1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Special Session 5 Monday, March 16, 2020 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 *** Commissioners' Comments. 3 4 1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 5 action to determine if the Hill Country 5 Youth Event Center can be used as a possible alternate site for Houston events that have 6 been canceled due to the COVID-19 virus. 7 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 9 action to appoint someone to the AACOG 8 (Alamo Area Council of Government) Alamo Area Housing Finance Corporation. 9 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 12 10 action to approve an appraiser to appraise certain county and other properties. 11 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 15 12 action regarding the update, facility use and other matters related to COVID-19. 13 4.1 Consultation with attorney pursuant to 14 Section 551.071, Texas Government Code (RE: Litigation). 15 4.1(a) Consider, discuss and take 37 appropriate action related to exclusion 16 from negotiation class. 17 2.1 Pay Bills. 38 18 2.4 Court Orders. 38 19 3.1 Receive semi-annual report on projects and activity of the: 20 3.1(b) Human Resources Office. 40 21 3.2 Quarterly status reports from Liaison Commissioners on projects and activity of 22 the: 3.2(b)Veteran Services. 45 23 3.2(c)Airport. 46 24 *** Adjournment. 48 25 *** Reporter's Certificate. 49 3 1 JUDGE KELLY: Good morning. It is Monday. 2 March the 16th, 2020, and the Commissioner's Court of 3 Kerr County is now in session. This is our Special 4 Meeting. I want to remind everybody that if you've got 5 your cell phones with you turn them off. If they go 6 off, the Sheriff will bring them to me. And then you're 7 going to have to deal with me after the meeting. So 8 that -- that's the first admonition of the day. 9 The next item on the agenda is Public Input. 10 This is the opportunity for the public to address the 11 Court on any matter that you would like, unless it's on 12 the agenda. If it's on the agenda, we ask that you wait 13 to talk to us about that issue at the time the agenda 14 item is called. Is there anyone who would like to 15 address the Court at this time? 16 Okay. Well, then we'll go to Commissioners' 17 Comments. 18 COMMISSIONER : I have nothing. 19 COMMISSIONER : I got an inch and a quarter 20 of rain last night in one hour. 21 JUDGE KELLY: I'm impressed. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. And Tom is -- 23 he's envious. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. A couple things. 25 Number one is the -- and I keep mentioning it and I'm 4 1 going to keep mentioning it. In Precinct 2 the alcohol 2 beverage sale is on the petition -- on the ballot in 3 November. There are -- there's a group of people that 4 are very, very active in that and it's -- as a matter of 5 fact, they're having some signing parties. Okay. April 6 the 3rd at Gravity Check, April the 4th at Toucan Jim's, 7 April 17th at Zanzenberg in Center Point, and May the 8 5th at Los Dos Amigos in Center Point. So this group is 9 blowing and going. 10 There's another -- another issue that's 11 going to come forward that affects several bridges in 12 the County, and that's the Crossing Street bridge. The 13 County is -- had an agreement with the State to redo 14 that bridge. Charlie and I have a meeting -- we've had 15 a meeting with TxDOT. We'll have another discussion 16 this week and that will probably come forward next -- 17 next week. But what to do with that bridge. 18 And Judge, there was I think in 2007 and 19 2010 there was a lot of hearings on that and a number of 20 -- a large number of people from Center Point resisted, 21 but I think we've got a good solution to it. So 22 otherwise, we're going to be liable for $66,000 in work 23 that the County -- State has done that we -- we would 24 have to reimburse them. 25 And one other thing that's going to come up 5 1 soon is some of the citizens on our big Lift Station for 2 the wastewater system in Center Point, we have probably 3 a 15-foot cross-sectional area square, 20 feet high, 4 Lift Station, which is just a concrete box that people 5 would like to paint a mural on. Historical in nature. 6 So that will come forward. A lot of people are very 7 interested in that. So that's all I have for right now. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Good. Thank you. Okay. Then 9 we'll move on with the Consideration Agenda. Item 1.1, 10 I know we have at least one speaker on that. Consider, 11 discuss and take appropriate action to determine if the 12 Hill Country Youth Event Center can be used as a 13 possible alternate site for Houston events that have 14 been canceled due to COVID-19. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Today we can probably 16 deal with that in a hurry. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That can be removed, I 19 believe. That was put on the agenda over a week ago. 20 And a lot has changed since then. And I don't think 21 we're going to -- you know. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, why don't we make 23 it very clear what we're not going to do. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, the request was 25 for us to have the steer show under some format out of 6 1 the Houston stock show in Kerrville. They requested it. 2 They contacted us. And I don't believe Jake's talked to 3 them again since then. I think they went elsewhere to 4 be honest. But I know the lamb show went elsewhere. 5 When we got the request, I said -- Commissioner Harris 6 and I talked about it, we said we're not making that 7 decision. That's the Court's decision. It's on the 8 agenda. A lot has happened since then. I think it's no 9 longer an issue. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So to be very clear, 11 because I got a lot of e-mails from -- so probably 12 everybody did. Nobody wants Houston events coming to 13 Kerr County to our Event Center. That's what -- that's 14 -- and I think we ought to say that very clearly. Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, majority maybe. 16 You said nobody. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I said -- yeah, I 18 said -- 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Nobody. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, I shouldn't have 21 said nobody. A lot of people do not want -- and I think 22 that's consistent with social distancing or whatever and 23 isolation. So I'll make a very strong statement that I 24 would -- and I don't think it's -- a motion's 25 appropriate but we shouldn't encourage anybody else to 7 1 come into our centers. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner, that was 3 done way before this -- everything happened. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'm just saying, let's 5 make -- 6 JUDGE KELLY: No, but -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: People are confused. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it was -- but it was 9 a bunch of social media people egging it on that caused 10 an issue for you and I to get e-mails, and I'm sure the 11 rest of the Court did. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. So -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think that if 14 people would just calm down, it would have been a whole 15 lot easier and would not have had the hysteria. It was 16 -- it was a -- it was a non-issue from the beginning. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So let's make it very, 18 very clear we're not going to encourage people from 19 outside of Kerr County to come to Kerr County 20 facilities. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I -- I want to 22 weigh in on this. If you're talking about an 23 organization -- there's -- we have a lot of -- and 24 correct me anyplace I'm wrong on this, Jake. We have a 25 lot of semi-private or organizational type meetings that 8 1 are closed to the public. They might need a place to go 2 and meet, because wherever they've been meeting is 3 closed for the duration. They don't really present any 4 kind of a problem to the public because it's not open to 5 the public. If you have some association that comes 6 here to meet because they need a big place to meet, 7 they're really not -- we're not invited. I don't see a 8 problem with something like that. Personally, it's no 9 more risk than the daily tourism that comes through 10 here. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we're going to 12 1.4 now. There's no action and nothing to do at this 13 point. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I know. I'm just -- 15 because Commissioner Moser gave his opinion on it, I'm 16 giving mine. They're -- it should be taken on a case by 17 case basis. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'm saying public 20 events. I'm not saying private. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, that's a quasi 22 public event. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The agenda item is 24 talking about the stock show coming here and -- 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But it doesn't say 9 1 stock show. It says Houston events. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It says -- 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It says Houston events. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Houston events. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's what -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's -- it was a typo. 7 It should have said stock show though. Okay? 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, okay. All right. 9 Okay. All right. Good enough. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Any other opinions? We're not 11 doing that. Let's move on. Any other questions? 12 Move on to 1.2 consider, discuss and take 13 appropriate action to appoint someone to the AACOG 14 (Alamo Area Council of Government) Alamo Area Housing 15 Finance Corporation. 16 At the last AACOG meeting in San Antonio -- 17 remember AACOG is 13 counties, Bexar County and the 12 18 surrounding counties. They are reviving an old entity 19 called the Alamo Area Housing Finance Corporation. 20 Apparently there's some block grant money from the 21 Federal Government that's coming in to do this 22 financing. And we had years ago -- and it's falling to 23 me because they're asking me to appoint somebody because 24 the last member we had on it was Commissioner Williams. 25 And they're -- they're finding that if they 10 1 try to revive this thing they don't have enough active 2 members that are still alive or still serving to 3 constitute a quorum. So they're trying to get us to 4 appoint people to fill our position on that -- that 5 corporation. And it's going to be to provide financing 6 for public housing. I don't know anymore than that, 7 other than they've got the money, they're reviving the 8 entity to be able to distribute those funds, and they 9 want a representative from Kerr County to serve on 10 that -- that Board. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now, Judge, you and I 12 have been to some meetings about this and listened to 13 speakers. I know we've been to some of the same events. 14 Could we draw from the folks that are already working on 15 this and have brought these speakers in? We just -- 16 we're talking about a designee from the Court or -- I 17 mean, any citizen in Kerr County? 18 JUDGE KELLY: It -- this is -- this is what 19 I would -- would compare to a Liaison Commissioner 20 position. They're looking for somebody to represent 21 Kerr County at the governmental level to be on the 22 Board. To hear what's going on and to bring back to us 23 and report to us their activities and their 24 recommendations. And my thinking -- I don't see him 25 jumping up to volunteer for this but Commissioner Harris 11 1 -- not only -- 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'll second that. 3 JUDGE KELLY: -- not only is he not here -- 4 not only is he not here, which makes him a fair target, 5 but he is the alternate representative and Liaison 6 Commissioner for AACOG and he hasn't gone to a meeting 7 yet, which he's reminded me. But he hasn't -- he hasn't 8 been needed yet. And I'm thinking this would be a good 9 outlet for him to get involved with AACOG. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And payback for what he 11 did to Letz. 12 (Laughter.) 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's right. I agree 14 with that. 15 JUDGE KELLY: So I'm going to make a motion 16 that we appoint Commissioner Harris to serve on the 17 Alamo Area Housing Finance Corporation in absentia. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Any further discussion? Those 20 in favor raise your hand. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Everybody learn a 22 lesson? 23 JUDGE KELLY: Miss a meeting at your own 24 peril. You miss a meeting at this Court you're -- it's 25 at your own risk. Next item on the agenda -- 12 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That vote was four and 2 one abstain, right? 3 JUDGE KELLY: He wasn't here. It was 4 unanimous for all in attendance. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 6 JUDGE KELLY: 1.3 consider, discuss and take 7 appropriate action to approve an appraiser to appraise 8 certain county and other properties. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think before everyone 10 was given a copy of it, I don't think we can discuss it 11 unless we just want to approve it. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's kind of a 13 consent agenda sort of thing, isn't it? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, it's one of the 15 things we've got to -- we can certainly go into it and 16 look at the individual properties that were listed but I 17 don't -- we can't talk about those in open court. So 18 it's -- it's a motion to approve. Going out for those 19 appraisers. We have to -- 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So do we want to 21 discuss it in Executive Session? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's up to you all. 23 I'm comfortable with it. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What's the County 25 Attorneys office think? 13 1 JUDGE KELLY: I don't -- 2 MRS. HURT: I mean, there's a specific 3 process that we need to follow if we're going to go into 4 Executive Session but -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We understand. 6 JUDGE KELLY: But what -- what this is is 7 the capital improvement planning committee is looking at 8 purchasing properties. And, of course -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And selling. 10 JUDGE KELLY: And selling properties. 11 Selling some county-owned properties. And, of course, 12 if we tell you which ones they are then everybody is 13 going to run out there and make business decisions based 14 upon what we're about to do. So we haven't told you. 15 We've told us, but we haven't told you yet. 16 And so the question here is, we can't do 17 anything without knowing the fair market value of what 18 we own if we're going to sell it or what -- what -- the 19 fair market value of what we're going to buy if we're 20 going to buy it. And so we have to hire an appraiser to 21 do that. We do this routinely. 22 And so on this, the Commissioners Court has 23 heard the recommendations -- the project that the CIP is 24 looking into. And so this appraiser would be to come in 25 and take a look at those properties and be able to come 14 1 back and give them some information that they could come 2 to us with recommendations on buying or selling. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Did you mention what 4 the CIP is so everybody knows that? 5 JUDGE KELLY: The Capital Improvement 6 Planning committee. That's -- that's for -- they're 7 looking at what our capital needs are for the County. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion to 9 approve Lonnie Marquardt as the appraiser for the 10 amounts listed in his proposal to the Commissioners 11 Court and the funds to come out of professional 12 services. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 15 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Moser to 16 approve hiring Lonnie Marquardt as the appraiser for the 17 County, working on their CIP projects. Is there any 18 further discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. 19 Unanimous, four zero. 20 The last item on our consent agenda is on 21 the Addendum. I think we've just got the one addendum 22 item. Item 1.4 consider, discuss and take appropriate 23 action regarding the update, facility use and matters 24 related to COVID-19. Okay. Might as well come up, Dub. 25 MR. THOMAS: I'm coming. 15 1 JUDGE KELLY: For those of you who don't 2 know, Dub Thomas is our Emergency Management 3 Coordinator. And he has been busy. 4 MR. THOMAS: And I'm probably going to get a 5 little bit busier, too. First thing I want to do this 6 morning is give you an update basically on what the City 7 and the County have done in preparations for COVID-19. 8 The Kerr County City of Kerrville, City Emergency 9 Operations Center is currently open and we're going to 10 be in operation at increased readiness level with 11 minimal staffing. 12 Annex H, our health and medical annex is 13 what we're operating on right now. And we're currently 14 operating at Phase 3 of the pandemic plan. The pandemic 15 plan is contained in the back. Basically -- 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Dub, you might mention 17 that this is part of the emergency management plan. 18 Maybe you said that -- 19 MR. THOMAS: This is part of the emergency 20 management plan. Yes, sir. The emergency management 21 plan consists of the basic plan in 22 annexes. Annex H 22 is the one that deals with health and medical. So right 23 now we're at Phase 3. And Phase 3 basically means that 24 there are no -- no instances of a pandemic virus here in 25 the County. So we're standing good there. 16 1 Some updates, some numbers as of Friday, 2 March 13th, Governor Abbott issued a state of emergency 3 declaration. And what that does, it allows all state 4 resources to be reassigned and utilized to prepare for 5 and respond to COVID-19. Allows the ability to move 6 resources, including the strategic national stockpile to 7 any part of the state necessary to combat the spread of 8 COVID-19. It allows the Attorney General to pursue 9 cases of price gouging. Allows the approval of waivers 10 for and state laws that hinder the ability to prepare 11 and respond to COVID-19. 12 And then, of course, on Friday, March 13th, 13 President Trump declares a National State of Emergency 14 for the COVID-19 virus. All of this was all on Friday 15 the 13th. 16 As of this morning -- and some of these 17 numbers are updated at noon today, is the current 18 situation worldwide, total infected are 1,629. Total 19 deaths, 41. Travel-related, meaning those folks who 20 contacted the virus either coming from Wuhan, China or 21 India or Iran, or any of those other countries, is 138. 22 Those by close contact, meaning they were in close 23 contact with somebody who actually had COVID-19, is 129. 24 1,362 of those individuals are still under 25 investigation, which means they have not figured out if 17 1 it's close contact or if they were travel related. 2 Texas. Texas infected individuals are 56. 3 The majority of those are in Harris, Dallas, Fort Bend 4 counties. Total deaths in Texas is zero. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And none in Kerr 6 County? 7 MR. THOMAS: None in Kerr County. That's 8 correct. 9 Some of our operational priorities are 10 continuing to provide timely and accurate information to 11 the public concerning the spread of the virus and ways 12 to avoid becoming infected. We're going to continue to 13 work with the City of Kerrville Emergency Management, 14 Kerrville Fire Department, EMS, Peterson Regional and 15 the infection control nurse in developing tactics for 16 testing, isolation and treatment of infected persons or 17 persons under investigation. We're going to set up and 18 operate the medical operations center which is at the 19 State Hospital. I haven't met with Jerremy this morning 20 so I don't know what stage we're at for those. 21 Our publication, education and outreach. 22 The stakeholder meetings are scheduled for March 17th, 23 24th, and 26th at the Youth Event Center, to inform and 24 educate about the COVID-19 virus and what local 25 government is doing to prepare. 18 1 Peterson Regional is working on a phone bank 2 to take calls from individuals who believe they may be 3 sick. They will actually be able to talk to a nurse and 4 they're also working on a recorded line for folks that 5 are just looking for information. 6 Kerr County and City of Kerrville websites 7 are being updated to include links to Peterson Regional 8 Medical Center, the CDC, and the Department of State 9 Health Services websites. I'm pretty sure that that's 10 already been taken care of. 11 And we're also putting out our folks service 12 messages through those outlets. And we're going to 13 continue to provide timely and accurate information to 14 the public concerning the spread of the virus and ways 15 to avoid becoming infected. That's where we stand 16 today. 17 Friday afternoon I was on a conference call. 18 There was another meeting. Mayor Blackburn called, 19 wanted me to attend this meeting. I couldn't be two 20 places at one time so I took the conference call. It 21 was a Department of Homeland Security conference call on 22 March 13th. The numbers that they've given on that 23 conference call are incorrect now. That's been updated 24 all weekend long. 25 So the Federal Government's still working 19 1 with States and local government private partners. One 2 thing I want to reiterate to you is the immediate risk 3 to the public is extremely low. But it's going to 4 increase as it spreads and those that are most 5 susceptible are our older adults and those with chronic 6 diseases, primarily cancer, diabetes, lung disease, 7 those types of things. Limiting mass gatherings 8 flattens the curve when talking about patient surge and 9 lowering the numbers of folks that need to go to the 10 hospital. And to take a look at hotlines for emergency 11 information. They also talked a little bit about 12 sequestering some critical staff. 13 All the correct information that anybody 14 needs to know is either on the CDC's website or the 15 Department of State Health Services. Anything else that 16 you hear -- if you get it off of Facebook or rumor 17 control or whatever is false. Unless it comes from the 18 Department of State Health Services or the Centers for 19 Disease Control, I consider it misinformation. And I 20 think that's driving what a lot of fear is around town. 21 There is a fear that number one, there's misinformation. 22 Lack of knowledge from public for educating themselves 23 and just flat out lying. And I think the Sheriff put it 24 out that those who are trying to incite fear among 25 individuals, that is a felony in the State of Texas. 20 1 Some physical protective measures. Of 2 course, everybody needs to take those, from employees to 3 customers. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Dub, before we go on. I think 5 it's important that we kind of stop and unpack what you 6 just said. I've been going to these meetings now for, 7 oh, it's been -- we're at least, what, almost three 8 weeks into this? 9 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. 10 JUDGE KELLY: And at the very first meeting 11 one of the things they told us, Dub and I were sitting 12 there with each other, get your news from the websites; 13 not the media. And no disrespect to newspapers. Just 14 saying that the most reliable information is to go to 15 these public websites. Go to the City's website, the 16 County's website, CDC, etc. That's where the accurate 17 information is. And anything else you hear is, more 18 than likely, the odds are that it's not accurate. 19 So if you want to continue to spread 20 inaccurate information, misinformation, just keep 21 repeating what you hear. If you want to know what's 22 going on, listen to these reports like this, go to the 23 websites, pay attention to what's going on. And the 24 newspapers are being very responsible, but we -- we 25 don't have a panic yet. But if you're going to get your 21 1 information, the best place to get the information are 2 the websites. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And on that subject, 4 the county website will be updated? 5 MR. THOMAS: It was updated Friday 6 afternoon. I've had -- additional information came in 7 today that I've forwarded on to Lisa as well as -- 8 haven't sent it to Bruce yet, but I wanted Lisa to take 9 a look at it and the Judge approve it before it goes to 10 the website. 11 JUDGE KELLY: And -- and for those of you 12 that don't know our public relations officer, she's 13 right over here and she is working overtime. Trust me. 14 You can get the accurate information on the county 15 website. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just want to say on 17 the social media side. There was things that came out 18 about a case at the state hospital that looked real and 19 it was -- it was absolutely fake and made up. And it's 20 sad that we have people that intentionally are trying to 21 cause panic. But there are. And, you know, my 22 recommendation would be to stay off Facebook, stay off 23 Instagram and all those right now for any of this kind 24 of information because it's just probably wrong. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I'll give you 22 1 another example. And I don't know if -- Dub and I have 2 talked about this, but I had a lot of people contacting 3 me and asking -- telling me a specific number of people 4 that have been moved to the VA with Corona virus and -- 5 and I said no. 6 So talked to somebody over there and they 7 said they were screening people on their way in who were 8 visitors. That was what it was. But by the time -- 9 just seeing somebody set up there, and you know how this 10 works, the rumor mill started. So by the time I was 11 even asked, they'd had a specific number. They had them 12 quarantined in the VA hospital, which is the last place 13 they'd take them, and -- you know, and it was -- it was 14 just going crazy. And it was all made up. 15 JUDGE KELLY: The responsible thing is to be 16 very careful about the information that you share. Make 17 sure that it's accurate. 18 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. And I think the one 19 point I want to make and I hope the media gets this and 20 posts it. COVID-19 -- there's not an infection in 21 Kerrville until the County Judge puts out a post or 22 message or the City Mayor does it or Peterson Regional. 23 Until that point, it's all false. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What's the procedure on 25 that, Dub? Would it be that they all have to confer or 23 1 does one release the information? 2 MR. THOMAS: No. No. It will -- the 3 original ones will come from Peterson once they find 4 out, or the CDC through Peterson. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's really where 6 it's confirmed. But you're saying -- just so everybody 7 knows -- the hospital would have to be -- they would 8 have to confirm it because the Mayor can't and the Judge 9 can't. 10 MR. THOMAS: That's correct. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But they can then 12 subsequently issue a statement. 13 MR. THOMAS: Correct. What the Sheriff has 14 brought me is under our county emergency management 15 plan, everybody -- there's a functional responsibility 16 annex in here. A lot of folks that work for the County, 17 who hold positions within the County, are part of these 18 -- this annex, so -- 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Mainly, we want to -- 20 what we want to get at is just like what happened this 21 weekend with the call at the state hospital, that 22 somebody walked into the state hospital and was positive 23 for COVID-19. Number one, I'd like to know how you can 24 just walk in to the state hospital. It's a forensic 25 hospital, it's a locked unit, You can't walk in. Some 24 1 people don't realize this. 2 But the Sheriff's responsibility under our 3 County Emergency Management plan is a warning. We have 4 that warning system through our websites and through 5 Code Red. And we don't -- we don't have a problem using 6 it if it's going to be factual. What I'm saying now, 7 what I'd warn against now is the panic. 8 If you look at grocery stores, there's -- I 9 couldn't believe it when I walked in Walmart. It's 10 stupid. Okay. It's totally stupid and we're letting 11 this get out of control through social media. And I'm 12 like Jonathan. If you can turn that off, turn it off. 13 Listen to CDC, your emergency management people, and 14 your official sites. Get away from this, you know, just 15 idiotic stuff. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Sensationalism. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's more than that. 18 You know, because the problem is it can be dangerous 19 too. You know, you create panic, it can be dangerous. 20 MR. THOMAS: So this -- can I borrow this 21 for just a second? This lists basically what the 22 annexes are and who has the functional responsibility 23 for those annexes, and that's their emergency number and 24 their function. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Can I insert something 25 1 there, Dub, if I may? 2 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Kudos to Dub and the 4 City Emergency Management Coordinator. When Dub first 5 came on board, he and the City Management Coordinator 6 got together and completely redid the Emergency 7 Management plan for Kerr County, which has got, what, 22 8 -- 9 MR. THOMAS: 22 annexes. Yes, sir. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- 22 annexes for fire, 11 flood, this kind of thing, airplane crashes. It's all 12 there, okay, it's who is responsible for what. So 13 probably -- you know, my judgment looking at that thing 14 then, Kerr County probably has as good an emergency 15 management plan as anybody in the state. So these guys 16 are well prepared and it's fully coordinated. It's -- 17 between the Judge and the City and Mayor and how this 18 thing operates and is controlled, very good. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And you have to 20 remember -- 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I would add something 22 to that. Some of these counties don't have an emergency 23 management coordinator. We're very fortunate to have 24 one. Some of our neighboring counties -- 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You have to remember, 26 1 Kerr County is also joint with Ingram. We do Ingram as 2 well as Kerrville. But Dub also does Ingram. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good point. Thanks. 4 MR. THOMAS: So, for like the 22 different 5 annexes that are in here, for the County Judge, his 6 primary function is direction and control. He's the 7 emergency director for the entire thing. When you look 8 at all 22 annexes, everybody has either a primary 9 responsibility as support or a coordination 10 responsibility. And all 22 annexes show me having a 11 coordination responsibility for them across there. So 12 anyway. 13 But this includes the Road & Bridge, the 14 County Attorney's Office, basically -- let's see, the 15 Sheriff, EMS responders, County Commissioners, County 16 Attorney, Justice of the Peace, Constables, Road & 17 Bridge, County Engineer, County Health Officer, 18 Environmental Health, Commissioners' Court Coordinator, 19 Auditor, Treasurer, Human Resources, Indigent Health 20 Services, County Veterans Service Officer, Court Clerks, 21 Citizens Emergency Response Team, as well as the 22 American Red Cross. Those are all the individuals who 23 are -- have some type of either primary support or 24 coordination responsibility in the emergency management 25 plan. 27 1 Any questions on anything I've talked about 2 so far? That's really all I have for this morning. The 3 update that I gave y'all earlier, y'all will be 4 receiving that every Monday in your e-mail. If 5 something else changes, something else more important 6 happens, I'll be -- I'll be talking to the Judge first 7 hand. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, one of the things 9 that Nadene -- Bob Reeves is out of town for some 10 personal reasons, and I visited with Nadene this morning 11 about elections that are coming up. And the 12 elections -- the primaries -- Nadine, do you want to go 13 over the information? 14 MRS. ALFORD: Yes. 15 JUDGE KELLY: I'm going to release Dub to go 16 ahead and sit down and we'll start in on elections then. 17 MR. THOMAS: Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Thank you, Dub. 19 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. Thank y'all. 20 MRS. ALFORD: The runoff, we had already 21 talked to the Cailloux for early voting, and they were 22 already booked several weeks ago. So I had got with 23 Jake and we scheduled early voting for the runoff to be 24 out at the Hill Country Youth Center. And so that's 25 May 18th through the 22nd. And then, of course, early 28 1 voting for the City of Kerrville starts April the 20th 2 is at the Cailloux, but the City of Ingram is also 3 having an election and they'll utilize the annex office 4 out there for their early voting and election day is May 5 the 2nd. 6 And then for election day for the runoff, 7 we'll be using the Union Church as the County facility. 8 And as of right now, the State has not said to cancel 9 any elections, so -- 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Thank you. 12 MS. ALFORD: Uh-huh. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Sheriff. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Just around the 15 courthouse and jail, I think, you know, once the 16 Governor declared his emergency disaster situation it 17 affects the jail drastically. All visitation has had to 18 be suspended from the jail, except for urgent attorney 19 visits. All out-of-county inmates being housed. The 20 ones we currently have will be here, but we have sent 21 message that we will not be taking any new ones from 22 other counties. It's -- you know, you don't keep people 23 from getting arrested and just to show how much it 24 affects everybody else, we had one arrested this weekend 25 and when he got housed in a cell, he ended up in a fight 29 1 immediately, because the other inmates in the cell 2 didn't want him bringing in the Corona virus into that 3 cell block. 4 But you know, we're facing all kinds of just 5 really kind of dumb stuff. There is an affect here 6 around the courthouse. I know most the courts because 7 of the Office of Court Administration has pretty well 8 suspended all of our courts unless it's an emergency 9 type situation. 10 JUDGE KELLY: And let's clarify that because 11 I know we have members of the press here. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. 13 JUDGE KELLY: The Office of the Court 14 Administration shortly before -- well, almost 15 simultaneously with the declaration of a state of 16 emergency by Governor Abbott, sent a notice out to all 17 the judges. And we have reduced all our hearings and 18 trials to essential matters only. The non-essential 19 things have been postponed until after April 1. So when 20 you look around the courthouse, the only thing that 21 you're going to see going on are the essential hearings 22 that have to take place. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And some of those are 24 your mental health or your -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, mental health is -- and, 30 1 of course, we immediately -- 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Things like that. 3 JUDGE KELLY: For those of you that know Guy 4 Hermann, I immediately got an e-mail from Guy Hermann 5 saying that mental health is essential. So all mental 6 health -- but the mental health is easy because -- 7 MRS. WALTER: We'll be sending out a press 8 release that details that this afternoon. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Right. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Judge, so just for 11 clarification, all of the County functions, County 12 Clerk, Tax Assessor Collector, license, they follow in 13 step? 14 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Just -- just to 16 make everybody clear and understand on that. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah, just the courts 19 and -- and the court hearings. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, I know. But I'm 21 just saying. People are wondering about the other City 22 -- I mean the other County functions, so -- 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. They're all 24 operational as normal. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Very clear. 31 1 Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On that point, 3 Commissioner, I think in a -- it is important to mention 4 that all County functions will continue at this time. 5 And I think the -- each elected official has some 6 discretion there, and the department heads have 7 discretion to modify their operations as need be. 8 I know I visited with the Maintenance 9 Department and they're going to be focusing primarily on 10 sanitizing everything. I know there's some things -- 11 Reagan's looking at some things with intakes of animals 12 and things of that nature. But I think all that's -- 13 you know, that's at the discretion of the Department 14 Heads at this time. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And by the way, it is 16 the regular flu season and there are people sick 17 everywhere with H1N1 and all the usual stuff that are 18 very ill. So everybody's getting -- don't let it become 19 a panic in your mind because you hear somebody has the 20 flu. There's plenty of different strains of flu out 21 there that are going on right now. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think like the 23 guidelines have said, if any county employees feel sick, 24 stay home. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Ms. Hall? 32 1 MS. HALL: Is there an update on the 2 schools, what are the steps after Spring Break? 3 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. Let me report that. I 4 talked to several of the -- 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I couldn't hear what 6 she said. 7 JUDGE KELLY: She's asking about the 8 schools. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 10 JUDGE KELLY: We are -- the schools are 11 stakeholders and they're included in all of these 12 decisions that are being made. They don't actually make 13 the determination as to an emergency. Those are made by 14 the Mayor and myself. But in speaking with a couple of 15 superintendents yesterday, the plan right now is that 16 unless things worsen, they plan to receive the students 17 back after Spring Break. So the schools are not 18 planning at this point to shut down just yet. It just 19 depends on how things go. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I believe they have a 21 board meeting set up for KISD on Thursday to make that 22 decision. 23 JUDGE KELLY: So everything is business as 24 usual. We're trying to reduce the number of people that 25 we gather at one time. That was the purpose of what we 33 1 did with the courts. There's no need to bring these 2 juries and witnesses and folks into the courthouse 3 unless it's absolutely necessary right now. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I know the Court has 5 received, and so the public knows, the larger events for 6 the next couple of weeks at the Hill Country Event 7 Center have all be canceled by the sponsors of the 8 events. There were some pretty large ones that were 9 coming in town and they withdrew on their own. I don't 10 believe we have anything, Jake, of have any size until 11 the first of April at this time? 12 MR. WILLIAMSON: Correct. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the Master Gardeners 14 are meeting and things like that. And I think that, you 15 know, organizations or entities that want to have small 16 meetings, they should be at their discretion. I don't 17 think we should try to dictate what some of these 18 private meetings do. 19 JUDGE KELLY: There is talk whether or not 20 to limit gatherings to 50 persons or smaller. Just put 21 that out there. It's being discussed. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, our Historical 23 Commission was supposed to have a noon meeting today, 24 they're not going to have it. And they chose that. 25 Because most of them are 60 years old or better. So 34 1 that was their decision. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Actually, that's probably been 3 -- the worse part of this so far in my household has 4 been when my wife realized that she was in the 5 vulnerable group. Then she got depressed. She didn't 6 like that. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We might add, too, 8 there's a conference call Wednesday at noon, with all 9 elected officials. I can't imagine all elected 10 officials around the nation at noon on this subject. So 11 I don't expect anything new is going to come out of it. 12 And one other thing, I might add. If you 13 didn't read the Kerrville Daily Times this weekend about 14 the Spanish flu when it hit Kerrville in 1918, really 15 interesting story, because it's the same old same old. 16 Isolate, wash your hands. They did those kinds of 17 things then. It was very interesting what they did and 18 there's not anything different than today. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, there wasn't a 20 run on toilet paper. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, there were a lot 22 of corn cobs. 23 (Laughter.) 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I think they hadn't 25 invented toilet paper yet, had they. 35 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the other thing 2 for the -- yeah. We know it, but I don't know if the 3 public all know it. I mean, the County Judge has broad 4 authority, or is the authority when it comes to 5 emergencies; it's not the Commissioners' Court as a 6 whole. 7 So he's -- in the past and from talking with 8 Judge Kelly, he's going to consult as best as he can. 9 But that includes waiving a lot of the requirements of 10 Commissioners Court if he deems it necessary to make a 11 decision. Forums, meeting notices, and other things 12 could be altered accordingly. And I visited with the 13 Judge a little bit. I got -- Friday, the Judge was -- 14 and part of Saturday, the Judge was out of state and all 15 of a sudden I said -- I got ahold of the Judge and I 16 said, when are you coming back to town, please. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Saturday. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And he came back 19 Saturday which is good news because a lot of that falls 20 -- would fall on me otherwise and I'm not near as 21 prepared as the Judge is, though. I visited with the 22 Judge and I think it is important for the Commissioners' 23 Court probably to get a little bit more involved with 24 the emergency management because if something did happen 25 to the judge it does fall down to -- 36 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Read -- read the 2 plan. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, it's 4 there. I know it goes to me next. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. But it's -- at 6 least there's a plan. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Oh, there's a 8 plan. 9 JUDGE KELLY: And Dub -- we're in good hands 10 with Dub. Very good hands. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think it is 12 important for the City of Kerrville and the County, 13 which would be the Mayor and the County Judge to work 14 together in any announcements if they do decide to limit 15 size and groups or recommend it. Hopefully it will be a 16 joint decision. I think it would be much better for the 17 community. 18 JUDGE KELLY: And just for everyone's 19 information, I was on the telephone last night at nine 20 o'clock until about 9:30 with the Mayor talking about 21 these issues. So I talked with superintendents 22 yesterday. I talked to the Mayor yesterday. We're all 23 -- we're all in the loop. And we are visiting. So just 24 to let you know that we're working. 25 Okay. With that, I think it's time to pay 37 1 the bills. 2 MRS. GRINSTEAD: We have a 9:30 timed item. 3 JUDGE KELLY: A 9:30 timed item? Where is 4 that? 5 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Item 4.1(a). 6 JUDGE KELLY: 4.1(a). Executive Session. 7 Is Jay here? 8 MRS. GRINSTEAD: He's here. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So at this time we're 10 going to briefly go into Executive Session to get a 11 report from our attorney. So if you would, wait 12 outside. This shouldn't take too long. I don't think 13 we need a court reporter on this. 14 (Executive Session.) 15 JUDGE KELLY: I make a motion for Kerr 16 County to opt out of the Federal class action on the 17 opioid litigation as presented by our attorney. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Third. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So I made the motion, 22 seconded by Commissioner Belew for Kerr County to opt 23 out of the Federal class action at this point and 24 cooperate with the State's Attorney Generals. Any other 25 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Four zero, 38 1 unanimous. 2 Okay, now we're back to paying bills. Item 3 2.1. 4 MRS. SHELTON: Invoices for consideration 5 today, Kerr County, $525,377.06. Airport, $45,543.54. 6 Adult Probation, $69,785.85. Juvenile Probation, 7 $10,327.96. And the 198th DA forfeiture fund, $340.56. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I move we pay the bills 9 as presented by the Auditor. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 12 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Letz to pay 13 the bills as presented. Any further discussion? Those 14 in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, four zero. 15 Budget amendments? 16 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Late bills? 18 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 19 JUDGE KELLY: And -- okay. Court orders. 20 Thank you. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. We do have court 22 orders from our March 9th meeting, and I recommended a 23 change to one, it's Court Order 37993. I changed it to 24 be a little bit more specific. This is relating to the 25 permitting Republic Services to use proceeds from tax 39 1 exempt bonds. And I modified the Court Order to read, 2 Approve the certificate for order and for order to 3 permit Republic Services to use proceeds from tax exempt 4 bonds for their solid waste disposal facility located in 5 Kerr County. I had made it a little bit more clear. 6 And with that, I'll make a motion that we 7 approve that modification and the Court Orders 37991 8 through 38014. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Motion's been made by 11 Commissioner Letz, and seconded by Commissioner Moser to 12 approve the Court Orders as revised. Any other 13 discussion? 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I abstained from the 15 vote. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Should I abstain from 18 approving the Court Order? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's a different 21 matter. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A Court Order -- a Court 23 Order is a Court Order. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm just teasing. I 25 just wanted to see if -- the Judge always gives us the 40 1 legal. If there was an ordinance or something on there. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, I think you're free to 3 vote for whatever you want. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 5 JUDGE KELLY: So those in favor of approving 6 the Orders as revised, raise your hand. Unanimous, four 7 zero. 8 Item 3.1 semi-annual reports on projects and 9 activities. We've -- we're going to pass the Tax 10 Assessor-Collector's Office report. And we'll have 11 Human Resources do the next one. 12 MRS. DOSS: Good morning. I put this report 13 in y'all's box, so that you have it. I have a few extra 14 copies if you don't. I mean it's just a two-pager. 15 So just real quickly, since October the 1st 16 of '19, we've had 58 new hires. 31 of those have been 17 in Elections Department. In that same time frame we've 18 had 53 terminations, 31 of those have been elections. 19 So basically 27 new hires and 22 terminals. 20 So items of interest, I have the HR 21 construction update. We've got walls, looks great. 22 They're currently going to be texturing the walls this 23 week and then painting, and then we have flooring and 24 electrical, and then electrical inspection, and then 25 Bruce will come in at the very end and wire us up for 41 1 computers. So I'm told two weeks, twoish weeks, 2 sometime during that time frame. 3 Yet another item, our Indigent Health, we're 4 going to change up the procedure on how we do this. The 5 Sheriff's Department, nothing will change. We will get 6 bookings every day, and we will file those in paper 7 files. We won't put them into the Indigent Health 8 Program. I've visited with other counties and they said 9 that that's complete overkill. They only put them into 10 the system once they seek medical attention. So that 11 will save a ton of time. 12 And other counties, what they have done, 13 they've passed a Resolution that -- for the 14 Commissioners' Court agreeing that everybody that's in 15 the jail is automatically qualified to be eligible for 16 the Indigent Health Program. I visited with several, 17 and they're going to be forwarding me copies of their 18 Resolution, and maybe that's something that we'd like to 19 consider. But as of now, we have to go into their 20 commissary account to see if they qualify. 21 And, you know, if the Court doesn't want to 22 make those changes, then we can still comply with those 23 guidelines. But just -- you know, we're bogging down 24 the software system by adding everyone in. And a lot of 25 times within three or four days people have been 42 1 released, so they've been put into the system for 2 nothing. And once they're in, they're always in. You 3 can't take them out. 4 Compensation study. You know, as far as 5 cancellations of meetings, I haven't spoken to anybody. 6 So I'll be following up with those guys this week. But 7 tentatively they were -- they were going to be here 8 March 24th and 25th, so I'll be visiting with them. 9 I also visited with Larry Boccaccio from TAC 10 this morning, and his updates, basically there, everyone 11 is telecommuting, working from home. How do you say it? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Teleconference. 13 MRS. DOSS: Yeah. From home for the next 14 three weeks. All travel has been canceled. And they're 15 going to be updating the website as far as trainings 16 coming up, and what they're going to be doing with 17 trainings. 18 Basically, everybody except for essential 19 personnel, and I asked him to define essential 20 personnel, and he wasn't sure. He figured claims 21 because they are not able to work from home, and maybe, 22 you know, directors. So that's all he could tell me. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I had that conversation 24 yesterday with Dr. Foust, what is essential and what is 25 nonessential. And I liken it to the old definition of 43 1 pornography that Justice White gave to the Supreme 2 Court. He'll know it when he sees it. So I think when 3 it comes to essential at this point, we pretty much know 4 what is essential and what is not. And that's what 5 we've done with the trials, the hearings. 6 MRS. DOSS: Right. Okay. Well, the other 7 -- we recently had a loss runs that were brought -- 8 Larry Boccaccio brought loss runs and I have the full 9 report with pie charts and graphs and color, if y'all 10 would like to see. 11 But between a period of 2017 and 2020, we 12 had a total number of 118 claims that paid out about 13 129,000 approximately. And I have it broken down from 14 department, and that the cause -- but the top five 15 causes are falls, slips and trips. Eleven of those were 16 89,000. Strain or injury from pushing or pulling 17 something, we had two of those at 20 -- over 25,000. 18 Other causes that were not classified, 11 of those were 19 25,000. Struck or injured by an animal or insect, like 20 inspect bites mostly, 13 of those were 13,000. And then 21 slips, trips or falls on the same level, same surface 22 level, again six of those for 8500. 23 The top departments were Road & Bridge, a 24 payout of about 31,000. Thirty-one six. Law 25 enforcement, we had 50 claims that paid out about 44 1 19,600. Clerical, which typically should be lower, were 2 not quite as -- you know, don't have precarious type 3 jobs, we sit. But there were 13 claims for a payout of 4 44,000. And most of those were slips, trips and falls. 5 And Animal Services, we had 18 claims that paid out 6 fifteen seven. And volunteer fire departments, we had 7 four of those that paid out a little over 9,000. 8 So I think it's very important to continue 9 with the trainings. We had one scheduled for April 8th 10 on slips, trips and falls. They were going to have 11 three sessions. We're going to have one specially out 12 at the Road & Bridge, but I'm not sure if that's still 13 on. 14 JUDGE KELLY: I think we're okay for April 15 8th right now. Everybody's projecting April 1. 16 MS. DOSS: Okay. And then we did have an 17 April 2nd blood drive planned. And we -- I was going to 18 be at the management -- County Management Risk 19 Conference. And I'm told there will be updates about 20 that today potentially. 21 And then we had the lunch and learn wellness 22 topic this past Thursday. Fairly good attendance. We 23 had two different sessions at two different locations. 24 Lots of very good information on how to stay well, eat 25 right, exercise. And I think that we're using that -- 45 1 the County incentive money, and I think that was very 2 much appreciated offering everybody lunches. And so 3 that was nice. Hope we can do that again. And that's, 4 I think, all I have. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good report. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Now what did I do with 9 my agenda? 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Here you go. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Item 3.2(a) Maintenance 12 Department report. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner Harris 14 isn't here. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Let's go to (b) 16 Veterans Services. We've already -- 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. I think we've 18 covered that pretty much. I just would reiterate one 19 thing real quickly, just to compare what Marty and Jenna 20 have done in the past year compared to the previous 21 year, the number of phone calls, 15 times as many, 22 e-mail 17 times as many, walk-ins 7 times as many, 23 mailouts 33 times as many. 24 They're working extremely well. They work 25 almost daily with their advisory group. So I think 46 1 things are going very well. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is most of that 3 incoming? 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's both, yeah. The 5 calls are incoming from -- yeah, those are incoming 6 calls. Right. So that's -- that's it on Veterans 7 Services. 8 JUDGE KELLY: And then the last one under 9 3.2 is (c) is airport. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: There's something that 11 I have on airport. We're going to go into Executive 12 Session on economic development and I'll bring that up 13 there. I don't really have anything else on the 14 airport. I don't know if Jonathan does. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I have that 16 they're working on their budget and they have some 17 capital items that they're trying to figure out how to 18 get them in budgets for the City and County. That's 19 their main thing that they're working on and the moment. 20 And there are -- there will be a -- they're 21 looking also on the -- and will be coming a transition 22 of board members. They're changing their format a 23 little bit, making the terms better. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: One each year. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. And I believe 47 1 they also have some names, because there will be a 2 vacancy coming up, I guess, in June so -- 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that's the date of 5 their -- 6 JUDGE KELLY: I saw that. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. They have a list 8 of individuals. And the way they have done -- handled 9 that in the past is they interview them and then they 10 will come forward to the City and County for 11 recommendation. And they've done a really outstanding 12 job on bringing in the right mix of people. They try to 13 keep a real estate type person there. And all of them 14 have Air Force experience, but they really try to fit 15 certain conditions out there. And have really done a 16 good job. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Then with that, we're 19 going to go -- conclude the regular session part of this 20 and go into Executive Session for the other items. So 21 we will adjourn into Executive Session. It is 10:08. 22 (Executive Session.) 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. It is 10:29 and 24 Commissioners' Court is back in regular session, open 25 session. And there being no other business at this time 48 1 then -- 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let's see. Did we need 3 to do something on this thing here? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Did we do that? 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah we have to vote on 6 that. 7 JUDGE KELLY: We voted on it. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. You're correct. 9 JUDGE KELLY: So all I gotta do is sign it 10 and give it to Jody. 11 Okay. With that, Court is adjourned. 12 * * * * * * 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 49 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 Court Reporter in and for Kerr County, do hereby certify 6 that the above and foregoing pages contain and comprise 7 a true and correct transcription of the proceedings had 8 in the above-entitled Special Commissioners' Court. 9 Dated this the 26th day of March, A.D. 2020. 10 11 /s/DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD Certified Shorthand Reporter 12 No. 953 Expiration Date 04/31/2021 13 * * * * * * 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25