1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Wednesday, September 5, 2012 11 1:00 p.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 September 5, 2012 2 PAGE 3 1.1 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on order approving and authorizing the execution 4 of a Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) Loan Forgiveness Agreement between the Texas 5 Water Development Board and Kerr County in connection with Center Point Regional Wastewater 6 Treatment System project 3 7 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on order approving and authorizing the execution 8 of an Economically Distressed Areas Program (EDAP) grant agreement between the Texas Water Development 9 Board and Kerr County in connection with Center Point Regional Wastewater Treatment System project 7 10 --- Adjourned 19 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 On Wednesday, September 5, 2012, at 1:00 p.m., a 2 special meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was 3 held in 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: Let me call to order this special 8 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court posted and 9 scheduled for this date and time, Wednesday, September 5, 10 2012, at 1 p.m. It is that time now. The first agenda item 11 is to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on order 12 approving and authorizing the execution of a Clean Water 13 State Revolving Fund Loan Forgiveness Agreement between the 14 Texas Water Development Board and Kerr County in connection 15 with the Center Point Regional Wastewater Treatment System 16 project. Ms. Hargis? 17 MS. HARGIS: Okay. I think all of you have a copy 18 of several e-mails, the most recent this morning from Bob 19 Henderson. Bob and I spoke with Caaren Skrobarczyk at the 20 Texas Water Development Board concerning the origination fee, 21 which was the last question that we had. And in your little 22 packet, if you will turn back to -- there's a graph like 23 this. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Mm-hmm. 25 MS. HARGIS: This -- these are the budgets we 9-5-12 4 1 received early this month from the Texas Water Development 2 Board, and you will see on the origination fee, it is shown 3 on the loan for 570,000. If you will just flip to the next 4 page, you have the other two grants, the forgiveness loan, 5 and you will see there is no origination fee. 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: One-time? 7 MS. HARGIS: It's a one-time fee. It's only on the 8 loan itself. And as I explained to Rob, this is kind of like 9 a permit fee. That is the way the Water Development Board 10 came up with about 10 years ago to fund their department, and 11 so any time they have a loan, they have an origination fee 12 and it goes to them, and that's how they fund their 13 department. But there is no origination fee, and there is 14 nothing for us to pay, because you see on the budget it just 15 reduces the net that we get in -- in funds. And the bottom 16 line is, we borrowed 570; that 570 includes the bond 17 origination fee. And that's the way that -- Keller's here 18 also, which I'm glad to see. It also is included in his 19 budget in the same manner. So, there's nothing for us to pay 20 out on anything. Rob was able to get with Joe Reynolds, who 21 is the attorney for the Water Development Board, and he made 22 one change, which was to add the three days to 10 days. He 23 forwarded those pages. I have those pages. They are 24 inserted in the loan agreements that we have, and I think 25 we're ready to go, as far as I can see. They tell me that if 9-5-12 5 1 we get these up to them, probably around the 14th will be the 2 earliest we can close. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I saw the change from three 4 days to 10 days, but there was -- and I -- it got kind of 5 confusing to me, 'cause I haven't stayed up with all this 6 stuff. But Rob had other questions -- 7 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- and concerns and 9 recommendations in there, and I'm just wondering if they were 10 important enough for the attorney to address. 11 MR. HENNEKE: He -- Commissioner, he responded on 12 all of those. The other, I guess, point of clarification I 13 had on the suggested changes and language, the response from 14 the Water Development Board was that they were very happy 15 with their language, and thank you for my suggestion -- 16 (Laughter) -- when we discussed that last week. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: This the is way we've always done 18 it? 19 MR. HENNEKE: We -- we like our words. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He said, "and we did it that 21 way on purpose" on one of them. I forget -- 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 23 MR. HENNEKE: So, nothing -- none of those issues 24 that I raised last week -- I thought the three days to 10 25 days was a very good point, because we would never have been 9-5-12 6 1 able to make that deadline. And I'm glad that we've been 2 able to clarify what the 1.87 percent origination fee is. 3 But the other issues we discussed last week, I think they 4 were worth pointing out, but I didn't think last week, and I 5 don't think now that -- 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's not a deal breaker? 7 MR. HENNEKE: Exactly. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: None of it's a deal breaker. 9 MR. HENNEKE: Yes, sir. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Very good. Thank you. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thanks for your comments. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Bottom line was, they did respond to 13 the issues that you raised. 14 MR. HENNEKE: Yes, sir. 15 MS. HARGIS: Yeah, I think we sent you all a copy 16 of this e-mail. Any other questions that I can answer 17 regarding this? Or Rob or Keller? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion to approve 19 and authorize the execution of the Clean Water State 20 Revolving Fund Loan Forgiveness Agreement between Texas Water 21 Development Board and Kerr County in connection with the 22 Center Point Regional Wastewater Treatment System project. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 25 indicated. Any question or discussion on that motion? All 9-5-12 7 1 in favor of that motion, signify by raising your right hand. 2 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 4 (No response.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. We have a 6 second item on the agenda; to consider, discuss, take 7 appropriate action on order approving and authorizing the 8 execution of an Economically Distressed Area Program, that 9 being an EDAP grant agreement between the Texas Water 10 Development Board and Kerr County in connection with the 11 Center Point Regional Wastewater Treatment System project. 12 MS. HARGIS: I also got some clarification on that 13 as well. We do not have to send the $64,000 to the Water 14 Development Board. We just have to set it up in a reserve 15 fund in our books, and send them a letter saying that we have 16 done so. And -- but we don't have to send our half; we can 17 just keep it. So, there's really no money changing hands 18 right now. We can hold onto our 64, because we won't need 19 that money until we start acquiring easements, if that's 20 not -- and so when we start acquiring easements, then we'll 21 have the funds available. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Have we already executed the actual 23 grant agreement itself? 24 MS. HARGIS: You have a contract there for the 25 64,000 as well. 9-5-12 8 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Okay. 2 MS. HARGIS: We had -- 3 JUDGE TINLEY: That's the Item 2 on the agenda? 4 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I know we considered it at 6 some point earlier, but I wasn't sure whether we -- 7 MS. HARGIS: We signed the escrow agreements for 8 all of the issues, because they -- they will escrow the 570, 9 they will escrow the million, two, and they will escrow their 10 half of the 64,000. We signed those escrow agreements with 11 Wells Fargo, and those are also attached in those documents. 12 So, this is the final contracts, and we -- you know, as I 13 stated earlier a couple weeks ago, unfortunately, we have to 14 close on all three of them at one time, and that's kind of 15 what caused the confusion. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. I'll make a motion 17 to approve and authorize the execution of an Economically 18 Distressed Area Program (EDAP) grant agreement between Texas 19 Water Development Board and Kerr County in connection with 20 the Center Point Regional Wastewater Treatment System 21 project. 22 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And I'll second that. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 24 indicated. Further question or discussion on the motion? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, if I could on that, I 9-5-12 9 1 think we probably can do it under the agenda item since our 2 consultant is present. Keller, can you give us an update on 3 where we're going to be? This has taken a little bit longer 4 than I think we -- certainly, I thought it was going to, to 5 get these agreements closed. Where are we on the schedule? 6 And this agenda item really refers to the EDAP grant, but 7 they kind of all relate. Maybe you can give us an update? 8 MR. DROZDICK: Closing right now is looking to be 9 about a month later than originally planned in the schedule. 10 That essentially shifts everything by about a month. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Back. 12 MR. DROZDICK: So we're looking at -- we'd be 13 wrapping up the engineering feasibility report around the end 14 of this year, depending on how the holiday schedule goes. 15 And then the engineering -- the environmental report will 16 probably be completed and submitted the first week of June, I 17 believe is where it now stands. So, just about a month 18 shift. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. And when will the 20 project -- what's, I guess, our deadline to wrap this up? 21 MR. DROZDICK: They have a funding -- from a 22 funding standpoint, they want the money spent within -- I 23 think it's three years. So, we are -- the schedule had it -- 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: 2014? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 9-5-12 10 1 MR. DROZDICK: I think we were scheduled for 2 completion then, but they have usually a three-year window 3 for spending the money, so we should have basically a little 4 less than a year of planning, the rest of that first year 5 review by the Water Board, and then the following year 6 design, and then getting reviewed by the Water Board. We 7 should be wrapped up in 24 months. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I know we received an 9 invitation for a -- the application for the next phase. 10 MR. DROZDICK: Yeah. It wasn't an invitation; it 11 was -- it was like a delay of game. There's -- I forget what 12 they phrased it as. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have to go to school before 14 we can apply. 15 MR. DROZDICK: Something like that, yeah. But 16 yeah, it was -- essentially, it was -- they mentioned this in 17 the pre-application, 'cause the original application included 18 both the planning/design phase as well as construction. So, 19 what they're doing is, they're kind of holding our score -- 20 our ranking for construction moneys, even though we're not 21 applying for those currently. And that holding is good for 22 three years, essentially, so as long as we can get designed 23 and wrapped up and everything in place within that three-year 24 window, that ranking should carry forward. We don't have to 25 reapply exactly. 9-5-12 11 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's good. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. All right. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or comments? 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thank you for being here. 5 Appreciate it. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All in favor of the motion, signify 7 by raising your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Anything else to 12 come before the Court with respect to the matter? 13 MS. HARGIS: No, not this matter, but something 14 else. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not on the agenda. 16 MS. HARGIS: No, it's not on the agenda. Just an 17 information -- it's just information. We -- we had a fire 18 apparently in the Comfort area over the weekend, and Barry 19 Smith called me from the Comfort Volunteer Fire Department 20 and said several of the trucks had been damaged, so I have 21 asked him to give me a detailed report. He gave me a little 22 bit. He said that they had a flat on one of theirs, and that 23 the Center Point -- I guess one of their engines blew a tire 24 as well. But then Sisterdale had some damages. So, I told 25 him to gather all that up, send it to my office, and I would 9-5-12 12 1 present it to y'all for your consideration. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that is the fire that was 3 on Schatzi Stieler's property? 4 MS. HARGIS: Yes. Supposedly a squirrel went up 5 the line and caused the fire. That's what he said, as I 6 recall. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That would be a Kendall 8 County squirrel. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, Kerr County. That's why I 10 wanted to make sure which fire it was. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Comfort squirrel. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, the -- yeah, it probably 13 came from across the county line, ran up a Kerr County pole. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Pretty big fire. It burned a 16 hunting cabin, outbuilding, and about 135 acres. 17 MS. HARGIS: Yeah, he said three structures were 18 burned. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And some trucks? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess -- I know there were a 21 lot of fire departments there. It's pretty -- it's right at 22 the top of Stieler Hill. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, on the right there, 24 going toward Fredericksburg. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On the left -- well, going 9-5-12 13 1 towards Fredericksburg on the left. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: On the left? 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Precinct 3. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Of course it's in 5 Precinct 3. 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: On the outskirts. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other information matters or 9 otherwise to come before the meeting today? 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well -- go ahead. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just wanted to bring up a 12 point. I've had a -- I've had some thoughts. I know that's 13 a frightening thing, but I'm here to admit it. You got to 14 admit that you're a fault person before you can -- something. 15 I can't remember how that goes. But the City Council or City 16 folk will be moving into their new building soon, and I want 17 to have a dinner on the grounds with a little entertainment 18 out on the lawn, and -- and invite them to the neighborhood. 19 And ask them to bring their own lunch, and maybe one for us. 20 No, bring their own lunch. I'm kidding about that. Bring 21 their own lunch, and come over and just join us on the lawn, 22 and let's just welcome them to the neighborhood, and anybody 23 else in this part of town that wants to come too. So, I want 24 y'all's blessing before I go too much further in it. Thank 25 you. 9-5-12 14 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: As long as it cools off a 2 little before you plan this. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. It's -- let's see. I 4 don't -- well, it's going to cool off this weekend. But I 5 can't remember when they're -- when's the opening? October 6 the -- 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: The ribbon cutting? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- 5th or something. 9 MS. ARNOLD: They said move-in day is October 11th, 10 is the last day I heard at one of the meetings. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's correct, yeah. 12 October 11th. So, somewhere around there. Somewhere around 13 there. They can either be there, or they can be on their way 14 or whatever. Doesn't matter to me. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, they're going to be busily 16 engaged on Columbus Day. One thought may be that we provide 17 them with, you know, a late afternoon lunch or something, you 18 know, as part of their busy move-in day on Columbus Day, for 19 example. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me now how it turns out 21 for you. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: I see. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. All right. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: You haven't figured out the budget 25 line item that's going to come from yet? 9-5-12 15 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other thoughts that you've had 3 that you want to share? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, that's the only ones 5 I've had in about a week now. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Okay. Bruce had a thought. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No -- well, I guess so. More 8 of a report than a thought. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The sign should be up, he 11 told me -- I checked this morning. In about two weeks, the 12 sign should be installed. The first big concrete pour is 13 supposed to happen -- half of the slab is supposed to be 14 poured next Friday. Plumbers are roughing-in one wash rack 15 and one restroom in the back, and they're going to rough-in 16 one on the other side, probably today and tomorrow. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's awesome. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So things are -- you know, 19 kind of hit a little hiccup, but nothing that's going to get 20 in the way, I don't think. Rainwater system is -- some kind 21 of struts or something, whatever that is, they have 22 redesigned those. They're a little slow about delivering 23 those. The tanks are ready to be delivered, but without 24 these strut things, whatever the heck that is, they can't 25 assemble it. So, I talked to Barry this morning; probably be 9-5-12 16 1 here hopefully in the next three, four weeks. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How many yards are they going 3 to pour? 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: A hundred -- they're going to 5 pour 500 yards, half of the 24,000 square feet. One pour. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, 2,500 -- 250 yards? 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No, that's 500 for that part 8 of it. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On that part? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That is a lot of concrete. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That is a lot of concrete. 12 And they said they will start at 2:00 in the morning, and 13 they will be finished and away from it by 11 o'clock. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're creating jobs, during 15 the Democratic convention. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's 40 trucks. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I got something to say. I 18 told Commissioner Oehler coming in today -- today I'm just 19 making it real quick, but I had three different folks today 20 in the community, and especially one of our lodging resorts 21 had made so many good, positive comments about this project. 22 In fact, the resort -- lodging resort told me they were just 23 ecstatic about the facility, and they really said that three 24 particular conventions that they have here that are attracted 25 here produce over six figures in lodging revenue for them in 9-5-12 17 1 the community, and they were just saying that this was one of 2 the most exciting projects that they see going on in our 3 community right now. And, again, it comes back to this -- I 4 think the actions of our livestock folks, the Court, the 5 folks -- employees all working together. We're starting to 6 see a lot of excitement about this project. And, 7 Commissioner Oehler, I know you're doing a lot of work on 8 this, but you're hearing people comment about positive 9 things. And Commissioner Baldwin said about the jobs that 10 are being created. It has a huge ramification in this 11 community, and it will have for many years to come. So, it's 12 exciting to hear people talking about it, and you're going to 13 get more and more of that as you get closer to finishing. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Now, the other thing was the 15 stock show folks were picked as the recipient of the charity 16 ball funds this year. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's great. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Really? 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They just made that 20 presentation last week, and they -- they were named as the 21 recipient. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That is fantastic. That's a 23 pretty good little chunk. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. They're going to have to wear 25 tuxedos at all the future stock shows. 9-5-12 18 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: But other than that, why -- 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: They're going to look weird 4 out there. What about -- what about the City? What happened 5 with E.I.C. money? 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, the E.I.C. matched -- 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Seventeen. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- they matched up to 9 150,000, all the portable pens and show ring and all that 10 stuff. And Stevens Foundation, whatever the actual cost is, 11 they will share it up to 300,000. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Fantastic. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So, that's been done. And 14 they'll make their presentation for Phase II funding after 15 the first of the year. Now you know. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I know it all. And I also 17 know that a -- a "strut" is what a turkey gobbler does. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I've heard that. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Now, why we need turkey 21 gobblers out there for the rainwater tank, we're not sure 22 about. (Laughter.) 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't know about that. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything further in connection with 9-5-12 19 1 the agenda? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Little bit too much 3 education here for you? 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. Yeah. Hearing nothing 5 further, we're adjourned. 6 (Commissioners Court was adjourned at 1:20 p.m.) 7 - - - - - - - - - - 8 9 10 STATE OF TEXAS | 11 COUNTY OF KERR | 12 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 13 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 14 official reporter for the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 15 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 16 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 5th day of September, 17 2012. 18 19 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 20 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 21 Certified Shorthand Reporter 22 23 24 25 9-5-12