1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Regular Session 5 Monday, August 12, 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 DON HARRIS, Commissioner Precinct 4 2 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 *** Commissioner's Comments. 5 4 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 7 action on request to close Flat Rock Park 5 to the public on October 19-20, 2019 for the purpose of allowing volunteer fire 6 departments to engage in "Moving Big Water Training". 7 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 9 8 action to accept donations for the month of August, 2019 as listed in the Kerr 9 County Animal Services donation log. 10 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 10 action to declare various IT items as 11 surplus. 12 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 11 action on Implementation of the Burn Ban. 13 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 12 14 action to authorize Road & Bridge and Maintenance Department to assist with 15 minor drainage project at Upper Guadalupe River Authority (UGRA). 16 1.12 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 16 17 action on hiring a new employee for IT Department. 18 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 20 19 action regarding the installation of playground equipment at Flat Rock and 20 Center Point Lions Parks. 21 1.18 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 24 action regarding the 2020 Kerr Central 22 Appraisal District (KCAD) Budget. 23 1.19 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 25 action regarding the Interlocal Agreement 24 between Lubbock County and Kerr County for the Regional Public Defender for 25 Capital Cases Program. 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.20 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 27 action to enforce collection of 4 reimbursement for Publication Fees regarding Plat Revisions per Court 5 Order 33253. 6 1.7 Presentation of the quarterly report 33 from the Kerr Veteran Services Advisory 7 Committee. 8 1.23 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 39 action setting the grade/step and salary 9 for the part-time Veteran Services Assistant. 10 1.8 Consider, discuss and approve the 46 appointment of the Early Voting Ballot 11 Board Judge for the term of one year in accordance with the Texas Election Code 12 87.002. Consider and set the number of members to be appointed by the Early 13 Voting Ballot Board Judge. 14 1.9 Consider, discuss and approve the 47 appointment of Election Judges and 15 alternates for a term of one year in accordance with the Texas Election Code 32. 16 1.10 Consider and discuss ordering the 48 17 Constitutional Amendment Election. 18 1.11 Consider, discuss and approve consolidating 48 the polling locations in accordance with 19 Chapter 43 of the Texas Election Code for the November 2019 election. 20 1.14 Public hearing regarding the District 50 21 Clerk's Annual Record Archival Plan, Government Code Section 51.317, and 22 Projected Revenue. 23 1.15 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 50 action to approve and adopt the District 24 Clerk's Annual Archival Plan as presented, and the District Clerk's Civil Filing 25 Fees as presented. 4 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.16 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 51 action to request annexation of Riverview 4 Road and Rowland Lane into the City of Ingram. 5 1.17 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 55 action for the Court to set a public 6 hearing for 10 a.m. on September the 23rd, 2019 for a revision of plat for Kerrville 7 Country Estates Section 2, Lot 46, Volume 4, Page 131. 8 1.21 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 56 9 action to approve the fee schedule for the County Clerk's Office as presented, to be 10 effective September 1, 2019. 11 1.22 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 77 action to sign effective date for salary 12 changes from Court Orders 37604A, 37604B, and 37604C, and sign related payroll change 13 forms. 14 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 77 action regarding the installation of 15 playground equipment at Flat Rock and Center Point Lions Parks. 16 3.1 Pay Bills. 78 17 3.2 Budget Amendments. 78 18 3.4 Accept Monthly Reports. 79 19 3.6 Court Orders. 80 20 4.3 Status reports from Liaison Commissioners; 81 21 discussions related to reports may follow. 22 *** Adjournment. 85 23 *** Reporter's Certificate. 86 24 * * * * * * 25 5 1 JUDGE KELLY: It is Monday, August the 12th, 2 2019, 9 o'clock in the morning, and the Kerr County 3 Commissioners' Court is now in session. I believe 4 Commissioner Harris has the pledge and the prayer. If 5 you would please stand. 6 (Prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.) 7 JUDGE KELLY: Let me remind everyone to 8 please turn off your cell phones. We have a policy to 9 have the Sheriff take those up if they go off. We've 10 never enforced that policy, but you never know, today 11 might be the first day. Please check your phones. 12 The next thing is visitor input, anyone that 13 would like to address the Court. If what you want to 14 address us about is on the agenda, we ask that you wait 15 and discuss that with us when that agenda item is 16 called. If it is something else, then this would be a 17 time to come forward, and try to limit it to three 18 minutes. And if you want to speak please identify 19 yourself and give your address here in the County. Is 20 there anyone that would like to address the Court? 21 Okay, good. Then we'll start on 22 Commissioner's comments. Start with Precinct 1. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm thankful for all 24 the rain we're going to get because Don Harris just 25 prayed for it, and I believe it's going to happen. I 6 1 don't have anything else to report from Precinct 1. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, it's on the 3 agenda, so I'm going to pass. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Nothing other than it's 5 pretty hot. 6 JUDGE KELLY: I agree with that. It's 7 August. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Hot and dry in the 9 state. Got a lot to do. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I will make one 11 comment. It came up with Mayor White made a comment to 12 me before. Anthrax is becoming a bit of a problem west 13 of us. I visited with Dr. Dittmar this morning. It's 14 not in an area touching Kerr County. It probably will 15 not get to that point. But it is pretty prevalent in 16 Kimble, Sutton, and parts of Edwards, Val Verde, Kinney, 17 Uvalde County. That's an area where anthrax is once in 18 a while, pretty much almost annually. But it's a larger 19 area this year, and I've heard some comments about it, 20 and it's a big concern. But it is not in Kerr County. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Good. I begin the agenda 1.1 22 was to be a presentation of the Airport Strategic Plan. 23 We're going to pass that because the good news is that 24 the City and the County have a joint meeting scheduled 25 on September the 16th. It will be a Youth Event Center 7 1 at 9 o'clock in the morning, and they will present their 2 strategic plan to the City and County at the same time 3 since they call us their parents. So the parents are 4 getting along, and we're going to have a joint meeting 5 on the 16th. 6 So the next item on the agenda will be 1.2 7 consider, discuss and take appropriate action on request 8 to close Flat Rock Park to the public on October 19 and 9 20 for the purpose of allowing volunteer fire 10 departments to engage in "Moving Big Water Training". 11 MR. THOMAS: Good morning, Judge. Good 12 morning, Commissioners. This is the same thing we did 13 last year. We did it in November of last year. What we 14 wanted to ask you is if we could close down part of Flat 15 Rock Park, that being the boat ramp, the first boat 16 ramp, and the road down along the park, down along the 17 river itself. 18 And the volunteer firemen, we have a 19 one-year permit for so many acre feet of water that we 20 can use, and this is a chance for them to use what we 21 call water tender operation. I know it says moving big 22 water, but it's really -- we need to call it water 23 tender operation. So it's a good time for the 24 volunteers all to work together and train, and move a 25 bunch of water. 8 1 I think last year we moved -- how much 2 water? Almost 300,000 gallons of water in about a five 3 hour period, so it's a good chance for them to train. 4 And we have the permit for one year. I think the 5 permit's going to end at the end of October, so we'd 6 like to get one more training before the permit's up. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And that's October 19th 8 and 20th, Saturday and Sunday, and block off the area 9 suggested. I move for approval. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I second. 11 MR. THOMAS: We'll only need it Sunday 12 actually, just the 20th; not the 19th. The training 13 will be the 19th, and the 20th -- the first day is 14 primarily in the classroom. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, that's even 16 better. Good deal. I still move for approval. 17 JUDGE KELLY: And you still second? 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes, Sir. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 20 Commissioner Moser, second by Commissioner Belew to 21 approve the closing of Flat Rock Park on October the 22 20th for the "Moving Big Water Training" session. Is 23 there any other discussion? 24 For the public, that 300,000 gallons of 25 water that they took out, they went right back down the 9 1 road and put it right back in, so it really is just an 2 exercise. 3 MR. THOMAS: Yes, Sir. Goes from one end of 4 the park to the other, goes straight back into the 5 river. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's called 7 airiation(phonetic). 8 MR. THOMAS: Yes, Sir. Thank y'all. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Those in favor raise your 10 hand. Unanimous, five zero. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And thank Dub and Tony 12 for doing all of this, it's super important. Can't call 13 it a dry run; it's a wet run. 14 MR. THOMAS: It's a wet run. Y'all oughta 15 come out and watch it, it's a lot of fun. Thank y'all. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 1.3 consider, 17 discuss and take appropriate action to accept donations 18 for the month of August, 2019 for the Kerr County Animal 19 Services donation log. 20 MR. GIVENS: Good morning. Last month, for 21 the month of July, we received some dog collars and 22 leashes. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we 24 accept items listed on the report. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 10 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. It's been moved by 2 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 3 approve the acceptance of the donations for Animal 4 Services. Any other discussion? Those in favor raise 5 your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 6 Item 1.4 consider, discuss and take 7 appropriate action to declare various IT items as 8 surplus. 9 MR. ROBLES: Good morning. Each of you 10 should have a sheet like this. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. 12 MR. ROBLES: We have various items for 13 obsolete printers, scanners, computer shells, and IT is 14 requesting that they be declared surplus. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS I move to take 16 appropriate action to declare various IT items as 17 surplus -- 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I second. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: -- as presented. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But I have a question, 21 James. Where is this all going to end up? 22 MR. MOTHERAL: Most of it is recycle, it's 23 already been stripped. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You're taking off 25 whatever can be used? 11 1 MR. MOTHERAL: Yeah, it's just scrap. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: They buy plastic too at 3 the buyback places? 4 MR. MOTHERAL: That's right. That's right. 5 JUDGE KELLY: James, let me ask you 6 something else. I understand what IT's got on this 7 list. I had a discussion with a couple folks last week 8 about what we've got in that hallway downstairs in the 9 basement. And I talked with Shane about that. Is it 10 your office that would be responsible for inventorying 11 that so that we can surplus that and get it out of 12 that -- 13 MR. ROBLES: Yes, Sir. I was going to save 14 that for next week. I haven't had a chance to look at 15 it. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. It's been there a few 17 years. It's about time to move it somewhere else. 18 Okay, I think the motion was made by 19 Commissioner Harris, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 20 surplus the items that IT presented to us here. Any 21 other discussion. Those in favor raise your hand. 22 Unanimous, five zero. 23 Item 1.5 consider, discuss and take 24 appropriate action on the implementation of the burn 25 ban. And it's not really implementation of the burn 12 1 ban, it's just renewing the order for the burn ban. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for renewal of 3 the burn ban. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: It's been moved by 6 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Moser to 7 renew the burn ban order. Is there any other 8 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 9 five zero. 10 Item 1.6 consider, discuss and take 11 appropriate action to authorize Road & Bridge and 12 Maintenance Department to assist with minor drainage 13 project at UGRA. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll let Ray Buck 15 explain what it is, and then I'll explain how we kind 16 of -- the plan, how it would work. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. This is the male 18 portion of the power couple, right? That was a nice 19 article. 20 MR. BUCK: Thank you. I'm a recipient of a 21 great wife. 22 JUDGE KELLY: You absolutely are. 23 MR. BUCK: Thank you. Commissioners and 24 Judge, last year we completed the UGRA EduScape under 25 the direction of Commissioner Letz, and the EduScape -- 13 1 the EduScape implements 15 water conservation and storm 2 water retention techniques. What we didn't budget for 3 was water overtopping the curb in front of our building. 4 Our landscape, the EduScape is actually designed to 5 retain an million gallons of water a year rainfall 6 through the rainwater catchment through the terracing 7 and the rain gardens. We have three rain gardens 8 actually put into the landscape itself. 9 But on the other side of Lehmann, the 10 hillside, there's some development taking place and that 11 water now is just returning down the street. We talked 12 to the City. There's no solution that the City has in 13 place in the near term. But the water actually overtops 14 the curb and just rushes through our property and goes 15 down to the other end, which is okay I guess except that 16 exit point at the lower part of our property, it's 17 actually causing some drainage issues. It's filling 18 up -- it moved some bumpers, concrete bumpers, and 19 overtopping the curbs and going over into the apartment 20 complex. 21 So we visited with Dr. Fouad Jaber who is an 22 engineer with the Texas AgriLife, and he designed the 23 rain garden for that lower end down at the bottom of our 24 parking Lot. Rain garden essentially is a depression, 25 two foot depression, they fill with gravel, sand and 14 1 some topsoil, put some plants in it and it's designed to 2 catch the overflow, land flow of that land water, and 3 then hold it and lets it seep into the ground. It does 4 a lot of benefit to the environment. Protects the river 5 because it filters the sediments out. 6 The bottom line is we need some help. We'd 7 like to ask you if you would partner with us, and just 8 have your equipment dig a trench for us. A four foot 9 wide, two foot deep, about 50 feet. And then we would 10 go in there with our landscaper and it shape up and put 11 all the materials in it and what have you. 12 And to that end, we would also like to ask 13 you to partner with us in a workshop featuring this rain 14 garden installation in September. September 12th and 15 13th, we've invited Dr. Jaber down, and he's going to do 16 a two-day workshop in how to do landscape techniques 17 that protect the river while conserving water. 18 And we want this to be a feature part of 19 that presentation, so that I'm asking for your help to 20 just dig us a rough hole, just rough us out a hole. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I visited with 22 Kelly, Road & Bridge. They don't have the staff right 23 now, but they do have the equipment they could loan. 24 And maintenance has at least one of their personnel 25 that's very adept to using a backhoe. So the idea would 15 1 be that -- and I don't know how long it takes to dig a 2 trench, but to authorize the use of the equipment from 3 Road & Bridge, and personnel from Maintenance to dig 4 this trench. 5 It saves several thousand dollars of UGRA 6 that the same taxpayers that we have, would be to me a 7 win-win for everyone. Taxpayers, UGRA, and the County 8 gets some publicity on building rube gardens. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is that your motion? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we 11 authorize the use of a backhoe from Road & Bridge 12 Department to be used by our Maintenance Department to 13 dig the ditch as requested by Upper Guadalupe River 14 Authority. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'll second. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 17 Commissioner Letz, and seconded by Commissioner Belew to 18 approve this joint project with UGRA. I think we have 19 our department head approval on all this? 20 MS. HOFFER: Yes, Sir. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Is there a schedule to 22 do that? 23 MR. BUCK: We'd like to have it done by the 24 23rd, if possible. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Of -- 16 1 MR. BUCK: Of August. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'd like to see a 3 picture of you with a hard hat. We'll publicize it and 4 make sure that our -- 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So 23rd of August okay 6 with Shane and Kelly? 7 MR. EVANS: I believe so. We'll make it 8 work. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Who's your operator? 10 MR. EVANS: It will be Mr. Grinstead. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Oh, Mikey. My boss's husband. 12 Okay, any other discussion? Those in favor raise your 13 hand. Five zero, unanimous. 14 MR. BUCK: Thank you very much. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Audience may be 16 learning that we move faster than we used to, so we got 17 ahead of ourselves. We've got timed items at 9:30 and 18 9:45. So let's skip on down the agenda until we get to 19 something that's not timed. 20 The next one will be item 1.12 consider, 21 discuss and take appropriate action on hiring a new 22 employee for IT Department. Commissioner Belew. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We had a meeting 24 recently where we determined that our interim IT 25 Director would become our permanent IT Director, and we 17 1 did not set salary or actually finalize that. So I 2 thought we better bring that back up and determine what 3 we're going to do. So I don't know if that's an 4 executive session item or not since we're talking about 5 employee and their pay. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, it is. Yes, it's 7 in executive. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is the job description 9 going to be the same? 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The job description 11 would remain the same, and just to remind everybody what 12 we discussed is that we'll have a contract with an 13 outside source for extra security. And Commissioner 14 Moser and I have talked about it with our interim IT 15 Director, and we discussed it here in Commissioner 16 Moser's absence, but came to the same conclusion that we 17 can proceed the way we are because we're in good shape. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But we're going to be 19 naming somebody to that position, so that's probably 20 executive session. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, the question I 22 have is hiring a new employee. Is there a -- or are we 23 not -- 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, here's the deal 25 on it. Let me stop you. If we appoint a new IT 18 1 Director then we're done. The new IT Director 2 determines who the next employee's going to be to add to 3 the department as the department head. 4 So as I feel all we needed to do was make 5 this official, set a salary, and move on. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, we have. But we 7 just agreed on everything, but -- 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We agreed on it all, 9 but we don't really -- if you look back over what was 10 said in the meeting, we didn't finalize it, and the main 11 thing was salary wasn't set. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Let me weigh in. I know we 13 all agreed what we're going to do, but we haven't done 14 it. Sometimes you have to agree what you're going to 15 do, and then you have to have an official order to do 16 it. The agenda item that we've posted is technically 17 for a new employee; not for the appointment of an IT 18 Director. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: As worded. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Which is -- I hate to be the 21 technical guy here, but you can take the lawyer out of 22 me but I'm still here. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: No, you're right. And 24 I didn't catch that either, but that's the point. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What we can do, if it 19 1 needs to be done, is to authorize the interim director 2 to hire that person. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Precisely. That's what we can 4 do. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, that's what we 6 can do. But we do need to circle back around and -- 7 JUDGE KELLY: But we do that in executive 8 session because it does involve employee. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Just check off one 10 more thing. 11 JUDGE KELLY: So put it on the next agenda, 12 or an agenda in the future, and we'll get that done. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right now the agenda 14 item is to give the interim director authorization to 15 hire. 16 JUDGE KELLY: And so that there's no 17 misconception of the public, there's been a lot of 18 discussion about new hires. This is really filling the 19 vacancy that we have. When we say new employee it's to 20 fill the open position that we have. So we got a 21 motion? 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I thought that was 23 Commissioner Moser. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I make a motion that 25 the interim director of IT be authorized to fill the 20 1 vacant position in that department. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'll second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Motion been made by 4 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 5 approve IT Director to hire, to fill the vacancy that's 6 been left in the department to hire a new employee. Is 7 there any other discussion? Okay, those in favor raise 8 your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 9 We're still ahead of ourselves. Item 1.13 10 consider, discuss and take appropriate action regarding 11 the installation playground equipment at Flat Rock and 12 Center Point Lions Park. Commissioner Moser. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, playground 14 equipment is here. It's being moved over to the show 15 barn this morning so that we can just unpack it, 16 organize it. We have got a schedule laid out, worked 17 with Shane on when we'll start the installation of the 18 equipment on this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 19 The supervisor was part of our contract, 20 purchase order for the playground equipment that will be 21 here at that time. We have volunteers lined up to 22 support this activity. And the location for the 23 equipment or where it'll be installed is in Flat Rock 24 Park, it's not in the floodplain. It's just on the edge 25 of the floodway. I've gone through it with Charlie 21 1 Hastings. They're giving a floodplain permit for this 2 equipment in both parks. And this is just -- I make a 3 motion that we authorize the installation of the 4 playground equipment Thursday, Friday and Saturday this 5 week at the Flat Rock Park, and in Lions Park in Center 6 Point. 7 And if we do not meet that schedule because 8 of complications or too much work, we'll do the same 9 thing the next Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the 10 second park. We'll start in Flat Rock Park. 11 It's going to require -- there's some 12 additional cost involved in that is for some sacs of 13 ready-mix concrete, probably need about 90 bags of that, 14 and we're looking to fill around the thing with sand and 15 mulch, and I'll come back with that request later. 16 We're looking for some donations for that stuff, so -- 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is that about two 18 hundred bucks? You priced it. Isn't that about right? 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Say again. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: About $200.00 for the 21 ready mix and -- 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: For the ready-mix. 23 It's probably less than $500.00 for all of that stuff 24 that we need, for the concrete and the holes. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The location of it in 22 1 the floodplain, not the floodway? 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's not in the 3 floodplain. It's out of the floodplain. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's out of the 5 floodplain. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. In Flat Rock, 7 and I think that's the case at Lions Park. But anyway, 8 Charlie is preparing a permit for that. 9 JUDGE KELLY: I think it's in the 10 floodplain; not in the floodway. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It has to be. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: In Flat Rock Park it's 13 not. 14 JUDGE KELLY: The Mayor's here -- the former 15 Mayor. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We got a map showing 17 exactly where it's located and where the floodplain line 18 is in Flat Rock, right. And I failed to bring it. It's 19 probably in my office, but I can share that. But it 20 will not be -- it's on the edge of the floodplain. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But it's waterproof. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If it floods or water 23 backing up is not going to damage the equipment. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It won't damage the 25 equipment. It may, you know, if we put sand and 23 1 barriers underneath the equipment, you know, it's 2 probably going to mess that up and have to be cleaned 3 out. But that's it, yeah. It's not going to hurt the 4 equipment, right. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, any further discussion? 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So I move -- my 7 motion's to authorize the Maintenance Department -- we 8 do not need Road & Bridge on this; we can do it with 9 Maintenance Department equipment to proceed with 10 installation of playground equipment as I just 11 mentioned. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: It's been moved by 14 Commissioner Moser, and seconded by Commissioner Belew 15 to approve the installation of the playground equipment 16 at both Flat Rock and Center Point Lions Park. Any 17 further discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. 18 Five zero, unanimous. 19 Still not there, Marty. That's what happens 20 with times items. You got your place saved. We'll get 21 back to it. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Judge, when we bring 23 that item up at 9:30, could we also move 1.23 up 24 because that has to do with the Veterans Service Officer 25 also? 24 1 JUDGE KELLY: Sure, we'll do both. Both at 2 the same time. 3 Let's move down to item 1.18 consider, 4 discuss and take appropriate action regarding the 2020 5 Kerr Central Appraisal District, KCAD, budget. 6 I put that on the agenda because we have to 7 approve it. Everybody's seen it. Any discussion about 8 it? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd like to make a 10 comment in that the cost of living adjustment is a 11 little bit higher than the county. I think it's 2.5 12 percent. Maybe it's not a cost of living adjustment. 13 The increase in salaries. But the other part of that is 14 they don't have some of the benefits that we do, and 15 some of the longevity package. So I think it comes out 16 kind of in a wash. 17 I'd rather it be two point, same as ours, 18 but I understand the reason and the rational for having 19 this higher than ours. It makes sense. 20 JUDGE KELLY: I see some puzzled looks out 21 there. At least for the time being, we've approved the 22 two percent COLA in our budget that we're working on, 23 with the understanding that that is not technically what 24 the COLA is right now. We understand it's below that. 25 And so a lot of governmental entities use the COLA as a 25 1 way to giving their employees a raise. 2 And all I'm pointing out here is KCAD's 3 doing two and a half, while we're doing two percent. 4 And neither one are technically the COLA. We just call 5 it that. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Anyway, that was just a 7 comment. But I make a motion to approve the budget as 8 presented by KCAD. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And I'll second it. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Motion made by Commissioner 11 Letz, seconded by Commissioner Harris to approve the 12 KCAD budget. Any further discussion? Those in favor 13 raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Judge, if I may, on 15 1.13, I also -- County Attorney is preparing, or looking 16 at a waiver for volunteers to make sure they're okay on 17 that, and -- 18 MRS. STEBBINS: I have a proposed one. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, good deal. 20 Super. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Then we're covered. All good. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good deal. Thanks. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.19 consider, discuss 24 and take appropriate action regarding the Interlocal 25 Agreement between Lubbock County and Kerr County for the 26 1 Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases Program. 2 As y'all know, we discussed having a Public 3 Defender's Office with our adjoining counties. This is 4 not about that; this is about capital murder public 5 defenders. And Lubbock County sponsors a program to do 6 this in conjunction with Texas Tech Law School, and it 7 is a godsend to the rest of us, because a capital case 8 can cost us more than a million dollars in a bad case. 9 So by doing this, this is like insuring that 10 we will be able to provide public defense for a capital 11 murder case within the budget that we agreed to in our 12 Interlocal Agreement with them. So to me this is 13 essential. It would be irresponsible if we did not do 14 this. 15 So I would move that we approve the 16 Interlocal Agreement with Lubbock County for the 17 Regional Public Defender for Capital Murder -- or 18 Capital Cases Program. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, I made a motion, and 21 seconded by Commissioner Harris. Is there any further 22 discussion? 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: How many counties are 24 involved? 25 JUDGE KELLY: Not every county does it, but 27 1 I want to say -- 2 MR. ROBLES: 181. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: 181 in this regional 4 thing we're in? 5 MR. ROBLES: Yes. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So that shares the 7 expense and liability. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the cost is pretty 9 low. And I don't know when they started this, but it's 10 a good program. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I can tell you this 12 much, at the New Judge School they tell us do not get 13 out of the program. The pool needs funds to provide 14 these benefits for these 181 counties is really 15 important. 16 Okay, those in favor raise your hand. Five 17 zero, unanimous. 18 1.20 consider, discuss and take appropriate 19 action to enforce collection of reimbursement for 20 Publication Fees regarding plat revisions. Miss Dowdy. 21 MRS. DOWDY: Good morning. County Clerk, I 22 can certainly enforce the publication fee reimbursement 23 of publishing the revisions of plats for public hearing. 24 I can certainly do that; however, I thought I needed to 25 bring it to the Court to make sure y'all still want to 28 1 do this. I don't think it's been collected since it was 2 even enacted in 2013. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Explain for us again exactly 4 which fee we're talking about, because it hasn't been 5 collected, right? 6 MRS. DOWDY: Correct. The publication fee 7 for public hearings, publishing public hearings for 8 revisions of plats. 9 JUDGE KELLY: How much is it? 10 MRS. DOWDY: It varies, but the lowest we 11 can fine is about between 28 and $35.00, depending on 12 the news source. 13 JUDGE KELLY: And these fees that we have 14 not been collecting? 15 MRS. DOWDY: Correct. 16 JUDGE KELLY: And these are just by 17 custom that -- 18 MRS. DOWDY: There's a statute. Depending 19 on how you interpret the statute, the amount of the fee 20 must be based on the cost -- the amount of the 21 application fee, excuse me. The amount of the 22 application fee must be based on the amount of costing 23 the application, including publishing the notices 24 required. 25 JUDGE KELLY: My understanding is we haven't 29 1 been collecting these fees, and I was wondering why. I 2 know you're new to the office, but do we know why they 3 weren't being collected? 4 MRS. DOWDY: I don't know the answer to 5 that. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I thought they were. 7 JUDGE KELLY: So all we're doing is 8 enforcing something that's already on the books. 9 MRS. DOWDY: I believe that's the way the 10 statute reads is the application fee must include the 11 publication fee. 12 JUDGE KELLY: And you're not suggesting 13 there's any good cause why we shouldn't be collecting 14 these fees. You want to collect the fees? 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes. Yes. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, good. Good. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay, I have a 18 suggestion then that we set a price. We set a value on 19 this, and not have it -- you said there was a low end, 20 which indicates there's a high end. Let's set a cost. 21 MRS. DOWDY: That's the issue I have with 22 the way the statute's written is because the application 23 fee must include the publication fee, but the publishing 24 doesn't happen after until after, so I proposed in the 25 subdivision regulations last week to include that the 30 1 clerk can submit a bill of cost after -- 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, but to be billed 3 after and -- 4 MRS. DOWDY: And the way the news sources, 5 you know, do business, they do their business in 6 collecting, you know, I mean any business would, they 7 send out a bill later, so it just -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Could we not include -- 9 I mean you said low end 28 to 30 dollars. We can also 10 include though your staff time, correct? 11 MRS. DOWDY: That's included, I guess, in 12 the processing fee, correct. That would be included in 13 the processing fee. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's the point. 15 MRS. DOWDY: And then there's the recording 16 fee after -- I consider processing fees to also include 17 what the Commissioners looks at, right? 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Maybe Jackie needs to 19 come back and -- 20 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I think she's got it. 21 What we're trying to figure out is, it is reasonable for 22 the county to recover some of its expense in providing 23 these services to the public, okay, and if you want to 24 call that your processing fee, we understand. We're 25 just trying to make sure that the cost associated that 31 1 the county's bearing right now is being recovered in 2 your fee schedule. And if you include that in your 3 processing fee, fine. We're just trying to make sure 4 that we're charging the public a fair amount, that the 5 county's being reimbursed fairly for what it's doing. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Judge, Jackie said that 7 on the application that -- read that again, Jackie. 8 MRS. DOWDY: The amount of the fee of the 9 application fee must be based on the cost of processing 10 the application, including publishing the notice. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But see, so somebody 12 comes in and applies, they have to know what they're 13 going to have to pay; you can't just say we'll send you 14 a bill. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. That's why I 16 think you need to -- 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We establish that. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's what I'm saying. 19 See, if Jackie's not ready to set an amount, let her 20 come back. 21 MRS. DOWDY: Well, I'm ready to set it at 22 35, but that's per Commissioners' Court -- 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Based on what? 24 MRS. DOWDY: Based on the bills that I've 25 looked at in the past, and the range was as low as 28, 32 1 but they're usually right around 35. 2 JUDGE KELLY: And I have a question. Do we 3 go ahead and roll this -- I'm going to use the example 4 of your 35 dollar fee into application fee up front, so 5 that it's all paid up front rather than having to -- 6 MRS. DOWDY: That would be wonderful. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We can do it, but we'd 8 have to do it separately, because this only applies to 9 revision of plats, and revision of plats, I don't think 10 have a separate fee compared to a regular applications. 11 Maybe they do. I can't -- 12 MRS. DOWDY: No. There's an application fee 13 for revision of plats. Is that what you said? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 15 MRS. DOWDY: Right, there is. 16 JUDGE KELLY: It just seems to make better 17 sense to me that we do it up front. Get it out of the 18 way. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Is that what the 20 statute says? 21 JUDGE KELLY: And let you do your job. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: This is something new, 23 so my suggestion is that you post something in your 24 office, or that you give people a slip of paper or 25 something saying this is new, this is the cost, they 33 1 know what the cost is going to be. They know why it's 2 being done. And that they say well, I did this last 3 month and you didn't have a fee attached to it. Just to 4 make it really clear to the taxpayer why this is being 5 done. 6 MRS. DOWDY: I can do that. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So the fee is $35.00? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. I make a motion 9 that we set the reimbursement fee for revisions of flat 10 for the public to include the -- or let me start that 11 over. 12 MRS. DOWDY: The application fee? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The application fee for 14 the revision -- or for the publication -- or no, it's 15 not the application fee. The publication fee for the 16 revision of plats be set at $35.00, and that amount be 17 included or added to the current application fee. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. It's been moved by 20 Commissioner Letz and seconded by Commissioner Moser to 21 include a $35.00 fee for plat revisions to be put in 22 your initial application fee. Any further discussion? 23 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 24 We're 9:30, they've been waiting. We'll 25 come back to you. Okay. Item 1.7 presentation of the 34 1 quarterly report from the Kerr Veterans Services 2 Advisory Committee. Gary Noller. 3 MR. NOLLER: Thank you. Gary Noller, 140 4 Ray Drive, Center Point, Texas. I'm just so excited. 5 You may have in your packet the printed copy of the 6 report, it actually ends June 30, so there's a lot of 7 stuff that's happened since June 30th to today, but 8 we'll address that in the next report. 9 I'm actually go skip to item 10, a 10 reflection. I put this in the wrong order. I intended 11 a word of thanks to the Commissioners. I want to make 12 sure that as a commission, you know how appreciative we 13 are, and we believe that the veterans of Kerr County are 14 for the actions that you have taken with regard to 15 veterans, particularly in the Veterans Service Office 16 and provisions of the service officer here. In the 17 first place having a very nice office for her to work 18 out of, and the recent addition of a second person to 19 work in that office. 20 And obviously, we believe that's important. 21 We're very passionate about there being a service 22 officer here, and Federal Law doesn't allow anybody just 23 to go out and help veterans. One of the things Federal 24 Law says is that the County can hire somebody, and you 25 have, and you do, and you pursue that. 35 1 And I think if you talk in detail with 2 Marty, and now Jennifer, in their office and learn what 3 they do, you'll see how that importance is reflected to 4 veterans. 5 We did have several meetings with Marty, and 6 Marty is also very open about contacting us if she has 7 questions. She's not reluctant to call us and say hey, 8 I got something, and could you help me. And we do try 9 to give her our knowledge what we have. 10 We really can't help her a whole lot with 11 the preparation of claims because we don't prepare 12 claims, but we can help her with networking in the 13 community and some of the questions she gets that's not 14 really relative to claims, but it has to do with she's a 15 veteran and she works for the county, and somebody wants 16 to ask somebody about vets in the county. She gets 17 those questions, we're very happy to feel those and kind 18 of help and come up with some type of a conclusion of 19 what we think the status oughta be, also knowing the 20 fact that she is an employee of the county so one of the 21 things we always say is check with your bosses. Because 22 we may be giving you some direction that's counter to 23 where they want to go. 24 Because the more open she is and everybody 25 is. The Commissioners with her and with us, and back 36 1 and forth, I think has been really -- come together and 2 did what needs to be done there. 3 We also recognize the fact that the 4 accreditation is important. One of the things that I 5 always ask is where are you at, so when I saw her a 6 while ago she didn't even wait for me to ask her. I 7 have two modules left and I'll probably be done at the 8 end of the week, and move on to the next item. So we're 9 very happy about that. 10 We also recognize how hard it is to train 11 and do the job at the same time. It's like if you're a 12 carpenter building a house and if you have to frame a 13 window and you don't know how to frame a window, you 14 have to stop and learn how to frame a window, and then 15 frame the window. But that's just typical. It's not 16 the case where any veteran service officer gets to go 17 away for three months and train and come back and start 18 the job. You start the job on day one and you're 19 training at the same time. And we try to tell veterans 20 to understand that it's going to take some time. But it 21 will finally develop. 22 We did talk a few things to her -- with her. 23 You know, the Billy Joe Butler remains that came back, 24 and we had the return, there were some questions there 25 we tried to help advise on. And also as other community 37 1 organizations that may come to her and want her to do 2 something, is that within her role as far as what we 3 think her role should be, and she should be in the 4 network with the community obviously. 5 The other thing is in the outreach, and 6 outreach is really kind of two different things. One of 7 them is just letting people know that she's here and 8 what she does. But there's also veterans and survivors 9 of veterans who can't come to this office, and so it was 10 very important to us that if they can't come to this 11 office, they're in a nursing home, they're in some type 12 of residential retirement home, but they're immobile, 13 but they're due benefits and there's nobody else that 14 can help them. The staff at the retirement home, 15 they're not qualified, they can't do it. The family 16 members can't do it. So that the County Service Office 17 is able to go over to the retirement home and sit and 18 gather the information, and outlay claims. 19 So when we use the term outreach, a lot of 20 it is more than just public relations aspects of it. 21 Outreach is sitting down in that person's environment 22 rather than expecting that person to come into the 23 courthouse. 24 But it is very grateful to us, and very much 25 appreciation on our end to see the relationship has come 38 1 out here and the importance that the Commission has 2 attached to this, and we just want to say thank you very 3 much. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you, Gary. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you, Gary. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'd like to say 7 something, if I may, Judge. First of all, Bob Reeves 8 was the liaison for the Veteran Service Officer before 9 he went to greener fields, and helped set up this 10 Veteran Service Officer Advisory Committee, which has 11 been fantastic. And so I want to introduce the folks 12 that are here. Bill Cantrell, Vicki Marsh, and Gary 13 Noller, and Byron's not here, is he? And so we're 14 missing one, and that's Byron Warren. 15 And so when Marty took the job, I said, 16 Marty, you know, welcome but I don't know what the hell 17 you're supposed to do, so -- so the Veteran Service 18 Officer -- I meant the Committee came in and helped her 19 get set up. She knew basically what it was, but it's a 20 position that reports to this Court, so without a lot of 21 knowledge by the Court itself. So they, the Advisory 22 Committee serves as a great resource to the 23 Commissioners' Court, and we appreciate it immensely, so 24 thank you for that report. They're very, very accurate. 25 JUDGE KELLY: And as my wife says if you 39 1 want to get something done, give it to a smart Texas 2 woman, and Marty has done it. Thank you to the 3 committee. 4 We're going to go ahead and take item 1.23, 5 which is consider, discuss and take appropriate action 6 setting the grade and accept and salary for the 7 part-time Veterans Service Assistant. 8 MRS. DOSS: So I e-mailed you this morning 9 with a grade -- the salary's already been set, but the 10 grade appropriate appropriate to that salary would be a 11 17. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 17 step 1. 13 MRS. DOSS: Step 1. And I'm asking that 14 y'all approve that grade and step for this position. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So I move for approval 16 of the Assistant to Veteran Service Officer be set at 17 grade 17 Step 1. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Been moved by Commissioner 20 Moser, and seconded by Commissioner Belew to approve the 21 part-time employee in the Veteran Service Office as a 22 17-1. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Got the money man here. 24 MR. ROBLES: Is this subject to the 2 25 percent COLA, because we have a 17-1. The numbers I 40 1 have in the budget now don't include the two percent 2 COLA. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Hadn't thought about 4 that. She's not really on board yet, so I think leave 5 it at 17-1. 6 MRS. DOSS: Well, it's effective today. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So it's effective 8 today, and we haven't adopted the budget yet. So I move 9 that it be have the COLA included. 10 MR. ROBLES: About a $700.00 increase, 11 including the roll ups. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: When's the person going 13 to be hired? 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Today. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And we haven't set 17 budget yet. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Maybe I missed something 19 along the way. Where did the money come from for the 20 position? Did we authorize a budget transfer? 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We did that last 22 meeting. What line did it come out of, James? 23 MR. ROBLES: Payroll contingency. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And so the 700 extra 25 dollars is for COLA for this -- 41 1 MR. ROBLES: Beginning October 1st. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Beginning October 1st. 3 MR. ROBLES: So if we put them at a 17-1 4 beginning October 1st, that would increase since 5 everybody increases. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What would a 16-1 be? 7 Wouldn't a 16-a be -- and then get the increase? 8 MR. ROBLES: I don't have the step and grade 9 schedule here. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We looked and said what 11 17-1 hourly rate was, and it was 18 dollars and -- 12 MR. ROBLES: 18.06 an hour. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it's usually a two 14 and a half percent. A 16 would be two and a half 15 percent lower and the person would get a raise on 16 October 1 immediately. I don't think the person should 17 get a raise immediately. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It wouldn't hurt 19 anything to start for the next month and a half at 16, 20 you said 16? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 16-1. And then you're 22 going to get a two percent increase, which is almost the 23 same. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, but then how do 25 you go to 17? 42 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You don't; leave it at 2 16. We did the dollars. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We did the dollars. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We did the dollars, 5 yeah. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What is -- I don't know 7 if we can talk about this in open session, but looking 8 throughout the County to comparable positions, we want 9 to be consistent there, too. And I think 17-1 was 10 consistent with that, was it not, Jennifer? 11 MRS. DOSS: That is subject to your opinion. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, we've got some 13 other positions in the county. I don't want to go 14 through them all here. It's comparable. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We decided on it. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: But I thought we 17 started all the part-time hires, we were going to go to 18 the next fiscal year, is what I thought. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We authorized posting 20 of this position. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean a 16-1, because 22 it's going to get an increase and almost get to it the 23 same salary. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: If Jennifer's okay with 25 16-1 being, and I haven't looked at comparables. 43 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: She doesn't understand 2 anymore than me or the Judge did. 3 JUDGE KELLY: I understand it. No, I got 4 this. No, we're not doing this; we're doing this 5 (motioning). 6 MRS. DOSS: With a two percent increase, 7 it's about a 40 cent an hour increase. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'm not talking about 9 the money; I'm talking about the comparable position. 10 MRS. DOSS: I gave you a comparable 17. I 11 did not look at 16, so I'll have to go back and look at 12 that position. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: For Indigent Health, I 14 can just say that, okay. It's a position; it's not a 15 person, indigent health. And they have an assistant in 16 that, and so what is that? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You mean Victim 18 Services? 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Victim services, I know 20 is -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Higher. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: A Lot higher because 23 that's paid for by a grant, but that doesn't have 24 anything to do with organization. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Indigent Health doesn't 44 1 have an assistant. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I thought they did. 3 JUDGE KELLY: I'm getting concerned about 4 the nature of our conversation in open session. I'm 5 looking to my HR Director, and it's making me nervous. 6 MRS. DOSS: Yeah, me too. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So I'm going to make a 8 motion that we fill the position at a 16-1. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'll second that. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And then that will be a 11 position to be filled immediately. Okay, that's my 12 motion. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion by Commissioner 14 Moser, seconded by Commissioner Belew for an entry level 15 position in the Veterans Service Office at a grade 16 16 step 1. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Any more discussion? Those in 19 favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And that's subject to a 21 COLA after October 1. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Everything is. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Now, Marty, I would like for 25 you to introduce. And by the way for those of you who 45 1 have not been to the Veteran Services Office, do not go 2 in there if you are not prepared for two high energy 3 women. They get stuff done, trust me. 4 MS. MISTRETTA: Good morning, Judge. Good 5 morning, Commissioners. Jessica Sanchez, she is an Air 6 Force vet. That was not intentional, but fantastic for 7 me. She is, you know, she's right there with me. So 8 I'm looking forward to working with her. She's big in 9 4-H. She's already made friends here because of this. 10 So I'll let her introduce herself. 11 MRS. SANCHEZ: Hello, good morning. I'm 12 Jennifer Sanchez, and I'm an Air Force vet. I am from 13 Texas, and I've lived in Kerr County for about four 14 years, and we are, we're very big in 4-H. I hope I 15 didn't scare you, Commissioner Harris. I was almost 16 screaming on Saturday. The only one, really. 17 And I'm very excited to be here. I'm a vet, 18 my husband's a vet. So I know I'm sure not everything, 19 but a lot of things. I'm very big on customer service, 20 I'm very big on giving back to the community, and I'm 21 just ready to hit the floor running and start. So I 22 appreciate it. 23 JUDGE KELLY: And you did include the fact 24 that your husband is a disabled vet. 25 MRS. SANCHEZ: Yes, yes. My husband is a 46 1 disables vet. 2 JUDGE KELLY: So we're vet strong. 3 MRS. SANCHEZ: Yes, Sir. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And getting stronger. 5 MRS. SANCHEZ: Yes, Sir. 6 MS. MISTRETTA: I want to say thank y'all 7 very much. I know it was a long procedure and I was up 8 here a lot, but I really appreciate it. 9 JUDGE KELLY: We appreciate what you're 10 doing. Go get 'em girls. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Go get 'em girls. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, item 1.8 -- do we want 13 to start these, or do we want to take a break because we 14 have a series of these. Why don't we take about a 15 five-minute break and come back at five 'til ten. 16 (Break.) 17 JUDGE KELLY: Come to order. We're back in 18 session. 1.8 consider, discuss and approve the 19 appointment of the early voting ballot board Judge for 20 the term of one year in accordance with the Texas 21 Election Code 87.002, and consider and set the number of 22 members to be appointed by the Early Voting Ballot Board 23 Judge. 24 MRS. ALFORD: Yes, Sir. Good morning, 25 Commissioners. This is the Early Voting Ballot Board 47 1 Judge that we appoint for one year for any county 2 election that we have. And the only county election 3 we'll have will be the constitutional amendment election 4 in November. So we would like to have Linda Bowman as 5 the Judge, and then allow her to appoint five clerks. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval, and 7 appoint Linda Bowman as the Early Voting Ballot Board 8 Judge. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Commissioner Letz has moved, 11 been seconded by Commissioner Belew to approve Linda 12 Bowman as the Early Voting Ballot Board Judge, and 13 appoint her five assistants. Any other discussion? 14 Those in favor raise your hand. Five zero, unanimous. 15 Okay, 1.9 consider, discuss and approve the 16 appointment of election judges and alternates for a term 17 of one year in accordance with the Texas Election Code 18 32. 19 MRS. ALFORD: These are judges and alternate 20 judges in the same procedure for any county election we 21 will have for a year, and the parties presented the 22 list, Republicans for the Judge, and Democrats for the 23 Alternate Judge as they've submitted. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we 25 accept the list as presented for the judges and 48 1 alternates for a one-year term. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Been moved by Commissioner 4 Letz, seconded by Commissioner Harris to approve the 5 list as presented. Any further discussion? Those in 6 favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 7 1.10 consider and discuss ordering the 8 Constitutional Amendment Election. 9 MRS. ALFORD: Okay. This is the election 10 for November the 5th for Constitutional, and I would 11 like the Court to order it and sign and to approve early 12 voting dates October 21st and 22nd, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. 13 Then October 23rd through October 25th, 8 to 6, and then 14 the last week October 28th through November the 1st, 15 7:30 to 6 p.m. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: It's been moved by 19 Commissioner Belew and seconded by Commissioner Letz to 20 approve the Constitutional Amendment Election for 21 November 5 and the early voting as indicated. Any 22 further discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. 23 Five zero, unanimous. 24 1.11 consider, discuss and approve 25 consolidating the polling locations in accordance with 49 1 Chapter 43 of the Texas Election Code for the November 2 2019 election. 3 MRS. ALFORD: We would like to consolidate 4 the November election for the Constitutional into four 5 locations. Have all of Precincts 101, 107, 109, 113, 6 118, and 119 at the River Hills Mall. 7 Precincts 202, 211, 215, and 220 at Union 8 Church. 303, 308, 312, and 314 at the Cailloux City 9 Center. And then Precincts 404, 405, 406, 410, 416, and 10 417 at the Kerr County Courthouse Annex. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Move for approval. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Been moved by Commissioner 14 Moser, seconded by Commissioner Belew to approve the 15 consolidation of the polling location. Any further 16 discussion? All in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 17 five zero. 18 MRS. ALFORD: Thank you. 19 JUDGE KELLY: At the break it was brought 20 to my attention that Commissioners 1 and 4 need to speak 21 up a little bit louder because they can't hear you out 22 there? 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Who said that? 24 JUDGE KELLY: And by way of announcement 25 that were not included at the beginning of today's 50 1 session is we have Congressman Roy that's going to be 2 out at Schreiner at Schreiner's sponsored event on 3 August the 28th. And then we have Senator Cruz will be 4 here on September the 6th, so we have an opportunity to 5 meet some of the our representatives, Senators. 6 Okay, let's go to item 1.14 public hearing 7 regarding the District Clerks Annual Record Archival 8 Plan, Government Code Section 51.317 and projected 9 revenue. Miss Lantz. 10 MRS. LANTZ: It's just a hearing. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Public hearing. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Anybody want to speak 13 on behalf of that? This is the public hearing part, so 14 we've convened the public hearing, it's now in session. 15 Anybody appear? Okay. Then we will adjourn the public 16 meeting, public hearing. 17 Item 1.15 consider, discuss and take 18 appropriate action to approve and adopt the District 19 Clerk's Annual Archival Plan as presented, and the 20 District Clerk's Civil Filing Fees as presented. Mrs. 21 Lantz. 22 MRS. LANTZ: Good morning, Judge, 23 Commissioners. This is something that's done on a 24 yearly basis, so I'm just asking for approval. 25 Nothing's really changed. Some of our civil filing fees 51 1 were not correct, and we updated those, so everything 2 should be current and up to date. 3 JUDGE KELLY: One of the things I've noted, 4 talked to some of the J.P.'s about, is with the 5 increased jurisdiction for J.P.'s, cases involving up to 6 $20,000.00, if those cases had been filed in the 7 District Court as they were before, the filing fee would 8 have been what, like $250.00 or so? 9 MRS. LANTZ: They run about 292. 10 JUDGE KELLY: 292. And the J.P. Courts, 11 we're going to be back down into the $50.00 or so, so 12 there's going to be a revenue drop for the County as a 13 result of that, our unfunded mandate from the 14 legislature once again. Just bringing that to 15 everyone's attention because we don't have the higher 16 filing fees for the Justice Courts. Any discussion on 17 the Archival Plan and the District Clerk's civil filing 18 fees? 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Moved by Commissioner Belew, 22 seconded by Commissioner Letz to approve the plan as 23 presented. Those in favor raise your hand. Thank you. 24 Five zero, unanimous. 25 1.16 consider, discuss and take appropriate 52 1 action to request annexation of Riverview Road and 2 Rowland Lane into the City of Ingram, Precinct 4. 3 Charlie Hastings. 4 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. The City of 5 Ingram has recently annexed property adjacent to 6 Riverview Road and Rowland Lane creating confusion 7 between Kerr County Road & Bridge and the City of Ingram 8 Street Department. The Ingram City Manager has 9 recommended that Kerr County request these roads to be 10 annexed by the City of Ingram, at which time the 11 ownership and maintenance would become the 12 responsibility of the City of Ingram. 13 County Engineer recommends that the Court 14 request the City of Ingram to annex Riverview Road and 15 Rowland Lane, Precinct 4. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And the reason for 17 that is the starting and stopping, if it wasn't done-- 18 MR. HASTINGS: If it's not done, we have 19 Kerr County Maintenance in multiple locations out there. 20 It would cause a lot -- it's causing confusion. And I 21 can further add that Road & Bridge Director and I went 22 out there, or Administrator, and Kelly since has had her 23 crews go out and dress everything up so that the road 24 is -- it's ready to go. So if we turn maintenance over 25 to someone else, we can give it in really good conscious 53 1 that we left it in the best shape possible for them. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Do we of any public comment on 3 this? I know we have interested parties here. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What -- this is not 5 required. They can annex this without the Court saying 6 this. 7 MR. HASTINGS: No, they cannot. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Why not? 9 MR. HASTINGS: The City of Ingram can only 10 annex that which has been requested. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Why is that? 12 MR. HASTINGS: Because of the type of City 13 that they are under their Charter. They don't have the 14 same authority that say the City of Kerrville does. 15 They operate differently. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What's it called local, 17 home town local, what is it? 18 MR. HASTINGS: They're Type A, General-law. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: General-law. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: What happens is 21 there's a business that's requested the annex by the 22 City of Ingram, and so that's what's caused all this. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay, so they have to 24 get this. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Is this the Hey Barn? 54 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah, Hey Barn. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, been moved by 5 Commissioner Harris, seconded by Commissioner Letz to 6 approve the request for annexation of Riverview Road and 7 Rowland Lane into the City of Ingram. Any other 8 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Opposed, 9 abstain? 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Abstain. I don't 11 understand why it's needed. I don't get that. Can you 12 make it more clear? 13 MR. HASTINGS: This authorization what we 14 will do is get with the County Surveyor to draw up 15 exactly what would be annexed, and we'll get with the 16 County Attorney, and we'll come back to the Court to 17 make sure that it's clear, exactly what we're 18 requesting. But at this point, I needed this kind of 19 authorization so I can move forward with having a 20 surveyor do some fine detail. 21 JUDGE KELLY: And actually this is less 22 maintenance for the County; although, it's not a lot. 23 But at this time just a little bit less maintenance for 24 the County -- 25 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. 55 1 JUDGE KELLY: -- that one of our two cities 2 in this County will actually be responsible for doing 3 something. Did I say that that way? I'm sorry. 4 (Laughter.) 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You said it. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: You said it out loud. 7 MR. HASTINGS: Judge, I think what you may 8 be referring to is we do have a number of other roads 9 that we maintain, that we have to go through a city to 10 get to, to get to the portion that we maintain. 11 JUDGE KELLY: So a show of hands again. 12 Those in favor raise your hand. Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Still abstain. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I still abstain. 15 JUDGE KELLY: So it's 4-0-1, one abstention. 16 Item 1.17 consider, discuss and take 17 appropriate action for the Court to set a public hearing 18 for 10 a.m. on September the 23rd, 2019 for a revision 19 of plat for Kerrville Country Estates Section 2, Lot 20 46. Charlie Hastings. 21 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. This proposal 22 splits Lot 46, which is 10.12 acres into two lots. Both 23 lots would be greater than five acres, so both lots will 24 be eligible for private wells, and that's what's being 25 proposed. OSSF, so on-site septic systems. They're not 56 1 in the floodplain. There's no proposed roads. 2 The existing lot is surrounded on three 3 sides by Limestone Ridge, so when it gets divided both 4 lots are going to have very -- they're going to have a 5 lot of access to that road. That's not going to be an 6 issue. 7 The County Engineer requests the Court set a 8 public hearing for 10 a.m. on September 23rd, 2019 for a 9 revision of plat for Kerrville Country Estates Section 10 2, Lot 46, Volume 4, Page 131. This is Precinct 1. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Been moved by Commissioner 14 Belew, seconded by Commissioner Moser to approve the 15 public hearing for revision of plat for Kerrville 16 Country Estates Section 2, Lot 46. Any further 17 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 18 five zero. 19 Skip down back to Miss Dowdy. Item 1.21 20 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to approve 21 the fee schedule for the County Clerk's Office as 22 presented. 23 MRS. DOWDY: I've included two proposals. 24 I'm in favor of proposal B, which would eliminate the 25 archival fee, because as it is now we have plenty of 57 1 money to preserve the rest of the County Clerk's 2 archives. 3 And so at this point, we would just be 4 collecting money with no end game to that. You put it 5 that way. You put it a better way than I did, 6 Commissioner Belew before we had this discussion. 7 And this would also develop a need to 8 incorporate the publication fee. We would need to 9 change the application fee for the revision of plats. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So that needs to be 11 added to this? 12 MRS. DOWDY: Correct. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So we're eliminating 14 one fee and adding a new one? 15 MRS. DOWDY: A reimbursement, correct. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: It's been moved by 19 Commissioner Belew and seconded by Commissioner Letz to 20 approve the fee schedule for the County Clerk's Office, 21 the one that eliminates the archival fee, is that 22 correct? 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes, Sir. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Is there any discussion? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that includes 58 1 amending that list to add the revision of plat fee. 2 JUDGE KELLY: And add revision of plat fee. 3 Sheriff. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: So these archival fees, 5 what does that cover? 6 MRS. DOWDY: The way I understand it, it's 7 only the Clerk's archive, and so I've looked into it. I 8 can't see that I can declare just anybody's records. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. I'm not talking 10 about ours, but out in our storeroom out at the office, 11 we have all the old, old docket books from Kerr County. 12 Some of them are District Court, some of them are County 13 Court, and all of that stuff. And some of those go back 14 to the 1800's, and I know they've never been preserved 15 or protected in any way, shape or form, and should be. 16 MRS. DOWDY: So as it is now with the 17 records that I have in my office to be approximately 18 147,000 and then after that I'm going to have 150,000 19 left, and then we could incorporate the fee at a later 20 date. Because I'd like to take a look at that stuff. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: There is a lot of stuff 22 out there, and the expense of archiving it and 23 protecting it, I'm sure would be pretty high. I just 24 don't know. It's something that I think y'all oughta 25 look at. A lot of old records out there that would 59 1 shift from here out there -- 2 MRS. DOWDY: I'd like to -- 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- when this -- 4 MRS. DOWDY: -- take a look and -- 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- building was built. 6 MRS. DOWDY: -- then we can incorporate the 7 fee at a later date. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Just eliminate it, and 9 reinstitute it? 10 MRS. DOWDY: Probably in four years because 11 it's going to take a long time just to preserve the ones 12 I have, and then I have four years to get over there and 13 take a look. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we need to have 15 a plan for those old -- I mean if -- 16 MRS. DOWDY: And that's what the archival 17 plan is. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- there's a way to hire 19 a contractor, contract it out to get it done. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Using the fee that's 21 been collected. 22 JUDGE KELLY: I guess I'm a little confused 23 about why don't we have a recommendation as to what all 24 needs to be archived. 25 MRS. DOWDY: And I've presented that and it 60 1 was approved back in July. 2 JUDGE KELLY: But he's talking about stuff 3 that he's got that's county stuff. 4 MRS. DOWDY: Right. So then when I come 5 back next year for my archival plan, I can have an 6 opportunity to present that, but as it is now, I've had 7 it approved for the records that I already have. And 8 then next year, I can always present a new archive plan. 9 I presented a long-term archive plan. 10 JUDGE KELLY: I understand. We can do 11 something -- 12 MRS. DOWDY: But I have to do it annually 13 anyway. 14 JUDGE KELLY: -- this year and next year, 15 and then kind of piecemeal for a little bit better plan. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You're talking about a 17 list of what all's going to get done. 18 JUDGE KELLY: First of all, who pays the 19 archival fee? 20 MRS. DOWDY: Anybody who records a document. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Those are current 22 documents. And then those funds are restricted for use 23 for what? 24 MRS. DOWDY: Clerk's archive records, so my 25 records of the Court. 61 1 JUDGE KELLY: And you've got an excess of 2 funds in that account, right? 3 MRS. DOWDY: I do have an excess of funds 4 currently, yes. 5 JUDGE KELLY: And it can't be spent on 6 anything else? 7 MRS. DOWDY: Not to my knowledge. And I 8 present the question later on, what do we do with the 9 rest of the money that's left over because the statute 10 didn't indicate. 11 MR. ROBLES: We do pay for an employee's 12 salary who does archival out of there, so -- 13 MRS. DOWDY: Is that record management, or 14 is that the records archive? 15 MR. ROBLES: It's fund 41, it's record 16 archive. 17 MRS. DOWDY: To my knowledge it was the 18 records management, which is different than archive. 19 MR. ROBLES: I think the records management 20 has a part-time -- 21 MRS. DOWDY: Yes, on records management we 22 have a -- 23 MR. ROBLES: Records archive have a 24 full-time employee. 25 MRS. DOWDY: Can we take a look at that 62 1 again, because I thought it was the records management. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Well, and here's where I'm 3 coming -- 4 MRS. DOWDY: We can look at that later. 5 JUDGE KELLY: -- from. And I'm in the 6 helicopter looking down ten thousand feet trying to look 7 down. We're in the middle -- not in the middle; we're 8 toward the end of our budget process, and we're going to 9 have about a 1.65 million dollar deficit in this budget. 10 We've had a lot of requests for new hires. I think we 11 haven't been able to approve, and we've used this 12 part-time system, and I know that's my new nickname and 13 I'm okay with that. But if we have a fund that is 14 available to possibly fund a new hire, and we can't 15 use -- 16 MRS. DOWDY: I have to -- 17 JUDGE KELLY: -- the money for anything 18 else, I'd like to look at it. 19 MRS. DOWDY: I have to correct it for the 20 record that the record archive account can only be used 21 for preservation, restoration services performed by the 22 County Clerk in connection with maintaining the County 23 Clerk's Record Archive on public documents designated by 24 the County Clerk as part of the record archive. 25 Secondly the County Clerk's record 63 1 management and preservation fund, a separate account. 2 Use for specific records management and preservation 3 including automation purposes, so there are two 4 different fees, so there's the record management that 5 we're using to pay an employee's salary, but over here 6 the record archive account is only used for preservation 7 purposes. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, but both of those 9 require people. Unless I'm misunderstanding you, how -- 10 MRS. DOWDY: Well, the money -- 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- do you interrupt 12 that -- 13 MRS. DOWDY: Correct. The money that is 14 used to actually preserve them, that has to go to an 15 outside source, so basically the contracting with who 16 I've looked at to take care of that; that would not be 17 an employee. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But basically it's data 19 entry work. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Scanning. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But it's got -- 22 MRS. DOWDY: No. It's actually preserving 23 the record. They've -- 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, but -- 25 MRS. DOWDY: They've already been scanned 64 1 in, and that would be records management and -- 2 JUDGE KELLY: No. The Sheriff's shaking his 3 head back there, we've got some that haven't been, 4 right? 5 MRS. DOWDY: Correct. And those are new to 6 me. I'm sorry to say those are new to me, and I'd like 7 to come back and take a look at those later. 8 JUDGE KELLY: And I would welcome that, but 9 I'd really like to have a more comprehensive plan or 10 recommendation, because one of my concerns is, if we're 11 going to adopt budget -- I think this budget is about 12 four and a half percent over projected revenues, and we 13 have funds that we can use to offset these other needs 14 that various departments and offices are bringing to us, 15 I'd like to take a look at that. Especially if that 16 money's just sitting there, and before we do away with 17 the fee -- I'm not for charging people for things we 18 don't need, but if we have a fund available -- 19 MRS. DOWDY: Which is the records management 20 fee. So there's a records management $10.00 fee that we 21 charge, and then separate from that is a records archive 22 fee. The records management, we are using to offset for 23 employees; the records archive we cannot, to my 24 knowledge. The way I understand -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: Then what do we get to do with 65 1 the archival fee? 2 MRS. DOWDY: We preserve records declared by 3 the County Clerk. We use it to preserve the records of 4 the County Clerk. Those that are declared in a public 5 hearing and approved by the County Commissioners' Court, 6 which I've already done back on July 24th, I think. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But that plan didn't 8 include what the Sheriff's -- 9 MRS. DOWDY: It did not. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- talking about? 11 MRS. DOWDY: But after the records that we 12 would preserve in this office, I would still have a 13 $150,000.00 left. 14 JUDGE KELLY: And we're absolutely positive 15 that we can't use that for somebody to digitize the 16 records that we've got in the Sheriff's Office out 17 there? Do we know this for a fact that we can't? 18 MRS. DOWDY: The way I'm understanding this, 19 correct. I know that, yes. 20 JUDGE KELLY: What would it take to get an 21 AG opinion on that? 22 MRS. DOWDY: That's what this opinion is. 23 It's just basically pulling from the AG's Office. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sounds like Jackie's 25 got archival fees that are sitting there, okay, that 66 1 they don't need it anymore. And now she's learned about 2 the Sheriff's records that are out there, or that 3 he's -- 4 MRS. DOWDY: But they are the County 5 Clerk's -- 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Well, let me 7 finish. So therefore, you don't want to collect any 8 more money, but you have this unknown expense that's 9 going to be necessary for what the Sheriff is talking 10 about. So why eliminate a fee when you know you're 11 going to have other costs even though they're collected 12 and put it in your account -- 13 MRS. DOWDY: I'd like to take a look at them 14 and see how -- if certain records can be declared part 15 of the Clerk's archival process. Some records may not 16 be, I guess, truly significant to -- 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Archive. 18 MRS. DOWDY: -- our County. I mean I hate 19 to put it that way, but if it's a -- I like that it says 20 18 something something, and handwritten. Anything 21 handwritten, I would like to preserve. That's why I'd 22 like to take a look at them, and come back at a later 23 date to reinstate the fee if it was needed. And I'm 24 saying that I am going to have $150,000.00 left. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Hold on to it. Don't let it 67 1 go anywhere yet. 2 MRS. DOWDY: It can't go anywhere. It just 3 can't. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Sheriff. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I can recommend most of 6 these are in hardbound books, they're all handwritten, 7 okay? It's all handwritten docket entries that were 8 made by judges. One of them I can see where they 9 ordered somebody, and I think even the media's looked at 10 some once in a while. Because these were moved out 11 there in 1996 from the courthouse when that building was 12 built. All the extra records, Jonathan may remember, 13 from the District Clerk and from the County Clerk for 14 storage purposes were moved out there. 15 When I took office in 2000, we needed a lot 16 of that room for evidence, vaults and everything. And 17 so they got a lot, but there's a whole section out there 18 they left and -- 19 MRS. DOWDY: That's sounds -- 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- they just stored it, 21 and -- 22 MRS. DOWDY: -- pretty significant. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- there is a large 24 amount of records, and I think some of them are 25 significant records. 68 1 What I would recommend is before you do away 2 with that fee, because it's going to be extremely 3 expensive to preserve these since they're already in 4 hardbound books. Before you actually do away with it 5 let Jackie come out there, take a look at this stuff and 6 see what we've got. And it has been brought back up to 7 the last two prior County Clerk's since prior to even 8 Jackie that it's been brought up that I ask that they do 9 something, because I just hate to see them sitting out 10 there in the weather and bugs and everything else. 11 But I'd say let Jackie come out and look at 12 them, and then put it back on the agenda if you can 13 before -- I know the fees have to be adopted before the 14 budget as part of it, the same with Sheriff and 15 Constable fees. So not do away with it until you have 16 an idea of what it would cost would be my 17 recommendation. 18 MRS. DOWDY: I would have to have an actual 19 person that would do the preservation come out and look 20 at it. That would have to be coordinated. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Rusty, what kind of 22 volume of stuff are we talking about? 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It would take up y'alls 24 entire back wall probably. 25 MRS. DOWDY: Of my office? 69 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. Their's. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So Jackie, what are the 3 two categories again? 4 MRS. DOWDY: Records management fund, and 5 then County Clerk's archive -- okay, archive or records 6 management. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Can you tell me the 8 difference in those two? 9 MRS. DOWDY: Records archive is for 10 preservation and restoration services performed by the 11 County Clerk in connection with maintaining County 12 Clerk's records archive on public documents designated 13 by the County Clerk as part of the records archive. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So the restoration 15 work, that's an expensive word. So what's the second 16 one? 17 MRS. DOWDY: Records management and 18 preservation. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So tell me the 20 difference in your office what that actually means. If 21 you assign somebody to one and then the other one, what 22 is that person going to be doing? 23 MRS. DOWDY: So the records management would 24 be data entry, scanning in. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now, scanning, that's 70 1 archiving. If you're scanning something in you're 2 archiving. Data -- this is why we need to define our 3 terms. Data -- 4 MRS. DOWDY: Well, these are -- 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- entry is -- 6 MRS. DOWDY: So the definition for archiving 7 is somewhere in the statute and they differentiate what 8 archive means so -- 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's what I want to 10 know. 11 MRS. DOWDY: And it's in there for -- 12 deteriorating is one of the words. So a lot of our 13 newer stuff is not really deteriorating. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But you're not going to 15 data entry that; your going to scan it. 16 MRS. DOWDY: The newer stuff, yes. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You're not going to 18 look at it and write it down in another kind of a form, 19 so that's archiving work. I'm trying to get it clear in 20 my head. I know if somebody comes in your office and 21 you have a brand new document and you enter it in in a 22 certain form and that is data entry, I get that. So 23 archival is also just scanning something and putting it 24 away, so those two are distinct if that's as far as it 25 goes. But it sounds like there's a little cross 71 1 polinizacion in there with what you're explaining to us. 2 I don't get what you're saying. 3 MRS. DOWDY: The archiving is -- the 4 archiving fund is to preserve the deteriorating -- 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Old stuff? 6 MRS. DOWDY: -- documents. So here is 7 118025, public restoration. Restoration means any 8 process that permits the visual enhancement of a public 9 document, including making the document more legible. 10 Funds generated -- only for preservation and 11 restoration -- restoration of the County Clerk's records 12 archive. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That sound like a third 14 thing to me. 15 MRS. DOWDY: That's part of -- that's part 16 of records archives. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's the umbrella of 18 archival? 19 MRS. DOWDY: Correct. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's the expensive 21 part. So you gotta look at that with your eyeballs 22 and -- 23 MRS. DOWDY: Oh, yeah, deterioration right 24 here. I can present it to you. I believe -- so there's 25 records archive. Deterioration, any naturally occurring 72 1 process, preservation and blah, blah, blah. So that to 2 me is going to be our old handwritten documents. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So now preservation 4 would not be the same as restoration, that's just taking 5 something and scanning it -- 6 MRS. DOWDY: Records management -- 7 JUDGE KELLY: As a resident wordsmith, I 8 would really like to take a look at all of this. 9 Because the operative word, we're talking about 10 preservation, restoration, archiving, I got it. But the 11 words that I heard when she was reading that statute was 12 preservation and restoration services. Now services are 13 provided. And I would like along with the County 14 Attorney, and Commissioner Belew, and County Clerk, and 15 County Sheriff, and our Auditor, County Auditor to take 16 a look at this and see what do we think this covers, and 17 is there a creative way for us to create a position that 18 the County Clerk has already told us she needs in that 19 department, and has to do with that particular end of 20 her office that needs the help. That was what was 21 presented in our budget workshop. Take a look at it and 22 see can we use some of those funds, but -- 23 MRS. DOWDY: I would love -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: -- it's gotta be legal. And 25 so we gotta get inside this AG opinion and the statute 73 1 and take a look at it. And so from my point of view, I 2 would prefer not to eliminate the archival fee yet. 3 Take a look at it and see what we can do to try to help 4 us with our other issues, especially to be able to 5 support getting the records out of the Sheriff's Office 6 and to be able to support the County Clerk to be able 7 what needs to be done with the records. 8 MRS. DOWDY: So would it be there 9 instructive then just to adopt Proposal B, and I 10 guess -- 11 JUDGE KELLY: Proposal A? 12 MRS. DOWDY: But increase it back to one 13 dollar to ten dollars. I mean I've got a decrease, 14 so -- 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there a reason it has 16 to be done today? 17 MRS. DOWDY: I'd like to adopt it before 18 September 1st, and so I mean we can have two weeks to 19 take a look at it. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would get it and add 21 the revision of plat fee to it, and get this sorted out 22 and we can just to it on the second meeting of this 23 month. That way we don't have loose ends out there. 24 JUDGE KELLY: But again, I want to encourage 25 a dialogue between the Auditor, County Clerk's Office, 74 1 Sheriff's Office, County Attorney's Office, and I would 2 like for Commissioner Belew to kind of head this up 3 because you understand archival a lot better than I do. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I recommend also you 5 include the District Clerk in that because she has 6 records as well. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And I'm wondering under 8 some of this, because when you get back to those old 9 records, the old records of the District Clerk and maybe 10 some of the other courts, County Judge, or some of the 11 other courts around here, do those fall in under the 12 County Clerk records once they're done for preserving. 13 The election stuff is not really your department, but 14 they're still part of her records. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It sounds like what the 16 County Clerk in her reading that she can determine what 17 she wants to archive. And that needs to be clarified. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, the district 19 court records are part of that. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: She says she wants to do 21 it, whether it's District Clerk or somewhere else, she 22 can do it, but that needs to come from the County 23 Attorney. 24 JUDGE KELLY: I see this whole discussion as 25 very fruitful and constructive, this is a win-win for 75 1 us. We've got a fund with money in it. We have a fee 2 that's in place that we don't have to tweak just yet, 3 and one way or the other we're going to get the records 4 preserved the right way, or we're going to be able to 5 fund somebody to get it done. But at the end of the day 6 it's going to be a win-win for the County. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: There is one more 8 thing -- and I thank you, Miss Dowdy, for thinking about 9 the taxpayers in reducing fees, and any time we can do 10 that for people that's good, but as the Liaison to the 11 Historical Commission -- 12 JUDGE KELLY: There you go. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I see another little 14 problem, and that is that once they're archived then we 15 still have a stack of books that are as big as this wall 16 as Rusty says back here, and now do you mulch them? Do 17 you auction off pages that have family names in them? 18 Because it's still -- I have learned this, you can take 19 the document, you can digitize it, people still have an 20 aversion of throwing it away. You still have that 21 beautiful bound -- 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We've thrown away a lot 23 of documents. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm just telling you. 25 And so I'm just going to put a bug in your ear. I think 76 1 it would be a good thing to auction them off, and raise 2 a little money, or give them to somebody that can raise 3 money with them. But that issue will come up. If you 4 complete one of those big bound books, and if you have 5 it all digitized, that book is still going to be here. 6 MRS. DOWDY: And a note if you have a book 7 that's this big and you preserve it, it doubles in size. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We gotta figure out 9 really and truly what to do with them. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Good discussion. Good 11 discussion. 12 MRS. DOWDY: I've seen -- I'm sorry to 13 interrupt. I've even seen where some counties that will 14 build an entire building that is dedicated to records -- 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We don't want that. 16 MRS. DOWDY: -- by these funds. So -- 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I want a thumb drive. 18 MRS. DOWDY: So the motion's withdrawn? 19 JUDGE KELLY: Why don't we just pass it to 20 the next one. Withdraw the motion? 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Until we get this clarified. 23 This is a thorny issue we need to get it worked out. 24 Thank you. 25 The next item on the agenda is 1.22 77 1 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to sign 2 effective date for salary changes from court orders 3 37604A, 37604B, and 37604C and sign related payroll 4 change forms. Miss Doss. 5 MRS. DOSS: Yes, Sir. I believe these are 6 all intended to be effective October 1st, but we didn't 7 get that officially voted on. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that 9 those three court orders, salary changes, will be 10 effective October 1, 2019. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Motion being made by 13 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Moser to 14 make the effective date for the salary change orders 15 referenced in here to be October 1st. Any further 16 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 17 five zero. 18 MRS. DOSS: Thank you. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, we're going to put the 20 executive session off to last, which we always do 21 anyway. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Judge, if I may go back 23 to 1.13, I want to correct the record. The playground 24 equipment in Flat Rock Park is in the floodplain; it's 25 not in the floodway. 78 1 JUDGE KELLY: Right. All good. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I misstated that. 3 JUDGE KELLY: I'm a son of a surveyor, I had 4 to learn those things. 5 So let's go to our approval agenda. First 6 is 3.1 pay bills. 7 MR. ROBLES: Good morning. We have the 8 Court to consider disbursement of Kerr County 9 $839,259.04. This is much larger than what we usually 10 do. This includes our debt service payments as well as 11 our insurance, BlueCross BlueShield. Airport, 12 $7,685.81. Adult Probation $721.38. Juvenile Probation 13 $5,678.30. And fund 95 $807.47. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 16 JUDGE KELLY: It's been moved by 17 Commissioner Belew and seconded by Commissioner Letz to 18 approve the bills as presented. Any other discussion? 19 Those in favor raise your hand. Five zero, unanimous. 20 3.2 budget amendments. 21 MR. ROBLES: Yes, we have six today. We 22 have one moving from the Jail to IT to pay for the Rx 23 technology. We have one in the District Clerk. One 24 from nondepartmental to County Treasurer to pay for a 25 seal machine. Ag Extension office, County Attorney, and 79 1 County Engineer. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move that we approve 3 the budget amendments as presented. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Been moved by Commissioner 6 Letz, seconded by Commissioner Moser to approve the 7 budget amendments. I would just like to thank the 8 Sheriff for his flexibility to help us pay for that IT 9 audit that we had. It really made a huge difference 10 around the courthouse and it is very much appreciated. 11 So any other discussion? Those in favor raise your 12 hand. Unanimous, five zero. 13 3.3 late bills. 14 MR. ROBLES: There are none. 15 JUDGE KELLY: 3.4 monthly reports. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes, we have monthly 17 reports for July 2019, Indigent Service report, Jennifer 18 Doss, HR Director Indigent Services. Also Animal 19 Services Reagan Givens, Director. Environmental Health 20 OSSF, Ashli Badders, Director. Monthly reports for 21 July, 2019 from Constables in Precinct 1, Tommy 22 Rodriguez, 2, Kyle Schneider, 3, Ken Wilke, and 4 Gene 23 Huffaker. We have District Clerk Office, Dawn Lantz. 24 Fines, judgments and jury fees collected in Justice 25 Court Precinct 1, Mitzi French, 2, J. R. Hoyne, and 3, 80 1 Kathy Mitchell. County Clerk's Office, Jackie "JD" 2 Dowdy. And monthly report for June, 2019, we have one 3 report for July, 2019 for Constable Precinct 3, Ken 4 Wilke. I move for approval as read. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Been moved by Commissioner 7 Harris, seconded by Commissioner Belew to approve the 8 monthly record reports as presented. Any discussion? 9 Those in favor raise your hand. Five zero, unanimous. 10 3.5 Auditor report. 11 MR. ROBLES: No, Sir. 12 JUDGE KELLY: 3.6 court orders. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have court orders 14 from our August 5th meeting, 37610 to 37613. I move for 15 approval. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Been moved by Commissioner 18 Letz, seconded by Commissioner Harris to approve the 19 court orders as presented. Any further discussion? 20 Those in favor raise your hand. Five zero, unanimous. 21 Information agenda 4.1 status reports from 22 department heads. Any department head have any status 23 that you want to bring to our attention? 24 4.2 status reports from elected officials? 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I just had one quick 81 1 five-minute deal in executive session under 551.076, 2 security devices, when you get to that part. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, when we go into 4 executive session. 5 And then 4.3 Liaison Commissioners status 6 reports. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: The only thing I would 8 mention is KEDC, without getting into details, there's a 9 potential like up to six hundred new jobs in about five 10 different opportunities that's being pursued by 11 Executive Director, or COO of KEDC. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Keep up the good work. Any 13 other status reports? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't have any. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I was out at the Event 16 Center Saturday evening for the 4H Annual Banquet. They 17 had three events going on out there, roller derby, and 18 the 4-H, and also right next door, a wedding. There was 19 a lot of noise from the wedding, music and stuff that 20 flowed over. Some people found it too much. The wife 21 and I, you know, we could hear it, but the event went on 22 and it was okay. But I don't know -- 23 JUDGE KELLY: They over served the music? 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah, a little bit. 25 And they had a good time at that wedding. 82 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So you're saying 2 depending on how well you could hear you had a good 3 time? 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. And I don't 5 hear very good, but it worked for me. I was talking to 6 Irene earlier and she thought it was way too much. And 7 from what Jake reports, people had mixed feelings, you 8 know, so just want to report that. 9 JUDGE KELLY: The only thing I want to 10 report is we had a Commissioners' Court meeting when we 11 met with the Volunteer Fire Departments last week. 12 Everyone was in attendance, which was great. I thought 13 we had a very productive meeting. 14 Our Volunteer Fire Departments county-wide 15 are working on a best practices code of conduct through 16 their Chief's Organization, CARFFA, and so I thought all 17 in all, we addressed them some issues. I thought it 18 went very well. 19 And that one thing I did mention at that 20 meeting that y'all might not know about is I'm thinking 21 that we probably need to have a Liaison Commissioner for 22 the Volunteer Fire Departments. And in addition to them 23 working with -- every commissioner has a Volunteer Fire 24 Department in your Precinct. I'm just looking to be 25 able to coordinate stuff back to us like what we're 83 1 working on. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, we have one 3 called Fire and EMS Liaison, so fire oughta be under 4 that. And I think Commissioner Harris is Liaison on 5 that, so probably included under that. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. Makes sense. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Just want us to focus on the 8 volunteer -- 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I absolutely agree. I 10 agree with that. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: The meeting was long 12 overdo, a lot of communication. Rusty was a big PART of 13 it. Dispatching was a concern of there's, and they kind 14 of had a little somewhat compromise, but -- 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think so. I think we 16 got going in the right direction. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Has that been 18 implemented? 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: See, it's already been 21 done. 22 JUDGE KELLY: The team is coming together. 23 It's working well together. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So Commissioner Harris 25 and I are the Liaisons to Fire and EMS. 84 1 JUDGE KELLY: That's fine. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The extent of what I've 3 been doing is just dropping by the fire station and 4 talking to them and see what's going on. But I'm not 5 getting all of them. So I guess -- 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Four of them. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think having CARFFA 8 like that once a year, or some periodic, would be really 9 good. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sure. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Then executive session 12 items, what do we have? Sheriff has one item, is that 13 right? 5.4? 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. It's under you're 15 where you talk about executive items that can be. It's 16 just a quick informational one. 17 JUDGE KELLY: This is a 5.1 -- 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Under the first part of 19 your executive session where you say Commissioners' 20 Court reserves the right to adjourn into executive 21 session and discuss any of the items as listed as 22 permitted by law, it's 551.076. See where you state 23 that? 24 JUDGE KELLY: Deliberation regarding 25 security devices. I'm just identifying what we're going 85 1 to talk about in executive session. Is there anything 2 else we're going to talk about other than that? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm always -- I know 4 it's on here all the time, and we can go ahead and do 5 it, I don't have a problem. I'm always unclear as to 6 whether it has to be an agenda item to go in, or we can 7 just go in on that item that we want to talk about. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Well, why don't we do this. 9 We're going to adjourn into executive session to discuss 10 that, and if we don't think it's appropriate, we'll come 11 out of executive session, and we've got our Assistant 12 County Attorney to help with that. 13 So we will go into executive session at this 14 time. Kelly, could you flip our sign out there? 15 (Executive Session.) 16 JUDGE KELLY: It is 10:49 and the Court will 17 stand adjourned. 18 * * * * * * 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 86 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 21st day of September, A.D. 10 2019. 11 12 /s/DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD Certified Shorthand Reporter 13 No. 953 Expiration Date 04/31/2020 14 * * * * * * 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25