1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Special Session 5 Monday, May 4, 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. 5 4 1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 6 action regarding update, facility use and 5 other matters related to COVID-19. 6 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 18 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 24, 2020, and "extended until terminated by 9 order of the Kerr County Commissioners' Court" on March 30, 2020. 10 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 19 11 action regarding Kerr County attestation that was filed with Department of State 12 Health Services on April the 30, 2020. 13 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 21 action to approve Office of the Governor's 14 Criminal Justice Division, CJD, Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding, CESF, Grant 15 Intent to Apply. 16 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 28 action regarding the Interlocal Agreement 17 with the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, UGRA, for Guadalupe River Crossing Patrols. 18 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 32 19 action regarding the recycle trailers. 20 1.7 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 41 action to reconsider Court Order #38042 21 which closed playgrounds at the Flat Rock Park and Lions Park. 22 1.8 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 43 23 action to address the reopening of departments within the County Government. 24 2.1 Pay Bills. 46 25 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 2.4 Auditor Reports. 47 4 2.6 Court Orders. 48 5 3.1 Status reports from Department Heads. 48 6 3.2 Status reports from Elected Officials. 54 7 3.3 Status reports from Liaison Commissioners. 57 8 *** Adjournment. 61 9 *** Reporter's Certificate. 62 10 * * * * * * 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 JUDGE KELLY: It is 9 o'clock on May the 2 4th, 2020, and this is the Commissioners' Court of Kerr 3 County is in session and -- for a special meeting today. 4 And the first item on the agenda is about cell phones. 5 We have two cell phones up here. One for the people to 6 call in, which is 792-6161, and it is up here to receive 7 those calls. We have another phone up here that we have 8 the County Attorney present by phone. And we have 9 another phone, my personal phone, that may go off and if 10 it does, I'm going to recuse myself and step out. I 11 have an important call I need to take and Commissioner 12 Letz will take over and preside over the Court at that 13 time. 14 Next item on the agenda is public input. So 15 any of you out there -- I know we had some people that 16 were interested in calling in. This is your opportunity 17 to call in and offer us whatever input you would like. 18 I have the 792-6161 number here if anybody wants to call 19 in. 20 I'm going to leave that here for the time 21 being and let's start with Commissioners' Comments and 22 then if anybody calls in, we'll interrupt to take the 23 input. 24 So, let me describe for everybody what 25 you're seeing here. Commissioners' Court is trying to 5 1 observe the Governor's Executive Order of social 2 distancing of at least six feet. You'll see we have 3 Commissioner 4 and Commissioner 1 down at the tables 4 here in front of the dais and we have Commissioner 3 5 and 2 up at the dais with me. And what we're trying to 6 do is maintain the six feet social distancing. Out in 7 the courtroom, if you can see them, we do have a couple 8 of visitors here and other people. And the chairs are 9 stacked and spread about six feet apart and they're 10 sitting six feet apart out there. So we are observing 11 all the social distancing requirements. 12 So with that, why don't we start down at the 13 table first and start with Commissioner 1, Commissioner 14 Belew. Anything to report? 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: No, sir. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. And Commissioner 4, 17 Commissioner Harris? 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It's good to see 19 people going back to the restaurants and everything. 20 Even opening them up. Some of the reports are that 21 still they were top heavy with the to-go orders and what 22 have you, so at least it's good to see some businesses 23 get back to normal all around the County. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Good. Good. Commissioner 25 Moser? 6 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I was down at Flat Rock 2 Park a couple times this past weekend. And a lot of 3 people down there. They seemed to be social distancing 4 to the great extent, but a large number of people 5 utilizing the park, which is particularly good. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And my only comment is 7 that we've gone from being a fairly wet year to an 8 extremely dry year very quickly, so just need to be 9 careful with fires. Anyone burning brush, it's not 10 quite like it was a month ago. And hopefully we'll get 11 some rain before long. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Or really even a week ago. I 13 mowed the lawn yesterday and it was all dust. 14 Now the only thing I would offer is that I'm 15 still wearing a mask because two people have asked me to 16 do that. One is my wife, who is in surgery this morning 17 which is the reason I'm going to take the call, and the 18 other is the Lieutenant Governor, who strongly 19 recommended that we wear masks. But it's not an order. 20 This is all voluntary. And I'm doing this to protect 21 other people. 22 So is there anyone that's called in for 23 input? We don't -- haven't received a call yet. So 24 let's go to item 1.1 on the agenda, which is to 25 consider, discuss and take appropriate action regarding 7 1 the update, facility use, and other matters related to 2 COVID-19. Dub Thomas. 3 MR. THOMAS: Good morning, Judge. Good 4 morning, Commissioners. All right. This is Sit Rep, 5 Situation Report number 8. This is the eighth week 6 we've been into the COVID-19 reporting. The EOC 7 activation level -- the EOC stands for Emergency 8 Operation Center. The Kerr County, City of Kerrville, 9 and City of Ingram EOC is still activated and still 10 operating at an increased readiness level, and Annex H, 11 the Health and Medical Annex, is still in affect, and 12 we're still in Pandemic Phase Plan 3. 13 EOC is still operating with full staff but 14 we're continuing to work remotely, again, to honor the 15 social distancing just like everybody else is. And the 16 call center continues to be open for citizens needing 17 information. 18 Our current situation. On April 27th, 19 Governor Abbott announced the first phase of the plan to 20 open Texas while minimizing the spread of COVID-19. 21 Under Phase 1, certain services and activities are 22 allowed to open with limited occupancy, and DSHS, or the 23 Department of State Health Services, also released some 24 minimum standard health protocols. 25 April 17th, a couple weeks ago, Governor 8 1 Abbott issued the Executive Order to provide Texas with 2 an outline for reopening the State. Y'all have seen 3 this before. Starting at 12:01 a.m. Friday, all retail 4 services that are not essential were able to provide 5 services through pickup, delivery by mail, etc. Most of 6 that is moot now that he has started the re-opening of 7 Texas Phase 1. 8 Our COVID-19 continues to spread. According 9 to DSHS and the CDC, you have there the numbers for you 10 that were effective or updated as of yesterday at 11:45 11 for Texas. Texas has had 31,548 total cases. The 12 United States, 1.1 million. 3.5 million worldwide. 13 Total deaths in Texas is 867. United 14 States, 600 -- 65,735. 248,000 worldwide. Total 15 recovered for Texas is 15,544. I still think that's an 16 outstanding number and needs to be stressed more than 17 the number of people affected or deaths. 18 U.S.A. is 178,671 people have recovered. 19 Worldwide, 1.1 million. Actually over 1.1 now. Testing 20 continues in the state. So far, the State of Texas is 21 around 390,560 tests. Private labs have run 377,000. 22 Of those public labs, a little over 13,000. 23 The surrounding counties. Those are total 24 cases as of yesterday that they've had. Kendall County 25 has had 16. Medina County has had 20 with two 9 1 fatalities, Llano three, Blanco six. Burnet bumped up 2 four or five cases to 19. Kerr County's at five, 3 Gillespie three, and Bandera's six. 4 The Department of State Health Services 5 Region 8 of which Kerr County is a member of, they've 6 had 885 active cases, 950 people have recovered, and 72 7 deaths. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Hey, Dub -- 9 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- and maybe you're 11 going to get to it, but when you go through the 12 statistics of deaths, recovered, testing, could you just 13 add Kerr County to that? 'Cuz you got the world, 14 U.S.A., Texas, just add another column or another -- 15 MR. THOMAS: Sure. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- entry that says Kerr 17 County? That's what people are really interested in. 18 MR. THOMAS: Sure. At the current time, 19 Kerr County still has one active case and four 20 recovered. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. If you could 22 just add that total. 23 MR. THOMAS: Yeah, I can start adding that. 24 Yes, sir. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. 10 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Dub, do you have any 2 details on Mason County? 3 MR. THOMAS: Just what the Sheriff informed 4 me about this morning. They've got twenty -- 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: 24. 6 MR. THOMAS: -- 24 cases. Most of those 7 were out of the courthouse and the municipal -- 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: From a City/County 9 meeting. 10 MR. THOMAS: -- yeah, from a City/County 11 meeting. It just exploded over there. I don't -- 12 that's the only information I've got. 13 JUDGE KELLY: And Dub, do you know the 14 counties -- I know over half the counties in the state, 15 the Governor said, had five or fewer positive cases and 16 were able to expand their opening capacity from 25 17 percent to 50 percent. From what I could tell, and I 18 don't know if you know all of the counties that did -- 19 were able to expand to 50 percent. It looks like Kerr 20 County is the largest by population of all the counties 21 that opened at 50 percent. 22 MR. THOMAS: I -- I wouldn't know that, 23 Judge. I'd have to look at them. But there were a lot 24 -- a lot of Texas counties that were able to open 25 because they had less than five. 11 1 JUDGE KELLY: Well, if you would look into 2 that. Because I think if -- if that's the case, I'm 3 very proud that we're the biggest County that was able 4 to open up 50 percent because we had five or fewer. 5 MR. THOMAS: Well, I'm just glad that we 6 were able to do it. Yes, sir. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Dub, back to one thing 9 that's on businesses that, you know, Belk, Penney's and 10 things like that, what's the status of that, is that 11 just curb side? 12 MR. THOMAS: No, they -- to my understanding 13 is they could open, but they're supposed to be still 50 14 percent. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. So -- 16 MR. THOMAS: 25 percent. Not -- 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- that was my 18 understanding. I just think it's important to let the 19 public know that -- 20 MR. THOMAS: Well, it's 25 percent. But we 21 -- we filed an attestation, attesting to the fact that 22 we've had five or fewer cases. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Okay. Good 24 deal. 25 MR. THOMAS: And we've had all these other 12 1 checks and protocols in place that allowed us to open to 2 more than -- to 50 percent. So as long as it's -- I 3 don't know how they're monitoring it -- but 50 percent 4 of their capacity for that particular building. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Thank you. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The Fire Marshal's 7 capacity for a building would be a good measure. 8 MR. THOMAS: I think that's what the City is 9 using, the Fire Marshal's capacity. Yes, sir. 10 JUDGE KELLY: And another thing that the 11 public probably is not aware of, Dub, is that as of 12 May 1, it's not just five active cases. You have to 13 have -- it is five active cases; not just five cases, 14 cumulative. 15 MR. THOMAS: Right. It's five active. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, five active. So we have 17 one active -- 18 MR. THOMAS: That's correct. 19 JUDGE KELLY: -- at this point. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, now one other 21 question, if I may. Out of the five, four where travel 22 related. Do we know anything about the other -- the 23 fifth one, if it was travel related? 24 MR. THOMAS: All of ours are travel related. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: All travel related. 13 1 Okay. 2 MR. THOMAS: All of ours are travel related. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Very good. 4 MR. THOMAS: And I think -- yeah, I think 5 that's a good thing to notice. That all five of those 6 were travel related for us and that we didn't have any 7 community spread. If we'd had community spread, our 8 pandemic phase would have jumped to number -- Phase 4 9 instead of Phase 3, and we would have been a little bit 10 more restrictive. 11 Our operational priorities. Public safety, 12 again, is the top priority. We're continuing to provide 13 timely and accurate information to the public concerning 14 the spread of the virus and ways to avoid becoming 15 infected. 16 We continue to work with the City of 17 Kerrville Emergency Management, Kerrville Fire 18 Department, EMS, Peterson Regional Emergency Management 19 and Infection Control in developing tactics. 20 PPE is still coming in. It's still -- it's 21 still coming in kind of slow. I continue to order it. 22 Put in a couple of STAR requests last week for some 23 additional PPE, being primarily vests and gloves. We 24 have had some pushback that came out that we've provided 25 those for local nursing facilities, and local physicians 14 1 or whoever has not been able to secure any additional 2 PPE. 3 Mobile testing at the Youth Event Center has 4 stopped on this past Friday and the numbers had been 5 reduced enough to where Peterson Regional believes that 6 they can continue to run mobile testing at their urgent 7 care facility, as well as Peterson Regional at the 8 hospital. The numbers that you have there are 9 incorrect. These are the numbers for last week. I was 10 not able to reach anybody by the contact at Peterson 11 Regional this morning to get the numbers for last week. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So they may be about 13 the same. 14 MR. THOMAS: I think they're pretty close. 15 We've probably had about 25 or 30, maybe that number at 16 the most. So the number of -- instead of 106, probably 17 closer to 150 samples sent off. And again, all -- 18 everything that I've been notified has all returned 19 negative. 20 On Saturday, May 2nd, mobile testing was 21 conducted by the Texas Military Forces at the Kroc 22 Center from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 107 tests were 23 conducted on individuals who contacted DSHS and made an 24 appointment for that. You probably got a Code Red on 25 Friday where I sent out the information about that 15 1 testing. Texas Military Forces and Department of State 2 Health Services asked that we not advertise it until 48 3 hours out. So we sent out a Code Red on Friday with 4 information of the mobile testing location as well as 5 information on how to sign up. There's a phone number 6 as well as a website for people that were displaying 7 some type of symptoms similar to the flu or COVID-19 8 where they could go sign up and get an appointment and 9 get tested. Those tests results are still pending at 10 this time. I don't know what the -- I don't know what 11 lab they sent them to, but I'm assuming the State lab. 12 And hopefully, we'll have those results tomorrow or the 13 next day. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There were 107? 15 MR. THOMAS: 107 individuals were tested. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's a pretty high 17 number. More than I expected. 18 MR. THOMAS: That's a lot more than I 19 expected. I -- I'm guessing that anybody that had a 20 sniffle or a cough was around to come in and get tested, 21 so -- 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So Dub, the screening 23 now is going through the website? Because you said 24 tests. And there's a screening that goes before the 25 test? 16 1 MR. THOMAS: Yes. They can call in if they 2 have -- if they're displaying some type of symptoms for 3 COVID-19, they can call the phone number that was given 4 out on the Code Red and they'll basically do a screening 5 over the phone. And then they'll give -- get them an 6 appointment. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And that could explain 8 the high number. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sure. A lot easier. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Dub, I heard this 11 morning that there -- mobile testing was going to be 12 done in Comfort this week, today or tomorrow or 13 something. And so, I think people have to call 48 hours 14 in advance and make an appointment. But same thing. 15 Tell them what the symptoms are. So -- but it's the 16 first time I've heard of mobile testing in the area. 17 MR. THOMAS: Well, the Department of State 18 Health Services and the Governor's Offices has ordered 19 mobile testing to go around the State. And DSHS 20 Region 8 has -- has listed certain dates that are going 21 to be done for all the counties in Region 8, if we ask 22 for it. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So they're currently in 24 Comfort this week? 25 MR. THOMAS: So they're -- they have a date 17 1 for Comfort. Yes, sir. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. Yeah. 3 (Phone ringing.) 4 "Unknown caller. Unknown caller." 5 (Judge Kelly exiting courtroom.) 6 JUDGE KELLY: I'm sorry. 7 MR. THOMAS: Our public education and 8 outreach. Peterson Regional still has their line open 9 for contact a nurse. It's 896-4200, Extension 1, if 10 anybody believes that they may have been exposed to 11 COVID-19 or displaying symptoms they can call that 12 number and talk to the nurse. 13 Kerr County and City of Kerrville EOC has 14 been established. Again, that number for frequently 15 asked questions for folks -- individuals that want to 16 know about business that may still be closed or those 17 type of things, 258-1111. Continues to operate Monday 18 through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 19 Again, if they want to know about cancelled 20 local events, closed offices and schools, etc., those -- 21 information is all kept at the call center. 87 COVID-19 22 related calls last week. 23 Kerr County and the City of Kerrville 24 website continue to be updated with links to Peterson 25 Regional, CDC, the Centers for Disease Control, the 18 1 Department of State Health Services websites with the 2 information on COVID-19, how people can keep themselves 3 safe and ways to neutralize any viruses or things like 4 that. Ways to keep clean. 5 Establish a list of recovery resources. 6 We're continuing to update that as information comes in 7 about folks that have been able to provide assistance to 8 local citizens for food, utilities, rental assistance, 9 those types of things. This list is both contained on 10 the Kerr County and the City of Kerrville website. 11 And then the last bullet there is, again, 12 the Small Business Administration continues to provide 13 disaster loans, their economic injury disaster loan 14 provides up to two million dollars of assistance to 15 folks. There's a website that they can go to and click 16 on the link for assistance and applying. 17 Any questions on anything? 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Good report. Thank 19 you, Dub. 20 MR. THOMAS: Thank y'all. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. Going to 22 item 1.2 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 23 regarding the Local State of Disaster due to a Public 24 Health and Economic Emergency Proclamation that was 25 signed by Judge Kelly on March 24th, 2020 and extended 19 1 until terminated by order of this Kerr County 2 Commissioners' Court on March 30th, 2020. 3 I don't think we need any action on this. 4 This is just going to continue under that State of 5 Emergency that was declared by the Judge as stated. And 6 our emergency -- basically, we're just following the 7 Governor's guidelines. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think, you know, one 9 of the reasons the came out the other day, too, is the 10 fact that the declaration has been established. It 11 enables I think some flexibility for us in the budget, 12 too, so it's a good thing to keep it in place. 13 (Judge Kelly present.) 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, we're on -- we're 15 just getting ready to go to Item 1.3, with no action on 16 Item 1.2. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So 1.3 is consider, 18 discuss and take appropriate action regarding Kerr 19 County attestation that was filed with Department of 20 State Health Services on April the 30th. 21 We mentioned that earlier. Last Thursday -- 22 excuse me, last Thursday, I filed an attestation at 8 23 o'clock in the morning with DSHS that Kerrville had -- 24 Kerr County had five or fewer positive COVID-19 cases. 25 And by the afternoon, we'd received confirmation back 20 1 from them that we were approved and qualified for our 2 opening capacity to be expanded from 25 percent to 50 3 percent. And that was done last week. And at this 4 point, I don't -- there's a -- there's a -- kind of a 5 complicated formula as to whether or not we lose the 6 ability to stay open at 50 percent. I can go into all 7 the detail on that, but it looks pretty certain that 8 we're not going to get -- be closed back down to 25 9 percent unless we have a significant outbreak. So I 10 think that's good news for Kerr County. 11 Any other discussion about that? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think just for the 13 public just to know the attestation that you signed last 14 week was pretty broad as to an analysis of what's going 15 on in the County. It's not just a matter that you 16 decided to do it. There's a lot of, you know, detailed 17 documentation that went into that. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Well, there was a 19 questionnaire from DSHS that Dub worked with me to get 20 the information on, and it includes a number of nursing 21 homes, the jail facility that we have. It's a 22 complicated matrix that they use to determine where we 23 are with regard to the risk that we will be taking if we 24 opened up. So -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. But I just wanted 21 1 the public to know it wasn't just a quick decision, it 2 was an analysis of the county -- countywide situation. 3 JUDGE KELLY: No. And as best I can tell, 4 as I mentioned earlier for those that didn't hear it, it 5 looks like that Kerr County may be the largest county 6 population wise that was able to open up to 50 percent. 7 And so that's quite an accomplishment. DSHS says we 8 have 50,000 -- 57,000 people here. I don't know if we 9 have 57,000, but I think with West Kerr County right now 10 we probably have over that. But -- be that as it may. 11 But that's still quite an accomplishment to be, in all 12 the counties that were able to open up, we were the most 13 populated county to be able to do it. So I'm very proud 14 of the way we've handled things and especially commend 15 Dub for the way he's handled this emergency situation. 16 Next item on the agenda is 1.4 consider, 17 discuss and take appropriate action to approve the 18 Office of the Governor's Criminal Justice Division, 19 Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding Grant Intent 20 to Apply. James Robles. 21 MR. ROBLES: Good morning. Yes. Through 22 our AACOG there's additional coronavirus emergency 23 supplemental funding. This is a no match requirement 24 grant. And before you today is just a letter of intent 25 to apply for the grant. 22 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that 2 we approve the letter to file for the grant application. 3 JUDGE KELLY: It's just a letter of intent 4 to file for a grant application. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Motion's been made by 7 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Moser to 8 approve the filing of the letter of intent to apply for 9 the grant for emergency supplemental funding. Any other 10 discussion? 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What would it be for? 12 Where would we apply any monies? 13 JUDGE KELLY: I don't know. 14 MR. ROBLES: This is going to be through the 15 AACOG and it'll be for reimbursements for protective 16 personal equipment, overtime for our law enforcement -- 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Do we have that? 18 MR. ROBLES: What? 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I believe our Sheriff 20 has been -- is keeping track of the overtime and -- 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We have. The whole 22 time that the Peterson was running the outreach deal out 23 at the AG barn, I had an officer out there working 24 security for them. So all of that time and everything, 25 because that took him away from his duties, and they 23 1 were there, that's all -- part of that would be 2 overtime. 3 And another part we're looking at, it's not 4 so much direct overtime as it is time that he wasn't 5 doing his normal duties. It took him away from his 6 normal duties totally to do nothing but that for the 7 whole time. So I think -- you know, which put us behind 8 on that. 9 The other thing is, we've spent several 10 thousands of dollars on disinfectant and that for -- to 11 help keep it out of the jail and out of our building. 12 And then we also had to spend a couple thousand more on 13 computer equipment and cameras and that to be able to 14 set up, kind of, a video conferencing computer. The 15 Zoom type for inmates in the court and get that going. 16 So yeah, we've had some pretty good expenses on that 17 part that would help reimburse the County for. 18 JUDGE KELLY: And Sheriff -- 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I want -- 20 JUDGE KELLY: Sheriff -- I'm sorry, go 21 ahead. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I want to direct this 23 to James. Has every department had additional expenses, 24 or do you know? 25 MR. ROBLES: I don't believe every 24 1 department, no. It's mostly law enforcement related. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: There's also some 3 equipment that we can get that would help sanitize 4 patrol vehicles. Because, you know, the thing is, like 5 last night alone, we're still arresting people, we're 6 still putting them in jail. You know, I've got 155 in 7 jail right now, I've got 30 something from other 8 counties, and we had five arrested last night and one or 9 two released. And so, you know, we've got inmates in -- 10 scattered in jails all across the state that we're 11 waiting to get picked up, but we're kind of holding off 12 because those jails may have some issues inside their 13 jail so I'm trying to delay picking those inmates up. 14 And so there's -- there's a lot of expense that comes 15 into that and trying to sanitize and keep everything 16 clean. 17 MS. DOWDY: I was just also going to comment 18 that maintenance -- 19 COURT REPORTER: Excuse me, I can't hear 20 you, Jackie. 21 MS. DOWDY: Maintenance has supplied many 22 departments with the Plexiglass, you know, separators. 23 So I don't know if that would be a recovered expense. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So what I wanted to get 25 out in the open is that we have incurred additional 25 1 expenses that were unforeseen, specifically related to 2 this whole virus thing, so that people don't think that 3 we just automatically apply for something and belly up 4 at the trough. There have been genuine expenses the 5 County wasn't prepared to incur. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, the County -- 7 you know, and not prepared isn't exactly the right word. 8 We were prepared but there definitely were extra 9 expenses and a lot of them, you know, that -- that 10 weren't so much in the budget for this, because you 11 didn't see this coming, but not -- not that we couldn't 12 do it. And I think maintenance and -- yeah. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It adds to your budget. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It -- it definitely has 15 added thousands to the budget trying to keep everything 16 clean. 17 JUDGE KELLY: And Sheriff, before you leave, 18 I wanted to note that I -- I did read in the newspaper 19 this weekend, if you can believe what you read in the 20 newspapers, that the jail in San Antonio, in Bexar 21 County, has had almost 160 positive COVID-19 cases. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They had 78 just over 23 the weekend alone jump up. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Right. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They've had the death 26 1 of one of their detention officers and they've got well 2 over 100 inside the jail and that's one of the issues 3 that, you know, we're trying to keep from. You get it 4 in the jail and you've got serious issue right now. 5 Because I do get asked a lot of questions and it is 6 taxing on our employees. I've got one employee that, 7 you know, has some -- well, a handicapped child. So 8 that employee has gone on FMLA because they don't want 9 to take it home to that child in case it spreads. So 10 we're having some manpower issues with that type of 11 stuff. 12 But such as anybody that comes into that 13 building out there at all, whether you're in the 14 administration part, inmate part, all get their 15 temperatures checked. Anybody coming into the jail get 16 temperature and the questions asked, as far as travel 17 related or anything like that. If they're an inmate, 18 they go into isolation immediately. If they cannot bond 19 out immediately, they go into separation for 14 days 20 quarantine, which uses up all our separation cells. 21 And, of course, at that it takes extra manpower because 22 that can also be a suicide issue when you put somebody 23 by themselves for that long. 24 But we got to, I feel, we're kind of extreme 25 because if it does ever start in that jail, you'll have 27 1 what happened in Bexar County. You can't get rid of it 2 out of the jail. And we're disinfecting constantly 3 everything and trying -- so far the jail staff's been 4 doing a remarkable job. 5 JUDGE KELLY: So I wanted to make sure that 6 the public understood that our jail has zero positive 7 cases. 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We haven't had any and 9 don't intend to. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, one of the things 11 you did, Sheriff, was not bring in prisoners, inmates 12 from other counties when this began. So that's not an 13 additional expense but it's a reduction in revenue. I 14 don't think that will be applicable for the claim for 15 the application for the grant. 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But, you know, it -- 18 still it's going to be an impact to the County. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's a pretty major 20 impact. I mean, we -- 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- didn't totally quit 23 housing, like I said. We have about 35 now. Okay. We 24 were up to almost 80. And that's 80 at $50.00 a day per 25 inmate. Right. So I cut off immediately bringing in 28 1 anymore from other counties just because of the spread 2 of it. We don't get rid of the ones we had. So 3 gradually they've picked up ones here or there. 4 And, you know, I mean I'll be honest, we had 5 two that were released to another county. And then ICE 6 picked them up from that County and about 20 days later 7 both of them tested positive in an ICE facility. Okay. 8 But they -- they were too far out to have gotten it from 9 our facility and we didn't have it. So it's been a -- 10 it's been a shuffling match in trying to make sure we 11 don't get it in there. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good job. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Back to our agenda 14 item, which is what, 1.4, has to do with the letter of 15 intent. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I made the motion and 17 Commissioner Moser seconded. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So we've got a motion 19 and a second. Is there any other discussion? Those in 20 favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 21 1.5 consider, discuss and take appropriate 22 action regarding the Interlocal Agreement with the UGRA 23 for Guadalupe River Crossing Patrols. And I see 24 Mr. Buck is here in the courtroom with us today. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a brief 29 1 introduction and turn it over to Mr. Buck, that we've 2 had an Interlocal Agreement with UGRA for a number of 3 years. 4 MR. BUCK: 2018 was probably -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 2018. Where we are -- 6 our Constables and Deputy Constables go out and do 7 patrols on weekends, you know, on their own time. And 8 UGRA pays them directly and the County participates by 9 allowing the Constables, the Deputy Constables, to use 10 county vehicles. And that's the reason that there's an 11 Interlocal Agreement because they're using it, and it's 12 been a very successful program. 13 I talked to Director Givens about it. He 14 says that his -- he and Sean are the two that do it. 15 They both like doing it. They think that it would be 16 not effective if they did not go in county vehicles, 17 because they drive up and people straighten up. So -- 18 and I think Ray can go into the purpose of it and how we 19 got started with it. 20 JUDGE KELLY: They don't get shoved in the 21 river? I saw that one. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And Commissioner Letz, 23 this is on their time. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Mr. Buck. 30 1 MR. BUCK: It's been a very successful 2 program and I certainly appreciate the County partnering 3 with us on it. We started taking data -- collecting 4 data in 2010 and we've cleaned up 15 river crossings 5 throughout the County on an annual basis. UGRA pays for 6 that. We have a contractor who does that. 7 2010, we collected about 13,000 pounds. We 8 actually weigh it, measure it before we take it to the 9 dump. It peaked. It went up every year until 2017, 10 where it peaked to 43,000 pounds. But I'm -- I'm happy 11 to note that in 2018 it dropped to about 33. And then 12 last year it dropped down to about 28. We can't say for 13 sure that the litter patrol is making that big an 14 impact, but anecdotally, I do think it is making an 15 impact. Because they're at three different river 16 crossings. Brink's, Ingram and -- which one am I 17 missing? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Schumacher or Center 19 Point? 20 MR. BUCK: Yeah. Center Point I think. So 21 we have three -- three crossings. Yes. Brink's, Hunt 22 and Ingram. So -- but I do think it's effective. The 23 -- I think the staff at the -- that's out there do a 24 great job. Well, we've had a lot of good reports from 25 them. They -- they're very courteous. They come out in 31 1 their uniform and they actually take bags with them and 2 ask the people that are using the facilities, the river, 3 the bank or what have you, and they say pack it in, pack 4 it out. That's our message. Pack it in, pack it out. 5 So just a brief summary. But thank you for your 6 participation and I hope you will approve this. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do they also patrol the 8 crossings other than at those three? 9 MR. BUCK: No, sir. We concentrate on those 10 three, because at the amount that we're paying per hour, 11 we want to maximum the amount of time they're at one 12 place. I think sometimes they sit and watch. They have 13 to have -- observe and see what people are doing. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So that's -- that's the 15 most cost effective way to do it, rather than spreading 16 them so thin. 17 MR. BUCK: It has seemed that way. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it's been a good 20 program. It's a win/win. Minimal cost to the County, 21 and it helps prevent a mess out there. So I make a 22 motion to approve the agreement as submitted. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 25 Commissioner Letz, and seconded by Commissioner Moser to 32 1 approve the Interlocal Agreement with UGRA on the 2 Guadalupe River Crossing Patrol. Any further 3 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 4 five zero. Thank you, Mr. Buck. 5 MR. BUCK: Thank you. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.6 consider, discuss and 7 take appropriate action regarding the recycle trailers. 8 Commissioner Harris. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: All right. I'm going 10 to have Shane come in here from Maintenance and discuss 11 this a little bit. Last week -- when I first put this 12 on the agenda, I wanted to talk about getting back to 13 our routine of taking the trailers out. We suspended 14 taking them to the different locations. Once we put it 15 on the agenda, we found out that we got notice from -- 16 that the City was going to discontinue taking the 17 recycling out there at the landfill. Now, Shane's got 18 more information this morning. So go ahead, Shane. 19 MR. EVANS: All right. The recycle center 20 where -- or the transfer station where we take our 21 trailers, that is still open to the County, and we'll 22 still be able to do that. No problems there. And from 23 what I understand, no -- no charge will -- it's still 24 free like it was before. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: So people will not be 33 1 able to take it out there individually, but the County 2 will be able to take our trailers out there? 3 MR. EVANS: Yes. Yes, sir. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Is that correct? 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Is there anything that 6 we can do -- like I mentioned at the last Court meeting, 7 I think there were eight or ten dumpsters there where 8 people did take the recycling, not using the trailers, 9 and they were totally full, you know, of flattened 10 cardboard, plastic bottles, all the recyclable stuff, 11 not including glass. It seems to me like there's 12 something we could do with -- since the County has used 13 it that much, something we could do with the City to 14 enable people to still utilize that. Because there are 15 -- a lot of people just don't use the trailers because 16 they use those -- those dumpsters. And the trailers are 17 full also. So the trailers are going to be really full. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. Well, one thing 19 that Shane and I discussed this morning is, isn't that 20 on our routine, but maybe since Republic is still going 21 to take care of the City for recycling, maybe that one 22 trailer that we left there at the maintenance 24/7, 23 maybe going out to the outlying areas like Center Point 24 and Hunt and Turtle Creek and not having it there. So 25 using the two trailers that we do have out and about 34 1 more often. Because I know Jody and I have gotten quite 2 a few calls in the last few days, last week, for -- 3 especially Hunt. People out there, they're recycling. 4 And they're -- and I'm getting calls. Their garages are 5 full. They're ready to do something with it. So -- 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, the -- the 7 message being -- wherever they're from. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sure. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We don't know where 10 they're from. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But we do know that 13 eight dumpsters are filled. Okay. And that they're 14 really using them. I --I use those myself all the time. 15 And there's -- I've never been there by myself. There's 16 always multiple cars there recycling. So I think we 17 should contact the City, okay, and see what it would 18 take for them to keep those dumpsters open for the -- 19 since they're taking our trailers, why can't we just 20 have people still going there and put them in the 21 dumpster. I'm sure it's costing the City some funds, 22 but it may be something we can work an agreement with 23 the City to do. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I'm not 25 understanding that. Are you saying we would take over 35 1 their dumpsters? 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. I'm saying right 3 now they provide the service. They don't charge us for 4 it. Maybe they -- maybe it's an expense that they're 5 trying to reduce. So what is that expense and what 6 could the County do to offset that expense or -- or to 7 enable those dumpsters at the recycling -- I mean at the 8 landfill from remaining open for County residents. 9 JUDGE KELLY: It is an expense. And City 10 Manager McDaniel sent me an e-mail, I think $60,000 a 11 year that they're trying to -- 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, okay. I thought 13 it was probably a budget thing. So $60,000 a year. 14 Okay. So I think we -- I would -- I'd like for us to -- 15 I don't know if it's in the form of a motion. I'd be 16 happy to interact with the City and see what -- what we 17 might do or -- and bring that back to Commissioners' 18 Court. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the -- part of 20 the issue also is that the lack of demand for the 21 recycle products I think is part of this whole -- 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, it is and if -- 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And we really need to 24 get -- to meet with Republic and find out is this stuff 25 going to the landfill, or is it going to be recycled? 36 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I called them. 2 And I asked -- my concern was for people in the County 3 would be able to bring their recycling materials in if 4 -- if we weren't going to be able to use the trailers. 5 I wasn't sure what the situation was. And they said 6 that people can bring their recycling materials. That's 7 going to be stopped as of next Saturday. So through 8 next Saturday you can take your stuff to the dump. 9 After that, you can't take it. And there's no market 10 for it. There's no market for recyclables. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, that's -- 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: So where it's going to 13 end up, I don't know. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It doesn't make a lot 15 of sense since they're picking it up all over the City, 16 recyclable material, taking it out there, they're taking 17 our trailers. So let's just say that that's 80 percent 18 of what they do. So they're saying 20 percent we're not 19 going to do. Okay. So you can't say that it's -- and 20 I'm sure the value has gone down. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, you don't know 22 where it's going to end up is my point. Yeah. You 23 don't know where it's going. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I -- that's a separate 25 subject. Separate. 37 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, not really. If 2 we're -- 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right now we're talking 4 about the -- it must be some -- they're keeping the 5 recycling service available to everybody in the City. 6 They're keeping it available to people in the County to 7 put it in a trailer. That's a fact. Where it goes, I 8 don't know. Okay. And there's an additional eight 9 dumpsters out there that falls in the same category. We 10 don't know where it goes either. If it goes to the same 11 place the other stuff goes. 12 I asked -- I asked somebody at the City one 13 time, do you really recycle that material? And I asked 14 them that six months ago. Just we don't separate. And 15 they said, oh yeah, we -- you know, it goes down and 16 gets recycled. So -- but anyway, I think it's worth -- 17 I'll be happy to contact the City and see what it takes 18 for us to keep those small portions still open, other 19 than just the trailers. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My point is though that 21 if it's not really recycling -- 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's right. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- what's the point? 24 Then we're just trashing -- we're just subsidizing 25 certain kinds of trash. 38 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If it's really being 3 recycled, that's one thing. But if it's not really 4 being recycled, I'm not in favor of doing it. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, I'm -- let's look 6 at the trailers then, okay? Let's shut down the 7 trailers. It's the same argument. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. If it's not -- if 9 nothing's being recycled, I agree with you. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. Serves no 11 purpose. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And I agree with that. 14 Right. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Based on what I heard, 16 it sounds like -- and I have one more person to call. 17 But it sounds like Republic is really not interested in 18 recycling. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: If you think you're 20 recycling and then it goes to the landfill anyway -- 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, then we -- we 22 just became what Commissioner Letz said. We're the 23 trash man and we're paying extra money for it. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. Exactly. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Well, I would -- 39 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I agree with that. 2 Okay. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- defer to Commissioner 4 Belew and let him continue running his tracks and figure 5 out what's going on. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Go -- go for it. And 7 if that's the case, then we'll just eliminate our 8 trailers, too. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It might not be, but 10 we'll find out. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We'll find out. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, let's hope not. 13 But we'll -- 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, not -- well, don't 15 say hope not. If he finds out that it's not being 16 recycled, that's an expense we don't need. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. Exactly. But 18 let's hope that it is being recycled. That's what I 19 mean. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Then we'll go back to 21 the -- 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: So we'll pass on this 23 and continue our suspension of the recycling trailers, I 24 assume, and wait to hear from Commissioner Belew. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I didn't ask -- I 40 1 wanted to ask if you'd talked to anybody at Republic? 2 MR. EVANS: I did. I talked to him this -- 3 just this morning. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What's the guy's name? 5 MR. EVANS: I have his name. Barry Loveless 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes. Barry Loveless. 7 MR. EVANS: And now I asked him some other 8 stuff, too. Some of the reason why they're cutting back 9 on it is -- is -- one is the overall cost, from what I'm 10 understanding, I'm getting educated on this also, is 11 that a lot of this recycle, it is being sent overseas to 12 be processed, and a lot of these countries or where it's 13 going, they're scaling that back, they don't want it or 14 they're not doing it anymore. 15 So that's -- you know, if we keep recycling 16 or taking all this recycle we don't have anyplace to 17 take it anyhow, because they're not -- it's not being 18 shipped to where it's to be reprocessed or whatever. So 19 that was where -- what -- another reason for them to 20 scale all this back. A lot of recycle companies or 21 recycle is being scaled back because of that. So this 22 is just -- not just a Kerr County problem. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Well, the one thing that I 24 would point out is that recycling is not a 25 constitutionally or statutorily mandated duty of the 41 1 County. It's something that we do voluntarily because 2 it's a good work. And I just want to go on the record 3 for that. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Good point. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Item 1.7 consider, 6 discuss and take appropriate action to reconsider Court 7 Order Number 38042, which closed playgrounds at the Flat 8 Rock Park and Lions Park. Commissioner Harris. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. I visited with 10 Commissioner Moser last week. We were kind of together 11 on this when we suspended the use of the playground 12 equipment, and we're trying to get back towards normal, 13 and I think it's time to maybe rescind that court order 14 and go back and -- I think people are going to do as 15 much as they're going to do. 16 We've been dealing with this COVID virus for 17 awhile, and people are -- they're -- they're ready. 18 They know how to take care of theirselves, and I think 19 it oughta be an individual responsibility to take care 20 of yourself. If your immune system is weak, then stay 21 home, or whatever. If you're worried about your kids, 22 worry them about. But I think it's time. Commissioner 23 Moser, what do you think? 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, I -- I agree. 25 Matter of fact, if you'll make a motion, I'll second it. 42 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. I move that we 2 rescind that Court Order which is number 38042 and allow 3 the playgrounds to be used again. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And I'll second that. 5 And I'll make a comment. Like I said, this weekend 6 there were a lot of people in the park. They're 7 utilizing it. I think the children need to have access 8 to that playground equipment. It's -- it's used a lot. 9 Not overly used, but -- and I think the statistics show 10 from the medical group that the children are less 11 susceptible and are being able to accommodate the COVID 12 virus. And it's not anything that the adults really 13 interact with on the playground equipment; it's just the 14 kids. 15 And believe it or not, one of the things 16 that they use a lot out there is just the sand. Okay. 17 So the sand is real good. So I think it's the right 18 move in the right direction. And since this County is 19 -- a lot of our COVID issues have been related to 20 travel, I think it's the right thing to do. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Okay. 22 Motion's been made by Commissioner Harris, seconded by 23 Commissioner Moser to rescind Order -- Court Order 24 38042, which closed the playgrounds at Flat Rock Park 25 and Lions Park. Those in favor raise your hand. 43 1 Unanimous, five zero. 2 1.8 consider, discuss and take appropriate 3 action to address the reopening of departments within 4 the county government. Commissioner Harris. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, much like the 6 playground equipment, I think we need to be pointing 7 towards normal again and -- and that includes the County 8 Government, our departments and what have you. And I 9 think -- I thought all five of us needed to start 10 discussing that, where we go from here. 11 Bring back Maintenance to full staff and 12 some of our others, and again, we can practice social 13 distancing and stuff, but we need to get back to normal 14 from here on forward. In my opinion. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree. I think that 16 the -- the key is the social distancing and we do have 17 certain departments -- one, Animal Control, which makes 18 it very, very difficult. And I talked with Reagan last 19 week and I said, you know, start trying to get back to 20 normal. But you have a unique situation where Animal 21 Control Officers are in a room where you can't get six 22 feet apart. But at the same time, try and get back to 23 normal the best you can, and he is doing that, which 24 will mean also starting to take more animal intakes back 25 in as the surrenders start opening up. 44 1 He is probably going to limit the volunteers 2 for the time being for the same social distancing 3 reasons, but he's already doing it. 4 But I think that all the County departments 5 should, you know, get back up and I think we can -- 6 don't need to be like -- I think a good example would be 7 OSSF. They were in their individual offices. They can 8 be back full staff in my mind. 9 So -- but then on the other side you got HR, 10 where -- as soon as that -- while the construction is 11 undergoing, it's pretty crowded. It can be. So as soon 12 as that is finished, they can get back to full staff. 13 So it's a little bit of discretion, but I believe that 14 we'll get back to regular operations. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: All right. Good. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: There are places you 17 mentioned the proximity might be, as an example, 18 everybody in one room and they have to use the best 19 judgment. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And I guess we still 21 have some situations with school not being in -- 22 operational, you know, some of the members of the staff 23 are still working with that so they're working remotely. 24 So that's not saying they can't do that, or are we 25 saying that? Are we saying that everybody needs to be 45 1 here, or allow people to work from home? 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I feel like -- I 3 want to be heading in that direction to normal. There 4 are going to be some -- 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well -- I'm sorry. Go 6 ahead. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: There are going to be 8 some bumps in the road. I still think people need to be 9 -- take care of their own self, be responsible for 10 theirself. If they have a weakened immune system or 11 something, they need to realize that and -- and it's up 12 to them. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, I'm just -- I 14 just think we need to be clear what we're telling the 15 staff. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, why don't we do 17 this the way we started. We started by letting 18 department heads determine that with their staff. And 19 we can go back that same direction. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, that -- that's 21 good. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That makes sense. 23 Okay. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think -- and let 46 1 the current Liaison in each of the Departments at our 2 next meeting and we can have an update as to how the -- 3 what the operations are at various departments. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think that's a good 5 way to do it. Okay. Cool. 6 MRS. STEBBINS: If I can add, that if 7 department heads have questions about the child care 8 that Commissioner Harris, I think, just pointed out, or 9 maybe it was Moser, they can contact Jennifer Doss, our 10 HR Director. She's got a list compiled from -- that has 11 guidance about the Federal Protection for people who 12 don't have child care right now. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good deal. 14 Thanks, Heather. 15 MRS. STEBBINS: You're welcome. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Let's move on to the 17 approval docket. 2.1 pay the bills. 18 MR. ROBLES: All right. Bills for the Court 19 today are Kerr County, $532,984.91. Airport, $272.30. 20 Adult Probation, $2,378.51. And the 198th District 21 Attorney Forfeiture, $147.72. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Move to pay the bills. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 25 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 47 1 pay the bills as presented. Any other discussion? 2 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 3 Okay. Item 2.2 budget amendments? 4 MR. ROBLES: There are none. 5 JUDGE KELLY: 2.3 late bills? 6 MR. ROBLES: There are none. 7 JUDGE KELLY: 2.4 Auditor reports? 8 MR. ROBLES: Yes, we do have one for the 9 County Treasurer. And that's been submitted to you. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Do I have a motion to approve 11 the Auditor's report on the County Treasurer? 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I make the motion. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 15 Commissioner Belew, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 16 approve the Auditor's report on the Treasurer's Office. 17 Any other discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. 18 Unanimous, five zero. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, before we get 20 away from the bills, just a quick question. Just that 21 we bought most of our vehicles that are in the budget. 22 Are those all for the Sheriff, or are they elsewhere, 23 too? 24 MR. ROBLES: I believe there's five in the 25 Sheriff for this particular round. But we did have one 48 1 for Animal Control, and I -- but I believe at this point 2 we've purchased all the vehicles. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Thank you. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Item 2.5 monthly 5 reports. Commissioner Harris. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I don't have any. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Item 2.6 court orders. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. We have the Court 9 Orders from our April 27th meeting, 38060 through 38068. 10 They all look in order, and I make a motion to approve. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Motion's been made by 13 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 14 approve the Court Orders as presented. Any other 15 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 16 five zero. 17 Information agenda. Status report from 18 Department Heads. Shane. 19 MR. EVANS: Yes, sir. Okay. And this is 20 more an update on -- this is more -- we have been 21 building the -- I call them COVID shields for all the 22 offices. So far I've built for the Tax Office, Clerk's 23 Office, District Clerk, and J.P. 4, Treasurer's Office, 24 J.P. 1, J.P. 3. Currently working on Road & Bridge and 25 to finish theirs up. 49 1 And I've spent $1,268.74 on Plexiglass, 2 $454.55 on the one-by-twos, the boards to make the frame 3 and whatnot, for a total of $1,723.29 for -- 4 specifically for the COVID response. 5 Now, I do have some other expenses maybe 6 for, you know, more cleaning products above and beyond 7 what we normally do. But I still have more -- more of 8 that coming in because it's on backorder and we haven't 9 been charged for it yet. And that's what I have for 10 that. 11 And as I say, we are getting supplies as we 12 need them to sanitize the courthouse. And we do have 13 masks at the moment. I got some at Gibson's. For a box 14 of 50 they were $70. We just bought enough to sustain 15 us. We do have some ordered for a lot less, and we 16 probably won't get those until the middle of this month 17 or the even end of this month before we can have those. 18 And HR, I have been running -- the building 19 project is not really so much an issue. I mean, there's 20 just small stuff we have to finish up. It was a half 21 door. 22 Where my real problem is has been getting my 23 -- the guys to do the smoke detectors installation. I 24 have been dealing with those guys since -- as far as 25 like -- as far back as March 20th is when he said he was 50 1 doing the -- the online application or for the permit to 2 do -- do the job. He couldn't use my permit like the 3 plumbers or electricians; they have to have their own -- 4 their own permit. And he supposedly been doing this or 5 was doing this on March 20th. But that's been six weeks 6 ago. And March 26th said he was talking to -- wanted to 7 reach out to the Fire Marshal. I still have not had 8 anything -- any action at this point yet in regards to 9 getting my smoke detectors installed and the audiovisual 10 as required by the fire code because we have three 11 people in that office now. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is it the hold up with 13 our contractor, or whoever does our smoke detectors, or 14 the City? 15 MR. EVANS: I'm thinking it's more with the 16 contractor. Because, you know, he's -- he's been out 17 there when we -- and looked at the construction work, 18 and trying to get an idea of where to put stuff even 19 when we had just wood frames up. And that's been 20 awhile. So -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You might mention to our 22 contractor there's other contractors out there if he 23 doesn't get this fixed. 24 MR. EVANS: Yes, sir. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because it's a hindrance 51 1 to that office not being able to -- 2 JUDGE KELLY: Well, since the public is 3 watching YouTube, I would say that we need to let this 4 contractor know that we're going to replace him if this 5 thing doesn't get finished right away. 6 MR. EVANS: Okay. All right. I'll pass 7 that information along. Because this is getting -- I'm 8 getting kind of frustrated with it because it should 9 have been done awhile back and I'm still waiting for 10 this to happen with the smoke detector installation and 11 the audio visual. You know, they should have been done 12 a long time ago. 13 And I know it's kind of frustrating to the 14 HR staff because they're, you know, having to work in 15 separate offices or, you know -- and because the spacing 16 they're having to show up -- 17 JUDGE KELLY: Well, Mr. Evans, I'd like you 18 to come back next week and report on the status of this. 19 I'm not going to ask the name of that contractor today. 20 But if it's not -- we don't have progress this next 21 week, I am going to ask you to tell me his name next 22 week. Okay? 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I've got a question. 24 The contractor was selected. I don't think the Court 25 selected the contractor, did we? You -- you selected 52 1 it? 2 MR. EVANS: Well -- 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So where I'm going with 4 that, you've got the authority to do what you need to 5 do. You don't need to have the Court take action. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, this -- this is -- 7 I'm guessing this is a question. It's the same 8 contractor that handles our fire detectors, correct? 9 MR. EVANS: Yes, sir. But they do the -- 10 the year -- the biannual inspections on it. Also they 11 did the recent -- well, in 2000 -- for the last fire 12 alarms upgraded, they're the contractor that did the 13 work that -- 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So -- but this is a 15 modification to their existing contract then. 16 MR. EVANS: It's a modification to their 17 existing system, yes, sir. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, but there's -- 19 it's additional work for them, so they're charging you 20 some way to do this? 21 MR. EVANS: Sure. Yes, they will. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: My -- my point being, 23 it seems to me like you got the authority to tell them 24 to deliver on the services that are required. 25 JUDGE KELLY: I -- I agree that he's got the 53 1 authority. I'd like you to invite them to come to 2 Commissioners' Court next week so we can talk to them 3 directly, find out what the problem is. 4 MR. EVANS: Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: If it's not fixed, 6 right? 7 JUDGE KELLY: If it's not done. Yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think the other 9 issue that I visited is when the air conditioner motor 10 got hot and caught on fire or whatever you want to say 11 it did, that smoke detector in that room did not go 12 off -- 13 JUDGE KELLY: That's correct. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- and was a, quote, a 15 sensitivity issue, and that's a concern to me. 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's what I was going 17 to say, that's a concern. Because we evacuated the 18 entire courthouse, but the smoke alarm never went off 19 and it should have. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So that contractor's on 21 my list at the moment. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. Somebody didn't 23 -- something didn't get inspected properly. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Anything else? Okay. 25 Thank you, Mr. Evans. 54 1 MR. EVANS: Thank you. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Any other Department Head 3 reports? 4 Elected Official reports? Sheriff. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Real quick, if I may. 6 I hear Shane talking about masks. If you need masks, 7 give us a holler. We do have plenty. One thing that's 8 nice, Texas Association of Counties, they sent out 200 9 to all of us, to the Sheriff's offices, and gloves also. 10 So I thought that was good. 11 And through Dub Thomas, our Emergency 12 Management, we've been able to come up with quite a few 13 masks. You know, capability's there. In fact, I've 14 reached out to Mason County just in case they need some. 15 It's a smaller community and they've got the State law 16 now so they probably won't, but they could. 17 The only other thing I would say, is if the 18 county offices start opening, the one thing I would 19 recommend -- and I'm not the maintenance person -- but I 20 do think we need to get maintenance back on staff 21 full-time because I think there's a lot of wiping down 22 and cleaning and just disinfecting that needs to be done 23 after anybody even touches anything. That's what we're 24 doing out at the Sheriff's office. 25 You know, besides the temperature checking, 55 1 doorknobs, everything gets -- gets wiped. And I know 2 there's not enough maintenance staff and probably 3 supplies to do that countywide, but I would sure 4 recommend it, because none of us want it to go above 5 that five cases no matter what. That would hurt our 6 businesses too much. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Shane told me this 8 morning that they're ready to get back to full staff and 9 go forward. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Can you provide some of 11 those masks here in the courthouse someplace? 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I have provided some -- 13 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. We have some. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER -- that they have. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I didn't know it. So 16 that's a good thing to know. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But you're 18 non-essential. Oh, I didn't say that. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, I agree with 20 that. 21 (Laughter.) 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. That's good -- 23 thank you. That's a good thing to have. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We have provided some 25 of those, the good N95 ones, but we also have some other 56 1 ones that we use. But -- 2 JUDGE KELLY: And so the public knows, the 3 Texas Association of Counties also delivered hand 4 sanitizer to us. What, about a hundred of them or so? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 48. Made by the 6 courtesy of -- they're made by -- 7 JUDGE KELLY: No. They don't want us to 8 advertise that. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, never mind. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We were able to find -- 11 JUDGE KELLY: We were actually instructed 12 not to tell people who provided them. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It probably says it on 14 the bottle. 15 JUDGE KELLY: They were provided free. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It says it on the 17 bottle, doesn't it? 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We actually have 19 gallons of it. But the biggest thing that we found, and 20 it was hard to find at first and people don't realize, 21 is the copy machines. Everybody goes in and uses them, 22 okay. You can't just spray them with disinfectant. One 23 of mine did that and we had to have maintenance come out 24 there and fix it, you know. The repair guy. But it's 25 wipes that you can use on them, and those wipes are hard 57 1 to find. Now, we -- we got tubs that have, you know, 2 thousands of them in that we were able to find and get 3 large. But, you know, it is something that needs to be 4 looked at. And it's not just maintenance people. We 5 had our own people wiping down everything and doing it 6 after anyone else touches it. So -- 7 JUDGE KELLY: Very good. Thank you. 8 Any other Elected Official reports? 9 Liaison Commissioner reports? 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'd like to -- 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's -- go ahead. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'd like to point out 13 that we had a long-time employee, our County Extension 14 Agent, Roy Walston, retired last week, and because of 15 everything going on, it wasn't a regular celebration or 16 retirement party or anything like that. But he -- he 17 served us well, this County, for a long, long time. 18 Brought a lot of good things to -- recognition to our 19 County, as well as helping produce some very good young 20 people, and he was -- he served us well. And hats off 21 to Roy for his -- 22 JUDGE KELLY: Well, and likewise, 23 Judge Keith Williams retired last week. And has been a 24 faithful servant to the County for over a decade. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And I have something on 58 1 the Veteran Service Officer. Marty is going to be in 2 training with the Air Force from June 22nd to September 3 the 27th. So that's three months that she'll be out. 4 And she's got everything coordinated with Jenna, so I'll 5 meet with them this week, with HR, and make sure 6 everything is going in and they got it all squared away, 7 but just to make sure. 8 So that's going to be additional workload on 9 Jenna, being a part-time person to carry over -- carry 10 on that -- that function. What she's doing is not 11 COVID-19 related; it's just training. That is for 12 Marty. 13 And the library'a open today with 14 restricted, you know, abilities. I'm not sure exactly 15 what that is. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 50 percent capacity. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Huh? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 50 percent capacity. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, that's what it 20 said, but I heard something on some local radio station 21 this morning that it was a little bit different than 22 just 50 percent. I'm not sure what it is. But anyway, 23 supposedly open. That's all I have. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Anything else? 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I would add one other 59 1 thing on economic development. The company that's 2 moving forward on -- on possibly locating the 3 significant business in Kerrville is still -- in Kerr 4 County's still there. It's been slowed down just a 5 little bit with the COVID-19 thing, but it still has a 6 flashing green light on it. So -- 7 JUDGE KELLY: The only thing that I would 8 contribute is I do have my proposed budget ready to roll 9 out, but I'm not going to roll it out today because of 10 personal reasons. I'll roll it out later this week and 11 do a public announcement and get the copies out to 12 everybody and then we'll put it on the agenda to discuss 13 next Monday. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Our elected officials 15 or Department Heads, are we going to get a copy of your 16 proposed budget that would affect our individual 17 departments at least so that we can start preparing also 18 for the budget negotiations? 19 JUDGE KELLY: Right. And I think -- when -- 20 when do they have access to Incode? 21 MR. ROBLES: I'll have to check the 22 schedule. I believe it's next week. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, it's next -- I believe 24 you'll have access to Incode next week. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I don't know if it's 60 1 going to show on theirs the proposed budget. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Should. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: So we'll have to be 4 shown how to get to it to see what they're doing because 5 right now it just shows what they're -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not what they; it's 7 what he. 8 JUDGE KELLY: And it's just proposed. 9 And -- 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I agree. 11 JUDGE KELLY: I will give you a preview of 12 coming attractions that we are within $12,000.00 of a 13 balanced budget this year. That's what I'm proposing. 14 So that's from 2.7 million deficit -- it was two point 15 -- 2.7 million deficit last year to $12,000.00 deficit 16 this year. Less than 12,000. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, it is a different 18 year. Most years there's not a proposed one filed until 19 -- all at the end. So that's why this year's a little 20 different the way you're doing it. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we're going -- we're 22 doing it like the other counties do it. Trying to. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I want to remind 24 everybody tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, so shoot off your 25 fireworks. 61 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Or buy some fireworks. 3 JUDGE KELLY: We are going to have some 4 discussion in Executive Session, is that correct? No, 5 I'm looking at Commissioner Harris. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: No, I don't think so. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So we'll pass on that? 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. 9 JUDGE KELLY: So there being no Executive 10 Session item, is there any other business before the 11 Court today? If not, Court is adjourned. 12 * * * * * * 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 62 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 utilizing the YouTube Channel. 10 Dated this the 15th day of May, A.D. 2020. 11 12 /s/DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD Certified Shorthand Reporter 13 No. 953 Expiration Date 04/31/2021 14 * * * * * * 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25