1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Regular Session 5 Monday, April 22, 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 23 PRESENT: ROB KELLY, Kerr County Judge HARLEY BELEW, Commissioner Precinct 1 24 TOM MOSER, Commissioner Precinct 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Precinct 3 25 2 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 *** Commissioner's Comments. 5 4 1.1. Public Hearing to receive comments, concerns, 6 and technical appeals concerning proposed 5 changes to the Kerr County Flood Insurance Study and Flood Insurance Rate Maps 0600G, 6 0625G, 0650G, 0750G, and 0775G (South Kerr County/Medina Watershed). 7 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 8 8 action for the Court to approve a Preliminary Plat for South Fork. 9 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 9 10 action for the Court to set a public hearing for 9 o'clock on May 28, 2019 for 11 a revision of plat for Kerrville South II, Lot 57, Volume 4, Page 64, Precinct 1. 12 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 14 13 action regarding the resurfacing of roads in East Kerr County/Center Point Wastewater 14 System Project area when construction is complete in a local area. 15 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 18 16 action to approve the addendum to the original contract with UBEO for additional 17 printer, and have County Judge sign the same. 18 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 19 action regarding the copier/printer services 19 for Kerr County. 20 1.7 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 24 action to select vendor for vending machine 21 services in various county facilities. 22 1.8 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 28 action regarding Interlocal agreement with 23 Upper Guadalupe River Authority (UGRA) for Guadalupe River Crossing Patrols. 24 25 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.9 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 31 action regarding playground equipment at 4 Lions Park. 5 1.10 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 34 action to determine whether to allow the 6 retail fireworks permit holders to sell fireworks to the public beginning May 1, 7 2019 and ending at midnight May 5, 2019 in celebration of Cinco De Mayo, pursuant 8 to Texas Occupations Code, Section 2154.202(g)(3). 9 1.12 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 36 10 action regarding a cell phone policy for Commissioners' Court meetings. 11 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 40 12 action regarding notice requirements for future Commissioners' Court agendas, 13 including but not limited to: Scope of agenda, nature of agenda, specificity, 14 adequate notice, submission deadlines, time issues, format, and executive session items. 15 1.11 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 63 16 action to accept the Kerr County Bail Bond Board as an official Board of Kerr 17 County pursuant to OC 1704. 18 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 65 action regarding notice requirements for 19 future Commissioners' Court agendas, including but not limited to: Scope of 20 agenda, nature of agenda, specificity, adequate notice, submission deadlines, time 21 issues, format, and executive session items. 22 4.4 Accept Monthly Reports. 68 23 24 25 4 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 5.5 Other. 4 a) Texas Indigent Defense Commissioner 69 grant application status for a Public 5 Defender Office. Consideration and discussion. 6 b) Crime Victim Rights Coordinator upcoming 76 7 report status. Consideration and discussion. 8 c) Juvenile Detention Center facilities 77 9 appraisal. Consideration and discussion. 10 5.2 Reports and discussions regarding Elected 77 Officials/Department Heads. Consideration 11 and discussion to follow. 12 4.6 Court Orders. 80 13 5.3 Reports from Boards, Commissions and 82 Committees. Consideration and discussion 14 to follow. 15 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee 83 Assignments as per attachment. Consideration 16 and discussion to follow. 17 1.14 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 84 action on personnel matters related to the 18 corrections in the grade and step system for specific employees. 19 *** Adjournment. 86 20 *** Reporter's Certificate. 87 21 * * * * * * 22 23 24 25 5 1 JUDGE KELLY: Commissioners' Court will come 2 to order. Let's stand for the prayer and pledge to be 3 led by Commissioner Belew. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Pray with me, please. 5 (Prayer and The Pledge of Allegiance.) 6 JUDGE KELLY: Welcome everyone. This is the 7 Visitor's Input section on the agenda. If you'd looked 8 at it, these are for comments from the public that are 9 not included on the agenda. If there is an agenda item, 10 we ask that you save your comments when we reach that 11 agenda item. But with that let me invite, is there 12 anyone who would like to address the Court at this time? 13 Okay, there being none, we'll move on to the 14 next part of the agenda which is the Commissioners' 15 Comments. I don't believe we had a lot of rain this 16 past week, so I don't expect to hear a lot from that. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Half inch is all we 18 got, and had a big weekend. There was a lot of people 19 out there at Flat Rock Park for the EasterFest. And I 20 don't know if it was a record crowd, but there sure 21 wasn't any place to park. It was a big day. And as 22 soon as my kids and grandkids left yesterday at 5:00, I 23 slept all night long from that point on. They wore me 24 out. So it was a good day in Precinct 1. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think everything that 6 1 I have is on the agenda, so I'll wait until those come 2 up. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Nothing this morning. 4 JUDGE KELLY: I don't have anything else 5 either, so with that if you're ready, then we're ready, 6 we'll start the agenda with item 1.1. It's a public 7 hearing to receive comments and concerns and technical 8 appeals concerning proposed changes to the Kerr County 9 Flood Insurance Study and Flood Insurance Rate Maps. 10 This is Charlie Hastings. 11 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Sir. Being it's a 12 public hearing, I would like to say something for this, 13 and it's open to anyone that came here to speak. Is 14 there anyone here? It doesn't look like anybody else is 15 going to speak, but I do want to put on the record that 16 having reviewed the technical data, I don't have any 17 technical comments back for FEMA. In reviewing this, 18 we're not going to be: A, this is a bad study; we're 19 not saying anything like that at all. They did a good 20 job. They used LIDAR technology to come up with a 21 better picture of an estimate of where the floods would 22 be. So it's still going to be a Zone A flood, which 23 means it's unstudied in the sense that they didn't go 24 through a detailed study. They didn't go on the ground 25 and get actual elevations with a surveyor. Instead they 7 1 used LIDAR, which is light detection and ranging. It's 2 kind of a mixture of light and radar, those two words 3 coming together, that's what LIDAR is. They use a laser 4 light to do distances from a plane down to the ground, 5 they're able to come up with a much better picture of 6 the topography. That's what they've done in producing 7 those maps. 8 We will have some technical comments for 9 FEMA in the sense that the study, the actual paper copy 10 of the study, has references to streets but the street 11 names have changed, and so that's going to be our kind 12 of comment that we're going to have. We'll come back to 13 the Court, have a list for you, probably the first 14 meeting in May, and send it on its way. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Charlie, you might 16 mention where this region was in the County. 17 MR. HASTINGS: This is called the Medina 18 Watershed, so there's a ridge-line where things start 19 shedding south towards the Medina River. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's in the east part 21 of the county. 22 MR. HASTINGS: And it's in the southern and 23 east part of the County, and actually affects all four 24 precincts. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 8 1 MR. HASTINGS: That's it. 2 JUDGE KELLY: And this is a public meeting, 3 which means that we've convened for a public meeting, 4 anyone is welcome to speak. And if you don't have any 5 other comments then we'll close the public meeting. Any 6 other comments? Okay, then the public meeting is 7 closed. 8 We move on to item 1.2 consider, discuss and 9 take appropriate action for the Court to approve a 10 preliminary plat for South Fork, Precinct 4. Charlie 11 Hastings. 12 MR. HASTINGS: You have in your packets 13 there a preliminary plat for South Fork Park, Precinct 14 4. Access to the subdivision will be off of State 15 Highway 39 and Japonica Rd. A very small corner of Lot 16 3 is in the floodplain, it must meet the floodplain 17 development requirements and regulations. We've got a 18 total number of three lots. Our maximum number of lots 19 allowed are three. This is out of 11.31 acres, and the 20 smallest lot size is a little bit greater than five 21 acres, I think. Did we get one greater than five? I 22 thought it was under fife. 23 MR. LEE VOELKEL: 4.8, something like that. 24 MR. HASTINGS: 4.8. Okay, it was just under 25 five. Our minimum lot size is one acre though, and that 9 1 is because they will be on public water system. They 2 will be using septic, and there are no proposed roads. 3 I will note that we've got two or more lots here that 4 are five acres or less, they're actually three, and 5 they're all of them are less than five acres, so it will 6 be -- they will be following the Model Subdivision 7 Regulations as we go through the review. 8 County Engineer requests that the Court 9 approve this preliminary plat for South Fork Park, 10 Precinct 4. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So move. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Been a motion by Commissioner 14 Moser, and seconded by Commissioner Belew to approve the 15 plat as presented. Any further discussion? Okay, then 16 I think that was very informative, Charlie, thank you. 17 Those in favor raise your hand. Opposed? It passes 18 four zero. 19 Item 1.3 on the agenda is consider, discuss 20 and take appropriate action for the Court to set a 21 public hearing for 9 o'clock on May the 28th for 22 revision of plat for Kerrville South II, Lot 57, Volume 23 4, Page 64, Precinct 1. Mr. Hastings. 24 MR. HASTINGS: I have a question. Is that 25 going to be Memorial Day? 10 1 MRS. GRINSTEAD. The 27th is. The 28th is 2 the correct date. 3 MR. HASTINGS: It is the correct date, okay, 4 thank you. I hadn't looked at the calendar when we were 5 putting this together. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Is the 27th Memorial Day? 7 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Yes. So we'll have our 8 meeting on the 28th. 9 MR. HASTINGS: That will be a Tuesday then. 10 This proposed division of plat divides part of lot 57, 11 which is 6.07 acres into two lots. Lot 57A, .82 1 acres 12 with access on Marshall Drive, and lot 57B, 2.17 acres, 13 with access on Indian Oaks Drive. This is one of those 14 rare occurrences where you have access on two different 15 roads, and they're just wanting to split it. 16 The County Engineer requests the Court set a 17 public hearing for May 28th 2019 for a revision of plat 18 for Kerrville South II, Lot 57, Volume 4, Page 64, 19 Precinct 1. It will be on public water system, and it 20 will be on OSSF. It's not in the floodplain, there are 21 no proposed roads. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 24 JUDGE KELLY: It's been motioned by 25 Commissioner Belew, seconded by Commissioner Letz to 11 1 approve the plat as presented -- or to set the public 2 hearing as presented. 3 And the only comment that I would make is 4 one of the things that we're discussing with regard to 5 agendas is trying to come up with convenient times that 6 we know people can get here. We know if we start the 7 Court at 9 o'clock and all of you show up at 9 o'clock, 8 but also we have a lot of these things that are fairly 9 routine, a little bit like a consent agenda for these 10 public meetings. We're going to set the public meeting. 11 It's very rarely we don't set a public meeting. 12 So really what I'm kind of putting out to 13 you, Charlie, and to the public, it's later on the 14 agenda we're going to talk about agendas. We have an 15 agenda item to discuss agendas, but one of them -- one 16 of the items is when is a good time to do this? Do we 17 want to do these at 9 o'clock basically when the public 18 shows up, or do we want to have these types of things 19 scheduled at a regular time, such as ten o'clock or 20 whatever, so that people that want to come in and 21 address these specific issues and be there, they know 22 that that's going to start at 9 o'clock. We know that 23 when people come at 9 o'clock it might be 9:15, it might 24 be 9:30, it might be 9:45. We never know when we're 25 going to get to some of these items depending on what we 12 1 have on the agenda. 2 I have no problems with the 9 o'clock; I'm 3 just saying that looking forward, this is up and towards 4 the end of May, this may be something that, you know, 5 that I wanted to discuss on the agenda portion of the 6 item as to when we do these because it could be 7 beneficial just to have a set time that we know that 8 these types of regular things, usually comes from either 9 Engineering or Road and Bridge, so that we disrupt their 10 day, their work day as little as possible to know 11 that -- if we know we put it on the docket at ten 12 o'clock, we're probably go to hear it at ten o'clock, 13 because we're going to take a break right before and 14 we'll come in and go straight to one, two, three, four, 15 whatever we need to to knock out. So I just offered 16 that up for what it's worth, Charlie. You put it on the 17 agenda, I'm fine with it. That's just something that 18 we're talking about down the road. 19 So is there any further discussion about 20 setting this public meeting at 9 o'clock on the 28th? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have a question. This 22 is just on the drawing. When I look at it by the bold 23 lines, it looks like there's three lots. Is that -- I 24 don't know how you look at it. There's a line that goes 25 across the middle. 13 1 MR. LEE VOELKEL: Let me look at the 2 drawing. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It looks like that's one 4 lot and that's one lot. 5 MR. LEE VOELKEL: I don't know. Let's see 6 what we've got here. 7 (Off the record.) 8 MR. LEE VOELKEL: I think I see what you're 9 referring to, Commissioner. That 2.068 acre tract was a 10 tract of land that was sold out of this tract without 11 the benefit of a re-plat. That was done back in 2013. 12 That's not a part of this plat. Now, it should be a 13 little lighter line around it than the rest of the 14 drawing that we've got there, but that does explain that 15 that's not a part of this tract. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. That 17 explains it. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Jonathan, that's Aggies 19 and dark lines. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, there's been a motion 21 and second. Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 22 four zero. 23 Thank you, Charlie. 24 MR. HASTINGS: You're welcome. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Got one more, don't leave. 14 1 1.4 on the agenda consider, discuss and take appropriate 2 action regarding the resurfacing of roads in East Kerr 3 County/Center Point Wastewater System Project area when 4 construction is complete in a local area. This is 5 Precinct 2. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, let me start 7 this, and I'll let Charlie weigh in on this. In putting 8 in the sewer systems both in Westwood, Center Point, and 9 other subdivisions, Water Development Board and State 10 will cover the expense of resurfacing the road where 11 it's been torn up with the trenching, typically right 12 down the middle of the road. And in Center Point, I 13 know for sure, there's like about a six-foot wide 14 section of the road that has asphalt in it, and that's 15 what was used for patching the road. It's very 16 confusing, it looks like that the road now is six feet 17 wide, it looks terrible. So this is for information 18 only; not for action, but we're trying through Tetra 19 Tech to see if the State will cover resurfacing the 20 entire road. And if it's not, I think the County needs 21 to look at resurfacing these roads in Westwood, Center 22 Point, and the other subdivisions. 23 Charlie has made an estimate of what it 24 would take to do that, and it's like $700,000.00 to 25 resurface all these roads where we're putting lines in 15 1 right down the middle of the road. It's something that 2 we need to -- hopefully Water Development Board will 3 come back and the other state agencies will come back 4 and cover the expense for that, but if they don't, we're 5 going to have look at this as part of next year's 6 budget. But if you have a chance to go out and look at 7 some of these roads where it's been done, I think you'd 8 probably agree that it really -- I don't want to say 9 unsafe, but it's certainly unacceptable. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner, make a 11 comment. And Charlie, as I recall, when we went through 12 the Westwood, kind of a step ahead of where Center Point 13 is right now, and there was a certain percentage of the 14 roads that Don Burger from Tetra Tech, and everyone, 15 kind of agreed it was damaged to the point that it 16 should be completely resurfaced. And I thought that 17 Tetra Tech was going to talk to Water Development Board. 18 Has that happened yet? Have they got an answer on the 19 Westwood portion yet? 20 MR. HASTINGS: They don't have an answer. 21 And on our teleconference last Wednesday they had -- he 22 had reached out to Dave Perkins, I believe, with Texas 23 Water Development Board, and we didn't want to push too 24 hard, but he thought he'd be getting an answer by, I 25 think, today he was hoping for. 16 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. They got a lot 2 of things on their plate right now. Don't push them on 3 this, because it's too easy to say no, and let them work 4 it, so I think it's what -- it's in the works. So I 5 just wanted to kind of be thinking about it though. 6 MR. HASTINGS: Just a little more light on 7 this whole subject. Texas Water Development Board, and 8 typically when you have these kind of projects, sewer 9 projects, you're typically in a municipal setting where 10 the roads are all hot mix roads to begin with, they've 11 already got an inch and a half, two inches, three inches 12 of asphalt as a surface. Our roads are all chipseal. 13 We did have some roads that were close to the Center 14 Point School that had had enough years of chipseal that 15 they were pretty thick that the patching actually worked 16 okay. They were able to saw cut the edges, put hot mix 17 in its place when it was done, and you felt like hey, 18 I've got a -- this is decent. But those were the only 19 places. Everywhere else the surface is just not thick 20 enough. Chipseal roads are just not designed for sewer 21 projects. When you put any equipment out there, you 22 cause a lot of damage to the surface, and it really 23 shows when you're done. You sweep everything off at the 24 end of the project the patch looks great, but everything 25 else looks horrible. Can we not get something full 17 1 width, and that's what we're trying to do. We're not 2 asking for it to be repaved two inches thick; we're 3 asking for a chipseal on the surface. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: There you go. Thank 5 you, Charlie. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I have a question then. 7 Is that not in some kind of a contingency that's part of 8 this grant? 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: They know they're going 11 to tear up a road so why -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Under the grant the 13 contractor has bid to repair the roads, but they can't 14 go beyond the repair of the damage. And it's a gray 15 area of the wear and tear on the roads outside the 16 actual ditch where they make the cut for the pipe, sewer 17 pipe. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And I think Charlie 19 said it right, too, if it were an asphalt road and you 20 take a patch out of the middle, it looks pretty good. 21 You can reclean the road, and it all looks like the same 22 road. But this is chipseal, and then you put asphalt in 23 the middle of it it looks all of a sudden you've 24 narrowed the road down to a few feet. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Here's a good example of 18 1 the thing. It's indirect damage is what we're talking 2 about, and that's direct and not going to cover. When 3 they're working on the road, they're going to route as 4 much as the county traffic on that road, but it puts 5 them off on the edge and on the gravel and grass on the 6 side. When you do that on chipseal you just start 7 eating away at the chipseal along the edge of the road. 8 So all of a sudden we've narrowed the road by one or two 9 foot, probably one foot, by the indirect damage, and 10 under the actual grant it says well, that's not covered 11 because that wasn't damaged by the sewer project; that 12 was damaged by traffic. Our argument is well, yes the 13 traffic wouldn't have been over there if it wouldn't 14 have been for the sewer project. And that's kind of 15 where it is where Charlie's -- or Tetra Tech with Water 16 Development Board, trying to get -- and some of them are 17 okay, some of them we need to -- and Center Point looks 18 worse to me than Westwood. It's been damaged, and 19 probably because there's more density there. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So no action. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, any further discussion 22 on item 1.4? 23 Okay, we'll move on to the next item on the 24 agenda, 1.5 consider, discuss and take appropriate 25 action to approve the addendum to the original contract 19 1 with UBEO for additional printer, and have the County 2 Judge sign the same. Miss Lantz. 3 MRS. LANTZ: Good morning, Judge. Good 4 morning, Commissioners. When UBEO came in to replace 5 our printers, we were shorted one printer, so this is 6 just adding that printer to our contract at no charge. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval. 8 That sounds good. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 10 JUDGE KELLY: It's been moved by 11 Commissioner Belew, seconded by Commissioner Letz to 12 approve adding the printer that was supposed to be 13 included originally. Is there any further discussion 14 about that? Those in favor raise your hand. Four zero, 15 unanimous. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, last time you 17 were here you brought us something we saved money on, 18 too, didn't you? 19 MRS. LANTZ: Yes. And this one actually 20 goes in the law library. They overlooked the law 21 library, and this one goes in there. Thank you. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Keep doing that. 23 That's good. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, the next item on the 25 agenda is 1.6 consider, discuss and take appropriate 20 1 action regarding the copier/printer services for Kerr 2 County. And this has to do with the deadline that we 3 gave UBEO, DOCUmation, and Xerox, which I think is when? 4 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Well, the deadline was the 5 15th. 6 JUDGE KELLY: So it's already passed. We've 7 gotten proposals from, I think -- I know we got one from 8 UBEO. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Here they are right 10 here. 11 JUDGE KELLY: And DOCUmation sent in one 12 recently. 13 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Xerox did, too. I believe 14 there's one for Xerox too -- from Xerox. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Well, DOCUmation actually 16 requested additional time. They were having trouble 17 getting some of their information. And I think they did 18 present -- 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, they're all on 20 time. We have three here. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I remember that. What 22 are we going to do with them? 23 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we can take action or 24 not. But we asked them to do it, they did it, they're 25 here. 21 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess we could accept 2 them. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: These are bids. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Well, they're not sealed bids. 5 We didn't get sealed bids; they're open bids. So we've 6 received them, and they are part of our packet. We can 7 adopt them or not. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We can also accept them 9 and then have somebody take a look at them and then come 10 back. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess -- I mean, I 12 don't know if we're straying too far from the agenda 13 item. This all started trying to figure out how to 14 lower copier services countywide. And as we've been 15 discussing this for the past several months, we have 16 already renewed several new contracts with new vendors, 17 which has been the problem about trying to get that 18 done, because they're not on any kind of a regular 19 schedule. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I make a motion that we 21 accept them, and have John Trolinger, and Harley, and 22 with whom else? Dawn perhaps, she's been doing this for 23 a long time. Take a look at them and -- 24 MRS. LANTZ: No. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- see what their 22 1 recommendation is. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Dawn objects. I guess I 3 mean -- and I don't have any problem -- I think we need 4 to accept them because we asked for them. I'm just not 5 sure what we do with them. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, you gotta review 7 them to make sure you're not comparing apples with 8 oranges. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But are we doing 10 anything with them? We're letting every elected 11 official buy the service they want anyway. 12 MR. TROLINGER: Well, I would recommend that 13 the Auditor's Office be involved in this process. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'll change from Dawn 15 to James. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But are they supposed 17 to -- I guess, what are they going to do? 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Just take a look at it 19 and see if it makes sense to do something, take action 20 based on the proposals that we received, or perhaps even 21 to make a recommendation how we go forward in the future 22 without being specific about being universal on copiers. 23 MRS. LANTZ: Can I make a suggestion? 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. You're not on the 25 on the committee. 23 1 MRS. LANTZ: Well, maybe letting the elected 2 officials look at to see what their needs are to make 3 sure they get the right company, because everybody's 4 different. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Well, we'll let 6 these three take a look at them. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can you restate your 8 motion? 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. I make a motion 10 that we accept the bids as received from the three 11 companies, if you want to read those who they are, and 12 then we have a committee of IT -- made up of IT, and if 13 Harley Belew will accept it, and James Robles from the 14 Auditor's Office look at these and come back with a 15 recommendation of what we do. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll second. And for 17 the record companies we received proposals from are 18 DOCUmation, UBEO Business Services in Kerrville, 19 Xerographic Business Systems, Inc. 20 JUDGE KELLY: There's been a motion by 21 Commissioner Moser, and seconded by Commissioner Letz to 22 accept the bids and appoint a committee consisting of 23 IT, Auditor and Commissioner Belew. Is there any 24 further discussion about that? Those in favor raise 25 your hand. Unanimous, 4-0. 24 1 Item 1.7 consider, discuss and take 2 appropriate action to select vendor for vending machine 3 services in various county facilities. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on the 5 agenda. I'm not sure really why my name's on it. I 6 think I said we need to do this, so here I am. We 7 received two proposals, and I think everyone received 8 copies of them. One of themselves from Hill Country 9 Vending and Office Copy Service Company, and one of them 10 is from Gdm Enterprises, LLC. I think one of the 11 questions is -- the Sheriff left. The reason I was 12 going to ask the Sheriff, I know he has vending machines 13 out there, and I don't know what his plans were for his 14 office. But looking at the proposal the best deal for 15 the County is -- to me it appears to be Gdm Enterprises. 16 They offer a 20 percent on all cash collected 17 commission, and Hill Country Vending is a ten percent 18 commission to be paid on net sales over a certain amount 19 of sales each month. And it just appears to me that Gdm 20 is a better deal. I don't have a real strong opinion 21 one way or the other on the vending machines. I presume 22 this is really only for this building, because I believe 23 the Sheriff has his own contract or agreement. I don't 24 think it's in writing. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So here we only have 25 1 the one upstairs in the jury waiting room, is that all 2 we got? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's all I'm aware of, 4 yes. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Would we want another 6 one, or is this just -- and this will mean that one 7 comes out and we get a vending machine from somebody 8 else? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Who do we currently 11 have? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Hill Country. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The County oughta get 14 something for it. That's 20 percent. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Gdm is a better -- a 16 better option. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I agree. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I don't use a 19 vending machine, so I don't have a strong opinion. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So then are we voting 21 to replace them? That's what we're really doing is 22 voting to replace the machine upstairs with a Gdm 23 machine. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. Dawn, I mean 25 they're the closest to your office. I don't know 26 1 that -- I mean are they used that often? I mean I don't 2 have any idea how often they're used. 3 MRS. LANTZ: They do. Especially on court 4 dates, they use it quite a bit. But I would suggest 5 getting more options because we tried to do a healthy 6 county machine option, so I don't know if we can get 7 that in place. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, they were 9 contacted and they put us on a waiting list, so I don't 10 know what that meant. 11 MRS. LANTZ: I think they're out of those 12 machines right now, so -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it sounds like that 14 they're not all that interested in doing it. I mean it 15 would be nice to have healthy options, but -- 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Nobody wants that 17 stuff. 18 MR. TROLINGER: Well, there is one other 19 option. I see at the airport, they actually own the 20 machine and they stock it themselves, and it's not a lot 21 of work to do. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Doesn't sound like a 23 good option to me. Well, we've got two proposals. 24 One's a better business deal than the other one. I move 25 that we accept the proposal from Gdm Enterprises to 27 1 provide the soda and snack vending services in the 2 courthouse. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll second with an 4 amendment to that. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the amendment would 7 be to directing Gdm to present us with a contract for 8 the County Attorney to review so we have something in 9 writing moving forward. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'll accept that, good. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's how we got 12 started with this, right, we didn't have a contract. 13 JUDGE KELLY: There's been a motion made my 14 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Letz to 15 contract, or at least to review a proposed contract from 16 Gdm Enterprises for a vending machine contract for the 17 courthouse. And that is -- I tried to say that as 18 amended. Is there any other discussion? If so, those 19 in favor raise your hand. Four zero. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I guess -- I don't 21 know, Shane, do you kind of deal -- who deals with the 22 vendor? Anybody? Someone needs to tell Hill Country 23 that we're probably -- we're going with a different 24 company. 25 MR. EVANS: Like you said that the vending 28 1 machines at the jail, or the Sheriff's office, they've 2 been there -- they have some in the Adult Probation 3 building and also the break room at the Sheriff's office 4 itself, and of course the ones here. I really don't 5 deal with them too much or anything like that. 6 MRS. GRINSTEAD: I mean I have an e-mail 7 address for him. I'll go ahead and let him know, but 8 we're keeping it specific to just the courthouse. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just the courthouse. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Just the courthouse. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Next item on the agenda 12 is 1.8 consider, discuss and take appropriate action 13 regarding the Interlocal agreement with with UGRA for 14 the Guadalupe River crossing patrols. And we've got Ray 15 Buck here. 16 MR. BUCK: I'll get started on this. We 17 entered into an agreement with UGRA last year for the 18 purposes of trying to keep the river clean, and at the 19 three crossings, Schumachers -- it's Ingram, Brinks, and 20 Hunt. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the way I understand 22 this works, and it worked successful last year in 23 cleaning up these areas where the Interlocal Agreement 24 allows basically our Constables, the Deputy Constables 25 to use the vehicles, county vehicles, to patrol, and 29 1 then they are paid UGRA. Their time spent out there is 2 not by -- or covered under their county salary; it's 3 additional work. So they invoice UGRA, they get paid 4 for that. We allow them to use our vehicles. And it's 5 kind of a joint venture to keep the river clean, and 6 it's been very successful. 7 MR. GIVENS: This will actually be the 8 third. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The third year that 10 we've done it. Did I miss anything, Ray or Reagan? 11 MR. BUCK: No, Sir. But I would like to say 12 on behalf of UGRA, we certainly appreciate your 13 willingness to partnership. Last year to answer your 14 question, we saw the trash collection with less litter 15 for the trash collection, which is picking up litter. 16 It went down for the first time in a number of years. 17 Now, it would be bad science to say that this was the 18 sole reason that happened, but I know that for a fact 19 when these guys go out they say pack it in, pack it out, 20 but they put a friendly face to education rather than 21 enforcement. Even though they wear the uniform and they 22 drive the county equipment, which I think adds some 23 credibility to what they're doing, they're there to just 24 educate and raise awareness, because that's how we're 25 going to affect change over the long term. 30 1 So we do thank you. And anything that we 2 can do to make this better, we'd be glad to consider 3 that. But we do have it budgeted this year. We pay 4 these guys directly. Your contribution is allowing them 5 to use the county vehicle and the uniforms. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Might add that on one 7 of the crossings, Brinks Crossing, that was a major 8 area, and I think a big improvement by having the 9 cooperation from the constables, as you delineate, and 10 also the visibility of being there, and I think 11 visibility is big. But the reason I think it's more 12 important this year is there's an RV park there, which 13 is extremely well done, okay. I bet you today there's 14 probably about 150 campers there. Well, what do they 15 use? They're going to use Brinks Crossing right there 16 at the low water bridge, and it's a great beautiful 17 area. So it's going to be used a lot more. There's 18 going to be a lot more litter is associated with it, so 19 I think this is really a good thing, and it's really 20 great that UGRA is helping fund this. So I thank UGRA. 21 MR. GIVENS: We have gotten a lot of 22 positive feedback on it, too, while we've been out there 23 from the public saying that they're really glad to see 24 us out there doing that. They have said that it helped. 25 So I think it's a good thing, too. 31 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that 2 we approve the Interlocal Agreement as submitted, and 3 authorize the County Judge to sign same. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'll second that. 5 JUDGE KELLY: A motion made by Commissioner 6 Letz, seconded by Commissioner Moser to approve the 7 renewal of the Interlocal Agreement UGRA for the 8 Guadalupe River crossing patrols. Is there any further 9 discussion? Okay, those in favor raise your hands. 10 Unanimous, four zero. 11 Next item on the agenda is 1.9 consider, 12 discuss and take appropriate action regarding playground 13 equipment at Lions Park. Commissioner Moser. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Thank you, 15 Judge. For the last three or four years, we've looked 16 at Lions Park in Center Point. Had a lot of 17 improvements in the park itself. And speak of litter 18 things, there's practically no litter in the park 19 nowadays. People are really appreciating it. We've put 20 in about a $20,000.00, thanks to Martin Marietta, for a 21 volleyball court. The thing that is missing from the 22 master plan, which was created by a number of citizens 23 in Center Point for Lions Park, is some playground 24 equipment. We discussed this a year ago in March of 25 2018 of looking at the playground equipment throughout 32 1 the county parks, and we have talked at that time about 2 $20,000.00 in each one of the parks. I think two parks. 3 So a total of about 40 thousand dollars. 4 We put $10,000.00 in the budget for that. 5 As a result of the meeting last manner, we formed a 6 committee, and the County Attorney Heather Stebbins, 7 "Mother of The Year", with a number of children and 8 being an expert in what kind of playground equipment 9 would be appropriate, looked at some of the equipment 10 that was presented to us. She talked with the City. 11 The City said if you do anything $20,000.00 would be 12 kind of a bare minimum. So what I'm going to propose is 13 I've identified some equipment that's in our budget of 14 $10,000.00. It's not a big swing set or anything like 15 that, but t it's a good piece of equipment. 16 So I would make a motion that we move 17 forward. We've been talking about this for three or 18 four years now. And asked Heather Stebbins to take a 19 look at the piece of equipment that's been identified 20 for $10,000.00 to look at equipment that we can install, 21 and the price not to exceed $10,000.00, and have Shane, 22 part of that committee, and I would be happy to serve on 23 that, the three of us, and see if we can then come back 24 to Commissioners' Court with a recommendation with a 25 piece of equipment, and when, where and how to install, 33 1 so that's my motion. 2 JUDGE KELLY: That's a motion for a 3 committee? 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's a motion for a 5 committee. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Are you the chair, with Shane 7 Evans? 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'll chair it, and with 9 Shane and with Heather, right. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, and the third member of 11 the committee would be Heather Stebbins, our County 12 Attorney. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And mother of the year. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I wasn't going to put 15 that on the record. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, yeah. 17 MRS. STEBBINS: Thank you. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll second the motion, 19 Judge. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Got a motion by 21 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Letz to 22 form that committee with regard to playground equipment 23 at Lions Park in Precinct 2, which will consist of 24 Commissioner Moser, Shane Evans, and Heather Stebbins. 25 Any other discussion? 34 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A quick question for the 2 Auditor. Have we expended all the funds out of the CO? 3 There was some funding for parks under it, I thought. 4 MR. ROBLES: I'll have to double check that. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think this is another 6 item. If there's any funding left in that that needs to 7 be used, and it could be used for that purpose, this is 8 capital improvement. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: James and I looked at 10 the budget, and the $10,000.00 is there, but that's a 11 good point. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I can't remember if 13 there's anything left of that portion. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, any other discussion? 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Been a long time 16 coming, that's all I say. These kids need this 17 playground equipment. It's for the children. That 18 oughta get everybody happy. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, those in favor raise 20 your hand. Four zero. 21 Item 1.10, we're back to fireworks for Cinco 22 De Mayo. This is consider, discuss and take appropriate 23 action to determine whether to allow the retail 24 fireworks permit holders to sell fireworks to the public 25 beginning May 1, 2019 and ending at midnight May 5th, 35 1 2019 in celebration of Cinco De Mayo. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move that we approve 3 the sale of the fireworks with the exceptions of the 4 rockets with fins and the missiles with -- what is it, 5 County Attorney? 6 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Sticks. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's correct. 8 Missiles with sticks. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's missiles with fins. 10 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Yeah, it's missiles with 11 fins and sky rockets with sticks. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I always forget it. I 13 should know it, I've said it enough. With those two 14 exceptions, I move that we allow the sale of fireworks 15 for Cinco De Mayo. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Been a motion made by 18 Commissioner Belew, second by Commissioner Letz to 19 approve sale of fireworks with the exception of rockets 20 with sticks and missiles with fins, as we usually do in 21 this situation. Is there any other discussion? 22 MRS. STEBBINS: This is one of those times 23 where if you take no action there will be no sales. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we're taking action 25 to let them sell if we want. 36 1 JUDGE KELLY: How do we feel about the rain? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we're in good 3 shape weather-wise. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I do, too. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Supposed to rain this 6 week. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean we're pretty 8 green right now. It's one of the safest times that we 9 can do it. And with the limitation on the missiles and 10 rockets. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: If nothing else 12 thistles have made everything green. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, if no further 14 discussion, those in favor raise your hand. Opposed? 15 Four zero. You can see how flexible our ten o'clock 16 break is. We're going to skip over that for the time 17 being and keep right on going. 18 But this goes back to when we talk about an 19 agenda, how we can set things at very definite times 20 after the break. But we're going to item 1.11 -- 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. That's a timed 22 item. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Item 1.12 consider, 24 discuss and take appropriate action regarding a cell 25 phone policy for Commissioners' Court meetings. 37 1 This is my pet peeve. Sometimes vibrate is 2 almost as loud as a ring, and we have phones that do go 3 off periodically throughout the Court, including up here 4 at the bench, and I just want to remind everybody that 5 we do have a policy against that, and what I'm proposing 6 to do, and this is your opportunity to shout me down, is 7 to have the Sheriff as the bailiff pick up any phones 8 that go off and then you can pick them up afterwards 9 from him, because he serves as our de facto bailiff. So 10 time to shout if you want to. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I don't have any 12 objection to that, but is that a procedure used by 13 anybody else that we know of. I've never heard of 14 anybody saying hand me your phone. 15 JUDGE KELLY: I've had district judges and 16 federal judges take your phone and not give them back. 17 I've had them take your phone and fine you a hundred 18 dollars to get it back. I've had them hold the phone 19 for a week and still pay a hundred dollars to get it 20 back. This is meant to be user-friendly because we all 21 make mistakes, but we're trying to make the distraction 22 of the phones going off, even the vibrations that kind 23 of crawl across the table or the chairs, and you what 24 I'm talking about, so that we don't have interruptions 25 during Commissioners' Court. 38 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I think we've reached 2 the point that most of us don't even notice it. I 3 couldn't care less. It only annoys me if they let it go 4 for 20 seconds or longer, and I think that person should 5 have never had a phone. Doesn't have enough sense to 6 operate it. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Or if your live on the 8 radio and somebody's cell phone goes off. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Doesn't have enough 10 sense to own a cell phone. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think there's 12 that much of a problem. I don't mind phones going off. 13 And once I remember the Judge looking over at my phone 14 as it vibrates. But I don't have a problem with the 15 policy one way or the other. To me it is annoying. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Well, the official policy, and 17 you'll notice there's a post-it inside my notebook every 18 week to remind everybody no phones, turn their phones 19 off. So I'm just -- I'm bringing it up because it's a 20 policy that we have not consistently enforced. And I 21 don't want to blindside anybody by all of a sudden 22 enforcing something we haven't talked about. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do we do that, or do 24 you do that for every session, turn your cell phones 25 off? 39 1 JUDGE KELLY: I don't bring one in. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. I mean remind 3 everybody to turn them off. I know City Council does 4 that to remind everybody to turn it off when they start. 5 JUDGE KELLY: It's been sporadic, sometimes 6 I remember to do it; sometimes I don't. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What we might do is try 8 that and just remind everybody and see how it goes after 9 that. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. Because if you 11 have a warning and then it goes off, then you really 12 have -- 13 JUDGE KELLY: So we're going to have 14 warnings at the beginning of the meeting. Okay. But 15 I'm going to go ahead and put that on the agenda so I 16 will remember to do it, because I pretty much go by 17 what's written on the agenda. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Thank you. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On that, do we need -- 20 or and I haven't read the policy that we have in there, 21 other than it says we're not supposed to have cell 22 phones working operationally in Commissioners' Court. 23 Do we need a motion for the Sheriff to take them away or 24 hold them? 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. I think what we 40 1 said is let's announce it. If it's a problem then take 2 action. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, if everybody's 4 warned it probably won't be a problem. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. That will just be part 6 of the admonition. 7 Okay, item 1.13 on the agenda is the 8 agenda-agenda item. That's consider, discuss and take 9 appropriate action regarding notice requirements for 10 future Commissioners' Court agendas, including but not 11 limited to, and we try to be specific here with the 12 admonitions that we receive, as to the scope of the 13 agenda, the nature, specificity, adequate notice, 14 submission deadlines, time issues, format, and we can 15 talk about and even the executive session items. 16 And this all is a result of the input that 17 we got from our County Attorney that our Thursday 18 meetings in particular. I know some of you come to the 19 Thursday meetings, and many of you do not. Has been 20 pretty generalized notice that we're going to talk about 21 liaison committee reports, and elected officials 22 reports, and department head reports, without specifying 23 what we might be talking about. And so in trying to put 24 together a revised agenda format that we can use as a 25 standard form on Thursday mornings, one of the things 41 1 that we've been asked to do is to be much more specific 2 so that we afford the public proper notice of what we're 3 going to be talking about on Thursday mornings because 4 Thursday mornings have become quite a little chat 5 period. And in fact, it's become chatty enough on 6 Thursday mornings that I often don't even get to stay 7 for the conclusion of the meeting because I have to go 8 to probate docket at ten o'clock, which is one of the 9 timed items, what do we want to make our Thursday 10 dockets look like? As a general rule, I've tried to shy 11 away from setting action items on Thursday mornings. 12 Trying to reserve action items for the regular 13 Commissioners' Court meetings, where possible. That 14 doesn't mean that their wouldn't be some sort of exigent 15 or emergency circumstances that we really do need to do 16 something on a Thursday, but with the idea of being that 17 the public would know that action items would be at the 18 regular Commissioners' Court meetings, and that 19 Thursdays would be more of an information agenda where 20 we talk about specific things, and to get more specific 21 with what we talk about so that those people that are 22 going to the website or checking to see what we're going 23 to talk about, will have fair notice to what's going to 24 be discussed that day and not just look down there and 25 see okay, you got so many liaison Commissioner 42 1 appointments and you got all these department heads and 2 elected officials, and you don't know who's going to 3 show up on any given Thursday to talk about things. 4 That's what the item's for so that we can discuss it. 5 Because we can't talk amongst ourselves except when 6 we're in public. So here we are. What do y'all want to 7 do? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd love the format of 9 having reports from elected officials and department 10 heads to a meeting. Those are posted properly where we 11 have good communication. So I don't -- I prefer not to 12 change that. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Those are the semi-annual 14 reports that we started? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: As long as the public 17 knows who's going to be here. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, it's posted. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, that's what I'm 20 saying, as long as it stays that way and it's good. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, I like that too, 22 a lot. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think what we have 24 to stay away from is the liaison reports or liaison 25 discussions. I think that at the last meeting, I 43 1 believe, I made two comments, one about Animal Services, 2 and one about something else, that was just a statement 3 as to that something happening, and I think that's 4 appropriate. But we just can't get into discussions 5 about. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But you're saying it's 7 okay we can bring something up with liaison and make a 8 statement? 9 MRS. STEBBINS: A simple report is 10 sufficient. You don't want it brought up as recently as 11 Hunt Volunteer Fire Department having their fund raiser 12 this weekend, things like that. Or that you had met 13 with someone related to Animal Services. But discussion 14 and deliberation without appropriate posting is not 15 permitted. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's not deliberation; 17 just for information, fine. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If there is an item 19 comes up whether it's, you know, related to our liaison 20 responsibilities or that warrants discussion, is it the 21 preference for that to be on Thursday if there's no 22 action to be taken? It's just a discussion item to get 23 people up to speed, possibly for an agenda item that's 24 going to be coming up, or is it preferenced to do that 25 on a regular twice a month meeting? 44 1 JUDGE KELLY: My perception of that is that 2 it's at the Court's pleasure. I'm the one that tried to 3 kick started trying to have some kind of information 4 agenda item on Thursdays, because there's so many things 5 that we need to discuss that don't get discussed before 6 they come up in the public meeting and we have to make a 7 decision pretty much on the spot. 8 From my observation, I think those 9 discussions have been helpful. But when I get input 10 back from our legal counsel that we need to be more 11 specific in what we're going to discuss. It's one thing 12 to get an information report, to come in and say there's 13 going to be a fund raiser for the Hunt Volunteer Fire 14 Department, or there's going to be an adoption Saturday 15 at the Animal Services. That's just information. But 16 if we really want to talk about it, then it's going to 17 have to be identified that there's going to be -- that 18 topic is going to be available for discussion. And if 19 we're going to consider anything, and my idea of so far 20 has been not to consider it; just to discuss it, so that 21 we have a chance as a Court to talk among ourselves 22 before we're put in a position having to make a 23 decision. Then save consideration for the regular 24 meeting so that anybody that wants to hear what we're 25 talking to one another about, what we're discussing, 45 1 they can come listen to discussions. And anything 2 that's go to be a consideration is going to be on a 3 consideration agenda on the regular Court meeting, 4 unless there's a special need. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean to avoid a 6 meeting more than twice a month for our main meetings it 7 really does help to have some discussion on Thursday 8 meetings, because otherwise, you know, at times we go 9 through part of it, you know, budget issues and other 10 issues, and we start of having meetings almost weekly on 11 the same type of meeting, we can't wait two to three 12 weeks. 13 Jody, when do you post the agenda? When do 14 you need to post the agenda for our Thursday meeting, is 15 it Monday? 16 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Friday. I mean legally 17 Monday by 9, but there's -- that's too hard. Fridays. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: See, it's easy enough 19 to give the information out, there's going to be an open 20 house at the Ingram Volunteer Fire Department, and by 21 the way, the new ESD is going to need new members soon. 22 And then if you say that in that process, and we'll be 23 voting on that in the next Commissioners' meeting, 24 that's one thing. Another thing is it kind of opens the 25 door to kind of drifting off into something else. It 46 1 just has to stop there, anything that we're going to be 2 required to vote on. You have to release yourself. 3 JUDGE KELLY: A really good example, because 4 we had public input at the last regular Court meeting 5 two weeks ago from one of our ESD's that was caught 6 surprised when we don't have our Auditor who had -- our 7 previous Auditor had been a certified public accountant 8 that was able to do the accounting work necessary for 9 them to file their annual report, and came to us to talk 10 about that. And we answered the questions as best we 11 could at the time. But that would be something that we 12 could talk about how to do that. For those of you who 13 don't know it used to be that because Brenda Doss was a 14 CPA, she would do, the auditor's office would do these 15 for the ESD's. 16 This year we still have two ESD's, ESD 1 and 17 ESD 2, both in Precinct 4. And one of the ESD's, I 18 think it's ESD #1 went ahead and budgeted the thousand 19 dollars to get their audit completed. And ESD 2 came to 20 us, they had not budgeted the money to perform the audit 21 and they were asking us to -- advise them what we could 22 to. Now, if we put on the agenda for Thursday, we could 23 talk about the topic, we could do the report, but here 24 they are. We could discuss it, but not take action if 25 that's going to be the policy of the Court that we're 47 1 not taking action on Thursday unless we have a specific 2 action item in an unusual circumstance, and that 3 forewarns the public that the next Commissioners' Court 4 meeting we're going to be talking about what action to 5 take with regard to that ESD. That would be a good 6 example. 7 And make sure I understand where we're 8 going, and make sure the County Attorney agrees with 9 this. I received an e-mail over the weekend about 10 Christmas lights at the courthouse square. So I see a 11 discussion on the court at some point as to do we need 12 to -- where do we want to go, direction, what's the big 13 picture, what are we trying to do with courthouse 14 lighting at Christmas? Not an action item; just kind of 15 a discussion item and then knowing that in the future 16 we'll have to have an action item. Is that the type of 17 thing that we ask, just say discuss Christmas lighting 18 on a Thursday agenda? 19 MRS. STEBBINS: I think that's exactly what 20 the -- 21 JUDGE KELLY: I think so. 22 MRS. STEBBINS: -- goal is. 23 JUDGE KELLY: And I think one of the things 24 that I propose that we do is that any agenda that we put 25 together be approved by the County Attorney, so we don't 48 1 run afoul of our public notice requirements. And I've 2 discussed that with her and she's willing to do that. I 3 think that as a policy it would be good for us to have 4 our general policy; not without exception, but the 5 general policy, being that we don't take action items on 6 Thursday unless there's a special circumstance requiring 7 action be taken. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Timeline or something 9 like that. 10 JUDGE KELLY: And so that if somebody comes 11 up with something hey, we really got to get this done so 12 we gotta do it this Thursday because we don't have 13 another Commissioners' Court meeting for a week and a 14 half, then that's something that could be done. But as 15 a general rule for the public to know, generally, we're 16 not going to take any action items on Thursdays. And 17 then you can double check, if there is a consideration 18 item, then the public would know that there's something 19 coming up that we need to deal with at that Thursday 20 meeting. 21 The other thing that my take away from 22 visiting with the County Attorney is we just need to be 23 more specific. For instance, today on the item that 24 we're not going to talk about right now has to do with 25 the Crime Victim Rights grant, and any modifications we 49 1 need to make to that grant. If you'll look over on -- 2 we're not discussing it right now, but if you look at 3 agenda item 5.5a). I put that on the agenda. And I've 4 also put a 5.5c) on the agenda to discuss what to do 5 with the Juvenile Detention Facility. I put it on the 6 information agenda trying to be in compliance with what 7 my perception is that the County Attorney wants us to do 8 in order to put the public on notice. 9 And so we'll get to those and be able to 10 discuss those, but that's an information agenda. We 11 have that information agenda on the regular scheduled 12 Commissioners' Court meetings, but it's rarely used. It 13 is extensively used on Thursday mornings where we talk 14 about things. But because as a general rule our regular 15 court sessions take longer. By the time we get to those 16 information items, we either forget that we have 17 something to report, our brain's a little bit too tired 18 to bring it up and try to deal with it on the regular 19 scheduled meeting. 20 So one thing I'm looking for is when we have 21 something specific such as I did right here today, and I 22 really did this as a trial and error. Two things that I 23 feel like I need to report to you on an information 24 basis that would allow for discussion, you'll see we put 25 on there the language that we were given was 50 1 consideration and discussion, and what I would do is 2 take consideration out of the information agenda and 3 just put discussion. But I did this as a sample for us 4 to be able to discuss this very issue so that when I 5 have something specific that I need to share with the 6 Court, such as we're probably going to have to make 7 modifications to this grant application. Or we're going 8 to need to do something about the Juvenile Detention 9 Facility and the appraisal process. Then we've got an 10 opportunity to be able to discuss it and try to direct 11 those more towards Thursday than the Monday. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: For instance, the thing 13 about resurfacing the roads today, that was just an 14 information thing. It could have been as part of that 15 information agenda. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Sure. And that allows us to 17 get more efficient with what we're doing. And it also 18 helps us know what to expect as it comes up on the 19 agenda. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We need to be careful, I 21 think mainly because of your schedule, Judge, that we 22 don't put it too much on a Thursday because then you 23 have to leave, and then that defeats the purpose of 24 having it on the agenda. 25 JUDGE KELLY: And because we have four 51 1 Thursdays every month, and only two regular court 2 sessions, one of the things I put on here was the timed 3 portion of the agenda. We certainly don't want to limit 4 the public's time on a regular Commissioners' Court 5 meeting. I don't think anybody would suggest that. But 6 if we're just setting aside some time on a Thursday 7 mornings to discuss things, we can time that agenda out. 8 Such as we'll talk until 9:50, 9:55 or whatever, and 9 continue to discussion next Thursday. And have it 10 automatically roll over. Of course we pick the 11 discussion up next Thursday so that we can complete the 12 discussion, that's just a possibility. 13 Another one I put in there on the timed 14 items. I went back and reviewed our procedures, we 15 allow people five minutes and you want to know -- I see 16 people out there looking at me, what are these rules. 17 We didn't even know we had these rules. There are rules 18 that each person is timed and is supposed to be allotted 19 five minutes that addresses the Court on any given 20 topic. And any topic is limited to 30 minutes, unless 21 agreed to by the Court otherwise. 22 And in the two years that I have set out 23 there and watched this, and the quarter year that I've 24 sat on this bench, we've never timed an item yet. And 25 I'm not saying that we necessarily should; I just wanted 52 1 to point out that we do have that limitation. 2 And my thought as far as the information 3 docket on Thursdays is we can time it out so that we all 4 know that we're going to stop at 9:55 or whatever, and 5 go about and do the rest of our business. And what 6 didn't get discussed, or if you think of something else 7 that you wanted to say but didn't get said that 8 Thursday, we can pick that up as unfinished business the 9 following Thursday. 10 That's what the two time-related comments 11 were in trying to adequately describe and give the 12 public notice of what we're going to talk about in terms 13 of an agenda. That's what that was about. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The only concern I have 15 is generally the public comes to our Monday meetings, or 16 that's when the -- 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's it. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And a lot of discussion 19 items it's good to have the public here. And that if we 20 start putting too much discussion items on Thursday, we 21 may discourage public participation. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, and also true for 23 the media. They're here on Monday usually, but not on 24 Thursday. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, that could be 53 1 adjusted in most cases, and if I can't make something on 2 a Monday, maybe I can make it on a Thursday, or vice 3 versa. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, it can cut both 5 ways. But it's just an observation that I -- and we can 6 still put informational items on the Monday agenda. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Just like we did today. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we have to use 9 Commissioner's discretion as to kind of what the topic 10 is, I guess. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Well, and just like today, I 12 went ahead and put those items on the information agenda 13 so we have something to talk about as examples, specific 14 examples to talk about. 15 The truth of the matter is, we very seldom 16 use the information agenda on Mondays. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Now, maybe we should use it 19 more, and maybe that oughta be something we solicit 20 public interest to use that information agenda more on 21 Mondays, but if that's the case we're probably going to 22 have to allot more time, because routinely we get to 23 about 10:30 to 11:30 on most Mondays. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, we do also have, 25 I'll remind everybody that we're going to have a public 54 1 relations person that can say these things are coming up 2 in a future meeting and issue press releases to that 3 effect, so that will help to get information out to the 4 public, because we've been relying basically on the 5 website and what's stated during these meetings publicly 6 versus n little preheating of whatever's coming up by a 7 public relations person so that people with interest in 8 that particular topic can be here on those days or be 9 watching for when it's going to come up. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because I see the media 11 in the audience. And the media, do they have any 12 comments? 13 JUDGE KELLY: Or just the public. It's a 14 public meeting. Bunny comes all the time. She's not 15 media officially. 16 MRS. BOND: I do have some comments. Do I 17 need to fill out a form? 18 JUDGE KELLY: No, Ma'am. You can speak on 19 this topic as it comes up, remember? 20 MRS. BOND: Okay. I'm so glad that you are 21 taking a look at this, because I've been concerned since 22 I've becoming to the meetings since the first of 23 January. Because to me, you either need to do all the 24 department head things like whatever the plats are, for 25 example. Anything that concerns Charlie needs to be 55 1 grouped. I mean, if you wanted to do a section to the 2 agenda, which you have under information items, but you 3 really -- those are consideration items, too, you have 4 to take action on. But to me grouping those things 5 together makes more sense, okay? 6 My other question to you would actually be, 7 do you have a schedule for when boards and committees 8 report? Is there an actual report schedule? 9 JUDGE KELLY: We do now; we did not. And 10 what we do now is we first thought we might take these 11 reports quarterly, and then we decided we don't have 12 enough days to do them quarterly, so we're going to do 13 them semiannually, and if you'll notice on those 14 Thursday agendas, you'll see two departments pretty much 15 per Thursday in reporting to us. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But they're on 17 Thursday. 18 JUDGE KELLY: There on Thursdays. And so 19 that's so we get regular feedback from them as to what's 20 going on and what they need, and we stay abreast of 21 what's going on that affects those departments. 22 MRS. BOND: Okay, well that helps. I'm 23 really glad you're considering this, because I had 24 received an e-mail from someone who was who knew I was 25 coming to the meetings who was concerned that too much 56 1 was maybe going on at the Thursday meetings and not 2 enough was being brought up here. But this is -- I am 3 really glad. This is a good explanation. I think you 4 made a good explanation. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we're trying to find our 6 land legs here, we're experimenting. We're trying to 7 find out what works. And just like when I interrupted 8 Charlie, and I apologize to Charlie because he hadn't 9 heard it before, and I could tell by the color of the 10 top of his head that he hadn't heard it before. But 11 there are just things that we're thinking about how do 12 we lump these things. Do we do a consent agenda, 13 because there are a lot of things that you can see the 14 votes are nearly always unanimous, occasionally we have 15 an abstention, occasionally we have a divided vote, but 16 it's rare. And so there are a lot of things that we 17 could probably handle in the consent agenda, just like 18 most organizations do. If you go to the City Council 19 meeting they're going adopt a consent agenda, anybody 20 that wants to talk about anything, anything on that 21 consent agenda, then all the commissioner has to do is 22 say I'd like to talk about it, it immediately comes off 23 of consent and goes to consideration. And it's the 24 first thing you consider on the consideration docket -- 25 the consideration agenda. 57 1 So these things we're experimenting with, 2 Bunny, we're just trying to find out what's the best way 3 to do this, so we welcome your input. 4 MRS. BOND: Thank you. I applaud you for 5 being transparent about the procedure, because the 6 process is really important to the public. I mean 7 sometimes I'll look around after break, and it's me, the 8 three media people, and department heads, and that's all 9 that's left in the room. And I can sort of understand 10 that, and I do look at -- read the agenda, but I'm sorry 11 more public doesn't. I tried to encourage more people. 12 JUDGE KELLY: One of the things that we had 13 that I put here as part of our agenda is how do we 14 handle executive session, how do we want to handle 15 executive session. Because I know that you described 16 the situation you just did. There are times that we go 17 into executive session, we may be out in ten minutes, we 18 might not be out for an hour and a half, and it gets 19 pretty lonely waiting out there in those halls, been 20 there and done that. And so as a general rule, we 21 always reserved executive sessions pretty much for the 22 regular sessions. And so, do we want to have a policy 23 that we're not going to do executive sessions on 24 Thursdays, or do we want to be able to do executive 25 sessions, because I think that makes a difference. 58 1 MRS. BOND: Thank you for asking me. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Before you sit down, 3 Bunny, you mentioned a standard report for boards. And 4 the answer to that, we have very few boards and 5 commissions that really report. We have two, the 6 Airport, and the Animal Services are really the only two 7 that give -- 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And library. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the library. But 10 they don't -- 11 JUDGE KELLY: Nothing earth shattering. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I think that would 13 -- but I think that there's not a real regular set 14 schedule other than that we post it on the agenda when 15 we have those reports come in. But we're not, you know, 16 we just don't have the number of boards and commissions 17 that the City has for example. It's just a different 18 setup. 19 JUDGE KELLY: And one of the reasons we 20 stared asking for specific reports, break them down by 21 two, which is what we did J.P. 3 and Constable 3 this 22 past Thursday. Thursday before, we did J.P. 2 and 23 Constable Precinct 2. And we learned some interesting 24 things. We learned some interesting things we needed to 25 know. We learned some things about a car accident we're 59 1 working around. But those are the regular meetings. 2 And so, we went back to our original list and started 3 pulling out and saying let's do them two at a time so we 4 can at least get some routine information. 5 MRS. BOND: You have some commissions now. 6 The Historical Commission, and 4-H report on an annual 7 basis. And you have some other people that report on an 8 annual basis, right? 9 JUDGE KELLY: And they come in and report to 10 us twice a your now. 11 MRS. BOND: Okay, okay. 12 JUDGE KELLY: And we're trying to be very 13 specific so that you know when they're coming, in 14 addition to department heads and elected officials. 15 MRS. BOND: Thank you. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Now, I saw that Tammy had her 17 hand up. 18 MS. PROUT: So the purpose of having beefing 19 up these Thursday meetings is to be more prepared to 20 when you get to Commissioners' Court on Mondays, 21 correct? 22 JUDGE KELLY: Partly. And for me the other 23 part is, too the Texas Open Meetings Act is that new 24 animal that I'm learning to work within, and what that 25 does is it limits that only I can talk to only one other 60 1 Commissioner about any item outside these public 2 meetings, and to talk to the other two we have to be in 3 a public meeting for me to have that discussion. If I 4 talk to Commissioner Moser about something and then the 5 next week talk to Commissioner Belew they call that a 6 rolling quorum. Which we've been strictly admonished 7 not to do. 8 So one of the things we do on Thursday 9 morning is because we have a publicly posted meeting, we 10 have an agenda item that the public had adequate notice 11 that we can talk about. We can sit here and discuss; we 12 don't have to make any decision. But hey, what do you 13 think about what's going on with this. Or this is 14 coming up, you know, what are are your thoughts on this. 15 And gives us an opportunity to more fully vet the issues 16 than show up without any prior discussions and have to 17 do it on a the fly here. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On that point, a good 19 example for the roads you brought up. Commissioner 20 Moser talked about the roads in Center Point that 21 there's a problem there. And then I talked to Moser 22 about the roads in Westwood, and Moser says well I 23 talked to the Judge. That's a violation right there. 24 And it's nothing, you know -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: Y'all don't see this. But 61 1 literally what you see in our little offices here, the 2 hands go up. No, no don't say anything, I can't talk to 3 you because I've talked to somebody else about it. Or 4 if one of us wants to know, and we come -- let's just 5 say I go to Commissioner Letz and say, what are we going 6 to do about the roads in Precinct 3 where the East Kerr 7 County wastewater line went through, okay? And he says 8 I can't talk to you, I've already talked to Commissioner 9 Moser about that. So I have to wait until we get in 10 here and say now tell me what's wrong in the roads in 11 Precinct 3. That's the way it works. 12 MS. PROUT: Well, I'm asking for selfish 13 reasons, because it sounds like to me that we need to be 14 at the Thursday meetings, because you'll just come vote 15 already informed on Monday. That's my reason for 16 asking. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, that's not really 18 the point of it; the point of it is informational, but I 19 agree with this, with what you said Tammy, that I think 20 everybody should come to the Thursday meetings because 21 things get reviewed in a different way. They get 22 discussed and aired out in a different way than what 23 happens on Mondays. Mondays is very strict and 24 formatted; Thursday's a lot more informational. 25 JUDGE KELLY: It's the difference between on 62 1 Mondays you're going to hear opinions, and it's going to 2 be much more persuasive. This is why I think we oughta 3 do something. On Thursday you're going to come in and 4 kind of go like well I don't know what I think, what do 5 you think, that sort of thing. Going to be much more 6 informational. Irene? 7 MS. VAN WINKLE: I have to plead ignorance 8 on your Thursday meetings, because I can't make them 9 most of the times because of my schedule. However, do 10 you allow public input on those days, on items that 11 you -- I mean are people speaking with you like they do 12 when you're discussing? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think anyone's 14 asked. 15 JUDGE KELLY: It hasn't come up. The people 16 that come actively participate, but they're usually 17 department heads -- they're going to be county staff, 18 elected officials and department heads. 19 MS. VAN WINKLE: Are they allowed to 20 interact? 21 JUDGE KELLY: There's no limitation on 22 public input in a meeting other than five minutes a 23 person, 30 minutes a topic. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Comment. We're past 25 ten o'clock, we have that timed item, and we have 63 1 exceeded five minutes. 2 MRS. STEBBINS: I'd like to address a 3 question that Bunny had, quickly, about the boards and 4 commissions. That that will be something for the public 5 relations person to have and post on our website. Like 6 we have a Bail Bond Board meeting on Wednesday, and that 7 can be something that can be posted in a way to inform 8 the public about that better. Very few animal boards or 9 other things that go on in the County that y'all don't 10 really have a lot to do with. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's something I 12 needed to know. 13 JUDGE KELLY: We do have an executive 14 session item, just so y'all know. It's the last one on 15 the agenda. 16 And let's go back to 1.11, which is a timed 17 item at 10:15. And you can see how we have to be 18 flexible as we set these break times. One of the things 19 we have talked is we set the break time at 9:45, and 20 then we start back up at ten. We got a set time that we 21 know we can do whether it's going to be public hearings 22 or what have you, that we should be able to honor those 23 time requests. 24 So with that at 10:15, I'm going to call on 25 our County Treasurer to consider, discuss and take 64 1 appropriate action to accept the Kerr County Bail Bond 2 Board as an official Board of Kerr County pursuant to 3 Texas Occupations Code 1704. Miss Soldan. 4 MRS. SOLDAN: Yes, Sir. So I'm back here 5 because the last court meeting there was a question as 6 to who can vote on this item. 7 MRS. STEBBINS: The question was at the last 8 hearing could Judge Kelly, and Harley, I think, vote 9 because y'all were both part of the Bail Board or the 10 designee to the Board, and the answer is yes, you can 11 vote. It's not one of those offices, a civil offices of 12 a monument where you can't serve on two boards. I think 13 that the Legislature would have certainly contemplated 14 that they -- that the Commissioners' Court would be 15 involved in some of the decision making of the Bail Bond 16 Board and wouldn't have -- 17 JUDGE KELLY: We get to participate in 18 deciding if this is an official Board of Kerr County. 19 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, Sir. 20 JUDGE KELLY: And is there a motion? 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I make a motion that we 22 have the Bail Bond Board an official Board of Kerr 23 County. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: There's been a motion by 65 1 Commissioner Belew, second by Commissioner Letz that all 2 the members of the Court can participate in determining 3 that the Bail Bond Board is an official Board of Kerr 4 County. Any other discussion? Those in favor raise 5 your hand. Unanimous, 4-0. 6 MRS. SOLDAN: Thank you. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, Is there anymore we need 8 to discuss about an agenda? I don't propose we take any 9 action today, I just real wanted to get it out there 10 today to get input back from the public and the media 11 and from ourselves as to how we want to handle this. 12 So with that, and we can skip over and we'll 13 skip executive -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Before we leave, are you 15 going to -- is it an idea to have another discussion 16 like this, or a consideration item coming up? And the 17 reason -- 18 JUDGE KELLY: We can take consideration if 19 you want to. I just don't want to rush anybody. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The reason the consent 21 agenda, because we've talked about that at various 22 times, and I'm against it, and the reason I'm against it 23 is we never know where discussion is going to come up. 24 And a lot of it is very good discussion that we have, 25 and very long, and something that may need seem to be 66 1 very simple and someone in the public or on the Court 2 may say something that may change my mind or someone 3 else's mind. And if it would be a consent agenda, I 4 would have voted one way, and I may still vote that way, 5 but I have a lot of different information if it's on 6 the agenda. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I agree, I agree. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just like having a 9 general comment like consent agenda. I know that a lot 10 of boards does, I've been through enough. City Council 11 does it quite a bit, and UGRA does it, I believe, as 12 well. And I think it cuts back on our input and public 13 input. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And I think the process 15 by with which the City does their work, with the City 16 Manager, you know, City Council can do the consent 17 agenda and stuff like that, but I agree with Jonathan 18 that consent agenda is probably not a good thing to do 19 for Commissioners' Court. Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And I would add to that 21 that kind of echo what Bunny said earlier is that it 22 appears to be a lot more transparent when you discuss 23 these things in here. And I know it's the way the 24 sausage is made, and it's not always pretty, but this is 25 the way that we do it, and I think we should continue. 67 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And on another point 2 brought up, I think it's very worthwhile for our staff 3 just kind of the practice has been that Road and Bridge 4 goes at 9 o'clock. I think it is very helpful to have 5 them grouped, and at a certain time. You know, it is 6 productive. And I think within reason, I like timed 7 items, but they can also become a hindrance. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: People from coming from 9 San Antonio, wherever it be, here, and might have to sit 10 through the whole thing at times. 11 JUDGE KELLY: And for our county employees 12 it makes it easier for them to plan when they will need 13 to take time out from their regular duties to be 14 available to come over here and visit with us and know 15 that we're going to handle it efficiently and 16 expeditiously and get them back to their assigned task. 17 You know, when we come at 9 o'clock, we got a whole lot 18 of things and a lot of people, there's a lot of meet and 19 greet that goes on as y'all know, and all of this is 20 important. 21 So the real question is, be thinking about 22 and give us your input back on when's the best time to 23 do some of these things so that we can be more he 24 efficient about it, not only for ourselves, but for you. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And I would say for the 68 1 working folks, the less time they have to take off, the 2 better. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So we'll move over to 4 the approval agenda 4.1 pay bills. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are we going to take a 6 break? 7 JUDGE KELLY: Trying to move through it. I 8 think we're just about to executive session. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Do we have any bills to pay? 11 Any budget amendments? Do we have any late bills? Do 12 we have any monthly reports that we need to accept? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, we have monthly 14 reports from the Kerr County Environmental Health and 15 Animal Services for February and March. We have Kerr 16 County Environmental Health OSSF report for March. We 17 have the March, Constable Precinct 3. March, Constable 18 Precinct 4. And then J.P. 1's fines and judgments and 19 jury fees collected, County Treasurer as well. And I'll 20 make a motion that we accept the reports as presented. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, we have a motion by 23 Commissioner Letz, and second by Commissioner Belew. 24 The set of reports including the one filed this morning 25 by the County Treasurer. Any further discussion? Those 69 1 in favor raise your hand. Four zero. 2 Okay, just a couple quick things. I think 3 we've talked about this. I just want to make everybody 4 aware of a couple information items that I stuck on the 5 agenda that I've already talked about. But one has to 6 do with our -- a) has to do with the Indigent Defense 7 Commissions Grant application. We sent a letter of 8 intent to get on the list, but there has been absolutely 9 no input, no feedback from everybody, no interest 10 expressed by anybody. The deadline to file the 11 application is May the 10th. I just wanted to bring it 12 to everybody's attention if this is something we want to 13 do, we're going to have to get with it or let the 14 deadline pass. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So what -- remind us 16 what all that means, Judge, if you would. 17 JUDGE KELLY: If you'll recall, the TIDC, 18 the Texas Indigent Defense Commission was approached by 19 Judge Harris, and they prepared an extensive report. A 20 copy of which was sent out as part of our attachments 21 about what -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Two months ago, six 23 weeks ago. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Six weeks ago, something like 25 that. And the proposal was for a multi-district public 70 1 defenders office, which would include all three counties 2 of the 198th and the 216th, which would be Gillespie 3 County, Kerr County, and Bandera County. I secured the 4 verbal approval from Judge Evans to be part of that 5 multi-district submission. I was unable the get a 6 return phone call from Judge Stroeher over in Gillespie 7 County; although, Judge Evans got a return call from 8 him. If you know Judge Stroeher, he's a little bit 9 reclusive. If we could agree -- if he would agree to 10 submitting the letter of intent. I've had no input back 11 from either one of them whatsoever. 12 And it was meant to be an office that would 13 be shared by all three counties. Be just felonies in 14 Gillespie County and just felonies in Bandera County, 15 but it will be public defenders office across the board 16 here in Kerr County with our County Court at Law 17 misdemeanors. And I think the -- they talked about 18 having a 12-employee office, which we don't have office 19 space for. That's just one of the issues that we're 20 kicking around, because we have no place to put them if 21 we did it. There would be a Chief Public Defender, and 22 then there would be, I think, eight other public 23 defenders, there would be an investigator and a couple 24 staff people in the office. And the legislature has 16 25 million dollars to offer in grants this particular 71 1 legislative cycle. Probably another 16 million dollars 2 in grants two years from now. They were offering us the 3 opportunity to apply for these grants and get on the 4 list. The grants would pretty much reduce -- 5 substantially reduce our payment for the court-appointed 6 counsel short term for the next two years, possibly four 7 years. At the end of which it then becomes a full boat 8 county expense. They're talking about whether or not 9 they're going to have more money for sustainable grants 10 down the road. And at this point we don't know any more 11 than what I've just explained to you. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: A couple things. 13 Number one, we could apply for the grant, but we don't 14 have to accept it if we are awarded it, number one. Or 15 Number two, we can better understand the pros and the 16 cons for having a public defender and then just hold off 17 until the next, you know, two years from now, whatever. 18 So if we decide to do it now, apply, that's going to 19 be -- it's due May the 10th. 20 JUDGE KELLY: May the 10th. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So somebody's got to 22 get to work writing -- get the approval of the other 23 counties, and -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: We can probably do that if 25 they approve it. Contact them and have to follow up. 72 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let's say they approve 2 then we've got to -- 3 JUDGE KELLY: We have got no place to put 4 them. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But we also don't have 6 to accept. We can work that and probably going to take 7 months before we find out if we got the grant. Or we 8 can say let's study this, and that would be sort of my 9 intention is let's hold off right now. We don't know 10 enough if we want one. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I have a question, and 12 this is partly for the County Attorney. And you may 13 know the answer, or Dawn may know the rest of it. In 14 the County Court at Law, a lot of people are -- they 15 never going to court, they plea out or whatever, so we 16 have reduced court time and dockets, correct? 17 MRS. STEBBINS: They do come to court. They 18 come to get arraigned and then to enter a plea. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But there's no public 20 defender necessary? 21 MRS. STEBBINS: No. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: District Court, does 23 that happen at District Court level? You're going to 24 have a trial if you go to District Court, you can't plea 25 out of that. 73 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They can plead out of 2 that, but 99 percent have attorneys, appointed or hired. 3 MRS. STEBBINS: And that's the difference 4 from the misdemeanor courts. A lot of people who deal 5 with misdemeanors do it without getting a 6 court-appointed attorney. Some of them will come and 7 talk to the prosecutors, and they'll be made the offer, 8 and they'll accept that offer and go before the judge on 9 the same day that they've been arraigned, and in going 10 down the road on probation and setting up a pay plan, 11 doing what they need to do. 12 But a lot of people request a 13 court-appointed attorney in that court as well. We just 14 have, because they're misdemeanors, and the consequences 15 aren't quite so severe, we have an opportunity to where 16 fewer people than in the district court will get 17 court-appointed attorneys; although, the case load is 18 real different. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So that's helpful 20 knowing in the lower court. So is that a possibility in 21 the higher court, in the district court? Just it's a 22 forgone conclusion you're going to need a public 23 defender, okay. Just so I understand that, because we 24 don't need as many public defenders in the County Court 25 at Law. 74 1 MRS. STEBBINS: Because the case load is 2 different, we have a whole lot of court-appointed 3 counsel in the County Court at Law, and they have a lot 4 of court -- 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, they don't all 6 argue in the court, because there's been some kind of 7 resolve before you got to Court. 8 MRS. STEBBINS: Most of the cases whether 9 it's District or County Court at Law are resolved in 10 that way. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I don't think we're 12 prepared to apply for the grant. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I don't 14 understand it is why I was asking the questions, and I 15 get a little better picture with this. But if everybody 16 that goes to the District Court, 198th or 216th, is 17 going to -- if every third person or whatever is going 18 -- I'd like to know the percentage, the number of cases 19 that go through, how many of them needed a public 20 defender. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's my point about 22 getting to understand, do we want a public defender. 23 JUDGE KELLY: If it's in district court, I'm 24 going to tell you it's about 95 plus percent who get 25 court-appointed attorneys. And so that this Court 75 1 understands and the public out there, that the expense 2 for the court-appointed counsel is one of the major 3 unfunded mandates that the Federal Government passes on 4 to the State, that the State passes on to us, that the 5 citizens of Kerr County has to pay out of their pockets 6 and their taxes. It's a huge expense. What is it, 7 about half a million dollars a year? 8 MR. ROBLES: Something like that. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But the agenda is to 10 make the application or not. I mean that's not -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's a huge amount that 12 we're spending, and the grant's really great for a 13 couple of years, or maybe longer. But the cost of that 14 department will be far more than five hundred thousand a 15 year. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, you bet. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So you know, I can't 18 vote to go forward. I don't want to submit an 19 application for a grant unless we're reasonably certain 20 we want to go forward. I agree with Commissioner Moser, 21 I think I'd rather really look at it, and -- 22 JUDGE KELLY: This is for information; not 23 consideration. But so we all know that this deadline is 24 rapidly approaching and we need to be on the same page 25 as we go foward. 76 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Agreed. 2 JUDGE KELLY: And the second item on the 3 information agenda has to do with the grants that we got 4 last fall for the Crime Victim Rights Coordinator. And 5 what we're learning it's one thing to apply in obtaining 6 grants versus administering grants. And this grant was 7 very ambitious in some of the provisions that it had in 8 it with regard particularly to the volunteer hours that 9 would be -- we have a matching grant. 80/20 matching 10 grant. We match most of our match with volunteers with 11 hours. We can get those hours for people that work with 12 our Coordinator, both Miss Peter and Machetta, but in 13 the grant it had in there for a bunch of Schreiner 14 University students to do this, which we have not had. 15 And so as we filed this report, report back to the State 16 on what we're doing with the crime victims, it goes to 17 the Federal Government as well. We're not going to meet 18 that guideline, so in the information portion of this is 19 that we're going to have to modify that grant probably 20 to get in compliance with regard to volunteer hours, and 21 then the other also has to do with the targets and goals 22 that we put in the grant with the number of people that 23 are seen every month. The numbers are coming in 24 substantially lower than what was in the grant, so 25 rather than send a bad report card on how we have 77 1 administered the grant, I want to put you on notice that 2 I'm working with Miss Peter and Miss Machetta to come up 3 with some requested modifications to the grant, so that 4 we are -- we look more in compliance with what we really 5 can do. That's just information. It is there any other 6 discussion about that? So public, this is information. 7 Then 5.5(c) has to do do with the Juvenile 8 Detention Center. We've got the two prospective 9 purchasers that are sniffing around. We approved 10 retaining the local appraiser, MAI appraiser to do that. 11 But nothing's been done. And so before I took any more 12 action, I was going to go over and actually sit down and 13 visit with the appraiser and get him started. This is 14 the one where we're going to try to do the income 15 approach. But I don't want to do anything without y'all 16 knowing that I'm about to do it and give y'all a chance 17 to wave me off. But I think it's time for us to get 18 that started and see what kind of interest we really 19 have. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Go for it. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I agree. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Do we have any other 24 information reports today? 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Just real quick. Bad 78 1 news. We just had a plane crash that killed five 2 people. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: At our Airport? 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Off of Sheppard Rees 5 Rd. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So it wasn't at the 7 airport? 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. It was headed to 9 the airport. Twin engine Beechcraft. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So all emergency 11 vehicles are on the scene? 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. FAA is in route, 13 and TNTSB is in route. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Where? 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Back behind the 16 apartments. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Excuse me, I see you're up. 18 MRS. DOWDY: I had a report. 19 JUDGE KELLY: I know. And it has to do with 20 court orders or what? 21 MRS. DOWDY: Court orders, and I also wanted 22 to talk about as a member of Leadership Kerr County 23 EasterFest. It was a good turn out. I don't have any 24 numbers as far as net income and what it brought in, but 25 I've heard a lot of comments that it really was the best 79 1 ever. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What's the subject 3 again? 4 MRS. DOWDY: EasterFest. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, EasterFest. 6 Thank you. 7 MRS. DOWDY: Shout-out to Maintenance, the 8 park was beautiful. I mean when we came in it was 9 beautiful, and when we left it was beautiful. We had a 10 team yesterday and we cleaned it up, and we were out of 11 there. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: People were still 13 camping last night. 14 MRS. DOWDY: They were. And then there were 15 some day entries for Easter, to celebrate Easter. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And the Road and Bridge 17 patched up some stuff over there? 18 MRS. DOWDY: Yeah, I noticed that. Thank 19 you, Road and Bridge. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Are they supposed to 21 continue camping for two or three days? 22 MRS. DOWDY: They were supposed to be out of 23 there at noon yesterday, but if they were day, you know, 24 people, families to celebrate Easter, we had nothing to 25 do with that. 80 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Might want to check on 2 that next year, okay? 3 MRS. DOWDY: Okay. Sheriff's Office, we had 4 security. We had Chris Slaughter, Carl Arredondo, Greg 5 LB Longenbaugh, Albert Luebano, and Sergeant Lee 6 Behrens. They were there covering, and they did a great 7 job. 8 I wanted to make note of the class members 9 this year, because it was a team effort. Trent Schick, 10 Chris Braaten, Katie Milton Jordan, Terry Carpenter, 11 Kerri Sutton, Monica Zuniga, Marta Diffen, Will Garcia, 12 Drew Paxton, Ted O'Dowd, Susan Roig, Ben Gardner, Nat 13 Turner, Tabor McMillan, Colleen Brinkman, Breanna 14 Larsen, Andrea O'Neal, Alyson Mitchell, Rachel London, 15 and Morgan Neely. 16 And it was a great class. Our last class is 17 going to be in May and the graduation is at the end of 18 May. So our project -- I mean it was successful, very 19 successful. So thank the Court for allowing us to be 20 there. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Good report. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Very nice. 23 JUDGE KELLY: I forgot court orders. Do we 24 have court orders to approve? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We do. 81 1 JUDGE KELLY: Let's get that out of the way. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Court orders, and 3 they're from the April 11th. And the only one I had a 4 slight question on is with one related to the 4-H 5 position. And the court order reads authorize filling 6 the vacancy of the Kerr County 4-H position. I can't 7 remember if -- it's unusual for us to authorize, just go 8 ahead and fill in a spot like that. Usually there's 9 been more communication back and forth, but I don't 10 recall that specific -- 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What happened is just 12 before stock show, we had somebody that quit, and then 13 it was kind of a rush, I think, to get something done, 14 and I don't know that it's been filled. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, it hasn't. But we 16 authorized -- did we authorize? In the past Roy has 17 brought this position back to the Court for us to 18 approve it. 19 JUDGE KELLY: He came to us and asked for us 20 to be able to go ahead and fill it. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Then all the 22 Court Orders from the April the 11th are accurate. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, is there a motion to 24 approve court orders? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move. 82 1 JUDGE KELLY: Seconded. Those in favor 2 raise their hand. Court orders are approved. 3 Okay, do we have anything else before 4 executive session? Yes, Ma'am. 5 MRS. BOND: I may be slightly out of order, 6 but I wanted to bring this to your attention today. I'm 7 here on behalf of the Kerr County Historical Commission, 8 and we were planning on a summer history camp the first 9 week in June. And then here, if I can give you these. 10 Wilma Teague is also here with me, she's the 11 Treasurer for the Commission. She's going to serve as 12 the registrar for the camp. We had wanted to do this 13 camp last year, and were trying to partner with someone, 14 and that did not work. So this year, we have actually 15 moved ahead to reserve the Union Church approximately 16 ten days. We have contacted different organizations to 17 help us each day. So you'll note on day one it's 18 archaeology, day two is the DRT, day three, Clifton 19 Fifer. Day four, some former Texas Rangers, and day 20 five, Julius Neunhoffer. 21 And we have a theme for each day. We were 22 limiting it to boys and girls ages 9 to 11. We're 23 charging $35.00 for the camp. And as I say, we're 24 planning to use the Union Church building. So we have 25 met with the County Attorney, so we have registration 83 1 forms and volunteer applications ready to go. And so I 2 wanted to make you as the Commissioners' Court aware of 3 this. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Outstanding. 5 MRS. BOND: Any questions? 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good program. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. Did you get the 8 projector fixed? 9 MRS. BOND: No, we did not. Thank you very 10 much. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I just have one 12 other quick informational item. Won't take but just a 13 second. I just encourage everyone on the Court and the 14 public also to look at in our public relations officer 15 will be able do this, on the events and the type of 16 events and things that are out there. 17 And I am going to read through some of the 18 schedule in May, and it tells you the diversity out 19 there. It's Juvenile Law Class, Kerr County Soil Water 20 Conservation Land Stewardship, Swap Meet and Market 21 Days, Extreme Midget Wrestling, Kerrville Fire 22 Department, DPS Motorcycle Class, Sex Offender 23 Registration, two private events, and then the Hill 24 Country Quilt Guild. So I mean it's a very diverse 25 group uses that facility, and about half or so are local 84 1 governmental entities of one sort or another. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And often there's at 3 least two events, sometimes three at a time. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And some of these are on 5 the same day, there are certain things. But anyway, 6 it's always good to publicize that, and I think it will 7 be something that we will get out to the public eye more 8 in the future. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You might want to make 10 sure that the Visitors Convention Bureau knows about 11 this summer camp, they'll publish it. 12 MRS. BOND: Thank you. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Do we have anything 14 else before we break for executive session? Okay, with 15 that then we're going to stand in recess. And I want to 16 thank everybody for your patience in going past our 17 break and being able to discuss our agenda items. And 18 we will be in recess and go into executive session at 19 10:45. 20 (Executive Session.) 21 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, we're back in public 22 session. Item 1.14 on the agenda, consider, discuss and 23 take appropriate action on personnel matters related to 24 the corrections in the grade and step system for 25 specific employees. 85 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that 2 based on coming to our attention that certain employees 3 were misclassified in our step and grade system, and 4 after review by the HR Department would recommend, or 5 make a motion, to ask HR to contact the supervisors and 6 the employees and make appropriate adjustments. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 8 JUDGE KELLY: It's been motioned by 9 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 10 make the necessary corrections to the grade and step 11 system for specific employees that we've been discussing 12 for a couple months now. Is there any other discussion? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that includes the 14 people working with the Auditor and the Treasurer to 15 have checks ready. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Those in favor raise 17 your hand. Four zero, unanimous. You missed it, James, 18 we just enacted it. 19 MR. ROBLES: All right. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Should we -- that motion 21 did not include -- 22 MRS. JENNIFER DOSS: When. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- retirees. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, yeah. Go back and 25 amend your motion. 86 1 JUDGE KELLY: Let's amend the motion to 2 include those employees that have since retired. 3 MRS. JENNIFER DOSS: Former. They didn't 4 necessarily retire, they just -- 5 JUDGE KELLY: Former employees. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that is intended to 7 include former employees. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Including former employees. 9 Let's all vote on that. All in favor raise your hand. 10 Four zero. And the former employees we'll do with 11 1099's? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 13 JUDGE KELLY: So we'll need to get the 14 accounts payable request to get those approved. The 15 whole game plan is to try to have them in Thursday with 16 the checks, so we'll move -- 17 MR. ROBLES: I'll set up budget adjustments 18 for Thursday's meeting. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. All good. 20 Then if nothing else, we'll be adjourned. 21 * * * * * * 22 23 24 25 87 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 10th day of May, A.D. 2019. 10 11 /s/DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD Certified Shorthand Reporter 12 No. 953 Expiration Date 04/31/2020 13 * * * * * * 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25