1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Regular Session 10 Tuesday, October 9, 2012 11 9:00 a.m. 12 Commissioners' Courtroom 13 Kerr County Courthouse 14 Kerrville, Texas 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 PRESENT: PAT TINLEY, Kerr County Judge H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 24 GUY R. OVERBY, Commissioner Pct. 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 25 BRUCE OEHLER, Commissioner Pct. 4 2 1 I N D E X October 9, 2012 2 PAGE 3 --- Commissioners' Comments 7 4 1.1 Hill Country Coalition on Aging presentation lending support to request for VA Benefits 5 Officer for Kerr County 11 6 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to renew copier lease for Road and Bridge Department 19 7 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 8 release Canyon Springs Properties Limited Partnership Maintenance Bond #456240S for Live 9 Springs Lane West and accept for Kerr County maintenance, Precinct 4 20 10 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 11 add additional floodplain determination category, Floodplain Determination by FEMA Letter of Map 12 Amendment (LOMA) for “A Zone” (unstudied portion 100-year floodplain) and assign fee of $110 for 13 this determination 22 14 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve increase in hourly rate for County- 15 appointed Floodplain Administrator from $100 to $110 28 16 1.6 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for 17 final approval regarding revision of plat for Cave Springs Addition, Section Five, Phase One, 18 Lots 9, 10 and 11 of Block C, Precinct 4 30 19 1.7 Presentation by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Assessment Committee and report on their findings 31 20 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 21 request to use Flat Rock Lake Park from October 26–28, 2012, for overflow parking for Kerr County 22 Fair 63 23 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on resolution to enable Dietert Center to apply 24 for grant from Texas Department of Agriculture to support “Meals on Wheels” in Kerr County 65 25 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) October 9, 2012 2 PAGE 1.10 Open bids for electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and 3 pest control and give to Maintenance Supervisor for review and recommendation 68 4 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 5 approve contract between Department of State Health Services and Kerr County Clerk’s Office 6 and authorize County Clerk to sign same 69 7 1.14 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for approval of agreement for inmate health care 8 services between Kerr County and Correctional Healthcare Companies, Inc. 70 9 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action 10 concerning changing the semi-monthly pay schedule to bi-weekly, effective January 1, 11 2013, utilizing Incode time entry system in order to provide more efficient timekeeping 12 and payroll documentation 71 13 1.16 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for approval of personnel changes in dispatch 74 14 1.17 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 15 approve replacement of part-time positions at Juvenile Detention Facility 78 16 1.18 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 17 approve resolution amending authorized representatives on Kerr County’s TexPool 18 account; allow County Judge to sign same 79 19 1.19 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve continuation certificate for Faye E. 20 (Beth) Taylor for the office of Chief Deputy Treasurer 79 21 1.20 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 22 appoint/reappoint members to the Kerr County Historical Commission; submit current membership 23 list to Texas Historical Commission 80 24 1.21 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to purchase 2009 Ford Escape to replace the two 25 courthouse Jeeps that were declared surplus 81 4 1 I N D E X (Continued) October 9, 2012 2 PAGE 3 1.22 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to set Thursday, December 20, as the date for the 4 annual Kerr County Christmas Party 85 5 1.23 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve contracts with Center Point VFD; 6 Comfort VFD; Tierra Linda VFD; Hunt VFD; Elm Pass VFD; Families and Literacy, Inc.; 7 Dietert Center; Big Brothers & Sisters; and allow County Judge to sign same 86 8 1.25 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 9 fill open 22.3 Assistant Auditor’s position in the Auditor’s Department 87 10 1.26 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 11 request from Christmas Lighting Corporation to place a concrete pad on courthouse lawn for new 12 tree display and any other related items to the lighting of the courthouse for the 2012 Christmas 13 season 90 14 1.27 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve resolution honoring Sudie Burditt upon 15 her retirement as Executive Director of Kerrville Convention and Visitors Bureau 94 16 1.28 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 17 engage law firm of Ross Molina Oliveros, PC, and authorize expenditure of funds to commence 18 condemnation proceedings involving Lazy Valley Road bridge project 95 19 1.29 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 20 enter an order declaring a public purpose and necessity for the acquisition of a 0.06-acre 21 right-of-way easement out of a 204.53-acre tract for the public purpose of the Lazy Valley Road 22 bridge improvement and construction project; authorize institution of condemnation proceedings 23 to acquire those land rights 103 24 1.30 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on the contracts for True Automation and CIC for 25 the Tax Assessor's Office 104 5 1 I N D E X (Continued) October 9, 2012 2 PAGE 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 3 award bids on electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and pest control services 109 4 1.24 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 5 drainage issue on Diana Drive and possibly consider funding for engineer study 110 6 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 7 appoint Rhonda Hickey as a member of the Kerr County Child Services Board 110 8 4.1 Pay Bills 111 9 4.2 Budget Amendments --- 4.3 Late Bills --- 10 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 112 11 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments 113 12 5.2 Reports from Elected Officials/Department Heads 114 13 --- Adjourned 119 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 6 1 On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, at 9:00 a.m., a regular 2 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in 3 the Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, 4 Kerrville, Texas, and the following proceedings were had in 5 open court: 6 P R O C E E D I N G S 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. 8 Let me call to order this regularly scheduled meeting of the 9 Kerr County Commissioners Court posted and scheduled for this 10 date and time, Tuesday, October 9, 2012, at 9 a.m. It is 11 that time now. Commissioner Overby? 12 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Let's stand for a word of 13 prayer. 14 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Be seated, please. 16 (Low-voice discussion off the record.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: At this time, if there's any member 18 of the public or audience that wishes to be heard on a matter 19 which is not a listed agenda item, this is your opportunity 20 to come forward and tell us what's on your mind. If you wish 21 to be heard on an agenda item, we'd ask that you fill out a 22 participation form. There are some located at the rear of 23 the room, I think. If not, or if we get to an item which 24 you've not filled out a participation form and you wish to be 25 heard on it, get my attention; I'll give you the opportunity 10-9-12 7 1 to be heard. But right now, any member of the audience or 2 public that wishes to be heard on a matter which is not a 3 listed agenda item, this is your opportunity to come forward 4 and tell us what's on your mind. Seeing no one coming 5 forward, we'll move on. Commissioner Overby, what do you 6 have for us this morning? 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Judge, got a few things I'd 8 like to -- to recognize today happening. First of all, I'd 9 like to bring a little recognition today, and appreciate our 10 Court Compliance folks. I want to recognize, of course, 11 Terry Lyle and Geraldine Rodriguez. For the first time ever 12 in our Court Compliance area, in our collections area, we -- 13 this department has collected over a million dollars in the 14 2011-2012 year. Now, a lot of that money goes to the state; 15 we understand that. But a lot of that portion goes back into 16 the county. And this is the first time that we've ever gone 17 over a million dollars in collections. And, Terry and 18 Geraldine, I want to say thank you for your hard work, and we 19 appreciate everything that you're doing down there in that 20 department. I just wanted to recognize you today. 21 (Applause.) 22 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Two other things I'd like to 23 -- to also bring to attention. I think it's very important 24 to understand that last month, we were notified through the 25 T.D.A. that we have received funding for Phase 5 of the 10-9-12 8 1 Kerrville South Wastewater project. As you know, in 2011 we 2 were in that Phase 4 funding, and that process was completed. 3 We made the grant request for the Phase 5 funding for the 4 Kerrville South Wastewater project request last year, and we 5 are receiving that money now to move on to Phase 5 of that 6 project. And in a few upcoming weeks, they'll be planning 7 the design and engineering of that process with those dates 8 set up for next year for the construction part of Phase 5. I 9 want to bring attention to that, because I think it's 10 important that my predecessor here, Commissioner Williams, 11 started that endeavor out there in the Kerrville South 12 Wastewater project, and as we're moving through, and we'll 13 hand it off to Tom soon, but this is an exciting project for 14 Kerr County as we're moving forward with that. I want to 15 recognize that. 16 And then also, the Colonia Grant fund, I was 17 talking with Ray Garcia, our Environmental Department, today. 18 We have received positive news about the extension of our 19 T.D.A. grant through our Colonia Grant about our wastewater 20 septic systems; we're helping right now about 11 families 21 right now in Kerr County. But it does look like we're going 22 to get an extension to allow some opportunity to help some 23 folks who can't afford those type of systems in our county, 24 and those are all really good, positive things that are 25 happening. And, Judge, with that, that's all I've got to 10-9-12 9 1 say. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Letz? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I've been working with a lot of 4 different community groups and governmental groups recently, 5 and most of those will be on the agenda either today or in 6 the near future, so wait until then. That's about it. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Oehler? 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, we had a big 4-H Wild 9 Game Dinner over the weekend. It was well attended. I would 10 imagine they made some money. Other thing is, the slab is 11 all complete at the new show barn. Only thing they're 12 working on now is a couple of approaches, walkways into the 13 existing exhibit hall and also the existing indoor arena. 14 Then all the concrete work will be complete. Road and Bridge 15 is in the process of digging the ditch for the rainwater 16 collection lines so that the rainwater guy can come in and 17 lay those, and we can get them covered up before the building 18 arrives next Monday, and they'll start putting it together 19 and you'll start seeing some things go up in the air. And 20 it's going to be pretty massive. Everything is on schedule, 21 maybe a week ahead still. And we -- you know, the contractor 22 is very easy to work with. And Road and Bridge has been very 23 cooperative in lots of ways to get this project where it is 24 now. So, we look forward to it, and look forward to seeing 25 some steel go up. And -- and I met with Peter Lewis the 10-9-12 10 1 other day, and we talked again about the design on the 2 exhibit hall that's coming up, that I will bring to court as 3 soon as that is complete for Court approval. Or rejection, 4 whichever you want to do. That's about it. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Commissioner Baldwin? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir, I have one 7 announcement to make, and it's more like an invitation. This 8 coming Saturday, I think at 3 o'clock, there will be a 9 birthday party out at the new old Upper Turtle Creek school 10 building. Clarabelle Snodgrass will be turning 99, and she 11 has chosen to have her birthday party out there. And Tim 12 Bollier, the Maintenance Supervisor for the county, and his 13 staff and some other folks have really been -- been bending 14 over backwards to get that facility really fixed up. You 15 won't even recognize it. I drove right by it the other day, 16 Tim; I didn't recognize it. But it's -- it's pretty spiffy. 17 Spiffy little place. And so she's -- she calls me early 18 Monday morning to make sure that we're -- that everything's 19 on. But I think it's about 3 o'clock Saturday afternoon. 20 And she's inviting the entire community of Kerr County to 21 this thing, so we have to go out Friday and set up enough 22 tables for everybody in Kerr County. So, anyway, that's all, 23 Judge. Thank you. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, appreciate it. I was saddened 25 to receive from Ms. Bobbie Lesser her resignation as an 10-9-12 11 1 alternate to Patsy Lackey on the Criminal Justice Advisory 2 Committee there at AACOG. As most of you know, Ms. Lesser 3 has been very, very active in serving Kerrville and Kerr 4 County in a lot of different areas for many, many, many 5 years, and I'm sure she'll continue to give back to the 6 community as she always has. We appreciate her service. We 7 will hopefully find a good replacement for her. She can't be 8 replaced, but someone to fill that position. But we thank 9 her for her service and wish her well. We've got a fairly 10 lengthy agenda, so let's move on. We've got a whole slough 11 of timed items, some of them at virtually the same time, but 12 we'll get through. First item is the Hill Country Coalition 13 on Aging presentation to the Court lending support to request 14 for the V.A. benefits officer for Kerr County. Ms. Doerries? 15 Good to have you here with us this morning. 16 MS. DOERRIES: Thank you very much, Judge Tinley. 17 I would like to bring up some other members of our community. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Brought all the big guns with you, 19 huh? 20 MS. DOERRIES: I did. I did. And we have been 21 hearing of the proposal before your Court for the possibility 22 -- exploring the possibility of hiring a benefits coordinator 23 for Kerr County. I'm Patrice Doerries, and I represent -- I 24 have several hats on today. I'm the senior coalition 25 representative from Kerr County to AACOG, and I also serve as 10-9-12 12 1 chair of that committee, but I am with Hill Country CARES, 2 and a part of the coalition, and I have supplied you with a 3 list. We have 83 current members on our committee. That is 4 a very loose coalition. We don't pay dues. We meet monthly, 5 and the coalition is made up of professionals that provide 6 services to senior citizens here in Kerr County. And you can 7 see, you'll recognize names on the list. I have brought with 8 me the administrators of some of our facilities here, as well 9 as Tina Woods, who directs the Dietert Senior Center. 10 While we offer no money to fund this position, and 11 it is our understanding that you have heard from a large 12 number of veterans as to this need, we as a coalition see the 13 critical importance not only to the veteran and their spouse, 14 but also to this community. And we want you to know we 15 support this proposal, and however we might lend information 16 or our own personal, professional experience, we are welcome; 17 please ask us. I'd like to have the administrators -- and 18 these are administrators of facilities, nursing homes or 19 assisted living facilities, and I want you to meet them, if 20 you haven't, and to understand what their capacity is, how 21 many they serve, and their approximate number of veterans and 22 their spouses who could benefit from having an officer here. 23 Because currently, we have to go to San Antonio to find 24 somebody that can help them with the paperwork and that knows 25 exactly what needs to be done. 10-9-12 13 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Do they not have that one coming up 2 from South Texas -- 3 MS. DOERRIES: There is one. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: -- once a month? 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Wednesday. 6 MS. DOERRIES: He comes on Wednesday. And I'll let 7 the -- 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 9 MS. DOERRIES: -- representatives... But this 10 is -- it's a black hole for us, and having this benefits 11 coordinator and this aid and assistance would allow many in 12 Kerr County to not have to go on Medicaid by having this. 13 MS. STEWART: Well, I'm Naomi Stewart. I'm the 14 administrator at actually at Edgewater Care Center, but I 15 represent Sava Senior Care; Hilltop Village, Alpine Terrace, 16 and Edgewater. And together, we have about 350 beds together 17 that we can serve seniors, and of that population, I would 18 say probably 70 percent are V.A. or V.A. related. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Wow. 20 MS. STEWART: You know, we are the three biggest 21 buildings here in town. Our problem is, our seniors -- if 22 it's the male or the female that are actually in the nursing 23 home, the spouse is usually having a hard time getting to San 24 Antone or getting on that one day a -- you know, a week list. 25 So, it's been very difficult, and we have seen a lot more 10-9-12 14 1 that, because they're not able to get on the V.A. Aid and 2 Attendance, that they're having to turn to Medicaid. And 3 with the Medicaid system being decreased, and decreasing 4 rapidly, a lot of people are not able to do anything as far 5 as financially. So, the aid and attendance, if they could 6 get a little bit of benefits from the V.A., would really help 7 some of these guys out. So -- 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's good. 9 MS. WILLIAMS: I'm Janice Williams. I am the 10 Director of River Point of Kerrville. We're the newest 11 assisted living and memory care by the movie theater. I am 12 50 percent full right now. We opened six months ago. 13 There's so many people in Kerr County that need this. If you 14 go to the V.A., Hospital, they don't tell you that this 15 benefit is out there. You have to specifically know what 16 you're talking about, know it is V.A. Aid and Attendance. I 17 probably have maybe 10 people waiting to come in, waiting to 18 see if those benefits are going to kick in for them. Right 19 now I'm doing a program to where I will discount their rent 20 when they move in by 15 percent until their V.A. benefits 21 kick in, because it is expensive, and a lot of people don't 22 have that. And especially when you've got one -- you've got 23 a spouse that's in memory care, and you've got that other 24 person living at home. You're looking at a lot of dollars 25 each month that are going out of your pocket. So, anyway, 10-9-12 15 1 we're licensed for 70 beds. Normally, we'll have 32 on 2 memory care and 33 on assisted living. 3 MS. WOODS: I'm Tina Woods, the Director of the 4 Dietert Center, and certainly we have a huge number of 5 veterans who work with us. We arranged for a seminar -- I 6 guess it was about this time last year, with Jim Hanna coming 7 from San Antonio, and we packed the room. What we see the 8 most are usually the widows of veterans who are just unaware 9 that there is support for them, financial support. 10 Certainly, when their husbands become ill, they face 11 tremendous expenses that they're usually not well equipped to 12 handle. The application process, as I understand, is very 13 complicated, and just that alone makes it difficult for some 14 folks to access services. So, someone here in the county who 15 could be their advocate and help them kind of navigate their 16 way through the maze of the application process would be 17 tremendous. 18 MR. BACON: Good morning. I'm Rodney Bacon; I'm at 19 Plaza on the River. We have -- we serve about 240 patients, 20 residents over there, and we figure probably 50 of those 21 could benefit from this -- actually, aid and attendance 22 program. A big part of our job is to help folks work through 23 the maze of getting their insurance benefits; this benefit, 24 that benefit, and so this officer would greatly help -- help 25 these folks make that stuff happen. It's a benefit that they 10-9-12 16 1 -- they're entitled to, but it may not be -- they may not 2 have it because they don't know how to get it. They need the 3 help. Thank you. Appreciate your time. 4 MS. DOERRIES: Any questions to anybody? We thank 5 you. We just wanted you to know that there is a group out 6 there that work day in and day out professionally to serve 7 senior citizens. And these are black holes, and so we are 8 representing those that are not here, that are the voice, 9 that see it, that live it every day. And we want you to 10 really consider this as a black hole for seniors in this 11 community. We -- we see too many that have to go on 12 Medicaid, and due to the lack of Medicaid beds, are having to 13 go to San Antonio or to a surrounding county to provide -- to 14 live in those facilities, and we lose those county residents. 15 Buster, you had a question? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, ma'am. I just am 17 trying to wade through the thing. I agree with you. I see 18 clearly -- and when the veterans were in here a month ago, it 19 was -- it was an interesting meeting. You've made me feel 20 guilty. However, I want to know why -- I mean, this is a 21 federal issue. Why isn't the federal government hiring their 22 own people? Why are local taxpayers having to pay again now? 23 I don't get that. 24 MS. DOERRIES: I don't get it either. But I do 25 know that Gillespie County has a retired military officer 10-9-12 17 1 that provides this service, and it is not an issue there. 2 Everyone knows they can go to her office and have someone 3 that really knows how to fill out the paperwork and 4 understand the language. So -- 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, she's neat. 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah, she is. Patrice, I had 7 a question also. And I think Commissioner Baldwin is 8 correct. I think that, again, that's a question that our -- 9 our congressman needs to help represent for us up there as 10 well in that representation. But, you know, one of the 11 things I've asked in the last couple of weeks through our -- 12 our AACOG representation, I've come across several -- you 13 know, we talked about when the lady -- our lady came from 14 Gillespie County, our officer came, we asked the question, 15 does Bandera, does Kendall have an officer? They don't. One 16 thing I have found out over the last couple of weeks, the 17 southern part of our AACOG region, they have hired V.A. 18 benefit officers. And the one example is Karnes County, for 19 example. They said that they hired an officer a year ago, 20 and that was one of the best things that they've ever done, 21 of helping that process to go through. So, you know, I think 22 it's -- it's part of that process of what they're doing. The 23 federal part, the government should be providing those 24 officers, but they're not, and it's being put down on the 25 counties' responsibility. But I wanted to say that there are 10-9-12 18 1 counties out there that know there's that need there. 2 MS. DOERRIES: Right. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And I think -- 4 MS. DOERRIES: This is not isolated to Kerr County. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: No, that's right. 6 MS. DOERRIES: It is not. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's right. 8 MS. DOERRIES: But we are looked to as the county 9 with the most population. We have a V.A. Hospital. We 10 have -- 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yes. 12 MS. DOERRIES: -- resources that other counties 13 don't have, and yet we do not have that qualified person to 14 assist. And it -- I wanted you to know that this affects not 15 only the veteran and spouse, but it affects this whole 16 community. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's right. 18 MS. DOERRIES: So, thank you for your time. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thank you. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: We appreciate you being here to 22 support the effort. Week before last, I had a meeting with 23 veterans groups to start brainstorming how to move this 24 project forward. I have another meeting scheduled with them 25 this Friday. 10-9-12 19 1 MS. DOERRIES: Okay. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: We're going to continue to look at 3 the dynamics that we need to put in place in order to make 4 this successful. But it's -- it's the expression of interest 5 from groups such as yours, the direct veterans' groups, and 6 we have a number of them here in the community, that -- that 7 give impetus to a program such as this. And that's why we're 8 here, to do -- 9 MS. DOERRIES: I know -- 10 JUDGE TINLEY: -- what the people that we serve 11 want us to. 12 MS. DOERRIES: -- that you all listen. And we 13 wanted to be a voice, to give voice to -- it wasn't just the 14 veterans; it's this whole community that benefits. Thank you 15 very much. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you for being here today. 17 Let's get on with Item 2; to consider, discuss, take 18 appropriate action to renew a copier lease for Road and 19 Bridge. Mr. Odom? 20 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. Our 60-month lease on our 21 Xerox copier expires on October 14, 2012. We've allowed the 22 County Attorney, the I.T. Department, and the Auditor to 23 review the lease agreement. We have a copier lease budget of 24 $2,000 for the '12-'13 budget, which covers the lease on an 25 annual basis, as well as the high end. And so at this time, 10-9-12 20 1 we ask the Court to approve the 60-month lease on the Xerox 2 copier, WC -- Whiskey Charlie 5325 Papa. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Like that phonetic -- international 4 phonetic alphabet. 5 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. That doesn't go away after 6 too many years at A & M. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Second. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 10 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion? All in 11 favor, signify by raising your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Item 3; to 16 consider, discuss, take appropriate action to release the 17 Canyon Springs Properties limited partnership maintenance 18 bond number 456240 Sierra for Live Springs Lane West, and 19 accept Live Springs Lane West for Kerr County maintenance, 20 the same being located in Precinct 4. Mr. Odom? 21 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. That's good to hear a marine 22 be able to phonetically talk. The Canyon Springs Property 23 Limited Partnership has completed Live Springs Lane West to 24 the county's road spec -- regulations and specs. I've had 25 the engineering firm to go out and test it. It passed all 10-9-12 21 1 tests on it. We also have a bond which was for $16,000. And 2 so, basically, at this time -- I've gone out and inspected 3 it; it does pass. What few things there were, were 4 corrected. And so at this time, I ask the Court to accept 5 this road into county maintenance, and to release the 6 maintenance bond of 456240 Sierra in the amount of $16,498. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I gladly make the motion to 8 finally do this, based on the recommendation of our Road 9 Administrator. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Only been going on for about 12 10 to 12 years, maybe longer. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 14 approval of the agenda item. Further question or discussion 15 on the motion? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just one quick question. 17 Leonard, does the developer -- is he required to do all the 18 signage and all of those things? 19 MR. ODOM: Yes, that's part of it. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. All right. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: All been done. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Educational question. 23 MR. ODOM: They pay for it. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Further question or discussion? All 25 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 10-9-12 22 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. We'll go to 5 Item 4, which is to consider, discuss, take appropriate 6 action to add additional floodplain determination category, 7 that being floodplain determination by FEMA Letter of Map 8 Amendment for "A Zone," which is unstudied portion of 9 100-year floodplain, and assign a fee of $110 for such 10 determination. That is relative to Precincts 1, 2, 3, and 4. 11 Mr. Odom? 12 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. Basically, what's happening 13 out there is that things are getting very expensive for our 14 citizens when there's an A Zone. An A Zone means that it's 15 not studied. It's not like an AE, where they do -- do the 16 study and you have it down; you know where it's at. So, if 17 there is a Letter of Map Amendment sent to FEMA, they will 18 send you back a BFE, okay? A BFE is the 100-year -- what 19 they estimate to be a 100-year, instead of someone doing the 20 study for the people. It probably -- there's paperwork to 21 fill out and all, and basically what we're asking for is 22 about an hour of the floodplain administrator's time. And 23 instead of the citizens paying for it, it should be the 24 individual that's in the floodplain paying for it. So -- 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Or the government. 10-9-12 23 1 MR. ODOM: Well -- 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, that's -- 3 MR. ODOM: That's something else, too. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That is what caused that. 6 MR. ODOM: That's what has caused that. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I know that. 8 MR. ODOM: Not only here in Kerr County, but all 9 over. But particularly here. So, we sat down and we thought 10 that this was the best way to go about it. If they would 11 come in and fill this out, Letter of Map Amendment, and take 12 the time to -- for John to go through and explain everything, 13 and then we send it off. And then, of course, we wanted it 14 to be right. FEMA always finds a way to -- to find 15 something. But if it's done, we can work through and save 16 some people some money, because it gets down to insurance. 17 Where they haven't been in the floodplain, now all of a 18 sudden, FEMA says that the property is, and they have to 19 prove that their house is not in this floodplain now. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And there goes the 21 engineering study, 3,000 to 5,000 bucks for the person to 22 prove that they're not in it. But this form allows them to 23 get the federal government to establish that BFE. 24 MR. ODOM: To establish that, instead of -- it's a 25 guess, period. But, basically, they gave it. And what the 10-9-12 24 1 person still has to do, they still have to go out and have a 2 surveyor certify that elevation, the lowest elevation, 3 against the house and the finished floor. So, if the BFE is 4 there and they shoot it, and it says it's out of it, and that 5 their finished floor is here, they can get a premium on that 6 elevation up above the BFE, and then it saves them insurance. 7 If this is done within two years or so, they pay for it. It 8 -- it is getting astronomical. I've mentioned to you that 9 several years ago, the president signed a deal, and now where 10 you're sitting is where you're going to start to pay, and it 11 reduces -- it goes up every year 10 percent, to finally where 12 it will be zero subsidies in the insurance. So, I think it's 13 a good thing for the people. They pay $110, a whole lot 14 cheeper, and that pays for the time to do it correctly. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, there's also -- we met 16 on this the other day at Road and Bridge, and once you can -- 17 once you basically mandate that the government -- or request 18 they give you that BFE, then the work to go establish that is 19 much less. All of -- it already says what it is. The 20 surveyor just goes out and says, "Okay, this is where this is 21 and that is, and this part's in the floodplain, and this is 22 not." 23 MR. ODOM: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And this is the only way that 25 we could figure out to help landowners to get through the 10-9-12 25 1 process without spending a ton of money. 2 MR. ODOM: Ton of money. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Refresh my memory. Does the 4 City have their own floodplain administrator? 5 MR. ODOM: The City? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 7 MR. ODOM: Yes. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I was wondering if they did 9 something similar, or if -- the city residents could use the 10 same service, I presume. No reason for not doing -- 11 MR. ODOM: I don't see why they couldn't. They're 12 still citizens of the -- if they came in and they paid the 13 110, we just make an appointment for John to take a look at 14 it. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, this kind of came to 16 light with -- Buster and I have a common constituent that 17 owns property in both -- both precincts, and that's what 18 brought it to a head. Because her problem was that until she 19 got that established BFE, she could not get homeowner's 20 insurance. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Couldn't get insurance. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Flood insurance. And so it 23 didn't matter what she agreed to pay; they wouldn't let her 24 have it without having this. So, that's what -- you know, 25 and that -- she's not the only one. But this is a way to 10-9-12 26 1 maybe get ahead of the plan a little bit so that people have 2 -- have an alternative that can actually help for not a lot 3 of money. 4 MR. ODOM: Yeah. And it doesn't mean that their 5 house is in it. It just means maybe one little portion of it 6 is shown, and now they're stuck to prove it. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Leonard, in our subdivision 8 rules, we offer a -- or require the establishment of the BFE. 9 Will this take the place of that? The surveyor will still go 10 out there and have to do the elevation, but this will be 11 used, or could be used for those purposes as well, correct? 12 Or not? 13 MR. ODOM: The BFE will be established by federal 14 government, by FEMA. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So this will -- this -- from a 16 development standpoint, this will also help -- 17 MR. ODOM: I would say that it probably -- you 18 know, till we get into it, we'll find out how -- how all of 19 it comes down with them. But -- 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But it would be -- definitely 21 be a way. Because if that's identified to be in the A Zone, 22 then it would be mandatory for them to prove what the base 23 flood elevation was before they could get approval of the 24 plat. 25 MR. ODOM: The 44 CFR says if you've got 5 acres or 10-9-12 27 1 50 lots -- mobile home lots or something like that, then you 2 have to do a study. You're talking about $5,000 to $12,000. 3 But this way, if it's in the A -- if it's AE, you already got 4 the information. Some may be disseminating that information 5 down. But we do a Letter of Map Amendment, let them send you 6 one, and then you find that point on the FEMA map, you get 7 that elevation. Then you set everything. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It also makes the government 9 establish that, to where an engineer, if he establishes it, 10 and all of a sudden -- 11 MR. ODOM: He takes the liability. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- it's wrong, he's liable. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 14 MR. ODOM: So, it is a good way to do it. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Good way. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: There you go. 17 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I move approval. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 21 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion? All in 22 favor, signify by raising your right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 10-9-12 28 1 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Item 5 is to 2 consider, discuss, take appropriate action to approve an 3 increase in hourly rate for the County-appointed floodplain 4 administrator from $100 to $110, this being applicable in 5 Precincts 1, 2, 3, and 4. Mr. Odom? 6 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. John has been an invaluable 7 resource for the county and the citizens of Kerr County. We 8 are fortunate to have his expertise and education. John is 9 always looking for the most cost-effective solutions that 10 will promote the health and safety of the citizens of Kerr 11 County. John has not requested an increase in his hourly 12 rate since his appointment as Floodplain Administrator in 13 April of 2009 by Court Order 31262. So, at this time, I 14 would ask the Court to approve increasing John Hewitt's 15 hourly rate as Floodplain Administrator to $110. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is this -- part of this is 17 passed on to -- 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: All of it's passed on. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. We ask him to do stuff 20 for us too, but -- so -- but most of this is passed on to the 21 public, correct? 22 MR. ODOM: That's right, to the people that are -- 23 that's where most of his time and energy has been, is taking 24 care of those people that have floodplain issues. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: In my mind, it's still a 10-9-12 29 1 bargain. I move approval. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 4 approval. Question or discussion? 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Does the Floodplain 6 Administrator -- is there a separate line item in the budget 7 for his salary? 8 MR. ODOM: Yes -- well, for his fees. We have a 9 line item that -- that I take out of, and then those fees go 10 back to that. So, essentially, it's trying to pay for 11 itself. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is there a set amount in the 13 budget on a line item for his salary? Or just an estimated 14 amount? Or it's just -- 15 MR. ODOM: I think I have something like 16 Engineering or something like that in there. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't recall that there's a 18 separate -- 19 MR. ODOM: I have something that I take that 20 expense out, but I'm sorry, I don't know what it is. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I can't picture it either. 22 Okay, that's fine. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Further question? All in favor, 24 signify by raising your right hand. 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 10-9-12 30 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 2 (No response.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Item 6 is to 4 consider, discuss, take appropriate action for the final 5 approval regarding the revision of plat for Cave Springs 6 Addition, Section 5, Phase One, Lots 9, 10, and 11 of Block 7 C, as set forth in Volume 5, Page 164, and Volume 5, Page 19, 8 Plat Records, the same being located from in Precinct 4. 9 Mr. Odom? 10 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. Mr. and Mrs. Drapela own Lots 11 9, 10, and 11 in Cave Springs, Section Five, Phase One of 12 Block C. The couple would like to combine lots -- those 13 three lots and to make Lot 10R. We held the preliminary on 14 June the 25th, 2012, and the public hearing was done on 15 August the 13th, 2012. So, at this time, we ask the Court 16 for their final approval concerning the revision of plat for 17 Lots 9, 10, and 11 of Cave Springs Addition, Section Five, 18 Phase One, Block C, Volume 5, Page 164, and Volume 5, Page 19 19, Precinct 4. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I move approval. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 23 approval. Further question or discussion? 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Just another incident of 25 combining some small lots into one, which we want to 10-9-12 31 1 encourage everybody to do that. 2 MR. ODOM: Everybody to do that. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: For a lot of reasons. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Especially when the house and 5 system goes over lot lines. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? 8 All 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: Motion carries. We're slowly 13 catching up here. We're now to our 9:25 timed item. Item 7 14 is a presentation by the Emergency Medical Services 15 Assessment Committee and report on the findings of that 16 committee. Mr. Moser? 17 MR. MOSER: Thank you. Some Aggie closed my laptop 18 here. (Laughter.) If you'll give me just -- 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: He was just seeing -- just 20 doing a test. 21 MR. MOSER: Huh? 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's a test. 23 MR. MOSER: Give me one second here, if you will. 24 Yeah, it was a test. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You got movement. 10-9-12 32 1 MR. MOSER: Oh, yeah, we got all kinds of stuff 2 here. And I have a backup too that we can -- do you -- I 3 believe I sent a copy to all the Commissioners of this 4 presentation, so why don't we go with Plan B? Wait, I've got 5 one other -- this thing's not working here. Forget it. Let 6 me give the presentation without the laptop and without Power 7 Point. You asked that we form a committee back in August to 8 assess the Kerr County emergency medical situation in light 9 of it being on the agenda -- or being on the ballot for 10 November to form an ESD. We did that. The objective of our 11 committee -- the objective of our committee was to help 12 voters decide whether or not to create an ESD, and for that 13 ESD to provide the emergency medical services. The 14 assessment committee prepared information about four things. 15 We looked at what the current medical -- emergency medical 16 services are today. We looked at the features of an ESD, and 17 we looked at options for enhancing the EMS, and we looked at 18 the pros and the cons of an ESD, or the County providing the 19 emergency medical services for the county. 20 The members of our committee, I served as the 21 chairman. Deb Johnson served as an expert on ESD's; she was 22 a former member of the commission for Fort Bend County. 23 Robby Hurt is a First Responder for the county, as is Miles 24 Land. We also had on the committee Bill Amerine, who is not 25 here today, Executive Director for 911. We had James Robles, 10-9-12 33 1 who is -- who was our financial analyst, and we had Granger 2 MacDonald, who I thought was going to be here today, but is 3 not. So, we also had an adviser on the committee of Eric 4 Maloney, who is the EMS coordinator for the City. He 5 provided a lot of good assistance; he was not a member of the 6 committee. Our approach on this was we agreed that we were a 7 fact-finding committee only. We were not to advocate yes or 8 no for an ESD. We met weekly for the entire month of 9 September. We had actions between those meetings. The 10 committee is in full agreement with the findings that I'm 11 going to present to you today. The committee presented 12 findings and answers to the questions at the League of Women 13 Voters forums in both Hunt and Center Point over the last 14 couple of weeks. There was a big attendance, Commissioners, 15 at both of those -- at those meetings. 16 The situation in the EMS is the City provides the 17 emergency medical services to both the city and the county. 18 The city and the county together conduct difficult 19 negotiations on how to share the cost in those services. 20 Some people believe the EMS should be improved, and the 21 question is, if so, how much does that cost? And we're going 22 to present that to you today. And an ESD could provide the 23 EMS services for the entire county, outside the city. The 24 City has chosen not to be in it. I have -- and I don't know 25 if you have this on your laptops. If you do -- I hope you 10-9-12 34 1 do. You have a presentation of it. What we did is we laid 2 out the -- the entire county where the population is. It's 3 very interesting. The population -- probably about 90 4 percent of the county population is within a 20-mile 5 diameter, or 10-mile radius, if you will, from the center of 6 the city. So, that gives us the -- the feel for the City 7 providing the emergency medical services for the entire 8 county. Most of it is within about 10 miles of the center of 9 the city. 10 A current EMS overview, just -- and then I'll go 11 into each one of these points real quickly. The City 12 provides the EMS service to 95 percent of the county by area. 13 There are two little areas, one in Kimble County, and the 14 other, Kendall County provides those services. The City pays 15 about $400,000 a year for the EMS services. Emergency calls 16 are dispatched or facilitated through 911 emergency network. 17 That's -- that's going to be very key in part of this 18 presentation. The EMS units provided by the City are mobile 19 intensive care units. That means they have about the same 20 equipment as the emergency room in the hospital. And each 21 one of the units has at least a paramedic or an EMT basic, 22 and most of the time there are two paramedics on board each 23 ambulance. There's seven ambulances or seven EMS units, if 24 you will. Two of the units are 24/7, 365 days a year. Three 25 of the units are on eight-hour staggered shifts, and two 10-9-12 35 1 units are in reserve. 2 There are 65 EMT's as part of the city system; 43 3 are paramedics and seven are in currently in training. I 4 think all firemen have to be paramedics within two years 5 after they're hired by the City, so it gives you a good bunch 6 of medical technicians. The average response time for the 7 units are 5.6 minutes in the city, of which 70 percent of all 8 emergency medical calls responded to are within the city 9 limits; 30 percent are out in the county, where the average 10 time is about 30 -- is about 11 and a half minutes. In 11 addition to this, there are 40 First Responders distributed 12 around the county, like -- like Robby Hurt is one of the 13 First Responders. And then there are 20 designated 14 helicopter landing sites. So, that's the -- that's an 15 overview of what the services provided are. And in your 16 presentation, you can see where the 20 designated landing 17 areas are in the county. They're distributed all over the 18 county. 19 I want -- I might add that the designated landing 20 areas for the helicopters, 20 are designated. That means 21 that the helicopters know they can land there. That means 22 that they know the ambulances can get there easily. Now, 23 they can also go to many other locations on the highway or 24 wherever. The emergency -- the professionals call in the 25 helicopter and know it's going to be safe, but there are 20 10-9-12 36 1 designated places round the county. The medical equipment, 2 like I said, is equivalent to what's in the hospital E.R. 3 And on board each one of these EMS units there are 36 medical 4 protocols, all with standing orders. That means those group 5 of technicians can carry out the medical functions that's 6 been designated by the doctor and approved by the doctor. 7 They can carry two patients on each one of these units, and 8 each unit has a minimum of two people. So, that's what -- 9 that's what the MICU are. 10 All of the -- all of the dispatching originates -- 11 and this is going to be very key as part of the ESD 12 considerations -- through the 911 dispatching communications 13 services. What 911 does, 911 takes the call, providing 14 information about where the caller's coming from, and then 15 sends that to the dispatching station. Right now, 100 16 percent of the calls are dispatched by the -- by the 17 Kerrville Police Department, and then they have the maps, the 18 zones where to go, who's the First Responders, who to call, 19 and so that's the way that's dispatched. That would change, 20 however, if -- if this contract is with somebody other than 21 the City. The EMS response times vary. As I said, it's 5.6 22 minutes -- about five and a half minutes average last year 23 within the city, about eleven and a half minutes within the 24 county. And where the dispatching for EMS comes from is it 25 comes from Fire Station Number 2, which is off of Coronado, 10-9-12 37 1 and Fire Station Number 3, which is on 534. So, they serve 2 the west and the south -- west and east end of the county 3 respectively from those two stations. Stations Number 1 and 4 Number 4 do not have 24/7 paramedics involved with equipment 5 there, but they're over off of Water Street, and then up by 6 Interstate 10. 7 So, times vary around the county. Some examples; 8 to the Center Point High School is about eight minutes, to La 9 Hacienda is about 15 minutes, and then it goes all the way -- 10 if you're going all the way to Garven Store, it's about 35 11 minutes, but 11 and a half minutes response. So, I think 12 it's key also what I -- what I pointed out -- I'm sorry that 13 this thing is not showing the map, but within where these two 14 units are 24/7, you're covering about 90 percent of the 15 population of the -- of the county. There are -- there are 16 ways to enhance the EMS, and the best way to enhance the EMS 17 is by shorter response time. You know, you can add units, 18 EMS units. You can add them at Ingram or Hunt. Probably 19 wouldn't add them at both, but you could. You could add one 20 at Center Point. Or you could add full-time EMT's at either 21 Station Number 1 or 4. So, the question is, if you do that, 22 what -- what do you benefit from it? You benefit a small 23 amount of the population, but they would be -- if you added a 24 station -- an EMS unit at Ingram, you reduce the response -- 25 the travel time for the ambulance from Station Number 2 by 10-9-12 38 1 about 4 miles. If you added one at Center Point, you reduce 2 the travel time by about 8 miles from Station Number 3. So, 3 that gives you a feel. And so, what does that cost? And 4 that's the key question. A vehicle cost, fully equipped, or 5 as Deb says -- what do you call it? 6 MS. JOHNSON: Fully tricked out. 7 MR. MOSER: "Fully tricked out" is Deb's 8 terminology -- is about $250,000 per unit. That's the 9 rolling unit. The base facility to house the staff -- this 10 assumes that you wanted 24/7, two technicians, a vehicle like 11 what exists today. So, if you put these other units out 12 there, that's what you'd have. The base facility is about 13 half a million dollars, because right now the living quarters 14 and stuff like that does not exist, and all the 15 communications and so on. The EMT's, the technician cost is 16 about $800,000 a year. If you have 24/7, you need to have 10 17 people on staff. So, if you amortize -- if you amortize the 18 rolling equipment and the base unit where people live, it's 19 about $900,000 a year to put a unit at any other location, 20 however many units you want to have. So, that's the key 21 number. Yeah? 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tom, your EMT number changes 23 from six to eight? 24 MR. MOSER: Yeah. Yeah. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's six on here. 10-9-12 39 1 MR. MOSER: Yeah. What we did is, we didn't have 2 full -- we didn't have ten people in there; we had eight. 3 That doesn't give you 24/7. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 5 MR. MOSER: So, the earlier version -- I sent a 6 later one to you; perhaps you didn't get it. So, you -- by 7 adding full staff at Fire Stations Number 1 and Number 4, you 8 can also reduce some response times, for instance, out at The 9 Wilderness. Okay, if I had a full-time staff that's 10 stationed at Number 4 -- I think that's Number 4 -- over by 11 Interstate 10, you probably reduce response time by about 5 12 minutes. You could do the same thing at the other station 13 that doesn't have 24/7, so you save the price -- the cost of 14 the vehicle. You save the cost of the living quarters. But 15 it still costs about $800,000 a year to fully staff it for 16 24/7. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Tom, wouldn't -- if you did 18 that, you probably -- you'd save most of the cost of it. You 19 probably would need some more ambulances too at some point, 20 wouldn't you? 21 MR. MOSER: No, they have two right now -- there 22 are seven. There's two reserves, so you probably -- 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But one of those -- 24 MR. MOSER: -- probably wouldn't need any more 25 ambulances. 10-9-12 40 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, about 100,000 -- from your 2 quick analysis, it's about $100,000 cheaper to staff up -- a 3 year to staff up the two fire stations, as opposed to 4 building -- 5 MR. MOSER: Right. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- out in the county. 7 MR. MOSER: Precisely. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: There's one thing that I 9 haven't seen in your analysis, and that is a revenue analysis 10 to what the calls will generate in those areas like Center 11 Point and Ingram. You only talked about the cost. 12 MR. MOSER: We didn't -- I don't know. We didn't 13 get that, Bruce. We could. We could give -- get a shot at 14 trying to figure that out based on the number of calls and 15 how much -- how much. There's an interesting thing right now 16 on that subject. The -- the current system has improved 17 their collection -- 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: True. 19 MR. MOSER: -- piece. They're up to -- they were 20 at 57 percent or something like that, collecting what they 21 bill. Now they're up to 80 percent, so they've made good 22 progress there. So, I think as the City and County go 23 forward, you know, and you look at the things like you're 24 bringing up, Bruce, that's certainly something to consider, 25 is what revenue you're bringing in versus what the cost is. 10-9-12 41 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The revenue is -- is an issue 2 that we have not discussed and we have not gotten real 3 numbers on. 4 MR. MOSER: Yeah. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Now, we've gotten close, I 6 think, at times, but in order to put the full picture out to 7 the public, you've got to show what the revenues are. And -- 8 MR. MOSER: Well, I think -- 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- you know, cost analysis 10 between that and the cost. 11 MR. MOSER: I think it boils to down to -- we'll 12 get to that in a minute. It boils down to who manages it. 13 That's the fundamental question. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: There you go. 15 MR. MOSER: Who manages the EMS? Is it the County 16 or this ESD? And that's what it amounts to. So -- 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Or a combination. 18 MR. MOSER: So what you're talking about is 19 independent. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 21 MR. MOSER: If the ESD were to negotiate a deal 22 with the City, they wouldn't -- they'd be having that same 23 discussion as would the County. So that the -- the option 24 for the public is, do you want the County to continue it, or 25 do you want to form an ESD? Is that -- what you're saying is 10-9-12 42 1 applicable to both. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. Well, it could be -- 3 there could be a third option. Could be City/County somehow, 4 couldn't it? If the ESD fails? 5 MR. MOSER: Well, yeah. Sure, yeah. And I'll go 6 through in a -- in a minute some options of how to proceed. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay, I'll leave you alone. 8 I just noticed that the revenue has never really been brought 9 up, and the revenue is a large portion of the operational 10 costs of an EMS. 11 MR. MOSER: Sure, absolutely. Yeah, okay. But -- 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Before we leave the revenue issue, 13 the only recent report that I've seen that was published 14 indicated that -- of course, generally there's a deficit, 15 because you never collect all that you -- 16 MR. MOSER: Mm-hmm. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: -- that you bill. And in trying to 18 determine the operational cost less the received revenues, 19 how much that deficit is, and the most recent report I've 20 seen indicated that the deficit for, I assume, this past 21 year -- 22 MR. MOSER: Mm-hmm. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: -- was $400,000. Did you see that 24 same report? 25 MR. MOSER: Yeah, I have -- I've seen that. I 10-9-12 43 1 think some recent data that I've seen, it's less than that 2 now, okay? It's less than that. I haven't seen the revenue 3 projected. I've seen last year's budget expense, planned 4 expenses in the projected budget, but I didn't see -- I 5 didn't see all the revenue stuff in there, okay? 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 7 MR. MOSER: Okay. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Sorry to interrupt. 9 MR. MOSER: And the City has been very cooperative 10 in providing us anything we ask for, so they've helped a lot. 11 So -- so, what is an ESD? Okay. That's the thing that we're 12 looking at an option to form here. They are political 13 subdivisions. They are subject to rules and regulations by 14 the State, and I think y'all know that. ESD's are unique in 15 their establishment, and they vary in size, depending on what 16 they do. ESD's can be set up for either medical and/or fire. 17 The ESD is governed by a board of five commissioners 18 appointed for two-year staggered term by the Commissioners 19 Court. They're volunteers, and they must -- the 20 commissioners must own real property or be a registered voter 21 in the district where they serve. So, those -- those are the 22 requirements. And then, as in most boards like this, they 23 are -- they have to have monthly meetings. They have to have 24 -- be accountable for all that they do. They have to keep 25 minutes, et cetera, et cetera. 10-9-12 44 1 The -- the basic thing is, the ESD board is 2 entrusted with providing the emergency medical services to 3 people in their district -- either medical or fire, whatever 4 their charter is. And then they have the authority -- 5 they've got responsibility of providing EMS services, and to 6 do this, they have the authority to collect ad valorem taxes, 7 up to 10 cents per hundred. Right now, if you look at what 8 it means if you form an ESD in the county, County's paying 9 about $400,000 a year right now, is about what it's paying. 10 That's equivalent to about two cents per hundred, okay? That 11 would generate $400,000. So, they could go up to -- to, you 12 know, five times that amount staying within the restrictions 13 by the state law. So that means -- just put it in 14 perspective. For the ESD -- take the City out of it. For 15 the rest of the population and the ad valorem taxes, they 16 could generate about $2 million a year. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Tom, what -- did y'all look at 18 the number of ESD's around the state, just to give an idea as 19 to how many, and what their average tax rate is for those 20 that are just doing it? 21 MR. MOSER: Did not get an average. I don't 22 know -- Deb, what did you have in Ford Bend County? It -- 23 they vary -- let me tell you what, before she answers, they 24 vary from what services they're providing to how large they 25 are. So, it's -- 10-9-12 45 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's hard? 2 MR. MOSER: I mean, you can get it, but you have to 3 be careful what you ask for. 4 MS. JOHNSON: Well, our ESD contracted for services 5 for both fire and EMS, and we were at six and a quarter cents 6 per 100 valuation, and I'd say that's fairly typical if 7 you're doing both. Cinco Ranch that was next to us decided 8 to create their own district with their own fire department, 9 and to do that, it was, you know, those buildings that Tom 10 was telling you about, the construction of -- of that, and 11 buying equipment. That was 10 cents per 100 valuation that 12 was required to create a -- a whole fire department and EMS. 13 So I'd say, you know, probably everybody that I knew in the 14 Houston area was probably right around six, but that was for 15 both services. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Fire and EMS? 17 MS. JOHNSON: That was both. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: EMS only, they tend to be less, 19 I'm sure. 20 MS. JOHNSON: Oh, yeah, absolutely. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 22 MR. MOSER: So -- so what are the options for -- 23 for an EMS provider? Well, there are three basic options. 24 Whoever it is, whether it's the City -- I mean, whether it's 25 an ESD or the County providing these -- these services, 10-9-12 46 1 either one of them could contract with the City of Kerrville, 2 or they could contract with another EMS provider like Acadian 3 or somebody. Or they could -- County could own and operate 4 its own EMS system. So, those are three options, so let's 5 talk about, real quickly, the pros and the cons of each one 6 of them. If the City -- if the entity contracts with the 7 City, then the pros are the economy of scale. By having City 8 and County both doing it, there are 60-plus professional 9 EMT's on the staff already, a fleet of seven MICU's, the 10 mobile intensive care units. There's no change in the 911 11 call process or in the EMS dispatch, and that's -- that's 12 important. I'm going to go back to something in detail in a 13 minute. The cons of contracting with the City is there's no 14 competition, okay? There's lack of oversight and control of 15 services and expenses. You negotiate something with ILA, and 16 that's it. So -- so whether or not they could change or not, 17 I don't know. 18 If you contract -- Option 2 would be contract with 19 another EMS provider, and the competition -- there would be 20 competition. The pro would be competition enables possible 21 reduced costs. Competition is always good. That's the 22 biggest pro on that. The con in contracting with somebody 23 other than the City is, no contract, no EMS. So, if the 24 contract fails, then you're down the river. There's reduced 25 revenue to the city, and reduced fire and EMS services in the 10-9-12 47 1 city just because of reduced revenue. The insurance ratings 2 may be raised if the City were to have to close one of their 3 four fire stations or something. There's increased 4 administration effort and expenses if you do it that way. 5 And the County or ESD would have to provide EMS dispatch 6 services. 7 Let me -- let me talk about that for just a second, 8 if I may. The EMS -- I mean the 911, what they do -- and 9 this is -- this is important, since this entity of the city 10 EMS exists today. 911 insures the emergency call gets from 11 the caller to the dispatch center with supporting information 12 and maps. So, when a call comes in, they say, "We know the 13 call came in from Center Point, and this is the location of 14 that caller," okay? And then it goes to the dispatcher, 15 which is Kerrville Fire Department. They dispatch the right 16 service that needs to be provided. If you -- if we change, 17 okay, and go to an ESD, 911 is still going to provide 18 information from the servicer that goes to the dispatch, but 19 if it's outside the city, that's going to be another dispatch 20 system. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We already have the Sheriff's 22 dispatch. 23 MR. MOSER: Huh? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Already have the Sheriff. 25 MR. MOSER: But that will be a different dispatch, 10-9-12 48 1 different software, different protocols, and different stuff 2 like that, so there's going to be additional expense involved 3 if you do it that way. Now, this is -- and Bill Amerine -- 4 if there's detailed questions on 911, Bill Amerine couldn't 5 be here this day. He says give him any question in writing; 6 he'll have an answer in 48 hours. So -- 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The whole difference is 911 8 would have to provide the County the same equipment 911 is 9 providing to the City. That's how it's divided up. 10 MR. MOSER: Well, but 911 doesn't provide the 11 dispatching. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: 911 supplements equipment, is 13 what you have. We each have our own dispatchers. 14 MR. MOSER: Yeah. I got an e-mail from Bill 15 yesterday; he says it would be up to the ESD to provide the 16 software, to buy the software and the training. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I would have an issue with 18 that, because why would the ESD have to provide it if 911 is 19 providing it for one entity? 20 MR. MOSER: 911 provides it up to the dispatch 21 point. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's right. 23 MR. MOSER: And then from that point on, it's up to 24 the -- the person providing the service. So, the City is -- 25 City is providing -- City has that software and the 10-9-12 49 1 dispatching capability right now for the entire county. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No different than we're 3 dispatching for the 11 volunteer fire departments now. It's 4 the same thing. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's the same. I don't 6 think there's going to be that much of a change there, 7 because right now in Falling Waters, it's already dispatched. 8 MR. MOSER: Bill says there's a difference. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 10 MR. MOSER: Okay? I'm not going to -- I'll just -- 11 I'll just -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Argue that point later. 14 MR. MOSER: -- regurgitate what he said. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's for another day. 16 MR. MOSER: So -- and then the third option is the 17 County owns and operates the EMS system. Do I need to go 18 through the pros and cons on that? 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I wouldn't think so. 20 MR. MOSER: I don't think that's a very good 21 option, but I didn't want to leave it out. So, now let's go 22 to the option of how -- the pros and cons of the County 23 providing the service or an ESD providing the service, okay? 24 If the County provides the service, the pros are basically 25 you have exactly what you have today; if it ain't broke, 10-9-12 50 1 don't fix it. The elected officials are responsible and 2 accountable to the voters, okay? County doing it, it's less 3 likely to raise taxes for that same reason. Probably retain 4 the agreement with the City for the -- for the EMS, and a 5 continuation of mutual aid agreements between other counties. 6 It's going to be in existence, okay? And the confidence the 7 EMS is always available is there, so it's high confidence 8 there. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Tom, on that point, you and I 10 have gone round and round just a little bit. The City, on 11 numerous occasions, has threatened to cancel the EMS 12 contract, so I think the long-term reliability of the city 13 service is no different than a contract service, because they 14 have, up to the eleventh hour, held that up against the 15 County, which is why we've even considered looking at a 16 contract. So, I think that there's really no difference from 17 a -- 18 MR. MOSER: Yeah. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- of that whole part of it. 20 MR. MOSER: From that aspect of it, if you're 21 negotiating a contract, yeah, whether it's with the City -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 23 MR. MOSER: -- or with somebody else. No, I -- 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think -- and that changes 25 based on who's elected to City Council and the mayor. 10-9-12 51 1 MR. MOSER: Right. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sometimes they're very anxious 3 to work out a deal with us. We've had partnership deals, 4 versus -- and in the past, we've gone to situations where it 5 was "take it or leave it." Right now, it seems like we're 6 going back to more of a partnership, but it varies with the 7 election. 8 MR. MOSER: Valid point. I don't think you and I 9 have an issue, but it's a good point to bring up. The con of 10 the -- of leaving it the way it is, is Commissioners are 11 responsible for other services, okay, and duties. And 12 there's a competition for funds, and also the point you bring 13 up. If there's an ESD, okay, the pro is it's focused on EMS. 14 It's managed by a board of EMS experts, probably, 'cause 15 that's probably what the County Commissioners will appoint. 16 It can easily increase the EMS services like we talked about, 17 but at additional cost. There's confidence that the EMS is 18 always going to be available, 'cause that's their 19 responsibility, but they still are open to negotiations also. 20 It eliminates double taxation for the city residents; that's 21 a pro. 22 The cons are, it's the authority to provide EMS 23 without direct responsibility to the citizens, so there's 24 taxation without direct representation for the taxpayers. It 25 could increase or decrease EMS services as they so choose to 10-9-12 52 1 do. It probably will be an increase in county taxes. 2 There's -- there's -- it's a new bureaucracy, and I'll just 3 leave it right there. We all know what that is. There's no 4 guarantee of an EMS contract with the City, and that's true 5 of both. And if -- if the contract with the City goes away, 6 then, as I said a while ago, the City could be -- perhaps 7 could reduce some of their services, and with that, fire 8 insurance could go up, and mutual aid agreements would be 9 more difficult than just with the County. 10 So, in summary, the current EMS is excellent as it 11 exists today. Good relationship. Good services to a big 12 majority part of the county. The EMS could be improved with 13 faster response times to some areas, but with significant 14 increased costs. EMS could be funded and managed by either 15 the County or an ESD. And the committee's findings have been 16 presented to two forums sponsored by the League of Women 17 Voters, one in Hunt and one in Center Point. And Bruce was 18 at the one in Hunt. There were about 35 people there, about 19 an hour's worth of questions. Same -- about the same thing 20 in Center Point; a lot of questions, a lot of interest by the 21 public. And there's one thing that probably came up in some 22 of our discussions inside and outside the committee, is the 23 voters are asked to vote yea or nay for an ESD, but the 24 petition says for medical services only. The ballot doesn't 25 say that. So, literally, when they're voting for an ESD, an 10-9-12 53 1 ESD could have the authority for both fire or medical. So, I 2 mentioned that briefly to Rob, and I don't know if you want 3 to respond to that, how we'd make sure that the public 4 understands that it's an ESD for medical services only. 5 MR. HENNEKE: The public can read the petition. I 6 mean, that's just, I think, a -- a misnomer generated by 7 folks who haven't looked into the matter. It's been clear 8 from the very beginning. The petition was presented that it 9 explicitly says it's for, you know, emergency medical 10 services, and that's what the ESD has been proposed for. So, 11 the ballot language, you know, meets the requirements of 12 state law. But I disagree with some kind of argument that 13 because it -- you know, we'd have to have a 10-page ballot if 14 we wanted to reprint the petition. 15 MR. MOSER: I don't think there's an argument as 16 much as it is they don't know that they're voting just for 17 medical services. So, I think probably we just need to make 18 that clear through the newspaper or some way so that they 19 understand. It will be probably something that will clear up 20 some of the concern that was raised during that. So, the 21 committee -- I have given the newspaper contact information 22 for all the members of the committee. We stand ready, maybe 23 not 24/7, but a lot of time, to answer any questions. So, we 24 worked -- excellent committee. I'll say we had a good 25 spectrum of everybody on the committee. We -- we took it 10-9-12 54 1 seriously, and we delivered that hopefully within the time 2 that you asked us to. So, that will be it. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have one question, or kind of 4 a comment, that the -- and it goes back -- I think I made the 5 comment that was -- I was quoted in the paper last time about 6 someone having a heart attack in Camp Verde. But one of the 7 key issues that I think came up at the meeting when I met 8 with the committee was a lot of discussion on response time. 9 And the rule of thumb or whatever you want to call it is it's 10 the -- the platinum 10 minutes that you need -- if you have a 11 heart attack or some kind of serious medical thing, you need 12 to have someone there in 10 minutes, and they need to get to 13 a hospital, I think, within an hour or 45 minutes, depending 14 on who you talk to. When you look at the response time in 15 the county, it averages 11.4. And an average is an odd 16 number for this, because if you live in, essentially, 17 Kerrville South, where the bulk of the population is, the 18 response time is within the 10 minutes, but when you get -- 19 and even in Center Point, I think it's 10 minutes. 20 But if you get beyond those two areas -- and, like, 21 I guess Ingram's 10 minutes. But when you get out further in 22 the county, those response times start getting well beyond 23 that. And you have it in there; it goes from -- I think you 24 have Camp Verde is 15 minutes. Garven Store is 35 minutes. 25 You don't have Falling Water, but it's about 35 or 40 10-9-12 55 1 minutes. So, you get out into these areas, and that's where 2 the -- the issue comes in of putting a station further out. 3 And my -- you know, a way to fund that is through an ESD, 4 because it does cost more. And it may not be something that 5 the public wants. But it's a -- if you're going to live 6 further away from the ambulances, your risk goes up 7 substantially, and that was a large part of our discussion. 8 Fortunately, we have a very successful -- a very 9 good First Responder program which helps mitigate that -- you 10 know, that risk. But it still is -- it's that response time. 11 Ten minutes is really key to that whole discussion as to what 12 the public is getting and how, you know. 'Cause, I mean, to 13 me, 15 minutes sounds like it's pretty good, but I'm told by 14 folks who know a lot more that 10 minutes is what you need to 15 be -- 16 MR. MOSER: We discussed that quite a bit, and Deb 17 can probably add to it, or Robby, but the -- the first five 18 minutes is really critical. But then, when you look at the 19 population distribution, okay, and where the units are now, 20 and whether to add them at either Hunt or Ingram or Center 21 Point, it helps a very small part of the population by adding 22 those units there, because other parts of the county, you 23 know, you can get to faster where the -- where the units are 24 located right now than you could at those other two. So, I 25 was talking to Mr. Childs yesterday. Where his ranch is, he 10-9-12 56 1 gets faster service from Loop 534 fire station than he would 2 if it was from a unit in Center Point. But if you're 3 someplace -- you know, there would be a small -- small number 4 of the population that that would help. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 6 MR. MOSER: And First Responders are the key. I 7 think that's critical, that we make sure the First Responders 8 get what they need, when they need it. And -- and Miles Land 9 brought up some -- some points that need to be there. And 10 the other thing that, if Bill Amerine was here and he were 11 given the podium, he would say the most important thing that 12 we can do that costs probably nothing is get people to put 13 their signs -- road signs out. He said they spend a lot of 14 time -- and the Sheriff can probably testify to this -- 15 looking for locations; they'll spend 10 or 15 minutes trying 16 to find somebody, and if they had their sign out on their 17 gate or their fence or mailbox or whatever, save a -- save a 18 lot of time and cost practically nothing for those critical 19 times. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Thank you. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. We appreciate your 22 work and that of your committee. I know y'all worked hard at 23 the issues that you were given to research and to bring back 24 to us, and we appreciate your efforts. Mr. Hurt, you at one 25 point had some comment or question? 10-9-12 57 1 MR. HURT: Well, your question about the 400,000, 2 there may be part of that I don't understand, but I did find 3 that 400,000, and there's a revenue stream where you've got 4 all of this activity here. And when all the smoke clears 5 from city and county, there is -- you're $400,000 short. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Deficit. 7 MR. HURT: Right. And so there's, I guess, a 8 question, or y'all -- $400,000 is the problem? Or should 9 there be a -- some type of percentage bearing that? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Yes, ma'am? 11 MS. JOHNSON: I just wanted to add, there are many 12 solutions to the problem. We did not even get into a lot of 13 those, but Miles, who used to be with Fort Bend County EMS, 14 said that they had kind of a floating First Responder program 15 of supervisors that had areas within the county that they 16 covered, and so they would be there immediately, before any 17 of the equipment could get there. You're not trying to house 18 anybody. You're not actually adding the staff, probably, 19 'cause you've got the supervisory people. And, I mean, there 20 are just many solutions to the problem. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Your First Responders, they're kind 22 of like our volunteer fire departments; they are a bargain. 23 MR. MOSER: Yes. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: It's amazing how little is known 25 about these people being out there. They're trained 10-9-12 58 1 professionals, and when there's a tone-out out in the middle 2 of the boondocks somewhere, suddenly, lo and behold, a First 3 Responder shows up, and they're there to provide that 4 service. They're -- they're satisfying that platinum 10 5 minutes. They're the ones that are responsible for the 6 lifesaving effort, if that's possible in a given case. 7 MS. JOHNSON: And you could also even just provide 8 them with more equipment. You know, that's -- there are many 9 solutions, from little, tiny things, which aren't so tiny 10 when you're trying to save a life, to things that are -- have 11 a really high cost. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: We've been able over the years to 13 expand our First Responder program into a pretty doggone good 14 network that we have now. Obviously, it's never big enough, 15 but you -- you keep working to expand it so that you've got 16 the better coverage. But they're like our fire -- our 17 volunteer fire departments; they are an absolute bargain, and 18 we really appreciate it. 19 MR. MOSER: I think the equipment for EMS -- for a 20 First Responder is, like, about $3,000, so kind of put it in 21 perspective. So, you're right. Those 40 people having the 22 right equipment -- back to Jonathan's point -- really goes a 23 long way. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Sure does, yeah. Okay, let's move 25 on. We've got a lengthy agenda. Item 8 -- I'm sorry. Yes, 10-9-12 59 1 sir? 2 MR. CATHEY: I've got a question about -- 3 JUDGE TINLEY: And your name, sir? 4 MR. CATHEY: My name is William Cathey. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm sorry I overlooked you. I 6 apologize for that, sir. 7 MR. CATHEY: I have not been able to make any of 8 these meetings. I do want to thank Mr. Moser and the 9 committee for their work on -- on this effort. But when I 10 read through the proposal, when I read all the newspaper 11 articles and listened this morning, I still come up with one 12 question, and -- and how does this -- how will this ESD 13 benefit me and my neighbors? Will it improve the response 14 time for me and my neighbors, or will it decrease that? And 15 over what percentage of the population does this yes or no or 16 up or down apply? And I'm afraid that they have not been 17 able to do this, so it seems like I have to vote for this to 18 pass to see what's in it, and we're about to see what that's 19 going to be next year. And then a particular point -- and I 20 noticed this when I looked through it; I guess Mr. Baldwin 21 did, too -- regarding the $600,000 for the labor cost. When 22 I did a back-of-the-envelope on that, I found it required 23 nine EMS; now they're saying 10. I would believe that, 24 because that would include things like holidays, training, 25 sick leave, et cetera. But I would assume that these numbers 10-9-12 60 1 would also include an administrator and secretary and 2 headquarters to oversee this. 3 MS. JOHNSON: No. 4 MR. MOSER: No. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Funding only. 6 MR. CATHEY: The board would do all the work? 7 MS. JOHNSON: Yeah, the board is just set up to 8 contract for services. If they did that with the City, the 9 City does all the overseeing. The board oversees what is 10 spent where. And -- 11 MR. CATHEY: But we have two agencies, U.G.R.A. and 12 Headwaters Groundwater Conservation, that have directors and 13 staffs. 14 MS. JOHNSON: No, this is not that type of 15 organization. In fact, it's volunteers that serve on this 16 committee. And one of the values is that we're -- it's your 17 neighbor that's serving. You have, I guess you'd say, skin 18 in the game, because the board members are -- whatever they 19 pass is going to be a tax on themselves also, because they 20 have to live in that district or pay taxes in that district, 21 so they're -- they're very dedicated to providing the very 22 best medical care at the very best price. Because if I'm on 23 that board, I'm -- I'm going to need maybe 911 at some 24 point -- excuse me; I'll turn around -- at some point in 25 time. So -- and my interest is a self-interest, plus my 10-9-12 61 1 neighbors are very important. 2 MR. CATHEY: I understand that, but at what 3 incremental cost is that? 4 MS. JOHNSON: Well, it doesn't -- it depends on 5 what you're doing. If you're trying to staff an ambulance 6 that is not staffed right now, the cost that was discussed is 7 the maximum. But right now the City has three ambulances 8 that are only staffed eight hours a day. You don't have to 9 staff 24 hours a day. But if you could increase your 10 staffing, you could increase the response time. Say you're 11 in The Horizon, I believe, and the nearest one to you would 12 be Coronado. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: There are a lot of variables. 14 MS. JOHNSON: Yeah. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: I'd invite y'all to -- 16 MS. JOHNSON: Oh. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: -- have that discussion on the 18 particulars -- 19 MS. JOHNSON: Yeah. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: -- at your leisure, and let us get 21 on with our agenda here. 22 MS. JOHNSON: Sure. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Judge, can I make one small 24 point? The one thing that needs to be remembered, if there's 25 anything at all about an ESD, they do not hire a soul. They 10-9-12 62 1 contract for a specific service. That service -- within that 2 service comes your billing, your administration; all that 3 stuff comes under the contractor. It does not become part of 4 what the ESD does. They just make sure that you adhere to 5 the contract that they put out there to be billing. That is 6 it. 7 MS. JOHNSON: That's it. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: There are no administrators. 9 There are no overseers to the actual service itself. It is a 10 contract service, period. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: One question I'd like to ask. 12 Judge, you mentioned about a $400,000 deficit to the City 13 right now is what EMS runs, and that may be a little bit less 14 this year. Is that prior to or after the County's 15 $400,000-a-year subsidy? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I believe it's before. I 17 believe. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's before. So, what happens 19 right now is any deficit the City has, they absorb zero 20 deficit, and the County pays for that deficit. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's the way it supposedly 22 works today. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. But the other -- I just 24 want to make a comment to Mr. Cathey, is that the ESD is a 25 funding mechanism, really, only. I mean, it doesn't 10-9-12 63 1 necessarily change -- it can change -- I mean, it's a funding 2 mechanism. The County can contract the services with a third 3 party like Acadian, or the ESD could -- the County could stay 4 with the City of Kerrville. So could the ESD. So, it 5 doesn't change that portion of it. It's how the money is 6 there that pays for the service. And there's a -- you know, 7 so it's funding only. 8 MR. MOSER: No, that's not true. It's funding, but 9 it also has the authority to decide how. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Right. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, by virtue of the contract. 12 MR. MOSER: Right, precisely. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's move on to Item 8; to 14 consider, discuss, take appropriate action on request to use 15 Flat Rock Lake Park from October 26th through 28th this year 16 for overflow parking for the Kerr County Fair. 17 MR. PARKER: Good morning, gentlemen. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Parker. 19 MR. PARKER: My name is Chad Parker, president of 20 Kerr County Fair Association. I'll just be real brief. We 21 ask to use the Flat Rock Park area for overflow parking. Due 22 to construction for the new building, we're going to have -- 23 we've lost a lot of parking and a lot of usable space. We 24 foresee that if we have the same attendance we had last year, 25 especially our stock show, that we're going to need someplace 10-9-12 64 1 to put trailers and overflow parking. So, we're just here to 2 ask -- or I'm just here to ask if we can use the Flat Rock 3 Park. We have already planned on putting some light cords 4 down there to have lights in the parking area at night so 5 it's easy to see, and a little safer feeling. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: For the County Fair only? 7 MR. PARKER: Kerr County Fair on the 26th, 27th, 8 and 28th of October. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's not going to affect 10 the flow of public wanting to use the park, right? 11 MR. PARKER: No, sir. They'll be down at what 12 would be the east end. 13 MR. HENNEKE: What kind of volunteers are you 14 planning on having down there to organize where the cars are 15 parking, as opposed to where the general public -- 16 MR. PARKER: We'll end up using our same volunteers 17 that we have in the main polo field parking area. When we 18 get that overflow, then we'll drop down to two there, 19 chauffeur them out and run them down there. We'll have one 20 or two people down there to help them park. What we're 21 planning on is hopefully most of what we have down there is 22 just stock show trailers. If we can get the 4-H stock show 23 trailers down there that take up so much space, where they 24 can get in and get out, then we should hopefully have enough 25 for all the cars to park and get the general public in and 10-9-12 65 1 out without a problem. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move approval. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I second. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 5 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor, signify by 6 raising your right hand. 7 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed? 9 (No response.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. 11 Parker. 12 MR. PARKER: Thank you, gentlemen. Y'all have a 13 good day. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Item 9; consider, discuss, take 15 appropriate action on resolution to enable Dietert Center to 16 apply for grant from the Texas Department of Agriculture to 17 support the Meals on Wheels program here in Kerr County. 18 Ms. Woods, good to see you again. We've got you plugged into 19 the budget by the -- at least the amount necessary, with a 20 little float in there to make sure you're eligible for 21 applying for grant funding. Unfortunately, a lot of other 22 counties have figured out the methodology for applying for 23 the funds, and over the years, yours has been reduced 24 slightly each year. But -- 25 MS. WOODS: That's all right. You know, every 10-9-12 66 1 little bit helps. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: We appreciate you. 3 MS. WOODS: And we really do appreciate y'all 4 putting us in your budget once again. It is a vital service 5 for the community, as I know all of y'all know. We do 6 require a gift from our county in order to apply for this 7 grant. This is the fifth year of the grant. We don't know 8 what the Department of Agriculture -- if they're experiencing 9 the cutbacks that other state agencies are looking at. I 10 know that we've been told by our funder through AACOG that 11 our overall nutrition funding is going to be reduced by about 12 19,000 this year, so whatever amount that we can get through 13 this grant, we really do appreciate. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Do we need to get the Sheriff 15 a bigger garden? 16 MS. WOODS: His garden has just been fantastic this 17 year. We cannot thank Sheriff Hierholzer enough. I mean, 18 the food that's come in has been phenomenal, and everybody 19 has enjoyed it. Boxes of jalapeño peppers. There's been a 20 lot -- the cucumbers especially. Our chef tried every 21 possible -- every recipe known to man to do something with 22 cucumbers. But it really has been tremendous. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Make more pickles. 24 MS. WOODS: Tons of pickles. Fresh pickles. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: How much was the funding this past 10-9-12 67 1 cycle? 2 MS. WOODS: We got a little over 35,000. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. So, we -- that leveraged five 4 to one, five-plus to one. So -- 5 MS. WOODS: Yes. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: -- that's pretty good leverage of 7 funds. 8 MS. WOODS: Oh, absolutely. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The resolution is basically the 10 same as prior years? 11 MS. WOODS: It is. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 14 MS. WOODS: It is a resolution where you have 15 funded us and you approved our county process. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 17 approval of the resolution and the agenda item. Question or 18 discussion? All in favor, signify by raising your right 19 hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Let's go to Item 24 10. 25 MS. WOODS: Thank you so very much. 10-9-12 68 1 JUDGE TINLEY: We appreciate you being here. Item 2 10 is to open bids for electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and pest 3 control, and refer to Maintenance Supervisor for review and 4 recommendation. First one we have is for HVAC. That is from 5 Bosworth Company. Next one is plumbing, Bosworth Company. 6 Then the next one we have is for pest control services from 7 Goss Pest Control. Next one is apparently for electrical, 8 plumbing, and HVAC. Airtech Air Conditioning and Heating. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Who's that from? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Pardon? 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Who's that from? 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Airtech. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Oh, Airtech. Okay. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. Next one is HVAC from Hardin 15 Heating and Cooling. Next one is electrical from D.W. 16 Electric Company. And the last one is electrical from 17 Guadalupe Electric. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I move we accept all 19 bids and refer them to Maintenance Department for 20 recommendation. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 23 indicated. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 24 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 10-9-12 69 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 2 (No response.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is he bringing them back 5 today? 6 JUDGE TINLEY: It's on there if he wants to bring 7 them back today. That's the next item, but we're going to 8 skip over that for now and go to Item 12; to consider, 9 discuss, take appropriate action to approve contract between 10 Department of State Health Services and the Kerr County 11 Clerk's Office, and authorize the County Clerk to sign the 12 same. 13 MS. PIEPER: Gentlemen, this is a contract that's 14 renewed every two years with the State Health Department for 15 issuing birth certificates through the website. Normally 16 they have the contract where the Judge signs it; however, 17 this year it came in requesting my signature. I did send it 18 down to Rob, and he did bless it. 19 MR. HENNEKE: I missed that, though, Jannett. I 20 think it should be Judge Tinley to sign it. We can just 21 cross that off. 22 MS. PIEPER: However, there is on this -- I'm not 23 correcting you; I'm just going to -- not being disrespectful. 24 It does say something about changes made to any portion of 25 this contract are considered a counter-offer and are not 10-9-12 70 1 valid without the written consent. So, I don't know if we 2 want to have Rob ask them on that. 3 MR. HENNEKE: The agreement's with Kerr County. I 4 mean, that's just a misnomer as far as the, you know, 5 authorized representative to execute agreements on behalf of 6 the county. It doesn't change anything. I mean -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll move approval of the 8 agreement, and authorize County Judge to sign. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 10 MS. PIEPER: Okay. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 12 indicated. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 13 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 16 (No response.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Item 14; 18 consider, discuss, take appropriate action for approval of 19 the agreement for inmate health care services between Kerr 20 County and Correctional Health Care Companies, Inc. Sheriff 21 Hierholzer. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's just the same agreement 23 we've had every year since we have contracted that with 24 Correctional Health Care Companies. The only difference this 25 year, it had a C.P.I. in it that we had already budgeted for, 10-9-12 71 1 planned for, everything -- we knew it -- in the budget. It's 2 all covered in the budget. Rob's gone over the agreement, 3 and it's just renewing it. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 7 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 8 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 9 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 11 (No response.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's go 13 ahead and take, oh, say a 10-, 15-minute recess. 14 (Recess taken from 10:35 a.m. to 10:53 a.m.) 15 - - - - - - - - - - 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's come back to order, if we 17 might. We're going to resume our agenda. Item 15 is to 18 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action concerning 19 changing semi-monthly pay schedule to biweekly effective 20 January 1, 2013, utilizing the Incode time entry system in 21 order to provide more efficient timekeeping and payroll 22 documentation. I show we have the H.R. Director, the 23 Sheriff, and the I.T. Director here on this issue. 24 Ms. Lantz? 25 MS. LANTZ: Good afternoon -- or good morning, 10-9-12 72 1 Judge and Commissioners. Basically, I brought this back to 2 the Court for reconsideration as to how the county employees 3 are going to be paid. This past week, we did a week-long 4 training with our new time entry system, and in order to 5 utilize this, the Sheriff's Office and the Detention Center 6 have a 28-day pay cycle which we have to incorporate into the 7 time entry system. However, it has come to my attention that 8 we were not able to do that with this current time entry 9 system that we purchased back in 2006. Unless we change to 10 the biweekly, to incorporate those two departments in, we 11 will have to do those two departments manually, and everybody 12 else through the time entry system, which is kind of 13 defeating the purpose. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, now, we've already got the 15 Incode time entry in place? 16 MS. LANTZ: Yes, sir. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: We've adopted that by court order, 18 correct? 19 MS. LANTZ: Yes, sir. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. So the issue is not whether 21 we have that time entry system; it's whether or not we go on 22 a semimonthly or biweekly basis. 23 MS. LANTZ: Yes, sir. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And if it's semimonthly, two of 25 our largest departments -- or larger departments, if not 10-9-12 73 1 largest, can't use it? 2 MS. LANTZ: We'll be doing everything manually, 3 which means H.R. will be inputting everything manually, the 4 payroll. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the down side to the 6 biweekly is that it changes the pay period. The net effect, 7 it reduces paychecks; each paycheck is slightly less, though 8 it doesn't change the annual pay. 9 MS. LANTZ: Correct. We'll get paid for 80 hours 10 every other Friday, where currently we get paid for 86.67 11 hours twice a month, so 6.7 hours will be taken off. 12 However, you're going to be paid every other week. And also, 13 this puts us in compliancy with Department of Labor. We have 14 everything in the system; everything's documented 15 accordingly. In talking with the Auditor, she came in and 16 sat with Incode, and it helped with her calculations for GASB 17 and so forth, which makes it easier. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: So it puts us in compliance, 19 correct? 20 MS. LANTZ: Yes, sir. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I move that we change 22 the pay schedule from semi-monthly to biweekly effective 23 January 1, 2013. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 10-9-12 74 1 indicated. Further question or discussion? All in favor of 2 the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 5 (No response.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's go to 7 Item 16; to consider, discuss, take appropriate action for 8 approval of personnel changes in dispatch. Sheriff? 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay. What this is, you know, 10 I think y'all have the backup on this that shows some 11 personnel and salary changes on certain individuals in 12 dispatch. If you'll recall, several years ago I went to 13 having the dispatch supervisor is actually my crime 14 prevention officer -- deputy is the current dispatch 15 supervisor. Trying to -- to reorganize in a way that's a 16 little bit better, more effective on the crime prevention 17 officer and duties she does, is to actually have the dispatch 18 supervisor as one of the dispatchers, and that's what this 19 shows. The dispatch supervisor's salary will be cut, you 20 might say, by the -- by one step, 2.5 percent that we gave to 21 the deputy to handle those duties. And I also had given 22 another dispatcher a step to make up the other portion that 23 was kind of like that person's second, and that's the -- Pam 24 and Nick's. Okay. Both of those will receive a 2.5 percent 25 reduction in salary, and I will promote up one dispatcher to 10-9-12 75 1 the dispatch supervisor position, which is what it -- 2 originally how we had it set out a long time ago. And then 3 when we fill the opening, we're filling it at a Step 1 4 instead of, you know, lower, so it will -- or certification, 5 too. So, it's actually -- for this budget year, it's going 6 to be a savings on what we currently have budgeted in there. 7 It's not an extra expense in any way, and all the funds are 8 there, and it just -- 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Rusty, the -- on this, 10 you're going to fill the dispatch supervisor position. What 11 percentage is that? 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: 5 percent. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 5 percent? 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Above what a normal dispatcher 15 makes, which is where the two 2 1/2's make up. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. So there's no 17 savings; you're just shifting that money around? 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. And this relieves my 19 crime prevention officer, because her job is getting a whole 20 lot more demanding on crime prevention than trying to deal 21 with the daily scheduling and day-to-day activities of the 22 actual dispatch. And it puts dispatch back in charge. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm not recognizing 24 something here. You talk about 18/5.6. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Where are you looking at, 10-9-12 76 1 Buster? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The -- filling the new 3 position. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Not new position, but 6 filling the position. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It goes to a 20/5.6. That's 8 the supervisor's -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess -- 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's what it was. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- he's looking at what I'm 12 looking at. It's a 5.6 versus just a 5? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, that's my question. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. We have -- I thought it 15 was, like, an 18.5 or an 18.6, not a -- 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No, no, no. Remember, the 17 step and grade has law enforcement and that went to the 18 halves too. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh that's right, yeah. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Point 5. And then it's the 6 21 step, okay? 18 -- you know, your step and grade has 18, 22 18.5, 19, 19.5, 20 for law enforcement. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So it should be 18.5/6, not 24 18/5.6. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah, that's probably a better 10-9-12 77 1 way to put it in there. That's correct. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see it. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: My bad. That is correct. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Typical confusion on your part. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Of course. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: It was intentional. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Intentional. That's what I 9 was going to say. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: At least I can tell you're 11 paying attention. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm trying to -- I'm trying to 13 figure out how to word the motion. We're really not changing 14 anything; we're just -- you're moving people around. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Reorganization of dispatch is 16 probably the best -- 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But we're not changing any -- 18 we're not changing the structure of our pay -- step and grade 19 and all that stuff. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No, you're not changing the 21 structure of step and grades. You're not changing number of 22 employees in any department. I'm just -- 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Moving people up and down on 24 the step and grade. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You got it. 10-9-12 78 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And it says he's saving money 2 by doing it. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll move approval of the 4 reorganization in dispatch per the Sheriff's request. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I second the motion. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second. 7 Question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify 8 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: Motion carries. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: This will become effective on 14 the 16th; that's the start of the next pay period. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Item 17; consider, discuss, take 16 appropriate action to approve replacement of part-time 17 positions at the Juvenile Detention Facility. 18 MS. BERRY: We had three of our part-time people 19 resign for full-time positions, and so we just need to 20 replace them so we'll stay in standards with the T.J.J.D., 21 Texas Juvenile Justice Department. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move approval. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 25 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor, signify by 10-9-12 79 1 raising your right hand. 2 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 4 (No response.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carried. 18, to consider, 6 discuss, take appropriate action to approve resolution 7 amending authorized representatives on Kerr County's TexPool 8 account and allow County Judge to sign same. Ms. Soldan? 9 MS. SOLDAN: This is the same document that was 10 signed the last time around. This is just removing Mindy 11 Williams and adding Beth Taylor. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 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: The motion carries. Item 19; to 21 consider, discuss, take appropriate action to approve the 22 continuation certificate for Faye E. Beth Taylor for the 23 office of Chief Deputy Treasurer. 24 MS. SOLDAN: This is basically just renewing her 25 bond for another year, and I've increased to it match the 10-9-12 80 1 amount of my bond. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Second. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 5 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor, signify by 6 raising your right hand. 7 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 9 (No response.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion carries. 11 MS. SOLDAN: Thank you. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Item 20; to consider, discuss, take 13 appropriate action to appoint or reappoint members to the 14 Kerr County Historical Commission and submit current 15 membership list to the Texas Historical Commission. 16 Commissioner Baldwin? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. We soon will have 18 lunch -- have our annual lunch with the Historical Commission 19 here in this building somewhere, I understand. And at that 20 -- at that time, I want to give them -- I haven't given them 21 the opportunity to change, delete, add to or anything, but at 22 that point, we'll fix that, and then I'll bring it out in the 23 next meeting. And this gives Mr. Letz -- 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: More time. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- more time to not appoint 10-9-12 81 1 anybody. So, I'm passing on that one. Thank you. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Item 21; to consider, 3 discuss, take appropriate action to purchase a 2009 Ford 4 Escape to replace two courthouse Jeeps that were declared 5 surplus on September 10, 2012, under Court Order 32809. 6 Commissioner Letz? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is on the agenda -- as you 8 will recall, I guess last meeting or meeting before that, we 9 surplused our two old Jeeps, and directed the Maintenance 10 Supervisor to go and trade them in, and if he could, trade 11 them for one usable vehicle. And they came back with a 12 proposal to trade them in and then spend -- how much money? 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Ten. 14 MR. BOLLIER: Ten. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 10,000 for a Ford Escape. I 16 said it would need to come back to the Court, 'cause that 17 wasn't our original deal. I don't -- I'm not necessarily in 18 favor of or opposed to it, mainly 'cause I don't know how 19 much a vehicle is needed. If it's really needed, I guess, 20 great. I don't know that we use that it often, so it's kind 21 of -- let's back up here and say do we need to spend 10,000 22 on a vehicle, or do we get a lesser vehicle just for the 23 trade-in value, whatever the trade-in amounts to? 24 MR. BOLLIER: Both of them were -- 25 JUDGE TINLEY: 2,800. 10-9-12 82 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 2,800. So, we're not getting 2 much for 2,800. But, anyway, it's just for the Court to 3 consider. I really don't have a strong opinion one way or 4 the other. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: What does the Sheriff have 6 out there with seized vehicles? 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The issue I have with that -- 8 and I'm not sure right now. I think I might have one or two 9 still under seizure that aren't finalized. The seized 10 vehicles have to be used for law enforcement purposes. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: What do you have in a current law 12 enforcement vehicle that's not a seizure vehicle? 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If it's County-owned, I don't 14 have any surplus. We're using all those right now. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, but if a seizure vehicle is 16 rotated in to be used for law enforcement, and it's a 17 County-owned that wasn't a prior seizure vehicle -- 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Most of those -- any seized 19 vehicle I have that we would get finalized and rotate in is 20 going to be replacing an older seized vehicle that we have 21 that we need to get rid of or something. It's not -- it's 22 not going to be replacing a County-owned vehicle. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The answer is no. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We tried. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: C.I.D. is where you would go 10-9-12 83 1 with those unmarked -- those are all pretty well seized 2 vehicles. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just -- I mean, I don't know 4 how much a courthouse vehicle is used. I mean, it seems like 5 there's certainly an expense to having it, and maintenance to 6 have it, and insurance to have it. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see -- I see a couple of 8 departments almost daily use them; you know, bank runs, and 9 I'm not sure what. But, you know, as far as, like, us using 10 it going to a convention, hell, I can't even get in and out 11 of one of those things, so there's no reason for me to have 12 one. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: You could wear it. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm not going to Uvalde with 15 my head sticking out like this. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Diane? 17 MS. BOLIN: If we had a good vehicle, my girls 18 would use it to go to the conferences and to their meetings 19 that they have to go out of the county in. But currently, we 20 don't have a vehicle that can go out of county. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But they get reimbursed 22 mileage. They get reimbursed mileage if they take their own 23 vehicle. 24 MR. BOLLIER: True. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So -- 10-9-12 84 1 MR. HENNEKE: You can rent a car if you need to go 2 out of town and don't want to use your own personal vehicle. 3 It's cheaper a lot of times. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: True. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, I'm with Jon. I don't 7 care one way or the other; I'm just concerned that we had 8 said one time that you couldn't use your own vehicle because 9 of insurance purposes. Now we're -- you can. So, obviously, 10 you can or you can't, so we'll do it. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd recommend we table this, 12 and if we decide we need it, we can -- we have the 2,800 kind 13 of in the bank, and the 10,000 would have to come out of 14 somewhere anyway. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm not sure we can melt down the 16 two Jeeps for 2,800. That was the trade-in allowance 17 authorized. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We don't get that much if you 19 try to sell them. 20 MR. BOLLIER: What are we going to do with the 21 Jeeps in the meantime? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Get rid of them. 23 MS. GRINSTEAD: How? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sell them. Put them on 25 Gov.deals. We just need to get rid of them somewhere. 10-9-12 85 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Gov.deals pays more than 2 anything else I know of. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 4 MR. HENNEKE: Does that need to come back? I don't 5 remember what the September 10th order was. Was it just to 6 trade them in, or did the Court declare them surplus? 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Surplus. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We declared them surplus. 9 MR. HENNEKE: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Then gave direction to try to 11 trade them in. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They look good if you look at 13 them online. (Laughter.) 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The pig in the poke, though. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: So we're going to pass on this one 17 now, is that it? Okay. Let's move to Item 22; to consider, 18 discuss, take appropriate action to set Thursday, December 19 20th, as the date for the annual Kerr County Christmas party. 20 Commissioner Oehler? 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Anybody have any objection to 22 that? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are you cooking? 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah, one more time. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 10-9-12 86 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 3 approval. Question or discussion? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Where? 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Be at the -- hopefully -- 6 well, it's going to be at the exhibit hall where we always 7 have it. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And hopefully by then, there 10 will be -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Barn to look at. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- a barn to look at. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Further question or discussion? All 14 in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 15 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 17 (No response.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Item 23; consider, 19 discuss, take appropriate action to approve contract with 20 Center Point Volunteer Fire Department, Comfort Volunteer 21 Fire Department, Tierra Linda Volunteer Fire Department, Hunt 22 Volunteer Fire Department, Elm Pass Volunteer Fire 23 Department, Families and Literacy, Inc., Dietert Center, Big 24 Brothers and Sisters, and allow County Judge to sign same. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 10-9-12 87 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Second. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 3 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor, signify by 4 raising your right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Let's go to Item 9 25; to consider, discuss, take appropriate action to fill the 10 open 22.3 Assistant Auditor's position in the Auditor's 11 department. The Auditor placed this on the agenda. The 12 replacement would be on the basis of a 22.1, beginning step. 13 If there was any -- any request to go above the Step 1, she 14 would bring it back to the Court. She merely wants to be 15 able to advertise it now, and seek to advertise it on that 16 basis. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: She has one leaving? 18 JUDGE TINLEY: 22.1. Yeah. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Tess. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Tess is leaving? I figured 21 that. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, the only question I have 23 is, when the -- what's James' title? Is he an assistant 24 auditor? 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I think he's classified as 10-9-12 88 1 assistant. 2 MR. HENNEKE: Everyone in that office is an 3 assistant auditor. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, my understanding was that 5 when -- at least this is -- this is a one-on-one conversation 6 with the Auditor that when that person was hired at the 7 higher level, that the -- if there was another opening, it 8 might not be hired at the same level. And I guess that's 9 changed. In other words, that -- you know, anyway, that's 10 kind of what I was -- 11 JUDGE TINLEY: I wasn't privy to that conversation, 12 so I -- 13 MR. HENNEKE: I don't know that it comes through 14 this Court, though. I mean, when we had the issue come up at 15 the end of last budget year, the way the statute and A.G.'s 16 opinions talk about the process is the Auditor nominates 17 candidates to the District Judges for the appointment of the 18 assistant auditor, and then the District Judges are the ones 19 that select and make the appointment, to which then the 20 Commissioners Court would be, you know, notified of the new 21 appointment. And as far as the budget -- budget limitations, 22 that position is capped as it's currently budgeted. It would 23 be in conformance with the county policy if -- if she filled 24 it at no more than a 22.1, but it -- currently, the funds are 25 available to fund it at a 22.3. But I think it's -- I don't 10-9-12 89 1 know what role this Court has until the District Judges have 2 appointed the -- 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: She came to me and asked me, 4 because I've been beating up on her about this whole thing. 5 She came and asked me what I thought, and I told her I 6 thought that she needs to get permission from her boss to 7 move forward, which is the District Judge. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we don't -- we pass on this? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Far as I'm concerned, we're 10 out of the picture of this thing until the District Judge 11 tells us what to do. 12 MR. HENNEKE: It shows -- 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We can do the salaries the 14 same way, far as I'm concerned. 15 MR. HENNEKE: Can't raise it -- 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, that's fine. 17 MR. HENNEKE: -- without that other part that we 18 discussed. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I thought this was supposed 20 to be looked into. What's been budgeted? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This would be a 22.3, actually. 22 Okay. 23 MS. PIEPER: Question. With the hiring freeze, 24 though, doesn't she need the approval to -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not if they say. 10-9-12 90 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Not if -- 2 MS. PIEPER: Okay. 3 MS. LANTZ: I think that her main reason -- 'cause 4 she talked to me Friday, and it was just so she can go ahead 5 and post it. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: She wants to advertise it. 7 MS. LANTZ: She just wants to advertise, is all 8 she's seeking right now. To advertise the position with the 9 approval of the Court. 10 MR. HENNEKE: If it's -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But what we're saying is it's 12 not our decision. 13 MR. HENNEKE: If it's okay with Judge Williams and 14 Emerson, nice of her to let us know too. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We can bless it. Doesn't 16 really make any difference. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Anything further to offer on 18 that? Let's move to Item 26; to consider, discuss, take 19 appropriate action on request from the Christmas Lighting 20 Corporation to place concrete pad on courthouse lawn for new 21 tree display and any other related items to the lighting of 22 the courthouse for the 2012 Christmas season. Commissioner 23 Letz? You get all the good ones, don't you? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I get the good ones, yeah. 25 Yesterday, myself -- and Judge Tinley happened to be at the 10-9-12 91 1 courthouse, so he was there as well. We met with Mr. Bond 2 and Mr. Eychner, and they -- they saw when they arrived that 3 there was another set of flags over on this corner of the 4 courthouse square in a circle. And we discussed the pros and 5 cons of the various locations for the pad, and the net of all 6 the discussion was that -- and then further discussion with 7 Mr. Bond today, is that they are going to withdraw the 8 current request to build the pad. They are going to -- they 9 have asked that they -- that for this year only, they put the 10 tree on this corner over where the -- near the gazebo, 11 because a lot of the members think that's where it's going to 12 go. And then during the coming year, we will discuss a 13 permanent location and approve a permanent location for the 14 tree, with the -- the guidelines being set that if the tree 15 goes in on the Sidney Baker corner, they have to get the 16 consent and approval of Mr. Lehmann to move the gazebo to the 17 other corner of the courthouse. And if they choose to do 18 that and can get that accomplished, they can have that 19 corner. If not, it goes to the corner on Earl Garrett. 20 That's kind of where we left it. 21 But this year, it is a temporary location, kind of 22 over by the gazebo -- between the gazebo and parking lot. 23 And they have checked with the manufacturer of the tree, and 24 it can be done, and KPUB is moving forward to set it up very 25 soon. So, that's kind of where we are. So it's good -- you 10-9-12 92 1 know, a very good meeting. They understand our concerns. 2 And my biggest concern was that it didn't fit over there; it 3 detracted from the gazebo. And my concern is, while I want 4 the Christmas tree to look nice, I don't want the courthouse 5 square to look bad for the other 10 months of the year. 6 So -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Jon, I was thinking that 8 this -- the reason for this foundation was to anchor the tree 9 on. How do they anchor it? I thought the tree was just so 10 huge and heavy and all this stuff that they had to anchor it. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They -- there is a mechanism 12 that they can do it on a temporary basis with -- basically, 13 the way you do a big tent, with barrels of water and guide 14 wires and things of that nature. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: My lord. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: May not be as -- you know, the 17 way they'd like to do it permanently, but they say they can 18 get it done this year that way. So, I -- 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sounds good to me. 20 (Low-voice discussion off the record.) 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, I will make a motion that 22 the Christmas Lighting Corporation would place the tree, for 23 this year only, on the Sidney Baker -- is it Main Street? 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Main Street corner of the 10-9-12 93 1 courthouse square, kind of between the gazebo and the parking 2 lot, for this year only. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Second. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 5 indicated. Any further question or discussion? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think -- just a comment. 7 I think they were all happy. Not positive, but I -- with the 8 discussion, and that they understand the importance of having 9 it put -- you know, a permanent structure built in the right 10 spot. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, you know, if the gazebo 12 moved, that would be another location for the county, right? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I -- you know, and that is 14 totally between them -- the Rotary, Christmas Lighting 15 Corporation, and Mr. Lehmann. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It should be. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Nothing to do with us. 18 MR. BOLLIER: Thank you. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And at their cost. Okay. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other comments or questions? 21 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 22 hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 10-9-12 94 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Item 27; to 2 consider, discuss, take appropriate to approve resolution 3 honoring Sudie Burditt upon her retirement as Executive 4 Director of Kerrville Convention and Visitors Bureau. 5 They're having a retirement function for Ms. Burditt, and I 6 thought it was appropriate to have this Court give an 7 expression of its thanks on behalf of the citizens of Kerr 8 County for her service. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Will you make that 10 presentation at her function? 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, I will. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Of course. Obviously, we're 13 not invited, but you can go and do it. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You got an invitation. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You got invited. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: You're invited. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Hey, don't yell at me. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I didn't yell at you. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Where is it? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Probably in my office. Yours 21 too. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mine's in your office too? 23 (Laughter.) 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Motion to approve. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No problem. 10-9-12 95 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 3 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 4 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Item 28; to 9 consider, discuss, take appropriate action to engage the law 10 firm of Ross Molina Oliveros, P.C., and authorize expenditure 11 of funds to commence condemnation proceedings involving Lazy 12 Valley Road bridge project. Commissioner Letz? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. Essentially, since the 14 last meeting, I've had several e-mail communications with Mr. 15 Lich and his sister, Ms. Wilke. And at one point, I then 16 referred those conversations to the County Attorney, and the 17 County Attorney has, I know, visited with Mr. Lich on one 18 occasion, and since sent some e-mails back and forth as well. 19 The bottom line is that we're moving, but I don't -- not sure 20 we're moving forward with either party. The last offer, I 21 guess, or change that we made to them was that we would, you 22 know, in writing, put the fence back up where it belongs and 23 put a water gap up, which is standard procedure, what we're 24 going to do. But -- but we did also offer $250 each to 25 Mr. Lich and Ms. Wilke to cover their expenses to get to -- 10-9-12 96 1 to process the paperwork, for lack of a better word, 'cause 2 they were complaining about -- he's looking at me a little 3 bit odd -- their administrative costs. I mean, she has a 4 fee, evidently, if she goes to the consulate or something 5 like that. Anyway, they are not being particularly 6 cooperative. Mr. Lich gave me a 30-minute window when he 7 would talk to me by phone; otherwise, I'm not allowed to call 8 him. Last Friday I called him within my 30-minute window, 9 and he didn't pick up. Then we received an e-mail from Ms. 10 Wilke the other weekend that she didn't like our -- she 11 wanted a $500 fee, and that it was a -- you know, we were 12 being unreasonable, because it was very hard for her to go to 13 the U.S. consulate to find a notary, and she wanted to use a 14 Canadian notary. Bottom line, in talking with Mr. Henneke, I 15 think it's best to engage an attorney. I will be glad to 16 send one more round of e-mails out to try to say, "Here it 17 is; you accept it or not," but I certainly don't want to wait 18 another Commissioners Court meeting to engage an attorney. 19 So, I'll make a motion to engage the attorney of Ross Molina 20 Oliveros, and authorize expenditure of funds to commence 21 condemnation proceedings involving Lazy Valley bridge 22 project. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Being as I have some 24 experience with this sort of thing, I'll be more than glad to 25 second the motion. 10-9-12 97 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 2 indicated. Question or discussion? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But -- 4 JUDGE TINLEY: I want to know if you fell squarely 5 within the middle of that 30-minute window. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I did. I called at 4:20, and I 7 had from 4:00 to 4:30 to make the call. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Was it -- 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Squarely in the middle. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Central Standard Time. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That was what they said? Or 12 was it eastern time? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, they said Central Standard 14 Time. And previous to that, or just prior to that, I believe 15 he hung up on the County Attorney. 16 MR. HENNEKE: He was done talking to me. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: He has that way with people. 18 MR. BOLLIER: He loves y'all. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just think it's a sad day 20 when you -- when government's condemning people's property -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I do too. And that's -- 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- to make headway. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree. But, you know, I've 24 been talking to Mr. Lich for 14 months, and I'm really no 25 closer than I was 14 months ago. Now, I still -- you know, I 10-9-12 98 1 would like to, you know, ask Rob to -- you know, if he has 2 authority to hire -- to engage the law firm, I'd like to send 3 one more e-mail saying -- you know, based on what we're going 4 to do on this item and the next item, and say, "Here's the 5 deal; accept it or not, period." And we're not -- there's no 6 negotiation. That's just what the deal is. Rob does have a 7 concern that we're setting a precedent by offering $250. The 8 value of the take is probably zero. That would come out in 9 the condemnation process. And if we do offer 250 and they do 10 accept it, -- this would be to each of them; that's $500 for 11 that tract -- I, in good conscience, would need to go back to 12 the other parties that worked with us and give them the same 13 amount on a per-parcel basis, which would mean an additional 14 $1,000. You know, if the Court doesn't want to give me that 15 latitude on that, I won't even make a call, but I just can't 16 reward somebody who's been obstinate for 14 months, when 17 someone else has been very cooperative. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, you know, I do think 19 you ought to give them one more chance. And once we do 20 this -- we pretty well did the same thing with the issue I 21 had up on the -- on the South Fork. You say, "Here's the 22 deal; you've got until such-and-such a time," and we move 23 forward and give them one more last, you know, chance to do 24 the right thing. It worked up there, but it took two years 25 to get it done. 10-9-12 99 1 MR. HENNEKE: But I don't know -- just -- I 2 appreciate Commissioner Letz for saying that. I really don't 3 know what we're reimbursing. If we're just making a cash 4 offer -- and the difference between this and the McCubbin/ 5 Deely issue is we worked with them. We worked out conditions 6 that addressed their issue, but we didn't, you know, give 7 them any money for it. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: One thing that we did do, and 9 I -- you just hit a nerve. One of the things that the people 10 up on my end had an issue with was they wanted to be added to 11 the contractor's policy to -- what was it, Rob? 12 MR. HENNEKE: Liability. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Liability policy so that they 14 would not be liable if something happened on their property 15 during the time of construction. Of course, this, is a 16 little different. Our deal was a temporary construction 17 easement. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is just -- this is a 19 10-foot permanent. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: 10-foot permanent. So -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If you -- if you pull the 22 trigger, or if we pull the trigger, and so it would be 23 condemnation proceedings, does the -- does the payment go 24 with it anyway? 25 MR. HENNEKE: Well, there will have to be an 10-9-12 100 1 appraisal done, and as part of the -- the takings procedures, 2 there would be an offer made to purchase the easement based 3 upon the value of the appraisal. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Fair market value? 5 MR. HENNEKE: Which I agree with Commissioner Letz; 6 I would be surprised if it was anything -- or any, you know, 7 significant amount of money. And then if they don't respond, 8 then the takings would commence, and then the issue later 9 would be what value to assess on it, and that's -- that's 10 determined as part of the process. But -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And just as a comment, I -- I 12 talked to an appraiser about just how -- I never have really 13 understood takings before. What they do in this situation, 14 they will appraise the 254 acres as it is right now, and then 15 they're going to move the easement 10 feet and appraise the 16 254 acres again, and if there's -- it's the change in value, 17 is what the takings is. So, there's really no -- you know, 18 the odds of a .06-acre change changing the value of that 19 ranch is virtually zero. So, I mean, it's really not -- 20 that's why there's not much of a value to it, which is kind 21 of, you know -- 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If you get that far into the 23 process, though, do you still give them $250? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No. So that's off the -- 10-9-12 101 1 that goes away. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's just -- that's trying to 3 -- and, you know, I told Rob, you know, I don't think that 4 they should have to incur any financial cost to give the 5 County an easement for a road. I mean, you know, the law is 6 what it is. And that's why -- you know, that's like -- you 7 know, is their cost $250? Probably not, but it is something. 8 There is some -- they've got to take time to go to a notary. 9 They've got to -- they have to do some things. So, to me, if 10 we could pay $250, and then pay the other part, $500 for each 11 of these tracts, -- 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: A lot cheaper. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- that's cheaper than a 14 condemnation. I'd rather do it. I understand it's a bad 15 precedent to set, but I think it's -- I would -- that would 16 be my preference to proceed that way. And give them -- I'll 17 send them an e-mail as soon as we finish with court, and I'll 18 give them probably 24 hours to respond, if they want to do 19 it. And then we have to get the new document up to -- 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think I'd be all for that, 21 as long as all parties are treated equally. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't have a problem with 24 that, 'cause that's going to be a whole lot cheaper than 25 hiring an attorney to get through the condemnation 10-9-12 102 1 proceeding, if they'll go for it. I mean, it's -- it's a 2 whole -- whole lot cheaper. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And it's a whole lot quicker 5 if you can get it done that way. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or maybe 48 hours; they may not 7 give the documents back to us. Respond back in 24 hours, and 8 have the documents back by the end of the week. Because they 9 do have to -- in Canada, you know -- Rob, can they use a 10 Canadian notary? 11 (Mr. Henneke shook his head.) 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It has to be a -- so she has 13 to -- 14 MR. HENNEKE: Well, they can use a Canadian notary, 15 but it won't be valid or, you know, recognized as legitimate 16 here in Texas. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If they found -- and I would 18 think they probably could -- a U.S. company up there that 19 happens to have a U.S. notary, would it be valid? 20 MR. HENNEKE: I believe so. 'Cause each notary is 21 licensed in the -- in each state. You have a notary in Texas 22 that can't notarize things in Alabama. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 24 MR. HENNEKE: One of the services that the U.S. 25 consulate offers -- I researched this on Friday -- is to 10-9-12 103 1 provide American notary services to its citizens abroad. And 2 that's the reason -- one of the reasons why you have 3 consulate offices. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. So, I think I made a 5 motion, didn't I? 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, you did. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Motion and second. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Back to the motion. Any 10 further question or discussion on the motion? 11 MR. HENNEKE: I forwarded the Court the firm's 12 engagement letter, and I want to make sure the Court has that 13 for Judge Tinley to sign it if approved by the Court. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have it. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. All in favor of the motion, 16 signify by 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 carries. Item 29; consider, 21 discuss, take appropriate action to enter an order declaring 22 a public purpose and necessity for the acquisition of a 23 0.06-acre right-of-way easement out of a 204.53-acre tract 24 described in Volume 1792, Page 717 of the official public 25 records of real property of Kerr County, Texas, for the 10-9-12 104 1 public purpose of the Lazy Valley Road bridge improvement and 2 construction project, which includes street reconstruction 3 along Lazy Valley Road, as well as reconstruction of the 4 bridge along Lazy Valley Road, and other improvements to 5 alleviate safety concerns for human life along Lazy Valley 6 Road, and authorizing the institution of condemnation 7 proceedings to acquire those land rights. Commissioner Letz? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it speaks for itself. 9 Move approval. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 12 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 13 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 16 (No response.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion carries. Item 30 is to 18 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on the 19 contract for True Automation and CIC for the Tax Assessor's 20 office. 21 MS. BOLIN: We are looking to change our software 22 from Tyler Technologies to True Automation. We've been 23 working with them. We've had so many problems with Tyler, up 24 through last week. I could have had my statements in the 25 mail by Wednesday of last week, but because they dragged 10-9-12 105 1 their feet on getting service to us or helping us with 2 anything, they are going in the mail today. Which is still 3 earlier than normal, but still behind what I was hoping for. 4 True Automation -- the guys that started True Automation came 5 from the original Software Group. They were part of the key 6 people that worked with Glen Smith to create The Software 7 Group, and then they broke off from them when they sold and 8 created True Automation. 9 (Judge Tinley left the meeting.) 10 They're used by the Appraisal District; they're used by 11 Kerrville ISD. They were being used by Ingram ISD. They're 12 used in Kendall County, Bandera County. Tyler has lost the 13 majority of their people to True Automation, because True 14 Automation has a much better product and at a cheaper price. 15 And John and I calculated out, we're going to save about 16 $11,000 a year by going with them. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: How much? 18 MS. BOLIN: 11,000. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. 20 MR. BOLLIER: One of the things they did four years 21 ago, I used to load the levy which comes from the Appraisal 22 District; it's all the values. We did all that, did all the 23 balancing. They decided that we could not do that or they 24 were going to charge us $150 an hour to call and ask 25 questions. So, they charged us, you know $6,500 on top of 10-9-12 106 1 our software agreement. So -- 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Can you get out of this 3 contract? 4 MS. BOLIN: Pardon? 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Do we have a contract with 6 them? 7 MS. BOLIN: With Tyler. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: With Tyler? What do we have 9 to do to get out of it? 10 MR. TROLINGER: It renews in January. Once we're 11 finished with this today, the plan was to get the County 12 Attorney the existing contract so that we can, you know, take 13 steps -- 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You plan on changing it over 15 in January? 16 MS. BOLIN: February. I'm not doing it in January. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, no, I'm sorry. 18 MS. BOLIN: No, no, no, we're not going there 19 again. 20 MR. TROLINGER: Well, the technical side of it, the 21 schedule has been laid out preliminarily. But what we have 22 is we've got an existing contract that we need support on. 23 MS. BOLIN: Right. 24 MR. TROLINGER: And we've got the new contract that 25 we need support on, and there's going to be a little bit of 10-9-12 107 1 overlap. So, I've got some preliminary feelers out to Tyler 2 on what to do, but officially, I don't want to fire the 3 cannon until -- 4 MS. BOLIN: Until we get approval from the Court. 5 MR. TROLINGER: The big deal is, what I see -- and 6 Diane's right about all those things, and this is her system. 7 But for me, what it does is, the thing we did not do in 2006 8 was combine our systems and work together, software-wise, 9 with Central Appraisal District. We bought our system, and 10 then a year later, Central Appraisal said, "Here's what we're 11 doing." Well, now we've got the chance to go back. It's a 12 little bit expensive. We're paying about $120,000 to do 13 this, by the way, is the contract value for True Automation, 14 and it is budgeted. But in order to go back and do this now, 15 we're going to have a system -- we're on the same servers 16 together, and -- and all these issues Diane was talking 17 about, the supplement and this and that, well, that cost 18 savings comes because we are all together on the same system. 19 And I think not only for us, for the tax office and -- and 20 Central Appraisal it is better, but for the people that pay 21 the taxes, I think it'll be better overall. So, it's well 22 worth the cost. And like Diane said, it's about $11,000 per 23 year less in software maintenance, which will eventually make 24 up for this. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So we need to -- we need to 10-9-12 108 1 approve that. 2 MS. BOLIN: For the Judge to sign. I got the 3 original contract in between the time that I was here and the 4 break for the -- for the accounting portion of it, but I have 5 not received the original for True Automation. But the Judge 6 has the copy that Rob approved, and he's looked at all the 7 contracts, gave them his blessing, and we're here. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The -- and this doesn't have 9 any impact on our other -- 10 MS. BOLIN: It has nothing to do with Odyssey. 11 MR. TROLINGER: It does not. The tax group, the 12 support, the people that program it are on -- they're in the 13 same building, but kind of on the other side. It's a 14 separate -- separate group. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Motion? 16 MR. HENNEKE: I've looked at them; they're fine. I 17 would say, though, let's approve them, but hold them until we 18 get worked out the -- 19 MS. BOLIN: With Tyler. 20 MR. HENNEKE: -- the termination notice for Tyler 21 to terminate. 22 MR. TROLINGER: Good idea. 23 MS. BOLIN: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we 25 authorize the Tax Assessor's office to enter into the new 10-9-12 109 1 contract with True Automation. 2 MR. HENNEKE: I think it's -- well, it's to approve 3 them and authorize the County Judge -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And authorize County Judge to 5 sign same, and also to proceed with guidance from the County 6 Attorney on termination of our contract with Tyler 7 Technologies. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Motion and second. Any 10 further discussion? All in favor, say aye. 11 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: None opposed. 13 MS. BOLIN: Thank you. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Motion carries. 15 MR. TROLINGER: Thank you. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let's go back to your item 17 now. Let's go back to -- what about Item 1.11, Mr. Bollier? 18 Consider and discuss, take appropriate action to award the 19 bids on electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and pest control 20 services. 21 MR. BOLLIER: Sir, I'm not ready to make a 22 recommendation. I would like to bring this back in two weeks 23 at the next court meeting, and in between that time, I would 24 like to -- I need some time to talk to the County Attorney. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. What about 10-9-12 110 1 item 1.24; consider discuss, take appropriate action on 2 drainage issue on Diana Drive and possibly consider funding 3 for engineering study? Did you -- 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Commissioner, again, that's 5 going to be something that we will further discuss with the 6 County Attorney on that situation, and we'll look at bringing 7 that back in the next couple weeks. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Does that complete the 9 agenda? 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No, you got your item that 11 you yelled at the Judge. 12 THE CLERK: Item 1.13. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, Item 1.13. I know I 14 hurt his feelings when I jumped on him like that. But it's 15 consider, discuss, take appropriate action to appoint Rhonda 16 Hickey as a member of the Kerr County Child Services Board. 17 Commissioner Baldwin. We're going to pass on that, thank 18 you. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Nothing. He chastised the 20 Judge, and then passed it. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Well, he had it 22 coming. Any other issues on this -- this particular agenda? 23 Of course, it will stay open for a while. Let's see here. 24 What do we call that, Section 4? Is that what -- 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Mm-hmm. 10-9-12 111 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- what you call it? 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Pay the bills. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let's go to Section 4, 4 approval agenda. Pay the bills. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move we pay the bills. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a motion. Is there a 7 second? 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Second. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is there any further 10 discussion? Any questions? The County Treasurer has graced 11 the Commissioners Court this day. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Did y'all notice the sign was 13 up? 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I did. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Looks good. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Looks good. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And speaking of signs, there's 18 another one that needs to come down on the building. Missing 19 some letters. 20 MR. BOLLIER: Oh, okay. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: For the 18th year. 22 MR. BOLLIER: Yeah, the one over there on the 23 big -- yeah, okay. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How about the bills, guys? 25 Y'all -- 10-9-12 112 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Sorry I interrupted. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do we have a motion to pay 3 the bills? I recollect we have a motion. We have a motion 4 and second. All in favor, please say aye. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All opposed? 7 (No response.) 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Motion carries. What about 9 budget amendments? 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I didn't see any. 11 MR. BOLLIER: I don't have any. 12 MS. SOLDAN: I'm under the impression last court 13 date was the last time for last year's budget amendments. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Late bills, same? How about 15 monthly -- monthly reports? We have monthly reports from 16 Kerr County payroll, the County Clerk, Constable 1, J.P. 3, 17 J.P. 4, Constable 4, J.P. 2, Environmental Health, and Road 18 and Bridge for July and August of 2012. Do I hear -- 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Motion for approval of 20 monthly reports. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: As presented? 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: As presented. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, motion and second. 25 All in favor, say aye. 10-9-12 113 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Motion carries. Thank you. 3 Reports from the Commissioners on liaison committee 4 assignments? Y'all want to talk about that sign now? 5 (Laughter.) 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I expect not. Commissioner, 8 do you have something to talk about? 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Not at this time. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have a question about the 11 sign. Who has the control? 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We do. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For the -- I mean, what 14 individual has the control and is responsible for changing 15 the little -- 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Marquee part. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- marquee part? 18 MR. BOLLIER: We do, Maintenance. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Make sure that it's current. 20 MR. BOLLIER: We're on it. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 'Cause there's nothing worse 22 than having a past event with old information on it. 23 MR. BOLLIER: Right. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And if the time and the 25 temperature, which I like, gets to -- doesn't work right, 10-9-12 114 1 let's turn them off. 'Cause those are other things that -- 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Time and temperature is not 3 that important. What's going on is. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Bank of the Hills in Comfort 5 says it's 155 degrees, and has for the last week. 6 (Laughter.) 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The V.A. Hospital temperature 8 is always wrong. 9 MR. BOLLIER: The time is set by the computer 10 itself. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I've never seen it where it 12 was within five degrees yet. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Did you say something was 14 wrong in Comfort? You did, didn't you? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, because it's owned by an 16 out-of-state bank. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's got to be the problem. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: When it was done locally, it 20 worked. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You guys have anything to 22 talk about with your liaison duties? 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: No. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do we have reports from the 25 elected officials? Sheriff? 10-9-12 115 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Real quick, jail population 2 wise, we're at 23 females, which is still high. I don't know 3 what we're going to do there. But overall, we're at 121, and 4 that is even with -- I guess almost two weeks ago now, week 5 and a half ago, we have started accepting some of Gillespie 6 County's overflow, charging them their daily rate. I think 7 they've got five in our custody that we're housing for them. 8 Only males. I cannot house females at all. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are they building a jail up 10 there? 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Not yet, that I know of. I 12 don't think it's gone through. I think it may be on this -- 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They're talking about it 14 again. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- November's ballot, I guess. 16 Should be on it. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: They are. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think it may be on the 19 ballot in November on the bond issue, if I'm not mistaken. 20 The only other thing I think this Court really needs to -- to 21 consider, Tim -- and I mentioned this last week. I don't 22 know if -- if, with his maintenance staff and with adding 23 just one, he's going to be able to do it, but, gentlemen, 24 I've got to have a full-time maintenance person out at that 25 jail. We're getting way too many things that we've got to 10-9-12 116 1 have preventive maintenance, and we've got to start having 2 constant maintenance out there. Sometimes Tim will come in 3 over a weekend, and just on maintenance requests for the jail 4 alone, there may be 20 different items. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We need to mandate that they 6 take care of that? 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: He's trying, and he's doing 8 the best he can with -- 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We got another -- he's got a 10 new employee. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- with the people he has out 12 there, but I have got to have a full-time person that is 13 working with that jail and annex area for maintenance. It's 14 just -- it's getting way out of control. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tim, what did we -- how did 16 we address that in the budget? I don't remember. 17 MR. BOLLIER: We addressed that with the new 18 personnel to be half maintenance and half custodian. Not a 19 full-time maintenance person; it was 50/50. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You got a new custodian. 21 Did you get a new maintenance person? 22 MR. BOLLIER: No, sir. It's 50/50. That's what 23 I'm trying to tell you. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You filled a position prior 25 to the end of the budget year that was left open, before you 10-9-12 117 1 got the new one. 2 MR. BOLLIER: Yes. With a -- before -- yes, but 3 it's with a custodian. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. Well, maybe that's a 5 separate issue. 6 MR. BOLLIER: Custodian for Mando. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I don't mean to stir it, but 8 it's just something that is getting out of hand, okay? And I 9 just -- I don't have -- the custodian part, like, we pulled 10 inmates out this weekend -- yesterday, with being a holiday, 11 to start stripping and waxing all the floors out there, and I 12 can do some of that. But maintenance, I cannot have inmates 13 do maintenance in that jail. And I have got to have some 14 maintenance and some preventive maintenance now. It's kind 15 of like what Tim said when he worked on it, but coming out of 16 a new training room in that new annex, we talked about right 17 when it was -- when it opened about putting a railing around 18 that sidewalk to keep somebody from falling off. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's inexcusable. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We're still talking about 21 putting a railing around that deal. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's inexcusable. That's a 23 one-hour job. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I'm just saying -- 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And I'll stick by that. 10-9-12 118 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I've got some issues, but I'm 2 not blaming Tim, because he's got a lot that's being -- 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't care. If you got 4 time to weld stuff at the Ag Barn, you can do stuff at the 5 jail. And it's outside; you can back right up to it. If I 6 need to go do it, I'll go do it myself. That's ridiculous. 7 It is. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well -- 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Period. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Nice to hear from you, 11 Sheriff. County Clerk? 12 MS. PIEPER: Everything's good. Running smooth. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Cool. County Treasurer? 14 MS. SOLDAN: No. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: John, do you got anything on 16 your mind? 17 MR. TROLINGER: We had time entry training last 18 week, and it was well attended. I think Dawn did a really 19 good job at getting everyone organized and getting the whole 20 thing going. I was pleasantly surprised at the whole event. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Dawn? 22 MS. LANTZ: I think that's basically it. We did 23 time entry, so hopefully it'll go into effect and work well 24 for the county. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Cool. County Attorney? 10-9-12 119 1 MR. HENNEKE: Thank you for thinking of me. I hope 2 you have a nice week, Commissioner. (Laughter.) 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. You're 4 such a nice young man. What else is there to do? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Leave. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do we -- do we recess, or do 7 we -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Adjourn. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Adjourn. We adjourn the 10 meeting. What if we want to call it back tomorrow? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, if we adjourn it, we 12 can't. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I know. That's what I'm 14 saying. Anything else to come before this Court? We're 15 adjourned. 16 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 11:45 a.m.) 17 - - - - - - - - - - 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 10-9-12 120 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 12th day of October, 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 10-9-12