1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Special Session 5 Monday, August 15, 2022 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 T. BECK GIPSON, Commissioner Precinct 2 24 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Precinct 3 DON HARRIS, Commissioner Precinct 4 25 2 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.1 Consideration and approval of an order 3 calling a bond election to be held by Kerr 4 County, Texas. 5 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 29 action to modify court order #39461 to 6 reset the Public Hearing on proposed Kerr County budget for FY 2022-2023 to 7 9:00 a.m. on August 29, 2022 (previously set for August 22, 2022) and authorize 8 County Clerk to publish notice of Public Hearing. 9 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 29 10 action to modify court order #39451 regarding publication of the hearing for 11 "Proposed Salary Increases for Elected County and Precinct Officials for Kerr 12 County FY 2022-2023". Hearing to be set at a regular meeting of the Court during the 13 regular budget hearing and adoption proceedings, which will be held on September 14 12, 2022 at 9:45 a.m. (previously set for August 22, 2022), and authorize the County 15 Clerk to publish same. 16 1.4 Discussion and action as needed regarding 30 presentation of Above & Beyond Awards to 17 multiple County employees on 08-22-2022 for reaching over a 90 percent combined 18 completeness percentage in criminal disposition reporting to keep Kerr County 19 compliant so as to receive any Federal and State grant funds, by submitting error 20 resolution information to the Criminal Justice Information System. 21 *** Adjournment. 33 22 *** Reporter's Certificate. 34 23 * * * * * * 24 25 3 1 JUDGE KELLY: Court will come to order. It 2 is Monday morning, August the 15th, 2022. It's 9 3 o'clock in the morning, and the Kerr County 4 Commissioners' Court is in special session. And so we 5 don't have normal input or prayer and pledge, we go 6 straight to the consideration agenda. 7 The first item we have on the agenda today 8 is 1.1, which is consideration and approval of an order 9 calling a bond election to be held by Kerr County, 10 Texas. 11 This is something that we've been working on 12 for three years. We have our Capital Improvement 13 Planning Committee here. I think this weekend we were 14 kind of adding it up, and I think we had what, at least 15 somewhere between 75 and a hundred meetings over the 16 last three years. Met with Commissioners' Court 17 probably at least -- what do you think, half a dozen 18 times? 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: At least. 21 JUDGE KELLY: And we have cussed and 22 discussed this, and we have kind of got it down to the 23 bare minimum that we think we need to do. 24 And we brought our lawyers from San Antonio 25 to kind of walk us through this procedure. We have to 4 1 call the election. And when we call the election those 2 of us that are elected officials or even employees of 3 Kerr County, we have to change our hats a little bit. 4 So this is a tutorial on what we have to do and what 5 we're looking at. 6 This election that we're trying the call 7 would be held at the general election, November the 8th. 8 And we're expecting a large turnout for this. And with 9 that, I'm going to go ahead and open it up to the floor. 10 Fred, did you want to -- you've gotta -- do 11 you want to kind of kick us off. 12 MR. HENNEKE: I can do that, or I can follow 13 up. It's at your discretion. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Well, the proposition that 15 we're proposing A, B and C. A has to do with the 16 courthouse facility. Both the main courthouse as well 17 as the remote annexes that we have. Proposition B has 18 to do with the indoor arena over at the Hill Country 19 Youth Event Center. I said it right, Pete. And 20 proposition C has to do with Animal Services shelter. 21 So to kind of briefly summarize, it's a 27 22 and a half million dollars bond issue that we're asking 23 for. And maybe oughta read some of the numbers. For 24 the courthouse square, the Courthouse ground floor, the 25 Earl Garrett campus, the West Kerr County Annex, the 5 1 Kerr County storage -- I forget, it's what, 12 million 2 what? 3 MR. JUAREZ: We have 13,685,000. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Say it again. 5 MR. JUAREZ: $13,685,000.00. 6 JUDGE KELLY: 13 six? 7 MR. JUAREZ: Yes. 8 MR. SPURGEON: Yes. These will all be on 9 the proposition. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Now for those of you who heard 11 that voice, normally when you speak here, we'll put you 12 up to the podium because we are on YouTube. And that 13 was Jay Juarez who is our legal council from San Antonio 14 with McCall, Parkhurst. And Tom Spurgeon will be with 15 him, so when you see these new faces and voices you'll 16 know who they are. 17 And then I'll ask Jay what do we have down 18 for the indoor arena? 19 MR. JUAREZ: I'll step up at this time. Jay 20 Juarez for the record. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Back there so they can see 22 you. 23 MR. JUAREZ: Oh, okay, right here. Alright, 24 great. 25 For the record, Jay Juarez with McCall, 6 1 Parkhurst & Horton, bond attorneys for Kerr County. For 2 Proposition B, the indoor arena proposition, that 3 amounted is $8,065,000.00. 4 I'll just go ahead and touch on Proposition 5 C as well, the animal facility, that amount is 6 $5,750,000.00. 7 JUDGE KELLY: For a total of 27,500,000. 8 MR. JUAREZ: Yes, Sir. Okay. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. So that's a very 10 short summary for a very long period of three years 11 trying to put this together. This all started, by the 12 way, with a typical legislative unfunded mandate, and 13 you know how we love those. And I am being sarcastic 14 about that. 15 But back in 2018, and early '19, we 16 remodeled our County Court at Law for the first time in 17 history. And it's state of the art now. And within six 18 months the Texas legislature was in session, and they 19 passed a law requiring that County Court at Law now have 20 six -- twelve-person juries instead of six-person 21 juries. And the jury room that we have was for six, 22 plus two alternates. So if you get eight people in 23 there, maybe, shoulder to shoulder. And that's how we 24 were operating. 25 And with the new mandate, we have to have a 7 1 14-person room. And the only place that you can expand 2 for this County Court at Law is into the tax office. 3 And because of that, putting -- taking that space out of 4 the tax office we have to relocate them. And the 5 decision was that we wanted to relocate the tax office 6 off-site to a different location. 7 And we shopped around. And I found the old 8 church building down here on Earl Garrett and found that 9 we could move the tax office within one block of the 10 courthouse. And so that's kind of what started it. And 11 then from there we started looking at the need. And we 12 formed the CIP. I think we first met in October of 13 2019. And we had the misfortune of trying to do our job 14 during COVID, which was very difficult for us to do. 15 I think at that time that -- and I'll give 16 Chris Hughes the credit, he's the one that asked, he 17 says I want to make sure I understand how this bond 18 issue works. You decide what you need, you then go out 19 and figure out what it's going to cost and put that 20 number together and put it on a ballot and take it to 21 the people, and then the people that you're trying to 22 buy the land from, the people that you're trying to 23 negotiate with to do it, know exactly what you have in 24 your budget. Kind of backwards, isn't it? 25 So what we did during COVID, is we learned 8 1 lessons from the great recession back in the 80's. We 2 went out because of property values were very low, 3 interest rates were very low. We borrowed two and a 4 half million dollars on what was called a TAN, a tax 5 anticipation note. And we started buying property. 6 And we bought 16 acres over off Spur 100 7 inside the City limit that's right behind the Road & 8 Bridge yard. Over by the National Cemetery. And we got 9 that 16 acres between Spur 100 and the VA. And on that 10 property is where we plan to put the Animal Services 11 facility. Put the storage that we need to build, and 12 have it available for -- to expand the Road & Bridge 13 yard, and still have probably 12 or so acres left for 14 future growth. And we bought that 16 acres for 15 $350,000.00. 16 And we then wanted to -- we looked at West 17 Kerr County with regard to the annex, and the building 18 that we're renting is grossly inadequate. It's not ADA 19 compliant. It's kind of embarrassing quite frankly. 20 And we would like for the County to own the facility in 21 West Kerr County. So we shopped and bought an acre and 22 a half immediately adjacent to Ingram Tom Moore High 23 School. And we got that for $300,000.00. 24 We then had the gratuitous opportunity to 25 purchase the old Sunday school building and the chapel 9 1 building, and the lot next door, and the lot across the 2 street at 550 Earl Garrett just down the street, one 3 block passed here. And we got a ten thousand square 4 foot building. We got a 37-38 hundred square foot 5 chapel that's going to be the tax office with a 6 drive-thru kiosk, and about a hundred and 30 parking 7 places. One block from courthouse. 8 And by the time we finished putting in the 9 elevator, converting the bathrooms, making everything 10 ADA compliant and a new roof on the building, we spent 11 about a million seven on that. So for two and a half 12 million dollars we got 19 and a half acres, ten thousand 13 square feet of office space, 3800 square feet to put the 14 tax office in, 130 parking places within the block of 15 the courthouse, and a new facility in Ingram, and a new 16 facility out at the what we call the Spur 100 Campus. 17 And that's what we bring to the people. 18 We've worked hard. We think we made some 19 very wise purchases. We know where we're going to go. 20 We know what we've got to do. 21 And so with that, I'm asking -- in fact I'll 22 go ahead and make a motion so we're legally in play 23 here. Make a motion that we go ahead and set this 24 matter, this bond issue you for a vote on November the 25 8th. 10 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Tom Spurgeon, is that a 2 sufficient motion, or do we need to be more detailed in 3 the actual motion? 4 MR. SPURGEON: I think that with the intent 5 being that what the Judge is calling for is approval of 6 the election order. That is -- 7 (Phone ringing.) 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So the motion includes 9 approval of the election order on the agenda? 10 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 12 MR. SPURGEON: Yes. 13 JUDGE KELLY: We got a motion and second to 14 approve the election orders that are in the agenda, that 15 we posted on the website, to conduct the election. The 16 floor's open for discussion. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One thing we didn't 18 mention is the Hill Country Youth Event Center. That's 19 one. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. Yes. Didn't talk much 21 about the animal control facility either. But the Hill 22 Country Youth Event Center indoor arena has a dirt 23 floor, for those you have that haven't been out there 24 and that is the original dirt floor from when they built 25 it 40 some odd years ago. And it was built by 11 1 volunteers, by the way. I know there's a lot of 2 complaints about the maintenance out there. That was 3 really a gift from the public for us. 4 But that dirt is contaminated, and we 5 have -- we had Joe Triola take a look at it. We don't 6 comply with the electrical requirements. We don't 7 comply with the plumbing requirements. We don't comply 8 with anything out there. 9 And it's become the epicenter of -- the Hill 10 Country Youth Event Center is the epicenter of all 11 Emergency Management in Kerr County. The County, the 12 City, the school districts, everybody, headquarters out 13 of that facility. And it is time for us to go ahead and 14 concrete that floor, and make the necessary improvements 15 to -- just like it is over there at the show barn. 16 Which is what we're trying to do just replicate the show 17 barn. 18 And then for the Animal Control, for those 19 of you that haven't been out there, I highly recommend 20 that you go, because it is wholly and completely 21 entirely inadequate. And I have to confess that when I 22 first took office, I had never been to the Animal 23 Control facility. And when I went out there for the 24 first time, I was embarrassed, and shocked that we would 25 call that our Animal Control facility. A little house 12 1 that we've converted it into an animal control facility. 2 And it's time that we have a 21st century 3 animal control facility. And we've been working very 4 closely with Kerrville Pets Alive, and they have helped 5 us do this. And so, that's what we're doing with regard 6 to the new Animal Control facility. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: That's a piece 8 property out on the loop that we can sell in the future. 9 JUDGE KELLY: And that's part of the plan is 10 to be able to sell that when we move it. And if we have 11 to expand and move our maintenance department we've got 12 plenty of room out there on the 16 acres if we move the 13 maintenance department, if that's the case. The 14 property where the maintenance building is now, that 15 whole half block is very valuable. It's something that 16 we could also sell to offset these costs. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Whittle it down. 18 Right. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Rich, you want to talk? 20 MR. PACES: My name is Rich Paces, I live in 21 Center Point, and I am your Precinct 2 County 22 Commissioner-Elect. So look, last Thursday I spent five 23 hours touring around all the County facilities with some 24 of the capital improvements planning committee 25 personnel. And I will say first and foremost that 13 1 they've done a great job of identifying needs and coming 2 up for potential solutions for those needs. And I do 3 support some of them. 4 And I'm going to state right up front though 5 that it's very disappointing that the County has not 6 done a better job of maintaining its assets. Via 7 routine or even non-routine maintenance in the annual 8 budget, and I'm referring specifically to the AG barn 9 and the roof and the electrical hazards. 10 So -- but the real issue is you're asking 11 for 27.5 million dollars with zero confidence that you 12 can achieve these projects within 27.5 million dollars. 13 And the timing couldn't be worse. We're in the middle 14 of a recession. We have inflation at a 40 year high. 15 Food and energy prices have seen some of the biggest 16 inflationary increases. 17 And look at inflation is effectively a tax 18 increase on those who can least afford it. We have 19 people in this County who are struggling to get by. And 20 then on top of it, for people who live in Kerrville 21 while the City just effectively -- no. They 22 substantially increased its tax rate, 12.9 percent on 23 the tax rate according to the Kerrville Daily Times. If 24 you look at construction material costs, they've 25 increased at least 25 percent over the last one year. 14 1 The supply chain's a mess, which will lead to delays in 2 delivery of critical path materials. There's a shortage 3 of skilled workers. And of course, many of those are 4 necessary for all of these projects. 5 So effectively we're looking at likely 6 project delays, which would add substantially to the 7 final project costs. And then I'll just highlight that 8 the County doesn't have a great track record of 9 delivering projects, capital projects, on time and 10 within budget. Fine example, the EDAP project, East 11 Kerr Sewer System, was that originally 20 million, now 12 it's 60 some million. 13 So any cost overruns that are incurred on 14 these projects, we're going to have to raise taxes again 15 to fund those. You can't stop a project that's 70 16 percent complete and not finish it. So that further 17 burdens our already stretched taxpayers. And I'm told 18 the bond will increase taxes by $103.00 per year for the 19 average home owner. Fair enough. 20 But let me remind you that even Barack 21 Obama, one of our worst Presidents ever. Even Barack 22 Obama said you don't raise taxes in the middle of a 23 recession. So what's plan B if these bonds don't pass? 24 And guarantee you're going to see some resistance. I 25 don't think there is Plan B. Nothing was in the 15 1 proposed County budget. 2 So I urge the capital improvement planning 3 committee to look at the details of the projects they're 4 proposing. Prioritize all line items associated with 5 the bond, and reduce the ask by at least 50 percent. We 6 have to focus on critical need expenditures only. 7 Particularly at this time. And you'll have a much 8 better chance at getting the bond approved. 9 Look, we don't need a new six million 10 dollars Animal Control facility. I've proposed a number 11 of changes that would solve the 80 percent solution. 12 And I'm happy to go through those later in detail. And 13 we can probably do it all for under a million. Save the 14 County five million dollars. 15 We don't need a new four million dollar 16 off-site storage building, not now. We do need a lot of 17 work on organizing what's being stored. We can defer 18 the West Kerr Annex and save four million dollars for 19 now. 20 In terms of the AG barn, yeah, let's repair 21 the roof, fix the electrical problems and anything else 22 that is urgent. But defer the concrete floor and the 23 storage room, and the toilets. And I'm sure we can save 24 at least half of that 8 million dollars. We don't need 25 to spend anything on the courthouse grounds. I'm sorry, 16 1 not at this time. 2 So look, my message, find a way. Either 3 think about defer, or find alternative funding for those 4 remaining items. But I urge you Commissioners and the 5 Court not to approve the bond propositions as currently 6 proposed. The timing is terrible. This ask is too 7 much, and our citizens can't afford them now. 8 I'm happy to sit with you or the capital 9 improvement planning committee to go through the 10 detailed line items and look at how we achieve this. 11 Thank you. 12 JUDGE KELLY: So the public knows, we've 13 been trying to do this bond issue last November. The 14 COVID slowed us down and we weren't able to do it. 15 We've got three years worth of planning into what we 16 consider to be focused responsible solutions. And we -- 17 we respect your disagreement. But we're still going 18 forward. 19 These needs are not going away. These are 20 needs; these are not wants. These are not options. 21 We're not even in compliance with State Law, we're not 22 in compliance with Federal law. It's shameful. So, and 23 I say that just in response that this -- the irony here 24 is that if you vote down this bond issue it's going to 25 cost the taxpayers more next year, or the year after 17 1 that, or the year after that because they're not going 2 away. The needs are not going away. So this is not 3 a -- so we're doing something brand new. This is 4 something that we have to have, so -- be that as it may. 5 Fred, did you want to say something? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just let me make a 7 comment. Especially the comment about that we haven't 8 done a good job on the capital improvement projects. 9 First of all, on the Center Point project. The project 10 was expanded at the request of the Water Development 11 Board. 12 So you know, it's gone -- this current phase 13 is behind schedule, but the cost is not. The cost is 14 exactly what it was when we, you know, estimated at the 15 final when we bid the final project. There's not been 16 any increase in that. 17 The recent jail that we built came in under 18 budget, substantially under budget. The Hill Country 19 Youth Event Center, changes was made two different 20 times, came in within budget on time. 21 The previous original jail and the 22 courthouse renovation here came in on budget and 23 basically on time. The jail, that jail as I recall was 24 slightly behind schedule. 25 So it is inaccurate to say that we have not 18 1 managed properly capital improvement projects. We've 2 done a pretty good job, I would say. That's the only 3 comment. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Fred. This is Fred Henneke, a 5 former County Judge, who is a member of the capital 6 improvement planning committee. 7 MR. HENNEKE: Thank you, Judge. Fred 8 Henneke, 2595 Bandera Highway in Kerrville, in the 9 County, out of the City limits, and I am a member of the 10 Kerr County Capital Improvement Planning Commission. We 11 decided we were planning; not wish Commission. It was 12 funneled by Commissioner Moser when he was still 13 Commissioner for Precinct 2, and I have served since, as 14 the Judge pointed out, October of 2019. 15 When we first congregated, the five of us, 16 the first thing we did was we visited all of the County 17 facilities. We drug ourselves to every possible County 18 facility, we looked at them, kicked them, touched them. 19 We listened to the people who work there. 20 And unanimously we were appalled by the 21 state of the facilities. And we applauded and we 22 sincerely appreciated the employees who work in those 23 conditions. We have an amazing dedicated category of 24 professional employees working for our benefit. 25 And the problem is, in certain areas like 19 1 Animal Control are, or West Kerr County, and here at the 2 courthouse, they operate under less than optimal 3 conditions. As a matter of fact they work under 4 conditions that I don't see how they manage to succeed. 5 We looked at a storage room in the first 6 floor of the lower floor of this facility for the tax 7 office. And I don't know, and I don't know how they 8 find anything in there. They do the best they can. 9 They don't have the time or the resources to do anything 10 other than put things where they have -- where they're 11 safe and then go try to find what they need. 12 Storage sounds like it's something that we 13 don't really need storage. Yes, you do. Because under 14 State Law most of the -- most of the material, most of 15 the records of the County departments must be kept 16 manually indefinitely. So where you going to put them? 17 JUDGE KELLY: And much of them in climate 18 control conditions. 19 MR. HENNEKE: Yeah. Are you going to stack 20 them under your desk? Where you going to put them to 21 preserve according to the law? So let's remember that. 22 After we toured the facilities and spoke 23 with all the County employees that were working at those 24 facilities, we sat down and we came up with -- thanks to 25 Pete, the goal of devising focused responsible solutions 20 1 that would serve the citizens of Kerr County and the 2 employees for up to 30 years. We did not set out to 3 band-aid it. We did not set out to patch things. 4 Recently sat here, not two minutes ago, that 5 the County should be faulty for not maintaining things 6 properly over the years. We don't want to defer that 7 anymore. If we don't do it now, when will we do it. 8 These are needs; not wants. And if we don't do them 9 now, we're going to have to do them in the future, and I 10 guarantee you it will be more expensive. 11 A bond issue is like a mortgage. You pay 12 for what you need over time. If you don't have a bond 13 issue what you end up with is paying for your needs out 14 of cash revenue, which is immediate and which is a much 15 higher burden on the taxpayer, approximately 8.62 cents 16 a month that this 27.5 million dollar bond issue would 17 require. 18 We, the Capital Improvement Planning 19 Commission have worked diligently. We've worked with 20 professionals. The numbers that we've presented for the 21 various projects are not this pie in the sky, well how 22 about this, maybe this. They're all based on estimates 23 by professionals in the field that they're working with 24 us on. Construction manager. People who estimate 25 construction projects, expenses, for their livelihood 21 1 provide us with numbers. And Animal Control people 2 professionals provide us with numbers. 3 People with security provide us with 4 numbers. These are not pie in the sky numbers. These 5 are not puff numbers. These are real numbers. Did the 6 cost go up? Most likely. But what will the County do 7 if the costs go up, they will do the most they can do 8 for the project that the funds that we provide for them. 9 But the funds that we, the citizens provide 10 for this. A decision was made early on not to do this 11 through tax anticipation notes, other than the real 12 estate purchase, which was such a gift. I think the 13 Judge didn't mention that interest rate on the seven 14 year tax anticipation notes is point 75 percent, less 15 than one percent. Okay. Sign me up for some of that 16 money. 17 So we have done the best we can. We have 18 come up with focused responsible solutions for the 19 crying needs of the County, the citizens of this County, 20 and the employees of this County. We can do no less 21 than what we are setting out to do in order to solve the 22 needs. These are not wants; these are needs. 23 You can't have a West Kerr County Annex 24 that's not ADA compliant. Period. The end of the 25 statement. You're going to get shut down, you're going 22 1 to get sued and it's going to cost a whole lot more 2 money. 3 Same thing with the Animal Control shelter. 4 Same thing with the indoor arena. These are needs. 5 We've worked hard. We've worked for three years meeting 6 regularly. Every two weeks at least for three years. 7 And this is what we think as citizens of this County, 8 taxpayers of this County, assisted by licensed 9 professionals in the areas where we need help. 10 Electricians, construction, plumbing, security. You 11 name it, we worked with professionals. We haven't made 12 up numbers -- 13 JUDGE KELLY: They're here. 14 MR. HENNEKE: So we worked on your behalf. 15 The Court set us up. We've worked on behalf of the 16 Court and citizens of Kerr County through the Court. 17 The decision was made to let the voters decide whether 18 or not these projects need to be addressed now, as 19 opposed to a year from now, as opposed to two years from 20 now, where it would be incrementally more expensive. 21 So on behalf of the committee, we urge the 22 Commissioners' Court to approve the election of the 27.5 23 million dollar bond issue spread over the three 24 propositions that have been described to the Court. 25 Thanks on behalf of the Capital Improvement 23 1 Planning Commission. Thank you. 2 JUDGE KELLY: And for the record, we have 3 many of them here. I'd like to identify them. Fred has 4 already spoken. We have Brenda Hughes. We have Pete 5 Calderon. Unable to be here today is Bobby Templeton. 6 His first day of school in Ingram, so he's there. And 7 Chris Hughes had something come up that he couldn't make 8 it this morning. And we also have Peter Lewis who's our 9 architect with us. And Todd Bock(phonetic), who is new 10 to the team. Any other discussion? 11 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I would add that we've 12 experienced abnormally low interest rates for the 13 longest period of time, and that's about to reverse. 14 And it won't get cheaper. I'm talking about the 15 interest rates. 16 JUDGE KELLY: What kind of rates are we 17 looking at, Tom? Four percent? 18 MR. SPURGEON: Yeah. It's probably going to 19 be between three and a half and four percent by the time 20 you finish your bond. You won't be able to issue bonds 21 until probably January. If assuming the election 22 passes, and 30 day contest period. I think Dusty would 23 tell you it'd probably sell in January. 24 JUDGE KELLY: That's what he's told us. I 25 talked to him. So the public knows, what we're looking 24 1 at right now is probably the interest rates at probably 2 between three and a half and four percent, listening to 3 Tom Spurgeon, our counsel. And we've got the two and a 4 half million that we've already borrowed that we're 5 paying back would be paid off -- we're in our second -- 6 I think our second payment comes up. So we're almost 7 two years into the seven at point 75 percent. 8 And so let me tell you that it's going to 9 cost more. We all know it's going to cost more. We 10 know because of the interest rates. We know it because 11 of inflation. We know it because of all the supply 12 problems that we're having. We know it's going to 13 happen. 14 We couldn't do it last year because we were 15 trying to recover from COVID to finish our planning. 16 We've gotta get it done now. If we don't do it now, 17 it's going to be that much more. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a comment. I just 19 want to thank the CIP committee. They have really -- I 20 mean, I think they originally thought that it would be 21 about a six month duration. It turned out to be a 22 little bit over two years. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I told Bobby it would 24 be at least three or four meetings. 25 (Laughter.) 25 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And so they have -- you 2 know, I've never seen a group of volunteers basically 3 put in as much time. I visited with the committee, 4 meeting after meeting, going through it, the details. 5 They really did an outstanding job. Far better than I 6 ever would anticipated. 7 And the other key part of it was this bond 8 was driven by them and what they found; not by this 9 Court. We certainly were aware what they were doing, 10 and they made regular reports to the Court. But they 11 were the ones really doing the work and they really need 12 to be recognized for that. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I want to echo that. 14 They really did a heck of a job. And I like to say I 15 doubt that all of them would have anticipated the need 16 without looking behind the curtains. And thank heavens 17 we didn't have to buy film or pay for developing film. 18 All the pictures that Brenda took, good grief. She has 19 a picture of everything, it's awesome. And documented 20 everything in Kerr County. 21 But I appreciate y'all. You did a heck of a 22 job. 23 MRS. HUGHES: Thank you. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 25 Any other input? Then those in favor of the bond 26 1 election in November of this year as presented today 2 here, raise your hand. Unanimous. Four zero. 3 Okay. I have a personal matter, I'm going 4 to have to step out. Oh, we need to get the attorneys 5 to talk to us before I go. Is that something we're 6 going to do in Executive Session, or do it in open 7 session? 8 MR. SPURGEON: If you were -- I think this 9 will be in open session. I think what you're concerned 10 about, Judge, is what you can say and -- 11 JUDGE KELLY: Right. Because as of now 12 we've called the election. 13 MR. SPURGEON: Correct. 14 JUDGE KELLY: And I'm just briefly 15 summarizing. I want you to explain it to us, because 16 you explained it to me in the beginning. But we have to 17 take our advocate's hat off as elected officials and 18 just been informative with the information we provide. 19 We can talk about the needs. We can talk about the 20 solutions. 21 But in terms of, you know, shaking 22 somebody's hand and asking them to vote for it, we have 23 to leave it up to you, the people, to vote. 24 MR. SPURGEON: Yes, Sir. You want to 25 explain. 27 1 MR. JUAREZ: Actually I have to leave here 2 pretty quick. I'm trying to make it to another meeting 3 that I have right now at 11 o'clock in San Antonio. 4 Jay Juarez for the record with McCall, 5 Parkhurst & Horton. I work with Tom Spurgeon, he is my 6 mentor. And so very briefly summarize what you can and 7 cannot do, is you cannot use County resources to 8 advocate for a measure. 9 So Tom and I have talked about this, and we 10 think that, you know, if a Commissioner sees somebody at 11 HEB, and they want to say, yeah, we need to support this 12 proposition, you can do that. Now, in your regularly 13 scheduled Commissioners' Court meeting where, you know, 14 County resources are being used, then that's a different 15 story. You cannot in this environment speak on behalf 16 of a measure. Same with County e-mail addresses. 17 The key of -- the determining factor here is 18 County resources. If in anyway County resources are 19 affiliated with the message that you're bringing across. 20 Even if it's electricity. Especially employee time. 21 You don't want employees going out there while they're 22 on the clock advocating for something. Essentially you 23 can't do that. 24 But on your own personal time, you can put 25 yard signs up if you'd like to, and you can advocate for 28 1 the measure. 2 JUDGE KELLY: And one of the things that we 3 didn't discuss earlier that we are forming a special 4 purpose action committee for the purpose of getting the 5 bond election passed. And that is what Todd 6 Bock(phonetic) is going to head up, as the chair of the 7 special purpose action committee. 8 MR. SPURGEON: And any funds from that 9 committee would be coming from the public. No County 10 funds, etc. I mean -- 11 JUDGE KELLY: We're drawing -- we're 12 completing separating the campaign from the County. 13 MR. SPURGEON: Correct. Yes, Sir. 14 JUDGE KELLY: And the name of that is the 15 Community Support in Kerr County. That's the name of 16 the special purpose action committee. 17 MRS. HUGHES: I have a question. As a 18 committee member, can I support the pack financially 19 with donations? 20 MR. SPURGEON: Yes. Absolutely. 21 JUDGE KELLY: You're a citizen, you get to 22 do -- you have all your rights. 23 Thanks Jay. Anything else? 24 MR. SPURGEON: No, Sir. 25 JUDGE KELLY: And I'm going to get Tom and 29 1 take you over to my office. I've gotta be somewhere. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can we take a five 3 minute break, Judge? 4 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. Five-minute break. 5 (Recess.) 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. Call item 7 1.2 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to 8 modify court order 39461 to reset the Public Hearing on 9 proposed Kerr County budget for FY 2022-2023 to 9:00 10 a.m. on August 29th, 2022 that was previously set for 11 August 22nd, 2022, and authorize the County Clerk to 12 publish notice of Public Hearing. 13 Due to the failure of the item to be posted 14 in the newspaper, it was sent to them, but they for some 15 reason didn't get it posted on time, we have to reset 16 that public hearing. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 18 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A motion and second to 20 approve the agenda item. Any further discussion? All 21 in favor raise your right hand or say aye. Unanimous. 22 1.3 consider, discuss and take appropriate 23 action to modify court order 39451 regarding publication 24 of the hearing for "Proposed Salary Increases for 25 Elected County and Precinct Officials for Kerr County 30 1 FY 2022-2023". Hearing to be set at a regular meeting 2 of this Court, or in the regular budget hearing and 3 adoption proceedings, which will be held on September 4 12th, 2022 at 9:45 a.m., previously set for August 22nd, 5 2022, and authorize the County Clerk to publish same. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And this was the same 7 as the last agenda item, so I move for approval. 8 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Got a motion and second 10 to approve item 1.3. Any further discussion? All in 11 favor say aye. It's unanimous. 12 Item 1.4 discussion and action as needed 13 regarding presentation of Above & Beyond Awards to 14 multiple County employees on August the 22nd, 2022 for 15 reaching over a 90 percent combined completeness 16 percentage in criminal disposition reporting to keep 17 Kerr County compliant so as to receive any Federal and 18 State grant funds, by submitting error resolution 19 information to the Criminal Justice Information System. 20 And where did Miss Dowdy go? Oh, she's up 21 there. 22 MRS. DOWDY: Yes. So this is just a 23 discussion for the Court to know that the HR Department 24 has prepared certificates to present on August 22nd to 25 the County employees. There is a blank for the County 31 1 Judge to sign as well next to the Department Head. And 2 so I think I'm just seeking the approval of the Court to 3 authorize him, or to get your input. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. I think we can 5 just do that, the Court can, and just authorize the 6 County Judge to sign the certificates per the agenda 7 item. 8 MRS. DOWDY: And did y'all want to know more 9 about the award? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes: 11 MRS. DOWDY: Okay. So there are multiple 12 grants that the County received. And in 2012, I guess 13 there was legislative action, I believe on the state 14 level. And I'd like to point out that Noel Putnam, our 15 Grant Administrator helped me find this information. So 16 kudos to her. 17 But in order to receive any Federal or State 18 grant. In 2012 it was enacted that the County, each 19 County had to reach a 90 percent completeness percentage 20 reporting on criminal dispositions in order to -- 21 within the past five years, in order to receive any 22 Federal or State grants. 23 And so as far as my office is concerned, my 24 clerks are already required to report disposition, but 25 this is about the cleanup afterwards. If there is any 32 1 errors that are unbeknownst to the clerk, or the 2 arresting agency, or the prosecutors office as far as 3 with the steps in the case from the arrest and 4 disposition. That is not in our job description so 5 that's why I wanted to make sure that we present these 6 employees with these above and beyond awards to commend 7 them for their, you know, duties that are not 8 necessarily listed in their job description. And a 9 combined effort. And so that's what this is about. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. Thanks to 11 your employees for doing it. Do we need to make a call, 12 you mentioned? 13 MRS. DOWDY: If y'all needed to hear more 14 about it, I was going to make phone call. I just have 15 him on standby. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that's 17 sufficient. I'll make a motion that we authorize the 18 County Judge to the sign the above and beyond awards to 19 County employees. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A motion and second. 22 Any further discussion? All in favor say aye. 23 MRS. DOWDY: Thank y'all so much. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Unanimous. And so with 25 that, we're done for the day. Thank you. We're 33 1 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 34 1 STATE OF TEXAS * 2 COUNTY OF KERR * 3 I, DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD, Certified Shorthand 4 Reporter in and for the State of Texas, and Official 5 Court Reporter in and for Kerr County, do hereby certify 6 that the above and foregoing pages contain and comprise 7 a true and correct transcription of the proceedings had 8 in the above-entitled Special Commissioners' Court. 9 Dated this the 14th day of September, A.D. 10 2022. 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