1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Regular Session 5 Monday, August 22, 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 HARLEY BELEW, Commissioner Precinct 1 24 T. BECK GIPSON, Commissioner Precinct 2 DON HARRIS, Commissioner Precinct 4 25 2 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 *** Visitor's Input. 6 4 *** Commissioner's Comments. 29 5 1.1 Presentation of the 2021 Distinguished 31 Service Award to the Kerr County Historical 6 Commission. 7 1.2 Presentation of Above and Beyond Awards to 37 multiple County employees for reaching over 8 a 90% Combined Completeness Percentage in Criminal Disposition Reporting to keep Kerr 9 County compliant so as to receive Federal and State grant funds. 10 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 42 11 action regarding donation of a woods lamp (to detect ringworm) to the Kerr County 12 Animal Services Department from Kerrville Pets Alive. 13 1.15 Update regarding Ingram Police Department. 45 14 1.16 Recognition of Omar Ortiz, part-time 51 15 Temporary Engineering Technician, for outstanding work in the Engineering, and 16 Road & Bridge Departments. 17 1.17 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 53 action on a request to abandon, vacate, 18 and discontinue an approximately 900-foot portion of Stewart Junkin Road. Said road 19 to be replaced with a different alignment approximately 150 feet east of its current 20 intersection with River Road. 21 1.18 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 64 action to set a public hearing for September 22 26, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. to name a 0.6 mile private access easement road off of 277 23 Hasenwinkle Road, as it serves as the only access to Hasenwinkle Road for all three 24 lots of the 800-acre proposed Hall Ranch Subdivision, in the interest of public health, 25 safety, and welfare as recommended by Kerr 911. 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.19 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 66 action for the Court to approve a final 4 plat for Creekside at Camp Verde-Phase 2 and accept Bond No. 0814615 in the amount 5 of $1,271,784.00 for associated construction improvements. 6 1.20 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 74 7 action for the Court to approve a revision of plat for The Reserve at Falling Water 8 Lots 31R1 and 31R2. 9 1.21 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 75 action for the Court to approve a revision 10 of plat for R.H. Ranch Lot 9. 11 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 76 action to rescind Court Order #39098 12 approving lease agreement for a vehicle for Constable Precinct 4. Purchase was 13 cancelled by manufacturer. 14 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 77 action on request to purchase a new vehicle 15 camera system, to come out of the Capital Outlay fund allocated in current budget for 16 new vehicle camera system at $5,400, installation at $500. 17 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 79 18 action on ordering the General Election for November 8, 2022. 19 1.7 Consider, discuss and approve the 80 20 appointment of Election Judges and Alternates for the term of one (1) year 21 in accordance with the Texas Election Code Section 32. 22 1.8 Consider, discuss and approve the polling 81 23 locations in accordance with Chapter 43 of the Texas Election Code for the November 24 2022 election. 25 4 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.9 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 82 action to approve the Central Counting 4 Station Personnel pursuant to Chapter 127.005 TEC. 5 1.10 Consider, discuss and take action to 84 6 approve revised payroll schedule for FY 2022-2023. 7 1.11 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 85 8 action to approve Kerr County Investment Policy, Texas Government Code 2256.005(e) 9 and the Broker/Dealer List for Kerr County's Investment Policy in accordance 10 with the Public Funds Investment Act, Texas Government Code 2256.005(k). 11 1.12 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 87 12 action to approve the Interlocal Agreement between Kerr County and Kinney County for 13 jail services, and allow the County Judge to sign same. 14 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 88 15 action to approve the Interlocal Agreement between Kerr County and Blanco County for 16 jail services, and allow the County Judge to sign same. 17 1.14 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 88 18 action to approve the Proposal to the Agreement for Inmate Healthcare Services 19 between Kerr County and Wellpath, LLC, and allow the County Judge to sign same. 20 1.22 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 89 21 action regarding any changes to the proposed Kerr County Budget for FY 2022-2023. 22 1.23 Consider, discuss and take action to accept 91 23 the Order Setting the Salaries for the County Auditor and Assistant County Auditors pursuant 24 to Texas Local Government Code Section 152.031, and that the effective date be October 1, 2022. 25 5 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.24 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 92 action to accept the Order setting the 4 salaries for the 198th District Court Reporter and 216th District Court Reporter. 5 1.25 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 92 6 action regarding the Agreement for Lease of School District-Owned Property between 7 Kerr County and Ingram Independent School District for FY 2022-2023. 8 1.26 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 97 9 action regarding the 2023 Kerr Central Appraisal District (KCAD) Budget. 10 1.27 Consider, discuss process for hiring 99 11 interim Human Resources Director. 12 1.28 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 102 action regarding the VA Trails Project. 13 2.1 Budget Amendments. 107 14 2.2 Pay Bills. 108 15 2.5 Accept Monthly Reports. 108 16 2.6 Court Orders. 109 17 3.1 Status reports from Department Heads. 111 18 3.2 Status reports from Elected Officials. 117 19 3.3 Status reports from Liaison Commissioners. 125 20 4.1a Consider, discuss and take appropriate 127 21 action to authorize County Judge to sign Negotiated Settlement Agreement with EEOC. 22 *** Adjournment. 127 23 *** Reporter's Certificate. 128 24 * * * * * * 25 6 1 JUDGE KELLY: Court will come to order. It 2 is Monday, August the 22nd, 2022. It is 9:05. I 3 apologize for the late start. We had some logistical 4 issues we needed to address, and Kerr County 5 Commissioners' Court is now in session. If you would, 6 please rise for the prayer and pledge, which will be led 7 by Commissioner Gipson. 8 (Prayer and Pledge) 9 JUDGE KELLY: Please be seated. I've turned my phone to 10 silent. I ask everybody else to do the same or turn it 11 off so we don't have any interruptions during the 12 proceedings. 13 First part of our regular -- regular Commissioners' 14 Court meetings, we have public input. And I understand 15 there's several people that have signed up. I think I 16 have about ten. And just to clarify, so everybody knows 17 what the local -- this Court's rules are, if you want to 18 talk on an agenda item, it's limited to six people. 19 That's the six person limitation. As for public input, 20 there is no limitation on the public input, so however 21 many want to speak. 22 I do want to clarify that I see a lot of this on the 23 Declaration of Disaster. That is going to be a specific 24 topic next week on the 29th. That's when that's going 25 to be considered. We're not going to have a discussion 7 1 about that today, but I understand a lot of people want 2 to talk about it. So if you want to talk about it 3 you're certainly welcome to. 4 So with that, I'm going to start off with number one is 5 Gail Wright. 6 MS. WRIGHT: And guess what I'm going to talk about. My 7 name is Gail Wright. I am the precinct 119 chairperson 8 for the Kerr County Republican party. I'm here to ask 9 the Commissioners' Court and Judge Kelly, in particular, 10 to issue a Declaration of Disaster at the border. A 11 Resolution is not enough. It must be a declaration. 12 Kerr County needs to join the 16 plus counties that have 13 already issued a declaration of disaster. This is not a 14 political issue, it's a matter of Public Safety. 15 Sheriff Leitha needs these funds that will become 16 available through Operation Lone Star to handle the 17 invasion that is coming over our border and into our 18 county. He can only ask for these funds if a 19 declaration of disaster is declared. And for once, 20 these funds won't be coming out of the pockets of the 21 citizens of Kerrville and Kerr County. I urge you to 22 make this happen. Thank you. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Next is JoAnn Lynch. 24 MS. LYNCH: Good morning. My name is JoAnn Lynch. I 25 live at 669 FM 480. I'm speaking as an individual. And 8 1 I appreciate the opportunity to talk to the Court this 2 morning. A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine told me 3 that she was taking dog food out to Kerr County Animal 4 Services, KCAS, because she had heard they were out of 5 food, which I found unimaginable, but unfortunately it 6 was true. 7 KCAS had no money for food for the animals impounded 8 there and nothing would be budgeted until October. If 9 the citizens, the taxpayers of Kerr County, didn't step 10 forward with food donations, the dogs, the cats, the 11 kittens, the puppies impounded there would not eat. And 12 several questions come to mind. How did we get to this 13 point? Was it seizures of multiple animals? I think I 14 read that there was a lot of food donated at that time 15 to take care of those travesties. Was it lack of 16 sufficient budget for this year? And if that's the 17 case, perhaps the person who's responsible for 18 overseeing that portion of the budget needs to pass it 19 on to someone else. 20 Why haven't emergency funds been allocated? Why does 21 KCAS continue to impound animals and accept seizures 22 knowing that there's no money to buy food to feed them? 23 And how can we expect taxpayers who have already been 24 taxed to take care of this out at KCAS to, once again, 25 come up with donations to feed these animals? 9 1 The weekend edition of the Kerrville Daily Times 2 contained an editorial about animal abuse which I'd like 3 to quote from at this time. Section 42.092, cruelty of 4 non-livestock animals of the Texas Penal Code prohibits 5 a person from intentionally, knowingly or recklessly 6 cruelly treating an animal, which includes failing to 7 provide food, care or shelter. Thank you. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Next is Robin Monroe. 9 MS. MONROE: Good morning, everyone. I'm 10 Robin Monroe. I live in Kerr County. And I'm going to 11 speak only as a private citizen, even though I am 12 involved with the Republican Party here. 13 So I just want to say, Judge Kelly, that I'm 14 disappointed when I heard about your stance of 15 supporting our Sheriff. And I think the biggest reason 16 is, is because you have taken Federal money, ARPA money, 17 that you can use at your discretion. Now the citizens 18 of Kerr County are in a position that we -- we do have a 19 disaster. And so I am asking you to reconsider your 20 stance and become political and become conservative and 21 take a stand for the citizens of Kerr County. Because 22 this is how I -- how I feel about it. I feel if our 23 government -- or if our Governor is so concerned about 24 it that he's busing these illegal aliens up to New York, 25 and they're in a crisis and they only receive 5,000 of 10 1 them and we have them crossing the border by hundreds of 2 thousands, that we have a disaster. 3 And so I'm just saying, I think you want to 4 be on the right side of this in about 30 days. Because 5 if not, I just have it that -- I think it would be 6 great -- I'll start a Go Fund Me page and we can help to 7 disseminate these illegal aliens and help the Sheriff's 8 Department. 9 And I don't know where you live, but I'll 10 just let them know that you feel like we're a sanctuary 11 city and they can go and contact you to figure out how 12 to handle it because we don't have a disaster. 13 So I know that this is strong language, but 14 I think that it has to be said. We have got to start 15 coming down on the right side of this for the citizens 16 of Kerr County, but more so for America. Thank you very 17 much. 18 JUDGE KELLY: As everyone knows, I can't 19 respond. Next one is Bethany Puccio. Am I saying your 20 name right, Bethany? 21 MS. PUCCIO: Yes. Yes. Thank you. Good 22 morning. My name is Bethany Puccio. Good morning, 23 Judge Kelly and Commissioners. I live at 14 Crest Ridge 24 Drive right here in Kerrville, and I represent We The 25 People Liberty In Action. I lead the local government 11 1 chapter there. 2 And I'll start with a quote from George 3 Washington. I love history because we don't have to be 4 very smart, we just have to read history and we just 5 have to see what's already happened because it's going 6 to happen again. 7 "The time is near at hand which must 8 determine whether Americans are to be free men or 9 slaves." We were there in the 1700's and we are there 10 once again because history does repeat itself. There's 11 been a saying going around for the last couple of years: 12 "Whatever you think you would have been doing in Germany 13 in 1930, you'd better be doing that now." Times have 14 changed but people haven't. 15 So I'm here for two reasons this morning. 16 The first one, the most important one, is that we want 17 to stand with our Sheriff. Sheriff Leitha has asked you 18 to declare a disaster, which would give him access to 19 the funds set aside for him in Operation Lone Star. He 20 cannot access those funds to handle the surge coming 21 over our border and into our county without you, Judge 22 Kelly, signing that declaration. And I think it's a 23 no-brainer. Our Sheriff is asking for help. He's 24 saying he doesn't have the resources to handle the -- 25 it's -- it's not hundreds of thousands, it's millions of 12 1 people that came over our border. We had, what, 50 of 2 them found dead in a semi an hour away. 3 I have a friend that found one on her 4 property, this was well over a year ago, hiding in a 5 bush. I mean, they're -- they're here and they're 6 coming in droves. We see the busses driving through. 7 We know our Governor is transporting them on our dime to 8 other places like New York. 9 And so, it seems that a judge and the 10 commissioners that just could not wait to get their 11 hands on ARPA money, against the will of the people, 12 when hours of testimony saying don't take this money, 13 don't obligate us to those Executive Orders, the 14 language in this is dangerous, and Commissioner Belew 15 was the only one that stood with us in that. That you 16 just wanted to have that money. It seems like getting 17 this money from Operation Lone Star would be a 18 no-brainer to this Court. 19 The second thing that I would like to have 20 happen, and many of the people here would like to have 21 happen, is we would like to stand with our Texans. I'm 22 from upstate New York. And I've always said Texas isn't 23 a place, it's an idea. It stands for freedom. Came up 24 here as a young person, you read about the Alamo, the 25 line in the sand, they gave their lives for freedom. If 13 1 there's one state in the union that stands for freedom 2 it's Texas. It's an idea. And I will tell you, I've 3 been disappointed in Texans when I got here. Because 4 many of them do not fight for freedom as I thought that 5 they would. And we have a surge on our border. We have 6 Texans that are being killed. We have sex trafficking. 7 We've got race treaties. This is a humanitarian crisis. 8 It is -- it is horrific what's happening on 9 our border and we ought to be standing as Texans 10 together like they did in the Alamo and saying, you know 11 what, not here, not now. So I'm asking you to declare a 12 disaster and also declare invasion. Thank you. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Next is Jan Abert -- Abert. 14 MS. ABERT: Yes. Uh-huh. 15 JUDGE KELLY: I don't pronounce the "T", 16 right? 17 MS. ABERT: I say Abert, but my husband says 18 "A-bear"(phonetic.) 19 JUDGE KELLY: I at least got one of them 20 right. 21 MS. ABERT: Okay. Good morning. My name is 22 Jan Abert. I am the Kerr County Precinct Chair for 23 Precinct 113, but I'm here just to speak for myself and 24 hopefully get through this. I'm very nervous. 25 I would like to thank you, Judge Kelly, and 14 1 Commissioners Belew, Gipson, and Harris -- I know 2 Commissioner Letz is not here -- for allowing me to 3 speak this morning. I'm here to respectfully ask you, 4 Judge Kelly, to sign the declaration of disaster 5 required to allow our Sheriff Leitha to obtain the 6 available funds from the State's Operation Lone Star to 7 physically dedicate it to border security. 8 These funds will allow Sheriff Leitha to pay 9 his deputies for the overtime they are putting in and to 10 get the tools they need to protect we, the citizens, of 11 Kerr County. My understanding is that this request has 12 to be done by August 31st, ten days from now. My 13 question is, why has it taken so long to sign the 14 declaration. 15 Although our County is not a border county, 16 we're still being affected by the open border. This 17 month alone, a 26-year-old man, accused of illegal 18 immigration is amongst 13 people that Kerr County 19 Sheriff has arrested on suspicion of driving while 20 intoxicated. Secondly, a 21-year-old Houston woman was 21 arrested recently on suspicion of smuggling four adults 22 and one minor who are not authorized to be in our 23 country. 24 I am personally aware of two consequences of 25 the open border that we have allowed by not standing up 15 1 for our rights as U.S. citizens. My son works at a 2 local high school, who has upwards of 10 incoming 3 freshman who don't speak any English currently. While 4 this is not their fault, it is something that needs to 5 be addressed because in classroom the teachers are 6 tasked with both the content learning and teaching the 7 English language, which does distract from the time that 8 the teacher could be helping the other kids in the 9 class. And by the way, my son doesn't speak Spanish. 10 If we continue to allow this movement of 11 individuals across our border, we can't continue to have 12 high school in the same way that we have had. I'm sure 13 this is not an isolated circumstance. 14 Secondly, I have a cousin who lives in 15 Del Rio, and who has a son-in-law who's a border patrol 16 agent and her daughter works for border patrol. They 17 have been exposed to many nationalities and illnesses 18 brought into our country because of the open borders. I 19 realize this is not a meeting specifically, today, about 20 the open borders but these are two consequences that we 21 as a people have allowed to happen by not standing up 22 for these rights. 23 And I think the right thing to do for Kerr 24 County, my opinion, is to sign the declaration of 25 disaster. And I cannot imagine any citizen of Kerr 16 1 County that knows what's happening on our Texas border 2 asking any of you to not sign or support a declaration 3 of disaster that is required now. And I ask you, Judge 4 Kelly, to be our hero and sign the declaration of 5 disaster. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Next is Bill Ferguson. 7 MR. FERGUSON: Hello, my name is Bill 8 Ferguson. I'm a recently retired border patrol 9 intelligence agent with over 32 years of service. I'd 10 like to give my perspective on the state of affairs on 11 our southern border. It is virtually out of control. 12 The drugs, human smuggling, and sex slave business by 13 the Mexican cartels who are operating at full steam. 14 There's not nearly enough border patrol agents to 15 control the situation. 16 The Federal policies by the current 17 administration are making it impossible for the border 18 patrol to do its job. I have property in Kinney County. 19 The flow of illegal aliens through my property is 20 unprecedented at this time. They vandalize deer 21 feeders, ATVs and other farming implements. They've 22 broken into my house several times, kicking in the 23 doors, stealing whatever they want. 24 On one instance, my wife and I had just gone 25 to bed in the house there. With the truck sitting in 17 1 front of the house and the porch lights on, aliens began 2 to bang on the door attempting entry. It was obvious 3 that someone was inside. I yelled at them for a while 4 and they ran off. 5 There are other incidents where they have 6 attacked neighbors and ranchers attempting to do harm or 7 steal vehicles, among other things. Landowners must be 8 armed at all times to prevent harm to themselves and 9 loved ones. 10 Same situation is making its way to 11 Kerrville, Kerr County, with the cartel sitting up bus 12 and distribution areas in the area. That's why it's so 13 important for law enforcement in the area to be able to 14 combat it before it gets out of control, like it is in 15 the border area. 16 There's a large amount of money waiting in 17 Austin to be claimed under the Operation Lone Star 18 initiative for Kerr County. This money would help the 19 Sheriff acquire new vehicles, equipment and personnel to 20 combat this threat. The only thing required to get 21 these grants for the Sheriff is for Kerr County, Judge 22 Kelly, to sign the declaration of disaster relating to 23 border security for Kerr County. A Resolution for the 24 situation is not enough to get the funds. Something 25 needs to be done. Thank you. 18 1 JUDGE KELLY: Barbara Ferguson. 2 MS. FERGUSON: My name is Barbara Ferguson. 3 I'm a resident of Kerrville. Commissioners and Judge 4 Kelly, thank you for the time to speak this morning. 5 After experiencing some of the things out in Kinney 6 County, this really made the red lights go off for me, 7 this issue. I got on the phone on Friday, and I called 8 James Madison, the Homeland Security Grants Division 9 regarding our application for these funds. 10 I spoke to him, and he made it clear, he 11 said a Resolution will do nothing. He must have the 12 Judge issue a disaster declaration relating to border 13 security. This does not have to be a declaration that 14 Kerr County, if -- if what we're looking at is the 15 object that Kerr County as a whole is a disaster, it's 16 relating to border security we have a disaster. 17 He gave me info on exactly where online to 18 find the forms that would be a template for issuing this 19 disaster declaration. This is an easy thing. It is not 20 a hard thing. He further went on and said Kerr County 21 is a recognized border traffic corridor. This is coming 22 from the guy in Homeland Security in Austin. He knows 23 it. Then he said because of our location he would, 24 quote, love to give us some money. And the request was 25 before him. He had the paperwork in hand. $900,000 is 19 1 at stake here. $900,000 would go a long way in our 2 Sheriff's Department. Our only hold up is signing this 3 declaration. 4 If you have any reservations that our County 5 has a disaster situation relating to border security, 6 please consider the following: Was it a disaster to the 7 friends and family of four motorcyclists killed on 8 Highway 16 by an illegal alien? Is it a disaster that 9 teenagers and their families and friends who are killed 10 by fentanyl-laced drugs that pass through Kerr County? 11 And this is happening all over the country. 12 A representative in Minnesota considers it a 13 disaster up there because of the drugs that are coming 14 through here. Is it a disaster to the young girls and 15 women at safe houses like Mercy Gate Ministries? And 16 they were the lucky ones who got out. The sex 17 trafficking trade is going through Kerr County. The 18 Sheriff knows it, that's why he wants to do something 19 about this. 20 All I can say, finally, is that it is a 21 disaster if we fail to secure these funds for our 22 Sheriff. And if we stick our heads in the sand and we 23 think, not in our nice little community -- no, it's 24 already here. We're some of the lucky ones here that 25 live in safe places. But those places won't be safe 20 1 much longer and we have to have consideration for the 2 people who are not as fortunate to be in safe places. 3 Thank you. Next? 4 JUDGE KELLY: Next is -- I think is it 5 Barbara Hisey? Am I saying that right? 6 MS. HISEY: I'm Barbara Hisey. I'm a 7 resident of Kerr County. I'm first seat chair for 8 215 in the Republican Party. I've raised seven children 9 in Kerr County and I know how the kids work together. 10 And I also know that, you know, it's going to be a real 11 tragedy if one of our family members is attacked, if our 12 homes are attacked, because the -- and not by an 13 illegal, but because our County's Sheriff is taking care 14 of the illegal situation, and he doesn't have the 15 personnel or the money to get more personnel so that he 16 can take care of our emergency and something tragic 17 happens in our home, maybe not by an illegal but because 18 their illegal situation was being taken care of. 19 These -- and it's not fair for those people 20 that are being brought in because they're -- you know, 21 some of them are -- are slaves. And we're encouraging 22 the cartel to do this by not signing it. We're not -- 23 we're not joining in with the other counties that have 24 declared war on this. And you know what, our community 25 of Kerr County is very important and the safety of Kerr 21 1 County is very important. The money is there. Get it 2 and use it. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Ian Dorey. 4 MR. DOREY: Good morning, gentlemen. My 5 name is Ian Dorey. I'm a resident of Kerrville and a 6 resident of Kerr County. The reason I'm here today is 7 echoed simply by each and every individual in here that 8 is speaking about the declaration. The emergency 9 declaration, and the declaration of invasion. Because 10 we can no longer stick our heads in the sand anymore. 11 We do have a problem. 12 We have a problem with not having enough 13 money. When the Sheriff runs out of gas and has to 14 choose what calls to go to, there's a problem. We need 15 to make sure that the people that we charge to take care 16 of us can take care of us. We need to access the 17 Operation Lone Star funds so that the Sheriff does have 18 the opportunity to take care of us. 19 Because as was said, the Sheriff has a great 20 deal of things going on and he has to take care of the 21 safety of this community, this entire County, for all 22 the regular things that happen but he also has to take 23 care of all the illegals that are coming in, which leads 24 the second part of the declaration, invasion. What this 25 does is this puts pressure on the Governor to be able to 22 1 declare this, to be able to do what he promised to do, 2 to take care of the people of Texas. 3 I've been here since November 1st, 2001. 4 Texas is my home. I come from Iowa, but Texas is my 5 home. Kerr County is my home. Kerrville is my home. 6 And what I'm seeing lately is a very dangerous thing. 7 With Kerrville especially, I called it the snow globe 8 effect. Because it looks really pretty until you shake 9 it up a little bit. And then you see what's really 10 going on. 11 When you have people -- and this is also a 12 humanitarian crisis as well. When you have people that 13 are dying, as was said earlier, in trailers just because 14 they want something that they never had, which was 15 freedom, an opportunity, just like we have as well, 16 they're victims. They're victims of slavery. And I'm 17 tired, very tired in fact, of people calling human 18 trafficking and buttering it up and making it look 19 pretty. It's slavery. 20 Now, those who do not go along with this 21 declaration, both of them, may be held to responsibility 22 of that slavery. I, for one, don't want to be that. 23 That's why I'm up here today, because I want to make 24 sure that people understand what we're facing. Rape 25 trees. You've got people dying in semis. You've got 23 1 children being trafficked. Slavery. What's going on? 2 It's up to you to do something about it. If you don't, 3 there's going to be a problem. 4 As was said before, the cartels control it. 5 You're either with the Texans who can do something about 6 it, or you're with the cartels. It's your choice. Make 7 the right one. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Rich Paces. 9 MR. PACES: Thank you, Judge. My name is 10 Rich Paces. I'm a resident of Center Point, and I am 11 Kerr County Commissioner-Elect for Precinct 2. And 12 gentlemen, I sure wish I was sitting up there already, 13 because I'd be doing everything possible in support of 14 declaring this invasion and local disaster as a result. 15 So I'm here again, I've been here before. 16 And I'm here again to implore you to declare the 17 invasion. To join Kinney, Edwards, Goliad, Terrell, 18 Presidio, Maverick, Parker, Atascosa, Wise, and now 19 Tyler Counties in passing this Resolution to declare 20 invasion at the border and a local disaster also. 21 Look, we've got over two million migrants 22 who illegally crossed Texas, the southern border, since 23 Biden took over. Crime is up dramatically, our social 24 support systems are overwhelmed, and taxpayers 25 everywhere across the nation are facing a huge financial 24 1 burden because of it. The Mexican cartels are the only 2 ones who are profiting. And they're in control of our 3 border. They're profiting from human trafficking, which 4 is horrific, gang-related crime, and they're flooding 5 our streets with fentanyl and other deadly drugs. 6 More than 50 suspected terrorists have been 7 apprehended at the border. Just a matter of time until 8 we have another terrorist activity here on our homeland. 9 Are you going to do nothing about it? Look, this is an 10 invasion, it's a challenge to our state sovereignty, and 11 in my opinion it has created a crisis here in Kerr 12 County. 13 So whether you think you have the legal 14 authority to declare an invasion or not, or to declare a 15 local disaster or not, it's time to act now to defend 16 our citizens, to defend Texas and our nation. What 17 authority did the other ten counties use to declare an 18 invasion? What authority did our patriotic founding 19 fathers have when they committed treason by declaring 20 independence? What are we worrying about legalities 21 for? 22 This is the time to act. Take a stand. 23 Join the other ten counties. Or maybe it is 16, 24 whatever it is. Declare an invasion at our border and 25 press Governor Abbott to declare an invasion and start 25 1 supporting those who violate our laws by crossing into 2 Texas illegally. It's only going to be the apprehension 3 and deportation of these illegals that has a chance of 4 stopping the invasion. 5 Sending busloads to Washington or New York, 6 fine, it catches a little bit of the media's attention 7 that's been so absent, but it doesn't really accomplish 8 anything. And apprehending people and turning them 9 loose at ports of entry for the CDP to process the 10 illegals and then put them on buses or planes and 11 distribute them throughout the nation. That's futile. 12 It's only going to be when we start 13 deporting apprehended illegals that we have even a 14 chance of turning this around. So I urge you to take 15 action now. Take away the incentive to come. Declare 16 this an invasion, a local disaster. Please support our 17 Sheriff's Department. 18 We have been talking budgets and how 19 desperate we are for funds. Here's an opportunity to 20 get some additional funds to support Larry and his team 21 who have done a valiant job. But it's up to you guys to 22 make sure that he has the funds necessary to protect the 23 kind citizens. 24 So again, don't get bound up in the 25 legalities. Do what's right. Declare an invasion and a 26 1 local disaster. Because it is. 2 JUDGE KELLY: The last speaker that has 3 asked to speak is the Sheriff. He asked for the 4 opportunity to be able to speak and provide input to the 5 Court. 6 SHERIFF LEITHA: I know the Judge can't 7 respond, so I'm going to kind of respond for both of us. 8 I really appreciate all the support I have on such an 9 important subject. You know, I really appreciate it. 10 But where I want to start is, like I said, I thank 11 y'all. 12 The Judge and I -- there's no doubt we've 13 had some heated discussions the last couple of weeks. I 14 thought last Friday he was going to ask me to leave his 15 office, okay. But you know -- but the good thing is 16 that's politics at work, okay. We were able to enter as 17 friends and we left as friends, you know. 18 And what I want to let y'all know on the 19 Judge's behalf is the Judge actually told me I need to 20 do a better job on some things and, you know, as an 21 elected official, you know, I don't have to listen to 22 the Judge. But, you know, once I listened to him I 23 understand. It was about educating the public. Y'all 24 all know what's going on. But, you know, we have 50,000 25 plus people in Kerr County and a lot of people don't. 27 1 Okay. You know, I -- I felt like I was 2 doing that. We do posts, I'm sure anybody that likes 3 our Facebook knows what's going on. But, you know, what 4 I need to do -- I need to do a better job of educating 5 everybody about, you know, yeah, we've damaged some 6 vehicles. We've had some injuries. You know, we've got 7 some overtime. 8 There's a lot of issues that the Judge, you 9 know, probably wasn't aware of that I need to know or 10 how many people are in jail, what's that costing us per 11 week and per month and stuff like that. 12 You know, so I said we have had some heated 13 discussions. We're still talking. It's going to be a 14 good week this week and I'm getting the Judge what he's 15 asked me to get. And you know, I think he'll listen to 16 me and things look good. 17 But one of the important things we hear, and 18 I appreciate what y'all said, but you know I want you to 19 know as your Sheriff, whether I get these funds or not, 20 the county's safe. Okay. We -- we are safe. Y'all 21 look -- anybody knows what we did this weekend. The 22 Commissioners Court, you know, the Judge -- the budget's 23 not approved, but I -- I'm looking at if it does get 24 approved there's a one million dollar increase. Why is 25 that? $250,000 in fuel. Two or 300,000 towards feeding 28 1 inmates. So, you know, they do give me everything I 2 can, but what we call -- we have wants and needs. I 3 mean, what they're giving me are my needs, okay. This 4 is my wants. 5 Yeah, there's money out there and -- but one 6 thing I want you to know, the county is safe. It will 7 always remain safe whether I get these funds or not. 8 The biggest issue on this is where we say Highway 41 and 9 I-10. Okay. That's where we focus. And what these 10 funds would do would enable me to, again, delegate 11 additional manpower by what we call toys that I -- you 12 know, I couldn't really come to Commissioners Court and 13 ask them for. It will give me that ability. 14 But what I want you all to know is the Judge 15 and I are going to work together this week. You know, 16 he's asked me to do some things a little better and I'm 17 going to educate him and the public better. You know, 18 we're going to start today and we'll work towards that. 19 I know we have a timeline but I feel very 20 comfortable the Judge and I and the Commissioners' Court 21 will be able to come to some kind of agreement, and I 22 appreciate y'all's help. Thank you. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Let's move on to Commissioners 24 Comments. I'm going to call on Commissioner from 25 Precinct 3, who is absent today, Commissioner Letz. He 29 1 sent an e-mail asking me to say that he would appreciate 2 it if I would let the Court and the public know that he 3 is asking that I ask you to add a special Commissioners' 4 Court meeting to the agenda on August 29th. I would 5 like to consider both a resolution concerning the 6 current border situation and discuss an emergency 7 declaration declaring the increased law enforcement 8 needed due to the border invasion -- border situation. 9 And that's Commissioner Letz's comments for 10 today. So that out of the way, Precinct 1. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I don't have anything 12 to report. I have nothing to brag about. 13 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I have nothing to 14 report except a little bit of a -- in the last meeting 15 we had presentation of a proposed subdivision, Twin 16 Springs. And I made a comment that the road width was 17 less than 60 feet. I've since found that that's 18 incorrect. It is 60 feet in width. My concern has been 19 the width of the pavement. And that is with 20 engineering. It's still a concern, but the 60-foot 21 width portion, I was incorrect and I'm stating it 22 properly now. 23 We -- we do have concerns about safety of 24 engineering, and the width of the pavement and the 25 ability of the pavement to withstand heavier traffic. 30 1 JUDGE KELLY: Commissioner 4. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: This is our best shot 3 for rain I've seen in the forecast in a while. So 4 everybody should do the rain dance when you leave here. 5 We really need a shot and it looks like we got a shot 6 this week and hopefully it comes through. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Good. Well, the comment that 8 I would share is that the Sheriff and I have been 9 working very diligently on this and we're looking at 10 numbers and data. And just this morning, we were 11 talking about 20-some odd inmates that -- that are 12 immigrants that are in our jail. And we charge $65 a 13 day for that. And we're running numbers. We're talking 14 about at least 40, $50,000.00 a month. 15 And so, one of the things that I'm trying to 16 balance is the fiscal issue with regard to the County 17 and the needs from a fiscal point of view. But it's 18 also important for me to balance the fact that the 19 public needs to know, and the Sheriff and I have talked 20 about this, you are safe. Our Sheriff's Office is doing 21 a wonderful job, I'm telling you, under -- under 22 difficult circumstances. 23 But the public needs to know that the 24 Sheriff's department, the Sheriff's Office has the 25 welfare of the County at heart and is taking care of it. 31 1 And so that's the balancing that we're trying to do 2 here. So -- so that's just what we're working on. And 3 we worked through the weekend and we'll be working this 4 week. It's on the agenda next Monday, as Commissioner 5 Letz asked. So now everybody knows exactly where we 6 stand on it. 7 So with that, we're ready to start 8 Commissioners' Court. We'll move to the Consideration 9 Agenda, which is Item 1.1, and Ms. Leonard is here and I 10 have a presentation of the 2021 Distinguished Service 11 Award to the Kerr County Historical Commission. 12 MS. LEONARD: I'm losing my audience. 13 (Off the record while people exiting.) 14 JUDGE KELLY: Ms. Leonard. 15 MS. LEONARD: Good morning. This is kind of 16 anti-climactic. So anyway, I'm Julie Leonard. I'm 17 chairwoman of the Kerr County Historical Commission. 18 And I don't know if we have any of our members here. I 19 think Wilma Teague is here and she's our Treasurer. Our 20 officers are Bunny Bond, who's our chair -- vice chair. 21 Second vice chair is Mary Lee Stewart. Blanca Teague is 22 secretary. 23 We have 67 members this year that have 24 contributed 4,967 hours. That made this distinguished 25 service award possible. 32 1 I had provided y'all with a pretty thick 2 survey. I think Jody was supposed to give it to you. 3 And I'm sure in your spare time you'll find it really 4 wonderful reading. But this survey I -- I fill out 5 every year. It gives our projects, they ask questions, 6 we tell them what our project is, and then they want to 7 know exactly what you did to get this project going. So 8 that's what I do to get the award. 9 Also, I became chairwoman in 2009. My 10 husband and I moved back to Kerr County in 2007. I 11 joined the commission in 2008. And suddenly in 2009, 12 I'm chairperson. So this has been a 13-year spiel for 13 me. 14 When we first started we only had maybe ten 15 members, so we're now 67. So it's really an honor for 16 me to be here and accepting this award. And actually, 17 the only familiar face was Jonathan, who's not here so, 18 when I first came to the County Commission. Also, in 19 the past two years its been really difficult for us to 20 function, but somehow we've done it and were successful. 21 But I want to tell you a little bit what 22 we've done this year already. We've reorganized the 23 summer history camps. We had 20 fourth and fifth 24 graders at the Union Church building for the week in 25 June. And each day was a daily change of programs and 33 1 activities. And they included the upper Guadalupe River 2 Authority, flintknapping by Jim Morris, Phyllis Shelton 3 told about the archaeology of the flintknapping. 4 We also -- Tuesday we had Clifton Fifer, who 5 entertained with poems and taught the kids how to make 6 toys that were used in the early part of Kerr County. 7 Of course he's always entertaining, and singing and all 8 that. 9 Also, the Daughters of the Texas Revolution, 10 Joshua D. Brown Chapter, taught the kids how to make 11 butter and ice cream, and also some needle crafts, and 12 she said incidentally the boys did as well as the girls 13 in the needlecraft. So you ladies need to remember that 14 about your boys. They can sew. I'm sure you guys can 15 sew. 16 Also Stan Kubenka had a program on different 17 Texas flags. He was a great volunteer and we're hoping 18 he'll join our commission. Julius Neunhoffer also gave 19 a program about early farming and ranching tools, and he 20 also surprised the campers with an old working 21 phonograph, I think it was from the early 1900's, that 22 played tunes and -- wound up and played tunes. I was 23 even impressed. 24 Also, the former Texas Rangers came and told 25 about their Ranger Honor Code and the campers took the 34 1 oath of the Rangers and then became Junior Texas Rangers 2 with badges and certificates. They also learned roping 3 techniques and about frontier firearms. 4 The camp ended on Friday with Buzzie Hughes 5 of Buzzie's Barbeque prepared the Texas state food, 6 chili, to the campers and the volunteers. 7 Soon we will be dedicating the Garret 8 Insurance Company's Historical Marker and the YO Live 9 Oak Ranch marker has been delivered but we have no 10 dedication planned for that at this time. 11 We also applied this year and received -- or 12 we actually applied last year and received the Texas 13 Historical Commission Untold Story Historical Marker. 14 This marker is paid for by the State of Texas. And so 15 it went to the Gate of Heaven Cemetery of the Kerrville 16 State Hospital. And the marker honors the Negro 17 patients who died from tuberculosis and are buried at 18 the grounds of the hospital. 19 We also had a 1940 to 1960 photo exhibit at 20 the Kerr Arts and Cultural Center. It was a six-week 21 exhibit. It was created by Francelle Collins, Cathy 22 Carden and Phyllis Shelton. 23 Also, members were -- participated in and 24 planned the Texas Archaeological Field School that 25 hosted 300 participants, and we donated our -- some 35 1 historical brochures of the downtown for their gift 2 bags. 3 Also, Mary Elaine Jones is still adding to 4 Kerr County's history on the North Texas University 5 "Portals to Texas" website. There are dozens of our 6 oral histories on this site. We have books, historical 7 books, newspapers, documents, and it's a great way 8 people all over the world and Texas can access the 9 website and find out about Kerr County. 10 We also have 902 members on our Facebook 11 page that we keep everybody up to date on what's going 12 on, you know, what we're doing and interesting things 13 that we think our members might enjoy. 14 We also -- Wilma here has helped us with the 15 display cabinets in our Courthouse entry, which are to 16 be changed every four months. And this month it's -- 17 our these next months it's of the Union Church Building. 18 How it was moved and what it looked like, and that was 19 donated by the Friends of the Kerr County Historical 20 Commission, I think 1999. So as a gift to Kerr County. 21 So that is -- that -- those display cases, I think, have 22 been a great addition to our Commission. 23 We also -- Toni Box is our Kerr County 24 Historical Board Liaison from the Heart of the Hills 25 Heritage Center, and their charter requires that one 36 1 KCHC member needs to be on their board; however, there 2 are six Kerr County Historical Commission members on 3 their board, including the chairperson, who is Dr. Bill 4 Rector. 5 And we have a lot of other projects in the 6 works. I won't go on with that. But Bunny Bond, who I 7 think you know who she is, she's been here quite a 8 while, and she will keep y'all informed what's going on, 9 including me. 10 I also want to tell you that this will be my 11 last year and so we hope to get some new blood into our 12 commission. I plan to retire. I'll be there giving a 13 lot of good advice, I'm sure. 14 But anyway, I really thank y'all for your 15 monetary support and your moral support. And thank you, 16 Harley, as our Liaison and thank you for your -- your 17 help. 18 And I also want to add that the painting of 19 the Union Church is wonderful. The inside and out. It 20 looks like a beautiful new building. And thank y'all 21 for doing that. So if y'all have any questions, I'll 22 try to answer or -- 23 JUDGE KELLY: I don't have any questions. 24 But for those that don't know, the Kerr County 25 Historical Commission is technically not a department of 37 1 the County. But we consider it an ex officio department 2 and it's one of the ones that we are most proud of. And 3 the Texas Historical Commission is presenting the 2021 4 Distinguished Service Award to Kerr County Historical 5 Commission in recognition of the active and well 6 balanced preservation program. And we are very proud 7 and pleased to convey that to all of your members. 8 MS. LEONARD: Thank you. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 10 MS. LEONARD: I also want to say that I went 11 to the meeting of all the Historical Commissions in 12 Austin in February and talked to a lot of these other 13 counties historical chairwomen and we are very lucky. 14 They had a lot of complaints and I didn't have any, so 15 thank you. 16 (Presentation of award.) 17 JUDGE KELLY: This is the presentation of 18 the Above & Beyond Awards to multiple County employees 19 for reaching over a 90% Combined Completeness Percentage 20 in Criminal Disposition Reporting to keep Kerr County 21 compliant so as to receive Federal and State grant 22 funds. Miss Dowdy. 23 MS. DOWDY: Okay. Judge, would you like 24 everybody to come into the front and we can call them, 25 or do you want to do it one at a time? I was thinking 38 1 maybe we could have a group photo of these individuals. 2 JUDGE KELLY: I think we'll take the photo 3 at the end. Why don't you give them individual 4 recognition and then we'll take the photo. 5 MS. DOWDY: Okay. So the Above & Beyond 6 Award that we're presenting today is in recognition for 7 these multiple County employees, a total of 13 of them, 8 there it is on the screen, for their efforts in reaching 9 over a 90% Combined Completeness Percentage for 10 disposition reporting in criminal disposition. And it 11 starts from the arrest, to the prosecutor, and it ends 12 with disposition. 13 And there are all these people who have 14 worked on keeping us compliant so that we can qualify to 15 receive any grant. So thank you to these wonderful, 16 wonderful employees. We'll start with -- 17 JUDGE KELLY: Ms. Dowdy -- 18 MS. DOWDY: Yeah. 19 JUDGE KELLY: -- just so that the public 20 understands, and I don't understand this near as well as 21 those of you that are receiving these Above & Beyond 22 Awards, but the Federal and State government requires 23 that through the criminal justice process that we be 24 90 -- at least 90 percent compliant with all their 25 requirements. 39 1 MS. DOWDY: Correct. 2 JUDGE KELLY: And if we're not, then they 3 take us off the list and we're not available for grants. 4 So this is -- this is essential to the life blood of 5 County government. 6 MS. DOWDY: Correct. And it saves the 7 taxpayers a lot of money. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Come all the way in. 9 MRS. STEBBINS: They can't hear anything 10 that was just said out there. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What he said is you're 12 not going to leave the room without being embarrassed a 13 little bit. Is that okay? 14 JUDGE KELLY: A couple of chairs here. 15 Squeeze in. This is going to be short. 16 MS. DOWDY: Do you mind if I come to the 17 front? 18 JUDGE KELLY: No, please -- please do. And 19 as you call them up, just leave them standing here at 20 the podium after they receive it. 21 MS. DOWDY: Okay. Okay. I'll do that. So 22 if we'll call out these names. Okay. So the first we 23 have from the 198th District Attorney's Office, which 24 will be Steven Harpold's office, Sharon Manning. 25 (Applause.) 40 1 MS. DOWDY: And if you would just stand 2 here. And we're going to form a line. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Just kind of get close on both 4 sides of the -- 5 MS. DOWDY: And then next from Lucy Wilke's 6 office, 216th District Attorney, would be Candice Flores 7 and Tammy Sullivan. Candice is not here today. So 8 here's yours, Ms. Tammy. Thank you. 9 (Applause.) 10 MS. DOWDY: Also from the Kerr County 11 District Clerk Dawn Lantz, whose employees are Linda 12 Mendoza and Amber Longenbaugh. 13 (Applause.) 14 JUDGE KELLY: Now, don't stand in front of 15 somebody. 16 MS. DOWDY: And from Kerr County Attorney 17 Heather Stebbins' office, employees Erica Hughes, 18 Jerrielee Rust. And Joseph Martinez is not able to be 19 here. 20 (Applause.) 21 MS. DOWDY: And from the Kerr County 22 Sheriff's Office, Sheriff Larry Leitha's office, Olivia 23 Montanez. 24 (Applause.) 25 MS. DOWDY: And then Kerr County Juvenile 41 1 Probation, Chief Jason Davis' department, we have 2 Heather Patton. 3 (Applause.) 4 MS. DOWDY: And then from Kerr County Court, 5 Jackie Dowdy's office, Nuvia Cruces. 6 (Applause.) 7 MS. DOWDY: And April Kirkpatrick. 8 (Applause.) 9 MS. DOWDY: And Anita VanKlaveren. 10 (Applause.) 11 MS. DOWDY: Thank you all for your efforts. 12 JUDGE KELLY: If you could, get here in 13 front of the table, have a straight line, I'm going to 14 come down on the floor so we can -- we're going to 15 huddle so she can get a photograph. 16 MS. DOWDY: Department Heads, I welcome you 17 all, please. I would love to have you all here in this 18 photo. 19 (Off the record while photo is taken.) 20 (Applause.) 21 JUDGE KELLY: Some of y'all thought you'd 22 never be in Court. 23 Let's move on to the next Agenda Item before 24 we take a break item 1.3, which is consider, discuss and 25 take appropriate action regarding a donation of a woods 42 1 lamp (to detect ringworm) to the Kerr County Animal 2 Services Department from Kerrville Pets Alive. Miss 3 Guerriero. 4 MS. GUERRIERO: Is it okay, Judge, if Shelly 5 Sandy does the -- 6 JUDGE KELLY: Sure. 7 MS. SANDY: Good morning. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Just please identify yourself 9 so they know who's talking. 10 MS. SANDY: I will. My name is Shelly 11 Sandy. I reside at 3940 Oak Park Drive in Kerrville, 12 and I'm speaking today on behalf of Kerrville Pets Alive 13 at 414 Clay Street. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we couldn't tell with 15 that T-shirt. 16 MS. SANDY: Yeah. A little obvious. 17 Kerrville Pets Alive is seeking approval to 18 donate a Burton ultraviolet light, Model UV 502, to Kerr 19 County Animal Services to help detect ringworm, a fungal 20 skin disease seen in cats and dogs. Often called the 21 woods lamp or a black light, this UV light should be a 22 standard part of the intake process for every dog and 23 cat or, at a minimum, used when an animal has a 24 suspicious skin rash or hair loss of a certain 25 appearance. 43 1 The Burton UV 502 has an ultraviolet light 2 with a special fluorescent bulb that produces a 365 3 nanometers wavelength of light which causes 85 percent 4 of microsporum canis, the dermatophyte that causes 5 ringworm, to fluoresce yellow or green when the UV light 6 shines on or near the affected area. It is commonly 7 found in humid, warm climates. 8 But why is it important to identify 9 ringworm? Ringworm is contagious and can be spread from 10 dog or cat to a person. Transmission is by direct 11 contact with an infected animal, but mere exposure does 12 not always result in transmission of the disease. 13 Children are more likely to become infected 14 by ringworm from cats and dogs than adults. Ringworm 15 can be further transmitted by a human to another animal. 16 It can also spread between animals and between people. 17 By quickly identifying an infected animal, KCAS staff 18 can take extra precautions to not only protect 19 themselves, but also potential spread between other 20 animals until the infected animal can be transferred to 21 a vet, medical foster, or a rescue. 22 It should be noted that ringworm is easily 23 and inexpensively treated with antifungal creams or 24 shampoos. Or it will resolve itself without treatment 25 in otherwise healthy animals. It is considered zoonotic 44 1 as it causes skin lesions in people that are easily 2 treated. And we have the light here today. 3 I don't know if I have to tell you a value 4 or anything, but it's just a hand-held plug in. It will 5 glow purple and warm up. And when you -- it will also 6 show all your -- our sun damage as well. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Put it in front of the 8 camera, please. 9 MS. SANDY: Oh, sorry. It uses UV medical 10 grade light for detecting ringworm, so -- 11 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Thank you. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 13 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 15 approve the acceptance of the donation of a wood lamp to 16 detect ringworm for the Kerr County Animal Services 17 Department. Any discussion? 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Just this. That people 19 donate things when there's money or whatever. And that 20 doesn't dictate policy or use or anything. You've let 21 go of it and thank you and we appreciate it. It's a 22 good tool. But it doesn't mean that we have to use it 23 every animal that comes in, or it doesn't change policy. 24 But we thank you very much for it. 25 MS. SANDY: Right now we're borrowing one 45 1 and the staff do think it would be beneficial to have 2 this because it does help us get animals out to rescue 3 quicker when we have that tool to confirm they're clear. 4 So thank you so much. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 6 Okay. It's a little after 10 o'clock -- 7 MS. DOWDY: You haven't voted yet. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Oh, we haven't voted. Those 9 in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. We got it. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And thank you. 11 JUDGE KELLY: We're a little bit behind. If 12 you'll notice on the agenda beginning at Item 1.15 we 13 had timed items and we're required to take those items 14 as close to that time as possible. So the Items 1.4 15 through 1.14, those items are all by elected officials 16 here in the County. I'm going to postpone those until 17 we finish the timed items. I don't mean to 18 inconvenience you, but I have to inconvenience you than 19 someone who is here and being heard at that time. So 20 with that I hope you understand. 21 We're going to take a five-minute break and 22 when we come back we're going to start on Item 1.15. 23 (Recess.) 24 JUDGE KELLY: Court will come back to order. 25 We're going to move on to the timed items at 10 o'clock. 46 1 We're a little late but we're catching up. 2 This is Item 1.15 an update regarding the 3 Ingram Police Department. 4 SHERIFF LEITHA: Judge, I just want to 5 introduce the new Police Chief here. Hamilton has 6 stepped down and we have a new Chief. He's going to 7 kind of explain to you where they're at and what it 8 looks like for the future. 9 And you can tell them a little bit about 10 yourself and we're in good shape. Thank y'all. 11 CHIEF JUENKE: Good morning, Judge, 12 Commissioners, and audience. My name is Glenn Juenke, 13 and my wife and I, Melissa, are getting ready to close 14 on a house in Hunt, Texas. We've been staying out at 15 the family home for the last year and a half. 16 I'm a proud member of the Hunt Volunteer 17 Fire Department, also a retired Houston Police Officer 18 where I worked 25 short years. I learned a lot 19 apparently. I met Chief Hamilton in late June after I 20 read an article in the paper that Ingram Police 21 Department had quit. So I cold called Geraldine 22 Rodriguez and then Mayor Jordan. Long story short, I 23 got the job. 24 Had to reactivate my police license and jump 25 through a few hoops. Learned a lot. There's a lot of 47 1 history. If you Google Ingram Police Department it's 2 not that great for PR purposes and hiring people. 3 My dad was born and raised here, so I knew 4 the speed trap back in the early '80s when I was driving 5 out to our place in Hunt. I always slowed down. I 6 actually got stopped once and had to give someone a 7 patch from my uniform shirt in Houston PD. 8 I just want to say, since July 5th, it's 9 been a challenge. I've been working -- I've been told 10 to do a lot of things. Although I am a police officer, 11 I'm also I guess a public administrator. Geraldine 12 Rodriguez abruptly resigned shortly after I started. We 13 posted the job. We are going to go appoint someone 14 today as City Secretary. We are headed in the right 15 direction. And I know y'all have heard that a year ago 16 and maybe two years ago. 17 My goal is to try to stay there as long as 18 possible. I'm not a quitter. I know that the challenge 19 ahead is going to be very rigorous. The budget is 20 complicated right now because basically the job of the 21 City Secretary was not done for several months. 22 The good news is the police budget is going 23 to be approved hopefully tonight at a special meeting 24 and our -- my goal is to hire officers, to have them 25 stay there rather than hire my best friend, come on and 48 1 we'll go to training and bolster our career and we can 2 move elsewhere. I would like to reward the officers and 3 have them stay for a year or two before we start 4 spending money on training. Salary is much more 5 important. 6 I know the County just increased, what, 7 across the board five percent, which made it even that 8 much more difficult to hire someone to come out to 9 Ingram. 10 We have two -- one officer today -- we're 11 going to offer him a job today and hopefully he'll 12 accept it. We have two that are in background 13 investigation right now. One is from Washington State. 14 He's contesting the state exam next week. He will be in 15 the area soon and probably will be offered the job. He 16 has 17 years experience. 17 I wish I had more information to say. I 18 mean, we're headed in the right direction. That's what 19 I'm telling my officers and my co-workers, I'm telling 20 their spouses and their kids. What we're doing right 21 now is going to be -- is very tough. And it's very 22 tough to do. We're going to be working long hours but 23 it's going to be well worth it. 24 I've also cautioned the community at city 25 council meetings that when we rip off a band-aid, it's 49 1 going to hurt the community. There's been a lot of -- 2 I'm not sure if it's malicious, incompetence or what, 3 but with regard to our budget that was submitted last -- 4 last fall is almost fiction. I don't even know how they 5 got it. So we've hired a forensic accountant to come in 6 again, which seems to be another theme with the City of 7 Ingram. 8 The Mayor and I actually have a pretty good 9 working relationship. Y'all know Mayor Jordan. I 10 believe y'all met before. I told him a few times, you 11 can catch a lot of flies with honey and it's better for 12 maybe me to talk to somebody than for him to come talk 13 because he is very passionate about making Ingram a safe 14 place as it used to be. And I am too. 15 I -- we're closing on a house in Canyon 16 Springs, not too far away. About five miles west of 17 there. So just give us a few months and when I report 18 back -- I don't know how often I do this -- I think 19 things will be great. 20 The other thing I wanted to mention is the 21 Sheriff and I have met a few times. We have discussed 22 the future and where we're moving. We're not looking 23 back. As well as I've done the same with Chief Garcia 24 at Ingram ISD. Apparently there hasn't been that much 25 communication since that department got established. 50 1 And I think it's important because they're less than a 2 mile away from where we are. Especially with what 3 happened in Uvalde. We do have a plan. 4 I'm very impressed with Kerr County law 5 enforcement. I was -- I served briefly on the Kerr 6 County Crime Stoppers Board of Directors and I 7 immediately saw how awesome law enforcement is in Kerr 8 County. 9 So it was easy for me to convince myself to 10 get back into law enforcement and accept the challenge. 11 Does anybody have any questions? 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: No, but I'll tell you, 13 you've got a great Ingram ISD as a sales tool for 14 officers with families. Use that to lure them in. That 15 always helps. Families really want their kids to go to 16 good schools and you've got one there. 17 CHIEF JUENKE: Thank you. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'm sure they will be 19 very supportive. 20 JUDGE KELLY: I would just say welcome to 21 Kerr County. 22 CHIEF JUENKE: Thank you. 23 JUDGE KELLY: We have two incorporated 24 municipalities in the County and that's Ingram and the 25 City of Kerrville. The twin cities, I guess. In any 51 1 event, we're here to work with you and help in any way 2 we can. 3 CHIEF JUENKE: Thank you. 4 SHERIFF LEITHA: I'd like to comment just on 5 that. I've talked to the Chief. There's been question 6 of people in Ingram saying, you know, we don't have any 7 police. I want to assure them, you know, we're stepping 8 in on this role and we are there to protect the 9 citizens. Although, you know, I have shared that, you 10 know, it's kind of a -- we've got one guy on the west to 11 handle that whole area but we kind of prioritize our 12 calls and I guarantee the Chief will help until we can 13 get them filled up. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. And I am learning 15 how to say your name. 16 CHIEF JUENKE: Pardon? 17 JUDGE KELLY: I am learning how to say your 18 name. 19 CHIEF JUENKE: Oh, Juenke. Actually, my dad 20 was in a class at Tivy. We're -- we're from here, so -- 21 JUDGE KELLY: Juenke. I have to learn these 22 German names. 23 Item 1.16 is the recognition of Omar Ortiz, 24 part-time engineering technician, for outstanding work 25 in the Engineering, and Road & Bridge Departments. 52 1 Charlie Hastings. 2 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. Omar Ortiz 3 worked in the Engineering, and Road & Bridge Departments 4 during the summer of 2022 as a temporary part-time 5 engineering technician through an agreement with 6 Schreiner University. During that span, he accomplished 7 much with little to no oversight or instruction. 8 Examples of his work are: He learned to use 9 geographic information system software (QGIS) and 10 developed engineering construction plans using that 11 software. He prepared engineering construction 12 documents. He utilized software to accurately measure 13 construction material quantities. 14 He interacted with the public and solved 15 customer problems, archival and reorganization of 16 department files. He attended development plan review 17 meetings, assisted with construction inspections, 18 assisted with development plan review, and other duties 19 as assigned. That was all the real time stuff right 20 there. 21 Omar is an international student from Mexico 22 City, Mexico. This is his senior year at Schreiner 23 University where he is majoring in mechanical 24 engineering. 25 Omar, would you please stand and be 53 1 recognized. 2 (Applause.) 3 MR. HASTINGS: Come up here real quick so 4 they can -- also, your parents can see you on You Tube. 5 Hopefully his parents are watching now. This is Omar 6 Ortiz, and he was with us this year and he did a 7 fabulous job. Omar, congratulations. Thank you for 8 your hard work. 9 (Applause.) 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So I have a question, 11 Charlie. What did you do while he was there? 12 (Laughter.) 13 MR. HASTINGS: Reviewed subdivisions. 14 (Laughter.) 15 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you, Omar. 16 MR. HASTINGS: And I'll tell you this, 17 anytime the guys take a liking to somebody, that's 18 saying a lot. 19 JUDGE KELLY: The next Agenda Item is 1.17 20 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on a 21 request to abandon, vacate, and discontinue an 22 approximately 900-foot portion of Stewart Junkin Road. 23 Said road to be replaced with a different alignment 24 approximately 150 feet east of its current intersection 25 with River Road. Charlie Hastings. 54 1 MR. HASTINGS: A public hearing was held 2 August the 8th, 2022. An adjacent property owner spoke 3 against this proposed realignment stating it affects his 4 property. He said his property includes a 7-foot wide 5 strip between the edge of the existing road and his 6 property line. 7 The developer/contractor has submitted 8 property deeds for some areas along the existing 9 roadway. There is a defined right-of-way easement in 10 Volume 5, Page 13. It is not in your packet. We found 11 it this morning. It is right there. It can be handed 12 out. And it's on the said adjacent property owner's 13 property that includes the 7-foot wide strip between the 14 edge of the existing road and his property line. That 15 is a right-of-way easement, Volume 5, Page 13. 16 I believe it was filed in 1967, and it is 17 right-of-way dedicated to Kerr County, Texas for the 18 free and uninterrupted use, liberty, and privilege of 19 the passage in, along, upon, and across the following 20 lands, etc., etc. And then it describes that it is a 21 strip of land 30-feet wide lying 15 feet on each side of 22 the center line. And then it's not the center line of 23 the road; it's the center line as described, beginning 24 at a point 15 feet west of the east fence line. And 25 then thence along a line parallel to 15 feet west of the 55 1 property fence. 2 So it's very clear that there is 3 right-of-way easement dedicated back in 1967 on the 4 adjacent property owner who spoke against this, and that 5 there is no gap between that right-of-way and the fence 6 line. They're contiguous. They're right on top of each 7 other. 8 The County Engineer requests the Court 9 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action for a 10 petition to abandon, vacate, and discontinue an 11 approximately 900-foot portion of Stewart Junkin Road, 12 subject to the construction of a replacement road with a 13 different alignment approximately 150 feet east of its 14 current intersection with River Road, in conformance 15 with the plans and specifications titled "Stewart Junkin 16 Road" signed and sealed by John M. Hewitt, P.E. #66142, 17 dated May 13th, 19 -- 2022. 18 The existing Stewart Junkin Road alignment 19 shall remain in full effect until such time the new 20 alignment construction has been completed and accepted 21 by the Commissioners Court, at which time the new 22 right-of-way for said road and final acceptance of the 23 road will be considered by the Court. 24 Final acceptance of the petition to abandon, 25 vacate, and discontinue the road as well as acceptance 56 1 of the new road alignment and right-of-way would be 2 brought back to the court for consideration at a future 3 court meeting. Precinct 4. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, we had a lot of 5 discussion on it a couple weeks ago and what have you. 6 Everyone pumped the brakes and make sure all our T's are 7 crossed and I's dotted and -- and then the more we 8 looked into it, the more comfortable I am. I was 9 comfortable then, I'm comfortable now, so I move for 10 approval. 11 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 12 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 13 second to approve moving the right-of-way for Stewart 14 Junkin Road as presented in the public meeting and again 15 here today. Any discussion? Yes. But I'm -- I'm 16 inviting the Court for their observations or discussions 17 first. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I just like, one, 19 for it to be stated in plain terms what it means for 20 everybody. It only concerns two property owners, but 21 it's instructive for everybody that these things are all 22 over the county. So, Charlie? 23 MR. HASTINGS: There's a dedicated 24 right-of-way and the road would be realigned and where 25 it ties back in is slightly different. It puts a bend 57 1 in the road within that right-of-way easement on the 2 adjacent property owner's property. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So it didn't affect 4 the -- the objection to it was that the adjacent 5 property owner said he was being affected by that. It 6 turned out he was not. It's not taking anything away 7 from him. 8 MR. HASTINGS: It's not taking anything 9 away. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 11 MRS. STEBBINS: In the rules -- 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I just want to make 13 sure everybody understands. 14 MRS. STEBBINS: The rules that allow y'all 15 to abandon, discontinue, and vacate a road have been 16 complied with and this realignment provides for the 17 alternate route that's also required by the rules. So I 18 think all of the requirements have been satisfied. 19 JUDGE KELLY: So the County Attorney 20 approves of the realignment? 21 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And there's one other 23 thing -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: Is there any -- 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- going back in and 58 1 finding original documents is really important. I had a 2 guy tell me this last week that he had a letter from the 3 County, an agreement about a road that was supposed to 4 be taken care of, and I said if you can produce that 5 letter it will be a game changer for you. And I have 6 not heard back from him. So a lot of this is family 7 lore. A lot of what we deal with in Kerr County is 8 grandpa told daddy, and daddy told grandson, and we 9 always believed it to be that way but you've got to have 10 that proof. 11 MR. HASTINGS: There's one more document. 12 At Volume 87, Page 310, and I believe this is the 13 Partition D, when -- when the property was bigger and it 14 got partitioned and the road existed through there, 15 there's a statement on Page 312, about a third of the 16 way down, that says that: It is further agreed among 17 the partitioners hereto that the holders of the above 18 tract of land as set out shall have a perpetual easement 19 along, over, and across said road as the same now 20 exists, or a road that's equivalent convenience for the 21 purpose of ingress and egress. This is a road of 22 equivalent convenience. So it -- it's in the deed that 23 the road may change but you'll always have a way in and 24 out. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Mr. Holmgreen, do you 59 1 want to address the Court? 2 MR. HOLMGREEN: Yes, sir, I would like to. 3 My name is Jack Holmgreen and I am the owner 4 of that property that's adjacent that I gave some 5 objection to last time. What I'm trying to do here is 6 discuss the fact that the person who is developing this 7 new road does not have any right to do anything on this 8 particular easement. Easements are granted by the 9 landowners to certain entities to do certain things. 10 And that has been done. 11 It's there, and it's perfectly useable. It 12 doesn't need to be changed; however, it's being changed 13 by somebody that has not got a -- is not one of the 14 entities that it was grant -- that an easement was 15 granted to. It was granted to the County. The County 16 is not doing this work. An individual is. 17 I thought that it would being easier if I 18 would allow him to use my property to do his work, until 19 he said he's going to now donate all this to the County. 20 An easement does not transfer title. It just grants use 21 of the land. This guy doesn't have that privilege. I 22 wanted to give him that privilege. And I have a lease 23 that would allow him that one specific use exclusively. 24 He could put his connection on my property since he has 25 no authority to do it yet. I would give it to him. 60 1 And it's very similar to the way a easement 2 is granted. There is no transfer of title. I still own 3 it. I'm just offering the use of it to a specific 4 person for a specific reason. And I think that that 5 should be -- 6 JUDGE KELLY: That's the $10,000 for 50 7 years? 8 MR. HOLMGREEN: Absolutely. That is 9 one-quarter of what that size property would be leased 10 for for that period of time. That's what I do as a 11 business. I have several properties. Kendall County, 12 Kimball County, Kerr County. All of these were -- are 13 usually triple net leased. I wasn't having -- this 14 lease does not require him to pay the taxes or supply me 15 with an insurance policy. 16 JUDGE KELLY: What part of his property are 17 you trying to get him to lease? 18 MR. HOLMGREEN: The part that he wants to 19 pave over. 20 JUDGE KELLY: The seven foot? 21 MR. HOLMGREEN: Yes. By 150 feet long. 22 It's a thousand -- one thousand and one square feet. 23 And he has no authority to do that. Now, the County can 24 do it. The utilities can do it. 25 JUDGE KELLY: I don't -- show -- show me a 61 1 plat. I -- I don't understand the 150 feet of this. 2 What are you talking about? 3 MR. HOLMGREEN: It -- the road is here and 4 he's coming in a huge angle -- 5 JUDGE KELLY: It's -- it's like -- get -- 6 get some paper here. This is important. Show us. 7 MR. HOLMGREEN: Well, I can show you -- I 8 have only these little tiny pieces. We showed the plat 9 last time when I spoke. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Well, my understanding is from 11 listening to the County Engineer and the County 12 Attorney, is that there's an existing easement that can 13 be moved, the question is to move it, and we're okay 14 with that. 15 MR. HOLMGREEN: But -- 16 JUDGE KELLY: What is he leasing from you? 17 MR. HOLMGREEN: The part that he wants to 18 pave over. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Isn't that part of the 20 easement now? 21 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. 22 MR. HOLMGREEN: It's part of the easement, 23 but he has no authority to do anything in that but be on 24 the road in transit. It's only the County or the 25 utilities that have the right to use that easement. Not 62 1 anybody that walks around can -- can go put a fireworks 2 stand on it or something. They can't do that. They 3 don't have any authority. 4 JUDGE KELLY: So that part of the road that 5 runs down the, what is that, the east property line? 6 Northeast? 7 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Is going to be paved? 9 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Is it paved now? 11 MR. HASTINGS: There's pavement that does 12 not go across that portion of the easement. It -- it 13 will have a curve in it now. So yes. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. But -- but the -- the 15 paved road that's going in is going to be either on the 16 easement or allowed by the easement? 17 MR. HASTINGS: It's allowed by the easement 18 and -- and in the easement. 19 JUDGE KELLY: And it is equivalent access. 20 But you want somebody to pay for it? 21 MR. HOLMGREEN: I want somebody to 22 compensate me for taking that property and using it 23 himself, rather than County. If the County wants to 24 come in there and pave that and do the work, I have no 25 objection whatsoever. 63 1 JUDGE KELLY: So you don't object to the 2 paved road, you just object to who's doing it? 3 MR. HOLMGREEN: That's right. 4 JUDGE KELLY: And you want them to pay you 5 $10,000.00 just to be able to pave the road. 6 MR. HOLMGREEN: To use that property, 7 correct, for the next 50 years. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. I think I understand. 9 I think I understand what's going on here. Any other 10 discussion? Did anybody else want to address the Court? 11 Okay. Anything else, Mr. Holmgreen? 12 MR. HOLMGREEN: Well, if you'd like to see a 13 copy of the very simple arrangement that I was offering 14 him. 15 JUDGE KELLY: We're not involved in that 16 arrangement. That's between you two -- 17 MR. HOLMGREEN: All right. 18 JUDGE KELLY: -- if you do it at all. 19 MR. HOLMGREEN: All right. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Ms. Dowdy. 21 MRS. DOWDY: Is there going to be a court 22 order prepared or -- 23 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. 24 MRS. DOWDY: You know, because mine's just 25 the minutes basically of what happens, but is there 64 1 going to be something presented to me as far as -- 2 JUDGE KELLY: Of course. There's going to 3 be a real document to be filed in the deed records. 4 MRS. DOWDY: Fantastic. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion on this 6 conflict? We've got a motion and a second to approve it 7 as it's been presented by our County Engineer. Those in 8 favor raise your hand. Unanimous, four zero. Thank 9 you. 10 Moving on to the next topic. Item 1.18 11 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to set a 12 public hearing for September 26th, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. to 13 name a six-tenths of a mile private access easement road 14 off of 277 -- is that Hasenwinkle -- 15 MR. HASTINGS: Hasenwinkle. 16 JUDGE KELLY: -- Hasenwinkle Road, as it 17 serves as the only access to Hasenwinkle Road for all 18 three lots of the 800-acre proposed Hall Ranch 19 Subdivision, in the interest of public health, safety, 20 and welfare, and as recommended by Kerr 911. Charlie 21 Hastings. This is in Precinct 3. 22 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. 23 Hall Ranch is a proposed 800-acre, 3-lot 24 subdivision off of Hasenwinkle Road in Precinct 3. A 25 concept plan for this subdivision was presented to the 65 1 Court in December of 2021, a preliminary plat in 2 February 2022. The construction plans are complete, and 3 the final plat has been prepared but lacks a Kerr 911 4 approved street name for the proposed 0.9 mile privately 5 maintained road. It is proposed to be named Hall Ranch 6 Road. 7 This road connects to Hasenwinkle Road 8 through a 0.6-mile-long private access easement road 9 that runs through the property located at 277 10 Hasenwinkle Road. Said private access easement road, 11 although commonly referred to as "Guilanshah Road," is 12 currently officially unnamed, which presents a public 13 health, safety, and welfare issue concerning emergency 14 services being able to locate the proposed subdivision 15 road. 16 If the existing private access easement road 17 is formally named Guilanshah Road, the developer of Hall 18 Ranch will change the name of his proposed Hall Ranch 19 Road to Guilanshah Road also, as it is a continuation of 20 the same road. 21 County Engineer recommends that the Court 22 set a public hearing for September 26th, 2022 at 10:00 23 a.m. to name a 0.6-mile private access easement road, 24 Guilanshah Road. We're asking you to name it Guilanshah 25 Road. Said road is located at 277 Hasenwinkle Road, as 66 1 it serves as the only access to Hasenwinkle Road for all 2 three lots of the 800-acre proposed Hall Ranch 3 Subdivision in the interest of public health, safety, 4 and welfare as recommended by Kerr 911. Precinct 3. 5 And I will add that I have spoken with Curt 6 Guilanshah, who's the owner of 277 Hasenwinkle Road, and 7 he'd be delighted for that to be named Guilanshah Road. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Since Commissioner 10 Letz isn't here, I'll move for approval. 11 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I'll second that. 12 JUDGE KELLY: We got a motion and a second 13 to approve the public hearing for the proposed 14 Guilanshah Road as amended. Any discussion? Those in 15 favor? Unanimous. 16 Next Item is 1.19 consider, discuss and take 17 appropriate action for the Court to approve a final plat 18 for Creekside at Camp Verde-Phase 2 and accept Bond No. 19 0814615 in the amount of $1,271,784.00 for associated 20 construction improvements. Kerr County Commissioners' 21 Court will not certify that complying with Kerr County 22 Water Availability Requirements insures the developer or 23 prospective lot owner that adequate groundwater is 24 available under any subdivision or lot. Mr. Hastings. 25 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. 67 1 A concept plan proposing 179 lots on a 2 1,039.84-acre tract was presented to the Court on 3 April 12th, 2021. This final plat is for Phase 2 of the 4 proposed subdivision, and it proposes 71 lots, greater 5 than five acres each, with five roads. 6 The final plat for Creekside at Camp 7 Verde-Phase 1, it was 103 lots on 589.5 acres, was 8 approved February 14th, 2022 by Court Order No. 39197. 9 Primary access to both phases will be from FM 480. All 10 proposed improvements in the floodplain must meet 11 floodplain regulations. 12 Lot sizes were based on Kerr County 13 Subdivision Rules and Regulations; however, this 14 subdivision, Phase 2, falls within Headwater Groundwater 15 Conservation District's recently-adopted East Kerr 16 Management Zone which now requires larger tracts for 17 private wells. 18 Section 5.01.D.2 of the Kerr County 19 Subdivision Rules says in part: Complying with these 20 requirements does not insure the developer or 21 prospective lot owner that adequate groundwater is 22 available under any subdivision or lot. Kerr County 23 Water Availability Requirements do not reflect other 24 requirements that may be placed on water usage by other 25 entities. 68 1 Note 15 on the plat says -- they placed a 2 note on the plat that says, "Kerr County Commissioners 3 Court does not certify that complying with Kerr County 4 Water Availability Requirements insures the developer or 5 prospective lot owner that adequate groundwater is 6 available under any subdivision or lot." 7 County Engineer requests the Court consider, 8 discuss, and take appropriate action to approve a final 9 plat for Creekside at Camp Verde-Phase 2 and accept 10 Bond No. 0814615, in the amount of $1,271,784.00 for 11 associated construction improvements. Kerr County 12 Commissioners' Court does not certify that complying 13 with Kerr County Water Availability Requirements insures 14 the developer or prospective lot owner that adequate 15 groundwater is available under any subdivision or lot. 16 Precinct 2. 17 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I'll move for 18 approval. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 21 approve the final plat approval and accept the bond as 22 presented for Creekside at Camp Verde-Phase 2. 23 And just so that the public understands, and 24 Charlie, we -- we know that this is part of the 25 transitioning from the existing Subdivision Rules that 69 1 we're in the process of revising, and the fact that 2 Headwaters Groundwater Conservation District has changed 3 some of their regulations since this was originally 4 approved. And whatever the Headwaters Regulations are 5 is not something that we determine. 6 So -- and this will be addressed in our 7 revised Subdivision Rules. Because our -- our existing 8 Subdivision Rules allowed over five acre lots. And 9 that's for platting purposes. But we don't have 10 anything to do with surveying water. That's done by 11 Headwaters. And so what this is is a disclaimer to 12 acknowledge that Headwaters has their own regulations 13 with regard to permitting and we're not guaranteeing 14 that there's enough water under there for them to be 15 able to do what they want to do. 16 This is the beginning of the new 17 developments in Kerr County. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is there a water source 19 besides wells? Is there going to be? 20 MR. HASTINGS: Not that I know of. 21 MR. MULLINS: Good morning. I'm Dan 22 Mullins. I'm with Southerland Communities with the 23 developer here. And we actually did a water 24 availability study here. We didn't have to. Because at 25 the time when we bought the ranch, we had our master 70 1 plan approved, we didn't have to do one. We did one 2 anyways. It took a couple months to get it done, get 3 the report done, get it submitted to the Groundwater 4 district. It was submitted to the Groundwater district. 5 Actually got an e-mail back saying it looked good. And 6 there's good groundwater here. 7 And, you know, where we are in the situation 8 is the Groundwater District changed its rules. They did 9 it -- they did it as quietly as they possibly could and 10 then they told me well, we didn't want you to find out 11 because you could have gotten your plat approved a 12 little quicker. So if -- if we'd gotten -- if we hadn't 13 done the groundwater availability study we'd be a couple 14 months ahead and it wouldn't have been an issue anyways. 15 But I'm just -- where we are is they changed 16 their rules. We asked for a variance to them. We 17 didn't just ask for a variance to them, we didn't say we 18 just want five-acre tracts. We said if you will let us 19 do five-acre tracts, we will -- we will make them be 20 permitted wells. 21 Now, a permitted well can be regulated 22 during drought restrictions. But when you look at the 23 cap of what an exempt well can use, it's roughly 25,000 24 gallons a day. 25 And what is it now in -- in the current 71 1 drought stage, guys? Is it -- it's -- on a five-acre 2 tract -- Rich, I know you know it to the -- to the 3 decimal. What is it, 570 gallons a day, 600 gallons a 4 day? 5 MR. PACES: I don't know off the top of my 6 head. 7 MR. MULLINS: It's significantly -- 8 significantly less. That's -- that's what we offered. 9 We were told by the Groundwater District well, we can't 10 do that because that's not the way we operate. My 11 question for them is why not? If you got somebody 12 that's willing to develop with permitted wells, not 13 exempt wells where you can regulate it, why don't you 14 take that? Because five-acre tracts with permitted 15 wells use a lot less water than seven-acre tracts. 16 That's just me getting that part off my chest and 17 we're -- we're in compliance with the County rules and 18 we ask that you approve the plat. 19 JUDGE KELLY: But you understand the dilemma 20 we're in. And all we're doing is putting a disclaimer 21 on the plat that you have issues with Headwaters that we 22 can't solve. 23 MR. MULLINS: Yes. And that's -- they've -- 24 they've disapproved our variance request and we've 25 appealed that. So that is not final. 72 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You drilled two wells 2 out there, didn't you? 3 MR. MULLINS: We did. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. And they both 5 showed about the same thing? 6 MR. MULLINS: Yes, sir. I can't remember 7 off the top of my head exactly what it was. It was 8 something we sent out in -- you know, probably a year 9 ago to -- to you guys and the Groundwater District. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. 11 MR. MULLINS: But yeah, they're -- they're 12 good wells. 13 JUDGE KELLY: We didn't require it but you 14 did it and we appreciate it. But we don't control 15 permitting. You -- you understand that? 16 MR. MULLINS: I understand that. 17 JUDGE KELLY: So we're -- we're not meddling 18 in Headwaters business and I don't think they're 19 meddling in ours either. Just the difference between 20 platting and permitting. And I've been wondering how 21 this was going to eventually get resolved. What we have 22 before us today is your request for us to go ahead and 23 approve the final plat with this disclaimer put on 24 there? 25 MR. MULLINS: Yes, sir. 73 1 JUDGE KELLY: And accept your bond. Any 2 other discussion about that? Anybody else want to 3 speak? 4 MR. JONES: Oh, no. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Very well. Those in favor 6 raise your hand. Unanimous. 7 Thank you, Mr. Mullins. 8 MR. MULLINS: Thank you. 9 JUDGE KELLY: If you're wondering what would 10 have happened if we hadn't voted and approved it, we 11 would have 30 days to provide written notice of exactly 12 what it is in our Subdivision Rules did not qualify them 13 to be able to have a plat on that property and failing 14 which it is automatically approved. So what we did was 15 unanimous. What we had to do. 16 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Our existing rule 17 book. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Oh. I want to add one 19 little note to this, and that is that you guys were 20 thrown a curve ball and you did everything that you 21 should do and we were -- we've actually -- I know I 22 think everybody here has used y'all as an example of how 23 to do it -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: Right. You're the poster 25 child. 74 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- and do it right. 2 Yeah. You're the poster child for doing it right. And 3 you got a little curve ball thrown at you. But this 4 demonstrates what's happening in Kerr County. The 5 growth that we're going through, it's a faster pace than 6 we're used to. We've got to make sure everybody has 7 enough water. And if we don't have enough water, that 8 hurts everybody. Not just new developers. So it's -- 9 it's growing pains. And you guys, you know, got -- got 10 caught in it. 11 JUDGE KELLY: You're in the -- on the front 12 line trench. But we're going to get through it. We're 13 going to get through it. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, this is where 15 they came up with that phrase, "No good deed goes 16 unpunished." So I'm just sorry, guys, to see it happen. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Moving on. Item 1.20 18 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action for the 19 Court to approve a revision of plat for the Reserve at 20 Falling Water, Lots 31R1 and 31R2. Mr. Hastings. 21 MR. HASTINGS: This proposal combines Lot 22 31R1 and 31R2, they're currently 6.2 acres each, into 23 Lot 31R3 (12.4 acres). Road frontage will remain on 24 Painted Sky. 25 County Engineer requests the Court to 75 1 approve a revision of plat for The Reserve at Falling 2 Water Lots 31R1 and 31R2, Plat File #18-06888, 3 Precinct 3. And the public hearing was conducted 4 August 8th, 2022. 5 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I'll move for 6 approval. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 9 approve a revision of plat for The Reserve at Falling 10 Water as presented. Any discussion? Those in favor 11 raise your hand. Unanimous, four zero. 12 And the last timed item that we have at 13 10 o'clock -- we're running behind as you can see -- is 14 to consider, discuss and take appropriate action for the 15 Court to approve a revision of plat for R.H. Ranch, 16 Lot 9. Mr. Hastings. 17 MR. HASTINGS: This proposal revises part 18 of Lot 9, 50.4 acres out of 99.5 acres as platted. Lot 19 9A will be 12.61 acres, Lot 9B will be 12.62 acres, and 20 Lot 9C will be 25.17 acres. Frontage for all lots will 21 remain on Byas Springs Road. 22 The County Engineer requests the Court 23 approve a revision of plat for R.H. Ranch Lot 9, Volume 24 3, Page 84, Precinct 4. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'll move for 76 1 approval. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 4 approve the revision of plat for R.H. Ranch Lot 9 as 5 presented. Any discussion? 6 MS. DOWDY: Who made the second? 7 JUDGE KELLY: Commissioner Belew. 8 There being no discussion, those in favor 9 raise your hand. Unanimous. 10 Okay. Everyone that's got your Agenda, we 11 have finished the timed items so we're going to go back 12 to where we stopped before, which is at Item 1.5 and 13 1.4. And I'm going to call those at the same time -- 14 call 1.5 first, which is to consider, discuss and take 15 appropriate action to rescind Court Order #39098, 16 approving a lease agreement for a vehicle for Constable 17 Precinct 4. Purchase was cancelled by manufacturer. 18 CONSTABLE RIDER: Yes, sir. As the Court 19 knows, we've been arguing back and forth about a vehicle 20 for over a year. And at this time last year, the Court 21 approved this Court Order number for a number, then it 22 got changed back in December for delivery in May, which 23 that never happened. So I'm asking that that Court 24 Order be rescinded and we'll just mug along with the 25 vehicle we've got. 77 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So we'll rescind that 2 Order. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And I'll move for 4 approval to rescind that Order. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We got a motion and a 7 second to approve to rescind the Order that we issued 8 last year to lease the vehicle that was cancelled by the 9 manufacturer. Any discussion? Those in favor raise 10 your hand. Okay. We got that part of it done, Brad. 11 Now let's go to Item 1.4, which is consider, 12 discuss and take appropriate action on a request to 13 purchase a new vehicle camera system to come out of the 14 Capital Outlay fund allocated in the current budget for 15 a new vehicle camera system at $5,400 and installation 16 fee of $500. Constable Rider. 17 CONSTABLE RIDER: Yes, sir. That money we 18 just spoke of, I'd like to use that to purchase a new 19 camera system for the vehicle. My current camera is the 20 old DVD style, which is outdated for one. Two, I can't 21 hardly get the DVDs. Three, it just kinda on it's own 22 quit, so -- 23 JUDGE KELLY: Well, you're keeping the old 24 truck but you're going to put a new camera system in it? 25 CONSTABLE RIDER: Yes, sir. I do have a 78 1 quote here from Motorola Solutions for a value of $5,355 2 for a grand total of the video camera system. That it 3 does not include installation. If this gets approved, I 4 send them a PO, they send the material here locally to 5 Advantage, and Advantage says that they charge $95 an 6 hour, and anywhere from four to six hours for 7 installation. So that's where in the motion it shows 8 approximately $5,400 and installation is approximately 9 $500. That's where those numbers come from. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Not to exceed. 11 CONSTABLE RIDER: Yes, sir. Not to exceed. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 13 CONSTABLE RIDER: And I believe if you need 14 to -- I think there's $6,286.00 in that allotted budget 15 line. So just so you know. 16 JUDGE KELLY: That's going to be between you 17 and the Auditor, but it'll get worked out. 18 CONSTABLE RIDER: Well, I think we talked. 19 But I just wanted the Court to know. 20 JUDGE KELLY: We understand. 21 CONSTABLE RIDER: Okay. 22 JUDGE KELLY: We appreciate you cooperating 23 with us under these circumstances. We've got a motion 24 and a second. Don't we? 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: No. But I'll make a 79 1 motion. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: (Raises hand.) 3 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion, and then 4 Commissioner Belew seconded. 5 MRS. DOWDY: Not to exceed a certain amount 6 a certain amount? 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Not to exceed -- 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, he's got a line 9 item. Budget line item. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. And those in favor 11 raise your hand. Unanimous. 12 Thank you, Brad. We appreciate it. 13 CONSTABLE RIDER: Thank you. 14 JUDGE KELLY: 1.6 consider, discuss and 15 approve -- consider, discuss and take appropriate action 16 on ordering the general election for November 8th, 2022. 17 Mr. Reeves. 18 MR. REEVES: Good morning, gentlemen. As we 19 approach the general election, I respectfully request 20 the Court to order an election in -- for the purpose of 21 electing County and Precinct officers as required by 22 Sections 3.004 and 3.005 of the Texas Election Code. 23 This will include the 198th District Judge, 24 the County Judge, County Court at Law Judge, District 25 Clerk, County Clerk, County Treasurer, County Surveyor, 80 1 County Commissioners from Precincts 2 and 4, the Justice 2 of the Peace for Precincts 1, 2, 3 and 4, and Constable 3 Precinct Number 3 unexpired term. 4 Early voting will be held at the Hill 5 Country Youth Event Center and for now the Ingram ISD 6 Administration Building as it's known right now. Early 7 voting will be held on October 24th through 28th, that's 8 Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday, 9 October 29, 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Then from October 31 10 through November 4, 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. 11 I respectfully request the Court to order 12 such election, and the County Judge to sign such order. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Move for approval. 14 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 16 approve ordering the general election for November 8th, 17 2022. Any discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. 18 Unanimous, four zero. 19 Don't move, Bob. 20 1.7 consider, discuss and take appropriate 21 -- and approve the appointment of Election Judges and 22 Alternates for the term of one year in accordance with 23 the Texas Election Code, Section 32. Mr. Reeves. 24 MR. REEVES: Yes, sir, Judge. Just as you 25 cited the Code, in your backup material is a list of the 81 1 judges. The judges are appointed by the party which is 2 in control of the Governor's office, the alternate 3 judges are appointed by the other party. 4 And in your backup material, all of the 5 judges have been submitted to our office by the 6 Republican party. There is still, it looks like, five 7 alternate judges to be named later. But at this time, I 8 would like the Court to approve such appointments. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 10 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 13 approve the appointment of the election judges and 14 alternates for one-year term as presented. Any 15 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 16 Moving on to 1.8 consider, discuss and 17 approve the polling locations in accordance with Chapter 18 43 of the Texas Election Code for the November, 2022 19 election. 20 MR. REEVES: Yes, sir. In your backup 21 material we have -- we'll have 20 polling places in the 22 November general election. I would like to point out 23 all of them with the exception of Precinct 119 would be 24 the same as on the March primary. Precinct 119 will be 25 moving from the Inn of the Hills to the Riverside Church 82 1 of Christ. I would like to thank Commissioner Belew for 2 giving us some possible locations and this one worked 3 out very good and I think it will be a good location. 4 In addition, I've already mentioned the two 5 early voting locations. I respectfully ask the Court to 6 approve such. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 8 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 10 approve the polling locations as presented. Any 11 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 12 four zero. 13 1.9 consider, discuss and take appropriate 14 action to approve the Central Counting Station Personnel 15 pursuant to Chapter 127.005 for the next election. 16 Mr. Reeves. 17 MR. REEVES: Yes, sir. As noted in the 18 agenda item the presiding manager of the Central 19 Counting Station will be Nadene Alford, the Judge Linda 20 Bowman, the Alternate Judge has not been appointed yet 21 by the respective party. 22 Tabulating Supervisor, Cintia Tejeda. 23 Assistant Tabulating Supervisor, Ana Toca. The Clerks, 24 Mimi Valverde, Cindy Hernandez, Teresa Walker, Julie 25 Lara. The Clerks for the Secretary of State Data Entry, 83 1 Missy Andres, Jamie McClintock. The website and IT, 2 Bruce Motheral. 3 I respectfully ask the Court to approve 4 such. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 6 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 8 approve the Central Counting Station Personnel as 9 presented. Any discussion? Those in favor raise your 10 hand. Unanimous, four zero. 11 MR. REEVES: Thank you, gentlemen. 12 JUDGE KELLY: As you leave, Bob, I want to 13 thank you for all you've done to get us ready for the 14 election and the work that's coming up, I know. And I 15 want to acknowledge Nadene Alford and send her to the 16 podium to the public can see her face because this is 17 the brains behind the whole show. 18 MS. ALFORD: Thank you. 19 MR. REEVES: That is absolutely correct. 20 (Applause.) 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: She does a pretty good 22 job of hiding. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Well, you know, today's been 24 good for us because we've had a chance to recognize some 25 of our employees. And we don't get to do that often. 84 1 And let me tell you, Kerr County employees are the best 2 in the world. They truly are. I can't tell you how 3 dedicated they are and how much we appreciate what they 4 do for us. All of them. That's my two cents worth. 5 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Amen. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Moving on to Item 1.10 7 consider, discuss and take action to approve revised 8 payroll schedule for FY 2022-2023. 9 MS. SOLDAN: What I gave you is actually 10 wrong, so we'll use this one. 11 Good morning. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Good morning. 13 MS. SOLDAN: This is just to change the next 14 year's fiscal pay date schedule, same as we did when we 15 adjusted this year's a couple weeks ago to allow for the 16 first payday in September of 2023 to not have any health 17 insurance deduction while open enrollment figures are 18 calculated. So rather than having it be the third 19 payday that we don't deduct, it's the first payday. 20 JUDGE KELLY: And this is really to 21 accommodate our employees for getting paid and not put 22 extra burden and hardship on them. 23 MS. SOLDAN: Correct. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 85 1 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 2 approve the revised fiscal year 22-23 pay date schedule. 3 Any discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. 4 Unanimous, four zero. Thank you, Miss Soldan. 5 1.11 consider, discuss and take appropriate 6 action to approve the Kerr County Investment Policy, 7 Texas Government Code 22556.005(e) and the Broker/Dealer 8 List for Kerr County's Investment Policy in accordance 9 with the Public Funds Investment Act, which is Texas 10 Government Code 2256.005(k). Ms. Soldan. 11 MS. SOLDAN: Yes, sir. I have to bring this 12 investment policy to you annually. I did make some 13 updates to it. If you want to follow along, I have some 14 bullet points I'll tell. 15 Page 2, I changed the Yield -- page 2, 3.d, 16 I changed the Yield -- changed to the weighted average 17 maturity from six months to nine months. 18 Page 3, 4.a, Operating Funds and Commingled 19 Pools, changed the maximum weighted average maturity 20 from six months to nine months. 21 Page 3, 4.b, Debt Service Funds. Again, 22 changed max weighted average maturity from six months to 23 nine months. 24 Page 5, 9.b, Authorized Investments. 25 Changed 12 to 24 months. 86 1 Page 6, 9.h, Authorized Investments. 2 Changed one year to two years to match that 9.b. 3 And then Page 7, added "including letters of 4 credit" and "the Federal Home Loan Banks" to the 5 Authorized Collateral section for Time and Demand 6 Deposits. 7 Oh, and then also on Page 9, changed length 8 of time to go out for depository bids from five years to 9 six years. I don't know where that five years came from 10 because it's actually four or six years. So by changing 11 it to six years, I can go out more frequently if we need 12 to, but six years is the max. 13 So these changes really are -- the first 14 changes are really to allow me to look at longer term 15 investments and case rates are higher in a lower rate 16 market. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Well, with the economic 18 conditions today and the fluctuation of rates, going out 19 for longer periods of time seems prudent to me. And 20 those with better average. 21 So I'll make a motion that we go ahead and 22 approve the Investment Policy and the Broker/Dealer List 23 for Kerr County's Investment Policy as presented. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 87 1 Any discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Four 2 zero, unanimous. 3 MS. SOLDAN: Thank you. 4 JUDGE KELLY: You're so controversial, 5 Ms. Soldan. 6 Okay. Moving on to Item 1.12 consider, 7 discuss and take appropriate action to approve the 8 Interlocal Agreement between Kerr and Kinney County for 9 jail services and allow the County Judge to sign same. 10 Sheriff. 11 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes. Okay, Commissioners 12 Court and Judge. The following two will be pretty 13 similar, just different counties. I'm asking y'all to 14 approve an Interlocal Cooperation Agreement between Kerr 15 and Kinney County to house their prisoners. We're 16 starting to get a lot more requests. This is at the new 17 rate of $65.00. Actually, they already have some more, 18 we're just going to be raising the rate in October, so I 19 just needed to get y'all to approve that. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 23 approve the Interlocal Agreement for jail services with 24 Kinney County. Any discussion? Those in favor raise 25 your hand. Unanimous. 88 1 1.13 consider, discuss and take appropriate 2 action to approve the Interlocal Agreement between Kerr 3 County and Blanco County for jail services and allow 4 County Judge to sign the same. Sheriff. 5 SHERIFF LEITHA: Pretty much the exact same, 6 since we're going up, we need to see if y'all can 7 approve this and get it signed. We will be taking like 8 the -- all of our out-of-county inmates up to $65 and 9 will be effective October 1, just like with Kinney 10 County. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 12 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 14 approve the agreement with Blanco County for jail 15 services as presented. Any discussion? Those in favor 16 raise your hand. Unanimous, four zero. 17 Item 1.14 consider, discuss and take 18 appropriate action to approve the Proposal to the 19 Agreement for Inmate Healthcare Services between Kerr 20 County and Wellpath, LLC, and allow the County Judge to 21 sign same. Sheriff. 22 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes. Commissioners Court 23 and Judge, we have services with Wellpath. We've got a 24 five-year contract but in the contract every year it 25 goes up 3.5 percent, so that's pretty much what this is, 89 1 raises the -- we do have it in the budget. The County 2 Attorney has looked at this and approved it. So it's 3 just a raise and it is in the budget. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 5 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Motion and a second to approve 7 the Agreement for Inmate Healthcare Services with 8 Wellpath as presented. Any discussion? Those in favor 9 raise your hand. Unanimous, four zero. 10 SHERIFF LEITHA: Thank y'all. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you, Sheriff. 12 Okay. Turn the page to Item 1.22, that's 13 where we're picking up after the timed items. Consider, 14 discuss and take appropriate action regarding any 15 changes to the proposed Kerr County Budget for fiscal 16 year 2022-2023. Ms. Shelton. 17 MS. SHELTON: Yes. We may have a few 18 changes that we're looking at. We've heard from the 19 Medina County for the PDO contribution is going to be 20 $359,000 roughly. So that will be some savings that 21 we'll put in there. Probably moving it to the payroll 22 contingency line item, that would be what I would 23 recommend, rather than lowering the budget so it will 24 not have any change on the net effect. 25 I know the Magistrate position, we had had 90 1 it at part-time and so it's going to have to go to full 2 time so we'll need to add benefits to that. So that's 3 going to eat into some of the savings that we see with 4 the PDO. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. And before you get away 6 from that, we had a meeting last week with all the 7 prosecutors, all the judges, everybody, all the J.P.s, 8 the County Attorney and we talked about this SB6. And 9 the -- I'm not going to say consensus, the unanimous 10 decision of the group was that halftime magistrate can't 11 do that job; it's going to have to be a full time. And 12 that affects the budget. 13 And I thought it was a very instructive and 14 thorough discussion of what services have to be provided 15 by that SB6, which again is unfunded mandate that we 16 have to deal with. I didn't mean to interrupt, I just 17 wanted the people to understand. We had to adjust the 18 budget because the legislature tells us we've got to do 19 things that we've got to find the money to do it. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm glad you said it 21 because I was going to ask. 22 JUDGE KELLY: I'm sorry, Miss Shelton. 23 Please continue. 24 MS. SHELTON: The other ones are probably 25 more minor. We're still working with HR and looking at 91 1 the position schedule, getting it firmed up. There's 2 about probably a handful that we have on there that we 3 are still discussing. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Is there any action we need to 5 take today? 6 MS. SHELTON: There's not. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Thank you. 8 Let's move on to Item 1.23 consider, discuss 9 and take action to accept the Order Setting the Salaries 10 for the County Auditor and the Assistant County Auditor, 11 pursuant to the Texas Local Government Code, Section 12 152.031, and that the effective date be October 1, 2022. 13 This is just routine? We do it every year? 14 MS. SHELTON: This is routine. A public 15 hearing was held on August the 8th, and you have before 16 you the District Judges Order for the salaries. 17 JUDGE KELLY: And again, so the public 18 understands what we're doing, the County does not hire 19 the County Auditor. The District Judges hire the County 20 Auditor to watch us. So that's why they're signed by 21 the District Judge. So do we have a motion to approve? 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 25 approve the County Auditor and Assistant County 92 1 Auditor's salaries as presented, effective October 1, 2 2022. Any discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. 3 Unanimous. 4 Moving on to Item 1.24 consider, discuss and 5 take appropriate action to accept the Order setting 6 salaries for the 198th District Court Reporter and 216th 7 District Court Reporter. 8 MS. SHELTON: Yes. The public hearing was 9 held on August the 8th and you have before you the 10 District Judges' Orders for the 198th and the 216th 11 Court Reporters. 12 JUDGE KELLY: And this is a ditto. It's 13 just like what we do with the Auditors. They are County 14 employees but they are hired by the District Judges. 15 MS. SHELTON: Yes. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 17 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 19 approve the Court Reporter salaries as presented for the 20 216th and the 198th. Any discussion? Those in favor 21 raise your hand. Unanimous. 22 Okay. Thank you, Ms. Shelton. 23 Moving on. Item 1.25 consider, discuss and 24 take appropriate action regarding the Agreement for the 25 Lease of School District-Owned Property between 93 1 Kerr County and Ingram Independent School District for 2 FY 2022-2023. Commissioner Harris. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. Our current 4 lease for the West Kerr Annex is up at the end of 5 September. In talking to them, they wanted to go up 6 basically ten percent on the building that we've all 7 been criticizing for awhile and -- but we never had 8 another option. 9 And with Ingram ISD moving their central 10 office to another location, I got talking with 11 Superintendent Bobby Templeton and we started thinking 12 that this would be a good arrangement for both parties. 13 We'd have a lot more parking, a lot more room. We'd be 14 able to bring the Sheriff's office into the campus and 15 the School District really liked that. More of a 16 presence by our SO over there. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: For them to have an 18 office there. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah, exactly. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: They're not moving the 21 office. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: No, no. But just 23 have -- yeah, you're right. Thank you for clarifying 24 that. It's ADA compliant, which we weren't at the old 25 location. It's a great partnership between the County 94 1 and Ingram ISD. Their board approved this arrangement 2 last Monday and agreed to give it to us for a dollar a 3 year. We pick up maintenance and utilities. And it's a 4 win win for both parties. So I move for approval. 5 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 7 Discussion? Just so the public understands what -- what 8 we've got is an inadequate facility now that we lease 9 for -- it would be, what, $2,000.00 a month? 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, they -- they 11 want 1975. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. Right at -- right at 13 $2000. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: From 1800 a month. 15 JUDGE KELLY: That is totally inadequate and 16 it's not ADA compliant. And the reason that we had part 17 of this bond issue is trying to get a building that we 18 could put the J.P. and the Constables and the Sheriff's 19 Office and the tax office in a -- what I'm talking a 20 liveable working space, a proper working space. And the 21 Ingram ISD vacated their administrative building up 22 there on the hill. They're empty. I think they have IT 23 out there, don't they? 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: They still have IT 25 and -- and two other offices they want to maintain with 95 1 outside entrances. 2 JUDGE KELLY: But it's -- it's a very large 3 facility, very spacious for us to be able to do this, 4 and this is a collaboration between local governments. 5 It's good for them, it's good for us. They need 6 somebody to maintain it and take care of it. We can do 7 that. 8 And we think it's probably going to be less 9 expensive to do that than it is to keep doing what we've 10 been doing over at the other place. And it will be 11 secure. We can actually lock it up. You know, all our 12 secrets, but we've got real problems in our other 13 facility. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Hey, and there's 15 separate restrooms, men and women. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What if it saves the 18 County money. 19 JUDGE KELLY: It saves the County money. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And the County 21 Attorney reviewed the lease and she approved it, so 22 we're good to go. 23 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: And we just need the 24 Sheriff's presence out there, too. That's great. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. Well, it 96 1 saves -- we have -- the Sheriff has several officers 2 that -- living out in that area, that work that area, 3 and rather than driving all the way across town to do 4 their computer work and stuff and driving back, it 5 helps. Go ahead. 6 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yeah. Been out there 7 several times with Commissioner Harris. Yeah, we intend 8 to have an office for a deputy and also an investigator 9 interview room. They won't be there 24/7, but we'll 10 have the capability to be able to work from that side of 11 the town and do stuff. So it's -- will help our 12 response time big time. Especially -- especially while 13 we're helping Ingram right now. That's what's going to 14 help the most. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Because you could have 16 used it over the weekend. 17 SHERIFF LEITHA: Well, I really could have 18 used the facility instead of going back to town all 19 weekend. I called Don, but we did something else. 20 JUDGE KELLY: This is a win win all the way 21 around. It's almost too good to be true but it is, and 22 so let's take advantage of it. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Don't say that. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Let's take a vote. 25 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 97 1 Item 1.26 consider, discuss and take 2 appropriate action regarding the 2023 Kerr Central 3 Appraisal District Budget. 4 When it's nobody else's name to put on it 5 they put mine. But there you are. 6 MS. CONSTANTINIDES: And now you have to say 7 my name. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Miss Constantinides. 9 MS. CONSTANTINIDES: Hey, you're doing good. 10 How are y'all doing this morning? 11 JUDGE KELLY: She taught me this last year 12 and I -- when I had to start getting stuff from her on 13 the appraisal, I practiced it in my office. 14 MRS. STEBBINS: It was a test. 15 MS. CONSTANTINIDES: No, it wasn't easy for 16 me when I first married him either. Especially spelling 17 it. I had to put my card in front of me. 18 JUDGE KELLY: I surprised you, didn't I? 19 MS. CONSTANTINIDES: Yes, you did. Yes, you 20 did. I'm asking for the Commissioners to approve my 21 budget for next year. The overall increase is 4.14 22 percent. Some of my biggest increases have to do with 23 postage and printing, which again has to do with State 24 mandates that I'm required to do also. The additional 25 mailings and stuff. 98 1 JUDGE KELLY: Welcome to our world. 2 MS. CONSTANTINIDES: Yes. The salaries, I 3 would say we were able to make adjustments by 4 reallocating because I had some people leave. And I'm 5 trying to make it more competitive with the ones around 6 us, like Bandera, Kendall, and Gillespie. For like the 7 chief appraisers. And I'm still below what they're 8 paying but they're giving car allowances too. But 9 anyway. Y'all have any questions? 10 JUDGE KELLY: I move that we approve the 11 KCAD budget as presented. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 14 Any discussion? 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm just surprised 16 we're behind Bandera. So -- just for the record. 17 MS. CONSTANTINIDES: You wouldn't believe 18 what they just started their new guy at. His package is 19 $128,000, so -- 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 21 MS. CONSTANTINIDES: No chief appraiser 22 experience. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Let's take a vote. 24 Those in favor raise your hand. Approved. Thank you. 25 MS. CONSTANTINIDES: Thank you so much. 99 1 JUDGE KELLY: Next item is Item 1.27 2 consider, discuss process for hiring interim Human 3 Resources Director. 4 Commissioner Letz talked to me about this 5 before he left. And what we need to do is probably put 6 together a committee to oversee that process and report 7 back to the -- well, he suggested this to me and report 8 back to Commissioners' Court. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now, I -- I understood 10 we were hiring -- we had headhunters looking for 11 somebody and they were going to bring in the candidate 12 and talk to them. Is that -- 13 JUDGE KELLY: I think we have to -- he's -- 14 I think he's given us a choice of candidates and we get 15 to choose who we want to interview. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. So how does 17 this enhance that? 18 JUDGE KELLY: To have somebody vetting out 19 the people that he's recommended. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But couldn't we hire 21 somebody to do that? 22 MRS. STEBBINS: This is for the person that 23 you -- this is to nail down the interim, who will serve 24 until you pick a permanent. And I don't think that -- 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But if we hired 100 1 somebody to do that -- 2 MRS. STEBBINS: That's this person. They 3 have -- y'all have the final say in who they found. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. 5 MRS. STEBBINS: So they -- it looks like 6 they have a few options for you. And y'all get to say 7 who -- who gets that spot. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: We can just 9 re-interview them? 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I gotta look at this 11 again. We're going to have a -- didn't you just say we 12 had a committee to do that? 13 JUDGE KELLY: Well -- 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We are the committee 15 that does that. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I'm just -- I'm passing 17 along the discussion I had with Commissioner Letz who 18 was the liaison commissioner for HR, who said that we 19 have a number of recommendations. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. 21 JUDGE KELLY: And we're talking about having 22 somebody review those and make recommendations to the 23 Court. But if you don't want to do that, we don't have 24 to do that. We can put it off until he gets back. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm sure he's just 101 1 trying to cull the herd, I get that. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I think what he wanted 3 to do is to have some of the people that work closest 4 with the HR director, like the County Attorney, the 5 County Treasurer, for example, work with them on a 6 regular basis. And they're going to probably have more 7 insight in -- and they're not part of the Court. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, that makes sense. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I can go along with 10 that. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. 12 JUDGE KELLY: So County Attorney, County 13 Treasurer? I'm looking for head nods. You willing to 14 do that. 15 MRS. STEBBINS: Sure. 16 JUDGE KELLY: We ought to put somebody on 17 the court with them. So who wants to volunteer? Let's 18 put Letz on it. He's absent. 19 (Laughter.) 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: There you go. 21 JUDGE KELLY: That is County culture, I'll 22 tell ya right now. He's not here this morning. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: What about a couple of 24 our large departments like the SO and Road & Bridge? 25 Would we want a representative from there? 102 1 JUDGE KELLY: I'm fine with that. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And we're not limited 3 on the number. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. And that would 5 still give you -- 6 JUDGE KELLY: Do you want to say a rep from 7 Road & Bridge and a rep from KCSO? 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Is that all right with 9 you guys? 10 MS. HOFFER: Sure. 11 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yeah. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: You got -- 13 JUDGE KELLY: I'm all in favor of delegating 14 whatever we can delegate. 15 1.28 consider, discuss and take appropriate 16 action regarding the VA Trails Project. Commissioner 17 Gipson. 18 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: This comes under the 19 category -- I think last meeting Commissioner Letz said 20 Commissioner Gipson, this is your first and last budget. 21 I let this slide by and didn't understand the process. 22 I didn't have it in the process, so it should have been 23 in here a little bit earlier. 24 When Commissioner Moser left, he left me 25 with this plan. I really appreciate it. It is a plan 103 1 to enhance the mobility of wheelchair parties out at the 2 VA where they could safely cross. And Charlie Hastings 3 is really more involved in it than I have been. I have 4 actually took a ride over here at Precinct 2. I 5 appointed Commissioner Moser to kind of stay on top of 6 this project, and he actually was preparing and had some 7 papers submitted for ARPA funds. 8 But -- so really the most knowledgeable 9 person that we have on this, especially since 10 Commissioner Moser is now out of state in New Mexico 11 until October, is Charlie Hastings. And I'll let 12 Charlie take it from there. 13 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Beck. So this 14 would be a joint County, City, TxDOT, Maldonado Nursery, 15 and VA project. There's existing sidewalks here and 16 there. It's a little sketchy. And patrons of the VA 17 can make their way down to Highway 27 now and they can 18 cross Highway 27. But once they get across, it's really 19 rough for them to go anywhere. If they go through 20 Tucker Road, which is a City road that goes through 21 Maldonado's Nursery area and Maldonado's operating on 22 both sides of that road, it -- it's -- it's rough going. 23 This project would just hem all that up and 24 give the VA an opportunity to safely and efficiently 25 make their way to Flat Rock Park or even to the trail 104 1 system, which is down across the old Legion Drive, 2 Legion Crossing. And it's estimated as $250,000. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Do they have to cross 4 the bridge to get to the other -- 5 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Yes. Part of the 6 reason for the estimated $250,000 is because we don't 7 know exactly -- there are multiple parties as to 8 whether the City cooperates with us. At one point, we 9 were real close to having this all together. TxDOT has 10 approved enhancing the light and crossing. 11 The City was on board at one time and it's 12 kind of vague now as to if they can resurrect or allow 13 us to at least enhance the street all the way down -- 14 Riverside Drive all the way down to their old low water 15 bridge crossing. 16 So we put in a fairly liberal budget because 17 we're not quite sure what we're going to do. We wanted 18 a little bit of latitude on that. We know that we can 19 do what our part is for much less that that, but that's 20 the reason, there are a lot of parts that were all set 21 and then they got just kind of stopped. And trying to 22 get that thing back into motion. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, my understanding 24 is they were going to -- it was kind of a split deal at 25 one point, wasn't it? Am I correct in thinking that? 105 1 Between us and the City? 2 JUDGE KELLY: Multiple -- it's multiple 3 parties. 4 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Yeah. 5 JUDGE KELLY: It's TxDOT, it's VA, it's the 6 nursery, the City, and the County. 7 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I'm trying to get it 8 back going to where we can start negotiating with those 9 people again. We're at that point again. That's why 10 I'm -- 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It's negotiation. I 12 don't like putting a whole bunch of money in there and 13 say well, y'all go ahead. You know, I don't want it to 14 come down to that. 15 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I'll just put it this 16 way. If -- if it came to the County doing it all and we 17 got the ability to go to the river trail, I'd be for it. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's used a lot. I see 19 those guys crossing the road down there. 20 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Yeah. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And it's -- 22 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: And that's the other 23 part. If they're doing it anyhow, this could make it a 24 lot safer and a lot more enjoyable. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I've seen them with dogs 106 1 on their laps. 2 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Right. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Cruising across. 4 JUDGE KELLY: But this would be something 5 that we could at least put a place holder in the budget 6 with the ARPA funds and renew and see if we can't get 7 this thing going, I think is what the Commissioner is 8 saying. And while we have that opportunity. Probably 9 oughta do it. At least take a look at it. 10 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I'll move for 11 approval. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 13 MS. SHELTON: Just to make sure I'm 14 understanding, I need to go ahead and put this in for 15 the ARPA funds for an additional $250,000 expenditure? 16 JUDGE KELLY: If we approve this. Yes. 17 MRS. SHELTON: Okay. 18 JUDGE KELLY: That's right. So it's not 19 going to affect the budget, but it's -- this is -- at 20 least it's -- using the money that's sitting in an 21 account that's not being used at all. At least putting 22 it out there to hopefully get everybody back at the 23 table to try to complete this project. Because it's a 24 very worthwhile project. If we don't spend the money, 25 then the money stays in the dedicated fund the way it is 107 1 now. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. 3 JUDGE KELLY: So you made a motion? 4 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Yes, sir. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And I seconded it. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. A motion and a second 7 to approve reviving the VA Trails Project and the 8 ongoing endeavor with TxDOT and VA, Maldonado's Nursery, 9 and the City of Kerrville. Any other discussion? 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I'd just like to 11 see vigorous negotiations. 12 Okay. Those in favor raise your hand. 13 Unanimous. 14 Okay. Let's quickly get -- go to the 15 Approval Agenda. 2.1 are the budget amendments. 16 MS. SHELTON: Yes. You have 18 budget 17 amendments in front of you. The very first one was just 18 it's a revenue and it was just posted backwards the 19 first time. The second budget amendment there is for it 20 to cover the retiree health insurance. And that is the 21 only one of these adjustments that are coming out of 22 contingency fund. The rest are interdepartmental or at 23 least inter -- elected official funds. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 25 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 108 1 JUDGE KELLY: Have a motion and a second to 2 approve the budget amendments as presented. Any 3 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. 5 JUDGE KELLY: 2.2 pay the bills. 6 MS. SHELTON: Yes. Invoices for today's 7 consideration, $1,133,535.07. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'll move for 9 approval. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: A motion and a second to 12 approve the bills as presented. Any discussion? Those 13 in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, four zero. 14 Late bills. 15 MS. SHELTON: There are not any. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Auditor reports. 17 MS. SHELTON: There are not any. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Monthly reports. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. A long list. 20 July 2022, County Auditor's report, Tanya Shelton. I 21 move for approval. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 23 JUDGE KELLY: I was leaning back getting 24 ready. Got a motion and a second to approve the report 25 as presented. Any discussion? Those in favor raise 109 1 your hand. Unanimous. 2 Court orders. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. I'm reviewing 4 them for our absent Commissioner. And it's Court Orders 5 39454 through 39474 from Monday, 8-8-22 regular meeting, 6 and Court Orders 39475 through 39478 from Monday, 7 8-15-22 special meeting. 8 I have a question on one. And I'm going to 9 call on you guys to help me with this, my memory. Order 10 No. 39457, child safety fee and County Road & Bridge fee 11 for 2023 vehicle registration. Okay. We had a split 12 vote. I remember that it was three/two. 13 Let me read it. It shows that Commissioner 14 Letz made the motion. Seconded by Commissioner Belew. 15 The Court Order was approved by a vote of 16 three/two/zero. Judge Kelly and Commissioner Harris 17 voted against it. So I -- I'm not sure. Is that right? 18 JUDGE KELLY: What? 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: For the child safety 20 fee. Remember it's a dollar fifty? 21 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. Yeah. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You voted against it, I 23 voted against it. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: That's what I thought. 25 Okay. In the Court Order it says that Judge Kelly voted 110 1 against it. 2 JUDGE KELLY: That's not true. 3 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: No, that's not true. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It also shows that 5 Commissioner Belew seconded this motion. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I don't remember that. 7 JUDGE KELLY: I don't either. When you said 8 that, I don't remember that. 9 MRS. DOWDY: I'll review the video. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I do -- I did think 11 that Harley and I voted against it, and everybody 12 else voted for it. So if you could make those 13 corrections, I move for approval of the Court order. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Do we want to approve it as we 15 discussed the revision here, or do we want to just wait? 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: With her review of the 17 video. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Because I don't 19 remember one way or the other. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I -- I did think that 21 you and I voted against it. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But I don't remember 23 who seconded it. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Well, let's -- let's just get 25 it double-checked. 111 1 MRS. DOWDY: So with the exception of that 2 Court Order? 3 JUDGE KELLY: Pardon? 4 MRS. DOWDY: You're -- so are you approving 5 it? 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Or with your video 7 correction. 8 MRS. DOWDY: Oh, okay. Okay. Perfect. 9 JUDGE KELLY: So we've got a motion and a 10 second to approve the Orders as presented with that one 11 correction. Okay. Any discussion? Those in favor 12 raise your hand. Unanimous. 13 Information Agenda. Status reports from 14 Department Heads. I see one there. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, he's been 16 waiting. 17 MRS. STEBBINS: He's been pacing out there. 18 MR. GIVENS: I just wanted to give you guys 19 some information regarding some comments that you heard 20 this morning. We at Kerr County Animal Services do not 21 have any issue whatsoever at this time. There is no 22 food issue. We didn't have a food issue. I'm not -- 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: How do you reckon that 24 information floated around? 25 MR. GIVENS: Well, I think that what must 112 1 have happened -- and I don't know, I don't know who 2 the -- I don't know this individual. But we did not put 3 out any plea for any food. Okay? 4 As per standard operating procedure that's 5 been set up over about a five-year period, Kerrville 6 Pets Alive asked us to let them know when we need 7 something. Well, my adoption coordinator -- I -- I -- 8 as far as I know, contacted Kerrville Pets Alive and 9 said hey, we could use some puppy food, we're getting 10 low, a nonemergency. But letting them know we needed 11 something. 12 Now, Kerrville Pets Alive put something out 13 on the internet because their food pantry was getting 14 low. But what I need everybody to know is what Kerr 15 County Animal Services does and what Kerrville Pets 16 Alive does is two very different things. Just because 17 they put something online, and I want the public to know 18 that as well, that's not us ask -- asking for that. 19 I want the Court to know that I, as long as 20 I'm in charge here, will never let us run out of food. 21 I'm not cruelly treating animals. I'm not neglecting 22 them. We are providing for the basic care of these 23 animals. And whenever -- if we ever got into a 24 situation where we were low on food, I would personally 25 go and buy some. Wherever I had to go. 113 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Did -- did the 2 newspaper that published this information ever call you 3 and ask you to verify? 4 MR. GIVENS: To be honest with you, I don't 5 even know what you're talking about. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 7 MR. GIVENS: I haven't seen anything in -- 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The lady that spoke 9 today claimed that the newspaper had -- 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It was an editorial 11 she said. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- an editorial about 13 this. So I'm asking, on the record, if they ever called 14 to try to verify with you? 15 MR. GIVENS: Nobody has -- I found out about 16 this when you did. Nobody's called me. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. 18 MR. GIVENS: I heard it from that room over 19 there. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So -- so this -- all 21 this continued nonsense and misinformation about the 22 Animal Services in Kerr County is perpetuated, and is 23 being perpetuated by people apparently that claim to be 24 our friends and in a cooperative effort with us. And so 25 they're straining the relationship, as far as I'm 114 1 concerned. 2 MR. GIVENS: Yes. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm speaking strictly 4 for me, but I think the relationship is getting strained 5 if they don't control the misinformation on their end. 6 MR. GIVENS: Well, and I mean I don't want 7 to come down on them too hard for this because it was, 8 to me in my opinion, what I know and what I've seen, 9 their post was innocent. It just -- they would like 10 some more donations for their food pantry. They don't 11 just give us food. They provide food for other people. 12 People that need it. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Sure. 14 MR. GIVENS: If your animal needs food and 15 you can't afford it, to my knowledge you're able to 16 contact Kerrville Pets Alive and they can probably help 17 you out with some food. So it's not just us. It's not 18 mismanagement or under-budgeting. Everybody's having a 19 problem with their budget right now. You know. Yes. 20 Things are tight. 21 But I can promise you if we got into a 22 situation, my staff will come together, we'll figure 23 that out. We'll come up with money. I'll pay for it. 24 We're not going to let these animals starve. So that 25 being said, you know, that's -- that's not the way I 115 1 operate. I'm not cruelly treating animals and that's -- 2 I -- that's not happening. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Well, just -- just to be 4 clear. The person who made that comment was a member of 5 the public and made it during the public input portion 6 of the agenda. And it was not an authorized 7 representative of Kerrville Pets Alive. 8 MR. GIVENS: Yes, sir. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Later in the agenda, we did 10 have a specific item with regard to the ringworm lamp 11 that was presented by Kerrville Pets Alive and Ms. 12 Guerriero was here, along with Ms. Sandy, and they are 13 the authorized representatives and so that was just the 14 mistaken opinion of one member of the public. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I wish they'd corrected 16 it when they were here. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Well, nobody -- we can't do 18 that -- it's the input, we can't say anything. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: They can say what they 20 darn well want to when they get up to the podium. 21 JUDGE KELLY: I know. You think? 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Throw it against the 23 wall, and then the retractions say -- 24 MR. GIVENS: Well, this is why I stuck 25 around just to let you know. 116 1 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. And we appreciate that. 2 MR. GIVENS: Yes, sir. 3 JUDGE KELLY: And I think we've got to be 4 fair to the public. 5 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I'm glad you came 6 back. 7 MR. GIVENS: Yes, sir. Thank you. 8 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Thank you. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, they're -- 10 they're giving us the ringworm light today demonstrates 11 that they want to help. They're always cooperating. 12 They're trying -- 13 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I can tell you that -- 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's hard to hold 15 your -- keep -- stay on point with your message and 16 control people in your organization. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Animal Services -- and I know 18 in my case, I can just speak to mine. We cooperate and 19 get along with Kerrville Pets Alive -- 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. 21 JUDGE KELLY: -- and -- and help one 22 another. So it's a symbiotic relationship. And I don't 23 think they were the source of the misinformation is what 24 I'm trying to get at. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I hope not. 117 1 MR. GIVENS: No, and I don't want you guys 2 to think that I'm saying that either. 3 JUDGE KELLY: And we -- and we acknowledge 4 that. 5 MR. GIVENS: But I also want you to know 6 there is -- that everything's okay over there -- 7 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 8 MR. GIVENS: -- at the shelter. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you, Reagan. 10 MR. GIVENS: Thank y'all. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Any other Department Heads? 12 Move on to the status reports from Elected 13 Officials. 14 SHERIFF LEITHA: Commissioners and Judge, I 15 know it's been a long day and y'all want to get out of 16 here, but I'm going to take some of the Judge's advice 17 here and update y'all on a little something not related 18 to any of that. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It's about time. 20 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yeah. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Can you say that again? 22 He liked hearing that. 23 SHERIFF LEITHA: So we need to keep you here 24 through lunch, so -- no. Just -- just a few things. I 25 want to share an incident we had this weekend. I was on 118 1 the phone with Don all weekend. He kind of knew what 2 was going on. It started Friday night with a runaway 3 ten-year-old. This is the second time in the last few 4 months. We had all hands on deck on -- with that. But 5 we ended up finding her later on that evening and 6 returned her home. 7 But in addition to that, we received 8 information of two homicide suspects in the area and we 9 kind of acted on it that night with the limited 10 information we had. We stayed out on it pretty late. 11 Unable to locate the vehicle, but we had the address. 12 We got on it the next morning. The 13 vehicle's there. You know, so we know something's going 14 up. You know, I don't want to share all of our measures 15 we use, but anyway we did some old traditional 16 surveillance on it all day. Kind of started calling out 17 reinforcements throughout the day because these are two 18 pretty dangerous individuals. 19 Homicide was from Green Bay, Wisconsin. So 20 we sit on it. One of my guys sees one of the suspects 21 come out. What we're doing at that time, we're 22 preparing for a search warrant. We're able to see him 23 come in and go out. We're going to execute a search 24 warrant or we're able to find who we're looking for in 25 there through some measures so we're going to serve a 119 1 search warrant. But we actually see the guy come out 2 and we were set up for that. 3 The guy gets in, gives a hug to his 4 girlfriend, she gets in the other side. They -- they 5 leave. I make a call. You know, we'll -- let's not 6 stop them in the subdivision. Let's stop them once they 7 get out on Junction Highway. Unfortunately, they took a 8 quick turn on a road and they get to a residence, but we 9 were in position. 10 Kerrville PD was on board. I kind of 11 explained that a little bit. Goes to a residence and we 12 were able to make a felony stop on the guy. The guy did 13 not exit the vehicle. He's on the phone. One of my SRT 14 guys break out the window, they help him to the ground, 15 take the phone out of his hand. 16 Do we think he was talking to the brother, 17 let him know, yeah, we'll talk about that in a minute. 18 But we take the guy in custody. Take the girl in 19 custody. She had several warrants. We were doing some 20 additional charges on some dope she had. 21 So at that time, you know, we -- we think 22 the brother's in the house. We -- we know he's -- 23 almost he's in the house. Unfortunately, later we find 24 out different. But anyway, so we prepare to do a search 25 warrant, draw up a search warrant. We execute it. I 120 1 have to thank Kerrville PD, their Special Operations 2 Unit. Their patrol, the chief, they all came out on 3 something like this. So we go to execute the search 4 warrant. 5 This is my first time to do this kind of 6 search warrant. As I say, law enforcement is changing, 7 you know, today. So on this particular one here, we 8 basically -- the PD support us in the back, the SO came 9 in from the front. But we did one step where we kind of 10 did a breach and announce. 11 Normally in my time we used to just hit the 12 door and go in. But we breached the door, we throw a 13 flash bang, we back out. We -- we get on a PA system. 14 I've had a lot of questions from the public. Why'd you 15 do it or what did you do? We then announced, three 16 different times, Sheriff's Office, we have a search 17 warrant. Exit -- leave the residence. Come out of the 18 residence. 19 After a certain amount of time, we then 20 gas -- we break all the windows. Break all the windows 21 out and gas the house. You know, that's kind of the new 22 trend today. We gas the house, give them ample time to 23 come out. And at a certain time when nobody come out, 24 we made entry, cleared the house. Nobody was in the 25 house. 121 1 In there we saw like a stash house. Just 2 blow-up mattresses. You know, people aren't really 3 living in there. You know, so subject wasn't in there. 4 You know, people are asking my personal opinion. You 5 know, he has nothing holding him here. That house -- we 6 have that uncle in jail on unrelated charges to go back 7 to Green Bay. Different -- nothing to do with this. 8 But we find out the girl that was here, the 9 girlfriend to the other guy we got, was here to pick him 10 up and take him to Mexico. So that's probably where 11 they were going to end up in the next couple days. I do 12 think brother got a phone call, he ran out. You know, 13 we're -- we're using all the measures we can to find 14 out. 15 But what I want to do is I want to thank -- 16 you know, this was a big team effort for us. The chief 17 was out, KPD special operations. You know, I mean we 18 had all hands on deck. I ruined a bunch of weekends, 19 including mine. It was over a 72-hour stretch. You 20 know, but all my guys come out. This is a collateral 21 duty. They don't get paid. 22 What do I have to deal with now? The public 23 knows I got to deal with comp time. I've got to deal 24 with overtime. And on something like this, I don't 25 care. You know, if we're going to -- it's all hands on 122 1 deck. We took a very dangerous guy off the street this 2 weekend. We're looking for the other one. But at 3 least, you know, this goes back to Kerr County is a safe 4 place. It will continue to be a safe place. We'll do 5 everything we can. 6 But I really take my hat off to the Chief. 7 I mean, you know, he's got his own issues of overtime. 8 I mean, people -- he's got guys who live in San Antonio 9 and, you know, like I said, it was over a 72-hour 10 ordeal. But, you know, at the end of the day we got the 11 guy in jail and that's all that counts. So really 12 appreciate and wanted the public to know that. 13 The second thing, Judge, you were correct on 14 the 26 people in jail this morning. What I didn't -- I 15 got the list right here, 21 of those are ours, our 16 arrests. And the other five are other counties from 17 arrests. But, you know, luckily they're paying the $65 18 a day. But we are eating the 21. 19 And I did look at it that way. I'm more 20 focused on resources to help us do our job. But we do 21 have 21 people that we've arrested for human smuggling 22 that the County is paying for, you know, to house them. 23 But under my administration, I'm not going to let them 24 go. I mean, you know, we're going to put them in jail 25 and we're going to deal with it. That's the only way we 123 1 do our part on the big picture. 2 And yeah, Don, on Ingram's ISD, that's 3 basically -- and just to follow up -- 4 JUDGE KELLY: Go ahead. 5 SHERIFF LEITHA: Just sit here and do the 6 math. On the average of 30-day stay, that's costing us 7 $41,000 a month. Yeah. And we've had to house these -- 8 you know, these people -- just so y'all know, these are 9 lower lying people that aren't up in the chain. You 10 know, a thousand dollars a head, $2,000 a head. You 11 ain't -- I'm going to buy in on that. 12 You know, I mean, you just gotta get from 13 Point A to Point B. They don't know. And so, you know, 14 there's nobody here to bond them out. There's no -- 15 nobody cares. You know what I mean. They're just 16 usually -- 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Expendable. 18 SHERIFF LEITHA: So I hate to tell you, I 19 mean, I may have them for a while. I may have them. 20 You know, nobody's going to come and get them out 21 because they can recruit more all day long for what they 22 pay. 23 JUDGE KELLY: They may have -- they may be 24 sick and spread disease. 25 SHERIFF LEITHA: Oh yeah. This girl here 124 1 was in pretty bad shape we arrested. But, you know, 2 another instance, you know we talked about the bill, we 3 talked about the bond election. You know, yeah, I hope 4 I can get a facility over there on the west side 5 someday, I really do. I'm glad this is going to happen. 6 We needed access to a computer. We needed stuff quick 7 and we didn't have it, you know. So, you know, this 8 ordeal just took longer and longer. Running across 9 town, you know, it doesn't stop that quick running 10 across coming back and forth. 11 But, you know, I look forward to that. We 12 could have used it this weekend. I hope in the future 13 we get a good facility. I think the County's getting to 14 a size, you know, I need to have people on that side, 15 you know, for a majority of the time. And it is full. 16 You know, we operate out of one place. The computers 17 are in one place. Everybody has to come to that place 18 and respond. You all know from my office to take out 19 west to 41 it's a good clip. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Well, and people need to 21 understand that Kerr County is 1100 square miles. 22 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes. 23 JUDGE KELLY: And two-thirds of that is in 24 Precinct 4. And Ingram is kind of the -- right on the 25 edge of that. So -- 125 1 SHERIFF LEITHA: And that's the part all our 2 human smuggling is on, is on 41, you know. I mean 41 3 and 10. You know, the -- like I said, Kerr County, you 4 know, a disaster. You know, we're safe. But this 5 disaster, you know, is just a part of them coming 6 through and adding extra things for us to be able to do. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Well, and -- and so that 8 everybody knows, the state and the feds recognize that 9 we've got these transportation corridors. They come up 10 from Del Rio the back way on 41. But once they hit 11 I-10, they go all -- they go both directions. And we 12 just happen to have a long stretch of I-10. 13 SHERIFF LEITHA: Unfortunately, yes. We do. 14 But that's it. Thank y'all. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Thanks. 16 Let's move on to status reports from Liaison 17 Commissioners. Anything to report? 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. Our extension 19 agent is going to be leaving us. And, you know, he's 20 going off, he's doing a career change, going into 21 construction. Talked to Michael Payne. He said he 22 feels like he has some answers for us. It won't take as 23 long as last time. 24 JUDGE KELLY: He's the supervisor in Uvalde? 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: That's right. For 126 1 District 10. And so, waiting to hear back from him on 2 that. So we'll be looking at it. If you remember 3 before, it took a long time. We were without an 4 extension agent when Roy Walter -- Walston, I mean -- 5 Roy Walston retired. They had a hiring freeze, you 6 know. And it was during the China virus stuff and all 7 that kind of stuff. So it took a long time. I don't 8 expect it will take that long this time. And he doesn't 9 either. That's it. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Good news. Good news 11 following the bad news. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: The good news is that, 13 you know, Justin is going to stay here in the community. 14 And he's a good addition to the community. We wish him 15 the best. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Any other Liaison 17 Commissioners reports or comments? Okay. 18 With that, we're going to go into Executive 19 Session. And we'll take a five-minute break. So it 20 is -- it's 11:45. Five minute break. Be back here at 21 11:50. 22 (Recess.) 23 (Executive Session.) 24 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. It is 12:18 and we're 25 coming out of Executive Session. And the only action 127 1 item we have is Item 4.1(a) consider, discuss and take 2 appropriate action to authorize the County Judge to sign 3 a Negotiated Settlement Agreement with EEOC. 4 And I move that we approve the Negotiated 5 Settlement Agreement that Mr. Frigerio presented us, and 6 authorize me to sign it. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 9 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, four zero. 10 Okay. With that, we don't have any other 11 business. We're adjourned. 12 * * * * * * 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 128 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 27th day of August, 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