1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Special Session 5 Monday, September 21, 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 *** Public Input. 4 4 *** Commissioners' Comments. 8 5 1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 10 action regarding a National and Global 6 Day of Prayer event schedule for September 26, 2020 on the courthouse grounds. 7 1.2 Presentation and briefing by Workforce 16 8 Solutions Alamo regarding the 2021-2024 Local Plan and update on Unemployment 9 Claims. 10 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 38 action regarding enrollment in the Texas 11 Association of Counties (TAC) Cybersecurity Course for Counties. 12 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 40 13 action to discuss the President's Memorandum on deferring payroll tax 14 obligations due to the COVID-19 in light of Treasury guidance. 15 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 43 16 action to approve the grade and step schedule for Fiscal Year 2020-2021. 17 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 46 18 action to renew the 2021 Retiree Medical Program with United Health Care Plan. 19 1.7 Update from the County Auditor and County 48 20 Attorney regarding the implications/effects of terminating the "Kerr County Declaration 21 of a Local State of Disaster". 22 2.1 Pay Bills. 54 23 2.2 Budget Amendments. 55 24 2.3 Late Bills. 55 25 2.6 Court Orders. 56 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 2.4 Auditor Reports. 57 4 3.2 Status reports from Elected Officials. 57 5 3.3 Status reports from Liaison Commissioners. 61 6 4.4(a) Consider, discuss and take appropriate 62 action regarding the West Kerr Annex lease. 7 *** Adjournment. 63 8 *** Reporter's Certificate. 64 9 * * * * * * 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 JUDGE KELLY: It's September 21st, 2020, 2 9:00 a.m., and the Kerr County Commissioners' Court is 3 now in session. I have my mask with me but this is the 4 first Commissioners' Court hearing that we have where 5 Kerr County is exempt from the mandatory masks, so long 6 as we keep our active cases under 20. 7 And with that, I want to remind everybody to 8 turn your cell phones off. I have my cell phone here. 9 Anyone that would like to call in for any input, just 10 call 830-792-6161. That will vibrate right here by me. 11 Okay, with that the next part of the agenda 12 is public input. Every time we meet we have an 13 opportunity for the public to address the Court. We ask 14 that you identify yourself, your address, and limit your 15 remarks to three minutes. And I have Mr. Wert has filed 16 his request to speak to the Court. 17 MR. WERT: Yes, sir. 18 JUDGE KELLY: You may remove your mask while 19 you speak. 20 MR. WERT: Very good. Thank you, sir. Good 21 morning, Commissioners, Good to see you. Judge Kelly, 22 good to see you as well. Konrad Wert and 814 Lee Street 23 here in Precinct 1. 24 And the reason I wanted to talk today were 25 some of the going on's of last Monday, and really just 5 1 for clarification, just for transparency because I know 2 you as Elected Officials within the Court want to hear 3 from the constituents. 4 I remember hearing on your radio show, 5 Commissioner Belew, from Bob and Nadene that you have 6 60,000 bosses, and I mean that respectfully, not in any 7 antagonizing manner. 8 Some of the clarification I was wanting to 9 understand is with the proposed salary of the 2020-2021 10 year with the unanimous vote of five to zero. It showed 11 on the agenda items last week that there were allotments 12 made as cost of living adjustments or pay raises, 13 depending on how that's considered for Department Heads, 14 but I was wondering if that also included county 15 employees. And I wasn't sure if that's something that 16 can be clarified by the Court. 17 Many of these are general questions that I 18 understand that you can't always respond to, but just 19 thoughts from what I'm hearing within constituents and 20 residents within my community there in Precinct 1, 21 Commissioner Belew. 22 Also, when Commissioner -- I'm sorry, Judge 23 Kelly, when you were sharing about the approved budget 24 for 2020-2021, you did mention that VSO's and Volunteer 25 Fire Departments were being allotted funds, but when 6 1 looking at the agenda items once again on the actual 2 proposed budget, I was trying to see where that was 3 allotted. 4 And once again, that's only being in contact 5 with, you know, our Volunteer Fire Department there in 6 Turtle Creek as they have shared concerns with how to 7 move forward with what's best allotted by the County. 8 One question I hear time and time again from 9 residents is, why are meetings only held at 10 nine o'clock? I'm assuming as a schoolteacher it's 11 based on work schedule, simply because you have so many 12 staff involved. But that might be a wonderful thing to 13 clarify for constituents because they would love to come 14 and share, but for example, I had to take off today to 15 just share my concerns as a constituent. I think it 16 would be wonderful to be transparent on why that's the 17 case. 18 Regarding the COVID-19 Emergency now being 19 lifted, I was wondering -- and you might mention that 20 today within this session -- does that change the -- the 21 proposed policy of the allocation for hazard pay in the 22 Sheriff's Department? I remember you mentioned that 23 last Monday, if we lift this is there going to be enough 24 grant money to address that? I've heard that from a lot 25 of constituents in my neighborhood as well. 7 1 And lastly, and I mean this respectfully, 2 what do you recommend is the best way for us as voters 3 to voice our concerns without fear of retribution? You 4 know unfortunately, Commissioner Belew, you and I did 5 have a bit of an exchange which in no way did I mean ill 6 will towards you, but for whatever reason you decided to 7 comment that on your private radio station the following 8 day. 9 The only point I'm making there is not to 10 antagonize the Court in any way; it's to say I'm a 11 resident of Precinct 1 and I hear from my neighbors as a 12 resident and speaking solely as a constituent. I know 13 these types of questions would be wonderful to help with 14 the Court's transparency and the confidence in the 15 Court. 16 Thank you so much for your time. Is there a 17 response or no, Judge Kelly? 18 JUDGE KELLY: We're not permitted to 19 respond. 20 MR. WERT: Very good. Very good. I was 21 just going from my last experience. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. This is our opportunity 23 to listen to the public and we heard you -- 24 MR. WERT: Appreciate it. 25 JUDGE KELLY: -- but we can't respond. 8 1 MR. WERT: Very good. Have a good day. 2 Thank you. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But you can put it all 4 on the agenda. 5 MR. WERT: Very good. Thank you, sir. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Fair enough. Commissioners' 7 Comments. Commissioner Belew. Precinct 1. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We got rain, which was 9 nice, a little this morning. And it was a nice weekend. 10 I'll let Commissioner Harris talk about the turnout for 11 the hazardous waste, but I was there and brought my -- 12 JUDGE KELLY: Good. Precinct 2. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I too, yield to 14 Commissioner Harris on that, but I was there a couple of 15 times. 16 The other thing is got a little issue in 17 Precinct 2 on Flat Rock Park. And that's the property 18 that's adjacent to the Dog Park, it's north of the Dog 19 Park. There's a fence there but it doesn't go all the 20 way to the creek. People trespass onto that personal 21 property. And so I've asked Shane to consider talking 22 about it to the Court, about putting some signs up, say 23 County property ends, okay, because I don't think 24 they're able to fence all the way to the creek. But 25 it's created a problem for that gentleman that owns that 9 1 property, so that's all I have. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Three. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't believe I have 4 anything this morning. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Four. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, hazardous waste 7 event went well Saturday. Commissioners' Court was well 8 represented. Three of us were there. Commissioner 9 Moser came through twice. I'll tell you, I was -- I 10 couldn't believe the numbers. The first 30 minutes 165 11 cars went through the building. And -- and the County 12 organized the outside, the City did the inside, and it 13 worked great. We worked great together on that event. 14 All told there's about 500 cars that came 15 through. And got lots and lots of tires. Plenty of 16 paint and everything else. I mean, it was well 17 attended. Even, Commissioner Moser, when you were 18 there, there's a lot of cars there, but boy it went 19 fast. It -- it was organized. So hats off to everybody 20 that participated and brought in their stuff and it was 21 a great event for both the County and the City. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, clarification, 23 there was never three of us there at the same time. 24 JUDGE KELLY: So no -- no quorum. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Very good. 10 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Well with that, let's 2 go ahead and start our agenda. Item 1.1 consider, 3 discuss and take appropriate action regarding a National 4 and Global Day of Prayer event schedule for September 5 26th, this coming Saturday, on the courthouse grounds. 6 Miss Graves. 7 MS. GRAVES: Good morning to all. Thank you 8 so much for allowing me to come in. I do apologize that 9 I have not been here sooner. I was not made aware right 10 away that I was supposed to be here but I'm glad I could 11 be here today. 12 Yes, we have been in contact with Kim 13 Rhoades, who initially set up this National and Global 14 Day of Prayer event for the 26th. And she's the one 15 that has her sign already posted out here in front of 16 the courthouse, and so all that we're doing is joining 17 that. 18 I've been in contact with her for -- now for 19 the last couple weeks and we are just joining our 20 efforts. We just wanted a little bit more time, so we 21 are going to need time to set up, but we are going to 22 start the event at nine o'clock in the morning. And so, 23 we would like to be here about eight o'clock to get 24 everything set up. 25 I also think that Kim has asked if County -- 11 1 I believe it's County Maintenance she told me is 2 providing chairs, and access to electricity, if 3 possible. And maybe some of the cones, just to kind of 4 put out where we're going to have a platform area. 5 Because I think it's just a trailer that someone is 6 allowing us to -- to borrow to be able to have our sound 7 system and everything on. 8 And so if we could just have access to those 9 things as well, we're going to allow for after our event 10 time, they just stay on the ground for her. So it 11 lessens the time that she has to have to set up. Even 12 though we'll still want the same amount of time, you 13 know, that she has put on her schedule. We just -- it 14 would be less having us to take down and put back up. 15 But anyway, if that's possible that's what we're asking 16 for. 17 And then again, it's just going to be along 18 the same lines as what she has come forth and said, that 19 it's a time of praying for our nation, for its 20 leadership, for the people of this County and around the 21 world. It's an event that's going on, not just here in 22 Kerr County, of course, it's going on in DC right -- 23 it's on that timeline, the 26th as well. It's going to 24 be -- they're going to be having a live simulcast up on 25 the mountain up here where the cross is that's going to 12 1 be showing us all of what's going on in DC. So that's 2 going to be interesting as well. 3 So there's a lot of things going on that day 4 that I think is super important for us as people, as a 5 nation, and it's going to be encouraging, it's going to 6 be exciting. A lot of people are looking really forward 7 to it. So I think the turnout is going to be good. 8 We're going to have information. We will 9 have some tables set up with some information there. 10 Just some things about -- there's a prayer guide we're 11 going to use, just to encourage people to not only pray 12 for just that day but we need it going on continually 13 for our nation. And so, anyway, that's what I came to 14 present and also if you have any questions for me. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Question. You keep 16 referring to another event or another lady. 17 MS. GRAVES: Yes. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Who -- well, who is 19 that? 20 MS. GRAVES: Okay. Kim has been here. Kim 21 came the last couple of weeks. Kim Rhoades. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, okay. 23 MS. GRAVES: And she's the one that 24 initially started what you see out on the sign out 25 there. 13 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good to know. 2 Thank you. 3 MS. GRAVES: Yes. Yes, sir. And so, like I 4 said, we were -- her and I have been in contact together 5 and we're working together. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So you're asking to 8 start a little earlier? 9 MS. GRAVES: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. We'd like 10 to start around eight o'clock. We'd like to be here 11 about eight o'clock to get set up. Because as I said, 12 we have some tables we want to set up. We want to make 13 sure the chairs and everything are set up properly. And 14 then we have a platform that we're going to be setting 15 up a sound system. Because we will have music and 16 speakers at that time. And then we will start sharp at 17 nine o'clock, and it'll last until 10:00 for us, and 18 then after that we'll do our clean up time, and then 19 she'll be coming on the scene to get her stuff setup as 20 well. So -- and -- and again, just using that access of 21 the chairs, the electricity, I think she had gotten that 22 approved already with y'all. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So what does that 24 change for Maintenance? Being here earlier are y'all -- 25 MS. GRAVES: If -- if that will be possible. 14 1 We will be here at eight o'clock. I will be here, yes. 2 My husband and I both will. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Well, actually to your right, 4 Shane Evans is our head of Maintenance. 5 MS. GRAVES: Yes, sir. 6 JUDGE KELLY: And you can coordinate that 7 with him. 8 MS. GRAVES: Okay. So can I get with you 9 later about that? 10 MR. EVANS: Uh-huh. Yeah. 11 MS. GRAVES: Are you here in these offices 12 as well, sir? 13 MR. EVANS: I'll be here today. 14 MS. GRAVES: You'll be here today? 15 MR. EVANS: Well, after we're done doing -- 16 MS. GRAVES: Okay. Is there a way I could 17 get a telephone number with you and just do that? That 18 would be perfect. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So do we need to take 20 action? 21 JUDGE KELLY: I think we already approved 22 it. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's just starting it 24 out earlier. 25 MS. GRAVES: Right. Other than just being 15 1 here at eight o'clock, I mean, I know hers starts I 2 think at actually 11:00, but she needed to set -- she 3 needed to have some setup time as well. So I think she 4 had it at 10:00. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So just coordinate the 6 two times. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, we needed to 8 get -- this was on the agenda before and we passed it 9 over because we needed the particular details. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If Kim starts at 11:00 11 and this is a -- this is a -- an event prior to her 12 event -- 13 MS. GRAVES: Uh-huh. Correct. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- we probably do need 15 to take action on that. This is a different -- this is 16 a completely separate -- this is an addition to that 17 event. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I move for 19 approval. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 22 Commissioner Belew, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 23 approve the modifications for the National/Global Day of 24 Prayer event scheduled for September 26th as presented 25 in Court here today. Is there any other discussion on 16 1 this? 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Beginning at eight 3 o'clock. 4 MS. GRAVES: Yes, sir. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Those in favor raise your 6 hand. Unanimous, five zero. Thank you. 7 MS. GRAVES: Thank you so much. I 8 appreciate it. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Hope you have a great 11 turnout. 12 MS. GRAVES: All right. Thank you. We 13 appreciate that. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Item 1.2 presentation 15 and briefing by Workforce Solutions Alamo regarding the 16 2021-2024 Local Plan and update on Unemployment Claims. 17 Welcome, Adrian Lopez. 18 MR. LOPEZ: Thank you, Judge. Thank you 19 Commissioners. Thank you for the opportunity to present 20 here today. So I know that when I first got hired back 21 in November, I knew we were going to be up for a 22 challenge with this organization. I certainly didn't 23 bargain that, you know, going through a pandemic and a 24 couple other crisis but when we first met I promised 25 that we would be coming back to you and so I know the 17 1 COVID kind of delayed a little bit of that, but we're 2 here to provide just a quick briefing on where we are 3 with unemployment numbers, as well as to talk a little 4 bit about what we're starting to formalize as it relates 5 to our Local Plan. 6 So with the first slide you will see a 7 graphic up close here and you should have a hard copy of 8 the presentation in front of you as well if you wanted 9 to make reference to that. So for the region, of 10 course, Workforce Solutions data only covers a 13-county 11 region, Bexar County being the urban sub and then, of 12 course, Kerr County is part of the -- one of the 12 13 counties that we serve. 14 The region we have seen approximately 15 293,000 people who have filed for unemployment since 16 March. You'll see the spikes that actually happened in 17 the weeks of March and April. The good news is that, 18 you know, since then, around like part of -- the early 19 part of May, we started to see the unemployment things 20 start to actually take a dip. There was an uptick 21 during the June timeframe as we saw cases in communities 22 like Bexar County that started to see a spike in COVID 23 cases and so that, of course, affected unemployment 24 numbers just as well. But so far in the last few weeks 25 we are seeing a steady decline. 18 1 Under the next slide you'll see the same 2 type of information but reflected by monthly basis. And 3 so, of course, you'll see in April approximate 109,000 4 claims but since then have actually been reduced 5 significantly. 6 So the next slide -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So between August and 8 September it really plummeted -- 9 MR. LOPEZ: Yeah. So -- 10 JUDGE KELLY: -- from 33,000 to 6,000. 11 MR. LOPEZ: Well, September is -- of course, 12 that's just reflecting probably the first week of 13 September so we're still -- it might still, you know, 14 increase. But that says probably the -- the end of the 15 first week of September. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good point. 17 JUDGE KELLY: And just to add, that 18 coincides with exactly what happened here in Kerr 19 County. That's when our -- our active cases rates fell 20 so low in August. 21 MR. LOPEZ: Yeah. Yeah. 22 So this next slide will reflect the labor 23 force pre-COVID. So, of course, you have approximately 24 44,000 people who were working age, but the folks in the 25 labor force are about 22,000. Employed at the time, 19 1 this is basically reflecting numbers of 2019, about 2 21,800 or so. So you have about 588 unemployed folks 3 during that time. Of course, there -- the whole region 4 was prior to COVID were experiencing historic lows of 5 unemployment levels. And, of course, after COVID when 6 we saw a tremendous increase in unemployment rate. 7 This next slide, you'll see how this is 8 better reflected by year, so from about 2015 to the 9 latter part of 2019, we're probably about 3.5 percent, 10 right around there, unemployment levels. And then, of 11 course, you'll see that those increased in April, May, 12 and June. 13 The good news is that the current 14 unemployment rate through approximately June is about 15 six percent. So while you had a spike of almost 16 probably 11 and a half percent, had a spike in April, 17 that has steadily gone down over the course of the 18 months. So that's good news. 19 Next slide you'll see how you are comparing 20 in relation to the other 12 rural counties. And so in 21 large part Comal and Guadalupe County make up almost 55 22 percent of the total amount of claimants for the 12 23 rural counties. So Kerr County, you're reflecting 24 approximately about 3,600 folks that filed for 25 unemployment that live in this County. Now unemployment 20 1 is tracked based on where people are living, not where 2 them are working. Right. So potentially you have 3 people that are living here, but maybe working in 4 adjacent county or something to that effect. But these 5 reflect actually people who live in this particular 6 community that filed for unemployment. 7 Under the next slide, you'll see the 8 claimants by age, and this is again for a full region, 9 looking at approximately over 50 percent of the 10 claimants are ages 15 to 34. So those -- those have 11 been consistent. We reflected throughout this whole 12 time period about the biggest sort of segment by age of 13 folks who have filed for unemployment. 14 In our next slide you'll see educational 15 attainment, and the reason we're putting this slide into 16 it is it will be reflected in subsequent employment in a 17 subsequent slide. But this reflects the number of folks 18 who have, for example, less than a 9th grade education 19 or 9th through 12th, which means no high school diploma 20 or GED, and then those who have a high school diploma 21 and so on. 22 That's important from the perspective of the 23 next slide, which is when we look at the total amount of 24 claimants for the -- for the region, a good proportion 25 of them are reflecting either a high school diploma or 21 1 less. Right. And so, that also is affected by -- based 2 on the number of folks that have lost their jobs in 3 particular industries, which is actually reflected in 4 the next slide. 5 So this -- for this County, as well as many 6 other counties, retail trade, food and accommodations, 7 healthcare and social services were the top three 8 sectors or industries that were affected by these 9 unemployment claims. Obviously retail trade is 10 associated with what's happening in relation to lack of 11 tourism and those types of things, right, food and 12 accommodations is your restaurants and your -- and your 13 hotels. 14 So this is across the board. So your County 15 is not necessarily different than other counties. There 16 are some differences in other counties from the 17 perspective of those, for example, that were in the 18 southeast or south that were affected by the oil 19 industry, so then we -- we had two crises that were 20 going on, the COVID crisis and then we had the oil bust 21 that -- that happened. And so in those counties you 22 actually see mining and -- and gas is actually one of 23 those that's affected. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: On what -- what's the 25 source of information you have on educational 22 1 attainment? 2 MR. LOPEZ: Yeah. I believe this came from 3 the Census Bureau. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 5 MR. LOPEZ: Yeah. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: All right. 7 MR. LOPEZ: Sure. So -- so of course, as we 8 move forward, right, one of the challenges is going to 9 be is trying to get people who may not have a high 10 school diploma or GED back into the workplace. Right. 11 That's going to be a challenge associated because some 12 folks may have been working, for example, in food and 13 accommodations because that's basically, you know, their 14 level of skill set. So we understand the challenges 15 associated with that. 16 Under the next slide, in terms of sort of 17 what are we doing in relation to trying to help people 18 get jobs. One of the ways is for people to register and 19 work in Texas, and so when they file for unemployment, 20 we advise them that they can apply at -- or sign up and 21 work in Texas. At which point, they will be getting, 22 you know, job postings and, you know, leads to training 23 opportunities and those types of things. And so, out of 24 the 3,600 folks that were reflected in the previous -- 25 one of the previous slides that filed for unemployment 23 1 in this County, approximately 2,445 of them have 2 actually registered and work in Texas. So they're 3 actively work -- looking to go, you know, back to work. 4 Now, some of the numbers associated with 5 employment and unemployment is a little lag so, for 6 example, when you look at that 3,600 number, we won't 7 know how many of those folks actually got back to work 8 and who specifically until probably two quarters. 9 Because the way that information is reflected, it's 10 based on employers paying the taxes on those individuals 11 to actually -- you know, and report that -- they report 12 that every quarter to the State. 13 So -- so we're a little bit lagging in 14 numbers. What you can see, though, is that the 15 unemployment rate actually has gone down, and so that's 16 good news from the perspective of what's happening in 17 relationship to this crisis. 18 And then -- 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now, I have a question. 20 MR. LOPEZ: Yes, sir? 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What -- is this Job 22 Seeker Registration, that's with the Workforce? 23 MR. LOPEZ: Yes. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 25 MR. LOPEZ: Yeah. So on the next slide 24 1 you'll see job postings, so -- so while we have seen the 2 unemployment rate continue to decrease. The other thing 3 that is still consistent is that there still are jobs 4 out there, so there are still employers looking for 5 people to actually hire. 6 And so you'll see on the left-hand side some 7 of those employers with the highest number of postings. 8 And so the difference between postings and job openings 9 is you may have one posting, but actually have five 10 actual openings. So there could be one position but you 11 have actually five different openings. And that's the 12 difference between the green and the blue charts there. 13 And so what -- 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And where does this 15 information come from? 16 MR. LOPEZ: This is also coming from what's 17 in Work in Texas, as well as we're looking at other 18 types of databases like Indeed, Monster.com, and some of 19 the others. We provide that information to the public 20 on a weekly basis because we want to make sure that 21 people understand that there are jobs out there. That, 22 you know, people want to get back to work. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So if somebody is 24 looking for a job and go to your website, they're going 25 to find these postings or what? 25 1 MR. LOPEZ: Yes, sir. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 3 MR. LOPEZ: Yeah. Yeah. For 4 workforcesolutionsalamo.org, we do have a section that 5 actually is dedicated to what we're calling our Jobs Now 6 initiative. And so they will see on a daily basis new 7 postings that we're always putting on there. So that's 8 a very easy way. So it's a great question. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Great resource. 10 MR. LOPEZ: Yeah. Absolutely. 11 So that's my -- my last slide in relation to 12 this part of the presentation. I'll answer any 13 questions that you may have in regards to unemployment 14 numbers and the unemployment rates. 15 Again, there is -- you know, there is some 16 good news. We're moving in the right direction. We'll 17 see what the, you know, fall brings to us in relation 18 to, you know, COVID and all of that. You know, it could 19 always spike up again and then probably affect the 20 economy as well but -- but we're moving in the right 21 direction, so -- 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So in your job postings 23 chart, that -- that's just -- that's not comprehensive, 24 I meant complete. 25 MR. LOPEZ: Correct. 26 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Right. 2 MR. LOPEZ: Yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Indicators or whatever 4 you want to call it. 5 MR. LOPEZ: Yeah. It's just a real quick 6 snapshot of the number of postings per month. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good enough. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So if an employer wants 9 to get on this list, what's that process? 10 MR. LOPEZ: Yeah. He can just reach out to 11 us. On our website, we have -- actually have two -- we 12 have three main buttons. Job seeker. Somebody looking 13 for -- for work. Employer. Employer wants to work with 14 us in relation to -- for us to find them some folks or 15 to put postings, that type of stuff. And then I think 16 the third posting is -- I may have -- 17 MS. CANIZALES: PR is what we do. 18 MR. LOPEZ: Yeah. So -- but yeah, so we 19 would encourage employers to work with us. Because we 20 do have a database for all of 293,000 folks who have 21 filed for unemployment and we're consistently sending 22 out -- new job opportunities, new training 23 opportunities, you know, and other types of -- sort of 24 opportunities for folks. And so we're using that very 25 actively. 27 1 You know, some of the stories we do hear 2 from employers is that they have postings and they're 3 having trouble trying to fill them. And so some of that 4 was a reflection of what was happening with people's 5 unemployment status. So people were receiving 6 unemployment plus the $600 enhancement that Congress had 7 passed. That enhancement expired at the end of July. 8 So in some instances some folks were actually making as 9 much, if not a little bit more, than what they were if 10 they were working, right, so that -- that affected 11 people's willingness to a certain extent to come back to 12 work. 13 There has been a recent enhancement that the 14 President authorized recently was $300. Not everybody 15 who was on unemployment received that $300 and if they 16 didn't apply within the first couple of weeks actually 17 are not eligible, and those dollars are going to be gone 18 pretty soon. That was for a six week period. 19 So we think that, you know, if we keep 20 pushing that there are postings and that there are job 21 opportunities that, you know, we'll start to actually be 22 able to help out employers in a much more comprehensive 23 manner. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I see that the City of 25 Kerrville is on here and the County is not. Maybe 28 1 that's something we should look at. 2 MR. LOPEZ: Sure. I think we could take a 3 look at that. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's just a sample. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Do you at all track 6 people that come to the area when -- looking for work 7 that aren't already here? Do you have any -- any -- 8 MR. LOPEZ: So employment from -- that's 9 coming in from another -- that's a great question. I 10 don't think we -- we do, but that question tends to come 11 up a lot. Especially as it relates to some of the 12 counties that are, like, for example, very heavy in 13 manufacturing. So Guadalupe, Comal, you know, Bexar 14 County, even Medina County. 15 You know, what happens sometimes is that, 16 yeah, they land a big fish or there's a big company 17 coming in but then they -- they're actually bringing in 18 people from the outside. So the local folks may not be, 19 you know, taking advantage of that. That could be 20 because of education or training, those types of things. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Exactly. 22 MR. LOPEZ: I don't think we track that 23 though. 24 So the next part of the presentation is 25 under a Local Plan Update. And just to give you some 29 1 background in terms of -- and the next slide there is 2 our Local Plan is basically our strategic plan that we 3 have to set out every four years outlining what our 4 priorities are, what our industries that we are working 5 with. 6 We certainly work with all industries, but 7 we work specifically with targeted occupations that 8 actually pay more because we're -- of course, our job is 9 to try to get people, you know, off public assistance 10 and put them in a job whereas they have a certain career 11 path. 12 So one of the things that we've identified 13 as the next, sort of, kind of framework for the next 14 Local Plan is to talk a little bit about the state of 15 workforce. The state of workforce is not just about 16 what Workforce Solutions Alamo does, obviously labor 17 comes from many different parts. Right. So K through 18 12, a kid getting educated in the local ISD. Community 19 colleges. Y'all have community colleges here. Kids 20 graduating from those. Labor unions. As well as many 21 other types of, sort of, kind of partners. 22 And so the intent of the Local Plan is to 23 figure out, you know, what are we doing or what's that 24 status today and what's happening at the national, the 25 state, and all the sort of -- the different partners in 30 1 the ecosystem. 2 One of the questions that we are -- and the 3 reason we're going to each of the Commissioners' Courts 4 is to start to ask about what is your community's 5 priorities. We want to make sure we're capturing that 6 in this Local Plan because we want to align dollars and 7 our priorities along with your priorities, right. 8 So and as I mentioned earlier, some 9 communities are promoting manufacturing or are promoting 10 oil and gas or are promoting other types of industries, 11 right, and so it's -- it's important for us to 12 understand what that looks like and be able to make sure 13 that we're aligning our resources in relation to meeting 14 those priorities. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What is your working 16 relationship with Economic Development Corporation? 17 Like Kerr Economic Development Foundation and the City 18 with their 2050 plan? 19 MR. LOPEZ: Yeah. So definitely we work 20 closely with them from the perspective of whenever, for 21 example, there is a lead for -- so I know like, for 22 example, in this area aerospace or -- or manufacturing 23 in that regard is a big priority. We do work with 24 trying to make sure that when there's a new lead to talk 25 about potentially a new company moving in, we provide 31 1 them information and data associated with the labor 2 market so that people can start to understand where they 3 can pull from to be able to make sure that they're going 4 to meet those needs. 5 So we work in that regard, but we also work 6 in other regards, like there are -- I believe just 7 recently there was a small grant for approximately about 8 80,000 -- don't quote me on the actual number -- but 9 it's a partnership with one of the local hospitals here. 10 And one of the training providers, I think in this case 11 it was Hallmark and a local school district. And the 12 intent was we apply for dollars through the State and 13 that $80,000 is to purchase equipment to be able to 14 train youth to go into the -- the health care industry, 15 right. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Very good. 17 MR. LOPEZ: So it's -- so it's situations 18 like that and circumstances like that that we try to 19 work closely with, you know, each of the communities. 20 First priorities change, right, throughout the years, 21 and so we just want to make sure and check back with 22 each of the communities to make sure that we are, you 23 know, aligned with those priorities. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good. Good 25 deal. 32 1 MR. LOPEZ: So onto the next slide, you'll 2 see that some of the largest industries, for example, 3 that we currently, you know, see as well as the ones 4 that are going to be potentially growing. So we're 5 still seeing a strong construction industry. 6 Accommodation and the food service is going to take some 7 time. Right. And that's just pre-COVID actually. But 8 food and accommodation was one of those larger ones. 9 Manufacturing and others that you're -- you see listed 10 here. 11 So the -- the intent again of the Local Plan 12 is to re -- take a look at what are our industries 13 today, what are -- what is the projections for the next 14 four years. Of course, some of that is a little bit 15 confusing and some of that is a little bit tenuous, 16 given the fact that we're still living in the pandemic 17 and we still haven't gotten out of this crisis. But the 18 intent here is that the plan will start to look at those 19 again and then try to match again what your priorities 20 are. 21 Under the next slide, one of the ways that 22 we want to seek your -- seek your feedback is through 23 surveys. Again, talking about economic priorities, what 24 do you think are in demand, occupations for your County. 25 We certainly can pull that data, but sometimes that data 33 1 is lag. Right. It just may be a quarter or two lag. 2 So you may actually be, you know, a firsthand witness to 3 sort of understanding like, hey, nobody knows this just 4 yet but there's going to be another, whatever, HEB -- 5 you know, construction is going to create, you know, so 6 many new jobs. It's that type of information that we 7 think is necessary to go on to make sure we capture it 8 in this particular plan. 9 And so what we intend to do is to actually 10 send out this survey to the counties and cities, and 11 then as the Commissioner mentioned, some of the agencies 12 like Economic Development Foundations and the Economic 13 Development Corporations of each of these communities. 14 Under the next slide, you'll see some of the 15 categories we're going to be focusing on. Out of our 16 $100 million, about 30 percent of our budget is 17 dedicated to child care or the child care subsidy. In 18 large part, that's to be able to give people the 19 opportunity to actually go back to work. So on a daily 20 basis we are providing child care subsidies to about 21 13,000 children throughout the region. That gives 22 parents the ability to go back to get educated, to get 23 trained, or back to employment. On a monthly basis, 24 that -- for those 5,700 families or so that are 25 receiving this subsidy, they're generating about $14 34 1 million of income on a monthly basis. Right. 2 So when people ask, well, what are we 3 getting for that hundred million dollar investment or 4 that $70 million investment, you're getting about $14 5 million on a monthly basis for those 5,700 families. 6 Our other focus is on youth and providing 7 things like internships, work experience, some 8 after-school programs, and career pathways. Obviously 9 we'll work with adults. But we also work with special 10 populating, including those that are disabled, those 11 that, you know, were -- for example, foster youth or 12 veterans, work very closely with those populations. 13 And, of course, we want to reflect what is the community 14 data for rural versus urban because we do understand 15 sometimes that there are challenges associated with 16 that. And, you know, sometimes stress associated with 17 that. 18 So lastly, on the last slide is our 19 methodology, that we're going to collect quantitative 20 data and look at -- you know, as we move forward to 21 identify which industries we're go to be supporting, 22 also looking at a sector-based partnership model, which 23 means that, you know, that we'll work hand-in-hand with 24 those industries on a frequent basis to make sure that 25 we are actually meeting their particular demands for 35 1 employment. But also look at, you know, the other 2 institutions that we need to work closely with, such as 3 K through 12, economic development organizations, human 4 service organizations, and obviously private industry. 5 So this is my last slide and I'll answer any 6 questions that you may have or anything that you think 7 that we need to be able to consider as we're starting to 8 put this plan together. The timeline associated with 9 this plan is to, you know, seek feedback from the 10 community in the next couple of months. Probably start 11 to have a -- a draft by December that we will provide to 12 the area judges, probably, and to what's called a 13 committee of six, which is another sort of body that -- 14 that I have to report to in time for us to seek feedback 15 and finalize the plan around the February timeframe and 16 submit it to the State in March of next year. 17 So I'll answer any questions or seek any 18 feedback that you may have. 19 JUDGE KELLY: For those of you who don't 20 know what the committee of six is, that's associated 21 with AACOG. 22 MR. LOPEZ: Yes. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So there will be 13 -- 24 there could possibly be 13 different plans? 25 MR. LOPEZ: Correct. Yeah, I think you hit 36 1 the nail on the head. That's exactly right. What we 2 would like to do is one over-arching plan, but we want 3 to sort of take a look at what are each of the 4 community's, you know, needs and what are their 5 priorities, right. And take a look at that much more 6 closely. And I think we've done that in the past. It 7 certainly now is one of the parts to myself when I took 8 this position about ten months ago or so, because we 9 think we probably could reflect a much better, sort of, 10 work and what -- what that looks like in each of the 11 communities. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And realistically, are 13 they more regionalized or are they really 14 individualized? 15 MR. LOPEZ: In some instances there are some 16 -- some overlap and regionalized. Obviously, as I was 17 mentioning on the unemployment numbers, labor is 18 exchanged from one county to the next, right. And so -- 19 and in some instances, for example, you know, the -- 20 like there was an announcement last summer regarding a 21 manufacturing company that's going to be building 22 tractor trailers in the San Antonio region. I think 23 it's located in Schertz. But it -- but obviously the 24 impact is going to be for San Antonio, for Seguin, for 25 New Braunfels. That whole area is going to take 37 1 advantage of that one particular announcement. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Very good presentation. 3 MR. LOPEZ: Thank you, sir. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I -- the last time we 5 talked was several months ago, back in July. 6 MR. LOPEZ: Yeah. 7 JUDGE KELLY: And our numbers were spiking. 8 We were in trouble. We were talking about ransomware 9 back then. 10 MR. LOPEZ: Yeah. 11 JUDGE KELLY: We got off to a rocky start in 12 August, and this is very encouraging, very optimistic. 13 Well done. 14 MR. LOPEZ: Thank you, Judge. I appreciate 15 it. Thank you again for the opportunity and we'll be in 16 touch. And you know, if there's anybody that you would 17 like for us to speak to, whether that's an employer or 18 whether, you know, the economic development, you know, 19 organizations or whatever, we're obviously open to that. 20 Lastly, I want to make a quick announcement 21 and introduce Linda Canizales. So I brought on Linda 22 just about a couple months ago and in my commitment to 23 you, Judge, and to these communities, I mentioned to you 24 I was going to come back more often. And so Linda is 25 now our Public Relations in Government Coordinator. And 38 1 so when I -- if you can't get ahold of me or you can't, 2 you know, get in touch with me or I can't make it, Linda 3 is going to be able to come. 4 So, Linda, can you introduce yourself real 5 quick. 6 MS. CANAZALES: Sure. Good morning, Judge 7 and Commissioners. Again, Linda Canazales. I'm the new 8 Public and Government Relations Coordinator. So one of 9 my biggest passions is storytelling, not only about 10 individuals and organizations, but about communities. 11 Because that's where the good positive change happens. 12 So I look forward to assisting from a marketing and 13 communications standpoint and assisting any efforts that 14 you all might have. So thank you for your time. 15 MR. LOPEZ: Thank you all very much. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 17 JUDGE KELLY: We appreciate it. 18 Moving on, item 1.3 on the agenda is 19 consider, discuss and take appropriate action regarding 20 enrollment in the Texas Association of Counties 21 Cybersecurity Course for Counties. Mr. Motheral. 22 MR. MOTHERAL: Yes. This is our annual 23 cybersecurity classes that we need to take every year. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And every individual, 25 all -- 39 1 MR. MOTHERAL: Everybody takes it. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- the time and -- 3 JUDGE KELLY: Do them again. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: This is that thing you 5 pester us about. 6 MR. MOTHERAL: That's right. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And when is that? It's 8 June you said? 9 MR. MOTHERAL: Yeah, June. It has to be 10 completed by June of next year. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. June. Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we get to start 13 looking at it in May? 14 JUDGE KELLY: This is nag number one? 15 MR. MOTHERAL: Yeah. Exactly. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It really doesn't take 17 very long. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, it doesn't. 19 JUDGE KELLY: It doesn't and it's 20 worthwhile. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But you gotta remember 22 to do it. 23 MR. MOTHERAL: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thanks, Bruce. 25 MR. MOTHERAL: That's what I ask. 40 1 JUDGE KELLY: So we don't have to take any 2 action on that, we just have to -- 3 MR. MOTHERAL: We need to have a court order 4 so -- 5 JUDGE KELLY: Oh, okay. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I move for 7 approval. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. I'll second 9 that. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Motion's been made by 11 Commissioner Harris, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 12 approve the Court Order for all of the entire County to 13 be willing to take the Association of Counties 14 cybersecurity course. Any discussion? Those in favor 15 raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 16 Item 1.4 consider, discuss and take 17 appropriate action to discuss the President's Memorandum 18 on deferring payroll tax obligations due to COVID-19 in 19 light of Treasury guidance. Ms. Doss. 20 MRS. DOSS: Good morning, Gentlemen. The 21 U.S. Treasury provided some guidance. It's a lot of 22 verbiage. But under their -- our perspective section, 23 they say unless and until Congress enacts a payroll tax 24 holiday, the potential benefit to employees under Notice 25 2020-65 is quite limited, and any benefit comes to the 41 1 cost of significant administrative challenges and tax 2 risks to employers. As such, we expect most employers 3 will disregard Notice 2020-65 and instead continue to 4 satisfy their payroll tax withholding obligations in a 5 normal manner. 6 Now, I have heard some people concerned 7 missing out on this opportunity. They also say that 8 they do not see any real risk that employees might miss 9 out on a meaningful benefit if their employers choose 10 not to implement the tax payroll deferral under Notice 11 2020-65. If Congress ultimately enacts payroll tax 12 holiday legislation, effective employees should be able 13 to recover any overpaid payroll taxes by refund claims 14 or other procedures that may be established under such 15 legislation. 16 So with that being said, I think that we 17 are -- it is within our authority to say that we're not 18 going to offer this because as they said, most employers 19 will disregard it. This is just -- 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do we have to take 21 action one way or another? 22 MRS. DOSS: I think we should take action 23 that we're not going to offer this. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Didn't we already take 42 1 action that we weren't going to do it? 2 MRS. DOSS: We took action that we weren't 3 going to do anything until there was further guidance. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Which you now have. 5 MRS. DOSS: And now we have further 6 guidance. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. I move that we 8 not put -- help me with the words here. 9 MRS. DOSS: Not offer the payroll tax 10 deferral. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. Not offer the 12 payroll withholding tax at this time. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is that the pay -- not 14 that we not do the deferral program? 15 MRS. DOSS: Correct. And it's only for the 16 rest of 2020. So we're only talking the next three 17 months. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And so there's just 19 payroll tax deferral under Notice 2020-65. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: There you go. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Motion's been made by 23 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 24 not adopt the payroll tax holiday deferral at this time. 25 Is there any further discussion? Those in favor raise 43 1 your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 2 Item 1.5 consider, discuss and take 3 appropriate action to approve the grade and step 4 schedule for Fiscal Year 2020-2021. 5 MRS. DOSS: Yes. This is -- there have been 6 no changes. There's been no COLA's. So this grade and 7 step schedule has not been -- it's the same as last year 8 basically. No -- no changes. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 12 Commissioner Harris, seconded by Commissioner Letz to 13 approve the grade and step schedule for Fiscal Year 14 2020-2021. Any further discussion? 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, is that going to 16 change anything in the budget? 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's in the budget. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: In the budget this way? 20 Because we hadn't done anything yet, I just wanted 21 everybody to be clear on that. Because we had not 22 entered into the study and -- or we have nothing -- not 23 got a report from the study. 24 MRS. DOSS: Correct. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: This is not the study. 44 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And technically, this 3 should be part of the budget, I believe. So should we 4 not -- does it need to be a budget amendment to include 5 it, or can we just approve it? 6 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: There's been no change, 8 why would it be -- 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, because it's 10 adopted each year. 11 MR. ROBLES: Probably just for the record, 12 to have a clean record of it that we took a vote on 13 it. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So is that a Court 15 Order? 16 MRS. STEBBINS: Ratifying it is a good idea. 17 JUDGE KELLY: If -- if necessary. We don't 18 know that. At this point, we're not sure that we need 19 to do that, right? 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But it doesn't hurt to 21 do it. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. It doesn't hurt 23 to do it. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there a motion? 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Not yet. We're waiting 45 1 on -- 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion to 3 approve the grade and step. 4 MRS. DOSS: For 2021. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For 2020 -- 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 2021 rather. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Motion's been made by 9 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Moser to 10 approve the grade and step schedule for Fiscal Year 11 2020-2021. Any discussion? Those in favor raise your 12 hand. 13 MRS. DOWDY: We didn't take a vote. There 14 was a motion by Commissioner Harris, seconded by 15 Commissioner Letz. So unless you amended it or if you 16 withdrew the motion. I have Commissioner Harris and 17 Commissioner Letz. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'll retract my 19 motion. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I'll second on 21 your motion. 22 MRS. DOWDY: And so what was the actual 23 motion? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is to approve the -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: Was to approve the grade and 46 1 step. 2 MRS. DOWDY: By you and seconded by -- 3 JUDGE KELLY: Commissioner Moser. 4 MRS. DOWDY: Thank you. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Shouldn't have asked 6 that question. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We've had words and 8 then agreed. 9 JUDGE KELLY: But it's done. Anything else, 10 Miss Doss? 11 MRS. DOSS: No, sir. That's it. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.6 consider, discuss and 13 take appropriate action to renew the 2021 Retiree 14 Medical Program with United Health Care Plan. 15 MRS. DOSS: Yes, sir. This is just our 16 annual renewal. The rates did increase, the medical by 17 $9.47 and the prescription by $10.02. And I recommend 18 that we just pass this increase along to the retiree. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So move. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Will that increase it 22 monthly? 23 MRS. DOSS: Yes. Which our contribution -- 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So about $19 a month? 25 MRS. DOSS: Correct. And our -- our 47 1 contribution will remain the same. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And did -- just on 4 discussion, These are in the budget already, this 5 amount? We're not changing what's in the budget? And 6 we probably need to look into this next year. There 7 were some options on this and I went through it and the 8 Auditor went through it and Jennifer went through it. 9 We may want to look at it next year. And I don't know 10 how we get feedback from the retirees as to what they 11 would prefer. There are some plans that are called 12 generic that are a whole lot -- that we won't pick up 13 all the -- the entire cost, based on what we're doing 14 right now, and -- but it's something to look at next 15 year. I don't know how we go about -- 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Put the word out. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- getting feedback. 18 MRS. DOSS: Okay. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Maybe we just did it. 20 MRS. DOSS: Okay. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Facebook. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Who made the motion? Who made 23 the second? 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I made the motion. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I seconded it. 48 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, motion's been made by 2 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Letz to 3 approve the 2021 Retiree Medical Plan with United Health 4 Care as presented. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: As recommended. 6 JUDGE KELLY: As recommended. Any 7 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 8 five zero. 9 MRS. DOSS: Thank you. 10 JUDGE KELLY: 1.7 update from the County 11 Auditor and County Attorney regarding the 12 implications/effects of terminating the "Kerr County 13 Declaration of a Local State of Disaster". 14 MRS. STEBBINS: I think the only question 15 that I was asked about was whether or not the -- if you 16 rescind the Declaration, whether or not that would 17 affect the County's ability to take advantage of some of 18 the grant funding for the CARES fund. And we asked the 19 Texas Division of Emergency Management, Danielle Scott, 20 she responded that the local declaration is not required 21 unless it's necessary for your local procedures. It's 22 not required by TDEM for CRS funding, so -- 23 JUDGE KELLY: I think we're really talking 24 about a broader scope. Just to make sure that we knew 25 what the consequences might be if we terminated the 49 1 Disaster Order. And I saw some e-mail that you sent out 2 on the conference you had with Chuck Kimbrough, which I 3 think we ought to share. 4 MRS. STEBBINS: Okay. Chuck said -- you 5 know, I told him what Ms. Scott said with TDEM and he 6 said -- 7 JUDGE KELLY: Well, to begin with -- just so 8 everybody knows where we are. Technically, TDEM tells 9 us no consequence. Okay. 10 MRS. STEBBINS: Right. 11 JUDGE KELLY: And then we talk to our 12 private counsel and he says -- 13 MRS. STEBBINS: He says if it were me and I 14 was going to apply for some money, I'd want my shoes 15 shined and my eyebrows trimmed, I'd be wearing a tie and 16 my very best suit. And I would want to -- to put my 17 best foot forward, which would to him mean keeping the 18 declaration in place. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: For the public, TDEM is 20 Texas Department of Emergency Management. 21 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Okay. 23 JUDGE KELLY: So what he's telling us is 24 that he would recommend that we keep it. As a best 25 practice. 50 1 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. And if it's not 2 burdensome -- if keeping it's not burdensome, then -- 3 then why not? Somebody asked a question earlier that I 4 think I can appropriately -- it was Mr. Wert, I believe. 5 I can appropriately respond to that at this time, that 6 hazard pay that was approved -- by rescinding the 7 declaration, that would stop also. So there -- there's 8 the answer to that. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: So basically it's the 10 same thing we've been saying all along, we need to keep 11 it in place because it's an ongoing issue with the grant 12 and everything else, so -- 13 JUDGE KELLY: That's technically not on the 14 agenda today but what is is, is there any adverse impact 15 if we discontinue and terminate this disaster order? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the answer is maybe 17 not. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Maybe. 19 MRS. STEBBINS: Maybe, maybe not. Yeah. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Well, that's -- that's -- 21 sometimes that's the best answer. 22 MRS. STEBBINS: And it's not -- I don't -- 23 I haven't seen it be terribly burdensome to have it in 24 place. If having it in place just goes back to another 25 thing that we've talked about multiple times, it gives 51 1 the Judge the ability to use the emergency powers; 2 although, those have been limited during this time. 3 It's just y'all just piggyback what the Governor has 4 done. There may be a time that that is appropriate. 5 And this being in place could have the ability to -- 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, the Governor is 7 not applying all of this to hospital regions, which 8 aren't clear in my mind what that even means. I don't 9 know if you saw it at the press conference Thursday but 10 he -- yeah, that changed and now they keep moving the 11 goal posts around there and that's not what we're trying 12 to pursue. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Well, what he did with that, 14 Commissioner, is they're using the hospital district 15 which is heretofore has not been the metric that was 16 used because in order to -- 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Not because. But what 18 is it? What is that hospital district? Do we have -- 19 do we have specific direction from his office? 20 JUDGE KELLY: Well, they're saying -- 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: If we know where our 22 hospital is. They're talking about hospital districts 23 and did not define that. 24 JUDGE KELLY: The State does have specific 25 hospital districts. 52 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. And where is 2 ours? 3 JUDGE KELLY: I don't know. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I guess I'll have to 5 look that up, because he did not make that clear. Or 6 even say how to find out about it. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Well, it's just part of state 8 government. It's part of state government. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Can find out. 10 JUDGE KELLY: But what he's trying to do was 11 customize by regions, because on the -- on the Valley 12 right now and on the Rio Grande River, they're having a 13 blow up, so they need to be treated differently than 14 where we are. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Or Amarillo or 16 whatever. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Or Amarillo. Right. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So you mentioned there 19 could be some adverse effect. The only one you 20 mentioned was that there would be no hazard pay for 21 Sheriff's Department or Emergency Services. 22 MRS. STEBBINS: Also it would take away the 23 Judge's ability to -- to take advantage of that, the 24 powers that he has under the disaster declaration 25 immediately. I mean, y'all could always come back and 53 1 declare the disaster again if those were needed or 2 necessary. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, when we enacted 4 that or declared that or the Judge declared it, there 5 were two things. Number one, was that -- and this was 6 back in March, was begun to alarm the public and so far 7 that has not done that. 8 And Number two is, we wanted to do that, 9 too, because there were some tax implications if we were 10 under emergency declaration and that's gone away. So 11 both of those things seem to have gone away. 12 JUDGE KELLY: I remember. With the disaster 13 order in place, it gave us the opportunity. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: To avoid the three and 15 a half percent. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Right. Which didn't apply to 17 us. And just for purposes of clarification, we've been 18 locked up with the Governor through this whole thing and 19 haven't had to exercise a single power. We are saluting 20 and taking order. So do we have any action today? I 21 think that was just a report. 22 MRS. STEBBINS: That was just a report. 23 Yes. Unless James has something to add. He told me he 24 was excited about adding something to the conversation. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: He's always excited 54 1 about adding something. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Let's wrap up a few 3 things. We've got a short executive session. But let's 4 just kind of press through here. 5 Move on to the approval agenda. 2.1 pay the 6 bills. 7 MR. ROBLES: Yes. Payables for the Court's 8 consideration are as follows: Kerr County, $134,390.07. 9 Airport, $272.90. Fund 32, TDA Grant, $1,116.00. Fund 10 68, debt service, $550. Fund 78, County Clerk fees, 11 $218.62. And Fund 95, the 198th DA Forfeiture, $291.29. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Move that we pay the 13 bills. 14 JUDGE KELLY: And we added -- we added one 15 more, didn't we? 16 MR. ROBLES: That's a late bill, yeah. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Oh, that was a late bill. 18 Okay. So you made a motion -- 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yes. To pay the bills. 20 JUDGE KELLY: -- to pay the bills as 21 presented. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 23 JUDGE KELLY: And seconded by Commissioner 24 Letz. Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 25 Budget amendments? 55 1 MR. ROBLES: Yes. We have eight today. One 2 for the County Judge, two for non-departmental, one for 3 hazard pay related to COVID-19, one for County Court at 4 Law, District Clerk, general maintenance, and park 5 maintenance. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 9 Commissioner Harris, seconded by Commissioner Letz to 10 approve the budget amendments as presented. Any 11 discussion? Those in favor raise their hand. It's 12 unanimous. 13 Late bills. 14 MR. ROBLES: We do have one for Adult 15 Probation. It's multiple bills for the Adult Probation 16 Department. The total is $9,462.05. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Who made the motion? Motion 20 made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner 21 Harris to pay the late bills as presented. Those in 22 favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 23 Auditor reports. 24 MR. ROBLES: There are none. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Monthly reports. 56 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: No. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Orders. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. We have the Court 4 Orders from 14 of September, 38305 and 38326. They all 5 look to be in order. I move for approval. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 8 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 9 approve the Orders as presented. Any discussion? Those 10 in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 11 Information agenda. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We did have an 13 Auditor's -- 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: This is one in our hand 15 here but she's not here. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Here. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Let's go back to 18 Auditor's report. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Move for approval. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Here it is, James. 21 MR. ROBLES: Oh, the monthly report, yeah. 22 I thought that was -- the Auditor reports were for 23 internal audits. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This goes on the monthly 25 reports, probably not Auditor's report. 57 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Well, let's just go 2 ahead and approve both of these reports then. You made 3 your motion? 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, I did. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Second. 6 Motion's been made by Commissioner Moser, I 7 seconded to approve the monthly report from the 8 Auditor's office. Those in favor raise your hand. 9 Unanimous. Good. 10 MRS. DOWDY: Judge, on Item 2.4 or -- 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 2.4. 12 JUDGE KELLY: 2.4. 13 Okay. Item 3.1 status reports from 14 Department Heads. 15 3.2 status reports from Elected Officials. 16 Mr. Reeves. 17 MR. REEVES: Good morning. I wanted to 18 bring the Court up to date. You may have seen a press 19 release that my office issued last week. On Tuesday, 20 September 15th, the Supreme Court of Texas in a case 21 that's styled Regarding the Green Party of Texas, et al, 22 ruled that not only will affect Kerr County, but the 23 other 253 counties, that three candidates for the Green 24 Party were left off ballot and should be placed on. 25 How you may ask how it affects us. We had 58 1 20,000 ballots setting on the loading dock ready to be 2 delivered, which according to the Secretary of State, 3 the County will have to absorb that cost on reprinting. 4 It also -- ballots to our citizens and servicemen 5 serving overseas had to be sent out by last Saturday, 6 that did not change the date. We, through emergency 7 ballots, were able to meet that deadline but we had 8 already begun to send some of them out. We've initiated 9 all of the -- the protocols for corrected ballots on 10 that. 11 The estimated cost probably will be 12 someplace for the ballots that had already been printed 13 in the neighborhood of $10,000.00. Through our budget, 14 I believe I can absorb it with this fiscal year, what 15 was leftover, and the next fiscal year. 16 We are also working with the Auditor's 17 office for grants through a foundation that's available, 18 but I have nothing concrete whether that will come up or 19 not. 20 The other implication, we were hoping to 21 send the ballots by mail to those that qualified out 22 this week and so that is on hold. Our vendor -- 23 there's only three vendors in the state that print the 24 ballots. There's only one certified by the Secretary of 25 State. They did an outstanding job getting us the 59 1 emergency ballots. They must have had everybody working 2 all night to get those so we could get them out. 3 But I did want to make the Court aware now 4 rather than later of a potential shortfall in the budget 5 where we haven't even got into the new fiscal year. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: What vendors do we 7 use? Where are they located? 8 MR. REEVES: We use Hart, which is one of 9 the three that are certified for the security of the 10 ballots. And they were literally scheduled to leave 11 their warehouse Thursday, the 17th. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: This has no affect on 13 the election date? 14 MR. REEVES: Not on the election date. No, 15 sir. What it does, it just has slowed down our 16 timeframe of what we're looking at. We've been telling 17 most of the ones that were calling in that -- for 18 information on when the ballots by mail would be sent 19 out, would be the end of the month. We're hopeful it'll 20 be shortly end of October. But we're at the mercy right 21 now. My staff will put in the time that's needed to get 22 them out the door. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Does anybody know what the 24 dispute was really about at the Supreme Court to have 25 this significant last minute decision come upon us? 60 1 MR. REEVES: I have not seen the entire 2 Opinion from the Supreme Court. The basis of it was a 3 law passed in Austin in 2019 that minor parties would 4 have to pay a filing fee just like the major parties 5 did. The Court was not in dispute that the Green Party 6 did not pay the filing fees in violation of the law, but 7 the law did not have a deadline when those filing fees 8 should be paid. So yes, they didn't pay them, but since 9 there was no deadline, they allowed that to come on. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Sounds like a hair split to 11 me. 12 MR. REEVES: You know what I say about being 13 passed in the bar, Judge. So I'm not going to comment 14 on that. So I just wanted the Court to be aware, and 15 especially if you receive calls from constituents, why 16 the ballots by mail have not gone out yet. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Well, you've done a good job. 18 Thank you. 19 MR. REEVES: Thank you. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other elected 22 reports? 23 Then 3.3 status reports from Liaison 24 Commissioners. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have one as a HR 61 1 Liaison to kind of clarify. Kerr County has a longevity 2 policy that applies to all employees, all Elected 3 Officials, all Department Heads. It has to be done -- 4 it has a policy that everybody's treated the same. All 5 employees, Elected Officials, and Department Heads that 6 were due to get a longevity increase got the longevity 7 increase. 8 Now that why some Elected Officials' 9 salaries might have gone up slightly, some Department 10 Head salaries might have gone up slightly, some 11 employees' salaries went up slightly, but it was per our 12 policy that we're required to implement uniformly across 13 all people paid by Kerr County. 14 JUDGE KELLY: But other than that 15 technicality, there were no raises across the board? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. Correct. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Just -- just to clarify. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So I ticked off one of 19 those comments from this morning. But I've heard that 20 from a number of other people as well. So I think it is 21 important to clarify. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, there was an 23 editorial on that subject. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And in the way maybe 25 it was portrayed in the paper it sounded like it was 62 1 different than what it actually was. 2 JUDGE KELLY: So misinformation you think? 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, it happens. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Well, it is what it is. Okay, 5 let's take about a ten minute break. We've got an 6 Executive Session. We're going to talk about the 7 pending possible litigation and also about real estate 8 with regard to West Kerr. We'll stand in recess for ten 9 minutes. 10 (Executive Session.) 11 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, it is 10:31, and we've 12 come out of executive session, and back in open session. 13 And the action as required coming out of executive 14 session, we need to address the lease for the West Kerr 15 County Annex. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Currently our lease is 17 up at the end of this month. We need a new one. In 18 talking with the landowners, we have talked about doing 19 a two-year lease with options for the next three. 20 So, Judge, how do we need to word the 21 wording on the increase? 22 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I'm going to make a 23 motion that we authorize the County Judge and 24 Commissioner Harris, as we've dealt with the landlord, 25 authorize us to finalize and negotiate a lease, a 63 1 two-year lease, with three year option is possible, 2 which will be a triple net lease and will probably -- 3 looking at probably -- the number we heard was 4 probably ran up $311.00. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's pending the 6 County Attorney's review. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes, exactly. 9 JUDGE KELLY: I made the motion. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: And Commissioner Moser 12 seconded. Any discussions? Those in favor raise your 13 hand. Unanimous, five zero. 14 Is there any other matters before the Court 15 today? There being none, we are adjourned. 16 * * * * * * 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 64 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 30th day of September, A.D. 10 2020. 11 12 /s/DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD Certified Shorthand Reporter 13 No. 953 Expiration Date 04/31/2021 14 * * * * * * 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25