1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Monday, December 22, 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 December 22, 2014 2 PAGE --- Commissioners' Comments 4 3 1.1 Update and Report on Kerr County First Responders 4 program from Eric Maloney 8 5 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to accept preliminary revision of plat for Lots 5 6 and 6 of Saddlewood Estates, Precinct 1, and set a public hearing 18 7 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 8 request to use Hill Country Youth Event Center from May 15-17, 2015 for KerrFest 20 9 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 10 approve bonds of elected officials and other officials requiring bonds with terms of office 11 beginning January 1, 2015 26 12 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to set a workshop to discuss functions and duties of 13 various departments, and discuss agreement with Hill Country District Junior Livestock Association 14 for use of Hill Country Youth Event Center 27 15 1.6 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to designate Commissioners' and Judge’s liaison 16 appointments for calendar year 2015 30 17 1.7 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on continuation for another year of AirLife and 18 Air Evac by offering payroll deductions to employees through county payroll system; have 19 County Judge sign same 37 20 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve 381 Agreement with Bending Branch Winery 21 for partial county property tax abatement 40 22 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve contract with ThyssenKrupp Elevator for 23 annual safety inspection of elevators in the Kerr County Courthouse 44 24 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action 25 regarding update of construction at Hill Country Youth Event Center and related issues 46 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) December 22, 2014 2 PAGE 3 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to ratify and confirm the Sole Source Procurement 4 paperwork to use KPUB for electric power to the Kerrville South Wastewater project, Texas 5 Community Development Block Grant #7214025 53 6 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to ratify and confirm environmental review record 7 for Kerrville South Wastewater 2014 Project; Contract #7214025 55 8 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 9 ratify and confirm start-up documents with GrantWorks for Kerrville South Wastewater Project, 10 Phase 6, Contract #7214025 56 11 4.1 Pay Bills 57 4.2 Budget Amendments -- 12 4.3 Late Bills 57 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 58 13 5.2 Reports from Elected Officials/Department Heads 59 14 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments 69 15 5.3 Reports from Boards, Commissions and Committees 71 16 --- Adjourned 72 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 On Monday, December 22, 2014, at 9:00 a.m., a special 2 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in 3 the Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, 4 Kerrville, Texas, and the following proceedings were had in 5 open court: 6 P R O C E E D I N G S 7 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. It's 9 a.m., 8 December 22nd, 2014. Kerr County Commissioners Court is in 9 session. We'll start off with Commissioner Moser. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, thank you. Rise, if you 11 would, and pray with me. 12 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 13 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. We now have that 14 portion of the agenda with visitors' input. Is there anyone, 15 any visitor that wishes to speak? If so, please identify 16 yourself and step forward to the podium. I haven't been 17 presented with any forms, so I don't know if... So far as I 18 know, nobody intends to. There being no one, then we'll go 19 on to Commissioners' comments. We'll start with 20 Commissioner 1, Mr. Baldwin. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. I just 22 wanted to bring up -- I'm sure we all received the same 23 e-mail, but an e-mail came through last week from -- from 24 Kelly Hoffer to Diane Bolin, the Tax Assessor/Collector, 25 thanking one of her employees for doing a great job on their 12-22-14 5 1 exempt license plates. And she wrote, quote, "Diane, you 2 have a great employee there." And this note was also 3 followed up by one from Charlie Hastings in the same -- same 4 thing. I just wanted to point out that that's what makes 5 good government, is the people praising and helping each 6 other, and coming along beside and lifting each other up and 7 helping each other through the hard times, and just saying 8 thank you to each other. And I just wanted to say I 9 appreciate you guys for -- for doing that. Thank you very 10 much. You're not going to make a comment about it? 11 MS. HOFFER: Well, I just wanted to let you know, 12 when I said license plates, we're talking 60 to 70 license 13 plates that were getting ready to expire. So, you know, I 14 mean, we're talking probably a day, day and a half project. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 16 MS. HOFFER: So it was a big job. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you for doing that. 18 MS. HOFFER: Well -- 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Y'all have too many 20 vehicles, obviously. (Laughter.) 21 MS. HOFFER: No, that's dump trucks and everything 22 else. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: This isn't a budget review. 24 The only comment I'd have is -- is not specific, but in 25 general. I think everybody in the county did a superb job 12-22-14 6 1 this year. I mean, from -- from wastewater systems to 2 airports to -- to Ag Barn, it's just been absolutely amazing 3 what's been accomplished this entire year by -- by a good 4 group of people. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: True. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And I think, you know, looking 7 at the audience out there, we see we got the Kerrville Fire 8 Chief here, and Eric Maloney and the Mayor here, so I think 9 it's been a good year, too, for City and County 10 relationships. We've accomplished a lot together this year, 11 I think, which is to be recognized. You know, people say 12 that we have a lot of issues, but we get a lot of things done 13 too. So, nothing specific, just in general. Thank you. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Speaking of saying thank you, I'd 15 like to especially thank Jody -- 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: -- Grinstead for the job of 18 arranging the county party, the meal that we had this past 19 Friday. That's a Herculean task, and frankly, just watching 20 her in her office in there with all the interruptions she 21 gets, and the telephone calls and all of us interrupting her, 22 and people dropping in, which is one right after another, it 23 seems like, I don't know how she ever gets any work done, but 24 she does. She gets it done, and I think that's something to 25 be really proud of. She did a great job of organizing that 12-22-14 7 1 meal, and it turned out to be very successful. And I 2 appreciate your work on that, Jody, and everybody that 3 helped. I know there were lots of folks that came in and 4 helped pull that off, make it a success. Boy, that pork loin 5 that Commissioner Reeves cooked was out of sight. I'll just 6 tell you, it was some good. Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Some good. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just echo everything else 9 said, but, Judge, also thank you for your cooking. You were 10 up in the wee hours of the morning getting all that started 11 for the Christmas party; appreciate that as well. But I echo 12 what all three of you said. 13 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I guess since I'm on this 14 end, I don't have much to add, other than Dawn Lantz and the 15 Healthy County Initiative is what was able to pay for this 16 party, and she put a lot of time in on getting this and 17 making sure that it was available for our county employees 18 through the Healthy County Initiative. And I was told more 19 than once I needed to get in on the Healthy County part of 20 it, so I guess I'm going to step up to the plate now. But it 21 was a great party, and I just want to wish everybody a Merry 22 Christmas. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Let's go, then, to Item 25 1.1 on the agenda; update and report on the Kerr County First 12-22-14 8 1 Responders program from Eric Maloney. Commissioner Baldwin? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. Thank you very 3 much, Judge. You know, we don't have to talk about what our 4 interest level is in the First Responders. We don't have to 5 do that. And I'm grateful for my good friend Eric to come 6 over, and he spearheads that program and does an excellent 7 job; he's the best there is at it. And, Eric, thank you for 8 coming over and being a part of it and bringing a report, 9 which he's just going to update us and let us know what's 10 going on. 11 MR. MALONEY: Pleasure to be here. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You've lost a lot of weight. 13 MR. MALONEY: Yes, sir. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How much weight? 15 MR. MALONEY: Been working out a little bit. 16 Fifteen pounds. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. Fantastic. You look 18 great. 19 MR. MALONEY: So, Judge Pollard, Commissioners, 20 thank you for having me here today. I'm glad to update you 21 for the Kerr County First Responders. I'm the EMS 22 Coordinator for the Kerrville Fire Department, and the EMS 23 Administrator for the Kerr County First Responder program. 24 Before we get started, I would like to proudly introduce our 25 new Fire Chief, Danny Smith, so -- as our Fire Chief for the 12-22-14 9 1 Kerrville Fire Department. 2 (Applause.) 3 MR. MALONEY: Real briefly on the Kerr County First 4 Responder program, currently the Responders, we have 34 total 5 members in the program. These are volunteers. All volunteer 6 their time to respond to emergency calls in the county, so 7 they are spread out through five zones in the county, some as 8 far out as the Mountain Home and Divide area. And they take 9 the time; they have the radios. They hear the calls; they 10 respond to those calls prior to EMS arriving, and can provide 11 medical first aide on scene and report back to us any 12 critical -- any critical patient information that is 13 necessary from there. Since the formal process went online 14 about one year ago -- or about a year ago, in there, we have 15 added three individuals to the program, so we have three 16 individuals that have been added to that. And it's my 17 understanding some more are interested, but I'm not sure 18 where they are in the process, so we have been directing them 19 to H.R. here. 20 Things that y'all provide for them is the 21 continuing education, so they continue to -- continue their 22 education using online C.E. to meet the requirements that are 23 required every four years as an EMT with the state of Texas. 24 In the past fiscal years, we have improved. Our improvements 25 include digital radio compliant, so all our radios that we 12-22-14 10 1 can respond back and forth are digital compliant. And we 2 have AED's now for all our First Responders available. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What did you say, Eric? AE -- 4 MR. MALONEY: AED's, automated external 5 defibrillators. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, good. 7 MR. MALONEY: That we have available now, so we've 8 been able to achieve that over the last few fiscal years and 9 be able to kind of complete -- 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Repeat that three times 11 quickly. 12 MR. MALONEY: That's why I use "AED," so it's easy, 13 yes, sir. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 15 MR. MALONEY: Fiscal year '15 budget, we do have 16 additional First Responders that we have budgeted in there. 17 We have five additional anticipated for this year, which 18 costs about $3,400 per Responder. That obviously requires 19 the application process for that, but we do have the money 20 there allocated for them. Also in this year, we have the 21 mileage stipend. That is something we need to work toward 22 the formal process for that, how we'd like to achieve that, 23 how the Court would like to achieve that. And we can 24 definitely start to roll that out, and that would be 25 important for this fiscal year. Future plans, we're 12-22-14 11 1 currently working on -- the renewal will be on October 1st 2 with the Department of State Health Services. For that 3 renewal, Kerr County will have its own medical protocols, so 4 currently we are operating utilizing Kerrville Fire 5 Department's medical protocols, but we are going to separate 6 the two, which will make it a lot easier to kind of 7 distinguish between them in the field. 8 Other things would be to improve the on-scene 9 identification; going to work towards some ID badges, 10 jackets, hats; this would be an excellent opportunity. Those 11 who volunteer do volunteer from work, from the house, from 12 wherever they happen to be, and whatever they wear, so we do 13 need to get some sort of -- maybe looking towards fiscal year 14 '16 will be something, some sort of identification, which 15 will make it a little easier for our patients to identify our 16 responders. And working on maybe potentially formalizing the 17 application process to maybe some rules and regulations. 18 Maybe even looking for -- we talked in the past about a 501, 19 so something we can start to work towards grants and some 20 more opportunities that are out there for that. And also, 21 working toward practical training, we're going to be rolling 22 something out in the end of the year, trying to work on some 23 practical training with our First Responders out there in the 24 field for that. Questions on the First Responder program? 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 12-22-14 12 1 MR. MALONEY: Yes, sir? 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Is there any type of I.D. 3 right now, identification for First Responders? 4 MR. MALONEY: They do not. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 6 MR. MALONEY: We're working with the South Texas 7 Regional Advisory Council. I do not have mine on me; I 8 apologize, but it is an identification that they can actually 9 have. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 11 MR. MALONEY: And that is something we can get 12 through -- through the South Texas Regional Advisory Council, 13 just like the Kerrville Fire Department does -- 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 15 MR. MALONEY: -- for that. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 17 MR. MALONEY: So -- 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. 19 MR. MALONEY: I just have one question. I'll 20 probably e-mail y'all on that, on how it's going to look, 21 I.D.-wise. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The stipend program? 24 MR. MALONEY: Yes, sir. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Would you give that some 12-22-14 13 1 thought, and when we get around to making a decision on how 2 we want to -- how we want to do that, we have some input in 3 that, 'cause I'm -- I'm not real clear how to do that. 4 MR. MALONEY: I do have an idea on a roll-out for 5 that, which would be very similar to the Kerr County voucher 6 that y'all currently have, with a few modifications to that 7 for a check and balance, to kind of verify. It'll still be 8 up to each individual's responsibility to submit, but they 9 could submit it and we could do some verification as far as 10 if they were -- did respond to that call. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Eric, do you have an estimate 13 on how many calls First Responders responded to? How many 14 responses in there this past year? 15 MR. MALONEY: No, I do not, sir. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 17 MR. MALONEY: Because of the way we track it, so I 18 wouldn't actually have -- if multiple responders showed up 19 for the scene, we don't track each individual responder. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 21 MR. MALONEY: So if three of them showed up, we 22 wouldn't know that three were on one call. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. Well, how many calls 24 did they respond to? Do you know that off the top of your 25 head, ballpark? 12-22-14 14 1 MR. MALONEY: Not off the top. I would probably 2 take a guess, probably 30 percent of our calls are probably 3 Priority 1 in the county. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. So how many calls, 5 then? 6 MR. MALONEY: In the county, we provide -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's okay. If you have it, 8 it would be a -- 9 MR. MALONEY: I don't know. I don't have it. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Why don't you e-mail it or 11 something? That would be an interesting statistic to -- 12 MR. MALONEY: I hate to take a guess. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, I understand that. 14 Okay. All right, no problem. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Any other questions of Mr. Maloney? 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Go ahead. I'm sorry, Eric. 17 MR. MALONEY: If there's no more questions on the 18 Kerr County First Responder program, I'd also like to take 19 this opportunity to tell you of some changes that are going 20 to happen to EMS. So, over the past 21 years this January, 21 Kerrville Fire Department has operated EMS for Kerrville and 22 Kerr County. We have operated with two 24/7 ambulances, and 23 since that time we have added additional ambulances to 24 provide inter-facility transfers, and so we have three 25 40-hour-a-week ambulances that are kind of staggered 12-22-14 15 1 throughout. This January 4th, we're restructuring EMS. Had 2 an opportunity with Chief Smith to take a look at our 3 resources, and now we've identified some peak call times 4 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., and we're going to 5 restructure our EMS in order to cover those peak call times. 6 So, now we will still continue to have two ambulances that 7 are 24/7, 365, but we will also have two 12-hour shifts from 8 8:00 to 8:00, 365, so that is going to improve our capacity 9 to respond significantly to the citizens of Kerrville and 10 Kerr County out there. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: With the same amount of 12 ambulances? 13 MR. MALONEY: Same amount of ambulances. And 14 they're going to be moving to the stations, so we're going to 15 have four ambulances now available between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., 16 and each station will have an ambulance in it, so that is 17 going to improve our response times to the south and to the 18 north with those two ambulances over there. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's for transfer? 20 MR. MALONEY: Actually, this is all 911. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: All 911. 22 MR. MALONEY: So we were able to roll those 23 transfer ambulances into -- 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Into that? Got you. 25 MR. MALONEY: Yes, sir, in that system, so it's 12-22-14 16 1 going to be pretty exciting with the change. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: How many paramedics do you 3 have now? 4 MR. MALONEY: The Kerrville Fire Department? 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 6 MR. MALONEY: Probably sitting at right about 52. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 52, okay. 8 MR. MALONEY: Plus or minus. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And are most of your -- I know 10 you used to have a program, like, two years, you want an EMT 11 to become a paramedic. Is that still the -- 12 MR. MALONEY: Yes, sir. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- the policy? Okay. 14 MR. MALONEY: So if we hire you for the Kerrville 15 Fire Department and you are currently not a paramedic, we 16 will send you to school -- 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 18 MR. MALONEY: -- to complete that training. And 19 currently, with the staffing that we have, the only basic 20 firefighter is in paramedic school currently, so -- which is 21 really good. Big change from the days when I started. I was 22 the 15th. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: In the past, you've -- you've 24 increased significantly the capture of expenses for EMS, you 25 know, where you bill people. Used to be -- just off the top 12-22-14 17 1 of my head, you used to capture, like, about 60 percent. 2 Then I think you turned it over to a different agency, and 3 you're up to about 80 percent or something. Do you know 4 where you are this past year? Is that about that, or is it 5 increased, or -- 6 MR. MALONEY: I have not taken a formal look at our 7 collection rate. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Collection, right. 9 MR. MALONEY: But we still maintain about the same 10 as we have in the past. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, in the 80 percent range? 12 MR. MALONEY: Or lower. I think a little bit below 13 that. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Is it? Okay. 15 MR. MALONEY: So -- but we don't do that for EMS. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I thought you made a really 17 good -- good change there, and it was helping a lot in some 18 of the -- 19 MR. MALONEY: Yes, sir. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: All right. That's all I have. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: Anybody else? Thank you, 22 Mr. Maloney. 23 MR. MALONEY: Thank y'all. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 25 MR. MALONEY: Y'all have a Merry Christmas. 12-22-14 18 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you, Eric. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Merry Christmas. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you, Danny. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Item 1.2; consider, discuss, and 5 take appropriate action for the Court to accept the 6 preliminary revision of plat for Lots 5 and 6 of Saddlewood 7 Estates, Block 2, Volume 6, Page 219, and set a public 8 hearing, Precinct 1. Mr. Hastings. 9 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. Lots 5 and 6 of this 10 subdivision are owned by Douglas and Kathleen Matey. They 11 want to alter the property line between Lots 5 and 6. 12 Proposed -- the proposed change will result in Lot 5, 3.58 13 acres, being Lot 5A, 4.13 acres, and Lot 6, 4.45 acres, to 14 Lot 6A, 3.9 acres. It is in Kerrville's ETJ. They have 15 already gone through an amended plat revision process with 16 the City. We need to get this through the County. At this 17 time, we're asking the Court to set a public hearing for 18 Monday, January 26th, 2015, at 9 a.m. for the revision of 19 plat for Lots 5 and 6 of Saddlewood Estates, Block 2, Volume 20 6, Page 319. This is in Precinct 1. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there a second? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Any further discussion? 12-22-14 19 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. With that tight time 2 fuse, we need to -- y'all need to make sure that this gets 3 into -- notice in the paper timely. It's 30 days ahead, 4 isn't it? The 26th, so that gives you -- basically, we have 5 to have it in the paper -- 6 MR. HASTINGS: We've got to have three 7 notifications. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the first one, I think, has 9 got to be 30 days. 10 MR. HASTINGS: It's got to go in this week. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Next few days. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 13 MR. HASTINGS: That's right. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We need to make sure that -- 15 you know, just that. 16 MR. HASTINGS: Okay. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Any further discussion 18 or questions? 19 MR. ODOM: The Clerk's office does that. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 21 (Low-voice discussion off the record.) 22 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. There being no further 23 discussion, those in favor of the motion, signify by raising 24 your right hand. 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 12-22-14 20 1 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Thank you. 2 Let's go on to Item 1.3; consider, discuss, and take 3 appropriate action to approve the bonds of the elected 4 officials and other officials requiring bonds with terms of 5 office beginning January 1, 2015. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's 1.4. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: Huh? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's 1.4. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Did I read the wrong one? All 10 right, I'll withdraw that. Consider, discuss, and take 11 appropriate action on request to use Hill Country Youth Event 12 Center from May 15 through 17 for KerrFest. Denny Foster and 13 Angela Mayer. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it was worth seeing his 15 confused look when he started up here. 16 MR. FOSTER: It was a confused look, yeah. Good 17 morning. (Laughter.) Thanks for keeping me on my toes this 18 morning. Denny Foster with Kerrville Area Chamber of 19 Commerce. I'm the chairman for KerrFest. This is going to 20 be our fifth year doing KerrFest. Just a little reminder of 21 what we do, is we put on a rodeo, barbecue cook-off, chili 22 cook-off, youth rodeo, and some other things out at the Youth 23 Expo Center the third weekend of May. This year it's going 24 to be May 14th and 15th -- actually, 15th and 16th, sorry. 25 Last year we had about 4,000 attendees, and we had an 12-22-14 21 1 economic impact of $822,000 to this community. That's based 2 upon the Kerrville Area Chamber -- sorry, Kerrville 3 Convention and Visitors Center economic impact developed by 4 Charlie McIlvain last year after the event was over. 5 This year we're adding several things to the event, 6 hoping to grow it further. The biggest thing that we're 7 going to be adding is a Country Peddler show, the same one 8 you see in Fredericksburg. We've been meeting with the 9 Country Peddler Company out of Austin. They -- they believe 10 that the first year, they'll get between 50 and 80 vendors. 11 They're calling it a trunk show. Within three to five years, 12 we expect it to grow into several hundred vendors, and 13 filling up both the expo center and the new ag barn in the 14 back. The impact of those Country Peddler shows are huge. 15 Not only is there sales tax involved, but every one of those 16 vendors needs a place to stay for two to three to four days. 17 We expect somewhere around 200 hotel rooms just for this 18 first year, just from the vendors themselves. And as you 19 know, some people, that's their -- that's their hobby and 20 their fun thing to do, is to follow those around. 21 So, the hot tax, the sales tax will be a huge 22 impact to the community, plus, you know, impact on local 23 businesses. So we're really excited about the opportunity to 24 bring them in as part of KerrFest, and hopefully the traffic 25 will flow over into the rodeo at night. We're also adding a 12-22-14 22 1 car show, so for all the husbands that are pulled along to 2 shop, they got someplace to walk across the parking lot, 3 maybe go see a car show while they're -- while they're here 4 during the day. We'll have a barbecue and chili cook-off 5 during the day on Saturday also, and, of course, the rodeo on 6 Friday night and Saturday night. And we're going to get back 7 with you on the date, but we'll be having a youth rodeo again 8 this year too. 9 All we're asking for today is to make sure that 10 we're on the calendar. We've been working with Jody; I think 11 we are, but we're actually asking not only for the full 12 facility, but for the River Star Park also for the car show, 13 and it looks like we may need Flat Rock Creek Park for the 14 peddler show vendor parking, so they can put their trailers 15 and stuff down there during the event after they set up. 16 Thursday night, we will again be having the Chamber mixer 17 there to kind of kick things off, and the peddler show will 18 actually be doing a private showing for Chamber members and 19 anybody that attends the mixer. So, that's what we got 20 going. I really expect this event to continue to grow and be 21 a positive impact for the community. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's fantastic. Are you 23 going to -- are you planning on having the peddler show this 24 next May? 25 MR. FOSTER: Yes, sir. 12-22-14 23 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's great. 2 MR. FOSTER: Yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's fantastic. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Do you think the new exhibit center 5 has had anything to do with prompting you guys to expand this 6 much? 7 MR. FOSTER: Absolutely. This is really going to 8 be a great facility for us to use and grow into -- and grow 9 out of, grow into the barn in the back. The Country Peddler 10 people, obviously, they don't want to go outside. We talked 11 about the indoor arena. They don't want to be on dirt, 12 obviously. Some of those -- those wares in there that they 13 sell are extremely nice and expensive. But we have enough 14 concrete floor, covered, that we can really grow this into 15 something big, and impact for the community. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What do you need from us today? 17 MR. FOSTER: Really, nothing. I'm not asking for 18 any action. I would like the opportunity to meet with one or 19 two of you Commissioners and come up with a plan, and come 20 back for action at a later date, but I just want to make sure 21 that we're all aware of what's going on, and if there's any 22 obstacles, that we -- we get over those obstacles early in 23 the -- in the -- at the front of the activity, and make sure 24 that there's nothing else that we need to do to make sure 25 this event goes off without any hitch. 12-22-14 24 1 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Be glad to help. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I will as well. 3 MR. FOSTER: Great. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is there going to be any 5 conversation about rental fees? Yes or no? 6 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, thank you. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Anything else? And I 9 don't -- yes, ma'am? 10 MS. GRINSTEAD: Just to clarify, I did not know 11 about River Star and Flat Rock, so I'll have to check those 12 dates. I don't think we have anything booked, but I will 13 have to verify. 14 MR. FOSTER: Okay. 15 MS. GRINSTEAD: But the event hall -- or the whole 16 facility I do have reserved for KerrFest. 17 MR. FOSTER: Thank you. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: The park where the -- the River 19 Star is not included in this; is that correct? 20 MS. GRINSTEAD: Well, he just said they want it, so 21 I've not checked the calendar for this, but I've got nothing 22 at the Youth Event Center that weekend. It's -- 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Did you say that would be needed 24 for parking? 25 MR. FOSTER: No. The River Star park, that's where 12-22-14 25 1 we would have the car show, the hot rod show. So you'd be 2 able to walk through the gate from the peddler show parking 3 lot into River Star, or park on the back and come in there. 4 And the park would be used for the vendor parking, the 5 trailers and trucks that they bring in for the peddler show. 6 COMMISSIONER REEVES: At Flat Rock. 7 MR. FOSTER: At Flat Rock. 8 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Just like we do for -- 9 JUDGE POLLARD: I wouldn't be in favor of a lot of 10 vehicular traffic in River Star. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. 12 MR. FOSTER: The only thing they'll do is pull in 13 and park, and pull out. And these cars are -- I mean, 14 they're not going to be driving. These are mostly non-street 15 cars, so -- 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 17 MR. FOSTER: -- basically, there wouldn't be -- it 18 would be less than a vendor unloading their -- their goods 19 at a space, if you had a craft show over there like they used 20 to have. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, kind of like they do at 22 the Veterans Hospital, the way they have the antique car 23 shows and things like that? 24 MR. FOSTER: Yes. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, okay. 12-22-14 26 1 MR. FOSTER: Exactly. So, no spectator parking 2 there; it would just be the cars. EasterFest had 3 approximately 71 hot rods at their car show. We're expecting 4 around the same, so it would be 71 cars finding a place to 5 park, and 71 cars going out. That's it. And then foot 6 traffic. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Fantastic. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Sounds good to me. I don't think 10 there's any action needed on our part at this time. It 11 sounds good, Denny. Appreciate everything. 12 MR. FOSTER: Hey, thank y'all. I've really enjoyed 13 working with you. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Now we'll go to 1.4; consider, 16 discuss, and take appropriate action to approve bonds of 17 elected officials and other officials requiring bonds with 18 terms of office beginning January 1, 2015. Do we have those 19 bonds? All right. There's a bond here for Commissioner, 20 Precinct 4, some fella named Bob Reeves. Has the -- has that 21 been looked at by the County Attorney's office? 22 MS. BAILEY: Heather looked at those before she 23 left. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. So they've been approved? 25 MS. BAILEY: Yes. 12-22-14 27 1 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. It is for the required 2 amount? I guess Heather would have said something if it 3 wasn't. So, is there a motion to -- well, maybe we'll do 4 them all at one time in one motion. Okay. And the other one 5 is for Lee Voelkel, as the County Surveyor. And that one's 6 been looked at by the County Attorney's office too, I guess? 7 MS. BAILEY: Yes, sir. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: So those are the two. Is there a 9 motion? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second -- I move. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So moved -- second. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. It's -- 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Usually I'm late. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'll second it, then. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: It's been moved and seconded that 16 -- for approval of both bonds. Is there any discussion? 17 There being none, those in favor, signify by raising your 18 right hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 20 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. I'll hand 21 those back -- I'll sign them. Well, I better keep them here 22 and sign them here in a minute. All right. 1.5; consider, 23 discuss, and take appropriate action to set a workshop to 24 discuss functions and duties of various departments, and 25 discuss the agreement with Hill Country Junior -- Hill 12-22-14 28 1 Country District Junior Livestock Association for use of the 2 Hill Country Youth Event Center. Mr. Baldwin. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. We have 4 talked in here previously a couple of times about issues such 5 as our Maintenance Department being a maintenance department, 6 and Road and Bridge being a road and bridge department, and 7 sometimes we choose to use those two departments in different 8 areas, and I just think that we need to have a conversation 9 about that. And -- and the Livestock Association, you know, 10 it's that agreement that we have. You may call it a 11 contract, I guess, but I've always thought of it as an 12 agreement. I thought I'd just bring that out and put it on 13 the table. If you guys want to talk about it, fine. If you 14 don't, that's fine with me. But just trying to get it -- 15 trying to get this thing -- the ball kicked down the road a 16 little ways. And if y'all want to try to do this in early 17 January, or -- I mean, what's the feeling here? Or do y'all 18 not want to do it at all? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we need to do it. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. I do too. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Maybe early January is pushing 22 it a little bit. Later January will be better, I think. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Late January? 24 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Works for me. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, that's fine. Later. 12-22-14 29 1 JUDGE POLLARD: Sometime in later January. Jody, 2 can you set it up? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We could just do a workshop 4 after our second meeting in January. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second meeting in January. 6 And, Judge, I guess you'll have to do something about your 7 juvenile people that afternoon or something. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: I'll -- I'll adjudicate them early. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Or bring them in here 10 and let us deal with them. (Laughter.) 11 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Let's see, the second meeting 12 in January -- 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 26th. 14 COMMISSIONER REEVES: -- is the 26th. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If it works out. If not, we 16 can do a special meeting. Either way. Depends on how long 17 we think it's going to take. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's fine. And -- yeah, 19 that's exactly right. And, you know, this is just three 20 things I brought up that we had brought up in the past. If 21 there are others, let me know so we can get it -- do it when 22 we do an agenda of some sort; we'll be sure to get it on 23 there. So, if y'all know of something else you want to 24 discuss, groovy, as they used to say. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: That ages you there. 12-22-14 30 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, it does. Judge, I'm 2 not asking for any -- any action of any sort. We'll just set 3 one for -- we'll start with the January 26th issue and move 4 forward. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Well, why don't you make a motion? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move that we have a -- set 7 our workshop for January the 26th at 1:30 in the afternoon. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Is there any further 10 discussion? There being none, those in favor, signify by 11 raising your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 13 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Thank you, sir. 1.6; consider, 16 discuss, and take appropriate action to designate 17 Commissioners' and Judge's liaison appointments for various 18 functions for calendar year 2015. There's a list included. 19 Is there -- and it's pretty much the same list that we've 20 had, that we were operating under. Are there any suggestions 21 as to any changes? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I've got a couple. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Pardon? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have a few. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay, go ahead. 12-22-14 31 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Currently, the Veteran Service 2 Officer is the County Judge and myself, and I'm not in the 3 courthouse as much as some others. I think it would be 4 better if there was another -- I would recommend either 5 Baldwin or Reeves to replace me on that. Because Maggie -- I 6 know she gets frustrated at times trying to get hold of me on 7 the phone. I reply to her calls quickly, but sometimes she 8 has things she wants to ask about, so that's just one that -- 9 and then the other one that I would like -- 10 JUDGE POLLARD: Before we leave that, let's just 11 talk about it. Mr. Reeves and Mr. Baldwin, do you want to -- 12 either one of you want to do -- 13 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Rock, paper, scissors? How 14 do you want to handle it? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Nod. See, he's nodding yes. 16 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yeah, I'll do it. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, let's substitute Mr. 18 Reeves. You are hereby substituted, then, also as liaison 19 along with me. I do work quite a bit with Maggie -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: -- in the courthouse. All right, 22 go ahead. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the other one that I never 24 have been involved with, but would like to be, is economic 25 development. It's -- I know Commissioner Moser and you, 12-22-14 32 1 Judge, are on it now. If one of you would be -- have any 2 interest in not doing that, I'd be more than happy to -- to 3 get more involved in that. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: How do you feel about it? 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'd like to stay on it. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Well, that's -- I have some 7 interest in it, too. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: But I'd be willing to step down. 10 We can substitute you for me on that one. Okay? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. That's the only two that 12 I had. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I have -- 14 JUDGE POLLARD: I can still be active whether I'm 15 the liaison or not. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You still have to sign stuff. 18 (Laughter.) 19 JUDGE POLLARD: I anticipated something a little 20 more than that. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I've been -- been thinking 22 about maybe adding something to liaison assignments. And I 23 haven't -- I was going to talk to Commissioner Letz about 24 this, 'cause I think he's been involved extensively, and I've 25 been involved on the periphery, but water resources is an 12-22-14 33 1 extremely important thing, especially in the east end of the 2 county. West end seems to be in a little bit better shape as 3 far as maintaining the aquifer levels than the east end. I 4 know Commissioner Letz and I have worked on some stuff with 5 water resources and studies; U.G.R.A., Headwaters 6 Groundwater. I don't know what we title this, but I'm going 7 to make a suggestion -- or make a motion that we add one just 8 generally, water resources, and I would suggest that 9 Commissioner Letz and myself be on that. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's fine. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Just to -- you know, I think 12 it's becoming more and more and more important for us. So -- 13 JUDGE POLLARD: I think it's a good idea too. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I agree it's a good idea, but 16 I do take issue that you feel that it's not a problem in west 17 Kerr County. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I didn't say it wasn't an 19 issue; I said west Kerr County's in a little bit better shape 20 according to Headwaters Groundwater, just looking at the 21 aquifer level. It's amazing, from the monitor wells and 22 that. And also the reason I was suggesting Commissioner Letz 23 and myself -- 24 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I've got no problem with 25 y'all two doing it. 12-22-14 34 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, yeah. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Are we agreed, then? 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's critical for not only 4 Kerr County; it's critical for this entire area. Don't get 5 me wrong, okay. So, water resources we would add, and 6 Commissioner Letz and Commissioner Moser. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: Sheriff Hierholzer has got one 8 finger up; that means he's got a short comment. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Every year I try to rotate the 10 liaison for the Sheriff's Office and the jail so everybody on 11 the Court gets a turn. And there's two commissioners -- or a 12 commissioner and the County Judge that hasn't had their turn 13 yet. And I expect this to be a very busy year due to the 14 expansion and bond issue and everything, so I'd like somebody 15 to really be involved in that, to do that, either one of you. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Bob, would you like that? 17 COMMISSIONER REEVES: The way he's looking at me, 18 it's kind of hard to say no to law enforcement. (Laughter.) 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Well -- 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Either one. 21 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I'll be glad to do it. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: That's good. You probably avoided 23 a few speeding tickets there. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. (Laughter.) 12-22-14 35 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. All right. If there's -- 3 yes, ma'am? 4 MS. HARGIS: I have another one when you get ready. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do we want to substitute me 7 for that, or are you going to have two? 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think we just -- 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- need one. And I do thank 11 you for serving on it this year, Commissioner. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, that's fine. I just 13 wanted to make sure we were on the same page. Okay, good 14 deal. I think it's good, yes. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Yes, ma'am? 16 MS. HARGIS: I hate to ask Commissioner Reeves to 17 do another job, but I'd spoken to him about being on the 18 Investment Committee for this next year, because you haven't 19 had an opportunity to go to school, and I think it might be a 20 little easier this next year for him to be on it. He's going 21 to be involved with the jail, and he has expertise in this 22 type of -- and since I'm going to be leaving, I think it 23 would be nice to have somebody that was knowledgeable. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. Thank you, Bob. 25 (Laughter.) I tell you, there's a true servant right there. 12-22-14 36 1 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. What else? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We could give him a few more. 3 MR. BOLLIER: Wait. 4 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Let's go ahead and get a 5 motion to approve this. (Laughter.) 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Yes, ma'am? 7 MS. GRINSTEAD: Just that one we can delete is 8 Court Compliance, because we don't have that department any 9 more. They're under the District Clerk and the County Clerk. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, anything else? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion to approve the 15 list as -- 16 JUDGE POLLARD: As discussed? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- modified. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: It's been moved and seconded that 20 we amend the list as previously discussed. Any further 21 discussion? 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think y'all overworked me 23 a little bit, but okay. There's that servant thing. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: There being no further discussion, 25 those in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 12-22-14 37 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 2 JUDGE POLLARD: 4-0, unanimous. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That was a nice way of saying 4 "shut up." 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, it was. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 1.7; consider, discuss, 7 and take appropriate action on continuation for another year 8 of the Human Resources Department working with the AirLIFE 9 and Air Evac by offering payroll deduction to employees 10 through the county payroll system, and to have the County 11 Judge to sign same. Dawn Lantz. 12 MS. LANTZ: Good morning, Commissioners, Judge. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Good morning. Feeling better? 14 MS. LANTZ: Lots better. This is something we 15 bring back to the Court once a year. We currently have 16 membership with AirLIFE and Air Evac, and this gives the 17 lowest opportunity to do that through payroll deduction. And 18 I've had the County Attorney review the contracts prior to 19 submitting them for your signature. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: In view of the fact that -- well, 21 the last time we had our -- what was that thing out at the Ag 22 Barn where we got our shots? And I talked to one of the Air 23 Evac outfits out there and asked them what the cost of a trip 24 in the helicopter to San Antonio, just one trip, was. His 25 response was $37,000. 12-22-14 38 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good god, I thought it was 2 12,000. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Let me tell you something; that 4 will wreck an estate. And so I think it's a bargain for all 5 of the county employees. I highly recommend it. In fact, 6 since the news media is here, I hope that you carry something 7 forward in the -- in the newspapers about this, because it's 8 a real bargain for anybody in the county. The charges are 9 about -- what is it? About $45 for each one of them for a 10 year? 11 MS. LANTZ: The one is $45 for the year, and the 12 other one is $10. And that covers the -- 13 JUDGE POLLARD: To have the chance of saving a 14 $37,000 charge, looks like some kind of great bargain to me. 15 I don't know about you. I'm certainly -- and everybody in my 16 family to do it, and I highly recommend that everybody else 17 do it. So -- 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: There's another thing, too. 19 Join both of them, because -- 20 JUDGE POLLARD: That's right. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- if one picks you up, -- 22 JUDGE POLLARD: They rotate. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- they rotate them. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Whoever's up next, if you buy one 25 of them and the other one's up, you got no coverage. 12-22-14 39 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: So buy -- buy both of them. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And Medicare normally covers 4 it, and I'm under Medicare, but I buy both of them anyways. 5 You know, I'd just as soon not deal with the government on 6 reimbursing something like that if I'm going to have that 7 covered. So, it's a fantastic deal for the county, 8 especially for $55 for both for one year. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Unbelievable. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Anyway -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 13 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Second. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Any further discussion? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I wanted to make a comment 16 and then ask -- make a request here. If you remember, 17 Commissioner Oehler actually went through that, the use of 18 one, and he made the same speech you did. Do not go without 19 buying one of those things. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Did he? He was a smart guy. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: He was a smart guy. And I 22 think his quote was $36,000 from Kerrville to S.A. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Dawn? 25 MS. LANTZ: Yes, sir? 12-22-14 40 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've been a member with both 2 of them for a couple of rounds, but I want my little stickers 3 for my windows -- car windows. 4 MS. LANTZ: They should mail those to you. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I know. I get from one 6 company, but I don't get from both companies. 7 MS. LANTZ: I'll make sure that -- 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Boy, I'm angry about that. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They're probably on your 10 wife's car, and she's not going to let them put them on 11 yours. (Laughter.) 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, I'm over the anger 13 now. Thank you. Thank you. 14 MS. LANTZ: You're welcome. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Didn't vote yet. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Those in favor of that 18 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 20 JUDGE POLLARD: 4-0, unanimous. Thank you. 1.8; 21 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to approve a 22 381 agreement with Bending Branch Winery for a county 23 property tax abatement. Commissioner Letz. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll turn it over to Jonas, I 25 guess. 12-22-14 41 1 MR. TITAS: Sure. The concept of this agreement 2 was agreed to back in June when Bending Branch came in and 3 made a presentation for roughly $3.6 million of improvements; 4 new tasting room, production/distribution facilities. Just 5 the contract negotiations took several months. Bending 6 Branch has signed the agreement, and we've worked with the 7 County Attorney and Ilse on both of these -- or on this 8 agreement, and we have -- I think it's ready to be signed, if 9 the Court has no objections. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: Is that true? 11 MS. BAILEY: Yes. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The question -- I mean, I have 14 -- I've read through it, and it's one reason I want to be on 15 the economic development thing, because I don't understand -- 16 I understand them, but I have questions on the wording. It 17 seems odd to me. But what I didn't see in the backup is the 18 Exhibit A. 19 MR. TITAS: Okay. Well, we'll make sure that is -- 20 I didn't know. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I know. 22 MR. TITAS: We'll make sure that you have all the 23 plans, everything is included. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The reason I bring that up is 25 that it has the -- the amounts, the dollars -- 12-22-14 42 1 MR. TITAS: Yes. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- on that. Which -- so it's 3 kind of like it's a document without -- 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Was the Exhibit A on it when the 5 County Attorney's office looked at it? 6 MS. BAILEY: Yes. The Exhibit A is the -- is the 7 application for the 381. 8 MR. TITAS: Yes. And we'll get you the site plans 9 on both -- both facilities. It's two separate structures; 10 tasting room and the production/distribution facility are two 11 separate buildings on their campus. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it's all delineated on the 13 Exhibit A? 14 MR. TITAS: Yes. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. That was my main 16 question, because when I read the agreement, it was missing. 17 And the -- just to -- the abatement is of the property tax 18 for five years? 19 MR. TITAS: Correct, of all the -- all the 20 improvements. It's not going to take anything off the rolls. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Five years. 22 COMMISSIONER REEVES: The new improvements? 23 MR. TITAS: Correct. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: New improvements. And the -- 25 the way it works is they pay, and we refund? 12-22-14 43 1 MR. TITAS: Correct. That's the way that the -- 2 the 381 program works. It's a lot easier than -- as far as 3 the administration of -- of an actual tax abatement. And so 4 they will be assessed their taxable values every year, and 5 they will pay their ad valorem taxes, and then the County 6 will rebate a portion based on the net increase. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's the only -- 8 MR. TITAS: Correct. 9 MS. BAILEY: The statute calls it a grant, but it's 10 really just a refund. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's why I asked that 12 question. 13 MS. BAILEY: Yeah, it was confusing. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The verbiage is unusual to me, 15 but okay. I move approval. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: Any further discussion? There 18 being none, those in favor, signify by raising your right 19 hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 21 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. 22 MR. TITAS: Thank you very much. 23 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Thank you. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: 1.9; consider, discuss, and take 12-22-14 44 1 appropriate action to approve contract with ThyssenKrupp 2 Elevator for annual safety inspection of the elevators in the 3 Kerr County courthouse. Ms. Hargis and Tim. Tim, you want 4 to address this? 5 MR. BOLLIER: I've never addressed this before. I 6 mean, Jeannie put it on here; I did not. What happens is, 7 every year ThyssenKrupp sends me an agreement stating that -- 8 asking me if I want them to do it, or do I have my own 9 elevator inspector, which I do. Who I use is C.S. Eberle out 10 of Fredericksburg. I've been doing that for nine years. I 11 have been taking care of that for nine years. So -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So you need no action? 13 MR. BOLLIER: I really don't think we need an 14 action, unless the Judge thinks of something. 15 MS. HARGIS: It asks for me to sign it. I've never 16 signed it before. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're not going to do the deal 18 with ThyssenKrupp, it sounds like. 19 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Looks like there's a place 20 for -- it says, "We wish to engage our own inspector." 21 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, there's a place on there to 22 do that. 23 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And then -- 24 JUDGE POLLARD: I think we could accomplish the 25 same purpose by just not replying. 12-22-14 45 1 MR. BOLLIER: If you put ThyssenKrupp on there, 2 which I have used ThyssenKrupp before, ThyssenKrupp will -- 3 when they come down and do our inspection, if they find 4 something wrong, they go ahead and fix it. The way I've been 5 doing it, which I've been doing it this way since I've been 6 here, so -- and I've never changed it, is Eberle comes down 7 from Fredericksburg; they check my elevators. If there's 8 something wrong, they write it on their report. I have to 9 call ThyssenKrupp, and they come and fix it, okay? So, 10 either way -- and if ThyssenKrupp does it, I believe they 11 would fix it on the spot, or that day. That's the only -- 12 JUDGE POLLARD: What would the -- other than that, 13 would there be any difference of cost to the county? 14 MR. BOLLIER: No, sir. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Well, Tim, let me just tell you 16 that saying that we've been doing it this way for a long time 17 and don't want to change doesn't usually cut it with me, 18 okay? 19 MR. BOLLIER: Well, no, I understand that. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: There has to be a conscious look 21 and evaluation of it -- 22 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: -- each time. I'd appreciate that. 24 But in this case, I think the best thing to do is, I think, 25 let's just not reply. Let's decline to execute the agreement 12-22-14 46 1 they sent. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Eberle, they're both $280 per 3 elevator? Both have the same fee? 4 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is ThyssenKrupp -- are they the 6 manufacturer of the elevators that you use? Are they -- who 7 are they? They're just a service? 8 MR. BOLLIER: They're just a service, Commissioner. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with the Judge. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No action. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Then let's just pass 13 that item and go on to the next item. Thank you. 14 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: 1.10; consider, discuss, and take 16 appropriate action regarding update of construction at Hill 17 Country Youth Event Center and related issues. Commissioners 18 Letz and Reeves. 19 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Well, it's getting very, very 20 close to being completed. If you were out there Friday and 21 happened to walk through, you'd see the -- just the final 22 punch list are needed. Waiting on A.D.A. inspections, and 23 sprinkler -- 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Fire. 25 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Fire inspections. 12-22-14 47 1 Anticipating being through by the first week of January. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good deal. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: What about that divider thing in 4 there? Isn't there some -- don't we contemplate an 5 installation of some kind of sliding divider thing in that 6 big room? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If we put it in next year's 8 budget or somebody gives it to us, one or the other. It's 9 about an $84,000 item. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: I see. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We can -- all of the 12 infrastructure's in place to add the divider. There's really 13 only, I think, one big thing -- 14 JUDGE POLLARD: That's one of the things we -- 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We deleted. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: -- we deleted, okay. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But everything was made for it. 18 The sheetrock on one end, there's actually the closet there 19 which is right behind the big doors that Bruce made. And the 20 other side, there's a space there where the divider folds 21 into the track. It needs to be welded, but the 22 infrastucture's there. The metal and support was all 23 installed. So -- 24 COMMISSIONER REEVES: If you walk in the vestibule, 25 you'll notice some of the -- the door that Commissioner 12-22-14 48 1 Oehler had built with the brands has been hung, as well as 2 Tim's staff has taken all the old plaques from throughout the 3 building and remounted them -- cleaned them up, remounted 4 them. They utilized old lumber from the bleachers that were 5 in the original building, stained them, and they look 6 excellent. And I compliment his staff for using the 7 materials that they had available there. So, it's very good. 8 They poured the slab for the concession stand -- well, during 9 lunch Friday they were pouring the slab. So -- 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: When's the next branding 11 session of the door? 12 COMMISSIONER REEVES: We're going to have to set 13 one. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, let me know. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: You missed that first one, huh? 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, yeah. I thought there 17 was going to be one before it was hung so we could brand 18 flat. But -- 19 COMMISSIONER REEVES: It was during the Chamber of 20 Commerce mixer. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But, anyway -- 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I thought there was one after 23 that, I'm sorry. Okay, no problem. Okay. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Rather than spend time setting 25 another time, why don't you just agree that you go out there 12-22-14 49 1 and put yours on it whenever you want to? 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, because it'll set off the 4 fire alarms. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, that would be -- do it 6 before you check it out. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There will be another time, but 8 there's a way. We've got to evacuate that air quickly in 9 there. Otherwise, the smoke will set it off. We don't want 10 that. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask a question 13 regarding the trees. Now, the Bruce Oehler group is ready to 14 rock, but what they want -- what they're asking for now is 15 some kind of -- 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Need an invoice? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- some kind of plaque to 18 identify that that tree is in honor -- have y'all -- and I 19 may -- I could have missed that. That would be the only 20 thing I missed this year. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have talked about having a 22 plaque, but we haven't ordered them -- or we haven't, you 23 know, figured out the cost of them. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And so it's -- so it's your 25 intent, then, to have -- when they put plaques up out there, 12-22-14 50 1 that they all kind of look alike? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would think it would look 3 better. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I do too. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's two ways to do it. We 6 could either put one plaque in the vestibule and have it say 7 these trees are in memory, or put one on each of the trees. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think they're requesting 9 to put one at each tree, but they'll do what we ask them to 10 do. But I need to answer their question. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. I don't know what they 12 -- you know, it would be probably like a 5-by-7, about that 13 size, something like that. And the -- 14 JUDGE POLLARD: With a spike that goes in the 15 ground next to the tree? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, something like that, I 17 would think. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: That's what I've seen; it looks 19 good. 20 MR. BOLLIER: Can we go over the ground -- this 21 isn't going to sound good. 22 COMMISSIONER REEVES: No, we can't. 23 MR. BOLLIER: And use those things like they put on 24 a grave? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Too big. 12-22-14 51 1 MR. BOLLIER: Too big? 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 5-by-7 is what he said. 3 COMMISSIONER REEVES: There's some over there in 4 River Star that were planted in memory of supporters of the 5 Arts and Crafts Fair, and they -- you can get an idea of what 6 they look like over there. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 8 COMMISSIONER REEVES: They're on a lot of trees. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What we really need to do is 10 just get a price on them, or a cost so we can add it to what 11 they're -- 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Exactly. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And the tree was what, 145? 14 COMMISSIONER REEVES: 185. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 185. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But there is -- 185, and I 17 don't know if we want to charge anything to plant them. 18 There's a cost to the county, 'cause it's Maintenance people 19 that are planting them. So, we're looking at white oaks. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 250? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Probably around 250, something 22 like that. I think we said 300 was going to be -- I don't 23 know what the plaques cost. I know the big ones are 24 expensive. Why don't we -- Tim, if you could just find out 25 what those 5-by-7 -- or look at what we have over at River 12-22-14 52 1 Star and see, find out how much those cost. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Could you take some pictures -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Take pictures. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: -- on your phone or something, and 5 e-mail them to us or something so we can look at them? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay? All right, good question. 8 All right, is there anything further on that? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The landscape part is on a 10 little bit of a hold until the A.D.A. inspection, because, 11 you know, we've done work out there, but we want to make sure 12 we don't mess up the stripes and all that stuff that's A.D.A. 13 before they come out there and bless it, 'cause that's a big 14 deal. We can't use that building until this A.D.A.'s done, 15 so we're going to hold off on that. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: When is their inspection planned? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This week, I thought it was 18 going to be. 19 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I don't remember if it was -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This week or next week. I 21 believe it's right away. 22 COMMISSIONER REEVES: -- the 26th or the 2nd. It 23 was a Friday, I was thinking it was. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So it's imminent. And, you 25 know, I mean, they're doing stuff with the landscaping, 12-22-14 53 1 getting the dirt in there. They've covered up the -- I mean, 2 Tim's been doing stuff. Road and Bridge is hauling more dirt 3 in. But it's just like the tree planting; some of it's going 4 to be in the pavement. I think we'd rather have that 5 inspection before we start tearing up a piece of that 6 pavement. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: Good thought. All right, anything 8 further? It looks good. I stepped in there just briefly and 9 looked at it. Boy, it's -- it's impressive. All right, 10 let's go to 1.16; consider, discuss, and take appropriate 11 action to ratify and confirm the Sole Source Procurement 12 paperwork to use Kerrville Public Utility for the electric 13 power to the Kerrville South wastewater project, Texas 14 Community Development Block Grant 7214025. Commissioners 15 Baldwin and Moser. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do you want me to go on that? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: There's no action required on 19 this, Judge. This is just for information, and it's in 20 regard to the emergency work that had to be done for the lift 21 station in Kerrville South. And KPUB came in and worked over 22 last -- weekend before last and got three-phase power to that 23 pump and to that lift station. And the pumps have been 24 installed, so this is just approval from T.D.A., which has 25 been granted. I think all the paperwork's been executed to 12-22-14 54 1 do this, so this is just for information, and as we work with 2 the City and get the bills for all this, and some of the work 3 passed December the 15th, hopefully we can pay for that as 4 part of the grant. So, this was just authorization for sole 5 source procurement for that. So -- 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Yes. 7 MS. GRINSTEAD: I put it on this way because 8 typically we would get that approval beforehand. Didn't 9 really have time, so I think it would be more of a court 10 order to ratify and confirm it's been done. But it's kind of 11 approval after the fact, so we have a record with the clerk's 12 office, and just to keep things clear. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But I don't think we have to 14 vote on it. 15 MS. GRINSTEAD: We have in the past. That's why I 16 put it on there. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, okay. 18 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Counselor, what's your 19 opinion? 20 MS. BAILEY: Yes, I think you should make a motion 21 to ratify it. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: I do too. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, good. Well, I've talked 24 to Regan; she said that. So, okay, I make a motion that we 25 ratify and confirm the sole source procurement paperwork 12-22-14 55 1 associated with KPUB for the electric power to the Kerrville 2 wastewater project. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: And authorize County Judge to 4 execute same? 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And authorize County Judge to 6 sign same. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Is there a second? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded. Those in 10 favor, signify by raising your right hand. 11 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 12 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. 1.12; 13 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to ratify and 14 confirm the Environmental Review Record for Kerrville South 15 wastewater 2014 project, Contract 7214025. Commissioners 16 Baldwin and Moser. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. This is still the same 18 thing as part of Phase 6 of that project, to -- we thought 19 that there had to be additional environmental review and 20 inspection. Turns out that they -- there's not. But this is 21 just to ratify that, in fact, that the environmental review 22 records have been executed and signed as necessary by the 23 County Judge. So, I make that motion. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Any further discussion? There 12-22-14 56 1 being none, those in favor, signify by raising your right 2 hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 4 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. 1.13; 5 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to ratify and 6 confirm the start-up documents with Grantworks for the 7 Kerrville South Wastewater Project, Phase 6, Contract 8 7214025. Commissioners Baldwin and Moser. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me just say right quick 10 that these issues here are forms that are required by the 11 State, and it's just -- just another day in paradise that we 12 have to do these things. So -- 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right, another day in 14 paradise. Except on this one, there is a contract with 15 Grantworks for them to provide the administrative support for 16 Phase 6, like they have on the other phases for the project. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Is that a motion? 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'll make that a motion for 19 the Judge to sign same. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded. Any 22 further discussion? There being none, those in favor, 23 signify by raising your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 25 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. All right. 12-22-14 57 1 Next comes the closed meeting. Do we have anything for 2 closed session today? All right. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I don't think so. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: There being nothing, we will not 5 have an executive session today. How about on the action 6 agenda? Anything on that? All right. Approval agenda. 7 Bills to pay? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move we pay the bills. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there a second? 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: It's been moved and seconded that 12 we pay the bills as -- as listed. Any discussion? There 13 being none, those in favor, signify by raising your right 14 hand. 15 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 16 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Are there any 17 budget amendments? 18 MS. HARGIS: No budget amendments. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: No budget amendments. Are there 20 any late bills? 21 MS. HARGIS: Yes. They're not really late bills; 22 we're just tying to get all the bills that we can paid, so -- 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Before the end of the year? 24 MS. HARGIS: Before the end of the year. We might 25 need a special meeting in between, 'cause we have a pretty 12-22-14 58 1 long period, and we had it after Thanksgiving, and some of 2 our people didn't -- because of the mail, they're not getting 3 their bills on time. So, we might have to call a special 4 meeting after the first of the year. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. All right. Are there any 6 questions about the list on the late bills? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move we pay late bills. 8 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Second. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Any discussion? There being none, 10 those in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 11 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 12 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. 4.4; approve 13 and accept monthly reports. Do you have them, Mr. Reeves? 14 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes, I do. I have a County 15 Clerk's statement of income and expenses; J.P., Precinct 2, 16 month of November; J.P., Precinct 4, month of November; 17 County Treasurer, month of November; and the annual jail 18 report. Move to accept. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Any further discussion? There 21 being none, those in favor, signify by raising your right 22 hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 24 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Reports from 25 elected officials and department heads? Are there any? Yes, 12-22-14 59 1 sir, Sheriff? 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Just a few things real quick. 3 First off, I want to personally thank Jody and this Court for 4 the Christmas party that was -- was done last Friday. By 5 far, I think even Bruce would have to admit, since he was 6 always the cook, that that was a fabulous pork loin and 7 turkey. And -- and I can't even imagine how much work Jody 8 and the rest of the people behind the scenes put in to 9 organize that and come up with that. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Rusty, it used to be people 11 would say, "Boy we sure appreciate the Commissioners Court 12 and their staff." 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No, we thank Jody. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Now it's Jody and the guys. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: 'Cause we know how much -- 16 well, Buster, you were out there wearing a bow tie. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: See? I mean, -- 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: My goodness. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- we know how much work Jody 21 did, but you did do a good job of emceeing. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: With the bow tie. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: With the bow tie. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: All right. Second, today was 12-22-14 60 1 the first day that the remodel has started upstairs, okay? 2 It's just -- first part of it is just going to be the 3 entrance to the main courtroom's going to be closed off and 4 moved to the side so that it works better for the security 5 stuff. They are supposed to do that today, tomorrow, and 6 Wednesday, and be completed with it by then. We have no 7 court, so it worked out to make it fit better, okay? Second 8 thing is, I do have a meeting at 10:00 or 10:30 a.m. tomorrow 9 with the jail architect, Wayne Gondeck, to go over the 10 preliminary recommendations and design and all that kind of 11 stuff of what he's come up with. He's had all the 12 information for several months now. Once we go over it all, 13 either the first or second meeting of January, it will be put 14 on the Commissioners Court agenda so that he can inform the 15 Court of everything and what his recommendation -- his final 16 recommendations are, and for that to be approved, and at that 17 time hopefully set which election that bond issue will go to 18 so that we can start publicizing the need and informing the 19 public and everything about what we do. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: When is that going to be? 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I hope either the first or 22 second meeting of January. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, your meeting. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: About 10:00 or 10:30 tomorrow. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 10:00 or 10:30 tomorrow 12-22-14 61 1 morning? 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. I don't remember which. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rusty, is that going -- 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let me know whether it's 10:00 5 or 10:30. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It sounds to me like that it's 7 almost more a workshop item. I mean, obviously, there's 8 action to take as well, but it's -- do we want to do that 9 during open session, to have that review of the plans and all 10 that? Or do a workshop? 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Depending on what they are -- 12 and I haven't seen them yet either, and how it is -- if it 13 gets into security designs and all that kind of stuff, it may 14 be something that we'll have to ask the County Attorney to 15 either be done in executive session or in a private workshop, 16 'cause those security designs and that do not need to be 17 something that's discussed in open court. But the overall 18 plan and where -- how we proceed and all that kind of stuff 19 does have to be, and needs to be in open court. The public 20 needs to know exactly what it is the County's planning on 21 doing out there. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, just a thought. If it's, 23 like, a 30-, 40-minute discussion, it would be -- put it late 24 on the agenda so we can do it after lunch as an agenda item, 25 or do it as a workshop. 12-22-14 62 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: After our meeting tomorrow and 2 discussion and getting it down, I'll have more of an idea of 3 what his plans are and how he wants to approach that, and 4 then I'll get with y'all and let you know, and let you make 5 the decision on whether -- what it should be, okay? Next 6 thing on the agenda, last week the jail kind of got hit with 7 a double whammy all at one time. About 8 o'clock one 8 morning, we got a call from the Kerrville Health Inspector 9 saying that they would be there in 30 minutes to do our -- 10 our quarterly health inspection of the kitchen and all that 11 kind of stuff. And about 10 minutes after his phone call, 12 the state jail inspectors walk in and said they were there to 13 do our state -- yearly state jail inspection. So, we had two 14 very major inspections going on at the same time. The last 15 ones of us got out of there after 6 p.m. that night. The 16 jail inspectors went through every single thing. 17 I think you've been given a copy, or at least the 18 Judge had a copy of that report on everything they go 19 through, and the only thing that she could find to comment 20 about was you're required -- and we are required, and we do 21 keep track of all the recreation hours that inmates take. 22 You're required to give them three hours a week of 23 recreation, some of that type stuff. So, they log what time 24 they go out to the rec yard and what time they come back in. 25 Some of the jailers, when they were coming back in early, an 12-22-14 63 1 inmate didn't want to stay out there any longer, they were 2 still logging what time that inmate came back in, but not all 3 the jailers -- most of them were, but not all the jailers 4 were putting down a reason that this inmate wanted to come 5 back in early. And that reason is not required by the State, 6 but that's the only thing she could comment on. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Congratulations. 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: So we just -- and the kitchen 9 inspection found zero demerits on that, zero deficiencies on 10 the jail inspection, so I was extremely proud of the jail and 11 the work that they've done, and the work that Sylvia, the 12 jail administrator, has done in getting it to that point. It 13 was one of the best inspections we've had over 35 years of 14 doing this. And I also wanted to thank Tim and his crew 15 for -- jail inspectors go through that entire jail. They 16 check everything in the kitchen; they check -- 17 JUDGE POLLARD: This one does. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. They check -- they 19 check everything; every toilet, every sink, hot/cold water, 20 shower, everything in that entire facility for leaks, for how 21 long it stays on, 'cause they're timed deals. For every 22 single thing you can imagine, okay? They even actually go in 23 and set off the fire alarm and check the response time that 24 it takes the staff that have to be equipped with S.C.B.A.'s, 25 breathing. Everything has to be turned on operational 12-22-14 64 1 exactly like it's a real fire. They checked their response 2 time. The response time was one minute, is how long it took 3 them to get inside the cell to where it was, down the 4 hallway, around the corner, all this. 'Cause she just picks 5 which cell she wants to set it off in. All cells have smoke 6 alarms. And they just -- you know, the jail staff needs a 7 lot of credit for the work they did, and Tim's crew, for this 8 time we didn't have any maintenance issues. Everything was 9 working exactly like it should be. We were close to 10 overcrowded, but we were not overcrowded, so we didn't have 11 that issue. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: Wasn't that fortunate? 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: So I do -- and also, just as a 14 side note, I want to thank this Court and the City Council, 15 and just this community in general for the support and the 16 good things they have to say, and just the continued support, 17 commitment to law enforcement. I think as chief law 18 enforcement, we see what's going on around the country, and 19 thank goodness, this community's totally opposite of that. 20 And I just really want to thank the community in general, and 21 just make the commitment that this county -- I don't know of 22 a single law enforcement officer that does, will, or ever 23 will racially profile, but we'll criminally and behaviorally 24 profile the heck out of them, and that's our commitment. 25 We'll keep doing that. But thank y'all for your support for 12-22-14 65 1 another year. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Congratulations. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Thank you for everything you do, 4 Sheriff. That's great. 5 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Good job. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Sure was. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is he coming up for 8 re-election? 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Yes, Rosa? Go ahead. 10 MS. LAVENDER: I was going to give you a follow-up. 11 A couple of months ago -- I was going to do it last month, 12 and got called out -- Mary Lou and I had lunch -- or had a 13 lunch with the doctors over at Peterson Regional Medical 14 Center in October, explained the Indigent Health program to 15 them. I explained the Crime Victims issues with them of 16 getting treatment for people who need medical treatment. 17 Very positive meeting. They loved the lunch, and we got 18 about four or five doctors who committed to start helping us 19 with our clients, and so that was a very positive meeting 20 that we had with them. The other thing is, it's grant cycle 21 time again for both the Juvenile Detention -- or Juvenile 22 Probation grant and the Crime Victims grant, and so in 23 January -- early January, we'll be back with resolutions in 24 both of those programs, because our AACOG grant will be due 25 the 7th of February, I believe it is. 12-22-14 66 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. And thanks for taking 2 that initiative with the hospital and the staff. Very good. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Anything further? 4 MR. BOLLIER: I just want to say Merry Christmas to 5 everybody. Let's have a great one; we'll start off the new 6 year right this year, too. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: I want to go back to the inspection 8 of the jail for a moment. I was invited rather forcibly, you 9 might say... (Laughter.) 10 MR. BOLLIER: You might not get out. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: And they said -- made it clear, "I 12 don't care what you're doing; get out here to the jail. The 13 state inspector's here." And so I did, and I met her. I've 14 been told that some other inspectors sometimes come in and 15 have coffee and talk, spend about three hours, make a kind of 16 cursory investigation and sign off and leave. This one is 17 not of that ilk. This is a lady that is either very 18 conscious of doing her duties to the n'th degree, or she's -- 19 I felt like there was a little bit of, "Hey, this is how 20 important I am, and I want you all to listen to me." 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Or perhaps looking for 22 something. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: She was looking for something; I'm 24 pretty sure of that. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: She normally fails a number of 12-22-14 67 1 her jails every year. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Well, she -- when it was time for 3 me to sign the -- which is why I was invited forcibly out 4 there, to sign the acceptance of the inspection before she 5 left. She took time to give me a little talk and a spiel 6 about how -- how thorough she was and how important she was 7 on this deal. And so I -- I listened and was courteous, and 8 I'm just telling you, this gal -- passing an inspection with 9 her, I think, is -- you're really to be congratulated, 10 Sheriff. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's not me; it's my staff. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: She was really looking for 13 something. She was a tough one. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They even come over here and 15 inspect the holding cells, everything. I mean, fire issues 16 over here. You know, this gal, I've had her for four years 17 now, she's been our inspector. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: She made me sit and listen to her 19 talk about what her duties and responsibilities were, and the 20 parameter of what she was doing and why she was there. And, 21 "Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am." 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But she did -- I guess the 23 main thing I did -- I did neglect to -- forgot that I really 24 do want to say she also asked if it would be all right with 25 me and my chief if she sent other jail staff and jail 12-22-14 68 1 administrators to our facility to learn how to do things 2 correctly. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: To train them? 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: To train their staff. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Boy, that's the ultimate compliment 6 right there. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And we have in the past even 8 done a training video for them at our facility, so it is one 9 of the best facilities in the state. I'm not saying that for 10 me; it's the staff. They're the ones that do it normally 11 every day. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think I had the honor of 13 listening to her last time she was here. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes, you did. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, Bob Reeves, be prepared. 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. They require -- normally 17 the County Judge has to be there to sign off on the 18 inspection at the end of the day. If the Judge isn't 19 available, then one of the commissioners is required to be 20 there to sign it. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: See, I wasn't told that we could 22 get a commissioner there. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It was your first time in the 24 barrel, Judge. You needed it. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, I've been there before. 12-22-14 69 1 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Well, anyway, you did great, 2 Sheriff. I really appreciate it. Anything -- any other 3 reports in that regard? All right, I skipped 5.1, reports 4 from Commissioners and liaison committee assignments. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I had one on that, Judge, and 6 that is to -- it was on parks, and to thank Tim and Road and 7 Bridge for what they've done out at Lions Park. We approved 8 it earlier in Commissioners Court this year, putting in 9 additional tables, barbecue pits, trash barrels, redoing the 10 parking area, and putting in large stones all around the 11 thing. As a matter of fact, the -- the TAC insurance people 12 made comments on some of the these things. And we said we 13 were going to do it, and those two departments did it. As 14 part of the -- probably part of the workshop, we need to look 15 at things that we do out there. But they did a fabulous job, 16 and it's really -- really, without a lot -- I think we 17 approved $10,000 or something like that; maybe it was even 18 less than that, to improve that park, but it looks fantastic. 19 So, congratulations to Tim and his crew and Road and Bridge 20 and their crew doing that. So, thank you. 21 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have just one item, the 23 airport. The bids came in on the roof last week -- last 24 week, and they were very scattered. I think they went from 25 1.4 to 3 point -- 12-22-14 70 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Twice -- 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- 3.1 almost, something like 3 that. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Zing, I think I just felt a bullet 5 pass by my ear. Whew, I'm glad we got out of that. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I called Steve King, and I said 7 I hope these lower bids -- or two bids were fairly low. One 8 was 1.7, one was 1.4; I hoped those were good companies. And 9 he says they think they are. They're reputable. They're 10 analyzing the huge gap in some of the them; they think they 11 know the reasons. But anyway, so the good news is that the 12 low bid is within grasp. It's above what we had thought, but 13 I think Mooney has planned to allocate a little bit of money 14 as well. I wouldn't say "little bit," but some money. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I would say the same thing, 16 Commissioner Letz. I fired off an e-mail saying, "Whoa, wait 17 a minute here. You better be sure they're both bidding the 18 same thing." It's unusual to have that big of a -- then I 19 got a response back from one of the board members, Corey 20 Walters, who does a lot of that kind of stuff in his own 21 business, and he says it's not too unusual with that kind of 22 stuff, because some of the contractors just need the work a 23 lot more than the others. And so hopefully -- hopefully the 24 ones with the lower bids, it's about consistent with -- it's 25 within the grasp. 12-22-14 71 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Hopefully that will work. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: So, looking back, it was a good 4 move on our part to do it the way we did. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It definitely is. And I think 6 everything looks good. But I tell you, if they opened up 7 that $3 million one first, I bet they about had a heart 8 attack when they were opening those bids. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's it. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: Anything further from Commissioners 13 on liaison committee assignments? There being none, let's go 14 to 5.3, reports from boards, commissions, and committees. 15 Anybody? City/County joint projects? Mayor, you have 16 anything? 17 MAYOR PRATT: No, sir. Just the Kerrville South 18 project on electricity, want to compliment KPUB, County and 19 the City working together to get that done. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: That -- that really was a nice -- 21 we got some good publicity in the paper about that. It's 22 a -- a joint thing working together. I like that. We need 23 to kind of keep that going. All right. I appreciate you 24 being here today, too, Mayor. All right. And I want to wish 25 everybody a Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy, and 12-22-14 72 1 prosperous new year. This session of the Commissioners Court 2 is -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Over. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: -- over. Ceased. 5 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 10:16 a.m.) 6 - - - - - - - - - - 7 8 9 STATE OF TEXAS | 10 COUNTY OF KERR | 11 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 12 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 13 official reporter for the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 14 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 15 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 29th day of December, 16 2014. 17 18 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 19 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 20 Certified Shorthand Reporter 21 22 23 24 25 12-22-14