1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Special Session 5 Monday, November 30, 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 5 action to receive bids for the East Kerr 5 County/Center Point Wastewater Project for Phases 2 and 3. 6 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 9 7 action to set a time and location for the January 1, 2021 swearing in ceremony. 8 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 10 9 action to determine meeting dates for the December 2020 Commissioners' Court meetings 10 and reaffirm Court Order No. 38355 designating the 2nd and 4th Monday as 11 Regular Meetings for the Fiscal Year 2020/2021. 12 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 17 13 action to approve the Interlocal Agreement between the Regional Public Defender 14 Office Local Government Corporation and Kerr County to represent indigent capital 15 murder defendants. 16 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 21 action to approve a Resolution for Kerr 17 County Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer for his service to Kerr County. 18 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 21 19 action to approve a Resolution for Kerr County Chief Deputy Sheriff Clay Barton 20 for his service to Kerr County. 21 1.7 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 29 action to ratify and confirm the audits 22 required by Article 59.06 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the FY 2020 Chapter 23 59 Asset Forfeiture Reports for the 198th District Attorney, the 216th District 24 Attorney, and the Kerr County Sheriff. 25 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.8 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 30 action to accept the donation of paintings 4 from Sheriff Hierholzer to the Hill Country Youth Event Center. 5 2.1 Pay Bills. 32 6 2.6 Court Orders. 33 7 3.3 Status reports from Liaison Commissioners. 34 8 *** Adjournment. 41 9 *** Reporter's Certificate. 42 10 * * * * * * 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 JUDGE KELLY: Good morning. It is Monday, 2 November the 30th, 2020, nine o'clock in the morning. 3 Kerr County Commissioners' Court is now in special 4 session. I remind everybody to turn your phones to 5 vibrate. And this part of the meeting is where we have 6 public input. And the public input that is invited is 7 for people to address the Court on matters that are not 8 on the Agenda. If they're on the Agenda, we ask that 9 you wait until that agenda item is called. So are there 10 any members of the public that would like to address the 11 Court? 12 Okay, there being none, Commissioners' 13 comments. Let's go in reverse order today and give you 14 a breath. Precinct 4. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: That means I'm up. 16 Okay. I hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving. I know 17 I did. Enjoyed it. Got about three-quarters of an inch 18 out west. I think I'm probably the low man on the totem 19 pole as far as Commissioners, I think. And that's about 20 it. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Good. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Going to be cold 23 tonight. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Three. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not a whole lot to 5 1 report. Had a very nice long holiday, had an inch 2 forty, which we desperately needed and did a lot of 3 good. It's kind of muddy, which is nice. That's about 4 all I have today. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 2. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'm the low man on the 7 totem pole, got 6/10ths of an inch, but other parts of 8 Precinct 2 got 1.3, I understand. Great Thanksgiving. 9 Good to be off for a bit. And that's all I've got. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 2 -- I mean 1, sorry. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, we got rain also 12 and I got my brush piles burned. And some -- I want to 13 caution everybody that there was a fellow that decided 14 to burn his brush pile after dark, and had to call out 15 the volunteer fire department. You're not supposed to 16 do that. And I hope you guys -- 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- have you looked into 19 that? 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah, it's illegal to 21 do that, period. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. Okay. So you're 23 not supposed to burn after dark and there's good reason 24 for that so. And if you did do some burning, go out and 25 check that brush pile today and stir the ashes up and 6 1 make sure it's cold. That's all I got. 2 Oh, one more thing. There's a Historical 3 Marker now at the Methodist Encampment to designate that 4 that is a historical part of Precinct 1. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Good. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not Kerr County; just 7 Precinct 1? 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Precinct 1. 9 JUDGE KELLY: The only thing I would share 10 is that we don't have updated numbers on the COVID over 11 the weekend. Long weekend. We were in about the 220 12 active cases late last week. I don't know what it's 13 going to be today. We are expecting probably an uptick, 14 some upturn in the number of cases reported after the 15 long weekend. But we will keep everybody informed as we 16 go along. 17 So with that, let's move on to Item 1.1 on 18 the Agenda which is consider, discuss and take 19 appropriate action to receive bids for the East Kerr 20 County/Center Point Wastewater Project for Phases 2 21 and 3. Charlie Hastings. 22 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. For Phase 2, the 23 following is a tabulation of the bids opened and read 24 aloud on November 24th, 2020 at 10 a.m. for Phase 2 of 25 the project. I'll read them in the order of lowest to 7 1 highest. 2 D Guerra Construction LLC, $10,565,954.99. 3 That's $10,565,954.99. Next was T Construction LLC, 4 $10,820,897.22. That's $10,820,897.22. The third bid 5 opening, bid opened, was Wagner Construction 6 Incorporated of Texas, and their bid was $11,973,372.54. 7 That's $11,973,372.54. 8 Following the opening of Phase 2 we opened 9 Phase 3. The following is tabulation of the bids opened 10 and read aloud on November 24th, 2020 at 10 a.m. for 11 Phase 3 of the project from lowest to highest. D Guerra 12 Construction LLC, $7,313,775.02. $7,313,775.02. The 13 second bid open, T Construction LLC, 14 $11,307,988.90(sic). That's $8,307,988.90. The third, 15 Wampole Miller Incorporated, doing business as Miller 16 Brothers, $8,690,439.73. $8,690,439.73. And the final 17 bid, number four, Wagner Construction, Inc. of Texas, 18 $9,060,995.64. $9,060,995.64. 19 The bidding, as you can see, was very 20 competitive and the low bidder, D Guerra Construction 21 LLC, is qualified to perform the work. They are the low 22 bidder. 23 The County Engineer requests that the Court 24 receive the bids for Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the Kerr 25 County/Center Point Wastewater Project, Precincts 2 8 1 and 3. We're not asking you to award it, we're asking 2 you to receive all the bids. I do have a copy of them 3 in a box over here. The County Clerk has all of the 4 originals. There's also a copy with our Engineer and a 5 third copy with GrantWorks. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I move that we receive 7 the bids as presented by the County Engineer. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 10 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Letz to 11 receive the bids as presented. Is there any discussion? 12 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Question. So now that 14 we receive the bids -- 15 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- now we're going to 17 -- next step is going to be to evaluate them and then 18 award? 19 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. And that will be 21 at the next Commissioners' Court? 22 MR. HASTINGS: Commissioners' Court. Yes, 23 sir. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good enough. 25 Thanks. 9 1 JUDGE KELLY: The next item on the Agenda is 2 1.2 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to set 3 a time and location for the January 1, 2021 swearing in 4 ceremony. 5 I've had requests from some of the Elected 6 Officials as to how we're going to do that. There's a 7 suggestion that we do it at the AG barn so we can have 8 appropriate social distancing and still have a larger 9 crowd rather than trying to do it in one of the 10 courtrooms upstairs. So I put it on the Agenda for the 11 Court to consider. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So is that a motion? 13 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I really wanted to hear 14 the discussion. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The AG barn is fine with 16 me. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, doesn't matter to 18 me. 19 JUDGE KELLY: I think it makes a lot more 20 sense to do it over there, especially with the COVID. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's always crowded 22 upstairs. So there would be plenty of seating out there 23 at the AG barn. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that 10 1 we hold the swearing in ceremonies January 1st, 2020 at 2 10 a.m. at the Hill Country Youth Event Center. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is that in the main 4 Happy Bank area? The new Happy Bank? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Expo Hall. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, Expo Hall. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: The one with the red -- 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. I'll second that 9 then so everybody will be happy. You happy now, Judge? 10 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Good. We're all happy. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 13 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 14 approve the swearing in ceremony for January 1, 2021 at 15 10 a.m. at the Hill Country Youth Event Center. Any 16 other discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. 17 Unanimous, five zero. 18 Item 1.3 consider, discuss and take 19 appropriate action to determine meeting dates for the 20 December 2020 Commissioners' Court meetings and reaffirm 21 Court Order No. 38355 designating the 2nd and 4th Monday 22 as Regular Meetings for the Fiscal Year 2020/2021. 23 This is just for update. This is 24 housekeeping that we have to do every year. We do need 25 to decide when we're going to have our December 11 1 meetings. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that 3 we have our Monday regular meetings for Fiscal Year 4 2020/2021 at the 2nd and 4th Mondays of each month. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Motion's been made by 7 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Moser for us 8 to continue having our regular meetings on the 2nd and 9 4th Mondays of the month for this coming Fiscal Year. 10 Any other discussion on that? 11 MS. GRINSTEAD: Real quick. For December, 12 we already have items set on the 7th, the 14th, and the 13 28th. Do you to want to meet on the 21st? We have 14 nothing set at this point. Or just keep the Mondays 15 through December and then start fresh in January? 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think what we 17 discussed is trying to defer the off regular meetings to 18 only when needed, beginning January the 1st. I think 19 that's what we talked about. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So Jody is saying shall 21 we finish out the year doing every Monday? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well -- 23 JUDGE KELLY: The motion that's on the floor 24 is for this coming Fiscal Year. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 12 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And regular -- 2 JUDGE KELLY: And includes December. So 3 that's why -- that's why we brought -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's only the regular -- 5 I always -- it's only for regular meetings. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Regular. Regular. 7 Right. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we can still meet 9 every Monday if we choose. Our regular Mondays will be 10 the 2nd and the 4th. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, we -- did 12 somebody move for approval? I'll move for approval. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, it's already got a 14 motion and a second. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. But Jody's got a 16 question. So anyway -- 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're not changing -- 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Let's do this in two phases. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Why don't we go ahead and 22 approve regular meetings the 2nd and 4th Mondays like 23 we've always done. 24 MS. GRINSTEAD: That actually has already 25 been done. That's by Court Order 38355. 13 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Then we need -- we're 2 going to to reaffirm that. 3 MS. GRINSTEAD: Reaffirm that. And then 4 just determine what we're going to do for the rest of 5 the year. 6 JUDGE KELLY: So the motion is to reaffirm 7 Court Order 38355 -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 9 JUDGE KELLY: -- for the 2nd and 4th Mondays 10 of the month to be regular Commissioners' Court 11 meetings. But we're also now going to add on what we're 12 going to do for December because that is part of the 13 Fiscal Year. And we have the 2nd and the 4th already, 14 which is the 14th and the 28th, right? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We don't need to deal 16 with them in separate motions, Judge. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Just when we need -- 19 when we need a special, we have a special. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. I mean, all I 21 did was designate the regular meetings the 2nd and 4th 22 for the Fiscal Year and that's reaffirming the previous 23 Court Order. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Right. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And then we can decide 14 1 what we're going to do in December. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. All those in favor 4 raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Now -- 6 JUDGE KELLY: Now we have to discuss what 7 we're going to do for the December schedule. Because 8 what Jody is telling us is we have the 7th as a Special 9 Commissioners' Court meeting already scheduled. And 10 we're working on that agenda. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do we have to -- do we 12 have to have that meeting? 13 MS. GRINSTEAD: We -- 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Like I said before, if 15 we don't need to have a meeting let's don't have a 16 meeting just because it's a Monday. 17 MS. GRINSTEAD: We need to -- 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Because we do -- let me 19 finish. We do a lot of things that are not urgent on -- 20 on the special meetings, which can be delayed until the 21 regular session. So that was the reason I brought it up 22 some time earlier, said well let's continue it through 23 December, then January 1st we'll start looking at -- but 24 if we don't need to have a meeting on special session, 25 let's don't do it. 15 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the 7th we already 2 have stuff on that agenda, correct? 3 MS. GRINSTEAD: Yes. And that was one when 4 you discussed it when I was out that Tanya said there's 5 some special bill that has to be paid on the 7th. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 7 MS. GRINSTEAD: So that's why I kept the 8 7th. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. Okay. 10 MS. GRINSTEAD: So I guess my only question 11 is, can we not have a meeting on the 21st? 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, is that a regular 13 session? 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's Christmas week. 15 I would say no. 16 MS. GRINSTEAD: It's not a regular. It 17 would be a special. Our regulars are the 14th and 28th. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I say if you don't need 19 it, don't do it. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: If we don't need it, 22 don't have a meeting. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I agree with it. 24 MS. GRINSTEAD: I'll let the Auditor's 25 office or -- 16 1 JUDGE KELLY: Well, let -- let me ask this. 2 I'm good with that. And having meetings every Monday 3 has just -- there's virtually no distinction between a 4 regular and a special meeting. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 6 JUDGE KELLY: And so I agree with you, 7 Commissioner Moser. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 9 JUDGE KELLY: But how do we decide if we 10 need one? 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think -- isn't it the 12 Judge calls for the meeting? Somebody -- any one of us 13 can request it and the Judge says, yeah, let's have a 14 meeting. And therefore, 72 hours we post it and -- I 15 think it's up to you, Judge. 16 MRS. GRINSTEAD: I mean any of you can 17 request it. We just have to set it -- set it within 72 18 hours. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So to make sure we're 21 all on the same page. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we're back to twice a 23 month? 24 JUDGE KELLY: We're back to twice a month -- 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Unless. 17 1 JUDGE KELLY: -- unless there's a special 2 meeting. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. Good deal. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thanks, Jody. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Moving on. Item 1.4 consider, 7 discuss and take appropriate action to approve the 8 Interlocal Agreement between the Regional Public 9 Defender Office Local Government Corporation and Kerr 10 County to represent indigent capital murder defendants. 11 And this is with the Lubbock Regional Public 12 Defender's Office. This is a service they provide 13 statewide, and it would be almost irresponsible for us 14 not to do this because if we have a capital murder case, 15 it could very easily bankrupt the County because the 16 expense is so horrific and what it costs to do those. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that 18 we approve the Interlocal Agreement with the Regional 19 Public Defender Office based out of Lubbock for capital 20 murder cases. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 23 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Moser to 24 approve the Interlocal Agreement between the Regional 25 Public Defender Office out of Lubbock and Kerr County to 18 1 represent indigent Capital murder defendants. Any 2 discussion? 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Judge, you might just 4 for the public let them understand what the value of 5 that is, that agreement. 6 JUDGE KELLY: The -- Lubbock is the one that 7 started this through the Texas Tech Law School in 8 conjunction with them years ago. And it was in response 9 to a couple counties who actually did have to file 10 bankruptcy, or close to it, because the expense 11 associated with what it cost to actually prosecute to 12 completion a capital murder case. And they formed a 13 Public Defender's Office to do that and they've 14 recruited other counties in the state and invited us to 15 participate as part of that. They provide the 16 experienced criminal felony defenders to defend those 17 cases and they pay -- they pay for it out of their 18 public defender's fund. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 20 JUDGE KELLY: And so we -- it's like buying 21 an insurance policy. We pay so much for the Interlocal 22 Agreement for them to do this for us. That way we know 23 that we're covered if something happens. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So that public 25 defender's fund is -- is through a grant from the State 19 1 or -- 2 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- some funding from 4 the State? 5 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good. Thanks. 7 Very good. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Sheriff. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The only thing I would 10 ask that maybe the County Attorney needs to check is all 11 of y'all know well that we have a pending capital murder 12 case that's been pending now for a number of years, 13 probably even prior to this ever -- this agreement 14 coming about. And I know that capital murder case has a 15 public defender appointed by this County. So that one 16 has now been found competent and is set to go to trial 17 sometime in the spring. I don't know how this agreement 18 would affect that or if it's even going to be able to 19 because the case was prior to this. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I believe we -- what 21 year was that murder? 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That was in ninety -- 23 no, I mean 2002. I think. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I believe we were a 25 member of the predecessor organization. 20 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But the defense 2 attorney for that defendant is not, as far as I know, 3 has not been paid for that. They've been paid by Kerr 4 County. And that's been the same defense attorney for 5 all these years. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Something we need to 7 look into. And I don't know, I think probably the 8 auditor's office would be best to see. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Just the status of that 10 one. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For that particular 12 case. And this was a public information. The amount 13 that Kerr County pays for this service or the projected 14 to pay for this year is $14,672, which is a small amount 15 compared to what we'd be faced with in a capital murder 16 case. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We voted on that, 18 right? 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think so. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Then all those in favor raise 21 your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 22 Item 1.5 consider, discuss and take 23 appropriate action to approve a Resolution for Kerr 24 County Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer for his service to Kerr 25 County. 21 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That should be short 2 and sweet. 3 JUDGE KELLY: And let's go ahead and call 4 1.6, too -- also. Consider, discuss and take 5 appropriate action to approve a Resolution for Kerr 6 County Chief Deputy Sheriff Clay Barton for his service 7 to Kerr County. 8 We've got the resolutions being passed 9 around. I don't know how far we've gotten. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do we want to -- 11 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I need somebody to read 12 them because I don't have them in my possession. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. I can read them. 14 Resolution of Kerr County Commissioners' 15 Court congratulating -- this is on 1.5 -- Sheriff W. R. 16 "Rusty" Hierholzer on his retirement after 40 years of 17 law enforcement and community services in Kerr County. 18 Whereas, Rusty, as a young person 19 experienced the importance of law enforcement from his 20 father, a Department of Public Safety Trooper, and made 21 the career decision to join the Sheriff's Department 22 shortly after graduating from Tivy High School; and 23 Whereas, he advanced from being a patrol 24 deputy to becoming Sheriff over 20 years ago; and 25 Whereas, he achieved this by dedicated and 22 1 exemplary service with the foundation of numerous 2 professional training courses and being a member of 3 international -- of international, national, state, and 4 local professional organizations; and 5 Whereas, he has demonstrated his 6 effectiveness by maintaining up-to-date knowledge of the 7 county, state, federal laws, and communicating by public 8 -- and communicating this to the public by speaking in 9 testimony to the State legislature. 10 Standby. Just a second. 11 And whereas, he has successfully managed and 12 lead 68 Sheriff's office employees and the adult 13 detention center, known as the jail, of 48 employees, 14 all with a 12 million dollar annual budget; and 15 Whereas, he has been recognized by being the 16 recipient of awards from the Governor, FBI, and 17 Kerrville Police Department; and 18 Whereas, he and his wife, four children, 11 19 grandchildren have effectively balanced personal and 20 professional life. 21 Therefore, be it resolved, that on this day, 22 November 30th, 2020, Kerr County Commissioners' Court 23 does hereby thank and congratulate Sheriff Rusty 24 Hierholzer for his service to Kerr County, and wish he 25 and his family the very best in retirement. 23 1 Signed by Commissioners' Court. 2 JUDGE KELLY: So move. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 4 JUDGE KELLY: I made the motion, seconded by 5 Commissioner Letz to approve the Resolution on behalf of 6 Sheriff Hierholzer. Is there any discussion? 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Thanks for your 8 service. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No, thank y'all for 10 allowing me to serve. It's been an honor. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Larry has big shoes to 12 fill. We appreciate you. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No, they're pretty 14 small. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It will be awful quiet 16 this time next month. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Very, very good. 18 Congratulations. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Thank you. 20 JUDGE KELLY: I don't think Kerr County 21 could have been in better hands for the last 40 years. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, you know, I think 23 in this Resolution it didn't say one thing. I think it 24 was extremely important on the jail. And I think we've 25 said it several times. That that's a huge liability. 24 1 Financially out there. 2 If that jail had shutdown, then correct me 3 if I'm wrong, Sheriff, but I think you have to move -- 4 or this Court -- this County has to move all those 5 inmates to other facilities, okay, until the 6 deficiencies are corrected. So I think with the 7 unannounced inspections of those -- of that jail, and 8 all, that there's never -- there's been some minor 9 things but nothing even came close to having to close 10 the jail and incur a huge expense for the -- to the 11 members and citizens of this County. So thank you for 12 that. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, and I agree with 14 you a thousand percent. The only thing I would say is I 15 can't take credit for that. You got some of the best 16 employees in this County that work for that jail and run 17 it day-to-day, so -- 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But the buck doesn't 19 pass -- 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It stops here but -- 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- you got some 23 fabulous people that work out there and -- and really 24 take their job seriously. Including the Chief that 25 helps run it. Okay. 25 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Well, just to echo on what 3 Commissioner Moser is saying, we owe a deep debt of 4 gratitude, the entire County owes a deep debt of 5 gratitude for your service, but especially during this 6 pandemic and this COVID-19 crisis. We have no COVID 7 cases in our jail. And we can cross our fingers, knock 8 on wood, whatever you want to say, but we've been in 9 this thing for well over six months and our jail is one 10 of the few that we do not have COVID in. And that has 11 been a herculean task. And that is appreciated. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Without a doubt. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Thank you. 14 JUDGE KELLY: So we've got the Resolution. 15 You want to go ahead and do Clay or -- we're going to 16 take some pictures here in a minute. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Let's take a picture of 18 everybody. Y'all don't have an objection of being in 19 the same picture, do you? 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah, we do. 21 (Laughter.) 22 CHIEF DEPUTY BARTON: That depends on how 23 much you're going to talk about it. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Look what happened when -- 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, the last time 26 1 they were in a picture together, you remember that? 2 Looked like they were holding hands. 3 (Laughter.) 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, right. Yeah. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah, it did look like 6 that. 7 JUDGE KELLY: So Commissioner Belew, you 8 have the Resolution there for Clay. If you would read 9 that into the record. It's important. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, no, Commissioner 11 Moser read it. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, no, no. Now this 13 is for the Deputy, for Clay. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Oh, Clay. Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Make sure I get the 17 right one. Okay. 18 Resolution of Kerr County Commissioners' 19 Court congratulating Chief Deputy Sheriff Taylor Clay 20 Barton on his retirement after 38 years of law 21 enforcement and community service in Kerr County. 22 Whereas, Clay as a young person experienced 23 the importance of law enforcement from his father, 216th 24 Judicial District Judge Robert Barton, and made the 25 career decision to join the Sheriff's Department in 27 1 1981; and 2 Whereas, he advanced in his law enforcement 3 career from being a dispatcher in the Sheriff's 4 Department to becoming a chief deputy in 2003; and 5 Whereas, during this period, he had 6 exemplary service in the 198th Judicial District 7 Attorney's Office; and 8 Whereas, he has earned and received numerous 9 law enforcement licenses and certifications; and 10 Whereas, he is responsible for the daily 11 operations of the Sheriff's office and jail with a 12 12 million dollar annual budget; and 13 Whereas, he has been a member of Texas Chief 14 Deputies Association for 16 years, and has served as the 15 Vice President, member of the Board of Directors and 16 Chairman of the Scholarship Committee; and 17 Whereas, he received the Melvin Drum Chief 18 Deputy of the Year Award from the Texas Chief Deputies 19 Association; and 20 Whereas, he served on the Board of Directors 21 for the Grace Academy and CASA of Kerrville; and 22 Whereas, he and his wife, three daughters 23 and two grandsons have been active in the community. 24 Therefore, be it resolved, that on this day, 25 November 30, 2020, Kerr County Commissioners' Court does 28 1 hereby thank and congratulate Chief Deputy Sheriff Clay 2 Barton for his service to Kerr County and wish him and 3 his family the very best in retirement. 4 JUDGE KELLY: So move. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 6 JUDGE KELLY: I made the motion, seconded by 7 Commissioner Harris to approve the Resolution on behalf 8 of our Chief Deputy Sheriff Clay Barton for his years of 9 service. Any discussion? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A comment I'll make that 11 wasn't in the Resolution and I don't know that -- 12 you've been around long enough to remember Clay when he 13 was undercover. He didn't look anything like this clean 14 cut American he looks like now. He had long hair, 15 looked like a homeless person. But did a good job when 16 he was back working undercover. 17 OFFICER BARTON: Thank y'all very much for 18 recognizing me on the Resolution. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you, Clay. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. Without a 22 doubt. Thanks. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You know, Jonathan, I 24 had to actually -- he took off most of last week for 25 Thanksgiving, and I had to actually order him to shave 29 1 this morning. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Going back undercover. 3 JUDGE KELLY: With that, those in favor 4 raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. We'd like to be 5 able to hand you the certificates and have a photo 6 opportunity. 7 (Photographs being taken.) 8 JUDGE KELLY: We'll do more than one shot. 9 The first one is I'm going to give you this in your left 10 hand and I'm going to shake your right hand. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. Don't hold 12 my hand. Okay. And I'm going to put this in your left 13 hand and shake your hand. Thank you very much. 14 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Judge, can we do Clay again 15 because we couldn't see him? 16 (Photographs being taken.) 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good deal. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Bittersweet. But 20 congratulations, guys. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Thank y'all very much. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well deserved. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.7 on the Agenda is to 24 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to ratify 25 and confirm the audits required by Article 59.06 of the 30 1 Code of Criminal Procedure and the FY 2020 Chapter 59 2 Asset Forfeiture Reports for the 198th District Attorney 3 and the 216th District Attorney, and the Kerr County 4 Sheriff. James Robles. 5 MR. ROBLES: Good morning. All the law 6 enforcement agencies representing the State that 7 received proceeds and property under CCP Chapter 59 are 8 required to fill out this Attorney General form. And it 9 is also certified along with the County Auditor and the 10 head of the Department. 11 In front of you is the 216th DA, 198th DA 12 and the County Sheriff's forfeiture report and we ask 13 that the Court accept these reports and ratify them. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 17 Commissioner Belew, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 18 approve and accept the report from the Auditor's Office. 19 Any discussion? Okay. There being none, those in favor 20 raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. Thank you. 21 Item 1.8 consider, discuss and take 22 appropriate action to accept the donation of paintings 23 from Sheriff Hierholzer to the Hill Country Youth Event 24 Center. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, for the last 20 31 1 years the Sheriff's office has had to put up with a 2 bunch of paintings that I had from my grandfather, his 3 name was Alexander Easton. He lived here in Kerr 4 County. And he loved painting the outdoors and the 5 river up going towards Hunt and just different scenery 6 and that. And, of course, other things he loved 7 painting was all the missions. 8 But I have a number of these paintings and 9 they have been held and on the wall at the Sheriff's 10 Office. But to be honest, I don't have anymore space in 11 my house for them, okay, and I hate to put them up in 12 the attic and that. They're oil paintings that my 13 grandfather did. I brought a couple, if the County 14 Clerk could hold up, I've got about six or eight I'd 15 like to donate. 16 I asked Jake if he would be interested in 17 having them out at the AG barn under my grandfather's 18 name, and he -- it's my grandmother on my mother's side, 19 and he said he would love to have those that are of the 20 scenery and that, especially the Hill Country. And so I 21 would just like to donate -- these are my mother's 22 father's paintings. Not my -- my father. 23 And I would be honored if y'all would accept 24 the donation of six or eight of these paintings out at 25 the AG barn. Whatever use the County wants to make of 32 1 them after that. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 5 Commissioner Harris, seconded by Commissioner Moser to 6 accept the paintings as a gift donation from Sheriff 7 Hierholzer and his family. Any discussion? 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What's the procedure 9 necessary to get a little brass plaque or something 10 underneath it by saying who the artist was? 11 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, we can do that. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good deal. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Those in favor raise 14 your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 15 Next item on the Agenda is the Approval 16 Agenda. 2.1 pay bills. 17 MR. ROBLES: Yes. The bills before the 18 Court's consideration this morning is Kerr County, 19 $373,884.09. Adult Probation, $936.33. Airport, 20 $2,986.96. And Fund 95, which is the 198th DA 21 Forfeiture, $8,424.45. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Move we pay the bills. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 25 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 33 1 approve paying the bills as presented. Is there any 2 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 3 five zero. Thank you. 4 Budget amendments? 5 MR. ROBLES: There are none. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Late bills? 7 MR. ROBLES: There are none. 8 JUDGE KELLY: And Auditor Reports? 9 MR. ROBLES: No, sir. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Monthly reports? 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: None. 12 JUDGE KELLY: And Court Orders? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. We do have Court 14 Orders from the November 23rd meeting. I don't have the 15 numbers in front of me, but I do recall looking through 16 them and they all looked to be in order, so I'll make a 17 motion to approve them. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't have those? 20 MRS. DOWDY: No, I don't -- I don't -- you 21 may have saw a different e-mail. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, okay. 23 MRS. DOWDY: I have not prepared them yet. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I'll -- then I 25 will withdraw that motion until we get the final 34 1 version. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Then we'll pass on 3 Court Orders until next week? This is one of those 4 meetings that -- 5 Information Agenda. Status reports from 6 Department Heads? 7 Status reports from Elected Officials? 8 Status reports from Liaison Commissioners? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The only thing on 10 Liaison Commissioners, the -- I forgot what it's called, 11 but the Animal Services Committee will be meeting this 12 Thursday, I believe. It would -- we meet here in the 13 courtroom but we do limit the -- as we do here, to ten 14 people. So there will not be room for a lot of the 15 public, if any. 16 And then on Friday, the Judge and I -- more 17 the Judge than I -- will be interviewing candidates for 18 the Chief Public Defender. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Great. That's this 20 Friday? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This Friday. And it's 22 set up, just for information purposes, the -- Judge 23 Kelly, Judge Adams, and Judge Schuchart will be the 24 primary -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: Williams. 35 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, and Judge Williams. 2 And Judge Williams. The primary interviewers. They'll 3 have our HR Director and the HR Director from Medina 4 County and will also be present as HR people. And then 5 the rest of the committee will be present to ask 6 questions, but we're really trying to limit it just to 7 those four main questioners. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Well, and to put it in 9 perspective, we've got 11 board members, representing 10 all five counties, three of which are from Kerr County, 11 which include Judge Williams, Commissioner Letz, and 12 myself. And we have two HR Directors that are assisting 13 us, ours, as well as Medina's. And we will have 14 everybody present for this interview. It will be a live 15 interview. It will be in the big courtroom, the central 16 courtroom upstairs, the 216th. And we will be socially 17 distanced. 18 And we're hoping -- and from the -- we 19 initially started with 11 applicants and we've had one 20 take the position in one of the other new PDO's, which 21 left us ten. We narrowed that down to three. Those are 22 the three applicants that we're bringing in to interview 23 this Friday. We were very impressed with the 24 outstanding experience and qualifications of our 25 applicants, and we have invited the ones that we have 36 1 not invited for this interview to keep us in mind, and 2 consider applying, of course, on some of the senior 3 positions that we have in that office. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So the narrowing down 5 from eleven -- or ten to three, was that done by the 6 eleven member board? 7 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. And along with 8 consultation from not only the HR Directors that we 9 mentioned, but also with the TIDC, the Texas Indigent 10 Defense Commission. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So everybody went 12 through that then. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well -- 14 JUDGE KELLY: It's been -- it's been a very 15 exhaustive and comprehensive effort screening them. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Very good. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it was very clear 18 from everyone that looked at the resumes who the three 19 that should be interviewed are. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. And then the 21 next step then would be for the 11 member board then to 22 select -- 23 JUDGE KELLY: Our hope is to be able to meet 24 Friday afternoon after the interviews and select who we 25 want to make the offer to, and then we'll have -- you 37 1 know, just have to go follow the regular procedures 2 after that. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 4 JUDGE KELLY: But they will be charged -- as 5 Chief Public Defender will be charged with staffing the 6 office, and that will be an office manager and then the 7 lay staff, along with 20 other lawyers. And that will 8 be responsible for coordinating, moving -- having a 9 substation office over in Medina County in their 10 Courthouse. 11 So getting this Chief Public Defender on 12 board is really important to get this thing off the 13 ground. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good deal. 15 JUDGE KELLY: And the hope is that we'll 16 have this -- have him on board or her on board by 17 January 1. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Which coincides exactly with 20 where we are with regard to the ADA improvement being 21 able to get that office opened up probably in -- we'll 22 open up a temporary office hopefully first of the year, 23 but the official office will probably be March 1. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sounds good. 38 1 JUDGE KELLY: And then by way of reports to 2 the Commissioners' Court, the other thing we've got 3 going is the capital improvement planning committee. 4 We're still working on trying to acquire property where 5 we can place the Animal Control facility. We're still 6 trying to see what we can do to expand Road & Bridge. 7 And we're working with a potential seller on that. We 8 made an offer to them sometime back. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: On which one of the 10 two? 11 JUDGE KELLY: Pardon? 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I say which one of the 13 two, for the animal control facility or expansion of the 14 -- 15 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we're working with one 16 potential seller just up the road on Spur 100, that 17 would be animal control. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 19 JUDGE KELLY: We're also working with 20 another potential seller for 16 acres adjacent to Road & 21 Bridge there on Spur 100 that could probably accommodate 22 a number of these facilities. But this is -- we made an 23 offer, I guess probably, oh, a month ago and that was 24 declined. And then we reiterated that offer when their 25 contract that they had on that property fell through. 39 1 So we resubmitted the same offer. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Just for clarification, 3 that's on the 16 acres. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yes. Okay. 6 JUDGE KELLY: And then we made a 7 counter-offer that will be brought to the Court. I'm 8 just giving you all the previews of coming attractions. 9 We'll bring in the counter-offer and be able to consider 10 that. We're running that passed the CIP probably within 11 the next week or two. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And still negotiating 13 on the five acres. Is that correct? 14 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 16 JUDGE KELLY: And where we are on the five 17 acres, just so everybody knows the status, we made an 18 offer, they did not accept it. They -- and we offered 19 to split the cost of an appraisal, because we're pretty 20 far apart on the five acres, which they agreed to do, 21 and we're still in the process of having that appraisal 22 completed. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good. 24 JUDGE KELLY: On the 16 acres, we do have an 25 appraisal. And that's what we used to make our initial 40 1 offer. And so we will be discussing those appraisals, 2 as well as the counter-offer and everything with the 3 Court after the CIP brings it to us. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think just another 5 update from the CIP from last -- two weeks ago, I guess, 6 the decision was pretty much unanimous that they 7 recommend that the bond issue to construct some of these 8 facilities be put off until next November. But it was 9 just not feasible for a lot of reasons. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Who said that? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The CIP Committee 12 recommendation. They'll make it to us. I mean, and 13 plus, we don't have all the property yet. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the amount of time 16 to get everything together. And -- and the other thing 17 really out of that meeting was that, you know, all the 18 members of the CIP expressed interest in continuing to 19 serve. I brought it up, mainly because it's been a year 20 that they've been serving. They've done a lot of work 21 and if they still want to do it and they all said yes, 22 they wanted to stay. And I think it'll be an item 23 probably on our next agenda about one of those 24 individuals. 25 JUDGE KELLY: And just by way of getting the 41 1 year end wrap up to where we are on some of these 2 things, we will be bringing to the Court the tax 3 anticipation notes that we're going to have issued for 4 the purchase of these properties. And last discussion 5 with our financial advisors, it looks like we're looking 6 at probably 1.25 percent interest. So this has been a 7 very opportune time for us. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Wow. 1.25. Wow. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. There being nothing 10 more on that, we're going to take a break and reconvene 11 at ten o'clock for Executive Session to discuss a 12 personnel matter. And I have four requests, people who 13 are asking to be invited into that Executive Session. 14 We'll take that up when we come back. With that, stand 15 adjourned until ten o'clock. We're in recess. 16 (Recess.) 17 (Executive Session.) 18 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, Court will come back to 19 order out of Executive Session at ten minutes of eleven 20 o'clock, 10:50. Is there any further business before 21 the Court today? Okay, there being none, Court's 22 adjourned. 23 * * * * * * 24 25 42 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 4th day of December, 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