1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Regular Session 10 Monday, March 9, 2015 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 March 9, 2015 2 PAGE --- Visitors' input 5 3 --- Commissioners' Comments 7 4 1.1 Public Hearing regarding revision of plat for Lot 41 of Spicer Ranch, Precinct 1 13 5 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for 6 final approval regarding the revision of plat for Lot 41 of Spicer Ranch, Precinct 1 14 7 1.3 Public Hearing regarding naming of proposed 8 private road Buck-N B Ranch Rd. W., Precinct 4 15 9 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for final approval regarding the naming of proposed 10 private road Buck-N B Ranch Rd. W., Precinct 4 15 11 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on request from the Child Services Board to use a 12 portion of courthouse square for a display during the month of April for Child Abuse Awareness month 17 13 1.6 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for the 14 Court to accept preliminary plat for Kerrwest Subdivision, Precinct 1 20 15 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 16 award Bank Depository Agreement 23 17 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to rebid purchase of carpet and vinyl or other type 18 of flooring for district courts and second floor of the courthouse 24 19 1.7 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for 20 Court to accept the concept plan for a one-lot subdivision on Dowling Road, Precinct 4 29 21 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action 22 regarding 2012 penalties and interest for property owned by Mr. Bill Wilson 31 23 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 24 clarify meaning of Kerr County Subdivision Rules provision 50, 25 119 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) March 9, 2015 2 PAGE 3 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding donation, acceptance, and placement 4 of a wooden, custom-made map of Texas showing each county 74 5 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 6 open Requests for Proposals (bids) for naming rights at HCYEC and refer for evaluation and 7 recommendation 79 8 1.14 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on modifying lease agreement, rates, and other 9 matters related to operations at Hill Country Youth Event Center 80, 10 122 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 11 resolution regarding potential revenue cap legislation 80 12 1.16 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 13 resolution regarding proposed new judicial district for Kendall County 83 14 1.17 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 15 accept bequested and donated sums from Kerr County Sheriff's Office 88 16 1.18 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 17 authorize Sheriff Hierholzer to spend up to $8,000 from the bequested fund for informational 18 material related to proposed jail expansion 91 19 1.19 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve rules and regulations for county parks, 20 as prepared by County Attorney 99 21 1.20 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on request from Maintenance Department to purchase 22 a John Deere riding lawnmower with mulch deck for $8,500 105 23 1.21 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 24 request to hire one vacant open position in the custodial department; this is a budgeted position 107 25 4 1 I N D E X (Continued) March 9, 2015 2 PAGE 3 1.22 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve Central Counting Station personnel 4 pursuant to Chapter 27 TEC for jail bond election 108 5 1.23 Consider/discuss, approve appointment of Early Voting Ballot Board judge for jail bond election 6 in accordance with Texas Election Code; set the number of members to be appointed by Early Voting 7 Ballot Board Judge 108 8 1.25 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve the Basic Financial Statement and 9 Supplementary Information Audit for the period ending September 30, 2014, and the federal and 10 state Single Audit Report for the period ending September 30, 2014 110 11 4.1 Pay Bills 110 12 4.2 Budget Amendments 112 4.3 Late Bills 113 13 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 113 14 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments --- 15 5.2 Reports from Elected Officials/Department Heads 114 16 1.24 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to adopt revisions to Outdoor Business Order and 17 to set public hearing; discuss threatened litigation (Executive Session required) --- 18 3.1 Action as may be required on matters discussed 19 in Executive Session 119 20 --- Adjourned 132 21 22 23 24 25 5 1 On Monday, March 9, 2015, at 9:00 a.m., a regular 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 Monday, March 9th, 8 2015. It's 9 a.m., according to the Sheriff. (Laughter.) 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Thanks, Judge. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It shall be. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Commissioners Court is in session. 12 We'll begin with the prayer and pledge of allegiance. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Everyone please bow your heads. 14 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 15 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. This is the part of the 16 Commissioners Court hearing where the public has the right to 17 come forward and speak on matters that are not on the agenda. 18 I have two requests here. Here's one from Richard Mosty, and 19 one from Randy Richards. Who wants to come first? How about 20 Mr. Mosty first? 21 MS. MOSTY: Your Honor, I'm just -- I don't really 22 have anything to say. This is on Agenda Item 1.9. It's a 23 matter that I conferred with the County Attorney on. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. We'll wait and do that, 25 then, when Item 1.9 comes up. How about you, Mr. Richards? 3-9-15 6 1 MR. RICHARDS: My problem right now, Judge, is I 2 don't know what this is about. And the reason I came today 3 is Mr. Mosty and I are involved in a very hotly contested 4 lawsuit. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Uh-huh. 6 MR. RICHARDS: And a dispute has been pending since 7 2006 in which the subdivision regulations are a very primary 8 issue, the application of them. And so when I saw this 9 notice, I sent a letter to the County Attorney, 10 Mrs. Stebbins, on Friday. I tried to call her first on 11 Friday morning, because I didn't see the notice until after 12 the agenda was posted, until Thursday night. And I did not 13 receive a return call from Mrs. Stebbins, and so since I 14 didn't know what it was about and if it might affect my 15 client, I then sent her a letter Friday, and I've had no 16 response since then. And my concern is -- and perhaps maybe 17 y'all have gotten a copy of my letter. I don't know that you 18 were given a copy of my letter, and so I'm here in case it 19 does involve my client, 'cause I don't know what it is. I am 20 concerned about the notice not being sufficiently specific 21 under the law to let people, particularly in my instance, 22 know what this is about. The law requires that there be a 23 sufficient notice. I'm concerned that all this says is it's 24 about clarification of a subdivision regulation. It doesn't 25 say which subdivision regulation. It doesn't say all of the 3-9-15 7 1 subdivision regulations are going to be clarified. It 2 doesn't even tell what subdivision this might be applicable 3 to. And so -- 4 JUDGE POLLARD: I think this is Item 1.9 on the 5 agenda. 6 MR. RICHARDS: Yes. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: And so I think Richard's going to 8 speak on it at that time. Why don't you reserve your -- 9 MR. RICHARDS: Then I will know. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Is that okay? 11 MR. RICHARDS: Yes, sir. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, thank you. Anybody else 13 wish to come forward? All right. Commissioners. We'll 14 Start off with Precinct 1. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir, I do have a couple 16 of comments. I noticed in the Kerrville paper this morning 17 where Center Point rounded up and worked at the park down 18 there, and it looked like a very positive article and a very 19 positive thing that's going on down there. And I want to 20 take my hat off to them, 'cause that's how it's done. And I 21 appreciate the community coming together -- excuse me -- and 22 doing that. There's a couple of fun things coming up. One 23 week from today, the Historical Commission is meeting at the 24 little church down at Schreiner, and they're going to talk 25 about the old Sears and Roebuck homes. You could order a 3-9-15 8 1 home in the early 1900's from Sears and Roebuck. And back 2 then, of course, the train ran into Kerrville, and they would 3 deliver all the lumber and just plans or whatever it is you 4 wanted to order from Sears and Roebuck. And -- and there's 5 -- and there's a couple of homes right up the street up here 6 that are Sears and Roebuck homes, and they're going to talk 7 about that, and I think that will be a really cool thing to 8 do. Jon, you can't get them any more. (Laughter.) One note 9 -- personal note about my little boy. The Homeland 10 Security -- you have the President, you have the Secretary, 11 and then you have some commissioners there, and there's a 12 commissioners' -- there's going to be a change of guard. 13 And of all of the color guards in the United States, they've 14 chosen him and his little team from Del Rio to go and do 15 that, and he'll do the -- do all the flag work, and with the 16 band and the guns and the whole thing. So, it's really a 17 neat gig that he's got, to go up there the end of this month. 18 They're going to -- he gets to spend a week there for about a 19 two-hour function, but that's government, isn't it? That's 20 all. Thank you for your time. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: And that's federal government, not 22 county government. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's federal government, 24 not county government. That's correct. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And if you haven't seen his 3-9-15 9 1 little boy, he could probably stand on the border, and there 2 wouldn't be anybody come across. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: He's imposing looking. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yes, he is. To follow up on a 5 couple of things that Buster said, Center Point Lions Park 6 was -- we had 25 people show up on Saturday morning with 7 chainsaws and wheelbarrows and hoes and rakes and weed-eaters 8 and everything else. And got the park about the 9 three-quarters of an acre cleaned up, a bunch of trees that 10 we didn't want in there, chinaberries and things like that, 11 which there's a pile of brush about half the size of this 12 room, I think, to be cleared up. So, as one person said, 13 we're not cutting down trees, we're building a community. 14 Which -- that was Dan Gottwald that said that. I think that 15 was wonderful. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's really good. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Anyway, a good effort, and it 18 was a community effort. Historically, there was an opening 19 this Saturday at the Schreiner Mansion, and it's on the role 20 that Kerrville played in tuberculosis. Great exhibit they 21 have over there, fantastic talk. And one of the things I 22 think everybody here knows about is when the Butt family came 23 here with five children, husband with TB, and she had to make 24 a living and started the little grocery business. I thought 25 about that, looking at all these exhibits. So today, fast 3-9-15 10 1 forward; 360 stores, I don't know how many tens of thousands 2 of employees they have. A bunch. The largest private-owned 3 grocery operation in the United States. Had she come today, 4 with all the social programs, she probably would have had her 5 handout; she'd have been taken care of, and there wouldn't 6 have been an H.E.B. That's all I have to say. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's federal government 8 for you. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, but -- I mean, but 10 that's where we live today. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, absolutely. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I mean, she -- she had to -- 13 so she wouldn't starve to death, she had to go do something. 14 Thank heavens that she did. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Amen. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Precinct 3? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A couple comments, I guess. 18 One, last Tuesday, Wednesday -- some day last week, I've lost 19 track, Commissioner Moser and myself spent the day at the 20 Legislature, which is a -- always an experience. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Talking about social programs. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, social programs up there. 23 But it was very worthwhile, primarily about the East Kerr/ 24 Center Point wastewater project, talking about that, and EDAP 25 funding. EDAP -- and the initial state budget was not 3-9-15 11 1 included for any funding. That's a state program, or 2 state-funded program, so it was -- that project is in a 3 little bit of jeopardy if there's no money in the state 4 budget for it, or other EDAP projects. So, anyway, we spent 5 quite a bit of time; met with, I think, 11 different 6 legislators or their staff. Met with more, actually, 7 legislators than I anticipated, and had a very good feedback, 8 and ended up meeting with Water Development Board about that. 9 Senator Fraser set it up. That turned out to be probably the 10 most important, because one of the people with Water 11 Development Board used to work on his staff, so a little bit 12 of a connection right there. Anyway, bottom line is -- and 13 it wasn't just because of us being there, but the EDAP has 14 now been funded to the tune of $50 million, but it's still 15 very important that we keep in contact with them and 16 legislators up there. But it was a very long but productive 17 meeting, or day. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Fifty million, and that's 19 statewide? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. But if we -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Very competitive. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Very competitive. But if we 23 rank like we expect to, the one for this year, hopefully 24 number one, that should fund a good portion of the project. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Super. 3-9-15 12 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And we're also going through 2 some other -- and the key -- the important thing about EDAP 3 is that it can get to a higher grant, loan forgiveness, 4 whatever you want to call it, level, which means less that we 5 have to borrow and reassess the capital project. So, it's a 6 -- that was a good meeting. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: May I add one thing? 8 Jonathan's being humble. He did a fantastic job, and Jody, 9 of organizing that full day, and it was minute by minute by 10 minute on what to do, who to see, and Jonathan carried the 11 load on talking, so it was very effective thanks to him. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It was worthwhile. And I will 13 say there's a little bit of -- what we did, the approach we 14 took, and I think it worked for most legislators -- 15 obviously, this is a very local project, but we expanded it 16 to the water quality of the entire Guadalupe River and basin, 17 and we were able to pull that into the basin and estuaries 18 around Corpus and beyond. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Said, "Fix it, or we're 20 sending it your way." (Laughter.) 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Later this week -- Wednesday? 22 Wednesday, Ilse and myself, we're going to meet with G.B.R.A. 23 to try to work out some of the details on our other issues 24 that we're working on with the -- the protest we filed in the 25 mid-basin project, and then our outside counsel would join us 3-9-15 13 1 on that. And then the final thing is, Commissioner 1 didn't 2 talk about baseball. We're right in the middle of baseball 3 season. The weather hasn't been much like baseball season, 4 but we're right in the middle of -- Little League's getting 5 ready to kick off. Indians are getting ready to kick off 6 their season, and Tivy's in the -- I guess they already had 7 district games at Tivy. It's just -- it's been raining, and 8 no one thinks about baseball, but it's going to be nice 9 weather the next couple of weeks. Everyone go out and 10 support baseball. That's it. 11 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I have nothing this morning, 12 Judge. That's the nice thing about being on the end. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: I don't have anything either. 14 Let's go to Item 1.1. 15 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 9:11 a.m., and a public hearing was held in open 16 court, as follows:) 17 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 18 JUDGE POLLARD: This is a public hearing regarding 19 the revision of plat for Lot 41 of Spicer Ranch, Volume 3, 20 Page 56, Precinct 1. Is somebody here to speak on that? I 21 don't see Leonard or Charlie here. 22 MR. HASTINGS: For the public hearing? 23 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Public hearing, Judge. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Is there anybody that 25 wishes to speak on this matter? 3-9-15 14 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Seeing no one, I'm 3 going to close the public hearing and proceed to Item 1.2 on 4 the agenda. 5 (The public hearing was concluded at 9:12 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 6 reopened.) 7 - - - - - - - - - - 8 JUDGE POLLARD: Consider, discuss, and take 9 appropriate action for the Commissioners Court final approval 10 regarding the revision of plat for Lot 41 of Spicer Ranch, 11 Volume 3, Page 56, Precinct 1. Now we got somebody to talk. 12 MR. HASTINGS: Okay. Good morning. We have 13 reviewed this plat previously in January. We set the public 14 hearing, and we just had it. No one spoke. C.H. Quilliam, 15 manager of Quilliam Management Services, L.L.C., is proposing 16 to subdivide Lot 41 of Spicer Ranch Subdivision, Volume 3, 17 Page 56. Lot 41A will be 5.01 acres, and Lot 41B will be 18 5.01 acres. Both will be above 5 acres. At this time, we're 19 asking the Court for their final approval regarding the 20 revision of plat for Lot 41 of Spicer Ranch, Volume 3, Page 21 56. This is in Precinct 1. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move for approval. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: It's been moved and seconded for 25 approval of accepting the final plat of Lot 41 of Spicer 3-9-15 15 1 Ranch, Volume 3, Page 56. Is there any further discussion? 2 There being none, those in favor, signify by raising your 3 right hands. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 5 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Let's move on 6 to Item 1.3. 7 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 9:14 a.m., and a public hearing was held in open 8 court, as follows:) 9 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 10 JUDGE POLLARD: This also is a public hearing, and 11 this is regarding the naming of proposed private road, 12 "Buck-N B Ranch" Road West, Precinct 4. Is there anybody 13 that wishes to speak on this matter? 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE POLLARD: There being no one, I'll close the 16 public hearing. 17 (The public hearing was concluded at 9:14 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 18 reopened.) 19 - - - - - - - - - - 20 JUDGE POLLARD: And we'll proceed to Item 1.4; 21 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action for the 22 Court's final approval regarding the naming of proposed 23 private road Buck-N B Ranch Road West, Precinct 4. 24 MR. HASTINGS: This application was received by 25 this Court for consideration in January, and a public hearing 3-9-15 16 1 was set. We've just conducted the public hearing with no 2 comments. Eric Buck applied to the Kerr 911 office in 3 January to name a private road Buck-N B Ranch Road West. 4 This road has never been named before. There are three other 5 property owners that have not petitioned for approval of this 6 road, so we just had the public hearing to hear from them, 7 and we did not. At this time, we ask the Court for their 8 final approval regarding the private -- private road name of 9 Buck-N B Ranch Road West. This is Precinct 4. 10 COMMISSIONER REEVES: So moved. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded that we 13 accept final approval regarding the naming of the proposed 14 private road Buck-N B Ranch Road West. Is there any further 15 discussion? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I have a quick comment 17 to Road and Bridge. I know that it meets our criteria and 18 all that, but I hope y'all, when you're visiting with people 19 that want road names, bring up one of the purposes of the 20 911. And names like this are difficult, to me, from a 911 21 standpoint. I mean, if someone has a problem and says 22 Buck-N B or something like that, I mean, you know, how do you 23 spell it? It's just kind of odd. I think we need to really 24 try to encourage people to name their roads clearly and 25 concisely, so -- because it's for 911. That's why we really 3-9-15 17 1 do it. 2 MR. HASTINGS: This was approved by Kerr 911. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, they approved it. I'm 4 just saying that you should -- and the same thing -- I see 5 the Sheriff nodding. It's just this is a difficult road, in 6 my mind, to set. 7 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir, I'll pass that along. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're absolutely correct. 9 However, this road you'll never find. It's out in the middle 10 of nowhere. You can't even get there. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Any further discussion? 12 There being none, those in favor of the motion, signify by 13 raising your right hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 15 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. 1.5; 16 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on request 17 from the Child Services Board to use a portion of the 18 courthouse square for a display during the month of April for 19 Child Abuse Awareness Month. Commissioner Baldwin. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. It's that 21 time of year again. I want to introduce Brenda Hug to you. 22 She's one of the new board members; is very active in our 23 community, getting that way. And we appreciate you, Brenda, 24 and so take your liberty. 25 MS. HUG: Thank you, yes. The Kerr County Child 3-9-15 18 1 Services Board requests permission to place 368 blue ribbon 2 signs on the courthouse lawn at the corner of Highway 27 and 3 Sidney Baker, along with a large sign explaining that each of 4 those blue ribbons represents one child affected by child 5 abuse and neglect. This year the number is significantly -- 6 significantly higher than it was last year. I believe last 7 year there were 215 on the courthouse lawn. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: So this is for a year? 9 MS. HUG: This is for the year, for the year 2014. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: That's occurred during the past -- 11 368 during the past year? 12 MS. HUG: Through 2014, yes, sir. This number is 13 significantly higher than last year due to several factors, 14 including better qualified C.P.S. investigators, less 15 department turnover, more children removed due to recent drug 16 arrests, and changes in legislation that affect how this 17 number is counted. This is, I understand, the fifth year 18 that the board has been able to put signs on the courthouse 19 lawn. If approved, the signs would go up on March 31st at 20 5 p.m., and they would be taken down on April 30th at 5 p.m. 21 This year, we're pleased that we have the National Honor 22 Society students from Tivy that are helping us put these 23 signs on the courthouse lawn. And we would just like to 24 thank the Commissioners Court for their continued support of 25 Kerr County children. 3-9-15 19 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And this is just in the 2 county, that number? 3 MS. HUG: Yes, sir. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: What's your pleasure, gentlemen? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I certainly hope -- I move 7 to approve. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded. Any 10 further discussion? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I want to make a comment. 12 As y'all know, the Child Service Board is my favorite group, 13 because they -- they're volunteers, and they work under the 14 radar. We don't ever hear about them or what they're doing 15 until this time of the year when we want to do a little 16 fanfare out on the courthouse lawn. But they -- they do the 17 dirty work, the hard work dealing with these kids that are 18 abused, and -- and everything that has to do with them. 19 They're there, ready 24/7. So, thank you, Brenda, for your 20 service. 21 MS. HUG: Thank y'all. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Any further comments? There being 23 none, those in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 24 right hand. 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 3-9-15 20 1 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. We'll move on 2 to 1.6. 3 MS. HUG: Thank you. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Thank you, ma'am. Consider, 5 discuss, and take appropriate action for the Court to accept 6 the preliminary plat for Kerrwest Subdivision, Precinct 1. 7 Mr. Hastings? 8 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. This is a proposed 9 eight-lot subdivision off of State Highway 27 in Mountain 10 Home. It's adjacent to I-10. It's being -- excuse me? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Charlie, I just want to 12 make -- this is Precinct 4. I'm one, that's four. 13 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, Precinct 4. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, but it says 1 here. 15 MR. HASTINGS: Okay. That's correct, it's 16 Precinct 4. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I could take that part of 18 the county. (Laughter.) 19 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Just jump over? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, just jump over 21 everybody. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Just annex. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: I think he just did. (Laughter.) 24 Go ahead, Charlie. 25 MR. HASTINGS: Okay. The development is proposed 3-9-15 21 1 by Kerrwest Ranch Developers. They would like to place -- 2 because it's eight lots, and to prevent further development 3 subdividing, they're going to place a deed restriction that 4 is -- would prevent further subdividing. The road that they 5 have proposed in there, they're proposing for it to be 6 private, and privately maintained. It still will be built to 7 Kerr County subdivision standards. Therefore, at the time of 8 construction, or during platting, a letter of credit will be 9 required for 100 percent of the cost of construction. It's 10 going to be a country lane, and a drainage study will need to 11 be done. At this time, we're asking the Court to accept the 12 preliminary plat for Kerrwest Ranch Subdivision; it is in 13 Precinct 4. And also like to note that your -- the 14 preliminary plat drawing that you have has a name that, when 15 it went through Kerr 911, they kicked it back and said, "No, 16 you can't use that name," so they're proposing -- this is a 17 change here. They're proposing to call it Twin Oaks Road 18 Northwest. We're asking now the Court to accept the 19 preliminary plat for Kerrwest Ranch Subdivision, Precinct 4. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Charlie, what was -- what did 21 you say at the very beginning? That they were laying this 22 out so as to preclude something? Sorry, I missed that. 23 MR. HASTINGS: I don't know that they're trying to 24 preclude anything, but they're -- it is an eight-lot 25 subdivision, which our regulations allow for a country lane 3-9-15 22 1 to be built as opposed to a residential road. So, there is 2 a -- a lesser standard for a country lane that is allowed for 3 an eight-lot subdivision. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Anything further? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think what you mentioned was 7 maybe referring to there's deed restrictions to prevent 8 further -- 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 10 COMMISSIONER REEVES: It's noted on the notes -- 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER REEVES: -- of the plat. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, that's what it was. 14 Thank you. 15 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I move for approval. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded for 18 approval, to accept the preliminary plat for -- for Kerrwest 19 Subdivision, Precinct 4, with the change on the plat of 20 renaming the road Twin Oaks Road instead. Is there any 21 further discussion? There being none, those in favor, 22 signify by raising your right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 24 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Thank you, 25 sir. All right, let's go to 1.7. 3-9-15 23 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, that's a timed item. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Two minutes. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Got two minutes? Well, I don't 4 know. Sheriff, what do we got, three minutes? 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Between two and three. You 6 might go to 1.11 right now and then come back to it. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. We'll jump over to 8 1.11; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to award 9 bank depository agreement. Tracy Soldan. 10 MS. SOLDAN: Good morning. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Morning. 12 MS. SOLDAN: I believe you all have the analysis 13 and the recommendation from Patterson and Associates for the 14 bank services agreement. On Page 7 of that is their 15 recommendation to stay with Security State Bank and Trust. 16 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Do you concur with her 17 recommendation? 18 MS. SOLDAN: I do. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion to accept the 20 recommendation by the Treasurer and Patterson and Associates, 21 that we award -- 22 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Second. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- award the contract to 24 Security State Bank. 25 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Second. 3-9-15 24 1 JUDGE POLLARD: Any further discussion? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just want to comment 3 that -- excellent analysis. This is really a good document. 4 MS. SOLDAN: Very detailed, yes. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Any further discussion 6 on the motion? It's been moved and seconded -- I'm sorry. 7 Been moved and seconded that we accept the bank depository 8 agreement with Security State Bank and Trust. Those in favor 9 of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 11 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. All right. 12 MS. SOLDAN: Thank you. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Is it time now? 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We ought to do 12 first and 15 then come back. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Consider, discuss, and 17 take appropriate action to rebid the purchase of carpet and 18 vinyl or other type of flooring for the district courts and 19 second floor of the courthouse. Jeannie Hargis. 20 MS. HARGIS: As you know, we took bids at the last 21 court date on the carpet and the vinyl flooring, and after we 22 did, the District Judges asked if we could see how much 23 additional funds it would take to change the vinyl to ceramic 24 tile. And because the ceramic tile would be more than the 25 50,000, we would have to go out for bid again, and that's up 3-9-15 25 1 to the Court. We'll leave that up to the Court. The Judges 2 are willing to pay out of their budget for the difference, 3 but it's the Court's decision. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If we were to go out for 5 bids on this, how many times would that make? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Three. 7 MS. HARGIS: Three. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Three times to put in a 9 little floor upstairs. And the last time -- I just want to 10 be clear what you just said. The last time we bid -- we got 11 the bids in, and they were -- what was the material? 12 MS. HARGIS: We -- it was the two-option bid. All 13 carpet, and then the second option was to have the -- the 14 public areas in the front in between the courtrooms there as 15 vinyl flooring, similar to what we put down after the flood, 16 and then the rest of it carpet. So, those were the two. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Vinyl. And so that was our 18 second time we went out for bids, and now we -- they're 19 wanting -- we're wanting to go out a third time because we 20 don't want vinyl; we want -- 21 JUDGE POLLARD: Tile. 22 MS. HARGIS: Ceramic tile. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- ceramic tile. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: They are willing to pay it out of 25 their budget? 3-9-15 26 1 MS. HARGIS: That's correct. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But their budget's our budget. 3 MS. HARGIS: No, their -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They have a separate fund that 5 they -- 6 MS. HARGIS: They have separate funds from the 7 other counties. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Kind of like the Sheriff, huh? 9 Little pockets of money that we don't have control over. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Is the noise an issue, Tim? 11 MR. BOLLIER: I would think so. But I would stay 12 where we're at; that's what I would do. That would be my 13 recommendation. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You what? 15 MR. BOLLIER: My recommendation is to stay where 16 we're at. If you put that other flooring down, you're going 17 to hear that clippety -- like that. With that other, you're 18 not. I'm just thinking about the acoustics. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: You're saying the original one, the 20 vinyl, which is like what was put down after the flood in 21 here? 22 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir. That's the reason we 23 went -- 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Looks like wood? 25 MR. BOLLIER: That's the reason we went that way to 3-9-15 27 1 start with, because of the acoustics upstairs. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's the breakdown on the bid 3 between the carpet and the vinyl? How much is the total 4 vinyl portion of the bid? 5 MS. HARGIS: It's about 7,000. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 7,000? 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Is that stuff really vinyl? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I don't have a strong 9 preference. I don't know what -- you know, I know the Judges 10 would rather have the ceramic. I think their reason is it 11 would last longer. It may last longer, but I also think we 12 have a really good bid, and I late to lose that bid. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with that part. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And, you know, I don't have a 15 strong opinion, but I sure do like the bid we got, 'cause 16 it's a whole lot less than the first time we bid it, and we 17 only got one bid back. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Have them look at that. How's 19 the appearance look? I mean, if we go to a tile, is it 20 compatible with -- 21 MS. HARGIS: It's the same as we have in the 22 District Court in the hallway going upstairs. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 24 COMMISSIONER REEVES: What's the difference in the 25 maintenance, Tim? Between -- 3-9-15 28 1 MR. BOLLIER: Not much. Just -- the only 2 difference is we can't use certain types of solution -- 3 cleaning solution on the type of floor. Most of it's just a 4 -- it's a special kind of solution, but most of it's just wet 5 mop, you know, just water. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: It's their area of the courthouse, 7 guys. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay? And they're willing to pay 10 out of their -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are they willing to pay if the 12 bids come in higher on the carpet? That's my concern, is 13 that -- you know, we got a really good bid, and we only had 14 one bid. Clarlyle Carpet, I believe. 15 MS. HARGIS: The Judges are willing to do what the 16 Court wants -- wants to do. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not -- if we could -- you 18 know, either way. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's a good point. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We came in -- first bids were, 21 like, 80-something thousand. Second bid came in at -- 49? 22 MS. HARGIS: 48. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 48. So, you know, we came down 24 a whole bunch. And both times we only had one bid. I hate 25 to go back out to -- might be out of budget again. 3-9-15 29 1 MS. HARGIS: That's why I brought it back to you. 2 I mean, they're willing to go either way you want to go. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, they're willing to go and 4 we're willing to go, so -- 5 MS. HARGIS: I just need a vote. Do you want to 6 stay with the bid -- the current bid? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think if we don't take any 8 action, we're staying with the current bid. 'Cause we 9 awarded that, didn't we? 10 MS. HARGIS: Yes, you did. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: I think you're right. 12 MS. HARGIS: Okay, thank you. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Procedurally, does anybody want to 14 make a motion, or not? All right. There being no one -- no 15 motion, that motion fails -- or that item fails, then. All 16 right. Now we'll go back to Item 1.7 -- 1.6? 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Seven. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: Seven. Consider, discuss, and take 19 appropriate action for the Court to accept the concept plan 20 for a one-lot subdivision on Dowling Road, Precinct -- it is 21 4 this time, correct? 22 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Mr. Hastings? 24 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. Road and Bridge met with 25 the surveyor for this property, Voelkel Surveying, and this 3-9-15 30 1 is a proposed 5.01-acre lot. However, it is split by an 2 existing road, Dowling Road, that exists by prescriptive 3 right, so the right-of-way has never been dedicated for 4 Dowling Road. The 5.01 acres that is calculated includes 5 that right-of-way. That has not been dedicated to us yet. 6 If they plat this property, they'll be required to dedicate 7 this either by easement or by fee simple. In order to -- for 8 them to attain more than 5 acres, we thought rather than 9 asking for a variance from the Court, that the Court allow 10 them to dedicate this by an easement, the right-of-way -- 11 60-foot right-of-way, so that it can still be included as 12 part of their lot to get over the 5-acre threshold. And 13 something similar has been done by this Court for Lot 76 of 14 the Stone Leah Ranch Subdivision several years ago. That's 15 some backup data that we have in your packet. At this time, 16 we're asking the Court to accept the concept plan for the 17 Marino property located at 166 Dowling Road. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: But the easement would be 60 feet 19 wide? 20 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. And so the fee simple title 22 underneath would remain with the -- the adjoining lot owners, 23 right? 24 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. 25 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Not the adjoining lot. With 3-9-15 31 1 this platted lot. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: With the plat, mm-hmm. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And just to go over a little 4 bit the -- the logic, if we have logic on the Court 5 sometimes, to allow that previously, the reason for the 6 5 acres is water availability. The purpose is to divide up 7 the property so you don't have, you know, well spacing of 8 that. If they own the land, whether it's under the road or 9 not, it's irrelevant. So that's the reason we did it 10 previously, and I would support it again. 11 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I move for approval of the 12 concept plan. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded for 15 approval of the concept plan for a lot -- one-lot subdivision 16 on Dowling Road, Precinct 4. Any further discussion? There 17 being none, those in favor, signify by raising your right 18 hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 20 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That was a weak "yes." 22 JUDGE POLLARD: I interpreted it that way. You 23 want to say three and a half votes? (Laughter.) All right. 24 I have a 9:30 item, 1.8; consider, discuss, take appropriate 25 action regarding the 2012 penalties and interest for property 3-9-15 32 1 owned by Mr. Bill Wilson. Is Mr. Bill Wilson here? 2 MR. WILSON: Yes, sir. Thank you for seeing me. I 3 feel about as comfortable as -- I can't say. (Laughter.) 4 I'll do my best. I came here as -- for two reasons I'm here. 5 One is that I have information that I want the Court to know 6 about, that I'd like for the public to know about, and 7 secondly, to make sure that my ongoing business, or lack of 8 good business with the Tax Assessor/Collector, Ms. Bolin, 9 does not follow me out of here in some vindictive fashion. 10 In 2009, I got a notice for my taxes, and I looked at it, and 11 I -- something's wrong. So I got a retired military officer; 12 he happens to be my best friend. I said, "I'm fixing to call 13 the County about my taxes, and they've got my taxes screwed 14 up." And he said, "Too high or too low?" I said, "They're 15 too low." He said, "What's the problem with that?" I said, 16 "Well, it will be a problem sooner or later. I want a 17 witness." So, I called Ms. Bolin's office, and the lady I 18 spoke with still works there. And I'm not going to say her 19 name, although Ms. Bolin has already told me -- when I told 20 her what I just said to you, she said, "Well, if you had 21 called and talked to me, I'd have told you the same thing." 22 And that is that, "Don't worry. Whatever your tax statement 23 says they're going to tax you, just pay that." 24 I said, "You don't understand. I've been paying 25 the taxes on this property since my dad passed, for 15 years. 3-9-15 33 1 I've been behind a few times, and my mom died, but I've 2 always paid the taxes, and I know they're too low." She 3 said, "Just pay the taxes on your -- that you've received a 4 billing for." So, 2010, same thing happened. The taxes were 5 about a quarter of what they should have been, by what I had 6 been paying all these years since '86. And so subsequently, 7 '10, 2011, 2012 -- and I'm in Dallas for an extended amount 8 of time. I come here, and I've got a letter from an outfit 9 there in Austin, a group of lawyers -- Ms. Bolin's lawyers is 10 what she says; that's what she calls them, her lawyer -- that 11 they're fixing to take my property from me and sell it here 12 on the steps of the courthouse. So, I immediately called her 13 and made an appointment to come down and see her. And she 14 may tell you that I have said that I'm not going to pay the 15 taxes. That's not true; I never said that. 16 If you want verification of that, you can call 17 someone who will give you an honest answer, most honest 18 person I've run into in government. His name is "Fourth" 19 Coates. He works at the Appraisal District. And ask him if 20 I made every appointment. Ask him if I've ever said that. 21 And what I did say was I don't feel like I owe the taxes, and 22 basically because I called you and told you they were wrong, 23 and you didn't do anything about it. And now you're -- 24 you're slipping me a bill for an exorbitant amount involving 25 penalty and interest, and I never had the opportunity to 3-9-15 34 1 protest my taxes over these last four years. Because if you 2 get a tax bill, and you've called somebody and told them it's 3 wrong, and they tell you, "Just pay it," and you keep paying 4 it, and then all of a sudden they're going to take your 5 property from you. 6 So, I went, met with Mr. Coates over the next 10 7 months or so. And Ms. Bolin told me to go there, and they 8 were in communications about this, and Mr. Coates told me I 9 had to go in front of a citizen review board, which he 10 scheduled me several times to do, which I never did in front 11 of them, because they weren't ready. Finally, he and the 12 head auditor or estimator came out to the property at my 13 invitation and said, "Well, we've, you know, messed up here. 14 We've overtaxed you considerably." And I said -- well, I 15 said -- I tried to square this away. I've got a witness 16 that -- that I did this. I didn't call every year and run it 17 down their throats. I wasn't here every year. I come when I 18 get here. I pay my taxes, if it's in January, February, 19 March. I know about June or July, it's going to go crazy, so 20 I always pay these taxes for this property here best I can, 21 when I can. 22 So, anyway, then it was September this last year, I 23 had a meeting with -- with Mr. Coates, a final meeting for 24 the citizen review board, and he says, "We've got it all 25 worked out. This is what your taxes is going to be." And, I 3-9-15 35 1 said, "Well, I'm not paying penalty." He said, "Well, that's 2 going to be up to Mrs. Bolin about penalty and interest." 3 But it was about $2,000. And I had been doing my best, and I 4 had about $2,000 to pay it. So I left his office, and I 5 said, "Well, how long -- when am I going to get a bill?" He 6 says, "It will probably take a month, maybe two." He said, 7 "It will get out of here, out of my office in the next week 8 or two. Ms. Bolin will get it. She may have it for a week, 9 whatever; I don't -- I can't say. You'll get it. You'll 10 have 30 days to pay it." And I said, "That's fine. I've got 11 the money." So, I called and told Ms. Bolin that I was in 12 the Hill Country, and I was waiting to get some money, a 13 check, which would have given me the total of about 2,000. I 14 was bringing her the money. 15 And when I got there, she had sent me a final bill. 16 And I have to tell you, I just got to town. I didn't even 17 open my mail; I had this much mail in my post office box. 18 And so I -- I said, "Is this the bill?" And she said yes. 19 And I handed it to her; I said, "I haven't even opened it." 20 She opened it with her letter opener and looked at it, and 21 she said, "Well, your 30 days has run out to pay this." She 22 didn't examine it, and neither did I, and it was $5,000 or 23 $6,000, where Mr. Coates had told me my taxes that I owed 24 were going to be about $2,000. So, while sitting there, I 25 said, "Well, look, how can this be right?" And when I say I 3-9-15 36 1 asked her 20 times, I asked her 20 times. I asked her five 2 times in about 15 minutes, "Where's the credit for what I 3 paid all these years? Where's that show up on here?" And 4 she said, "Don't worry about that; the computer does that 5 automatically." And so I said, what does this -- shows a 6 credit and a debit. This is the final bill that she's giving 7 me, and now she's added penalty and interest and basically, 8 as far as I'm concerned, trying to steal my money. 9 And I said, "Well, what is this?" You know. And 10 it's -- it's somebody else's taxes that are in my envelope, 11 my final billing, a Ms. Klutts. And that's what she said, 12 and she said, "How'd you get this?" And this is her whole 13 demeanor towards me. And I don't know about the rest of this 14 county. She said, "Where'd you get this?" Like perhaps I 15 had gone to -- Ms. Klutts is someone I don't know; never 16 heard the name before in my life -- gone to her mailbox. I 17 said, "You sent it to me. It's there. You opened it the 18 other day." And this is my final bill with somebody else's 19 -- you know, first thing I really thought of was poor 20 Ms. Klutts, you know. She's fixing to be where I'm at. And 21 so, anyway, I wrote checks for '9, '10, and '11, because I 22 knew that's all I had, was $2,000. I put on there, "Paid 23 under protest," because I wasn't going to pay the penalty and 24 interest. I never was. I never would. Never will. You 25 bill me wrong, you can't charge me penalty and interest. 3-9-15 37 1 And I know you have legislators that have made laws 2 that protect the government, the power of the government, but 3 there's also things that are called jury nullification, and 4 you get people that -- a group of people -- of your peers 5 that are paying taxes, and they see that they billed you 6 incorrectly, and now they want to go back and charge you 7 penalty and interest on those four years, plus -- plus legal 8 fees. It's a little bit -- I told her at that time, I said 9 -- I said, I just -- you may put this arbitrary 30-day date 10 on here. I said, I was in Mr. Coates' office just five weeks 11 ago, might not have been 30 days, that he told me, you know, 12 accordingly what the timetable would be. And I said -- I 13 said, "I want you to take off the penalty and interest." And 14 she said, "Well, show me where you were at his office." She 15 didn't even buy -- believe that. And I said, "I've got the 16 notice in my truck." I walked from her office out front, got 17 it, brought it back. By then she had me screened and sitting 18 out in the foyer for 25 minutes while she was talking to her 19 lawyer. 20 I don't -- she asked me to contact him, and I can't 21 remember his name. It was a Hispanic gentleman that was her 22 lawyer, and she said -- she brought me back in her office. 23 She said, "Not only," she said, "do I not have the latitude 24 to waive the penalty and interest." She said, "By law, I've 25 got to charge you the penalty and interest." And she said 3-9-15 38 1 this man, this Hispanic gentleman, this lawyer wants to talk 2 to you. And I said, "You tell him I'll see him in court," I 3 said, "and I'll see you in court. I'm going to sue you. I'm 4 going to sue this county." And I said, "You might think 5 you're protected, but whenever you cross the threshold of 6 gross negligence, nobody's protected." And I said, "That's 7 exactly how I see this, and that's how it'll be. I'll sell 8 my property, bond around these taxes, and I'll take this to 9 -- to the Supreme Court. I won't have to; you'll have to, 10 because the first time the jury hears this, they're going to 11 say not guilty. I don't care what the law says; they're 12 going to find in my behalf." 13 So, that was a Thursday. I went back to Dallas, 14 went back to work there, and on Tuesday I have a message 15 still on my phone; I'll be glad to share that with anybody 16 that wants it. "Mr. Wilson, this is Diane Bolin. I need you 17 to call me right away. I've got some good news, and please 18 call me as soon as you get this message." So, I called, and 19 she said, well -- she said, "I talked to my lawyer." And I 20 said at the time -- I don't remember whether it's Jimenez or 21 Garza or -- she said no. She says, "I talked to the head 22 man." And I want to say his name is Shiever or Shaver. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Shiever. Jerry Shiever. 24 MR. WILSON: Sir? 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Jerry Shiever. 3-9-15 39 1 MR. WILSON: Anyway, she said -- and I want to -- 2 she never has said she's wrong. She never has apologized for 3 putting me through this, and it has weighed on me. But 4 nevertheless, I will proceed, and in saying that, she said in 5 -- and from Thursday to Tuesday, four or five days, she had a 6 180-degree different opinion -- legal opinion. She's quoted 7 me the law here in the courthouse telling me that she's got 8 to charge me the penalty and interest. And I said, "Well, 9 I'll never pay it." You know, it may be taken out of a bond, 10 'cause I'll bond around it, and I will fight you. And -- 11 'cause right is right. So, anyway, I came back. She said 12 that Mr. Shiever had told her that not only must she not 13 charge me the penalty and interest, but that she cannot 14 charge me the penalty and interest. And I've asked -- I've 15 reiterated that to her. That's a quote. That's a virtual 16 quote. And she denied having ever said that to me, and -- 17 but she did. And anything I say, I'm not worried about 18 libel. Get a lawyer, lady. Sue me. What I'm telling you 19 people is the truth. 20 You have a problem over here. You have someone 21 that's overbearing and vindictive, and I'll get to the 22 vindictive part. So, I have written out the checks, and I 23 came down here to see you, Your Honor. In fact, I didn't 24 come here; I went to your office down the street, and I spoke 25 from the heart. You told me the only words that had made 3-9-15 40 1 sense, was perhaps she didn't tell her lawyer everything. 2 And no doubt, she didn't tell them about Mrs. Klutts' bill 3 being in there, and her predicating this 30-day mandate that 4 if I didn't pay -- she didn't have me billed correctly. She 5 had somebody else's tax bill in there. And besides, I just 6 wanted to be treated like one of the citizens, one of the 7 people that's going to pay for this carpet in the upstairs 8 courthouse and such. That's -- I just want to be treated 9 like that guy, and nothing special, believe me. This is last 10 place in the world I'd want to be, and especially in dealing 11 with somebody that I have seen has something out for me, and 12 that's what I've seen in Ms. Bolin. 13 I don't know if it's because I'm male, or just big 14 ugly male. I don't know where the line is drawn, but I know 15 that in walking from your office -- or driving back over 16 here, I walked back in, and Ms. Bolin tells me in the most 17 condescending fashion, "Well, one good thing that has come of 18 this deal with you..." -- not that I'd asked 20 times, not 19 that I'd asked five times in ten minutes, but one of these 20 things that -- in having to deal with you is that I 21 realize -- because I never could get her to show me where -- 22 where's the money I paid? Somewhere there's got to be a line 23 item; there's got to be a subtotal. There's got to be a 24 credit. She said, "What I found out was in these deals that 25 we changed computers in 2012" -- and from what I understand 3-9-15 41 1 about computers, about this much, the old system and the new 2 system didn't interface properly, and that some of the tax 3 credits -- and we were on the phone long distance when this 4 conversation -- first of all, the conversation takes place 5 here, and then in reiterating that in one of the telephone 6 conversations, I said, well -- and she almost read my mind. 7 In fact, she said the virtual quote, "I know you're going to 8 ask me" -- or "I know you're wondering, am I going to go back 9 and find out who else this has happened to, that so much 10 credit was not given in the new computer system?" 11 So, one of the things I'm asking you today is that 12 you ask this lady to my left, who's the Auditor, to audit 13 that -- that anybody that has been taxed hasn't got credit 14 for their taxes because of the computer not moving forward 15 the information, that that be done. I wish I could say this 16 was the end, but I felt the load -- weight of the world come 17 off my shoulders. The penalty and interest was being waived. 18 Mr. Shiever had stated the law correctly, where I guess the 19 subordinate, or this Hispanic lawyer that is her lawyer, had 20 not. And she said, "I reapplied across the board the money 21 you paid." And I paid '10, '11 -- '9, '10, and '11. I 22 didn't have enough to pay '12, so I went back to Dallas 23 trying to hump it and make that money. And she gives me this 24 phone call and she says, "Well, you know, I spread that 25 money, and she said you only owe $128." I said okay. I 3-9-15 42 1 said, "I'm going to try to be there on Monday." This was, 2 like I said, a Tuesday, so it was going to take me about a 3 week to get out of there. 4 Well, I didn't get paid, and I -- I hung another 5 week, and I still didn't get paid. And I felt like it wasn't 6 the right thing to do, was sit there and pout and wait for my 7 money. I came back. I knew I had money here, a little job 8 waiting on me, so I went immediately to work. And on the way 9 here, I called; I talked to someone who answered her personal 10 line, and that girl -- I said, "We have a bad connection." I 11 said, "Please tell Diane this is Bill Wilson; I'm supposed to 12 be there, and I'm running late. I'm going to be late." But 13 she had already told me that I can't be charged -- according 14 to Mr. Shiever, I cannot be fined the penalty and interest, 15 because I was billed incorrectly, so I didn't put a lot of 16 weight on it. But, anyway, within another week or so, money 17 came in. I came down here to pay it, $128 and some-odd 18 cents. When I got here, the little girl said it's $209. I 19 said, "Well, I just talked to Ms. Bolin." It's been 20 probably, you know, three weeks, maybe a month. 21 So, I got home and I had another pile of mail this 22 big. I started opening it, and I've got this $11.54 special 23 delivery envelope. This is -- I said I would speak to 24 Ms. Bolin being vindictive. She said in the letter, which 25 I'll be glad to give you, that Ms. -- that because I hadn't 3-9-15 43 1 paid the $128 like I said that I would be paying it by the 2 end of the month -- which I didn't; I said earlier than that, 3 but if you don't get paid, you don't get paid in my game. 4 But, anyway, I asked -- I told the little girl, I said, 5 "Well, can I speak with Diane?" She said yes. Little short 6 assistant of hers. I said, "They send the cute little ones 7 in here to -- to bring you back there, huh?" And she said 8 yeah -- and I thought something already was wrong. She said, 9 "To soften you up." She led me back there and disappeared, 10 and I just -- I was set up. Because while Mrs. Bolin is 11 sitting behind her desk waving her finger -- you'll notice I 12 won't wave it, because I'm a marshal artist and I'm taught by 13 the Asians that this is a prelude to attack. You don't point 14 your finger at somebody's face. I told her that, and she 15 said, "Well, you haven't done it today." And I said I never 16 do it; I never have done it. 17 And I just felt like I do right now, that 18 somebody's walking up behind me. I was in her office less 19 than three minutes. I'm sure she told that -- that little 20 gal that brought me in, her assistant or whatever, run out 21 here and find the Sheriff, and next thing I knew, she said, 22 "I want you out of my office." And if I speak loud, it's 23 because I'm deaf. I have never spoken a cuss word to her; 24 I've never used any profanity or anything that would not be 25 appropriate here in this court or any court. And the next 3-9-15 44 1 thing I knew was the officer said, "Sir, let's go." She told 2 me -- she went -- I said, "Why do you want -- why are you 3 making me leave a public building?" I said, "What have I 4 done? You can't discuss this?" You're running out of -- and 5 I'll give you a tidbit you don't even know about, that when 6 that man walked me right here to this door, he said, "Let her 7 cool off, and then come back and talk to her." So, this must 8 have been a run that he's made before. He didn't tell me to 9 cool off, 'cause I wasn't hot. I was adamant, yes. I feel 10 like I'd been wronged, yes. 11 I'm here -- anyway, to finish the story, I came 12 again to speak with this young lady over here to get on the 13 docket. I could not be here in February; I had medical 14 things to attend to in Dallas. I made this appointment to be 15 here this morning. And while I was in your office the last 16 time I saw you, Your Honor, while I was in there, I don't 17 know if you know it or not, but I received a message from 18 this young lady, Ms. Jody, on a purple tacky note, and it 19 said to tell Mr. Wilson that Mr. Shiever will pay -- because 20 I had paid -- on the $128, I paid 130. I wasn't going to pay 21 that $70, $80 in interest. "Tell Mr. Wilson Mr. Shiever will 22 pay it, that it's not worth taking it to court or proceeding 23 with legality over." And I -- and so no doubt when I left 24 her office, she had somebody follow me over here, and knew 25 that I was in your office, Your Honor. 3-9-15 45 1 I'm here to ask Ms. Bolin to resign. I'm here to 2 ask this Court to censure her in any fashion, by any means 3 you have. I'm here to ask this Court to direct the Auditor 4 to follow up to make sure Ms. Bolin has treated the rest of 5 your constituents fairly, as far as going back and seeing -- 6 put it on the -- put it on the computer company. If it's 7 their computers that won't bring it up to date, won't let 8 people that have paid -- let it be recognized and be 9 appropriately accounted for, and put on it them. Put on it 10 somebody. This isn't about me. As far as -- as this Auditor 11 has told me, Ms. Paula, that I do not owe any money, 12 according to the tacky note, which I don't have; they would 13 not pursue me for the $70. It's not because Mr. Shiever's 14 going to pay for it. It's because she knew she did it 15 vindictively. She charged you all, all of us almost $12 to 16 send me an envelope just to tell me, "Because you didn't show 17 up, now you owe 208 instead of 128." Or 207. 18 I'm also asking for this Court to -- to take into 19 consideration that when one of you all quotes the law, 20 directs somebody from a legal perception that is wrong, that 21 something could be wrong with the cozy relationship that 22 exists between Ms. Bolin and the legal team that is her 23 lawyers. I ask the County to change legal representation, to 24 let the legal firm that represents them now go, and hire 25 someone new. Like I said, I'm -- I don't -- I don't have any 3-9-15 46 1 -- the two reasons were, one, so that other people that have 2 paid taxes and the computer didn't bring it up to speed, that 3 they get credited. You know, and the second reason is so 4 that nothing happens to me through her office. The wrath of 5 a woman I have experienced before, and I think she's proven 6 her vindictive streak. I apologize for this being lengthy. 7 I've made ten trips from Dallas to Kerrville to try to take 8 care of this, and for untold cost. All I wanted to do was 9 pay what was right to start with. And I will close my 10 remarks with thank you for your time, and God bless each and 11 every one of you, and everyone here. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, Mr. Wilson. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Do you want to address 14 anything about that, Ms. Bolin? 15 MS. BOLIN: The only thing I will say is that I did 16 try to work with Mr. Wilson. I've worked with Jerry; I've 17 worked with "Fourth" Coates. The glitch in the system that 18 he talked about, we did ask discover with his. They fixed 19 that. I've gone through and checked several other accounts 20 that I knew had supplements done to them, and they have been 21 corrected, so that is one good thing that came out of it. 22 But I'm going to leave it where it is. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Diane, let me ask you a 25 question. 3-9-15 47 1 MS. BOLIN: Yes, sir? 2 JUDGE POLLARD: I've heard from a constituent 3 recently that's -- it's not your error, but some errors that 4 have been made in the Appraisal District. 5 MS. BOLIN: Mm-hmm. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And I think you know probably 7 what I'm talking about. 8 MS. BOLIN: I do. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And it sounds like perhaps the 10 beginning of this was some errors -- some appraisals that 11 came from that office to you. 12 MS. BOLIN: It was. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And pretty simple math, and 14 multiplying the appraisal times some rate. 15 MS. BOLIN: Correct. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And getting something like 17 that. 18 MS. BOLIN: Correct. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, is there -- and we can't 20 do anything now, but just hearing that story and hearing this 21 story and listening to how it began, I wonder if that's not 22 the source of perhaps these problems and some other problems. 23 MS. BOLIN: There is problems out at the Appraisal 24 District that Mr. Coates has said he's going to take care of. 25 But whether he does or not, I don't know. 3-9-15 48 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. Right, I understand. 2 So, okay, I just wanted to let that be known, okay, that 3 there were some other issues with other people. 4 MS. BOLIN: Right. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: From appraised ad valorem and 6 -- and supposedly admitted errors. 7 MS. BOLIN: Mm-hmm. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Not -- 9 MS. BOLIN: Correct. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Any further comments or discussion? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Diane, who's that young 13 fellow with you? 14 MS. BOLIN: This is Jerry Shiever. He's the 15 county's tax assessor. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: He's the lawyer. 17 MS. BOLIN: Do you want a new job? He's the 18 county's delinquent tax attorney. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. 20 MS. BOLIN: He's not my personal attorney. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. 22 MR. SHIEVER: I might -- since the question has 23 been raised about the legal opinion coming out of my office, 24 I might point out to you, I don't think Mr. Wilson ever 25 really understood the difference between penalty and interest 3-9-15 49 1 going all the way back to the original delinquency date, and 2 penalty and interest that begins after a correction. And I 3 don't believe her software people make this distinction 4 either. But, you know, the reason we have court is because 5 not everybody agrees what the law says. And the initial 6 reaction from Sergio was pretty much what the statute appears 7 to say, but then there's been a later case that pointed out 8 that you don't go all the way back to the original 9 delinquency date if a taxpayer has already paid the initial 10 bill he got. He's just going to get a bill on the 11 correction. And her software applied the penalty and 12 interest all the way back, so he did get some statements 13 saying all this money is due when it really wasn't. Once I 14 got in the picture and did a little bit of additional 15 research into the case, that's when I -- I said no, we can't 16 do that, so we took that off. And -- but I think by his own 17 admission, he couldn't get to her office when she said, "You 18 need to be here; your 21 days has run," and it was the next 19 month. Well, for $10, I'll pay it. I'm tired of messing 20 with this. But that's -- 21 JUDGE POLLARD: You paid it out of your pocket? 22 MR. SHIEVER: Yes, I did, and I still lost money on 23 this case. (Laughter.) But there is a distinction there. 24 And I've never seen that before, happen just that way. And I 25 can see why we talked about what -- she would get the 3-9-15 50 1 software people to make that distinction and that correction. 2 I thought, well, you know, in 30, 40 years, I've never seen 3 that. Maybe it's not worth messing with that, and just go on 4 down the road, and so that's what I tried to do. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Thank you. All right. I think 6 we've talked enough about that issue. Let's go on to -- 7 what's next? 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 1.9. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Consider, discuss, and take 10 appropriate action to clarify meaning of Kerr County 11 Subdivision Rules provision. Ilse Bailey and Richard Mosty, 12 and I think Mr. Richards may want to talk on this issue. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, before you turn it over 14 to them, I'll make a brief comment. Two things. One, I 15 ought to go ahead and leave the room, after talking with the 16 County Attorney and I realized what this was about, just 17 because it's property that's near my ranch, and I know 18 Mr. Richards and Mr. Mosty well, so I've always left the room 19 when any kind of possible discussion about that comes up. 20 But the other thing, just to -- I think the Court's aware, 21 but I'll just also make a comment on that. The County, being 22 myself, County Attorney's office, Road and Bridge Department, 23 are working on a pretty large revision of the Subdivision 24 Rules and Regulations right now. There hasn't been a major 25 update probably in six years or so, and I just want to make 3-9-15 51 1 that clear that there's a revision that's coming that has 2 nothing to do with this issue. Which I don't know what the 3 issue is, other than it involves property near my property. 4 But, anyway, so I'm leaving the room now, and then I'll come 5 back after this is decided. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And, Judge, I'm a friend of 7 Letz'. Should I go with him? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You can. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Maybe we all should go. (Laughter.) 10 All right, let the record reflect that Mr. -- Commissioner 11 Letz is leaving the courtroom and will not participate in 12 this -- in this particular item. Yes, ma'am? 13 MS. BAILEY: Good morning, Commissioners, Judge. 14 Judge Pollard and I received a request from local attorney 15 Richard Mosty for a clarification of the meaning of part of 16 Section 5 of the subdivision regulations for Kerr County. 17 This request does relate to some litigation that's been going 18 on for several years regarding property that lies in both 19 Kerr and Kendall Counties. That portion of the property 20 located in Kerr County is isolated and cut off from the rest 21 of Kerr County by a 1-foot non-access or reserve easement 22 that surrounds the entire parcel. Because of this easement, 23 a road cannot be connected to that parcel from the nearest 24 Kerr County road, Lane Valley Road. The only way to 25 currently access this parcel is through Turkey Knob Road, 3-9-15 52 1 which requires one to travel from Kerr County into Kendall 2 County, and then back to Kerr County through Turkey Knob 3 Road. 4 At the time that the isolated Kerr County 5 subdivision was platted -- it's called Privilege Creek 6 Subdivision -- the relevant Kerr County subdivision 7 regulation regarding non-access easements provided that there 8 shall be no reserve strips controlling the only access to 9 land dedicated or intended to be dedicated for a public use. 10 The litigation resulted in a previous Court of Appeals 11 decision declaring the reserve strip was not void as a matter 12 of law because the strip did not -- this particular strip did 13 not limit the only access to the Privilege Creek Subdivision; 14 that there was that access through Turkey Knob. On 15 November 26, 2007, probably as a result of this litigation, 16 the Court amended our Subdivision Rules so that Section 17 5.01.B now provides that there shall be no reserve strips 18 controlling the access to land dedicated or intended to be 19 dedicated for public use or controlling access to any portion 20 of the subdivision. 21 It's clear that the Court's intention at the time 22 this rule was revised was to clarify that Kerr County's 23 position is that reserve strips are disapproved in general, 24 not just when reserve strips cut off the only access to land. 25 This does not change the outcome of the pending litigation, 3-9-15 53 1 as the Court of Appeals held that the resolution of that 2 conflict depended on the wording of the section at the time 3 that it was -- that the subdivision was platted. What you're 4 being asked to do today is, number one, confirm what I just 5 concluded was the Court's intention; i.e., to confirm that 6 Kerr County prohibits all reserve strips that would control 7 access to land, and number two, to declare that Kerr County 8 public policy, what the public policy is in relation to this 9 issue. The proponents of the reserve strip being upheld have 10 taken the position that Kerr County does not have the 11 authority to declare public policy regarding private property 12 rights; that this is the purview of the Legislature alone. I 13 do not believe that this is settled law, but the parties in 14 the litigation will certainly hash that out in another forum. 15 What I do believe is that Kerr County does have the 16 authority to declare public policy which relates to the 17 health, safety, and general welfare of the citizens. As Kerr 18 County stated in its amicus brief to the Court of Appeals in 19 October 2013, to uphold the validity of the reserve strip in 20 this case is to override the public policy of Kerr County, 21 and to impair its ability to provide law enforcement, fire, 22 ambulance, or other emergency services to the isolated tract. 23 It also negatively impacts Kerr County's ability to exercise 24 its own transportation planning. Kerr County believed then, 25 and I believe the Court will now find that this non-access 3-9-15 54 1 easement is contrary to Kerr County's public policy, and 2 should therefore be declared void. 3 In summary, I'm asking the Court to affirmatively 4 declare that reserve strips are prohibited in Kerr County, 5 and that any existing or future such restrictions should be 6 declared void as a violation of Kerr County's public policy, 7 and its sovereign right to provide law enforcement, fire, 8 ambulance, or other emergency services to its citizens and to 9 exercise its own transportation planning and implementation. 10 I have a resolution essentially to that effect, if the Court 11 would approve that. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, essentially what you're 13 saying is -- is leave the decision that the Court has made 14 alone, and let the other courts -- let it be fought out in 15 other courts? 16 MS. BAILEY: Well, certainly, the Court of Appeals 17 is the entity to decide whether or not we have the authority 18 as a county -- 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 20 MS. BAILEY: -- to declare public policy, but until 21 we're told that we can't, we're asking the Court to say we do 22 have the authority to declare public policy for our citizens 23 on matters within our purview, which is general health, 24 safety, welfare, and emergency services and transportation. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So it's the County Attorney's 3-9-15 55 1 position that we do have that authority? 2 MS. BAILEY: I'm saying that it's unclear. We're 3 not prohibited from doing that, and I think we declare 4 policy, and then it's up to -- excuse me -- the litigants to 5 take that issue up and see if the Court of Appeals or the 6 Supreme Court agrees or disagrees. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 8 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Is there anything in this 9 resolution that is contrary to any of our existing 10 Subdivision Rules and Regulations? 11 MS. BAILEY: No, it's consistent with the old rule, 12 with the rule that was passed in 2007, and with everything 13 that's in the current rules. And the resolution essentially 14 says what I just said. And we took the same position when we 15 filed an amicus brief to the Court of Appeals in 2013, at 16 that time we were urging the Court to find the reserve strip 17 void. It wasn't fully litigated. I believe it was an issue 18 that went up on summary judgment, which means the whole 19 merits of those issues have not been fully litigated, but I 20 think Richard and Randy could speak to that. Anyone have any 21 questions? I was not here when that litigation was going on, 22 and I did not write the amicus brief. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How does this 1-foot strip 24 affect emergency services? I didn't follow all that. 25 MS. BAILEY: Well, because if you have -- if you're 3-9-15 56 1 in that subdivision in Kerr County and you have an emergency 2 and you call 911, an ambulance can't come from Kerr County on 3 Lane Valley Road and get to you. They have to go all the way 4 around to Boerne and back around to Kerr County, so it will 5 take a substantial amount of additional time. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, emergency services can't 7 cross that 1-foot line? 8 MS. BAILEY: Exactly. They're not allowed to put a 9 road across it because it's a non-access easement. And we 10 had -- as I said, Kerr County Subdivision Rules, since their 11 inception, have disapproved those non-access easements. It's 12 just that the way it was worded initially said non-access 13 easements that prohibit the only access to tracts are 14 prohibited, 'cause I don't think anyone really considered 15 this particular scenario when they were writing those rules. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: So this proposed resolution in here 17 is a restatement of the previous -- what's been previously 18 and has consistently been the Court's position in the past? 19 MS. BAILEY: Exactly. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And if we approve that, 21 they're not going to try the case in here today, are they? 22 MS. BAILEY: Not unless you let them. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let's do whatever it takes 24 to avoid that. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Who says they'll be limited to 3-9-15 57 1 today? 2 MS. BAILEY: I don't know if you have a copy of the 3 resolution. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't. 5 MS. BAILEY: I'm sorry, my arms aren't long enough. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Should be in the agenda package. 7 Jody put it in there. 8 MS. GRINSTEAD: It was one of the things I gave you 9 this morning, 1.9. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Okay. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: And just -- 12 MS. BAILEY: The one that I just handed you had a 13 couple of revisions from the first draft, so be sure you use 14 that. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Just so that Mr. Richards will 16 understand, too, your -- I think the letter from you, a brief 17 on your position before, it was also included in the agenda 18 package. 19 MS. BAILEY: Yes, I think I submitted the part of 20 his brief that was in -- in the Court of Appeals. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 22 MS. BAILEY: The portion of his brief relating to 23 this issue. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Have you seen it, Randy? 25 MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, there's some very important 3-9-15 58 1 issues that I think I need to address to the Court, 2 particularly considering the consequences of their action, 3 that if they take an action passing such a resolution. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: I'm just trying to make sure you -- 5 you're aware of what portion of your argument was in the 6 agenda package. 7 MR. RICHARDS: I'm not aware of what she included 8 in your agenda package. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, I'm going to show you. 10 MR. RICHARDS: I'm assuming she gave you my letter 11 of March the 6th? 12 JUDGE POLLARD: Here, this is part of a brief that 13 you had sent, and that was included in the agenda package. 14 MR. RICHARDS: Thank you. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: I just took it out of my agenda 16 package. What I'm trying to do is see if that adequately 17 states your position on the matter. 18 MR. RICHARDS: Well, what's more important than 19 this, Your Honor, is not what I argued and what they argued. 20 I think you really need to know -- and I gave this to 21 Mrs. Bailey, the opinion of the Court of Appeals. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Uh-huh. 23 MR. RICHARDS: 'Cause it addresses flat out what 24 should be of concern to you if you were to pass such a 25 resolution, and I can get into that whenever you want me to. 3-9-15 59 1 JUDGE POLLARD: I think we need to hear that. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, I do too. 3 MR. RICHARDS: That doesn't have to do with what I 4 argued or what Mr. Mosty argued. It has to do with what the 5 Court of Appeals has already ruled on. I don't know if the 6 Court has a copy of that Court of Appeals opinion. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: I don't think we do. 8 MR. RICHARDS: I think I brought one. 9 MS. BAILEY: The relevant portions of it are quoted 10 in Mr. Richards' brief, which I did provide you a copy. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 12 MS. BAILEY: It said the Court of Appeals held that 13 the regulations in existence at the time of the declarations 14 and subdivision being established are what matters. What 15 we've done -- the County has done subsequent to that has said 16 yes, those are the regulations that were in existence at the 17 time; here's what we meant, and we're modifying our 18 regulations in '07 to be consistent with that. And then now 19 we're being asked to confirm again that our opinion is Kerr 20 County -- 21 JUDGE POLLARD: Still the same as it was in '07? 22 MS. BAILEY: Yes, in '84, in '07, and now 2015. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 24 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Why are we being asked to do 25 this? 3-9-15 60 1 MS. BAILEY: Well, because there's a conflict, and 2 so it's important in the case. I assume -- I'll let Mr. 3 Richards answer that. I assume it's because if it goes to 4 the Court of Appeals, he wants to be saying, "Here's what 5 Kerr County says; here's what their position is." Is that 6 right? 7 MR. RICHARDS: I'm ready to address that issue if 8 you want me to. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 10 MR. RICHARDS: Do you want me to? 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, go ahead. 12 MR. RICHARDS: Again, for the record, my name is 13 Randy Richards, and I represent the Champee Springs Ranches 14 Property Owners Association. And we have been involved in a 15 dispute since the summer of 2006, our subdivision, with first 16 a developer from Houston who bought some property that's 17 immediately adjacent to the subdivision. I mean, it's in 18 Kerr County, but it's immediately on the other side of the 19 fence from Kendall County. Whereas his plan was to come out 20 of his subdivision, through a gate and into our subdivision, 21 and ride on the roads of Kendall County, because they were 22 better roads than his other access to his land. And that is 23 an important point; he has access to every part of his land, 24 a person who's a developer in Midland who was involved from 25 the very beginning. 3-9-15 61 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Can I ask you -- you're 2 representing which -- 3 MR. RICHARDS: Champee Springs Ranches Property -- 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Which side of this strip are 5 you representing? 6 JUDGE POLLARD: He's the proponent of the strip. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, I got it. Okay, I'm 8 with you. Thank you. 9 MR. RICHARDS: And back when our subdivision was 10 created, the developer put a 1-foot non-access strip all the 11 way around the property that he owned, and there's nothing in 12 the law to keep him from doing that to limit access to his 13 property. The original person tried to develop what was then 14 known as Privilege Creek Ranches Subdivision. He bought that 15 piece closest to us that had the 1-foot strip around it, and 16 then he kept buying successive tracts of land all the way out 17 to where it connected to Lane Valley road. And his idea was 18 to have all of that tract have the ability to go through -- 19 people on this side of the 1 foot, after he put that 20 together, to come through the 1 foot down into our 21 subdivision, and then it's a quicker way to get to Boerne and 22 San Antonio and I.H. 10 if you decide to buy land back in 23 that subdivision. There's no question that it has been 24 admitted that they knew of this when they bought it, but they 25 just decided that they could do this and that it was no good, 3-9-15 62 1 and we have been in litigation since 2008 with them. 2 We're the proponents, as you say, of this 3 restrictive covenant. All of the deeds up to that time, 4 including their own deeds, and all the deeds since that time 5 still have this restrictive covenant in them. That developer 6 later lost his property through foreclosure to another 7 entity. However, the owner and his partners of that entity 8 are the same people who originally bought the land and sold 9 it to this original guy, who then -- they're basically like 10 partners in the development, so he basically foreclosed on 11 his former partner. The legal entities about calling it a 12 limited partnership are different, but they were together 13 from the very beginning of this, and now this gentleman from 14 Midland owns the property, and he wants to void this 15 non-access easement. This is like having a wall or gate 16 around your subdivision, okay? And they have an entrance 17 gate where they can go in off of Turkey Knob from Kendall 18 County, and that has been the access to that property 19 historically forever. 20 There was no access before the gentleman, first 21 from Houston and now from Midland, acquired this property 22 where you could leave the property that the restrictive 23 covenant was around and go to another piece of property. 24 They're the ones that put this together. They created this 25 dilemma for themselves. So, since 2008, we've been involved 3-9-15 63 1 in this lawsuit. It's been up to the Court of Appeals. The 2 Court of Appeals ruled that both sides submitted summary 3 judgments. Our summary judgment addressed just one issue, 4 and that issue was if this case could be decided without a 5 challenge by the developer. That's what we call the 6 threshold issue. The Court of Appeals ruled he could 7 challenge. Unfortunately, in the opinion of the Court of 8 Appeals, they also wrote on the affirmative defenses and 9 legal arguments made by Teal, who's Mr. Mosty's client, that 10 he can't do what they -- what they're advocating, either 11 because he had no evidence, or because it's not -- it's 12 contrary to law. 13 And the part that you should be interested in, the 14 opinion, is that -- and what's important today is that when 15 you measure the validity and whether this would violate 16 public policy, you have to look at what the rules were in 17 effect. The rules in 2007 of Kerr County were not adopted 18 until that date, and they are expressly made projective only. 19 They don't -- they're not retroactive back to the earlier 20 period of time. And the Court of Appeals recognized that 21 when you look at the restrictive -- restrictions of the rules 22 of Kerr County that were in effect at the time this 23 restrictive covenant was created in 1998, it didn't violate 24 any Kerr County rules. You also need to know that there was 25 a plat approved by the Commissioners Court of Kerr County in 3-9-15 64 1 2001 that involved the specific tract of land with the 2 non-access easement around it, and specifically found through 3 the County Engineer's certification that it did not violate 4 any Kerr County restrictions in effect at that time. 5 Now, the Court of Appeals has already ruled as law 6 in this case that the restriction -- I mean the regulations 7 of Kerr County are to be judged by what was in effect in 8 1998. They've held that the one -- that your regulations in 9 2007 were -- this was changed from 1998 to 2007, and 2007 10 don't apply. And so if you were to vote today that they do 11 apply, then you're directly taking an action that's contrary 12 to the rulings on the law already made by the Court of 13 Appeals, and I'm going to give you a copy. I want to submit 14 for the record a copy of the opinion. And the thing that you 15 should be aware of -- let me see if I can find it. This is a 16 clean copy, but one of the things they said that you needed 17 to be aware of -- and this is why this should be important to 18 you today, that if you take a position and make a decision 19 where you change or declare that it's the public policy now 20 that this -- this restrictive covenant is not valid under 21 your regulations, you have done something after the date in 22 1998 when they were originally created, and the Court of 23 Appeals has said that this implicates then eminent domain. 24 This subjects you to a possible condemnation action 25 or claim that you have inversely condemned this -- this 3-9-15 65 1 non-access easement. Texas law, reaffirmed by the Court of 2 Appeals, says that it is a property interest, and it is a 3 compensable property interest, meaning you have to pay for it 4 if you take it. And they said in their opinion, the 5 non-access restriction, if it is a valid and enforceable 6 covenant, is a property interest, and Teal Trading's reliance 7 on county regulations effective after the creation of the 8 restriction in order to invalidate it raises issues of 9 eminent domain. The folks I represent don't want to get into 10 a fight with y'all, and that's not my purpose to be here. My 11 purpose is to protect my clients' property rights, because 12 they're concerned that you're being asked to do something 13 today to improve or favor one side in their long-running 14 lawsuit so that they can go to court and argue that, based on 15 what you've ruled today, they win. That's what you're being 16 asked to do today. 17 Now, the timing of this, there is a hearing set in 18 front of Judge Williams on March 31st where this issue is 19 going to be decided. And what this is is an attempt, in my 20 opinion, to come to you and get new evidence that they can 21 show Judge Williams on March 31st saying, "See here what the 22 County did? See what the County did? So we should win." 23 Because they said the public policy of Kerr County, based on 24 you doing something today, says it's no longer valid. Now, 25 that is something that happened after the date in 1998 when 3-9-15 66 1 this non-access easement was created, this restrictive 2 covenant, that you've done to change the effect of it. And 3 that's my concern, is that you're being coached into taking 4 some action to help them that would then put you in legal 5 jeopardy as far as the County's concerned. 6 I found out about this, because I get copies of the 7 agenda, on Thursday night. I tried to call Mrs. Bailey the 8 next morning, because I saw her name on the agenda item. 9 When I called the County Attorney's office, I was also told 10 that Heather Stebbins had returned to work, so I asked her to 11 call me. So, I've asked both of them to call me. When it 12 got to be in the latter part of the afternoon on Friday, I 13 believe, believing my call wasn't going to be returned to 14 just even find out what this was about, I wrote a letter. 15 And that's the reason I wrote the letter, 'cause no one 16 called me back or talked to me. I didn't even know what this 17 was about till I just heard her speak a while ago. I am very 18 concerned about the adequacy of the notice for this issue 19 that's on the agenda. The Texas Open Meetings Act requires 20 that the notice be sufficiently descriptive so the public 21 will know what this is about. 22 This notice in the agenda does not reference 23 whether you're talking about all of the subdivision to be 24 clarified. It doesn't talk about which section, which if it 25 did, if it was directed to this section she's talking about, 3-9-15 67 1 wouldn't that -- why wasn't that put in the -- this notice? 2 It doesn't describe even what subdivision it applies to. We 3 know what subdivision this is now -- I do. It applies to the 4 Privilege Creek Ranches Subdivision, which this Court, in May 5 of 2008, approved a final plat for. On that final plat is a 6 plat note that all of the roads in the subdivision are 7 private. They're not public roads; they're private. This is 8 like a private, gated subdivision, and I know there's a 9 number of them in Kerr County, city of Kerrville, that have 10 walls and fences around them, that the property owners, 11 through access codes and gates, go in and out of. And the 12 reason they do this is to have security, to prevent through 13 traffic through the subdivisions, and there's actually an 14 increase in value sometimes in those subdivisions because of 15 those amenities. 16 And that's why we're concerned, 'cause we thought 17 we had the same thing, and now we have a developer from 18 Midland who's trying to take that away from my clients, so 19 that's very important to us. I've said in the letter we 20 think it's a very substantial value of this restrictive 21 covenant. We don't want to get into a fight with the County. 22 What I'm trying to prevent is you taking sides just before a 23 hearing before the Court, and doing something that they can 24 then claim they win because of what you've done. I'm 25 concerned that you're being coaxed into doing something that 3-9-15 68 1 then may expose the County to some potential liability, as -- 2 as the Court of Appeals has already recognized. In this 3 letter -- and I don't know if you all have my letter in the 4 enclosures that I sent Mrs. Bailey, but I enclosed some 5 documents. And one of the documents I enclosed was a 6 memorandum by Rex Emerson, who's now one of the District 7 Judges, when he was the County Attorney, to Kerr County 8 Commissioners and the Court, and this was back in 2006 when 9 this first arose. 10 I sent him a letter telling him of my concerns. I 11 pointed out this problem, about if the County did something 12 to take away this potential liability with that. Mr. Emerson 13 responded to my letter. I included that in the letter to 14 Mrs. Bailey. I don't know if you got that. I also included 15 in there his memorandum to the Court where he says, "My 16 recommendation is for Kerr County to stay out of this. Let 17 the developer and the other side have their own fight." I 18 included that memorandum in here. And the way that I found a 19 copy of that memorandum, early on I went over to Road and 20 Bridge Department to look through the file of Privilege Creek 21 Ranches Subdivision and what had happened in the development 22 of that subdivision through the years, and I found that 23 letter -- that memorandum in the file, and I put that in the 24 letter to Mrs. Bailey. I think that's very important, 25 because the Court was warned early on, "Don't get involved in 3-9-15 69 1 this fight," and for the reasons that he says in that 2 memorandum from the County Attorney. 3 Let me clear up something. A statement was made 4 that emergency services vehicles cannot go into that. That 5 is not true. There is a specific statute that allows 6 emergency service vehicles -- sheriff, police, fire, EMS -- 7 to go into a private gated subdivision. Just think about it. 8 We have these things all over the state of Texas; there's 9 thousands of them. How would they get there? And so the 10 State Legislature passed a specific law that even though you 11 have a gate, they have the authority to enter that 12 subdivision to provide emergency medical services, or any 13 kind of emergency services. And that was not mentioned to 14 you by Mrs. Bailey, but that's also in our briefing in the 15 Court of Appeals, that -- that there's already that existing 16 right. So, that is not true, that these -- whoever ends 17 up -- there's no one living, to my knowledge, in this 18 subdivision; never has. We've argued that for a long time in 19 the case, but that wasn't shown to you today. 20 As I said, I'm very concerned that you're being 21 coaxed into doing something that's going to expose the County 22 to some potential liability. I don't think you ought to take 23 sides in the lawsuit. Let the Court decide. Judge Williams 24 is going to rule on this issue on March 31st. Let him do it. 25 I don't see any public purpose or public necessity for the 3-9-15 70 1 Court to do something like this. I'm not aware of any other 2 developer or person coming to the Court other than this 3 litigant, the developer from Midland, and asking you to 4 change the Subdivision Regulations. So, I'm asking you not 5 to do it, not to pass -- let the Court where the issue is 6 already pending and it's going to be heard, let them decide 7 what happens here. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Thank you, Randy. 9 Mr. Mosty? 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, I will honor 11 Commissioner Baldwin's request to not argue the case. It's 12 properly argued before Judge Williams. What the Court of 13 Appeals means -- and it's a summary judgment, that 14 Mr. Pollard -- Judge Pollard knows this. It's based upon 15 what was in the record before that time. The Court has said 16 it wasn't sufficient to law -- it's a matter of law; send it 17 back to Judge Williams, which is what we're going to do. I 18 think the suggestion that the Court ought to stay out of it 19 is really shirking your responsibility. Your responsibility 20 is the public safety, health, and welfare of the community. 21 And contrary to what Mr. Richards says, there's not going to 22 be a road. If this is done, then there will not be a road 23 there. The emergency services, to get through a gated 24 community, which is -- would have to go to Boerne to go 25 through the gate and come into Kerr County, because there 3-9-15 71 1 would not be a road. That's the whole concept of this. 2 Finally, the -- and I'm not going to threaten you with 3 litigation, tell you what you ought to do. This policy has 4 been in place since 1984 -- these policies. You go back to 5 1984, and it talks about where adjoining areas are not 6 subdivided, the roads will be set up in a way to where they 7 can be projected into future subdivided land. This is not -- 8 some refinements in this over time, but all this resolution 9 is, it goes back and it recognizes what the Court did in 10 1984, what the Court did in 1998 and -- and in 2007. It 11 simply restates what has been Commissioners Court's 12 subdivision rules going back to 1984. And I'm -- I'll 13 reserve the rest of my arguments for Judge Williams. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Thank you. 15 MR. RICHARDS: May I just have one minute of 16 rebuttal? One minute or less. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: Or less, preferably. 18 MR. RICHARDS: That's not what the Subdivision 19 Regulations said in 1998. The Court has already said as 20 much, that they were different in 1998, because of the 21 evidence we presented to the Court. They are discussed, 22 those regulations, in this opinion. And I mentioned to you, 23 and then I sat down, I would like to offer this opinion in 24 the record -- 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 3-9-15 72 1 MR. RICHARDS: -- of the court, 'cause I think it's 2 very important for to you read it before you take any actions 3 in this case. The Court of Appeals specifically said the 4 restrictions were different in 1998, because they only 5 prohibited the -- if there was no access to property. That 6 is understandable. What happened here was that there was 7 access, and if you will look at the plat for the Privilege 8 Creek Ranches Subdivision that was approved by this Court in 9 2001, you'll see -- 'cause you have to put that vicinity map 10 on your -- on the plat. You'll see that it had access from 11 Turkey Knob Road. You'll see that was the only access to 12 that piece of property in 1998. The Court of Appeals had all 13 of that information, and they made their rulings that are in 14 that opinion. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Thanks, Randy. 16 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Judge, I have several 17 questions, but of our County Attorney. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: Uh-huh. 19 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I would like to pass on this 20 item until we can go into executive session. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: I think it's a good idea, and maybe 22 even reserve it for some further legal opinions and all, but 23 we may not even be able to make a decision today with this 24 section. 25 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I would like -- we've got 3-9-15 73 1 other executive sessions on legal issues, -- 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER REEVES: -- and I'd like to wait. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Me too. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: I think it's a good idea. All 7 right. So, we're going to pass it and let you know something 8 later on, okay? 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 10 MR. RICHARDS: Could I ask that if this is taken up 11 again, that I may be notified of that being on the agenda? 12 I'll try to be diligent watching, but I'd like to make sure 13 that if it is, that I know about it, if it's not going to be 14 something decided today. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: The lady -- I don't think it's 16 going to. 17 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I don't know if it will be 18 decided. I want to talk with the County Attorney, and we've 19 asked some other -- we have some other items on down the 20 agenda, so we may or we may not discuss it after we visit. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: I can tell you this. The lady 22 that -- come on back in. 23 (Commissioner Letz entered the courtroom.) 24 JUDGE POLLARD: The lady that just left here -- 25 Jody? He wants to be notified specifically if this is put 3-9-15 74 1 back on the agenda again at a later time, okay? And he wants 2 to know if any action is taken today. If any action is taken 3 today. 4 MR. RICHARDS: I'll be here today, but I didn't 5 know if -- you said you might reserve it to another day, and 6 if it's going to be after today, I want to be sure I'm 7 notified. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: I'm going to urge them to reserve 9 it to another day, myself. But, anyway, I don't know. I 10 don't control the whole vote on this Commissioners Court. 11 Okay, we're passing it for the present, at least 12 consideration right now. All right. The next item on the 13 agenda would be, I guess, 1.10 -- 14 MR. VOELKEL: Is that me? 15 JUDGE POLLARD: That's you. 16 MR. VOELKEL: Good morning. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: Let me read it first, Lee. 18 MR. VOELKEL: Yes, sir. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Consider, discuss, take appropriate 20 action regarding the donation, acceptance, and placement of a 21 wooden custom-made map of Texas showing each county. Lee 22 Voelkel and Ben Graves. 23 MR. VOELKEL: My good friend Ben. Let me explain 24 what happened to me, guys. About a month ago -- well, let's 25 go back a little further. Ben has been here before, when he 3-9-15 75 1 made a present or a gift to the county of a large United 2 States map of every county, which is a neat map, and that's 3 downstairs in the basement, for those of you that -- 4 JUDGE POLLARD: In that courtroom. 5 MR. VOELKEL: Courtroom downstairs, correct. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Courtroom downstairs. And it's 7 really nice. 8 MR. VOELKEL: Ben had gone out to the new Ag Barn, 9 and really, really liked the improvements, thought it was 10 pretty neat. He thought maybe one of his pieces of artwork 11 would look good in there, so he came to my office and said, 12 "Lee, what can we do?" And I said, "Ben, let's go to the 13 Commissioners Court." And he's not one of those people that 14 really likes getting up and talking and all that, so I -- so 15 I told him I would do that for him today. But I think it's 16 pretty important, and I thank Mr. Moser for getting us on the 17 agenda this morning. Ben is here with me this morning. What 18 he would like to present with the County is a map -- a wooden 19 map of the state of Texas that has every county with a little 20 piece of different wood in it. For all the Texas history 21 buffs, that's 254. So, Tim's got that, holding it up. Ben 22 is here. Ben, do you want to say anything, other than thank 23 you guys for taking it, or what do you want to say? 24 MR. GRAVES: Well, that is exactly -- as close to 25 the TexDOT map as you can get. That's what's we -- I used. 3-9-15 76 1 MR. BOLLIER: And he also said that he recommends 2 you not give it to Sheriff Hierholzer. (Laughter.) 3 MR. VOELKEL: That's correct, part of the 4 recommendation. 5 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I think it's a beautiful 6 piece, and I think we can find a great place to place it. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: It is, yeah. Only thing is, it 8 doesn't have Kerr County big enough on that. 9 MR. VOELKEL: Well, funny you should say that. Ben 10 also went home last night and did something special for each 11 of the Commissioners, which is Kerr County, a little charger. 12 And what it basically is is a precinct map of Kerr County. 13 And you can see how large Bob's is over here. But he wanted 14 to give -- why don't you hand these out to each of the 15 Commissioners? 16 MR. GRAVES: I don't know who wants what. 17 MR. VOELKEL: Let's just go from this end over. 18 MR. GRAVES: I want to know who designed the 19 precincts. (Laughter.) 20 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Thank you, sir. 21 MR. VOELKEL: I knew that was coming. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Did you ever hear of 23 gerrymandering? 24 JUDGE POLLARD: I heard it was a drunk Mexican on a 25 burro that drug a pole behind him. 3-9-15 77 1 MR. GRAVES: I didn't sign it. Do I need to sign 2 it? You folks make the decision. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. Thank you, thank 4 you, thank you. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Fantastic. 6 MR. VOELKEL: Don't forget Buster down there; he'll 7 cry. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 9 COMMISSIONER REEVES: He's got the littlest one. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure appreciate it. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sign it. 12 MR. GRAVES: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We'll get you a felt-tip pen 14 to sign it. Jody, get him a felt pen to sign it. 15 MR. VOELKEL: As I told Ben when we were coming to 16 court this morning, the Court really will decide what's best 17 for these things. His recommendation, of course, would be 18 that if we could put it at the Ag Barn, that would be kind of 19 neat. And I think, too, wherever we put it, we can make a 20 little -- I think we did it downstairs on the other one. A 21 little placard that says, "Donated by Ben Graves" would be 22 nice. 23 MR. GRAVES: I'd love to have nothing but just a 24 letter of appreciation from each one of you. 25 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Glad to. 3-9-15 78 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Glad to do that. 2 MR. GRAVES: That's for my kids. They requested 3 that, not me. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there a -- 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I make a motion that we accept 6 this fantastic handmade, custom-made map out of the different 7 woods from -- and to be put at the Exhibit Hall or the 8 appropriate place at the Ag Barn -- I won't say youth 9 center -- and that we include a little plaque that says -- 10 identified who made it. 11 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I'll second that. 12 MR. GRAVES: Sign it on the back? Is that what you 13 want? 14 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Could you sign it right 15 there? 16 MR. GRAVES: Oh, no, my name won't go there. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: And that we give him a letter of -- 18 that he's requested? 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: A letter of appreciation for the 21 donation. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Any further discussion? 3-9-15 79 1 There being none, those in favor, signify by raising your 2 right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 5-0.) 4 JUDGE POLLARD: I want to vote on that, too. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Thank you, sir. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let's see, I gave you -- 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Here's yours. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I can't keep up with 11 everything for you. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Judge, I imagine the reporter 14 needs a little break. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, let's have a 10-minute break. 16 MR. VOELKEL: Thank you, Commissioner. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you, Lee. 18 (Recess taken from 10:43 a.m. to 10:55 a.m.) 19 - - - - - - - - - - 20 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, the recess is over. We 21 now need to go to Item 1.13 on the agenda; consider, discuss, 22 and take appropriate action to open request for proposals, 23 bids, for the naming rights at Hill Country Youth Exhibit 24 Center and refer for evaluation and recommendation. Mr. Letz 25 and Mr. Reeves. 3-9-15 80 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To my knowledge, Becky has -- 2 we did not receive any, so we can move off of that agenda 3 item. We'll come back to retackle that concept at another 4 time. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. All right. 1.14; this is 6 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action modifying 7 lease agreement rates and other matters related to operation 8 at Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center. Also, we're going to 9 pass on that until after the -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Workshop. 11 COMMISSIONER REEVES: After the workshop today. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, all right. 1.15; consider, 13 discuss, and take appropriate action on resolution regarding 14 potential revenue cap legislation. Mr. Letz? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One of the things that came up 16 out of our trip to Austin are the next two agenda items. One 17 of them is revenue caps. Revenue caps are -- and there are 18 two -- or several bills already been filed there, that are 19 being looked at, that will do various things to cap the -- or 20 change how we set tax rates at the local county level. One 21 of the bills lowers the rollback rate to 4 percent, and if 22 it's over 4 percent, it's an automatic election. No choice 23 of ours, which that's a huge cost just by itself. There's 24 ones doing various other things, and I think that, you know, 25 it's a -- I think revenue caps -- I think we're fine the way 3-9-15 81 1 we are. Everything seems to work. Every county is 2 different. Some counties would never even come close to a 3 4 percent increase. Others that are having growth more like 4 we are. You know, taxes are difficult for us. We have a lot 5 of services and things that are being demanded. So, anyway, 6 I modeled this largely after a resolution that I believe you 7 got, Judge, from Mason County. I want to give them credit. 8 But I kind of tailored it to Kerr County. I'll go ahead and 9 read it. 10 "Kerr County resolution related to adoption of 11 revenue caps by the 84th Legislature. Whereas, Kerr County 12 must enforce laws through the Sheriff's Department, build and 13 operate jails, and support the state's criminal and civil 14 court system, maintain county roads and bridges; and whereas, 15 Kerr County must protect the integrity of, and provide public 16 access to, property ownership transaction records and other 17 vital public documents; and whereas, Kerr County must conduct 18 state, federal, and local elections, register vehicles, 19 assess and collect taxes, provide legal counsel for those in 20 need, and pay medical bills for the indigent; and whereas, in 21 Kerr County, road construction is a large and growing expense 22 because state and federal transportation programs have failed 23 to provide adequate highway construction and maintenance 24 funding to keep pace with the population growth; and whereas, 25 the Texas Legislature mandates that Kerr County provide many 3-9-15 82 1 services, but provides no state funding except for a few 2 small grant programs; and whereas, revenue caps would 3 diminish local control and would tie the hands of 4 Commissioners Court by limiting its ability to provide the 5 above-mentioned services; and whereas, such caps would shift 6 local control to the Texas Legislature in Austin, thereby 7 making it difficult for citizens of the county to have a 8 voice in the way their local tax dollars are spent. Now, 9 therefore, be it resolved, Kerr County Commissioners Court 10 does hereby express its opposition to efforts limiting local 11 control of local governments, and does hereby oppose any 12 attempt to impose revenue caps upon Texas counties, and the 13 Commissioners Court expresses its deep appreciation to all 14 legislators who oppose these unsound measures." I'll make a 15 motion to approve. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'll 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 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Commissioner, where does 23 this go? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would request that this go to 25 Representative Murr and Senator Fraser. 3-9-15 83 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Very good. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Kind of like the federal 3 government telling the state that they can't impose any 4 income tax or set the income tax rate. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Exactly the same thing. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: They're ready to pass things and -- 8 for unfunded mandates on us, and keep making us carry more of 9 the financial load, and now they want to cap it off where we 10 can't collect it back again. They're getting us both ways. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well-written resolution. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I used to go up there -- 14 it's been 25 years ago; used to go up there with Fred 15 Holland, and we would -- we would fight the unfunded mandate 16 thing. And this is the new unfunded mandate issue. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Mm-hmm. Very good. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, let's go to Item 1.16; 20 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on resolution 21 regarding proposed new judicial district for Kendall County. 22 Mr. Letz? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is one -- and I -- 24 probably, this is, you know, unnecessary, because just from 25 what I hear, this likely is not going to be taken up in this 3-9-15 84 1 Legislature, but just, you know, so we're on the record. 2 It's not an opposition to them doing it; it's just a request 3 for them to slow down a little bit. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: We can't assume they won't do 5 anything. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: "Kerr County resolution 9 relating to the realignment of the 216th Judicial District. 10 Whereas, Kendall, Gillespie, and Kerr Counties currently make 11 up the territory of the 216th Judicial District; and whereas, 12 the 216th Judicial District was realigned by the 83rd 13 Legislature in 2013, and such previous alignment in 2013 was 14 done in an attempt to better serve the residents and 15 overloaded judicial dockets within Kendall, Gillespie, and 16 Kerr Counties; and whereas, it has been proposed that a new 17 judicial district be formed that only includes Kendall 18 County, thereby requiring another realignment of the 216th 19 Judicial District; and whereas, the ratio of the new judicial 20 district would have a financial and budgetary impact to 21 Kendall, Gillespie, and Kerr County. Now, therefore, be it 22 resolved that Kerr County Commissioners Court supports the 23 statewide criteria to determine the need for a further 24 realignment of the 216th Judicial District, and supports an 25 analysis of the budgetary impact of such realignment before 3-9-15 85 1 such realignment is approved by the Legislature." And 2 basically what we're trying to say is that they need to do a 3 financial analysis before they pass a bill and say what it's 4 going to do to Gillespie and Kerr and Kendall Counties. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Has Gillespie County taken up a 6 position on it? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not to my knowledge. But from 8 my understanding from talking to some legislators, they may 9 be. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: I can tell you that I have visited 11 with Judge Stroeher on a couple of occasions about it, and 12 he's very concerned about it and feels the same way we do, 13 and that their Commissioners Court feels -- also supports 14 this position. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: I think we ought to send a copy of 17 this over to them and see if they might want to consider 18 doing it. I don't care if those guys want a separate court 19 or not; I'm just concerned about the financial burden that it 20 puts on -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: -- our taxpayers. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And it's going to be 24 considerable. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 3-9-15 86 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's it. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. So, I'll make a motion 3 to approve. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: It's been moved and seconded for 6 approval of it. Is there any further discussion? I'd like 7 for -- I'd like to ask Randy, what's your view of it down 8 there? What do you see from down there? 9 MR. RICHARDS: I have stayed as far away from the 10 politics of that issue as I can. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you telling me -- 12 MR. RICHARDS: I have no opinion. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is there a 1-foot line 14 around it? 15 MR. RICHARDS: I don't touch that one. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't blame you. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge? Or the Sheriff has -- 18 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, Sheriff? 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The only comment I would make, 20 I'm totally in support of the resolution to find out the true 21 cost, okay? But as we found out -- and one thing I wouldn't 22 want to see done is to object to it, because Kendall County 23 being one of the largest, fastest growing counties in the 24 state, they're going to need that court. They're going to 25 have to have that court. 3-9-15 87 1 JUDGE POLLARD: Eventually, for sure. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The more their court gets 3 bogged up currently, the slower our court gets, because it's 4 our court too. And that's where my issue is. We talked 5 about and we cut it from 10 counties that were in the two 6 districts when they redid it, to now five counties. But 7 sooner or later, to help keep ours moving and help keeping 8 from too much overcrowding and jails and docket and 9 everything else, I think it's a good idea. But I think you 10 need to see the cost between what's it going to do to our 11 criminal justice system, and what it's going to cost Kerr 12 County to have -- you know, take on that other third of the 13 courts? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. And I tried very 15 carefully not -- it's not intended to oppose it. It's just 16 saying, hey, there's statewide standards. When you meet -- 17 JUDGE POLLARD: See what the finances are, is what 18 you're saying? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: There's a lot -- as the Judge 21 -- I mean the Sheriff says, there's a lot of things to 22 consider. Current conditions are another one. Make sure 23 it's all on the table when you make a decision. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: There's another situation. There 25 is -- there always has been a little bit of -- I don't know 3-9-15 88 1 -- between Kendall County judiciary and the judges up here. 2 It's been a kind of little sticky problem that's been going 3 on for a lot of years. It's not pleasant. And -- and that 4 would be a benefit to me too, just to kind of stop that. I'm 5 sick and tired of it, frankly. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And, Judge, I'd recommend that 7 this one go to, again, Senator Fraser, Representative Murr, 8 and probably Representative Miller. Because it -- I believe 9 Gillespie -- 10 JUDGE POLLARD: In addition to Judge Stroeher? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And Judge Stroeher. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Any further discussion on 13 it? There being none, those in favor, signify by raising 14 your right hand. 15 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 16 JUDGE POLLARD: 4-0, unanimous. All right. 1.17; 17 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to accept the 18 bequested and donated sums from Kerr County Sheriff's office. 19 Sheriff Hierholzer. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: This is something that has 21 come up, and I had to get Ilse to help with this. And 22 recently, especially involving -- what brought it up to me 23 was a -- a very, very recent Attorney General's opinion, 24 Greg -- Ken Paxton's opinion, KP-0003; it's the third one 25 that he's issued totally since he's taken over as Attorney 3-9-15 89 1 General. I disagree with a lot of it, and I think our County 2 Attorney may have a disagreement with some of it, too. But 3 we don't have time to ask for a new opinion in the time 4 between now and the jail bond issue, is where it concerns me. 5 The new opinion says that sheriffs departments cannot accept 6 donations, period, in any way, shape, or form, you know, 7 deal. And that is -- if we do that, that money has to be 8 immediately turned over to the Commissioners Court, and that 9 money becomes county funds, okay? Now, it doesn't matter 10 whether it's donated money for a specific cause, or what I'm 11 concerned about was bequested money that somebody left the 12 Sheriff's Office several years ago, as y'all know, in a will. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: A man left Kerr County $250,000 -- 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right around. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: -- in his will, because he was 16 grateful to the Sheriff's office for the consideration that 17 they gave him during the time his wife -- 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I can understand the Sheriff's 19 Office not accepting gifts or donations or -- 'cause you 20 don't want to put the influence -- and I even have written 21 policies in the department about bribes. You don't want me 22 to accept a donation from somebody, for them to be a resident 23 of Kerr County and expect a favor in return. That, you don't 24 want. But -- and that's what part of this A.G.'s opinion 25 rules. The only thing is, I don't believe I have 3-9-15 90 1 jurisdiction over the man that bequested us funds. Somebody 2 else a whole lot bigger than any of us in this room has 3 jurisdiction over that person, hopefully. But -- so that's 4 what the issue is. The other deal is, it's not money. All 5 our donations are money that this Court has been aware of, 6 okay? Every time we've ever received money in the Sheriff's 7 Office, it's gone directly to the County Treasurer. It is 8 part of my budget. You can see it in this agenda. It either 9 goes into equipment, crime prevention or, you know, D.A.R.E. 10 program, and y'all get to see all the expenditures out of 11 that money, which is kind of what this says. It has to be 12 turned over. The ruling I had in this that I was concerned 13 about, the -- the bequested funds, some of that I was 14 actually going to go in, going to use to help advocate for 15 this bond issue, okay? You cannot -- and I understand there 16 is a law against any county employee on duty advocating for 17 or against a bond issue. That's going to the voters. Cannot 18 do it at all. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You said on duty. Only while 20 on duty? 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Only while on duty. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: There is a law that we cannot 24 advocate for it, and we cannot use any kind of county 25 funds -- and that's where my issue came up -- to advocate for 3-9-15 91 1 it. My original deal was bequested funds weren't county 2 funds, but in light of the newest A.G.'s opinion, I'm 3 concerned that they are county funds. And so what I asked 4 the -- the County Attorney for was to make two 5 recommendations to me. One is, interpret the A.G.'s opinion 6 and tell me what I needed to do on that. And two, interpret 7 the Power Point program, the -- the brochures that we're 8 giving out and the ones that I'd like to mail out, and are 9 those advocating for, or are those informational and just 10 giving the facts about the bond issue? In the letter you 11 have as your -- in your packet from the County Attorney, in 12 both this item and the next item -- Judge, if you want to 13 call them both, they're kind of simultaneous. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: I'll call the other one, too. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: All right. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: I'll do it now. 1.18; consider, 17 discuss, and take appropriate action to authorize Sheriff 18 Hierholzer to spend up to $8,000 from bequested funds for 19 informational materials related to the proposed jail 20 expansion project. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And in this, what y'all can do 22 is you can authorize me to spend money for -- out of those 23 funds for the -- the informational and factual stuff, not for 24 advocating. So, what I have given you is a copy of what we 25 have in those accounts. I believe you have it there with 3-9-15 92 1 your -- with your deal. In the bequested funds, I have 2 $38,719.79 cents. That original amount of over -- a little 3 over 200,000 was several years ago, and it has gone to 4 purchase patrol vehicles, transport vehicles; it has assisted 5 with some of our bulletproof vests. It has assisted with 6 some of our flare-type -- electronic flare-type stuff you put 7 out at wreck scenes. And we have even had some that assisted 8 in some trauma packs that the officers carry in case of an 9 officer shooting or stabbing where it can help curtail blood 10 loss. But bequested funds, I have $38,719.79. Donated 11 funds, I have $5,479.20. D.A.R.E., I have $10,023 37. And 12 crime prevention, I have $1,729.49. So, what I'm doing here 13 officially is making sure y'all are aware, and in essence 14 turning the funds over to y'all, okay, as the Court. Even 15 though it's already in the County Treasurer's office and in 16 the -- in our audit, our budget process. Everything else is 17 already done. I just -- normally when I get it, we take it 18 directly to them and not to y'all. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Then you're also asking that the 20 Court authorize you to use up to $8,000 out of it for -- 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. If you look in the 22 other deal, it shows where we had -- where we had bids on the 23 handout brochures that you've seen sitting around here at the 24 courthouse and that; that was $870. And what we would also 25 like doing is, those same type of brochures are going to 3-9-15 93 1 be -- my intention was mail those out to all voters that 2 voted in the last general election, which, by the way, was 3 about 16,000. Mail those out, and covering the cost of that 4 with the postage on it would be a total of -- what I'm asking 5 for is for you to authorize me, out of the bequested funds 6 that I'm giving y'all, to spend up to $8,000 for the 7 information and factual information that we give out during 8 these -- during these town hall meetings, and the Power Point 9 program we're doing, and to mail out to folks. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Rusty, I have a question. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And find, I guess, also -- 12 Ilse, in the letter -- is find that y'all do agree that 13 that's factual. That's why we put copies of all that in 14 there. That's factual and informational. That is not 15 promoting any type of vote in either way on this bond issue. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I don't -- I'm an advocate for 17 the information being sent, but I'd ask you a question. I 18 know you've been doing town hall meetings. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And from what I hear, it's, 21 you know, been very informative, and people's -- 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- eyes are opened, and 24 they're seeing what it is, and that's good. Do you think -- 25 do you think a mailout to everybody is necessary? 3-9-15 94 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes, I do. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You do. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: 'Cause what we're finding is 4 people have no idea. A lot of people don't read the 5 newspapers. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right, okay. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They don't get it. We have it 8 on our website, but I think -- and this being more of a town 9 -- a municipal election, if you know what I'm talking about, 10 normally this is not a county-wide election this time of 11 year, or during this. It's City Council, so a lot of those 12 people pay attention to it, but a lot of people out in the 13 county that we service, which is where the largest population 14 is, do not pay attention. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: One other question. You said 16 it's on the website. It's on the county website? 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's on the Sheriff's Office 18 website, which you can get to from the county website. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. All right. That would 20 be the other thing I'd suggest, is just making it clear on 21 the county website that this issue is at another -- 22 MR. RICHARDS: Yes, there's a deal you can click on 23 to get to it all. But I'm asking that -- I'm asking this 24 Court to find two things. To accept the funds that I'm 25 turning over to the Court as the donated bequested funds, 3-9-15 95 1 that's number one. And it may need to be two motions. And 2 two, to find, as the County Attorney has recommended -- and 3 you can ask her -- in her letter, that the information we are 4 giving out is factual and informational information. I am 5 not promoting the -- the passage or, you know, not passage of 6 this bond issue, but that what we're giving is giving out 7 appropriate information to the public. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And that's $8,000? 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That will cost $8,000. You 10 have that information, what we're giving out, and what we 11 want to -- 12 MS. BAILEY: Probably need three motions, then. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Three motions? 14 MS. BAILEY: I think so. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah, I guess it would be. It 16 would be three. Accept the donation, find that the 17 information is factual and informational, not advocating for 18 or against, and number three would be allowing me to spend up 19 to $8,000 from the bequested funds for the -- to get out that 20 information, you know, such as the brochures -- this one, 21 okay, that I had done before this A.G.'s opinion come out. 22 We have that. It has not been paid for yet, okay, so we 23 haven't spent money either way. But I want to make sure that 24 we're all appropriate, especially me, in doing so, in light 25 of this A.G.'s opinion. 3-9-15 96 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'm going to simplify the 2 motion. I'm going to make a motion that we accept the funds 3 as delineated by the Sheriff. I'm going to make a motion 4 that we find the -- 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let's do one at a time. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. All right. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Don't you think? 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure, that'd be great. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Any further discussion? 11 COMMISSIONER REEVES: So, we're accepting the 12 bequested and donated funds from -- 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Yes, uh-huh. All right. Those in 15 favor, signify by raising your right hand. 16 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 17 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Is there 18 another motion? 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Make a motion that we 20 acknowledge the fact that the proposed information being 21 presented to the public is for information only, and not 22 advocating the jail expansion -- jail expansion bond issue. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a question. Is it the 25 County Attorney's opinion that that is -- 3-9-15 97 1 MS. BAILEY: Yes. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Is that correct? 3 MS. BAILEY: Basically, you could say that based on 4 our review and recommendation. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: 'Cause the County Attorney has 7 reviewed the Power Point program and the brochures that have 8 been put out. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Any further discussion? 10 If not, 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. Third motion? 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I make a motion that we -- 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Authorize the Sheriff. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- authorize the Sheriff to 16 spend up to $8,000 for providing information on the jail 17 expansion bond issue to the public. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: Out of funds -- 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Out of the funds -- 20 JUDGE POLLARD: -- that we just accepted? 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- that's just been accepted 22 by this Court. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And I would prefer you even 24 say out of the bequested funds. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Out of the bequested or 3-9-15 98 1 donated funds. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The others are crime 3 prevention, donated -- 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Any further discussion? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a question of the 7 Auditor. Now, we're throwing this word "bequested" around a 8 lot. Is that -- is that -- is are these funds already put in 9 a line item? Has there been a line item assigned to these? 10 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is the word "bequested" in 12 there? 13 MS. HARGIS: Right now, I can't tell you that; I 14 have to look. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They are totally separated 16 out. We have -- we have the exact amount that is in each one 17 of these things, as far as bequested. We can show you a 18 detailed printout any time of anything that's been spent out 19 of donated or bequested funds. It's all sub-categorized out 20 under equipment funds in the budget, and then there's a 21 sub-category under that. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, modify the motion to say 23 that the line item in the budget which has been established 24 for the bequested funds, however it's identified. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there -- does the second agree 3-9-15 99 1 to that amendment? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Any further discussion? 4 COMMISSIONER REEVES: The Auditor made a face. 5 MS. HARGIS: I just need to look. But, I mean, the 6 funds are separated. I -- and it's in a totally different 7 fund. 8 COMMISSIONER REEVES: You can tell where that money 9 is from? 10 MS. HARGIS: Yes. I just need -- I don't know if 11 the word "bequested" is on the line item. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Those in favor of that 13 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 15 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Thank you, gentlemen. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, Rusty. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: 1.19; consider, discuss, and take 19 appropriate action to approve rules and regulations for 20 county parks as prepared by the County Attorney. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you, Judge. This -- 22 we've discussed this in a previous -- previous court session, 23 and I think that -- and I asked the County Attorney to draft 24 a proposed rules and regulations for county parks. She has 25 done so. I believe everybody has a copy of that. I've gone 3-9-15 100 1 through it. There's some changes that I would like to make, 2 so I think what I'll do is I'll just mention the changes that 3 I would like to see made, and then we'll proceed from there. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. On -- first thing, on 6 item -- Section 6, Vehicles, (b), "No person shall operate a 7 truck within a park." And right above that in Paragraph (a), 8 it says, "No person shall operate a vehicle within a park." 9 I don't know why we need to specify "truck" being different 10 than vehicles. 11 MS. BAILEY: I don't have my copy of the rules with 12 me, but I think it had something to do with the definitions 13 of each. But -- 14 COMMISSIONER REEVES: You define "light truck" to 15 basically be, for lack of a better word, carrying capacity 16 not to exceed 2,000 pounds. In other words, a light truck is 17 a one-ton pickup or less. And you exclude truck -- you 18 exclude light trucks from, "No person shall operate a truck 19 within a park." 20 MS. BAILEY: You know, my suggestion would be that 21 maybe we should either have a workshop on this, or maybe put 22 this off to another meeting, and let all the Commissioners 23 make recommendations. Since this was just a first draft, I 24 would hate to adopt it and then have to come back and make a 25 bunch of changes. 3-9-15 101 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I agree with that. I'm going 2 to say let's just -- let's do that, and maybe give our 3 comments to you and see if you can -- 4 MS. BAILEY: I'll try to come up with something 5 that everyone has had input on. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If I could ask, could we get a 7 copy of that, since I'll be required to enforce that? 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I would just like to make one 9 point while we do this. I know that it was raised that we 10 don't want any rules and regulations that we don't enforce, 11 but we have a lot of rules and regulations in the county we 12 don't actively enforce. Not saying anybody's not doing their 13 job, but for instance, at Flat Rock Park, Kerr County 14 Commissioners Court Order 31369, All dogs should be on 15 leashes at all times except designated areas east of Third 16 Creek across the bridge. Unrestrained, unknown, 17 unregistered, or stray animals can be impounded. A violation 18 is a Class C misdemeanor with fines up to $500, and report 19 violations to Kerr County Sheriff and to the Kerr County 20 rabies thing. So, I think having -- and what was the basis 21 of the recommendation, we have some rules and regulations to 22 just have some limit on the times that parks are open, okay? 23 And so I think it's consistent with this. We're saying this 24 about dogs, and we follow that, but we don't -- I don't think 25 the Sheriff goes down and patrols that. 3-9-15 102 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But that -- what you're 2 following about dogs is the state leash law; it's not just a 3 Kerr County ordinance. They've got to be under direct 4 control of their owner when they're off of a leash. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'm just referencing the court 6 order. So, I would -- you know, as we go through this, I 7 would just encourage everybody to think about it. It would 8 be to our benefit, I think, to have some limitations on hours 9 in parks, but on a park-by-park, 'cause I know Commissioner 10 Reeves said that probably wouldn't be a good idea at Ingram, 11 people checking trotlines during the day -- and that may be 12 true at Flat Rock Park, too. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It is true at Flat Rock. I 14 mean, there's more people -- people have fished there for -- 15 since Noah's Ark. 16 COMMISSIONER REEVES: In my opinion, if we're 17 concerned about after-hours use and giving Rusty -- 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Authority. 19 COMMISSIONER REEVES: -- authority, I have a 20 feeling if your deputy drives by someplace and a car is 21 parked down there at 3 o'clock in the morning, you might want 22 to go check on it. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They do that now. They drive 24 in there and check on it. 25 COMMISSIONER REEVES: That's what I thought. 3-9-15 103 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You know, we're not going to 2 sit there and guard the gate. 3 COMMISSIONER REEVES: No, I'm not saying that. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I don't want to be locking the 5 gate or opening the gate, gentlemen. 6 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And if you see somebody on 7 Ingram Dam there parked on the side of the highway, I think 8 that's a -- already a no-parking zone anyway, so I think that 9 gives you an indication. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think there's some other 11 good things that the County Attorney's got in here that we 12 ought to consider, but let's discuss this in a workshop or 13 something. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: A lot of it should be 15 discussed during a workshop, and then coming back into the 16 rules and regulations. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Two comments. One, you 18 mentioned the other order that you found on your phone. We 19 need to try to get rid of all the old stuff and have one new 20 one that covers it. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I agree. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, we need to -- whoever makes 23 the motion, try to remember to do it that way so we don't 24 have conflicting orders. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Precisely. 3-9-15 104 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the other thing is -- and 2 Buster, I'll have to rely on your memory. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Uh-oh. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Last time we did some of this, 5 didn't we do a public hearing? And it seemed like there was 6 some requirement that for something like this, we're supposed 7 to do it, or maybe we just thought we should do it. But I 8 think we possibly ought to have some kind of a public time to 9 receive comments. It can be during a Commissioners Court, 10 but something to receive -- you know, because my recollection 11 is that a bunch of the fishermen came in here and were all 12 upset. We had to kind of limit -- we had to modify it. So, 13 I just think it's a good idea, once we get a draft that we're 14 pretty comfortable with, to -- 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I agree with you 100 percent. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And -- and I remember having 17 the conversation that the -- in my mind, this overnight 18 camping thing, no overnight camping. That kind of covered -- 19 I mean, are you camping? If you're staying out there fishing 20 at 3:30 in the morning, is that camping or is that fishing? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I think -- you know, the 23 issue -- I would think the issue of wanting to regulate hours 24 for any reason is because you have people there late at night 25 doing something. 3-9-15 105 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Mm-hmm. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, if they're fishing, is 3 fishing okay? Or is sleeping in a tent okay? My point is, I 4 don't -- I'm not real big on regulating that kind of stuff. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think there's -- we just have 6 to be very careful of unintended consequences. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely. So, if we have 8 a public hearing, you're going to have some of those guys 9 that's been fishing Flat Rock for 140 years that have 10 caught -- by the way, they've caught some really big fish out 11 of that thing in years past. And you're going to find them 12 in here, not very happy. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. So, we just need to be 14 aware of all that. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. So, we just want to 16 defer this, okay? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, young lady? 18 MS. GRINSTEAD: You're talking about a workshop, 19 and the workshop that we have posted this afternoon on county 20 parks is posted. Might be too soon to talk about it, but 21 it's included in this afternoon's workshop also, the Youth 22 Event Center and county parks. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 1.20; consider, 25 discuss, and take appropriate action on request from 3-9-15 106 1 Maintenance Department to purchase a John Deere riding 2 lawnmower with a mulch deck for $8,500. Mr. Bollier. 3 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir. That money is in my 4 capital, and I can't remember -- I think it's in 666 for the 5 parks -- 513 for parks. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: And you need this? 7 MR. BOLLIER: It was put in there for that, in the 8 budget for this year for that. I have -- I have a mower, but 9 it's been going on the blink on me for a while, and this -- 10 this mower has a mulching deck. We use a mulching deck when 11 we mow here at the courthouse so we don't have to worry about 12 breaking out windshields. Safety factor. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: How old is the one you have? 14 MR. BOLLIER: Wait a minute. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I said how old -- 16 MR. BOLLIER: I know what you said. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He's thinking. 18 MR. BOLLIER: I'm thinking. It's at least nine. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, nine years old? 20 MR. BOLLIER: This is the first one we bought, yes, 21 sir. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, it's in the budget. I 24 mean, I don't see -- you know, it's -- 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 3-9-15 107 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- something we need. You 2 know, it sounds like a lot of money, but if you go and buy a 3 commercial grade riding mower, it's not a lot. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's not a lot of money. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For the cost. 6 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Move to approve. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: Any further discussion? There 9 being none, those in favor, signify by raising your right 10 hand. 11 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 12 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Thank you. 13 1.21; consider, discuss, and take appropriate on request to 14 hire one vacant open position in the custodial department. 15 This is a budgeted position, Mr. Bollier? 16 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir. I have one of my 17 custodians going to the Tax Office to work for Ms. Diane 18 Bolin, and that leaves that position open, and I would like 19 the Court's approval to hire for that. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded. Any 23 further discussion? 24 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Is this the one you informed 25 us about during the reports section? 3-9-15 108 1 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir, last court. Yes, sir. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Any further discussion? 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. 1.22; -- 6 MR. BOLLIER: Thank you. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: -- consider and discuss and take 8 appropriate action to approve the central counting station 9 personnel pursuant to Chapter 27 T.E.C. for jail bond 10 election. 11 MS. ALFORD: Yes, sir. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: I'm not going to read the Spanish 13 part. 14 MS. ALFORD: These are the people that I need 15 appointed for election night to handle the ballots coming in, 16 to handle the election equipment and that for election night. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 19 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Second. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Any further discussion? Those in 21 favor, signify by raising your right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 23 JUDGE POLLARD: It' 4-0, unanimous. 1.23; 24 consider, discuss, and approve appointment of the early 25 voting ballot board judge for the jail bond election, in 3-9-15 109 1 accordance with the Texas Election Code, Section 32. 2 Consider and set the number of members to be appointed by the 3 early voting ballot board judge. And once again, I'll defer 4 reading the Spanish portion. 5 MS. ALFORD: Yes. I would like to have Pam Cornett 6 appointed as the early voting ballot board Judge, and for her 7 to be able to appoint up to four clerks for that. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 9 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Second. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: Any further discussion? There 11 being none, those in favor, signify by raising your right 12 hand. 13 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 14 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. 15 MS. ALFORD: Thank you. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: 1.24; consider, discuss -- 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Executive session. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Outdoor -- set public 19 hearing. All right. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do we have another -- 21 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, there's a 1.25, but I 22 think -- 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Later. Oh, it's after -- it's 24 11:30. We can do that. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's 11:30. Perfect timing, 3-9-15 110 1 Judge. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's time to eat. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: I noticed that these things are 4 going by pretty fast now. Was that your phone buzzing over 5 there a while ago? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, sir. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: Or your stomach? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It was my stomach. 9 (Laughter.) 10 JUDGE POLLARD: 1.25; consider, discuss, and take 11 appropriate action to approve the basic financial statement 12 and supplementary information audit for the period ending 13 September 30, 2014, and the federal and state single audit 14 report for the period ending September 30, 2014. 15 MS. HARGIS: My staff didn't understand they didn't 16 have to do this, so we don't need this. 17 COMMISSIONER REEVES: We don't? Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay, so we're passing that. All 20 right. So, I guess we go to -- 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do all the other things. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, we'll do all the other things 23 before we go into closed session. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move we pay the bills. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 3-9-15 111 1 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If we have any. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there any further discussion of 4 that? Yeah, there -- 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, I got them. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: I think there was one in there 7 paying some taxes, so I figured somebody would have some 8 questions about that. 9 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Is that the property we -- 10 MS. HARGIS: That's the property. 11 COMMISSIONER REEVES: -- were gifted? 12 MS. HARGIS: You were gifted it at the end of the 13 year, and can't exempt it until next year, so this is the 14 last time we'll pay the tax. But we just got the bill, and 15 unfortunately, we accepted a piece of property with 16 delinquent taxes on it. So -- 17 JUDGE POLLARD: So it came with a -- with a tax 18 burden on it, a bill. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that the one over in 20 Kerrville South? 21 MS. HARGIS: Yeah, I think so. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mr. Habermeier? 23 MS. HARGIS: Mm-hmm. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: I don't guess we have any choice on 25 that. 3-9-15 112 1 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I don't think we would have 2 to pay penalty and interest. (Laughter.) 3 MS. HARGIS: I didn't pay the penalty and interest. 4 COMMISSIONER REEVES: No, I mean I don't believe we 5 have to, according to my memory. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Did you make the case? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Get that lawyer back in 8 here. 9 MS. HARGIS: I did not include those. 10 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Okay. Move -- have we had a 11 motion to pay the bills? 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Is there any further 14 discussion? If not, then those in favor, signify by raising 15 your right hand. 16 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 17 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Any budget 18 amendments? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Yes, there -- yep. Any questions 21 about any of the budget amendments? If not, I'll entertain a 22 motion. 23 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Move to approve. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded that the 3-9-15 113 1 budget amendments be approved. Any further discussion? 2 There being none, those in favor, signify by raising your 3 right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 5 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Late bills? 6 MS. HARGIS: I think you approved that. You just 7 discussed the late bill. 8 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. We were talking about 10 the late bills. Make a motion we -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move we pay it. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- pay. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Any further discussion? If not, 16 those in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 18 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Approve and 19 accept monthly reports. Do you have them, Mr. Reeves? 20 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes, sir. Monthly reports as 21 of March 9, 2015: Constable, Precinct 1; Constable, 22 Precinct 2; J.P., Precinct 3; Constable, Precinct 4; J.P., 23 Precinct 4; Environmental Health/Animal Services; District 24 Clerk; and County Treasurer. Move to accept the reports and 25 sign as needed. 3-9-15 114 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Any further discussion? There 3 being none, those in favor, signify by raising your right 4 hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 6 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. All right. 7 Any reports from Commissioners and liaison/committee 8 assignments? Any? All right. Reports from elected 9 officials/department heads? 10 MR. BOLLIER: Judge, I would just like to ask about 11 this little state of Texas thing here. Where would the Court 12 like me to hang that? At the Youth Exhibit Center -- Event 13 Center? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there a spot in the 15 vestibule? 16 MR. BOLLIER: That's where I would like to hang it. 17 I just got to find a spot in there. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To me, that's a good spot. The 19 only thing I would say is that we probably ought to figure 20 out how to almost -- I hate to say -- use the word 21 "permanently" affix it, but I don't want it just hanging. 22 It's got a little hangar on the back. We don't want someone 23 thinking it's a nice thing and walking off with it. We need 24 to kind of permanently affix it to the wall. 25 MR. BOLLIER: I can do that. I'll get my air gun, 3-9-15 115 1 sir. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: No, get a plastic cover for it and 3 then put the bolts through the plastic cover. 4 COMMISSIONER REEVES: We also need to remember -- 5 need to get back with them one last time, but the Museum of 6 Western Art has some prints they would like us to look at for 7 placing out there on a permanent -- 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Could I make a suggestion? 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Where, out at the Youth Center? 10 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Mm-hmm. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do we have some plan for how 12 we're going to put all these things -- and we don't need a 13 decorator to do it, but something -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's probably a good idea, 15 'cause I know we also need to get -- we've talked about 16 having a brand list for the door. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right, there's a list. 18 MR. BOLLIER: I thought Jody was our decorator. 19 COMMISSIONER REEVES: She's for colors. 20 MR. BOLLIER: For color, okay. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It ought to -- it ought to 22 look -- especially if we're going to do it permanently, have 23 some concept, and -- 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Where are we going to look 25 -- where are we supposed to look at these prints? 3-9-15 116 1 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Over there at the -- 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: At the museum? 3 JUDGE POLLARD: How many are there? 4 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I think 10. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Are they going to be framed? 7 COMMISSIONER REEVES: No. We need to -- 8 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Any other reports from 9 department heads or officials? 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I do have an item under 11 litigation and possible litigation I'd like to bring up 12 during executive session. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Any reports from 14 boards, commissions and committees? City/County joint 15 projects? Operations, boards or others? All right. We're 16 in recess, then, and we'll be going into closed session at 17 this time. Let me read all of that. 18 MR. RICHARDS: Judge Pollard, would you like a copy 19 of our Motion for Summary Judgment that was filed? 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Why not? 21 MR. RICHARDS: Heard on March 31st. 22 (The open session was closed at 11:55 a.m., and an executive session was held, the transcript of which 23 is contained in a separate document.) 24 - - - - - - - - - - 25 (Returned to open session at 12:15 p.m.) 3-9-15 117 1 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. We had -- we're recessing 2 the closed session temporarily, and I'm just making an 3 announcement that we had so many things to talk about, it's 4 12:15 and we're hungry, and we've got another session we're 5 starting at 1:30, so we decided to table anything further 6 till we get back to 1:30. I'm sorry, Randy. We made no 7 decision about that yet. 8 MR. RICHARDS: Be back here at 1:30, so we can eat 9 lunch and come back at 1:30? 10 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. We got hungry. We're ready 11 to go eat. 12 MR. RICHARDS: I'm hungry too. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: We don't want to miss our lunch if 14 we keep going further. All right, so we're recessed until 15 1:30, and we'll continue the closed session at that time, and 16 then we'll go back into open session and then into the 17 workshop, okay? 18 MR. RICHARDS: Thank you. 19 (Recess taken from 12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.) 20 - - - - - - - - - - 21 (Commissioners Baldwin and Letz not present.) 22 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. It's -- we do have a 23 quorum here? 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We do. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 1:30, and the -- 3-9-15 118 1 MR. BOLLIER: Want me to round them up? 2 (Commissioner Baldwin entered the courtroom.) 3 MR. BOLLIER: There's Number 1. That's all we need 4 right there, Number 1. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Yes, sir. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Don't even need that; we got 7 three. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: Jonathan's on the phone; he'll be 9 here in a minute. What we're going to do is, we're still in 10 closed session, but I'm going to -- we're going to announce, 11 I think -- 12 COMMISSIONER REEVES: We came back into open 13 session. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 15 COMMISSIONER REEVES: So we need to convene in 16 open, and I guess then go to closed. 17 MS. BAILEY: No, we -- 18 JUDGE POLLARD: I think I recessed in closed. 19 MS. BAILEY: Yes, so we're still in closed. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: I recessed in closed, and we're 21 reconvening in closed session. 22 MS. BAILEY: It will be just a short -- 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Isn't that what I announced? 24 MS. BAILEY: Yes, sir. 25 / 3-9-15 119 1 (The open session was closed at 1:33 p.m., and an executive session was held, the transcript of which 2 is contained in a separate document.) 3 - - - - - - - - - - 4 (Returned to open session at 1:37 p.m.) 5 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Still no clerk yet? 6 COMMISSIONER REEVES: No clerk. 7 MS. BAILEY: I think she went upstairs; Tim to went 8 up there to see if he could find her. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: I'm going to go ahead and do some 10 business here while we're -- we can go without a clerk for a 11 little bit, can't we? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: We got a reporter here and got a 14 record going. All right. This is back into open session, 15 and one of the things that we were considering was the matter 16 that was raised by attorney Richards and attorney Richard 17 Mosty. 18 (County Clerk entered the courtroom.) 19 JUDGE POLLARD: And I have gotten -- during the 20 lunch break, I think I had gotten something -- I'd gotten the 21 County Attorney to draft me up a proposed statement that I'm 22 just going to read here. Let the record reflect that the 23 County Clerk has just now entered the courtroom again. I 24 believe that the consensus of the Court is that no formal 25 resolution or other action is necessary in order to address 3-9-15 120 1 Agenda Item 1.9 relating to clarification of Kerr County 2 Subdivision Rules. I may add to that, as it relates to -- 3 what's it called in this? Restrictive -- 4 MS. BAILEY: Non-access easements or reserve -- 5 reserve strips or non-access -- 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Reserve strips, yeah. However, in 7 light of any suggestion that this body does not have the 8 authority to set public policy for those matters that are 9 within our jurisdiction, such as transportation planning and 10 the health, safety, and general welfare of our citizens, I 11 believe that it is critical for the Court to publicly 12 reiterate its long-held position that until the courts or the 13 Legislature definitively rule otherwise, Kerr County will 14 continue to maintain going forward, as it -- as it does, 15 indeed, have the authority to declare what is or is not 16 public policy for those matters within its sphere of 17 authority. Whether or not Kerr County's stance that reserve 18 strips -- that reserve strips or non-access easements violate 19 public policy was sufficiently articulated in its initial 20 version of the Subdivision Rules to allow the trial or 21 appellate courts to hold the particular easement in question 22 void under the previous version of our rules is a matter that 23 will be fully and ably litigated by both attorneys Mosty and 24 Richards. Mr. Richards' point is well-taken that the agenda 25 item is arguably not sufficiently detailed enough to give 3-9-15 121 1 proper notice of any proposed action to be taken. However, 2 since no action is being taken on this item, there is no 3 harm. I invite other members of the Court to correct me if I 4 have misstated what I understand to be the general feeling of 5 the Court. Are there any comments about that? Anybody? 6 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I have none. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. I am declaring this 8 item closed, with no action being taken by the Court. Okay. 9 MR. RICHARDS: Can we possibly get a copy of that 10 before we leave today? 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Why don't you go -- the copy 12 machine's right through the second door there. 13 MS. GRINSTEAD: I'll do it. 14 MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Judge. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Mm-hmm. All right. Other items to 16 be considered in open session? What -- who wants to go first 17 about what we need to do? 18 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Were we going to take any 19 action on 1.24? 20 MS. BAILEY: That's the outdoor business. I think 21 we should defer that to a later meeting, and have that 22 discussed in a workshop before -- oh, that's the park rules. 23 But defer this one also. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: My memory is that the other matters 25 were all deferred till after the -- 3-9-15 122 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: They were. 2 MS. BAILEY: Yes. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: So, I guess we're now recessing 4 this session and going to reconvene, then, at 1:30. Now we 5 have reconvened for the other portion of it now, the 6 workshop. 7 (Commissioner Letz entered the courtroom.) 8 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Workshop. Mr. Letz is here 9 now. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: Which will bore you to death, 11 Randy. You don't need to stay for that. All right, we're 12 back in session for the workshop now. 13 (The open session was recessed at 1:41 p.m., and a workshop was held, the transcript of which is 14 contained in a separate document.) 15 - - - - - - - - - - 16 (Returned to open session at 2:40 p.m.) 17 JUDGE POLLARD: We were in a workshop. Now we're 18 back into open session. Okay, is there a motion? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion -- 20 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Call the item. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Call the item, 1.14. I'll make 22 a motion that we change our policy on rentals at the Hill 23 Country Youth Event Center to not rent to private parties 24 further than six months out from the date of the party, and 25 private parties includes weddings, quinceañeras, family 3-9-15 123 1 reunions, things of that nature. 2 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Not enter into any more new 3 rental contracts. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: New contracts. 5 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I'll second that. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. It's been moved and 7 seconded -- this is all under 1.14 now; is that correct? 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Mm-hmm. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. That -- what you said. 10 Is there any further discussion of all that? 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do we have a -- did Bob 12 second? 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that -- 15 MS. GRINSTEAD: But I want to address something 16 after that. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: You wanted to what? 18 MS. GRINSTEAD: There is one other thing I wanted 19 to address, but I guess it's not really pertaining to this. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there any further discussion of 21 this motion? If there's none, those in favor, raise your 22 right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 24 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Now, what's 25 the other thing? 3-9-15 124 1 MS. GRINSTEAD: The other thing, I guess, is more 2 of a question, because we don't address alcohol specifically 3 in the contract. Can we make something that would, from here 4 on out, address that, the alcohol issue? 5 MS. STEBBINS: Yeah. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Yes. A licensed T.A.B.C. 7 bartender, right? 8 MS. STEBBINS: I don't know what the -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we probably ought to 10 wait till next meeting, ask the County Attorney's office to 11 look into it. We need to -- you're looking at me like, 12 "What?" 13 MS. STEBBINS: What do y'all want to do with it? 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Let's put that T.A.B.C. thing in 15 there just to -- until we can get further down the line. 16 That will cover -- 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I'd just call it a T.A.B.C. 18 licensed server. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Pretty simple. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If that's what you want, and 21 get a hold of T.A.B.C. And what their official name is, I 22 don't know. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: So, whatever they require is the 24 way it's got to be. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that going to be -- but is 3-9-15 125 1 that under current contracts, too? 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. 3 MS. STEBBINS: I don't even think it's in the 4 contracts at all. 5 MS. GRINSTEAD: We don't address alcohol at all. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: We could change that. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it's not in there right 8 now. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: But, I mean, as to new -- as to new 10 ones that are made -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But we could advise people that 12 it's a requirement, and if they -- 13 MS. STEBBINS: If people already have the 14 agreements with us, we can give them a ring and say, "If 15 you're going to have alcohol, you need this server." 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 17 MS. GRINSTEAD: And then it might be a little 18 bit -- we've got two this month. But at least from April on 19 or something, give them time to prepare, because we do have 20 two more this month. But at least I think that's 21 something -- since we don't address it at all in the 22 contract, it's not like we're going against what we've said 23 in our contracts. 24 MS. STEBBINS: That's right. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 3-9-15 126 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion, then, that 2 starting April 1st, we require T.A.B.C. bartenders at all 3 functions that have -- 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Alcoholic beverages. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Maybe say T.A.B.C. certified 6 personnel at all functions dealing with alcohol. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm searching, because we have 8 ropings going on. Those are functions -- 9 MS. BAILEY: "Served." He says alcohol served. I 10 think if you bring in your own alcohol, you're not serving 11 it. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. All events that serve 13 alcohol must use T.A.B.C. licensed personnel. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Certified personnel. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Certified personnel. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there a second? 18 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I'll second that. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: It's been moved and seconded. Any 20 further discussion? Those in favor, signify by raising your 21 right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. That was just on new 24 contracts, not -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, it's all contracts. 3-9-15 127 1 JUDGE POLLARD: All contracts. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The only thing is that will 3 not affect the B.Y.O.B.'s. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: So you could still -- this is 6 the same issue that you had several weeks ago when you had so 7 much going on, because they were just all bringing it -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well -- 9 MR. BOLLIER: How are you going to keep it out? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One baby step at a time. 11 MS. BAILEY: Sounds like just a breach of the peace 12 right there. 13 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And I think you're right on 14 it being a breach of the peace, that everybody was bringing 15 it. Typically, and let's just be honest, when we go to a 16 wedding, -- 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We don't take our own -- 18 COMMISSIONER REEVES: -- do we bring a keg of beer 19 with us? I mean, let's just call it, you know, the way it 20 is. Do we bring it? No. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And you and I don't, but 22 unfortunately, there are a lot in this area that will. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I don't think it's an issue 24 right now we need to go into. 25 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And I think if we will also 3-9-15 128 1 look -- and I'm speaking from the stock show, 'cause of my 2 experience. Our host liquor liability insurance policy that 3 we cover that names the County as an additional insured 4 requires us to have that certified bartender. Perhaps we 5 need to look at the insurance coverage that we get, or the 6 riders. It may already say that in there, because I know 7 from what we do -- 8 JUDGE POLLARD: You're not part of "we" any more. 9 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yeah, I am. Jon keeps saying 10 it's not "we," but I know what goes on. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: You're a County Commissioner, and 12 it's the other organization -- 13 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Whichever way you want to go, 14 Judge. I'm just saying that it is -- I know what the policy 15 says, and it covers Kerr County. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. Good deal. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: That's all we needed to know. 18 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Okay. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: There's one other thing, not 20 to vote on, but a recommendation. We've been talking about 21 things to put in the facility out there, in the exhibit hall 22 and so forth. I think we should look at recognizing the 23 people that originally donated, signed on the dotted line to 24 finance, a plaque to recognize those people. And I only know 25 one or two, but you probably know -- 3-9-15 129 1 JUDGE POLLARD: Hill Country Youth -- 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, right. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: The original guys. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, the original guys. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Without them, there wouldn't be 6 anything. 7 COMMISSIONER REEVES: There's about 100 of them. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Have to be a bigger plaque. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We can do a plaque and just 10 recognize the group, not mention them all. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, I don't know what the 12 answer is, but -- 13 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Let me talk to Steve Bauer. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- why don't you consider 15 that? 16 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Let me talk to -- 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Talk to Ralph Langley, some of 18 those guys. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The worst thing you might do is 20 leave somebody off. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That would be bad. Just a 22 concept. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Lots of them are deceased now. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Somehow, appropriately 25 recognize those people, okay. 3-9-15 130 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Most of them are deceased. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Mm-hmm. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, perhaps. So -- so, just 5 an idea. Bob can figure that out. 6 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I will visit. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. All right. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Was there anything else going 10 to be brought up over your parks stuff? 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, not on the regulations. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: Are you wanting to talk about 13 enforcing the rules? 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. Only thing when you get 15 to the rules is I would like for this Court to consider one 16 that would ban hunting in the county parks. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: No hunting? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh. 19 MR. BOLLIER: No hunting. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It talks about wildlife. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I'm not talking about firearms 22 or any of that. I'm talking about hunting in a county park. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Says you can't hurt wildlife. 24 Why don't you take a look at that and put what suggestions 25 you have in it. 3-9-15 131 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, I would like to see it 2 before you do that. 3 MR. BOLLIER: Just make it a wildlife sanctuary. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No, I didn't say that either. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But, anyway, he's talking about 6 a guy shooting squirrels with a BB gun. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 8 MR. BOLLIER: You know who he is. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think we ought to do that 11 today. That's stupid, to be down there hunting with a bunch 12 of people around, good lord. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I remember sitting in City 14 Council one time trying to eliminate shooting -- discharging 15 firearms in the city. 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I'm not talking about 17 discharging firearms; I'm just talking about hunting on 18 county property. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's this sort -- 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think it ought to be done 21 without even thinking about it. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Even with a wrist-Rocket? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Even with a wrist-rocket. 24 Okay, I'm going to go home sometime. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Anything else we need 3-9-15 132 1 to talk about? If not, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So moved. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded. Any 5 further discussion? Those in favor, signify by raising your 6 right hand. 7 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 8 JUDGE POLLARD: We're adjourned. 9 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 2:50 p.m.) 10 - - - - - - - - - - 11 12 13 STATE OF TEXAS | 14 COUNTY OF KERR | 15 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 16 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 17 official reporter for the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 18 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 19 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 13th day of March, 2015. 20 21 REBECCA BOLIN, Kerr County Clerk 22 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 23 Certified Shorthand Reporter 24 25 3-9-15