1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Monday, August 25, 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: TOM POLLARD, Kerr County Judge H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 24 TOM MOSER, Commissioner Pct. 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 25 BOB REEVES, Commissioner Pct. 4 2 1 I N D E X August 25, 2014 2 PAGE 3 --- Visitors' Input 5 4 1.1 Presentation by Texas Association of Counties on County Silver Choice retiree medical program 6 5 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 6 approve County Choice Silver retiree medical program as part of the retiree medical program 24 7 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to set 8 public hearing regarding installing a stop sign on Blue Sky Lane South, Precinct 1 25 9 1.6 Update on Christian Youth Rally scheduled at Flat 10 Rock Lake Park on September 6, 2014 26 11 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding master plan of Lions Park in Center Point 37 12 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to accept 13 “Certification of Unopposed Candidates” and issue an order stating unopposed candidates as elected 51 14 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action approving 15 of polling locations in accordance with Chapter 43, Texas Election Code 51 16 1.4 Consider/discuss, take action to renew Child Support 17 State Case Registry/Local Customer Service contract with Office of the Attorney General 52 18 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding 19 a Community Collaboration Agreement between Kerr County and Hill Country Council on Alcohol and Drug 20 Abuse, Inc. (HCCADA) 54 21 1.15 Public Hearing on proposed Kerr County Budget for FY 2014-15 56 22 1.16 Consider/discuss and take appropriate action to 23 adopt FY 2014-2015 Kerr County Budget 56 24 1.17 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to adopt 2014 Lake Ingram Estates Road District tax rate 72 25 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) August 25, 2014 2 PAGE 1.18 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 3 adopt 2014 Kerr County tax rate, to include Maintenance and Operations, Interest and Sinking 4 (debt), and Lateral Roads tax rate 76 5 1.20 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on final approval of contract with DRG Consultants/ 6 Architects for Kerr County Jail expansion 78 7 1.22 Monthly update from 3H/Pathways Youth Ranch 90 8 1.7 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve the SAVNS Maintenance Grant Contract between Office 9 of the Attorney General and Kerr County 96 10 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding master plan of Flat Rock Lake/Flat Rock Lake Park 98 11 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 12 approval of changes to Policy and Procedure Manual for the Juvenile Detention Facility 101 13 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action 14 regarding rules of procedure, conduct and decorum at meetings of Kerr County Commissioners 15 Court; Court Order #25797 111 16 1.14 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding agenda request rules for Kerr County 17 Commissioners Court; Court Order #25722 113 18 1.19 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve setting cost for a copy of the FY 2014/15 budget 118 19 1.21 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding 20 update of construction at Hill Country Youth Event Center and related issues 120 21 1.23 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding 22 a proposal from Southwest Sound for sound system for the Event Hall at the Hill Country Youth Event 23 Center 125 24 4.1 Pay Bills 130 4.2 Budget Amendments 131 25 4.3 Late Bills 133 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 134 4 1 I N D E X (Continued) August 25, 2014 2 PAGE 3 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments 135 4 5.2 Reports from Elected Officials/Department Heads --- 5 1.24 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission 6 Rule 15c2-12 as it applies to the Underwriter and Financial Adviser Contracts (Executive Session) --- 7 1.25 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 8 personnel matter (Executive Session) --- 9 1.26 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding bankruptcy, legal, leasing, financial and other 10 related issues related to the River Star Arts and Events Park. (Executive Session) --- 11 3.1 Action as may be required on matters discussed 12 in Executive Session --- 13 --- Adjourned 137 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 5 1 On Monday, August 25, 2014, at 9:00 a.m., a special 2 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in the 3 Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, Kerrville, 4 Texas, and the following proceedings were had in open court: 5 P R O C E E D I N G S 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Let me have your attention, please. 7 It's 9 a.m.; Commissioners Court of Kerr County is now in 8 session August 25th, 2014. Commissioner Baldwin will say the 9 prayer and pledge of allegiance for us. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. Pray with 11 me, please. 12 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. First item on the 15 agenda is the Visitors' Input section. Is there anyone that 16 would like to speak now on -- Mr. Smith might want to. He 17 came and talked to me earlier. I'd invite you, if you wish, 18 Mr. Smith, to speak if you wish. You don't have to. 19 MR. SMITH: Very briefly, Judge. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Yes, sir. 21 MR. SMITH: As a citizen of Kerrville and this 22 great county of Kerr, I feel honored, but I would like to 23 point out to you that the -- as opposed to the city, as a 24 citizen of Kerrville, I pay taxes to the city and I pay taxes 25 to the county. As I understand it, approximately 50 percent 8-25-14 6 1 of all the taxes of Kerr County are paid by the citizens of 2 Kerrville. All I want is an acknowledgment that even if the 3 City doesn't do something, and the citizens are paying their 4 share of the taxes -- 5 JUDGE POLLARD: I think you're -- the figures are 6 approximately correct, yeah. I think it's, like, 47 percent, 7 something like that. 8 MR. SMITH: I know there's some give and take, but 9 generally speaking, from the citizens' standpoint, if there's 10 a joint project between the City and the County that's funded 11 equally, the citizens of Kerrville pay approximately 12 three-fourths of those costs. All I want is acknowledgment 13 that at least the citizens of Kerrville are contributing 14 about half of the County's budget. So -- 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Well, we acknowledge that -- 16 MR. SMITH: That's all I wanted to say. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: We acknowledge that about half of 18 the taxes -- that's true. 19 MR. SMITH: Yeah, thank you. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Any problem with that? All 21 right. Thanks, Mr. Smith. Anybody else that would like to 22 address the Court? All right. We'll close that part of it, 23 then, and go to Item 1.1 on the agenda, the presentation of 24 Texas Association of Counties on County Silver Choice retiree 25 medical program. Dawn Lantz. 8-25-14 7 1 MS. LANTZ: Good morning, Judge, Commissioners. I 2 will be turning this portion of the presentation over to 3 Ernesto Martinez, who is going to be going over a new benefit 4 that we've become aware of that will help our insurance 5 program for the retirees who are post-65. So -- 6 MR. MARTINEZ: Morning, Judge. Morning, 7 Commissioners. How are you doing this morning? I do believe 8 you may have some handouts already on this program. This is 9 a -- a retiree program that we do have available to our 10 county members with TAC. This is a retiree program 11 specifically for retirees who are 65 and older. Basically, 12 they're Medicare-eligible. Currently right now, the County 13 allows retirees to stay on their current county plan right 14 now, pre-65, before they even reach 65, and even after age 15 65. Now, when a retiree does retire and they are 65 and 16 older, and they do have Medicare as well, Medicare is their 17 primary -- is the primary coverage, and the county's plan 18 will be considered secondary. That's because of their 19 retiree status. And it's the opposite if you're active. If 20 you're an active employee, your county plan is -- and you're 21 65, if you're an active employee and you're 65, the county 22 plan's primary; Medicare is secondary. So, I'm just letting 23 you know that's how it works, all right? Now, with this 24 plan, if the County elects to choose this retiree plan, I'll 25 go over all the details here in just a second. 8-25-14 8 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: May I ask you a question? 2 MR. MARTINEZ: Yes, sir. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Why would anybody -- if 4 they're over 65 and they're employed, why would they want the 5 county plan if they have Medicare? 6 MR. MARTINEZ: Because they -- since they are an 7 active employee. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I understand that, but I said 9 why would they want to pay that for the extra care Medicare's 10 covering? 11 MR. MARTINEZ: It's extra. As far as I'm aware, 12 the Medicare B, which is hospitalization, which the Medicare 13 person who's Medicare-eligible has to pay for that, some 14 elect not to choose it, 'cause they don't have to choose it 15 'cause it's hospitalization, and those active employees 16 already have hospitalization coverage with their -- with 17 their county plan. So, some don't take the Medicare Part B, 18 so they don't have to pay for that. Medicare Part A, I 19 believe, is -- covers all the other stuff besides that. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, I might want to take a 21 look at that. Okay. 22 MR. MARTINEZ: All right. So -- but no, before I 23 go on, any other questions? 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. 25 MR. MARTINEZ: No? All right. But this is just a 8-25-14 9 1 program that -- it's not required, but it's an option the 2 County may want to look at. Some counties do do this. 3 Counties who currently don't allow retirees to stay on after 4 65, once they become Medicare-eligible, they drop from the 5 plan, and they have Medicare as their primary coverage, and 6 very often it's always recommended for those who are 7 Medicare-eligible to seek a supplemental -- a true secondary 8 supplemental plan to Medicare, and this is what this coverage 9 is. It's a true secondary coverage to Medicare. The 10 majority of -- of the services, whatever Medicare does not 11 cover, or the amount that is allowed through what Medicare 12 can pay, the secondary coverage that's offered through United 13 Health Care with this program pretty much picks up quite a 14 bit of the rest, okay? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. 16 MR. MARTINEZ: Yes, sir? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there a cost for that 18 supplemental? 19 MR. MARTINEZ: Yes, there is a cost to that, and 20 I'm going to get to that in just a second. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Then I have a question. 22 MR. MARTINEZ: Okay, yes, sir. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm probably -- and I'm not 65, 24 so this is a little -- I don't have the -- 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You'll get there. 8-25-14 10 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll get there. I don't know 2 much about it. Is the county -- if someone is over 65, does 3 the county pay for their health insurance right now, or are 4 they automatically dropped? 5 MR. MARTINEZ: As of right now, they have the 6 option of staying on if they want to. But as far as I'm 7 aware, they have to pay the full premium. Is that correct, 8 Dawn? 9 MS. LANTZ: Right now, yes. However -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They have to pay it, or the 11 county pays it? 12 MS. LANTZ: If they retire as of today, they have 13 to pay their full -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, that's retired. I'm 15 talking about a worker, someone who's working. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Active worker. 17 MS. LANTZ: Active worker. 18 MR. MARTINEZ: No. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, what? 20 MS. LANTZ: We pay the premium. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We pay the premium. So they 22 have Medicare, and then their secondary is the county. 23 MS. LANTZ: Yes. 24 MR. MARTINEZ: As active -- if they're active, the 25 county's primary; the Medicare is secondary. It's 8-25-14 11 1 vice-versa. 2 MS. LANTZ: Reversed. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So it's treated differently 4 than private business. I know in private business, the 5 Medicare becomes primary and their -- their work insurance 6 becomes secondary. 7 MS. LANTZ: Not -- 8 MR. ODOM: That's not right. 9 MR. MARTINEZ: Yeah. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not right for the county, but 11 it is right for the private sector. 12 MR. MARTINEZ: I'm not sure on the private sector. 13 But as far as I know, if -- 14 JUDGE POLLARD: I'm counting up the votes out 15 there, and I think you're losing. 16 MR. MARTINEZ: But coming from Medicare, from CMS, 17 what we've been told is if you're an active employee and your 18 employer offers coverage, that coverage with your -- with 19 your employer is considered primary, and then Medicare would 20 be secondary. But when you retire, it switches. Medicare 21 becomes primary, and then the county's coverage becomes 22 secondary. 23 MR. ODOM: Is it still a deductible? 24 MR. MARTINEZ: Correct. Right, the plan will still 25 remain the same. 8-25-14 12 1 MR. ODOM: So even now, Medicare won't pick it up 2 till the deductible is met, so if it's $3,000, you're going 3 to pay it. 4 MR. MARTINEZ: Correct, you still have to meet the 5 deductible. 6 MR. ODOM: And same thing; what they don't pick up, 7 I guarantee you it's going to sit there and go on the 8 deductible. 9 MR. MARTINEZ: It depends. 10 MR. ODOM: You're still -- 11 MR. MARTINEZ: It depends on the procedure, yes, 12 sir. 13 MS. LANTZ: Ernesto, that's on our current plan. 14 MR. MARTINEZ: That's the current plan. 15 MS. LANTZ: Not the plan -- are you asking about 16 the supplement? 17 MR. ODOM: On the supplement, it wouldn't make 18 any -- under Medicare, it's going to be covered -- whatever 19 it is, if you don't have all the insurance, it's going to 20 be -- I know, because I'm over 65. So it's -- there's a 21 catch-all always like that. 22 MR. MARTINEZ: Any other questions? Okay. Well, 23 let me just give you some brief descriptions on this program. 24 In order to be eligible, if the County decides to go with 25 this program, a retiree would have to be, of course, 65 or 8-25-14 13 1 older, and they would have to be effective with Medicare A 2 and B; they have to have both of those. There are two -- 3 there's an option. The County could elect just to go medical 4 coverage only if they would like to, but we also have a price 5 in here that includes medical and a prescription coverage as 6 well, which would be their Part D -- Medicare Part D. That 7 would be their coverage, all right? Now, just to let you 8 know, the prescription coverage that we -- that we offer to 9 our counties, you have coverage within that donut hole or 10 that gap, okay? You have coverage. In other words, you will 11 be paying a -- a co-pay. In other words, those premiums out 12 there that you -- that are very affordable, they look very 13 attractive, very affordable, but when you read the fine lines 14 to it, very often it'll tell you you don't have coverage 15 while you're in the gap, okay? So you'll have to meet the 16 amount while you're in the gap, which is, I want to say, 17 around 2,500 or so; I'll have to doublecheck. But once you 18 reach that gap, then you have coverage. So you have to pay 19 that money up front first before that coverage kicks in. 20 With the coverage that we're offering, you don't 21 have that. You have coverage while you're in the gap, okay? 22 So -- and then once you reach that maximum amount while 23 you're in the gap, you go to a catastrophic category, which 24 reduces your co-pays as well -- almost by half as well. So, 25 the good thing is that you want that coverage while you're in 8-25-14 14 1 the gap, because a lot of retirees are on a fixed income, 2 okay, so every help they can get really helps them out. It 3 really does, okay? So, real quick, let me just go over -- 4 like I said, in order for a participant to be eligible, they 5 have to have Medicare A and B. The County can decide whether 6 they want to offer the medical only, or the medical with the 7 Rx. The prescription cannot be stand-alone, just to let you 8 know. But there are some billing options that the County can 9 consider. We can set up this program for the retirees to be 10 billed directly. In other words, they're going to receive 11 the full premium, okay? And since we've asked about 12 premiums, the premium for the medical -- just the medical 13 premium is $210.93. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Is that per month? 15 MR. MARTINEZ: Per month. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 17 MR. MARTINEZ: Okay? Now, if we're -- if the 18 County wants to go with the medical and the prescription, the 19 prescription premium is $185.39 per month, okay? So when you 20 add those together, they come up just a little bit under 21 $400. It's about three -- what was that, Dawn? 22 MS. LANTZ: 396. 23 MR. MARTINEZ: 396, that's what it comes out. So 24 with that total, if the County goes with the medical and the 25 Rx, for both of them, we can set up the -- the County to have 8-25-14 15 1 this billed directly to the retirees. We can have it 2 split-billed. If the County wants to contribute some towards 3 the premium, we can have it split to where the amount that 4 the County wants to pay goes to the County; the rest will go 5 directly to the retiree. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So what this is, is this is 7 offering it to the retirees. This is the amount that you 8 just delineated? 9 MR. MARTINEZ: Yes, sir. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Per month, and it's either 100 11 percent by the retiree, or some percentage by the retiree and 12 some by the County. 13 MR. MARTINEZ: You can go that route, yes, sir. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. So -- 15 MR. MARTINEZ: There's another option as well where 16 we can do a list bill where we invoice the County the full 17 premium. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 19 MR. MARTINEZ: And then the County can pay 20 everything, or they can -- 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Somebody's going to pay $400 a 22 month. 23 MR. MARTINEZ: Yes, sir. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: All right, got you. 25 MR. MARTINEZ: Yes, sir. Okay? So, currently 8-25-14 16 1 right now, the County is paying -- or the retiree, when they 2 retire, they have to pay five -- 3 MS. LANTZ: 03. 4 MR. MARTINEZ: -- 503 right now. If the County 5 elects to go this route, even if they want to do a direct 6 bill, the retirees are paying a little bit less than the 500; 7 they'll be paying slightly under 400 bucks -- $400 for the 8 prescription and the medical program. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Just because they're 10 secondary. 11 MR. MARTINEZ: No, they'll actually -- they'll 12 actually come off -- 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I understand, but if they're 14 retired -- if they're retired, then this is secondary to 15 Medicare. 16 MR. MARTINEZ: Correct. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's the reason it's $100 18 less. 19 MR. MARTINEZ: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Got it. 21 MR. MARTINEZ: Yes, sir. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But if they're retired and 23 still on the full plan, they're secondary too. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: So either way, if they're 8-25-14 17 1 secondary, this would just save them a little over $100 a 2 month compared to what they're paying now. 3 MR. MARTINEZ: It could. And for this to go into 4 effect, we'd have to -- the County -- the retirees would have 5 to come off at age 65, and then we'll sign them up with the 6 County Choice Silver program. And that will all be done -- 7 we can do that in coordination with the H.R. Department. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: Any other questions? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just -- it doesn't seem there's 10 a down side. Am I missing something? It saves them -- it 11 doesn't change their coverage at all, and they're saving $100 12 a month. 13 MR. MARTINEZ: It's actually better coverage. It 14 really is. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And they don't have the 16 deductibles. 17 MR. MARTINEZ: Correct. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: Does H.R. recommend this? 19 MS. LANTZ: Yes, sir. That's what -- it was 20 brought to my attention, so I looked into it a little bit 21 further, and it's a cost savings not only to the county, but 22 we're able to take those employees off of our main insurance 23 and shift them to another insurance that is still within the 24 TAC pool. It is still considered one of the insurances 25 within the pool that they administer. 8-25-14 18 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But this is a function of how 2 much the County's going to pay out of this $400 a month. So 3 how's this saving the county money? 4 MS. LANTZ: Currently, we have six employees that 5 are grandfathered in under -- prior to paying the full 6 premium. They pay $250 of the premium, so the County is 7 picking up $303 of their premium right now. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 9 MS. LANTZ: If we're able to shift those onto this, 10 then we only pick up $140 of their premium instead of the 11 303, which they're getting better coverage. They're on 12 Medicare already. This is their supplement. They have to 13 pay coinsurance and a deductible with the insurance we have 14 now, and moving them to this one, that's eliminated. It's 15 their secondary. 16 MR. MARTINEZ: And another thing, too. Retirees' 17 spouses are eligible to go onto this Medicare plan -- 18 supplement plan as well. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do they have to be 65 as 20 well? 21 MR. MARTINEZ: They have to be 65 and on Medicare A 22 and B as well, just as retirees. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Have you looked at this, 24 Jeannie? 25 MS. HARGIS: Yes, I have, and I agree with Dawn. I 8-25-14 19 1 think it does several things for us. We haven't been able to 2 give the over-65 people a COLA. It gives them the 3 opportunity then -- if we pay the 250, that's almost like 4 giving them a COLA, which is better than trying to give them 5 a COLA that's not very much money. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: The retiree COLA? 7 MS. HARGIS: Right. And then also, it offers our 8 65-year-old folks like me the opportunity to retire and have 9 insurance, 'cause a lot of people wait to retire because 10 they're waiting for their Medicare to kick in, and so this 11 gives us a -- people that opportunity to retire at 65 if they 12 like to. And -- and also, there's no deductible on this one, 13 so it really -- you know, when you're on a fixed income, you 14 think about that. What they have now is an active insurance 15 policy that requires a $3,000 deductible. The supplements 16 that they can get on the open market don't do that. So, they 17 also -- the big donut hole -- and since my husband is on 18 this, I can tell you that that donut hole is pretty big. 19 MR. MARTINEZ: Yes. 20 MS. HARGIS: And it happens about halfway through 21 the year, and then you have to pay it. And then -- you know, 22 especially if you're on medications. And I think this is 23 something that would be of benefit to our employees in the 24 future, something that we could offer. And I really feel 25 like there's a cost savings, because not only will they pay 8-25-14 20 1 less; we'll pay less even at the 250, if we give everybody 2 that 250. But we're going to reduce -- you know, when you 3 get older, you have more medical problems, which brings our 4 pool down. So, our -- our pool average will go up, that we 5 don't have as many claims, so our premiums won't go up as 6 much. So, I think it's a good benefit, and it's something 7 that we -- you've been looking for something to give the 8 retirees, and I think this would be a great opportunity to do 9 that. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And that cost to the County is 11 a reduction? 12 MS. HARGIS: Mm-hmm. Even if you gave everybody 13 the 250, you would come out ahead, because we're paying more 14 for the retirees because our premium individually is more 15 than this would be. 16 MR. MARTINEZ: Which brings up a good point. When 17 you're 65 and older, you potentially are at, I guess, greater 18 risk. And -- and if you do go to this program, your retirees 19 who are age 65 and older, they come off your plan, so they 20 won't be -- the claims won't be paid on the county plan. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No deductible? 22 MR. MARTINEZ: No deductible, no, sir. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Co-pay? 24 MR. MARTINEZ: No, sir, there's no co-pay. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No co-pay. 8-25-14 21 1 MR. MARTINEZ: No co-pay. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It simplifies life, to me. 3 MR. MARTINEZ: And it's a true, true supplement to 4 Medicare. And the best way -- I have -- I think you should 5 have in front of you a summary of benefits on what Medicare 6 covers and what the supplement should cover. It should be in 7 there. But as you can -- as you probably see, it pretty much 8 picks up almost everything that Medicare is not picking up. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right. 10 MR. MARTINEZ: Almost. Just about, almost. And 11 the -- one of the things about this prescription program as 12 well, you do have coverage while you're in the donut hole. 13 While you're in the gap, okay? 'Cause coverage is out there. 14 It's less premium when you don't have that coverage. That's 15 why the premium that you see here, some people say, "That 16 looks pretty high." But if you think it"s high, think about 17 if you didn't have coverage in the donut hole. You'll be 18 paying more out of your pocket regardless. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: How about people that are 20 currently retired that do not have this? Are they eligible? 21 MS. LANTZ: No. Once you retire and you opt not to 22 take our insurance, you can't retro back on it. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We didn't offer it to them 24 then. 25 MS. LANTZ: Yeah, we did. This is just a new plan. 8-25-14 22 1 We always offer insurance to every employee that retires. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: She's talking about the 3 regular insurance -- 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- that's available today, 6 that we have today. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 8 MS. LANTZ: But those that are 65 and older, if we 9 choose to go with this plan, if they retire tomorrow, and 10 they're 65 or older and this plan is adopted, then they would 11 go onto that plan. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: People who are currently 13 retired, been retired five years, okay, this doesn't have 14 anything to do with them? 15 MS. LANTZ: And that didn't choose the insurance? 16 If they can get on it? 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Mm-hmm. 18 MS. LANTZ: No. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If they chose the insurance at 20 the time they retired, yes, they will go on this. 21 MR. MARTINEZ: If they're currently on it right 22 now, they would come over, yes, sir. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, got you. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Now, I originally heard about 25 this in a flyer that TAC sent out, so I called TAC and talked 8-25-14 23 1 to them about it and tried to go through the differences, and 2 one that I saw was the donut hole is a big difference that 3 the retirees won't pay. 4 MR. MARTINEZ: Correct. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Two is the deductible the 6 retirees won't pay. Three, if you do both with the Rx part 7 of it too, it gives them prescription coverage with a very 8 small co-pay that they don't -- you know, won't have. It 9 does lower the premium amount. Now, under the grandfathered 10 deal, I think there are a few employees you're already paying 11 a portion of. And I'm kind of like Dawn; if you adopted that 12 for all retirees, you know, that are either currently paying 13 medical insurance or the ones in the future, where the County 14 just paid 250 to equal out the grandfathered ones, the 15 County's still going to save money in the long run, 'cause 16 you're out of the main medical pool when medical issues 17 become greater. And I think it's a good benefit, as Jeannie 18 said, since the COLA's don't work for retirees. As we all 19 know, this will give a retiree, you know, what is in essence 20 a pay raise and better coverage, and I think it's something 21 this county ought to do. 22 MR. MARTINEZ: And another scenario to think of, 23 too, if you have an active employee, and their spouse is 24 Medicare-eligible, they can come onto it. They don't have 25 to -- the employee does not have to be retired; they can 8-25-14 24 1 still be an active employee. But if their spouse is 2 Medicare-eligible, let's just say, a year before they turn 3 65, if that spouse is eligible for Medicare and they're age 4 65, they can come on off their plan. It's -- if they're 5 covering their spouse on the county plan, once she turns 65 6 or he turns 65, that spouse can come off the county plan, 7 because they have Medicare, and they can choose the 8 supplemental plan as well. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Any further questions of 10 Ernesto? If not, thank you, sir. 11 MR. MARTINEZ: Thank you. Appreciate it. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: This is an action item. Does 13 anybody want to take any action on it? 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The second one is. 15 MR. REEVES: Item 1.2; you have to call it. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: On this item, 1.2. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval of the -- 18 approving the County Choice Silver Retiree Medical Program. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there a second? 20 MR. REEVES: I'll second. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: It's been moved and seconded. Any 22 further discussion? If not, those in favor, signify by 23 raising your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 25 JUDGE POLLARD: It's unanimous, 4-0. All right. 8-25-14 25 1 Let's go on, then, to 1.3; consider, discuss, and take 2 appropriate action to set a public hearing regarding 3 installing a stop sign on Blue Sky Lane South. Leonard Odom 4 and Charlie Hastings. 5 MR. HASTINGS: What we have is a stop sign request 6 on Blue Sky Lane South. It's a privately maintained road. 7 There have been some near collisions there, as cited by the 8 person who's making the request. The requester is willing to 9 pay for it, and regulatory signs require a public hearing. 10 At this time, we're asking the Court to set a public hearing 11 regarding consideration and possible installation of a stop 12 sign on Blue Sky Lane South for Tuesday, October 14th, 2014, 13 at 9 a.m. This is in Precinct 1. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded. Any 17 further discussion? If not, those in favor, signify by 18 raising your right hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 20 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Thank you, 21 sir. Let's go to 1.4; consider, discuss -- 22 MR. REEVES: Your Honor? 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Pardon? 24 COMMISSIONER REEVES: We've got a 9:15 timed item, 25 1.6. 8-25-14 26 1 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Let's go to 1.6, then. 2 There's a time on here. Update on Christian Youth Rally 3 scheduled at Flat Rock Lake Park on September 6th, 2014. 4 Mr. Landrum? 5 MR. LANDRUM: Yes, sir. We made up a list of 6 stuff. I meant to get this to you gentlemen earlier and 7 stuff, but we've been busy and stuff, and I just didn't get 8 it. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thanks. 10 MR. LANDRUM: But that's a list of things that 11 we're going to do, and a list of the people -- part of the 12 list of the people that are going to participate in the youth 13 rally and stuff. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Maybe it would save time if we got 15 a copy made right quick. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'll make a copy real quick. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, it seems like last time 20 you were in here, you were talking about bringing a big-name 21 band in, Elvis Presley and all those people, and -- 22 MR. LANDRUM: This is our first one to do; we 23 couldn't do all that. We do have a band coming up from 24 Brownsville that has held several concerts and stuff. It's 25 out of a church there in Brownsville, and it's We Light the 8-25-14 27 1 Night. And we have a guest speaker coming out of 2 Cornerstone, and then one coming out of Houston, and we have 3 two praise and worship teams coming out of Ciudad Victoria, a 4 town in Mexico. And we have a lot of local bands and a lot 5 of -- well, Methodist Church over here, their youth leader is 6 part of our board and stuff, and their church is involved in 7 this. Impact is involved in it, Living Waters is involved in 8 it, and we have several other churches. Motley Hills Baptist 9 Church is going to participate in it and stuff. But we went 10 with more local people and stuff, being it's our first one 11 and stuff, because this is new water to all of us as far as 12 doing this like we're doing it and stuff. And, you know, you 13 just couldn't get big-name bands to come in here without 14 paying $20,000 for them. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure, and you don't need 16 them. 17 MR. LANDRUM: No. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Your local people will carry 19 it, I guarantee you. 20 MR. LANDRUM: Well, that's what we're wanting. And 21 so far, it's been exceptionally -- I mean, we've had a lot of 22 people call and wanting to participate in this. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One of the concerns we had, I 25 think, was the -- the crowd size and security. Sheriff, have 8-25-14 28 1 you visited at all? 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How many people are 4 you expecting? 5 MR. LANDRUM: Honestly, that's a good question. 6 We're figuring anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000. I really don't 7 know. Honestly, I don't know, because it's -- most of the 8 people are local people, but we have a lot of churches. We 9 sent out over 97 invitations to all the churches and the 10 local community and Harper and Comfort and everywhere else. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What's the time? What -- 12 MR. LANDRUM: From 4:00 to 10:00 at night. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 4:00 to 10:00? 14 MR. LANDRUM: Yes, sir. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 16 MR. LANDRUM: And we have lighting that's going to 17 be set up for everybody. I mean, all that's supplied and 18 everything. And we have cleanup crews that are going to come 19 in and do all the cleanup and everything. The park will be 20 left back just like it is, if not in better shape, which I 21 don't think it could be. But it's going to be in the same 22 shape that it is now. You're going to -- we're going to 23 clean everything up. Everything will be taken care of. I 24 was going to get with Sheriff Hierholzer about some security 25 and stuff, about maybe some off-duty deputies doing security 8-25-14 29 1 and stuff, because I was told that if they're going to do 2 security, they do need to be armed officers and stuff that 3 are off duty and stuff. And that's -- if we can use local 4 officers and stuff that are off duty for that, we'd prefer to 5 do that. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That reminds me, have you done 7 this before? 8 MR. LANDRUM: No. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, that's what I thought. 10 MS. HARGIS: No, this is my first one. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, okay. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sheriff, how many -- do you 13 have some rule of thumb? 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think a lot of it -- it's 15 all going to be at the park, not up at the -- 16 MR. LANDRUM: All down at Flat Rock Park. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Every bit of it at the park. 18 If you get 1,000 people out there in that area, I think you 19 need at least three or four officers in there. True, it's 20 more of a church deal, but I'd -- personally, I'd say a 21 minimum of four officers. That's if you have four officers 22 that want to work off-duty security. And they do charge 23 different rate on that; I don't keep up with that part. But 24 I think it does have to be -- I would probably -- because it 25 is a County-owned park and that is where they are, I probably 8-25-14 30 1 would want them in uniform, and allow at least one marked 2 unit. Most of the time, we don't allow that, but since it's 3 on County-owned property, we do. But I think there 4 definitely, with that many people down there, needs to be 5 security. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And restroom facilities? 7 MR. LANDRUM: Yes, sir, we're setting those up. We 8 got port-a-potties coming in. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How many? 10 MR. LANDRUM: We got six there. Is that going to 11 be enough? 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I don't deal with that part, 13 but six I wouldn't think would be enough. But -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 15 MR. LANDRUM: We can get more if we have to have 16 them. They told me I could get up to 10. Whatever I need, 17 that's what we're going to put in there. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: A lot of that goes back to 19 what the county, you know, normally covered. There used to 20 be a deal, depending on how many people were in attendance, 21 that stated how many security officers there had to be on a 22 policy y'all had. 23 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I think that -- 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: When it gets this large, I 25 think it cuts down a little bit, but normally I think it's 8-25-14 31 1 going to be a lot more officers than that. And I don't know 2 if, in that agreement that there used to be, if there was a 3 deal on how many port-a-potties there had to be for the 4 number of attendees. That would be something Tim would have 5 more information about than I would. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let me ask a question that I 7 probably should know the answer to, but I don't. Here's a 8 group of people coming to use the park. If there were 10 9 people, we wouldn't have any problem; they'd just go do it. 10 If there's 1,000, Mr. Landrum comes in and says, "Here's what 11 I want to do." So, what -- 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You have to be careful, 13 because you're getting -- and depending on the number of 14 people, okay, you can get into what's called the Mass 15 Gathering Act. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What number is that? 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Huh? 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What number is that? 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I don't remember if it's 1,500 20 at once. I'd have to go back and look. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But there is a number? 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Quiet Valley is where we run 23 into that, and then there has to be actual studies done. 24 They have to have medical stuff; they have to have all kinds 25 of things that meet that Mass Gathering Act -- 8-25-14 32 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- law. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Fire chief. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. You know, they have to 5 have fire protection. There's a lot of things in there, and 6 I think just because the number may be 1,500 or, you know, 7 1,200, whatever it is, when you get close to that, you really 8 need to start looking at that type of security. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, what's the county's 10 policy, then? Do we have a policy? 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Under that, we've always gone 12 by the Mass Gathering Act. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So less than that Mass 14 Gathering Act, whatever that number is, we didn't have 15 anything? 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Less than Mass Gathering Act, 17 we never had anything, except that if it was going to be on 18 county property, then the County had a policy on the number 19 of security that had to be there for that. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But we don't have a policy on 21 that? 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes, you did have. 23 MR. REEVES: Yes, we -- up at the show barn, I 24 believe it's one to 100. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think it -- 8-25-14 33 1 MR. REEVES: With a few exceptions. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. 3 MR. REEVES: In other words, the livestock show has 4 an exception where they get with the Sheriff and we determine 5 how many they need, but I believe any other event, it's one 6 security per 100. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think that's -- 8 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Or close to it. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's at the Ag Barn. I'm 10 talking about a park now. 11 MR. REEVES: Well, I don't think there is a policy. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's my question. Do we 13 have a policy? 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I'm not sure. If you look at 15 that written policy you have, okay, I'm not sure if it covers 16 both the Ag Barn and Flat Rock when you get that many people. 17 That would be something y'all have to look at, or come up 18 with one. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Tim doesn't think there is a 20 written policy. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But I think when you get that 22 many people on county property, I do think that -- 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I've got your break at Mass 24 Gathering; that's 1,200 or whatever. 25 MS. STEBBINS: It's 2,500. It's -- 8-25-14 34 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Huh? 2 MS. STEBBINS: It's 2,500, or 500 if at least 51 3 percent of the people are expected to be under the age of 21 4 or alcohol is going to be served. I suspect there's not 5 going to be alcohol -- 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, alcohol is not going to 7 be served. 8 MS. STEBBINS: So, 2,500. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Therefore, just to be clear, 10 2,500 is the Mass Gathering Act; is that correct, -- 11 MS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- Ms. Attorney? So if you're 13 less than that, we don't have to do anything. If -- unless 14 our policy -- if we don't have a policy, then we don't have 15 to take any action. 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If you're less than that, you 17 don't have to do anything. But when you put that many people 18 on County-owned property, and you condone that, if you don't 19 require something, I think you're accepting some liability. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I agree with you. Ten is not 21 enough; 1,000 is probably -- so we need to have a policy. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You're right. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's all I'm saying, so that 24 we're clear. Right now, sans policy -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Everything's been done on a 8-25-14 35 1 case-by-case; we have worked with the people. We don't have 2 a written policy. Maybe we should, but the bottom line is 3 that, you know, from a -- a public health standpoint, we need 4 port-a-potties, and from a public safety standpoint, we need 5 law enforcement. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I agree -- absolutely agree. 7 All I'm saying is I think we use this as a case to -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- maybe establish a policy. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I think we need to hear -- 11 we need to tell him what needs to be done. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right, policy or not. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Policy or not. And I think the 14 Sheriff says four security officers. To me, that's a 15 reasonable amount. I'd say -- you know, and restrooms, I 16 have no idea, but 10, you know, at a minimum. 17 MR. LANDRUM: Can I ask a question? What if we -- 18 we're planning on, like, 1,000 people. What if 3,000 people 19 show up? 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Then you're in violation of 21 the Mass Gathering Act. 22 MS. STEBBINS: And that requires a permit, and you 23 got to apply for the permit 45 days before the -- 24 MR. LANDRUM: So they did that when they had the 25 Easter egg hunt down there? 8-25-14 36 1 MS. STEBBINS: I don't know. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I don't know how many people 3 they had in attendance. Only one we've really had to go with 4 the Mass Gathering Act with normally is Quiet Valley, because 5 it's at one time. It's not people trickling in and trickling 6 out. 7 MR. LANDRUM: Right. 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But there's a lot to it, and 9 it takes a while for y'all to prepare and get that Mass 10 Gathering Act permit together. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I have no idea how many 12 people show up, but I think -- 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Nobody's got a crystal ball. Let's 14 just assume the guy's right about 1,000, okay? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: And let's tell him how many 17 officers, how many potties, and let's move on to the next 18 item. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Four and 10. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. That sound all right 21 with you? 22 MR. LANDRUM: That's good with me. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Done. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 8-25-14 37 1 MR. LANDRUM: Appreciate it. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I make a motion, 'cause it 3 sounds contrary to this thing, that we approve -- whatever 4 line we're on. Oh, it's not even an action item; it's just 5 an update. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's right. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I make a motion we approve the 8 update. Okay, good. Thanks. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Let's go back to 1.4. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You got a 9:30. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Oh, we do? 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. The 9:30 one is 1.8; 14 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action regarding 15 Lions Park, Center Point, master plan. Commissioner Moser 16 and Tom Collins. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Thank you, Judge. 18 There has been a lot of discussion over the last year and a 19 half, two years, probably longer than that, of Lions Park and 20 what could be done to improve it. So, Tom Collins, a 21 resident of Center Point on Stoneleigh Road, has taken the 22 action to put together a plan, okay? And this is -- I want 23 to present this to Commissioners Court today, and -- and let 24 everybody -- share it with everybody. So, I think everybody 25 has a copy of it, and the audience can see it on the screen. 8-25-14 38 1 So, Tom Collins. 2 MR. COLLINS: Good morning, Judge and 3 Commissioners. My name is Thomas Collins. I live at 261 Red 4 Bird Loop in Center Point. Pretty brief intro here. I was 5 asked by the Commissioner -- or actually went to the 6 Commissioner to try to put together a plan for the park. And 7 let's just kind of orientate ourselves here. Where is Lions 8 Park? You have maps. Some of you, obviously, can't see up 9 here. Highway 27 going down Highway -- F.M. 480, and then 10 Skyline Drive, at the corner of Skyline Drive and -- at the 11 corner of Skyline Drive and what Google calls Park Avenue, 12 which is what the local -- what the local sign calls Crossing 13 Street Bridge, is where Lions Park is. You go down a little 14 bit closer, there is an old aerial photograph of the park. 15 You can see the boundary there where the park is, the river 16 and the dam, the Crossing Street Bridge, Skyline Drive, and 17 then a property line that was just recently staked, so it's 18 clearly defined. 19 A little background. Several years ago, I was 20 meeting with some citizens in Center Point to discuss a 21 separate issue, and we agreed to meet at the Lions Park. 22 When we got out to the park, trying to drive into the park, 23 two of the vehicles, which were smaller ones, drug -- drug 24 ground; hit bottom, that is. That was in pretty bad shape, 25 and we all got the comments of how bad of shape that park 8-25-14 39 1 was, just driving around through it. I went and approached 2 Commissioner Williams at that time about the situation at the 3 park, and he suggested that we put together a team of folks 4 to work on the park plan. I actually had a distribution list 5 of a large number of citizens of Center Point, so I sent out 6 a list of distribution requesting volunteers. We had several 7 people step forward at that time. I submitted the names to 8 the Commissioner, Williams at that time. I did not 9 participate in it. I was in the process of building a home, 10 and I had a choice between that and what my wife told me I 11 had to do, was get that house built, so I opted out of the -- 12 of the team at that time. 13 The team met with the Commissioner. There was a 14 charter, basically, to put together a master plan. During 15 this time period that they were starting to work, do some 16 things, the Commissioner passed away; Commissioner Overby was 17 reported -- was designated as his replacement. The team went 18 to and spent some time with him. They came up with some 19 short-term list of things, and I'll show you here in a 20 minute, but some parking poles, entrance was modified, some 21 gravel work done. Commissioner Moser was then elected to the 22 position, so we've now gone through three different 23 Commissioners here with this team. He also asked the team 24 for a master plan, and the team was really, I think, a little 25 bit confused, because they kept wanting to know, "How much 8-25-14 40 1 money do we have?" And the Commissioner kept saying, "Well, 2 give me a plan and we can work on money." And -- and for 3 whatever reason, the team dropped a note one day on me and 4 the Commissioner saying that they disbanded themselves. So, 5 I went to the Commissioner and said, "Well, I don't think 6 this is rocket science." And I think he, being a rocket 7 science individual, said he agreed with me that I could 8 probably work on this project and pull it together. So, I 9 developed a plan and stepped forth there and started working 10 on it. The hand I was dealt was -- if you can see up there 11 again, there's one picnic table right on the -- on the 12 river -- 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Tom, why don't you tell us 14 what chart you're on so we can follow you. 15 MR. COLLINS: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Just the title of it. 17 MR. COLLINS: Called "Current Park Facilities." 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 19 MR. COLLINS: And there's a big oak tree right out 20 there in the middle there that has four of these Drymala 21 concrete park tables underneath it. There's one right along 22 the river; you may be able to see it there. There is a 23 basketball court without any rims on it, and there's a boat 24 launch that has its issues. What the team had worked with 25 was to put in those additional boulders, which again don't 8-25-14 41 1 show up here. But as you see on the Google map, it showed 2 two entrances. Well, they eliminated that one entrance, so 3 there was only one entrance and there was some gravel work 4 done, 'cause you can see from the drawing there that there is 5 a lot of white rock there that didn't show up in the past. 6 My planning process was started out with meeting with Malcolm 7 Matthews, who was a park manager for Kerrville. Turns out he 8 was also the park manager for San Antonio and Corpus Christi, 9 so he had a pretty good background there. 10 By the time I left his office, I had two pages of 11 notes of things to do and things not to do. I reviewed the 12 park survey to be sure that there was a survey in place. 13 I've done multiple visits and measurements. On an annual 14 basis, I participate in the river cleanup there, so I'm quite 15 familiar with -- with some of the issues around the park. I 16 stop there all the time, 'cause I exercise over at the high 17 school, and so I drive past the park. I kayak on the river. 18 Basically, the hand I was dealt, again, was there was one 19 entrance, five concrete picnic tables, a basketball court 20 with missing rims. There are lights around the park. There 21 is a boat ramp with a dangerous dropoff. If you backed into 22 it, when you get beyond the 9-foot point, there's a washout 23 there and it drops from 28 inches to 42 inches. I actually 24 waded out there, hung a rope off the back of my bumper, 25 because if you try to walk on the ramp, it's so slippery 8-25-14 42 1 you'll slip right into the fall-out, which I've done twice 2 when I got -- once, sorry. Once when I got out of my kayak 3 there. There's also a big, large tree hanging over the ramp. 4 There was two limbs there; the other one, the kids used to 5 swing on a rope. That big limb is broken, but that's going 6 to have to be dealt with. 7 Anyway, I developed a draft plan. I prioritized 8 some projects, did some cost estimates with a timeline, 9 presented the plan to the Commissioner, then did a site 10 review with the Commissioner and Tim over here. My 11 recommendations were, first of all, we needed to define a 12 green space. The area using the boulders, if you -- in a 13 second here, I'll show you what that looks like, but using 14 some of those existing boulders that we have out there, 15 requiring some more, we need to keep people from getting into 16 the area where I would like to put some of these projects. 17 One is to protect the basketball court. If you look at it, 18 people do donuts out there; they also spin doughnuts out in 19 this area I call the green area. So, I'd like to deal with 20 that by defining the green area better. Some sort of 21 fixes -- quick fixes, basketball rims replaced. They've been 22 lost in the past. The -- the manager, Malcolm Matthews, 23 recommended that we bolt these, put them on with steel -- 24 either galvanized or stainless steel, and then spot weld them 25 so that they -- in the past they've just been welded up 8-25-14 43 1 there, and they've been torn off. 2 I'd like to put in two to three barbecue stands -- 3 I'll show you pictures of those later -- and some permanent 4 trash bins there. The boat ramp's got to be dealt with. 5 There was a boat that had been launched there that had a 6 100-horsepower engine on it. You can imagine a 7 100-horsepower engine trying to run down that river that only 8 goes about a mile up there before you'd run aground, and 9 houses all along there. At a maximum, I think either limit 10 that boat ramp to trolling motors or 15-horsepower, and need 11 to put a sign there about the danger of being a dropoff and 12 extremely slippery. I had four large projects that I've 13 defined; a volleyball sandball court -- sand court, that is, 14 two horseshoe pits, some playground equipment similar to what 15 you find at Sample Park -- Sample Park is off of 534 at the 16 intersection close to where Singing Wind Drive is, and some 17 permanent restroom facilities, either a platform -- permanent 18 concrete platform where we can set the port-a-potties, or 19 even a building. 20 Over this time frame that I've laid out -- and 21 we've put in some additional park benches and barbecue 22 stands, trash bins. I'm a master gardener, and I've got a 23 project defined with the master gardeners to put a little 24 garden area out at the entrance to the park as you drive in 25 there. We put in a nicer sign up there saying "Lion's City 8-25-14 44 1 Park," and some wildscape garden. And we may want to 2 consider a park curfew. I don't know that there is one at 3 the -- at Flat Rock, but at this park, that's part of our 4 problem with the rims and other issues there. If you see the 5 next drawing there, there are some -- I don't know if you 6 have a color or black and white -- if you have a color 7 drawing -- you have a color drawing of it? 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Mm-hmm. 9 MR. COLLINS: You see the big red square? That's 10 the volleyball court. The two smaller little rectangular 11 squares are the horseshoe pits. The large kind of red circle 12 is the youth -- the small playground equipment. The small 13 dotted red spots on your handout there are the additional 14 boulders that would be used to define the green space. We 15 have the option of also putting in poles if we wanted to, 16 like there is along the front where the drive area is, but I 17 kind of like the boulders. There is also a small green 18 square there where I would place the restroom facility, 19 with -- with some sort of A.D.A. parking, either a concrete 20 platform to set the port-a-potties on, and/or some permanent 21 feature which I'll talk about here in a minute. The little 22 yellow squares are additional picnic tables. The little 23 green circles are these little barbecue stands. Actually, I 24 wanted to have two barbecue stands in the big circle area, 25 'cause there's four picnic tables there, and then one right 8-25-14 45 1 by the picnic table down there. 2 This is kind of my timeline and cost estimates. 3 And remaining this year, kind of a bunch of quick fixes: Get 4 the boulders to define the green space, put some basketball 5 rims up that are more permanent, three barbecue stands, trash 6 bins permanently installed, and some gravel work to deal with 7 some of the erosion that occurred since the original one. We 8 need to resolve this boat ramp issue. The volleyball court, 9 horseshoe pits, and playground equipment would go in in 2015 10 for roughly 50,000. I've worked these costs all the way down 11 to loads of sand. I actually -- my original plan was to put 12 in railroad ties around that, but Tim recommended we do that 13 with concrete, so I didn't go back and reconfigure those 14 costs. Restrooms could be put in as part of the Center Point 15 sewage project. The actual lines will run right where the 16 proposed site would be. That's up to the Commissioner there 17 to deal with that. That's not in this cost issue here, but 18 it's just a -- it is a minimum that we put a platform in at 19 least for setting the port-a-potties on, 'cause they will 20 have to be moved, because the new rock boundary will limit 21 the ability for the man to get in to service those. 22 The garden and the sign would go in after the 23 sewage lines were run. There is a slide image of these 24 barbecue grills. They use them at the -- in the Kerrville 25 parks. They're all single-stand. They rotate. They run 8-25-14 46 1 $130. I put in $150 because you got to put in some concrete 2 and dig a hole to set them in the ground. I'd like to put in 3 three this year to see how well they hold up before we move 4 forward, along with the garbage pails and the boulders I 5 mentioned earlier. Sample Park, the picture there, this is a 6 -- four swings and a little tower and a little stand. A lot 7 of this will have to go through the scrutiny -- there's the 8 -- out at the Kerrville park, they use these concrete prefab 9 buildings. They actually bring them in and set them on the 10 ground. There still has to be some plumbing done with it. 11 Whether or not that sewage project can pick that up, or we 12 just put in a concrete platform to set the barbecue grills -- 13 I mean the port-a-potties on is another question. A large -- 14 this is just the next image there, the volleyball courts at 15 Center Point -- at Kerrville-Schreiner. And then we have to 16 deal with the flood issues there with the -- with Mr. Hewitt 17 or whoever is in charge there. But you can see -- this is a 18 Google map. You can pull flood images up on Google and print 19 out your own flood maps. So, that's my story. Questions? 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So -- thanks, Tom. So I think 21 it's -- you know, what we have is, number one, a park that -- 22 that's, you know, an absolutely beautiful place. It's used 23 by a lot of people, especially all during the summer, and 24 even in the fall and winter when the weather's conducive. 25 It's been neglected. I think Tom delineated some of the 8-25-14 47 1 things that have been done piecemeal in the past. So, Tom's 2 put together a master plan here. I think that what we should 3 do is move toward making these improvements. The money for 4 next year would be the hundred -- part of the $100,000 we 5 have in the -- in the C.O. for parks, and to move toward 6 implementing some of these improvements for the -- to improve 7 that asset that we have. I think another thing -- let's see, 8 we'll bring it up in the next agenda item -- is we need some 9 type of standards on what we put in the parks, whether it's 10 Flat Rock Park or Lions Park or further out west on some of 11 the ones in Precinct 4 and in Precinct 1, regarding benches 12 and cooking -- barbecue pits and things like that, so we're 13 consistent out there. 14 So, Tom's -- Tom's done a lot of work here, and so 15 the purpose of this was to show everybody we've got a plan. 16 I'd encourage everybody to go down there that hasn't seen it, 17 and see what that park is like. It's a true jewel. So, we 18 would -- I think the things that were proposed to do this 19 year we'll bring back as a separate item, 'cause we have it 20 in the budget in 2014. And for 2015, we got a plan that's 21 not in the budget, but it's part of the -- part of the C.O. 22 that we have as part of the parks. So, as we go into each 23 step of this, that's what we would do. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I -- you know, a lot of 25 this, I agree totally. Some of it I've got some concerns 8-25-14 48 1 about. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Mm-hmm. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But on one of the things that I 4 think the -- I didn't know there was a boat ramp there. 5 MR. COLLINS: Be careful if you use it. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My question is, wouldn't it be 7 better to take it out? 8 MR. COLLINS: We can do that. The kayakers use it, 9 but only as a way to port in and out. It's not necessary. 10 In fact, I've seen three or four kayakers get out of their 11 kayak, like myself, step out on the ramp, and then proceed to 12 hang on to your kayak as you slide all the way down and you 13 hit the dropoff. And then if you're still hanging onto your 14 kayak like I did, I flipped it on top of me, and my tackle 15 box and my fishing rod and everything else -- so I had to 16 then dive down into the hole and find everything. But it is 17 dangerous, and in addition to the big limb over the top, 18 which is even more dangerous right now and needs to be 19 removed. But that's a separate issue. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think just going along, if 21 you have a boat ramp, people are going to put boats in there, 22 and I'm not sure, from a safety standpoint, we really want a 23 lot of boats in that lake. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, I think it's an excellent 25 idea, 'cause when Tom and I were down there the other day, 8-25-14 49 1 some lady had put her boat in, and there was no way to get it 2 out. 3 MR. COLLINS: She had a 100-horsepower -- 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Dropped off. 5 MR. COLLINS: She had a 100-horsepower engine on 6 it, and we also found out that she didn't have the proper 7 sticker on her boat. It was -- so that's why she was 8 probably trying to sneak it in there. Unfortunately, she 9 dropped the trailer off and couldn't get it back out. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let me say one other thing, 11 too. Some of the stuff is pretty straightforward, the 12 horseshoe pits and the basketball goals and things like that, 13 and the boulders all around. I think putting the boulders 14 around is going to really enhance the park, to keep people 15 from driving in the green area. But the longer-term thing is 16 the restroom, and whether or not to have a permanent restroom 17 is -- there's big issues if you do that. I mean, there's big 18 issues. One of the things we looked at is part of the Center 19 Point wastewater system. There's going to be a lift station 20 right at the edge of the park, so if there's some way to 21 combine the lift station with a restroom, we're just looking 22 at that and considering it. It's -- that's not -- it's a 23 blank in here what to do, but that's a long-term thing. And 24 I think we'd have to think long and hard about whether we put 25 permanent restrooms in down there. So, anyway -- 8-25-14 50 1 MR. COLLINS: I welcome -- if anybody wants to come 2 down there, I'll be glad to show you around, take you around 3 and show you in more detail. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 5 MR. COLLINS: I'm available anytime. Thank you. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you, Tom. So, no action 7 on this, just for information for the Court. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good idea. I think, you 10 know, this boat ramp thing, I have always wanted to see, 11 like, even Ingram Lake where there are power boats there, -- 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Mm-hmm. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- to -- and I think it's 14 Parks and Wildlife that regulate this thing. I'd like to see 15 all motorized boats taken off our local lakes. You can 16 have -- what do you call those electric -- 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Trolling motors? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, trolling motors, 19 canoes. I just always had this picture of daddies and their 20 little boys out there fishing. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Mm-hmm. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And canoes and things like 23 that. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I agree with you. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But that body of water in 8-25-14 51 1 Center Point is -- no business with a motor on it. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. Okay. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Any further discussion on that 4 item? If not, there's another timed item here, 1.10, at 5 9:30. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 6 accept the Certification of Unopposed Candidates and issue an 7 order stating unopposed candidates as elected. I'm not going 8 to read the Spanish. (Laughter.) 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No kidding. I move for 10 approval. It's that simple in English. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Is there further 13 discussion? Those in favor, signify by raising your right 14 hand. 15 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 16 JUDGE POLLARD: It's unanimous. Good job, Diane. 17 MS. BOLIN: Good. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. There's another timed 19 item for 9:30; it's 1.11. Consider, discuss, and take 20 appropriate action approving of the polling locations in 21 accordance with Chapter 43 of the Texas Elections Code. 22 Diane, do you want to address that? 23 MS. BOLIN: These are the polling locations for the 24 November election. We just need approval of them, please. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Any questions or comments about 8-25-14 52 1 that? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have no problems in 3 Precinct 1 at all. I move for approval. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there a second? 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think it's the same. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Same as you had. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, I don't have any 8 problem. Second. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, it's been moved and 10 seconded. Any further discussion? If not, those in favor, 11 signify by raising your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 13 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. 14 MS. BOLIN: Thank you, gentlemen. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: We're not quite at 10 a.m. yet, so 16 let's go back and pick up 1.4; consider, discuss, and take 17 action to renew Child Support State Case Registry/Local 18 Customer Service contract with the Office of the Attorney 19 General. 20 MS. BURLEW: Morning. 21 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Good morning. 22 MS. BURLEW: This is a two-year contract that we 23 sign every two years, and so any cases that we look up that 24 are Attorney General now in our office, we usually get 25 anywhere from $10 to $15, because we have access to their 8-25-14 53 1 site. Plus in addition, we also get 66 percent of any cases 2 that, you know, are filed with the court costs, so we get -- 3 normally, you know, we don't get paid, but the Attorney 4 General pays us 66 percent of that court cost. So, it's just 5 an ongoing -- but we do get revenue, so I think it's -- 6 JUDGE POLLARD: How long have we been using that 7 contract? 8 MS. BURLEW: Let's see. I'm going to say 9 probably -- Linda got on board with them probably -- maybe 10 about six years ago. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: And do you find it very helpful? 12 MS. BURLEW: Yes, sir. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The County Attorney's looked at 14 that? 15 MS. BURLEW: Yeah, she got a copy of it. 16 MS. STEBBINS: Sorry? 17 MS. BURLEW: The contract. 18 MS. STEBBINS: I reviewed it. It's okay. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: It's been moved and seconded. Any 21 further discussion? 22 THE REPORTER: I'm sorry, I didn't hear who 23 seconded. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Commissioner Reeves. Any further 25 comments or discussion? If not, those in favor, signify by 8-25-14 54 1 raising your right hand. 2 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 3 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Let's get one 4 more out of the way. 1.5; consider, discuss, and take 5 appropriate action regarding Community Collaboration 6 Agreement between Kerr County and Hill Country Council on 7 Alcohol and Drug Abuse. There's a contract in here. Robbin, 8 is this also one that's been in existence for a while? 9 Where'd she go? 10 MS. BURLEW: I'm sorry? 11 JUDGE POLLARD: This one on -- between Kerr County 12 and the Hill Country Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, is 13 this one that's been in -- this contract been in effect for a 14 while? 15 MS. BURLEW: Yes, sir. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Probably 12, 15 years that I 18 remember. Long time. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You must be in favor of it. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I am in favor of it. I 21 disagree with some of the language. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I can't win that one, so I 24 move for approval. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 8-25-14 55 1 JUDGE POLLARD: It's been moved and seconded. Any 2 further discussion? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a question. Has the 4 County Attorney reviewed this one? 5 MS. STEBBINS: I have reviewed it, yes, sir. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Those in favor, signify 7 by raising your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 9 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. All right. 10 Now let's go on to the timed -- another timed one. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 10 o'clock, 1.15. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 1.15 is a public 13 hearing on the proposed Kerr County budget for fiscal year 14 2014 and '15. I think we've been given an updated one here, 15 three-ring binder. Have you had a -- I don't think -- we 16 were just given this just before the meeting started, and I 17 don't think anybody's had time to review it yet. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I have not. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Let's take a moment to do that. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just want to make sure 21 Rusty's not getting a raise; that's all I'm concerned with. 22 (Laughter.) 23 MS. HARGIS: I think, Judge, we need to go into the 24 public hearing first and then come back out. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. All right. Let's close the 8-25-14 56 1 Commissioners Court hearing and open the public hearing. 2 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10:03 a.m., and a public hearing was held in 3 open court, as follows:) 4 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 5 JUDGE POLLARD: This is a public hearing on the 6 Kerr County budget for fiscal year 2014 and '15. Anybody 7 have any comments? 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE POLLARD: A lot of interest. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay, we'll close the public 12 hearing. 13 (The public hearing was concluded at 10:03 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 14 reopened.) 15 - - - - - - - - - - 16 JUDGE POLLARD: And now go back to -- I guess we'll 17 do 1.16; discuss, take appropriate action on fiscal year 18 budget, 2014 and '15. Jeannie, do you have any comments? 19 MS. HARGIS: Yes. After our meeting on Friday, the 20 changes that you requested, if you'll go to the budget 21 summary, we were asked if we could fund 50,000 for Lane 22 Valley, and we had a $50,000 transfer that was set up in the 23 current year's budget that we don't need to use. I set that 24 up for the possibility of Juvenile Detention needing 25 additional money from the general fund or one of the debt 8-25-14 57 1 service funds, and we didn't need those funds, so we have 2 transferred that 50,000 from the current year into Road and 3 Bridge reserve account. They have budgeted the 50,000 to fix 4 Lane Valley in the next year's -- in this budget, so it's a 5 zero effect on his budget for next year. So, there is 50,000 6 for Lane Valley. And originally in the Road and Bridge 7 beginning balance, it was 463, I believe, and now it's 517. 8 So, there's no -- really no detrimental effect to his ending 9 balance. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Commissioner Letz, is that 11 going to be more? I mean -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: At some point, yes. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: For what? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: When they do the road. This is 15 going to get the lion's share of right-of-way, but at some 16 point, there's going to have -- I mean, as they widen the 17 road. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Widen the driving surface? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or clearing, you know, some of 20 the right-of-way. But that's not under -- and Leonard may do 21 that just out of his current operating budget. I don't think 22 it would be a special item again. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Well, that's what I'm 24 asking. At some point, are we going to have to start digging 25 again, or raise taxes or whatever it takes? 8-25-14 58 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think so. This is just 2 the right-of-way, and then the rest of it will be taken care 3 of as part of his maintenance program. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Well, that's a good 5 thing. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There may be -- you know, we'll 7 do some slight additional right-of-way on two small tracts. 8 This will take care of probably 90 percent of it. 9 MS. HARGIS: All right. I'd also like to go over a 10 little bit about the change in format. The Commissioners had 11 requested that everything be in alphabetical order, and it 12 is, so all of your tabs are in alphabetical order. You will 13 get some of the special funds, though -- when you get down 14 past the transfer out, there's other major funds. Those were 15 the miscellaneous other funds that you'll find that we 16 include, such as fire protection and things of that nature. 17 Then your special revenue funds, and these are still in 18 alphabetical order under that tab. Under the special revenue 19 funds, those are all of our records management, archival. 20 Again, they're under one tab, but they are in alphabetical 21 order, so everything is in alphabetical order now for the -- 22 at the Court's request. There is the step and grade 23 schedule, the holiday and payroll schedule, and the position 24 schedule as well. So, this is the entire document, including 25 the general provisions at the front. 8-25-14 59 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And with this, Jeannie, it's 2 -- the budget -- as of last Friday, you said the budget 3 shortfall was, like, about $318,000, and that's still the 4 case here with this latest? 5 MS. HARGIS: 329,000. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 329. Okay, 329. And the 7 crystal ball projected positive cash flow this year is 8 probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 500,000? 9 MS. HARGIS: Still, yes. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. All right. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Do we need more time 12 to -- to review this three-ring binder and the contents? 13 Or -- 14 MS. HARGIS: It's the same as you -- 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm ready to go. 16 MS. HARGIS: It has to be adopted today. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: You're ready to go? 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'd like to -- as of last 19 Friday, we had not received a letter in response to what the 20 County sent to the City. We did receive that letter after -- 21 after we -- 22 JUDGE POLLARD: It was delivered while we were in 23 session. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. So, basically, this is 25 on the subject of the -- the proposed consideration by the 8-25-14 60 1 City to do an equitable or a quid pro quo, if you would, on a 2 couple of options regarding the library and animal control 3 and environmental health. The City -- City essentially -- 4 City Council rejected that. We got a letter from the mayor. 5 It says, City Council found the new proposal provided for an 6 equitable solution to the city of Kerrville taxpayers, and 7 that's about what we heard this morning from -- from Mr. 8 Smith. So, with that, there was another option that we 9 talked about that we didn't send a letter to the -- to the 10 City, 'cause we didn't need to, and that's regarding the 11 shared services. And I would repeat myself from what I said 12 the other day; the shared services are the services of 13 everybody in the county, be it the library, be it health -- 14 environmental health, animal control, et cetera. 15 So, with the -- with the issue of the library, I 16 would propose that we put $65,000 in this budget to cover 17 the -- the fees for some of the library card holders. Now, 18 Commissioner Letz raised a very good question the other day. 19 Can we legally do that? Okay, and for some citizens, but not 20 do it for all citizens. And I'll let the County Attorney 21 speak to this, and I think she's researched that a bit, and 22 there's case law that says yeah, there's some cases where 23 that has been acceptable, other cases where it hasn't. So, I 24 guess it would be a question of whether or not we could do 25 that. Do you want to comment on that? 8-25-14 61 1 MS. STEBBINS: Well, there have been some cases 2 where the courts have decided that benefiting a particular 3 number -- a small number of citizens out of the whole has 4 been okay, and then there are some cases where the Attorney 5 General has said benefiting even a larger number than that 6 only is -- is not okay. So, I can't decide. I think it's a 7 pretty fact-specific question, and I can't be the one to 8 decide whether or not benefiting -- 9 JUDGE POLLARD: What's the most recent decision? 10 MS. STEBBINS: I -- I don't know what the date 11 difference between those two. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: Not decision. Attorney General 13 opinion. 14 MS. STEBBINS: Yeah. I don't know what the date 15 was on that. I don't have it with me, the decision, and I 16 don't remember particularly. I can look. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: I would think that the more recent 18 decision would be -- would be controlling. 19 MS. STEBBINS: Mm-hmm. But I think that it's a 20 question that I can't answer for you. I think it's going to 21 have to be one -- 22 JUDGE POLLARD: And if they are still divided 23 some -- say a group of recent decisions are divided, and some 24 say you can and some say you can't. I don't think we need to 25 step into that void. 8-25-14 62 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Well, what I would like 2 to do -- what I'm proposing is -- is that -- is that we 3 allocate out of this budget $65,000 from the county to go to 4 the city library operations for the benefit of the taxpayers 5 living outside the city to have library cards, like we have 6 in the past. At the same time -- okay, and that's just for 7 next year. At the same time, next year, if we look at what 8 the equitable value is between the city and the county for 9 shared services for the benefit of all -- we've never done 10 that. We've never taken into consideration percentage of 11 services received by both entities, if I call them two 12 separate entities, even though they're not. And the taxes 13 paid by those entities -- the residents in those entities, 14 okay? I think it's something we should do. 15 I agree with what was mentioned before. We don't 16 want to touch fire and EMS; we've settled that. But I -- 17 it's not obvious to me that we have a fair share, either for 18 the county or for the city. So, I would like to not just put 19 the library thing -- say, "Well, we're not going to touch 20 that until we do this other." I'd like to put something in 21 our budget to accommodate some of the people that can't 22 afford to have the library cards, okay, and there's a good 23 number of them, and somehow or another see if we can't figure 24 out how to do that. Maybe -- maybe the most recent decision 25 from the Attorney General would allow us to do it; I don't 8-25-14 63 1 know. 2 MS. STEBBINS: I think the most recent one from the 3 Attorney General was saying that even 50 members of the 4 community wasn't enough to benefit the general public, and 5 they said no. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Mm-hmm. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll just make a general 8 comment. I don't think we should do anything with the 9 library this year. And the City responded. We gave them -- 10 we opened the door; they said no. As to the shared services, 11 to me -- and what I have heard from the City and heard from 12 residents -- and I think it shocked a lot of people that I 13 agree with the mayor on this. If there is an issue to the 14 residents of the city of Kerrville, I recommend the residents 15 of the city of Kerrville go to City Council and talk about 16 going with one government, being a county-wide government. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Mm-hmm. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The mayor has previously 19 advocated doing that. And if the City -- you know, the 20 residents don't want city services, they want the County to 21 run everything, tell them to go to City Council and abolish 22 the city limits of Kerrville. You know, that's -- that is 23 what they're saying to me, what I'm hearing in public. I 24 don't think it's a good idea, personally, but that's -- I 25 don't live in the city of Kerrville. If the city residents 8-25-14 64 1 feel strongly about it, they need to work with their elected 2 people to solve the problem. We have our constitutional 3 responsibilities that we do, and we're doing them. It is not 4 our constitutional authority, though, that we, you know, pay 5 for a library, do some other things. And even though they're 6 shared services and taxes are being paid, you know, it's a 7 city issue, not a county issue, to me. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think we have a lot of 9 services that are not constitutionally driven, number one. 10 Number two, I think what you've suggested is probably a lot 11 of collateral damage in combining the two, and I'm not 12 necessarily for that. I don't know the answer to that, but I 13 think that's the tail wagging the dog. What I am interested 14 in, there's a large number of people in this county who would 15 like to use the library that can't afford to, and in the past 16 they've been able to. And we talk about what's equitable 17 between the county and the city, and all I'm saying is, let's 18 do something to help some of the people this next year, okay? 19 And let's look at -- we're not going to combine the city and 20 the county in the next -- you know, probably in our lifetime. 21 But let's do something to see what's equitable, and -- and do 22 it for both the residents of the entire county, those that 23 live in the city and those that live outside the city. I 24 don't know what's equitable, and neither does anybody else. 25 I've done a back-of-the-envelope -- my own analysis, and I 8-25-14 65 1 think I know what the answer is, but I don't want to say what 2 it is. It's not in favor of the county, if I'm correct. 3 But -- but I think that's what we need to do, and that's what 4 I'm proposing we do as step one, is put some money in the 5 budget this year, okay. We can afford it; we just found 6 $50,000 here that we can move around for one thing or 7 another. Net change, zero. But $65,000 is not a lot, and I 8 think that that would show the intent of this Court to help 9 people use that library, which is an important asset of 10 anybody -- any city that wants to be -- or any county that 11 wants to be a county which I think we want to be, should have 12 a library. And most counties have libraries, and most 13 commissioners courts contribute to the libraries in those 14 counties. We don't. So, that's my motion. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there a second to the motion? 16 MR. REEVES: I've got a question, 'cause I'm not 17 sure. Do we have any guarantee that if we allocate $65,000, 18 to this year's budget, that they are not going to charge 19 residents of Kerr County who live outside of the city limits 20 of Kerrville any fees? 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, what they do is -- is 22 right now, they would be using the existing policies that 23 they have with the library, and that is if you want to use 24 book services, it's $35 a year. If you want to use book 25 services and computer services, it's $65 per year per card 8-25-14 66 1 holder. So, that's in existence, so that's the -- the ticket 2 by which we would participate. 3 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I understand. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: I think his question was -- and my 5 question in my mind is, if we put $65,000 in the budget, do 6 we have any assurance that the City is going to accept that 7 and act on it, or are they going to turn that down too? 8 COMMISSIONER REEVES: If we give $65,000 out of our 9 budget, allocate it to the city of Kerrville for library, how 10 are we to be sure that that money will go towards the 11 citizens of Kerr County who live outside the corporate limits 12 of Kerrville, that they're not going to have to pay any more? 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, 1,000 people wouldn't 14 have to pay. 15 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Do we know that? 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yes. Yes, that's -- that's 17 the current policy written and in place. Yes, we do know 18 that. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And we'll be asking for a 20 lawsuit based on -- 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, I said we know that 1,000 22 people; then we've got the other issue, so I don't know the 23 answer to the legal issue. 24 MS. STEBBINS: And do we want a court to be the one 25 to make the determination about the legal issue? 8-25-14 67 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And so all I'm saying is, 2 yeah, in one case you put $65,000 up. We know we can get 3 1,000 people. Whether or not there's an issue with that 4 legally, to be determined. Okay? If there's not, is there 5 another way that we can use that $65,000 for the benefit of 6 everybody in the county? And -- and the definition of that 7 is not there, but I'd like to have that money so that we can 8 determine how to help a number of people in the county to 9 have library cards. 10 MR. REEVES: Do we have -- and we have that in 11 writing that we can -- the City will honor the first 1,000 12 people that come up there for library cards? 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Yeah. 14 COMMISSIONER REEVES: We do? 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 16 COMMISSIONER REEVES: We have that in writing? 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, that's the policy right 18 now. You can go over there -- you can go over there and say, 19 "I want to do that," and they'll do that for you, yes. 20 COMMISSIONER REEVES: So that's a written policy by 21 the City? And -- 22 JUDGE POLLARD: I don't know that. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, yes, it is. Yes, it is. 24 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Then if we gave them $65,000, 25 the first 1,000 people -- 8-25-14 68 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yes. 2 COMMISSIONER REEVES: That's in written -- 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 4 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I was not aware of that. 5 Were you? 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think you're stretching 8 things, Commissioner. Their policy is you can go and pay 9 money individually and do it. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's nothing that says -- I 12 guess we could prohibit it -- us from doing it, but there's 13 not a policy that says we can do it. It just says that 14 people can pay individually for their membership. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: If anybody goes in and pays 16 $65, they get full privileges. 17 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I understand that. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We don't tell them where the 19 money comes from. 20 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Well, if they have 65,000 21 over in this pot, and I go in to get my library card, am I 22 going to have to pay $65, or do I say, "Take it out of this 23 pot"? 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, if you -- I don't know 25 the answer to that. 8-25-14 69 1 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I don't know if we transfer 3 $65,000 over there, or if we hold the 65,000. I'd say we 4 hold the $65,000 till we clarify exactly how that's going to 5 be used to pay for 65 people. 6 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Well, and then -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 1,000 people. 8 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And this gets back into -- 9 MS. STEBBINS: Number 1,001, that's where it 10 becomes problematic. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 12 MS. STEBBINS: Because our county government -- 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But the thing is, without 14 having anything in the budget, we can't do anything, okay? 15 So I think there's a way to skin this cat, but we can't even 16 begin the skinning operation if we don't have money to skin 17 the cat. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess, to me, we sent a 19 proposal over there. Their answer was a flat "no." 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That was on those two options. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. They didn't say, 22 "Hey, we'd like to help." Hey, you haven't -- there is -- 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Jonathan, you can keep looking 24 for excuses on everything. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I am telling you, Commissioner, 8-25-14 70 1 I think this one's got a problem. But my concern is that we 2 have discussed this for the last two months, and it's been 3 reported in the paper for probably two months. I've heard no 4 one from the City say, "Hey, we want to work with you." All 5 we got is we sent a proposal; they said no. So I don't see 6 moving forward on this right now. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I've heard from the people 8 from the City saying, "We want to work with you." 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I've heard from residents in 10 the city, not City Council. 11 MR. BOLLIER: Who determines who gets -- who 12 determines who gets the free library card? The City or the 13 County? 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It would be the County. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Gentlemen, I have to say this. 16 Because, you know, I've listened to this, like Jonathan says, 17 for two months, listened to it for over a year now, and I'm 18 going to be a little bit more personal about it. My job as 19 Sheriff is to provide law enforcement for the residents out 20 in the county, and in the city too. We respond to calls in 21 the city, okay? But my biggest issue is we have a larger 22 population in the county. I have five patrol officers on the 23 street at a time. I do not, in any way, shape, or form, have 24 enough patrol officers on the street out in the county to 25 provide what I would consider adequate law enforcement to the 8-25-14 71 1 county citizens. I put in the same proposal through all the 2 procedures this year for just adding one more officer per 3 shift, okay? And it got denied because of financial status, 4 which I have to try and understand. I'm a taxpayer also. 5 But I almost, Commissioner Moser, take it as an insult from 6 my liaison to keep fighting over 65,000 to the library, and 7 not say one thing about the law enforcement officers that 8 need to serve Kerr County. That upsets me, and I think 9 that's wrong. I think your priorities are wrong. The City 10 has the funding; it's their library. They've proven that 11 over the last 34 years I've been here. It's their library. 12 They're going to do with it what they want. But they want 13 the County to help support it, and I think it's wrong. And I 14 think it's wrong the position you're taking. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, that's your position. 16 That's your opinion. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's right. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. I've got my opinion. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, that tells me where your 20 priorities are. Thank you. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, that's where your 22 priorities are, okay. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, but he has a gun. 24 (Laughter.) And handcuffs. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They won't give me any 8-25-14 72 1 bullets; don't worry about it. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's a motion on the table. 3 Is there a second? 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, the motion is on the table. 5 Is there a second? 6 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Not without a guarantee. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: The motion fails. Now, let's get 10 back to the budget, which is Item 1.16. What do we want to 11 do about the budget? 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I move that we accept the 13 budget as presented. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there any further discussion? 16 Anybody from the audience have any discussion or comment? 17 All right. There being no further discussion or comments, 18 those in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 19 hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 21 JUDGE POLLARD: It is 4-0, unanimous. Whew. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good job, Jeannie. 23 MS. HARGIS: Thank you. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Another timed item is 1.17; 25 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to adopt the 8-25-14 73 1 2014 Lake Ingram Estates Road District tax. Diane Bolin. 2 MS. BOLIN: Yes, sir. We're leaving the tax rate 3 the same as it was last year. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Which is what? 5 MS. BOLIN: Which is .2852 per $100 valuation. 6 That will cover the loan that they got for the road, for the 7 payments for 2014-15. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I make a motion to adopt the 9 Lake Ingram Estates Road District tax rate of .2852 per $100 10 value for the 2014 tax year, and Precinct 1 votes aye. 11 MR. REEVES: I'll second the motion. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, I didn't get a second, 13 did I? 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Didn't ask for a vote. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sorry. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. It's been moved and 17 seconded. Any further comments or discussion? 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let me ask, so this is -- the 19 Lake Ingram Estates Road District doesn't have anything to do 20 with the budget we just -- 21 MS. BOLIN: No. No, they have their own tax that 22 pays their bond for when we did their road. It was voted in 23 by the people of the Lake Ingram Road District -- of Lake 24 Ingram Estates. 25 COMMISSIONER REEVES: This tax only affects the 8-25-14 74 1 people within Lake Ingram Estates. 2 MS. BOLIN: Yes, sir. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So there is some action that 4 the Court has to take? 5 MS. BOLIN: Yes, because they don't have a board, 6 so we are the ones who do it. We're the ones who pay the 7 bill. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The tax rate gets adjusted 9 every year based on the value for that year, so it goes -- 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Usually it goes down, but -- 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But it's not in our budget; 13 it's in -- somebody out there manages this -- these funds to 14 fix their roads? 15 MS. HARGIS: We do. 16 MS. BOLIN: The Auditor does. 17 MS. HARGIS: We do. We manage them for them 18 because they don't have a homeowners' association or any type 19 of board to do it. So, we basically serve as their 20 accountant, more or less, take in the revenue and pay the 21 bond. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Is this a statutory procedure 23 requiring this? 24 MS. HARGIS: I think it was a contract at the time 25 that it was done. It was prior to my time. I would -- you 8-25-14 75 1 know -- 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So it's a contract with -- 3 MS. HARGIS: Lake Ingram Estates. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- this group of people, not a 5 homeowners' association and the county? 6 MS. HARGIS: Right. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Probably Buster knows all 8 about that. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Commissioner Griffin. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER REEVES: It's a road district. Only 12 the residents of that road district pay this tax. This is to 13 reduce, I guess, the bonded indebtedness. 14 MS. BOLIN: Yes. 15 MR. REEVES: When they put the roads in, in order 16 for them to be County-maintained, and this tax only affects 17 them. They know they have this tax. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Correct. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Any further questions 21 or comments? If not, those in favor of the motion, signify 22 it by raising your right hand. 23 MS. BOLIN: I have to have a record vote. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: You need a record vote? 25 MS. BOLIN: I do, yes, sir. 8-25-14 76 1 JUDGE POLLARD: Commissioner, Precinct 1? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: One votes aye. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Two, aye. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Aye. 5 MR. REEVES: Four, aye. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Judge votes aye. 7 MS. BOLIN: Thank you. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: "Four-eye." We don't 9 want -- don't be abusive to these people. Peg-leg. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Another timed item, 11 1.18; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to adopt 12 the 2014 Kerr County tax rate. This is to include 13 maintenance and operations, interest and sinking (debt), and 14 lateral roads tax rate. Diane Bolin. 15 MS. BOLIN: Yes, sir. We're looking at maintaining 16 the same rate as last year of .4443, which is combined 17 between us and lateral roads. Total tax rate for Kerr County 18 is .4120, and lateral roads is .0323, same as last year. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So moved. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 21 MS. BOLIN: No, you have a motion that I gave you. 22 You have to read that motion. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I said "so moved." 24 COMMISSIONER REEVES: You need it read? 25 MS. BOLIN: It has to be like this, by law. 8-25-14 77 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The way -- 2 MS. BOLIN: I gave everybody a copy of the motion. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 4 MR. REEVES: I make a motion to adopt the combined 5 total tax rate for Kerr County of .4443 per $100 valuation 6 for the 2014 tax year, the breakdown of this rate to be as 7 follows: Maintenance and Operations, .3517. Interest and 8 Sinking, .0603, the total tax rate for Kerr County being 9 .4120. Lateral roads, .0323, for a combined total tax rate 10 of .4443. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well stated, Commissioner. I 12 second that. 13 MR. REEVES: Thank you, Commissioner. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Per $100 of valuation. 15 MR. REEVES: Correct. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, all right. It's been moved 17 and seconded. Further discussion or comments? If not, those 18 in favor, signify by raising -- 19 MS. BOLIN: Record vote. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: You need a roll-call vote? 21 MS. BOLIN: I do, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Number 1 votes aye. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Number 2, aye. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Aye. 25 MR. REEVES: Aye. 8-25-14 78 1 JUDGE POLLARD: And the Judge votes aye. All 2 right. 3 MS. BOLIN: Thank you, gentlemen. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Let's go to the 5 10:15 a.m. timed one, 1.20; consider, discuss, and take 6 appropriate action on final approval of contract with DRG 7 Consultants/Architects for Kerr County jail expansion. 8 Sheriff Hierholzer. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think y'all recall, last 10 week we did talk about this. It was approved pending the 11 final negotiation and working out of all the details in the 12 contract. Mr. Wayne Gondeck is here present today. Also, 13 the County Attorney has reviewed and gone over this contract. 14 MS. STEBBINS: Yes. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: She made a couple little notes 16 about just two items in it, under 10.7 and 10.8, about 17 security. We did have the phrase added to the end of those 18 two items, 10.7 and 10.8, that says, "Architect will not 19 include security aspects of the project in such 20 representations." 10.8 said, "Confidential information 21 includes security aspects of the project." So, those were 22 the two things that were questioned by the County Attorney. 23 Otherwise, it is as we discussed last week or week before, 24 when the Court actually approved it. But you wanted me to 25 bring it back to you once we had that done. 8-25-14 79 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And the funding for this is 2 from? 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Funding the first part, the 4 consultant's part, $30,000 will come out of my budget. It is 5 called our SCAAP funding, which is meant for that on a 6 reimbursement from the government. The rest of the funding 7 for this entire project comes out on successful passage of a 8 bond issue that the voters will vote on. And then if that 9 issue is passed, then the rest of the funds will come out of 10 that. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 13 MR. REEVES: Second. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Seconded by Commissioner Moser. 15 Any further discussion or comment? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a comment. You might 17 introduce Mr. Gondeck to members of the Court. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Wayne, would you like to stand 19 up and say anything? This is Mr. Gondeck, president of DRG 20 Architects. He's also had a lengthy history with the Jail 21 Commission, and I think even with this Court. 22 MR. GONDECK: Judge, Commissioners, it's a pleasure 23 to be back here again. For the record, yes, my name is Wayne 24 Gondeck, president of DRG Architects out of San Antonio. And 25 it's always really a pleasure to come and be here with Kerr 8-25-14 80 1 County and in the court. We have -- 2 JUDGE POLLARD: After listening to all this stuff 3 earlier, you really think that's a pleasure? 4 MR. GONDECK: Judge, you have to understand that I 5 do get to spend quite a bit of time in commissioners courts 6 around the state, and -- and it is -- y'all do have some 7 good, meaningful discussions here, and I do appreciate that. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: Matter of opinion. 9 MR. GONDECK: It is a matter of opinion. You have 10 to understand, I do get around all over the state, so there 11 are some very interesting discussions around the state. We 12 are going to -- we'll work very closely, obviously, with the 13 Court and with the Sheriff's Office. It's my understanding 14 that there has been some discussion about putting together a 15 committee -- a planning committee, either to involve the 16 District and County Judges, and I'm presuming we're going to 17 have a representative of Commissioners Court. And as those 18 people do get selected or do get appointed by the Court to 19 participate in this, we'll have some meetings to sit down and 20 discuss all those issues as they relate to the criminal 21 justice system and the pressure on the jail, so we make sure 22 as we're going forward that we can present all the facts to 23 the public. 24 And that's the important thing, that -- that we've 25 been through, you know, probably 100 jail projects across the 8-25-14 81 1 state of Texas, and most of this funding does come from bond 2 elections. And to have a successful bond election, I think 3 y'all are very much aware that, one, it takes a unanimous 4 position of the Court, so first we have to make sure we 5 present a program that is something that -- that everyone on 6 the Court, you know, can agree with and say, "This is what we 7 need to do." Secondly, once that decision has been made, to 8 be able to present those facts to the public, and whether 9 that's just here in this courtroom or a decision to take this 10 several places around the county, which we usually recommend, 11 is to go and, at certain of the communities in the county, to 12 have those meetings, to present the facts and make sure 13 everybody understands what we're trying to do as far as that 14 planning process. To make sure that -- you know, that all 15 those rumors that you hear about the Taj Mahal type jails, 16 we're making everything nice for the prisoners, you know, 17 those aren't -- y'all don't realize that what we're trying to 18 do is we're trying to make a safe, secure, sanitary facility. 19 And -- and we want to make sure that those facts 20 and figures -- what is it going to -- how it is going to 21 affect the individual taxpayers? Everybody wants to know, 22 what is it going to do to my tax rate? How much more am I 23 going to have to pay out, you know, each year on those taxes? 24 And we want to make sure that those facts are there for 25 everybody to see. We've made some presentations here, you 8-25-14 82 1 know, previously to the Court. We hope that we've provided 2 accurate information previously, and that's what we want to 3 do as we move forward. We hope that once the committee is 4 established and they have a few meetings, that some 5 preliminary information, you know, does come back to the 6 Court, probably in that 60-day range, 60- or 90-day range. 7 We want to move expeditiously on this. I don't think we need 8 to hurry on this. As y'all are aware, that here we are 9 already through August, so I think it will be called for the 10 November election. The earliest election date that can be 11 called would be May, or the following November. 12 The way that we've established our contract, y'all 13 are kind of stuck with us for a good, long -- a long time 14 until we can work you through the process. So, if it doesn't 15 come about in May and it goes to next November, you know, 16 we're here. We've got a set fee. Your Sheriff was pretty 17 good about making sure that -- he did come back and -- and as 18 y'all know, knock us over the head and say, you know, "We 19 want that fee to be a little bit less, and want you to be on 20 a little bit tighter rope on that." So, he does look out for 21 y'all. It must be because it was coming out of his funds, 22 too. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Your assessment and 24 presentation last time you did it, which has probably been 25 almost two years ago, -- 8-25-14 83 1 MR. GONDECK: Yes, sir, it has. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- if I'm not mistaken, was 3 fantastic, okay? I think you did everything you said you 4 were going to. You looked at all the outside influences, 5 what you had, what the threats were, what the options were. 6 So, I personally look forward to seeing another really good 7 presentation, and presenting it to the public and helping you 8 present this to the public, what we need to do. So, I look 9 forward to it. I'm glad you're on board again to do that. 10 MR. GONDECK: I appreciate that, Commissioner. The 11 only thing I'd say today is that I did bring some plain 12 copies of the agreement to hand over to y'all, and as you 13 execute those and get those back, we are ready to go and to 14 move forward. Again, we see this as a process, and it is a 15 step-by-step process. And, you know, it won't happen 16 overnight, but it will take some work and some diligence to 17 get through this. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And may I ask the Sheriff a 19 question on this same subject? The schedule that we -- I 20 think that you laid out a preliminary schedule before -- is 21 that what you're working to now? And so that you aim toward 22 the May -- 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, what I've already done, 24 the committee he's talking about, of course, consists of you 25 and Judge Pollard, okay, consists of the 198th District 8-25-14 84 1 Judge, Rex Emerson. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Mm-hmm. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I intend on asking the new 4 County Court at Law Judge -- she's the only one I haven't 5 spoken to; she's been out of town -- and myself and 6 Mr. Gondeck. As soon as we can schedule meetings, and just 7 everybody's time, the first step is for us to all sit down, 8 go through everything we had, like Mr. Gondeck's talking 9 about. What is our entire picture of our criminal justice 10 system, you know, that relates to all this? Are there other 11 things we can do? Where do we need to go? What do we need 12 to do? That will hopefully give us the size of the expansion 13 that we will need to go for. And once we get that determined 14 and -- and get the size, you know, set down, this is what 15 we've got to look at, and with an assessment from the Jail 16 Commission and everything too, at that point it goes back to 17 Mr. Gondeck to get us some concepts. We work out what -- how 18 we're going to do it, you know, how far we'll -- we'll be 19 attached to that facility going out the back of it, is the 20 way it was designed and that, and just get all that worked 21 out. 22 Once we have all that, without rushing it, so that 23 we really have a good picture, then at that point we will 24 look at where we are and decide at that point, do we have 25 enough time, then, still to get it on the May ballot and 8-25-14 85 1 market it, as you -- you so called, or educate the public 2 about it? Because that will be a different committee from 3 the public. I don't want to involve judges and -- or anybody 4 like that in trying to market something. That's kind of 5 unethical, I think, for them. So, it will be a committee 6 made up of public representatives and myself, and then we 7 will see how long is it going to take to really get this out 8 so the public really has -- has the opportunity to voice 9 their concerns, get those concerns answered, and -- and get 10 educated on what we're doing. If we can do that before May 11 and have it all at that point on the May ballot, then I'd 12 recommend the sooner, the better. If we can't, and it has to 13 wait until the following November ballot, then we wait until 14 the following November ballot. But the main thing is giving 15 the public time to voice their concerns and be heard and be 16 educated on what our situation is. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On the timing, Diane -- and you 18 may know exactly. When's the drop-dead date to get it on the 19 May ballot -- anything on the May ballot? Do you know? I 20 mean, is it two months -- 21 MS. BOLIN: The end of February, first part of 22 March. I'm not positive on the date. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But pretty much the end of 24 February? 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. 8-25-14 86 1 MR. GONDECK: Sixty days -- 62 days plus something. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What do you think -- and this 3 is because there's another item Commissioner Moser has that 4 may go on the ballot. That's why we're trying to bring this 5 up. Realistically, how long is it going to take for you to 6 go through your process, Mr. Gondeck? 7 MR. GONDECK: Like I was saying, Commissioner, you 8 know, 60 to 90 days, we're going to know; we'll have a good 9 idea. We've studied this. We've been watching, you know, 10 how it's going so that we have a good idea. Now, putting 11 everything together again on bringing forward -- bringing 12 everybody up to date on where we've been, you know, we had a 13 major issue the last time we looked at this of how to deal 14 with the female population, because your original jail was 15 never built to deal with that female population that you are 16 dealing with now. There's some things that were done a 17 couple years ago to sort of mitigate that and to maintain 18 that population or to deal with that population, manage that 19 population. Now we're looking at more of just the overall 20 numbers are getting to that point where you have only about, 21 you know, 15 percent of that -- that bed space available, 22 because you have some large dormitories that sort of, you 23 know, take away some of that usable space. So, we know 24 that's the real issue with your jail. 25 But, you know, putting together some good package 8-25-14 87 1 information to be able to come up here and show it to you and 2 say, "This is where we're at," you know, we're looking at 3 that 60- to 90-day time frame to make sure that everything is 4 up to date and in good, presentable form. So, being able to 5 make that March deadline, I don't see any problem with that. 6 I think there are some pros and cons of -- anytime you call a 7 bond election as to, you know, who else is calling a bond 8 election? You know, the schools, you know, going out with a 9 major issue, you know, anytime in the recent past. 'Cause, 10 you know, the constituents don't like getting hit one, two, 11 three in a row. And when that happens, you know, people -- 12 eventually, people like to vote no against something, and 13 jails are very popular to vote no against. So it's not, you 14 now, difficult for people to say, "Well, we don't want to 15 vote for this." So -- 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Is this issue of females 17 increasing, or female population in jail, unique to Kerr 18 County? Or is this -- you find this -- 19 MR. GONDECK: This is happening, Judge, all over 20 the state -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good question. 22 MR. GONDECK: -- and country. There is definitely, 23 over the last 10, 15 years, a major change in the population 24 of female inmates, and we've seen really an increase of 25 somewhere around 5 to 8 percent of the population grow to 8-25-14 88 1 about 15 to 20 percent in extra jail population. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think it used to -- Jail 3 Commission's recommendation was about 10 percent of your 4 capacity be for women, okay? And I think under all the new 5 standards, 'cause with the trend everything's taken the last 6 several years -- or number of years, it's gone now to 20 7 percent. 8 MR. GONDECK: And then to have some areas that you 9 can use to go either way, for males -- you know, some flex 10 cells. I was going to say "swing" cells, but that doesn't 11 sound right in a jail. So, some flex cells to, you know -- 12 hope she's not writing all this. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And our problem, as I've said, 14 without having what's really called flex-type cells, you 15 know, when we have one female over 32 -- or actually over 25 16 when we're in compliance. One female over 25 uses up a 17 minimum of 16 male beds, and that's where we really have some 18 serious issues. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just wanted to say that 20 Commissioner Letz and I remember Wayne when he was a little 21 boy. (Laughter.) That's almost true. 22 MR. GONDECK: Almost true. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Didn't have -- 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He didn't have gray hair. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Didn't have gray hair. His 8-25-14 89 1 daddy founded the business, and was truly -- 2 MR. GONDECK: That's right. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- a couple of guys of 4 integrity, and I've always enjoyed you guys. 5 MR. GONDECK: I appreciate the fond memories. And 6 I won't say anything about, you know, appearances the other 7 way. (Laughter.) 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Appreciate that. But it 9 goes both ways. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: Thank you, sir. 11 MR. GONDECK: We appreciate it. Thank you. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, back to where we were. 14 We have a motion made and seconded on the floor. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: For what? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To hire Mr. Gondeck. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: To hire Mr. Gondeck. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'd like to vote yes, if you 20 don't mind. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Those in favor, signify by 22 raising your right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 24 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Okay. All 25 right. Let's -- I declare a 10-minute recess. 8-25-14 90 1 (Recess taken from 10:46 a.m. to 10:54 a.m.) 2 - - - - - - - - - - 3 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, everybody's back. It's 4 now about -- looks like about -- 5 MR. REEVES: 10:54. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: -- 10:54. Kerr County 7 Commissioners Court is back in session after a short break. 8 The next timed item -- we're kind of jumping all around 9 because of these timed items -- is 1.22, monthly update from 10 3H Pathways Youth Ranch. Commissioner Reeves, Precinct 4. 11 MR. REEVES: Thank you, Judge. Mr. Damon Wooten, 12 the Executive Director from 3H, is here today to give us an 13 update on the progress of what's going on out there. Thank 14 you. 15 MR. WOOTEN: Thank you, gentlemen. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Mr. Wooten, you have the floor. 17 MR. WOOTEN: Appreciate it. Thank you for allowing 18 us back to give you an update again. Mr. Johnson regrets he 19 couldn't be here today. We were expecting the first of the 20 month, and he already had an engagement for today, so he sent 21 me in his stead. My name's Damon Wooten, the Executive 22 Director for Pathways Texas, for all programs. I have spent 23 quite a bit of time out at 3H, obviously, since some of these 24 events have transpired. I want to give you a quick update. 25 Since the last time, we have had two calls to the Sheriff's 8-25-14 91 1 Department. Both calls were involving the same young man. I 2 have intimate knowledge of the first one, as we did have a 3 young man get outside of our new perimeter fencing that is 4 not yet complete. We're still waiting on some of the 5 materials to finish up some of the upper barbed wire pieces 6 and whatnot, and those are back-ordered, and also our arm and 7 such for the security gate. I did find the young man on I-10 8 on the south side around the 7 o'clock hour one morning after 9 I'd been notified at midnight. His words to me was, "Please 10 take me home," when I picked him up. He didn't know who I 11 was. We did get that young man back in. Subsequently to 12 that, though, I think, you know, his failed attempt to do 13 anything led to the second call to the Sheriff's Department, 14 which was a young man making threats of a very serious nature 15 to himself and to staff and whatnot. He was hospitalized at 16 that moment. I think we -- when he finally agreed to get in 17 the van and head to San Antonio, the deputy showed up. So, 18 that is the summary of what we've had. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Where is he now? 20 MR. WOOTEN: That young man? He's back with us. 21 He's on a one-to-one supervision; there's one person assigned 22 to him 24 hours a day. So, he -- this is the first time he's 23 really faced, probably, this sort of a firmness in his life. 24 But he was on his -- this is the final leg of the suspension 25 process; no off-ranch activities. What he did do is -- I'm a 8-25-14 92 1 second-generation farmer/rancher myself. There's always the 2 one calf that finds his way through the brand few fence. 3 That's exactly what he did that one night. Those side areas 4 have been identified and fixed the morning after. I walked 5 the fence myself. Again, we are awaiting a few more items to 6 finish out the gate and the access points. There will be 7 emergency service access at the gate at any time. Any of the 8 county -- or it can be ambulance or fire. If the Sheriff's 9 Department needs to get access, we will be getting that on 10 the gate. So -- 11 JUDGE POLLARD: There was no criminal activities by 12 him while he was on the loose? 13 MR. WOOTEN: No, sir. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: That you know of? 15 MR. WOOTEN: When I picked him up, again, he -- 16 after a liter of water, and he was -- he's from the city. He 17 had his first overnight camp-out in the wilderness, and he 18 didn't enjoy it one bit. By the looks of him, he had a 19 pretty rough night. Again, he didn't really know who I was, 20 so his words were, "Please take me home." I said, "Where do 21 you live?" Of course, I knew who he was; I was on my way out 22 there. He said, "I live at Pathways." We got him in. He's 23 under some pretty intense supervision, and -- and also just 24 therapeutic programming right now. He's a really tough kid. 25 His story -- it's just a terrible story about this young man. 8-25-14 93 1 But we do have him. That was the calls, so -- that were made 2 to the Sheriff's Department. I just want to highlight, too, 3 I know it's been said before that we had stopped calling. I 4 mean, truthfully, that's not at all the case. You know, 5 these were -- these were instances that we felt were 6 absolutely appropriate to make those kind of calls, any time 7 a child makes threats of that nature, and/or just reporting 8 that they had gotten off the premises. 9 So, again, for me coming into this world, sort of 10 picking up behind some of the previous administration, you 11 know, I think it's been said before they were using the 12 Sheriff's Department as the 12th man, essentially, instead of 13 handling those on their own. So, we did feel they were both 14 appropriate. As far as our building, we've moved our office 15 back inside the perimeter now. We moved in last week. We 16 should keep all of our therapeutic programming close to the 17 kids, and much more supervision on-site. Again, we've 18 corrected the breaches in the fence, and as far as gates and 19 the rest of the fencing, we anticipate in the next two weeks, 20 we should have it 100 percent complete. Our census is 21 currently at 20. School's back in session. We've actually 22 increased the amount of supervision over the administrators. 23 Myself, personally, I'm out there any day that I'm in 24 Kerrville, as well as requiring a bunch more oversight in 25 what they're doing. We did meet with a neighborhood watch 8-25-14 94 1 group out at Mountain Home, I think, around the first of 2 August, so we were there to be able to inform them sort of 3 what we do, gave out contact numbers, phone numbers and such. 4 So, that's been our activity since. Questions? 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Did that -- was Darrell Deiringer 6 there at that group? 7 MR. WOOTEN: I'm not sure. The actual 8 administrators from 3H went. I wasn't -- I wasn't there. 9 I'm not sure. I know there were representatives from the 10 Sheriff's Department there as well. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: There were some negotiations going 12 on, the last I heard, for reparations to some of the -- 13 MR. WOOTEN: Yeah, I believe we -- 14 JUDGE POLLARD: -- folks out there. What's the 15 status of that? 16 MR. WOOTEN: We've honored every one that's been 17 made to us. If there's something that we were unaware of -- 18 I know the Sheriff's Department helped us out to identify 19 those folks. I think all the repairs have been made; money's 20 paid out, to my knowledge, today, unless there's someone that 21 we weren't aware of in the process. But, I mean, if there 22 is, obviously, the same stands. We'll make amends. 23 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Sheriff, do you have 24 anything? 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No, I think he gave you a 8-25-14 95 1 pretty accurate report. The two times they called were 2 necessary. We should be advised any time one of those kids 3 wanders out of the security perimeter or out of their fencing 4 area. And any time, of course, you have a subject with the 5 other issue, I think we should be called. Far as I know, 6 they have take care of the restitution to a lot of those 7 others. They did show at one of our homeowners' out in that 8 area meeting. I'm not sure if it was more Mountain Home or 9 more around the Broken Spur, Thrill Hill area on 479, if that 10 homeowner group actually was -- but they were present and did 11 answer questions. And I think we've seen a vast improvement 12 out there, and I don't have any issues at this time. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: It was the Broken Spur area. My 14 daughter was there at the meeting. Okay. 15 MR. REEVES: Thank you. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, thank you. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Can we get back to the 19 regular agenda now? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 1.17, I believe, is where we 21 are. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: I think that's right. No, we 23 adopted that one. 1.17, we did adopt the Lake Ingram 24 Estates -- 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 8-25-14 96 1 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean 1.7. 1.7, I'm sorry. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Oh, 1.7. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're way back in the 6 beginning. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: Way back, yeah. Yep. All right, 8 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to approve the 9 SAVNS maintenance grant contract between the Office of the 10 Attorney General and Kerr County. Sheriff Hierholzer. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: This is just one of those 12 renewals we go through each year. There were not any major 13 changes this year. The County Attorney has reviewed it. 14 It's one of those Attorney General things that we have to 15 have. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What's the S-A-V-N-S? 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: SAVNS is -- what it is, you 18 can call -- also call it VINE. It's where victims of crime 19 or anything can call in, register on a certain phone number. 20 It's all run out of the Attorney General's office. But any 21 of our inmates or any of their perpetrators or suspects, it 22 will give them when their court days were, when they're 23 getting ready to parole from state prison, so it's truly a 24 crime victim awareness deal that does help. Both counties 25 and the State have gone to it to help victims. 8-25-14 97 1 JUDGE POLLARD: What's it stand for? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Statewide Automated Victim 3 Notification Service. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Thank you, Commissioner. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Very good. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's exactly it. Glad you 7 saw that printed. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. It's been moved and 11 seconded that we renew that contract with SAVNS. Any further 12 discussion? 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Just real quick, it is not 14 a -- no cost to the county. It doesn't cost the county 15 anything in there. It's all done through grants paid back 16 through the Attorney General's office. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Was there a motion? 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I don't think there was a 19 motion. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: I don't think there's a motion. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He seconded it. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I second the motion. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay, it's been moved and seconded. 8-25-14 98 1 Is there any further discussion? If not, those signify in 2 favor by raising your right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 4 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, it's unanimous, 4-0. 5 Let's jump over to 1.12, is the next one. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 1.9. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 1.9. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: Oh, okay. I had it checked. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And this -- thank you, Judge. 10 This is -- and I just had it in 1.8 a while ago. I think we 11 don't have any kind of standards for equipment that we put in 12 the parks. This came about as someone wanting to donate a 13 bench in honor of their spouse, who's deceased, to put in 14 Flat Rock Park. And I think before we do that, I think it's 15 a good gesture, but consistent with, you know, having some 16 uniformity in the parks, I think it would be good to have a 17 committee established and say let's do the following. I know 18 that there's some -- some consideration of parks associated 19 with that, and to the Ag Barn, and I don't know if there's 20 any standards in that or not. So, all I'm doing is saying -- 21 I'm raising a question to the other Commissioners. Should we 22 have some sort of standards on equipment, whether it's trash 23 barrels or picnic tables or benches or whatever? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, we should. I mean, I 25 agree that we need something. The problem comes in as to how 8-25-14 99 1 you -- obviously, I think we need quality -- I mean, you 2 can't make it too specific, I don't think, because then 3 you -- you know, it's hard to always get -- like, you don't 4 want to say concrete. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. Right. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But there needs to be quality 7 standards, and it almost seems to me it needs to be left up 8 to the Maintenance Director to -- to approve. I also -- I 9 don't like things being donated to the county just to -- then 10 we have to maintain it over time, a lot of times. I 11 shouldn't say that. Things being donated to the County are 12 great if they're the right things and the right location, but 13 we need control over it, definitely. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, how do we handle if 15 someone wants to donate a bench? Okay, that's the -- so I 16 think before we respond to that, say, do we want to have some 17 standards? Or do we want to just let the head of Maintenance 18 say -- 19 MR. BOLLIER: We've always bought it. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's okay with me, but 21 just -- what's our policy? 22 MR. BOLLIER: Most of the time, if anybody donates 23 anything, they bring it to this Court and get approval of 24 this Court, and then we get the approval of this Court of 25 where it needs to go. 8-25-14 100 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's how we've done it, but I 2 think a policy or some standards at least. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: I don't mind delegating that. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: This agenda gets too messed up. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we should set some 7 standards next meeting, maybe, and then delegate it to 8 Maintenance to enforce those standards. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: That's a good idea. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: All right, good enough. Thank 11 you. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You have to remember -- 13 let's see, do you have parks in your precinct? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think you do. 16 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I do. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Bob does. 18 MR. REEVES: The dam. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, 10 feet. You're about 20 the only guy that's got it. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: I think it's 20. 20 feet. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, 15's as far as I'm 23 going. I think you're the only ones that has a park. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, I'll get with Tim and 25 we'll come up with something to bring back next time. Okay, 8-25-14 101 1 good enough. Thanks. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Now, what's that one? 3 That's 1.12; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 4 on approval of changes to the Policy and Procedures Manual 5 for the Juvenile Detention Facility. This includes, but is 6 not limited to, the PREA -- whatever that is -- resident 7 education and renewal of the health service plan. Mr. Davis. 8 First of all, what is PREA? 9 MR. DAVIS: Good morning. That is going to become 10 one of the banes of this Court's existence in the near 11 future, not only for our facility, but for the Sheriff as 12 well. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Not me. 14 MR. DAVIS: That is the prison -- the Prison Rape 15 Elimination Act. Let me rephrase that. For those of us that 16 are willing to comply with the law, it's going to become the 17 bane of our existence. (Laughter.) I don't know about the 18 Sheriff. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That is one of those federal 20 mandates that has come down. There are no penalties against 21 it, but that's one of those that also says 17-year-olds have 22 to be housed as juveniles and considered as juveniles, which 23 they are not in the state of Texas, and it puts all kinds of 24 regulations and guidelines on juvenile facilities, as well as 25 adult facilities. Our state has an excellent Commission on 8-25-14 102 1 Jail Standards, okay, and they have a commission with the 2 State that's over them, so that's one of those where I think 3 Big Brother is sticking his nose into Texas where it doesn't 4 belong. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay, is there a motion that we 6 don't do that? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, let's -- 8 MR. DAVIS: Well, I'll be back next week, then, 9 Your Honor. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I don't know if he has that 11 capability. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. Explain it to us, 13 Jason. 14 MR. DAVIS: Two issues. I'll tackle the easy issue 15 here first. The easy issue is the health service plan. 16 That's renewal of our current contract with Dr. Meriwether. 17 He provides medical services to our facility. It's just a 18 renewal. His -- what he does is instructs us as to how we 19 treat juveniles and their medical problems at the facility, 20 and kind of a progression of when we actually bring that 21 child to him or take them to the E.R. We're following -- 22 literally following the doctor's orders as to what and how we 23 handle the medical treatment of youth. This is a renewal on 24 that part of it. Now -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. On that one, -- let's do 8-25-14 103 1 them separately -- then I'll make a motion to approve the 2 health services agreement with Dr. Meriwether. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 4 MR. DAVIS: Yes, sir. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded. Any 6 further discussion of the approval of the health services 7 plan? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Has the County Attorney looked 9 at that? 10 MS. STEBBINS: Yes. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: Is it okay? All right. There 13 being no further discussion, those in favor, signify by 14 raising your right hand. 15 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 16 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Anybody want 17 to make a motion regarding the PREA? Or not? 18 MR. DAVIS: If I may just briefly, Your Honor -- 19 and I'll be succinct here, but we have a Central Texas Chief 20 Juvenile Probation Officers Association that went in and got 21 a federal grant. These policies are coming out of that 22 grant. We're mandated by the feds. I mean, it is a 23 completely and totally unfunded mandate, without any doubt, 24 and everything the Sheriff says about it is totally correct. 25 It is ridiculous, to say the least. It is -- the information 8-25-14 104 1 that will be coming before this Court in the future weeks and 2 months, when you see what's going to come before you, it 3 is -- it's -- the items that are addressed and the 4 requirements by PREA, by the Prison Rape Elimination Act, are 5 absurd in many times. I can tell you now that the other 6 counties that are operating facilities are having the same 7 issues. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: Is it going to affect your ability 9 to get grants -- federal grants? 10 MR. DAVIS: If we do not comply with it or make 11 diligent efforts to do it, the State will remove all of our 12 funding, period, for juvenile justice, and it's actually 13 built into our contract with the Texas Juvenile Justice 14 Department. Now, for the Court's information, we're going to 15 have more discretion as to what level of compliance. Are we 16 going to have 100 percent compliance? It's probably going to 17 be -- my recommendation is that you do not comply 100 percent 18 with these -- with the PREA standards, and probably the 19 County Attorney as well. I have approximately 200 pages of 20 grant conditions that will be coming a little bit at a time, 21 so as not to overwhelm her, to the County Attorney's office 22 for her review. Other counties, their level of compliance is 23 -- that I'm hearing unofficially -- anywhere from about 85 to 24 90 percent, 94 percent. I have yet to see a single county in 25 the state that says, "Yes, we are willing to comply with all 8-25-14 105 1 of the recommended standards," because it's completely 2 unreasonable. Completely and totally unreasonable. The 3 information before you is an education plan. These are -- 4 this is information we have to go over with the kids when 5 they come into the building. Again, unfunded mandates. I 6 don't know how labor-intensive it's going to be until we 7 start the administration. Right now, when we have seven or 8 eight, nine kids in the building, it's probably not going to 9 be that labor-intensive. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Who does that mandate come 11 from in the federal government? 12 MR. DAVIS: It isn't in effect currently. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But who's it coming from? 14 What part? 15 MR. DAVIS: O.J.J.D.P., which is Office of Juvenile 16 Justice Delinquency Prevention. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's Department of Justice? 18 MR. DAVIS: That's right. Yes, sir, it is. Well, 19 and there's crossover between them and housing -- human -- 20 Health and Human Services, actually. There's some criminal 21 justice stuff, and then there's also some compliance on the 22 Health and Human Services side. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The actual act was passed 24 under the Bush administration. The act itself was, but it 25 was mainly just, you know, to make sure that counties and 8-25-14 106 1 states do everything they can to eliminate -- 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's administered by -- my 3 question is, who's it administered by? Department of 4 Justice, or -- 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: All of the rules -- 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Just curious. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- that are adopted, or were, 8 years later, adopted were adopted under our current 9 administration, okay. They're the ones that set the rules. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Just asking what department. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's through the Department of 12 Justice. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: All of the grants that you're 15 going to get if -- if it complies, but Texas and juveniles 16 are different. You know, true, I don't get any real state 17 funding with -- or much federal funding other than 18 reimbursements from it, and so juveniles would be different. 19 Jason may have to comply with a lot of it, but in reality, as 20 we speak, Texas cannot comply with it, because anybody below 21 the years of 17 -- or below 18 years of age are -- sorry, 22 below 17 years of age are considered juveniles in Texas. And 23 under this rule and under these laws, it would be anybody 24 below 18 years of age would be considered a juvenile in 25 Texas. And it is going to be big, because I think you're 8-25-14 107 1 going to see it in the Legislature this year where they try 2 and change the age of juveniles in Texas from 16 to 17, which 3 would truly hurt the juvenile system and would put a whole 4 lot of 17-year-old kids, you know, as juveniles instead of 5 adults, and I just see it as an unnecessary issue. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But this doesn't affect you? I 7 guess that's the question. 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. It can affect him. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: From your standpoint, Jason, 10 you get state funding that -- so do we have to -- from the 11 current way you operate, do we have to adopt this in some 12 form? 13 MR. DAVIS: If we do not adopt it, then what will 14 happen is all of the counties that have contracts with Kerr 15 County, 13 counties that place kids here will pull their kids 16 out, because they're being told you cannot place your child 17 in a facility that is not PREA-compliant. And so we also 18 have a mandate -- we have a three-year mandate; we're in the 19 second year of it, that we have to be in some level of 20 compliance and have an audit done. That's been budgeted. 21 It's about $5,500, I believe. But we have to have the audit 22 done. A lot of federal unfunded mandates here, but we have 23 to have the audit done. We have a three-year window to be 24 compliant. If not, they've gone as far as they are now 25 designating investigators within the U.S. Marshal's office to 8-25-14 108 1 come in and -- come in and monitor PREA compliance. Now, 2 that hasn't happened yet, but I spoke with one of the 3 monitors about six months ago that said, "Oh, yes, you're in 4 my jurisdiction. At some point in time, I, as a federal 5 marshal, will be coming and auditing your facility." Again, 6 that has not happened as far as I'm aware, but that's where 7 we're going. 8 MR. REEVES: Is the information you presented just 9 an overview, or is this what you're recommending us to adopt? 10 Or do you have a recommendation yet? 11 MR. DAVIS: The information that I -- that I'm 12 presenting, what I would ask that we adopt, this is the 13 information that we -- the curriculum that we would -- are 14 required to teach the kids when they come into the facility. 15 Where I'm getting this information, I go back to the Chiefs' 16 Association. They received a grant, contracted with a firm 17 that actually wrote all of these policies and procedures and 18 provided them to us, and they tell us that it's 100 percent 19 compliant with what the federal standards are -- what the 20 federal regulations are. Now, this Court can adopt any or 21 all or none of this as they see fit. As far as this 22 curriculum, I've looked over the curriculum. It's -- this 23 causes me some of the least heartburn of what you're going to 24 see in the future. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: So if we adopted everything, save 8-25-14 109 1 and except making the 17-year-olds juveniles, would that -- 2 would you be able to survive under that with all your 3 funding? 4 MR. DAVIS: Your Honor, respectfully of the Court, 5 I don't think that you're going to want to adopt everything 6 that they're recommending we adopt. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What do you recommend? 8 MR. DAVIS: I mean, one of the questions that we 9 have to ask -- let's say, Commissioner, we have a 10-year-old 10 that comes in the building. We have to identify and ask are 11 they gay, straight, bisexual, or transgender. And then they 12 want us to assign comparable staff that can be sensitive to 13 the 10-year-old's transgender needs. As a father of three 14 kids, and -- and -- you know, I don't want anyone asking my 15 children if they're gay or transgender. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Well, have you got a list of the 17 things that we don't want to approve? 18 MR. DAVIS: That's what -- all of this, Judge, I 19 would recommend you approve. What's going to be coming down 20 the line in future weeks and months, these are issues that 21 the County Attorney and I will have great discussion about 22 before we even bring them to you, and you're going to have 23 them a long time before I ask for a vote on them, because 24 it's sticky, hairy, ugly stuff. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is just -- this is an 8-25-14 110 1 education that basically -- 2 MR. DAVIS: That's right. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This policy is just a program 4 or an education that you have to present to all residents as 5 they are admitted? 6 MR. DAVIS: Yes, sir, that's exactly right. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move approval. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Any further discussion? 11 It's been made -- the motion has been made for approval, I 12 guess, of the items in the packet. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Does the County Attorney have 14 any comment on this? 15 MS. STEBBINS: I've reviewed them and I talked to 16 Jason, and like he said, these were -- he didn't have any 17 heartburn over these that are before you today, particularly. 18 And I didn't either. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Specifically, Judge, my motion 21 is approving the Residents' Comprehensive Education Plan as 22 presented. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. And your second is to do 24 that as well? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The same, yes, sir. 8-25-14 111 1 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Any further discussion 2 or comments about it? There being none, those in favor, 3 signify by raising your right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 5 JUDGE POLLARD: It's unanimous, 4-0. 6 MR. DAVIS: Thank you all. Appreciate it. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: Thank you. Let's go to 1.13; 8 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action regarding the 9 rules of procedure, conduct, and decorum at the meetings of 10 the County Commissioners Court. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir, thank you. These 12 rules were adopted in 1999 by the Commissioners Court, and 13 you see Commissioner Griffin's name in there. I've -- I'm 14 bringing these forward to just remind us that there is a set 15 of rules here for -- for the decorum of the meetings of 16 Commissioners Court, and I'll just run through it real quick. 17 And if -- and this item and the next item as well, y'all read 18 it at your own convenience, and if there's some issues that 19 we want to bring back and change, delete or whatever, let me 20 know and we'll put them back on the agenda later on and deal 21 with them. But the -- this first one is things like -- it 22 talks about we have the regular and special session of 23 Commissioners Court the second and fourth Monday of each 24 month. One thing it talks about is that each member of the 25 public who appears before the Commissioners Court shall be 8-25-14 112 1 limited to five minutes to make his or her remarks. Maximum 2 discussion of any agenda item, regardless of number of 3 members of the public wishing to address Commissioners Court, 4 is 30 minutes. 5 It goes on, Commissioners Court is a constitutional 6 court, possesses power to issue a contempt of court citation. 7 Members of the public in attendance at this regular special 8 meeting of the court shall conduct themselves with proper 9 respect and decorum in speaking to and addressing the Court. 10 And those kinds of things are -- have been adopted by the 11 Commissioners Court and are in place. It is not the 12 intention of the Commissioners Court to provide a public 13 forum for the demeaning of any individual or group. Neither 14 is it the intention of this Court to allow a member of the 15 public to insult the honesty and integrity of this Court as a 16 body, or any member of this Court, individually or 17 collectively. Any person in the Court's presence using 18 racial, ethnic, or gender slurs or epithets will not be 19 tolerated. Here's one. Interviews shall not be conducted 20 inside the Commissioners Courtroom during the time the Court 21 is in session. That's a press issue. And it just goes on 22 and on and on, and those kinds of things. And I just -- some 23 of you guys didn't -- I'm sure didn't even know that this 24 document existed, but it does, and it's an official -- it's 25 an official document. And so if you want to look at it in 8-25-14 113 1 the next couple of weeks, and just touch base with me if you 2 want to see anything added or deleted. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 10-4. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 10-4, out. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We can go to the next one, 7 Judge. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: Yes. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This is the fun one. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: 1.14; Consider, discuss, and take 11 appropriate action regarding the agenda request rules for 12 Kerr County Commissioners Court, Court Order Number 25722. 13 Commissioner Baldwin. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Again, these are rules that 15 have been adopted by the Commissioners Court, and it has to 16 do with requesting to get on the agenda of this Court. As an 17 example, agenda item shall be completely filled in, including 18 the length of time. All backup material must accompany the 19 agenda request, which I did not do in the -- with these 20 items. So, if y'all want to throw me out, good luck. 21 (Laughter.) Number 3. All agenda requests shall be 22 sufficient backup information, et cetera. And, let's see, 23 agenda request involving specific problems in a precinct, 24 like the roads, septic, platting, subdivisions, et cetera, 25 shall be initialed and approved by the precinct commissioner 8-25-14 114 1 before being placed on the official agenda. See, there's 2 something there that may or may not -- I see Jon Letz written 3 all over that one. The agenda request cutoff time shall be 4 Tuesday, 5 p.m. prior to the Monday meeting. Items not 5 turned in by this time -- I want to repeat that. Items not 6 turned in by this time will be placed on the agenda of the 7 next regular Commissioners Court meeting, unless approved by 8 the County Judge. And he is a stickler with this stuff. So, 9 what we've come to, Jody is just so dadgum nice to everybody, 10 she does all of this stuff, and people like John Letz calls 11 it in Thursday afternoon -- (Laughter.) -- and doesn't fill 12 out anything, makes a phone call, and, "Sure, Commissioner." 13 You know, I can hear it already. And so here's a set of 14 rules that we should be living by. If not, let's throw them 15 in the trash can -- delete them and throw them in the damn 16 trash can. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think Jody does it for a lot 18 of us. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: She does it for all of us, 20 everybody, and should not. If she's going to do that, let's 21 delete this and get it off the books. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Until we change them, Jody, let's 24 start sticking to them. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, I second that emotion. 8-25-14 115 1 That's what should happen; we should be living by them. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: They're in effect now, so we don't 3 need a motion. They're in effect now. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just as a policy, until they're 5 changed, we're going to operate by that now. 6 MS. BOLIN: I was not in office at the time that 7 that took place. For a Tuesday -- 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, you didn't ask a 9 question. 10 MS. BOLIN: I always thought that it was on 11 Thursday at noon. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think everybody thinks 13 that. 14 MR. BOLLIER: That's because Jody has let it go. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We -- I think we probably -- 16 I'll put this one back on the next agenda, because that one 17 item needs to be changed. The rest of it, I don't have much 18 of a problem with. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, actually, that was 20 actually to give y'all time over the weekend to review 21 everything. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's exactly right; that's 23 what it's for. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Prior to court. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: But the point is, they're in 8-25-14 116 1 effect, and I wasn't aware of it. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Me either. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: And so we're going to recognize 4 them until we do change them. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Das gut, thank you. No 6 action required from me. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You might ought to send a copy 8 of those out to all elected officials, if I may suggest that, 9 so it can remind us. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: Jody can inform them when the time 11 comes. 12 MR. BOLLIER: She won't do it; she's too sweet. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: She's going to need a deputy 14 assigned to her. (Laughter.) 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No, Buster will, and we're not 16 doing it. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: I really appreciate that, 18 Commissioner of Precinct 1. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're quite welcome. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You went back and read old 21 court orders. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Let's go to -- it's the law, 23 and we're going to do it until it's changed. All right. The 24 next one, I think, is 1.19. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think that's right. 8-25-14 117 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Wait, wait. Back on -- that's 2 fine, we'll do it next meeting. We can live with them for 3 one meeting, or we can change them right now. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Do you want to change them right 5 now? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, we can wait and go through 7 one meeting. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: I think we can, because it says at 9 the beginning of all of these there may be action taken on 10 anything on there. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, it's an action item. We 12 can -- 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- go back to 1.14. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Do you want to change that one 17 thing now? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll change one thing right 19 now. I think we need to change the cutoff date to -- what's 20 reasonable for you? Is Tuesday -- Tuesday is too early. 21 MS. GRINSTEAD: For those of you who don't do it, 22 obviously. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: What do you think, Jody? 24 MS. GRINSTEAD: I would say no later than noon on 25 Wednesday. I've got to process everything, put it in order, 8-25-14 118 1 scan it, and now I've got a new computer which I've got to 2 get used to, which is taking a while for me. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: She's losing weight over trying to 4 keep up with this. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion we change the 6 cutoff date till noon on Wednesday. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded. Those in 9 favor, signify by raising your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 11 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. For right now, run a 12 new set with that change -- whole set with one change in it. 13 Can you please do that? By Wednesday at noon? (Laughter.) 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You got the prerogative to do 15 it anyway; it says so in here. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 1.19; consider, 17 discuss, and take appropriate action to approve setting the 18 cost for a copy of the fiscal year 2014-15 budget. That's a 19 good request there. All right. Jannett -- what does Jannett 20 have to say? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Jannett isn't here. She sent 22 out an e-mail; I believe all of us got it, and I didn't print 23 it, but I'll -- 24 MS. GRINSTEAD: It's up there. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we 8-25-14 119 1 approve the recommendation of the County Clerk, which is a 2 complete hard copy is $25; complete copy downloaded to a disk 3 is $5; And a few pages, a copy at $1 per page. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Same as last year? Do you 5 know? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think so. 7 THE CLERK: No, it was $50 last year, I believe. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It used to be $25 every year 9 for 107 years. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I second. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Well, do we want to -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: She recommended it. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, but I'm -- we don't have to 14 absolutely do it. I'm suggesting that maybe -- 15 MS. HARGIS: It costs more than $25 to print. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: That's what I was thinking, 'cause 17 that budget's pretty thick. A hard copy, that's pretty 18 expensive. What does it cost us? 19 MS. HARGIS: It costs you about $30 to $35 to print 20 the whole thing. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. If you'll agree to an 22 amendment of your motion to $35? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 8-25-14 120 1 JUDGE POLLARD: And second agrees to that as well? 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Mm-hmm. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Those in favor of that 4 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 6 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Thank you. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Way to go, Jannett. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 1.21; consider, 9 discuss, and take appropriate action regarding update of 10 construction of Hill Country Youth Event -- youth, I 11 emphasize that -- Youth Event Center and related issues. 12 Commissioner Letz? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is just -- I put this on 14 just as -- to kind of keep the Court updated as to where we 15 are out there. The CMU block is pretty much up all around 16 the building. The metal is on the roof. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: The roof is on? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's on the whole part -- I'm 19 not sure if the shed on the west side has it on yet, but it 20 may be on the whole thing. I know it's on the big part. 21 They're working on the other side, will start working on the 22 siding. The appointed group that has been appointed -- 23 basically, Jody, Bob, and myself -- have been working on 24 picking out the rock for the front, and we've picked out the 25 -- this actually was not as easy as one would have thought to 8-25-14 121 1 get the three of us to agree. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Jody said y'all won't pay 3 any attention to her. 4 MS. GRINSTEAD: No, just Commissioner Letz. 5 (Laughter.) 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But to come up with things that 7 look real good, there's a mock-up of it right now. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: What kind of look do y'all want? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Similar to the Guthrie 10 Building, style like that, but it's kind of that -- 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Old German stone? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- old German style. They did 13 a mock-up, which I think looked real good. There is a -- you 14 need to go out there when you get a moment and look at those. 15 They have a -- 16 MR. REEVES: Aging process. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- color process for aging it 18 to see if it looks better natural or better aged. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: They don't do that with the stones 20 any more. It's a synthetic material that looks like it. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They spray it. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Spray it, okay. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But then they seal it. The 24 problem is, once it's sealed, it's not going to change color 25 again, so if you want that aged look, you almost have to do 8-25-14 122 1 it artificially. 2 MR. TROLINGER: I took a picture on Friday. Is 3 that okay? 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 5 MR. TROLINGER: I thought it might help. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: John, you're showing off. 7 MR. TROLINGER: It looks really good. I was out 8 there Friday. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You don't have the mock-up, 10 though, do you? Oh, that's the whole building. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Want to pass it around? 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tim, have you been out there 15 today? 16 MR. TROLINGER: Friday. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tim? 18 MR. BOLLIER: No, sir, I have not. I have not. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Can we run out there this 20 afternoon sometime? 21 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir, we can. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'd like to see it. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And anyone that wants to go out 24 there, I'll tell -- not anyone; any member of the Court that 25 would like to go out there, Luke is the project 8-25-14 123 1 superintendent. He will be glad to give any of the 2 Commissioners a tour. If anyone wants to go up on the roof, 3 he'll arrange a lift to get you up on the roof. Not sure why 4 you'd want to go on the roof. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: May need some extra support for 6 Buster and I. 7 COMMISSIONER REEVES: When you do go out there, 8 check in at the construction trailer and get your -- get a 9 hardhat, just because of -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 11 COMMISSIONER REEVES: -- requirements for safety. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You know, there's things that 13 can fall inside. But there -- you'd get a good feel for it. 14 He can kind of show you the layout. Of course, Tim knows 15 about quite a bit as well, so he can show you a lot. But 16 anyway, they're on schedule. Everything looks good. 17 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Hoping to have it dried in by 18 the end of the month. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Has the committee made any progress 20 towards determining the cost of each additional add-on? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That will be on our next 22 agenda, it looks like. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have a lot of the 25 information in pieces. We're trying -- the idea is that we 8-25-14 124 1 will present the master plan that we offered -- approved 2 Peter Lewis to prepare will be of the whole park, or whole 3 area in Flat Rock, just the buildings -- the whole area, 4 basically, of the long-term plan. And then there will be 5 specific action items for the arena, primarily. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Kitchen? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The kitchen's pretty much off 8 the table from a kitchen standpoint. There is a -- we'll be 9 looking at a -- we have figured out a way to make a 10 concession stand that would work for the show barn and the 11 event hall, and we'll be looking at adding a concession stand 12 for the arena, and those two combined would be the catering 13 kitchen at some point down the road. But it's kind of -- we 14 can -- it makes a lot more sense; we looked at it. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And y'all will talk about 16 possible funding -- or, no, not possible funding. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Funding, yeah. And that's what 18 they're -- Huser is coming up with -- and Peter Lewis are 19 coming up with estimated costs so we can kind of say -- you 20 know, we will then prioritize as a Court which of these items 21 we want to do. We'll know how much money we have. We're not 22 going have money to do all of it. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You're going to talk about 25 needs and why we need to do this? 8-25-14 125 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Need as to for each of these 2 items? Yes. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, okay. All right. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that's planning to be at 5 our next agenda, based on the feedback we've had from Peter 6 Lewis. 7 COMMISSIONER REEVES: They're working on the plans. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's it. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. The next one would be, I 10 believe, 1.23; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 11 -- did I miss one? All right. Appropriate action regarding 12 a proposal from Southwest Sound for a sound system for the 13 event hall at Hill Country Youth Event Center. Commissioners 14 Letz and Reeves. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: In our conversations with them, 16 it is apparent that their proposal is going to be over 17 $50,000. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: With them? You said with 19 "them." 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Southwest Sound. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, got you. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that will require us to go 23 either to competitive bid, or scale back the scope. I think 24 that what we need to do is, to be safe, we don't want to -- 25 we haven't talked with them about scaling back. I think we 8-25-14 126 1 need to go out for request for proposal for this system. We 2 know pretty much in our discussions with Southwest Sound what 3 we need. It's going to be pretty -- we're going to 4 specifically specify the equipment that matches what we 5 currently have out there. The idea was to try to get that 6 out A.S.A.P., that proposal out. We'll work with the County 7 Attorney on that, and at the same time, if there is not a 8 conflict, authorize Commissioner Reeves and I to visit with 9 Southwest Sound and say, "Can we get..." They're pretty -- 10 their estimate's going to be coming in -- it's not like it's 11 $1,000; we can cut things out and get down to it. So, I 12 doubt we're going to get there just by cutting a few things 13 out, 'cause I don't think that serves this building. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Was the sound system in the 15 original design? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It was specifically not 17 included in the proposal for the -- with Huser, because we 18 wanted to single-source it, because we didn't want them just 19 to specify -- 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Wait a minute, I couldn't hear 21 what you said. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We didn't want them just to 23 specify a system. It has to be -- in our mind, it needs to 24 be compatible and related with everybody else. We can do 25 that. I'm uncomfortable -- I would rather not -- I wish we 8-25-14 127 1 could go with Southwest Sound, but because of bidding laws, 2 we just can't award a contract to them. Hopefully their 3 price is good, but we can specify the equipment that matches 4 theirs. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, it wasn't in the original. 6 Just to make sure it's compatible, got you. Thank you. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, I'd request authorization 8 for Commissioner Reeves and myself to prepare and send out, 9 working with the County Attorney, for a proposal for the 10 sound system for the event hall. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Is this so unique of a system that 12 you're requesting that it's not -- I think there's an 13 exception in that requiring you to go out for public bid, to 14 say that if something you're trying to acquire is so unique 15 that you don't -- it's not generally -- 16 MS. STEBBINS: Sole source. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: -- people can't generally comply 18 with it, then you can avoid that. You can avoid that. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, sole source. But we 20 visited with the County Attorney, and I would rather err on 21 the -- being conservative. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And the funding for this would 24 be -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The funding would come out of 8-25-14 128 1 the money we have allocated for the project. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the plan would be to 4 hopefully get it issued by Wednesday, and have it out for 5 bids -- 6 JUDGE POLLARD: By noon Wednesday? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, have it -- well, have it 8 issued Wednesday, and back within a week. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's not an agenda item, so 10 you can have all day Wednesday. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So you want authority to 12 negotiate with Southwest? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, go out for proposals. Send 14 out an RFP. 15 MS. STEBBINS: We got to post it for two weeks. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay, noon Wednesday after two 17 weeks. 18 MS. HARGIS: Has to be two weeks. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What we could do -- we're going 20 to -- on timeline, this was an unexpected delay or step. We 21 just thought it was going to come in lower. We may -- a lot 22 of conduit has to be run, which is not part -- does not have 23 to be part of that proposal. Maybe we could come back with a 24 change order with the conduit, so we don't -- we don't want 25 to slow the project down. Run the conduit, then the 8-25-14 129 1 conduit's up in place; we can come back with a change order 2 and get that done. We know where we -- you know, based on 3 the plan for the sound system, we know where the conduit 4 should be run. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Conduit will be for whatever 6 system we choose? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, but that will come back 8 as a change order. That's how we can handle it. We'll take 9 the conduit out, just run the conduit for the sound system. 10 That's what has to be done. That'll work. That way we can 11 go -- two weeks won't be a problem on the rest of it. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Is there any formal 13 action? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, I think someone probably 15 needs to make a motion to authorize Commissioner Reeves and I 16 to prepare an R.F.P. -- 17 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Request for proposal. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- for the sound system. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move for approval of that. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: You move for approval of that? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir, I do. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded. Any 24 further discussion or comments? If none, those in favor, 25 signify by raising your right hand. 8-25-14 130 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 2 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. All right, 3 1.24. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Executive session. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Mm-hmm. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Everything is executive 7 session. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: Everything else is executive 9 session, isn't it? 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Except paying the bills. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We can pay the bills and get 12 that out of the way. That's always an exciting moment. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move we pay the bills. 14 MR. REEVES: Second. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: God. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Beat you to it. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You guys. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Do you second it? 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I second it. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: It's been moved and seconded that 22 we pay the bills. Any further discussion? Comments? Now, 23 this is where you usually step in, Commissioner Baldwin, and 24 ask about a particular one. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. Playing hard to get. 8-25-14 131 1 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Those in favor of the 2 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 4 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. All right, 5 what's next here? Budget amendments. Are there any? 6 MS. HARGIS: Yes, sir, there are. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: Yep, there are several, aren't 8 there? 9 MS. HARGIS: Yes, there are 16. Most of them are 10 minor, except for the Number 6, which is actually moving 11 quite a bit of money for Court-appointed attorneys, which 12 is -- 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Is that for one case or several 14 cases? 15 MS. HARGIS: Several cases. And we're trying to 16 move enough money that we don't have to come back at this 17 point as well. We've had more in the -- in that particular 18 court than we budgeted for. We never know which court we're 19 going to have more in. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Just moving from one court to 21 the other? 22 MS. HARGIS: Yeah, just moving it from one court to 23 the other. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 8-25-14 132 1 JUDGE POLLARD: Any further discussion? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a question. The 3 County Judge's conference line, now, that -- that's because 4 we have a new County Judge? Or is that going to be a 5 continual thing year after year? 6 MS. HARGIS: Well -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Because he's new, he has to 8 get all these hours? 9 MS. HARGIS: We didn't budget for very many. The 10 Judge never did go. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. Because you -- 12 JUDGE POLLARD: It is unusual for this. Yeah, 13 since I'm new. However, there are some conferences 14 thereafter -- TAC has some continuing requirements after that 15 that are not as great. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, just like ours. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: But there will be conferences. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, in the budget that we 19 adopted today, his line -- his conference line -- 20 MS. HARGIS: We actually increased those -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 22 MS. HARGIS: -- for next year, because not only 23 does he have to go to anything pertaining to a County Judge, 24 but also probate court, mental health hearings, and juvenile. 25 So, in order to get him caught up, it's going to take a 8-25-14 133 1 couple years. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: He's quick on it. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, smart young man. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Not at this age. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you for your 6 explanation. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Is there a motion to 8 approve those budget amendments? 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think we did. Do we need to 10 vote on it? Is that -- Kathy? 11 THE REPORTER: I don't remember. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: I don't think we voted on it. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I move that we accept the 14 budget amendments. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Approve the budget amendments as 16 presented? 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: As presented. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there a second? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there any further discussion? 21 There being none, those in favor, signify by raising your 22 right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 24 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Thank you. 25 Okay, late bills. 8-25-14 134 1 MS. HARGIS: Yes, sir. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're sure about the things 3 we do. 4 MS. HARGIS: We do have some late bills. These 5 particular -- we have two utility-type bills, but the others 6 are for the Center Point project and for Kerrville South. 7 Those are all grant projects, and those -- we have received 8 the grant funds for those, so we have a time frame to pay 9 those bills. So, one -- 136 is for Center Point, and the 10 $25,000 bill is for Kerrville South. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Move we pay the late bills. 12 MR. REEVES: Second. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Any further discussion? If not, 14 those in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 15 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 16 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. All right. 17 Approve and accept monthly reports. Any comments about 18 those? We got -- 19 MR. REEVES: I have monthly reports from Constable, 20 Precinct 1; Constable, Precinct 3; Constable, Precinct 4; 21 J.P., Precinct 2; and Kerr County Clerk. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Pretty good bunch of reports. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move to accept. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded that we 8-25-14 135 1 accept all of the monthly reports that Commissioner Reeves 2 just recited. Is there any further discussion? There being 3 none, those in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 5 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. All right. 6 Any reports from Commissioners on liaison/committee 7 assignments? 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I have some. On the Kerrville 9 South wastewater system, that has to be completed by October 10 the 31st. I just point out we've got a couple issues that 11 we're working relative to not having three-phase power and 12 having an alternate power system there. We're working with 13 the City on that. I don't think there's an issue, but I just 14 bring it up that we've got a couple of hurdles we got to jump 15 over. So, all that's in work, and we're doing weekly 16 tele-cons to make sure we meet that. Out at the airport, it 17 was following the request or suggestion of this Court that 18 the Airport Board hire a consultant -- an engineering 19 consultant to look at the roofs on Mooney International 20 facility. They have completed their work. They have 21 presented that -- those findings to the Airport Board, and 22 they're now in the hands of Mooney International, which is 23 going to be responsible for hiring the work to be done. So, 24 it looks like that the work probably couldn't be complete 25 until about the 1st of December, depending on how these 8-25-14 136 1 recommended actions go. Some of the recommended actions 2 exceed the one -- the million. We said -- you know, we're 3 saying a million is fixed. Mooney said that they'll put in 4 additional funds, so they're trying to work out a priority on 5 what needs to be done there. So, it's delaying going out a 6 little bit longer than everybody hoped. So, that's for 7 information. And that's all I have, those two items. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: Anyone else have anything? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have two items. One, the -- 10 we will be submitting the application that was previously 11 approved for the wastewater project. Those that want to be 12 looking at it during the interim, here it is. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Two recommendations, right? 14 The EDAP and -- 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, one for EDAP, one for 16 the other. But the other item is -- I'm going to meet with 17 U.G.R.A.'s Board on -- I think it's Thursday of this week. 18 We're just going to talk the concept of a memorandum of 19 understanding-slash-interlocal agreement between Kerr County 20 and U.G.R.A. for water projects in the eastern part of the 21 county. It's still in the formative stages, making sure they 22 want to go forward. We've talked about it before. It's 23 looking at our M.O.U., doing some engineering studies. 24 They're committing their part of their permit for purposes 25 like this, and basically just trying to memorialize it. The 8-25-14 137 1 two entities are going to be working together, and to set out 2 a few guidelines. I think it helps probably both entities in 3 budgeting in the future to show why we're doing it, and that 4 there's a -- anyway, so it will be a preliminary discussion 5 with U.G.R.A. Board on that topic. That's it. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Anybody else? 7 MR. REEVES: Just that I just want to publicly 8 thank Environmental Services/Animal Services. I was out 9 riding with them the other day. They got a call about, I 10 think, 50 bags of trash dumped illegally on one of our county 11 roads. I rode out there with them, and I think within two 12 days, they figured out the cause of it and who did it. And, 13 you know, Ray and all of his crew does an excellent job, and 14 they need to get our thanks for that. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Anything else? All right. Reports 16 from boards, commissions, and committees? City/County joint 17 projects or operations reports? Any other reports of any 18 kind? All right. If not, then I guess we'll go into 19 executive session. Commissioners Court is going into 20 executive session pursuant to Section 551.07, 551.072, 21 551.074, 551.078, 0785, 551.076, 551.087; all are Chapter 551 22 of the Texas Government Code, including the matters raised in 23 -- in items 1.24, 1.25, and 1.26, as well as 2.1, .2, .3, and 24 .4 of the agenda for this particular session of Commissioners 25 Court. So, the open session is closed, and we're now in 8-25-14 138 1 closed session. 2 (The open session was closed at 11:50 a.m., and an executive session was held, the transcript of which 3 is contained in a separate document.) 4 - - - - - - - - - - 5 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, we're back in open 6 session. Is there any motions appropriate for -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'll make a motion we adjourn. 8 MR. REEVES: Second. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. It's been moved and seconded 10 that we adjourn. Those in favor, signify by raising your 11 right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 5-0.) 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Aye. All right, it's unanimous, 14 4-0. Thank you. We are adjourned. 15 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 12:20 p.m.) 16 - - - - - - - - - - 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 8-25-14 139 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 5 as official reporter for the Commissioners Court of Kerr 6 County, Texas, at the time and place heretofore set 7 forth. 8 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 29th day of August, 9 2014. 10 11 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 12 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 13 Certified Shorthand Reporter 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 8-25-14