1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Special Session 5 Monday, October 19, 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, 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 *** Commissioner's Comments. 4 4 1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 8 action regarding a Pro Life Resolution. 5 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 26 6 action to approve the Central Counting Station Personnel for November 3, 2020 7 election pursuant to Chapter 27 TEC. 8 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 27 action to approve the Happy State Bank 9 Expo Hall sign design for installation at the Hill Country Youth Event Center. 10 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 32 11 action to approve the Resolution for Help America Vote Again (HAVA) grant funding. 12 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 34 13 action to approve contract with EagleView Pictometry. 14 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 36 15 action to cancel the Declaration of a Local State of Disaster. 16 1.7 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 48 17 action regarding the Interlocal Agreement for the Hill Country Regional Public 18 Defender's Office. 19 1.8 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 48 action to ratify and confirm Oversight 20 Board Membership and Policies for the Hill Country Regional Public Defender's Office. 21 2.1 Pay Bills. 54 22 2.6 Court Orders. 55 23 3.3 Status reports from Liaison Commissioners. 56 24 4.4(a) Consider, discuss and take appropriate 57 25 action to negotiate contract for real estate acquisition for future Ingram Annex. 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 *** Adjournment. 62 4 *** Reporter's Certificate. 63 5 * * * * * * 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 JUDGE KELLY: Good morning. Kerr County 2 Commissioners' Court is now in session. It is Monday, 3 October the 19th at 9 o'clock. And first thing we do is 4 ask you to turn your cell phones at least to silent. We 5 have one here on the bench. We have our County 6 Attorney's attending by -- remotely this morning. Hope 7 you feel better, Heather. 8 MRS. STEBBINS: Thank you, Judge. 9 JUDGE KELLY: This is the opportunity for 10 public input. And for public input we ask anyone that 11 would like to address the Court, and make us aware of 12 something or provide your input to us, it's a listen 13 only, we get to listen and you get to talk. This is 14 your opportunity to come and address the Court. Is 15 there anyone who would like to offer any public input to 16 the Court? Okay. 17 There being none, we'll move on to 18 Commissioners' Comments. Commissioner 1, Precinct 1. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Been a brisk early 20 voting. We're doing very well. As far as statewide, 21 we're holding our own. So expect more of that out there 22 today. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Good. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Precinct 2 still needs 25 to have people that want to attach to the sewer system 5 1 in Center Point, Center Point area, to contact those 2 people that have been identified. I think everybody 3 knows who that is. But it's required to do it to get 4 the at-no-cost connection to the sewer system. 5 Otherwise, it'll cost you five or $6,000. 6 JUDGE KELLY: I signed that letter just this 7 morning. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good deal. All right. 9 JUDGE KELLY: 3. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think I have -- 11 Kerrville Pets Alive asked me to announce that they're 12 having an open house this Thursday, October 22nd, 6:00 13 to 8:00 at the Hill Country Youth Event Center. And it 14 marks their one year anniversary of kind of 15 collaborating and helping the County, which was -- its 16 been a good relationship so far, I think. So if people 17 want to attend, they're welcome. Thursday evening. 18 That's it. 19 JUDGE KELLY: And I think we've provided 20 them a sign-up list from the meeting we had last year. 21 All very good. Enjoy their cooperation. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's this Thursday? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Uh-huh. Thursday, yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: At what time? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 6 to 8. 6 1 JUDGE KELLY: 6 to 8 at the Youth Event 2 Center. Just walked in. We'll expect your announcement 3 here. 4 MS. GUERRIERO: Oh wonderful. Wonderful. 5 Thank you so much. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Precinct 4. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I don't have a whole 8 lot. We could use a little bit of rain. Looks like we 9 have a small chance this week. But I will comment about 10 the voting at Ingram ISD central office has been brisk 11 as well and kind of fault free. I mean no problems. I 12 voted out there and I -- on Friday, I believe, and took 13 me about all of ten minutes. And -- but it's been a 14 large turnout. And -- and that's -- that's good to see. 15 That's good to see. Everybody's energized, so -- 16 JUDGE KELLY: Well, on the County basis, I 17 happened to vote at the Youth Event Center last week and 18 I've received several calls from people. It seems like 19 we're kind of stepping on each other's toes out there. 20 Some of the candidates. And so we want to encourage 21 everyone to be polite and follow the rules. And 22 remember that anything inside the 100-foot line is the 23 jurisdiction of the elections office. And that would be 24 Bob Reeves and Nadene Alford. And anything outside that 25 100-foot line is the responsibility of the County. 7 1 And we've delegated that to our Liaison 2 Commissioner for the Youth Event -- Commissioners, I 3 would say, make sure, for the Youth Event Center and the 4 extension office, which are Commissioner Harris and 5 Commissioner Letz. And I think Commissioner Harris has 6 fielded most of the calls so far. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Without a doubt. 8 JUDGE KELLY: And we'll try to keep that 9 as -- as amicable as possible out there. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And just common 11 courtesy goes a long ways out there. And you know, 12 there's been very few things to really cite. I mean we 13 ask the people not to put signs on the fence and stuff, 14 and they're adhering to that, and just be courteous to 15 one another I think goes a long way. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You know the other day 17 somebody's pop-up tent blew up and hit a couple cars. 18 But as we're all running to grab it nobody said, Don't 19 let that Republican get that thing. Don't let that 20 County guy, that City person. We just all worked 21 together. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Worked together 23 gathering tents. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's right. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Was Larry involved 8 1 with that? 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: No, he's too far away. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. I think we have a 4 fairly short docket. I'm not sure. We'll see how it 5 goes. The first item on our consideration agenda is 1.1 6 consider, discuss and take appropriate action regarding 7 a Pro Life Resolution. Jerry Wolff. 8 MR. WOLFF: Good morning. I'm Jerry Wolff, 9 I live at 509 North Buckboard. And we're hoping for a 10 short meeting. Well, my presentation is going to take a 11 little while but I understand you're being paid by -- 12 you get a flat rate. You don't go by the hour, so we 13 can get through this. Thank you. 14 I come to Commissioners' Court this morning 15 on behalf of my club, the Kerr County Patriots, to 16 discuss a very important matter. A matter of life. We 17 request the Court to make a statement that Kerr County 18 affirms a right to life for all, including the unborn. 19 Last Tuesday, the Resolution -- this 20 Resolution was sent to the County Attorney for her 21 review and to comment, if there's no problem. I have 22 not heard any comments from Ms. Stebbins, so I presume 23 it's met with her approval. The Resolution is available 24 for all to see on our club's website, KCPatriots.org. 25 First, let me give you a little history on 9 1 the Pro Life Resolution's ordinances in Texas. Our 2 County will not be the first to pass such a Resolution, 3 but we can be the second. Ellis County, Waxahachie is 4 the County seat, passed the first Pro Life Resolution by 5 a Texas County in late January. It joins 16 cities who 6 have passed a pro life ordinance with a quoil(phonetic) 7 that makes it a very serious deterrent to abortion 8 performers. These cities have declared themselves 9 sanctuary cities for the unborn. 10 Morton, Texas near Lubbock was the 16th 11 City, and it passed the ordinance last week. Also about 12 a week ago, the Lubbock City Council, after a 13 three-month discussion, debated and voted in a closed 14 session to kill a pro life ordinance. This was after 15 Planned Parenthood had announced in July it was going to 16 open an abortion clinic before the end of the year in 17 the city. 18 Citizens were angry and collected over 5,000 19 signatures to force the City Council by rule of its 20 charter to either approve the ordinance or put it up for 21 vote by the citizens within 30 days. We are all 22 watching about what's going to be happening up there. 23 We got -- they got three weeks to go to get to the end 24 of their 30th day. 25 Also, some of the cities which approved the 10 1 ordinance prior to 2020, and had used the 2 identically-worded document, were sued by the ACLU in 3 January of this year. The ACLU dropped the suit against 4 all seven in June without stating why. The presumption 5 is that the wording of the ordinance was well crafted 6 and did not violate Federal law. As demand by citizens 7 to protect life is that in 2019 the State legislature 8 passed Senate Bill 22, which prohibits local government 9 funding abortion providers or their affiliates. 10 So what did the City Council of Austin do? 11 It funded $150,000 for quote, health care services for 12 fiscal year 2021 to fund two abortion advocate 13 non-profits. One of those advocates, by the way, seeks 14 to find ways for 17-year-olds and younger to have an 15 abortion without notifying -- without consent of their 16 parents. 17 Its action has raised the alarm statewide 18 that abortions will be on the increase. Hence, the 19 rightful pushback and concern for most pro life 20 advocates. It's easier to put out a fire when it's 21 short than wait for it to become a roaring blaze. 22 To bring you up to date what is happening 23 here locally, my club tried to have this same resolution 24 as before you now to be put on the October 13th meeting 25 agenda of the Kerrville City Council. The City Manager, 11 1 answering for the City Council, declined my request on 2 the basis that the subject of -- the subject of 3 protecting life was partisan and that City Council can 4 only consider non-partisan issues. 5 By the way, almost all, if not all, City 6 Councils in Texas classify themselves as non-partisan, 7 including the 14th that declared themselves pro life and 8 Austin that is pro abortion. 9 I disagreed with the City Manager and went 10 in front of City Council through the visitor's forum 11 part of their meeting on the 13th. I presented my view 12 that we are passed the point of considering this issue 13 as being partisan due to action of the aforementioned 14 14 cities and Austin. 15 For a solution, I offered what I think are 16 two good alternatives. Either the -- either a City 17 Council member put the Resolution on the next meeting's 18 agenda or call on the experience of the City Manager and 19 City Attorney to work with my club, the Patriots, to 20 come up with a wording that would be acceptable to City 21 Council without distorting the intent of the original 22 resolution. 23 No City Council spoke up that night to put 24 the item on the next meeting's agenda, nor have I heard 25 from any City Council member, City Manager, or the City 12 1 Attorney. The situation with the City looks to get 2 worse before it gets better with their attitude of 3 noncooperation, but we Patriots are continuing to pray 4 to change their hearts and minds. 5 Kerrville is not being singled out. Our 6 plan is to present this Resolution to the City of Ingram 7 in the very near future. The Patriots believe 8 Commissioners' Court is committed to the protection of 9 life and it's time for Kerr County to step forward and 10 let the rest of Texas and our country know that Kerr 11 County, the leader of the Texas Hill Country, stands in 12 protecting the right to life of all, including the 13 unborn. 14 The Kerr County Patriots Club humbly 15 requests, on behalf of the overwhelming majority of Kerr 16 County citizens, for the approval of this Resolution. 17 Would you like for me to read the Resolution 18 or a part of it? 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I think it would be 20 beneficial. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. 22 MR. WOLFF: Sir? 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I think it would be 24 beneficial. 25 MR. WOLFF: All right. Let me do that then. 13 1 This is a Resolution presented to the 2 Commissioners' Court of Kerr County, Texas on October 3 the 19th, 2020. 4 Whereas, life is the first dedicated right 5 in the Declaration of Independence, which our founders 6 affirmed, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that 7 all men are created equal, that they are endowed by 8 their Creator with certain inalienable rights, and among 9 those are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; 10 and 11 Whereas, the County -- the Commissioners' 12 Court of Kerr County, Texas believes the protection of 13 all human life is important to the people of Kerr 14 County; and 15 Whereas, the Commissioners' Court of Kerr 16 County believes each and every human life is unique and 17 precious to God and humankind; and 18 Whereas, the Commissioners' Court of Kerr 19 County believes human life begins at the moment of 20 conception, and continues uninterrupted until the moment 21 of natural death; and 22 Whereas, the Commissioners' Court of Kerr 23 County believes human life must be protected and 24 preserved. 25 Now, wherefore -- now, therefore, be it 14 1 resolved and declared by the Commissioners' Court of 2 Kerr County that human life, including the unborn, must 3 always be valued and protected, and that society must 4 protect those who cannot protect themselves. 5 Be it further resolved that the 6 Commissioners' Court of Kerr County encourages 7 assistance for women by helping them find health care, 8 helping mothers and fathers who make the decision to 9 parent their child, support mothers and fathers who have 10 an adoption plan for their baby and couples who seek to 11 adopt, and encourage businesses and schools to provide 12 appropriate accommodations for pregnant women. 13 Be it further resolved that the 14 Commissioners' Court of Kerr County encourages our State 15 and Federal Government to protect every human life, 16 including the lives of the unborn. 17 Commissioners' Court of Kerr County, Texas. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Do you have anything else? 19 MR. WOLFF: No, sir. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Thank you. 21 MR. WOLFF: All right. Thank you. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I think the last 23 sentence of the Resolution pretty much sums it up. 24 Heather, did -- have you read it and do you have a take 25 on it as far as from the County's standpoint? 15 1 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, Commissioner, I've read 2 it. And this is really up to y'all. I don't -- from a 3 legal standpoint, I don't have any comments or changes 4 to the Resolution. This is going to be up to you guys. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, this is just an 6 affirmation of life is all that's being asked, so -- 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And again, I think the 8 last sentence kind of sums it up for me. And from the 9 County's standpoint, I don't see the County being liable 10 for anything but it just kind of keeps -- holds people's 11 feet to the fire. And I'm going to read it. 12 Be it further resolved, that Commissioners' 13 Court of Kerr County encourages our State and Federal 14 Government to protect every life, including the lives of 15 the unborn. 16 So in my perspective, it starts at the 17 bottom level, and we're -- we're -- we -- I think the 18 majority of our citizens, being a conservative county, 19 believe that and would want our state representatives 20 and national representatives to see where we stand. So 21 that's my take on it. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I got two -- two 23 things. Number one, I don't necessarily disagree with 24 your position, Jerry, but being a Commissioner, I 25 represent the voters of the County. And I think this is 16 1 a national issue and I don't think the County -- I 2 wouldn't feel comfortable nor will I want to represent 3 to citizens of this County by supporting this, and I'll 4 take issue with Commissioner Harris on something. 5 The thing right above that, Commissioner 6 Harris, it says Kerr County encourages assistance for 7 women by helping. They don't define help here. That's 8 bigger than what you just said. That's a big thing. 9 Helping mothers and fathers to make decisions to parent 10 their child. That's a big thing. That's -- that could 11 be a big broad scope effort. Okay. 12 So I appreciate what you're saying 13 personally, okay, but I can't -- I can't support this 14 from a -- representing all citizens of the County, 15 because I got a lot of e-mails and I'm sure everybody 16 else did on this subject. So there's a lot of people 17 that think it's -- it's not the proper place for the 18 County to take a position on this. So -- but I 19 appreciate all you've done, Jerry. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, my question is 21 how do we help veterans? What exactly do we do to help 22 veterans? 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We help them through 24 the process of, number one, identifying what benefits 25 are due to them, which a lot of them don't know. 17 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And number two, we help 3 them through the process of applying and receiving the 4 benefits. So those are two things that we do. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So by help, is what I'm 6 getting at. By helping somebody you may just be guiding 7 them to a place that can help them. It doesn't 8 necessarily mean we've done anything, except for you say 9 you can get help over there. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, well, we do -- we 11 do a little bit more than that for veterans. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And that's under this 13 roof. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And that's what we, you 15 know, that -- 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But I'm -- I'm trying 17 to define what help means. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Yeah. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We may not have to go 20 to that great an extent to help somebody. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: If somebody asked me 23 for direction and I tell them, you can get gas on the 24 corner over there, I've helped them. But I haven't gone 25 out of my way or done anything or instituted new policy 18 1 to do so. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think there's a -- I 4 guess on that one point there's a little bit of 5 difference. The veterans. Veterans -- we're 6 essentially an arm of the State. The State has a State 7 Veterans Board, state veterans. And we work with that, 8 we're certified through that so there's -- you know, 9 we're kind of generally an arm of the State government, 10 and that specifically allows us to do what we're doing 11 with veterans. So whether or not -- 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm just trying to make 13 this -- show what it amounts to. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Right. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Just like we help the 16 4-H kids. What do we really do? Well, there's an 17 AG barn, and we encourage them. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, that's a 19 different -- that help is to provide a lot of funding. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Anyway. You know, 22 wordsmithing, you know, could have some on this 23 document. The problem I have is that this is -- to me 24 is not a local government issue. I personally agree 25 with it a hundred percent, but I just don't think that 19 1 it is something that local government really has a -- 2 other than I can voice my personal view, which I've 3 done, but I don't think it's the appropriate venue for 4 us to pass a Resolution. That's just my personal view 5 on this. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, we said that 7 about the Second Amendment also -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- in that Resolution 10 and then came up with something different and then it 11 was brought back and then we passed it. So the 12 affirmation of life, I'll quote Dr. Seuss. A person's 13 a person no matter how small. So that's always been my 14 position about life. Every human life is precious. But 15 whether or not we need to pass some kind of Resolution 16 is another thing. I've got nothing against it. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I don't either. Would 18 striking that -- or rewording that second to the last 19 paragraph make a difference to you? 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, I agree with 21 Commissioner Letz. I think this is not a local issue to 22 take a position on. And -- and I wouldn't want to 23 wordsmith the Resolution to reflect it to be, so I -- I 24 just -- fundamentally, I -- I don't think it's a local 25 issue. 20 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It is a local issue. 2 Everything that falls under the Constitution is a local 3 issue. To say that there are issues here that are not 4 local, every -- all politics is local. Every issue 5 under the Constitution is a local issue. It's like when 6 people say that you can't legislate morality. Well, 7 every piece of legislation reflects somebody's morality. 8 It's a misnomer. 9 So, yeah, this is a local issue. There 10 are -- this does apply to every human being so it's a 11 local issue. Every household, every person, everyone 12 that's here in this room could have been aborted. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree -- I agree that 14 it's an important issue locally. But I just don't think 15 that it's something that this Court should, you know, 16 really take a stand on. 17 Like I said, I personally support it. I'll 18 be glad to do, you know, personally things to support 19 it. I just don't think it's the correct thing to do as 20 a Commissioner for me to uphold. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's exactly where I 22 stand. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: In the long haul it 24 won't make any difference what we think about it. 25 MR. WOLFF: Oh, I understand that. But I 21 1 think -- I think the government, especially at the local 2 level, this is the most -- where we have contact with 3 our government officials, my thinking is, and I -- and 4 many other fellow citizens think the same way. You're 5 supposed to reflect our views. And I seriously believe 6 that the vast majority of the Kerrville citizens, 7 voters, are in favor of protecting the life of the 8 unborn, they would be in favor of this Resolution. 9 Am I able to ask a question of the Court? 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure. 11 MR. WOLFF: Commissioner Moser, do you 12 believe the majority of your constituents in Precinct 2 13 are in favor of protecting life or -- 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I -- I don't know, 15 Jerry. I've probably received 15 e-mails encouraging 16 not supporting Resolution. I didn't receive a single 17 one encouraging supporting it. So that's -- I'm not 18 saying that that's representative of people in the 19 County or in Precinct 2, but that's just the -- that's 20 the fact I'll share with you. 21 MR. WOLFF: I understand. I also found from 22 personal experience we get angry when something doesn't 23 go our way and we say something. When things are going 24 our way, we tend to be quiet. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. Right. 22 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, I agree with your 2 statement, Jerry. That the -- I think from my Precinct, 3 the majority would support or are pro life. But there 4 are certainly a segment, and it's a -- not just a few 5 that, you know, may not be. And I disagree with them on 6 that issue, but I also do represent them. But I just 7 really think it's not an issue that we should take up 8 locally. I think that this is a personal decision. 9 Hopefully it will be -- the current law will be changed, 10 I would support that. But it's not an issue that we 11 need to do here. 12 And there's another issue. In the Second 13 Amendment, I think Commissioner Belew brought up, I did 14 vote for that one. To me, I don't know that it's 15 different. I could argue that I shouldn't have voted on 16 that one for the same reasons. And the concern I have 17 is moving forward, not the -- you know, not to put less 18 emphasis on this because this is a very important issue. 19 Other resolutions about, you know, get into weather and 20 homelessness and on and on and on. And it's not a -- 21 it's not a -- we don't have an impact on that. We don't 22 fund one side or the other on this from the standpoint 23 of pro life or -- or choice, which we would be 24 prohibited from, which we probably shouldn't in my mind. 25 I just think that it's something that we shouldn't make 23 1 a decision on. We don't have any reason to make a 2 decision on it. It's a personal view that I have and I 3 agree with it, but I'm not comfortable voting in favor 4 of it. 5 MR. WOLFF: Well, to me with local 6 government, Commissioners' Court, and City Councils, 7 City Council in the City of Austin does have some 8 impact. And the 14 cities that passed the ordinance 9 that has, of course, the ordinance has to have a bite to 10 it or the law that says you can do this and if you 11 don't, you're going to get this punishment for not doing 12 it, but you're -- you're adding the voice of authority 13 to tell the rest of the counties in Texas and -- and 14 throughout the United States, that we're standing up 15 here saying we believe in the right to life. That voice 16 has weight, it has meaning. Just not aired being thrown 17 up, voices that are disappearing. It has impact on 18 people. 19 There's two counties in Florida, in fact, 20 one of them has this Pro Life Resolution on their 21 November 3rd ballot. Mainly because the Commissioners' 22 Court wouldn't vote so they put it to the voters. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I agree with 24 everything in it. Now, we can argue about some of the 25 wording or what have you. Heather didn't take issue 24 1 with anything, our County Attorney. And I think it 2 starts one raindrop at a time. And for that reason I 3 want to move for approval. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'll second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Motion's been made by 6 Commissioner Harris, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 7 approve the Resolution as presented. I think we've had 8 a good discussion already, which we should have waited 9 until the motion but finally got a motion. Is there any 10 other discussion? 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I will add to 12 what Commissioner Harris said. The bottom line is 13 everybody understands what it is. Wording could have 14 been a little different. It could have been a little 15 more positive. A simple statement of we affirm the 16 right to life is plenty for me. Because we're going 17 through a pandemic we've got -- everybody's concerned 18 about life. We're trying to protect life. Do we really 19 care about it or not, and I -- I do. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That would sway me some 21 if it was that simple, but -- 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And we're not setting 23 law here by any means. We're just saying as a court, as 24 a County, we support life. And we would encourage our 25 State representatives and national representatives to do 25 1 as well. And that's -- that's where I'm coming from. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 3 in favor raise your hand. Those opposed raise your 4 hand. 5 (Commissioner Moser raises hand.) 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Abstain. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Abstain. Fails for lack of 8 majority. Thank you. 9 MR. WOLFF: Thank you. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you, Jerry. 11 JUDGE KELLY: I think we're -- Jerry, I 12 think we're in the same place we were 47 years ago when 13 I was a young law student and Roe versus Wade came out. 14 A Court did this to us. There's not been a vote. 15 There's not been a congressional vote or a legislative 16 vote. And it's -- until the people get the votes we're 17 going to live with what the law is. 18 MR. WOLFF: Well, where -- where do we push 19 back? 20 JUDGE KELLY: The people you elect to 21 Congress. Chip Roy. Wendy Davis. They're the ones 22 that make those decisions. We know where she is on the 23 issue. And we know where Chip is on the issue. So you 24 know where I'm voting. 25 MR. WOLFF: Thank you. 26 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Next issue -- item on 2 the agenda, I'm looking for Nadene, 1.2 consider, 3 discuss and take appropriate action to approve the 4 Central Counting Station Personnel for November 3, 2020 5 election pursuant to the Texas Elections Code. 6 And the presiding manager would be -- the 7 Judge would be Nadene Alford. The Alternate Judge would 8 be Jane Trolinger. Tabulating Supervisor, Jamie 9 McClintock. Assistant Tabulating Supervisor, Missy 10 Anders. Clerk, Mimi Valverde, Cindy Hernandez, and 11 Teresa Walker. And Calls to the SOS, Secretary of State 12 and Website, Bruce Motheral. I believe she's asking for 13 these to be approved. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Motion's been made by 17 Commissioner Belew, seconded by -- Commissioner Letz. 18 I'm sorry. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Put a name tag on him. 20 JUDGE KELLY: To approve the -- the Central 21 Counting Station Personnel for the November 3 election. 22 There's Mr. Reeves. 23 MR. REEVES: My apologies. I didn't know I 24 could jog that fast. This is just to approve the 25 updated list for Central Counting on the November 3rd 27 1 date, Judge. And I'd recommend approval. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We got a motion and a 3 second. Any other discussion? Those in favor raise 4 your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 5 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Thank you. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 7 Item 1.3 consider, discuss and take 8 appropriate action to approve the Happy State Bank Expo 9 Hall sign design for installation at the Hill Country 10 Youth Event Center. Jake Williamson. 11 MR. WILLIAMSON: Good morning, Your Honor. 12 Commissioners. Thanks for taking the time today. I did 13 also bring with me Brian Bowers, a representative from 14 the bank. So this is the culmination of the process 15 we've gone through this summer of rebranding and 16 renaming of the Expo Hall with the naming rights for 17 Happy State Bank, who is also going to rebrand any -- as 18 they have required of the Centennial Bank brand. So for 19 local folks, the Centennial Bank brand will become Happy 20 State Bank November 1st. 21 So the back story of that moving forward to 22 the sign, with them coming to town, they have worked 23 with us on what we wanted the sign scope to be, what 24 everything would be to help them get the best value out 25 of our naming rights, as well as present their name to 28 1 town. So it's representative of their logo that they 2 will be bringing, you'll be seeing it all over town. 3 And we -- all we've done is add the Expo 4 Hall for a directional sign for the local folks to be 5 using that building and facility. And it also 6 correlates with their logo colors. So Brian can talk 7 more about details of that logo and what it entails, if 8 it has a history or what that means more so than I can. 9 But if you have any questions or comments, I can answer 10 them. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: My only objection is 12 the big bold red, okay. Everything on that whole 13 AG barn, Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center stands out in 14 bold red colors or anything else like that. And my 15 question would be, can it be made a little bit less 16 colorful? 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: That's their colors 18 though, I think. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I understand that. It 20 just stands out like a flashing neon. 21 MR. WILLIAMSON: Well, as a marketing 22 person, it should stand out. That's the point. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Make it a 24 flashing neon sign, too, you know? But anyway, that's 25 my only objection to it. I like what Happy Bank is 29 1 doing. I think it's good. I think being part of the 2 community is good. That was my only thing, it's just -- 3 big red -- big red letters jump out like -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Jake, can you go over 5 what the agreement is with Happy State Bank? 6 MR. WILLIAMSON: Sure. So Happy State Bank 7 agreement is a ten-year naming rights deal with the 8 County, to name the Expo Hall itself. So anybody that 9 would be now visiting the expo hall, which is the front 10 air conditioned building, 20,000 air conditioned square 11 feet, where early elections is going on, will now be 12 going to the Happy State Bank Expo Hall. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the amount of money 14 they paid for this? 15 MR. WILLIAMSON: This will be over a hundred 16 thousand dollars, $112,500 for the life of the contract. 17 They will be going -- and it's a direct to the taxpayer 18 recoup of expenses of the cost on building the facility. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And just on the colors, 20 I'm -- I happen to frequently stay at a hotel in Abilene 21 when I'm dove hunting, which is right next to one of the 22 numerous Happy State Bank buildings and this is exactly 23 what their sign looks like. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm very familiar with 30 1 their logo. And it is -- it does jump out at you but 2 it's -- from a marketing standpoint it works. Because I 3 remember it in Abilene and have for years. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, if -- if the logo 5 changes, is that in the contract that they will come out 6 and change it? If they at some point in that process 7 change the logo, do they -- not that they're going to do 8 it right away but these things happen, so -- 9 MR. WILLIAMSON: Sure. It is in the 10 contract. Say if there's a merger or something does 11 change, Happy State Bank actually will own that sign and 12 so it's their prerogative to update it if they need to 13 or would like to. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I'll -- my final 15 comment before I make a motion to approve is that this 16 is only for the Expo Hall and we're not changing the 17 name of the facility. It's still the Hill Country Youth 18 Event Center, which is the dominant name even though the 19 sign may not be as prominent at the moment. And there 20 are plans to upgrade that as well on the sign board sign 21 on Highway 27. There's some -- I visited with Jake on 22 some options there. 23 But that being said, I'll make a motion to 24 approve the design for the sign of Happy State Bank to 25 be placed at the Hill Country Youth Event Center at the 31 1 Expo Hall. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 4 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 5 approve the design of Happy State Bank Expo Hall sign 6 design and installation. Any other discussion? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One other comment just 8 to -- this has been put out for bid, I believe, three 9 times. Or two -- I know twice, maybe three times. So 10 there's been a lot of opportunity -- 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: The naming rights. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The naming rights, yeah. 13 And there's been a lot of opportunity for any local 14 business or non-local business to do this, and the one 15 that came forward was Happy State Bank and we appreciate 16 it. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Those in favor 18 raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. Look forward to 19 working with you Brian. 20 MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you, Brian. 22 MR. BOWERS: Just to approach the Court real 23 quick? 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure. 25 MR. BOWERS: On behalf of the bank and on 32 1 behalf of myself personally, I just want to say thank 2 you all for your support of this and we really are 3 excited about this partnership and the future here in 4 Kerr County. So I've been here now coming up on almost 5 six years and I'm exited about delivering the Happy 6 brand to the community. So thank y'all. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We're happy you're 8 happy. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Everybody's happy. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, next item on the agenda 11 is 1.4 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to 12 approve the Resolution for Help America Vote Again, the 13 HAVA grant funding. Callie Graff. 14 MRS. GRAFF: Thank you. Okay. So this is 15 the second part of the HAVA grant. There's a total of 16 $120,000 with a $16,000 match. This is used for more 17 election purposes. This is not only limited to COVID 18 related expenses. We have until the end of next year to 19 spend this money. The Resolution would have to be 20 signed by Commissioners' Court and the grant agreement 21 would have to be signed by the Judge. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So we're already -- 23 we've already received part of this grant, is that what 24 you're saying? 25 MRS. GRAFF: Yes. We've received HAVA Cares 33 1 money and then this is just for the election, the next 2 part of it. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And what is the source 4 on this one, is this state? 5 MRS. GRAFF: Yes. This is from HAVA. It's 6 state, yes. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll move for approval. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: State grant? Federal? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Federal. It's federal 10 pass-through. 11 MRS. GRAFF: Yes. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Was this thing, this 14 HAVA, was that set up previous, or has this been named 15 this since the COVID? 16 MRS. GRAFF: It's the -- it was set up 17 previously. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 2002. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I don't remember that. 20 When have we done it before? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We've done it several 22 times. Most of the voting machines -- or actually all 23 the voting machines we bought the first time in 2002 24 came through the HAVA grant. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And the upgrades we did 34 1 recently? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not sure if the 3 upgrades were covered but -- I don't think they were but 4 the -- I know the additional purchase of the voting 5 machines were covered. The majority of it anyway, I 6 think all or at least the majority of the HAVA grant. 7 And I forget what the name of it was back then, though. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Somebody make a motion? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, I made a motion. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'll second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: No. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Did I make a motion? 13 JUDGE KELLY: No. Nobody's -- there's no 14 motion made. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We got a second, 16 though. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'll make the motion. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 20 Commissioner Belew, seconded by Commissioner Letz to 21 accept the -- approve to accept the HAVA grant funding. 22 Any other discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. 23 Unanimous, five zero. 24 1.5 -- 25 MRS. GRAFF: Thank you. 35 1 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you, Callie. 2 MRS. GRAFF: Thank you. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Consider, discuss and take 4 appropriate action to approve contract with EagleView 5 Pictometry. Did I say that right? 6 MR. MOTHERAL: Exactly. This is an ongoing 7 contract we have with Pictometry that provides our 8 aerial photography and database for all of our 9 engineering and tax and Animal Control and just allows 10 them to have that capability. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Road & Bridge use it? 12 MR. MOTHERAL: Yes, they do. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So this gets funding, 14 $205,000 in funding, 29,000 from the County. Is that 15 correct? 16 MR. MOTHERAL: Yes, sir. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And -- 18 MR. MOTHERAL: It's over three years. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. But the other 20 entities, what is it, City -- 21 MR. MOTHERAL: Central Appraisal District 22 and the Kerr 9-1-1 are part of this. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: KCAD and 911? 24 MR. MOTHERAL: Yes, sir. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So -- 36 1 MR. MOTHERAL: The City has gone a different 2 direction. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So if -- if we were to 4 not use this, we do not have access to the Pictometry -- 5 MR. MOTHERAL: That is correct, sir. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- is that correct? 7 MR. MOTHERAL: That is correct. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. The same true 9 for the other two entities -- 10 MR. MOTHERAL: Yes. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- pretty much? All 12 right. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's very helpful. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Huh? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's very helpful to all 16 of them. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I move for approval. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 20 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Letz to 21 approve the contract with EagleView Pictometry. Any 22 further discussion? Okay. Those in favor raise your 23 hand. Unanimous, five zero. 24 MR. MOTHERAL: Thank you, gentlemen. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.6 on the agenda is 37 1 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to cancel 2 the Declaration of the Local State of Disaster. 3 Commissioner Letz. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think I mentioned at 5 the last meeting I was going to put this on the agenda 6 as a discussion item and/or action item. I did ask that 7 if there was any reason that would prevent us from doing 8 this from a financial standpoint. 9 Heather, have you received any word back on 10 that or were you able to contact -- 11 MRS. STEBBINS: The -- from my perspective, 12 I don't think that the legal advice changes there. You 13 know, the people who work for the grant funding said 14 that the declaration being terminated wouldn't impact 15 the County's ability to receive that funding. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. My basic reason 17 is I don't think we're in an emergency anymore. It's my 18 personal feeling. I think we do have -- obviously, 19 we're -- if you want to call it a pandemic, which I have 20 a hard time even calling it a pandemic at this point. 21 To me, we have a virus that's moving through the nation 22 and the community. It's very serious for some people 23 and it's not serious at all to other people. I think 24 that we have done a good job educating the public 25 locally. The State has educated through the State. 38 1 Nationally it's been done. I think everyone is aware of 2 the virus and the recommended precautions. And to me, 3 we're no longer in a state of emergency. That's just my 4 opinion. I'll make a motion that we cancel the State of 5 Emergency. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'll second that. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Discussion. But -- 8 JUDGE KELLY: A motion's been made by 9 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Belew. 10 Now, any discussion? 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But I think according 12 to Dub, things are continuing to increase so -- and 13 understand, I fully supported this at the beginning 14 because it had to do with -- with the amount of -- it 15 had to do with budget and tax restrictions and so forth 16 for emergency. That's passed. The other grant stuff 17 has passed financially. And I don't think this -- it's 18 a problem but, you know, I don't think it's a bad thing 19 to leave it in the eyes of the public that we've got an 20 emergency. 21 But I agree with you, Commissioner Letz, 22 that you know the State -- everybody's aware of it. I 23 don't know if it makes any difference to no longer be 24 interpreted by the public, because we back off of it, 25 it's not as important as it was. So that's my only 39 1 thought about it. 2 My big reason to support it earlier was the 3 fact that it was -- that it meant something to us 4 financially. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Exactly. And Tanya -- 6 and so to be clear, if we declare we're not in an 7 emergency anymore or do away with it, it's not going to 8 hurt us as far as receiving those grants or other income 9 from -- 10 MRS. SHELTON: From what we've been told by 11 TDEM that is true. And what Heather just stated. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. It wouldn't 13 affect the taxpayers. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The concern before, the 15 Judge has expressed, is about some kind of fallback on 16 anything we've used as I recall. And I don't think 17 that's going to be a problem, it doesn't sound like. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, it had to do with 19 the 3.5 percent tax rate increase. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, the question I do 21 have, I think you may or may not have the answer on 22 this, is that under the current -- if we do cancel the 23 emergency order, does it impact directives that you 24 receive from the Governor as to how, as Emergency 25 Management Coordinator of the county, you act? What I'm 40 1 thinking is several weeks ago you filed attestation to 2 basically eliminate or stop the no match rule for Kerr 3 County -- 4 JUDGE KELLY: The exemption? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The exemption. And then 6 you re-implemented it. Can you still file attestation 7 and then re-implement it without this order? 8 JUDGE KELLY: I would defer to the County 9 Attorney on that. Heather? 10 MRS. STEBBINS: I want to say probably 11 could, because authority given by the Governor in his 12 orders and Proclamation. But any of the other authority 13 given to the County Judge in that chapter, once you do 14 adopt the -- or declare emergency wouldn't be available. 15 JUDGE KELLY: And -- but so that the public 16 understands, they're not available now. When -- when I 17 declared a -- the State of Emergency, and the Governor 18 subsequently came out and issued his order, he limited 19 all local government, mayors and county judges, 20 authority to the extent of his orders, which meant that 21 we had to be in complete lockstep with the Governor and 22 that's the way we've been is in lockstep with the 23 Governor. 24 If the Governor orders me to do something, 25 I'll do it. If the Governor allows a County Judge or, 41 1 you know, local government like the Mayor to do 2 something, then that would be authorized by virtue of 3 that order as it's received. All we're talking about 4 now -- the Governor's orders, what we do do not affect 5 the Governor's orders. So if we set aside this 6 emergency, State of Emergency, then that does not affect 7 anything that the Governor's told us to do, to date, or 8 in the future. That's the way I see it. But I would, 9 again, defer to my County Attorney to tell me if that's 10 legally where we are with it. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The Governor's always 12 said you couldn't supersede what he -- 13 JUDGE KELLY: That's right. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's what he said 15 initially. Then he -- then he opened it up to where you 16 could do some things. He allowed you to do some things. 17 JUDGE KELLY: He gave me specific things I 18 could do. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. Right. 20 JUDGE KELLY: And so when he signs and 21 issues a new order, if he puts something in there that 22 the County Judge can do this or the County Judge can do 23 that, that's exactly what we've done. No more, no less. 24 And that's true whether this order is in effect or not, 25 I think. But again -- 42 1 MRS. STEBBINS: I think so, too. 2 JUDGE KELLY: So there's no real meaning, 3 there's no real teeth, there's no real reason to have 4 the State of Emergency. We all know that we are in a 5 very serious health situation, and we are managing that 6 situation. I don't think this is an emergency response 7 to the virus. We -- we've come up with the protocols on 8 how best to manage the virus and that's what we're 9 doing. So is there truly a state of emergency? I'll 10 leave that to your judgement. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the other thing 12 that -- 13 MRS. STEBBINS: And Judge, even if there's 14 not a local declaration, we're still under the State's 15 declaration -- 16 JUDGE KELLY: Absolutely. 17 MRS. STEBBINS: -- from that State of 18 Emergency. 19 JUDGE KELLY: I want the public to be 20 crystal clear about that. The way things are being 21 managed right now is exactly the same way things will be 22 managed if we -- if we terminate the State of Emergency. 23 Nothing changes. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the other comment I 25 would make, if something changed I would say 43 1 drastically -- it's not my decision. If something 2 changes, the drug -- the Judge can re-implement a State 3 of Emergency and then I think it's subject to our 4 approval within a week to 72 hours, something like that. 5 JUDGE KELLY: A week. We have -- it's 72 6 hours or a week. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's a week. 8 MRS. STEBBINS: I thought it was seven days. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Seven days. 10 MRS. STEBBINS: I think so. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So -- so the Judge can 12 re-implement it at any time. And then it comes back to 13 us again. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, my only concern 15 is if nothing is -- we haven't really seen a downturn in 16 anything, and we're backing off of something we said was 17 an emergency before for financial reasons and others 18 we're making the public aware. So if we haven't seen a 19 downturn in the cases or anything else, then I would -- 20 I'm apprehensive, but -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't disagree with 22 you, Commissioner. My problem is that I think that 23 locally, state, and nationally it's a very dangerous 24 precedent to keep a state of emergency in place in the 25 situation we're in right now. If we're going to have a 44 1 new flu comes out next year, is that a new state of 2 emergency? 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I hope not. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If a bad virus comes out 5 or a bad cold comes out, is that -- I mean, I think that 6 it's -- the whole state of emergency has been abused. 7 Like I say -- 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I agree with that. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- not locally by the 10 Judge, but mainly -- I think that -- well, one, I agree 11 with what the Judge has been doing, but two, because the 12 Judge hasn't had any authority because the Governor told 13 him what to do. So the bottom line is that's why I 14 think it's -- I think it's more of a statement that, you 15 know, yes, there's a serious health issue out here but 16 it doesn't mean the Governor should exercise a whole lot 17 of additional powers. And that's just my personal view 18 on that part. 19 JUDGE KELLY: A good example would be, we've 20 talked about it in here on the court before, is the 21 Governor empowered me to review outside gatherings for 22 more than ten people. Originally it was a hundred and 23 he cut it back down to ten. And I've required anybody 24 that wants to have those gatherings, outside gatherings; 25 not inside gatherings, that's controlled on capacity, 45 1 not numbers, to submit a COVID safety plan. 2 And I've approved all of them but one, if 3 you'll remember, and that was on Flying Diesel Drag 4 Race. And I turned them down because I was scared about 5 getting that many people together. And he came in and 6 sat down with us, with Dub and I. And we said, well, we 7 want more porta potties. We want you to put cones out 8 there to show people how far they've got to stand apart 9 to get to the porta potty. We want cones out there to 10 tell people how far they've got to be apart to get in 11 the food truck line. And they accommodated everything 12 we wanted. And more. Even having an ambulance on-site. 13 So in terms of the Governor has already 14 authorized me to do that, I can still do that. But the 15 truth of the matter is, everything that we've been doing 16 is management; it's not emergency. We know what we're 17 dealing with. And we spiked up to over 100 active cases 18 back in July a day, 100 active cases a day at Peterson, 19 and -- and our stakeholders have successfully managed 20 that back down and we got it back down to where we 21 were -- in the month of August I think we were averaging 22 less than 10 active cases today. That's why we applied 23 for the exemption. 24 Now we've got a little flair up right now 25 and I have every confidence that we'll be able to manage 46 1 that. And I appreciate the optics, Commissioner, what 2 you're talking about because we don't -- I know we're 3 not like we were back in August where we had four cases 4 a day, five cases a day. Remember when we had all that? 5 We're not there, but I think we're headed back there. 6 But the real question in my mind, are we into the 7 management of this virus or are we still in the 8 emergency stage of the virus? 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, I think it's 10 important as long as we can manage it, we don't have to 11 have the artificial thing of emergency for financial 12 reasons. Right. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, we -- we've 14 changed what we're looking at repeatedly. Are we 15 looking at hospitalizations? Are we looking at positive 16 cases? That is the real issue. The issue is 17 hospitalizations. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Trends. We're looking 19 at trends. Look at the number of hospitalized. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I think we follow three 21 things. I think we follow fatalities, hospitalizations, 22 and active cases. And there has been a raging debate, 23 locally and statewide and nationally, on how we count 24 the active cases. 25 As of last week, Dub Thomas, our Emergency 47 1 Management Coordinator, went ahead and took affirmative 2 action to include the to-be-determined's, the TBD's, on 3 DSHS's numbers that they give us every week, and include 4 those as active cases to err on the side of being 5 over-prepared rather than under-prepared. 6 And so in terms of management, I'm 7 completely comfortable with the way Dub and our 8 Emergency Managers at Peterson and TDEM are managing 9 this crisis. Because it's still a crisis. The question 10 is, is it an emergency. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. How long do you 12 stay in the State of Emergency? You know, when I hear a 13 car alarm right now, I don't even look out the window 14 anymore. When my phone goes off and tells me there's an 15 Amber alert, I just turn it off and I don't open it up. 16 So how long do you stay in a crisis? How long do you 17 stay in the state of emergency? 18 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I'm trying to make -- 19 and I agree. But I'm trying to make the distinction 20 between the words crisis and emergency. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. 22 JUDGE KELLY: We're still in a crisis. 23 We've got a medical crisis that we're trying to manage 24 and we're doing it successfully. But are we truly in a 25 state of emergency? 48 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I don't think so. And 2 by the way, if there's anybody out there that doesn't 3 understand the procedure at this point, they probably 4 won't catch it anyway but it's their tough luck. 5 Everybody understands what's going on. There's not a 6 thing that this Court can do to emphasize that one iota 7 more. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Is 9 there a motion and a second to terminate the Declaration 10 of the Local State of Disaster Emergency. Those in 11 favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 12 Now, I don't want the public to be misled 13 that we don't think we still have serious issues that we 14 have to manage. And all the protocols still stay in 15 effect. Nothing changed from what it was before this 16 vote and after this vote other than just the 17 terminology. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think you said one 19 thing that you said really puts it in perspective. We 20 still have a crisis, we do not have an emergency. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Correct. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And we can manage the 23 crisis. All right. Got it. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Items 1.7 and 1.8 I'm 25 going to call together. Actually, I'm going to ask that 49 1 it be passed. And just to give an update on what we're 2 doing, we're trying to get our organizational documents 3 finalized for the Hill Country Regional Public 4 Defender's Office. 5 And we've got our local committee that has 6 worked very diligently in trying to get input to TIDC, 7 and then we've got our group of five County Judges that 8 have worked together trying to coordinate between the 9 five counties. And everything has gone very, very well. 10 We've got -- we're this close to having 11 everything exactly the way we want, each Commissioners' 12 Court to approve it. But on Friday, we had one small 13 issue come up that we need to get cleared up and I'm 14 trying to get a conference call going with our local 15 committee so we can get input back to TIDC. And what 16 that has to do with is it's in our oversight board 17 document, the membership and policies document that we 18 looked at last week. 19 The Code of Criminal Procedure lists, and I 20 believe it's Article 26 -- I wrote it down. It's 26.045 21 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, outlines the 22 oversight board for a public defender's office. And it 23 says that the -- that the members of that Board shall be 24 appointed. 25 And the way we've structured it in our 50 1 document is it will be appointed by each of the 2 Commissioner Courts. We allocated two per County except 3 for Kerr County, which will be three, for a total of 11. 4 And it would be up to this Court to appoint the three 5 members. 6 And the -- the statute, the Code of Criminal 7 Procedure provision, says that they shall be appointed. 8 And then it says, the Board members may include, and it 9 goes from mandatory, because we've got to fund the 10 board, that makes sense, to permissive, of who those 11 members are going to be. 12 And let me just read off the list of people 13 that -- and this is what we're struggling with them on. 14 An attorney, criminal defense experience, a trial judge, 15 County Commissioner, County Judge, community 16 representative, or a former client, meaning criminal 17 Defendant or their family member. And it says, may be 18 an attorney, may be a trial judge, may be a County 19 Commissioner. May, may, may. 20 And so what we put in our draft back to the 21 TIDC, was we included the same permissive language of 22 may. And they've asked us to reconsider making that 23 language shall. That we're going to have to appoint 24 each one of these people. And they added one more to 25 it. They added another one that's not even in the 51 1 statute. And that is, someone that's worked with a 2 non-profit that provide assistance to indigent persons. 3 Which, quite frankly, our local committee -- we don't 4 have any problem with that. If we're going to select 5 those people, that's probably a good person to have that 6 experience to help us with this stuff. 7 But from my point of view it's pretty much 8 what -- what my wife calls me, just West Texas 9 oppositional sometimes. I don't like being told what to 10 do. And -- and I don't know why we have to be shall 11 when the statute says may. But that's something that we 12 gotta get worked out with them. Because the goal is, if 13 we're going to come back to Commissioners' Court, 14 whether it's next Monday or the Monday after that, and 15 we got all five counties, to have the same package of 16 the same three documents. 17 We did the job description. So nobody else 18 had to do that. But we gotta do this oversight board. 19 It's like our bylaws. And then we've got to do the 20 Interlocal Agreement. We've got the Interlocal 21 Agreement all worked out and we thought we had the 22 oversight board all worked out. 23 But now this -- this came up Friday 24 afternoon, so we're going to talk about it and get back 25 with them and report back to you. Because the goal is, 52 1 that those documents will come from them. We'll have 2 them finalize them, we'll approve them, they'll put them 3 in PDF form and they'll be sent to all five counties at 4 the same time. And then we all have to take turns in 5 approving the document. With the goal being that by 6 October 26th, we'll have everything approved, and 7 hopefully even the appointments to this board. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Kind of like the State 9 wished they would have said shall, and now they can 10 impose shall as part of what was reflected by the State. 11 JUDGE KELLY: In defense of the State, 12 they've been putting together the Regional Public 13 Defender's Office all over the State. And they've 14 got -- they've got a rogue PDO. And I'm not going to 15 say where and I'm not going to identify anybody, but 16 they're not performing the way that TIDC intended. 17 And so because we've got some glitches out 18 there, they tend to want to take the glitches that -- 19 that we -- that's not us, and try to fix it with us when 20 we didn't even do it. And so -- 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Correct them as you go. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Well, it's -- I appreciate 23 their conscientiousness. And I think this is a 24 discussion that we can sit down and work through. I'm 25 very optimistic about that. And hope to be back here 53 1 next week with the final packet to approve. But I would 2 rather be safe than sorry. Let's get this worked out 3 and bring it to you for approval before we actually 4 adopt it. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think everyone may 6 recollect or may not, but last Monday we did approve 7 this one document that we're talking about, the 8 oversight, and we approved it with the may. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Because that's what the local 10 committee recommended. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 12 JUDGE KELLY: So we've approved what we 13 like. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rather than rescind it 15 at this point, we'll probably ratify it when it comes 16 through and see if it's -- exactly where we are. But we 17 are -- 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What was the other one 19 that had the -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The Interlocal we did 21 not approve last time. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. The Interlocal 23 had -- is that the one with the redline? 24 JUDGE KELLY: I'm redlined, and I'm sorry, 25 but I really -- I'm looking around. They know I'm 54 1 redlining here. But it confused me too, but we got a 2 good clean document. We've got the Interlocal all 3 ironed out. We just got this one little hiccup that we 4 need to pass. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Good. So are we going 6 to -- what are we going to do about it? 7 JUDGE KELLY: Just pass them. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just pass it right now. 9 JUDGE KELLY: And over the next weeks, the 10 committee will probably make recommendations to the 11 Court for the membership. If you have people that are 12 interested in serving as a member on this oversight 13 board, this would be the time for them to contact you to 14 be able to get them in and discuss it. Because we will 15 have three members. 16 Okay. Moving on to the Approval Agenda. 17 Pay bills. 18 MRS. SHELTON: Good morning. Invoices for 19 today's consideration for the fiscal year of 19/20, Kerr 20 County, $88,593.07. The Airport, $9,645.89. For the 21 Fiscal Year of 2020-2021, Kerr County, $118,952.54. The 22 Airport, $410.50. Adult Probation, $404.77. Juvenile 23 Probation, $13,426.96. The County Clerk fees, $316.64. 24 And the 198th DA Forfeiture, $540.63. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Move we pay the bills 55 1 as presented by the Auditor. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 4 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Belew, to 5 pay the bills as presented. Is there any discussion? 6 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 7 Budget amendments? 8 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Late bills? 10 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Auditor reports? 12 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 14 2.5. Monthly reports. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: No. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 2.6 court Orders? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We do have the Court 18 Orders from our October 13th regular session. Court 19 Orders 38373 through 38393. I move for approval. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 22 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 23 approve the Court Orders os presented. Any further 24 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 25 five zero. 56 1 Move on to the Information Agenda. 3.1 2 status reports from Department Heads. Anyone? 3 3.2. Status reports from Elected Officials. 4 3.3. Status reports from Liaison 5 Commissioners. 6 I do have one report to make with regard to 7 our capital improvements planning committee. And that 8 is that we did make an offer to purchase the property -- 9 the property in Ingram, and that has been accepted. And 10 we expect to go to escrow this week. So we have that 11 lined up to be -- so we have two properties now. We 12 have the Earl Garrett campus and we'll have the property 13 out on Highway 39. And -- 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You still working on 15 the -- still working on the other? 16 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, this is -- 18 there's an Executive Session item. Does it need to go 19 into Executive Session or can we just go ahead and vote 20 on them? 21 JUDGE KELLY: Unless you just want to know 22 all the details. There's some juicy details in there. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is there some stuff 24 besides what's in the attachments? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not really. Well, the 57 1 attachment has most of it, I think. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Juicy details, huh? 4 JUDGE KELLY: Well, put it this way, as a 5 45-year trial lawyer, to have an experience that I've 6 never had before was unique and it was worth it. And 7 I've never done one of those that way. I think it was 8 kind of California style but we got into it and I think 9 we analyzed it and handled it well and we're tickled to 10 death to have the property, and I've already talked to 11 the owner of the property personally, and who's looking 12 forward to helping us with our efforts out there. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But we don't -- we do 14 need a motion for the court to approve it, correct? 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Approve the -- all of 17 the actual offer and the -- 18 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. But that's not on the 19 agenda today, is it? 20 MRS. SHELTON: Yeah, it is. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We'll do that in 22 Executive Session. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, we can do it now. 24 I mean, we'll have to go in Executive Session anyway on 25 another item but -- 58 1 MRS. STEBBINS: Y'all can go into Executive 2 Session if you want and believe and unanimously vote 3 that any conversation in open session would interfere 4 with your ability to negotiate with a third party. But 5 if you don't want -- need to go into Executive Session, 6 you can take that action out of the 4.1 or 2, I believe, 7 and make it open session. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we just handle 9 that one right now, Judge. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's pretty well done, 12 right? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, I mean, we're -- 14 we just have to approve the contract and -- 15 JUDGE KELLY: Well, you have copies of the 16 contract. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 19 MRS. SHELTON: And would you please include 20 the motion the authorization for the treasurer to 21 release the escrow money? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. I'll make a motion 23 that we approve the contract to purchase the property at 24 600 Highway 39, Ingram, Texas in the amount of $300,000, 25 and authorize the Treasurer to make a check payable 59 1 to -- 2 JUDGE KELLY: Kerr County Abstract. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- Kerr County Abstract 4 in the amount of $3,000.00. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'll second. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Motion's been made by 7 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 8 approve the contract on property in West Kerr County, 9 address 600 Highway 39, Ingram, Texas. And also 10 authorize the payment for the escrow of $3,000.00. Any 11 further discussion? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do we need to add to the 13 motion where the funds are coming from as this is to be 14 reimbursable? 15 MRS. SHELTON: It wouldn't hurt that that is 16 the intent. 17 JUDGE KELLY: The intent is to fund the 18 purchase and then reimburse the County from the tax 19 notes that we've been talking about to finish the 20 purchase. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So that would expedite 22 it to just do it now. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. So that's 24 included in my motion. That's the intent. 25 JUDGE KELLY: So the motion has been 60 1 amended, and the second accept that? 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes, sir. 3 JUDGE KELLY: To include that this will be 4 funded from the County, and be included as a 5 reimbursable from tax notes. Okay. With that, any 6 other discussion? 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. I think it would 8 be good for -- and I'm not privy to this, but y'all on 9 the committee, but telling the people how big the 10 property is maybe. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, you gave an 13 address. 14 JUDGE KELLY: We're really excited about the 15 property. It's -- it's the property adjacent to the 16 entrance into the Ingram Tom Moore High School, right in 17 front of the Presbyterian Church on Highway 39, across 18 from the baseball field. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Across from Stonehenge 20 actually. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. Hill Country Arts 22 Foundation. And we're also entering into discussions 23 with the church who has kind of a big block L-shape all 24 in front of the church and you come out the other part 25 of the frontage. About possibly being able to pick up 61 1 that frontage also. 2 But this tract is 1.2 acres. And it's right 3 next to Ingram Tom Moore. And the church's lot, if you 4 drive by there there's a cedar rail fence around the 5 church's part of it. You may remember that. And we're 6 entering into negotiations with them to see if we can't 7 end up with maybe three acres right there, which would 8 be a great expansion for Ingram and West Kerr County. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Prime location. 10 JUDGE KELLY: We're very, very pleased. 11 Very pleased working with the owner, too. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Good. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. With that, all those in 14 favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 15 Any other Liaison Commissioner reports? 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That was -- no, that 17 was just -- keep going back over the -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It came out of Executive 19 Session. But there is still a real short Executive 20 Session item. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Then it is -- what's 23 the atomic time, Commissioner? 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It is 10:10. 25 JUDGE KELLY: It is 10:10 and the Court will 62 1 adjourn into Executive Session. We'll take a brief 2 break and we'll get back into Executive Session at 3 10:15. And so we are in recess. 4 (Executive Session.) 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, it is 10:21. We're out 6 of executive session. I don't think there is any action 7 to be taken at this time, and so there being no other 8 business before the Court, we are adjourned at 10:21. 9 * * * * * * 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 63 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 26th day of October, 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