1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Special Session 5 Friday, August 4, 2017 6 9:00 a.m. 7 Commissioners' Courtroom 8 Kerr County Courthouse 9 Kerrville, Texas 78028 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 PRESENT: TOM POLLARD, Kerr County Judge HARLEY BELEW, 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 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 3 action on Kerr County Longevity and Merit 4 Policy. 5 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 13 action to appoint interim manager(s) for 6 Environmental Health and Animal Services Departments. 7 *** Adjournment. 15 8 *** Reporter's Certificate. 16 9 * * * * * * 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, it's August the 2 4th, 2017, it's about 9:02 a.m. it looks like, and the 3 Commissioners' Court is in session, Kerr County 4 Commissioners' Court. And there is an agenda posted 5 this morning. We will start this, I guess with the -- 6 you're up today, I think -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure am. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: -- Commissioner Letz. 9 (Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance.) 10 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. This is a 11 special one so we'll go through the normal procedure. 12 We're going to go to item 1.1 on the agenda. Consider, 13 discuss and take appropriate action on Kerr County 14 longevity and merit policy. A lot of people here that I 15 think are interested in that, so you want to take the 16 lead on that, Mr. Letz. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. We've talked 18 about a number of different things here, anywhere from 19 leaving the policy the way it is on longevity. Deal 20 with longevity first, longevity increases or changing it 21 to an annual amount paid based on the number of years. 22 After looking -- after hearing a lot of the different 23 options, talking to the Auditor, hearing from a lot of 24 the employees, but I would recommend that we leave the 25 policy the same, but cap the number of years at 20. So 4 1 after 20 years you would no longer get a longevity 2 increase. And I really I'd like to -- and next year I 3 would like to consider pushing it back to 16 years. But 4 there's a lot of people that are -- I've talked with the 5 Auditor at that 19 that are really expecting it this 6 year, they've been here under that policy, and I really 7 think it's probably not right based on the numbers to 8 change it all way down to one year. But I think that my 9 goal would be that get it down to 16 years and leave it 10 there. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So quantitatively why 12 20? Why not 25, why not 15? What was your -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 19 is really the number, 14 but 20 sounds better. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's what I'm asking 16 you. What was the finances that went with that, the 17 analyses? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's just to cap it. 19 And it's just a matter of where you draw the line. I 20 mean it's going to be based on the way we're doing it 21 right now 16, 19, 22, and I don't know on the -- based 22 on the years. It's just, you know, I think our -- the 23 goal of the policy is to encourage longevity, I think 24 it's an effective and help doing that. To me at 16 25 years we've done our -- we've done that. We have -- 5 1 they're here, they're good employees, they're working, 2 and at that point long term I think that's a good period 3 to get it up to. If we don't cap it somewhere we end up 4 with a kind of a salary creep across the whole County, 5 when all of a sudden we're going to have a lot of the 6 deputies or chief people under the Department getting 7 paid more that the elected officials and department 8 heads, and there you end up with a problem. I think 9 that is a problem with a lot of the Departments, because 10 you know, we do it up here but we're a little bit 11 different. I'm looking at Diane because she's sitting 12 in front of me. Is it right for her two deputies to get 13 paid more than her, I don't think so. I think that she 14 should be the highest paid person, I think Tracy should 15 be the highest paid person, and Robbin should be the 16 highest paid person in that department, and the Sheriff 17 for that matter. So that's that philosophy that I have, 18 so I think we need to cap it; otherwise we can get in -- 19 JUDGE POLLARD: So is that a motion? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: In a minute. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: He's just answering a 22 question. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the other option is 24 to get around part of that is to put all elected 25 officials under that same policy, but that doesn't do a 6 1 long-term budget help, it just keeps on creeping all of 2 our salaries up, and we -- in my opinion we frankly just 3 can't afford to keep on going without a cap on it. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So it was not a 5 budgetary thing you were looking for, you were just 6 looking at what's a reasonable amount of time for 7 longevity and to give someone the incentive to stay and 8 work toward it, is that correct? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, that is correct, 10 except that on the budget standpoint it will stop the 11 increases, the long term. This year it doesn't have any 12 budgetary impact. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But you didn't have an 14 amount you were looking at? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. Just trying to slow 16 down the increase. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's the question. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we 19 leave our longevity policy as is, but cap it. 20 MRS. DOSS: There's a few people that are 21 already passed the 20 years so I think you need to 22 address what happens to help them. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we 24 leave our policy for longevity the same, but cap the 25 increases at 20 years, and anyone that is beyond that 7 1 their salaries will stay where they are, they will not 2 have anymore increases. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: So that would be due 4 one this year because of their 21st. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You don't get a 21st; 6 it's the 22nd year. 19 and 22. 7 COMMISSIONER REEVES: How many in this 8 current budget year would be due longevity for being 9 past 22? 10 MRS. DOSS: There aren't any. 11 COMMISSIONER REEVES: There are none so it 12 would have no affect on the current employees in this -- 13 MRS. DOSS: Not in the current year. 14 COMMISSIONER REEVES: In the fiscal year 15 17-18? 16 MRS. DOSS: Yes, Sir. The year coming up 17 the highest is at 19. 18 COMMISSIONER REEVES: The highest. By doing 19 this at this point would not take away anybody who's 20 anticipating in a longevity? 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. 22 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Wait a minute. I'm 23 hearing yes, and then I'm hearing from the Auditor -- 24 MRS. DOSS: From what I pulled out of the -- 25 on the position's schedule, they were -- the highest was 8 1 at 19. Unless there's a -- 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I have a Captain that 3 was going to be eligible for one this coming May. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: At what level? 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The 22nd. You know, 6 it's 22, and then the next one up would be 25. You're 7 rounding them up. You know, it's a literal 25; it's not 8 a 20, but really a 19. I don't know if 25 would be 9 better. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it needs to 11 be -- personally think it needs to be 16, but I'm 12 willing to go to 19 this year or 20. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, there's a motion 14 on the floor. Is there a second? 15 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I'm waiting on an 16 answer to clarify. 17 MRS. DOSS: What I pulled out of on the 18 position schedule the highest I have is at 19. 19 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I'll second. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, it's been moved 21 that the policy be left the same but it be capped at 20 22 years, but it will not affect folks that have already 23 vested something in it, is that a fair statement of the 24 motion? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, Sir. 9 1 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Wait a minute. It 2 will not affect anybody this year. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. But the last part 4 is it won't affect someone who's already received -- 5 someone's who's at 22 or 25 in the past, it won't impact 6 them. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Any further 8 comment or discussion? 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Is there anybody in the 10 audience that has any comments, any employees? Okay. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Those in favor of the motion 12 signify by raising their right hand. Three zero 13 unanimous, it passes. 14 And let the record reflect that Commissioner 15 Precinct 1, Mr. Belew, is not here today so far. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the other part of 17 that is merit policy. And we don't have a merit policy, 18 we don't have time to implement one right now. 19 Commissioner Moser and I have talked about it some in 20 Court that in favor of it philosophically, but we don't 21 have it there, so at this point I think we should have 22 no merit -- maybe work on a policy, but we're not going 23 to have any merit increases built in because we don't 24 have a mechanism to -- 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I have a proposal, 10 1 okay. And the proposal is I'm a strong believer in 2 having some type of merit pay to recognize employees 3 for -- longevity's one thing. Going above and beyond, I 4 think is a different thing. And what I would propose is 5 that we have set aside in the budget, and we'll do that 6 as part of the budget workshop though, ten percent of 7 the employees -- we have 244 employees, is that right? 8 Where did Brenda go? Anyway, I think it's 244 9 employees, so ten percent of that is 25 employees and we 10 consider 25 employees have merit pay of a thousand 11 dollars each, so that would be 25 thousand dollars set 12 aside, and it would be established based on some policy 13 to be determined, and it would be granted -- and further 14 the policy would be a committee, okay, made up of 15 several individuals, Human Resources, probably a person 16 from the Court or a couple people from the Court, maybe 17 a department head or so, and then them to decide which 18 of the employees receive that based on recommendations 19 from department heads and other recommendations, so I 20 think a merit policy is important to recognize people 21 who go above and beyond, and we have a lot of employees 22 that do that so -- 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So it would be -- do I 24 understand it would be a one time thousand dollar 25 payment? 11 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct. Just a one 2 time. It's kind of like -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not a salary increase. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's an award, a bonus, 5 whatever you want to say, but it's in recognition of 6 a -- 7 JUDGE POLLARD: For each budget year? 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. For each budget 9 year, correct. 10 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Heather, is a bonus 11 legal? 12 MRS. STEBBINS: No. I think it has to be 13 called something else. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Call it whatever you 15 want to. 16 MRS. STEBBINS: It can't be a bonus because 17 you have to set the salaries of the employees during the 18 budget process. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: How about an award? 20 MRS. STEBBINS: I don't think it can be that 21 either. 22 MRS. LANTZ: You know, a one-time stipend 23 probably. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. I think a 25 one-time stipend is perfect. 12 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That would be -- that 2 would be part of the policy. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't have a problem 5 with exploring that and putting that and set aside 6 money, you know. Again it's not a yes. It depends how 7 we can work it out and make it fair. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'm going to make a 9 motion that we take action to implement something like 10 that. 11 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I can't vote to take 12 action on just the thought of putting it together. If 13 we want to budget some money someway and we come around 14 then let's just roll that into the budget, but I won't 15 support a -- something that has just been thrown out. 16 We need it laid out in writing. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, I'll lay it out 18 in writing then we'll put it on the agenda for next 19 court, okay? So we'll do that, okay. Good deal. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, so we pass it for 21 right now. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So we want all things 23 to be in writing from now on -- 24 COMMISSIONER REEVES: No, Commissioner, but 25 when you come up with an idea -- too many times we've 13 1 come up with something and then we say what the hell do 2 we do now. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's not very 4 complicated, okay. I'll put in it writing. Good deal. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. That completes 6 item 1.1 on the agenda. 7 (Off the record.) 8 JUDGE POLLARD: Going to item 1.2 consider, 9 discuss and take appropriate action to appoint interim 10 managers for the Environmental Health and Animal 11 Services Departments. Commissioners Letz and 12 Commissioner Reeves. 13 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes, Sir. I see we 14 have quite a few people here. Has anybody signed up to 15 speak regarding this? If not -- 16 JUDGE POLLARD: I have nothing in front of 17 me. 18 COMMISSIONER REEVES: If not, if we may go 19 into executive session under employee-related items, may 20 we do that Miss -- 21 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, Sir. 22 COMMISSIONER REEVES: -- County Attorney? 23 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, Sir. 24 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I'm going to request 25 whatever section that is. 14 1 JUDGE POLLARD: It's under point 071 and 2 074? 3 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, Sir, I believe that 4 that is correct. 5 (Off the record discussion.) 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay, we're going to recess 7 the session and go into the workshop. 8 (Budget Workshop.) 9 JUDGE POLLARD: We're back in open session, 10 but we are going to close the -- recess the open session 11 and go into executive session under section 551.071 and 12 .074 of the Government Code. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Five minute break. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Five minute break. 15 (5-minute break.) 16 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, we're in closed 17 session pursuant to Section 551.071 and .074 of the 18 Texas Government Code. 19 (Executive Session.) 20 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, we're going to 21 close the closed session and go back into open session. 22 Is there anything? Any business to be taken care of in 23 open session? 24 COMMISSIONER REEVES: No, Sir. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, then we're 15 1 adjourned. 2 * * * * * * 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 16 1 STATE OF TEXAS * 2 COUNTY OF KERR * 3 I, DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD, Certified Shorthand 4 Reporter in and for the State of Texas, and Official 5 Reporter in and for Kerr County Commissioners' Court, do 6 hereby certify that the above and foregoing pages 7 contain and comprise a true and correct transcription of 8 the proceedings had in the above-entitled Commissioners' 9 Court. 10 Dated this the 9th day of August, A.D. 2017. 11 12 /s/DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD Certified Shorthand Reporter 13 No. 953 Expiration Date 12/31/2018 14 * * * * * * 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25