1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Monday, January 27, 2014 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: H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 TOM MOSER, Commissioner Pct. 2 24 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 BRUCE OEHLER, Commissioner Pct. 4 25 2 1 I N D E X January 27, 2014 2 PAGE 3 --- Commissioners' Comments 6 4 1.1 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on Request for Proposal for LED lighting in 5 various county facilities 7 6 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on request to use Flat Rock Park for UGRA Annual 7 River Cleanup July 26, 2014, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. 13 8 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve the Kerr County Criminal Justice Community 9 Plan 2013-1014 and authorized submission of plan to Criminal Justice Division of Governor’s Office 15 10 1.3 Annual Report from Kerr County Historical 11 Commission 19 12 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to appoint/reappoint members to the Kerr County 13 Historical Commission; submit current membership list to Texas Historical Commission 27 14 1.6 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 15 approve resolution for submission of General Victim Assistance-Direct Services Program grant 16 proposal for 2014-2015 to Office of the Governor 30 17 1.7 Consider/discuss, take appropriation on reviewing applications and hiring Veteran Services Officer 40 18 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 19 approve Kerr County Retiree Health Care Plan Actuarial Valuation Report as of 12-31-2012 42 20 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 21 approve A Legal Ease account to be established with Frost Bank for filing fees for mental health 22 cases with Bexar County Clerk’s Office; authorize automatic debiting of that account by Bexar County 23 Clerk’s Office for payment of filing fees 49 24 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on Chapter 381 Economic Development Agreements 53 25 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) January 27, 2014 2 PAGE 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to set 3 public hearing and intent to consider creation of one or more County Energy Transportation 4 Reinvestment Zone(s) (CETRZ) to be held on February 10, 2014, at 9 a.m., in Kerr County 5 Commissioners Courtroom 66 6 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding South Texas Blood and Tissue doing 7 blood drive on February 19, 2014 in County Courthouse Parking lot from 11 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. 67 8 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 9 retain professional services of Trott Communi- cations Group for Phase 1 of Sheriff’s Office 10 Emergency Communications System at a cost of $21,500; funds to be reimbursed from certificate 11 of obligation 67 12 1.14 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve replacing cameras at Sheriff’s Office, 13 Jail, and Courthouse, to be paid with certificate of obligation funds 78 14 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 15 authorize for 2014 prescribed burns during a burn ban as previously authorized by the 16 Commissioners Court in Court Order #32020 80 17 1.16 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve contract with Divide VFD and allow 18 Commissioner Baldwin to sign same 83 19 1.17 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on Request For Proposal for Emergency Medical 20 Services -- 21 1.18 Update from Environmental Health/Animal Services Director regarding repairs and improvements made 22 at Animal Service facility; discussion regarding possible Environmental Health/Animal Services 23 Director facility expansion 84 24 1.19 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to appoint county representative to serve on the 25 Kerrville Economic Development Corporation Board 93 4 1 I N D E X (Continued) January 27, 2014 2 PAGE 3 4.1 Pay Bills 95 4.2 Budget Amendments -- 4 4.3 Late Bills -- 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 95 5 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee 6 Assignments 96 5.2 Reports from Elected Officials/Department Heads 97 7 --- Adjourned 105 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 5 1 On Monday, January 27, 2014, at 9:00 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 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good morning, ladies and 8 gentlemen. Welcome to the Kerr County Commissioners Court. 9 Today is January the 27th, 2014. We're in the Commissioners 10 Courtroom. It is 9 a.m. And for you new folks, we -- this 11 Commissioners Court always starts our meetings with a word of 12 prayer and the pledge of allegiance, and it's Commissioner 13 Oehler's turn to lead that. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes, if you would join me. 15 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. You may be 17 seated. At this time, we welcome anyone in the audience that 18 has something they need to come before the Commissioners 19 Court and talk about, if they'd come to the podium. It's not 20 an agenda item. If you want to speak on an agenda item, you 21 just get our attention and we'll allow you to do that. But 22 if there's something -- just some kind of a piece of 23 information or news, please come forward now to the podium 24 and tell us what's on your mind. Seeing no one coming, we'll 25 start with -- get reports from the Commissioners Court. 1-27-14 6 1 What's going on with you, Mr. Two? 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, let's see. We lost 3 another pioneer out in the Center Point area. Former 4 Commissioner Butch Lackey died recently. Had a big turnout 5 for his funeral, and he certainly did a lot for the 6 community. The other thing I want do is, we missed a bullet 7 the other day with all of the cold and the wet and the rain, 8 but Road and Bridge was ready. I talked to them the night 9 before; they had all the trucks loaded, and one of the -- one 10 of the groups worked all night that night. So, I think they 11 did a great job, as did the Sheriff and his guys, in keeping 12 everything in good shape. So, that's all I have. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Very good. Thank you, sir. 14 Number Three? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a great stock show again. 16 Had a good sale. I haven't got the final total; I know it 17 was real -- just under a million last time. 18 MR. HENNEKE: It's over now. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: A million, four is what I saw. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Good. They were hoping to get 21 over a million. And it's pretty remarkable; the number of 22 units in the sale was down by 32, I believe, so to be able to 23 get -- break a million with fewer units is pretty 24 astonishing. And, you know, you just got to -- hats off to 25 the Cailloux Foundation, to Tara B and Randy Olson. 1-27-14 7 1 They're -- you know, they spent a lot of money, as well as a 2 lot of other people. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Mini Mart. Yeah, there was a 4 bunch. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the sale went on and on and 6 on, and buyers stayed the entire time. It was very -- 7 probably the fullest I've ever seen it at the end of the 8 sale. So, it was a real good event. Hats off to all those 9 folks, and another great turnout. That's it. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, not only that about the 11 show; they -- everything went off without a hitch, from what 12 all the stock show people told me, that everything just 13 clicked along. They didn't have any issues. No problems, 14 really, of any kind. And to have that kind of a deal that 15 multiple -- or that many days is kind of hard to do. But I 16 have to be nice, I guess, to our Maintenance people. They 17 did a nice job too, taking care of things pretty well, and -- 18 and it looked good and I didn't hear any complaints. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You could even hear in the 20 arena. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes, the sound system was 22 even, you know, a good asset -- improvement. That's it. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. If there's 24 nothing else, we'll go into our agenda. Let's go to Agenda 25 Item Number 1; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 1-27-14 8 1 or request for proposal for LED lighting in various county 2 facilities. Facilities Director, Mr. Tim Bollier. 3 MR. BOLLIER: Thank you, sir. Good morning to 4 everyone. We should have -- you should have specs for all 5 this. That was sent in by Ms. Shirley Bell, and I just want 6 to know if you want to do it or not. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Gentlemen, I will say I met 8 with Ms. Bell and the other man out at the jail and the 9 Sheriff's Office, and some of the bids I saw on them, I told 10 them that at this time, I did not feel I would put it as a 11 priority with the Sheriff's Office or jail to try and convert 12 it. It was just too high of -- of an initial cost, 13 especially in there. So, I told them with some of the other 14 stuff y'all had going and that, I didn't see it flying with 15 our department at all. That's what -- I just couldn't put it 16 on priority in my office with the radio system and all this 17 other we've got that are major issues right now. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I tend to agree. I'm a 20 big proponent of switching to LED, but at the same time, the 21 cost is going to be high. When I think about the certificate 22 of obligation that we're getting ready to issue, you know, 23 this would just add more money than we could handle, or we'd 24 have to drop off a very important project. So, I would 25 encourage Maintenance to, you know, area by area, switch to 1-27-14 9 1 LED bulbs where we can, where it makes sense. But going into 2 the jail and redoing that system doesn't make sense. I think 3 that project should be incorporated into a new jail or 4 expansion -- 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: A jail expansion. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- and do it all at one time at 7 the jail. And the other areas, I think, can be done through 8 our Maintenance Department, basically on an area-by-area 9 basis, move ones around and do one department at a time and 10 switch it that way. But I think going out for bid, I just 11 don't want those people to do a bunch of work when we're 12 probably not going to accept it, in my mind. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Remind me. They were going to 14 look at a five-year study on return on if we did that, and 15 have some sort of guarantee -- maybe not -- "guarantee" is 16 probably the wrong word, but some sort of indication of what 17 the potential savings would be. What -- I forgot what the 18 cost to us was going to be for that. Do you remember, Tim? 19 MR. BOLLIER: I don't remember them ever giving us 20 a cost. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, I didn't hear a cost. 22 You mentioned a cost. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They had a number, and the -- 24 the payout was -- I believe you could lease it through them, 25 and they said it equated to about a five- to seven-year 1-27-14 10 1 payout. And the way they structured it, you don't pay any 2 more than you're currently paying for utilities, and the 3 savings basically, until -- 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: They get a portion of that? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They get all the savings until 6 that point. You know, it's just -- it sounds good. The 7 Sheriff's Department I think is a different -- 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Could we just separate 9 the Sheriff's Department out and look at -- at other 10 facilities, like the courthouse? Or does have it to be 11 the -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess my question -- maybe I 13 just don't know enough about it, but I don't -- I got the 14 impression that all they were going to do at the courthouse 15 was change the bulbs, and we can change the bulbs ourselves. 16 MR. BOLLIER: We can do that ourselves. All 17 they're going to do is retrofit it; we can do that ourselves. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And, you know, it does cost 19 money, and we're going to have to put that into a budget, 20 because -- 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, I thought what they were 22 going to do, though, is they were going to do an analysis to 23 say, "If you do it, this is how much you save. Well, if you 24 did it in the courthouse changing the bulbs, that's -- you 25 know, the bulbs are expensive. So it would be -- you know, 1-27-14 11 1 if we did a pilot plan, okay, quote/unquote, for something 2 like this, and entered into an agreement with them to look at 3 a segment of the courthouse facilities and see how it pans 4 out, you know, but you -- you know, to say I'm going to -- 5 you can change a bulb, but you won't know how much you saved. 6 And they -- they've got a pretty extensive database, I think, 7 for an analysis. I hate to see us not do it if it doesn't 8 cost us anything. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The only thing I question -- I 10 questioned some of their figures when they gave them to me on 11 the jail on their -- for their analysis. I didn't think some 12 of their billing figures were exactly what we're paying on 13 electricity, so I questioned that. And, personally, I'm like 14 Jonathan, especially when it comes to Sheriff's Office and 15 jail; let's incorporate it into the expansion. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let's take that out. 17 MR. BOLLIER: To me, Commissioner, it's going to 18 change out bulbs. Change out bulbs and see what your next 19 monthly bill is. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, can you separate the 21 courthouse from -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 23 MR. BOLLIER: Yes. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- from the -- I mean, you got 25 separate facilities on all that? 1-27-14 12 1 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. I don't think we can do 3 the annex, and this building I think is probably on one 4 meter. But we could -- you know, certainly KPUB can give us 5 an analysis of it. We can change -- 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- half a building, all the 8 building out, and then see what the savings is, compare. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: See what the savings is 10 within the present budget once you decide to buy. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Tim, why don't you visit with 12 Ms. Bell and see -- and just basically say the only thing 13 we're possibly looking at is for maybe one building. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This building or, you know, 16 maybe the annex, something that's relatively -- 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Something like that, that's 18 not, you know -- 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. And to see, really, I 20 mean, how much it's going to cost, and then you can figure 21 out on your own how much it costs. You buy the bulbs 22 yourself and do it, see if it really makes sense. 23 MR. BOLLIER: I can do that. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just leave it that way? I'd 1-27-14 13 1 entertain a court order, if anybody wanted one. Very good. 2 Thank you, Tim. 3 MR. BOLLIER: Thank you, sir. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. Item 5 Number 2; consider, discuss, take appropriate action on 6 request to use Flat Rock Park for U.G.R.A. Annual River 7 Cleanup to be held on July 26th, 2014, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. 8 Tara? 9 MS. BUSHNOE: Good morning. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There you are. How are you 11 doing? 12 MS. BUSHNOE: Good. Good morning, Commissioners. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good to see you. 14 MS. BUSHNOE: I'm Tara Bushnoe with Upper Guadalupe 15 River Authority. And U.G.R.A. is hosting our 11th annual 16 river cleanup on Saturday, July 26th, 2014, and requesting 17 consideration to use Flat Rock Park for the event -- for the 18 headquarters of the event. So, even though we have 19 volunteers that spread out throughout the county for cleaning 20 up, we like to have a central location for them to bring 21 their trash to, and to also to gather after the cleanup. We 22 also set up tables for registration and prizes, refreshments, 23 and have a little ecological fair there as well to share 24 information about the Guadalupe River. So, based on previous 25 years, we've had about 250 to 300 volunteers, and expect 1-27-14 14 1 about 10,000 pounds of trash. And I'm planning to designate 2 the trash dropoff location to be down by the boat ramp. 3 That's what we did last year, and it worked out well. And we 4 also have had the recycle trailer as well, and we'll insure 5 that the trash pile is removed completely by the end of the 6 day on the 26th. We held last year's river cleanup at Flat 7 Rock Park, and we surveyed volunteers after the cleanup. I 8 sent them a survey, and those that responded said that they 9 preferred it to locations that we've had in the past. So, 10 I'm just looking forward to the opportunity to partner with 11 Kerr County again this year on river cleanup. Thank you for 12 your consideration. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll move approval. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We have a motion and second 16 for approval. All in favor, raise your right hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Motion carries. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: If I might just comment on 20 that, that worked really efficiently last year, I think 21 probably better than it did at the other locations, 'cause 22 you had a lot of room -- 23 MS. BUSHNOE: Mm-hmm. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- for the volunteers. It was 25 great. 1-27-14 15 1 MS. BUSHNOE: Yes, the flow of traffic was great, 2 and there was a lot more shade, too. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. Good. Thank you. 4 MS. BUSHNOE: Thank you. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Tara, just one other comment. 7 Thanks for all y'all do on keeping the river clean. Y'all do 8 a great job. I appreciate that effort that U.G.R.A. does. 9 MS. BUSHNOE: Very good. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it is your job. (Laughter.) 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Rosa? 12 MS. LAVENDER: Yes. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Item 1.5; consider, discuss, 14 take appropriate action to approve the Kerr County Criminal 15 Justice Community Plan, 2013 and '14, and authorize 16 submission of the plan to the Criminal Justice Division of 17 the Governor's office. The purpose of the plan is to 18 identify gaps in services regarding criminal justice issues, 19 and is required for future submission of grant applications 20 from government agencies, as well as community organizations 21 that address gaps in services identified in the community 22 plan. Rosa Lavender. 23 MS. LAVENDER: There's three primary areas in the 24 community plan; juvenile justice, victims services, and then 25 the law enforcement/courts divisions. And this is just an 1-27-14 16 1 update or a redo, really, 'cause the format changed a little 2 bit this year of the plans that we've used for many years. 3 And when Rusty and his department and the District Attorney's 4 offices need to apply for grant money through the Governor's 5 office, we want to prioritize things in there. You'll 6 notice, if you had time to read through it, that the radio 7 system that he speaks about is our number-one priority for 8 the next couple of years. Victims Services, Hill Country 9 CARES, the program that I have -- and there's other options 10 under those services -- apply to grants, and then our 11 juvenile justice grant, the Y.A.D. program that's been so 12 successful through the Juvenile Board and through B.C.F.S., 13 comes through this funding chain. So, this is simply a 14 formality that we have to do in order to update. Now, AACOG 15 this year is going to take all the community plans from all 16 of the counties in AACOG, and they're going to put together a 17 regional community plan identifying some priorities, so 18 that's a little different what from we've seen in years past. 19 And one other thing; McMullen County has been added to the 20 AACOG region, which is potentially going to spread the money 21 out a little bit thinner than what we've seen in years past. 22 There may be less money available, because if you add another 23 county, that diversifies your grant application options. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rosa, I think I asked you the 25 same thing last year. 1-27-14 17 1 MS. LAVENDER: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Under the areas represented, I 3 know that the bulk of Comfort is in Kendall County, but part 4 of the community is in Kerr County. 5 MS. LAVENDER: Mm-hmm. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And also, the Comfort School 7 District takes up a huge part of eastern Kerr County. Do we 8 just leave it out because people think of those communities 9 being in Kendall County? 10 MS. LAVENDER: Actually -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or -- 12 MS. LAVENDER: Actually, the community plan is 13 supposed to address what's in Kerr County, and I don't know 14 that there's a reason to put them in there or to not put them 15 in there, but they want it addressed to the things that are 16 in Kerr County. And I do mention the volunteer fire 17 departments, not by name, but -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 19 MS. LAVENDER: -- in a general statement. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I -- you know, I don't know 21 that it makes that much difference on this, but it just seems 22 that the school district especially, 'cause it's, I mean, 23 right up the road. You know, the school district boundary 24 is. A huge part of Kerr County is in Comfort School 25 District, and there's more and more -- 1-27-14 18 1 MS. LAVENDER: Well, if you would like them added, 2 I can go back and add them; that's no problem. 'Cause 3 this -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To me, it would make sense to, 5 but I'm not going to -- 6 MS. LAVENDER: We can do that, no problem. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, what you're asking -- 8 MS. LAVENDER: If the Court wants to do that. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You're just requesting to -- 10 to authorize submission of the plan? 11 MS. LAVENDER: Right. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: "Approve" is the word. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Approve. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. It seems -- 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: For submission of the plan. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Correct. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The former county seat was 19 Comfort, Texas for Kerr County, wasn't it? These Germans 20 can't get over that. 21 MS. LAVENDER: I know. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: They can't get over that. 23 It's moved to Kerrville, Jon. 24 MS. LAVENDER: Their importance is important, that 25 we don't recognize all the time. 1-27-14 19 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let's make a motion here to 2 approve this document. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Approve the submission of the 4 plan. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Correct. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Was that a motion? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That was a motion. Can I 8 have a second? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a motion and second. 11 Any further discussion? All in favor, raise your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Motion carries. Thank you. 14 MS. LAVENDER: Thank you. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let's see, we're almost -- 16 oh, yeah, we're there. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Now you're there. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Item 1.3, annual report from 19 Kerr County Historical Commission. Mrs. Leonard, please come 20 forth. 21 MS. LEONARD: Good morning. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Good morning. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Morning. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good morning. 25 MS. LEONARD: The purpose of the Kerr County 1-27-14 20 1 Historical Commission is charged with the protection and 2 preservation of Kerr County's historic and cultural resources 3 for the use, education, enjoyment, and appreciation of 4 present and future generations. These purposes are distinct 5 organizations that focus on genealogy or family history 6 preservation. We're a unit of the Texas Historical 7 Commission and work under the guidance of Kerr County 8 Commissioners Court. We meet at noon on the third Monday of 9 each month at the Union Church, located at Broadway and Water 10 Street. This year we have 38 members, and we have donated 11 4,650 hours of community service to Kerr County. 12 Programs for our meetings in 2013 included Buffalo 13 Soldiers, Clifton Fifer; Famous and Infamous Kerr County 14 Residents, Mike Bowlin; Five Generations on the Ferrell 15 Ranch, Wayne Rogers; Digitizing Kerr County Documents from 16 1856, Janet Pieper -- Pieper; Eradication of the Screwworm, 17 Dr. James "Bud" Wright. He was part of a team of the 18 government that eradicated the screwworm all over the United 19 States. He worked for the -- it was a government program, 20 and Research Laboratories here funded that. Jake Hardy -- 21 another program, Jake Hardy, a 12-year-old slave captured by 22 Comanches and lived to tell stories, Mike Bowlin. Jake was a 23 great, great grandfather of Kerrville resident Raymond 24 Hardy's. Our Oral History Project, Francelle Collins, and 25 assisted by Louis Stevens. They conduct usually hour-long 1-27-14 21 1 interviews with different Kerr County residents, and these 2 are videotaped, and then also copies are available at the 3 History Center, and they're also archived at Schreiner 4 University, and the public can go in and research that. And 5 we're waiting on Schreiner to hopefully put this on a website 6 called "Voices of the Hill Country," so people can actually 7 hear people like James Avery. And there's 71 oral histories 8 that have been done that are available for the public. 9 Interviews completed this year: Allie Burton; he was a 10 prisoner of war in Korea. Charles Domingues; he's a great, 11 great grandson of early Kerr County resident Louis Domingues. 12 He was also a surveyor, I think. Ethel Starkey; she was a 13 widow of A.L. Starkey, Jr. He was a land developer, and 14 developed a lot of the shopping centers and Starkey Manor. 15 Brigadier General Walter and Barbara Schellhase, Tivy High 16 School graduates who restored the A.C. Schreiner home on 17 Water Street. Julius and Marvin Neunhoffer -- Neunhoffer. 18 They're descendants of Julius -- excuse me, Caspar Real. He 19 was a pioneer rancher of Kerr County. Pat and Louis Burton. 20 Pat was secretary to Tivy principals for years, and Louis was 21 a teacher and Tivy's first tennis coach. 22 The other project, the Friends of the Kerr County 23 Historical Commission, there were three projects finished 24 with the help of donors, Kerr County Commissioners, the Kerr 25 County Historical Society -- excuse me, Commission, and 1-27-14 22 1 volunteers. We installed the 1904 - 1925 original fence from 2 the county courthouse, enhanced the landscaping around the 3 building with donated funds. Plants and materials were 4 donated by Commissioner Jonathan Letz; thank you very much. 5 We had grant funding, and local -- the Master Gardeners did 6 most of the labor. We also -- the parking lot was resurfaced 7 with crushed granite by Kerr County Road and Bridge 8 Department. 9 The Historical Marker Committee is Deborah Gaudier. 10 She has submitted Mosty Brothers Nursery in Center Point, the 11 Vann-Calcott-Schreiner House, Kerr County History Center. 12 And we're expecting markers to be installed this year from -- 13 for H.E.B., the original grocery store, the Gatlin Site, 14 which is at the Saddlewood entrance, which is an 15 archeological site, and the Notre Dame School. And Mosty 16 Brothers Nursery was also awarded Texas Treasures Business 17 Award. This award is given to family businesses that have 18 existed 50 years or more, and Mosty Brothers was started in 19 1898. And we dedicated two markers between '12 and '13; 20 Mount Olive Baptist Church and Center Point School. Another 21 project is a Cemetery Committee led by Linda Nielsen 22 Reynolds, and they document and photograph all Kerr County 23 cemeteries. And she sent these to Find a Grave website, 24 which you can go on that website and look at different 25 cemetery markers for -- you know, if you're researching your 1-27-14 23 1 family. We're also in the process of updating this brochure. 2 We're also -- haven't done it last year, but we're 3 working on Francisco Lemos to get him a grave marker, and 4 Louis Stevens is working with the V.A., and we're trying to 5 first find the grave, exactly where it is. We also have a 6 historical window display at 712 Water Street. We have four 7 endangered properties that have been identified; the 8 Comparette House at Jefferson and Tivy Street, the Tivy Hotel 9 at Main and Tivy Street, the Scofield School for Girls, the 10 property next to the Western Art Museum, and the A.C. 11 Schreiner House at 529 Water Street. And we're constantly 12 looking for other properties that might be endangered in Kerr 13 County. The Kerr County Historical Commission stays 14 connected with Commissioner Buster Baldwin through e-mails 15 and meetings. We also invite the County Judge and County 16 Commissioners and staff to lunch in November of each year. 17 Among our events planned for 2014, we're hosting the 18 20-county Edwards Plateau Historical Association on May 3rd, 19 so that should be a really nice event. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that groups outside of 21 Kerr County? 22 MS. LEONARD: Yes. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, that'll be interesting. 24 MS. LEONARD: Yeah, there's 20 counties. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Real County? 1-27-14 24 1 MS. LEONARD: Yes. Yes, there are 20 counties. 2 It's a huge thing. We're real excited about it. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That'll be fun. 4 MS. LEONARD: And I thank you all for all your help 5 and support. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: All of those accomplishments 7 were this past year? 8 MS. LEONARD: Yeah. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: With 38 people, and you meet 10 once a month? 11 MS. LEONARD: Yes. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Wow. 13 MS. LEONARD: We stay busy. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's a lot. 15 Congratulations. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It is. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: The -- is this Commission 18 above and beyond any of the surrounding counties? 'Cause you 19 guys -- 20 MS. LEONARD: No, that's just us. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, but I mean, you do a lot 22 of work. 23 MS. LEONARD: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, when you have the Plateau 25 -- you say Edwards Plateau? Is that -- 1-27-14 25 1 MS. LEONARD: Yeah. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, that's for 20 counties 3 that are going to be here. So what's the objective of that? 4 MS. LEONARD: What -- I've never attended one of 5 these, but we have, I think, four speakers. And they want us 6 to concentrate on Kerr County, and we're in the process of -- 7 of selecting who we want to speak. And we've got some really 8 good ideas on that, so -- and there are people that want to 9 speak, and that we're going to try to keep it real -- a 10 really nice event. They expect at least 50 people to show 11 up. I think they had it at Camp Verde four years ago, but I 12 wasn't -- 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Is this a single-day event? 14 MS. LEONARD: Yes, it's on a Saturday. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 16 MS. LEONARD: And the way I understand it, there 17 are two speakers in the morning and two in the evening; we 18 break for lunch. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 20 MS. LEONARD: We're also looking for a -- we 21 reserved the Union Church, but I think we may need a 22 bigger -- because we have to serve lunch. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think so, yeah. 24 MS. LEONARD: Anyway, that should be a real -- and 25 then they -- after, they publish a brochure that -- or a 1-27-14 26 1 pamphlet, and all these speakers have to be footnoted, and 2 they can't make up wild stories. (Laughter.) 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Peer review. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That leaves us out. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That leaves you out. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's "us" on that one. 7 (Laughter.) 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Very good. 9 MS. LEONARD: So, anyway -- 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Super. Good report, ma'am. 11 Thank you so much. 12 MS. LEONARD: Do you want me to mention the new 13 members also? 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me call that -- 15 MS. LEONARD: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- item. Do we need to do 17 anything? Do we need to accept -- do you think we need to 18 accept this report? Is this part of the thing that goes to 19 Austin? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think so. It isn't? 21 MS. GRINSTEAD: No, we just send new members. We 22 just -- 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just the new members. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we ought to accept it 25 anyway, just so that we have a record that we received it. 1-27-14 27 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think it's true. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we accept 3 the report. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We have a motion and second. 6 Any further discussion? All in favor, raise your right hand. 7 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Motion carries. Thank you, 9 ma'am. We'll go to Item 1. -- 10 MS. LEONARD: Let me just do one thing. We have 11 two of our proposed members in back, Patrice Doerries and 12 Bonnie Pipes Flory. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Bonnie Pipes Flory. 14 MS. LEONARD: So you can put a face with their 15 names. Thank you. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. Don't run off. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Glad you got Julie here. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 1.4; consider, discuss, take 19 appropriate action to appoint/reappoint members to the Kerr 20 County Historical Commission and submit current membership to 21 the Texas Historical Commission. Julie Leonard. 22 MS. LEONARD: I thought I was done. Uh-oh. Okay. 23 The new members proposed are Reynaldo Hernandez, Karen 24 Burkett -- 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Wait just a second. Let's 1-27-14 28 1 see, I've got a list here I forgot to pass around. Sorry. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Did you get one? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, I've got one. I've 4 got it right here, buddy. Steel trap. Okay, go ahead. 5 MS. LEONARD: Okay. Reynaldo Hernandez; he's 6 worked at the V.A., and I understand he's an expert on Texas 7 history. Karen Burkett from Fort Worth; she's lived in 8 Kerrville for two to three years. She's a master naturalist. 9 Betty Jo Schmidt; she's a Bandera girl who's moved to 10 Kerrville. Her husband was Smitty, a butcher in Kerrville, 11 which I didn't know. She's an active researcher, and she's 12 very familiar with Camp Verde. Her daughter's Rolanda 13 Schmidt. Or -- well, her son is Arthur Schmidt, who's 14 married to Rolanda. Bonnie Pipes Flory; she's a Tivy High 15 School graduate, just moved back from San Antonio. She's 16 interested in Kerr County history. Mary Elaine Adamek Jones; 17 she's moved back -- I'm not sure where she lived, but she 18 wanted to be involved in -- in Kerr County. Janet Tucker 19 Bass; she's a native Hunt person. They have Tucker Pump 20 Company, and her husband is a sixth-generation member of the 21 -- the Hunt community. They were somehow with the Japonica 22 area there, so -- they may be Japonica. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Would be Randy, I think, 24 wouldn't it? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, there are Merritts and 1-27-14 29 1 all kind of names they go by. 2 MS. LEONARD: But, anyway, she -- I understand she 3 worked with Clarabelle years ago on a bunch of -- a lot of 4 the markers up there. Beverly Peterson Sullivan; her 5 step-dad was Boss Peterson. She's lived in Kerrville most of 6 her life. Elizabeth Baker; she's been very active in the 7 Hill Country Genealogical Society. Brenda Jones Williams; 8 she's also a Tivy High School graduate, been very active in 9 the community. She's lived all over the world, and she moved 10 back here, I think, 20 years ago. And Patrice Doerries; 11 she's retired from the Hill Country CARES, and she's going to 12 add her experience and expertise to our commission. So, 13 those are our proposed members. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Did any of the members drop 16 off? 17 MS. LEONARD: Yes. We -- I don't have an exact -- 18 I think we've had a couple -- one die, and then probably 19 about five or six have retired, or we retired them. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So this is a net increase? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Looks like it. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner Baldwin, do we 24 have the complete list? Don't we have to furnish the whole 25 list? 1-27-14 30 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We do have a complete list. 2 MS. LEONARD: Yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We do. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion we accept the 5 membership list as submitted. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Motion made and seconded. 8 Any further discussion? All in favor, raise your right hand. 9 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Motion carries. Thank you. 11 Thank you so much. 12 MS. LEONARD: Thank you. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Appreciate your hard work, 14 lady. It's always good to have old Tivy Antlers in the room. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Old? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, old Tivy Antlers. 17 Item -- let's see, Item 1.6; consider, discuss, take 18 appropriate action to approve the resolution for the 19 submission of the General Victim Assistance Direct Services 20 Program grant proposal for 2014 and '15 to the Office of the 21 Governor, Criminal Justice Division. The purpose of the 22 grant is to fund the Kerr County Crime Victims Coordinator 23 program. Mrs. Lavender? 24 MS. LAVENDER: Thank you. This is the latest. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 1-27-14 31 1 MS. LAVENDER: Should be three here. This is 2 really early in the system to be talking about budget, but 3 because the grant application is due the 3rd of February, we 4 need to have a little short discussion about what we want to 5 do about it. I gave you some early bullets in there about 6 the background of the program and how long we went with the 7 grant before, eight years. Last year we did not get the 8 grant; we were unsuccessful. In talking with the AACOG 9 people who handle the grants, they say that the money is 10 going to be just as tight this year, or tighter. Adding an 11 additional county is also going to further -- 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Dilute. 13 MS. LAVENDER: -- dilute the funds. But also, 14 there's -- they're putting a limit of $200,000 on any single 15 grant, which is going to affect some of those larger grants 16 in Bexar County. And I don't know whether they're going to 17 try to break them up into, you know, two grants where they 18 were doing everything with one grant or not. I really don't 19 have any idea, and I don't think anybody does until we see 20 the -- you know, what's turned in, what to do. But I think 21 we really have some options here that we need to talk about. 22 One, last year, because we were very late in the budget year, 23 the District Attorney stepped up and helped fund it this 24 year. We reduced the budget about, what, $15,000? 25 MS. HARGIS: Twenty. 1-27-14 32 1 MS. LAVENDER: Twenty last year. The D.A.'s kicked 2 in some money, and we made it work this year. I, you know, 3 did some things that are not done -- or not done some things 4 that I normally would do with it, but we need to look at what 5 we've done and what we can do in the future. And so I put 6 you three options on there. One of them is just to leave it 7 like it is this year, knowing that the D.A.'s are not going 8 to kick in anything out of their seizure funds. Neither one 9 of them have the funds to do it. So, it would then just 10 become part of the regular budget just like any other 11 personnel position in the county. The second option is to go 12 back and try to write a grant for the full grant option, 13 which, as I said, is probably slim and none that we would get 14 that much money. The third option -- and Ms. Hargis and I 15 have kind of talked about it, and Mr. Moser and I talked 16 about it briefly, and I've talked with the people at AACOG, 17 and they think that's a possibility, is to ask for a 18 percentage funding. 19 And so what I've done is kind of put a pencil to 20 it, and with -- with her help and James' help, and I think we 21 probably could go with 60 percent, which would be about 22 $45,000, and be in the marketplace to do it. But we need to 23 make the decision today if we want to do it, and do the 24 resolution for me, because this grant is due the 3rd of 25 February, so -- and we don't have a big window here. 1-27-14 33 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What is the total budget on 2 this? 3 MS. LAVENDER: This year it's 71,000. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 71,000. And so, if you -- 5 Option 3 is 60 percent, which would be about 45,000. 6 MS. LAVENDER: Well, yeah. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's what you're looking 8 for, is a grant? 9 MS. LAVENDER: The thing about it is you have to 10 have an 80/20 grant deal, and our 20 percent traditionally 11 has been the insurance and the office space. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 13 MS. LAVENDER: And so when you factor those two 14 things in and make that the 20 percent, then it -- it comes 15 out to about 45,000. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, Option 2, 100 percent 17 grant, you just say the probability of that is zero? 18 MS. LAVENDER: I think it's not good. We can do 19 it, but I don't think -- and we'll be right back where we 20 are. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 22 MS. LAVENDER: You know, in August, finding out, or 23 early September, that we didn't get it. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rosa, on the 80, do we -- I 1-27-14 34 1 mean, if we do 60 -- I'm sorry, 60/40, so 20 percent would 2 still be in the insurance part of it, and 20 would be 3 basically a budgeted line item? 4 MS. LAVENDER: Correct. Well, the -- the grant has 5 never paid for the insurance or the office space. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 7 MS. LAVENDER: And so, you know, you're going to 8 leave the budget basically where it is now. You're just 9 going -- there's going to have to be more internal funding if 10 we go this route. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, about 20,000, or -- 12 dollars or something like that, the internal funding? 13 MS. HARGIS: Thirty -- 20 or 30. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But my question is, does that 15 30 include the insurance and office space -- 16 MS. LAVENDER: Yes. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- part? So, it's actually -- 18 I guess, you know, it's all money, but it's -- 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The line item would be, like, 21 half of that, 15,000? 22 MS. LAVENDER: Yeah, about right at 20, probably. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 15,000 cash? 24 MS. LAVENDER: 'Cause I figured on the grant, on 25 the 45,000, 60 percent of the insurance and 60 percent of the 1-27-14 35 1 office space is the match on it. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, with this 71,000, you're 3 just saying -- even though you're looking at the budget for 4 next year, you're saying keep that the same, but this just 5 would be the funding source, 60 percent grant, 40 percent 6 from the County? 7 MS. LAVENDER: Basically. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Twenty percent of that would 9 be office and insurance, blah, blah, blah. 10 MS. LAVENDER: Yeah. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But you're keeping 71,000 as 12 kind of -- 13 MS. LAVENDER: Rewind and say what you just said? 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, I said so looking 15 forward, you're saying keep the budget at about 71,000. 16 MS. LAVENDER: Mm-hmm. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And the way to fund that is 60 18 percent for the grant, -- 19 MS. LAVENDER: Mm-hmm. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- hopefully. 21 MS. LAVENDER: Mm-hmm. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And then 40 percent from the 23 County. Okay. 24 MS. LAVENDER: And if we don't get the grant, it'll 25 still be in the budget for the full 71 000, and that would be 1-27-14 36 1 my recommendation that we do that. But you all -- 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'm -- go ahead. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: When do we hear back generally 4 on this one? 5 MS. LAVENDER: Usually the first of September. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: In the process. 7 MS. LAVENDER: In the process. 8 MS. HARGIS: We get the ranking, though, in May. 9 MS. LAVENDER: Yeah, we should know something after 10 the end -- they do the presentations, and then we get a 11 printout of it. Last year we were 15th or 16th, and I think 12 they funded 12. And so I think when we get the rankings, 13 we'll have a better idea, prior to the time we need to really 14 put some firm numbers in the budget. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Does the area you cover -- is 16 it just Kerr County, or does it also cover the basic judicial 17 districts? 18 MS. LAVENDER: Okay, this year I have done just 19 Bandera and Gillespie's felony victims. And the total number 20 I've done -- well, for 2013, is probably less than 40 in 21 those two counties combined. Most of the time, I only get 22 them if they need crime victims claims filed, so it's a very 23 minimal amount of time that I spend with those. I don't go 24 to court with them. You know, once in a while I will, if 25 they've got victim impact statements that need to be read 1-27-14 37 1 when the people can't be here. But generally I don't go 2 outside the county. The people come to me here, or we do it 3 by mail, so it's a very small -- I bet I don't spend an hour 4 and a half a week on those outside deals. But we're going to 5 ask those two counties to kick in some money this year. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That was my question. And -- 7 MS. LAVENDER: Yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And ask their Commissioners 9 Court to also -- 10 MS. LAVENDER: Yeah. The District Attorneys are in 11 tune with this, and both of them are planning to do that. In 12 fact, Scott asked me if I'd go with him to Bandera to talk to 13 Judge Evans, and then Bruce, I think, was going to take care 14 of Gillespie. But that's not a guarantee. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, do you have -- excuse me, 17 go ahead. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Ask them for about 5,000 a 19 piece. 20 MS. LAVENDER: Well, I don't -- I don't think it's 21 going to be that much. I don't think they're going to be -- 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, but you can ask. 23 MS. LAVENDER: Well, okay, I'll ask. But, you 24 know, it's kind of hard to -- when somebody steps at your 25 door and says, "I need help," or someone calls on the phone, 1-27-14 38 1 I'm not going to say no. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I understand. 3 MS. LAVENDER: And so, you know, that's the hangup 4 in the deal, is you can't really measure the value of it 5 based on the numbers of people, because in some of the cases, 6 it's a very small amount of time that I spend, and other 7 times it's a little more extensive. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But they don't have to have 9 their own person at each one of those counties. 10 MS. LAVENDER: Actually, Gillespie has somebody in 11 the County Attorney's office now that has been designated, 12 but she's not -- I talked to her yesterday, and she's 13 overwhelmed with everything else she has to do. So, we're 14 working -- this is a work in progress, basically is what it 15 is. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Rosa, do you have to come back 17 with a resolution if we agree with the intent of this? 18 Because this is to approve a resolution. 19 MS. LAVENDER: I have to send the resolution with 20 the grant application. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But don't we have to sign the 22 resolution? 23 MS. LAVENDER: Yes. You have it. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We've got the resolution? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We do. 1-27-14 39 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Super. I make a motion that 2 the Kerr County Crime Victims Coordinator submit a grant 3 submission for 60 percent for the 2014-2015 fund for this 4 purpose. And the County will provide 40 percent, unless we 5 can get some additional support from other counties. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll second it, but the 40 7 percent is subject to budget. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right, precisely. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We have a motion -- we have 10 a motion and a second. Any further discussion at this table? 11 All in favor, raise your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Motion carries. And here is 14 the resolution. Did you just approve the resolution -- 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yes. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- as well? 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yes. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, das gut. I just 19 wanted to let y'all know, I sit on the AACOG Board, but I 20 never see these kind of issues. That's all done in a whole 21 different level, and they -- then when they make the 22 selections of who makes it, then it comes to the -- to our 23 board for approval. So, I'm -- don't expect me to go down 24 there and push this thing through, 'cause I don't even know 25 where it is. Okay. 1-27-14 40 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Need to sign. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, I'm going to sign it. 3 Number 1.6 -- or, no, that's the one we just did. 1.7; 4 consider, discuss, take appropriate action on reviewing 5 applications and hiring of Veteran Services Officer. 6 Commissioner Jonathan Letz. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on the agenda really 8 not to make a decision today, but to figure out how we're -- 9 the next step. And I visited -- well, I think we have 15, 10 16, quite a few applications, which is great that there's 11 that much interest. I was a little disappointed we didn't 12 have any outside the area. I thought we would have drawn 13 some from other areas too, but we certainly did get a lot. 14 Seems to me the best thing to do now would be to have a small 15 group go through, narrow it down to either three or five, and 16 then bring those three or five to court, interview them, and 17 make a decision. My thought would be -- my recommendation 18 would be it would be myself, Dawn Lantz, and Ray Garcia. And 19 I picked Ray 'cause he's a veteran; I think we should have a 20 veteran on that group. I don't think we need to go out into 21 the community and get a whole lot of people involved. We 22 already are getting some input. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Ray's a veteran? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I've heard that, anyway. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: May have to have some proof 1-27-14 41 1 on that deal. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'd like to add one other 3 person, somebody from the community that's been real active 4 with the veterans, either Gary Noller or Bill Bacon, to be 5 part of that review committee. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Wouldn't that be a conflict, 7 if they had been on the application as a reference for some 8 of these people? 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, yeah. If they have, yeah, 10 that would be. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I'll make a motion we 12 approve Jonathan's request, Ray, Jon, and Dawn to be on the 13 committee to review the applications for V.S.O. officer. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I second the motion. Any 15 further discussion? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, it makes no difference 17 to me one way or the other; I'm glad to do it. I think we 18 need to get this moving forward. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And is there a preference from 21 the Court to bring back three? Five? Four? Whatever we 22 think? 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Three. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Bring back three. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Three, okay. We'll try to have 1-27-14 42 1 that done, I think, by the -- hopefully by the next meeting. 2 I'd like to really get this moving. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Any further discussion? All 5 in favor, raise your right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Motion carries. Thank you 8 very much. I guess I better get my application in, huh? 9 Item 1.8; consider, discuss, take appropriate action to 10 approve the Kerr County Retiree Health Care Plan Actuarial 11 Valuation Report as of December 31st, 2012. Jeannie Hargis. 12 MS. HARGIS: Good morning. Each of you have a 13 final copy of the actuarial valuation report that came in 14 over the weekend, and I'm going to really just go through it 15 briefly. If you'll turn to the opening letter, it describes 16 why we have to do this. We have to comply with -- I know the 17 word "GASB" is not a favorite word of everyone, but GASB 43 18 and 45. And -- and these are retirement benefits that we 19 offer over a long term. In other words, it's what your 20 retirement cost is to you, and it has to be recorded. In 21 years past, governmental entities were not required to 22 record, and you are now. So, this page really just says why 23 we do GASB, and then the numbers. 24 And then the next page that you want to look at 25 is -- is there's an executive summary on Page 1. About in 1-27-14 43 1 the middle of the page, it says Annual Required Contribution 2 and unfunded, pay as you go, or funded policy. And we are -- 3 we are currently now unfunded. In other words, we're not 4 funding the gap between what we're actually paying for the 5 retirees today and what they -- they say we're going to have 6 to do in the future. The next one that really will stand out 7 for us is if you go back to the -- it's Page B-2. It's under 8 Section B, valuation results. And in the -- in this table 9 that you see on B-2, the first column is the fiscal year 10 beginning 2012. You can see what the unfunded, pay as you 11 go, and then funding policy, and then the unfunded amount. 12 Now, that's the present value of the future benefits. And 13 then you have the present value of the future normal costs, 14 which is what we need to look at today, and the unfunded 15 actuarial accrued liability. 16 Our liability, even though it's smaller than we 17 originally had, because this also takes into consideration 18 any benefits we pay an employee after they retire, which was 19 medical. And we changed our medical benefits to -- if you 20 want to be on our plan at age 65, you have to pay the whole 21 premium. That has considerably reduced this cost. However, 22 it is still growing. And I'm not sure that right now we need 23 to think about funding it, but in the future we will, because 24 this thing -- the number is growing, and when we go out to do 25 the bonds, this is considered a liability on our balance 1-27-14 44 1 sheet. And at some point in time, when it hits 750, which in 2 the next go-round it will, then we're going to have to think 3 about funding this. Whether you fund it, you know, 100,000 a 4 year in the budget or whatever, but it needs to be funded, 5 because -- go ahead. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. So, when we are over 7 750,000, we have to start funding it. Do we just have to 8 maintain it at 750? 9 MS. HARGIS: I would think 750 would be a number 10 that would be okay with the financial advisers. And that's 11 something we can ask when we're going through the issue, is 12 ask our financial adviser what is a number that the general 13 marketplace would be, you know, content with, or -- or be 14 comfortable with? Keep in mind, the next -- not this year, 15 there's some more GASB things coming down the pike. That's 16 why it's worrisome. In 2014, which is this current year, our 17 retirement systems have to come up with a number for all of 18 their retirement entities that are in their plans, and give 19 them a number of what they're unfunded. So, in 2015, we have 20 to choose a number that goes on our audit of unfunded. 21 Currently, we're at 84 percent. We are three million behind. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 84 percent funded or unfunded? 23 MS. HARGIS: 84 percent funded. And we should have 24 gained. We originally were at 93 percent when I came here, 25 which was in 2007. We had the marketplace and the stock 1-27-14 45 1 market crash, and we were supposed to have a 10-year 2 equalizing situation where we would pay more in that 10 3 years. However, we've had more people retire. The market 4 hit again in 2010, which they didn't bother to tell us about. 5 It went down again, so we had to peak back up on that. I'm 6 waiting to see what this year has done. They won't give that 7 to us probably until April. However, when I asked for 8 numbers last year, what it would take to get our plan up to 9 90 percent, we had to go to 19 percent payout every year, and 10 we had to give them a million dollars a year. So, that tells 11 me we're about $3 million behind. So, putting that in 12 addition to this on our balance sheet is going to make it 13 more difficult to fund, because the general public that buys 14 government bonds looks at what their liabilities are for 15 retirement. That's a big thing right now. And so we need to 16 think about what you're going to do in the future. In fact, 17 I'm going to bring it up at budget that we probably need to 18 think about spending some money, whether it's a small amount, 19 to offset something that's coming out. We've got a lot of 20 people we already know that may be retiring in the next 21 couple of years that have been with us a long time. That -- 22 that pulls your percentage down. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You mean this year's budget? 24 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 1-27-14 46 1 MS. HARGIS: So my fear is -- we have two things 2 going here. We have this liability that's showing up, and 3 now we're going to have the additional liability. And so 4 when you have that, you're looking at $4 million by the time 5 we put it on our balance sheet, because that's 2015. So, we 6 really need to think of this as not pay as you go any more, 7 or remain at 84 percent. The rule of thumb in -- and it's 8 been a long time ago, but even in investing, you always have 9 a 10-point -- or 10 basis points between 100 and 90 that you 10 probably can merge, and you're okay. So, when we were at 92 11 percent, that was really an equivalent to 100, because you 12 have those people that never make it to retirement, so they 13 come out of the program. There's other folks that may, you 14 know, pass away; they don't get all their money out of it 15 earlier than they intended. But at the end of the day, we're 16 at 84 percent, so that 6 percent's got to be made up. And so 17 we need to think about that, because we -- in the future, you 18 don't want to be at 80 percent for our younger people, and 19 the likelihood of them being funded, and that's just our 20 plan. And changing it to a 2 percent or a 1 percent is not 21 going to make that much difference. We're just short of 22 money. 23 So, there are a lot of things that I -- I think we 24 need to talk about that we've been kind of pushing away, but 25 with this new GASB requirement, I will tell you, most of the 1-27-14 47 1 CPA's are concerned about it. Most of the auditors are 2 concerned about it. At my single audit conference, there 3 were a lot of school people; there were a lot of people there 4 that were really concerned about having to put this on our 5 balance sheet. Corporations have done it for years. 6 Corporations have done it for years, but we've never had to 7 do it. And it's going to be tricky, because you get 8 different valuations, but I'm going to work with you on that 9 this summer so you can get prepared for it. But right now, I 10 just wanted to point this out, that once this reaches 750 -- 11 and we're at 625 -- that in a couple of years, you need to 12 start funding. I'm more concerned about the retirement right 13 now. But even if you put 50,000 a year towards this and at 14 least keep it down, and you have it in a reserve fund, that's 15 -- that's at least showing the intent that you -- that, you 16 know, you're -- that you need to fund this. And, again, this 17 is -- this is pie in the sky. This is looking out 20 years 18 from today, so -- and that's kind of a hard thing to do. 19 You're saying what the future's going to be 20 years from 20 now. And so I'm not really willing to throw a lot of money 21 at this particular one, but I think it's something we need to 22 think about. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, Jeannie. What else? 24 MS. HARGIS: That's all I have. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 1-27-14 48 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, no action. 2 MR. HENNEKE: Is it 2012 or 2013? 3 MS. HARGIS: It's a 2012 report, okay? It's done 4 in 2013, because your ending is 2012; it's a two-year report. 5 And it's put in our audit based on this, so those dates are 6 correct. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You always bring great news, 8 don't you? 9 MS. HARGIS: I know. I'm sorry. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Precious. Let's see. You 11 want us to accept this thing or anything? 12 MS. HARGIS: We need to approve it. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Approve -- the word 14 "approve" is right there. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, this is just documenting 16 facts. This is just all factual information. 17 MS. HARGIS: This is a factual audit of actuarial, 18 yes. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 20 MS. HARGIS: And it's actuarial. If you've ever 21 dealt with actuarials, you know they tend to get a little bit 22 like pie in the sky. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We'll entertain a motion. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I make the motion that we 25 accept the -- 1-27-14 49 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Approve. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Approve, excuse me. Approve 3 the report submitted. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a motion. Is there a 5 second? 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And a second. Further 8 discussion? All in favor, raise your right hand. 9 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Motion carries. Thank you 11 very much. Item 1.9; consider, discuss, take appropriate 12 action to approve a Legal Ease account to establish with 13 Frost Bank for filing fees for mental health cases with the 14 Bexar County Clerk's Office, to authorize the automatic 15 debiting of the account by Bexar County Clerk's Office for 16 payment of the filing fees. Ms. Hargis? 17 MS. HARGIS: I think you all have a copy of the 18 letter from the Bexar County Clerk. It's dated December the 19 18th of 2013. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, and he was straight 21 and to the point, too. 22 MS. HARGIS: Yes, he was, and I have spoken with 23 him. We have the account. We were one of the counties 24 that -- that set it up in 2011, so we have the account set 25 up. We stopped and froze the account because we were 1-27-14 50 1 concerned about the debiting. So, that's what I need your 2 approval on. We won't -- they will debit our account for 3 those cases, and then we will get the receipt, so we need you 4 to authorize that. But that's the only way they'll hear our 5 cases, so I don't think we have any choice. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Authorize what? 7 MS. HARGIS: The automatic -- debiting the 8 automatic payment by Bexar County before we have a copy of 9 what -- what they're doing. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Goofy way to do business, 11 but -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And this is for? 13 MS. HARGIS: This is for mental health hearings. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mental health hearings for Kerr 15 County residents that are in a mental health facility in 16 Bexar County? 17 MS. HARGIS: That's correct. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is there -- how many? Is 19 there a lot? 20 MS. HARGIS: Well, it's my understanding that I -- 21 we don't have a lot with Bexar County, and we reciprocate 22 back and forth. But he told me that they have one county 23 that is in debt to them 200,000, and they're refusing to pay 24 it. So, unfortunately, we're just going to be -- you know, 25 all the counties are going to have to do this. So, I 1-27-14 51 1 would -- we put 2,000 in it. We figured we probably have one 2 case a month, maybe. That's $200. And we will get a receipt 3 and documentation for it, but it will be after the fact. 4 It's kind of like you're approving this to pay for 5 reimbursement of travel expenses. But that's the only way 6 they're going to hear them, so we have no choice. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Is this something new, to do 8 it this way? 9 MS. HARGIS: Mm-hmm. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Why are we doing it 11 that way now? 12 MS. HARGIS: Because Bexar County's insisting that 13 it be done this way. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They won't hear the cases if we 15 don't. 16 MS. HARGIS: They won't hear the cases if we don't. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Motion. 18 MS. HARGIS: They're required to get automatic 19 payment at the time they do it, and if -- but by the time you 20 do the billing and all, there's a 30-day lag in there. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Got you. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Now, is this going to be 23 reciprocal, where when we do patients for them, we get it 24 automatically too? 25 MS. HARGIS: Well, we haven't set up the Legal Ease 1-27-14 52 1 account. But we're -- right now, they don't owe us anything. 2 And I made a point of that, though. In 2011, when he 3 originally asked for it, they did owe us, so they did pay up. 4 And so, again, we don't do very many of their cases, either. 5 I think it's, like, one a month. I mean, I think we 6 analyzed -- we did, like, three or four in the last four 7 months. I mean, it's not that much. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do they pay? 9 MS. HARGIS: Yes. And -- and if he doesn't, then 10 I'll make a mental point to freeze -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They can -- 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We used to have to bill them 13 for months on end and wait and see if they'd pay it. They 14 refused to pay a lot of times. 15 MS. HARGIS: But, unfortunately, I don't think we 16 have a choice here. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I'll make a motion that 18 we approve to set up the Legal Ease account at Frost Bank per 19 the request of the Bexar County Clerk's Office. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Could we -- go ahead. 22 Discussion. Could we amend that to say we'd set up an 23 account likewise? So that we -- 24 MS. HARGIS: Probably cost us more money, then. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Huh? 1-27-14 53 1 MS. HARGIS: We don't really have the capability, I 2 don't think, of doing that right now. It'd be expensive. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd rather wait and see. As 4 long as we're not running in arrears, it doesn't bother me 5 that much. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: They're paying, okay. 7 MR. HENNEKE: You'd need a different agenda item, 8 Tom, if we're going to -- 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We have a motion and second 11 per the agenda item. Any further discussion? All in favor, 12 raise your right hand. 13 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Motion carries. Thank you 15 very much. Item 1.10; consider, discuss, take appropriate 16 action on -- action on the Chapter 381 economic development 17 agreements with Fox Tank Company, Inc., and Robert W. Boerner 18 -- Boerner, XYZ Corporation, d/b/a Culligan of Kerrville, 19 d/b/a Culligan of the Hill Country, and d/b/a Culligan of the 20 Texas Hill Country, and David K. LeMeilleur and Denise R. 21 LeMeilleur, LeMeilleur R.V. and Truck Equipment Repair 22 Company, Inc. Ms. Hargis? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Before you start, Jeannie, let 24 me make a comment on this. I've talked to the Auditor about 25 it. I've also talked to Todd Parton on this issue, and, you 1-27-14 54 1 know, with what we have in these agreements, you know, these 2 companies are required to submit information to us. They 3 have criteria that they had to meet employment, payroll, 4 things of that nature. And this is -- we're just -- this is 5 kind of new to us, having to do it, but I visited with Todd 6 Parton, and he agreed that it's very important that the 7 County and the City act as one on this issue. We don't want 8 the City paying and us not paying, or thinking that they 9 didn't meet criteria, or vice-versa, we pay and the City 10 doesn't. I believe Sandra -- I don't know if she's contacted 11 you, but the City Manager said that Sandra at the City will 12 coordinate, because he thinks -- he agrees that it is 13 important that we have a coordinated look at what they're 14 doing to make sure that we're in agreement that they have or 15 have not met their goals. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, how about -- how about 17 they just comply with the agreement? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I know, but there's lots 19 of numbers in it, like you have sales tax projections, what 20 the cutoff dates are. And -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Exactly. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- so we need to figure out -- 23 I mean, we just don't want -- we want to use the same 24 criteria exactly that the City's using. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do they have the same 1-27-14 55 1 agreement with the City as they do with the County? 2 MS. HARGIS: No. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They don't? 4 MR. HENNEKE: No, and they don't have the same -- 5 they don't have one with LeMeilleur or Culligan either. They 6 didn't do that. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I thought they did. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The thing is, if they 9 just -- they either comply with this agreement or they don't 10 comply with the agreement. 11 MS. HARGIS: Well, our purpose today is just to 12 kind of reiterate the requirements with the Court so that you 13 understand what they are. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 15 MS. HARGIS: So, that -- and some of the problems 16 that I would like a little help with. The LeMeilleurs have 17 already been paid. This is on -- their particular agreement 18 is an ad valorem tax rebate only, and it is for five years, 19 and it's 50 percent, 40 percent, then 30, 20, 10. The -- the 20 problem we had -- 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let me -- is it based on 22 revenue or based on number of employees or what? 23 MS. HARGIS: No, there's just a rebate of -- 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What was the agreement? Was 25 it -- 1-27-14 56 1 MR. HENNEKE: It's based on the increase in ad 2 valorem valuation based on the improvements that they made. 3 MS. HARGIS: Yes. This is strictly an improvement; 4 this has nothing to do with employees. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. So, improvements on 6 their property. 7 MS. HARGIS: Right. 8 MR. HENNEKE: Right. And they get -- 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 10 MR. HENNEKE: -- the first year, half of the ad 11 valorem tax -- 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 13 MR. HENNEKE: -- back of the increased value. And 14 then the next year, it's 40, 30, 20, 10. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, got you. 16 MS. HARGIS: So, on this particular one, again, we 17 made -- and it calls for all three of these agreements to be 18 paid on or before March 1st. The only problem that we have 19 with this one, and it's similar in all three, is that we need 20 the people -- and I think in the future, I will send out a 21 letter prior to this, is that I need them to prove to me, 22 number one, that they paid the tax, and to bring in their tax 23 bills with them. Because each of these requires several 24 parcels of land, which don't necessarily coordinate with 25 exactly what the tax -- ad valorem tax people bills have gone 1-27-14 57 1 out. So, there may be three bills for two parcels, which was 2 the case with the LeMeilleurs. So, we left off one, because 3 we didn't know that it was -- it took three to add up. And 4 because these folks have more than one tax bill, some of 5 them -- the LeMeilleurs have 10, so it's very difficult. So, 6 in the future, they have to bring the information to me. 7 That was the only problem I have with this one. This one has 8 been paid. 9 I have not heard anything from the Culligan group, 10 and that is a very -- a similar issue as this. This is for 11 improvements. It's an ad valorem tax rebate, this same 12 situation. There is no sales tax involved in either of these 13 two agreements. But, again, I'll get in touch with them, ask 14 them if they've paid them. They need to provide -- produce 15 the tax bills to me, because I'm -- I'm going down and asking 16 for something, and the tax people can't necessarily identify 17 which tract goes with what when you have a lot of tracts of 18 land. And -- and I'm not a surveyor, so -- 19 MR. HENNEKE: I mean, it's entirely consistent for 20 the grant recipients -- I mean, to cut this to a short 21 summary, to submit the documentation to the Auditor necessary 22 for the processing and payment of the funds. You know, 23 without her having to go get the -- 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Generate it herself. 25 MS. HARGIS: Well, and, you know, this is our first 1-27-14 58 1 time since I've been here to do one of these, so it's a 2 little -- but -- 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask a question. And 4 does that include -- one of these items is the company shall 5 have acquired title and own the property. 6 MS. HARGIS: Right. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Does that include that they 8 show up and prove to you that they own the property? 9 MS. HARGIS: It's on their tax roll. They did -- 10 the LeMeilleurs did finally; we got everything on theirs. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 12 MS. HARGIS: Like I said, I haven't heard anything 13 from the Culligan people, and so I'm going to write a letter 14 to them and ask them. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: How about Fox Tank? 16 MS. HARGIS: Sorry? 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: What about Fox Tank? 18 MS. HARGIS: That one is more complicated. That's 19 the one I want to go over, because it is more complicated, 20 and this is one I want the Court to be aware of, not 21 necessarily just for future reference. This is a sales tax 22 and an ad valorem tax rebate. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 24 MS. HARGIS: It calls for a lot of conditions. So, 25 if you will look on Page 4 of 14 of the agreement -- 1-27-14 59 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 4 of 14? 2 MS. HARGIS: Yes, Page 4. It says Page 4 of 14 at 3 the bottom, on the lower right-hand corner. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Hold on just a sec. 5 Oh, that's where I was. Okay. 6 MS. HARGIS: All right. 2.1, which is on the next 7 -- on the other page, but I've highlighted it at the top, 8 that the term of this agreement is the effective date, and 9 continuing until such period of time has expired after the 10 termination date as necessary. This is a little bit vague to 11 me on the sales tax on Fox Tank, because we really don't know 12 when they actually started doing their sales tax with us. 13 The term on -- 14 MR. HENNEKE: But it doesn't matter, Jeannie. 15 Let's not make this any more complicated or difficult for 16 these businesses on that. I mean, Definition 2.2, the sales 17 and use grant term is two years following receipt of the 18 first retained sales tax revenue. So, that's the starting 19 point for a two-year period, and we just need to get the 20 documentation from Fox Tank that they met the employee 21 conditions that are in Section 3, and then they need to 22 provide the documentation upon the point at which they, you 23 know, started paying sales tax to the -- 24 MS. HARGIS: Okay, I agree with him. And I 25 understand what's he's saying, but it is a little bit more 1-27-14 60 1 complicated on my end, because I have no way of verifying 2 when they started paying the sales tax. They have to bring 3 that to me, because by law, the Comptroller's office will 4 not -- 5 MR. HENNEKE: Right. 6 MS. HARGIS: -- give that information to me. 7 MR. HENNEKE: We said a minute ago that companies 8 that are recipients of these economic incentive grants need 9 to provide the documentation to Jeannie so that she can 10 process and make the payments. I mean, not just -- but I 11 don't think that -- you know, I mean, that seems pretty 12 straightforward. 13 MS. HARGIS: And I agree with you. They just need 14 to go over these conditions so that they understand them for 15 the future. 16 MR. HENNEKE: And I think they're completely 17 willing to comply with anything we're asking for. 18 MS. HARGIS: I think they are, but the first 19 go-round we didn't get that, so I had -- we had to go back 20 with them and identify, because there are a lot of things in 21 here that were new to me. They have to have 60 employees. 22 They have to make a minimum of $15 an hour. Sixty percent of 23 the employees have to live in Kerr County, and they have to 24 provide a sworn statement that they're in compliance with 25 this every year, which I haven't gotten. And they have to 1-27-14 61 1 give us an annual benchmark condition. The other thing 2 that -- that it does require is that we -- "we" being my 3 office -- annually go over and verify that these amounts have 4 been met. And so Fox Tank will at that point either have to 5 bring them in from their home office, because it's my 6 understanding from visiting with them that, yes, in fact, 7 they may have some of the information here, but a lot of it 8 may be in their other office. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Back to Rob's point, aren't 10 they just obligated to submit that to you? How are you going 11 to make -- 12 MS. HARGIS: Well, but if they don't submit it to 13 me, I need some direction from the Court, because I have 30 14 days here to pay this. And I don't have anything -- 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, they've got -- this 16 agreement says they will submit it to you, right? 17 MS. HARGIS: Well -- 18 MR. HENNEKE: I think we haven't had any refusal of 19 them submitting anything that we've asked them for. We might 20 not have received the right -- 21 MS. HARGIS: Well, they sent me one page that said 22 they had 74 employees, and that's all I got. 23 MR. HENNEKE: Okay. And we went back and asked 24 them for more information. Did they say, "We're not going to 25 give it to you"? 1-27-14 62 1 MS. HARGIS: That was two weeks ago; I haven't 2 gotten anything. No, I'm not saying they're refusing. I'm 3 just saying that these are conditions that have to be met, 4 and when I'm dealing with a contract, this is exactly what 5 I'm going to do. If they don't meet them, I'm not going to 6 recommend that the Court pays them until they do meet them. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think what you need to do is 8 decide what the documentation is that you want for the 9 employment and number of employees and that. I mean, so that 10 Texas Workforce Commission documents or I.R.S. documents have 11 to be valid. I don't think we can just take a letter from 12 them that says we have "X" number of employees. We have to 13 have the documentation from the governmental entity. On the 14 Comptroller's office, they need to bring in their -- their -- 15 whatever the form is involved for paying sales tax each 16 month. 17 MR. HENNEKE: That's what I'm saying. The 18 conditions are already laid out in this. The agreement 19 requires that they provide a sworn statement -- 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 21 MR. HENNEKE: -- that they've been in compliance 22 with the conditions as far as the employees, and that's what, 23 you know, we've agreed to rely on in order to determine that 24 they've met those conditions. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That sounds like that's the 1-27-14 63 1 key, the sworn statement. Have you received the sworn 2 statement that they're in compliance? 3 (Ms. Hargis shook her head negatively.) 4 MR. HENNEKE: Just needs to be sworn. It sounds 5 like the statement they submitted just wasn't sworn. 6 MS. HARGIS: It didn't have any of the other 7 obligations in here either. It's just that I feel very 8 uncomfortable having to be the one that necessarily is the 9 one approving this. So, my point here is that once these -- 10 I feel like the conditions have been met, I'm going to bring 11 it back to the Court. I'm going to ask the Court to review 12 them and approve them with me, and then authorize payment. 13 MR. HENNEKE: Well, without question, none of these 14 payments should be made without authorization from the Court. 15 So, yeah, when everything's been done, let's bring it back 16 and let the Court do -- 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That is -- there's your 18 hammer right there. If you don't pay them until they submit 19 everything, what do we care? I mean, if you don't submit 20 anything, then you do not get credit for it. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's exactly right. They 22 either comply or they don't. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Either you do or you don't. 24 If you comply, you comply, if you want to get what we 25 authorized that we would give them in benefits. 1-27-14 64 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And it doesn't say that you 2 have to do an audit. You may want to do a spot-check. But 3 if you get a sworn statement that says everything is in 4 accordance with this grant, then -- 5 MS. HARGIS: Well, some of these things, guys, are 6 actually employee confidential information. So, you know -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, that's the reason they 8 should swear to it. You may not get approval to look at all 9 the information. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're right. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think part of this issue is 12 that they -- it appears we may not have that by the deadline 13 to pay them. So, I think for us to be aware that if Nathan 14 Fox says calls and says, "Why didn't you pay us on time?" 15 the reason is we didn't get the information. 16 MR. HENNEKE: And it's incumbent upon us to make 17 sure we get it in writing, "Here's what we don't have and 18 here's what we need," and I think they will be very 19 responsive in getting that. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, you don't even need to 21 do that, 'cause the agreement says what they need to supply. 22 MR. HENNEKE: And if we're missing a piece, I think 23 it's just neighborly of us to point out, "Hey, we're still 24 missing this part," you know. "You'll need to get it to us." 25 MS. HARGIS: Well, I'm not even dealing with Fox 1-27-14 65 1 Tank directly; I'm dealing with Jonas. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Doesn't make any difference. 3 MS. HARGIS: Well, he's not -- he's not actually 4 the company. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let me ask a question. Why 6 are we dealing with directly with K.E.D.C. as opposed to Fox 7 Tank? The agreement's with Fox Tank. Was there an answer to 8 that question? 9 MS. HARGIS: No. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, then -- I mean, our 11 agreement is with Fox Tank. 12 MS. HARGIS: Right. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And probably everything is 14 good. Well, they just need to get it, and I don't know why 15 K.E.D.F. is -- you know, they're great, but I don't know why 16 they're in the middle of this. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just think, you could be a 18 member of that group. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I could be. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Before this day is over. I 21 agree with you, though. Our agreement's with them; they need 22 to either do it or don't. 23 MS. HARGIS: But, again, this was just to refresh 24 your memory that we had these agreements. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. We're 1-27-14 66 1 in a 10-minute recess. 2 (Recess taken from 10:15 a.m. to 10:40 a.m.) 3 - - - - - - - - - - 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let's come back into 5 session, please. Let's go to Item 1.11, if you don't mind. 6 Consider, discuss, take appropriate action to set a public 7 hearing and intent to consider creation of one or more County 8 Energy Transportation Reinvestment Zones to be held on the 9 10th day of February, 2014, at 9 a.m. in the Commissioners 10 Courtroom in Kerr County Courthouse. Mr. Henneke? 11 MR. HENNEKE: Would y'all please set the public 12 hearing for the next Commissioners Court meeting? This is in 13 connection with seeking to draw down the TexDOT grant funding 14 from the oil and gas money, and I told y'all when we were 15 here last that they've set up a bunch of little hoops to do 16 in, you know, trying to be eligible. So, one of them is 17 creating this County Energy Transportation Reinvestment Zone, 18 and in order to do that, you have to have a public hearing 30 19 days before entering an order to create the CETRZ deal. And 20 so -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: February the 10th at 9 a.m. 22 in the Commissioners Courtroom. Is there a motion? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: A motion and second. Any 1-27-14 67 1 further discussion? All in favor, say "aye." 2 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So that carries, and done. 4 Thank you, sir. Item 1.12; consider, discuss, and take 5 appropriate action regarding the South Texas Blood and Tissue 6 doing a blood drive February 19th, 2014, in the courthouse 7 parking lot from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Dawn Lantz. 8 MS. LANTZ: Good morning, Commissioners. This is 9 just -- they've requested to use our parking lot again this 10 year. They usually do two blood drives, one in February and 11 one in August, so I'm coming to the Court to see if that is 12 permissible, in the front corner parking lot. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So moved. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We have a motion. Do we 15 have a second? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Any further discussion? All 18 in favor, raise your right hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 20 MS. LANTZ: Thank you. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Going back to the right hand 22 thing now. Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Lantz. 1.13; consider, 23 discuss, take appropriate action to retain the professional 24 services of Trott Communications Group for Phase 1 of the 25 Sheriff's Office emergency communications system at the cost 1-27-14 68 1 of 21,500 American dollars, funds to be reimbursed from the 2 certificate of obligation. W R Hierholzer. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay. You should have Trott's 4 project summary explanation. If you turn to Page 5, instead 5 of y'all having to listen to me read it, Page 5 of it does 6 state what Phase 1 is and what they will do. If y'all will 7 remember, the ones that were on the Court back then, when we 8 replaced the communications system we have now in the year 9 2000, we used Trott Communications engineers and that to do 10 the study and do propagations and everything. So, they're 11 already of aware of our system, and I felt it would be best 12 under professional services if we try and use them again. 13 So, under Page 5 is what Phase 1 does and what they will do 14 for that. It does give us budgetary estimates, propagation 15 coverage, tower site locations, everything else, engineering, 16 how to make the simulcast system work to where we get the 17 coverage and everything we're going to require. 18 When we did it before, we did a 98 percent county 19 coverage with a car radio, 95 percent with a hand-held radio. 20 I would request that when we get through all these 21 communications and everything with Trott, that we do at least 22 the same, if not more, depending on the digital. Now, the 23 bottom line is, this is a three-phase project. The last page 24 of the document, Page 24, gives you the overall cost of what 25 each phase is broken out, and this is what the cost of the 1-27-14 69 1 Trott Communications engineering and everything for a new 2 radio system would cost. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This is $80,500? 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's correct. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Don't be shy. Say that. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You just did. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I know I did. 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's also for a non-trunk P25 9 radio system, which is the digital, which is what we need, 10 but it's also VHF so that we don't cut off being able to talk 11 to some of the fire departments and that. Only thing is I 12 think once we get into it, there does need to be some 13 conversation in regards to trunk or non-trunk system, and 14 those just need to be done while we're -- we're going through 15 all this. A trunk system is a system that could be one radio 16 system with different channels that would cover every agency 17 in the county; one set of costs, one everything. You just 18 have different channels off that system, so nobody's 19 interfering. Nobody's, you know, stepping on each other's 20 toes. Nobody's got control of anything. It's just we all 21 work off one trunk system. And that's just something that I 22 think every agency will be a player in. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So that would be police, fire? 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: EMS, volunteer fire 25 departments, everything would be part of the trunk system. 1-27-14 70 1 But they are a lot more expensive. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rusty, as part of this -- well, 3 first, I definitely think we need to go forward with this. 4 We need to get a good cost estimate. We have a general 5 number, but we need to just -- need to get this working. But 6 is there -- are there any grants available, or will Trott 7 look into that if there's any? 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Trott will look into that. 9 What we did, as Rosa showed you, we've made sure that 10 communications -- emergency communications is part of the 11 AACOG -- our priorities of what we need, so yes, grants will 12 be. Now, there is no way I can get a grant made up and done 13 by February the 3rd, which is the deadline for AACOG for this 14 year. But I think we're looking at a -- you know, this whole 15 project is not something that could happen overnight anyhow. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And I think we can explore, 18 and Trott -- Trott will help us explore all the avenues of 19 acquiring grants, no matter where they are. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And so what's the February 3rd 21 milestone? 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: For Alamo Area Council of 23 Governments, AACOG, some of the community justice grants you 24 get. February 3rd is the deadline to apply for them this 25 year for AACOG. We can't do that this year. I have no cost 1-27-14 71 1 estimates yet. I have nothing telling me what it would -- 2 you know, the project would entail, okay? But by the time 3 this system were to come online, it's going to be -- if y'all 4 can remember, it's not a quick, simple process of getting any 5 of this done. It's going be a while. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, how did all this play with 7 so many different people using the trunk line? Why are you 8 the spearhead on this? 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I'm not saying -- ours -- and 10 what I would go with right now is not a trunk system. Trunk 11 systems are very expensive. A lot of the country is starting 12 to go with trunk-type systems. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, take trunk system and put 14 it off to the side? We're not talking about a trunk system? 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I want to have the 16 conversation for educational purposes, and see whether, you 17 know, it's something the whole county would want to look at. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But to replace ours -- ours is 20 a V-25 project -- Or VHF Project 25 system, okay? That's my 21 main concern. Our system's had it. We're going to have to 22 replace it, okay? What's the cost to replace it? For future 23 interoperability purposes throughout the nation, okay, the 24 way they've talked, all your big wheels in Austin and 25 everywhere else are talking trunk systems are the best way to 1-27-14 72 1 go, so it may be a conversation we need to have. But it 2 would take a cost -- it would double the cost, probably. And 3 it is something that I think every agency that it would serve 4 in our area would have to help with. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let's just put trunk system to 6 the side for a minute, okay? So what you're asking for here, 7 though, is for an improvement in your communications system. 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah, replacement of our 9 communications system. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. And so what is this -- 11 what's -- how is this enhancement going to benefit you? 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: My radio system now, we -- all 13 through Christmas, we even had to operate off part of the 14 volunteer fire department system, part of the of P.D. system, 15 and part of Ingram, 'cause ours was down. Our radio system 16 is 14 years old, okay? It's a simulcast system, which is 17 different than all the other agencies have to have, and it's 18 a lot more in-depth, because to get the coverage throughout 19 the county, we have to have -- you know, we've lost a lot of 20 our coverage throughout the county, and we have lost the 21 reliability of the system. It is just an outdated system. 22 You cannot buy new parts for our system any more; they're 23 having to use scrap parts from other systems that have been 24 replaced, and our system's on its final leg. And that's 25 about where we're at. 1-27-14 73 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It -- just for Commissioner 2 Moser's benefit, this discussion started probably about four 3 years ago? 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Of having to go to a digital 6 system. It's actually -- isn't there a federal mandate that 7 you have to -- 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. That's been -- yeah. 9 You have to go narrow band. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We've been postponing it as 11 long as we could. We said, "Patch, patch, patch," and I 12 think we're beyond the patch point. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Okay. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And what we'll also do with 15 Phase 1 of this, they will come in and analyze everything we 16 have and tell us what we need. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Mm-hmm. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: This is -- these Trott 19 Communications or Trott Group, they -- they are not a vendor. 20 They do not represent any vendors; they are totally 21 independent. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. Good. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They're engineers that come 24 in, and they will analyze it. They will tell you, "This is 25 what you need to do, this is where you need to go, and these 1-27-14 74 1 are going to be your estimated costs." 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Was this an unsolicited 3 proposal from them to you? 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Or did you ask for them to -- 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I asked for them. I called 7 them, because they did it for us in 2000. I've worked with 8 them before. It's the same team; I know what quality of work 9 they do, and they do it all over, okay? So I called them and 10 asked if we are going to replace it, would y'all do it and 11 give me a proposal? And this is your proposal. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's their proposal, okay. 13 Another question. On the 21,000, that would be C.I.P. money? 14 MS. HARGIS: Yes. That's why you signed the 15 resolution that when we receive those funds, we'll pay 16 ourselves back. We'll have to use current funds right now. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Use current funds, and then 18 we'll figure out -- okay, got you. So, it's not necessarily 19 an obligation of how we get the funds to do it. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. All I've stated in 21 this agenda item is this Phase 1 is what I'd like to contract 22 with them to do, you know, under Professional Services. That 23 will give us a cost of the whole system, and then we'll go 24 from there. But this cost could be reimbursed by the -- 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 1-27-14 75 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- C.O.'s when you get it. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And the one -- excuse me. 3 Will they also -- now I'll bring back onto the table the 4 trunk system. Will they also look at adding that, or as 5 compatible with or as part of their -- 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, some of it, you can get 7 it compatible. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And it would change -- take 10 upgrading our radios in the cars and all that kind of -- 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Would that be part of their 12 study? 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, we'll visit about that, 14 okay? If we were going to go to that trunk system, as they 15 state on the last page, there would be additional fees in 16 doing that. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I see. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: For them to do their part in 19 the trunk system, because it includes so much more. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But as they look at it, they 21 are looking at being compatible with. You can do A or B 22 or C. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I want them to look at it, 24 give us all guidance on what we need to do. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 1-27-14 76 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think they're the best 2 company to do it. They did us all real well last time they 3 did do our system. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Does anybody else in 5 the county use them for this kind of work? 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Not that I'm aware of. But 7 nobody else's radio system in the county -- 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Is antiquated? 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, it's not antiquated, you 10 know. We have -- to make it real simple, to get the coverage 11 throughout Kerr County, I have -- we lease four radio tower 12 sites. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Mm-hmm. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay? And they all have to 15 operate. When I -- when one officer keys his mic up at 16 Mountain Home, within millionths of a second, it goes all the 17 way through all four tower sites and opens that tower down at 18 Center Point so that officer can hear him realtime too, okay? 19 What Bexar County and them do is, they don't have a simulcast 20 system like that. They have just divided out to where if it 21 bounces off that Mountain Home tower, they're the only ones 22 that can hear it. The guy in Center Point can't hear it. I 23 don't have the luxury of having that many -- that big a 24 department that we work sectors, and one sector doesn't need 25 to know what the other sector is doing. So, I have to have 1-27-14 77 1 -- to get the coverage and that, we have to be able to do a 2 multi-site simulcast system. You take the city of Kerrville, 3 okay? 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They can have one tower, and 6 it works for the entire city. It's 11 square miles. They 7 don't have the valleys and ravines. You get down in south 8 Texas and they can have one site, but we can't do that. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There is a recording around 10 somewhere -- 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I still have it. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- of one of the deputies in 13 a fistfight with his gun on him, et cetera, and knock-down, 14 drag-out, and he is calling for help, and it's right there by 15 the airport, and nobody hears him. 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Actually on Highway 27 at the 17 airport, he was in an actual fight and could not get out to 18 get help. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And you can right now go up -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We can't allow that to 22 happen. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, you can do it now 24 because of the way things -- I guess it's just degrading 25 gradually of the system. There are places on Loop 534 where 1-27-14 78 1 my officers can't talk. So, they can call or holler for help 2 on Loop 534 and not be heard. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we 5 authorize the intention of Trott Communications Group to 6 complete Phase 1 of evaluating a new communications system 7 for the Sheriff's Department, and in an amount not to exceed 8 $21,500, with the funds to come from the certificate of 9 obligation. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'd agree with that, but say 11 with the funds from some source. I'm not sure the 12 certificate of obligation is right. If you'll -- if you'll 13 amend that motion to delete that, I'll second it. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: At this point, I will. But -- 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I second it. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We have a motion and a 17 second -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- that's where it's going to 19 come from. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a motion and second 21 for approval of the agenda item. Any further discussion? 22 All in favor, raise your right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Motion carries. Thank you. 25 Let's see. Item 14; consider, discuss, take appropriate 1-27-14 79 1 action to approve replacing cameras at the Sheriff's office 2 jail and courthouse to be paid with the certificate of 3 obligation funds. Mr. Hierholzer? 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And on this, you notice I 5 didn't say be reimbursed; I did say paid. So, I did not 6 expect this to be approved at this time, but to get y'all 7 final costs on some of the things and what we're looking at 8 for this going forward. On the certificate of obligation, 9 with the camera system, I first had a price of 85,000. If 10 you'll remember, they did come up and replace some of the 11 cameras out at our facility with the cameras that they were 12 using in the $85,000 bid. They were 2-megapixel cameras, 13 okay? To be able to view outside the perimeter and that, the 14 2-megapixel cameras will not allow me to be able to go back 15 after they've been recorded, zoom it in and identify 16 anything. They were useless to me, so I needed to go with 17 5-megapixel cameras to be able to do the exterior of our 18 facility out there and the courthouse here. So, that upped 19 the cost from the 85,000 to what is now $101,755. So, what 20 this is, more than requiring approval at this time, this is 21 what it will cost to fix the camera issues that we have at 22 the jail and at the Sheriff's -- at the courthouse. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What was the dollar figure 24 again? 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The total is $101,755. You 1-27-14 80 1 should have -- the attachments give the three different 2 locations; the jail, the annex, and the courthouse. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, this is a placeholder in 4 the funding source? 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes, 101,755. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know if y'all have 9 noticed or not, but law enforcement gets expensive. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -er. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's more expensive every 12 year. I'd entertain a motion if there is one. If not, we'll 13 just pass right on by this one. Nothing? 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think you need anything 16 now. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: At this point, no, 'cause this 18 would not be approved until after you do the C.O.'s, or 19 funding's available. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Just for information. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Item 1.15; consider, 22 discuss, take appropriates action to authorize for 2014 23 prescribed burns during a burn ban, as previously authorized 24 by the Commissioners Court in Court Order 32020. 25 Commissioner Letz? 1-27-14 81 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on the agenda 2 because I'm receiving calls from primarily ranches that want 3 to do prescribed burns, and most of the county's in a burn 4 ban right now. The order attached is the same as we -- I 5 think we did it last year as well, or two years. Maybe we 6 didn't do it last year; I can't remember. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think you did. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the verbiage is the same. 9 There is a slight difference, though. We've added the last 10 -- or talked about adding that this is signed under penalty 11 of perjury to make sure that they're -- put a little teeth to 12 it, and then it comes to the Commissioners Court to be -- we 13 actually do the approval once we get the form, which is kind 14 of a -- 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Approval for prescribed burns? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, during a burn ban. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, okay. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it's an N.R.C.S. -- like it 19 says, they review the plan, make sure it's complete from a 20 technical standpoint, and then it comes to -- they sign it, 21 and then it comes over to us, and we say yes or no. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I thought we already did 23 that. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, we -- 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I thought so, too. 1-27-14 82 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We've done it, but it's never 2 clear to me whether it's a continuous thing that we're doing, 3 or we should do it every year. 4 MR. HENNEKE: I don't think it expired. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, it's -- I don't know that 6 it really expires, but it's kind of -- you know, if we don't 7 need to do it, we don't need to do it again. It's just a 8 matter of I just wanted to make sure that we were all on the 9 same page. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's several people that 12 have called, and N.R.C.S. office has called and said, "What's 13 the deal this year?" I said, "Wait till Monday." 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, I thought it was 15 approved. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, we can just leave it as -- 17 the last one didn't have a cutoff date. It's still in place. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Prescribed or proscribed? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Prescribed. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This says proscribed. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What does it say, "pro"? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It says "pro." 1-27-14 83 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Jody, there's a typo 2 there. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see it as an ongoing -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I just wanted to make 5 sure we were all on the same page. That's fine. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Unless we need it for some 7 reason. I mean, I'm assuming that everybody else does their 8 job before they get to here. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. All right. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's what I would think. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Then no action is needed. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, thank you. Item 1.16; 13 consider, discuss, take appropriate action to approve 14 contract with Divide Volunteer Fire Department and allow 15 Commissioner Baldwin to sign the same. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I move approval of the agenda 17 item. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a motion. Is there a 19 second? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All in favor, raise your 22 right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Motion carries. Thank you. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Question. Is that a similar 1-27-14 84 1 contract with all the volunteer fire departments? 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Every year. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Everyone does it. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, thank you. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Item 1.17; consider, 7 discuss, take appropriate action on Request for Proposal, 8 RFP, for emergency medical services, EMS. We're going to 9 pass this till the very next meeting. Item 1.18, update from 10 Environmental Health/Animal Services Director regarding 11 repairs and improvements made at Animal Services facility, 12 and discussion regarding possible Environmental Health/Animal 13 Services Director facility expansion. Commissioner Letz. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on the agenda -- 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And Ray Garcia. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on for two reasons. 17 One is just to let the Court know a number of things that Ray 18 has been doing out there, from pretty major repair -- or, you 19 know, not that from a technical standpoint, but things that 20 I'm a little bit astounded never were fixed in the beginning, 21 but they weren't, like the drains that haven't worked because 22 they're all filled with concrete by the contractor. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I thought that was corrected. 24 I went out there and watched him do it. It didn't work. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But anyway, a number of things 1-27-14 85 1 that Ray did out there to improve that facility. And then 2 the other part of it is that I mentioned that last time, and 3 then it dawned on me that some members of the Court that 4 aren't liaison with them may not have known what I was 5 talking about. There's a -- Ray would like to present a plan 6 on building -- kind of expanding that facility, moving the 7 entire department out there. And I just wanted to let him go 8 over that so he can report and bring us up to speed on what's 9 going out in those facilities. Right? 10 MR. GARCIA: You guys have a copy of -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. 12 MR. GARCIA: -- the repairs, improvements there? 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 14 MR. GARCIA: I wanted to go over just a few things 15 here. Starting out as of August of 2013 to September 2013, 16 number one was removing the old delapidated cross fence 17 section there in front of the facility, and it was replaced 18 with three sides of a fence, as we utilized part of the fence 19 that was already there, part of the security fence of the 20 facility there. That work was completed by Maintenance and 21 the Sheriff's work program. This was in August and September 22 time frame. Cattle panels for livestock area that hold the 23 Sheriff's estrays and public surrenders of livestock. That 24 work was done by -- again, by Maintenance Department and 25 Sheriff's Office, myself, and James Lang from Environmental 1-27-14 86 1 Health. The drainage system there in the metal kennel, the 2 metal kennel building, there was four main drains there that 3 were still clogged with a considerable amount of cement. 4 That was cut out, and they dug down about 3 or 4 feet and 5 actually removed the rest of that, because they had been 6 working on this for quite some time. That's all working 7 properly now, so those repairs were completed during that 8 time also. Also, the repair of the lift station, the sewer 9 collection holding lift station tank there. The pump and 10 electrical system was repaired during that time. 11 Moving on now from October 2013 to present, HVAC 12 repairs and replacements in the main building, repairs to the 13 gas heaters, specifically the replacement of the burners in 14 those gas heaters were replaced. They had been burned out. 15 I don't know how long for, but they were burned out and they 16 were causing -- there was leaks caused from the propane 17 during that time, which was -- which contributed to the large 18 expense for propane. So, those have since been fixed in the 19 main building. The gas heaters in the metal kennel building 20 were replaced with electric heaters. And talking with 21 Maintenance and Airtech on this situation, those gas heaters 22 in there were not fitted properly for propane. There's a 23 different orifice in regards to using natural gas and 24 propane, so that was one of the contributing factors to these 25 things failing and burning out the burners in there, and also 1-27-14 87 1 leaking out the propane. So those have since been replaced 2 with electric heaters, and those two -- there was two 3 replaced there. Inside the main building, we repaired and 4 refurbished a nine dangerous dog holding kennel area; we put 5 it back into service. That was previously used as a storage 6 area. That work was done by an outside contractor, 7 Maintenance Department, Deputy Lang and myself. Then we 8 enclosed the back of the metal kennel building outside. The 9 structure was already there; it was partially roofed. There 10 was a lean-to over that section. We added three walls and 11 two pieces of roof to enclose that and make that the actual 12 storage facility that was being used inside at that time. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Put a lock on it? 14 MR. GARCIA: Sir? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You can put a lock on it? 16 MR. GARCIA: Yes, sir, that can be locked now. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Ray, just stop there for a 18 minute. On the -- what was the, you know, expenditure -- and 19 the reason I'm bringing this up a lot, these items were not 20 budgeted. They're the kind of things that we -- when Ray got 21 out there and started doing it, we really didn't plan on 22 doing these things, and I just want to make everyone aware 23 that if we run short of some funds, whether it be some of the 24 Maintenance funds or in his department, that this is the 25 reason for it. There's some things out there that we just 1-27-14 88 1 had to get fixed. 2 MR. GARCIA: The first part, August through 3 September, we worked with the Auditor, and we were -- 4 everybody was out of money at that time. Maintenance didn't 5 have any more money. The Animal Control budget was nearing 6 its end also, so we had to work with the Auditor to get these 7 things paid for with contingency funds for the first part. 8 Moving forward, again, still the money wasn't in there for 9 what we had problems with, with the HVA systems and the 10 heating, so we used that coming out of my budget currently. 11 These were -- again, these were things that just weren't 12 planned, and these were things that needed to be done. So, 13 currently -- 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Ray, let me you ask a question 15 there. Lesson learned on the HVAC; they didn't have the 16 proper orifice in there for propane, as opposed to natural 17 gas. Was that done by some company that you're not using any 18 more, hopefully? 19 MR. GARCIA: No, I couldn't tell you who did that 20 before. But talking to Maintenance and talking to Airtech, 21 that was the problem, and we are using Airtech now to take 22 care of all those situations. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 24 MR. GARCIA: But I don't know who did it in the 25 past. 1-27-14 89 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Probably done a long time ago. 2 MR. GARCIA: But it was causing a huge problem. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 4 MR. GARCIA: They were leaking propane out there. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'm surprised it even worked, 6 having the wrong orifice. Okay. 7 MR. GARCIA: And then the final one here was the 8 expansion of the service area where the service window is, 9 for safety reasons for the intake of the animals, and when 10 the public surrenders animals or trapped animals. There was 11 just a -- it was tight quarters in there when you have folks 12 bringing in animals and folks bringing animals out, cats and 13 dogs and people all in this one little area. It causes a 14 huge concern for liability, safety of the public and the 15 animal. So, we opened up a wall, one of the existing offices 16 there, and it's a little bit bigger, and it allows people 17 bringing their animals to put them in the kennel and wait to 18 be serviced as we're trying to help them out. And that's it. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the expansion? 20 MR. GARCIA: Okay. The expansion, the square 21 footage from the offices downstairs currently for 22 Environmental Health came out to be 1,430 square feet, I 23 believe, so we rounded it to 1,500 square feet to ask the 24 Court to consider the facility expansion of the main building 25 at Animal Services. 1,500 square feet would include just 1-27-14 90 1 about the same layout that we have downstairs right now to 2 that facility out there. Everything that we -- in-house that 3 James Lang and I have put together, just trying to be 4 cost-effective, you know, from cement stained floors to 5 certain types of construction that we can save money on, 6 we've come up with what we think is a pretty good plan to 7 save money and try to get this addition made to the main 8 building out there. But I would ask the Court to consider a 9 1,500 square foot addition to that main facility. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And so it's moving the guys 11 out from downstairs out there? 12 MR. GARCIA: Yes. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And refresh my memory. What's 14 the area down there going to be used for? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We don't have -- it's 16 undesignated at this point. It doesn't have a -- it's not 17 being -- the move is not to free up space that we need down 18 there. It's really more to make the efficiency -- 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- of that office, and have -- 21 'cause he's doing a fair amount of cross-training. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure. Yeah, okay. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the -- working on a cost 24 estimate. But it's -- you know, it's not huge. Certainly 25 not elaborate, what they're looking at doing, but it's -- 1-27-14 91 1 this would be something that would be covered in the 2 certificate of obligation. 3 MR. GARCIA: This work was also -- we factored in 4 the work that we ourselves, James Lang and myself and 5 Maintenance, and possibly Sheriff's workforce, would be 6 putting into that facility, as we've done so far. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, you're still working up an 8 estimate? 9 MR. GARCIA: Yes, sir. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the idea would be 12 largely to -- or possibly to use probably a contractor to put 13 up the building. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And probably do the plumbing 16 and electrical and that, but a lot of the finish-out would be 17 done in-house. 18 MR. HENNEKE: Is that inside the city limits? 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Mm-hmm. 20 MR. GARCIA: Yes. It's in the city limits, yeah. 21 I've already talked to city folks. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, so what? 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. Be ready. Now, I do 24 have one issue with it. 25 MR. GARCIA: We talked about that. 1-27-14 92 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: There's a puppy dog in my 2 neighborhood that his people have not been able to catch in 3 three months. That sucker climbs fences quicker than any of 4 us have ever seen. So, I think he's got to catch that puppy 5 dog first. (Laughter.) 6 MR. GARCIA: Scales walls, climbs fences. It will 7 climb -- it's like a little trick dog. It's just -- 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And he just -- he'll greet 9 everybody for three blocks that goes walking, walk with them 10 and everything. Everybody -- the problem is, half of them 11 out there are feeding him. But there is no way you can catch 12 that dog. He's been nicknamed either Traveler or the 13 ambassador of that whole neighborhood. 14 MR. GARCIA: Ambassador of the neighborhood. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Coon dog. 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: He's something else. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you, Ray. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That was just a report? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right, thank you. Ray, 21 appreciate what you do and how you -- you're conscious of the 22 taxpayers' money. Appreciate that. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And I'll add one thing. From 24 the roadway -- from the road, 534, it looks really good too. 25 MR. GARCIA: Thank you. 1-27-14 93 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know about moving 2 your -- I mean, those septic tank guys, we've only been 3 downstairs, what, 10 years now, and they're just now finding 4 you. 5 MR. GARCIA: Well, they feel that they'd be closer 6 to home, because that wastewater plant is out there. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. And going, getting 8 their dogs out of the pound. 9 MR. GARCIA: Right. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One of the challenges out there 11 probably would also require Road and Bridge doing some -- 12 either dumping some fill for the parking area. The building 13 would be on very level ground, but the property slopes off 14 behind there, and that parking -- you know, I don't think it 15 would take a whole lot. There's a whole bunch of fill 16 already over there next to the baseball fields that can 17 probably be hauled over there and compacted in just for the 18 parking, to make that a little bit better. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We have one addendum to the 20 agenda. It's Item 1.19; consider, discuss, take appropriate 21 action to appoint a county representative to serve on the 22 Kerrville Economic Development Corporation Board. I was 23 asked to put this on there by receipt of a letter from Jonas 24 Titas, and I don't know if you all received that or not. It 25 says, "The Judge's passing has created an unfortunate vacancy 1-27-14 94 1 for the K.E.D.C. board. We ask Kerr County Commissioners 2 Court to appoint a new representative of the County to serve 3 the remainder of the Judge's term, scheduled to expire 4 October 1st, 2015. This person will come to our monthly 5 board meetings held the first Thursday of every month at 7:30 6 a.m., and any interim meetings we might have." Does anybody 7 have any interest in this? Other than Commissioner 2? 8 (Laughter.) 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, I think -- I have no -- 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'll do it. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that we -- the term, I 12 think, was a little bit long. I think we should, you know, 13 until a County Judge -- I think it should be revisited at 14 that time, you know, whenever the County Judge -- we have a 15 County Judge to look at it. But certainly, in the interim, 16 I'll make a motion that Commissioner Moser fill that slot. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I second the emotion. And, 18 is there any -- now, wait a minute. What was that part -- 19 the unexpired term and all that was part of your motion? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're just going to keep -- 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Selection until we revisit it 24 and figure out -- and it may well be that that's the way the 25 Court wants to go long term, but I think we ought to wait 1-27-14 95 1 until we have a full Court. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think that's wise. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's good. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Any further discussion? All 5 in favor, raise your right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Congratulations, sir. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, thank you very much. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Let's go to Section 10 2, I guess -- no, no, no. Agenda -- stand by. Approval 11 Agenda, Section 4, pay the bills. We have bills here. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move we pay the bills. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Motion and second. Any 16 further discussion? Any questions? All in favor, raise your 17 right hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Motion carries. Budget 20 amendments, Mrs. Auditor? 21 MS. HARGIS: No, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Late bills, Mrs. Auditor? 23 MS. HARGIS: No, sir. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do we have monthly reports, 25 Mrs. Clerk? 1-27-14 96 1 THE CLERK: Yes, sir. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. We 3 have monthly reports from the Kerr County Treasurer, J.P. 1, 4 and J.P. 4. I'd entertain a motion to approve these as 5 submitted. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So moved. 7 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Motion and second. Any 9 discussion? All in favor, raise your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. Thank you, sir. 12 Information agenda. Reports from Commissioners, 13 liaison/committee assignments. Commissioner Oehler? 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Not right at this time. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. Number 2? 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let's see. The only thing is, 17 the construction out at the airport on the T-hangars is 18 delayed a little bit because of having to do archeological -- 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Uh-oh. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- surveys, et cetera, et 21 cetera, and some more bureaucratic things. So, I don't know 22 how long the delay's going to be, but I don't anticipate very 23 long. So, that's it. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mr. Letz? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't believe I have anything 1-27-14 97 1 other than what was on the agenda already. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Reports from elected 3 officials and department heads? 4 MR. BOLLIER: I'm good. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Jody, you want in on this 6 deal? 7 MS. GRINSTEAD: I'm good. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. The Kerr County 9 Treasurer, boys and girls. 10 MS. SOLDAN: I just wanted to let you guys know, 11 about six weeks ago, I hosted an event with the Comptroller 12 to get unclaimed funds back to the residents of Kerr County. 13 It came in at about $76,000 was given back to the residents. 14 Now, there's still probably 3.4 million that's out there, but 15 they said that that was a very good and productive event. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's fantastic. Thank you 17 for doing that. Ray? 18 MR. GARCIA: I've got an AACOG board -- they 19 invited me to sit on the board to judge and score grants for 20 Kerr County as a representative for the resource recovery. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Super. Fantastic. 22 Congratulations. They've made a good choice there. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure did. 24 MS. PIEPER: I have a question, not a report. If 25 we could, are we going to follow K.I.S.D. schedule if we get 1-27-14 98 1 icy? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: District Clerk, do you have 3 anything? 4 MS. BURLEW: No, sir. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. First off, a couple of 6 things. As some of y'all know, -- and I do thank Tim's 7 people for the assistance -- about a week ago, at 7 o'clock 8 in the morning, we had a 3-inch hot water main bust inside 9 that jail. That's up in the ceiling, okay? We took about 10 20, 25 minutes to get it shut down, but then you got about a 11 mile of 3-inch pipe that also had to drain. It's in a 12 separation area, the cell where we do have a lot of inmates. 13 We had to move all of them out for quite a while, but within 14 an hour it was being dried back out and cleared back up. 15 Took them several days to get it fixed. We did file an 16 insurance claim; Jeannie's helped with that. And we did have 17 to hire a company out of San Antonio that came up, put 18 dehumidifiers, about 10 of them, and fans in it so that we 19 could hopefully keep from having mold and mildew issues. So, 20 all those bills are not quite in yet, but it will be covered 21 either through insurance, but primarily it will be covered by 22 the plumbing company, because they had fixed it two days 23 before it exploded. They didn't fix it very well, so there 24 are issues with that. 25 Second off, jail population. It's running 160 this 1-27-14 99 1 morning, 28 females. We have not been going down. It's just 2 -- we've started back up. I don't know what the issue is. 3 On the other issue, on the ice, we had to have at least eight 4 officers out in addition to normal shift during last week's 5 ice issue. We worked over 40 accidents, including a 6 situation with one fatality. We had over 40 other vehicles 7 sliding off the road and stuck on 16 North and 173, and I-10 8 ended up with about a 5-mile backup for about four or five 9 hours. They had them parked four wide from the rest area out 10 east all the way to the Kerrville exit back over here. It 11 was not fun, and I'm just praying we don't have it again 12 tonight. But I would again encourage people that do not have 13 to be on the road, please don't. Half of these that we had 14 to pull off the road and haul in were out just because, no 15 particular reason, no real need to be out there. Instead of 16 endangering -- I had officers that had to hit the bar ditch 17 and run, and everything else on vehicles spinning sideways 18 around into them, and it's just a miracle we didn't have any 19 of our own officers -- D.P.S., P.D., all of mine; I'm not 20 just talking Sheriff's Office -- officers injured during this 21 from just, in my opinion, a lot of people that were -- if 22 they weren't bona fide, they were sure acting like a bunch of 23 idiots. So, that's about it. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: County Attorney? 25 MR. HENNEKE: I'm happy to report that there have 1-27-14 100 1 not been any floods or other natural disasters in the County 2 Attorney's office. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Very good. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: He's had a better week than 5 I've had. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mrs. Auditor? 7 MS. HARGIS: No. We're still working on the 8 external audit, and I'm actually working on four of them 9 right now at one time, but we're not quite ready yet to 10 present them. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. I stand 12 amazed -- continually stand amazed at how neat and fun and 13 courteous and kind and gentle Kerr County's employees are. 14 Every time I turn around, I'm bumping into one that just goes 15 -- seems to me, goes above and beyond their duties to be nice 16 and kind to people, and I -- that is just a -- that's half 17 the game. That's half of the deal. And recently, I was -- 18 my residence and vehicles were involved in a -- what do you 19 call that? 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Neighborhood burglary of motor 21 vehicles where we had about 13 of them hit in your 22 neighborhood. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And burglaries, and his 24 officers come out there, and just absolutely the nicest 25 people I've ever been around. I can't -- you know, every 1-27-14 101 1 time I see one drive up, I always go out there like this, 2 and -- but they -- they were nice, and actually let me go. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I've offered them a reward for 4 the first one that would do that -- take you up on that. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Going to have to send one 6 bigger than that last one. So, anyway, I just wanted to say 7 that. 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Thank you. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Y'all have done -- y'all 10 have done very well on training your employees to be nice to 11 people. I like that a lot. Back to your question, 12 Ms. Clerk, the weather conditions. I just think it -- the 13 best thing that we can do is tie -- because we have so many 14 ladies with children, and -- and tie it to the school 15 district. And those school district people go out and -- and 16 assess everything, whether they want to move their buses 17 around with children loaded on it or not, and I just want -- 18 I think that it's wise for us to tie ourselves with that, and 19 we did this last time. However, they closed all day, and at 20 noontime it was kind of like out here. I mean, we could have 21 been open. So -- but, I mean, that's -- it's not up to me; 22 it's up to you, the elected officials and their -- their own 23 offices, if they want to come up here and open it back up. I 24 think it would be smart to do. But I did; I came up and got 25 my packet and got the hell out of here. And so Mr. Trolinger 1-27-14 102 1 and I will, later this afternoon, start communicating with 2 K.I.S.D., and they've got a guy that monitors this whole 3 thing, all the roads and all this stuff, and we will start 4 communicating with him. And then later in -- in the night 5 tonight, we'll make a decision whether we're going to close 6 down or not. They will, and we'll follow suit, and then 7 he'll have it on the county website early in the morning. 8 So -- 9 MS. BURLEW: We have a jury trial tomorrow. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I wish you the best. 11 MS. BURLEW: So, I mean, our -- Judge Williams has 12 said that, you know, rather than closing all day, you know, 13 we may delay it, depending on what happens. So -- 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, see, that's up to you. 15 MS. BURLEW: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's up to your office. 17 MS. BURLEW: Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. If you need to be 19 open, come up here and open up. 20 MS. BURLEW: Okay. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I do think we need a little 22 bit -- the elected officials need a little bit of guidance 23 from the Court on how you want one thing handled. My 24 department -- of course, we weren't closed -- required 25 everybody to come in that could get in, and if they could not 1-27-14 103 1 get in, they were required to either use a vacation day or a 2 comp day, whatever they had. And I think there needs to be 3 some guidance from this Court on what you -- are you going 4 to, I've heard, give it as a holiday, since you closed it the 5 other day? Or is it that the employee's going to be required 6 to use a vacation day or a comp day? 7 MS. LANTZ: And it's in our policy book, the 8 essential departments. The departments that will be open, it 9 is up to the elected official, and that's Policy 5.23. So, 10 law enforcement is one, juvenile detention, Road and 11 Bridge -- there's four essential departments -- and 12 probation. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's not the issue I have. 14 The issue is, the people that flat could not get in, okay, 15 even with my department. People at the courthouse that could 16 not get in, I understand you're giving this as an extra 17 holiday. The people at my office that could not get in are 18 being required to take it as a vacation day or a comp day. I 19 think there needs to be a standard way of doing it one way or 20 another for the county employees. I'm not saying which one. 21 But I do not feel it's fair for either mine not to take it as 22 a holiday and courthouse to take it as a holiday, or 23 vice-versa. I think there needs to be some guidance from the 24 Court. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So much for being nice. 1-27-14 104 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, it is an issue. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That didn't last long. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's an issue. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's a valid point. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think put it on the next 6 agenda. We can't decide at this point. I would tend to 7 think that I agree with you; it should be consistent. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I think we can't make that 10 decision today. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Could you -- would you come 13 up with a consistent plan? 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Recommendation. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And you can tell him to go 16 jump off the face of the earth, if you'd like. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Wouldn't be the first time. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, no kidding. Yeah, 19 absolutely, I agree with that. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let's go home. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, anyway, watch the 22 website -- county website. I know we were a little late 23 getting it on there this time -- this last time, but that 24 won't happen again, rest assured. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: When do they make -- when's 1-27-14 105 1 K.I.S.D. make a decision? 2 MR. HENNEKE: Like, 5 a.m. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 5 a.m.? 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Dr. Troxel called me about 5 5:15 a.m. when he made their decision -- 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- this last time. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But it may be sooner than 9 that this time. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, right, I understand. 11 But no later than -- 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, 5 o'clock is when they 13 do that. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that it? We're 16 adjourned. 17 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 11:28 a.m.) 18 - - - - - - - - - - 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1-27-14 106 1 STATE OF TEXAS | 2 COUNTY OF KERR | 3 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 4 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 5 official reporter for the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 6 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 7 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 30th day of January, 8 2014. 9 10 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 11 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 12 Certified Shorthand Reporter 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1-27-14