1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Tuesday, January 8, 2013 11 10:30 a.m. 12 Commissioners' Courtroom 13 Kerr County Courthouse 14 Kerrville, Texas 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 PRESENT: PAT TINLEY, Kerr County Judge 23 H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 24 BRUCE OEHLER, Commissioner Pct. 4 25 ABSENT: TOM MOSER, Commissioner Pct. 2 2 1 I N D E X January 8, 2013 2 PAGE 3 1.1 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve issuance of Certificate of Substantial 4 Completion of General Contractor on Show Barn at Hill Country Youth Event Center 3 5 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 6 resolve issues or matters with the General Contractor or construction items relating to 7 the Show Barn at the Hill Country Youth Event Center; authorize payment of any expenditures 8 in connection therewith 7 9 --- Adjourned 14 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 On Tuesday, January 8, 2013, at 10:30 a.m., a special 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: Okay, let me call to order this 8 special meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court posted 9 for this date and time, Tuesday, January 8, 2013, at 10:30 10 a.m. It is exactly that time now. A couple of items on the 11 agenda. Item 1, consider, discuss, take appropriate action 12 to approve issuance of Certificate of Substantial Completion 13 of General Contractor on Show Barn at Hill Country Youth 14 Event Center. Commissioner Oehler? 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, you have the 16 documentation before you there from the architect, and I 17 believe that all -- everything is in order this time. We 18 were waiting on certification of the fire system, and I 19 believe that's -- we have that now. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: What I've been told. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: I have before me A.I.A. Document 23 G704-2000, which is entitled "Certificate of Substantial 24 Completion," detailing the project as the show barn, and it's 25 signed off by the architect, and with a signature of a 1-8-13 4 1 contractor representative that the punch list will be 2 completed by the contractor within 30 days from the date of 3 substantial completion. Having this certificate in-hand, do 4 I hear a motion that -- that the Court approve the 5 Certificate of Substantial Completion as certified by the 6 architect for the project? 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I move approval, Judge. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 10 indicated. Question or discussion? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Question. Does the 12 architect also approve it after -- at the end of the 30 days? 13 Is he the guy that signs off -- 14 JUDGE TINLEY: That the punch list is complete? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Correct. 16 MR. LEWIS: We will monitor the progress. And I 17 wanted to offer that the certificate -- Certificate of 18 Substantial Completion is an important legal document, in 19 that it certifies that the building is suitable for the use 20 that it is intended by the owner, and it is a -- it triggers 21 the beginning of the warranty period for whatever the various 22 warranties, general contractor warranties, as well as the 23 subcontractor and material warranties. But we'll monitor 24 that during the course of the next 30 days. It's in 25 everybody's interest to have those items completed, but 1-8-13 5 1 they -- and the list is attached there. And it appears to be 2 long, but a lot of them are cosmetic and minor items. But -- 3 and we can -- at the end of that period, we can issue a 4 letter -- it won't be a document like that, but we can issue 5 a letter on our letterhead that says they've been completed 6 to our own satisfaction. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Cool. 8 MR. LEWIS: And we'll, of course, seek Commissioner 9 Oehler's input during course of that, as he -- 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Oehler, the Certificate 11 of Substantial Completion also has a space provided on it for 12 the owner; i.e., Kerr County, to accept the work as 13 substantially complete, and that a representative of the 14 owner sign off on that. Does your motion include that? 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It will include that, the 16 Judge to sign. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Any further question or 18 discussion on the motion? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There -- is there a retainage 20 until the punch list is complete? 21 MR. LEWIS: Mm-hmm. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the amount of that is? 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Ten percent. 24 MR. LEWIS: It may have been -- 25 MR. HATCH: It's 10 percent. 1-8-13 6 1 MR. LEWIS: Do we have any partial -- okay, it's 2 fully 10 percent. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's a good question. Ten 4 percent of what? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: The contract. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Of the original number? 7 MR. LEWIS: Yes. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Or what's remaining? Or -- 9 MR. LEWIS: Ten percent of the original number. 10 And 10 percent is held at each pay request, and -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. 12 MR. LEWIS: -- and so it's cumulative. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's good. 14 MR. LEWIS: And it is a significant incentive for 15 the subcontractors to complete their part of the punch list, 16 and for the general contractor to encourage that completion. 17 So, it's a -- it's a good resource. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: It also allows us to have the 19 opportunity to have those funds under our control in the 20 event any subcontractors or suppliers decide to file liens on 21 the project as a result of not having been paid. That gives 22 us protection there also. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. And at the end of 30 24 days, all of that goes away, doesn't it? 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Essentially, yeah, mm-hmm. Unless, 1-8-13 7 1 of course, there's been notice -- 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: If there's notice to the general 4 contractor, for example, and this -- this extends down to a 5 supplier of a subcontractor. And the general may not even 6 know who the suppliers are of the subs. Sometimes they will; 7 sometimes they won't. But that sub -- that supplier of that 8 sub has the right to file, but there's a specific period of 9 time in which he must give notice, and it's a very short 10 fuse. And if the general gets notice, why, then the general 11 withholds payment, and there's a requirement that the owner 12 also get notice, and it gives us an opportunity to withhold 13 that, protect the County and the general from having to pay 14 those amounts. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good process, sounds like. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, it's designed to work that 17 way. Any other questions or comments? All in favor of the 18 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 21 (No response.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. The other agenda 23 item, Number 2, is to consider, discuss, take appropriate 24 action to resolve issues or matters with the general 25 contractor or construction items relating to show barn at the 1-8-13 8 1 Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center and authorize payment of 2 any expenditures in connection therewith. Do we have any 3 loose-end items, Commissioner Oehler? 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Not that I'm aware of. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Anybody on the Court have any issues 6 -- any other issues relating to the show barn? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. I'm just wondering 8 here, "...authorize payment of any expenditures in connection 9 therewith." Reckon a lawyer wrote that? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, could have. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Probably had something to do with 13 that. Sure sounds familiar. Any outstanding issues that the 14 general contractor or architect are aware of that we need to 15 get the Court -- 16 MR. HATCH: It's all on the punch list. 17 MR. LEWIS: All on the punch list. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Good. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I just have one comment. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, great. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I will say that overall, the 22 process working with Journeyman has been a very good 23 experience. They had some other problems with some of their 24 subs, but as far as the experience working with them and the 25 product that we got, I'm very pleased. 1-8-13 9 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would agree with that. I was 2 going to make a similar comment. I think it's a -- you know, 3 they were under a pretty short time fuse to get it done. 4 They got it done within that short time fuse, and they've 5 been very cooperative with working with the County on some of 6 the other subcontractors we dealt with directly, and I think 7 as far as letting pens and stuff be moved in before the 8 substantial completion was signed off. So, appreciate 9 Journeyman. I think they did a good job. Appreciate it. 10 And Peter and Gary as well. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. Well, it's been pretty 12 much of a cooperative effort, because we've had Road and 13 Bridge involved with a lot of the digging and site work, and 14 it's just been a lot of coordination that had to happen to 15 pull this thing off. And it's just -- you know, it seems 16 like mass chaos at the end, which it normally is, especially 17 when, you know, it's such a tight schedule like we've been 18 under, but it is getting done, and it looks -- the stock show 19 people are just tickled to death. When you don't get a 20 comment out of Balser other than something nice, that's 21 pretty unusual. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Did you get that? 23 MR. LEWIS: I know that on behalf of Journeyman, on 24 behalf of the design team, appreciate the kind of work, and 25 are pleased that you're satisfied with the product. We know 1-8-13 10 1 that it will give many years of service to Kerr County, so -- 2 and state. I think it's going to be a big draw. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: We have another phase coming up here 4 soon, and hopefully the contractor will have an interest in 5 making a run at us on that. And the more, the merrier, you 6 know? That, I hope, is another good experience, and I'm 7 looking forward to that one. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, another thing is, too, 9 we got a lot of the infrastructure into this phase that will 10 not have to be addressed in the next phase. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The next one will be much 13 simpler to deal with than this one. 14 MR. LEWIS: And the rainwater tanks ought to be 15 getting charged. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Tonight. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Incidentally, I ran into Barry 18 Wall yesterday, and he -- just for informational purposes, he 19 said that the drizzle we had the other day -- you know, there 20 was two days that we had that drizzle. He says we averaged 21 100 gallons a minute during the drizzle. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good lord. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So -- 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Wow. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. And on that note, just 1-8-13 11 1 on that -- you know, we may look at if we need another tank. 2 Road and Bridge, just recently, or as of yesterday, gave me a 3 list of the last five years, how much money we have spent 4 with the City of Kerrville buying wastewater for road work, 5 and -- 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- it's $10,000. Just over 8 $10,000 in the last five years that we've spent buying water 9 to do road work. Which is a cost that we no longer have 10 because of those tanks. I mean, we have a lot of capacity, 11 and we can, you know, easily add more capacity if we so 12 choose. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: There's an adequate manifold on each 14 of those tanks that they could -- they can draw -- 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The rainwater. They're basic 16 fire connections on them. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Good. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And we may look at selling 19 water. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's -- you know, it's just a 21 mighty fine deal, and the tanks have water and they're 22 pressured up, and the lines are pressured out of those tanks, 23 and flushing toilets. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So it's a lot of water. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Good. 1-8-13 12 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Anything else on Item 2? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I think we ought to 3 say thank you to Bruce Oehler for going out there and beating 4 his head against the wall every day. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Hear, hear. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Putting up with these guys. 7 I guess it's appropriate that I can talk about Gary being my 8 favorite bass player, but other than that, I don't have much 9 to say about it. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that a stand-up bass or bass 11 guitar? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: He's a stand-up guy. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. He's a stand-up guy, is he? 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The guitar's bigger than he 15 is. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: If he plays it that way. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. So, I'm through 18 talking about that. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Our thanks to 20 Commissioner Oehler for his -- his riding herd on this 21 project. You guys may not have appreciated it, 'cause he 22 stayed in your hair instead of ours. 23 MR. LEWIS: Very much appreciated it, and -- and 24 Commissioner Letz as well, and the Court's support. But I 25 think this was a vision that's been a long time coming, and 1-8-13 13 1 that Commissioner Oehler's investment in it has insured its 2 success. We appreciate it; have enjoyed working with y'all. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We didn't have any fights, 4 did we? 5 MR. LEWIS: We did not. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Need to have one. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Maybe next time. (Laughter.) 8 MR. LEWIS: Well, I think, you know, we -- there 9 was good cooperation and balance between the County and the 10 City on issues where they interfaced, and so it was a fairly 11 seamless project in that respect. Good model. And I'll say 12 one more thing. I think the rainwater story is one that 13 y'all need to tell again and again, because it's a good -- 14 good model for our stewardship, and -- and there's only one 15 other facility like it, Salvation Army. But I think it -- I 16 know there's a trend toward more and more of that, and the 17 County -- y'all took the lead on that with this project. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, the buildings -- large 19 buildings like this, I mean, they provide a lot of -- a lot 20 of water very quickly. And with the cost of water right now, 21 I mean, our Road and Bridge Department needs a lot of water. 22 They use -- they use several -- 1.6 million gallons that we 23 have purchased in the last five years. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, the thing is, it's not 25 just that it's just -- you know, they haven't been able to 1-8-13 14 1 pump out of the river for two years. And all the miles and 2 miles -- especially when they have to go west, all the fuel 3 and everything that, you know, they spend doing that. Of 4 course, this is down -- same location. We don't have to pay 5 for water, too. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. Okay. Ms. Hargis, do we 7 have any bills? 8 MS. HARGIS: No. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: No bills. No late bills? No -- no 10 budget amendments? No monthly reports? Do we have anything 11 else to come before the Court at this meeting? We'll be 12 adjourned. 13 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 10:46 a.m.) 14 - - - - - - - - - - 15 STATE OF TEXAS | 16 COUNTY OF KERR | 17 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 18 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 19 official reporter for the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 20 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 21 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 8th day of January, 22 2013. 23 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 24 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 25 Certified Shorthand Reporter 1-8-13