1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Special Session 5 Monday, December 16, 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 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Precinct 3 DON HARRIS, Commissioner Precinct 4 25 2 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 *** Commissioner's Comments. 3 4 1.1 Pay Bills. 7 5 1.3 Late Bills. 8 6 1.4 Court Orders. 9 7 *** Reporter's Certificate. 10 8 * * * * * * 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 JUDGE KELLY: Good morning. It is Monday 2 morning, December the 16th, 2019, 9 o'clock in the 3 morning, and the Kerr County Commissioners' Court is in 4 session for our alternate week special meeting. 5 A reminder for everybody to turn off your 6 cell phones. We do have an policy that if the cell 7 phone goes off, even if it's a Commissioner, the Sheriff 8 is supposed to take up the phone. And he's got a -- 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Only if it's a 10 Commissioner. 11 JUDGE KELLY: As usual, we do have -- we 12 offer a public input at the beginning of the meeting. 13 If there's anyone here that would like to address the 14 Court on a matter that is not on the agenda, this is 15 opportunity to come forward and address the Court. Is 16 there anyone who would like to do that? 17 Okay then, let's move on to Commissioner's 18 comments. Anything to report? I'll report that we just 19 finished the Mass Gathering Permit hearing for the stock 20 show this year, and that went off, I think in record 21 time. I think we did it in, what was it, five or ten 22 minutes? 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. The best one I 24 ever did. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The only one. 4 1 JUDGE KELLY: That's the first one he's ever 2 done. Any other -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I met with some of the 4 representatives of Kerrville Pets Alive last week, and 5 trying to figure out different options on how to make 6 order with them, and doing what we want is to have a 7 written agreement that actually shows what they do. 8 Visited with the County Attorney a little bit about 9 issues on insurance and liability. 10 One of the things that the problems they've 11 come up with is that most insurance policies that they 12 would get for handling the dogs exclude the dogs that we 13 have all the time, which are any kind of -- anything 14 that's crossed with a pit bull, a Doberman, a 15 rottweiler, a chow, and a German Shepherd. Those five 16 dogs are excluded from all insurance policies, for 17 liability purposes, which creates a problem because 18 that's 90 percent of our animals. 19 So we're looking at -- to the County 20 Attorney a little bit about that. There may be a way 21 for us to handle that through our local agreements, or 22 things like that, or contracts or -- anyway, it's 23 working and moving. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Good. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I went to an 5 1 event Friday in Uvalde. It was for commissioners and 2 judges, and at the District 10 AgriLife office, and it 3 was very interesting. I'd never been to the research 4 center. And when I hear that they've come up with a 5 tomato plant that can yield 50 to 90 pounds worth of 6 tomatoes annually, they get my attention. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: A lot of ketchup. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, there's lot of 9 very interesting stuff, and it's well worth it. 10 Legislative updates and flood mitigation information, so 11 on, so it was a good conference. But the most 12 impressive part was they gave us our own Walmart bag at 13 the end and we got to pick oranges ourselves. So I got 14 plenty of oranges if anybody needs any oranges. 15 JUDGE KELLY: I guess what I would report is 16 the Capital Improvement Planning Committee have 17 completed its tour of the various county facilities. We 18 started in the east part of the County and did for the 19 AG barn and the indoor arena there, and then Road & 20 Bridge, and over to Juvenile Probation, Animal Services, 21 and looked at all that. We did that a few weeks ago. 22 And then last week we did this courthouse, 23 the maintenance facility we have over on Hays and 24 McFarland, and then the annex we have in Ingram. And 25 we're looking at those to -- should be meeting again 6 1 this week on Wednesday to kind of recap what all we've 2 seen and everything, and we'll start working and hope to 3 have information back into court here in the spring, so 4 it looks like it's moving right along. 5 And then the other thing that I needed to 6 report to the Court, is that I met with the 7 representatives from James Avery on Friday, and they 8 have certain employee quota requirements under their 381 9 agreement with us that they're not going to be able to 10 meet this year. And so there will be no tax refund this 11 year. Which is kind of a -- they assure me that their 12 -- their profits and sales are up. That the reasons 13 they have fewer employees is because their efficiency 14 has improved, and I understand that 11 hundred people at 15 their Christmas party on Saturday, so I think they're 16 doing pretty well, but -- 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is that efficiency as 18 in automation, or -- 19 JUDGE KELLY: As in the time it takes them 20 when they get their order until they are able to fulfill 21 it. Instead of reducing it from five weeks lead time to 22 three weeks. And so with that they haven't had to 23 replace as many employees to be able to get the same 24 higher production rates out. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So that's mail order 7 1 fulfillment kind of stuff? 2 JUDGE KELLY: I don't know how they place 3 their orders from the stores or what have you. From the 4 actual manufacturing day had been working on a five week 5 lead time, and they were able to cut it down to three. 6 It's good for profits, but they haven't had a need for 7 as many new employees. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So they can afford it. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Yes, that was my impression. 10 And there was no push back. There was no, you know, 11 "Mother May I" -- give us an exception or something. 12 This was -- they're not going to ask for their -- they 13 pay their taxes, and then we refund them under that 14 agreement, and there will not be any requests for 15 refunds. So Merry Christmas to the County. 16 Okay, with that let's go on to our approval 17 agenda, pay bills 1.1. Don't get nervous up there, this 18 goes very fast. 19 MRS. SHELTON: Tanya Shelton, County 20 Auditor. Kerr County had $197,395.89. The Airport, 21 $301.53. Adult Probation, $3,287.71. Juvenile 22 Probation, $2,687.99. The Texas Department of 23 Agriculture Grant was $75,200.00. And then the 198th 24 District Attorney forfeiture fund was $953.79. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval. 8 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Been moved by Commissioner 3 Belew, seconded by Commissioner Harris to approve 4 payment of bills as presented. Any further discussion? 5 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, four zero. 6 Let the record reflect that Commissioner 7 Moser is out today recovering from surgery. 8 Next item on the agenda is budget 9 amendments. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Minor surgery. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Minor surgery. 12 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's a -- forget you 14 heard that. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Late bills. 16 MRS. SHELTON: We received one late bill 17 this morning that we did not get to you. It was for 18 $600.00. It was for a training class for a couple 19 Sheriff's Deputies, I believe. And we thought it was 20 not due until February, and it's actually due now. And 21 so it's for $600.00, it's for BC Enterprises. I have a 22 copy if any of y'all would like to look at. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move we approve the 24 late bill. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 9 1 JUDGE KELLY: Been moved by Commissioner 2 Letz, seconded by Commissioner Harris to approve payment 3 of the late bill. Any discussion? Those in favor raise 4 your hand. Unanimous, four zero. 5 Court orders. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, I do have court 7 orders from our December 9th meeting. It's court orders 8 37854 through 37875, and they all look to be in order. 9 Make a motion to approve. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Been a motion made to approve 12 court orders as presented by Commissioner Letz, and 13 approved and seconded by Commissioner Harris. Those in 14 favor raise your hand. Unanimous, four zero. 15 * * * * * * 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 10 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 Special Commissioners' Court Meeting 9 Approval Agenda. 10 Dated this the 30th day of December, A.D., 11 2019. 12 13 /s/DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD Certified Shorthand Reporter 14 No. 953 Expiration Date 04/31/2021 15 * * * * * * 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25