1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Regular Session 5 Monday, November 22, 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 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Precinct 3 DON HARRIS, Commissioner Precinct 4 25 2 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 *** Commissioner's Comments. 5 4 1.1 Kerr County Veterans Advisory Committee 7 quarterly report. 5 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 12 6 action on request to use courthouse grounds on December 4th and 5th from 9 a.m. to 7 5 p.m. for a pet food collection drive for Kerr County pet owners. 8 1.3 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 14 9 action regarding closure of Kerr County Animal Service to the public. 10 1.4 Presentation by Matthew Willis and Marvin 16 11 Willis on an Automated Shop Local Program. 12 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 28 action to accept Law Book Donation given 13 by Mark Morrison and add collection to the Kerr County Law Library for public use. 14 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 30 15 action to accept donation that was given to the District Clerk's Office for the Kerr 16 County Christmas Party. 17 1.7 Presentation regarding the results from 32 community survey regarding American Rescue 18 Plan Act(ARPA) funding and recommendations. 19 1.8 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 36 action to prohibit spending any American 20 Rescue Plan Act(ARPA) funding without Court approval. 21 1.9 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 44 22 action to determine if the American Rescue Plan Act(ARPA) funding should be sent back 23 to the Federal Government. 24 1.10 Passed. 25 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.11 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 92 action for the Court to set a public hearing 4 for 10 a.m. on December 28, 2021 for a revision of plat for Verde Park Estates 5 Section 2, Tract 5, Volume 5, Page 235. 6 1.12 Public hearing for revision of plat for 93 Hill Country Estates Section 2, Tract 7, 7 Volume 3, Page 30. 8 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 97 action for the Court to approve the revision 9 of plat for Hill Country Estates Section 2, Tract 7, Volume 3, Page 30. 10 1.14 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 113 11 action for the Court to approve a final plat for Paloma Ranch and accept a Letter of 12 Credit for associated construction improvements in Mountain Home, Texas. 13 1.15 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 115 14 action on a subdivision regulation violation for The Hideout Ranch Subdivision located on 15 FM 479. 16 1.16 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 121 action to accept and file Adult Probation 17 Statement of Financial Position for FY 20-21. 18 1.17 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 123 action to accept vest carrier donation 19 from Point Blank for Constable Precinct 3. 20 1.18 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 123 action to surplus items for Justice of the 21 Peace Precinct 4. 22 1.19 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 124 action to approve the retirement contribution 23 rate for the plan year 2022 recommend by TCDRS and budgeted for in FY22. 24 1.20 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 125 25 action to approve various revised job descriptions. 4 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.21 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 127 action to approve contract with Divide 4 Volunteer Fire Department, and allow County Judge to sign same. 5 1.22 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 128 6 action to appoint Boards for Emergency Services District #3(ESD#3) and Emergency 7 Services District #4(ESD#4). 8 1.23 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 130 action to hire grant administrator. 9 1.24 Passed. 10 1.25 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 132 11 action to approve bond for Bob Reeves, Kerr County Tax Assessor/Collector. 12 2.1 Budget Amendments. 133 13 2.2 Pay Bills. 134 14 2.5 Accept Monthly Reports. 135 15 2.6 Court Orders. 136 16 3.3 Status Reports from Liaison Commissioners. 136 17 *** Adjournment. 139 18 *** Reporter's Certificate. 140 19 * * * * * * 20 21 22 23 24 25 5 1 JUDGE KELLY: Good morning. It is Monday, 2 November the 22nd, 9 o'clock in the morning, and the 3 Commissioners' Court is now in session. If you would, 4 please rise for the prayer and the pledge, which will be 5 led by Commissioner Harris. 6 (Prayer and Pledge) 7 JUDGE KELLY: Please be seated. I want to 8 welcome everyone to Commissioners' Court meeting today. 9 We are on YouTube. We've had some complaints about not 10 being on YouTube so we're making sure that we are on 11 YouTube today. And I apologize for those that are 12 waiting upstairs to come down and talk. But they have 13 YouTube up there so they can see and hear everything 14 that goes on in this room. 15 With that, I want to remind everybody if you 16 would, please turn your phones either off or to vibrate 17 so they don't interrupt the speakers in their 18 presentations. And with that, the first part of our 19 meeting is always public input. This is where we invite 20 the public to come talk to us about the things that you 21 want us to know about. We don't get to respond but we 22 get to hear and listen. 23 And we ask that those -- we ask that it be 24 on something that is not on the agenda. If it's on the 25 agenda, we ask that you come when the agenda item is 6 1 called. So with that, when you -- when you approach the 2 podium back here, which is also on YouTube, you give 3 your name, your address so we'll know what Precinct 4 you're in, and we'll limit your -- your remarks to three 5 minutes. So if there's anyone who would like to address 6 the Court on something not on the agenda, this is your 7 opportunity to address the Court. Is there anyone? 8 Very well. Then we'll move on with the 9 agenda. But for those of you that are not familiar with 10 this, this is something that we do at the beginning of 11 every regular meeting is to invite public input. 12 We have some timed events today before we 13 begin the actual agenda. And when those timed events 14 come, they're going to be at 9:30, 10 o'clock and 11:30. 15 And we have to take those, again, as close to that time 16 as we can. So if we have to jump around a little bit on 17 the agenda, that will be the reason why. 18 We always start with Commissioner Comments. 19 Are there any Commissioner Comments in Precinct 1? 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: No. Things are going 21 very well. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 3? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just -- just Christmas 24 in Comfort this weekend. A good event. A lot of fun 25 for a lot of people. Encourage everyone to attend. 7 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I just want to 2 reiterate, we have a lot to be thankful for as we go 3 into Thanksgiving week. Also, I want to explain why I'm 4 so scraggly looking. Hill Country Crisis is "No Shave 5 November." So I can't wait for December 1st. But it's 6 a good cause and it brings awareness. That's all. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Very well. Then we'll go into 8 the Consideration Agenda. Item 1.1 Kerr County Veterans 9 Advisory Committee quarterly report. Gary Noller. I 10 know he's out in the hallway. Could you call Gary 11 Noller out there? 12 And Gary, if you would introduce everybody 13 so that people will know who are with you. 14 MR. NOLLER: Yes. Gary Noller, 140 Ray 15 Drive in Center Point. Vicki Marsh on my left, and 16 Byron Warren on my right. We're representing the 17 Veterans Advisory Committee. Bill Cantrell is on the 18 road to Phoenix so he couldn't make it today. This is 19 our quarterly report. We're a little bit late. We 20 wanted to get through Veterans Day, see how that worked 21 out before we made a report of it. 22 In the crowd somewhere is retired Lieutenant 23 General Michael Oates. He wanted to come down with us 24 today and just kind of see how we make a report to you. 25 He was in -- a graduate of West Point, Military Academy 8 1 at West Point, and had several command positions in the 2 United States Army, combat infantrymen. One of his 3 major commands was with the 10th Mountain Division. 4 Going on into the report proper, we did 5 receive a quarterly report from Jenna Sanchez on 6 performance of the County Veterans Service Office that 7 we're very happy to see that report. We're very pleased 8 with that report. Jenna intended to work part time with 9 Marty's absence to go to her active duty service with 10 the Air Force. 11 Jenna has kind of picked up hours. Every 12 minute she can squeeze into it, she squeezes into it. 13 And we're very pleased to see the performance report 14 that -- that she gave us and I hope she turned that in 15 so that you could look at it also. 16 Marty does check in from time to time. 17 Jenna and Marty stay close together. I think Marty 18 wants to stay in tune with the flow of things as much as 19 she can, even in her absence. And Jenna also stays in 20 good communication with us, the advisory committee. And 21 barely a week will go by that she doesn't send some 22 little question back, you know, what do you think about 23 this? 24 And I know she's setting up for January to 25 have an outreach, and she kinda asked us about that. 9 1 And so we try to give her the best advice we can, which 2 we -- we feel is our function. And we appreciate the 3 fact that she appreciates that advice and as much as 4 possible utilizes it. 5 There has been some issues with the 6 processing of veterans claims with the VA and a lot of 7 that's due to a couple of things. One is the public 8 pandemic has caused the Federal Government to cut back 9 on a lot of hours that are being worked. One of those 10 is the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. 11 It's really closed down. So we -- backed up there. 12 And the regional office is at the VA like in 13 Houston. So veterans see that. They notice that 14 they're not quite getting the service that they want to, 15 but I think from our perspective what Jenna does, she is 16 doing as much as she can. And when she turns it over to 17 the National Personnel Records Center, she turns it over 18 to the VA Regional Office, it's up to them to take the 19 next step. And she makes inquiries on behalf of the 20 veterans to find out where they're at, and see if she 21 can speed that along. 22 Veterans Day this year I hope went well. 23 Everybody had an enjoyable time. There were a lot of 24 events going on. Alan Hill stepped up and provided the 25 ceremony out here on the Courthouse grounds. Judge 10 1 Kelly, we -- we know what you stated when we came in in 2 October about a committee and we'd like to talk to you 3 in a little bit more in detail so we want to understand 4 what that's all about. 5 JUDGE KELLY: And I've had private citizens 6 tell me the same thing, so it's time for us to get 7 together. 8 MR. NOLLER: Okay. So -- so we're 9 interested in helping out with that and we know there's 10 people in the community who do. I guess we just want to 11 make sure that we have a good feeling from where you're 12 at and the rest of the Commissioners are at as far as -- 13 JUDGE KELLY: I think we're right on track. 14 MR. NOLLER: Okay. The last thing I want to 15 talk about a little bit is when they had the 16 infrastructure meeting over at the Event Center a couple 17 weeks ago. I appeared there because I heard 18 infrastructure and -- and thought that it might be a 19 good time to open up something. 20 There is a little piece of need here that 21 somebody in government needs to help us with. And 22 that's over on Highway 27 from basically the loop there 23 at Veterans Highway and extending back down towards the 24 County property. The stop light that's out in front of 25 the VA Building, the City street that goes down towards 11 1 Flat Rock Lake that's called Tucker Street, there's no 2 sidewalks on either side of that road there. But you 3 get to that -- that intersection and you go down towards 4 Third Creek and you go past the American Legion and 5 Maldonado's and the Credit Union and the public works 6 department and the baseball fields and the River Star 7 Park and the County Event Center. That all has curbed, 8 guttered and a real nice sidewalk. I'm not quite sure 9 how that got done. I didn't -- haven't lived here long 10 enough. I've only lived here 20 years. 11 JUDGE KELLY: I think that was probably 12 TxDOT. 13 MR. NOLLER: TxDOT. So anyway, somebody 14 thought that was nice to put that sidewalk that we've 15 got down there, but there's a lot of people that I see 16 that come down those sidewalks and come out of the VA 17 facility, particularly some of the people that live at 18 the VA, and they go down towards the Mini Mart and they 19 go down towards Stripes or they go across the bridge to 20 the pizza place or whatever. There's no sidewalks. And 21 so they're walking in the roadway. 22 And I've talked to the City once about that 23 and they're looking into it but I don't know if that's 24 an inter-governmental thing where all -- everybody has 25 to get on board, but at least if there's any influence 12 1 you might have to help get that thing done down the 2 line. If you find a shoebox full of money somewhere and 3 you say what shall we do with a shoebox full of money, 4 I'll say spend it on some sidewalks. But that's our 5 report. Any comments or questions? 6 JUDGE KELLY: No. Anything for the advisory 7 council? 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Thank you for what you 9 do. 10 MR. NOLLER: All right. Well, thank you for 11 your support of the veterans. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Item 1.2 is 13 consider, discuss and take appropriate action on the 14 request to use the courthouse grounds on December the 15 4th and 5th from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., for a pet food 16 collection drive for Kerr County pet owners. Karen 17 Guerriero and Brenda Hughes. I recognize you by your 18 T-shirts. 19 MS. GUERRIERO: I seize the opportunity. 20 Good morning, Judge and Commissioners. My name is Karen 21 Guerriero, I am with Kerrville Pets Alive, a nonprofit 22 animal charity service here in Kerr County. Our mission 23 is to serve Kerr County pets by assisting Kerr County 24 Animal Services in the areas of volunteer, animal 25 rescue, education and medical support. We also strive 13 1 to keep pets out of the shelter by providing resources 2 to Kerr County pet owners. Our office is frequently 3 visited by residents in need of pets, food, and 4 supplies. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can you close that door? 6 Excuse me. Sorry, Karen. Go ahead. 7 MS. GUERRIERO: That's okay. In an effort 8 to serve more of our pet community during the holidays, 9 KPA would like to host a pet food collection here on the 10 Courthouse grounds the weekend of December the 4th and 11 the 5th, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Our 22-foot KPA trailer 12 will be parked to allow for drive-thru donations and 13 manned with volunteers throughout both days. 14 KPA would also like -- would be able to take 15 safety measures needed to protect volunteers and 16 visitors. The collected food will be made available to 17 Kerr County pet owners in need at our office at 18 414 Clay, as well as other holiday events. 19 We also welcome any County employees or 20 officials who would like to volunteer their time for 21 this event. We'd like for you to consider that. 22 MS. HUGHES: And we also have liability 23 insurance. 24 MS. GUERRIERO: We do. 25 JUDGE KELLY: That's become more important, 14 1 you know. 2 MS. GUERRIERO: Yes, sir. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. It's a good 6 idea. 7 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 8 second to approve using the Courthouse grounds on 9 December 4 and 5 from 9:00 to 5:00 for a pet food 10 collection. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion about 12 that? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, four 13 zero. 14 MS. GUERRIERO: Thank you. 15 MS. HUGHES: Thank you very much. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Next item on the Agenda is 17 1.3 -- I believe Mr. Givens is outside. 18 MR. GIVENS: I'm here. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Oh, here he is. 1.3 consider, 20 discuss, and take appropriate action regarding closure 21 of the Kerr County Animal Services to the public. 22 I had some complaint about the shelter being 23 closed recently and just kind of wanted to follow up to 24 see what we could do about it? 25 MR. GIVENS: Well, actually this morning I 15 1 opened it. It involved the front door being locked. We 2 had originally locked it during the bad parts of Covid. 3 We had then reopened it. And then we had a Covid spike 4 so we re-closed it. 5 It wasn't really locked at this particular 6 time because of Covid; we just found we were able to 7 better regulate the amount of people in the lobby. Some 8 with cats and dogs at the same time. We had other -- 9 other instances where we were able to head off parvo 10 situations and other contagious illnesses before it 11 actually made it into the building. But that is not 12 vital. It still can get in. It can come in with our 13 officers, with animals off the streets. 14 So it's not vital that we do it and I 15 probably should have unlocked it a little bit sooner. 16 But being able to lock it on occasion whenever we do 17 have an outbreak or -- or another situation where we 18 think that it needs to be locked is good. But at this 19 time we went ahead and reopened it. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Good. Good to know. 21 Anything -- that's informational. Is there anything you 22 want to discuss about it? 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Just shows the need 24 for a new facility. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we're working on that, 16 1 too. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Do you -- do you put a 3 sign out there telling them why? 4 MR. GIVENS: Yes, sir. There -- we -- we 5 have a sign. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Then that's all you 7 need to do. 8 MR. GIVENS: And then basically we have 9 people call when they got there to be let in and stuff. 10 But there's issues with everything. If everybody is on 11 the phone and somebody may get stuck outside for a 12 little bit. So it's better to have them come in. 13 Actually, we prefer for them to be able to come in, we 14 just hadn't gotten to it yet, so -- But we have now. 15 JUDGE KELLY: All good. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Pros and cons either 17 way. 18 MR. GIVENS: There it is. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 20 MR. GIVENS. Thank you all. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Thank you. 22 JUDGE KELLY: The next item on the Agenda is 23 going to be 1.4. And I believe Marvin Willis is 24 upstairs so if he'd start heading down this way. Oh, 25 okay, Here he is. Okay. Good. Good. Presentation by 17 1 Matthew Willis and Marvin Willis on an Automated Shop 2 Local Program. 3 MR. WILLIS: If you'll pay attention to the 4 video first. 5 (Video is played.) 6 MR. WILLIS: Well, there you have the 7 presentation. I'd like to say a few things to go with 8 it if you don't mind. First, if anybody has their phone 9 out, if you'd like to take your phone and your camera 10 and just take a shot of this. Put your camera up and 11 point it at this code. Anybody want to do that? 12 Anybody up there? Any Commissioners? 13 JUDGE KELLY: I'm not good at that. 14 MR. WILLIS: All you've got to do is put the 15 camera on it. It's very, very technical. Well it's 16 really actually pretty simple. Okay. The program that 17 I've created -- you've seen how -- we've had shop local 18 programs, right? How many of them have lasted? Have 19 you ever seen one last anywhere? 20 UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: No. 21 MR. WILLIS: Do you want to know why? 22 Because of us. Because people are involved. Okay. 23 You've got somebody you've got to hire to run that and 24 that costs money from the City or the County, right? 25 Then you have to have volunteers. How long do they 18 1 last? Some of them last a little while, some of them 2 last a lot. 3 And you guys know how it is when you have 4 one side of town getting a little bit more than the 5 other side of town, getting a little bit -- so it just 6 creates all this conflict, right. 7 Well, this simple program that I've put 8 together, what it does is I create a cart for any 9 business that wants to participate. Okay. And I'm 10 creating a whole new revenue stream for every business 11 that does. Because, if you think about it, your 12 customer comes in the store. Many of you are business 13 owners. Comes in the store, buys something from you, 14 goes home, sits down on the couch and orders three more 15 things on Amazon. 16 Now you guys are talking about a huge issue 17 today here in Kerr County about the money that the 18 Government is wanting to give you with control. Am I 19 correct? Isn't that what we're talking about? Well, 20 how about a quarter of a billion dollars to Jeff Bezos 21 to take you into space with him? 22 Simply, all we have to do is set up our own 23 merchants, okay, where people can buy online from them. 24 How many of you in here would buy from your local 25 merchants instead of Amazon? I mean it goes without 19 1 saying. 2 Now, why would I come to you? Well, I've 3 been to the City. I've been to the Chamber. I've been 4 to the Economic Development Corporation. Okay. You 5 know how many people -- I've got 21 businesses already 6 on board with this in a week. Okay. So getting the 7 businesses isn't a problem. 8 I don't really need the County or the City 9 to get the businesses to do it because they all know 10 what I just showed you on that video. Every one of them 11 did. And they know their own customers come in the 12 store and then they go home and they buy three times as 13 much at home. We're talking about $249 million a year 14 leaving Kerr County. How much money is this debate 15 about we're talking about getting money? Not anywhere 16 near that. And that money, we're all just sending out 17 of town. 18 Now, what do I want the County to do? Well, 19 I want the County to recognize that $250 million that's 20 leaving and just help me get these signs up around town. 21 Okay. Each business that participates in this, I'm 22 going to charge them a percentage so they're only going 23 to make more money because you figure their overhead 24 from their business is usually somewhere between 60 and 25 70 percent. Their overhead on this, something around 15 20 1 percent. So they make more money online than they do in 2 their own business. It shouldn't be too hard. 3 Now listen, I did the hero card, I did the 4 river parade, I did the Celtic Festival. I've done 5 homecoming. I've done everything. All right? All 6 those things have been successful so I have the 7 credibility, I believe, to pull this off. And I own the 8 Hill Country Visitor Magazine and Mobile Mag Nationwide. 9 And so not only will the shop local program 10 benefit the locals here locally, but when visitors come 11 into town. They can take it with them and continue to 12 shop. And I'm promoting it nationwide. So anybody will 13 be able to go to the link and shop in Kerrville. Or not 14 just Kerrville but the entire Kerr County is our plan. 15 Now when I get Hometown here, I'll have 787 16 businesses on my program. 787 businesses. You know 17 what they gave me? They gave me 15, 20, some of them 18 even more percent off just for telling the customer to 19 come there. Okay. 20 With this program, I'm going to make them 85 21 percent more profit off of their merchandise and that 22 money is going to stay here. Because right now the only 23 reason why people shop online is because it's easier and 24 because you -- because the local businesses, most of 25 them, don't have an online portal. It's really not that 21 1 complicated to do. We have the technology. I have 2 enough people working for me. 3 I know I'm running over my time, but I just 4 want you to know that I would like to create a public 5 private partnership with the County to keep that $250 6 million in Kerr County. That's what I'd like to do. 7 Now you guys know how that would work, I don't. Okay. 8 But as far as me setting up -- this is -- 9 I've got 21 already in the program. And you know what, 10 all 21 of them did it with me asking them the first 11 time. So I don't see any person -- I can't see anybody 12 saying no to this. Okay. The biggest problem we have 13 in this community is billionaires taking the money out 14 of it. And it's really simple to compete with them. It 15 really is. We just don't do it. 16 We have the capability not to just do it, 17 but to promote it and to organize it and to run it. And 18 here's the thing. You don't need a shop local manager. 19 You don't need volunteers. You don't have this side of 20 town mad at this side of town over the shop local 21 program. Okay. And it literally works. It's simple. 22 And every business that gets involved gets free 23 promotion throughout the entire County. So why wouldn't 24 you do it? Not only that. Since I own Mobile Mag, 25 which is nationwide, I can promote this anywhere in the 22 1 United States. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Why don't -- can you 3 hold that -- that card up in front of the camera there? 4 MR. WILLIS: Yeah, let me hold it up. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Maybe people can get 6 it off their screen. No, right there in front of the 7 camera. 8 MR. WILLIS: Oh, right here in front of the 9 camera. Now this is -- yeah, you can scan this off the 10 camera. It can be sent out as a link. But the plan is 11 to put one of these in every business in town. Okay. 12 Where their customers walk through the store at the 13 register and just scan this and walk out. Guess what? 14 They share them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, 15 LinkedIn. Anyway they want. I can take them to their 16 website. I can take them to a shop program. I can take 17 them to Facebook marketplace. I mean, we can do 18 anything we want to do with it. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, in case there's 20 people out there like me, give them your phone number as 21 well. 22 MR. WILLIS: Okay. If you want to get ahold 23 of me, my phone number -- my direct line, 830-367-2151. 24 That's going to come directly to me. If you're 25 interested in this program, I want you on board. But my 23 1 interest today really is getting you guys on board. The 2 $250 million a year that's leaving here, just a piece of 3 that would help our economy. 4 And really, you know, I e-mailed every 5 single person with the Chamber of Commerce. Every Board 6 Member, every auxiliary member, the economic development 7 -- how many people are here from the chamber? 8 UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: I'm a member. 9 MR. WILLIS: Did you get my e-mail? 10 UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: I'm a member. 11 MR. WILLIS: No, I mean -- I mean that 12 belong to the chamber? 13 UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: I'm a member. 14 MR. WILLIS: I mean as a -- I mean a board 15 member or an auxiliary member? How about the president 16 of the chamber? How about anybody from the City 17 offices? Okay. 18 Now, Harley, you know me better than anybody 19 up here, right? Don't you think? 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Maybe. I don't know. 21 Should we vote on that? 22 MR. WILLIS: I would say you do. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I've known you a long 24 time. 25 MR. WILLIS: I think that Harley would 24 1 probably speak for me in saying that when I say I can do 2 something I don't just try, I put all of it into it and 3 I get it done. And this is all I've really done. Okay. 4 I mean, all the technology is already done. Okay. 5 It's -- all I really need is to create a 6 partnership with you to -- to -- really just to 7 encourage shop local first. 8 Now, I don't expect everybody to shop local 9 always. For everything. Because we don't have 10 everything. That's why we call this shop local first. 11 So you can go online, just like going onto Amazon. And 12 you can order the stuff right here in town or in Center 13 Point or in Comfort or in -- anywhere in Kerr County, 14 okay, just from your phone. Just like Amazon. It's not 15 any harder. But I want the people to know it so that 16 they're shopping local so they're not spending money 17 into space like we saw in that video. 18 And that's -- that's where I'm at. What do 19 you guys say to this? 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I think we just did 21 it. With your card and everything. With the phone 22 number. I think -- I think you're bringing awareness. 23 MR. WILLIS: Well, I -- what about a private 24 public partnership with you guys? 25 JUDGE KELLY: I'm not sure we can legally do 25 1 that. I'd have to defer that to the County Attorney to 2 look that up. 3 MR. WILLIS: Well, it's -- it's a proposal. 4 You know what I mean? I -- I really don't know what you 5 can do. But we're talking about $250 million a year. 6 Okay. It -- it's really not that complicated to keep a 7 lot of that money here. And I just need people to -- 8 JUDGE KELLY: We appreciate your effort, but 9 I'm not sure we can partnership with you. I mean what 10 we -- 11 MR. WILLIS: Well, maybe we can't partner. 12 Maybe we can't partner. But maybe you could say 13 something good about it. Maybe you could talk to people 14 in your district and say, hey, you know -- and here's 15 the other thing about that. How am I going to get them 16 to see it? Right? Well, when I had the hero card, I 17 went around and put hero card stickers on every 18 business, right? 19 Well, I'd like to have the QR codes up where 20 people can see it when they come into town. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I think it would help 22 every business here. 23 MR. WILLIS: Absolutely. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: My family -- one of 25 the highlights when we come to visit is going to 26 1 Gibson's. They don't have a Gibson's. 2 MR. WILLIS: Well, there you go. So the guy 3 who comes to Gibson's with your buddy -- 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. 5 MR. WILLIS: -- and when he goes home he can 6 still shop at Gibson's. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Exactly. 8 MR. WILLIS: And that money is staying in 9 Kerrville, isn't it? And Gibson's is one. What about 10 James Avery? 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: You bet. 12 MR. WILLIS: If you shop at James Avery 13 right here in town, and a lot of people would like that. 14 They'd come here and shop and then leave. There's a lot 15 of places like that. And I'm just looking for a way to 16 get somebody on my side. Because when you can't get the 17 city, okay, when -- you know, you really can't. Now -- 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Marvin, I think we're 19 on your side. It sounds good. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Thank you. 21 MR. WILLIS: Okay. Well, somebody let me 22 know what you want to do. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're not sure what we 24 can do. Other than support you. 25 MR. WILLIS: I'm going to do it. But I -- I 27 1 think these people are on my side, right? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not sure how we 3 participate. 4 MR. WILLIS: Well, I'm just looking for a 5 way to -- 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You gotta tell us what 7 you want. Accept for us to be supportive. There was no 8 ask in what you said. 9 MR. WILLIS: Well, I appreciate that, 10 Harley. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 12 MR. WILLIS: Okay. Well, I'll let you guys 13 have it. And thank you very much for listening to me. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'll spread the word. 15 MR. WILLIS: Excuse me? 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I appreciate that. 17 We're working on it already. We've got 21 businesses 18 signed up already. So it won't take long, I don't 19 think. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Good. We're all 21 supportive of shopping locally. 22 MR. WILLIS: I think you are. I think you 23 are. The problem is keeping people involved in the shop 24 local program. Because how many managers have we had in 25 the City that have been in the shop local program or the 28 1 downtown association and all those different things? 2 They fail because of people. See, this is automated, 3 there's no people, and that's why I believe it'll work. 4 Thank you. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Very good. Thank you. Next 6 item on the agenda is 1.5 consider, discuss and take 7 appropriate action to accept Law Book donation given by 8 Mark Morrison and add collection to the Kerr County Law 9 Library for public use. Dawn Lantz. 10 MS. LANTZ: Good morning, Judge Kelly and 11 Commissioners. Mr. Morrison came to visit me and he 12 would like to donate his law books. He's a retired 13 attorney from here in Kerrville. And he asked if we 14 would graciously accept his law books to put in our 15 library. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So move. 17 JUDGE KELLY: I've got a motion. Is there a 18 second? 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You look like you have 20 a doubt about that. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll second. And then 22 I'll have a doubt. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So we've got a motion 24 and a second. The motion is by Commissioner Belew and 25 second by Commissioner Letz. 29 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My doubt is do we need 2 these law books and what books? Are they duplicates of 3 something we may already have? 4 MS. LANTZ: No, they're not. I looked and 5 it's -- basically we have some tort bankruptcy, veteran 6 law, so it's a lot of case law that may help individuals 7 coming into the law library, because that was one of the 8 things I did ask him. So we have different books that 9 he's donating that we don't currently have. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How many -- volume wise, 11 how many books? 12 MS. LANTZ: There's probably about 20 books. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Do we have room? 15 MS. LANTZ: Yes, sir. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. 17 MS. LANTZ: And he said if -- if we didn't 18 accept them, he would try to donate them to Schreiner 19 College. So -- but I see that they may come in helpful 20 for some of the pro se that come in for different 21 things. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Are these specific books? Are 23 they Reporter Series or what? 24 MS. LANTZ: They're various different books. 25 It's not a series. So it's specific titles to certain 30 1 things. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I guess I'm curious. 3 I -- I've practiced law for 47 years and I probably 4 have, I don't know, what, 800, a thousand books? 5 MS. LANTZ: Well, he didn't want to throw 6 them away because these were specific good case law. So 7 he asked if we would accept them here. 8 JUDGE KELLY: I just want to make sure we 9 don't have any duplication. I don't know how to get rid 10 of my books. I got lots of them. Okay. Any other 11 discussion? We got a motion and a second. Those in 12 favor raise your hand. I'm just going to abstain. I 13 got books coming out our ears. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not sure. 15 JUDGE KELLY: So going to Item 1.6 consider, 16 discuss and take appropriate action to accept donation 17 that was given to the District Clerk's office for the 18 Kerr County Christmas party. 19 MS. LANTZ: We received several items from 20 constituents, and so we're going to graciously donate 21 those to our Christmas party to be raffled off. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move we accept the 23 donations. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Will that include law 25 books? 31 1 MS. LANTZ: No. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We have a motion -- 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 4 JUDGE KELLY: -- and a second. Any other 5 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 6 four zero. 7 MS. LANTZ: And just to clarify, they're 8 gift cards. So thank you. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Now, before we go on to Item 10 1.7, I'm going to advise the people upstairs -- I 11 understand they're having several problems up there, I 12 don't know if they can hear anything or not. Has that 13 been rectified? 14 SHERIFF LEITHA: It's a little better, 15 Judge. We've got it about as good as we can get. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Well, the first four people on 17 the list, I believe, which are Marcia King -- I can't -- 18 I can't read these names. Richard -- okay. Start 19 heading this way. 20 SHERIFF LEITHA: Okay. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Because, yeah, we're going to 22 do 1.7 and 1.8 and then 1.9. 23 MRS. STEBBINS: There's a 9:30 timed item, 24 Judge. 25 JUDGE KELLY: And that's going to pass. 32 1 MRS. STEBBINS: Okay. 2 JUDGE KELLY: I just got a note on that one. 3 So we're going to pass the 9:30 timed item, which helps 4 a little bit for the schedule. So Item 1.7, it's a 5 presentation regarding the results from the community 6 survey regarding the American Rescue Plan Act funding 7 and recommendations. Rosa Lavender. 8 MRS. LAVENDER: Okay. Drum roll. I want to 9 remind you about a couple things before I give you the 10 numbers. There's about, what, over 30,000 voters in 11 Kerr County, registered voters. And so anytime you say 12 that a majority of people are either thing, you gotta 13 take that into perspective. We had a total of 165 14 responses to the survey, 11 of them were turned in at 15 the workshop, we got 56 of them by mail, and we got 114 16 by e-mail using the website, which totaled 181 responses 17 total. 18 I'm not sure where that top number came 19 from. Anyway I just should have marked that out. 105 20 of the responses said basically keep the money and 75 21 responses said send the money back. The categories that 22 were selected: We asked people to indicate three 23 different categories and, actually, I went ahead and put 24 all of them on here because I thought they were kind of 25 interesting, the numbers. 33 1 The first and one that got the most either 2 circling or numbering or whatever was the under public 3 health category, other COVID-19 public health expenses, 4 which is communications, information technology, law 5 enforcement, and emergency services. And 42 people 6 indicated that as an option. 7 The second group was under the public health 8 category, which is medical expenses, including 9 alternative -- alternate care facilities, and 41 chose 10 that option. 11 The third one was the negative economic 12 impact category, and that one was the aid to non-profit 13 organizations. And then I went ahead and gave out the 14 numbers and since y'all are interested, let me read the 15 other ones. 16 Under public health category, capital 17 investment or public plant changes to public facilities 18 was the fourth one, and it had 28. 19 The other smaller results, clean water 20 20 votes, broad band 19 votes. And I might add in the 21 legislation that was signed last week there's a 22 considerable amount of money for broad band also. 23 Congregate settings 19 votes, mental health 24 people added 11 votes, two votes for road repairs, and 25 three votes for housing. 34 1 So it was kind of a broad spectrum of 2 things. Some people responded to only one selection. 3 So they'll try adding those up and making it come out to 4 181 because it won't work out like that. And then 5 others marked two of them and didn't mark a third one. 6 So it kind of skews it. 7 A little history lesson for ya. There was a 8 Benedictine monk in Suffolk, England in the late 1400's 9 and he wrote a poem and this little part is in the poem, 10 and it's been reused and reused and reused, and Abraham 11 Lincoln is probably the one that you would identify as 12 having used it. It says, You can please some of the 13 people some of the time, you can please all of the 14 people some of the time, but you can't please all the 15 people all the time. And I think that applies in this 16 survey and in what we're talking about. 17 And then I gave the Court three 18 recommendations. Do you want me to make those public? 19 JUDGE KELLY: Sure. 20 MRS. LAVENDER: Okay. The first one, I 21 asked them to reset the deadline for the intent to 22 submit from December 31st to at least February 15th. 23 And that will give people who want apply for these 24 funds, if they decide to keep them, a bigger window here 25 to get their money, the project planned and how much 35 1 money it's going to cost and that, before we start 2 looking at them. And so I would recommend that we move 3 that. And you can do that at the next court thing. 4 It's not an action item today. You still have time to 5 do that. 6 The second one is to make no decisions about 7 funding projects until these pending court cases at the 8 national level are resolved. And any applicable 9 executive orders are interpreted. And I think that's a 10 fair thing. We've hired GrantWorks. We have a couple 11 of people from GrantWorks here today. And that's one of 12 the things that they do is kind of keep up with all the 13 legislation. 14 And then later today, we're going to hire a 15 grant administrator. And so, that will be a 16 responsibility so that person will need to feed back to 17 the Commissioners and to the public as this evolves as 18 time goes on. So that'll be a big challenge to have to 19 keep up with all that. 20 And then the third thing that I thought 21 about and, I don't know, Heather will probably have to 22 answer this one. Consider requiring a performance bond 23 equal to the amount of funding awarded to non-profits or 24 any other non-government agency or group. In other 25 words, if you are awarded some of the funding, then you 36 1 are responsible for producing a performance bond. That 2 will protect the County from being financially 3 responsible if the funds are not used correctly. The 4 bond will take care of it. I don't think that will be a 5 problem, but I think that's not asking too much. And 6 that's my report. Thank you. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion on 8 her presentation? So the public knows, we do have two 9 representatives from GrantWorks here today. We have the 10 president of the company, who is Bruce Spitzengel, and 11 we have the Director for the American Rescue Plan Act 12 division of the company, which is Fred Morris, and 13 they're here to answer questions. 14 Let's move on to the next item on the 15 agenda, which is 1.8 which is to consider, discuss and 16 take appropriate action to prohibit spending any 17 American Rescue Plan Act funding without court approval. 18 Commissioner Harris. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: All right. I think 20 this is one of the biggies on our agenda today, and I've 21 got a lot of stuff written down that I want to read. 22 And I'm going to start out with the wording that 23 disturbs me and most of the people gathering here today 24 the most, and I'll quote. Specifically it says, 25 To comply with all other applicable Federal statutes, 37 1 regulations and executive orders, and recipient shall 2 provide for such compliance by other parties to any 3 agreement it enters into with other parties relating to 4 this award. 5 Now, if I had to vote today to keep this 6 money or send it back, I'd vote to send it back. But 7 there is not an immediate deadline. This wording has 8 caused a lot of maneuvering and litigation. As most of 9 y'all know, I oppose any sort of mandates, whether it be 10 masks, vaccines, whatever. 11 Over the last couple weeks I've had a lot of 12 sleepless nights thinking about this stuff. And, you 13 know, I had a prescheduled vacation, a mini vacation, I 14 missed out Commissioners' Court when this stuff was 15 discussed before. So a lot of y'all, it's the first 16 time y'all are hearing from me. I've answered lots of 17 e-mails, phone calls and what have you and stated my 18 position. 19 I reached out to several elected officials 20 and here are some of their opinions. First one's Chip 21 Roy. And they -- his office wanted to make it clear 22 that this is a policy position, not a legal position. 23 But I'll read you what they sent. Biden's vaccine 24 mandate does not apply to the recipients of ARPA grant 25 funds for the same reason it does apply to anyone. It 38 1 is unlawful and unconstitutional. A recipient of the 2 grant funds is not a Federal contractor under any 3 definition of the term, but if Biden -- if the Biden 4 administration attempts another unlawful executive order 5 like his unlawful eviction moratorium and his unlawful 6 vaccine mandate, or if he tries to extend the existing 7 mandate to recipients of ARPA funds, County and locality 8 should simply not comply and the courts should strike it 9 down immediately. 10 Andy Murr, and I'm paraphrasing his, because 11 of litigation, stand back and watch. Possibly put the 12 funds in a jumbo CD. And I'm just paraphrasing. 13 Kyle Bierdermann. I know I reached across 14 the fence. He's not in our district, but I enjoy 15 visiting with Kyle. And this is a direct quote: I 16 believe in waiting to spend immediately is smart. Let 17 the smoke clear and then make a decision. 18 Therefore, I move that we prohibit spending 19 of any American Rescue Plan Act funding without Court 20 approval. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We got a motion and a 23 second to not spend any of the ARPA fund without further 24 action from this Court in public. Right? A public 25 meeting? 39 1 Okay. Court is open for discussion. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have a question 3 probably to -- or for a representative from GrantWorks. 4 There is -- or I presume you'll be sending us a bill at 5 some point for the work you're doing. If those funds 6 are paid for out of our general fund, is it possible if 7 we decide to use any of these funds in the future to 8 reimburse ourselves from -- from the ARPA fund into our 9 general fund at a future date? 10 JUDGE KELLY: I know you had some handouts. 11 Bruce, I know you had some handouts. Do you want to go 12 ahead and have the handouts -- 13 MR. SPITZENGEL: You know, let's wait until 14 the next Agenda item. I think it would be more 15 appropriate at that particular point in time. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Just identify yourself and 17 your position. 18 MR. SPITZENGEL: Yes. I'm Bruce Spitzengel. 19 I am President of GrantWorks, the consulting firm that 20 has been retained by the County to assist with the ARPA 21 funding. Regarding the question in terms of -- I 22 believe that that would be a situation if it's an 23 eligible activity, you chose to spend local funds and 24 then reimburse later, once you feel comfortable that the 25 reimbursement is going to be something that you're -- 40 1 you can live with and is appropriate, that would be a 2 fine expense and a reimbursement. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 4 JUDGE KELLY: While you're there, I know you 5 handed me some stuff before the meeting started. With 6 regard to the vaccine mandate. Is that something that 7 is going to be applicable to County and County employees 8 or any of the people that we give the monies to? 9 MR. SPITZENGEL: Well, I'll do the short 10 answer right now and then when we get to the item that 11 is going to be public comments and the like I'll go into 12 more detail, if that's okay with you, Judge? 13 JUDGE KELLY: Sure it is. I just -- just 14 kind of wanted you to -- 15 MR. SPITZENGEL: Based on, you know, our 16 reading and based on opinions that we've seen, this 17 County is not in any manner required to comply with the 18 EO, or any other EO, in regards to the vaccines. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And that's based on 20 what? 21 MR. SPITZENGEL: Well, can I get to that 22 when we get into the questions? There's going to be a 23 thousand questions, I have a strong suspicion. It is 24 based on information that comes from OSHA and so that's 25 what we'll be looking at is the OSHA information and 41 1 looking at the various documents that support what I'm 2 stating. But I -- I do believe it's, you know, pretty 3 definitive. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: OSHA is in a court case 5 right now. We don't know how -- 6 MR. SPITZENGEL: That is dealing not with 7 cities and counties, and particularly not dealing with 8 the State of Texas. That is dealing with employers of 9 100 or more employees. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: True. 11 MR. SPITZENGEL: That's me. Right now, I 12 have to comply. Once it comes up to whatever that data 13 is, January the 4th or whatever, my company would have 14 to comply. Unless there's a court order that changes 15 that. But it does not affect cities, counties, or the 16 State of Texas, as far as their employment. 17 JUDGE KELLY: And that's because we don't 18 participate in that aspect of OSHA. 19 MR. SPITZENGEL: That is correct. Because 20 you are not a part of an OSHA -- a state OSHA plan. And 21 I -- like I said, I'll point all that out, Commissioner. 22 I'm not trying to hide it, I just feel like it would be 23 more appropriate when -- 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I want to make sure 25 that we're not mixing apples and oranges. That's why 42 1 I'm pointing it out. 2 MR. SPITZENGEL: We're not mixing apples and 3 oranges. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's going to be 5 really important when this next item comes up. 6 MR. SPITZENGEL: You know, like I said, you 7 know, I've wanted to make it, you know, perfectly clear 8 that I -- we -- you know, that my firm has been hired by 9 the County, but that's not having anything to do with 10 how this opinion of my statements are coming forth right 11 now. It's based on information that's -- is available 12 from OSHA, and it's pretty darn clear. Including the 13 emergency statement that -- or standard that has come 14 out from OSHA. It's very clear in there as well. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And OSHA is not charged 16 with public health, it's charged with safety. 17 MR. SPITZENGEL: OSHA is not charged -- does 18 not have the capability of telling Texas, as far as 19 local officials, cities and counties and the state, that 20 they have to get the vaccine. OSHA does not have that 21 authority. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: OSHA is what they're 23 trying to use today. 24 MR. SPITZENGEL: I'm sorry. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: CDC is what they used 43 1 for the moratorium on your rent. OSHA is what they're 2 trying to use today on a vaccine mandate. 3 MR. SPITZENGEL: That is correct. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So who knows what 5 they'll use tomorrow. So I -- I appreciate what you're 6 saying and I appreciate you trying to console us a 7 little bit but -- 8 MR. SPITZENGEL: I -- 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Hold on. 10 MR. SPITZENGEL: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That doesn't mean they 12 won't come up with something else tomorrow and we've got 13 an open-ended time frame here. 14 UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: That's right. Hear, 15 hear. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And so there's -- 17 JUDGE KELLY: Let's maintain order in the 18 courtroom. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- the problem. So I 20 appreciate that you've looked into it and you've studied 21 it, but we're trying to nail Jello to the wall. We're 22 trying to figure out what these guys are going to do 23 next. 24 MR. SPITZENGEL: Commissioner, my -- my 25 thoughts on that is if they could have, they would have. 44 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well -- 2 MR. SPITZENGEL: And I don't think that -- 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- they -- they never 4 sleep. Russ never sleeps. These guys are always trying 5 for some way to get something out of -- 6 MR. SPITZENGEL: I understand. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 8 MR. SPITZENGEL: But I don't particularly 9 agree. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's fine. That's 11 America. 12 MR. SPITZENGEL: Thank you. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion 14 about not accepting funds? We have a list? 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Are we calling number 16 1.9? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, we're on 1.8. 18 JUDGE KELLY: We have a motion and second. 19 Is there any more discussion on the motion? And the 20 motion is to prohibit spending any American Rescue Plan 21 Act funding without Court approval. Any other 22 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 23 four zero. 24 Item 1.9 consider, discuss and take 25 appropriate action to determine if the American Rescue 45 1 Plan Act funding should be sent back to the Federal 2 Government. Commissioner Belew. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. Now, this is not 4 a grant, it's funding, which is different. So if we 5 apply the grant rules to this it's not the same thing. 6 What we have currently is an untrustworthy 7 administration that has proven to be untrustworthy with 8 no -- no vax mandate, now there's a vax mandate. And I 9 could go down a long list. Including we're going to get 10 all the Americans out of Afghanistan, which we didn't do 11 and I could go on. 12 So they've proven to be untrustworthy. We 13 have a contract here with -- that's open-ended that 14 could have future demands that would come to bear on the 15 people of Kerr County. Kerr County taxpayers could be 16 on the hook to have to pay that back or to endure a 17 mandate. So on the one hand, there is one place we can 18 use this money that isn't necessarily related to the 19 virus. And that would be an infrastructure. You use 20 that and use it correctly, everything's fine. Except 21 that you could have a future executive order, and that's 22 another problem. 23 And again, as I said a moment ago, I don't 24 trust the administration and so far they've lied to us 25 numerous times and used the virus to get what they want. 46 1 So people say that won't happen. There's no 2 danger of that. What is your source for that? What is 3 the source for assuring me that won't happen? And how 4 can we know for certain it won't happen? Will you sign 5 up to pay for the clawback out of your bank account? 6 If they want that money back, the taxpayers, 7 the people that I represent, would be on the hook for 8 this. Now we're told that won't happen. Can't happen. 9 There's been a lot of stuff happen in the last 24 months 10 that I would have never thought would have happened in 11 America. 12 Peterson Regional Medical Center subjected 13 their employees, coming up soon, to the vaccine mandate. 14 Why? Because they get Federal money. And so they're 15 going to keep that money. It's a mandate for the 16 employees based on money that comes from the Federal 17 Government. And that extends to the vendors. So that 18 would be the same as if we issued grant money to 19 somebody, some nonprofit here in the state. 20 I'm just saying we've gone through a lot. 21 There's no assurances in this, and we have an open-ended 22 contract. I'd like to see a show of hands. How many 23 people would sign a contract if they're going to fill 24 out the rest of it tomorrow? Got any takers on that? 25 Because that's the way this Federal Government is 47 1 operating right now and when you've got this kind of 2 distrustful behavior at the Federal level, I don't want 3 to enter into a contract with them. I just don't trust 4 them. It's that simple. 5 UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: Exactly. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So that's all I have to 7 say about it as an introduction. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a little bit 9 of a comment. And I agree with some of what 10 Commissioner Belew said, but not the entirety of it. 11 First thing, this County enters into a lot 12 of contracts with the Federal Government. Probably in 13 the hundreds. And every one of those contracts has 14 provisions that, you know, things about, you know, who 15 we have to put the bids out to. How we have to, you 16 know, protect minority businesses with the known 17 businesses. There's lots and lots of things that are 18 mandated when we accept State and Federal funds. Most 19 of the State funds that we get are Federal. 20 So we are doing this a lot. The difference 21 with this one is the executive order language. That one 22 is different this time. That is not in our normal ones. 23 And that's what is subject to a lot of litigation right 24 now. I -- you know, I hope and I think that what the 25 representative of GrantWorks said is probably accurate. 48 1 That most of them are going to be declared 2 unconstitutional. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It is accurate today. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I'm just -- let 5 me -- I let you speak, sir; let me speak. But I think 6 that we need to be aware of that and -- and slow things 7 down and see what the courts do. The funding that I -- 8 or the items that I have recommended from the very 9 beginning are items -- and the biggest one is 10 communication update for the Sheriff's Department, that 11 these taxpayers and this County have to do. We don't 12 really have an option on that. 13 The City is probably going to go down that 14 road to upgrading it. And we need to be able to 15 communicate -- or the Sheriff's Department needs to be 16 able to communicate with the Federal police department, 17 the fire department -- Kerrville Fire Department, and 18 our local counties. Right now, we cannot do that. 19 So our option would be to use this funding 20 for that if we get comfortable with the use of it or 21 issue a CO to do it. Either way, we have to do it. 22 And, you know, the development -- you know, I'm not 23 going to -- you know, if it goes the way I think it 24 probably will from the standpoint of executive orders 25 and that litigation is currently pending, I would be 49 1 supportive of using the funding for that and then, if it 2 didn't get a recall back or something happens, issue a 3 CO and pay it back. I see no -- I don't see a downside 4 in that. Because we have to spend the money. We just 5 don't have an option on that. And we do not have that 6 kind of money in our annual budget and we're not going 7 to have it. 8 So you know, that's -- I don't -- I'm not in 9 favor of, you know, going out to a whole lot of 10 different non-profits that we don't control and giving 11 them money. I'm not -- you know, for a lot of fluff 12 items. But there are some things that we have to do and 13 that may take a year or two years, and if this funding 14 could be used for that, great. And if something does 15 happen that we can't project into the future, we could 16 at that point issue a CO and pay off the -- you know, 17 the ARPA funds, and we're going to come off in a no 18 worse situation by doing it that way. 19 So that's just kind of the way I look at it, 20 but I think that right now we just slow down and let the 21 Courts kind of go through some of these executive 22 actions. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I agree with what 24 Harley says. And I agree the key word that you said, 25 and everything you said if -- if we feel comfortable 50 1 with it. And that's what -- that was my thinking in the 2 previous agenda item. I agree with him. But -- but let 3 the smoke clear and using Representative Biedermann's 4 words, sit back and watch the smoke clear. No harm, no 5 foul. 6 So we can always give back the money. I 7 mean, whether it be next month, six months, eight 8 months, whatever. It's sitting there. It's sitting 9 there. We haven't spent a penny of it. Not going to 10 spend a penny of it until it comes through here and 11 everybody will see it. Totally transparent. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, that's what we 13 decided when they were upstairs, to hang on to it and 14 see how the Court cases go. But -- but the thing you 15 just brought up, Commissioner Letz, about the funding 16 that we get through here. Grants -- and this was just 17 money sent to us. This is funding they call this. It's 18 not a grant. So I don't know -- I don't want us mixing 19 apples and oranges. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're still subject to 21 obligations. My point is that we're subject to 22 enforcing some Federal regulations under the grant that 23 we've accepted. Annually. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: We've got some people 25 that want to speak, don't we? 51 1 JUDGE KELLY: I'm just going to make a 2 couple comments. I think the first thing we need to 3 look at are these deadlines. The deadline to obligate 4 any of this money is 37 months from now. It's over 5 three years. 6 And I think you've seen this Court is 7 committed to not spending these funds until we're 8 comfortable and sure that we're going to be okay with 9 it. And that's why we hired GrantWorks. And he's 10 nodding his head at me because we all -- we have an 11 understanding, we're not going to do anything that's 12 going to put anybody at risk here. That's not something 13 we want to do. 14 But we do have some time to make up our 15 minds about if we're going to do it. And it's 37 months 16 before we just obligate the money. We've got another 24 17 months before we have to spend it. If you don't 18 obligate it, you've got to send it back. If you don't 19 spend it, you've got to send it back. So we're looking 20 at five years. This is a five-year window. What's the 21 hurry? Let's wait and see how these things work out. 22 We had the case out of the Fifth Circuit 23 that had the injunction in place on the vaccine mandate. 24 That's going to the United States Supreme Court. I'm 25 comfortable with the opinion out of the Fifth Circuit. 52 1 I've been a practicing lawyer for many years and I'm 2 telling you, that is a good conservative circuit and we 3 have, I think, a good opinion to take up to the Texas -- 4 I mean to the United States Supreme Court. And I'm 5 frankly very -- more comfortable with the United States 6 Supreme Court now than I was several years ago. So I 7 feel like we've got some time here. 8 I read an article in the New York Times, of 9 all papers, the New York Times last week. You know how 10 that kind of goes in one ear and out the other 11 sometimes. I was listening to the New York Times 12 editorial, I find that this midterm election in '22, 13 next November, is going to be maybe the biggest in the 14 history of the country. That normally in a midterm 15 election the party that is not in power gains anywhere 16 from 10 to 20 seats. That's normal. That's what we 17 see, that's the national average. 18 They're expecting that in '22 it may be as 19 many has 40 to 45 seats. That's in the House. That 20 will take control of the House. Conservative control of 21 the House. And they're predicting the same thing in the 22 Senate. So in other words, by this time next year, just 23 less than 12 months away, we have -- we're going to know 24 whether or not there's going to be check and balance in 25 Washington and it's not just government out of control. 53 1 I understand what people's concerns are. But we've got 2 some time to look at this and hopefully to make a 3 difference at the polls. In the ballot box. That's 4 what makes the difference here. 5 So I just point that out as to I'm not in a 6 hurry to send the money back. And I tie that to the 7 fact that we've got half of the money right now. We're 8 going to get the other half of the money next summer. 9 We've got $5.1 million, let's just say five million 10 dollars, that we've had on deposit since mid May. And 11 we're getting interest off of that. 12 Now, I've asked whether or not we can keep 13 that interest or do we have to send the interest back if 14 we send the funds back, and that's not clear. I've 15 worked with GrantWorks on it, they're looking into that. 16 That's something that we want them to follow up and be 17 able to advise us. 18 But when we get that next five million 19 dollars next summer, we're going to have ten million 20 dollars sitting there for a number of years that's not 21 being spent. That's a lot of money. That's over a 22 million dollars probably to -- to Kerr County. I'm not 23 ready to give that away. Why send it to Washington when 24 we can keep it right here, under this Court's control, 25 that we're not going to do anything with that money that 54 1 this Court doesn't approve. So I'm saying -- I'm 2 saying, let's take the interest on it. 3 And then the last thing I'm saying is, what 4 Commissioner Letz is talking about, he and I both sit on 5 the capital improvement planning committee which reports 6 to this Court and y'all are pretty much up to speed with 7 what we're doing. But we have a bond issue coming up 8 this next November. We have a lot of capital needs in 9 this County. I mean, this courthouse is almost a 10 hundred years old, for those of you that don't know it. 11 And we're trying to get more security and better locks, 12 and reduce the entrances into it and make it safer for 13 everybody to work here. 14 We've got -- the Sheriff's Office is working 15 with the old model of law enforcement communications. 16 Our system is in better shape, I'm told by the Sheriff, 17 than the City's, but the City's is in pretty rough 18 shape. I think they've got, what, just one line they 19 can use? And so they're looking to use their ARPA funds 20 to upgrade the City communications. Law enforcement, 21 KPD, and fire department, to 700 megahertz. 22 Well, when they do that, when the City does 23 that, if we don't, we don't have communications with the 24 City for emergency services. And nor do our volunteer 25 fire departments. That's a huge safety, public safety 55 1 issue. Huge in my mind. 2 And they came in here just within the last 3 month and made a pitch to us that it was going to cost 4 somewhere in the neighborhood we could say three to 5 five, but it's going to be millions of dollars that we 6 do not have in our budget. And from everything that 7 we've heard so far, we've got our gatekeeper here 8 looking at this, that would probably qualify for use of 9 ARPA funds and it goes to the County. 10 And we've got other capital projects that we 11 can look at. One of the things that we've already 12 talked to GrantWorks about is the Hill Country Youth 13 Event Center and that indoor arena. 14 For those of you that don't know, the indoor 15 arena is unhealthy and it's hazardous. And we've got 16 dirt in there that's been there for over 50 years. And 17 it's contaminated. And we need to get it out and we 18 need to have a concrete floor. We need to rewire it. 19 We need to make it unsafe. It's unsafe. 20 You'll see it when you go to the stock show 21 in January. You'll see how unsafe it really is. That 22 is the emergency evacuation center for the County. For 23 the school district. For the City. It's the evacuation 24 center for San Patricio county in a hurricane. We had 25 them all up here before when we had hurricane Harvey. 56 1 We need to make that place safe. These are capital 2 expenditures that we're going to spend. And we're 3 either going to spend it with raising the tax rate or 4 possibly using this, if we can get comfortable that it's 5 safe to spend the money for these important upgrades. 6 And so I look at it as now's not the time to 7 panic. Now's not the time to turn the rug. Now's the 8 time to stand your ground. Now's the time to dig in 9 and let's -- let's see this thing through. Let's see it 10 in the end. 11 We may have a change in the Congress, we may 12 have a change in the administration. We don't have to 13 make a decision about this money until after the 14 presidential election in 2024. We can wait for 15 November. We don't have to make a decision until 16 December 31 of 2024. And I say, let's stand our ground 17 and hold this money and stand firm. That's where I 18 stand. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Concerning your 20 timeline, Sheriff, will any new towers have to be built 21 in order for you to have the communication system you 22 have to have? 23 SHERIFF LEITHA: No. We're good. I'd say 24 we're good for about a year or two. The only thing if 25 the City goes that direction, which you know that's a 57 1 good direction to go in, that's going to put us in an 2 unsafe position. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I'm asking will 4 any towers have to be built for this communication? 5 SHERIFF LEITHA: No. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So you're going to use 7 all existing towers? 8 SHERIFF LEITHA: Correct. Barring, you 9 know, like what happened in Junction. You know, a 10 snowstorm or something like that knocked one down. 11 We're -- we're good other than barring the weather which 12 we can't control. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. The reason I ask 14 is because of this. You have to do the EPA impact 15 studies. You have to wait until the golden-cheeked 16 warbler stops mating. You have to make sure you have 17 the availability of the steel for the towers. It takes 18 a long time to get a tower built. A long time. 19 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So the timeline you 21 just expressed could run out trying to get a couple of 22 towers built if it's not all timed exactly right. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And that -- and I feel 24 okay with that. If that happens, there's other places 25 we can go with that money, if we decide to spend it. 58 1 But maybe we lose out on that deal and we have to budget 2 for it in the future, but the County has plenty of need. 3 JUDGE KELLY: And I just -- 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm just addressing it. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And that's a good 6 point. 7 JUDGE KELLY: And I called the Sheriff last 8 week and I -- I sat down and met with the Sheriff and 9 with Deputy Waldrip over here -- Captain Waldrip, I'm 10 sorry -- concerned about that very issue, Harley. And 11 one of things we looked at is, I talked to him about 12 what we did with the CIP. 13 When the CIP was concerned about how are we 14 going to build a new animal shelter if we don't have a 15 place to build it? How are we going to build a west 16 Kerr County annex if we don't have a place to build it? 17 And we used what we call tax anticipation notes. 18 And I went over this with the Sheriff's 19 Department. We can borrow that money for a short term. 20 It's not a CO, it's not a bond. But it's a short term 21 to get us through those -- that -- that time squeeze, if 22 we get caught. 23 If we have to build a tower, we talked about 24 it, we can borrow the money, build a tower, not touch 25 the ARPA funds until we know that it's safe. So we've 59 1 got a plan. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Good. 3 SHERIFF LEITHA: Is that it? 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That satisfies what I 5 wanted to know. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. It was a good 7 point. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I've had to build 9 towers. It's not fun. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: You would know. You 11 would know. 12 JUDGE KELLY: I think I can read these names 13 if they're outside. The first one, I think, is Marcia 14 King. She wants to address the Court. 15 MS. KING: Marcia King. Native Texan. Kerr 16 resident since 1991. I want to focus on the contract 17 that was signed by the County for the funds under the 18 American Rescue Plan Act last May as the devil is in the 19 details. 20 These contracts have never-ending rules, 21 regulations, and obligations that fall on the backs of 22 every legal resident in Kerr County that will affect and 23 indenture all future generations. The most glaring is 24 the compliance with applicable laws. 25 Under 9.a of this it says Recipient agrees 60 1 to comply with the requirements of Section 603 of the 2 Act, regulations adopted by Treasury pursuant to Section 3 603(f) of the Act, and guidance issued by Treasury 4 regarding the foregoing. 5 Recipient also agrees to comply with all 6 other applicable federal statutes, regulations, and 7 executive orders, and Recipient shall provide for such 8 compliance by other parties in any agreements it enters 9 in with relating to this award. 10 In a letter from Ken Paxton on October 15, 11 2021, he wrote: Separately, Biden recently issued a 12 Federal Executive Order directing federal departments 13 and agencies to be begin including a clause and Federal 14 contract in contracts like this instrument, specifying 15 that contractors must comply with workplace safety 16 protocols that would apply to all covered contractor 17 employees, including contractor or subcontractor 18 employees. 19 These protocols will now include a 20 requirement that covered employees receive a COVID-19 21 vaccination. So Biden's order potentially conditions 22 the continuation of Federal funding on your agency's 23 cooperation in compelling your employees to receive a 24 COVID-19 vaccination. 25 Texas attorney, Mallory Miller, opined this 61 1 "built into the plan, for example, is the potential for 2 a Federal demand of city governments contracted to these 3 recovery funds which serve their electric and water 4 systems to require all municipal utility customers to be 5 vaccinated in order to continue receiving City utilities 6 that -- that were benefited from the fund awards. This 7 comes from -- from the Texas Right to Know. And 8 everyone please go to the site. 9 Recipients of these funds are under 10 obligation of contract with the U.S. Department of 11 Treasury, and Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. 12 Constitution says, No State shall pass any law impairing 13 the obligation of contracts. By signing this contract, 14 you're agreeing to the terms and conditions by consent 15 of contract to comply with Federal executive orders. 16 So Governor Abbott's vaccine mandate will be 17 overwritten as this contract supersedes any state laws. 18 Of course, he sold out Texas with SB8 on November 8th, 19 2021. 20 Therefore, these Corona virus funds may very 21 well be a setup for a domestic coup to transfer powers 22 of states, cities, businesses and individuals that 23 become subservient to executive orders by consent of 24 contract -- contract. This slides us from socialism, 25 marxism and straight into communism, all by design. 62 1 Accepting and using any of these funds -- 2 (Timer going off.) 3 MS. KING: -- sets us all under the boot of 4 federal tyranny. The deliberate -- 5 JUDGE KELLY: Ms. King -- 6 MS. KING: -- stealing of our sovereignty 7 and freedoms and those of our future generations is all 8 in debt to the federal government by this consent 9 obligation of contract is not worth the bribe the 10 federal government is offering. Please send it back 11 now. Not later, but now. Thank you. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Let me just ask. It is a 13 little bit after 10:00. Do we want to take a break? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Take a break around 15 10:20 or 10:30, somewhere around there? 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Then second on the list 17 is Richard King. 18 MR. KING: Well, thank you for having us. I 19 would like to ask, and I know you're not supposed to 20 respond, but maybe we can set something up. Let me get 21 my glasses, I'm sorry. Of course, these aren't mine. I 22 left mine at home and I have to wear my wife's. So if I 23 look funny, I'm sorry. 24 I would like to ask for a public forum on 25 the American Rescue Plan Act, ARPA, to be held sometime 63 1 like we did at the AG barn the one time, after 5:00 p.m. 2 to be fair to those in the workplace, at a facility that 3 accommodates many people that have great concerns about 4 this funding. 5 I am not an attorney, but I do have common 6 sense. These so-called funds have so many strings in a 7 35.9 compliance applicable to law, especially in regards 8 to Federal statutes, regulations, and executive orders, 9 that it makes this very dangerous for Kerr County. It 10 also allows the loss of sovereignty and liberties of all 11 legal residents of our country. 12 I cannot trust that everyone who receives 13 these funds will understand, follow, and comply with 14 these rules and laws that are attached to this. It only 15 takes one, only one, and possibly many to be 16 noncompliant and thereby screw the entire County. 17 Excuse my language but it's true. 18 With the broad language on executive orders 19 from the Federal Government should a deviation occur, 20 who pays it back? All of us. Okay. And anyway, we are 21 talking about 10.1 million dollars. We're not talking 22 about a million dollars. We're talking about 10.1. 23 Now, I don't know about you, but I don't 24 think we have a paycheck in this entire County that 25 could cover that, especially since you say we don't have 64 1 enough to cover everything under the current budget. 2 After -- I've been a resident here of Kerr County for 30 3 years. And I'm standing with others here to tell you to 4 send the money back. Leaving it in a bank account, 5 hoping that the Supreme Court rules in a way that will 6 make this more powerful is crazy. 7 First of all, I'm sorry that I don't trust 8 the Supreme Court at this point. Accepting the ARPA 9 money -- yeah, I'm getting lost now. Accepting the ARPA 10 money and putting our County under existing and future 11 executive orders would federalize us and make us all 12 slaves. I served in the Air Force and I know all too 13 well the words, we're from the government and we're here 14 to help. Okay. That doesn't always work out. This 15 ARPA money is the most dangerous thing and possibly ever 16 in the history of America and could destroy our 17 beautiful country. 18 Now that the rumors have been dispelled in 19 regards to the existing and future executive orders 20 apply to 35.9 compliance with applicable laws for those 21 who apply for this money is the most important -- it is 22 most important that we do not fall into their trap. 23 (Timer going off.) 24 MR. KING: And I want to say that because at 25 one of the past meetings I read those compliance rules 65 1 to you all. It doesn't say maybe or if. And I know the 2 government well, I worked for them. And I'm telling you 3 right now if it says you will, you will. So anyway. I 4 would like to say that -- 5 JUDGE KELLY: Your time is up. 6 MR. KING: I'm sorry. I only have just a 7 few more seconds if that's okay. Because I want to read 8 something that Biden wrote to the American people. This 9 comes from the White House. And I would like to read 10 this since I didn't get to do the rest. 11 But it does say on March 11, 2021, this is 12 Biden. I signed into law the American Rescue Plan, a 13 law that will help vaccinate America. Okay. And then 14 down below at the bottom of it, I won't read it all 15 because I know I don't have time. We are the path to 16 the vaccinating of the nation. And if you don't believe 17 they'll do it, if you don't use this money properly, I 18 differ with you. Thank you. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. I'm going to go 20 ahead and call the next three speakers, and we'll take a 21 break after them. That's Rita Casey, Shari Snyder, and 22 Brian McDowell. Ms. Casey would be first. 23 MS. CASEY: We don't need an EO from the 24 Federal Government because if you read Governor Ducey of 25 Arizona, he just issued an EO that requires everyone in 66 1 Arizona to report information to the CDC and the HHS and 2 I suggest you look that up. I don't have time to tell 3 you what it says. 4 As far as recapture. A performance bond is 5 a good idea for private agencies, but what about public 6 funds that have to be refunded? I have asked questions. 7 And number two, with the help of GrantWorks, you get 8 advice just like you do from an attorney, and do they 9 have a liability insurance policy to cover any 10 information? 11 Oh, and one more thing. When you talk about 12 infrastructure and arenas, I thought it specifically 13 said water, sewage and broad band. And that's it I 14 think. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Thank you, Miss Casey. 16 Ms. Snyder? 17 MS. SNYDER: I am a woman who is called 18 Shari Snyder. I reside at 196 Getaway Falls Trail and 19 want to thank you for being our public servants. You 20 were elected to serve the people. We do not want more 21 of Biden's mandates attached to keeping Biden's money. 22 If I had stood here two years ago and told you that 23 you'd have mandatory lockdowns, multiple violations of 24 our freedom and constitutional rights that many small 25 businesses in this town would not survive, I doubt 67 1 anyone would have believed me. 2 But I am here to put each man on notice, the 3 man called Rob Kelly, the man called Harley Belew, Don 4 Harris, Beck Gipson, and Jonathan Letz, that if you vote 5 to keep Biden's money, I will hold you personally 6 responsible and personally liable for any and all harm 7 that comes to I, a woman called Shari Snyder, and the 8 family of I, as well as the residents of this County. 9 Please know all of your personal assets will 10 be at risk for the claims I will file, if necessary. 11 The harm that could follow by keeping this money could 12 easily accumulate to millions. Far more than the 13 interest you're hoping to keep from Biden's ten million 14 point one dollars. 15 I agree with Richard King. We need a public 16 forum, a town hall meeting held at a large facility like 17 the AG barn, held after 5:00 p.m., like he suggested, 18 for the working men and women. This potential claim has 19 no time limit. And as a man or woman, you do not have 20 to hold any current office or title to be personally 21 liable. 22 In closing, I will not hold you liable if 23 you vote to send Biden's money, ARPA, back. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you, Miss Snyder. And 25 Mr. McDowell? Brian McDowell? 68 1 MR. McDOWELL: Yes. Good morning. My name 2 is Brian McDowell. I have -- I live here in Kerrville. 3 And I have property in all four precincts of this 4 County, but I just vote in number three. Anyway, I'd 5 like to say that putting our -- putting our hands or 6 whatever, this money in our hands and not spending it 7 and/or just hanging onto it to see what happens is not a 8 good idea. 9 I think that we shouldn't take it from the 10 very beginning. I think the temptation will be too 11 great for the politicians and for this County because 12 it -- it's just too easy. And I -- I don't believe we 13 should take the money. We should not have it, I don't 14 trust our Federal Government. I don't think that 15 they're truthful with us. And in these days and in 16 these times or whatever, we can't afford to make any 17 mistake with it. And so do not take the money. That's 18 all I have to say. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Let's take a five 20 minute recess and come back. 21 (Break.) 22 JUDGE KELLY: Bring them back in. 23 SHERIFF LEITHA: Who's next, Judge? 24 JUDGE KELLY: Ronald Campbell. But before 25 we proceed, let me announce to everyone that normally at 69 1 this time we would have to take the timed items, which 2 are at 10 o'clock and there's about five of them. And 3 so I've prevailed upon our County Engineer for a 4 personal favor to wait until later to be able to get to 5 his timed items, even though we should be listening to 6 him right now. 7 So with that, Mr. Campbell, you may take the 8 podium. 9 MR. CAMPBELL: My name is Ronald Campbell. 10 I live at 1406 Ford Street here in Kerrville. I'm a 11 resident and taxpayer here in Kerr County. 12 There's been a lot of discussion about this 13 ARPA money and strings attached, potential mandates and 14 executive orders that's going to take over what we're 15 going to do. I am completely disagreeing with taking 16 this money. The strings attached to the situation, we 17 don't want it. We don't need to have these mandates and 18 definitely Covid vaccinations to be jammed down our 19 throat. So lo and behold, I -- I just don't go along 20 with it and I ask for every one of you to vote against 21 keeping this money and to secure our future. Thank you. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Next is Bethany Puccio, 23 Puccio? 24 MS. PUCCIO: No, you did good. 25 JUDGE KELLY: The first time? 70 1 MS. PUCCIO: Like in school when you correct 2 it and you had it right the first time. 3 Good morning. My name is Bethany Puccio. I 4 live right here in Kerrville, right in the City. I lead 5 the local government group for We The People, Liberty In 6 Action. This Court has already heard from many 7 residents here in Kerr County why we want these funds 8 sent back. 9 Many of the people who have spoken or who 10 are yet to speak understand the specific problems with 11 this free money better than I do and honestly, better 12 than probably most of the court. I won't go into all of 13 these details here as they've already been laid out by 14 so many others. 15 I think the bottom line here is that we 16 don't want this Biden money in our County. There is no 17 such thing as free money ever. There are always strings 18 attached. And the notion that we would keep the money 19 in a separate account is not acceptable. We want you to 20 send it back. 21 The Biden regime has proven to be tyrannical 22 and anti-American. There is no part of this 23 administration that has the good of America or Americans 24 at heart. We want no part in anything coming down from 25 the Federal Government. This is Texas and Texans can 71 1 take care of Texas. The Biden administration has 2 already disregarded Court Order by the Fifth Circuit 3 regarding the vaccine mandates. 4 Even after a second and clear ruling against 5 them, they are still giving instructions to disregard 6 Court Orders. The only guarantee we have of keeping 7 Biden in DC and keeping Kerr County free of his 8 overreach is by receiving the funds. We don't want 9 them. 10 If you go against the will of the people on 11 this and keep the funds in a separate account to be used 12 later if the Court causes are won, who holds this Court 13 and future courts accountable to that? Point to the 14 policy or safeguard that secures that outcome for us. 15 More than half of this Court is up for 16 re-election. How can you guarantee that someone else 17 will not be in your seat that will not honor this 18 agreement? If this body is not willing to reject the 19 money in the first place, why would we believe you would 20 fight for us against tyrannical mandates? The only way 21 we know that this money isn't going to be spent, is if 22 it isn't there to spend. We do not want our name to 23 raise the bar of spending here in Kerr County. Most 24 everyone that I know feels that the tax burden here is 25 already too high. And if we take these funds, even if 72 1 there were no strings attached, will set the precedent 2 for higher spending and that is not healthy for this 3 County or its residents. 4 We are looking for smaller government; not 5 bigger. As some of you come up for re-election, it 6 seems that it would be prudent to really think through 7 your stance on this. You are in a conservative County 8 with conservative values. We are looking for leaders to 9 defend our freedom and our sovereignty. 10 As Texas, we are independent and want to 11 safeguard our sovereignty as a State and as a County 12 within that state. The question is whether or not this 13 Court shares those same conservative values. I think 14 this issue will speak to that in a big way. We don't 15 trust the government. We don't want their money. We 16 want it sent back. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Next speaker is 18 Ruth Cremin. 19 MS. CREMIN: Good morning. I'm Ruth Cremin. 20 I live at 247 Huntleigh in Hunt. We've been here since 21 2003. This ARPA money I think is supposed to soothe our 22 feelings or make us think the government cares about us 23 after the pandemic and we're not going to be sued. 24 People who weren't allowed to hold their dying wife's 25 hand while she died of cancer in the hospital, couldn't 73 1 go to their -- have their daughter's wedding, couldn't 2 be together -- maybe they did have Covid and died. All 3 these things were horrible. And you can't fix it with 4 throwing some money at us. 5 And you know that we're going to build that 6 building, that Public Safety building. We have had 7 fundraisers here that have made so much money. The Hill 8 Country thrift store made $50,000.00 in one month. 9 There's money in Kerrville. And if you tell the people 10 you need it at further cost, they'll dig in their 11 pockets and they'll buy something for you. They'll pay 12 for it for you. 13 And as a little example let me suggest this. 14 If you open your mail and you get a golden credit card 15 from Chase Manhattan, it's $5 million and it's prepaid. 16 Spend it. Page two says when you've spent this money, 17 we will send you the fine print. Love, Satan. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I like that. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Jack Cremin. 20 MR. Cremin: I'm Jack Cremin. I live in 21 Hunt. As a matter of fact, I live with Ruth at 247 22 Huntleigh. I spent 33 years in the military. And I 23 know what things can change. It did from some of the 24 different places and tours that I had. 25 The thing that really has bothered me was 74 1 Biden said we will not leave anybody in Afghanistan and 2 we still have people in Afghanistan. They lie. It's 3 easy to lie. You get lawyers, they say fine print, all 4 that kind of stuff. That's what's going to happen here. 5 You're going to -- you're going to eventually come back 6 with some lawyers and they're going to come out with 7 another plan, another legal thing from Biden and he's 8 going to say you gotta pay it. Everybody's going to 9 have to get a shot. I'm not going to get a shot. So I 10 think if you send the money back before the temptation 11 is too great. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Thank you. Rich Paces. 13 MR. PACES: Thank you. I'm Rich Paces from 14 Center Point. We've had some very articulate gifted 15 speakers here and they've gone into some legal issues as 16 to why we shouldn't take these funds. And even kind of 17 couched a veil that you may have some personal liability 18 if you spend this money and take these funds. 19 I'm just going to share with you pearls of 20 wisdom from my father I learned a long time ago. And he 21 told me, and probably you've heard this too from your 22 fathers, I hope. If it sounds too good to be true, it 23 is. This is Federal overreach at its worst. 24 Now look what's happened with all the other 25 money that they've paid out to people. So we've got 75 1 unemployment. Who wants to go to work when you're 2 getting a free ride? When -- our Lord wants and intends 3 us all to work if we're capable. Charity is a great 4 thing. But if you're able to work, you oughta be 5 working. 6 Now, we don't need these funds here. We've 7 done just fine. And we'll get by without them. But you 8 spend this money, you're signing a contract with the 9 devil, and the devil's in the White House. I don't 10 trust our current administration. I'm not sure I trust 11 our -- our Supreme Court anymore. And whether it'll get 12 to them and who knows how they're going to rule on this. 13 So you have the opportunity to send a loud 14 message. Just send it back. We don't need it. We 15 can't take the risk that by accepting this -- these 16 funds and spending the money we'll find we're out of 17 compliance. Suddenly, you've gotta pay it back. Plus 18 interest. Plus who knows. Penalties. They can write 19 whatever new administrative rule they want. New 20 regulation, executive order, who knows. And that's the 21 point. We don't know. We do know that they've lied 22 about everything since January 21st. I guess they lied 23 about everything before the election but I won't get 24 into all that. 25 It's very tempting when -- when somebody 76 1 gives us something for free, it's very tempting to turn 2 it down. But yes, it sounds good, but don't do it. 3 It's not true. We're getting ourselves into a real bind 4 if we keep these monies. So thank you for your time. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Frank Ricketts. 6 MR. RICKETTS: Thank you for taking the time 7 to listen to us. I just want to reiterate some of what 8 we've already heard here, and first of all, this 9 contract is open-ended as Harley stated. I mean, they 10 can change it at any time. And it clearly states in 11 there that you do have to abide by all of their 12 executive orders and rules. 13 What gets me is you talk about spending this 14 money on Kerr County infrastructure that's needed. This 15 money wouldn't even exist if it hadn't been for the 16 great scamdemic. They created the problems that created 17 the need, the shortage of tax funds and money. And you 18 talk about 2022, and -- well, this might happen. I 19 don't trust anything, including our elections, our 20 Supreme Court. 21 I mean, I know a lot of people my age are 22 having a hard time admitting that this has happened in 23 America in our lifetime. But these people are 24 communist. They hate America. They're teaching it in 25 our schools. They're invading the border as we speak. 77 1 I don't think we should take any money from the Federal 2 Government because they can't be trusted. And I know 3 Kerr County is a bastion for traditional values 4 conservative. It has been for a long time and that's 5 one of the reasons I live here. And I don't want to see 6 that kind of tyranny come to this County. Thank you 7 very much. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Anke -- how do you 9 pronounce your last name? 10 MS. LEITNER: Leitner. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Leitner. 12 Do we need to call anyone down? Yeah, let's 13 go ahead and call some others down. Maria Hammerlein, 14 Alicia Bell, Barbara Dewell, Julie -- I can't read her 15 last name. Michael Piper, Kathleen Ocker, Robert 16 Fearon, Ms. Laurie Adams, Todd Kensey. 17 SHERIFF LEITHA: They're all right here, 18 Judge. Right here, Judge. They're here. 19 JUDGE KELLY: So the next one is Anke 20 Leitner. 21 MS. LEITNER: Thank you guys for taking the 22 time to listen to all of us. Some of you know me 23 personally. Some of them know that I am actually from 24 Germany. So I do watch all of what's going on over 25 there closely with all the inmates and all that. And I 78 1 see this coming to America. 2 Because if we take that money and allow the 3 Federal Government to take over what we are doing here 4 in our County, I think we are probably pretty close to 5 what's going on over there. What, in my opinion, is 6 unconstitutional. That's why I live here because I love 7 America and we do have rights here. We will lose all of 8 those rights. 9 What I would like to ask each single one of 10 you, read the contract. Read the terms and conditions. 11 If this would be a contract that you would sign 12 personally for your family, would you agree to a 13 contract that first of all puts any mandates on you, any 14 regulations on you, and to me, the biggest point about 15 those rules and regulation, especially the terms and 16 conditions of the contract, is that they can change 17 those terms and conditions at any time. I'm no lawyer, 18 but I can read. And for me that is enough that I read 19 that the other party can cancel terms and conditions and 20 update them as they needed. So therefore, I would like 21 to ask you read the terms and conditions, please think 22 about it, and send that money back. We don't need it 23 here. And we sure don't want it here. We are fully 24 capable of taking care of ourselves. Thank you for your 25 time. 79 1 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you, Miss Leitner. 2 Maria Hammerlein. 3 MS. HAMMERLEIN: Good morning. My name is 4 Maria Hammerlein. And I'm a Kerr County resident. I 5 just wanted to relate to you my experience as a -- just 6 a mom that was always involved. When I lived in Austin, 7 I would always keep abreast of the issues, so I'd make 8 my way down to the legislature, okay, to find bills that 9 pertain to me, my family, you know, and our business, 10 school, etc. So I'm going to be involved. 11 Well, the number one thing that was 12 literally radioactive to all the legislators was a bill 13 that had unfunded mandates. Okay. Nobody wants any 14 kind of regulations, laws, anything to do with this. If 15 a bill has an unfunded mandate, they won't even allow 16 that to get a hearing. Okay. What that unfunded 17 mandate is, basically exactly what we're seeing today. 18 We -- it -- it's -- you know, you don't -- it's a murky 19 future for that, for that -- anything that you're trying 20 to do as far as laws. We don't know what will happen in 21 the future. 22 Take, for instance, last year. Our borders 23 were secure. Fairly secure. I've been keeping an eye 24 on that for the last 20 years. Well, did we have any 25 idea that today we'd be in the situation after a Supreme 80 1 Court decision that -- that that man in the White House 2 would have to keep those people coming across on the 3 other side of the border? 4 Well, let me tell you what, unfunded -- it's 5 an unfunded mandate if I've ever seen one and I've been 6 seeing them for 20 years. So I urge you, we're not 7 broke in this County. If we have a problem with 8 something that needs funding, let's -- let's get a bond 9 election going. You know, let us vote. But -- but 10 don't make a decision on our behalf that's going to tie 11 us and our children and our grandchildren to an unknown 12 future. We can't do that. 13 That's -- you know, look at what the 14 founders said. Look at what the, you know, those that 15 came to Texas to settle, how they ran, you know, the 16 Republic of Texas. And I can -- I can pretty much 17 guarantee they would not have taken the money. So 18 anyway, I thank you for your time and I hope that you 19 will consider that. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Alicia Bell. 21 SHERIFF LEITHA: Skip her. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Barbara Dewell. 23 MS. DEWELL: My name is Barbara Dewell. I 24 live in Kerr County. And Commissioners and Judge, thank 25 you for having us have the time to talk about this this 81 1 morning again. I'm glad it came up on the agenda again. 2 I have to agree with all the speakers that we've heard 3 so far, as far as the contract and all the terms, and 4 what it obligates us to. I think it's a very dangerous 5 proposition. 6 But I also want to bring up another point. 7 The idea of whether we keep it and just, you know, I 8 think you're all in agreement that you do not want to 9 abide by Executive Orders that are onerous to the 10 County. But in keeping the money, you are opening 11 yourselves to changes that could happen even right here 12 on the commission, you know, on the County 13 Commissioners. 14 Who knows who's going to be sitting in those 15 seats three years from now. And we are -- as long as 16 that money sits here, we're depending on five people to 17 do the right thing. And then it might not be this five 18 people. It could be a different five people. 19 And furthermore, the idea that well, we can 20 just sit on this money and maybe the laws will change 21 and we can keep it and we don't have to abide by that. 22 Well, that money is still taxpayer money. Whether it 23 comes from the Federal Government, the County 24 government, the City government. It's taxpayer money. 25 It's not free. It's not a gift. We pay for it. So 82 1 sitting on it, thinking oh, well, we get to keep free 2 money. That's some taxpayer's money here in the United 3 States and some of it is from here in Kerr County. Send 4 it back. We don't need it. We don't need it with 5 strings attached. 6 I agree with what Maria said. Appeal to the 7 taxpayers here in Kerr County if there are real needs 8 that need to be met. We can take care of ourselves. 9 And playing with this money and leaving it sitting there 10 is just open to temptation, and you're betting that 11 you're going to be there on that council or that 12 somebody else is going to be there who's going to make 13 as good a decision as you would. Not necessarily so. 14 Get rid of the money now. Just get rid of it. Thank 15 you. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. And I apologize, 17 but it's Julie -- I'm having a hard time reading the 18 last name. 19 MS. ADAMS: Adams. Julie Adams. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Julie Adams. Okay. See if 21 Julie Adams is in the hall. 22 SHERIFF LEITHA: Julie Adams? 23 JUDGE KELLY: Ma'am, if you'll go to the 24 podium, please. Miss Adams. 25 MS. ADAMS: Thank you. My name is Julie 83 1 Adams. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Could you speak a little 3 louder? 4 MS. ADAMS: Yes. My name is Julie Adams. I 5 live in Kerr County. The American Rescue Plan is a 6 trojan horse. It's offering our own hard earned tax 7 money back to the counties we live in as an inducement 8 for compliance to mandates for vaccines that potentially 9 not limited to just the vaccine. 10 I don't see any specified date framing this 11 contract in Section 9, Part A. This could be 12 interpreted to mean that any regulations or orders that 13 may be forthcoming during the terms of this agreement, 14 would also be mandatory. We have very broad language in 15 this contract. As I quote, Recipient also agrees to 16 comply with all other applicable Federal statutes, 17 regulations, and executive orders. This might include 18 mandates around gun control, property rights, energy 19 usage, environmental restrictions, i.e., the green new 20 deal, housing of illegal immigrants, what we teach our 21 children in schools. And I could go on. 22 Just take a hard look at the current 23 administration offering this plan. These are just a few 24 of the arenas where Federal overreach is likely to 25 catastrophically affect the residents in the County 84 1 where these funds are accepted. At the end of this 2 contract, I will be done, and if noncompliance to its 3 draconian terms are found, the funds must be returned 4 likely with interest. Debt has always been used as an 5 instrument to subjugate the borrower and extract value 6 from them. Look at any country and get into the World 7 Bank. 8 Any elected official in the County takes an 9 oath to uphold the Texas Constitution which enshrines 10 the God given rights that we individuals are born with. 11 Any official who signs off on a contractual agreement 12 that takes away those rights is abrogating his or her 13 oath of office and sworn responsibility to the people 14 who elected them. 15 I will commit to win my efforts with those 16 of any others who are interested if it comes to this to 17 collect signatures on affidavits, which would hold any 18 County officials signing off on these funds personally 19 liable for any damages for abandoning their oath 20 according to the Bill of Rights and the Texas and U.S. 21 Constitution. Send this Judas money back. This plan is 22 not a rescue plan; it is a procurement plan. Thank you. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Miss Bell, I noticed you came 24 in. Did you want to speak? 25 MS. BELL: No. 85 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Michael Piper. 2 MR. PIPER: Hello again, Commissioners, 3 Judge. Thank you for hearing me today. Everybody 4 that's spoken today has talked about the contract and 5 how it could turn into something really bad for the 6 citizens of Kerr County. I'm not going to drive that 7 point in the ground anymore. I think y'all got the 8 point on that. 9 But I'm here to tell you that me, myself, 10 personally will not be mandated by anybody out of 11 Washington. I'm a Texan. I want y'all to make the 12 right decisions here. That's why we put you here. And 13 if something comes down from Washington, guys, man, you 14 live in the County, too. These people know where you 15 live. Man, look what happened to Stalin. It's not a 16 threat, Sheriff. That's not a threat. 17 UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: That's what it's 18 sounding like. 19 MR. PIPER: It's a warning. That's a 20 warning. Because we are Texans. We fought a revolution 21 to get away from an oppressive government. And we will 22 not have it. We will not have it. Reagan said there's 23 nothing more true to eternal life than a government 24 program. Thomas Jefferson said if you can save the 25 government from stealing a man's labor, you will have 86 1 liberty. Benjamin Franklin said himself that if you 2 want security -- or if you give up your security and 3 your liberty -- or if you give up your liberty for 4 security, you will end up with neither. That's the way 5 it is. 6 I've been in this County all my life. I 7 love this County. We've got your back, Sheriff. And if 8 the Sheriff's Department needs anything, the citizens 9 are going to step up. I guarantee you. We -- we've got 10 your back, Sheriff. Been doing an excellent job for us 11 in this County. 12 I think that's about all I've got to say. 13 Y'all are probably tired of hearing from me. But I 14 appreciate what y'all have done for us and what you are 15 going to do for us. Because I have faith in you guys to 16 make the right decisions. I really do. Thank you all. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Kathleen Ocker. 18 MS. OCKER: Good morning. My name is 19 Kathleen Ocker and I'm a resident of Kerr County. I 20 thank you, gentlemen, for the opportunity to address all 21 the citizens today. I strongly urge you to return this 22 money now. This money is not free, and all Federal 23 money comes with strings attached. Should these strings 24 be such things as regulations, statutes, executive 25 orders or mandates, and they would be unacceptable -- 87 1 that are unacceptable for our County. We would have the 2 opportunity to repay it. 3 Kerr County includes an army of intelligent 4 and competent residents and officials who are quite 5 capable of determining what is best for our area. We do 6 not need Washington bureaucrats making mandates for us 7 to follow. Perhaps the most feared statement in any 8 situation is, I'm from the government and I'm here to 9 help. Please vote to return this money immediately. 10 Thank you. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Next is Robert 12 Fearon? I think it's F-E-R-O-N, I'm not sure. 13 SHERIFF LEITHA: That's it, Judge. Nobody 14 else is upstairs. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. And I've got Laurie 16 Adams and Todd Kensey. 17 MS. ADAMS: Good morning. My husband and I 18 came from Austin five years ago, and we live in Center 19 Point and we're very happy. We're not happy about this 20 ARPA money. Agreeing to the terms and conditions of the 21 Treasury Department funding -- by the way, Treasury 22 Department directed -- they're in bed with BlackRock. 23 Does everybody know who BlackRock is? 24 UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: Yes, we do. 25 MS. ADAMS: Look it up. 88 1 UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: Large investment group. 2 MS. ADAMS: So these words so-called relief 3 funds. They come with massive strings. We're all 4 concerned about this outrageous executive order 5 mandating private business to require everyone to be 6 vaccinated, never mind that many businesses are doing it 7 anyway regardless of what reports are saying. But what 8 happens when the feds or the President inferred advice 9 that we have to abide by every edict, perhaps tied to 10 sanctuary for illegals, any regulation pertaining to gun 11 ownership and the Second Amendment, or maybe local 12 lockdown of our economy because of so-called climate 13 control issues. 14 Audits will take place in four to five years 15 and noncompliance will mean penalties, including 16 returning money that has already been spent. I don't 17 have time to go into it, but look up Confessions of An 18 Economic Hit Man because that's a playbook for what 19 we're seeing here. 20 Also, if you will, please look up Mike 21 Adams' article about this. The headline is Covid Relief 22 Funds Distributed to Cities and States. Require full 23 compliance and Biden vaccine mandate. Counties can use 24 monies to bankrupt and replace local businesses. I've 25 been trying to share that with social media and they 89 1 won't let me. Know that small business and nonprofits 2 will be lured into decline for all this money because 3 pantries and others, and every person associated with it 4 will be forced to comply with all of this and what else 5 in the future. Look up 3530. Or as they're now 6 rebranding it American is Beautiful, I think. 7 And then think hard about your property 8 rights. Why don't you ask some of the other communities 9 who plan to refuse this funding? Apparently on 10 principal. I'm not sure, but I think Brady, Spring 11 Branch and Mason might be a start. The terms and 12 conditions of this funding are not standard, contrary to 13 what some would have you believe. I can't and would not 14 quote Rusty, our former sheriff, but I think he said 15 something at some point before he retired about not 16 taking several grants because he might have to jail a 17 man with female inmates because the man claims he 18 identifies as a woman. 19 I went to YouTube and searched for this 20 topic, ARPA. The propaganda is amazing. I guess people 21 for now think money is free. Let's face it. This 22 so-called rescue plan is bondage. I've heard it called 23 the poison apple and a trojan horse. That is accurate. 24 But I always think about what my dad, who passed in 25 2010, from serving his country said. Communism is 90 1 encroaching and this country will fall without even 2 firing a shot. Please face this decision now. Send the 3 money back and do not enslave the citizens of this 4 County and their children. Thank you. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Todd Kensey. 6 MR. KINSEY: Todd Kensey. I live here in 7 Kerrville. Probably should have ended on that last one 8 because it was very well articulated. I'm just going to 9 mumble up here. I moved my family here from Colorado 10 two and a half years ago. And I'm thankful to get to 11 Texas before this nonsense all started. But I've got to 12 tell you, I've been disappointed at times in the amount 13 of -- in -- I guess I expected Texas to man up a little 14 bit more. And I've been disappointed at times. 15 And so, you know, sitting here I was 16 thinking how can I -- how do I relate this to my own 17 life. And if someone were to offer me some money that 18 had some strings attached to it, you know, my conviction 19 is telling me to say no. And so, I would just ask -- 20 ask y'all to think about it in that way, and as men -- 21 as men of God, you know, we're called to do the right 22 thing. And so I would just say stand up for what's 23 right and send this money back. Thanks. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. The only other 25 person I have signed up on the list so far is for item 91 1 1.15. Is there anyone else on Item 1.9? 2 Okay. Any other discussion? 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: As everybody's pointed 4 out, this is open-ended. And what I think we're failing 5 to consider is that we're judging -- judging matters by 6 today's circumstances. And a couple people have 7 mentioned that we don't know what tomorrow's 8 circumstances are going to be. 9 If you look back the last year and a half, 10 two years, we would have never imagined we'd be sitting 11 here having gone through everything we have. This -- a 12 mandate can pertain to anything. And we cannot just say 13 okay, we're -- they're going to -- and what next 14 pandemic -- what next thing will there be a mandate for? 15 What virus? What other national emergency? What's 16 called an emergency? 17 Today, you know, they're trying to get OSHA 18 to proceed and carry out an executive order based on an 19 emergency. That -- that word has been broadly defined 20 recently. And based on that, I don't trust an 21 open-ended contract with these guys. Maybe -- the Judge 22 has said something that made a lot of sense. 23 Commissioner Letz has. Commissioner Harris. Several 24 others. I don't think that we have a trustworthy 25 administration and I move to send the money back. 92 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. There is a motion. Is 2 there a second? 3 (Pause.) 4 AUDIENCE: Come on. 5 UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: Send it back. 6 JUDGE KELLY: There being no second, the 7 motion fails. 8 The next item on the agenda -- it is 11 9 o'clock. 10 UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: We'll see you in the 11 next election. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Hey, Charlie? We're going to 13 start with the 10 o'clock docket. So it will be Item 14 1.11, which is consider, discuss and take appropriate 15 action for the Court to set a public hearing for 10:00 16 a.m. on December the 28th, 2021, for a revision of plat 17 for Verde Park Estate Section 2, Tract 5. Charlie 18 Hastings. 19 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. This 20 proposal divides Tract 5 into two lots and dedicates a 21 right-of-way along Lands End Trail. Lot 5N will be 2.8 22 acres with frontage on Lands End Trail and Lot 5S will 23 be 2.82 acres with frontage on Lands End Trail and 24 Tremper Trail. 25 The County Engineer requests the Court set a 93 1 public hearing for 10 a.m. on December 28th, 2021 for a 2 revision of plat for Verde Park Estates Section 2, Tract 3 5, Volume 5, Page 235, Precinct 2. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. I'll make a motion that 5 we set a public hearing for Verde Park Estates 6 Section 2, Tract 5. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 10 in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, four zero. 11 Next item is 1.12 public hearing for 12 revision of plat for Hill Country Estates Section 2, 13 Tract 7. Charlie Hastings. 14 MR. HASTINGS: I think we may have someone 15 out there in the hallway that wanted to speak on this 16 public hearing. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. This is going to be on 18 Hill Country Estates Section 2. 19 MR. HASTINGS: Oh, not in the hallway, he's 20 right there. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Eric Ashley. 22 MR. ASHLEY: Yes, sir. Just the last plat I 23 did that was approved by the Court, very similar 24 circumstances. I picked a bad day to be long winded. I 25 apologize. I'm Eric Ashley, local surveyor. The issues 94 1 replatting in the Historical subdivision of lots that 2 extend to the center line of the road easement. And who 3 rightfully owns that strip? 4 Kerr County does not allow subdivisions with 5 center line easements anymore. Kimble, Edwards, and 6 Real do. I don't know about Gillespie. I'm 7 representing Toby and Jared Hunt. Toby is gifting 10 8 acres to his son. 9 Now just two years ago, he could give his 10 son 10 acres and we didn't have to go through all this. 11 Now, I don't know where we got the wisdom to take that 12 right away. But now that we're doing this, he has an 13 existing well, septic and good access. It's as simple 14 as they come. Jared is anxious to see this expedited 15 and concerned about loss of property value if the County 16 takes acreage from the road. 17 I'm asking the Court to simply approve this 18 replat as it has been prepared and completed on the 19 ground. This road easement which the County wants to 20 take away is not County maintained. It has 1.5 acres at 21 a value of 25 to 30,000 an acre. The County is holding 22 the citizen hostage to give up valuable property for a 23 road easement that the County will not maintain. 24 I don't know of any Attorney General's 25 opinions on this. I haven't heard any -- seen any new 95 1 case law, but there seems to be a shift in interpreting 2 the rules here for some reason. My question is, is the 3 County going to pay for the loss of value to take this 4 road away from a citizen? I really thought Charlie had 5 just made a mistake, because I've had numerous plats go 6 through the County which never had -- never been 7 required. 8 You're holding in front of you the one I did 9 in May. Identical circumstances. Was approved by this 10 Court. Charlie approved it. I've got one in 2020 I 11 did, this Court approved. 2018 was court approved. 12 2012, Leonard Odom and Judge Tinley approved a similar 13 replat. 2001, Fred Johnson and Judge Fred Henneke 14 approved a similar replat. 15 It's an established law of the land, it's 16 been going on for a hundred years. Now we want to 17 reinterpret the rules. The public road easement grants 18 rights for the purposes intended. In other words, it's 19 not necessary for a County to own a road so the rights 20 of the public can exist in perpetuity. That means 21 forever. That is why this method is still in use in 22 many counties. 23 So what happened since May? You know, since 24 I made my last replat? I don't know. I guess it's 25 just, you know, a new attorney reinterpreting the rules. 96 1 I don't know. There's many unforeseen consequences in 2 this policy. For instance, a man owns ten acres. He 3 wants to give his son five acres. Okay. I think y'all 4 probably agree that that's acceptable. But it's not. 5 Because when the County takes that 30 foot strip away, 6 they're left with less than 10 acres. Cannot divide it 7 into two 5-acre tracts. It just prevented a whole lot 8 of fathers from giving their sons five acres. 9 Private property rights are being trampled 10 on. It's too much power, in my opinion, for just the 11 County Engineer to possess or one commissioner. I'd 12 appreciate if y'all would take the time to discuss this 13 issue with Lee Voelkel. He's the County surveyor. In 14 my opinion, his wisdom has not been relied upon or 15 respected by the Court and those that make the rules 16 here for subdivisions. Lee doesn't like to rock the 17 boat. He also knows there's consequences when you stand 18 up for what you believe in. 19 Toby Hunt owns property across the road. If 20 this goes through the way that the County is trying to 21 enforce it, there will be a 2100-foot strip, 30 feet 22 wide, right down the middle of their own property that 23 the County owns. Half the easement owned by the County, 24 the other half by Mr. Hunt. All of that nonsense for a 25 road which is not and never will be County maintained. 97 1 So I have to ask the Court, what do you plan on doing 2 with it? You're seizing people's property and you're 3 not going to maintain the road? Yes, it states seven 4 times in the ordinance. It sounds Biblical, like 5 Kerrinthian(phonetic). Road must be separate and the 6 two shall not be joined as one. That's correct. For 7 new subdivisions. Not replats. 8 It's too convenient to reimagine here what 9 has always worked. If we applied today's standards and 10 prospectus to the past, go back and fix something that 11 was never broken, what are we accomplishing? If we 12 blame this on the rules, let's change them. It's real 13 simple. One sentence we could change that silly rule. 14 But we want to blame it on the rules? We have to 15 enforce it because it's in the rules? Really? 16 I only request that you approve this 17 revision of plat as it has been submitted. Thank you 18 for your time. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Are we still on the public 20 meeting part? 21 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Anyone else want to address 23 the Court with regard to this? Okay. Then we will 24 adjourn the public meeting. And we'll go on to Item 25 1.13 consider, discuss and take appropriate action for 98 1 the Court to approve the revision of plat for Hill 2 Country Estates, Section 2, Tract 7. Charlie Hastings. 3 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. Now, this 4 proposal divides Tract 7, it's 25.27 acres, into two 5 lots. Tract 7N will be 10.27 with frontage on Green Oak 6 Drive and Indian Mound Road. Tract 7S will be 15 acres 7 with frontage on Indian Mound Road. 8 Indian Mound Road is an existing 9 privately-maintained road, as Eric was indicating just a 10 moment ago. A 60-foot wide road easement, instead of 11 right-of-way, was dedicated by plat Volume 3, Page 30. 12 When property is platted or revised, the 13 County typically requires right-of-way dedication; 14 however, the developer has requested this portion of 15 Indian Mound Road to remain as an easement, as Eric has 16 indicated. 17 The County Engineer requests the Court 18 consider, discuss and take appropriate action regarding 19 approval for revision of plat for Hill Country Estates, 20 Section 2, Tract 7, Volume 3, Page 30, Precinct 3. 21 And then, statutorily I'll remind you that 22 we have options here. The plat can be denied. If it's 23 denied, we must cite from our regulations the reason 24 why. The plat can be approved. Or the plat could be 25 approved with conditions. So if it was going to be 99 1 denied, it would be denied because it didn't have the 2 right-of-way separate from the lot. If it was approved, 3 it could be approved as-is, as a road easement on a 4 privately-maintained road that we don't have any 5 intentions of maintaining that road from Kerr County's 6 perspective. It would -- I think the reason that that 7 regulation is in there is we get sometimes asked to 8 maintain roads. And we wouldn't -- probably wouldn't 9 want to maintain a road that was in an easement instead 10 of right-of-way. 11 But -- and then, the third option would be 12 to approve subject to the condition and the condition 13 could be to have it dedicated as right-of-way. Those 14 are the three options you have. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have a question and it 16 might be -- seems like a terminology issue. Eric -- 17 where is Eric? The wording, you know, we're taking over 18 ownership. You differentiated between right-of-way and 19 easement. 20 MR. ASHLEY: Yes, sir. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To me, an easement or a 22 right-of-way is an easement. We generally do not take 23 possession -- ownership. We have in some situations. 24 But generally we get a right-of-way easement when we -- 25 in these situations. Is that -- am I correct, County 100 1 Attorney? I mean on most of them we've done recently? 2 MR. HASTINGS: They've been right-of-way 3 where ownership is in the County's ownership. We've got 4 another plat on the agenda today. And when we get to 5 that, they're requesting that the County maintain the 6 road. And so the right-of-way and the lots are 7 completely separate. The right-of-way to the road will 8 be dedicated and owned by the County. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But there's no request 10 in this one for that? 11 MR. HASTINGS: There's no request in this 12 one for that. It's an existing privately-maintained 13 road. If you look at it on Kerr 911, it's -- Kerr 911 14 doesn't even have it labeled as a road. It -- it goes 15 between the lots. It serves about, what, five or six 16 lots, Eric? I think it's five or six lots? 17 MR. ASHLEY: Yes, sir. 18 MR. HASTINGS: Something like that? 19 MR. ASHLEY: A few other owners at the end 20 of the road. It's a four-wheel drive road. 21 MR. HASTINGS: It's -- it's not paved. Or a 22 good portion of it is not, just the two track where 23 someone has driven it, is my understanding. And from 24 the aerial images that's what you'll see. 25 And -- and I'll -- I'll add this. Just so 101 1 that you understand the whole -- the whole scope. This 2 is not a road that would lend itself towards being 3 extended any further than it is right now. It's a dead 4 end road. The topography beyond where it ends gets very 5 rough. It goes down into a valley. It would never be 6 on a thoroughfare plan if some kind of a collector or 7 something that would be extended. So, you know, we've 8 got a number of those. But -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I understand that. But 10 I'm just -- I'm quite confused on a point. How does a 11 plat transfer ownership of real estate? It doesn't. 12 That I'm aware of. I mean -- I don't see how a plat can 13 do that. It's got -- a deed is how you transfer 14 ownership. And we're not -- there's no deed involved 15 here. So we're giving a right-of-way easement, but 16 we're not getting ownership of that road. I mean -- 17 I'll look at the County Attorney. I don't -- I mean can 18 the -- every time we do a plat are we transferring 19 ownership of real estate? 20 MRS. STEBBINS: The ones that we do lately, 21 the ones that you've been thinking about, the 22 right-of-way easement, they have been. But not with 23 these. There's a separate document that is -- 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 25 MRS. STEBBINS: -- transferring ownership. 102 1 So that's what you were -- I think that you were asking 2 about before. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. But there's -- 4 is there a document here signed by the property owner 5 deeding land to Kerr County? 6 MR. HASTINGS: I think that's what the plat 7 does. That's what I've always understood. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, am I off base? 9 MR. ASHLEY: If you're taking the land away 10 from the owner. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think the plat 12 can take -- I mean, I don't think you can convey 13 property by a plat. You can convey a right-of-way by a 14 plat. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, this is a family 16 transfer, right? It's from father to son? 17 MR. HASTINGS: In an existing platted 18 subdivision. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. I mean, I agree 20 that we should get the right-of-way. But I don't think 21 we're getting ownership of the property. That's the 22 point that I'm hung up on. 23 MR. ASHLEY: You've already got the right to 24 use the road for public maintenance and use forever. 25 There's no need for it to be taken away from the owner. 103 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: For emergency purposes. 2 MR. ASHLEY: It doesn't matter. You've 3 already got that right. You're -- you're adding 4 something that you already have. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But we generally try to 6 get wider right-of-way on a lot of these roads. And 7 we've done that for many, many years. And I support 8 that where possible. There are some situations come up 9 where it's just not possible. And I think there's -- 10 take any of our roads. 11 Take Lane Valley, which I'm probably the 12 most familiar with. That right-of-way in areas is 13 probably still 25 feet wide. We've tried to improve it 14 a lot. And when somebody does a plat bordering that 15 road, they dedicate additional right-of-way to us. And 16 we've done that on many roads across the County. But I 17 just don't think it's transferring ownership. 18 Anyway, while you were looking at that, 19 these two people -- Eric, I have a question for you. We 20 seem to have lost .04 acres in this transaction. The 21 original plat was 25.31. And now we're at 25.27. 22 MR. ASHLEY: Well, original surveyors used a 23 transit and a chain and we use a GPS, so it's a little 24 more accurate now. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. So that's the 104 1 reason for it? Okay. I just want to make sure we -- 2 MR. ASHLEY: Yeah, it never got lost. It 3 just wasn't there. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is there any fence on 5 either side of this road? 6 MR. ASHLEY: I don't believe so. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: No crossing anything or 8 anything? 9 MR. ASHLEY: I don't think so. Well, 10 that's -- that's -- my whole point is that, you know, 11 there's hundreds of these subdivisions, and the County 12 historically will take -- the historical law of the land 13 was, you know, that's acceptable. And now in order to a 14 replat in these subdivisions when -- because the 15 property line goes to the center line of the road, I 16 understand the County thinking they need to separate 17 that from ownership of the lot but there's no reason to. 18 There's no good common sense reason to, because you've 19 already got all the rights for the road. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's not ownership. I 21 guess my point is, it's not ownership we're 22 transferring. It's -- 23 MR. ASHLEY: Well, you're taking it away. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's just an easement on 25 the property that we're dedicating. 105 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It doesn't mean you go 2 in and cut trees or anything. It's an easement. You're 3 not going to change the land. 4 MR. ASHLEY: Well, you're taking the -- 5 you're taking value from the owner because that -- that 6 strip land is no longer their property. Now, what 7 legally happens to it, I don't know. But when he goes 8 to sell his lot. He can no longer sell to the center 9 line of the road. That strip is now being dedicated. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I don't -- I don't 11 think that's right. 12 MR. ASHLEY: Oh yeah. Absolutely. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, but he owns it. 14 He doesn't have the right to use it. Much like utility 15 easement. 16 MR. ASHLEY: Well, it's separated from the 17 lot. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think under value 19 standpoint, I'm halfway there -- I mean, I think he 20 still owns it. 21 MR. ASHLEY: No, no, no, no, no. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There is -- putting that 23 restriction on it, that -- what he can -- it limits his 24 use of it. And the Appraisal District, if you go to 25 them, will reduce the value on those properties. 106 1 MR. ASHLEY: All right. So if you have a 2 ten acre tract and I divide it in two and you take off 3 .3 acres and we now have 9.7 acres and we're going to 4 divide it in two, you can't do it. Because you don't 5 have 10 acres. That's what you're doing. You're taking 6 that ownership away from the landowner. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's a question 8 I want to hear back from the County Attorney. Is this 9 an owner -- are we transferring ownership or property? 10 MR. ASHLEY: I don't know who -- you're 11 transferring or not, but you're taking it away from the 12 private property owner. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: There's a lot of 14 properties that -- that are sold with various kinds of 15 restrictions on them. I think that's all you're talking 16 about here. It's the same amount of land. But if 17 you -- if you live in a -- an HOA and they tell you you 18 can't, you know, re-core batteries -- it's a restriction 19 but you still own the land. There's a lot of different 20 kinds of uses that are attached to a deed or 21 prohibitions that are attached to a deed. You still own 22 that amount of land. 23 MR. ASHLEY: I really -- I really think 24 y'all are wrong on this. Once you take that strip, and 25 he dedicates it to the public, he doesn't want it 107 1 anymore. 2 MR. HASTINGS: It's not a part of his lot. 3 That -- that's what we're getting at. 4 MR. ASHLEY: Yeah. 5 MR. HASTINGS: We're asking the Court is it 6 appropriate in this situation to apply the seven times 7 in our regulations where it says Thou shalt keep the 8 right-of-way for the road separate from the lot. And if 9 that needs to change, our subdivision regulations are -- 10 are right now, you know, in flux and there -- it would 11 be something that we could address and fix. I'm just 12 trying to follow the regulations. I read it seven times 13 and I say, Eric, it says it seven times. I'm not sure 14 what to do here. 15 MR. ASHLEY: Right. 16 MR. HASTINGS: But in -- in Eric's defense, 17 you know, if the Court's going to make a decision based 18 on all the factors, keep in mind, it is a 19 privately-maintained road. It really hasn't ever been 20 constructed as a road, although it does serve access for 21 all those lots back there. There's five or six lots 22 that that is their access to a road easement. So -- 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 24 MR. HASTINGS: -- I'm not sure what the 25 Court wants to do. 108 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I -- I still say 2 we need to get the right-of-way. I agree with that. 3 Because these individuals, these other five, they may -- 4 I don't know how much acreage is involved, but they may 5 all start dividing. So you may end up with more and 6 more traffic out there. And that's the reason -- that's 7 the logic behind the requirement. 8 Because we have safe roads around the County 9 that are unsafe because we don't have enough 10 right-of-way, and then more people get developed and 11 causes more and more problems. So I like the -- and I 12 think we support the dedication of the right-of-way. 13 The question comes in from Eric's point is that are we 14 taking ownership of the property? I don't think we are. 15 But -- 16 JUDGE KELLY: I have a question. And I 17 think I tend to agree with you. But, Charlie, has it 18 been the practice that when we take these plats, and we 19 put on there, like we've done on this one, that the 20 legal effect of that plat is to transfer ownership of 21 that strip of land that represents that easement? 22 MR. HASTINGS: I believe so. I think it 23 transfers it either -- if it's done as right-of-way. 24 Not as an easement. But if it's done as a right-of-way, 25 it's a separate -- in the instance of a private 109 1 subdivision. Sometimes it gets its own lot number. And 2 then the homeowners' association owns that strip. And 3 in the other instances, and you'll see this in just a 4 few moments when we get to the next plat, the lots stop. 5 And then you've got 60 foot, and then you've 6 got lots on the other side and who owns that in the 7 middle, Kerr County Appraisal District is listing the 8 owner -- for taxing purposes they're listing Kerr County 9 as the owner of it. Whether or not we really own it, I 10 guess I don't know. I thought we did. But just because 11 the Appraisal District says you own something doesn't 12 necessarily mean you own it. 13 JUDGE KELLY: But I think it's a pretty 14 critical legal question we need to ask. Does that 15 really transfer ownership? Because if it does, I see 16 where Eric is coming from. 17 MR. HASTINGS: Right. 18 JUDGE KELLY: If it's just that you have the 19 right-of-way to use that land as an easement, that's 20 something different. I live out on Highway 39. And the 21 deed to Highway 39, that land belongs to my wife. Now, 22 that road is there. And that's a public road. But that 23 is -- the land underneath that road is privately owned 24 and it's that way all over the County. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And that -- well, 110 1 that's what you described to me, Kelly, years ago when I 2 asked you about this. We own the road; we don't own the 3 land. 4 MS. HOFFER: The surface and the 5 substructure. The road and the land up underneath to 6 the center of the earth, the property owner owns it. 7 JUDGE KELLY: All right. Can't do anything 8 with it but we own it. 9 MS. HOFFER: Right. Absolutely. 10 MR. ASHLEY: Right. And y'all are all 11 correct. But the easement you've already got. You 12 don't need anything more. The easement grants you all 13 the rights the public needs to that strip of land. It 14 already does. Whether you take that strip of land away 15 from the property owner or not, you still have the exact 16 same right. It doesn't give you anything more. All it 17 does is take it off the tax roll and minimize his 18 acreage. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Eric, I'm the son of a 20 surveyor. I understand what you're saying. I 21 understand that. But if the legal impact or the legal 22 affect and the practice has been that that transfers 23 ownership of that land, that's different than an 24 easement. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 111 1 JUDGE KELLY: And -- and they're not -- 2 they're not the same animal. And so that's what I'm 3 really curious about. Does -- I'm fine with the 4 easement, and I -- and Eric, I think you're fine with an 5 easement. We all understand easements. 6 MR. ASHLEY: It's a historical way of doing 7 things that we don't do it anymore. And the subdivision 8 rules was written for all these subdivisions to not 9 include the road as part of an easement. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 11 MR. ASHLEY: And that's the way it's been 12 interpreted by many different courts and many different 13 attorneys and many different engineers up to this point. 14 And so if you are taking that strip away from the owner, 15 there's got to be some common sense reason to do it, 16 which I don't see and -- but I'm not that smart. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Again, I think these -- 18 I support because it's -- I think we need to be 19 consistent, that we want an easement of 60 feet, and I 20 think he should dedicate it. And our rules clearly say 21 that if you revise a plat, it's subject to our current 22 rules. So it's no question that this revision is 23 subject to our current rules. But I think it's an 24 easement, not an ownership. And there is a big 25 difference in my mind between those two. 112 1 MR. ASHLEY: Either way you've taken the 2 land away from the owner. You've seized it. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We've taken part of the 4 use away. 5 MR. ASHLEY: No, you've -- 6 JUDGE KELLY: We've got the use. 7 MR. ASHLEY: -- you've taken ownership. 8 JUDGE KELLY: We've got the deed that 9 givers us the right to use that land. I got that. I'm 10 with you, Eric. I understand. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But right now -- how 12 wide is the easement right now? 13 MR. ASHLEY: 30 -- 60 feet. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's 60 feet right now? 15 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, there's nothing 17 more needed, right? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, there's nothing 19 more needed. I thought it was 30 going -- 20 MR. ASHLEY: My only point is taking -- land 21 is getting expensive, man, around here. When you go 22 taking an acre and a half for a road easement which you 23 already own, you already got the right to use it, well, 24 why are you doing it? You know, I mean, that's -- 25 that's my point. I'm just -- I'm not trying to pick at 113 1 you. 2 MRS. STEBBINS: I think one of the options 3 that Charlie said is that it could be approved as an 4 easement. Because there's no intention to make it a 5 public road. I think that was one of the options 6 Charlie said you had at the end of this. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Then I move that we approve it 8 as an easement. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And I'll second that. 10 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. That was option two. 11 MR. ASHLEY: Okay. Thank you. 12 MR. HASTINGS: We -- Eric and I just want 13 clarification. Because we did this all the time and we 14 want to make sure we're being consistent. 15 JUDGE KELLY: It's been a helpful 16 discussion. But it gets us focused on some of these 17 technicalities that -- that I had missed, frankly, until 18 now. 19 MR. HASTINGS: Yeah. I think we need to 20 definitely follow through with addressing this and 21 making it very clear in the subdivision regulations. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think so. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 24 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 25 Interesting. Item 1.14 consider, discuss 114 1 and take appropriate action for the Court to approve the 2 final plat for Paloma Ranch and accept the letter of 3 credit for associated construction improvements in 4 Mountain Home, Texas. Charlie Hastings. 5 MR. HASTINGS: Well, thank you, Judge. This 6 is the next subdivision I was referring to. This 7 proposal subdivides 145 acres on Highway 41 in Mountain 8 Home into 25 lots. Each lot will be greater than five 9 acres. Access to the proposed lots will be from a 10 proposed road to be known as Paloma Ranch Road. It's 11 approximately 3600 feet long, and also from Highway 41 12 for a couple of blocks. 13 They've got some special access. They got 14 special permission from TxDOT to do that. And I think 15 the access points are noted on the plat where TxDOT will 16 allow for those lots off of 41. A preliminary plat was 17 approved on August 9th, 2021 by Order No. 38855. 18 The County Engineer requests the Court 19 approve a final plat for Paloma Ranch, and accept the 20 letter of credit No. 400640200 in the amount of 21 $567,767.00 issued by Guadalupe Bank of Kerrville, 22 Texas, for the associated construction improvements, 23 that would be the streets and drainage, in Mountain 24 Home, Texas, Precinct 4. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I was just out there a 115 1 couple weeks ago. It looks good. I move for approval. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: I'm just looking at the topo 4 on it and are those -- 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: There's a dry creek 6 that runs through part of it. 7 UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: There's a dry creek 8 that kind of runs down through the north on one side. 9 And it's just a very shallow one. And then where it 10 cuts back across, that's where the road goes across and 11 we're building it up on both sides. Uh-huh. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 13 in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, four zero. 14 Item 1.5 -- or 1.15 consider, discuss and 15 take appropriate action on a subdivision regulation 16 violation for The Hideout Ranch Subdivision located on 17 FM 479. Charlie Hastings. 18 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. This 19 proposed subdivision consists of property located in 20 Kerr County and Gillespie County. Access to the 21 subdivision will be off of FM 479 in Kerr County. I do 22 have a notice of violation that I attached to the agenda 23 bill, and it was also a cease and desist notification 24 concerning a violation of the Kerr County Subdivision 25 Regulations. It's addressed to John Snow, TX7 Land, 116 1 LLC. out of Murphy, North Carolina. 2 And the nature is it concerns The Hideout 3 Ranch Subdivision located in Kerr County. And that it's 4 Deed No. 21-05554. And the issue was that on November 5 9th, 2021 the above-referenced 470.30 acre tract, listed 6 as 469.97 -- and I think that's due to better surveying 7 technology, 469.97 acres as surveyed by Danny J. Stark, 8 surveyor No. 5602. 9 That tract of land was observed to have 10 entrance gates, cattle guards, and mailboxes constructed 11 at both entrances to the subdivision off of FM 479. All 12 of the proposed roadways, approximately 13,800 feet were 13 cleared and grubbed, and several hundred feet, including 14 both entrances, had flexible base placed in the proposed 15 roadway. So construction of the subdivision 16 infrastructure has started prior to approved 17 construction plans. That's the issue we have here. 18 Per the Kerr County Subdivision Regulations, 19 Section 7.06, quote, any required drainage plan and 20 roadway plan and profile shall have been approved prior 21 to the start of any construction concerning same. 22 However, clearing, grubbing and minor grading will be 23 allowed prior to preliminary plat approval, drainage 24 plan approval, and roadway plan profiles. 25 So while the clearing, grubbing and minor 117 1 grading is allowable, construction of the road or any 2 subdivision infrastructure requiring construction plans 3 prepared by a licensed professional engineer is not. 4 I continue with my -- my notice here to Mr. 5 Snow, I say, "You are hereby notified to cease and 6 desist the construction of any subdivision 7 infrastructure, and to follow the Kerr County 8 Subdivision Regulations concerning the construction of 9 the Hideout Ranch Subdivision. The issue has been 10 placed on the November 22nd, 2021 Kerr County 11 Commissioners' Court agenda for 10 a.m. Your presence 12 is requested. 13 Since that time, there's been multiple 14 e-mail and telephone conversation and communication back 15 and forth between me and the developer, and the 16 developer's engineer. I've been out to the site. 17 Commissioner Harris has. Our Road & Bridge 18 Administrator, Kelly Hoffer, was there and my assistant 19 Bobby Gore. And we also had some supervisors, I think 20 Robert Sims went with us out there. I think Donnie 21 Hausman went out there also. So we -- we've all had a 22 chance to go out and observe, drive the ranch, see 23 what's going on. 24 The developer, Mr. Snow has communicated 25 back to me that he would resolve any of the issues of 118 1 construction starting where it shouldn't have, and we 2 went out there last week to -- to look at what he did to 3 correct the situation. He has scraped up were they did 4 lay some base. He had that base stock piled off to the 5 side. I continue to work with their engineer, who is 6 here in the room if you have any questions for him. 7 JUDGE KELLY: That's Marshall Brewer? 8 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, it is. Marshall Brewer. 9 And that is -- we have been working through the 10 construction plans to get those in compliance. The 11 normal process would be to have approved construction 12 plans that have been approved by the County Engineer, in 13 conformance with the subdivision regulation. 14 And then we would have a pre-construction 15 meeting and find out who the contractor is, who -- who's 16 the geotechnical lab, what kind of inspections the 17 engineer is going to provide and just work through the 18 process. There is a step by step process so I think 19 they're bringing it back into compliance but wanted to 20 bring this before the court so that you know what's 21 going on there off of 479. Also for the community as 22 they're driving by, they'll see this. 23 I've also been alerted to social media 24 notifications that there's lots being sold out there 25 prior to the plat being filed. And I don't know if 119 1 that's true, that they're being sold. I don't know if 2 these are pre sales, I don't know how that works. But I 3 did ask the developer, are y'all selling lots? And he 4 said no, we're not -- not selling lots, but there was a 5 big tent and a bunch of chairs out there. I believe 6 there was a big event on November the -- 7 MS. HOFFER: Sixth. 8 MR. HASTINGS: -- 6th where folks got to 9 come out and take a look at maybe a lot that they may 10 want to buy in the future. And I don't know what else 11 happened besides that. But lots of commotion going on. 12 And probably some more of that in other parts of the 13 County. And we'll get to hear about in the coming 14 weeks. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I want to nip that in 16 the bud. 17 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 18 JUDGE KELLY: This is the second time in a 19 month we've had this issue come up where construction 20 started before approval of the plat. And I want it 21 stopped. Period. Stopped. And I'm going to do what it 22 takes. I'm going to recommend that we do what it takes 23 to get your attention. You can follow the rules or 24 there will be consequences. The last one we referred to 25 the County Attorney for prosecution of a misdemeanor and 120 1 appropriate fines. I don't care what kind of solution 2 you bring to me as long as the solution is acceptable to 3 the County Engineer and the County Attorney. But I want 4 this fixed. 5 We're not going to have a land rush in Kerr 6 County where people come in and willy-nilly go out and 7 start developing like they want to without following the 8 rules. The rules will be followed, period. That's my 9 position. And I can't say it more sternly. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree. And I also 11 think, Judge, that the current situation of the -- of 12 changes in State Law has made this problem worse. 13 Because -- yeah, there's nothing we can do about that. 14 So all we can do is try to -- 15 JUDGE KELLY: We can't do anything about 16 that. But we can do something about enforcing our 17 subdivision rules. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Strictly. And so, what I'm 20 going to recommend is that the County Attorney and the 21 County Engineer get together and come back to us, report 22 back to us on a plan to fix this thing. And if it needs 23 to be prosecuted, prosecute it, and fine accordingly. 24 That's my motion. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: If that's a motion, 121 1 I'll second it. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 3 if favor raise your hand. Unanimous, four zero. 4 Moving on to Item 1.16 -- I'll tell you 5 what, let's take a five minute break. We've got a ways 6 to go. Five minute break. 7 (Break). 8 JUDGE KELLY: Court come back to order. All 9 right. Okay. We have some timed items at 11:30. We're 10 past that time so we're going to skip this part of the 11 agenda and go into Executive Session, which will require 12 everyone leaving the room except those that are 13 participating and we'll handle a couple executive 14 session matters, it won't take long, and come back and 15 finish the rest of these. 16 (Executive Session.) 17 JUDGE KELLY: It's 12:50 and we're going 18 back into regular session, open session. And I believe 19 we're back on Item 1.16 on the Agenda which is to 20 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to accept 21 and file the Adult Probation statement of financial 22 position for FY 2021. Ms. Shelton. 23 MS. SHELTON: Yes. The statement of 24 financial position for Adult Probation for -- or as of 25 August 31st, 2021, they have cash of approximately 122 1 $671,000, accounts payable of $158,000, leaving a fund 2 balance of about $513,000. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Looks pretty good to me. 4 MS. SHELTON: We just ask that you accept it 5 and file it. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move we accept the 7 audit statement. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Oh. Now we -- we've got to 10 get Jackie. 11 It is 12:52, the Court will come back to 12 order. It's 12:52 and we're coming out of Executive 13 Session and going back into open session. And Item 1.16 14 is consider, discuss and take appropriate action to 15 accept and file the Adult Probation statement of 16 financial position for FY 2021. And we've already 17 looked at this and we've got over a half million 18 dollars -- 19 MS. SHELTON: In the fund balance. 20 JUDGE KELLY: -- in the fund balance. We've 21 got a motion from Commissioner Letz and a second from 22 Commissioner Harris, to approve the financial statement 23 as presented. Is there any other discussion? Those in 24 favor raise your hand. Three, zero. 25 (Commissioner Belew absent.) 123 1 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.17 consider, discuss 2 and take appropriate action to accept the vest carrier 3 donation from Point Blank for Constable Precinct 3. 4 Ms. Shelton. 5 MS. SHELTON: Yes. Point Blank has donated 6 a vest carrier for Constable Precinct 3. We ask that 7 you accept the donation. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So move. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 10 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and second 11 from Commissioner Letz and Commissioner Harris to 12 approve the donation from Point Blank. Any other 13 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Three 14 zero. 15 (Commissioner Belew present.) 16 JUDGE KELLY: 1.18 consider, discuss and 17 take appropriate action to surplus items for Justice of 18 the Peace, Precinct 4. Ms. Shelton. 19 MS. SHELTON: Precinct 4 has eight chairs 20 and two monitors that is surplus property. And so we're 21 asking that you approve the items to be surplused. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 24 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 25 second from Commissioner Harris and Commissioner Belew 124 1 to surplus the items for J.P. 4. And I can attest to 2 the fact that those chairs are worn out. Any 3 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Four zero. 4 MS. SHELTON: Thank you. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.19 consider, discuss 6 and take appropriate action to approve the retirement 7 contribution rate for the plan year 2022 recommend by 8 TCDRS and budgeted for in FY22. Miss Doss. 9 MS. DOSS: Yes, sir. Good afternoon. The 10 TCDRS has recommended that we increase the total 11 contribution rate to 14.9 percent. That includes a 12 retirement plan rate of 14.72 percent and a group term 13 life of .18 percent. This -- basically they recommend 14 this due to the 2020 -- 2021-2022 increase includes 15 reduction to the investment return -- 16 COURT REPORTER: Excuse me, I can't hear. 17 MS. DOSS: The TCDRS says or they're 18 recommending these increases due to -- because this 19 includes a reduction to the investment return and 20 inflation assumptions and method adjustments designed to 21 mitigate the impact of the reductions. 22 Last year, the total contribution rate was 23 13.22 percent. And they would like -- they recommend us 24 increase that to 14.72. And this was budgeted for 25 during the FY 21-22 budget, but we just thought that it 125 1 would be good to have you approve the rate change. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What was it last year? 3 MS. DOSS: 13.22. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And then you went to 5 14.72? 6 MS. DOSS: Yes. With an additional 0.18 7 percent of group term life, for a total of 14.9 percent. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And this was included in 9 the current budget? 10 MS. DOSS: Yes. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll move for approval. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: I've got a motion and a second 14 to approve by Commissioner Letz and Commissioner Belew 15 as presented. Is there any other discussion? Those in 16 favor raise your hand. Unanimous, four zero. 17 Going to Item 1.20 consider, discuss and 18 take appropriate action to approve various revised job 19 descriptions. Jennifer Doss. 20 MRS. DOSS: Yes, sir. The IT positions -- 21 there are four. This is based on the salary study 22 recommendations. And the additional open position that 23 we have now. 24 So we -- there are title changes. I'll just 25 read them. There's IT Specialist I. Pay grade 18. And 126 1 then there's IT Specialist II. Grade 19. IT Support 2 Specialist III. That's a grade 20. And IT Systems 3 Administrator. That's a grade 25. 4 And some of the wording was just adjusted to 5 make -- make the changes so that the grades match what 6 they do. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So just to make sense 8 or explain it? 9 MS. DOSS: Yeah. And the fifth change is 10 for the Court Administrator, the Commissioners' Court, 11 with a grade change to pay grade 25. And added verbiage 12 for the supervisory of the grant administrator position. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And some other changes. 14 MS. DOSS: And some other changes. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The -- I -- I looked at 16 them -- over this and the job description -- well, the 17 essential job duties was a little bit lacking in my mind 18 to what this position actually was doing and I added 19 language to assist Commissioners and County Judge with 20 liaison positions and their record responsibilities; 21 assist and coordinate judicial responsibilities to 22 County Judge. 23 Interestingly, the County Judge wasn't even 24 mentioned in the previous job duties, which is a huge 25 part of what she does. And then coordinate 127 1 Commissioners' Court activities with various Kerr County 2 departments and elected officials. So I added those in 3 there which, to me, should have been added long ago. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. 5 JUDGE KELLY: This just gets us all caught 6 up on our job descriptions and everything, right? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's right. 8 MRS. DOSS: Well, there might be a few more 9 that trickle in. I'm trying to do them in groups so -- 10 but yes. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're trying. Anyway, I 12 move that we accept all the revised job descriptions as 13 presented. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 15 JUDGE KELLY: We have a motion from 16 Commissioner Letz and a second from Commissioner Harris 17 to approve the job descriptions as presented -- revised 18 job descriptions as presented. Any discussion? Those 19 in favor raise your hand. Four zero. 20 MS. DOSS: Thank you. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.21 consider, discuss 22 and take appropriate action to approve the contract with 23 Divide Volunteer Fire Department. And this is just 24 routine. It just came in. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Very much. I move for 128 1 approval. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 4 second from Commissioner Harris and Commissioner Belew 5 to approve the contract with the Divide Volunteer Fire 6 Department. Any discussion? Those in favor raise your 7 hand. Four zero. 8 1.22 consider, discuss and take appropriate 9 action to appoint Boards for Emergency Services District 10 No. 3 and 4. 11 And what this is, we put this on the agenda 12 to really focus on the ESD Districts and the Precinct 13 that they're in, which I think is basically four and 14 two. And we will need nominations for those boards so 15 that we can take them up and adopt them here as soon as 16 possible. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Next month. 18 JUDGE KELLY: So I'll get -- and I'll let 19 Commissioner Gipson know but get us some nominations so 20 we can fill those boards. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 23 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 24 second from Commissioner Harris and Commissioner Letz 25 for Commissioners for precincts with the new ESD's to 129 1 get nominations to the Court. Any discussion? Those in 2 favor raise your hand. Four zero. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And -- and is three 4 Center Point? Four is Center Point. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Three is Center Point. 6 JUDGE KELLY: You might ask people in three, 7 that, too. I don't know. Or -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. But I was 9 thinking -- well, because -- well, Jody, you can get 10 ahold of Beck, correct? Okay. So he can be working on 11 it. 12 MRS. STEBBINS: I think he is working on it. 13 He's asked me a few questions -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 15 MRS. STEBBINS: -- in the past few weeks. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: So that we're still 17 into what, Precinct 3? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: We -- Harley and I 20 have the same thing with ESD 1. A little bit goes into 21 his and basically nominates one of the five. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Well, on our redistricting I 23 know Elm Pass went to three. And that is going to be an 24 ESD 3. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And Wilson Creek there 130 1 will probably -- is maybe in the ESD also. I'm not sure 2 where they -- where Comfort and -- 3 JUDGE KELLY: Just -- just coordinate with 4 one another and -- 5 MR. REEVES: Lazy Valley. 6 JUDGE KELLY: -- bring us -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Lazy Valley, that area. 8 JUDGE KELLY: We voted on that one, didn't 9 we? 10 MRS. DOWDY: Yes. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Move on to Item 1.23 consider, 12 discuss and take appropriate action to hire the grant 13 administrator. 14 We've offered the position to Noel Putman 15 and she's accepted. Her background check has been 16 approved. We just now need to take action. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is she going to get 18 bonded also? 19 JUDGE KELLY: Jody, do you know if she will 20 get bonded? Probably. 21 MRS. GRINSTEAD: For the grant 22 administrator? 23 JUDGE KELLY: She has -- 24 MRS. GRINSTEAD: I don't think so. 25 JUDGE KELLY: She doesn't touch money. She 131 1 asks for it, but she doesn't touch it. 2 MRS. GRINSTEAD: We wondered with Rosa but 3 we didn't with Rosa but I thought that was based on -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's the salary? 5 MRS. DOSS: It's a grade 24, Step 1. And 6 that annually is $54,912 and no change. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I'll make a 8 motion we hire Noel Putman as our grant administrator at 9 a Step Grade 24-1. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 12 JUDGE KELLY: There's been a motion and a 13 second from Commissioner Letz and Commissioner Harris to 14 hire Noel Putman as grant administrator from a Grade 24, 15 Step 1. Any discussion? 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. 17 MRS. DOWDY: How do you spell Noel? Sorry. 18 JUDGE KELLY: N-O-E-L. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. There's some 20 misinformation out there that a lot of people think that 21 this is just for somebody to take care of ARPA funds and 22 that's not it at all. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Not at all. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: We've been looking 25 for -- at this position for a while. I view it as a 132 1 position that will more than pay for itself what they 2 can do for the County. 3 JUDGE KELLY: And I expect that she'll pay 4 for herself in the first six months. Anyway, those in 5 favor raise your hand. Four zero. 6 Item 1.24 has been passed. So we move on to 7 Item 1.25 consider, discuss and take appropriate action 8 to approve bond for Bob Reeves, Kerr County Tax 9 Assessor/Collector. 10 MR. REEVES: Yes, gentleman. Texas TAC, 11 Section 6.28(c) requires that I have a -- I actually 12 have to have two bonds. One is with the Comptroller's 13 Office, which was approved in January. 14 The second bond, if you'll recall I'm coming 15 up on my third anniversary and it's time for renewal. 16 This bond is payable to the Commissioners' Court in the 17 sum of $100,000.00. I respectfully request approval. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's the biggest bond 21 we have, isn't it? 22 MR. REEVES: I'm not sure, Commissioner. I 23 do know that I'm required a ten percent of what I 24 collect or $100,000.00, whichever. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we're glad we're paying 133 1 the max. So we've got a motion from Commissioner Letz 2 and Commissioner Belew to approve the bond as presented. 3 Any discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. 4 Unanimous, four zero. 5 MR. REEVES: Thank you. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Approval agenda. 2.1 budget 7 amendments. 8 MRS. SHELTON: Budget amendments, we have 9 four budget amendments today. The first one is just to 10 solidify the budget for the Environmental Health 11 position. Y'all approved this earlier this year so this 12 is just a follow-up budget. We need a little bit more 13 money in the courthouse vehicle and gas line, so we're 14 putting 5,000 in there. Should last us the rest of the 15 year. 16 The airport has some follow-up adjustments 17 for their project for the hangar doors. And so that's 18 bringing in two line items that where the money is 19 sitting at with the insurance proceeds and appropriated 20 fund balance to the storm damage repairs and the hangar 21 door repair. 22 And then the last one is the latest contract 23 that we signed with URGA, stating that they will pay us 24 up to $100 a month for the phone line that is necessary 25 for the camera. So it's part of the grant. 134 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 4 second to approve the budget amendments as presented. 5 Any discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Four 6 zero. 7 Pay bills. 8 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. Invoices for today's 9 consideration, $922,233.84. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Motion and second to approve 13 the bills as presented. Any discussion? Those in favor 14 raise your hand. Four zero. 15 Late bills. 16 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Auditor reports? 18 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any reports. 19 We will be bringing you the notes. The -- in an effort 20 to help the processes that we're having for payroll. 21 The Treasurer and the HR Department and my office met 22 last Friday, or Friday before last now, and so we'll be 23 bringing you the notes from those meetings -- that 24 meeting next time. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Well, I think that 135 1 concludes your part. We'll move on to monthly reports. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. October 2021 3 monthly reports. Constable Precinct 3, Paul Gonzales. 4 Fines, judgments and jury fees, J.P. 4, Bill Ragsdale. 5 Animal Control Services, Director Reagan Givens. 6 Payroll report, County Treasurer Tracy Soldan. 7 Treasurer's monthly report, County Treasurer Tracy 8 Soldan. I move for approval. 9 MRS. DOWDY: Commissioner Harris, we also 10 had an Auditor's report for October 2021. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Did I -- 12 MRS. DOWDY: I did not -- it was submitted 13 but I did not put it on there. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Here's the rest of them. 15 It goes underneath Tracy's. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. 17 JUDGE KELLY: It goes under Tracy's? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Those are all -- assume 19 it's clipped together. They got separated. We just 20 signed those two front ones. We just signed the two -- 21 that -- 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: All right. And in 23 addition, Auditor's monthly report, Auditor Tanya 24 Shelton. I move for approval. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 136 1 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 2 second to approve the monthly reports as presented. Any 3 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 4 four zero. 5 Information agenda. Status reports from any 6 department heads? None. 7 3.2 status reports from elected officials? 8 MRS. DOWDY: What about -- forgot court 9 orders. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Oh, I'm sorry. Court orders? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Court orders. We have 12 court orders 39048 through 39069 from Monday, 13 November 8th. And we've got court orders 39070 to 39073 14 from November 15th special meeting. They all look to be 15 in order. I'll move for approval. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Motion and second to approve 19 the court orders as presented. Any discussion? Those 20 in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, four zero. 21 Okay. 3.1 status reports from department 22 heads. None. 23 3.2 Status reports from elected officials. 24 None. 25 3.3 Status reports from liaison 137 1 commissioners. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Not at this time. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have one just brief 4 comment. When I stepped out at the end of one of our 5 breaks and visited with the rep from GrantWorks, I had a 6 question for him real quick and I think it was 7 interesting the answer. It was -- I said has the State 8 of Texas accepted any money? He said he believed so. 9 JUDGE KELLY: ARPA money. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: ARPA money, he believes 11 so. And so the public can be aware, if that is true and 12 they have, we're all subject to all those things 13 regardless of what we do in Kerr County. So Kerr 14 County's impact decision really has nothing to do with 15 any of the enforcement side of it. And we may choose to 16 not accept the money still, but we're likely going to 17 be -- if there is something to be subject to, we're 18 probably going to be subject to it regardless. 19 JUDGE KELLY: On the face of what the State 20 has accepted. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. And there's 22 money coming in through the AACOG. I mean there's -- 23 the monies coming from a lot of different areas. So 24 it's just something to remember. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: A lot of fingers. 138 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A lot of fingers. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Long day, folks. Anything 3 else? That being the case -- yes, ma'am? 4 UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: We sat upstairs because 5 there was no room down here and they did not get the 6 audio feed fixed in time for the Reagan Givens comments 7 on closure of the Kerr County animal shelter. We didn't 8 hear that. 9 JUDGE KELLY: He opened it back up. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's opened. 11 JUDGE KELLY: It's open now. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It was done as a 13 holdover of the spike in Covid and also from some health 14 concerns of the animals in the facility and recent 15 events. 16 But he thinks that -- or he said that it is 17 now going to be open unless there's something, an 18 exceptional reason from an operational standpoint he 19 needs to close it. 20 UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: Okay. We couldn't hear 21 him up there. We could see his mouth moving but we 22 couldn't hear him. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: We apologize. We 24 heard that there was a problem. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Anything else before the 139 1 Court? Then we are adjourned. 2 * * * * * * 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 140 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 7th day of December, A.D. 10 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