1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Regular Session 5 Tuesday, May 26, 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 10 action regarding update, facility use and 5 other matters related to COVID-19. 6 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 14 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 25 11 action to approve Resolution to apply for HAVA, Help America Vote Act, Grant. 12 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 30 13 action to approve and authorize the County Judge to sign request form for 14 unclaimed capital credits received from electric cooperatives pursuant to Section 15 74.602 of Texas Property Code, distributed by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. 16 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 31 17 action to approve the renewal of the TAC, Texas Association of Counties, HEBP, Health 18 and Employee Benefits Pool, medical and dental plan for FY 20/21 for employees and 19 retirees. 20 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 33 action to approve contract with Castle 21 Lake Volunteer Fire Department, and allow County Judge to sign same. 22 1.7 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 33 23 action regarding speed bumps on River Road in Center Point. 24 25 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.8 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 45 action to form a committee to make 4 recommendations for the operation of the five county Regional Public Defender Office. 5 1.9 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 49 6 action on the request from the State Office of Administrative Hearings, SOAH, to 7 continue using the Commissioners' Courtroom once a month for their ALR, Administrative 8 License Revocation, hearings. 9 1.10 Public hearing for a revision of plat for 49 Elm Pass Ranch No. 2, Tracts 126-127, 10 Volume 3, Page 100. 11 1.11 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 50 action for the Court to approve a revision 12 of plat for Elm Pass Ranch No. 2, Tracts 126-127, Volume 3, Page 100. 13 1.12 Public hearing for revision of plat for 50 14 Ingram Hills Subdivision, Tract 22A, Volume 5, Page 152. 15 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 51 16 action to approve a revision of plat for Ingram Hills Subdivision, Tract 22A, 17 Volume 5, Page 152. 18 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 52 action to extend the Local State of 19 Disaster Due to a Public Health and Economic Emergency Proclamation that was 20 signed by Judge Kelly on March 24, 2020, and "extended until terminated by 21 order of the Kerr County Commissioners' Court" on March 30, 2020. 22 2.1 Pay Bills. 55 23 2.4 Auditor Reports. 56 24 2.5 Accept Monthly Reports. 62 25 4 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 2.6 Court Orders. 63 4 3.3 Status reports from Liaison Commissioners. 63 5 *** Adjournment. 65 6 *** Reporter's Certificate. 66 7 * * * * * * 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 5 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Good morning. It is 2 Tuesday, May the 26th, 2020, 9:00 a.m., and the 3 Commissioners' Court is now in session for the regular 4 Commissioners' Court meeting. If you would stand for 5 the prayer and pledge, to be led by Commissioner Moser. 6 (Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance.) 7 JUDGE KELLY: Reminder about the cell 8 phones. This cell phone is on if anybody wants to call 9 in for Commissioners' Court for input today. The number 10 is 830-792-6161. 11 Okay. The next part of the agenda is for 12 public input. We've got a courtroom full, it looks like 13 we've got about eight, nine people here. I don't think 14 we have anybody here in person. But if there's anybody 15 who does want to offer any public comment, if you would 16 call in the number I just gave you and limit it to three 17 minutes and we'll be happy to listen. 18 Next is Commissioners' Comments. We'll 19 start with Commissioner 1. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: A lot of rain, that's 21 been nice. We had a good turnout under the 22 circumstances, the threat of the rain and the social 23 distancing for yesterday's event, for Memorial Day. So 24 that's all I have to report. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I want to follow on 6 1 with the -- yesterday's event. I think there were 2 probably about 50 people there. Marty and Jenna did a 3 great job organizing it. Harley did a great job of 4 being emcee for the thing. The speaker yesterday was -- 5 and it's on -- it's recorded, so people can go to the 6 County website through Commissioners and see that. 7 The lady that spoke was a Colonel from the 8 Army Logistics. Did a fantastic job. What she reminded 9 everybody of is that there have been a million people 10 that have dedicated their -- their life to our liberty 11 and freedom, and she gave a few examples and just 12 reminding that was just one -- one out of a million in 13 the two or three that she cited. 14 The other thing that she mentioned was, and 15 I thought was very interesting, is she said that there 16 are threats to our liberty today, but that's for a 17 different discussion later on. So she didn't go there, 18 but she was just saying there's some other challenges. 19 But anyway, I would encourage everybody to 20 watch that -- that video. It's -- she was extremely 21 good. That's all I have. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Good. Three. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A couple things. Rains 24 were nice. Eastern part of the County ended up anywhere 25 from kind of two to four inches. Somewhere in that 7 1 range. Which is good. The wind was a little bit 2 excessive, especially from Center Point to Comfort. A 3 lot of damage. I spent most of yesterday trying to 4 figure out how to live without electricity. We were out 5 for 18 hours with two teenage boys and two teenage 6 friends and no cell phones, so -- and no internet. So 7 it was a bit of a challenge for them, to prevent them 8 from going crazy. 9 Interesting that -- I want to make a comment 10 as to -- because I was annoyed at Bandera Electric 11 yesterday because they keep upgrading the system and it 12 keeps getting worse. We are getting -- and not just us, 13 our personal family, but Eastern Kerr County is having 14 more and more outages from Bandera Electric. And they 15 keep upgrading everything, they say, and it's getting 16 worse from the standpoint of ours. I don't know if 17 they're centralizing too much or what they're doing, but 18 I plan to have some communication with their president 19 in the next week or so, because it seems to be going the 20 other direction, getting better not worse. 21 And other thing, from the baseball side, the 22 Kerrville Little League is planning to do a short 23 season. They're going to start practices June 1, and 24 games around the 15th, as per the Governor's guidelines. 25 Looks like there's quite a bit of interest. We're one 8 1 of the few leagues that's going to try to do that in the 2 Hill Country. We have a lot of people from other 3 counties wanting to play here. And our -- I believe the 4 policy is going to end up being no. Kerr County -- 5 kids from Center Point and Ingram will be welcome, but 6 beyond that, no. And that's about it. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And that's June 15th? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: June 15th is when the 9 games start. And probably -- we're still certainly 10 going through numbers and seeing who really wants to 11 play, it's kind of restarting the season in a week. And 12 that takes about two months to get going. So it's kind 13 of a -- trying to figure out how it's all going to 14 operate and trying to do something for these kids. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Good. All right. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Again, the rain was 17 nice for us out west. Hopefully we'll get a little bit 18 more this week. 19 Good news for the Hunt people. The 20 recycling trailer will be going back out there this 21 week. I believe Shane's planning on taking it either 22 today or tomorrow, but it's back on schedule. 23 The last week of the month I went out to 24 Crider's. They -- they have a catfish fry. A lot of 25 people out there. It was very good. And you know, out 9 1 in the open and fresh air and what have you. I 2 understand they opened up the rodeo and dance this last 3 Saturday. It's kind of tradition. It runs from 4 Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend and over 5 90 years tradition. So all is well. 6 Hope we get back to normal a little bit. 7 That's it. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Good. Got a couple things to 9 report. One is on the census. Got a call from Billy 10 Horton, and they're starting what they call the Update 11 Leave Program. And that's for -- the census will be 12 looking for people who have P.O. mailboxes or rural 13 route numbers that they can't actually get to the house. 14 And they'll be taking their -- the census forms to the 15 gate, let everybody know that they're going to be out -- 16 letting the public know that they're starting that. So 17 if you live out in the rural part of the County, expect 18 people to start putting stuff on your gates. 19 And the other thing is, I had a lot of 20 interest in volunteer fire departments. I'm trying to 21 schedule a workshop so we can sit down and talk about 22 how ESD's work. And we can also talk about mandated and 23 non-mandated functions for the County. So those are the 24 few things that I have to report. 25 So if there will be nothing else, let's move 10 1 on to the agenda. Item 1.1 consider, discuss and take 2 appropriate action regarding the update, facility use 3 and other matters related to COVID-19. Dub Thomas. 4 MR. THOMAS: Good morning, Judge. Good 5 morning, Commissioners. Y'all have your report in front 6 of you, should be for week number 11. Situation report 7 number 11. I'm not going to go through the entire 8 document. A lot of it is information that we've had in 9 the past so the information -- most of the information 10 you have there at the top is what has been put on there 11 for today. Some of it is -- the numbers are a little 12 bit incorrect. Some of that has changed and DSHS hasn't 13 updated some of their numbers. But the EOC activation 14 level is currently -- the EOC is activated and we're 15 still operating at an increased readiness level. 16 Annex H Health and Medical has been implemented and 17 we're still in -- operating in phase three of the 18 pandemic plan. 19 The current situation over the weekend. 20 Kerr County received five COVID-19 results positive 21 cases. One transmission was -- that should say 22 transmission was unknown. And four have been through 23 close contact. I will tell you that I got a call this 24 morning on my way over here that we have number 18 as of 25 today. Again, that is also close contact transmission. 11 1 Testing. The mobile testing that was 2 conducted in Kerr County by the Texas Medical -- Texas 3 Military Forces, there you have those numbers, the total 4 of 295 tests. And on the next page is a breakdown from 5 the last two -- I'm sorry, the last two testings from 6 May the 14th and May the 8th. As far as where those 7 folks listed as their county residence. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Dub, a question. If you 9 can go back to the recent close contact cases? 10 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are those related to one 12 case, or is it several? 13 MR. THOMAS: Several. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But -- the reason for my 15 question is my understanding was there was a travel 16 related, but that person then had a lot of close 17 contact. So I was just wondering if these were all 18 related to that? 19 MR. THOMAS: Well, there was outbreak at the 20 Franklin Clinic and that's where most of those came 21 from. So again, you have the breakdown of the numbers 22 for the last two Texas Military Forces testing that was 23 done at the Hill Country Youth Event Center, as well as 24 the Kroc Center. 25 Total tests conducted in Kerr County at this 12 1 time, Peterson Regional has done a total of 880. Texas 2 Medical Military Force has done 295. That COVID 3 positive test there is incorrect. That should be 18. 4 And I'm sure the infection rate is still pretty low, but 5 it's not -- that number is not correct as well. 6 The rest of it down there. May the 14th and 7 15th, those are Executive Orders that the Governor has 8 issued lately. If you'll go back to the -- two more 9 pages back. COVID-19 continues to spread according to 10 the CDC and DSHS. And community spread is still active 11 in Texas and, obviously, it's active here in Kerr 12 County. 13 Total case numbers for Texas was five 14 thousand -- 54,509. The USA and the world numbers are 15 incorrect. I'm just going to stick with the Texas 16 numbers for today. Texas total deaths has been 1,527. 17 Total recovery in the state is 35,292. Testing also 18 continues. We've got some new numbers out today. But 19 the testing numbers there are correct. Total of 906,074 20 tests have been done in the State of Texas. 21 A new number that they showed this morning 22 on the DSHS website is they are doing a test for the 23 antibodies, which means currently if you've been going 24 to get tested at Peterson Regional or at -- if the Texas 25 Military Forces tested you, they were testing to see if 13 1 you were actually -- if you had the virus at that time. 2 The 90 -- 80,000 tests that they've done for the 3 antibodies are to test and see if you have had COVID-19 4 and had just gotten over it. 5 The surrounding counties. Kendall -- these 6 numbers are correct for today. Kendall is 25. Medina 7 has 67 with two fatalities. Llano, 3. Blanco, 8. 8 Burnet, 29. Kerr County is at 18; not 17. Gillespie 9 County, 5. Bandera, 6. Kimble County 1. 10 228 counties in Texas have positive COVID-19 11 cases. The DSHS Region 8 numbers, active cases 1400 12 recovered. Again, in the 28 counties in Region 8 are 13 1,791 recovered and 94 deaths. 14 Our operational priorities continue to be 15 the same as they have been for the last 11 weeks. 16 Public safety is number one. And we'll continue to work 17 with Peterson Regional as well as Kerr -- Kerrville 18 Fire, EMS and the Interim Emergency Management 19 Coordinator. 20 Any questions for me? 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Are samples still 22 tested in San Antonio when swabs are taken or whatever 23 here? Samples taken then go to San Antonio to be 24 confirmed positive or negative? 25 MR. THOMAS: I believe they're sending them 14 1 to the San Antonio lab, the DSHS lab. Yes, sir. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Okay. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Any questions for Dub? 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Any testing in the 5 County to see if people are -- have it, but are 6 therefore immune to it in Kerr County? 7 MR. THOMAS: I don't know about -- I don't 8 -- I couldn't -- I can't answer that, Commissioner. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 10 MR. THOMAS: There is -- 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's the antibody 12 test, right? 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's the antibody. 14 Sure. 15 MR. THOMAS: The antibody test, I'm not sure 16 if anybody here in Kerr County is doing it at this time. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 18 MR. THOMAS: But this -- they're finding out 19 new things about this virus everyday. And stuff changes 20 on a daily basis. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Thank you very much, 23 Dub. 24 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Next item on the agenda is 1.2 15 1 consider, discuss and take appropriate action regarding 2 the Local State of Disaster Due to a Public Health and 3 Economic Emergency Proclamation that I signed on March 4 the 24th and extended until terminated on March the 5 30th. Any discussion on the Proclamation? 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You know what I think. 7 JUDGE KELLY: We do know what you think. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I'm getting closer 9 to thinking the same way. My question is, and I don't 10 know who to ask it, if it's the County Judge or the 11 County Attorney. But when do we stop this? I mean, we 12 can -- you know, the disease is going to be around for 13 certainly the foreseeable future. 14 I don't see any -- that we're doing 15 anything different. I mean, I guess it's kind of like 16 the boy who cried wolf. We're at the point now, to me, 17 that no one cares that we're under a state of emergency, 18 because everyone's trying to live life accordingly and 19 you try to take precautions. 20 So it's kind of like, unless something 21 changes to make it substantially worse than we know it 22 already is, and that doesn't mean that that's more 23 cases, it just means something drastic changes. I can't 24 even comprehend as to what is the plan for ending it, I 25 guess is my question. And if we can't come to an answer 16 1 to that, I'm in favor of getting rid of it. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Well, let -- let me speak to 3 that. Because I -- I don't know of any official plan to 4 end it. But what I do know is that next week we open 5 this courthouse back up for in-person hearings and jury 6 trials. And that is going to be a momentous transition. 7 And so our -- our jail population has been 8 locked down for the last two, three months, I guess, and 9 we have no positive cases there. We're going to start 10 taking those inmates out of their cells, where they're 11 safe right now, and exposing them to the public on a 12 limited basis. 13 I'd like to at least take a look and see how 14 we roll that out before we revisit. I understand where 15 everybody's coming from. But we have -- the courthouse 16 has got a big step to make and I'd like to get that 17 behind us and let's see how we're doing, and I'd like 18 to, you know, stay in touch with the Sheriff and see how 19 our jail is doing. Been doing great so far and we need 20 to make sure we keep it that way. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I guess the question 22 would be courthouse opening up, the jail doing what it 23 needs to do, are they doing anything different because 24 of the emergency declaration? I mean the Sheriff's 25 going to do what he's going to do, whether there's an 17 1 emergency declaration or not. The courthouse, we've 2 already got the policy of what's going to be taking 3 place in the courthouse. So it doesn't matter whether 4 we have an emergency declaration or not. Correct? 5 JUDGE KELLY: I don't know. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: The main thing I see 8 is as far as it being an asset, a tool in our tool 9 chest, is if we need to have a quick meeting, where 10 something broke that we need to have a quick meeting. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Takes us two hours to 12 have a meeting. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: If we can do that -- 15 JUDGE KELLY: Three. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- well, three hours. 17 Excuse me. Three hours, whether we have a declaration. 18 The other thing I -- the only thing I can mention is I 19 don't think we need it, is the -- is the revenue limit. 20 We can not have to adhere to the three and a half 21 percent if we're under State of Emergency Declaration. 22 Of course, we can always revert back to the emergency 23 declaration if we need it. So I don't see any real 24 benefit in having the emergency declaration. It's -- I 25 think it probably causes people perhaps some concern 18 1 that they don't need to have a concern over. So -- 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess my thought is 3 that if the Court doesn't renew it, there's nothing to 4 prevent the Judge from re-implementing it after seven 5 days if something happens. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Correct. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. And I don't 8 think anybody's going to do anything differently, 9 whether this remains in place or not. Everyone by this 10 point, and this is what I tried to say at the last 11 meeting, there's probably not a soul left on the planet 12 that doesn't understand what the process is. This 13 doesn't change anything for anybody's behavior or 14 anything else. It would just be -- and I can't think, 15 and I've thought about it, any kind of scenario by which 16 we'd have some emergency crisis meeting that we haven't 17 already seen. 18 I think we're -- Dub mentioned that we're -- 19 they're still learning. That's the people that are 20 analyzing things under a microscope. But as far as 21 day-to-day process and how we behave and what we do, 22 we're not learning anything new about that. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: The perception -- 24 perception is everything. And people are beginning to 25 get concerned about freedom over fear. Okay. And I 19 1 think that's just a simple term. And some people 2 probably look at an Emergency Declaration, even though 3 it's really not, it -- it looks like a controlling 4 mechanism when that's not the case at all. So just a 5 perception thing. So -- which will be a negative 6 perception. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, it was used -- it 8 has been used not necessarily -- not in this County that 9 I'm aware of, but in other locals, state and nationwide, 10 as a controlling mechanism. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. But not in this 12 county. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. No. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Here it wasn't used at 15 all. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's the reason I 17 said perception. People are probably -- some people are 18 probably looking at it as perception. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Three-hour meeting -- 20 three-hour notice. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We're at a meeting but, 22 you know, by that time it was -- by the time this would 23 have gone into effect the Governor issued his Executive 24 Order. So it's really never been put in place. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Sheriff? 20 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The only thing I'd like 2 to say about it is that I totally agree that it's time 3 to end it, and give you an example. You know, Sunday a 4 week ago, I went to church and I'm thinking about 120 5 people in there but were socially distanced. I think 6 there was probably three or four that did not have masks 7 on. This Sunday I went to church and I counted 120 8 people in there, and I counted four that had masks on. 9 People are tired of it. 10 The only concern I have -- and you're right, 11 we're going to do in the jail and take precautions that 12 we have to take, because I'm trying like mad to keep it 13 out of that jail. But the only concern that I have not 14 heard an answer to is if you do not have it in effect, 15 is there any way that it could affect us getting 16 reimbursed for some of the costs that we could have? 17 Because if we -- we've already got -- I've 18 got probably close to eight, $10,000.00 in costs right 19 now. And that's without having it in the jail. They're 20 going up constantly and I'm trying to get the PPE stuff 21 and everything, especially for when we open, and the 22 manpower. 23 But if we do get it in the jail, I know one 24 of the costs -- one of the grants out of AACOG will help 25 cover some of those medical costs, but I don't know how 21 1 it's tied into if the County has declared the disaster 2 or not. Because if you don't, I just don't know whether 3 we can get reimbursed. 4 And if that were answered that we would get 5 reimbursed either way, I'd be on y'all's bandwagon too 6 to get rid of it. Because, you know, from looking at 7 the river crossings, looking at people in the stores and 8 churches, people are -- we're done. Everybody is. 9 Except there are some cases. Nursing homes, 10 jails, hospitals, where we still have to take the 11 precautions that the general public needs to give back. 12 That's just my two cents. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I -- I agree 14 with the Sheriff on the possibility of it affecting 15 reimbursement. Also, one thing that Kerr County 16 residents can be assured, we don't operate -- the five 17 of us don't operate like Bexar County and some of the 18 others. We're not going to be overreaching just because 19 we have that in our back pocket. And it's just "there 20 it is", if we need it, fine. 21 But, you know, the situations like the 22 Sheriff brought up, I think is important. But we're all 23 -- we're pretty level headed. We haven't implemented 24 anything. In fact, we've probably been the common force 25 here in the County, I would think. So that's my two 22 1 cents. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge or County 3 Attorney, how do we determine if we need to keep the 4 declaration to get the reimbursement both from the State 5 and Federal? 6 MRS. STEBBINS: I don't know the answer to 7 that. I can ask people who might know the answer and 8 get back to you. I'm not sure. But that's been my 9 concern every time y'all have this conversation, is 10 whether or not the County couldn't be reimbursed if the 11 declaration is terminated. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's going to involve 13 Federal and State, so we gotta find out from both. I -- 14 we all get e-mails all the time about this stuff, and 15 updates and applying for grants and so on. How much of 16 that is junk mail, how much -- if I -- I pay attention 17 to it when it comes from the State Comptroller, if it 18 comes from the Attorney General or somebody that I know 19 has -- but most of them aren't that. 20 So I'm thinking that the Auditor's Office 21 and the County Attorney's Office can find out for us. 22 If it's something that's beneficial posted, and I 23 haven't searched either, through whether it's AACOG or 24 whether it's TAC that has the information, or the 25 Attorney General, Ken Paxton or whoever, and determine 23 1 that, and it's a reasonable question. Find out what we 2 will or won't be reimbursed for, so -- 3 JUDGE KELLY: It is a reasonable question. 4 And I think -- I think for the public knowledge, I don't 5 see it making much of a difference. I think just -- if 6 you look at the five of us sitting here, doesn't look 7 like -- it hasn't made any difference so far. There may 8 be some regulations or requirements that we need to pay 9 attention to. 10 In terms of what we've done as a Court, what 11 I've done as the County Judge, it's been totally hands 12 off. Everything has been voluntary, which is the way we 13 wanted it, and everything's worked well. 14 At this point, I don't see where it's going 15 to make a difference if we terminate it today or don't. 16 There's a potential downside if we terminate it today. 17 I would feel more comfortable in we got an answer from 18 our County Attorney. So that when we terminate it, we 19 know there's not going to be any unforeseen legal 20 fallout. 21 But I think the public needs to know that as 22 far as we're concerned, we're virtually out of the State 23 of Disaster -- 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And in that event -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: The health disaster; not the 24 1 economic disaster. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- the time would be 3 important because the people that went after the SBA 4 money, that money ran out before a bunch of them got 5 there. So in that instance as far as the -- if there's 6 money to be had, short of that, I don't see any reason 7 to have it. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. Well, that's 9 the thing. We -- we don't want to cost the County any 10 money -- 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Exactly. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: -- lose out on 13 something that -- that would -- so let's find out what 14 the answers are. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, you may think 16 about recalling this item at 11:00 because we're going 17 to have an Austin attorney who's very well versed in 18 county law and he may have some insight as to how it 19 works even though that's not why he's being asked to be 20 here today. 21 JUDGE KELLY: I don't know if our County 22 Attorney will let us talk about that in Executive 23 Session but -- 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, we can always do 25 an open session. 25 1 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, we can do an open. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We can talk -- we can do 3 an open session with him -- 4 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- and just recall this 6 item and just say, do you have any insight? 7 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. Right. And I think -- 8 I think one of the important takeaways to the public 9 today, is that this Court is not divided about where we 10 are with regard to this State of Health Disaster. I 11 think we all agree that we haven't received the brunt of 12 the economic disaster that's coming. But in terms of 13 whether or not we stay under this order, I'd leave it 14 alone until we have a more definitive answer because 15 it's not going to change anything. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't have a problem 17 with that. And that's why I wanted the discussion. I 18 mean if we can end it, let's end it. But we need to 19 make sure -- 20 JUDGE KELLY: Asking -- asking Chuck 21 Kimbrough is a good idea. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So no -- no action on 24 that today. 25 Item 1.3 consider, discuss and take 26 1 appropriate action to approve the Resolution to approve 2 the HAVA, H-A-V-A, which is Help America Vote Act, 3 Grant. Ms. Shelton. 4 MS. SHELTON: Yes. What you have before you 5 is the Resolution that we will need in order to apply 6 for the grant. And it's about a $68.000 grant and it's 7 to help with all of the -- the PPE that we're going to 8 need for the election coming up. 9 We had been working with Bob Reeves and 10 Nadene, the Election Clerk, in order to get the budget 11 set for this. Once we apply for this, we -- it will 12 open us up for another grant of about 40,000 that will 13 not require a match, and then it'll open us up for an 14 even grant after that of about 80,000 that will require 15 a 20 percent match. 16 On the one that's before you, there will be 17 a 20 percent match on that. And we will be paying for 18 that out of Fund 12, which is for the elections. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Any further discussion? 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So what's the downside 21 of not doing this? 22 MS. SHELTON: We won't receive any of the 23 money. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. And it's in the 25 budget, the 20 percent? 27 1 MS. SHELTON: It's going to be in the 2 election. They've agreed to use a different fund off 3 the general fund. This is -- the Fund 12 is for 4 elections only, and so we get it from other places. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So it's in the total 6 budget? 7 MS. SHELTON: It's not in the budget at this 8 time. We're asking for the grant. We -- we know what 9 the budget -- we're looking at it. But the budget 10 hasn't been passed yet because we haven't received the 11 grant. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's a 20 percent 13 match. So what is going to be the estimated cost? 14 Mr. Reeves, do you have that answer, or is this -- 15 MR. REEVES: May I? 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- estimated cost? 17 MR. REEVES: The -- we're still working on 18 the total amount. This is what the State has allocated 19 us. The majority of it will be spent on -- we hate this 20 word -- mandates, unfunded mandates. These will be 21 funded for personal protection equipment for the Federal 22 Election, i.e. November. But the grants have become 23 available at this time. 24 We will match the grant through our 25 elections services Fund 12, as she's talking about. 28 1 This is money that is paid to my office outside of the 2 general fund tax dollars for conducting these elections. 3 Now, I would point out in the Resolution, I 4 think it's the next to the last paragraph, that you 5 can't offset an existing budget with this grant money. 6 This is for expenses that will come up due to the COVID, 7 and it's a very fluid situation right now, Commissioner, 8 as far as we don't know -- it's pending and has probably 9 gone to the Supreme Court, if we'll -- we will have to 10 make ballots by mail available to every person that 11 requests one or not. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Which increases the 13 expense immensely. 14 MR. REEVES: Not only the expense of the 15 printing of the costs, we're already seeing an increase 16 of -- with those that are qualified to receive ballots 17 by mail, over 65, going to be out of the county, various 18 things. But you're looking at postage, printing and 19 probably additional personnel to process an unknown 20 number of votes in November. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So we just have -- 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So funded bottom line, 23 you've got the -- you've got the funds for the 20 24 percent? 25 MR. REEVES: We have the 20 percent funds 29 1 available. I apologize I wasn't more prepared. I 2 didn't know this was going to be on the agenda today. 3 We have the funds available through our 4 administration of elections, the fees that we received 5 from other entities that we hold elections for, other 6 services that we do. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So bottom line, you 8 have the money? 9 MR. REEVES: Bottom line, we have the money 10 available through certain funds, yes, sir. Outside of 11 what's -- I believe it's line 402, or item fund 402 is 12 our general one that's paid for with tax dollars. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. 14 MR. REEVES: This is not coming out of that; 15 it's coming from other funds, and we do have the money, 16 bottom line, Commissioners. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And this is for the -- 19 the election in November; not the one for the primary 20 this summer? 21 MR. REEVES: We cannot use it because it's a 22 local and state election. This is Federal money, i.e., 23 the Senate, Presidential. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I move for approval. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 30 1 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 2 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 3 approve the Resolution to apply for the HAVA Grant. Any 4 further discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. 5 Unanimous, five zero. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thanks, Bob. 7 MR. REEVES: Thank you. 8 JUDGE KELLY: And I'm going to start this, 9 commissioner. I'm signing the Resolution and we'll 10 start passing it around. 11 Next item on the Agenda is 1.4 consider, 12 discuss and take appropriate action to approve and 13 authorize the County Judge to sign the request form for 14 unclaimed capital credits received from electric 15 cooperatives pursuant to Section 74.602 of the Texas 16 Property Code, distributed by the Texas Comptroller of 17 Public Accounts. James Robles. 18 MR. ROBLES: Good morning. It's something 19 we've done for the last many years. We've used these 20 funds to pay our portion of the Kerr Economic 21 Development Corporation. It goes into a special revenue 22 Fund 49. And we just need to pass the Resolution so we 23 can apply for those reimbursements. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Make a motion we approve 25 the Resolution and authorize the County Judge to sign. 31 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 3 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 4 approve application for the electric cooperatives 5 capital credit fund. Any further discussion? Those in 6 favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 7 Next item on the Agenda is 1.5 consider, 8 discuss and take appropriate action to approve the 9 renewal of the TAC, Texas Association of Counties, HEBP, 10 Health and Employee Benefits Pool, medical and dental 11 plan for FY 20/21 for employees and retirees. 12 Miss Doss. 13 MS. DOSS: Good morning. Up for your 14 consideration is the renewal. There's very good news 15 this year. Our claims have been down so the medical 16 portion there's a two percent decrease. And the dental 17 there's a slight increase of about five percent. 18 But total dollars that we're speaking of, if 19 we use the current selection rates that people, you 20 know, what they're claiming, is about $66,868. If we 21 don't change anything. If the -- if the employee 22 portion remains the same, and the savings go to the 23 County, we're saving just under 67,000. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is good news. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 32 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we 2 approve the renewal. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 5 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 6 approve the renewal of the TAC HEBP medical and dental 7 plan for FY 20/21. Any further discussion? Those in 8 favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 9 Yes, sir. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, just a quick 11 comment on that. I think this is one of the topics that 12 we need to look at next year from the standpoint of the 13 benefits package. I visited with the Auditor a little 14 bit about this, and it was also the longevity we're 15 looking at. 16 After we get the salary survey, which we 17 have deferred until next year, I think we need to look 18 at our whole benefit package, longevity policy, 19 everything all at once, and this is when, you know, some 20 of the -- the costs that employees pay versus salaries, 21 things of that nature. So I just brought it up as 22 something we need to look at I think, again, next year a 23 lot closer. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Very good. Next item 25 on the agenda is 1.6 consider, discuss -- 33 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's 9:30. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Let's just finish one more. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Let's consider, discuss and 5 take appropriate action to approve the contract with 6 Castle Lake Volunteer Fire Department. 7 This is one that went out first of the year, 8 we're just now getting it back. We just need to approve 9 it. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 13 Commissioner Harris, seconded by Commissioner Letz to 14 approve the contract with Castle Lake. Those in favor 15 raise your hand. Unanimous. 16 1.7 consider, discuss and take appropriate 17 action regarding speed bumps on River Road in Center 18 Point. 19 MR. STEADHAM: Yes. I'm Rick Steadham. I 20 live at 131 Cp River Road. I'd like to formally ask 21 that we add some speed bumps along River Road between 22 Old Dave's and River Crossing Road. I've lived there 15 23 years now. I made formal complaints before through the 24 Court and through the Sheriff's Department. 25 Ten years ago the Sheriff's Department -- 34 1 y'all added some signage on the road surface itself. It 2 decreased the speed by maybe ten percent. Since then, 3 we've added a lot more. Y'all have renovated the park. 4 We don't have a reasonable way for kids from our 5 neighborhood or the neighborhood across the -- across 6 behind the Mini Mart, approximately 200 houses, to get 7 to the park. The only way they can walk is across 27 8 and get down to River Road and walk River Road. 9 We have 60 to 80 mile an hour traffic on the 10 road. It's crazy how fast people are going. We also -- 11 it's a cutoff that everybody uses to go from 173 to 27, 12 trucks and cars, to cut off to go to San Antonio. That 13 adds traffic. 14 We'd like to use the speed bumps or signage 15 or something to kind of reduce this and maybe -- and 16 maybe not just slow them down, but maybe discourage them 17 from using that road. Cut off at Sutherland maybe and 18 run to the highway for the trucks and -- that normally 19 come through our street. 20 I see y'all have spent a lot of money on the 21 park and the kids don't have a good way to get there. 22 The bicycle path runs through there for every race you 23 all do that's done in the County, and then the 24 bicyclists go through the same route trying to get 25 around the highway traffic. 35 1 We have six Vrbo's that have been added 2 since the signs were put on the -- on the road that -- 3 that are full for the whole year now. That there's kids 4 in every one of those. And there's three additional 5 Vrbo's that will we added in the next six months. 6 We have -- personally, I have 20 kids every 7 weekend at my place to have to cross the road and run 8 the road, and it's just -- we worry about it all the 9 time. 10 What I would like to see is we can stick 11 with the signage that's there, but then add an 12 additional speed bump. I'd like to see one at -- kind 13 of right by my house actually. But anyway, the sign is 14 at Harless Street, the stop sign there, and then it's 15 the lower quarter of a mile before you get to Crossing 16 Street, and there's no control between those two. 17 I'd like to see three controls. There's an 18 absence -- there's -- originally it looks like there was 19 a plan for streets along -- along there every block, and 20 it skips four blocks. We could use four along there. I 21 think it might do what I'm asking. 22 If we look at this compared to the traffic, 23 the speed, and the number of people compared to River 24 Hills Boulevard, which y'all have spent a lot of money 25 on also, I would think that we would be at least at four 36 1 or five times the traffic, and the traffic is what that 2 road uses. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: One thing is Rick and 4 Carl Jeter and Charlie and I have talked about this over 5 the last month or so, I think. Traffic has increased on 6 Center Point River Road for lot of reasons. The RV park 7 down by Brinks Crossing is really booming. Okay. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It is. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: A lot of stuff there. 10 People are using the Lions Park in Center Point a lot 11 more. I think more development near your home there on 12 the river. Some vacation rental properties there that 13 are -- that are very nice. 14 So I don't know -- I'd like to have Charlie, 15 if you would, talk about speed bumps. And I think it's 16 -- it's been the issue. Is that the right answer? The 17 Constable has been made aware. I think he's been out 18 there, but probably not to the extent that it's really 19 slowing traffic down. 20 MR. STEADHAM: Not really. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And Rick sees that more 22 than anybody. But Charlie, why don't you talk about 23 speed bumps -- 24 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- if you will. 37 1 MR. HASTINGS: We have some in the County 2 that were set about two or three -- about two years ago. 3 It was a unique situation where we had a business that 4 owned both parts of the -- both sides of the road and, I 5 believe, probably owned the road at one time or still 6 does. I'm not sure about that. But was operating a 7 business, and having to cross the road with forklifts 8 and things like that on a daily basis. 9 They were running a landscape business 10 there. And their buildings and structures were right 11 adjacent to the edge of the road. There wasn't a ditch 12 area. There wasn't a lot of shoulder. Well, there's 13 virtually no shoulder. So you -- you maybe have a 14 forklift that's coming out of one building, crossing the 15 road, going into the other, so there were some site 16 visibility issues that we were concerned about that we 17 felt like the speed bumps would address that. There was 18 also an intersection with some site visibility issues. 19 So it was a special circumstance for those 20 speed bumps. And I believe that the Court made note of 21 that. We can go back and review the minutes, but they 22 wanted to be careful that we weren't setting some kind 23 of a precedent in the future for speed bumps to just go 24 up. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What does the State say 38 1 about speed bumps for speed control. Is -- do they 2 address that at all? 3 MR. HASTINGS: I haven't seen the State 4 address it as much as I've seen municipalities, cities, 5 maybe have a section in their traffic controls where 6 they talk about the use of speed bumps for speed 7 control. 8 MRS. STEBBINS: I can answer that. I have a 9 folder here that addresses all kinds of traffic issues. 10 Most of the questions come up because of Center Point 11 River Road. And one of the opinions that I have in my 12 little article here relates to speed bumps because this 13 has been asked before related to this particular road 14 during -- it was several years ago. It may have been 15 just a handful of years ago. 16 But the Attorney General's opinion about 17 placing speed bumps on the county road is that a County 18 may install a speed bump on a county road if it has the 19 permission to do so from the Texas Department of 20 Transportation. Because that divide -- the manual 21 that's put out by the Department of Transportation does 22 not contain standards or guidelines regarding the speed 23 bumps so the -- the County would need to get permission 24 to do that. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You say the County 39 1 does? 2 MRS. STEBBINS: We need to get permission 3 from TxDOT to do that. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 5 MR. HASTINGS. That's right. I had 6 forgotten about that. Thank you. That's right. That's 7 been the State Law. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: There is something I 9 want to mention. And that is that we now have that 10 mobile sign that tells people the rate of speed at which 11 they're traveling, or tells them children are playing or 12 however we want -- whatever message we want to put on 13 it. And so we might want in the interim to use that 14 sign there and have a message on it, saying that 15 children are in play, slow down. 16 MR. STEADHAM: I think everybody is going 60 17 miles an hour on the road realizes that it's a 30-mile 18 an hour road and they're still doing it. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. Well, there is 20 a -- you can also gauge their speed and tell them how 21 fast. But there's the message about children tend to 22 get people's attention. They will -- a sign that 23 flashes that as opposed to the side of the road sign. 24 So you're not going to get your speed bumps today, 25 you're not getting them tomorrow. But we can get that 40 1 thing out there within 24 hours. 2 MR. STEADHAM: That would be handy. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I'll defer to 4 Charlie and Kelly on a lot of this. I know there's been 5 a feeling of not using speed bumps overall in the 6 County. And I'd be interested if there -- Charlie 7 and/or Kelly can come up with other alternatives on that 8 road. Because it is a -- it's a really dangerous road. 9 A lot of traffic. And additional stop signs possibly? 10 I don't know. I mean, I agree that there's a problem. 11 And you know, speed bumps is the best answer, maybe 12 that's it. But I'd like to make sure that it's the best 13 thing to try to control the speed. 14 Another thing, and I'm not familiar with the 15 road, but as you're coming from the river crossing -- 16 well, Brinks Crossing, that crossing, the first road 17 that you hit, and I can't remember the name of it. I 18 drive by it -- 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Dave's Place? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, it used to be 21 Dave's Place. But -- 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- is there a way to 24 encourage the traffic, people that use that road, to -- 25 to use that as access -- maybe upgrade that road as the 41 1 access to 27 so that people get off of River Road 2 quicker? 3 MR. STEADHAM: Some of them. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Well, I know the 5 Sutherland -- I agree but Sutherland's also -- just the 6 way it runs, it doesn't -- it's not an easy cutoff. I 7 mean, I'm trying to figure out if you could get people 8 to get over to 27 sooner, and Sutherland would be great. 9 But that's -- Sutherland's a long road. I mean, when 10 you get into Center Point it's just a real quick little 11 one block jog. If there's a way to get some of that 12 traffic to turn off River Road sooner. Something along 13 that lines. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, I think people at 15 the RV park and Brinks Crossing know about Sutherland 16 Road and it's a lot better to go that way. But a lot -- 17 and I think Rick can speak to this. I think probably 18 some people from Center Point at River Road, going down 19 towards Lions Park are going to the post office. So 20 that's their shortest route is go down Center Point 21 River Road and cross -- crossing the river at Lions Park 22 in Center Point and then -- and then to the -- to 23 whatever they're going to in Center Point, whether it's 24 the -- it's the post office or whatever. Okay. But 25 there's more traffic in there. 42 1 So I think your -- your suggestion is good. 2 And let Charlie and Kelly see if they can't work with 3 Rick and Carl Jeter and see if there's some other 4 options that we might look at. Because I think it's -- 5 and I agree with you, Commissioner, I think we haven't 6 had any speed bumps for speed control in the County. So 7 I think if we do this, okay, it may be the right thing 8 to do, but I think we may have to recognize that we get 9 a lot of requests for the same type of thing throughout 10 the County. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it's a road 12 maintenance -- my understanding from Kelly, the past has 13 been that speed bumps are difficult when they have to go 14 or do any kind of road maintenance. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 16 MR. STEADHAM: And Mr. Odom was completely 17 against them. He said the last time I complained and 18 brought this to everybody's attention and took it to his 19 attention, he said there would never be a speed bump in 20 Kerr County. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, Mr. Odom's no 23 longer here. 24 MR. STEADHAM: Yes, sir. That's why I'm 25 here today. 43 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But the -- but the stop 2 sign idea. If you have to stop every -- each block. I 3 guess we need to talk to Kelly about the process for 4 doing that. 5 MR. STEADHAM: Still leaves a quarter of a 6 mile and unregulated. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, it's a short 8 term but that mobile signage would work. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, in the short term 10 if we put that sign out there it would help. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Without a doubt. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And one thing that I'd 13 ask, is the population density where Rick is talking 14 about is very high right there. I mean, it -- it's a 15 highly populated residential area. It's going to get 16 even more attention now with the sewer system, which is 17 there now. So it's -- it's going to get worse, okay, 18 rather than better. 19 MR. HASTINGS: So I -- just if I can 20 summarize what I'm hearing, and the direction would be 21 to immediately get some kind of a -- the sign that we 22 have that tells you how fast you're going, and it tells 23 you to, hey, this is what the speed limit really is, so 24 slow down. That's something we can get out there pretty 25 quickly. It's trailer mounted. 44 1 And then, it sounds like what we need to do 2 is to quantify through some traffic counts what's 3 actually happening and look at the traffic patterns. 4 Now's a good time because the sewer project in that area 5 is completed, so we shouldn't have that kind of 6 interference or something skewing the data. 7 My question would be, is it okay to start 8 getting -- gathering that data now? Is now a good time 9 during the summer? You -- I would expect -- 10 MR. STEADHAM: Yeah, there's more traffic. 11 MR. HASTINGS: Okay. Well, we'll do that 12 then. We'll get that -- get the traffic counters out 13 there over the next few weeks. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And that sign will do 15 that too. It collects all that data. 16 MR. STEADHAM: And if we could center it 17 between the Harless stop sign and the crossing road 18 would be the peak of the speed. 19 MR. HASTINGS: The third would be to -- for 20 me to coordinate with Mr. Steadham. Will that work? 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And then come back to 22 the Court. 23 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: About the first of July? 45 1 MR. HASTINGS: That might be about right. 2 That might be about right. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's good to have a 4 deadline. 5 MR. HASTINGS: All right, sir. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Thanks, Rick. 7 MR. STEADHAM: Thank you. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Next item on the Agenda is 1.8 9 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to form a 10 committee to make recommendations for the operation of 11 the five county Regional Public Defender Office. 12 I put that on the agenda but I forgot to 13 talk to anybody. Am I bad. But what I'm thinking 14 about, and let's just get the input from the Court, I 15 know Commissioner Letz mentioned our County Attorney 16 serving on this committee. I also thought about asking 17 Harold Danford, who is a private practice attorney here 18 in town who has expressed interest in a Public 19 Defender's Office, and I think he'll actively be 20 supportive of it. 21 Dawn Lantz, our District Clerk, I'd like to 22 ask, because she deals with the indigent defense right 23 now. And I'm thinking maybe trying to engage Steve 24 Harpold, the new District Attorney for the 198th, who 25 used to be my neighbor and is a very thoughtful and 46 1 careful thinker, and I think would be very helpful on 2 this, to put together a five-person committee. 3 I'd also probably like to get a Judge, one 4 of our district judges probably. I might consider 5 asking Judge Williams, who just retired. Bring him back 6 into the fold. He's very active in all these five 7 counties. As a visiting judge he'll be serving in all 8 these places, so there will be a lot of overlap. 9 So that's kind of what my thoughts are. 10 I'll talk to him and invite them and see if they accept. 11 And if they do, then we'll come back and recommend it 12 and get you an application of it. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it would be good 14 to have a member of the Court. Maybe Commissioner 15 Harris? 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Weren't you on it? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just want to make sure 18 to say your name first. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Payback. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, I think -- I've 21 talked to the Judge about this. And I think it's -- 22 just in general. And I think it would be really helpful 23 to have Kerr County, you know, get information back to 24 us so we can make a better decision. Because I'm still 25 unknown. 47 1 And then that -- I mean, after that there's 2 another big step as to how the five counties work 3 together. But I think it's a great idea. You know, I 4 think it -- it would help me a lot to get input from 5 them with a report of some sort to explain how they 6 think it's going to work. Because they -- and the 7 people you mentioned all are very involved and invested 8 in the process and I think it would be very good. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Well, and to clarify so the 10 public understand what we're trying to do, is this 11 committee would be what I would call the internal 12 committee of Kerr County. For us to help figure out how 13 this public defender's office works best for us. And 14 then there will be -- later there will be -- when we get 15 together with the five counties, there will be an 16 external committee from all five counties. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So we would basically 18 have a representative from that group that would be part 19 of the larger -- 20 JUDGE KELLY: They -- they would be forming 21 -- formulating the recommendations to that group. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sounds good. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Since you haven't -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: Talked to anybody. 48 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- talked to anyone, I 2 would -- albeit a motion -- but I'll make a motion that 3 we -- you know, to authorize the County Judge to appoint 4 the committee of people he deems appropriate to 5 represent the interest groups that he's represented 6 today. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'll second that. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that broad enough, 9 Judge? 10 JUDGE KELLY: Sure. Motion's been made by 11 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Belew for 12 the County Judge to appoint this committee that we just 13 talked about. The public now knows who we're trying to 14 get involved and they'll probably learn about their 15 invitation before I even get a call in to them. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: They're watching now. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussions? Those 18 in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: The phone hasn't rang, 20 so... 21 JUDGE KELLY: Next item on the Agenda is 1.9 22 consider, discuss and take appropriate action on the 23 request from the State Office of Administrative 24 Hearings, or what we call SOAH, to continue using the 25 Commissioners' Courtroom once a month for their ALR, 49 1 which is Administrative License Revocation hearings. 2 They contacted us. They've been doing it 3 for forever. Now that we're coming out of this Corona 4 virus crisis, they'd like to be able to start scheduling 5 their hearings again after we open the courthouse up for 6 in-person hearings. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Motion's been made by 10 Commissioner Belew, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 11 approve the request from SOAH to continue using 12 Commissioners' Courtroom once a month for their ALR 13 hearings. Any further discussion? Okay. Those in 14 favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 15 Okay. The next item on the agenda are all 16 timed items at ten o'clock, so we will stand in recess 17 until ten o'clock. 18 (Recess.) 19 JUDGE KELLY: Come back to order. We have 20 several timed items at ten o'clock. The first one is 21 1.10 public hearing for a revision of plat for Elm Pass 22 Ranch No. 2, Tracts 126 and 127. 23 This is a public meeting. I call that 24 public meeting to order. Is there anybody who would 25 like to make any presentation or speak on that topic? 50 1 There being none, then I will adjourn the public 2 meeting. 3 Let's move on to item number 1.11 consider, 4 discuss and take appropriate action for the Court to 5 approve a revision of plat for Elm Pass Ranch No. 2, 6 Tracts 126 and 127. Charlie Hastings. 7 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. This 8 proposal revises the property line between Tract 126 and 9 127. Tract 126R will be 14.29 acres and Tract 127R will 10 be 8.62 acres. The property access and road frontage 11 will not change. 12 County Engineer requests the Court approve 13 the revision of plat for Elm Pass Ranch No. 2, Tracts 14 126 through 127, Volume 3, Page 100, Precinct 2, and we 15 just held the public hearing and nobody spoke. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Move for approval. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 19 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 20 approve the revision of plat for Elm Pass Ranch Road 21 No. 2, Tracts 126 and 127. Discussion? Those in favor 22 raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 23 Item 1.12 public hearing for revision of 24 plat for Ingram Hills Subdivision, Tract 22A. I call 25 the public meeting to order. Is anyone here to speak on 51 1 behalf of the Ingram Hills Subdivision? Okay, I will 2 adjourn the public meeting and we'll go on to 1.13 3 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to approve 4 the revision of plat for Ingram Hills Subdivision, Tract 5 22A. Charlie Hastings. 6 MR. HASTINGS: This proposal is in Ingram 7 ETJ, and it revises Ingram Hills Subdivision, Tract 22A 8 into three lots. It's currently 4.97 acres. Edward 9 Sanders previously divided and conveyed portions of the 10 tract without revising the plat. This plat revision 11 will make the subdivision official. 12 Lot 22-RA will be one acre and will front 13 Ingram Hills Road with a little over 128 feet of 14 frontage. Lot 22-RR will be one acre and will front 15 Ingram Hills Road with 146 feet of frontage. Almost 16 150, which is the minimum. Lot 22-RE will front Ingram 17 Hills Road with 63 feet of frontage and over 300 feet of 18 frontage on Keune Road, so it's got double frontage. 19 And that one's 2.97 acres. 20 The County Engineer requests the Court adopt 21 this revision of plat for Ingram Hills Subdivision, 22 Tract 22A, Volume 5, Page 152, Precinct 4. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 52 1 Commissioner Harris, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 2 approve the revision of plat for Ingram Hills 3 Subdivision. Any discussion? Those in favor raise your 4 hand. Five zero, unanimous. 5 Okay. At this time the Court is going to go 6 back to Item 1.2 that we discussed earlier. We have our 7 outside counsel with us today, Mr. Chuck Kimbrough. 8 I'm going to recall 1.2, which is to 9 consider, discuss and take appropriate action regarding 10 the Local State of Disaster Due to the Public Health 11 Economic Emergency Proclamation that I signed on 12 March 24th and extended until terminated by order of the 13 Kerr County Commissioners' Court on March 30, 2020. 14 Mr. Kimbrough. 15 MR. KIMBROUGH: May it please the Court. 16 JUDGE KELLY: We -- we debated and discussed 17 this morning whether or not there's any advantage or 18 disadvantage to terminating that order. It's not 19 changing much of anything here in the County right now. 20 But we wanted to at least ask you, is there any reason 21 that we should not terminate it? 22 MR. KIMBROUGH: Discretion is the call. But 23 the largest or the most important reason would be if the 24 County is currently going to be participating or 25 desiring to participate in a Federal or State grant 53 1 program based on the pandemic, it would be my opinion 2 that an active -- that an active disaster declaration 3 would be a sort of an entry position for eligibility or 4 qualification for grant funds. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Kind of what we 6 thought. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. Exactly what we 8 thought. But now we got it confirmed. So really -- 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's a requirement? 10 MR. KIMBROUGH: It's my opinion. Yes, sir. 11 I haven't looked at -- 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We don't know for sure 13 if it's a requirement. You're just saying it would be 14 better to be safe than sorry? 15 MR. KIMBROUGH: Yes, sir. I -- 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 17 MR. KIMBROUGH: That's the reason for the -- 18 one of reasons for the Governor's Executive Order of 19 disaster declarations is to make the Federal money 20 available. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Sure. 22 MR. KIMBROUGH: It would make plenty of 23 sense to keep it going for that reason, if you were 24 interested in participating in the programs for the 25 money. 54 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So a statewide won't 2 cover counties. Each county has to do it individually? 3 MR. KIMBROUGH: Typically, yes, sir. That's 4 the way it has been in my experience with a natural 5 disaster, such as -- 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. 7 MR. KIMBROUGH: -- a hurricane or a flood. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there a -- I guess 10 the -- yeah. Anyway, it's not -- or you just answered 11 that basically. The process is local, then the State, 12 then the Feds. It has to start at the local level to 13 get the declaration? 14 MR. KIMBROUGH: Yes, sir. The State's money 15 is augmented substantially by the Federal money and, you 16 know, the Federal statutes are made. But it makes sense 17 in my judgment to keep it going for that reason. It can 18 certainly be an abbreviated local order with the 19 Governor's active Declaration attached as an exhibit, 20 for instance. 21 JUDGE KELLY: And -- and to help the public 22 understand exactly what we're involved in -- Miss 23 Shelton, could you address this as to, are we involved 24 in these very programs that he's mentioning here? 25 MRS. SHELTON: We are. 55 1 JUDGE KELLY: Very active? 2 MRS. SHELTON: Or will be, yes. 3 JUDGE KELLY: And doing more? 4 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Thank you very much, 6 Mr. Kimbrough. 7 MR. KIMBROUGH: Thank you, Your Honor. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Let's move on to the 9 Approval Agenda 2.1 pay the bills. Miss Shelton. 10 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. Invoices for today's 11 approval. Kerr County, $350,513.62. The Airport, 12 $23,368.01. Adult Probation, $1,075.82. Juvenile 13 Probation, $34,868.64. The District Clerk fees, 14 $10,211.76. The 216th DA Forfeiture Fund, $1,119.96. 15 The 198th DA Forfeiture Fund, $131.46. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Move to pay the bills 17 as presented by the Auditor. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 20 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 21 approve paying the bills as presented. Any further 22 debate? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 23 five zero. 24 2.2 budget amendments. 25 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 56 1 JUDGE KELLY: 2.3 late bills. 2 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Auditor's reports, 2.4. 4 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. On looking at our 5 revenues for the month of April, you've each received 6 your grant -- or graph in front of you. We've collected 7 just above 80 percent of the revenues for the general 8 fund. 9 Fire protection, we're at about 93 percent. 10 Road & Bridge is about 65 percent. Indigent Services is 11 about 93 percent. And debt service is a little bit over 12 80 percent. So that on the revenues that have been 13 collected, the actual numbers are there in front of you. 14 Looking kind of at the sales tax, because 15 right now, you know, with the economy that's kind of 16 what we're watching closely right now. So you'll see 17 from the month of April we collected $312 -- 18 $312,284.00, which is right in line with what we had 19 collected in prior years. And then for the month of 20 May, because we do already have that money, you know, 21 that's kind of outside the report, we collected 22 $383,116.00. 23 Now, keep in mind even though we collected 24 this money in May, this is for the March sales taxes 25 that were collected. We're a little bit -- a couple of 57 1 months before it gets to us. 2 JUDGE KELLY: So we can expect to get hit 3 next month? 4 MRS. SHELTON: I'm expecting it, yes. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Gotcha. 6 MRS. SHELTON: As far as our expenditures, 7 we've expended about 40 -- about 50 percent of our 8 budget so far in the general fund. In the fire 9 protection, we've expended closer to about 62 percent. 10 Road & Bridge, we've expended about 40 percent. 11 Indigent Services, we're somewhere around 63 percent. 12 And then debt services is around 82 percent. And again, 13 this is just kind of keep up to date on where we are 14 right now. 15 JUDGE KELLY: And that we have four months 16 to go in the fiscal year. 17 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. Starting with June. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are these numbers on 19 expenditures are through what time? 20 MRS. SHELTON: April the 30th. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. So that's seven 22 months of -- 23 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. So we should be about 24 58 percent collected on the revenue and about 58 25 expended on expenditures, in average. Looking at it 58 1 comparing it to prior years, we're still pretty much in 2 line in the general fund with where we were last year 3 during this time, on both revenue and expenditures. 4 Any other questions? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But we're running -- on 6 the expenditures we're running a little bit behind? At 7 least in the general fund it looks like. I mean, if we 8 could be at 58 percent, it looks like we're about 52 9 percent? 10 MRS. SHELTON: 52 percent. And to your 11 question, we just haven't expended it at this time. So 12 there's some bills that just come due once a year and so 13 there may be more of those that are yet to come in the 14 last four months of the year. 15 In comparing this to where we were last 16 year, we were somewhere around 51 percent in our 17 expenditures at this time. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we're in line? 19 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So recognizing that 21 sales tax are probably going to decrease, do you take 22 your crystal ball and look forward and try to determine 23 options on what we might do to decrease expenditures? 24 MRS. SHELTON: If we will need to, yes. 25 We're running -- 59 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, I mean, don't you 2 think that's a good idea? 3 MRS. SHELTON: It's always a good idea to be 4 looking at it -- 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 6 MRS. SHELTON: -- out in front of it. Yes. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So -- 8 MRS. SHELTON: The budget is set once a year 9 so that's what makes it hard. We can certainly ask all 10 of the department heads, you know, to look at your 11 expenditures and -- and not spend anything that you 12 don't have to spend. There's certainly things that 13 emergencies we can do. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What percentage, and I 15 forgot what it is, of our revenue comes from sales tax? 16 MRS. SHELTON: Sales tax percentages, it's 17 about 17 percent of our budget. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 17 percent. Okay. 19 MRS. SHELTON: The majority of our budget, 20 69 percent is from property taxes. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. Okay. So 22 that's -- that's not going to be impacted by anything we 23 know with the COVID-19. Sales tax will be -- so -- 24 MRS. SHELTON: We still have about 2.4 25 million dollars to collect with sales taxes. 60 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So it's probably a good 2 idea, though, assuming sales tax decreases by some 3 reasonable percentage, what -- what would that be? I'm 4 not asking for the answer now, but maybe next few weeks 5 or so take a look at that and see -- 6 MRS. SHELTON: Certainly. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- what we might do, 8 and what departments might do to -- to defer some 9 expenses associated -- I mean consistent with that. 10 MRS. SHELTON: And -- and that's why I'm 11 looking at what's going to come out this next month in 12 sales tax -- 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure. 14 MRS. SHELTON: -- is going to be so 15 important. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 17 MRS. SHELTON: We've kind of looked back 18 historically just at some of the times when sales taxes 19 have decreased. The Zika virus had a little bit of 20 effect on our sales taxes. I believe it was somewhere 21 around five percent of a decrease. 22 The -- I think it's called The Great 23 Recession, it took three years for the sales tax to 24 triple -- you know, to decrease in Kerr County, which 25 was kind of interesting, after the fact in that they 61 1 decreased by about nine percent. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But that was a slow -- 3 that was a slow event. 4 MRS. SHELTON: The first year during it, 5 there was like a .9 percent decrease. The next year, I 6 want to say it was somewhere around a four percent 7 decrease. And then the next year it was a 9 percent 8 decrease. And I may be off on those because I haven't 9 looked at it, but similar amounts. 10 JUDGE KELLY: The first thing -- I'm sorry. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, go ahead. 12 JUDGE KELLY: What are you calling the Great 13 Recession? 14 MRS. SHELTON: It was in the year somewhere 15 around 2008, '09 and '10 -- 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 2008, yeah. 17 MRS. SHELTON: -- in that time period. 18 So -- so and when -- when there's unexpected time 19 periods right now, which this is, how do you predict 20 anything at this point? 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, can't -- you can 22 get information from other locale, too. I mean, I think 23 the cities, the other counties that are -- you know, the 24 larger ones, they -- they probably are making some 25 estimate of what their decrease in sales tax are going 62 1 to be. I don't know if the City has done that or not. 2 Perhaps the City has. I don't know. 3 MRS. SHELTON: I don't know either. Yes. 4 And that's why we're looking at historically what has 5 happened in Kerr County. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Or what I'm 7 saying -- not historical, I'm saying their projection 8 right now, okay? 9 MRS. SHELTON: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What are other 11 organizations predicting as far as decrease in sales tax 12 revenue? 13 MRS. SHELTON: Okay. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Thank you, 15 Miss Shelton. 16 2.5 monthly reports. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: April 2020, standard 18 monthly report from Constable Precinct 4, Gene Huffaker. 19 Fines, judgments and jury fees collected for J.P. 1 20 Mitzi French, J.P. 4 Bill Ragsdale. Animal Services 21 monthly activity report, Director Regan Givens. And for 22 Indigent Services monthly report, Director of HR and 23 Indigent Services, Jennifer Doss. I move for approval. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 63 1 Commissioner Harris, seconded by Commissioner Letz to 2 approve this report as presented. Any discussion? 3 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 4 Court Orders. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. We have our Court 6 Orders from the Monday, May 18th meeting. Court Orders 7 38087 through 38094. They all look to be in order. 8 Move for approval. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 11 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 12 approve the Court Orders as presented. Any discussion? 13 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 14 Move on to the Information Agenda, item 3.1 15 status reports from Department Heads. Any department 16 heads that want to make a status report? 17 3.2 status reports from Elected Officials. 18 Any elected officials want to make a report? 19 Item 3.3 status reports from Liaison 20 Commissioners. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'll tell you that 22 Maintenance is steady cleaning up limbs and stuff from 23 the courtyard and other places, and checking out the 24 AG barn and ball fields and everything else. On top of 25 that, they've been diligently making shields for the 64 1 different departments and everything. About the time 2 they think they're through they get a few more requests. 3 So they're busy with that. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Good. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And the IT guys have 6 been very busy with all the power outages. Ben here can 7 tell you about it. He can talk. 8 MR. TOLL: (Shaking head in negative 9 manner.) 10 JUDGE KELLY: But they don't know that. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Economic development. 12 Gil Salinas has sort of increased his scope to try and 13 help as best he can with the businesses in the community 14 with the COVID-19 and has done -- is really doing a good 15 job communicating to all those, and communicating 16 information from the State to those entities, so -- and 17 I don't think there's anything new on any of the 18 potential new businesses that we can discuss right now, 19 so -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And Judge, I want to 21 bring up on our next Commissioners' Court meeting I 22 anticipate that we'll have the agreement on the Youth 23 Event Center from the company that wants to do the 24 naming rights issue. We have that and we're going 25 through it, and so that will probably be on the agenda. 65 1 And Animal Control, they're getting closer 2 back to normal operations, but they still are limiting 3 surrenders and there's some other operational changes 4 that they may completely change as a result of this. 5 They'll be bringing that probably to the Court in the 6 next meeting or so. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. With that, I believe 9 we've got two items on the Executive Session agenda. 10 One of them is a timed item at eleven o'clock. Why 11 don't we take about a five minute break and come back at 12 10:30 or 10:31 or two, something like that. And we can 13 start on Executive Session Item 4.1(a), which is 14 consider, discuss and take appropriate action regarding 15 employee evaluations. So we'll be in recess for five 16 minutes. 17 (Recess.) 18 (Executive Session.) 19 JUDGE KELLY: There being no further 20 business, Court is adjourned. 21 * * * * * * 22 23 24 25 66 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 Regular Commissioners' Court. 9 Dated this the 29th day of May, 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