1 1 2 3 4 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 5 Mass Gathering Hearing 6 Thursday, December 20, 2018 7 9:22 a.m. 8 Commissioners' Courtroom 9 Kerr County Courthouse 10 Kerrville, Texas 78028 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 PRESENT: TOM POLLARD, Kerr County Judge HARLEY BELEW, Commissioner Precinct 1 25 TOM MOSER, Commissioner Precinct 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Precinct 3 2 1 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Now I declare 2 the public hearing open on the Mass Gathering Permit. 3 Let's start with the Sheriff. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I have reviewed their 5 permit application and nothing's changed since last 6 year. We already have most of the security schedule 7 filled. There will be off-duty officers out there the 8 entire time, the County Sheriff's Office command trailer 9 will also be out there, and I don't have any problem at 10 all with the application the way it is, or the security 11 and law enforcement end of it. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. I'm reviewing 13 the file, too. And I see that there is a letter from 14 Texas Health and Human Services dated December 6, 2018 15 addressed to me, the County Judge, signed by Lillian 16 Ringsdorf, MD, MPH, she's the Regional Medical Director 17 of Health Authority for Kerr County, and she says that 18 everything's hunky dory, and it complies with the 19 statute as far as she's concerned. 20 All right, I also find in the file, let's 21 see, an application for Mass Gathering permit, and I 22 find after reviewing it that it meets the requirements 23 of the statute, that it has all of the requirements in 24 it that the statute delineates, and I think -- let's 25 see, is there anybody else wishing to -- 3 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I believe I was 2 designated by the Court to investigate it, and I'll just 3 read the letter that I'll present to you in a moment, 4 Judge. It's related to the Mass Gathering Permit for 5 the Junior District Livestock Show, and as of November 6 26, 2018 Commissioners' Court meeting I was designated 7 as the person who would be in charge of investigating 8 preparations for the above-mentioned event, pursuant to 9 Health Safety Code 751.005C. And District Livestock 10 Show has been held in Kerr -- Kerrville for over seven 11 decades and to date there have been no major incidents 12 involving public fire safety. I reviewed the 13 application and have determined that they have adequate 14 capability to alert the public of a fire emergency by 15 way of announcement from a public address system, as 16 well as security staff by radios. Security staff has 17 also been instructed to ensure the appropriate safety 18 procedures are being observed. The application also 19 states that there is an adequate fire suppression system 20 throughout the premises as well as fire extinguishers in 21 all buildings. 22 Based on the above-mentioned information, I 23 believe the minimum standards for ensuring public fire 24 safety in order as prescribed by state and local laws, 25 rules, and orders will be maintained. Commissioner 4 1 Letz. There you go. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: You just read your report 3 into the record, but it's in writing dated December 4 20th. The Court admits your report into evidence. 5 Also, the Court will admit Dr. Ringsdorf's report and 6 letter dated December 6th into evidence, and the Court 7 does take judicial knowledge of the application for Mass 8 Gathering permit, and I will now read the order. 9 On this, the 20th day of December, 2018 and 10 after the due notice of hearing as required by law, came 11 on to be heard the application for Mass Gathering permit 12 filed by Hill Country District Junior Livestock Show. 13 The undersigned, after hearing and considering of the 14 matters filed, and the receipt of any testimony 15 concerning same, is of the opinion and so find that the 16 application is in due form, and contains the matters as 17 required by law that due notice of this hearing has been 18 given as required by law, that all investigations and 19 reports as required by section 751.005 of the Health and 20 Safety Code have been performed and reports thereon 21 submitted, and that all matters and reports submitted 22 establish that a Mass Gathering Permit should be 23 approved and issued. 24 It is therefore ordered that a Mass 25 Gathering Permit is hereby issued to the Hill Country 5 1 Junior District Livestock Show for a Mass Gathering for 2 the period January 13, 2019 through January 19, 2000 -- 3 it should be 19, it had an 8 in there. For the conduct 4 of the Hill Country District Livestock Show at the Hill 5 Country Youth Event Center located at 3785 Highway 27 in 6 Kerr County, Texas. 7 All right, I'm signing the order now, this 8 20th day of December, 2018. Kind of hard towards the 9 end of the year to keep the 18's and 19's straight. 10 Anyway, all right, this hearing is 11 concluded. Thank you very much. 12 * * * * * * 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 6 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 15th day of January, A.D. 10 2019. 11 12 /s/DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD Certified Shorthand Reporter 13 No. 953 Expiration Date 12/31/2020 14 * * * * * * 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25