1 09:04AM 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Special Session 5 Thursday, March 21, 2019 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 PRESENT: ROB KELLY, Kerr County Judge 23 HARLEY BELEW, Commissioner Precinct 1 TOM MOSER, Commissioner Precinct 2 24 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Precinct 3 25 2 1 INDEX 2 NO. Page 3 1.1 Pay Bills 3 4 1.2 Budget Amendment 4 5 1.4 Payroll 5 6 1.5 Court Orders 6 7 2.1 Reports regarding Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments 15 8 2.2 Reports regarding Elected Officials/ 9 Department Heads a) Tax Assessor Collector 7 10 11 ****** 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 09:04AM 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. The Kerr County 09:04AM 2 Commissioners' Court is now in session. This is our 09:05AM 3 bill pay. This is Thursday, March 21st, 2019. It's a 09:05AM 4 little bit after 9 o'clock. I apologize for my 09:05AM 5 tardiness. 09:05AM 6 The first item on the agenda is to pay the 09:05AM 7 bills. 09:05AM 8 MRS. JOHNSON: Good morning. 09:05AM 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Go ahead. I thought 09:05AM 10 she wasn't here. 09:05AM 11 JUDGE KELLY: No, she's here. 09:05AM 12 MRS. JOHNSON: At Kerr County we have 09:05AM 13 $601 -- 09:05AM 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 601,000. 09:05AM 15 MRS. JOHNSON: I'm sorry, $601,884.44. For 09:05AM 16 other funds for the Treasure to disburse the adult 09:05AM 17 probation is $2,272.07; airport, $309.62; juvenile 09:05AM 18 probation, $17,829.58. We have Fund 51 which is 09:05AM 19 the Plateau Water Planning Region J is $205; Fund 78, 09:05AM 20 county clerk fees, $149.76; and Fund 95, $198.58; 09:06AM 21 Forfeiture Fund, $966.91. 09:06AM 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Now, I really move to 09:06AM 23 pay the bills. 09:06AM 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 09:06AM 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Commissioner Moser has 4 09:06AM 1 moved, Commissioner Letz has seconded to paying the 09:06AM 2 bills. Is there any discussion about the bills? 09:06AM 3 The only discussion I would have is we keep 09:06AM 4 getting all these requests for us to pass resolutions 09:06AM 5 about things, I am going -- can we send a resolution to 09:06AM 6 Austin saying that we would like to not have to have 09:06AM 7 this special session to pay the bills? This seems kind 09:06AM 8 of ridiculous. 09:06AM 9 But other than that, I think everybody -- 09:06AM 10 is everybody in favor of paying the bills, raise your 09:06AM 11 hand? We're paying the bills, I am just venting. I'm 09:06AM 12 not happy -- 09:06AM 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We heard that before. 09:06AM 14 JUDGE KELLY: I am not happy with what 09:06AM 15 Austin is telling us to do these days. 09:06AM 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We were remiss in not 09:06AM 17 making that comment in the last three or four sessions 09:06AM 18 so I'm glad you made it. 09:06AM 19 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.2 budget amendments. 09:06AM 20 MRS. JOHNSON: We have two. We have Road 09:07AM 21 and Bridge taking from Sutherland right-of-way and 09:07AM 22 paying it to Peterson Farm Road right-a-way. And No. 2 09:07AM 23 is animal control insurance proceeds and to their 09:07AM 24 vehicle repair and maintenance. 09:07AM 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 5 09:07AM 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move we approve the 09:07AM 2 budget amendments. 09:07AM 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 09:07AM 4 JUDGE KELLY: Commission Letz has moved and 09:07AM 5 Commissioner Moser has seconded the approval of the 09:07AM 6 budget amendments. Is there any discussion about this? 09:07AM 7 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous 4-0. 09:07AM 8 Let the record reflect that 09:07AM 9 Commissioner Harris is unable to be here today. 09:07AM 10 The next item on the agenda are -- is item 09:07AM 11 1.3 late bills. 09:07AM 12 MRS. JOHNSON: There are none. 09:07AM 13 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.4 approve payroll. 09:07AM 14 MRS. JOHNSON: Total for payroll is 09:07AM 15 $552,672.88. 09:07AM 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I move we 09:07AM 17 approve payroll as presented. 09:07AM 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 09:08AM 19 JUDGE KELLY: Commissioner Letz has moved, 09:08AM 20 Commissioner Belew has seconded to approve payroll. Any 09:08AM 21 discussion about it? Those in favor raise your hand. 09:08AM 22 Unanimous 4-0. 09:08AM 23 We are all putting our stuff up here for 09:08AM 24 you to pick up. 09:08AM 25 MRS. JOHNSON: I'll come back and get that. 6 09:08AM 1 JUDGE KELLY: We know the drill. 09:08AM 2 Item 1.5 court orders. 09:08AM 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, we do have court 09:08AM 4 orders from the March 14th, meeting. The Court ordered 09:08AM 5 Nos. 37359, 37362, 37363 and 37364. They look good to 09:08AM 6 me and I make a motion that we approve them. 09:08AM 7 JUDGE KELLY: Any further discussion about 09:08AM 8 the court orders, proposed court orders? 09:08AM 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second, second 09:08AM 10 approval. 09:08AM 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 09:08AM 12 JUDGE KELLY: Commissioner Letz has moved 09:08AM 13 and Commissioner Moser has seconded. Those in favor of 09:08AM 14 approving the court orders raise your hand. 09:08AM 15 Unanimous 4-0. That went quick. 09:08AM 16 Now, we go down to the information agenda. 09:08AM 17 We've got two of our biannual reports, one of which 09:08AM 18 today we're not going to be able to receive. The 09:09AM 19 treasurer is unable to be with us, personal reasons, but 09:09AM 20 we do have the Tax Assessor Collector. And, again, this 09:09AM 21 is a reminder that we are looking for the helicopter 09:09AM 22 view, birds-eye view. We don't want to get down in the 09:09AM 23 weeds with you unless we need to. 09:09AM 24 MR. REEVES: We're going to try not to, 09:09AM 25 Judge. 7 09:09AM 1 Good morning. What you're passing around 09:09AM 2 is the birds-eye view. 09:09AM 3 But before I begin I'd like to introduce 09:09AM 4 two of my supervisors that have accompanied me. You've 09:09AM 5 probably seen them in the office, but maybe not have got 09:09AM 6 a chance to meet them and or know where they're at. 09:09AM 7 First is Mary Gomez who is in charge of the 09:09AM 8 Motor Vehicles, and then with her is Mimi Valverde, 09:09AM 9 she's our Property Tax Supervisor. And they are both 09:09AM 10 who have kept me straight for the past four months. 09:09AM 11 The other two -- 09:09AM 12 JUDGE KELLY: Their hands have been full. 09:10AM 13 MR. REEVES: Yes, it's been a full-time 09:10AM 14 job. 09:10AM 15 The other two, I'm sure you know, Nadene 09:10AM 16 Alford, Chief Deputy and Elections Coordinator 09:10AM 17 Supervisor, as well as Karen Rothrock out at the annex 09:10AM 18 who is the substation manager there at Ingram. So I 09:10AM 19 hope to bring those two. I think you know Nadene. You 09:10AM 20 may not have had the pleasure of meeting the other ones, 09:10AM 21 but truthfully they are the ones that keep the office 09:10AM 22 running. So just wanted y'all to have the opportunity 09:10AM 23 to meet them. 09:10AM 24 Mary is worried that I have instructed her 09:10AM 25 to give a five-minute speech, but in reference to the 8 09:10AM 1 Judge, you got lucky and you don't have to do it today. 09:10AM 2 MS. GOMEZ: Good. 09:10AM 3 MR. REEVES: Just a brief -- the -- as you 09:10AM 4 well know, the budget, there's two divisions of the tax 09:10AM 5 office, elections and the tax office itself. Combined 09:11AM 6 budget $1.3 million. 09:11AM 7 In our elections division we have two 09:11AM 8 employees who in August will be awarded their Certified 09:11AM 9 Elections Registration Administrator designation. This 09:11AM 10 has been about a six-year process. It will be awarded 09:11AM 11 in Florida to Nadene Alford and Eva Washburn. They are, 09:11AM 12 in fact, in Houston today with the rest of the elections 09:11AM 13 division. Nadene and Eva are taking their final course 09:11AM 14 to receive this. It's only 1,000 people nationwide that 09:11AM 15 have it. We will have two of them in Kerrville. Which 09:11AM 16 Diane has worked very hard for them to get -- get this 09:11AM 17 award and I am very pleased that they have been able to 09:11AM 18 go through it. As I said, it's put on by Auburn 09:12AM 19 University through their master's program and it's 09:12AM 20 taught by professors from Auburn at each one of them. 09:12AM 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: They do that online 09:12AM 22 or -- 09:12AM 23 MR. REEVES: No, it's in person. There is 09:12AM 24 12 courses. The 12 courses we have tried to let them 09:12AM 25 attend when they are held in Texas. This is one of the 9 09:12AM 1 years that they are held in Texas. There's four courses 09:12AM 2 each year throughout the nation, four different courses, 09:12AM 3 and there is four being taught this week in Houston. 09:12AM 4 All of the staff is down there for the courses. So it 09:12AM 5 does take a while in watching out for the budget, they 09:12AM 6 are not having to travel all over the United States to 09:12AM 7 get them. But as we'll recall on the budget process we 09:12AM 8 did approve the money for them to travel to Florida to 09:12AM 9 get their certification in August. So we are looking 09:13AM 10 forward to that and I am very proud of them. 09:13AM 11 We have taken possession of the new voting 09:13AM 12 equipment which simply was an update of technology. It 09:13AM 13 will do basically the same process, just have a 09:13AM 14 different look. The old equipment was about 12 years 09:13AM 15 old. I think we can all understand why you need to 09:13AM 16 replace it with the technology that's involved. The 09:13AM 17 testing and acceptance of this equipment has been 09:13AM 18 completed. We have had one public test as required by 09:13AM 19 law and the second one will be the first week in April. 09:13AM 20 As you know we have an election coming up in May where 09:13AM 21 we will get to put this to use on a limited scale and 09:13AM 22 that's the City of Kerrville election. 09:13AM 23 By Nadene's promotion to chief deputy she's 09:13AM 24 also handling elections as she is well trained in that. 09:13AM 25 But we were able to, with the flowchart of the office, 10 09:14AM 1 have three -- add one more to the elections division so 09:14AM 2 we have three in there. And I foresee cutting overtime 09:14AM 3 drastically when we are having to be open 12 hours a day 09:14AM 4 during early voting by working them in three-person 09:14AM 5 shifts versus two-person shifts. During early voting we 09:14AM 6 can, I won't say eliminate overtime, but cut it down to 09:14AM 7 less than an hour a day. So I look forward to that. 09:14AM 8 Just as a calendar, early voting for the 09:14AM 9 City of Kerrville elections starts April 22nd. And by 09:14AM 10 law we will have to be open, "we" being the elections 09:14AM 11 division, three hours on Good Friday. It's the last day 09:14AM 12 to request a mail -- vote by mail for those. And Good 09:14AM 13 Friday is not a State of Texas holiday so we will have 09:15AM 14 to be open for three hours that day. Other services in 09:15AM 15 the tax office will not be open, but the elections will 09:15AM 16 be. 09:15AM 17 Property tax. The first five months of 09:15AM 18 this fiscal year we collected $47.58 million. It's an 09:15AM 19 increase of 1.6 million over the previous years same 09:15AM 20 time period. On March 5th, and I have already reported 09:15AM 21 to the Court that four properties were placed up for 09:15AM 22 auction at the courthouse door, three of those sold. 09:15AM 23 And we are in the process of getting the final one sold 09:15AM 24 through a sealed bid and through our delinquent tax 09:15AM 25 attorneys. 11 09:15AM 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How much money did we 09:15AM 2 make? 09:15AM 3 MR. REEVES: We received the taxes that we 09:15AM 4 needed. Each one brought more than -- there's excess 09:15AM 5 funds, one had property taxes owed of approximately 09:15AM 6 $19,000, it brought 85,000. The excess funds will be 09:16AM 7 held. This one was an unknown heirs. The property 09:16AM 8 owner died. Trying to find the heirs was very 09:16AM 9 difficult. We had to go in and foreclose on it. It was 09:16AM 10 a property that, also, included an environmental cleanup 09:16AM 11 fee. The previous environmental services director had 09:16AM 12 to go out and clean it up, board it up about three years 09:16AM 13 ago. We were able to recoup that money as well. That 09:16AM 14 was in the $19,000 judgment. The excess funds are held 09:16AM 15 in the custody of the district clerk. And surprisingly 09:16AM 16 there are some people claiming to be heirs now that 09:16AM 17 there's excess funds. 09:16AM 18 In the Motor Vehicle Department we finally 09:16AM 19 have a full staff. We have added two new clerks in that 09:16AM 20 department just this month, and they are in the midst of 09:17AM 21 being trained. We have implemented, I don't have it on 09:17AM 22 the list, but one of the courses -- actually, Mimi and 09:17AM 23 Mary and I were all at the same course in Waco this past 09:17AM 24 year. And they recommended for securities sake and 09:17AM 25 procedures to alternate personnel from your substations 12 09:17AM 1 and the main courthouse, and we have implemented on a 09:17AM 2 two-week basis as the time will allow. For two weeks we 09:17AM 3 will send out one of the motor vehicle clerks to Ingram, 09:17AM 4 this allows them to, also, learn cross-training on 09:17AM 5 property tax, because they have to do both there. 09:17AM 6 As of the end of 2018 Kerr County, 09:17AM 7 according to the DMV, had 59,655 vehicles registered in 09:18AM 8 Kerr County. And for the State's fiscal year, which is 09:18AM 9 one month different than ours, in 17/18, 12,872 titles 09:18AM 10 were processed in Kerr County. 09:18AM 11 So if you look at those transactions 09:18AM 12 between the number of vehicles we registered and the 09:18AM 13 titles that were processed, that's 72,000 with our 09:18AM 14 staff. So they are doing about 12,000 -- I'm sorry, 09:18AM 15 about 6,000 transactions a month. I have got six 09:18AM 16 dedicated -- full-time equivalent dedicated to the motor 09:18AM 17 vehicle, that's the five that you see when you walk in 09:18AM 18 the door here and figuring the two in Ingram are 09:19AM 19 splitting between taxes and motor vehicles, so they -- 09:19AM 20 that's six, they are doing about 1,000 transactions a 09:19AM 21 month per clerk. 09:19AM 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Golly. 09:19AM 23 MR. REEVES: So large volume that you see 09:19AM 24 there, a lot of people might look at these numbers and 09:19AM 25 say there's only 50,000 people in Kerrville, but I think 13 09:19AM 1 I can look at quite a few myself included the number of 09:19AM 2 trailers I have parked on my ranch, plus the vehicles 09:19AM 3 and everything else, so you can -- you can exceed the 09:19AM 4 registration from the population very quick. 09:19AM 5 So with that, is that a good enough 09:19AM 6 birds-eye view, Judge? 09:19AM 7 JUDGE KELLY: That's great. 09:19AM 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: One quick question. 09:19AM 9 What is the knowledge or history or whatever, I'm not 09:19AM 10 even sure what the question is, regarding farm vehicles? 09:19AM 11 You see a lot of pretty pristine vehicles running around 09:19AM 12 town that are farm vehicles, and knowing what the 09:20AM 13 restrictions are on farm vehicles, I am kind of 09:20AM 14 surprised that they don't have a scratch or two on them. 09:20AM 15 MR. REEVES: Well, I agree with that. You 09:20AM 16 have to take them at their word. If they have the 09:20AM 17 ag/timber card, that's the first thing that we ask for 09:20AM 18 that they have that. They need to know that there are 09:20AM 19 certain laws about how far from the ranch you can use 09:20AM 20 them, especially farm trailers, but you have to take 09:20AM 21 them at their word. 09:20AM 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure. 09:20AM 23 MR. REEVES: And they can skirt the issue. 09:20AM 24 If they are coming to town how do we know they are not 09:20AM 25 buying a bag of feed. 14 09:20AM 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. So DMV polices 09:20AM 2 that or... 09:20AM 3 MR. REEVES: Well, it would be more your 09:20AM 4 local law enforcement that would actually police whether 09:20AM 5 they're -- 09:20AM 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So the sheriff here 09:20AM 7 would -- 09:20AM 8 MR. REEVES: Or the police department or 09:20AM 9 constables, but how do you prove that up if you get in a 09:20AM 10 fight -- and Ms. Stebbins is having to prosecute it -- 09:21AM 11 how do you prove it up that they are actually not on 09:21AM 12 their way to the feed store and they stopped at the 09:21AM 13 grocery store. 09:21AM 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, okay. 09:21AM 15 JUDGE KELLY: Well, if she does she will 09:21AM 16 smile about it. 09:21AM 17 MS. STEBBINS: That's true. 09:21AM 18 MR. REEVES: Anything else? 09:21AM 19 JUDGE KELLY: No, but please don't leave 09:21AM 20 because I want to talk about the appraisal situation we 09:21AM 21 talked about earlier. 09:21AM 22 MR. REEVES: Okay. Very good. 09:21AM 23 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you very much. 09:21AM 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good job. 09:21AM 25 JUDGE KELLY: Well, they don't have to run 15 09:21AM 1 off. 09:21AM 2 MR. REEVES: Yeah, they do. I told them to 09:21AM 3 get back to work. 09:21AM 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. On the other part of 09:21AM 5 the information agenda do we have any 09:21AM 6 liaison/commissioner reports? 09:21AM 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Nada. 09:21AM 8 JUDGE KELLY: I have got a few. Well, just 09:21AM 9 to keep you in the loop, that's what we are trying to do 09:21AM 10 on Thursday mornings. 09:21AM 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's right. 09:21AM 12 JUDGE KELLY: And I will start with the 09:21AM 13 Juvenile Detention Center. Jason and I met with three 09:21AM 14 representatives from Youth Opportunities Incorporated 09:21AM 15 out of St. Petersburg, Florida. They have facilities 09:21AM 16 mainly in Tennessee and another one in Rockwall, Texas 09:22AM 17 here in Texas, and I think maybe another state, I can't 09:22AM 18 remember exactly. They are very interested in talking 09:22AM 19 to us about leasing, not necessarily purchasing, but 09:22AM 20 leasing the Juvenile Detention Center, both buildings. 09:22AM 21 And so that you know the two buildings combined are 09:22AM 22 about 42,500 square feet. The juvenile detention 09:22AM 23 facility itself, the locked, the secured facility, is in 09:22AM 24 pristine condition and is a real plum as far as its 09:22AM 25 availability out there on the open market. 16 09:22AM 1 The other building will need some work. 09:22AM 2 Between the two of them it represents about 71 beds. 09:22AM 3 Ideally they would like to have 100 or more, but we are 09:22AM 4 attractive enough that they want to talk to us about it. 09:22AM 5 We could extend that, we've got two temporary beds up 09:22AM 6 where the take -- intake is that we could actually 09:22AM 7 stretch it to possibly 73 by TJDD standards. But still 09:23AM 8 we are looking at about a 71-bed facility. 09:23AM 9 Bear in mind that we have furniture stored 09:23AM 10 everywhere. We have no idea where it came from or where 09:23AM 11 it belongs, but that place is full -- I don't want to 09:23AM 12 say junk, just furniture -- furniture, fixtures and 09:23AM 13 equipment, FFE. We have all of our election equipment 09:23AM 14 over there that is secure. And we did explain to them 09:23AM 15 why we have an external lock on that because that is 09:23AM 16 controlled by the elections commission and not by 09:23AM 17 juvenile probation. 09:23AM 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Do they want that part 09:23AM 19 of the building? 09:23AM 20 JUDGE KELLY: They want all of it. 09:23AM 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So we'd have to find 09:23AM 22 another home for the equipment. 09:23AM 23 JUDGE KELLY: We'd have to find another 09:23AM 24 home for the equipment and find another home for 09:23AM 25 juvenile probation department, which is not an 17 09:23AM 1 insubstantial department. Especially with their 09:23AM 2 classroom and their First Tee facility and everything 09:23AM 3 that goes along with it. They use a substantial portion 09:24AM 4 of that other building. So this is going to be another 09:24AM 5 problem that we are going to have to tackle. 09:24AM 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So out of 42,000 09:24AM 7 square feet, what percentage, ballpark, is used daily? 09:24AM 8 Forget the -- 09:24AM 9 JUDGE KELLY: Right now? 09:24AM 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Forget the furniture 09:24AM 11 storage. 09:24AM 12 JUDGE KELLY: Despite your storage? 09:24AM 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, forget the 09:24AM 14 storage. 09:24AM 15 JUDGE KELLY: I would say, I wish Jason was 09:24AM 16 here. I would say maybe 25 percent, maybe. 09:24AM 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 09:24AM 18 JUDGE KELLY. I would say, well, probably 09:24AM 19 not even half of the first building is. 09:24AM 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Just for the offices 09:24AM 21 in the first building. 09:24AM 22 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. 09:24AM 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But we also use the -- 09:24AM 24 JUDGE KELLY: But we have the First Tee in 09:24AM 25 the back part of the classroom. 18 09:24AM 1 MS. STEBBINS: There's a gym. 09:24AM 2 JUDGE KELLY: I am saying maybe half of the 09:24AM 3 first building and none of the second building. 09:24AM 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we need to make 09:24AM 5 sure that when we are looking at the proposal, if we get 09:24AM 6 a proposal, that we look at these costs. I mean, it may 09:24AM 7 be -- and any other ancillary costs that may come on 09:24AM 8 Kerr County on whether it's indigent healthcare or all 09:25AM 9 that other stuff that, you know, happens with this or 09:25AM 10 all that goes on to make sure that it's not costing us 09:25AM 11 money to rent it. 09:25AM 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Still have been 09:25AM 13 unsure -- 09:25AM 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If you lease office 09:25AM 15 space or build an office space -- 09:25AM 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. 09:25AM 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- that we're currently 09:25AM 18 using that facility, we need to make sure that for 09:25AM 19 whatever we are getting -- the inflow has to exceed our 09:25AM 20 new outflow. 09:25AM 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's a good business 09:25AM 22 deal. 09:25AM 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, we just don't 09:25AM 24 need to rent it to rent it because we have an empty 09:25AM 25 building over there. 19 09:25AM 1 JUDGE KELLY: As best as I have been able 09:25AM 2 to determine we're going to have to probably put out 09:25AM 3 some kind of RFP. We're going to have to have a 09:25AM 4 reasonable basis for what the fair market value of those 09:25AM 5 facilities are. And that means we're going to have to 09:25AM 6 get an appraisal and that's probably going to run us, at 09:25AM 7 least, five if not $10,000 just for the appraisal. 09:25AM 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: For rent you have to 09:25AM 9 do that? 09:25AM 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I thought we had an 09:25AM 11 appraisal on that. 09:25AM 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: For rent you have to 09:25AM 13 get an appraisal? 09:25AM 14 JUDGE KELLY: We have to be able to show 09:25AM 15 the fair market value of the property. 09:26AM 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We can't rent below the 09:26AM 17 property -- 09:26AM 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, I know, I think 09:26AM 19 that's what we had at the airport. Anything rented out 09:26AM 20 there has to be fair market value. 09:26AM 21 JUDGE KELLY: But I will refer to the 09:26AM 22 county attorney on it, but I know we're going to have to 09:26AM 23 have a fair market value determination. 09:26AM 24 MS. STEBBINS: That's exactly right. And 09:26AM 25 you guys in 2016, remember, adopted that policy that we 20 09:26AM 1 would avail -- the county has availed itself a couple of 09:26AM 2 times for selling real property, well at least once at 09:26AM 3 the Center Point property. And so you will be able to 09:26AM 4 do this by sealed bids if you choose, otherwise it has 09:26AM 5 to be by option, but you have to know what the fair 09:26AM 6 market value is in order to comply with the statute. 09:26AM 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So there's no 09:26AM 8 difference in selling the property and renting the 09:26AM 9 property then as far as determining -- seems like the 09:26AM 10 rental you could get for, you know, it's hard to find a 09:26AM 11 comparable one -- 09:26AM 12 MS. STEBBINS: The rule is the same, you 09:26AM 13 have to get at least fair market value. And there are 09:26AM 14 some comparable -- well, one comparable facility in the 09:26AM 15 state that Jason has been able to find a value of that 09:27AM 16 lease. 09:27AM 17 JUDGE KELLY: And it's a doubtful 09:27AM 18 comparable. 09:27AM 19 MS. STEBBINS: Right, so you have to get a 09:27AM 20 fair market value of that. 09:27AM 21 JUDGE KELLY: The overriding concern is we 09:27AM 22 have to protect the public, we are doing the arm-length 09:27AM 23 transaction with whoever we do business with, even if 09:27AM 24 it's just a lease. 09:27AM 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So that's a 21 09:27AM 1 determining factor in whether or not we proceed with 09:27AM 2 what Jonathan is talking about. You get into an 09:27AM 3 imbalance where you've got to rent -- and we, also, on 09:27AM 4 the last workshop talked about building some kind of 09:27AM 5 facility or whatever. 09:27AM 6 JUDGE KELLY: That's why I'm just following 09:27AM 7 up on the workshop. 09:27AM 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 09:27AM 9 JUDGE KELLY: This is more information to 09:27AM 10 add to the mix, Jason and I are going to meet with a 09:27AM 11 second interested prospective purchaser tomorrow at 1:00 09:27AM 12 out there after our EEOC -- 09:27AM 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: A purchaser? 09:27AM 14 JUDGE KELLY: No, probably a lessor. Now 09:27AM 15 that said, so that you can get the big picture, you know 09:27AM 16 how I love to get in a helicopter and look down at 09:27AM 17 things. As best as Jason and I can determine we see a 09:27AM 18 discernible trend at the state level to decrease the 09:28AM 19 detention capability at TJDD, and this has been going on 09:28AM 20 for a number of years. And it is our belief that what 09:28AM 21 Senator Whitmire is trying to do is regionalize juvenile 09:28AM 22 detention, to move it from state down to regions. And 09:28AM 23 we don't know exactly how, we have not seen any RFPs 09:28AM 24 from the state, but somehow this news is trickling out 09:28AM 25 to private detention operations. 22 09:28AM 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Like what happened 09:28AM 2 with our prisons. 09:28AM 3 JUDGE KELLY: Exactly. And there is now -- 09:28AM 4 we have set empty for over a year-and-a-half without so 09:28AM 5 much as a whiff of interest -- 09:28AM 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 09:28AM 7 JUDGE KELLY: -- from anyone other than 09:28AM 8 non-profits coming to us wanting us to let them use it 09:28AM 9 for free. And now we have two, at least, market-driven 09:28AM 10 operators talking to us about it. 09:29AM 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's good. 09:29AM 12 JUDGE KELLY: It is good, but, again, it's 09:29AM 13 going to be a complex mix of what all we have got to do 09:29AM 14 in order to be able to effectuate this. 09:29AM 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, well, one way to 09:29AM 16 look at it is, you know, if we were to do something like 09:29AM 17 that as revenue where as right now it's an obligation, 09:29AM 18 and non-revenue, and a concern really. When you have 09:29AM 19 empty buildings, you know, they are not doing anything 09:29AM 20 but deteriorating. 09:29AM 21 JUDGE KELLY: Let's talk about the revenue. 09:29AM 22 I have talked with Bob, the Tax Assessor Collector, 09:29AM 23 about that and that probably would be taxable revenue to 09:29AM 24 the county. 09:29AM 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 23 09:29AM 1 JUDGE KELLY: It's not -- 09:29AM 2 MR. REEVES: Well, not the revenue, Judge, 09:29AM 3 but the real estate. 09:29AM 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The property. 09:29AM 5 MR. REEVES: The property once we -- 09:29AM 6 JUDGE KELLY: When we pay the real estate 09:29AM 7 taxes on the property. 09:29AM 8 MR. REEVES: Yeah, after I had visited with 09:29AM 9 you I had an inkling that it would become taxable, as 09:29AM 10 far as the real property, simply from experience on the 09:29AM 11 Harper school board and a piece of property they had 09:30AM 12 bought. I, also, confirmed it with the chief appraiser 09:30AM 13 here and the former chief appraiser in Gillespie County. 09:30AM 14 And they both agreed that if we leased something to a 09:30AM 15 private for profit business and maybe even a nonprofit, 09:30AM 16 but if you leased it out to a nongovernmental agency, I 09:30AM 17 can put it that way, then it would create property tax 09:30AM 18 implications where it goes back to what Jonathan said 09:30AM 19 was that income and outgo must be waived. 09:30AM 20 MS. STEBBINS: Another consideration is 09:30AM 21 that there will be increased juvenile crime. And so 09:30AM 22 court involvement, prosecutor involvement, and probation 09:30AM 23 involvement if there is a juvenile detention facility 09:30AM 24 out there, because it will be post-adjudication facility 09:30AM 25 if either of these companies gets it. So it will be 24 09:31AM 1 people who are adjudicated and placed so it will be kids 09:31AM 2 who have committed some really bad crimes who will then 09:31AM 3 be out there committing additional crimes on staff and 09:31AM 4 each other. 09:31AM 5 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we'll probably send 09:31AM 6 them right back to where they are, but the bottom line 09:31AM 7 is it's going to burden the system to have to 09:31AM 8 adjudicate. 09:31AM 9 MS. STEBBINS: Yeah. 09:31AM 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 09:31AM 11 JUDGE KELLY: So in other words, when one 09:31AM 12 of the kids assaults one of the staff they have to be 09:31AM 13 processed through here. 09:31AM 14 MS. STEBBINS: The jurisdiction lies in 09:31AM 15 Kerr County. So they will come before Judge Kelly and 09:31AM 16 be prosecuted by my office and then dealt with by 09:31AM 17 probation and law enforcement. 09:31AM 18 JUDGE KELLY: If I release them back into 09:31AM 19 the community then they are our headache. 09:31AM 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, they are 09:31AM 21 juveniles they would go back home. 09:31AM 22 MS. STEBBINS: Or to another facility if 09:31AM 23 there is one, but the regionalization of these 09:31AM 24 facilities this may be it. There are lots of questions, 09:31AM 25 but at least it's a consideration of the cost of things. 25 09:31AM 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: One of the great 09:31AM 2 benefits of the Hill Country are our rehabilitation 09:32AM 3 facilities for people that have had substance abuse. 09:32AM 4 It's, also, one of the great detriments to our 09:32AM 5 community. 09:32AM 6 JUDGE KELLY: It's a double-edged sword. 09:32AM 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And so what Heather 09:32AM 8 brings up is the same exact thing. 09:32AM 9 JUDGE KELLY: Right. That's just eyes 09:32AM 10 open. 09:32AM 11 The last thing I would share on that, and I 09:32AM 12 don't know if Mr. Reeves or the Tax Assessor Collector 09:32AM 13 Mr. Reeves has any input on this, an appraisal is going 09:32AM 14 to take -- is going to evaluate three essential 09:32AM 15 approaches to that. There is replacement costs which, 09:32AM 16 obviously, we would never spend that much money to 09:32AM 17 replace those facilities. So that's not really going to 09:32AM 18 be a viable approach. There, of course, is the market 09:32AM 19 approach, the market approach is predicated upon 09:32AM 20 comparable sales, and it's very limited. There is one 09:32AM 21 facility in Brownwood that's privately owned, that the 09:32AM 22 first years lease was for $1 to rehabilitate and restore 09:32AM 23 the unit back to viability. And now they have, I think, 09:33AM 24 $8,500 a month or so at this point for, which I consider 09:33AM 25 to be a substantially reduced market rate. So I am not 26 09:33AM 1 sure how far we are going to get with a market approach. 09:33AM 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now, this one out here 09:33AM 3 doesn't need any remodeling. 09:33AM 4 JUDGE KELLY: No, absolutely, that's why we 09:33AM 5 don't think we're comparable to Brownwood. 09:33AM 6 The other approach is the income approach, 09:33AM 7 which would probably be the approach that our appraisal 09:33AM 8 would take would be my guess on this thing. And we will 09:33AM 9 get an opinion back from a real estate professional 09:33AM 10 probably. If we did it here locally our local MAI is -- 09:33AM 11 do y'all know what MAI stands for? 09:33AM 12 MR. REEVES: It's not made as instructed, 09:33AM 13 Judge. 09:33AM 14 JUDGE KELLY: Made as instructed, that's 09:33AM 15 what we tease about. But that's the national 09:33AM 16 certification for appraisers, is Billy Snow, and he 09:33AM 17 would do an analysis as to what he believes would be a 09:33AM 18 reasonable income off of that property, to give us some 09:34AM 19 guidelines. Because other than that -- 09:34AM 20 MR. REEVES: If I may? 09:34AM 21 JUDGE KELLY: Sure. 09:34AM 22 MR. REEVES: I went to talk to Billy 09:34AM 23 yesterday. He was -- at the judge's direction I went to 09:34AM 24 talk to him and he was out, but as I mentioned I talked 09:34AM 25 to the former chief appraiser in Gillespie County, 27 09:34AM 1 David Oehler, who has since he's retired has made -- 09:34AM 2 he's a certified appraiser not an MAI, but has made a 09:34AM 3 pretty good career out of trouble shooting across the 09:34AM 4 state on weird assignments whether it's appraisal 09:34AM 5 districts that are in trouble, utility companies, but 09:34AM 6 weird assignments. So I took the liberty to call David 09:34AM 7 and he said he would prepare a quote for the appraisal 09:34AM 8 as well. 09:34AM 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 09:34AM 10 MR. REEVES: And this will -- I visited 09:34AM 11 with the other appraiser in town Mr. Gibson, Bret 09:35AM 12 Gibson, I think we all know him. He wasn't willing to 09:35AM 13 accept the assignment, but he did mention some other 09:35AM 14 names outside of Kerrville who kind of specialize in 09:35AM 15 weird, unique properties. Unfortunately, most of the 09:35AM 16 ones I knew are getting up in years who never minded to 09:35AM 17 go appraise a refinery or a factory of some type which I 09:35AM 18 equate to a detention center. I mean, they don't sale 09:35AM 19 on a regular basis, but you use your expertise and 09:35AM 20 qualifications to come up with a reasonable value. The 09:35AM 21 nice thing about an appraisal, it will give what they 09:35AM 22 believe the fair market rent is within the appraisal as 09:35AM 23 the judge was talking about an income approach. So we 09:35AM 24 would have the best of both worlds. We would have an 09:36AM 25 indication what we should rent it for as well as what 28 09:36AM 1 its value on the open market would be. 09:36AM 2 JUDGE KELLY: And that's important because 09:36AM 3 one of the representatives they sent was the chief 09:36AM 4 operating officer out of St. Petersburg, Florida, who 09:36AM 5 pretty much stayed on my hip the whole time we went 09:36AM 6 through the facility. 09:36AM 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Which means they're 09:36AM 8 pretty serious. 09:36AM 9 JUDGE KELLY: They are very serious about 09:36AM 10 it. And he kept referring to that they are very 09:36AM 11 familiar with what they consider to be the market rate 09:36AM 12 for renting these facilities, which does not surprise 09:36AM 13 me, but in order for us to be able to negotiate and not 09:36AM 14 be completely in the dark it does behoove us to get an 09:36AM 15 appraisal to study this income approach so that we've 09:36AM 16 got a starting point to, at least, negotiate with them. 09:36AM 17 Otherwise, we are somewhat at their mercy as to what 09:36AM 18 they say it's worth, and that -- we may not want to do 09:36AM 19 that if that's the case. The fact that we have a second 09:36AM 20 interested party makes it better for us, and I will 09:37AM 21 report back how that goes next week after we meet with 09:37AM 22 them on Friday. But the whole purpose here is to let 09:37AM 23 you know the heads up of what's going on. Let's pay 09:37AM 24 attention. We're going to be talking about this over 09:37AM 25 the next, probably the next month or two, and it will be 29 09:37AM 1 a hot topic. 09:37AM 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good deal. 09:37AM 3 JUDGE KELLY: Now, AACOG what I had to 09:37AM 4 report -- 09:37AM 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: One other thing, the 09:37AM 6 city looked at that facility out there and I guess 09:37AM 7 backed off and said there's no use that they can see for 09:37AM 8 it. I don't know if they are still in the hunt for that 09:37AM 9 or any thoughts -- 09:37AM 10 JUDGE KELLY: I don't think the city has 09:37AM 11 any charter or constitutional use of that property. 09:37AM 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, they were 09:37AM 13 looking at a new -- 09:37AM 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Law enforcement thing. 09:37AM 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. I think they 09:37AM 16 looked at it. I never heard a word from them or what 09:37AM 17 they did. They met with Jason I know. 09:37AM 18 JUDGE KELLY: Right. Well, we might want 09:37AM 19 to let them know the fact that we are entering into 09:37AM 20 negotiations with these other offers. Give them a 09:38AM 21 chance. 09:38AM 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 09:38AM 23 JUDGE KELLY: Briefly on a AACOG -- 09:38AM 24 MR. REEVES: Thank you, Your Honor. 09:38AM 25 Thank you, Bob. 30 09:38AM 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thanks Bob. 09:38AM 2 JUDGE KELLY: Last week we appointed Rosa 09:38AM 3 Lavender as an alternate to be one of our 09:38AM 4 representatives to the CJAC committee, the Criminal 09:38AM 5 Justice Administration Committee, she went and reported 09:38AM 6 back to me. Just to let y'all know where we stand on 09:38AM 7 that. The real concern is that we have participating 09:38AM 8 members that will set on that committee for grant 09:38AM 9 scoring and the actual awarding of grants. We have, 09:38AM 10 currently have, two primary representatives on that 09:38AM 11 committee and two alternate representatives. I think it 09:38AM 12 is important that we know who they are and follow up to 09:38AM 13 see what we want to do about this. Our two primary 09:38AM 14 representatives are Patsy Lackey Fleming, she's since 09:38AM 15 remarried. She used to work for Hill Country Care, 09:38AM 16 which is the crisis center, and she no longer does. I 09:38AM 17 don't know what the reason for that severance was, but 09:39AM 18 she no longer works for them. She also suffered an 09:39AM 19 injury and fractured, I think, her arm or wrist or 09:39AM 20 something and has difficulty being able to drive to San 09:39AM 21 Antonio. So that's something for us to consider whether 09:39AM 22 or not we want to replace a primary representative for 09:39AM 23 that position. 09:39AM 24 The second position we have, the primary, 09:39AM 25 is -- Rose is the alternate to her. The second one is 31 09:39AM 1 Mary Krebs who works for the city and does an excellent 09:39AM 2 job on it as best we can tell. The city is giving -- 09:39AM 3 they are up for a good grant this next year. So I think 09:39AM 4 she's certainly looking after their interest. And the 09:39AM 5 alternate is Bill Hill, who used to be primary, and I 09:39AM 6 know at one time was very active, but I do not know his 09:39AM 7 level of involvement, at this point. 09:39AM 8 And I bring that up because Hill Country 09:39AM 9 Cares, which is our local crisis center, also, has a 09:40AM 10 board representative from their Boerne facility. So 09:40AM 11 when Patsy was working for them they actually had two 09:40AM 12 members that could actually sit on the committee. They 09:40AM 13 should be recused and not score their own grant 09:40AM 14 applications, but nonetheless Hill Country Care is very 09:40AM 15 well represented at CJAC. 09:40AM 16 I just offer that for what it's worth. I'm 09:40AM 17 sure we're going to be paying attention to that in the 09:40AM 18 coming weeks and months. So, that is what I have on 09:40AM 19 AACOG. 09:40AM 20 On the MHDD I wanted to report that we had 09:40AM 21 a very constructive meeting with Ross Robinson, the 09:40AM 22 executive director and inhouse counsel Sherry Hess. We 09:40AM 23 had a very frustrating experience in juvenile a couple 09:40AM 24 of weeks ago that will be revisited this afternoon. It 09:40AM 25 was a young man who went through detention, did 32 09:40AM 1 everything he was asked to do, had a very favorable 09:40AM 2 recommendation for him to be released, but we could not 09:40AM 3 release him back to his mother because she would not 09:40AM 4 take him and we didn't have a suitable placement for 09:41AM 5 him. And without giving you my editorial version of how 09:41AM 6 upset I am at the mother, I was upset and I expressed my 09:41AM 7 displeasure, and I started asking what alternatives do 09:41AM 8 we have. If we have situations where we can't place the 09:41AM 9 children back with their families; what can we do? Do 09:41AM 10 we get CPS involved; what do we do? And MHDD set up an 09:41AM 11 appointment with them, they met with Jason and I. And I 09:41AM 12 am happy to report that they were very, very responsive, 09:41AM 13 very cooperative. Probably more so than most of us 09:41AM 14 expected, but they were. And, in fact, to the point 09:41AM 15 that he actually made a call from my office and we will 09:41AM 16 have the executive director for the Hill Country Youth 09:41AM 17 Crisis Respite in San Marcos here in court this 09:41AM 18 afternoon at 1:30 to work with the mother as an 09:41AM 19 alternative to be able to send this juvenile to the 09:41AM 20 Respite, which is a home environment, not a detention -- 09:42AM 21 not a detention environment. It is not a locked 09:42AM 22 facility, and it is a place for them to be able to 09:42AM 23 recover, a respite, a safe place for them to emotionally 09:42AM 24 mend, if you will, to get them -- try to get them back 09:42AM 25 into the mainstream of society. 33 09:42AM 1 And I felt like I would report to you that 09:42AM 2 MHDD is going way out of their way to send her up from 09:42AM 3 San Marcus and help us with this young man today. 09:42AM 4 That's one of the good stories I get to report. 09:42AM 5 A couple of things that you will see coming 09:42AM 6 up on the agenda, just so that you know. I know 09:42AM 7 Commissioner Letz has looked into it, and I got a letter 09:42AM 8 from James Avery about the economic development that you 09:42AM 9 will see on the agenda next week. That's on economic 09:42AM 10 development. 09:42AM 11 And we have got a -- the district clerk 09:42AM 12 came to me and has a collections program that she is 09:42AM 13 interested in talking to us about next week on the 09:42AM 14 agenda to try and collect some of the civil and criminal 09:42AM 15 fines and court costs. And I did visit briefly with the 09:43AM 16 director of human resources that -- 09:43AM 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: How much is the James 09:43AM 18 Avery thing on? 09:43AM 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They're in compliance. 09:43AM 20 It's their 381 Agreement. They are in compliance with 09:43AM 21 it, and they have asked for a very slight change. And I 09:43AM 22 thought it was really to put on the agenda, as much as 09:43AM 23 anything, to acknowledge to the public that they are 09:43AM 24 fulfilling their obligations under the 381. 09:43AM 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 34 09:43AM 1 JUDGE KELLY: Right, but I didn't want you 09:43AM 2 to be surprised. Nobody likes to go into Monday morning 09:43AM 3 and not know what we are going to do here. 09:43AM 4 On the HR they have completed that step in 09:43AM 5 grade analysis that we have been working on in executive 09:43AM 6 session. And so we will expect some sort of update on 09:43AM 7 that, so be ready. 09:43AM 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, be ready. 09:43AM 9 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, be ready. 09:43AM 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's complicated. 09:43AM 11 JUDGE KELLY: Nobody said this was going to 09:43AM 12 be easy. 09:43AM 13 And then the -- I mean, I think y'all know 09:43AM 14 the County Attorney has a request from our contingent 09:44AM 15 fee counsel on whether to weigh in on the resolution on 09:44AM 16 one of the proposed bills before the legislature so that 09:44AM 17 all local government -- really, all contingent fee 09:44AM 18 counsel for any state entity, public entity, would go 09:44AM 19 through the Attorney General rather than the individual 09:44AM 20 counties. That's something to think about. There may 09:44AM 21 be a resolution request or not, but just letting you 09:44AM 22 know it's out there. 09:44AM 23 MS. STEBBINS: And there's presently 09:44AM 24 substantial regulation on those as it is for counties to 09:44AM 25 be involved in. This would limit us even further. 35 09:44AM 1 JUDGE KELLY: And all I am trying to do 09:44AM 2 today is just give you a heads up, so be watching for 09:44AM 3 it. It's something that we're probably going to have to 09:44AM 4 address. 09:44AM 5 And then, finally, I talked to Commissioner 09:44AM 6 Letz, we did not put the -- for the historical 09:44AM 7 commission we did put the Union Church repairs on the 09:44AM 8 agenda. We think we can probably handle that without 09:44AM 9 having to -- 09:44AM 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Receive bids. 09:44AM 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure. 09:44AM 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We had gotten bids, I 09:44AM 13 thought. 09:44AM 14 JUDGE KELLY: No -- 09:44AM 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, Sandy is getting 09:44AM 16 new bids -- 09:44AM 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: New bids -- 09:44AM 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I told him to go get 09:45AM 19 bids and bring them to us. I gave him a couple of leads 09:45AM 20 to follow the contractors and -- 09:45AM 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I did some research on 09:45AM 22 the floor and the reason that it's doing what it's 09:45AM 23 doing. Nobody is in danger of falling through, there is 09:45AM 24 a sub-floor, but it's been -- the top floor was sanded 09:45AM 25 so low -- 36 09:45AM 1 JUDGE KELLY: It is spongy. 09:45AM 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, no, because its 09:45AM 3 a lapping -- 09:45AM 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 09:45AM 5 JUDGE KELLY: Lapping gap. 09:45AM 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You bet. So they 09:45AM 7 sanded it down so low to get it nice and smooth that 09:45AM 8 they ground through to where enough weight on it will 09:45AM 9 crack it. So that's what's happening. It's not -- 09:45AM 10 people are more in danger of stumbling, getting their 09:45AM 11 high heels caught in a hole in the floor than they are 09:45AM 12 of -- 09:45AM 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Falling through. 09:45AM 14 JUDGE KELLY: -- falling through. Nobody 09:45AM 15 is going to fall through. 09:45AM 16 Again, all of this is just to let y'all 09:45AM 17 know what people are talking to me about so I can let 09:45AM 18 you know. So that there are no surprises as to what we 09:45AM 19 are doing. 09:45AM 20 And the only other thing I'll report is 09:45AM 21 that I did meet with the external auditor yesterday. We 09:46AM 22 are going to get some technical dings on this report so 09:46AM 23 we need to be prepared for that, but over all we don't 09:46AM 24 have any real problems. This is just a matter of really 09:46AM 25 catching up on all the accounting that should have been 37 09:46AM 1 done since Brenda got sick. And just to kind of give 09:46AM 2 you the -- the take-a-way that I had from the meeting is 09:46AM 3 we don't have any real problems, we'll have some -- a 09:46AM 4 few journal entries that are going to have to be 09:46AM 5 corrected and we'll see that, so just expect it. It's 09:46AM 6 not going to be as clean as it's been in the past, but 09:46AM 7 it's still okay. We are all good. But she did 09:46AM 8 emphasize to me that -- I don't know whose phone that 09:46AM 9 is -- 09:46AM 10 (Phone vibrating) 09:46AM 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's mine. 09:46AM 12 JUDGE KELLY: -- that we probably need to 09:46AM 13 seriously consider having one of the qualifications for 09:46AM 14 the auditor's job to be a CPA, because a lot of the 09:47AM 15 journal entries and stuff that are being corrected is 09:47AM 16 simply because we did not have Brenda sitting at her 09:47AM 17 desk to catch some things. So I know that has been 09:47AM 18 cussed and discussed a little bit, but I want you to 09:47AM 19 know that Ms. Frasier did emphasize to me that she 09:47AM 20 thought that would be good. We have to be very careful 09:47AM 21 because there's not a great deal of qualified CPAs out 09:47AM 22 there that would consider this. 09:47AM 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So where are we on the 09:47AM 24 -- remind me on filling that position? 09:47AM 25 JUDGE KELLY: The district judges -- 38 09:47AM 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's posted. 09:47AM 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I thought it was 09:47AM 3 posted, but I didn't know. 09:47AM 4 JUDGE KELLY: I am having breakfast with 09:47AM 5 them next Tuesday morning at their monthly judge's 09:47AM 6 breakfast and I will get you a report on that and report 09:47AM 7 back to the court where they are. 09:47AM 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A couple of things, 09:47AM 9 this is, you know, but to the "step in grade," and I 09:47AM 10 will probably say this a lot in the next couple of 09:47AM 11 months. One of the problems that we have found is that 09:47AM 12 most of the changes to our policy and move in step in 09:48AM 13 grades around happens during budget, which means it 09:48AM 14 happened during workshop so there is no court orders to 09:48AM 15 track exactly when and what was done, so it's hard to 09:48AM 16 figure out exactly. So we need to be really careful 09:48AM 17 that if we change, like as an example, we took the tax 09:48AM 18 assessor's office, we moved all of the clerks from 15 to 09:48AM 19 16 or 15s to 16s, I think, or 14s to 15s -- 14s to 15s 09:48AM 20 last year or the year after. We just did it in the 09:48AM 21 budget workshop and it got approved legally when we 09:48AM 22 adopted the budget, but there's no record of what we 09:48AM 23 did. 09:48AM 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: No record. 09:48AM 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we need to be really 39 09:48AM 1 careful on changes like that, that if we do them we need 09:48AM 2 to go back and do a court order to back up what we are 09:48AM 3 doing in the budget. 09:48AM 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sort of delineate why. 09:48AM 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 09:48AM 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, can we do -- if 09:48AM 7 we come up with those during budget time can we take 09:49AM 8 them and put them in a regular agenda item and vote on 09:49AM 9 them there and make sure that they -- 09:49AM 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, and the 09:49AM 11 reasonings for it. 09:49AM 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 09:49AM 13 JUDGE KELLY: Not at the workshop. 09:49AM 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: No, that's not what 09:49AM 15 we're talking about -- 09:49AM 16 JUDGE KELLY: What I would do is kick it 09:49AM 17 over to one of our Thursday morning meetings and put an 09:49AM 18 action item on there so that we can adopt what we did on 09:49AM 19 the Tuesday workshop or whatever. 09:49AM 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's what I am 09:49AM 21 talking about. 09:49AM 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It will be a lot, I 09:49AM 23 think -- 09:49AM 24 JUDGE KELLY: It's housekeeping, but we 09:49AM 25 need to -- 40 09:49AM 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's housekeeping, but 09:49AM 2 it's a tracking thing, and it really would have made 09:49AM 3 this job a whole lot simpler -- 09:49AM 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 09:49AM 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The other thing, and I 09:49AM 6 think I mentioned about the Little League lights and all 09:49AM 7 that and that will be on the agenda. Little League 09:49AM 8 approved -- 09:49AM 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Does the Little League 09:49AM 10 put those lights on? 09:49AM 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, Little League 09:49AM 12 approved at the meeting last night to request that the 09:49AM 13 county pay about a third out of our line item that we 09:49AM 14 have for maintenance and they would pay two-thirds of 09:50AM 15 that costs. 09:50AM 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So they put the lights 09:50AM 17 in, so are they county property? 09:50AM 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 09:50AM 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: They are county 09:50AM 20 property, okay. 09:50AM 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, the county owns 09:50AM 22 them. And there's some safety issues as to why this 09:50AM 23 needs to be done. 09:50AM 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right, I understand, I 09:50AM 25 just didn't know and just wanted to clarify who owns 41 09:50AM 1 them. 09:50AM 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, the county owns 09:50AM 3 all of the -- everything out there. 09:50AM 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Even though they 09:50AM 5 bought it and -- 09:50AM 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They bought it and 09:50AM 7 consolidated -- they own their personal property, but 09:50AM 8 they don't own the real property -- 09:50AM 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, thank you. 09:50AM 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The other thing is and, 09:50AM 11 you know, I just don't know a whole lot about it, but on 09:50AM 12 the economic developmental side is that I have heard of 09:50AM 13 several meetings that I have found out that the State 09:50AM 14 Hospital is bringing in 250 employees. I haven't ever 09:50AM 15 really heard much about what that is, what they are 09:50AM 16 doing. 09:50AM 17 JUDGE KELLY: We didn't talk about it at 09:50AM 18 the MHDD meeting. 09:50AM 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it's a big 09:50AM 20 construction project going on and we're getting a whole 09:50AM 21 new wing and 250 new employees moving to Kerrville, but 09:50AM 22 other than that I don't, you know, never really pursued 09:50AM 23 it. Is it something we can't talk about? 09:51AM 24 MS. STEBBINS: I have just heard, it's 09:51AM 25 nothing that I can't talk about. I have just heard it 42 09:51AM 1 out in the community that it's like a high security 09:51AM 2 forensic wing that they are adding a lot of new beds to 09:51AM 3 this facility with a lot of new employees. 09:51AM 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Anyway it will be 09:51AM 5 interesting if you have someone from the State Hospital, 09:51AM 6 maybe, come over. 09:51AM 7 JUDGE KELLY: Let me talk to Ross. 09:51AM 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Maybe Ross can come 09:51AM 9 over and say, you know, it's pretty -- 09:51AM 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Just curious, huh? 09:51AM 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just curious, you know, 09:51AM 12 to what's going on, because if people -- it's one of 09:51AM 13 those things if people come up on the street and ask me, 09:51AM 14 it's kind of embarrassing to say I have no clue. 09:51AM 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I only knew that they 09:51AM 16 were building I didn't know what was going on. I drove 09:51AM 17 by one day and thought, you know, I wonder what they are 09:51AM 18 doing? 09:51AM 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that's just another 09:51AM 20 one of those economical development things, and those 09:51AM 21 are the ones that we have to talk about in executive 09:51AM 22 session other than they are working. 09:51AM 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: All right. 09:51AM 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There will be a couple 09:51AM 25 of items on the agenda related to the sewer project and 43 09:51AM 1 some easements. That will be on the agenda -- that will 09:51AM 2 be an executive session item for Monday. And -- 09:52AM 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Speaking of that, is 09:52AM 4 this executive session stuff for Monday? 09:52AM 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 09:52AM 6 JUDGE KELLY: That's what we are talking 09:52AM 7 about, that's the upgraded report. 09:52AM 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I have one 09:52AM 9 thing, and it's about our public relations officer. We 09:52AM 10 had only six applicants, of those, four were viable 09:52AM 11 candidates. So Jennifer Doss and John Trolinger and I 09:52AM 12 will talk to them before we bring them in. Jonathan 09:52AM 13 suggested that we have John in on it, because whoever it 09:52AM 14 is is going to have to do website, media and all that 09:52AM 15 kind of stuff. So that turned out to be -- we ought to 09:52AM 16 have somebody pretty soon. 09:52AM 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Come forward with a 09:52AM 18 recommendation? 09:52AM 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: There was so much talk 09:52AM 20 about it -- Sir? 09:52AM 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Come forward with a 09:52AM 22 recommendation? 09:52AM 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Come forward with a 09:52AM 24 recommendation, yeah. Well, how do y'all want to do 09:52AM 25 that? Do you want to see all four candidates or just 44 09:52AM 1 have us say this looks like the best one? 09:52AM 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think the way we've 09:52AM 3 done it in the past is the committee looks at it and if 09:53AM 4 they decide to bring them forward or if it's something 09:53AM 5 that -- you know, it's an option. Sometimes we bring 09:53AM 6 them all in and other times we just -- I know we didn't 09:53AM 7 on one of the -- the times that we did the constable. 09:53AM 8 To fill that position we went through interviews and we 09:53AM 9 said here's who we did, and here's why, and here's what 09:53AM 10 we recommended. 09:53AM 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Kind of depends -- 09:53AM 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, the Veterans 09:53AM 13 Affairs person, we talked to four or five or six people, 09:53AM 14 I just wanted to know how y'all wanted to do it. 09:53AM 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would put it on a -- 09:53AM 16 just to be clean, put it on a Monday's agenda to appoint 09:53AM 17 the committee -- as I told you I thought that was a good 09:53AM 18 makeup, I think that's good, but I think it's just good 09:53AM 19 to have it on the record. But I think that it's -- it 09:53AM 20 is a lot better interview and better use of everyone's 09:53AM 21 time to have a small group interview and then bring two 09:53AM 22 or three or whatever the committee thinks is the 09:53AM 23 appropriate number to the whole court to discuss. 09:53AM 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, in the past, you 09:54AM 25 know, whatever was unanimous by the committee, look 45 09:54AM 1 here's why we did this, what we did here was unanimous. 09:54AM 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, that makes 09:54AM 3 sense. So if there's some doubt then maybe bring a 09:54AM 4 couple of candidates in. 09:54AM 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure. 09:54AM 6 I might mention on the Veterans Service 09:54AM 7 Officer she is doing extremely well. The person in that 09:54AM 8 position is doing extremely well. Accreditation, she is 09:54AM 9 full speed ahead on that, and may have it by the end of 09:54AM 10 April, which is -- 09:54AM 11 JUDGE KELLY: Good, great. 09:54AM 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Warped speed. And 09:54AM 13 she's got all the preliminary plans laid out for the 09:54AM 14 Memorial Day event, which will be good. 09:54AM 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the only other 09:54AM 16 thing is going back on the workshop we had on 09:54AM 17 facilities. We need to be thinking and figure out how 09:54AM 18 to move forward and not let this go on and on forever, 09:55AM 19 because we have some of them that are in different 09:55AM 20 stages. Like the animal control facility is pretty far 09:55AM 21 along. Some of them that are further back are the 09:55AM 22 Ag Barn and the arena out there, and the courthouse 09:55AM 23 work. And then further behind that is the idea of not 09:55AM 24 to build a juvenile -- not juvenile, a justice center. 09:55AM 25 And we need to -- I just don't want to see all these 46 09:55AM 1 things just be talked about for the next two years. We 09:55AM 2 have been talking about some of them for already two 09:55AM 3 years. And we need to get to a closure point where we 09:55AM 4 are going to decide, yes, we are going to do these and 09:55AM 5 explore these and then move forward. And I don't 09:55AM 6 know -- 09:55AM 7 JUDGE KELLY: Fair enough. Why don't we 09:55AM 8 put them on a Thursday morning agenda. 09:55AM 9 But by point of information, I will not be 09:55AM 10 here next Thursday and Friday I will be at probate 09:55AM 11 school in Austin. 09:55AM 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's not a rush it's 09:55AM 13 just I don't want to see it -- 09:55AM 14 JUDGE KELLY: Let's follow up. Let's 09:55AM 15 follow up. 09:55AM 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: All right. 09:55AM 17 JUDGE KELLY: Anything else? I know our 09:55AM 18 court reporter is anxious to go set up downstairs. So 09:55AM 19 if there's nothing else then we will stand adjourned. 20 ****** 21 22 23 24 25 47 1 STATE OF TEXAS ) 2 COUNTY OF KERR ) 3 I, KAREN FREEMAN, Certified Shorthand Reporter 4 in and for the State of Texas and Deputy Reporter in and 5 for Kerr County, do hereby certify that the above and 6 foregoing pages contain and comprise a true and correct 7 transcription of the proceedings had in the 8 above-entitled Commissioners' Court. 9 Dated this the 3rd day of April, A.D. 2019. 10 11 /s/KAREN FREEMAN Certified Shorthand Reporter 12 NO. 4254 ` Expiration Date 12/31/19 13 ****** 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25