1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Monday, June 22, 2015 11 9:00 a.m. 12 Commissioners' Courtroom 13 Kerr County Courthouse 14 Kerrville, Texas 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 PRESENT: TOM POLLARD, Kerr County Judge 23 H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 TOM MOSER, Commissioner Pct. 2 24 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 25 ABSENT: BOB REEVES, Commissioner Pct. 4 2 1 I N D E X June 22, 2015 2 PAGE 3 --- Visitors' Input 5 --- Commissioners' Comments 11 4 1.1 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action 5 regarding Kerr 9-1-1 VFD Radio Tower funding 12 6 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to accept preliminary revision of plat for Lots 7 7 and 8 of Weis Acres and set a public hearing 26 8 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for final approval to name private road “Nanny Trap 9 Cutoff Road East” 28 10 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for final approval to name private road “Don Davenport 11 Ranch Road East" 28 12 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to accept preliminary revision of plat for Lots 13 15B and 17B of Solar Village Subdivision and set a public hearing 30 14 1.6 Presentation regarding Kerr County 4-H Program 15 interpretation to the Commissioners Court 32 16 1.7 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding resolution to apply for 2015-16 Texas 17 CDBG assistance under Colonia Construction Fund 39, 96 18 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on request to use Flat Rock Park on Thursday, July 19 2nd, for a Christian event 46 20 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on agreement with Cameron County Juvenile Justice 21 Department; authorize the County Judge and/or Facility Administrator to sign same 47 22 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 23 2015-2016 agreement with Kerrville Independent School District for provision of services at 24 Kerr County Juvenile Detention Facility 48 25 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) June 22, 2015 2 PAGE 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 3 approve Kerr County renewal of current insurance coverage to include auto liability, auto physical 4 damage, general liability, public officials liability, law enforcement liability, crime 5 insurance with Texas Association of Counties Risk Management Pool to renew October 1, 2015, 6 and have County Judge sign same 50 7 1.14 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to discuss status of selection process and set 8 final interview time for management of Hill Country Youth Event Center 52 9 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action 10 regarding cameras for constables 63 11 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding compensation for “first calls” to 12 funeral homes for deaths in Kerr County 71 13 1.16 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding South Texas Blood and Tissue doing 14 blood drive on August 5, 2015, in the county courthouse parking Lot from 11:30 - 5:30 92 15 1.17 Presentation of Safety Gold Star Award from 16 Texas Association of Counties 92 17 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding interlocal agreement with Kendall 18 County Water Control and Improvement District regarding 2015-16 Texas CDBG Colonia Construction 19 Fund application 99 20 1.18 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to authorize Road and Bridge to hire a temporary 21 part-time employee to perform various engineering technician tasks (Executive Session) 101 22 3.1 Action as may be required on matters discussed 23 in Executive Session 102 24 4.1 Pay Bills 105 4.2 Budget Amendments 105 25 4.3 Late Bills 106, 114 4 1 I N D E X (Continued) June 22, 2015 2 PAGE 3 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 108 4 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments 108 5 5.2 Reports from Elected Officials/Department Heads 109 6 --- Adjourned 117 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 5 1 On Monday, June 22, 2015, at 9:00 a.m., a special 2 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in 3 the Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, 4 Kerrville, Texas, and the following proceedings were had in 5 open court: 6 P R O C E E D I N G S 7 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, it's 9 a.m., and the 8 Commissioners -- June 22nd, 2015, and the Kerr County 9 Commissioners Court is in session. It's -- Commissioner Letz 10 will lead us in the prayer and the pledge today. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Bow your heads, please. 12 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 13 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. This is the part of the 14 agenda that the public can speak on items that are not listed 15 on the agenda. I have one person; I think it's Brandon 16 Michalec. Am I pronouncing that correctly? 17 MR. MICHALEC: Yes, sir. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Is registered to speak. 19 Okay, you have the podium. 20 MR. MICHALEC: I just have a small prepared 21 statement. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 23 MR. MICHALEC: And then I've got something to give 24 y'all. All right. Good morning, gentlemen, and people here 25 in the court. My name is Brandon Michalec, and I call Kerr 6-22-15 6 1 County my home. I grew up here. I graduated from Tivy High 2 School in 1994. My wife and I moved back to Kerrville in the 3 summer of 2014 to plant a church in the Kerrville South area. 4 My father, Michael Michalec, has lived here for most of his 5 adult life, and recently retired from the United States Post 6 Office after 41 years of service. I was born and bred here; 7 it is my home. I belong here, and I love it with all my 8 heart. As a proud but concerned citizen, I'll get straight 9 to the point this morning. The place we live in no longer 10 resembles the place it once was. We have lost the 11 inalienable rights afforded to us by our founding fathers in 12 the Constitution. We all feel this loss, but we really can't 13 pinpoint the problem. That's because we've lost these rights 14 very subtly. The changes have been so slight, in fact, that 15 things had begun shifting 10, 20, 30, and some in cases, even 16 100 years ago. I'd like to talk to you about that problem. 17 You see, gentlemen, we don't realize what we've 18 lost, and because we don't realize it, we don't know what we 19 should do to get them back. You know, there's a popular 20 movie that said it well. "It is all around us. Even now, in 21 this very room. You can see it when you look out your window 22 or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when 23 you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your 24 taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes 25 to blind you from the truth. What truth? That you are a 6-22-15 7 1 slave. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, into 2 a prison that you cannot taste, touch, or feel. It's a 3 prison for your mind." You may recognize this line, and you 4 may be candid enough to realize it carries much truth here. 5 But we're not talking about the Matrix; we're talking about 6 our lives here in the United States of America. We're 7 talking about those rights of life, liberty, property, and 8 the pursuit of happiness. 9 Here's how it works. I want you to consider the 10 maxim by the Roman philosopher Cicero concerning Roman law, 11 "Salus populi suprema lex esto," which translated out of the 12 Latin means, "The health of the people should be the highest 13 law." Notice how all the laws we pass in the United States 14 bear a striking resemblance to this Roman thought. You 15 yourselves may hear that and think it sounds like good advice 16 for modern governments. In fact -- well, actually, at face 17 value, it seems like a good thing. Consider this, though. 18 If the health of the people, all of us out here, is the 19 highest law, then what is beyond the reach of the government? 20 The answer is nothing. All of our areas of life are affected 21 because of this thought that has come into our government. 22 This is where we began to lose our lives to the federal 23 government in adopting these principles for government in 24 many ways over the years. 25 I want you to consider the liberties that we've 6-22-15 8 1 lost. If you look back -- not real far, September 11th; 2 we're familiar with it. It was obviously a tragedy in our 3 nation. The government's response has created equal 4 tragedies. For example, the formation of legislation like 5 the Patriot Act, which on the surface claims to protect 6 people, but only if they will sacrifice some of their 7 liberties. We've all heard the quote by Benjamin Franklin, 8 "Those who sacrifice freedoms and liberties usually have 9 neither." But we here also we see "the health of the people 10 is the highest law" hard at work in our politics, and this is 11 hardly just on the liberal side of the aisle. This is the 12 battle cry of most of our political parties. We see again 13 that there is nothing beyond the reach of our government. 14 Our lives will never be our own until we reclaim 15 the liberties we began losing a long time ago. We also lost 16 our right to private property, and people don't really 17 understand this, because the property taxes are just kind of 18 a way of life. But when we adopted the Property Tax Code 19 back in the 1970's, we were given the appearance of private 20 property, but however, we are only renting our property now 21 from the government. There's a name for such a government 22 that gives us the appearance of private property, but only in 23 appearance, but not substance. Historically, we call it 24 fascism. The losses of liberty also infringe on our pursuit 25 of happiness. Most of this stems from the massive amount of 6-22-15 9 1 entitlements that exist in our country. These entitlements 2 take away the desire to work hard and replaces it with a 3 desire to receive handouts without the hard work. 4 Even worse, generational entitlements move in and 5 destroy the pursuit of happiness and make both parents and 6 children content with the "government cheese," but those 7 content soon become dependent. In fact, the use of 8 entitlements makes our descendants feel as though they're 9 owed this welfare that they're provided, but these handouts 10 do more damage than we realize. The monies they receive are 11 actually taken from those who do work and given to those who 12 don't. This, gentlemen, is theft. Historically -- or 13 history proves through a long string of sad tales that this 14 unfair trade-off eventually destroys the desire to work in 15 those who do, and continues to impoverish those who don't. 16 Now, this right here was just a small picture of 17 the erosion of our liberties, but we need not fail alongside 18 these failed policies. We began this country with true 19 liberty, and we can have it back again. I want us all to 20 understand that we must be willing to sacrifice to get these 21 things back, not necessarily for our sake, but the sake of 22 our children, our grandchildren, and even their children. To 23 this end, I would like to present y'all with a copy of a book 24 called "Restoring America One County at a Time" by Joel 25 McDurmon. This book gives a much broader scope to the issues 6-22-15 10 1 that I've discussed. He shows in 10 different areas where 2 liberty has been lost, how it was lost, and how we can get it 3 back. Joel also runs American Vision, and has a YouTube 4 channel of the same name in which he has given lectures in 5 all these areas that are outlined in his book. I've asked 6 Joel and a few others to bring the "God, Government and 7 Culture" conference to the Hill Country in the summer of 8 2016, to which he accepted. Anyway, I would like to 9 encourage y'all to read the book in earnest. It is 10 challenging and soul-searching. There is no -- 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Mr. Michalec, you said it was a 12 short statement; now you've already gone about five minutes, 13 and -- 14 MR. MICHALEC: I got two sentences left. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Can you wrap it up? 16 MR. MICHALEC: Yes, sir. It is challenging and 17 soul-searching. There is no easy fix, but this can be a 18 start if we can be principled and brave. I would also like 19 to come back and speak to y'all again in a few months to see 20 what you've read and what you've learned. "Soli Deo Gloria" 21 is "To God alone be the glory." I do appreciate your time. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Thank you, sir. 23 MR. MICHALEC: Thank you. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tell you what, that was 25 different. Can we come work on your road or anything? 6-22-15 11 1 MR. MICHALEC: Is it all right if I approach? 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, please. Certainly. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 4 MR. MICHALEC: Actually, I rehearsed it to try to 5 get it done under three minutes. I really did. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. 7 THE REPORTER: Sir, could I get a copy of your 8 statement? 9 MR. MICHALEC: Sure. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Is there anyone else 11 wishing to speak to the Commissioners Court today? All 12 right. There being none, we'll go to comments by the 13 Commissioners and the County Judge. We'll start with 14 Precinct Number 1. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sir, I don't have any 16 comments today, thank you. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Likewise. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Well, I looked at my rain 19 gauge this morning. We're approaching -- I'm over 25 inches 20 of rain at my house this year, and that's a -- and that means 21 we've almost gotten a year's worth of rain in the first six 22 months of the year. Very unusual for the Hill Country. I 23 hope this really means that the drought is broken, but I'm 24 still not convinced. (Laughter.) Okay? That's -- tomorrow 25 it might quit and not rain again till next year. I'm just -- 6-22-15 12 1 okay. That's about the only comment I have. Mr. Letz? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Really, nothing. I have one 3 comment to add to that. The thing that's really unusual 4 about the rainfall is that we really haven't had a big flood. 5 Usually when we get that kind of big rainfall amount, we will 6 have a 10-, 12-, 15-inch day in there, and we've had -- we 7 had a pretty good flood in the eastern part of the county, 8 but still, it was not a big flood in my mind. But that's the 9 really unusual part, so far. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And that's good. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that's so far. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Let's go to Item 1.1 on 13 the agenda. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 14 regarding Kerr 911 VFD radio tower funding. And is Mark Del 15 Toro here? 16 MR. AMERINE: I'll do the intro on that, then I'm 17 going to turn it over to him. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And before Bill starts, I 19 want to make a comment. Commissioner Letz and myself are the 20 liaisons to the 911 system, and have been for many years, and 21 worked through it. And I just want to make the announcement 22 that we -- Jon and I went and had lunch with them, and they 23 explained all of this, what they're -- they've got on their 24 mind and their status, et cetera. And so this -- the reason 25 they're here, we want them to come here to -- we didn't make 6-22-15 13 1 a decision. We're not coming in here to make a 2 recommendation of any sort. We want you to make that 3 decision on your own, so this is what this is about. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And may I weigh in on 5 something on that, if I may? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Please. And there was a -- 8 Buster and myself attended a surprise event -- when was it, 9 Friday night? Friday night. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: For Bill Amerine, who's 12 12 years in this position, and has done nothing but make it 13 better and better and better and better, and we thank you for 14 that. And it was a very nice surprise event. I know you 15 weren't pleased when you walked in, but anyway... 16 MR. AMERINE: Thank you so much. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: He's just gotten older and older 18 and older. (Laughter.) 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tell us about the -- about 20 the gift, and how you had been complaining about that. 21 MR. AMERINE: Oh. Well, there is irony in life, 22 isn't there? Several years ago -- and I won't get too 23 long-winded on this -- as part of Leadership Kerr County, I 24 went to Austin to see the State Legislature in operation, and 25 it was during the earlier part of the legislative process 6-22-15 14 1 where they were doing a lot of resolutions, mostly 2 congratulating constituents and things like that. And I 3 thought at the time what a colossal waste of time that was, 4 time that could be used to take care of the State's business. 5 I just repeated that this last week without knowledge about 6 what was about to happen. And part of the retirement 7 celebration on Friday was a resolution from our State 8 Representative honoring my 12 years of service. So, I guess 9 I'm one of those worthless resolutions. (Laughter.) There 10 truly is irony in that. But, yeah, it was -- it was a nice 11 surprise. All the credit goes to my county -- your county 12 appointee to my board, Ron Vick, and Mark Del Toro, who's 13 going to be the new executive director here in a week, and 14 the staff. But it was a wonderful surprise, but thank you. 15 I'll just give a real brief history about how we've 16 funded the volunteer fire departments in the 12 years I've 17 been here, and some of the challenges that we're about to 18 face, and I'm going to turn it over to Mark to make some 19 recommendations. When I first arrived here in 2003, we were 20 funding the pager service; not the pagers themselves, the 21 equipment, but the actual monthly service to all the 22 volunteer fire departments. That was about $2,200 a year in 23 cost, not very much. We were also -- through a firm in San 24 Antonio called All Points Communication, we were funding 25 repeater service at several cell towers here for radio 6-22-15 15 1 receivers for the volunteer fire departments, as well as the 2 maintenance of the frequencies required for that service. 3 That ran about $9,000. So, our total contribution in those 4 days was just under $12,000 to the volunteer fire 5 departments. 6 In 2004 or '5, because of a minor conflict we were 7 having with the leadership of KARFA, which is the association 8 of the volunteer firefighters, about whether that support was 9 discretionary or required by law, we received a legal opinion 10 from -- at the time, the County Attorney was Rex Emerson, as 11 well as the attorneys that represent all the emergency 12 communication districts, the 911 districts in the state of 13 Texas, saying this indeed is a discretionary -- a proper, but 14 discretionary funding. It serves the public. It's a public 15 service. It's not inappropriate to spend the money that way, 16 but it's absolutely not required by law for 911 agencies to 17 fund volunteer fire departments. And the only reason why we 18 went through the exercise was not because we were trying to 19 withdraw that funding, but just to clarify why we were doing 20 it and whether or not it was required or not. We were doing 21 it as a public service and because we had the funding to 22 continue. 23 We've done that until -- continued to provide that 24 funding until about four years ago, when we were approached 25 by the Sheriff's Department, Chief Deputy Clay Barton, with 6-22-15 16 1 the prospect of grant money being available to actually 2 purchase a cell tower -- or not a cell tower, a radio tower. 3 And the service -- and they needed ownership and maintenance 4 costs. We obviously didn't want to get into the business of 5 owning that kind of equipment, way outside of our ability to 6 fund that. But he asked if we'd be willing to continue to 7 pay for those repeater services, and we said we would. And 8 we came up with a memorandum of -- of understanding that we'd 9 provided to the County that we would donate -- continue to 10 donate funding for the operation of the those repeaters, and 11 that cost has been right about $8,800 from 2011 until 12 present. 13 What -- and I'm going to let Mark get into the meat 14 of this, but what we're facing now are some real financial 15 challenges. Our revenue hasn't actually ebbed at all, but it 16 is stagnated; it hasn't gotten any higher. And those of you 17 that have known me for all these years know that I'm not for 18 raising taxes just to make things easier on us. I look for 19 other ways to make things happen. So, we're not looking to 20 raise taxes to offset some of these high costs that we're 21 going to be facing with next generation. One of the first 22 next generation costs that are going to occur this year is 23 going to be an $8,000-a-year expense for the text-to-911 24 capability, which will start -- when we will be bringing that 25 in? 6-22-15 17 1 MR. DEL TORO: We'll begin testing the 24th of 2 July. 3 MR. AMERINE: 23rd of July. That's just the first 4 piece of next generation. There's all sorts of new networks. 5 There's the ability to send streaming video and still 6 photography from the caller of 911 to the actual dispatch 7 center. Those things are all unknown costs at this point. 8 So, with that being said, we're -- the discussion we had with 9 our liaisons was we would like to start transitioning these 10 costs to the other government agencies to support the 11 volunteer fire departments over a period of time. And with 12 that, I'll turn the rest of the discussion over to Mark. 13 Thank you. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Bill, was -- your 15 presentation just now, was that your last contact with county 16 government? 17 MR. AMERINE: Well, I might come as a citizen and 18 have something to say, but yes, this is my last official act 19 probably at this court as your Executive Director. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you for your service, 21 sir. 22 MR. AMERINE: Thank you, sir. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Thank you very much. 24 (Applause.) 25 MR. DEL TORO: Good morning, Judge, Commissioners. 6-22-15 18 1 As Mr. Amerine has stated, our funding sources have 2 plateaued, stagnated. Our wire line funding, which was the 3 predominant funding source in the early days of 911, has 4 plummeted. Folks are just getting rid of their home wire 5 line residential telephones. With that being said, the cost 6 that he outlined, $8,000 we're looking to spend this year for 7 text-to-911 alone, that's just the tip of the iceberg. 911 8 connectivity as we know it, 911 district as we deal with 9 that, technology is evolving and changing, and we have no 10 choice but to change with it. Our selective router in San 11 Antonio, where all our 911 calls are processed before they 12 come back to Kerrville, that's due to sunset year 2018, the 13 last we heard. When that service goes away, we will have to 14 connect directly through an IP network to what is called an 15 ESInet, E-S-I net, and those are some unknown costs that 16 we're going to have to prepare for. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Can everybody hear Mark okay? 18 Okay. 19 MR. DEL TORO: Okay, I'm sorry. I'll try to speak 20 up, sir. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: Pull the mic over. There you go. 22 MR. DEL TORO: There. Can you hear me? 23 JUDGE POLLARD: That's better. 24 MR. DEL TORO: Okay. And bottom line, those 25 costs -- those unknown costs that we're going to try -- I'm 6-22-15 19 1 going to try to plan for, I'm going to need all the funding 2 possible. Knowing the fact that our revenue is decreasing or 3 stagnating, I'm going to have to make the best use of every 4 dollar that we have. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good luck. 6 MR. DEL TORO: Do you have any questions? 7 MR. AMERINE: Talk about the raiding that was 8 attempted by the State Legislature. 9 MR. DEL TORO: Oh, yes. This past legislative 10 session, there was an attempt by a Representative out of 11 southeast Texas to take funds from 911 districts and other 12 emergency communications agencies to offset the costs for 13 volunteer fire departments. Had that passed -- it never made 14 it out of committee, but had that passed, that would have 15 been detrimental to our funding here, because we -- 16 significantly. We receive no moneys from the State. Our 17 revenue comes directly from our local Kerr County -- 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: As it should. 19 MR. DEL TORO: -- taxpayers. So, there is no 20 handouts from the State to Kerr 911. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Question. Your -- your land 22 line-related revenues is decreasing. Is there any -- and I 23 should know this, but I don't. Is there anything that you 24 get funding from, from cell phones? 25 MR. DEL TORO: Yes, sir. 6-22-15 20 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 2 MR. DEL TORO: We receive funding from cell phones. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So that ought to be 4 increasing. 5 MR. DEL TORO: It's -- that has increased. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right? 7 MR. DEL TORO: That has increased. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: People are not communicating 9 less. I think they're probably communicating more. 10 MR. DEL TORO: No, they're communicating more. But 11 it's kind of like that -- that balloon theory; you pinch one 12 side and the other side goes up, so we're still left with 13 just about the same amount. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's what you're saying; 15 while you're plateauing on land line fees, your revenue's 16 going down, your -- 17 MR. DEL TORO: Yes, sir. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- cellar line revenues are 19 increasing. And if you -- if you add this texting 20 capability, are there additional revenues associated -- 21 MR. DEL TORO: No, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- with that? 23 MR. DEL TORO: No, no other revenues. That's -- 24 that's a revenue that we have to expend to get that 25 technology into to our call center, and there's no 6-22-15 21 1 reimbursement for that. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. And that probably was 3 not the discussion this last legislative session, -- 4 MR. DEL TORO: No. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- I would assume. Okay. 6 Well, maybe something two years from now to look at that. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mark, can you explain the next 8 generation, kind of what that is and what the timeline is on 9 it, and what's the -- I guess the purpose and the 10 requirements? 11 MR. DEL TORO: Well, as Mr. Amerine stated, the new 12 technologies with the next generation will allow text-to-911. 13 They're looking at the multimedia communication between the 14 wireless caller calling 911 and being able to send the 15 pictures and video. Those are pretty heavy, but that's the 16 end game, to be able to get that into the call center. But 17 the core of next gen 911 is an interoperable IP network that 18 we here at Kerr 911, when we join into an ESInet, we'll have 19 the opportunity to assist other agencies if their call 20 centers fail. And, likewise, if ours fail, other agencies 21 will be able to tap into the system and answer calls for us 22 as well. But those connectivity costs is what's going to get 23 us. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, with your statement, I see 25 a red flag waving, saying watch out, something's getting 6-22-15 22 1 ready to happen. When I read the agenda item, it says "take 2 appropriate action regarding Kerr 911 Volunteer Fire 3 Department radio tower funding." So, what is the specific -- 4 MR. DEL TORO: The specific -- 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- request? 6 MR. DEL TORO: The specific is we're outlaying -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You're not requesting anything 8 right now? 9 MR. DEL TORO: We're not asking -- 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Just saying, "Be warned"? 11 MR. DEL TORO: Beware. I'm laying the foundation 12 of why we need to -- 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Be warned that you're going to be 14 coming to us for more funds. 15 MR. DEL TORO: And -- no, we're not going to ask 16 you for any funding whatsoever. We're just asking to 17 transition the cost of funding for the VFD radio tower that 18 911 has been shouldering, asking to transition that back to 19 the county. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. It's a 911 call from 21 you to us, got you. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And is that -- you said 23 "transition." Is that to begin this budget year? 24 MR. DEL TORO: That would -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the transition is the full 6-22-15 23 1 7,000 -- 7,500? 2 MR. AMERINE: It was $8,800 last year, but yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're only dealing with nine 4 months. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Oh, that's right; 6 that's why it's 7,500. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This time, so it's -- do you 8 have that figure in your head? 9 MS. DOSS: It was around 5,000. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Around $5,000, what we're 11 talking about. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: For this budget, okay. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that's -- the action item 14 is for us to be aware and to make adjustment during the 15 budget. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That we need to add $5,000 18 into -- 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The new budget. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- the new budget for volunteer 21 fire department communications. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right, okay. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's the request. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's it. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What -- and, Buster, I find it 6-22-15 24 1 very intriguing, even though it's confusing. Is it 2 appropriate to ask Mark to explain how 911 -- what happens to 3 a 911 call? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think it is, 'cause it's 5 fascinating. 6 MR. DEL TORO: I'll be happy to. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, explain what you told us 8 at our meeting. 9 MR. DEL TORO: For example, you have a phone on 10 your desk right here. If you dial 911, that call from that 11 handset goes to the central office in downtown Kerrville. 12 From the Windstream central office, it is transported to a 13 central office, a Walnut -- the Walnut tandem, which is a 14 large selective router switch south of downtown San Antonio. 15 That call goes down there. The selective router sees the 16 10-digit number coming in, identifies that it's a Kerrville 17 911 call; it is transported back up with a little bit of 18 information attached to it. It hits our call center at 19 Kerrville Police Department, gets into our back room 20 equipment. The back room equipment then divides that one 21 call into three data paths. One is going to the call center 22 dispatch floor for the operator to pick up. The other two 23 are going to two remote locations, one in Colorado, one in 24 Florida, to retrieve that caller information. And by the 25 time that phone is ringing at the dispatcher's desk, all that 6-22-15 25 1 information has converged within two to three seconds. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Two to three seconds? 3 MR. DEL TORO: Yes. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that not incredible? 5 That's incredible. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And there are multiple routes 7 now, right? Used to there was one before, but now you have 8 multiple routes to San Antonio? 9 MR. DEL TORO: We have just found out from this 10 last cable cut that we spoke of when we had our luncheon -- 11 at the previous cable cut in 2010, we requested diversity in 12 our trunking system to receive those calls back from San 13 Antonio. Well, we were sold a bag of goods. There was no 14 diversity in that path. 15 MR. AMERINE: We were sold additional trunks with 16 the -- the statement from AT&T that they would be going north 17 to Austin, then back down to San Antonio, and it was -- he's 18 being kinder; he said a bag of goods or whatever. It was a 19 lie. And it is an additional -- a different fiber cable, but 20 it goes in the same ditch as the other fiber, so when we cut 21 this fiber 10 days or so ago, it cut both. And so it's not 22 true geographic diversity, which is what we were purchasing. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right, I remember that. 24 MR. DEL TORO: I'm working with Mr. Patrick Tinley 25 at Hill Country Telephone Co-op. They, too, were greatly 6-22-15 26 1 affected by the recent outage, and he has come up with a plan 2 for a diverse path into San Antonio. I've contacted AT&T, 3 and the three of us are going to get together. We're going 4 to get our backup trunks on that true diverse path back into 5 Kerrville. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Very good. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, if anybody can figure 8 it out, it would be Mr. Tinley. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: That's right. 10 MR. DEL TORO: And also, if I can have another 11 moment, kudos to Mr. Tinley. During that outage, these 12 emergency phone lines Mr. Tinley provided to the 911 center 13 for the customers of Hill Country Telephone Co-op saved a 14 life during that outage. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's fantastic. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, guys. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: Thank you. All right, let's go on 19 to Item 1.2; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 20 to accept the preliminary revision of plat for Lots 7 and 8 21 of Weis Acres, Volume 3, Page 135, and set a public hearing. 22 This is in Precinct 4. Mr. Hastings? 23 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. Melvin and Adela Jones 24 own Lots 7 and 8 of Weis Acres; it's Volume 3, Page 135. And 25 they would like to combine those lots, making one lot, 8R, 6-22-15 27 1 8-Revised, into 3.05 acres. And at this time, we're asking 2 the Court to accept preliminary revision of plat for Lots 7 3 and 8 of Weis Acres, Volume 3, Page 135, and set a public 4 hearing for Monday, July 27th, 2015, at 9 a.m. This is 5 Precinct 4. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Do we know why they want to combine 7 them? 8 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. They just want one lot 9 that's larger. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: Are they planning on building 11 something? In other words, it would be across a lot line if 12 they don't do it? 13 MR. HASTINGS: If they don't do it, then they'd 14 have something across a lot line. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: It's been moved and seconded that 18 we accept the preliminary plat for Lots 7 and 8 of Weis 19 Acres, Volume 3, Page 135, and set a public hearing for it. 20 Any further discussion? Those in favor, signify by raising 21 your right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 3-0.) 23 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 3-0, unanimous. Thank you, 24 sir. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Public hearing on July 27th? 6-22-15 28 1 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. All right. Item 1.3; 3 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action for the 4 Court's final approval to name private road "Nanny Trap 5 Cutoff Road East," which is in Precinct 2. Mr. Hastings. 6 Somebody's grandmother involved in this? 7 MR. HASTINGS: I believe so. On June 3rd, 2015, 8 Jack Davenport applied through the Kerr 911 office to name a 9 currently unnamed road "Nanny Trap Cutoff Road East." At 10 this time, we're asking the Court for their final approval 11 naming this privately maintained road Nanny Trap Cutoff Road 12 East. It's in Precinct 2, and it has gone through Kerr 911. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Move approval. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Any further discussion? There 16 being none, those in favor, signify by raising your right 17 hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 3-0.) 19 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 3-0, unanimous. Let the 20 record reflect that Commissioner Reeves is absent today for 21 this session. All right, let's move on to 1.4; consider, 22 discuss, and take appropriate action for the Court's final 23 approval to name private road Don Davenport Ranch Road East, 24 which is in Precinct 2. Mr. Hastings? 25 MR. HASTINGS: On June 3rd, 2015, Don Davenport 6-22-15 29 1 applied through the Kerr 911 office to name the currently 2 unnamed road "Don Davenport Ranch Road East." I have some 3 issues with it. There is another road in the vicinity named 4 Davenport Lane. This would be Don Davenport Ranch Road, and 5 I have some concerns about that. I wouldn't -- I don't 6 recommend approval. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Charlie and I have discussed 8 this, and I think it is confusing. The 911 folks have left, 9 but I think that they did approve it. That's what you said? 10 MR. HASTINGS: They felt like there was enough of a 11 difference that it could be approved. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. So, say again what the 13 two names are? 14 MR. HASTINGS: It would be Don Davenport Ranch Road 15 East -- 16 JUDGE POLLARD: That's what's proposed. 17 MR. HASTINGS: -- is proposed, and then in the 18 vicinity is a Davenport Lane East. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's too close, but -- 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think it's too close, too. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I won't vote for it. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, not going to get a motion. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. I'll -- I'll ask for a 24 motion, and nobody makes that; is that right? All right, 25 this matter fails for lack of a motion. Item 1.4 fails for 6-22-15 30 1 lack of a motion. All right. Let's move on to 1.5; 2 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action for the Court 3 to accept the preliminary revision of plat for Lots 15B and 4 17B of Solar Village Subdivision, Volume 8, Page 71, and set 5 a public hearing, and this is in Precinct 1. Mr. Hastings? 6 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. Douglas and Deborah Harris and 7 Thomas Morgan are proposing in this preliminary revision of 8 plat to combine Lot 17B and part of Lot 15B, making a 9 proposed Lot 17C into 2.44 acres, and adding the original 10 tank tract -- it was a water tank -- to existing Lot 15B, 11 making that proposed Lot 15C into 2.06 acres. The reason 12 they're doing this is just to have a good boundary between 13 the two properties, a fence line. If you look at the 14 geometric layout of the lots, you can kind of see why these 15 two property owners want to do that. And at this time, we're 16 asking the Court to accept the preliminary revision of plat 17 for Lots 17 -- 15B and 17B of Solar Village Subdivision, 18 Volume 8, Page 71, and set a public hearing for Monday, 19 July 27th, 2015, at 9:10 a.m., Precinct 1. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Charlie, this sentence in 21 here, adding the original tank tract, -- 22 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- that means to me that one 24 of those people owns that tank tract? 25 MR. HASTINGS: I think the homeowners' association 6-22-15 31 1 does. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And so -- 3 MR. HASTINGS: And so their signature block's on 4 here for -- 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And so they're going to add 6 a public piece of property to one side or the other to make 7 it larger? 8 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. Yes, public in the sense it 9 was owned by the homeowners' association. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It was, or -- 11 MR. HASTINGS: Is. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- is? 13 MR. HASTINGS: It has already been deeded over to 14 them. So, now that they have the deed, they're ready to go. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Homeowners' association has the 16 deed? 17 MR. HASTINGS: The homeowners' association had the 18 deed. They have deeded it -- 19 JUDGE POLLARD: They're deeding it over to the 20 homeowner? 21 MR. HASTINGS: To the property owner. He wants to 22 revise his lot. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Is it furnishing water in the 24 subdivision or whatever off the tank tract? 25 MR. HASTINGS: It was at one time. 6-22-15 32 1 JUDGE POLLARD: But not now? 2 MR. HASTINGS: Not any more. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay, that answers the question. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, that's it. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move for approval. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. It's been moved and 9 seconded that the Court accept the preliminary revision of 10 plat for Lots 15B and 17B of Solar Village Subdivision, and 11 adding the tank tract, and setting a public hearing for 12 July 27th. Is there any further discussion on that motion? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I haven't been able to sleep 14 to get through this thing. This has been awful. (Laughter.) 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Those in favor of the 16 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 3-0.) 18 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 3-0, unanimous. All right. 19 Item 1.6; presentation regarding the Kerr County 4-H program 20 interpretation to the Commissioners Court. 21 MR. WALSTON: Good morning. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Good morning, Roy. 23 MR. WALSTON: Glad to be here. Appreciate y'all 24 giving us the time to share some -- some results, and we've 25 got a great group of kids that I'd like to present to you. 6-22-15 33 1 Koy Coffer, if you would come -- Koy has been on since the 2 first of March -- 15th of March or so. I'd like to introduce 3 her. She's been on and hit the ground running, has been very 4 busy with our summer activities, and will continue to be 5 through the rest of the summer. And I'd like to let her have 6 a chance to introduce some of the kids, let y'all know what 7 we've been up to. 8 MS. COFFER: Thank you. Good morning, gentlemen. 9 How are y'all? Nice to meet you finally face-to-face, so 10 that's awesome. I am thrilled to be able to share some of 11 our good news. We have lots of things going on. We've been 12 to contests. We have leadership lab coming up, we have local 13 events coming up. But the thing that's really cool is we 14 have some kids here this morning that are going to tell you 15 from their perspective what 4-H is doing for them and how 16 they're doing. So, a couple of things that we're going to do 17 is -- if you will come up, Mr. Jack, I'm going to introduce 18 you. And he's going to talk about robotics, and then I'm 19 going to let Ms. Noelle -- want to stand up? She's going to 20 talk to us -- come on up -- about shooting sports. And then 21 Ms. Tori she's going to talk to us about -- we just got back 22 from the State Roundup, and she's going to kind of give you a 23 quick overview of that. So, there you go. 24 MR. APEL: Hi. My name is Jack Apel, and this year 25 I participated in the Kerr County 4-H robotics team in 6-22-15 34 1 F.L.L., or First Lego League. First Lego League has many 2 different parts to it, and I'll tell you about the main three 3 parts. First part of First Lego League is robot design, 4 where you are judged on the stability as to how well the 5 robot is constructed; the mobility, as to how well the robot 6 moves on the game table, completing its missions; and the 7 programming as to how the quality of it is. The second part 8 of First Lego League is research project, where you are 9 judged on your originality, your technology -- this year our 10 team built an app -- and the innovation, as to how well it 11 can be used in the field it's meant to be used in. The last 12 part of F.L.L. is core values. Some of the core values from 13 F.L.L. are gracious professionalism, teamwork, and having 14 fun. And you are judged on how you use them -- use the core 15 values inside and outside First Lego League. And this year, 16 we are a rookie team, and yet we got first place in our 17 qualifier, which automatically sent us to our regional, where 18 we got second place. And based on that score, we were 19 invited to the Arkansas Razorback Invitational and competed 20 against 72 others teams from all over the world. We got a 21 great team, and we're ready to start our second year. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: How old are you, son? How old are 23 you? 24 MR. APEL: What? 25 JUDGE POLLARD: How old are you? 6-22-15 35 1 MR. APEL: 12. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: You're well-spoken. Well 3 presented. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good job. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Good job. 6 (Applause.) 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: A question, to you or Roy or 8 whomever. This is great, the robotic thing. That's advanced 9 state of art, good stuff. Is that type of activity in any of 10 the schools, or is it only in -- 11 MR. APEL: Sometimes it's done in schools. The -- 12 I did -- when I did it last year, it was in a school. We 13 didn't get past our regional, though. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. So, it's in multiple 15 venues, okay. Is that correct? 16 MR. APEL: Yes. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: What school do you attend? 18 MR. APEL: I'm home-schooled. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 21 MR. APEL: Most of our team is made up of home 22 schoolers. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Congratulations. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Isn't that amazing? Home 6-22-15 36 1 schoolers. 2 MS. CHRISTENSEN: Hello. My name is Noelle 3 Christensen. Of the many 4-H projects I have participated 4 in, my favorite is shooting sports. I have been a part of 5 the project for over five years. This past year, all the 6 shooting projects -- archery, rifle, pistol, shotgun -- were 7 combined into one shooting club. I served as secretary on 8 its council. The combining of the projects has allowed us to 9 communicate better, as well as allow more leadership 10 opportunities and more participants. And as an air rifle and 11 small-bore shooter, I have had the opportunity to participate 12 in several 4-H matches and take home several medals, 13 including 8th place in the 4-H State Rifle Roundup; first 14 person to go in 12 years from the county. Taking what I have 15 learned in 4-H, I have been able to compete in several 16 statewide and national matches sponsored by the NRA, Texas 17 State Rifle Association, Civilian Marksmanship Program, and 18 U.S.A. Shooting. One of the accomplishments that I am most 19 proud of is qualifying to participate in the National Junior 20 Olympic match in Colorado Springs. It was an amazing 21 opportunity that all started with 4-H. Thank you for the 22 opportunity to speak to you today, and thank you for your 23 support of this organization. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 6-22-15 37 1 (Applause.) 2 MS. RODGERS: Hi, my name is Tori Rodgers, and I'm 3 going to tell y'all about the Texas 4-H State Roundup that 4 some of our 4-H teamers went to. We had 17 kids go to our 5 Texas 4-H State Roundup, and our Mohair Judging Team placed 6 first overall. And our participants in the team were Madison 7 Willoughby, who placed 5th; Sabrina Nentwich, who placed 1st, 8 Haley Poole, Taylor Fair, 2nd, and Hannah Thompson. Our 9 Grass I.D. Team, they placed 1st place overall, and 10 participating in that team is Mary Kathryn Potter, Esther 11 Ledder, China Hale, and Connor Odom. And our Range Judging 12 team, they placed 5th place out of nine teams, and included 13 in that team is Jacob Casey, Mary Kathryn Potter, Lily 14 Oriana, and China Hale. For our Consumer Decision Making 15 Team, we placed 7th place overall out of 39 teams, and 3rd in 16 Reasons out of 117 kids. Overall for our team, Ross Potter 17 placed 25th, Jacob Roschman placed 40th, and Diana Wahrmund 18 placed 16th. For our Reasons, Ross Potter placed 6th, Jacob 19 Roschman placed 20th, and me, Tori Rodgers, placed 42nd. And 20 that -- and that is all of our teams that placed in Texas 4-H 21 State Roundup. And I would like to leave y'all with some of 22 the pictures that we would -- we took. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 24 MS. RODGERS: Thank y'all. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 6-22-15 38 1 (Applause.) 2 MS. COFFER: And the other thing that I wanted to 3 let you know is that we also had some scholarship winners, 4 and that's a big thing, especially for our kiddoes that are 5 going to school. We were very excited; we had four 6 scholarship winners. We had Ross Potter, who won Houston 7 Livestock Show and Rodeo; Haley Poole won the Richard 8 Wallrath Educational Fund; Sabrina Nentwich, the Texas 4-H 9 Foundation; and Patricia Randal, the Houston Livestock Show. 10 They not only got to receive the money, but they got to meet 11 their donors, and they got to tell them why it was so 12 important and what 4-H has done. So, a lot of things go on, 13 and, you know, a lot of people don't understand, but there's 14 a lot of hours these guys put into this, and that's -- that's 15 the thank-you that they get back for doing everything they 16 do. Yes, sir? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do you happen to have a 18 total of amount of the scholarships? 19 MS. COFFER: 51,000. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Golly, that is so fantastic. 21 MS. COFFER: And it's amazing. Whenever all the 22 kids from 4-H were there, I mean, there's just tons and tons, 23 but -- how many millions? Wasn't it like -- 24 MR. WALSTON: About one point -- 1.5 million. 25 MS. COFFER: And it's just over and over, and these 6-22-15 39 1 people are just so happy to do it, because these kids do a 2 lot of work. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 4 MS. COFFER: And I want to say thank you for your 5 support, and I'm going to invite you to come out. We're 6 having a fishing derby on July 1 for kids in after-care, and 7 it's a fun deal. We have about 50 kids -- 50 to 75 kids, and 8 all these 4-H'ers are going to be out there showing them how 9 to do that, so they're going to be at Flat Rock Park. So, 10 thanks for having us this morning. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That is great. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. We'll go to Item 1.7; 15 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action regarding 16 resolution to apply for the 2015-16 Texas C.D.B.G. assistance 17 under the Colonia Construction Fund. Precinct 2 and 18 Annette -- Bargainer? Is that it? 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let me give the background on 20 this. Come on up Annette. This -- this is the grant 21 procedure that we used in Kerrville South for the sewer 22 system over there. We're in Phase 6 now. Each one of these 23 phases have been a $500,000 grant. And what this is, is to 24 apply for a grant for hookup of individual properties once 25 the -- the central sewer system or distributed sewer system 6-22-15 40 1 is installed in east Kerr County. And so this -- the timing 2 on this is critical. The timing -- the application has to be 3 submitted in July; am I correct? 4 MS. BARGAINER: July 13th. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: In July. We're betting on the 6 come, however, that we get funding for construction of the -- 7 of the project from Texas Water Development Board, which is 8 in the budget and -- but we'll have -- we'll receive that 9 funding hopefully in October. So this, time-wise, phases 10 with it, so if we get the sewer system installed, then we can 11 start hooking up individual homes and individual properties, 12 and use this $500,000 as a way to do that for people that 13 can't afford it. And, again, same way we used it in 14 Kerrville South. And if we do that, then that -- you know, 15 the idea would be to continue doing that same type of thing 16 for -- for additional hookups. So, let me let Annette 17 Bargainer from Grantworks describe this a little bit more. 18 MS. BARGAINER: You did a great job. So, it is for 19 $500,000. There's a $25,000 local match from Kerr County, 20 and so as Commissioner Moser said, the good news is that we 21 think we can make this timeline based on when Kerr County is 22 usually funded in the grant cycle. So, by putting this 23 application in now, the state funding probably won't come in 24 for another 18 months, which should give y'all plenty of time 25 to get the main line constructed, and then start hooking 6-22-15 41 1 these folks up. And I did want to say that with this grant 2 funding, we can only hook up low- to moderate-income people. 3 It can't just be everyone in the area. So, we'll have to do 4 income surveys when the time comes to decide who gets -- 5 JUDGE POLLARD: So, there's an application process 6 they have to go through? 7 MS. BARGAINER: Correct. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. And part of that -- 9 this was a little bit involved too, because it involved 10 Charlie and Ray -- Charlie Hastings from Road and Bridge and 11 Ray Garcia from Environmental Health, and -- and Texas 12 Environmental Health, whatever they're called, coming out, 13 and then Annette took this information to see what areas 14 would most qualify, be scored. And so we're going through 15 the application also, so there's a lot of work in preparing 16 this. So, this resolution -- I'm not going to read it. It's 17 -- I'll submit it for the record, but it basically authorizes 18 the submission for this application and authorizes the Judge 19 to sign any appropriate documentation as part of that 20 application. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Annette, where are we on the 22 interlocal agreement issue with -- 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's the next budget line 24 item. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's the next item, but it's 6-22-15 42 1 part of this. 2 MS. BARGAINER: Right. So, I forwarded it to 3 T.D.A. Friday morning, didn't hear back, made some calls -- 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let me interrupt. What this 5 is about is she has to have -- there has to be an interlocal 6 agreement, okay, between Kerr County and -- and Kendall 7 County W.C.& I.D., and so Jonathan, bless his heart, he found 8 some existing agreements that hopefully will suffice. And so 9 instead of creating a big interlocal agreement, we're trying 10 to get around a different way. Go ahead. 11 MS. BARGAINER: But I haven't heard back. I do 12 know that I just missed a call from them while I was in here, 13 so maybe we could postpone that agenda item and the 14 interlocal agreement until I find out what they had to say. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That was going to be the plan, 16 to postpone that agenda item. 17 MS. BARGAINER: Fingers -- okay. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: We'll wait and discuss that when we 19 get to that agenda item. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, but the -- I guess the -- 21 this resolution authorizes the County Judge to submit the 22 application. It also authorizes him to do an interlocal 23 agreement, and I'm not going for that, because they don't -- 24 that interlocal agreement has got to be approved by the 25 Court, 'cause it's a very complicated and very important 6-22-15 43 1 agreement. I don't think you want to be the one to sign off 2 on it. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That interlocal agreement is 4 going to have a lot of nuts and bolts in it. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Going to be a long process. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, if we can't -- if the 8 letter of intent does not work on satisfying the Department 9 of Agriculture, then we're going to have to regroup, you 10 know. I doubt we can get an interlocal agreement by the 11 deadline. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Unless it's an interlocal 13 agreement which is narrow in scope. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Which associates this with 16 this, as opposed to the entire project. So, I'll be hopeful. 17 If they don't accept the memorandum of understanding that's 18 been submitted, then I think we've got Plan B, which could be 19 to generate a very simple interlocal agreement. Hopefully 20 that would suffice. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. And there's little -- 22 but I'm just saying -- bringing it up that, in my mind, I 23 don't mind approving the resolution, but it's going to be 24 subject to you not being able to authorize -- to do that part 25 of it. 6-22-15 44 1 JUDGE POLLARD: That's fine with me. That's fine 2 with me. I think we ought to run it through the wringer with 3 all of us. I agree with that. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure. Right. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think -- so, you know -- 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We'd have to do an interlocal 7 agreement to -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It says here that he has 9 authority; it says the County Judge has authority to do it. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, got you. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm saying the County Judge 12 doesn't have that authority, for me to vote for it. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, let's modify the 14 resolution so it so states. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I think the order -- I 16 mean, I don't mind the resolution being the way it is, but 17 the court order's not giving him authority. Is that 18 acceptable, County Attorney? 19 MS. STEBBINS: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 21 MS. STEBBINS: Not if the court order will say it. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, good. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Should we just defer on this, 24 Judge, until after you talk -- make your phone call? 25 MS. BARGAINER: Okay. 6-22-15 45 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Why don't we just pass -- 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Could I ask a question? 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Pass on Items 1.7 and 1.8? 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We'll come back. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Pass those until next Commissioners 6 Court? 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. No, she's going to go 8 make -- she's going to call right now. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: We'll pass it until then. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Can I just -- just ask one 11 quick question? Because I'm curious about this. By law, can 12 we require homeowners to hook up? 13 MS. BARGAINER: You can, but I don't know that 14 y'all have made that decision. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We have not. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: A special court order -- 17 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- issue? 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Mm-hmm. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But this -- the thing that 21 we're talking about this morning, 50 -- no, 500,000. 22 500,000, is that -- that's what that's for, is for those 23 folks that can't afford to do the hookup thing. How much is 24 the hookup? 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: In Kerrville South, which 6-22-15 46 1 you're familiar with, it was averaging about $4,000, I think, 2 depending on the trench depth and length. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: A little expensive, isn't 4 it? Okay, thank you. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The hookup includes remediation 6 of the septic -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Septic tank also. Both of 8 those. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's required, and so -- 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think that's about right. 11 Wasn't it about $4,000, something like that? 12 MR. GARCIA: Yes, sir. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Well, we'll skip 1.7 and 1.8 for 14 the present, and go to 1.9; consider, discuss, and take 15 appropriate action on request to use Flat Rock Park on 16 Thursday, July 2nd, for a Christian event. Darrin Miller and 17 Dr. Coleman. Either one of them here? 18 MR. BOLLIER: Neither one. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, this is hilarious, 20 "Dr. Coleman." The guy's name is D.R., and between -- 21 between the request and getting to the paper, he turned into 22 a doctor. That's America for you, though, buddy. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. It's a land of opportunity, 24 isn't it? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Okay. 6-22-15 47 1 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You can't miss those guys; 3 they're both huge. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: July 2nd is right on top of us now, 5 and should we go ahead and take action on that? 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, I don't think we can. 7 They -- I received a call from them, talked to them. It's 8 not clear what they want to do, how many people, what kind of 9 facilities, what kind of security, how many port-a-potties. 10 So, the purpose of that was to come in and tell us what they 11 wanted to do, so I wouldn't know how to take any action. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I wouldn't. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Pass it. Maybe they'll come in 14 before we leave. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Well, it was set at 16 9:30. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 1.10; consider, 19 discuss, and take appropriate action on agreement with 20 Cameron County Juvenile Justice Department and authorize 21 County Judge and/or Facility Administrator to sign same. Mr. 22 Davis, good morning. 23 MR. DAVIS: Good morning, Judge. Morning, 24 Commissioners. Cameron County, Nueces County, San Patricio 25 County, a number of our coastal bend counties have hurricane 6-22-15 48 1 evacuation plans. This is a continuation of that plan. I'll 2 probably be back before this Court with the other counties in 3 the next month or two. The County Attorney has reviewed this 4 plan. It is the same plan we've had in place. The County 5 Attorney had approved the plan. I would ask for the Court to 6 authorize myself and/or the County Judge to sign the plan as 7 needed. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: It's an evacuation plan in case of 9 a hurricane or some emergency like that, to house juveniles. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm assuming that we have 11 the right to reject? 12 MR. DAVIS: Absolutely, yes, sir. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move for approval. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: It's been moved and seconded for 16 approval of this particular item, and authorize -- I think 17 the way it's set up is for Mr. Davis to sign. Yes, it is, as 18 the facility administrator. Is there any further discussion? 19 There being none, those in favor of the motion, signify by 20 raising your right hand. 21 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 3-0.) 22 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 3-0, unanimous. All right. 23 Item 1.11; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 24 2015 and '16 agreement with the Kerrville Independent School 25 District for the provision of services at the Kerr County 6-22-15 49 1 Juvenile Detention Facility, and authorize the County Judge 2 to sign the same. This time you want me to sign instead of 3 you. 4 MR. DAVIS: Yes, sir. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 6 MR. DAVIS: Again, this is a housekeeping item. 7 This is an extension of what we currently have in place where 8 K.I.S.D. provides meals to -- we contract with them and they 9 provide meals to the children within the facility on weekdays 10 during school sessions. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What -- 12 JUDGE POLLARD: County Attorney's looked at it? 13 MR. DAVIS: Yes. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What meals do they provide? 15 MR. DAVIS: They provide breakfast and lunch. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What about din-din? 17 MR. DAVIS: That is provided by the Sheriff. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good enough. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: At an average cost of -- I think he 20 said at one time 70-something cents -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: -- a meal. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. So moved. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: He does a great job with that. I 25 mean, and it's nutritious meals, too. 6-22-15 50 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So moved. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I second the motion. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded that we -- 4 for approval of Item 1.11 on the agenda. Is there any 5 further discussion? There being none, those in favor, 6 signify by raising your right hand. 7 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 3-0.) 8 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 3-0, unanimous. 9 MR. DAVIS: Thank you. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Let's go to Item 1.12; 11 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to approve 12 Kerr County renewal of current insurance coverage to include 13 auto liability, auto physical damage, general liability, 14 public officials liability, law enforcement liability, crime 15 insurance with Texas Association of Counties Risk Management 16 Pool to renew October 1, 2015, and to have the County Judge 17 sign same. Dawn? 18 MS. LANTZ: Good morning, Judge. Good morning, 19 Commissioners. You should have received a packet with our 20 renewal as far as all of our insurances with Texas 21 Association of Counties. The Auditor's office has reviewed 22 everything on here, and we have completed the forms that they 23 need to be completed. And the County Attorney has also 24 reviewed it, and so we just need this to be signed and 25 approved by the Court. 6-22-15 51 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are the rates the same? 2 MS. LANTZ: As far as I know, yes. We have to get 3 this in 90 days prior, because we had to take off some of the 4 vehicles, I believe, and adjust some of the property that we 5 do have insured. And the Auditor's office has done that. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded for 9 approval of Item 1.12 on the agenda. Is there any further 10 discussion? There being none, those in favor, signify by 11 raising your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 3-0.) 13 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 3-0, unanimous. All right. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, if I may make a comment? 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Sure. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And at our -- last year we went 17 through an exercise to make sure all of the buildings and 18 properties and all that were -- 19 MS. LANTZ: We have an adjuster coming in, and 20 James and I haven't heard yet. I've been requesting to get a 21 date on that, for the property. But this is -- this part of 22 it is strictly for automobiles. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 24 MS. LANTZ: So the property will be a different 25 section. 6-22-15 52 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, thank you. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Item 1.13 -- not quite 3 10 a.m. Let's go to 1.14; consider, discuss, and take 4 appropriate action to discuss status of the selection process 5 and set final interview time for management of Hill Country 6 Youth Event Center. Commissioner Letz. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: At the last meeting, we 8 discussed this a little bit, but it's -- I just kind of want 9 to update the Court. We, being Bob and I, visited both with 10 Pinnacle Group and Global Spectrum, that are kind of the -- I 11 guess the two finalists the Court approved. They have 12 revised their pro forma statements slightly based on trying 13 to get them so they're apples to apples and clearly 14 understand things, and because of some -- one example is 15 we've had both of them completely take out the stock show and 16 the county fair out of their proposals, because there seems 17 to be confusion as to how those two interact with the county 18 and what revenue they get and wouldn't get, so we just said 19 let's take those out. We want to have them as close as we 20 can together. We have that. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: That leaves it with them dealing 22 with the County only on those two. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, it will be through 24 negotiations with the final contract that will be -- you 25 know, it will be part of our -- we can ask questions of them. 6-22-15 53 1 Bob and I feel the best way to proceed is to ask both those 2 companies to come for an interview with the Court. Probably 3 it will be a special meeting, it looks like, just because of 4 the timing. Our thought would be that Bob and I would meet 5 with them, kind of go over things out on-site one more time 6 one day, kind of like on a Monday, and then on Tuesday 7 morning, have interviews, maybe an hour each set up for the 8 Court so everyone can ask questions and look through all the 9 updated pro formas and all of that. I just wanted to kind of 10 make sure everyone -- if it sounds good to everybody, and 11 then -- and then pick a date. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: I'm interested in the cost portion 13 of it, you know, and specific questions about how it's going 14 to boil down to what it's going to cost the county, or what 15 the proposal would cost the county. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's -- and the numbers have 17 gotten closer on the pro formas. So, once -- I just got -- 18 the newest version came in, I think, Friday from Global, 19 'cause there was a -- they -- and actually maybe from 20 Pinnacle too on Friday. We'll get those to the Court 21 quickly, or as soon as we get, you know, copies of them so 22 you can look at the new revised pro forma statements. One of 23 the things that both entities -- and they're very up-front 24 about it, is the difficulty is, you know, it's a new 25 facility, and they're estimating. They're pretty certain 6-22-15 54 1 based on what we've booked; they know the revenue side. 2 They're pretty certain with the pro forma statements, but the 3 question I have is, what if they're off? What if they're 4 wrong? What's the risk to the County from each of them? And 5 that's kind of -- because their numbers are -- you know, it's 6 not going to -- I would say if we were to hire based on their 7 preliminary work that Bob -- Bob and I have worked with the 8 Auditor's office. If we were to hire our own staff to kind 9 of do the same thing, it would cost us more than both of 10 their proposals, so it's -- economically, it's probably 11 cheaper for us to go with one or the other. But they're 12 still -- the issue is, you know, what if they're wrong on, 13 you know, their projections? Where's the risk, and who has 14 the risk? Which I presume part of it is going to be with us. 15 But, anyway, those are questions I think we need to talk 16 about. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'd like to see the numbers. 18 Like, you know, how much is it going to cost the county to 19 hire a company, and then what is their projected income? I'd 20 like to see those. And then, you know, I can't quite get my 21 brain wrapped around the issue of what it would cost if we 22 don't do a -- hire a company, with our own staff, hiring 23 people and et cetera. I just can't see that as where we're 24 going. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: I've gone over some numbers like 6-22-15 55 1 that. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What we've done there, 3 Commissioner, is we can get some -- work with the Auditor, 4 get something out there. We looked at the status-quo is not 5 an option to us, because it's just -- it's not working. We 6 have to -- Maintenance has to do the same maintenance with 7 the same staff, and that isn't working, you know. So -- 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely. That's true. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- status-quo does not work. 10 So, the option of doing it in-house is either under 11 Maintenance or creating a new department to kind of have a 12 group that works at that facility and runs that facility, and 13 then there has to be some sort of a marketing component, you 14 know, manager/director that we hire to do that portion of it. 15 I think it can be a contractor; it can be a company. Just 16 different ways you can do it. We looked at just trying to 17 figure out about what that cost would be based on what people 18 that do that type of work charge, and that's -- that we've 19 kind of done. The number of personnel, whether we do it or 20 they do it, doesn't seem to vary a whole lot. They've got -- 21 you know, I mean, the proposals both have county functions 22 built into their numbers. Well, there's got -- I mean, right 23 now we use the Auditor, but, I mean, we start -- I mean, it's 24 still a cost to us. Whether the Auditor's doing it or not 25 doing it, it's still taking the Auditor's time. I mean, 6-22-15 56 1 so -- or if the Auditor's doing it, it's still -- even though 2 it's not -- we're not writing the Auditor a check to do it, 3 we're still paying personnel to do it. So, we try and break 4 that out, and we'll have that number. So, to us, there's 5 three options. There's us doing it, Global, or Pinnacle. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I try to think like some of 7 these old boys that I grew up with out around Hunt back in 8 the '50's -- 1950's. And, you know, they -- the toes of 9 their boots out, you know, they would ask a question, you 10 know, "Is this thing really necessary?" kind of thing. Or 11 can you scale back what your desires and dreams are? Can 12 you -- do you think that just right off the bat, you've 13 opened the doors, and now we want to hire a big company to 14 control -- or to take it over and run it? Do you want -- 15 wouldn't you rather wait two years to see how it's going to 16 work out before you actually pull the trigger on spending a 17 lot of the taxpayers' money? I mean, just those kind of 18 things flow through my brain, and I'm just uncomfortable 19 with -- well, I guess we'll get to it. All my questions will 20 be answered, I'm sure. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: We're in the middle of budget time 22 right now, and it looks to me -- that's going to be 23 determinative for me. You know, if it's going to cost us 24 more than we can afford, then we got to do something else. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, I think that -- you 6-22-15 57 1 know, I think it's good to have the information, what 2 Commissioner Letz and Reeves have done. I think we need to 3 step back, too. We -- we went into this new facility; we 4 questioned, you know, the need for it. We got it. We got an 5 elephant. We got to feed the elephant now, okay? Or we got 6 to put the elephant -- let it not eat as much. But it's a 7 big elephant. The other thing we haven't discussed is not 8 only operations costs. What this is talking about is revenue 9 and operations costs, but I'll guarantee you we don't have 10 anything in the budget about the replacement of 11 air-conditioners and all that kind of stuff, and that's 12 what -- I'm going to insist that we look at that somehow in 13 this budget. When we bring on these new facilities, there 14 are other costs associated with these things, whether it's 15 this or improvements in Flat Rock Park or anything else, or 16 any one of the parks. So, we've got to be responsible and 17 look at when we bring these new facilities on, there's two 18 parts of it; keeping it alive, and the other one is operating 19 it. So -- and I think this is good, but, you know, a couple 20 years ago we didn't have multi-hundred thousand dollar 21 proposals on operating something like this. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One thing; the maintenance 23 costs are built into these. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. But I'm talking about 25 deterioration, repainting the walls and doing -- 6-22-15 58 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Built into it. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Huh? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's built into their numbers. 4 Now, whether it's realistic is for us to look at. There are 5 items -- 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's a line item we need to 7 look at, right. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it's a -- you know, we'll 9 present all the -- 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- as much as we can of all the 12 different numbers. But that's why I think we need a special 13 meeting for it, so we can really go into it in some depth. 14 The interesting thing that I found out is that the -- the 15 number of rentals, they don't see huge growth there. Other 16 than -- I mean, they think it will grow more each year, but 17 they think we're doing a decent job of renting it. We're not 18 doing a good job of operating it necessarily, but we're doing 19 a good job -- we get rentals out there. I think we give it 20 away too much; I think that'll be part of the thing. And I 21 think the other thing, what they're -- both them are looking 22 at where the real revenue's going to come to help lower the 23 cost to us, as opposed to doing it ourselves, is bringing in 24 events that they promote themselves. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 6-22-15 59 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Bringing in -- both of them are 2 looking at bringing in small concert series and concerts that 3 would maybe have 1,000 people. But bringing in -- because of 4 both of their connections, whether Global or -- you know, 5 some band like, say, Robert Earl Keen, something like that, 6 maybe he's playing in Clovis, New Mexico, playing in Nueces 7 County. They would require him under his contract to go to 8 Kerrville also. And the -- the revenue they can generate 9 from those types of events -- they're both very interested in 10 looking at KerrFest, as an example. You know, and we've told 11 them KerrFest has been very successful, but it is as strong 12 as the volunteers that promote it. And they're looking at 13 doing something, you know, like KerrFest, maybe merging with 14 that or taking events like that and running with them and 15 making them, you know, real regular, that they have a -- that 16 their own staff operate them, and both of them are looking at 17 the same types of revenues. Our rates, they're not 18 recommending much of a change. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think everything you said 20 there, their venue, bringing people in, KerrFest bringing -- 21 that's all under the umbrella of marketing, and that's what 22 Schreiner University, when they looked at it, said, "You 23 guys" -- being us up at this table -- "haven't done anything 24 to market that facility." And I think that's what these 25 people can do, and I think that that's a critically important 6-22-15 60 1 part. At some point, whether it's this year or next year or 2 whatever. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I do too. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The other part where they are 5 bringing in revenue is concessions. They will -- they look 6 at that as an opportunity. They will take over the Coke 7 sales or soft drink sales for all events, and they -- that's 8 revenue there, and that's something that we let each little 9 group do their own deal right now. So, anyway, the -- to 10 figure out a time, Bob and I looked at a calendar last week. 11 It looks like the 7th, 8th of July -- possibly the 8th will 12 be a special meeting, so I kind of wanted to toss that out, 13 and then Bob and I will meet with them on the 7th. Then 14 we'll have a special meeting on the morning of the 8th. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Available? 16 MS. GRINSTEAD: I was looking at the 6th and 7th. 17 When we looked -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 6th and 7th? 19 MS. GRINSTEAD: Yeah, it was that Monday and 20 Tuesday. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm sorry, the 6th and 7th, so 22 the 7th would be the special meeting, which is a Tuesday. 23 And the time is pretty flexible, probably. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: I'll entertain a motion to create a 25 -- a special meeting on July the -- 6-22-15 61 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 7th. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: -- 7th. At what time? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Does the Court -- well, we can 4 meet at 9:00, and we can discuss it for a while if we want to 5 bring the -- you know, set the interview times after 6 9 o'clock. 7 MS. GRINSTEAD: The Judge and Kathy will have 8 mental health hearings that morning, though, at 8:30 and 9 9:00, so we might have to -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Start at 10:00? 11 MS. GRINSTEAD: That will be good. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do it at 10:00. And -- 13 JUDGE POLLARD: What am I doing at 9:00? 14 MS. GRINSTEAD: Mental health. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Oh. I hope they let me out. 16 (Laughter.) 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Set it for 10 o'clock. 18 MS. GRINSTEAD: Okay. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: 10 o'clock, then. So, that's a 20 motion? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, sir. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there a second? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. It's been moved and 25 seconded that we have a special meeting on July the 7th at 6-22-15 62 1 10 a.m. regarding Item 1.14 on this agenda. Is there any 2 further discussion? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I got -- are you bringing in 4 those companies that day? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They'll both be here. And 8 they're -- 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Interviews to follow the special 10 session? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I don't see the County 12 Attorney, but Ilse's here. And because these are going to go 13 into contract negotiations, we presume these are executive 14 session? 15 MS. BAILEY: I think -- 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, we did -- the other 17 discussion we did earlier when we made the selection was. 18 Because, I mean, we're talking about numbers that we're going 19 to be contracting on. 20 MS. BAILEY: I think that's correct. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: You're asking for an opinion from 22 the lady that's not going to be here then. 23 MS. BAILEY: Deliberation regarding economic 24 development negotiations. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: She's going to disappear within a 6-22-15 63 1 matter of hours. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I know we did the selection in 3 executive session. Heather thought that was appropriate. 4 It's also a contract, because we're dealing with numbers. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We can do it and make the 6 decision at that time. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The decision will certainly be 8 in open session. 9 MS. BAILEY: The decision is in open. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. We can schedule the 11 special session and decide whether or not to go -- 12 JUDGE POLLARD: Right. All right, is there any 13 further discussion regarding the motion that's on the floor? 14 There being none, those in favor, signify by raising your 15 right hand. 16 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 3-0.) 17 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 3-0, unanimous. All right. 18 Let's go back to Item 1.13; consider, discuss, and take 19 appropriate action regarding cameras for constables. Charlie 20 Hicks and Commissioner Moser. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let me set the stage for this. 22 The other day I got a call from Charlie Hicks, the constable 23 for Precinct 2, and he said, "I'm going to be hampered with 24 some of the activities that I'm supposed to perform, and the 25 reason being is my camera's out." So -- and what it is, we 6-22-15 64 1 have a -- we have a function that can't be performed if they 2 don't have a camera, and we don't have any spare cameras. 3 And so this -- this is to address something -- and I think 4 that's really ridiculous, okay, that we have somebody with 5 that capability that's needed, and we're shut down because of 6 some electronic component going out. And so that's -- that, 7 to me, is unacceptable. So, I've asked Charlie to come here 8 and explain exactly why he's so hampered, and what we might 9 do as part of this budget process. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: Why is it necessary? 11 MR. HICKS: That's our evidence collecting tool. 12 In this day and time, liability issues are big factors. We 13 use them every day, every day in our civil business to prove 14 that we served a paper or prove that we -- like, when we do a 15 writ of possession when we're taking people's property and 16 setting it on the side of the road, that's an evidence issue, 17 and we have it forever. I've never had anything like that 18 happen before. Driving down the road, it caught on fire; my 19 car was full of smoke. So, when I called the company, the 20 company tells me that there's a three- to four-week 21 turnaround time. I talked to other constables, and I found 22 out that Constable Huffaker and Constable Lavender have both 23 had similar issues, and it did take them three to four weeks 24 to get their cameras back. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They all caught on fire? 6-22-15 65 1 MR. HICKS: They've had different issues where 2 they've had to send it back. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: This thing is -- it's an 4 electronic piece of equipment, and electronics fail. I mean, 5 how many people's computer fail? Everybody in this room, 6 probably. 7 MR. HICKS: And the problem we have is once it goes 8 down, we don't have another car we can go jump in and use 9 it -- you know, use the camera system, so we're dead in the 10 water, basically. We can still do our job, but it really -- 11 with the liability with the county these days and the 12 liability on us as constables, makes it really tough. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: How much trouble is it to 14 change out a camera? 15 MR. HICKS: Camera system? It's a few bolts and 16 stuff like that to take it off. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You can do it yourself? 18 MR. HICKS: Still got to send it in. Yes, sir. 19 Yes, sir, but my proposal was -- when I talked to 20 Commissioner Moser was about updating these cameras, and at 21 least starting with mine, and then getting my old unit fixed 22 so we have a spare in case any of the other constables' go 23 down. We can stick those into their cars, until we get -- 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Backup. 25 MR. HICKS: -- financial -- 6-22-15 66 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So this is -- the purpose of 2 putting it on the agenda is to make everybody aware of it, 3 and it's something we need to consider as part of this budget 4 process. But it just clearly shows a -- a lack of rigor and 5 resilience, and something that's very important, especially 6 in today's time, that we don't protect ourselves with some 7 type of recording. We could -- right, Charlie? 8 MR. HICKS: Yes, we could. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We could work without 10 recording it. 11 MR. HICKS: I've talked to the prosecutors at the 12 D.A.'s office, and they were like, "Yeah, you know, if you 13 have to, you have to, but we would rather have video." I 14 mean, in today's time, video is everything. I mean, it's the 15 truth. Where officers are getting questioned about a whole 16 lot of things they do these days, the camera doesn't lie, so 17 therefore it makes an important tool in our business. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: So, they have two issues here; 19 getting yours replaced immediately, and then the second one 20 is to make sure we budget in the next year's budget for this 21 kind of thing. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: A spare. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You don't -- there's no repair 24 funds in the budget to repair a camera? 25 MR. HICKS: No, I have my -- I have my maintenance 6-22-15 67 1 budget. According to some tickets I got from Constable 2 Lavender, it's going to cost somewhere maybe around 320 bucks 3 to get it fixed. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And how much do you have in 5 your maintenance line item? 6 MR. HICKS: I've got 1,000, but I don't know how 7 much exactly that I've used on my vehicle. My vehicle's a 8 2010, too, so I need to keep a little surplus in there in 9 case something happens. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So -- but you have enough to 11 get the old one fixed right now? 12 MR. HICKS: Yes, sir, I should. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a matter of a budget item 14 to buy a new camera, is the issue. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct. 16 MR. HICKS: And the camera, I got a quote on it. 17 For a new camera is $5,005. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think we can either put it 19 as part of the budget and run the risk, which -- you know, 20 until the new year begins, or -- or we can consider this an 21 emergency for $5,000, and make sure that we have a camera for 22 all four of the -- backup for all four of the -- 23 MR. HICKS: It would be nice to have that spare, 24 because there's no telling -- it's an electronic piece of 25 equipment, like you said. It can go down any time, and if 6-22-15 68 1 they do -- 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Does the Sheriff have backup 3 cameras? 4 MR. HICKS: No, he doesn't. I actually went to 5 him, but he has different cars that he can put different 6 deputies in. You know, he's got a -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: He's got multiple vehicles. 8 MR. HICKS: He can switch around. I went to them 9 to see if they had any parts I could use, and everything's 10 mounted in their vehicles. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, Ms. Auditor, does this 12 fall under the category of emergency? 13 MS. DOSS: I would think so, yes. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, I'll move that we purchase 15 a new camera for immediate replacement for the constable in 16 Precinct 2, and have the old camera repaired and use it for a 17 spare, not to exceed $6,000. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you declaring an 19 emergency so you can go into the reserves? 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. That's what I'm doing, 21 right. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, do we need to declare an 23 emergency? 24 MR. ROBLES: We have contingency we could use. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, back up a little bit 6-22-15 69 1 here. 2 MS. DOSS: We do have a contingency line item that 3 we could use, and not use the emergency. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Okay. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: So we don't need an emergency. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. All right. 7 MS. LANTZ: Did we insure that equipment? 8 JUDGE POLLARD: There's plenty of money in the 9 contingency fund to cover this? 10 MS. DOSS: Yes. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. So, I'll modify the 12 motion using contingency funds that are available in the 13 county for purchasing a new camera for the constables, and to 14 repair Constable, Precinct 2's camera to use it for a spare, 15 and funds not to exceed $6,000. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: You were the second, I think, 17 weren't you? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I will second it, yes. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. As restated just now by 20 Commissioner Moser? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Correct. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Any further discussion 23 on the motion? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The question is, as part of the 25 vehicles, is it insured? Are these insured? I see Larry 6-22-15 70 1 back there; maybe Larry knows. The question is, are they 2 insured as part of the vehicle for the cameras? 3 MS. LANTZ: Part of the equipment; I think it 4 should be. Because as long as -- I can find out. But that's 5 a -- 6 MR. ROBLES: I think they are, actually. We group 7 it in with the cost of the vehicle. When we buy a new 8 vehicle, we get the lights and the cameras and everything as 9 all included in the cost. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: The radio and all of that, huh? 11 MR. ROBLES: I don't know if it's specifically 12 listed out, but it is included in the cost. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's our deductible on that 14 type of -- 15 MR. ROBLES: 1,000. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 1,000. It would save us 17 $4,000. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: I don't think it would hurt to ask 19 and make sure, clarify that. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think we can move forward, 21 and at the same time, pursue the insurance. And we said "not 22 to exceed," so -- 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: If we do it. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: That doesn't affect the motion, 6-22-15 71 1 right. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just want to make sure we try 3 to use insurance if possible. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Is there any further 5 discussion on the motion? It's on the floor. Those in 6 favor, signify by raising your right hand. 7 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 3-0.) 8 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 3-0, unanimous. All right, 9 that takes care of -- 10 MR. HICKS: Thank you. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: -- Item 1.13. She's still not 12 back? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Need a break. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, 10-minute break. We'll 15 resume at exactly 10:30. 16 (Recess taken from 10:20 a.m. to 10:32 a.m.) 17 - - - - - - - - - - 18 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, we're back in session. 19 It's 10:32 a.m., and we can go now to Item 1.15 that Mr. 20 Allen and Mr. Grimes have been waiting for. Consider, 21 discuss, and take appropriate action regarding compensation 22 for, quote, first calls, unquote, to funeral homes for deaths 23 in Kerr County. Mr. Allen and Mr. Grimes, would y'all like 24 to approach the podium and give us a presentation? 25 MR. GRIMES: Thank you, Council -- Judge. The 6-22-15 72 1 definition of a first call, just so everybody's on the same 2 page, is -- is the first initial contact of a deceased to be 3 removed from a place of death. So, it's either from a 4 family, a nurse, doctor, J.P., you know, these type of 5 scenarios. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Or some officers. 7 MR. GRIMES: Or in some cases, some officer, yes, 8 sir. Dispatch -- a lot of times a J.P. calls S.O. and, you 9 know, they'll give us a call to make the removal. 10 Surrounding counties pay us for a first call whenever there's 11 a death on an unattended. So, if a family member calls us 12 and says, "Mom passed away. Can you come to the hospital and 13 pick her up and bring her back to the funeral home?" That's 14 still a first call, but not in this essence where we're not 15 getting financial benefit from it. So -- 16 JUDGE POLLARD: So if a family member calls, they 17 are -- they're on the hook for the cost of it? 18 MR. GRIMES: Correct. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 20 MR. GRIMES: Now, if there's a car wreck on the 21 interstate, and they're from El Paso, let's say, they die in 22 Kerr County, the Sheriff's Department gives us a call after 23 the J.P. has been there to pronounce, and we're -- we're on 24 some sort of rotation call, so it'll either be Kerrville 25 Funeral Home, Grimes, Wright's, whatever funeral home the 6-22-15 73 1 J.P. calls. There is no contact with the family -- between 2 the funeral home and the family. And so the J.P. is under, I 3 would say, Kerr County's jurisdiction. And we lose the 4 deceased to another funeral home in El Paso, for the right 5 reason. We wouldn't be handling it here in Kerrville. The 6 funeral home in El Paso has no ties or bind to a funeral home 7 in Kerrville, just because they didn't call us; they didn't 8 even know about the death till the next day, probably. And 9 so whenever we release the body to that funeral home, we 10 don't get any type of -- of benefit financially from that. 11 So, we're here today saying we would like for our first call 12 fee to be paid by the -- Kerr County when that type occurs. 13 So, it's not every death in Kerrville. It's just whenever -- 14 it's those unattended deaths that are transferred to another 15 funeral home. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: How many of those do you estimate 17 there are, say on a monthly basis? 18 MR. GRIMES: I would say anywhere from one to 19 three. So, it's not a lot. It's not minimal. So, I mean, 20 to y'all, you're looking at the numbers, probably thinking, 21 "Well, that's quite a bit," but on our end of it, when 22 there's 800 or so deaths a year in Kerr County, I would say 23 one to three is pretty minimal. Next month it could be five 24 or six. You know, next month could be zero. It's just hard 25 to -- hard to -- 6-22-15 74 1 JUDGE POLLARD: What's the tab on that? 2 MR. GRIMES: $350. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: $350. And what's the -- you've had 4 situations where the bodies -- nobody came to pick them up, 5 and you had them for -- I heard you say once up to a month or 6 something like that? 7 MR. GRIMES: Right. And sometimes a month is 8 pretty light. We have held them for several months. That's 9 whenever we go another avenue to the County Judge, and -- and 10 try to go for an unclaimed body or an indigent body for a 11 county cremation. And -- 12 JUDGE POLLARD: And that fee is -- 13 MR. GRIMES: That fee is $750. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's a pauper? 16 MR. GRIMES: That's a pauper. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: And those are fairly rare. We 18 don't have -- 19 MR. GRIMES: I would say -- I think Gene has had 20 three this year. I don't think I've had any this year. 21 Bandera County, though, it probably happens once a month, you 22 know, with indigent or pauper or unclaimed. So -- 23 JUDGE POLLARD: So, Bandera County does pay you 24 $350 for them? 25 MR. GRIMES: For a first call, yes, sir. 6-22-15 75 1 JUDGE POLLARD: And what about Gillespie County? 2 MR. GRIMES: Gillespie County pays. Kimble County 3 pays. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Same amount? 5 MR. GRIMES: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Johnny, in the -- in the El 7 Paso example, I presume y'all try to get the money from the 8 family? I mean, the situation is that some El Paso -- an El 9 Paso funeral home takes care of it. Do y'all contact them 10 and say, "Hey, you know, we picked up..." 11 MR. GRIMES: Well, in that case, sometimes it's 12 called soliciting, and we can't -- we can't solicit after a 13 time of death. Now, we can always solicit before, 14 prearranging funerals, those sort of scenarios, so there's 15 two different ballparks. But at the time of death, I would 16 say back in the old days, we're talking 20, 30 years ago, it 17 was a common courtesy to -- I take care of you. Hey, Judge 18 Pollard, you know, here's $350 to make that removal at 2:00 19 in the morning. This day and time, times have changed and, 20 you know, there's no connection any more, and there's just 21 not a common bond or good-old-boy system any more. And so to 22 be in touch with that family, if I call that funeral home and 23 say, "I need to talk to the Smith family," they're not going 24 to give me that number. And, you know, all I did was make 25 the removal at Kerr County's request, release the body to 6-22-15 76 1 X-Y-Z Funeral Home in El Paso, and that's the end of my 2 obligation. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You're not allowed to ask the 4 family for money directly? 5 MR. GRIMES: No, sir. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's interesting, because 7 EMS can ask for money once they've transported somebody from 8 an accident. They go back and say, "You owe us." That's 9 interesting. 10 MR. GRIMES: Yeah. I mean, I could ask, but then, 11 I mean, there's -- first of all, I don't have any contact 12 with them. Second of all, they're going to tell me, "I 13 didn't tell you to pick up the body." Which is the truth, 14 because they didn't tell me to pick up the body. The J.P. or 15 Kerr County, or -- 16 JUDGE POLLARD: What's "soliciting"? 17 MR. GRIMES: I'm sorry? 18 JUDGE POLLARD: Where does the rule on soliciting 19 come from? You can't solicit after the death or what? 20 MR. GRIMES: Right. It's in the statute. 21 MR. ALLEN: In the statute. We fall under the same 22 guidelines as attorneys, as ambulance chasing and so forth. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Buster, that answers it. It's 24 about attorneys. 25 MR. GRIMES: Now, if one of y'all's -- 6-22-15 77 1 MR. ALLEN: Sorry, Heather. 2 MR. GRIMES: -- family members pass away, and the 3 family contacts us, then there's our point of contact. So, 4 it's two separate scenarios, yes, sir. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there anything in the budget as 7 a line item to cover this kind of thing? 8 MS. DOSS: I would have to look at that. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have the pauper burials, 10 but -- 11 MS. DOSS: Right. This would kind of come into 12 that category, in my mind. I mean, it's the same basic 13 reason. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, right now you just have to 15 eat it if you don't -- 16 MR. GRIMES: Yes, sir. You know, and -- and if 17 it's 2:00 in the morning -- you know, and I've talked about 18 this before. And a lot of people say, you know, "Well, why 19 don't you ask before you go make that removal?" And I say, 20 well, first of all, whenever somebody calls us to make a 21 removal, I'm not asking, you know, "Are you able to take care 22 of this? Where do you live? What's your..." You know, I 23 mean, you just -- ethically, you just don't do that. You go 24 make the removal, bring them back to the funeral home and 25 take care of -- of somebody's loved one, and then you move 6-22-15 78 1 forward. You just -- you can't ask all these questions at 2 2:00 in the morning or 2:00 in the afternoon. It's just -- 3 what a funeral director and a funeral home owner does is make 4 the removal, come back and take care of -- and for years, we 5 have not been paid. And it just seems like over time, when 6 all these other counties are accepting this fee, I feel like 7 Kerr County needs to come in and help a funeral home out 8 whenever they do make the removal on their behalf. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask -- let me say 10 this. So the pauper thing, see, I understand that, and I 11 agree with that, because that is one of our neighbors and our 12 citizens that we need to take care of. It's a system that -- 13 it's just like insurance or anything else. They're my 14 neighbor; I need to help them out, and I understand that. 15 But I don't -- I can't quite get my brin wrapped around -- 16 you're asking us to spend public money to enhance your 17 business. 18 MR. GRIMES: I wouldn't say enhance. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Help me get around that. 20 MR. GRIMES: You bet. I wouldn't say enhance it. 21 Our only other option would be is if the deceased is on the 22 interstate at any time of the day, the Justice of the Peace 23 comes and pronounces, maybe at that point they either need to 24 do some investigating work to find the next of kin or family, 25 and sometimes that could take days. 6-22-15 79 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: While they're out there on 2 the side of the road. 3 MR. GRIMES: Ethically, it's not right to have 4 somebody laying on the side of the road until we find that, 5 so they do this in a prompt manner to get the deceased off of 6 the side of the road or -- or in a ditch, whatever it might 7 be, the type of death. So, that's where we come and do it, 8 and bring the body back in to control that atmosphere and 9 place in refrigeration until the time comes that they do 10 notify the next of kin. So, to get a grip around that, it's 11 by no means enhancing my business by $350 whenever we're 12 getting up, sending two guys in a $50,000 car at 2:00 in the 13 morning to make $350, by no means. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: They could say no, Buster, and then 15 what will we do? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: "No, I'm not going to come pick 18 them up." 19 MR. GRIMES: Right. We could all say, "No, we're 20 not going to do that." Then the County comes in and, you 21 know, has to -- but that's not how we're bred, and that's not 22 how we're wired. That's not what we do. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 24 MR. GRIMES: You know, if we were getting paid 25 $3,500 to go out and make a removal, that's one thing. But 6-22-15 80 1 $350, it's not a money issue; it's just covering the cost. 2 MR. ALLEN: In larger counties where they've got a 3 medical examiner and medical examiner's office, that medical 4 examiner's going to have a contract with a transport company 5 that goes out and does that. So, the larger populated 6 counties don't have this issue, because that transport 7 company's going to do it, and they're contracted with them, 8 being compensated by the medical examiner. So, basically, 9 we're taking the place of that transport company for that 10 purpose. Most the other larger counties, they still have 11 this expense; they just have a different way of implementing 12 it -- or the procedure. 13 MR. GRIMES: Bexar County, for instance, has a 14 coroner. They're the ones that actually go out and make the 15 removals on those, take them back to the medical examiner in 16 Bexar County. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: And they have a charge for it? 18 MR. GRIMES: You bet. Kerr County doesn't have a 19 medical examiner, so that's where the funeral home comes, 20 makes a removal, comes back to the funeral home, and if they 21 order an autopsy, then we transport to Lockhart to the 22 medical examiner. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Lockhart? 24 MR. GRIMES: Lockhart. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What happened to Austin? 6-22-15 81 1 MR. GRIMES: That changed several years ago. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What happened to San 3 Antonio? 4 MR. GRIMES: That changed even more years ago. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Further back. Lockhart. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, to me, it's a 7 reasonable charge. I mean, they're not -- I think, you know, 8 it's a cost. Someone has to do it, and, you know, I think we 9 talked about the larger counties have medical examiners and 10 coroners. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: A lot cheaper. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is a lot cheaper than 13 that. So, you know -- but I guess the question is, how do we 14 do it? Ms. Auditor, do you know how much money we have in 15 this pauper line item currently? 16 MS. DOSS: I don't know right offhand. 17 MR. ROBLES: It's either 50,000 or 90,000. I can't 18 remember which line it is. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Wow. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Wow. 21 MS. LAVENDER: It's 6,000. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I tell you what, there for a 23 while we had a run on them out here. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, we did. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, it's the compassion of 6-22-15 82 1 these guys to do it, too. You talk about the neighborly 2 thing. You know, I admire both funeral homes for doing that. 3 It's certainly -- 4 JUDGE POLLARD: All three. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: All three, excuse me. So, 6 what is our action here today? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, action, I guess, you 8 know, to do it, I think we have to do it -- isn't that right? 9 -- next budget year. I mean, 'cause -- 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- we didn't really budget for 12 it. But I think it would come out of that line item. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right, I agree. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Out of that pauper line item. 15 Same type of thing, to me. 16 MR. ROBLES: Tomorrow we're discussing 17 nondepartmental expenses; we could put it in there, if y'all 18 want me to. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let's do it. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And the figure's going to 21 remain the same? The three -- what is it, 350? 22 MR. GRIMES: 350, yes, sir. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And so that will remain the 24 same for a while until we get all this put together. 25 MR. GRIMES: You know, and not to change things, 6-22-15 83 1 but the pauper cremation fee has been the same, and the 2 transportation to Lockhart and Austin has been the same for 3 years. And as everybody knows, things go up, so we're not 4 here saying -- hey, we're just trying to offset our expenses 5 of whenever we do have a deceased go to another funeral home, 6 that we are compensated at $350. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: John, we're trying to get to 8 you; we're trying to get it done. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It seems it's about $10,000, it 10 looks like. I mean, if you -- three per month, I think, 11 comes out to 10,500. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: I think we can start doing at it as 13 a matter of policy, just do it out of -- 14 MR. GRIMES: And you have the autopsy account. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's right, we do. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Include it in next year's budget, 17 too. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Gene, do you agree with the 20 three a month? 21 MR. ALLEN: Yes, sir, that's pretty accurate. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 23 MR. ALLEN: That's not three each; that's three 24 total. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And where do we stand on the 6-22-15 84 1 pauper fund this year? 2 MR. ROBLES: I'll look. 3 MS. LAVENDER: $6,000 was what we put in it at the 4 beginning of the budget year. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And how much do you have left? 6 MS. LAVENDER: I do not know. I know we've done 7 maybe three since the beginning of the year. 8 MR. GRIMES: At $750, so 2,100-ish. 9 MS. DOSS: Maybe 4,000 left or something. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So there's -- 11 MS. LAVENDER: But you just did two. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Personally, I don't think it's 13 right for the funeral homes to absorb this, and $350 sounds 14 like you're still losing money, I mean, when you take 15 somebody and keep them for "X" number of days, months, weeks, 16 whatever, in the facility. So -- 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Ms. County Attorney, do we need 18 to have any kind of interlocal agreement with them to pay 19 them, or do we just pay them? 20 MS. STEBBINS: Sorry, can you ask that again? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I said do we need to have any 22 kind of, like, agreement to pay this amount? Rather -- I 23 mean, it seems it would be good to have a trail as to why 24 we're paying it. 25 MS. STEBBINS: It would be a good idea to have 6-22-15 85 1 some -- at least a memorandum of understanding with both of 2 the funeral homes. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Or a resolution here passed by the 4 Commissioners Court? Would that do? 5 MS. STEBBINS: I think that it would be more 6 helpful to have a memorandum of understanding to know what 7 each of our responsibilities are. They agree to do this, and 8 we agree to pay them. 9 MR. GRIMES: Backing up, is there an agreement 10 between funeral homes for paupers or for transportation to 11 Lockhart? 'Cause what we do is we just submit a statement to 12 the County Auditor when we have those two -- two line items 13 that come up. I can't ever remember signing an agreement 14 between Kerr County and the funeral home, itself. It's just 15 another contract that we would submit to the County Auditor 16 to pay our -- our charges. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I just asked the 18 question. I didn't know. I don't know if we have -- you had 19 an agreement or not. 20 MR. GRIMES: Which is a good question, but I 21 just -- 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: If it's working without an 23 agreement... 24 MS. STEBBINS: I don't think they're going to stop 25 doing what they're doing. I think that's what it sounds like 6-22-15 86 1 from -- 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, let's do this. Let's 3 bring it back next meeting and have it prepared exactly, line 4 items and dollars and cents and -- and agreements, if 5 necessary, et cetera. Let's just do a clean thing and do it 6 all at one time. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That is good. 8 MS. STEBBINS: Do you want me to prepare a 9 memorandum of understanding, or do you just -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is it appropriate or necessary? 11 If it's not, then don't do it. 12 MS. STEBBINS: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's fine. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that okay? 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Is that okay with you 16 guys? 17 MR. GRIMES: Do we have a choice? (Laughter.) 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, we can do something -- we 19 can do something today. 20 MR. GRIMES: No, I'm just kidding. I mean, -- 21 JUDGE POLLARD: They don't want to come back. 22 MR. GRIMES: -- we waited 20 years. What's another 23 two or three weeks? 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I don't think they ought to 25 have to come back. 6-22-15 87 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think you need to come 2 back. I think we need to know how much money is in the 3 budget to do -- I mean, if we don't have enough money in the 4 budget, we can't do it until next budget year, to me. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I don't think you need to come 6 back. I think we understand the issue. 7 MR. GRIMES: Right. And so moving forward, when do 8 we submit the statements? Is it going to be -- 9 JUDGE POLLARD: What's the fee for Lockhart? It's 10 about a $350 transportation fee to Lockhart, so there's a 11 100-mile drive and a downtime of two or three hours waiting 12 on an autopsy to be performed, and then bringing the deceased 13 back to us for 350, which you're losing money. 14 MR. GRIMES: Which I'm losing money there, too. 15 So, we didn't want to come in here bombarding you, saying, 16 "Hey, look, we're way behind times." We're here on the first 17 call issue. We can address this issue later next year, 18 whatever. But -- 19 JUDGE POLLARD: I personally would like to handle 20 it now, with just a resolution saying -- establishing a 21 policy of $750 for the pauper funerals, $350 for first time 22 calls, and $350 for the -- 23 MR. GRIMES: Transportation to Lockhart. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: -- Lockhart transportation and 25 back. 6-22-15 88 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Paupers is 750. 750, right? 2 MR. GRIMES: Yes, sir. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Is that a motion? 4 MS. LAVENDER: That's already in there. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's already in the policy? 6 JUDGE POLLARD: I'm looking for a motion to that 7 effect. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I so move. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Move what? 10 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there a second? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Say it again? 12 JUDGE POLLARD: It's establishing a policy for $750 13 payment for pauper funerals -- 14 MS. DOSS: They're already done. 15 MS. LAVENDER: It's already in our policy. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Pardon? 17 MS. LAVENDER: It's already in our policy. That 18 amount is already in our pauper policy. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. So we'll leave that out, 20 then. All right. Is it in our policy for the trip to -- 21 transport to Lockhart and back? 22 MS. LAVENDER: No. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay, we'll include that one here, 24 a policy to -- 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Modify policy. 6-22-15 89 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But we've been paying the 2 Lockhart deal for, what, 150 years? 3 MR. GRIMES: Years. 125. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: We're putting it in the minutes, 5 though, this time for $350 on that, and $350 for the first 6 time call. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I so move. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: To restate it, modify the 11 policy to add $350 for first calls to the funeral homes, and 12 $350 for autopsies to Lockhart. 13 MR. GRIMES: Yes, sir. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And this is -- the first calls 16 is effective July 1st? 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Effective July 1st. 18 MS. STEBBINS: Is this a separate policy from the 19 pauper burial policy, or is this something to include in that 20 program? 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We're going to modify that 22 policy so it includes these other two things. That's the 23 motion. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there a second to that motion, 25 then? 6-22-15 90 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, I seconded. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay, you seconded it. Is there 3 any further discussion? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, just one. The line 5 item for this First Responder thing -- 6 MS. DOSS: First call. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: First call, okay. First 8 call. Are we -- is that coming out of the paupers line item, 9 or are we creating a new line item? 10 MS. DOSS: We could do a new line item, yes. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know if it's right 12 or wrong. I'm trying to find out. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: That's good, yes. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd do it under that same line 15 item. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I would too. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's not paupers, though. 18 That's the deal. 19 MS. LAVENDER: It's transportation. 20 MS. DOSS: It's transportation. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's not a pauper thing. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, a new line item's fine. 23 MR. ALLEN: What line item is the current charge 24 for going to Lockhart coming out of? 25 MR. ROBLES: Is Lockhart autopsies? Okay, we have 6-22-15 91 1 a separate one for that under the policy. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: There you go. Put it under 3 that line item. Put it in that line item. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's -- well, that's the 5 Auditor's job. Let them put it how they want to put it, 6 how's that? 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It will work. 8 MS. STEBBINS: Just to be clear, I think what 9 they've done in the past -- correct me if I'm wrong -- is 10 just submit a statement for the autopsy transportation to 11 Lockhart. And so instead of doing a memorandum of 12 understanding with them, they can continue to do that for 13 this type of transportation with the county. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 15 MR. GRIMES: It'll be noted under "first call 16 removal." 17 MS. STEBBINS: Yes. 18 MR. GRIMES: Perfect. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Any further discussion? 20 Those in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 21 hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 3-0.) 23 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 3-0, unanimous. 24 MR. GRIMES: Thank you, guys. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you, gentlemen. 6-22-15 92 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you, Gene. 2 MR. ALLEN: Appreciate it. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Item 1.16; consider, discuss, and 4 take appropriate action regarding the South Texas Blood and 5 Tissue doing a blood drive August 5, 2015, in the county 6 courthouse parking lot from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Hi, 7 Dawn. 8 MS. LANTZ: This is just one of their requests to 9 come back for doing a blood drive in the county parking lot 10 up front, obtaining permission to do that. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So moved. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Any further discussion? There 14 being none, those in favor of that motion, which is having to 15 do with Item 1.16 on the agenda, signify by raising your 16 right hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 3-0.) 18 JUDGE POLLARD: It's done. That's 3-0, unanimous. 19 Item 1.17; presentation of Safety Gold Star Award from Texas 20 Association of Counties. Mr. TAC representative. 21 MR. BOCCACCIO: Good morning, all. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Sorry you had to sit through all 23 that. 24 MR. BOCCACCIO: That's okay. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's why they pay him the 6-22-15 93 1 big bucks, man. 2 MR. BOCCACCIO: Right. That's right. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: He loves coming out here. 4 MR. BOCCACCIO: Even though my TAC credit card 5 didn't work this morning. True story. Well, anyway, this is 6 dčjŕ vu; here I am again. What I will tell you is it's 7 gotten harder to get one of these safety awards each year. 8 And I have a press release, and I'm just going to read you 9 one sentence. "Only eleven Texas counties received the 2014 10 Gold Star Safety Award this year, which is reserved for 11 counties with the highest degree of safety commitment and 12 success." So, my hat's off to you gentlemen. It all starts 13 at the top, and it goes downhill from there. And any time I 14 have a county of mine -- and I looked around and didn't see 15 Kelly here, and I wanted to give her some kudos. But any 16 time I have a county of mine that asks for something 17 specifically for Road and Bridge, I use Kerr County as an 18 example. It's bar none, and I'm -- I'm putting you guys on 19 plans with Nueces and Cameron and some of these big players, 20 because what they do pales, you know, to what y'all have in 21 place and what you do. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, 11 out of 254 counties? 23 MR. BOCCACCIO: 254. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's 5 percent. 25 MR. BOCCACCIO: That's it. 6-22-15 94 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Wow. 2 MR. BOCCACCIO: Yeah. I had -- I had four of them 3 in my territory; you guys, San Patricio, Nueces, and -- oh, 4 they'd hate me, but I forgot the fourth one. So, like I 5 said, kudos. Keep up the good work. And, Dawn, thank you 6 for all your support and keeping me active and doing the 7 things that we do. So, here's another one to add to the 8 collection. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Great. Is there any money 10 come along with that? 11 MR. BOCCACCIO: Sorry, the credit card was denied. 12 (Laughter.) 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, I see what you're doing. 14 (Applause.) 15 JUDGE POLLARD: How many years does this make? 16 We've gotten it before. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Want to do a picture? 18 MR. BOCCACCIO: Yeah, you want a picture? 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Let's go down and have a picture 20 made. 21 MR. BOCCACCIO: Do we have a camera? 22 MS. STEBBINS: Bonnie does. 23 MR. BOCCACCIO: I'll let y'all decide where you 24 want it. 25 MR. HASTINGS: I'd like to add to what Larry said 6-22-15 95 1 by saying two words: Kelly Hoffer. 2 MR. BOCCACCIO: Absolutely. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Stand in the middle or 5 something. 6 MR. BOCCACCIO: Okay. Well, I'll stand up here. 7 Bonnie, you're going to have to angle this way because of the 8 podium. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Is that good? 10 JUDGE POLLARD: Are you coming in, Buster? 11 (Discussion off the record.) 12 MR. BOCCACCIO: All right. Thank you, 13 Commissioners. I'll leave it with you guys. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Thank you very much, sir. 15 MR. BOCCACCIO: You're welcome. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Where does that get placed? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Out here. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Item 1.18; consider, 20 discuss, and take appropriate action to authorize the Road 21 and Bridge Department to hire a temporary part-time employee 22 to perform various engineering technician tasks. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Suggestion. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Yes? 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: May we go back to 1.7 and 1.8? 6-22-15 96 1 JUDGE POLLARD: Is she back? 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: She's back. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you for that 5 consideration. 6 MS. BARGAINER: It's good to be back. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And? 8 MS. BARGAINER: And the wording of the letter is 9 perfect. It's just the date that he didn't really -- 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 11 MS. BARGAINER: So, is it possible to update this 12 letter? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think so. I mean, we'll have 14 to ask Kendall County, obviously, W.C.& I.D., but I think 15 they would be fine to just do this. 16 MS. BARGAINER: And there's some language specific 17 to the Water Development Board application that we can switch 18 out, put "Texas Department of Agriculture" in the 19 application. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We'll just add -- we can add 21 both. 22 MS. BARGAINER: You can do them both. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: So when you say "update," that 25 means amend it to cover a period of time commencing on a 6-22-15 97 1 certain date? 2 MS. BARGAINER: Well, right now it's dated 3 July 9th, 2007. And he said, well, they did it then and they 4 still haven't finalized an interlocal agreement, so -- 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, they're just agreeing in 6 concept to what we're going to include. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: You want to update it to a current 8 date? 9 MS. BARGAINER: Yes, please. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: For example, today? 11 (Ms. Bargainer nodded.) 12 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. All right. So -- 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And I want to commend 14 Commissioner Letz for thinking about this, and instead of 15 getting all wrapped up in an interlocal agreement, pulling 16 this out of the archives and doing that, so that's a good 17 solution. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's amazing is it was that 19 long ago, and this -- when we did that. That means this 20 project has been going on probably since about 2004, because 21 it was years before we did that original agreement. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that's how long it takes. 24 We knew it was going to be a long project, but I was -- I did 25 not realize it was that long ago that we had that letter of 6-22-15 98 1 intent. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, clarify this for me. 3 1.7 is to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 4 to -- for a resolution. Now, we apparently don't need a 5 resolution. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yes, we do. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Then it has to be modified, 8 as I remember, though, to -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we changed the 10 agreement -- I'm going back up to it. It refers to an 11 interlocal -- interlocal agreement, and it needs to probably 12 say "Letter of Intent." 13 MS. BARGAINER: That would be perfect, right. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And we'll reference the new -- 15 assuming we get it, the new language. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Can somebody make a 17 motion? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let me find that resolution. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Here's the resolution right 20 here. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we 22 approve the resolution as presented, with the modification 23 that in Section 4, the term "interlocal agreement" with 24 Kendall County W.C. -- or Water Control and Improvement 25 District be changed to include a discussion of a "Letter of 6-22-15 99 1 Intent" with Kendall County Water Control Improvement 2 District Number 1. That's it. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. So moved? I second. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Any further discussion? 5 There being none, those in favor, signify by raising your 6 right hand. 7 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 3-0.) 8 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 3-0, unanimous. All right. 9 Does that take care of 1.7 and 1.8? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, 1.8 we need to still do. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 1.8; consider, discuss, 12 and take appropriate action regarding interlocal agreement. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No action required. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, that one I think we do. I 15 think that one, we need to -- and even -- it says Letter of 16 Agreement. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: Update it to today's date? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: In lieu of a letter -- I'll 19 make a motion that in lieu of a new interlocal -- an 20 interlocal agreement with Kendall County, we authorize the 21 County Judge to sign an updated Letter of Intent that will 22 have the same language as the previous Letter of Intent from 23 2007, but with the current date, and it will also reference 24 the U.S. Department of Agriculture as one of the funding 25 agencies. 6-22-15 100 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I second. 2 MS. STEBBINS: Texas. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Any further discussion? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What? 5 MS. STEBBINS: Texas Department of Agriculture. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is it Texas? I'm sorry. Texas 7 Department of Agriculture, not U.S. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Those in favor, signify 9 by raising your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 3-0.) 11 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 3-0. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Wake up, Buster. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: I think he's -- he can operate in 14 his sleep. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you -- 16 MS. BARGAINER: Thank y'all. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- for coming over here and 18 doing that. We appreciate it. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Annette, just a question. You 20 need that by -- 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: July. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- July 13th? 23 MS. BARGAINER: That would be the final date, yes. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not sure if it's going to 25 require them to get their board president to sign. I'm not 6-22-15 101 1 sure if it requires a meeting on their part to approve it. 2 MS. BARGAINER: They are -- their usual meeting is 3 the second Thursday of the month, so that would be the 9th? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 9th, okay. 5 MS. BARGAINER: And so that's what we -- we were 6 planning on presenting whatever we had from today. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, that will work. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, good. Thank you, 9 Annette. Have a safe trip back home. 10 MS. BARGAINER: Thank you. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. I've already read Item 12 1.18; I'll go back to it, the one on the temporary part-time 13 employee. Mr. Hastings? 14 MR. HASTINGS: It's for executive session. Request 15 executive session. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: I'll do it in executive session. 17 All right. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've got an idea. You two 19 guys could ride with each other to Austin. Let her pay for 20 it. (Laughter.) 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do you want to do that other 22 stuff before -- 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, let me read it here. 24 Commissioners Court is going to go into executive session to 25 comply in accordance with Sections 551.071, 551.072, 551.073, 6-22-15 102 1 551.074, 551.078, .0785, and 551.076 and 551.087 of Chapter 2 551 of the Texas Government Code. That's it. We're in 3 closed session. Everybody that's not permitted to be in here 4 is asked -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To leave. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: -- to get out, skedaddle. 7 (The open session was closed at 11:08 a.m., and an executive session was held, the transcript of which 8 is contained in a separate document.) 9 - - - - - - - - - - 10 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay, the open session is open 11 again, and is there a motion? 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I have a motion. I make a 13 motion that we authorize Road and Bridge Department to hire a 14 temporary part-time employee to perform various engineering 15 technician tasks. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Pursuant to Item 1.18 on the 17 agenda? 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Absolutely. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And specifically authorize this 20 person to be a minor. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct, for all those. 22 MS. LANTZ: Can he make some comments under our 23 policy? Larry? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, did Larry -- 25 MS. LANTZ: Larry Boccaccio with our risk 6-22-15 103 1 management. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. 3 MS. LANTZ: We were just -- about worker's comp, 4 the authority we have if something happens, because he's a 5 minor. 6 MR. BOCCACCIO: That was my only question that I 7 asked Dawn, is -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's -- 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What's the question? 10 MR. BOCCACCIO: Was regarding worker's comp 11 coverage for the individual. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't know. I mean, I 13 don't -- 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I would ask H.R. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't understand 16 the question. 17 MS. LANTZ: How the County is going to cover the 18 young individual, the minor under our worker's comp. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How do we -- 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Are we prohibited from doing so 21 since he's a minor? 22 MS. LANTZ: Well, who's going to take the 23 responsibility if something occurs, for worker's comp? As 24 he's a minor. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: The minor? 6-22-15 104 1 MS. LANTZ: The parents are going to come. If the 2 parents come, who has the authority, is the question. 3 MR. HASTINGS: Are we hiring minors yet? Do we 4 have any other minors working for the county somewhere else? 5 MS. LANTZ: No. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: No. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, I mean, I think the thought 8 would be that the parents would have to sign for the minor. 9 MS. STEBBINS: The policy requires them to sign? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The policy requires that the 11 parents approve it, correct? 12 MS. LANTZ: Correct. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I would think that the 14 parents would have the authority to -- to act on the minor's 15 behalf as it relates to -- 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Why do we require the parent to 17 waive workmen's compensation benefits for the minor? 18 MS. LANTZ: No, they're not. But being 16, do we 19 have the authority to transport or whatever that minor to the 20 hospital? Because they're waiving off those rights. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: That you can get permission for, 22 yeah. That, you can. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the parents would have 24 that authority to sign. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 6-22-15 105 1 MS. LANTZ: I just -- those are some questions we 2 had. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: But the boy would still be covered 4 under the workmen's comp if he's injured in the course and 5 scope of his employment. That's all I was interested in. 6 All right, is there any further discussion on the motion? 7 Those in favor, signify by raising your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 3-0.) 9 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 3-0, unanimous. All right, 10 let's go to -- go to paying bills. Any questions about the 11 bills? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move we pay the bills. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: It's been moved and seconded that 15 we pay the bills. Any further discussion? There being none, 16 those in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 17 hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 3-0.) 19 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 3-0, unanimous. 4.2, budget 20 amendments. Are there any budget amendments? Yes? 21 Highlighted in yellow. Any questions about the requested 22 budget amendments? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Commissioners Court. We're 24 taking some money out of machine repair for notices? 25 MR. ROBLES: Yes. 6-22-15 106 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And what kind of notices is 2 that? Newspaper articles? 3 MR. ROBLES: I do not know that off the top of my 4 head. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What? 6 MS. DOSS: Oh, I think that was for the new grant. 7 The new grant publication, I believe. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move we approve the budget 10 amendments. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there a second? 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: It's been moved and seconded that 14 we approve the budget amendments. Is there any further 15 discussion? There being none, those in favor, signify by 16 raising your right hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 3-0.) 18 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 3-0, unanimous. Let's go on 19 to late bills. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Reimburse overpayment? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Where's that? 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: On the second page. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Uh-oh. Up against the wall. 24 What is that? 25 MS. DOSS: I just got this this morning. 6-22-15 107 1 MR. ROBLES: Yeah, Joy brought this in halfway 2 through. It's coming from Diane. 3 MS. DOSS: Yeah. 4 MR. ROBLES: She said it had to be paid out of this 5 court. I don't know why it took us until Monday morning to 6 get it, but -- 7 MS. DOSS: She's paying back the Democratic party 8 for something. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, reimbursement to the 10 County? Is that what it is? 11 MS. DOSS: Reimbursement to the Democratic party. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's probably -- I'm guessing, 14 which is always dangerous, but the parties -- different 15 elections. I presume that the parties did something at one 16 of the elections. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, that's right. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And they're paying -- I'm not 19 sure why we'd ever pay either party. We pay workers, but we 20 usually pay the individual. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, we don't pay a party. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I didn't think so. I think we 23 probably need to understand that more. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I do. I'll vote no on this 25 one. 6-22-15 108 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's -- I was looking on the 2 backup. There's a memo from Nadene, "Repayment to the 3 S.O.S." -- Secretary of State? -- "through the Democratic 4 party." Can we get Nadene -- can you call and see if 5 Nadene's in her office? 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Let's go to monthly reports and 7 approve them while we wait. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are we moving to the monthly 9 reports? Okay. We received monthly reports from Constable, 10 Precinct 3, for May 2015; J.P., Precinct 4, for May 2015; 11 District Clerk for May 2015; Treasurer, monthly report for 12 May of 2015 and payroll report for May of 2015. I move we 13 approve same. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded that we 16 approve the reports that were just recited. Any further 17 discussion? There being none, those in favor, signify by 18 raising your right hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 3-0.) 20 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 3-0, unanimous. Back to late 21 bills? What -- 22 MS. GRINSTEAD: Nadene will be here in a minute. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Reports from Commissioners and 24 liaison/committee assignments. Any? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't have any. We did 6-22-15 109 1 the 911 thing earlier, and that's the only thing I had 2 cooking. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I don't have anything. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: I don't have anything. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I've got things, but we can't 6 talk about them. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Reports from elected 8 officials/department heads? Anybody? 9 MS. STEBBINS: I have a quick one. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 11 MS. STEBBINS: If you get an opportunity to say 12 good-bye to Ilse, her last day with Kerr County, after nearly 13 25 years of serving us off and on, will be July the 2nd. So, 14 if you have a chance to say good-bye and thank you, please do 15 so. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Is there going to be a 17 shindig or something? 18 MS. STEBBINS: No, she requested no shindig. She 19 likes shenanigans, though. So any shenanigans are welcome. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Should we mosey on over 21 there to shenanigan with her? 22 MS. STEBBINS: Yeah, of course. (Laughter.) 23 JUDGE POLLARD: I've already thanked her in 24 juvenile court down there, but, boy, she's -- she's going to 25 be missed. 6-22-15 110 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: When is she -- 2 MS. STEBBINS: July the 2nd, she will be off to 3 Italy. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: She's here today. 5 MS. STEBBINS: She's here today, yes, sir. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Anything else? 8 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, I've got something. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 10 MR. HASTINGS: I got -- received an e-mail this 11 morning from Clay Schultz saying that the Texas Department of 12 State Health Services nuisance reports on the six 13 subdivisions that they looked at were all approved, so that 14 would be -- that's very, very good news. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's huge. 16 MR. HASTINGS: Very, very good news. And a lot of 17 thanks to Ray and his staff. Ray and his staff, they rolled 18 out the red carpet for them and made it easy. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And that was a redo, 'cause 20 the first time they came through, -- 21 MR. HASTINGS: That's right. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- I mean, it was abysmal 23 results. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The concept to that is, it will 25 greatly increase the percentage of -- or it will greatly 6-22-15 111 1 reduce our match for this project. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And we were at about a -- I 4 think a 50/50 to 60/40, and 50 percent of 30 million is 5 15 million. So, if we're down to 10 to 20 percent, we're 6 talking about, you know, a $10 million savings to the -- the 7 public. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's huge. Good news. 9 MR. HASTINGS: That's real good. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And just compliment the heck 11 out of Ray. 12 MR. HASTINGS: And his staff. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And his group. I think they 14 brought nine people in, did they not, Ray? 15 MR. GARCIA: Yes, sir. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I should say it's potential 17 savings. First, money has to get -- 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- get allocated in Austin. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But still, good job, no matter 21 what. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Anybody else? 23 MR. BOLLIER: I just want to say we got a big 24 cattle show out at the Ag Barn this week starting about 25 Wednesday. Y'all need to come out, 'cause there's going to 6-22-15 112 1 be a lot of beef out there. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Is that the Red Brangus 3 Association? 4 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir. It's going to be a pretty 5 cool show. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: That's an American -- it's a 7 nationwide thing. 8 MR. BOLLIER: American Junior Brangus Association. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. And they -- they're real 10 excited about coming back. It's been a -- they've been gone 11 since, I think, 1990 or something like that. 12 MR. BOLLIER: Yes, sir, something like that. 13 they've been gone quite a while. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Because of the -- 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Are they bringing lots of 16 cattle in? 17 MR. BOLLIER: There should be somewhere around 18 between 100 to 200 head of cattle. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 20 MR. BOLLIER: There could be more, but that's what 21 they're predicting. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Boy, they're pretty, too. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 24 MR. BOLLIER: Pretty cool. 25 MR. GARCIA: One thing, Judge. 6-22-15 113 1 JUDGE POLLARD: Yes, sir? 2 MR. GARCIA: I need to report to the Court a 3 seventh rabies case for Kerr County out in Mountain Home. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: What animal? 5 MR. GARCIA: It was a family pet; it was a dog that 6 came in contact with two high-risk rabies carriers. One was 7 a raccoon, and then we think ground zero was a skunk. And 8 we'll go more into that later. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is it possible to get an update 10 on this in executive session? 11 MS. STEBBINS: Not today. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 13 MS. STEBBINS: You're welcome. But if you want to 14 schedule a meeting later in the week, we can certainly do 15 that. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do you think we need to? 17 MS. STEBBINS: I don't know. I think that -- not 18 necessarily. Not necessarily. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Y'all are talking in code. 20 MS. STEBBINS: I don't mean to talk in code. I 21 don't think we need an update just yet, but if this becomes 22 something that we need, I'll certainly let you know, with 23 Ray's advice. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would encourage the rest of 25 the Court possibly to visit with our Environmental Health 6-22-15 114 1 Director on this incident, because -- just to get -- 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: On the rabies incident? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. Is that appropriate? 4 MS. STEBBINS: Yes. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Anything else? City/County 6 joint projects or operations reports or anything else? All 7 right. I'll entertain a motion -- 8 MS. DOSS: We need to go back to late bills. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Go ahead. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Nadene's here. 11 MS. ALFORD: On the late bill to the Democratic 12 party, apparently the State was going over their costs, 13 findings that they gave out money to the Democratic party for 14 the primary in 2014, and they found that they overpaid the 15 Democratic party, and then in turn, they overpaid us for 16 supplies and for the county administrative fees. So, the 17 State is requesting that I refund this money back to the 18 party, and then the party refunds it back to the State of 19 Texas. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Can we refund it directly to the 21 State instead of the party? 22 MS. ALFORD: No, they want it refunded to the 23 party. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 6-22-15 115 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I wouldn't pay it. I'd make 2 them prove to me that you got to pay the Democratic party. 3 But I'll vote with you. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Those in favor of the 5 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 3-0.) 7 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 3-0, unanimous. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's contingent upon -- 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, Nadene. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: We have to pay it directly to the 11 Democratic party? 12 MS. ALFORD: In the e-mail from the Secretary -- I 13 don't know if you got a copy of the e-mail that I have here, 14 but from the Secretary of State's office, the Election Funds 15 Management, they're saying to pay it to the Democratic party. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's it, I believe. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Motion for adjournment? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, wait a minute. Did 19 you say you need to go back to the bills? 20 MS. DOSS: No, late bills. I said late bills, and 21 then we did go back to late bills. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, we did it, okay. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, Jonathan, we're modifying 24 that with a court order, so this resolution to -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Yes, that's what we -- 6-22-15 116 1 the modification that I made. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, it says "letter." You've 3 changed it. Okay, good deal. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Give those back to her. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I can't believe Dr. Coleman 6 didn't come. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that D.R.? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Little D.R.? Not little, 10 but -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, little D.R. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's him. What is this? 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's the resolution to apply 15 for the -- 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- funds. We modified that. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Hey, Judge, I just realized 19 something that I want to share with you. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Mm-hmm. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Today -- 35 years ago today, 22 I got really, really, really drunk, and it's the last time 23 I've had a drink. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Hey, congratulations. 25 (Applause.) 6-22-15 117 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's your birthday. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Today's my birthday. I'm 3 going to go to the liquor store. (Laughter.) 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 35 years, fantastic. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 35 years. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good for you, Buster. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: That's a great record, Buster. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are we adjourned? 9 JUDGE POLLARD: We are adjourned. 10 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 11:31 a.m.) 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 26th day of June, 2015. 20 21 REBECCA BOLIN, Kerr County Clerk 22 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 23 Certified Shorthand Reporter 24 25 6-22-15