1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Special Session 5 Monday, March 30, 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 DON HARRIS, Commissioner Precinct 4 2 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 *** Commissioners' Comments. 4 4 1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 9 action regarding update, facility use and 5 other matters related to COVID-19. 6 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 30 action to extend the Local State of 7 Disaster Due to a Public Health and Economic Emergency Proclamation that was 8 signed by Judge Kelly on March the 24th, 2020. 9 1.3 Update regarding actions being taken to 31 10 prevent any interruption of 9-1-1 services in Kerr County from trenching and boring 11 on Texas Highway 27. 12 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 35 action to sponsor use of the Hill Country 13 Youth Event Center by Peterson Health for a drive-thru screening station for patients 14 experiencing symptoms of COVID-19. 15 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 39 action regarding an Administrative Leave 16 Policy. 17 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 55 action to accept the annual financial 18 report, which includes the independent auditor's report and audited financial 19 statements for the period ending September 30, 2019 as presented by 20 Armstrong, Vaughan and Associates, Inc. 21 1.7 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 60 action to postpone the Memorial Day event. 22 1.8 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 62 23 action to ratify and confirm suspending use of the recycling trailers until further 24 notice. A motion and a second were made at the March 23rd meeting to suspend service 25 until further notice, but a vote was never taken. 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.9 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 69 action to ratify and confirm Resolution 4 approving submission of a grant application for the Kerr County Crime 5 Victims' Services Department. 6 1.10 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 72 action to approve Change Order 2 of 7 Construction Contract for CDBG Project 7217045 using CEDAP funding. 8 1.11 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 73 9 action on the appraisal and sale of Kerr County real estate in Precinct 1. 10 2.1 Pay Bills. 77 11 2.2 Budget Amendments. 77 12 3.3 Status reports from Liaison Commissioners. 79 13 *** Adjournment. 81 14 *** Reporter's Certificate. 82 15 * * * * * * 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 JUDGE KELLY: It is March the 30th, 2020, 2 and the Commissioners' Court of Kerr County is now in 3 session. Reminder for everybody to turn off cell 4 phones. There's so few of us here that I've got my cell 5 phone on because I think it's a call-in number. But if 6 you need to have your cell phone on, we'll make an 7 exception today. So step outside and take your call. 8 We don't have any public input because we 9 don't have that many people in the courtroom. If the 10 public wants to know I think we've got ten in the 11 courtroom. 12 Okay. Commissioners' Comments. Start with 13 4 today. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Start with 4. Boy, I 15 think we all got a little bit of rain. But these are 16 different times right now. And we're getting through 17 it. I see a lot of traffic to our local restaurants and 18 stuff. I'm sure it's not up to scale what they normally 19 have, but I think some people are going out of the way 20 to make sure they're helping them. And we have to 21 remember our -- our businesses that we lean on, year in 22 and year out, to support our Little League or whatever, 23 school functions that we ask them to contribute to. So 24 let's remember that, and now and once all of this is 25 over. 5 1 JUDGE KELLY: Good. I agree. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Basically the same 3 thing. It's difficult times. I appreciate everyone's 4 cooperation, everyone's cooperation in the community. 5 And people that need to be safe and think about things, 6 you know, carry on life as much as you can but be very 7 careful. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think the -- I think 9 the person that said it the other day very well. And 10 even though -- and some of these doctors, that even 11 though Kerr County has no reported cases of COVID-19, it 12 will, and it will probably explode. Okay. We'll 13 probably have a lot. Perhaps we won't. But I think 14 everybody's doing a very good job of doing everything 15 that they can to -- to keep our community safe and keep 16 their own home safe. So things are -- things seem to -- 17 people are accommodating us. It's not unlike the Second 18 World War. Everybody pitched in and made sacrifices and 19 that's what everybody's having to do now. And it will 20 -- this too will pass. And with that I pass. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I have nothing to add. 22 JUDGE KELLY: I'll share a couple of things 23 countywide. First of all, everybody needs to know, I 24 think this is very important, that we do have a 25 leadership team for the joint emergency operations 6 1 center. And we did have a press conference on Friday. 2 I know some people weren't able to see it. But the 3 Mayor, the City, the County, Peterson Regional Medical 4 Center, who has stepped up big time, and I have some 5 handouts that they sent over this morning for everybody. 6 Schreiner University and KISD, and we are meeting 7 regularly, we are talking almost daily. The Mayor and I 8 seem to be exchanging some sort of communication almost 9 hourly sometimes, but we're staying on top of 10 everything. 11 The other thing I would share countywide is 12 there's been a lot -- I've received a lot of requests to 13 go ahead and issue a shelter in place or stay at home 14 order. It's running about 50/50. About 50 percent of 15 the people are very adamant that we need to do it. 16 About 50 percent of the people are very adamant that we 17 shouldn't do it until we have the first positive 18 COVID-19 case. 19 There are those -- that input is pretty 20 evenly divided between the more affluent neighborhoods 21 who want to shutdown because they have their benefits 22 and are not dependent on earning a wage, and then the 23 more blue collar neighborhoods who are still trying to 24 keep their businesses going. And that's just what it 25 is. 7 1 The Mayor and I on Friday left it where it 2 is right now, the same thing, it's a voluntary stay at 3 home. And we visit about it, like I said, all the time. 4 So we're on top of that. I think that's probably the 5 only thing I have to share county-wide. But we are ever 6 vigilant and we'll be talking more about it this week. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And you do have a PR, a 8 public notice every Thursday after you have your meeting 9 on YouTube? 10 JUDGE KELLY: I've been doing that, I'm 11 probably going to be doing it more than that. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Okay. 13 JUDGE KELLY: But what I do on Thursdays, 14 after our meeting, is we're very careful not to share 15 confidential information that we hear from the other 16 partners, the other stakeholders in this, because they 17 have sensitive issues, too. But we do share very 18 confidentially and candidly with one another in those 19 meetings. The part that I share is the part as to the 20 County. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But that's every 22 Thursday afternoon? 23 JUDGE KELLY: Every Thursday, probably 24 midday. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. So just to let 8 1 the public know that they can get an update every week 2 from you. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. And I'm probably doing 4 one tomorrow and see where we are. At this point, I 5 think probably not out of line to have two or maybe even 6 three a week. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And will they know when 8 those are going to be on the website? Can they find 9 that on the County website? 10 JUDGE KELLY: I'd have to ask IT what -- how 11 they do that. I don't know. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 13 JUDGE KELLY: They're YouTube, and I know 14 they get posted and they're usually up within about 30 15 minutes to an hour after the conference. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But we should have a 18 press release about it. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So people know where to 21 go. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. Okay, with that, let's 23 move on to the agenda. We've got Dub Thomas, our 24 Emergency Management Coordinator with us today. Item 25 1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action 9 1 regarding update, facility use and other matters related 2 to COVID-19. Dub Thomas. 3 MR. THOMAS: Good morning, Judge. Good 4 morning, Commissioners. I wanted to fill you in again 5 this morning on our COVID-19 monitoring. Our EOC 6 activation level, we still -- we continue to operate at 7 an increased level. NHH -- of course, the health and 8 medical plan has been implemented, and we're still 9 operating at Phase 3 of that pandemic plan. 10 The EOC is actually operating with full 11 staff now but we're working remotely at this time only 12 because we're trying to honor the social distancing, and 13 staying away from each other as much as possible. 14 The call center continues to be open for 15 citizens needing information. It's open from Monday 16 through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. That number is 17 258-1111. And as of this morning for last week, ending 18 at 5:00, there were close to 150 COVID-19 related calls 19 to the call center. 20 The current situation, U.S. total infected 21 is a 122,653. U.S. total deaths is 2,112. These come 22 off of the CDC sites as well as DSHS. The Texas 23 infected is 2,552. Total of 34 deaths. Total tested is 24 25,483. Of that, the private labs have run 22,026 25 tests, the public labs have run 3,457 tests. 10 1 Just to kind of give you the numbers for 2 those areas, those counties that are surrounding us, 3 Kendall County has seven infected, Medina County three, 4 Llano County two, Blanco County one, Burnet County one, 5 and Kerr County continues to stay at zero. Our 6 operational priority is public safety is still the top 7 priority and will remain the top priority. We're going 8 to continue to provide timely and accurate information 9 to the public concerning the spread of the virus and 10 ways to avoid becoming infected. 11 We will continue to work with the City of 12 Kerrville Emergency Management, Kerrville Fire 13 Department, EMS, Peterson Regional and all the other 14 stakeholders, and will continue to -- well, an infection 15 control, we're going to continue developing tactics to 16 test, isolate, and monitor and treat those folks that 17 have been affected or those that are under 18 investigation. 19 The mobile testing begins this morning at 20 9:00 a.m. and the Kerr County Youth Event Center has 21 been opened up. It's operating with Peterson Regional 22 has staffed it, and at this time, they're taking folks 23 who have -- it's by appointment only. So you either 24 have to have one from their primary care physician or 25 one from a -- the urgent care center. So, once again, 11 1 we're trying to flatten out that -- that curve and 2 trying to keep the surge from going to the hospital. 3 And also from surging at urgent care. 4 Our public education and outreach, we still 5 have these -- a line at Peterson Regional for talking 6 with a nurse at 896-4200, extension one. And that's for 7 those folks who believe they are sick or ill or may have 8 been exposed to the virus. The Kerr County EOC is 9 manned and we still have our, like I said, our 10 information line of 258-1111 open. And folks can call 11 that line to get notice about local events that have 12 been canceled, closed offices, schools, etc. Also about 13 alternate means for accessing the local offices. 14 The City and the County websites continue to 15 be updated to include links to Peterson Regional center, 16 the CDC, the Department of State Health Services, and I 17 believe there was also some information this morning 18 posted on there about the mobile testing being done at 19 the Youth Event Center. I'm sorry. Not testing; 20 screening. It's mobile screening. 21 We're going to establish a list of recovery 22 sources to assist citizens with information for 23 assistance for food, utilities and rental assistance. I 24 brought this up the other day. It's going to be 25 important for us to start looking at the economic 12 1 recovery for this County, and we need to start it now. 2 It's going to take a while to get it set up, but we need 3 a list of resources for those types of things for folks 4 -- where folks can get assistance with food, rent and 5 utilities. We're currently generating that list and as 6 soon as I get that list done up, we'll get it out on the 7 website. That will also be at the call center. 8 Just kind of reiterate what we talked about 9 last time. Part of the economic recovery is the Small 10 Business Administration established an economic injury 11 disaster loan. It can provide up to two million dollars 12 in financial assistance. Local businesses that are 13 interested in that can go to www.sba.gov/disaster and 14 click on apply for assistance. And that information is 15 also contained on the Kerrville Chamber of Commerce 16 website. 17 And the Department of Health and Human 18 Services, this is reiterated from last week as well, 19 there's a malicious fake online Corona virus map. If 20 you click on it, you're liable to get a malware of some 21 kind, you know, the crook can find -- if the crooks can 22 figure out a way to get it to you, they'll do it and 23 this is one of them. So John Hopkins University is a 24 fake website and once you download that information, you 25 get a little malware and it starts infecting your 13 1 computer. Any questions on anything this morning? 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Dub -- 3 MR. THOMAS: Sir? 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: -- I got one. You 5 have any idea or do we know if there's some people that 6 going to the Event Center today, do we have any 7 scheduled or -- 8 MR. THOMAS: There are scheduled -- my 9 understanding is Peterson Regional is scheduling those 10 folks in 15-minute intervals. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. But we don't 12 know how many are set for today? 13 MR. THOMAS: No, sir. I don't have that 14 number. It's going to run from 9:00 a.m. till 3:30 p.m. 15 every day, seven days a week. If it looks like we -- we 16 start to exceed the capacity to run, we'll open two 17 lanes and then we can -- if that doesn't work then we'll 18 extend the hours. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Gotcha. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Dub, would you clarify 21 so everybody understands the difference, you used the 22 term screening and then test, so let everybody know what 23 the difference is. 24 MR. THOMAS: Okay. So the screening -- 25 yeah, the difference -- and that's a big issue between 14 1 -- as far as understanding about the virus. You have to 2 be screened first in order to be tested. So what 3 happens is, when you go see your primary care physician, 4 you go to urgent care or you go to the Youth Event 5 Center, you will be screened first. Meaning what they 6 are going to do is they're going to eliminate any one of 7 a number of upper respiratory viruses or infections that 8 you may have before you're actually tested. If you -- 9 JUDGE KELLY: That's what Corey Edmondson 10 and I refer to as the rule-out screenings. To rule-out 11 normal illnesses, that's the first screening. 12 MR. THOMAS: Right. So once all those other 13 viruses and upper respiratory diseases have been ruled 14 out, then you're eligible for COVID-19 testing. And 15 that testing involves taking a nasal swab, a nasal 16 sample, and sending it off either to a Department of 17 State Health Services lab or a private lab. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do they do that at the 19 Event Center? 20 JUDGE KELLY: No. 21 MR. THOMAS: They will be -- I believe 22 they'll do the swabbing. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's what I'm saying, 24 the swabbing. 25 MR. THOMAS: They'll do the swabbing -- 15 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: They do the swabbing. 2 MR. THOMAS: -- and then they send it off to 3 the lab. Yes, sir. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So even just for 5 clarification, even to have an appointment at the Youth 6 Event Center, you have to have a doctor's authorization 7 to do that, correct? 8 MR. THOMAS: That's correct. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And an appointment. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Or -- or -- a doctor's order 11 or an appointment with the urgent care clinic. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Okay. And then 13 you go, so -- so you don't even get -- so you've 14 essentially been screened by the doctor, but then you go 15 out there and get another screening to make sure. And 16 then a swabbing, if necessary, and then they send the 17 swab sample to San Antonio? 18 MR. THOMAS: I don't think the urgent care 19 or the primary care physicians are doing the actual 20 screening. I think they're taking up the appointments. 21 If you say you have an upper respiratory infection, 22 they're making the appointment and sending you to the 23 Youth Event Center. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Gotcha. 25 JUDGE KELLY: As of last week. I'm -- I'm 16 1 kind of up to speed on this one. What the doctors and 2 the Urgent Care Center do is they determine whether or 3 not the patients have the symptoms consistent with 4 COVID-19. And if they do, if they're sick, just -- just 5 view it as sick. If they're sick then they get sent for 6 screening, the rule-out screening. Because they want to 7 make sure that it's not one of the usual Corona viruses 8 that -- that we get during the flu season, or strep, 9 flu, stuff like that. 10 And there's a whole respiratory panel that 11 has over a dozen different viruses that are screened in 12 that process. And that's what they're doing out at the 13 Youth Event Center is that. There is no testing in Kerr 14 County. We have the rule-out screening and then we have 15 the COVID-19 screening. Those are the two levels of 16 screening that we have. 17 MR. THOMAS: That's correct. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's also good to 19 mention here that there's a lot of rumor, and when 20 somebody hears what the Judge said reminded me, I was 21 told over the weekend there were people that tested 22 positive at the hospital. I said they didn't test 23 positive at the hospital because they ain't testing them 24 at the hospital. So there's stuff -- and -- and there 25 -- the distinction is clear, I hope, for everybody 17 1 watching, that the test and the screening are two 2 different things. You can go down to the Youth Event 3 Center and be screened today and not get the test. They 4 can say you're fine, you have allergies, whatever, send 5 you on your merry way. 6 Only if you show the real symptoms will you 7 be tested. And you're not going to be tested at the 8 hospital. So there's rumors out there that we need to 9 stop. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I mean -- look, just -- 11 there's one other rumor that -- that was -- came from 12 the courthouse last week. And that is that the CDC's 13 calling individuals. The CDC is not calling 14 individuals. If you hear that, just discard it. That 15 is a false rumor. 16 I'm sorry. Go ahead, Commissioner. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I was going to 18 say one thing we have contributing to some people 19 wanting screened is we got oak pollen through the roof 20 right now. I mean it's ridiculous. 21 JUDGE KELLY: I call it moak. Mold and oak. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. Yeah. If -- if 23 someone screens negative on the rule-out screening, how 24 then does the test get ordered? 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. That is -- I can 18 1 explain that. Let me kind of backup. Corey Edmondson 2 did a masterful job of explaining all of this at the 3 press conference on Friday. And that video should be 4 available on the City's website because they recorded it 5 all. He did an excellent job. He also has provided -- 6 and don't let me forget your question, yours was what? 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: If someone screens 8 negative on the rule-out screening, how then do they get 9 the -- 10 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. Okay. Let me answer 11 that question directly. If you get a negative on your 12 rule-out screening that says that you are sick with 13 something other than the normal things, that's what it 14 tells people, that's what we had last week. Okay. 15 Somebody was sick with something other than that. 16 Then you go -- if -- if it's reported 17 negative, that's reported to the State, the State health 18 officials. And they have their own criteria for 19 determining who will be approved for a COVID-19 test. 20 That authorization comes directly from the State health 21 authorities. State health. And so you get on a list. 22 And it may be that you meet the criteria and you're 23 ordered to take a test or you don't meet their criteria. 24 I don't know exactly what their criteria is. That's -- 25 that's way above our pay grade. But they have health 19 1 care officials that are screening that. Okay. And if 2 they -- if they approve you, then you get on the list 3 here to be screened for COVID-19. That's the swab up 4 the nose. And that gets sent to the testing facility. 5 And while we're talking about testing 6 facilities, let me also add -- and Dub, you help me with 7 this. If it goes to a state lab, a public state lab, 8 test results usually come back in 24 to 48 hours. If it 9 goes to a private lab because of the volume of testing 10 that they're doing, the resources -- the limited 11 resource they may have, it may take days. And I've 12 heard as long as six, sometimes even eight days to get 13 the test results back. Just so that everybody knows. 14 If you get tested, it may take a few days before you 15 know. 16 Now, one of the things that -- and again, I 17 cannot praise Peterson enough, they have been really, 18 really good. As I -- as I was learning all this last 19 week, I was working with Corey Edmondson, Dr. Mac 20 Glanton, and Pam Burton, the infection disease nurse. 21 As they explained it all to me, I asked them if they 22 would put it in writing. Just reduce all of this -- the 23 stuff that I learned last week, if they could put it in 24 writing. And I received it this morning and it will be 25 -- copies will be made available to everybody, be put on 20 1 the website. It will be distributed to department heads 2 and elected officials so that -- the first one that he 3 sent is what to do if you're exposed and how we do -- 4 how we monitor and how we isolate. 5 And it gives you -- it's not -- one of the 6 things I was listening to last week was if you were 7 exposed, then your suppose was quarantined, and anybody 8 your spouse was exposed to, they were quarantined. 9 Wrong. That's not what you do. But it's all spelled 10 out right here. Be in black and white and it will be on 11 the website. 12 He also sent us one from the CDC website 13 with what to do if you're sick. So there's one if you 14 get exposed and one if you're sick. And again, I 15 strongly recommend everybody please go watch that video 16 of Corey Edmondson's presentation. And these will be 17 available. And we're getting better educated. And 18 information at this point, accurate information, is very 19 helpful. 20 So that's kind of where we are with that. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a comment. Two 22 comments actually. One, if you are sick, follow the 23 rules exactly and stay home. I mean, that's when you 24 really need to self-quarantine. And that's one of the 25 things -- I mean, and it may take some time before 21 1 you're diagnosed one -- you know, positive -- either 2 way. If you're sick, stay home. Period. It's a 3 critical thing to keep it from spreading. And any other 4 virus from spreading. I mean, it's a practice I think 5 that we've gotten into the habit of -- of it's so 6 important to get to work, so important to get to school, 7 for various reasons, that people go places when they 8 shouldn't. If you're sick, stay home. 9 And the other thing is, I just want to 10 compliment the Judge. I mean, I don't -- this is more 11 for the public. I think everyone on the Court knows. 12 The Judge spends virtually -- I don't know how many 13 hours a day, probably eight to ten, 12 hours a day on 14 this. He is on continuous calls with Peterson Regional, 15 Mayor, like he said, and I think that we're very 16 fortunate to have the dedication he's shown. It's 17 humbling the amount of time he's putting into this and I 18 think the community needs to be aware of that. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Dub, when someone goes 20 to the Event Center to be screened, okay, why don't you 21 elaborate a little bit what the process is. They stay 22 in their car, as I understand it, drive-thru the AG 23 barn, okay, and through the show barn. So they don't 24 have to get out. The staff comes to the car, does 25 whatever they do. Why don't you just explain that, if 22 1 you will. 2 MR. THOMAS: So you'll come into the Youth 3 Event Center off of Highway 27. And you'll turn in. And 4 basically it's just the same setup as we had for the flu 5 clinic every year, with the exception of now you drive 6 into the barn, rather than straight on through. 7 JUDGE KELLY: And there will be a deputy 8 there. 9 MR. THOMAS: We'll have a deputy there. 10 There are numerous RN's and PA's there from Peterson 11 Regional. We'll drive into the barn and they'll take -- 12 they'll direct you from there where to stop. And they 13 start the screening process there. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So the patient -- 15 quote, patient stays in their vehicles? 16 MR. THOMAS: Stays in their vehicle, yes, 17 sir. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good. 19 JUDGE KELLY: They'll be lined up according 20 to their appointment time. Okay. They'll proceed in 21 one at a time. The medical -- that's a full clinic over 22 there. Well, we call it the show barn but it is a full 23 clinic and there will be physicians there. But the 24 health care personnel will be out in full PPE, personal 25 protective equipment. They're going to be in the suits. 23 1 People will stay in their cars. They will be swabbed, 2 the window will be put back up. If they need to see a 3 physician or a health care provider, they will be there 4 at the time. This is full service. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good deal. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Good. People we should 7 be praying for. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Absolutely. 9 MR. THOMAS: This is all to keep pressure 10 off urgent care and Peterson Regional's emergency 11 department. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. It is actually an 13 extension. An outreach clinic for the urgent care 14 clinic. That's what it is. 15 MR. THOMAS: In fact, I think they named it 16 that, the Peterson Outreach Clinic. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. Thank you. 18 JUDGE KELLY: A few other things I'd like to 19 clarify. I say clarify, Dub's doing a great job. Dub 20 and I have talked about quite a few things. We've 21 talked a lot more than we ever have before, I'll tell 22 you that. There were a couple of counties that were 23 left off of the count. Bandera County still has zero 24 positives. And Gillespie County still has zero 25 positives. I did have the opportunity this weekend to 24 1 visit with Judge Schuchart in Medina County. I was with 2 him two weeks ago at the mental health and MHDD meeting 3 when they got their first diagnosis, and that was a 4 pretty rough one. A lady had traveled to the 5 Philippines and back through Japan. It was 6 travel-related. She was seen at the emergency room in 7 San Antonio. Went through a rough patch. Was actually 8 on a ventilator for a while. She is home and doing very 9 well. The other couple that was exposed, to make up the 10 three, was -- it was an exposed -- they were exposed to 11 somebody that had a positive -- that had COVID-19. 12 They've been treated. They are what they call 13 self-isolated. We use -- we don't use these terms 14 correctly. I'm learning how to use them. But they've 15 been sent home and they are self-isolated. They're not 16 even quarantined. They just are staying home and 17 they're being monitored that way. So over the last two 18 weeks, they've had three in Medina County. They do not 19 have a stay -- a shelter in place or stay at home order. 20 And their three are doing well. Now, let's all pray 21 that we're that lucky and that blessed. But the 22 surrounding counties are doing pretty good. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, can you explain 24 the difference between self-quarantine and self-isolate? 25 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. Self-isolate. If you're 25 1 sick, you self-isolate. If you are diagnosed with a 2 positive you're going to be self-quarantined. And 3 self-monitored, I'll -- I'll walk you through just an 4 example. Because this -- and I'll give you a real life 5 example because we had it right here at the courthouse. 6 We had somebody that in one of our offices 7 that got sick, and they came to the office and reported 8 sick and then there was a lot of confusion and we had 9 the rumor of the false positive -- of the presumptive 10 positive. And at that point, people will -- thought 11 that because that person was exposed, a number of things 12 happened. 13 The first thing that happens is, and 14 properly so, is everybody that's exposed to the person 15 that has the positive needs to self-isolate, and their 16 spouses self-monitor. And what that means is that they 17 check signs and symptoms twice a day. Temperature, 18 sneezing, coughing, tightness, you know, in your chest 19 or whatever, which might be anxiety these days. I've 20 had a couple of those moments. I'm just saying. 21 If one or the other, the person exposed or 22 their spouse, becomes symptomatic, meaning they get -- 23 they start getting sick with the sneezing, the coughing, 24 you know, the typical -- and running a temperature, and 25 temperature is one of the best indications. The 26 1 infectious disease nurse at the hospital, Pam Burton, 2 doing a wonderful job, educated me, if the -- and they 3 test everybody every day at that hospital. And if their 4 temperature is 100.4 they go home. And so that's -- 5 that's kind of what we're looking at is the 100.4. 6 I'm not a doctor to tell you why that's what 7 it is, but when they tell me, I listen. And then if you 8 get sick you get tested. You get screened, rule-out 9 screening, COVID-19 screening. And the test, if you 10 test positive, you self-quarantine. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I've got one more 12 question for Dub. 13 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Dub, will other 15 counties be able to go through our facilities if they 16 have a doctor's -- 17 MR. THOMAS: Right now it's just Kerr County 18 -- Kerr County residents. Yes, sir. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. Just wondering. 20 Do you know what -- are other counties putting together 21 stuff like this? 22 MR. THOMAS: I know Bexar County has one. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. Thank you. 24 MR. THOMAS: I'm not certain about any of 25 the other smaller counties. Kendall, Bandera, any of 27 1 those at this time. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I can say from the 3 stakeholder's viewpoint, I saw a comment from one of our 4 team members, leadership team members. I think we 5 jumped out ahead of this far better than some of our 6 neighboring counties. I think we've done well. I'm -- 7 I'm very pleased and impressed with the level of 8 cooperation that we have. And having this drive-thru 9 facility, which the County has made available, I think 10 is a big step. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Just so this is not 12 with the Covid-19, but just emergency planning. I think 13 Dub says we have 22 annexes in the Emergency Management 14 Plan, which is an extremely good plan. So if we have a 15 fire or a flood or airplane crash or anything, the team 16 is ready to go. They know exactly who's in charge, 17 who's supporting, what all resources are available. So 18 name the emergency and the County has a plan for it. So 19 I think that's -- that says a lot for County 20 preparedness. So -- 21 JUDGE KELLY: And let me say this about the 22 Emergency Management team. I've talk about the 23 stakeholders, and that's us. That's the Mayor, and me 24 and the Superintendent, and the President of Schreiner 25 University. The Emergency Management team are the guys 28 1 like Dub. Dub is our Emergency Management Coordinator. 2 Jerremy Hughes is -- and that's Jerremy with two R's by 3 the way, I learned that. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You call him Gump if 5 you knew him. 6 (Laughter.) 7 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. But he's the Emergency 8 Management Coordinator for the City. We've got Chief 9 Danny Smith for the Kerrville Fire Department, and Eric 10 Maloney, EMS. And they work seamlessly. And they're in 11 touch with each other nearly constantly. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Very good. 13 JUDGE KELLY: So very good report. 14 MR. THOMAS: Thanks, Judge. Judge, I would 15 like to say one more thing. I think the key to keeping 16 virus out of Kerr County is that everyone needs to 17 understand that social distancing is going to be key to 18 keeping it away and keeping it from spreading. So 19 everyone needs to keep following those rules. Groups 20 than ten. And stay six feet away from each other. 21 Continue to wash your hands. Disinfect those surfaces 22 around you. So I want to keep -- and that's the message 23 we need to keep pushing out. 24 JUDGE KELLY: And the other thing I would 25 share with that is, while there is no shelter in place 29 1 order or stay at home order, there's -- I think that 2 terminology is shifting these days. Unless it is 3 essential, don't do it. Stay home. Be careful. Be 4 smart and be careful. There's no need to be out there. 5 There are a lot of people that are moving 6 around that really don't need to be doing it right now. 7 And the more people that we get to voluntarily stay 8 home, the better it would be for everyone. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I will add you should 10 gas up all your vehicles while gas is cheap. Just take 11 a run down to the gas station and gas them up. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it's coming down 13 more. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, we got cheap gas 15 and no place to go. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It may be cheaper next 17 week. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It will be cheaper next 19 week. 20 JUDGE KELLY: And I was at -- I was at what 21 they call the little HEB now and there were eggs and 22 toilet paper on Saturday, so -- 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Coming right along. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you, Dub. 25 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. Thank y'all. 30 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We appreciate you. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Serious stuff. We can joke 3 about it a little bit, but it's serious. 4 Let's go to item 1.2 Consider, discuss and 5 take appropriate action to extend the Local State of 6 Disaster Due to a Public Health and Economic Emergency 7 Proclamation that I signed on March the 24th. 8 I had the power to declare the disaster, but 9 the County Commissioners' Court has to renew that on a 10 weekly basis or it expires. It's only good for seven 11 days. So the door is open for what you all want to do. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move to renew it. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'll second that. And 14 give an example why, in a minute, next agenda item. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's for seven more 16 days? 17 JUDGE KELLY: Seven more days. 18 MRS. STEBBINS: The language, I believe, in 19 the orders that you have, it says until terminated. 20 JUDGE KELLY: I know. But I'm going to put 21 it on the agenda every seven days. 22 MRS. STEBBINS: Okay. 23 JUDGE KELLY: That's what it reads to 24 reissue. We need to talk about it. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 31 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Folks need to hear about it. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Super. 5 JUDGE KELLY: So motion's made by 6 Commissioner Harris, seconded by Commissioner Moser to 7 extend the Local State of Emergency. Is there any other 8 discussion? All those in favor raise your hand. 9 Unanimous, five zero. 10 Item 1.3 update regarding actions being 11 taken to prevent any interruption of 9-1-1 services in 12 Kerr County from trenching and boring on Texas Highway 13 27. Commissioner Moser. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you, Judge. 15 Because of the emergency -- emergency economic 16 declaration that you declared, we were able to use that 17 as a negotiating item with several people. Number one, 18 it's -- it's to assure communications with 9-1-1 is not 19 interrupted during this time, which there could be a big 20 influx of 9-1-1 calls. 21 JUDGE KELLY: And I don't mean to 22 interrupt -- 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure. 24 JUDGE KELLY: -- but you're the one that 25 educated me. This is not just 9-1-1. It's telephone 32 1 service, it's internet service. This is being connected 2 to the rest of the County. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. And internet 4 services probably -- well, 9-1-1 calls are extremely 5 important. Internet service is even more so important 6 today. There is a threat, okay, with some fiber optics 7 line that's being run from San Antonio to KISD, and 8 that's what's going in along Highway 27. There have 9 been interruptions in the past. 10 We met the other day with 9-1-1, the company 11 that's doing the work, Zayo, Z-A-Y-O, out of Colorado, 12 with the education center in San Antonio who's putting 13 in the cable system with -- with all those -- all those 14 people, and with the telephone companies, Windstream and 15 HCTC, Hill Country Telephone Co-op, okay. So we all sat 16 together, we identified where critical areas were. 17 We identified one area, which I will not say 18 where it is, it was a single point failure, okay. If 19 that line was being put in, interrupted the cable, 20 Windstream's connectivity right there, their fiber 21 optics line, the whole system is down. Internet and 22 everything else. 23 So we had an agreement to stop work on that 24 instantly. And they stopped work immediately. When 25 they go back to that area which is critical, they will 33 1 go back with Zayo, Z-A-Y-O is the company, and 2 Windstream to identify exactly where it is to make sure 3 they do not have any penetrations. 4 It's important too we learn that even though 5 there's six year -- four years ago in 2016, we had -- 6 assured that we have redundant paths between 9-1-1 and 7 for all -- for all their activities. Found out if one 8 of the lines is cut, half of their capability goes down 9 though. They can handle ten calls simultaneously 10 anytime, but if one line's cut, they only can handle 11 five calls. So, therefore, we've got a critical 12 situation. 13 So because of the emergency declaration 14 that's in place, we're able to -- we had Option A, fix 15 it, or Option B, we'll impose the declaration and shut 16 you down. And so it was -- I don't think we had to talk 17 about Option B but it was on the table as an option. 18 JUDGE KELLY: But it was a voluntary 19 solution. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It was a voluntary 21 solution. 22 JUDGE KELLY: And a collaborative solution. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And collaborative -- 24 everybody agreed. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Good. 34 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: The KISD -- I mean the 2 education center in San Antonio, who's paying for this 3 fiber optics system all the way to KISD, they have to 4 have their work complete by July for them to get 5 reimbursed from the State and the Federal Government for 6 this work. Probably could be extended, if necessary. 7 So they've got a deadline, too. And the contractor has, 8 you know, groups of people, large groups of people, that 9 are working aggressively this morning as I drove past 10 them. 11 So it was a very good solution. It was a 12 good thing to have. Fully cooperative. Everybody 13 understood. But we also learned some things about 9-1-1 14 communication that some of us didn't know about some 15 signal point failures still. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So they're working on 17 it now, but under different guidelines? 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: They -- where they're 19 working now they cannot interfere with any service. 20 We've mapped that out. 21 The other thing is, we'll have a map of all 22 of -- this week we'll have a map of all of 9-1-1 service 23 routes, and we'll have from TxDOT, all permits that they 24 have of work that could be going on in the future. So 25 we'll have that as another stay in front of this whole 35 1 problem. So -- so that's it. I think it was a good 2 effort. And compliment everybody that participated in 3 this to fix the problem -- to avoid a problem. Not fix 4 it; avoid a problem. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It was -- it was good 6 work for the 9-1-1 folks to alert us to what was going 7 on. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct. Correct. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: For Mark Del Toro to 10 have his eye on this. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Good job, Tom. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. I think we've covered 14 item 1.4, but I'm going to go ahead and call it. 15 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action to sponsor 16 use of the Hill Country Youth Event Center by Peterson 17 Health for a drive-thru screening station for patients 18 experiencing symptoms of COVID-19. 19 The reason that this is on here, is they 20 needed approval for us to use the Hill Country Youth 21 Event Center before we could have this meeting today, so 22 I gave the approval. I just need ratification that it's 23 okay. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. I make a motion 25 that we continue with allowing Peterson Regional 36 1 Hospital to use the Youth Event Center. 2 JUDGE KELLY: At no cost. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: At no cost. As needed. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: And by the way, the Sheriff's 6 Department has volunteered to provided the law 7 enforcement at the facility. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now technically, since 9 you've declared what you have, you really don't need us 10 to do this, do you? 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's authorization. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Well, the only way that Jake 13 could do it, and we're getting down in the weeds here a 14 little bit, was to put him under a contract. A regular 15 arm's length contract -- 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 17 JUDGE KELLY: -- which we let him do with 18 the understanding that we would -- the Court would say 19 that's going to be without charge. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 21 JUDGE KELLY: That's -- so we did it -- we 22 did it legally. But we just don't -- we want to make 23 sure that everybody knows that we're contributing to 24 this. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is this -- how long is 37 1 the contract? It's open-ended? 2 JUDGE KELLY: I think they're going to do 3 this for -- I don't know. I think at least two weeks. 4 And I'll have to check with -- that's a good question. 5 I'll get you an answer on that. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I will say that I want 7 to commend both Spectrum and Jake. They immediately, 8 when they got this, started acting. Jake talked to the 9 legal team up the chain on -- with Spectrum. They were 10 very supportive of doing it and he coordinated it as 11 quickly as he possibly could to make this happen, with a 12 couple of e-mails to myself as liaison and the County 13 Judge. So, yeah, hats off to Spectrum and Jake for 14 helping coordinate this immediately. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Could we make that 16 motion such that it authorizes this agreement, this 17 contract, as long as the emergency declaration is in 18 place? That will give -- that will be -- give you 19 the -- 20 JUDGE KELLY: Do you want to amend your 21 motion to that? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I made it -- I think I 23 left it as open-ended. I mean, I have no problem with 24 that, but -- 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. To leave it at 38 1 -- somehow so that it can stay open as long as 2 necessary. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. I agree. I mean 4 that was the intent, to stay open as long as needed. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Okay. Good 6 deal. So I'll -- I'll second if nobody has seconded. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Commissioner Harris already 8 has. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, he has? 10 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 11 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 12 approve use of the Hill Country Youth Event Center by 13 Peterson Health for the drive-thru screening. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: At no cost. 15 JUDGE KELLY: At no cost. Indefinitely. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I would -- the only 17 thing I'd like to add, you know, in complimenting 18 Spectrum and Jake and all them working on this, the more 19 we do, the quicker we do it should get business back to 20 normal. I mean, it's all -- that's the goal, to get 21 through all this and, you know, hopefully we'll stay at 22 zero and get back to norm. So that's all I got. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 24 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 25 1.5 consider, discuss and take appropriate 39 1 action regarding an Administrative Leave Policy. Miss 2 Doss. 3 MS. DOSS: Good morning. 4 JUDGE KELLY: This is Jennifer Doss. 5 MS. DOSS: Good morning. There are certain 6 situations where employees are not able to work from 7 home. Either they don't have a laptop or there isn't -- 8 there's just nothing to do. So, in those cases I 9 would -- 10 JUDGE KELLY: If you can talk right into the 11 microphone. 12 MS. DOSS: -- in those cases I was wishing 13 if you could develop an Admin Leave Policy, or at least 14 entertain it. Talk about it. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think it's an 16 Admin Leave Policy; I think it's -- I think we need to 17 follow the rules set out by the Federal Government under 18 their policy, and I think it's pretty self-explanatory. 19 MS. DOSS: Right. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: There are some people 21 that can't work from home because of the nature of their 22 job. 23 MS. DOSS: Correct. And we do have 80 COVID 24 sick hours for employees to use in those situations. If 25 they're staying home to take care of a child, or if 40 1 they're ill, or if they're trying to keep their family 2 members safe. So -- but once those 80 hours start to 3 run out, then we're going to have to decide. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think 80 hours is a 5 lot. I think we can -- I mean -- 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We can come back to it 7 later. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Wait a little bit. But 9 I think, you know, it's -- it's a fine line in my mind 10 between, you know, keeping everyone safe, employees 11 included, and doing our job in government. And, you 12 know, I think that there's -- you know, the obvious two 13 -- big obvious ones that really can't work from home are 14 the Sheriff's Department and Road & Bridge Department. 15 And I think that they -- you know, you can't 16 single out just because they work for those departments 17 and treat them differently. The Federal Policy that 18 came down that gives the extended -- 19 (Cell phone ringing.) 20 JUDGE KELLY: No, this -- this is the 21 call-in number that Jody gave out. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: (Laughing.) 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The Federal policy is 24 pretty clear, you know, to me it makes sense. And some 25 of the -- if you have a child at home and -- you have a 41 1 small child at home, some of them require a doctor's 2 request. If there's a spouse or something, I think it 3 takes a doctor's request. If there's someone else in 4 the household you're taking care of or an elderly 5 parent, this is up to the doctor. And to me, that's how 6 we should continue. 7 MRS. DOSS: All right. There's an expanded 8 FMLA, it does call for -- from weeks -- for the final 9 ten weeks -- the first two weeks are unpaid, but ten 10 weeks of at least two-thirds of the rate of pay if the 11 child's school is closed, or daycare facility is 12 unavailable. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I believe it says it 14 may. I think the County has the option of paying it at 15 the full amount. 16 MS. DOSS: Correct. It just has to cover at 17 least -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I would support 19 that. I would support paying it at the full amount if 20 you're meeting the criteria. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So somebody summarize 22 what the policy is now. 23 MRS. DOSS: Basically, FMLA expansion calls 24 for ten weeks of pay at at least two-thirds their 25 regular rate should they need to stay home to take care 42 1 of a child if school is closed or the daycare facility 2 is closed or unavailable, if they have an individual 3 baby sitter, if that sitter is unavailable. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And if there's a medical 5 reason by a doctor that they should, you know, they're 6 in an extreme high risk case and the doctor thinks they 7 need to stay home. And an example of that would be, 8 someone who's been under cancer care, and the doctor -- 9 and because their -- because of that their immune 10 deficiency level is a little bit lower, all it takes is 11 their doctor to say this employee is high risk and needs 12 to stay at home, or the spouse or other family member I 13 think is in that same category. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So that's up to Federal 15 guidelines, up to 80 percent of pay? 16 MS. DOSS: Up to two-thirds. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But what is -- 18 two-thirds, excuse me. 19 MS. DOSS: And I have talked to other 20 counties who are paying a hundred percent. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And so what is our 22 County? What are we saying now, a hundred percent? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think a hundred 24 percent. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. So we would have 43 1 to take action on that? 2 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I'd like -- I'd like to 3 back up and kind of start at square one. Let's talk 4 about the safety net we have available for our 5 employees. We start off with sick leave, right? 6 MS. DOSS: Correct. 7 JUDGE KELLY: How much sick leave does 8 everybody have? 9 MS. DOSS: They get ten days a year. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Ten days a year. And -- and 11 it accumulates, right? 12 MRS. DOSS: Correct. 13 JUDGE KELLY: And so worse case is if they 14 have to use sick leave, they're going to get their 15 paycheck, right? 16 MS. DOSS: Correct. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Next we have what the 18 Federal Government's enacted for this -- the COVID sick, 19 right? 20 MS. DOSS: Right. 21 JUDGE KELLY: 80 hours? 22 MS. DOSS: Correct. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Two weeks? 24 MS. DOSS: Yes, sir. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. And then we have FMLA. 44 1 That's ten weeks, at a minimum of two-thirds pay, right? 2 MS. DOSS: That's 12 weeks. But the first 3 two weeks go unpaid. But you could apply the two weeks 4 COVID sick towards the first two weeks of the -- 5 JUDGE KELLY: And that's not even counting 6 the vacation that they're going to get, right? 7 MS. DOSS: Correct. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Vacation time? And I'm just 9 trying to make the distinction of the benefits that we 10 have here at the County, the City, and some of our major 11 employers in town, that a lot of people in this County 12 simply do not have. The people that are independent 13 contractors that work on their own, I call them Chucks 14 in trucks. Chucks in trucks don't even get unemployment 15 because they don't have unemployment insurance. And so 16 I think we're treating our people extremely well. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. Absolutely. 18 MS. DOSS: So would your policy be that if 19 the courthouse is closed and Elected Officials or 20 Department Heads send their employee's home, and they 21 have exhausted their 80 hours of COVID sick, that they 22 need to use their own personal leave time? 23 JUDGE KELLY: No, ma'am. You know what? 24 And -- and I don't mean to be short. But I am an old 25 Army man. And we're in a battle here, and we're on the 45 1 front lines. And we'll worry about the paychecks once 2 this battle is won. And that's where I stand on it. 3 But I want to be crystal clear. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And some people are 5 going to get something from the Federal Government in 6 addition to this. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we're going to make sure 8 everybody's taken care of. You know, the fiasco we had 9 last week about the announcement of the Admin Policy, 10 and now I have it back on the agenda today, I'm frankly 11 not ready to deal with it until we get ahead of this 12 thing, and quit worrying about how we're going to pay 13 people -- which -- which jar of benefits this is going 14 to come out of, which bucket of benefits. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So bottom line, what 16 you just said was -- I think it needs to be made very 17 clear. Everybody will get paid -- 18 JUDGE KELLY: Absolutely. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- that works for the 20 County. Period. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Absolutely. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And we'll worry what 23 bucket or how they get paid later, but everybody is 24 going to get paid. 25 MISS DOSS: Okay, I completely understand. 46 1 It's just that I have to deal with those specific 2 questions. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So just to clarify. If 4 an employee in any department says, I don't feel safe 5 working, I'm not going to work anymore. 6 JUDGE KELLY: He can take off. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And will that -- and so 8 that may be without pay, or maybe -- or it's all 9 guaranteed pay? 10 JUDGE KELLY: We're going to pay everybody. 11 My thought is that we pay everybody, okay? They don't 12 -- they don't miss a paycheck here. We may -- may 13 decide what bucket that comes out of, is that going to 14 be their sick leave, is that going to be the COVID 15 leave, is that going to be the FMLA or what have you. 16 But -- 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Or vacation. 18 JUDGE KELLY: -- but they're going to get 19 paid. And let's -- let's win the battle and then figure 20 out which bucket we're going to pay them out of. 21 MRS. DOSS: Yes, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's pretty simple. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think then when -- 24 if we have an employee that gets to this -- using up all 25 of that, those hours, those days, and we'll certainly be 47 1 meeting weekly to keep up with that, because at some 2 point we will exhaust or we -- hopefully we won't, but 3 we may exhaust all of this. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Right. And we'll monitor it 5 weekly. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. Hopefully we 7 don't, but -- 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Very good. 9 MRS. DOSS: Thank you. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The only clarification 11 I'd like to make -- 12 JUDGE KELLY: If you would step up to the 13 microphone so the folks at home can hear you. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The only clarification 15 I'd like to make that I think what Jennifer is talking 16 about would apply directly to direct county employees 17 and not Elected Official employees. The Elected 18 Official employees get their benefits from the County, 19 they actually work for that Elected Official. There are 20 several Attorney General opinions, which I've given to 21 the Judge and to the County Attorney in regards to that. 22 The Elected Official, whether we like it or 23 not, through state law has the authority, whether it's 24 inclement weather, whether it's public health, to send 25 their employee's home, and those employees get full pay. 48 1 Period. Doesn't matter whether you have sick leave, 2 doesn't matter whether you have vacation or anything 3 else. If it's for the public health, if they can, you 4 know, say that and they can still do the essential 5 duties of their job, then they can send that employee 6 home. And they can rotate employees or do whatever. 7 Now, the caveat to that is come budget time, 8 the Commissioners' Court who has no authority over that 9 first part of it, does have authority over the budget, 10 and if they see that the Elected Official can operate 11 and complete their essential duties with that half 12 staff, then come budget time the Commissioners Court has 13 the authority to cut that budget by that number of 14 employees. 15 But in regards to the administrative leave 16 or sending an employee home, I promise you, I'm not 17 sending anybody home from the Sheriff's Office. We're 18 short-handed and need all the help we got. But the 19 Elected Official, it's totally different from the City 20 or regular employees. Elected Official has the 21 authority to send their employees home at full pay, 22 because that's what the budget approved when the budget 23 was approved, okay, for those salaries and they can't be 24 changed. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And to help with 49 1 Jennifer, I'm not going to argue on this point, though. 2 But we do not have Admin Leave Policy in Kerr County, 3 period. I mean, you may send someone home. How do you 4 suggest those people be coded for a payroll? 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, the only thing I 6 got to say is codes can be added into that payroll. 7 Okay. And there is an admin code in there, I believe, 8 and you can code it as admin code. That's -- but when 9 it comes to the Elected Official, that's exactly what it 10 is. And there -- and it's not a matter of this court 11 approving it, it's just a matter of the Elected 12 Official, you know, engaging it. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's Elected 14 Officials but not Department Heads? 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's Elected 16 Officials. That's not Road & Bridge, it's not 17 Maintenance. It's not, you know, your other divisions. 18 It's all the ones under the Elected Officials, which is 19 most of the County employees. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But bottom line is what 21 the Judge said. Everybody works in Kerr County gets 22 paid. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's correct. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now we -- we have a 25 reserve and it's for emergencies. This would qualify, I 50 1 would think. On every other category we've called this 2 an emergency. Why not payroll? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, we have money in 4 the budget for this. It's -- 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm saying it's better 6 -- it's better to -- but what I'm pointing out is, that 7 there are reserves that this County holds, and people 8 shouldn't get excited and worried about it. If worse 9 comes to worse, that's what it's there for. To keep the 10 lights on in the County and keep people on the payroll 11 in worst case scenario. So not to worry. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 13 MS. DOWDY: If I may. Jackie Dowdy, Kerr 14 County Clerk. I just wanted to state for the record, 15 that I had to send people home in my office because of 16 the self-isolation order that came through from a 17 doctor. So I had to send people home. And some people, 18 unfortunately, have to take leave without pay because 19 they're out of their sick or vacation. 20 So in order to code it, that's what I have 21 to do is send them home without pay because I don't have 22 the authority, I guess, to use that code, admin leave, 23 in order for Jennifer or the Treasurer's Office or 24 whoever to process it properly, to code it properly. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I believe we've said 51 1 COVID sick. 2 MS. DOWDY: However, that was effective 3 March 23rd. I had to send people home prior to that, 4 and so that -- that's kind of where I'm stuck right now. 5 And I mean, that's just where I'm at, just to let you 6 know. And then as far as next week comes, we'll be 7 fully staffed because we are behind. 8 As to what the Sheriff was saying, I mean, I 9 need a full staff as I have had in the past. We're 10 behind on indexing for the title company to do their -- 11 their duties as well. So I'm just -- that's where I'm 12 at. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Let me emphasize that we are 14 to focus on essential responsibilities and duties here. 15 And the non-essentials, if we have to wait while we go 16 through this crisis then we'll wait. I think I've been 17 clear about that. We're going to do essential tasks 18 first. 19 MRS. DOWDY: Well sure, we are, but we're 20 behind in those essential tasks because of the isolation 21 order, the self-isolation order. That's all I have to 22 say. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let me clarify 24 something, and you and I talked a little bit about it 25 last week. The Federal rules came out that the FMLA 52 1 take place 15 days after the 16th. But you and I 2 discussed that from our standpoint, we can make it take 3 place the day -- the 15th, which I think -- 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We haven't gotten an 5 opinion from the County Attorney, so I don't know. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it's -- I believe -- 7 well, I've read the order -- 8 JUDGE KELLY: I know. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- and it says may. 10 Again, I'm not an attorney, I understand, but to me 11 there's no reason why any of the County Clerk's 12 employees shouldn't get paid -- 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- under sick. Under 15 COVID sick, which is what we have said started -- 16 MRS. DOSS: I think it started last Monday, 17 which I believe was the 20th. 18 MRS. DOWDY: Correct. 19 MRS. DOSS: The 23rd. And so she had 20 employees out the week prior. So if we could just 21 approve -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let's make it 23 retroactive. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: How many days? 25 MS. DOWDY: One. 53 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: One day? 2 MS. DOWDY: Just one day. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We're talking about one 4 day? 5 MS. DOWDY: I had gone to skeleton crew for 6 two days, but the employee in question lost one day of 7 pay. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So if we say no County 9 employees are going to go without pay, period, then 10 figure out how to code it sick leave or whatever. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. This is new 12 territory. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: They don't -- they get 14 paid. 15 MRS. DOWDY: Okay. I just wanted to clarify 16 that before I enter anything in -- 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, it's -- that's -- 18 that's as clear as you can get. All employees get paid. 19 MRS. DOWDY: Effective on a particular date? 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: All employees get paid. 21 MRS. DOWDY: Okay. COVID sick. Yeah. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct. 23 MRS. DOWDY: Thank you. I'll have to 24 backtrack my entry. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. As the Judge 54 1 said, we'll figure out what bucket it comes from later. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I want to be crystal 3 clear. Crystal clear. We are in the business of taking 4 care of the public's needs right now, and that comes 5 first. And quite frankly, I'm a little distracted 6 having to deal with this issue today when we've already 7 said everybody's getting paid. I want to win this 8 battle. I want to win this war first. And that's where 9 I'm coming from. And I want to be crystal clear about 10 that. 11 MRS. DOSS: Well, I completely understand. 12 But we have to process payroll, and we want to do it 13 correctly, so -- 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 15 JUDGE KELLY: That can always be fixed. 16 MRS. DOSS: And I do want to clarify. The 17 admin leave, although we don't have a policy, the times 18 it has been used in the past was for inclement weather, 19 also when we've had a courthouse funeral, somebody's 20 passed in the department, lets their employees go to a 21 funeral. That's the only cases that I'm aware of that 22 we've used the admin leave. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We probably should 24 address that in the -- in our policy and clarify that. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I want to start focusing 55 1 on taking care of the public and not ourselves. 2 MRS. DOSS: Okay. Thank you. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good job, ladies. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Next item on the agenda is 5 1.6. I saw James Robles out there. Consider, discuss 6 and take appropriate action to accept the annual 7 financial report, which includes the independent 8 auditor's report and audited financial statements for 9 the period ending September 30, 2019 as presented by 10 Armstrong, Vaughan and Associates, Inc. 11 And this is a time sensitive matter. That's 12 the reason we're taking it up today. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: He'll be here in just a 14 second. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. I think we've got the 16 report right here. Everybody should have their copy of 17 the report. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. I will say I 19 mentioned to the Auditor, I'm not sure what they're 20 going to present, but the summary is probably acceptable 21 today. And if we have specific questions and we want to 22 go into it in detail we can do that at a later date. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, I agree. 24 MRS. SHELTON: She's calling in right now. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So the public knows, 56 1 this is Tanya Shelton, the County Auditor, and James 2 Robles. 3 MRS. SHELTON: Y'all have the presentation 4 that she is going to give. It was passed out to you. 5 JUDGE KELLY: (On the phone.) Hello. 6 MS. FRASER: Good morning. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Good morning. Please identify 8 yourself. 9 MS. FRASER: This is Debbie Fraser from 10 Armstrong, Vaughan and Associates. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Ms. Fraser, you may 12 proceed. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Jonathan, make your 14 point. 15 MS. FRASER: Well, good morning. I'd like 16 to thank everybody for -- 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Debbie, let me make a 18 quick comment. I don't know if Tanya mentioned it to 19 you, but we could probably -- as brief as we can go 20 through it today. I know we have to make -- we have to 21 approve it today. 22 MS. FRASER: Okay. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But we may ask you to 24 come back at a later date when things are a little bit 25 calmer and go over a -- kind of the full presentation 57 1 y'all usually make. 2 MS. FRASER: Oh, okay. Well, I'd just like 3 to tell you this, that we're giving you a modified audit 4 report. And that basically means that after adjustments 5 your financial statements are fairly stated and 6 materially correct. We only had two audit adjustments, 7 which I think is very favorable for the audit 8 department, audit staff. And I mean, they should be 9 very happy. 10 I do want to point out that we had a couple 11 comments. And maybe we could go over those in person 12 later on, how -- maybe go over the suggestions on how to 13 improve those. 14 The fund financial statements, I'll just go 15 over quickly. The unassigned fund balance that you had 16 is ten and a half million dollars. It basically is nine 17 months of your operating expenditures for the next year 18 proposed. Your general fund budget to actual was 19 actually very good. You stayed within your -- I guess 20 your variances were positive. 21 I just -- I want to point out two things. 22 Your net pension liability and related rate shows on 23 your governmental side. They did go down from 93, or 24 almost 94 percent, to 86 percent. And the change 25 between 2017 and '18 because those are based on 58 1 actuarial studies performed on the calendar year by 2 TCRS, and the one change or the one thing that kind of 3 drove the difference was your net investment income in 4 2017 was almost 7.7 million. And in 2018, because it 5 ended on 12/31/18 and we had a drop in the market, it 6 went to 1.1 million, so to the negative. So you had a 7 change of 8.8 million. And that drove you from having a 8 plan fiduciary net position of 94 percent to 86 percent. 9 The other thing I want to point out is on 10 Note O, we have a prior period adjustment. We did go 11 back and decide to -- with Tanya, to put the Center 12 Point assets on the books until the debt is paid off, 13 and then just donate it to Kendall County Water Control 14 and Improvement; although, they will take over the 15 statement and operations within 60 days of completion of 16 the phase of the projects. 17 That's all I'll go over unless you have any 18 questions. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Ms. Fraser, one thing I -- 20 that would be helpful. Could you -- we are videotaping 21 this, and so the public is -- is going to see what we're 22 talking about, could you explain again the time 23 sensitivity of why we needed to act on this today so 24 they understand we needed to get this done? 25 MS. FRASER: Well, actually you have a 59 1 disclosure footnote that are required by your bond, 2 bonding agent, and so they could have issued -- they 3 could have gone with the draft, but it's much more 4 favorable to go with the full audit. So we just -- we 5 were already scheduled and wanted to at least get the 6 full audit put into the disclosure and fulfill those 7 requirements. 8 JUDGE KELLY: But this is because of an 9 important financial consideration to get it approved 10 this way? 11 MS. FRASER: Yes, sir. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Thank you. 13 MS. FRASER: And I would be very happy to 14 come back and present once this is all over. 15 JUDGE KELLY: And -- and we'll do that. And 16 actually look forward to the day when we're not as 17 stressed and can talk about this in a little bit better 18 environment. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that 20 we accept the annual audit from Armstrong, Vaughan & 21 Associates. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 24 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 25 approve the audit as presented. Is there any further 60 1 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 2 five zero. 3 Thank you very much, Ms. Fraser. 4 MS. FRASER: Thank you. Have a good day. 5 JUDGE KELLY: You too. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Can we take a break? 7 Is it time yet? 8 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Let's take a -- about a 9 five-minute recess. 10 (Recess.) 11 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, Court will come back to 12 order. The next item on the agenda, I believe, is item 13 1.7 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to 14 postpone the Memorial Day event. Marty Mistretta. 15 MS. MISTRETTA: I'll try to speak loud 16 enough so you can hear. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Good morning. Microphone is 18 right there, just speak right into it. 19 MS. MISTRETTA: Okay. Basically, we were 20 going to ask the Court's guidance as to how to proceed 21 for Memorial Day. I know President Trump just posted 22 social distancing guidelines until April 30th. Given 23 that a lot of our folks that attend are elderly and then 24 the kiddos help out and they're out of school for the 25 rest of the year, we're kind of trying to figure out who 61 1 would actually participate, or if we should continue 2 trying to make plans and move forward with it. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Is this a decision we need to 4 make today? 5 MS. MISTRETTA: No, sir. I just -- we just 6 wanted everyone to know and just kind of think about it 7 because it is something that we're going to have to plan 8 with speakers and all that kind of stuff, and if we get 9 a backlash for not having it, we want to just make sure 10 there's a contingency plan in place. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we're pretty much 12 relying on your advice on this in terms of your event. 13 MS. MISTRETTA: Well, yes, sir. Well, just 14 given the age of the folks that would be involved in 15 this it is kind of worrisome for us. That's why we're 16 not seeing veterans currently because most of them are 17 of that age. But now everybody's kind of affected by 18 this. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Now careful, I resemble that 20 remark. 21 MS. MISTRETTA: Oh. We were basically going 22 to wait until -- to have a final answer around April 23 because if this thing is still kind of going and 24 prevalent, we'll just have to deal with it then. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So bottom line, this is 62 1 a heads up. Okay. It may change. April -- 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, April is 3 Wednesday. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let me -- let me 5 finish. I'm sorry. April the 30th -- 6 JUDGE KELLY: Well -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- April the 30th -- 8 JUDGE KELLY: I would consider putting it on 9 hold for the time being until we know where we're going 10 to be. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: April 30th Marty will 12 -- Marty and Jenna will come back and make a 13 recommendation for the May 26th thing. And that's 14 plenty of time for them to organize it if they decide to 15 go April the 30th or to cancel April 30th. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Sure. But we understand and 17 we appreciate your concern. 18 MS. MISTRETTA: Yes, sir. We wanted to 19 have it clear and stuff. Okay. That's all. Thank 20 y'all. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.8 consider, discuss, 22 and take appropriate action to ratify and confirm 23 suspending use of the recycling trailers until further 24 notice. And what we discovered last week from our 25 YouTube review is we talked about it and we agreed to it 63 1 but we didn't vote. So we need to ratify what we did 2 then. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: So I guess the 4 motion's been made and it's been seconded. So we just 5 have to vote. 6 JUDGE KELLY: We have the motion to approve 7 it. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Discussion. Can we 9 have a discussion on it? 10 JUDGE KELLY: We can have discussion. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Is it possible -- I 12 know it's possible. Is it the right thing to do to put 13 dumpsters at the locations where we park -- 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: No. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let me finish. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: No. 17 (Laughter.) 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Put dumpsters -- put 19 dumpsters at the locations where we move the trailer to? 20 I know it costs a bit, but we could have a dumpster 21 service people to still keep recycling and they don't 22 have to put it -- your people don't have to be involved 23 with it because of the concern for the COVID-19. So I'd 24 like -- I'd like to see us consider that. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I will -- I will tell 64 1 you this, that I probably got the most calls since it 2 was scheduled to be at Hunt this last week and everybody 3 I talked to totally understood. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes. I got those 5 calls, too. And the -- we would expand. If you put a 6 dumpster there, Tom, you're going to expand what's 7 recyclable to mattresses and couches. So let's just not 8 go there. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, you got -- you've 10 got to trust people to -- 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I love them all and I 12 trust most of them. I love them all and I trust most of 13 them, but I don't want real garbage in those. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Well, sounds 15 like I'm not getting a lot of support for my idea. Just 16 reading between the lines. 17 MR. EVANS: I did -- we had checked on the 18 prices of those recycle canisters, dumpsters, and they 19 are $87 a month each. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So that would -- so 21 we'd have to -- and how often would they dump them? 22 MR. EVANS: I believe it was -- the one here 23 at the courthouse is dumped twice -- twice a month. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. So anyway, 25 that's just an idea. And to let the public know, if 65 1 they want to take recycling material, they can take it 2 to the landfill off of Loop 534 all the time. 3 MR. EVANS: Yes, sir. They have like six -- 4 five or six recycle dumpsters out there. And I believe 5 they're not charged for that. I got recycle and -- 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: They do. They're -- 7 and let me make it very clear. There's no charge. 8 Anybody in the county can take it there, drive up to the 9 window and say you're taking it to recycle, go over to 10 the dumpsters, dump it and be gone. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, you do have to 12 buy your own vest now, I found out. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, you don't have to 14 have a vest to do that. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I had a guy 16 complain he had to actually purchase his vest. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. No. That's -- 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And wanted -- he wanted 19 to call the Attorney General about it. What'd you pay 20 for it, two bucks? I said okay. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, just since the 22 public is listening, just for clarification. You 23 don't -- all you have to do is in your vehicle, drive up 24 to the window, tell them recycle, the dumpsters are on 25 the right, take your recycle, dump in the dumpsters and 66 1 leave. You don't have to -- 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: No vest? 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You don't have to have 4 a vest. You don't -- 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- have to have 7 anything. It's open five days a week. As a matter of 8 fact, six days a week. So -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Shane, how large are the 10 canisters? Do you have any idea? That you -- you said 11 $80 a month? 12 JUDGE KELLY: 87. 13 MR. EVANS: I know the -- I believe they're 14 four yard, four-yard dumpsters. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It would probably be 16 cheaper for us to do that than pay the maintenance 17 employees to run all over the county all the time. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I bet so. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Something to look at. 20 I'm telling you -- 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. It would be. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It's worth looking at 23 and considering. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh my goodness. Look 25 into that, Shane. 67 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. And report back to us. 2 MR. EVANS: Okay, will do. Now, that's per 3 -- per canister. So do you like -- 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So we need three. 5 MR. EVANS: And we can fill those -- 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Now, where do you take 7 the trailers? How many places? 8 MR. EVANS: Four to -- well, we have three 9 different places it travels to monthly, and then we have 10 the -- you know, the McFarland and Hays at the shop that 11 stays there all the time. And that one's the one that 12 garners the most -- 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So you've got four? 14 MR. EVANS: Four places, yes. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Four -- four times nine 16 is $360 a month. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Times 12. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You'd have to -- 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, per month I said. 20 Yeah. 360 times 12. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And no charge for 22 dumping it. 23 MR. EVANS: And one of the problems we ran 24 into with having the dumpsters at, like, say Hunt, they 25 won't service out there because they don't have a route 68 1 out there. That was one of the, kind of, determining 2 factors for that, I guess. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And one thing I want 4 to add and -- and then we're -- I've gotta call that 5 app. Since it wasn't going to be at Hunt, would it be 6 at McFarland, but we -- we don't even have the one at 7 McFarland at the shop being used right now, so people 8 need to go out to the -- 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's the motion on 10 the table, is to not have it there also. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Any of them. Not have 12 any of them. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Not have any of them. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. Right. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And then the -- the 16 deal was that the employees have to climb up inside of 17 them. There are water bottles and jugs and they felt 18 like they were being exposed. I know I found out over 19 the weekend also the recycle places aren't taking 20 aluminum cans for the same precaution. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Don't confuse the 22 landfill with that, because they can still take aluminum 23 cans. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm telling you that -- 25 oh. They -- some people sell theirs, they don't give 69 1 them away. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Everybody's taking 3 precautions. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Everybody's taking the 5 precautions. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Everyone has an opinion on 7 this topic. But we do have a motion. It's Commissioner 8 Harris' motion, which was to discontinue recycling 9 during this crisis. Correct? 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Uh-huh. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 12 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 13 MR. EVANS: All right. Thank you. 14 JUDGE KELLY: You can still do it at the 15 dump, folks. 16 Okay, 1.9 -- thank you, Shane. 17 MR. EVANS: Thank you, Judge. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Consider, discuss and take 19 appropriate action to ratify and confirm the Resolution 20 approving the submission of a grant application for the 21 Kerr County Crime Victims' Services Department. 22 Ms. Peter. 23 MS. PETER: Yes, sir. This was actually a 24 mistake on my part in the year in the original 25 resolution up at the top, and the Grant Manager has 70 1 asked that we correct it. It used to be a two-year 2 grant, it went to a one-year grant. And that's all that 3 you're doing is resigning. So instead of it saying '20 4 to '22. '21. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Well, just so -- so the public 6 understands what we're talking about, the grant 7 application that you submitted got kicked back because 8 of this little technical glitch that needs to be 9 corrected? 10 MS. PETER: It really wasn't kicked back 11 because it had -- I don't want anybody to think that 12 we're not getting it already. It's not kicked back. 13 All it was was just a technical error that -- 14 JUDGE KELLY: A comment? 15 MS. PETER: Exactly. It was basically a 16 comment. 17 JUDGE KELLY: And so we're addressing their 18 comment? 19 MS. PETER: Absolutely. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that 22 we approve the revised Resolution for the Kerr County 23 Crime Victims' grant -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: Services grant. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- or services grant. 71 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Motion's been made by 4 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Moser to -- 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. Okay. Go ahead. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Wasn't it? 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 8 JUDGE KELLY: It was Harris? 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Doesn't matter. The 10 other bald headed guy. 11 JUDGE KELLY: -- to -- to approve the 12 submission of the grant application to the Kerr County 13 Victims' Services Department. Any other discussion? 14 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 15 MS. PETER: Thank you, gentlemen. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you, Ms. Peter. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. 18 JUDGE KELLY: 1.10 consider, discuss and 19 take appropriate action on the appraisal and sale of 20 Kerr County real estate in Precinct 1. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You skipped 10. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. 10. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You skipped one, yeah. 24 JUDGE KELLY: What? 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You did 11. 72 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, you said 10, but 2 you read 11. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. I read 10 on mine. But 4 we'll -- let's go to the new improved version. 1.10 5 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to approve 6 a change order 2 of construction contract for CDBG 7 Project 7217045 using CEDAP funding. Everybody 8 understand that? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is just a -- it's a 10 change order on the Center Point East Kerr wastewater 11 project. Going through a lot of line items, and getting 12 the budget in line with the actuals. And a number of 13 different categories. I make a motion we approve the 14 change order. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The reason -- I will 17 make a note. There is a net increase under this of 18 $1,386,338.35, but that is within the budget under a 19 contingency line item. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Who made the motion? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: (Indicating.) 22 JUDGE KELLY: You seconded it? 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Uh-huh. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Motion made by Commissioner 25 Letz, seconded by Commissioner Moser to approve the 73 1 change order to the construction contract for the 2 wastewater line. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Could we -- what are 4 -- what do those acronyms stand for? It might help 5 people out there listening. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: CEDAP is -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Community Economically 8 Depressed Area Project. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Program. Yeah, program. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the other one is 12 Community Development Block Grant. CDBG is Community 13 Development Block Grant, and CEDAP is Community Economic 14 Distressed Area Program. 15 JUDGE KELLY: So to the public, welcome to 16 our world. Any other discussion? Those in favor raise 17 your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 18 1.11 consider, discuss and take appropriate 19 action on the appraisal and sale of Kerr County real 20 estate in Precinct 1. Commissioner Belew. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: There's a piece of 22 property that we have that somebody came and asked were 23 we interested and -- was the County interested in 24 selling it. We've talked about this particular piece of 25 property in the past. And so we need -- 74 1 JUDGE KELLY: Ranchero Road? 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes. On Ranchero Road 3 by Nimitz Elementary School. We've had other people 4 interested in the past and nothing ever developed. So I 5 knew that, you know, we -- we've talked about selling it 6 before and here's somebody that's a possible buyer but 7 we need to know the value of it, so -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We could add that to the 9 list that Mr. Markowitz (phonetic) was doing. I suspect 10 it will be in line with the other -- 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think we had already 12 talked about putting that on the list too. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. We talked about 14 it, but we didn't -- it's not on the actual list. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Correct. Well, this 16 one having a potential buyer right now, I thought we'd 17 bump it up ahead. My motion is that we get it 18 appraised. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correction. It's in 21 Precinct 2, but that's good. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Ranchero Road? 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, on -- on the other 24 side of Ranchero. You're on the right side; I'm on the 25 left. 75 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Oh, okay. Well, you 2 make the motion. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, I -- I second your 4 motion. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. This is in Precinct 1 6 and a half. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Actually, it's in a 8 little cutout there because if you go further back in -- 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Gerrymandering. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, it's 11 gerrymandering. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Sorry, pal. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, that's okay. 15 JUDGE KELLY: So, the motion was made by 16 Commissioner Belew, second by Commissioner Letz to -- 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Moser. 18 JUDGE KELLY: -- Moser -- 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Precinct 3. 20 JUDGE KELLY: -- to get the property on 21 Ranchero Road appraised. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the motion would be 23 to add it to the list of Mr. Markowitz -- to his list of 24 appraisals that he's currently preparing. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes. 76 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: How big is it? 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's just a little 4 pie-shaped -- 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's probably a couple 6 acres. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Two acres. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. Something like 9 that. I went and drove out there and looked at it and 10 -- anyway, next time anybody asked me something I'm -- 11 JUDGE KELLY: Did you trespass on -- 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- going to say talk to 13 Moser about it. What? 14 JUDGE KELLY: Did you trespass on Precinct 2 15 property? 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Apparently. I left 17 nothing but footsteps. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Those in favor raise 19 your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Got it. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Approval Agenda. Ms. Shelton. 22 Bill pay. 23 MRS. SHELTON: Invoices for today's approval 24 include $411,468.24 for Kerr County. $4,761.93 for the 25 Airport. $1,068.00 for Adult Probation. $35,060.20 for 77 1 Juvenile Probation. District Clerk, $83,092.54. And 2 the 198th DA forfeiture is $54.40. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Move for approval as 4 presented by the Auditor. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 7 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 8 approve payment of the bills as presented. Any further 9 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 10 five zero. 11 Budget Amendments. 12 MRS. SHELTON: We have four budget 13 amendments today. All of them were under $1,700.00. 14 And two of them, we are certifying this as new revenue. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Make a motion that we 17 approve the budget amendments as presented. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 20 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 21 approve the budget amendment as presented. Any further 22 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 23 five zero. 24 Late Bills. 25 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 78 1 JUDGE KELLY: And do you have anything else? 2 MRS. SHELTON: That's it. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Thank you. 4 Then the next item on the agenda is Court 5 Orders. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I didn't even think to 7 look at the Court Orders. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We'll put that off for 9 a week. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Why don't we pass them and 11 we'll just do them next week. 12 MRS. DOWDY: Okay, No problem. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay then, item 3.1. Do we 14 have any semi-annual reports on projects or activities? 15 Okay, we'll pass that. 16 3.2 court ordered status reports from 17 Liaison Commissioners on projects and activities. Do we 18 have any? Okay, we'll pass that. 19 And then status reports from Liaison 20 Commissioners. Anything on that? 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Nothing's happening. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- I will say on 23 Animal Control, I visited with Reagan quite a few times, 24 that they have modified their operations out there some. 25 The doors are pretty much closed. Come by appointment 79 1 only. There is some signage up there. They were 2 concerned about the number -- it seemed to be like a 3 place for people to go when they had nothing else to do, 4 so they really limited it. And they're trying to really 5 reduce intakes as much as possible, trying to work with 6 people. And a large part of the reason is the area 7 rescues are pretty much closed where most of our intakes 8 go. So they've made adjustments there. 9 And then last Thursday, Reagan and I met 10 with several representatives of Kerrville Pets Alive, 11 and just kind of went over some of those operational 12 changes, and just kind of working on an agreement with 13 that organization. But very positive meeting. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Good things to know. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Airport. The airport 16 board meeting has been delayed or postponed until 17 further notice. KEDC, Gil Salinas is -- is acting as 18 the CEO and President of KEDC. And the agreement with 19 Chamber of Commerce on services and all is being 20 negotiated. 21 JUDGE KELLY: One thing I would add about 22 the Airport Board is the emergency powers that the City 23 has and the County has under Chapter 418 of the Texas 24 Government Code, in order to close the airport, it takes 25 the executive or Administrator of the Airport Joint 80 1 Board in order to do that. So -- so the public knows. 2 The Mayor has the power -- emergency powers for the 3 City, I have the emergency powers for the County, but 4 the administrative executive President of the Board out 5 there is the one who has the authority to close the 6 Airport Board. No reason to do that right now, but I 7 just want you to know who has the authority. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So that would be a 9 board approval, that would be the President of the 10 Board. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Right. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Very good. 13 Thank you. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now, does TxDOT have 15 input into that or -- 16 JUDGE KELLY: I'm sure they do. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I mean, do they have an 18 over-ruling input? 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, that would be just 20 between the Airport Board and FAA. 21 JUDGE KELLY: No, I think they can close 22 their airport if they want to. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. Okay. 24 JUDGE KELLY: And the rumors that I-10 is 25 going to close are absolutely false. 81 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I haven't heard that 2 one. 3 JUDGE KELLY: That was a joke. Do we have 4 any other business before the Court? We have no 5 Executive Session. Is that correct? 6 MRS. STEBBINS: Correct. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other business? 8 Then the Court stands adjourned. 9 * * * * * * 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 82 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 3rd day of April, 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