1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Regular Session 10 Monday, July 9, 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 July 9, 2012 2 PAGE --- Commissioners' Comments 6 3 1.1 Report from Don Barnett regarding Kerr Economic 4 Development Corporation 9 5 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on responses to Request for Proposals for Show 6 Barn and rainwater system at Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center 11 7 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 8 approve and issue Request for Proposal for construction of Hill Country Youth Exhibition 9 Center – Show Barn facilities 16 10 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to authorize Environmental Health and Animal 11 Control departments to trade vehicles 19 12 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on Memorandum of Understanding between G.B.R.A., 13 U.G.R.A., Kendall County, Kerr County Commissioners Court, Kendall County WCID #1, 14 Headwaters Groundwater Conservation District, and Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District 15 to work together to prepare water study for regional water supply for eastern Kerr County 16 and western Kendall County 20 17 1.7 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to update Court on status of management contract 18 with Kerrville/Kerr County Airport 30 19 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on presentation of Airport FY 13 Budget 32 20 1.6 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 21 airport parking lot proposals received 38 22 1.8 Consider/discuss, approve homeowner for OSSF assistance as part of County's 710065 OSSF grant 40 23 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 24 request extension from Texas Department of Agriculture regarding OSSF projects ongoing 25 in Kerr County (grant recipient); discuss options for future grant applications 41 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) July 9, 2012 2 PAGE 3 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding South Texas Blood and Tissue doing a 4 blood drive 08-01-2012 in courthouse parking lot 46 5 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on approval of Community Collaboration Agreement 6 between Hill Country Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Inc., and Kerr County Court 48 7 1.14 Report from Sheriff Hierholzer on inmate projects 53 8 1.15 Consider/discuss and take appropriate action 9 concerning agenda, format, and other matters related to Aqua Texas public meeting to be held 10 July 11, 2012 at 6 p.m. at UGRA Auditorium 59 11 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on proposal for Road and Bridge uniforms and 12 facilities services from Unifirst 66 13 1.16 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to amend Court Order 31453 by approving Customer 14 Agreement Amendment For eFiling services between Kerr County Clerk and TexasOnline/Texas.gov; 15 authorize County Judge to sign same 70 16 1.17 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to discuss preliminary questions from City of 17 Kerrville regarding proposed ESD #3 for the provision of emergency medical services and to 18 authorize response on behalf of Kerr County 77 19 1.18 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on proposal from Kerrville Rotary Club to place 20 community Christmas tree on courthouse grounds 87 21 1.19 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to make modifications to plans and/or specification 22 to Show Barn facility to accommodate drainage and/or storage 93 23 4.1 Pay Bills 96 24 4.2 Budget Amendments 96 4.3 Late Bills 97 25 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 98 4 1 I N D E X (Continued) July 9, 2012 2 PAGE 3 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments 98 4 5.2 Reports from Elected Officials/Department Heads 100 5 1.20 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on Request for Qualifications for consultant 6 related to employee health insurance 106 7 --- Adjourned 110 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 5 1 On Monday, July 9, 2012, at 9:00 a.m., a regular 2 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in 3 the Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, 4 Kerrville, Texas, and the following proceedings were had in 5 open court: 6 P R O C E E D I N G S 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. 8 Let me call to order this regularly scheduled meeting of the 9 Kerr County Commissioners Court posted and scheduled for this 10 date and time, Monday, July 9, 2012, at 9 a.m. It is that 11 time now. Commissioner Baldwin? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. Would y'all 13 please stand and have a word of prayer with me, and then 14 we'll do the pledge of allegiance. 15 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Please be seated. At 18 this time, if there's any member of the public or audience 19 that wishes to be heard on a matter which is not a listed 20 agenda item, this is your opportunity to come forward and 21 tell us what's on your mind. If you wish to be heard on an 22 agenda item, we'd ask that you fill out a participation form. 23 There should be some located at the rear of the room. If for 24 some reason you don't fill out a participation form, and we 25 get to an agenda item you wish to be heard on, get my 7-9-12 6 1 attention in some manner and I'll give that you opportunity. 2 But right now, if there's any member of the public or 3 audience that wishes to be heard on any matter which is not a 4 listed agenda item, come forward and tell us what's on your 5 mind at this time. Seeing no one coming forward, we'll move 6 on. Commissioner Baldwin? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I don't have anything 8 to talk about. I am just so excited about every item on here 9 today. You're seeing -- seeing government at work, and our 10 citizens participating in it, and it's a good thing. It's -- 11 life is good. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Commissioner Overby? 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Well, obviously, Precinct 4 14 and 2 didn't get their shirt memo here today, but I notice 15 the little similarity in shirts today; those look good. Got 16 an exciting event going on Saturday in Center Point, is our 17 annual fundraising for our Center Point Volunteer Fire 18 Department barbecue. If you want some good old barbecue, 19 come on out, 11 o'clock to 2:00. And, again, this is a big 20 fundraising effort for our east Kerr County Volunteer Fire 21 Department. Number 1, hope to maybe see you out there, have 22 a little barbecue. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I think that's what's going 25 on out there in east Kerr County. Hope to raise a lot of 7-9-12 7 1 funds for a good cause. That's it. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Let? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Going back to the 4th of July, 4 for those that attended, it was a great parade in Comfort, as 5 usual. Well-attended. One of the larger crowds I've seen in 6 recent years, especially on a Wednesday. Surprised me a 7 little bit, and good event. And I'm just glad the weekend's 8 over. I had 60 of Karen's family on Saturday. 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Oh. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It was a long weekend. But, 11 anyway, had a good time with a lot of family and friends, and 12 hope it rains. And that's it. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Did you not get any? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not yet. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Oehler? 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, there's two things -- 17 actually three. First thing is, we have a -- one of our 18 County employees, Charlie Witt's wife, I think, has been 19 placed on hospice care. We need to be in prayer for her and 20 for Charlie. Another one, Dr. John Givens passed away last 21 week, longtime Kerr County person, family. He passed, and 22 that's another one. And the third thing is that in spite of 23 everything, maybe some negatives, Road and Bridge finished 24 the site work out at the Ag Barn facility, and it's ready to 25 go. 7-9-12 8 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Good. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Got a report from Rock 3 Engineering that all the compaction tests, distance tests, 4 everything passed with flying colors, and thanks to Road and 5 Bridge for the fine work they've done so far, and they'll 6 have a little more to do later. But without them, this would 7 have cost us more than we could afford. We need rain. I did 8 get 40 points yesterday. I don't know how, but Bob Reeves 9 and I both had the same amount, but that's pretty good. 10 That's it. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Good, thank you. The Center Point 12 Volunteer Fire Department fundraiser and barbecue that goes 13 on this coming weekend, it's more than just a barbecue. 14 They -- it's a community turnout, a lot of folks from all 15 over the county. They've got one of the biggest silent 16 auction events that I've seen. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Parade. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: So, there's some really neat things. 19 Businesses have participated and -- and got some really neat 20 stuff out there, so go on out and support that volunteer fire 21 department. Those are really our first line of defense. We 22 hear about the wildfires all over the country. We have been 23 hearing that for several months now, and we're pretty doggone 24 lucky here. If we have -- we have those things jump up on us 25 occasionally, and these guys who are not paid, they -- they 7-9-12 9 1 get out there and they take care of it, and we're real 2 fortunate. Commissioner Letz said he had a crowd at his 3 house this past weekend. I had all of my kids, sans one, and 4 10 out of 12 grandkids. Frankly, I wasn't ready for them to 5 leave, but they did anyway. Maybe it was me that caused them 6 to leave; I don't know, but we had a great time, and I was 7 tickled to death. So, let's get on with our agenda. We have 8 a 9 o'clock timed item, which is the first item on our 9 agenda, a report from Don Barnett regarding the Kerr Economic 10 Development Corporation. Mr. Barnett? 11 MR. BARNETT: Good morning. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning, sir. 13 MR. BARNETT: Gentlemen, as you know, about three 14 years ago, the Kerr Economic Development Corporation was 15 formed, and we came, of course, to this body and asked for 16 funding to support us for a three-year period. We're coming 17 close to the end of that two-year period, and so as we look 18 forward, two great things are going on. As you know, there's 19 been a lot of activity in terms of economic development 20 interest in the Kerr area, and we're looking forward to 21 taking an opportunity to make those things happen. So, we'll 22 be coming to you again probably this fall, as we do our 23 tactical plan. We still have a strong strategic plan. Be 24 coming to you this fall, but we'd like to request a 25 three-year rolling support from this -- from this fall 7-9-12 10 1 forward, so you'll be hearing from us about that. Also, I'd 2 like to introduce to you Jonas Titas, who has just joined us; 3 today's his first day. You guys get the first cut at him. 4 He comes to us from a great location, Temple -- Tyler, Texas. 5 And he was in Tyler for six years. Tyler's pretty well-known 6 for its economic development activity under a guy named Tom 7 Mullins, and he's worked for him for six years, some 3,000 8 jobs that he's been involved in retaining. Part of -- the 9 largest part of Tyler's activity really is business retention 10 and expansion, and we look forward to working with Jonas on 11 this project and other projects that we have here in Kerr 12 County. So, he's moved in. He moved in this weekend, so 13 he's unpacking, and so I hope -- and, of course, some of you 14 have already met him, so hopefully you can spend some time 15 with Jonas more while he's here. So, thank you again for 16 your support. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. Any -- any 18 questions for Mr. Barnett? 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What precinct did that young 20 man move into. (Laughter.) I can tell you how this is going 21 to go this fall. 22 MR. BARNETT: Well, he's temporarily living in 23 Precinct 2, but, you know, he'll move around. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Jonas, welcome. 25 MR. TITAS: Thank you very much. 7-9-12 11 1 JUDGE TINLEY: We're glad to have you here, Jonas. 2 We look forward to working with you. 3 MR. TITAS: My pleasure. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Also, Mr. Tom Houdeshell is here 5 with us. He's on the board of directors of the Kerr Economic 6 Development Corporation, and we're glad to have Tom here 7 today. We appreciate -- I serve with those gentlemen, and I 8 assure you, they're a pretty hardworking bunch. We meet 9 monthly, and -- or more frequently as necessary, but it's a 10 -- it's a good organization. Essentially, we are the vetting 11 organization for incentives that are then -- after being 12 vetted by us, our recommendations are presented to the 13 political bodies that have the ability to -- to approve those 14 incentives. But we're tickled to death to have you guys 15 here, and we look forward to working with you some more. 16 Okay. We have a -- an Item 2; consider, discuss, take 17 appropriate action on responses to Requests for Proposals for 18 show barn and rainwater system at the Hill Country Youth 19 Exhibit Center. This essentially was a carryover item from 20 our special meeting of last week dealing with the bids which 21 we received on the show barn facility, coupled with the 22 rainwater system in connection with that. The County 23 Attorney, I think, has done some research on this matter, and 24 I think we probably need to hear from him in this regard. 25 MR. HENNEKE: Certainly. Judge, gentlemen, the 7-9-12 12 1 action item from last week was following receipt of the bids 2 for the show barn facilities, to review those bids. In doing 3 so and receiving the file to make sure that we had complied 4 with the Local Government Code requirements for competitive 5 procurement, and also for spending the type of funds that 6 this project is based on, we discovered that the -- even 7 though we did have many qualified respondents to the Request 8 for Proposal, that the publication -- the public notice in 9 the newspaper had not been published as required by the Local 10 Government Code. And, unfortunately, that's a mandatory 11 requirement, one that we -- even though notice was received 12 in other ways, one that we must comply with. And so we have 13 a fatal error in regards to proceeding forward, and it would 14 be my -- my recommendation that, as authorized by the 15 statute, Commissioners Court reject all bids due to the lack 16 of -- of published notice, and rebid, and we'll follow all 17 the steps this time. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What is the minimum amount of 19 time that we can do for a rebid? 20 MR. HENNEKE: The statute requires that the 21 publication of the first notice has to be at least 14 days 22 before the date of the opening of the bid. So, if you back 23 that out, Mr. Lewis and I were looking at dates last week. 24 But if you think about the time that it would take to get the 25 notice published in the newspaper, I think the -- the 30th of 7-9-12 13 1 July. 2 MR. LEWIS: Yes. 3 MR. HENNEKE: We would suggest the 30th of July as 4 the date for opening of the bids, with the due date for 5 submitting bids to be the Friday before, similar time frame 6 as -- as we had this last go-round. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because of the -- the time 8 issue to have it completed by the end of the year, what are 9 the thoughts about putting a -- a financial incentive and/or 10 penalty to make that date, as it's getting pretty tough right 11 now? 12 MR. HENNEKE: To make the date of bidding? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, to make the date of 14 completion. 15 MR. HENNEKE: You know, the -- it's up to the 16 Court. I would -- I would caution against changing any of 17 the criteria. It's not really a legal issue, but we do have, 18 you know, a bid that was already approved; the specs have 19 already been laid out there, and so if we're changing any of 20 the terms, then you're potentially looking at changing the 21 price or changing the people who respond. But that's really 22 probably more a question for Mr. Lewis' expertise. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let me rephrase it, then. Is 24 there -- is there -- is it legal, if the Court so chose, to 25 offer an incentive after we pick the contractor? I mean, 7-9-12 14 1 just to do a -- not change the bid at all, just -- I'm just 2 very concerned. I mean, we've got to get it finished by the 3 end of the year, and, you know, I'm trying to figure out a 4 way to make sure that happens, and at the same time, not slow 5 the process down. 6 MR. HENNEKE: Well, you know, during the contract 7 negotiation period, I can -- I can look at that. I can't 8 give you an opinion offhand, but if we built -- if we change 9 the specs on the current bid package, then we run the risk 10 that that could -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. 12 MR. HENNEKE: -- change who responds or what that 13 price point is. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Certainly, I don't want to 15 change the specs at all. I'm trying to figure out if there's 16 a way we can -- 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Didn't we have an estimated 18 timeline on our original process, Bruce? Didn't it look like 19 that December 15th was kind of our day? 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Is that correct? 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's what it said. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And so now, with this 24 changing, I can understand, Commissioner Letz, your comments 25 on making sure how we can incentivize that potentially, but 7-9-12 15 1 make sure we stay within that timeline or close to it. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I believe it can happen. 3 It's just a matter that we don't have time to slow this 4 process down. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: We got to be pushing it real hard. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. I understand how to do 9 that. I think. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I move that we -- that 12 we reject all the proposals for the show barn and rainwater 13 system at the Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And can we rebid -- 15 JUDGE TINLEY: No, that's a separate -- 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Next one. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to reject 19 all of the current responses to the Request for Proposals to 20 the show barn and rainwater system at the Hill Country Youth 21 Exhibit Center. Is there any question or discussion? 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I might add that that's with 23 regret. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, that's our bad. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Very sorry that this 7-9-12 16 1 happened, and apologize to all the bidders that took time to 2 do it. Hope they'll resubmit. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Further question or discussion? All 4 in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Item 3 is to 9 consider, discuss, take appropriate action to approve and 10 issue Request for Proposals for construction of Hill Country 11 Youth Exhibit Center show barn facility. I assume that is to 12 include the rainwater cachement system also? 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes. That's all -- I think 14 that's all part of the same package. 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Mm-hmm. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Rob, you want to talk about 17 that a little bit, or do you want me to carry it? I think we 18 pretty well talked about what we need to do, I think, haven't 19 we? 20 MR. HENNEKE: I think so. I mean, I think the 21 action item is to -- with Mr. Lewis' help again, to reissue 22 the bid package as was approved by the Commissioners Court 23 last time, without any changes or modifications. And in 24 looking at the calendar, the fastest that, in my opinion, we 25 could get this done would be to have the deadline for 7-9-12 17 1 submitting bids for the 27th of July, and open bids on the 2 30th. And that would presume that we could have the first 3 notice published in the newspaper by Wednesday. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: The 11th? 5 MR. HENNEKE: Yes, sir. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: So, your suggestion is that we 7 approve the agenda item, with the bid responses to be 8 received not later than, say, 2 p.m. July 27th, 2012, local 9 time -- 2 p.m. local time, with bids to be opened at 10 a.m. 10 on the morning of the 30th? 11 MR. HENNEKE: Yes, sir, assuming those times are 12 convenient -- 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 14 MR. HENNEKE: -- for the Court. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I will make a motion that we 16 approve -- that notice be given and issue Request for 17 Proposal for construction of the Hill Country Youth 18 Exhibition Center, which also includes the rainwater 19 catchment system. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: With the dates that you just 23 mentioned, the 27th at 2 o'clock being the time for bids to 24 be -- be -- 25 JUDGE TINLEY: The deadline for receipt of -- 7-9-12 18 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- be due, and we will open 2 them on the 30th of July at 10 o'clock in the morning. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Motion and second as 4 indicated. Question or discussion on that motion? 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Does anybody misunderstand 6 what we're -- 7 MS. PIEPER: Question. Will Peter Lewis be putting 8 it in the newspaper? 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: County Clerk. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: County Clerk. Do we need to 12 make that part of the motion? 13 MS. PIEPER: Well, no. I just need somebody to get 14 with me and help me with the wording of it, then, because -- 15 MR. HENNEKE: I'd be glad to work with you, 16 Jannett. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Rob said he'd be glad to work 18 with you. 19 MS. PIEPER: Okay. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or discussion? 21 All in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's go to 7-9-12 19 1 Item 4; to consider, discuss, take appropriate action to 2 authorize the Environmental Health and Animal Control 3 Department to trade vehicles; Environmental Health F-150 4 4-by-4 single cab, 5.7-liter V-8, 2010, for the Animal 5 Control F-150 Crewmax cab, 4.6-liter V-8, 2008 model. Y'all 6 just going to swap, huh? 7 MS. WHITT: Pretty much. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 9 MS. WHITT: He doesn't need the 4-by-4, and I can 10 use the 4-by-4, and he could better use the crew cab. So, 11 we'd like to just swap. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Has anybody negotiated any boot in 13 this deal? 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: No boot? 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No boot. 17 MS. WHITT: No. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No. No, don't start. Just 19 between departments. Anyway, one of the reasons, too, is the 20 one that Ray has is lower mileage, and Janie drives a lot 21 more miles than Environmental Health does, so they thought it 22 would be best to just switch vehicles, and save us some money 23 on not having to buy it. 24 MS. WHITT: Exactly. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Appreciate them doing that. 7-9-12 20 1 I move approval. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 4 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion? All in 5 favor, signify by raising your right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 10 MS. WHITT: Thank you. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Thank you. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Ready to go with 11? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think so. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 11; to consider, 15 discuss, take appropriate action on Memorandum of 16 Understanding between Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, Upper 17 Guadalupe River Authority, Kendall County, Kerr County 18 Commissioners Court, Kendall County Water Control and 19 Improvement District Number 1, Headwaters Groundwater 20 Conservation District, and Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation 21 District, to work together to prepare a water study for 22 regional water supply for eastern Kerr County and western 23 Kendall County. Commissioner Letz? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I discussed this several times 25 with the Court. It was out of a meeting that all these 7-9-12 21 1 entities have had relating to water, and actually a little 2 bit some drainage issues in eastern Kerr County and western 3 Kendall County, and trying to work on addressing these 4 problems, especially the water side of it, on a regional 5 basis. The purpose of the M.O.U. is -- it's not binding on 6 any of the parties. It's just really to kind of verbally, I 7 guess, commit that we're going to work together on the 8 project -- on the study, which is the project right now. And 9 the other, probably more important part of it is, there is 10 grant funding available to the Water Development Board for 11 this. And one of the lead -- the lead entity, I suspect, 12 will be Guadalupe Blanco River Authority or the Upper 13 Guadalupe River Authority, or jointly. There has to be some 14 lead party that applies for the grant. But this is really 15 backup information to go to the Water Development Board, 16 develop the scope of work. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Feasibility. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And feasibility to do a -- 19 start a regional study. And that's the purpose of it, just 20 to kind of say, hey, you know, we're working together; we're 21 now committed to working together. There's no financial 22 obligation to any of the parties, and anybody can get out 23 with 30 days notice, so it's pretty loose from an M.O.U. 24 standpoint. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner, is there any 7-9-12 22 1 particular reason that -- from a Kerr County standpoint, that 2 only eastern Kerr County was made the subject of this, as 3 opposed to all of Kerr County? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The only reason was it kind of 5 followed the Water Development Board grant that U.G.R.A. had 6 for providing water to east Kerr County. That's kind of the 7 shell. It's kind of reviving that plan of putting an ASR 8 well in the Center Point area and then supplying east Kerr 9 County and possibly Comfort with that. And the feasibility 10 when U.G.R.A. looked at, really, especially east Kerr County, 11 it financially didn't work, so they had to expand the area in 12 Comfort, was the kind of -- 'cause it was a gravity flow 13 situation, proximity of the area to expand to. I don't know 14 that there's a -- a problem with expanding it. I think we do 15 -- we have to have an area that can be focused on. Now, I 16 don't -- I don't know that it makes a whole lot of sense to 17 include far west Kerr County into it, but it may make 18 sense -- you know, "east Kerr County" is kind of general, and 19 it could include the city of Kerrville area. I've not 20 visited with them, if they have an interest in, you know, 21 participating in or working with us or not. So, that's the 22 reason, you know, it's called east Kerr County, is that 23 that's kind of growing out of the U.G.R.A. planning grant 24 that they had with the Water Development Board previously. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I didn't know whether there 7-9-12 23 1 was some geological differences that might have been the 2 cause of -- of separating west from east, or whether west 3 Kerr was part of another study area, for example. So, I just 4 wasn't sure, so -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. It's -- I mean, I think 6 it's general enough that -- I mean, there's no map that shows 7 what east Kerr County is. I mean, so it could be -- 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: An idea. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It could be a large area or 10 smaller area. It's just that from a groundwater standpoint, 11 if you get into the Center Point general area, or east of 12 Kerrville, that groundwater starts having more of an impact 13 on the Comfort area, which is western Kendall County, their 14 water district. So, it's just kind of a -- a general term. 15 I don't know that it would be limited, you know, say to that 16 area. If you start looking at using water out of the 17 Guadalupe River, by doing that, it will obviously grow, 18 because you can't move water rights around and change water 19 rights without looking at the entire Guadalupe basin. So, I 20 mean, it's going to have some issues related to that whole 21 area anyway. So, anyway, I don't think it's structured -- 22 the way the M.O.U.'s worded right now is to exclude more of 23 Kerr County than would be called east Kerr County, which is 24 kind of Center Point east. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I suppose eastern Kerr County could 7-9-12 24 1 be defined as everything east of Ingram, for example. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: East of Precinct 4. 3 (Laughter.) 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I just -- I think, 5 Commissioner Letz, you know, with the recent news of the 6 wastewater funding coming down through the T.W.B., Texas 7 Water Development Board, for the design and acquisition, I 8 think it's just -- I think it's paramount that we take the 9 partners here in forming a memorandum of understanding so 10 that we start looking at the feasibility of the water out in 11 that particular area, as we look at all of the utility needs 12 that are out in that area. And so I think feasibility study, 13 again, getting funding, getting on that process, getting 14 everybody on board and trying to get that funding to do that 15 is not an easy process that we have found out. It takes time 16 to go through with our wastewater component, but, you know, 17 we have made a lot of -- a lot of track improvements on that 18 down the road with that particular part of the phase. It's 19 moving well down the road. So, I think it's kind of exciting 20 to -- to get these different organizations on board and to 21 look at trying to go out for getting a feasibility and 22 planning -- plan for our water side of this for the next 23 several years. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, of course, my -- my questions 25 weren't meant to imply that we don't need the study. My 7-9-12 25 1 question was, do we need a larger one? And it may ultimately 2 develop into that. As you say, if we get into the -- the 3 surface water from the Guadalupe River, it's going to 4 necessarily entail that. But we start here, and if it grows, 5 why, we expand it. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I just received an 7 e-mail from Ray Buck, and -- and it has some minor tweaks to 8 the agreement, so I think we really probably won't vote on it 9 today. I'd rather vote on the final actual document, but 10 just more of an information as to where we're going with it, 11 and we can look at -- you know, I'll bring up some of the 12 other parts, you know, possibly expanding it a little bit 13 more to the -- to the west. Because, certainly, whatever -- 14 because of the large assumption done by city of Kerrville, 15 whatever Kerrville does impacts Kerr County. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Certainly, sure. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So -- 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's good. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, we're going to bring that one 21 back. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I've got a couple 23 questions I want to kind of get cleared up before we go any 24 further. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, sir? 7-9-12 26 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: When we talk about a study, 2 I'm not real clear about what we're studying. Are we going 3 to -- are we getting to the point now to where we're looking 4 at real science of how much water's actually down there and 5 things like that? It uses language here like it might. But 6 I know we've been yelling about that for 25 years that I know 7 of, and -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- I don't know that I 9 can answer it directly. I think certainly this study will 10 start looking at the science, and either verify what's there 11 or try to, you know, adjust it. I think it's a little bit, 12 you know, probably more a general study as to how you meet 13 the needs. One of the issues that I know that the study's 14 going to look at is Kerr County's 6,000 acre feet that's 15 currently in Canyon Lake. Is there any way to get that water 16 up here? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And how would you -- legally, 19 how do you do that? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And do you need it? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, and do you need it? You 22 know, so that's -- 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It also uses the words 24 "wastewater facilities" in here, so is that -- is that to 25 enhance the Center Point program? 7-9-12 27 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think it enhances it, 2 but you start talking -- it does put the return flow issue on 3 the table as they're -- you know, there's Kerr County 4 groundwater going to be released or available out of Kendall 5 County at their -- the water improvement district, so it does 6 put that discussion on that. Another issue that is being 7 looked at, and it's kind of -- this is why I say it's pretty 8 broad, is that there's a floodplain map issue in Comfort 9 right now because of the new FEMA maps that were supposed to 10 show floodplain. So, that community is very concerned about 11 that, and they're looking at the possibility of maybe putting 12 together some surface drainage structures that could also be 13 used for -- for water impoundment, dual-purpose, and then use 14 that for some sort of an A.S.R. agreement. 15 I know they want to look at -- the T.C.E.Q. has 16 very strict requirements on A.S.R. right now, and injecting 17 water back into the ground almost has to be to a drinking 18 water standard before you can put it back. They're going to 19 look at, I think from a science standpoint, does it really 20 have to get to a drinking water standard? Because by nature, 21 river and rainwater is going into these aquifers, so you do 22 have -- I mean, so they're looking at things of that nature. 23 So, they're looking at a lot of different issues and trying 24 to -- there's an overview, and I suspect that would then be a 25 subsequent study that would go into more of the specific 7-9-12 28 1 science. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And then it uses these three 3 words, "identify institutional arrangements." What in the 4 hell is that? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's a lawyer. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. All right. I don't 7 want to know. (Laughter.) I don't want to know any more 8 about it. And so the first "whereas," it says, "The State of 9 Texas desires political subdivisions to cooperate." Does 10 that -- you know, do they provide all the money? Being that 11 they desire this study, do they provide all the money? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We don't know. There's no 13 discussion that I'm aware of, of Kerr County putting any 14 money forward. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Grants. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It looks like it's grants. 18 Now, there may be -- I would suspect, because of a lot of 19 grants have maybe some in-kind contribution, which would 20 be -- you know, but I think that would really be more 21 U.G.R.A. and Headwaters. They're the -- they have the type 22 of in-kind work that would be used. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But it says here that 24 there's -- no party shall be obligated to spend any funds. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 7-9-12 29 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But we've heard that one 2 before. Okay, thank you very much. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'd just add, you know, other 4 things -- you know, we've had some preliminary talks about -- 5 you know, take even this last year; I know there are a lot of 6 discussions on this, just typical -- just this discussion as 7 well. But, you know, other things as you look at planning, 8 the possibility of some of the mining operations that are in 9 east Kerr County, the possibility of using water in planning 10 down the road someday. There may be some opportunities for 11 water reservation or those types of things that may develop 12 down the road as well. So, a lot of things to be looked at 13 in planning for long-term water use for this county for the 14 next, you know, 100 years. So, it's a good thing. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is a long-term process, 16 and I suspect that this will be going on after I'm no longer 17 sitting in this chair. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's right. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it needs to get started, 20 and it's -- it is exciting to see all of the entities, you 21 know, this group of entities agree -- 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, good bunch. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- to work together on a common 24 goal. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good bunch. Thank you. 7-9-12 30 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's it. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else on that item, 3 gentlemen? Let's go back to our first 9:30 timed item -- 4 excuse me. On the 9:30 timed items, I want to take up Number 5 7 first; to consider, discuss, take appropriate action to 6 update the Court on the status of the management contract 7 with the Kerrville/Kerr County Airport. Commissioner Letz? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. I just wanted to -- it's 9 a little bit out of order on the agenda, but I think it'll 10 help the other two items go a little bit quicker, possibly. 11 Commissioner Overby and I met with Mayor Pratt and Councilman 12 Conklin, oh, a week or so ago about the management contract 13 and if it should go forward, or kind of the status of that at 14 the airport. And I think there was kind of -- the agreement 15 out of that conversation -- that meeting was that that is 16 a contract or agreement between Kerr County and the Airport 17 Board, and the City's really not a direct party to that. 18 Their involvement really comes through budgetary approval. 19 Therefore, if a budget was submitted that did not include the 20 management contract, that would be the way to -- to move 21 forward from the city standpoint. And that kind of was 22 relayed back to the Airport Board, and the Airport Board, I 23 think, is -- is likely to be presenting a budget without a 24 management contract. And I should note that that budget 25 format is substantially less than the one with a management 7-9-12 31 1 contract. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the reason is, we have been 4 viewed -- "we" being the County, have been billing on really 5 a cost-plus basis this year, as opposed to a contract basis. 6 And if we had billed on a contract basis, year-to-date, the 7 City would have paid the County $79,500, but on a cost-plus 8 basis, we've billed about 41,000 for these first six, seven 9 months, so it's been a substantial savings that everybody can 10 really see. And the reason we kind of did that is that we 11 have no reason -- frankly, I don't think it's proper to make 12 a profit, you know, taxing a government entity. So we're 13 moving, I think, to the final step, or going that direction 14 of getting the airport as a stand-alone entity. It will be 15 very transparent. Employees that are currently Kerr County 16 employees we'll move to the airport without a management 17 contract. And to me, it's the way to go, and it's the way to 18 start to save money and make -- hold that airport 19 accountable. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I just -- 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Under that scenario, each 22 entity would just fund whatever -- 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Whatever the shortfall is. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- whatever the shortfall is. 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'd like to just add that 7-9-12 32 1 meeting was very positive last week, visiting with Mayor 2 Pratt and Councilman Conklin, so I thought it was a very -- 3 very positive meeting. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Definitely a step in the 5 right direction. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Anyway, that's kind of the 7 background, and then I'll turn it over to whoever's doing the 8 rest of it. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, we'll get to that. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The presentations and stuff. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any more questions, comments 12 with regard to that agenda item with regard to the management 13 contract? Let's go to Item 5, another 9:30 timed item; to 14 consider, discuss, take appropriate action on presentation of 15 the airport fiscal year 2013 budget. We got Mr. King here, 16 who's the chairman of the Kerr County -- Kerrville/Kerr 17 County Joint Airport Board, I believe is what it's called. 18 MR. KING: Yes, sir. Stephen King. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning. 20 MR. KING: Nice to be here. Good to see you guys. 21 I hope you have a copy of our proposed budget in your agenda 22 folder. We approved -- at our last meeting, we approved two 23 budgets in hopes that we could get this done. We approved a 24 budget with the management contract and one without the 25 management contract. And after Commissioner Letz and 7-9-12 33 1 Commissioner Overby had a meeting, we had a meeting with -- 2 Bruce McKenzie, our Airport Manager, had a meeting with 3 myself with the Mayor and the City Manager and the Finance 4 Director, Mike Erwin; we had a meeting to go over our budget, 5 and we decided that we're really presenting the budget 6 without the management contract. So, we're going to be 7 moving the one and a half -- the one full-time employee and 8 the seasonal employee we have over to our -- move over to our 9 side, and the County is -- in this new scenario, the County 10 will provide H.R. services for us so that we can continue 11 with the same retirement plan and everything that Bruce has, 12 and -- and they'll provide H.R., and they'll still be doing 13 the financials and paying the bills for us. 14 But we discussed at the meeting with -- with the 15 Mayor and City Manager that I think we're probably -- 16 hopefully we're on the road to maybe taking all of this over, 17 and the airport taking over all these responsibilities. And 18 the only input from the two -- two owners will be basically 19 approval of the budget, which is the way it was structured a 20 long time ago when Bill Williams envisioned this. So, that's 21 what our plan is. We're going to try this, try and see how 22 this works for a year, and then hopefully be able to roll the 23 rest of this in there, and be able to take the whole thing 24 over for you guys. We're probably still going to require 25 H.R. from somebody, because we just don't -- we are paying 7-9-12 34 1 for all of our -- in this new budget, we're paying for our 2 insurance. We're paying for both of our insurance; we're 3 paying for all of our FICA and everything like that. We have 4 been. All you guys are basically doing is the management of 5 the H.R. for us, and going on y'all's system. By doing that, 6 the budget for this year is -- last year's budget was 7 433,138. Total budget this year is going to be $397,705. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Run those by me again? 9 MR. KING: It would be -- last year was 433,138, 10 Commissioner. This year is going to be 397,705. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Headed in the right 12 direction. 13 MR. KING: So it's a savings of about 30 -- 14 $35,000, what we think we can save. And by doing that, we -- 15 with our meeting with the City Manager, we decided we're -- 16 well, it's going to be a revenue-neutral budget, so we're 17 asking -- we're going to be reducing both of our entities' 18 contributions by $19,599. So, this year we're only going 19 to -- instead of 110,000 from each entity last year, this 20 year we're only going to be asking for $90,401 from each 21 entity. And I'm hopeful -- I told the Mayor and City Manager 22 if we -- there's some things coming online next year, in next 23 year's budget, that should increase our revenues by $65,000 24 to $80,000, the hangar that we'll be taking over. And I'm 25 hopeful that, you know, we'll be going in the right 7-9-12 35 1 direction. We'll get you guys -- in the next two or three 2 years, we can get your contribution down to zero, or very 3 close. You know, so that's always been the goal. That's one 4 of our goals of our strategic plan is to make this thing 5 operate revenue-neutral, or hopefully revenue-positive at 6 some point. 7 So, we're -- if you guys have any questions on this 8 budget, we're -- like I say, we'll reduce your contribution. 9 The revenue is -- is up a little bit over last year. A 10 little bit, just a small amount. We've added -- we added 11 back in -- after talking the Mayor and City Manager, we -- 12 we've added back in two mowing cycles on this budget, because 13 we got away last year with a lot less mowing, but this year, 14 even in the drought circumstances we're in, that we're -- 15 we've already run out of money for our mowing deal, so we're 16 going to be taking money out of our -- out of our 17 contingency, out of our fund -- actually, out of our fund to 18 cover it, our operating fund. But in this budget that I'm 19 presenting to you guys, we've added $15,000 extra to the 20 budget. So, what we'll need at our next meeting -- which our 21 meeting is next week, Bruce? 22 MR. McKENZIE: Next Monday. 23 MR. KING: Next Monday. We're going to approve -- 24 we're going to have to reapprove the budget of 397,705. So, 25 what we are asking from the Commissioners Court, and we'll be 7-9-12 36 1 asking the Council tomorrow night, is approval of this budget 2 with the caveat or the understanding that we will be 3 approving -- we'll be reapproving the budget for $15,000 more 4 in our meeting next Monday. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Mayor Pratt, this goes before the 6 Council the following evening; is that correct? 7 MAYOR PRATT: That's correct. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: And based upon the recent discussion 9 of the management contract, the other recommendations that 10 Mr. King talked about, from the City standpoint, looks like 11 it's a strong go over at your place? 12 MAYOR PRATT: We haven't heard anything negative 13 about it. You have two people from Council who met, as 14 Commissioner Letz informed us, so that's all I could speak to 15 at this time. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. You're confident that it's 17 going to -- 18 MR. KING: I think so. The City Manager was 19 really -- he felt like this was the direction that we needed 20 to be going on this thing. And, like I say, the Mayor, and 21 Jonathan met with Councilman Conklin, and Guy did -- 22 Commissioner Overby did. So I think -- you know, I think 23 this thing is -- I think we're heading in the right 24 direction, and I think this is the proper way to run the 25 airport. It probably is. 7-9-12 37 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 2 MR. KING: I mean, I think it's the way that it was 3 always envisioned, was to be a self -- self-governing entity, 4 with budget oversight by the two owners. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: The folks that are providing the 6 money approve the budget. 7 MR. KING: Exactly. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Good. 9 MR. KING: Questions? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we 11 approve the budget as presented today, which is slightly 12 different than the budget previously approved by the Airport 13 Board, and that budget will be reapproved by the Airport 14 Board. 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I will second that. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: That's going to include the -- 17 MR. KING: Two mowing. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: -- money for the two mowing cycles? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Two mowing cycles. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or comment on 21 that motion? All in favor, signify by raising your right 22 hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 7-9-12 38 1 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's go to 2 -- thank you, Mr. King. Let's go to Item 6, if we might. 3 Consider, discuss, take appropriate action on the parking lot 4 proposals received for the Kerrville/Kerr County Airport. 5 MR. KING: We're going to -- I'll give you an 6 overview of this project, but we're going to table this thing 7 till next month. There's a few bids that we had out there 8 that haven't come back on this thing. We're building -- we 9 want -- we would like to build a parking lot at the airport 10 to try to alleviate some of the problems we've had since we 11 built the terminal. Ran out of money -- I wasn't on the 12 board at the time, but I understand they ran out of money, 13 and so the parking lot is kind of -- most people don't park 14 in the -- the overflow parking in our parking lot is on the 15 side of a hill up against the fence, one of the perimeter 16 fences, and everybody just parks their cars there. And we 17 have a huge amount of cars that are left there on a yearly 18 basis. They just leave them there for the whole year; 19 hunters, people that have houses here that come in from 20 Houston every month or something like that, and they just 21 leave their cars here. And so at any -- on any given day 22 when you go to the airport, there will be 70 -- you know, 50 23 to 70 cars parked in the parking lot; there's nobody there. 24 So, we have an overflow parking lot that's over by the 25 AirLIFE people -- Air Evac? 7-9-12 39 1 MR. McKENZIE: Air Evac. 2 MR. KING: That's the other guys, Air Evac. But 3 we'd like to build a parking lot really close to the 4 terminal, and we're going to build this parking lot in 5 conjunction with help of the City and the County paving it 6 and building it, and we are going to pay for the rest of it 7 out of RAMP grant, and it's not going to cost anybody any 8 money, other than it's going to come out of our RAMP grant 9 money. And then the -- half of the money that we put in will 10 come out of our -- our fund -- out of our operating fund. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Be more of a long-term parking lot. 12 MR. KING: It will pay for itself. We'll charge -- 13 we're going to charge people to park their cars. It will be 14 lit. We hope to -- in the next phase, to put some covered 15 parking there and be able to offer some covered parking in 16 it. And it's the same thing -- a lot of airports already 17 have this, and especially if they have deer hunting in the 18 area. They have a lot of people that park overnight, so -- 19 but I'm going to get -- I want to give you guys the exact 20 numbers on it so there's no surprises on it. We have a few 21 numbers still lacking, so I'll come back at your next meeting 22 after we get -- it's probably going to be about a $58,000 23 project, but we'll get half of it paid for by the State, so 24 I'll come back at the next meeting and give you a complete 25 summary. I just wanted to give you an overview of it. 7-9-12 40 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Have you had an opportunity to meet 2 Mr. Titas from the new E.D.? They're gone now, but -- 3 MR. KING: Yeah, I did. I met him outside; I met 4 him in the hall. I did. So, anyway, this is one project 5 we've been working on for a while. I think it'll help -- it 6 will alleviate a lot of congestion out there at the airport. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Thank you, sir. 8 MR. KING: Thank you. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Thank you. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll bring that back when you're 11 ready. 12 MR. KING: All right. Appreciate it. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to our first 9:45 timed 14 item; to consider, discuss, and approve homeowner for the 15 O.S.S.F. assistance at the following address as part of the 16 County's 710065 O.S.S.F. grant: 113 Ridge Crest in 17 Kerrville, 78028. That's in western Kerrville South. I've 18 never heard it called western Kerrville South, or eastern 19 Kerrville South. Have you, Commissioner? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, sir, I haven't. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Ms. Phalan? 22 MS. PHALAN: Good morning. This is the 11th 23 homeowner we have as part of the grant, and Grantworks has 24 reviewed her application and she is eligible. And then the 25 Kerr County Environmental Health Department has gone out and 7-9-12 41 1 reviewed her property as well. So, we just need to approve 2 her. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: So we can add that one? Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Motion to approve. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 7 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor, signify by 8 raising your right hand. 9 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 11 (No response.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carried. Item 9 is to 13 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to request 14 extension from the Texas Department of Agriculture under 15 Contract 710065 regarding O.S.S.F. projects ongoing in Kerr 16 County, as the grant recipient. The extension request would 17 be for six months, from October 16th of this year to March 18 16th next year, and discuss options for future grant 19 applications. Ms. Phalan? 20 MS. PHALAN: Just to start with the current status 21 of the O.S.S.F. project, as part of the round one, we had 22 five homeowners that were all in Center Point colonia, and 23 construction is complete on those. We're just waiting for 24 final permitting approval. And as part of our kind of second 25 push to get additional applicants in round two, we have had 7-9-12 42 1 six people now approved, and the site evaluation has started 2 on five of those. And as stated here, the current end date 3 is October 16th. It's kind of -- it's going to be a little 4 tough to get the construction completed. We'll have to do 5 site evaluation and then go out for bids for the 6 installation, and then construction has to be done on October 7 16th. And so the -- kind of the original intention of the 8 grant was for 20 homes to be -- septic system replaced, but 9 right now we just have 11. And we've definitely got a lot 10 more interest since the first round. We had -- well, I guess 11 we've had, since -- kind of 11 additional applicants since 12 April, and we're hoping to get additional people, so we think 13 this extension would allow for us to hopefully reach 20, but 14 we'll see. It's just 11 right now. 15 But kind of what goes up as part of the extension, 16 we need to consider the future applications. And I have 17 here -- there's, you know, two different types of funds. The 18 community development fund, those deadlines are -- the 19 deadline for that application will be October 26th. So, to 20 apply for the grant, we would have to close out the current 21 septic system grant. However, chances for funding under this 22 -- the community development fund are very slim based on 23 county scores due to community distress scoring factor, which 24 considers poverty and income and the per capita property tax. 25 And then other activities such as drainage and streets are 7-9-12 43 1 usually unfundable with the scoring deductions. So, kind of 2 what Eric Hartzell has kind of proposed is that the County 3 could do the extension on this current grant, which could 4 allow for more money use, and not apply until we -- until the 5 deadline for the colonia fund grant, which won't be until 6 early 2013. So, we could get an extension and then skip the 7 community development fund and then come in for the colonia 8 funds. And the colonia funds, the chances for funding of 9 first-time public water or sewer is very good, and the 10 application could combine these activities with additional 11 O.S.S.F. replacements if needed, if there is -- if the need 12 is still present. And then this grant will be the best bet 13 for finishing any remaining connections and lines needed in 14 Kerrville South. And funding here would be available in 15 summer of 2013, or more likely summer of 2014. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: That's under the C.D.B.G. grant? 17 MS. PHALAN: Yes. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. And we do have some 19 first-time water and sewer that we can put in a line for 20 those? 21 MS. PHALAN: Yes. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 23 MS. PHALAN: Yes. Eric was thinking, 'cause -- 24 kind of an update as well on the current Kerrville South 25 application, the 2011-2012 colonia application which is still 7-9-12 44 1 pending, we're expecting a favorable funding announcement 2 this summer. And this is a $500,000 award for the Kerrville 3 South wastewater collection system, so he's kind of thinking 4 we could use the remaining funds -- or remaining work in a 5 future application. 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Judge and Commissioners -- 7 Emily, thank you for that. I had a chance to visit with Eric 8 last week and put this on, and glad to have you here for your 9 presentation today. Thank you for being here to do that. 10 The extension that Emily presented to the Court on the 11 particular grant here for the wastewater systems, it was 12 slow, as we all know, getting off the ground, but it's taken 13 a lot of word of mouth now out in the community. Now we have 14 11 folks who have now -- we've approved our 11th one to take 15 advantage of this. This gives some other opportunities for 16 folks out there now to take advantage of this funding to 17 help. Even if we don't get to 20, if we get to 17 or 18, 18 that's really a big, positive opportunity. I did visit with 19 Ray Garcia down with our Environmental Health Department. 20 Ray felt also very positive about trying to extend this out 21 to March 16th, allow a little bit more time as well to work 22 with, and that was also Eric's recommendation as he visited 23 with you. 24 The Kerrville South wastewater project, I'm glad 25 that you mentioned that. We've kind of been in a holding 7-9-12 45 1 pattern. We are currently, from what I understand -- I don't 2 know if Eric told you; we're third on that list of -- of 3 funding requests as far as projects coming -- coming down. 4 Again, we're talking about Phase 5 of that project. Again, 5 the money, we were hoping to have some announcement, I think, 6 in June. It didn't happen, and now it's got pushed into 7 July, and so we're still waiting for that announcement to be 8 done. But that's still very positive in moving forward. So 9 its good to hear that hopefully will be released soon so they 10 can start their design and engineering work on that project 11 as well. But thank you for coming and sharing that with us 12 today. 13 MS. PHALAN: Yes. 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: With that, I'd like to -- the 15 Judge has a comment. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: What -- you feel favorably about the 17 request for extension? 18 MS. PHALAN: Yes. I looked at the dates, and 19 actually, the County didn't even receive the contract until 20 December, but the contract start date was October 2010, so 21 we've got two months there that at least some degree. But I 22 think they will consider that, the fact that we've had a lot 23 of trouble getting applications in. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. You had a motion, 25 Commissioner? 7-9-12 46 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yes. I'd like to make, 2 Judge, a motion to request the extension from the Texas 3 Department of Agriculture, Contract Number 710065 regarding 4 the O.S.S.F. projects ongoing in Kerr County to be extended, 5 the request from October 16th, 2012, to March 16th, 2013. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I second that motion. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: And I would be authorized to execute 8 any documents needed in connection therewith as Grantworks 9 represents? 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yes, that's correct. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any question or discussion on 12 the motion? All in favor, signify by raising your right 13 hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 16 (No response.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Thank you, ma'am. 18 MS. PHALAN: Thank you. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thank you. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 12; to consider, 21 discuss, take appropriate action regarding South Texas Blood 22 and Tissue doing a blood drive on August 1st of this year 23 here at the county courthouse parking lot. Ms. Lantz? 24 MS. LANTZ: Good morning, Commissioners, Judge. 25 This is just their quarterly time where they would like to 7-9-12 47 1 use our parking lot to do the blood drive again this year. 2 Last time was in April of this year, and they had called and 3 requested if they can use our parking lot for August. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 7 approval. Question or discussion? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is -- does anybody know of 9 an issue? Do we have a problem? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: It's just a matter of we designate 11 some area where they can park that -- that coach that they 12 use to do their -- 13 MS. LANTZ: They like the Sidney Baker side. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: I think their success -- 15 MS. LANTZ: Yes. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: -- the response is pretty good when 17 they have it here at the courthouse. 18 MS. LANTZ: It is. That's why they like doing it 19 here. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's good. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: You know. They also, I think, come 23 in the building and they drag various people out of here, 24 and -- 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, lawyers. Blood. 7-9-12 48 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Bloodsuckers. (Laughter.) 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I wasn't going to say that, 3 but... 4 MS. LANTZ: Thank you. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Questions -- other questions 6 or comments? All in favor, signify by raising your right 7 hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carried. Item 13 is to 12 consider, discuss, take appropriate action on approval of the 13 Community Collaboration Agreement -- excuse me -- between 14 Hill Country Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse and Kerr 15 County Court. This is an agreement that we enter into -- we 16 enter into annually. It's a nonexclusive agreement for 17 referral of services to that agency for assistance in cases 18 involving alcohol and drug abuse. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I have a question -- 20 couple of questions, -- 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All right, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- if you don't mind. I've 23 been asking these same questions for years. Under the Hill 24 Country Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse agreement, and 25 under ours as well -- or yours, actually, they provide a 7-9-12 49 1 16-week outpatient treatment program. Could you tell me what 2 that is? 3 JUDGE TINLEY: No, sir. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And where I'm headed is, is 5 this community ever going to get some in-house treatment 6 facility going again like it -- like there used to be at the 7 State Hospital? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, you're referring to when we 9 had the drug and alcohol -- 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Correct. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: -- facility out at Kerrville State 12 Hospital, which, of course, state funding was virtually 13 eliminated for cases solely involving drug or alcohol abuse, 14 and that facility was mothballed, and has now been renovated 15 and is being used for the Crisis Stabilization Unit for 16 mental health services for civil commitments and -- and cases 17 not involving the forensic patients that the Kerrville State 18 Hospital has taken over. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So we provide a 16-week 20 outpatient treatment program, as opposed to any kind -- what 21 in the world is that? 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Well -- 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If someone has a drug or 24 alcohol problem, they go somewhere and say, "Hey, I'm still 25 alive"? I mean, what -- I don't -- I don't understand what 7-9-12 50 1 that is. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: It's fairly common to have what they 3 call follow-on or follow-up programs to facilities, for 4 example, such as La Ha, Starlite, and a lot of those 5 organizations have their own outpatient program where, once 6 their patient is discharged from inpatient treatment, they 7 can return back to those facilities for voluntary outpatient. 8 You also have instances in which the courts mandate, say, for 9 example, as a condition of probation, that -- that 10 probationers participate in these types of programs. The 11 unfortunate thing about nonprofit or -- or government-funded 12 alcohol and drug abuse facilities, they're virtually -- 13 virtually gone. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, nonexistent. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: We had one that we were utilizing in 16 connection with our juvenile justice program, and it just 17 continually teetered on viability because of the economics, 18 and it's finally gone by the wayside. I am not aware of any 19 presently in Kerr County that provide inpatient alcohol and 20 drug abuse treatment based on nonprofit or governmental 21 funding. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So you, as a judge of the 23 County Court, you will refer adult clients to a 16-week 24 outpatient treatment program? 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I would have that authority under 7-9-12 51 1 conditions of probation, for example, yes. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Where would they go for this 3 outpatient treatment program? 4 JUDGE TINLEY: This organization has facilities at 5 102 Business Drive. I don't recall exactly where that is. I 6 think it's out here at the -- at the industrial park, if I'm 7 not mistaken, but they have facilities in which they conduct 8 those outpatient programs. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: A.A. meetings? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, of a fashion, yeah. And -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right, thank you. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: We have an outpatient treatment 13 program for juvenile offenders also that's not operated by 14 these folks, but this is nonexclusive, anyway. This is just 15 one resource. If there are others available, certainly, they 16 can be utilized. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Well, the bottom line 18 is, if you -- if you have a problem in that arena, you can go 19 to La Hacienda or Starlite. You got to have really good 20 insurance or 60,000 bucks cash for a month. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Otherwise, everybody else is 23 -- goes to these after-care deals. But you're after-caring 24 something that maybe they haven't -- 25 JUDGE TINLEY: That they didn't get the care up 7-9-12 52 1 front for. Yeah, I understand. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just think it's a travesty 3 that they closed that facility at the State Hospital -- what, 4 25 years ago or something? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, Commissioner, I would suggest 6 to you that treatment for alcohol and drug abuse and mental 7 health services for law-abiding, taxpaying citizens has taken 8 a sharp decline over the years. I don't know whether that 9 relates to the fact that those folks generally either aren't 10 eligible to vote, or don't vote regularly, but that probably 11 doesn't have anything to do with it, don't you imagine? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I expect. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval of the agreement 16 with -- the Community Collaboration Agreement between Hill 17 Country Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse and Kerr County 18 Court, -- 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- and allow County Judge to 21 sign same. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion and second as indicated. 23 Question or discussion? All in favor, signify by raising 24 your right hand. 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7-9-12 53 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 2 (No response.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion carries. Let's go to 4 Item 14 for a report from Sheriff Hierholzer, reference 5 inmate projects. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Can you turn it so they can 7 see a little bit more? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is this W.R. Hierholzer? 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. Believe it or not, I 10 think you're going to enjoy this report. One, I'm not going 11 to say much. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're on the right track 13 there. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Already on the right track. I 15 figured you'd like that. The other one is, I think it's time 16 that y'all actually get to see -- you can see some of what 17 the inmates actually do out there. We had fun with it. 18 (Sheriff played a video for the Court.) 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That was the first one. So, 20 just to give you an idea, as of last week, we've given Meals 21 on Wheels program over 700 pounds of vegetables out of that 22 garden. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's fantastic. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Just them alone. I really 25 think it's been a good project for inmates. You can see 7-9-12 54 1 we're using both males and females we're able to use out 2 there. And as we speak, Road and Bridge is kind enough to 3 help us put the pad in there through other profits, not 4 taxpayer dollars. Through commissary, next week they're 5 going to start installing a rainwater catchment system with a 6 65,000-gallon storage tank to catch rainwater off the roof of 7 the jail for the garden. I think it's really turning out 8 pretty good. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: I wanted to mention that this -- all 10 this facility was done through the commissary -- 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: -- funds, which those are generated 13 out of commissary operations, and you're limited in what you 14 can utilize those funds for, but this is one of the purposes 15 that you deemed was appropriate. We have a contract for the 16 feeding of the inmates out at the jail. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. We could use some of 18 it, but right now the County is paying $1.26 a meal to feed 19 the inmates, okay? No matter how much of the vegetables that 20 we actually put in, you know, we could put them in there and 21 maybe gradually, we can really get enough, but right now, 22 talking with those people, they're willing for us to do it, 23 but currently it wouldn't be enough to really offset our 24 cost. So, without offsetting our cost and dropping the 25 in-house cost, I think we'd do a lot better good for the 7-9-12 55 1 community giving it to the Meals on Wheels, women's shelter, 2 and K'Star, so that's why we elected to do that. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Have you -- I know you're going to 4 get a pretty good-size volume with a lot of that stuff from 5 time to time. Have you made an effort to identify other 6 nonprofits that would be appropriate recipients? 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We'll look at some of those. 8 Meals on Wheels, they go through an average of 60 pounds of 9 vegetables per day, is what it takes for their Meals on 10 Wheels program, so right now they could use a whole lot of 11 it. You know, and they get some from other area gardeners 12 around, you know, people that just have little backyard 13 gardens and that do donate to help them. But I really think 14 that program is -- is well deserving of it. The next one is 15 to let you know what B.J. does, Buster. Just -- I think it's 16 a good deal to show what those outside trustees dressed in 17 the black and white stripes actually do. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I want to make a comment 19 about the garden thing first, -- 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- please. I have recently 22 been in contact with the editor of County Progress, which is 23 the magazine that goes to every elected county official in 24 the state of Texas, and they have a desire to do an article 25 on the garden program. 7-9-12 56 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And I have to comment. Pam's 2 the one that would be putting that together for them, and 3 she's off, so the one that put this together -- Pam's the 4 Crime Prevention and that, so we may show this to some of the 5 other places to let them know what your jail does. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rusty, before you go on, on the 7 rainwater harvesting, I know that -- I think the Court knows 8 what you're planning out there. I don't know if you need a 9 press release or not, but I would encourage you to really 10 publicize that. I know there's been a lot of very positive 11 press about our decision to use rainwater catchment at the Ag 12 Barn, and I think -- I know we've been written up in several 13 magazines, you know, that kind of deal with all this stuff, 14 this direction that Kerr County's going, and it's very 15 positive press and, you know, something that is very 16 important, and it will save a lot of water. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think they -- 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And a lot of money. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Save a lot of money too. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I talked to Barry today, I and 21 I think he said the tank is supposed to be in this Friday, 22 and they plan on installing it next week, the tank itself. 23 So, good project. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I'd encourage you to keep 25 the local press involved. 7-9-12 57 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's not going to catch all 2 the gutter off that jail, 'cause they go all the way around. 3 It's going to catch six of them down the one side, which I 4 think will pretty much nail the 65,000 gallons to give us 5 that supplement. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Another year, you can do 7 another one. 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And we very well may. Once 9 they keep that fund building up in there and we're able to 10 use it, we can always expand more and more on all this. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Could we all join you out 12 there and do a rain dance one evening? 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The only problem I have is, 14 you know, employees and that would love to get some of those 15 vegetables, but it doesn't work that way. Nobody -- you 16 know, nobody from the county can actually use them, and it 17 has to go to that for inmates, 'cause it's done out of that 18 fund. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Dang it. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay. This is B.J.'s crew, 21 off and on. I think it's kind of surprising how much they 22 do. 23 (Sheriff showed another video to the Court.) 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I just thought those would be 25 interesting for y'all to see exactly what they do and that. 7-9-12 58 1 I think -- you know, jails are never a profit-making business 2 with the county, but I think some of the programs that Sylvia 3 Foraker, the jail administrator, and them have been able to 4 get going, get off the ground out there, and have done real 5 well in giving back and getting the inmates to give back, and 6 it changes attitudes with a lot of those inmates, too. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'll tell you, it's much 8 appreciated at the Ag Barn and for all the parks and stuff. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah, Center Point's always 10 interesting. You know, you go down there and they have car 11 bumpers; they'll have everything else in those trash bins, 12 you know. Unfortunately, my -- my standpoint on that is the 13 more trash containers you put down there, the more they're 14 going to fill up. That's about what it amounts to, and 15 it's -- it is unfortunate that they just -- I guess they can 16 be good or bad, but it ends up being their household dumping 17 area. But I'm very proud of the jail and the work that they 18 all do, and I hope that it just continues. I thought y'all 19 ought to see some of that. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you -- are you going to 21 talk about possibly budgeting some money for Bobby to get him 22 a mule? 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I figure Animal Control's 24 going to come up with one somewhere. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I want to give him a big old 7-9-12 59 1 mule and a Hoss Cartwright hat so he can ride herd over his 2 prisoners. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You're not talking about a 4 Kawasaki Mule; you're talking about a mule. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Long-eared mule. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Flop-eared. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You got to get him up there 8 first. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But thank you. And that's 10 what we wanted to show y'all. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Good report. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 15, if we might; to 15 consider, discuss, take appropriate action concerning the 16 agenda format and other matters related to the Aqua Texas 17 public meeting to be held July 11, 2012, at 6 p.m. at the 18 U.G.R.A. Auditorium. Commissioner Letz? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on the agenda. I 20 think that the Court is aware that the County's kind of taken 21 the leadership role on organizing this meeting, and 22 specifically myself and Commissioner Baldwin, and I did want 23 to put it on the agenda. One reason is just to make sure 24 that the press, who's done a very good job of publicizing 25 this, can publicize it one more time. I think it's been in 7-9-12 60 1 all the papers. But I -- a little bit, I wanted a little 2 direction as to what involvement the County should have at 3 the meeting itself. My thought would be that, you know, 4 myself or Commissioner Baldwin act kind of as moderator for 5 the -- or moderator/facilitator, but that's it. I didn't 6 really want to get too involved with it. I kind of proposed 7 some agenda topics which I sent to a lot of the individuals, 8 including the president of Aqua Texas, and he had no problem 9 with it. 10 Kind of the agenda items or topics would be 11 overview of capital expenditures made in Kerr County the past 12 five years by Aqua Texas. Overview of regionalization and 13 the reason it is used, which is the reason for a lot of this, 14 and the T.C.E.Q. or Aqua Texas can handle that, and explain 15 reasons for rate increase and the amount of the increments. 16 Aqua Texas explain the black fire hydrants, why they're used, 17 what Aqua Texas is doing to help in Kerr County, and then a 18 question and answer session. That's kind of what I was 19 thinking. But I'd have it fairly -- you know, probably get 20 up front where everyone can sit. I know T.C.E.Q. is sending 21 three representatives, and one of them is an attorney. I 22 believe Senator Fraser's going to have representatives there. 23 Representative Hilderbran will have representatives present. 24 I didn't know if anyone else from the Court wanted to be 25 there or, you know, just kind of on the table as to where 7-9-12 61 1 we're going or, you know, final planning stages. What is the 2 desire of the Court? 3 JUDGE TINLEY: You and Commissioner Baldwin were 4 instrumental in securing the -- the initial meeting with 5 representatives of CAG and Kerrville South, and maybe some 6 other areas of the community that were affected, that took 7 place here at the courthouse a number of weeks ago, and 8 requesting this meeting, as I recall. Now, somebody -- 9 somebody's got to be in charge of -- of going by the agenda, 10 and it occurs to me that you and Commissioner Baldwin have 11 taken the lead on this thing from -- from the inception. I 12 don't see any reason to deviate from that. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We don't have time to post an 14 agenda for us all to be present. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, as long as we don't conduct 16 county business, and this is not a matter of county business. 17 Everybody thinks just because three members of the Court are 18 at the same place at the same time, it's a violation of the 19 Open Meetings Act. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're right. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: They are so, so wrong. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Preach on, brother. That's 23 good. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't know -- I don't know who 25 fostered that. 7-9-12 62 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I just thought I'd bring it 3 up so you can talk about it. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: You lit my fuse. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. It's clear. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: If -- if you're conducting and 7 discussing business, that's one thing. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Mm-hmm. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: This is not a matter of -- of county 10 business. This is a matter that affects utility ratepayers. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's right. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: From a third-party utility provider 13 that we have no stake in, no regulatory authority over. All 14 we did was to provide access for them. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I agree. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: And -- 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Sorry, I didn't mean to light 18 his fuse that much. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: If there's one thing that you need 20 to understand, it's if three members of the Court are at the 21 same place at the same time, it's not automatically a 22 violation of the Open Meetings Act. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with you. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Good gracious. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Okay, settle down. 7-9-12 63 1 JUDGE TINLEY: He's cutting me off. So, 2 Commissioner Letz is going to be the facilitator/moderator of 3 this meeting, and -- and you'll be the sergeant at arms. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I'm the sergeant at 5 arms. And we also -- you know, with the Senator's office 6 there and the State Rep's office there, and a lot of folks I 7 think are going to be there as well, we got a message the end 8 of last week that there is a -- we don't know how many, but a 9 group from Gillespie County that wants to come over and be a 10 part of it as well. I'm not sure how that works, but -- but 11 I -- Kerr County has been the host all the way through this 12 thing, and Jon has just worked overtime putting this 13 together. And the negotiations, again, with the Aqua Texas 14 president and the -- the south Kerrville South, northwest 15 Kerrville, or -- 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Western and eastern. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Western and eastern. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Western Kerrville South. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Keeping all those people 20 together and moving them on the same piece of paper, he's 21 done a -- done a great job there. And -- but I think Kerr 22 County's been the host through this whole thing. And when 23 this meeting is over, in my opinion, we're through. If 24 somebody wants to carry the ball and go hire a bunch of 25 lawyers and charter buses and all that stuff, that's good for 7-9-12 64 1 them, but I'll not participate any more. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One other item that we'll also 3 put on there for T.C.E.Q. to go over is the process. I know 4 the administrative hearing is the 16th of the month. Then 5 just kind of a few words, where the process goes from here. 6 And also I see the mayor in the back, and I know he has been 7 concerned or involved with this. Does the City want any role 8 in this, making any comments or anything as far as -- or do 9 you want to -- I know you can't speak for -- 10 MAYOR PRATT: I received an e-mail from Mr. 11 Westfall, I believe, and I've agreed to attend. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Do you want to make any 13 comments, or -- 14 MAYOR PRATT: The comments that I'll make are that 15 the city of Kerrville has -- has residents, citizens of 16 Kerrville who are affected by Aqua Texas, and I want to 17 support them. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Well, I'll -- we'll plug 19 in a spot for you to make a comment if you choose, and some 20 of the other entities; we'll have a separate section for 21 general comments. And the other question I have, there is a 22 question and answer part, and I also want to have a time 23 limit, say two hours. I told Aqua Texas two hours is the 24 maximum. 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's smart. 7-9-12 65 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Would it be better just to let 2 people have questions, or write them down and let us kind of 3 go through and and -- so everyone doesn't ask the same thing? 4 I mean, I -- 5 MAYOR PRATT: I would suggest have 3-by-5 cards, 6 have them write down the questions, and have somebody to 7 filter them. I don't mean filter out; I just mean so you 8 don't have duplicates. Combine two or three question cards 9 into one. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: That tends to also get a lot of the 11 emotion out of it, if the questions are being repeated in a 12 normal manner by a moderator, something along that line, too. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, my request, maybe 14 Commissioner Baldwin and maybe the mayor or someone else can 15 help -- help with that part of the process. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Kerrville South, CAG. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I think that's enough 18 direction. We'll put together an agenda and move forward 19 with it. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Why don't we go ahead and 21 take about a 15-minute recess here, and then we'll come back. 22 We've got a 10:30 timed item, I believe; we'll take that up 23 and then finish up. 24 (Recess taken from 10:25 a.m. to 10:40 a.m.) 25 - - - - - - - - - - 7-9-12 66 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's come back to order, if 2 we might, from our mid-morning recess. Let's go to our 10:30 3 timed item; Number 10, to consider, discuss, take appropriate 4 action on proposal for Road and Bridge uniforms and 5 facilities services from Unifirst. Mr. Paul Adams is here on 6 behalf of Unifirst, and asked to be placed on the agenda here 7 today. Mr. Adams? 8 MR. ADAMS: Yes, sir. There should be an extra one 9 for the clerk. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 11 MR. ADAMS: On Page 3, if y'all skip the first 12 part, I'll leave all that so y'all can go through that on 13 your agenda, whenever you get time. Just going down through 14 the -- the -- the current provider that you have, and what 15 they're doing versus what we're doing, what you're paying now 16 versus the Unifirst totals, and if you go through other 17 needs, cotton shirts, denim pants, 65/35 pants, and then on 18 the next section down, we're covering mats. And additional 19 service charges, make-up charges, and then incentive to do 20 business further. Other than the very bottom, where we've -- 21 you add up the totals, your percentage, the annual savings of 22 2540.51 -- that's 2,540, and the potential of five years will 23 be a $12,000 savings. And, really, our goal is just to be 24 allowed to participate in -- in bidding on this. The current 25 contract you have right now goes through 2013, but I'm not 7-9-12 67 1 certain how that works with the county, because y'all are a 2 year-to-year budget. I know on our part, any other counties 3 or cities that we deal with, it's a year-to-year thing, even 4 though we do sign as well 3- and 5-year agreements. So -- 5 JUDGE TINLEY: What is the current expiration date 6 in 2013? Do you have that information? 7 MR. ADAMS: It's June -- May. May 14th. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: May of 2013? 9 MR. ADAMS: Yes, sir. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 11 MR. ADAMS: Uh-huh, that was signed in May of 2010, 12 so I'm not sure when your fiscal year -- when that would be 13 -- what your budget would come out. But we just want to have 14 a chance to do it. We haven't had one in over 15 years. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 16 MR. ADAMS: We'd like to do that, and hopefully 17 that would show you the incentive that we're willing to do. 18 We have current business with the courthouse and the other 19 county and the city, and we have -- 20 JUDGE TINLEY: What other counties are you doing 21 business with? 22 MR. ADAMS: We have Medina County. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 24 MR. ADAMS: We have Kerr County. I do not believe 25 we have Kimble County; they have a private guy there in 7-9-12 68 1 Junction. Fredericksburg, Gillespie County. San Saba. 2 And -- 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Uvalde? 4 MR. ADAMS: We do have Uvalde, yes, sir. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: You have Uvalde? 6 MR. ADAMS: You know, I'm unfamiliar with the -- 7 our territory goes from Hondo to Junction. 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. 9 MR. ADAMS: So, San Saba, and then Boerne, of 10 course. But -- and the Boerne store serves -- is serviced on 11 uniforms by San Antonio, so I'm not sure if we have Boerne or 12 not, but I would think we do. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: But within your territory, on the 14 items that you've mentioned, have you Medina, Gillespie, San 15 Saba? 16 MR. ADAMS: Yes, sir. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. And Uvalde, I guess, is out 18 of what, San Antonio? 19 MR. ADAMS: It's out of Uvalde. Our base plant is 20 Uvalde. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 22 MR. ADAMS: We have one in San Antonio as well. 23 But -- 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 25 MR. ADAMS: -- but we're serviced -- and we have a 7-9-12 69 1 facility here in Kerrville. So, it's kind of a twig, they 2 call it. It's a branch of the other side. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 4 MR. ADAMS: And I'll leave the rest of this 5 proposal with you. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, we appreciate that. 7 MR. ADAMS: Y'all go through that. There's some 8 other information and some comparison notes -- 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Thank you, sir. 10 MR. ADAMS: -- for you to look at. Y'all have a 11 great afternoon. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, thank you, sir. We appreciate 13 it. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Wait, I got a question for 15 you. 16 MR. ADAMS: Yes, sir? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: For Mr. Adams. So you're 18 telling us -- what I'm hearing you say is that we're not 19 allowed to have long-term contracts with people? 20 MR. ADAMS: No, sir, I'm not saying that at all. 21 I'm saying our average long-term contracts are a 3-year or 22 5-year contract is what we typically would sign. Being a 23 city, county, municipality, I'm not sure that the law states 24 that you have to oblige that. I think you can do a 25 year-to-year, because you're budgeted through the county or 7-9-12 70 1 city regardless of the agreement that you sign, but I do not 2 know that. That is, of course, something you'd have to take 3 up with the County Attorney or someone who knows that, but I 4 wouldn't want to speculate on that. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You -- 6 MR. HENNEKE: All of our agreements, Commissioner, 7 build in the out provision that, because the County can't 8 commit itself past its budget, that our contracts are always 9 subject to budget terms, and in the event that money is not 10 budgeted, then it wouldn't be deemed a breach of contract if 11 it's not appropriated. 12 MR. ADAMS: Yes, and we do the same in ours. It 13 shows it would be renegotiated each year, influenced by the 14 budget. So, depending -- that's what we do with our other 15 counties as well. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other -- 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, that's all. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions for Mr. Adams? 19 Thank you, sir. We appreciate it. 20 MR. ADAMS: Y'all have a good day. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's go to Item 16; to 22 consider, discuss, take appropriate action to amend Court 23 Order Number 31453 by -- by approving the customer agreement 24 amendment for e-filing services between Kerr County Clerk and 25 TexasOnline/Texas.gov, and authorize County Judge to sign 7-9-12 71 1 same. Ms. Pieper? 2 MS. PIEPER: Judge, I need to make one correction. 3 This is going to be between Kerr County, not just the clerk, 4 because I think that the District Clerk as well uses e-filing 5 with this. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that going to present a problem 7 from an agenda standpoint? 8 MR. HENNEKE: No, sir. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 10 MS. PIEPER: I believe our contract is due to 11 expire, and Office of Court Admin. and Texas Supreme Court is 12 extending this for another 18 months. And they're in the 13 process of finding a new e-filing vendor. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Looks like the County Attorney has 15 had an opportunity to review the matter. 16 MR. HENNEKE: Yes, sir. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask you about one 18 sentence in this letter to you. The transition requires new 19 fees and new terms and conditions, requiring an amendment to 20 your agreement. Is -- is that what this whole thing is 21 about, is this new agreement? 22 MS. PIEPER: New agreement is extending the 23 contract for 18 months, and then the fees -- the e-filing and 24 the e-service fees have been increased by one dollar. 25 However, it does not cost the County anything; it costs the 7-9-12 72 1 person that's doing the e-filing. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. Okay. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: And to whom are those fees payable? 4 Kerr County? 5 MS. PIEPER: No, to the service provider. However, 6 we -- you know, we get our filing fees. This is just like 7 their service fee. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: So the customer that -- that's 9 utilizing e-filing is going to suffer an increase in those 10 filing fees, but none of that additional increase is going to 11 accrue to the benefit of Kerr County. 12 MS. PIEPER: That is correct. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: It all goes to this middle conduit 14 that's facilitating e-filing. 15 MS. PIEPER: Yes. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: And is that a governmental 17 organization, or is that a -- a commercial organization? 18 MS. PIEPER: No, it's -- well, I don't know how to 19 answer that, Judge. There's only two that I know of that has 20 been approved through the Texas Supreme Court to do this 21 e-filing. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 23 MS. PIEPER: To be the vendor of it. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Be interesting to know who the 25 principals of that organization are, wouldn't it? 7-9-12 73 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. I was doing pretty 2 good with the thing until I got to this one paragraph, and 3 I'd like to read it to you. It says, "For good and valuable 4 consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby 5 mutually acknowledged, the parties do hereby amend the 6 customer agreement..." Now -- (Laughter.) They ought to be 7 ashamed of themselves. Should be ashamed of yourself for 8 writing stuff like that. That's not even good King's 9 English. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: That's when and where it originated, 11 Buster, with the King and common law in England. And I guess 12 you're -- this is who's presently handling the e-filing now; 13 is that correct? 14 MS. PIEPER: That is correct. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. And what has been our 16 experience with that provider in handling the e-filing? 17 MS. PIEPER: We haven't had any problems with them. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any of them -- any reported 19 to you from the District Clerk's Office? 20 MS. PIEPER: No. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. So you're requesting this 22 amendment be approved by the Court? 23 MS. PIEPER: Yes, I am. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Jannett, the -- the new fee 7-9-12 74 1 issue, how is that handled? When someone comes in and asks 2 for the service, do you say to them, "Oh, by the way, there's 3 an extra dollar"? 4 MS. PIEPER: No, they do it from their office. 5 Title companies -- 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Online. 8 MS. PIEPER: Yeah, it's all done from their office. 9 And when they go into -- 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Have they been notified? I 11 understand what you're saying; thank you for that. Have they 12 been notified of an increase? 13 MS. PIEPER: I have no idea. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: When they go online to e-file -- 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: They'll find out. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, they'll find out real quick. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And they're going to say, 18 "That damned county, there they go again putting their 19 fingers in our pocket." 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But when they do the 21 e-filing, all the filing fees that are due the county are 22 paid to the county, right? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Oh, yeah. Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Our statutory filing fees, we 25 receive those. 7-9-12 75 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Absolutely, yeah. There's no loss 3 of those. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They send a check; we don't 5 have to actually do the work any more. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we -- I guess we actually get 7 funded through electronic funds transfer from this 8 facilitator. 9 MS. PIEPER: Correct. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: The e-filing approved vendor. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: E-filing would be much less 12 work to the clerk's office as it would be otherwise if 13 somebody just came in and filed, right? 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Well -- 15 MS. PIEPER: Not necessarily. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Why wouldn't it be? If 17 somebody else is receiving the filing that's being done by -- 18 MS. PIEPER: Because we still have to go in and 19 index it and do the number and -- 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 21 MS. PIEPER: -- do our normal stuff. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You do not actually take a 23 document and then have to go scan it and do all that sort of 24 thing. 25 MS. PIEPER: Well, yes, we do. We -- we download 7-9-12 76 1 it off of the site and -- 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You don't download it 3 directly into your system? 4 MS. PIEPER: No. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay, you answered my 6 question. 7 MS. PIEPER: This is basically a convenience for 8 the banking industry and stuff to do it at their -- from 9 their office directly to us, rather than walk in the office. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And typical agreements have 11 been 18 months, correct? Is that what this is, an 18-month? 12 MS. PIEPER: This is an extension. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: An extension of it. 14 MS. PIEPER: Yes. 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: The County Clerk's recommended 17 approval. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 21 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor, signify by 22 raising your right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 7-9-12 77 1 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Thank you, 2 ma'am. Let's go to Item 17; to consider, discuss, take 3 appropriate action to discuss preliminary questions from the 4 City of Kerrville regarding the proposed Emergency Services 5 District Number 3 for the provision of emergency medical 6 services and authorize a response on behalf of Kerr County. 7 Commissioner Baldwin? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. We had received 9 this list of questions last week from the City Manager, and I 10 am grateful for that. Really great questions. And in your 11 packet, the County Attorney has -- has taken a swing at it to 12 answer all of these questions, and personally, I think 13 they're excellent answers. And he wanted to bring this 14 before the Commissioners Court so it would be -- let you guys 15 have a swing at it as well. So, I'll just say that, and to 16 bring the County Attorney on. I'll be the -- I'll be the 17 warm-up band for him. 18 MR. HENNEKE: Thank you, Commissioner. Jody 19 received the e-mail from the City Manager with some questions 20 on key issues on the ESD that the City Council apparently has 21 in preparation for a proposed joint meeting between the 22 Commissioners Court and the City Council. And working with 23 Commissioner Baldwin on this issue, I drafted -- I think 24 you've seen a draft of the letter, but as we're trying to 25 cooperate with the City Council on this, my suggestion to 7-9-12 78 1 Commissioner Baldwin was that instead of the response just 2 being the opinion of one person, whether it be a commissioner 3 or whatnot, that it might have more certainty or force if it 4 was adopted or ratified by the entire Commissioners Court and 5 was sent as an official Kerr County response. So, what I 6 drafted is just a starting point, but I'm happy to assist in 7 any way that y'all would like me to. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: I've taken the opportunity to review 9 your draft, and I think it -- it adequately represents the 10 consensus of thinking on the Court, number one, and number 11 two, what the legal requirements are. The -- I think the 12 quicker we can get this to the City, the better off we're 13 going to be, because they may have some follow-up questions, 14 and I certainly want to be able to address those. I want to 15 be in a position to provide them all of the information they 16 desire, to the extent we can provide it. I know a lot of 17 these questions are -- or actual responses are going to be 18 determined by the ESD board if -- if an ESD is put in place, 19 and we obviously can't speak for the board, but you refer to 20 that on numerous occasions in your -- in your response. But 21 as a general -- as a general proposition, my review of that 22 draft indicates that it tracks their inquiries and 23 represents, number one, what the law says, and number two, in 24 areas where there's discretion on behalf of the Court, I 25 think it -- it properly represents the consensus of the 7-9-12 79 1 Court. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir, I agree 100 3 percent. 4 MR. HENNEKE: Thank you, Judge. If there's any 5 revisions, if there's any additional issues or points, I'd be 6 glad -- if the Court would like to see -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do you have a copy? 8 MR. HENNEKE: I do. I'd be glad to take a stab at 9 those. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just want to bring up one 11 point -- well, one right now. The very last paragraph, when 12 we talk about the relationship, Kerr County believes the 13 relationship would benefit all Kerr County residents. City 14 of Kerrville residents would no longer be taxed twice for EMS 15 services. I'm wondering if there shouldn't be just -- that's 16 a great statement and a true statement, I believe. I wonder 17 if there shouldn't be just one more little sentence on there 18 to talk about how that comes about, and that would be once 19 the ESD is up and running and the funding is coming through 20 the ESD board, that Kerr County then would reduce our budget 21 by that amount so it would no longer be there to where we 22 would be actually taxing the citizens in the city. We will 23 reduce our budget, and then the double taxation issue that 24 folks have a concern about goes away. I just wondered -- you 25 know, city of Kerrville residents would no longer be taxed 7-9-12 80 1 twice for EMS services. I'm just wondering if we need to 2 clear that up just a little bit more. 3 MR. HENNEKE: I'd be glad to expand on that, 4 Commissioner. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Also no longer be taxed by 6 City of Kerrville any more for that service. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's right. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Upon their approval or their 9 agreement. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, if they choose to do 11 that. That's correct. We go along and we talk about our -- 12 some of our desires of the possibility -- oh, here it is. 13 Kerr County would support an ESD tax rate sufficient to 14 include additional units stationed in outlying areas such as 15 in Ingram and Center Point. One of the -- absolutely, 16 that's -- I'm in favor of that, but again, I wonder if we 17 should go one step further. There's one issue that the Fire 18 Chief of City of Kerrville has talked about several times in 19 our hearing, and that is about more quality training for his 20 employees, and I wonder if we shouldn't add that somewhere in 21 there, you know. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Additional training opportunities -- 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: -- may be provided by the ESD. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely. 7-9-12 81 1 JUDGE TINLEY: For EMS personnel. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That'd be good. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: I would think that would necessarily 5 be part. If they're responsible for EMS service, I think 6 training goes right with it. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: And they would have to have a 9 designated medical director, and they'd have to provide for 10 that training for whatever -- whatever area they serve. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Somehow it has to be included 12 in all this that there will be a contract between the ESD -- 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- and the EMS provider, and 15 those kinds of things be specified, like the additional 16 ambulances, in that contract agreement. 17 MR. HENNEKE: And to key off of Judge Tinley's 18 point, too, the county, just as with the city, should the 19 city be included, can express its preference and intent, but 20 you do have an ESD board -- 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That makes those decisions. 22 MR. HENNEKE: -- that is intended to nail down all 23 those specifics. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: I think one of the important things 25 is what Commissioner Baldwin has said repeatedly from the 7-9-12 82 1 beginning. Notwithstanding the statute in the Health and 2 Safety Code that says the county-wide ESD has the members of 3 that board appointed by the Commissioners Court, for proper 4 representation, if it's going to include the city of Ingram 5 and the city of Kerrville, the schedule that he's advocated, 6 that Ingram have the ability to designate one member, City of 7 Kerrville have the ability to designate two, and Kerr County 8 have the ability to designate two. And even though the 9 actual appointment occurs by the Commissioners Court, we 10 would honor those designations, and that's equitable 11 representation and would be appropriate for a county-wide 12 ESD. You know, I think it's right on the mark. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And it seemed like there was 14 a little bit of confusion in some of the questions. You 15 know, if I were going to sit down with the City Manager and 16 just talk with him face-to-face, you know, I would say 17 something like, "Not much changes." The only -- you know, it 18 just changes from -- the contract would be from county to 19 ESD. You still -- those employees are all still yours. You 20 still run the day-to-day operation of your -- you know, 21 nothing changes other than who you're contracting with. 22 MR. HENNEKE: And that's a big distinction. It 23 seems that in some of the questions raised by the City 24 Council or the City Manager, there's a misperception that the 25 ESD itself will be operating -- 7-9-12 83 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Correct. 2 MR. HENNEKE: -- EMS service and operating, you 3 know, emergency services, and that's -- I don't think that's 4 the intent of anyone. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Not at all. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's not possible for that to 7 happen. 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: No. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't believe. 10 MR. HENNEKE: It just wouldn't be feasible. It 11 wouldn't be feasible. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's not feasible. I don't 13 think it's even legal. 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I think -- Rob, I just think 15 the response back is very positive. I think it's a very 16 good, positive response back, and I think that FEMA is 17 basically just showing their willingness to work with the 18 City of Kerrville and our other partners to look at a really 19 good long-term funding source for an important service in our 20 community. And I think it's a positive response, and the 21 willingness to sit down with them and to visit, as 22 Commissioner Baldwin's been pushing, is very positive. And 23 as we read that, I think all of our intentions, of course, is 24 the ESD board being formed, but the long-term commitment 25 here, or the relationship or the understanding is to, again, 7-9-12 84 1 like we talked about, to use the City of Kerrville's EMS 2 services hopefully would be a long-term arrangement, because 3 they do provide a fantastic service in our county and in our 4 community. And I just think you did a good job wording the 5 comments and questions that came back. I think there will be 6 more questions as well, but I think this is a very good 7 start. 8 MR. HENNEKE: Thank you. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Kind of related a little bit 10 back to the e-mail we got back from -- are we having a joint 11 meeting with them? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Trying to. Trying to. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: We're trying to. Looks like the 14 first opportunity is going to be after August 1, based upon 15 the latest communication that I've seen. And as recently as 16 this weekend, I was looking at some things and asked Jody to 17 get several dates of availability of the members of this 18 Court so we might throw those over at the City Hall and say, 19 "Can y'all plug in any of these?" But in the meantime, we 20 need to have this process -- process moving, because I 21 anticipate there will be other questions coming back after 22 they see the initial response, and I want to be in a position 23 to answer those ahead of the meeting, because I want this 24 process to flow, and flow forward without any obstacles, 25 because it's going to -- it's going to need to come before 7-9-12 85 1 Council, and Council's going to need to make a decision. And 2 -- and I note that Ingram has already voted to approve 3 inclusion into the district; the Council did last week, as I 4 recall. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's correct. Buster and I 6 were both there, and they voted while we were present. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is the -- 9 JUDGE TINLEY: So they need to move it. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is the purpose of the meeting 11 -- going back to the e-mail I saw, is the purpose of the 12 meeting ESD, or is it all interlocal agreements? That was 13 my -- 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: ESD. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: ESD only? Okay. It didn't 16 seem -- I got the impression from the e-mail that it was to 17 look at all our interlocals. I'm like, we don't need to do 18 that. I mean, we -- 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No reason at all. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're going fine in that area. 21 Okay. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Want to open Pandora's box? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. I'm trying to make sure 24 we're going to focus on one issue. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 7-9-12 86 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But I was just -- when we 2 got this list of questions, it thrilled my heart to see that. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You know, it was good to see 5 that there's honesty and there's interest in what this thing 6 is all about, and really, it's excited me even more. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: I assume, based on the discussion 8 I've heard, is for the County Attorney to go forward, maybe 9 expand or modify based upon the comments heard, and go ahead 10 and respond initially, and let's keep the process moving. Is 11 that right? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think I would suggest maybe 14 that Commissioner Baldwin, you know, work closely with the 15 County Attorney on that, just so that -- make sure that the 16 appearance is that it's coming from the Court, not from the 17 County Attorney. 18 MR. HENNEKE: And I can send it for Commissioner 19 Baldwin's signature, or Judge Tinley, on your letterhead. 20 Whoever would like to sign it, I can revise and submit, if 21 you'll just tell me where. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that's important, that 23 we keep that -- you know, that Commissioners Court is in the 24 lead, and not get into the attorneys. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 7-9-12 87 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Good. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: I would agree with that. Okay, 3 anything else on that? Okay. Let's go to Item 18; to 4 consider, discuss, take appropriates action on a proposal 5 from the Kerrville Rotary Club to place a community Christmas 6 tree on the courthouse grounds. Mr. George Eychner is here 7 from the Kerrville Rotary Club. 8 MR. EYCHNER: Let me thank you first for adding me 9 on last minute as an addendum on this. Essentially, what 10 we're looking for is just your -- your approval. We don't 11 need money or anything like that, so I may be at kind of a 12 unique starting point. But the -- the first page of this 13 gives you an overview of what we're about. The Kerrville 14 Rotary Club is normally known as the Noon Rotary Club. We 15 took the money this year from the casino night, which is 16 about $26,000, and we're going to use to it light the city of 17 Kerrville, and to make this a plan that will extend out 10 or 18 12 years, and so eventually the whole city rivals Johnson 19 City and Marble Falls and some of these other areas around 20 here that are really well-lit. The initial step is that we 21 have 31 businesses on Water Street, Earl Garrett that we're 22 going to light. And we've talked to the -- at the bottom, it 23 tells you the status of this. 24 We have an all-inclusive committee. We want to 25 make this is a citizens' group. No tax money involved, and 7-9-12 88 1 so it's just strictly private donations and things like that, 2 with the Kerrville Rotary Club providing the impetus with 3 additional money. And everyone has worked well doing really 4 great things with the courthouse lighting. We hope to expand 5 on that. And so it's kind of like "catch the spirit" or 6 "further the spirit" is the whole idea. And -- but the 7 downtown lighting is pretty well taken care of, and so on the 8 second page is where -- where the County comes in. In our 9 meetings, there was a lot of interest in coming up with a 10 Christmas tree. We don't have a Christmas tree in town here, 11 and so we came up with a 30-foot artificial Christmas tree. 12 It gives you the specs here. It weighs about a ton, costs 13 $32,000. If we get it, KPUB has volunteered to erect it for 14 us, and so the technicalities were falling into place, but we 15 got two major questions. 16 The first one is where to put it, and it's got a 17 14-foot -- 14 and a half foot circumference at the base, and 18 probably you need about twice that for a clearance zone. And 19 so what we we'd like to ask you to consider is to put it out 20 here on the corner of 16 and 27, where that big cypress tree 21 or whatever it was was cut down. And the initial -- as I 22 say, the initial plan here was to put it in the Peterson 23 Plaza, but that's not an issue; we can't do that, and that's 24 out of the question. So, because of the size of it, we 25 haven't done anything to procure it. The last page is a 7-9-12 89 1 picture of it if y'all want to see it. It's really neat. At 2 the quarry in San Antonio, they have one like this, and 3 they're just fantastic. I mean, they don't look artificial. 4 They're just really neat. And so the idea would be that this 5 would help expand the existing courthouse lighting, and 6 hopefully provide some impetus, enthusiasm for the citizens 7 to jump on board and make it bigger and better next year. 8 And then the second half is where to store it, and we haven't 9 figured that out yet, but we will take it a step at a time. 10 If we have someplace to put it, we'll -- we can go to step 11 two. So, if you have any questions -- 12 JUDGE TINLEY: May be in your garage before it's 13 all over, right? 14 MR. EYCHNER: Well, it takes up -- oh, someplace I 15 had the cubes -- 517 cubes, which is a pretty good size. But 16 it's all LED, and so the cost would be minimal, but if that 17 is an issue, the Rotary Club would pay for the cost of 18 lighting the thing, or we'd work it out with the committee. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Tim, what are our -- what amperages 20 are on our circuits out there? 21 MR. BOLLIER: 110. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: No, amperage. How many amps are 23 they designed to carry, 20 amp or 30 amp -- 24 MR. BOLLIER: I don't know. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: -- over in that corner? 7-9-12 90 1 MR. BOLLIER: They're only 30. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: 30 amp? 3 MR. BOLLIER: Some of them are 30; some of them are 4 20. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 6 MR. EYCHNER: This will take 15. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Takes 15 amps, he says, so I don't 8 think that would be -- 9 MR. BOLLIER: Yeah, there's plenty. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's fine. I think 11 it's a good location. The only question would be, as a 12 permanent location, I think our desire is probably to plant a 13 tree there again. 14 MR. EYCHNER: Yeah, I was wondering -- that's one 15 reason I wanted to see what your feelings were. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I don't think we'll have a 17 tree prior to Christmas, necessarily. 18 (Low-voice discussion off the record.) 19 MR. BOLLIER: Over here? There's -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's probably enough -- 21 we're going to plant a tree there. There's enough room kind 22 of between the -- between kind of the front of the gazebo 23 towards the new City Hall. It's a pretty big open area there 24 as well that's a permanent location. 25 MR. EYCHNER: Well, and we don't need a decision 7-9-12 91 1 today, but for pondering, you know, we could always build 2 something out there like a fountain or something and use that 3 as a base. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No more fountains. 5 (Laughter.) 6 MR. EYCHNER: Well -- 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Should have warned you about that, 8 George. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No fountains. 10 MR. EYCHNER: Maybe a Rotary marker that we could 11 put there. The only thing Rotary wants is a -- is good press 12 for doing this, and so there's no ulterior motive. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's wonderful. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's great. It think 15 it would be a big enhancement to the courthouse lighting. I 16 would ask that you coordinate with that group -- 17 MR. EYCHNER: Yes, sir. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- to make sure that -- you 19 know, that they don't have something planned there. 20 MR. EYCHNER: Kyle's a member of our committee, and 21 he supports this. And possibly we might redo the courthouse 22 lighting some. He's talking about that, maybe have a kids' 23 area back here, and try and have more of a -- we're striving 24 for a real class setup. The lights on the downtown are all 25 going to be just white, so there's no Griswald effect or 7-9-12 92 1 anything like that that we're looking at. So -- 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: No Wally World? 3 MR. EYCHNER: Yeah. 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll just say this. George, 5 of course, just recently went out of being -- in fact, I've 6 been a member of this Rotary Club for 28 years, but George 7 just recently completed his president year as our Rotary 8 president, and did a fabulous job. 9 MR. EYCHNER: Thank you. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And I just would say that -- 11 just reiterate, you get new boards that come and go, and we 12 have a new board right now, and George has helped a lot with 13 the planning with this group, you know, as they move forward. 14 I think it's exciting that we can think about how we're going 15 to, you know, make more of our area downtown and area to be 16 attractable, and I applaud the board coming up with kind of a 17 tree, creative decisions like this, so good job. 18 MR. EYCHNER: Thank you. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we 20 authorize the Kerrville Rotary Club to place a Christmas tree 21 on the courthouse lawn, and to work out the exact location 22 with the Maintenance Director. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 25 indicated. Question or discussion? All in favor, signify by 7-9-12 93 1 raising your right hand. 2 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 4 (No response.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. 6 Eychner. 7 MR. EYCHNER: Thank you. Appreciate your time. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 19; to consider, 9 discuss, take appropriate action to make modifications to 10 plans and/or specifications to show barn facilities to 11 accommodate drainage and/or storage. I -- I was approached 12 by the Maintenance Supervisor about some cleaning and 13 maintenance issues on the proposed new show barn. I 14 contacted the architect and was questioning him about any -- 15 any changes or concerns in that regard, and he said if 16 there's any of that going to take place, two things. Number 17 one, it's got to be approved by the Court, and number two, if 18 it's going to happen, we need to do it right now so that -- 19 as opposed to doing it on a change order later, when things 20 are -- the train has really started going down the track 21 pretty fast. So, I put it on the agenda. It's here, and so 22 I'll just throw it out there. The Maintenance Supervisor, I 23 think, had some questions about the storage and the -- and 24 the cleaning without any drainage in that floor in the show 25 barn. The storage capacity, number one, was an issue, and 7-9-12 94 1 number two, safety concerns about putting up on top of some 2 restroom areas where the floor was built up so that it would 3 handle the weight, but safety issues about handling it by the 4 Maintenance personnel because of the heighth and something to 5 do with forklift and -- and the Bobcat and whatnot not being 6 able to adequately reach up there. So, there it is. If 7 we're going to make any adjustments, we need to make them 8 now. If we're not, we need to make that decision and move 9 on. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, number one, on the 11 drainage issues that was told -- that were told to me, we 12 don't need -- the only drains are in the wash racks. He has 13 in his budget to purchase a machine to clean those floors. 14 You don't have to have floor drains when you have that kind 15 of a machine. We cannot put that many people on 16 high-pressure washers to wash out that building, number one. 17 The drains are absolutely not necessary; that's why the 18 purchase of a machine to do it. Basically, it puts it down, 19 cleans it, sucks it back up. You don't have a drainage 20 issue. That's a nonissue, period. As far as the storage 21 goes, there's plenty of storage for all the pens and stuff 22 inside those wash racks. There is built-in storage for 23 tables and chairs that's in that project, and if we need any 24 more storage, we can do it in Phase 2, not in Phase 1, and 25 try to slow down the process or bring up an issue that's 7-9-12 95 1 nonexistent, in my opinion. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I mentioned the issue of maybe 3 providing for storage in the next phase, that that may be in 4 the cards, and that -- 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Very well can be. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: He just said he didn't know. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Very well can be. 8 MR. BOLLIER: The only issue I had was with the -- 9 with a machine like you're talking about, I just don't 10 know -- my main issue with that machine is how much water do 11 we need with the machine? Because -- 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Why don't you research that 13 before you come up and decide we have a drainage problem? 14 MR. BOLLIER: I have researched that, and every 15 time I go out there, they don't tell me anything. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It can't hold a lot of water; 17 not that big. 18 MR. BOLLIER: Okay. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Are we done with that? 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I hope so. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: If there's any more 24 discussion, I'll take it up with Tim. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Okay, let's go to Item 20; 7-9-12 96 1 consider, discuss, take appropriate action on request for 2 qualifications for consultant related to employee health 3 insurance. Commissioner Letz? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm glad to talk about it, 5 Judge, but that was supposed -- can we talk about it already 6 because of the timing? I'm not sure we're legal. It was -- 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Oh, 11:30. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 11:45, I believe. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me defer on that one. This 10 shows 11:30. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 11:30, okay. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me do this; we'll go to Section 13 4 of the agenda. Thank you, I appreciate you mentioning 14 that. Payment of the bills. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I move we pay the bills. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for payment 18 of the bills. Do you have any questions or discussion? All 19 in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Budget 24 amendments. I've been presented with a budget amendment 25 request summary, Request Numbers 1 through 4. Do I hear a 7-9-12 97 1 motion that the requested amendments as indicated in the 2 budget amendment request summary be approved as submitted? 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Motion to approve. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to approve. 6 Question or discussion? All in favor, signify by raising 7 your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Late bills. 12 We've got a slough of late bills here. Virtually all of 13 them, with the exception of -- 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Garrett Insurance. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Bonds and insurance; that was for 16 the Treasurer's bond. That was necessary to put in place and 17 get funded as soon as possible, obviously. Looks like all 18 the rest of them are for lawyers, Buster -- you'll be happy 19 to know that -- in various capacities, be it civil or 20 criminal. You want to write those checks, Buster? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm trying to be civil. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 7-9-12 98 1 approval of the late bills. Question or discussion? All in 2 favor, signify by raising your right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 5 (No response.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. I have been 7 presented with monthly reports. Kerr County payroll; County 8 Clerk; Constable, Precinct 1; Justice of the Peace, Precinct 9 1, and Environmental Health Department. Do I hear a motion 10 that the indicated reports be approved as presented? 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Move approval. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for the 14 indicated reports be approved as presented. Question or 15 discussion? All in favor, signify by raising your right 16 hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 19 (No response.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's go to 21 the next section of the agenda dealing with the reports from 22 Commissioners in connection with their liaison or committee 23 assignments. Commissioner Baldwin, do you have anything for 24 us in that regard? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Not unless you want to talk 7-9-12 99 1 about an ESD. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: We can talk about an ESD. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, y'all go ahead and let 4 me know how it all turns out. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, sir. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Overby? 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Judge, I hope next month -- 9 I've got a couple of projects that are in the pipeline, and I 10 hope to be sharing those with you on the 23rd, so we'll be 11 providing those updates to you. Got some exciting things 12 happening. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: You're going to create a little 14 suspense issue here? 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah, I throw it out there 16 just to -- kind of dangling out there for a while, but it's 17 -- it's positive. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Do you want to give us a little 19 hint? 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: No. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Going to hold that close to the 22 vest. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'm hoping on some calls 24 fairly soon to come in to confirm, but some good -- some good 25 things we've been working on the last six months, and kind of 7-9-12 100 1 -- kind of we're real close to closing on those things. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, good. Commissioner Letz? You 3 got anything? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think I've already handled 5 most of mine already today. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: I see. You're the moderator at the 7 event on Wednesday evening. That's going to be good enough 8 for you? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That will be enough. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Oehler? 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I have said all I need to say 12 this morning. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I may have said more than I 14 needed to say, but that's a whole 'nother issue, isn't it? 15 How about reports from elected officials or department heads? 16 H.R.? 17 MS. LANTZ: The only thing I'd like to make the 18 Court aware of, Incode came in on Monday and Tuesday of last 19 week, and part of our capital through technology was to try 20 to get our time sheet implemented on the system through 21 Incode, so we're looking at possibly trying to get that going 22 within the next fiscal year, starting in October. So -- and 23 Rusty was able to view it, and I think he likes the way it's 24 going to help his department as far as keeping track of time. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: You probably shouldn't have said 7-9-12 101 1 that. Commissioner Baldwin's probably going to be adverse to 2 that if that's the case. Is that it? 3 MS. LANTZ: That's it. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Treasurer? 5 MS. SOLDAN: No. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Sheriff? 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The only add-on to what she 8 was saying is, I think it's an excellent program for time 9 tracking, but it would be enhanced, and is something this 10 Court just needs to look at eventually in the future, if the 11 County were to consider -- and not just for my department; 12 for the entire county -- consider going to a payday of every 13 -- what is it, biweekly? Every two weeks, instead of the 14 twice a month we're on now. And that's something that does 15 need to be discussed, 'cause it can really -- it affects all 16 that. You know, now employees are getting paid for 17 86-point-something hours on their paydays, and it does change 18 all that. But it is a big change for every county employee, 19 but I think it can benefit the county, the employees, and 20 especially on timekeeping and being able to keep track of 21 that better. It's something that just needs to be looked at. 22 That's it. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: And that suits your purposes, if I'm 24 understanding? 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It would help because of the 7-9-12 102 1 rotating 28-day and the changing on actually keeping track of 2 the overtime, where we're doing it, you know, so much -- it's 3 a lot more difficult now, and a lot of that wouldn't change 4 so much by going to this Incode, unless you went to -- you 5 have a set cutoff date. You have set things, and that would 6 really enhance all that. And I think it would county-wide, 7 not just for the -- for the law enforcement and for juvenile 8 detention. I think it could help all of it. But, you know, 9 when you get into that, there's a whole lot to it, and it 10 would take a long time to explain it, but when you get in law 11 enforcement and firefighters and juvenile detention, you 12 know, that -- it's all different. From 160 to 171, and then 13 what happens after 171 hours and all, that type of program. 14 There's a lot of agencies using it. If you go to the 15 two-week pay period, it really will -- would benefit 16 everybody on the -- being able to show all those records a 17 lot better permanently for anything like E.E.O.C. suits, 18 liabilities, overtime claims, all that kind of stuff would 19 work out a lot better going to a pay period of every two 20 weeks instead of twice a month. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: And I'm given to understand that the 22 Department of Labor is a proponent of this biweekly payroll 23 process, as it -- as it relates particularly to tracking and 24 enforcement issues? 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes, 'cause it's -- and that's 7-9-12 103 1 what -- the main deal is it's so much easier to see when you 2 go back, you know, the history, you know, three or four 3 years, which you're having to go back if you get a complaint, 4 to be able to pull all that history up and show it. It's so 5 much easier for everybody. It's just -- 6 JUDGE TINLEY: It would allow you to automate, as 7 opposed to you having to interpolate between your 14-, 28-day 8 cycle over to the -- 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: -- 15- and 30- or 31-day cycle? 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. And, see, I -- I'm 12 affected both ways, 'cause I've got, you know, the law 13 enforcement side, being the deputies and jailers and all 14 that, but then I've got the civilian side, being the 15 dispatchers and the clerks and everything, so we're kind of 16 stuck in the middle, where if we really went with something 17 like this, it could benefit everybody. It's just the 18 original change-over that could affect people. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just kind of a comment. When 20 we're looking at that change, one thing you have to look at 21 is -- I'm sure there's a way you get around this, but if you 22 pay every two weeks as opposed to twice a month, you'll be 23 covered so you can get into a situation where your annual 24 salary changes year to year a little bit because two weeks, 25 the way it falls, you can get -- it doesn't balance out 7-9-12 104 1 exactly the same every year depending on how paydays fall. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: A few dollars, depending on -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's not a whole lot, but it 4 does -- 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: 56 paydays a year is what you 6 end up with. I guess leap year or something may -- I don't 7 know if that would affect it or not, but I -- 8 MS. LANTZ: Your salary's short if. You go 9 biweekly, it's -- it's the same time span. Your salary is 10 just divided up into 26 pay periods instead of 24. So, it 11 won't change our FICA; it won't change anything. It's just 12 you're dividing it up into -- 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Total number's the same, just how 14 it's allocated on each pay period will be a little bit 15 different. 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: What it looks like to the 17 employee generally is like they got a pay cut right off the 18 bat, because, you know, where they're getting paid for 19 86-point-something hours, whatever it is right now, they'd be 20 getting paid for 80 hours. Okay? And then -- but they get 21 two more pay periods -- paychecks throughout the year than 22 they do right now, so they -- they're getting it back. It's 23 just a -- a swap in the way -- 24 MS. MABRY: Just personally, it just doesn't help 25 me, because I'm paying bills every month. And I may get an 7-9-12 105 1 extra paycheck here in November, but today I've got still got 2 the same bills to pay, and I'm short $231 a month because of 3 the way it changes. I realize -- 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And that's the issues that 5 need to be looked at. People would have to have time to -- 6 to either have their, you know, like mortgage payment, change 7 the dates or something, because this is an issue that does 8 need to be looked at on how the employees work. But once 9 you're over that, it's a big benefit for the county 10 liability-wise, and everybody else. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: I've asked the H.R. Director to send 12 out a request to all the departments to poll their employees 13 about preference as to twice a month or every other week, and 14 that -- that is in process. 15 MS. LANTZ: Yes, sir. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Because if that's going to be 17 implemented, the obvious time to implement it would be 18 October 1. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You're right. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: So she's in the process of working 21 on gathering that information, and we'll take a look at it 22 when we get it. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And when you do get there, if 24 there were, like, October 1, a cost-of-living, a COLA or 25 anything like that, it kind of offsets that initial shock 7-9-12 106 1 where it goes on through, where they don't see that 2 deduction, what looks like it. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. County Attorney, do you have 4 anything for us? 5 MR. HENNEKE: Briefly. Gentlemen, earlier this 6 year we were talking about the jail crowding issues. There 7 was discussion about the number of open criminal cases 8 pending, and I -- it doesn't affect the budget or the 9 operation of the county, but I wanted to let y'all know. 10 You'll recall that half of the cases that were pending in 11 County Court at Law were those with open warrants, folks that 12 had been charged, but had not been arrested, and those cases 13 were just sitting on the books waiting for those on, you 14 know, people to be pulled over and arrested. So, we've taken 15 some time this summer and gone to try to identify good 16 addresses for those individuals and contact them so that 17 those cases can proceed forward, and we won't be showing that 18 -- that number of just open pending cases out there, and 19 working with the Sheriff's Office on getting those folks 20 arrested and moving through there. I think it's going to 21 work well. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's now go back to Item 20; 23 to consider, discuss, take appropriate action on Request for 24 Qualifications for consultant related to employee health 25 concerns. Commissioner Letz? 7-9-12 107 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is kind of a follow-up to 2 the insurance committee report that I made related to going 3 out for RFQ for a consultant several weeks ago, and related 4 to that, I think there's a court order to go out for RFQ's. 5 It was just kind of hanging out there. I wanted to -- I left 6 it as a report, that if anybody wanted to go out for an RFQ, 7 they should come back on the agenda, but I really think we 8 need to clean up that whole court order at the same time. 9 The other issue, though, is on the ancillary, and the -- the 10 recommendation of the committee has not changed, that we're 11 not going out for a consultant for next year. The 12 recommendation is still the same, but there is some 13 adjustment or change on the idea of how to handle the -- the 14 supplementals. At least the recommendation I had on how to 15 handle supplementals is, I think the easiest way probably 16 that we recommend going forward is to leave supplementals 17 where they are with Alamo Insurance -- is that their name? 18 Mr. Looney's company, with Alamo Insurance. And also offer 19 TAC supplementals so employees can have a choice between the 20 two. Don't open it up beyond that. That way those that want 21 to go with TAC can go with TAC. Those that want to keep it 22 where it is, are happy with that, are familiar with what 23 their coverage is, they can leave it where it is. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: They may want to go with both. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or go with both. And there 7-9-12 108 1 would be no cost -- the County would not be paying anyone 2 anything additional for that. There's -- we -- there is some 3 administrative fees right now that goes to Alamo Insurance 4 that would not be paid any more. They get commission if they 5 get paid. TAC would do it the way they do it, and that way 6 we're not getting involved as a county, as a court, which 7 we're not real keen on getting involved with all the 8 supplemental stuff and recommending. And so that's kind of 9 the recommendation now, to leave supplementals where they are 10 with Alamo, and also offer TAC supplementals. But -- 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Provide that all supplementals be at 12 no cost to the County. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. The County will not 14 subsidize in any way any fees, any administration costs to 15 anybody for supplementals, for any to TAC or to Alamo 16 Insurance. And -- but anyway, that's kind of a 17 recommendation, so I'll just -- to clear this up, I'll make a 18 motion that we do not go out for RFQ for insurance 19 consultants for the 2013 -- '12-'13 year, and that related to 20 supplementals, the employees have the option of continuing 21 with Alamo Insurance or getting the supplementals through 22 TAC, or both. 23 MR. HENNEKE: I think, Commissioner, this -- the 24 agenda item is just in regards to the RFQ. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, about the consultant. That's 7-9-12 109 1 right. Well, we know where it's going. Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. Well, then, I'll 3 make a motion that we rescind the previous court order to go 4 out for an RFQ related to health insurance consultant. And 5 then we'll bring back on the next agenda supplemental 6 insurance. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: But "bring back" is not part of the 8 motion. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second to 13 rescind the prior court order to issue a Request for 14 Qualifications for a consultant for the coming budget year. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Question or discussion on 17 that motion? All in favor of that motion, signify by raising 18 your right hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 21 (No response.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Just when you 23 think you got something squared away, in they jump, right? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Problem is, I even wrote the 25 agenda item. 7-9-12 110 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So you've already said about 2 the next agenda. You want to put that on it? 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Do we have anything else to come 4 before the Court today? 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I -- 6 JUDGE TINLEY: We're adjourned. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay, that's good. 8 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 11:40 a.m.) 9 - - - - - - - - - - 10 11 STATE OF TEXAS | 12 COUNTY OF KERR | 13 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 14 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 15 official reporter for the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 16 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 17 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 12th day of July, 2012. 18 19 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 20 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 21 Certified Shorthand Reporter 22 23 24 25 7-9-12