1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Special Session 5 Monday, April 6, 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 (Appearing via telephone.) DON HARRIS, Commissioner Precinct 4 2 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 *** Commissioners' Comments. 3 4 1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 7 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, and "extended until terminated by 9 order of the Kerr County Commissioners' Court" on March 30, 2020. 10 2.1 Pay Bills. 41 11 2.4 Approve Court Orders. 43 12 *** Adjournment. 52 13 *** Reporter's Certificate. 53 14 * * * * * * 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 JUDGE KELLY: Good morning. It is Monday, 2 April the 6th, 2020, and the Special Commissioners' 3 Court -- the Kerr County Commissioners' Court sitting in 4 special session is -- will come to order. 5 First thing, remind everybody to turn off 6 your cell phones, although we've got three on up here at 7 the bench. We've got Commissioner Letz and the County 8 Attorney attending by phone. And we've got another one, 9 so if anybody calls in. There is no one here from the 10 public for public comment. But I am inviting anyone, if 11 you want public comment this is your opportunity. 12 Okay, there being none, or if you call, I'll 13 take your call. Then let's do Commissioners' Comments. 14 4, let's go first. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: 4. Had an inch and 16 three-quarters of rain over the last few days which was 17 nice and slow, very nice. Again, we're in different 18 times as you can see. We've got one Commissioner 19 calling in. I tell you what, last week was a long week, 20 I was ready for the weekend. But you know, about 21 yesterday morning I was ready to get back here to start 22 handling things. So that's all I got. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Good. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: A couple things. The 25 petition drive in Precinct 2 for the alcohol and 4 1 beverage campaign, okay, to get it on the ballot 2 November 3rd, looks like it's going to have a blockage, 3 which is really big, of not being able to go door to 4 door to get signatures. There have been -- there have 5 been two states which have made exceptions in light of 6 COVID-19. That's the State of Utah and the State of 7 New Jersey. And they have suspended the requirement to 8 have in-person signatures. They're letting that be done 9 electronically. So I forwarded those two -- executive 10 orders from those two states to Andy Murr and Dawn 11 Buckingham to see if they could -- if that could be 12 considered in the State of Texas. It seems only logical 13 so that we can get that thing on the November 3rd ballot 14 without having people -- we're not going to be able to 15 go door to door. People don't want somebody knocking on 16 their door. So I think the precedent's been set. It 17 seems logical. So that's in the work. 18 The other thing is, exercise for COVID-19, 19 Flat Rock Park is open, okay, people are enjoying it. 20 There's -- looks like they're staying safe distances 21 when I was looking at it the other day. So that's good. 22 People are -- more people are out walking their dogs in 23 the Dog Park, so all that's good. 24 That's all I've got for Precinct 2. And we 25 got an inch and a half of rain. So -- 5 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, since all this 2 rain started, we got three and a half inches at my 3 house. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: How much last week, 5 though? That's the parameter. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's since last week. 7 Three and a half inches. Yeah. All together. I poured 8 out an inch the first time it rained and two and a half 9 this morning. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Bragger. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. So we get more 12 rain in Precinct 1, too. We have more fun in Precinct 1 13 and we get more rain, too. 14 I want to say that there's still confusion 15 about the Governor's Executive Order recently, and 16 people are still -- and there's misreporting and I've 17 had people calling me, and I've posted it on my 18 Commissioner's Facebook page so you can see it directly 19 from the Governor. Don't get it filtered through 20 something else; look at what the Governor said. Look at 21 what the -- the essential services are. There's a list 22 included and -- 23 JUDGE KELLY: I want to address that when 24 it's on 1.2 on the agenda specifically. There is a lot 25 of question about that. 6 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, go straight to 2 the source. That's always the best. That's all I have. 3 JUDGE KELLY: And Commissioner 3. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No comment. Other than 5 what was already said. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. You can see that I have 7 masks up here. This is my wife's N99 mask. I think 8 it's just my color, don't you think? This mask is one 9 that one of the dispatchers in the Sheriff's Office 10 made, which I think is probably more appropriate. And 11 it just slips right over your ears. Now I can't see. 12 There you go. That simple. 13 I put this on to comment that as I drove in 14 -- for those of you that don't know, I live between 15 Ingram and Hunt so I live pretty far west. There was 16 barely a car's length between the trucks out there 17 hauling trailers from golf carts to ATVs to construction 18 materials nonstop going to work this morning. Not one 19 mask did I see. First mask I saw was when I got to the 20 courthouse today and these that I brought myself. 21 So I want to remind people that we will talk 22 about the Governor's order. Because I think it's 23 something that we need to talk about. But -- and you 24 can see what we've done here, is with Commissioner Letz 25 out -- and for those of you that don't know, he will be 7 1 attending remotely quite a bit because he is the next in 2 line if something happens to me with this COVID-19. So 3 we're trying to have a chain of command. And if there's 4 any question, Commissioner Moser is behind him. It's on 5 the basis of seniority. And you can just go right down 6 the line to Commissioner Belew and Commissioner Harris. 7 But we -- we will have a chain of command through the 8 whole thing. 9 This is probably at least three and a half 10 feet, which is about as good as we can do right now with 11 four of us on the bench. We have scooted to the corners 12 to make it a little bit -- get a little bit farther 13 apart. We may want to think about whether we're just 14 going to have three here at a time, which would probably 15 be just about the right distance, and whether or not the 16 others attend remotely but we'll be working on that. 17 But in any event, those are the comments to get us 18 started. 19 Let's go ahead and call first item on the 20 agenda which is 1.1 consider, discuss and take 21 appropriate action regarding the update, facility use, 22 and other matters related to COVID-19. Dub Thomas, our 23 Emergency Management Coordinator. 24 MR. THOMAS: Good morning, Judge. Good 25 morning, Commissioners. 8 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Good morning. 2 MR. THOMAS: To kind of fill you in again, 3 this is our situation report for the following week 4 ending this morning at 8:00 a.m. Our EOC activation for 5 the City of Kerrville, Kerr County, and City of Ingram 6 continues to be activated, and we're still operating at 7 increased readiness level. Annex H: Health and Medical 8 is still under effect, and we're still operating at 9 Phase 3 of the Pandemic Plan. 10 We are operating with full staff but working 11 remotely at this time just so we can honor the COVID-19 12 social distancing policy. And the Call Center continues 13 to be open for citizens needing information starting at 14 8:00 a.m. every day. 15 The current situation, and these numbers are 16 current as of 8:00 a.m. this morning, COVID-19 part of 17 what I'm going to give you is off of the CDC -- I'm 18 sorry, the CDC and the DSHS website, as well as what I 19 picked up on Friday's conference call at 4:00 p.m. 20 COVID-19 continues to spread exponentially 21 as the DSHS calls it. According to CDC and DSHS, 22 community spread obviously is extremely active in Texas. 23 Figures from the Department of State Health Services 24 show that 28 percent of COVID-19 infections are locally 25 acquired, meaning that community spread. 25 percent of 9 1 COVID-19 infections are coming from travel likes outside 2 the County. 29 are acquired from travel outside the 3 State of Texas and 15 percent are acquired from travel 4 outside of the United States. Three percent are 5 unknown. And those come from the Department of State 6 Health Services epidemiology investigations that they do 7 when they find out that somebody is COVID-19 positive. 8 So they go and do an investigation and these are the 9 numbers that they -- they're coming up with. 10 An overview of the current situation in the 11 U.S. as of this morning. Over 304,000 people are 12 infected in the United States. Total deaths is 7,616. 13 Texas infected, we had 6,812 infections. Total deaths 14 are 127. The total number of tests run as of this 15 morning are 70,938. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Is that in Texas? 17 MR. THOMAS: That's in Texas. Yes, sir. 18 Private labs. 65,626 tests have been run. 19 And public labs are 5,312 run. The COVID-19 infections 20 for the counties that are -- 21 JUDGE KELLY: Dub, can I stop there for a 22 minute? In looking at the numbers and the percentages 23 here, 28 percent of the COVID-19 infections are 24 community spread? 25 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. 10 1 JUDGE KELLY: And three percent are unknown. 2 And that -- if my math is right that makes 69 percent of 3 COVID infections are all travel related of one sort or 4 another? 5 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. I think that's 7 important for people to know. 69 percent are travel 8 related. 9 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. Either outside the 10 County or outside the State. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. And the -- okay. I 12 just wanted to get that clarified. Thank you. 13 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. Our surrounding 14 counties. Kendall County has ten infections. Medina 15 four. Llano three. Blanco two. Burnet four. Kerr 16 County has two as of this morning. Gillespie County has 17 two. And Bandera still has zero. From the DSHS 18 Region 8 numbers, these are -- there are 28 counties in 19 our Department of State Health Services Region 8. There 20 are actively 289 cases at this time. And I think the 21 promising number to look at is 85 of those 289 have 22 recovered. Or 85 additional. And there have been 11 23 deaths. 24 Our operational priorities -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: Dub, let me just interrupt 11 1 you. 2 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Before you get away, can you 4 give the public an idea of where those 28 counties are? 5 We're not going to name all 28 of them, but just kind of 6 far reaches? 7 MR. THOMAS: Anywhere from Atascosa County 8 on the east to -- we're the far west county. Val Verde 9 and Kerr County are the far west counties that are in 10 DSHS Region 8. 11 JUDGE KELLY: So as we look at some of 12 these, Kendall, Medina, Llano, Blanco, all these are in 13 Region 8? 14 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. Well, Blanco may not 15 be. And Burnet. But those are close to us and Hill 16 Country counties, so I just -- I put them in there for 17 everybody's information. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Is Travis County and 19 Bexar County in there? 20 MR. THOMAS: Bexar County is. Travis County 21 is not. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. But Comal 23 County? 24 MR. THOMAS: That's -- I believe Comal is in 25 there, yes. 12 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. So there's 2 some -- 3 JUDGE KELLY: And I know there was one death 4 in Comal. Are the other deaths primarily San Antonio or 5 Bexar County? 6 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. I think Comal has 7 actually had two. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Two? 9 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 11 MR. THOMAS: Yeah. And when you go to 12 looking at the COVID counts on the DSHS map, both Dallas 13 County and Harris County are -- lead the State with over 14 a thousand confirmed cases for each of them. And then 15 it drops down to a little bit over 400 for Bexar County 16 and Tarrant County and those large -- other large 17 metropolitan areas. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Dub, so that website, 19 people can -- the public can look at that website and 20 see what the current counts are? 21 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 23 MR. THOMAS: And they update that every day 24 by noon. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And that website, 13 1 again, is what? 2 MR. THOMAS: It's -- you can Google 3 Department -- the Texas Department of State Health 4 Services and there's an icon for COVID-19 on there. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 6 MR. THOMAS: And it'll take you to the -- 7 they call it the COVID-19 dashboard. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good deal. 9 MR. THOMAS: Some of our operational 10 priorities, again, public safety is still the top 11 priority. And I'm talking about the EOC here. We're 12 going to continue to provide timely and accurate 13 information to the public concerning the spread of the 14 virus and ways to combat it to avoid becoming infected. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Tell the public what 16 EOC is. 17 MR. THOMAS: Emergency Operation Center. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 19 MR. THOMAS: We continue to work with the 20 City of Kerrville Emergency Management, Kerrville Fire 21 Department and EMS, and Peterson Regional management -- 22 Peterson Regional Emergency Management, as well as their 23 infection control nurse in developing tactics for 24 testing, isolation and treatment of infected persons or 25 those persons under monitoring. PPE is coming in. It's 14 1 -- albeit slow and we're distributing that throughout 2 Kerr County to first responders and others that are in 3 direct contact or service to the public. 4 Our mobile testing continues this morning at 5 0900 at the Hill Country Youth Event Center for 6 appointments only. I've been trying to get some numbers 7 from that. Really wanted some numbers on all those 8 folks that have come through that have been screened, 9 and they can't give me a total number of those. But I 10 can tell you that 51 COVID-19 samples were sent off for 11 testing last week and all of them have come back 12 negative. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Excellent. Excellent. 14 MR. THOMAS: We have about -- 15 JUDGE KELLY: And let me stop you there, 16 just so the public understands. The screening that's 17 taking place out at the Youth Event Center. The initial 18 screening is for the routine respiratory illnesses. And 19 if all of those tests -- that includes the respiratory 20 panel with the 20 plus viruses that are tested, as well 21 as flu, strep, etc., if that comes back negative then 22 they send off for the COVID test. 23 MR. THOMAS: That's correct. 24 JUDGE KELLY: And so, there have been 51 of 25 those. 15 1 MR. THOMAS: That's correct. 2 JUDGE KELLY: But a large number of just 3 regular screenings. 4 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. And I don't know 5 what that total number was, and I really wanted to get 6 that total number so we could get an idea of how many 7 folks are being eliminated from the COVID-19 testing as 8 well. I'm going to try to get those numbers. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Can you post those on 10 our website when you get them? 11 MR. THOMAS: We can get those posted. Yes, 12 sir. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Put them on the County 14 website? 15 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 17 JUDGE KELLY: But just to clarify so the 18 public understands. If they're screened and they're 19 positive for flu, they're treated for flu. 20 MR. THOMAS: That's correct. 21 JUDGE KELLY: And there's no -- no COVID 22 testing after that. 23 MR. THOMAS: That's correct. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Everything on that initial 25 screening has to be negative. Every single thing 16 1 negative. Otherwise, you're being treated for routine 2 respiratory ailment. And if it's -- then if it's 3 negative, 51 of those have been sent off for testing and 4 every one's been negative? 5 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Good news. 7 MR. THOMAS: Yeah, the whole idea behind the 8 outreach center at the Youth Event Center is to 9 eliminate all those other types of upper respiratory 10 infections that you may have before COVID-19 testing is 11 considered. 12 Our public outreach, Peterson Regional has 13 established, again, the line for talking with a nurse. 14 896-4200, Extension 1, is for those individuals who 15 believe they are sick or have questions concerning 16 COVID-19. 17 The Kerr County EOC, Kerrville City EOC, has 18 been established and manned with a number of volunteers 19 that respond to FAQs or frequently asked questions. 20 That number is 258-1111. 258-1111. It operates Monday 21 through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for individuals 22 that have questions. They have canceled most events, 23 school closings, offices that may be closed, public 24 offices that may be closed, etc., and alternate means 25 for accessing those local offices. 17 1 As of last week, 180 COVID-19 related calls 2 were taken by the call center. And it seems like every 3 time there's an update, either we get an update on the 4 Executive Order from the President or the Governor that 5 those calls spike, which is to be expected. 6 Kerrville -- I'm sorry, Kerr County and the 7 City of Kerrville websites continue to be updated to 8 include links to Peterson Regional Medical Center, the 9 Centers for Disease Control, and the Department of State 10 Health Services websites, and I'll be able to give those 11 numbers that I've given out today to our IT folks to put 12 on the website. 13 We have established a list of recovery 14 resources to assist citizens with information for 15 assisting for food, utilities, rental assistance, etc., 16 and both of those -- those lists are accessible via the 17 City's website as well as the Kerr County website. When 18 you go back on the Kerr County website and start looking 19 under the COVID-19 icon, when you click on that, you can 20 scroll down and near -- I think it's going to be all the 21 way to the bottom of the page is where our list of 22 resources is for community outreach. 23 And again, the Small Business Administration 24 for those with small businesses have established an 25 economic injury disaster loan that can provide up to 18 1 $2 million of financial assistance. You can go to 2 www.sba.gov/disaster and click on apply for that 3 assistance. 4 Again, this information is also contained on 5 both the City and the County website, as well as the 6 Kerrville Chamber of Commerce website. 7 That's -- that's the update for this 8 morning. Y'all have any questions on anything? 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Dub, for clarification. 10 I see it reported, but I read the Governor's Executive 11 Order and the Governor has said he encourages our 12 minimized contact person to person social distancing, 13 etc., etc. But he has not required the "stay at home". 14 Its been reported several places that the Governor said 15 it's required to stay at home. That's not the case, 16 correct? 17 MR. THOMAS: That's correct. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct. Okay. Just 19 for clarification. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Dub, one question I 21 got is on recoveries. You gave one number and what was 22 that for as far as number of recoveries, you gave like 23 289 or something like that? 24 MR. THOMAS: The DSHS numbers for Region 8. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. That was for 19 1 Region 8? 2 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Do we have any numbers 4 statewide or anything -- or even nationally? Because 5 that seems to be overlooked in all the figures that 6 they're giving. 7 MR. THOMAS: If those numbers are out there, 8 they're not being posted. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. All right. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And that's -- 11 officially that's what I've been looking for. You have 12 the number of deaths. You have the number of current 13 cases. You have the number of people who've been tested 14 and they're over it. You have to assume that because 15 it's not made clear. 16 MR. THOMAS: Right. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And we're all seeing 18 the same information, I'm sure. One other thing that 19 you mentioned, Dub, in that is that the urban areas have 20 obviously been the hardest hit. And it seems to flower 21 out from those areas, all the surrounding counties of 22 the big urban areas -- 23 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- have more cases 25 there, it looks like? 20 1 MR. THOMAS: If you take a look at major 2 metropolitan areas and the closest ones next to us along 3 the I-35 corridor, there's -- the I-35 corridor, when 4 you pull that map up it looks like a Christmas tree. 5 There and east, all the way to Harris County. Now, you 6 do have some out far west, El Paso for instance, and 7 some in the panhandle. Some of the larger metropolitan 8 areas. 9 So yeah, I think the prudent thing is for 10 the public to understand that if you travel outside of 11 the County, if you travel outside of the State, if you 12 travel, period, you're putting yourself and others at 13 risk needlessly. I just don't -- I don't understand why 14 -- I understand -- I take that back. I understand why 15 people would want to travel and they have things they 16 want to do, but to needlessly put yourself at risk and 17 others is kind of beyond me. 18 And I think at some point you'll -- you may 19 see -- you know, what the Governor's done has given us 20 individual freedom to self-quarantine, and to 21 self-isolate and stay away from that. And at some point 22 if it doesn't happen, I can see the -- I can see a 23 statewide order coming down for everybody to stay home, 24 period. But it's my opinion. Probably not good for -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: We're going to be talking 21 1 about that on the next agenda item. Hope you stay 2 around and participate with us. 3 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. Any other questions? 4 JUDGE KELLY: No. You're doing a great job, 5 Dub. Appreciate it. 6 MR. THOMAS: Thank you, sir. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Thank you. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Next item on the agenda is 10 our -- the last item on our agenda until we pay the 11 bills is 1.2 consider, discuss and take appropriate 12 action regarding the Local State of Disaster Due to a 13 Public Health and Economic Emergency Proclamation that 14 was signed by me on March the 24th, 2020, and extended 15 until terminated by order of the Court on March 30th. 16 It's Monday again. I wanted to bring this 17 up every Monday, weekly, so that we could talk about it. 18 I definitely believe that this needs to be -- we've got 19 -- we've got language that will carry it over. But I'd 20 like to present it to the Commissioners' Court every 21 week and I would recommend that we continue it. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, here's my 23 question. Based on the Governor's Executive Order, is 24 it even necessary now? Does it have -- what the 25 Governor laid out on the 2nd pretty much resolves it for 22 1 everybody everywhere, doesn't it? 2 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I think there's a lot of 3 debate about the Governor's Order and I want to talk 4 about that. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But it says in there 6 that it supersedes anything else. It says very clearly 7 in his Executive Order. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. And -- and we need to 9 discuss that. So let's just launch off into the 10 discussion. I have virtually memorized the Governor's 11 Order. Last week I conducted over 30 -- I met with over 12 30 Department Heads and Elected Officials on briefing 13 them on where we are with regard to the Executive Order 14 and our Disaster Proclamation, and tried to get 15 everybody at the courthouse up to speed so that we all 16 have the same information. 17 What the Order says is that on a statewide 18 basis every person shall, and that's mandatory, every 19 person shall minimize social gatherings and person to 20 person contact other than members of your own household, 21 except to provide or obtain necessary essential 22 services. That's the exact wording of the order. If 23 you got it in front of you, you can read along with me. 24 There's a lot of discussion about essential 25 services. The Governor attached the 17 essential 23 1 service sectors from Homeland Security. And you go 2 through there and see if it's an essential service. But 3 the question that I've had most -- asked most last week 4 and especially this weekend is not so much what is an 5 essential service, because we have a list of those, but 6 what is necessary. 7 And in my briefings with the County 8 Department Heads and Elected's last week, I emphasized 9 there's four questions that I try to ask and I encourage 10 the public to ask these same four questions. And the 11 first one is, whatever it is that you're about to do, 12 whatever you're thinking about doing. When I get up in 13 the morning and I walk out to the truck, I'm asking 14 myself, is it necessary to go down to the courthouse 15 today? Well, yes, it is. And that is an essential 16 service. 17 So number 1, is it necessary? Number 2, is 18 it an essential service? Number 3, is what I'm about to 19 do the minimum? Am I minimizing my contact? Because 20 that's the order. We are ordered to minimize contact 21 and social gatherings and person to person other than in 22 our households. 23 And then my fourth question that I add to it 24 is, am I being -- am I isolating? Because the only 25 thing that we figured out so far -- well, there's two 24 1 things we understand that kill this virus. Heat -- and 2 summer's coming, that's a good thing for South Texas and 3 Central Texas because it will get hot and it will get 4 hot pretty soon. That will help. 5 And the other thing is the isolation. It 6 needs a host. And if we -- if we're isolated then it 7 dies because it can't find a host. Now, that being 8 said, the real question here is people are, in my 9 opinion, are ignoring that first question. Necessity. 10 I was awakened -- no, I was not. I was 11 having coffee at the other end of the house when I here 12 my wife screaming out off the back porch at two work 13 crews, a truck of rock masons that showed up on the 14 neighbor's property to rock the new house that they're 15 building and they turned on the mortar mixer, and 16 there's about, I don't know, half a dozen to a dozen 17 people running around rocking a house at 7:00 in the 18 morning. Is that necessary? 19 I was talking to my son over the weekend. 20 He was talking to -- and he's an independent contractor 21 and he was asking me about my advice to him and what he 22 should be doing. And I used the word "necessary" and he 23 asked a great question. From whose viewpoint? From 24 whose viewpoint? 25 And everybody's heard me talk about Chuck's 25 1 in trucks. We got a lot of Chuck's in trucks. My son's 2 a Chuck in truck, okay. And he's asking me, well, Dad, 3 you know, if -- if I need to work, isn't that necessary? 4 That's a fair question. And I told him, yeah, son, 5 that's necessary for you. But, is it necessary for the 6 people that you're working for? 7 Or really the better question is, is it 8 necessary for the public? Just because you work in an 9 essential service doesn't mean that you necessarily have 10 to go to work today. That was my comment when I -- 11 about driving in this morning. Every truck and trailer 12 I -- that I know is on that highway headed west. And 13 I'm coming from the west. I don't know where they're 14 going, but they're loaded up. There's rocks, there's 15 roofing materials, there's plumbing materials. 16 Everybody's going to work. 17 And I have a hard time believing that it's 18 absolutely essential for those projects in West Kerr 19 County, which is one of the least populated parts of the 20 country, for everybody to be going to work today. I 21 think everybody just thinks that it's essential service 22 that they get to work. And I don't think the test is 23 that simple. 24 Now, with regard to Commissioner Moser's 25 questions about a "stay at home" order, I've answered 26 1 this question dozens of times. I may even be in the 2 hundreds by now. The Governor's Order is not a shelter 3 in place order. And he's been unequivocal about that. 4 In his video explanations the day after he gave -- two 5 days after he gave -- issued the order, he explained 6 that he intended for people to stay at home, but it 7 wasn't an absolute prohibition from leaving your house. 8 So the intent behind this Executive Order is 9 to stay at home, if at all possible. And so you have to 10 ask yourself, is it necessary to leave your home? Is it 11 necessary to go to work for that essential service that 12 day. 13 The only businesses that I saw closed, and I 14 drive about 15 miles to get into town, were tanning 15 salons, beauty shops, barber shops. That's -- 16 everything else pretty much was open. And everybody 17 else is treating this as business as usual. 18 And the Governor -- I don't believe, this is 19 just my opinion and I'm open to hear yours, I don't 20 think it was the Governor's intent that this be life as 21 usual. I think he wanted us to curtail our activity, 22 and he wanted us to exercise personal responsibility. 23 And, quite frankly, I'm not seeing the 24 personal responsibility being exercised out there that I 25 would have expected the people in this County. We don't 27 1 need to have that many people going to work. We don't 2 need to have that many vehicles out there on the street. 3 If you drive past HEB the lot's full. If you drive past 4 the Walmart, the lot's full. I don't think that's the 5 Governor's intent. 6 Now, we can keep playing Russian roulette 7 with this thing. But if that virus gets here, it's 8 going to be a beast. And so, I'm asking everyone to 9 please, please ask yourself four questions. Is it 10 necessary? Is it an essential service? Am I minimizing 11 my contact with other human beings? And how can I 12 better isolate? If you're working on a job site, just 13 don't be around other people. You can get out there by 14 yourself. And if all of us exercise the personal 15 responsibility to do that, then I believe we have got a 16 good chance of whipping this virus. 17 But if we get restless, like it looks like 18 we're doing right now and -- and we don't individually 19 minimize our contacts, we are at risk and we're putting 20 everybody else at risk. And so I, for one, would like 21 to renew the State of Disaster Proclamation and keep it 22 in effect as a reminder on a weekly basis to where we 23 are so that we can try to -- we can monitor this thing 24 and hopefully -- 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But that doesn't answer 28 1 the question. Is it a moot point? 2 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. In my opinion. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's a moot point. 4 JUDGE KELLY: To a certain extent. Because 5 a lot of people don't understand what was going on in 6 the State at the time and what the Governor's Executive 7 Order really did. And so I'll address my perspective of 8 that. Some of the -- some of the counties, the major 9 metropolitan counties, were exercising their emergency 10 -- the local officials were exercising their emergency 11 powers under Chapter 418, Section 108 of the Texas Local 12 Government Code very broadly and they were ordering all 13 kinds of things because they had these emergency powers 14 under that particular chapter of the Local Government 15 Code. 16 And the week before the Governor issued the 17 Executive Order, we got a warning, an admonition from 18 the Attorney General, that some of these local officials 19 were overreaching the extent of the power that they were 20 trying to exercise with regard to those emergency 21 powers. And the Attorney General very sternly 22 admonished us to don't interfere with matters that are 23 the State's authority and not local government 24 authority. 25 It persisted and so the Governor took 29 1 action. And the Governor's action was to not only, as I 2 said before, order every person shall minimize social 3 gatherings and person to person contact with all persons 4 other than those members of your household. That's the 5 order. 6 But it also goes on to supersede any of 7 those prior overly restrictive orders. And it goes a 8 step further. It even suspends the applicability of 9 Chapter 418, Section 108, that grants the emergency 10 powers to County Judges and Mayors, to the extent that 11 anything that we do that is inconsistent with his 12 Executive Order, Section 108 powers to the County Judges 13 and to the Mayor that this applies to, is suspended. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: He suspended two of 15 them. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. The first one is just 17 the one that designates it. But it's to the extent that 18 it's inconsistent with his Order. And that one was 19 where you designate the County Judge or a Mayor and the 20 Emergency Management Director. That jurisdiction. 21 And so, the statutory authority granted 22 local officials, and that means myself, has been 23 suspended to the extent it is inconsistent with the 24 Governor's Order. 25 So to answer your question, Commissioner, 30 1 can the order that I issued be anymore restrictive than 2 the Governor's? No. Because the -- the original powers 3 in Section 108 allowed local officials to impose greater 4 restrictions than the State, and that's been taken away. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think one of the 6 things it does having the Kerr County Executive Order or 7 Emergency Order like that, it doesn't interfere with 8 what the Governor says but it emphasizes the importance 9 of everything you just said. Be responsible. Stay at 10 home. Do those kinds of things. I think that -- I 11 think that's the real value of doing it. Question. Do 12 we have to take action as a Court to keep that in effect 13 every week? 14 JUDGE KELLY: Technically, no. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Let me say this, though. I 17 know last week some people were expecting a joint 18 announcement from the Mayor and myself on some 19 recommendations. That announcement became moot because 20 of this Executive Order. 21 Now, I will tell you that the City and the 22 County and our respective attorneys did work on some -- 23 some orders that we eventually abandoned and did not 24 even recommend to be adopted, simply because they're 25 unnecessary because we don't have the power to do it and 31 1 we have to do exactly what the Governor said. And 2 that's why I've memorized it and quoted it time and time 3 and time again. I'm going to bore you to death. But 4 we're going to stick with what the Governor said because 5 that is the law in Texas right now. 6 And so, there are no -- of course, the 7 County does not have ordinance authority to do anything. 8 I know one of the proposals that I heard that has not 9 been adopted by the City, and this is just hearsay what 10 I've heard, was whether to adopt an ordinance that 11 imposes fines on people for violating the Executive 12 Order. To my knowledge, that has not been adopted at 13 this point. We couldn't adopt one if we wanted to. 14 Because we don't have ordinance authority. 15 But those are the types of things that were 16 being discussed and right now all the local officials, 17 the County Judges, and by the way I am in contact with 18 all of our neighboring County Judges. I visited with 19 every single one of them in this area. I don't think I 20 visited with 28, Dub, but I probably visited with at 21 least a dozen last week. 22 In fact, I was visiting with Judge Lux this 23 morning. He wants to know if our golf course are open. 24 And I had to unfortunately report that they are. I'm 25 not sure why that's such a great idea but -- 32 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Open air. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Exercise. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Well, but -- but it's not 4 personal responsibility. That's the point I'm making. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But let me interrupt. 6 JUDGE KELLY: The thing about -- 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Let me say something, 8 Judge. You've said that several times. The Governor -- 9 I even had a friend who asked if it was okay to go 10 hunting. Well, this is crazy. It's not going to hurt 11 anybody to go hunting. It's not going to hurt anybody 12 to hit a few balls around the golf course in the fresh 13 air. This idea that we're going to hunker down and hide 14 under the couch or something and act like something's 15 coming to get us versus just exercising a good judgment 16 and responsibility, that's what the -- the Governor's 17 treating Texans like adults, which is what we want. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Absolutely. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So -- so I'm for that. 20 I think you're for that, too. 21 JUDGE KELLY: I am, too. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And so there's not 23 anything wrong with recreation. If somebody wants to 24 jog, cycle, hit golf balls, go hunt, go fish, whatever, 25 it's probably a good time to do that and get better at 33 1 your game. 2 But here's my question still. What would 3 our continuation of this order do that the Governor's 4 does not? 5 JUDGE KELLY: Nothing. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. Now, typically, 7 we pursue these things with a resolution. If we want to 8 say, you know, we're all for it that's different than 9 extending something that doesn't even matter anymore. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I don't think it 11 matters either way, to tell you the truth. And I agree 12 with you, Commissioner, as far as the common sense. Get 13 out there, do your walking, do your jogging, hunting, 14 fishing, whatever, but use common sense. When you do 15 come to check in or whatever it might be where you're 16 going, just use common sense. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Everybody's a little 18 bit nervous, I think, a little edgy. And a lot of 19 people, they're on their last nerve. This is scaring 20 the crap out of them. But if you take a deep breath and 21 think about it, most of us kind of do this anyway. 22 Other than -- it hasn't changed things for me much 23 because I -- I like my bubble. And other than shaking 24 hands with folks, it hasn't changed much for me. 25 And you know, you need to remember to clean 34 1 off the gas pump when you use it. And -- 'cuz you're 2 going to touch everything and then touch your steering 3 wheel, might want to wipe down your steering wheel. 4 Little things like that, but you know, not to act like 5 we're in the -- I heard the Surgeon General describe 6 this as 9/11, Pearl Harbor, all this stuff. 7 I've heard people say you're -- you're like 8 the greatest generation if you stay home on your couch. 9 I call BS on that. You're not like a guy who was in a 10 -- pinned down on the beach in Normandy being shot at 11 because you stay at home on your couch. I rest my case. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, before the Judge 13 -- I mean, before the Governor had his Executive Order 14 and guidance, and the question came up here of should we 15 have an emergency order, and so I asked myself and 16 talked to several of you, that -- that -- you know, what 17 is the benefit of it and what's the downside? 18 Well, it's certainly going to cause people 19 to be alarmed, okay. And is that -- is that alarm and 20 disconcerting thing and anxiety it will cause the public 21 of value? At that time, it was because it had to do 22 with enabling small businesses to perhaps take advantage 23 of the fact that we have an emergency order. Also, it 24 adds the fact of making sure communication stayed open. 25 But now in light of it doesn't provide those 35 1 benefits I guess the question is, is it causing more 2 anxiety than it is benefit? That's -- that's the issue, 3 if we keep the emergency order in place. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, that's good to 5 point out what the original purpose was. I think that 6 was -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. It was a good 8 reason to do it. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It was a good -- it was 10 a good intent originally. I agree with that. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Right. And we included 12 economic emergency in ours. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. And that's why 14 I voted for it. For that reason. It was a good idea. 15 But I don't think that it matters anymore. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Well, regardless of what this 17 Court does with it, I still reiterate we need to ask 18 ourselves those five questions. And the fifth question 19 that I've added to my list from last week is, are we 20 exercising personal responsibility? Because I don't 21 disagree with anything that you said, Commissioner. 22 Either Commissioner. Any of the Commissioners. But are 23 we exercising personal responsibility? 24 And seeing all those trucks whizzing down 25 that highway and everybody going to work and having the 36 1 workers show up next door, you know, is it necessary to 2 put the rock on the house today? Is it? I don't know. 3 To have that many -- that many people that are -- and 4 they're not isolating over there. You know how they 5 work. They work right on top of one another. 6 So are you self-isolating? Are you social 7 distancing? Are you cleaning your steering wheel? Are 8 you cleaning off the gas pump? All of this stuff is 9 personal responsibility. But I think it all comes back 10 to if we exercise our personal responsibility we're not 11 going to have anymore restrictive orders from the 12 Governor. If we don't, they will be more restrictive. 13 And I think that's a fair assumption. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Sure. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, this is Jonathan. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Yes, sir. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think on this issue. 18 If we're going to continue your order, we have to take 19 action today. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think so. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It says it very clearly 22 on the last page under item 3. So whether we need to or 23 not is a different issue. And it would seem -- I would 24 be in favor of extending it, but I don't think that's 25 absolutely necessary because of the Governor's order. 37 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. I thought we had 2 -- I thought it lasted seven days, ten days. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I think we agreed -- 4 JUDGE KELLY: No. No. And we're going to 5 need to get the County Attorney involved in this. 6 MRS. STEBBINS: Excuse me. Judge, the order 7 allows indefinitely until it's rescinded by the Court 8 because that's what was entered in the original order. 9 It does actually read -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, Heather, that's 11 wrong. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I don't think that's 13 right. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Item 3 says this -- that 15 this State of Disaster shall continue for a period of 16 not more than seven days of the date hereof, unless it 17 is continued by consent of the Commissioners' Court. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. I remember us 19 putting that in there. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 21 MRS. STEBBINS: So I'm not sitting in front 22 of the rule right now. I can go pull it up. But I -- 23 JUDGE KELLY: I've got it, Heather. Let me 24 -- let me -- may I? May I weigh in? 25 MRS. STEBBINS: Sure. 38 1 JUDGE KELLY: Commissioners, what he's 2 talking about is the order on March the 30th. If you 3 look at it, paragraph two says this order shall take 4 effect immediately from and after it's -- well, I lost 5 it here. Heather, help me, I'm trying to find it again. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: She doesn't have it she 7 said. 8 MRS. GRINSTEAD: The original order was only 9 seven days. When you extended it on March 30th, that's 10 until further notice. 11 JUDGE KELLY: So if you go to the March 30 12 order, here I -- and by the way, folks, I'm not licking 13 my fingers to turn pages anymore. I have a damp paper 14 towel up here to do that. It's a good tip. 15 But if you look at the order that's dated 16 the 30th. I'll push it over so Commissioner Moser can 17 see it. It's dated the 30th day of March, and you can 18 see here's paragraph one and two. When you flip it -- 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Use your paper towel 20 again. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, I got it here, but I put 22 paper on top of it. On paragraph one, the order 23 extending the original order. This is the March 30 24 order. Paragraph one says that the State of Disaster 25 Proclamation by the Kerr County Judge on March 24, 2020 39 1 shall continue until terminated by order of the Kerr 2 County Commissioners' Court. And so it's in effect. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So we don't need to do 4 anything. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I stand corrected. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. 7 JUDGE KELLY: That's the point you were 8 trying to make, wasn't it, Heather? 9 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. And as permitted 10 by the Governor's Order. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Right. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So it's in effect. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. But I -- but even though 14 that's the order that we entered, I want -- I said I was 15 going to put it on the agenda every week for us to talk 16 about it. Because I think it's important that we talk 17 about this. I think the public wants to hear what we 18 have to say about it. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I agree. We don't 20 have to take any action, but we need to reinforce what 21 the Governor's Order said. And it's just down to common 22 sense. And I see it being used a lot. Maybe not every 23 -- all the trucks you were talking about going down the 24 road, with a cab full of people in it. And maybe they 25 need to take extra vehicles or something like that. And 40 1 use pretty good judgment on the -- at work, when you're 2 hunting, if you're on the golf course. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: The -- there's one 4 other thing that -- under essential services. Let me 5 state this and then see if I'm correct. All services 6 that the County provides to the citizens are available. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct? So I think 9 that's important for everybody to understand. It's been 10 -- work is being done different ways. It's being done 11 tele-working, etc., etc., by various departments that 12 can do that, by various Elected Officials. But all 13 services to the County are open. 14 And I guess I got a question for Jonathan on 15 the Animal Services. Jonathan, what is -- what is the 16 operations protocol and plans right now for Animal 17 Services? Several people have asked that. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There are -- no 19 volunteers are allowed. And you must have an 20 appointment to enter the facility, whether you want to 21 register or adopt or whatever, you must call to get an 22 appointment ahead of time. And we have discontinued all 23 traffic, that's the loading of traps or going out and 24 checking traps. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Thank you. 41 1 JUDGE KELLY: So it's modified. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Modified. As it 3 is with -- with a lot. Okay. But that's good. So it's 4 kind of like a vet. I went to the veterinarians 5 services the other day and I had to make an appointment. 6 They come out to your car to get your animal. You don't 7 go inside. So that's being -- so it's similar to what 8 Animal Services are for the County. Call and make an 9 appointment. No volunteers, etc. Good. Thank you, 10 Jonathan. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Something else we 12 modified, we modified the recycling trailer. We 13 suspended that action, using those for now. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The Sheriff's still 17 picking up people the normal way. He's still arresting 18 folks. Hands on, right? With gloves? 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Unfortunately. Hands 20 on. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. The next item on the 23 agenda is 2.1 pay the bills. Miss Shelton. 24 MRS. SHELTON: Good morning. Today's 25 invoices for Kerr County, $128,239.18. The Airport, 42 1 $28,093.67. Adult Probation, $612.60. The Plateau 2 Water Planning, $116.25. And District Clerk fees, 3 $1,000.00. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move to pay the 5 bills. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 8 Commissioner Harris, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 9 pay the bills as presented. Is there any further 10 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Jonathan, 11 you -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. Yes. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Five zero. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: He can't vote. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Well, he's gotta say yes. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, but he -- he -- 17 can he vote? Seriously. Because before, we said that 18 couldn't be. He can listen, but I don't think he can 19 vote. Anyway, it doesn't matter. We've got -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. It does say under 21 the Governor's rules that you can participate by -- 22 personally. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Fantastic. 24 That's good. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: He's only there by 43 1 phone to make sure we don't put him on another committee 2 anyway. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: That's true. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good deal. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Budget amendments? 6 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Late bills? 8 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 9 JUDGE KELLY: And court orders? 10 MRS. DOWDY: Commissioner Letz? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. We did have court 12 orders from two meetings. The March 23rd meeting, Court 13 Orders 38020 through 38030, and at our March 30th 14 meeting Court Orders 38031 through 38039. Make a motion 15 we approve all of them as presented. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 18 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 19 approve the Court Orders as presented. All those in 20 favor say aye. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Aye. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Aye. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Aye. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Aye. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 44 1 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. It's unanimous also. 2 Moving on, I think we've suspended our -- 3 our semi-annual reports, but 3.1, are there any status 4 reports from Department Heads? 5 3.2, any status reports from Elected 6 Officials? 7 Number 3 -- 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Hold on. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Oh. 10 MR. REEVES: Do you have a minute? 11 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. Oh, that's right. I 12 forgot. Okay. This is Bob Reeves, our Tax Assessor 13 Collector. 14 MR. REEVES: Good morning. This is more of 15 a public service update than anything. We are working 16 with the staff. We are renewing vehicle registration, 17 working paperwork, but I'd like to point out, and I had 18 sent this to Commissioner Belew last week to ask him to 19 broadcast this. 20 And I'd like the public to know for their 21 own wellbeing and safety, car registration, transfers, 22 all of the duties of Department of Motor Vehicles have 23 been suspended until 60 days after the Governor lifts 24 this emergency. So if your car registration ran out 25 March 31st, at the very earliest we're talking June 1st 45 1 before you would have to renew it if he had lifted it 2 then. 3 So why I'm saying this, we do have a drop 4 box out but the people don't have to get out and renew 5 it right now. And we get a lot of calls on that. 6 They're worried what they're going to do. This isn't 7 something that Kerr County has come up with; this is 8 what the Governor has. 9 You can renew online. You can renew by 10 mail. And I urge the citizens to take advantage of 11 those options if they so desire to renew their 12 registration. We are processing titles from the dealers 13 each day. But they do those electronically. If you 14 sold a car private party, you have that same extension 15 to get your title transferred as the 60 days that I was 16 talking about. 17 There's a little difference on paying the 18 sales tax, but at the minimum you have 90 days from when 19 it would be due. So in this early part of that, you 20 don't even have to worry about that for -- and not have 21 a penalty. So I would urge everybody to utilize online 22 or mail. 23 Property taxes, there can be no extension on 24 the penalties and interest which are accruing on 25 delinquent taxes. The Governor has not extended or 46 1 given any relief on that. But, once again, you can mail 2 in the checks, you can pay online. And I'd urge 3 everybody to do that. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Can you tell us, Bob, 5 what those websites are to go to for vehicle 6 registration and for paying your taxes specifically? 7 MR. REEVES: For the vehicle registration, 8 Commissioner, it's Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. 9 I don't have the exact address. But it -- I believe 10 it's TXDMV that -- that you can go to. Then for the 11 online property taxes is Kerr County's website. And 12 then go to my page for -- mine being the tax collector's 13 page, and you can pay online from there. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Bob, what you just 15 said, is that on the County website, or your website? 16 MR. REEVES: Yes, sir. I've got it 17 plastered all over there. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. So the links to 19 those things that Commissioner Belew just asked about 20 are on there? 21 MR. REEVES: On there. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. 22 And just one final part of this, I'm sure 23 you're aware but the May 2nd City election for the City 24 of Ingram, City of Kerrville, by Resolutions of both 25 City councils have been pushed back to the November 47 1 general election for the -- that, and then as I'm sure 2 you're aware of, the runoff election for the two parties 3 in -- from the primary that was held in March will now 4 be July 14th. So all of the pressing issues have been 5 -- have been taken care of on that. 6 But we do have a drop box, but as I said, I 7 urge people utilize the mail, utilize online. Certainly 8 call our office. The numbers are there depending on 9 which department you are. And utilize that as much as 10 you can because our -- the doors to our office are 11 locked. We do have drop box here. The ability to drop 12 off payments at the Ingram annex, we check it each day. 13 But from -- from your motor vehicle registrations, we 14 have some relief on that. There has been some questions 15 about inspections. We have called around. Not every 16 shop is doing inspections, but they are still doing 17 inspections. Right now, if you feel like you just need 18 to register your vehicle there are inspection stations 19 that are doing it. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So if you are going to 21 do it online, you need that inspection, don't you? 22 MR. REEVES: That is correct. And it will 23 be through -- when they log it in, the system will be 24 able to tell. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So here's -- I was 48 1 asked this question this week so I'm going to ask you 2 because I know that you know, Mr. Reeves. That if 3 somebody gets -- takes advantage of that 60 days, 90 4 days, whatever the maximum is, is there -- is that 5 prorated, or does it start at the date it was originally 6 due, or has anybody even discussed that? 7 MR. REEVES: Like, if I understand your 8 question, Commissioner, if your registration was due 9 March 31st, and because of this you don't renew it until 10 June 1st, it still would be the March 31st, the amount 11 you would pay, unless they change that at some point. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Does that change the 13 date when I would have to the next year? 14 MR. REEVES: No, sir. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So it would still be 16 March 31st. 17 MR. REEVES: March 31st. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. All right. 19 MR. REEVES: And the -- the whole thing, 20 there's no late penalties. And Sheriff, if I'm correct, 21 I know locally you're not enforcing an expired 22 registration sticker, but I believe the Governor has 23 ordered not to enforce it. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The Governor's pretty 25 well said don't enforce that at this time. So I know 49 1 our agency's not. I haven't talk to other agencies. 2 MR. REEVES: And because technically you're 3 not -- you have not expired, if you get down to the 4 letter of it because of the extension. 5 JUDGE KELLY: And I'd like to add something, 6 I conducted a lot of these briefings last week in my 7 office with the windows that look out the front of the 8 courthouse. In fact, one meeting I was sitting in with 9 Bob Reeves, and we're watching elderly people come to 10 the courthouse to pay taxes. And we're the vulnerable 11 group. And I include myself in that because I am -- I'm 12 that old. But you don't need to come to the courthouse 13 to do it. And we kind of chuckled to ourselves watching 14 a couple of these old people walk in with their 15 envelopes and they're here to pay something. 16 MR. REEVES: And we're grateful that they're 17 wanting to do it -- 18 JUDGE KELLY: Absolutely. 19 MR. REEVES: -- and take care of business, 20 but for their safety, please utilize the mail. We -- we 21 will even work with you over the phone with credit cards 22 to try to process and take care of the citizens. I'm 23 just -- for their own health, the safety and everything 24 else, let's utilize the resources that we have. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. And that -- that 50 1 applies to those quarterly payments for their property 2 taxes? 3 MR. REEVES: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. 4 JUDGE KELLY: I want to make sure they 5 understand that. 6 MR. REEVES: And that -- that was what a lot 7 of the payment last week were, were our bosses, they're 8 citizens that are over 65 who opted for their homestead 9 -- to break the payments up into four payments. Well, 10 the second payment was due March 31st. And -- 11 JUDGE KELLY: And we watched them. 12 MR. REEVES: -- and they were -- they were 13 wanting to make sure they were promptly paid. And we're 14 grateful for that and we appreciate it, but for the 15 safety, I would urge to utilize the mail, utilize the 16 online systems, or just give us a call. We'll work -- 17 we'll work with you. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It would be nice to 19 have a really simple statement like that on all the 20 courthouse doors. You know, you can pay by mail. Call 21 us if you have any questions. 22 MR. REEVES: We have -- 23 JUDGE KELLY: I think it's out there. 24 MR. REEVES: -- we have a variety of options 25 on -- on our office door; not necessarily the exterior 51 1 doors. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: If you can put them on 3 the outside that will keep people from even coming in. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What's the best phone 5 number to call? 6 MR. REEVES: 830-792-2242. And we'll get 7 you to any of the departments that you may need within 8 that office. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Good deal. 10 MR. REEVES: All right. Thank you, 11 gentlemen. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Thank you, Mr. Reeves. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Anything else from the Liaison 15 Commissioners? 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I have a couple things. 17 On the Kerrville Economic Development Corporation, 18 there's going to be a webinar on April the 9th to help 19 people understand what can and cannot be done in the 20 County. And go to the KEDC website and get that 21 information on the webinar. 22 The other thing is, in Economic Development 23 there's a new business that's starting, even in this 24 environment, out on Goat Creek Road. About a 10,000 25 square foot facility for metal buildings. All-Plastics 52 1 is trying to hire an additional ten people because 2 they've gotten a lot more orders with all this COVID-19 3 issues and the plastic products that they make. 4 Under Veteran Service officer, there -- 5 we've applied -- or the Veterans 501(c)(3) organization 6 has applied for $75,000 to fund the Veterans Pathway 7 from the Veterans Hospital to Flat Rock Park. So all I 8 can say is we've made -- they've made the application, 9 so hopefully that will come about. And that's it. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Anything else? There being no 11 other business before the Court, we are adjourned. 12 * * * * * * 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 53 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 10th 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