1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Regular Session 10 Monday, November 9, 2015 11 9:00 a.m. 12 Commissioners' Courtroom 13 Kerr County Courthouse 14 Kerrville, Texas 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 PRESENT: TOM POLLARD, Kerr County Judge H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 24 TOM MOSER, Commissioner Pct. 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 25 BOB REEVES, Commissioner Pct. 4 2 1 I N D E X November 9, 2015 2 PAGE 3 --- Commissioners' Comments 5 4 1.1 Set a public hearing at 9 a.m. on Dec. 28, 2015, to consider, discuss, take appropriate action on 5 petition to vacate, abandon, and discontinue a portion of Fall Branch Road, Precinct 4 8 6 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 7 provide status regarding the Kerrville South Wastewater System, Phase 6 12 8 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to go 9 out for annual bids for road base, cold mix, aggregate, emulsion oil, & corrugated metal pipe 15 10 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 11 authorize Kerr County Sheriff’s Office to accept anonymous donation of $27,500 to purchase stab- 12 proof vests for Kerr County Corrections Officers 16 13 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve Communications Facilities Replacement 14 Site License Agreements with LCRA to install, operate, maintain, and remove communications 15 equipment at Granada and Legion Hall tower sites; authorize County Judge to sign same 19 16 1.6 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 17 award contract to Commissary Express to provide inmate commissary services to inmates of Kerr 18 County Jail; authorize County Judge to sign contract 23 19 1.7 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 20 approve Interlocal Cooperation Agreement for Prisoner Housing between Gillespie County and 21 Kerr County; authorize County Judge to sign same 24 22 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on request from Hill Country District Junior 23 Livestock Show Association to use Flat Rock Park, including dog park, from 7 a.m. Sunday, January 17, 24 2016, to 11 p.m. Friday, January 22, 2016, to park trailers and use as staging area for delivery of 25 animals; close park to other vehicular traffic during that time period 27 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) November 9, 2015 2 PAGE 3 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on request from Hill Country District Junior 4 Livestock Show Association to close Riverside Drive from the southwest corner of River Star 5 Park to the southeast corner of Hill Country Youth Event Center grounds from 7 a.m. Sunday, 6 January 17, 2016, to 11 p.m. Friday, January 22, 2016, for the 2016 stock show 29 7 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to cast 8 Kerr County’s vote for Kerr Central Appraisal District Board of Directors 31 9 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 10 authorize Kerr County Auditor to prepare audit of Kerr County Emergency Services District #2 11 when records become available 35 12 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve contracts with Hunt VFD, Mountain Home 13 VFD, Turtle Creek VFD, Ingram VFD, and Center Point VFD; allow County Judge to sign same 35 14 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 15 joint Resolution of the City of Kerrville, Kerr County, Kerrville Independent School 16 District, and Kerrville Public Utility Board supporting adoption of Rural Project Plan under 17 consideration by Texas Dept. of Transportation 36 18 1.14 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding replacing the court reporter for 19 Commissioners Court subject to retirement of current court reporter 44 20 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action in 21 regards to fiber optic cut phone outages in Kerr County 51 22 1.16 Report from Maggie Baker, Kerr County Veteran 23 Services Officer -- 24 1.17 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on personnel matter (Executive Session) -- 25 4 1 I N D E X (Continued) November 9, 2015 2 PAGE 3 1.18 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding declaring certain county property 4 surplus, and consider acquisition of property next to Kerr County Jail (Executive Session) 74 5 3.1 Action as may be required on matters discussed 6 in Executive Session 86 7 4.1 Pay Bills 87 4.2 Budget Amendments 89 8 4.3 Late Bills -- 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 89 9 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee 10 Assignments 90 5.2 Reports from Elected Officials/Department Heads 93 11 --- Adjourned 100 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 5 1 On Monday, November 9, 2015, at 9:00 a.m., a regular 2 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in 3 the Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, 4 Kerrville, Texas, and the following proceedings were had in 5 open court: 6 P R O C E E D I N G S 7 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. It's November -- it's 8 November the 9th, 2015, and the Kerr County Commissioners 9 Court is in session. Commissioner Letz will lead us in 10 prayer today, and the pledge. 11 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 12 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. This is the part where 13 the public -- anybody that wishes to speak on something 14 that's not on the agenda, please come to the podium, identify 15 yourselves, state your address, and please limit yourself to 16 three minutes. Is there anybody wishing to speak? There 17 being no one, we'll go to the next part of the agenda, and 18 that's Commissioners' comments. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I don't have anything 20 right now. I will a little bit later. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I have a comment. As I came 23 in this morning, I met with the Sheriff in the parking lot, 24 and on the front of his vehicle, and I understand it's all 25 Sheriff's vehicles, it says, "In God we trust." That's been 11-9-15 6 1 added. So, I salute the Sheriff for doing that and taking 2 that action. And I think you received word from the Attorney 3 General, did you not? So -- authorizing him to do it, and I 4 think that's a good thing for Kerr County. Thank you, 5 Sheriff. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It was not paid for with tax 7 dollars. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Not paid for with tax dollars. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's all I have. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. The only comment I 12 have, I'd like to underscore what Commissioner Letz said 13 about the rains. They've been really nice this year; seem to 14 come at the time that we have these fundraisers around the 15 county of one sort or another. It causes a lot of problems 16 like that, but we're very thankful for them. Tivy Antlers 17 pulled it off. Obviously, Alamo Heights wanted to win that 18 game, and they sure gave Tivy a run for their money. It was 19 a track meet; sounds more like a basketball score. But 20 anyway, proud of the Tivy Antlers. They're 10-and-0 now 21 going into the playoffs, and this Friday they're playing in 22 the Alamodome, San Antonio-McCollum, so anybody interested in 23 that will know where to go. It probably will be raining. 24 (Laughter.) All right. Commissioner Letz? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We just hope they're not 11-9-15 7 1 looking past McCollum, looking on to the, probably, second 2 round where they're going to have a bit of a challenge. They 3 need to get busy taking care of this week first. Only 4 comment I have is that I drive, as several know, by the 5 airport a lot, from the courthouse, to Kerrville, and hunting 6 season's here. And I cannot imagine -- I couldn't count the 7 number of jets that have been in and out of this airport the 8 last couple days. It is phenomenal. They're -- I mean, and 9 I don't know jets, but they are big ones out there; there 10 were over the weekend. And a lot of them are gone now, but 11 it's pretty -- it's -- that airport, what it does for the 12 community, these people come in, they spend a lot of money. 13 So, hats off to all those people that can afford those jets. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: We're thankful for the hunters. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And thankful for the hunters. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: And when they leave. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's it. 18 COMMISSIONER REEVES: The only comment I have, 19 other than like we all feel good about the rain, I was 20 visiting with Ray Garcia last week about his departments, and 21 I guess, as they say, imitation is the most sincere form of 22 flattery. A county to our east has contacted him about their 23 operating procedures and how he does business with animal 24 services, 'cause they're needing to improve their department, 25 and they came to him to figure out -- and I think that's a 11-9-15 8 1 testament to what kind of department not only the County has, 2 but what Ray's doing for the department. So, if he was here, 3 I'd personally tell him thank you. But he knows how much we 4 appreciate his work. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Amen. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: I can add to that that another 7 city/county is coming up here. They've asked Ray if he would 8 train their people down there in their county. They're about 9 to build a new animal care facility down there, and he -- 10 that judge wants Ray to train them. He came up and 11 watched -- Ray gave him a tour through the -- through the -- 12 I think you were here at the same time. 13 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I was. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Took an all-day tour and came out 15 of there very impressed as to how organized and how efficient 16 Ray's department is. So we appreciate him very much. All 17 right. Let's go to Item 1.1 on the agenda. This is to set a 18 public hearing on December 28, 2015, at 9 a.m., to consider, 19 discuss, and take appropriate action on a petition to vacate, 20 abandon, and discontinue a portion of Fall Branch Road in 21 Precinct 4. Mr. Hastings. 22 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. TRT Ranch Corporation 23 has requested that a public hearing be set for December 28th, 24 2015, at 9 a.m. to vacate, abandon, and discontinue a portion 25 of Fall Branch Road. It's indicated on an attached survey we 11-9-15 9 1 have there, and if the request was granted, there would be a 2 vehicle turnaround constructed there. They would dedicate 3 the right-of-way in the form of an easement or right-of-way 4 to the county. All those forms would go through Heather 5 where she could look at them from a legal standpoint to make 6 sure that everything's good. And TRT's legal counsel, Bill 7 Arnold, has indicated his client will petition the Court for 8 the abandonment of the portion of Fall Branch Road, and 9 dedicate an easement for construction of the turnaround 10 following the public hearing that is requested in this agenda 11 bill. Road and Bridge requests the Court to set a public 12 hearing on December 28th at 9 a.m. to consider, discuss, and 13 take appropriate action on a petition to vacate, abandon, and 14 discontinue a portion of Fall Branch Road. It's in 15 Precinct 4. 16 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Just a comment before we set 17 the public hearing. This is a road -- a county road that is 18 gated. It serves TRT Ranch and one other property owner who 19 actually lives in Gillespie County. They're going through 20 proper documentation, and this is simply to get a jump on it 21 and get the public hearing established. Very little-used 22 road out there. So, I move to set a public hearing at 9 a.m. 23 December 28th, 2015, for the item as posted on the agenda. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: And I'll hold that in abeyance. 25 Right now, I'll ask for anybody wishing to speak at this 11-9-15 10 1 public hearing to -- 2 COMMISSIONER REEVES: This is not a pubic hearing. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Not a public hearing. 4 COMMISSIONER REEVES: This is to set a public 5 hearing. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Oh, I see. I misunderstood. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I second the motion. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. It's been moved and 9 seconded that we set the public hearing for December 28 at 10 9 a.m. Is there any further discussion? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Only comment I have is the 12 date. And if there -- and, I mean, it's -- that's our last 13 meeting of the year. Usually we don't do a whole lot of 14 stuff at that meeting. If there's a rush, I guess we can do 15 it. I think it would be better to put it off till the first 16 meeting in January, but that's just a -- 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I couldn't agree more. 18 MS. STEBBINS: I think that the property owners 19 want to take care of it before the first of the year. That's 20 why they want it set in December. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, we'll be here the 23rd 22 of this month. 23 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Well, with public notice -- 24 publication notices and everything, the earliest it could be 25 would be the 28th of December, by the time the notices are 11-9-15 11 1 published. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are we -- when are we in 3 here? Do we have it around that time? 4 COMMISSIONER REEVES: That's our regularly 5 scheduled -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Our second meeting of the 7 month. But -- 8 JUDGE POLLARD: If we set a special meeting for it, 9 would we be able to meet the time requirements too? 10 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I think this date would be 11 the best. It will meet all the publication notices that they 12 have to do. That's why we're doing it two months -- 13 basically two months out. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I'll go ahead and go 15 along with it, but I have a hard time, because if they want 16 to close before the end of the year, they should have thought 17 about this months ago. But if you want to meet, you can 18 meet. It's up to you, Commissioner. 19 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I'm good with this date on 20 this one. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. All right. Is there any 22 further discussion about it? There's a motion on the floor. 23 The motion is to set the public hearing for December 28, 24 2015, at 9 a.m. Any -- 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's been seconded. 11-9-15 12 1 JUDGE POLLARD: I know it has. It's been seconded, 2 so any -- well, if there's no further discussion, those in 3 favor, signify by raising your right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 5 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Item 1.2; 6 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to provide 7 status regarding Kerrville South Wastewater System, Phase 4. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Phase 6. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Phase 6 it is. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Thank you, Judge. This 11 is to -- I bring it to the Court's attention, there's several 12 documents that we need to execute for the contract on this -- 13 this project, last of the phases of the project. They have 14 to be to Texas Department of Agriculture on the 23rd, which 15 is our next Commissioners Court. I think all the documents 16 will be ready this week, okay, and so this is to authorize 17 the Judge to sign. And also included in this, even though no 18 action is required by the Court, is to have a pre -- 19 preconstruction conference with the contractor which has been 20 selected, and he's -- that contractor's providing the 21 necessary documents. So, I move that we, on the documents 22 for preconstruction and construction approval, authorize the 23 Judge to sign when they are submitted. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there a second? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second, but I have a question. 11-9-15 13 1 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, I'm looking at it too. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One question is the style of 3 the agenda item. I'm not sure we can take action, but that's 4 up to the County Attorney. The other question is, I think we 5 have to be careful. It's just unusual for us to do something 6 without even seeing the documents. I guess it's the same 7 documents we've seen before? 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's the same documents. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's unusual for us to do them 10 without ever seeing them. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Have you seen them and approved 12 them yet? 13 MS. STEBBINS: I haven't seen them. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I should have said the motion 15 pending approval by the County Attorney. 16 MS. STEBBINS: Okay. But I think Commissioner 17 Letz' concern is probably a valid one, because it just 18 provides for a status on that, not the ability to -- 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What's that? 20 MS. STEBBINS: The agenda item just says "provide 21 status." 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Status. 23 MS. STEBBINS: Right. It doesn't -- 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It says "and take appropriate 25 action," does it not? 11-9-15 14 1 MS. STEBBINS: It says, "Consider, discuss, and 2 take appropriate action to provide status regarding the 3 Kerrville South Wastewater System." 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, it should be "and" to 5 provide status. 6 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Are you saying since there's 7 no mention of signing a document in here, you don't feel like 8 we can take action -- 9 MS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. 10 COMMISSIONER REEVES: -- on this? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You can do a special meeting. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: If we have to, okay, we'll do 13 that, then. Okay, that's fine. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well -- 15 JUDGE POLLARD: So, you withdraw your motion? 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure. Sure. And if we have 17 to have a special meeting, we'll do that. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I just wanted to say, 19 Charlie and I visited this last week with -- I'm sorry, I 20 can't remember the lady's name. 21 MR. HASTINGS: Katie. Katie. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: About all of this, and she 23 is comfortable with us getting everything put together, 24 bringing it to -- holler at me if I'm wrong -- bringing it to 25 the Commissioners Court on the 23rd early in the morning, 11-9-15 15 1 talk you into signing everything, and then get it in the 2 mail, and it's done. All of it will appear in this room for 3 signatures, et cetera, and ready to go. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Hopefully approved by the County 5 Attorney, too. 6 MS. STEBBINS: If it's the same documents, then -- 7 without any changes, then I'm sure -- 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I don't think there's any 9 issue. The only thing is, it's at the very last minute. And 10 on this project, we encountered issues last time because of 11 things -- we had it down to the last minute or we were going 12 to be at risk for $500,000, but that's when we had already 13 done the work. So, this is just preapproval -- I mean 14 approval of procedure so we can do it that way. It's just -- 15 it's just tight; doesn't leave any margin for any error. So, 16 let's do that. We'll play it by ear. If we need to have a 17 special meeting, we'll do it. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. We'll pass it till next 19 meeting, or next special meeting, whatever. Item 1.3; 20 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to go out for 21 annual bids for road base, cold mix, aggregate, emulsion oil, 22 and corrugated metal pipe. Mr. Hastings. 23 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. We're asking the Court 24 to give authorization for Road and Bridge to go out for 25 annual bids on road base, cold mix, aggregate, emulsion oil, 11-9-15 16 1 and corrugated metal pipe. Once we put the bids together and 2 receive them, we'll come back to the Court to open the bids 3 on December the 7th at 9:10 a.m., and also award the bids in 4 court at that time. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded for 8 approval of Item 1.3, which is to go out for bids for road 9 base, cold mix, aggregate, emulsion oil, and corrugated metal 10 pipe. Is there any further discussion? There being none, 11 those in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 12 hand. 13 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 14 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Item 1.4; 15 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to authorize 16 Kerr County Sheriff's Office to accept an anonymous donation 17 of $27,500 to purchase stab-proof vests for Kerr County 18 corrections officers. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I had one of our big 20 supporters, a lady that has gone through our citizens' 21 academy and a lot of other things, approach me and just ask 22 what she could do to help officers and officers in the jail 23 or wherever. One thing this department has never done is 24 provide corrections officers with what they call stab-proof 25 vests. They're just like bulletproof vests, except they're 11-9-15 17 1 made to repel shanks and stabs and blows and things like that 2 to protect officers. A lot of larger jails have them, and 3 they're required to wear them as part of the uniform, and I 4 would like to do that. She requested and got prices for them 5 for all officers, and the total price was $27,500. She has 6 written me a check with that amount. I do know who this lady 7 is, but her request, and per her request, is that -- and in 8 her card, she said, "Sheriff Hierholzer, here's to the safety 9 for all of us. Anonymous. God bless America. God bless all 10 of you who protect and keep us safe. Thank you." And she 11 would like to donate that $27,500 in a check, which will go 12 through the -- the Auditor's office and Treasurer's office, 13 but for that specific purpose of purchasing those vests for 14 all corrections officers. Those vests, just like bulletproof 15 vests, have a five-year life span on them, and then after 16 that, since we have them, we will be able to include renewing 17 them and replacing them, just like we do with our bulletproof 18 grant; that will roll into all of that. I think it's a very 19 big plus. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, bulletproof and 21 knife-proof are two different vests. Y'all are going to be 22 walking around like this. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Corrections officers don't 24 wear anything. This is for -- 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, for the corrections 11-9-15 18 1 officers. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: This is for the officers in 3 the jail. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: They wear something, but they wear 6 a vest too. (Laughter.) 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They wear a uniform. Yes, 8 they do do that. But they don't have any protective-type 9 clothing, and this would allow us to do that for our 10 corrections officers. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, isn't it great to have 12 citizens like that? That is fantastic. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: This lady is fantastic. She 14 would never ever ask for anything in return from the County 15 or from anybody else. She just would like to help where she 16 can. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Could you just slip me her 18 name later? 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. (Laughter.) 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll move that we accept the 21 anonymous donation of $27,500 for the specific purpose of 22 purchasing stab-proof vests for Kerr County corrections 23 officers. 24 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Second. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded for 11-9-15 19 1 approval of Item 1.4 on the agenda, to accept an anonymous 2 donation of $27,500 to purchase stab-proof vests for the Kerr 3 County corrections officers. Is there any further 4 discussion? If not, those in favor, signify by raising your 5 right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 7 JUDGE POLLARD: Would you do us a favor, Sheriff? 8 It's 4-0, unanimous. Would you be sure and tell that lady 9 that we're really grateful and thankful for people like her, 10 and especially her? 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Definitely. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Item 1.5; consider, discuss, 13 and take appropriate action to approve the communications 14 facility replacement site license agreements -- two of 15 them -- with L.C.R.A. to install, operate, maintain, and 16 remove communications equipment at the Granada and Legion 17 Hall tower sites, and authorize the County Judge to sign 18 same. That's the magic language right there. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. This is just a 20 continuation, finishing up, you know, on our new radio 21 system. L.C.R.A., now we have two of their tower sites, and 22 they actually issue an addendum licensing for that which 23 lists all the equipment we have up on that tower site and 24 everything. It has gone through the County Attorney. There 25 is one thing in here where it says that licensee agrees to 11-9-15 20 1 indemnify and hold harmless L.C.R.A. I need to get that 2 reworded, "to the extent allowable by law" added in there. 3 And what I'd like to do is go ahead and get this approved 4 pending that word addition. That was the only one that we 5 really had in there and the County Attorney had, is just the 6 County can't indemnify anybody except to the extent allowable 7 by law. And once I get that reworded in the contract, to go 8 ahead and authorize the County Judge to sign same. 9 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Are you in agreement? 10 MS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. 11 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Move for approval. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded for 14 approval to execute the two agreements with L.C.R.A. to 15 install, operate, maintain, and remove communications 16 equipment at Granada and Legion Hall tower sites and 17 authorize the County Judge to sign same, contingent upon the 18 wording being corrected in there and modified as discussed by 19 the Sheriff and the County Attorney. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right, and in regards to the 21 indemnity clause. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Right. And is there any further 23 discussion? 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, I've got one more 25 question, Judge. From that point, when do we turn the key 11-9-15 21 1 and everything's turned on? 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We have -- everything is 3 turned on. We are in our 30-day burn-in process. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see, okay. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I will tell you that Friday 6 before last evening, we had a pursuit situation that started 7 here in town, went out Goat Creek Road, and went to the end 8 of Hollimon Road, went through a cable barrier on an easement 9 and through L.C.R.A.'s big gates and their nice, new power 10 lines, and about 3 miles cross-country. The only way we 11 could get to it was not through a vehicle trying to follow 12 that guy; we had to do it on foot. This is midnight, 13 1 o'clock in the morning. And it probably saved my officers, 14 because we were able to talk on portable radios all through 15 those draws and ravines, and it ended up on the back end of a 16 ranch off Harper Road. We're still working the case. It is 17 a large case. The guy did get away on foot, but we did get 18 his vehicle and everything else in there, and know who he is. 19 And there was a large fraud check-theft case that will come 20 up with that. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: They did capture him, didn't they? 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Huh? 23 JUDGE POLLARD: They did capture him? 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No, we have not got him, okay? 25 We -- the case has gone anywhere from Houston all the way to 11-9-15 22 1 the other side of San Angelo, and stealing mail out of 2 mailboxes and reproducing checks, and there's going to be a 3 large organized crime case involved in that. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And your officers probably 5 wouldn't have had communication back under the old system? 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We could have never found the 7 truck back in there where we had to follow it on foot, 'cause 8 our vehicles -- even the Tahoes couldn't go where all he took 9 his truck. But we couldn't have found the truck, and sure 10 couldn't have kept in contact with my officers on foot. So, 11 it was a radio system, and that was a day after we turned it 12 on. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Wow. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And it was the Lord's blessing 15 that we had it. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Fantastic. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Any further discussion 18 of any kind? 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Old Rusty knows how to have 20 a good time, I'll tell you what. (Laughter.) 21 JUDGE POLLARD: Were you involved, Rusty? 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Personally? 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. I came out when it 25 started, and I got home about 1:30, 2 o'clock that morning. 11-9-15 23 1 It took us four days to -- 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Any additional comments? We have a 3 motion on the floor, and it's been seconded. Those in favor 4 of the motion, signify by raising your right hands. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 6 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Let's go to 7 Item 1.6; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 8 award a contract to Commissary Express to provide inmate 9 commissary services to the inmates of the Kerr County Jail, 10 and authorize the County Judge to sign the contract. 11 Sheriff? 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: As you recall, at the last 13 Commissioners Court meeting, we accepted the bids, opened the 14 bids. We only had one bid from Commissary Express, which is 15 our current provider. We did get a new contract from them, 16 and that contract has been reviewed by the County Attorney 17 and approved, and I just would ask that the Judge be 18 authorized to sign that contract. It's not changing anything 19 in our contract. What it is doing is, we were in a two-year 20 contract that would expire actually next year, but by the 21 Local Government Code, it has to be bid every five years, so 22 this will set the contract on that same cycle as the Local 23 Government Code. It's a three-year contract with the option 24 to renew it every one -- two one-year intervals after that, 25 which would set us back at the next five years to have to go 11-9-15 24 1 back out for bids again. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I move approval, that we 3 authorize commission -- to authorize the Judge to sign a 4 contract for commissioner -- commissioners services to the 5 county jail. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Commissary. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded -- 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Commissary, I should say. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: -- for approval of Item 1.6 on the 11 agenda, to go out for bid -- no, this is -- no, this is to 12 accept the contract. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: For inmate commissary services at 15 the Kerr County Jail, and authorize the County Judge to sign 16 same. Is there any further discussion? There being none, 17 those in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 18 hands. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 20 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. All right, 21 we'll go to 1.7; consider, discuss, and take appropriate 22 action to approve interlocal cooperation agreement for 23 prisoner housing between Gillespie County and Kerr County, 24 and authorize the County Judge to sign same. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: What this is, I hope we don't 11-9-15 25 1 ever have to enact it, okay, but with the construction and 2 remodeling of the jail coming on, and hopefully we'll break 3 ground right after the first of the year, I'm just concerned 4 that there could be times that we would have to move -- 5 because our population's up so high, that we would have to 6 move some inmates out to be able to continue with the remodel 7 inside. This is something that I hope we do not have to 8 enact, but I'm trying to cover all our bases before it 9 starts. Gillespie County is willing to house some of our 10 inmates. It'll be a limited few; they only have a 96-bed 11 facility themselves. And it would be at the rate of $45 per 12 day, plus any of the extra costs as far as medical and things 13 like that, which is a normal rate that is going. And I would 14 like to get this contract signed. 15 I may do one also with Bandera County. We have an 16 old one in place, but like I said, these are things that I 17 hope we don't have to do. But, again, the County Attorney 18 has reviewed this contract, and even though it's written by 19 the County Attorney in Gillespie County, they failed to take 20 out or change the indemnity clause that says "to the extent 21 allowed by law." So, I would again ask the same as I did 22 with the L.C.R.A. contract, that the County Judge be 23 authorized to sign this and approve this contract with the 24 change in that wording that I get back from Gillespie County 25 to add that, "to the extent allowable by law." 11-9-15 26 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: It's been moved and seconded for 4 approval of Item 1.7 on the agenda, to take appropriate 5 action to approve an interlocal cooperation agreement for 6 prisoner housing between Gillespie County and Kerr County, 7 and authorize the County Judge to sign same. And that's 8 going to be contingent, once again, on the indemnity clause 9 of the contract being modified to comply with the Local 10 Government Code. All right. Is there any further discussion 11 about that? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just want to say, Rusty, 13 that's very wise, I think, to do this and be prepared in the 14 middle of all that construction that could blindside you. 15 And I'm grateful for Fredericksburg having the -- having 16 their new jail. That's pretty cool. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, I really hope we don't 18 have to use it. It's not something budgeted; it would have 19 to be declared an emergency to go into reserves. So, we're 20 hoping -- and the architect and everybody, we're trying to 21 get it worked out, but I just don't know what's going to 22 happen. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I remember Rusty taking -- 24 used to take prisoners, good lord, halfway across Texas. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. 11-9-15 27 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It was an awful -- 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Thank you for thinking to have that 3 as an option. Rather than all that mess, you'll be able to 4 go forward with it. You must have gone through this jail 5 reconstruction thing before. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Once or twice. (Laughter.) 7 Unfortunately. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Live and learn. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Those in favor of the 11 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 13 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. All right. 14 Is it 9:30? Real close. We better go to the next one. Item 15 1.9; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 16 request from Hill Country Junior -- District Junior Livestock 17 Show Association to use Flat Rock Park, including the dog 18 park, from 7 a.m. Sunday, January 17, 2016, to 11 p.m. 19 Friday, January 22nd, 2016, to park trailers and to use as a 20 staging area for the delivery of animals, and to close the 21 park to other vehicular traffic during that time period. Mr. 22 Bauer. 23 MR. BAUER: Good morning, Judge, Commissioners. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Morning. 25 MR. BAUER: Thank y'all for allowing us to come 11-9-15 28 1 before you. We do this every time for the last couple of 2 years. It's a safety issue, as well as convenience issue. 3 We use the park and that area to store the trailers for our 4 district participants, as well as use it as a staging area 5 for them as they come in, to keep them off of the state 6 highways and in areas like that. So, again, we're asking 7 that we close those parks during that time stated on the 8 agenda item in January for use during stock show. 9 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I'd like to point out it's 10 just closing it to the vehicles. If somebody wants to go to 11 the dog park, they are able to walk down to that end. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: Good. 13 COMMISSIONER REEVES: So, move for approval of the 14 agenda item as presented. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But I thought this was to -- 16 including the dog park, to park trailers in there. No? 17 COMMISSIONER REEVES: It is, but you still can -- 18 you just can't drive down there. You'd have to walk your dog 19 from the boat dock. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But they're not parking -- 21 MR. BAUER: They're not parking inside, yes, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. I'll second it. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. It's been moved and 24 seconded for approval of 1.9 on the agenda, and that is to 25 grant the request of Hill Country Junior District Livestock 11-9-15 29 1 Show Association to use Flat Rock Park, including the dog 2 park, from 7 a.m. Sunday, January 17, 2016, to 11 p.m. 3 Friday, January 22nd, 2016, to park trailers and to use as a 4 staging area for the delivery of animals, and to close the 5 park to other vehicular traffic during that time period. All 6 right. It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? 7 Comment on it? If not, those in favor, signify by raising 8 your right hand. 9 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 10 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. All right. 11 My watch says it's 9:30; we'll go to Item 1.8; consider, 12 discuss, and take appropriate action on request from Hill 13 Country District Junior Livestock Show Association to close 14 Riverside Drive from the southwest corner of River Star Park 15 to the southeast corner of Hill Country Youth Event Center 16 grounds from 7 a.m. Sunday, January 17, 2016, to 11 p.m. 17 Friday, January 22nd, 2016, for the stock show. 18 MR. BAUER: Again, same scenario. We've closed 19 Riverside Drive like that. It allows us to stage the 20 trailers and park along there. As in last year's case, with 21 the weather, it turned into a little bit of a parking area as 22 well, so we appreciate that. That allows us to move through 23 both gates freely and keep them off the state highways as 24 well. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So moved. 11-9-15 30 1 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Second. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: It's been moved and seconded for 3 approval of Item 1.8 on the agenda, to close Riverside Drive 4 from the southwest corner of River Star Park to the southeast 5 corner of Hill Country Youth Event Center grounds from 7 a.m. 6 Sunday, January 17, to 11 p.m. Friday, January 22nd. Those 7 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 9 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I want to make a 11 comment right quick, though. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay, go ahead. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I can't for the life of me 14 figure out why we don't close that thing permanently. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: I agree. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It -- it could turn into -- 17 be a part of our system out there, and I just don't -- why 18 aren't you doing that? 19 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Well, I think we need to get 20 busy on it. Commissioner Moser's in agreement. We visited 21 with Charlie Hastings. He's come up with a plan on it, and I 22 think hopefully sometime in the future we can do that, 23 Commissioner. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, thank you. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Absolutely, I agree. 11-9-15 31 1 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. I agree too. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Need to just go do it. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Did we approve that? 4 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Did we vote? 5 THE CLERK: Yes. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, we voted on it. All right, 7 let's go to Item 1.10; consider, discuss, and take 8 appropriate action to cast Kerr County's vote for the Kerr 9 Central Appraisal District Board of Directors. In your 10 agenda package, there's a list of them, a number of them. I 11 think Mr. Lewis is our -- currently serving as our 12 representative on that board. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Correct. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: It shows how many votes we have, 15 and who all the other opponents are. What's the -- what is 16 your desire? I think Jody tells me that last time we voted 17 900 votes, I think, for Mr. Lewis to insure that he got on, 18 and then assigned our votes to the Center Point or one other 19 school district, I think, to use for whatever. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's correct. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 22 COMMISSIONER REEVES: We actually assign them? Or 23 do we use the rest of the votes on the member -- 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We just throw those votes 25 onto that member. 11-9-15 32 1 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yeah, which I think is 2 Mr. Parks. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Is that what you want to do, or 5 what do you desire? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, seems like to me that 7 we really focused on the school district people. And, Letz, 8 do you remember? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we did. We voted -- we 10 wanted to make sure Mr. Lewis kept on representing us, and 11 then the rest of the votes, I thought we -- I didn't know if 12 we gave them, so to speak, to the school districts to use as 13 they wanted, or we picked someone individually. I can't 14 remember how we did it, but that's what we've done always to 15 insure fair representation across the county. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, does it take 900 votes 17 to get Mr. Lewis back on the board? 18 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Looking at this, I would say 19 it would take 1,000 votes. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 21 COMMISSIONER REEVES: It says there's 5,000 votes 22 allotted. There's five members, so that's the way I'm coming 23 up with the 1,000. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, we -- 25 COMMISSIONER REEVES: It says, "Please cast your 11-9-15 33 1 allotted votes for the candidate or candidates of your 2 choice. Each entity must cast all of its allocated votes for 3 one candidate, or may divide its votes between two or more 4 candidates." So -- 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm going to suggest that we 6 put the 1,000 with Mr. Lewis, and then spread the remaining 7 167 to the school districts. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: How about 1,001? Then it 9 would be for sure. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: Well, that would also create an 11 even number to be divided between the two districts. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Whatever. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, just to make sure he's 14 in. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that the -- Mr. Lewis 16 -- I mean, by looking at the votes and all that, he has 17 1,000, so they get two spots. Which is Mr -- 18 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Bigott. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- Bigott and Mr. Orr. 20 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And Orr. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And we have Mr. Lewis. That 22 leaves Mr. Parks and Mr. MacDonald. Mr. MacDonald, I 23 believe, is city of Kerrville's, so we just give ours to 24 Mr. Parks. 25 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And that would be my 11-9-15 34 1 preference. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That would be my preference. 3 I said it first. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That was a motion, 5 Commissioner? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's my motion. 7 COMMISSIONER REEVES: To allocate how many votes to 8 Mr. Lewis? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mr. Lewis, 1,000. 10 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And the remaining 167? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: To Mr. Parks. 12 COMMISSIONER REEVES: That was -- that's your 13 motion? 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Unless y'all figured out a 15 way to do 1,001 and all that. 16 COMMISSIONER REEVES: That's your motion. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: I think 1,000 votes would insure -- 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll second. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. It's been moved and 21 seconded that we vote 1,000 of our votes for Mr. Lewis, and 22 the other 167 votes to go to K.I.S.D. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It goes to Mr. Parks, Jack 24 Parks. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Mr. Parks, okay. Is there any 11-9-15 35 1 further discussion? If not, those in favor, signify by 2 raising your right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 4 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Item 1.11; 5 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to authorize 6 the Kerr County Auditor to prepare an audit of Kerr County 7 Emergency Services District Number 2 when the records become 8 available. Commissioner Reeves. 9 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes, sir. This is for the 10 ESD Number 2, which is Mountain Home Fire District, and as in 11 the past, our County Auditor will provide an audit of their 12 books and submit it to all parties involved. I move for 13 approval. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: It's been moved and seconded that 16 -- to authorize the Kerr County Auditor to perform an audit 17 of the Kerr County Emergency Services District Number 2. Is 18 there any further discussion? There being none, those in 19 favor, signify by raising your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 21 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Item 1.12; 22 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to approve 23 contracts with Hunt Volunteer Fire Department, Mountain Home 24 Volunteer Fire Department, Turtle Creek Volunteer Fire 25 Department, Ingram Volunteer Fire Department, and Center 11-9-15 36 1 Point Volunteer Fire Department, and to allow the County 2 Judge to sign same. And I think the contracts pretty well 3 speak for themselves. I think it's a renewal of -- of the 4 previous contracts. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So moved. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Are there any questions or 7 comments? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. It's been moved and seconded 10 for approval of Item 1.11, -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 12. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: -- for the Kerr County Auditor to 13 perform an audit -- I'm sorry. 1.12, to approve contracts 14 with all of those fire departments. I won't read them all 15 again; they're in the agenda item. Is there any further 16 discussion? There being none, those in favor, signify by 17 raising your right hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 19 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Did you two 20 both raise your right hand? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Item 1.13; consider, 23 discuss, and take appropriate action on joint resolution of 24 the City of Kerrville, Kerr County, and Kerrville Independent 25 School District and Kerrville Public Utility Board supporting 11-9-15 37 1 the adoption of the Rural Project Plan under consideration by 2 the Texas Department of Transportation. Mr. Letz. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The Judge so kindly asked me to 4 work on this project. This is -- I guess TexDOT's working on 5 a new 10-year plan, and the City of Kerrville is kind of the 6 driver behind this, so I've had some meetings with them going 7 over a resolution. I'm probably going to recommend we do not 8 take action on this today, because I have not heard back from 9 the City since they sent the resolution over. This is my 10 draft. I didn't -- I wanted to modify their resolution a 11 little bit. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And -- and the only one that 14 I've heard from is Dr. Troxel. He sent an e-mail saying yes, 15 he supported the modifications that I made. The 16 modifications generally were -- were the first "whereas" that 17 I added to that, and then I deleted a little bit off the top. 18 The -- the three entities that deal with TexDOT roads are the 19 county, the school district, and the city, and we have 20 obviously slightly differing priorities. Dr. Troxel's 21 priorities are sidewalks in his school and state highways, 22 from our discussions previously, and I think our priority is 23 27 -- Highway 27 to the east, and actually a little bit to 24 the west as well, but mostly to the east where we have a lot 25 of congestion and traffic. And the City's priority is the 11-9-15 38 1 Harper Road interchange because of the height, and also 2 adding an access road between highway -- Harper Road and 3 Highway 16, and developing -- so they can develop that area 4 more, and hopefully maybe alleviate some traffic. 5 And it was -- we agreed that since we're not going 6 to all agree on the exact priority list, that all three of 7 those are the top priorities; put them all on TexDOT's list. 8 I'm fine with the resolution as it's written, but the -- kind 9 of the -- there's also the attachment. And I didn't hand 10 this out because I couldn't ever get it to print, and it's 11 printed so small you can't read it. I think we need to work 12 on the attachment, primarily, and I also would like to hear 13 back from the City, which I haven't heard since I've modified 14 the resolution. So, you know, kind of here it is. This is 15 kind of where we're going. But it will be back on our next 16 agenda to approve, 'cause I don't want to have to bring this 17 back if we approve it and then someone wants to modify it. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: This resolution, on the second 19 item, Improvements, Interstate 10 and Harper Road 20 interchange. The planning/construction of an adjacent access 21 road to be connected to Holdsworth Drive. This doesn't say 22 anything about raising the overpass there. As a matter of 23 fact, I think what I've heard is the plan is to -- is to -- I 24 think it's about a 6-inch problem. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It is. 11-9-15 39 1 JUDGE POLLARD: They got to lower the pavement. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Just going to lower the 3 pavement, right. Lower the pavement there. And there's been 4 some discussion about, you know, the real need for an access 5 road out there along that, so I don't know if you've had that 6 discussion. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. The -- the backup that I 8 didn't hand out because I couldn't ever get it to print has 9 the specific items there, and there's, I think, three items 10 under there, and that project's -- one is actually -- I guess 11 there's -- one of them is lowering the pavement. That's 12 within the next two years. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Then the next step would be 15 access road and then an entry ramp, redoing the -- it's quite 16 a bit of work. It's a big project. And, I mean, I'm not 17 going to -- my feeling at the meetings we had with the all of 18 the entities was that the number one priority is safety. And 19 the Harper Road lowering is a safety issue. Highway 27 is a 20 safety issue. The sidewalks are safety issues. I think the 21 other -- if the City wants to pursue that portion of that 22 access road issue, I'm fine with it. I think it's a good 23 thing for the community long-term, but I'm not -- I can't put 24 it above the public safety on Highway 27 or the school, so if 25 they want to have them all the same priority, that's okay. 11-9-15 40 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's -- I don't think the 2 access road is a safety issue, from the way I understand it, 3 so the other stuff I believe is. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. They're -- they look at 5 it as a -- and you're planning 10 years into the future. 6 They're looking at mobility around the community, and that is 7 a safety issue indirectly, so I don't have a problem with the 8 City having it on the list. I just don't want to -- I 9 just -- I'm not happy having all three as a top priority. 10 They have a top priority, we have a top priority, and the 11 schools have a top priority. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: The -- the access road on 13 Holdsworth is a safety deal, because that would keep the 14 walkers, the bikers and the people -- joggers off of the 15 highway out there, and off on those side roads. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: This is the access road only. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: I know. Well, on the freeway, he 18 wants more access into the city out there, is what -- what he 19 wants out there, off of the interstate. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think part of the safety 21 issue is how you get -- how you, you know -- 22 JUDGE POLLARD: When I say "he," that's the mayor. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the City's in agreement 25 on this, is that the -- right now, there's a lot of -- well, 11-9-15 41 1 by default, Harper Road is a gateway for trucks and 2 everything else in the city of Kerrville. That's not a 3 good -- I mean, I came up and down there this morning; there 4 was three 18-wheelers right by Starkey. That's not a good 5 road. That's really a residential road. Another access 6 point may help that. I'm not convinced that it would, but it 7 may help some of the traffic. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think the -- I think 9 lowering the pavement 6 inches eliminates the 18-wheelers 10 having to come through the city. I think that's the reason. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with that. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, I think that's the 13 reason. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've been talking for years, 15 they need to lower that or raise -- raise the upper -- 16 upstairs. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: So the windmills don't have to come 18 through town. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. And that's -- 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's true. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's number one in the 22 backup. That should be done -- they're requesting that be 23 done in the next two years. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And then the -- then there's 11-9-15 42 1 the entry ramps off of Harper Road and redoing the 2 interchange. And then in seven to ten years, they said kind 3 of access road and the other stuff. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's to get it on the plan. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Mention, too, the mayor has said 7 he's not looking for -- at least currently is not looking for 8 participation financially from the County on that project out 9 there, and it's estimated that project's 20-something million 10 bucks. And he's going to -- he's talking about getting a lot 11 of federal grants and that kind of stuff. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: So, I say if they want to do it, -- 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: -- doesn't involve us, doesn't cost 16 us anything. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's where we are. It will 20 be back on the agenda. If anyone has any comments, we can 21 certainly -- 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I remember doing this, going 23 through one time, and we talked about Highway 16, improving 24 Highway 16. That was 10 years ago, and they're doing the 25 project. You know, you think, golly, if they wait that 11-9-15 43 1 long -- but they actually do it. They're actually doing it. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If you don't have it on the 3 list, it isn't going to get done. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So you get it on the list, and 6 they're looking -- as I understand it, they used to have a 7 20-year list, and they decided that was of no value because 8 they couldn't plan that; they didn't know the funding that 9 far out, so they moved it to a 10-year list, and it's broken 10 down into priorities or years when it should be accomplished. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: I think part of the expense is 12 straightening out Harper Road. Apparently, Harper Road comes 13 across Interstate 10 sort of at an angle, and they want to 14 straighten it out so that it hits it perpendicular. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But, anyway, it will be back. 16 It was kind of -- we met last Monday or Tuesday, I can't 17 remember, and the City was like -- they wanted us to handle 18 this quickly, but we're -- we don't need to move that fast on 19 it. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: The reason I asked Mr. Letz to 21 serve on that committee, he's got a lot of experience on 22 planning for the future. In the past, he's served on several 23 committees like that, and he's a "get 'er done" type guy. I 24 appreciate you doing that, Commissioner. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Glad to do it. Well, you know, 11-9-15 44 1 and interesting -- what's interesting was that I served on 2 the last transportation committee. I was -- the City 3 appointed me as chair of their committee under -- I think it 4 was Mayor Fine, I believe; maybe it was Mayor Wampler, one of 5 the two. Anyway, and I have a -- I remember a lot of the 6 roads, and I asked them to pull out the transportation plan 7 to make sure that we were being consistent with what was 8 adopted in 2005, and so a lot of those roads were added into 9 the list as well. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: Very good. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Jon, would you tell the 12 mayor that I asked about the 6 inches before he did? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, I will. I'll pass that 14 on. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Pass on that Item 1.13, 17 then, at the request of Commissioner Letz, and if there's no 18 objection. Okay. We'll go to Item 1.14; consider, discuss, 19 and take appropriate action regarding replacing the court 20 reporter for the Commissioners Court subject to the 21 retirement of the current court reporter. Well, as y'all 22 know, we've been given notice that Kathy's planning to retire 23 at the end of this year. She served us well for a lot of 24 years, and she -- she rushes around a lot, covers a lot of 25 things, and that was -- as I've heard Commissioner Baldwin 11-9-15 45 1 say I don't know how many times, it was a great thing to do 2 to hire a court reporter to do all of this stuff. It's been 3 -- it's worked out really well, and Kathy has been a very 4 dedicated employee and very accurate about it, about her 5 reporting. But she is retiring. She has suggested to me 6 that -- that she knows a couple of retired -- maybe three 7 retired reporters around town that all want to work maybe 8 part-time, so she's suggesting that possibly we make a deal 9 to replace her with about two or three reporters and let them 10 split up the duties. That's the only suggestion that's been 11 made to me. I'd like to know what the Court feels. 12 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Why do we have to accept her 13 retirement? (Laughter.) 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, I'm with Commissioner 15 Reeves. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm with you. I'm with 17 Commissioner Reeves. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That takes care of that. Next 19 subject, please. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let's go to the next item. 21 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I would suggest that we 22 should approach this as any other county hiring. Post an 23 application, and in accordance with H.R. I don't know if 24 Ms. Lantz -- there she is in the corner. Post it, review the 25 applications, and then come back after we've done that. So, 11-9-15 46 1 if -- I guess we just should make a motion to post the 2 application for the hiring a replacement court reporter for 3 the Commissioners Court, in accordance with H.R. regulations 4 of Kerr County. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But that wouldn't preclude us 6 from doing a pool-type thing as suggested here as an option? 7 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I don't think it would. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Okay, so that wouldn't 9 preclude it. And Kathy may be in that pool. 10 COMMISSIONER REEVES: She can't, 'cause we can't -- 11 JUDGE POLLARD: I don't think she wants to be. 12 She's ready to quit. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I understand. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: She's tired. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I think that Ms. Lantz 17 heard the conversation, and part-time, full-time, whatever 18 works best, I mean, is open, you know, in your -- 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I'll make a motion to that 21 effect, that we go out for posting of a job opening for the 22 court reporter for Kerr County Commissioners Court, and post 23 such thing -- document in accordance with our regulations. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Would you mind amending the 11-9-15 47 1 motion? It's not just for the Kerr County Commissioners 2 Court; it's for -- she serves as the reporter for -- 3 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Just going by the agenda 4 item, Judge. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER REEVES: So I won't amend it based on 7 the agenda item. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Is there any further 9 discussion? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'd just like to say that 11 back in the olden days, we had electricity and running water, 12 but a long time ago, this Commissioners Court's records were 13 kept by a little tape recorder about this big, and it laid 14 out here in front of us. We used to sit down there and it 15 laid out here in front of us. And everybody in Kerr County 16 would be here, and everyone would talk at the same time. 17 There was no order whatsoever. And you can listen to those 18 tapes if you can find them. I hope they've been burned. But 19 you couldn't understand one thing that was going on, ever. 20 And once we brought Kathy in, as you notice, there is order, 21 and she screams out loud if there's not. And so I -- to me, 22 I think it's the greatest thing Commissioners Court in Kerr 23 County's ever done. I really do. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, it's provided a great 25 deal for the openness to the public so they can see word by 11-9-15 48 1 word what we said. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think, as I recall, that 4 change was made -- Commissioner, correct me if I'm wrong. It 5 was -- I think the Sheriff may remember; it was during the 6 construction of the jail when we were -- there was a lot of 7 going back, trying to figure out who said what, and what the 8 architect said, and we never could figure out anything. And 9 we said we have to change the system, and we did. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Plus it lets you do a word 12 search. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's right. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, so you can find things 15 very easily, which is great. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: So, Kathy came in building a new 17 jail, and she's going to go out with building a new jail. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Perhaps that's the reason 20 she's leaving. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: Doesn't want to go through that 22 again. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: She's been great for us. 24 Thank you, Kathy. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Sure has. Okay, motion's been 11-9-15 49 1 made. There's been a second -- has there? 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. To refer it to H.R. for 4 purposes of seeking bids from one or more individuals in 5 accordance with usual procedures. Is there any further 6 discussion? There being none, those in favor, signify by 7 raising your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 9 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I saw the mayor walk in 11 a few minutes ago, and I suspect he might be here for 1.13, 12 so you may want to update -- or let me update what we did, if 13 you'd call that agenda item. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: That's fine. Let's do that. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Or ask him. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Are you here interested in Item 17 1.13 about the resolution? 18 MAYOR PRATT: Absolutely. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mayor, what we did, the -- and 21 I hadn't heard back from Todd. We -- and I presume you saw 22 how I revised it. We passed on it; we're going to take it up 23 at the next meeting. There's no objection, but we wanted to 24 work on the exhibit a little bit, 'cause the exhibit's kind 25 of hard to follow. But that's where we are right now, and we 11-9-15 50 1 can -- you know, we had some discussion about it, but it was 2 kind of -- we're going to look at approving it at the next 3 meeting. I don't think anyone had any problem with the 4 resolution; it was just some of the exhibits. 5 MAYOR PRATT: Some information missing off the 6 exhibit? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's -- I think -- and I 8 mentioned it in an e-mail back to Todd. I think it should 9 reflect closer to the -- the, you know, "Therefore" part of 10 the resolution; the three priorities should be listed at the 11 top, just kind of with more headings. It's not changing the 12 information. It's reshuffling a little bit. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Form. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The form of it a little bit. 15 And it's also the -- to be honest, I couldn't read it. I 16 mean, it comes out so small, and we could maybe figure out a 17 way to make it so it's easier to attach. But the contents 18 won't change. 19 MAYOR PRATT: Well, if that's the case, for 20 expediency purposes, could you pass the resolution with -- 21 subject to reformatting the form? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's fine with me, but I just 23 -- you know, I hadn't heard back from y'all officially, so -- 24 and I hadn't heard back from KPUB, but I figured KPUB -- 25 MAYOR PRATT: Everybody's okay. 11-9-15 51 1 JUDGE POLLARD: I think we're all generally okay 2 with it, but Mr. Letz wanted to -- wanted to reformat it. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do it next meeting. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: We'll do it at the next meeting, 5 okay? 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Item 1.15; consider, 8 discuss, and take appropriate action in regards to fiberoptic 9 cut phone outages in Kerr County. Well, as y'all know, we 10 had a situation where somebody cut the fiberoptics down in 11 Kendall County, I think it was, and really did create a 12 pretty bad situation up here. I got an e-mail from Pat 13 Murray over at the Sid Peterson Hospital, and he points out 14 that it put the patient care at risk over there at the 15 hospital. I heard that some of the banks and other 16 businesses in town closed early because they couldn't do 17 business. It really did create a lot of chaotic -- a chaotic 18 situation, and I want to ask the Sheriff to make some 19 comments about the problems it gave him. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, biggest problem is this 21 is at least the third time this year, probably the fourth. 22 Every time we've had an action type meeting and have been 23 told about redundancy, and then we have it occur again. I 24 don't think -- none of the cuts have ever been in Kerr 25 County. Most of them have all been along the access road 11-9-15 52 1 where they're doing that improvement between Comfort and San 2 Antonio, Comfort and Boerne, and my understanding is this was 3 the same way. We don't know why it's happening, okay. I've 4 been asked, you know, there ought to be criminal charges 5 filed. I don't think there's anything in the code that would 6 allow for accidental stuff and what would fall under the 7 criminal mischief statute on communication and interrupting 8 communication, but it has to be intentionally and knowingly. 9 I don't think you can do that. We haven't looked into it, 10 but we've had a lot of people saying there ought to be 11 lawsuits filed, either against contractors or subcontractors, 12 or people didn't dial 811 or whatever. I don't know what 13 happened. None of us in this county knows what happened. 14 It does create an extreme hardship on all the law 15 enforcement when this happens. Not just us, the city of 16 Kerrville, because they have to find a way to reroute some of 17 the 911 calls, not all of them. Kerrville P.D. even sent a 18 dispatcher -- one of their dispatchers over to our office in 19 this last one so that they could sit and help dispatch EMS 20 through the 911 calls we were getting called directly in, and 21 they were getting them at their office. It does create a 22 very hazardous type situation. And when I also saw Pat 23 Murray's e-mail saying, you know, patients are at hazard, I 24 mean, every convenience store that -- that operates the 25 credit card stuff or debit card stuff, it affects them. It 11-9-15 53 1 affected everybody from here through Marble Falls. And it is 2 a situation that, instead of just rolling with it, I kind of 3 agree with Pat, something needs to be looked at. There needs 4 to be some answers, and we need to find a way that we can 5 possibly prevent this from happening, either through making 6 sure the redundancy is done so it can be rerouted quickly and 7 safely. 8 I don't know, gentlemen, but I think Pat Murray, in 9 his e-mail, had asked that it be in an open forum, so the 10 Judge put it on this agenda. And, you know, all I can do is 11 give you that update. The cost to the county, our cost as 12 far as Sheriff's Office is not as major as probably the 13 businesses in town, but I do have to call in extra people, 14 trying to get more officers on the road, especially on all of 15 the miles of interstate we have. We asked the volunteer fire 16 departments to man their stations so people can go to that. 17 We have to activate CodeRED, just keep -- you know, 18 everything else kind of goes on hold while you're trying to 19 deal with this. And normally it lasts for hours and hours, 20 'cause it's not easy to fix one of these cuts. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: The thing I don't understand 22 is, this -- to my knowledge, this is the third time it's 23 happened. The first time it happened -- when was it, Rusty? 24 A year ago, something like that? It was -- it was -- the 25 design was supposed to be after that to make an alternate 11-9-15 54 1 route, 'cause all 911 calls -- correct me if I'm wrong here, 2 Rusty -- comes into the Kerrville Police Department and goes 3 to San Antonio -- 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: 911. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Oh, yeah, 911 here. It goes to San 6 Antonio. And with that cut line, the first time they said 7 there would be a routing such that the alternate route went 8 through Austin to San Antonio, to preclude -- to give 9 redundancy. And then the second time it happened, they said, 10 well, that didn't happen. They put them in the same -- same 11 trench, okay? And so both were cut at that time. Then, as I 12 understand it, it's supposed to be routed -- AT&T was going 13 to route it through Bandera to assure redundancy, and now we 14 got the third time. So -- 15 JUDGE POLLARD: This is the fourth -- isn't it the 16 fourth time? 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: This is the fourth. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, my question is very 19 simple. What do we do and who's responsible for making sure 20 that we have redundant routes that are not in the same 21 proximity so that damage cannot cut the redundant lines? 22 MR. DEL TORO: Right now, I'm speaking -- 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's several questions. 24 MR. DEL TORO: I'm speaking with my 911 25 representatives with AT&T. The City of Kerrville I.T. 11-9-15 55 1 Manager is getting after their representatives. Patrick 2 Tinley with Hill Country Telephone Co-op is doing the same as 3 well, and we invite Kerr County to jump on that bandwagon. 4 We're doing everything that we can to get them to expedite 5 building out that network. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, my question is, who -- who 7 is in charge? Who's in the lead? Maybe a better question 8 is, who is in the lead to make sure we have true redundancy? 9 MR. DEL TORO: Right now, for our networks, I'm 10 having to rely on the telecoms, so I am deferring to 11 Mr. Tinley at Hill Country Telephone Co-op. He is working 12 with the AT&T engineers to get that path from Kerrville, 13 Bandera to San Antonio. We have a timeline. And I called 14 him on the day of the cut, "Why isn't this in place?" 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: My simple question is, who? 16 MR. DEL TORO: Who? 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Who. Who is -- who is -- who 18 takes the lead and makes sure we have redundancy? This -- 19 this is the fourth time. Who by name, or who by organization 20 is responsible to take that lead to make sure we have -- 21 MR. TROLINGER: Judge, may I answer? 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Mm-hmm. 23 MR. TROLINGER: It's Windstream, and it's -- it's 24 Rusty Henderson. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So -- but who do they have the 11-9-15 56 1 contract with to say they're not fulfilling their contract? 2 That's -- that's to implement -- that's not who's -- I'm not 3 asking who's responsible for the mechanics of it. I'm asking 4 who's got the authority to be responsible to make sure it is? 5 MR. TROLINGER: The actual redundancy in order to 6 provide the -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yes. 8 MR. TROLINGER: -- redundancy from Kerrville? 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's my question. 10 MR. TROLINGER: To Dallas and San Antonio? 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I don't care where. 12 Redundancy. 13 MR. TROLINGER: Windstream. Windstream, Rusty 14 Henderson. And I'd like to add that with the -- with the 15 line -- 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'm not asking the mechanics. 17 I'm asking whose name -- who's responsible. What 18 organization? Is it the County? Is it 911 District? Is it 19 the City? Is it the Sheriff's Office? I'm not asking about 20 who's going to provide the service. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If I can interrupt real quick, 22 I don't believe there is any law or any regulation that 23 requires any redundancy. We've been asking for it, and have 24 for years, but all we're trying to do is get the phone 25 companies and everybody else involved to provide redundancy 11-9-15 57 1 to prevent this from happening. But I don't think you can 2 say that there's any contracts or it's anybody's fault. You 3 know, and to give you an idea, I watched one company put in 4 fiberoptic line myself, okay? And it was along the back 5 fence line that I have, and I hadn't built the fence yet, and 6 I was getting ready to. And I actually watched them dig the 7 trench to put in that line, and when you looked at that 8 trench, it went like that instead of a straight line, okay? 9 The subcontractor for that company, whoever was digging the 10 trench, didn't dig a very straight line. And I said, "Wait a 11 minute. When I put in a fence, I'm liable to hit one of 12 those, okay?" And they said, "Oh, yeah, we got to go back, 13 and we need to get them to go back and re-dig that line," and 14 they did. Now, this line that runs alongside the interstate, 15 and they're putting in all this, I guess, water, sewer, 16 whatever else down the access road, you know, I can't say 17 whose fault it is that got cut, but I don't believe that we 18 can also say that there's any law that they create 19 redundancy. It's just something we're trying to plead and 20 ask these companies to do so that we don't endanger our 21 citizens and inconvenience all the customers of Kerr County. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let me ask it a different way, 23 then. I'm not asking for the law. Let me ask it simpler. 24 Can 911 District engage in the services from whomever to 25 assure redundancy? 11-9-15 58 1 MR. DEL TORO: To insure our network is up and 2 running, yes. I can engage the telecoms to insure for 911. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So -- 4 MR. DEL TORO: For all the other businesses in 5 Kerrville, I cannot do that. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, but for 911 -- 7 MR. DEL TORO: For 911 -- 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: For 911, you can do that? 9 MR. DEL TORO: I can do that. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 11 MR. DEL TORO: However, as with what Rusty said, we 12 already have a network in place. When that network becomes 13 disabled, we also have internal contingencies with the local 14 C.O. here in Kerrville, and with the selective routing in San 15 Antonio that insures the public can still reach emergency 16 services. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, did we in this last cut? 18 MR. DEL TORO: It worked. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It takes -- it's not instant, 20 and it takes quite a while to get them to switch all that 21 over. 22 MR. DEL TORO: It took us roughly an hour, hour and 23 a half to insure that Windstream had the right translations, 24 so when they receive a call from within town, it doesn't try 25 to go to San Antonio when it can't. It stays in internally, 11-9-15 59 1 comes back to the police department. And also, the wireless 2 companies and some Hill Country Telephone Co-op customers, 3 their calls were making it to the tandem. The tandem did -- 4 it said our lines were down. They, in turn, routed them to 5 Bandera, so at least someone could get a call to the 6 Sheriff's Department here. We've got some issues. Part of 7 the 911 calls went to P.D.; part went to our office. Part of 8 the 911 calls went to the Bandera County Sheriff's Office. 9 So, it does create havoc in how you get all those 10 transferred, where when it's working correctly, P.D. handles 11 those 911 calls and then do the transfer. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: What you're describing does not -- 13 does not accomplish the redundancy that Commissioner Moser's 14 talking about, then. That's kind of my understanding. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. And it sounds like 16 there is still room for a lot of improvement. 17 MR. DEL TORO: There is room for improvement. 18 Unfortunately for 911, I have one path that concerns us that 19 I can have control over, dealing with the telecoms, and 20 that's getting our calls back up from San Antonio once they 21 receive their intelligence. When the telephone companies -- 22 Windstream, Hill Country Telephone Co-op and the wireless 23 companies -- send those calls to San Antonio, those are paths 24 that they provision. I have no idea how they do it. That is 25 out of our control. My control is the upstream coming back 11-9-15 60 1 to Kerrville. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: It seems to me that somebody is 3 going to have to take the lead and create some sort of an 4 organization to get this done, and adopt some sort of a -- a 5 plan with dates involved in it. And I don't know who's going 6 to take that lead. I would suggest that the County, and 7 probably the City at least would agree to do something like 8 that and start something, and try to get a plan adopted where 9 that's accomplished, where this redundancy is accomplished, 10 and by a certain date. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think that's what the mayor 12 just pointed out, and what we're hearing from a lot of 13 citizens is it wasn't in this county, so I don't have 14 oversight of it. It's probably more concerned with telephone 15 companies, or maybe 911 who would directly be affected, is -- 16 is in this situation, and with that subcontractor, whoever's 17 doing all that construction, was 811 actually called? And 18 were those lines marked? Or -- or is the line -- you know, 19 did they go in crooked or what? I think, you know, there's a 20 lot of questions to this that I think need to be answered. 21 Because if they didn't dial 811, then I think those people 22 can be held -- that contractor company could be held liable 23 for a lot of these issues that affected our entire county. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: And a lot of other people in other 25 counties too. 11-9-15 61 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I don't know if the phone 2 companies or who should do that checking to see -- 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, it's not so much who's 4 responsible and who's liable. It's a safety issue. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's the bottom line. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's the main thing. That's 7 post facto, figure out who did it and why, and maybe make 8 sure that it doesn't happen in the future. But with -- with 9 full redundancy, okay, alternate paths, then that greatly 10 reduces that. It doesn't say they both couldn't be cut by, 11 you know, some operation that didn't call 811. But with full 12 redundancy -- and I'm with the Judge. You know, we ought to, 13 City/County together, working with 911 and all the other 14 emergency providers, figure out a system by with which we can 15 have a higher confidence that this is not going to happen in 16 the future. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner -- or everyone, it 18 seems to me that the -- I mean, certainly, this isn't the 19 only fiberoptic line that's being cut for some unknown reason 20 on a regular basis. This happens to be done certainly across 21 the state. And if there's not a requirement for 22 redundancy -- from what the Sheriff says, I don't know if 23 there is or isn't. It seems to me that the Texas Legislature 24 is where you got to go, and make them make a requirement that 25 there is redundancy for all communities. And, you know, it's 11-9-15 62 1 kind of mind boggling that this hasn't been done already, but 2 if it isn't, I mean, seems like it's probably a state issue. 3 And you may get a lot of push-back from the communication 4 companies that don't want the expenditure -- the cost to do 5 it, but that's where -- I mean, I don't think that anyone 6 locally has the authority to tell these -- AT&T and 7 Windstream to do anything. 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The Legislature can. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think that is extremely 11 important, but I also am a firm believer, there's got to be 12 consequences for the bad behavior. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I agree with that. 14 MAYOR PRATT: That's what's here. We got a 15 negligent company putting in line or digging a trench or 16 doing whatever, and negligent. You know, either way, if 17 there's no consequences to bad behavior, nothing will ever 18 change. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, that's good, but that's 20 not -- that's not a corrective thing. That's to -- I mean, 21 that's a help, but that doesn't help emergencies. 22 MAYOR PRATT: If I can say something here? 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Sure, go ahead. 24 MAYOR PRATT: You've had four instances. There's 25 been no record of anything being done to prohibit it. I 11-9-15 63 1 mean, we're talking about trying to resolve a situation -- 2 you know, the line's cut. I think we ought to also focus on 3 preventing the line being cut. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's what we're talking 5 about. 6 MAYOR PRATT: I understand that, and there's been 7 nothing to change behavior, and that's what Rusty and I were 8 talking about. If you don't have anything to change 9 behavior, then that contractor is going to continue to do 10 whatever they want to do to dig their trench without calling 11 811 first. And so you need some -- some type of procedure 12 that if you cut the line, and you didn't call 811 and get -- 13 get the direction of that line, and you cut it, then there's 14 got to be a consequence. Consequences are the only thing to 15 change behaviors. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, but that's still post 17 facto, Mayor. What I'm talking about is having a system 18 where you -- yeah, if somebody cuts a line, and they do it 19 maliciously or accidental or whatever, fine, fix that. But 20 that doesn't help -- that doesn't help Pat Murray in the 21 hospital when something needs to be done. What we need to do 22 is look at redundancy so that when these lines are cut in the 23 future, which they will be, we've got another path for that 24 communication. 25 MAYOR PRATT: Well, I think that the City and the 11-9-15 64 1 County working together -- 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 3 MAYOR PRATT: All of us working together, just like 4 we did on transportation. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 6 MAYOR PRATT: Working together on the redundancy. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 8 MAYOR PRATT: But I have to go back with 9 Commissioner Letz. I think that this is a Legislative issue, 10 'cause we don't have the power to do that, to require it. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, do we not? We have a 12 911 District. We have responsibilities in the county for 13 safety. We have responsibilities in the city for safety. 14 Seems like we have -- within Kerr County, we have the 15 capability. Even though the lines may go outside of Kerr 16 County, which obviously they do, I think we do. And I think 17 long-term, if we can get the State to do it across the entire 18 state, that would be good. But I think we've got the 19 capability to do it locally. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But I -- you know, and it may 21 be -- she was looking up something. It may be Railroad 22 Commission that actually governs and fines people that cut 23 those lines if they didn't follow the procedure. I don't 24 know, but a lot of that -- and I agree totally with you; we 25 have to have the redundancy, okay? But also, if these 11-9-15 65 1 companies are negligent, and whatever side did it, and there 2 are consequences, I think at the same time having redundancy, 3 you're also preventing it from happening again when they know 4 that they're liable for it, and it holds their feet to the 5 fire. So, I think you have to look at both sides. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: I agree. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Both deals. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it seems -- and I don't 9 want to step on your toes and practice law or anything here, 10 but it seems the only way you can do it is to find some sort 11 of a negligence lawsuit. And how you -- and what are the 12 damages? I mean, unless you do some sort of class action 13 suit for the businesses in Kerrville trying to get -- recoup. 14 But, I mean, I don't know how you get there unless -- if 15 there's not a criminal thing. 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How do you get to do a penalty? 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I don't know. But some -- you 19 know, and it didn't even occur in Kerr County, just affected 20 us. But I don't know if it's something the County or the 21 City ought to contact Railroad Commission, see if they could 22 do the investigation. Who does it to -- to get this ball 23 rolling? Make sure it doesn't happen -- 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's who caused the 25 accident. I'm not interested in who caused the accident. 11-9-15 66 1 I'm trying to -- 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's both. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- do it such that you 4 preclude the accident, okay? If somebody dies, are they 5 going to say, "Well, he caused it; therefore, you got to pay 6 their family a million dollars"? I don't care about that, 7 okay? I care about having something that reduces the 8 probability of not having full communications between Point A 9 and Point B, wherever Point A and Point B is, for 911 and the 10 other services. 11 MR. TROLINGER: Judge, I'd like to add to the 12 affected services list, the airport has both our weather and 13 a communications station from F.A.A., and both of those were 14 out during these outages. We were not reporting the weather 15 worldwide, and we were not able to communicate with Houston 16 Center from the airport. And planes that were coming in -- 17 jets were not able to communicate with Houston Center. Now, 18 they can make other arrangements; the pilot can pick up the 19 cell phone, make a call before he takes off. But AT&T was 20 out, so maybe he can't. He's got to go back to the terminal. 21 So, this affects jets at the airport, basically. It's not so 22 much safety, but definitely air traffic control. So, with 23 that, I'd like to add that Windstream -- and I have been told 24 that Windstream has a redundant line. They do have a 25 redundant path. At our previous meeting with the phone 11-9-15 67 1 companies and with the City and with the Sheriff, we were 2 told that that path does exist, and it has -- but the problem 3 is, it's not being implemented. There's a technical problem, 4 and that line is not being used by Windstream to route the 5 calls from Kerrville through Dallas. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Well -- 7 MR. TROLINGER: And that's that redundancy. It 8 exists. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's the exact same thing we 10 were told last time. 11 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, sir. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So this isn't rocket science, 13 okay, doing this. And I agree with -- I agree with the 14 Judge. I suggest -- I'm not going to make a motion since 15 it's not on the agenda. I suggest that the County and the 16 City work with 911 and whomever, okay, as a group to -- to 17 communicate with the providers of communication to see what 18 can be done to assure redundancy, and what action may be 19 taken by the County, City, 911 to assure that. You know, I 20 think that's got to be possible to do, so that's -- that's 21 the same thing. And then I agree with -- you know, you did 22 it in the past, and who's at fault for cutting the lines? 23 Yeah, that's -- if we can prevent that, that would be good 24 too. But priority number one is -- is to figure out what we 25 can do to improve the communication, okay. 11-9-15 68 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think your agenda item 2 allows you to take some action. I would suggest that you 3 appoint one of the Court members, maybe the rocket scientist, 4 to sit down with all the other entities involved and see if 5 they can't come up with a solution, 'cause I don't want to 6 see it happen again. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move to appoint Moser. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Moved and seconded that 10 Commissioner Moser be appointed. 11 COMMISSIONER REEVES: If I may, we already have a 12 911 liaison position. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Well, keep that to 14 yourself. 15 COMMISSIONER REEVES: 1 and 3. Why are we 16 appointing a committee when we already have two on there? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Because. 18 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Because you're 1, I 19 understand. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, then. 21 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I don't see why we need to 22 appoint a committee when we got one. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's been moved and seconded. 24 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Okay. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. It has been moved and 11-9-15 69 1 seconded. Is there any further discussion or comment? I'd 2 like to summarize a little bit. I think both positions are 3 important. The redundancy thing is a backup plan, an 4 alternate plan. That needs to be taken care of, and we need 5 to do that. We also need to address these other issues, and 6 that is who's at fault, and what -- how do you correct that? 7 There will be a couple ways to do that. Pat Murray, in his 8 e-mail that he sent to us, said that he contacted Andy Murr, 9 and they were going to study what the Legislature could do, 10 and that could be a way to do it. If they pass some kind of 11 a statute that says that whoever cuts a line like that, or -- 12 there's a monster penalty, and they're liable for damages to 13 everybody for whatever. There may be a lawsuit now that 14 exists now for -- for tort; for damages, let's call it, that 15 the hospital and various other people that were damaged, 16 businesses could get together with an attorney and find out 17 if they can -- if there's no immunity involved in this, 18 because these utility companies that are quasi -- that's an 19 area that sometimes they're immune. 20 So, anyway, it's going to take some briefing, and a 21 lawyer's going to have to figure it out. If he can figure a 22 way around it and sue these companies -- and what you do, 23 there's no better way to stop people from doing bad things 24 than to turn some shark lawyers loose on them, and suing 25 everybody that was involved. I mean, sue the subcontractor, 11-9-15 70 1 the contractor, the provider, sue them all, because somebody 2 in there is going to be negligent when that happens. 3 Somebody. You grab the bunch, develop your discovery, and 4 start throwing out the ones you can't develop negligence 5 against, and then you sue them. And I'll tell you, they'll 6 start paying attention now, and they'll be a lot more careful 7 about putting those straight lines in, like what the Sheriff 8 was talking about. And everybody -- there will be 9 accountability, and that's what we're trying to establish 10 here. We're approaching it from two directions, and I think 11 both of them are important. All right, that's my take on it. 12 Anybody else want to comment on it? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll just make a comment on 14 Commissioner Reeves' comment about the liaisons. I think 15 this is a little bit different than just that. And I don't 16 mind being involved with it, working with Commissioner Moser 17 on it, but this is -- it's not just a 911 liaison, but this 18 is a little bit different of the communications thing, that 19 it's not just the liaison to that position, in my mind. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's bigger than 911. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A lot bigger. It involves the 22 City; it involves a whole lot of entities and beyond our 911 23 only. Our 911 certainly is affected by it and responsible 24 for us locally, but this is not a local issue. This is 25 really, as I'm understanding it, beyond -- our 911's working 11-9-15 71 1 fine. The problem is outside of our 911. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: We want to impress on everybody 3 involved and is listening here that this is really an 4 important issue. We're not going to let it lie. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm impressed. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: This is -- we're going to get with 7 the program on this, and we're going to try to get something 8 done, be it through the Legislature or whatever avenues are 9 available. All right. The motion's on the floor. Those in 10 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 11 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 12 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. All right. 13 Mr. Moser, the rocket man, is appointed. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, got it. Going 15 underground. (Laughter.) 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, how about a break? 17 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, 10-minute break. Thank you 18 very much. Thank you, Mayor. 19 (Recess taken from 10:22 a.m. to 10:38 a.m.) 20 - - - - - - - - - - 21 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, it's time to resume. 22 We're back in session, and the first thing we want to do is 23 we want to correct the record about something that was -- 24 there was some mention that it was Rusty Henderson that -- 25 over at Windstream that was making decisions about this. 11-9-15 72 1 He's just an employee over there, and it's not him that 2 there's a complaint about. Is that -- 3 COMMISSIONER REEVES: That's my opinion. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. I agree. 5 COMMISSIONER REEVES: If there's a complaint, it's 6 with Windstream; it's not with one individual who works for 7 them. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: That's right. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think he's just who our I.T. 10 had contact with, just like with Mr. Tinley. It's just they 11 were all part of that meeting on trying to create redundancy. 12 I don't think this was their line, or they have any 13 involvement in the cutting or anything like that. It's just 14 reaching out to people that can help. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Rusty's a good guy. We don't want 16 anybody to misunderstand what was said. It's -- it's 17 Windstream that the complaints are about, okay? 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I don't even know if it's 19 Windstream they should be about. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Well, that may go further. May go 21 further. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Windstream provides -- gets it 23 out of Kerrville into AT&T. 24 COMMISSIONER REEVES: That's the way I understand 25 it. 11-9-15 73 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do we know? That's my point. 2 Why do we even say Windstream? 3 JUDGE POLLARD: But when there was reference by -- 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right, I understand. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: To Rusty Henderson, right. That 6 really should have been Windstream instead of Rusty 7 Henderson. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's the challenge. Is it 9 even Windstream? So, I don't know. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Let's go to the next 11 item on the agenda. Is it 10:30? Yeah. Report from Maggie 12 Baker. Is she here? 13 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Judge, Ms. Baker contacted me 14 early this morning and could not be here. She's prepared a 15 pretty detailed report, but it talks about -- her wording. 16 I'd rather her be here to present it, 'cause it's some 17 accolades to her, so let's pass on this till next meeting. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: That's a good suggestion. All 20 right. If there's no objection, we'll pass it. All right? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: While we're on that item, if I 22 may, maybe we can talk about -- nevermind. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Do you want to say something? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, I was just wondering about 25 the parade. I was hoping she was going to go over the parade 11-9-15 74 1 a little bit. 2 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I think there was an e-mail 3 sent. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, I saw the e-mail. Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Everybody come to the parade, 6 then. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: We're talking about the veterans -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, Veteran's Day parade. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: What day is that? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Wednesday. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Wednesday. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. There's going to be a 13 parade and all kinds of activities. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And another opportunity for it 15 to rain. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: That's right. All right. Other 17 than that, we'll pass that to the next agenda. All right. I 18 think Item 1.17 is an executive session item. Am I correct 19 about that? All right. We'll skip that, then, and go into 20 it in executive session. Item 1.18; consider, discuss, and 21 take appropriate action regarding declaring certain county 22 property surplus, and consider acquisition of property next 23 to the Kerr County Jail. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's executive session. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: And at this time, I want to -- I 11-9-15 75 1 want to move this -- kind of move this thing along and try to 2 get these excess properties -- surplus or excess properties 3 on the market somehow, and let's try to get that converted to 4 money and use it for something that we need. And in that 5 regard, as to the property, the 5.7 acres next to the jail 6 out there, I'd like to invite the Sheriff to come up and make 7 his comments. 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Is this something that should 9 be -- I think it's marked on the agenda as executive session. 10 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Real property acquisition. I 11 believe we need to wait. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Would you like to wait until 14 executive session? 15 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, we can do that. We'll 16 put it off to executive session. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Actually, he probably has a 18 choice whether he wants to do it in executive session or not. 19 COMMISSIONER REEVES: You're right, the Judge has a 20 choice. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just talk about it. You 22 already got it out there; let's just talk about it. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If you get into possible 24 negotiations, you may want to -- 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Well, when we get into 11-9-15 76 1 negotiations, that's a different deal. But it's a tract of 2 land next to the county jail that's available now, and may 3 not be available in the future. And we have these properties 4 that we're not using, and I'd like to see -- at least get 5 them declared surplus and get them sold, and then get the 6 money in-hand, in the coffers, and then try to decide what we 7 need to do with it. I would like to purchase the 5.7 acres 8 next to the jail because of future needs. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think -- if you want me to 10 go ahead and speak on that, I'll speak. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, go ahead. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Now, of course, first off, 13 the jail sits on quite a large tract of acreage; I think it's 14 close to 17 acres. There's actually an "L" that comes off of 15 that property that runs between Schreiner College and Whelan 16 Plumbing that has never ever been used. I bet it's 100 foot 17 wide in areas, runs just about to 27. I think that could be 18 dealt with also. But that 5.7 acres is available now, has 19 been for a while. Once it's gone, it's gone. And I think 20 anybody around this courthouse and dealing with our court 21 system can very easily attest that we're going to, sooner or 22 later in the future, have to add a County Court at Law 23 Number 2. We're going to have to add some of the other 24 additional areas for court processing and criminal 25 justice-type issues with -- with more -- bigger courtrooms, 11-9-15 77 1 more available courtrooms. I think a lot of y'all have seen 2 that with what's been going on, when you add onto the jail, 3 all this other stuff's going to kind of come with it. So, 4 may not be in my lifetime; I don't know, but I think it would 5 be a good investment for the county to seriously look at that 6 for future growth of the criminal justice system in Kerr 7 County. 8 Now, the other part that I've heard a lot about 9 over the last several years is animal control. And we've all 10 looked at that, and everybody says that where they are is 11 not, I guess, you know, susceptible to adding on or really 12 building that out. And my suggestion -- and this was just a 13 suggestion for future growth -- is move Animal Control to the 14 location next to Atmos Energy, tie that in where coming off 15 of East Main is the public entrance where people could come 16 in and deal with Animal Control and Environmental Health 17 there. That also frees up more space in the courthouse. But 18 off the back of it, tie it into our jail facility through 19 security fence to where we could actually utilize inmate 20 labor to help take care of all the animals that are at Animal 21 Control, and do a lot of that type stuff to keep down our 22 euthanization rate and everything else. And I just think it 23 would be a good thing to be able to expand and use that, and 24 it's an opportunity for future growth if that's what the 25 County desired. But I personally do think that acreage ought 11-9-15 78 1 to be looked at. I don't know prices. I don't know what's 2 -- you know, what the county plans are, and I'm not saying -- 3 it's just a suggestion. And I think we will need courts; we 4 will need more criminal justice facilities out there, and we 5 also need to do animal control, and I think it looks viable 6 for that reason. That's my only comment. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: I'd like to add to that some, too, 8 that we are having problems with use of the courtrooms around 9 the courthouse now. I mean, there -- there are demands for 10 bigger courtrooms and all that. We're having that kind of an 11 issue, and I think it's a -- it's foretelling what's going to 12 happen to us in the -- probably the immediate future, not too 13 distant, at least. We're going to have to have some more 14 courtrooms or something. We're going to have to have at 15 least -- and without adding any more courts. But I think 16 that may -- it may come to the point -- our population, I 17 think, has hit -- the county population has hit the point we 18 may need to be looking at a county -- another County Court at 19 Law in the not-too-distant future, and make some other 20 change, and so it kind of fits with that. It kind of -- and 21 it frees up some administrative room down here in the 22 basement if -- if Environmental Health moves out there 23 eventually. It just fits in with long-range plans, and it 24 seems to me that now's the time to start moving on -- on this 25 property if it's desirable. And if the Court desires to look 11-9-15 79 1 at something like that, let's -- let's at least get the 2 surplus properties declared surplus and get them sold, and 3 get the money in the coffers, and then start a program -- 4 planning about how -- doing some long-range planning on what 5 to use it for. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: In the court system, just to 7 give you an idea, on court days, 216th, 198th, and County 8 Court at Law -- now, 216th, 198th, it would be a very small 9 court day if they only had 50 criminal cases to hear each day 10 that they're in court. County Court at Law last week had 75 11 cases to hear. I don't think a lot of people realize -- and 12 these are just criminal cases; these are not civil cases that 13 could still be held in -- you know, redone some. But the 14 courts -- and I think all the -- the prosecutors and the 15 judges would agree. You know, the court cases, just on 16 criminal cases, are -- are really, you know, trying on 17 courtroom facilities and the ways -- and it's really trying 18 my office on the way security has to be done in these 19 courtrooms and around this courthouse. And to have some that 20 are better designed for that in the future, I think, would be 21 of benefit and everything to everybody. 'Cause it's -- 22 JUDGE POLLARD: These courtrooms -- these 23 courtrooms have fire department maximum capacity limitations 24 on them. Not the big -- the two district courtrooms keep up 25 with all of that, but there's a question about whether or not 11-9-15 80 1 the County Court at Law courtroom does. She gets sometimes 2 too many people in there, and in excess of that. I can tell 3 you also that just this morning, I was informed that I have 4 two juvenile cases that have demanded a jury trial, and the 5 County Clerk is telling me they're planning on calling a jury 6 panel of 100 to 150 people, and so that's going to violate -- 7 I've got to figure out where we're going to have to have 8 those jury trials on juvenile stuff. So, we're getting -- 9 we're to the point where everything's getting pretty 10 congested in the criminal justice thing. We're going to have 11 to address it pretty soon in the future. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And if any of y'all look when 13 we have jury trials up here, okay, trying to find any kind of 14 parking around the courthouse -- and you're not going to be 15 able to expand that. If you have two or three jury trials at 16 the same time, you aren't going to find parking between here 17 and the Cailloux Center. It's just -- and there's no way to 18 grow. 19 MS. STEBBINS: There's a free parking garage right 20 over in the next block. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Good luck. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Way to go, -- 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I agree, but -- 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- attorney. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Good luck. 11-9-15 81 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with you, Tom, about 2 getting that other property that we have. I don't -- 3 declaring it surplus, if you sell it, if you can trade it, 4 you -- whatever it is, to get this thing moving, and then -- 5 and then I think that is when we have the conversation or the 6 argument about -- 7 JUDGE POLLARD: What to do. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- courtrooms or whatever. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But I really -- if we're 11 going to do this thing with the property, and I don't see why 12 we're not, because we're not using it and never will use 13 those properties. You know, this one over here, I like; I 14 hate to see it go. But those two out there in Kerrville 15 South, that's in my precinct. We'll never use that for 16 anything. It's written in the deed that we can't use it, and 17 so -- 18 JUDGE POLLARD: We haven't even thought about that 19 100-foot strip the Sheriff was pointing out out there that he 20 didn't -- he's not going to be using. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think we ought to pull the 22 trigger and do something, get -- you know, take that step, 23 get the ball rolling. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: I agree. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I agree with you. Let's see, 11-9-15 82 1 I think there's three properties. One is the recycling 2 property, the one on Ranchero Road, and -- 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's in your precinct. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. And then there is 5 another one out there, too. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. And then the property 8 across the river from Lions Park, which we should hear in 9 December whether or not we can get from L.C.R.A., because 10 it's for public use only, but hopefully they're going to 11 eliminate that restriction and we can sell that property. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's also that -- the strip 13 you're talking about next to the Whelan Plumbing building, 14 L-shaped piece. And do we -- that piece of property over 15 there off near Tom Daniels, that little lot that we got back 16 from -- 17 COMMISSIONER REEVES: That's a tax lot. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The tax lot. But we still have 19 that too, don't we? 20 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I know that's one trying to 21 be marketed as a tax sale. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No one wants it. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's in a subdivision with 24 homes around it. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 11-9-15 83 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 2 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I don't think we would have 3 to declare that one surplus, because I think the tax 4 attorney's already trying to -- along with the tax office, 5 trying to sell that one. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Mm-hmm. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But on the -- but I thought we 8 were going down the path to do all this already. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I did too. 10 COMMISSIONER REEVES: We have started it, but I 11 think we were waiting -- 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Waiting till the board meeting 13 for L.C.R.A. on that one property. 14 COMMISSIONER REEVES: So they would all be -- 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Done at one time. 16 COMMISSIONER REEVES: -- at one time, is my 17 understanding. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, okay. 19 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And so we're kind of -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And we're waiting, and we 21 already have -- or didn't we already pick the appraisal -- 22 COMMISSIONER REEVES: We have. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- company? We already picked 24 the company that was going to do the appraisals, just waiting 25 to get that last piece. 11-9-15 84 1 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Right, they're done. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All of them done? 3 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Right. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And is it necessary to even 5 wait on the one in Center Point? 6 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I guess we ought to. We've 7 done one. Do them all. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Another month won't make any 9 difference. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, okay. I'll query them 11 and see if that's still on their agenda. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'd just like to add the 13 words "not necessarily" to sell, but if they're -- you know, 14 there's a lot of people in the trading mode these days, and 15 if there's a -- if there's a good trade available, I think 16 whoever is going to do this negotiation should certainly keep 17 that in their back pocket. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: Yes. I just want to move it along 19 and make sure we still got it in sight, and that we're going 20 to -- I'd like to just get it done and get that started, get 21 the money in the coffers, and then we'll decide -- do some 22 long-range planning about what we want to do. All right. 23 So, no action on that for right now; is that correct? Or do 24 you want to take some action on it? 25 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I don't see anything right 11-9-15 85 1 now. Like we said, we're waiting on that one part of Center 2 Point. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: I'd like to say I have seen some -- 4 a written communication from -- is it L.C.R.A.? 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: That said they will release it for 7 a certain consideration. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, really? 9 JUDGE POLLARD: I think I saw an e-mail for that. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, I haven't seen it. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: But that they will -- 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, yeah, yeah. Now, they 13 said -- no, he said if they do it -- if they do it, there 14 would be legal fees associated with it of approximately 15 $35,000. I don't know that they had -- their board had 16 approved it. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: I think that I -- 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Well, good. I hope 19 that's the case. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: -- I saw an e-mail. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I hope that's the case. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: So, I think it's probably coming 23 pretty soon. Should be. All right, let's go -- that's 24 everything on 1.18, then. Let's go to closed session, and 25 we'll go into executive session pursuant to Sections 551.071, 11-9-15 86 1 551.072, 551.073, .074, .078, .0785, and .076, as well as 2 .087, for deliberation regarding economic development -- the 3 other matters set forth in this -- in today's executive 4 session notice. 5 (The open session was closed at 10:53 a.m., and an executive session was held, the transcript of which 6 is contained in a separate document.) 7 - - - - - - - - - - 8 (Open session resumed at 11:05 a.m.) 9 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, we're back in open 10 session, and are there any motions that we need to take care 11 of? 12 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Call Item 1.17. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. Yeah, Item 1.17; consider, 14 discuss, and take appropriate action on personnel matter, 15 with Robbin Burlew that's involved in it. Are there any 16 motions? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that, due to 18 a previous error on the step and grade schedule, that we 19 adjust Ms. Marquart's step and grade to a 19.3 effective 20 October 1, 2015. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: It's been moved and seconded that 23 Ms. Marquart's step and grade be modified effective as of 24 October 1 of this year, to the grade of 19.3. Is there any 25 further discussion? 11-9-15 87 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just wanted to ask a 2 question. I'm still a little bit unclear about something. 3 We're going to do this, and then the next one is moving the 4 money? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I was going to let them bring a 6 budget amendment back at our next court meeting. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right. I just want to 8 know about it, what we're doing. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Further discussion or 12 comments? If not, those in favor, signify by raising your 13 right hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there anything else that we need 16 to take care of in executive session? I don't think so. All 17 right, we're adjourned. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We got to pay the bills. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Oh, I'm sorry. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Whew, almost got us in 21 trouble. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: He was kidding about 23 adjourning. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: We got to pay the bills. Any 25 questions about the bills as presented? Comments? 11-9-15 88 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move we pay the bills. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded that we pay 4 the bills as presented. Is there any further comment? 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I had -- I was looking at it 6 over the weekend, and I come across cross a couple of 7 questions that I met with the Auditor this morning, and 8 cleared it up for me, except that I think that it's something 9 talking about replacing Kathy, and there -- here's a lady 10 that seems to be a part-time court reporter or something, and 11 I've known her a long time, but I didn't know that was her 12 name. But she's appeared here in our bills. She's appeared 13 in two different courts, just special -- kind of like, you 14 know, we have one -- one of them was a -- to be with a 15 visiting judge, Barton, and so she's acting kind of like a 16 visiting court reporter. But what my point is, is the amount 17 she charges on this thing is -- it may be a -- something that 18 we need to look at in order to replace her. I just want to 19 bring that up. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Is she one of the ones that you 21 were thinking about? 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just wanted to bring that 23 up to y'all. Don't have anything to do tonight, 'cause 24 there's no NFL. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. There's a motion on the 11-9-15 89 1 floor, made and seconded. Any further comment? Questions? 2 If not, those in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 3 right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 5 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. 4.2, budget 6 amendments. 7 MS. DOSS: We have one. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: County Court at Law. I move 9 approval of the budget amendment -- I mean, of -- yeah, 10 budget amendment as presented. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. It's been moved and 13 seconded for approval of the budget amendment as presented. 14 Is there any further discussion? There being none, those in 15 favor, signify by raising your right hand. 16 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 17 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Late bills? 18 MS. DOSS: No late bills, sir. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: No late bills. Let's skip that, 20 then. We'll go to 4.4, approve and accept monthly reports. 21 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes. District Clerk for 22 October 2015; J.P., Precinct 1, monthly report, October 2015; 23 J.P., Precinct 2, monthly report, October 2015; J.P., 24 Precinct 3, monthly report for October 2015; Constable 1 for 25 October 2015; Constable 4, monthly report, October 2015; 11-9-15 90 1 Animal Services monthly report, October 2015; Environmental 2 Health monthly report, October 2015; County Treasurer, 3 payroll approval, month ending October 2015; County 4 Treasurer, monthly report for September 2015; County Clerk, 5 revised report for August and September 2015; County 6 Treasurer, revised report for August 2015. Move to approve 7 and sign as needed. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved and seconded that the 10 reports as just recounted by Commissioner, Precinct 4, be 11 accepted -- the monthly reports be accepted and approved. Is 12 there any further discussion or comment? There being none, 13 those in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 14 hand. 15 (The motion carried by unanimous vote, 4-0.) 16 JUDGE POLLARD: It's 4-0, unanimous. Reports from 17 commissioners, liaison/committee assignments. Anybody? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, sir, I don't have 19 anything. Thank you. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Mr. Moser? 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Nothing. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: I don't have anything. You got 23 anything? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, I have two items. One, 25 our East Kerr Wastewater grant is still a slight moving 11-9-15 91 1 target. They -- we received word from Austin last week that 2 they were jiggling the ratios between the EDAP and the SRF 3 funding. Commissioner Moser and I have been -- and Charlie 4 Hastings have been -- and Brenda, been involved on this. And 5 the applications are being adjusted slightly again, so once 6 we get a final one -- our new deadline is tomorrow to get 7 these newest revisions in, and once that is done, at our next 8 meeting we'll bring the application back to the Court to make 9 sure everyone is on the same page. They're not big dollar 10 changes. I, quite frankly, don't understand why we want to 11 do it again, but they want us to. And the other one is, I 12 haven't talked with Commissioner Reeves, but we had some 13 communications with Spectra, and I believe they're going to 14 be trying to get their -- Jake, whatever his name is, down 15 here pretty soon to start working on the transition, and 16 working at the Hill Country Event Center. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Is that -- so, has the guy 18 moved here? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. No, he has not moved yet. 20 They're waiting on -- sent an e-mail up to Mr. Hontz, who's 21 the vice president, and he mentioned that he had already 22 heard from Peter Zingoni the contract had been signed, by us 23 and I presume by them too, and they wanted to work on getting 24 him down here and starting that transition process, probably 25 first, the way I understood it, or in December. 11-9-15 92 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, okay. That's what I was 2 thinking. Okay, that would be great. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: But he would be the only one 4 employee to have down here -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: -- until February 1st. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Or it's kind of their 8 ball court now. That's reasonable in our mind. I think 9 that's the plan, but they may modify that slightly. It's up 10 to them. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. And just as a comment, I go 12 by the -- drove by the event center and the show barn this 13 past week, and I saw where that hole in the wall where a 14 trailer had been backed up, knocked a hole in the wall, has 15 already been repaired. Looks good. You can't even tell it 16 was there. 17 COMMISSIONER REEVES: It's been fixed. And big 18 event out there this weekend, and Sid Peterson -- it's not 19 Sid Peterson; it's -- I'm old school. The Peterson Regional 20 Medical Center Gala is this Saturday night out there, and 21 their group has been working very hard to get it ready for 22 that. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: On that repair, is that our 24 insurance, or is that the person -- 25 COMMISSIONER REEVES: The person's insurance. 11-9-15 93 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. Super. 2 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Paid for it. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: I think -- no, they had insurance 4 on the trailer. They repaired it. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good deal. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Anything else? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, we have the meeting 8 Thursday at 9 a.m.? 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Mm-hmm. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Anything else? Yes, John? 12 MR. TROLINGER: I'm getting the jump on the 13 Sheriff. Just to report, I.T., I attended the -- L.C.R.A. 14 put on a cybersecurity summit this past week, and I went, and 15 it was well attended. And presenters included Department of 16 Homeland Security, the FBI, the Department of Public Safety. 17 These are all the security -- computer security experts. And 18 L.C.R.A., and it was really informative. I very rarely 19 travel for summits now; I can go online and watch the video 20 and whatnot, but this was really productive. Probably the 21 most important thing -- the most important take-away that I 22 wanted to express to you all as elected officials, and to the 23 department heads, is that probably the number one 24 vulnerability we have right now in security is e-mail, and 25 using e-mail targeted at you -- at you, Judge, to try to get 11-9-15 94 1 you to click on something or open up a file, and we do watch 2 that very carefully. Probably in the month of October, we 3 were targeted -- the Sheriff, myself, a couple of his 4 employees -- key employees and -- and some other department 5 heads are targeted. And when I see that -- we're monitoring 6 for these things. When we see them come in, we try to jump 7 ahead and say, "Please delete that e-mail." Actually, we go 8 in and we make sure it's deleted. But that -- that's been 9 occurring in the past month, and that was probably -- no, it 10 was on top of the list of the vulnerabilities that we have 11 computer-wise with people that want to break into our 12 computer network. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Give an example of the type of 14 thing that would -- that they would send that you would log 15 into. 16 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, sir. This past weekend, a few 17 people were targeted -- the Sheriff, Road and Bridge 18 Administrator, and myself -- with an e-mail message from a 19 large company out of San Antonio, insurance company. We all 20 know the name. And they sent it -- it went right through our 21 spam filter, right through the antivirus, and right into the 22 in-box. And first thing this morning, I said -- well, over 23 the weekend -- 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What were they asking you to 25 open? 11-9-15 95 1 MR. TROLINGER: Basically, they were saying, "Click 2 on this link to update your e-mail information." 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh. 4 MR. TROLINGER: And it looked very real. I mean, 5 it had all the right credentials. It looked like it was from 6 this company. But I look into the message, and it's on my 7 radar because I've got a monitor for that. So, on Sunday I 8 looked at it, and I deleted my e-mail, of course, but the 9 other e-mails have been delivered. It's -- it's in your 10 in-box. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: They want you to click on a 12 link? It's not to open an attachment or something? 13 MR. TROLINGER: Generally, it's both. It's one or 14 the other, yes. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Some of them are 16 through opening attachments? 17 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, sir. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 19 MR. TROLINGER: And it's quite difficult to stop; 20 they're really looking to break into our stuff, specifically 21 Kerr County. So -- so, I blocked the site where they're 22 trying to get you to click. It's overseas. It's in Europe, 23 so it's pretty easy to identify for me. But that happens 24 every day. And I wanted to make sure that I, you know, said 25 something to the Court, and that's at the top of the list of 11-9-15 96 1 the vulnerabilities right now. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, I don't want to get into 3 too much detail, but if you open an attachment, how does that 4 let them get into -- how does that let them get into the 5 system? 6 MR. TROLINGER: Without being over-technical, 7 basically, a Word document file that you might exchange back 8 and forth amongst yourselves, it might be spoofed from a 9 local attorney to say, "Please open this attachment," and it 10 looks like it's just coming from that local attorney. And 11 you open it up, and inside that legitimate Word document, 12 there's a virus. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, it's inside the Word 14 document? 15 MR. TROLINGER: That's hidden inside the document. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's enough, okay. 17 MR. TROLINGER: And it's -- 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I see. 19 MR. TROLINGER: It's making it through. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 21 MR. TROLINGER: And it's doing it everywhere; it's 22 not just us. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: I've never understood why people 24 just want to do damage like that. 25 MR. TROLINGER: Well, Judge, -- 11-9-15 97 1 JUDGE POLLARD: Indiscriminately. I just don't 2 understand it. 3 MR. TROLINGER: -- it's hard to understand until 4 you look at the end motive. Well, the motive is money. 5 Dollars. They want to steal from us. They want to do wire 6 transfers from our accounts over to Europe, and they want to 7 take our money. And a lot of it is eastern European-based, 8 Moldova and the Ukraine, and that's where the money's going. 9 And the FBI says it's in the billions per year, that cost. 10 Not necessarily the economic loss, but the cost of defending 11 against it and actually keeping the bad guys from breaking 12 into our stuff. Thanks. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thanks. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Any other reports? Yes, Sheriff? 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Just real quick, an update on 16 the jail expansion. The manager-at-risk contract is being 17 worked out, the wordage, between both Huser and our 18 architect. We're working on that. As soon as they get that 19 completed, and they ought to be getting closer, I will get a 20 copy of it, at which time it will be sent to our County 21 Attorney to review and make sure everything's correct in it, 22 and then we'll bring it back to the Court. I'm still hoping 23 we'll have groundbreaking somewhere around the first part of 24 January, maybe the end of December, I can't tell you. The 25 architect did have to appear before the Commission on Jail 11-9-15 98 1 Standards last week on one variance that I asked for. Part 2 of the standards were that we put sprinkler heads inside 3 inmate cell areas. That's just not feasible. They'll tear 4 them up, bust them off constantly. We don't have any issue 5 with them in the hallways and storage rooms. Nothing inside 6 of the inmate cells is flammable material except for maybe 7 some personal papers that they have to begin with. So, they 8 did grant that variance. I'll receive that letter shortly. 9 But other than that, everything's going along as it should. 10 Back real quick on the issue I told you about with 11 the pursuit that went across country and through the country, 12 I do want to thank John Trolinger, because I needed a 13 capability the next day, or a couple days later, of being 14 able to actually get up and take care of the photographs of 15 that entire area so we could show where all that pursuit went 16 through, the brush and through the -- that whole area off 17 Harper Road, between Harper Road and Goat Creek Road. And 18 John was nice enough to volunteer with me with that, and 19 he -- I think he even paid for the fuel out of there for 20 their airplane out of his own pocket to be able to get me up 21 there to where I could actually take care of photographs of 22 that whole area to have in our case file when we're working 23 on the case. So, I did want to thank him for donating that 24 and helping Kerr County with that. Other than that, that's 25 about it. 11-9-15 99 1 JUDGE POLLARD: Has there ever been any thought of 2 just drone stuff being made available to do that photography? 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I want to see what F.C.C. and 4 the feds and everything's going to do with all of that stuff. 5 Sure, it would be nice, but, you know, there's a lot of 6 regulation, I still strongly believe, and I'd have to go 7 through the County Attorney on Fourth Amendment rights and 8 privacy, all that. "What are you going to photograph, and 9 how and where? Is it really useful?" There's just -- 10 there's a lot of issues that I think that need to be, you 11 know, visited over that before we get into it. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: I just got my Cabela's Christmas 13 catalog, and I don't know how many pages in there are drones. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Oh, that's the thing now, 15 there's no doubt. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: That's a big deal. Everything from 17 $59 to $5,900. 18 MR. TROLINGER: Oh, that's even cheap. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: They even have drones now that 20 are about two or three inches in diameter across. You sit 21 there and fly them. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: I do think that could be a 23 cost-saving thing somehow. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think this -- 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Taking aerial photography and 11-9-15 100 1 things like that. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Definitely, right, with aerial 3 photography. I think there may very well be some uses for 4 the legal. I think there has to be some good guidelines. I 5 think F.C.C. and the feds are still working on a lot of 6 those, and until I see a bunch, you know, I'd like to wait 7 and get it figured out after it's done rather than get into 8 it and then have to change everything. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Thank you, Sheriff. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Thank you. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Any other reports from elected 12 officials or department heads, of any kind? Reports from 13 boards, commissions, committees? City/County joint projects 14 or operations reports? Or others. Any others? That's kind 15 of broad. Anybody else want to talk, give a report? All 16 right. If there are none, then we're adjourned. Thank you. 17 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 11:24 a.m.) 18 - - - - - - - - - - 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 11-9-15 101 1 STATE OF TEXAS | 2 COUNTY OF KERR | 3 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 4 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 5 official reporter for the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 6 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 7 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 12th day of November, 8 2015. 9 10 REBECCA BOLIN, Kerr County Clerk 11 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 12 Certified Shorthand Reporter 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 11-9-15