1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Monday, August 27, 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 August 27, 2012 2 PAGE 3 --- Commissioners' Comments 6 4 1.1 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to award contract on bids received for industrial 5 fan/air circulation system for show barn at the Hill Country Youth Events Center 9 6 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 7 engage Peter Lewis to do preliminary layout and/or floor plan for unfinished portion of 8 Sheriff's Office Annex for prospective use as 198th District Attorney’s Office; prepare cost 9 estimate of finish-out of office premises 12 10 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to set a public hearing concerning abandoning private 11 road name “Luke Lane West”, Precinct 4 17 12 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action on request from Center Point ISD on road closures 13 during construction of new science building located on current campus site 20 14 1.7 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action 15 regarding installing a solid waste interceptor at the 4-H Livestock Center 23, 16 82 1.5 Presentation of checks from HGCD in the amount 17 of $5,000 and UGRA in amount of $10,000 to help fund rainwater catchment system for new show barn 34 18 1.6 Discussion of issues relating to Flat Rock Lake 19 Park 38 20 1.9 Public Hearing on proposed Kerr County Budget for FY 2012-13 50 21 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action 22 regarding the FY 2012-13 Budget 50 23 1.16 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on confirmation of employment of James Robles 24 effective August 20, 2012, as Assistant Auditor of Kerr County at a salary of $42,329.52 as 25 directed by District Judge(s) 55 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) August 27, 2012 2 PAGE 3 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to adopt position schedule, step and grade schedule, 4 and general provisions for FY 2012-2013 84 5 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to adopt FY 2012-2013 Kerr County Budget 87 6 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 7 adopt 2012 Lake Ingram Estates Road District tax rate 90 8 1.14 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 9 adopt 2012 Kerr County tax rate, to include Maintenance and Operations, Interest and Sinking 10 (debt), and Lateral Roads tax rate 90 11 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to appoint William Wood and reappoint Tom Moser 12 and Corey Walters to Kerrville-Kerr County Joint Airport Board 92 13 1.17 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 14 select color for masonry block walls on new show barn at Hill County Youth Events Center 94 15 1.18 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 16 hire a part-time weekend kennel person 96 17 1.19 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to implement new payroll time-keeping system 18 utilizing Incode time entry 97 19 1.20 Presentation of Texas Historical Commission's Distinguished Service Award to the Kerr County 20 Historical Commission 102 21 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to determine rental fee for new show barn at Hill 22 Country Youth Exhibit Center 103 23 1.21 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to address and resolve water and wastewater issues 24 with respect to show barn raised by City Engineer 104 25 4 1 I N D E X (Continued) August 27, 2012 2 PAGE 3 1.22 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to authorize $64,000 of county funds for matching 4 EDAP Grant in connection with the East Kerr Wastewater project 115 5 4.1 Pay Bills 119 6 4.2 Budget Amendments 121 4.3 Late Bills --- 7 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 122 8 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments 123 9 5.2 Reports from Elected Officials/Department Heads 125 10 --- Adjourned 130 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 5 1 On Monday, August 27, 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 regular meeting of the Kerr County 9 Commissioners Court posted and scheduled for this date and 10 time, Monday, August 27th, 2012, at 9 a.m. Commissioner 11 Oehler? 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Am I up? 13 JUDGE TINLEY: You are up. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Please rise, have a word of 15 prayer and the pledge. 16 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you very much. Be seated, 18 please. At this time, if there's any member of the public 19 that wishes to be heard on any 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 at the rear of the room. If not, when 24 we get to that item, get my attention in some manner and I'll 25 see that you have your opportunity to be heard. But right 8-27-12 6 1 now, any member of the public that wishes to be heard on any 2 matter which is not a listed agenda item, this is your 3 opportunity to come forward and tell us what's on your mind. 4 Seeing no one coming forward, we will move on. Commissioner 5 Oehler? 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, there's just -- there's 7 a lot going on out at the new show barn, new event center. 8 Contractor's moving along very -- very quickly; should have a 9 lot more progress this week. They got all the piers drilled 10 and poured last week, and I believe the cement contractor's 11 going to start setting forms, and the plumber and electrician 12 are scheduled to be on-site so that they can either pour it 13 in quarter sections, and the hope is to pour half of it at 14 one time. 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Good. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That would be about a 17 500-cubic yard pour. Start at 2:00 in the morning; they said 18 they'll be finished with it by 11:00. And they do have 19 enough people to make it happen. That, and Road and Bridge 20 has been out doing clean-out of all the drainage and things 21 along the back ditch way along Riverside Drive, and they've 22 got that looking really good, and opened up some holes to 23 where water can be flowing right on out to the ditch, where 24 we don't have any lakes out there any more like we have had 25 in the past. And that's been a lot of what's going on there. 8-27-12 7 1 And there's one other thing coming up September the 9th; 2 there will be a fundraiser at the volunteer fire department 3 in Hunt for the Martin family, who two of which were burned 4 very badly in the house fire about -- oh, I guess it's been 5 almost a month, three weeks to a month ago. That'll be 6 coming up. That's it. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Baldwin? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. I just wanted to 9 bring up the issue of this Southern Edwards Plateau Habitat 10 Conservation Plan. It's been right at two years since we 11 have sent our resolutions off. I think -- seems like to me 12 there was two resolutions, and also a letter to Nelson Wolff, 13 County Judge in Bexar County, requesting that we be removed 14 from that. And we, to this day, I don't think have heard a 15 word back. And as you know, last week or two weeks ago now, 16 I went to a new meeting, and they talked about New Braunfels, 17 San Marcos, and San Antonio. And, of course, I asked the 18 boy-dummy question of, "Well, why are you in Kerrville?" And 19 I thought I was going to have to hire a lawyer to reveal to 20 me what the answer was. But there wasn't a good reason for 21 them to be in Kerrville, other than they're still after us. 22 So, I -- I think that we need to renew our -- our 23 communication with Judge Wolff and let him know that we'd 24 really like to have an answer to our letter. That's all I 25 have today. 8-27-12 8 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Commissioner Overby? 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Judge, I see a lot of 3 parents' faces this morning. First day of school going on 4 today with our kiddoes in Kerr County today. All of those 5 kids went back to school today, and we want to wish the best 6 for our -- our Kerr County students and our teachers. I saw 7 the wife's game face on this morning, getting ready to go to 8 school. I saw Mr. Bauer back there earlier, so it's in full 9 swing, so we wish the very best for our kids this year for 10 2012-2013, our teachers, all of our schools. We've got some 11 great education facilities in this county, and we're so proud 12 of them, so we wish them the very best. Mr. Hoyne, your 13 wife's up there going today, too. So, I just wanted to say, 14 be thinking about those kiddoes as they go back to school. 15 Talking about the ag facility, that is one of these 16 facilities we're building for these kids. We wish them the 17 very best this year. That's it, Judge. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Letz? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't have a whole lot. I 20 will make a brief comment about what Commissioner Baldwin is 21 talking about. I think it's not a bad idea to send a letter 22 to Judge Wolff, but if you remember, I was chair of the -- 23 one of the committees on that, and I think the reason -- 24 well, the reason the feds were up here is because it's under 25 a timeline where they have to do it. I mean, my 8-27-12 9 1 understanding is that Bexar County is doing nothing. That 2 meeting was held by the feds; it wasn't at all by Bexar 3 County. Bexar County is not moving forward, to my knowledge. 4 They may have to do something at some point, but to my -- my 5 information from them was that Kerr County will not be 6 included, but it certainly doesn't hurt to follow up. And I 7 believe that meeting was partially different as well, because 8 what was covered was not intended. But, anyway, I think 9 Bexar County's trying to just let this go away, for them and 10 for everybody. But, anyway, it certainly wouldn't hurt to -- 11 and it is kind of, I think, rude that Commissioner -- or 12 Judge Wolff never responded to the letter from Judge Tinley. 13 And other than that, we have a long agenda. That's it. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: We do. Let's move forward. We have 15 several timed items early this morning. Our first 9 o'clock 16 timed item is to -- Item 1; consider, discuss, take 17 appropriate action to award contract on bids that were 18 received for industrial fan/air circulation system for show 19 barn at the Hill Country Youth Events Center. How do you 20 like the sound of that name, guys? Doesn't that have a 21 better ring to it? 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Of course it does. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: A mouthful, I'll tell you. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Commissioner Oehler? This 25 has got your name on it. 8-27-12 10 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's got my name on it, but 2 I'm going to pass it off to the architect, who has a 3 recommendation for us, I believe, based on the information 4 that we -- he needed to research, and he has, I believe. 5 MR. LEWIS: I have. Good morning, Judge, 6 Commissioners. Two weeks ago, we received bids on what you 7 describe, which are also known as high-velocity/low-speed -- 8 and they have a variety of names, but six of those for the 9 new show barn at the Hill Country Youth Event Center. We 10 received bids from two different companies; the Big Ass Fans 11 Company -- and don't laugh every time I say that, 'cause I'm 12 going to say it again -- and Hardin Heating and Cooling. And 13 each bidder submitted two different bids. They each 14 submitted the specified product, which is the one that is 15 preferred, and it is a Big Ass Fan product; it's Number 6 -- 16 it's a Powerfoil X2.0 is the generic name. It is a 17 high-performance -- it's a very quality product. It'll 18 render a long life. 19 Both bidders also bid an alternate bid, which is 20 not the same product, but was -- they included it because it 21 cost less money. For the primarily specified product, Big 22 Ass Fans Company, they all met -- we went through their 23 qualification process here, and they all met the 24 requirements. They submitted bid bonds, they submitted in 25 time, and all the certificate of insurance, list of 8-27-12 11 1 subcontractors, calendar days. Big Ass Fan Company's base 2 bid for the Powerfoil -- Powerfoil X2 was $56,610. Hardin 3 Heating and Cooling for that same product was $82,738.55. 4 The alternate bid, the Big Ass Fan company submitted another 5 one of their products, which is called a Basic 6 fan, 6 $41,010. And Hardin Heating and Cooling submitted a MacroAir 7 fan for $46,747.50. Given that we had these -- these 8 different bids submitted, we sent this information on to our 9 mechanical engineer, who gave us an evaluation of all four -- 10 or all three products, rather, and their recommendation to us 11 and our recommendation to you is to go with the product that 12 was originally specified, the Powerfoil X2. And based on the 13 bid amount, our recommendation to Commissioners Court is to 14 award the bid to the Big Ass Fans Company. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: That's the $56,000 -- 16 MR. LEWIS: 56,610, yes, sir. And the -- there's 17 -- there are a lot of factors. There are a lot of 18 engineering and mechanical factors that really weigh on 19 behalf of that over the other product; extended life, 20 warranty, ease of ability to repair should that -- should 21 that happen. But the Big Ass fan, I think, will have a long, 22 long life out there in the new show barn. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: One of the things that caught 24 my attention about the whole -- that deal was that those fans 25 are completely sealed, where no dirt or dust get in to mess 8-27-12 12 1 up the bearings or any of that sort of thing, and the 2 guarantee on them is pretty good. 3 MR. LEWIS: Fifteen-year. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Fifteen years. 5 MR. LEWIS: The other fans were not sealed, and 6 they -- there were just some other -- I wouldn't say 7 deficiencies, but they weren't up to the same standard that 8 the Powerfoil X2 is. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion we accept 10 the recommendation of the architect and award the bid to Big 11 Ass Fan Company. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For the specified -- originally 14 specified product. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 17 indicated. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 18 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 21 (No response.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 23 MR. LEWIS: Thank you. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll now go to Item 2; to consider, 25 discuss, take appropriate action to engage Peter Lewis to do 8-27-12 13 1 preliminary layout and/or floor plan for unfinished portion 2 of Kerr County Sheriff's Office Annex for prospective use as 3 198th District Attorney's office and prepare cost estimate of 4 finish-out of office premises. Mr. Monroe, good to see you 5 here this morning. 6 MR. MONROE: Good to be here. I'm sorry about the 7 last meeting. I am here to ask the County to do a little 8 exploration work with me on helping me locate an office for 9 198th District Court -- or the 198th Judicial District. 10 Presently, the offices utilized by Amos Barton is a 11 privately-owned building that is being rented. I am 12 exploring ways that I can begin trying to trim the budget a 13 little bit, because it is driven a good bit by forfeiture 14 funds, which have a definite period in which they will be 15 gone. One way to try to save rent is to find a facility 16 that's owned by the County where I would not necessarily have 17 to pay rent, so I'm trying to do that. I'm trying to do that 18 early, so if that is a possibility, it might become a reality 19 by January the 1st. There is some unused space out at the 20 annex at the Sheriff's Department, about 1,700 square feet. 21 That is just a slab. I would like to explore utilizing that 22 facility to be turned into an office area, possibly. That 23 would, of course, involve Kerr County, 'cause it belongs to 24 the County, but it would need to be finished out. 25 So, I'm here asking the Commissioners to consider 8-27-12 14 1 providing Mr. Lewis to draw some floor plans for us to see if 2 that's feasible to use that space. If it is, possibly then 3 it can be proceeded to maybe have it finished out, or have it 4 drawn up to meet specs to get -- to get some estimates of 5 what it would cost. But that's the purpose for me being 6 here, because I would really like to not have to pay rent 7 come January the 1st. I'd like to only have to move one 8 time, as opposed to two, and it just makes sense to try to do 9 that now. So, there -- there's my end of that. And then I 10 know Mr. Lewis was here and y'all had talked to him a little 11 bit, but he can speak to what he's willing to do and what he 12 can do. Any questions of me? 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. 14 MR. LEWIS: And I have met with Mr. Monroe and two 15 of his staff last week, talked about what the scope of his 16 work needs were. We are, of course, familiar with the 17 Sheriff's Annex, and that it's approximately 1,700 square 18 feet next to the fitness center. And I'm here to say today 19 that we are prepared to -- I don't have a proposal to hand to 20 you today, but I could deliver one later today, if -- if 21 we're in agreement, to do preliminary planning as described, 22 to meet with Scott and his staff and whoever else I need to 23 meet with -- with the Sheriff, if I need to -- and prepare a 24 preliminary floor plan, ceiling plan, and a budget estimate 25 so we can figure out how to move forward. I propose to do 8-27-12 15 1 that on an hourly basis to a guaranteed maximum amount of 2 $2,500. And then if we move forward, we will come back to 3 you with a fixed-fee proposal for construction and permit 4 documents. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What's the status of that 6 room now? 7 MR. LEWIS: It's vacant. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That has a floor at this 9 time? 10 MR. LEWIS: Just concrete, yeah. It -- yes. And 11 it's got a pour strip right down the demising wall between it 12 and the fitness -- 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Gym. 14 MR. LEWIS: -- fitness area, so any plumbing can 15 easily be tied in. There's a sanitary line underneath, and 16 water comes in overhead, so it's ready to be finished out. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, it was constructed so that 18 that area -- the central area between where the fitness 19 center is now and the vacant area that we're talking here, 20 all of the -- all of the wastewater and water are accessible 21 there, the other temporary pour-back. And -- 22 MR. LEWIS: Sprinkler mains are there. They should 23 -- the heads needs to be adjusted, 'cause there will be a 24 ceiling, but everything that they need is ready. They will 25 need a new air-conditioner system, but that -- there's a 8-27-12 16 1 place for that behind the building. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there -- there was a new unit 3 placed over on the other side where the fitness center is. 4 MR. LEWIS: Yeah, but not -- it doesn't have -- I 5 don't believe we planned -- 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Doesn't serve both sides? 7 MR. LEWIS: What it did is pumped a little bit of 8 warm air into that empty space to keep the sprinkler lines 9 from freezing. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Up in the ceiling area. 11 MR. LEWIS: Yes, sir. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, this 2,500 is just kind of 13 a -- to meet with you and figure out what they need, and kind 14 of do a general plan, and then there'll be a specific 15 proposal for the actual -- 16 MR. LEWIS: Yes. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- design and drawings? 18 MR. LEWIS: I'll do this hourly, and, you know, if 19 I can finish it in a day or two, and -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd say an hour or two. 21 MR. LEWIS: An hour or two? 22 JUDGE TINLEY: But he's capped it at 2,500. He's 23 proposing to cap it at 2,500, but we know he can do better 24 than that, 'cause he's a very efficient individual, and has 25 very efficient staff people. 8-27-12 17 1 MR. LEWIS: You flatter me, Judge. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, it needs to be done. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We need to do it. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move for approval. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I second that. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 9 approval. Any further question or discussion? All in favor, 10 signify by raising your right hand. 11 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 13 (No response.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Thank you, 15 gentlemen. We appreciate it. 16 MR. LEWIS: Thank you. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to our next 9 o'clock timed 18 item; to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 19 set a public hearing concerning abandoning the private road 20 name Luke Lane West located in Precinct 4. Commissioner 21 Odom? That's "Commissioner" Odom. 22 MR. ODOM: "Commissioner." You gave me -- 23 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't think you want that -- 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: No. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: -- that promotion, do you? 8-27-12 18 1 MR. ODOM: I don't know. Ask Buster; I'm in his 2 precinct. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: I see. 4 MR. ODOM: I think that's a little bit too much for 5 me, Judge. You don't want an Aggie on the Court, I don't 6 think. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Now, what would be the down side to 8 that? 9 MR. ODOM: Well, I -- just that we'll probably 10 crush Texas, so -- you know. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: What does that have to do with the 12 business of this -- 13 MR. ODOM: It's too many -- too many U.T. folks up 14 there. That's the problem. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Don't look at me when you say 16 that. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You need to worry about 18 Arkansas first. 19 MR. ODOM: Worry about L.S.U. I'm going to be the 20 referee. I'm going to -- payback is going to be heck for 21 L.S.U. The 911 office sent us this request on August the 22 8th, 2012. And if you look at the map, there are four 23 individual property owners on this property. Robert and Gail 24 Stillwell signed off on the petition and dropped the name, 25 and T. Scott Allen applied for the name abandonment. We have 8-27-12 19 1 questioned why Sandra Chapman and Darby Denison did not sign 2 the petition to drop the road name. Bill Amerine sent Road 3 and Bridge a letter stating what he was told from 4 Mrs. Chapman. It seems that everyone is related to them, 5 other than Robert and Gail Stillwell. We've decided to set a 6 public hearing concerning this request to allow any parties 7 involved to have an opportunity to address the Court if 8 needed. So, at this time, we ask the Court to set a public 9 hearing for Monday, October the 8th, 2012, at 9 a.m. 10 concerning the abandonment of a private road name, Luke Lane 11 West, Precinct 4. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Motion made. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to set a 15 public hearing on the matter for Monday, October 8th, 2012, 16 at 9 a.m. Question or discussion? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They just -- they just want to 18 go forward with no name on it? I presume it's, like, a 19 driveway? 20 MR. ODOM: It's a private -- that's the way they 21 wanted to go, with no name on it, to my knowledge. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it's not a driveway if it 23 has four or five houses on it. 24 MR. ODOM: That's right. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 8-27-12 20 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Seems to me like it needs 2 some kind of a name for 911 purposes. 3 MR. ODOM: I'm sure they may come back. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm surprised at 911 going 5 along with it. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Further question or discussion? All 8 in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 9 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 11 (No response.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Thank you, 13 Mr. Odom. 14 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 4; to consider, 16 discuss, take appropriate action on the request from Center 17 Point Independent School District on road closure during 18 construction of a new science building located on the current 19 campus site. The road closure request would include First 20 Street between Avenue A and C; next, Avenue A from First 21 Street to China Street from 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Monday 22 through Friday. The road closure would remain in effect 23 until November 30th, 2012, which is the estimated completion 24 date of the project. Commissioner Overby? 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Judge Tinley, a real exciting 8-27-12 21 1 project going on out there for Center Point ISD right now is 2 the construction of a science building. I did receive a call 3 here about a week ago from our superintendent out there, Cody 4 Newcomb, at Center Point ISD; wanted me to come out and take 5 a look at -- as far as the construction to make sure that 6 they could provide a safe drop-off place for the bus routes 7 as they were dropping kiddoes off at the school for this 8 first three months of the year. The request that you see 9 here today is to allow for the closure of First Street 10 between Avenue A and C. This is the street that connects the 11 elementary school in with the rest of the school; to have 12 that road closed off at all times where the science 13 building's being built, and then also from Avenue A from 14 First Street to China Street from 7:00 to 8:30. This is 15 where the buses will come in to provide a safe area for 16 dropping the kids off to get to school. I have had also the 17 Sheriff's Department; Scott Prout came out also and offered 18 his advice and recommendations. And through that -- with 19 that opportunity, with Cody and the Maintenance Department of 20 Center Point ISD, these are the recommendations to help 21 provide a safe drop-off point for the kids at the Center 22 Point campus. With that, I would like to make a motion, and 23 this would be in effect through November 30th of this year, 24 when they anticipate the building to be completed. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 8-27-12 22 1 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second for 2 approval of the agenda item. Any further question or 3 discussion on that motion? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a question. Are there any 5 residences that use this -- these roads? 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: There is one on First Street, 7 but where the gate is, their access coming off Avenue C from 8 First Baptist Church, they have access to get -- this doesn't 9 really affect them until they come into -- another 50 feet 10 past that. But there's no residences that will be blocked 11 off by that. On the street from 7:00 to 8:30 in the morning, 12 there is one house that is on the street that is there. The 13 barricades will be removed at 8:30. But there is only one 14 home in there, and the Maintenance Department will be 15 overseeing those barricades in the morning, so if there is 16 somebody that needs to get out of that home during that time, 17 they'll be sure they have access to get out during that one 18 time. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. And during the day, if 20 there's any need, I mean, there -- 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's right. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Essentially, it's closed to 23 through traffic. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's correct. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 8-27-12 23 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or discussion on 2 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 3 your right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move 8 to Item 7; to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 9 regarding the installation of a solid waste interceptor at 10 4-H livestock center. Commissioner Oehler? 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, last meeting we had 12 this on the agenda to discuss, and we needed to go back and 13 see about maybe putting one restroom in that project 14 facility, and we have done that. Roy did it. I'll let him 15 take over, but after talking with the City, they agreed that 16 we could tie in a restroom, not to the intercepter itself, 17 but directly into the line going to the wastewater. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: On the down side of the interceptor? 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: On the opposite end, not -- 22 just -- 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Beyond the interceptor into the 24 sewer line. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. I believe Stuart -- 8-27-12 24 1 did I see Stuart walk in here? 2 MR. BARRON: Yes, sir. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Is that the case? 4 MR. BARRON: Yes, sir. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Good. I'm glad you're here. 6 So, you agree. It's nice when you're agreeable. 7 MR. BARRON: There you go. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Big old smile on his face back there 9 since he came in. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. I don't know. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: This is happy times, right, Stuart? 12 MR. BARRON: The good old days are coming back. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: There you go. 14 MR. BARRON: When I used to show up every Monday. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So, what I -- not only have 16 we -- the requirement that they put with this was that all 17 the plumbing work had to be done by a licensed -- licensed 18 plumber, which we do anyway. We have, you know, a licensed 19 plumber that -- to do most of our work out there, if not all 20 of it, and so that -- that's not a problem. I do believe 21 that we need to go one step farther, and that is to figure 22 out how much it's going to cost to build that one restroom, 23 and I think we can do it in-house. I'm pretty sure. But, 24 you know, I think we need to get a price on that before we 25 really -- we can do it all. You know, we'll know what it all 8-27-12 25 1 is, one amount for everything. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: So, what I'm hearing from you, 3 Commissioner, is that while the details with the interceptor 4 are solidified, and the ability to tie in the restroom, you 5 want to figure out one turnkey price for the whole thing, and 6 until we get that, you don't want to move forward? 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's correct. I think we 8 can do that pretty quickly. But this all just -- Roy got 9 this information together, and the other thing is that the 10 paying for it, I think, needs to be out of this fiscal -- 11 2012 fiscal year. Maybe the parks budget, I think, would 12 take care of all that expense. We'd still have enough to do 13 the other things that we've been doing, rather than taking it 14 out of capital. 15 MS. HARGIS: I don't know. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I know how much money 17 is in the -- in the parks money -- budget for next year. 18 MS. HARGIS: 25,000. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's right. We're talking 20 about less than that. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I hate to wait for our next 22 court meeting, which is going to be in three weeks, isn't it? 23 Two weeks? Two weeks. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Two weeks. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I know Roy's trying to get 8-27-12 26 1 this up and going for animals that are there right now. 2 Isn't there any way we can go with the interceptor, and then 3 address -- 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Sure. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just to get -- so that part can 6 be at least ordered. I don't know if you have to order -- 7 MR. WALSTON: Yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah, you got to order it. 9 Then also, I think we already have the price for the 10 interceptor and the concrete work that needs to be done to 11 make that trough for the drain to go into that interceptor, 12 so if you want to just approve that, that's fine. Then we 13 can start on that. But -- 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Roy, what -- a couple of weeks 15 delay, is that going to be -- 16 MR. WALSTON: Well, it's just getting the 17 interceptor ordered, I mean, to where I could go ahead and 18 get that online, and then -- and also get online to get the 19 trench in and get on somebody's books for digging the hole. 20 And, I mean, we could -- we could start, probably -- I'm 21 hoping in a couple weeks, rather than waiting a couple weeks 22 and then -- 23 JUDGE TINLEY: What's it going to take to get the 24 interceptor here in terms of time? 25 MR. WALSTON: As far as time? I -- I don't know. 8-27-12 27 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 2 MR. WALSTON: I'll have to check and see. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But it probably will take a 4 week or two, I would think, once it's ordered. It's fine 5 with me to go ahead and authorize that part of it and then 6 come back with an estimate. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: In the meantime, put together -- put 8 together the rest of the -- 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The rest of it can be done, 10 and that in no way interferes with hooking the line in the 11 restroom into the wastewater line. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's just a -- stubbing in a -- 13 in the -- 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. So, anyway, this is 15 kind of a needed thing. It's been -- you know, this is one 16 disadvantage that facility's had, not having wastewater over 17 there so they can wash out, and I think the pigs are going to 18 start coming in here pretty quick. 19 MR. WALSTON: Won't be long. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And that's -- that's the main 21 reason for all of this. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Why don't we go ahead and get the 23 interceptor on order, get it coming this way. In the 24 meantime, try and put together the total package. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. And then we can work 8-27-12 28 1 on the -- 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- the rest of it in the 4 meantime. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. And the other question I 6 have is, is the sewer line going all the way down Riverside? 7 I mean, or is it -- where is the sewer line going? Where is 8 the tie-in going to be? 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The end of it, to my 10 knowledge, is right directly behind where the alleyway was. 11 It's actually coming off of that holding tank that we're 12 going to use for the animal waste in the new building. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It comes straight out from 15 that out to Riverside, then it turns and goes parallel inside 16 of our fence all the way down to where it gets to the 17 manhole, where it goes on from there down to the lift 18 station. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the City's part of it stops 20 down at the manhole. I'm looking at kind of Stuart. Is that 21 where the City's ownership of that line -- 22 MR. BARRON: I have to look to be sure, but our -- 23 we always start at a manhole. Typically it's the first 24 manhole, either right inside the property or right outside 25 the property, depending on the service area. I'd have to see 8-27-12 29 1 where your first manhole is. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's just outside. 3 MR. BARRON: Just outside? So, your service line 4 would go -- 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: 'Cause there are two 6 different lines that actually tie in, I believe. 7 MR. BARRON: It's probably on the drawings. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Should be on the drawings. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And where I'm thinking on this 10 is the size of that line, if we have to do that ditching all 11 the way down there, and then at some point restrooms are 12 going to be going in the outdoor arena. Does it make sense 13 to size this line to be able to at least get a line all the 14 way that far? For future expansion, rather than having to 15 dig another ditch 500 feet. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: No question but what you want to -- 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Looks like right here. Then 19 here's your manhole. That's the manhole outside. 20 MR. BARRON: Yes, sir. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: This is the old holding tank 22 right here. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We probably need to verify the 24 size of that existing line, make sure it's going to be big 25 enough for -- I mean, might as well just try to get all that 8-27-12 30 1 site work done, at least to this point, 'cause we know we're 2 going to have restrooms over at the outdoor arena at some 3 point, rather than have to -- 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: This is not a very big volume 5 tank. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This should almost be like a 7 pretty small -- 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's small. It's going to be 9 a lift station or lift pump -- small lift in order to force 10 it in, because there's not a whole lot of fall -- 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- on that end. You're kind 13 of downhill from where -- that's why it has to have a little 14 pump on it, to put it into the line, force it in. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are y'all working with Lane on 16 this? 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Lane is the one doing all the 18 design work. Roy's been working with him. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Roy, you might get with 20 Lane and have him -- 'cause he'll understand the capacity of 21 what we probably need at the outdoor arena, and see -- I 22 mean, it may make sense to do this, may make sense not to do 23 the whole thing right now, but I think we ought to at least, 24 you know, look at it. And have Lane make sure -- I have no 25 idea what size line's there right now. 8-27-12 31 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think it's 4-inch, is what 2 I've seen. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 4-inch? But -- 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Isn't that right, Stuart? It 5 runs down -- your line is bigger from there. 6 MR. BARRON: Ours is 6-inch out in the street, from 7 6 to 8 out on the street. I'm not sure what it is on -- on 8 your property, but I -- 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's four. 10 MR. BARRON: Running through the lift station, 11 you're going to put, like, probably an inch and a half line 12 or something like that in from that other -- from that other 13 feature, I would imagine. I haven't seen the drawings on 14 that yet, so I'm thinking -- 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Ought to take a look at it. It 17 may or may not, like I said, make sense. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: May want to look at that, 19 too. I think it's big a enough line, just because it's going 20 to be forced. It's just going to be so -- it's not going to 21 happen every day, all day long. It just comes when they wash 22 out -- when that tank fills up. You know, they need to -- 23 when that water comes in, it's got to come off. I don't have 24 any problem. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: If we're going to try and add other 8-27-12 32 1 waste lines in in the future, it's within the realm of 2 reasonable possibility, we need to plan for that capacity 3 also. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: At some point in time, we 5 will have to. It's just -- you know, it's a rare thing to 6 have -- of course, it's going to happen more in the future 7 when we have more events going on there at the same time, but 8 generally, most of your events are on weekends and things, 9 and you just have the influx of that wastewater, you know, 10 and then there's not much during the week normally. But you 11 still got to have a big enough line to do it. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's almost worse to -- 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But that doesn't seem to have 14 been an issue with the new show barn, with the restrooms and 15 everything. It seems to have checked out fine. Nobody -- 16 nobody said it wouldn't -- wouldn't work with what we have. 17 So, anyway -- 18 JUDGE TINLEY: I guess we order the interceptor, 19 and -- and put the details of the rest of it together between 20 now and the next meeting. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think that's a good idea. 22 Not really going to get much more done. You might, if you 23 got lucky and you get it ordered, get it set. Road and 24 Bridge, I think, is going to be low bidder again on digging 25 the -- digging the hole, and somebody else is going to set 8-27-12 33 1 it, because the thing's heavier than what we can lift with 2 our equipment. I'm pretty sure Road and Bridge is going to 3 be low bidder. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: I see. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Roy, do you know, what's the 6 cost on the interceptor? Do you remember? 7 MR. WALSTON: The total cost on the interceptor and 8 the trench -- 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: 10,000? 10 MR. WALSTON: Well, it was 23,000, but that 11 included everything except tying into the city line. I'm not 12 sure what size line I was looking at on going from the 13 interceptor to -- but that included installing the 14 interceptor and the trench, and everything was 23. 15 MR. HENNEKE: Just the interceptor's listed at 16 53 -- 5,350, if that's what y'all were asking. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we 18 authorize Roy Walston to order the interceptor for the ag 19 building at a cost not to exceed 6,000. 20 MR. WALSTON: Well, I think the interceptor was -- 21 I think it was right at 15 -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Fifteen or fifty? 23 MR. HENNEKE: It says here that the cost of the 24 1,500-gallon animal waste interceptor from Park Environmental 25 delivered is $5,350. 8-27-12 34 1 MR. WALSTON: Okay. Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, not to exceed 6,000. And 3 bring it back at the next meeting for approval of the 4 remainder of the project, once we get a confirmed cost. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Did I hear a second? 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second as 9 indicated. Any question or discussion on that motion? All 10 in favor of that motion, signify by raising your right hand. 11 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 13 (No response.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's go to 15 our 9:30 timed items now. First item is to -- is a 16 presentation of checks from Headwaters Groundwater 17 Conservation District in the amount of $5,000, and from Upper 18 Guadalupe River Authority in the amount of $10,000 to help 19 fund the rainwater catchment system for the new show barn at 20 the Hill Country Youth Exhibit -- Events Center. 21 Commissioner Oehler. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes, sir. That is -- it 23 gives me great pleasure. This is -- these ladies and 24 gentlemen have agreed to help us fund that, and they're here 25 today to present you a check. I guess probably down here in 8-27-12 35 1 the front would be a good place to get a picture on 2 presenting the Court the checks for helping fund it. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Why don't we bring them all up here? 4 And -- 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Mr. Scott Parker is with us 6 on behalf of U.G.R.A., and Ray Buck is back there, and then 7 you have Gordon Morgan. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Ray's got a great big one there. 9 MR. PARKER: Ray Buck wrote a big check. 10 MR. BUCK: We brought a visual aid, Judge. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Come on up here, Scott. 12 MR. SCOTT: We got a real check also in case the 13 bank won't -- 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Don't forget that one. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: This one won't clear very well 16 through the processes? 17 MR. PARKER: Well, basically, Commissioner Oehler 18 leaned on all of us and made -- you know, came to us and made 19 a plea. And, you know, this fits with our sort of current -- 20 I want to say incremental, but, I mean, our approach right 21 now is that we're going to do everything that we can do to 22 help create -- not create, but to help access additional 23 water here in the county. And this is consistent with, you 24 know, what we're doing in this regard. We have a $50 subsidy 25 to anybody that wants to put a small system on their house, a 8-27-12 36 1 rainwater -- or rain barrel, basically. So, this is a bigger 2 version of that, and just kind of -- we know it's going to 3 cost a lot more than this, but basically that's all we could 4 find in our budget. But we hope that it does help, and so 5 here's the real check that you can deposit. You give that to 6 the County Treasurer. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: We thank you, sir. That's certainly 8 better than that -- much, much bigger than that $50 shot. 9 MR. PARKER: Yeah. Well, you know, but it doesn't 10 -- none of it does any good if it doesn't rain. (Laughter.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, you're right. We got to have 12 that too, Scott. 13 MR. PARKER: All right. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Thank you, Scott. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you very, very much. 16 MR. PARKER: Commissioner. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Thank you, Scott. And I 18 believe I saw Gordon Morgan sitting back here. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. Gene's back here. A few of 20 those folks are here. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You know, if you really look 22 at the two people -- two leaders of this group, they're both 23 pretty doggone hard to get money out of, if you ever noticed. 24 Wow, what a great thing. Thank you. 25 MR. MORGAN: Thank you. I'm going to hold onto it 8-27-12 37 1 just as long as I can, but I've got a small check for you 2 that you can go right to the bank with. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, good. 4 MR. MORGAN: But we did -- I'm speaking on behalf 5 of the board. We did really want to support your efforts in 6 conservation. That's part of our mission, and you're doing 7 some of it for us, and the education with the people that 8 will have the opportunity to see it, our young folks, and we 9 feel that's very important. And one other issue, which was 10 the effort that you put forth in maintaining the monitor well 11 that we had out there, and you incorporated into the 12 foundation. We've had about 10 years of data on the aquifer, 13 so we get to continue that on, so we really appreciate it. 14 And we have a check for you. It's partly out of the 15 education funds and partly out of our aquifer research 16 program. So -- 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Bring it on up. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Bring it on. Come on, Diane; 19 you're part of this too. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Gordon, we appreciate everything 21 you're doing. We're going to get Diane up here too. 22 MR. MORGAN: There's the official check. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: We thank you. We thank you. 24 MR. MORGAN: Thank you. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: We really, really appreciate your 8-27-12 38 1 participating and helping us do this. We hope this system 2 will allow us to use a lot of water that -- from Mother 3 Nature that we won't have to pull out of the river or pull 4 out of wells, or otherwise utilize out of other sources. So, 5 we thank you immensely for your participation. 6 MR. MORGAN: Appreciate all your work. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Thanks, Gordon. 8 MS. McMAHON: We appreciate the forward thinking. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: And where's the Treasurer? Okay. 10 We -- we have another 9:30 timed item, discussion of issues 11 related to Flat Rock Lake Park. Ms. Sherry Egloff. 12 MS. EGLOFF: Good morning. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Good morning. 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Good morning. 15 MS. EGLOFF: I'm Sherry Egloff; I live at 2042 16 Summit Crest in Kerrville. Anyway, I came here today to call 17 your attention to two letters that appeared in the Kerrville 18 Daily Times recently. One -- and they applied to the Flat 19 Rock Park. One is from Martha Miesch, and she states that 20 the consensus of Hill Country Master Naturalists, Native 21 Plant Society of Texas, and the Upper Guadalupe River 22 Authority is that vegetation of native plants along waterways 23 should not be mowed because they protect waters from silting, 24 and in flooding, hold soil from washing into the river. Then 25 the second letter appeared, and that was from a 8-27-12 39 1 representative of U.G.R.A., and that one thanked Martha for 2 her -- for promoting riparian vegetation which preserves and 3 protects water quality. So, a number of Master Naturalists 4 went down to look at Flat Rock Park, and after inspecting it, 5 this group -- this group contained, oh, the head of the 6 Master Naturalists; it included a fellow who does the bird 7 and butterfly counts, and he's the expert on that; Martha and 8 myself. And we recommend some simple management changes to 9 lessen silt runoff and enhance the native habitat. 10 The park has three sections. The first is heavily 11 used, and therefore requires no changes. Mowing there is a 12 good idea. The second is a transitional area, which is just 13 basically a narrow road and a hill -- hills on one side, and 14 a slope down to the water on the other. And that hill is 15 heavily eroded by off-road vehicles. This silt then washes 16 down into the river. So, we propose that barriers be put 17 along that hill to prevent off-roaders from using it, and we 18 also suggest that the -- that those hills not be mowed at all 19 so that nature can heal the hill and prevent further runoff. 20 And the same thing is true for the slope that runs from the 21 side of the road down to the water. If the vegetation there 22 is allowed to grow, that will also reduce the amount of silt 23 in the water. 24 Then the third part of the park is just used by 25 walkers. It's not heavily used. And there, we propose that 8-27-12 40 1 the -- the edge of the river not be mowed, except where there 2 are a couple of benches where there should be a view. But 3 other than that, if you leave that grow, it would not only 4 prevent runoff of silt, but also the -- you know, protected 5 in times of flood. So, anyway -- and also with minimal 6 effort, native habitat could be improved by removing some of 7 the few invasive plants in the park, and allowing islands of 8 wildflowers to develop in the south meadow, which is a huge 9 thing several blocks long, and is mowed all the time for no 10 particular purpose, and planting a number of desirable trees 11 and shrubs. Now, last December I suggested these exact 12 changes to you, then toured the park with Tim Bollier, who 13 agreed that these suggestions could save work and possibly 14 money, and that all were doable. Now, eight months later, 15 off-roaders still tear up the park. The silt still flows 16 into the river, and there's no improvement in the habitat. 17 So, I am asking you to be responsible custodians of the park 18 and river by following the recommendations of U.G.R.A., the 19 Master Naturalists, and the Native Plant Society. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Two things. Have you prepared a 21 specific kind of master plan that sets forth these 22 recommendations? 23 MS. EGLOFF: Well -- 24 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm talking about a layout and so 25 forth. 8-27-12 41 1 MS. EGLOFF: I don't have access to a layout, you 2 know, as an individual. But I did go down there with Tim, 3 and we rode around in his truck, and we pointed out, you 4 know, the edge of the river and how wide, you know, the strip 5 should be, et cetera. Where these islands -- proposed 6 islands in the great meadow would be, et cetera. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: So, you don't even have a sketch 8 of -- of what you propose? 9 MS. EGLOFF: Well, I did give Tim a sketch of the 10 islands and the meadow, you know. And -- 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Secondly -- secondly, are the Master 12 Gardeners, Master Naturalists, masters combined in a position 13 to provide some volunteer assistance to help maintain this in 14 the manner that -- 15 MS. EGLOFF: Oh, it's not a matter of maintenance. 16 It's lack of. It's actually not a matter of maintenance; 17 it's a matter of lack of maintenance. Right now, you're 18 maintaining it by mowing the living daylights out of it, and 19 this is just stopping that. There are resources available to 20 identify the invasive plants and remove them. Yes, that can 21 be done. There are -- 22 JUDGE TINLEY: By members of the organization? 23 MS. EGLOFF: Yes. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 25 MS. EGLOFF: And there's another organization, too, 8-27-12 42 1 which is one that -- 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, you understand -- 3 MS. EGLOFF: "Texas natives have eradication 4 programs and volunteers to remove invasive plants from parks 5 and nature preserves." That sounds like us. But, anyway, 6 there are at least two organizations that would do that kind 7 of work. And there's a whole book on the desirable plants 8 along rivers. You know, there's a lot of resources. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: I think you understand that our 10 Maintenance people are not -- not horticulturalists, or -- 11 MS. EGLOFF: Uh-huh. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: -- have qualifications similar to 13 that. If -- if you or your organization has some specific 14 proposal, I think it is incumbent upon you to prepare 15 a layout which is understandable by individuals doing mowing, 16 for example, as well as in the event there's any specific 17 activities required, such as removal of invasive plants, 18 things of that nature, to identify the resources that you 19 have available to assist in doing that. And I'd look forward 20 to receiving that and going over that with Mr. Bollier. 21 MS. EGLOFF: Okay. When I talked to Tim, I 22 proposed that we just take stakes and put markers in where 23 the mowing should stop, cease right here. Cease. And that 24 after it's been done a few times, it would be evident that 25 this part is to be mowed and this is not, because the plants 8-27-12 43 1 would grow up and you'd know you're not supposed to run your 2 mower in there. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: That's what we -- 4 MS. EGLOFF: That's -- 5 JUDGE TINLEY: That's why it would be helpful to 6 have a layout, ma'am. 7 MS. EGLOFF: Yeah. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: That's why it would be helpful to 9 have that. 10 MS. EGLOFF: Okay. Well, we'll look into that. 11 So, eight months later we're still talking about it. But, 12 very good. Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, let me add a comment. I 14 think we need -- I don't think it's your organization's 15 responsibility to determine the use of the park. 16 MS. EGLOFF: Yeah. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- I think we need to 18 get a plan of the park that we then approve, that this is 19 what the Court agrees. Because, I mean, there are areas 20 that -- like I say, that may need to be native areas, and 21 maybe, you know, over time they can be -- native plants can 22 come back, and there's other areas that aren't that way. And 23 you're talking, I know, mostly about the far eastern part of 24 the park. But, you know, there's other -- there's been talk 25 of doing other things with that park on the Court. For 8-27-12 44 1 instance, frisbee golf, for example, which necessarily is 2 different than that. But I think we need a plan for the park 3 before we just start doing things. And that's where I 4 think -- you know, that's what the next step really needs to 5 be. You know, the -- you say you didn't have access to -- 6 the ability to make a plat, but I believe the natural -- the 7 Master Naturalists are kind of through the Extension Office, 8 aren't you? 9 MS. EGLOFF: No, that's Master Gardeners. There 10 are two different things. One are Master Gardeners; that's 11 Roy and his crew. And the Master Naturalists is a huge 12 organization in the state of Texas with thousands and 13 thousands of people, and their primary purpose is the 14 management of land. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. But it's not under 16 the A & M system at all? 17 MS. EGLOFF: No. Well -- 18 MR. WALSTON: It's a partnership. It's a 19 partnership with Parks and Wildlife and Texas A & M. 20 MS. EGLOFF: Yeah, it is. Okay. You're right. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I knew there was education with 22 that. 23 MS. EGLOFF: But they're two separate animals. 24 And -- but the specialty of the Master Naturalists is 25 management of land, and that's exactly what we're talking 8-27-12 45 1 here. And I've used this park extensively for the past eight 2 years, and I know the uses. And that one area is not -- is 3 minimally used. Minimally. And -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not -- I'm just saying we 5 need to -- the Court needs to -- we can't just turn the park 6 over to the Master Naturalists and say, "It's your park," so 7 we need to figure out a plan for the park and then move 8 towards getting that. 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Commissioner Letz, I would 10 just say that the last plan that the County has done that I 11 have found is actually 2002. And I think just to further up, 12 as you guys go into the next year, 2012-2013, I think a plan 13 of the park is -- is in order. I mean, it's somewhere in 14 there, because we've talked about there's potential grant 15 money also to go out there with a new park plan in place. 16 So, I think some of the ideas you're talking about -- and I 17 agree with you. I think as you guys proceed forward, a new 18 park plan would be appropriate for all these type of -- 19 MS. EGLOFF: Well, does any part of these potential 20 park plans want silt in the river? I mean, you like the 21 concept of having silt run in the river? I mean, why can't 22 you stop -- provide barriers along the hill to at least stop 23 that? Stop -- 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. 25 MS. EGLOFF: Stop people destroying the park. 8-27-12 46 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with that. I'll 2 agree with that part. I don't know about the rest of what 3 you're talking about. 4 MS. EGLOFF: And so far, you know -- 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, I thought I was talking. 6 MS. EGLOFF: -- U.G.R.A. says definitely leave the 7 edge of the water natural to preserve it in times of flood, 8 and to remove -- keep it from allowing silt in the water. 9 So, I can't imagine any of your plans wanting to -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess I'm thinking -- and I'm 11 going in my mind -- 'cause I -- yeah, I'm pretty much -- I 12 agree with natural vegetation, native plants. I'm very 13 involved with that. But I'm also thinking of Zilker Park in 14 Austin, where they have massive ball fields right down to the 15 river, and they have -- part of that park is pure native, and 16 part of it's athletic fields. So, you know, I think there's 17 things you can do, but I think you have to designate the 18 areas. People use that river and that park a great deal for 19 fishing, and if you have brush and grass waist-high along the 20 bank -- 21 MS. EGLOFF: That's why we identified three 22 sections. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 24 MS. EGLOFF: The entry section, which leave it 25 as-is. Mow the living daylights out of it. It's wonderful. 8-27-12 47 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just think we need to have 2 input from the fishing community, the naturalist community, 3 you know, other users, and then develop a plan based on 4 trying to maximize it. The area where you're talking about 5 where the erosion is and the four-wheelers, that's been a 6 problem that we've been trying -- we've tried to address many 7 times. We've had a hard time, 'cause we have to provide some 8 access. And -- and then -- 9 MS. EGLOFF: The -- that hill is some distance 10 back. If you took just dead trees and laid them at the base 11 of that hill, that would prevent the off-roaders from using 12 it, just as quick as that. And -- you know, and that would 13 eliminate the problem of the silt coming down the hill and 14 into the river. Now, it's not -- you don't have -- this does 15 not involve a lot of buying things and building and stuff 16 like that. It's just simple maintenance. So, anyway, you 17 want to think about that some more. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, in developing a park plan, we 19 need the input from all -- all of the users. And -- 20 MS. EGLOFF: Okay. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: -- it's not appropriate for us to 22 take a piece of public property -- 23 MS. EGLOFF: Right. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: -- and tailor it specifically to the 25 use of one particular group of individuals, which may impact 8-27-12 48 1 the use by other individuals. So -- 2 MS. EGLOFF: Well, all the fishing is done in one 3 section, and it has nothing to do with the vegetation. The 4 -- I mean, that's already mowed. But, anyway -- 5 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm reminded of a prior judge on 6 this court. Let's move forward to -- you have your input on 7 the plan, and if you want something to go into a -- a 8 component of the new parks plan, as I said earlier, I think 9 it's incumbent upon you to submit that, and that submission 10 will be considered in connection with the other users. 11 MS. EGLOFF: Can do you anything about the 12 off-roaders? I can't imagine how that would affect your 13 fishermen. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Why don't you talk to the Sheriff 15 about that? 16 MS. EGLOFF: No. These people apparently are so 17 ignorant, they couldn't possibly read a sign, so I think you 18 have to have barriers of some sort. And when I talked to 19 Tim, he seemed to think that that was feasible. So, could at 20 least that part be done? I mean, that's the worst part of 21 the silting, is in that transition area, which is not used by 22 anything other than cars. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Under the agenda item that you 24 submitted, I don't think the Court is in a position to take 25 any action today -- 8-27-12 49 1 MS. EGLOFF: Okay. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: -- with regard to anything relating 3 to that park. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I will take a look at that 5 area, 'cause I'm, you know, as the members of the Court know, 6 familiar with a lot of the things you're talking about. I'll 7 take a look at it and see what can be done. I don't know -- 8 you know, and we can talk to Road and Bridge. They may have 9 some trees and things we can bring back to the Court, too. 10 MS. EGLOFF: Would you meet with me and go down 11 there? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Certainly. 13 MS. EGLOFF: Okay. I went down there with Tim, and 14 all -- everything was go, go, go, and then nothing happened, 15 happened, happened. So, could I talk to you and maybe go 16 down with you, and I'll show you what we're -- I'm talking 17 about. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Give Jody your phone number; 19 I'll give you a call. 20 MS. EGLOFF: Very good. Thank you. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, it's now 10 o'clock. We have 22 some timed items there. At this time, I will recess the 23 Commissioners Court meeting, and I will convene a public 24 hearing on the proposed Kerr County budget for fiscal year 25 2012-13. 8-27-12 50 1 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10 a.m., and a public hearing was held in open 2 court, as follows:) 3 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the public 5 that wishes to be heard with respect to the proposed Kerr 6 County budget for fiscal year 2012-13? Any member of the 7 public that wishes to be heard with respect to the proposed 8 Kerr County budget for fiscal year 2012-13? Seeing no one 9 seeking to be recognized, I will close the public hearing on 10 the proposed Kerr County budget for fiscal year 2012-13. 11 (The public hearing was concluded at 10:01 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 12 reopened.) 13 - - - - - - - - - - 14 JUDGE TINLEY: I will reconvene the Commissioners 15 Court meeting and call Item 10; to consider, discuss, and 16 take appropriate action regarding the fiscal year 2012-13 17 budget. Commissioner Baldwin? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think I went first last 19 time. You want me to go first again? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't think there's 22 anything new. Did we carry anything forward with your 23 note-taking? 24 MS. GRINSTEAD: Nothing. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Jody, I appreciate you being 8-27-12 51 1 ready, though, to do that. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess -- 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I have -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are you done? 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I have one question. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, go ahead. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And it pertains to Item 9 Number 1.16. If that budget is adopted and that number is in 10 there, then that's approval for that agenda item, correct? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. I just think that 12 we -- I was planning on addressing that before we actually 13 adopt the budget. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're just talking about all 16 these things. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'm just wanting to call that 18 to the attention, that -- 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess the question I have is 20 that there was a change made -- Thursday, we met? Was it 21 Thursday? Do we have a new summary sheet, or -- I didn't 22 look at my book. And this budget summary is based on the 23 current tax rate, correct? 24 MS. HARGIS: Correct. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That was a nod yes. 8-27-12 52 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Nod yes? I was looking in my 2 book. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I quickly looked up. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Where was that summary? 5 MS. HARGIS: It's under the first tab. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: First tab. 7 MS. HARGIS: First sheet. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Oh, I got it. Thank you. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On the Road and Bridge 10 operating, on the reserves, is that -- or the estimated 11 reserves, I guess, is that a -- where does that -- where do 12 we want to keep that fund? I mean, we kind of modify -- that 13 goes up and down a little bit each year, and it's -- 14 MS. HARGIS: Well, I prefer having it closer to a 15 half a million. But because of the -- you know, we didn't do 16 the sealcoat, and now we're doing the sealcoat, so he's using 17 every available item to make sure he has enough money to get 18 all that done this year, so that's bringing -- he's using 100 19 percent of his budget. When he does that, it draws it all 20 the way down. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. And I notice -- not that 22 I have any access to these funds, but there's about $36,000 23 in the Schreiner Trust Fund. Is there anything that 24 Precincts 1 and 4 may be able to use that money for? 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Of course. 8-27-12 53 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Out of the budget -- out of the 2 current? 3 MS. HARGIS: Leonard's actually using some of that 4 on Precinct 4. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just didn't see it reflected 6 anywhere in here. 7 MS. HARGIS: Not in next year, but he's using some 8 of the funds this year. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's what I'm saying. For 10 next year, is there anything they can use that money to help? 11 MS. HARGIS: I need to see what he uses. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 36,000 is there right now. 13 MS. HARGIS: And that amount's going to go down. 14 We have -- we did not get any principal or interest in last 15 year; they didn't send us any because there wasn't enough 16 investment income, so this is just mainly what we have left 17 from prior years. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes, they have already -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For this year? 21 MS. HARGIS: But he has one -- 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: He needs the money to do 23 something, and it just happens to be needed out in 24 Precinct 4. 25 MS. HARGIS: I think it's Lovelady or something 8-27-12 54 1 like that. Does that ring a bell? Lovelady or something 2 like that, the road that he's using it on now? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: He's using it down in 4 Bruce's -- Bruce gets everything. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, you don't need any. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're suffering down here in 7 town. 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: So the reserve, then, after 9 -- with the current tax rate that we're looking at right now, 10 our reserve would be 20.56 in the general; is that correct? 11 MS. HARGIS: It's an estimate, yes. 12 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's an estimate, okay. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the historical -- 14 historically, that's a conservative number -- 15 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- going into the budget, 17 because there's always a few -- I mean, we don't spend every 18 penny. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Looks good. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It's definitely going the 22 right direction to get to that 25, as we talked about the 23 other day, so that's good. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Come a long way the last couple 25 years. That's all I have. 8-27-12 55 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else in connection with 2 this agenda item? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, let's see. No, I 4 guess not. That's fine. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, we do want to call -- 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, I'm going to. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- Item 1.16 before we do 9 the budget, though. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm going there right now. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right, we're ready. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Couldn't get there fast enough. 15 Let's go to Item 16; to consider, discuss, take appropriate 16 action on confirmation of employment of James Robles 17 effective August 20, 2012, as Assistant Auditor of Kerr 18 County at a salary of $42,329.52 as directed by District 19 Judge. Ms. Hargis? 20 MS. HARGIS: I have requested this employee, and I 21 think I had discussed it with some of you, not in the court. 22 Apparently I should have brought it back, and did not. I 23 have -- I will be, in my salary line item, 3,000 under budget 24 for this year. I have reduced my budget for next year by 25 $10,000, which is more than enough to cover the cost of this 8-27-12 56 1 employee. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you through? 3 MS. HARGIS: Yes, sir. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Well, there seems to 5 be some issues that we need to talk about, and I came across 6 a piece of law a little bird gave me last week, and I gave it 7 to the County Attorney just to look over and see what was 8 real and what's not real, and I think he has some information 9 to give us today. I think. 10 MR. HENNEKE: No, I do. Gentlemen, good morning. 11 The concern that I have in researching this, based on 12 Commissioner Baldwin's request, is fairly complicated, and so 13 I will try to walk through it as best as I can, and then I'm 14 glad to take any questions and clear up anything which I may 15 have not been clear on. The question -- the first question 16 that I have, and this is pertinent to this agenda item, is 17 whether the hire and designation of the salary of -- I forget 18 his name -- Ms. Hargis' designee has been valid. And in 19 researching this, I'm first relying upon Attorney General 20 Opinion JC-0361 from General Cornyn back in 2001 that 21 discussed the process and procedure for the hiring of 22 assistant county -- or assistant auditors, and also the 23 designation of their salary. 24 It makes reference to Section 84.021 of the Local 25 Government Code, which requires for the appointment of 8-27-12 57 1 assistant county auditors, that from time to time, the County 2 Auditor may certify to the judges a list stating the number 3 of assistants to be appointed, the name, duties, 4 qualifications, and experience of each appointee, and the 5 salary to be paid to each appointee. The District Judges, 6 after careful consideration of the application for the 7 appointment of the assistants and after inquiry concerning 8 their qualifications, positions sought to be filled, and the 9 reasonableness of the requested salaries, shall prepare a 10 list of the appointees that the judges approve and the 11 salaries to be paid to each. The judges shall certify this 12 list to Commissioners Court, which shall order the salaries 13 to be paid on performance of services, and shall appropriate 14 an adequate amount of money for that purpose. 15 The procedures were set forth in Chapter 152 of the 16 Local Government Code that says that before setting such 17 compensation, the judges must hold a public hearing on the 18 matter at which the parties in interest have an opportunity 19 to be heard. Then the action of the District Judges must be 20 taken by order and must be recorded in their minutes; those 21 minutes would then have to be certified, and the order 22 certified to the Commissioners Court. Even on the amendment 23 of salary, under this same Attorney General's opinion, it 24 orders that judges must post notice of and hold a public 25 hearing before increasing such salaries. In discussing the 8-27-12 58 1 process for a District Judge, during the course of the budget 2 year, to change the county budget which increases the 3 salaries of the assistants, that was spoken of in Opinion 4 Number JM-49 back in 1983. 5 Such change may be made, (1), upon a proper 6 application made by the Auditor to the District Court; (2), 7 only if such action does not require county expenditures in 8 excess of the anticipated revenue of the county for that 9 year, and (3), only if amendment of the county budget is made 10 in compliance with the law. And furthermore, the action of 11 the District Judges, because there's two District Judges here 12 in Kerr County, the Local Government Code 84.001 would 13 require the vote of both judges in order to take that action. 14 So, my understanding is that the -- the offer of employment 15 to Mr. Robles was made prior to the application to the 16 District Judges for approval of that position. And I -- I'm 17 not advised as to whether there was the, you know, 18 application to the District Judges made by the County Auditor 19 setting forth the name, duties, qualifications, and 20 experience of each appointee. So, that seems to have been a 21 prerequisite to the hire. 22 Even if that were to be done, and I'm not advised, 23 I'm fairly certain that there was not any public hearing 15 24 days prior, including publication in a newspaper of general 25 circulation. That -- that would have been impossible, as the 8-27-12 59 1 letter from Judge Williams was dated August 16th, and here 2 we're not more than 15 days later to that. So, I don't 3 believe that there's been valid notice, and even were there 4 to be valid notice, it would be my opinion that Judge 5 Williams' letter not -- not including the signature or order 6 of Judge Emerson is defective, as it does not show a vote of 7 both judges in order to do so. So, without those 8 prerequisites being satisfied, I don't think that this Court 9 is in a position to approve anything. 10 And I would note that, you know, the requirements 11 are that the change may be made, which includes amendment of 12 the county budget. And, unfortunately, to me, that indicates 13 that those prerequisites would need to be accomplished prior 14 to the hire. So, without this Court receiving the -- the 15 valid district court order following the proper application, 16 majority vote of both judges, public hearing following 17 publication in the newspaper, initiated by the application of 18 the auditor, I don't believe that there was a valid hire, and 19 I don't believe that this Commissioners Court is in a 20 position to approve the budget amendment. So, that's where 21 the Attorney General's opinions discussing the authorities 22 that exist lead me to as far as -- as the questions that you 23 had, Commissioner Baldwin. 24 Related to that also, then, I think going back to 25 the budget agenda item on 1.10, as far as you referencing 8-27-12 60 1 Section 111.013, that provides that the limitation on the 2 budget of the County Auditor, you know, shall not exceed 5 3 percent for expenses or for salaries of assistants without 4 approval of the Commissioners Court. In Attorney General 5 Opinion LO-92-002 from 1992, it discussed the increase from 6 one fiscal year to the next under this provision of the Local 7 Government Code, and the opinion of the opinion committee was 8 the 5 percent limitation on increases in salary applies to 9 the amount budgeted for the position from one fiscal year to 10 the next. The -- I guess the information that I had is that 11 when Ms. Soldan left the auditor's office, she did so as an 12 18.4, and Mr. Robles was hired at a 22.2. So, even if the 13 District Judges, in following their -- following the proper 14 procedure for the appointment of an assistant auditor and the 15 designation of the salary, come back and follow the proper 16 procedures, I believe that under this limitation provided by 17 111.013, and supported by the Attorney General's opinion, 18 that any increase to the amount budgeted for the position 19 from one fiscal year to the next is capped at 5 percent, 20 unless approved by the Commissioners Court. Of course, if 21 the Commissioners Court voted to approve the budget, that 22 would be tacit approval of any change. But I think the Court 23 has -- has the ability to cap any -- any increase. 24 Finally, I would point out that I'm not sure how 25 the numbers have -- have increased. Ms. Hargis reflected a 8-27-12 61 1 $10,000 reduction in her budget, although what I was looking 2 at -- what I was provided was the proposed budget that I 3 believe was initially filed that showed a total budget of 4 330 -- $387,000, and you don't count the salary of the 5 auditor or the assistants' salaries for a term of calculating 6 expenses. But under 111.013, an amount can't exceed 5 7 percent for either the expenses or the salaries of assistant 8 auditors without approval of the Commissioners Court, and 9 under at least the initial budget proposal of the County 10 Auditor, the line item for assistants' salaries was 11.9 11 percent of an increase. And if you only look at expenses, if 12 you exclude the salary of the Auditor and the salary of the 13 assistants, then my calculation is that that still reflects a 14 5.6 increase. So, I think that was probably a lot of 15 information. I'm glad to take any questions that any member 16 of the Court may have. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Essentially, what I'm hearing from 18 you, Mr. Henneke, is that the designation by the District 19 Judges, shown by the letter which has previously been given 20 to this Court for the hire of this individual, that is 21 defective because the appropriate procedure was not followed, 22 and the designation after following those procedures should 23 be done by both District Judges? 24 MR. HENNEKE: Both District Judges, following a 25 public hearing. 8-27-12 62 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Right, for the whole -- 2 MR. HENNEKE: Publication, so forth. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: -- the whole litany of procedures. 4 Secondly, that with respect to the amount of -- for 5 compensation to the individuals in that office, as well as 6 the expenses of that office, if they were to exceed the 5 7 percent cap in either or both events, they should have been 8 brought to this Court for approval prior to being placed in 9 the budget? 10 MR. HENNEKE: No, sir, there's no prerequisite on 11 that. And the approval of the Commissioners Court of the 12 budget with the amounts proposed that exceed 5 percent would 13 be approval, in my opinion, of those amounts. So, that -- 14 that being published and publicly noticed, you know, on those 15 figures, I think, puts the Commissioners Court on notice, 16 unless the Court -- and unless the Court would take an action 17 to reduce those figures down to 5 percent, which I think 18 would be the limit of the Commissioners Court to reduce them 19 to, anything up to 5 percent is within the discretion of the 20 judges or the County Auditor. If the Court failed to take 21 any action to reduce the proposed figures for the assistant 22 salaries or for the overall expenses, then when the budget 23 was voted on and adopted, that would be approval of those 24 sums. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: If the Court were to take action to 8-27-12 63 1 approve the budget, which would include -- and the position 2 schedule, which would include the individual concerned at the 3 amount as set forth in the agenda item for confirmation, is 4 it your opinion that that action would, in effect, confirm 5 any deficiencies that may have occurred with respect to the 6 designation and the hiring of the assistant? 7 MR. HENNEKE: No, sir. The -- the appointment of 8 the assistant auditor by the judge -- the District Judges, I 9 believe, is separate and apart from the establishment of the 10 budget which sets forth the salary of the Auditor, which is 11 set by the District Judges. So, were the Court to approve 12 the budget as-is, it would be approving the amendment to the 13 existing position in excess of 5 percent. But I still don't 14 think that you've yet had a valid hire to fill that spot 15 without the Court voting as a majority following the public 16 hearing to appoint. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: So, approval of the budget would -- 18 would effectually appropriate -- appropriate the amount for 19 that hire, but it would not validate the hire. 20 MR. HENNEKE: That is -- that is my opinion. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But, Judge -- but I think 23 there's another issue, is that that's going into starting 24 October 1. We've got six weeks left under the current 25 budget. So, approving the budget is good after October 1, 8-27-12 64 1 but it doesn't address any of the issues in August and 2 September. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And that hire exceeded the 4 budget for this year, what she had appropriated for assistant 5 auditor. Is that not correct? 6 MR. HENNEKE: Well, but that -- that's probably 7 okay after the budget amendment. The budget amendment is the 8 last process -- last step before then. I think that you can 9 offer -- 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But if you don't approve the 11 budget amendment, then -- 12 MR. HENNEKE: Once the District Court -- it is a 13 mandate. Once the District Judges both, because we have two, 14 vote a majority following a public hearing after the 15 publication, then the Court is obligated to -- to accept that 16 change, and the only limitation upon the amount is only if 17 such action does not require county expenditures in excess of 18 the anticipated revenue of the county for that year. So, 19 somewhere in this mess of paperwork is discussed how, even if 20 it does exceed the budget for the County Auditor's office, 21 the Court will be obligated to make amendment to appropriate 22 those funds, so long as it didn't exceed projected county 23 revenue. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So, basically, you've wasted 25 a lot of time coming up with all of what you've done, and we 8-27-12 65 1 don't really have much of a -- a way we can -- we can go 2 against what has been done. Even though it was done in a 3 budget year when there has been no budget amendment approved 4 yet for that hire. 5 MR. HENNEKE: Well, it's not valid yet, and so yes, 6 when it -- when it comes back in presumably a month, then the 7 Court -- you know, for the remainder of this budget year, the 8 Court will be obligated to then make the amendment for the 9 remainder of -- of this current budget year. Now, as far as 10 that position, the budget for that position being changed 11 from this year to next year, I still think that as far as 12 this existing position is concerned, then you're still 13 looking at the 5 percent under, you know, 111.013. I think 14 it's, in a way, an implied limit. Even though District 15 Judges can, mid-budget, amend or change the salaries of their 16 assistants to increase those, to me, even though I don't find 17 anything on point, the way that I reconcile the authority of 18 the District Judges with the limitation placed by 111.013 is 19 that, yes, the District Judges, mid-budget year, can increase 20 the salary of the assistant auditor, or any of the assistants 21 that are paid there, but the Attorney General's opinion says 22 that you don't look at the amount of what the person's paid; 23 you look at the amount budgeted from one year to the next 24 year when you make that -- that 5 percent determination. 25 So, I guess -- I guess Judges Williams and Emerson 8-27-12 66 1 -- and this is pretty convoluted, but I guess Judges Williams 2 and Emerson could increase the salary of an assistant more 3 than 5 percent right now, but whether that -- but then the 4 check on that for the Commissioners Court is the Court 5 wouldn't have to approve that budget difference for the next 6 budget year. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: If they approved it for this year at 8 that -- this same amount, there wouldn't be that differential 9 between this year and the next budget year, assuming that it 10 remained the same, correct? 11 MR. HENNEKE: With the amendment of the budget. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: This year. 13 MR. HENNEKE: This year. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 15 MR. HENNEKE: That would then make the budget -- I 16 don't know. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree with that one. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 19 MR. HENNEKE: I don't know, and I didn't find an 20 answer on that. I didn't find a scenario that met this -- 21 you know, it discussed the amount budgeted, and if -- you 22 know, an amendment of the budget mid-year, which normally a 23 Commissioners Court can't do, you know, to exceed its budget. 24 Now, in this situation, as long as it doesn't exceed revenue, 25 you know, the Court has to do that. But if -- if any 8-27-12 67 1 amendment to the budget mid-year, you know, counts as still 2 the amount budgeted, then you're comparing -- you're 3 comparing this year's budget with next year's budget, as far 4 as the 5 percent not-to-exceed number. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: If the -- if the amount were 6 approved as a budget amendment this year, you're in effect 7 resetting this year's budget, are you not? 8 MR. HENNEKE: I don't know. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Anything else? 10 MR. HENNEKE: No, sir. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Mr. Hargis, you wish to 12 be heard? 13 MS. HARGIS: Yes, please. First of all, I don't 14 need a budget amendment, because I have waited almost nine 15 weeks to hire someone. I have more than enough money in my 16 salary line item. I'm not going over my budget in my salary 17 line item. I'm under my salary line item by $2,000. My 18 budget that is proposed in this book, if you will look at it, 19 it's 4.9 percent, which includes the 3 percent that you are 20 giving to all the employees. It is not over 5 percent. The 21 original budget was, and I reduced that when I was trying to 22 go through to assist in not this particular issue, but in 23 getting enough money under the current tax tate. So, the 24 salary line item includes the 3 percent, and even if you take 25 the current amount that I have in the budget in your book you 8-27-12 68 1 have today, subtract my current budget -- the current budget 2 is 305; the new budget would be 321. That 321 does include 3 the 3 percent that the Court has put in there for everybody's 4 salaries. So, if you took that out, it would be even less, 5 but it's 4.9 percent. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: The -- the issue of actions required 7 by the District Judges -- 8 MS. HARGIS: They normally do that in September. 9 And I have never had Judge Emerson sign my orders. It is -- 10 since the day that I've been here, it's always been the 216th 11 Judge that signs off on my employees and my order. It's 12 always the 216th Judge that calls for and does the public 13 notice in the paper. Judge Emerson is not on my order of any 14 year that I've been here. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Do you have any knowledge about the 16 publication of notice and public hearing and so forth? 17 MS. HARGIS: I have not seen the public notice for 18 the 216th yet. I do have the public notice for the 198th 19 employee, and that was only on the court reporter. And, 20 again, my public notice comes under the 216th. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 22 MS. HARGIS: And I have not seen that yet. 23 Generally, he does that around the middle of September, 24 because he does all four of his auditors at the same time. 25 And so it's a -- since we're approving the budget a little 8-27-12 69 1 early, usually he has a hearing before you, which I think 2 Commissioner Oehler has attended in the past. It's around 3 the 1st of September. That's -- 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I did. It's kind of hard to 5 find out when that is, but you can find out if you need to. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: With regard to a budget amendment 7 for this particular year, it's your position that none is 8 required because you have the funds in your budget? 9 MS. HARGIS: I don't need a budget amendment in 10 that salary line item. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the position is at a 13 different level. And I'm going back -- I mean, the County 14 Attorney said a lot. If -- isn't there a 5 percent cap that 15 you can increase without coming to the Court? Did I hear 16 that somewhere along the line? 17 MR. HENNEKE: No. No, there's no increase to which 18 you can increase without going to the Court. It's during the 19 course of a budget year, the District Judge may change the 20 budget which increases the salaries of the assistants in the 21 County Auditor's office. Such change may be made upon proper 22 application by the Auditor to the District Court if the 23 action doesn't require county expenditures in excess of 24 anticipated revenue, and only if that amendment to the county 25 budget is made in compliance by law. And specifically, the 8-27-12 70 1 judges not only may, but must post notice of and hold a 2 public hearing pursuant to Section 152 before amending 3 salaries, before increasing such salaries. And, like I said, 4 even if Judge Emerson's signature is not on the order, under 5 84.001 of the Local Government Code, you're talking that a 6 majority vote of the District Judges is required to perform 7 an act required or permitted, unless the law specifically 8 provides otherwise. So, even -- even if there's money in the 9 budget, you know, that's -- that's good; that means that it's 10 not going -- the County's not going to have to appropriate 11 funds from elsewhere in order to satisfy the order. But you 12 still have to have a public hearing, and you still have to 13 have a vote and certification of the order by -- by a 14 majority of the judges, which, because there's two, is two. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So, if that was not done, 16 which there's no evidence that there was a public hearing 17 held to give notice of a salary increase like that, it's 18 really null and void? Or do we just -- don't have the 19 authority whatsoever, being as that there's money in that 20 line item, and we don't have to go in excess of revenues? We 21 don't -- that doesn't affect that. Then we really don't have 22 any authority to do anything, other than just go along with 23 whatever she wants to do. 24 MR. HENNEKE: Well, no. I mean -- 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Whatever the Judge says, 8-27-12 71 1 that's the way it's going to be. Well, you know, that's the 2 way it is. 3 MR. HENNEKE: At the -- I guess, Commissioner, at 4 the point that the proper prerequisites have been complied 5 with, when all of that is brought to the Commissioners 6 Court -- which I don't think it has been at this point, but 7 when all of that is brought to the Commissioners Court, then 8 at that point, yes, the Court will be obligated to amend the 9 budget to provide for the increased salary within the budget 10 year of the assistant. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: May I ask you another one? 12 MR. HENNEKE: All right. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Being as that was not done, 14 is that hire null and void? 15 MR. HENNEKE: It is my opinion, yes, it has not 16 been an effective hire yet. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. And until that 18 procedure is followed, that hire is null and void? 19 MR. HENNEKE: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And we get the notice that 21 that's been approved, and all -- the public hearing had been 22 held, public was noticed. 23 MR. HENNEKE: Yeah. You're talking about the 24 public notice for the change in the salaries, which hasn't 25 happened, you know, taking it from 19.4 to 22.2, the majority 8-27-12 72 1 vote of both judges. And then, of course, there's the 2 initial application at the outset to present the applicants 3 to the District Judges. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is the hire void, or is the 5 salary increase void? 6 MR. HENNEKE: The -- I think the -- well, the 7 salary change is not effective. There's not -- I'm trying to 8 think through this, and I -- 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Let me ask you another way. 10 We'll try again. If -- which she did have an employee leave 11 before the end of the year. She could replace that employee 12 at the present salary without any problem whatsoever, any 13 notice given by judges, no public hearings or anything else; 14 she could have just replaced that employee at the same salary 15 level that was -- the one that left. 16 MR. HENNEKE: I think -- okay. Here's -- I'm sorry 17 for being -- being seated. You have -- the Auditor's office 18 has an Auditor and three positions in the current budget. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 20 MR. HENNEKE: The -- I'll presume that the 21 requirement that the Auditor, under 84.021 of the Local 22 Government Code, apply to the judges to appoint an assistant 23 was done when we received the letter from Judge Williams, you 24 know, approving the hiring. It -- it still requires both 25 Judge Williams and Judge Emerson to approve the hire 8-27-12 73 1 together, and certify the list to Commissioners Court, which 2 shall order the salary to be paid for the performance of 3 services, so on and so forth. So -- 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So, that's -- that has to be 5 done. 6 MR. HENNEKE: If -- you know, you may construe -- 7 well, I have no idea if Judge Emerson partook in the action. 8 The letter is only from Judge Williams. But I would 9 certainly -- because that position already existed at that 10 point, that at most, that position can be filled as it was 11 budgeted, but not -- not to exceed that amount. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The amount that was budgeted 13 for that position they had already approved the previous 14 year. 15 MR. HENNEKE: That's -- correct, that's currently 16 in existence. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Currently in effect. Okay. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: What if the judges requested that 19 that position be approved and filled at the higher salary? 20 MR. HENNEKE: Well, in order to change the salary 21 for the position, it would require -- 22 JUDGE TINLEY: A public hearing that you're 23 referring to? 24 MR. HENNEKE: I believe so. That's changing -- 25 that's changing the salary for that assistant position that 8-27-12 74 1 exists in the position schedule for the Auditor's office. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You spent an awful lot of 3 time working on all this, didn't you? 4 MR. HENNEKE: I've tried. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And it's really not going to 6 change much, that I can see. Sure glad the rest of the 7 county offices don't get to operate that way. What a mess we 8 would have. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Are we -- 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Judge? 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Are we through hashing around on 12 that one? 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Not quite. If I can make a 14 comment? I don't normally stand up and speak for anybody, 15 but after the comment Bruce just made, I'm glad the other 16 offices don't do business that way; I agree with you. But 17 I've been here 30 years -- a little over 30 years, and I've 18 watched how this Court's treated this Auditor's office over 19 the last several years, especially one or two Commissioners. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes, sir. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Now, the issue I have with 22 that, 25 years ago there was three people in the Auditor's 23 office. Now there's four. If my department or any other 24 department in this county only got to add one employee in 25 25 years, without a lot of issues -- now, I agree, the legal 8-27-12 75 1 issues that Rob's talked about need to be met. But does that 2 office deserve an assistant auditor? Look at how much this 3 county has grown in 25 years. My department alone, look at 4 what it's done, in the jail. She has to audit those. Look 5 at the fire departments. So, the one thing I will say, we 6 can all argue about the procedure, and that she ought to have 7 to follow the same procedure we all do, although she's one 8 step outside of us; she can get a district -- two District 9 Judges to approve it, and we -- we have to do it, okay? But, 10 does that office need that position? And what I've seen over 11 the number of years and where we are, yes. 12 So, instead of trying to find a way to kill that 13 position, why don't we all work together and find a way to do 14 it correctly, but approve the assistant auditor that is 15 needed in a county that, you know, we have a -- you know, 16 what is it, a $25 million budget that she has to audit and 17 take care of? Or that office has to audit and take care of 18 that, regardless of who that auditor is. Now, that's a lot 19 of funds in this county that definitely need to be handled 20 correctly. And one thing I found in being in law enforcement 21 the last 30 years, if you overtax somebody too much, it's 22 going to break. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Now, Rusty, this was never 24 about not filling a position. It was just the amount of 25 money that was appropriated more than what the position paid. 8-27-12 76 1 That -- the position was never in question, to my knowledge. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, I think from -- 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So you can't use that for an 4 argument. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think from what I've seen 6 over the last several years with this Court and this 7 Auditor's office, it can also be that way. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You haven't been on this end 9 of it, either. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: All right. So, I think it 11 needs -- 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So I'd be careful about 13 making accusations. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think it needs to be done 15 correctly, but I think it needs to be done fairly. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't disagree with you. 17 That's what this is all about. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I think the question 19 comes up 'cause the position was filled. And, I mean, we 20 talked about voiding the position, and I see him in the 21 audience. And, I mean, does he have a position or not? I 22 mean, is he a county employee or not? I mean, I think that's 23 -- I think it's -- 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Pretty important. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- a pretty important question. 8-27-12 77 1 You know, my feeling is that the -- I think the Auditor 2 didn't handle this properly from the standpoint she should 3 have come to us, you know. I very well may have gone along 4 with a salary increase of this nature because of the nature 5 of that position. And I think the other thing -- 'cause I 6 work with the Auditor quite a bit in a lot of our outside 7 projects, and, you know, there's, you know, a lot of work 8 that's being done now that didn't used to be done as well. I 9 think -- I think we're getting a better -- you know, that 10 office functions better than it used to, and I think it's got 11 many additional duties. I do agree with what -- with 12 Commissioner Baldwin putting it on the agenda, you know, for 13 bringing it up, because it wasn't done properly, and that's 14 not right for any office. I mean, it's got to be done 15 correct. At the same time, I think that the -- certainly, 16 Mr. Robles -- you know, he's the one caught in the middle on 17 this. And, you know, my feeling is, he certainly has a job. 18 I think we need to come back -- I'm not sure what the pay of 19 that job is right now. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's the question. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think -- I mean, I 22 support the increase going forward, because I think it's an 23 important position, but that's just kind of my feeling on 24 that. But I don't think that the -- as I understand it, the 25 paycheck, when it's cut by the Treasurer, cannot be for this 8-27-12 78 1 amount until there's a court order. That's -- you know, 2 that's how I kind of sort through it. And then, that's -- 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think that's what I was 4 trying to say. You can't pay the additional until they've 5 followed the procedure, unless we just automatically approve 6 it, and so it's null and void. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We can't approve it. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, the procedure hasn't 9 been met. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: At this point, we're speaking up 11 until the period of October 1, 2012, forward. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's correct. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Certainly, there's nothing to 14 prevent us, in the adoption of the budget and position 15 schedule and so forth, to -- for the fiscal year '12-'13, 16 beginning October 1, 2012, to approve that amount for that 17 particular position in the position schedule. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't think that's the 19 issue. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: So we've got two -- we've got apples 21 and oranges here. With respect to the budget, the budget is 22 set up that specifies the assistant auditor position at that 23 particular pay grade, and if that's something that's not 24 acceptable to the Court for the coming year, certainly, 25 that -- there needs to be a proposal to modify that. If -- 8-27-12 79 1 if it is acceptable for the coming fiscal year, certainly, 2 that can be approved without prejudicing the -- the issues 3 that need to be resolved for the current budget year. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Exactly. I think that's what 5 the issue is, in the current year. What is that salary for 6 this current year until September 30th? 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Right now. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right now. That, to me, is 9 the whole -- 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Action by the Court, requested by 11 whomever. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. It doesn't make -- 13 you know, the hire -- the filling of the position was not the 14 issue. It was the pay scale that it was placed at, without 15 proper notice. I think that's all it really is, in a 16 nutshell, in my mind. Of course, I'm pretty small-minded, 17 but -- 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Except for the county policy 19 says that a new hire should start at -- at the one. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Right, I'm agreeing. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And this one is set at a 22 22.2; it should be 22.1. That's -- I mean, if you're going 23 to play by the rules, you got to play by the rules. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, once it goes from -- he 25 should be hired at a 17.1. 8-27-12 80 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's correct. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And then -- and we've done it 3 county-wide. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Actually, it's 18, I think. 5 MR. HENNEKE: Well, when Tracy left -- sorry, when 6 Ms. Soldan left, it was an 18.4. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Then it would be an 18.1. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 18.1. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 18.1. And then -- but the 10 Court has, on numerous times, based on experience, raised the 11 starting, but that takes court action. It can't just happen. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You know, if it's set at a 14 22.2, it can be 22.2, but it's -- at the moment, it's an 15 18.1, because the Court hasn't approved anything other than 16 that, and there was a level 18. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: But that would not preclude the 18 Court from adopting a budget which, beginning October 1, that 19 assistant auditor slot would authorize the pay grade and step 20 of 22.2. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So you're counting on the 23 District Judges going through their -- jumping through their 24 hoops and going through their process between now and October 25 1? I mean, they still have to do those things. 8-27-12 81 1 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm assuming that they're -- they're 2 inclined to do that, based upon the letter that we got from 3 the District Judge, that that's ultimately where they want to 4 be. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I thought -- maybe I've missed 6 something, but it seems if -- if the current salary, we 7 agree, and I'm not sure everyone here agrees, is 18.1, the 8 District Judges don't need to do anything. If we approve the 9 budget at a 22.2, they don't need to do anything there 10 either, 'cause we're approving it. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, but that's their 12 dadgum job, is to set those salaries. We shouldn't be 13 setting the salaries. There's a salary increase in here for 14 the County Auditor that we should not be doing. The county 15 -- the District Judges need to be doing that, too. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't disagree with what 17 you're saying, but we need to -- we could approve it by 18 approving the budget. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But if we choose not to, if we 21 wait, you know -- and we can also choose to wait to hear from 22 the District Judges, leave the salaries where they are. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Don't they have to -- they 24 have to appoint those -- the staff in there, the assistant 25 auditors and the Auditor, as part of their duty. And they 8-27-12 82 1 set those salaries. Right, Judge? 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, that's correct. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And so they have to go 4 through the process to do that before we really ought to 5 approve of that being done. But, you know, that's probably 6 not going to work that way. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, when it comes to adopting the 8 budget, they're used to the Court not working as fast as it 9 has this year. I don't think anybody's been used to it, as 10 far as that goes. I cannot, within memory, recall the budget 11 being adopted until the eleventh hour, so to speak. But why 12 don't we take about a 15- or 20-minute recess. Maybe that 13 will bring some light. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I know Kathy needs one. 15 (Recess taken from 10:50 a.m. to 11:10 a.m.) 16 - - - - - - - - - - 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let me call -- call the 18 meeting back to order from our mid-morning recess. What, if 19 anything, does any member of the Court have to offer with 20 respect to a motion with respect to Item 16? Okay. Hearing 21 none, we'll move on. We need to recall Item 7; to consider, 22 discuss, take appropriate action regarding installing solid 23 waste interceptor for 4-H livestock center. Commissioner 24 Oehler, that is a matter that you needed to -- 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes, sir. It was brought to 8-27-12 83 1 my attention that we need -- with all of this whole project, 2 it does include drainage that has to be put in that accesses 3 the interceptor, and so that is part of the interceptor deal, 4 and we need to approve $4,500 for that in addition to the 5 cost of the intercepter. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion to amend my 7 previous motion to increase the dollar amount to $11,000 -- 8 amount not to exceed $11,000, to allow for sufficient funds 9 to work on the drainage necessary to get the waste to the 10 intercepter. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second. 14 Further discussion on that matter? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The -- yes, sir, please. 16 Now that we're out of the pocket change arena, can we -- can 17 you tell me where that money's going to come from? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's coming out of the 2012 19 capital projects. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, thank you. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions? All in favor 22 of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 8-27-12 84 1 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Now let's 2 get back to Item 11; to consider, discuss, take appropriate 3 action to adopt the position schedule, step and grade 4 schedule, and general provisions for FY 2012-13. This, of 5 course, is a matter that we address every year. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I'll go ahead and make a 7 motion to approve the general provisions, step and grade 8 schedule, and general -- position schedule, step and grade, 9 and general provisions for fiscal year 2012-2013. I'll have 10 a comment after hopefully I get a second. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion. Do I hear a 12 second? 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second for 15 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The backup has Proposal 1 and 17 Proposal 2 for the holiday schedule, so I think we need to 18 narrow down which of those two are going to be used. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Texas Independence. Instead 20 of Christmas. (Laughter.) 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Proposal 1 has two floating 22 holidays, and Proposal 2 has all designated days, and I guess 23 they pretty much line up with the federal holiday schedule. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Lantz, you want to give us a 25 rundown on these two different ones so that we can -- 8-27-12 85 1 MS. LANTZ: Yes, sir. Proposal 1 is -- would be 2 having off pretty much like we did this past year. However, 3 Texas Independence Day is not in there, because it falls on a 4 Saturday. And giving the employees two float holidays, one 5 for Columbus Day. I believe the other one would be for 6 Martin Luther King. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Do either one of those schedules 8 particularly follow the school schedule? I know there's 9 some -- there's some parents that may have a concern in that 10 area. 11 MS. LANTZ: Proposal 2 probably follows more than 12 what others do for their holidays. I did get some feedback 13 from the elected officials, and they prefer not to have float 14 holidays. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: 'Cause of the scheduling issues -- 16 MS. LANTZ: Yes, sir. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: -- that are always involved? Makes 18 sense. Proposal 2 has no floating holidays? 19 MS. LANTZ: No, sir. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It does -- Proposal 2 includes 21 a couple days we generally don't give; Columbus Day and 22 Martin Luther King are the two that I see there that are 23 not -- that those would be floating days. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: And that would more closely coincide 25 with the school holidays also? 8-27-12 86 1 MS. LANTZ: Yes. And the reasoning behind that -- 2 I spoke with Diane, and the banks are closed, and no postal 3 services those days, so that's kind of why those were 4 incorporated. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not as concerned about the 6 schools, 'cause the schools don't seem to follow any 7 schedule, to me. I'm not sure they get Columbus Day off any 8 more. Some of them are in-service days. I know they do get 9 Veterans Day off frequently. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: They're in school. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So I'm -- you know, I'm not 12 as -- I understand the parents' standpoint, but either one of 13 those, to me, provides for most of those. But even though I 14 don't like it, since the elected officials as a whole prefer 15 Proposal 2, I'll go along with Proposal 2. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: You're making a motion to approve 18 that? 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just seconded it. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess I made a motion. Even 21 though I still don't like it. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: So, with regards to holidays only, 23 Proposal 2? 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: This is strictly for 25 holidays? 8-27-12 87 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: We're voting on holidays only. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Any question or discussion on that 5 motion? All in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Now we're back to -- 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Position schedule. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and second to adopt 10 the position schedule, step and grade schedule, and general 11 provisions for 2012-13. Question or discussion on that 12 motion? All in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 13 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 15 (No response.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's go to 17 Item 12; to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 18 adopt the fiscal year 2012-13 Kerr County budget. Okay, 19 gentlemen. This is the -- we're at the end of the road, it 20 appears. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is any of that stuff that we 22 just had the long conversation about in here? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: It is. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It is, okay. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: It's in the step and grade schedule 8-27-12 88 1 which we just approved, and it's also in the budget. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: For the fiscal year 2012-13. Now, 4 it doesn't affect from now until then. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it also doesn't -- I mean, 6 the step and -- the position schedule is a schedule; it 7 doesn't have employees in it. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: No. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, I mean, there's a slot, 10 22.2, but there's no -- it doesn't mean anyone's in the 22.2. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. I think it's that way 12 in everybody's budget. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Sure. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. It's just a schedule. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: There aren't any names; 16 they're just positions. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: They're authorized positions that 18 authorize salaries. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we 21 approve the 2012-13 Kerr County budget as presented. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion. Do I hear a 23 second? 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I will second that. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second. 8-27-12 89 1 Question or discussion on the motion? 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The only discussion that I 3 will have, I'll be voting against it because I, once again, 4 cannot vote to raise my own salary. That's the only thing I 5 object to. Everything else, I'm not -- I don't object to at 6 all. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You could pay your salary back. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah, I've heard that before. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You can -- 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'd rather give it to 11 charitable organizations than I would to leave it here, which 12 I will; have done in the past. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Certainly, that's another 14 option. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It is. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Other questions or comments? All in 17 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 18 (Commissioners Letz and Overby voted in favor of the motion.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 20 (Commissioners Baldwin and Oehler voted against the 21 motion.) 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I oppose it until the 23 District Judges get -- get their stuff done. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: So, the vote's two to two. The 25 chair votes in favor of the motion to adopt the budget. 8-27-12 90 1 Motion carries. Let's go to our 10:30 item. We're a little 2 bit behind that now. Item 13; to consider, discuss, and take 3 appropriate action to adopt the 2012 Lake Ingram Estates Road 4 District tax rate. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I have that in front of me. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You have mine. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I will make a motion to adopt 8 the Lake Ingram Estates Road District tax of .2825 per $100 9 valuation for 2012 tax year. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second. 12 Further question or discussion on that motion? Tax Assessor 13 has called for a record vote. Commissioner Baldwin? 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Aye. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Overby? 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Aye. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Letz? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Aye. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Oehler? 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Aye. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Chair votes in favor of the motion. 22 MS. BOLIN: Thank you, gentlemen. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries unanimously. Let's 24 go to Item 14, a 10:30 timed item also; to consider, discuss, 25 and take appropriate action to adopt the 2012 Kerr County tax 8-27-12 91 1 rate, to include maintenance and operations, interest and 2 sinking, and lateral roads tax rate. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. Do you want me to do 4 this one? Again, I got it in front of me. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'll make a motion to adopt a 7 total tax rate of .4443 per $100 valuation for the 2012 tax 8 year, the breakdown of this tax rate to be as follows: 9 Maintenance and Operations, .3745; I and S is .0376; Lateral 10 Roads is .0322, for a combined tax rate of .4443. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion. Do I hear a 12 second? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion and a second. Question or 15 discussion on the motion? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes. What is that number 17 that we're operating under at this very moment? 18 MS. BOLIN: .4443. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Combined total, yes. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The tax rate this year is 21 exactly the same as last. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Further question or discussion? 23 Again, a record vote is requested. We'll go in reverse order 24 this time. Commissioner Oehler? 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Aye. 8-27-12 92 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Letz? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Aye. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Overby? 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Aye. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Baldwin? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Aye. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: The chair votes aye, unanimously in 8 support of the motion. The motion carries. 9 MS. BOLIN: Thank you, gentlemen, very much. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Now let's go to Item 15; to 11 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to appoint 12 William Wood and reappoint Tom Moser and Corey Walters to the 13 Kerrville/Kerr County Joint Airport Board. As you gentlemen 14 know, the board proposes the board members. If either the 15 City or the County rejects, they are required to repropose a 16 second, and up to a third time. The first proposal by the 17 board is to -- I believe it's Mr. Cowden's place on the 18 board. William Wood would be the replacement for that 19 position. And other board positions up are those currently 20 held by Tom Moser and Corey Walters, and the Airport Board is 21 proposing that those individuals be reappointed. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll move the agenda item. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion. Do I hear a 24 second? 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'll second it. 8-27-12 93 1 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second to 2 appoint William Wood and reappoint Tom Moser and Corey 3 Walters to the Kerrville/Kerr County Airport Board. Question 4 or discussion on the motion? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's -- 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Go ahead. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a question. 9 Mr. Moser, I understand he's going to take his slot as a 10 Commissioner in a month and a half or something like that. 11 So, we're going to appoint him today, and take him off in a 12 month and a half? 13 JUDGE TINLEY: After -- 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Or he goes off in a month 15 and a half. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: After he resigns his position there, 17 that position will be open. The board will submit, under the 18 procedure, a -- a candidate for reappointment -- or for 19 appointment. 20 MR. MOSER: Correct. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know why we don't do 22 it today and just get it over with. But -- 23 MR. MOSER: The election hasn't been held yet. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What election? 25 MR. MOSER: The one in November. 8-27-12 94 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh. You -- you think 2 there's a shot you may not end up up here? 3 MR. MOSER: I didn't say that. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, it sounded like that's 5 what you said. 6 MR. MOSER: No, I just said it's not official yet. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? 8 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 9 hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion carries. This ought to 14 be fun. Item 17; consider, discuss, and take appropriate 15 action to select color for masonry block walls on the new 16 show barn at the Hill Country Youth Events Center. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Y'all are going to want to 18 get in on this. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Does anybody out here want to 20 give an opinion? 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: There you go. 22 AUDIENCE: I think pink. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The middle one, the third 24 one down. 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Take a look. 8-27-12 95 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's my choice. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do you have a preference, 3 Commissioner? 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I like the two in the middle. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: These two? 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. I probably like the 7 one by your middle finger down there, too. Either one of 8 those would be good. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: I -- 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: By me. By me. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, that was my first pick, 12 the darker. But, you know, we do have quite a bit of dust, 13 and a lot of that dust is kind of white sometimes. And I 14 might go -- be a little more inclined to go with the lighter 15 color. That may be -- the top right here. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Which one? 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That one. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that's my preference. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I change to that one. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll make it unanimous, then. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I mean, who cares? 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: All right. My gosh, it's 23 Number 713 on the sample. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Do I hear a motion -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have to make a motion for 8-27-12 96 1 this? 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Sure. I sure am glad that we 3 didn't have to discuss this as long as the other stuff. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do you realize it was almost 5 a tie? You would have had to vote on that. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, no. It's not too late. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- choose Block Number 713, 9 which is a tan. You second? 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'll second it. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second as 12 indicated. Question or discussion? All in favor, signify by 13 raising your right hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 16 (No response.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Incidentally, this needs to 19 be done so it can be ordered. It takes four to six weeks for 20 that to get in. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: I am absolutely amazed at the speed 22 at which the matter was handled, gentlemen. Okay. Let's go 23 to Item 18; to consider, discuss, take appropriate action to 24 hire part-time weekend kennel person. 25 MS. WHITT: As of last weekend, I don't have a 8-27-12 97 1 part-time weekend kennel person, so I would like your 2 approval to hire another weekend person -- part-time weekend 3 kennel person. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: This is merely a slot that has 5 become vacant by -- 6 MS. WHITT: Correct. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: -- virtue of someone leaving? We 8 approved it previously -- 9 MS. WHITT: Correct. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: -- to be filled? 11 MS. WHITT: Yes. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 15 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor, signify by 16 raising your right hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 19 (No response.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carried. 21 MS. WHITT: Thank you. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Thank you. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Item 19; consider, discuss, take 24 appropriate action to implement new payroll timekeeping 25 system utilizing the Incode time entry. Ms. Lantz? 8-27-12 98 1 MS. LANTZ: We currently have this time entry 2 available on our system, and we've had it for quite a while. 3 What I'm doing is requesting to give approval through the 4 Court to start having the employees do their time entry 5 through it, which it ties in the payroll and keeps 6 us compliant with the Department of Labor with all of our 7 timekeeping records. It's going to be -- initially, first we 8 have to get all the employees trained on it, and then we'll 9 have actually a live date where we will dump our time records 10 into payroll to process our payroll. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: And you're anticipating that to be 12 the beginning of the new fiscal year, maybe? 13 MS. LANTZ: Start training, hopefully. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: No. No, start training earlier. 15 But, I mean, to really be kicked off officially would be the 16 start of the new fiscal year? 17 MS. LANTZ: I'm hoping by November, we can have 18 everybody up and -- I don't want to start it too quick where 19 we have too many payroll issues. So -- 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, we're moving from a 21 piece of paper to an electronic reporting? 22 MS. LANTZ: Yes, sir. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This will be for all employees 24 except elected officials? 25 MS. LANTZ: All employees will enter their time 8-27-12 99 1 into the system. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The department heads as well? 3 MS. LANTZ: Yes, sir. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we can keep track of hours 5 and -- 6 MS. LANTZ: What it does, it keeps track of 7 vacation, sick leave, and so forth. And then the department 8 heads are able to see what their employees have as far as 9 time off. Even the liaisons can keep track of what the 10 department heads do have and what they've accrued, and if 11 they do have the time where they can take it off. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Great. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move for approval. 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 16 approval. Question or discussion? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Little story over here. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The only issue is, this thing 19 -- and we've -- you know, we've looked at it. Dawn and I 20 have talked about it. I wouldn't necessarily venture to say 21 November 1st. I would venture to say it's probably going to 22 be closer to the first of the year. Every computer has to 23 have Incode installed on it, which is what Trolinger has to 24 get done through all of them. Every employee has to be 25 trained to do it individually, themselves. There has to be 8-27-12 100 1 templates set up for each employee -- each individual 2 employee on those computers. So, to be official, I would 3 hate to say we're all going to go through it exactly November 4 1st. I'm afraid it's going to take a little bit longer than 5 that to really get the people trained, and all the different 6 ways. 'Cause the law enforcement and the jail has to be set 7 up different than the dispatch and -- and civilian, you know, 8 clerks. So, don't make it a hard fact to be November 1. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The -- I had a question. What 10 happens if somebody -- and this is probably more like a 11 department head more than probably some of the other -- or it 12 can be other people as well. If they don't go to their 13 offices necessarily first thing in the morning -- say they 14 go, you know, -- 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: To a meeting. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- to a meeting first thing in 17 the morning. 18 MS. LANTZ: It's by hours. It's not like a time 19 clock system. You put in your hours for the day you've 20 worked. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, you put in -- like, if -- 22 you know, like, if whoever goes to a -- you, for example, go 23 to a workshop or a training seminar, then you just put -- 24 when you get back, you log in that you were at a seminar? 25 MS. LANTZ: My hours, and then there's a note on 8-27-12 101 1 the bottom of our time entry for where you've been that day, 2 and you can specify why you were out and what for. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And does it allow employees to 4 take -- like, say they have a doctor's appointment 5 mid-afternoon or whatever. They can work half days? It will 6 keep track of that? 7 MS. LANTZ: Mm-hmm. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, if they work four hours in 9 the morning, and then take -- 10 MS. LANTZ: And you designate -- there is a 11 drop-down that you can designate your time -- actual time 12 here at work, vacation, sick leave. So, you just divide your 13 hours up as to what you've used. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So if you're having a bad day, 15 you just say you're on vacation? 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And then there's two or three 17 levels of approval that it also goes through before it goes 18 to us. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Good. I think it's going to 20 help a lot. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or comment? All 22 in favor of that motion, signify by raising your right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 8-27-12 102 1 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. I'd say it's 2 close enough to 11:40, and I think we've got the appropriate 3 players here now. Item 20; presentation of the Texas 4 Historical Commission's Distinguished Service Award to the 5 Kerr County Historical Commission. I put this on the agenda 6 after receiving from the state Historical Commission a 7 commendation of recognition for the local Kerr County 8 Historical Commission. The official document which 9 recognizes the local Commission is from the Texas Historical 10 Commission, and reads as presenting this 2011 Distinguished 11 Service Award to the Kerr County Historical Commission in 12 recognition of its active and well-balanced preservation 13 program. We have a number of individuals here from the 14 Commission, and why don't y'all come on up here? I don't 15 think Buster will refuse either one of you. 16 It is a pleasure for me, I guess acting on behalf 17 of the Texas Historical Commission, to present this 2011 18 Distinguished Service Award to you ladies as representatives 19 of the Kerr County Historical Commission. 20 MS. LEONARD: Thank you. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning. Good morning. We 22 appreciate what you do. 23 MS. LEONARD: I'd like to say that there were 171 24 submissions from different counties, and 75 were given, and 25 we're one of the 75. 8-27-12 103 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Good work. Good work. Thank you. 2 (Applause.) 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Good job. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good job. Way to go, ma'am. 5 Tivy fight never dies. 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: See you Friday night. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, Del Rio Bobcats. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's go back, if we might. 9 We went by one item, Item 8; to consider, discuss, take 10 appropriate action to determine the rental fee for the new 11 show barn at the Hill Country -- this says Youth Exhibit 12 Center. I'm sure that means Youth Events Center. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: This is a carry-over from a prior 15 agenda. I don't know whether we're ready to go forward on 16 that or not, or whether we need to push it on forward. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we probably need to 18 push it, because I think there's some confusion on my part as 19 to who was doing -- who was going to figure out who was going 20 to look up this information as to some comparable -- 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I took care of getting the 22 samples here. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So I think we need to figure 24 out who's going to make those phone calls, Jody. And -- 25 Jody. So we can have it at our next agenda. 8-27-12 104 1 JUDGE TINLEY: You need to -- Jody needs to figure 2 out who she needs to call. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: I see. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tell me who she's going to 6 call. Why is she calling somebody? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To find out some comparable 8 facility -- 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, call around to other 10 facilities? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, like San Angelo, Abilene. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Gillespie County over there; 13 they're the closest one. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: She knows all these people. She 15 knows them. 16 MS. GRINSTEAD: Yeah. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Passed through most of them on her 18 way from California back home. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Kendall County doesn't have 20 anything yet, though they are building a new show barn. I 21 don't know if they're -- 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Anyway, I'll help her with 23 that too, being as Jon dropped the ball. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's move to Item 21; to 25 consider, discuss, take appropriate action to address and 8-27-12 105 1 resolve water and wastewater issues with respect to the show 2 barn as raised by the City Engineer. Commissioner Oehler? 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I believe Stuart's here 4 on this. The questions are really pretty simple. I'm 5 working off a little bit of memory here, 'cause I left that 6 sheet of paper in my office, but one of the things was that 7 if we ever wanted to tie onto the -- the fire line and use 8 that water for other purposes other than fire protection, 9 that line would need to be sized to 8-inch instead of the 10 6-inch that's in the plans presently. I don't see the need 11 for it in the future, but I guess we never know. But, you 12 know, we're going to have the rainwater, plus we still have 13 the main coming in with the potable water that we've had for 14 many years. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that a 2-inch line? 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's 2-inch. So, I don't 17 know that we need to adjust that. I mean, it's a good time 18 to do it if we want to do it, because we're going to have an 19 open ditch, and it will just be basically a difference in the 20 price of material. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: What's the additional cost? 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I have no idea. Stuart, do 23 you have any idea on that? 24 MR. BARRON: The cost should be minimal, 'cause 25 your pipe size just goes from 8 -- excuse me, from 6 to 8. 8-27-12 106 1 It will be -- it would be the time in doing it if you ever 2 had any future need. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How many feet are we talking 4 about? 5 MR. BARRON: Let me introduce the actual City 6 Engineer, Dieter Werner. I'm the Utility Director. But they 7 were my comments submitted through Dieter, so I'm familiar 8 with the question. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's going to be at least 500 10 or 600 feet, isn't it? 11 MR. BARRON: Yes. It doesn't say how many feet the 12 water line is. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would guess probably maybe 14 $5, $4 a foot difference, so it's going to be -- 15 MR. WERNER: The ancillary costs are what's going 16 to be added to that in fittings. I'm sorry. It's not only 17 the -- the incremental costs going from 6- to 8-inch, but -- 18 it would be nominal, but you have to also take into 19 consideration your upgrade on any fittings, valves and so 20 forth. That's also going to be an incremental cost. But in 21 the scale of things, going from a 6 to 8, it's -- it's not a 22 major -- 23 JUDGE TINLEY: How much per foot from going 6 to 8? 24 Do you have an estimate? 25 MR. WERNER: I'll be honest with you, sir. I don't 8-27-12 107 1 have the numbers. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What's the benefit to go 3 from 6 to 8? That's a lot of -- that's big. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's a huge difference in 5 volume. That's just the way the pipe comes. It comes in 6 those kinds of increments. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I mean, is there a 8 requirement -- are they requiring us to go to 8? Or -- 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: If we're going to use water 10 off of that line for other purposes other than fire 11 protection. In other words, if we're going to run another 12 line off of that to one of the buildings or some other 13 facilities in the future. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A question I have is, down the 15 road, if we build additional -- 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Facilities. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- facilities, I don't want to 18 get caught like we did at the airport, of not having a -- and 19 we have a 6-inch, and we needed an 8-inch to meet the flow 20 requirements. So, has the fire marshal -- are you aware if 21 the fire marshal has looked at kind of a conceptual master 22 build-out plan that may require a sprinkler system, and if 23 that would require a 6 or 8? He probably doesn't know the 24 answer to that, but it's -- 25 MR. WERNER: Well, yes and no. I believe -- I 8-27-12 108 1 believe -- in fact, part of this was -- all came up in 2 discussions, I believe, about a year ago when we first 3 started talking about the -- the building going up out here. 4 And I believe the City's position on that was that the fire 5 flow, and because of the type of building you were doing, 6 that that was really a nonissue at the time for the City. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. But the next step, 8 which would be more of a -- I would call an exhibit hall type 9 thing, which would be more for people, definitely is going to 10 have to require a sprinkler system. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that's where I -- you know, 13 I just -- boy, I'd sure hate to put in a 6, and all of a 14 sudden have to upgrade that thing when we put in a building. 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'd like to see the 8-inch. 16 MR. MOSER: I think the airport spent $700,000 by 17 increasing the 1,200 gallons -- gallons per minute to 1,500 18 gallons per minute. 'Cause the requirement changed. 19 Everything in existence was good; then the requirement 20 changed, and we were going to rent some buildings and 21 couldn't do it 'cause it didn't meet code. So -- 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Bigger is better. 23 MR. MOSER: Very expensive. So, plan for -- plan 24 for the future, 'cause the code could change. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, it could, except that's 8-27-12 109 1 still outside the city, so we're not under a code, but we're 2 still under an obligation to do the best practice. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm -- my thinking -- I buy 4 pipe quite a bit. I forget the cost difference. And, of 5 course, the County can buy cheaper -- probably a cheaper 6 rate, but I'm guessing we're probably talking about $5 a foot 7 increase in pipe. And fittings, I wouldn't think you need 8 that many fittings for this, but the fittings are going to be 9 about $25, maybe $40 a piece higher. And then a valve could 10 be a fair amount. I mean, but even at that, I would say I 11 would be surprised if the cost increase was more than around 12 10,000, at the high side. And that's -- and that's not much, 13 considering the cost just to do it again. 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You want me to get the 16 contractor to give -- or go through Peter and get him to ask 17 the contractor to do a change, and -- or proposal to see what 18 the amount is before we actually approve that? We're not 19 going to be doing this next week. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, that's a good idea, 21 Commissioner. I think that's a good way to go. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We'll know what that cost is. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Because, you know, Road and 25 Bridge is doing all the digging. It's just they're 8-27-12 110 1 installing it. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. I think it's just -- 3 it's smart to plan for if you have to upsize so you can 4 expand it. You don't know what the future facilities are 5 going to be; none of us do. But to have it in there would be 6 smart. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it fits within -- if it's 8 within 7,000 or 8,000, it should probably be worth it. If it 9 was 20, though, I might say no, but it kind of depends on -- 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: If you want me to get the 11 price, I can go through Peter and have him get a formal 12 request, because there's another formal request that doesn't 13 relate to this coming for -- for a change, but not an 14 increase. We may actually save on one and increase one; it 15 may be a wash. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that's a good approach, 17 Commissioner. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay, I'll do that. And then 19 another question is, we have this outside drain that runs 20 between the buildings that it takes all -- used to take all 21 the rainwater, and takes in a little -- little concession 22 water from a floor drain. It -- you know, we have -- like, 23 say the ice machine blows up or something, and it takes all 24 that water out to the ditch on Riverside. Unless the stock 25 show's going on, and then there's a valve that's closed to 8-27-12 111 1 direct all that water into the wastewater system. What they 2 want to know is if we have any plans to tie on any more 3 drains to that. I can't think of any reason why we would be 4 tying on any more drains to that. We have not disturbed it. 5 It's still doing just what it's been doing for the last 30 6 years. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is this a request from the 8 City? 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes. Yeah, they want to know 10 if we have any intentions of tying anything else onto that 11 existing line, which is not really -- it is a wastewater 12 line, or was, and it still will be. During stock show, if we 13 want -- if cattle washing goes on out there, we'll still 14 divert that water into the city sewer, but if we want to add 15 anything else to it, then you have concerns? 16 MR. BARRON: The question is, there's a 16-inch 17 storm drain that runs from between the existing building and 18 a slab which y'all are going to cover now, and it gathers a 19 whole bunch of rainwater. And when it rains out there, 20 there's a hand valve that somebody has to go out there and 21 physically change from city sewer to dump into the ditch. 22 That doesn't always occur. When it starts raining, it 23 usually -- we usually get called out on that lift station, 24 and we go gown there ourselves and change that hand valve so 25 that rainwater will flow out into the -- the ditch. It's not 8-27-12 112 1 sewer water; it's actually rainwater that's coming off the 2 gutters and the slab. So, our -- our recommendation, if 3 there isn't anything going to be tied onto that line except 4 for rainwater, then that connection to the city sewer should 5 no longer exist, and we should have just sewer running into 6 the sewer, 'cause it does cause our lift station to overflow, 7 and it's a health concern when we have too much flow from the 8 rainwater. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would -- I mean, do we need 10 those holding tanks any more? I would think -- 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We're going to use that 12 holding tank. That's the connection. That holding tank is 13 still going to be used. That's where the -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To the city sewer? 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would -- then I would agree; 17 I think the rainwater portion should be gotten rid of, 18 because -- and then we just won't use that. We'll not use it 19 for anything. 20 MR. BARRON: That's all we're asking, is that it 21 doesn't -- that whatever connection to the gutters and to the 22 -- to concrete surfaces out there is not tied to the sewer, 23 so that we can -- so we don't overflow our lift station. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure. 8-27-12 113 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's not a problem because 2 of all the rainwater mostly going to go into the rainwater 3 system now. We won't have all that water off the roof any 4 more. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You are going to go out 6 there and disconnect it, Stuart? 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Goes straight down. 8 MR. BARRON: No, sir -- I don't know. And I think 9 that leads backs to Mr. Oehler's question. You know, what's 10 all connected out there? It's my understanding that there 11 was three connections to that storm sewer drain; a small area 12 inside the -- I guess it's the north side of the property 13 where the parking lot is. There was a floor drain in the 14 concession stand, and then there was a little bit of a 15 wash-down area for the livestock, and that's all that was 16 tied onto that, to that drain line. So, my recommendation, 17 after talking with Environmental Health, the only concern we 18 have was for the floor drain in the concession center. What 19 was told to me was, you know, if they spill soda water or 20 something gets on the floor, they'll mop it up, and some of 21 the stuff will go down the floor drain. I didn't have any 22 problem with that being discharged on the surface. And, Ray, 23 I won't speak for you. I -- but that wasn't -- this wasn't a 24 huge concern for us, so my recommendation was to disconnect 25 that whole storm drain system from the -- from the sewer 8-27-12 114 1 line. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: See, this makes room for this 3 interceptor now to flow into there. We've got plenty of 4 line. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with you. Cool. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: There's still another one. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do we need to -- we probably 9 need to -- what's the agenda item? Is it broad enough to -- 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's pretty broad. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we probably ought to 12 make -- you know, I'll make a motion that we disconnect the 13 connection from the -- 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Floor drains. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- floor drain. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: To the wastewater system. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: From the wastewater system, 18 that currently goes into the wastewater system. Disconnect 19 that drain so it no longer goes into -- 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: This will make it much easier 21 for us to ditch that line that's going to be the rainwater -- 22 rainwater catchment lines. That would -- 'cause it was going 23 to cut right across the line you're talking about, that we 24 can eliminate that at that time. 25 MR. BARRON: Thank you. 8-27-12 115 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thank you. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'll second your motion. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second. 4 Question or discussion on the motion? All in favor, signify 5 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: Motion does carry. Any other 10 motions in connection with this matter? 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think that's it. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any other matters to be 13 considered in connection with that? Let's go to Item 22; to 14 consider, discuss, take appropriate action to authorize 15 $64,000 of county funds for matching EDAP grant in connection 16 with the East Kerr Wastewater project. Ms. Hargis? 17 MS. HARGIS: As you're aware, when we were 18 obtaining the original 2012 certificate of obligation, we had 19 to change the issue and borrow 570,000 from Water Development 20 Board. In that process, they asked us to consider a grant of 21 $64,000. It's a matching grant. They will match $64,000 to 22 our 64. This is to pay for the easements in the 23 disadvantaged areas. I don't have a direction from the Court 24 as to where you want me to take these funds. If you want me 25 to take them out of the 2012 issue, the capital issue that we 8-27-12 116 1 currently have, or do you want me to try to take them out of 2 the current budgeted funds at the end of the year? But I 3 need to know, because we're going to close on these funds 4 probably in the next week or so, and I will have to give our 5 share to the State, because they will escrow it. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do you have a 7 recommendation, Ms. Auditor? 8 MS. HARGIS: Well, I would prefer at this stage to 9 take it out of the 2012 issue, until such time as we see we 10 have excess. If we have excess money in our budget at the 11 end of the year, we can always pay ourselves back. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a proper resolution in 13 place; we did that up front, so that any funds which we 14 advance can always be returned. 15 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we 17 authorize the $64,000, which is our portion of the EDAP grant 18 for the -- 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Wastewater. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- East Kerr County Wastewater 21 project coming from the 2012 capital bond issue. 22 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 24 indicated. Question or discussion? All in favor, signify by 25 raising your right hand. 8-27-12 117 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 5 MS. HARGIS: If I can, while we're on this subject, 6 this is kind of a discussion, but late Friday we received a 7 call from our financial adviser and from the financial 8 analysts -- excuse me -- at the state. We are not closing on 9 this issue on the 28th. The reason is that we have to close 10 not only on the 570,000, but as you know, we have a loan 11 forgiveness amount of 1,290,000. Those two issues must be 12 close together. They were not prepared, nor have we 13 approved -- the Court approved the contract. So, we have 14 approved the $64,000 contract. We have approved the escrow 15 -- well, no, I take that back. We have approved the escrow 16 agreement. I have in my hand -- I just received this this 17 morning -- a contract for the 64,000, and then a contract for 18 the million, two. The Judge happened to be at my office when 19 the phone call came through, and we decided it was better not 20 to try to rush this, because we didn't -- that way Rob would 21 have an opportunity to review these contracts. So, we're 22 going to be asking for a special meeting. The closings will 23 probably take place between September the 6th and September 24 the 9th now, and all three will occur at one time. I'm 25 sorry, but they seem not to be able to get their ducks in a 8-27-12 118 1 row at the state level, so, it's -- every day seems to 2 change. But we can't go forward to close on the documents 3 without you -- without the Court approving the contracts. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: When the call came in Friday 5 afternoon, I didn't see any way that we could do a complete 6 and thorough job. We didn't have in front of us all that we 7 needed in front of us. The bond counsel needed input, 8 financial adviser needed input, County Attorney needed input. 9 So, I suggested to the people at the -- Water Development 10 Board, the financial adviser, that we do a special meeting to 11 put all these in one big package that had been carefully 12 considered and put together. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's just -- I mean, it's just 14 frustrating. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 'Cause I remember I talked to 17 Water Development Board and asked them if we should do them 18 all at one time. They were the ones that said no, we don't 19 need to; we'll do them one at a time. But, you know, we need 20 to do it. We need to do it to get the funds in and move 21 forward. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: They've trotted out a new drummer. 23 MS. HARGIS: But we probably need to do at least 24 approval of the contracts and get this information to our 25 financial adviser and our attorneys -- our bond attorney, as 8-27-12 119 1 well as to our County Attorney. So, we can look at the first 2 week -- if we want to close by the 6th, I'm sure we have to 3 have this up to them by the -- probably the 3rd or the 4th. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The -- not that I need to be 5 here. I will be out of town Thursday. I'm in Del Rio, but I 6 will be here Friday. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Darn, I wish I could go with 8 y'all. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Calcutta there on the Texas circuit. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're just doing a regional 11 water planning discussion meeting down there. Every couple 12 years we got to go to Del Rio, and it always happens to come 13 in August. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They don't have any rooms 15 booked for anybody else that time of year. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We don't spend the night. We 17 did that once. That's -- but, anyway -- 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else in connection with 19 that particular matter? Okay, let's go to Section 4 of our 20 agenda. Payment of the bills is the first one. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move we pay the bills. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second to pay 24 the bills. Question or discussion? Item -- Page 7. Road 25 and Bridge, towards the bottom, Lone Star Machinery Company. 8-27-12 120 1 Group insurance, $6,900? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, that's a good question. 3 Wish I'd have asked that one. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me withdraw it and let Buster 5 ask the question. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Page 7... Yeah, but are we 7 going to get an answer? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm not going to waste my 10 energy unless I know I'm going to get an answer. 11 MS. HARGIS: Yes. As you recall, when you put an 12 account number, it prints out the description of that account 13 number, and this is for -- in the original 2009-10 issue, 14 there was two side loaders, and for 15,000. Well, each side 15 loader has ended up costing 15,000 each, so he did not have 16 enough money in his budget to pay for the second side loader, 17 so he's doing a budget amendment. And it's coming out of his 18 group insurance line item, because he's had some people that 19 were -- to be able to pay for the side loader. So, it's -- 20 the account is group insurance. The actual description is 21 the remaining half of the $14,500 side loader. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: We've got Leonard with a sharp 23 pencil playing with funny money over there, by golly. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure looks like it. Is this 25 a budget amendment, or is this a bill to pay? 8-27-12 121 1 MS. HARGIS: It's a bill to pay and a budget 2 amendment. You have both. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, there's a budget 4 amendment somewhere else where I'll see that exact same 5 number? 6 MS. HARGIS: It should be, yes. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right, I see where 8 you're headed. Thank you. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any other questions or 10 comments? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 11 your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Budget 16 amendments. I've been presented with a Budget Amendment 17 Request Summary dated this date which totals 32 different 18 items. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's not uncommon this 20 late in the year. 21 MS. HARGIS: I think this is pretty good for this 22 time of year. This is August, the very last of August. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We really have not had a big 24 number of budget amendments throughout the year. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Do I hear a motion to approve the 8-27-12 122 1 budget amendments as set forth in the Budget Amendment 2 Request Summary, Items 1 through 32? 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Motion to approve. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 6 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor, signify by 7 raising your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Do we have 12 any late bills, Ms. Auditor? 13 MS. HARGIS: No. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: I've been presented with monthly 15 reports from the Kerr County Treasurer, July 2012. Do I hear 16 a motion to approve the report as presented? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know about that. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'll 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.) 8-27-12 123 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Let's go to item 2 -- Section 5. Do we have any reports from Commissioners in 3 connection with their liaison or committee assignments? 4 Commissioner Oehler? 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Oh, I could go on for a 6 while, but I think I'll pass. It's lunchtime. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Baldwin? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll just ask a question. 9 What are we going to do about the -- about the Bexar County 10 Judge, et cetera, et cetera? 11 JUDGE TINLEY: I can certainly ask again for the 12 judge to respond. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There's two letters here in 14 our packet -- the old packet, going one to the U.S. Fish and 15 Wildlife, this Tuggle guy, and Judge Wolff. And that's -- 16 it's saying take us out. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But also -- doesn't it also say 19 please reply to us? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, yeah, absolutely. Well, 21 normally you would. You know, but the second one, we really 22 said, hey, get back with us. Would you mind doing that? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: I'd be most pleased to do it. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The natives are restless. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Your wish is my command. 8-27-12 124 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You just need to change the 2 date and send that one. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, that's perfect. 4 Exactly. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Two years later? 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Turns into a form letter 7 pretty quick, doesn't it? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other comments you'd like to 9 make, Commissioner Baldwin? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, there's not. Thank you. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. All right. Commissioner 12 Overby? 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll be at AACOG meetings on 14 Wednesday this week, so I'll be doing all that this week. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Commissioner Letz? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Pretty much, just -- I'll be at 17 Del Rio on Thursday. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: He's soliciting participants at Del 19 Rio. Doesn't seem to be getting any traction, does he? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A lot of folks going to Del 21 Rio. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Seems like a guy of his 23 stature would cash in on some of this airport work and get 24 somebody to fly him over -- fly him down. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 8-27-12 125 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I used to be able to do that, 2 but that hasn't come up in a while. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You may have to ask. It 4 just seems that way to me. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: A good suggestion. You might -- 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Road and Bridge is going to 7 help with the filling of the ditch and the fixing of the 8 parking lot, whatever. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we got the parking lot, but I 10 think the ditch may be another issue. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I think you take a car. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: I think we got the ditch covered, 13 right? 14 MR. MOSER: Ditch is going to be covered. 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I think you take a car. 16 MR. MOSER: Much less than anticipated. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: I see. Somewhat different from the 18 fire line issue, right? 19 MR. MOSER: Tremendously. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Elected officials? 21 Department heads? Yeah? 22 MR. GARCIA: Couple things to report. Grantworks 23 has sent out two letters to two of the applicants for the 24 Kerr County septic system replacement grant program. Two of 25 the applicants were rendered disqualified for one reason or 8-27-12 126 1 another. One system was working adequately and did not meet 2 the replacement requirements, and another one was because the 3 resident didn't live at the actual address that they 4 submitted for. And also, Kerr County Environmental Health 5 Department was invited by Keep America Beautiful to 6 participate in a webinar, which would be happening on 7 September the 6th at 3 p.m. I spoke to a couple of you 8 briefly on this. We -- I was asked to be a keynote speaker 9 on this. And this is a state and also national, and this 10 will be happening on September the 6th. So -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 12 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's good. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Give us some elaboration on that. 14 How many -- there are going to be a whole bunch of people 15 that are tied into it, but there are going to be some major 16 participants. How -- how many are those going to be? 17 MR. GARCIA: Well, we're going to have three 18 speakers, and that's including myself. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 20 MR. GARCIA: Again, this goes out not only through 21 the state, but on the national level, and they've invited 22 Kerr County because of our record and previous awards for 23 environmental enforcement. So, the actual topic is going to 24 be called "From Field to Court." So, that'll happen on 25 September 6th. 8-27-12 127 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Where are you doing that? 2 MR. GARCIA: I'll be doing it from my office. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: On the webinar? 4 MR. GARCIA: Yes. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's awesome. Good. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: And how long is this webinar? 7 MR. GARCIA: It's going to be for an hour. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: One hour? 9 MR. GARCIA: An hour, and it's going to end with 10 question and answers from all over. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You want us to participate 12 in the question and answer? 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Be in the background. 14 MR. GARCIA: You can if you want. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I think the important point 16 here is that he has been invited to be one of the major 17 presenters or participants. There's a total of three to a 18 webinar to be tied in by goodness knows how many with regards 19 to this particular subject, based upon the record that he's 20 compiled over several years, his designation as individual 21 award winner from the state. And Kerr County's getting the 22 benefit of that recognition because of what his department 23 has done, and I think that's an important issue. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. Fantastic. Ray, 25 we're proud of you. 8-27-12 128 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else? 2 MR. GARCIA: That's it. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Kevin, do you have anything? 4 MR. STANTON: No, sir. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Dawn, do you have anything? 6 MS. LANTZ: No, sir. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: J.R. Hoyne? 8 JUDGE HOYNE: No, sir. Thank you. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Sheriff? 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Auditor? Treasurer? County 12 Attorney? Isn't this great? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a question. I do. A 14 couple of things popped in my mind, really related to budget, 15 and I'm sure that we took care of it, but I can't remember 16 right now what we did. The J.P. travel issue? It's just a 17 flat no, huh? 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What about Rusty's salary? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's what it is. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: We decided not to pay him one. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Not going to pay him any 23 more? So that's a no as well. Thank you for your time. 24 MR. HENNEKE: Judge, I do have something. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 8-27-12 129 1 MR. HENNEKE: Just for the interest of the Court 2 and the county, congratulations to Jennifer Johnson who works 3 in the County Attorney's office on the birth of her son last 4 Thursday or Wednesday. Everybody's healthy. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's good. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Fantastic. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Grandparents are happy, I'm 8 sure. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, can I make a comment? I 10 thought you were going to say this. I know we've talked 11 about Little League a couple times, and the status out there, 12 the County Attorney and I are meeting with representatives 13 from that group this Wednesday again, trying to move forward 14 on a new agreement out there, just so everyone's aware that 15 we're still going forward. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Plodding along. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Think you'll have something 18 by spring? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: The boys of spring. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's a -- my goal is to have 22 it before their new board gets put in place, 'cause then we 23 got to start over. And that's in, I believe, October. So -- 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Like herding a bunch of cats; 25 it takes a long time. Not going to comment on that, huh? 8-27-12 130 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Buster, I think, is ready to leave. 2 So, is there anything else to come before the Court today? 3 We'll be adjourned -- what is this? 4 MS. HARGIS: Well, we haven't decided what to do 5 with my position, so I need -- 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Your position's in the budget. 7 There's -- there was nothing before the Court today to 8 resolve the issue of from the 20th up until that time. I was 9 under the impression, and still am, that we will very quickly 10 hear something from upstairs, that we'll have the material to 11 affect upon how that goes. 12 MS. HARGIS: Okay. 13 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 12:12 p.m.) 14 - - - - - - - - - - 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 8-27-12 131 1 STATE OF TEXAS | 2 COUNTY OF KERR | 3 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 4 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 5 official reporter for the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 6 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 7 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 30th day of August, 8 2012. 9 10 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 11 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 12 Certified Shorthand Reporter 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 8-27-12