1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Regular Session 5 Monday, January 8, 2018 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 *** Visitor's Input. 5 4 *** Commissioners' Comments. 8 5 1.1 Public Hearing for the revision of plat 16 for Lot 166 of Spicer Ranch No. 2, Volume 3, 6 Page 85, Pct. 1. 7 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 16 action for the Court's approval regarding 8 the disposition of RBU116 (2003 Chevrolet Tahoe) from the Road and Bridge Department. 9 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 22 10 action for the Court's approval of the Small Project General Contract with Central 11 Texas Coop to raise the utility lines at the Ingram yard and have the County Judge 12 sign the same. 13 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 25 action for the Court's final approval 14 naming private road "Philip Spain Dr. E.". 15 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 27 action on report from Kerr Central Appraisal 16 District regarding relocation of office. 17 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 30 action for the Court to approve a 18 Preliminary Plat for Victor Acres, Pct. 1. 19 1.7 Report from Hill Country District Junior 32 Livestock Show Association regarding 20 upcoming event. 21 1.11 Public Hearing for the revision of plat 42 for Lots 12, 13, and 14 of Weis Acres, 22 Volume 3, Page 135. 23 1.8 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 42 action to declare various items from the 24 Constable, Pct. 3 office, and vehicle as surplus and dispose of properly. 25 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.9 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 43 action concerning authorizing the County 4 Judge to execute a contract with GrantWorks, Inc. for administration services for the 5 East Kerr County/Center Point Wastewater Project, Texas Department of Agriculture 6 Colonia Economically Distressed Areas Program (CEDAP) Contract #7217045. 7 1.10 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 45 8 action on policy for On-Site Sewage Facilities (OSSF) connections and related 9 matters to East Kerr County/Center Point Wastewater Project. 10 1.12 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 50 11 action regarding reduction of fees paid to Kerr County for permits and licenses 12 for businesses operating within the sector of craft agriculture and that manufacture 13 alcohol beverages. 14 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 67 action to appoint/reappoint directors to 15 Kerr County Emergency Services District #1. 16 1.14 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 68 action to appoint/reappoint directors to 17 Kerr County Emergency Services District #2. 18 1.15 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 69 action to designate Commissioners' and 19 Judge's liaison appointments for various functions for calendar year 2018. 20 1.16 Consider, discuss and accept the 70 21 Certificate of Substantial Completion. 22 1.17 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 75 action to set schedule for workshops 23 including, but not limited to: Courthouse space and courthouse grounds. 24 1.18 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 82 25 action on Court approval of minutes and/or court orders. 4 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.19 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 84 action to approve contract amendment with 4 Ricoh USA for the County Court at Law copier. 5 4.1 Pay bills. 85 6 4.2 Budget Amendments. 85 7 4.3 Late Bills. 85 8 4.4 Approve and accept Monthly Reports. 85 9 4.5 Auditor Reports. 86 10 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison 86 11 Committee Assignments as per attachment. 12 5.2 Reports from Elected Officials/Department 88 Heads. 13 5.3 Reports from Boards, Commissions and 94 14 Committees. a). City/County Joint Projects or 15 Operations Reports b). Other 16 *** Adjournment. 17 *** Reporter's Certificate. 18 * * * * * * 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 5 1 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. It's 9 a.m. on 2 January the 8th, 2018. The Kerr County Commissioners' 3 Court is in session. We'll begin with Commissioner 4 Reeves leading us in prayer as well as the Pledge of 5 Allegiance. 6 (Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance.) 7 JUDGE POLLARD: This is the part of the 8 agenda where somebody in the public can -- wants to 9 speak on something that's not on the agenda, they can 10 step forward at this time, and come to the podium, 11 identify yourself by name and address, and try to limit 12 your comments to three minutes. Now, this is on an item 13 that is not on the agenda. If you're -- if you want to 14 speak on an item on the agenda you gotta wait until we 15 call that item. Now, is there anyone wishing to speak 16 on an item not on the agenda, and I have a request form 17 from a person that wants to speak on the issue of 18 Nelson. Is that person here? Come forward. 19 MS. HUNTER: Good morning. My name is Susan 20 Hunter, and I would like to address Nelson. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: Your address? 22 MS. HUNTER: I'm sorry, Sir. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Your address? 24 MS. HUNTER: 2115 Mesa Verde Road, Medina 25 Texas. So I want to thank the Court for giving me a 6 1 moment to speak, and I also want to thank Commissioner 2 Moser in particular for addressing Nelson this morning 3 in his opening comments. I, and the rest of the "Free 4 Nelson" community sincerely appreciate your willingness 5 to engage in dialogue with the public in regard to his 6 situation and other situations that have been raised as 7 a result of his issue. I founded "Free Nelson" because 8 I was hearing concerns from some citizens that I felt 9 needed to be organized. As I'm sure you're all aware 10 some of these citizens request anonymity and needed an 11 outlet to voice their concerns that they felt 12 comfortable with. 13 Most contributors have two main concerns: 14 The possible euthanization of Nelson, and the 23-plus 15 hundred dollar fee. Please understand that in regards 16 to the former it's a logical inference based upon the 17 fact that this December 8 notice stated that he had a 18 final deadline. When a facility that euthanizes states 19 there's a final deadline with no inkling as to what the 20 next step is that doesn't involve euthanasia it's a 21 natural conclusion. 22 Within approximately 12 hours of creating 23 the page it got stated that Nelson was in no danger of 24 being euthanized. That still left the concern over the 25 fee that I and many others felt was unreasonable, 7 1 because many statements from officials were vague, and 2 in my opinion dismissive. The concern with the 3 community only grew. "Free Nelson" posts is over 61,000 4 now, and I think that speaks as to how serious this 5 issue is to the community. 6 I want to reiterate that we feel expediency 7 is key here for multiple reasons. First, if KCAS 8 genuinely feels that there is a threat to staff, which I 9 completely denounce and condemn entirely, it seems 10 prudent for all involved to find swift resolution for 11 Nelson. 12 Second, if part of the reason Nelson is 13 being retired is to save the County money, it is 14 nonsensical to continue to hold, feed and vet him at 15 taxpayer expense. 16 Third, Nelson deserves to be transitioned to 17 his permanent loving home in a swift manner. As 18 Commissioner Reeves stated in the Kerrville Daily Times 19 article published December 30th, 2017, Nelson being 20 relegated to KCAS at all times is quote not good for 21 him. I hope that "Free Nelson" movement not only brings 22 closure for Nelson in a timely fashion, but that it also 23 helps inform the county on future policy pertaining to 24 the handling of living animals as assets, and how 25 officials interface with their constituents and the 8 1 public at large. 2 Thank you again for the opportunity to 3 speak, and I look forward to hearing your decision on 4 this matter. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there anyone else wishing 6 to speak on an item not on the agenda? Okay, there 7 being no one, we'll go to the Commissioners and County 8 Judge for comments. We'll start with Precinct 1. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I don't have anything 10 for you. All quiet in Precinct 1. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: That's something for a radio 12 guy. 13 Mr. Moser. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Will you yield your 15 time to me. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'll yield my time to 17 you. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I have four or five 19 items I'd like to address this morning. First of all 20 just to follow up on Nelson. So everybody 21 understands -- the Commissioners -- I know Commissioner 22 Reeves and Commissioner Letz as liaison with the Animal 23 Control and Environmental Health, but we can't talk to 24 each other except in a public forum and that has to be 25 posted, so some of the things that I'm saying they 9 1 probably have already been worked, but independent of 2 that. I have received a lot of calls regarding Nelson, 3 and just the Animal Control -- the animal shelter and 4 the facility and operations. And with that, I think 5 several things. I think there's a lot of misinformation 6 that's out there, and I've had the privilege of working 7 in some small, very small communities and in Washington 8 D.C., and the thing that I realize from that is that 9 perception is reality, and is there misinformation, you 10 need to nip it in the bud as quickly as you can. So I 11 think that we need to address the issue of Nelson and 12 listen to the ideas that other people have, the public 13 has, and hear what Reagan and staff have to say about 14 the animal shelter, and what we might do to improve it. 15 You know, some people would like to have a no kill 16 facility, that's certainly desirable. A lot of people 17 love animals as much or more than their kids, especially 18 when the kids become teenagers and above. But the -- 19 you know, that is an option, but it's an expensive 20 option. That could be something that could be put on 21 the ballot someday. So I think we need to have a public 22 forum, either a workshop or press conference or 23 something, okay, to talk about everybody's concern. And 24 I think everybody's on the same page, everybody wants it 25 to be the best that they can for the animals. 10 1 One of the things about Nelson that was 2 brought up is the vet bill. And I want to read to you 3 an e-mail that I received from Nancy and Raymond Foster. 4 Says my husband and I are willing to pay for Nelson's 5 $2,300.00 plus vet bill so that this situation can 6 finally be settled. We are quote kept people, so we 7 have no place to adopt Nelson, but we want to see him 8 find a good home. The only quote string unquote to 9 giving this check would be that screening be done -- is 10 done by whomever, animal shelter, whomever, to ensure 11 that he goes to a good caring place, and has a place 12 where he has room to run around. So I think the message 13 is there, and it's been stated publicly, Nelson is not 14 going to be euthanized, period. If the bills are an 15 issue, there are multiple people that I think are 16 willing to pay the vet bill if it -- as a way assure 17 that Nelson has a good home. That's all that I have to 18 say about that, other than, I think that you know, 19 hopefully we'll have a public decision of this. There's 20 some things that we the Court need to understand about 21 some of the legal aspects of what can and can't be done, 22 and we'll do that quickly. 23 Different subject. I mentioned before 24 there's an effort in Precinct 2 to get on the ballot in 25 November the ability to serve alcoholic beverage in 11 1 Precinct 2. You can in all other precincts, but not in 2 Precinct 2. It's kind of a quirk in the law, something 3 fell through the crack. So there's a big effort led by 4 Walt Koenig and Chamber of Commerce to get 14 hundred 5 signatures on a petition so anybody that lives in 6 Precinct 2. You don't have to be for it, just for 7 putting it on the ballot, and see what the public would 8 like to do, so if you could contact Walt on that that 9 would be -- that would be great. 10 And the other thing Precinct 2 is we're 11 looking for a Constable effective as soon as -- as soon 12 as we can find one. It's been the intention of current 13 Constable to retire, and so that if anybody wants to 14 apply for that position you need to send an application 15 to Human Resources, and we're going to do that pretty 16 quick. 17 And then the final thing that I wanted to 18 mention is the Appraisal District had a big issue with 19 contamination, viruses in their computers, big big 20 issue, and Chuck Lewis is here and Sharon is here, 21 probably want to talk about that. But need to recognize 22 John Trolinger and his folks for what they did. They 23 did a huge job of backing up, salvaging, and we'll wait 24 until that comes up perhaps. I didn't see it on the 25 agenda for sure, but just need to recognize him. 12 1 So, Judge, that's all I have. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. The only thing I want 3 to mention is this coming Friday morning is the cowboy 4 breakfast. The County has won had the cow chip throwing 5 contest for a number of years, thanks to Commissioner 6 Baldwin, I think it was. Is he going to be invited to 7 come participate? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I won it last year. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Let's keep it going. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: He practices. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: We'd like to have -- I'm not 12 going to practice with that stuff. We'd like to keep 13 going, and we'd like for everybody to come out and 14 support it. It's going to be at the AG barn this year 15 instead of on the courthouse lawn out here, and it's at 16 six o'clock Friday morning, pretty early, and probably 17 going to be cold. That's typical and it's traditional. 18 All right, Mr. Letz. The champion cow chip 19 tosser. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A couple things. One, I 21 agree with Commissioner Moser that we need to have a 22 discussion about the facility and Nelson, but that can't 23 be done today, and I can't even talk about it now that 24 he's already talked about it, so off on that part. 25 But what I would like to say is that I want 13 1 to thank some people that were very involved over the 2 holiday weekend, the New Year's Eve weekend. John 3 Trolinger, Heather, Reagan Givens, and then myself and 4 Mr. Reeves, we spent an unbelievable amount of time 5 Saturday the 30th, the 31st, and the 1st trying to work 6 with what I'll call it a cyber attack on the County, the 7 number of emails that we were receiving related to 8 Nelson. A lot of information out there, trying to 9 figure out where it came from, and we have done a lot of 10 research. Now we know a whole lot more about all of 11 that. But it was really -- to me that was, you know, 12 considerable amount of my time. My wife was rather 13 perturbed, I will say, because my personal -- or not 14 personal, my office phone here and office computer were 15 posted online, those are both forwarded to my home, so 16 that meant that my phone was ringing nonstop unless I 17 turned it off, but a lot of the calls are important, so 18 I didn't want to turn it off. So my wife was rather 19 livid when, I think, it was a call from North Carolina 20 was the one that really got her. Anyway, but I think 21 the interesting thing to me about the incident was that 22 we really need to look at is how do we react. I mean it 23 never ran over my mind about something like that 24 happening to little Kerr County. But the amount of 25 e-mails, how you respond, and how you react. Trolinger 14 1 did a great job, I mean a lot of things. Poor Heather 2 got calls all day trying to approve things before things 3 went out and things like that. 4 But it was interesting and something that we 5 really need to look at from the IT standpoint, I'm 6 looking at our liaisons down there, as to how you 7 respond when something like that comes. And this is is 8 a very important issue. But it could have been a lot 9 more significant from the standpoint it could have 10 attacked an individual on things, and so I think it's 11 something we really need to look at. But John Trolinger 12 did a fantastic job. Reagan, talked to him I don't know 13 how many times over the weekend, and Heather as well, so 14 thanks to all three of you. Bob and I alone weren't 15 stuck with it. That's it. 16 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Since we've already 17 covered that, I won't say anything, but I concur with 18 your sentiments. 19 On other items there will be a large number 20 of visitors starting to hit Kerr County starting next 21 Sunday. I see Mr. Bauer in the audience, and I believe 22 Charlie from the CVB also was going to give us a report 23 in a minute. But when you have to wait a little while 24 longer at restaurants next week, when you have to deal 25 with a little traffic, remember there's a lot of money 15 1 coming into Kerr County next week, because of the 2 livestock show and the good that it brings to the 3 community. You want to see good young people, we always 4 hear about this, the Sheriff speaks of it. You want to 5 see the good, come out there, whether it's an animal, 6 whether it's an Ag Mechanics project. It's our future 7 and they're going to be hitting Kerrville starting 8 Sunday morning, and for seven straight days. So get out 9 there and support it. And I've already quoted to one 10 paper, but the other two papers in the audience just as 11 a gentleman named predicted a win in the Super Bowl 45 12 years ago, I'm predicting another win by Kerr County in 13 the cow chip toss, so -- thanks, Judge. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, if I could have 15 one more comment that I forgot about wearing a little 16 bit different hat. The new City athletic fields, 17 baseball fields, primarily are complete, and they will 18 be a -- I believe it's a grand opening of that facility 19 over -- open to the public, I guess you call it, on the 20 20th. Little League will be playing their games there 21 three days a week, and two days a week they'll be 22 playing in the County facility the way it works out with 23 the use of that field. But the use of that facility is 24 just about complete. I know they're going to have a -- 25 it's kind of a -- I think it's on the 18th, 19th, and 16 1 20th. The 20th will be open to the public, I believe, 2 to look at the facility. And anybody who hasn't been 3 out there, and it been pretty much closed down most the 4 time, it's a really first class facility. The best part 5 of it is the fields themselves, and it's a -- from a 6 playing standpoint, and a baseball fanatic like I am, it 7 is really a -- fields are phenomenal. Did a good job, 8 so -- 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Glad I didn't have 10 anything to say. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Going to have to start 12 limiting Commissioners to three minutes as well. 13 All right, let's go on then to item 1.1 on 14 the agenda. This is a public hearing for the revision 15 of a plat for Lot 166 of the Spicer Ranch No. 3, volume 16 3, page 85. This is situated in Precinct 1. And I 17 declare the public hearing open. Is there anyone 18 wishing to speak on this issue? I thought Mr. Del Toro 19 was going to speak on it. Anyone wishing to speak in 20 this public hearing. There being no one, I declare the 21 public hearing closed. 22 Item 1.2 consider, discuss and take 23 appropriate action for the Court's approval regarding 24 the disposition of RBU116, which is a 2003 Chevrolet 25 Tahoe from the Road and Bridge Department. Kelly 17 1 Hoffer. 2 MS. HOFFER: The Road and Bridge Department 3 no longer has a need for RBU116, which is 2003 Chevrolet 4 Tahoe. At this time, I ask the Commissioners' Court to 5 dispose of RBU116 from the Road and Bridge Department. 6 And I have some thoughts and some ideas on 7 it. Courthouse uses it a lot, and I would be willing to 8 transfer the unit here, and get it off of the Road and 9 Bridge inventory and maintenance list; otherwise, you 10 know we sell a lot of things on GovDeals and have very 11 good results from that, but I think there is a real need 12 for the courthouse. I know I had offered the Tahoe a 13 while back, it's probably been maybe two years ago, and 14 the mileage on it was 59,000. The mileage on it the 15 other day prior to the Clerk's office picking it up was 16 69,000, and that's not Road and Bridge usage, so 17 going -- 18 JUDGE POLLARD: That's low mileage for a car 19 that old. 20 MS. HOFFER: So going for training and 21 recertifications and things like that it's been ten 22 thousand miles of doing that. So I just would like to 23 get it off of the Road and Bridge inventory. Where it 24 goes to is up to you all. I can sell it, or courthouse 25 could take it over. 18 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Why is it excess? 2 69,000 miles is not very much. 3 MS. HOFFER: I have another vehicle. I have 4 an Explorer that our office staff uses. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Why did we buy another 6 one, I guess is the question. 7 MS. HOFFER: I don't know. 8 COMMISSIONER REEVES: It was bought before 9 her tenure on the court. 10 MS. HOFFER: Yes. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 12 MS. HOFFER: Originally the Tahoe was bought 13 with the stipulation that yes the majority of the time 14 it would be for Road and Bridge, but it also was bought 15 for the Commissioners' Court when they're going to CEU, 16 recertifications and things like that, and that the 17 stipulation was is that the courthouse and other folks 18 could use it. I just -- I have no use for it, and every 19 time somebody goes to use it I've got a have my 20 mechanics stop and they check over the vehicle, and 21 things like that. And one of these days, you know, it 22 probably is going to need some new brakes or some money 23 put into it, and I don't really see Road and Bridge 24 using our equipment repair money for something that we 25 haven't really been using. We maybe use it once a year 19 1 if we have got a bunch of our folks going to training, 2 they may take it, but that might be once a year. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, that's a sad 4 statement we have a vehicle that's not used. 5 MS. HOFFER: Well, it is used; it's not -- 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But 69,000 miles and 7 2003. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's used -- 9 that's why Kelly's bringing it to us. I think it needs 10 to come to the courthouse. It's a good vehicle to be 11 used for around town, and use it for that reason. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Didn't we just get rid 13 of one for the courthouse, or retire one? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not sure what we 15 have right now, I believe we have a -- 16 MRS. DOSS: We still have the Ford Taurus. 17 I have not put it up yet. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would think that, you 19 know, this is a much preferable vehicle than a Ford 20 Taurus, and plus it's got a Kerr County insignia on it 21 so it's a safer vehicle, and it is low mileage. I think 22 it would be good to bring it to the courthouse, and then 23 surplus the Tahoe -- or I mean the Taurus. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: How many miles and year on 25 the Taurus? 20 1 MRS. DOSS: I'm not sure. I think it has 2 95,000 miles, and it's a 2000 and -- 3 or 4, 5, 3 something like that. 4 COMMISSIONER REEVES: It was bought -- the 5 Taurus was bought as a used vehicle several years ago. 6 MRS. DOSS: Yes, it was used. 7 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I feel like rather 8 than putting the Tahoe up for sale, we just need to 9 transfer it, whatever the Auditor's office needs to do 10 on inventory. Move it to a courthouse vehicle where it 11 is available for use by the County employees as they 12 need it for out-of-county travel as well as -- I know 13 election time is coming up, our election department uses 14 their personal vehicles driving literally from Lane 15 Valley to the Divide School on election matters, and 16 it's senseless using their personal vehicles when we 17 could have another vehicle available. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I was going to say my 19 criticism was not of Road and Bridge; just the County in 20 general. We got a vehicle sitting around we're not 21 using. That's bad on us. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm going to say Kelly 23 brought it to us two years ago. We said keep it as it 24 is, and it is used. I mean I took it to Austin not too 25 long ago, so it's a -- but I think it makes more sense 21 1 to get it here, because it's not -- it's otherwise 2 inflating the cost or the expenses to her department. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: So are you recommending that 4 it be -- keep the Taurus and that one, too? 5 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Well, we don't have 6 anything on the agenda regarding the Taurus so I wasn't 7 going to make a recommendation on that today, but 8 however, I would make a motion to move the Tahoe that is 9 at Road and Bridge, and I'll make this in the form of a 10 motion to move the Tahoe that is at Road and Bridge to 11 the courthouse, and authorize the Auditor to handle 12 whatever internally that we need to do with that. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I second that. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved by Commissioner 15 Reeves -- this is relating to item 1.2 on the agenda. 16 He's moved to move the Tahoe, 2003 Chevrolet Tahoe, from 17 Road and Bridge over to the courthouse, and authorize 18 the Auditor to make whatever changes are necessary, 19 okay, and make sure they get done. It was seconded by 20 Commissioner Moser. Any further discussion or comment? 21 MS. HOFFER: I just -- right now the Tahoe 22 is in South Padre Island is where it's at. The Clerk's 23 office, I think, has some training. 24 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I'm glad you added 25 that part to it. 22 1 MS. HOFFER: It will be coming back. And 2 then they're going to -- somebody has in the Clerk's 3 Office, has some more training for three days after 4 that, I think it's in Austin. It really doesn't matter. 5 But at some point, I need to get the two-way radio out 6 of it, the tools that are in it, and get the Road and 7 Bridge badging off of it, and then once I do that we can 8 have it brought to the courthouse. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay, any further comment or 10 discussion? If not, those in favor of the motion 11 signify by raising your right hands. It's four zero, 12 unanimous. One abstention, myself. Thank you, Kelly. 13 MS. HOFFER: Thank you. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Item 1.3 on the agenda 15 consider, discuss and take appropriate action for the 16 Court's approval of a small project general contract 17 with Central Texas Co-op to raise the utility lines at 18 the Ingram yard and have the County Judge sign same. 19 Kelly. 20 MS. HOFFER: We added some fill at our 21 Ingram yard to make the front portion of the property 22 more usable, but by doing that the utility lines now are 23 lower. I get concerned of our staff over there if 24 they've got a backhoe or a dump truck bed at the height 25 that they are. And we inquired with Central Texas on 23 1 raising the lines to get them back up to where they are 2 supposed to be, and I'm coming to the Court to try to 3 get approval to do that. 4 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And what does it cost, 5 Kelly? 6 MS. HOFFER: The cost on it is -- the cost 7 is $3,053.90. Heather has already written up a small 8 business contract with Central Texas. We just need the 9 Court's approval and the Judge to sign off on the 10 contract. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Is that in the budget? 12 MS. HOFFER: Yes. Yes, we've got -- 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's okay. 14 MS. HOFFER: -- $12,500.00 in maintenance 15 facilities and that's line item 15-612-575. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Kelly, are these Central 17 Texas lines or our lines? 18 MS. HOFFER: They're Central Texas that run 19 parallel on Highway 27 to Mountain Home or back towards 20 Ingram. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have a bit of a 22 problem having to pay to raise Central Texas's lines. 23 MS. HOFFER: Well, the problem is is that we 24 added fill. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But how much did we add? 24 1 MS. HOFFER: Quite a bit. Leonard was still 2 here when they did that. Because that front portion was 3 pretty unusable, and so he started adding fill. Well, 4 the next thing that one of the folks out at the Ingram 5 yard said man, look at the overhead lines are a lot 6 closer now. So I think central Texas, had it be 7 something different, but we added the fill to flatten 8 out that front portion, so we had more stockpile areas, 9 more usable space out at that yard, so I think that's 10 why they're charging us for it. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just -- most of our 12 utility companies seem to be a little bit more 13 accommodating than that, but maybe they're not. Maybe 14 that one isn't, rather. 15 I'll make a motion to approve the request to 16 authorize the contract with Central Texas Co-op to raise 17 utility lines at the Ingram yard in the amount not to 18 exceed $3,100.00. 19 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I'll second the 20 motion. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: Moved by Commissioner 22 Letz -- this is in item 1.3 on the agenda. Commissioner 23 Letz moved to approve the proposed contract with Central 24 Texas Co-op to raise the utility lines at the Ingram 25 yard and to have the County Judge sign same. The cost 25 1 of same being $3,053.90, I think you said. 2 MS. HOFFER: Yes, Sir. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, is there any 4 further discussion or comment? If if there's none, 5 those in favor signify by raising your right hands. 6 It's four zero, unanimous. One abstention myself. 7 Thank you, Kelly. 8 MS. HOFFER: Thank you. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Item 1.4 consider, discuss 10 and take appropriate action for the Court's approval 11 naming a private road "Philip Spain Dr. E.," and 12 situated in Precinct 2. You're up again, Kelly. 13 MS. HOFFER: Philip Spain applied through 14 the 911 office on January 2nd, 2018 to name a private 15 unnamed road "Philip Spain Dr. E.". This road is a 16 privately maintained road, which is located off of 17 Prosperity Lane, which is also private, and both of 18 those are off of Highway 27. It's -- you probably have 19 seen the big sign, it's like an industrial park that Mr. 20 Spain -- and so this road is on all of the property that 21 he owns, so there are no other property owners that this 22 should affect as far as addressing and things like that, 23 so at this time, I ask the Court to approve the road 24 name of Philip Spain Dr. E. in Precinct 2. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So move. 26 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved by Commissioner 3 Moser, second by Commissioner Letz to approve item 1.4 4 on the agenda, which is the naming of a private unnamed 5 private road, rename it Philip Spain Dr. E., Drive is 6 abbreviated, and East is just an E. All right, is there 7 any further comment or discussion? 8 MS. HOFFER: One thing I did have a question 9 on, and it makes no difference to me, but as far as a 10 sign and pole this is clearly back -- it's off of 11 already a private road. I just want to make sure that 12 the Court if Mr. Spain would like a pole and a sign that 13 that is okay for the Road and Bridge Department to 14 furnish it at his cost, but I just want to make sure. 15 Most of the time these private roads connect up into a 16 county-maintained road, and we put that pole within the 17 county's right-of-way. So like I said it makes no 18 difference to me. I have had people in the past that 19 have wanted a sign that's back on their ranch, and they 20 want a street sign, and in the past we have told them no 21 on those, so -- 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think that's a good 23 answer. 24 MS. HOFFER: And I mean Mr. Spain could then 25 put up his own sign. 27 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think your previous 2 example is good. If we start doing that we'll be 3 putting signs all over the county. 4 MS. HOFFER: Well, and then our sign budget 5 gets depleted. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think the right 7 answer's no. 8 MS. HOFFER: Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I thought I knew where 10 this road is, but now I think I'm confused. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's right off of 12 JJ Lane. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Does it come off of 27? 14 MS. HOFFER: Prosperity does. There should 15 be a map that shows in the backup. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So Prosperity is the one 17 that hits 27, and this is back in there? 18 MS. HOFFER: And this is off of it. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll agree with 20 Commissioner Moser. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, if there's no 22 further discussion or comment those in favor of the 23 motion signify by raising their right hand. Four zero, 24 unanimous. One abstention, myself. 25 All right, item 1.5 on the agenda consider, 28 1 discuss and take appropriate action on report from Kerr 2 Appraisal District regarding the location of their 3 office. Hi, Sharon. 4 MS. CONSTANTINIDES: Good morning, how y'all 5 doing? I just wanted to address the Board, the 6 Commissioners, and also Trolinger to thank you for the 7 Memorandum of Understanding. Trolinger made the move so 8 easy, he had us up the next day, and it was just 9 seamless, and we appreciate all the support we had from 10 the County. Of course y'all know we're going through an 11 issue right now. Trolinger -- I thought he was here a 12 minute ago. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: He left. 14 MS. CONSTANTINIDES: We're having to -- we 15 haven't touched base this morning on the issue we're 16 having at the appraisal district right now, but I do 17 believe he has the tax office running over here now, and 18 hopefully has us up here before long, too. But we do 19 appreciate his help, he's been a great asset. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's pretty good. So 21 he's -- he has it running over here, because you're down 22 over there. 23 MS. CONSTANTINIDES: Right. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And correct me here, 25 Sheriff, but I think if the City dispatcher goes down it 29 1 goes over to the Sheriff's Office to another backup 2 system. 3 MS. CONSTANTINIDES: Well, the Appraisal 4 District offices are totally down, we can do nothing 5 right now. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, but I'm just 7 saying the County's serving as a backup. 8 MS. CONSTANTINIDES: Well, for the tax 9 collection only, uh-huh, right. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But this part of it? 11 MS. CONSTANTINIDES: Yes. So we need the 12 work on our side. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Try to give an attaboy 14 to the County. 15 MS. CONSTANTINIDES: Yes, he's done a great 16 job, I appreciate all his help. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Thank you, 18 Ma'am. 19 MR. LEWIS: We also -- we also want to thank 20 Commissioner Reeves for addressing the Board of 21 Directors about the Memorandum of Understanding. It was 22 very helpful, it was meaningful, and it is very 23 rewarding, I think for both the County and the Appraisal 24 District. Thank you. 25 COMMISSIONER REEVES: When do we get the 30 1 nickle tour? 2 MS. CONSTANTINIDES: We're going to have an 3 open house sometime we hope here in January. We haven't 4 set the date yet, but we will have an open house. 5 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I appreciate 6 everything worked out. 7 MS. CONSTANTINIDES: But anytime anybody 8 wants a tour just come on over and I'll give you the 9 tour. Okay, thank you so much. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: That can be interpreted two 11 different ways, come on over and I'll give it to him. 12 Item 1.6 on the agenda consider, discuss and 13 take appropriate action for the Court to approve a 14 preliminary plat for Victor Acres. Charlie Hastings. 15 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Is that in your Precinct? 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I thought it was in 18 Precinct 2, but -- 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: 1. 20 MR. HASTINGS: I've got a preliminary plat 21 here submitted by Voelkel Surveying. They've done this 22 for Victor Garcia, and he's got 11.76 acres. So maximum 23 allowable lots is five, he's proposing three. The 24 minimum lot size would be 1 acre. His smallest lot size 25 is 1.26. He'll be on a public water system and OSSF, 31 1 and he does have some floodplain on one of the lots. 2 He's had that checked out by an engineer. Hewitt 3 Engineering did a little flood study to show that that 4 Zone A lines up with -- if he studies it, it's about the 5 same shape and size, so they don't propose to make any 6 changes or submit anything to FEMA to make any changes 7 to that, they're going to live with it the way it is. 8 They don't have any roads proposed. All the lots would 9 run off of Ranchero Road. Ranchero Road is a collector. 10 Our specifications and requirements are 80 foot of 11 right-of-way for a collector, and is an existing 60 foot 12 of right-of-way, and they are proposing to dedicate an 13 additional ten foot of roadway easement on their side of 14 that 60 foot to bring it to 70. If the other side was 15 to develop at sometime in the future they would dedicate 16 their fair share, which would be another ten foot. 17 The County Engineer requests that the Court 18 approve the Preliminary Plat for Victor Acres, Precinct 19 1. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Charlie, just for the 21 record is that Precinct 1 or Precinct 2? 22 MR. HASTINGS: We show it was in Precinct 1. 23 We can double check the lines. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Double check. It's no 25 big deal, but it looks like it's on the side of Ranchero 32 1 which is the dividing line to make it in Precinct 2, so 2 verify that. 3 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, Sir, we'll double check 4 that. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I move for 6 approval for the preliminary plat for Victor Acres, 7 Precinct 1. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I second it. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved by Commissioner 10 Belew, seconded by Commissioner Moser to approve the 11 preliminary plat for Victor Acres. This is in item 1.6 12 of the agenda. Is there any further comment or 13 discussion? There being none, those in favor signify by 14 raising their right hands. It's four zero, unanimous. 15 One abstention, myself. 16 All right, item 1.7 report from Hill Country 17 District Junior Livestock Show Association regarding 18 upcoming event. And Mr. McIlvain has also requested to 19 speak on this issue, too. Thank you, Mr. Bauer. 20 MR. BAUER: Good morning, Judge -- 21 JUDGE POLLARD: How you doing? 22 MR. BAUER: -- Commissioners. We're good. 23 I thank you for the opportunity to come and give you 24 kind of the state of the stock show report, I guess. 25 We're down to the short time, and like Commissioner 33 1 Reeves made the comment in his comments earlier, there 2 will be a lot of visitors coming to Kerr County very 3 shortly, and we welcome them and the income and the 4 influence that they bring to this community as well, and 5 we are proud to be a part of that organization that 6 helps bring that. And again, the future of this show, 7 the future of agriculture and the future of our youth, I 8 can report is in very good hands and in very good shape. 9 We have a great show planned, the dates January the 14th 10 through the 20th. We'll begin on Sunday with the 74th, 11 so this has been going on as y'all know for quite awhile 12 and we're proud of it. Run through Saturday culminating 13 with the sale and auction that day to reward those kids 14 for their hard work throughout the year and the last 15 several months. 16 This year our numbers -- I don't want you to 17 get excited about this, but we see just a little tick 18 downward, but understand that school systems go through 19 cycles, Ag classes cycle down sometimes, extension 20 agency that as well. The numbers aren't significantly 21 down, but they are. I want to bring that to your 22 attention. There are departments in our show, the 23 cattle department, the breeding sheep show, the vet show 24 and the market goat show that show that increases. So 25 there are still increases going on. We still continue 34 1 to grow and get stronger. 2 For Kerr County, we have a total of 240 3 exhibitors, and a total of 583 entries, so those kids 4 will be -- have busy in Kerr County and will bring a lot 5 of entries to the show, we look forward to seeing that. 6 On the district side, we have a total 7 exhibitor count of 1,250. Total number of entries 8 3,089. Ag Mech, this is one that's down a little bit, 9 we think we understand what this is, we're in 10 competition with one of the other large shows being Fort 11 Worth. It's very difficult for them to make that show, 12 turn around and come back down here, so we're seeing a 13 little bit of competition between two shows. We may 14 have to make a little adjustment and see what we can do 15 in the future. But there's 199 exhibitors entered, and 16 a 101 entries. So again, this is for those kids that 17 don't have that opportunity to raise that animal, but 18 are great with working with their hands or building and 19 so forth. So I invite you to come out. That show will 20 be in the barn on Tuesday. Great opportunity to see 21 some really skilled kids. 22 We have three statewide shows again this 23 year. One being the Breeding Sheep, one being the 24 Angora show, and one being the Ag Mech show. So we're 25 very proud of that. We continue to grow in that aspect, 35 1 and offer this area of the show open to more and more 2 kids from across The State of Texas. 3 We also have our vendor area, which 4 continues to get a little bit bigger, using the inside 5 of the Event Center. Those vendors would be there 6 Thursday, Friday and Saturday, so we invite you to come 7 out, do a little shopping, take that in as well, so we 8 are excited with that to continue to grow and support 9 businesses from here as well as across the State that 10 come in and show their wares as well. 11 Schedule overview, I think everybody 12 understands that. It's posted on our website, it'll be 13 in the local newspapers this week as our tabloid comes 14 out, and I want to extend a thank you to the West Kerr 15 Current, and to the Community Journal both for working 16 with us and getting that tabloid published and out for 17 distribution as well. 18 There are 33 counties that make up this show 19 as y'all are well aware. About 114 directors on our 20 list of directors, and many, many more volunteers that 21 aren't listed in that book that come out and show up 22 just to help us put on this big event for that week. 23 Everybody's got their own little task, it just always 24 continues amaze me, and I worry, I go man is it getting 25 done, are we going to get this done. But everybody has 36 1 their niche, and they get it done, and we pull it off. 2 And I gotta say a big thank you in front of you for all 3 of our volunteers for what they do, because they get it 4 done. 5 I invite you to come out Saturday, and come 6 out all during the week first off, but on Saturday is 7 our sale. This community and the surrounding 8 communities have supported these youth significantly 9 every year. Over a million dollars sales for the last 10 two years. We're shooting for that again. We hope we 11 make that mark. We have 11 a.m. is our buyer's luncheon 12 in recognition of our buyers of champions and top 12 13 from last year will be recognized at that time. 1 p.m. 14 we kick off that sale. 15 One little difference that I'll note, many 16 of you have have been out there, in the past we've sold 17 by the pound as we get passed the champions. This year 18 we will sell by the head all the way through. We feel 19 it'll speed it up and make the math a little bit easier 20 and hopefully generate a little bit more income for 21 those individuals showing again. 22 Show is a big part of what we do, but we're 23 very proud of our scholarship program as well as I 24 mentioned to you in the past. The scholarship program 25 awards high school graduating seniors as well as college 37 1 students that have proven themselves, made their grades 2 and maintained their grades. We have awarded over 750 3 -- $700.000.00 worth of scholarships since the inception 4 of the program. We continue to do that and award about 5 45,000 in scholarships every year. Along with that 6 there are showman -- or show ring scholarships. Many of 7 our breeding scholarships are awarded during the show as 8 well and we're very proud of that, and we have some 9 corporate sponsors and different sponsors to help with 10 that throughout the show. The economic impact of this 11 show is phenomenal, and I think most of you seen that. 12 And I'm not going to steal the thunder, but I'm going to 13 say one thing. We are conducting this year a new 14 economic impact study on this show. We'll have some new 15 numbers for the County, as well as our sales to work 16 with. And we're proud to work with Charlie and his crew 17 and get this done. 18 In that, we thank the Commissioners for the 19 facilities that continue to be improved and worked on, 20 and I want to bring to you from our Board a message that 21 we want to continue those improvements, and the Board is 22 willing to step up financially again, as we have in the 23 past, and help continue with those improvements and move 24 forward and finish up some of the projects out there 25 that need to be done, but our Board is willing to step 38 1 up again and do that as much as we can financially. So 2 I bring that to you now, Commissioners, for 3 consideration as you go through your year and hopefully 4 I can come back and we can work toward working on the 5 indoor arena and some other projects out there. 6 At this time I'm going to ask Charlie 7 McIlvain to step forward and bring you up to date on the 8 cowboy breakfast. Commissioners, thank y'all very much. 9 Invite everyone of you, want to see you out there. 10 Thank you. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Thank you, Steve. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you, Steve. 13 MR. MCiLVAIN: I am Charlie McIlvain, 14 President and CEO of the Kerrville Convention Visitors 15 Bureau, and the address is 2108 Sidney Baker. Want to 16 also comment on what Steve had mentioned, and the Judge, 17 and Commissioner Reeves. And the cowboy breakfast is 18 scheduled for 6 a.m. on this Friday morning, weather 19 permitting if it's not too cold or raining we'll be out 20 on the parking lot at the Youth Event Center. If it's 21 extremely cold and raining we'll move indoors. But in 22 the tradition of the cowboy we'll continue to have it an 23 outdoor event. 24 We are promoting the stock show television 25 ad-wise. We have an ad that's in place right now that 39 1 is running reaches approximately 1.6 million homes 2 throughout Texas, and it runs along the I-10 corridor 3 from southern New Mexico to the Texas Louisiana state 4 line, and the 35 corridor from the Texas Oklahoma state 5 line down to Mexico. 6 As Steve mentioned we are doing a more in 7 depth economic impact study this year. You know, one of 8 the great things about the stock show it's 9 multi-generational. We have three and four generations 10 and maybe even five generations that are involved in 11 showing livestock and participating in the event this 12 year. 13 I have a quick just four or five numbers as 14 to what tourism means to this County. We can do it here 15 or on item 1.12. We are very supportive for the 16 reduction of the fees for the alcohol license, but just 17 to give the Commissioners' Court an idea of what tourism 18 means to Kerr County. It creates 15 hundred jobs, and 19 these numbers are generated by a company called Dean 20 Runyan & Associates for the Texas Governor's office. So 21 it creates 15 hundred jobs in the County, 1.7 million 22 dollars in local tax receipts, an additional 4.4 million 23 in State tax receipts for a total of 6.1 million dollars 24 in tax receipts. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: This is for what, 40 1 Charlie? What's this for? 2 MR. MCiLVAIN: This is what tourism 3 generates for Kerr County. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Just tourism total. 5 MR. MCiLVAIN: Yes, Sir. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. 7 MR. MCiLVAIN: And the great thing about 8 that is visitor-wise -- visitors to Kerr County on an 9 annual basis, and this was for 2016. 2017 we anticipate 10 will be a little better because our numbers were up 7 11 and a half percent for 2017, but for 2016 tourism in 12 Kerr County generated 9 hundred point 3 million dollars 13 that would not have been here had visitors to our County 14 not been coming in, so these projects are very important 15 to the County. 16 We appreciate the opportunity to host the 17 cowboy breakfast, and we are certainly supportive for 18 the fee structure reduction for item 1.12. Thank you. 19 Look forward to seeing each of you. Hope you have your 20 cow chip arm in place Friday morning. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: I would like to add one 22 comment about the Ag mechanics show. When they first 23 added that I went out there and I was just astounded by 24 what I found out there. Now, when you hear the words AG 25 mechanic if you're not mechanically inclined or you're 41 1 not interested in anything mechanical, you might think 2 no need for me to go to that show; that's wrong. I've 3 seen some of the most beautiful tables and furniture out 4 there, and art created out of iron, wrought iron type 5 stuff, it's a show for everyone, and I recommend you go. 6 And if you go you're really going to be impressed with 7 these kids. Unbelievable. Of course there a lot of 8 barbecue pits with every whistle and bell on barbecue 9 pits, but that's something near and dear to my heart, 10 too. But I highly -- 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The pit or the 12 barbecue? 13 JUDGE POLLARD: -- recommend you go to this 14 AG Mechanics show. What? 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I said the pit or the 16 barbecue? 17 JUDGE POLLARD: Both. Well, I have 8 pits, 18 and I like to eat barbecue, too. I highly recommend 19 this Ag Mechanics show. It's just not -- you wouldn't 20 expect it to be that good, I'm telling you. They're 21 really fantastic, these kids. 22 All right, let's move on. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have a 9:45 timed. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: You want a break? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No; a timed item. 42 1 COMMISSIONER REEVES: 1.11. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, let's go to timed 3 item 1.11 public hearing for the revision of a plat for 4 lots 12, 13, 14 of Weis Acres, volume 3, page 135 of the 5 plat records of Kerr County, Texas. This one's located 6 in Precinct 4. All right, I declare the public hearing 7 open. Is there anyone wishing to speak on this matter? 8 There being no one, I declare the public hearing closed. 9 We'll now going to item 1.12 consider, 10 discuss and take appropriate action regarding reduction 11 of fees -- no. Well, that's an untimed one. Is there 12 another timed one? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Go back to 8. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, let's go to 1.8 15 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to declare 16 various items from the Constable's office, Precinct 3, 17 and a vehicle as surplus and dispose of the property. 18 Mr. Wilke. 19 CONSTABLE WILKE: Yes, Sir. Good morning. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Good morning. 21 CONSTABLE WILKE: These are those items that 22 we talked about and rescheduled for this meeting. I was 23 hoping that you had time to review. If you have any 24 questions. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion to 43 1 surplus all the items listed, the 13 items listed, in 2 the letter received from Constable Wilke on December 3 18th. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved by Commissioner 6 Letz, seconded by Commissioner Belew in regard to item 7 1.8 on the agenda, to declare all of the items listed, 8 all 13 items I think you said, as surplus and dispose of 9 them in accordance with the law. Any further comments 10 or discussion? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a comment, and 12 Constable, you said some of these items are to be 13 transferred to other departments, and some you'll end up 14 selling through GovDeals, or something like that, 15 correct? 16 CONSTABLE WILKE: Yes, Sir. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, thank you. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, those in favor of 19 the motion signify by raising your right hand. It's 20 four zero, unanimous. One abstention, myself. 21 1.9 consider, discuss and -- 22 CONSTABLE WILKE: Thank you. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Thank you, Mr. Wilke. 24 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 25 action concerning authorizing the County Judge to 44 1 execute a contract with GrantWorks, Inc. for the 2 administration services for the East Kerr County/Center 3 Point wastewater project, Texas Department of 4 Agriculture Colonia Economically Distressed Areas 5 Program, also known as CEDAP, contract number 7217045. 6 This of course affects and is situated in Precincts 2 7 and 3. And is Katie Falgoust here to speak on this 8 issue? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. You want to address 11 it? 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: This is -- we got 13 multiple contracts, both administrative and engineering 14 contracts on this project. Well, I think about four 15 contracts we have, Jonathan? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: About. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: This is one to help 18 administer the project, which has a lot of requirements 19 from the State, both the Water Development Board and 20 Texas Department of Agriculture, so I think the contract 21 is in there, and I move for approval and authorize the 22 Judge to sign. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved by Commissioner 25 Moser, seconded by Commissioner Letz to approve the 45 1 contract with GrantWorks, Inc. for the administration 2 services for the East Kerr County/Center Point 3 Wastewater Project, Texas Department of Agriculture 4 Colonia Economically Distressed Areas Program, contract 5 number 7217045. Is there any further comment or 6 discussion? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a comment that 8 County Attorney has -- 9 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, Sir, I have reviewed 10 it. I have no issue. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And for informational 12 purposes. This is a new grant just for hookups, and 13 it's for the economically distressed residents in this 14 area, and just what this does it allows us to get more 15 done under the Texas Water Development Program. This is 16 separate from Department of Agriculture. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Those in favor of the 18 motion signify by raising your right hands. It's four 19 zero, unanimous. One abstention, myself. 20 Item 1.10 consider, discuss and take 21 appropriate action on a policy for onsite sewage 22 facility connections and related matters to the East 23 Kerr County/Center Point Wastewater Project. Mr. Letz 24 or Moser, or both of you. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not sure -- I think 46 1 the backup was handed out to everybody, a mandatory 2 hookup for East Kerr County/Center Point Wastewater 3 Project policy. I'm not sure we're ready to approve 4 this yet. There's a couple of questions. But I 5 wanted -- we talked about it last time. We wanted to 6 look at it again. This is kind of a direction where 7 we're going. One of the reasons -- well, Katie isn't 8 here right now, and I'd really like to have her input on 9 it before we finally approve the policy, because she's 10 going to be doing a lot with it. But we still have a 11 little bit of a question as far as I know on commercial 12 properties, and the eligibility of their reimbursement 13 under the water development grant. I have not seen 14 clarification from either our engineer or from Katie 15 whether those properties qualify. Have you heard 16 anything anything, Charlie? 17 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. They both responded 18 late Friday and made some comments, and we're good as 19 far as the commercial. The only thing I noticed on the 20 latest policy was that there's a reference to a court 21 order, and I think we've got a typo on the very first 22 reference. I don't know if y'all saw that e-mail I sent 23 this morning. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, I did. 25 MR. HASTINGS: It should be court order 47 1 35593, that's the correct one. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think I agree with 3 Mr. Letz. There's work we still need to do, and we've 4 gone through a lot of cycles on this with multiple 5 organizations, and I think we're about there. But if I 6 may, let me just point out what the kinking parts of 7 this policy is. It says number one anybody in this area 8 where the East Kerr/Center Point Wastewater Project is, 9 anybody less than one acre, one acre or less has to hook 10 up. Number two is that there will be no cost for the 11 hookup for people that qualify economically under Texas 12 Department of Agriculture guidelines. Number three, 13 commercial properties can hook up and County will -- or 14 it'll be paid for up to 46 hundred dollars, and no more 15 than that for commercial. Property owners have up to 90 16 days to say yea or nay if they want to accept the 17 support and payment for hookup. Number five, property 18 owners that do not hook up to the system, which they 19 have multiple acreage they don't have to. They still 20 have to adhere to Federal and State laws. Number six is 21 that properties in a subdivision, they fall under the 22 sort of the same thing, less than one acre they have to 23 hook up, and that'll be under subdivision rules and 24 plats. And number seven is properties greater than one 25 acre that want to hook up, they will receive also up to 48 1 46 hundred dollars to -- okay. So I think it covers the 2 full spectrum of everybody from big to large to 3 commercial to private, and how to fund it. So the -- I 4 think it's been -- Commissioner Letz has done a lot of 5 work on this, as has Charlie, and a big gang of people 6 that are tearing up the streets. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And as you were reading 8 through that there's one group that we left off of here 9 that needs to be added, is that all residential property 10 owners get hooked up. They qualify under the one acre 11 regardless of the economics get hooked up also. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That was number one, 13 they have to. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They have to, but it's 15 hooked up with no cost. We left off a segment of the 16 population and when I wrote this. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I have a 18 question. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there a Heather Farmer in 20 the audience? 21 MRS. FARMER: Good morning. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: I see your address is 155 23 Elm Pass Road in Center Point, right? 24 MRS. FARMER: Correct. And we fall under 25 the half acre, we have a half acre, so we're going to be 49 1 part of it, and we're looking forward to being hooked up 2 to a public sewer system, it's really nice. I guess our 3 concern is we kind of fall in the gap of the group 4 that's going to be subsidized because we hit at a 5 certain income level, and we're concerned about that 6 particular fee and not having enough information about 7 either a payout program, or maybe another subsidy that's 8 go to be added to the people that fall in that gap. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's what I mentioned, 10 or tried to mention, is that all residential property 11 owners less than one acre will be hooked up at no cost. 12 MRS. FARMER: At no cost, okay. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's just -- we left 14 out -- I think that's right, isn't that Charlie. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Are you a residential less 16 than one acre? 17 MRS. FARMER: Yes, we are. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I believe it's just -- 19 there's a -- 20 JUDGE POLLARD: We can charge you if you 21 want. 22 MRS. FARMER: No, no, no. Thank you very 23 much. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. 25 COMMISSIONER REEVES: So y'all are going to 50 1 bring this -- 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We'll bring this back at 3 our next meeting. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Up to 46 hundred 5 dollars for less than an acre. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But anyway, we'll go 7 over it one more time, and like to get Katie's input on 8 this as well and make sure we're covered with what she 9 needs. 10 Judge, can we have a recess? 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, ten-minute recess. 12 (10-minute recess.) 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay, the ten minute break's 14 over, back in session. Go to item 1.12 consider, 15 discuss and take appropriate action regarding reduction 16 of fees paid to Kerr County for permits and licenses for 17 businesses operating within the sector of craft 18 agriculture and that manufacture alcohol beverages. Mr. 19 Koenig and Commissioner Moser. Anybody want to speak on 20 it? 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'll start that off, if 22 I may. Last time we -- last Commissioners' Court we 23 discussed this just in general with -- we took an action 24 to come forward with a policy relating to this, and I'm 25 not going to read this entire Resolution unless it's -- 51 1 I'm told to do so, Judge, but it's in here for the 2 record. This Resolution and policy was established by a 3 large group of the community from the Chamber of 4 Commerce, and Jeremy Walther was here advocating this 5 last time, so Jeremy's been involved, the County 6 Attorney's been involved, so I think what's here is that 7 basically says that those facilities that are producing 8 beverages, alcoholic beverages and beer on the premises 9 will not pay the amount, which is up to one half of what 10 is designated by the State, and so far we've been doing 11 that, and I think that that's -- what is it Jeremy, 12 seventeen hundred and fifty dollars? 13 MR. WALTHER: Yes, Sir. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: So this would reduce it to 15 essentially a $175.00 for a two-year period. The Tax 16 Assessor Collector, Diane Bolin, has been through this, 17 she agrees with it, so -- and then I asked the Auditor 18 how much total taxes like that we've collected over the 19 last ten years or so for the County, it looks like kind 20 of an average of about ten thousand dollars, but that's 21 more than just these types of fees, so we didn't have it 22 broken down. 23 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Ten thousand per year? 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Ten thousand -- 25 its ten thousand per year is what comes in. 52 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's a two year -- 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's a two-year thing, 3 but she just gave the total, and she's not here right 4 now, she could probably elaborate on what all 5 occupational taxes are included in that average ten 6 thousand per year, but it more than brewpubs, which we 7 have one -- 8 MR. WALTERS: One. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- right now in the 10 area, which has not paid any yet, okay. You want to 11 comment, Jeremy? 12 MR. WALTHER: I will real quick -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. Go for it. 14 MR. WALTHER: We actually did the very first 15 year that we were open and we did pay that fee, and I 16 did talk to Miss Bolin and I told Miss Bolin I would see 17 her in two years when I got that letter again, and so 18 that's what instigated that now. But I want to thank 19 the Commissioners, and Miss Stebbins, and Miss Bolin, 20 and everyone else on staff that contributed. Mr. Koenig 21 and Mr. McIlvain as well, Mr. O'Connor at KEDC. This 22 was a collaboration of a lot of people from the 23 community. They all sort of saw this thing as a good 24 move, not only to promote tourism effectively in 25 encouraging more businesses that will attract tourists. 53 1 But it's also, I think, in my mind I'm more interested 2 in the improved quality of life that distilleries, 3 wineries, brewpubs and breweries provide the local 4 community. And that's one thing that we've seen in our 5 dining room is the diversity of people that we've seen 6 that come in and that have enjoyed that. And it's the 7 producers that are doing that; it's not necessarily the 8 liquor stores or the retail outlets, and certainly not 9 the distributors, it's those that are directly 10 manufacturing that. And it's that ability to connect 11 consumers to that product that's made right here in 12 Kerrville, right here in Kerr County that is the driver. 13 And so I appreciate that that has been recognized, and 14 is going to reduce the fees for manufacturers and 15 producers. 16 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I am kindly confused a 17 little. When you approached the other day about this we 18 were just talking, you know, beer, and suddenly we've 19 come up to whiskey and wine, too. How did it morph from 20 just beer to all of these others? We were talking 21 almost while you were talking just your place of 22 business. We've morphed into this covering basically 23 everything else. How did that happen? 24 MR. WALTHER: That was a request to make 25 sure that we're creating a policy rather than just 54 1 targeting a specific business. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let me comment on 3 that -- 4 COMMISSIONER REEVES: No. Let him finish 5 it. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 7 MR. WALTHER: This is not a specific 8 business requesting a reduction in fees just for the 9 benefit of the business. 10 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I understand. Just 11 not your business. Your's is the only one now, but 12 there's other ones involved. But you know, distillers, 13 wineries, all of that, I'm just -- want to know how it 14 morphed. 15 MR. WALTHER: So the morph is to the benefit 16 that a distillery, for example, would provide the 17 community is very similar to the benefit that a brewpub 18 or a brewery would provide. In fact it's going to kind 19 of broaden the scope of the ability to attract new 20 people in that space, same for wineries. And there is 21 some crossover. We legally are not allowed as a brewery 22 with the permits that we have with the State to sell 23 wine on premises. But every week we get customers that 24 come in and say do y'all sell wine, and we have to tell 25 them the story, and some people, you know, they leave. 55 1 You know, we don't have what they have to offer. And so 2 if there were more wineries in Kerrville, Kerr County, 3 you know, it increases that ability of that market 4 sector, craft agriculture to attract those people, and 5 distilleries as well. 6 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And are the licensing 7 fees that we're asking the same as for a brewpub who 8 makes their own beer, such as you, the same as for a 9 winery that you buy a bottle of wine or a glass of wine 10 at a -- at one -- the one out by you, Falling something. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Falling Water -- 12 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Bending Branch. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Bending Branch and 14 Singing Water. 15 MR. WALTHER: They're right next to each 16 other. One's in Kerr County, one's in Kendall. 17 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Are those fees the 18 same? 19 MR. WALTHER: For wineries it's the State 20 level, and what's driving the County fees is what the 21 State fees are. So currently the County is charging 50 22 percent of what the State fees are. For a brewpub the 23 State fee is a thousand dollars. For a brewer's permit, 24 which is what we, Pint & Plow has is fifteen hundred 25 dollars. For a winery it's a $175.00. For a 56 1 distillery, and this is -- this is -- a distillery is 2 along the same lines as a brewer's permit, or a brewpub 3 permit. And so, you know, if it's $3,000.00 every two 4 years for a brewpub's permit or a brewer's permit, then 5 it's similar to that, that level for a facility. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let me go back to 7 something, your question of how did it morph into that. 8 We weren't looking at it just for brewpubs, okay. We 9 were looking as Walt Koenig mentioned at the last 10 Commissioners' Court for the craft agricultural group 11 industry, okay. And that's wineries, and vineyards, and 12 distilleries, all of that, because we see it as, you 13 know, when you look at that industry that's in 14 Fredericksburg, moving this direction all the way down 15 to Comfort now, what we're trying to do is enable and 16 encourage that development of that economic group of 17 businesses to expand, okay, and to create and to 18 initiate, and so this was instead of just doing a policy 19 for a brewpub, we're saying let's do it looking at that 20 entire industry, so that's what this reflects. And 21 maybe just for the record, let me read the first 22 paragraph of this. 23 It's essentially saying that Kerr County 24 supports the development of craft agriculture industry 25 within Kerr County. This industry includes production, 57 1 distribution and retail sales of beer, wine, spirits, 2 olive oil and other crafting products. The production 3 of beer, wine and spirits is an essential part of the 4 craft agriculture industry, and as such Commissioners' 5 Court wishes to promote the growth of this industry 6 segment by reducing permit fees -- permit and license 7 fees for businesses that manufacture alcoholic 8 beverages. 9 The permits included are brewer's permit, 10 brewer's self-distribution permit, brewpub license, 11 which is what we focused on earlier, winery permits, 12 distiller's and rectifier's permit, manufacturer's 13 license, manufacturer's self-distribution license, 14 manufacturer's warehouse license, or a license or permit 15 issued to a similar manufacturing business. 16 So that's basically what it is, and Diane, 17 the Tax Assessor, has been involved in this, too, and 18 so, Diane, I don't know if you want to comment on 19 anything that's in here? 20 MS. DIANE BOLIN: No. The only comment that 21 I have was what I told you and Commissioner Reeves was 22 the last bullet point is pretty broad, so if anybody 23 comes in and says that they think they fall under that, 24 we will be bringing it to Commissioners' Court for 25 approval. 58 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The question I have 3 is -- I'm good with down to distiller's and rectifier's 4 permit, and then we get into the manufacturer's and 5 warehouse stuff in that last one. Can you go over what 6 does the manufacturer's license, what do those last 7 three licenses listed, what do those cover? 8 MR. WALTHER: That's a really good question. 9 TABC classifies alcoholic beverages in a very difficult 10 way. There's a difference between ale and beer, for 11 example, and it has to do with alcohol content. They 12 classify one -- we all think of beer as beer. If it's 13 above 5 percent, they classify it one way, alcoholic 14 content. If it's below five percent they classify it a 15 different way. So if you're a manufacturer of beer 16 making a 3.5 percent, a very light beer, you have to 17 have a different permit than -- two permits. One to 18 make beer that has that type of that low of an alcoholic 19 content. You have to have a second permit to make beer 20 that's higher than the five percent. So the 21 manufacturers are below five percent, they're making 22 beer that's less than five percent. The reason that 23 some breweries get that is because that license allows 24 them to distribute beyond county lines, beyond the 25 county that they're actually manufacturing in. It's a 59 1 very complicated, very ridiculous set of state rules, 2 but that's going to cover, let's say, and there are 3 examples of this breweries in Austin and San Antonio 4 that want to distribute to Dallas for example, and they 5 self-distribute. The law says right now if they have a 6 brewer's permit that they have to put that on the truck 7 and they have to deliver it by midnight and have that 8 truck back to the facility that's manufactured it at 9 before midnight. So by having that manufacturer's 10 permit they can take lower alcohol content, beers, and 11 actually have kind of a warehouse in Dallas that they 12 can stage their beer at, and do it legally. 13 So the reason for that list is we wanted to 14 be inclusive of all manufacturers. We, as a brewery, 15 have two permits. We have a brewer's permit, we also 16 have a self-distribution permit, so there's some 17 crossover. We're just making sure that we don't get a 18 producer that comes into the county that isn't covered 19 by this. And that is the -- probably, I would guess, 20 the intent of that last bullet is what if TABC changes 21 their permit structure, you know, is the county going to 22 have to come and rewrite the whole thing again? 23 MRS. STEBBINS: I think a modification to 24 the sentence on the one half of the permit or license 25 fee paid to the state except for the following permits. 60 1 Add this language as specifically defined by TABC or the 2 Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code, so that if they change 3 their definition or the way this is set up, then the 4 county just falls in line to -- so they don't have to 5 change it later on. 6 MR. WALTHER: Gotcha. 7 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And a manufacturer's 8 warehouse license, is that specific to a business 9 equivalent -- quasi-equivalent to what you have, or 10 would a manufacturer's warehouse license include 11 Anheuser Busch, etc.? 12 MR. WALTHER: It does not include. They 13 have their own permit for warehousing. Distributors 14 have their own. This is specifically for manufacturers. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. I want to weigh 16 in on this. We have olive oil mentioned in here, we 17 have agricultural products, nonspecific agricultural 18 products. Can you tell me what craft agriculture 19 actually is? 20 MR. KOENIG: I can tell you how we discuss 21 it, and it is by design rather -- 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is there a legal 23 description of it? 24 MR. KOENIG: No, there's not a legal 25 description as we know it. From the Chamber of 61 1 Commerce's standpoint what we're trying to do is promote 2 the production, distribution and sale of the locally 3 produced products. We like to use the term craft 4 agriculture because it has a certain marketing appeal, 5 but really the majority right now what we're talking 6 about right now is the alcoholic beverages, beers, wines 7 and spirits; however, we also want to encourage other 8 craft agriculture or other agricultural pursuits to 9 include olive oil, perhaps charcuterie. We're talking 10 to some high end pork producers who make sausages, 11 cheeses, so -- so I think last time we talked about this 12 there was a sort of desire to see some kind of legal 13 definition of what craft agriculture is. I can't 14 provide you that because there isn't one from our 15 standpoint. From us it's a marketing approach, it's a 16 way to build an identity for our community to enhance 17 our business position. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's branding. 19 MR. KOENIG: It's branding, exactly. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So here's my 21 suggestion, instead of jumbling all this together 22 because of what's been described about the alcohol 23 permits that the State sets up and how they're so 24 different from everything else. You have soap makers in 25 your precinct, you have farmers in your precinct, you 62 1 have guys making -- raising meat in your precinct, my 2 people are doing the same thing in our's, everybody has 3 something agricultural going on in all of our areas. I 4 don't think they should be lumped together. I think 5 that they should be specifically about alcohol, because 6 it's a much different thing. Take the olive oil out of 7 it and -- you know, I got a young guy out there by me 8 that raises chickens and sells them, and he raises pigs 9 and he sells them, and he does it for craft agriculture, 10 that's exactly what this is. So we got this going on 11 all around. But we have specific difficult laws that 12 pertain to the sale of alcohol in the state that we have 13 to stick with. I suggest that we cut that out. This is 14 entirely different, forget the craft agriculture thing, 15 the broad umbrella, we'll deal with that separately, and 16 put these licensing fees all by themselves, because 17 it -- 18 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Because it pertains to 19 alcohol. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Because it pertains to 21 alcohol. And that means wine, and beer, and spirits, 22 and not olive oil, and chickens, and goat soap, okay. 23 So craft agriculture we can still handle that later if 24 and when there's a need. And the real reason is because 25 I've asked the County Attorney, we don't even know that 63 1 the people that make the goat soap have to be licensed. 2 MRS. STEBBINS: Right. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And I know a farmer 4 that raises some vegetables out in Precinct 1 and takes 5 them to the edge of the highway and sells them, he 6 doesn't have to have a license for that. But it's craft 7 agriculture, it falls under that. So in the event that 8 in the future we ever had a request come before the 9 Court, this is all dealt with and taken care of by 10 itself under basically the guidelines of the TABC, and 11 we just abide by that law, and our licensing we follow 12 along that line. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I don't have any 14 problem with that. 15 MR. KOENIG: I mean the Chamber's position 16 is we really support this effort, because we do want to 17 use it as a way to attract new industry to the community 18 that supports its largest strategic objective. How it 19 takes its final form is really up to you all and you 20 all. We just want to see it done. And then that's 21 really our position on that, so we're very flexible on 22 that. 23 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And I think you've got 24 a very good point, Harley, is let's deal with alcohol in 25 one Resolution, and our support of the other 64 1 agricultural products, which are very up and coming and 2 very important countywide, let's deal with that in a 3 separate policy. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Why don't we redraft 5 this, okay -- 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- according to what 8 Harley is suggesting here, and we'll bring it back next 9 Commissioners' Court. And we'll reduce it -- limit it 10 to just alcoholic beverage and production. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have a comment before 12 we leave the comment. I haven't said anything yet, 13 which is unusual. The two things I would like to see, I 14 would like to see the last bullet removed completely. I 15 think that that adds a confusion. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Read what it is. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I don't think you'll 18 need it if we do the other stuff, Jonathan. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, fine. I would 20 rather it be that we specifically -- if something -- if 21 we miss something we come back and change the policy, 22 and I do not know how the alcoholic beverages code reads 23 and all that, but I suspect that each one of these items 24 listed is a defined permit, and there's a citation 25 referencing exactly what the number of that permit is. 65 1 I'd like to -- 2 MRS. STEBBINS: You'd like that. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd like to see that 4 number on here so that we know very specifically what 5 we're talking about, and if we need -- language could be 6 added similar to what the County Attorney said, as the 7 State may amend in the future or something like that. 8 If they change the number or something like that, so we 9 don't have to relook at it every time. And I just think 10 the other part of this -- I mean is there any other -- 11 are we leaving somebody off intentionally or 12 unintentionally that's going to want us to come back now 13 in the middle of February and say, well you did it for 14 them, now you do it for us. I mean do we -- I want to 15 make sure that whatever the policy says is very 16 specific -- specific enough, but also that we're 17 covering ourself when the next person comes in and says 18 well, what about us, you didn't do it for us. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, you have 20 manufacture, sale and distribution for alcoholic 21 beverages, those three headings, okay. And then you 22 have divisions among those of whether you're over 3.5 23 percent, and so on. So are you talking about another 24 form of making alcoholic beverage, or are you talking 25 about -- are you back at craft agriculture? 66 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm on the alcohol side, 2 that there's not some little area that all of a sudden 3 they're going to come well, you did it for them, and now 4 put pressure on us to come back, and well this one may 5 come out to not ten thousand dollars a year is not 6 significant, and we're not going to reduce it that much. 7 Probably reduce it a thousand or so the way I 8 understand. But I don't want somebody else to come in 9 and say reduce our's, and all of a sudden we have a 10 $20,000.00 issue. So I think it needs to be very, very 11 specific and we need to be able to make sure that we 12 have a rational reason why we're only doing the ones 13 listed. And I understand it says here, but I want to 14 make sure we're not missing something. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Won't that be covered 16 with your statutes? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I hope so. 18 MRS. STEBBINS: Would you look me to work on 19 the revisions? 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: We'll bring it back next 22 Commissioners' Court agenda. 23 MRS. STEBBINS: Definitely. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. So we're able to 25 pass it for now. 67 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you, Jeremy. 2 MR. WALTHER: Appreciate it. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And Diane, and Heather. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Charlie McIlvain wanted to 5 speak on this, too, but we out waited him. 6 MR. KOENIG: He did mention it his -- 7 MRS. STEBBINS: Tourism. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: 1.13 consider, discuss and 9 take appropriate action to appoint or reappoint 10 directors to Kerr County Emergency Services District 1. 11 Commissioner Belew and Reeves. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: W. L. Fleming is 13 willing to continue in his capacity with ESD 1, so -- 14 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And I point out ESD #1 15 covers parts of both Precinct 4 and Precinct Number 1. 16 W. L. Fleming has been serving an unexpired term and has 17 agreed to now serve for a full two years. And also, I 18 would like to reappoint Chris Hughes and James Wood. 19 They are both currently serving on the ESD #1, and both 20 have consented, and therefore I'll make a motion to 21 reappoint W. L. Fleming, Chris Hughes, and James Wood, 22 and that will be my motion. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And I'll second that. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: It's been moved by 25 Commissioner Reeves, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 68 1 appoint or reappoint as appropriate three individuals 2 W. L. Fleming, Chris Hughes, and James Wood to the Board 3 of Directors of Kerr County Emergency Services District 4 Number 1. This is item number 13 on the agenda. Any 5 further comment or discussion? There being none, those 6 in favor signify by raising your right hands. It's four 7 zero, unanimous. One abstention, myself. 8 1.14 consider, discuss and take appropriate 9 action to appoint/reappoint directors to the Kerr County 10 Emergency Services District #2. Commissioner Reeves. 11 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes, Sir. ESD #2 is 12 the Mountain Home Volunteer Fire Department District. 13 The directors have agreed -- I spoke with the President 14 Miss Huffaker and she has visited with the directors. 15 They are Dene Huffaker, Walter Lee Hall, and Serena 16 Burrough, and that's B-U-R-R-O-U-G-H. Miss Huffaker's 17 indicated they all have consented to serve one more -- 18 another two-year term, and so I put that in the form of 19 a motion to reappoint those three members to Kerr ESD 20 #2. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved by Commissioner 23 Reeves, seconded by Commissioner Belew to reappoint 24 three individuals. I think it was Huffaker -- Dene 25 Huffaker, Walter Lee Hall, and Serena Burrough, those 69 1 three individuals, to be reappointed to the Board of 2 Directors of the Kerr County Emergency Service District 3 #2. This is in item 1.14 of the agenda. Any further 4 comment or discussion? There being none, those in favor 5 signify by raising their right hands. It's four zero, 6 unanimous. One abstention, myself. 7 Item 1.15 consider, discuss and take 8 appropriate action to designate Commissioners' and 9 Judge's liaison appointments for various functions for 10 the calendar year 2018. The calendar is in your agenda 11 package. Anybody want to change anything in there? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm good. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: I think we'll just leave it 15 the same, but I'm going to ask him to go this year, 16 okay? 17 COMMISSIONER REEVES: To AACOG? 18 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. But I'm still going 19 to leave it the same, okay? All right, any other -- any 20 changes? All right, those in -- just leave it alone, no 21 action on that? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion to 23 approve the current list with no changes. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: For 2018. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For 2018. 70 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It says 2017. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: I gotcha. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, it's been moved 5 by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Belew 6 pursuant to item 1.15 of the agenda to approve the 7 liaison appointments for various functions for the 8 calendar year 2018, and is there any further comment or 9 discussion? If there's none then those in favor signify 10 by raising their right hands. Four zero, unanimous. 11 One abstention, myself. 12 1.16 consider, discuss and accept the 13 Certificate of Substantial Completion. Hoorah, Sheriff. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, we're almost 15 there. Got a few caveats to it, you might say. I do 16 have a copy of the substantial completion that does need 17 to be accepted by the County, except that we are set for 18 our state inspection on the new portion tomorrow 19 morning, okay. It has been tested, the modifications 20 were made, it appears to be working unless we get 21 gremlins in it or something, but I expect us to pass 22 that inspection tomorrow. But my caveat on the 23 certificate is that the Court authorize the County Judge 24 to sign the Certificate of Substantial Completion, it 25 will be dated tomorrow, as long as we pass that state 71 1 inspection. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Contingent. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Contingent on passing 4 the State inspection tomorrow. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What was it they came up 6 with, is it the dampers? 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Motorized dampers in 8 certain areas that were able to direct that, and it 9 worked real well. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: Smoke elimination. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Just for those that 12 remember, you know, that the alarm -- fire alarm has to 13 go off if you have smoke in that jail, okay, within 60 14 seconds. The fire alarm pretty well goes off at about 15 32 seconds in any area in that jail. You know, that's a 16 great feat there. The jail has to -- the entire 17 building has to be clear of smoke within 15 minutes, and 18 the entire building is clear of smoke normally within 19 about seven and a half to eight minutes. We're in very 20 good shape there. But there's one little part that 21 says, in the jail standards, that it cannot migrate from 22 any cell location, or any other location from where it 23 originated, okay, cell or compartment. And what was 24 happening is it was getting in some of the ductwork, 25 okay, and by the time the fire alarm went off there was 72 1 so much smoke in the ductwork that then it would go into 2 the other cells, and all that had to be corrected first 3 so that we could keep it from going into other cells 4 where it was still being cleared, but it can't go into 5 other cells, okay, once that alarm's activated. And in 6 fact, I think even on the 6th -- we do have a meeting 7 tomorrow, but the mechanical engineers have even 8 actually authorized them paying for the extra cost of 9 getting it fixed and all that. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Say that again. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLER: The mechanical engineers 12 are paying for the cost of that fix. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: So it is working out 15 real well, I think everybody's been really -- 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Your fellow engineers, hu? 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, no. Sheriff and I 18 have talked about that a number of times. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We talked about it, and 20 yeah there is one in the meeting tomorrow that we'll 21 look at on it added some days on Huser's contract on 22 who's paying for those days, and that will be discussed 23 in our meeting tomorrow. But some of that is other 24 items that were added, some of that is this, so I think 25 it can just been split, and we'll -- it's still going to 73 1 come in under budget, okay, and we have all the inmates 2 back so we weren't housing passed the time frame that we 3 said we wanted to house out so the out-of-county 4 housing's coming in under budget, and the project itself 5 is coming in under budget. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: How about wording it that as 7 contingent on it, the test being successful tomorrow, 8 and I won't sign it until I'm informed that they passed 9 the State test. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Pending the State 11 inspection tomorrow; not test. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make motion then that 13 we approve the Certificate of Substantial Completion for 14 the jail, contingent on passing the jail standards test 15 tomorrow. 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Inspection. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Inspection tomorrow, and 18 authorize the County Judge sign same. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved by Commissioner 21 Letz, seconded by Commissioner Moser to approve the 22 Substantial Completion Certificate contingent upon the 23 test, a successful test, tomorrow by the State, and if 24 that's the case then the County Judge is authorized to 25 execute it, is that correct? 74 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, any further 3 comment or discussion? 4 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Just one point. 5 Sheriff, for the record, am I correct when we were 6 talking, the amount of smoke that we're talking about 7 that was migrating at times was equivalent to a cigar 8 smoke? 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That would be pretty 10 close. I mean if you weren't really specifically 11 looking for it, you couldn't even see it in the cells. 12 It was just hanging at the top, but it is one of their 13 rules. 14 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I understand, but just 15 so everybody can get an idea of how difficult and 16 detailed these jail inspections are that was the intake 17 of the amount of smoke that we're dealing with. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's correct. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And Sheriff, just one 20 other comment. A copy, I don't think was attached to 21 the form, but the Wayne Gondeck firm has signed off on 22 it? 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. And I just got it 24 a little while ago, it was e-mailed to me, so I will 25 have it printed out ready for the Judge to sign after 75 1 tomorrow. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that's all 3 signatures that are required under the contract have 4 signed that certificate? 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes, Huser has signed 6 it, the architect has signed it, and the next one is the 7 County. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, those in favor of 9 the motion signify by raising their right hands. It's 10 four zero, unanimous. One abstention, myself. 11 1.17 consider, discuss and take appropriate 12 action to set schedule for workshops, including but not 13 limited courthouse space and courthouse grounds. I 14 guess that means the use of courthouse space and 15 grounds. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I think the 17 wording on that one is actually is two things. One's a 18 use policy, and the other part of it is the actual 19 layout of the infrastructure of the grounds. There's 20 two different issues that are related on that one. 21 MRS. STEBBINS: May I just suggest that 22 during or before the courthouse space another meeting 23 with courthouse security meeting or committee take 24 place, and I think that Judge Williams organizes those 25 so maybe I can reach out to him and the Sheriff to talk 76 1 about that, because there was some budget approved for 2 courthouse security, and some discussions that were made 3 during those meetings that might be helpful for the 4 Court to consider during layout and space conversation. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, that's fine. And 6 the other thing on courthouse security that you may want 7 to bring up to that committee, Heather, is there was a 8 fund under Historical Commission, I believe, that allows 9 for in old courthouses for funds to help with courthouse 10 security, and it was listed in the County Progress 11 magazine, it's on my desk, I saw it. So it's a grant 12 from the State to assist with historic buildings, so 13 there may be some funding available there as well. 14 COMMISSIONER REEVES: For at least half. 15 MRS. STEBBINS: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I would suggest that 17 maybe we hold our first workshop for courthouse space on 18 the 29th of this month, and begin that. And then 19 there's other facilities outside of courthouse that I 20 feel like we oughta look at as well. I know this agenda 21 item only calls for courthouse, so we'll probably have 22 to place it on an agenda for another workshop for the 23 other facilities, the buildings that we have outside of 24 the courthouse. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It says other workshops. 77 1 It says schedule for workshops -- 2 COMMISSIONER REEVES: But not limited to. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- but not limited to. 4 MRS. STEBBINS: You can say County 5 facilities instead of courthouse. 6 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I would like the 7 workshops to begin then for courthouse space and other 8 facilities for January 29th. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: 9 a.m.? 10 COMMISSIONER REEVES: 9 a.m. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: As a timed item? 12 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Well, there's no 13 meeting that day, simply be a workshop. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just kind of walk the 15 sites and look at them. 16 COMMISSIONER REEVES: To be able to leave 17 the courtroom and walk throughout, I think we'll get a 18 better feel if we physically walk each building, and 19 then can come back and set and talk about what might can 20 be done. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there a second? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, why don't we -- I 23 mean there's a bunch of workshops, we gotta -- 24 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Let's just get them -- 25 courthouse workshop would be January 29th is what I 78 1 would propose. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there a second to that 3 motion? 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do we have to -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't know if we need 6 motions for any of them. We can just set them. 7 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the other one we 9 need to do is the courthouse use policy and the grounds 10 workshop. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Should those go in a 12 particular order in your way of thinking? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, not in particular. 14 And then the other one that we need to put on here is a 15 subdivision workshop, because there's some -- we're 16 working on the rewrite of our rules, but there's a lot 17 of philosophy that we need to -- the Court needs to kind 18 of look at what direction we're going to go on some of 19 these things. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But we don't have to 21 identify all those today, right? We can identify 22 workshops whenever we need them. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. But I'm just 24 saying those three I know we need, and I just look at it 25 if it's on a schedule I'm more inclined to get my part 79 1 of it ready. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, true. For 3 everybody. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For everybody. So those 5 three are the ones that -- 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So what were the other 7 two? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The building use, I 9 guess you'd call it. 10 COMMISSIONER REEVES: The use policy for the 11 grounds for the public. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Public space. And also, 13 you know, that part of that also be a plan that I've 14 been working on for probably three years, four years 15 now, whatever it's been, as to -- I call it 16 infrastructure, but it's also maybe do some new trees 17 need to be planted, things have died, what do we need to 18 do to courthouse square to get it to be what it needs to 19 be long term. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: More than landscaping, 21 just the whole layout. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Peter Lewis has looked 23 at it and he'll probably come to this workshop, and he's 24 offered his services to give us some ideas. Try to -- 25 and part of the ideas are to -- the City's done a really 80 1 nice job across, you know, the highway. We've taken out 2 a lot of trees to be able to function. We could improve 3 our side a little bit. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So is that on the 29th 5 also? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. I think that would 7 be a separate one. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Why don't we just meet 9 every Monday for a while instead of skipping one, just 10 meet every Monday until we're done with these. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Fine with me, but I 12 think there was a February 5th -- 13 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yeah, I like your idea 14 of every Monday with the exception -- the Mondays we 15 don't have court. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's what I mean. 17 We'll just meet every Monday. Some will be 18 Commissioners' Court, some will be workshops. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To get through some of 20 these. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Between now and 22 whenever. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: If there's no regular 24 Commissioners' Court that day then we'll have a workshop 25 that day, on that Monday. 81 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And identify the 2 subject matter in advance. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, okay, we'll go 4 with that plan, and try to get by the, you know, mid 5 February and try to get most of these done so at least 6 we'll have some direction where we're going. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Use of 8 courthouse grounds and facilities. You said for the 9 public. There's been a request -- several requests 10 lately for people to have assigned parking spots, and 11 there getting to be a lot of requests for it, and I just 12 wonder if we oughta address that as part of that policy, 13 too? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure, part of the 16 workshop. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now, courthouse open 18 next Monday? 19 COMMISSIONER REEVES: No. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So it's closed, so 21 we're not going to meet on that one. We could meet on 22 that one. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 29th will be our first 24 workshop. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: So set it on Mondays that we 82 1 don't have regular Commissioners' Court, or is a regular 2 holiday, a recognized holiday. That's the policy now. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: As it's further 4 distilled down. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Distilled. Is that a 6 craft? 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, a craft thing. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: I guess Jody got her 9 instructions to put it on the agenda for those days. 10 All right, 1.18 consider, discuss and take 11 appropriate action on court approval of minutes and/or 12 court orders. Commissioner Letz. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on the agenda 14 because it came up in mid or early December, I was 15 looking for something, and I went back and finally with 16 Jody's help and Debra's help found the Court Order, and 17 it made no sense to me, and it wasn't -- and also I'm 18 not throwing rocks at anybody. We -- it's amazing the 19 way we speak and make motions up here that any of them 20 are correct, and hats off to the Clerk's Office to get 21 them pretty much right. So I really think it would be 22 helpful to make sure that the -- that we go back and 23 approve court orders at our next meeting just to make 24 sure that the wording is what we intended to say, 25 because sometimes it's hard to follow. You read our -- 83 1 the verbatim minutes, and I can see how it's confusing. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So that would just be 3 part of the package regular agenda to approve court 4 orders. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just to approve court 6 orders. 7 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And then report. 8 MRS. STEBBINS: In item 4, the approval 9 agenda, add to that every agenda. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's good. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because I read through 12 some, and they're just hard to follow, and our own fault 13 up here because the way we obviously -- 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: They are summarized 15 before we vote on them, when you read down to the end of 16 it before you get to the next item you see what -- 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, but when it gets 18 into the Court order -- 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But on the Court 20 orders -- the Court order is the -- that's the Court 21 order, and that's what we're doing. And sometimes 22 they're not exactly what -- some that I've made, what I 23 intended exactly. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. Is that a 25 motion? 84 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't know if it needs 2 to be a motion. I think if it's a consensus, we can do 3 it. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's a good idea. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: All right then we'll move on 6 to item 1.19 consider, discuss and take appropriate 7 action to approve contract amendment with Ricoh USA for 8 the County Court at Law copier. 9 Now, I called and talked to Kelly Rode, 10 Court Reporter over there about it, and this contract 11 does not increase cost except per copy cost. They've 12 been using -- I think their contract with Ricoh says 13 they make so many copies a month, can make so many not 14 to exceed a certain amount. They've been making more 15 than that, and so they're amending the contract to put 16 a -- to increase that no more than on top in the 17 contract. I still think it's a per copy -- so much per 18 copy that gets paid to Ricoh. That's essentially the 19 deal. And it's not extending the contract any, it's 20 just amending the contract to increase that maximum 21 number of copies they can make monthly. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make approval to -- 23 or make a motion to approve the contract amendment 24 through the Richo USA and authorize the County Judge to 25 sign same, and this is in reference to the County Court 85 1 at Law copier. 2 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I second. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved by Commissioner 4 Letz, seconded by Commissioner Reeves in repeating what 5 that motion is, since that seems to be addressed, that 6 approve item 1.19, and that is to approve the contract 7 amendment proposed in the agenda package with Ricoh USA 8 for the County Court at Law copier. Any further 9 discussion or comment? There being none, those in favor 10 signify by raising their right hands. It's four zero, 11 unanimous. All right. 12 And looks like we'll be paying the bills and 13 everything else, and executive session, right? All 14 right, let's go to paying the bills -- 15 MRS. DOSS: No bills, Sir. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: -- 4.1. 17 MRS. DOSS: No bills. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: No bills to pay. 19 4.2 budget amendments. 20 MRS. DOSS: No budget amendments. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: No budget amendments. 22 4.3 late bills. 23 MRS. DOSS: No late bills. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: No late bills. 25 4.4 approve and accept monthly reports. 86 1 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes, Sir. Unless 2 otherwise indicated the reports are for the month of 3 December, 2017. They include J.P. Precinct Number 1, 4 J.P. Precinct Number 2, Constable Precinct Number 1, 5 Kerr Animal Services. Also have a monthly report for 6 the month of November, 2017, from Kerr Animal Services. 7 I move to approve the reports as presented, 8 and sign where needed. I don't believe any signatures 9 are required, but in case I missed one place. So that's 10 my motion. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved by Commissioner 13 Reeves, seconded by Commissioner Belew to approve the 14 monthly reports that Commissioner Reeves read into the 15 record, and to sign where required. Is there any 16 further discussion or comment? If not, those in favor 17 of the motion signify by raising their right hands. 18 It's four zero, unanimous. 19 4.5 Auditor reports. 20 MRS. DOSS: None, Sir. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: None. All right, 5.1 22 reports from Commissioners/liaison committee assignments 23 as per attached. Anything? 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think January 1st 25 went into effect for library cards being available to 87 1 everybody in the County, County providing Animal Control 2 services throughout the County, so that's going well. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Good deal, thank you. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We'll have a Historical 5 Commission event at Kerr Arts and Cultural Center this 6 Saturday. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: Describe it. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I wish I could. I just 9 know I have to be there. I'll be there at 2 p.m. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay, those that want to be 11 there for Commissioner Belew to support him be there at 12 2 p.m. this Saturday at the Kerr Arts and Cultural 13 Center. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Julie said to be there, 15 and I'll be there. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay, I understand. All 17 right, anybody else have anything? I don't. No? All 18 right, reports from -- 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Trolinger raised his 20 hand -- or no, I'm sorry. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: Jonathan. 22 MR. TROLINGER: I apologize, I was trying to 23 jump in before the Sheriff. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: You have anything to report 25 on? 88 1 MR. TROLINGER: I do when you call 2 department heads and officials, yes, Sir. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Reports from elected 4 officials and department heads. 5 MR. TROLINGER: Thank you. I apologize for 6 not being in here, we're still in crisis mode. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: Listen, when you weren't 8 here there were lots of laurels handed out to you, so 9 you're ahead of the game. If I were you I'd sit down. 10 MR. TROLINGER: I wanted to give a brief 11 report about the social justice campaign with Nelson. 12 Commissioner Letz called me -- or left a voice mail for 13 me New Year's weekend, and I wanted to make sure the 14 Court new that from the IT perspective what I've done to 15 respond. Basically, we were receiving a whole bunch of 16 e-mails, Commissioner Letz said what can you do to help. 17 And you know, I've got dogs, y'all have dogs, I'm 18 sure -- I know -- 19 JUDGE POLLARD: I don't. 20 MR. TROLINGER: We're dog people. I know I 21 took my dogs running this morning after I fed them, and 22 they live in the house, and dogs mean a lot the me. So 23 when I saw this, I thought what can I do to help. So I 24 helped with the -- after the letter a response to the 25 petitions to all these e-mails that were coming in, I 89 1 basically found a way to automate to grab all these 2 names and addresses and respond to each and every person 3 that sent the County an e-mail. And that's why I wanted 4 to make sure that y'all knew that we've responded to 5 every single person that sent us an e-mail. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What is a standard 7 response, or what? 8 MR. TROLINGER: It was a letter that 9 Commissioner Letz, and I think Reeves had worked on that 10 weekend, and they worked many hours over the New Year's 11 weekend, and worked with the County Attorney, thank you, 12 to draft a response letter, so the lights were on. We 13 were working on New Year's. And basically we started 14 sending out these responses as they came in, and we 15 received a lot of good replies. I mean people that said 16 thank you for responding and letting me know, and they 17 had more questions. And also to let you know I used it 18 -- I took advantage of it to put a little advertisement 19 at the bottom of each of these responses that said, 20 here's how to adopt, go to the Kerr County Animal 21 Services website, and you know, go here to Facebook, and 22 I don't know if that will help, but I think it brought 23 us a lot of attention, and I was hoping that we could 24 use that attention to maybe adopt some more animals. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 90 1 MR. TROLINGER: And that's all I have. 2 Thank you. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Were you going to say 4 anything about over at the Appraisal District, and what 5 you did there -- 6 MR. TROLINGER: We had -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Briefly. 8 MR. TROLINGER: -- a big, big problem at the 9 Appraisal District, and we've moved the -- the 10 operations, the server operations here to the 11 courthouse, and I'm helping the Appraisal District 12 recover from their disaster. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What would have been 14 the worst case scenario for that? Was there a backup 15 there with all their data? 16 MR. TROLINGER: We have a backup here at the 17 courthouse that runs on a regular basis. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 19 MR. TROLINGER: And we also had the live 20 date. The servers were not destroyed, they weren't 21 unavailable, they were just compromised. So we took all 22 the precautions to shut them down basically. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So all the backup for 24 them is over here? 25 MR. TROLINGER: We do have backups here yes, 91 1 Sir. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: By compromised you mean 4 certain information was obtained by somebody not with 5 the Appraisal District that they weren't supposed to 6 get, or what? 7 MR. TROLINGER: Now, Judge Pollard, that is 8 still to be determined, and I've recommended that the 9 Appraisal District hire a consultant to help with that 10 to determine if any data was stolen from the servers, or 11 from the individual computers like, you know, maybe an 12 address book, or personal information, and that's yet to 13 be determined if that happened to the Appraisal District 14 network. But the compromise where normally you read 15 about ransom where the servers or the computers are held 16 for ransom. That was not the case in instance. It was 17 something more nefarious where the servers were being 18 used, or the computers more than likely, were being used 19 to send spam e-mail out to people all over the world. 20 And that was really the thing that we needed to do was 21 to cut them off from the internet and get them offline. 22 That was urgent thing to do. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: How did that happen? 24 MR. TROLINGER: Someone clicked on a link in 25 an e-mail. And we receive lots and lots of them here at 92 1 the courthouse. And the small organizations that have 2 10 or 11 computers, they just don't have the resources 3 to protect their networks, and when that happens they 4 just don't know what to do, and that's what happened at 5 the Appraisal District. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think that's a 7 message there. I think we all -- not just countywide, 8 but personal get e-mails, click on this and if you don't 9 recognize who it's from or what it is -- 10 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, Sir, that's right. 11 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Well, I think also a 12 comment should be even if you recognize the name, think 13 about why you're getting that, because when I got an 14 e-mail from Mrs. Doss saying that the bill I needed to 15 pay or was past due, that kindly, you know, rang a bell 16 that I don't think I owe the Auditor any money. And it 17 sure is not past due. So all I'm saying is think about 18 it. And the same way if you get one from me saying it's 19 past due, just leave cash, don't click on it. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now, John, can't you 21 take your cursor and hover it over the sending e-mail 22 and see where it really came from? 23 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, in some cases. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And shouldn't they be 25 taught that? 93 1 MR. TROLINGER: In some cases you can do a 2 little bit of forensics or analyses yourself, but really 3 the key is just not to click on the link. Here 4 fortunately, we have a larger network, and I've got a 5 System's Administrator, and we have multiple layers of 6 protection, so when you do click on the link something 7 bad does not happen immediately. But it's -- there's a 8 lot of work that goes into making the network secure in 9 that way to protect against this very nefarious and very 10 effective campaign, e-mail campaign. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Mayor. 12 MAYOR WHITE: Can I ask if there's a need 13 for a public service announcement. I don't know how 14 long this compromise or where it was, or I wasn't aware 15 of it, so I don't know if there's a need to alert. 16 We've been receiving at the City periodically some 210 17 area codes with nothing in the subject, and I 18 immediately -- we've been instructed to do not open 19 those. We got a reference from IT instructing us not to 20 open those, so is there a public service announcement we 21 perhaps need to look at through our public information 22 about this? 23 MR. TROLINGER: That's a good idea. Would 24 you like me to draft something up about the e-mail 25 campaign? 94 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I think it would be 2 good. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 4 MR. TROLINGER: Good, I'll do it. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 6 MR. TROLINGER: Thank you. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Thank you. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Let's see, the 9 last one is reports from boards, commissions and 10 committees. City/County joint project or operations 11 reports. Anything else? 12 All right, if not then we're going to go 13 into closed session. 14 (Executive Session.) 15 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, we're back in 16 open session. It's about 8 minutes after 12 noon now. 17 Is there any more business for the Commissioners' Court 18 to consider at this time? Anybody have anything? 19 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I have none. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Nothing. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: You have anything? 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: No, Sir. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: We're adjourned. 24 25 95 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, do hereby certify that 6 the above and foregoing pages contain and comprise a 7 true and correct transcription of the proceedings had in 8 the above-entitled Commissioners' Court. 9 Dated this the 18th day of December, A.D. 10 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