possible -- I realize that your hands are tied; there's 19 limited things that you can do, but I think the resolution is 20 a great step, and it's showing that, as a county, we want to 21 change things here. We do have a voice. I'd like to ask if 22 it would be possible if we provided a blank protest letter -- 23 and it sounds like he has one that I may borrow for CAG as 24 we're creating ours, as well as a blank legislator letter 25 that you could post on your website to where -- you know, 3-26-12 49 1 people visit your website. They don't know about us; we 2 don't have a website. But if it was something that could be 3 made available to people, and just in sending out the 4 minutes, however you're doing it, letting people know it's on 5 there, it's an easy form. They just have to fill it in and 6 mail it out. That may be an option to be able to get the 7 news out even more. I mean, 1,000 people responding to this, 8 I know, I've been in marketing, and that's a pretty big 9 number when you send out mail-outs. We're sending it out to 10 around 500 to 600. But to have -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. I think it will be 12 on our next agenda again, and certainly, if it was provided 13 to me ahead of time, we can put it on as agenda item backup, 14 and then it would -- a copy of it would be open to anyone, 15 'cause the agenda's public on the internet. 16 MS. ROBINSON: So, I can e-mail that to you? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 18 MS. ROBINSON: Okay. Thank you so much, 19 Commissioner Letz. And that's it. Thank you. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thank you. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. Okay, let's move 22 on, go to Item 6; to consider, discuss, take appropriate 23 action on invitation to the Court to attend a demonstration 24 of emergency communications by the HCARC, Hill Country 25 Amateur Radio Club, on June the 23rd of this year; provide 3-26-12 50 1 information to the Court regarding available emergency 2 communication resources provided by the local Ham Radio 3 Operators. Mr. Lavender, we'll give these people an 4 opportunity to kind of clear out, and then we'll... 5 MR. LAVENDER: Morning, Your Honor. Good morning, 6 Commissioners. I've handed Bruce Oehler two photographs from 7 last year's event that occurred at the red barn in Tierra 8 Linda, showing our antenna set up on the red barn, wires 9 and antennas, portable antennas that we use, and operating 10 stations in the other photograph to give you some visual idea 11 as to what's going to occur on the 23rd and 24th of June. It 12 will actually be a 24-hour event held by the Amateur Radio 13 Relay League, ARRL, which is a national organization that 14 lobbies for ham radio operators. They organize this event as 15 an emergency communication exercise nationally, so that not 16 just our local hams are going to be participating, but 17 everybody across the United States, as well as foreign 18 countries. 19 We'll be operating in VHF and UHF modes, which is 20 6 meters, 2 meters, and 73 centimeters, and for those that 21 look at me funny with those words, that's different 22 wavelengths of communication, VHF and UHF, which our local 23 law enforcement and fire department use, short-term, 24 line-of-sight type communications. We'll also be using HF, 25 1 MHz, 30 MHz, which is over the horizon, which we're making 3-26-12 51 1 contacts in the neighborhood of 1,000, 1,500 miles, 750 2 miles, and then some from the neighborhood of 2,500 miles, 3 7,500 miles, based on the frequency, and using the skip off 4 the ionosphere, we'll be communicating around the world. 5 We'll have a digital station which will be communicating in 6 essentially e-mail that you're familiar with, but it will be 7 using different text, using a RTTY-type format that they've 8 been using since the 1800's. Ham radio picked it up in the 9 '50's. We'll be using it to communicate from station to 10 station; computer terminal, basically, to computer terminal, 11 using HF airways. We'll be using CW Morse code, which 12 everyone's familiar with, and then voice communication. 13 So, we'll actually have three stations set up on HF 14 where we can communicate. We'll have a GOTA station, which 15 is a "get on the air" station, which will allow an individual 16 to come up and actually sit down at the ham radio station and 17 work any one of the three modes, CW, digital, or voice, make 18 a contact at this event, and actually participate in the 19 emergency communication event. In the package that was given 20 to you, I've got my press release, a certificate that will be 21 issued to those that will go and operate the GOTA station, 22 along with your invitation to the event. What amateur radio 23 does is we can provide emergency communications using 24 generators, solar power, battery, wind, alternate fuels, 25 alternate sources of power. 3-26-12 52 1 Our communications are not limited to just our 2 shacks at our house -- we call them ham radio shacks -- but 3 our operating stations. We are self-contained; we don't need 4 outside infrastructure to communicate. In other words, we 5 can move to a location, like you've seen in the photograph, 6 set up and operate and effectively communicate locally or 7 globally. Our equipment's very portable and very rugged. 8 I've brought a small piece of equipment to demonstrate that. 9 This is a VHF 2-meter hand-held. It was used Monday night in 10 the rainstorm to communicate with our local repeater, which 11 in turn was communicating with the National Weather Service 12 in Austin-Bergstrom and San Antonio offices to report 13 rainfall amounts. They were thinking that the rain was going 14 to be greater than it was, and we were actually able to give 15 them, in real time, on the ground, records in Center Point, 16 Ingram, Kerrville, Harper, Mountain Home through our local 17 repeater here in town. 18 We also used this device, which everybody's 19 familiar with. That's a cell phone. They have an app for 20 it. We can use what's called Echo Link, and we can 21 communicate via cell phone to the internet to an amateur 22 radio to the ham radio tower, our repeater. From the 23 repeater to another station, a repeater, go back through the 24 internet and then back to the National Weather Service. So, 25 with text messaging similar to what people send in text, I 3-26-12 53 1 was able to use ham radio communication via the telephone -- 2 or cell phone to communicate directly with them and give them 3 instantaneous realtime reports. I was able to give them a 4 verbal report, and they were responding via the cellphone, or 5 via the text message on Echo Link, so it enhanced our 6 communications. We used not only nontraditional, but 7 traditional means to communicate with the Weather Service on 8 the events on Monday. So, that's the most recent event that 9 the local ham radio club has been able to participate in that 10 a lot of folks aren't aware of. 11 Digital is obviously the fastest, most accurate. 12 It's a typed text. There's no interpretation, as long as it 13 is received on the other end clearly. There are different 14 modes of digital communication that we use; RTTY, PSK. These 15 terms may sound awkward to you, but it's different forms of 16 encoding and decoding the messages, based on propagation and 17 how far we're going to communicate so we get the clearest 18 communication through. We also have an ability to receive a 19 reply of the same message in realtime. We operate natural 20 disasters, fire, flood, rescue, search and rescue. We do 21 foxhunts where we'll hide a transmitter and go out with a 22 directional antenna and find the transmitter. Emergency 23 shelters. If we set one up, we'll be able to send in 24 reports, capacities, lodging, logistics, welfare concerns, 25 things of that -- things that, you know, might be needed at a 3-26-12 54 1 shelter. 2 We do work with the emergency communication 3 coordinator, the EOC in Kerrville; WB2PCV, which is Mac 4 McKinney, is working with the fire department. He is one of 5 the Center Point firemen, also one of our ham radio members, 6 but he's working with EOC and getting some communication line 7 between there so that we have a resource available to them, 8 and they're aware of it. We practice weekly at ham radio 9 meets on our local repeater on Monday nights at 7 o'clock, 10 where we handle and pass traffic and communications back and 11 forth in preparedness for disasters and those things. So, my 12 invitation to you to come out to the event that we're having 13 on the 23rd of June is more to be aware of what is available, 14 how it functions, how it works. If we have a time of crisis, 15 there are local hams in this area that are available to set 16 up their operation and communicate. 17 And probably the best -- the price of it all is, 18 hams do it because they want to. Zero. You know, we're 19 there. We don't need infrastructure; we don't need your 20 phone lines. We don't need cell phones. We talk radio to 21 radio, person to person. We've done multiple events, bicycle 22 races where we've done the aid stations. But just having 23 that resource available to you, whether or not you know it's 24 available to you or not -- hopefully I've brought that to 25 your attention, and you can come out and take a look. We 3-26-12 55 1 will be in Fredericksburg at the fairgrounds there underneath 2 the race barn and the grandstand area; there's a raised area 3 where we're going to set up this year. Next year, I don't 4 know where we're going to set up. But the field day event or 5 the emergency communication event is designed to set up and 6 operate under emergency power, off the grid, as if it was a 7 true emergency. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: You're an integral part of our 9 emergency operations coordination any time that -- that gets 10 involved here locally, are you not? 11 MR. LAVENDER: I am. I'm the coordinator for the 12 field day event this year. I took on that job knowing what 13 it would take to do one. I've been involved in ham radio, 14 involved in this type of event since 1987, when I first got 15 my license. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: How many are in your local 17 chapter here in the hill country, your rodeo -- I mean your 18 radio -- 19 MR. LAVENDER: Hill Country Amateur Radio Club? I 20 have three pages; close to 100 members. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Locally? 22 MR. LAVENDER: Locally -- well, in the surrounding 23 counties; they're from all over. We've got Kerrville, 24 Fredericksburg, Rocksprings, Center Point, Mountain Home. 25 We've got winter Texans from Chicago down here that will keep 3-26-12 56 1 up with us on the Echo Link, because they'll use a computer 2 there to talk to our local repeater on Monday to communicate 3 and stay in touch while they're up north, and then when they 4 come back south, Doss. But all the surrounding counties. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's good. 6 MR. LAVENDER: Our -- our setup, our club meets at 7 the Red Cross building on the first Thursday night, 7 p.m. 8 We have a station in the Red Cross building right across the 9 street; we can show you how it works there. But we're set 10 up, and we work with the Red Cross in time of disasters. 11 We've got a place set up here locally to operate a club 12 station. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Any questions for Mr. Lavender? 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thank you. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, the field day 16 demonstration is Gillespie County Fairgrounds, June the 23rd, 17 from noon to 8:00? 18 MR. LAVENDER: The -- actually, the event is going 19 to be a 24-hour event, but we're asking folks if they want to 20 come by and see it when most folks will be there to show 21 people, and we'll have demonstrations going on. I have a -- 22 an event to teach people how to build an antenna. We're 23 going to have several things that occur during that time 24 frame. We will be operating a 24-hour period. It will 25 start, I believe, 1 o'clock in the afternoon -- or noon 3-26-12 57 1 Saturday, and run through noon on Sunday. But the overnight 2 hours are typically left to the operators who want to make 50 3 and 100 contacts an hour. And, you know, we'd like to 4 encourage the public to come when it's convenient for them, 5 and it's light and they can kind of see, and they're not 6 walking around seeing our radio operators set up with one 7 little light and headphones, and hearing lots of beeps and 8 dits and dots, and they go, "What's going -- what are they 9 doing?" 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sounds like fun. Thank you 11 very much. 12 MR. LAVENDER: You're welcome. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: We appreciate it, Mr. Lavender. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Thank you. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 7; to consider, 17 discuss, take appropriate action to adopt a proclamation 18 declaring April 2012 as Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness 19 Month here in Kerr County. Commissioner Baldwin? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I appreciate -- 21 appreciate your time. We would like to present our child 22 abuse awareness prevention month proclamation, and very 23 quickly, I just want to read it to get it into the record for 24 this year. "A child is abused or neglected in Texas every 25 eight minutes. In 2011, there were 69,169 Texas children who 3-26-12 58 1 were victims of abuse and neglect. And child abuse and 2 neglect are preventable, yet each year in the United States, 3 close to 1 million children are confirmed victims of child 4 maltreatment, and the costs of responding to the impact of 5 child abuse and neglect are borne by the victims and their 6 families, but also by society. And child abuse is a 7 community issue, and communities must work together to make 8 sure that children of Texas have a brighter future by 9 supporting families, providing parents with the skills and 10 resources they need, and creating communities that have 11 supportive services in place and shared goals of safety and 12 stability for families. Now, therefore, be it resolved the 13 Commissioners Court of Kerr County, Texas does hereby 14 proclaim the month of April 2012 to be Child Abuse Awareness 15 and Prevention Month in Kerr County, Texas, and urges all 16 citizens to work together to help reduce child abuse and 17 neglect significantly in years to come." It would be dated 18 the 26th of March, 2012, signed by each member of the 19 Commissioners Court, and I present this as a motion. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to move 22 adoption of the resolution. All in favor, signify by raising 23 your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3-26-12 59 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 8, that being to 5 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on a request 6 from the Child Services Board to use a portion of the 7 courthouse square for a display during the month of April for 8 Child Abuse Awareness Month. Commissioner Baldwin again. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. If y'all 10 remember, I think one of the most exciting things that we did 11 last year when we had the little placards placed in this one 12 little area on the courthouse lawn. I have never had 13 anything out there to create more questions from the 14 community, and we just -- we're asking for permission to do 15 that again this year. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I move that we do that. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second for 19 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion? All in 20 favor, signify by raising your right hand. 21 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 23 (No response.) 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's now 3-26-12 60 1 move to Item 10; to consider, discuss, and take appropriate 2 action to promote Charity Fegenbush, currently the assistant 3 Animal Control Officer/kennel/office manager -- what else 4 have you got going on over there? That's about it, isn't it? 5 MS. WHITT: Yes. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: To Assistant Director/Animal Control 7 Officer at a 17.1, and hire a full-time person to fill the 8 assistant ACO/kennel/office position at a 14.1. Ms. Whitt? 9 MS. WHITT: Judge, Commissioners, as some of you 10 may or may not know, Marc Allen is no longer with us. I have 11 taken a huge loss there, but I'm looking to reorganize my 12 department, and I would like your approval to allow me to 13 move Charity into Marc's position as my assistant. Charity 14 has been there almost six years. It will be six years in 15 July. She is certified in everything that she needs to be 16 certified in, same things that I am, to be able to do this 17 job. She is going to be assisting me in cruelty 18 investigations, bite investigations, doing the bite 19 prevention classes at schools and things -- things of that 20 nature. So, I would like your approval to be able to move 21 her into that position at a 17.1, which was previously an 22 18.3. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: That's an entry level at that -- at 24 that grade? 25 MS. WHITT: Yes. 3-26-12 61 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 2 MS. WHITT: And then I would like to hire -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let's do one at a time. So 4 moved. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second for 7 approval of that portion of the agenda item, which would move 8 her into the ACO at 17.1. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. I do have a question 10 when you said that. Is there a change in job descriptions 11 slightly to go from -- 12 MS. WHITT: Yes. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. So, there has been a new 14 job description that you've worked out with H.R? 15 MS. WHITT: It will be the same job description 16 that the Assistant Animal Control Director had previously. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But at a lower -- 18 MS. WHITT: At a lower rate. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'd just like to make a 21 comment. The young lady, through the years -- I don't call 22 out there very often, but when I do, she's extremely helpful 23 and has the information at hand. She's very knowledgeable in 24 what goes on. I mean, god, she's been there since Noah's 25 Ark. But -- 3-26-12 62 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: She's not that old. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: That's where she got used to 3 animals, wasn't it? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, she was on Noah's Ark 5 with all those animals. 6 MS. WHITT: I did bring her with me as well, so 7 y'all can all meet her. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Anybody that has a daddy 9 that doubles as Elvis Presley, as he does occasionally. But 10 anyway, she is -- she's a super employee. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I will second your 12 comments. But she is -- she's done a very fine job, and I'm 13 very supportive for what Janie's trying to do, and it's 14 just -- it's a good thing. We're moving somebody up that has 15 the knowledge without bringing somebody in from the outside, 16 which I think is always good if you can do it. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's good. Thank you. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or comments on 19 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 20 your right hand. 21 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 23 (No response.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carried. Now, let's get to 25 the other half of that. 3-26-12 63 1 MS. WHITT: Being that I would be moving Charity 2 into that position, I would then need to hire a full-time 3 office, slash -- assistant Animal Control office person to 4 work in the office, and that person would also be an 5 assistant Animal Control Officer, which I would have them 6 certified within the one year. And they would be -- you 7 know, the assistant Animal Control Officer, I like to have 8 everyone cross-trained in the event that I have someone take 9 vacation, and that person could be moved out into the field, 10 and that person can also take calls. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I move approval. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 14 approval of the hiring in the department for -- 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Assistant. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: -- assistant Animal Control Officer/ 17 kennel worker/office worker position at Grade 14, Step 1. 18 MS. WHITT: Correct. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or comments on 20 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 21 your right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion carries. Thank you, Ms. 3-26-12 64 1 Whitt. 2 MS. WHITT: Thank you. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's now go to Item 11, which is to 4 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to accept the 5 recommendation from the ESD committee regarding response to 6 the RFQ and authorize representative of the Commissioners 7 Court to negotiate terms of agreement with the recommended 8 attorney. Commissioner Baldwin? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. As you know, we 10 sent out our RFQ, and we only had one company that responded 11 to it. And we would -- the committee -- if you'll remember 12 our committee, we have to charter buses to get our committee 13 around. That would be the County Attorney and myself. And 14 we would like -- we'd like -- I really feel like -- I guess 15 I'm asking for permission, maybe, but I really would just let 16 y'all know that we'd like to go back and negotiate with this 17 attorney. You know, and I don't know what -- what our 18 options are going to be if we can't negotiate into some 19 numbers that fit us all, but we want to go back and negotiate 20 with him to come to a fair and right place to represent Kerr 21 County. Would you like to say anything? 22 MR. HENNEKE: Well, as the Court will recall, at 23 the last Commissioners Court meeting, the bids were received, 24 referred to the committee, but no further action was taken 25 due to Commissioner Baldwin being ill. And so this now comes 3-26-12 65 1 back to the Court to accept the recommendation of the 2 committee to identify the -- the responding attorney as the 3 number-one qualified applicant, and then to authorize the 4 committee to engage in negotiations with him, and bring back 5 those terms to the Commissioners Court for further 6 consideration and discussion. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: And there's been a threshold 8 determination that this particular attorney is -- by virtue 9 of background and experience and so forth, is appropriate for 10 this type of -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: This type of work? 13 MR. HENNEKE: Yes, sir. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we 16 authorize the ESD committee to negotiate terms with the 17 selected attorney. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is there going to be funding 20 in there for chartering the buses? 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's the name of the 24 attorney, so we get that in the record? 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Here you go, right here. 3-26-12 66 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's the Carlton, 2 C-a-r-l-t-o-n, law firm in Austin. He is -- you know, 3 there's a statewide association of ESD's, and I'm sorry, I 4 can't remember the name of that thing, but he's the 5 background of that. And -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- every ESD in the state, 8 basically. He's the real guru, and he's been in this 9 courtroom already once. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Got quite a list of expertise 11 of certain communities and counties he's helped, and quite -- 12 quite impressive. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or comments on 14 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 15 your right hand. 16 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 18 (No response.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion carried. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 12; to consider, 22 discuss, and take appropriate action to approve Chapter 381, 23 Local Government Code, economic development agreement with 24 Fox Tank Company, Inc., and authorize the County Judge to 25 sign same. 3-26-12 67 1 MR. HENNEKE: Gentlemen, some time ago the 2 Commissioners Court approved in principle this economic 3 development incentives to Fox Tank Company, and the action 4 item today is the agreement proposed to the Court reduces 5 that to writing, and is offered to the Court to approve and 6 enter into that agreement with Fox Tank. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: And this conforms to the -- the 8 approval that the Court made when it approved the 9 recommendation by the Kerr Economic Development Corporation 10 recommendation that was made to the Court? 11 MR. HENNEKE: Yes, sir. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, we're agreeing to this 14 agreement, is what -- basically what we're doing? 15 MR. HENNEKE: Approving the agreement and 16 authorizing the Judge to sign and send to Fox Tank for 17 Mr. Fox's signature. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Mm-hmm. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What -- 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second Number 2's motion. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I didn't make -- I'm going to 22 have to recuse myself on this item. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I will -- for the record, 25 before Commissioner Letz makes a comment, I will be recusing 3-26-12 68 1 myself on the vote for this item, and my conflict of interest 2 file is filed here at the courthouse. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What happens if, in year -- I 4 don't think this is going to happen, but, like, in year 5 three, the company starts going the other direction? And 6 he's already received some incentives. What happens to those 7 incentives that he's already received up to that point? 8 MR. HENNEKE: Well, I don't think it matters from 9 the benefit of the county, because the economic -- the 10 property tax abatement incentives, the ad valorem rebates are 11 triggered based on the value of the property. Once Mr. Fox 12 receives a certificate of occupancy after building the -- you 13 know, making the hundreds of thousands of -- whatever 14 improvements he's going to make to have the facilities, then 15 for the five years after that, there's a 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 16 property tax rebate to him of the ad valorem taxes that were 17 paid on the property. So, once the infrastructure is built, 18 the County will tax infrastructure. Even if his business 19 doesn't perform great, he's still got to pay his property 20 taxes, so that doesn't impact the county. And as far as the 21 sales tax -- the sales and use tax rebate goes, that's a 22 two-year deal based upon the sales tax money that he 23 generates, up to a maximum of $75,000. Then after that 24 two-year period, then that -- or once it hits 75, or at the 25 end of that two-year period, that's over. 3-26-12 69 1 So, if he doesn't generate -- if his business 2 doesn't do well and he doesn't generate sales tax that meets 3 that threshold, then there's not the money to refund for him. 4 So, I guess as far as an impact on the county, we benefit 5 when he -- we benefit regardless from the increased property 6 tax revenue, and he only benefits as his business thrives and 7 succeeds. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I'm -- I kind of knew the 9 answer; I just wanted it in the record as to the fact that 10 we're not outlaying any taxpayer money for that. It's only 11 money that would be coming in. I appreciate your 12 explanation. 13 MR. HENNEKE: New money. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: We're not losing anything. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're not putting anything into 16 the pot. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We weren't going to to start 18 with. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: There are clawbacks, however, in 20 another portion of the -- of the incentives that were 21 offered, those that relate to Economic Improvement 22 Corporation where they're -- they're putting up some funding 23 that deal with the creation of jobs, and the requirement is 24 they maintain a certain level. And if -- if there's failure 25 to do that, there are clawback provisions with E.I.C. under 3-26-12 70 1 their agreement. There are going to be actually probably 2 three separate agreements; one with the County, one with the 3 City, and one with E.I.C., so it's a -- it's a total 4 partnership by all of the entities involved. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I think it also -- I can 6 comment; I just can't vote. But I do remember the 75 -- 7 remember, again, the $75,000 the County's given back through 8 381 for sales tax. That $75,000 is new -- additional 75,000. 9 I mean, it's coming back to us over that two-year period as 10 well. That's new sales tax revenue that we have currently 11 not had, so it's really important to see that. And, anyway, 12 those are all moving forward. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Buster, did you make a 14 motion? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I am making the motion, even 16 as we speak. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I second it. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second to 19 approve the 381 agreement with the Fox Tank Company, 20 authorize me to sign it. Question or discussion on the 21 motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 22 right hand. 23 (Commissioners Baldwin, Letz, and Oehler voted in favor of the motion.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 3-26-12 71 1 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's go 2 ahead and take about a 15-minute recess. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Talked me into it. 4 (Recess taken from 10:32 a.m. to 10:46 a.m.) 5 - - - - - - - - - - 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Why don't we come back to order, 7 and we can move on. Let's go back to Item 2. I will recall 8 Item 2; to consider, discuss, take appropriate action to 9 open, read, and award the annual bids for road base, cold 10 mix, aggregate, emulsion oil, and corrugated metal pipe. 11 Mr. Odom? 12 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir, thank you. In reference to 13 the annual bids, on asphalt, that is black base and cold mix, 14 the low bid was Vulcan Materials. On paving aggregates, we 15 had Grade 3 and Grade 5. There was a no-bid on Grade 4 from 16 Vulcan. We award Grade 3 and 5 to Vulcan. Grade 4 we award 17 to Martin Marietta. Under the base material, we sent out 18 one, two -- 11 bids there, and we had two back. But 19 Wheatcraft was for Grade 1 and Grade 2 material for road 20 base; we award that to Wheatcraft. And there was no increase 21 whatsoever over one year. I can't say that for the other -- 22 other bids. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. 24 MR. ODOM: Under corrugated metal pipe, I'm told 25 the one, two, three, four bids that we sent out -- I think 3-26-12 72 1 everybody's scared. We had no bids on the price for 2 corrugated metal pipe. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Haven't you been dealing with an 4 outfit over in Seguin, for the most part? 5 MR. ODOM: Seguin? I don't know. I have Wilson, 6 Contech, and Texas Corrugators. Contech was our bid last 7 year. We got no bids returned on that. I think -- 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Last year? 9 MR. ODOM: I think they're scared of where the 10 commodity prices are going to. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: You'll just have to go out and check 12 prices when you need it. 13 MR. ODOM: Have to check prices, and the low bid is 14 where we'll have to go. On emulsion oil, we had one bid, and 15 that was Ergon. That went up 50 cents over last year. One 16 year. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Which amounts to what sort of 18 percentage increase? 19 MR. ODOM: 23. Off the top of my head is where I 20 came up with 23 percent. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: 23 percent? Well, that's 22 petroleum-based. 23 MR. ODOM: That's petroleum. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: What about your cold mix? 25 MR. ODOM: Cold mix went up approximately 5 3-26-12 73 1 percent -- 5 percent, which shows to be freight. But it went 2 up from 47.88 -- black base went from $47.88 to $50. And CC, 3 our level-up material, went from $48.88 to $53. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's a ton? 5 MR. ODOM: Per ton. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Per ton? 7 MR. ODOM: Per ton. And your paving aggregate went 8 up from $31 to $35, and Grade 5 went from 34.40 to 35, which 9 is approximately a 13 percent -- and I do that on Grade 3, 10 was a 13 percent -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that delivered? 12 MR. ODOM: That's delivered, yeah. If you take it 13 mathematically, it's not a true -- but if you put everything 14 together and divide by the three -- divide it by the -- the 15 number, I come up with 14 percent in one year overall for the 16 material. So, that's going to -- I need to go back and put 17 some numbers together on our program and see where we're at. 18 The last thing I want to do, and I tell the Court, is to stay 19 where we have been. We were down due to the fact that we 20 needed the money, and we did that. So, we would like to get 21 back, and I just have to see where that's going to be. But I 22 don't want to be like up north, and turn around and have to 23 scorify our roads back up. That is ludicrous. We'll make it 24 work somehow, and we'll work with you on the other two, on 25 that situation. But we indulge the Court to be patient with 3-26-12 74 1 us as we put the budget together. It's going to be -- 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Leonard, was it last year 3 that we put the paving program on hold? 4 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just that one year? 6 MR. ODOM: That one year. Now, I think it really 7 did well, and I would say that I would suggest in the future 8 we come back to the Court and look at every fifth year to 9 have a -- a moratorium on sealcoat. Not that you just stop 10 totally everything, but to -- to look at that, to give us 11 time to work on -- and to work on things that need to be out 12 there in each precinct there, or each crew -- service crew, 13 and it buys you a little bit of time and savings there to 14 catch up on some other things. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 16 MR. ODOM: We're almost at that point with this 17 aggregate using trap rock that we're not going to polish. 18 You're going to have longevity. That basalt doesn't polish, 19 so it -- I'm sorry, I'm going fast. But it -- it really 20 elongates your program. And you can see from the prices of 21 petroleum, it's not going to get cheaper. It's just not. My 22 goodness, a barrel of oil is going for 125, 126 dollars a 23 barrel; we haven't even shot at the Iranians yet. And so at 24 106 -- it's been 110 in the Permian Basin, and that's what 25 the petroleum prices are based off in the United States. 3-26-12 75 1 Europeans are paying 125, so we -- if cool heads prevail, 2 maybe, you know, we can stabilize something. This is really 3 surprising to me. This is the right time of the year to bid, 4 without all this going on. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: So, you're asking the Court to -- 6 MR. ODOM: Accept these bids that I -- 7 JUDGE TINLEY: -- accept the recommendations? 8 MR. ODOM: Recommendations. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: That your organization made? 10 MR. ODOM: Dr. Odom gave you a dissertation there, 11 but -- I'm sorry, but I -- you know, it is just -- well, we 12 just live with it. We just work our budget such that we -- 13 we try to ask for no more than what we had probably in this 14 last year. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: But you're finding in your 16 maintenance program that -- your master maintenance program 17 that you've got set up, you've pegged the longevity of -- of 18 a rework conservatively, and actually you can squeeze some 19 out of that? 20 MR. ODOM: That's right. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: That will allow you to -- 22 MR. ODOM: Offset some of these costs right here. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: And maybe skip a year every five 24 year or so, and utilize that year to deal with the real hot 25 spots, or -- 3-26-12 76 1 MR. ODOM: That's right, sir. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: -- problem spots? 3 MR. ODOM: Right. And that will change in a couple 4 years. This economy will probably -- should pick up, is what 5 they're saying. And if it does, then we will be in pretty 6 good shape to -- to address those hot spots that need to be, 7 because the County will not be uniform in roads. It will be 8 in certain areas. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think every five years 10 sounds reasonable to me. I don't know that I would go two 11 years without our -- without our program. 12 MR. ODOM: No. I believe that one year is sitting 13 there, and it gives our crews enough time to work on things, 14 sit and see where we're at. That puts a little stress on 15 these people selling me stuff too. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I saw a lot of work get done 17 that you don't normally see. 18 MR. ODOM: That's right. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: During this off-season. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: A lot of maintenance. 21 MR. ODOM: A lot of maintenance we got done, and 22 that saves money over the long-term too. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, absolutely. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I move we accept the 25 recommendations -- recommendation on aggregate, oil, and road 3-26-12 77 1 base. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No corrugated pipe? 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: There wasn't -- 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, that's the one, yeah. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 7 indicated. Question or discussion on the motion? All in 8 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 9 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 11 (No response.) 12 MR. ODOM: Thanks. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 13; to consider, 16 discuss, take appropriate action for the American Legion 17 Auxiliary Unit 208 fourth annual "Here's to the Heroes" 18 Easter Fest and cook-off event scheduled for April 6th and 19 7th, 2012 at Flat Rate -- Flat Rock Lake Park. Commissioner 20 Overby? 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: We've been talking about 22 rates. So, anyway, gentlemen, I had this back on the agenda 23 today to kind of give an update and a request. I have 24 visited with the American Legion Auxiliary coordinator -- 25 event coordinator for the fourth annual "Here's to the 3-26-12 78 1 Heroes" Easter Festival and cook-off, and we're starting to 2 see a lot of advertisements around, but Bliss Vickers had a 3 request for some items for consideration today. The event is 4 coming up on April 7th of this year, and again, the event is 5 set from 10:00 to 6:00. I did want to just recap what the 6 Commissioners Court did approve on January 23rd for this 7 event. Again, we talked about this event as a growing event 8 in our community, and it's something that's continued to grow 9 each year. The Commissioners Court did approve at that time 10 having the park closed for vehicle traffic through that event 11 from 10:00 to 6:00, and we also discussed security personnel 12 on that day, where we're going to be using some of our county 13 facilities at the top by the exhibit hall at that time, and 14 there was a request for four personnel that were made by the 15 Commissioners Court for that event. 16 The agenda item before you here today is the 17 request from Ms. Vickers, the event coordinator, and I had 18 also the County Attorney, Rob Henneke, went with us. So, we 19 went and visited the event coordinators at the park. Again, 20 I want to -- on the emphasis of the request here today, the 21 County, again, is trying to do everything that we can to help 22 with our veterans. Again, the proceeds out of this event go 23 all the way back in helping support our veterans here locally 24 and what's happening in those efforts. The County -- again, 25 we -- we support the veterans in all aspects of it. But the 3-26-12 79 1 request from Ms. Vickers and the event coordinators for 2 consideration today is the park -- they're are requesting 3 from 10:00 to 6:00 on that Saturday, April 7th, to actually 4 close the park from the public to the private use for the 5 organization. 6 Another one of the parts where they make a lot of 7 their profits, or the money that they make, are in the sale 8 of alcohol at the park. Again, one of the things that 9 they're wanting to also request is that no outside alcohol 10 could be brought in from 10:00 to 6:00 during that time as 11 well. I do want to also say that they are continuing trying 12 to build their sponsorship for this event, and they are doing 13 that on a yearly basis right now. And I think down the road, 14 there will be more opportunities about sponsors to help to 15 make more money for them down the road. The other thing is 16 that they're requesting for the event at the entrance of Flat 17 Rock Park, where you come in, is they are requesting from 18 10:00 to 6:00 to be able to put up temporary fencing. I 19 think we see the orange fencing a lot at different sites when 20 you have construction going on, in an effort to try to 21 streamline the traffic flow that is coming down from the 22 parking down to the front of the gate where they will be. 23 They will be the ones that will be responsible for 24 looking to make sure that nobody would bring in any alcohol 25 or not, and also the hired safety personnel would be there as 3-26-12 80 1 well, just kind of helping with the traffic flow coming in. 2 And then the fourth thing is, I did want to make, for the 3 Court's record, since they are not using any county 4 facilities up top, where the County Commissioners had 5 approved where we had requested for one additional personnel 6 to be up there, since they're not using any of those 7 facilities at all for that event, the elimination of one of 8 those personnel for the event, so that we would go back to 9 the three that we have for the use of the facility. That's 10 for the event and use of the park, itself. 11 So, with that, this is their -- their request. I 12 think this is -- in visiting with Rob, again, I think this is 13 the first time I think that we've ever had a request to close 14 the park from public to the private. I do think that also we 15 need to know that they're not charging for an entrance fee in 16 coming in, so if you really want to come in, you're still 17 allowed to come in. There's no wristband or anything that 18 you're wearing, but we're trying to encourage folks to come. 19 And, again, all the proceeds of this are helping our 20 veterans. So, with that, comments or discussions? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've got a couple questions. 22 The good Commissioner came by my office last week to kind of 23 head this off, but I lost control of myself; I've got to ask 24 a couple of questions. But, really, the question, it's just 25 something I don't understand. If there's no admission fee, 3-26-12 81 1 what difference does it make whether the public's invited or 2 not? I mean, are you talking -- 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Well -- 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Excuse me. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Go ahead. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you talking about -- I 7 mean, does the public come in there and cause a big uproar in 8 the middle of the function? Or -- I mean, why would you say 9 the public's not invited? If there's no fee or -- I don't 10 get it. I just don't understand that. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Rob? 12 MR. HENNEKE: Well, it's -- I mean, I wouldn't say 13 the public's not invited. It's a -- the park is being closed 14 to the public for a private event that's open to the public. 15 And the distinction being -- (Laughter.) The distinction -- 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I was afraid you was going 17 to say that. 18 MR. HENNEKE: The distinction being right now, a 19 Commissioners Court order allows the "Here's to the Heroes" 20 event to use the park. Conceivably, anyone else can use the 21 park at the same time. Now, with the size of the event, they 22 -- we have required that they need security personnel, and 23 part of that too has to be to regulate the alcohol flowing at 24 the event. And in order for this off-duty security 25 personnel -- you know, they aren't working -- well, they're 3-26-12 82 1 hired by the event, but in order to enforce the rules of the 2 event, the park would need to be closed. So then, if an 3 outside person breaks the rules of the event, maybe by 4 bringing -- trying to bring in an outside cooler of beer, or 5 wanting to drive onto the park or something like that, then 6 the event planners can say, "You can't do that; that's 7 against the rules." And if the individual persists in trying 8 to do that, then they could enlist the assistance of -- of 9 security personnel and law enforcement to ask that person to 10 leave, because the park is -- is closed to the public. So, 11 it's the difference between letting them use it and closing 12 the park so that the event has exclusive -- 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Purpose. 14 MR. HENNEKE: -- use of the park. Does that answer 15 your question, Commissioner? 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So, it makes it a private 17 public event. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. No. Because I would 19 think that you'd want to make money, and you would want 20 outside people coming to the thing to spend money. 21 MR. HENNEKE: Well, they do. But the difference 22 being, right now it's just -- we're allowing them to use the 23 park, but presumably, anybody else can use the park. If you 24 wanted to get 1,000 of your friends and show up that same 25 weekend -- 3-26-12 83 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 2 MR. HENNEKE: -- and play flag football in the 3 middle of their event, -- 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: They could. 5 MR. HENNEKE: -- they couldn't stop you from, you 6 know, having your event, and it would interfere with theirs. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, no, that's not going 8 to happen. 9 MR. HENNEKE: Well, I know. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think, wouldn't the idea here 11 be that -- say Buster wanted to put a keg of beer in the back 12 of his truck -- 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- and drive into the park. 15 That prevents him from doing that. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: See, we know what you're up to. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Damn it. 18 MR. HENNEKE: In two ways, yes. The park's closed 19 to vehicle traffic, and two, the rules of the event don't 20 allow for outside alcohol. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: It's open to the public as long as 22 you comply with these basic rules. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Private. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The other thing, though -- but 25 aren't we really just talking about closing the portion of 3-26-12 84 1 the park west of Third Creek, and that the other portion of 2 the park is open to the public? I think we need to clarify 3 that, because, I mean, I have a problem closing the park. 4 And if we're only closing that piece of the park, that's a 5 whole lot different to me, so that the public still has the 6 opportunity to go do whatever they want, and Buster can take 7 his keg of beer -- 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're not talking about the 9 dog park? 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Just the part there 11 through -- 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Ah. 13 MR. BOLLIER: So, we're going to make the people 14 that have their dogs walk from Flat Rock all the way to the 15 dog park? They're not going to be able to drive down there? 16 MR. HENNEKE: Closing the entrance to vehicular 17 traffic. 18 MR. BOLLIER: Closing the -- 19 MR. HENNEKE: We've already done that. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They have to go on Riverside 21 Drive; you can just walk across the bridge. 22 MR. BOLLIER: Yeah. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's not -- I mean, they 24 can't drive across the bridge anyway, can they? 25 JUDGE TINLEY: What about the other entrance 3-26-12 85 1 through the easement? 2 MR. BOLLIER: We can open that. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: So you have access to it. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, I think we should. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: They're not asking for that 6 part. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we need to leave -- 8 make the other part accessible to the public, 'cause I think 9 there are other people that may want to go out there and 10 drink a six-pack of beer or something and watch -- you know, 11 fish and do stuff, and they ought to have the opportunity to 12 do that. I don't want to close the park to those folks. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: So it's from Third Creek 14 down, correct? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Third Creek west. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: To the boat ramp. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. They haven't made any 18 request as far as their laying out of using the dog park, 19 so -- I mean, it's from Third Creek down, so that's a good -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That way, I think it solves it. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You going to close that part 22 off? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Pardon? 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Are you going to have a fence 25 across there with your orange deal, keep them from walking 3-26-12 86 1 back up? The issue we have -- I have with law enforcement, 2 even on-duty or off-duty, doesn't matter, number one, this 3 Court's already given the permission to use marked units and 4 that so that we can control the traffic flow better. The 5 other issue, if it is open to the public, just like Jonathan 6 was alluding to, they want to keep out alcohol unless you buy 7 it from them; that's the event going. If the public wants to 8 come in with alcohol and says, "Well, I'm not going to the 9 event; I'm going to this," you're not going to be able to 10 keep them from having -- bringing in their alcohol. The 11 county doesn't have an ordinance about alcohol down in those 12 parks. The last part is -- and this is something the 13 organizers have to be aware of, Guy, is law enforcement 14 off-duty is going to enforce the state laws. If they have 15 somebody, you know, too intoxicated or getting out of 16 control, we'll enforce the state law. The deal of not 17 bringing in alcohol is going to be that organizer's policy. 18 That is not state law. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree 100 percent. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I'm not getting into enforcing 21 policy. If they want to say this person's not going to be 22 allowed in because it's closed to the public, so to speak, 23 then we'll make sure that person doesn't come in if they're 24 willing to file criminal trespass charges on county property 25 on that person, but that's the only thing we can assist with. 3-26-12 87 1 We're not going to be searching or checking purses, or -- 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's right. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- boxes or anything else to 4 see that they're not bringing alcohol in, because that is 5 their policy, not state law, and not a county ordinance. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The deal with dropping from 8 four to three officers, that's fine. And -- you know, but 9 what are you going to do on that Third Creek end if they're 10 going to come back up? And, you know -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Third Creek, I think, ought to 12 be fenced off. I don't care if you let them cross the bridge 13 or make them drive around. I think the other part, that 14 portion of the park should be open to the public. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But they -- my only concern, 16 since we're not going to be there to enforce policy; that's 17 the event organizers. We're going to be there to enforce the 18 criminal laws. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's what they were saying, 20 basically, the time we met with them. Exactly what you said. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If they got somebody walking 22 in, it's up to them to -- to initiate that you're not coming 23 in with alcohol. You know, this is a private deal if it's 24 closed to the public, but that's up to y'all and -- and them, 25 not us. 3-26-12 88 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: In my mind, I'd leave it up to 2 the event organizers, how they want to control access coming 3 from Third Creek -- I mean, from the eastern part of the 4 park. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. And the alcohol 6 issue, too. I mean, I don't think we need to get involved in 7 that. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Hmm-mm. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we just, you know -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I can see us down there with 12 .45s on our hips. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So you think, Commissioner, 14 that Item 2 should be deleted? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I do. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I agree. That's nothing to 17 do with us. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And the first one is so 19 goofy, I mean, I -- whatever. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But definitely drop the -- 22 eliminate the one law enforcement officer up on the hill, 23 because we've eliminated that function that was up there as 24 well. Isn't that right? 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. 3-26-12 89 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: So, go from four to three, 3 allow the temporary fencing along the River Road, and then 4 their assessment of where Third Creek is, and -- but they 5 still have -- the public has access to the dog park event 6 during that deal. And, again, to close it to -- say they 7 were closing it for the private event, correct? On Number 1? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: From the western part of the 9 park. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right, from the western part 11 from 10:00 to 6:00, and them Number 2 is we have nothing to 12 do with control of outside alcohol, but it's -- it's their 13 responsibility. Is that what you're saying? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. It's their -- their 16 policy, whatever they're doing. We have nothing to do with 17 it, no policy from the County, okay? That'll -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, your motion -- well, go 19 ahead. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That will be my motion, 21 consistent with what I just went over. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Which is 1, -- 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: 1. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- 3 and 4? 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: 1, 3, and 4. And 2, again, 3-26-12 90 1 the control of any outside alcohol coming in, we have no 2 authority over, but that would be at their -- their 3 discretion to supervise, correct? 4 JUDGE TINLEY: And the portion of Flat Rock Lake 5 Park that -- 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: West. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: -- we're allowing them use of for 8 this event is that portion of the park which is west of Third 9 Creek. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That would be my motion. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 13 indicated. Now, questions? Discussion? All in favor, 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: The motion carried. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Will y'all get me a copy of 20 that? 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yes. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 14; to consider, 23 discuss, take appropriate action regarding approval of the 24 agreement between AFIX Technologies, Incorporated, and the 25 Kerr County Sheriff's Office. 3-26-12 91 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: This is halfway through this 2 on the agreement. What AFIX Technologies -- what it is, we 3 received a grant of about $40,000 or $45,000 a year ago to 4 install -- several months ago to install an automated 5 fingerprint identification system. What this does is, it's a 6 computerized system. If we actually go to a crime scene and 7 lift prints or have unidentified prints somewhere, this will 8 be our own database, instead of having to send those prints 9 from a crime scene in to Austin and wait six to eight months 10 now, which is their backlog, to get results of whose 11 fingerprints that were at the scene. We will be able to do 12 that in a matter of minutes and hours with our own system. 13 The grant pays 100 percent for this system. It's not costing 14 Kerr County a dime. It's not costing us a dime, you know, 15 for -- for a year, and then at that time, there is a 16 maintenance fee which I will just figure into my normal 17 budget, and it's not very much. 18 We went through several vendors on this. We had 19 P.D. personnel, who is their fingerprint person, my office, 20 and the vendors and that, went through it all, looked at all 21 the different ones, and which ones we felt were best and that 22 we could afford under that grant, and came up with AFIX 23 Technologies to be able to do that. This system will take 24 all of our fingerprints that we've submitted to Austin since 25 1998, and they will be automatically dumped into this system. 3-26-12 92 1 The other thing is, all our surrounding counties are also 2 signed on. We will be a regional fingerprint identification 3 area. They have signed on, and all their fingerprints they 4 have taken in the surrounding counties will also be dumped 5 into this system, and any new prints that we're all taking, 6 because we're all doing it electronically now for criminal 7 records, will automatically be dumped into it at the same 8 time. 9 And we will have the terminal and everything and 10 the server. Trolinger -- John has gone through everything, 11 looked at it, looked at the specs to make sure everything is 12 all right. I see it as nothing but a win-win for us in 13 fighting crime and being able to identify local people and 14 that. It will gradually be tied into the FBI's prints, so 15 you can do more on -- on having hand-held identification 16 deals for unidentified people going down the interstate or 17 whatever. Rob has gone over this agreement, looked at it. 18 There were a few tweaks they've made in it. The agreement 19 has passed everything, and I just would ask that y'all 20 approve this. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Question. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: You say we're going to put the info 24 in from the adjacent counties. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. 3-26-12 93 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Are they going to have a similar 2 system with our information in their system? 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No, we're the only ones 4 around. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: So we are truly going to be a 6 regional information base and provider? As they continue to 7 service folks that they arrest and take prints from, that's 8 going to continue to go into our system? 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: If they have an inquiry, they submit 11 it, it goes into our system, and we respond to it? 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. If they lift -- say they 13 lift a print at a crime scene, and they need to -- to 14 identify the suspect in that. They will be able to come over 15 here at this time, and that print will get scanned into that 16 system to be compared against any of the thousands. Right 17 now, there will be about a little over 50,000 prints in that 18 system starting out, and it will compare to those in a matter 19 of minutes so that they can. Now, gradually, the system can 20 be expanded, and that was the whole -- one of our big deals 21 on it. We didn't want something that's going to last a 22 couple years and then be outdated and done, like our first -- 23 like the intake system was that we got a grant for. This one 24 will be expandable in that server deal, and eventually, if 25 they want to pay for a terminal -- it's not the server; it's 3-26-12 94 1 just a terminal at their county, okay? They will be able to 2 pay for a terminal and enter it there, but we're not doing 3 that. Ours right now is based here, but it can be expanded 4 to them. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: You may be touching on my inquiry. 6 My inquiry went to, do you have any idea of what additional 7 resources in terms of personnel time of your office that 8 we're going to have to put into place to accommodate these 9 other counties? 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I don't believe that we're 11 going to have to accommodate the other counties at this time. 12 They will have a few prints. They're -- most other counties 13 will have somebody that can do fingerprint identification, 14 and that's the final comparison. Either that, or City of 15 Kerrville has one. One of our D.A. investigators has one. 16 Myself and one -- and my evidence officer are fingerprint 17 identification experts that you have to make the final deal. 18 But I don't see that it's going to involve anything extra, 19 Judge. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But no -- there's no 22 statewide or national -- nationwide prints in there? 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. Any prints that we take 24 here locally are always uploaded to DPS and the FBI, okay? 25 That's all of that. And what is going to -- and so we're 3-26-12 95 1 getting all that back. It's local right now. Any other -- 2 and there's 20 or 30 other counties in Texas that have this 3 same system, okay? It will also search their databases if we 4 want it to, all right? That's a -- that's a case-by-case 5 basis. And then this -- DPS in Austin, a couple years ago, 6 gave the okay for this company and a lot of them like it to 7 start searching the entire DPS system, so that will come 8 online eventually, and along with the FBI. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Your -- your agreement indicates the 10 licensee as being the Kerr County Sheriff's Office. Are you 11 proposing that you sign on behalf of your office, or that I 12 sign on behalf of your office? 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, you know, I can't sign 14 contracts without Court approval, okay? It is the Sheriff's 15 Office. It is the Sheriff's Office grant. If I can sign, 16 I'd be happy to sign. If it needs to be you, Judge, it can 17 be you. If it needs to be both of us, I don't care. 18 Whatever the County Attorney feels is appropriate in signing 19 contracts. 20 MR. HENNEKE: I believe it would be Your Honor 21 executing the contract on behalf of Kerr County, even though 22 the grant's with the Sheriff's Office. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I just wanted to get that clear, 3-26-12 96 1 'cause it shows Sheriff's Office being the licensee, and so I 2 just wanted to make sure that -- 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: -- we had the thing properly in the 5 record as who's supposed to sign. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Any idea what the annual 7 maintenance fee is going to be? 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's going to be after -- 9 everything's under the maintenance deal involved in this 10 first year. After that, it's -- it's going to be around the 11 neighborhood of 5,000 a year to take care of it, and that 12 will be done with my investigation budget. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Any contribution anticipated from 14 outside adjacent counties? 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: There could very well be. A 16 lot of that's being worked on, and a lot of other things that 17 we'll discuss during the budget process as being worked on. 18 But either way, one -- where this really gets and can be very 19 advantageous to us is when we start getting these burglaries 20 or copper thefts or car burglaries. What happens is the 21 officers are real good at lifting the prints and getting 22 them, okay, from a car burglary or a house burglary, and then 23 we package those prints up and we send them in to Austin, and 24 it's six to eight months before we get any results. Think of 25 how many more burglaries and how many more, you know, thefts 3-26-12 97 1 and things like that we've had in six to eight months while 2 we're waiting on an I.D., unless we can come up with another 3 way of identifying a suspect. And I think this is -- it's 4 definitely going to save this county a lot of money. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think he's being a little 6 bit mean. They need to make a living, too. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I hope we're being a whole lot 8 mean to those criminals, Buster. I hope they can't make a 9 living off of it. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move for approval with the 11 Judge's signature. 12 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 14 indicated. Question or discussion? All in favor, signify by 15 raising your right hand. 16 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 18 (No response.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's move 20 to Item 15; to consider, discuss, take appropriate action to 21 approve the revised job descriptions as follows: Airport 22 Maintenance Tech I job description, which is currently a 23 14.1, Airport Maintenance Tech II job description, which is 24 currently a 16.1. Classify current employee at the airport 25 under management contract as Airport Maintenance Tech II; 3-26-12 98 1 authorize the hiring of Airport Maintenance Tech I to fill 2 the current open -- the current open position as a part-time 3 employee. Commissioner Letz and Mr. McKenzie, I'll let you 4 guys figure out who's going to run with it. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let me start it a little bit 6 and make a slight correction. You added some words when you 7 were reading the motion. The current -- the current -- there 8 is not a Maintenance Tech I and II. There is just -- there 9 is one spot out there -- position, and both of them -- 10 there's two employees that both have the same job title. 11 This is to go back, and we're revising the job to create a 12 16.1 and a 14.1. But no big deal on that, Judge. A little 13 bit of background on that. The current way it works out 14 there is, both of these employees are county employees. 15 They're actually, I think, filed under the Maintenance 16 Department, is where their slots are kind of fitting in our 17 position schedule. Hopefully, that's going to change -- 18 April 4th? We're meeting with the -- it is April 4th, 19 Airport Planning Committee will meet, and hopefully the 20 maintenance contract will become a thing of the past next 21 year. But it's still currently in place. 22 Originally, when these -- it was put together out 23 there, it was kind of anticipated that we'd hire two people, 24 see how it all works out, and then one person was going to 25 become a supervisor of the group, and then move forward. 3-26-12 99 1 Well, things took a different path, and we actually ended 2 up -- there's one person out there who's doing a whole lot; 3 it's a lot broader job description than we really thought 4 about originally, technical things with having to work with 5 runway lights and things of that nature. And largely because 6 of the weather, we didn't need to keep filled the second 7 spot, so we have one employee out there who's a 14.1 right 8 now. And the idea is to go into -- create a more technical 9 position which this person really is doing. They'll become a 10 16.1. The other slot would remain open. The job 11 descriptions in the -- new in the position schedule as a 12 16.1, that spot would stay open, but we'd authorize a 13 part-time line item and move money from that into that 14 position, if that makes sense. And that's a little bit 15 different than the way it's worded right here, but I think 16 it's within the scope of the agenda. And I visited with the 17 H.R. Director, Dawn Lantz, and she said traditionally, it 18 would be better to do it this way, to keep both slots, and 19 then open up a part-time position that then that could be 20 filled throughout the year as necessary. And right now, it's 21 necessary. 22 MS. LANTZ: I think the part-time position, if I -- 23 if I understand correctly, it's going to be a seasonal 24 position, so we won't have to pay any benefits. That's why 25 we suggested to possibly do that. That way the county 3-26-12 100 1 wouldn't be out any benefits to pay that employee. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Temporary part-time? 3 MS. LANTZ: Yes, sir. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And by doing that, there's 5 plenty of money in the budget, since we've had one slot open 6 to go up to a 16.1. And Mr. McKenzie and Ms. Lantz have gone 7 through the job description and worked out a job description, 8 and if it -- it is a 16.1, what the person is actually doing 9 out there, and you kind of compare that to Road and Bridge 10 positions and others in the county. And anything beyond 11 that, you got to ask Bruce. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Did he take your thunder, Bruce? 13 MR. McKENZIE: He did. He did a good job. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And if there -- then I'll make 16 a motion that we, I guess, modify the position schedule to 17 create an Airport Maintenance Tech II; it'll be a 16.1. 18 Airport Maintenance Tech 1 will be a 14.1. And we would 19 reclassify the current employee as a 16.1. I make that as 20 one motion. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What is that person today? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 14.1. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So you take -- okay. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, it's 14.1. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How many people are we 3-26-12 101 1 talking about total? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There's one person that's 4 going to do all this? Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're leaving the second slot 6 open, but it will not be filled. It'll be a position in our 7 budget. 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Part-time. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The Airport Tech I will be in 10 the position schedule, but we're not going to authorize 11 filling that position. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Going to use the money for 13 part-time. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're moving that money into a 15 part-time position. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And the part-time slot is a 17 brand-new -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- position? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's no part-time slot at 21 the airport. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What is that about? It's a 23 seasonal thing, and no -- no benefits and all that? 24 MR. McKENZIE: That's correct. When we had two 25 employees, one left us either August or September, and there 3-26-12 102 1 was a good and a bad side to that. The drought situation set 2 in, and the other thing was seasonal. We're going -- in the 3 fall, the growing season stops, so we didn't need any help 4 controlling our grass and our weeds out there. Now that 5 we've been blessed with the rain, he and I have both been 6 doing it, so it's time to hire a part-time seasonal person at 7 $10 an hour, and we'll just use him, we're estimating, 31 8 weeks a year. And then when it comes Thanksgiving, he's 9 gone, and then in April, we come back. Roy can handle it, 10 depending on the weather, if it doesn't go too much -- it's 11 on a schedule he can handle it those times by himself. But 12 when the -- the flora and the fauna are doing so well, he 13 can't keep up. No way. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I guess my question is, why 15 don't you just have a part-time line item? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, we don't have one now; 17 we're creating one. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But you don't need a 14.1 if 20 you're going to do that. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're just going to leave it in 22 for the time being, and then see how this goes. So we don't 23 have to create -- but we're not authorizing filling that 24 slot. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, there's a possibility 3-26-12 103 1 that you'll need two full-time positions out there; we just 2 don't know quite yet. 3 MR. McKENZIE: That's correct. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You don't want to ride 5 around on the tractor all day, -- 6 MR. McKENZIE: No, sir. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- is the point. 8 MR. McKENZIE: That's correct. 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second the motion, and 10 I'd comment. The gentlemen who we're increasing, of course, 11 is -- from this 14.1 to 16.1 does a fantastic job. 12 MR. McKENZIE: He does. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'm just impressed when I 14 hear the airport meetings and the board and stuff like that, 15 just, again, Bruce's comments to him. Appreciate everything 16 he does, and he's got multi things he's responsible for. 17 He's doing a great job. 18 MR. McKENZIE: I'll tell him. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thank you. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: One other question. I think 21 I heard you say the maintenance contract is a thing of the 22 past? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Hopefully. Hopefully. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And -- 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Next budget year. 3-26-12 104 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Right. Now, what happens 2 there? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The goal -- these are county 4 employees right now, which is why we're even messing with it. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Right. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If the maintenance contract 7 becomes a thing of the past, this will be an Airport Board 8 discussion, how they handle their employees. We'll budget 9 money, the City and the County, and it will be up to them how 10 they classify and move things around a little bit. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Which has been the goal for 12 a number of years. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For about 20 years, it seems, 14 but yes. The Auditor has prepared a -- at the request of the 15 Airport Board, two budgets for next year, one with the 16 maintenance contract and one without, and there is a savings 17 of -- is it 14,000, Jeannie, about? 18 MS. HARGIS: Percent. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 14 percent? 20 MR. McKENZIE: 14 percent. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 14 percent if they get rid of 22 the management contract. And it's -- we want to. It's up to 23 the City at this point, if they want to get rid of the 24 management contract or not. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 3-26-12 105 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I -- you know, we've told 2 them all along it will save money to get rid of it, because 3 there's some contingencies that have to be built into it, 4 because you're not sure exactly what you're doing. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It not only saves money, but 6 gives the Airport Board the authority that they've needed the 7 whole damn time. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the accountability. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And the accountability, 10 yeah. That's exactly right. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Y'all are going to be a 13 board before it's over with, a real one. A big-boy board. 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Got a second. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and second. 17 Question or discussion further? All in favor of the motion, 18 signify by raising your right hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 21 (No response.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carried. Thank you, sir. 23 Item 16; consider discuss, take appropriate action on 24 preparing the RFQ for insurance consultant or health 25 insurance and other benefits. Commissioner Letz? 3-26-12 106 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On December the 12th, I put on 2 the agenda this -- this identical item, and it was kind of 3 thought at the time that it was -- it was approved; it was 4 voted on to do this, but I don't think anything's been done 5 on it, and the discussion kind of was it's too early to do 6 it -- or a little bit early to do it. Seems to me as we're 7 going in this budget, now is the time that we want to look at 8 this issue, and I just put it on the agenda to -- I guess the 9 County Attorney and H.R. would kind of work together to 10 develop the RFQ so we can go out and see what interest there 11 is. And while we're doing it -- and this goes back to 12 another issue that we didn't talk about on December 12th, but 13 I thought about it since then, is supplemental plans. Those 14 are currently going under -- through our -- Mr. Looney, 15 whatever, through our -- 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Alamo. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- through our consultant, and 18 it seems to me that that should be put out for bid as well, 19 as a separate item. I don't know -- I mean, there's 20 nothing -- and I went back to a long time ago, being about 21 five years ago, some memory I had during a -- I guess a 22 recollection, some issues about this being -- not being bid. 23 So, it seems to me that now is probably a good time. We 24 ought to bid the service as well as a separate RFQ. I don't 25 think we ought to open it up to have 20 different companies, 3-26-12 107 1 but I think -- I don't think we should give it automatically 2 just to one, just because, which is what we're currently 3 doing. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You mean for the 5 supplemental plans like the eyes and teeth and those kinds of 6 things? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Now -- 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Life, short-term disability, 10 long-term disability, major disease. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do you -- when you do that, 12 do you get specific in what you desire? Like, you know, one 13 thing I'm seeing is, like, our -- our eye doctor's program 14 that we have going right now falls way short of meeting the 15 needs of our -- of our employees. And I'm just -- and my 16 question is, if you did this, if you go out here -- or coming 17 up soon, do you talk specifically about you need to have "X" 18 amount of companies bid on this thing? Or -- you know what 19 I'm trying to say? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's why we have a County 21 Attorney and an H.R. Department. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Well, I'm just 23 trying -- 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I share your concern. I 25 don't know how you form an RFQ for the supplemental. I think 3-26-12 108 1 you know the plans you want to offer, and I think -- I don't 2 know how you get from that to the specific plans. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think there -- I do know that 5 -- well, I don't know; I believe that TAC offers these 6 same -- offers this as well. And so I think that's what -- 7 you know, there may be an option. I mean -- well, I think we 8 should look at those as well, or hopefully they'll submit -- 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We need to specify what it is 10 we want to go out to provide. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: To include within the supplementals? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And put all that in a 14 proposal and send it out, and get -- get quotes on various 15 things. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. And I think just one 17 other comment. The issue came up previously that because the 18 County doesn't fund the supplemental, we are not required to 19 do an RFQ on them. That was, I think, a determination by the 20 former County Attorney, you know. And I -- again, I'll -- 21 that's true, I'm sure. I'm sure that's right, but I still 22 think we should do it in this case, because I think this is 23 something that, you know, we're kind of directing what's 24 going to happen for the employees, what they're going to use, 25 and I think that, you know, we should try to make sure that 3-26-12 109 1 we're getting the best deal. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: But, by the same token, you don't 3 want one provider for one supplemental coverage, another 4 provider for -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One. We want one. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: You want one for the whole package. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Yeah, it's the whole 8 package, definitely. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner, I think the vision 10 thing that you're referring to is -- the problem we're having 11 is providing -- is obtaining providers to provide the 12 services under the coverage plan. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: And that's -- and, of course, with 15 any RFQ, I suspect they're -- or RFP, they're going to have 16 to specify what their -- what their networks are, so to 17 speak, so as to give us an opportunity to see that it's 18 realistic coverage that our people can use. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Right. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: And that makes a lot of sense. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. And I know that we 22 have the coverage -- eye doctors is an example. I think 23 there are two that we have -- our employees have to choose 24 from, and they're both wonderful. One of them's a personal, 25 close friend of mine, and he's wonderful. Both of them are. 3-26-12 110 1 I just think there needs to be a larger group for our 2 employees to choose from -- for me to choose from. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Larger network. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Larger network. I want to 5 stay with my old doctor, but my old doctor hasn't made the 6 decision whether he wants to accept this or not. I'm not 7 sure he's been approached. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: See? I don't -- I just 10 don't know if he has or not. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, that -- that can certainly be 12 part of the RFQ or the RFP, whichever it turns out to be, for 13 them to specify, you know, who the providers are in their 14 network. So -- 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: What do you want to do? Do 16 you want to authorize the -- 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We've already authorized it, in 18 my mind. I just think we should continue, and the 19 supplementals, I think, can be included under the same -- the 20 previous court order. It's just a matter of, let's do it 21 now. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: All right. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Everybody's authorized to go to the 24 john if they desire. We got all sorts of hands up. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Only thing I'm curious about 3-26-12 111 1 is, last year when we went with TAC, TAC came in here and 2 told us they have their own, you know, consultant that does 3 it for all their members, and they offer these supplementals, 4 okay? And they -- you know, I don't think I've heard too 5 many people, now that we're actually with TAC, complaining 6 about our coverage with TAC. I'm curious about why do we 7 want to spend money hiring a consultant again and doing all 8 this other if TAC does it for all their hundreds of thousands 9 of members already, and we're part of that group? Why don't 10 we look more at what the supplemental TAC actually would 11 offer us as part of our -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's part -- I agree. That's 13 part of the process. That's the reason I want to go do it 14 right now, because I think doing -- not hiring a consultant 15 or outside supplemental company is an option. 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay. As long as that's an 17 option, 'cause I'm just curious what -- you know, get TAC 18 down here and tell us what their offer is, 'cause they've 19 already done the consultants. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: You had a question? 22 MR. HENNEKE: I had two. One, my understanding is 23 that the insurance consultants that we have, we have an 24 agreement with, and that agreement automatically renews on an 25 annual basis. I don't know if it, you know, automatically 3-26-12 112 1 renews if there's -- I haven't seen the agreement, but I 2 understand there is an agreement that automatically renews 3 every year. If we're moving forward with an RFP to 4 theoretically provide for a new one, do we not need to 5 provide notice to the existing insurance consultant that as 6 of the end of the term, whenever that is, you know, the -- 7 we're not renewing, and he's invited to reapply or submit a 8 proposal? Basically a termination notice. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Sure. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. 11 MR. HENNEKE: Okay. And I -- I would suggest and 12 volunteer Commissioner Letz to be part of the committee with 13 Dawn and myself on drafting -- 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Works for me. 15 MR. HENNEKE: -- these RFP's that he's mentioned. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't think you're going to get 17 any objection from anybody up here, as long as you stop at 18 that. Well, maybe with the exception of one. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Maybe one. That's what I get 20 for putting it on the agenda. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: But, yeah. I mean, they at least 22 need to be put on notice that we're going to submit an RFP or 23 RFQ, or whichever it may turn out to be, and in the event 24 they elect not to participate, or they're not the one that's 25 selected, the contract will be canceled. Sure, you got to do 3-26-12 113 1 that to protect yourself. Don't want to end up with two. 2 MR. HENNEKE: Okay. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Sure. And, Mr. Jones, you had a 4 question or comment? 5 MR. JONES: Just a couple of comments, gentlemen. 6 First of all, one of the problems in Kerrville in terms of 7 providers is that most of your physicians, your optometrists, 8 your dentists and so on, don't want to be in network. They 9 are constantly solicited to be in networks, and the reason is 10 that they pretty much have a captive audience here, and they 11 don't have to be in a network to improve their practice. 12 Whereas in large metropolitan areas where there's a heck of a 13 lot more competition, you need to be in a network if you want 14 to make certain that you get an option to -- to work with 15 those people who are insured. So, I can tell you that the 16 biggest providers in the state of Texas -- in fact, the 17 biggest providers in the country on many different ancillary 18 products attempt on an annual basis to improve networks here 19 in Kerrville. That's one of the things I have to deal with 20 all the time as a broker. 21 Secondly, in terms of having a consultant, if 22 you'll remember, when TAC was here to make their 23 presentation, they indicated that the majority of counties 24 who use them also have their own consultant. I think that 25 works best for you, because what's good for you may not 3-26-12 114 1 always be good for TAC, and vice-versa. So, I think it's 2 important that you have that kind of consultation when it 3 comes even to dealing with TAC. And you'll have -- if you 4 put out an RFP like this, you'll have plenty of good choices. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. Jones. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And, Commissioner Letz, 7 thank you for your service. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: In advance? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: And your continued service on the 12 committee. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't think we need to take any 15 formal action at this time, do we? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's get on to Item 17; to 18 consider, discuss, take appropriate action regarding update 19 on window removal, relocation of existing HVAC units located 20 on the hog barn roof that service the Exhibition Hall, 21 estimated cost and time frame, and update from Peter Lewis 22 regarding where he is in the process of gathering cost 23 estimates for various phases of the project and bid 24 documents, and possibly authorize Mr. Lewis and Commissioner 25 Oehler to meet with stock show representatives, make 3-26-12 115 1 cost-saving changes in the Phase 2 floor plans within the 2 presently approved space. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That was quite a list, wasn't 4 it? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Nearly choked on it getting it all 6 out. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's why I got Peter to 8 come help with this. He and I met the other day and did a 9 little preliminary. I think he has some information for us, 10 and we need to talk about the process and what has to be done 11 first to move the project forward. 12 MR. LEWIS: Yeah, and you might look ahead to Item 13 18 as well; that's a part of that. Well, good morning, 14 Judge. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me go ahead and call 18; to 16 consider, discuss, take appropriate action to advertise for 17 demolition bids or request Road and Bridge to perform that 18 function. 19 MR. LEWIS: I'll give you a little progress update 20 of where we are with regard to the abatement of the asbestos 21 in the hog barns. LVI Facility Services, Inc., out of San 22 Antonio will be on-site Wednesday, the 28th, and complete 23 their work no later than Tuesday, the 2nd. With respect to 24 the next piece of business, our team has gone out and we've 25 done an exhaustive survey of those two, both the exhibit hall 3-26-12 116 1 and the hog pen area, and have developed demolition plans 2 which -- for both site and building demolition, which should 3 be ready for issue by the end of this week. And included in 4 that, we did an assessment of the air conditioning units that 5 are serving the exhibit hall and how to relocate those, and 6 that will be -- that's also detailed in these plans. 7 In visiting with Commissioner Oehler, a couple 8 issues would be about whether we put this out to bid to 9 general demolition contractors, whether the County wants to 10 do some pieces of it. The relocation of the air conditioning 11 units could be handled by someone like Mr. Bollier here to go 12 out and request proposals from service providers to do that. 13 It's not -- it's not a very complicated -- the air 14 conditioning piece is not complicated. But we have -- as 15 we've considered it, we've looked at both the electrical, 16 mechanical, and structural implications, and those will be 17 addressed in the drawings here. And the same issue goes -- 18 same question applies to the demolition of the hog pens -- 19 hog barn, about whether that is something that the County 20 wishes to undertake, or would go out for general 21 solicitation. 22 Our drawings -- our demolition drawings, we'll have 23 drawings, specifications that will guide that, so we could go 24 either way. If the Court sees an issue of advertisement, 25 based on the orders of magnitude of what that projected cost 3-26-12 117 1 is with respect to the development of plans for the show barn 2 and the exhibit hall, we did meet with Commissioner Oehler on 3 Friday and came up with some direction that we think will 4 save -- we know will save costs in the general construction. 5 It doesn't change the layout of the building. It does change 6 the placement of the show barn, and instead of trying to 7 connect it to the indoor arena and the current exhibit hall, 8 which would -- can be done, but causes some -- it has costs 9 associated with it, we have moved -- basically, we'll be 10 positioning the show barn along the same north-south line 11 that the hog pens are, and it will extend to the west and to 12 the south towards the river. 13 And we'll also hold it about 10 feet off of the 14 existing exhibit hall to allow service. There's electrical 15 service still going to be on the back of the exhibit hall 16 that will serve those air conditioner units, so it will -- 17 kind of a little service corridor back there, and we will 18 save money by not having to connect structurally to the 19 exhibit hall for now. And then by the time Phase 2 comes 20 around, the exhibit hall can be demolished and the show barn 21 structure can just be extended out toward the highway at that 22 time. We are -- so the first thing that we're doing, 23 basically, following our meeting with Commissioner Oehler on 24 Friday is developing that plan. 25 We talked about the components. We do want to 3-26-12 118 1 visit with the stock show folks and -- and make sure that the 2 -- the different amenities that we provide in there will meet 3 -- meet the need. We aren't changing anything about the 4 footprint of the building; it's still the same size that we 5 presented to the Court several times now. We are 6 beginning -- and pending approval of that concept layout, 7 we'd go to construction drawings. We would issue for bids to 8 general contractors no later than May 10th. Be a two- to 9 three-week bid period, and we will come up with a budget -- 10 begin to develop a budget for Phase 1, about -- probably 11 about 50 percent in construction documents when we know a 12 little bit more about, you know, what -- where we're going to 13 have CMU and places where we're going to have metal siding 14 cuts, things like that. So, that is -- I think that 15 addresses all the issues in the agenda. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, once we meet with the 17 stock show folks and 4-H people, we will bring this back to 18 adopt a modified version of the plan, I believe will be the 19 correct way to do it. The Court needs to -- to approve that 20 as well as anybody else. The Court is the ultimate one that 21 has to approve it for -- so we have something to go to bid 22 on. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me see if I understand your -- 24 your May deadline that you've imposed. You're talking about 25 that being the deadline for actual bids on the structure? 3-26-12 119 1 MR. LEWIS: Yes, on the show barn. On everything. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 3 MR. LEWIS: All of Phase 1. The demolition, we're 4 ready to proceed with sooner than that. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, that's going to have to be 6 pretty doggone quick if that's going to be bid. 7 MR. LEWIS: And that could happen as quickly as -- 8 if it weren't to be bid -- well, it could happen as 9 quickly -- the demolition could start after next Tuesday, 10 after the abatement has been completed. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Could be authorized today under -- 12 MR. LEWIS: Could be authorized today. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: -- 18. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. And the 18 is for us 15 to decide whether we want to go out for bids, 'cause if we 16 want to do that, we need to do it today. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And if we decide that Road 19 and Bridge is -- is capable of doing it, and I believe that 20 they are -- I talked to Leonard again this morning, and I 21 have some mixed emotions about doing it that way, but it 22 will -- it will be cost-effective. And even if it takes them 23 a week longer to do it, we're still okay on our time frame, 24 and we -- we can sure use all the money that we can gather 25 that then can be put into that project. 3-26-12 120 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Any -- any thoughts on Road and 2 Bridge accomplishing that, versus -- 3 MR. LEWIS: I have no problem with that, with them. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: -- a private contractor? 5 MR. LEWIS: No problem with that at all. And, 6 again, even if they took a month more to do it, it's not 7 going to affect the construction of the show barn, 'cause 8 they'll be done before -- well before bids are received on 9 the show barn. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So, everything is -- they'll 11 be going right into it, and as soon as the building is taken 12 down, the soil test can be done so that they can do 13 engineering drawings. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Slab. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: For the slab. 16 MR. LEWIS: Got to get the roof off, and that's the 17 main thing. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So, you know, that -- that 19 would allow -- and they're going to do the -- Road and Bridge 20 is going to do the site work too, so they'll go right from 21 demolition probably and take a small break, and then start 22 site work. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Bruce, is there -- what is the 24 thought on -- if Road and Bridge does the demolition, we 25 would then just salvage the material ourselves? 3-26-12 121 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Sure. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And sell it? 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You bet. Take all that to 4 recycle and collect the money for that. 5 MR. LEWIS: Commissioner Oehler had mentioned that 6 there was -- there had been an inquiry or two regarding some 7 of those pens. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Center Point 4-H wants some 10 of those old hog pens to put in their project barn or 11 whatever. With Road and Bridge doing it, that could be more 12 possible than if we hired a contractor. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 14 MR. LEWIS: More flexibility. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: A contractor is going to say 16 whatever's there is fixed in his mind; it's gone. And this 17 way we could work a little bit to salvage some of that to be 18 used for more 4-H type activities. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask you a question. 20 In your agenda item here, -- 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Mm-hmm. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- the last sentence there 23 talking about authorizing Peter and Oehler to meet with stock 24 show reps to make cost-saving changes, floor plans -- within 25 floor plans within presently approved space. 3-26-12 122 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Changing floor plans? 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Just changing -- 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I didn't hear that in the 5 conversation. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Changing what goes into the 7 floor plan, where the office space goes, where restroom space 8 goes, may have a bearing. One thing -- big cost saving is 9 the fact that we've been proposing, which mostly was in Phase 10 2, to be a two-story thing for office space and all. I think 11 we're going to get everything down on the -- on the ground 12 floor. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That will save an elevator 15 and save all -- 16 MR. LEWIS: Two sets of stairs and all the 17 circulation associated with those. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree 100 percent. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's one of the things we 20 need to talk about, and then some other things about what 21 might be preserved within the present facility, and not be 22 rebuilt. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's just those kinds of 25 things. 3-26-12 123 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, is that something that 2 you two guys are going to put together and then bring to the 3 Court, or -- 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Oh, sure. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- how's that going to work? 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's just -- I want to run it 7 by, make sure everybody is still getting along, and we want 8 everybody to be -- 9 MR. LEWIS: We haven't had much success doing it 10 behind your back, so, you know, it's just -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This is true. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's a very short-term thing 13 to make sure, before we go out for bid, that we've got it 14 like it needs to be and that everybody is on -- 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Super. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- board. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I've got a question. And I 18 do have some concerns about liability issues with our Road 19 and Bridge. I see the benefits of savings cost-wise. I 20 understand that. But, again, those guys do an excellent job 21 in doing what they do with our county roads and maintenance 22 and those things. I have some concerns about the demolition 23 of the building, with something that's not in their regular, 24 normal routine that they do. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I have had the same concerns. 3-26-12 124 1 I thought about it; I talked to the Judge about it. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Say we get somebody hurt on 3 this, and then we -- we short-tail ourselves with our 4 department down the road. So I know it's probably, you know, 5 the consideration of spending a little bit more money here, 6 but about the liability issues to us, what -- are we exposing 7 ourselves in trying to save this -- I mean, I'm worried about 8 the liability issues here. That's my question. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, they're going to rent 10 an excavator to where you basically stay pretty far away from 11 anything when you're tearing it down. It's not like you're 12 putting a man inside, you know, knocking the roof off. It's 13 a -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's done from the outside. 16 MR. LEWIS: It's a one-story structure. It's a 17 fairly simple structure. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I've talked with Bruce about it 19 a little bit, and there is one employee, in my mind, who's 20 capable of doing this with the -- it takes an excavator with 21 a thumb to do it, and we do have -- just by chance, have an 22 employee who's very proficient in that piece of equipment. 23 It's -- no one will be inside the building. Basically, it's 24 going to be smashed to the ground and then hauled off, and 25 there's probably an excavator, the operator for that, and 3-26-12 125 1 then a truck -- a loader and a truck to haul the stuff off. 2 It's not -- it's machine-intensive, not labor-intensive. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: This person has expertise in 4 doing this? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't know that he's 6 demolished a building before, but he's very good with an 7 excavator. He's the one who helped, you know, put the -- or 8 engineered how to get the railroad car across the Guadalupe 9 River at Hermann Sons Road as a temporary bridge. That's 10 probably a lot more dangerous than this is. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. I was really leaning 12 toward trying to get a -- you know, a bid out for demolition. 13 But, you know, I really think that we -- for a lot of 14 different reasons, not as many reasons in opposition to Road 15 and Bridge doing it. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: How much time are we talking 17 about, if we do this, will be tied up in doing this? 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Two weeks, probably. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And how many people are we 20 anticipating? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Three. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Three, probably. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You know, if it was just -- if 24 we were tearing down the arena, I wouldn't want to do it 25 ourselves, just because of the heighth of the building. This 3-26-12 126 1 building, you can get in the back, basically start smashing 2 it down to the ground, and then you, you know, rip it out. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's not -- I wouldn't go for 4 that other one either. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: On the -- on those pens that are in 6 there, that existing hog barn, certainly, if -- you know, 7 obviously, there's salvage value if you run it across the 8 scale, and we can make a few bucks. But if there are any of 9 the -- how many 4-H clubs we got in the county? Seven? 10 MR. BAUER: Yes, sir, I believe that's correct. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. If there are any of those 12 clubs, or the school ag programs or whatever that have use 13 for those things, we -- I'd encourage you guys to get the 14 word out to all of those folks that may be prospective users. 15 Because, you know, if they pay to have things like that 16 fabricated, they're really going to spend some big bucks, and 17 if they can use any of this stuff, even if they got to modify 18 it a little bit, I think it would be to their advantage, and 19 that's certainly, I think, what our first priority would be. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: For the benefit of their being able 22 to use it. And -- but we're probably going to need to know 23 that pretty much up front, because we got to get that stuff 24 out before it goes crashing down from the top. So, whatever 25 you guys can do to get that word out and -- and get those 3-26-12 127 1 folks signed up for whatever they want, why, I think we'll be 2 much better off. 3 MR. BAUER: The reference that Commissioner Oehler 4 made was concerning the Center Point FFA and 4-H. I believe 5 they were trying to build a project barn very simply, a 6 project barn that's on the property out there like the Ingram 7 school has, and that Tivy has as well. So, we can contact 8 them; they have mentioned it to us through your board, and 9 we'll make those contacts, let them know it needs to be done 10 quick. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: To the extent any of those 12 organizations request it, 4-H or school ag programs, that's 13 where it needs to go. 14 MS. LANTZ: What about our facility already out 15 there for the students that are housing? I know that was 16 full, wasn't it, Tim? 17 JUDGE TINLEY: That's pretty much built out. 18 MS. LANTZ: Is that full? No pens or anything can 19 go back to -- 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't think so. It's full, 21 isn't it, Tim? Completely. 22 MR. BOLLIER: Yeah. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They're even doubling up on 24 some of the stalls. 25 MR. BOLLIER: I promise you, when it gets time, 3-26-12 128 1 it's plumb full. It's full. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, it's been well received. 4 MR. BOLLIER: It has. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So I guess what -- the first 6 thing we need to do is to get -- ask Tim to contact some air 7 conditioning people to do the relocation of those units. 8 Before we start demolition, it's got to be done. We also are 9 going to have to relook at the power coming in that building, 10 new transformer and relocation where the permanent site will 11 be, because the power poles and transformers are all right in 12 the -- they're in the way. So, that would be part of this -- 13 part of what he's going to come up with of things that need 14 to be done. We're going to have to get an electrician or 15 somebody out there, take some proposals from them to relocate 16 the source of power coming into the -- what's going to be 17 left of the Exhibition Hall. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we're going to need to work 19 with KPUB too if they're going to have to set a new master 20 power pole, or if it's going to have to be trenched, or 21 however that's going to be utilized. 22 MR. LEWIS: Transformer for the future show barn, 23 so we place it where there would be service. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Do it one time, not twice. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We don't need to do it twice. 3-26-12 129 1 Do it one time. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Once. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So these things are not -- 4 but, you know, I would ask the Court to -- I don't know if we 5 have to authorize Tim to -- just ask him to do it, to get a 6 couple of prices to relocate those units based on the plan 7 that the architect has put together. That'd be the first 8 thing. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Message received? 10 MR. BOLLIER: Message received. The other question 11 I have, Commissioner Oehler, is you know how that electricity 12 runs in there. Once they cut all that out, we don't have to 13 worry about all that -- all the boxes and stuff in there in 14 the ceiling. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Mm-hmm. 16 MR. BOLLIER: You don't have to worry about that 17 once all that's taken care of. 18 MR. LEWIS: Yeah. You kill it and -- 19 MR. BOLLIER: Once it's cut, it's gone. 20 MR. LEWIS: Once it's cut, it's gone. But, you 21 know, then I have another question, and I may be jumping the 22 gun here, but once that building's gone, and they're going to 23 come in there, how much of that dirt are they going to have 24 to take out of there? 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We don't know yet. 3-26-12 130 1 MR. BOLLIER: Okay. Because the only -- the only 2 thing that I'm concerned about is, there's lots of water 3 lines that run underneath there, and I do not know where some 4 of them go. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We'll find out, I'm sure. 6 MR. BOLLIER: I mean, I know that that one big 7 pressure -- the one big 12-inch line goes through there. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 9 MR. BOLLIER: And I don't know exactly where; I 10 just know it's there. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll find it. 12 MR. BOLLIER: I know we're going to find it. 13 MR. LEWIS: There's a foolproof way to find it. 14 MR. BOLLIER: Just -- yeah, just dig it up. It's 15 there. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Fortunately, it's not a gas line. 17 MR. LEWIS: Right. 18 MR. BOLLIER: No, there shouldn't be no gas lines. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rob, I hate to even ask the 20 question, but considering the size of the project, can we 21 authorize Maintenance to go just relocate the electrical 22 without bidding it, or do we have to bid every component? 23 MR. HENNEKE: Well, how much is the cost -- I mean, 24 I think the cost to really -- well, the cost to relocate it 25 could be over 25,000. 3-26-12 131 1 MR. BOLLIER: No. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Good gosh, I hope not. 3 MR. BOLLIER: I don't think so, not air 4 conditioners. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, the electrical, and 6 resetting a couple new transformers. 7 MR. BOLLIER: Oh. That -- 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Get KPUB engaged. 9 MR. BOLLIER: I hate to answer that question. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's part of the process. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. But we got -- that all 12 has to be done. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: First thing is just worry 14 about the air conditioners. 15 MR. BOLLIER: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We can't do the demolition 17 until we get the electrical -- 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, you can sort of, 'cause 19 we're going to leave part of that built out. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. We need to get an 21 electrician to connect anything going into the -- 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Exactly. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- hog barn. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Exactly. Rob, what do you 25 say? Do we need to bid each component? Do we get started, 3-26-12 132 1 get ready for demolition? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, KPUB's a one-shot deal; 3 you don't have an option. You can't bid KPUB. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They just tell you what it 5 costs. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: We're not bidding the demolition; 7 we're having Road and Bridge do it. This isn't part of the 8 bid package. This is the service, maintenance-type stuff, 9 air conditioning. 10 MR. HENNEKE: This is a pre -- really a pre-project 11 maintenance thing; I agree with Peter on that. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So -- and on the electrical, we 13 just need to get all the electrical cut off to the part we're 14 going to demolish. 15 MR. BOLLIER: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Correct. 17 MR. BOLLIER: No problem. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't think there's any way 19 that -- outside of what KPUB's going to do, that either phase 20 is going to run, or that even two of them combined should run 21 over the -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, sir. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: -- bid exemption limit. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I wouldn't think so. The 25 only thing we need to get into that is when we start bidding 3-26-12 133 1 the building. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Anyway, y'all need to -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we ought to make a 6 court order to authorize it. I'll make a court -- a motion 7 to authorize the Maintenance Department to relocate the air 8 conditioning/HVAC systems as necessary for demolition of the 9 hog barn, and to disconnect all electrical to the hog barn. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Removal of pens? 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That goes under demolition in 13 my -- I just was doing his stuff under the -- under 18. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: That's under 17. Okay, I've got a 15 motion do I hear a second? 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Do you want to make two 17 different motions? Make one on that, and then one for Peter 18 and I to work with the group to come back with a modified -- 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, I think that's a separate 20 issue. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I have a motion -- 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: -- and a second as to the issue of 25 relocation of the air and cutting the electrical power to the 3-26-12 134 1 hog barn. Question or discussion on that? 2 THE CLERK: I have a question. Is that Item 17 or 3 18? 4 JUDGE TINLEY: 17. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: 17. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All in favor of that motion, signify 7 by raising your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Okay, now we're on 12 the aspect again, part of 17, about Commissioner Oehler 13 and -- and Mr. Lewis meeting with stock show reps on the 14 reconfiguration, as it were, within the footprint to try and 15 achieve some cost savings and efficiency. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't know if we need an 17 agenda item -- I mean approval for this. To me, this is 18 just -- you've been authorized to work with Peter Lewis to 19 come up basically to the developing of the bid documents, 20 which we need to have -- 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay, works for me. I just 22 want to make sure that everything is covered before I step 23 off on it. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's go to 18. On Item 18, 25 which has been called and is before the Court now, I 3-26-12 135 1 understand that we want Road and Bridge to do the actual 2 demolition of the hog barn portion of that structure out 3 there. Do I hear a motion to that effect? 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So moved. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 7 indicated. Further question or discussion on that item? All 8 in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 9 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 11 (No response.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's go to 13 Item 19; to consider, discuss, take appropriate action to 14 open and read cost proposals submitted for the County's 15 710065 O.S.S.F. grant for septic system installation and 16 mitigation for approved homeowners. Mr. Garcia? 17 MR. GARCIA: We only received one proposal, and 18 that's it. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: The proposal is from Arturo Alva in 20 Hunt. Apparently there are five systems; is that correct? 21 MR. GARCIA: Yes. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: That he was requested to bid on? 23 He's got it quoted by system. System 1, 5,600 total. System 24 2, 10,500. System 3, 7,350. System 4, 9,800. And System 5, 25 10,100. I'm trying to think; what's the total amount of 3-26-12 136 1 funding? 2 MS. PHALAN: We have -- I believe it was 200,000. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we certainly got enough money 4 for it, don't we? 5 MS. PHALAN: Yes. 6 MR. GARCIA: Yes. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: What is that? 250 total, 8 wasn't it? 9 MR. GARCIA: Right. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And we had spent a little 11 bit, and I think we were right around 200 still remaining in 12 that funding. 13 MS. PHALAN: Construction budget is 216,000. 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: 216? 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Where are these located, or 16 is that a secret? 17 JUDGE TINLEY: All down in Center Point. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah, Center Point area. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Center Point just getting all 20 fixed up. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Annie Lane, Daniel Lane, and Walnut 22 Lane. 23 MR. GARCIA: These are all specifically in Hill 24 River Country Estates. 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And they need it. 3-26-12 137 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Oh, yeah. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah, they need the help. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: My total that I come up with on 4 those five is 43,350. Is that what you came up with? 5 MS. PHALAN: I wasn't adding, sorry. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, we need to accept? 7 Approve? What are we doing with this? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, number one, we -- we need to 9 accept the bid. 10 MS. PHALAN: At this point, we'll, if it's 11 accepted, send it to -- a small purchase record to the 12 homeowner and have them initial on it, and then from there it 13 will come back to Court and the Judge will sign it. And then 14 we can move forward with a preconstruction meeting and go 15 over all the requirements with the homeowner and the 16 installer, and then sign the contract and then proceed with 17 installation from there. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: So, all we do at this point is to -- 19 is to open and -- 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Accept. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: -- put into the record as to what 22 the proposals are. As our representative, you carry forward 23 from here and work it, and then you bring it back to us for 24 final approval -- 25 MS. PHALAN: Yes. 3-26-12 138 1 JUDGE TINLEY: -- in the contract? 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll make, I guess, a motion 3 to accept. Is that correct? 4 JUDGE TINLEY: That's about all we can do, the way 5 I see it. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second to -- 8 that the proposal as opened be accepted and submitted to our 9 representative for further action. Further question or 10 discussion on that? 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Question. The grant process, 12 again, for our information, on this particular grant closes 13 September 30th or October 1st -- is that correct? 14 MS. PHALAN: October 16th. 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay, we got extended some 16 other time, so we still have some time that we can still try 17 to push this program for folks who need this type of 18 assistance; is that correct? 19 MS. PHALAN: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay, thank you. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Further question or discussion? All 22 in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 3-26-12 139 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Gentlemen, we got a 2 few more items. We can push forward and close this thing 3 out, or we can break for lunch and come back later. 4 What's -- I don't think it will take us too much longer to go 5 ahead and blow through there. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's fine. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Why'd you ask the question, 9 then? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: If you had any violent objection, 11 you had an opportunity to offer it, but you didn't have. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But I didn't. Violent? 13 Okay. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: If you'd have just said something 15 like, "Gee, I'm hungry," -- 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Buzzie's. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: -- that wouldn't have got you 18 anywhere. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. That's all I had for 20 you. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 20; to consider, 22 discuss, take appropriate action to extend the lease with 23 Terry Napper on the Ingram Annex building; authorize County 24 Judge to sign same. Commissioner Oehler? 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: This is a signed extension of 3-26-12 140 1 our lease for the annex at the same amount that we're paying. 2 I just didn't think we -- I thought it was a good idea to 3 extend it to the end of the budget year so we wouldn't be 4 negotiating a new lease in the middle of the budget year, so 5 I got him to agree to give us the same deal till September 6 30th. I move that we accept the extension of lease and have 7 the Judge sign it. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Has the County Attorney seen this? 9 MR. HENNEKE: Yes, sir. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: He wrote it. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Pretty simple. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to extend 14 the matter as indicated. Question or discussion? All in 15 favor, signify by raising your right hand. 16 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 18 (No response.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's go to 20 Item 21; to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 21 approve Chapter 381, Local Government Code, economic 22 development agreement with Robert W. Boerner and authorize 23 County Judge to sign the same. 24 MR. HENNEKE: Gentlemen, this is the agreement to 25 approve the -- reduces to writing the economic development 3-26-12 141 1 package that the Court approved in principle for basically 2 Culligan's. The actual property is owned by Mr. Boerner, and 3 he owns the Culligan business. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: That's the five-year tax abatement; 5 50, 40, 30, 20, 10? 6 MR. HENNEKE: Yes, sir, which -- which kicks into 7 effect January 1st of the year following when he receives the 8 certificate of occupancy from the city for the million-dollar 9 improvements that he's making to that facility. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I make a motion to approve. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 13 approval of the Chapter 381 economic development agreement 14 for the Judge's signature. Question or discussion? All in 15 favor, signify by raising your right hand. 16 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 18 (No response.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Item 22 is 20 to consider, discuss, take appropriate action to approve the 21 agreement for engineering services with Tetra Tech, Inc., 22 regarding the Center Point Wastewater Improvements Project 23 with Clean Water State Revolving Funds, and authorize County 24 Judge to sign same. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, this is -- and Court, 3-26-12 142 1 this is relative to our last meeting; we approved $30,000 for 2 the aerial survey, but that is outside the scope of work of 3 their -- of a current contract we have with Tetra Tech. So, 4 this is a contract so they can contract for this service, and 5 I believe the County Attorney has worked out the details. 6 So, I move approval. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 9 approval. Question or discussion? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Basically, the same stuff we 11 always have with them? 12 MR. HENNEKE: Well, this is new work that we are 13 contracting with them for the sum of 31,000 in furtherance of 14 the East Kerr wastewater project. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Das gut. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? 17 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 18 hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 21 (No response.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's go to 23 Section 4. I assume Item 23 is still an executive session -- 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: -- item? Okay. Let's go to Section 3-26-12 143 1 4 of the agenda. Payment of the bills. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Move we pay the bills. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to pay the 5 bills. Question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, 6 signify by raising your right hand. 7 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 9 (No response.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. We don't have any 11 budget amendments, or at least none that I've seen. 12 MS. HARGIS: No. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Do we have any late bills? 14 MS. HARGIS: I don't believe we do. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. I've been presented with 16 monthly reports from Kerr County Treasurer for February 2012; 17 Kerr County payroll for February 2012; Justice of the Peace, 18 Precinct 1, for February 2012; District Clerk for February 19 2012; Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4, for February 2012; 20 and Constable, Precinct 3, for January and February 2012. Do 21 I hear a motion that the indicated reports be approved as 22 presented? 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Motion to approve. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded that the 3-26-12 144 1 indicated reports be approved as presented. Question or 2 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 3 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. Reports 8 from Commissioners in connection with their liaison or other 9 assignments? Commissioner Oehler? 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No, Judge, not at this time. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, sir, thank you. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Baldwin wants to go to 13 Buzzie's. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's closed. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: But not violently. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, he's closed. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Overby? 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll be at AACOG meetings all 19 day Wednesday, and wrapping up another month there, so that's 20 it. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Commissioner Letz? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we covered most of mine 23 on the agenda today. Nothing further. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Reports from elected 25 officials or department heads? Sheriff? 3-26-12 145 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Just briefly, gentlemen. I 2 think y'all are all aware of the very unfortunate incident 3 that occurred on the courthouse lawn last Friday. I just 4 wanted to reassure the Court that according to the 5 investigation, it had nothing to do with the courthouse 6 itself as to reasons or anything, other than it was just the 7 location. And I do want to thank Tim and his crew; they 8 helped us get it all back and ready and operational for 9 employees and the public before 8 a.m. that morning. And it 10 was just one of those very unfortunate situations that does 11 occur, but it didn't have anything to do with 12 disgruntledness, that we can tell, from the courthouse or 13 anything like that. Just a very unfortunate situation. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Auditor? 16 MS. HARGIS: I'd just like to -- we are in the 17 process of going back on our -- as you remember, on our 18 audit -- our external audit, we have problems with the 19 payables and not signing all the documents with the proper 20 authority. Well, unfortunately, we have about six weeks 21 worth of bills that were prior to this getting fixed, so we 22 are going back, because they will be reviewing those again 23 this next year. So, I realize that it's kind of an 24 inconvenience to everyone, but we're asking all of those who 25 had bills during that time frame, including myself, to please 3-26-12 146 1 sign off on those on the proper documentation. So, we're 2 going to be hitting those court date by court date, and so 3 we're going to be bringing you a lot of paperwork to sign, so 4 please bear with us. This will -- once we get these done, 5 we'll be done, 'cause everything from there forward is -- is 6 correct. But we don't want to get hit again just because 7 we -- so we just want to be -- 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are any of these bills that 9 need to be signed prior to the outside auditor's auditing? 10 MS. HARGIS: Yes, sir, they are. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, how far back are they 12 expecting us to go? This thing's -- this thing's getting a 13 little bit crazy, in my opinion. 14 MS. HARGIS: Well, it's not that they're asking us 15 to go back. They were part of this new current year, so when 16 they come back in next year, they'll be looking at those 17 documents, and they won't be signed, and so that's the reason 18 why we have to do it. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, you're going back to 20 October 1. 21 MS. HARGIS: We're going back to October 1. It's 22 only October and the first court date in November, and so 23 it's not a lot. Some of you have, you know, one or two, but 24 some may have -- you know, Rusty's got a whole bunch, 'cause 25 he has a lot of bills. And some of them were already signed, 3-26-12 147 1 so we're going through and looking just to make sure. And 2 those that are inconvenient to all of y'all, I'm signing 3 those myself, especially for y'all, because I realize you're 4 not here. It's mostly the cover sheets. As long as the 5 invoices are signed, we're good to go. It's just the -- and 6 I'll go ahead and sign the cover sheet. So, I'm -- I 7 apologize. It's just something we have to deal with. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we were made aware of this 9 on -- on the audit for the last fiscal year, but that audit 10 didn't commence until sometime into this fiscal year, so we 11 don't want to take a hickey again this fiscal year when they 12 do it next year. 13 MS. HARGIS: That's correct. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Incidentally, also, I had a 15 discussion with the Auditor about approval of payments that 16 might go to any member of the Court individually; for 17 example, reimbursement of conference fees. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Mm-hmm. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Or, on the other hand, like, 20 approval for reimbursement to the Auditor. Anything to go to 21 the Auditor or members of her department where the -- where 22 the check will be cut personally to them, I will approve 23 that. She, in turn, will approve being the loop to approve 24 anything that goes to any of us on the Court personally, so 25 that we won't run the risk of -- of -- otherwise, you know, 3-26-12 148 1 we'd be approving our own payments, and I don't want that. 2 And I think it's a good safeguard. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Who approves the Sheriff's, 4 and who approves the District Clerk's, and who -- 5 MS. HARGIS: They come through our office. They 6 come through my office. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You sign off on their 8 behalf? 9 MS. HARGIS: Well, generally we check them, and we 10 do -- they ask me to sign an additional on that. Once I let 11 it go through, then it's approved by me. But for me, I'm 12 approving myself, and the Judge, being that -- 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand that. 14 MS. HARGIS: So we were the only two that were kind 15 of left out of the loop, and -- and it's fine with me. That 16 way, I'm covered, and everybody else is covered. We look at 17 all of y'all's anyway. Most of the time, you do not ask for 18 enough mileage or something. It's not that you ask for too 19 much; you usually don't ask for everything. So, it's -- you 20 know, like I said, it's mostly an inconvenience to the 21 Sheriff. I don't think there's too many for any of y'all, 22 but I just wanted to tell everybody, for all the department 23 heads that are here today, that we're apologizing in advance, 24 but we just need them signed. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And I see Bruce looking, and I 3-26-12 149 1 hope I'm right in saying this, 'cause this is the first I 2 heard. All the bills that come through my office, I initial 3 off on every bill. Always have. Always will. It's this 4 cover sheet that we had to start last year, that now we have 5 the bill that's already been initialed off on, but now they 6 have to print out the cover sheet out of the purchase order 7 part of the system, and I have to sign off on that cover 8 sheet. Is that right? 9 MS. HARGIS: That's correct. But -- 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's not that a bill wasn't 11 properly approved, or went through the channels. It's the 12 packaging of that bill. 13 MS. HARGIS: It's the packaging of the bill. And 14 some of the -- and actually, we had gotten a little bit lax, 15 even on some of the invoices. We had been signing them. So, 16 you know, it's kind of a dual-edged sword. And a lot of them 17 were common bills that we normally pay every 30 days, and so 18 people just got to the point where they just sent them 19 through without -- just signing their initials. So, that's 20 where we're at. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But I have a stamp, and if the 22 Auditor doesn't like that, on these cover sheets... That's 23 what gets me. We've approved -- you're approving it twice. 24 You're approving the bill, and then you're having to approve 25 the -- 3-26-12 150 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's right. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- the purchase order. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Better to do it more than once than 4 not at all. Okay. Anybody -- Dawn, you had something? 5 MS. LANTZ: Yes. I just want the Court to know 6 that our healthy wellness program has kicked off with our 7 Sonic Boom. We have 121 employees participating, and they 8 are really challenging each other. I've seen a lot of people 9 change their health habits. They're walking more; they're 10 exercising. We have fierce competition at the Sheriff's 11 Office, here in the courthouse. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Going to get out of control if 13 we're not careful. 14 MS. LANTZ: But the small changes that I've seen 15 within the employees has made a big difference. So, I thank 16 everybody that has signed onto the program, and I hope it is 17 a success where it makes our health premiums go down. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: That's the ultimate goal. Thank 19 you. 20 MS. LANTZ: That's it. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I see a lot of those tennis 22 shoes out there putting on, walking around. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Anybody else? At this time -- any 24 member of the Court have anything else for the public portion 25 that we may have left undone? Hearing nothing, at this time, 3-26-12 151 1 we will go out of open or public session at 12:21 for the 2 purpose of going into executive or closed session. 3 (The open session was closed at 12:21 p.m., and an executive session was held, the transcript of which 4 is contained in a separate document.) 5 - - - - - - - - - - 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. It's 12:30, and we're now in 7 open or public session. Any member of the Court have 8 anything to offer with regard to matters discussed within 9 executive session? Hearing nothing, anything else to come 10 before the Court this session? We're adjourned. 11 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 12:30 p.m.) 12 - - - - - - - - - - 13 14 STATE OF TEXAS | 15 COUNTY OF KERR | 16 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 17 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 18 official reporter for the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 19 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 20 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 3rd day of April, 2012. 21 22 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 23 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 24 Certified Shorthand Reporter 25 3-26-12