1 2 3 4 5 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 6 and 7 KERRVILLE CITY COUNCIL 8 Joint Meeting 9 Monday, March 3, 2014 10 9:00 a.m. 11 Union Church Building 12 101 Travis Street 13 Kerrville, Texas 14 15 16 17 18 Kerr County Commissioners Court: H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 19 TOM MOSER, Commissioner Pct. 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 20 BRUCE OEHLER, Commissioner Pct. 4 21 22 Kerrville City Council: JACK PRATT, JR., Mayor 23 CARSON CONKLIN, Mayor Pro Tem T. JUSTIN MACDONALD, Council member, Place 3 24 GENE ALLEN, Council member, Place 4 TODD PARTON, City Manager 25 2 1 I N D E X March 3, 2014 2 PAGE 3 1.1 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding interlocal agreement with City 4 of Kerrville for firefighting and emergency medical services 3 5 -- Adjourned 18 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 On Monday, March 3, 2014, at 9:00 a.m., a joint meeting 2 of the Kerr County Commissioners Court and Kerrville City 3 Council was held at the Union Church Building, 101 Travis 4 Street, Kerrville, Texas, and the following proceedings were 5 had in open session: 6 P R O C E E D I N G S 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It is 9 o'clock; I think 8 I'll start. Thank you, Jack. This is the Commissioners 9 Court. We're in the Union Church Building. It's 9 a.m. on 10 Monday, March the 3rd. We're now open for session. 11 MAYOR PRATT: City Council is hereby open for 12 special meeting with the joint meeting of the City Council 13 and the Commissioners Court at 9 a.m. on the 3rd of March, 14 2014. Buster? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I want to open this meeting 16 with our agenda item. It's Item 1.1; consider, discuss, and 17 take appropriate action regarding emergency medical services 18 contract with the City of Kerrville, and it has my name on 19 it. I'm going to make a short -- short comment on how this 20 thing got going, and then we'll take it from there. But 21 about a month, month and a half ago, I got a phone call from 22 Brother Allen, and we were just chatting about everyday 23 things in paradise in Kerrville and Kerr County, and he asked 24 me -- he says, "I hope you don't mind, but I have a question 25 to ask you." And I said, "That's fine." He said, "Will it 3-3-14 jcc 4 1 offend you if we talk about the EMS issue?" And, of course, 2 it wouldn't. We've had it -- I've had it on my mind nonstop 3 for months. And so we had this discussion, and decided that 4 we would try to put this meeting together and see if we 5 couldn't fire one more shot at putting together a new 6 contract -- or a contract. And I got to tell you, in the 7 last month or so, I have fallen apart a couple of times, but 8 you -- Gene just kept on saying, you know, "Let's forget 9 about the things like who's the hero and who's the martyr and 10 who can beat what out of what and all that stuff, and let's 11 do the best thing for the citizens of Kerrville and Kerr 12 County. And I just kind of hung my hat on that. We kept 13 going, and -- and I think everybody in this room probably has 14 had discussions since that time, and there's been some good 15 discussions, I'm telling you, some of the best we've ever had 16 talking about this issue. But I just kind of wanted to open 17 it up and talk about how we -- how I got into this thing, and 18 how we got this far along. Does any member of Commissioners 19 Court have any comments at this time? 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, I do. I don't know of 21 any service that the County and/or City provides to all -- 22 underline "all" -- citizens and residents of Kerr County as 23 the EMS. Point number one. Point number two is, I think the 24 EMS that's currently provided to all residents, citizens of 25 the county, is superb, and I think we owe it -- both of these 3-3-14 jcc 5 1 bodies owe it to the citizens to come to an agreement on how 2 to maintain and keep that service. It's going to take some 3 negotiations. I've got some ideas on -- on a proposal. I'm 4 sure everybody around this table probably has some ideas, so 5 I'll hold off on that, but I don't think there's anything 6 that's more important than this subject to all citizens of 7 this county. So, that's all I have to say. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a comment. And the 11 -- I'll echo what Commissioner Baldwin said. And like he 12 said, you know, I visited with Council this past month, and 13 have gone back and forth on this issue. And it was really 14 one of the best times of getting along and working together 15 since I've been a Commissioner, which is quite a while. And, 16 you know, I -- as I mentioned in Commissioners Court last 17 Monday, you know, the reason I made the motion -- I think I 18 made the motion, which is for this meeting -- from our 19 standpoint, because I was -- I truly think we'll have an 20 agreement. There's enough cohesiveness between the two 21 bodies, and I think it's the right thing to do for the 22 citizens of Kerr County. And -- and not that I want, you 23 know, to try to set something, but I'd like to end that with 24 a motion that I think is a very fair motion to both parties. 25 And, certainly, we can modify it a little bit, but, I mean, 3-3-14 jcc 6 1 something to get started, 'cause I don't -- I don't want to 2 go -- you know, just have a -- start talking about going back 3 into the weeds and all that stuff. The motion that I'd like 4 to make would be that starting October 1, 2014, we enter into 5 a new 10-year agreement. The cost at the start of that 6 period will be $1.2 million. That amount could be adjusted 7 annually at the C.P.I. or 3 percent, whichever is less. Two 8 members of City Council, two members of Commissioners Court 9 to review the current agreement and make any adjustments as 10 they agree. Then within two weeks, an agreement will go with 11 the staff, and any items that they agree on will be 12 incorporated into that agreement. That agreement will be 13 forwarded to both bodies for approval. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'll second that motion. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We have a motion and second. 16 Is there further discussion? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think I -- y'all have 18 discussion. We haven't heard from half the table yet. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, why don't we do that? 20 But I wanted to -- to include Commissioner 4 before we take 21 off. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I just -- you know, this 23 is -- I'll just echo what y'all have already said. There is 24 nothing more important to the citizens of this county than to 25 have a good EMS service, which is -- the City of Kerrville 3-3-14 jcc 7 1 provides the best, and I don't think that whatever comes -- 2 whatever we would do other than that would be -- would be as 3 good a service. And I think we need to -- we need to settle 4 whatever our differences are and come together, and in a 5 good-faith effort, and get this thing done and not worry 6 about it any more, go on down the road. We got other things 7 we need to do. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Any of you guys -- 9 MAYOR PRATT: We're waiting till you do your 10 motion, and then I've got some things to say. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We've done our motion. 12 MAYOR PRATT: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm throwing it to you. 14 MAYOR PRATT: I echo some of the comments that were 15 made by the Commissioners. We started this process on this 16 contract several months ago, and it looks like that -- that 17 we're real close. Hopefully we can come to some type of 18 agreement. And I echo Commissioner Letz' comments that -- 19 and the others, that it's time that we set our differences 20 aside and work for what's best for the citizens of Kerrville 21 and the citizens of Kerr County. It's a lot different, in 22 coming to this point, than it's been in the past, and it's -- 23 I'm glad to see that we've reached where we can communicate 24 for the better of both citizens of the city and the county, 25 and so I echo your comments. 3-3-14 jcc 8 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 2 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: I have just a couple comments, 3 Commissioner Baldwin. First off, I think it was said some 4 time back that hell would freeze over before this meeting 5 occurred, and I think if you step outside, you'll probably 6 see -- (Laughter.) -- that's happened. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Very good. 8 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: Secondly, I appreciate the 9 opportunity for the dialogue between you and I, and the 10 discussions that's taken place between us. Don't know of any 11 discussions that took place otherwise, but I know ours has 12 been very -- very productive. I've been -- I've been here 12 13 and a half years, and I understand you've got to be a 14 resident of Kerr County 15 years before you get -- get a work 15 permit, you know, to start your citizenship process. I'm 16 getting close. But I have a lot of old-timers tell me 17 through the years that -- especially in the last almost four 18 years, being on Council, that the division between City and 19 County has been there forever; it'll never change, and don't 20 ever try. Don't tell me I can't do something, because I'm 21 going to do my dead level best to show you that I can. And I 22 think this meeting today has -- has certainly shown that -- 23 that it can be done, differences set aside, and it's not us 24 against them or them against us or whatever. This is -- this 25 is us working together for the betterment of the community. 3-3-14 jcc 9 1 And when I say "community," I mean Kerr County as a whole. 2 So, to that end, I would say thank you. I appreciate -- 3 appreciate the efforts, and thank you, Commissioner Letz, for 4 making the motion. 5 COUNCILMAN CONKLIN: I would say, speaking to 6 Commissioner Letz' motion, that, you know, I feel like the 7 County has brought a proposal to the table, and I think that 8 was -- in the sequence of the way this has happened -- 9 transpired, that the City made an offer back to the County 10 that was 1.4 million. I think it's the County's place to 11 come back with the offer that you have. And I don't want it 12 to come across like -- we didn't post for action this 13 morning, so we can't take a vote; we can discuss. But I want 14 -- inasmuch as one voting member of Council can say so, 15 there's a commitment on the City's end, for my part at least, 16 that we're not -- there's -- the framework of a deal has been 17 reached. I think that's a very fair offer that you've put 18 forward this morning, and anything that's going to change the 19 framework of a deal based on the previous interlocal 20 agreement -- I know there's a few details that had come up 21 that we want to revisit. But I don't see -- it's not our 22 intention to go back and make any major changes, because I 23 feel like you -- you've kind of put yourselves out there, and 24 we -- we appreciate that, and we're standing on that. So, at 25 least as much as I can say, there's a commitment on our end 3-3-14 jcc 10 1 to hold to that and look across the table at you guys and say 2 we agree, and we'll work forward from that point. 3 COUNCILMAN MACDONALD: Yeah, I'd like to echo that 4 as well. I think this is a good offer in the spirit of 5 compromise, and I think it is received as such. I think 6 we're definitely willing to work with y'all to iron out the 7 few little details that are left to iron out. I think the 8 framework that y'all have laid out is good. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 11 COUNCILMAN MACDONALD: Appreciate y'all agreeing to 12 meet with us and come back and do this. I think if we had 13 compromise like this on a national level, we might have a lot 14 more success. So, appreciate it. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. 16 COUNCILMAN CONKLIN: I think just to kind of get 17 some conversation with my Council members, we agree with the 18 idea of two Council members and two Commissioners meeting, as 19 it's kind of been in the past, and working out the actual -- 20 some of the details of the agreement, and then putting it to 21 -- putting that information to staff to do the actual draft 22 of the interlocal? 23 MAYOR PRATT: That's my recommendation. 24 COUNCILMAN MACDONALD: I'll be happy to volunteer 25 for one of those two spots. 3-3-14 jcc 11 1 MAYOR PRATT: Either that, or Gene's been involved 2 in this, and so maybe Gene and I should be the ones. I'm 3 the -- I was the one that met with Buster and the Judge when 4 we first started this process. So -- 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Buster and I are liaisons for 6 fire and EMS, so -- 7 MAYOR PRATT: Well, -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's fine. 9 MAYOR PRATT: -- we can agree to two and two. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's fantastic. Thank 12 y'all very much. Gene, I want you to understand that I do 13 have the authority to waive work permits. (Laughter.) So -- 14 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: Does that mean I can get my 15 citizenship immediately? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, you are an official 17 citizen. 18 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: Thank you. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: When are y'all going to 20 vote? That's what I want to know. When are you going to 21 have a meeting to vote? 22 MAYOR PRATT: We'll have to set a special meeting. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand, but when? 24 MAYOR PRATT: I don't know. Wait till the next 25 Council meeting. We'll set a special meeting, and Brenda 3-3-14 jcc 12 1 will coordinate that. We want to make sure we're all 2 available at the right time. It will be done as soon as 3 possible. 4 COUNCILMAN CONKLIN: We'll set a special meeting -- 5 Council meeting as soon as we're able. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 7 COUNCILMAN CONKLIN: Are we still within the window 8 to set it for the next -- 9 MAYOR PRATT: 72 hours. 10 COUNCILMAN CONKLIN: -- regular Council meeting? 11 MAYOR PRATT: Yeah. 12 MR. PARTON: Could have a meeting Thursday or 13 Friday. 14 MAYOR PRATT: We can do one this week, Thursday or 15 Friday, get it posted. 16 MR. PARTON: 9 a.m. Thursday. Will that work? 17 MS. CRAIG: No, it won't. Not enough posting time. 18 9 a.m. Friday, or afternoon on Thursday. 19 MR. HAYES: Any time on Friday. 20 (Low-voice discussion off the record.) 21 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: 1 o'clock? 22 MS. CRAIG: 1 o'clock? 23 MAYOR PRATT: Just a minute. 24 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: I'm not going to look at my 25 calendar, 'cause I'm going to make it clear regardless. 3-3-14 jcc 13 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Now that you're officially at 2 work? 3 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: Exactly, 'cause I've got my 4 citizenship. 5 6 MAYOR PRATT: Not 1 o'clock, but how about 7 3 o'clock? 8 MS. CRAIG: Okay. 9 MAYOR PRATT: Are you okay for 3:00? Okay, 10 3 o'clock on Thursday. Are you okay with that, Buster? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir, I'm thrilled to 12 death. I started to say I'm going to hold my breath until 13 y'all meet, but I don't think so. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'll second that. (Laughter.) 15 MAYOR PRATT: Brenda, are you going to post that 16 today? 17 MS. CRAIG: Yes, sir. 18 MAYOR PRATT: Okay. Thank you, ma'am. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I kind of wanted to do -- we 20 have some of the people here from both City and County, and 21 just some citizens, and I'd like to open this meeting, if 22 anybody has any comments or questions that you'd like to make 23 at this time. Rusty? You're going to pass up the 24 opportunity to talk? 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yep. 3-3-14 jcc 14 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There's some history right 2 there. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I'd just like to see it 4 happen. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, me too. Anybody? 6 Speak now. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can we vote? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm going to as soon as I 9 get through with this. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I just didn't want you 11 to forget. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, I didn't -- I can't 13 forget with her elbow in my side. So, any further comments 14 from the Commissioners Court? 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Only comment I'd make is it 16 might be -- if possible, it would be nice if the committee 17 could go ahead and get started on the final agreement this 18 week, before they meet. 19 MAYOR PRATT: Yeah, that's -- 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I mean, the sooner, the 21 better. The sooner this stuff gets ironed out, the better 22 off we're all going to be. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's fine. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a comment on that. To me, 25 worst case, the agreement stays as-is. I think there's some 3-3-14 jcc 15 1 things that could be done, but, I mean, this is not a -- an 2 out, in my mind. It's a way to -- we can make it better in a 3 few spots. 4 MAYOR PRATT: I think we're all very close here. 5 We're about where we were before, where we left it at the 6 last time that we met. So -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 8 MAYOR PRATT: -- we're close. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I just think in the spirit of 10 compromise, it's a good thing. Kind of like a mediation, you 11 know. Not -- we might have offered more than we really like 12 to pay, but you're -- you meet us, you know, at that level. 13 I think that's a good gesture on y'all's part. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I'm going to call for 16 a vote, if there's no further discussion. All in favor of 17 the motion, raise your right hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: None opposed. Motion 20 carries, so we're in. And is there any other reason to 21 continue on? Does anybody have anything else being brought 22 before the Commissioners Court at this time? Or City 23 Council? 24 MAYOR PRATT: Yeah. I was going to say from the 25 City Council point of view, let me recap. We're going to set 3-3-14 jcc 16 1 a special meeting, post it for 3 p.m. on Thursday. We will 2 set a meeting, and I'll -- I'll call the -- to see if we can 3 -- or Brenda will call to try to set it up for us to meet 4 early, two respective individuals from each side, to iron out 5 the details. So, we can have a vote on it at our meeting. 6 And we will -- y'all -- I have a question for you. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir? 8 MAYOR PRATT: Do y'all have to have another meeting 9 and a vote on the details? Or -- 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's correct. 11 MAYOR PRATT: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I don't think -- the 13 details you do on the final agreement. 14 MAYOR PRATT: That's what I'm talking about. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just goes towards the final 16 agreement. 17 MAYOR PRATT: Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. We're not going to 19 negotiate for seven or eight years -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- to get to this thing. 22 So -- 23 MAYOR PRATT: I just want to make sure that we're 24 going to have a -- 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 3-3-14 jcc 17 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 2 MAYOR PRATT: So, y'all will be doing the same 3 thing. When is the next Commissioners Court meeting? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's confidential 5 information, sorry. (Laughter.) 6 MAYOR PRATT: I'll ask for it anyway. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's the 10th. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: One week from today. 9 MAYOR PRATT: Okay. So -- 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We could have a special 11 meeting. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Or we can have a special 13 meeting if you want to. I don't know that we want to. 14 COUNCILMAN MACDONALD: Chances are if we meet -- if 15 the Council meets Thursday, there would be -- 16 MAYOR PRATT: Time enough to appoint. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, by the meeting on the 18 24th. And certainly by the 24th, we should have an 19 agreement, I would think. 20 MAYOR PRATT: On the 24th? 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Hopefully by then. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The agreement's there. It's 23 just talking about making a few changes. 24 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: If the committee meets between 25 now and Thursday -- 3-3-14 jcc 18 1 COUNCILMAN MACDONALD: Might be able to get it done 2 faster. 3 MAYOR PRATT: Right. We can get it done, and you 4 could have it on your agenda for the next Commissioners Court 5 meeting. Okay. 6 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: I'm with Buster on this. The 7 sooner, the better. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let's get 'er done. 9 COUNCILMAN MACDONALD: Absolutely. 10 MAYOR PRATT: Okay. There being no further 11 business to come before the City Council, City Council 12 meeting's adjourned. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Commissioners Court is 14 adjourned. Thank y'all so much. 15 (Joint meeting was adjourned at 9:23 a.m.) 16 - - - - - - - - - - 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3-3-14 jcc 19 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 3rd day of March, 2014. 8 9 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 10 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 11 Certified Shorthand Reporter 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3-3-14 jcc