1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Regular Session 5 Monday, March 8, 2021 6 9:00 a.m. 7 Commissioners' Courtroom 8 Kerr County Courthouse 9 Kerrville, Texas 78028 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 PRESENT: ROB KELLY, Kerr County Judge HARLEY BELEW, Commissioner Precinct 1 24 TOM MOSER, Commissioner Precinct 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Precinct 3 25 DON HARRIS, Commissioner Precinct 4 2 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 *** Visitor's Input. 5 4 *** Commissioners' Comments. 8 5 1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 11 action regarding the update, facility use, 6 and other matters related to the severe winter weather disaster. 7 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 19 8 action regarding the Local State of Disaster due to Severe Winter Weather that was signed 9 by Judge Kelly on February the 22, 2021 and extended until terminated by order of the 10 Kerr County Commissioners' Court on February 23, 2021. 11 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 20 12 action regarding the presentations from CASA, K'STAR and Hill Country Cares, and 13 request funding for current fiscal year. 14 1.4 Update regarding the Hill Country Regional 42 Public Defender's Office. 15 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 51 16 action to approve a $100.00 donation from a citizen for the Sheriff's Equipment Fund, 17 72-370-531. 18 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 52 action for a budget adjustment request in 19 salaries for the 216th District Attorney. 20 1.8 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 72 action regarding the confirmation of Riley 21 Rector to the Emergency Services District No. 1 (ESD #1) Board of Directors. 22 23 24 25 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.11 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 79 action for the Court to receive the bids 4 for the Wastewater Service Connections for the East Kerr County/Center Point Wastewater 5 Collection Project funded by the Texas Department of Agriculture CEDAP, Colonia 6 Economically Distressed Area Program, Grant No. 7217045 and CFC, Colonia Fund Construction, 7 Grant No. 7218045, and CFC Grant No. 7218055, and refer said bids to the Design Engineer and 8 Project Engineer for tabulations, qualifications, and award recommendations at a 9 future court meeting. 10 1.12 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 81 action on a preliminary plat for Windy Ridge. 11 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 86 12 action for the Court to set a public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on April the 12, 2021 for a 13 revision of plat for The Ravine, Lot 21, and a portion of the Common Area, Volume 4, Page 14 16. 15 1.14 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 90 action for the Court to approve a Final Plat 16 for Turtle Creek Ranches Lots 206A and 206B, Deed Volume 158, Page 358. 17 1.15 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 91 18 action regarding a Proclamation declaring March 2021 as American Red Cross Month. 19 4.2(a) Consider, discuss and take appropriate 97 20 action regarding the Veteran Services Office personnel. 21 4.4(a) Consider, discuss and take appropriate 98 22 action regarding recommendations from the Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) Committee 23 regarding property located at 550 Earl Garrett. 24 1.7 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 102 action regarding the approval of the South 25 Texas Blood Bank Drive on April 1, 2021 at the Hill Country Youth Event Center. 4 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.9 Presentation regarding recycling services 103 offered by Recyclops. 4 1.16 Passed. 114 5 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 114 6 action for a budget adjustment request in salaries for the 216th District Attorney. 7 2.1 Pay Bills. 124 8 2.3 Late Bills. 125 9 2.5 Accept Monthly Reports. 125 10 2.6 Court Orders. 127 11 3.3 Status reports from Liaison Commissioners. 128 12 *** Adjournment. 129 13 *** Reporter's Certificate. 130 14 * * * * * * 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 5 1 JUDGE KELLY: Good morning. It's Monday, 2 March the 8th, 2021, 9:00 o'clock. Kerr County 3 Commissioners' Court is now in session. If you would, 4 please rise for the prayer and the pledge, led by 5 Commissioner Moser. 6 (Prayer and Pledge.) 7 JUDGE KELLY: I want to remind everyone to 8 please turn off your cell phones or at least put them on 9 vibrate. The next part of our meeting. We always start 10 with is input from the public. This is something that 11 we care about. We want people to come talk to us about 12 things that are important. 13 I do remind you that this is input that we 14 receive from you. We don't get to give you our output. 15 So don't expect any answers when you come up. And I 16 know we had one person that signed up to talk. So I'll 17 just go ahead and call Karen Guerriero first from 18 Kerrville Pets Alive. 19 MS. GUERRIERO: Good morning, Judge and 20 Commissioners. My name is Karen Guerriero. I'm the 21 president -- oh, 307 Lakewood in Kerrville is my 22 address. I'm the President of Kerrville Pets Alive here 23 in Kerrville. KPA, also known as Kerrville Pets Alive, 24 is a non-profit organization that was formed to assist 25 Kerr County Animal Services by providing resources and 6 1 funding, volunteer support, assistance with adoptions 2 and rescue, and educating the community about animal 3 welfare. KPA has assisted Kerr County Animal Services 4 publicize the annual County rabies drive for the past 5 three years. As a result, there's been a significant 6 increase in the number of Kerr County residents taking 7 advantage of the $10 rabies vaccination. 8 As you all know, this year was challenging 9 with the drive falling during the winter storm. KPA 10 would like Kerr County to consider extending the drive 11 to accommodate those residents who had to cancel their 12 appointments because the vets weren't available. 13 This year we had and wonderful helper, Axel 14 Peterson. Axel is a member of Boy Scout Troop 111 in 15 Kerrville and a member of the Alamo Council. In order 16 to fulfill his merit badge project, Axel hand-delivered 17 and posted rabies vac fliers in over a hundred 18 businesses -- 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Wow. 20 MS. GUERRIERO: -- in Kerr County. Axel 21 went above and beyond and we want to commend him today 22 for his community service. Would you like to hear from 23 Axel right now? Come on in. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Welcome, Axel. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Welcome. 7 1 MR. PETERSON: Thank you. 2 MS. GUERRIERO: Do you have any questions 3 for Axel? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Appreciate your work. 5 MR. PETERSON: Thank you. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: How many merit badges 7 do you have? 8 MR. PETERSON: Well, I've got nine here. 9 And I've got two more awards. I think I've earned 11. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Why don't you take that 11 mask off so we can hear you? 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's okay. 13 MS. GUERRIERO: He feels comfortable with it 14 on. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Oh, he doesn't want to 16 take it off. Okay. 17 MS. GUERRIERO: You can tell them the 18 number. 19 MR. PETERSON: Is there anything else you 20 would like to ask me? 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: How long did it take 22 you to go to those hundred different businesses? 23 MR. PETERSON: Well, it took about seven 24 hours, I believe. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Wow. Okay. You were 8 1 running. Very good. Well, thank you. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you very much. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Thank you, sir. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Thank you. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 6 MR. PETERSON: Thank you for the compliment. 7 MS. GUERRIERO: And we -- one of our board 8 members made you a banner for your service. And we 9 want -- maybe you can put it up in your room as a symbol 10 for Boy Scouts? 11 MR. PETERSON: Yeah. 12 MS. GUERRIERO: Anyway, appreciate you. 13 Thank y'all so much. 14 MR. PETERSON: Thank you. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Is there anyone else from the 17 public that would like to address the Court? Okay. 18 Then let's move on to Commissioner's Comments. Let's 19 start with Precinct 1. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I don't have much to 21 report. 22 JUDGE KELLY: That's probably good. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Status quo. Yes, sir. 24 Oh, well I will say this. There's been a lot of road 25 work and patching potholes and stuff. So I give thumbs 9 1 up to Road & Bridge. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 2. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let's see. On that 4 same subject, patching roads. Highway 173 between 5 intersection with Highway 16 and over toward Loop -- 6 Spur 100 -- Loop 534 really, had a lot of really big 7 potholes. So hats off to TxDOT, who fixed those pretty 8 quickly. And it was a patching thing that expanded more 9 than the rest of the road work when it got really cold 10 and really wet, caused some major problems. 11 The other thing is Center Point Volunteer 12 Fire Department had their second public hearing or 13 second public meeting on forming an emergency service 14 district, okay, and it was not too well attended. The 15 only people that were there that were not volunteer fire 16 department were Bob Reeves and myself. So anyway, they 17 filled a square. So they will get their hundred 18 petitions and the objective is to get it on the ballot 19 in November so that they can let the public vote on 20 whether or not they want to form this district. So it 21 was -- looks like they're moving quickly and checking 22 all the boxes. And that's it. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Three. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I've had a hectic couple 25 of weeks, three weeks, maybe a month. I don't know -- 10 1 it's been -- it seems things have settled down a little 2 bit, which I'm looking forward to. Out of town all last 3 week, which was a good event. Other than that, I don't 4 have a whole lot of news. Glad to be back and slowing 5 down a little bit. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 4. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: All right. Well, 8 after the big freeze, everybody's got electricity now in 9 Precinct 4 and fixings and repairing has begun. Lots of 10 damage. 11 Karen had mentioned it a minute ago, but I 12 want to holler and give her a thumbs up. I went to a 13 KARFA meeting last week and Karen and Brenda Hughes gave 14 respirators for pets and -- to all the VFD's, which I 15 thought was really neat. 16 I started the burn ban this morning. Our 17 volunteer fire departments think it's necessary for 18 Precinct 4. So that kicks off this morning. 19 And a lot of people in Precinct 4 might be 20 interested in the CTEC meeting, emergency meeting or 21 special meeting they're having tomorrow at 10:30 in 22 Fredericksburg, 386 Friendship Lane if you're 23 interested. So that's all I got. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What's the purpose of 25 the meeting? Just to communicate -- 11 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Review over the storm 2 and how it was handled, as far as I know. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Good. Well, at this point I'd 4 like to remind people that we are available by 5 telephone. And we have our new super duper desktop 6 microphone here that we can use. Just call in to the 7 County, which is 830-792-2211 or 2212, either one of 8 those numbers will ring at the Court Coordinator's desk 9 and she will transfer the calls here where we can put 10 you on the speakerphone. 11 (Off the record.) 12 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, so the number I need you 13 to call then is 830-792-6161, and she will transfer that 14 call to this microphone speaker here in the courtroom 15 and we can hear you on -- be able to hear you on 16 YouTube. So that -- that's the number, 792-6161. 17 Okay, with that, let's move on to the 18 Consideration Agenda item 1.1 consider, discuss and take 19 appropriate action regarding the update, facility use, 20 and other matters related to the severe winter weather 21 disaster. Dub Thomas. 22 MR. THOMAS: Good morning, Judge. Good 23 morning, Commissioners. Hope y'all had a great weekend 24 because I sure did. So in regard to the winter storm, I 25 want to let you know that we do still have some of the 12 1 supplies left at the Youth Event Center. They've been 2 actually moved out of the Youth Event Center to one of 3 the storage areas there, but we've been still moving 4 those out to the VFD's for distribution when they need 5 them. 6 The current inventory is I have 12 pallets 7 of MRE's and 15 pallets of water. So we need to move 8 some of that as -- as fast as possible. I did give two 9 pallets of water to the Kerrville Fire Department the 10 other day so they can distribute that as well. 11 Kerr County is eligible for -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. 13 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What do we do with it at 15 some point? 16 MR. THOMAS: Well, we just need to 17 distribute it somehow. I mean it's over the doors. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And we have talked to, 19 you know, Bobby Templeton, the Superintendent at Ingram 20 ISD, said he would take it because, you know, Precinct 4 21 was slammed the hardest and a lot of those students, 22 they might send some home with them in the afternoons or 23 something. 24 MR. THOMAS: And some of the other ISD's may 25 take that -- take that as well. 13 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, the water would be 2 pretty easy to get rid of compared to the MRE's. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: MRE's last a long time, 4 though, don't they? 5 MR. THOMAS: These MRE's last until June of 6 2022. So they're still -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 8 MR. THOMAS: -- good for a while. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So the question is 11 where to put them? 12 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. Where to put them. 13 The County is still eligible for public 14 assistance Category B, which is emergency protective 15 measures. We've talked about this in the past. We're 16 still working to got the disaster summary outline 17 completed, along with many other jurisdictions in the 18 county or in the state. 19 Also the PSAT, which is the public 20 assistance survey. So the DSO is just a snapshot of our 21 damage and the PSAT is an actual, more in depth estimate 22 of what your damage costs are going to be. So they're 23 doing these surveys and the individual assistance survey 24 which will go to -- as well as the public assistance 25 survey, because FEMA'S no longer going to be going out 14 1 and doing preliminary damage assessments. They're not 2 going to be sending teams out anymore. They're going to 3 be doing it, -- because of COVID, they're going to be 4 doing them based -- virtually basically. They'll take 5 your documentation and any pictures you have and 6 they'll -- they'll do them virtually, so -- 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Can I ask you a 8 question? 9 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Somebody inquired of 11 me. They'd already made their repairs. What are they 12 supposed to do? And I said -- 13 MR. THOMAS: Save your pictures. Save your 14 receipts, all that stuff. But please, still do the 15 survey on the individual assistance. Even though you 16 have already fixed your repairs, save all that 17 documentation and do the survey anyway. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: You know, Dub, I don't 19 mean to interrupt, but I want to point out, you know, a 20 lot of people have said Bandera's been approved. Well, 21 last Monday they had 350 surveys filled out. We haven't 22 reached that as of yet in Kerr County with much more 23 damage. And that -- that -- explain that a little bit, 24 Dub, if you don't mind -- 25 MR. THOMAS: Yeah, I -- 15 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: -- how important that 2 is. 3 MR. THOMAS: -- I'm getting calls all the 4 time about the damage surveys for individual assistance. 5 So basically, FEMA'S looking at a total number of homes 6 that are damaged or received damage during the storm. 7 And what it really boils down to is the number of major 8 damage and destroyed. We originally thought that it was 9 going to be somewhere -- you had to have five homes or 10 more that were uninsured or underinsured. Now it turns 11 out that FEMA'S looking at total numbers of homes that 12 are damaged. 13 So to kind of give you a look at where we're 14 at this morning for -- I checked it just before I came 15 here this morning. Total damages reported is 334 homes, 16 destroyed was zero. Major 92. Minor 82. Affected 30. 17 And minimal damage was 130. So we're 334. And last 18 Tuesday, Governor Abbott re-requested an additional 32 19 counties, and Kerr County was included in that, for 20 individual assistance. We have not yet heard about that 21 as of today. So, hopefully, we'll find out something 22 pretty soon. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Dub, one other 24 question. This -- this has to do with structure 25 damages, not -- it doesn't have to do with animals being 16 1 frozen to death or -- 2 MR. THOMAS: No, the animal stuff is going 3 to be handled by the USDA or the Farm Service agencies 4 actually who is handling that. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: How do people respond 6 to that? Just go to the website of -- 7 MR. THOMAS: Yeah, we've -- we've had that 8 information out on the -- 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: There's been several 10 releases. 11 MR. THOMAS: Press releases, yeah. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Okay. Good 13 enough. 14 MR. THOMAS: So on the individual side -- 15 assistance side, like I said, Governor Abbott added -- 16 requested an additional 32 counties, re-requested them 17 to be included for the declaration for individual 18 assistance and we were included in that request. We're 19 still waiting to hear back on that. 20 But I still encourage everybody, doesn't 21 matter how -- how large or how small your damage is, 22 complete that survey. And the survey is located at -- 23 the website is https://arcg.is/uOrOb, or you can call a 24 toll-free number if you don't have Internet access or 25 you're just not comfortable doing it on the computer, 17 1 it's 844-844-3089. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 844-844 -- 3 MR. THOMAS: 3089. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 3089. Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, if that 6 information has been -- 7 MR. THOMAS: All that information -- we 8 posted it on every Facebook page, website that we could 9 put it out on. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. Click on a 11 link. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm glad they made it 13 easy by putting a really short link. That's good. 14 MR. THOMAS: Yeah. It's gotten a little 15 easier. 16 Something else about the facility use, 17 Judge. March 22nd through the 26th, we will be using 18 the Youth Event Center for COVID testing again. SMART 19 will be here then. I got that confirmed the other day. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I looked at your 21 numbers today, Dub, and it was 18,000 people that have 22 been tested in Kerr County? 23 MR. THOMAS: Yes. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now, they're not all 25 necessarily Kerr County residents? 18 1 MR. THOMAS: That was all -- 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That was 18,000 at 3 Peterson alone? 4 MR. THOMAS: At Peterson. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And then you had 6 another maybe 2,000 people. And of those, about 2400 7 had tested positive. So -- 8 MR. THOMAS: Yeah. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: How many people have 10 been vaccinated in Kerr County, do you know? 11 MR. THOMAS: I have no way of knowing that 12 number. I know HEB did the second doses on four -- over 13 400 on Thursday. Peterson Health did over a thousand on 14 Friday. So it's just a matter -- 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 16 MR. THOMAS: We can do it, it's just a 17 matter of getting the vaccines here. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Yeah. Good. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And there's vaccines 20 available in Edwards and Duval County? 21 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. We put that out the 22 other day. There's -- I think it's March the 9th and 23 March the 11th. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Anything else for Dub? 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Thank you. 19 1 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Let's move on to 2 Agenda Item 1.2 consider, discuss and take appropriate 3 action regarding the Local State of Disaster due to 4 Severe Winter Weather that was signed by me on February 5 the 22nd, and extended until terminated by order of 6 Commissioners' Court. 7 As far as emergency, I think we all got a 8 breath of fresh air this past weekend. Seemed like 9 things are letting up a little bit. But in terms of 10 disaster, I don't want us to do anything that's going to 11 adversely affect applying for individual assistance with 12 FEMA. And so I would encourage us to leave the order in 13 place until we see how we're doing with FEMA. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Does this need to stay 15 in place for people to file their FEMA stuff or what? 16 JUDGE KELLY: I don't know. I could look at 17 Dub and see if that could make a difference or not. But 18 my thought is that we're recovering from the disaster 19 and we don't want to do anything that's going to 20 adversely affect people being able to file claims for 21 assistance. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So err on the side of 23 caution. 24 JUDGE KELLY: That's my thought. 25 MR. THOMAS: Now, Judge, we're covered by -- 20 1 by the Governor's order, but it never hurts for us to 2 have our own disaster order just to make sure we've got 3 every -- all the bases covered. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Sure. And I see the County 5 Attorney nodding her head that we're covered by the 6 Governor's Order but we knew that. I -- I just don't 7 want to do anything that's going to impede somebody 8 being able to seek assistance for the damages. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So if we wait another 10 week or so it won't hurt anything. 11 MR. THOMAS: Probably two weeks. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Probably two weeks until we 13 get back to our next regular meeting. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: No action. 16 JUDGE KELLY: So it's extended until 17 terminated. Unless somebody makes a motion and it gets 18 seconded and it passes, it's not terminated. So it 19 stays in effect. 20 Let's move on to Item 1.3 consider, discuss 21 and take appropriate action regarding the presentations 22 from CASA, K'STAR and Hill Country Cares, and request 23 funding for the current fiscal year. Stephanie Cash. 24 Welcome. You can take your mask off while 25 you're at the podium. 21 1 MS. CASH: I'd like to keep it on, please. 2 JUDGE KELLY: That's fine. I'm just letting 3 you know you can if you want. 4 MS. CASH: Thank you. Hello, Judge Kelly 5 and Commissioners. My name is Stephanie Cash. I'm the 6 executive director of Hill Country CASA. Thank you for 7 allowing me audience in your court again today to share 8 information about the necessary work of CASA on behalf 9 of foster children, their families and the child 10 protection court in Kerr County. 11 Texas Family Code Section 107.011 requires 12 that the child protection court appoint a guardian ad 13 litem or a GAL for a child upon removal from their home 14 and into foster care. Texas counties, in order to avoid 15 paying attorneys or qualified non-attorneys to perform 16 this GAL service for the children, is through -- is to 17 appoint a volunteer through CASA. And since 2012, Hill 18 Country CASA has provided a GAL to every single child 19 removed from their home in Kerr County. This is well 20 above the state average of CASA appointments to only 21 about 60 percent of Texas foster children. 22 Through our service, which is without cost 23 to the children, families and courts we serve, we 24 provided 2,683 hours to 89 Kerr County resident 25 children, their families and the child protection court 22 1 of South Texas in FY 2020 alone. And the number of 2 children coming into foster care are on the rise. In 3 the first two quarters of the current FY 2021 fiscal 4 year, we've already served 82 children from Kerr County. 5 If the CASA program cannot take 6 appointments, the child protection court will be 7 required to appoint an attorney in a dual role of 8 child's attorney and Guardian Ad Litem. At 10 9 authorized GAL hours per child's case, that's 10 approximately $700.00 per case at the County's current 11 ad litem rate or a total of $35,700 based on the FY 2020 12 case numbers. 13 By comparison, in FY 2020 the value of Hill 14 Country CASA volunteer services to foster children in 15 court in Kerr County was $41,279. We, of course, do not 16 charge a fee for our service, but in order to qualify 17 for state dollars to fund the majority of this project, 18 we must in kind match our grant with volunteer hours, 19 which we are told by the feds to rate at 22 per. Not to 20 mention, CASA provides well over ten hours of advocacy 21 services per case. In fact, on average in 2020, CASA 22 provided 30 advocacy hours to each child we served. 23 I humbly come before this court today to ask 24 that you invest minimally in our program to save 25 significant dollars in the County's budget. As Texas 23 1 and the feds make significant changes to the child 2 welfare system in Texas, our main sources of funding, 3 which come from outside of our service area, are at 4 threat. Every dollar from our community that is spent 5 on our community's children is needed. Even though 6 these dollars don't make up a majority of our budget, 7 they do allow us to show that local support exists, 8 which aides us to fundraise for this project largely 9 outside of this County. 10 Further, on February 9th, 2021 Kerrville 11 Daily Times reported that Kerr County netted a budget 12 surplus of $2.9 million in FY 2020 or 19 percent over 13 the County's savings goal. The $3,000.00 that the 14 County saved by not supporting Hill Country CASA, a 15 32-year standing Kerr County non-profit, is 0.001 16 percent of the County's total reported 2020 savings. 17 I urge the Commissioners' Court to consider 18 putting some of your budget surplus back into the 19 community programs that depend on your support to serve 20 your constituents and our neighbors in this current 21 fiscal year. Now that you have overcome your expected 22 shortfall, we are available to come before the Court at 23 any time to discuss the good work of our staff and 24 volunteers in the community and how they help their 25 neighbors to make people's lives and our community a 24 1 better place to live. 2 I thank you for your time. And I've got 3 Brent and Melody to share a few words as well. Thank 4 you. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Question if I may -- 6 MS. CASH: Yes, sir, of course. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- before you do that? 8 I'm a strong believer in CASA. They do fantastic work. 9 But you said something about the County saving money in 10 your script there. I'm -- 11 MS. CASH: Uh-huh. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Expand on that. How 13 does -- 14 MS. CASH: The Texas Family Code requires 15 that when a child is removed from their home that they 16 are appointed an attorney ad litem and a guardian 17 ad litem. CASA fulfills that guardian ad litem role. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Uh-huh. 19 MS. CASH: If we were not here to fulfill 20 that role, it would have to be an attorney or a 21 qualified non-attorney. 4K, that comes out of the 22 County's budget. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Paid for by the 24 County? 25 MS. CASH: Yes, sir. 25 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. That's what 2 you're saying. Okay. All right. Thank you. 3 MS. CASH: Uh-huh. 4 MS. LOWMAN: Hello, ladies and gentlemen. 5 My name is Melody Lowman and I'm the Executive Director 6 at K'STAR. And I really don't have a dog in this fight 7 because I didn't know the procedures to ask for money. 8 And so the one time I did come about three years ago and 9 Commissioner Belew did encourage y'all to increase our 10 budget by saying it's for the children, and that was all 11 great and good, but I didn't know I had to write a 12 letter so I didn't get that money. 13 But I'm here in support of Stephanie and 14 Brent as well. I know firsthand the amazing work that 15 Stephanie and her team do for the children in care. And 16 with -- being that the world went mad about a year ago, 17 everything's changed as far as fundraising and budgeting 18 and I know this firsthand for our program, not to 19 mention that being forced to spend gobs of money on PPE 20 has really hit our budget. 21 And so I'm just here in support of her. 22 Next year I'll be back and I'll do it right and 23 hopefully get a little bit of funding for K'STAR as 24 well. So I thank you for your time and I hope that you 25 will reconsider and give those that followed procedures 26 1 a little bit of money to help support their programs. 2 Thank you. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. 4 MR. IVES: Good morning, gentlemen. And 5 thank you for the opportunity to speak here this 6 morning. First of all, I have to say that Melody is 7 being very humble in saying she's here to support both 8 of us. Her program does amazing things at K'STAR as far 9 as emergency shelter for children and the counseling 10 that they provide. 11 In Kerr County, we -- I'm going to take this 12 off for a second. I'm having some issues with some 13 glasses here. 14 We provide a local children's advocacy 15 center that coordinates a multi-disciplinary team 16 approach to the investigation of child abuse 17 investigations, sexual abuse investigation, physical 18 abuse investigations, and those investigations where a 19 child witnessed -- 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Who are you with? Who 21 are you with? 22 MR. IVES: I'm sorry. I was thinking about 23 that just -- I'm Brent Ives. I'm with Hill Country 24 Crisis Council here in Kerrville. And so, we are an 25 umbrella agency that provides a children's advocacy 27 1 center, just like I told you. We provide -- we 2 coordinate a multi-disciplinary team when there is a 3 child abuse investigation. 4 And so under the same umbrella, we also have 5 a family violence program and a sexual assault program, 6 including a residential emergency shelter for survivors 7 of domestic violence and sexual assault, their children 8 and their pets. And so we provide these services for 9 the community of Kerr County. 10 We are only one of five programs in the 11 State that have those programs under the same roof. And 12 so to have to be able to provide those services, I am 13 always proud and excited what we offer to the community 14 and the value to the community. 15 At the core of what we do at Hill Country 16 Crisis Council is to coordinate this multi-disciplinary 17 team approach. That includes local law enforcement, it 18 includes local DSPS, it includes local prosecutors. We 19 partner with Peterson Regional. We partner with CASA. 20 We partner with K'STAR in these approaches to these 21 investigations. 22 The multi-disciplinary team model is used 23 around the nation to approach child abuse 24 investigations. It's proven by research to provide 25 better outcomes, not only in justice for law enforcement 28 1 and prosecutors, but also in providing safety to 2 children, and to restore children's lives. So we are 3 very proud of the collaboration that we -- that we have 4 with these local agencies. 5 Beyond those affects, there are demonstrable 6 cost savings to the County and to the agencies that are 7 working with us, as far as using a CAC -- a children's 8 advocacy center. A cost benefit analysis show that 9 traditional investigations into child abuse cases cost 10 36 percent more than using a CAC collaborative approach 11 for the community. 12 CAC can save as much as a thousand dollars 13 per child's case in an abuse case by streamlining this 14 process. A very timely example is that when it comes to 15 CAC multi-disciplinary positive outcome in Kerr County, 16 is that last week Kerr County Sheriff's office arrested 17 two individuals and charged them with sexual assault of 18 a child, continuous, victim under 14 years old, and 19 Sheriff Leitha, in his message to the media, praised his 20 investigators who worked the case, he praised DSPS who 21 worked the case, the Center Point ISD Police Department, 22 and Kids' Advocacy Place, our children's advocacy 23 center, for working that case. He said that the public 24 is safer today without these two individuals on the 25 streets. 29 1 In 2020, our children's advocacy center 2 interviewed 119 Kerr County youth who were suspected to 3 have been sexually abused, physically abused, or 4 witnessed domestic violence. 5 I talked about our family violence program 6 briefly. We provide -- provided services to 248 Kerr 7 County survivors last year in 2020 and shelter services 8 to 89 individuals, not all from Kerr County, but 89 9 individuals were living at our shelter over the course 10 of 2020. 11 I ask that the Commissioners' Court 12 recognize not only the value of Hill Country Crisis 13 Council to this community, but CASA's value to this 14 community, K'STAR's value to this community, and to 15 allocate funds for those of us that are victims services 16 providers in this County. Thank you. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let me ask you, Brent. 18 You made a comment about saves -- saves money for the 19 County. You mean it's directly out of our budget or 20 indirectly? 21 MR. IVES: I think -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And what I'm thinking is 23 what Stephanie says, is that if we don't -- if -- you 24 know, if CASA doesn't provide the services, it costs us 25 $35,000, plus or minus. Is it similar with -- 30 1 MR. IVES: The way that it would work in 2 that regard is that so in a -- prior to the 3 multi-disciplinary team or CAC model being used in child 4 abuse investigations, there would be a child that would 5 make a disclosure to, let's say, at a school. That 6 child would make a disclosure to a teacher. And then 7 that teacher might pass it on to a principal. And then 8 law enforcement would get involved and they would go do 9 their investigation and DSPS would come and do their 10 investigation so it's a duplicative process. 11 So you're expending resources, whereas with 12 the multi-disciplinary team model, the law enforcement, 13 DSPS and prosecutors at times come to the center, and 14 they're able to -- we're able to interview the child one 15 time. And we're able to share information that saves 16 these agencies from having to go out and do their own -- 17 do more investigation, when the left hand doesn't always 18 know what the right hand is doing. And so there -- it 19 saves resources and costs in that regard, from a 20 collaborative and a information sharing standpoint. 21 And the CAC model is under Texas Family -- 22 has its own section under Texas Family Code that it's 23 mandated that law enforcement and DSPS and prosecutors 24 work together. So does that answer your question? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 31 1 MR. IVES: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I have a question 3 for the Sheriff. Is there any advantage in having 4 separate inquiries as opposed to what Brent's talking 5 about here, or pursuing something that's specific to the 6 law enforcement? 7 SHERIFF LIETHA: I think pursuing something 8 specific to law enforcement would be better. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But you would find that 10 out in this first meeting? 11 SHERIFF LIETHA: Correct. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And then you would go 13 on from there. So everybody here has the same 14 information. We're not playing telephone. 15 SHERIFF LEITHA: Correct. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's important. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I've got a question 18 for Stephanie and you, Brent, I guess. Because you all 19 do admirable work without a doubt. Where is your 20 funding coming from now? 21 MR. IVES: So my funding -- our funding 22 comes from a mixture of federal and state grant funding. 23 We're at the high percentage of both federal and state 24 funding. We also receive funding from local 25 governments, cities, counties. As well as United Way, 32 1 direct contributions, fundraising. That's where our 2 funding comes from. 3 But the short -- the short answer is, is 4 that we are highly dependent on federal and state 5 funding and we are trying to remedy that. We are really 6 trying to remedy that. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So you want to wean off 8 of the federal and the state? 9 MR. IVES: Yes. That's exactly correct. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. And we take care 11 of it locally and control it local? 12 MR. IVES: It's a start. Absolutely. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. I like that. 14 MRS. STEBBINS: You know -- 15 MS. CASH: And I've been working -- oh, 16 sorry. Go ahead. 17 MRS. STEBBINS: No, go ahead. 18 MS. CASH: I've been working on that project 19 for Hill Country CASA for a number of years now. When I 20 started with the program seven years ago, we were 80 21 percent dependent on state and federal funds. We're now 22 about 55 percent dependent on state and federal funds. 23 That's why I've come to this Court and ask for increased 24 awards over the years to continue to diversify our pool, 25 and continue to be able to provide this program to every 33 1 child when they come into the foster care system. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What's your total 3 budget though? 4 MS. CASH: This year it's 437,488. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: What about are you 6 doing any fundraising? Do y'all do fundraising? 7 MS. CASH: I write 24 grants a year 8 typically. We don't do fundraising events because it 9 costs money to do that and we're trying to maximize and 10 be good stewards of the dollars we receive. So we go 11 out and ask for funding from financial foundations, 12 banks, Commissioners' Courts in the other three counties 13 as well, to make up the remaining percentage that isn't 14 state and federal. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I just think that with 16 y'all's cause, it would be an automatic for a good 17 fundraiser. I mean -- I mean, I -- I could see you all 18 raising a lot more than we could ever earmark for you. 19 MS. CASH: We're only five staff, sir. And 20 so in order to serve all the children in four counties, 21 we don't have a staff member available to do 22 fundraisers. That takes a lot of time. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. It takes 24 volunteers. 25 MS. CASH: Yes. And 80 volunteers. But the 34 1 staff are the ones who would be coordinating that sort 2 of event. The event that we do in place of that is 3 actually a training -- a two-day training event for 4 attorneys ad litem and CASA's across the state that come 5 here to Kerrville for their annual required training 6 through the State Bar. That's a fundraising event for 7 us, but again, it's a community service. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And then you -- you 9 would have to vet those volunteers? 10 MS. CASH: Oh absolutely. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So that's a whole other 12 process? 13 MS. CASH: Oh, sure. It costs about $400 -- 14 I -- I believe in my report to you all at the end of 15 last fiscal year stated that it cost about $421 to just 16 get a volunteer in the door, all the required background 17 checks and training and everything that we need to do to 18 ensure that they are appropriate to be present to be 19 sworn as officers of the Court. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, Brent, you did 21 mention fundraising. 22 MR. IVES: We do fundraising. The 23 fundraising landscape has certainly changed with COVID 24 and has gone much more virtual. But in the past, we 25 have done fundraising events such as a casino night to 35 1 where we educate the community in what we're doing and 2 then we bring in casino tables and things like that. We 3 have done -- we do fundraising. The short answer is 4 yes, we do fundraising. We have put on softball 5 tournaments. We have put on kickball tournaments. 6 Right now -- you know, we do holiday appeals 7 to where we send out information to our donor base. We 8 are trying to level that up. Actually went to a 9 strategic plan here recently and the short story is that 10 we are really trying to level up the stewardship of our 11 donors. That's where we really need to focus on. 12 And the fundraising is great. And at the 13 same time, what really will move you to the next level 14 is that you have a donor base that supports your cause. 15 We have not historically been good at that, and that is 16 our strategic goal moving into the next five years is to 17 build that base. But yes, we do fundraise. Yes. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What is your budget? 19 MR. IVES: 1.54 million. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Certainly adds up. 21 What about K'STAR? 22 MS. LOWMAN: We're about one and a half 23 million right now. 24 MRS. STEBBINS: Y'all, the services they 25 provide, while they save money now, the victims and the 36 1 children that they serve now it pays out on the other 2 end, keeping them out of the juvenile system and the 3 adult criminal system. It helps educate them so that 4 they can be employed and also be servants of our 5 community. On the other end, 10 years from now, 20 6 years from now, the effects of their services are 7 enormous for our community. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's no question of 9 the benefit all three of your agencies provide for this 10 community. The question comes as to whether government 11 should fund it. And -- and this is my feeling, not 12 necessarily what the court as a whole feels. 13 Our -- as long as I've been a Commissioner, 14 most years we have funded all three of these agencies, I 15 believe. If there's a direct savings to the County, it 16 rises in my -- so to me, CASA is little bit higher level 17 because, you know, it costs the County money if we don't 18 use it. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: True. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If CASA were not here, 21 it would cost us money. There's an indirect with crisis 22 council whether, you know, the benefit there, but there 23 is still a financial benefit. Looking back, I don't 24 recall presentations during the budget process like 25 this. I wish we would have had them because I think it 37 1 makes it easier for me to approve them. And I wouldn't 2 know where the money would come from at this point. You 3 mentioned a surplus. Well, yeah, there was a surplus 4 but if it's not budgeted it's very difficult to get into 5 it. I mean it's -- 6 MS. CASH: May I just say, sir, that I come 7 every single year and make a presentation to you all and 8 I was told not to come in May; otherwise, I would have 9 been here. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I was not aware of that. 11 MS. CASH: I was told by your court 12 coordinator not to be here. Because of the -- you all 13 were in lock down. And so I respectfully stayed away. 14 And that was the first year that CASA was not funded. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 16 MS. CASH: And there were other non-profits 17 that were funded. And I do believe that the -- these 18 non-profits represented here, that serve the victims of 19 this community, are every bit as important as the 20 non-profits that you did fund. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, I don't -- I don't 22 disagree with that. 23 JUDGE KELLY: I think that with Dietert, 24 which was required to get the Meals on Wheels. That was 25 the only non-profit we funded. 38 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It was a matching thing 2 that we didn't want to stop the Meals on Wheels. How 3 much in the past historically has the County provided 4 for CASA? 5 MS. CASH: You all increased it, I believe 6 it was 16 or 17 to $2,000.00. And in '19, you increased 7 it to three. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Three. Right. 9 MS. CASH: And that would be what I would be 10 asking for today. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And it's about the same 12 for all three organizations, isn't it? 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: 25 to three? 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And that's what I -- 15 yeah. I figured like 2500, but three thousand -- 16 whatever. It just -- I would like to see you do some 17 fundraising and -- and, you know, do your part. You're 18 going to get a lot more than what you can get from us 19 with a fundraiser, I would think. 20 MS. CASH: Sir, like I said, I do fundraise. 21 I just don't fundraise through events which cost money. 22 It's easiest for us to fundraise through foundation 23 grants. And I do 24 of those a year. So every other 24 week I'm making an appeal to someone for funding for our 25 project. I can't do any more than that. You all are 39 1 not a part of that 24 that I'm asking for. I -- the 2 other four -- the other three counties in our service 3 area are funding us and I would like to be able to tell 4 those bigger funders, when I go out and make my 5 fundraising effort. One of the things that I would like 6 to be able to tell them is that all four counties are 7 supportive of this project, so that I can leverage that 8 into more dollars outside of this community. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I don't have a 10 problem with that. It's just -- you know, the 11 traditional casino night and different things would 12 bring in -- I don't know, what do you make off that, 13 Brent? 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, if it's a token 15 contribution to help her do exactly what she just 16 explained -- 17 MR. IVES: To leverage. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- I don't have any -- 19 I don't have any issue with everybody getting the 20 funding. It's a small amount. And it's a -- it's a big 21 investment with a small amount of money. I get that. 22 And I'm for everybody getting funded. 23 You know our position, too, is that as more 24 organizations are funded, more organizations lineup to 25 be funded and all of them aren't, in my mind, as worthy 40 1 as what you guys are doing. And I -- I want to tell 2 each of you, I appreciate very much what you're doing. 3 MS. CASH: Thank you. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I know how important it 5 is. So if -- if we can do that with that small amount 6 of money, help -- help you get a larger grant, and 7 everybody's going after grant funding, right? 8 MR. IVES: Absolutely. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Everybody's going to 10 writing grants. 11 MR. IVES: Yes. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So I -- I don't have 13 a -- 14 MS. CASH: That's the best way to fundraise. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Sure. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What -- what is -- 17 MR. IVES: Well, like I said, ours is -- 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's the way to look 19 at it, I think. Is that if we do that, then it shows 20 that you have support in the community. 21 MS. CASH: Yes, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It looks bad if -- if 23 all my neighbors hate me but the guy across the -- you 24 know, a town likes me, it doesn't matter because my 25 neighbors hates me. So I'm not a very good neighbor. 41 1 So if you have support in your own community, everybody 2 gets it. I understand. That -- that is important. 3 MR. IVES: It makes sense. It makes a lot 4 of sense. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Question for Tanya. 6 What -- what's the -- what are the options? What are 7 the procedures here? 8 MRS. SHELTON: If y'all will allow me to 9 come back with something next Commissioners' Court 10 meeting, I would appreciate it. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I -- that's what I 12 would recommend. Okay? Let's let -- we all agree that 13 you do fantastic work. It's not a huge amount. Okay. 14 It can be leveraged. And it could be a big savings for 15 the County. Let Tanya look at it as the Auditor and see 16 what we can do, and that's what I'd recommend. 17 MR. IVES: Thank you. 18 MS. CASH: Thank you so much. I appreciate 19 the consideration and your time. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Thank you. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you for all you 23 do. 24 MS. CASH: You're welcome. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Moving on to the next 42 1 item on the agenda is 1.4 update regarding the Hill 2 Country Regional Public Defender's Office. John Bull. 3 And Judge Elizabeth Berry and Garrett Emerson, I see. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: He's already flanked by 5 an entourage. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No kidding. 7 MR. BULL: No, this is just my bodyguard. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's what it looks 9 like. 10 MR. BULL: Yeah, so I'm just here to give 11 you an update on where we're at. I had started 12 officially on January 1st. I brought Elizabeth -- we 13 were the top two finalists for the position and we had 14 talked on the side. We were both really excited about 15 doing it and so I brought Elizabeth on. So you have the 16 only public defender office in the state that's run by 17 two judges, retired judges. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Fantastic. 19 MR. BULL: And when you bring someone on 20 board, it's just like being a coach of -- you're 21 coaching a college football team. You want to hire 22 somebody that has subject matter expertise, that can 23 recruit and they can train. And so she had that as well 24 as I did. So we both teach, and we kind of have a 25 pipeline of talent with the two different law schools. 43 1 Since starting, there -- there have been 2 some -- some little hiccups along the way, but it wasn't 3 anything that I expected -- that I didn't expect. And 4 just to give you an overview, we're talking about we're 5 covering a territory of approximately 5,000 square 6 miles. And we're bringing people on board. 7 Currently, the office -- there are seven of 8 us. By the second week of April I anticipate that will 9 be 15. And by the summer, we'll probably be ramped up 10 closer to what the maximum staffing will be. We 11 currently have 60 active felony cases. I had kind of 12 set a goal on March 1st. We were able to do it the last 13 week of February. Those are spread out pretty evenly 14 among Fredericksburg, Bandera, Kerrville and Hondo. And 15 we haven't turned the tap on all the way at all yet. 16 We met with Judge Cohoon in Kendall. 17 They're begging us to start taking appointments. We are 18 just trying to kind of control the flow as it comes in. 19 And like I said, every -- all the cases we have right 20 now are felonies, which I think was kind of the intent 21 of the program. And I mean if you just, kind of, think 22 about what you would be paying for court appointed 23 lawyers just for 60 felonies, I mean you can already see 24 where there's going to be a change. 25 I have -- I have noticed and, you know, I'm 44 1 fully aware of the fact that we are a department under 2 Kerr County, but there are five counties involved. And 3 I can -- I can definitely tell you, particularly when we 4 get into Medina -- Medina, Kendall and Kerr are all 5 going to be pretty close in the volume that we're going 6 to be getting. 7 The other thing, I did want to mention is in 8 our discussions with all of the District Judges that 9 we're going to be appearing before, pretty much every 10 one of the District Attorney's Offices, everybody is 11 100 percent in support of this office. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 13 MR. BULL: And I haven't -- we haven't -- I 14 mean, even the prosecutors' offices have been very 15 cooperative, very helpful. And like I said, the 16 District Judges -- every discussion we've had with the 17 judges is when can you start taking cases, you know, we 18 need you to start taking them yesterday. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So everybody returns 20 your call. 21 MR. BULL: Well, we're having to return too 22 many calls right now. But -- but yeah. And -- and 23 we're -- we've got a good team right now because, you 24 know, the thing that I could be real clear about on this 25 office is, you know, it's paramount that people have to 45 1 be on board with the mission coming on board and, as you 2 know, everybody wants to go work for the DA's office. 3 It takes a very specific group that -- that want to come 4 work for a public defender office. 5 Confidentiality is key to this office and 6 the way we operate. And so right now, unfortunately, 7 because of natural problems, I'm sure you would assume, 8 so we're all setting up a fund in the office to get 9 Garrett a smart car, because he keeps driving to Hondo 10 like every other day in that big pickup truck and -- or 11 a motorcycle or something. I don't know. 12 But anyway, so -- so, you know, we're -- 13 we're moving forward. And today we have a Zoom call 14 with SMU Law School, who were referred to us from the 15 Texas Indigent Defense Commission. They want to start 16 an extern program sending their students to us as 17 interns, that we don't have to pay, for a summer 18 internship. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Wow. 20 MR. BULL: We -- we were getting the same 21 inquiries from St. Mary's, and then Elizabeth teaches at 22 Texas A&M Law School in Fort Worth. And so we're -- 23 we're going to have a lot of extra help that we weren't 24 anticipating, but I think everybody on a statewide level 25 is very high about the way this office is being set up 46 1 and the region we're serving so -- 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: John, when it was -- 3 when we were considering this and setting it up and the 4 Judge did all the legwork on this, and he did a great 5 job, but it was estimated a significant savings for Kerr 6 County to have a public defenders. 7 At the end of the year, could you provide 8 some estimate of had it not been a public defender 9 versus having to use attorneys hired to do that? 10 MR. BULL: Yeah. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And show us -- and 12 just -- it doesn't have to be exact, but a -- an 13 estimated savings was realized? 14 MR. BULL: And in fact -- so my position as 15 Chief Public Defender so I have the oversight board that 16 consists of the five counties, representatives from the 17 five counties. We're a department of Kerr County as 18 well. I have to file quarterly reports with the Texas 19 Indigent Defense Commission. And that's the other 20 reason why we wanted to start taking appointments. 21 Because I don't want to do -- my reports are based on 22 bodies and cases. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 24 MR. BULL: And I don't want to be sending 25 reports that have zeros on them. We -- we want to get 47 1 going. But that -- that's part and parcel of the things 2 that we'll be reporting. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That would be great to 4 see. Yeah. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: With 60 cases and the 6 Courts are going to actually be in session again, right? 7 MR. BULL: Uh-huh. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Where are you going to 9 do this stuff in the -- for the time being? Is it in 10 our District Courts or -- 11 MR. BULL: Well, so there was a -- 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Where all do you go? 13 MR. BULL: -- the Supreme Court came down 14 Friday and pretty much opened it up. And left it to the 15 local jurisdictions to decide how they wanted to do it. 16 That's the other reason I think most of the district 17 judges are really wanting us to get started because 18 they've got a tremendous backlog of cases. So we may be 19 doing it from the office on Zoom or we may be doing it 20 in person at the different courthouses. But everybody 21 is pretty much -- this offices is -- it's like running a 22 30-person law firm. And you can't -- that skill set -- 23 it's not easy 'cuz you're setting up a big law office. 24 It's not like Thomas J. Henry, but it's a pretty big law 25 office. And I wouldn't call it herding cats because 48 1 these are professionals that we're bringing on board. 2 But I've been real happy with the crowd 3 we've gotten, because they -- I'll get something in, we 4 just got appointed on a case in Bandera. And I've got 5 people in the office right now that are putting on their 6 coats and taking off to go to the jail in Bandera or 7 Kerr, and like I said, Garrett, he -- he just -- we'll 8 get an appointment from Medina County and then he's -- 9 he puts on his coat and heading over there to -- to 10 Hondo. 11 You know, we -- we've had to work out some 12 procedural matters because each of the counties handle 13 appointments differently. Each of the D.A.'s offices 14 handle how they send you discovery differently. So 15 it -- it's -- it hasn't been too challenging, but it's 16 just you're working with several different 17 jurisdictions. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Software working out or 19 is it installed yet? 20 MR. BULL: We get that today -- I mean this 21 week. The computer equipment came in. That was another 22 thing that had kind of come up. Under the grant, there 23 was a very specific provision that I don't think anybody 24 knew about, but as relates to this because it's grant 25 funds, we have to purchase equipment under the DIR. And 49 1 that is a State consortium. And I would actually 2 recommend, because Kerr is part of that, I was -- I was 3 stunned at the difference in pricing on going through 4 the DIR. Because that's like the BuyBoard that they use 5 times a thousand. So you can find any vendor on there. 6 All the counties are a party to that by contract, and so 7 we were -- we were able to get a lot of our equipment 8 going that way. And then the delivery, we finally got 9 it worked out was like within -- within three or four 10 working days, I think so. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And software? 12 MR. BULL: And the -- huh? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The software? 14 MR. BULL: The software -- I think y'all are 15 approving that check today, I hope. 16 And then I was able to come in under budget 17 on that. The one that was -- I think we had budgeted 18 fifteen five for that, and I was able to negotiate with 19 the one company from I think 17 down to 14. We did have 20 to make up budget adjustments that I've been working 21 with Tanya on. We were having a savings in furniture so 22 we were going to move that to get the computers. 23 Because $500.00 per computer wasn't going to get us very 24 far. Maybe -- 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I like to hear that you 50 1 negotiate price. I really like that. 2 MR. BULL: Well, I -- 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Thank you. 4 MR. BULL: -- I have -- I do that a lot. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's awesome. 6 MR. BULL: And I did want to say between 7 Commissioner Letz, Tanya, Jennifer, everybody's been 8 super helpful on us getting this thing off the ground. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 10 MR. BULL: And I really do appreciate 11 everybody's help and assistance in that area. So -- 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: How close are we for 13 them getting the building? 14 JUDGE KELLY: We can talk about that in 15 Executive Session today. The contract amendment will be 16 June 30, we have to take possession of the building. 17 MR. BULL: And I'm not high maintenance. I 18 spent my summers in junior high and high school working 19 in an unair-conditioned auto parts warehouse, so -- 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And we start you out 21 in the basement and -- 22 MR. BULL: Yeah. The staff may not be on 23 board with this, but if you want to put me in an 24 unair-conditioned warehouse with milk crates, we can do 25 that. It doesn't matter. 51 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Now he tells us. 2 MR. BULL: Nobody's going to hurt my 3 feelings. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We've got an old 5 juvenile detention center over there. No. Forget that. 6 Thanks, John. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Great report. 8 MR. BULL: Oh, thank you. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Let's go on to 10 Item 1.5 consider, discuss and take appropriate action 11 to approve a $100 donation from a citizen for the 12 Sheriff's Equipment Fund. 13 SHERIFF LEITHA: Commissioners and Judge, I 14 just ask for your approval for this hundred dollar 15 donation to be put in our equipment fund. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Move for approval. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 19 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 20 approve the donation of $100 for the Sheriff's Equipment 21 Fund. Any discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. 22 Unanimous, five zero. 23 SHERIFF LEITHA: Thank you. 24 JUDGE KELLY: The next item on the agenda is 25 a timed item. I'd like to go ahead and complete that 52 1 and then after that we will take about a five minute 2 break, and we'll go on to the other timed items then. 3 Item 1.6 is to consider, discuss and take 4 appropriate action for a budget adjustment request in 5 salaries for the 216th District Attorney. James Robles, 6 and I see -- 7 MR. ROBLES: Yes. And the D.A.'s with me as 8 well. 9 She requested an adjustment for about $6,400 10 to be moved from conference to a salary line item for 11 the new District Attorney. And I'll let her -- 12 MRS. WILKE: Good morning. I sent everyone 13 a copy of Melissa Ward's resume and application, and I'm 14 really excited about her experience. She's got 15 extensive experience. She's been licensed for 16 years. 16 She's licensed in three states, passing -- taking and 17 passing a bar in one state is difficult and she has done 18 it in a total of three states, including Texas. 19 Her experience includes jury trial 20 experience, supervisory experience, she's had experience 21 prosecuting sexual assault cases, drug cases, she worked 22 in El Paso in the drug prosecution unit. And that's got 23 some pretty serious drug offenders on their docket and a 24 pretty extensive drug docket. She also has experience 25 in child abuse cases. She was handling child abuse and 53 1 sexual assault cases, and it's -- that's what she's 2 currently doing in Spokane, Washington. 3 I had excellent responses from her 4 references. I called two District Judges that have 5 worked with her, as well as two supervisors. Her 6 current supervisor and the prior supervisor and all said 7 great things about her. I'm excited that she would be 8 interested in coming to work for our office. 9 What I'm requesting here is to basically 10 have the same salary that the Assistant DA in the 198th 11 has. That position over there has less experience than 12 Melissa. And this would still keep me at less than the 13 198th total salary for this fiscal year. It would keep 14 me, and I say that with an asterisk. It would keep me a 15 thousand dollars less than what they have budgeted for 16 salaries in their office. And of course, as the court's 17 aware, they handle a case load very similar to ours, and 18 they have the same number of employees in their office. 19 Right now they're short, they're short a prosecutor. 20 But it's my understanding that they intend to fill that 21 position. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: This is within your 23 budget? 24 MRS. WILKE: What I'm asking for right 25 now -- 54 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Or you're asking for an 2 increase in your budget? 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. Adjustment. 4 MRS. WILKE: No. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Adjustment? 6 MRS. WILKE: Correct. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You'll put this over in 8 another line? 9 MRS. WILKE: Correct. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 11 MRS. WILKE: It will be an increase next 12 year. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes. 14 MRS. WILKE: But since this is -- for now, 15 for the remainder of this fiscal year it's just an 16 amendment. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So Lucy, is this a new 18 position or -- 19 MRS. WILKE: Actually, it's a position we've 20 always had. Garrett Emerson moved over to the Public 21 Defender's Office and that left his position open. The 22 198th -- 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So it's position -- it 24 was already planned -- 25 MRS. WILKE: Correct. 55 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- it's just filling 2 that position? 3 MRS. WILKE: Correct. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Gotcha. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And you got more talent 6 than you thought you were going to get and -- 7 MRS. WILKE: Absolutely. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- and you need more 9 money? 10 MRS. WILKE: Absolutely. I got more talent 11 than I thought I would get, which I'm very happy about. 12 So again, it's also on par with the Regional Public 13 Defender's Office. The salary for a felony prosecutor 14 there ranges from 85 to 100,000, depending on 15 experience, and this is on par with that. 16 And I'd just like to remind the 17 Commissioners' Court that every year that I've handled 18 the budget, which has been last five years, my budget 19 has decreased, or not increased. It's decreased four 20 years and then last year it did not increase. My budget 21 now is 55,445 less than it was a year before I took 22 office. Mr. Curry let me handle the very last year's 23 budget, the last year he was in office, so that's why 24 I've handle five versus four, even though I've only been 25 in office for four years. So I feel like I've been a 56 1 great steward of taxpayer funds, and I hope that -- 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What would -- what 3 would that mean to next year's budget, just the 4 incremental increase for that? 5 MRS. WILKE: The next year's budget I would 6 ask for an increase of $15,000 because that's the 7 difference between what I was paying the former ADA 8 and -- 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Gotcha. Okay. That 10 answers the question. 11 MRS. WILKE: -- that -- that -- 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 13 MRS. WILKE: So it's 15. And I'll assure 14 the Court that I will definitely look at my budget and 15 see what I can change so that it's not quite a $15,000 16 increase, but if I can't change anything -- 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. You answered it. 18 Tanya, what's the issue there on the budget adjustment 19 for that? Or -- or James? Any? 20 MRS. SHELTON: It will end up being -- I 21 think James is prepared to talk about it also. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 23 MRS. SHELTON: It's fifteen four for the 24 salary, but you've got the roll-ups in there. 25 MR. ROBLES: Yeah. And I think with the one 57 1 month gap between the two new hires, we may not need to 2 do an adjustment with FICA and retirement. It'll 3 probably just be the salary. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The issue I have with it 5 is -- and this has been an issue that I've had with the 6 D.A.'s office for years. Is that we have budget creep 7 on salaries. And it comes in outside the budget cycle. 8 And that's the biggest problem I have with it. It's 9 a -- and I have -- you know, we have attorneys in this 10 office, attorneys in your office, attorneys in the 198th 11 office, and then we have a big huge new department with 12 a bunch of attorneys in it. And we need to be very 13 careful that we are paying consistently across the board 14 for attorneys. And I understand there's experience 15 levels and this and that, but it just -- you know, 16 raising it -- you know, coming -- and the precedent 17 we're setting by going in and increasing a salary 18 midyear, I've got an issue with it. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Does this affect the 20 step and grade -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They're all -- attorneys 22 are all exempt. They're all exempt. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: They're exempted from 24 it. Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They're all exempt. 58 1 MRS. WILKE: Correct. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So it doesn't affect 3 that. But you're just talking about the increase -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I don't -- I've 5 never seen our attorneys go down in salary. It seems -- 6 it's a creep. And if we looked at the study, I believe 7 our attorneys are overpaid. Since they're overpaid -- 8 it's probably the wrong choice of words there. 9 (Laughter.) 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I see you backed off of 11 that quickly. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: They're at the 13 high-end. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: They're well paid. 15 There you go. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, my deal is -- 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Being overpaid. Sorry. 18 Or here either. But anyway -- 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You better watch it. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, we have budgets 21 that -- you know, the last time I went to buy a house I 22 saw some houses I really liked a lot better than what I 23 ended up getting, but I couldn't afford it, you know. 24 And I understand that this person you have has a lot 25 more bells and whistles maybe and experience and -- and 59 1 everything else, but that's -- that's a pretty good 2 jump. And that's a jump that we have each and every 3 year. And so that's my concern. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's the salary going 5 to be, Lucy? What are you looking at? 6 MRS. WILKE: It will be 95, which is the 7 same as the Assistant DA in the 198th with a lot less 8 experience. And that was the starting salary, I 9 believe, and he started in October or November. I don't 10 remember when he started. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So this is the person 12 directly under you? 13 MRS. WILKE: Correct. And -- and you know, 14 we -- we are swamped. We really are. Everybody waits 15 on us. The misdemeanor prosecutors wait for us to 16 dispose of our felony cases for the most part. ICE 17 waits on us to dispose of cases before they begin their 18 proceedings. Parole waits on us for us to dispose of 19 our cases before they begin with their proceedings. 20 Other states and other counties wait on the prosecutor 21 that has the new office when somebody has violated their 22 probation. 23 So we -- we could really use another -- I 24 had mentioned this to the Commissioners not this last 25 budget, but the one before, that I felt that we really 60 1 needed another investigator, we're that swamped. 2 But because the Commissioners' Court asked 3 us to cut our budget if we possibly could, I didn't ask 4 for another investigator. With Melissa, I feel like 5 I'll need a third -- another person even less. She is a 6 work horse. She's as close as I can come for a clone of 7 John Hoover. They're able to get work done and get it 8 done quickly. 9 Just in interviewing her, I could tell -- we 10 asked her, you know, what are some things that bother 11 you as a prosecutor and she said that she never likes to 12 leave things hanging or work undone. And I think she 13 was sincere just in talking to her references that she 14 doesn't like to walk out the door with things undone and 15 will stay and get it done. 16 So I'm very excited. I don't think this is 17 unreasonable, considering her experience. And again, 18 we're swamped and I think with somebody of her caliber 19 that will help that situation, and hopefully help us -- 20 keep us from even asking you for another position, even 21 if it's part-time. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I move for approval for 23 the budget adjustment for the 216th District Attorneys 24 to fill a planned position. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 61 1 Commissioner Moser, is there a second? Well, motion 2 fails for lack of a second. Sorry, James. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, if I can make a 4 comment. The -- according to -- is this the regional -- 5 the survey -- is this for us or for -- the salary survey 6 that came in? It came in over the weekend. The 7 Assistant District Attorney's range is 65,936 to 93,142. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So that would be the 9 top end. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It would be a little bit 11 above the top end. 12 MRS. WILKE: Correct. And the average in 13 Kerr County is 102. So that's less than Kerr County. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Can I -- I want to ask 15 you something about -- I read her resume and she worked 16 both in El Paso and then also in Arizona. 17 MRS. WILKE: Correct. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You mentioned ICE and 19 some of the cases we deal with. Would -- is that 20 experience there one of the -- is that a large part of 21 consideration for her, or does it matter? 22 MRS. WILKE: Well, I mean the whole thing 23 was, but partly, yes. That was a huge consideration, as 24 was the sexual assault prosecutions and child abuse 25 prosecutions. Those are pretty specialized. And she 62 1 enjoys trying cases. All her supervisors said that 2 she's not afraid to try a case, if it needs to be tried 3 she's not going to back down. 4 Obviously, we don't want to try cases that 5 don't need to be tried because that costs the County 6 money. And I think we've done a good job of not doing 7 that. But if a case needs to be tried, it needs to be 8 tried. 9 And again, I'm not asking for anything more 10 than what the 198th has. And I think that's fair. 11 Their assistant DA with a lot less experience came in 12 just a few months ago at $95,000. It's below the 13 average for Kerr County's prosecutors. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You said the average is 15 105? 16 MRS. WILKE: 102. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 102? 18 MRS. WILKE: Correct. I got that from 19 Jennifer Doss. 20 MRS. STEBBINS: Is that true? 21 MRS. DOSS: No. We -- I don't know what 22 you're referring to. 23 MRS. WILKE: Well, I'll have to go back and 24 look at my e-mail but you said it was 79,000 in the 25 study and 102 -- 63 1 MRS. DOSS: So are you talking about the -- 2 in like all county, or one specific position? I have 3 to -- 4 MRS. WILKE: The felony prosecutors. 5 MRS. DOSS: For the PDO Office. 6 MRS. WILKE: No. For the assistant DA's. 7 MRS. DOSS: I'll have to go back and look at 8 what your question was. 9 MRS. WILKE: Well, I wish I'd printed it, 10 but I did -- that's what the e-mail says. 11 MRS. DOSS: Okay. Well, but I'm just going 12 based on what the salary survey recommendations are. 13 But each of the offices are very different in what their 14 salary ranges are. So I'd have to -- I don't know if 15 you're asking for the average of a specific office or -- 16 MRS. WILKE: Correct. And I don't know 17 if -- because of that anybody else's salary has changed, 18 my understanding is the Public Defender's Office 19 salaries remain the same. They haven't been decreased 20 because of the study. 21 MRS. DOSS: Well, the public defender's 22 office, they weren't -- you know, they were after the 23 fact, after when this started. So they're not part of 24 the salary study. 25 MRS. WILKE: But it was my understanding the 64 1 Commissioners Court wanted them on par with our office. 2 And that -- that was a big discussion because I was here 3 for it. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's -- that's 5 accurate. And there -- and you know -- well, I'm not 6 going to go into all their salaries. I mean I don't 7 even -- I don't know all of them. But they're not -- 8 they're not all at the top end of the range -- 9 MRS. WILKE: No, but I -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- for their positions. 11 MRS. WILKE: -- I think my assistant, who 12 left to go to the public defender's office, got an 13 instant raise when they got over there because they 14 started him out at at least 85, if that's accurate, and 15 he was making 80 at my office. So it was an instant 16 raise for him of at least $5,000.00 if not more. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 18 MRS. WILKE: I don't know what his salary 19 is. I haven't asked. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm for us getting the 21 best talent we can get. 22 MRS. WILKE: I agree. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But if you -- and I'm 24 with you on that. But if you start off, I mean right 25 now you have it in your budget. Next year it's another 65 1 $15,000, which is almost another employee for the 2 county, depending on where you're putting them. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Not 15. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Huh? 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Not 15,000. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I said almost. 7 MRS. WILKE: No. And like I told the 8 Commissioners Court -- 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You're off by a factor 10 of two. 11 MRS. WILKE: -- I can't promise you this. 12 I'm not going to make any promises I can't keep, but as 13 I told you I intend to look at my budget and see if I 14 can cut somewhere else. This particular -- this 15 particular instance I have extra money in conferences 16 because a lot of the conferences are being done from 17 YouTube. They're being done virtually. 18 I was hoping that conferences continue in 19 that manner, even after the pandemic. It's so 20 convenient. It's so cost effective. It's convenient to 21 sit in your office where you're comfortable with the 22 temperature, you're comfortable in your clothing. It's 23 just a much better situation in my opinion for 24 conferences. 25 You miss out on the networking, but I think 66 1 it's very cost effective and I'm hoping that a lot more 2 conferences are going to be done that way or we're going 3 to be given the option to do either live or virtual. 4 So I may be able to cut that. I can't 5 promise you that I'll be able to cut 15,000. I can 6 promise you that I will try to cut 15,000. But again, 7 my salaries for my office will still be a thousand 8 dollars less than the 198th, even with this increase of 9 $15,000. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's the time -- is 11 there a time sensitivity to this? 12 MRS. WILKE: There is. She is scheduled to 13 come to work on the 22nd. And we really need her. Like 14 I said, it's -- we could use another prosecutor. The 15 County Attorney's office in Gillespie County has three 16 assistant DA's. The County Attorney's office here has 17 three assistant DA's. We have two. 18 MRS. STEBBINS: But mine make a whole lot 19 less money than that. 20 MRS. WILKE: And I understand that. But, 21 you know, we have the burden of proof. Every single 22 case we handle involves an attorney on the other side. 23 It doesn't involve a defendant who just wants to get out 24 of jail and says I'll take what you're giving me, just 25 let me out of jail. Time served. Probation. 67 1 We have an attorney. Everything is a fight. 2 And I don't mean that in a negative way by any means. 3 We all work together. But it's not -- we're not dealing 4 with the Defendant. We've got the burden of proof. And 5 like I said, a lot of other agencies and offices wait on 6 us to dispose of our cases. So it's -- 7 JUDGE KELLY: Ms. Wilke -- 8 MRS. WILKE: Yes. 9 JUDGE KELLY: -- it's obvious that you're in 10 a jam. And we're not being very helpful right now to 11 solve your problem. And I've got seven timed items on 12 the agenda after this that were supposed to begin at 10 13 o'clock. And that's in addition to the untimed items. 14 Rather than give up on trying to solve your problem, can 15 you come back to us in a couple weeks and maybe have a 16 little bit better information so that we can look at 17 things specifically and get the substance that we need 18 to have a motion to reconsider. 19 MRS. WILKE: Well, sure. Can you tell me 20 what kind of information you need? Because she's set to 21 start on the 22nd. She wants to come back to this area. 22 Her parents live here and they're not in good health. 23 And -- 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I would rather make a 25 second on Commissioner Moser's -- 68 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Motion. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- motion. And then 3 let's vote on it. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'll second. 6 JUDGE KELLY: So with that motion by 7 Commissioner Moser to approve the budget adjustment, 8 seconded by Commissioner Belew. Any other discussion? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there a chance she 10 would come in at a lower salary? 11 MRS. WILKE: No, that's -- that's what she's 12 making. That's what she's making now. And this would 13 probably involve a little more work than her office. We 14 don't have a secretary for every attorney like in some 15 of the big offices, like the office that she's coming 16 from. She will have to -- she'll basically have to be 17 her secretary. And we don't -- we don't have somebody 18 to assist them typing up motions. We type our own 19 motions. We do our own research, which a lot of 20 attorneys do anyway. But some of the bigger offices 21 don't. So this will involve more work for her. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: What about candidates 23 that would fit into the budget? 24 MRS. WILKE: I actually had three 25 applicants. And one of them never even submitted the 69 1 application. She sent a resume. When we asked her for 2 an application, she never submitted one. And then the 3 other one we just felt wasn't a good fit for our office 4 and had a lot less experience. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What was it you said a 7 minute ago, Heather, about -- 8 MRS. STEBBINS: My -- two of my attorneys 9 make significantly less money than that. And our office 10 is very different from the DA's offices. And it's more 11 akin to, I think Kendall -- Kendall County. Because 12 they're a Criminal District Attorney's office there. So 13 my office handles all the civil things for the County, 14 mental health, the Juvenile Court; it's not just 15 criminal prosecution. 16 And while we do get to deal with Defendants 17 often, and work out plea arrangements with Defendants, 18 unlike the felonies, they're -- they've always got an 19 attorney. We deal with a lot of different things in our 20 office than just the criminal cases. 21 But we do currently have between 1,500 and 22 2,000 criminal cases a year for adults. But my -- two 23 of my assistant attorneys make significantly less than 24 that -- that amount. And one of those -- 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is it comparable work? 70 1 MRS. STEBBINS: It's different work. It is. 2 It's different. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. So it's really 4 apples and oranges, isn't it? 5 MRS. STEBBINS: Sometimes. You know, 6 it's -- misdemeanors are different from felonies. The 7 civil mental health cases are different from anything, 8 although we have a lot of the same folks we deal with 9 probably. But it's different. It's different. Our 10 offices are different. 11 Just like the criminal district attorneys 12 office over in Kendall County is different. They deal 13 with all the things that we deal with in my office, 14 except we don't deal with adult felonies. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How long would it take 16 for Jennifer or Tanya, I'm not sure which one, to come 17 up with a list of the various attorneys and various -- 18 MRS. STEBBINS: There is a list I think. 19 MRS. WILKE: I've got it. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: With the salary ranges? 21 MRS. WILKE: I do. I have it for the county 22 attorneys. I will tell you that this is only about -- 23 it's a little less than $7,000 less than what an 24 investigator is making in the 198th. I mean, 25 investigator and a prosecutor are very different. 71 1 Investigators don't stay up until two o'clock in the 2 morning getting ready for a hearing. They're not 3 responding, helping officers on the side of the road. 4 They're not checking search warrants at 1:00 o'clock in 5 the morning after they've worked all day and they have 6 something else that's pressing in the morning. 7 So this is less than $7,000 more than the 8 investigator in the 198th office. He makes $88,000 plus 9 some change. 10 MRS. STEBBINS: And that's more than two of 11 my attorneys. 12 MRS. WILKE: And as far as Commissioner 13 Letz, you had concern about salary creep. Actually, 14 when Steve Wadsworth left, I decreased the new ADA's 15 salary. I actually -- 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I knew you had made -- 17 both DA's have made adjustments. You know, they raise 18 one, lower one, raise one, lower one. And so that's why 19 it's hard for me to keep track of it, where they all 20 are. And that's why I was asking the question about is 21 there a list that we could get that I could look at 22 quickly? 23 MRS. DOSS: I can get you one. 24 MRS. WILKE: I have it. 25 JUDGE KELLY: My problem is that we've got a 72 1 whole lot of citizens out there on timed items that 2 we're keeping up -- 3 MRS. WILKE: Well, would you like for me -- 4 JUDGE KELLY: -- and not able to get to. 5 MRS. WILKE: -- to come back at the end of 6 the meeting? I'm happy to do that. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. I'd say -- 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That would work. 9 JUDGE KELLY: That would be ideal. 10 MRS. WILKE: Okay. In the meantime, I will 11 get you the salaries that you requested. I'll step out 12 and make a copy and bring it back to you. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good deal. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. All right. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thanks, Lucy. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Let's take a five 17 minute break and when we come back we'll start with the 18 timed events at 10:00 o'clock. 19 (Recess.) 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Court will come back to 21 order. We're going to take an agenda item out of order 22 1.8 consider, discuss and take appropriate action 23 regarding the confirmation of Riley Rector to the 24 Emergency Services District No. 1 Board of Directors. 25 Commissioner Belew. 73 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I asked Riley to 2 this party so I guess I'll speak on his behalf. We 3 appreciate you coming. He -- when I asked him if he 4 would serve on the ESD #1 he thought about it, he talked 5 to them, and he said that he would, so we appreciate 6 that willingness. And do you have anything to say about 7 it, Riley? 8 MR. RECTOR: No. Look forward to it. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But he wanted to make 10 sure that he was here and see what we do to him today. 11 And how this is going to work. 12 MR. RECTOR: Yeah, see if I should show up 13 to the meeting next Monday. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, exactly. So I 15 move that -- for Riley Rector to be approved as a member 16 of the ESD #1 Board. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 19 Commissioner Belew, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 20 approve the appointment of Riley Rector as a member of 21 the Board of Directors of ESD #1. Any discussion? 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: How long you been in 23 this area? 24 MR. RECTOR: Since 1995. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good deal. 74 1 Super. 2 MR. RECTOR: I've been coming here since, 3 oh, '74. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 5 MR. RECTOR: And my grandparents are from 6 here. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You know the area. 8 Okay. Good deal. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Great family. 10 MR. RECTOR: Great Grand-daddy's favorite 11 water company, Aqua Texas. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 13 MR. RECTOR: Been there for 26 years. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Oh, now we know 15 who to call. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Those in favor raise your 17 hand. Unanimous. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good deal. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Come forward, Mr. Rector. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You're going to get 21 sworn in right here and now. 22 MRS. STEBBINS: I'm going to take a picture 23 so I can send it to your sweet wife. 24 MR. RECTOR: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: This is as dressed up 75 1 as I've ever seen him. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. If you would, raise 3 your right hand and repeat after me. 4 (Riley Rector was sworn in.) 5 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. 6 MR. RECTOR: Thank you. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Very good. Don't 8 forget the Constitution. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Thank you, Riley. 10 JUDGE KELLY: And you're official. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It seems not to be in 12 vogue nowadays. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Very good. Thank you. 14 MR. RECTOR: Thank you. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 16 MR. RECTOR: Y'all have a good day. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Bye. 18 JUDGE KELLY: At this time we'll move on to 19 our timed items. We have several at 10:00 o'clock, one 20 at 10:15, and then we have the Executive Session timed 21 item at 10:30. And at some point we'll have to break 22 and do the Executive Session and then come back and 23 finish the rest of the agenda. But we're going to move 24 to these timed items now. 25 Item 1.10 consider, discuss and take 76 1 appropriate action for the Commissioners' Court approval 2 to accept the General Contract for Small Project with 3 BGIS Global Integrated Solutions US, LLC. Kelly Hoffer. 4 MS. HOFFER: Yes, I have before you a 5 general contract for small projects with BGIS Global 6 Integrated Solutions US, LLC. This is for tank 7 integrity tests for five of the above-ground fuel tanks 8 that we have at two locations. They're our three 9 1000-gallon tanks located at 3766 State Highway 27, 10 Kerrville, Texas 78028. That is the main office in the 11 back. And then at our Ingram yard, there are two 12 500-gallon fuel tanks at 3672 State Highway 27, Ingram, 13 Texas 78025. The proposal Number 214 for Tank Integrity 14 testing is in the amount of $2,260.88. 15 Our insurance renewal with JI Special Risks 16 Insurance Agency, Incorporated, has required and 17 requested that we do tank integrity tests on these tanks 18 for the insurance. 19 At this time, I ask the Commissioners' Court 20 for their approval for the general contract for small 21 projects with BGIS Global Integrated Solutions US, LLC, 22 for tank integrity tests. Precincts 1, 2, 3, and 4. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Kelly, how do they do 24 the tank integrity test? 25 MS. HOFFER: I'm not really -- I'm not real 77 1 up on -- on what all they do. I think that they inspect 2 the outer shell of the tanks to make sure that -- 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: They don't pressurize 4 it? 5 MS. HOFFER: No. They have a series of 6 things that they do, but I think they do a visual 7 inspection and then I think they -- 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But my question is 9 structural integrity. Do they do a pressure test? 10 MS. HOFFER: I'm sure they pressurize it. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: They do? 12 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. I'm sure they do. I 13 have -- I have never -- I have never been -- 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do they, Charlie? 15 MR. HASTINGS: I haven't witnessed it but 16 that's my understanding. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. All right. 18 MR. HASTINGS: I would think so. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We've never -- 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, I would think so, 21 too. I'm asking the question. Do they? 22 CHARLIE: Right. 23 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We've never done it, to 25 my knowledge. And this is -- but the insurance company 78 1 this year required it. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Okay. All 3 right. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 7 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 8 approve and accept the General Contract for Small 9 Project with BGIS Global Integrated Solutions US. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is a comment. This 11 has been ongoing to get to this point for about six 12 weeks. 13 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, our insurance -- 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- was almost put on 17 hold because of this. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, we don't want to do 19 that. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And -- and we said no, 21 no, we're going to do it, we're getting it done. And I 22 think y'all had to go find someone to do it. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I -- I agree with you. 24 I just like to know what they do. 25 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. Yes, sir. I -- I will 79 1 be interested to see, you know, what all they do, but 2 that would be my guess. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Just -- I don't want a 4 guess. I want to know what they do. 5 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. Right. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay? 7 MS. HOFFER: But they, from what I 8 understand, Vickie had texted me and said that they can 9 come Wednesday, this Wednesday. So I let Jody know and, 10 if at all possible, I'd like to get everybody's 11 signature that's required on that General Contract, and 12 then we can get this all taken care of and get it sent 13 to -- 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. We're good. 15 MS. HOFFER: -- BGIS Solutions. Thank you. 16 JUDGE KELLY: We have to vote. All those in 17 favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. Okay. I 18 signed it. County Clerk will sign it and then the 19 County Attorney will sign it. 20 MS. HOFFER: Okay. Thank you. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.11 consider, discuss 22 and take appropriate action for the Court to receive the 23 bids for the Wastewater Service Connections for the East 24 Kerr County/Center Point Wastewater Collection Project 25 funded by the Texas Department of Agriculture, CEDAP 80 1 grant. C-E-D-A-P grant. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, we received four 3 bids. And I've got them here. And I'll read them. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And we have to have a 6 sheet here to summarize and makes it a lot easier. 7 D Guerra Construction, LLC, total bid price was 8 $1,449,317.50. Rocky Q Construction, bid was 9 $1,462,640.00. Qro Mex Construction, "Crow" is Q-R-O, 10 is $1,150,690.00. And then M&C Fonseca Construction, 11 $1,314,215.00. The procured low bid is from QRO Mex 12 Construction. Have y'all looked through them? 13 MR. HASTINGS: We have. The County Engineer 14 requests that the Court receive the bids for the 15 Wastewater Service Connections for the East Kerr Center 16 Point Wastewater Collection Project funded by the Texas 17 Department of Agriculture CEDAP Grant No. 7217045 and 18 CFC Grant No. 7218045 and CFC Grant No. 7218055, and 19 refer said bids to the Design Engineer, Tetra Tech 20 Engineering, that would be Don Burger, and the Project 21 Engineer, myself, Charlie Hastings, for tabulations, 22 qualifications, and award recommendations at a future 23 court meeting. Precincts 2 and 3. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So this is just to 25 receive the bids? 81 1 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 5 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Moser to 6 approve and accept the bids as presented. Any other 7 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 8 five zero. 9 Item 1.12 consider, discuss and take 10 appropriate action on a preliminary plat for Windy 11 Ridge, Precinct 1. 12 MR. HASTINGS: We have an owner/developer, 13 Northpoint Ranches, LLC, and they've got a subdivision 14 that they're wanting to take 132.94 acres, turn it into 15 14 lots. They are allowed up to 26. But they're going 16 to go with a -- with a lot bigger lot size than what we 17 normally see. 18 Our smallest lot size is greater than five 19 acres, and they range on up, I think our largest 12 or 20 13 acres -- 11 acres. Okay. 21 There is one road that they're going to 22 build. It will be a private road, privately maintained. 23 We did have a concept plan on this a few weeks ago. 24 Approximately 2,950 feet on that road. So a little more 25 than half a mile. And one cul-de-sac. All the lots 82 1 will have private wells and septic systems, and it's all 2 entirely out of the floodplain. It's up on top of a 3 ridge off of Sheppard Rees Road. 4 This proposal will be a private-gated 5 subdivision. The concept plan was submitted to the 6 Court on February 8th, 2021. Access to the subdivision 7 will be off Sheppard Rees Road. Sheppard Rees Road is 8 classified as an arterial with a right-of-way width 9 requirement of 90 feet; however, Section 7 of the Kerr 10 County Subdivision Regulations state -- and this is 11 7.06.15 Typical Road Sections: The design parameters 12 for the classifications of the roads herein as well as 13 the ultimate design, pursuant to the road definitions 14 contained herein, will be determined by the County 15 Subdivision Administrator and approved by the 16 Commissioners Court. 17 I've looked at this very carefully. We had 18 something similar in Center Point recently. The County 19 Engineer evaluated Sheppard Rees Road at the location of 20 the proposed subdivision. The road is approximately 20 21 feet wide with an existing 60-foot wide right-of-way. 22 It is located at the top divide of multiple watersheds, 23 therefore, small shallow ditches are required to handle 24 storm drainage generated during rain events. 25 The existing 60-foot wide right-of-way is 83 1 adequate for future widening of Sheppard Rees Road to 2 three lanes, leaving 12 feet of width on either side of 3 the road for bar ditches. The name of the proposed 4 subdivision is Windy Ridge, and the proposed road, Windy 5 Ridge, is subject to change based on review from Kerr 6 911. They feel like they've got some conflicts with 7 that name. 8 The County Engineer requests that the Court 9 approve the preliminary plat for Windy Ridge. 10 Precinct 1. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The entrance, Charlie, 12 is how wide again? 13 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: We're going to have 14 it 80 feet. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 16 MR. HASTINGS: There is an exhibit that 17 shows you a concept of what their entrance would look 18 like to be in your packet, it's on an 8 1/2 by 11 and -- 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Given the speed limit 20 there, that's okay? 21 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And the amount of 23 traffic? 24 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 84 1 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, it is. But since it's a 2 gated private subdivision, what they'll do is they'll 3 come in with this entrance, and essentially be building 4 a cul-de-sac almost, about the same size and width of a 5 cul-de-sac. That way if a car gets in there and they 6 need to turn around and get back out because they don't 7 belong, they're lost, they forgot their code to get in 8 the gate, whatever the reason is, they can do that. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Charlie, why don't you 10 just make sure everybody understands, too, this is 11 approving a preliminary plat, and then the next step is 12 to -- 13 MR. HASTINGS: The final step is for them -- 14 once the preliminary plat is approved, they are free to 15 finalize their construction plans and go and build the 16 subdivision based on the preliminary plat. As long as 17 they don't make any changes to the preliminary -- from 18 the preliminary plat, then they can come back with a 19 final plat and the Court approves it. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But they can -- they 21 can proceed with construction based on a preliminary 22 plat? 23 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. And it was key to 24 get this in here because of the 90-foot width 25 requirement on the arterial -- 85 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 2 MR. HASTINGS: Of course, the -- our 3 regulations state that the subdivision administrator, 4 that's me, has the ultimate say or the ultimate 5 recommendation to the court. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Recommendation. 7 MR. HASTINGS: I've made a recommendation to 8 the Court. You have the ultimate say whether or not you 9 feel that 60 feet is adequate. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And then the width of 11 the road on Windy Ridge Trail -- I see a 60-foot 12 right-of-way. So what's the width of the road on -- 13 MR. HASTINGS: 20 feet. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 20 feet. 15 MR. HASTINGS: Their pavement will be 20 16 feet. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 18 MR. HASTINGS: The same as on Sheppard 19 Rees -- 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Same as Sheppard Rees 21 Road right now. 22 MR. HASTINGS: -- currently. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 24 MR. HASTINGS: But that portion of Sheppard 25 Rees. We do have other portions of Sheppard Rees that 86 1 were rebuilt and are wider than that. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So when they come back 3 with the final plat, that's just for recording purposes 4 as long as it's consistent with preliminary. 5 MR. HASTINGS: The preliminary. Yes, sir. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Gotcha. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: No changes. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It also has a lot less 9 information on it. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, we discussed the 12 whole entryway thing at length, but I want to make sure 13 that everybody understands that. I move for approval. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 16 Commissioner Belew, seconded by Commissioner Moser to 17 approve the preliminary plat for Windy Ridge 18 Subdivision. Is there any discussion? Those in favor 19 raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. Thanks, 20 Charlie. 21 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.13 consider, discuss 23 and take appropriate action for the Court to set a 24 public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on April the 12th, 2021 25 for a revision of plat for The Ravine, Lot 21, and a 87 1 portion of the Common Area. Charlie Hastings. 2 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. The owners and 3 developers are Bruce Galloway. He's the owner of Lot 4 21, and Daniel Hawkins is the owner of the Common Area. 5 Lot 21 of The Ravine is currently less than one acre. 6 This proposal enlarges Lot 21 by adding a portion of the 7 Common Area. Access is from Eickenroht Road. 8 A public hearing to revise Lots 3, 10, and 9 21, and the Common Area was previously scheduled for 10 February 22nd, 2021 by Order No. 38534. Comments had 11 been received for the public hearing; however, that 12 meeting was cancelled due to the recent ice storm. 13 Lots 3 and 10 are no longer a part of the 14 proposed revision of plat. So this is a whole new 15 submittal. This agenda item is only to set a new public 16 hearing. Comments will be reviewed at the public 17 hearing. 18 The County Engineer requests the Court set a 19 public hearing for 10 a.m. on April 12, 2021 for a 20 Revision of Plat for The Ravine, Lot 21, and a portion 21 of the Common Area, Volume 4, Page 16, Precinct 4. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 25 Commissioner Harris, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 88 1 approve setting a public meeting for the revision of 2 plat for The Ravine, Lot 21 and the Common Area, for 10 3 a.m. on April the 12th, 2021. Discussion? Yes, sir. 4 MR. HASTINGS: And Jackie is raising her 5 hand, too. The last time we did this, we had the County 6 Clerk, in addition to advertising in the newspaper, send 7 letters to all the property owners of the subdivision. 8 And I highly recommend we do that again on this. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It will be well 10 attended, I think. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Was that part of the 12 motion then or -- 13 JUDGE KELLY: Well, it's part of the 14 discussion. The motion that it would include -- 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: The motion just sets 16 the public hearing. 17 MRS. DOWDY: I would appreciate it -- 18 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 19 MRS. DOWDY: -- I mean, I don't -- because 20 it's not really -- I don't -- I don't know if -- 21 JUDGE KELLY: It's your motion. Do you 22 accept the amendment? 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes. Yes. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So we'll have a special 25 notice coming out from the County Clerk's office as 89 1 well. 2 MR. HASTINGS: Perfect. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Charlie -- 4 JUDGE KELLY: I think -- I think for this 5 benefit why. 6 MRS. DOWDY: Thank you. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The question I have, the 8 one up in the box is as it's currently platted, correct? 9 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's kind of weird 11 looking 'cuz there's no road on this one. I mean, it 12 says there's -- it says road. But is the road -- 13 MR. HASTINGS: In the far entry it's -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I know it's 15 written in there but it -- it says written in the Common 16 Area. Is it a -- just a road that meanders through the 17 Common Area? 18 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So there's no 20 right-of-way for the road. 21 MR. HASTINGS: Correct. The Common Area is 22 the right-of-way for the road. And it is a private -- 23 privately maintained road. Yes, sir. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But this is just to set 25 a public hearing. Okay. 90 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Okay. 2 JUDGE KELLY: And I want to warn everyone 3 that this will be, I think, a very active public 4 hearing. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 6 JUDGE KELLY: There are some legal issues in 7 it that we're going to have to take into consideration 8 as we make these determinations. 9 And for those of you that remember my 10 earlier comments about condominium regime, this was 11 probably the first pre-condominium regime in Kerr 12 County. This is the early forerunner on what that 13 concept looks like and it has all these common ownership 14 interest issues that will come up and that you will hear 15 again in the upcoming year as we work on condominium 16 regimes. 17 So with that, those in favor of the public 18 meeting raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 19 Item 1.14 consider, discuss and take 20 appropriate action for the Court to approve a Final Plat 21 for Turtle Creek Ranches Lots 206A and 206B. Charlie 22 Hastings. 23 MR. HASTINGS: This proposal creates two 24 lots along and dedicates right-of-way on Backacre Road. 25 Lot 206A will be 29.67 acres, and Lot 206B will be 5.01 91 1 acres. 2 County Engineer requests that the Court 3 approve a Final Plat for Turtle Creek Ranches Lots 206A 4 and 206B, Deed Volume 158, Page 358, Precinct 1. 5 One note just for everyone to realize, that 6 this is a subdivision that was never platted. There is 7 a plat -- there's some records, but it never went 8 through Commissioners' Court. So it was never 9 officially platted. This is the first time it's ever 10 actually platted and going to Commissioners' Court. So 11 it's not a revision of plat. That other plat doesn't -- 12 technically doesn't exist. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval. 14 MR. HASTINGS: This is the plat. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Commissioner Belew made a 16 motion -- 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: -- seconded by Commissioner 19 Letz to approve the plat of Turtle Creek Ranches, Lots 20 206A and 206B. Any discussion? Those in favor raise 21 your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 22 Item 1.15, this is a 10:15 timed item. 23 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action regarding 24 a Proclamation declaring March 2021 as American Red 25 Cross Month. Is Miss Roberts outside? 92 1 Welcome. Welcome. Just right there at the 2 podium. 3 MS. ROBERTS: Hi. 4 JUDGE KELLY: The item on the agenda is a 5 Proclamation declaring March 2021 as American Red Cross 6 Month. Is that right? 7 MS. ROBERTS: That's right. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Is there any 9 discussion? 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, don't you want to 11 say something? 12 MS. ROBERTS: I really appreciate the 13 support of this community. You know, people are just so 14 giving to the Red Cross, and it -- it makes our jobs so 15 much easier when we have a disaster. You know, people 16 start donating checks. They'll walk into the office 17 with huge checks and we really appreciate it. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll move for approval 19 of the agenda item approving the proclamation. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 22 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 23 approve the Proclamation declaring March 2021 as 24 American Red Cross Month. Any further discussion? 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You did really good. 93 1 MS. ROBERTS: Thank you. 2 JUDGE KELLY: All those in favor raise your 3 hand. Unanimous, five zero. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thanks. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you, Ms. Roberts. 6 MS. ROBERTS: Thank you. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thanks to everyone that 8 work at Red Cross. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's a smart 10 testimony. You only say what you need to. 11 MS. ROBERTS: Thank you all. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Before we go back with 14 the rest of the regular agenda, we need to adjourn into 15 Executive Session for a timed Executive Session item at 16 10:30, item 4.4. And while we're in -- and in order to 17 do that, we're going to have to have a vote, a unanimous 18 vote of the Court, to go into Executive Session because 19 this involves contract negotiations on the ADA 20 construction costs for the building on Earl Garrett. 21 Do I understand that right, County Attorney? 22 MS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. That's correct. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Judge, when we go into 24 Executive Session, we've got another Executive Session 25 item. You want to do that later or -- 94 1 JUDGE KELLY: I'd just as soon do it. It's 2 not a timed item but we -- this is the last timed item 3 we have on the Agenda. So once we've done that then we 4 can do what we want -- 5 MRS. STEBBINS: And there are two more items 6 on the Executive Session. I don't know if there's 7 anyone here for open session who needs to make a 8 presentation or who is otherwise waiting on you guys for 9 those other two items but -- but there are three items 10 for Executive Session today. 11 JUDGE KELLY: And let's go over those. 12 First one is Item 4.2, which is personnel matters. 13 That's 4.2(a) consider, discuss and take appropriate 14 action regarding the Veteran Services Office personnel. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And that's a very short 16 item. Okay. 17 JUDGE KELLY: All right. The timed item is 18 4.4(a) which is to consider, discuss and take 19 appropriate action regarding recommendations from the 20 Capital Improvement Committee regarding the property 21 located at 550 Earl Garrett. 22 And then the other timed item is 4.3(a), 23 which is discussion regarding financial information 24 pertaining to Precinct 2 business prospects. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. And we've got a 95 1 couple people here for that. So -- and that -- that 2 item is probably going to take 15 minutes or so, so -- 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Which number is it? 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 4.3(a). 5 JUDGE KELLY: Two things. 4.3(a). 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What about 1.9? Is 7 that a presentation? 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, we're talking 9 about going into Executive Session. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I know. 11 JUDGE KELLY: So we're probably going to be 12 in Executive Session probably at least 30 minutes 13 between the CIP and -- 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So should we -- 16 JUDGE KELLY: So for those of you at home, 17 tune back in in about 30 minutes and I think we'll be 18 back hopefully -- 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: There you go. 20 JUDGE KELLY: -- momentarily. 21 MRS. STEBBINS: Y'all need to vote on -- 22 on -- 23 JUDGE KELLY: Right. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval 25 that we go into Executive Session. 96 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 3 Commissioner Belew, seconded by Commissioner Letz to 4 agree going into Executive Session to discuss the 5 contract negotiations regarding the 550 Earl Garrett 6 property. 7 MRS. STEBBINS: And that's because -- is it 8 correct, Harley, that it's your belief that open 9 discussions would have an impact on your negotiations -- 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes. 11 MRS. STEBBINS: -- with third parties? 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes. And -- 13 MRS. STEBBINS: Okay. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- I didn't say that, 15 but that's exactly what I was going to say. Thank you. 16 JUDGE KELLY: I love the way she reads your 17 mind. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The County Attorney? 19 JUDGE KELLY: (Indicating.) And then when 20 we do this, for the part of it on the contract 21 negotiations, we will need to keep the Court Reporter in 22 there to handle that first. 23 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. 24 JUDGE KELLY: So with that, let me ask, 25 those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous vote, five 97 1 zero. We're going to go into Executive Session. Let's 2 take a few minutes break. 3 (Recess.) 4 (Executive Session.) 5 JUDGE KELLY: Court will come back to order. 6 It is -- what is it, 12:32, we've come out of Executive 7 Session. I think we got a couple items that we want to 8 take action on following Executive Session. One of them 9 is with regard to item 4.2(a), which was involving the 10 Veteran Service Office personnel. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Judge. I'd make a 12 motion that we recognize the fact that the Veteran 13 Service Officer is on -- is out of the office right now, 14 and that we have the Deputy Veteran Service Officer be 15 full-time. She's part-time right now at a seventeen 16 seven power grade. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Temporary until the -- 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Temporary until return 19 of the Veteran Service Officer. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 17; not seventeen seven. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 17. Grade 17, 22 that's correct. That's the motion. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Motion been made by 98 1 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 2 make our part-time Veteran Service Officer our temporary 3 full-time Veteran Service Officer at the same grade and 4 compensation as the full-time one. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well stated. 6 JUDGE KELLY: And that will continue until 7 our full-time returns. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And then reverts back. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Effective immediately. 10 Is that right? 11 JUDGE KELLY: And effective immediately and 12 returns back when our VSO returns. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Any discussion about that? 15 Those in favor raise your hand. Four zero. 16 Next item on the action agenda that we have 17 following executive session has to do with the property 18 at 550 Earl Garrett and the CIP Committee. Since I 19 serve on that committee, I'll go ahead and make the 20 motion, and what that is is to enter into a contract 21 amendment, that would increase the funds to be extended 22 to bring the building up to ADA compliance -- 23 (Commissioner Belew entering courtroom.) 24 JUDGE KELLY: -- which had been under the 25 original terms of the contract up to $250,000.00. We 99 1 would increase that to go up to $550,000.00 based upon 2 the cost analysis that's been brought to us. And we 3 would like to -- the actuals that we got right now that 4 we know for sure are going to be about four hundred and 5 75 thousand, and we know that there may be -- we put 6 allowance in for another 75 to complete things that are 7 going to have to be completed. Now having said that, 8 that's the motion I made. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll second the motion. 10 JUDGE KELLY: You serve on committee so you 11 know what we're talking about. So with that, we have 12 our committee members here. I don't know if somebody 13 wanted to speak. We have a motion and a second, and so 14 now we have discussion. 15 MRS. HUGHES: Just answer any questions that 16 you would have. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Come on up to the 18 podium, Brenda, if you're going to be the spokesman. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Spokeswoman. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Let me give the background and 21 make it easy for you, okay. What happened to us, folks, 22 is we had this allowance in our contract that we thought 23 we could get the building ADA compliant for about 24 $250,000.00. And it didn't work out that way. 25 We got -- a lot of changes that we had to 100 1 make, some of them were because of City Code. Most of 2 them were because of the Federal ADA requirements. And 3 it's cost us a lot more to do that. But even with the 4 additional cost that we're asking to be approved here in 5 this contract amendment, we're still getting a bargain 6 on the building. We're getting this building even with 7 these additional costs at about $150.00 a square foot. 8 MRS. HUGHES: Or less. 9 JUDGE KELLY: And the going rate right now 10 is about 300. And so even though we're not happy about 11 the additional costs they are what they are and it has 12 to be done. If we don't do it then the seller's going 13 to do it and sell it to somebody else for 300 dollars a 14 square foot. So we think this is the prudent thing to 15 do. 16 And so the CIP has work diligently on this 17 and came in and made a thorough presentation to us 18 today, and of course I'm on the committee, and 19 Commissioner Letz and I have been listening to this for 20 the last couple months and saw it coming. 21 But this is one of these necessary 22 unpleasant things that you have to do, and we believe it 23 is in the best interest of the County to do so. Now, 24 Miss Hughes has done diligent duty on this, so she can 25 tell you in a lot more detail than I can exactly where 101 1 those expenses are. But a lot of expenses that could 2 not be avoided. 3 MRS. HUGHES: Yeah. And I just want to add 4 that um in the private sector when we had a fire at our 5 restaurant, the only part of our building that burned 6 was the pig room, and there was 25 thousand dollars 7 worth of damage. But our Code upgrade amounted to 500 8 thousand dollars worth of upgrades for us. And we could 9 not get reopened until we -- until we satisfied those 10 code upgrades. So 300 thousand dollars, in my opinion, 11 is reasonable in the grand scheme of things when you 12 look at what we had to pay from a -- from the private 13 sector for Code upgrades. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So crying to you would 15 be the wrong person. 16 MRS. HUGHES: That's right. 17 JUDGE KELLY: But from the county's 18 perspective we're talking about an Earl Garrett campus 19 which is a block away from the courthouse, and we're 20 going to have that building once we do all of these 21 improvements and get it all ADA compliant. We're going 22 to have the use of that building for at least the next 23 50 years. 24 MRS. HUGHES: And that's part of the CIP 25 goal and vision is to -- is to be forward thinking 30 102 1 years down the road, and we can't see a better position 2 to be in than to have that PDO located right there near 3 the courthouse grounds. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Is there any other discussion? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Did your motion include 6 earnest money of a hundred thousand, Judge? 7 JUDGE KELLY: No, but I need to do that. 8 Because of all these additional expenses is that we put 9 up another hundred thousand dollars in earnest money, 10 which we have to do that within three days of the 11 perspective date of the amendment. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And my second includes 13 that. So any other discussion? So those in favor raise 14 your hand. Unanimous five zero. 15 MRS. HUGHES: Thank you very much. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you, Committee. Thanks 17 for sticking around. Sorry that things have gotten out 18 of control. 19 Okay, I apologize but we now have to go back 20 to the regular part of the agenda. Item 1.7 consider, 21 discuss and take appropriate action regarding the 22 approval of the south Texas Blood Bank Drive on April 1, 23 2021 at the Hill Country Youth Event Center. 24 MRS. DOSS: They're going to conduct a blood 25 donation center out at the Hill Country Youth Event 103 1 Center. You can sign up at donor.southtexasblood.org. 2 If you don't have internet access you can call 3 855-326-5765. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Motion made by Commissioner 7 Letz, seconded by Commissioner Belew to approve the 8 South Texas Blood Bank Drive on April 1, 2021. Any 9 further discussion? Those in favor raise their hand. 10 Unanimous, five zero. 11 The next one we need to make a call. This 12 is a presentation regarding recycling services offered 13 by Recyclops. I'm going to call Dennis Wise. This is 14 my new trick everybody. I've learned how to do this. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Denise or Dennis? 16 JUDGE KELLY: Dennis. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's spelled Denise. 18 MRS. DOSS: We'll find out. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Could be a spokeswoman 20 or spokesman. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just say it's a 22 spokesperson. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: There you go. Person. 24 MR. WISE: Good afternoon. Dennis Wise. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Good afternoon, Dennis. This 104 1 is Rob Kelly. I'm the County Judge here in Kerrville. 2 I apologize for the delay, but we have reached the 3 agenda item for your presentation, and I've got you on 4 the speakerphone here in open Court. 5 MR. WISE: Sure. No apology necessary. And 6 I've watching your meeting and so I know you've been 7 work diligently today, so -- 8 JUDGE KELLY: So you may proceed. 9 MR. WISE: Hello everybody. How are you? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're fine. 11 MR. WISE: Hopefully you've all received a 12 couple pieces of information about what Recyclops is. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. 14 MR. WISE: That's really all I have to share 15 with you now is a presentation of that, and a 16 representative kind of look at what it would look like 17 if somebody were to look online and look at signing up. 18 So Recyclops is a business that offers at home recycling 19 in areas where it's not available to people. 20 So thinking about the County that you are 21 in, obviously the county seat Kerrville, may have those 22 services available. So it's really not meant for 23 residents of Kerrville; it's really meant for folks that 24 are in unincorporated areas of the County. Center 25 Point, Hunt and Ingram, I don't think have curbside 105 1 recycling. And you can correct me on that if I'm 2 incorrect. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: That's correct. 5 MR. WISE: And we have had a couple of 6 different types of people reach out. We've had 7 residents reach out, and we actually had one church 8 reach out as well interested in having this service 9 available to them. And it's a pretty straight forward 10 situation. It's a little bit different from thinking 11 about how things work in Kerrville with -- and please 12 let me know who that provider is in Kerrville. Who is 13 the contracted company? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: BFI. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Republic. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Republic. 17 MR. WISE: So it's a much different model 18 than what you would be used to with a Republic Services 19 or a Waste Pro or a waste management, or even a 20 municipally owned collection service. So there aren't 21 the big heavy collection trucks going up and down the 22 street. And it is an opt-in only type of service. 23 And also what makes it much different is the 24 business model type that it is. It's an Uber like 25 model, which again, you know, kind of takes it out of 106 1 the traditional arena of contracting with a hauler to do 2 business with a municipality of some nature. 3 This is a direct line of business. Would be 4 a person who collects at the person's home and that 5 residence, or that person, or that would be one qualify 6 them as a customer or a user. So again just like how 7 Uber has kind of upset the taxi cab industry and model 8 where you have ordinances or you'd have contracts or 9 franchises with cab company owners, this is a completely 10 new and different model where the individual contracts 11 directly with Recyclops and the collector for that 12 thing. 13 So I'm sure y'all had a chance to look at 14 it, so I'm not just going to sit here and read the 15 entire depth to you, but obviously along with this 16 business comes the creation of some jobs because there 17 are local people that have to actually carry out the 18 collection, and it will cut down on the tipping fees 19 that the County pays for getting rid of their trash. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mr. Wise -- 21 MR. WISE: Yes. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. Seems like 23 it's a great service. Why -- does the County -- why do 24 you need our blessing? Or why are you making the 25 presentation to us? Or is it for information perhaps? 107 1 MR. WISE: That's a very good question. So 2 in all of my outreach, I've been working in municipal 3 waste reduction for the past 9 years with a company 4 called WasteZero. And we help municipalities cut the 5 amount of traffic that's in the landfills. I decided to 6 join this new group, the exciting new venture. Somewhat 7 of a startup, been in business for two years. 8 And what I want to do is because I have such 9 a great understanding of working municipalities over the 10 last almost decade, I understand the challenges. And I 11 do want to make sure that we have a one hundred percent 12 friendly relationship, if not some level of partnership 13 from the municipalities. 14 So we don't want to just all of a sudden 15 have you find out that there's some company operating in 16 the county and they're picking up folks recyclables. We 17 want to reach out to you in advance before offering 18 services to anybody and say look, this is what we're 19 hearing from residents in your county are requesting our 20 services. And we want to give you an advance notice of 21 that. 22 And then in some cases give the opportunity 23 to that municipality to offer it in a partnership to 24 their folks. Meaning this is not the case in Kerr 25 County, but there's a lot of places around the country 108 1 that over the last 18 months that have had to cut their 2 recycling programs because it's too costly, there's 3 nowhere for these materials to go on the back end. 4 There's a number of different reasons. Mostly cost 5 right now. And of course, that's the only going to get 6 worse with what we've had to go through with the 7 pandemic and cost incurred and lower tax fees and tax 8 rate and things like that. 9 So we want to have a very friendly 10 relationship with anywhere that we want to operate. So 11 number one so that we have that friendship, we're 12 extending that, we're extending that information to you. 13 Also if you want to be a partner, perhaps you could put 14 it on your website or you could promote it in some way 15 and say hey, we're offering our residents the ability to 16 have at-home recycling. It's a bit more convenient. 17 And just so you understand, this is not a 18 situation where everybody in the county signs up. If 19 you took a poll somewhere in the country now and said 20 you believe in recycling, you probably get somewhere 21 between six to seven percent -- six to seven out of ten 22 people will say yeah recycling is a good idea. And the 23 next question is will you participate in the recycling 24 program. Well, that might go down to five or six of the 25 ten responses. And then the next question will be 109 1 would you be willing to pay for recycling collection at 2 your home, and then that drops down to the two to four 3 out of ten that would say that. 4 So really you're looking at probably in your 5 county somewhere between 10 and 15 percent of the 6 residents who would be interested in participating in a 7 program like this. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Mr. Wise, this is Don 9 Harris. What kind of numbers do you need to get your 10 program started in an area like ours? 11 MR. WISE: We have a have a minimum of 100 12 customers slash users that do a pre-signup. So they go 13 to our website, or they attach to the sign-up page. 14 Which after we have this discussion today and you all 15 feel good about it, and I will share that with 16 everybody. 17 And once we have at least 100 sign ups, we 18 can begin the operations, which usually takes somewhere 19 between two and four weeks to start up. Because we have 20 to find participating drivers, and we have to do all the 21 mapping, the route mapping and all that. It takes 22 somewhere in the area of two to four weeks to actually 23 start something up, once we have 100 pre sign ups in any 24 given area. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I understand the -- 110 1 MR. WISE: Go ahead. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And you'll probably 3 start soliciting in newspaper ads or something like 4 this, probably? 5 MR. WISE: Probably outreach through a 6 number of different organizations. Environmental 7 organizations, which sometimes are statewide and they 8 have advocates in different places, including Kerr 9 County. And then of course you got churches and 10 schools, and community organizations like boy scouts, 11 girl scouts. All those different types of avenues that 12 we -- even the media, of course. We do press releases 13 with the media and say these type of services will be 14 available. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So back to Commissioner 16 Letz' question, you're just looking for not a commitment 17 or anything, but just knowledge to Commissioners' Court 18 that you would want to do this? 19 MR. WISE: Yes. Not looking for any type of 20 funding, any type of approval, except for perhaps 21 approval to say this is fantastic, we'd love our county 22 residents to be able to have this kind of service, and 23 we welcome you coming to our area and offering the 24 service. 25 I did want to also mention that Texas is one 111 1 of our prime operating areas; although, we've only be in 2 business for a couple of years. We are in 60 plus 3 cities and in ten states, and we've got 21 different 4 communities in Texas that we're operating in. So I just 5 give you some of the counties. So Kerr County, Bell 6 County, Folk County, Hardin County, Orange County, and 7 then a number of individual cities beyond that. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, I think all of us 9 had a number of calls from constituents that were 10 chagrined when the recycling program for residents 11 outside the city was terminated. So, you know, I don't 12 know how many would sign up, but it sure sounds like 13 there would be a good number that would be interested in 14 it. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: A good option. 16 JUDGE KELLY: And Mr. Wise, I can assure you 17 that all -- Rob Kelly, the Judge. I can assure you that 18 all the people that contacted me, I think are going to 19 think this is a good opportunity. 20 And as far as the Court goes, as far as I go 21 personally, I'm going to endorse you conceptually, I 22 want to see how you perform. But I think it's a good 23 idea. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Should we even put it 25 on our website because it's a private entity? I'd have 112 1 to talk to the County Attorney about that. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I wouldn't. 3 MR. WISE: On that question, and in many 4 places where municipalities does place us on their 5 website, if we don't have any type of written agreement 6 with them, there's usually some type of disclaimer on 7 there that says this is not a county-provided service. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we could maybe 9 get a press release. 10 JUDGE KELLY: We can get a press release. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A press release since 12 it's been on the agenda. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: There you go. That's 14 good. 15 MR. WISE: Is there an individual that you 16 would prefer me to, you know, kind of remain in contact 17 with and provide updated information and make requests 18 such as a press release or something like that? 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think Harley Belew. 20 (Laughter.) 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And he seconds. 22 JUDGE KELLY: We're teasing each other. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Probably Jody. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Lisa. He can just send 25 it straight to Lisa. She can decide what to do with it. 113 1 JUDGE KELLY: Well, but Lisa needs to get it 2 from us. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's what I mean, 4 she's going to ask should I do this or not. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: On the press release. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Probably give it to 7 Jody, and then Jody can -- 8 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. Any contact that you 9 need to make goes through Jody Grinstead who is our 10 Commissioners' Court Coordinator. That's who you've 11 been speaking with. 12 MR. WISE: Yes, Sir. Thank you. 13 JUDGE KELLY: She'll pass it on to the 14 proper person. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Harley's Jody's 16 assistant. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Is there anything else we can 18 do for you today? 19 MR. WISE: I thank you so much for the time 20 and attention and taking this up so quickly. And once 21 again I'm glad that everything's back online for you all 22 weather wise down there. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Thank you. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. Good 25 program. 114 1 JUDGE KELLY: Then I think the next item on 2 the agenda that we passed was 1.16, which is consider, 3 discuss and take appropriate action regarding the Salary 4 Study update, and I think we decided to pass that until 5 executive session sometime, but not today. 6 MRS. DOSS: Not today. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 8 JUDGE KELLY: That was the agenda. We have 9 one item that carried over, and we invited Miss Wilke to 10 come back and that was item -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 1.6. 12 JUDGE KELLY: -- 1.6. Consider, discuss and 13 take appropriate action for a a budget adjustment 14 request in salaries for the 216th District Attorney. 15 MRS. WILKE: I did bring some handouts. 16 JUDGE KELLY: I want to say that I really 17 appreciate this, but I want to share what my concern is. 18 We have -- now with the Public Defender's Office, the 19 two District Attorney's Office, and the County 20 Attorney's Office, we now have a substantial number of 21 lawyers on the payroll. And their salaries, as you can 22 confirm, Miss Wilke, they're all over the place. And we 23 really haven't taken a very consistent County approach 24 to how we're compensating our attorneys. 25 And last year was an unusual year because we 115 1 did have a hiring freeze. And so regardless of 2 department, but particularly with regards to lawyers, 3 the only lawyers that could be hired were the ones that 4 were replacing somebody else. And we froze -- we didn't 5 give any raises, we didn't give any COLA's, we didn't 6 hire anybody, you remember it was just a freeze. 7 And so as we deal with lawyers that leave, 8 invariably what I observed is we deal with them on an 9 as-needed basis, and we don't have a uniform approach to 10 how we're compensating our attorneys. And for some 11 attorneys that's unfair. 12 I can -- I can attest that I know some 13 attorneys that we have in the County Attorney's Office 14 that are underpaid. I promise you they're underpaid and 15 I work with them on a regular basis. And I'm not saying 16 anybody's overpayed. I don't want you to misconstrue 17 what I'm saying. 18 What I'm saying is that we don't have a 19 uniform approach to be fair with our attorneys. And 20 from my -- this is just my personal view. I see you're 21 in a jam, and I want to try to help you. But at the 22 same time, I realize that when we do these stopgap 23 solutions, what we do is we create precedence and then 24 we're locked into budget time rolls around and then 25 we're there. 116 1 I don't have any problems with the 64 2 hundred dollars, plus whatever the value of the rollups 3 are that you have in your budget doing it at this time. 4 That is not the problem. The problem is where are we 5 going to be when we start the budget process here in 6 just a few months. 7 And once we start paying these people this 8 amount of money, and it's kind of hard to go back. And 9 I want to help you out, but at the same time I'm not 10 ready to make the global decision as to what we're going 11 to do with all attorneys across the board, so that we 12 have some kind of uniform system, or something 13 predictable as our step and grade is, which is pretty 14 predictable. 15 That's my unique problem, Lucy, is I want to 16 help you but I'm afraid to commit long term budget. And 17 we need, to me, to have some kind of workshop or round 18 table discussion or something to discuss how we need to 19 compensate these lawyers fairly. Because you're here 20 today and you're in a jam and I want to help, but it's 21 hard, is what I'm saying. It makes my problem harder. 22 But having said that, I'm here to try to 23 help you. What can we do? 24 MRS. WILKE: Okay. And just as a reminder, 25 this is about a budget amendment. I think we're 117 1 discussing it like this is a budget workshop and I'm 2 asking for 15 thousand dollars more. I'll cross that 3 bridge when I get there. 4 Right now, all we're doing today is asking 5 for to take money that's already in my budget and move 6 it over to a salary line item, because of COVID we 7 didn't use all that money on conferences, so that's what 8 I'm here for today, and nothing else. 9 I mean you are going to tell me to hire an 10 attorney, but I know that the Regional Public Defender's 11 Office is interviewing now, and they set the salaries 12 for felony defenders at 85 to a hundred thousand. This 13 is within that range. 14 I brought you a handout that shows that my 15 office has the smallest salary budget for all the 16 prosecutors in Kerr County. The highest one is the 17 198th. Their total salary budget for two prosecutors 18 and four staff is $442,601.30. 19 The next highest is going to be County 20 Attorney's Office. Their total salary budget is 21 $420,766 -- $767.71. That's for three prosecutors and 22 four staff. And then mine is the lowest at $403,466.18, 23 and that's for two prosecutors and four staff. 24 And even adding 15 thousand the next budget 25 year, if I do that, which I would but like I told the 118 1 Court, I would try to decrease my budget in other areas 2 by that amount, I would still have the lowest budget for 3 salaries in my office, which would total $418,466.18. 4 And I think that attorneys are very unique 5 there, varied salaries. I don't really think are 6 conducive to a pay grade or a pay scale like a clerk's 7 salary, because they come in and they do the same work. 8 I mean there's got to be a low end and a high end based 9 on experience and ability; not just experience, because 10 somebody can have lots of experience and not be capable 11 of doing the job. 12 I think Mr. Bull, Judge Bull, mentioned that 13 during his presentation to you. It kind of a unique 14 situation. I -- I don't know, maybe perhaps maybe Cindi 15 told me wrong, but I was asking her about the 16 prosecutor's salary, Joe Soane's salary, and she 17 explained to me that the reason his looked a little 18 different is because there was some sort of salary 19 increase. The first 11 weeks was 41,777 is what she 20 told me, and then the last 15 weeks of this budget year 21 is 58,393 -- 22 MRS. STEBBINS: That's a longevity increase. 23 And I think if you could please leave my employee's 24 names out, I would really appreciate it. 25 MRS. WILKE: So they must be on step and 119 1 grade. 2 MRS. STEBBINS: No, they're not. 3 MRS. WILKE: Okay. Well, she told me, and 4 I'm just going by what HR told me. That the other 5 figure underneath there is actually a longevity 6 increase, and that the other is the salary. So there is 7 a second with that -- 8 MRS. STEBBINS: I'm sorry. Joe has not 9 received a salary increase this year and I have not 10 requested one for him. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sheriff, can you please 12 shut the door. 13 MRS. STEBBINS: That he will be getting 14 later this summer. 15 MRS. WILKE: And I haven't included 16 longevity in my office either, and I only included that 17 because I was told my HR that that did not include 18 longevity, that the bottom figure of $1,612.56 was the 19 longevity figure. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess, Lucy, I'm 21 looking at a lot of different numbers in front of me. 22 Currently, and you have an open spot. The 198th has an 23 open person. If you took what kind of was in the 24 budget, for your attorneys you took $206,000.00. That's 25 rollups, I think are included in that. 120 1 So your attorney's salaries are the same. 2 There's a big difference on 30 thousand dollars on one 3 of these investigators, which that person is probably 4 being paid more than he should be paid in my mind. 5 And I guess the question, it comes down to 6 do we look at attorney's pay, investigator's pay, staff 7 pay, or do we say -- well, this department is going to 8 get X dollars for salary's for pay, and they can pay it 9 anyway they want. I don't like that approach. I think 10 that we need to have people paid similarly for similar 11 jobs. 12 We are a bit askew, probably more askew 13 probably in the attorneys in this County than any other 14 group of workers. And at some point we need to, you 15 know, address that. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's a quality thing 17 then. Policy thing. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. It's a policy -- 19 well, we have some salary ranges that have come up and, 20 you know -- and if we approved your request that you're 21 asking, your attorneys will be paid more than any other 22 attorneys as a department, because you have one pretty 23 high paid attorney. 24 MRS. WILKE: Actually, I don't know. That's 25 possible. I didn't calculate that. But you're right, 121 1 because the other one is 203,969, 198th, and that's 2 currently without the 15. 3 But you mentioned that the similarly paid -- 4 the assistant DA in the 198th with less experience is 5 getting paid 95 thousand, which is what I'm requesting 6 this new prosecutor to get paid. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The Assistant DA? 8 MRS. WILKE: In the 198th. He was just 9 hired recently. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean they're all 11 Assistant DA's. I mean there's you and then there's the 12 assistant DA's. And each one of you all have two 13 assistant DA's. 14 MRS. WILKE: Correct. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And Assistant DA's for 16 both of them, or in my calculation, is $206,000.00 for 17 their combined salaries. 18 MRS. WILKE: Correct. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Was budgeted. So I 20 think we should stay within that same guidelines. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: You know, if this 22 attorney that you've identified, if they can't come in 23 at the salary that we're budgeted for, then maybe we 24 need to find another one. 25 MRS. WILKE: And I understand what you're 122 1 saying, you know, but I'm just asking that my Assistant 2 DA gets paid the same as the 198th Assistant DA, they're 3 getting paid 95. My incoming one has more experience 4 than the current assistant in the 198th. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Don't you have another 6 Assistant DA that's paid more too? 7 MRS. WILKE: I do. And he has more 8 experience than probably any of the other Assistant 9 DA's. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But that person's paid 11 substantially more? 12 MRS. WILKE: Correct, he is. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, you've already 14 hired this lady? 15 MRS. WILKE: I have. 16 MRS. DOSS: May I clarify the e-mail that 17 she was referring to, the hundred and two thousand 18 figure? And my e-mail states that salary study used 19 Kerr County's average salary of 102,448, which is based 20 on two Assistant DA's salaries from Lucy's office and 21 one from the 198th. 22 So they use that as a market average, but 23 when the assessment came back that the median salary 24 should be 70 thousand, only, which I also put in that 25 e-mail. So the low is 65 and the high was 93. 123 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, I saw that. 2 MRS. DOSS: So the 102 is just an average. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's a big range in 4 there. 5 MRS. WILKE: Correct. So then I would ask 6 that it be approved for the 93, which is the highest. 7 Extremely experienced, she's got extensive trial 8 experience, drug cases, and sexual abuse cases, violence 9 cases. I think as you can see from her resume and 10 application. She was in the Assault Unit, which handled 11 domestic violence cases. We get a lot of those and 12 those are tough cases to prosecute. The domestic 13 violence, and the sexual assault of a child, and just 14 even adult sexual assault, because there very difficult 15 to prosecute. And we have a pretty good docket of 16 those. 17 So again, I'm just asking that the Assistant 18 DA get paid the the same, and all I'm looking for today 19 is a budget amendment -- 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: A budget adjustment. 21 MRS. WILKE: And come back at budget time to 22 argue about the 95, and then at that point you can 23 approve it or not approve it. But all I'm seeking today 24 is a budget amendment for money that's already in my 25 budget. 124 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So we got a motion and 2 a second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 4 Those in favor of the requested budget amendment or 5 adjustment to bring the salary of the Assistant District 6 Attorney in the 216th up to 95 thousand dollars, is that 7 correct? You. 8 MRS. WILKE: Yes, Your Honor, that's 9 correct. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Those in favor raise your 11 hand. 12 (Commissioner Moser and Commissioner Belew 13 raised hands.) 14 JUDGE KELLY: Those opposed raise your hand. 15 (Judge Kelly, Commissioner Letz and 16 Commissioner Harris raised hands.) 17 JUDGE KELLY: All right. Thank you. 18 Okay, do we have anything else on the 19 agenda? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just other items. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, yeah, pay bills. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Move on to the Approval Agenda 23 2.1 pay the bills. 24 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. Invoices for today's 25 consideration total $348,016.28. 125 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Move we pay the bells. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Motion made by Commissioner 4 Moser, second by Commissioner Belew to pay the bills as 5 presented. Any discussion? Those in favor raise their 6 happened. That passes five zero. 7 2.2 budget amendments. 8 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Late bills. 10 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. We have a total of late 11 bills, if you include the contract amendment y'all just 12 made, is $107,048.52. 13 JUDGE KELLY: That includes the hundred 14 thousand dollars earnest money? 15 MRS. SHELTON: It does. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move we approve -- or 17 authorize the late bills. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Motion made by Commissioner 20 Letz, second by Commissioner Belew to pay the late bills 21 as presented. Any discussion? Those in favor raise 22 your hand. Five zero, unanimous. 23 Auditor reports. 24 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 25 JUDGE KELLY: 2.5 monthly reports. 126 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. The County 2 Treasurer's quarterly report revised for a period 3 October 1, 2020 through December 31st, 2020 Tracy 4 Soldan. Racial profiling report Constable 3 Ken Wilke 5 for December 2020. Indigent Services, HR Director 6 Jennifer Doss for January 2021. Payroll report County 7 Treasurer, Tracy Soldan. Monthly report, County 8 Treasurer, Tracy Soldan. Environmental Health, OSSF, 9 Director Ashli Badders. Animal Control Services, 10 Director Reagan Givens. Indigent Services, HR Director 11 Jennifer Doss. Constable monthly report, Constable 3, 12 Ken Wilke. Fines, judgments and jury fees as amended, 13 J.P. 4, Bill Ragsdale. 14 For February 2021 Constable monthly report, 15 Constable 1, Tommy Rodriguez. Constable 2, Kyle 16 Schneider, Constable 3 Ken Wilke, Constable 4 Brad 17 Ryder. Fines, judgments and jury fees collected, J.P. 18 1, Mitzi French. J.P. 2, J.R. Hoyne. J.P. 3, Kathy 19 Mitchell. Indigent Services, HR Director Jennifer Doss. 20 Director -- excuse me District Clerk Dawn Lantz, County 21 Clerk Jackie "JD" Dowdy. Environmental Health OSSF, 22 Director Ashli Badders. I move for approval. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Motion be made by Commissioner 25 Harris, second by Commissioner Moser to approve the 127 1 monthly report as presented. Any discussion? All in 2 favor raise their hand. Unanimous five zero. 3 Court orders. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll defer to 5 Commissioner Harris since I missed most of that meeting. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Didn't I give them 7 back to you? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. There's the front 9 sheet. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. All right. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Up in the highlighted 12 part. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Court orders 38567 14 through 38592 from Monday, February 2nd, 2021 regular 15 session. They look fine. I move for approval. 16 MRS. DOWDY: Wasn't there one more after 17 that, 38593? Is that correct? Or I am mistaken 18 somehow? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not -- 93? 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I thought there was 21 more, you're right. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This one says 592 in the 23 backup. 24 MRS. DOWDY: I show 38594 through 38607 was 25 from March first. 128 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay, in addition, 2 court order 38593 from Tuesday, February 23rd, 2021 3 special session. I move for approval on all of these. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There should be one from 5 the March first. The March first one was -- 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I had that whole 7 stack this morning. 8 MRS. DOWDY: Court order numbers 38594 9 through 38607 from a special session -- 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. Court orders 11 38594 through 38607 from Monday March first, '21 special 12 session. I move for approval. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 14 JUDGE KELLY: And motion made -- 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Thank heavens. 16 (Laughter.) 17 JUDGE KELLY: We got a motion and a second 18 to approve the court orders as presented. Those in 19 favor raise your hand. Unanimous five zero. 20 Information agenda 3.1. Reports from -- 21 status reports from department heads. 22 3.2 status reports from elected officials. 23 3.3 status reports from Liaison 24 Commissioners. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Historical Commission 129 1 is going to start having meetings again. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Good. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So that's good news to 4 back to normal sort of thing. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess just a status. 6 Little League is starting up. They're going forward 7 with the season and maybe with a little bit reduced 8 numbers, but they're getting ready to start practicing 9 next week, I believe. 10 JUDGE KELLY: There being nothing else, 11 we're adjourned. 12 * * * * * * 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 130 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 Regular Commissioners' Court. 9 Dated this the 20th day of March, A.D. 2021. 10 11 /s/DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD Certified Shorthand Reporter 12 No. 953 Expiration Date 04/31/2021 13 * * * * * * 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25