1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Special Session 5 Thursday, November 1, 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 1.1 Pay Bills. 3 4 1.4 Approve Payroll. 4 5 1.5 Consider, discuss and approve agreement 4 for the operations, administration and 6 job description for the Victims' Rights Coordinator. 7 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 7 8 action to accept the Victims' Rights Coordinator Grant No. 2781404. 9 1.7 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 10 10 action regarding holiday lighting for 2018-2019. 11 *** Adjourned. 21 12 *** Reporter's Certificate. 22 13 * * * * * * 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, it's November 2 first, 2018. It's about 9 a.m., Kerr County 3 Commissioners' Court is in session. This is a special 4 bill pay day thanks to our illustrious Texas Attorney 5 General. We're going to get started. We got an agenda 6 to get through. 7 Item 1.1 pay the bills. 8 MRS. DOSS: Okay. The Kerr County bills for 9 fiscal year 17-18 total $63,557.77. Kerr County fiscal 10 year 18-19 total $672,940.81. Juvenile Probation fiscal 11 year 17-18 total $2,388.53. Juvenile Probation fiscal 12 year 18-19 $576.10. Airport for fiscal year 17-18 13 totals $2,229.96. Airport for fiscal year 18-19 totals 14 $2,822.65. Adult Probation for fiscal year 18-19 total 15 $4,881.08. And for Fund 88, which is the County 16 Attorney Hot Check Fund, total is $429.00. 17 The grand total is $749,825.90. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Make a motion that we 19 pay the bills as presented. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved by Commissioner 22 Precinct 3, seconded by Commissioner Precinct 2 to pay 23 the bills as submitted in the agenda package, and 24 authorize the Treasurer to make the distribution of 25 payments. Any further comment or discussion? There 4 1 being none, those in favor of the motion signify by 2 raising your right hand. It's four zero, unanimous. 3 One abstention, myself. 4 Item 1.2 budget amendments? 5 MRS. DOSS: None, Sir. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Item 1.3 late bills? 7 MRS. DOSS: None, Sir. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: Item 1.4 approve payroll? 9 MRS. DOSS: Yes. Total payroll for this pay 10 period is $756,671.53, and this does include once a 11 month payment to TCDRS of $221,079.73. 12 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Make a motion to 13 approve payroll as presented. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved by Commissioner 16 Precinct 4, seconded by Commissioner Precinct 3 to 17 approve the payroll, and authorize the payments of 18 payroll. Any further comment or discussion? There 19 being none, those in favor signify by raising your right 20 hands. Are you raising your right hand, Mr. Belew? 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Uh-huh. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Thank you. It's four zero, 23 unanimous. One abstention, myself. 24 Item 1.5 consider, discuss and approve 25 agreement for the operations, administration and job 5 1 description for the Victims' Rights Coordinator. 2 Commissioner Letz. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I haven't received 4 anything on any of those from the standpoint of 5 documents. You know -- 6 MRS. WILKE: I sent a final draft to HR 7 yesterday as far as the job description that Heather got 8 in line and put together. It didn't get to Dawn until 9 late afternoon yesterday. 10 MRS. LANTZ: This is what I received. And 11 Heather reviewed it, I looked at it, and we agreed that 12 it is within the scope of the job. Those are just my 13 notes of the current salary that's being paid now, but I 14 don't have anything to do with the grant information. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Umm -- 16 JUDGE POLLARD: You need time to study it? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean there's supposed 18 to be an agreement also. 19 MR. MONROE: Heather was drafting that. 20 MRS. WILKE: I asked her about that 21 yesterday, and she said that that would happen after 22 today. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean we can't take 24 action on this item because we don't have an agreement, 25 and the job description that I've looked at -- and I do 6 1 have a concern on the job description, and this is 2 something maybe I'm off base on. I mentioned to 3 Judge-elect Kelly I was looking through our payroll, and 4 in some detail like I usually do, and looked at how 5 little some of our employees make, and we need to make 6 sure this position is being paid comparable to what 7 they're doing in other offices. I mean the way it's set 8 up right now, that person is being paid more than 9 department heads, quite a few of our department heads. 10 And that job has changed a lot since the last round. 11 It's becoming much more of -- as I understand it, you 12 know, from discussing that with the D.A.'s primarily, 13 it's much more of a -- it's above a clerical job, but 14 it's not outreach. I mean it's, you know, a combination 15 of a -- I mean you're getting information, providing 16 information to victims, and keeping track of it and 17 reporting. So I think we need to look at that job 18 description and pay to make sure it's comparable to 19 other employees, and maybe it is. It just seems to me 20 when we're looking at it compared to other positions, it 21 may be a little bit high. 22 MRS. LANTZ: Currently what's budgeted when 23 it was budgeted this past year before the grant, that 24 salary is less than department heads, I believe, as I 25 notated on the top of that corner. Each 198th and 216th 7 1 are each paying a portion right now, and those are those 2 portions which total -- I think the yearly amount which 3 I added on there. I don't know what was approved for 4 the grant, so I can't tell you what the difference is. 5 But that is way less than that position's ever been paid 6 in the past. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that may be. And 8 what the grant says to me is irrelevant. I mean from 9 the standpoint of what we pay. We pay what we need to 10 pay for the job. And this is fine, I mean I -- 11 MRS. LANTZ: This is comparable to a chief 12 deputy pay, a 19-1, pretty close to that, so if that 13 gives you any indication of what the salary is. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I haven't looked at it. 15 I mean I don't see how we can take action on that 16 part -- I mean the next part. I mean we're certainly 17 moving in the right direction. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: So no action on item 1.5 for 19 the present, is that agreed? 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, I agree. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't see that we can 22 do it if we don't have it. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: Going on to 1.6 consider, 24 discuss and take appropriate action to accept the 25 Victims' Rights Coordinator Grant No. 2781404. 8 1 Commissioner Letz. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we're obviously 3 moving in the right direction. Everyone seems to be on 4 the same page, so I'll make a motion that we accept the 5 Victims' Rights Coordinator Grant No. 2781404, but 6 there's no authority to pursue -- I mean hiring and 7 everything else until all the agreements and job 8 descriptions are finalized and approved by the Court. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Is there a second? 10 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Second, with a 11 question. So what you're saying is in order to ensure a 12 place in line for the grant we're going to accept it, 13 but that doesn't mean we might ever take a penny out of 14 it. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I hope we do. 16 COMMISSIONER REEVES: But I guess to back 17 up, the grant spelled out certain things, and we may 18 need to seek to be able to amend that grant, lower 19 salaries, whatever. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. And I think 21 Brenda has been in conversation with the State office 22 that oversees it, and they're fairly flexible, as I 23 understand it, with allowing us to modify job 24 descriptions, and work, and things of that nature. And 25 you know, it appears to me we probably won't spend the 9 1 full amount, but we don't know that yet. 2 MRS. DOSS: And it is a two-year grant, so 3 we have two years to -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And then we may spend 5 less the first half, and obviously the idea is to hire a 6 second person down the road, so -- 7 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I'm fine with that. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, the second is -- 10 you're satisfied with it? 11 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Yes. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, it's been moved 13 by Commissioner Precinct 3, seconded by Commissioner 14 Precinct 4 to approve item 1.6 of the agenda and that is 15 to accept the the Victims' Rights Coordinator Grant 16 No. 2781404. Is there any further comment or question? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a comment. I 18 know that Heather's out of town a good part of this week 19 and trying to get all the Court together has been a 20 little bit difficult, but I don't see any reason why we 21 can't, you know, go the right direction. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, I agree. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, those in favor of 24 the motion signify by raising your right hands. It's 25 four zero, unanimous. One abstention, myself. 10 1 Item 1.7 consider, discuss and take 2 appropriate action regarding holiday lighting for 3 2018-2019. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You can go to work. 5 MRS. WILKE: Thank you. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or you can stay here and 7 help us with holiday lighting if you want. 8 MR. MONROE: You were supposed to say I 9 needed to stay, but she's already typed it up that I can 10 go now, so it's time to get out of here. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 1.7 holiday lighting. I 12 think most of the Court knows this, but I think we need 13 to figure out what we're going to do a little bit. The 14 Cailloux Foundation last week decided they weren't going 15 to participate in the lighting of the courthouse in any 16 fashion. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Because of the change 18 in the map. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But we sent the -- we 20 revised -- I talked to -- it was sent the other map, and 21 they just said no, they just have no interest in doing 22 it. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Because of the change, 24 or just in general? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I was -- I heard on the 11 1 street, and that's for what it's worth, that it was 2 because of comments made during Commissioners' Court on 3 that item. So anyway, you know -- 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, what was the 5 comment? Because I thought the map change was -- 6 JUDGE POLLARD: What did you hear on the 7 street? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That the comment that 9 was -- I don't know what the comment was, but I 10 understand it was something Commissioner Belew said, and 11 I'm not sure what Commissioner Belew said exactly that 12 would include difficult, and I don't know if that's 13 accurate, that's just what I heard. Bottom line is 14 they're not going to participate in any way. We have -- 15 we have a signed agreement with them, but they called 16 and cancelled it, and went through their attorney they 17 cancelled it, and as I understand it, it was cancelled 18 by the Cailloux family. David Jackson was a little bit 19 surprised. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Question. Is there a 21 cancellation clause in it, in the contract? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I don't think we'd 23 try to enforce the contract. I mean if they don't want 24 to do it, they don't want to do it. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Kind of involuntary. 12 1 JUDGE POLLARD: Hold on just a minute. 2 Maybe we just need to hire somebody to get this done 3 independently, and establish our damages, and then 4 enforce the contract. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would not be in favor 6 of going down that road. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: That's what usually happens 8 when somebody breaks a contract. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I'm not sure -- 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That may have long-term 11 ramifications. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And also I'm not sure 13 before I can fully respond to that, I'd have to find out 14 where we were with Heather, because she was the one in 15 communication with David Jackson, who represents the 16 Cailloux family and the Cailloux Foundation. And you 17 know, so at this point we don't have an agreement. 18 I have not reached out to talk to either 19 Sandra or Ken Cailloux to find out why, and my initial 20 reaction was to do that, but if they don't want to do 21 it, they don't want to do it. It's their right. The 22 way I look at them, I'm disappointed, and I wish they 23 would tell us why, but that's up to them. So that's 24 kind of where we are. 25 I talked to Shane a little bit, you know, I 13 1 think that we really need to have the courthouse lit, 2 and I think it's a -- too many other groups including 3 the Christmas parade, the large Christmas tree, I think 4 it's a -- community depends on it. I have sent an email 5 to George Eychner, who is with the Christmas Lighting 6 Committee and he'd told me previously, before the 7 Cailloux's said they weren't going to do it, that they 8 had money in their account, which they'd be willing to 9 help with, and a couple volunteers. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What is it that we need 11 done that maintenance can't do? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I really think 13 maintenance, there may be some lights we need. I mean 14 my personal thought would be that we hang the wreaths on 15 the courthouse like we've done. Maintenance would then 16 do perimeter lighting on the top of the annex of the 17 courthouse and around the gazebo. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Trees. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And then light the 20 trunks of as many of the trees as we can. I don't think 21 we have the time or expertise right now to get lights up 22 into the trees. And then we have 13 Christmas trees? 23 MR. EVANS: Yes, Sir. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And then I think we take 25 and find a spot and put -- and they have lighting on 14 1 them, put some of them out, maybe not all. I think 2 maybe 13 is probably too many. I think maybe some -- 3 there's like a hole kind of landscaping out here in this 4 corner on the Earl Garrett and Main Street corner, maybe 5 put a group of the Christmas trees there. No big 6 displays. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: How about the nativity 8 scene? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's not ours; it's 10 done by the Lutheran Church. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Was that part of the 12 Cailloux's? 13 COMMISSIONER REEVES: No. In my history 14 they have set it up on their own. They've done 15 everything on their own on that. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I did talk to 17 Commissioner Belew a little bit, and if the -- a good 18 spot for the menorah may be on the other -- I think it's 19 a good spot anyway, but outside the parking lot kind of 20 on the corner on this side. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The opposite corner 22 from the manger scene? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the reason is, 24 that's TxDOT right of way, even though it's kind of -- 25 that way kind of keeps the hands length from the County, 15 1 which is probably a good thing, instead of same as the 2 manger. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Even if it's on County 4 property, you know, so be it. Our policy said a given 5 time and a given place, approval by the Court, so a 6 given time and a given place approved by the Court, 7 period. I don't think we oughta sneak around and say 8 let's put it on highway property; let's put it on County 9 property if it's the best place. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, that's a 11 precedent we've already done with the manger scene. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's fine. But still 13 the policy says we can put things that we want, when we 14 want them, we're just avoiding conflict, so whatever. 15 I'm not saying what the solution should be, but we 16 oughta stick to our policy. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Leave it up to them. 18 But I think we need to give Maintenance direction 19 primarily as to we want them to do this, because this is 20 not something that we had planned on. 21 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And I think one thing 22 we need to think, maintenance has a lot going on, but we 23 need to authorize comp time if necessary, because we're 24 basically two weeks off from the parade, so if they need 25 to work this weekend and next weekend on this, I think 16 1 we oughta authorize their comp time. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Uh-huh, or whatever. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think it needs to 4 be -- really we've got a week to get it done because the 5 following week we have the veterans parade, and 6 something needs to be done, but as much as we can get 7 done as possible would be great. And Shane -- and I 8 know Shane's already talked to Wells Fargo that does the 9 Christmas parade. 10 MR. EVANS: Yes, Sir. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He's coordinated with 12 that, and he's been in contact with KPUB about the big 13 Christmas tree, so that kind of worked. Those are the 14 three components. You've got the parade, which is 15 sponsored by Wells Fargo and sort of the City, the big 16 Christmas tree, which is KPUB, and we'll be responsible 17 for the actual lights on the courthouse square. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So you talked about 19 generally in lighting through most of the stuff, maybe 20 80 percent of what you're talking about, a few Christmas 21 trees not being put up. What would it take to do the 22 whole thing? 23 JUDGE POLLARD: To hire somebody. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have no idea. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We have the reindeer 17 1 and the sleigh. What else? Don't we own that? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's owned by the 3 Christmas Lighting Corporation, but we can use it. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But we store it. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. We can use it. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, Shane. 7 MR. EVANS: The reindeer, we've already went 8 through that. The reindeer, there's controllers on it 9 because they look like they're moving or whatever. The 10 the controller box is out, and some of that stuff is a 11 $160.00 to replace. Some of it's nearly a $600.00 12 controller box that has to be replaced before it will 13 even work, and that stuff is not even ours. But we can 14 utilize it, but we'd have to repair it. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The feeling of the -- 16 I've talked to George and Kyle Bond about that stuff. 17 They think it's pretty much junk at this point. It's 18 just that it's old technology, it's not LED and it 19 hasn't been used the past couple years. The things that 20 were put up last year were owned by the Cailloux's, 21 which obviously we're not going to have this year. I 22 suspect that stuff will be across from the courthouse 23 square onto their property, but I don't know that. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What do they own? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Didn't they have a 18 1 sleigh? 2 MR. EVANS: They had a sleigh with reindeer. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Big Christmas balls. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A sleigh with reindeer, 5 and yeah, big Christmas balls. You know, I think the -- 6 I think we do as much as we can. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's all I'm saying, 8 do as much as we can. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And do as much as we 10 can, and try to get it looking as good as we can, and 11 that's all we can do at this point. Anyway, I'll just 12 make -- on a dollar-wise, we'll see how much the 13 Christmas Lighting Corporation has left. I think lights 14 are not that expensive, so I think we could, you know, 15 hopefully they'll have the funds that we need to do 16 that. I think Shane can use his budget to purchase some 17 things that he needs to complete the project. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: I want to go on record 19 saying that I think it's pretty cavalier on their part 20 at this stage of the game to renege on the contract, and 21 breach the contract in my opinion. We have contracts 22 for specific purposes, and that is for people to live up 23 to them, and if we don't live up to it, I'm pretty sure 24 they'd want to enforce it as to us. I'm in favor of 25 having the County Attorney look at it when she comes 19 1 back, and if there's a way to enforce that contract, I 2 think we need to proceed, and notify them that they've 3 breached the contract and we're going to incur damages 4 on it, and they will be enforced. That's my opinion, 5 and that's what I think we need to do. I think then we 6 go ahead and do all the stuff that you're wanting to do 7 here, that's fine, but we need to keep a record. If we 8 have to hire extra people to come in, or authorize comp 9 time, all that needs to be -- careful records kept of 10 it, because that's our damages. I say let's enforce the 11 damn contract. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- and I don't 13 disagree with what you're saying, Judge. I think the 14 question was with the contract signed by the Cailloux's 15 did not have the map attached when they signed it. And 16 when we sent a revised map over, that was a -- they were 17 looking at a counter, and then they rejected it, even 18 though -- 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: They rejected it, but 20 we went back to the original map. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And they still rejected 22 it. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So it wasn't because of 24 the map. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: No. 20 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think it was 2 because of the map. And I agree with you, Judge, it's 3 just -- 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's about the menorah. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: I mean this really puts us 6 in a spot here at this particular time, this short time 7 before Christmas, this is really a bad situation. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree. But anyway, 9 I'll make a motion, and I don't disagree with anything 10 you said, Judge, but I'll make a motion to authorize the 11 Maintenance Department to proceed with Christmas 12 lighting of the courthouse square, and that includes 13 comp time, if necessary, and expenditure of funds within 14 the budget, if necessary. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Been moved by Commissioner 17 Letz Precinct 3 to proceed as outlined by -- since the 18 Cailloux's have reneged on the contract, to proceed with 19 whatever we can through Maintenance as described by 20 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Precinct 1. 21 Any further discussion? 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'd like to amend the 23 motion to also have the County Attorney look into the 24 contractual obligations associated therewith. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I accept that. 21 1 JUDGE POLLARD: You accept that. Does the 2 second accept it? 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes, Sir. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Those in favor 5 of that motion signify by raising your right. It's 5 6 zero. No abstentions this time, okay. 7 All right, anything else? Any more other 8 business for the Commissioners' Court at this time? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I hope not. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: Yes, Ma'am. 11 MRS. DOSS: I just wanted to clarify on item 12 1.6 so I can go ahead and accept the grant and move 13 forward with setting up the budget, etc. And then we 14 will revise the budget as need be. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We'll revise the budget 16 as soon as they come up with an agreement that includes 17 who is on that oversight committee, which I think 18 there's some discussion internally with some of the 19 members that we have recommended. But in my opinion the 20 Judge-elect Kelly, the Sheriff, and the County Attorney 21 and both DA's. 22 (Off the record.) 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are we adjourned? 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, we're adjourned. 25 * * * * * * 22 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 Court Reporter in and for Kerr County, do hereby certify 6 that the above and foregoing pages contain and comprise 7 a true and correct transcription of the proceedings had 8 in the above-entitled Commissioners' Court. 9 Dated this the 7th day of November, A.D. 10 2018. 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