1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Special Session 5 Monday, July 6, 2020 6 9:00 a.m. 7 Commissioners' Courtroom 8 Kerr County Courthouse 9 Kerrville, Texas 78028 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 PRESENT: ROB KELLY, Kerr County Judge HARLEY BELEW, Commissioner Precinct 1 24 TOM MOSER, Commissioner Precinct 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Precinct 3 25 DON HARRIS, Commissioner Precinct 4 2 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 *** Commissioners' Comments. 5 4 *** Visitor's Input. 8 5 1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 11 action regarding update, facility use and 6 other matters related to COVID-19. 7 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 25 action to extend the Local State of 8 Disaster Due to a Public Health and Economic Emergency Proclamation that was 9 signed by Judge Kelly on March 24, 2020, and "extended until terminated by 10 order of the Kerr County Commissioners' Court" on March 30, 2020. 11 1.3. Consider, discuss and take appropriate 26 12 action to approve the Texas Department of Transportation, TxDOT, CARES Act 13 Airport Grant Agreement. 14 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 28 action regarding the Texas Department 15 of Transportation, TxDOT, County Transportation Infrastructure Fund, 16 CTIF, Grant Award. 17 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 30 action to authorize the Capital Improvement 18 Planning, CIP, Committee, through the County Judge, to proceed with the authority 19 for the issuance of Tax Notes for pending capital projects, including the possible 20 purchase of three properties: (1) plus or minus 16 acres off Spur 100 adjacent to 21 the Road & Bridge yard. (2) the Pierson Addition and Wool House Tract block in 22 Ingram between State Highway and Carolyn Street, where the old wool and mohair 23 warehouse was), and (3) the three tracts, 424, 550, and 600 Earl Garrett. 24 25 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 39 action on the County Clerk's office job 4 descriptions for Chief Deputy Clerk, Administrative Deputy Clerk, Deputy Clerk, 5 and Records Management & Archives/Juvenile Clerk. 6 2.1 Pay bills. 45 7 2.3 Late bills. 46 8 2.6 Court Orders. 47 9 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 49 10 action to authorize the Capital Improvement Planning, CIP, Committee, through the 11 County Judge, to proceed with the authority for the issuance of Tax Notes for pending 12 capital projects, including the possible purchase of three properties: (1) plus 13 or minus 16 acres off Spur 100 adjacent to the Road & Bridge yard. (2) the Pierson 14 Addition and Wool House Tract block in Ingram between State Highway and Carolyn 15 Street, where the old wool and mohair warehouse was), and (3) the three tracts, 16 424, 550, and 600 Earl Garrett. 17 *** Adjournment. 58 18 *** Reporter's Certificate. 59 19 * * * * * * 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 JUDGE KELLY: Good morning. The Kerr County 2 Commissioners' Court is now in session. And it is 3 Monday, July the 6th, 2020, at nine o'clock. This is a 4 Special Commissioners' Court meeting. I have the 5 telephone here today, if anybody wants to call in for 6 input and that's -- the number there is (830) 792-6161. 7 Just to let everybody know is I have my 8 other cell phone here today, my personal cell phone. My 9 wife's having a procedure done today and when they call 10 for me to pick her up, I'm going to excuse myself and 11 Commissioner Letz will take over. 12 And with that, we're ready to begin. Is 13 there anybody in here who would like to offer any public 14 input? And those are for subjects that are not on the 15 agenda. If it's on the agenda, then save it for the 16 agenda time. Have you filled out your form back there? 17 MR. FOUSE: I have not filled out a form, 18 no, sir. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. I'll need you to fill 20 that out and give it to Miss Dowdy, our County Clerk. I 21 saw somebody else come in with you. Are they -- do they 22 want to speak also? 23 MR. FOUSE: No, that's my wife. No, sir. 24 JUDGE KELLY: I don't believe I'd have said 25 it that way. 5 1 (Laughter.) 2 JUDGE KELLY: Just saying. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Very good. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. While you're doing 5 that, I'm going to have -- ask the Commissioners to go 6 ahead and make their comments. Let's go with Precinct 1 7 first. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We had two fires in 9 Precinct 1. And one was from fireworks. One was from 10 somebody burning unsafely. And if you've got a brush 11 pile, separate it out. Don't try to burn something 12 that's big and make trouble for yourself and your 13 neighbors. You know, people keep stacking it up, 14 stacking it up, and it's not safe. So whether there's a 15 burn ban on or not, you have a personal responsibility 16 to protect yourself and your neighbors. And so the 17 fireworks part of it is over with but the other will be 18 ongoing. 19 We also had a -- an accident where a car 20 fell on a fellow that wasn't -- he didn't have it jacked 21 up the right way and using something makeshift to 22 getting work on a car. And that kind of stuff, again, 23 personal responsibility. It's a friend of mine. So be 24 careful. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Precinct 2. 6 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. A couple things. 2 Very similar thing about a death in -- in Precinct 2. A 3 man and his 11-year-old son on a tractor and it turned 4 over and the 11-year-old was killed. So tractors are 5 dangerous, especially on hillside -- they're dangerous a 6 lot of times, but they're dangerous on the hillside. 7 Another one is that Neil Griffin, who 8 probably everybody knows, Neil Griffin passed away. And 9 I must tell a real quick story. Neil Griffin was 10 talking to his son. This is -- I think Neil may have 11 told me this. And his son said, Dad, he says, why are 12 we working? We don't need to make anymore money. 13 Neil's comment was, so we can help more people. That 14 was Neil Griffin. And he was just an amazing person, 15 so -- 16 And the other thing is, the petition drive 17 is ongoing for Precinct 2 selling alcoholic beverage, 18 put it on the ballot in November. They're out at the 19 early voting. There's a lot of places around 20 Precinct 2. So I would encourage everybody in 21 Precinct 2, registered voters, please sign the petition 22 so it can be on the ballot. I think we're -- still I 23 think need about 1,600 signatures last time I heard. So 24 we got a ways to go still. And until July 17, which is 25 ten days. 7 1 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 3. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a quick comment or 3 a follow-up on what Commissioner Moser said about Neil 4 Griffin is that, you know, Kerrville was really blessed 5 in a period. Several times in our history of having 6 incredibly generous individuals, going back to the 7 Schreiner and Peterson family early on. Then you had 8 Neil Griffin and a couple of his contemporaries and 9 close friends, Jim Avery, L.D. Brinkman, Floyd Cailloux. 10 They were all that same mold. They made a lot of money 11 and gave a whole lot to this community. And hopefully 12 we'll get another round of people like that in the 13 future because they were phenomenal people. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Don't leave out the Butt 15 family. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the Butt family. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 4. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: All right. Just kind 19 of an observation and it goes back to what Harley said 20 about the fire started from fireworks. You know, I 21 think doing away with the big deal on the river like we 22 normally had, I saw a lot more off in the distance. And 23 it seemed like people did their own thing a lot more and 24 that probably contributed to it a little bit. When you 25 do away with that big mass gathering and -- and big 8 1 fireworks shows, a lot more people were at the fireworks 2 stands I think. 3 So got a lot of calls since the weekend over 4 the Governor's newest order. And how does that affect 5 us. And this and that. People are trying to stay -- 6 stay up with it. Who's on first. That's the deal 7 sometimes. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Clear -- clear as mud. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. Exactly. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Back to our public 11 input. I have a request here from Russ Fouse? 12 MR. FOUSE: Rusty Fouse. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. If you'd state your 14 name and address, and keep your remarks at three 15 minutes. 16 MR. FOUSE: Yes, sir. Hello. My name is 17 Rusty Fouse. I live at 133 Hunt Loop in Hunt, Texas. 18 I'd like to say thank you, Your Honor, for -- and 19 Commissioners for allowing me to speak today. 20 After much trouble on -- on Friday, I was 21 finally put in contact with Mr. Harris. Thankfully so. 22 And I'd like to give a special thanks to Mr. Harris for 23 informing me and giving me the form and allowing me to 24 come out and speak today. 25 After speaking with Mr. Harris, I did go to 9 1 YouTube and watched the four last meetings that you guys 2 had just so I would be up to date on what's going on 3 here in the Court. The last one, particularly, I found 4 concerning. 5 Commissioner Letz, in particular, coughed in 6 his hands twice. There's no hand sanitizer at any of 7 your desks. None of you are wearing masks. You would 8 think that you guys would have disinfectant. The only 9 person here who is wearing a mask is the Judge, who was 10 touching the phone with his hands. And the County Clerk 11 is -- everybody's just kind of -- there's no distancing. 12 So I feel like that if we can't set the example as 13 leaders of the community, how do you expect anyone to 14 follow that. 15 Again, the main reason I'm here to speak 16 today is I am in my 30s so I would be a minority in the 17 county, probably, just due to age. But I do feel like 18 we need to take the responsibility to protect our 19 elderly and vulnerable population. 20 I heard you say, Mr. Belew, that it's their 21 job to protect themselves in the community, but it's our 22 job to protect our neighbors and try and be loving and 23 concerned about those around us. Not just say, well, 24 it's up to you to do this. 25 I have a nine-year-old daughter, who does 10 1 have autoimmune disorder and so we do protect her as 2 best we can. At one of the previous meetings also, you 3 know, that age group, 30 -- I believe you mentioned it, 4 Mr. Moser, 40 -- 40 years old, 30 or 40 years old are 5 the folks that are carrying this asymptomatically and 6 passing it around in the community to others. 7 So the main reason I'm here and called was 8 the porta potty at the dam. First thing I noticed is 9 the day we added one at the County, which is weird. I 10 don't understand why we're not shutting down County 11 areas where people can just drive up and there's no 12 sanitation, there's no hand washing. That would include 13 Shumacher, Hunt Loop -- I'm sorry, Hunt Crossing, the 14 Ingram Dam. There's probably many, many more in the 15 County that I'm not even aware of. There's probably 16 tons of areas in Precinct 1 that are campsites and other 17 things. 18 I just feel like that -- I know I personally 19 love my friends and my family members and -- and our 20 community. And you know, my in-laws are in that age 21 bracket, my daughter's in that age bracket, and it's up 22 to every one of us, including yourselves, to make sure 23 that you guys are providing proper leadership and 24 allowing everyone here in this community to be safe. 25 We have camp starting up. We have so many 11 1 families coming in from all over the country bringing 2 whatever they're bringing in. I'm sure that there's 3 already been outbreaks at camps. I know nobody wants to 4 hear any of that but I'm sure that stuff is happening. 5 We really need to protect our community so 6 we can share these beautiful places with other people in 7 the future instead of focusing on this short time right 8 now. It does help to wear a mask. It isn't any fun to 9 do any of these things. But if that's what we have to 10 do, then we need to take it upon ourselves to go ahead 11 and do the right thing for everyone. And that's all I'd 12 really like to say today. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Thank you. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Thank you very much. 15 MR. FOUSE: If we could add something about 16 County facilities to the agenda next time so that we've 17 got -- what we're going to do about that, that would be 18 great. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Thank you for your 20 input. 21 MR. FOUSE: Thank you. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Let's go down to 23 consideration agenda 1.1, always first, consider, 24 discuss and take appropriate action regarding the 25 update, facility use and other matters related to 12 1 COVID-19. Dub Thomas. 2 MR. THOMAS: I'm still Number 1, Harley? 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes, sir. 4 MR. THOMAS: Okay. Good morning, Judge, 5 Commissioners. Unfortunately, my laptop will not boot 6 up today, so I can't really give you too much update as 7 far as numbers go. I know Friday we were up to 119 8 total cases. I checked with Peterson Regional Hospital 9 this morning. They tested 112 over the weekend. But 10 they picked this up 30 new positives. She's in the 11 process of sorting through those right now to make sure 12 that all of them are Kerr County. 13 And then we had some notification from DSHS. 14 So at one point I had -- my number was 127, plus 15 whatever Peterson Regional did for testing over the 16 weekend. We'll find that out. I'll try and get all 17 that out to you this -- sometime this afternoon. 18 The Texas military forces did testing on 19 June the 30th. They tested 548. I have no earthly idea 20 what those numbers are going to look like when those 21 test results come back. We are planning to do testing 22 again on July the 9th, again at the Doyle Community 23 Center, and I'll send out a Code Red again county wide 24 to notify folks of that. Any questions on anything, 25 y'all? 13 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: When you get the 2 statistics, if you do that by cases that are positive by 3 age group, that would be great, again. You did that 4 last week and that was very helpful. 5 MR. THOMAS: Yeah, I'm going to continue to 6 add that -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Good deal. 8 Thank you. 9 MR. THOMAS: -- to that. I will point out 10 that one of the -- one of the problems with tracking 11 these numbers is DSHS brings -- I was given an address 12 by Peterson that indicated one individual at one 13 residence was COVID positive. By the time I got 14 notified by DSHS with that, they had two positives at 15 that house and six probable. So all those probables go 16 into our active count as well. So I can -- I can go 17 back -- and I did a spreadsheet from DSHS that can 18 remove those probables out and kind of let y'all know 19 what are confirmed cases and what are probable as well. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good job. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now, all -- correct me 22 if I'm wrong, they're all basically assumed to be 23 COVID-19 until proven otherwise? 24 MR. THOMAS: Well, those -- well, for 25 instance in this one residence, those six individuals 14 1 are considered probable. They're symptomatic. They've 2 not been tested, but they are symptomatic. And based on 3 the close contact and the fact of them being in the same 4 residence -- 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That would make sense. 6 MR. THOMAS: -- as the confirmed individuals 7 for a long period of time, yes, sir. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Sure. 9 JUDGE KELLY: How serious is this, Dub? 10 MR. THOMAS: I think we're going to be over 11 150 cases by the end of the day. And no telling what 12 DSHS is -- I mean the Texas Military Force's testing is 13 going to show us. 548 that day tested. 14 JUDGE KELLY: And when we go over 150, the 15 Governor can start closing down our capacity to open, 16 right? 17 MR. THOMAS: Our saving grace, I believe, is 18 number one, we haven't had that many people in the 19 hospital. I think our total hospital numbers have been 20 like five people. Peterson Regional's surge capacity 21 was at 24 percent last week when I reported, so I'm 22 assuming that they still have plenty of room. My 23 concern is that San Antonio hospitals start to fill up 24 and they decide to ship some up here. But that's 25 between Sid Peterson and San Antonio. 15 1 JUDGE KELLY: Any advice for the people? 2 MR. THOMAS: Wear the mask. Wash your 3 hands. Social distancing. The same -- same thing we've 4 been talking about. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Dub, the -- and you may 6 not have any additional guidance on that. The 7 Governor's order was very confusing to most people. 8 MR. THOMAS: Uh-huh. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And once -- it appears 10 to most, myself included, that if you're social 11 distancing you don't need to mask in public. You're not 12 required to. I don't -- say need is probably not the 13 correct word. And that's how I'm seeing most people 14 interpreting it. Do you think that's accurate, or is it 15 -- I mean, the -- I can't imagine the Governor didn't 16 know exactly what he was saying in that order, but -- 17 JUDGE KELLY: I wouldn't assume anything on 18 that. 19 MR. THOMAS: I just -- I think it's kind of 20 vague. And -- 21 (Sheriff Hierholzer handing paper.) 22 MR. THOMAS: Thanks. All right. So it says 23 every person in Texas shall wear a face covering over 24 the nose and mouth when inside a commercial entity or 25 other building or space open to the public, or when in 16 1 an outdoor public space whenever it is not feasible to 2 maintain six feet of social distancing from another 3 person that's not in the same household. Provided, 4 however, that this face covering requirement does not 5 apply to the following. 6 And then there's 11 -- 11 different 7 exceptions. Any person younger than 10. Any person 8 that has a medical condition or disability that prevents 9 wearing a face covering. 10 Any person with a -- while the person is 11 consuming food or drink, or is seated at a restaurant to 12 eat or drink. 13 Any person while they're -- while the person 14 is exercising outdoors or engaging in physical activity 15 outdoors, and maintaining a safe distance from other 16 people not in the same household. 17 Any person while the person is driving alone 18 or with passengers who are part of the same household as 19 the driver. 20 Any person obtaining a service that requires 21 temporary removal of the face covering for security 22 surveillance, screening or need for specific access to 23 the face, such as while visiting a bank or while 24 obtaining a personal care service involving the face, 25 but only to the extent necessary for the temporary 17 1 removal. 2 Any person while the person is swimming in a 3 pool, lake, or similar body of water. Any person who is 4 voting, assisting a voter, serving as a poll watcher, or 5 actively administering an election, but wearing a face 6 covering is strongly encouraged. 7 Any person who is actively providing or 8 obtaining access to religious worship, but wearing a 9 face covering is strongly encouraged. 10 Any person while the person is giving a 11 speech for a broadcast or to an audience, or number 11, 12 any person in a County that meets the requisite criteria 13 promulgated by TDEM. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 15 MR. THOMAS: So clear as mud. Just like the 16 Judge said earlier. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That number 11 is the 18 one that's real convoluted. But it's followed by this 19 statement: Not excepted from this face covering 20 requirement is any person attending a protest or 21 demonstration involving more than ten people -- 22 MR. THOMAS: Correct. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- and who is not 24 practicing safe social distancing of six feet from other 25 people not in the same household. So that, I think, 18 1 goes back to what Commissioner Letz was talking about. 2 If the mask works and you're six feet away from 3 somebody, why -- or if the mask works, why do you need 4 to be six feet away from somebody? And if you're six 5 feet away, why do you need a mask? 6 And I know that's not your decision and you 7 can't answer that, but logically speaking doesn't make 8 any sense. 9 MR. THOMAS: I -- I totally understand. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Six feet away from the 11 Commissioner there, and people are criticizing us 12 because we don't have on any masks. We're socially 13 distanced, so -- and if the mask works, I don't see why 14 you can't have more than ten people at a gathering. 15 That doesn't make any sense. So the masks either work 16 or they don't work. Maybe all of us should have a law 17 to wear belt and suspenders. Make sure our pants stay 18 up. I'm picking on you a little bit. 19 MR. THOMAS: No, that's all right. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You're still Number 1. 21 MR. THOMAS: I'm still Number 1. That's all 22 that matters, Harley. That's all that matters. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm just trying to make 24 sense of it. 25 MR. THOMAS: Good luck. 19 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. 2 MRS. STEBBINS: I think the question that 3 Commissioner Letz asked relates to the second part of 4 the sentence that says wherever it's not feasible to 5 maintain six feet of social distancing from another 6 person not in the same household. So that comes right 7 after where it says, "or when in an outdoor public 8 space." 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. 10 MRS. STEBBINS: And so the question is 11 whether or not that only applies to the outdoor public 12 space, and I know that some people are interpreting it 13 that way. And I would. But y'all are interpreting it 14 to apply to the whole rest of the sentence where if you 15 can stay six feet apart from each other, you don't have 16 to wear it. But I would advise that it applies to the 17 outdoor public space and not to -- when you go into a 18 building like Lowe's and can stay six feet away from 19 someone you don't have to wear a mask. 20 So there are attorneys in different offices 21 around the state arguing about the sentence construction 22 in that first very confusing sentence from an attorney 23 who has attorneys writing this for him that -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: A past Supreme Court Justice. 25 MRS. STEBBINS: Correct. So while it is 20 1 confusing, I'm telling folks in my office that -- wear 2 your mask. Wear your mask in the building. Wear your 3 mask if you're in my office. Wear your mask. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So what's the answer 5 regarding Little League? 6 MRS. STEBBINS: Well, I think that that -- 7 you also have to go back to the Executive Order 28 that 8 speaks to all of those things. And I'm not the legal 9 advisor for Little League, but I think that they have to 10 look at that, too. 11 And it does -- I mean, we talked recently, 12 Commissioner Harris and I talked about rodeos. That has 13 an exception, too. So there are capacity issues that 14 relate to Little League that -- that aren't what we talk 15 about for the courthouse or HEB or, you know, other 16 outdoor spaces where there are ten people gathering for 17 other things. That has different things that apply to 18 it, so -- 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, the reason I'm 20 asking about Little League is because Little League's 21 playing on County property and Little League doesn't 22 want to be in conflict with how the County's 23 interpretation is. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure. Uh-huh. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's the reason for 21 1 the question. It has nothing to do with Little League; 2 it's the use of the County facility. 3 MRS. STEBBINS: And there -- I think that 4 that is another good question about several uses of 5 County facilities for events that we'll have to look at 6 the Governor's exception for those as well, I think, 7 individually. Because I think like a rodeo or maybe 8 like a sporting event might be different from other, you 9 know, gun and knife show. It -- I think that there will 10 be some things that we have to specifically look at and 11 answer. And I'm glad to help with that. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The one thing the 13 Governor said but doesn't -- is not included in this 14 Executive Order is that the goal is to make sure that we 15 stay open, and that people come and go where they want 16 to go. They transact business as normal. 17 But this thing we talked about earlier about 18 reaching that 150 mark, again our -- all these magical 19 numbers we have, 20, 10, 6, 250, you know, it's a little 20 irritating because they seem to be just arbitrary. So 21 if we hit 150 mark, then we -- we take a couple of steps 22 back and reload again, we reset. That's arbitrarily, 23 just based on a -- on a number; not based on the 24 population of the County or anything else. Not based on 25 a percentage of cases. And these are positive cases. 22 1 These are not people in the hospital. These are not 2 people that are passing away from it. It's just cases. 3 MRS. STEBBINS: I -- I think they're doing 4 the best they can do, just like people who set speed 5 limits. I mean, at least a speed limit we have a long 6 time to know and study about what happens in a wreck 7 when you -- you're going 55 miles an hour as opposed to 8 75 miles an hour. I mean I know it's changing, but I 9 think people are doing the right thing. And while 150 10 isn't 55 miles an hour, it -- it may change in a week. 11 Who knows what that number will look like. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, that -- that puts 13 Harris County the same as Kerr County, same as Bexar 14 County, same as Kendall County. 15 MRS. STEBBINS: But I don't think they ever 16 got to ask for the exclusion from the capacity rules 17 like we did because I think they were already beyond 18 that -- 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Sure. 20 MRS. STEBBINS: -- low number so that's why 21 I think that's in there. So it helps counties like ours 22 who don't have that many cases. And like the far west 23 Texas counties who have none that can still, you know, 24 have their coffee shops open and their convenience 25 stores and -- and things that those families need to run 23 1 their businesses. And so hopefully -- hopefully we 2 don't get there. It looks like we're going to, but at 3 least we get to have 50 percent instead of nothing. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Should be a percentage 5 rather than numbers of people. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Numbers of cases. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I believe that. 9 MRS. STEBBINS: And -- and that may be 10 something that -- 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That you don't -- yeah, 12 that's -- that's not your deal. 13 MRS. STEBBINS: -- that they're talking 14 about, I -- I don't know. You know, like I said, it 15 could change. Everything changes so quickly, it could 16 change in a week. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, according to the 18 World Health Organization as of today, they say even if 19 there is a vaccine it will only be good for one season, 20 just like the flu shot. That's all. And they may or 21 may not get it right the next year and so on. So we 22 don't do this for the -- swine flu is on the uptick. 23 Swine flu, that killed a lot of people, the H1N1. We 24 didn't have this kind of publicity on it, or this 25 hysteria. 24 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the frustrating 2 part is the arbitrary nature of so much of the -- what's 3 being said. You mentioned speed limits. Speed limits, 4 there's a manual that engineers have put together that 5 says if this is the condition, this is the speed. It's 6 very clear. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Here, it changes week to 9 week. And how do you -- how do you react to it? 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I think the 11 County Attorney kind of addressed that. We're learning 12 as we go and it's uncharted territory. And personally 13 I'm not happy with the Governor right now because it 14 looks like he's playing politics. He's trying to have a 15 foot on both sides but -- you know, and I'm -- and you 16 guys are standing there and I'm looking at you while I'm 17 talking, I'm not pointing any of this at you. You know 18 that. 19 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. 20 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm just -- I'm 22 venting. You happen to be the people I'm looking at 23 while I vent. My wife gets this all the time. So I 24 apologize. It's not personal. 25 MRS. STEBBINS: No apology needed. 25 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. Thank you. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You're looking at the 3 camera. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm looking at the 5 camera. That's what I was doing, I was looking at the 6 camera. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Dub, just -- so we hit 8 this magic number of 150, the restaurants go back to 75 9 to 50. That's one of the main things, right? 10 MR. THOMAS: That's correct. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: 50 percent. Okay. 12 MR. THOMAS: It's not -- I don't believe 13 it's automatic. I think the Governor would have to 14 order it. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. I need to excuse 18 myself. I'm going to turn the meeting over to 19 Commissioner Letz. 20 (Judge Kelly leaving meeting.) 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Anything else on 1.1? 22 All right. 23 Let's go to 1.2. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Escape while you can. 25 MR. THOMAS: I'm running. I'm running. 26 1 MRS. STEBBINS: Bye, Dub. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. Consider, 3 discuss and take appropriate action regarding the Local 4 State of Disaster Due to a Public Health Economic 5 Emergency Proclamation that was signed by Judge Kelly on 6 March 24th of 2020, and extended until terminated by 7 Order of the Kerr County Commissioners Court on 8 March 30th, 2020. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We don't need to take 10 action, do we? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No action required on 12 here unless anybody wants to -- 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No action. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Move on to 1.3. 15 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action to approve 16 the Texas Department of Transportation, TxDOT, CARES Act 17 Airport Grant Agreement. Mary? 18 MS. ROHRER: Good morning, Commissioners. 19 My name is Mary Rohrer, I'm the Airport Manager at 20 Kerrville Airport. As part of the Federal FAA release 21 to COVID environment, it was the issuance of a grant to 22 airports. And I think we all saw a note that came out 23 about two or three months ago that Kerrville Airport can 24 receive up to $69,000 in grants for improvements in the 25 airport. 27 1 So to go out for all the paperwork to come 2 through to match -- match the announcement and get it 3 together so in your packet is the actual grant agreement 4 itself. We've reviewed it with Heather. I reviewed it 5 with our airport attorney, and also Mike Hayes. 6 So we're just asking, as required in the 7 Interlocal Agreement, that y'all agree to the grant and 8 we'll get moving forward on getting the paperwork done 9 and send that in. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Move for approval of 11 the grant. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A motion by Commissioner 14 Moser, second by Commissioner Belew to approve the Texas 15 Department of Transportation, TxDOT, CARES Act Airport 16 Grant Agreement as presented. Any further discussion? 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I'm going to ask 18 a question. Do we have a specific use for it right now? 19 MRS. ROHRER: We are focusing on funds to be 20 focused on use of maintaining our hangars, especially 21 for our business. Because we've got some cranky old 22 buildings there and we're trying to keep all of our 23 business users moving forward. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Just so everybody 25 knows. 28 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Any further 2 discussion? All in favor raise your right hand. 3 Unanimous, four zero. 4 Item 1.4 consider, discuss and take 5 appropriate action regarding the Texas Department of 6 Transportation, TxDOT, County Transportation 7 Infrastructure Fund, CTIF, Grant Award. 8 It says the Judge. Heather, have you have 9 looked at this? 10 MRS. STEBBINS: I have looked at that. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is it -- the amount of 12 the grant is $91,095. 13 MRS. GRINSTEAD: This is the one Charlie 14 mentioned last week. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yes. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is related to -- 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: There you are. I was 18 looking for you. I couldn't see you. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What this is, this is 20 the grant that was -- I believe came from out of the oil 21 industry of some funding that was available to all 22 counties. We initially thought we would not apply for 23 the grant but Charlie went through it. He and Kelly and 24 Bobby went through it. And the records that we have 25 made it relatively easy to go through and forward this 29 1 grant so we're going to go ahead and apply for it in the 2 amount of $91,095 and that money will be used by Road & 3 Bridge to upgrade certain roads that were impacted by 4 oil industry traffic. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let's see. We've 6 submitted the application already. So this action is 7 for -- la da dada -- the County must enter into an 8 agreement with the Department. End quote. 9 I move for approval for entering into an 10 agreement with TxDOT for the subject grant. The 11 Department of Transportation -- Transportation 12 Infrastructure Fund Grant Program. So we have to enter 13 into an agreement, so I move that we enter into that 14 agreement. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 16 MRS. STEBBINS: And as part of that to 17 authorize the County Judge to sign? 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And authorize the 19 County Judge to sign. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And the County Attorney 22 has reviewed it? 23 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir, I have. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. I have a 30 1 motion by Commissioner Moser, second by Commissioner 2 Harris to approve the agreement related to the Texas 3 Department of Transportation Infrastructure Fund Grant 4 Award, and authorize the County Judge to sign. Any 5 further discussion? All in favor say aye or raise your 6 hand. Vote. It's unanimous, four zero. 7 Item 1.5 consider, discuss and take 8 appropriate action to authorize the Capital Improvement 9 Planning, CIP, committee, through the County Judge, to 10 proceed with authority for the issuance of Tax Notes for 11 pending capital projects, including the possible 12 purchase of three properties, (1) plus or minus 16 acres 13 off Spur 100, adjacent to the Road & Bridge yard, (2) 14 the Pierson Addition and Wool House Tract block in 15 Ingram, between State Highway 27 and -- it doesn't 16 say -- State Highway and Carolyn Street (where the old 17 wool and mohair warehouse was), and (3), the three 18 tracts, 424, 550, and 600 Earl Garrett. 19 I know about it. I was a little surprised 20 that it's on the agenda. But where we are on that, 21 those are the three tracts that have been identified and 22 it's a matter of -- how much can we talk about this in 23 open session versus closed session? 24 MRS. STEBBINS: Well, negotiating for real 25 property can be talked about in closed session. I don't 31 1 -- I don't know that -- I don't know how much of it, you 2 know, you want to -- like price, you can talk about that 3 in closed session, but I think that the rest is open 4 session topic. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think what we did, to 6 the best of my recollection, we authorized the Judge to 7 negotiate, okay, for these parcels. But this says to 8 issue -- well the Tax Notes so -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. The issue -- 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I don't think it ever 11 came back in Executive Session or whatever with the 12 discussion regarding the negotiation. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I -- I think we 14 should pass on it and let him explain it. He put it on 15 the agenda. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I -- I know the 17 reason. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I know. Let him do it 19 and we can just pass it. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let me explain it a 21 little bit because there is some time sensitivity to it. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: All right. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The question comes is to 24 pay for the tracts, to pay the taxes, it takes a note. 25 That's what we have discussed anyway. Is it -- do you 32 1 -- you know, it's hard to negotiate until you know that 2 the Court has approved going forward with the taxes to 3 pay for them. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You know, we have to -- 6 you know, you don't want to negotiate something and then 7 have the Court come back and say well, we're not going 8 to fund it. So it puts the County in an awkward 9 situation. So the issue is, is the Commissioners' Court 10 comfortable with proceeding with the paperwork for a tax 11 anticipation note at this point or -- or do we want to 12 talk about it? 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, we don't know 14 what the amount is. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have a -- a general 16 amount that has been -- I can -- I can try to give you 17 that in Executive Session. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, but this -- this 19 doesn't include our participation in the joint project 20 going on? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's no joint -- it's 22 not a joint. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm not talking about 24 that. I'm talking about the -- we have a participation 25 in our -- our -- 33 1 MRS. STEBBINS: The grant application for 2 the Public Defender's Office -- 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The public defenders. 4 MRS. STEBBINS: -- those three tracts. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The public defenders. 6 So that money is going out of the county that pertains 7 to real estate, so I think that has to -- all of that is 8 -- is in the -- would have to be in the budget. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. You're right. 10 And part of that -- part of this is based on that 11 regional public defender office being approved and 12 funded. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. And our 14 participation level. And thank you, Heather, I couldn't 15 not think of that. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, I don't think we 17 have enough information today to authorize proceeding 18 with the tax notes. Tax notes -- 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Do we just -- we just 20 have to do this to move forward and it's kind of like 21 item Number 2, is that what we're talking about, just 22 keep it alive? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I think you -- I 24 mean -- 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let me ask it a 34 1 different way. What does it mean to approve the 2 authority for the issuance of tax notes? What does that 3 mean specifically? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, it'll have to come 5 back to the Court to approve it. It would be to -- to 6 start -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's what the agenda 8 item is. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Well, but this 10 is -- it has to -- I think the actual note has to come 11 back to the Court. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, do we have to do 13 this in order to have something prepared to look at, is 14 that the point? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd probably go back to 16 what you said and let -- and pass on it. Because I was 17 not aware this was going to be on the -- I know the 18 topic. I'm not sure of the full reason the Judge wanted 19 it on the Agenda, other than -- 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Is this -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- I know it was 22 partially due to a comment that I made in the CIP 23 committee. That we need to be -- the Court needs to be 24 on board before we start negotiating. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So this is to proceed 35 1 with the -- 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I agree with that. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- authority for the 4 issuance. I'm not ready to do that. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Is a week going to 6 make a -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Pass. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: -- difference? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think so. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Pass. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Let's ask the boss. 12 She's thinking. 13 MRS. GRINSTEAD: I think he wanted this on 14 the agenda today because CIP is meeting on Wednesday. 15 And I think it's so they can talk to the sellers and 16 give them basically, this is an amount we're talking 17 about, whatever it is, contingent on approval of 18 Commissioners' Court. So I think -- I guess -- 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Jonathan, you know 20 more than we do. You're on the committee. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I think -- and 22 the Judge and I have not talked about this agenda item. 23 I think that at some point the Court needs to take over 24 -- some of this over to CIP. The CIP has made a 25 recommendation. 36 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. Yeah, I -- I 2 agree. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think that the 4 Court is at a point that we need to decide dollar 5 amounts and how to fund it. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: How to do it. Right. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How to do it. I don't 8 know that -- I mean, the CIP has done their job in 9 identifying properties. And that's just how I see it. 10 But I think the Judge may see it slightly different than 11 that. And I don't think that the -- I think that at 12 this point the decision should be required by this body; 13 not the CIP. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But we're not ready. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we're ready to 18 discuss. We have appraisals on all the properties. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But that's got to be in 20 Executive Session. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. And we have 22 dollar amounts and, you know, we know a lot about them. 23 We're ready to take the next step, it's how do we take 24 the next step. And I think that the -- I think there 25 needs to be authority for the County Judge or somebody 37 1 to start negotiations. And I'm not sure that this 2 agenda item does that. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We gave him the 4 authority to negotiate. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And you have dollar 6 amounts there? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We gave him -- 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So that's an 10 executive -- 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Is this something we 12 need to go into Executive Session and then come back, or 13 do we need to pass. I think that's the two questions. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, first of all, we 15 gave him the authority to negotiate. So the next thing 16 is to see what came back from those negotiations, but 17 probably in Executive Session. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We gave him the 19 authority to negotiate but we didn't give -- we didn't 20 set a dollar amount and I don't know how you finalize a 21 negotiation unless you know how much we're willing to 22 authorize. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, we need to see 24 what the dollar amounts are before we approve. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: There's an asking price 38 1 and there's an offer. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We can always have an 3 emergency session if we need to also. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And I go back to what I 6 said before about our participation in the public 7 defenders. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 72 hours. 9 MRS. STEBBINS: But I don't think that would 10 be an emergency. That's -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Right. 12 MRS. GRINSTEAD: And Heather, could they 13 recess until like 1:30, or tomorrow or -- 14 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We could do that. Why 16 don't we pass that item for the time being and see if 17 the Judge comes back. I think it's -- to me, I'm hung 18 up on the wording. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we need to 21 proceed with negotiations and maybe, like Commissioner 22 Moser, he feels we can. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. Well, we can 24 call him. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, let's move on to 39 1 the item 1.6 and we can come back to 1.5. Consider, 2 discuss and take appropriate action on the County 3 Clerk's office job descriptions for Chief Deputy Clerk, 4 Administrative Deputy Clerk, Deputy Clerk, and Records 5 Management & Archives/Juvenile Clerk. Jackie Dowdy. 6 MS. DOWDY: Okay. Back again. Okay. In 7 early March, I was asked to present to the Court the job 8 description indicated for the Records Management 9 Juvenile Deputy Clerk position. I e-mailed Commissioner 10 Letz, the County Auditor, and HR Director for 11 information requested and those same documents should be 12 before you today. 13 Again, I've updated all the job 14 descriptions. Today I'm only asking that the Court 15 adopt these updated job descriptions. I understand that 16 each of the Deputy Clerks serve a particular court, a 17 regulatory authority for a proportional amount of time. 18 So as previously stated, we all have the authority to do 19 the same -- same things but for efficiency sake we have 20 to conduct official business by creating sections within 21 the Department as a whole, and those sections are land 22 official public records, vital statistics, probate, 23 mental health, County Court at Law, juvenile, and we 24 have our Chief Deputy, who's really our bookkeeper, the 25 Administrative Deputy Clerk, and the County Clerk. 40 1 So while reflecting on the statutes, the 2 Local Government Code 82.005 and 118.025 and 0216, I 3 think it would be prudent for the Court to see that I've 4 included a percentage of time spent on each task. And 5 those statutes are discussed in length and confirmed by 6 the Texas Attorney General's Opinion GA 0018, GA 0638, 7 which I think should be included in there. 8 So if you take a look at number three of the 9 job description for the records management juvenile 10 Deputy Clerk, number three, it should look like this. 11 Kind of a copy of it. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Jackie, let me 13 interrupt you? 14 MS. DOWDY: Go ahead. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: The Agenda item is take 16 appropriate action regarding job -- or job descriptions. 17 So what are you asking, just approve job descriptions? 18 And the next question would be is, why now? 19 MS. DOWDY: Okay. Because, as discussed a 20 little bit last week in the budget hearing, we're able 21 to pull salaries out of the revenue fund number 41 -- 22 54, I think. And save -- save upwards of -- you know, a 23 lot. Save a lot from taking it out of the general fund. 24 And so if we -- if I can show the Court that on number 25 three of these job descriptions the proportion of time 41 1 spent on each task that can be applied by law and take 2 it from that revenue fund -- 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So what -- what this 4 is -- pardon me for interrupting. So what you're saying 5 is changing job descriptions so you can fund those 6 positions with different accounts. Is that correct -- 7 MS. DOWDY: It -- 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- or not? 9 MS. DOWDY: -- it -- yes. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I see Auditor's Office 11 nodding and the County Attorney nodding and so -- 12 MS. DOWDY: Yes. But -- but we have to use 13 caution in approving -- taking money from that fund 14 right now because we have to have a public hearing on 15 the 27th and that's when I would ask that the Court -- 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. But that's -- 17 that's the purpose of -- 18 MS. DOWDY: That's the purpose. Correct. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, that's my 20 question. Why changing the job descriptions. Now I 21 understand. Thank you. 22 MS. DOWDY: Okay. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Does this change any 24 of the pay grades? 25 MS. DOWDY: It does not. 42 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. You're just -- 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But you had said last 3 week -- go ahead. 4 MS. DOWDY: The pay grades have -- the pay 5 grades -- 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: No, you had said you 7 looked at what they were actually doing and -- 8 MS. DOWDY: Yes. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- you needed to change 10 the job description -- 11 MS. DOWDY: Yes. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- and it wouldn't 13 affect the payroll. That's what you said last week? 14 MS. DOWDY: Correct. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 16 MS. DOWDY: Correct. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's correct. And 18 this is just -- it's a way -- and I applaud the County 19 Clerk for doing this. It's a way to pay a portion of 20 all of these employees out of a dedicated fund rather 21 than having all the money come out of the general fund. 22 And to do that, she went through and -- and calculated 23 exactly how much time is spent on every function on the 24 job description so we're able to divert some of the 25 payroll cost to a dedicated fund and away from the 43 1 general fund. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 3 MS. DOWDY: Well, I -- I -- I appreciate 4 that. But -- I -- I wanted to -- 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, you're ahead. 6 MS. DOWDY: -- say -- I know, right? What 7 am I doing? What am I doing here? 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: When you're ahead, 9 stop. I'm going to -- I'm going to second his motion. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: When you make the sale 11 you stop talking. 12 MS. DOWDY: I'm sorry. But do we really 13 need all -- the -- the additional records management 14 archives position? Because really it's the same as the 15 general job description. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Different subject. 17 MS. DOWDY: It's just -- it's just they 18 spend more time on the same task. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, if you don't have 20 it -- if it's not this agenda item we -- we can't -- 21 MS. DOWDY: Well, it's just -- well, no, 22 it's on the agenda but it's up to -- I'm going to leave 23 it up to the Court to adopt either three job 24 descriptions or the four. Three being Chief Deputy 25 Clerk, Administrative Deputy Clerk, and general job 44 1 description for Deputy Clerk. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there a change -- 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's what's on here. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there a change to the 5 records management as well? The fourth one, Records 6 Management and Archives? Is there -- 7 MS. DOWDY: So the records management -- so 8 -- so that position spent 75 percent of their time on 9 number three, which is -- and number three is also on 10 the general job description, who -- and those general 11 Deputy Clerks spend 50 percent of their time. So there 12 is a difference. So there's more of a salary for -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But have you changed 14 that job description also? If you didn't change the 15 records -- 16 MS. DOWDY: Oh, I see what you're saying. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. If you didn't -- 18 if you change that job description, then we'll need to 19 reapprove that one. If you didn't change that specific 20 one, we only -- 21 MS. DOWDY: Actually, this -- this records 22 management is creating a job description is what this 23 juvenile records management -- 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Then we need to do all 25 four. 45 1 MS. DOWDY: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is that a court order 3 thing, or is that just a -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's a court 5 order. We have to approve all four and then the county 6 -- the HR Department will -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's right. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we have a motion from 9 Commissioner -- 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You made a motion. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, and I seconded 13 it. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: He tried to. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner Harris did 16 the motion and Commissioner Moser seconded to approve 17 the four job descriptions that were revised as 18 presented. Any further discussion? In favor say aye or 19 raise your hand. Unanimous. 20 MS. DOWDY: Thank you very much. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Going on to the approval 22 agenda. Pay the bills. 23 MR. ROBLES: Okay. For the bills today. 24 Kerr County, $154,873.78. Adult Probation, $7,218.55. 25 Airport, $4,183.30. And you just received an additional 46 1 bill, that's a late bill, but we'll get to that in the 2 next session. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval to 4 pay the bills. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Motion by Commissioner 7 Belew, seconded by Commissioner Harris to pay the bills 8 as presented. Any further discussion? All in favor say 9 aye. Unanimous. Budget amendments? 10 MR. ROBLES: There are none. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Late bills? 12 MR. ROBLES: Yes. We have one we just 13 received. This is Fund 32 TDA. This is for the 14 wastewater grant paying our construction company, 15 Pesado, $92,367.31. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Move for approval. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Motion by Commissioner 19 Moser, seconded by Commissioner Belew to approve the one 20 late bill that was presented. Any further discussion? 21 Those in favor say aye. Unanimous. Auditor reports? 22 MR. ROBLES: No, sir. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: None. Monthly reports? 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: No. 25 MRS. DOWDY: Next week. 47 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: None. Court orders. We 2 do have court orders from our June 29th session. They 3 are Court Orders 38152 to 38159. And I did have two 4 slight corrections. 38155, there is a typo that said 5 Clay Smith; it should be Blake Smith in the names. And 6 on 38153 on the -- after the last comma it says 7 authorizing transfer of items. It actually did say, for 8 Kerr County -- to Kerr County -- Kerr County Juvenile 9 Board; it should be from Kerr County to the Juvenile 10 Board. Just changing the "for" to "from". 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And with that I'll make 13 a motion to approve those court orders as modified. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Motion by Commissioner 17 Letz, seconded by Commissioner Harris to approve the 18 Court Orders as modified. Any further discussion? All 19 in favor say aye. Unanimous. 20 Information Agenda. Status reports from 21 Department Heads. I don't see any. Status reports from 22 Elected Officials. The Sheriff is silent. And there 23 are none. Status reports from Liaison Commissioners. 24 Discussions? Anything? 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I thought Shane was 48 1 going to talk to us about some air-conditioning bids he 2 had but -- and I don't know enough about it to say 3 anything. So -- 4 MR. ROBLES: I think he had a -- a bid 5 received for $9,000 that needed to go into next year's 6 budget. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: He'll fill us in on 8 that. That'll be okay. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I have yet to be able 10 to find out if we are required to make a contribution to 11 the Historical Commission. And I've inquired. I'm 12 looking. So I -- I still don't know. It's not a lot of 13 money but I was asked to do that and I haven't been able 14 to track it down. I hadn't forgotten. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. With that said, I 16 think it would be helpful if we go back to 1.6 to deal 17 with it in closed session. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: 1.5? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Excuse me, 1.5. Go into 20 closed session. Just so I can update the dollars amount 21 to everyone on the Court so that -- and I think that 22 would be sufficient then to probably proceed with that 23 agenda item. So we'll go into closed session. And 24 we'll take a five minute recess. 25 (Recess.) 49 1 (Executive Session.) 2 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Okay. You're on speaker 3 phone now, can you hear us. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Yes, I can hear you. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Judge, let me get 6 -- get us back in. We're back in open session on Agenda 7 Item 1.5. We went into closed session so I could go 8 over all of the values that we discussed at the last CIP 9 meeting, so we -- everyone on the Court's aware of the 10 values we're talking about. But now we're back into 11 open session to discuss actually the Agenda Item on the 12 tax participation note and what the next steps need to 13 be. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And just so everybody 15 knows, we have Judge Kelly on speakerphone. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. What do you want to 17 know? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I guess the -- 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What does the agenda 20 item mean? 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Should we read you the 22 agenda item and then -- 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. The question was -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: No, I know the agenda item. I 25 know exactly what it is. 50 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 2 JUDGE KELLY: And this is what -- at the end 3 of the CIP meeting, Jonathan, you'll remember, you're 4 the one that wanted us to get authorization for the tax 5 notes, and so that's why I put it on the agenda. And so 6 what we're really doing here is, I think we have 7 authority. The CIP, and I think the County Judge, has 8 been delegated the authority to negotiate with the 9 prospective sellers. Your concern was that how can we 10 -- we offer them something if we don't know how we're 11 going -- where we're going to get the money. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 13 JUDGE KELLY: And so, the whole purpose of 14 this was to keep us on track to keep the negotiations 15 going because we want to meet with the -- we've got 16 Bruce Stracke coming over to meet with the CIP at one 17 o'clock this Wednesday to actually start negotiating on 18 the property down the street on the Earl Garrett 19 properties. And we're still trying to set up meetings 20 with the other two potential sellers. 21 So if we need to authorize the tax -- that 22 we're going to ask for a tax note to finance it, then we 23 need to talk about it and have a vote on it. If we 24 don't need to do that, if we've been fully authorized to 25 negotiate subject to Commissioners' Court approval and 51 1 we come back to the Court and say, this is what we 2 negotiated, will you approve it. And the sellers would 3 know that it would be a conditional negotiation until we 4 have the Commissioners' Court approval. Just need to 5 know one way or the other. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, another -- one 7 other -- 8 JUDGE KELLY: That's what I was trying to 9 do. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One of the things that 11 we discussed. There was -- I don't think the members of 12 the Court that are here are a hundred percent convinced 13 on the full menu of purchases. So I think that -- 14 JUDGE KELLY: Well, and -- and the real 15 issue is, do they want us to negotiate a deal subject to 16 their approval and bring it to them and they say thumbs 17 up or thumbs down, or do we need their approval before 18 we negotiate the deal? It's the chicken or the egg, 19 which comes first? 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do the latter. Do 21 the -- come back for approval. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, if you have -- in 23 my opinion we have an extra property on there we don't 24 need. That's my view of it. And that would change the 25 negotiation if I were the seller. 52 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sure. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The question's come up, 3 Judge, by some members of the Court is the -- the reason 4 -- or the need of the sanctuary. 5 JUDGE KELLY: The need of the what? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sanctuary. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The church building. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Oh. Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I -- I mentioned 10 that the -- you know, the idea that the CIP had and who 11 would go into that building, but the -- is it -- the 12 cost seems high. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Comparatively. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Comparatively high. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Well, and -- and that's the 17 difference between 550 and 600 Earl Garrett Streets. 18 That's what we're talking about. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Then I listened to the 21 YouTube part of this so I heard the discussion y'all 22 had. I listened to that as I was bringing Vicki home. 23 I believe that from what I heard that the CIP and me, as 24 the County Judge, have the authority to negotiate and 25 then bring it to the Commissioners' Court subject to 53 1 their approval. So am I on the same page with everybody 2 on that one? 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Then what we're really talking 6 about is there would have to be a separate negotiation 7 for the properties. If that -- if that's -- if that's 8 something that's an issue then we should negotiate for 9 something separately for 600 Earl Garrett versus 550 10 Earl Garrett. And so, then when we come back the 11 Commissioners' Court can approve -- they can approve 12 this on 424 or not, they can approve this on 550 or not, 13 and they can approve this on 600 or not. Is that the 14 way you want to do it? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, I mean we can -- 16 it seems a little convoluted in my mind because I don't 17 know how you negotiate the purchase when 40 percent of 18 it is in limbo as to whether it's going to be even 19 considered or not by the Court. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Well, so what do you propose? 21 How do we do it? 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, my -- Judge, my 23 concern was that I've not heard a need expressed for the 24 tax office that has additional room, or expand or -- and 25 that -- that was what the -- what one of the buildings 54 1 was for. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: The sanctuary. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So I don't know that -- 4 that I see that there's a need. Maybe you know more 5 about that, the complaints or the requests or whatever, 6 than I do, but I've not heard anything like that. So to 7 negotiate that and put it in as part of the deal when 8 it's so much more money, I don't -- I don't know that 9 the need was ever expressed, so unless I'm just ignorant 10 of it, I don't see that we need it. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Well, the CIP -- the -- the 12 whole purpose of this is the CIP is ready to come to 13 Commissioners' Court and make recommendations to 14 purchase for certain prices. To negotiate something. 15 Bring it to you and say we -- we're recommending this 16 because X, Y, and Z. And that -- that's really the 17 committee's purpose. And that's what they're -- they're 18 trying to fulfill their obligation. And it may be that 19 the Court approves or doesn't approve. All I'm trying 20 to do is get us in a position where we, as a committee, 21 can negotiate something and bring it to you and you can 22 decide whether or not you approve or not. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, what's wrong with 24 just doing that? And you could also come back with CIP, 25 can come back with -- with Option A, B or C. Option A 55 1 would include everything, Option B would include maybe 2 everything except the sanctuary, and then Court approve 3 or disapprove. 4 JUDGE KELLY: I'm fine with that. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. That's good. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. But that's -- 7 then that gets us to the agenda item. Are we going to 8 do a tax anticipation note to fund it? Because how are 9 we going to fund -- how are we going to buy the property 10 is my question. Where is that money coming from? 11 JUDGE KELLY: I know. That was the question 12 you asked two weeks ago and that's why I put it on the 13 agenda -- or say a week ago, I guess. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So we're now to the 15 question. 16 JUDGE KELLY: There you go. As to how we're 17 going to do it. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. 19 JUDGE KELLY: And so I think what the 20 Court's telling us, the feedback that I'm hearing, is 21 you go do your negotiations, you make your 22 recommendation and you come talk to us about it. And if 23 we like it, we'll do it, and if we don't, we won't. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And we'll figure out 25 how to pay for it. 56 1 JUDGE KELLY: Right. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. We don't have 3 to -- you don't have to have the tax note to negotiate. 4 JUDGE KELLY: I think -- I think that's 5 right. I agree. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: However, the tax note 7 is the only thing mentioned here for the -- 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well -- 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- in the -- in the 10 agenda item. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. But that was -- that 12 was to address this issue, this question that's been 13 asked about how we're going to do it. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, you already have 15 the authority to negotiate. 16 JUDGE KELLY: I know. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. So, therefore, 18 negotiate. The CIP can come back and -- with 19 recommendations, and we can approve and then we can 20 decide on tax note or whatever on payment. 21 JUDGE KELLY: I'm -- I'm good with that. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: By the way, the CIP 23 did a, I think, an excellent job locating the 24 properties. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Oh, yeah. 57 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: This is good stuff. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Very good job. 3 JUDGE KELLY: They did outstanding. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. I think, Judge, 5 what we probably oughta do, I think Jody is right behind 6 me, is that I think we need to have on the next agenda 7 an explanation again on the tax anticipation note, 8 exactly how they work. Because there seemed to be, you 9 know, confusion on that. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's good. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we put that on the 12 next agenda to have that part or that discussion again 13 and what it does. We had it, I know, when Dusty came up 14 here, but I think a refresher. And I don't know that he 15 needs to come, I think you're familiar enough with it 16 and I'm familiar enough and the Auditor's office that we 17 can explain it and go to the public and explain how this 18 works and why that's the vehicle being recommended. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: The public needs to 20 know. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good deal. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Appearance. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Then there will 24 be no action needed on this agenda item. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct. 58 1 JUDGE KELLY: I think we can negotiate 2 subject to approval of Commissioners' Court. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Perfect. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Because they -- the Court's 6 got the final say. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. All right -- 8 JUDGE KELLY: Very -- very good. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you, Judge. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. 11 JUDGE KELLY: You bet. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And with that, we're 13 adjourned. 14 * * * * * * 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 59 1 STATE OF TEXAS * 2 COUNTY OF KERR * 3 I, DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD, Certified Shorthand 4 Reporter in and for the State of Texas, and Official 5 Court Reporter in and for Kerr County, do hereby certify 6 that the above and foregoing pages contain and comprise 7 a true and correct transcription of the proceedings had 8 in the above-entitled Special Commissioners' Court. 9 Dated this the 10th day of July, 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