1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Regular Session 10 Tuesday, November 13, 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 November 13, 2012 2 PAGE --- Visitors' Input 6 3 --- Commissioners' Comments 15 4 1.1 Public Hearing concerning abandoning private road name Luke Lane West, Precinct 4 25 5 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for 6 final approval to abandon private road name Luke Lane West, Precinct 4 25 7 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for 8 final approval regarding alternate plat of 17.04 acres from ABS A1590 HE&WT RY, Survey 1420, 9 Precinct 3 27 10 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for Court to accept preliminary revision of plat for 11 Lot 1A in Camp Verde General Store and Saint Christopher Properties, LLC, Tract Two; set a 12 public hearing, Precinct 3 28 13 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding approval of application for access 14 cards with Texas Fleet Fuel for purchase of gasoline for Kerr County Sheriffs Office vehicles 32 15 1.6 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for 16 final approval to name private road Wooden Nickel Road North, Precinct 1 38 17 1.7 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for 18 final approval to name private road Kloss Ranch Road Northwest, Precinct 4 39 19 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 20 approve Chapter 59 Asset Forfeiture Audit Report for Kerr County Sheriff's Office as required by 21 Article 59.06, Code of Criminal Procedure 41 22 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on FY 2011-2012 Chapter 59 Asset Forfeiture Reports 23 for Constable Precinct 1, Constable Precinct 2, Constable Precinct 3, and Kerr County Sheriff as 24 required by Code of Criminal Procedure 43 25 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) November 13, 2012 2 PAGE 3 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on request to use courthouse grounds for Cowboy 4 Breakfast on January 11, 2013 45 5 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve PR-7, credit for plastic piping; PR-8, 6 toilet accessory mods; PR-9, delete existing connection (labor only), material on-site; and 7 PR-10, revise fire line per designer direction for Show Barn at Hill Country Youth Event Center 8 and allow County Judge to sign same 48 9 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on request from the Kerrville Christmas Lighting 10 Corporation and Kerrville Rotary to host a tree lighting ceremony on courthouse lawn on Friday, 11 November 30, 2012 57 12 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to authorize Kerr County to prepare regional water 13 planning grant application to Texas Water Development Board for eastern Kerr County and 14 western Kendall County 59 15 1.14 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to develop master plan for courthouse square 63 16 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 17 approve contract with Mountain Home Volunteer Fire Department; allow County Judge to sign same 74 18 1.16 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 19 purchase a commercial floor machine for Hill Country Youth Event Center 75 20 1.17 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 21 implementation of the burn ban 78 22 1.18 Acknowledge receipt of quarterly investment report from Patterson and Associates for quarter 23 ending 9-30-12 78 24 1.19 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve Remote Deposit Capture Agreement between 25 Security State Bank and Kerr County, Texas 79 4 1 I N D E X (Continued) November 13, 2012 2 PAGE 1.20 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 3 approve interlocal agreement with Regional Public Defender for capital cases 80 4 1.21 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 5 reappoint Patsy Lackey and appoint Bill Blackburn as Kerr County representatives to AACOG Criminal 6 Justice Advisory Committee, Patsy Lackey to be the primary and Bill Blackburn to be the alternate 83 7 1.22 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 8 approve interim plan to ensure judicial readiness in times of emergency 84 9 1.23 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 10 appoint Kirk Griffin to Kerrville/Kerr County Joint Airport Board to replace Tom Moser 85 11 1.24 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 12 proposal from Peter Lewis for architectural services for the 198th DA’s office 86 13 1.26 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 14 request from Unity Church of the Hill Country to be added to nonprofit list for use of Union 15 Church Building and other county facilities in order to receive reduced rate on rental fees 91 16 1.25 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 17 solicit bids or RFQs for construction, finish-out of 198th District Attorney’s Office space at the 18 Kerr County Sheriff’s Office Annex 93 19 1.27 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve Kerr County response to Texas Comptroller 20 regarding County’s eminent domain authority in compliance with SB18 94 21 1.28 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 22 approve right-of-way easement agreement for Lazy Valley Road project; authorize County Judge 23 to execute 96 24 1.29 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to authorize reimbursement of expenses incurred by 25 property owners concerning right-of-way easements for Lazy Valley Road Bridge project 98 5 1 I N D E X (Continued) November 13, 2012 2 PAGE 1.30 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 3 approve official bonds of Kerr County Precinct 1 Commissioner, H.A. Baldwin, and Kerr County 4 Precinct 3 Commissioner, Jonathan Letz 100 5 1.31 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on request from GrantWorks to begin RFP/RFQ process 6 to hire project engineer and administrator for Kerr County Contract TxCDBG No. 712025 101 7 1.32 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 8 approve new payroll schedule for biweekly pay to go into effect January 2013 103 9 1.33 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 10 approve step and grade to reflect new biweekly pay effective January 2013 105 11 4.1 Pay Bills 106 12 4.2 Budget Amendments --- 4.3 Late Bills 106 13 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 108 14 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments 108 15 5.2 Reports from Elected Officials/Department Heads 112 16 1.34 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding Kerr County vs. Emily Behrens; Cause 17 No. 05-465A; 216th District Court, Kerr County, Texas. (Executive session) --- 18 1.35 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action 19 regarding Kerr County, Texas vs. Estate of L. De Juan Abel, et. al., Cause No. 07-456A, 20 216th Judicial District Court, Kerr County, Texas (Executive session) --- 21 3.1 Action as may be required on matters discussed 22 in Executive Session 128 23 1.36 TexDOT presentation on their current four-year plan; discussion of local issues, revisit 24 priorities and plan for the next Rural TIP 130 25 --- Adjourned 158 6 1 On Tuesday, November 13, 2012, at 9:00 a.m., a regular 2 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in 3 the Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, 4 Kerrville, Texas, and the following proceedings were had in 5 open court: 6 P R O C E E D I N G S 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. 8 Let me call to order this regular meeting of the Kerr County 9 Commissioners Court posted and scheduled for this date and 10 time, Tuesday, November the 13th, 2012, at 9 a.m. We missed 11 Monday because it was a holiday, which is our normal regular 12 meeting, but it rolled over to the next business day. We 13 appreciate you being here. Commissioner Oehler? 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes. Would you please join 15 me in a word of prayer, and then followed by the pledge? 16 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Please be seated. At 18 this time, if there's any member of the audience or the 19 public that wishes to be heard on any matter which is not a 20 listed agenda item, this is your opportunity to come forward 21 and tell us what's on your mind. If you wish to be heard on 22 a matter which is a listed agenda item, we would ask that you 23 fill out a participation form. There should be some located 24 at the rear of the room. And if you should not do that, but 25 for some reason want to be heard on an agenda item, when we 11-13-12 7 1 get to that item, if you'll get my attention in some manner, 2 I'll give you the opportunity to be heard. But now, for 3 those items that are not on the agenda, anybody coming 4 forward, please give us your name and address and tell us 5 what's on your mind. Go ahead, sir. 6 MR. MERGELE: My name is Bruce Mergele. I'm a 7 resident of Turtle Creek Community, and I'm currently the 8 president of Turtle Creek School and Cemetery Association. 9 I've been asked to come and speak today on some issues. 10 Before I start, I'd like to extend our condolences to 11 Commissioner Oehler. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Thank you. 13 MR. MERGELE: I've handed out kind of a timeline 14 thing. I met yesterday with our pro bono attorney, John 15 Carlson, and I added a few things to it. As y'all know, the 16 Turtle Creek School dates back to the 1800's, the cemetery to 17 1875, the existing school, 1885. The school was built by the 18 community, and eventually the property was turned over to the 19 County, administered by the County when that was the way the 20 school districts were run. As you can see, Spicers turned 21 over the property in the 1950's when they consolidated the 22 school districts. Kerrville ISD took over the property and 23 essentially, within a couple years, shut down the school as a 24 functioning school, but it still remained a place for meeting 25 of the community, and the cemetery as well for the use of the 11-13-12 8 1 community. 2 In 1977, the district put out bids that anybody 3 buying the property, they were open to offers, and the 4 community had the successful bid. Stipulations in the bids 5 were that the property would be maintained for the benefit of 6 the community in perpetuity. So, the community organized, 7 put together funds, and purchased the property. What has 8 been lost in history is at that point, the property was 9 deeded to the County. That was a stipulation of the 10 association as well. So, at that point, the community was 11 using the facility as a County-owned property, and since then 12 it's been used, the schoolhouse, for community functions, 4-H 13 meetings, church meetings, funerals, reunions, and as a 14 polling place. It's been a polling place for over 100 years, 15 except in the past few years. Apparently, when the restrooms 16 were no longer functioning, they moved it to the church, so 17 we'd like to get that back. 18 Between 1977 and 2006, the County forgot they owned 19 it, and in 2006, the Commissioners Court votes to acknowledge 20 that the County does own the property. All the time, 21 officers of the community are aging, and people who are 22 originally part and parcel of this are passing on and moving 23 out of the community of other sorts as well. In 2009, the 24 County Attorney, Ilse Bailey, approached John Carlson to do 25 pro bono work to help the community association to resolve 11-13-12 9 1 nonprofit issues. It essentially had kind of gone defunct, 2 although it was still functioning; George Holekamp was still 3 assigning funerals and graves out there, and the building was 4 still being used for meetings such as funerals and such, but 5 it was informal. Meeting -- the meeting at the school in 6 2009 with Ilse, Buster, and John, members set up a new 7 association to take over management of the property; 8 community had been informally managing the property for some 9 time, as I said. 10 In 2010, the Turtle Creek Community Center 11 organization is reorganized as the Turtle Creek School and 12 Cemetery Association. Officers are elected; I was one of 13 them, and we have a few others in the audience here. 14 Organization purchased liability insurance at the insistence 15 of the County to cover any sort of injuries that were on the 16 property, and we've had that insurance policy for two years 17 now. A new 501(c)(3) was set up, and the County and the 18 organization discussed terms of management -- a management 19 contract, and the possibility of building a meeting pavilion 20 on the school grounds using donated funds. So, we were 21 talking back and forth quite a bit at that point. In 22 2011-2012, community holds two well-attended work days for 23 renovations. Former students have reunions in the building. 24 Sewing circle met in the building for the first time in many 25 years. And as part of our work days, the community removed 11-13-12 10 1 the flooring off the old stage area. At that time, the 2 County was also voting some money to do some foundation work, 3 and in talking with Commissioner Baldwin, he said it would 4 save the county money, and had no problem with it. We did 5 it, and enabled the contractor to get in there and do his 6 work with a lot better ease. Besides, the floor was damaged 7 anyway. 8 These are not the only things that we've been doing 9 out there. After the foundation work was done, the County 10 official was shown where the work was deficient. Association 11 was told that the County had a guarantee, and we contracted 12 to fix the deficiency. County workers covered over the 13 deficient contractor work and reinstalled flooring that is 14 more expensive and not true to the historical nature of the 15 building, in spite of original style materials that we went 16 out and costed as part of an effort to help the County redo 17 the building. By the way, there was a punch list that we had 18 sent to the County through John and through Rob specifying 19 things that had to do -- we would like having been done to 20 the building before we signed the contract, which we haven't 21 signed a contract yet. The only things that we had asked the 22 County do to were the electrical being safetied, the floor 23 being safetied as well, because there was peeling tiles on 24 it, and the handicap ramp. Nothing else was asked by the 25 community. 11-13-12 11 1 County officials changed the locks on the school 2 without providing keys to the association, and refused to 3 discuss pavilion possibility. I probably am one of the 4 few -- I was actually escorted out of these spaces here 5 because I asked why. The County had said they were against a 6 pavilion; they said there was a liability issue. We have had 7 liability insurance for over two years. No specific reasons 8 were given. And the county officials have refused to meet 9 with the association. County Attorney says that the County 10 will no longer be dealing with the association, and no 11 reasons were specified. The property use is restricted based 12 on the original bid specifications from K.I.S.D., and the 13 deed restrictions. In the deed that the County holds, it 14 must be used as a community center for community good -- and 15 cemetery for the benefit of the community -- these are 16 specified -- or the title of the property reverts to the 17 K.I.S.D. 18 In short, we have done virtually everything that 19 the County has asked us to do. It may not be on time. It 20 may not be rapid, but we have done it. We've provided the 21 County with keys to get in the building. We have opened it. 22 We were paying for the electricity. We have an agreement 23 with the Kickapoo Camp for water. It's not the county's 24 water; it's Kickapoo's, and that's an agreement with us and 25 with the community. We were suddenly finding where the 11-13-12 12 1 County was leaving the water on, or at least unlocked, and 2 that was an issue that the Kickapoo Camp had brought up, that 3 people were stealing water out there. So, the community got 4 together and replumbed that to where we could lock the water 5 coming from Kickapoo so nobody could use it unless we could 6 unlock it. We found that unlocked many times. We found the 7 lights on. 8 At one point -- and that was one of our own members 9 who's been paying for the electricity for the building for 10 well over two years. We started to turn the lights off. The 11 flags were started to be put up, and a permanent light was 12 stuck on the flags, and we were paying for the electricity. 13 So, we turned off the lights and pulled down the flags and 14 folded them up, put them in the building. So, anyway, we've 15 done a lot, and we'd just like to know why we've been 16 excluded. We had a real good thing going with the community. 17 They were out there helping us. People saw the signs going 18 up that we put up. They wanted to be part of it. And 19 essentially, since we've been locked out, we're in flex. So, 20 we were elected to represent the community in this function, 21 and we've done everything along those lines. And we've spent 22 quite a bit of money, even with pro bono work. 23 But this is the community out there, and it also 24 encompasses not just Precinct 1; it's Precinct 2. The whole 25 Turtle Creek community is the Turtle Creek watershed, so 11-13-12 13 1 everybody along the Turtle Creek is entitled to those 2 facilities as per the deed restrictions; burial place, to be 3 able to use the facilities. And for the past 30 years, this 4 organization has had access to that building, and the elected 5 officials have opened it for them, closed it for them, or 6 allowed them access without problems. And now we've been 7 locked out. I'm just here to appeal to you about that. I'm 8 not sure how much of this the entire Court knows. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 10 MR. MERGELE: Thank you. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other member of the public or 12 audience that wishes to be heard on any matter which is not a 13 listed agenda item? Mr. Kevin Stanton. He's the 14 administrator of our Juvenile Detention Facility. 15 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. I believe I just handed 16 out -- I passed out to the Commissioners Court -- the Texas 17 Juvenile Justice Division came out and did our audit 18 recently, spent three and a half days out at the juvenile 19 facility, and I just wanted to take a few seconds to let 20 y'all -- give you guys a copy of it and let y'all look over 21 it. We scored -- they did three days worth of evaluations, 22 and the facility -- your facility scored a 99.11 -- 99 and 11 23 percent -- 99 percent on the deal. They did over -- they 24 checked over 8,000 door checks. They did -- I mean, they 25 check a lot of things, and we missed one thing. They found 11-13-12 14 1 one fault out there out of everything they found. And so we 2 did -- the facility did real good, and we appreciate -- Judge 3 Tinley came out and sat through a couple of the meetings with 4 us, and we appreciate his attendance out there. So, you have 5 a copy of it. And if you want to look over it and if you 6 have any questions about anything, I'll be happy to answer 7 them for you whenever have you a chance to. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. Stanton. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Thank you. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: We appreciate your leadership out 11 there. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, is this -- is this 13 the same kind of inspection like the adult jail has? 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, I was going to make some 15 comments about that when we get to that. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, okay. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: I've got it on my list, as it were, 18 here. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right, good. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other member of the public or 21 audience that wishes to be heard on any matter which is not a 22 listed agenda item? Seeing no one else coming forward, we -- 23 excuse me. Yes, sir? If you'll give us your name and 24 address and tell us what's on your mind? 25 MR. STROHACKER: My name's Louie Strohacker. I 11-13-12 15 1 live in McLennan County, Texas, but we have property here in 2 Kerr County. I just wanted to second what Bruce Oehler had 3 to say -- I mean Bruce Mergele, I'm sorry. My condolences to 4 you, Bruce, on the loss of your wife. And one thing that I 5 think he may have left out is one of the deed restrictions in 6 there requires that the property be maintained in accordance 7 with the historical sites. And I'm not sure of the exact 8 language there, but it appears that that has been somewhat 9 disregarded too. And this is -- I see this being a very 10 divisive issue in the county, the people versus the Court. 11 They're not happy with what's going on. Thank you. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. Anyone else that 13 wishes to be heard regarding any matter which is not a listed 14 agenda item? Okay, let's move on. Commissioner Oehler? 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Not really anything. The 16 last few weeks has been kind of -- 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Chaotic. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- chaotic, so I'm not going 19 to say any more. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Baldwin? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir, I wanted to talk 22 about the ESD vote. I'm sure that y'all have seen the 23 numbers on that thing. There was a total of 10,132 people 24 that voted. 4,792 voted for, and 5,000 against -- 5,141. 25 So, it was defeated by 349 votes, which is not much at all, 11-13-12 16 1 considering what we did. I think I went out one time, was 2 invited to do a little small group to discuss the thing. I 3 think Bruce went to a couple of meetings, and not much more 4 than that. We, you know, didn't run any ads, didn't get out 5 and crow about it, as opposed to our Commissioner-elect and 6 the mayor of the City of Kerrville going out and talking 7 against it and being negative toward it. I just think these 8 numbers are absolutely wild and fantastic. Not saying that 9 -- that we'll do it again. I don't know about that, but I 10 just -- it kind of excites me to see that a lot of people 11 caught on to what we were -- what we were saying and how 12 these things worked. 13 And with that in mind, I don't know what's going to 14 happen. I just wanted to tell you what I heard when -- when 15 the Commissioners Court and the City Council had a joint 16 meeting in regards to the ambulance service and the ESD, I 17 heard several -- three different members of that group say 18 that they were elected by the people inside the city of 19 Kerrville, and basically had nothing to do with people out -- 20 outside the city of Kerrville. That's what I heard. And I 21 translate that as they may not have any interest in providing 22 ambulance service to us. So I think, in my mind, at least, 23 that I want to start looking, before we get much closer, at 24 alternatives to what we've been doing in the past. And with 25 that, I wanted to let the Court know that the Judge and I 11-13-12 17 1 will meet with a service provider from out of town coming up 2 pretty quick. We're just going to sit down, have a chat with 3 them and see what they will do for us and what not to do for 4 us. And soon we'll be talking about, you know, do we want to 5 go out for bids or, you know, that kind of thing. So, I just 6 wanted to get all that out on the table. I want to let y'all 7 know that me -- at least me moving in that direction. And 8 that's all. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Well, Judge, first of all, 12 Commissioner Oehler, again, our condolences and our prayers 13 are with you and your family. I just want you to know that. 14 Judge, of course, this is my last time. I'll go around the 15 horn, as we say, with the Commissioners here today. I am 16 glad to say that one project that was completed here last 17 week that I was glad to have completed underneath my term was 18 the return of the Center Point train depot to the community 19 of Center Point. This is really a neat opportunity. As you 20 well know, we had that project for many years; it was kind of 21 out there, but it returned to the community to the Center 22 Point Historical Park there. You need to drive through there 23 and spend a little money, have lunch out there, but go see 24 that train depot as it's returned to that community. And 25 built in 19 -- excuse me, 1888, 125 years old. So, I'm 11-13-12 18 1 really glad for that community to have a piece of history 2 brought back to that community, and enjoy that. 3 And with that, my last comments, of course, I'd 4 just like to again thank the County and the Commissioners 5 Court. I have truly been blessed to have served the last two 6 years on this Commissioners Court. I truly appreciate 7 working with the Commissioners and the Judge here. You know, 8 coming in two years ago when Commissioner Williams passed 9 away, I like to look back and say over the last two years, 10 we've completed a lot of those projects that he had started, 11 and it kind of felt like I needed to pick up the baton and 12 run with those, and we've completed a lot of those. And I 13 know that Commissioner Moser coming in will take that baton 14 and go forward as well representing the folks in Precinct 2 15 and those folks in our county. But, again, the -- to the 16 departments and the folks in this community, at this county, 17 wonderful departments. I can always say that I am truly 18 proud of the people that work in those departments, our 19 heads. Those folks give everything they've got. And we 20 don't pat you on the back enough, and I just really, truly 21 appreciated that. 22 And with that, Judge, I'll be returning to the 23 private sector, as many have already known, but I will be 24 doing everything I can to help create jobs and help generate 25 revenue for our community. I'm a Kerr County longtime 11-13-12 19 1 resident; will be here all my time. So, I appreciate these 2 last two years in serving. That's my last comments. Thank 3 you. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. 5 Commissioner Letz? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A couple things. I like to 7 think -- I'm sure I can speak for the whole Court. We 8 appreciate working with Commissioner Overby; he got a lot 9 accomplished. I didn't know him real well. Certainly knew 10 him, mostly from work from the athletic side, and I do 11 appreciate all he's done for the Court and the county. The 12 ESD, as Commissioner Oehler -- or Baldwin brought that up, 13 one of the interesting things, I was very surprised by the 14 vote. Actually very, you know, interested that it was as 15 close as it was. But I think there was something that -- you 16 know, our failure was that we never could get across what the 17 actual purpose of the vote, and even on election day, I had 18 phone calls asking that. All that vote was was how to fund 19 emergency medical services, being ambulances in particular. 20 That's all that vote was. And there was so much 21 miscommunication about it, and I'm not sure -- you know, one 22 of the things -- you go down these money trails, and you just 23 never could get back to what the actual vote was, a lot of 24 it. So, I think it was -- that was a problem. And probably 25 the blame should be at the Court for us not knowing how to 11-13-12 20 1 get the word out as to what the actual vote was on that. It 2 was, you know, an odd issue to make -- 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Your precinct actually voted 4 for it. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, 'cause I talked -- I 6 mean, a lot of people called me, and I explained it. I said, 7 "Here's the choice." This is what it is, a very simple 8 thing. It doesn't change ambulance service with the city of 9 Kerrville, doesn't change the future, doesn't change 10 anything. It just says, "How is it funded?" That's all it 11 was. Aside from that, just a reminder that Christmas in 12 Comfort is next Saturday. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That kind of starts early, 14 doesn't it? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, the Saturday after 16 Thanksgiving. So, parade Saturday night, a lighted parade in 17 Comfort. All-day celebration down there the Saturday after 18 Thanksgiving, so I invite everyone down to the eastern part 19 of the county for that. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What's the date on that, 21 Jon? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 23rd? 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Friday or Saturday? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Saturday. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Thanksgiving's on the 22nd, 11-13-12 21 1 isn't it? It'd be the -- 2 JUDGE TINLEY: They got a different calendar in 3 Kendall County. (Laughter.) 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I guess there is -- I guess 5 one -- I don't think it's on the agenda, so I'll mention this 6 too as well, since we're talking about Comfort. Kendall 7 County and their floodplain person and John Hewitt have had 8 several meetings so far about the flooding issue in Comfort 9 and FEMA and how to go forward. And I've talked with them -- 10 both of them about that a little bit, and I think probably 11 we'll have some sort of resolution coming before us before 12 too long supporting Kendall County doing an application to do 13 a study as to how to solve the flooding. And the reason 14 we're very much involved in that is that it's going to really 15 be involved with what -- Cypress Creek is where the water 16 comes from and floods Comfort; the river backs it up. So, 17 we're working with them on that, and we're trying to figure 18 out how we can help them get that accomplished. Looking at 19 lots of different options there, so that's something 20 interesting that we're working on together in Kendall County. 21 That's it. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. A couple of items. Let 23 me follow up on Mr. Stanton's comments about the -- they call 24 it an audit, compliance audit by the Texas Juvenile Justice 25 Department. I know Rusty has his Commission on Jail 11-13-12 22 1 Standards. As usual, earlier this year, he passed that with 2 flying colors, and I think again challenged them to find some 3 noncompliance issue. For juvenile detention facilities, the 4 standards are probably more stringent, because you're dealing 5 with children. They are very technical. They are numerous, 6 to say the least. And when the -- when the inspectors come 7 in and they drop in on you and say, "We're here to check your 8 compliance," or not, there are literally thousands of things 9 that they have available to them to look at, to write you up, 10 as it were, to find that you're not in compliance. 11 At our Juvenile Detention Facility, there was one 12 item of noncompliance of everything that got checked, and 13 that item of noncompliance was something that was not totally 14 within the control of the facility or its management. It 15 required cooperation of outside resources. So, but for that, 16 they would have had an absolute perfect score, which so far 17 as I know, is unheard of in the compliance audit game. Those 18 folks, they justify their existence by going to these 19 facilities and finding noncompliance items. But try as they 20 did, they found the one, and -- and that was outside the 21 control of our facility management. So, my hat's off to 22 them. They do an extraordinary job. They have for many, 23 many years done a wonderful job. Mr. Stanton has done an 24 extraordinary job of managing that facility and juggling 25 those people around to be in compliance with state standards, 11-13-12 23 1 and we appreciate him and everything that he's done to keep 2 that thing moving forward. 3 On another note, I was somewhat amused and puzzled, 4 I guess you might say, about an editorial item by our daily 5 newspaper that I saw -- I guess it was yesterday, giving 6 kudos to our mayor, who I've been remiss in not thanking for 7 being a regular attendee here at our Commissioners Court 8 meetings. We thank you for your interest in what we have 9 going on here, Mayor. But on the one hand, giving him kudos 10 for his spirit of cooperation with the County with regard to 11 joint items which are mutually beneficial to both the City 12 and the County, and then laying the gauntlet at his feet 13 about the library issue, of the County's participation in -- 14 in that issue. I can truly say over the many conversations 15 that the mayor and I have had, and we've had several over the 16 last several weeks, not one time has he mentioned that -- the 17 issue of, quote, default that we heard about of the county 18 under the interlocal agreement. 19 I'm still puzzled where they come up with this term 20 that we're in default. It almost -- methinks that maybe it's 21 one of those things that, even though it's untrue, if you say 22 it enough times, folks will believe it. I furnished copies 23 of the -- of the agreements. They weren't actually 24 requested; I insisted they take them so that they could read 25 for themselves the agreement involving that funding. So, I 11-13-12 24 1 was somewhat puzzled. It's almost as though they were 2 baiting to try and create a controversy. And, Mr. Mayor, I 3 want you to know that I'm not going to take the bait, and I'm 4 confident you won't either. 5 MAYOR PRATT: I don't know what you're talking 6 about, Judge. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Pardon? 8 MAYOR PRATT: I don't know what you're talking 9 about. (Laughter.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. We'll continue to work 11 together. And we may have different viewpoints or ideas 12 about a given subject, but that's normal. But unlike the 13 folks in D.C., we're going to sit down and get things worked 14 out, and that's my -- my pledge to you. And your attitude 15 has been exactly the same in return, and I thank you for it. 16 But we're going to move forward on that basis. And I want 17 the public to know that in spite of the perception that 18 there's an attempt to be created about some sort of 19 difficulty or divisiveness between the City and the County, 20 it flat taint so. So, all right, let's move on. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Good point. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: At this time, I will recess the 23 Commissioners Court meeting, and I will convene a public 24 hearing concerning the abandonment of the private road name 25 Luke Lane West, same being located in Precinct 4. 11-13-12 25 1 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 9:30 a.m., and a public hearing was held in open 2 court, as follows:) 3 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the public 5 that wishes to be heard with regard to the abandonment of the 6 private road name Luke Lane West located in Precinct 4? 7 Seeing no one coming forward or otherwise seeking to be 8 recognized, I will close the public hearing concerning the 9 abandonment of the private road name Luke Lane West located 10 in Precinct 4. 11 (The public hearing was concluded at 9:30 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 12 reopened.) 13 - - - - - - - - - - 14 JUDGE TINLEY: I will reconvene the Commissioners 15 Court meeting and call Item 2; to consider, discuss, and take 16 appropriate action for the final approval to abandon the 17 private road name Luke Lane West located in Precinct 4. 18 Mr. Odom? 19 MR. ODOM: Yes. Thank you, Judge. I see that 20 Commissioner Baldwin has the appropriate colors on. 21 (Laughter.) The 911 office sent us this request back in 22 August, and if you look at the map, there are four individual 23 property owners that their property connects with this road. 24 Robert and Gail Stillwell signed off on the petition for 25 dropping the name, and T. Scott Allen applied for the name 11-13-12 26 1 abandonment. We have questioned why Sandra Chapman and Darby 2 Denison did not sign the petition to drop the road name, and 3 Bill has sent Road and Bridge a letter stating that he was 4 told from Mrs. Chapman that everyone is related to them other 5 than Robert and Gail Stillwell, and I think that was a 6 question y'all had before. I don't know if Bill's here or 7 not, but basically, there doesn't need to be a name on a road 8 because of GIS or GPS location. They have that. So, Bill's 9 comment was that that's not necessary. So, if we have a name 10 or not -- 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's been considered in the 12 past, and now it seems to be a nonissue because of GPS. 13 MR. ODOM: Because of that, that's right. We have 14 just had the public hearing concerning this request. So, at 15 this time, we ask the Court for their final approval 16 concerning the abandonment of the private road name Luke Lane 17 West, Precinct 4. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Move approval. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 21 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a comment, just -- maybe 23 this is more for Jody. I think we need to have Mr. Amerine 24 come over and look at our policy, because this is a change in 25 policy that we have been using for a number of years, and I 11-13-12 27 1 think we need to have that discussion in court. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or comment? All 3 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's go to 8 Item 3; to consider, discuss, take appropriate action for the 9 final approval regarding the alternate plat of 17.04 acres 10 from the ABS A1590 HE & WT Railway, Survey 1420, located in 11 Precinct 4. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: 3. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 3. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Excuse me, Precinct 3. See? These 15 guys are paying attention. It was a test. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Wouldn't be in Precinct 4 17 with the railroad going through. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: I see. Mr. Odom? 19 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. Leslie and Kevin Holland own 20 17.04 acres at 170 Jones Road. The Hollands would like to 21 divide this property into two pieces, Tract 1 totaling 7 22 acres and Tract 2 totaling 10.04 acres. So, at this time, we 23 ask the Court for their final approval -- final approval 24 regarding the alternate plat for ABS A1590 HE & WT Railroad, 25 Survey 1420, located at 170 Jones Road, Precinct 3. 11-13-12 28 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move approval. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 4 approval. Question or discussion? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a comment. This is a -- 6 you know, I'm glad we got this through, and I want to thank 7 Kelly for a lot of work. As simple as it looks on paper, 8 this was probably one of the most difficult plats I've ever 9 had to work with. Kelly will probably agree with that. It's 10 just, you know, an odd-shaped lot. It complies with all of 11 our rules, but it was just -- it took us a long time to get 12 there. So, I appreciate Road and Bridge's efforts on this 13 one. It's something that needs to be done. Thank you. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Other questions? Comments? All in 15 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 16 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 18 (No response.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. We'll go to 20 Item 4; to consider, discuss, take appropriate action for the 21 Court to accept the preliminary revision of plat for Lot 1A 22 in Camp Verde General Store, set forth in Volume 8, Page 102, 23 and Saint Christopher Properties, L.L.C., Tract 2, as set 24 forth in Volume 1292, Page 200, and set a public hearing, the 25 same being located in Precinct 3. 11-13-12 29 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's actually in Precinct 2. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Precinct 2. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It says 3, but it's 2. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Another test, hey? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 6 MR. ODOM: My fault. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Let the record reflect that they 8 haven't gone to sleep before 9:30. 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's right. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, Mr. Odom? 11 MR. ODOM: Terra Fortuna Properties, L.L.C., would 12 like to combine Lot 1 of Camp Verde General Store, Volume 8, 13 Page 102, with 1.5 acres from Saint Christopher Properties, 14 L.L.C., Tract 2, Volume 1292, Page 200, and in -- in order to 15 make Lot 1A, 4.92 acres. At this time, we ask the Court to 16 accept the preliminary revision of plat for Lot 1A of Camp 17 Verde General Store, Volume 8, Page 102, and Saint 18 Christopher Properties, L.L.C., Tract 2, Volume 1292, Page 19 200, and set a public hearing for Wednesday, December the 20 26th, 2012, at 9 a.m., Precinct 2. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Correct. Motion to approve. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to set a 24 public hearing on the matter for December 26th, 2012, at 25 9 a.m. Question or discussion on the motion? 11-13-12 30 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just -- I'll make a quick 2 comment on this, if I might. And the reason I think probably 3 Precinct 3 was involved with this, I was aware this was 4 happening right when there was going to be a change in 5 commissioner of Precinct 2. I worked with them. This is -- 6 I just want to point out the reason for this is Environmental 7 Health and the need to have a larger drain field. They've 8 built the restaurant down there now, a new restaurant, and 9 they contacted our Environmental Health and myself about what 10 they needed to do, because they're having difficulty locating 11 the drain field. And as you know, the folks that own this 12 property have always done -- they went above and beyond. 13 Rather than try to skirt something through or do a -- 14 basically, a septic system that would have been legal, but 15 not necessarily the best way to do it, they went ahead and 16 have gone through this whole process, added some acreage from 17 an adjoining tract that they own to this. And then even 18 further, there was a question whether they actually even 19 needed to come to the Court for some of this, because it was 20 platted originally just because of a -- of an environmental 21 health issue when it was purchased, and it probably didn't 22 even need to come to the Court. But as they have always 23 done, they wanted to make sure everything was done above 24 board and first class, and appreciate all the work they've 25 done. And I really appreciate the -- and those who haven't 11-13-12 31 1 been down there to see what they have built, it is amazing. 2 They have a huge new restaurant with gardens and gazebos and 3 all kinds of stuff going in around the Camp Verde Store. 4 Very, very nice. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Commissioner, I just would 6 echo those comments. Again, we appreciate everything they've 7 done. They've done everything first class on everything 8 they've done. I just support that. 9 MR. ODOM: And may I say, this is preliminary; this 10 is not final. So, we'll be waiting for Environmental Health 11 to sign off. Once they do that, then I'll come for final. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And there was a question 13 whether they actually had to go through the process of a 14 final, because they own all the property, and we decided 15 that, you know, out of caution -- the rules are a little bit 16 gray right here -- that they agreed to go ahead and do a 17 public hearing. But they -- 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The good thing about doing 19 it this way is 25 years down the road, if there's ever a 20 question, you have it in the record. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That is to wise to do it 23 that way. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. So -- okay. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions, comments on the 11-13-12 32 1 motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 2 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 5, to consider, discuss, take appropriate action 8 regarding approval of the application for access cards with 9 Texas Fleet Fuel for purchase of gasoline for Kerr County 10 Sheriff's Office vehicles. Sheriff? 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If y'all recall, about a year 12 ago or so, we brought this to you, and it was approved back 13 then, and we just haven't really gotten it off the ground. 14 So, now I've met back with them; we're looking at it. I'm 15 not doing away with where we purchase our vehicle fuel at 16 this time currently, but I think this is an option that I 17 want to look at that could save us some money on it that 18 would give better reporting for me, and it will give instead 19 of just two or three places in town that my guys can fill up 20 in the evenings or at night when everything else is closed, 21 and if they use those other places, I don't get reports on 22 exactly the gas mileage and things. This will give about 17 23 different locations in town that they can fill up. A lot of 24 school districts use this. A lot of other law enforcement 25 agencies do use it. I wanted to try it first for the 11-13-12 33 1 Sheriff's Office. And if it works out and reports are better 2 and everything, the County may want to expand that and go to 3 other departments in the county for using it. But Mr. Kirk 4 Munch with Texas Fleet Fuel is here. And he came up this 5 morning from Austin, I guess. 6 MR. MUNCH: Canyon Lake. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Canyon Lake area, and is more 8 than happy to answer any questions that you might have 9 considering it. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Sheriff, as I recall, we authorized 11 this for discretionary use by -- by county departments 12 sometime back; is that not correct? 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It was authorized before -- I 14 guess it's been close to a year, year and a half ago. I 15 brought it to the Court then for -- for the Sheriff's Office. 16 I don't remember, and I didn't go back and look at what that 17 court order -- since it had been so long and we hadn't done 18 anything, I decided just to start over from scratch, as you 19 might say, and see what we can get going again on it. See if 20 we can save some fuel. You know, just to give you an idea, I 21 know October was a higher month in gasoline prices, but just 22 the Sheriff's Office gasoline bill for the month of October 23 was a little over $16,000, and if we can save some money 24 there and get better reporting on my vehicles and give them 25 better options, I think we need to look at that. 11-13-12 34 1 JUDGE TINLEY: You're not abandoning your existing 2 fuel source; you're just creating another option for 3 yourself? 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Creating another option, to 5 see where we can go. Okay, if y'all would like to ask 6 Mr. Munch some questions, he'll be more than happy to explain 7 some of the details about it. 8 MR. MUNCH: Morning. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Morning. 10 MR. MUNCH: Any questions about what we're going to 11 do or anything? Any details? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Anything change in the last 13 year? 14 MR. MUNCH: Just probably some more locations that 15 are available to you. Our program's pretty much been the 16 same since day one as far as the way we report and handle our 17 business with the counties and school districts, but our 18 locations have grown. We're part of the Fuelman network. 19 So, we lose some, but we gain some. Fuel seems to be a 20 pretty popular thing to sell these days. So -- but other 21 than that, you know, as technology has enhanced our ability 22 to report and create the information you're requesting, it 23 will be enhanced as well. We give weekly reports instead of 24 monthly reports. And Nancy and -- and the Sheriff will have 25 the ability to sign on, look at those daily. It's realtime 11-13-12 35 1 reporting. If anything goes on at the pumps that is not 2 designated specifically to the way the County has set it up, 3 there is an alert sent in real time; today, now. Not -- you 4 don't look at it at the end of the month. 5 So, we're -- we go where you go. Wherever the fuel 6 is, wherever the car is, we're constantly monitoring that, so 7 we provide the tools to micromanage that. And people 8 generally approach us when they're concerned about fuel and 9 -- and the use of fuel. So, at $4 a gallon, roughly, across 10 the board, it's very high on everybody's priority list, so we 11 kind of try to -- our objective is to take some of the load 12 off the County. Our businesses that are trying the run their 13 businesses, the fuel part of it tends to be a business within 14 the business, so we try to alleviate some of the 15 administrative costs by providing the information and making 16 it regularly available and easier for them to reconcile 17 budget, things of that nature. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: In the past year, has the number of 19 participants in your program increased? 20 MR. MUNCH: Absolutely. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: By what percentage, approximately? 22 MR. MUNCH: Honestly, Judge, I'm not exactly sure. 23 In terms of gallons, our gallons, we're almost at 900,000 24 gallons a week that we pump. And we probably -- last year, 25 we grew it 5 percent, and according to my sales manager that 11-13-12 36 1 we're -- we have grown another 5 percent. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, thank you. 3 MR. MUNCH: Anything else? 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions? Thank you, 5 sir. We appreciate you being here today. 6 MR. MUNCH: Thank you, Judge. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No action? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Pardon? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Don't need any action? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Are you requesting action by the 11 Court? 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Only if -- you know, it was 13 approved a year ago, like I said. But if you want to start 14 over with a clean slate, since we are starting it, then yes, 15 I would request just a motion that we go forward with it. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Approving your going forward with 17 it? 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And -- no, because the 19 application -- you'll have to have the authority to sign the 20 application -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- with the Sheriff on the 23 contract. But -- 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Be an annual contract? 25 MR. MUNCH: There are no contracts, no fees. There 11-13-12 37 1 are no additional fees. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Just an agreement? 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's an agreement that it goes 4 with that price. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Will that be done annually, 6 or just a one-time thing? 7 MR. MUNCH: It's a one-time thing, yes, sir. 8 People that sign with us tend to stick with us. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: And a year ago, when we approved it, 10 there -- there was -- we did not submit an application? 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's correct. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: So, what you need approval on is the 13 submission of the application by the County to -- to the 14 program? 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's correct. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And you have to sign. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Presumably, yeah. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The County Judge to sign. Move 21 approval. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 24 approval to submit the application to be signed by the County 25 Judge in the program Texas Fleet Fuel. Question or 11-13-12 38 1 discussion? All in favor, signify by raising your right 2 hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 5 (No response.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Item 6, 7 consider, discuss, take appropriate action for the final 8 approval to name private road Wooden Nickel Road North 9 located in Precinct 1. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There you go. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Odom? Yes, sir. Mr. and 12 Mrs. Mall have made a request through 911 office to name the 13 private road to their property Wooden Nickel Road North. 14 This road is located off Scenic Hills Road. The road is a 15 private road that is privately maintained. The owners of 16 this property are brother and sister, and they have both 17 signed off on the petition to name this road. So, at this 18 time, we ask the Court for their final approval to name this 19 private road Wooden Nickel Road North, Precinct 1. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Move for approval. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Second. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 23 approval. Question or discussion? 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Gosh, I can't believe Charlie 25 Forster didn't latch onto that one. 11-13-12 39 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I know. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: He's out now. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? 4 All in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion carries. Item 7, to 9 consider, discuss, take appropriate action for the final 10 approval to name private road Kloss Ranch Road Northwest, 11 located in Precinct 4. 12 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. Ms. Kloss and Mr. and 13 Mrs. Sanders have requested through the 911 office the 14 private road name, Kloss Ranch Road Northwest. This road is 15 located off Farm-Market 479. It's a private road that is 16 privately maintained. The two owners of the property 17 involved have signed off on the road name. At this time, we 18 ask the Court for their final approval to name this road 19 Kloss Ranch Road Northwest, Precinct 4. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Move approval. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 23 approval. Question or discussion? 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Bruce, where is that? 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Good question. 11-13-12 40 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I can't tell. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Where is it? Do you know 3 what -- where on 479? I don't know where it is on 479. 4 MR. ODOM: I'm not quite sure. When I try to -- I 5 know where it's at, but it's closer back up to I-10, I think. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: From the -- on the other side 7 of 10, but closer back? 8 MR. ODOM: Right. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It says in here it's in 10 Oehler Estates. Is that your house? Is that your house? 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Oh, that's my grandfather's 12 place. That was the old home place up there. So -- so 13 that's further back. That's back up toward here. 14 MR. ODOM: Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Just telling you what 16 it said. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's right -- it's right past 18 my grandfather's old house there on the left there. 19 MR. ODOM: On the left. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The property has two owners. 21 There were 58 acres there, and they spit it in half, I think. 22 See there? Ask me; I'll tell you where it is. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: There's a history there. 24 MR. ODOM: Few years back. We subdivided something 25 back in there a few years ago. 11-13-12 41 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah, quite a while ago. We 2 had some septic issue with that, but it's been resolved. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Other questions or comments? All in 4 favor of the 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. Let's move to Item 9 8; to consider, discuss, take appropriate action to approve 10 the Chapter 59 Asset Forfeiture Audit Report for the Kerr 11 County Sheriff's Office as required by Article 59.046 of the 12 Code of Criminal Procedure. Sheriff? 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I assume y'all have a copy. 14 This is our yearly reports that we have to do. What it 15 amounts to is the ending balance in the Sheriff's Office 16 forfeiture account. These are funds that have already been 17 forfeited, and they actually belong to the Sheriff's Office 18 for law enforcement purposes. There's now $41,565, and this 19 report will have to be signed by me and the Judge to be sent 20 to Austin. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is one of your little 22 cubbyholes of money, right? 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: This is a report that has to 24 be signed by me. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Wasn't he going to donate 11-13-12 42 1 that to help the D.A.'s office go in over there? 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: No, we have other -- other things to 4 respond to that. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move we approve the Chapter 7 59 Asset Forfeiture Audit report. 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Allow the Judge to sign the 9 same? 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And authorize County Judge to 12 sign same. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second for 14 approval as indicated. Question or discussion? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Where is -- where is the 16 audit report? Did y'all get one? 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Right here in my hot little hand. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You got one; I didn't. I'm 19 the only one that didn't get one. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No, you're not the only one. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So -- 22 JUDGE TINLEY: The Auditor, I'm sure, has reviewed 23 it. She stepped out. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes, the Auditor -- they 25 actually did -- they came out and did the audit. It's just 11-13-12 43 1 when it got put on the agenda, I think it ended up with my 2 name on it, so I brought you our copy and submitted it. But 3 it has been done by the Auditor's office. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Otherwise, you wouldn't have 5 to be here, huh? 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, we have some things at 7 the end of the agenda, reports. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Other questions or comments? All in 9 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's go 14 ahead and take Item 9; consider, discuss, take appropriate 15 action on fiscal year 2011-12 Chapter 59 Asset Forfeiture 16 Report for Constable, Precinct 1, Constable, Precinct 2, 17 Constable, Precinct 3, and this says the Kerr County Sheriff, 18 as required by Article 59.006, Code of Criminal Procedure. 19 We've already got the county sheriff, so what we're looking 20 at is the three constables' reports. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Maybe we ought to wait for the 22 Auditor to come back. 23 MR. LAVENDER: She just stepped out. I don't think 24 she ran out on you. We've all submitted those. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We have yours. 11-13-12 44 1 MR. LAVENDER: Well, we've all submitted those 2 through the Auditor's office, and she's reviewed them. 3 And -- did she come back? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How much money do y'all have? 5 MR. LAVENDER: I have $766.82. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: May go down from there. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: This says 81 cents. 8 MR. LAVENDER: What did I say? 9 JUDGE TINLEY: 82. 10 MR. LAVENDER: I'm sorry. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Precinct 1. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Boy, you got to be careful shooting 13 from the hip, you know. 14 MR. LAVENDER: Yeah, I know. One penny's a pretty 15 big deal on the amount. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, what do the others show? 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's take a look here. 18 MR. LAVENDER: I don't have the other guys' 19 memorized; don't ask me that question. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: $235 on Precinct 2, it appears. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Not as wealthy. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: And Precinct 3, I think the balance 23 is going to be zero. Total expenditures, 156.97. That was 24 the beginning balance, so the expenditures equal the 25 beginning balance, which would leave a balance of zero, it 11-13-12 45 1 appears. Let me make sure I didn't misspeak on Precinct 2. 2 That balance also is going to be zero, because it reflects 3 $235 purchase, which, of course, would equal the beginning 4 balance, and there were no receipt of any forfeited funds, so 5 that one also is going to be zero. Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move we accept the Asset 7 Forfeiture Reports due under Chapter 59 for the Constable, 8 Precinct 1; Constable, Precinct 2; Constable, Precinct 3, and 9 authorize County Judge to sign same. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 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: Motion does carry. We finally made 18 it to our 9:30 item at 9:52, it appears. Consider, discuss, 19 take appropriate action on the request to use the courthouse 20 grounds for the Cowboy Breakfast on January the 11th, 2013. 21 Mr. Talarico and Ms. Craddock. 22 MR. TALARICO: Good morning. 23 MS. CRADDOCK: Good morning. 24 MR. TALARICO: We would sure like to use the 25 courthouse lawn again on January 11th for our annual Cowboy 11-13-12 46 1 Breakfast. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Sounds like a plan to me. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Mayor, that's where you and I 4 are going to have a wide difference in the cow chip toss. 5 So, if the newspaper wants to promote -- 6 MAYOR PRATT: I get gloves and you don't. 7 (Laughter.) 8 MR. TALARICO: Actually, this year, at the Judge's 9 request, we do have a new hazing rule for the cow chip. We 10 will make sure that Commissioner Moser has the freshest patty 11 available. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: I think that's only fair, being the 13 freshest -- 14 MR. TALARICO: I agree. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: -- member of the Court. 16 MR. MOSER: I get to practice? 17 MR. TALARICO: No. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The mayor ought to do a 19 little goat milking, is what I think. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: No, we're beyond the goat milking. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You're past the goat milking? 22 MR. TALARICO: We're in the chips, not the milk. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So what about the new rule 24 of, if the County wins it one more time, which will be three 25 in a row, we get to keep the trophy over here? 11-13-12 47 1 MR. TALARICO: Are we going to have to make you 2 your own trophy just for you to keep? You ask that all the 3 time. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes. 5 MR. TALARICO: I'll tell you what. If you win it a 6 third year in a row, we'll go ahead and figure out a way to 7 let you keep that trophy, if you really want to be known as 8 the cow chip king. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: For 29.95, he can purchase 10 his own trophy. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We may have to get a -- 12 MR. TALARICO: I think there's some money in the 13 forfeiture funds, that we can probably do that. (Laughter.) 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's good. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's good. As long as the 16 County Attorney and the Sheriff heard your statement, I'm 17 happy. 18 MR. TALARICO: We'll take the money from the 19 forfeiture fund to pay -- no, I'm just teasing. So, how 20 about December 11th? That work? 21 MS. CRADDOCK: January 11th. 22 MR. TALARICO: January 11th. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I move approval. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 11-13-12 48 1 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor, signify by 2 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. 7 MR. TALARICO: Thank you, gentlemen. See you out 8 there. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, folks. Appreciate you 10 being here. 11 MS. CRADDOCK: Yes, sir. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's -- gosh, we're not 13 quite to 10 o'clock, are we? Item 11; consider, discuss, 14 take appropriate action to approve PR-7, credit for plastic 15 piping; PR-8, toilet accessory modifications; PR-9, delete 16 existing connection, labor only, material on-site; and PR-10, 17 revise fire line per designer direction for the Show Barn at 18 the Hill Country Youth Event Center, and allow the County 19 Judge to sign same. I had an e-mail this morning from 20 Mr. Lewis. He's got a schedule conflict, and his -- his 21 compadre, Mr. Hatch, is not available. So -- 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We can carry it. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: -- we'll carry the ball here. 24 Commissioner Oehler, can you handle these change orders for 25 the show barn? 11-13-12 49 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'll handle it, and Jon can 2 do part of it. What it amounts to is the credit on the 3 plastic piping is -- is the one that -- where we eliminated 4 the copper. That's what that is. That's kind of ratifying 5 that change. The -- the one that has to do with -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll do the second one. The 7 second one, the toilet accessory mods, what we're doing 8 there -- 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's -- we're going to do 10 the big roll of toilet paper dispensers, rather than the -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Maintenance is going to install 12 the toilet -- the fixtures in the bathrooms, and so that's a 13 deduct, but then there's an increase for the partitions in 14 the bathrooms. They're going to go with a solid plastic, as 15 opposed to a laminate; last a lot longer. And in case last 16 time you didn't get to look at it, this is the product we're 17 going to use. I selected the color yesterday. Unless one of 18 y'all want to change the color, that's the color that we're 19 getting, okay? 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The other thing is -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is it blue and gold? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Wasn't an option. They had a 23 maroon, but I just couldn't go that far. (Laughter.) 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The other thing is the fire 25 line. Now, we've changed that one time already, and we 11-13-12 50 1 extended it, and we had -- we had an increase on that. Well, 2 mainly because we went to larger size pipe. But then we 3 discovered that there was going to be -- the connection for 4 the fire deal was going to be in the middle of the parking 5 lot; going to be 30 feet from the building, right in the 6 middle of the driveway that goes around the building. And so 7 what we've done is, we've moved it down to the back fence to 8 where it's out of the way, where maybe it won't get run over. 9 And that's the -- that's the reason for the additional change 10 and the additional expenditure. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tell me what it is that 12 you're moving. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We're just extending the fire 14 line -- the new fire line on -- it's quite a bit further. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Stops there? Or is there a 16 stand pipe or is there a hydrant? 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, there'll be a fire 18 hydrant. And you don't want that hydrant then to have 19 bollards around it right in the middle of your driveway. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't -- 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: This is just extending it 22 farther on away from the location that was kind of -- how do 23 I put this? -- recommended by the Fire Chief of Kerrville. 24 But we accomplished what his requirements were, so that we 25 can still go either way with 500 feet of fire line and meet, 11-13-12 51 1 you know, their code or whatever. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But get it out of the parking 4 lot. That's what it amounts to. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And then a comment on PR-9 is 6 really the only one that we maybe will need to discuss a 7 little bit. There was discussion previously, not -- more on 8 the job site. There was -- in the original plan, there's a 9 little covered connection between the new barn and the 10 existing exhibit hall. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the idea was to take that 13 out. And I started looking at that yesterday, and I have a 14 second thought whether that's a good idea. Saves us -- it 15 saves us $1,250 of labor and materials that were already 16 delivered, and I haven't -- I meant to talk with Commissioner 17 Oehler about this previously, but I haven't had a chance. I 18 think we ought to go ahead with this one and put it in. And 19 my thought process is, if we don't, sure as anything, we're 20 going to have a stock show auction on the coldest day of the 21 year, and rain, and you're going to get -- it's going to be 22 harder to keep the -- where the bidders are cool -- or warm 23 if we have that open, because you're going to have to have 24 animals walking back and forth between the two barns. You 25 have two heated buildings; that's about an 8-foot area in 11-13-12 52 1 between, or 6 foot just between them. I think we ought to go 2 ahead and make the connection. It's not that much money. 3 It's $1,250 we'd save, but it's kind of -- that's just -- 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Stock show doesn't have a 5 problem with leaving it out. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, but -- I know, but that's 7 just -- I'm just thinking -- 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, yeah. And if, for some 9 reason, that -- you know, the funding wasn't available for 10 Phase 2 sometime soon -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You'd need it. But it's just 12 -- I can just see an issue on that, on a very important date. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, the other thing is 14 about that, and you're right, is if you don't close that in, 15 that gives access between the buildings to some kids that can 16 get in there, and probably ought not be there. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. That's -- anyway, I 18 think that PR is -- I think we should go ahead and leave the 19 connection in, which is not approving the PR-9. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: So, what you're seeking is that we 21 not include within the approval of change items, we not 22 include PR-9? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that's my motion. 11-13-12 53 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to approve 3 the listed change items, with the exception of PR-9, which is 4 deleted, and authorize the County Judge to approve same. 5 Question or discussion on the motion? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a few other comments. Can 7 I make comments on this? Anyway, just on the status, 8 everything's pretty much on schedule. There was a slight 9 delay in the concrete block where the CMU block -- there was 10 some -- some of the anchored rebar anchored in the concrete 11 were not done properly. Bill Maxwell has come up with a 12 solution. They're working through that. It did slow that up 13 a little bit, but they believe they're going to be -- you 14 know, they're still on schedule. They are working on the 15 block right now on the east and the south side. A lot of it, 16 part of that, the wall's already up to 8 foot high. They're 17 doing the block in the interior, the bathrooms, the wash 18 racks; that's all going underway. It's -- they're still 19 basically on schedule. Looks a little bit tight, but 20 certainly -- by the 15th date, but certainly by the end of 21 the month. And we had talked earlier about having a -- maybe 22 a photo op, press -- invite the press out there at about this 23 time in the construction. If we want to do that, we need to 24 kind of set something up really in the next week or so. So, 25 if you'll -- that's kind of if we want to do that. Maybe 11-13-12 54 1 I'll just visit with Commissioner Oehler a little bit about 2 it. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's fine. It's no 4 problem; that's easy to get done. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because we talked about when 6 the building was roofed and it's open, and try and let the 7 community have a little bit of an idea of what it's looking 8 like, how big it is. You can see it, certainly, from the 9 highway, but they are keeping it pretty -- there's a fence 10 around it. They don't let people in, which is good. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The other thing that has 12 happened that may have not kept things quite as on track as 13 they were is the foreman from Journeyman, that -- the project 14 manager, whatever you want to call him, was called away to go 15 to San Angelo to clean up a mess they had up there. They 16 had, like, a cabinetmaker that didn't fulfill his agreement, 17 and he had to do this stuff himself. And I'll be glad to 18 have Brian back. He is -- Brian Walker is an excellent 19 pusher and mover and shaker of those crews, and he schedules 20 things much better, and I -- I think he's either going to be 21 back today or tomorrow. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thursday. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Thursday now? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He'll be back Thursday. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: When he gets back, there will 11-13-12 55 1 be some jumping and moving that may have been just a little 2 bit slowed down over the last couple weeks. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'd like to just see that. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, you know, Jon, you were 5 talking about so that the community can kind of get an idea 6 of what -- I've had a lot of comments from the community. 7 Essentially, that thing is huge. 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It is. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's bigger when you get in it, 10 I'll tell you. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: And it's -- you don't have to get 12 inside the construction fence. It's visible from the road, 13 and it -- folks see it, I guarantee you. They see it, and 14 they -- they've made a lot of comments about it. They seem 15 to be quite pleased that we're moving forward on the project, 16 from the comments I've got. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: People just need to 18 visualize, Phase 2 will be that same height and be coming all 19 the way forward to where the existing building is now. And 20 that'll really be impressive, and I have faith it's going to 21 get done. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Commissioner Letz, on 23 your -- on your motion and contract change, these numbers out 24 here beside, do you think they'll automatically change with 25 the court order? Or should you add some verbiage there to 11-13-12 56 1 change the numbers accordingly? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it will change 3 automatically when the PR is not approved. So, basically, 4 it'll add to the total change order amount. Instead of being 5 $5,698.92, it will be an additional $1,250 to that number. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay? 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: There will be -- a little 9 farther down the road, there will be -- 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Some more? 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No, there will be a change 12 for less. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh. I like that talk. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah, I do too. That won't 15 -- that's not right now, but right toward the end of the -- 16 JUDGE TINLEY: We've got the change orders here, 17 Commissioner, and what I will do is in the -- in the change 18 schedule on the front of the contract, it has Item 3, PR-9, 19 delete existing connection, and I will delete that. And 20 that, of course, will modify the numbers. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, very good. Thank you. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. Any other questions or 23 comments on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify 24 by raising your right hand. 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11-13-12 57 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 2 (No response.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. We're still 4 a little bit behind; I thought we'd catch up by 10:00. But 5 let's go to Item 12; to consider, discuss, and take 6 appropriate action on request from the Kerrville Christmas 7 Lighting Corporation and Kerrville Rotary to host a tree 8 lighting ceremony on the courthouse lawn on Friday, November 9 30, 2012. There he is. Mr. Eychner. 10 MR. EYCHNER: Yes, sir. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. 12 MR. EYCHNER: I need to start off with an apology. 13 We kind of got ahead of ourselves, and probably should have 14 done this back when. But as you can see by the brochure 15 here, that we are planning to hold a tree lighting ceremony 16 on the 30th of November, and in conjunction with the downtown 17 stroll. And I apologize we didn't bring this up sooner, but 18 I'm assuming and hoping that you will take pity on us and 19 allow us to go ahead and do this on the 30th. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't think we want to 21 cancel Christmas. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Weren't looking for the Grinch, were 25 you? 11-13-12 58 1 MR. EYCHNER: No. No, sir. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 3 MR. EYCHNER: I appreciate your good spirit. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I enjoyed your horn playing 5 yesterday. 6 MR. EYCHNER: Well, thank you. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That was good. That was 8 very good, sir. Thank you. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second. Do we 10 have any questions or discussion? Any Grinches wanting to 11 step forward? (Laughter.) 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I could come up with 13 something. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, you wouldn't want to do it 15 with a maroon shirt on. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, that's true. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Leonard would -- he'd probably take 18 offense to that. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, he would. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All in favor of the motion, signify 21 by raising your right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. 11-13-12 59 1 MR. EYCHNER: Bless you. Thank you. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: We hope you have a great -- a great 3 event and everything works out. 4 MR. EYCHNER: Thank you. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's go to Item 13; to 6 consider, discuss, take appropriate action to authorize Kerr 7 County to prepare regional water planning grant application 8 to Texas Water Development Board for eastern Kerr County and 9 western Kendall County. Commissioner Letz? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This -- I mentioned this at the 11 last meeting. I just wanted to put it on the agenda. This 12 is the group that has gotten together; U.G.R.A., Kerr County, 13 Headwaters, G.B.R.A., Cow Creek, and Kendall County Water 14 Improvement District, and Kendall County, and it's just 15 like -- it's a regional water planning grant. This is just 16 to prepare the application; we're not approving anything at 17 this point, but this will pretty much, I think, allow 18 everyone to go forward. Tetra Tech's going to prepare the 19 application for us, and we will line up the -- the in-kind 20 part, which is the big question. And that's the -- you know, 21 I won't recommend it unless we get in-kind support from the 22 other entities that will make up for the -- the total amount, 23 and I think we will. But this is just a -- you know, kind of 24 authorizing us to go ahead and go forward. And I know Ray 25 Buck's here. I don't know -- Ray, do you have any comments 11-13-12 60 1 you want to make? Or -- 2 MR. BUCK: Good morning. Yes, I'd like to support 3 Jonathan's recommendation. We meet -- you know, U.G.R.A. has 4 2,000 acre-foot right in the river, water rights right now, 5 which every year is running down to Canyon Lake, we're giving 6 to G.B.R.A. to sell. We're looking for ways to utilize that 7 water for Kerr County. This is one way. Jonathan and I met 8 -- I think one of my directors met with him, trying to 9 determine how best to go forward. And as you know, Jonathan 10 has quite a bit of experience with the Plateau Water Planning 11 Group. He's held that group together for I don't know how 12 many years now, Jonathan. It's over 10, I know. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Long time. 14 MR. BUCK: But you're talking about facilitating 15 diverse interests from all the way from Del Rio's water needs 16 to Kerr County's water needs, and we felt like Jonathan would 17 be the person that would be able to pull these diverse groups 18 together; Kendall County's interests, Kerr County's 19 interests. As he noted, there's seven different entities 20 involved, and it's going to take some facilitation to make 21 sure they're all on the same page. So, with that, I'll be 22 happy to answer any other questions you may have. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're not creating a new 24 planning group, are we? 25 MR. BUCK: No, sir. 11-13-12 61 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Like the old Region J? 2 MR. BUCK: This is taking what Region J has down to 3 the ground level and actually developing a strategy. As you 4 know, the County has -- can I mention the 6,000 acre-foot? 5 The County has a 6,000 acre-foot MOU with G.B.R.A., so we see 6 that that -- that maybe that portion of that water could help 7 Kendall County as well as Kerr County, and then our water 8 rights would help Kerr County. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner, to answer your 10 question a little bit more, this is kind of in conjunction 11 with the regional water planning. One of the problems this 12 area has is it's -- Kendall County's in Region L; Kerr 13 County's in Region J. And I think there's been some 14 legislation actually for the next session. That's one of the 15 problems with this planning -- water planning statewide, is 16 there's no real mechanism for the regional groups to talk to 17 each other, and things like this are kind of falling through 18 the cracks statewide. We've gone -- you know, kind of Region 19 L and Region J will be working together on this, but we're 20 going down to a much more detailed level than either one of 21 those entities have funding to do. It's a very specific 22 grant, but it has to be in conjunction; Water Development 23 Board requires it. This is not -- we're not going outside 24 the planning process. It's just really kind of a more 25 in-depth study. 11-13-12 62 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Makes a lot more sense than 2 being -- I'd like to see it change. It doesn't make sense to 3 me to be in a planning group with Del Rio. What kind of 4 communication do you have there? I mean, what like-minded -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Get to go down there and have 6 lunch once a year. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Camp Wood. 8 MR. BUCK: Very exciting drive. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Y'all go on tours of Camp 10 Wood, I understand. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Jody can't wait. 12 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It's an annual trip. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: If you want to divert those San 14 Felipe Springs up here, that would be okay. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion to approve. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll -- go ahead. I'll 17 second that. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 19 approval of the agenda item. Further question or discussion? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The actual application will 21 come back before the Court probably the first meeting in 22 December, hopefully. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What's the likelihood of 24 getting the grant? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Very high. 11-13-12 63 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Really? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They -- they like the fact that 5 we are seven entities working together, and two different 6 regional water planning groups working together. That's a 7 big positive. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. Yeah, regional, 9 regional, regional. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Regional, regional. Yeah, 11 regional, regional, and a very small area of Kerr and Kendall 12 County. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? 14 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 15 hand. 16 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 18 (No response.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 20 MR. BUCK: Thank you. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Item 14 is to consider, discuss, 22 take appropriate action to develop a master plan for the 23 courthouse square. Commissioner Letz? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. At the last meeting, I 25 think I brought this up. And -- 11-13-12 64 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's why you get to be in 2 charge of it. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. And I really -- it's 4 something I think I've talked about numerous times. Every 5 time we get some sort of a donation, I bring up that we 6 really need to do a better job of planning things for the 7 courthouse, and I've -- you know, I think I've complained 8 about all kinds of things that we get. And -- and part of 9 the issue is we don't have a good way to say no. We don't 10 have a policy, and I really think that it helps if -- we can 11 certainly do whatever we want, whoever's on the Court at the 12 time. But I know the airport recently did something similar 13 to this, 'cause they exhibit art, and they came up with 14 guidelines that, you know, they use out there -- or Bruce 15 McKenzie uses as to what kind of art they do. I think we 16 need to kind of, you know, not be that specific. Hopefully 17 we're not going to get much art on the square, but we need to 18 have some policy as to what we accept, you know, what kind of 19 gifts we're willing to take. We don't want to be a 20 repository for all kinds of odd things. Not that we have any 21 odd things on the courthouse square right now, but, you know, 22 I just think that we need to be careful. It's a beautiful 23 courthouse square. 24 We need to look at the -- we have a lot of trees 25 that probably need to be -- should be replaced. I know I've 11-13-12 65 1 talked to Commissioner Baldwin a little bit about it, about 2 some small trees that go along Main Street. We've had a lot 3 of hackberries and mesquites that died over time, a couple 4 cedars that I think we took out. So, there's some things 5 that we can do there, but we need to have a plan. I asked 6 Maintenance, and Tim came up with a -- a drawing, which is a 7 big first step. This shows the lighting from a number of 8 years ago, but we need to have a digitized map anyway that 9 shows where every tree is. Most of the items are already on 10 here. What we don't know for sure is who did it, so we don't 11 have a digital copy of it. I talked to Peter Lewis about the 12 best way to proceed, you know, since we do have a plan, but 13 we don't have, at this time, a digital format. He 14 recommended that we go out and try to hire a draft person and 15 go over there and recreate a copy that then we own. 16 There's some lighting information on here which is 17 probably outdated; that would be deleted off of it, but at 18 least we'd have an actual plan that we have the copy of the 19 digital format of the courthouse square, and move forward. 20 That's the first part of it, to get something to work from. 21 Second is how we go about developing the policy and the plan, 22 which obviously would include Rotary's gift of the -- I 23 guess, the base area for the Christmas tree. And I'm open to 24 that as to how we go forward. If you want to bring in some 25 members of the community, if we just want to wing it and put 11-13-12 66 1 it out for, you know, comment. We're not talking about a 2 whole lot of changes right now. The main thing is that, you 3 know, we have discussions or kind of on the table of the 4 gazebo, possibly moving it, and where you put the gift from 5 Rotary Club for the base for the Christmas tree. And in that 6 discussion, the cannon has come up a little bit, if that's 7 the best location for the cannon, where it is right now. So, 8 anyway, there's things like that that need to be discussed. 9 I just need a little bit of guidance on how the Court thinks 10 we should proceed. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, Commissioner, let me -- let me 12 inquire of you. You've -- you've been the one that's 13 probably been the most vocal about being careful and -- and 14 trying to keep some sort of balance in mind on the courthouse 15 square over the years. I can recall you having some concern 16 before I came on the court in 2003; that's 10 years ago, 17 about some -- as I recall, they were birdhouses. So, you -- 18 you've been actively involved in this. And, of course, my 19 thinking would be that if you continue to be involved in the 20 process -- and I assume you're willing to be? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure, I'm willing -- certainly 22 willing to be involved, but I think that there -- you know, I 23 think we need to have input from others. I mean, I know that 24 there were some members of the Historical Commission; we're 25 getting ready to have lunch with some of them. I really 11-13-12 67 1 think they should be involved. We have historical -- there's 2 some historical items at the courthouse. I think -- you 3 know, I think we need to get some members of the community 4 involved, because we're talking about a -- also a little bit 5 of a policy as to what we should accept and what the -- what 6 the community expects to be on the courthouse square. You 7 know, so I'm not -- you know -- 8 JUDGE TINLEY: I understand. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Maybe the best thing to do 10 would be to not take any firm action today. I can go out and 11 get a quote for what it costs to get the digitized -- we can 12 approve that at the next court meeting, and then put it out 13 to the public, that hopefully the press maybe will publicize 14 this a little bit as to people that would like to be 15 involved. I know there's one member in the audience that 16 wants to be involved, or has offered to be involved, 17 Ms. Ables. That can let me know, and then I can bring it up; 18 we can maybe form a little committee at the next 19 Commissioners Court meeting. Something like that might be 20 appropriate. Then we can go out to some groups, and if any 21 members of the Court know specific groups that should be 22 involved and may want to be involved. You know, maybe 23 somebody from an architectural-type firm. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Landscaping type. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Landscaping-type person. 11-13-12 68 1 Should be, you know, someone that has an eye for that, and 2 just balance and things of that nature. I think that's kind 3 of the way to go, so we'll just go that way. And anyone can 4 contact me if they'd like to be on the committee, and we'll 5 put the committee together and give it a more specific 6 charge. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: To give you an example of 8 thoughts, yesterday I attended the Veterans' Day program out 9 here on the lawn, and one of the speakers made the statement, 10 some -- you know, something like, you know, "We appreciate 11 the 'X' amount of numbers of folks' names that are on the 12 memorial right now, and very soon we'll be adding the rest of 13 them." I don't know -- I don't know what that means, 14 exactly, but I hope someone will come forward soon and say 15 there's going to be an addition; there's going to be a new -- 16 some -- what do you call these -- 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Two new panels. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Panels. New panels going up 19 with new names and those kind of things. That -- I mean, I 20 have -- I don't know anything about it, but we need to get 21 that out on the table as well. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mm-hmm. And I think the -- I 23 saw, I guess, an e-mail that had a new recommended policy 24 that I guess is coming to the Court sometime. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, we have a committee that -- 11-13-12 69 1 that is vetting that with the stakeholders, various veterans 2 groups and so forth. In fact, the two panels that we're 3 talking about, they're sitting in Georgia waiting on 4 instructions about how to -- how to format the additional 5 names and the conflicts. They're -- they're ready to go; 6 they're set aside and ready. And this committee will come 7 back to the Court to make a recommendation as to, number one, 8 the policy for inclusion of individuals, and they've got a 9 draft policy they're working on. There was a pretty good 10 void in terms of time that -- there seemed to be some 11 disconnect that they've now got resolved. And veterans 12 groups are actively involved, and hopefully within the next 13 few months, why, we can get that recommendation. We'll be 14 the ones that actually approve it, but they will be making a 15 recommendation. Beyond that, then they will, in accordance 16 with that policy, be a vetting organization or a group for 17 individual names to come before them to determine if, in 18 fact, they meet the criteria that's adopted by the Court for 19 the purpose of inclusion later. But we want to get -- we 20 want to get all the names that we can on it while those 21 panels are there in Georgia, because it is -- they can do a 22 much better job if they do it there. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's right. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Before they set those panels. We've 25 got everything ready to set them. It's just a matter of -- 11-13-12 70 1 of that committee coming to us, and we'll -- we'll get that 2 based on their recommendation, or maybe modifications made by 3 the Court, but that's in process. But that'll be an 4 expansion that's, in essence, already been approved, but it's 5 in the process of happening now. So -- but we're going to 6 get there. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So if there's going to be a 8 change in the criteria used to have the name put on there, a 9 change from what we have today, -- 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- which I kind of like what 12 we're doing today, but if there's a better way to build a 13 mousetrap, I'm certainly for it. But we need to -- need to 14 do that before they -- before sticking names on. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, absolutely. And that's why the 16 thing is in a hold -- on a hold process right now. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: It's in a holding pattern until 19 those criteria are determined. And then, based upon that, 20 there will be individuals who will be vetted to determine if 21 they comply with criteria. If, in fact, they do, then, of 22 course, there will be direction to given to the folks in 23 Georgia to engrave those into the stone panels that we 24 already have there. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, just one more comment on 11-13-12 71 1 that, just to make sure I understand. I guess probably where 2 the policy looks like it may be going is that it's going to 3 have a date certain that, from that point forward, this is 4 the policy, and it's not going to be retroactive to try to go 5 back to the past. Is that your understanding? Because if 6 the policy changes, it's possible that there's -- say they 7 pick 2000, is the year they're going to start with the new 8 policy, or it's effective that date. There may be people 9 that would be eligible under the new policy that weren't 10 eligible under the old policy, but -- so it seems like it 11 would be really confusing if you have to go back to day one 12 and try to vet some of these. You'd kind of have a date 13 certain moving forward. Is that the idea, or are you 14 certain? 15 JUDGE TINLEY: There's been some suggestion that 16 maybe some of the Vietnam individuals who should be on there 17 were somehow omitted at the time because the -- the research 18 available was -- or was not available at the time to 19 determine that eligibility. I don't think it's going to be a 20 matter of once the policy is set, from that date forward. 21 There are a number of individuals that, in the more recent 22 conflicts, and I'm talking about since Vietnam, that -- that 23 I think there's going to be a request for inclusion based 24 upon the new policy. I don't think it's going to be a matter 25 of going back beyond Vietnam. I don't know if it will 11-13-12 72 1 include any Vietnam individuals. It may, but certainly not 2 prior to Vietnam. That's my understanding at the present 3 time. The recommendation will be brought to the Court. We 4 will have the opportunity -- actually, we'll be required to 5 approve that policy, whatever it turns out to be, including 6 how far back we go. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll be involved in that. But the 9 committee's working on that, and the various stakeholders. I 10 think they have formed a committee within those veterans 11 groups, as a matter of fact, to -- to put this draft 12 together. The committee will be meeting again to review 13 that, and -- and vet it some more. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: So, that's where we are. And it's 16 moving forward now, and I'm thankful for it. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, can I make one more 18 comment? 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, sir. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Seems like to me, the issue, 21 or the argument, maybe, was over home of record, or resident 22 of Kerr County. Went to Tivy High School, hitchhiked through 23 Kerrville, something. I can -- I can see that changing. I 24 don't know that I'm going to have a big heartburn about that. 25 But the idea of someone being killed in the theater of war, 11-13-12 73 1 that needs to stay. That needs to be a part of it. Don't 2 you agree? 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, either killed in action during 4 a hostile conflict in -- in whatever the particular conflict 5 was, be it Iraq, Afghanistan or whatever, or dying from 6 wounds sustained in -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But not a Jeep wreck -- 8 JUDGE TINLEY: No. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- in northern Spain. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: No. No. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. That's what I'm 12 talking about. You know, that makes it a little tough; you 13 put a lot of names on. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Merely because someone dies of an 15 accident, and they just happen to be in the armed services at 16 the time that would otherwise qualify, I don't -- I don't -- 17 that's -- I don't think that's appropriate, and I don't think 18 that the committee is going to suggest that. We're talking 19 about in terms of recognized conflicts that our country's 20 involved in. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we'll come back in December. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: First meeting. 11-13-12 74 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Certainly, we want to solicit folks 2 that would have an interest in being involved in this to 3 contact us, and we'll put together a committee, hopefully, 4 that has all the various brilliant people and stakeholders on 5 it and types of minds that we want working on it, and then 6 we'll come up with a plan somewhere down the road. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I'll put together some 8 sort of a policy charge to definitely move this proposal 9 along, get this redone. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. If there's nothing further, 11 we'll go on to Item 15; to consider, discuss, take 12 appropriate action to approve contract with Mountain Home 13 Volunteer Fire Department, allow County Judge to sign same. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Move approval. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 17 approval of the agenda item question or discussion? All in 18 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 21 (No response.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Boy, we made them mad. 24 Looks like they just got up and left. What did they get mad 25 about? 11-13-12 75 1 JUDGE TINLEY: What did you say to them? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go with Item 16; to consider, 4 discuss, take appropriate action to purchase a commercial 5 floor machine for the Hill Country Youth Event Center. 6 Mr. Bollier? As I recall, we included a specific item in the 7 capital portion of the budget for that purpose, did we not? 8 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: My recollection was that they've got 10 new ones and they've got some that are -- 11 MR. BOLLIER: Refurbished ones. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: -- reconditioned. 13 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: That are significantly discounted, 15 that you at least want to take a serious look at. 16 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir. And Commissioner Letz has 17 volunteered to get some prices. He talked to Commissioner 18 Oehler and I, and he volunteered for that. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What we're looking at is that 20 one machine that I think Bruce found originally. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's called the commercial 23 floor machine or something. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Anyway, look at that. And I 11-13-12 76 1 just wanted, before we went and spent -- what is it, $15,000? 2 Whatever it was, something like that we budgeted for that, my 3 thought was that we probably ought to make -- you know, find 4 where it's being used and make sure that it's working 5 according to how it's specified. And -- and see if there's 6 anything that's comparable, same type machine. That's just 7 kind of, you know, what we're doing. But while it is moving 8 forward, we do need to get some -- we're at the point we need 9 to move on this. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I guarantee you, there's one 11 in San Antonio. We -- it was working; we went down to look 12 one day. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, anyway, that's -- it was 14 just on the agenda. I think Tim probably thought I'd be 15 further along than I am. 16 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir, I did, but that's okay, 17 sir. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, they're not hard to 19 come by. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, they're there. I just 21 want to make sure we're getting the right one. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The ones I looked at -- I 23 looked at several different models on the -- on the internet, 24 and they range from about 12 grand up to 24 for a 25 reconditioned, depending on the size model and what they -- I 11-13-12 77 1 think we ought to get one that runs on propane, not 2 electricity. I don't think we ought to do that. I think 3 they're much more economical to mess with. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: They do have ones that operate on 5 propane fuel. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Propane. Yes, right. And 7 have various size holding tanks. But, you know it's a 8 one-man deal. One man -- one of those I was looking at would 9 clean 70,000 square feet an hour. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yes. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Which is a little bit larger, 12 I think, than what we need. But anyway, now there's no way 13 that building's going to get cleaned if we do it -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: By hand. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's got to be done with 16 machine; otherwise we're going to increase our -- our 17 staffing out there, and we sure don't want to do that if we 18 don't have to. So, that's -- 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, the item's budgeted. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: We got a cap on the amount, 22 obviously, so I guess you'll go shopping. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. All right. 24 MR. BOLLIER: Thank you, sir. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Why don't we take about a 11-13-12 78 1 15-minute recess? 2 (Recess taken from 10:31 a.m. to 10:48 a.m.) 3 - - - - - - - - - - 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's come back to order, if 5 we might, and take up Item 17; to consider, discuss, take 6 appropriate action on implementation of the burn ban. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Second. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Every 90 days. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Second. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 12 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor, signify by 13 raising your right hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 16 (No response.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Let's go to Item 18 18; to acknowledge receipt of the quarterly investment report 19 from Patterson and Associates for the quarter ending 20 9/30/2012. We've got the report here. I don't know where 21 Ms. Soldan is. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I don't know where she stepped 23 off to, Your Honor. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Just acknowledging the 25 report, right? 11-13-12 79 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, mm-hmm. Acknowledging 2 receipt. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: There she is. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I received mine. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Did you? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let the record reflect that 8 members of the Court acknowledge receipt of that report. 9 Thank you. Let's go to Item 19; to consider, discuss, take 10 appropriate action to approve Remote Deposit Capture 11 Agreement between Security State Bank and Kerr County. 12 Ms. Soldan? 13 MS. SOLDAN: This is an acknowledgment that goes 14 along with our current depository contract. In that 15 contract, it states that the County can have one check 16 scanner to use for depositing checks electronically, and we 17 have not taken advantage of this, and I would like to start. 18 The agreement that the bank provided me I gave to the County 19 Attorney, and he's worked out some issues, and we've come to 20 an agreement between both parties, and it's ready to be 21 signed. And I've also worked with John about setting up the 22 scanner in the office and keeping that secure. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: In terms of cost to Kerr County, 24 what, if any, is the cost? 25 MR. HENNEKE: None. 11-13-12 80 1 MS. SOLDAN: No cost. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: That's a good start. 3 MS. SOLDAN: The scanner they're providing free of 4 charge, and any monthly service charges that would normally 5 be associated with it are waived under our depository 6 contract. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: You're asking the Court to approve 8 it? 9 MS. SOLDAN: Yes. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and second for 14 approval of the agreement as finally negotiated by the County 15 Attorney. 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. Thank you very 21 much. Item 20; to consider, discuss, take appropriate action 22 to approve interlocal agreement with the Regional Public 23 Defender for capital cases. I put this on the agenda. As 24 you recall, a couple of years ago we signed onto this. These 25 folks, when you have a capital case, they come in and take 11-13-12 81 1 care of all those defense costs, which can be significant in 2 capital cases. The -- the agreement provided for it was 3 partially grant-funded, heavier on the front end. And, of 4 course, the grant funding dropped off as it increased, and I 5 believe this past year it was 12,000 and something. This 6 year it increases to 17,000, and in fact has been budgeted, 7 as I recall. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That is the question. I feel 9 sure you budgeted for that. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I'm told 11 that we don't presently have any capital cases pending, 12 but -- 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I will assure you -- 14 MS. LAVENDER: We've only used them with one case. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. Probably got our money's 16 worth, when you figure our total investment to this point in 17 time is 12,000-plus dollars. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess we can't wait until we 19 have one and then join? 20 JUDGE TINLEY: No. If you bail, you're on your own 21 from that point. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: My little friends that are 23 members of commissioners courts around the state say this -- 24 this is a good thing. 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It is. 11-13-12 82 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That use it regularly. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You never know when you're 3 going to have to use it. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, absolutely. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And I can tell you, we have 6 been down that road, and many times. It has been hundreds of 7 thousands of dollars, and this is cheap insurance, the way I 8 look at it. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Second. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 12 approval. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Does that mean you're going 14 to argue with me there, Jeannie? 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Hargis? 16 MS. HARGIS: I did want to inform the Court that we 17 are allowed to actually put this in with our Indigent Defense 18 Grant, count it as an expense. Brian Wilson reminded me of 19 that this morning. So, that actually gives us more grant 20 money, so it does -- helps us as well. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Certainly, it's not dollar for 24 dollar; it's a long ways from that, but every little bit 25 helps. 11-13-12 83 1 MS. HARGIS: Twenty-five cents on the dollar. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Twenty-five cents on the dollar? 3 That's good. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Got a motion and second. All right, 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: That motion does carry. We'll go to 13 Item 21; to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 14 reappoint Patsy Lackey and appoint Bill Blackburn as the Kerr 15 County representatives to the AACOG Criminal Justice Advisory 16 Committee, Ms. Lackey to be the primary and Bill Blackburn to 17 be the alternate. I put this on the agenda by virtue of the 18 resignation of Ms. Lesser, who was on that committee. And I 19 did talk with Bill Blackburn to see if he would, in fact, 20 serve, so that we would have some representatives from the 21 county that were not tied to any sort of grant funding. Now, 22 there are two different functions of this committee. One of 23 them is on the law enforcement side, and one of them's over 24 on the victim assistance, I'm going to call it for lack of a 25 better term. These appointments would not impact the law 11-13-12 84 1 enforcement side. We've got Captain Wendling from K.P.D., 2 and Bill Hill with S.O. that are serving and currently 3 designated on that side. This is the other side, the victim 4 assistance side, that we're dialing with. I just want to 5 make that clarification, because the committee really is kind 6 of a -- kind of a two-function, or kind of a -- they're not 7 actually subcommittees, but that's kind of the way it works. 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Motion to approve. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 11 approval of the agenda item. Question or discussion? All in 12 favor, signify by raising your right hand. 13 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 15 (No response.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Item 22; to 17 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to approve the 18 interim plan to assure judicial readiness in times of 19 emergency. I put this on the agenda by virtue of some 20 communication that I believe the Office of Court 21 Administration is involved in. They've been circulating a -- 22 a plan throughout the state. I sent it upstairs for review 23 by the District Judges. Even though it would also have some 24 impact on County Court at Law, this County Court and others, 25 but the primary onus would be on the District Courts. Judge 11-13-12 85 1 Emerson said he wholeheartedly supports it, and asked the 2 Court to approve it. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Second. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 6 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor, signify by 7 raising your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Item 23; to 12 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to appoint 13 Kirk Griffin to the Kerrville/Kerr County Joint Airport Board 14 to replace Mr. Tom Moser. This, of course, is on the agenda 15 by virtue of Mr. Moser's leaving the Airport Board, coming on 16 board here at the Court as Precinct 2 Commissioner. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a comment. The Airport 18 Board did as our agreement states; they recommend somebody, 19 and it's up to the City and the County to approve it. Has to 20 be approved -- the individual has to be approved by both the 21 City and the County. I think Kirk will do a good job. 22 He's -- 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Excellent choice. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Good choice. So, I'll move 25 approval. 11-13-12 86 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Second. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second -- third. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 4 approval. Question or discussion? In all in favor, signify 5 by raising your right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Item 24, to 10 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on proposal 11 from Peter Lewis for architectural services for the 198th 12 District Attorney offices. This is on the agenda -- of 13 course, Mr. Lewis, again, had a conflict in his schedule, and 14 neither he nor Mr. Hatch could be here. We've had some 15 discussion about this. In the portion of the Sheriff's 16 Office annex building, on the east end of it, we've actually 17 got space for two different functioning offices there. The 18 northern portion of it is presently occupied by the Sheriff's 19 fitness operation. This would be on the south side of that 20 east end. The proposal which Mr. Lewis submitted is 21 essentially the same as he's done for other projects for us. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Hourly with an estimated 23 maximum? 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes. He's got -- he's got it 25 spelled out there. The funding for the project is to be 11-13-12 87 1 derived through some funds available through the 198th 2 District Attorney's office. It's a separate fund to handle 3 that. It's not, per se, forfeiture money. It's -- best we 4 can tell, it's other funding that, far as I know -- 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: "Best we can tell"? 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. Yeah. Well, it hasn't been 7 segregated, but on their books it's segregated as a separate 8 amount. That will have to be freed up for us to be able to 9 go forward with this project. Other than -- if that does not 10 occur, obviously, Kerr County cannot -- cannot sponsor that 11 -- that project, because we haven't budgeted funds for it. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, considering the 13 situation at the 198th right now, being that there's a 14 transition in Mr. Barton's turn as the D.A., when are we 15 going to get access to those funds? 16 MS. HARGIS: We don't have access. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's why I'm asking. 18 MS. HARGIS: The new D.A. wouldn't have access 19 until he's sworn in the 1st of January. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, all we're doing is 21 approving the funding for the plans. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The development. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Development of the plans, but 24 no work would begin until sometime in January, after -- have 25 to have the proposal. 11-13-12 88 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Have to take bids on it 2 anyway, probably. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's going to be in excess of 5 50,000. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, yeah. So, the -- the issue 7 that's before us today is to approve $5,200 -- or not to 8 exceed $5,200 to develop the plans. And where will those 9 funds come from? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: That would -- my point is, it would 11 be subject to the availability of those funds from this 12 funding source from the 198th D.A. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We can be reimbursed, is what 14 you're saying, or how does it work? How can we pay them out? 15 Or we're not even going to start messing with it until those 16 funds are made available? 17 JUDGE TINLEY: My suggestion to the Court would be 18 that if the item is approved, it be approved subject to the 19 availability of funds to pay those amounts from this 198th 20 District Attorney funding source. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- I guess -- and part 22 of my question is, I visited with Mr. Lewis a little bit 23 about this yesterday, and I think that he thinks these funds 24 are available now. And we need to make it real clear, 'cause 25 I think he started some of the work already because of the 11-13-12 89 1 time -- what he felt was the time issue, maybe. I think he 2 needs to be told. He needs to stop working A.S.A.P., because 3 if this is -- 'cause it's looking like this is going to be a 4 project that the 198th -- or this office space for the 198th 5 won't be available until probably, at the earliest, the end 6 of the first court. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't think that's necessarily the 8 case, Commissioner. I think if this Court approves these 9 matters subject to the availability of those fundings, it 10 might spur the availability of those fundings at a sooner 11 time. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Okay. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't know that. But the Court's 14 obligation -- or approval would be subject to that funding 15 source. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's not like the guy 17 doesn't have an office space. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, but he -- yeah. I'll 19 make a motion that we authorize the proposal -- or approve 20 the proposal from Peter Lewis for architectural services for 21 the 198th D.A.'s office in an amount not to exceed $5,200, 22 subject to funding to come from the 198th D.A.'s office. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 25 indicated. 11-13-12 90 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that's -- 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Question or discussion on this? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's specific enough, I hope. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: There's not any specific 5 nomenclature on that fund, to my knowledge. I think we're 6 all on the same page of what the funds are and how they're -- 7 how they're maintained in a separate account -- no, we're 8 not? Then I'm in the dark on something. 9 MS. HARGIS: The funds are in their -- what he 10 would refer to as his general fund money, and it's his fund 11 balance that's built up over a period of time. If he strips 12 that, he won't have any funds in there at all. So, that's up 13 to him as to what he wants to do, but he has to have some 14 money to, of course, operate for the next 90 days. And -- 15 and that's his general fund. So -- 16 JUDGE TINLEY: But these are excess funds that have 17 been accumulated into that fund; is that correct? 18 MS. HARGIS: There -- some of it is accumulated 19 fund balance. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. So the motion from 21 Commissioner Letz is subject to funding from the 198th D.A.'s 22 office. I see that as specific enough. Do you see a problem 23 with it? 24 MS. HARGIS: No, not with the motion. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 11-13-12 91 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: County Attorney, do you have 2 concerns? 3 MR. HENNEKE: You know, making that "subject to" 4 raises Peter's risk. The County -- as I understand the 5 motion, the County is not obligating itself to any debt, nor 6 authorizing the expenditure of money, and if Peter's -- you 7 know, it's his risk. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If he wants to proceed, he can. 9 If not, he can just stop doing anything. 10 MR. HENNEKE: He'll get paid if the 198th 11 appropriates the money, and otherwise he won't. And I think 12 we just need to make sure that he's aware of that. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: I think we have a motion. 17 THE CLERK: And a second. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: And a second. Any further question 19 or discussion on that motion? All in favor of that motion, 20 signify by raising your right hand. 21 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 23 (No response.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. I note we've 25 gone past 11:00 now, so let's go to Item 26; to consider, 11-13-12 92 1 discuss, and take appropriate action on request from Unity 2 Church of the Hill Country to be added to the nonprofit list 3 for use of the Union Church building and other county 4 facilities in order to receive a reduced rate on the rental 5 fees. Is Mr. Edwards with us? 6 MR. EDWARDS: I am. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes. 8 MR. EDWARDS: Yes, they requested that I come 9 forward and provide information on my status -- or our status 10 as a 501(c)(3) organization, and I have those papers here if 11 you wanted those. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, thank you. U.S. Treasury 13 Department, I.R.S. Goes back to a December 3, '64 ruling, it 14 appears. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I'll move approval. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 18 approval. Further question or discussion? All in favor, 19 signify bids by raising your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Mr. Edwards, 24 if you will allow Ms. Grinstead to make copies of these so 25 that she's got them in her file. 11-13-12 93 1 MR. EDWARDS: She can have these if she wants. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you so much. 3 MR. EDWARDS: Thank you. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: We appreciate you being with us here 5 today. 6 MR. EDWARDS: Glad to be here. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 25; to consider, 8 discuss, and take appropriate action to solicit bids or 9 request for proposals for construction finish-out of the 10 198th District Attorney's office space at the Kerr County 11 Sheriff's Office annex. We got the same issue here, and in 12 proceeding, any approval, I would suggest, would be subject 13 to funding from the 198th District Attorney's office. We're 14 looking at the same funding source. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Why -- how can we go out for 16 proposals for construction before we have the documents? I 17 mean, it seems that we need to get -- after the 1st or 18 whatever, when the funds become available, engage Mr. Lewis. 19 Once he has the documents, -- 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Then we go out. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- then we can go out for bid. 22 I don't see any reason to do this now. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: I see your point. It would seem 24 that the preparation of the bid documents would be an interim 25 thing between the two. 11-13-12 94 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because I don't think we want 2 to -- I'm not inclined to approve something that I don't know 3 what we're going out for bid on. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, we'll pass on that. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I agree with you. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Fair enough. Item 27; to consider, 7 discuss, and take appropriate action to approve Kerr County 8 response to the Texas Comptroller regarding the Kerr County's 9 eminent domain authority in compliance with Senate Bill 18. 10 Mr. Henneke, I'm going to let you field this one. The 11 Comptroller, I think, is trying to catch counties asleep, if 12 I didn't know better. 13 MR. HENNEKE: Nobody really knows what they're 14 doing. (Laughter.) The Legislature, last legislative 15 session, passed a law that said any governmental entity with 16 eminent domain authority had to file with the Comptroller by 17 the end of this year identifying under the law where their 18 eminent domain authority was, and that's raised all sorts of 19 questions. But the good gentlemen at Bickerstaff Heath have 20 offered to do this for many of the counties they represent, 21 such as Kerr County, at a hugely reduced rate, if you see the 22 amount of work that's gone into this. The County engaged 23 them. They've prepared their report, which is their 24 recommendation of how Kerr County should submit its response 25 to the Comptroller. I've reviewed it; it's very thorough. 11-13-12 95 1 It has as much belts and suspenders and catch-alls in there 2 as they can think of, and I would -- I would recommend that 3 we authorize Judge Tinley to execute it, and also to 4 specifically request Jody -- if we'll send it not to the 5 Comptroller, but send it to Chuck Kimbrough at Bickerstaff, 6 they will file it, get a file stamp receipt, and get it back 7 to us. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They have come up with 74 9 citations of where this authority comes from for counties. 10 MR. HENNEKE: Well, and that's part of it. It's 11 just for Kerr County. That's part of what's ambiguous about 12 the law. The Kerr County population is a smidge under 13 50,000; next census will be over 50,000, and there's some 14 eminent domain authority that kicks in for populations over a 15 certain size that we wouldn't be subject to. So, when you do 16 this, do you do it for where you are now, or where you might 17 be in 100 years? So, we've done the best we can. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval, and authorize 19 County Judge to sign same. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 22 indicated. Question or discussion? All in favor of the 23 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 11-13-12 96 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's go to 3 Item 28; to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 4 approve right-of-way easement agreement for Lazy Valley Road 5 project, authorize County Judge to execute same. 6 Commissioner Letz? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I have -- we have signed 8 right-of-way agreements for the Lazy Valley bridge project 9 for Richard Sauer and also from Elizabeth Wilke and Stephen 10 Lich. There is one tract we're still working on. There is 11 some confusion on how that all -- how the ownership was, and 12 we're still getting that, but that won't be a problem. 13 They're working with us. It's the Ellsworth tract. 14 MR. HENNEKE: I gave that to you, right? We 15 submitted it to them for signature. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, just waiting -- they 17 have to circulate it within three people. But I think 18 it's -- that we need to go ahead and accept the -- approve 19 and accept the right-of-way agreements, right-of-way from 20 those three individuals that I mentioned. And there is also 21 a construction -- a temporary construction license that goes 22 along with the Michael Sauer tract -- Richard Michael Sauer 23 tract. And I've got -- do you have two of them, or are they 24 -- the original? 25 MR. HENNEKE: For who? 11-13-12 97 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For Ms. Wilke? 2 MR. HENNEKE: It's combined in one. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh. 4 MR. HENNEKE: Both signature pages are notarized 5 signature pages. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do you have them or do I have 7 them? 8 MR. HENNEKE: Jody has them. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You have them. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I have -- I have Richard 11 Sauer's. I'm not -- it may be in the backup. Do you have 12 the original? 13 JUDGE TINLEY: I've got -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, you've got that one. 15 Here's the other one. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Elizabeth Lich Tyler and Stephen 17 Lich Tyler, it appears. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And here's the one -- the 19 additional one for Mr. Sauer, and also the construction from 20 Mr. Sauer, temporary construction. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I move approval. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That we accept these and 25 approve them, authorize County Judge to sign them. 11-13-12 98 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 2 indicated. Further question or discussion on the motion? 3 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 4 hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Item 29 is to 9 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to authorize 10 reimbursement of expenses incurred by property owners 11 concerning right-of-way easements for the Lane -- Lazy Valley 12 Road and bridge project. I was about to get you back on Lane 13 Valley, wasn't I? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not over there. There is a -- 15 there was a lot of going back and forth, as I think the 16 Court's aware of, especially in connection with the Lich and 17 Wilke owners on this. And as part of, I guess, getting them 18 to agree to sign, we agreed to pay expenses that we -- you 19 know, some -- I guess make a payment towards expenses that 20 they had in completing these transactions. That is very 21 loose as to what those actually are. We came up with 22 somewhat of an arbitrary amount of $500 per tract. I don't 23 think it is -- all of the parties will incur some expenses, 24 you know, to do this, and I just thought that it was a way to 25 expedite this. It's certainly a lot better than it was to go 11-13-12 99 1 down the condemnation route. So, it's a total of $500 per 2 tract; there's three tracts, and the funds will be divided up 3 proportionately by the owners of the tract. And I'll make a 4 motion that we approve $1,500 to cover the expenses incurred 5 by these property owners. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 8 indicated. Question or discussion? The -- do we have a 9 right-of-way line item that has that amount of funds in it 10 that's not already dedicated for other purposes? Or where do 11 you suggest? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, I suggest we talk to 13 Leonard. He has a right-of-way line item in his budget. And 14 the County is responsible for obtaining the right-of-ways for 15 TexDOT bridge projects, so I think I'll visit with Leonard 16 and see if he has -- 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He usually puts, like, $10,000 19 in right-of-way. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But you don't think -- you 21 don't think that that line item covers this particular -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it does. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh. Yeah, absolutely. 24 That's what it's for. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 11-13-12 100 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes, it should. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It would come out of that line 3 item in Road and Bridge. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. That's your suggestion? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any further question or 7 discussion on the motion? All in favor, signify by raising 8 your right hand. 9 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 11 (No response.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Item 30 is 13 to consider, discuss, take appropriate action to approve 14 official bonds of Kerr County Precinct 1 Commissioner, H.A. 15 Buster Baldwin, and Kerr County Precinct 3 Commissioner, 16 Jonathan Letz. These are prospective approvals to commence 17 on the new terms of office for each of you when your swearing 18 in occurs January 1. I assume we're going to do January 1; 19 we haven't done it on any other day. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Motion to approve. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 23 approval of the bonds. Any further question or discussion? 24 All in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11-13-12 101 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 2 (No response.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's go to 4 Item 31; to consider, discuss, take appropriate action on 5 request from Grantworks to begin their RFP/RFQ process to 6 hire project engineer and administrator for Kerr County 7 contract TxCDBG Number 712025. Ms. Hargis? 8 MS. HARGIS: As you -- as the Court is aware, we 9 did receive a $500,000 grant to finish Kerrville South, and 10 this grant does begin on 11/1 with the State. We do not have 11 a completed contract signed by the state as of yet, but in 12 order to move the process along, Grantworks has asked that we 13 be able to -- to go out with the RFQ's for the engineer and 14 for Grantworks, and that's the only thing that we're asking 15 at this time. 16 MR. HENNEKE: It's been approved; we just don't 17 have the signed agreement. 18 MS. HARGIS: Right, it's been -- the grant has been 19 approved. We just don't have the signed contract. That has 20 to go before their board, and apparently, as you know, they 21 meet on the third Thursday, so we'll probably not get it 22 until December, which puts us 30 days behind on the timeline 23 that they give us to complete the grant. So, it's kind of 24 backwards. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So you expect that you'll 11-13-12 102 1 have this done by -- by the next Commissioners Court meeting? 2 Or is the RFQ -- how long is that going to run for? 3 MS. HARGIS: It has to run for at least two weeks. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So it will be December, then? 5 MS. HARGIS: It will be December before the RFQ 6 will come back. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 8 MS. HARGIS: First meeting in December. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: And then hopefully we can get the 11 grant activated at that point. 12 MS. HARGIS: We should have the contract, and it 13 will be signed by them, and we'll issue that. 14 MR. HENNEKE: As we've discussed internally, I 15 wouldn't be comfortable awarding the bid until we have the 16 agreement, but I understand how the process works with the 17 State. Let's get it moving, and we'll confirm that we have 18 the signed contract before making an award. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved for approval. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Second. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 23 approval of the agenda item. Any further question or 24 discussion? All in favor, signify by raising your right 25 hand. 11-13-12 103 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Let's go to Item 5 32; to consider, discuss, take appropriate action to approve 6 new payroll schedule for the biweekly pay to go into effect 7 January 2013. Ms. Lantz? 8 MS. LANTZ: Good morning, Judge, Commissioners. 9 This is basically the -- with the last Court approval 10 changing our semimonthly to biweekly, the schedule that we'll 11 be going to for Court approval. It starts December 30th with 12 our first payroll period. Time sheets will be due on the 13 14th of January, and we'll be paid January 18th. I know 14 there's been some discussion and some rumor within the 15 courthouse about our payroll deductions, since we're only 16 going to have one payroll in January. We will have three in 17 March. We will try to work that out where employees are not 18 double-deducted in January. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Only one in January? Or two? 20 MS. LANTZ: Well, it falls -- February 1st is our 21 next pay period. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 23 MS. LANTZ: So it ends, and you -- and then a day 24 later. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: But my recollection is this Court 11-13-12 104 1 has already approved biweekly. 2 MS. LANTZ: Yes, sir. This is just the schedule. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: The schedule's just part of the 4 implementation of it? 5 MS. LANTZ: Yes, sir. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do we need to take action on 8 this? Doesn't seem that we do, to me. 9 MS. LANTZ: I wasn't certain, because a lot of 10 people have been requesting for a pay schedule to be posted, 11 'cause we do that with the calendar when we do our budget. 12 So, this is just kind of to update our actual calendar. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: You've just interpolated from 24 to 14 26 pay periods, is what you've done, and -- 15 MS. LANTZ: Yes, sir. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: -- and you're asking the Court to 17 approve the new schedule? 18 MS. LANTZ: Yes, sir. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move approval. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 23 approval. Any further question or discussion? All in favor, 24 signify by raising your right hand. 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11-13-12 105 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 2 (No response.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Item 33; 4 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to approve 5 step and grade to reflect new biweekly pay effective January 6 2013. Here again, you've -- 7 MS. LANTZ: All's we did -- 8 JUDGE TINLEY: New step and grade schedule with -- 9 MS. LANTZ: Taking out the semimonthly, 10 incorporating the biweekly, is all we did. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How does it change the step and 12 grade? 13 MS. LANTZ: On step and grade, under semimonthly, 14 we're paid 2,080.08 hours. Now we're actually going to be 15 paid 2,080 hours, the correct amount. Because we're paid 16 86.67 hours. We had to -- 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So it's not changing the step 18 and grade part; it's just changing those -- 19 MS. LANTZ: The levels. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The levels where it shows the 21 salary. 22 MS. LANTZ: And y'all's the same; it just breaks it 23 down. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Move approval. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 11-13-12 106 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 2 approval. Question or discussion? All in favor, signify by 3 raising your right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 8 MS. LANTZ: Thank you. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a couple of executive 10 session items that I'm going to skip over at this point in 11 time, and we'll come back to those, and go to Section 4 the 12 agenda. Payment of bills. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move we pay the bills. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for payment 16 of the bills. Further question or discussion? All in favor, 17 signify by raising your right hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 20 (No response.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Do we have 22 any budget amendments? 23 MS. HARGIS: No. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: No budget amendments. Any late 25 bills? 11-13-12 107 1 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Aha. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, the truth is finally 4 coming down. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. Okay. 6 MS. HARGIS: I don't have a copy for everybody. Do 7 I need to -- 8 JUDGE TINLEY: The Rock Engineering, the folks that 9 are testing the pad and the compaction of the concrete and 10 all that other good stuff, the pilings and so forth. This is 11 the only late bill, is to Rock Engineering for $2,130? 12 MS. HARGIS: That's correct. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's correct, yes, sir. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Move approval. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I move approval. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and second for 19 approval of the late bill. Question or discussion? All in 20 favor, signify by raising your right hand. 21 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Don't you have -- there's 23 more than one. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Oh. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They just took -- you know, 11-13-12 108 1 they just passed it on by. 2 MS. HARGIS: It's the same one. No, it's just one, 3 just three copies. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Same one? Okay. The other 5 one was in the regular pay? 6 MS. HARGIS: Yeah. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. I've been 8 handed monthly reports for October 2012 from Kerr County 9 Payroll; County Clerk, Constable, Precinct 1; District Clerk; 10 Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3; Constable, Precinct 4; 11 Justice of the Peace, Precinct 2; Justice of the Peace, 12 Precinct 1; Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4; and 13 Environmental Health. Do I hear a motion that the indicated 14 reports be approved as presented? 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Motion to approve. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded that the 18 indicated reports be approved as presented. Question or 19 discussion? All in favor, signify by raising your right 20 hand. 21 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 23 (No response.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Reports 25 from Commissioners in connection with their liaison or other 11-13-12 109 1 assignments? Commissioner Oehler? 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, there seem to -- for 3 some time, there have been some escaped llamas out in 4 Buster's precinct, I believe, and Janie finally, after quite 5 a while, I think, got the last one the other day, and got 6 them to a lady that has agreed to do the rescue. She kind of 7 rescues llamas, and we deal with them from there, but that 8 took quite a while. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: How many of them were there? 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Ten. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Good night. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They've been on this fellow's 13 property now for about a year, and the lady that -- where 14 they escaped from couldn't afford them any more, so she 15 didn't want them back. Anyway, that's just -- you know, just 16 one more thing Animal Control gets involved in. And then 17 you've already gotten the show barn report. Pretty much, the 18 walls are going up, the roof is up. I think there's some 19 electrical work going on. There's going to be a lot of 20 bodies out there for the next short time. And I think -- I 21 guess that's it. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Baldwin? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Going to have lunch here in 24 just a few minutes with one of my -- one of my favorite 25 groups. 11-13-12 110 1 JUDGE TINLEY: One of your favorite things is 2 lunch, right? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, the -- the group that 4 we're having lunch with is my favorite group. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: I see. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Today. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: So, lunch makes it -- 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Today. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Today. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: I see. And that's it? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's it. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Commissioner Overby? 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: No, sir. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Letz? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Seems like there was something, 16 but I forgot, so must not have been too important. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Must not have been. I was out at 18 the former B.A. Products building at the airport yesterday, 19 and there is a lot of work going on in that building. 20 Mr. Mayor, I'm sure you know that we're getting a heck of a 21 bargain out there with all -- all that is being done to 22 improve the building that we own out there. 23 MAYOR PRATT: Good bargain, and a lot of work going 24 on for the betterment of future jobs. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: There you go. And they're -- 11-13-12 111 1 they're upgrading the electrical for this welding training. 2 They've got some fantastic equipment. Got two A.D.A. 3 bathrooms in there now. They have conference areas. They 4 got classroom area. They're just really making a real fine 5 facility out of our building, and I -- I appreciate Alamo 6 Colleges for doing that. And that upgrade to the building is 7 not covered by the grant. The grant covers training, 8 equipment, and supplies, and you can see a lot of money being 9 spent on equipment out there. They've got some new welding 10 units and all sorts of lockers and other things going on 11 there. It's going to be a wonderful facility when they get 12 through. But they're scrambling pretty hard, the electrical 13 people out there. They had a -- I think a double crew of 14 them out there working yesterday, so they're -- they're 15 making us a real fine building out of that shell that we had 16 out there that was, for all intents and purposes, mostly 17 uninhabitable. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I'll make one 19 comment -- are you done? 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I was going to wish 22 Commissioner Overby well and thank him for his service. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Appreciate that. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Hear, hear. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: As do we all. 11-13-12 112 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thank you. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And it's -- the job is not 3 exactly what some might think it is when they get into that 4 seat right there. It's a little different than it is -- 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It is. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- whenever you're sitting 7 out in the other seat. 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It's been a very good 9 chapter. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Been a good experience. Good 11 luck to you. 12 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thank you. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No gold watch and dead 14 turkey here. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: No rubber chicken. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You got to be here at least 17 four years before you get a coffee cup. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: No, that's right. No, I've 19 enjoyed it; it's been great. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: How about elected officials? 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Of course. A few things. 22 First off, and the Judge kind of alluded to it, about three 23 weeks ago, I guess, is when the jail did have our yearly 24 inspection by the Commission on Jail Standards. We did pass 25 with flying colors. There was some conversation regarding 11-13-12 113 1 our female housing situation. And I will inform you now, we 2 were -- as you know, maximum female beds that actually, by 3 design, is 32, okay? And we were at 38 the other day. I had 4 to empty out some male beds in part of that front hallway 5 again, notify the Jail Commission, and we have converted, 6 which cost me 16 male beds. We were up around 150. We did 7 have court last week quite a bit, and with some urging, this 8 morning we were back to 128, but I'm still at 29 females, so 9 I don't know what we're going to do. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They just love you, that's 11 all I can say. They want to come see you. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. It's going to be an 13 issue that -- I don't know if there still was funding, and 14 we'll have to research this, in that capital deal to put in 15 those doors into the two male tanks to add -- you know, that 16 we can access from the female hallway when we change those 17 tanks around. That's something we need to look at, see if 18 there's funding still available that's already been 19 accounted. The other thing -- Judge Tinley knows this -- our 20 food contractor would like to make some changes to our food 21 contract, which I'm not sure I want to go with. And so I did 22 send three people to Van Zandt County last week for two days 23 to look at their food service that they do, 'cause they're 24 being able to serve prisoner meals at a lot less expense than 25 what we are, even, than the $1.26. They do have a 3-acre 11-13-12 114 1 garden that they use a lot of it at times, so we're 2 evaluating that now. We very well may be able to use some of 3 our garden proceeds, but it will call for ending the contract 4 we have and actually going back to doing food service 5 ourselves. Which the -- the down side of that is it would 6 also take at least one more additional employee to be over on 7 the kitchen. And I'll bring that back in the next couple of 8 months. That's going to come up. We're just trying to 9 really evaluate, see where we can come out better. But the 10 current contract, they're saying they're losing too much 11 money with the number of employees. They have three 12 employees running that. That's all under the same contract, 13 so we're going to have to look at that. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They want to reduce employees? 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They want to do away with all 16 their employees. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Hard to serve food without 20 people. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's going to be an issue that 22 we have to look at. They want to change their whole contract 23 around because they're just losing too much money with their 24 employees. So, that's something that we will filter through. 25 The other thing is, as y'all have talked about with the 11-13-12 115 1 198th, I have agreed -- and the Judge has looked at it -- 2 temporarily, we have emptied out some of our current office 3 space that we have in the annex, some that was meant for 4 future expansion and that. They will have an office January 5 1st to be able to go. It's kind of piecemealed together and 6 scattered out there; not, you know, real together. But until 7 all these other issues and that expansion gets done for the 8 198th, they're not going to be operating out of their homes. 9 And I don't know if maybe before December 1, when the current 10 D.A. goes on an extended trip, if there's any way y'all could 11 get him in here to allocate that other funding, I think it 12 would be very advantageous for them, because it's going to be 13 very cramped and hard quarters until they find a permanent 14 office space that gets extended or whatever. But that's with 15 y'all. 16 The other thing is, if you've been by our office, 17 you've noticed that we had to execute a tax warrant on one of 18 our local businesses, being Whelan Plumbing, and I currently 19 have a very large amount of Whelan Plumbing equipment, like 20 11 vehicles, six heavy machinery, seven or eight trailers, 21 and all kinds of plumbing stuff stored at our facility. 22 That's been inventoried, that unless the tax situation gets 23 worked out with the current owner -- I would like to make it 24 known, it's not Charlie Whelan; he sold that business a 25 number of years ago. But unless the tax situation gets 11-13-12 116 1 worked out with him, I will have to hold an auction on all 2 that equipment on December the 12th. So, that's what it's 3 scheduled for. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: How's that auction going to 5 work? 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We go through -- first all the 7 lienholders have to be notified. We mailed out all those 8 notices last week. We will advertise. Everything comes up 9 at our expense right now. We'll get reimbursed off the top 10 of the auction proceeds. We will advertise probably locally, 11 San Antonio and Austin, all the equipment and the time of the 12 sale. And then it's one of those deals where the lienholders 13 show up, and -- and if they choose to, and I start auctioning 14 equipment. It's not one of these fast commercial auctions. 15 It's just, "What are you going to give me for it?" and it 16 starts. And if that back -- or front-end loader with a 17 backhoe sells for $5, it sells for $5, okay? But if I'm not 18 mistaken, the purchaser may also purchase the lien that goes 19 along with it, unless they work out a lienholder's and all 20 that. Hopefully everything will get worked out; we won't 21 have to go through the last deal. But we are spending a lot 22 of time and effort in getting it inventoried. There's a lot 23 of -- a lot of little things, small things that have to be 24 inventoried, you know, the fittings and all that, and it's 25 pretty well taking up any extra space we've had on that 11-13-12 117 1 property out there. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess it's not possible to 3 lock up the building and keep it where it was? 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No, the building wasn't owned 5 by them, okay, and they were evicted out of the building. So 6 it has been a -- you know, you look at the back of ours, you 7 don't know whether we're a Sheriff's office or a plumbing 8 company. (Laughter.) But we have -- we have had to step in 9 and do that. On the swearing-in in January, as soon as the 10 Court could give us a time and date, I would appreciate it, 11 if it is going to be January 1st. If you remember, all 12 certified officers have to be re-sworn in, so I have to 13 schedule with other agencies to help take calls while we're 14 doing that, and I would appreciate as much advance notice as 15 I can get. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Rusty -- 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: What day is the 1st? 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Doesn't make any difference. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The 1st is on a Tuesday. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It will be 9 o'clock Tuesday 21 morning, won't it? 22 JUDGE TINLEY: 9:00 or 10:00, one or the other. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Early as possible. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I know one time it was a 25 little bit later. But yeah, as soon as possible, I'd like to 11-13-12 118 1 get that done. The last thing that I think the Court ought 2 to be aware of, and I think it says a lot for our patrol 3 division and the caliber of officers we have, is about eight 4 months ago, we worked an unattended death involving a lady 5 that her and her husband had been married about 60-something 6 years. They were both up in age. It was not any criminal in 7 nature; it was natural causes. But the two officers that 8 responded to the scene, there were no immediate relatives of 9 the man. The female had passed away, and they stayed with 10 him until some friends could get there. The funeral home 11 kind of, you know, did what we would expect. Public service 12 in mind, in my opinion, just consoled him a little bit and 13 stayed with him. And it made a pretty big impression on him, 14 'cause a few weeks later, I'd gotten a call from his 15 attorney, and then a few months later, unfortunately, he 16 passed away, okay, and I got another call from the attorney. 17 And last -- two weeks ago, I guess now, Judge, we received a 18 check from the estate that is to go into the equipment 19 fund -- which is our donated part; can only be used for law 20 enforcement -- to the equipment fund of the Sheriff's Office 21 for the gratitude from that man and his family, and that 22 check is in the amount of $221,000. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Wow. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I sure haven't ever heard of 25 that occurring with a law enforcement agency before. But 11-13-12 119 1 more than the dollar amount of the check, I am just extremely 2 proud of the type of officers that we have, and what they 3 have to do in their job, and even going above and beyond and 4 just being good people in our community that they serve. 5 These are some of the things we've talked about. There are 6 some little upgrades we have to do; you know, crime scene 7 cameras, cameras that carry patrol haven't been replaced in 8 over 10 years, things like that that I've just got to spend 9 small amounts on. That will be -- and there are some others, 10 depending on what happens with the second half of that front 11 building in four years with -- with the 216th election and 12 whether that office has to move into that part of the fitness 13 center. And then I also have issues with seized vehicles not 14 being put under cover out there. But mainly this funding is 15 to go towards the -- the officers, and I think that's what 16 the man wanted, and to show his family's appreciation, and 17 trying to help ours officers individually, out doing their 18 job a little bit better, and that's what I intend on trying 19 to use that funding for. The Court will always be aware of 20 any funding. It has been put into an account that is audited 21 by the Auditor. Everything is -- all the expenses that I 22 spend out of that account come through this Court, okay, just 23 kind of like the forfeiture and seizure account, and the 24 interest earned on it goes back into it. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We get a percentage of that? 11-13-12 120 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. (Laughter.) Did I answer 2 that quick enough, Bruce? But I think it -- I think it is 3 something that we, as a -- as a family and as a whole, it 4 will be used to benefit all of citizens of Kerr County and 5 the officers. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's wonderful. Absolutely 7 wonderful. 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Very good. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It said a lot towards the 10 caliber of law enforcement in this county. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It is. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Other than that -- 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask you a question, 14 Rusty. When you first started talking, you was talking about 15 the -- you used the word the "court" -- you had the court 16 last week, and it changed the numbers of your residents. Are 17 you talking about the Friday court? 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Not just the Friday court, all 19 courts. It seems like we go up, and then if I raise enough 20 cain, all of a sudden, things do move through all the courts 21 a little bit quicker, which does help my population go back 22 down. But then we run very much in cycles, and a lot of it 23 is right now, too, we're going through some -- you know, due 24 to election changes, due to just everything else, you know, 25 going on, it's that time of year when you do not have as many 11-13-12 121 1 court hearings or as much that actually moves through the 2 court -- the criminal courts as often, whether it be, you 3 know, vacation time, holidays, everything else. It does slow 4 down the -- the dockets. And that's what we're working on. 5 The other -- the first thing, in talking about the food 6 service, I think it should be noted that as of this week, we 7 have donated over 8,000 pounds of fresh produce and that to 8 those three entities that we donate food to from the jail 9 garden, and we have replanted a lot of winter stuff where 10 it's -- 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Do you have winter stuff? 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We have winter stuff growing. 13 We do still have a lot of summer stuff coming off. I know 14 yesterday they picked over 15 pounds of okra. Today they'll 15 pick the same amount. Tomatoes are still coming back in, and 16 they picked, like -- I forget how many, you know, about 80 -- 17 close to 80 heads of cabbage yesterday. And it's just 18 continuing to -- to grow. And, you know, that's thanks to a 19 lot of the Ag Barn stuff and everything else that we get in 20 fertilizing. I've got one guy that really enjoys taking care 21 of the garden; kind of like Bobby Johnson enjoys working 22 outside trustees, this one takes care of the garden, and he's 23 done an excellent job with it, and hopefully we'll be able to 24 turn that around and use a little bit more inside if we go 25 back to doing our own total meal service. And it's a 11-13-12 122 1 scheduling issue when certain vegetables come in and how much 2 I can really cut that cost. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Plant a bunch of potatoes. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That is definitely going in 5 next year, I can promise you that. But now we'll see where 6 it all turns up, any way that we can cut down on some of this 7 cost. Okay, that's it. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: What about we get the City to 9 operate the jail, and you just operate the garden? Would 10 that be -- 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That would tickle me to death. 12 MAYOR PRATT: It's the other way around, Judge. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I would be very thankful if 14 the City wants to come in and take care of the jail, that I 15 can get out from underneath it. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Do you have some land 17 available for another garden spot there, Mayor? 18 MAYOR PRATT: I was going to use yours. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I'll be honest; there was some 20 talk at one time, and it could -- depending on how things go, 21 it could come back up, to use some of the space that is out 22 at the airport, some of the unused space that is owned by the 23 City and County, you know, to till it, maintain it, and there 24 was some talk at one time. That hasn't really gone anywhere. 25 We just really have to see what the development of everything 11-13-12 123 1 is. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: If it's going to be looked after by 3 people in custody, you got transport issues and a lot of 4 other stuff. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Transport, security issues, 6 and there's a lot of that kind of stuff. Now, some of the 7 other things that have come up on food and that is, years 8 ago, we used to feed venison out there at the jail. I think 9 Bruce can remember that. And over the years, that kind of 10 ended. I saw some programs where -- mainly in other states, 11 where they really have a -- a lot less limit on -- on taking 12 of deer. I don't know; one state you can take four -- four a 13 day during hunting season, and they actually have programs 14 set up where the inmates are out there skinning and 15 processing deer, donating a bunch to needy families, and then 16 using a bunch in-house. And I would have to look at what 17 state -- 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's gotten more complicated. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: U.S.D.A. gets involved in 20 that. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's gotten way more 22 complicated. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right, to be able to do that. 24 So -- 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Bruce, did they feed y'all 11-13-12 124 1 backstrap while you was out there? 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't know, I was never in 3 there. I was going to ask you. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's what you just got 5 through saying. You remembered -- 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You reminded me that I 7 remembered that program. 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's right. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Didn't say anything about 10 being -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That I had eaten any of it at 13 the facility. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Buster, can you tell us how it 15 tasted? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Backstrap? Oh, it was very 17 good. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No, but things are going as 19 well as they can. And, again, my department wishes Bruce all 20 our condolences and best of wishes. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Thank you. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Anything that we can do. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Ms. Lantz, do you have 24 anything else for us? 25 MS. LANTZ: Just that we finished open enrollment 11-13-12 125 1 about a week ago, and we still have probably eight people 2 that have not submitted their open enrollment forms, which 3 we're hoping to finish this week. So -- but it went very 4 well, quick, no complaints. So -- and then the other thing 5 is they started painting downstairs what's going to be our 6 new break area, so once that gets finished -- Tim has been 7 working on it with his crew, and I think Rob was able to get 8 some of that cleaned out, which we got rid of, and we can 9 start getting the new things that we got approved for through 10 the wellness program. They did send us a check for $2,400, 11 so we did get approved to renovate that area for the 12 employees. So -- 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Our open enrollment, you're way 14 ahead of schedule, aren't you? 15 MS. LANTZ: Yes, sir. 16 MR. HENNEKE: The junk wasn't the County 17 Attorney's. That corner back down there just seemed to 18 become a repository for broken chairs and -- 19 MS. LANTZ: Well, thank you for helping to get rid 20 of it. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: You have anything for us, Ms. 22 Soldan? 23 MS. SOLDAN: I just wanted to let you now that TAC 24 sent out an appraiser to reappraise all county buildings over 25 100,000. I went out with that appraiser last Friday, took 11-13-12 126 1 him around to the buildings, and we also looked at a couple 2 of buildings that were not -- or that had been improved since 3 our last appraisal. So, I'm guessing that -- we did go out 4 to the airport as well. I'm guessing we night have some rate 5 increases next year again because of that. And also, 6 tomorrow I'm hosting a seminar for county employees, and I 7 also extended an invitation to the City of Kerrville and the 8 City of Ingram, on how to spot counterfeit currency. I've 9 included all of the fee-collecting offices around so that 10 they can learn how to spot counterfeit currency before it 11 gets to my office, and then I can't deposit it. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That little seminar she's 13 going to do, I would recommend anybody that's dealing with 14 cash to go through it. To give you an example, some of the 15 counterfeit cases we have worked in the last several months, 16 I even took one of the counterfeit bills to one of our local 17 banks and asked them if they could tell me whether it was 18 counterfeit or not, and they came back and told me it was not 19 counterfeit, and it really was. So, okay. So, there's some 20 very simple ways. You got -- the old way of marking it with 21 a pen is gone, okay? There are some ways, and anybody that 22 does deal with cash -- us, city, or anyone else -- I would 23 recommend strongly that they look -- I think you've got one 24 of the Secret Service guys that instructs that course is the 25 one that's coming up to do that seminar, and I think it would 11-13-12 127 1 be very advantageous. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's great. 3 MS. SOLDAN: I have two sessions because I had so 4 many people interested. I have about 40 people total, so it 5 will be two small groups of about 19 or 20 each. And then 6 that way, he can pass around some of the samples, and people 7 can actually get hands-on training. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do you have some participants 10 from City of Kerrville and City of Ingram? 11 MS. SOLDAN: I do. I have about six from the City 12 of Kerrville and one from the City of Ingram. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Good. Ms. Lavender? 14 MS. LAVENDER: Nothing. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything with the District Clerk? 16 MS. BURLEW: No, sir. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Hargis? Mr. Henneke? 18 MR. HENNEKE: Thanks for the last two years you've 19 served us. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thank you. Thanks, Rob. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I think we've got all except 22 the executive session items out of the way. At this time, it 23 is 11:45. We'll go out of public or open session for 24 purposes of going into executive session to consider 25 executive session items. 11-13-12 128 1 (The open session was closed at 11:45 a.m., and an executive session was held, the transcript of which 2 is contained in a separate document.) 3 - - - - - - - - - - 4 JUDGE TINLEY: We are now back in to open or public 5 session. It is 11:55. Does any member of the Court have 6 anything to offer from matters considered in executive or 7 closed session? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we -- 9 you need a motion, correct, Rob? I'll make a motion that we 10 authorize the County Attorney to pursue -- 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Foreclosure. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- foreclosure on property 13 owned by Ms. Emily Behrens. 14 MR. HENNEKE: Pursuant to the -- 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The cause number cited, 16 05-465A. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. Did anybody second? 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to pursue a 19 foreclosure action on property in Mason County -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, sir. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: -- owned by the debtor that's 22 secured by deed of trust in Kerr County's favor. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Any further question or 25 discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, 11-13-12 129 1 signify by raising your right hand. 2 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 4 (No response.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion carries. Anything else 6 to come before the Court on today's agenda? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. I'd like to offer to 8 buy you guys lunch upstairs. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Actually, we've got a 1:30 item 10 here, so at this point we'll adjourn -- 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Recess. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: -- for lunch -- excuse me, recess. 13 Thank you, Commissioner. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You're welcome. Every now 15 and then, I get one right. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, recess for lunch. I was going 17 to adjourn for lunch, and that -- if you adjourn, you 18 adjourn; you're done. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I knew you were having a 20 problem. I was trying to help. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: We're going to recess for lunch, and 22 we'll be back at 1:30 to consider Item 36. 23 (Recess taken from 11:57 p.m. to 1:35 p.m.) 24 - - - - - - - - - - 25 (Commissioner Overby not present.) 11-13-12 130 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's come back to order, if we 2 might. We were in our lunch recess. And our 1:30 item on 3 the agenda is Item 36, a Texas Department of Transportation 4 presentation on their current four-year plan, discussion of 5 local issues, revamp priorities, and plan for the next rural 6 TIP. We're fortunate to have with us today from AACOG Mike 7 Quinn and Dean Danos. Dean, of course, is the Executive 8 Director down at AACOG, and is at the helm of that ship now, 9 and doing an extraordinarily fine job. Dean's going to 10 introduce our folks here from TexDOT today. Good to have 11 you, Dean. 12 MR. DANOS: Thank you, Judge. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Come back and see us any time. 14 MR. DANOS: Thank you, Judge. Good afternoon, 15 Commissioners. Like the Judge says, I'm Dean Danos, 16 Executive Director of the Alamo Council of Governments, and 17 with me is Mike Quinn, the Deputy Executive Director, and 18 Jonathan Bean from TexDOT will be getting up here, making a 19 presentation. But before he does, I just want to make a 20 couple of remarks here. The first one deals with 21 Commissioner Overby. I want to thank you publicly for 22 allowing him to be a member of the Council of Governments. 23 He has served you extraordinarily well in your interests, and 24 for regional issues, and I look forward to having Judge 25 Tinley coming to the December 5th annual meeting, Judge, and 11-13-12 131 1 we look forward to giving him an orientation presentation. 2 And so your interests for Kerr County are in great hands. 3 Thank you, Judge, for taking up the mantle. 4 First off, A.R.R.P.O., the Alamo Regional Rural 5 Planning Organization, which y'all are a member of, 6 consists -- used to consist of just 10 counties in the AACOG 7 region. Now it consists of 11. The -- Judge Barden is chair 8 of that committee, and from Medina County. And with the 9 members voting, they voted in McMullen County as part of the 10 TexDOT district, and so that was well received, so now 11 they're part of the A.R.R.P.O. During those meetings, it was 12 discussed that TexDOT would go on the road tour show to visit 13 every county and make a presentation to you all on what's 14 current, what's going on, and what the future might look 15 like, and especially on the TIP -- and we will cover that 16 more in a minute -- Transportation Improvement Plan. So, 17 with no further ado, I'll let Jonathan come up and let him 18 introduce his people with him. Jonathan, thank you. 19 MR. BEAN: Thanks, Dean, appreciate that. And we 20 very much appreciate the opportunity to come and talk to you 21 today about our four-year plan. With me today is Clayton 22 Ripps, Planning Director in the San Antonio district as of 23 October 1st, and then also you know Mike Coward, your area 24 engineer. So, we hope to make a short presentation about 25 projects that are upcoming, that are currently underway, and 11-13-12 132 1 just the order of priority as we see it, and then we'd like 2 to get your feedback on that. So, first of all, the projects 3 that are -- have recently been bid or are completed are on -- 4 as you see here, and the good thing about this presentation, 5 it's a good list of all the projects that are underway and 6 those that are upcoming. So, I'll just kind of read through 7 some of that. But U.S. 83 from Edwards County line to Real 8 County line is restoration of existing roadway, and then 9 several roadways here that will receive two-way left turn 10 lanes on Highway 173, and then State Highway 16, as well as 11 State Highway 39. And then three projects here that will 12 widen/narrow roadways to add shoulders on State Highway 39, 13 F.M. 1340, and then F.M. 1341. Then you see the three bridge 14 replacements; Hoot Owl Road at Johnson Creek, Camp Y.M.C.A., 15 Arrowhead at Guadalupe River, and then Lazy Valley Road at 16 Cypress Creek will get kicked off here pretty quick. And 17 then you see the sidewalk construction at several of the 18 elementary schools, middle school. And then we have three 19 center-line rumble strip projects on State Highway 27 from 20 the airport to .3 miles southwest of Kendall County line. 21 And then -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's a rumble strip? 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Oh, you don't know what that 24 is? 25 MR. BEAN: Good question. It's the audible -- so 11-13-12 133 1 that when you're driving along, there's basically a little 2 rumble that occurs as you drive on top of it. That's what's 3 we call them, rumble strips. They get milled in, in the -- 4 in the top layer of the -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Those things on the side of the 6 road if you get ready to run off the road? 7 MR. BEAN: They're on the side, they're on the 8 center. They're basically to keep the -- 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: There were some I could show 10 you, but they've been removed. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 12 MR. BEAN: We have those going in on several 13 roadways throughout the district, including 16 and 27, 71 as 14 well. We have various safety enhancement projects where 15 we're -- safety and treating fixed objects and flashing 16 beacons and the like, and you see the list there. And here's 17 a list of our sealcoat upcoming -- or sealcoat and 18 pavement-marking projects in Kerr County. This slide is a 19 summary of all the funding for -- that is rural-eligible 20 within the San Antonio district for the four-year plan. You 21 can see the sum total is 238.8 million with the different 22 breakdowns of the different types of projects. Basically, 23 preventive maintenance and rehab, bridge repair and 24 replacement, safety, capacity, where we're adding the through 25 lanes, and then as well as our maintenance contract budget, 11-13-12 134 1 and that is for FY 2013 through FY 2016, four-year plan. 2 The next few slides is really just a series of maps 3 that help to indicate the types of factors that we consider 4 when we're selecting projects, and first map is a truck, 5 A.A.D.T., which is the average annual daily traffic 6 percentage. So, the red and orange and yellow are the higher 7 truck percentages of the total volume on those roadways. 8 Those stand out there. The -- the next map is a map of our 9 narrow roadways in Kerr County. The red ones are less than 10 28 feet, and the green ones are greater than 28 feet. The 11 significance of 28 feet is basically a -- a two-lane roadway 12 that has 11-foot lanes and 3-foot shoulders is 28 feet wide. 13 And so that's generally considered -- you know, anything less 14 than that is considered narrow. The next map is a pavement 15 condition map, so anything on this map that is red, orange, 16 or yellow, those kind of jump out at you, and those are the 17 ones that basically need work from a pavement condition 18 standpoint. The next map is a map of the projects that we 19 have upcoming in the -- in the four-year plan. And I'll go 20 through each one of those more specifically. And in fiscal 21 year '13, we have F.M. 394 from State Highway 27 to -- to 22 Spur 98. It's a rehab and widen/narrow roadway to add 23 shoulders. That project let in November, this month, to 24 B.P.I. -- is it Environmental Services? 25 MR. COWARD: Yes. 11-13-12 135 1 MR. BEAN: It's for 727,000 for four months. And 2 then we have State Highway 173 from 2771 to the Bandera 3 County line. The sealcoat and pavement marking project. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Where is Farm-to-Market 394? 5 MR. COWARD: Lemos Street. That's the shortest 6 farm-to-market, I think, in the state, so it just runs from 7 Spur 98, and our part of it dead-ends at 27. The city's got 8 a short piece that runs on over to Schreiner Street. And the 9 description's slightly misleading. Really, most of the 10 widening is going to occur on the Spur 98 side. If y'all 11 remember, when we widened the bridge, we didn't do much at 12 that intersection, so we'll get some right turn lanes, left 13 turn lanes and widened pavement. On the south side, other 14 than that, mostly like taking the curb and what little bit of 15 sidewalk -- the curb is kind of broken up. Widen the curbs, 16 sidewalks, and then mill off the old pavement, put down new 17 pavement. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Fantastic. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that 2771 Lower Turtle 20 Creek? 21 MR. COWARD: Yes. 22 MR. BEAN: We just need to get, like, a legend of 23 all the local names for all the F.M. roads and study up on 24 them before we come. (Laughter.) Our fiscal year '14 25 projects are shown here. We have widen roadway to provide 11-13-12 136 1 center two-way left turn lane on State Highway 16 from State 2 highway 173 to .2 miles south of Riverhills Boulevard, and 3 then an overlay on State Highway 16 from Spur 98 to State 4 Highway 173. And then you see the two sealcoat -- sealcoat 5 projects, one on 39 and one off 16 that are upcoming in '14. 6 This slide shows the remaining projects in the four-year 7 plan. We have State Highway 16, basically operational 8 improvements to provide passing lanes, left turn lanes, right 9 turn lanes, whatever's needed for those limits from Gillespie 10 County line to State Highway 27. And we're also looking at 11 State Highway 39 at Hunt Crossing to replace the narrow 12 bridge and approaches. 13 Also at Ehler's Road at Guadalupe -- at the 14 Guadalupe River, replace the bridge and approaches. And then 15 State Highway 16 from 1273 to 4 miles south of 173, we're 16 widening that narrow roadway and safety-treating the fixed 17 objects, such as the culvert ends. And then State Highway 39 18 from 3 miles to 3.6 miles east of F.M. 1340. This would be 19 advance warning signals and inverted profile edge lines. And 20 then the last one, State Highway 16 from 1.4 miles south of 21 State Highway 173 to F.M. 1273, we'll be adding rumble strips 22 and pavement markings there. This slide here just highlights 23 one of the needs we know that is outstanding in -- in Kerr 24 County that was brought up last time we were here a couple 25 years ago. We know there's needs, but this is one we feel 11-13-12 137 1 like we can -- we can get ahold of and do in the relatively 2 near term as funding becomes available. We can get plans 3 ready to go and have the plans on the shelf, ready to go 4 whenever. It's State Highway 27 from Spur 100 to F.M. 1350. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: 1350 is -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Government Crossing. 7 MR. COWARD: Government Crossing. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. An issue that is in that same 9 stretch there, you know, we've got the new -- new tank 10 operation going in out there, and that's -- that's going to 11 be expanded. I'm worried about a turn-in/turn-out. When 12 they're moving those big things, why, they -- 13 MR. COWARD: I think that's something that I was -- 14 I actually visited with Jonathan before the meeting, and 15 after the meeting we're going to run out there to look at 16 that and see if that's something that we can't at least make 17 some improvements in the short term. You know, maybe not the 18 ultimate improvements, but trying to get some pavement down 19 there. It's something that I might be able to do with Troy 20 and our guys here, or some -- you know, but I think that's 21 something that, you know, we don't want to wait four years 22 before we do something. We'd like to see something coming in 23 in the next -- you know, come back to y'all with something in 24 the next months rather than years. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. I -- I think it's a potential 11-13-12 138 1 real safety issue, because they -- they've got to be very 2 careful about decelerating and accelerating with those big 3 tanks and that sort of thing. And, you know, I'm sure 4 signage would help also, but I think a turn-in/turn-out, or 5 however you characterize those things, would be beneficial. 6 MR. COWARD: I think, you know -- 7 JUDGE TINLEY: And we're hopeful that -- that that 8 area we can get improved with hopefully some more second-tier 9 oilfield type. We've got another -- another facility that 10 we're already looking at. Actually, that's looking more at 11 us; they came to us, and we're hopeful that we can get a lot 12 of industrial type development out there along that -- that 13 same stretch. And that -- you know, that might improve our 14 chances for that if we've got that available. I understand 15 you're more in a react as opposed to a proact mode, but 16 hopefully we -- we hope to see that entire area out there 17 with pretty good industrial development. 18 MR. COWARD: I think we're trying do two things. 19 One is, as these developments come in, we'll look to them to 20 help do as much improvement out on the road as is reasonable. 21 Certainly, there's something that the business owner can do; 22 there's something that the Highway Department should do, and 23 we'll try to find that line. But I think, you know, we'll be 24 out there in the not far future making at least some minor 25 improvements, trying to hope those guys get out of that 11-13-12 139 1 through eastbound lane and into Fox Tank. And, you know -- 2 but that's -- actually, Commissioner Overby had called me and 3 mentioned -- 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 5 MR. COWARD: -- that he wasn't going to be here 6 today, but wanted to make sure that we brought that up. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. That -- that's the one 8 that -- the immediate one that we've got going on. And, of 9 course, they're going to have, at least for a while, two 10 different locations going on right there pretty close 11 together, but -- but the other one is down in that so-called 12 -- you, of all people, know about the future home down there. 13 And, hopefully that whole thing will, you know, get fully 14 developed now that there's been an appropriate movement in 15 the ownership and management there, that things will start 16 moving there pretty good. 17 MR. COWARD: On the way out of town, we're going to 18 stop by and and visit about it. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mike, in that area, when you're 20 out there, you might look at the -- the speed limit. To 21 me -- it's 70. You go down from 70 at the west end of the 22 airport -- or down to -- I mean, it goes to 55 at the west 23 end of the airport. If you go down to 55 at the east end of 24 the airport, that would solve part of that problem we're 25 talking about right here, plus it's also just a dangerous 11-13-12 140 1 area. People, you know, go -- 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The speed limit's too high 3 there. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. I mean, in my mind, it 5 can go to 55. 6 MR. COWARD: I don't know, the last time, what we 7 did, but certainly it's reasonable when use changes like it's 8 changed out there. And we've done some things out there, you 9 know, when we restriped it with that turn lane on part, and 10 some other things, trying to -- 'cause we did see some -- 11 even before Fox Tank came, we saw a number of pretty serious 12 crashes in that area. And it wasn't real apparent what was 13 going on, but people were coming across that center line and 14 having head-on collisions, so we actually made some changes 15 out there. And although we've checked speed limits since we 16 checked the striping, we certainly haven't checked it since 17 Fox Tank has come into the picture. I will get that done. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: I think moving that speed limit 19 reduction to at least the east end of the airport might be 20 one immediate thing that could improve the safety. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And with trucks that -- you 22 know, speed's a big issue, 'cause they can't accelerate or 23 decelerate quickly. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 25 MR. BEAN: Definitely need to initiate a study. 11-13-12 141 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah, that's just -- that's 2 too -- it's got to come down. I mean, that's just -- that 3 can't be safe to leave that at 70 there. It's not even in my 4 precinct; I guess I don't have to say anything. 5 MR. BEAN: Well, now's the time to talk about any 6 of these additional needs that you guys may -- may see. We'd 7 like your feedback on our current four-year plan, and if 8 there are other -- other items you guys think of. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's an item -- I don't know 10 if this really fits in this, but I'll bring it up anyway, 11 Mike. We're moving forward on the east Kerr County 12 wastewater project, and -- which I know we've met with TexDOT 13 on; we had some preliminary discussions with them, but we're 14 now at a point really of, you know, locating those sewer 15 lines. And 480 through Center Point is -- is an issue still, 16 'cause I understand pretty much from China Street to Elm 17 Pass, the most critical section, we're trying to figure out 18 how to get across and around and in that area. So, just 19 the -- I know y'all didn't want us to put any lines under the 20 road. 21 MR. COWARD: Uh-huh. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But we're running out of 23 options in some of those -- it might be a very small stretch. 24 MR. COWARD: Yeah. You know, when the time's 25 right -- if it's right now, let me know, but we'll set up a 11-13-12 142 1 meeting with some different folks in San Antonio you probably 2 haven't met before, but a guy named Dan Stacks who actually 3 works with approving utility permits, and we've been able to 4 get pretty imaginative on some of this stuff, so let's sit 5 down, look at the issue and see if we can't figure out 6 something, if we can. You know, we want to be y'all's 7 partner in trying to get you improvements like wastewater and 8 things out there, you know, and sometimes it takes a little 9 bit of thinking outside the box to get stuff like that done. 10 But -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We'll set that up. I'll call 12 you and set it up pretty soon, because that's -- we're doing 13 the right-of-way final alignments right now. 1350 will be 14 very important, but there's some right-of-way there that can 15 be used. It's -- 480's the trouble one, because there's 16 really not much there other than buildings, sidewalk, and 17 streets. 18 MR. COWARD: Right. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. We'll be in contact. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Did you have something? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Hmm-mm. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me ask a question for 23 informational purposes. I understand there have been some 24 recent discussions about the L.C.R.A. CREZ line and TexDOT 25 trying to make sure that everybody's reasonably happy with 11-13-12 143 1 the areas, Harper Road and 16 interchanges there. Is that 2 pretty much a nonissue? Has that been resolved? 3 MR. COWARD: I think we've -- I don't think -- I 4 think that it's been handled. We have met with both L.C.R.A. 5 and representatives of City of Kerrville, and have worked 6 very carefully on the placement of the poles. And then, you 7 know, some of the -- there's a lot of issues, but some of the 8 issues were how the poles impact, I guess, even the landscape 9 area that's up there and, you know, trying to minimize the 10 impact to the adjacent landowners and things like that. But 11 we met with L.C.R.A. and the city, I guess, last week, and I 12 think we hammered out the last of those issues, and 13 L.C.R.A.'s been pretty accommodating. You know, if we're 14 damaging a tree, they're going to plant two trees, and trying 15 to offset the impact, you know. But it is still 170-foot 16 tall towers coming through town. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Oh, yeah. Some of that's got to be 18 what it's got to be; I understand that. 19 MR. COWARD: But I think that it's -- I guess the 20 answer to your question, Judge, I've signed -- I've 21 recommended approval for the utility permits that get us up 22 to either side of Kerrville. We're waiting for the next 23 slough of permits to come through. We'll, I guess, put in, I 24 guess, for better legal form, permit form, exactly what 25 that's going to look like. And those actually have to be 11-13-12 144 1 approved all the way up to Austin, because they're going 2 against some of our own rules and taking exception on our 3 rules because they're in the right-of-way of Interstate 10. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I knew there was going to have 5 to be give and take on every side. And the objective was to 6 try and -- you know, to kind of like -- 7 MR. COWARD: I think the best possible solution, 8 given the circumstances that we have, has been reached. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. What about Harper Road? Same 10 thing there? 11 MR. COWARD: Yes, sir. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Good. Good. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Buckhorn? 14 MR. COWARD: Buckhorn is -- you know, I'm not -- I 15 understand that Buckhorn is actually giving some easements, 16 so they must be part of the -- the part of the solution. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, I'd understood that Buckhorn 19 had -- that had been resolved sometime prior. 20 MR. COWARD: Yes. That wasn't really a big topic 21 of conversation, but I guess just seeing that they were going 22 across Buckhorn property to get to the point that we were 23 talking about led me to believe that they came to a meeting 24 of the minds. That could be adjusted fairly easily there, 25 but I think they had to probably give up a little. But he 11-13-12 145 1 wasn't -- you know, the main thing was the stuff right there 2 at -- at -- 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Intersection on the front. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The intersection. 5 MR. COWARD: I think that everything we've done, I 6 guess, is trying to -- we've asked for some changes, trying 7 to -- so one day, for Harper Road, for instance, right now 8 it's kind of a half cloverleaf intersection. If we wanted to 9 change it to a diamond intersection, we wanted to make sure 10 the poles were not put in a place that would impact our 11 ability to make operational improvements to the intersection 12 in the future. So, I think all those -- and lots of things 13 being balanced. We found a place for the poles, but I think 14 we're there. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Good. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I appreciate TexDOT's 17 participation in that, 'cause I know without you guys being 18 part of the equation -- and my recollection, or at least what 19 I'm told is that this -- this hasn't -- isn't something -- 20 y'all have not been a player in these kind of activities 21 before. 22 MR. COWARD: I think we're breaking new ground. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: We appreciate your collaboration on 24 that, 'cause it -- you know, it was a bad deal to start with, 25 and it could have been worse. 11-13-12 146 1 MR. COWARD: I think I'll just say we're making the 2 best out of the cards that we're dealt with. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: There you go. Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Not the silk purse theory, 5 but it's better than, you know, something else. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: What other issues do we have, 7 gentlemen? Anything new and exciting on the horizon with -- 8 with you guys in this area? 9 MR. BEAN: Well, other than the projects we've got 10 coming up in the four-year plan, we're hoping to -- you know, 11 district wide, to see some additional funding come our way as 12 a result of the next legislative session, whether it be to 13 help with Eagleford Shale needs we're seeing down south, or 14 whether it be just, you know, more mobility funds. But 15 currently there really is no additional mobility funds beyond 16 Proposition 12, which we -- we, at the end of next summer, 17 will have let all those projects. So, we're -- our fingers 18 are crossed, and we're hoping for the best. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Mike, I see that Hunt 20 Crossing is in that four-year plan. Is that really kind of 21 -- that would be toward the tail end of the four years? 22 MR. COWARD: I sure hope so. (Laughter.) There's 23 a lot of hurdles to even figure out how to do that. I mean, 24 it's in there because it's on this list of projects that are 25 out there with these scores. And there's a lot of technical 11-13-12 147 1 challenges that come with that. I mean, we've met and talked 2 about this extensively before. And I'm surprised 3 Schumacher's not on there. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's okay. 5 MR. COWARD: But y'all -- 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It can be on there after I'm 7 gone. 8 MR. COWARD: Certainly -- certainly, you know there 9 won't be -- you know, that's a very -- you know, we know the 10 route to success out there, so we're going to -- it's going 11 to be a very public process with lots of involvement from the 12 community if we are asked to work on that while we're at the 13 helm. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 15 MR. COWARD: One thing I would mention just real 16 quick, just a bullet up there, probably the biggest 17 high-profile project is State Highway 39 through Ingram. 18 That's an $8 million project, give or take. That's the 19 project we're going to fulfill another one of the commitments 20 we made to the Court many years ago that we would help. 21 Actually, we're going to replace Cade Loop as part of that 22 project, and so that's coming. We'll probably start working 23 on that in earnest the first of the year. Contractor's -- we 24 got a contract. We've let contracts. We've awarded 25 contracts. The contractor's out buying materials, and we'll 11-13-12 148 1 start stockpiling them, looking at starting work after the 2 first of the year. So, we're going to build a new bridge at 3 Cade Loop, going to widen significantly the bridge there at 4 Johnson Creek, continuous left turn lane that's the right 5 size all the way through Ingram from one side to the other. 6 You'll have a combination of underground drainage and some 7 above-ground drainage, bike lanes, sidewalks, brand-new 8 upgraded signals down at 39, and redo the landscaping down 9 there. So, we've been working a lot with City of Ingram, and 10 also with Commissioner Oehler on that project, so that's 11 probably the highest profile project we have coming up. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 13 MR. COWARD: They'll get a little taste of what 14 Sidney Baker was like. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's a biggie. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner, are you sensing some 17 retirements from some organizations out here, huh? Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You're making me nervous. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've got -- only question I 20 have I've been asking for 25, 30 years, something like that, 21 is the south side of the river connecting Bear Creek. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Talking about from Hunt? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. No, in here. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Spur 98 over to Bear Creek? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're almost there. You 11-13-12 149 1 don't have to answer that, Mike. 2 MR. COWARD: No, that's okay. I mean, we -- 3 there's another list I had kind of told them of things that 4 have been talked about. That was one of them, you know. 5 And, certainly, you know, we can probably -- you know, 6 whether it's, you know, all city and county, or all -- you 7 know, I'm not sure it's not on -- it's not a funded plan, but 8 there certainly is a need, and it's a pretty appealing little 9 project when you look at the maps. The other one I mentioned 10 would be a possible extension of, like, Texas Drive up Lemos 11 Street, or where it will tie back into Hill Country with -- 12 you know, but there's -- again, you know, I think the 13 difficulty is that you have all these needs, and I think they 14 were trying to be realistic with what the funding is like. 15 MR. BEAN: That's exactly right. And Mike did tell 16 us about that need, and we're -- it's not that we didn't want 17 to include it. We wanted to hear it from you, and -- and 18 know that it is a priority, something we can keep on our 19 radar screen. However, any of those mobility-type 20 improvements where we're connecting, you know, roads large or 21 small as they may be, most of the funding sources that we 22 have right now are -- it's our Category 1 and our Category 11 23 funds that we have any discretion on in the district, and 24 those we -- we can't -- we're at capacity with Category 1. 25 Category 11 is just -- is two and a half million a year for 11-13-12 150 1 the whole district. So -- 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: They take care of that. 3 MR. BEAN: And, you know, you can't add capacity 4 with that, but it's just how far does that really go? And 5 Category 1 is a very limited source, and we really have to 6 look at, with that source, keeping the roads together that we 7 already have. And -- but we -- like I say, we can keep our 8 fingers crossed on additional funds for mobility in the 9 future. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If you stop and think about 11 it, when we first started talking about this, that road ended 12 at the Kerrville State Hospital and went up Sheppard Rees; 13 that was the only way. The only way, and we've come this far 14 now to where you're down to a quarter of a mile. It's just 15 because, you know, you have patience, and at some point 16 you'll be able to jump in there and get it. 17 MR. COWARD: You know, and maybe someday that 18 property will develop, and somebody will dedicate a 19 right-of-way through there, and then you're even one step, 20 you now, closer. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Doctor what-you-call-it's 22 horse ranch. That will be a while. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Now, you were also talking about 24 there at Lemos and 98, the one that the mayor and I, a few 25 years ago, submitted to San Antonio to go straight on through 11-13-12 151 1 and curve around and into Sheppard Rees. Of course, that's, 2 you know, mobility that you were talking about. If you're 3 looking -- if the right-of-way's an issue, I think we can 4 solve that problem. 5 MR. COWARD: Gets to be a little tricky with us 6 because of the environmental process and things like that. I 7 guess -- I think what Jonathan -- I think for many years 8 we've been willing partners; I think now we're trying to be 9 willing and honest partners, and so rather than promise -- 10 (Laughter) -- promise that we've got -- you know, instead of 11 putting you on a list and saying we'll study it, and 20 years 12 go by and we're still studying it, I think we don't see any 13 way that we can fund it right now. I want to clarify. I 14 don't mean to say we were dishonest before. We're just being 15 up front that, you know, we don't have the money. We don't 16 have the money. Full disclosure; we don't have the money. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: You weren't dishonest. You just 18 weren't totally honest. 19 MR. COWARD: Well, I know better than to duel words 20 with a judge. 21 MR. BEAN: You always wonder if someone's going to 22 swoop in and save the day and bring funding to the table, but 23 it's just -- you know, we've gone many years within the 24 situation that we're in. The gas tax hasn't been raised 25 since 1991, for instance. So -- 11-13-12 152 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I -- and I know you guys were, 2 to some degree, the whipping post the last couple of 3 Legislature sessions, and hopefully you're beyond that. 4 Economic times are better. Certainly, we're -- you know, you 5 look at the gas tax. If you look at what they're doing out 6 in the western states and some of the other states, maybe we 7 are behind the times. But, you know, even if they give you a 8 penny or two more, why, that's more than you got, but 9 probably not nearly as much as you really need, 'cause you're 10 falling behind the times now with just trying to keep your 11 maintenance up in a lot of areas. But that particular area, 12 if the issue is right-of-way, I think we can get that solved 13 without much of a problem. I did note that the City, on 14 their portion of Sheppard Rees as it comes right off Spur 98, 15 they just redid it, which made a material difference on 16 Sheppard Rees. Of course, ours beyond there was -- was in 17 good shape, but keep that on our wish list somewhere. 18 Honest, dishonest, doable, not doable, whatever. 19 MR. COWARD: You know, I think just -- it's on the 20 wish list. I just think that Jonathan would be doing a 21 disservice if they put it out there, 'cause it would give you 22 hope it's in the four-year window, and I think they wanted to 23 be -- 24 MR. BEAN: Year after year, it ends up on the same 25 list. It's on the same list; it never moves up. 11-13-12 153 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: On the same four-year plan 2 every year. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, next four-year plan. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's right. 5 MR. BEAN: But you're right, in order for anything 6 to ever advance, you have to have a plan, and you have to 7 have an idea on -- on paper, and so we definitely will keep 8 on it our radar screen if the -- if the funding situation 9 changes. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, in all candor, what I see the 11 main benefit of that is, is it will give a better tie-in to 12 the hospital that you don't have now. That -- that arterial 13 street there you've got servicing the hospital is not 14 adequate for of that type of traffic. This -- this would 15 permit that, plus the development of medical facilities in 16 that area; I think that would free up a lot of that land to 17 be used for that, and it would be beneficial for the -- 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That would give Peterson 19 another way out, too. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: -- the health -- oh, yeah, 21 absolutely. Absolutely. Where it's stubbed out on Hill 22 Country Drive, it will allow you to come on across. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Jump the ditch and get right 24 over here, come on down. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I understand the ditch is a 11-13-12 154 1 problem too, but there may be -- there may be some solutions 2 to that that don't totally fall within your lap that we could 3 get you some help on. 4 MR. BEAN: Well, if there's any kind of support 5 that can be provided through funding, through private 6 development or through local funding of any kind, we'd be 7 more than supportive of that. Look at a plan -- overall 8 plan, and if there's a -- a swap, for instance, to not add 9 mileage necessarily to our system, but then look at other 10 roadways that we could take off our system that are more of a 11 local -- if this is more of a connection that serves more of 12 a regional connection versus some other road that's become 13 more of a local roadway, we do entertain things like that. 14 There has to be some local leveraging of some kind that we 15 would have to look at, just because of the reality of our 16 situation with funding. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. I think the last time we 18 talked about it, we talked about maybe a three-way 19 partnership as one approach to it, certainly. 20 MR. BEAN: Okay. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't think we got into figuring 22 out how to drop something off to add something on so that we 23 got a net. If we did -- 24 MR. BEAN: Just a thought. It's a thought, not 25 necessarily a requirement. 11-13-12 155 1 MR. COWARD: We don't -- I guess if the time comes, 2 and there's a private -- you know, if there's a developer 3 with a plan and money that wants to move forward, I mean, 4 that's usually the time that it seems like things can gain a 5 lot of momentum. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Well, just keep it on the 7 wish list. 8 MR. BEAN: Yes, sir. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Dream, whatever. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And my -- my request, keep 11 it on your list too. If you -- and to maybe kick the ball 12 down the road a little ways, you remember from -- from Indian 13 Creek over to Bear Creek, we did that road, Freedom Trail, I 14 don't know how long ago. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Long time. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Long time ago. 17 MR. COWARD: Twenty years, probably. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 120 feet right-of-way; it's 19 ready to rock and roll, and has been all this time. 20 MR. COWARD: Keep on going. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just for you. 22 MR. COWARD: Just keep on going all the way to 23 Hunt. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just keep on going all the 25 way to Hunt. But all we have -- 11-13-12 156 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I sense a retirement coming. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All we have is this one 3 little piece over there across the river behind the shrimp 4 restaurant. That's all you need. I'm going to go back to 5 sleep. Thank y'all for being here. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: We do appreciate you guys being 7 here. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We do. Thank you. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Bringing us up to speed. It's -- I 10 just hope y'all, you know, get your fair share of what you 11 got coming for this next biennium. I know it hasn't been 12 real joyful in the last few years, based on what's been going 13 on over there, but hopefully they won't -- they won't be 14 treating you like the redheaded bastard stepchild like 15 they've done in the past. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Oh my gosh. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm going to move back over 18 here. That was embarrassing. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Have you been treated that way? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This morning. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: I see. Okay. 22 MR. BEAN: We definitely appreciate the 23 partnership, and appreciate you giving us this opportunity to 24 come out and visit with you. And I also appreciate anyone 25 who had anything at all whatsoever to do with Johnny Football 11-13-12 157 1 coming to Texas A & M. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, no kidding. That's 3 fun, isn't it? 4 JUDGE TINLEY: You look at -- you watch that a 5 little bit, and you switch it over to another channel at 6 halftime at A & M. You look -- that's boring, you know? No 7 excitement to it. 8 MR. COWARD: I would mention one other thing, just 9 'cause it's on the list, is that Ehler's Road, you know, when 10 the time comes, we'd probably want to have a discussion about 11 that, you know, to see what we want to do. It is -- last 12 time I checked, that was a county bridge on a county road, 13 but it does not serve a lot of folks. So -- 14 MR. BEAN: But it ends up on our list because of 15 the condition of the bridge, and kind of a real objective 16 look at all the bridges statewide, and that's why, you know, 17 that one -- that one rolls up. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Just remember, there's no "O" 19 in front of that. (Laughter.) I have nothing to do with 20 that. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Like the subdivision this 22 morning. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 24 MR. COWARD: And the bridge in Center Point is not 25 on this list, I guess I would also mention. 11-13-12 158 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I was going to ask about 2 that. Well, thank you guys. And I thank Jody for being 3 here. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Appreciate you. Always nice 5 to see you. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else to come before the 7 Court on this agenda, gentlemen? We're adjourned. 8 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 2:14 p.m.) 9 - - - - - - - - - - 10 11 12 STATE OF TEXAS | 13 COUNTY OF KERR | 14 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 15 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 16 official reporter for the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 17 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 18 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 19th day of November, 19 2012. 20 21 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 22 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 23 Certified Shorthand Reporter 24 25 11-13-12