1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Special Session 5 Monday, November 2, 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. 3 4 1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 5 action for the Court to rescind court order 5 numbers 38314, receiving bids for Phases II and III of the East Kerr County/Center Point 6 Wastewater Project, and Court Order number 38353, awarding construction phase contract 7 for Phase II of the East Kerr County Center Point Wastewater Project, and Court Order 8 number 38354, awarding construction contract for Phase III of the East Kerr County/Center 9 Point Wastewater Project, and declaring all bids opened and read on September 3, 2020 10 for Phases II and III of the East Kerr County/Center Point Wastewater Project as 11 null and void. 12 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 11 action to approve $25.00 donation from 13 a citizen for the Sheriff's Equipment Fund. 14 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 12 action to make line item budget adjustments 15 for the Volunteer Fire Departments. 16 2.1 Pay Bills. 16 17 2.6 Court Orders. 17 18 3.2 Status reports from Elected Officials. 18 19 3.3 Status reports from Liaison Commissioners. 18 20 *** Adjournment. 18 21 *** Reporter's Certificate. 19 22 * * * * * * 23 24 25 3 1 JUDGE KELLY: Good morning. It is Monday, 2 November the second, 2020, 9 o'clock in the morning, and 3 the Kerr County Commissioners' Court is now in session. 4 Remind everybody to turn your cell phones to silent or 5 vibrate. 6 The first part of the agenda today is public 7 input. Is there anyone who would like to address the 8 Court about something that is not on the agenda? Very 9 well, then we'll go straight to -- 10 (Phone ringing.) 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I was expecting Heather 12 to call in. 13 JUDGE KELLY: So let's go to Commissioners' 14 comments. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: There's no signs at the 16 AG Barn today. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Nobody's voting today. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Nobody's fussing and 19 fighting and acting like children. All good for today. 20 Don't forget to vote tomorrow. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Two. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I was sorry to hear 23 about Jody and her family. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Don't talk about that. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Who? 4 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or any other employee. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Let's see. Well 3 let me say it differently then. I understand that the 4 courthouse was sprayed over the weekend. I can talk 5 about that. Okay. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Deep cleaned. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Deep cleaned. The 8 question being it used to be that the -- or at one time 9 CDC said Coronavirus -- Corona-19 virus only lived on 10 surfaces for like a couple of hours. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Three hours. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Three hours something 13 like that. So why do we do -- if nobody's here, why do 14 we spend the money to do a deep cleaning if they can 15 only live on surfaces for a couple hours? Question. 16 And I -- I don't need an answer for that, but I raise 17 the question. Maybe CDC has changed, I don't know, 18 okay. They've been known to change on a few things, but 19 it's probably an expensive thing, and if it's not doing 20 any good, why do we do it. And that's my only Precinct 21 2 comment. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 3. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: More about thought. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Maybe I choose my words 25 very carefully. I have no comments. 5 1 JUDGE KELLY: 4. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, if I was wise I 3 probably wouldn't make a comment either. But we had lot 4 of trick and treaters out Saturday evening. Glad to see 5 he the kids out and about and having a good time and 6 enjoining themselves. So had a beautiful weekend for 7 that. I don't know how many more we'll have, but it was 8 nice over the weekend. That's all I got to say. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Good. Very well. And let's 10 move on to our consideration agenda, item 1.1 consider, 11 discuss and take appropriate action for the Court to 12 rescind court orders numbers 38314, receiving bids for 13 Phases II and III of the East Kerr County/Center Point 14 Wastewater Project, and Court Order number 38353, 15 awarding construction phase contract for Phase II of the 16 East Kerr County Center Point Wastewater Project, and 17 Court Order number 38354, awarding construction contract 18 for Phase III of the East Kerr County/Center Point 19 Wastewater Project, and declaring all bids opened and 20 read on September 3, 2020 for Phases II and III of the 21 East Kerr County/Center Point Wastewater Project as null 22 and void. 23 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. The East 24 Kerr County/Center Point Wastewater Project was 25 advertised for bid in the local newspaper on July 30th, 6 1 2020 and August 26th, 2020. The bids were then opened 2 and read on September the 3rd, 2020 and subsequently 3 received by the Court on September 14th. That was Court 4 Order number 38314, and contracts were awarded for both 5 Phases II and III on September 28th, court order numbers 6 38353 and 38354. Per State Law competitive bidding 7 notice is as follows: The Local Government Code Section 8 262.025, COMPETITIVE BIDDING NOTICE. (a) A notice of a 9 proposed purchase must be published at least once a week 10 for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general 11 circulation in the County, with the first day of the 12 publication occurring at least 14 days before the date 13 of the bid opening. 14 Because the advertisement was not published 15 for two consecutive weeks, the bids received and 16 contracts awarded are null and void. The following 17 corrective action has been taken: New bid 18 advertisements have been published on October the 28th, 19 that was last Wednesday, 2020, and again November 4th, 20 this week, Wednesday, November the 4th, 2020 and they 21 will be published again a second time. The bid opening 22 will be on November the 24th, 2020. The Court will 23 receive the bids on November the 30th, 2020 and the bid 24 award is scheduled for December 7th, 2020. 25 County Engineer requests that the Court 7 1 rescind court order numbers 38314, that was for 2 receiving bids for Phases II and III of the East Kerr 3 County/Center Point Wastewater Project. 38353, awarding 4 construction contract for Phase II of the East Kerr 5 County/Center Point Wastewater Project. And 38354 6 awarding construction contract for Phase III of the East 7 Kerr County/Center Point Wastewater Project, and declare 8 all bids opened and read on September 3rd, 2020 for 9 Phases II and III of the East Kerr County/Center Point 10 Project as null and void. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So move. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Motion was made by 14 Commissioner Moser, seconded buying Commissioner Letz to 15 rescind these court orders and contracts: 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a comment to the 17 County Clerk. On this, because of the nature of this, 18 if you would please put that entire exact wording motion 19 on the minutes, so that it's clear that they don't just 20 say amending those three Court Orders. Have that entire 21 paragraph listed as it's listed on the agenda. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good point. Another 23 comment. So we made a mistake, okay. We have to rebid. 24 So the question is learn from mistakes. So what can we 25 as a Court or County do to make sure we don't make that 8 1 mistake again? Is there anything that the County Clerk 2 could say -- could run a red flag or something. I don't 3 know what the answer is, but we ought not let this 4 happen again. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Charlie what was the exact 6 technicality that we did not -- 7 MR. HASTINGS: The bids were not run two 8 weeks consecutive. So one of the solutions that we have 9 for that is in my agenda bill, I'll be very clear about 10 the dates that I want them run. And then secondly we'll 11 make sure and get copies of the newspaper clippings and 12 be looking for them many and if they don't show up, 13 we'll raise the flag, and say something's wrong here we 14 gotta have this correct. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's engineering. I'm 16 looking across the county. 17 MRS. DOWDY: I have a comment. I may say, 18 there was letter from Tetra Tech that had some dates in 19 there that was addressed to the Commissioners' Court, 20 and they left out the Clerk. I think if the Clerk was 21 addressed in that letter, it would have been more clear 22 to me. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Who puts the 24 bids -- who puts the notices the paper? 25 MRS. DOWDY: I do. 9 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. So if you know 2 that you're going to put notice in and -- 3 MRS. DOWDY: I did not get it. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And you know that it 5 has to be done two weeks consecutive, that oughta be 6 sufficient. 7 MRS. DOWDY: If I'm told the dates, yes. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, but you know -- 9 you could question if it's not two consecutive weeks 10 about -- 11 MRS. DOWDY: There was a lot of chatter 12 about the dates being published, and it did not come. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'm not looking at to 14 point blame; I'm just what can we do to make sure it 15 doesn't happen again. 16 MRS. DOWDY: Address the letter to the Clerk 17 and Commissioners' Court, that is my suggestion. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the way it 19 should be done properly is not -- agreeing with the 20 County Clerk's saying, but our orders when we're doing 21 any kind of competitive bidding, we need to make sure as 22 a Court that the dates are specified in our Court order. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. And that would 24 do it, okay. That would do it, too. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If I may interject. I 10 1 think going along with that, Commissioner. A lot of the 2 different departments do competitive bidding, you know, 3 come budget time or when we do things. And I think if 4 there was a general checklist printed out by the County 5 that each department and elected official got, that if 6 you're going to do competitive bidding you have to go by 7 this checklist which specifies two weeks consecutive, 8 things like that, so that every department in the County 9 has the same checklist as to how we do it. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good point. Good 11 point. I like that. That's good. That would be -- 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm surprising that TAC 13 doesn't have something like that, that's resource. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They probably do. You 15 can read it in the Code and it tells you. But just as 16 Charlie read, you know, you read it. But if you just 17 have bullets, you know, or checklist, points, to do it, 18 I think this would help. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: One other question. I 20 think I know the answer to this. On opening bids, is it 21 required that we -- I think I know the answer but I'm 22 going to ask it anyway, that we identify what the bid 23 amounts are, because this way we're going to rebid it 24 and every contractor knows what the low bidder was. So 25 is it required that when we open bids that we identify 11 1 what the bid amounts are? 2 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think it is. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't know if we have 5 to read it, but it's all open record. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On some of them it's 8 very difficult for us to read, and we're here just to 9 accept them. Because like we bid products and we try to 10 read all of it as best we can, but on some of them it's 11 real difficult. But I think that is all open to the 12 public. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That was the only 14 comments. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Well, anything that would make 16 the process more competitive, let's do it. Okay. All 17 those in favor raise your hand. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Five zero, unanimous. 19 Thanks, Charlie. 20 1.2 consider, discuss and take appropriate 21 action to approve $25.00 donation from a citizen for the 22 Sheriff's equipment fund. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: This is just one of 24 those that we get. I think there's a lot of people, 25 thank goodness, that like to donate to the local agency 12 1 instead of some national or statewide organization, and 2 we truly appreciate it. So I'm trying to keep them 3 anonymous and I just want to make sure that that money 4 goes into the Equipment Fund to support our Sheriff's 5 office. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Move for approval. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Motion made by Commissioner 9 Harris, second by Commissioner Belew to approve a $25.00 10 donation from a private citizen to the Sheriff's 11 Equipment Fund. Any discussion? Those in favor raise 12 their hand. Unanimous, five zero. 13 1.3 consider, discuss and take appropriate 14 action to make line item budget adjustments for the 15 volunteer fire departments. Commissioner Harris. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. In our last 17 workshop with the volunteer fire departments, you know, 18 if you look at the last seven minutes or so, we were 19 trying to bring everything, land the plane as you say, 20 and we ended up with a number, $135,000.00. And you 21 know, it wasn't -- it wasn't broken down like we'd done 22 in the years past. So this does it. And it got this 23 handout in front of you, see the adjustments that were 24 made. Basically it dropped from the -- from the 25 previous year -- 13 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You say handout. I 2 don't have a handout. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Budget amendment. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Budget amendment. 5 Yeah. Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: So you can see it 7 dropped at twenty-four four for the Divide/Mountain 8 Home. Comfort, Center Point, Turtle Creek, and then the 9 others were adjusted. Castle Hills was adjusted as 10 well, so -- to get our 135,000 budget, we broke it down 11 in line item, and so I move for approval. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, Hunt and Turtle 13 Creek and a few others weren't going to get anything for 14 this year. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It was Hunt, Ingram, 16 and you notice they're not on there. Hunt, Ingram, 17 and -- 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And Turtle Creek? 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Turtle Creek was. 20 They said -- in the meeting he said he may not use it if 21 he didn't have to, but he wanted to be included, okay. 22 And then Elm Pass if you remember was dissolved into 23 Center Point. So that took away three of them right 24 there. So that's what we come up with. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Which for -- and 14 1 practical purposes lowered the -- 2 JUDGE KELLY: Who's the second here. I 3 haven't heard a second yet. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: (Raised hand.) 5 JUDGE KELLY: So motion was made by 6 Commissioner Harris, and seconded by Commissioner Letz. 7 I'm sorry. Go ahead. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So in practical terms 9 that lowered Center Point -- 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- because you have two 12 of them that merged. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sort of like contract 14 substations as well. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 16 in favor raise your hand. Four, and I abstain. 17 I thought we were going to do this on the 18 basis of the need. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It can still be by need. 20 I don't think it changes the contract. It's just as the 21 money is kind of allocated out by the Departments. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That was the decision. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, it was going to 24 be on need. Yeah, they were going to come forward with 25 the categories that we identified. 15 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Should we amend the 2 thing to say not to exceed this amount? 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. I think we -- 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We're going to have a 5 cap on it regardless of any -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This kind of puts the 7 cap on it. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's what I'm saying. 9 So should the motion be amended to say not to exceed 10 this amount? Is that a moot point? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't know if it's a 12 moot point, but that's the number and if somebody wanted 13 to come over, we could do a budget amendment and see 14 where we are later in the year. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We've done a lot of 16 stuff that say not to exceed. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: For grants or contracts 18 or something like that as opposed to budget, because we 19 can have budget amendments. So I don't think we say 20 here's the budget and shall not exceed. That's the 21 intent. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. I mean there has 23 to be a cap on it. I don't want to limit it if somebody 24 really needs something. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. Exactly. 16 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Just want to make sure. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, they still have 3 to come forward with the request. Right. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Anything else? 5 Then let's move on to the approval agenda. 6 2.1 pay the bills. 7 MRS. SHELTON: Good morning. Invoices for 8 today's consideration include for the fiscal year of 9 1920, $10,702.49 for Kerr County. $775.29 for the 10 Airport. $135.00 for the DA forfeiture fund. 11 For the current fiscal year for Kerr County 12 $662,354.09. The Airport, $29,007.86. Adult Probation, 13 $2,491.99. The County Clerk fees, $193.98. And the 14 198th DA Forfeiture, $299.45. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Move for approval. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, motion's made by 18 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 19 pay the bills as presented. Any discussion? Those in 20 favor raise your hand. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Tanya, question. When 22 do we get the final number of last year, how we went out 23 of the year? 24 MRS. SHELTON: We are working on having the 25 books closed by December the 31st, that's our goal. 17 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: All right, thanks. 2 MRS. SHELTON: And the audit has already 3 been set up for, I think it's the week of January the 4 17th. It's the third week, I believe, of January. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good. 6 JUDGE KELLY: The next item on the agenda is 7 2.2 budget amendments. 8 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any additional 9 budget amendments. 10 JUDGE KELLY: 2.3 late bills? 11 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 12 JUDGE KELLY: And 2.4 Auditor reports? 13 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 14 JUDGE KELLY: 2.5 accept monthly reports. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: There are none. 16 JUDGE KELLY: 2.6 court orders. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. We have our court 18 orders from our October 26 meeting, 38403 through 38417. 19 They all look to be in order. I move for approval. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Motion made by 23 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 24 approve the reports as presented. Any further 25 discussion. Those in favor raise their hand. Five 18 1 zero. 2 Very well. Information agenda. 3.1 status 3 reports Department Heads. 4 There being none let's go to 3.2 status 5 reports from elected officials. 6 MRS. DOWDY: Last day to vote tomorrow, so 7 go vote. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Okay then, item 3.3 status 9 reports from Liaison Commissioners. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have one just real 11 quick one. I just really want to note really good work 12 by Commissioner 4 Friday trying to organize a lot of 13 things. Won't go into the details, and also to our HR 14 Department for the same thing on Friday. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Good. Any other Liaison 16 Commissioner reports? 17 Okay. There being nothing in executive 18 session, in record time, Court is adjourned. 19 * * * * * * 20 21 22 23 24 25 19 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 5th day of November, 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