1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Regular Session 5 Monday, November 25, 2019 6 9:00 a.m. 7 Commissioners' Courtroom 8 Kerr County Courthouse 9 Kerrville, Texas 78028 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 PRESENT: ROB KELLY, Kerr County Judge HARLEY BELEW, Commissioner Precinct 1 24 TOM MOSER, Commissioner Precinct 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Precinct 3 25 2 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 *** Visitor's Input. 7 4 *** Commissioner's Comments. 12 5 1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 15 action on request from Hill Country District 6 Junior Livestock Show Association to use Flat Rock Park, including dog park, from 7 7:00 a.m., Sunday, January the 12th, 2020 to 11:00 p.m., Friday, January the 17th, 2020 8 to park trailers and use as staging area for delivery of animals, and to close the park 9 to other vehicular traffic during that time period. 10 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 17 11 action on the request from the Hill Country District Junior Livestock Show Association 12 to close Riverside Drive from the southwest corner of River Star Park to the southeast 13 corner of Hill Country Youth Event Center grounds from 7:00 a.m. Sunday, January 12th, 14 2020 to 11:00 p.m. Friday, January 17, 2020 for the 2020 Stock Show. 15 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 18 16 action to appoint a member of Commissioners' Court or designate a person to perform 17 investigation under Section 751.005 of the Texas Health and Safety Code for the purpose 18 of determining if the minimum standards for ensuring public safety and order as 19 prescribed by law will be maintained under the application for permit for mass gathering 20 by the Hill Country District Junior Livestock Show. Hearing to be held on December 16, 21 2019 at 8:30 a.m. 22 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 20 action regarding the November 18, 2019 23 Animal Control Operations Workshop. 24 1.10 Information regarding the 2020 Veterans 34 Day Event. 25 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 36 action on the recommendations from the 4 Animal Services Advisory Committee. 5 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 45 action to accept donations for the month 6 of October, 2019 as listed in the Kerr County Animal Services donation log. 7 1.7 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 45 8 action to accept donation of $500.00 for the Animal Services Department. 9 1.8 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 47 10 action on the request to close Flat Rock Park to the public on December 14-15, 2019 11 for the purpose of allowing the Volunteer Fire Departments to engage in "Moving Big 12 Water Training". 13 1.11 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 48 action regarding the Veteran Services 14 Office quarterly report. 15 1.9 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 57 action to approve "Participating Entity 16 Services Agreement for the Statewide Automated Victim Notification Service, 17 SAVNS, and allow County Judge to sign same. 18 1.12 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 60 action regarding contract between Kerr 19 County Clerk and the Data Preservation Solutions for records preservation. 20 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 79 21 action to sign the contract amendment 1 on TDA Colonia Grant 7215045 for first 22 time sewer connections. 23 1.14 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 81 action to sign Project Completion Report 24 for TDA Colonia Grant 7215045 for first time sewer connections. 25 4 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.15 Public hearing for revision of plat for 83 Megan Manor, Lots 13 and 14, Volume 5, 4 Page 231. 5 1.16 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 84 action for the Court to approve the 6 revision of plat for Megan Manor, Lots 13 and 14, Volume 5, Page 231. 7 1.17 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 85 8 action for the Court to approve a revision of plat for Northwest Hills, Lots 133 and 9 134, Volume 5, Page 30. 10 1.18 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 85 action for the Court to approve a revision 11 of plat for Marymeade Subdivision Section One, Lots 26, 27, 28(part), 29(part), 12 Volume 3, Page 9. 13 1.19 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 88 action for the Court to set a public 14 hearing for 10:00 a.m. on January the 13th, 2020 for a revision of plat for Houston 15 Estates Tract 1A, Plat File No. 16-07621. 16 1.20 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 89 action for the Court to waive platting 17 oversight and approval for a revision of plat for Megan Manor, Lots 16 and 17, 18 Volume 5, Page 231. 19 1.21 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 90 action for the Court to adopt a resolution 20 for Kerr County to perform an equivalent match project, Fall Branch Creek Channel 21 Restoration under Camp Scenic Loop Road Bridge, in return for waiver of the local 22 match fund participation requirement on the approved federal off-system bridge 23 program at Witt Road Bridge Reconstruction over Verde Creek, and to authorize the 24 County Judge to execute and send a letter to TxDOT District Office in San Antonio 25 requesting said waiver. 5 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.22 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 95 action to approve the contract with Big 4 Brothers and Big Sisters, and allow County Judge to execute same. 5 1.23 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 98 6 action regarding the e-mail received from Hill Country MHDD Centers informing the 7 Court of their intent to purchase real property. 8 1.24 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 109 9 action to appoint a replacement for Bill Hill, an alternate, as the Kerr County 10 representative to the Alamo Area Council of Governments, AACOG, Criminal Justice 11 Advisory Committee, CJAC. 12 1.25 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 112 action to approve list of reimbursable 13 items for the Kerr County Volunteer Fire Departments. 14 1.26 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 118 15 action to determine whether or not to cancel the December 30th, 2019 meeting of 16 the Kerr County Commissioners' Court. 17 1.27 Consider and discuss recent change to the 119 Open Meetings Act, specifically Texas 18 Government Code, Section 551.007(b), with clarification from the County Attorney. 19 1.28 Discussion regarding the Interlocal 124 20 Agreement between Kerr County and the City of Kerrville for the provision of 21 Animal Control Services within the City of Kerrville and services of the Butt 22 Holdsworth Memorial Library for residents of Kerr County. 23 2.1 Pay bills. 136 24 2.5 Accept Monthly Reports. 137 25 2.6 Court Orders. 138 6 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 3.2 Status reports from Elected Officials. 139 4 3.3 Status reports from Liaison Commissioners. 140 5 4.1(b) Consider, discuss and take appropriate 160 action for the Court to approve the 6 Interlocal Contract between The Department of Information Resources and Kerr County, 7 and authorize the County Judge to sign same. 8 4.2(a) Clarify and review the one-time merit 161 increases procedure. 9 *** Adjournment. 162 10 *** Reporter's Certificate. 163 11 * * * * * * 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 7 1 JUDGE KELLY: Good morning. It is Monday, 2 November the 25th, 2019, at 9 o'clock in the morning, 3 and the Kerr County Commissioners' Court is now in 4 session. If you would, please stand for the prayer and 5 the pledge, led by Commissioner Moser. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Pray with me, if you 7 will, please. 8 (Prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.) 9 JUDGE KELLY: I apologize, this is a 10 record-breaking day. I have in my hand a cell phone, 11 and for those of you that know me, I don't like cell 12 phones in the courtroom, but we need to be on time. And 13 so I have it silenced and I would ask everybody else to 14 please silence your phone. We do have a policy that if 15 it goes off -- and this applies to me as well, if it 16 goes off then it's to be taken up by the Sheriff and you 17 can claim it after the meeting. 18 Okay, with that let's go to the public 19 input. In accordance with our Rules and Procedure, 20 Conduct and Decorum, the Kerr County Commissioners' 21 Court adopted November 12th, 2019, just a couple weeks 22 ago, citizens wishing to address Commissioners' Court on 23 a particular issue must complete a Public Participation 24 Form -- 25 (Commissioner Belew present.) 8 1 JUDGE KELLY: -- I have three, and submit it 2 to the County Clerk, right over here, prior to the time 3 the agenda item is addressed by the Court. Each member 4 of the public who appears before the Commissioners' 5 Court shall be limited to a maximum of three minutes to 6 make his or her remarks. 7 And the caveat would be if you want to 8 address something that is on the agenda, we ask that you 9 wait until that agenda item is called. If you want to 10 address the Court about something that is not on the 11 agenda, this is your opportunity to come forward and 12 address the Court. 13 Now, I have three here. Do these three want 14 to wait -- do you want to wait for agenda items or do 15 you want to come up now? 16 MRS. GARCIA: I don't have any agenda item. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Are you Miss Garcia? 18 MRS. GARCIA: Yes. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, Miss Sandra Garcia, if 20 you would please go to the podium. Thank you. 21 (Mrs. Garcia handing the Court photos.) 22 MRS. GARCIA: Good morning, Judge and 23 Commissioners. My name's Sandra Garcia. And I'm here 24 this morning just to address a hazard that's on the 25 County's -- with the Christmas trees. Saturday my 9 1 9-year old had a very serious injury on his leg, and I 2 have pictures there for you. You can see on the stake 3 of the picture there, his tissue and skin are still 4 there, and it's still there this morning. I went to go 5 check to see if it had been cleaned. I let a police 6 officer know of the hazard and asked that maybe he 7 consider putting a cone over that metal stake. 8 But I highly recommend to the County that 9 you look at that, and put some kind of plastic covering. 10 It was just -- he just walked backward, tripped on it, 11 and it's a very sizeable gash on his leg. So I just ask 12 for your consideration and the consideration of other 13 citizens that somebody take precautions on that. Thank 14 you. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Well, thank you for bringing 16 it to our attention. Obviously, it's something we did 17 not know about. 18 MRS. GARCIA: Right. And there's about 19 three of them out there. 20 JUDGE KELLY: And we will certainly address 21 that. But we're very sorry about what happened, and 22 please give our regards to your son. 23 MRS. GARCIA: I will. Thank you. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you, Miss Garcia. 25 Anybody else who would like to address the 10 1 Court at this time? 2 Yes, sir. I call Mr. Michael Burniston. 3 MR. BURNISTON: Thank you. Good morning, 4 everyone. I'd like to introduce Kerrville Pets Alive to 5 the Commissioners. Kerrville Pets Alive is a 501(c)(3) 6 organization established to work with Kerr County Animal 7 Services to provide animal welfare services, which are 8 outside the legally mandated animal control 9 requirements. 10 We propose that once an impounded animal has 11 surpassed the maximum time allowable or required by law 12 in KCAS's custody, KPA will take custody of that animal, 13 house the animal in a facility controlled by KPA, 14 provide for the health and welfare of the animal, and 15 seek a permanent home for the animal. 16 KPA will also work with KCAS, Kerr County 17 and the City of Kerrville to provide advocacy and 18 education related to animal care and welfare for the 19 citizens of the county and the city. 20 We have a couple of goals. Our goals are to 21 grow the rate of positive outcomes for animals that are 22 impounded by KCAS. These positive outcomes include 23 return of the animals to their owners when possible and 24 appropriate, direct adoption of animals to the public, 25 transfer the animals to rescue organizations if that's 11 1 necessary, and we'd also like to educate the citizens of 2 Kerr County regarding responsible pet ownership to 3 reduce the number of animals impounded by KCAS. 4 Our next step that we propose, we propose to 5 work with KCAS to open the KCAS facility on Saturdays to 6 the public. Our proposal is that KCAS provide one KCAS 7 employee, on a rolling basis, to open the facility and 8 that a limited number of -- for just a limited number of 9 hours, and KPA will provide a sufficient number of KCAS 10 approved volunteers to interact with the animals and 11 assist citizens wishing to adopt animals. 12 Number Two, KPA will work with the 13 Commissioners to enter into necessary agreements to form 14 a public-private partnership between Kerrville Pets 15 Alive and KCAS, and to define the roles and 16 responsibilities and any available funding mechanisms 17 for the partnership. 18 And then three, Kerrville Pets Alive will 19 begin the grant filing and fundraising process to ensure 20 that we have necessary and sufficient funds to start up 21 and for long-term sustainability of Kerrville Pets 22 Alive. 23 And fourth, KPA, Kerrville Pets Alive, will 24 build a shelter facility and begin the processes and 25 operations outlined in our public-private partnership. 12 1 Thank you. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Well, thank you. That's an 3 answer to prayers. But again, we welcome the 4 opportunity for a partnership to work with the private 5 and 501(c)(3). 6 MR. BURNISTON: Thank you. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you very much for 8 getting it started. 9 Anybody else that would like to address the 10 Court at this time? 11 Okay. Then it's Commissioners' Comments. 12 Precinct 1. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Really good parade over 14 the weekend. My little four-year old granddaughter in 15 the back saying Merry Christmas to all of y'all. Took a 16 lot of pressure off of me because she was the hit of the 17 deal, so it was a lot of fun. 18 And I want to remind everybody if you got 19 stuff sitting around your house, do what I did this 20 weekend, take it over to Habitat for Humanity. There's 21 always somebody that can use it if it's usable. That's 22 all I got. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Dawn Buckingham, 24 Senator Buckingham, came to town on Friday, I believe, 25 and presented a Resolution to the -- to Kerr County and 13 1 the City of Kerrville and I'm not going to read -- but 2 this is the Resolution, I'm not going to read the entire 3 Resolution but I'm going to read two -- two sections of 4 it. 5 Whereas, the Old Spanish Trail is a national 6 -- this pertains to the Old Spanish Trail in the 7 hundredth year anniversary of that. 8 Whereas, the Old Spanish Trail is the 9 national highway that extends across the southern United 10 States from St. Augustine, Florida to San Diego, 11 California, the route is based on ancient trails used by 12 Native Americans and early European settlers and a 13 significant portion of the OST passes through Kerr 14 County, running north from Bandera Pass through Camp 15 Verde, Kerrville, Ingram, and Mountain Home; and 16 Whereas, the Old Spanish Trail plays an 17 important part in the story of Texas during the 21st 18 Century and 100 years ago the citizens of Kerrville and 19 Kerr County helped realized the goal of a 20 transcontinental highway. 21 Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the 22 City of Kerrville and Kerr County be congratulated on 23 their receipt of an official Old Spanish Trail 24 designation plaque, okay, which is this from the Old 25 Spanish Trail Centennial Celebration Association; and 14 1 that all those associated with anniversary efforts be 2 extended sincere best wishes for success. Signed, Dawn 3 Buckingham, MD, Senator for the State of Texas. 4 So very nice. We will see that that's 5 displayed appropriately, and so I give that to you, 6 Judge. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we know where it's going 8 to end up, over there in the corner. But I'll keep it 9 here with me. Thank you. 10 Precinct 3. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just want to thank the 12 community. I think Michael Burniston and some others, 13 and I don't want to -- probably shouldn't mention any 14 names, Karen Guerriero, but I'll mention a few, Steve 15 King and them have really come together working with the 16 newly formed Kerrville Pets Alive. I think it's a -- it 17 shows what a great thing about -- or one of the great 18 things about this community is that even though we had 19 some differences, we had a pretty interesting meeting 20 last Monday. When we all work together we can get a lot 21 done. And I really appreciate the community coming 22 together on that point. 23 And the other thing is Thanksgiving week, a 24 lot of kids are out so everyone have a good time with 25 family. That's it. 15 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. I don't have anything 2 else. 3 So let's go to the first agenda item, which 4 is 1.1 consider, discuss and take appropriate action on 5 request from Hill Country District Junior Livestock Show 6 Association to use Flat Rock Park, including dog park, 7 from 7:00 a.m., Sunday, January the 12th, 2020 to 11:00 8 p.m., Friday, January the 17th, 2020 to park trailers 9 and use as staging area for delivery of animals, and to 10 close the park to other vehicular traffic during that 11 time period. Steve Bauer. 12 MR. BAUER: Good morning, Commissioners and 13 Judges -- or Judge. Thank you for the opportunity to 14 come before you this morning in making my annual request 15 for the park use for our trailer parking as described in 16 that Court Order. 17 The other thing that I would ask on that 18 one, I think we did it last year, Commissioner added the 19 Little League Park just as a safeguard, if we've got bad 20 weather we do use it so that we don't mud things up. If 21 that would be something that we could add to that order 22 at that point, or if we need to do a separate one, 23 that's fine. But I'll do that. But that's our request. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it can be 25 extended, the same as we've done prior years. I'll make 16 1 a motion to approve the agenda item and have it include 2 parking available at the ball field that's across 3 Highway 27. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 6 Commissioner Letz and seconded by Commissioner Belew to 7 approve use of the Dog Park from January 12 to January 8 17 as presented, to include also the Little League Park 9 in the event the -- they need that, too. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So it's Flat Rock and 11 including the Dog Park. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. Right. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Well, Flat Rock and Dog 14 Park. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And the ball field. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the ball field, if 18 necessary. 19 JUDGE KELLY: And the ball field if 20 necessary. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Steve, I've asked this 22 last year and I don't remember the answer. 23 MR. BAUER: Yes, sir. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But it's necessary to 25 have the Dog Park included in that because you have that 17 1 many trailers? 2 MR. BAUER: Yes, sir. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 4 MR. BAUER: When that thing fills up down 5 there, Commissioner, it is full. And plus -- 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 7 MR. BAUER: -- we also reserve that a little 8 bit for overflow parking. We've got such a spectator 9 group that comes in we -- we need that. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So you -- you use the 11 Dog Park? 12 MR. BAUER: Yes, sir, we do. We need it 13 all. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good enough. 15 Thank you. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Any further discussion? Those 17 in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, four zero. Let 18 the record reflect that Commissioner Harris is absent 19 today. 20 Item 1.2 consider, discuss and take 21 appropriate action on the request from the Hill Country 22 District Junior Livestock Show Association to close 23 Riverside Drive from the southwest corner of River Star 24 Park to the southeast corner of Hill Country Youth Event 25 Center grounds from 7:00 a.m. Sunday, January 12th, 2020 18 1 to 11:00 p.m. Friday, January 17, 2020 for the 2020 2 Stock Show. 3 MR. BAUER: Again, we request this for the 4 safety of our exhibitors coming in so that we can get 5 them off the State Highway, back through there and allow 6 us to stage and move freely back and forth through 7 there. We do notify Kerrville Independent School 8 District of that closure so that they can address it 9 with their school bus routes, but other than that it's 10 the same as we've done before. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Move for approval. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'll second that. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 14 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 15 approve the closing of Riverside Drive, as usual that we 16 do, for the stock show 2020. Any further discussion? 17 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, four zero. 18 Thank you, Steve. 19 The next item is 1.3. This is to consider, 20 discuss and take appropriate action to appoint a member 21 of Commissioners' Court or designate a person to perform 22 investigation under Section 751.005 of the Texas Health 23 and Safety Code for the purpose of determining if the 24 minimum standards for ensuring public safety and order 25 as prescribed by law will be maintained under the 19 1 application for permit for mass gathering by the Hill 2 Country District Junior Livestock Show, with that 3 hearing to be held on December 16, 2019 at 9:30 a.m. 4 MRS. GRINSTEAD: And that was a typo on my 5 part. It needs to be 8:30. 6 JUDGE KELLY: 8:30? 7 MRS. GRINSTEAD: I didn't catch it until I 8 was preparing letters. But 8:30, please. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Well, let me correct 10 that, 8:30. We'll do that before the Court. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I believe last year the 12 court appointed myself, but since Commissioner Harris is 13 absent, he might be a good person to appoint this year. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'll second that. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that 16 Commissioner Harris be appointed to fulfill the 17 requirements. 18 JUDGE KELLY: The motion has been made by 19 Commissioner Letz and seconded by Commissioner Moser to 20 appoint Commissioner Harris as the designated 21 representative, and I move we do that by acclamation. 22 Unanimous, raise your hands. Four zero. That'll teach 23 him. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We did that to 25 Commissioner Letz the other day. He wasn't at KEDC and 20 1 he got volunteered. 2 JUDGE KELLY: That's right, we did. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's why he's still 4 mad. 5 JUDGE KELLY: All right, item 1.4 consider, 6 discuss and take appropriate action regarding the 7 November 18, 2019 Animal Control Operations Workshop. 8 Commissioner Letz. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just put this on the 10 agenda because we received a lot of input from the 11 community at the workshop, and because the format of the 12 workshop we couldn't respond or talk amongst ourselves. 13 So I just thought it would be good to put it on the 14 agenda, and I have a couple comments. And I think it 15 was a really good workshop. I think there was some 16 information that we were able to present that hopefully 17 answered some questions, and I think we received a lot 18 of feedback. 19 Obviously, part of that feedback is -- is 20 moving forward much quicker that I ever anticipated, 21 being the formation of a non-profit, which I think is 22 great news. And, you know, I think that the part of 23 that and even aside from that is looking at Saturday, if 24 there's ways to open up on Saturdays. My feeling on 25 that is that our staff is stretched to the limit, so we 21 1 need to look at another alternative, and whether it's 2 help with volunteers, hiring part-time people, you know, 3 whatever. I'm not -- I don't know the answer, and I 4 think -- I would just like to ask Reagan to look at how 5 he would recommend coming up with a plan to open on 6 Saturday. And then we could look at that at our next 7 meeting. But that's kind of what my takeaway from the 8 meeting and I thought it was, you know, a good meeting. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I thought it was a 10 great -- great meeting. I think there were two things 11 that really came out to me is number one, be open on 12 Saturdays. Number two is enable the volunteers to 13 participate. So I would like to go one step beyond that 14 and -- and set a goal, and that is to follow up on what 15 Commissioner Letz said, but just have Reagan come back, 16 and I talked to Reagan this morning, at next 17 Commissioners' Court with options on how to be open on 18 Saturday. Not to say we're going to do it, perhaps we 19 will. But ask Reagan to come back in two weeks or at 20 the next Commissioners' Court meeting with options on 21 how to be open on Saturday. 22 And the second thing is, I didn't know about 23 Kerrville Pets Alive, but what I was going to also -- so 24 I'm going to make a motion on that. I don't think we 25 need to have a motion for that, we can just have Reagan 22 1 do it. 2 The other one is to -- for the County to 3 determine how to be out of the adoption business within 4 one year. Now, maybe we could do that a lot less in 5 light of Kerrville Pets Alive being here. I think we 6 need to set a goal, and we need to use 501(c)(3)'s, or 7 Kerrville Pets Alive or whatever, okay, for us to be out 8 of the adoption agency within one year or less, so -- 9 and I think I will make a motion on that. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: As a goal? 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: As a goal, right. As a 12 goal. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll second it as a 14 goal. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. And that's all 16 it is, a goal, okay? 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. There's been a motion 18 made and a second -- a motion made by Commissioner Moser 19 and seconded by Commissioner Letz to set an aspirational 20 goal of one year to be out of the pet adoption business. 21 Do I understand that correctly? 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct. 23 JUDGE KELLY: But that's aspirational. 24 That's -- that's what we want to try to accomplish. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, I don't know if 23 1 it has to be qualified as aspirational, but to have a 2 goal, you know. Put a man on the moon in ten years. 3 They didn't say aspirational; they said, by God, do it. 4 So I think we oughta, by God, do it. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One year or less from 7 today. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, I'm in. 10 JUDGE KELLY: It's a goal. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's a goal. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Does that fit in with 13 what we're supposed to be doing here? 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. As long as it's 16 within the parameters -- 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Or else we would have 18 the County Attorney hollering at us. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I've looked at 20 her and she's making notes. Are we okay? 21 JUDGE KELLY: She's twitched a little bit. 22 MRS. STEBBINS: The agenda item just says to 23 take appropriate -- or consider, discuss and take 24 appropriate action regarding November 18th, 2019 Animal 25 Control Operations Workshop, and it seems to me that you 24 1 have all agreed that there were a couple of things that 2 came out of that workshop. One was the open Saturdays. 3 Two was to bring volunteers into the building 4 appropriately, and three, Commissioner Moser's goal to 5 be out of the pet adoption business. And so I think 6 that the Saturdays being open was made very clear at the 7 workshop that adoption was the primary reason for 8 keeping those open and getting humans with hands on 9 animals. So if -- if this is something you -- a goal 10 you want to set out of that meeting, I think that you 11 can do that. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. As a matter of 13 fact -- 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But that's more than 15 what was said. What is your motion? 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: The motion was for us 17 to be out of the adoption business -- to have a goal to 18 be out of the adoption business within one year, right. 19 And I think the draft agenda item said information, and 20 I changed it to -- or recommended we change it to take 21 appropriate action. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: All right. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I want to make a 24 clarification. Out of the adoption may be a little bit 25 strong. I mean, I think that we probably will be doing 25 1 something, but the goal to get -- to do that and move it 2 along is fine. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Goal. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I think there will 5 be a -- you know, some -- 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Yeah. 7 JUDGE KELLY: My concern is in the wording. 8 My understanding from the workshop was that we were 9 trying to -- we have got the 72 hours with the animals 10 before we have to consider euthanasia, and we're still 11 going to actively be in the adoption business just 12 trying to get these animals placed during that 72-hour 13 period. But what we're really looking for is the safety 14 net of where these animals can go with the expiration of 15 72 hours. And that's what's a little unclear about the 16 adoption business. I don't think we're completely out 17 of the adoption business, but I think that we're long 18 term out of the adoption business. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, but my motion is 20 to be out of -- 21 JUDGE KELLY: I understand -- 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- the adoption 23 business. 24 JUDGE KELLY: -- your motion. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Yeah. 26 1 JUDGE KELLY: I'm just -- this is the 2 discussion part wherein -- 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, I understand. 4 Yeah. 5 JUDGE KELLY: -- I think -- I think the 6 motion is -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Is clear. 8 JUDGE KELLY: -- I think is a little vague. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, let's make -- let 10 me make it very clear. I make a motion that the Kerr 11 County as a goal determine how to be out of the adoption 12 agency within one year. Now, that does not say that the 13 Kerr County would not process the animals, keep them for 14 the legal period of time, but then to place these 15 animals in for adoption, pass those over to another 16 agency which would see that they're adopted and taken 17 care of. So it's for us to just get out of the adoption 18 agency, that's the goal. Out of the adoption business, 19 I should say. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Now, since I have 22 seconded this, I have a -- I want it to be a -- kind of 23 -- I want us to get out of it to an extent, okay, but we 24 need to be involved with it still. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. If we pick up 27 1 the animals -- 2 JUDGE KELLY: That's my concern. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's not totally out of 4 it. We're -- I think -- I mean, we're required to be 5 involved in it. I think we -- I would just be much more 6 comfortable to certainly really reduce our efforts on 7 adoption. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Our first speaker 9 today, is he still here? 10 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Could you get up and 12 clarify -- I have forgotten your name, I'm sorry. 13 MR. BURNISTON: Michael Burniston. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Michael. If you -- and 15 I should know your name because we have exchanged 16 e-mails. Your stated goal was to take the animals after 17 the 72-hour period -- 18 MR. BURNISTON: Yes, sir. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- and find placement? 20 MR. BURNISTON: Correct. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That seems simple 22 enough. That we work in cooperation. We have a year 23 goal from today -- 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Uh-huh. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- to get out of the 28 1 adoption business because we won't need to be in the 2 adoption business because of what this group is doing. 3 Am I stating that correctly? 4 MR. BURNISTON: Yes, sir. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: All right. Thank you. 6 MR. BURNISTON: Unless -- yeah, it depends 7 on how you define adoption. So if an owner comes back 8 and reclaims their dog within the 72-hours -- 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's not -- 10 MR. BURNISTON: -- that's not an adoption. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's another -- yeah. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's not an adoption 13 to me. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. These are 15 animals that otherwise have no home. 16 MR. BURNISTON: I think we have the same 17 goal. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But what -- after the 19 meeting the other day when I thought about this and the 20 clearer message, I didn't know what was happening 21 with -- I never heard of Kerrville Pets Alive. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Well, it's brand new. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, it is. But I 24 meant -- you know, I didn't make this motion in support 25 of what you're doing; I'm making the motion independent 29 1 of that. And fortunately, you know, it sounds like it's 2 already going down that path, which is super, so -- 3 MR. BURNISTON: We have the same goal. We 4 have the goal for you guys to do your job that's 5 mandated by law, and for us to take over after that. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's wonderful. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's -- that's it. 9 Very simple. That's the motion. 10 MR. BURNISTON: Okay, good. Is that it? 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes, sir. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think Ms. Guerriero 13 wants -- 14 JUDGE KELLY: I think -- 15 MRS. GUERRIERO: Can I get a moment? I'm 16 sorry, Judge, is that okay? 17 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 18 MRS. GUERRIERO: I wanted to mention that we 19 had a really successful adoption and micro chipping 20 event on Saturday. I'm not sure -- Reagan, do you know 21 how many pets were chipped on Saturday? 22 MR. GIVENS: I'd say 21 or 22. I can go 23 back and look and -- 24 MRS. GUERRIERO: Yeah. Isn't that amazing? 25 Yeah. And that was with a little bit of publicity. And 30 1 just to show you, again going into the holidays, there 2 are so many people that are traveling by the shelter, 3 there's a ton of growth by there with the new school 4 being built, and it's -- the place is really alive and 5 it was really alive on Saturday when you see all those 6 people coming in to responsibly chip their animals. 7 We had a few pet adoptions. It could have 8 been, I think, advertised a little bit more, and that's 9 something that volunteers actually did. I tried to 10 publicize it, but that's where going forward -- and this 11 is such -- there's so many I's that need to be dotted 12 and T's that need to be crossed on this. I mean, 13 there's so many fine details with us going forward with 14 Kerrville Pets Alive and so many transitions, and 15 there's no way to come up with all the answers right 16 now. 17 But it's imperative, I think, that going 18 forward with Saturday that we keep that ball rolling a 19 little bit, and the sooner the better. I think with 20 Reagan, if we can all come up with a solution for a 21 great -- volunteers were great there on Saturday. 22 They're real -- I mean, they did a lot of work. It was 23 -- there were three or four volunteers there. And I 24 think it can work, and I think it can really keep this 25 ball rolling in concert with Kerrville Pets Alive 31 1 happening. So that's what I wanted to say. And it's 2 all going to be great, and we'll have a great 3 partnership. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Thank you. 5 MRS. GUERRIERO: You're welcome. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So how does the motion 7 read now? 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Same way it read 9 before. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's simple. But on the 11 second version, you added a lot. The second -- the 12 motion's just a goal to be out of pet adoption, and 13 that's not really defined, but within a year. I'm fine 14 with that. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, that's it, 16 period. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What if we give this 18 group a year to get everything going, and if it 19 changes -- 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That group or some -- 21 some way. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Or somebody, yeah. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'm not saying the 24 solution. Okay. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Well, while we're still 32 1 on the discussion part before we call a vote, I want to 2 be crystal clear and transparent that I view this as 3 aspirational. We're trying to accomplish something 4 together. And being a lawyer, I can very strictly 5 construe a contract or I can abide by the spirit of 6 contract. And I think what we're really talking about 7 here are our hearts in the same place. 8 And the spirit is what we're trying to 9 accomplish here and we appreciate everything that's been 10 done, especially with the formation of this new 11 non-profit organization, and -- and all I want to say is 12 that I'm going to vote for the motion. But I want 13 everyone to understand that I'm voting for the spirit of 14 this motion, and not the literal wording of the motion 15 because this is something that we're going to try to 16 accomplish together. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 19 JUDGE KELLY: So those in favor, raise your 20 hand. Unanimous, four zero. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I want to say one more 22 thing about this, and it's this. And this came up the 23 other night, and I think everybody in the room would 24 agree that we have -- that our problem is really that we 25 have too many animals having more animals. There's the 33 1 problem. Because if you wouldn't have the shelter full 2 to the rafters, if you didn't have people that are not 3 spaying and neutering those pets, and one of the best 4 things we can do is educate people that we know, put a 5 lot of effort into that, as much as you can, person to 6 person, personal contact, Facebook, campaigns, posters, 7 whatever, to convince people to take care of this. 8 Because we have an inordinate amount of feral animals 9 around here, and we don't need that. For the amount of 10 people that we have in our county versus the amount of 11 dogs and cats that are running around, it's -- it's 12 crazy. It's way off the charts. So that's our job one, 13 I think. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Next item on the agenda 15 is 1.5 -- 16 MRS. DOWDY: Judge, may we get to 1.10, a 17 timed item for 9:30? 18 JUDGE KELLY: No. We got a couple minutes. 19 We got a minute, we'll wait. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: My speech didn't go 21 long enough? 22 JUDGE KELLY: No. I'm looking for 23 Ms. Mistretta and Gary Noller, are they here? 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, they're here. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 34 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And it's 7:30 -- or 2 9:30. 3 MS. MISTRETTA: Are we up now? 4 JUDGE KELLY: Come on up. We're trying to 5 -- trying to burn these last few seconds. 6 MS. MISTRETTA: Which one are we doing, the 7 parade, or for the other one? 8 JUDGE KELLY: This is the 9:30, which is the 9 Veterans Day event. 10 MS. MISTRETTA: Good morning. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good morning, Marty. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Just a second. Just a second. 13 We're getting very strict on these rules. This is 14 atomic time, isn't it? 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yes, it is. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Item 1.10 information 17 regarding the 2020 Veterans Day event. Ms. Mistretta. 18 MS. MISTRETTA: Yes, sir. We are proposing 19 an event on Saturday, November 7th, 2020 as a Veterans 20 Celebration event instead of doing what we've done in 21 the past with just the parade. We are going to have a 22 parade and a picnic at Louise Hays Park. That way we're 23 kind of mixing different generations, so numerous 24 veterans, just myself, we have Veterans Day like events. 25 So we have families come and do dinners or lunches, and 35 1 have events for them, music, all those kind of things. 2 And so, we just kind of wanted to bring that to the 3 community. 4 So not only are we still having some 5 tradition with a very short parade, but also we're going 6 to have kind of a picnic deal and -- and that way 7 veterans aren't putting on their own event, I guess. So 8 that way they can actually participate. So we're asking 9 for the community to help, and we're asking for vendors 10 and different volunteers. And we have so many people 11 that are willing to help, they just don't know that we 12 need their help. So we're going to try to do that over 13 the next year and get as many folks as we can. 14 We're going to partner with some of the 15 assisted living communities to help get folks outside so 16 they can attend this event. So I think it's going to be 17 really great. So -- 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And what's the date, 19 Marty? 20 MS. MISTRETTA: It will be Saturday, 21 November 7th. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: November 7th. Okay. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now, has the -- have 24 you talked to the City about the park? 25 MS. MISTRETTA: That's our next stop. 36 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 2 MS. MISTRETTA: Yes, sir. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Thank you. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thanks, Jeff. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, we'll go back to agenda 6 item 1.5 consider, discuss and take appropriate action 7 on the recommendations from the Animal Services Advisory 8 Committee. Commissioner Letz. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. The advisory 10 committee came up with several recommendations to take 11 forward and I told them that I'd bring them back to the 12 Court. This is really not an action item on the agenda. 13 And there's two things that were in the packet. One is 14 a list of events that came up with trying to get a 15 schedule of events. You know, these, I don't think, are 16 fixed in stone but it sounds more like kind of concepts 17 of types of events to do. 18 And then there's also a new proposed fee 19 schedule. And it has some pretty significant changes to 20 here, one of them being mandatory spay and neuter on any 21 impounded animal before it's released. So some of the 22 -- that's also mandatory microchipping of all pets in 23 the County. 24 So these are pretty significant, some of 25 these. The idea is to -- and it's kind of already -- 37 1 part of it's been done. There's one to let the Court 2 know what's in the works, possibly. They both have been 3 forwarded to Reagan to look at, and kind of figure out 4 what they recommend. 5 It came out of the committee but it did not 6 come out with necessarily a recommendation of myself or 7 Reagan. It was just kind of, okay, the committee looked 8 at this information, came up with this, let's put it out 9 to the public and to the Court and to the City, because 10 the fee schedule portion, you know, I think under the 11 current and local -- we have authority to set that, but 12 these are pretty significant changes. And I would like 13 -- and they have a new draft of an ordinance that's 14 been in their legal department for some time, but 15 mandatory microchipping and mandatory spay and neuter of 16 impounded animals. And I think we really need to hear 17 from the City on that because certainly at least 50 18 percent, if not more, of the pets that come into our 19 facility are coming from City residents, and I think we 20 need to hear back from them and I'd like to hear from 21 the City on that. 22 So this is just moving this -- both of these 23 documents forward that we're working at them, and no 24 action is needed at this time. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Any discussion? 38 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What is -- is there a 2 time to talk with the -- is there a meeting with the 3 City? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Ms. Meismer's here. 5 Most of at our committee meeting -- I think she probably 6 has this information, I'm not sure where it is. I don't 7 -- I mean -- I think it's just -- I think we should get 8 some feedback from them. So they kind of -- 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You don't have to have 10 a meeting necessarily or -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, we do not. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not at this point. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: All right. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: At some point, you know, 16 obviously I think we need to talk about this, and I 17 think there's another later agenda item as well but 18 related to the Interlocal Agreement. But this is just 19 to really get it out to the community that we have new 20 -- there has been some proposed and pretty significant 21 changes on the fee structure and requirements of 22 registration, and then the ideas on the educational side 23 of the monthly events or something along that line, just 24 to move it forward. 25 JUDGE KELLY: But just to be clear -- just 39 1 -- just to be clear, the recommendations that have come 2 out of the advisory committee is they're not 3 aspirational, it's mandatory. Spay, neuter and 4 microchip. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, so that we understand. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mandatory spay/neuter of 8 impounded animals; not all animals. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, impounded animals. 10 That's what this says. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. But there is 12 also, I believe, registration -- that changes around 13 quite a bit. There is a breeder permit. If you're 14 going to breed, have puppies, it's $50 annually or $250 15 lifetime. And there's some other -- you know, there's a 16 number of changes. 17 JUDGE KELLY: I see the breeder permit is 18 the next to the last item there. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So I just think this is 20 something that came out of the committee and want to 21 move it forward. 22 JUDGE KELLY: But so the public understands, 23 again, to be crystal clear and completely transparent, 24 this is the report from the advisory committee of 25 suggestions that they're recommending. 40 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 2 JUDGE KELLY: And it has been presented to 3 us in an informational format today, shared with the 4 Animal Services Department, and to be shared with the 5 City -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 7 JUDGE KELLY: -- for their input. And that 8 no action to be taken today. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 11 MR. KING: Can I ask you a question? 12 JUDGE KELLY: Sure. 13 MR. KING: Stephen King, 242 Creekwood. One 14 thing I didn't hear recommended with that advisory 15 committee was mandatory rabies vaccinations. I mean the 16 State -- I was reading here the State mandates -- one of 17 the mandates that you guys operate under is to run a 18 Rabies and Animal Control Department to protect the 19 public health. But every animal that leaves the shelter 20 gets a little certificate that says I promise in 30 days 21 to go get my rabies vaccine. 22 I mean that's very similar to the illegal 23 alien problem we have. If you get across the border, I 24 promise, you know, not to stay very long. I mean, I 25 don't understand. That's the most barbaric and crazy 41 1 policy when you're mandated by the State to control 2 rabies in the County, and I've heard several officials 3 say that at the meetings, that's one of our mandates. 4 We're not in the adoption business. We are mandated to 5 protect the County from rabies. And you let every 6 animal out of that shelter without a rabies vaccination. 7 I -- I don't see how that -- how that can be -- 8 MRS. STEBBINS: We do prosecute lots of 9 "failure to vaccinate your animal" citations in our 10 office. And so we follow up and follow through. 11 MR. KING: Well, wouldn't it be better -- 12 JUDGE KELLY: Well, let me ask you -- 13 MR. KING: -- I'm just saying, as far as the 14 advisory committee, maybe when you all are discussing 15 these maybe y'all should look at a -- maybe you catch 16 the water before it gets out of the hose and try to 17 clean it up, you know, the mess, and so why don't we fix 18 it before it runs all over the place. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Well, and we certainly welcome 20 whatever recommendations come from the Kerrville Pets 21 Alive, even though it's very embryonic at this point. 22 But so that you know, there is an issue with regard to 23 how often we should vaccinate animals with rabies. 24 MR. KING: Sure. 25 JUDGE KELLY: And that issue is a live 42 1 issue, it's a dynamic issue; it's not static. It's not 2 been cast in concrete yet. And I know that there's some 3 anticipated workshops to discuss that as an issue. And 4 so one of the things that we have to be mindful of is 5 we're kind of limping along here, too, trying to do 6 this, and I understand the point you're making. But at 7 the same time, at some point we're going to have to have 8 some input on how frequently the animals need to be 9 vaccinated. 10 MR. KING: I know, but I just wanted to 11 bring it up. We -- we have a vet on our Board. 12 JUDGE KELLY: We are aware -- 13 MR. KING: We have a vet on our Board, and 14 at our organizational meeting when that was brought up, 15 her mouth fell open so wide she could not believe it. 16 She said in all of her years -- 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let me explain it, 18 Reagan, for you. The issue is we can't administer 19 vaccinations. 20 MR. KING: I understand. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So -- and we don't have 22 a vet on staff. So the issue comes in, you know, how do 23 we get -- how do we -- we can't do it. 24 Now, if there's an organization that will 25 have a vet come by every day and give vaccines -- 43 1 MR. KING: Sure. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- then there's a way to 3 do it. But right now, there's not a mechanism to do it 4 other than, you know, what we're doing. 5 MR. KING: I understand. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And we use Freeman & 7 Fritz vet a lot. I mean -- so it's a problem that -- 8 JUDGE KELLY: It's a moving target. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 10 MR. KING: I just wanted to bring it up that 11 those are not the only issues that should be addressed. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. 13 JUDGE KELLY: And that's what we want to do. 14 We want to bring these issues to light and come up with 15 solutions. But that's -- that's one that we're going to 16 have to work on. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good deal. Was that 18 one of the recommendations of the advisory committee? 19 JUDGE KELLY: No. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The recommendation is on 21 -- well, we talked a fair amount about rabies vaccine, 22 but there's -- 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. But that wasn't 24 a recommendation from the advisory committee. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, but I think -- I 44 1 think the advisory committee probably, I'm just guessing 2 here, would love for us to have a vet on staff out 3 there. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, but I meant rabies 5 vaccinations. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. I mean yes. And 7 we have made arrangements with other organizations. The 8 Hill Country -- oh gosh, what are they, Reagan, in 9 Boerne? 10 MR. GIVENS: Hill Country Animal League. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Hill Country Animal 12 League, on spay and neuter. They and Freeman & Fritz 13 both do it at a much reduced rate and we try to get 14 everything spayed and neutered before it leaves. And a 15 lot of those that go to those facilities do get vaccines 16 but, you know, not all of them. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: There are rabies 18 vaccination days around the entire County where people 19 can get it done very cheaply. I always take my animals. 20 And you don't -- you don't take them every year, by the 21 way, folks. Not every year. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Any further discussion? Ms. 23 Sandy? 24 MS. SANDY: Shelly Sandy, 3940 Oak Park 25 Drive. I wanted to say I'm pleased to see the 45 1 recommendation finally coming forward. And that at 2 least it hasn't been nixed on the mandatory 3 microchipping of all the animals and in conjunction with 4 the registration with the County. 5 I would also like to just offer up on the 6 mandatory spay/neuter of impounded animals. If there is 7 a lot of opposition to that, I would like to request 8 that the consideration of maybe a happy medium, maybe 9 it's a second impound. And then at the first impound 10 you can issue a warning that if this happens again, you 11 know, and that maybe makes it more palatable to some of 12 the public who don't like saying that we're in their 13 business telling them to spay or neuter their pets. But 14 if they pose a continuing stray problem, I think that 15 the County has some right to mandate that. 16 The only other comment was on the breeder 17 permit. If that could specifically been outlined that 18 that is per animal, or if you're giving just a permit to 19 a breeder for as many as they want. So thank you. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you, Ms. Sandy. 21 Okay, is there any other discussion on 1.5? 22 We're running a little bit behind today, but let's go 23 ahead and try to get a couple of these done before we 24 get to the 9:45. 25 Item 1.6 consider, discuss and take 46 1 appropriate action to accept donations for the month of 2 October, 2019 as listed in the Kerr County Animal 3 Services donation log. Mr. Givens. 4 MR. GIVENS: Good morning. We had several 5 donations for the month of October. We had some 6 miscellaneous items, again those can include anything 7 from newspapers to towels, things like that. We had 8 some of those donated. We also had some food items. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Make a motion that we 10 accept the donations per the log for October, 2019. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 13 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 14 accept the donations from the Animal Services donation 15 log. Any further discussion? Those in favor raise your 16 hand. Four zero, unanimous. Don't leave, Reagan. 17 1.7 consider, discuss and take appropriate 18 action to accept donation of $500.00 for the Animal 19 Services Department. Mr. Givens. 20 MR. GIVENS: Yes. We had a $500 donation 21 from Mr. H.C. Pickett and Harriet to be used in our 22 department. So it was really nice of them and we want 23 to thank them. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Make a motion to accept 25 the donation of $500.00 from Mr. and Mrs. Pickett? 47 1 MR. GIVENS: Yeah. Pickett. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 4 Commissioner Letz and seconded by Commissioner Moser to 5 approve the $500 gift from the Picketts. Any further 6 discussion? All those in favor raise your hand. 7 Unanimous, four zero. 8 Item 1.8 consider, discuss and take 9 appropriate action on the request to close Flat Rock 10 Park to the public on December 14-15, 2019 for the 11 purpose of allowing the Volunteer Fire Departments to 12 engage in "Moving Big Water Training". This is 13 something they've done before, right, Dub? 14 MR. THOMAS: Good morning, Judge. Good 15 morning, Commissioners. Well, what happened is our 16 October training date, the instructor got sick the 17 morning of the training and had no backup instructor, so 18 what we wanted to do is move that date. The next 19 available date for an instructor is December the 14th 20 and 15th. Be the same -- close the road the same way we 21 had in the past. We'll -- the road to the Dog Park will 22 still be open but we will -- traffic around the loop 23 will be a little bit restricted. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 25 JUDGE KELLY: But y'all did this exercise 48 1 about a year ago? 2 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir, we did it a year ago. 3 JUDGE KELLY: And it will be on the same 4 format as that? 5 MR. THOMAS: That's correct. Yes, sir. 6 JUDGE KELLY: And that went very well as I 7 recall. 8 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir, it did. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Move for approval with 10 what Dub just said, leaving the road to the Dog Park 11 open. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 14 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Belew, to 15 approve -- 16 MR. THOMAS: Thank y'all. 17 JUDGE KELLY: -- the use of Flat Rock Park 18 on December 14-15 for the purpose of allowing the 19 Volunteer Fire Department to engage in the "Moving Big 20 Water Training" program. Those in favor raise your 21 hand. Unanimous, four zero. 22 Okay, we have our 9:45 timed agenda item 23 1.11 consider, discuss and take appropriate action 24 regarding the Veteran Services Office quarterly report. 25 Gary Noller. Welcome. 49 1 MR. NOLLER: Thank you. My name's Gary 2 Noller, 140 Ray Drive in Center Point. Also today from 3 the Advisory Committee, Vicki Marsh and Bill Cantrell 4 are here. Byron Warren is absent. It dawned on me this 5 morning as I was coming in that the Advisory Committee 6 is now just a little over a year old. We started this I 7 think in late October last year or maybe in November 8 last year. If you would have asked me then what our 9 expectations were -- we kind of had some expectation. 10 So if you'd say with that expectation, I'd say we've 11 gone way overboard. I probably would have predicted we 12 would have got maybe a fourth of the stuff that we 13 currently have. 14 And so I'd like to give thanks to the 15 commissioners for the actions that you've taken and 16 particularly in the hiring that you've done. And also 17 the actions that the employees, the Veterans County 18 Service officers, have done in the past year. I'm very 19 happy. I think the Advisory Committee is very happy. 20 So I'd like to go over just a few points on that. 21 I found out Marty Mistretta and Jenna 22 Sanchez have completed all necessary training with 23 regard to accreditation by the Veterans Administration. 24 Now, it's all over in the Federal Government's hands. 25 There's a lot of background checks and things that have 50 1 to be done in order for them to be able to go into the 2 federal database. For example, you have to get 3 fingerprinted. And just asked Marty this morning where 4 they stand on that and said well, everything's still 5 being submitted, they lost the fingerprints so I've got 6 to get fingerprinted again. And I said well, that's -- 7 that doesn't surprise me. Disappoints me, but doesn't 8 surprise me. 9 So it's very possible when they both get 10 their cards to get in the computer system, they will 11 both get them at the same time. Now, the VA seems to 12 work in batches. And they'll -- we got to work on this 13 for a while and then they put it off. So -- so we're 14 happy that's done. 15 The other thing that has happened is they're 16 utilizing a proprietary software, a system called 17 VetraSpec, which is a database that allows them to enter 18 all the information about our veterans into this 19 database and share that with other people who are using 20 that database, typically Texas Veterans Commission 21 claims reps use that so they can -- somebody else has 22 started that information. They don't have to recopy 23 everything, they can just pick that back up. 24 One of the things that was new that we found 25 out at a meeting we had with Marty and Jenna a couple of 51 1 weeks ago is that they can print reports out on that. 2 So they can go in there, for example, if they put the 3 right data in they can say, tell me who -- how many 4 claims I submitted since whenever, how many veterans 5 came in for what type of help. So we have seen a 6 histogram that Marty printed out on some activity. I 7 hope that that has been shared with you. If not, you 8 can ask for it, find out what kind of reporting they can 9 get back off of that VetraSpec system. 10 They are seeing veterans. The word's 11 getting out there in the community that there is a 12 resource here, and so they have a set up for open office 13 hours where people can just walk in and then they have 14 appointments that they set up. And then they have 15 another time where they -- they do administrative 16 things. There's a huge amount of paperwork that has to 17 be generated that they have to work on. So at times 18 they say well, we may be in the office but we're doing 19 our administrative things and the next week they have 20 training. A lot of the training now is online but 21 the -- well, the first week of December, that's next 22 week, they to go San Marcos, because the Texas Veterans 23 Commission is responsible in the State of Texas with 24 providing training to the Veterans County Service 25 Officers and they're having a meeting in San Marcos. So 52 1 one of the good things about that is they'll get to 2 network, they'll get to see other Veterans Service 3 Officers, talk about things of importance. 4 They're meeting community groups, are 5 getting out and they're getting known, they're 6 networking. The Veteran Service Officers are trained to 7 do very specific things and have credentials to do very 8 specific things. They need to know what their primary 9 duties are and they need to know who in the community 10 can provide assistance to veterans beyond what they can 11 do in their office. So that's one of the reasons that 12 it's kind of two-fold. They go out to find out what 13 other organizations there are that can help veterans and 14 also make sure these other organizational groups know 15 that they're here and what they can do. 16 They're still working on some of the old 17 filing systems, going through and making sure that all 18 of the veterans who have come through here that they're 19 updated, putting some of that information into their 20 database. And one of the big things since Jenna came 21 on, she's started a listing of e-mail addresses for 22 veterans and sends out notices. And I don't know if you 23 Commissioners are on it or not, but sometimes they'll 24 get three or four a day. And you say well, what's the 25 value of that? And one of the things that I learned 53 1 over time working with veterans is that there's a lot of 2 stuff out there, period, but there's a lot of stuff that 3 changes. And so, if you think you know everything there 4 is -- once you get to the point where you think you know 5 everything you really need to know, something changed. 6 So you need to know that, too. Well, how do you -- how 7 do you know that? And one of the things that the 8 veterans will say is, well, how come somebody didn't 9 tell me that. 10 For example the Blue Water Navy people from 11 Viet Nam are able to file now for agent orange issues. 12 Well, for years and years and years they've been denied 13 that, but they just made the court case and said yes, 14 you can. Well, how are the Blue Water Navy Veterans 15 who've always heard, you know, don't file a claim, it's 16 not worth it, you're not going to get anything. 17 Well, when Jenna can put that out on an 18 e-blast then hopefully there are some navy veterans out 19 there that now know that they have an opportunity to 20 file for agent orange illnesses. 21 We do refer to -- veterans to the County 22 office. And recently I had some communications back and 23 forth with a veteran I don't know, I've never met the 24 man, but he got my e-mail address and we started 25 corresponding. And he had submitted some work 54 1 previously years past to other service officers, done 2 some work on his own. He said, I've never been able to 3 get a claim through. I never got an approval on a 4 claim. Thought he had a good basis, he told me what his 5 basis was and I said, well, yeah, I think so. He said 6 I'm going to give up, I just can't get it done. I said, 7 well, before you give up I want you to do something. I 8 want you to get in contact with the service officer down 9 at the courthouse, and talk with them and see -- see 10 what they might be able to do for you. 11 So he wrote back, almost immediately, and 12 this is what he said. Wow. And that's his first 13 sentence, okay. Wow. Probably oughta just stop there. 14 But that's his first sentence. Wow. Just returned from 15 a visit to the County Veterans Affairs Office. Well, 16 it's really a Veterans Service Officer. But his words, 17 The two young ladies there were helpful, friendly, and I 18 dare say it, competent. Okay. It seems my claim was 19 filed with the wrong social security number. They will 20 try to chase it down and/or help me start again. No 21 wonder my documentation was lost. No matter the 22 outcome, I feel a lot better. Many thanks. 23 And that's what we want. We want veterans 24 to come here even if they're dejected because of past 25 experience with the claims processing and going to the 55 1 VA, going wherever. I always tell them well, don't give 2 up. And so we've got one customer review here, and I -- 3 probably the person will go out and tell other people, 4 and you want to have staff that the customers walk out 5 of the office and they go wow. So -- so an evaluation 6 down in a nutshell is that's what it is and that comes 7 from a veteran who was giving up on the fact that there 8 might not be anything out there. That kind of wraps up 9 the County Service Officer. 10 There was one other point that we kind of 11 need some advice on with regard to the -- I call it the 12 Kerr County Veterans Memorial out here on the lawn. As 13 we know, back in July the remains of Billy Joe Butler 14 were returned to Kerr County. He was captured almost in 15 late November of 1950, put into a prison camp in Korea 16 for -- I don't know, it was about six weeks or so. 17 Passed away in January, 1951 due to malnutrition and 18 illness. Remains were returned home and returned the 19 family and interred out here at the cemetery near 20 Ingram. 21 One of the things that came up during this 22 activity was that his name is on the Kerr County 23 Memorial, "Billie" Joe Butler, and it's spelled 24 B-I-L-L-I-E, which the family acknowledges is the name 25 as it is on the birth certificate, but it's not the name 56 1 here the family or anybody else has ever used. Military 2 records don't indicate that name. The family says we 3 never wrote that name like that. So we're -- it's kind 4 of a history to us as to that, was that a -- did his 5 parents really want it spelled that way or did whoever 6 made the birth certificate out obviously got it spelled 7 wrong? 8 But anyway, we talked with the parents -- 9 the family, there's several -- all of his siblings are 10 still alive. There's one sister, I believe, is 93 years 11 old. And there's a possibility to make a modification, 12 a slight modification, of this monument out here that 13 would make them happy, and that would be to simply add 14 to the current line the name Billy, B-I-L-L-Y. So you'd 15 have Billie Joe Butler as it currently is, no changes, 16 and then there's a pretty good space outside of that on 17 the end were you could put in parenthesis or quotation 18 marks or something, B-I-L-L-Y. And that could be done 19 for $125. 20 It's done quite frequently when you have 21 memorial stones placed in cemeteries where one person 22 passes away, a married couple, and they put both 23 people's name on it but one person's alive so you don't 24 know what date to put on it so after that person passes 25 away you come back and add the date. So they simply 57 1 come in with a sandblaster and a template and they'll go 2 in there and they'll blast that out. So we've got a 3 $125 quote, we've got Veterans Organization will pay for 4 it, so we kind of need to know how to proceed from here. 5 If that takes an agenda item, if that's something you 6 can vote on today. But let us know how we can maybe 7 move forward with that. That's all I got. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it probably 9 takes another agenda item because it's changing County 10 property and can't be done under this item. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. We'll put it on 12 the next agenda, okay? 13 JUDGE KELLY: All right. Thank you very 14 much, Gary. 15 MR. NOLLER: You're welcome. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let me thank Gary and 17 Vicki and Byron and Bill for all they do on the Advisory 18 Commission. Thank you guys very much. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. I'm trying to get a few 20 -- I know we have some people waiting, but I'm trying to 21 get some of these things done before we take a break. 22 Let's go ahead and call 1.9 consider, discuss and take 23 appropriate action to approve "Participating Entity 24 Services Agreement for the Statewide Automated Victim 25 Notification Services, SAVNS -- 58 1 MS. PETER: SAVNS. 2 JUDGE KELLY: SAVNS, and allow the County 3 Judge to sign. Ms. Peter. 4 MS. PETER: Okay. Essentially, what happens 5 here is the Office of the Attorney General provides 6 money to pay for the Vine Link System, which is the 7 system in place in Kerr County and statewide, it's in 48 8 states, to allow victims to sign up, and then they can 9 be notified if there's a change in their offender's 10 status. 11 So take for instance a domestic violence 12 situation, and the person -- the victim would sign up 13 for this, and so they would know when the person got out 14 of jail. It'll have -- you can do it via phone, e-mail, 15 there's a lot of options there that they now provide. 16 So what -- we get this grant, it literally is a pass 17 through. So it goes from here, straight back, it's just 18 sort of a loop to pay Appriss, who runs Vine Link, to do 19 this. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So it's grant funded? 21 MS. PETER: It is grant funded, and -- 22 JUDGE KELLY: And this is an integral 23 part -- 24 MS. PETER: -- you can speak to this if you 25 want. But it's -- 59 1 JUDGE KELLY: -- it's an integral part of 2 the Crime Victims Services function. 3 MS. PETER: Absolutely. 4 JUDGE KELLY: And it's part of our grant. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I -- who does the 6 data entry? 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's automatic from the 8 jail. When the jail books anybody in or anything like 9 that is what it tracks is inmates. And it will track 10 them through the Court process, through every -- it also 11 does prison system. You know, if they get sent to 12 prison, it lets them know any changes. It's a state 13 deal on that. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So, essentially, your 15 office does the data changes and it automatically 16 updates to the system. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And as far as a pass 20 through, they changed years ago when we first started 21 that the County paid it and then was reimbursed. And 22 now they have changed that over the last number of years 23 and the County doesn't even pay it. It does get passed 24 through totally to where it's totally paid by the State 25 of Texas as far as that grant. We get part of that 60 1 grant that they get paid for -- 2 JUDGE KELLY: And our approval today, if we 3 approve it, doesn't change anything. This is exactly 4 the status quo that's in place? 5 MS. PETER: Absolutely. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Same thing that it's 7 been for years and years now. 8 JUDGE KELLY: And it works well and you want 9 us to do it, right? 10 MS. PETER: Absolutely. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 12 MS. PETER: I want you to sign it, Judge. 13 Please. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'll move for approval. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 18 Commissioner Belew, seconded by Commissioner Moser to 19 approve renewing the SAVNS service. Any other 20 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 21 four zero. 22 Quickly, item 1.12 consider, discuss and 23 take appropriate action regarding contract between Kerr 24 County Clerk and the Data Preservation Solutions for 25 records preservation. And I see you brought your props 61 1 with you. Miss Dowdy. 2 MR. GONZALES: Can I set this on the table? 3 JUDGE KELLY: Sure. 4 MR. GONZALES: It's quite heavy. 5 MS. DOWDY: Good morning. 6 JUDGE KELLY: It looks important. 7 MR. GONZALES: Yeah. 8 MS. DOWDY: Everyone, this is Lance 9 Gonzales, he is with Data Preservation Solutions. And 10 for a while now we've been working on inventory of the 11 County Clerk's records that still need to be preserved. 12 He did provide a quote for a long-term plan, and on 13 July 8th, 2019 by Kerr County Commissioners' Court Order 14 37572, the County Clerk's Archival Plan was approved. 15 And so today's presentation is regarding the 16 first project, which includes minutes of Board of 17 Equalization, minutes of Accounts Allowed, Certification 18 of Sale, Chattel mortgages, bills of sale with index, 19 miscellaneous indexes that we have but they're not 20 really tied to the books yet. I have to track them 21 down. I have a feeling they might be over at the 22 Sheriff's office. And then mechanic's liens. And that 23 project totals $71,440.00, which will come from the 24 special revenue fund, dedicated fund, for -- from 25 41-634-411. And you heard that -- or confirm that with 62 1 the Auditor so we have money to do this project. 2 So I'm going to hand it over to Lance. If 3 y'all have any questions about the process itself. 4 Oh, I'm sorry, one more thing. I did 5 provide the contract to the County Attorney for review. 6 I don't know that she's had time to review it because I 7 -- it was kind of last minute. 8 MRS. STEBBINS: I have. I did. 9 MS. DOWDY: Okay. I'm sorry for that. 10 MRS. STEBBINS: That's okay. 11 MS. DOWDY: Did you have anything to say? 12 MRS. STEBBINS: No, I didn't. 13 MS. DOWDY: Okay. 14 MRS. STEBBINS: Thank you. 15 MR. GONZALES: Good morning. How you doing? 16 I'm out of Dallas, Texas, and basically what we do -- 17 JUDGE KELLY: We're sorry. 18 MR. GONZALES: Yeah, that's why I've been 19 coming down here so much. And what we do is book 20 preservation and restoration of your old historical 21 records in the courthouse. And this book is actually 22 from Titas County. It's an old deed record book and you 23 guys are welcome to come up and take a look at it after 24 the meeting if you like. But essentially what we do is 25 we take the old deteriorated books apart, we mend all 63 1 the pages with Japanese tissue paper, so anything that's 2 torn, deteriorating, anything like that we do -- each 3 page gets completely repaired. 4 And then after that process, basically what 5 we do is we can digitize the entire book, scan it, put 6 it on a DVD. If the County Clerk has a website, we can 7 put -- we can put the books on the website for the 8 public to view. And as part of that process, we 9 neutralize all the acid in the paper, and in the ink 10 because historical books, a lot of times they use iron 11 gall ink, and that creates a burning process through -- 12 on the paper, so anything that was written during that 13 time, over time the handwriting will actually 14 disintegrate. And so basically what we're doing is we 15 apply a product called Bookkeeper, and that's a 16 deacidification chemical that's applied to each one of 17 the pages. And then after that process, we encapsulate 18 the documents in the book with archival mylar, and that 19 eliminates the public touching the actual paper. So no 20 oils or anything like that get on the paper anymore. 21 You're welcome to -- do you mind if I -- 22 JUDGE KELLY: No, go ahead. 23 MR. GONZALES: So as you can see, the pages 24 are encapsulated in mylar. And everything has been 25 treated, digitized. And this book will be good for 64 1 another 150 years after the process is complete. So -- 2 and we've done books for Bexar County, Caldwell County, 3 Dewitt -- quite a few counties around this area. 4 And one of the neat things that we've done 5 in the past, I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with 6 cowboy outlaws in this area, but Johnny Ringo, a 7 neighboring county just north of you guys in Mason, they 8 had his criminal case file when he was an outlaw in 9 Mason County, and they found it in an old vault years 10 ago, and we preserved and restored it and put it in a 11 nice book like that for public view. So if you ever go 12 through Mason County, stop by the County Clerk's office 13 and take a look at it. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So how many counties 15 out of 254 have used -- 16 MR. GONZALES: Oh, my goodness. I think 17 right now we have 63 counties that we're doing work for. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So other people do the 19 same service that you do? 20 MR. GONZALES: Yes, sir. There are two 21 other companies. One of them is called Kofile, and 22 another is Scott-Merriman. We -- we typically save the 23 County about 20 percent through other -- based on other 24 competitors. So there's a significant savings involved 25 so that it enables the clerk to stretch her budget 65 1 dollars a little further than going with some of the 2 other vendors. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So one -- one other 4 question. So Jackie, you said the funding for this 5 comes from where? 6 MS. DOWDY: Special revenue -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: The dedicated fund? 8 MS. DOWDY: Dedicated special revenue funds. 9 Yes. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. So it's 11 dedicated just for this? 12 MS. DOWDY: Correct. For the preservation 13 of books. There's -- 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 15 MS. DOWDY: -- records and archives -- 16 archive preservation. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now once this process, 18 this physical process is done, and then it's also 19 digitized, and we can look it up by date, by name, that 20 sort of stuff, or is it just scanned? 21 MS. DOWDY: I can answer that. The records 22 that they'll be preserving, to my knowledge they've 23 already been digitized. Now it's just a matter of 24 preserving them, all the handwritten records. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: This is the last step, 66 1 is that what you're saying? 2 MS. DOWDY: Yes. I mean, technically. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The rest of it's been 4 done? 5 MS. DOWDY: No. No. I wanted to provide 6 another update -- okay. For this project, yes. But we 7 do have lots of other books to look at that I've 8 coordinated with Shane. Shane Evans and I are going to 9 go over to the Sheriff's Department and we're going to 10 start hauling books over the first week of December -- 11 MR. GONZALES: And that's a mess. 12 MS. DOWDY: -- and he's actually visited it 13 before I have, and so I wanted to provide y'all the 14 e-mail that Lance sent me of an update for those books. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. Can you clarify 16 something, Jackie? 17 MS. DOWDY: Yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: When you say, "this 19 project," are you talking about starting from A to B or 20 are you someplace else or some year? What makes this 21 "this project"? 22 MS. DOWDY: The budget. This project -- 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm trying to figure 24 out are you doing it by year or are you doing 25 alphabetically, how does this work? 67 1 MS. DOWDY: Oh. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You're not doing every 3 County record, are you? 4 MS. DOWDY: No. No, because our -- 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So what's "this 6 project?" When you say that, what does that mean? 7 MS. DOWDY: This project -- well, I did list 8 off -- there was no really standard, just a sheet I was 9 -- it's up -- 10 MR. GONZALES: Yeah, I think -- so basically 11 what I did, I went through -- I went through her office 12 and did an inventory. She's got a bunch of books that 13 have not been preserved. And I think it's just a 14 process of which books needed the most attention the 15 soonest. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Needed it the most. 17 Okay. 18 MR. GONZALES: And then we start working our 19 way back and going that direction. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And every one that 21 you're going to work on and -- and take the physical 22 copy and preserve it, all of those have already been 23 digitized? 24 MS. DOWDY: To my knowledge, yes, that's 25 correct. 68 1 MR. GONZALES: And if they're not, we can 2 provide that service as well. 3 MS. DOWDY: Correct. 4 MR. GONZALES: I mean, it's included in the 5 pricing, so if she wants a backup copy of anything that 6 we do, we can easily scan it and provide her with a 7 backup copy. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Can you do -- 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And you will check -- 10 check that against some kind of a master list before 11 this is over? 12 MR. GONZALES: Yes. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Can you do a word 14 search once you've digitized it? 15 MR. GONZALES: If it's typed text, yes, we 16 can. We can run it through an OCR process. The 17 handwritten records, that's basically impossible. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Got you. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But do those get 20 scanned? 21 MR. GONZALES: Yes. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And have a listing so I 23 can still search for it? 24 MR. GONZALES: You'll be able to search for 25 it by book, volume and page. 69 1 JUDGE KELLY: And just to clarify, 2 Ms. Dowdy, how many of these types of records do you 3 have that you need to preserve? 4 MS. DOWDY: How many records do I have -- 5 oh, that's an unknown amount. 6 JUDGE KELLY: I'm trying to educate the 7 public here. 8 MS. DOWDY: It's an unknown amount, but I 9 would say -- 10 JUDGE KELLY: Voluminous? 11 MS. DOWDY: -- near -- nearly a million. I 12 mean, if you go by page count or document, it just 13 depends. 14 MR. GONZALES: I mean, there's hundreds of 15 books in her office. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So they have to -- 17 JUDGE KELLY: So the answer is you don't 18 know. 19 MS. DOWDY: The answer is I don't know. 20 JUDGE KELLY: But it's going to take a lot 21 of space. In other words, if we do all of this in this 22 format, it's going to be a large, large room that's 23 going to be required -- 24 MS. DOWDY: And -- now that's a good point. 25 Because one book becomes more like two books, right? 70 1 MR. GONZALES: So the original book that she 2 has in the office is what we're going to turn into the 3 new -- the newer record. Anything that she has 4 digitized right now. We're not going to -- we're not 5 printing them out and making new books out of them. But 6 yes, for every 620 to 640 page deed record book, that 7 will get split into two volumes, just because of the 8 weight and size of that book. I mean, that book right 9 there is about 30 to 40 pounds. It's pretty heavy. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Right. And so you have 11 hundreds. 12 MS. DOWDY: Yes. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Multiple hundreds. 14 MS. DOWDY: Multiple hundreds. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And the Sheriff has 16 more. 17 MS. DOWDY: And the Sheriff has -- 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We have a lot more than 19 that, okay. But the other thing is, I believe he hadn't 20 told you, any record to my understanding, any record we 21 have that is older than 1950 is required by law to be 22 preserved. 23 MS. DOWDY: Correct. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: So all -- that doesn't 25 matter if it's one of hers, mine or anybody else's. All 71 1 County records that are older than 1950 are required by 2 law to do. 3 MS. DOWDY: And so that's an interesting 4 point because some of the records over at the Sheriff's 5 office say like J.P. on there or maybe even the City of 6 Kerrville, I heard. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: A lot of them are the 8 District Court prior to 216th District Court. 9 MS. DOWDY: So it'll be interesting to see 10 what we have and then I'll figure out where -- if I can 11 keep them or if I can hand them over to who actually has 12 jurisdiction of them. 13 JUDGE KELLY: And while I got both of you on 14 your feet, where are these books located right now? 15 Some is at the Sheriff's office? Some is in your 16 office? 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I probably have over -- 18 at least over -- between one and two million records 19 over there. 20 MS. DOWDY: So these are -- these are the 21 ones that I'm referring to. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's at my office. 23 MS. DOWDY: And the Sheriff has his own 24 records as well. 25 JUDGE KELLY: So to store all of this -- we 72 1 don't have a storage -- a central storage facility for 2 this at all, do we? 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. 4 MS. DOWDY: I mean, my office can -- can 5 bear the -- I have the space for it. There's two -- 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You don't know how many 7 you have, so how do you know you have enough space? 8 MS. DOWDY: There's going to be space. I'm 9 going to make space. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The problem you have 11 with all these and there's -- that's just one row. 12 There's rows and rows of them out at the Sheriff's 13 office in what we call our barn back behind the office. 14 That barn was just a metal building that was built for 15 some of our storage, which we keep some of season things 16 in as far as vehicles and stuff like that. It is not 17 totally waterproof, it is not climate controlled, and 18 now there's some records that have water damage and 19 everything else in them. 20 MS. DOWDY: So we have to do something. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But what happened when 22 that was built, they took a lot of records from the 23 courthouse because of that storage issue, Judge, and 24 they moved them out there in half of that barn. And now 25 we're having issues with that. 73 1 JUDGE KELLY: But we don't have adequate 2 storage facilities for these historic records? 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. 4 MS. DOWDY: I have a lot of space in my 5 office that can bear it for quite awhile and then we'll 6 go from there. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Hey, let me ask a 8 question. What are we required to do for preservation 9 of records? What are we required -- 10 MS. DOWDY: Well, the process -- well, like 11 the Sheriff says was 1950. I believe it's '51 and prior 12 has to be preserved, so -- 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, preserved how? 14 MS. DOWDY: To be available to the public 15 and to stop the deterioration process. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, then we go to -- 17 can you scan them and keep it all electronic and not 18 have any hard copies by law? 19 MR. GONZALES: You have to, by law, keep the 20 original. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You have -- by law keep 22 the original? 23 MR. GONZALES: Yes, sir. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Got you. Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Historical 74 1 preservation. 2 MR. GONZALES: Yeah, that's State mandated. 3 MS. DOWDY: Yeah, I believe in that e-mail 4 you -- I want to show you about an insurance claim on 5 some of these books. 6 MR. GONZALES: Yeah, so we've been dealing 7 with some counties on mold and water damage from a lot 8 of the storms that happened up north. And TAC, Texas 9 Association of Counties -- I don't know if that's who 10 your County insurance is through or not, but some of 11 those records over at the Sheriff's Department, I mean, 12 they're -- they have had some serious water damage. And 13 I don't know if it's beneficial for the County to file a 14 claim with the insurance company to address some of 15 these issues, maybe have an adjuster come out and take a 16 look at it. It was just an option that I brought up to 17 Jackie to think about. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Well, bottom line, we're 19 really just opening Pandora's box. We don't know what's 20 going to come flying out. 21 MR. GONZALES: Correct. And that's why 22 we're doing -- we spread this out over multiple years. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: My question to him 24 right now would be, do we have to go out with a bid 25 process or are they already passed that since they're 75 1 over 50,000? 2 MR. GONZALES: Well, we're on -- we're on 3 the Texas DIR State contract so we've already ran 4 everything through purchasing and all that, and it's 5 legitimate. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So let me -- let me 7 summarize. We don't know how many documents we need to 8 preserve, number one. Number two, we're required by law 9 to do it -- 10 MR. GONZALES: Correct. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- preserve them. 12 Number two is paid for by grant. And there's -- and 13 you're just going to start with what you think is most 14 important? 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No, Not paid for by a 16 grant. 17 MS. DOWDY: It's a designated fund. 18 JUDGE KELLY: She has a special designated 19 fund. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Excuse me. Not 21 by grant. Okay, excuse me. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Dedicated funds. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Special dedicated 24 funds. 25 MS. DOWDY: Correct. 76 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Paid for by 2 dedicated funds. Okay. Those four things are facts. 3 MR. GONZALES: Correct. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We've been doing parts 5 of this forever. I mean, it's a -- you know, as money 6 comes available to the dedicated fund, we try to take 7 the next step and as time goes on, technology improves. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think we'll continue 9 forever, the way it sounds like. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So the action today is 11 to approve the contract? 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I have one more 13 question. As this process happens, do you -- 14 Mr. Gonzales, do you send people here or do we -- do our 15 books get shipped someplace? 16 MR. GONZALES: I -- I -- we handle all that. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You have people here? 18 MR. GONZALES: Yes, sir. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 20 MR. GONZALES: And everything is done in 21 Dallas. All of our work is performed in the state. 22 Some of these other vendors they send the work out of 23 state and that -- you don't want that. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But you pick up a load 25 and will take them? 77 1 MR. GONZALES: Yes. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The only question I 4 would have is the future changes is -- such as when we 5 used to preserve a whole lot of stuff on VHS tapes, 6 okay. Now, you can't -- VHS tapes are pretty well 7 useless. So what do you do, because we find that with a 8 lot of our records, where discs right now are great 9 transition, but what's going to happen in 20 years? 10 Does any of this help cover that evolving change that 11 will occur? 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, that thing 13 sitting right there, Rusty, that will not go away. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's the only way. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's the backup. 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. That's it. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It doesn't matter if 18 one of those electrostatic bombs goes off or wherever. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: So that's why scanning 20 won't necessarily work, because you've got to have a 21 hard copy stored. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Exactly. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Is there a motion? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that 78 1 we approve the contract with Data Preservation Solutions 2 in the amount of 71,000 -- 3 JUDGE KELLY: Four forty. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- four hundred and 5 forty dollars. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the funds to come 8 from a dedicated fund for the budget. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Motion has been made by 10 Commissioner Letz and seconded by Commissioner Moser to 11 approve the contract with Data Preservation Solutions 12 for records preservation. Any further discussion? 13 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, four zero. 14 Thank you, Mr. Gonzales. 15 MR. GONZALES: Thank you. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Sorry to keep you so late. 17 MR. GONZALES: You're fine. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, folks, it's time for a 19 break. I pushed this as far as we can go. We're 20 getting beyond human capacity to wait. So let's take 21 about a ten-minute break and be back here at 25 minutes 22 after the hour. 10:25. 23 (Break.) 24 JUDGE KELLY: Come to order. If somebody 25 would get the door in the back? I hope everybody is 79 1 relieved. Back on the agenda, item 1.13 consider, 2 discuss and take appropriate action to sign the contract 3 amendment 1 on TDA Colonia Grant 7215045 for first time 4 sewer connections. Cesar Acosta. 5 MR. ACOSTA: Thank you for having me back. 6 Per your recommendations, I will speak slower this time. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Are you still married? 8 MR. ACOSTA: Still. Thankfully. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Been married for a week 10 or so, two weeks. 11 MR. ACOSTA: Last work I had brought before 12 the Court, documents to sign a construction completion 13 report for the 2015 grant on this project. Through the 14 course of the project there had been four construction 15 change orders changing the number of connections and 16 septic demolitions from about 110 -- 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Speak up. 18 MR. ACOSTA: -- from about 110 to 54 total 19 septic demolitions and sewer line connections. That was 20 a result of finding out the actual cost of what it took 21 to connect people, complications with some of the 22 septics being underneath homes and needing to pay 23 additional funds to go next to them and dig under, 24 finding out the number of actual qualified beneficiaries 25 in the area that were low to moderate income, and 80 1 ultimately what it came down to is that there would be 2 54 people who would be able to qualify and be paid for 3 under the current budget for getting their septics 4 demoed and connected to this grant. So those resulted 5 in change orders done over the course of this project. 6 The amendment before you is for the State 7 contract with the Texas Department of Agriculture and 8 the County -- Kerr County to reconcile those change 9 orders to state contract so that they reflect each 10 other. So ultimately at the end there's going to be 148 11 beneficiaries for this grant on the project, and 54 12 connections and septic demos. 13 I do want to say, though, that there are 14 other people that were originally slated to be part of 15 the 2015 grant, but they haven't been removed from the 16 project. They're just going to be -- instead of paid 17 for under the 2017 CEDAP Grant, which y'all had signed 18 the extension for last time. 19 JUDGE KELLY: So what we're really doing 20 here is approving the execution of the contract 21 amendment Number 1? 22 MR. ACOSTA: Yes. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Any further discussion? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 81 1 JUDGE KELLY: It's been moved by 2 Commissioner Letz and seconded by Commissioner Moser to 3 approve contract amendment one on the TDA Colonia Grant 4 7215045. Any other discussion? Those in favor raise 5 your hand. Unanimous, three zero. 6 Let the record reflect that Commissioner 7 Belew is out of the room temporarily. 8 Next item on the agenda is 1.14 consider, 9 discuss and take appropriate action to sign Project 10 Completion Report for TDA Colonia Grant 7215045 for 11 first time sewer connections. Mr. Acosta. 12 MR. ACOSTA: Yes, sir. As part of the 13 process for closeout through the Texas Department of 14 Agriculture, all projects are supposed to go through a 15 final public hearing, which was held last Monday, the 16 18th. It had been advertised the week prior for a full 17 week in the Hill Country Community Journal. So there 18 are times for public comments and ultimately it was just 19 to summarize the full work done for the 2015 grant. 20 This was a project that was given $500,000 in federal 21 funding, ultimately spending $443,439 of that funding 22 with the retainage that will still be paid out to the 23 construction crews after this is signed. Project was 24 completed to its full amount, the County paid $25,000 in 25 match for the beneficiaries that we talked about earlier 82 1 for the sewer connections, 148 all low to moderate 2 income residents, of which 26 were on the income scale 3 about zero to 30 percent of the low to moderate income 4 scale, 71 percent of them between 31 and 50 percent, and 5 the remaining 51 being 50 to 80 percent of the median 6 family income of the Kerr County area. So this is a 7 product that benefited people who definitely needed it 8 and would not be able to connect to it otherwise. And 9 those -- the whole project purpose was to rectify it 10 with the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality and 11 improve water quality in the area to finish the project 12 up. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So, Cesar, what we need 14 to do here is just approve the completion report? 15 MR. ACOSTA: Yes. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Or sign it? Authorize 17 the Court to sign it, or what's our action here? 18 MR. ACOSTA: Yes. 19 JUDGE KELLY: We approve it for me to sign 20 and those have been updated and they're sitting on the 21 counter there for me to execute after -- after Court 22 today. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I move for approval. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. It's been moved by 83 1 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Letz to 2 approve the completion report from TDA Colonia Grant 3 7215045. Any other discussion? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a comment to the 5 County Clerk. Make sure that on these that we list the 6 exact grant that we're talking about. Be very specific 7 on these agenda items because we have a lot of these 8 that will be coming up and we need to be able to track 9 them back and forth. 10 MRS. DOWDY: Okay. 11 JUDGE KELLY: That's why I was reading the 12 number. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Good deal. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, those in favor raise 15 your hand. Unanimous, three zero. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thanks, Cesar. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you, Cesar. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thanks for all that 19 Grantworks has done on this. 20 MR. ACOSTA: Thank you very much. I hope 21 your families and you all have a Happy Thanksgiving. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.15 public hearing for 23 revision of plat for Megan Manor, Lots 13 and 14. 24 Charlie Hastings. 25 MR. HASTINGS: Public hearing. 84 1 JUDGE KELLY: Oh, public hearing. I'm 2 sorry. So I'll call the public hearing to order. Is 3 there anybody who would like to address the Court? 4 There being none, then the meeting is adjourned. 5 Let's go to item 1.16 consider, discuss and 6 take appropriate action for the Court to approve the 7 revision of plat for Megan Manor, Lots 13 and 14. 8 Charlie Hastings. 9 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. We just held a 10 public hearing and nobody spoke. This proposal combines 11 Lots 13 and 14 into Lot 14R. So the County Engineer 12 requests that the Court approve the revision of plat for 13 Megan Manor, Lots 13 and 14, Volume 5, Page 231, 14 Precinct 4. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 16 (Commissioner Belew is present.) 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Motion has been made by 19 Commissioner Letz and seconded by Commissioner Moser to 20 approve the revision of plat for Megan Manor, Lots 13 21 and 14 into Lot 14R. Is there any further discussion? 22 There being none then those in favor raise your hand. 23 Unanimous, four zero. 24 Let the record reflect that Commissioner 25 Belew has returned. 85 1 Item 1.17 consider, discuss and take 2 appropriate action for the Court to approve a revision 3 of plat for Northwest Hills, Lots 133 and 134. 4 Mr. Hastings. 5 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. The public 6 hearing was held on October 28th, 2019, and this 7 proposal combines Lots 133 and 134 into Lot 133R. The 8 County Engineer requests the Court approve the revision 9 of plat for Northwest Hills, Lots 133 and 134, Volume 5, 10 Page 30, Precinct 1. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And they have -- they 12 have a water source, Aqua Source or something at this 13 place? 14 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir, they do. It is 15 with Aqua Texas. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: It's been moved by 19 Commissioner Belew and seconded by Commissioner Moser to 20 approve the revision of plat to Northwest Hills, Lots 21 133 and 134 into Lot 133R. Any other discussion? Those 22 in favor raise your hand. Four zero, unanimous. 23 Item 1.18 consider, discuss and take 24 appropriate action for the Court to approve a revision 25 of plat for Marymeade Subdivision Section One, Lots 26, 86 1 27, 28 in part, and 29 in part. Mr. Hastings. 2 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. The public 3 hearing for this was on October the 28th, 2019. This 4 proposal revises four lots, Lots 26, 27, part of 28 and 5 part of 29 into Lots 26R and 29R. These lots are in the 6 floodplain and they must meet the requirements for 7 development within the floodplain and the public water 8 source for this is Aqua Texas. 9 The County Engineer requests that the Court 10 approve a revision of plat for Marymeade Subdivision, 11 Section One, Lots 26, 27, part of 28, and part of 29, 12 Volume 3, Page 9, Precinct 4. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Move for approval. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 JUDGE KELLY: It's been moved by 16 Commissioner Moser and seconded by Commissioner Letz to 17 approve revision of plat for Marymeade Subdivision, 18 Section One, Lots 26, 27 and 28 in part and 29 in part 19 into Lots 26R and Lot 29R. Any further discussion? 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I have a question out 21 of curiosity. What are the zones in there, Charlie, 22 what's that for? Zone AE and Zone X. 23 MR. HASTINGS: Zone AE is in the floodplain 24 and the E denotes the elevations have been determined 25 for the base flood elevation. 87 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And the X? 2 MR. HASTINGS: Zone X is that you're not in 3 the floodplain. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You don't -- and you're 5 not in it, okay. 6 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Charlie, my question is 8 you said part of 28 and part of 29. What happens -- is 9 it -- part of it is going into 26R and part in 29R, or 10 are parts of them not being included in this and are 11 left somewhere -- with somebody else? 12 MR. HASTINGS: Some of it's been left with 13 others. And if you'll look at part 29, down there at 14 the bottom, there's a ten-foot wide strip that at the 15 rear of Lot 29 in the southeast one-half of Lot 28, they 16 appear to be owned by Upper Guadalupe Investment 17 Company, Incorporated. And there's a reference volume 18 and page. So something that was done in the past that 19 is now being -- being caught. So it's not all of 29 and 20 all of 28, but that ten-foot strip went to somebody else 21 sometime in the past. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Does it connect 23 to 30, that strip, or do you know? 24 MR. HASTINGS: I don't know if that's 30 or 25 part of 65 and 66. If you look at an aerial it looks 88 1 more like it belongs to Lot 65 and 66 on the backside 2 section, is my guess. But we do have it noted on here 3 properly because we were very concerned, what happened 4 there, what's the story? So the surveyor put those 5 notes in there for us. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Thank you. 7 MR. HASTINGS: You're welcome. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 9 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, four zero. 10 Item 1.19 consider, discuss and take 11 appropriate action for the Court to set a public hearing 12 for 10:00 a.m. on January the 13th, 2020 for a revision 13 of plat for Houston Estates Tract 1A. Mr. Hastings. 14 MR. HASTINGS: Well, thank you. This 15 proposal, a proposed revision of plat would divide 16 Tract 1A, which is 36.259 acres, into two tracts, 17 Tract 1A1 would be 30.637 acres, and Tract 1A2 would be 18 5.622 acres. Tract 1A1 is served by a private well. 19 And that is the larger of the two. Tract 1A2 may be 20 served by either a private well or a public water 21 service. There is public water service available on the 22 other side of the highway. That's usually expensive to 23 cross a highway, but it is possible. However, they are 24 platting this in such a way that the lot is big enough 25 that they can drill their own well if they need to. And 89 1 Tract 1A1 is partially within the floodplain and -- and 2 must meet regulations for development within the 3 floodplain. The applicant knows that. 4 The County Engineer requests that the Court 5 set a public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on January 13th, 6 2020, for a revision of plat for Houston Estates 7 Tract 1A, Plat file No. 16-07621, Precinct 2. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Move for approval. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 10 JUDGE KELLY: It's been moved by 11 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Letz to 12 approve the setting of a public hearing for 10:00 a.m. 13 on January 13th, 2020, for a revision of plat for 14 Houston Estates Tract 1. Any other discussion? Those 15 in favor raise your hand. Four zero, unanimous. 16 Item 1.20 consider, discuss and take 17 appropriate action for the Court to waive platting 18 oversight and approval for a revision of plat for Megan 19 Manor, Lots 16 and 17. Mr. Hastings. 20 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. These lots are 21 located in the Kerrville extra territorial jurisdiction 22 and would typically be platted through both the City of 23 Kerrville and Kerr County simultaneously. However, in 24 an effort to be more efficient and save owner dollars, 25 there is a request to only plat this property through 90 1 Kerrville and for the Court to waive their right to 2 oversight and approval of the plat and the owner wishes 3 to combine Lots 16 and 17 into Lot 16R of 2.3 acres. 4 The Environmental Health Department will remain involved 5 in the review process with the City of Kerrville and 6 will require a signature block on the plat. 7 The County Engineer recommends that the 8 request be granted. The roads out there are already 9 maintained by Kerr County. There's not anything new 10 being proposed as far as a road. It's just combining 11 lots. County Engineer requests the Court waive revision 12 of plat oversight and approval for the revision of plat 13 for Megan Manor, Lots 16 and 17, Volume 5, Page 231, 14 Precinct 4. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Been moved by Commissioner 18 Belew and seconded by Commissioner Letz to approve the 19 waiving of the platting and oversight and approval for 20 the revision of plat for Megan Manor, Lots 16 and 17. 21 Is there any other discussion? Those in favor raise 22 your hand. Unanimous, four zero. 23 Item 1.21 consider, discuss and take 24 appropriate action for the Court to adopt a resolution 25 for Kerr County to perform an equivalent match project, 91 1 Fall Branch Creek Channel Restoration under Camp Scenic 2 Loop Road Bridge, in return for the waiver of the local 3 match fund participation requirement on the approved 4 federal off-system bridge program at Witt Road Bridge 5 Reconstruction over Verde Creek, and to authorize the 6 County Judge to execute and send a letter to TxDOT 7 District Office in San Antonio requesting said waiver. 8 Mr. Hastings. 9 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. On October 4th, 10 2019 TxDOT officials met with the Kerr County 11 Engineering and Road and Bridge Department, and 12 Precinct 2 Commissioner Tom Moser to announce approval 13 and funding of the Witt Road Bridge Reconstruction over 14 Verde Creek. You can see in your packet the off-system 15 bridge program handout. There's 16 pages. Kerr County 16 participates in the federal highway bridge program. 17 It's a federal aid program that provides funding to 18 enable States to improve the condition of highway 19 bridges through replacement, rehabilitation and 20 systematic preventative maintenance. 21 The participation breakdown is 80 percent 22 federal, ten percent State, and ten percent local. In 23 2000, the Texas Transportation Commission allowed local 24 governments to waive their local participation, the 10 25 percent, through equivalent match work. TxDOT bridge 92 1 engineers have evaluated all Kerr County off-system 2 bridges, that would be the bridges that are not 3 maintained by TxDot that have a span of at least 20 4 feet, and have determined Witt Road Bridge over Verde 5 Creek needs to be replaced. 6 Witt Road Bridge was built in 1950. It's 44 7 feet long, 17.2 feet wide, and the new standards require 8 that it be 24 feet wide and it's a load posted at 16,000 9 pounds. With the new standards, there is no load 10 posting meaning a legal load of 80,000 pounds or 11 possibly more may cross the bridge. TxDot has estimated 12 that replacing the bridge and approaches, including 13 engineering and administrative costs, will cost 14 approximately $1,163,356. Therefore, the 10 percent 15 local cash or equivalent match would be $116,356. The 16 Kerr County Engineering and Road and Bridge Departments 17 have identified an equivalent match project, that's the 18 Fall Branch Creek Channel Restoration under Camp Scenic 19 Loop Road Bridge, with a total estimated value of 20 $138,360. The estimate is based on average TxDOT low 21 bids over a three-month period in 2019 and also includes 22 engineering costs. This project was approved in the 23 fiscal year 2020 Kerr County capital budget and can be 24 awarded once TxDOT approves the Judges' waiver request. 25 The County Engineer requests the Court adopt 93 1 a resolution for Kerr County to perform an equivalent 2 match project, the Fall Branch Creek Channel Restoration 3 under Camp Scenic Loop Road Bridge, in return for waiver 4 of the local match fund participation requirement on the 5 approved Federal off-system bridge program, the Witt 6 Road Bridge Reconstruction over Verde Creek. And to 7 authorize the County Judge to execute and send a letter 8 to the TxDOT District Office in San Antonio requesting 9 said waiver. Precinct 2. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let me comment on this. 11 Compliment Charlie on determining where we -- what 12 County has done or plans to do to be offset the 13 essentially a hundred and something thousand dollars in 14 matching fund for this bridge which really needs to be 15 replaced. So Charlie did a great job on that. And the 16 resolution is prepared, and it's in the package, and 17 it's -- rather than read the whole Resolution, I make a 18 motion that we approve the resolution, and to authorize 19 Judge to -- help me with that, Charlie. Sign a letter, 20 prepare a letter requesting a waiver. 21 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 23 JUDGE KELLY: So a motion's been made by 24 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 25 approve the request of the waiver to be submitted to 94 1 TxDOT on Witt Road Bridge and Fall Branch Creek Channel 2 Restoration project. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And approve the 4 Resolution. 5 JUDGE KELLY: And approve the Resolution. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Charlie, can you briefly 7 go over the restoration project? 8 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. Camp Scenic Loop 9 Road goes over Fall Branch Creek in Precinct 4. The 10 existing creek channel, last year we put a concrete cap 11 over it. About a month before October storms, which I'm 12 convinced would have destroyed the bridge had we not 13 done that concrete cap, well at the edge of that 14 concrete now we have some erosion from that storm, and 15 we have determined that we could use gabion mattresses 16 there. Gabion mattresses, according to TxDOT, you pay 17 for them by the square yard, at $243 per square yard is 18 what TxDOT is getting on average through their bidding 19 process. And we've got 520 square yards identified. 20 That would be $126,000. 21 Also, there's engineering that goes into it, 22 and that's my time. So we've got some senior design 23 engineering going in there, another $12,000.00 on top of 24 that, brings our total waiver request of $138,360. 25 We've got to come up with -- I think it was $116,000, so 95 1 we're over that amount with this project. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 3 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Charlie, is this a quid pro 5 quo? 6 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. 7 JUDGE KELLY: We're doing the projects on 8 Fall Branch in exchange for a project on Verde Creek? 9 MR. HASTINGS: That is correct. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, it's the shell 11 game. 12 JUDGE KELLY: I couldn't resist, I'm sorry. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh good. 14 JUDGE KELLY: So we have a motion and a 15 second on the floor. Is there any other discussion? 16 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, four zero. 17 Thanks, Charlie. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you, Charlie. 19 Good job. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Next item is 1.22 21 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to approve 22 the contract with Big Brothers and Big Sisters and allow 23 the County Judge to execute same. 24 This is the standard contract that we enter 25 into every year with Big Brothers and Big Sisters and 96 1 for those in the public that don't know what this is 2 for, we contribute I think a thousand dollars -- we pay 3 a thousand dollars to them to provide services that the 4 State recognizes is really their responsibility, and it 5 is for -- well, it is -- it's with regard to the 6 immigration status or financial status of the child or 7 child's family. And this is for -- to the extent these 8 services provide to and support children who need 9 protection and care in the immigration process. So we 10 work with Big Brothers and Big Sisters to do that every 11 year and that's what this is. And I'll move that we 12 approve the contract. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 14 JUDGE KELLY: I made a motion, it's seconded 15 by Commissioner Letz to approve the contract with Big 16 Brothers and Big Sisters for immigration services for 17 minors. Is there any further discussion? 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What exactly will it 19 do? 20 JUDGE KELLY: They provide the care and 21 support for the children that are in that process. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is that like CASA, that 23 sort of thing or what? 24 JUDGE KELLY: I don't know exactly what 25 services they perform, but I know we don't have to pick 97 1 it up on indigent health care, So -- 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Save the taxpayers 3 money. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: This is -- it's a whole 5 family, everybody's together. These are not loose kids 6 that we're gathering up and trying to help them -- 7 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we're not doing it. 8 We're hiring Big Brothers and Big Sisters to do it is 9 what we're doing. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, are these 11 unaccompanied minors we're told about or is it -- 12 JUDGE KELLY: I think they can be 13 accompanied or unaccompanied. I don't think it 14 specifies. It says a child or their family. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The child or their 16 family. So if it's a child that's been abandoned, lost, 17 whatever, came across the border alone or with their 18 family? I don't get that. Now, if they're with their 19 family, it's a family unit. It's Big Brothers and Big 20 Sisters helping the whole family, is that what you mean? 21 JUDGE KELLY: Tell you the truth, we'd have 22 to get Big Brothers and Big Sisters in here to explain 23 just exactly what they do do. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'd like that. I'd 25 like to know what -- what this is all about. 98 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll withdraw my second 3 until we get Big Brothers in here. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Then we'll pass the 5 item. 6 Item 1.23 consider, discuss and take 7 appropriate action regarding the e-mail received from 8 Hill Country MHDD Centers informing the Court of their 9 intent to purchase real property. 10 Everybody's had a chance to look at that, I 11 take it. I sit on the Hill Country MHDD Board, and they 12 entered into negotiations to purchase One Schreiner 13 Place over there, and Two Schreiner Place. As those 14 discussions came to light, I recused myself from 15 participating in that because it's removing a 16 substantial asset from our tax rolls, which would go 17 onto -- which will be exempted because they're a state 18 organization. And -- but they have to provide notice to 19 the 19 counties that they service. We're one of 19. 20 They've entered into a letter of intent with 21 Ed Hamilton to purchase those buildings and they're 22 notifying each of the 19 counties so that we have the 23 opportunity to input anything to them. I did not 24 participate in that decision, but I did -- I am aware of 25 it. 99 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: How are they funded? 2 Is it state -- 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The state. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- funds, period? 5 JUDGE KELLY: Some -- well, yes. And it -- 6 it's a complicated deal. They have been regionalized 7 across the State, and they do collect monies from the 8 State for certain services they provide. They also 9 collect money from counties. For instance, one of the 10 things that MHDD does, is they help us with any of our 11 mental health assessments, and those -- whether they are 12 civil or even criminal at the jail, and one of the new 13 unfunded mandates from the last legislature is that we 14 have to have mental health assessments if there's any 15 reason to believe, any probable cause, that somebody's 16 suffering from a mental illness. And we have to 17 contract with somebody to provide those assessments. 18 It's an unfunded mandate to the County, we have to pay 19 for those assessments, and presently those assessments 20 are being divided by MHDD. 21 They also do a number of assessments for any 22 type of civil detention or an emergency detention for 23 mental health purposes. People that are naked walking 24 down the road or in traffic or creating disturbances of 25 criminal trespass. All of these civil commitments that 100 1 take place that the J.P.'s do the probable cause, they 2 have got to take them to the CSU, the Crisis 3 Stabilization Unit, and I handle the commitments. All 4 of that is part of the MHDD process and all that comes 5 under their umbrella. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So this agenda is just 7 simply saying that they're notifying us that they intend 8 to do that, you recused, so do we require action on our 9 part? 10 JUDGE KELLY: No. No, it's just a notice. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 12 JUDGE KELLY: But -- but so that you know, 13 the MHDD office, it's -- it's huge, I had no idea how 14 big an operation this is. But they occupy the vast 15 majority of the third floor at One Schreiner Center. 16 The second floor is all leased out to State agencies. 17 And then the first floor is a hodgepodge of 18 month-to-month leases. And so -- but they lease that 19 third floor. They also lease the old phone company 20 building, which is II Schreiner. And that's were they 21 have created and finished out their MHDD clinic, right 22 there. And that -- the space between the parking lot, 23 the east parking lot to One Schreiner Center, and the 24 old phone company building, II Schreiner, that's where 25 the new hotel is going in, on that little bitty lot, 101 1 it's going right in there in between these two. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: A nice neighborhood. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I'm just saying. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And that -- that's a 5 recent -- let me ask the Sheriff. That's a recent 6 mandate from the last legislature session for mental 7 health? 8 JUDGE KELLY: It's -- it's a revised 9 mandate. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah, it's not really a 11 recent mandate. Where our issue with all of that stuff 12 as you well know, is when the new Executive Director, or 13 not new anymore, took over MHDD here, that where they 14 used to do all the transports when they don't have local 15 beds, okay, they used to transport them, now they refuse 16 to do that if they don't have local beds and law 17 enforcement is having to transport these and -- such as 18 this year we transported over a hundred that had to be 19 transported to other counties to find beds because local 20 MHDD doesn't have beds. So personally, I'm wondering 21 why do you want to buy office buildings? Why not start 22 paying for more beds. But that's my opinion. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Well, let me finish explaining 24 what they're doing. They've leased the entire second 25 floor over at the DCFS building. They lease the clinic 102 1 where the old telephone company was, and they lease the 2 third floor of the One Schreiner Center. And they pay 3 an enormous amount of rent in this county. An enormous 4 amount of rent. And so what they're doing is purchasing 5 rather than renting and trying to consolidate. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And taking that 7 building off the tax rolls. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Well, when they buy it they 9 take it off the tax roll, that's why I felt I had a 10 conflict of interest. But that's just a notice to let 11 you know what's going on. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And there is one other 13 thing. At the point of contact, the naked person 14 walking down the road, the Sheriff's Department has to 15 go pick them up in the first place, or the Police 16 Department. That's another part of the -- that we play 17 in this, then -- then they take them to where they need 18 to go, temporarily, and then they transport them again 19 if they're going to be incarcerated over a long period 20 of time or take them to the doctor or whatever. So they 21 don't -- do they even take them to the hospital? 22 JUDGE KELLY: Take them to CSU usually. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Or if they cut 24 themselves or something or is that all self-contained? 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If it's obvious that 103 1 they need medical attention, they can go to the 2 hospital. Sid Peterson Hospital is not in any way, 3 shape or form a mental facility, so they cannot go -- 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I'm thinking 5 about transportation, not assessment. So if they get 6 hurt over there do you have to go -- 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- to the State 9 hospital? 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If they get hurt at 11 CSU? 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: No. At the -- at -- 13 say when they're brought -- this naked person we're 14 talking about also is injured, now this -- they have to 15 be assessed medically. 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Then that one's 17 probably going to go to the hospital to get treated for 18 the injury in the first place. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is that -- the 20 Sheriff's Department going to haul them in? 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: To the hospital? 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: To the hospital. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No, we are not. We 24 will not haul injured people. That's -- EMS can haul 25 them. 104 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. Just trying to 2 figure out who does what? 3 JUDGE KELLY: Well, and that's -- if they're 4 in this County. There's 18 other counties. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And under the old 6 administrator, Kerr County had an agreement that they 7 would transport them. Because Kerr County helped them 8 build the parking lot to their facility. Okay. And the 9 new admin -- not new, he's been there a number of years, 10 ended that agreement in writing for the County that they 11 weren't going to honor that. So now law enforcement has 12 to transport. And when I'm running six officers per 13 shift and all of a sudden I've got one that's got to 14 take off to Austin or San Antonio or wherever, you're -- 15 you're talking -- it kills us in law enforcement to have 16 to transport the number. Used to we only transported 17 two or three. Now we're transporting, you know, a 18 hundred a year. Because what's happening now and we're 19 seeing this a whole lot, is the other counties, like 20 Bandera, Rock Springs, Boerne, all of them are putting 21 them on ambulances or whatever and sending them over to 22 the hospital here. They don't really need medical, they 23 need mental. So they're doing a commitment here and 24 then our law enforcement, my agency and Kerrville PD are 25 having to transport them to a bed in Austin or wherever 105 1 they can find one across the state. 2 MRS. STEBBINS: Don't you all go together? 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. We -- PD and SO, 4 we work in agreement. The way it works is I send one 5 officer, PD sends one officer and we swap who's driving 6 in whose car. Because you have to send two people with 7 these, you know, some of them are violent. But the 8 problem was, is the agreement was done away with and now 9 it's taxpayers -- 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So we're required by 11 law to transport these people? 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: There are six different 13 ones that could transport. Okay. Kerr County had an 14 agreement that MHDD did it. 15 MRS. STEBBINS: And they provided a car. 16 They provided that service. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And they refuse -- now 18 they refuse to do that anymore. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, is that legal? 20 If there's -- 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- some kind of a -- 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. Because the head 24 of your local MH -- mental health authority is the one 25 that chooses. And that's your head of MHDD. 106 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And they can opt out 2 but we can't? 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's right. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Well, they -- they terminated 6 the Memorandum of Understanding and Judge Pollard sent a 7 letter in opposition to that to no effect. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. So we're 9 required to do it by law. 10 JUDGE KELLY: We have -- we have a very 11 curious relationship with MHDD. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So this is just an 13 information item. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Yes, but -- but it's being 15 brought up here just like it's being brought up in these 16 other 18 counties. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. Okay. 18 JUDGE KELLY: And that Board -- the MHDD 19 Board will take a vote as to whether or not to approve 20 this earnest money contract to purchase these buildings. 21 And which I am not participating in. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The whole problem, 23 bottom line, is the State of Texas is one of the worst 24 states in the country for assisting and funding for 25 mental health and it's being shoved more and more off on 107 1 our local. I probably got at least 75 percent in my 2 jail that have some mental health issues. Okay. And 3 we're having to deal with that, not MHDD like they 4 should or -- or the State of Texas, to be honest. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Well, actually, I just came 6 back from a seminar. You know what the largest mental 7 health facility in the country is? 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The county jails. 9 JUDGE KELLY: The Los Angeles county jail. 10 And Houston's right behind them. Harris County. 11 MRS. STEBBINS: Are the other counties 12 responding? Submitting responses to that? 13 JUDGE KELLY: I -- I haven't seen anything. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I heard they were 16 donated some land in Uvalde County, like five acres, 17 that was also given to MHDD. 18 JUDGE KELLY: That's a different project. 19 Our CSU has 16 beds, and it's -- it's grossly 20 overcrowded. And when you have 19 counties worth of 21 patients coming in there, it's hard to get a bed. And 22 the people have to stay there until a State bed opens 23 up, if they're committed. And the waiting -- waiting 24 line right now to be able to get into a State hospital 25 bed, at least two, if not three or four months. Just to 108 1 -- just to get a bed. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And if it's a -- if 3 it's a commitment from the jail for incompetence, you're 4 talking at least eight months to a year waiting period. 5 Sitting in jail. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Right. And so what the 7 proposal was -- and the County Attorney needs to reel me 8 in. We're getting far afield here. But I'm -- we had 9 real problems, because the state legislature authorized 10 the expenditure of 300 million dollars to rebuild the 11 San Antonio State Hospital, and effectively, I can't 12 remember what the number is, but it's less than double 13 digits the number of new beds that will be able to go 14 online as a result of that expenditure. What our MHDD 15 here did, Uvalde is one of our catchment counties, 16 proposed to build a 44-bed facility in Uvalde. And the 17 land was donated. That's what -- what the Sheriff's 18 referring to. And we went to the legislature with 19 competing requests against the State hospital that was 20 going to get 300 million and get a new facility that 21 doesn't bring anymore beds really online, versus 44 beds 22 that we could put people in immediately. And ours 23 didn't pass, theirs did. So -- 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So this is -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: -- we had land in Uvalde but 109 1 we don't have the funding to build a facility yet. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So this agenda item is 3 just a notice to you and the other judges of the 19 4 counties that they intend to purchase this -- 5 JUDGE KELLY: They have to notify us and we 6 get to gritch about it. That's what this is. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. And so that -- 8 so the purpose of this is so we all know that that's 9 what they plan to do. Good. 10 JUDGE KELLY: That's right. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. No action. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Well, it just is what 13 it is. 14 Next item on the agenda is 1.24, and this is 15 to consider, discuss and take appropriate action to 16 appoint a replacement for Bill Hill -- that's a typo on 17 there, his name is Bill Hill, an alternate as the Kerr 18 County representative to the Alamo Area Council of 19 Governments Criminal Justice Advisory Committee (CJAC). 20 And what that is is we have -- Kerr County 21 has two primary representatives on the CJAC committee, 22 which is the Criminal Justice Advisory Committee, which 23 is very important because they're responsible for 24 granting -- getting the grants, for the bought grants 25 that -- given to AACOG. AACOG is the Council of 110 1 Governments, the COG, they get the grants from -- mainly 2 from the federal government and the state, and then they 3 have a committee, this CJAC is the one that decides who 4 gets them and that's where we got our grant for crime 5 victims. 6 We have two representatives that sit on that 7 committee, and two alternates. And our -- our two 8 representatives that -- primary representatives we have 9 right now are Rosa Lavender, and Mary Krebs with the 10 City, who both are doing an excellent job. We have an 11 alternate, Patsy Lackey Flemming is the alternate for 12 Rosa Lavender, but we have a vacancy, Bill Hill has now 13 stepped down. And the reason that these alternates are 14 important is because if you are -- if you, as a member 15 of that committee are presenting a grant request, of 16 course, you can't vote on your own request, so you're 17 recused, but the alternates can sit in and they can then 18 vote along with the rest of the committee on your grant 19 request. And so we have alternates, and we use them 20 sparingly but we do use them. We're becoming 21 increasingly dependent on grants, we're looking at a lot 22 of the grants. A lot of the -- some of the information 23 that I gave to Miss Guerriero were information I got 24 from Rosa Lavender with regard to some of the grants 25 available through CJAC for Animal Services. 111 1 And so with that, I've been spending a lot 2 more time with Rosa Lavender and -- but Rosa and I get 3 along fine. She does a great job. She comes back from 4 the Valley. I mean, she -- there's nobody better with 5 grants than Rosa. But we spend a lot of time in my 6 office. After she comes and debriefs me after every 7 meeting and, of course, everything that I do goes 8 through the boss, over here. 9 And so my recommendation is, I would like to 10 nominate Jody to be our alternate because she's working 11 with this anyway. And grants becoming -- since they're 12 becoming more and more important to our budget process 13 and the way we fund local government, having somebody 14 with the County in the know, I think is -- is crucial. 15 And Bill Hill was with the Sheriff's office. 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Bill was actually our 17 full representative, and then when he retired he became 18 the alternate. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Right. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: At that time we asked 21 for Mary Krebs to be the full one. But -- 22 JUDGE KELLY: And no offense to the City, 23 but I would just prefer to have somebody from the County 24 going to CJAC. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And the reason was, was 112 1 to have one from each. Mary from the City, and I think 2 Jody would be a perfect selection for the County. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So is that your motion? 4 JUDGE KELLY: That's my motion. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'll second your 6 motion. 7 JUDGE KELLY: So I've made a -- I've moved, 8 and Commissioner Moser has seconded appointing Jody as 9 the alternate representative to the CJAC committee of 10 AACOG. Any other discussion? Oh, and by the way, I got 11 her approval before I did this. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Not conditional. 13 JUDGE KELLY: I talked to her about it a 14 couple weeks ago and I double-checked it again this 15 morning to make sure this is -- was a go and if it 16 doesn't work out she'll let us know. So those in favor 17 raise your hand. Unanimous, four zero. 18 Item 1.25 consider, discuss and take 19 appropriate action to approve a list of reimbursable 20 items for the Kerr County Volunteer Fire Departments. 21 This has been an interesting process and I 22 wish Commissioner Harris were here today to present 23 this, but he's unable to be here. But you'll recall 24 we've had a lot of input from the various Volunteer Fire 25 Departments as to the items that they submit to us to be 113 1 reimbursed as part of our financial support for the VFD. 2 And in particular we had one fairly remote VFD that had 3 over a hundred line items on their budget. And they 4 would submit these requests for reimbursement for all 5 kinds of things and -- Joy's not in the room -- but I 6 haven't even been in this office a full year and Joy and 7 I have gotten to be famous friends and we're trying to 8 figure out some of their reimbursable requests, expense 9 requests. 10 So Commissioner Harris and I want to the VFD 11 to sit down with them and we wanted the standardized, 12 recognized reimbursable expenses. We talk about that a 13 little when we had Hunt in here trying to get a 14 distribution early, if you'll recall just, what, about a 15 month or so ago? And they came up with these standard 16 expenses, which I think are eminently reasonable. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So has this list been 18 through KARFA? 19 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 21 JUDGE KELLY: I went to a KARFA meeting 22 first of this month, was it? 23 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Uh-huh. 24 JUDGE KELLY: And I had a very colorful 25 explanation of the hundred different line items on the 114 1 budget. I'm not accustomed to being addressed that way. 2 But I assured them that we didn't think there was 3 anything improper with what they were doing, we just 4 didn't understand why they were asking for such things. 5 And after I was excused, KARFA then met and 6 decided on these categories to be universally agreed 7 upon for the Volunteer Fire Departments. So this is 8 their recommendation. Came from Brian Alexander, who is 9 the president of KARFA, and we've been trying to do this 10 now for, what, five, six months, Jody? 11 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Uh-huh. 12 JUDGE KELLY: At least. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And so this -- this is 14 KARFA's recommendation? 15 JUDGE KELLY: Absolutely. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: These five items. Good 17 deal. 18 JUDGE KELLY: And unanimously recommended. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 20 JUDGE KELLY: So I would move that we 21 approve the proposed reimbursable expenses for the 22 Volunteer Fire Departments as presented by KARFA. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Wait, wait, wait. I 25 have a question. 115 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have a question too. 2 But I'll second after your question. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: All right. Well, then 4 go ahead. 5 JUDGE KELLY: I've made a motion and you've 6 seconded to approve the reimbursable recommendations 7 from KARFA. Comments? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My question is under 9 equipment, it says vehicle and personal. 10 JUDGE KELLY: That's their gear. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the gear -- I mean, 12 do they -- this is probably more just informational, do 13 they own their own gear, or does the Volunteer Fire 14 Department own their gear? 15 JUDGE KELLY: The Volunteer Fire Department 16 owns the gear. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. So it's for gear 18 owned by the fire department? 19 JUDGE KELLY: Right. When we had the 20 incident of the burning man, that was -- does everybody 21 remember the burning man incident? That was expired 22 equipment that they used for the training exercise. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. That's the only 24 question I have. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And so this would be 116 1 reimbursement for them for the amount that we designate 2 for within that budget item? 3 JUDGE KELLY: Right. We -- we had a 4 discussion a couple months ago about whether to just go 5 ahead and financially support the fire departments 6 without questions asked and just present them the 7 financial support from the County or whether or not 8 there was going to be some sort of oversight by them 9 requesting certain expenses to be reimbursed up to the 10 amount that we've designated that we can fund them, 11 which is what this is. And the decision that the Court 12 made at that time was you wanted to keep some oversight 13 over the process and so this is bringing the means by 14 which we can judge that oversight. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And this caps at that 16 amount? 17 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: This is justification 19 for why they want the funds. 20 JUDGE KELLY: That's right. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So if -- if you would 22 -- as I recall, we have insurance for everybody through 23 the end of the year. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Correct. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Going forward, they're 117 1 going to get their own insurance but we're going to 2 reimburse. That's what we decided, right? Because 3 insurance is on this list. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's a reimbursable 5 expense. 6 JUDGE KELLY: If they submit that as a 7 reimbursable expense. Tierra Linda, they got three 8 policies. I mean they cross covered themselves four 9 ways from Sunday. But if -- if they submit an item to 10 us to be reimbursed that pays for insurance premiums, 11 that would be subject to be recognized. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So they -- they could 14 use their funds -- they could make a request for 15 reimbursement of maintenance of a vehicle and take all 16 their funds and that would be it. Right? Okay. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Well, and as I said at that 18 CARPA meeting, one of the suggestions was, I think 19 sarcastically, that they would just make all of their 20 reimbursement requests for miscellaneous, which didn't 21 really meet our bequest. We just wanted to know what 22 they're spending the money on. 23 And one of the reasons that -- that this 24 became problematic and -- because there's really no 25 problem other than just trying to get it all 118 1 standardized and maybe easy for the audit department to 2 be able to approve these reimbursement expenses. Is we 3 have a couple of our Volunteer Fire Department -- we 4 have several of our Volunteer Fire Departments that 5 overlap with other counties. 6 And some of them with Bandera, some of them 7 with Junction, some of them with Gillespie and Kendall. 8 And in those counties, in those Volunteer Fire 9 Departments, they receive monies from the other 10 counties, too. And so sometimes they may -- and I don't 11 know if they have to submit reimbursables to each one of 12 those counties or not but some of them I think they do, 13 and they may use one of these up with another County. 14 And so for some of these -- for the smaller ones we 15 would get very unusual requests to reimburse for almost 16 like sandwiches and cold cuts and, you know, things that 17 we're not truly accustomed to seeing, because they've 18 used their major expenses with the other County. And so 19 this is just to get it standardized so that KARFA knows, 20 so that the Auditor's Office knows, so that we know what 21 they're spending the money on. 22 Any other discussion? Those in favor of 23 approving the reimbursables raise your hand. Unanimous, 24 four zero. 25 Item 1.26 consider, discuss and take 119 1 appropriate action to determine whether or not to cancel 2 the December 30th, 2019 meeting of the Kerr County 3 Commissioners' Court. That is the Monday between 4 Christmas and New Year's. And we don't anticipate doing 5 much. And the Auditor's Office, I think, can have one 6 week without paying the bills. So do we want to do that 7 or not is the question? 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's a -- not a 9 regular meeting, that's a special meeting? 10 JUDGE KELLY: It would be a special meeting. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, I -- I would say 12 yes. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we should 14 cancel. I'll make a motion that we cancel the September 15 -- I mean September -- December 30th, 2019 meeting. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 17 JUDGE KELLY: So motion's been made by 18 Commissioner Letz and seconded by Commissioner Moser to 19 cancel the special Commissioners' Court meeting for 20 December 30, 2019. Is there any other discussion? 21 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, four zero. 22 Item 1.27 consider and discuss recent change 23 to the Open Meetings Act, specifically Texas Government 24 Code, Section 551.007(b), with clarification from the 25 County Attorney. And this came up in light of our 120 1 recent Open Meetings Act discussions. 2 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Ms. Stebbins. 4 MRS. STEBBINS: House Bill 2840, which was 5 effective September 1st, modified the Open Meetings Act 6 a little bit. And Government Code Section 551.007(b) 7 provides that a governmental body shall allow each 8 member of the public who desires to address the body 9 regarding items on the agenda for an open meeting of the 10 body to address the body regarding the item at the 11 meeting before or during the body consideration of the 12 item. And the legislature used the disjunctive "or" 13 here, and so the use of that evidences its intent to 14 allow the governmental body to decide at which point in 15 the meeting a member of the public speaks. This doesn't 16 give the public the ability to speak at any time during 17 the meeting on an item that you all have on an agenda. 18 It still gives you all the authority to determine the 19 rules of your proceeding, and it -- it gives -- it does 20 not grant the member of the public the right to speak 21 both before and during your deliberation of that item. 22 So I just wanted to clarify that if you, the 23 Court, want to limit speaking about a particular item to 24 when you call that item you're able to do that, and the 25 Open Meetings Act has not changed that and your ability 121 1 to govern the proceedings. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So nothing really got 3 changed, you were given options? 4 MRS. STEBBINS: You were given options, yes, 5 but I think that other counties -- that the legislative 6 history indicates that the practice of other governing 7 bodies, not this one, y'all don't do that, y'all permit 8 people to speak during the time that an agenda item is 9 posted. But some governing bodies were putting off 10 commenting to the end of meetings, at the conclusion of 11 the meeting. So it made it too difficult for someone 12 who does have a comment to weigh in. 13 JUDGE KELLY: And, in fact, at a conference 14 that Commissioner Letz and I attended several months 15 ago, I forget now, that things are running together -- 16 at least two or three months ago in Austin, we both 17 commented to one another that we were surprised to learn 18 that many counties don't allow any input, public input, 19 at all. Which we personally found unbelievable that 20 they wouldn't let the people talk to them. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's kind of offensive. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Well, and -- absolutely. And 23 not only that, there are those that put it all off to 24 the end of the meeting. Now, I don't know about y'all, 25 but it's 11:20 and I'm starting to get tired. This 122 1 happens nearly every time we do this. But to make 2 everybody sit out there and wait until we're done to be 3 able to address us seems unreasonable also. And we have 4 tried to be -- we have tried to make sure that we've 5 established our rules and that's why we -- we reaffirmed 6 what the rules -- our rules of procedure and decorum 7 are, just a couple weeks ago. But I think -- I think 8 even the members of the public will find that we've been 9 fairly lenient in trying to enforce that. We're just 10 trying to make sure that we have order in the process. 11 MRS. STEBBINS: And it's been suggested -- I 12 mean, locally and statewide it's been suggested that the 13 bill allow citizens to speak throughout the meeting, 14 anytime during the meeting, and it does not. Y'all can 15 limit the time designated for them to speak. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, we kind of do 17 that, even like today as an example. We asked people to 18 come back while we're discussing something and 19 clarifying things. 20 MRS. STEBBINS: You're doing it right. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I think we do -- 22 MRS. STEBBINS: Thank you. 23 JUDGE KELLY: From my point of view as the 24 chair, try to do, number one, anybody that wants to talk 25 to us about something not on the agenda needs to talk to 123 1 us about it at the beginning. And I think we're being 2 very clear to explain to people that's when you need to 3 talk to us about something new or something that's not 4 on that agenda. 5 Secondly, if it's on the agenda, we 6 encourage, not only allow, but we encourage the people 7 to speak when it's timely and not out of context. Not 8 so we have somebody talking about something 45 minutes 9 or an hour and a half before we get to it. 10 And then the third thing that I've tried to 11 do is been fairly lenient in allowing people to ask 12 questions. Within reason. We can't -- we can't let the 13 thing get out of control. But -- but so far I think 14 everybody's been very orderly and we've tried to be 15 orderly about it. 16 I feel like from the conference that we went 17 to, we are at the head of the class when it comes to 18 public input. And so, as all this came up, and we had 19 some curious misinterpretations by certain folks with 20 regard to the Open Meetings Act, I wanted to ask our 21 County Attorney to come explain to us the latest 22 revisions that they have done or clarification really, 23 not so much a revision but clarification, so that we're 24 all on the same page. We know exactly where we are with 25 it. That's -- I guess that's the lawyer in me trying to 124 1 make sure we're doing it right. So thank you. 2 MRS. STEBBINS: You're welcome. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Thank you. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. The next item on the 5 agenda is Item 1.28, and that's a discussion, no action 6 to be taken, but a discussion regarding the Interlocal 7 Agreement between Kerr County and the City of Kerrville 8 for the provision of Animal Control Services within the 9 City of Kerrville and services of the Butt Holdsworth 10 Memorial Library for residents of Kerr County. 11 And we have what's Executive Session as 12 needed, but I wanted to at least before we go into 13 Executive Session, broach the subject that it's time we 14 start talking about this Interlocal Agreement. In my 15 opinion. And -- and I -- I have a completely open mind 16 about this, but I know that it's time that we start 17 talking about it. It's bleeding over into a lot of 18 County government at this point. And it's certainly 19 bleeding over into the County needs assessment as we go 20 forward, because one of our capital improvement planning 21 considerations is we have an antiquated Animal Control 22 facility right now. And so something needs to be done, 23 even if we just keep trying to keep things at the 24 current level. 25 And from my point of view, County Animal 125 1 Services is different than other Animal Services that 2 are available. And so these are issues that we need to 3 consider and discuss in our negotiations with the City. 4 And if you didn't take the time to go back and read the 5 Interlocal Agreement, it has a termination at will 6 provision with 45 days written notice. 7 And so I think it's time that we sit down 8 with the City, sit down with ourselves and start looking 9 at this and try to come up with the best way to try to 10 provide the services that we need to provide. So that's 11 why I put it on the agenda. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And for the City to 13 provide the services that they have agreed to provide, 14 and that's part of the reason for the December 2nd 15 meeting at the library, so we can fully understand what 16 the agreements are for both sides. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I recommend that 18 we -- I mean, I think we need to have this conversation. 19 I think it potentially impacted somewhat by the new 20 non-profits being formed. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Right. Absolutely. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that, you know, 23 the time of the year wise I'd recommend we postpone 24 this -- I agree we need to have this discussion, but I'd 25 postpone it into January at the earliest because I don't 126 1 think it's appropriate -- there's too much going on in 2 December to start opening up something like this. And 3 I'd like to see what that non-profit -- how it forms in 4 the next couple of months. Because I think that is a 5 big part of the -- we talked about agree, but we need to 6 open up the discussion. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure. 8 JUDGE KELLY: And I don't disagree with that 9 at all. I didn't know about Kerrville Pets Alive until 10 this morning. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And we don't have the 12 full visibility in what goes on in the library. So we 13 need all that information. So I agree with Commissioner 14 Letz. We talk about this in January. 15 JUDGE KELLY: But we have all of these 16 moving parts and somehow or another these parts need to 17 fit going forward. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure. 19 JUDGE KELLY: And it seemed to me that 20 whether we talk about it today, whether we talk about it 21 in January, this is -- it is time for us all to know 22 that this topic needs to be addressed, and it will be 23 part of the overall solution that we try to come up with 24 in the long term. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think it's 127 1 interesting, too, when we adopted this Interlocal 2 Agreement we didn't clearly understand what it was going 3 to mean to the County, didn't clearly understand what it 4 was going to mean to the City. So the idea was let's do 5 it for a short time and see what, if we need to 6 revector, change -- make some changes or something like 7 that. So to get the experience of both the 8 organizations and relative to the services provided. So 9 I think it's a good approach. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And a following comment 11 I have on that is the agreement's been in place 12 basically a little over two years. We're in the third 13 year of it and it's been modified once already. But 14 this does need to be done certainly in the first 15 quarter, because it has budget implications to both the 16 County and the City. So that's why I think there is a 17 timeliness that we need to do it. Sooner rather than 18 later. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Good deal. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Mr. Baroody, do you want to 21 address the Court at this time? 22 MR. BAROODY: George Baroody, 1616 Glenn 23 Road. So I actually applaud the fact that it's on the 24 agenda for the reasons that you outlined. I've been 25 speaking mostly with Mr. Letz about this same sort of 128 1 thing. It -- because of -- I mean, you guys do know -- 2 you do understand now what's involved and what your 3 responsibilities are in it. They were somewhat 4 undefined but, you know, the County in the Interlocal 5 has agreed to manage the reclamation and adoptions. 6 Doesn't define how you're going to do that but it does 7 commit to it. And you can see after having it that way 8 for a while, you know, Mr. Moser has already made a 9 motion that you're going to try to get out of that 10 aspect of things, which kind of undercuts the agreement 11 in itself right there. 12 But the other thing is kind of when you're 13 having discussions, I've always been perplexed by why -- 14 I understand the urgency to get both services covered, 15 and that's why the Interlocal was created, but there's 16 absolutely no relationship between my pet and me 17 checking out a book at the library. And so I've never 18 fully understand why they're was Interlocal bartering of 19 two services. 20 JUDGE KELLY: You mean a quid pro quo? 21 MR. BAROODY: Yeah. Exactly. And further 22 complicating that is, of course, that in trying to make 23 this negotiation work, you're trying to make an apples 24 to apples comparison without any real balancing tool. 25 And finances, dollars, generally allow you to do that. 129 1 And if -- if you -- I would suggest, and in short 2 basically, you don't have to do this today as you guys 3 are tabling this, but I would suggest you look at 4 basically putting a goal, an aspiration, if you will, of 5 breaking apart library services from animal control 6 services within a year. Because -- and then essentially 7 negotiate whatever -- I mean, the services that you're 8 trying to get out of the library for County residents, 9 have the City put a dollar amount on that and decide 10 whether you can do that. 11 Animal Services, y'all are going to provide 12 the services, put a dollar amount on it. And the City 13 can decide whether they want those premium services or 14 not. And seeing the numbers when it was first created, 15 I can tell you right now the County government -- I mean 16 I was going to say the County but I'm in the County so 17 I'm -- the County government got the short end of the 18 stick on the added services, because the library without 19 the special services of the County resident was already 20 -- had a certain budget, an expense budget, and they 21 only added 35,000 to that, or that's what we were told, 22 adding 35,000 to it to accomplish that. I'm going to 23 guess that the amount of money that you're spending on 24 the County's Animal Services premium is more than 25 35,000. I don't know. You'd have to prove that up. 130 1 But anyway, so my -- my suggestion would be 2 to consider getting out of the Interlocal or breaking it 3 apart within the year that was coincided with that whole 4 situation. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Well, at the very least, we 6 want to discuss it. And I think there is probably 7 consensus at the County government level that would like 8 to sit down and renegotiate with the City. And just -- 9 just to clarify so that everybody in the room knows the 10 procedure, in order for us to go into Executive Session 11 on a contract negotiation like this, we have to have a 12 written opinion from the County Attorney that -- that an 13 open meeting would be detrimental to the Commissioners' 14 Court negotiations in the manner. 15 And if we were going to negotiate today, 16 which we're not, we have that written opinion right now. 17 But then the second step is, so that people will know 18 exactly how the Open Meetings Act work, is we then have 19 to have a motion to go into Executive Session and it has 20 to be a unanimous vote of the court. So today that 21 would require four zero if we were going to do that. 22 Which we're not. But I can tell you that what we want 23 to do, Miss Meismer, is we do want to sit down and 24 negotiate on this because we've got a whole lot of skin 25 in this game and y'all don't have any. 131 1 MR. BAROODY: Can I ask one house cleaning 2 -- house cleaning question about the packet itself? So, 3 you notice that the Interlocal Agreement that is, I 4 guess current, was signed by you all in January of 2019. 5 JUDGE KELLY: I inherited a document signed. 6 MR. BAROODY: I -- I get it. Is there a 7 reason that y'all know of why the City's signature was 8 put on in September of this year? 9 JUDGE KELLY: Because we found that they 10 hadn't signed it and notified them. 11 MR. BAROODY: Okay. So they just didn't 12 sign it. Okay. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Remember, I'm a lawyer. I 14 read these things. 15 MR. BAROODY: Okay. I know. And I just 16 wanted to clarify. Because -- because we adopted it in 17 the City in October. I was just kind of curious why it 18 didn't get signed. I just wanted to ask, that's all. 19 Thank you. 20 JUDGE KELLY: We -- we all wanted to -- 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I want to comment on 22 what George said. And I don't -- I don't disagree with 23 what George is saying, but the reason it was initially 24 looked at library and Animal Control. Yeah, we 25 recognize it's two different things, but the common 132 1 denominator between those two things are the public. So 2 the question is, why should the -- why should we 3 duplicate efforts if we can avoid that. So in trying to 4 not duplicate efforts, we said City, if you do this and 5 County, if you do that, that could be a way to not 6 duplicate efforts and serve the public more efficiently. 7 The other thing is -- I want to comment on 8 is the library did, okay, it was not 35,000, the library 9 did look at the marginal cost if -- if they -- they have 10 a facility, they have books, they have services, and if 11 -- what's the marginal cost for including all the rest 12 of the County? They came up with that, I believe, Kim 13 and staff did that, and it was -- that's quantified. So 14 we know what that is, they may want to change it a bit, 15 but that would be part of the discussion of that what -- 16 what that marginal cost is, what that cost element is. 17 And the City -- County can do the same thing for Animal 18 Services and see where it comes out. But at the time we 19 did that, both budgets were about the same. At that 20 time I think it was $700,000 each for the library, about 21 $700,000 for the Animal Services. So anyway. To be 22 discussed. But thank you, George. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Your comment about 24 Executive Session. I think it needs to be clear that 25 the vote is only required to go into Executive Session 133 1 unanimous under that particular provision of the Open 2 Meetings Act. 3 JUDGE KELLY: For contract negotiation. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For contract 5 negotiation. 6 JUDGE KELLY: It has a different standard. 7 That's why I was explaining it. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's -- for other 9 standards, like personnel, it does not require to be -- 10 JUDGE KELLY: And for those of you in the 11 press, rest assured that we're not doing anything 12 without checking with our County Attorney first. 13 Now, one last thing just before we leave the 14 subject -- unless somebody's objectionable to us passing 15 it, I think we'll just pass it. But I did want to make 16 sure that everybody knows that I have been in 17 communication with Miss Clarkson with the City Council. 18 And she was here earlier today, unable to stay. She 19 reminded me she -- she still has a job, too. But I did 20 indicate to her that I would get with her and let her 21 know kind of where we are as of today with this so that 22 we can stay in the loop with one another as we go 23 forward. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: There's a lot of data 25 to put together to have that discussion. 134 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It is, to George's 2 point, not a thing that you can really -- it's not easy 3 to say here's this and here's this. It's not easy -- 4 it's not really apples to apples. Tom's point was that 5 the common denominator is the public. We're trying to 6 provide the services. I don't think that the City has 7 no skin in the game, Your Honor, but -- but I -- I would 8 disagree with you on that point, but there are -- you 9 know, it's hard -- you can't compare the two, and yet 10 we've tied the two together. And it became over a 11 dispute, and somebody said, hey, we can resolve it this 12 way. And so trying to resolve our dispute and then 13 living with the consequences years later and realizing 14 that, you know, the big guy jumped off the teeter-totter 15 while I was at the top is -- is -- you know, you get a 16 little sore about that, but then you got to go back and 17 work it out. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Well, but we're in -- we're in 19 solution mode right now, so we have to have all 20 participants at the table. All stakeholders need to be 21 at the table. 22 So with that, let's move on on the agenda. 23 Let's go to 2.1 pay the bills. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, before we do 25 that -- 135 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We got a question here. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm at 4.1 there's an 3 item on there about seek legal advice. 4 JUDGE KELLY: We can do that. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't intend to -- I 6 do not intend to go into Executive Session or have that 7 item on -- we'll pass on that. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 4.1a? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, 4.1a, which is 10 seek legal advice from County Attorney on legal 11 implications surrounding the Animal Services operation. 12 I don't even remember putting that on the agenda. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we still have 4.b on 14 there. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Right. I'm just 16 saying that -- that one in particular -- because there 17 are people here that may be interested in that, that is 18 not an agenda -- will not go into Executive Session on 19 this. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And the same way with 21 4.3a. There isn't anything specific on there for 22 airport property right now. 23 JUDGE KELLY: So we're not going to have any 24 Executive Session today. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, as to four 136 1 point -- 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What about 4.2? Is 3 that not happening? 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 4.2? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 4.2a, we do. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 4.2a. We'll save that 7 to the end. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 9 MRS. STEBBINS: I -- I did want to talk to 10 y'all under that item, 4.1a. I'm not going to ask y'all 11 to take any action, but I want to give y'all some 12 information. Advice, legal advice. But there -- I 13 won't ask for any action from the Court. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. So be no action 15 on 4.1a which is seek legal advice from County Attorney 16 on it. So legal implications. 17 JUDGE KELLY: So there will not be any 5.1, 18 any action coming out of Executive Session is what we're 19 saying. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Okay. 21 MRS. STEBBINS: Not on 4.1a, for sure. 22 JUDGE KELLY: All right. Now, let's try to 23 finish the rest of these. This goes pretty quickly as 24 you'll see. 25 Item 2.1 pay the bills. 137 1 MRS. SHELTON: Tanya Shelton, County 2 Auditor. Kerr County, for the 2018-19 budget year, we 3 have $3,259.75. For the 19-20 budget year for Kerr 4 County we have $315,613.68. For the airport, $4,989.16. 5 Adult probation, $5,391.58. Juvenile Probation, 6 $40,897.77. For the District Clerk's fees, $75,080.50. 7 For the 216th DA forfeiture fund, we have $2,146.21. 8 For the County Clerk fees, $1,613.14. And for the 198th 9 DA forfeiture fund, $153.34. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion we 11 approve the Treasurer's disbursements as presented. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 14 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Moser to 15 approve the bills as presented. Ms. Shelton, how are we 16 doing on wrapping up the FY 18-19 budget? 17 MRS. SHELTON: We are getting closer. Yeah. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Just kind of checking on 19 status. I see the numbers getting smaller and smaller 20 so. 21 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. We're -- right now 22 we're just bringing in some of the invoices that are 23 trickling in, just because we do still have the books 24 open. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Please keep us advised 138 1 of that. 2 MRS. SHELTON: Uh-huh. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Item 2.2 budget amendments. 4 MRS. SHELTON: There are none. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Oh, we need to vote. Those in 6 favor raise your hand, pay the bills. 7 2.2 budget amendments. 8 MRS. SHELTON: There are none. 9 JUDGE KELLY: 2.3 late bills? 10 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 11 JUDGE KELLY: 2.4 Auditor reports? 12 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 13 JUDGE KELLY: We don't have Commissioner 14 Harris for any monthly reports -- you got em? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I got them. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Monthly reports. We 18 have monthly reports from the Constable Precinct 3, 19 Constable Precinct 4. We have fines, judgments, and 20 jury fees collected for J.P. 1, Mitzi French, and 21 J.P. 4, Bill Ragsdale. We have the animal services 22 reports from Director Givens. County Clerk's report 23 from Jackie Dowdy and the County Treasurer's monthly 24 report from Tracy Soldan. I make a motion that we 25 accept the monthly reports and sign it as needed. 139 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 3 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 4 approve the monthly reports as presented. Any 5 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 6 four zero. 7 Court orders. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, we have our Court 9 Orders from our 11/18/2019 special session, Court Orders 10 37822 to 37825. I move we approve those as written. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Been a motion made by 13 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Moser to 14 approve the Court Orders as presented. Any further 15 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Four zero, 16 unanimous. 17 Item 3.1 Status reports from Department 18 Heads. Anything Department Heads want to share with us? 19 Okay. 20 3.2 status reports from Elected Officials. 21 Got quite a few of those in the room. Anything y'all 22 want to share with us? 23 MRS. STEBBINS: I just want to say you said 24 a minute ago but it didn't register until everybody 25 started talking. In 5.1, I -- there will be action 140 1 items, it just won't be on that one. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Oh, it's going to be on the 3 merit. 4 MRS. STEBBINS: On that, and then a contract 5 which y'all need to vote on before we go into Executive 6 Session on b. 7 JUDGE KELLY: B? 8 MRS. STEBBINS: 4.1b. Yes, sir. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 10 MRS. STEBBINS: I just didn't want people to 11 leave the room who were interested in that. 12 JUDGE KELLY: I've seen them waiting on the 13 back row back there. 14 MRS. STEBBINS: Okay. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Any reports from Elected 16 Officials? Item 3.3, Status reports from Liaison 17 Commissioners. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If I can go back real 19 quick to the Elected Officials report, there is one 20 quick thing I need to advise y'all about is due to the 21 action law enforcement had to take last week, 22 unfortunately, over the murder and then subsequent 23 suicide later, I'll be honest. It taxed the Police 24 Department to the maximum with their personnel. 25 So we ended up with two extra shifts out 141 1 during that entire time. I know I was out 32 hours in 2 total, until I got home that evening or the next 3 evening. And overtime budget is probably going to be a 4 serious consequence this year. Between paying holiday 5 pay, which is coming up, and the overtime of the amount 6 of personnel we had in that, I expect my overtime budget 7 to be over budget probably by close to $80,000. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It is what it is. It's 9 all in your precinct. 10 JUDGE KELLY: And that's on top of our 11 deficit budget, right? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And our liaison items, 13 Commissioner Harris and I will be meeting in the next 14 couple weeks with Jake regarding the annual evaluation 15 that we do every year. Survey, things of that nature. 16 So maybe -- you know, I'm not sure if it will be an 17 agenda item. Generally it's pretty much just routine 18 items. But that's what's going on. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Do we have any Liaison 20 Commissioner reports? Well, I have -- I have a few 21 things to share. I just got back from spending three 22 days in College Station with TAC. And things are 23 hopping at the State level. We talked earlier about 24 these mental health assessments in the jails. They're 25 advising us that we're going to have to enter into an 142 1 MOU, a memorandum of understanding, with MHDD to pay for 2 those. Just letting you know what they're telling us. 3 Secondly, good news to report, is I had a 4 very unusual experience at the mental health coalition 5 about a week ago. And I -- I almost had to separate the 6 Sheriff and the executive director of MHDD. I thought 7 they were going to kiss each other. 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Not for me. Is that 9 for me? 10 JUDGE KELLY: And that is unheard of, as you 11 know. Even from some of the comments that you've heard 12 today. But MHDD has been pushing for us to consider a 13 mental health officer. And this is one of these things 14 that it -- it's a two-way street. And -- and the 15 Sheriff and Ross Robinson, the executive director of 16 MHDD and we received -- 17 (Cell phone is going off.) 18 JUDGE KELLY: -- a unanimous vote from 19 the -- 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You're over time, 21 Judge. 22 (Laughter.) 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Harley, you can keep 24 that phone. 25 JUDGE KELLY: The question is, are you in 143 1 contempt of court? 2 One of the things that we've been talking 3 about and have them in several other counties and they 4 have been using them with great success is what they cal 5 an MDT, a multi-disciplinary team, which consists of a 6 peace officer that has the power to -- for an emergency 7 detention of a mental health patient. A social worker 8 or somebody from MHDD that is mental health trained. 9 And an EMT or an EMS representative there, so that if 10 they are in need of treatment, they can be treated. And 11 the whole goal is to catch these people before we get 12 them in the jail, and to try to get them some help 13 before we're paying for three hots and a cot. 14 And when Ross and the Sheriff reached a 15 consensus, I immediately took the opportunity to put it 16 to a vote and it was unanimous that we're going to apply 17 for grants to form our own MDT. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, now wait a 19 minute. We -- our magistrates do that. They make an 20 assessment when somebody's -- 21 JUDGE KELLY: When they're brought in. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: When they're brought 23 in. You're talking about -- well, how do you do it -- 24 how do you bring in -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: This is when -- Sheriff, go 144 1 ahead. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: How would it work? 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, not only can 4 magistrates do it, peace officers can do it. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's a peace officer's 7 emergency detention. He can actually sign our own 8 affidavit to put that person in a hospital or -- or have 9 them at least examined. All right. And that's what 10 this team does. It's done better and better. I've been 11 real reluctant to it because I felt our local MHDD 12 wanted more than what I was willing to give, which the 13 whole idea is you have a peace officer in it and, you 14 know, they're a mobile unit, a EMT in it, and an MHDD 15 worker. And you get a call out here on the street as 16 you said, the naked man running down the street or 17 whatever, okay, that team is the one that goes out and 18 contacts that person. And they see is it a deal of he's 19 just off his medication, and maybe we can get him his 20 medication without hospitalizing him, and being able to 21 divert him from being -- from going into the jail for 22 disorderly conduct. You know, can we prevent both of 23 those by just getting him some help and getting him back 24 on his medication. All right. 25 But if he does need to be committed, then 145 1 the peace officer can sign the emergency commitment at 2 that time, just on the peace officer's emergency 3 commitment, and get him into a bed. My drawback for 4 these years on it has been that if the team is not being 5 utilized right then, what they wanted the team to be -- 6 do is to go around to people that are MHDD patients, to 7 their homes, check in with them and make sure they're 8 taking their meds. 9 And I had a serious issue about the day that 10 law enforcement goes to a house to make sure you're 11 taking your medication. I don't feel that's a law 12 enforcement function. So we have come to an agreement 13 that what it is is, law enforcement will stay outside, 14 we're only for security if it's needed, and let EMS or 15 the EMT person, you know, the medical person and the 16 MHDD worker, who is their caseworker already, visit with 17 them and try to make sure they're on their meds. 18 Because the biggest problem we have, and 19 most of these we're transporting are people that have 20 gone off their meds. Okay. And if we can correct that, 21 and get them to stay on their meds, then your referral 22 rate on the number of transports we'll have to do, the 23 number of hospitalizations that have to be done, how 24 much the Sid Pete has to be involved and all these other 25 beds, I think it can be a big help. 146 1 The problem and the hard part working it's 2 going to be the reality of these things come at all 3 different hours, day and night. So how -- 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, how are you going 5 to determine, Rusty, if -- if -- somebody that's off 6 their meds, incoherent, how are you going to determine 7 what their condition is and why? 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: A lot of it's going to 9 be that there is a nationwide database already on 10 people -- 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: He's naked. He doesn't 12 have his I.D. with him? 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, then that's one 14 that -- we deal with this already. Okay. And you -- 15 and those you have to deal with by getting them 16 committed somewhere were they can check and see. Some 17 of those you don't have a choice. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So some you can do and 19 some you can't. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And some of it may not 21 be a mental health, it may be an OD situation. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But that's where all of 24 our databases come in. Because most of the time, we're 25 going to either know that person or have had a past 147 1 history with them. MHDD or the mental health system, 2 you know, and I'm not talking about just here, there's a 3 database with it just like running a criminal history on 4 somebody, now you can run what's called a CTQ on them to 5 see if they've ever had mental health treatment anywhere 6 in the state, okay, or anywhere in the country. And if 7 they have, it doesn't say what kind, it just says they 8 were seen by Hill Country MHDD. So then it gives you a 9 starting place to go back and contact that -- that MHDD 10 office and see what their issues are. It can save a 11 lot. 12 Because the other issue, what the 13 legislature did a few years ago was they created a pilot 14 program, which turned a whole wing of the Harris County 15 jail into a mental health ward and gave MHDD and shrinks 16 in the state access to that wing of the Harris County 17 jail. And then we'd become a state hospital, and jails 18 don't need to be state hospitals. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Well, the preview of coming 20 attractions that I'm sharing with the Court is when I go 21 to these conferences, and this was a TAC -- a Judiciary 22 Academy conference, and we had the law enforcement and 23 the county judges there. And the mental health people. 24 This is one of the hot button items that are coming out 25 of mental health and law enforcement right now. And 148 1 what we -- what we're talking about here is this is the 2 first time we've ever been on the same page to even take 3 a look at it. And believe it or not, the Governor has a 4 lot of grants available for this. So this is something 5 for us to take a look at. Remember, I'm looking for 6 other sources of revenue for this deficit budget and 7 this is one that -- that could help save us money in a 8 lot of different areas. So it's just a look see. But 9 it is something we're looking into. 10 Other things that -- I mean it was an 11 interesting week. Wait until you see the requirements 12 for the Sandra Bland Act that take effect September 1. 13 It's going to be a mess. The legislature did amend some 14 of the things so that we don't have to take them in 15 person, we can do -- 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What is that Act? 17 JUDGE KELLY: Sandra Bland? 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. What is it? 19 JUDGE KELLY: It's one for jail security, 20 suicide prevention, treatment. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Okay. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I will tell you that 23 the Kerr County jail already meets all the conditions of 24 that act. We have two different ways of psychiatric 25 help over there. 149 1 JUDGE KELLY: But it's a significant 2 unfunded mandate. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Requires medical, not 4 so drastic for this group. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Other things I can report from 6 the academy, they had two guys there from the DPS who 7 spent a couple hours with us about an active shooter 8 training, which is something that we need to put on our 9 agenda. It's -- it's here and it's real. And they were 10 very persuasive that this needs to be moved up in our 11 priorities of what we need to address. 12 I'm happy to report, because I have reported 13 otherwise on prior occasions, Judge Stroeher was there 14 from Gillespie County, and we had ample time to sit and 15 visit about indigent defense, about all kinds of things, 16 and Judge Stroeher is somewhat reclusive and is not 17 known for returning phone calls, but we had a delightful 18 time in College Station and I think we are advancing 19 joint cooperation between the counties. 20 So -- and then the last thing, that I would 21 share with the Court and you see I had all my Post-Its 22 here to remember. Is this Wednesday morning at 9:00 the 23 capital improvement planning committee is meeting at the 24 Youth Event Center, and we're going to tour our eastern 25 facilities. And this -- Miss Hughes is on the 150 1 committee, she's here. And we're going to start with 2 the AG barn and that location. We're going to go to 3 Road & Bridge, so we're going to be able to see you -- 4 MS. HUGHES: I'm glad I came here. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Well, when I saw you sitting 6 there I was glad you were here. We're also going to 7 look at some tracts of land along Spur 100 and in that 8 area that we might need. Go on over to the Juvenile 9 Detention Center, those two buildings. We've got 10 different ideas that we want to take a look at that and 11 see what we may or may not be able to do. And then I 12 think we'll wrap up over closer by the Sheriff's office. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Animal Services. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Oh, over by Animal Services 15 and -- and take a look at that. So we're doing all of 16 that this Wednesday, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, 17 which is the first time we could get everybody to agree 18 that we could do this. And then we have another 19 follow-up visit where we're going to do the western 20 County properties in mid December, and then we have a 21 late December meeting and we're going to get together 22 and discuss what we've seen at these things, and so 23 hopefully by the end of the year, our CIP, capital 24 improvement planning committee, will be up to speed and 25 we'll be able to start our work and have something back 151 1 to the Court -- our timetable is to have something -- 2 recommendations back to the Court by late spring, early 3 summer, in time to be prepared for potential bond issue 4 in November, which I believe my head of elections back 5 here, that is the earliest time we could have a bond 6 issue of any kind, right? 7 MR. REEVES: Next year. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Next year. 2020. November 9 2020. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Do we have anybody that 11 can tell us what those buildings are worth out there? 12 The old juvenile detention center and -- 13 JUDGE KELLY: We have had two appraisers 14 back out on us. We can keep looking for another one but 15 there -- it's going to be very difficult to appraise. 16 That's why they -- they have so much problem with it. 17 We don't have any comparables and we want -- what we've 18 asked for is to have an income approach appraisal. But 19 there's no revenue stream so we have to project, kind 20 of, speculate what the revenue stream would be on an 21 income basis. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The buyer would have to 23 do that. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Well -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're the seller. 152 1 JUDGE KELLY: -- we're the seller. We're 2 required by law to have that -- 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Why would we do that? 4 I don't know how we -- 5 JUDGE KELLY: We could project on what the 6 cost of these placements -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: By law we have -- 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I understand that. But 9 you have to know exactly who it is. A person, a company 10 by company, interested. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we know -- we know the 12 two that are interested. And we know what they charge 13 for their placements. We know what we pay for 14 placements. And then we have to kind of go back and 15 extrapolate what our costs were to figure out what 16 exactly it cost them to run it so we can figure out 17 their net profits. So it's -- it's an exercise. We 18 were trying to do that with David Oehler in Gillespie 19 County, and he kind of -- he disappeared on me. They 20 have a way of doing that over in Gillespie County. They 21 just don't call you back. I don't know what that is. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The issue is that we 23 can't sell them until we get -- we can't sell them below 24 appraised value so we've got to get an appraisal and we 25 can't get an appraisal. And that might be a good 153 1 question for the County Attorney to look into, what do 2 you do in a situation -- how do we fulfill the 3 requirements of State law, if we can't get an appraisal? 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Or get some kind of 5 waiver or whatever, yeah. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because it's a CID 7 building and I can see the appraisers don't want to sign 8 because they're signing as, you know, expert appraisers. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Is your group coming 10 out to the Sheriff's office Wednesday, too, or not? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 12 JUDGE KELLY: I don't think we're going to 13 stop there, but we'll go by there. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I just wanted to 15 mention -- I wanted to make sure. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Depends how the rest of 17 the day -- if it doesn't go real well, maybe drop a few 18 off. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah, if it doesn't go 20 real well, bring them out. I've got a few places we 21 could go. 22 MRS. STEBBINS: Does the City -- they may 23 want to recommend that the County keep the building so 24 an appraisal might not be necessary. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Well, and -- and our resident 154 1 appraiser is sitting back on the back row back here. 2 Normally, you've got the market approach which is the 3 most common approach, the prominent way to appraise 4 property. And then you've also got the income approach, 5 which is also a very common way. And you have the cost 6 approach. On this, cost is prohibitive. What it cost 7 to have -- to build those buildings is nowhere near what 8 we're going to be able to get for them. And then there 9 is a fourth approach, and it is the intrinsic value. 10 And believe it or not, I actually tried one of those 11 cases and took it to the Texas Supreme Court and won it. 12 But it was -- they're a mess. But you have to get an 13 appraisal before we can do something. 14 But that's all I have to report. I was just 15 trying to catch everybody up. It was a busy week in 16 College Station last week and all of these things are on 17 our radar screen. So we just need to keep our eyes 18 open. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: At what point do we 20 decided that we've exhausted looking for some kind of a 21 comp and go ahead and try the second version of -- 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's what she's going 23 to find out. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, she's going to 25 find out if we can get around that. If there's four 155 1 choices. And do you have to exhaust the first one 2 before you going to the second one? 3 JUDGE KELLY: No. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. So then -- 5 JUDGE KELLY: They're all or's. 6 Either/or's. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. So if we haven't 8 been able to find a comp, then you go to the next? 9 JUDGE KELLY: Which is income. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Which is income. And 11 there's bound to be some private company or somebody in 12 the state that -- that we could look at. Do we want to 13 actively pursue this or are we just sitting around? 14 JUDGE KELLY: Well -- 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes. That's what I 17 thought. So I'm just trying to say it's time to -- 18 maybe it's time to get off high center and figure out -- 19 JUDGE KELLY: Well, one of the things that 20 we're asking the capital improvement planning committee 21 to do is to take a look at the facilities and see if 22 there are any uses that the County might have for those 23 facilities. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Storage is an example. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, yeah, we -- we 156 1 need storage. Maybe not that much. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Well -- 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: There's two buildings 4 there. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Want us to get back on track? 6 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, please. Thank you. 7 JUDGE KELLY: All right. Okay. I think 8 that concludes the open -- what else do we have in open 9 meeting? 10 MRS. STEBBINS: In open meeting you'll have 11 to vote on Item 4.1b in order to go into Executive 12 Session. I've given an opinion that discussion in open 13 session would be detrimental to the County's position 14 with a third party, but you all have to vote unanimously 15 if you want to go into Executive Session on that item. 16 JUDGE KELLY: And that's for the contract 17 negotiations on the Interlocal Agreement? 18 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not -- it's the 20 Department of Information Resources. It's not the 21 Interlocal Agreement with the City of Kerrville, it's -- 22 JUDGE KELLY: Right. 23 MRS. STEBBINS: That's right. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- the agreement -- a 25 contract between the Department of Information 157 1 Resources. 2 JUDGE KELLY: DIR. 3 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 5 JUDGE KELLY: And this is an election issue, 6 right? 7 MRS. STEBBINS: It is absolutely an election 8 issue. 9 JUDGE KELLY: But it's in contract 10 negotiations? 11 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I move that we go into 13 Executive Session. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 15 JUDGE KELLY: I made the motion and 16 Mr. Belew seconded it. Those in favor raise your hand. 17 Okay. So we'll go into Executive Session on contract 18 negotiations, which will require the Court Reporter to 19 stay because we need a record of that even though it's 20 an Executive Session record. So with that, we're going 21 to adjourn into -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do you want to read all 23 that stuff? 24 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. The County Attorney has 25 given a written determination that an open meeting would 158 1 be detrimental to the Commissioners' negotiations on 2 this matter. The Commissioners' Court has unanimously 3 voted to approve going into Executive Session to discuss 4 the -- the information resources contract. 5 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. And then the rest 6 of the -- 7 JUDGE KELLY: All of the other matters for 8 Executive Session are as follows: Consultation with an 9 attorney pursuant to Section 551.071 of the Texas 10 Government Code. To seek legal advice from the County 11 Attorney to approve the Interlocal Contract with the 12 Department of Information Resources in Kerr County and 13 authorize County Judge to sign same. 14 And 4.2, personnel matters, a., clarify and 15 review the one-time merit increases procedure. 16 And we don't need to go into -- 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What does she say on 18 4.3? 19 JUDGE KELLY: Well, that's what -- are we 20 going to go into Executive Session on -- 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, let's just leave 22 that on to make sure. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. And 4.3 would be 24 discussion regarding economic development negotiations 25 in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act; 159 1 discussion regarding commercial or financial information 2 received from a business prospect and/or to discuss the 3 offer of a financial or other incentive to a business 4 prospect pursuant to Section 551.087, Texas Government 5 Code, to specifically be paragraph A, the airport 6 property. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, and let me ask 8 the County Attorney something. So on -- it says 9 regarding financial information. It could just -- it 10 doesn't have to be quantitative financial information, 11 does it? It can be information with intent? 12 MRS. STEBBINS: I don't think I understand 13 the question. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, financial 15 information can be -- can be quantitative, we offer you 16 X number of dollars to do this, blah, blah, blah. Or it 17 could be someone has shown interest in pursuing economic 18 development. There's -- 19 MRS. STEBBINS: We can go into Executive 20 Session. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Okay. Good 22 enough. Just wanted to make sure. 23 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. I would also like 24 if you would read 4.1a. I want to give y'all a little 25 bit of advice about -- 160 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. And we'll include in 2 terms of giving legal advice pursuant to Section 3 551.071, to seek legal advice from the County Attorney 4 on legal implications surrounding Animal Services 5 operations. 6 MRS. STEBBINS: Thank you. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So we're going into 8 Executive Session. 9 (Executive Session.) 10 JUDGE KELLY: It is now one o'clock and we 11 are out of Executive Session and back into open session. 12 And under the action item under 5.1, the Court calls 13 agenda item 4.1, consultation with the attorney pursuant 14 to Section 551.071, and this is paragraph b, consider, 15 discuss and take appropriate action for the Court to 16 approve the Interlocal Contract between The Department 17 of Information Resources and Kerr County, and authorize 18 the County Judge to sign same. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Judge, I make a motion 20 that we approve the Interlocal Contract between DIR and 21 Kerr County, and authorize the Judge to sign same. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 24 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 25 approve the contract between DIR and Kerr County. Any 161 1 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 2 four zero. 3 We now move on to item 4.2, which is a 4 personnel matter per section 551.074 of the Government 5 Code, clarify and review the one-time merit increases 6 procedure. And I talked with Jennifer Doss, our HR 7 Director, and our original intent was to issue separate 8 checks to be paid after this one-time merit payment, 9 along with letters from the Court that it not be done at 10 the Christmas party, that it be done subsequently for 11 discretion and privacy matters. It turns out that in 12 visiting -- visitations between the County Treasurer and 13 HR Director that our employees would net more take-home 14 pay if we did it along with their regular paycheck in 15 the first pay period in December rather than doing it 16 separately. It has to do with the way you compute the 17 deductions that come out of the check. 18 So with that, I'm going to make a motion 19 that we revise our one-time merit pay increase payments 20 to be paid in conjunction with their regular paycheck 21 the first pay period in December. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 23 JUDGE KELLY: I made the motion, it's been 24 seconded by Commissioner Moser to revise our method of 25 payment for the one-time merit payments to be done in 162 1 conjunction with their regular paycheck in December. Is 2 there any other discussion? Those in favor raise your 3 hand. Unanimous, four zero. 4 And I believe that's all matters that we 5 have on the agenda today. Court is adjourned. 6 * * * * * * 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 163 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 5th day of December, A.D., 10 2019. 11 12 /s/DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD Certified Shorthand Reporter 13 No. 953 Expiration Date 04/31/2021 14 * * * * * * 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25