1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Special Session 5 Monday, June 21, 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 1.1 Public Hearing to discuss the creation of 4 the Kerr County Emergency Services District 4 #3 (ESD #3). 5 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 5 action to engage Rx Technology for server 6 upgrades for CJIS compliance, and approve budget amendment as needed. 7 1.10 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 10 8 action regarding lease with Hill Country Regional Public Defender's Office. 9 2.1 Pay bills. 16 10 *** Adjournment. 17 11 *** Reporter's Certificate. 18 12 * * * * * * 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 JUDGE KELLY: Good morning. Commissioners' 2 Court is now in session. It is Monday, June the 21st, 3 it is 9 o'clock in the morning. And this is a Special 4 Commissioners' Court meeting. It's going to be kind of 5 of an unusual day. We've got a regular meeting -- a 6 special meeting, and then we have got a budget workshop, 7 and then at 11 o'clock we have got an aggregate 8 workshop, so it's going to be a little disjointed. 9 Many of the things that are on the regular 10 agenda, will be items that need to be discussed after 11 budget workshop, so we'll do some of the agenda and then 12 we'll put off these that need to be decided after the 13 budget workshop. That'll be the order of the day. 14 So with that, I think the -- there's just a 15 few items on the agenda that we can take up before the 16 budget workshop. And the first thing that I want to 17 say, this is on YouTube, is that John Bull and Elizabeth 18 Berry, and the PDO have met with Judge Williams who 19 chairs the oversight board for the Hill Country Regional 20 Public Defender's Office, along with Judge Schuchart in 21 Medina, and Judge Evans in Bandera County. We all met 22 Friday for a couple of hours. They all serve on the 23 oversight board along with Commissioner Letz, and we 24 thoroughly discussed the PDO situation. 25 And my public comments about Mr. Bull, I 4 1 sincerely regret. And my comments were inappropriate 2 and I extend my public apology to him without 3 reservation or excuse, and I am genuinely sorry about 4 the comment that I made, and anything that was 5 attributable to any employee of the County, or Director 6 of the County. 7 And I specifically named -- I referenced 8 Commissioner Letz. I apologize to Commissioner Letz. I 9 referenced the Auditor, Tanya Shelton. I apologize to 10 you. I mentioned our IT Director, Bruce Motheral. I 11 saw him -- 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: He's right there. 13 JUDGE KELLY: I apologize to you. I 14 mentioned our HR Director, Jennifer Doss. I apologize 15 to you. I think I may have mentioned Shane Evans, our 16 Maintenance Director, and I apologize to him. Okay, 17 that's the bad news. 18 The good news is that the PDO is doing very 19 well, and they have over 12 hundred cases, about 20 20 employees. We're going to talk about the lease later in 21 the program today, but I wanted to make this public 22 apology first. 23 So with that, we'll go on to item 1.1, which 24 is the public hearing to discuss the creation of the 25 Kerr County Emergency Services District #3 (ESD #3). 5 1 And is that what brings you here? 2 UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: No. But yes, sir. In 3 the audience. 4 JUDGE KELLY: And that's Mr. Reeves and Miss 5 Dowdy. 6 MR. REEVES: Judge, this is a public 7 hearing. I'm just here for -- 8 JUDGE KELLY: So is there anybody here that 9 wants to discuss the prospective Emergency Service 10 District No. 3 for -- it's in Precinct 2 in the Center 11 Point area. 12 There being no one, then I'll adjourn the 13 public hearing and we'll move on to item 1.2, which is 14 to consider, discuss and take appropriate action to 15 engage Rx Technology for server upgrades for CJIS 16 compliance, that's C-J-I-S, which is Criminal Justice 17 Information Systems, compliance, and approve the budget 18 amendment as needed. This is Mr. Motheral. 19 MR. MOTHERAL: Yes. I think I've got in 20 y'all's packet where that we have a proposal from them 21 to upgrade some of our server equipment. And we ask you 22 to approve that. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can you explain the 24 relationship between the server upgrade and the CJIS 25 audit. 6 1 MR. MOTHERAL: The server that we have 2 today, because we didn't get to upgrade them during this 3 last year, they're out of date and they will not pass 4 the audit. They are not in compliance, and that will 5 affect grant money. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So are we replacing all 7 of them? 8 MR. MOTHERAL: We're not replacing; we're 9 just upgrading. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, upgrading. 11 MR. MOTHERAL: Replacement parts are going 12 to come for next years stuff. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What are the financial 14 implications? 15 MR. MOTHERAL: 23,636. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: If you had to give an 17 educated guess, Bruce, how long is it going to be before 18 they're not upgradeable. 19 MR. MOTHERAL: Sooner than later. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's the big expense. 21 How long in other words, how much time does this give -- 22 MR. MOTHERAL: Most of these servers are 23 eight to ten years old. They are approaching end of 24 life. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Are we -- did you do a 7 1 cost analysis of replacement versus upgrades? 2 MR. MOTHERAL: Right. We don't -- what 3 we're trying to do is do a consolidation. And that's 4 part of the big budget package that's going to come. To 5 do some consolidation of those servers, so it would be 6 less expensive in the long run. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. Because the next 8 gen is going to be upgradeable -- 9 MR. MOTHERAL: Right. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's the promise? 11 MR. MOTHERAL: That's what they say. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Bruce, is there a 13 deadline? 14 MR. MOTHERAL: Our audit is overdue, and 15 I've got Rx on standby to do this immediately. 16 JUDGE KELLY: This is essential, isn't it? 17 MR. MOTHERAL: Yes, it is. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Was this foreseeable it 19 was going to happen. 20 MR. MOTHERAL: It was foreseeable. We were 21 hoping because of COVID, it might get shoved out to next 22 year, but it's not going to. They're back into it now. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So if COVID had not 24 happened -- 25 MR. MOTHERAL: I would have already asked 8 1 for this. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: This is in the budget? 3 MR. MOTHERAL: This is not in the budget. I 4 would have, yes, but -- that's what I'm saying, it's an 5 expenditure that was foreseen, but not totally geared 6 for, because we cut it all last year. It was in my 7 budget to begin with last year. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, it was in the 9 budget. 10 MR. MOTHERAL: And we cut it back. So 11 that's where it happened. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But this is like 13 putting new tires on an old truck you're going to get 14 rid of, see. So -- but it has to be done. 15 MR. MOTHERAL: Tell me the way I see it, 16 yes. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And the tires go with 18 the truck when it's over? 19 MR. MOTHERAL: Yeah. It's still there. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I hate to waste the 21 money, but it has to be done. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that a motion? 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, that was a 24 motion. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll second. 9 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Are we voting on 2 wasting money or we voting -- kidding. 3 JUDGE KELLY: The motion was made by 4 Commissioner Belew, second by Commissioner Letz to 5 approve the server upgrades for the CJIS compliance, and 6 approve a budget amendment. You had the money in your 7 budget, we just have to be amend it to be able to fund 8 it, right? 9 MR. MOTHERAL: I think that we're going to 10 actually have to fund it. 11 MRS. SHELTON: So there is a budget 12 amendment. We're certifying new revenue in the Sheriff 13 Commissary phone line item for 24 thousand dollars, and 14 then we're putting the 24 thousand dollars into the IT 15 capital outlay. 16 JUDGE KELLY: So this is an 17 interdepartmental transfer, budget amendment correct? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Actually comes from 19 outside of the budget -- 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Outside of budget. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The Sheriff controls the 22 commissary fund. 23 MRS. SHELTON: Last year there was an AG 24 Opinion that stated that the money made off of the 25 commissary fund has to come into the general fund. So 10 1 last year when we were looking at that, we originally 2 budgeted about 35 thousand dollars, and right now we've 3 collected closer to 70 thousand dollars. So that's why 4 I'm saying it's new revenue. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The budget includes 6 that? 7 MR. MOTHERAL: Yes. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any discussion? Those 10 in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 11 I think we'll skip over 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6. 12 1.7, 1.8 and 1.9, because all of those should be 13 considered after our budget workshop. 14 Let's go to 1.10, which is to consider, 15 discuss and take appropriate action regarding lease with 16 Hill Country Regional Public Defender's Office. 17 As I said earlier, the good news is that our 18 public defenders office is immensely successful. They 19 have taken over 12 hundred criminal appointments to date 20 between five counties. The judges in all five counties 21 are very pleased with the program, pleased with the 22 timeliness in which our public defenders are actually 23 visiting their clients in jail. 24 They have gone through, and they have grown 25 much more rapidly than we anticipated. You know that's 11 1 always good news. You grow, but there's other 2 consequences with it. And one of them is that they've 3 taken a look -- they've already gotten 20 employees. 4 At the end of the day we're supposed to have 21 of them 5 that would be housed here in Kerr County, and about ten 6 of them over in Medina County. 7 And we have we've purchased -- we're in the 8 process of purchasing 550 Earl Garrett. Just a report 9 on that. It's scheduled to be roofed this week. It was 10 delayed because of the rain. And once we get the new 11 roof on it, we can get all the inspections and 12 certificate of occupancy, and we're still anticipating 13 closing by the end of the month. That is the plan. 14 But nonetheless, the PDO has -- when we 15 originally contemplated housing them over there, was the 16 second floor, which actually is 2,828 square feet. They 17 are requesting at least 4,360 square feet of space, is 18 what they're requesting to lease. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's pretty much the 20 whole thing, isn't it? 21 JUDGE KELLY: The whole shebang is 5,656, 22 and that is of the usable space. That doesn't include 23 the common areas or the maintenance items in the center 24 of the building. But that would be basically leasing 25 the entire building. 12 1 So we do have our quarterly board meeting, 2 and it's going to be in Boerne this week, Thursday 3 afternoon. And one of the things that we need to do on 4 behalf of Kerr County is to get this property under 5 lease so that we know what kind of income streaming 6 we're going to have. 7 We originally planned market rates at about 8 one dollar and 25 cents per square foot per month, is 9 pretty much the going rate. That rate is probably going 10 to go up with inflation, everybody's paying more. It's 11 not surprising. 12 But so what we would probably -- what I 13 would be asking the Court to do is to authorize us, 14 Commissioner Letz and Judge Williams and I are on that 15 Board, and this Thursday, and we'd like to have lease 16 discussions with the Hill Country Regional Public 17 Defender's Office, and if they want to lease the whole 18 thing, I need to know that that's something that this 19 Court is interested in doing or willing to do. 20 It would increase the annual payment from 21 approximately -- these are approximate numbers. From 45 22 thousand dollars a year to approximately 90 thousand 23 dollars a year. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: This payment from whom? 25 JUDGE KELLY: It would be from the Hill 13 1 Country Regional Public Defender's Office. The entity 2 that we created with the five counties to oversee this 3 public defenders office. And that rent would be 4 allocated between the five counties on the basis of case 5 counts. That would be -- that would be right now, I 6 believe -- I'm looking at my Auditor. We're at 34 7 percent -- 8 MRS. SHELTON: Roughly. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Roughly 34 percent of the 10 cases that the PDO has are in Kerr County, and just so 11 using approximate numbers, if we're talking about annual 12 rent of perhaps as much as 90 thousand dollars, 30 13 thousand of that is a Kerr County obligation. The 60 14 comes from the other five counties that they pay to help 15 defray the cost of purchasing the building to house the 16 public defender's office. 17 And in talking with TDIC, that's the Texas 18 Indigent Defense Commission, we can take that by way of 19 credit or we can actually contribute cash, our share of 20 the rent, in cash. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: At one time, I think 22 initially talked about 30 people and -- 23 JUDGE KELLY: 31. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- 31. 20 attorneys, 25 10 support staff. 14 1 JUDGE KELLY: 21 attorneys. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And did you say 3 something a moment ago about ten being in Medina. So 4 out of the total of 31, ten are going to be in Medina. 5 Was that always the plan -- 6 JUDGE KELLY: Yes, yes. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- to have ten? Okay. 8 And they're all Kerr County employees. Is that an issue 9 having Kerr County employees working full time in 10 Medina? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's another agenda 12 item. 13 JUDGE KELLY: It's not an issue that they're 14 Kerr County employees; the issue is who's going to 15 handle the administrative headache of taking care of 16 this PDO. And from my public apology -- 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's a different agenda 18 item. So granted. Okay. All right. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And what is the annual 20 payment on the mortgage of this building? 21 MRS. SHELTON: I'll have to get back to you 22 on that. I do not know it off the top of my head. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That will determine 24 whether we take our credit or make our payment. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 15 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And to go to your 2 question, Commissioner, I anticipate either I or the 3 Judge will put the PDO on next Monday's agenda, after 4 our meeting this week. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Report. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That will help. 7 JUDGE KELLY: So the motion that I'm making 8 is to authorize us to enter into these discussions 9 because we need to report back and be able to finalize 10 something, because we're anticipating that we will have 11 the certificate of occupancy by the end of the month, 12 the first part of July, and then we have to get the 13 phones and schedule the move. And there's quite a bit 14 of activity that has to take place. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So what's the motion? 16 JUDGE KELLY: My motion is to authorize 17 Commissioner Letz and I to discuss lease terms with the 18 Hill Country Regional Public Defender's Office and 19 report back to the Court according to progress we make. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Anybody second? 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'll second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: So I made the motion and 23 seconded by Commissioner Belew to authorize Commissioner 24 Letz and I to discuss lease negotiations with the Hill 25 Country Regional Public Defender's Office and report 16 1 back. Any other discussion? Those in favor raise your 2 hand. Unanimous, five zero. 3 Okay. At this point since we're going to 4 reconvene, I'm going to recess the special meeting. 5 (Recess.) 6 JUDGE KELLY: Pay bills. 7 MRS. SHELTON: Invoices for today's 8 approval, $21,706.20. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Third. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Any discussion? Those in 14 favor raise their hand. Unanimous. 15 Budget amendments. 16 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Late bills. 18 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Auditor Reports. 20 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Monthly reports. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: No. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Court Orders. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There are court orders, 25 but I wasn't here so I didn't review them. 17 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I haven't had a chance 2 yet. 3 JUDGE KELLY: We'll just put those off then. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Put 'em off. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Anything else we need to 6 cover? Marathon Monday is over. We are adjourned. 7 * * * * * * 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 18 1 STATE OF TEXAS * 2 COUNTY OF KERR * 3 I, DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD, Certified Shorthand 4 Reporter in and for the State of Texas, and Official 5 Court Reporter in and for Kerr County, do hereby certify 6 that the above and foregoing pages contain and comprise 7 a true and correct transcription of the proceedings had 8 in the above-entitled Special Commissioners' Court, via 9 YouTube. 10 Dated this the 4th day of July, A.D. 2021. 11 12 /s/DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD Certified Shorthand Reporter 13 No. 953 Expiration Date 04/30/2023 14 * * * * * * 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25