1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Regular Session 5 Monday, September 26, 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 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Precinct 3 25 DON HARRIS, Commissioner Precinct 4 2 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 *** Visitor's Input. 8 4 *** Commissioner's Comments. 12 5 1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 13 action on request from the Kerrville Masonic 6 Lodge #697 to use the courthouse grounds for their 2023 Charity Car Show Fundraiser on 7 April 1, 2023. 8 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 18 action to authorize an Interlocal Agreement 9 between Kerr County and the Upper Guadalupe River Authority (UGRA) for Water Quality 10 Protection through Feral Hog Management. 11 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 20 action on request to allow the placement of 12 a life-size Nativity set on the courthouse grounds, near the large Christmas tree, 13 during the Christmas holiday season. 14 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 23 action concerning the purchase of a trailer 15 to be used by Kerr Area Rural Fire Association, KARFA, to transport emergency 16 rescue equipment. 17 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 24 action regarding the repair of the sidewalk 18 on the east side entrance to the courthouse. 19 1.8 Consider, discuss and approve the 27 appointment of Election Judges and 20 Alternates for the term of one (1) year in accordance with the Texas Election Code 21 Section 32. 22 1.9 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 28 action to approve the Central Counting 23 Station Personnel pursuant to Chapter 127.005 TEC. 24 25 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.10 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 29 action to approve the In-County Travel 4 Policy for the Kerr County Elections Department effective October 1, 2022. 5 1.11 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 30 6 action to amend the cover sheet of the 2022-2023 approved budget to include the 7 current fiscal year adopted tax rate in accordance with Section 111.008(d)(3) and 8 111.009(b) of the Texas Local Government Code Section. 9 1.7 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 31 10 action on request from Tivy High School to use Flat Rock Park on October 14th and 11 15th to host a high school cross country meet. This will be backup location. 12 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 33 13 action to determine office space for new magistrate position. 14 1.12 Public hearing for proposed cancellation 51 15 of Tract 7, 52.82 acres, of the Theodore & Dorothea Oehler Estate Subdivision, Vol. 4, 16 Page 27. 17 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 51 action to approve a cancellation of Tract 7, 18 52.82 acres, of the Theodore & Dorothea Oehler Estate Subdivision, Vol. 4, Page 27. 19 1.14 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 52 20 action to set a public hearing for November 14, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. for a proposed 21 cancellation of Tract 11, 57.16 acres, of the Theodore & Dorothea Oehler Estate Subdivision, 22 Vol. 4, Page 27. 23 1.15 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 54 action for the Court to conditionally approve 24 a revision of plat for Hartshorn Country Sites, Site No. 2, with the condition that 25 the City of Kerrville approve and sign the plat, Volume 1, Page 69. 4 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.16 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 55 action for the Court to set a public 4 hearing for 10:00 a.m. on November 14, 2022 for a revision of plat for Soledad Springs 5 Estates Lot 15, Volume 3, Page 112. 6 1.17 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 56 action for the Court to set a public 7 hearing for 10:00 a.m. on November 14, 2022 for a revision of plat for Kerrville Country 8 Estates Section 2, Lot 26, Volume 4, Page 131. 9 1.18 Public hearing for the Court to give the 57 name of Guilanshah Road to a 0.6-mile private 10 access easement road, said road is off of 277 Hasenwinkel Road and serves as the only 11 access to Hasenwinkel Road for all three lots of the 800-acre Hall Ranch Subdivision, in 12 the interest of public health, safety, and welfare, as recommended by Kerr 911. 13 1.19 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 58 14 action for the Court to give the name of Guilanshah Road to a 0.6-mile private access 15 easement road, said road is off 277 Hasenwinkel Road and serves as the only 16 access to Hasenwinkel Road for all three lots of the 800-acre Hall Ranch Subdivision, 17 in the interest of public health, safety, and welfare, as recommended by Kerr 911. 18 1.20 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 60 19 action on the proposed FY 2022-23 Engineering Department fee schedule. 20 1.21 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 75 21 action and receive clarification on how to proceed with Annual Bid Award for delivered 22 fuel. Bid was opened under item 1.24 on the 09/12/22 Commissioners' Court agenda. 23 1.22 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 75 24 action for the Court to receive an update on the East Kerr/Center Point Wastewater 25 Collection Project, including budget, schedule, and progress. 5 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.34 Introduction of Heart of the Hills Heritage 87 Center's Executive Director, Angela Kennedy. 4 1.23 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 90 5 action to authorize Kerr County Grant Administrator to pursue viable grants for 6 the Center Point drainage project in coordination with County Engineer. 7 1.24 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 93 8 action to set the Kerr County Christmas party for Friday, December 16th at the 9 Hill Country Youth Event Center. 10 1.25 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 93 action to appoint committee members to 11 the Safety Committee for FY 2022-2023. 12 1.26 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 95 action to designate a day of the week on 13 which the Court shall convene in a regular term for FY 2022/2023 pursuant to Local 14 Government Code Section 81.005. 15 1.27 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 96 action to ratify and confirm FY-23 Statewide 16 Automated Victim Notifications Services (SAVNS) Agreement. 17 1.28 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 97 18 action to reappoint Chris Hughes and Bill Aycock to the Emergency Services District 19 #1 Board (ESD #1). 20 1.29 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 97 action to approve the contract with Axon 21 Enterprise, Inc., and allow the County Judge to sign same. 22 1.30 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 98 23 action concerning the recent books displayed at the Butt-Holdsworth Library and the current 24 Interlocal Agreement with the City of Kerrville involving the library. 25 6 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.31 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 141 action to surplus/dispose/remove items 4 from fixed asset list. 5 1.25 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 143 action to appoint committee members to 6 the Safety Committee for FY 2022-2023. 7 1.32 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 144 action to hire interim Human Resources 8 Director pursuant to agreement with Strategic Government Resources (SGR) and 9 sign appropriate agreements. 10 1.33 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 148 action to approve Business Associate 11 Agreement and License Agreement between Kerr County and SWBC Life Insurance Agency, 12 Inc. 13 1.35 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 149 action to approve Interlocal Agreement 14 for the Hill Country Regional Public Defender's Office (HCRPDO) for the counties 15 of Bandera, Gillespie, Kendall, Kerr, and Medina. 16 2.1 Budget Amendments. 153 17 2.2 Pay Bills. 154 18 2.3 Late Bills. 154 19 2.5 Accept Monthly Reports. 155 20 2.6 Court Orders. 155 21 3.3 Status Reports from Liaison Commissioners. 156 22 4.1a An executive/closed session meeting may be 159 23 held (as needed) pursuant to Sections 551.071(2), 551.074, and 551.129, Texas 24 Government Code (consultation with attorney), for the Commissioners' Court to consult with 25 and seek advice from its attorneys regarding personnel and insurance matters. 7 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 *** Adjournment. 160 4 *** Reporter's Certificate. 161 5 * * * * * * 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 8 1 JUDGE KELLY: It is Monday, September the 2 26th, 2022, 9:00 o'clock in the morning, and the Kerr 3 County Commissioner's Court is now in session. If you 4 would, please stand for the pledge and the prayer, which 5 will be led by Commissioner Harris. 6 (Prayer and Pledge.) 7 JUDGE KELLY: Please be seated. I want to make sure 8 that I follow my own advice here. Please turn your cell 9 phones to silent or off so you don't interrupt the 10 proceedings. The first part of regular Commissioners' 11 Court meeting is public input. This is a tradition that 12 we cherish and we honor. What we do is we ask you to -- 13 if you want to talk about something that's on the 14 agenda, we ask that you wait until that agenda item is 15 called. Public input is for things that are not on the 16 agenda. 17 And so far, I've had three requests -- four requests to 18 speak. And one of them is on 1.30, which is the agenda 19 item on the library. Another one is library. One is 20 public input and then I've got one on the bond issues. 21 So anyone that would like to address the Court, your 22 time will be limited to three minutes. We'll do it from 23 the podium. 24 So let me go ahead and call -- I'm going to call Todd 25 Bock first. And if you would, identify your role and 9 1 who you have with you? 2 MR. BOCK: Yes, sir. Thank you, Judge. Thank you, 3 Commissioners. My name is Todd Bock, 155 Leaning Tree 4 Lane. Today I am here representing the Community 5 Supporting Kerr County, which we are a political action 6 committee organized to help support, to educate, and to 7 assist the voters of Kerr County during this election. 8 And at this time, I would like to recognize our pack 9 members and some you're very familiar with, which is 10 your appointed CIP group that are in the crowd. We've 11 got Brenda Hughes, we've got Pete Calderon, Charlie 12 McIlvane. And we are here basically to say thank you. 13 We want to say thank you for the Court's unanimous 14 action that you took on August 15th of this year. You 15 approved three measures. Those three measures were 16 allowing for the sale of three general obligation bonds 17 when approved by the voters of this County. They are 18 Proposition A, which is your courthouse and your 19 annexes, they're your indoor arena at the Hill Country 20 Youth Exhibit Center, and our Animal Control facility. 21 And I know leading up to this journey this is not a 22 rush-to decision. Each member of this Court over three 23 years ago appointed a CIP group of a device group of 24 citizens, diverse, that went out and were charged to 25 study the County's needs and facilities. They were 10 1 charged to assess the County's facility needs. 2 The department -- they went department by department, 3 over 11 total facilities that these departments operate 4 under. Facility conditions. Current use. Proposed 5 uses. And it took three years and, Commissioners, we 6 just want to applaud you for taking a citizens approach 7 to this. What was being brought to you back by the CIP 8 was by the voters and the taxpayers of this community. 9 We are very proud, and I am very honored to be a part of 10 this pack and help be part of the leadership in order to 11 go out and educate the voters and give them the needs 12 that this County needs. And not only is this for now, 13 this will cover us for the next 30 years. Your CIP 14 worked for three years with this local court. They 15 worked with local professionals, community 16 organizations, elected officials, County employees, and 17 a mass of citizens before they brought these findings 18 back to the Court that were before you. 19 The three propositions before this community will 20 address state legislative mandates, ADA compliances, 21 along with increased operation efficiencies, County 22 revenues, customer service experience provided by the 23 County employees to its citizens and, most of all, the 24 safety and security of our citizens, County employees, 25 and our community pets. 11 1 We asked that everyone join us and support Community 2 Supporting Kerr County. You can visit our website at 3 Kerr County bond dot org. Go through and download our 4 voters guide, which is put together to help educate the 5 voters on this bond, show them the actual needs that we 6 have to address. 7 And we want you to know, Commissioners, that your 8 request for a vote on Proposition A, B, and C, will get 9 a yes from us. And we want to thank you, and we thank 10 you for all the hard work. And I want to thank the CIP 11 so much for their hard work and dedication. Thank you. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. We've got one 13 other public input. Mr. Wolff. 14 MR. WOLFF: Yes. I made a mistake. I need 15 to change that to Item 1.30. 16 JUDGE KELLY: We're happy to do that. 17 MR. WOLFF: All right. Thank you. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So with that, we will 19 move on to Commissioners' Comments. 20 Do we have another input? 21 MS. DOWDY: For 1.30. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Very good. Let's move 23 on to Commissioners' Comments. Commissioner Precinct 1. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'd rather wait. 25 JUDGE KELLY: I've been reading about you. 12 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Have you? 2 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 2. 3 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I have nothing. 4 JUDGE KELLY: 3. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a comment that 6 everyone -- anyone who is burning, the burn ban in 7 Precinct 3 is still lifted but there is a fire danger 8 for today and tomorrow because of the -- our first 9 northern. I don't think it's a real strong one, but the 10 humidity is going to go down and winds are going to go 11 up, so please no burning. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. Dry air. I 13 attended the Hill Country Arts 50th Anniversary Festival 14 the other day, along with you, Judge, and boy, there was 15 a lot of people there. Lots of people. Both days 16 actually. My wife went back the second day. So anyway. 17 Well attended. 50 years. That's an accomplishment. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. We're proud to host the 19 Texas Arts and Crafts Fair. The 50th Anniversary made 20 it that much better. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Anything else? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think one other thing 24 is that this weekend was the Kerr County Livestock -- or 25 Hill Country District Junior Livestock Association 13 1 fundraiser. I was unable to attend and I was hoping to 2 win some raffles. I bought quite a few raffle tickets 3 but I haven't got a phone call yet. So I'm still 4 waiting. But from everything I hear it was a good 5 event. Big crowd. There's a lot of support for the 6 youth of that facility. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, it was -- it was packed. 8 Okay. 9 Let's move on to our consideration agenda. 10 First item is 1.1 consider, discuss and take appropriate 11 action on a request from the Kerrville Masonic Lodge 12 No. 697 to use the courthouse grounds for their 2023 13 Charity Car Show Fundraiser on April 1, 2023. If you 14 will each go to the podium. 15 MR. STEELE: Good morning. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Identify yourself. 17 MR. STEELE: Just us. Rodney Risemas and 18 myself Billy Steel. We're representing the Kerrville 19 Masonic Lodge here in the great town of Kerrville. The 20 beautiful Hill Country. So what you have before you is 21 we had actually hoped to start doing an annual car show. 22 Not that there's not enough car shows in Kerrville, but 23 if you like old cars and -- I can look at them all day, 24 I just can't afford them. 25 Anyhow, what we're trying to do is actually 14 1 put together an event so we can support our community a 2 little better with our charities. Because that's what 3 we're about is helping our community. Last year we gave 4 out a little over $10,000 in scholarships to our young 5 budding leaders, hopefully, that want to go to school 6 and kind of educate themselves and be a contributing 7 member to this great town. 8 But we're asking to use the courthouse 9 grounds. And you have before you -- I actually 10 submitted a little drawing of -- and, of course, we're 11 learning. So we don't know what's viable, what's not as 12 far as up here, but we're just asking permission to hold 13 this event up here at the courthouse. One, it's the 14 center of town so why not bring people back into town to 15 help local businesses as well. 16 JUDGE KELLY: And I see you chose to do this 17 on my son's birthday. 18 MR. STEELE: Well, I mean, we can honor him 19 at the same time. We can make it a multi-event, if you 20 will. 21 JUDGE KELLY: It's only fun when it's April 22 Fools day. 23 MR. STEELE: But like I say, this is our 24 first annual for the lodge. There's been several other 25 lodges in the State of Texas that's done a few of these 15 1 things and they've been pretty successful at raising the 2 charity funds for, like I said, the community. 3 And this is kind of twofold. We're trying 4 to get back out into the community to let them know, 5 one, who we are and what we're about. And this is just 6 the beginning for us. So we're requesting to use the 7 grounds, and then, of course, what all comes with that. 8 We're expecting you to let us know what we can and can't 9 do. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I think it's a very 11 worthwhile undertaking, and I'll make a motion that we 12 approve the use of the courthouse grounds for the 13 Masonic charity car show fundraiser on April 1st, 2023. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 16 Any discussion? 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes. We have talked 18 about this and the use of the courthouse grounds and 19 we've turned people down. So why is this one different? 20 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I'm trying to remember 21 which ones we have turned down? 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm looking at the 23 County Attorney. 24 MRS. STEBBINS: I don't remember who has 25 been turned down specifically. But I think that they 16 1 made -- I didn't look at the application, but I think 2 they made application in accordance with our Courthouse 3 grounds use. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I ask because I 6 don't remember exactly, but I remember denying it. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What we -- 8 JUDGE KELLY: It was probably controversial. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- what we turned down, 10 I think, was the lighting issue. 11 MRS. STEBBINS: The what? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The lighting for -- 13 MRS. STEBBINS: No, it was farmers market. 14 It was the farmers market. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Farmers market. That's 16 what it was. So it was a for profit. But it was people 17 selling stuff. We turned down a farmers market, I do 18 remember that, and they went over to the mall. 19 MRS. STEBBINS: Right. Uh-huh. 20 MRS. HUGHES: They're not a 501c3. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The one at the mall? 22 MRS. HUGHES: They're not. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. Maybe it was 24 because of the for profit. 25 MRS. STEBBINS: Uh-huh. 17 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The only thing I would 2 say, you know -- 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Because people are 4 going to ask, why them and not somebody else? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- is that these events 6 tend to have a cost to the County. As long as they can 7 structure it in a way that it's no cost to the County 8 and the setup and everything like that, I don't have a 9 problem with it. And we need to coordinate with 10 maintenance as to how it needs to be done. But can't 11 cost us anything. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Harley, I think as to 13 the farmers market deal, there was -- some people came 14 to talk to us and they felt like it was competing with 15 one that was already established. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, yeah, but there 17 was also a lie told so -- so that's what got me set off. 18 JUDGE KELLY: There was a deception issue. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. There you go. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But we did deny 21 somebody, so I wanted to -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And I knew somebody 24 here would remember. 25 JUDGE KELLY: And I don't want to deny him. 18 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. Nothing personal 2 fellows. 3 MR. STEELE: That's what this is about. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 5 in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 6 MR. STEELE: Thank you. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Item 1.2 is 8 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to 9 authorize the Interlocal Agreement between Kerr County 10 and the UGRA for water quality protection through feral 11 hog management. Tara. 12 MS. BUSHNOE: Good morning, Judge and 13 Commissioners. Tara Bushnoe with Upper Guadalupe River 14 Authority. 15 JUDGE KELLY: This is your first official 16 appearance before this Court as the Director? 17 MS. BUSHNOE: I guess it's not officially 18 October 1st. So next time. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Ray's not doing much 20 today. 21 (Laughter.) 22 MS. BUSHNOE: This is an agreement that 23 we've considered annually since December 2018 to partner 24 with the County on feral hog management, and it outlines 25 a way to continue to provide bounty payments for feral 19 1 hog harvest as well as tracking and trapping efforts. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I move for 3 approval. This is an ongoing thing that we've been 4 doing since 2018. And my gosh, we don't want to give 5 them any ground now. They're already increasing on us. 6 But we've got to hold tight and continue doing it. It's 7 a good work -- working relationship with UGRA. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 9 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 10 second. Any discussion? 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is this -- are these 12 numbers included in the trapper report or is this -- 13 these are separate numbers? Because we get a trapper's 14 report -- 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Separate. 16 MS. BUSHNOE: These are -- 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: They're separate? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 19 MS. BUSHNOE: Yes. These are just the 20 bounty. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And what are our 22 numbers on that? 23 MS. BUSHNOE: Well, I can give you our 24 quarterly report. I don't have it off the top of my 25 head, but we're at about 6,000 pig tails. 20 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 2 MS. BUSHNOE: We do summarize the County 3 trapper numbers as well. But I'll -- I'll send you a 4 copy of them. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, I was trying to 6 put them together. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sure. Okay. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 9 in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 10 Thanks, Tara. 11 MS. BUSHNOE: Thank you very much. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.3 consider, discuss and 13 take appropriate action on a request to allow the 14 placement of a life size Nativity set on the courthouse 15 grounds, near the large Christmas tree, during the 16 Christmas holiday season. Mr. Klima. 17 MR. KLIMA: My name is Stefan Klima. I'm 18 the operations manager at Hosannah Lutheran Church, 19 which if you don't know where we are, we're on South 16 20 at Camp Meeting Road, right across from River Hills 21 Country Club. 22 I have personally been involved with the 23 manger scene since -- for 16 years. I've been the one 24 that heads it up to put it somewhere on the berm outside 25 the -- so for more visibility to the traffic going by. 21 1 In fact, we started on Earl Garrett and Junction Highway 2 there where the parade comes by and we thought, well, 3 let's change that and move it out closer if we can to do 4 that. 5 We had a one-dimensional wooden manger scene 6 that we've put up for the last 14 years, I guess it is, 7 and it's getting pretty weather beaten. And so through 8 the generous donations of Mrs. Reichenau here and 9 another donor, we have purchased a $15,000 life-size 10 manger scene, three-dimensional, which we would like to 11 display on the Courthouse lawn for two reasons. One is 12 that last couple years we've had it out here on the 13 corner and I'm afraid somebody might just come zipping 14 through there and wipe out our new manger scene. 15 The second thing is, is that we would like 16 to express more of the story of Luke about the birth of 17 Jesus on a placard there that will explain all that. It 18 will be a very beautiful display. I believe you have a 19 picture of it there in your -- that was submitted. And 20 then we're asking for approval to do that. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And I second. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We have a motion and a 24 second. Discussion? 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is it going to be like 22 1 the one in Comfort? 2 MR. KLIMA: Not quite that big. The tallest 3 figure on that is the angel, which is six foot, 72 4 inches. Have you seen pictures of it? 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: No. 6 MR. KLIMA: I do have them if you want to 7 see them. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's a picture in the 9 backup. 10 MR. KLIMA: Yeah, there's -- 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. Just trying to 12 figure out the size, that's all. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And again, the only 14 request I would have would be that you coordinate with 15 our Maintenance Department as to placement. They're 16 kind of responsible for all of the placement of 17 Christmas decorations. 18 MR. KLIMA: Right. Well, yeah. Fine. Not 19 a problem. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. No other discussion? 21 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 22 Thank you. 23 MR. KLIMA: Thank you very much. 24 JUDGE KELLY: 1.4 consider, discuss and take 25 appropriate action concerning the purchase of a trailer 23 1 to be used by Kerr Area Rural Fire Association, KARFA, 2 to transport emergency rescue equipment. Commissioner 3 Harris. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. Brian Alexander 5 came to me last week and for the swift water rescue, 6 they have a lot of equipment and stuff. And they needed 7 a trailer for it. And most of the trailers were running 8 about 11,000 and they found one for 8,000. And they 9 have -- only have 4,000 plus in their account and -- in 10 their budget account and would like -- and the seller is 11 willing to take part this month and part next month and 12 in next year's budget and so they needed approval for 13 that. And so that's what I would -- I'd ask the Court, 14 so I move for approval. 15 JUDGE KELLY: And I'll second that. I 16 talked with Brian Saturday night -- 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. 18 JUDGE KELLY: -- and what they're doing is 19 they've got 4,000 in this year -- this fiscal year's 20 budget, and the owner has agreed to take that as kind of 21 a down payment on the trailer, and then they will pay 22 off the rest when we start fiscal year 2023 on October 23 1st. So that's why it's split that way. 24 But I think it's essential for them to be 25 able to -- 24 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: They've got a lot of 2 equipment they need to haul. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Any discussion? Those in 4 favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 5 Item 1.5 consider, discuss and take 6 appropriate action regarding the repair of the 7 sidewalk -- it should be on the west side of the 8 entrance to the courthouse. Shane Evans. 9 MR. EVANS: Yes, sir. I'm going to add the 10 other east side as well, it's starting to drop as well. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Is it? 12 MR. EVANS: Yes, sir. 13 JUDGE KELLY: So both sides? 14 MR. EVANS: Both sides. So in the process 15 of trying to get bids, I have not got -- received any 16 bids. There's been several people I've -- contractors 17 that I've contacted and either they didn't return my 18 call or never showed up. And one so far has only showed 19 up, you know, to make a bid and I have not received his 20 bid yet. So I'm wondering if we should put that out, 21 you know, because doing both sides it's really close to 22 50,000, I'm guesstimating at this point right now, but 23 maybe we should put that out as an RFP, a request for 24 proposal, to do both sides. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If the rest of it's 25 1 exceeding 50,000 or very close to it, I'd recommend an 2 RFP for it. 3 MR. EVANS: Okay. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, I have no idea what 5 that's going to cost. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I didn't think we were 7 talking that much. But this -- if you think it's going 8 to be that much, we should do an RFP. 9 MR. EVANS: Well, concerning both sides -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 11 MR. EVANS: -- you know, that -- and we -- 12 for one side we wouldn't have had to do an RFP, I don't 13 think. But considering now it's both sides that need to 14 be done -- of course, it could be done in stages or one 15 side completed and then do the next side, but -- 16 JUDGE KELLY: Right. And for those at 17 home -- that are at home and don't know what we're 18 talking about, we're talking about a displacement in the 19 concrete sidewalk, in the foundation, probably at least 20 an inch and a half or two. Wouldn't you say, Shane? 21 MR. EVANS: At least an inch. No less. 22 JUDGE KELLY: And so that -- we've got to 23 get that corrected. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: You can trip on that 25 real easily. 26 1 JUDGE KELLY: That's why we've got a cone 2 out there. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. Exactly. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A lot of contractors can 5 do this type of work so I'd recommend doing an RFP, I 6 think. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Is that a motion? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We've got a motion and 11 a second to submit an RFP for the sidewalks on the east 12 and west side of the courthouse to level them up. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So back there by -- by 14 the funeral parlor, that sidewalk's terrible, too. 15 JUDGE KELLY: That's a public sidewalk. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I know that. That's a 17 City sidewalk. I just wanted to mention that. 18 JUDGE KELLY: It's a city sidewalk. Okay. 19 We might have to take a look at that, too, I don't know. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's in bad shape. 21 MRS. STEBBINS: It is in bad shape. 22 JUDGE KELLY: We can send that bill to the 23 City. For those of you who don't know, one of our city 24 councilmen is sitting right here. 25 (Laughter.) 27 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: She's leaving. 2 MRS. HUGHES: I'm leaving. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Go tell them what we 4 said. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So we got a motion and 6 a second. All those in favor raise your hand. 7 Unanimous. 8 We have a timed item -- a couple timed items 9 at 9:30. We're not quite there. So I'm going to skip 10 down to item 1.8, which is to consider, discuss and take 11 appropriate action -- have I got Bob here? 12 MR. REEVES: I didn't have to run this time, 13 Your Honor. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Consider, discuss and take 15 appropriate -- approve the appointment of Election 16 Judges and Alternates for the term of one (1) year in 17 accordance with the Texas Election Code. Mr. Reeves. 18 MR. REEVES: Yes. Good morning, gentlemen. 19 As the Judge said, in accordance with Texas Election 20 Code Section 32, I'd like the Court to approve the 21 appointment of Alternate Judges found in your backup 22 material being for Precinct is 303, 308, 404, 405, and 23 410, and a Judge for Precinct 211. These Judges have 24 not been appointed by the respective parties when I 25 approached you at the last meeting. 28 1 JUDGE KELLY: And in addition to what we 2 already approved. 3 MR. REEVES: That is correct. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll move for approval. 5 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 6 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 7 second to approve the appointment of Election Judges and 8 Alternates for a one (1) year term as presented. Any 9 discussion? 10 MS. DOWDY: Who made the second? 11 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I did. 12 MS. DOWDY: Thank you. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. All those in favor 14 raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 15 Item 1.9 Consider, discuss and take 16 appropriate action to approve the Central Counting 17 Station Personnel pursuant to the Texas Election Code. 18 MR. REEVES: Yes, sir. In accordance with 19 Chapter 127.005 of the Election Code, I request the 20 Court to approve the appointment of an Alternate Judge, 21 Mr. Ed Wallace, to work at the Central Counting Station 22 on election night. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So move. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 29 1 approve the Central Counting Station personnel as 2 presented. And let me just say about Ed Wallace, I saw 3 him Saturday -- or no, Friday night. Friday evening at 4 the reception for Texas Arts and Craft Fair, playing the 5 violin with the quartet. He is a renaissance man, let 6 me tell you. He really is. Okay. Any other 7 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 8 Item 1.10 consider, discuss and take 9 appropriate action to approve the In-County Travel 10 Policy for Kerr County Elections Department, effective 11 October 1. 12 MR. REEVES: Yes, sir. If you'll recall 13 during our budget workshops, I requested to increase my 14 budget line item 12-641-200, which is the election 15 service expense fund. I requested an increase of 16 $4,800. This increase was to reimburse my staff for the 17 in-county use of their personal vehicles when performing 18 essential job duties. As you'll recall, Fund 12 is a 19 dedicated fund which the revenue comes from the Election 20 Services Fees that I charge to various entities to hold 21 the election, as well as the two political parties in 22 the County. 23 With the adoption of the 2022 and 2023 24 budget, I will be able to reimburse my staff for the use 25 of their personal vehicles effective October 1. The 30 1 attached policy was drafted by the County Attorney with 2 input from myself and the County Auditor. And at this 3 time, I respectfully ask the Court to approve this 4 policy. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 7 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 8 second to approve the travel policy as presented. Any 9 discussion? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just to clarify one 11 thing. This is only for the Elections Department 12 because of the amount of usage they do with their 13 personal vehicles? 14 MR. REEVES: Yes, sir. And if you'll look 15 in the policy, it's -- the last sentence, I will not be 16 reimbursed for any of my use as an elected official. 17 This is only for my staff. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Any discussion? Those in 20 favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 21 MR. REEVES: Thank you. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Let's move on to Item 1.11 23 quickly. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 24 to amend the cover sheet of the 2022-2023 approved 25 budget to include the current fiscal year adopted tax 31 1 rate in accordance with the Tax Code. 2 MS. SHELTON: Yes. This is just a 3 formality. The -- whenever we adopted the budget, the 4 tax rate had not been adopted at that time, just 5 proposed. And so all we're doing is changing the word 6 "proposed" to "adopted" on this sheet. 7 We've also added the County M&O rate and the 8 Lateral Road Rate to the list of the numbers that are 9 there, for the rates that are there. 10 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Move for approval. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'll move for 12 approval. 13 JUDGE KELLY: One of you move and one of you 14 second. All those in favor. Unanimous. Thank you. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: You get to pick. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We've got two 9:30 17 items. Let me just go ahead and call Item 1.7 first. 18 That is to Consider, discuss and take appropriate action 19 on a request from Tivy High School to use Flat Rock Park 20 on October 14 and 15 to host a high school cross country 21 meet. This will be a backup location. Mr. Taylor. 22 MR. TAYLOR: Yes, sir. First of all, I want 23 to thank you guys for letting us use it the last two 24 dates. It was wonderful. Shane and Greg were 25 incredible hosts out there and we had a lot of 32 1 compliments from many other school districts that came 2 about how wonderful the course was and the layout, they 3 just really enjoyed it. 4 JUDGE KELLY: I need for you to identify 5 yourself. 6 MR. TAYLOR: I'm Coach Taylor from Tivy High 7 School. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Very good. 9 MR. TAYLOR: We do have a scheduling issue 10 with the current host site in Seguin. We had to move 11 our date from the 12th to the 13th, to our backup date, 12 because of the SAT tests. So we're in need of a backup 13 date and location. Tivy's -- our course here at Flat 14 Rock seems to be the best and that's what the other 15 coaches are wanting. So I'm requesting that we get 16 approval to -- for October 14th and the 15th in the a.m. 17 to use Flat Rock Park as our cross country site for that 18 district cross country meet. This is only a backup 19 location in case our Seguin location gets rained out. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 21 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 23 second to approve using Flat Rock Park as the backup 24 location for Tivy High School cross country meet. Any 25 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 33 1 Thank you. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 3 JUDGE KELLY: I put item 1.6 on the agenda. 4 Let me call that. Consider, discuss and take 5 appropriate action to determine office space for the new 6 magistrate position. I see one of our J.P.'s here. 7 MRS. STEBBINS: There's some chairs over 8 here, Judge and Judge. 9 JUDGE KELLY: I'm trying to get -- for those 10 that don't know, we put a new position in our budget 11 this year for a new magistrate, which was an unfunded 12 mandate by the State of Texas. Meaning that they 13 require us to do it but they don't give us the money to 14 do it. And we did that. Maybe bringing risk and 15 gnashing of teeth, we got it done. 16 But now we need a place for them to office. 17 Where are we going to put them? That's what I'm trying 18 to find out. And this will be a full-time magistrate, 19 which will provide backup for the J.P.'s at this point, 20 and other people that handle the magistration. I think 21 we've got a municipal judge that does that, too. But 22 they would be a full-time magistrate. 23 And what makes the most sense is for them to 24 be somewhere close to the jail because that's where 25 they're going to do the magistrating. From what I 34 1 understand. I went over and took a look last week to 2 see how it was all going to work. So we've got to find 3 a place to put them. So that's what I'm really trying 4 to get input from the J.P.'s. 5 JUDGE HOYNE: Are you ready for us? All 6 right. Speak from here or -- 7 JUDGE KELLY: The podium. 8 JUDGE HOYNE: Thank you. Thank you, 9 gentlemen, for the opportunity just to give a little bit 10 of input on this problem solving that we're doing this 11 morning. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Let me -- let me introduce 13 you. This is J.R. Hoyne. He is our J.P. Precinct 2. 14 JUDGE HOYNE: Thank you, Judge. I 15 understand that one of the possible locations would be 16 the visiting judge's office or desk that's in the back 17 of the Justice of the Peace courtroom. And I possess 18 some of the space that we have right now so I would ask 19 that the Court perhaps explore as many options as 20 possible. And I would ask you to stay away from that 21 particular area at this time. 22 Mainly for logistical challenges that I 23 think would occur if you were to put a full-time office 24 in that little spot that's essentially right in the 25 middle of our office there. It is an active workspace 35 1 for us. It acts as a conference room for trials, 2 pretrials, meetings that we're having. Sometimes in 3 Court we'll step out into that little area to get 4 business done. 5 Our part-time clerk uses that when she's 6 assisting Misty, my clerk. There's a computer back 7 there that we use and we'll certainly put her back 8 there. That's the space that we have when we're needing 9 some help. 10 Of course, originally I think that was the 11 visiting judge's room as were described by the 12 blueprints and so we've got visiting judges, the J.P.'s, 13 District Judges come by and use that to set up before 14 they head into the courtroom, which is right outside 15 that doorway. It's used by Constable, and it was at one 16 time as well part-time. They're in the field most of 17 the time, but the phone and the desk is useful having 18 them close to us since we work so closely together. 19 Constable use is also something that we utilize it for. 20 There's a storage closet back there. A 21 little break room. Store all kinds of things. And it's 22 also -- that's our only space for storage back in J.P. 23 2, it's an office supply, paper, inquest records. 24 There's just a lot of things that we use that for. 25 And thus, it's a thoroughfare, really, for 36 1 our office back to the Sheriff's office. We go through 2 that door into my courtroom. My bench is right there 3 off to the right. And so it's not a quiet place to be, 4 as much travel as we -- not only my office but folks 5 from the Sheriff's office come in to speak with us and 6 do business. 7 I think one of the concerns along those 8 lines or the concern is just the spillover of having a 9 full-time person in that space. The potential for noise 10 and disturbances, there's a little story that sound 11 carries. The Sheriff's office is a busy place. A lot 12 of people talking. Yakking, laughing. Business as 13 usual. No problem with that. But even sometimes the 14 noise will come in when we're having a court or having a 15 trial, and the noise will come in from the hallway 16 through the jury room into our courtroom. So we've got 17 to close the jury room door, oddly enough, because 18 sometimes the -- again, the noise from people working 19 can be disturbing to the Court. 20 And the -- like I mentioned, the bench and 21 the chambers are close by to that particular office. 22 Again, there's a lot of noise that carries. And I think 23 there's also going to be a distraction to whoever that 24 magistrate is right there. It's a small room and with 25 all the traffic that we have going in there, I think it 37 1 wouldn't be very fair for that person to be placed right 2 in that very spot. It's a beaten pathway, I guess is 3 how I describe that, to all these other locations that 4 people come and go. 5 Plus, I think this would add to the clerks 6 workload. We're looking at -- I've got a clerk that 7 does the work of about 1.75 clerks. She's just 8 amazingly efficient and busy, gets a lot done, and I 9 think putting that magistrate back in that office is 10 just going to lead to more phone calls for her, more 11 visitors coming through our desk or our lobby because 12 that's where the new magistrate is, he's in the J.P. 2 13 office -- or she. And so I have some concerns about my 14 clerk's workload. 15 Gentlemen, essentially, I think that we are 16 placing a fifth Justice of the Peace right in the middle 17 of our work space. And I think we're going to be right 18 on top of each other. I like a calm and orderly place 19 in my courtroom. The decorum, I think, is important for 20 my office and in my court and I think that there's some 21 potential for distractions and destruction there. 22 I'd also paint the picture that there are 23 options. I certainly know that you're looking at any 24 possibilities back in the jail. But I also have spoken 25 with my Constable, who's now got an office over in the 38 1 CID room, and he has agreed to swap offices, if 2 necessary, and perhaps we can place the magistrate 3 across the parking lot. Not as convenient as that room 4 would be to walk right into the hall and down to the 5 jail but it's just right across the parking lot. But it 6 would add that privacy that I think is essential for 7 anybody that's running a magistrate's office and doing 8 magistrate business. And it logistically would just be 9 a better thing, in my opinion. But that's where we're 10 coming from and I appreciate you gentlemen letting me 11 speak this morning. Any questions? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have a question. Last 13 time you were here, Judge, you didn't think there was a 14 need for a magistrate. So evidently this has changed? 15 JUDGE HOYNE: Well, I'm -- I'm certainly 16 busy. I magistrated last week. I cleared my whole week 17 up. We got it done. And it's certainly doable. So do 18 we need one? Define the term need. Is it nice to have 19 some help, because essentially what could be an hour's 20 worth of work turns into three or four and maybe if it's 21 a two hour, three, what would have been a two hour -- 22 two or three-hour day turns into six or eight hour's 23 worth of work. 24 So the help -- when I heard that it was 25 going to be possible we're going to get some help in 39 1 doing some of this magistration, I -- I'd support that. 2 But I still think that J.P.'s can get it done. It's 3 just -- it's just more work. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: As I recall the last 5 time Judge Mitchell was the main advocate for it and you 6 were -- didn't think it was necessary. I'm just trying 7 to figure out what's changed. 8 And my other question would be based on that 9 comment also, does it need to be a full-time position or 10 would a part-time position fill it? 11 JUDGE HOYNE: Well, my understanding it's 12 not just magistration, but there's also going to be a 13 lot of administrative work, for lack of a better term, I 14 apologize. Maybe some bean counting and a lot of that 15 stuff so -- 16 JUDGE KELLY: Inputting and -- putting 17 information into the system. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Data entry. 19 JUDGE HOYNE: Yeah, and that's all a part of 20 the Justice of the Peace -- or the magistrate's duties 21 once you get there. And the jail's been doing a great 22 job of just getting some of the initial, like, FBI, SID 23 numbers entered for us, but it's still tedious as heck. 24 But to concentrate, don't talk to the 25 jailers when they're back there and just kind of put 40 1 your head down and horse blinders on then you can get 2 that job done reasonably quickly. But it's -- it's 3 still -- it's still a load. 4 JUDGE MITCHELL: May I speak? 5 JUDGE KELLY: This is Kathy Mitchell, 6 J.P. 3. 7 JUDGE MITCHELL: Good morning. Another 8 reason, Commissioner Letz, is when we -- the District 9 Judges and the County Court at Law Judge, when they do 10 bond conditions. Let's say somebody's inside and they 11 do bond conditions. They get off of probation, they get 12 off -- there's a protective order placed on them. 13 That protective order goes away within a 14 certain length of time, maybe up to two years or 15 whatever. They have to have somebody to get that 16 information to, that that protective order is no longer 17 in place. And so that they can notify the Sheriff's 18 office. 19 It's happened in the past to where 20 somebody's protective order was gone, somebody was 21 arrested for violation of protective order. It was 22 gone, so we violated their rights. Well, we didn't, but 23 it was done. And so the judges wanted somebody, one 24 person, to send this to. County Court at Law Judge, two 25 District Judges send this information to so they can 41 1 notify Sheriff's office these bond conditions no longer 2 exist. So that we don't have anything like that happen. 3 So that's another issue and that's what the 4 District Judges and the County Court at Law Judge were 5 concerned about. So instead of going to six different 6 magistrates trying to find out who we give this 7 information to, because the only time when we would have 8 to input that is if we were aware of it. So they 9 wouldn't have to send it to six different ones. We were 10 trying to guess who was on call. This way they have one 11 person to send it to. So that's another reason. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I understand the 13 need for it and that's why we put it in the budget. But 14 we were kind of waiting to figure out exactly how it was 15 going to work and what was needed and how much 16 additional work it is, and my understanding is that a 17 lot of the software is being modified to help ease the 18 input requirements. I don't think it's been done yet 19 completely, but it's being done. 20 But it takes a -- have a full time position 21 when it's a little bit in flex. And I'd be much more 22 inclined to go to a part-time position to see how that 23 goes, if possible. And housing it, you know, I have no 24 idea. 25 JUDGE MITCHELL: Well, the last time I was 42 1 on call, not this last time but the time before, I had 2 95 indictments. 95. That has to be input into that 3 Computer. You're spending five to six hours at the 4 jail. In the meantime, I'm getting calls for unattended 5 deaths, emergency detention orders, warrants for arrest, 6 and I'm being pulled 25 different directions and 7 spending six hours at the jail. It's -- it's -- it's 8 just -- it can't be done. I mean it's being done but it 9 can't. It's too stressful. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess I'm trying to -- 11 I -- I know your schedule and it's very busy. And I 12 look at Judge Hoyne and his is not -- his comment is 13 different. And Judge Ragsdale, I think, is indifferent 14 from what -- most things. 15 MRS. STEBBINS: Today's agenda item is just 16 about space and not about the full-time or part-time 17 position. It is to consider, discuss and take 18 appropriate action to determine office space for new 19 magistrate position. So just -- 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Boundaries. 21 MRS. STEBBINS: Boundaries. That's right. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Basically, you've got 23 another layer of bureaucracy -- we're not sure where 24 this is going to take us. It's an unfunded mandate. 25 We've got to at least have a part-time person, don't 43 1 have -- and don't know where to put them. I agree with 2 Commissioner Letz that it would be nice to hire somebody 3 part-time and ease into it and see how that's going to 4 work. If it requires something more then -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But we still need an 6 office. 7 MRS. STEBBINS: Space is the agenda item 8 this morning. 9 JUDGE KELLY: I want -- I wanted to get 10 everybody together so we can talk logistically where are 11 we going to put this person. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. 13 JUDGE KELLY: And if they're going to be at 14 the jail, then they're magistrating during the daylight 15 hours, from 9:00 to 5:00. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: So they -- J.R. 17 discussed one option. What other options are there? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, he discussed two. 19 He discussed one, put it in the CID, which I'm not in 20 favor of because that seems like that's a conflict of 21 interest to me. The other is to put it in his space and 22 he doesn't like that option and I understand. I mean, I 23 think that's very reasonable. So I'm not sure what 24 other options are available out there. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Other than CID. I went 44 1 through with the Chief Deputy last week. We can get a 2 closet in CID. Might be able to get a closet in the 3 jail. Just have to go in through the jail itself. 4 There's an office in there. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sheriff, do you have 6 any -- 7 JUDGE KELLY: The only thing I saw were two 8 closets. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sheriff, do you have 10 any thoughts? 11 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yeah. Judge, I know you 12 looked at Chris and that one that's near their office, 13 but that wouldn't be good at all. I mean, that's 14 actually an interview room. I don't know if he took you 15 back into those interview rooms where the -- that and 16 we -- we house our ammunitions. You know, where our 17 climate control storage, it's very valuable, you know, 18 that's one thing. 19 Like the J.P. said, over there in the CID 20 building, I've got -- some offices with two, three -- 21 one office with five people. I know I definitely 22 wouldn't support a part-time office or a nice valuable 23 space like that because I mean I could use it. I'm 24 open-minded to it. 25 If the Constable wants to move over there, 45 1 I'm not -- you know, I'm not crazy about it. But, you 2 know, I understand if y'all need space. But definitely 3 not in part-time. I mean, I can't give up a good office 4 for a part-time employee when I've got two, three, and 5 five people in an office. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Well, what I saw over there 7 is -- and the whole campus with the Sheriff's office 8 there. There was a closet back in the jail part that 9 you've got to go into the jail to get there. There was 10 the old constable's office, which is where Judge Hoyne 11 is, which he talked about. And then over across the 12 driveway in CID there was a closet over there that we 13 could empty out and try to put somebody in. And those 14 are the only three choices I saw. But I think it's 15 important that this person be on that campus. I 16 don't -- we don't want him here at the courthouse. Then 17 they've got to drive back and forth to do the 18 magistration and just get into another mess. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess what I'm 20 thinking about is putting it in the Sheriff's Department 21 is I view this as kind of like a judge. And is it 22 proper to put a judge in with the investigators? That 23 seems a little bit awkward to me. I mean -- it seems 24 like it's a bad solution to put -- 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I agree. 46 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- the judge in with the 2 police -- or the Sheriff's Department. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, we talked 4 about -- and Judge Hoyne, you -- you brought this up and 5 said you had magistrated people via Zoom and doing it 6 online as I recall. 7 JUDGE HOYNE: That's correct. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is that a thing that -- 9 JUDGE HOYNE: During -- during the COVID 10 era. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. Could we use 12 that for the -- was it -- first of all, was that 13 effective? Was it okay? Did it work? 14 JUDGE HOYNE: It worked. We did it in a 15 couple different ways. One would have been the -- we 16 sat at our magistration desk and they brought the 17 fellows that were in jail into a -- another room, and we 18 actually magistrated them, even though we were in the 19 same building, on a screen. My understanding also is, 20 though, that one of the municipal judges also did it 21 from his office. Is that correct? 22 JUDGE MITCHELL: Uh-huh. 23 JUDGE HOYNE: And so we actually did it from 24 wherever his office -- I don't think he did it from the 25 municipal court but it was done remotely while the guys 47 1 in jail were still in jail. That magistrate action -- 2 the magistration took place at the -- whatever office 3 space that he was using. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So we've already done 5 it and it worked okay? 6 JUDGE HOYNE: Yes. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Judge Mitchell, do you think 8 it worked all right? 9 JUDGE MITCHELL: When we magistrated at the 10 jail everything was being recorded. Okay. So if you're 11 here at the courthouse and you're magistrating, we have 12 to -- if you're arrested for a misdemeanor, you have to 13 save that magistration for, like, 30 days. If a felony, 14 90 days. And the way things are going right now, even 15 longer. So it would have to be a way of recording it. 16 And I have gotten mine set up to be able to do it that 17 way. So by doing it by Zoom, you have an external 18 drive. And -- and you can record it on that, and it 19 goes to my external drive so we're not using the 20 County's -- you know, our webpage or our site -- 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Let me interrupt you. 22 JUDGE MITCHELL: Okay. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You're talking about IT 24 issues. I'm talking about whether or not it was 25 efficient. 48 1 JUDGE MITCHELL: It is feasible. But there 2 are things that IT has to do and you have to do to make 3 it feasible. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. Sure. Yeah. 5 JUDGE MITCHELL: Yeah. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, understandable. 7 But it -- you don't have to be in the same room or 8 across the glass from somebody or however it's done, 9 face to face. 10 SHERIFF LEITHA: Correct. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You can do it -- 12 JUDGE MITCHELL: Right. But based -- there 13 again, it's going to put work on the jail staff. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. But that gives 15 us options. 16 JUDGE MITCHELL: Uh-huh. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we don't need to take 19 action today but we need to work on this. And the 20 office that is in -- J.R. is talking about, Judge Hoyne, 21 is right off the lobby going into the Sheriff's office. 22 And it was a constable's office once upon a time. I 23 remember the days when it was a constable's office. But 24 it also adjoins his office space. But it's -- that -- 25 that space is available there. And we're going to have 49 1 to make a choice on one of these. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Nothing would be 3 ideal. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Absolutely. We're the County. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So the remote seems like 6 the most viable. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: If it got set up 8 properly, I think that could work and then it doesn't 9 matter where you're at. You could be at the West Kerr 10 Annex and you could do it from there. As long as it 11 gets done, it gets done. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: From the options that 13 I've heard that makes more sense. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Everything has to be 15 recorded electronically anyway. Paperwork and all that. 16 You don't walk a manila folder across the office 17 anymore. You just file it online and everybody has 18 access to it. And the video likewise and so on. So 19 we're -- you know, the -- for defense purposes and all 20 of that. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Why don't we kick this can 22 down the road and revisit it? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it -- we 24 probably can put it on the next agenda, or soon, as to 25 the viability of part-time versus full-time. Because I 50 1 just -- and to have some -- you know, I just don't 2 know -- 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I agree. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You know, because I hear 5 two different things from two different J.P.'s right 6 now. And there's two other J.P.'s that aren't here so 7 I'm not sure of their opinion on it. And so it's up -- 8 anyway, I'd like to get that input. It's in the budget 9 for a full-time position but I think we need to make 10 sure we're doing the right thing. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Why don't we take a 12 five minute break, and we'll come back and start on Item 13 1.12. 14 (Recess.) 15 JUDGE KELLY: Court is back in session. I 16 want to advise people that are here to talk about the 17 library, the item 1.30 on the agenda, we have timed 18 agenda items. And we have 11 timed agenda items, which 19 we have to hear before we can go to the untimed. 1.30 20 is an untimed. And there are not only those 11 that go 21 all the way through 10:15. That will probably take us 22 30 minutes or more. There's another eight ahead of 1.30 23 that are not timed. So we're probably looking at 24 probably an hour before we're going to get to that. So 25 I just wanted everyone to be as comfortable as you can. 51 1 So with that, let's go ahead and start the 2 timed items at 10 o'clock. First one is 1.12 for 3 public hearing for a proposed cancellation of Tract 7, 4 52.82 acres of the Theodore & Dorothea Oehler Estate 5 Subdivision. 6 This is a public meeting I call to order. Is 7 there anyone who would like to appear and make a 8 presentation to the Court? There being none, I will 9 adjourn the public meeting and we'll move on to 10 Item 1.13, which is to consider, discuss and take 11 appropriate action to approve a cancellation of Tract 7, 12 52.82 acres, of the Theodore & Dorothea Oehler Estate 13 subdivision. Mr. Hastings. 14 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. In your 15 packet is a letter from Voelkel Land Surveying 16 requesting the Court cancel Tract 7, 52.82 acres, out of 17 the Theodore & Dorothea Oehler Estate subdivision, 18 Volume 4, Page 27. 19 Their client, Texas Apache Trace, LLC, has 20 purchased Tract 7 and they wish to add it to their 21 proposed development, Apache Trace. It's a 500-acre 22 80-lot residential subdivision off of FM 479, adjacent 23 to said tract. 24 The County -- we just had a public hearing. 25 No one spoke. The County Engineer requests the Court 52 1 approve the cancelation of Tract 7, 52.82 acres of the 2 Theodore & Dorothea Oehler Estate subdivision, Volume 4, 3 Page 27, Precinct 4. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 6 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 7 second to approve the cancellation of Tract 7, 52.82 8 acres of the Theodore & Dorothea Oehler Estate 9 subdivision. Discussion? 10 Charlie, run -- run those numbers by me 11 again. How many acres and how many lots? 12 MR. HASTINGS: Apache Trace is 80 lots, and 13 it is roughly 500 acres. 14 JUDGE KELLY: And where is it? 15 MR. HASTINGS: This is off of FM 479. 16 JUDGE KELLY: 479? 17 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Discussion? All those in 19 favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 20 Moving on to Item 1.14 consider, discuss and 21 take appropriate action to set a public hearing for 22 November 14, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. for a proposed 23 cancelation of Tract 11, which is 57.16 acres, of the 24 Theodore & Dorothea Oehler Estate Subdivision. 25 Mr. Hastings. 53 1 MR. HASTINGS: Attached is a letter from 2 Voelkel Land Surveying, requesting the Court cancel 3 Tract 11 of 57.16 acres, out of the Theodore & Dorothea 4 Oehler Estate Subdivision, Volume 4, Page 27. 5 Their client, High Point Land Investments, 6 LLC, has purchased Tract 11 and they wish to subdivide 7 it into a three-lot subdivision to be known as Hidden 8 Draw Ranch Subdivision with access from FM 479. 9 The County Engineer recommends that the 10 Court set a public hearing for November 14th, 2022 at 11 10:00 a.m. for a proposed cancellation of Tract 11, 12 57.16 acres of the Theodore & Dorothea Oehler Estate 13 subdivision, Volume 4, Page 27, Precinct 4. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 15 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 16 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 17 second to approve the cancellation of Tract 11, 57.16 18 acres, of the Theodore & Dorothea Oehler Estate 19 subdivision. Any discussion? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. So I guess 21 their intent is that they, rather than go through the 22 revision of plat process, this is a cleaner process to 23 cancel it and then do a new subdivision? 24 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 54 1 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 2 in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 3 Next item is Item 1.15 consider, discuss and 4 take appropriate action for the Court to conditionally 5 approve a revision of plat for Hartshorn Country Sites, 6 Site No. 2, with the condition that the City of 7 Kerrville approve and sign the plat. Mr. Hastings. 8 MR. HASTINGS: A small portion, 0.07 acres, 9 of Site No. 2 was previously conveyed to the adjacent 10 property without revising the plat. This proposal 11 corrects the error by revising the plat for part of Site 12 No. 2 as it currently exists into Site No. 2R, 2.08 13 acres. Road frontage will remain on Hartshorn Drive. 14 It is in Kerrville's ETJ and must be approved by both 15 entities. 16 The County Engineer requests the Court 17 conditionally approve a revision of plat for Hartshorn 18 Country Sites, Site No. 2, with the condition that the 19 City of Kerrville approve and sign the plat. Volume 1, 20 Page 69, Precinct 1. 21 And my understanding is that Drew Paxton 22 with the City will go to the County Clerk's office to 23 sign that plat while it stays in her possession. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 55 1 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 2 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 3 second to approve the revision of plat for Hartshorn 4 Country Sites, Site No. 2, as presented. Any 5 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 6 Moving on. The next one is Item 1.16 7 consider, discuss and take the appropriate action for 8 the Court to set a public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on 9 November 14, 2022, for a revision of plat for Soledad 10 Springs Estates, Lot 15. Mr. Hastings. 11 MR. HASTINGS: This proposal divides Lot 15 12 (7.18 acres) into two lots with a well tract. Lot 15A 13 will be 2.13 acres fronting on Gabe Road. Lot 15B will 14 be 5.01 acres fronting on Gabe Road and Sierra Road, and 15 the Well Tract will be 0.04 acres and it will be 16 accessed through a private well access easement. 17 The County Engineer requests the Court set a 18 public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on November 14th, 2022 for 19 a revision of plat for Soledad Springs Estates Lot 15, 20 Volume 3, Page 112, Precinct 1. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 22 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 23 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 24 second to approve the revision of plat for Soledad 25 Springs Estates Lot 15. Any discussion? There being 56 1 none, those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 2 Item 1.17 consider, discuss and take 3 appropriate action for the Court to set a public hearing 4 for 10:00 a.m. on November 14, 2022, for a revision of 5 plat for Kerrville Country Estates, Section 2, Lot 26. 6 Mr. Hastings. 7 MR. HASTINGS: This proposal divides Lot 26, 8 currently 10 plus acres into two lots. Lot 26N will be 9 five plus acres and Lot 26S will be five plus acres. 10 Frontage for both lots will be on Kerrville Country 11 Drive. The lots may be served by a water system or a 12 private well. 13 These lots are located in Kerrville's ETJ. 14 Since both lots are over five acres, this proposal may 15 be exempted from platting through the City of Kerrville. 16 The County Engineer requests the Court set a 17 public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on November 14, 2022 for a 18 revision of plat for Kerrville Country Estates 19 Section 2, Lot 26, Volume 4, Page 131, Precinct 1. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 23 second to approve the revision of plat -- or setting a 24 public hearing for a revision of plat for Kerrville 25 Country Estates Section 2, Lot 26, for November 14 at 57 1 10:00 a.m. Any discussion? Those in favor raise your 2 hand. Unanimous. 3 Next is 1.18 the public hearing for the 4 Court to give the name of -- is this Guilanshah Road to 5 a 0.6-mile private access easement road, said road is 6 off of 277 Hasenwinkel Road and serves as the only 7 access to Hasenwinkel Road for all three lots of the 8 800-acre Hall Ranch Subdivision. Mr. Hastings. 9 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. 10 MR. GUILANSHAH: A public meeting? 11 MR. HASTINGS: A public hearing, yes. I'm 12 looking for -- 13 JUDGE KELLY: Anyone here to talk about 14 Guilanshah Road? 15 MR. GUILANSHAH: Yes, sir. Thank you. 16 Judge Kelly, Commissioners. Sorry. Hi, my name is 17 Darius Kirk Guilanshah. Charlie was gracious enough to 18 call me and give me the news. 19 A little bit of history. My grandfather, 20 Thomas Kirk Holdsworth ran the gas station on the corner 21 here. Betsy Holdsworth taught in Hunt. My mother, 22 Elizabeth -- Mary Elizabeth Holdsworth grew up on the 23 ranch and loved it until her last breath. And it is now 24 with us as we go on into the next generation. 25 Charlie was gracious enough to remind us 58 1 that Holdsworth Drive has already been taken. And so we 2 came up with the name Guilanshah Road. So thank you, 3 guys, for -- for the information. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Nice to hear the history. 5 Okay. Do we have a motion? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion -- 7 MRS. DOWDY: It's a public hearing. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, public hearing. 9 JUDGE KELLY: It's a public hearing. Now we 10 move on. Item 1.19, which is to consider, discuss and 11 take appropriate action for the Court to give the name 12 of Guilanshah Road to a 0.6-mile private access easement 13 road, said road is off 277 Hasenwinkel Road, and serves 14 as the only access to Hasenwinkel Road for all three 15 lots of the 800-acre Hall Ranch Subdivision. 16 MR. HASTINGS: Hall Ranch Subdivision is a 17 proposed 800-acre, 3-lot subdivision off of Hasenwinkel 18 Road in Precinct 3. A concept plan for this subdivision 19 was presented to the Court in December of 2021. A 20 preliminary plat in February of 2022. The construction 21 plans are complete, and the final plat was approved in 22 September of 2022, just a few weeks ago. 23 Hall Ranch has a 0.9-mile privately 24 maintained road, and they have named it Guilanshah Road 25 on the approved plat. This road connects to Hasenwinkel 59 1 Road through a 0.6-mile-long private access easement 2 road that runs through the property located at 277 3 Hasenwinkel Road. The said private access easement 4 road, although commonly referred to as "Guilanshah 5 Road", is currently officially unnamed, which presents a 6 public health, safety, and welfare issue concerning 7 emergency services being able to locate the proposed 8 subdivision road. 9 Therefore, the County Engineer recommends 10 that the Court give the name of Guilanshah Road to a 11 0.6-mile private access easement road, said road is off 12 of 277 Hasenwinkel Road, and serves as the only access 13 to Hasenwinkel Road for all three lots of the 800-acre 14 Hall Ranch Subdivision, in the interest of public 15 health, safety, and welfare as recommended by Kerr 911. 16 Precinct 3. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 20 approve naming the 0.6-mile road Guilanshah Road for the 21 Hall Ranch Subdivision as presented. Any discussion? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you, 23 Mr. Guilanshah, for coming today. 24 MR. GUILANSHAH: Thank you guys. Sure 25 appreciate it. 60 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. All those in favor 2 raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 3 Item 1.20 consider, discuss and take 4 appropriate action on the proposed FY 2022-23 5 Engineering Department fee schedule. Mr. Hastings. 6 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. Kerr County 7 Engineering Department was created in June of 2016, and 8 as such does not charge platting fees for engineering 9 review of plats and plans or construction inspection. 10 Attached in your packet is a comparison of platting fee 11 schedules from counties as selected by the 12 Commissioners' Court, including a proposed platting fee 13 for the Kerr County Engineering Department. 14 Since each county uses slightly different 15 terminology in their fee schedule, the comparison table 16 has been constructed in a way to account for those 17 differences to obtain reasonable compare -- comparisons. 18 I'm sorry. I'm trying to make it apples to apples as 19 best as we could. 20 The following counties are in the comparison 21 table: Kerr, Bandera, Kendall, Chambers, Medina, 22 Atasacosa, Wilson, Williamson, Guadalupe, Comal, and 23 Hays. Kerr County Engineering Department also processes 24 floodplain development and driveway permits, proposed 25 updates to those fees are reflected in the 2022-23 61 1 proposed fee schedule. 2 This is for consideration and possible 3 action from the Court. I've not ever done a fee 4 schedule before, so this is the first one. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Looks like you took 6 the right route, you know, comparing everything. I 7 think it's long overdue. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Me too. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 10 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 12 approve the Engineering Department fee schedule as 13 presented. Any discussion? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My only concern is to me 15 it's a little bit sensitive. I like the process. I 16 think a dollar per foot is high. And I think the 17 amount -- I mean I don't think we should subsidize 18 developers, but at the same time if you just look at the 19 chart it gives the County $194,000. This is what we did 20 in addition to -- in the last 12 months? 21 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. Nine months. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Last nine months? 23 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That seems like a lot. 25 So basically we're asking the developers to pay for 62 1 basically most of that Engineering Department. Almost 2 the entire Engineering Department. I mean that seems 3 high. I would prefer to go to, you know, $0.75 or 50 4 cents a foot. 5 MR. HASTINGS: There are three options on 6 there. An Option A is representative of what the actual 7 costs are to the Engineering and Road and Bridge 8 Department. It's not conservative in the sense that 9 it's a big number. It's conservative that it's a low 10 number. But what it comes out to is about $5,000.00 a 11 mile for us to review construction plans, the plat, the 12 plans, and all of the construction inspection that goes 13 with afterwards. 14 For example, Mystic Ridge is just down the 15 street. That's on Spur 100. I think I was out there 16 eight or nine times last week. Eight or nine times. 17 And what we'd really like to do with these fees once 18 they're collected is be able to hire a third-party 19 inspector. That way, if development is big we -- then 20 we have funds to fund that. And then when development 21 dies back down, which I imagine it -- one of these days 22 it will, we won't need to hire a third-party inspector. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Don't plan on that anytime 24 soon, Charlie. 25 MR. HASTINGS: Okay. But anyway, that is -- 63 1 it does -- the dollar per foot, it matches up. And it 2 costs us more than the dollar a foot. But for all 3 intents and purposes, the dollar a foot is a good 4 number. And that comports with what some other counties 5 are doing. I didn't see anything higher than that. I 6 will say this, there are some counties that they charge 7 per lot. And when you have a subdivision that has no 8 roads, but they have a lot of lots, that's not fair, so 9 I'm not in favor of that at all. It doesn't reflect the 10 value. 11 The value is if the developer comes in and 12 they build a road and they build storm drainage and 13 they're putting infrastructure in the ground, that costs 14 a lot of money to go and inspect -- there's a lot of 15 money that the developer is spending to install those 16 and it takes a lot of time from our department to review 17 it and make sure it goes in correctly. And that's what 18 this does. 19 So people are curious what the formula would 20 be, $550 plus a dollar per linear foot of road plus 21 $25.00 per lot. Compared to -- I've seen others $300 a 22 lot -- 35 -- $3,000.00 plus $300 a lot. And that just 23 doesn't -- if you just do it by lot and $300 a lot, 24 things get out of whack real quick. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So you've got a base 64 1 fee, Charlie -- 2 MR. HASTINGS: Of 550. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- for the filing and 4 that's 550? 5 MR. HASTINGS: It's not for filing. It's -- 6 these are County engineering fees. So when I get a set 7 of plans and I review them, I spend a lot of time on 8 that. The 550 covers reviewing the plat and the plans 9 for a subdivision. That's a base fee. You know, and 10 then if they don't have any roads, then after that it's 11 $25 a lot. And if they do have roads and drainage, then 12 it's a dollar per linear foot of road. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Charlie, which one of 14 these lots -- subdivisions was the one out -- I think 15 it's maybe the Hideout. It was out there in -- 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Off 479? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's the one that -- 18 well, there was a long road, they were going to divide 19 it into three lots, I think, and then they decided just 20 to do one lot. Instead of -- 21 MR. HASTINGS: Oh. Hall Ranch is like that. 22 That's only three lots. And it's -- 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, but I think this 24 is out in the western part of the county where there's a 25 long road that went to it and there's a couple -- I know 65 1 we had to do a drainage study and there's a couple low 2 water crossings. 3 MR. HASTINGS: Oh, Herff Ranch. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's Herff Ranch? 5 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. That's got two lots in 6 it right now. But they've got three miles of road. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: See, that's the -- 8 that's the one that bothers me. It's a private road 9 going back and to do that's going to be $32,000 in fees. 10 And I -- you know, I understand that it's -- that just 11 seems -- 12 MR. HASTINGS: 17 -- that -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- that's a high fee for 14 two lots. 15 MR. HASTINGS: That would be seventeen-six 16 at a dollar a foot. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, I'm sorry. I was on 18 Camp Verde. 19 MR. HASTINGS: Creek side -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Even seventeen-six is 21 high. Like I said, I -- I support the -- we've been way 22 undercharging. No question. To me it's whether or not 23 a dollar a foot is too high. I think it's a little high 24 but -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: Well, the things I get, they 66 1 just ask us to waive it, waive part of it. 2 MR. HASTINGS: We have an option -- well, 3 whether a road is private or public it's the same amount 4 of time for me to go out and do inspection. I still 5 have to confirm that they built it to our standards. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: You know, I -- I 7 contend these guys are stretched pretty thin. And it's 8 not going to get any better anytime soon. And I'm 9 comfortable with it. 10 JUDGE KELLY: I am, too. I think we need a 11 standardized fee schedule though. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree with that. 13 It's -- the dollar amount is what I have a problem with. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Well, it's what the other 15 counties are doing. It seems to me like we're right in 16 the middle. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Which is not always a 19 good thing to do is just follow the other guys. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I know. But in 21 this case I think it is, for the -- our department here. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I tend to agree with 23 Jonathan. I mean, establishing a fee is something that 24 we haven't been -- what if we went strictly with the -- 25 the foot amount and not have the filing fee or the other 67 1 way around? 2 JUDGE KELLY: I think filing fee is 3 standard. 4 MR. HASTINGS: Filing fees are handled 5 through Jackie's office. So there are no filing fees in 6 this at all. This is just one hundred percent what it 7 is costing -- what the taxpayers are right now paying -- 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The 550. 9 MR. HASTINGS: -- this engineering 10 department to do these reviews. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The $550.00? 12 MR. HASTINGS: The 550 is a -- yes, sir. A 13 base fee. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. Yeah. 15 MR. HASTINGS: That gets -- no matter if -- 16 if the plat is one lot or it's a hundred lots, I'm 17 spending -- we're spending $550.00 between my time and 18 Bobby's time getting everything lined out to bring it to 19 Court and review it and make sure it meets standards, 20 etc. 21 MRS. DOWDY: Are these fees supposed to be 22 going to a dedicated fund for the County Engineering, or 23 is it just the general fund of the County? 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That should be general 25 fund. 68 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: General fund. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I would be willing to 3 back off to the 75 cents and then readdress it a year 4 from now, or -- 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It would be nice to 6 measure it by its real cost. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: That's -- can you go 8 with that? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I can live with that. 10 MS. DOWDY: So is that an amended motion? 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. Well, did -- did 12 we pick out A, B, or C on this? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 75 is B. 14 MR. HASTINGS: I think B is -- gives you the 15 ability still to -- for example, all the work that we've 16 had this year, we could easily hire three inspectors 17 outside to come and try to cover everything in the 18 County. And I think B, for sure, would get you two of 19 those inspectors for sure. Maybe -- maybe a third. 20 Maybe. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I support, though, 22 what they're doing. I mean the concept of hiring 23 outside inspectors. I'm -- and as Charlie knows, I mean 24 we're a lot lower than I know at least one of our 25 neighboring counties, because -- 69 1 MR. HASTINGS: Yeah. Again, these fees 2 would -- this doesn't -- it's not retroactive to the 3 developments that are under review right now or that are 4 already being constructed. This would apply towards -- 5 I don't know when it would go into effect. I would -- I 6 would think it should go into effect October 1 with the 7 new budget. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: With the new budget. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Do you second the amended 10 motion? 11 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I'll second the 12 amended motion. 13 MR. HASTINGS: Can we have it effective 14 October 1 with the fiscal year? So the fee schedule 15 typically go with your fiscal year? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm fine with that. 17 MR. HASTINGS: And it's Option B? 18 JUDGE KELLY: That's the motion. I'll vote 19 for it, but it ought to be a dollar. I want to be able 20 to bring it up again next year and talk about it again. 21 MR. HASTINGS: Can I go through the whole 22 fee schedule then just to make sure? 23 JUDGE KELLY: Sure. 24 MR. HASTINGS: Okay. So the voluntary 25 preliminary plan application will be a hundred dollars. 70 1 Manufactured home rental community development plan 2 application would be $550 plus 75 cents per linear foot 3 of road plus $25 per space. Condominium plan 4 application would be $550 plus 75 cents per linear foot 5 of road plus $25 per space. 6 Final plat application, which includes 7 construction plan, if applicable, would be $550 plus 75 8 cents per linear foot of road plus $25 per lot. An 9 amending plat application, $100. Cancellation of 10 subdivision application, $100. Revision of the plat 11 application, $100. 12 Non-standard plat or variance, $100. 13 Construction plan review that is not associated with a 14 plat, which we had one of those just the other day for 15 Stewart Junkin Road, $550 plus 75 cents per linear foot 16 of road. Floodplain residential development permit 17 application remains the same, it's still $200. 18 Floodplain commercial development permit application 19 remains the same, it's still 400. 20 Floodplain erosion control development 21 current application, 75. That's up from $55.00 to 22 $75.00. Floodplain Zone AE Determination, $75. That 23 remains the same. Floodplain septic-only development 24 permit application. That -- they still need to go get a 25 septic permit from the Kerr County Environmental 71 1 Department, but this is where -- that's all we're doing. 2 We have a house that's not in the floodplain but we've 3 got a septic system that has to go in the floodplain. 4 $75.00. That's new. Before we had to revert to either 5 the residential or the commercial fee of $200 to $400 6 and that just didn't seem right. 7 And then driveway permit application, 8 currently we charge zero. We're going to charge $25 for 9 a driveway permit application. 10 JUDGE KELLY: And to clarify, we had the 11 Department Head for Environmental Health look at these. 12 That does include septic? 13 MR. HASTINGS: She -- yes. She -- she said 14 to revise it so that it takes the word septic out of the 15 residential development permit application and the 16 other. I've reworded it so that it -- it reads cleaner. 17 And I have that one in front of me. I think y'all have 18 the one that -- 19 JUDGE KELLY: Just wanted to make sure. 20 MR. HASTINGS: -- that needed to remove the 21 parenthetical information. 22 JUDGE KELLY: I agree with you. I thought 23 that was a good catch that she made. 24 MR. HASTINGS: She was a real good catch. 25 It would have caused an issue, I guarantee that. She's 72 1 sharp. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We've got an amended 3 motion and a second. Any other discussion? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a quick comment 5 about this. But we had talked at one point about 6 another -- at least -- I don't know if it would be a 7 permit or whatever, but for a mail box, I know that gets 8 involved with the postal service. I think we need to 9 look at that. 10 I think we need to really look at that 11 because I know there are mail boxes in my precinct that 12 are safety hazards. And I think that -- I'm not sure 13 what we can do. Maybe the County Attorney needs to help 14 us with that. But between our regulations and postal 15 regulations as to what can be there, and if it's going 16 to be close to the road they need to be breakaway, and 17 there are many that are not. So it's just something to 18 put on your radar. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I just want to thank 21 you, Charlie, for the way that you laid this out. That 22 was very good. And we appreciate the rigor that you go 23 through with everything you do. And any money is going 24 to be better than what we had last year, so -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I like the approach that 73 1 we're going to collect some money so that we can pay 2 people to help Charlie's department. 3 MS. DOWDY: Clarification. What department 4 is collecting the fees? 5 MR. HASTINGS: We're not set up to collect 6 fees. Can we get Jackie to collect those for us? 7 MS. DOWDY: I knew that was coming. Just 8 give them a bill and -- 9 MR. HASTINGS: We really aren't set up for 10 it. People have to coordinate just to come meet with us 11 right now and then it -- there's some awkwardness if 12 they -- visiting with Road & Bridge and it's too -- 13 we're just not set up to collect fees. We do collect 14 fees now for floodplain but we don't do near the volume 15 of permitting on floodplain. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So logistically you've 17 got to figure out where you're going to send them and 18 what they're going to do and -- 19 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- what kind of form 21 and so forth. 22 MR. HASTINGS: That would be our preference, 23 though, is to have something like that. Unless there's 24 an online way for people to pay. 25 JUDGE KELLY: But that's not before the 74 1 Court today. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. 3 JUDGE KELLY: This is just approving the fee 4 schedule. 5 MR. HASTINGS: Just the fee schedule. But 6 Jackie is right. We do need to cover -- 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Plus, you don't have a 8 receipt book out there, so -- 9 MR. HASTINGS: We have a receipt book. And 10 it's really old-fashioned and people grimace when we say 11 cash or check. They do. It's just -- we're not set up 12 for it. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And I was sitting here 14 looking at her expression while you're talking and I'm 15 just wondering, what is the matter? She's getting way 16 ahead of us. Who's going to collect the money? 17 MR. HASTINGS: I was thinking of it too. 18 That's why I was so quick on the draw. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So we've got the 20 engineering part of the fee schedule before us at this 21 point. Any other discussion? Those in favor of 22 approving it raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 23 We're taking a 10:05 timed item now, which 24 is consider, discuss and take appropriate action and 25 receive clarification on how to proceed with the Annual 75 1 Bid Award for delivered fuel. Bid was opened under 2 Item 1.24 on the September 12, '22 Commissioners' Court 3 Agenda. Ms. Hoffer. 4 MS. HOFFER: Thank you. I think we're going 5 to pass on this. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Pass? 7 MS. HOFFER: Yes. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. And we're going to the 9 10:15 timed item. And this is the last timed item that 10 we have. It's 1.22 consider, discuss and take 11 appropriate action for the Court to receive an update on 12 the East Kerr County/Center Point Wastewater Collection 13 Project, including budget, schedule, and progress. 14 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. I think we 15 have Don Burger here with Tetra Tech going to give the 16 presentation. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 18 MR. BURGER: I have the presentation up on 19 the monitor there. Just a second here so I can see what 20 I'm looking at, too. This is just an update to tell you 21 what's going on with the East Kerr/Center Point 22 Wastewater Collection Project. What our status is, and 23 just to keep you up to date with what we're -- how 24 we're -- as we near completion of the construction of 25 the most recent phases. How the project's doing, both 76 1 from a physical standpoint, where we are in completion, 2 but also from the financial standpoint. Where we stand 3 with the funds that have been procured and that sort of 4 thing. What we've spent to date and what we have. 5 So the -- as a -- just a quick reminder, the 6 purpose of the project was to solve some problems and 7 issues with malfunctioning septic systems that pose a 8 health hazard and a nuisance, as well as a water quality 9 hazard. Originally, when this project was -- during the 10 inception of the project, Clean Water State Revolving 11 Funds were sought to help solve these types of problems. 12 What's important about that is that that 13 fund, the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, was 14 established under the United States Clean Water Act to 15 solve these types of problems, these types of 16 environmental problems. And so this project fit right 17 in line with that source of funding. 18 The project scope is about 27 miles of new 19 sewer, ranging in size from six-inch to 15-inch, with 11 20 lift stations, six miles of force main, and will add 21 approximately 900 sewer service connections to the 22 project. 23 The project also included expansion of the 24 Comfort Wastewater Treatment Plant and improvements in 25 Kendall County to get the wastewater from the Center 77 1 Point area and reach into Kendall County and to that 2 treatment plant. Next slide. 3 This is just a map of the overall project 4 scope. And so you can see here on the map that there's 5 a good ten, ten and a half miles of width in the 6 project, and that it's more or less a linear project but 7 the focus has been on the Center Point community and 8 those areas around. But also included in the projects 9 were a couple of other neighborhoods with problems 10 between Center Point and Comfort. But all of the 11 properties being served sewer by this project are all in 12 Kerr County. So we're not serving any properties 13 outside of Kerr County. Next slide. 14 Well, I'm not sure what went wrong with the 15 slide there. But the project cost and source of funds. 16 So let's see if I can describe to you. The total cost 17 of the project, the total funding that we have for the 18 project is about $63 million. That funding is 16 19 percent from loans from the Clean Water State Revolving 20 Fund. 40 percent from the EDAP program. The 21 economically disadvantaged areas program from the State 22 of Texas. 40 percent of that is from -- is grants from 23 EDAP. And 37 percent is loan forgiveness from the Clean 24 Water State Revolving Fund. 25 And then about four percent is EDAP loans, 78 1 and then another four percent is grants from the Texas 2 Department of Agriculture, which are the grants to 3 actually make connections to low to moderate income 4 properties. Those funds are being spent with about 75 5 percent of the total funds being spent on construction 6 itself. 7 The other 25 percent is spent on special 8 services, basic engineering, administration, fiscal 9 services, and then there's about eight percent in 10 contingencies that we have hardly touched at all. 11 So the project status, Phase 1 of the 12 construction, which included expansion of the wastewater 13 treatment plant in Comfort, is complete. Phase 2 and 14 Phase 3 are under construction. Anticipate both phases 15 to be substantially complete somewhere around 16 Thanksgiving. Basically November 25th is what our 17 contractors' current schedule indicates. Contractor is 18 D Guerra Construction out of the Austin area, and they 19 have the contracts for both Phase 2 and for Phase 3. 20 The -- we do have portions of Phase 2 that 21 are considered substantially complete where the 22 contractor had begun connecting homes to the collection 23 system in those areas already. And that would be what 24 we call Area C and D. C and D is south of downtown 25 Center Point in Verde Creek, Elm Pass Road area. River 79 1 View Drive in that area. 2 In Phase 3 we have one area that is 3 considered substantially complete, and that's the 4 infrastructure for what we call area J, which is the 5 western most portion of the project out in Hill River 6 Country Estates. So that area we're hooking up services 7 and homes in that area as well. So this will -- will 8 get rid of a lot of septic systems out there. And 9 that's a fairly densely developed and populated area so 10 it's really needed there. 11 We also have a contract that is funded 12 wholly by the Texas Department of Agriculture funds 13 known as the Wastewater Service Connections Project. We 14 have a different contractor on this. It's Qro Mex 15 Construction. This contract, we expect to be completed 16 by April 22nd of next year. Sooner probably. But that 17 is our deadline date for completion with the TDA. So 18 that's what our expected completion date is. 19 This is the project that we came to you 20 before that was put on hold until we could get part of 21 the D Guerra work Phase 2 and Phase 3 construction 22 substantially complete so that they can make 23 connections. Next slide. 24 So the funding status so far -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I've got -- before you 80 1 get off those. 2 MR. BURGER: Yes. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The question that I've 4 had a lot recently are roads. At what point will the 5 roads be completely redone? Or not completely redone, 6 redone under the contract? 7 MR. BURGER: Yeah. The road work under the 8 contract is being done in stages. In the last couple of 9 weeks we've seen some road repairs done out on Skyline 10 Drive -- Skyline Road, out towards area J. So as they 11 complete the areas that are substantially complete, 12 they're trying to minimize the mobilization costs for 13 the road crew. Because that's a significant cost. So 14 they want to be able to do several days worth of work at 15 one time to maximize that mobilization cost. 16 And so those are being done in phases as we 17 near completion. I expect all of the road repair to be 18 done by Thanksgiving, is what our target is. So -- 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So that the 20 substantially completion date for roads -- 21 MR. BURGER: The substantial completion 22 should include road repair. Yes. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Thank you. 24 MR. BURGER: So for our funding status, we 25 have the expenditures shown on the left side, and the 81 1 balance of the funding shown on the right. We've spent 2 a little over $37 million so far in construction cost. 3 Three million in basic engineering. Almost two million 4 in special services. One point two in administrative 5 costs. A little over half a million in fiscal services. 6 And we've only spent $5,900 out of the contingencies and 7 that was from one of the fundings that was used for the 8 planning of the project. So that's been in there for a 9 long time. 10 This does include all of the funding since 11 the first funding in 2012, when we started funding for 12 the planning and such. So -- those expenditures go -- 13 go all the way back. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So the contingency of 15 six million is -- 16 MR. BURGER: Hasn't been touched yet. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Has not been touched 18 and -- and is not anticipated to be touched? 19 MR. BURGER: I do not anticipate touching 20 that. We have less than $8 million left in construction 21 with Phases 2 and 3 at this time. So the $8 million 22 that is shown as a balance for construction, we're going 23 to have some of that left over. We'll have quite a bit 24 of that left over. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So really coming in 82 1 substantially under budget? 2 MR. BURGER: Yes. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And there will be a 4 decision at some point in the future as to what to do 5 with that $6 million? 6 MR. BURGER: And the remaining balance from 7 construction, yes. There will need to be a decision 8 made. The next couple of slides that I have are some 9 things that we've identified that we might spend that 10 on. Go to the next one. 11 This is a short extension of East Kelly 12 Street. The original project did not extend the line 13 quite up far enough to reach the farm. And they've 14 requested service at the, I believe, the Katzenberg 15 Farm? So we'd like to add that to the construction 16 project with a change order so we'll be bringing that to 17 you -- 18 VOICE: Zanzenberg. 19 MR. BURGER: Zanzenberg Farm. Thank you. 20 And then the next one is also another 21 extension -- next slide. 22 On Mockingbird Lane, which is right off of 23 Skyline. There have been a couple of lots on that lane 24 that have requested service, and so it is uphill from 25 our sewer line, so it would be a relatively easy 83 1 extension to make up that roadway to provide service to 2 the lots. There is a -- and we would only be able to 3 extend it up to about the extent of what the County 4 maintains there. Because the County does not maintain 5 the road all the way back to the end, I don't believe. 6 There's a cattle guard and then it becomes an unpaved 7 road after the cattle guard. Next slide. 8 Also, we have had a request for service from 9 a couple of residents off of State Highway 27, just west 10 of Stinson Road. This is -- and we do have a line on 11 Stinson Road that we could extend on the south side of 12 State Highway 27 to pick up these residents. One of 13 those lots is less than an acre. And since we've asked 14 everybody whose within 150 feet of the -- with a one 15 acre or less lot to connect, it would seem appropriate 16 to add this to the project as well. But that, again, is 17 at your discretion. 18 Those three line extensions are relatively 19 small and we'll bring those to you separately as we get 20 pricing from our contractor for change orders for that 21 work. But that will not spend the $6 million we're 22 going to have left in contingencies, nor will it spend 23 the remaining construction money that's budgeted for 24 construction. So we can look at other projects, should 25 you wish us to do that. 84 1 Commissioner Moser, when he was involved in 2 the project, had us look at one time at an area just 3 east of Kerrville that might be able to tie into 4 Kerrville sewer system. That's a possibility. Is that 5 Castlecomb or Guadalupe Heights? 6 MR. HASTINGS: Both. 7 MR. BURGER: Yeah. Castlecomb and Guadalupe 8 Heights. So next slide. 9 So -- this, I believe, is the Guadalupe 10 Heights area. I don't have a cost estimate currently 11 for this area, but that might -- that is a possibility 12 for the use of those funds should the County want to 13 pursue that. We can get with the Water Development 14 Board and find out what we would need to do to use the 15 remaining funds for project -- for this project or a 16 project like it. It could be another area that is in 17 need as well. Another unsewered area of the County 18 where we have the dense development. Next slide. 19 Also, I wanted to talk about drainage and on 20 Elm Pass Road. In -- or several months ago we brought a 21 change order to the Commissioners' Court to make some 22 revisions or changes to some construction that was done 23 in Phase 1. And they're was some questions about why we 24 needed to go back and replace clean out covers at that 25 time. And in going back and researching it, Tetra Tech 85 1 as the design engineers, we feel like we have some 2 culpability in what we specify. That what's being 3 specified in Phases 2 and 3 is a more durable clean out 4 cover that will not pop loose. It's a self-locking type 5 of cover. It has tabs on it that hold it in place. 6 The -- our specifications for the original one did not 7 so we could not make the contractor or the supplier 8 replace those or pay for that. So we'd like to offer to 9 do some design work in exchange for that change order by 10 redesigning the drainage on the west side of Elm Pass 11 Road. 12 Earlier in the project, as we installed the 13 sewer along that area, we did have some flooding in some 14 of the yards and homes over there. And so we feel like 15 we can make that situation better, and because we did 16 install the sewer over there, there is some 17 modifications we need to make anyway to that drainage 18 ditch to accommodate the -- those improvements. The new 19 sewer improvement. And make sure that they're not 20 interfering with the flow of drainage down that very 21 flat ditch along Elm Pass Road. Next slide. 22 And this is one of the completed 23 improvements. Just a photograph of our pipe ridge over 24 Bluff Creek. This is one of the more visible parts of 25 the project. The -- most of the project is underground. 86 1 But the Pipe Creek, Pipe Ridge and the 11 Lift Stations 2 are the more visible parts of the project. The rest of 3 it is manhole covers. Any questions? 4 Also, Charlie just reminded me, I meant to 5 mention that some of the funds may also be used to pay 6 down the debt on the loan. So that's another use of the 7 excess funds that could -- should that not be 8 considered. So that would also reduce the cost to the 9 County by using some of the remaining debt service -- 10 remaining funds to pay down the debt service. Exactly 11 how much could we use, we'd have to verify through the 12 water development people. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I need to know at 14 some point, Don, how the money -- or kind of what -- 15 what money is left? Is it the hundred percent, or is it 16 the 80/20 money or is it the 75 percent money? What 17 money is it that's left? 18 MR. BURGER: Yeah. Yeah. So there's -- 19 there's many different funds. Several of the funds have 20 been spent out. Most of what is remaining is actually 21 the loan funds. We've been holding the loan funds, and 22 spending the grant funds first, for the most part, so 23 that -- because the loan funds are funds that can be 24 used to pay back loans generally, so -- I can get you a 25 breakdown on that but I don't have that handy. I'd have 87 1 to get with Leslie to find out exactly where we stand on 2 a fund by fund basis. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Thank you. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Anything else? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge. Some of this 6 item is a -- I would like to have part of that 7 discussion in Executive Session, not related to this 8 part, but kind of budget and bills and those kind of 9 things. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. And we have no action 11 taken at this time? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. Thank you, Don. 13 MR. BURGER: Thank you. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Now, I misspoke. There is one 15 more timed item. It's in the addendum. It's Item 1.34, 16 it's at 10:30, and it's for the introduction of the 17 Heart of the Hills Heritage Center's Executive Director, 18 Angela Kennedy. 19 MRS. STEBBINS: There's one more after that, 20 too, Judge. 21 JUDGE KELLY: But the next one is timed. 22 MRS. STEBBINS: There's another one that is. 23 I think we had three. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Dr. Rector. 25 DR. RECTOR: Judge Kelly and Honorable 88 1 Commissioners. 2 JUDGE KELLY: You gotta go to the podium. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So everybody at home 4 can see you. 5 JUDGE KELLY: We want everybody to see you. 6 DR. RECTOR: Would you pass these around? 7 Judge Kelly and Honorable Commissioners, 8 it's an honor to be here today to announce to you that 9 the Heart of the Hills Heritage Center has found an 10 Executive Director and I am honored to bring her with me 11 today to introduce her to you. I'd like to introduce 12 Angela Kennedy. 13 MS. KENNEDY: Hello. Thank you for having 14 us here today so we can talk about our project a little 15 bit and also introduce myself. I'm Angela Kennedy. I'm 16 excited to be a part of this project here in Kerrville. 17 I have been in the museum field working in Austin at the 18 Texas State History Museum prior to being here, as well 19 as at the Denver Art Museum, focusing on education 20 experiences for families and teachers as well as 21 students. Prior to that I taught elementary school in 22 Austin. 23 My family and I are excited to be coming 24 from Austin. My husband is from the area. He graduated 25 from Tom Moore High School in Ingram. And this is a fun 89 1 opportunity for all of us. I grew up coming to 2 Kerrville where my grandparents had a house while I was 3 growing up. And so it's a great opportunity for us to 4 be back. 5 We're excited to develop this heritage 6 center for the County and City of Kerrville. And we 7 look forward to working with the community to plan an 8 organization and a museum that suits everybody's needs. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you and welcome. 10 MS. KENNEDY: Thank you. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Welcome. We're glad to have 12 you back. 13 DR. RECTOR: We're pleased to have four of 14 our board members here also today. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: A whole entourage. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Well, introduce them. 17 DR. RECTOR: David Jones, Dr. Bud White, 18 Charlie McIlvane, and Bill Rector. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Thank y'all. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank y'all. 21 (Applause.) 22 DR. RECTOR: Do you have any questions? 23 JUDGE KELLY: Any questions? No. 24 DR. RECTOR: Okay. Thank you. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Thank you. 90 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Let's go back to Item 2 1.23 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to 3 authorize Kerr County Grant Administrator to pursue 4 viable grants for the Center Point drainage project in 5 coordination with the County Engineer. Commissioner 6 Letz. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just asked Noel if she 8 could kind of look into -- basically these are the 9 flooding issues we have in Center Point. And it's not 10 in our budget. We had some budgeted items and spent 11 some money this year with over a two or three-year plan. 12 So I thought it would be a good idea if there are some 13 funds available through grants that we can maybe 14 expedite that process. And she's working with Charlie 15 some. 16 Noel is not here today but I just wanted to 17 bring it up and -- and whether it's -- I thought it's a 18 good idea for her to start working to try to find those 19 funds. And Charlie knows a lot more about it really, I 20 mean, we talked about them. We had some preliminary 21 things done. And if there's anything we can do to 22 expedite that project would be good for the County. 23 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I encourage it. 24 There's a drainage area right through the baseball field 25 that's been a problem for years. And that's what these 91 1 plans are concerned about. 2 JUDGE KELLY: And I think the budget is 3 $250,000.00, right? 4 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And then the next couple 6 years it's about a million dollar project total? 7 MR. HASTINGS: A million total. And so 8 we're looking at trying to dovetail with the Texas Water 9 Development Board, you know, regional storm water plan 10 to see if we can get funding. We're going to have -- 11 we're not ashamed to ask for money everywhere we can. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: She said -- 13 MR. HASTINGS: I'll put it that way. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: She's identified some 15 funds from FEMA that may -- 16 MR. HASTINGS: Right. And that's what this 17 is about. It's just putting the feelers out everywhere 18 and see what hits. 19 JUDGE KELLY: And I can assure the public 20 that this Grant Administrator, Noel Putnam, that we've 21 hired has more than paid for herself. She's been a God 22 send. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So I wasn't sure really 24 if it needed Court approval, you know, and the process. 25 I mean, she does a lot of grant work for the Court. But 92 1 I thought I'd bring it to the -- 2 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I certainly think we 3 ought to authorize her to look into it. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And I think that's the 6 process we need to do from here on out. If -- you know, 7 when somebody wants -- hey, look into this, bring it to 8 the Court first so we can assign it -- assign it to her. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And give her direction. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Exactly. Rather than 12 somebody just -- just like IT hates it if we say, Hey, 13 look at this computer for me right quick and -- it needs 14 to be a process. 15 JUDGE KELLY: And I agree. The process 16 needs to be anybody that wants a grant comes through the 17 Court and then we authorize Noel to do it rather than 18 going directly to Noel. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I'll make a motion 20 that we authorize Noel to pursue grants for the flooding 21 issues and drainage issues in the Center Point area. 22 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: In East Kerr County. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Motion was made and seconded 25 to authorize pursuit of viable grants for the Center 93 1 Point drainage project with the County Engineer. Any 2 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 3 Moving on to Item 1.24 consider, discuss and 4 take appropriate action to set the Kerr County Christmas 5 party for Friday, December 16th at the Hill Country 6 Youth Event Center. We're going to have a Christmas 7 Party. It's been awhile. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. Almost a year. 9 I move for approval. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: We got a motion and second to 12 approve the Christmas Party for December 16th. Any 13 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 14 1.25 consider, discuss and take appropriate 15 action to appoint a committee -- appoint committee 16 members to the Safety Committee for FY 22-23. Is Miss 17 Hernandez here? There she is. 18 MS. HERNANDEZ: Hi. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is something that 20 we actually should be doing every year. And just get 21 back on cycle. And Rosa, I think, knows who's been on 22 in the past and probably who should be on it in the 23 future. 24 MS. HERNANDEZ: Yes. We have had some 25 committee members that have moved on like from the 94 1 Sheriff's Department that we do need to have replaced. 2 So, like Rusty was on the committee and, of course, 3 Rusty's no longer here. So we need to replace some of 4 those committee members. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do you have a list of 6 the names of the ones or the positions that we should? 7 MS. HERNANDEZ: I did but I forgot them 8 downstairs. I'm sorry. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, why don't we -- 10 JUDGE KELLY: Why don't we authorize her to 11 put together a list of recommendations to us. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 13 MRS. DOWDY: Is this committee separate from 14 the courthouse duties committee? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. Yeah. Well, you 16 can -- you can bring this back a little later for us and 17 we can formally appoint it. I think it takes court 18 action to appoint someone. So you can just come back, 19 you know, sometime in the next hour and we can take up 20 the actual names. 21 MS. HERNANDEZ: Okay. 22 JUDGE KELLY: So we'll move on to Item 1.26 23 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to 24 designate a day of the week on which the Court shall 25 convene in a regular term for FY 22/23 pursuant to Local 95 1 Government Code. 2 Every year we have to have -- designate our 3 days. 4 MRS. STEBBINS: Judge, you can designate 5 Monday as the regular day and then continue to meet on 6 the second and fourth Mondays for regular meetings. 7 This came up this year during the budget where you're 8 required to have a particular item at a regular 9 Commissioners' Court meeting, and because the next 10 Monday wasn't a regular Commissioners' Court meeting, we 11 had to put it off until another two weeks or another 12 week after that. So you could designate Monday and then 13 continue to have the second and fourth as your regular. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Then have the second and 15 fourth as the regular meeting day? 16 MRS. STEBBINS: Uh-huh. Yes, sir. 17 JUDGE KELLY: And we just -- as a matter of 18 policy, we meet on the second and fourth. 19 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So all Mondays. 21 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. They can be regular. 22 So that if something comes up in the future that needs 23 to be on any Monday. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So it depends on how 25 it's posted? Is that what you're saying or -- 96 1 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. It's designation. 2 Is -- it won't -- 3 JUDGE KELLY: It gives us latitude. 4 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we 6 designate Mondays as our regular court date for 20 -- 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- 2022 and 2023. 9 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 10 second to designate Mondays as the regular term for 11 Court. Any discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. 12 Unanimous. 13 1.27 consider, discuss and take appropriate 14 action to ratify and confirm FY 23 Statewide Automated 15 Victim Notifications Services agreement, or SAVNS 16 agreement. S-A-V-N-S. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's just an update, 18 right? 19 JUDGE KELLY: We just renewed it. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 23 second to renew the Statewide Automated Victim 24 Notification Services agreement. Any discussion? Those 25 in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 97 1 1.28 consider, discuss and take appropriate 2 action to reappoint Chris Hughes and Bill Aycock to the 3 Emergency Services District No. 1 Board. Commissioner 4 Harris. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. Both these guys 6 do a tremendous job, as most of y'all are aware. And 7 Chris is our President of ESD No. 1 and Bill serves as 8 our Treasurer. And they're both great. So I move for 9 approval. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Any discussion? All those in 12 favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 13 Item 1.29 consider, discuss and take 14 appropriate action to approve the contract with -- is 15 that Axon -- 16 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes, sir. 17 JUDGE KELLY: -- Axon. Not Exxon, but Axon? 18 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yeah. Axon. 19 JUDGE KELLY: A-X-O-N. Enterprises, Inc., 20 and allow the County Judge to sign same. Sheriff 21 Leitha. 22 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yeah. I'm just looking for 23 the Court's approval to let the Judge sign this 24 contract. I do have the money in my budget for this 25 five-year contract. Also, the County Attorney has 98 1 reviewed it and didn't have any problems with it. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 3 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 6 second to approve the contract with Axon Enterprise. 7 Any discussion? All those in favor raise your hand. 8 Unanimous. 9 SHERIFF LEITHA: Thank you. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Let's take about a five minute 11 break. A quick break. Give everybody a chance to 12 stretch out a little bit and come back in five minutes. 13 (Recess.) 14 JUDGE KELLY: Court will come to order. The 15 next item on the Agenda is 1.30 consider, discuss and 16 take appropriate action concerning the recent books 17 displayed at the Butt-Holdsworth Library and the current 18 Interlocal Agreement with the City of Kerrville 19 involving the library. Judge Harris and Commissioner 20 Belew. I mean Commissioner Harris. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I got a promotion. 22 JUDGE KELLY: I'm not sure it's a promotion. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, you know, I put 24 this on here because, you know, I think I spoke two 25 weeks ago that I wasn't enthused with the Interlocal 99 1 Agreement we have concerning the library, and I haven't 2 been for awhile. And in fact -- and then this popped 3 up, and it sure didn't enhance my view of the library as 4 far as it comes to the County. But, Judge, I think you 5 have a lot of people that want to talk. So I think we 6 ought to hear from them first. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Well, since y'all brought it, 8 I'll give y'all a chance to speak first. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sure. Well, I'll have 10 some more. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The images that I saw 13 in some of the banned book weeks display were child 14 pornography. Graphic depictions of minors engaged in 15 sex acts. And that is defined in the law as such, and 16 it doesn't matter if it's photographs or if it's an 17 artist's rendering when it's supposed to be depicting 18 underage minors. We have a crisis of child sex abuse in 19 our country right now. This kind of stuff doesn't help. 20 This is de-sensitizing we used to call it. Today they 21 call it grooming. Teaching the children that this sort 22 of stuff is to be expected and that it's accepted and 23 good. It's recruitment. It is preparing kids for 24 seduction. 25 The library has put Kerr County in a 100 1 position of subsidizing child pornography and this is 2 about the images. The images that were present there. 3 You don't have to be able to read to be able to see an 4 image. And so I am not -- I'm not in favor of 5 continuing to subsidize something like that. 6 But City Council is going to meet tomorrow 7 night. They're going to decide what they're going to do 8 about it. And a book that has the printed word is 9 different than graphic images. And so that was the part 10 that got my attention. The graphic images are 11 pornography. And no kid, regardless of whether it's 12 heterosexual or homosexual or whatever it may be, needs 13 to see that stuff. And I don't think it should be in 14 the public library. 15 Of course, we don't -- we don't have any 16 control over the Butt-Holdsworth Library, but we do have 17 a quid pro quo agreement with the City of Kerrville that 18 was arranged by Commissioner Moser in the past about 19 taking care of Animal Control for the City, and for 20 people in the County to continue to have access to the 21 library. Because there's a little friction over that, 22 friction over it because of the removal of funding. So 23 we do have a dog in the fight. We do have money on the 24 table. And I don't think we should continue to support 25 the library if this is the way that the library is going 101 1 to behave and have this kind of stuff. 2 There's no such thing as a banned book in 3 America anyway. So it's just a way to get people to 4 read books that somebody wants you to read. It's like 5 putting a wet paint sign out there. Everybody wants to 6 touch it. So it was entirely unnecessary. The public 7 reaction was that they didn't like it, so they moved the 8 display over closer to where the kids are. And every 9 book on that list of so-called banned books was 10 something that promotes an agenda. And it's not 11 something that's healthy and wholesome for kids. So 12 that's why I wanted this on today's agenda. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, Harley, I think 14 there's a lot less people in the County that want to go 15 to the library now than there was a week ago. I 16 guarantee you. We had grandchildren up over the weekend 17 and, in fact, my wife took them to a bookstore. I 18 mentioned going to the library. You know, I got that 19 look, you know. You can't -- you can't take them there 20 when you think you've got to wade through a mine field 21 to get to the children's section. Anyway, I got some 22 more I want to say but I'll let -- let the people speak 23 first. 24 JUDGE KELLY: We have a lot of people that 25 want to speak. You wanted to speak? 102 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I want to say this. 2 Probably a little but later but something -- you know, 3 I've received probably more e-mails on this than 4 anything else in the last two or three years. So people 5 have very strong opinions about it. And you know, a lot 6 of the responses I've seen that are in favor of it are 7 that we want to ban books. I did not receive any 8 e-mails that I don't want to ban any books. I don't -- 9 you know, wouldn't ban any of the books that were on 10 display. 11 But banning them -- you know, they should be 12 in a place where they're not put out there where a child 13 walks by and they see the covers of these books which 14 had disturbing things just on the covers, not to mention 15 had they opened them up. And the response I got from 16 City staff, and I've talked to several of them on it, 17 was that well, kids should be under the control of their 18 parents. Well, that's BS. That's absolutely 19 ridiculous. Yes, they should be under the control of 20 the parents at the library. But if, you know, I was to 21 walk by with one of my kids -- and they're older, but 22 even at their age, high school kids or college kids, I'd 23 be embarrassed. And they -- they're seeing the 24 pictures. It's not a matter of being under my control. 25 The books are right out there in the front. 103 1 And the other things that I've seen on the 2 ban book issue, they bring up books like To Kill A 3 Mocking Bird, Catcher in the Rye. You know, Huckleberry 4 Finn. Well, I don't support those being banned 5 anywhere. And I don't think the people that I heard 6 from support that. But to try to equate the books that 7 were on that display with Huckleberry Finn is 8 ridiculous. And you know, that is my feeling on it. 9 And I hope City Council comes out real 10 strong in position on this because it will determine my 11 feelings towards an agreement that I've supported in the 12 past with the library. To my knowledge, only one 13 council member has come out really against what was 14 done. And that's Councilman Garcia. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And he's in the 16 audience. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I support Councilman 18 Garcia for, you know, saying that. You know, and if the 19 rest of them don't, boy, that says something about City 20 Council. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I won't go there. But 22 where I do want to go is I want to set the stage to make 23 sure everybody has the same facts. The Kerr County 24 Commissioners' Court has no authority over the library. 25 It is owned by the City. 104 1 The City and the County have different ways 2 that they govern. The City uses a City manager system, 3 and they have a whole staff of people that consult with 4 them and give them advice about what to do. At the 5 County we do not. We do it ourselves. I mean, 6 literally, we do it ourselves. 7 And the contract that we have with the City 8 was negotiated as a quid pro quo, exactly like 9 Commissioner Belew said, that we would provide Animal 10 Services to the City and they would make the Library 11 available to people that lived in the County that are 12 not residents of Kerrville. And I don't think we've 13 really incurred any -- much more expense with the 14 animals than the way we've done them but we do all the 15 animals at this point. And that contract has a, what, 16 90-day termination notice. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 18 JUDGE KELLY: So if, for any reason, we want 19 to get out of that contract we have to give them 20 90-days. We have the right to do that. But that gives 21 you a little bit about the form of government, the style 22 of management that we have, and the fact that this 23 contract, it is a contractual obligation at this point. 24 It can be terminated. But again, you have to give the 25 requisite notice. 105 1 And so with that and I know y'all want to 2 talk about this. But understand. There's very little, 3 if anything, that we can do. But we will -- we are here 4 to listen. So with that, I'll start with the first -- 5 first citizen that wanted to speak. Jerry Wolff. Get 6 you back up there again. 7 MR. WOLFF: Yeah, I'm back. Made it in 8 time. Watching -- following this online so I could get 9 over here at the appropriate time and I just made it. 10 Thank you. 11 Honestly, I am very encouraged by what I 12 hear from you. A few points I would like to make, which 13 I think you're pretty much aware of. I'm part of the 75 14 percent. Now that doesn't -- it's a vague number. I 15 think for four of you up there, you're pretty familiar 16 with what 75 percent means. If you go back to your 17 elections two and four years ago, pretty much you got a 18 75 percent majority of the vote. And why, because you 19 espoused, every one of you espoused in your campaign 20 literature that you were strong conservatives. And this 21 County expressed what they want, how they want to be 22 governed by voting for you under that premise of strong 23 conservative values. 24 Well, this issue that's come down, that was 25 a surprise to everyone, is contrary to the culture and 106 1 the wants and desires of the 75 percent of the people of 2 this County. And I -- I understand that you don't have 3 a lot of leverage, but there is in essence a business -- 4 there is a business relationship between the County and 5 the City on the library. There's no getting around 6 that. But you can do something. And these would be my 7 recommendations. 8 One, a letter is sent by the County 9 Commissioners, the Commissioners' Court, to the City 10 Council explaining displeasure over what occurred. 11 Having books like this being publicly displayed in a 12 public library. 13 Two, ask that -- require that some sort of 14 reprimand is made to the City Manager. He is ultimately 15 the responsible party. He runs the library. Also the 16 director of the library. 17 Third, the City terminate -- stops the 18 membership in the American Library Association. The 19 American Library Association is one of those leftist 20 organizations in the United States. They and the 21 National Education Association run a very tight race to 22 claim that honor -- or dishonor. 23 And I think also, the City should not any 24 longer pay for membership of any of its employees, if 25 they do pay membership dues. I do not know. But if 107 1 they do, they cease paying membership dues to their 2 employees that belong to the American Library 3 Association. 4 The overall effect or the desired effect of 5 all this is to send a message, a very strong message, 6 that this is not to be tolerated by the residents of 7 Kerr County. And I appreciate your support. Thank you. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Jerry, I want to 9 challenge one of your numbers when you're talking 75 10 percent. I would think that 25 percent that votes 11 leftist does not agree with this too. A whole bunch of 12 them. 13 MR. WOLFF: I agree. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Well, just to quibble over the 16 percentages, I think it's more like 65 than 75 if you go 17 and check what the actual voter turnout was. 18 MR. WOLFF: Okay. Well, I do remember the 19 presidential election, it was 75/25. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Right. Okay. Thank you. 21 MR. WOLFF: Thank you. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Ruth Carlson. 23 MS. CARLSON: Hi. I'm just here to -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: State your name. 25 MS. CARLSON: Ruth Carlson. 108 1 JUDGE KELLY: And which precinct do you live 2 in? 3 MS. CARLSON: I live here in Kerr County. 4 I'm a Kerrville resident. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 6 MS. CARLSON: I'm just here to support the 7 library. There are some books that they have that not 8 everyone appreciates. And that part of the library has 9 gotten a wide diversity of resources for different 10 people exploring different topics. And book banning 11 still is a thing. There are libraries across the 12 county -- or country that are taking out books because 13 they don't approve of them. Offering narrowing what 14 resources people have to look at. 15 There are some books that I don't like that 16 are at the library, but I choose not to read them. And 17 if my daughter runs into them, we discuss them and talk 18 about the topics and why they're important to know 19 about. But the library is a very important space for a 20 lot of people, and I think taking away the Kerr 21 residents' access to it would be a disservice to them. 22 There's a lot of people that meet people there. 23 I made a lot of contacts there when I first 24 had my daughter. I brought my daughter to the library 25 all the time for socialization because she's an only 109 1 child. And I lived in an apartment that had very few 2 children. So the library was a great place to meet up 3 with people. It's a nice, safe space. And the library 4 is fantastic. So I'm just here to support the library. 5 Thank you. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Next is Brandon 7 Aery. 8 MR. AERY: Brandon Aery. Precinct 1. Good 9 morning. I'm hopeful by now you've had an opportunity 10 to read my letter sent on Friday regarding the Celebrate 11 Banned Books Week in the Kerrville Public Library. I 12 would like to first start out by saying as usual, 13 there's been misinformation put out there in the paper 14 and on the Internet regarding my opinions on this 15 matter. 16 To make it clear, I have never been or have 17 ever said to ban books in public libraries. I feel that 18 the public library should be a place where different 19 works of literature are held and available to citizens 20 as they see fit; however, there needs to be an 21 investigation and if there are any laws broken regarding 22 child pornography, then those laws should be applied 23 accordingly to our library. 24 Our children love the library and we visit 25 it multiple times a month to select new books for them 110 1 to read. From the moment I began researching for 2 basically older books in the schools, I have assumed 3 that these books were in our public library but was 4 uncertain of their location. 5 If you have heard me speak in the school 6 board meetings, I have always said that at the public 7 library it is the parent's responsibility to see what 8 their kids are pulling from the shelf and ensuring that 9 books they select align with their values. If a parent 10 feels like their child is ready to receive this 11 information and be exposed to it, then they have the 12 right to select the book from that shelf and introduce 13 their child to that type of material. 14 With that said, my issue with the banned 15 books week was not only about the sexual content on the 16 table, but also the location of display and how it was 17 presented. The display was selected to be directly in 18 front of the children's section and it contained 19 colorful imagery along with other children's books that 20 attract them to the table. For those parents who elect 21 not to have their children exposed to this material, the 22 library took that right away from us when it decided on 23 the placement. 24 The display should have been upstairs, away 25 from the children's section. The table had numerous 111 1 books featuring children and minors under 18 at eye 2 level that have graphic sexual content within them. If a 3 parent was not directly with their child, the child 4 could have picked this material up and been exposed to 5 the harmful content before the parent had an opportunity 6 to prevent it. 7 And yes, parents that even watch their 8 children can sometimes still not prevent them from 9 grabbing a book before they are told to stop. Once a 10 child reads or sees the sexually explicit material, the 11 damage has been done. 12 I think the County has an opportunity here 13 to work with the library on solutions. I do not feel 14 that cancelling a local agreement is a good idea. But I 15 think there should be practices put into place that can 16 help prevent this in the future. 17 First, as I mentioned earlier, a thorough 18 audit needs to be performed for literature that violates 19 current child pornography laws. Those materials need to 20 be handled accordingly to law. 21 Second, sexually explicit and suggestive 22 books should be relocated so they are not in the kids or 23 teens section. The other opportunity would be for a 24 rating systems on books in the library. The film 25 industry, the music industry have content advisory and 112 1 ratings that it -- they apply to their works. Why don't 2 books? 3 Whatever it is decided, boundaries need to 4 be set to ensure the content that is not age appropriate 5 for children is not forced onto them until a parent is 6 ready to introduce it. Again, we are not calling for 7 banning the books, just that age appropriate boundaries 8 be set. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Brandon, I'm glad 10 you're here. And stay up there a second. 11 MR. AERY: Yes, sir. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I saw the City's 13 response to your e-mail. 14 MR. AERY: Yes, sir. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I found it very 16 insulting -- 17 MR. AERY: Agreed. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: -- when they say 19 those -- the location was inadvertently put there. 20 MR. AERY: No. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I contend that anybody 22 who walked in there could have asked the librarian where 23 the children's section is and they could point you right 24 to it without looking at a map -- 25 MR. AERY: Uh-huh. 113 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: -- as well as the 2 fiction or whatever else. That -- that doesn't happen 3 by accident. And it's egregious. 4 And another thing, they said that it's your 5 responsibility. Well, a kid can't unsee that when it's 6 placed there. 7 MR. AERY: Correct. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And even if -- if 9 they're young enough that they can't read, they're going 10 to be attracted to that comic book that has the graphic 11 pictures in it, you know. And you know, if you have a 12 couple kids, one could easily go by there and just open 13 it up walking by and, boom, that's -- they can't unsee 14 it, so -- 15 MR. AERY: We were there Saturday before 16 this all blew up and my son noticed it. We had to have 17 a discussion, and the library forced me into that 18 discussion, and I wasn't ready to have it. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Exactly. 20 MR. AERY: It's not -- that wasn't the best 21 time. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Exactly. Well, I will 23 tell you that some of those -- in fact, Harley and I 24 talked about it and a couple of those books that were 25 really bad, a couple good citizens checked them out 114 1 quickly so they wouldn't be seen. 2 MR. AERY: Many did. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. 4 MR. AERY: Thank you. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Next is Adriana 6 Escalera. 7 MS. ESCALERA: Okay. So as he said, Adriana 8 Escalera. I was born in Kerrville actually. Raised in 9 Comfort. My husband was in the Army so we moved away 10 for a while, just to give you some background, but we've 11 been back here in our hometown about eight years. So I 12 am a resident of Precinct 4. 13 Okay. So like most families, when we got 14 here my husband was fresh out of the military. I didn't 15 have a job yet. I was still, you know, going to -- 16 getting my master's. We went to the library. Right. 17 And as Ruth said, we did craft projects. And they 18 welcomed us with open arms. Right. They -- they read 19 story times to us. We had Lego club. Inspired my 20 daughter to, you know, get into building robots now. 21 Right. 22 So we -- we love our library. As she got 23 older we continued looking at the different books. 24 Joining the reading program. And I just want to 25 speak -- so I'm here in favor of the library. I am here 115 1 to support their actions and I want to slightly speak on 2 the censorship issue. 3 So today, women in other countries, women in 4 Iran are being murdered because morality police. Right. 5 People who think that they are immoral. That they're 6 immoral for wearing their hair down. Right. Women in 7 Afghanistan, they -- wearing pants. Showing their 8 faces. 9 Just because somebody else's morality is 10 their belief does not mean that you would get the right 11 to impose those beliefs on me and my child. I am her 12 parent. And I am responsible for teaching her what is 13 right and what is wrong. And it is not the duty of a 14 select group of people to tell me how I should raise my 15 child. That -- I -- I am -- I feel very strongly about 16 that. It is not acceptable for other people's morality 17 to encroach on our own and take it up as -- as my own. 18 I did see some of those books. Because I -- 19 as I said, we are frequent visitors to the library. 20 We -- we see that stand every week. At Valentine's Day 21 they have love books and, you know, murder mysteries. 22 Right. Things like that. It's -- so some of those 23 books that we saw, right, the prince marries the knight 24 or the prince falls in love with the knight, whatever it 25 was. I am Jazz. The story of a transgender kid. How 116 1 terrible would it be if we allowed these rating systems 2 to go in and rate these books simply because they 3 disagree with them? That is not appropriate and I -- I 4 would tend to disagree with that. 5 Okay. So just to sum it up, to close it up, 6 it's not the library's job to cater to a select group of 7 morality. Right. That's not their job. Their job is 8 to give us the information and allow us as parents to 9 make those choices. So please don't force them to do 10 that and please just let them do their job. And that's 11 all I have to say. Thank you guys so much for your 12 time. I absolutely appreciate it. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Next is Bethany 14 Puccio. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Before we do, that's a 16 little bit of a red herring here. This idea that we 17 want to tell people how to raise their kid. Nobody 18 wants to tell you how to raise your kids. I spent -- I 19 have six kids, so I've spent more time in the library 20 than you have at this point. A lot of time in the 21 library. Lots of books we've read. Lots of time we've 22 spent down there studying. 23 In the library you can't go in there and 24 look at pornography on the computers. It's filtered 25 out. This was pornography. Child pornography. Visual 117 1 pictures. Nobody's telling you how to raise your kid. 2 It's illegal to show kids that stuff. It's illegal to 3 depict minors engaged in sex acts. That is illegal in 4 the State of Texas and the Kerrville Public Library 5 violated that law. 6 I'm not telling anybody how to raise their 7 kid. And if you think that's appropriate for your kid, 8 I don't even want to know about that. So, I mean, it 9 wouldn't matter to me whether it's little boys or little 10 girls. Whatever. It's underage and it's wrong. And I 11 don't want them seeing that. I don't -- 12 For this -- I tried to explain this to 13 somebody the other day. When people wore their masks 14 during the lockdown, they did that for other people. 15 Right? That's the reason I'm involved in this, because 16 I don't want any of the kids in Kerr County subjected to 17 that kind of stuff. They'll be a time for it. They'll 18 be a time when they have to learn these things. Let 19 them be kids as long as they can. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Harley -- and give me 21 a second. 22 (Clapping.) 23 JUDGE KELLY: No, no. No applause. Can't 24 do that. Remain decorum in the courtroom. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Harley, the City 118 1 admitted they placed it in the wrong place when they 2 said they inadvertently placed that table there. So 3 they knew it was wrong. So -- okay. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Miss Puccio. 5 MS. PUCCIO: Bethany Puccio, 418 Crest Ridge 6 Drive right here in Kerrville. I wanted to thank you 7 very much for getting this on. I know that you don't 8 have direct authority, but I do think you do have 9 influence and I really appreciate it. And I know 10 before -- obviously, we have our -- our head-butting 11 over things like bonds and stuff like that, but I 12 just -- I think it's been really a blessing to me to see 13 that there's been some media on this and coming 14 together, where we might haggle about other things, but 15 we can get on the same page on this issue. So I'm 16 really grateful for that. 17 So I do have a few images, if you haven't 18 seen them. I assume probably most of you have seen 19 them. These aren't the worst ones. The worst ones I 20 would never bring into Commissioners' Court because 21 they're straight up porn. And then this is the bookmark 22 that was all over the table. And you're welcome to look 23 at these but it's tucked in all the books. 24 So I just want to start by reading -- and 25 this is a Fox News article. And I e-mailed this to all 119 1 of you last night. It was about 9:00 o'clock last 2 night. I don't know if you got a chance to see it yet, 3 but it starts with: This is Fox News. Banned Books 4 Week looks more like porn for kids week. Let's get one 5 thing straight about banned books week. There are no 6 banned books in America. The American Government does 7 not prohibit the publishing or importing of books as 8 Czarist or Communist Russia did. Books sexualizing 9 children are not burned in a pyre out in front of a 10 gender clinic; instead, pornographic books for kids are 11 meticulously collected for displays in the school 12 libraries and promoted by the American Library 13 Association's "Banned Books Week". 14 In America, banned books are celebrated, 15 commissioned and distributed on the manufactured outrage 16 that they are banned. It's like having a party every 17 day to protest how you're never allowed to have parties. 18 Banned Books Week is a marketing campaign 19 pretending to be a protest, and this year they are 20 marketing to groomers. 21 I have here the press release from the City 22 that went out, I think it was last Monday. And the 23 books mentioned in this are classics. Like Adventures 24 of Huckleberry Finn, The Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a 25 Mockingbird. None of those books were on the table. 120 1 Not a single classic that I saw. By the time I saw on 2 Wednesday the two really, really bad books, Two Boys 3 Kissing was gone. Gender Queer was not there anymore. 4 Sex Is A Funny Word was not there anymore. Apparently 5 somebody had checked them out. 6 I'm here this morning because I had a couple 7 of moms offer to cover me. We have a home school group 8 that meets Monday mornings. We have 146 students. Home 9 schoolers use the library extensively and it should be a 10 safe space for children to go with their parents. And 11 so they are very much behind me in being here and 12 relieving me so I could be here. 13 Texas State statutes, law, and State Laws, 14 you can look this up, Section 43.22. And I've seen 15 displayed Section 43.24 displayed to minors. It's 16 illegal. And that's already been covered. Everything 17 that's been said has been so good. 18 Freedom of speech does not include the 19 freedom to sexualize children. Freedom of speech is not 20 the right to display obscene material to children. 21 That's -- they're protected under the law. And if I 22 gave any of this content to children outside of the 23 library, it's illegal. 24 So again, nobody's trying to ban or sensor a 25 book. We just want porn out of the school -- or out of 121 1 the library and out of the schools and away from the 2 kids. So I would just like to close, whether there's a 3 legal loophole on this, whether it's an educational 4 loophole or not, this shouldn't even have to be against 5 the law. And I -- I do appreciate all of you this 6 morning for hearing us. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 8 Mary Ellen Summerlin. 9 UNIDENTIFIED LADY: (Laughter.) 10 MS. SUMMERLIN: What's so funny? 11 UNIDENTIFIED LADY: Oh, you're funny. 12 JUDGE KELLY: There's nothing -- no 13 disruption in the courtroom, please. 14 MS. SUMMERLIN: My name is Mary Ellen 15 Summerlin and I live in Precinct 2. 16 I wanted to make three points to y'all this 17 morning. I'll start with the most practical one and 18 move to the more theological one. 19 The practical one is just this: We have in 20 the past been in situations where the County Commission 21 cut off its funding for the library, and people who 22 lived outside the town of Kerrville had to be charged a 23 fee for the use of the library. Everybody hated that. 24 Everybody complained about it, and complained about it, 25 and complained about it, until after a long, involved 122 1 process we got the current compromise in place. 2 I would just encourage you, do not let loud, 3 angry voices from a few people cause you to knee-jerk 4 jettison that hard fought solution that lets everybody 5 in Kerr County help pay for the library and then have 6 the free use of the library, which is the best idea of 7 libraries. 8 The second thing, it's a little more 9 ideologic. It's -- it's sometimes hard to understand 10 what the complainers are complaining about. They got 11 the books moved. It sounds like the librarians were 12 responsive to their concerns, to some extent. Having 13 been at protest, it appeared to me that rather than 14 banning books or boundaries or anything, the real issue 15 was gay sex. And they think that by preventing children 16 from knowing that gay sex exists, it will prevent 17 children from becoming gay. It goes with that 18 conspiracy theory that democrats are grooming and 19 drinking children's blood and pizza-gate and all that 20 baloney. 21 I'd just like to say this, statistics show 22 that teenage suicide is a big problem. That a way 23 bigger proportion of kids who think they are gay commit 24 suicide than kids who don't think they're gay. Sometime 25 just the acknowledgement of your community that you have 123 1 a right to exist, even if you're gay, can make a big, 2 big difference. What I'm telling you is a book can 3 literally save a life. So think about that. 4 And then finally I'd just like to reflect on 5 America. And what it means to be out of many, one. 6 We've got to respect everybody else's opinion, but no 7 minority has any right to enforce its standards on the 8 whole majority. The government, you, the City council, 9 you're the referees. You've got to listen to these 10 rights. You've got to listen to these rights. They're 11 passionately held on both sides. And you've got to come 12 to a reasonable compromise. 13 That's my final word. Please look for a 14 reasonable compromise to this relatively small problem 15 and don't throw the baby out with the bath water. 16 Thanks. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Jennyth Peterson. 18 MS. PETERSON: Good morning. My name is 19 Jennyth Peterson. I live in Kerrville. I'm in 20 Precinct 1. And I wanted to discuss the lack of civic 21 discourse in this community regarding the library. We 22 love all books. Even the books that make us 23 uncomfortable. We love our library, and we love the 24 professionals who curate a wide variety of materials for 25 all citizens of the City and County. 124 1 On Friday at the Pro Library Rally, my 2 13-year-old was exposed to pornographic material, and 3 his friend, in the name of protesting and protecting 4 citizens and children. A member of this proposition 5 group shoved a piece of paper in his face with a drawing 6 depicting a sex act. He didn't seek it out. He didn't 7 stumble on it in the library. It was forced on him in a 8 public space. The rights that Mr. Aery claims were 9 violated. 10 Texas law, as Miss Puccio claimed, was 11 violated. Actual harm has been done; not potential. 12 You have claimed there is child pornography in the 13 library. But at that rally when confronted by Officer 14 Valencia of the Kerrville Police Department, which has 15 offered to go in and arrest librarians for violating the 16 law, you put that down, because it was a lie. You just 17 continued to waive your triple X signs just to shock. 18 You have become what you despise. And lack 19 all credibility in this discussion of what is good for 20 children. If you don't like the library, don't go. 21 Leave our library alone. Leave our librarians alone. 22 The Romeo and Juliet statute in the State of 23 Texas allows for sexual activity between children at the 24 ages of 14 and 17. If you don't like kids and sex, 25 start there. Thank you. 125 1 JUDGE KELLY: Niel Powers. 2 MR. POWERS: Thank you, Judge and 3 Commissioners. My name is Niel Powers. I live in 4 Precinct number 2, and I come from a very long line of 5 librarians and educators. They taught me very early on 6 that our freedom as Americans are based on our access to 7 information and that democracy crumbles when that 8 foundation is damaged. 9 I've had a library card since I was a kid. 10 I think everybody should have a library card and 11 everybody should visit that library. My parents have 12 taught me that certain books are banned. I've seen it 13 myself, Commissioner Belew. I've seen it myself. I've 14 seen entire libraries shut down by groups claiming to 15 protect children. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Where was that? 17 MR. POWERS: Vinton, Iowa. I'm from Iowa. 18 In Vinton, Iowa the library was shut down over this very 19 issue. Shut down. So nobody had access. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Over child pornography? 21 MR. POWERS: Yes. Over banned books 22 displayed in -- 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Child porn? 24 MR. POWERS: No. You're going to describe 25 it one way. I'm going to describe it as banned book 126 1 displays because -- 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Did it involve 3 pictures? I'm talking about the pictures. 4 MR. POWERS: Why -- 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The picture that this 6 lady's child saw -- 7 MR. POWERS: Then why are we here talking 8 about the American Library Association? Why are we here 9 talking about changing an agreement? Why are we talking 10 about -- here about not supporting our library? We say 11 it's about protecting the children, but really it's 12 about censorship. I've seen it here. I've see it in 13 other places. And I don't like it in any way, shape or 14 form. 15 I believe the agreement is important. I 16 believe it's important to have access to the library. 17 If you have a specific complaint, specific complaint 18 about a book, there are books there I don't like either. 19 Just if you have a specific complaint about the book 20 that's one thing. But to throw out an entire agreement 21 to have all this fuss right after a banned book display 22 tells me it's about a whole lot more than just that. 23 Thank you. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sir, I object to you 25 telling me what I think. I don't believe you do -- 127 1 MR. POWERS: And vice versa. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm just talking to you. 3 I'm just telling you I don't talk the way you think. 4 But don't tell me what I think. I've talked the entire 5 time that I'm not worried about -- or don't care about 6 banning books, but I do not feel it is my right as a 7 government official, as a Commissioner, to expose young 8 children to things that I think are inappropriate and 9 let the library do the same thing. 10 They exposed young children -- whether they 11 wanted to or not is irrelevant to me -- to material that 12 is not their right to do. It is my right as a parent 13 and your right as a parent, to let kids -- to teach kids 14 and educate them at the proper age. It's not up to 15 government to do that. And government was that library. 16 And that's where they've crossed the line. It has 17 nothing to do with censorship, nothing to do with 18 banning books. They do not have the right to take the 19 place of a parent. That's my view. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Mary Ashley McGibbon. 21 MS. McGIBBON: Mary Ashley McGibbon. I am 22 Precinct 4. I live out in Ingram. I've been a resident 23 of Kerr County for about 15 years after I moved out to 24 Hunt. At the time did not have access to the library 25 for free. Luckily I'm one of those few who do have 128 1 access as a Kerr County resident to take my child to the 2 library whenever I see fit. 3 I'm simply here to -- as an outdoor 4 educator, as a parent, to support the programs that have 5 been put in place in this library. The value that they 6 have offered children in Kerr County, parents in Kerr 7 County, and all of the residents of this area far 8 outweigh what some people may find objectionable. 9 The material, the books that have been 10 discussed, there is so much data available for them 11 online. I encourage people in your own time to look at 12 what people are calling child pornography and to look at 13 what that might mean for a child who lives in as 14 conservative a place as Kerr County who experiences 15 feelings of being other, of being queer, of being 16 transgender, of being gay, and how the representation of 17 seeing their own experiences in a book can change and 18 save a life. 19 I've been blessed to work with children my 20 entire career. I have been blessed to work with 21 children from all over the state and even outside of 22 this country. 23 I recognize how deeply important 24 representation is. As a parent, when I walk my child 25 into that library she could go a number of different 129 1 ways and pull things off the shelf that would be deeply 2 objectionable to me as a person. That is a fact. I 3 know that when I step into the library. I still think 4 those books belong there. I still think that those 5 stories need to be told. And if she reads material, and 6 she has, that I find difficult to explain, that's my job 7 as a parent. 8 With the Internet out there, with everything 9 else that our children have exposure to every time they 10 touch our cell phones, or their own cell phones, these 11 things are already present in their lives. Let us make 12 that discourse as families become a part of what -- of 13 our communication as a family, and those values that we 14 hold. My job as a Christian. I'm a Christian. We 15 believe in the Christian faith. 16 It is incredibly important for her to 17 understand all walks of life and everyone else's 18 experiences. And I get to walk into the library and 19 help her make those decisions, whether I like the books 20 or not. Thank you so much for your time and 21 consideration. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Jacqueline Hall. 23 MS. HALL: My name is Jacqueline Hall. I 24 live in Precinct 4. I -- me, personally, I know I don't 25 want my taxes going to a library that is funding this 130 1 kind of obscenity in our community. Especially when 2 it's, you know, front and center where children are 3 walking and going by. Minors are just too young to 4 process this kind of information. And God made it that 5 way for a good reason. That's how He designed it. 6 We're -- we have parents and families, you know, to 7 establish those boundaries and to have those 8 conversations when it's time. 9 I just wanted to quote Proverbs 22:6. To 10 train a child in the way he should go, when he is old he 11 will not depart from it. And I -- I'd say that goes, 12 you know, whether he is trained up in a good way or a 13 bad way. Either way. And we need to establish that 14 righteousness and those things are what children should 15 be raised in. This is a battle between good and evil. 16 And God takes it very seriously when we lead little ones 17 astray. 18 The government does have a role in standing 19 for what's right. Our entire system of laws is based on 20 God's moral code. And that's -- that's a fact. And 21 it's for good reasons. For protection of young children 22 and families and establishing what's best for humanity. 23 So please stand up for the innocence of 24 children and cut funding to the library until the 25 pornography and the obscenity is removed. Thank you. 131 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. The last one that I've 2 got -- here it says Wolff. 3 MS. WOLFF: Yes. I do not have any prepared 4 remarks. Oh, my name's Susan Wolff and I'm from 5 Precinct 2. 6 JUDGE KELLY: I'm sorry. I didn't get your 7 name? 8 MS. WOLFF: Susan Wolff. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 10 MS. WOLFF: I did not know much about what 11 was happening today. I was at the protest and I support 12 our library. Like Jennyth said, I'm military. Like Ms. 13 Hall said, we are Christians. And like Ms. Puccio said, 14 we're home schoolers. 15 I support our library and our librarian. 16 And I live in the County. And I can afford to pay for 17 my library card if you defund the library, but there are 18 other people that cannot afford to pay for their library 19 card. And I want to see the County continue to support 20 the library with the funding needed to be an -- 21 effective in our community, to educate our community on 22 things we agree with and things we don't agree with. 23 And I'll end there. Thank you. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: If we were to put the 25 images on this screen up here that are in those books, I 132 1 would dare say that about 99 percent of the people in 2 this room would be offended by them. Especially kids. 3 UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: Share them with me. 4 That's so tacky. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Just -- 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Ma'am? 7 JUDGE KELLY: Anybody that speaks has to go 8 to the podium. 9 UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: I'm sorry. I thought 10 he was addressing me. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: No, no. But in general 12 I'm just saying that those -- I've said it again and 13 again, that the printed page is one thing, showing 14 pictures is another thing. And it is -- it has already 15 been defined for us by the State of Texas in the 16 obscenity laws. What happened with this child seeing 17 that out in front of the place just -- 18 MS. PETERSON: Oh, don't use me as your 19 pawn. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It was wrong. 21 MS. PETERSON: Yes, it was. Because my 22 rights as a parent were violated. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's right. That's 24 exactly right. It makes the -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: Order in the Court. 133 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- point. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Order in the Court. Come on. 3 Let's not do this. We're not arguing here. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm not arguing with 5 anybody. I'm trying to say that what happened there was 6 wrong and that's what we're trying to keep from 7 happening to anybody else. That's the point. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Yes, ma'am. You want to go to 9 the podium? 10 MS. MCGIBBON: It's -- it's just a question. 11 For the purpose -- 12 JUDGE KELLY: But the public has to hear it. 13 MS. MCGIBBON: I'm sorry. For this 14 discussion to happen in the future, it -- would it be 15 possible to share the most objectionable material that 16 was found, just the titles of those books? Because that 17 might allow -- I have an idea based on social media. 18 But as we all know that social media is one thing. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll show you the 20 picture. 21 MS. MCGIBBON: Great. That would be great. 22 Thank you. 23 COURT REPORTER: What was your name again? 24 MS. McGIBBON: Mary Ashley McGibbon. 25 COURT REPORTER: Thank you. 134 1 JUDGE KELLY: Robbie? 2 MR. HURT: Robbie Hurt. Precinct 4. The 3 dispute that happened years ago, the perception was that 4 the City thought they had y'all over a barrel and they 5 could do whatever they wanted to do. And I very much 6 agree with what the Court did at that time. I used the 7 library so much that y'all put me on the Board. Y'all 8 and the City. And it was a great inconvenience; 9 however, I appreciated y'all standing on principal. 10 And I'm not perfectly informed on all of 11 this, but it may be time for y'all to stand on principal 12 again. Thank you. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion on 14 this item? 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I'd like to wrap 16 it up, just -- and restate what we put on the agenda. 17 This was concerning the books displayed at the library. 18 And what was displayed was inappropriate. The location 19 was even more inappropriate. And I don't think it was 20 by accident. And the City's response has not been what 21 I'd like. And that's all I got to say. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make one comment. 23 Is that, you know, the library has done a lot of good 24 for a lot of kids and a lot of people. There's no 25 question about that. And I don't think -- I don't think 135 1 anyone up here is saying that it's not. But they made a 2 big mistake. And they should be accountable for that 3 mistake. That's what I'm saying. 4 And you know, the response that have come 5 back from the City, those that I've talked to and the 6 e-mails that I've received, I don't see that. And 7 that's very disturbing to me. I was very much in favor 8 and brought the agreement last meeting to extend this 9 one year. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Two years. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Roughly two years. And 12 an extension for one year. And I'm not, you know, in 13 favor of, you know, all of a sudden right now to 14 knee-jerk this, you know, walk away from everything. 15 But I think the City needs to answer to what they've 16 done. Because I don't think it's right. 17 As I said a minute ago, I don't have the 18 right to take the place of a parent and show them 19 information and literature like that right in front and 20 center. I just don't have that right. And I don't 21 think the City has the right either, and that's where 22 they crossed the line with me. 23 I don't care if they have the books in the 24 library. It makes no difference to me. I think they 25 should be a little bit, you know, secluded. But, you 136 1 know, I think that the -- their -- the reaction I've had 2 from the City was disturbing as much as what they did. 3 And that's all I have to say. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Well, what I have to say is 5 that it's clear to me that our community is very 6 troubled by this event. This has not been a cohesive of 7 all of us coming together to deal with issues; this is a 8 very divided issue. As a recovering lawyer, which I 9 like to say -- and by the way, on the 22nd of next month 10 I will have been licensed 48 years. It's a long time. 11 It's a lot of white hair. But I've also been a mediator 12 for almost four decades. And I think our community 13 could use some healing. I think we need to come 14 together. 15 And what I'd like to do is reach out to the 16 City so that we can have discussions. Sit down with the 17 E.A. and whoever we need to sit down with. Kim Meis -- 18 is it Meismer? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Meismer. 20 JUDGE KELLY: And just talk about these 21 issues. They're important issues for both sides of this 22 thing. I understand pornography. I understand that. 23 It's just like Justice Byron White said that time, if 24 you can't define it, you just know it when you see it. 25 But pornography is against the law. And so 137 1 what I'm prone to do, y'all know I've done this before, 2 I put together a little committee. And what I'd like to 3 do is be authorized to approach the City and try to have 4 a sit-down and see what we can come up with to try to 5 address this issue. 6 I mean, I know we're all looking at that 7 contract. That contract is not that big a deal. We 8 don't -- we don't want to underwrite pornography. I got 9 that. No one wants to do that. But we need to get to 10 the root cause of this problem. And we need to try to 11 solve it and see if we can't come to some sort of 12 understanding of how to deal with this. Obviously, this 13 was a terrible mistake. So that -- that's where I am on 14 this. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I just -- I have 16 one quick comment. I think it's really important for 17 those that haven't seen the pictures of what were in the 18 books that we're talking about to -- to sort -- to look 19 for them and find them. Because it takes a lot to get 20 me as irritated and upset as I was over this. And, you 21 know, I've got pretty thick skin with a lot of this. 22 So if you haven't seen what was in the 23 books, I'd encourage you to look for the specific 24 pictures. They're pretty available. They're on my 25 phone if anybody wants to look at them. They were sent 138 1 to me unfortunately. 2 JUDGE KELLY: They were sent to me too. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: We're talking about 4 books that people would -- kids would naturally be drawn 5 to. Councilman Garcia, is -- when -- is this on y'all's 6 agenda to discuss? 7 COUNCILMAN GARCIA: It is. Do you want me 8 to go -- 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: When is it? I didn't 10 mean to draw you into this but -- 11 COUNCILMAN GARCIA: I'm already drawn into 12 it as City Council anyway, so -- and I was at the 13 protest. It is scheduled for our City Council meeting 14 agenda tomorrow. It's listed as the second to last 15 agenda item. And the meeting starts at 6:00 o'clock. 16 So I couldn't really tell you what time 17 we're going to get to that. We'll do the timed stamps 18 like y'all do on your agenda, but that is the time that 19 our meeting starts. 20 You know, there's always the ability for 21 City Council to push that item up if we have a lot of 22 people speaking there. If that's the case, you know, 23 I'm more than happy to make that motion at the meeting. 24 And I would highly encourage everybody to, you know, 25 attend it and speak at that meeting because that's the 139 1 time that we're going to consider it. Any other -- 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, hopefully 3 somebody will take a step and do the right thing. 4 COUNCILMAN GARCIA: And -- and just to put 5 it out there, because our ethics policy requires us to 6 do this, anytime we're speaking to a wide audience that 7 the thoughts and ideas that, you know, I have stated now 8 or that I will state earlier are just solely my own, 9 don't represent those of the City, City Council, or any 10 other City official. I'm just required to say that 11 under our policies. 12 So just trying to stay ethical there. But I 13 do appreciate the idea for, you know, the County and the 14 City to work on that and facilitate that discussion 15 between the two bodies. Whether it's a committee of 16 certain commissioners and certain council members, I'm 17 open to that. I'd be happy to sit down with any of the 18 commissioners to discuss this further too. 19 And then, of course, I appreciate 20 Commissioner Harris and Commissioner Belew for putting 21 this on the agenda, and then the rest of the 22 Commissioners and the Judge for facilitating this 23 discussion. 24 JUDGE KELLY: This is something that should 25 not be swept under the rug. We've got to work through 140 1 this. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I reached out to two 3 Council members and Councilman Garcia was the only one 4 who responded to me, and I appreciate it. Thank you. 5 COUNCILMAN GARCIA: Absolutely. It's my 6 job. Thank you. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Anything else on this? 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I'll -- I'll say 9 for the record that -- and I won't name the City 10 Councilman that started talking about bulldozing the 11 library. I don't know if anybody remembers that. 12 Closing down the library and changing it to some kind of 13 a coffee house or something. And nobody fought him more 14 vociferously than I did. 15 And so the idea that I would want this town 16 to be without a library is unfounded. I want us to have 17 a good library, where everybody's safe to go in there, 18 and we're not going to see something we shouldn't be 19 when you're seven or eight years old. 20 As I said earlier, that all comes in due 21 time. There's no need to force it. And it's not 22 educational, it's not edifying, it's not beneficial to 23 anyone. A printed page, as I said, is one thing. All 24 the dirty pictures, that belongs in a single wide 25 trailer out off the interstate someplace; not in our 141 1 library. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We're moving on to the 3 next agenda item, which is 1.31 consider, discuss and 4 take appropriate action to surplus, dispose, or remove 5 items from the fixed asset list. Miss Shelton. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Could we go back to 7 1.25? 8 (Pause -- Several people exiting courtroom.) 9 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Ms. Shelton. 10 MS. SHELTON: The Auditor's Office has 11 reviewed the County's fixed asset list and is requesting 12 certain assets be deleted from that list. Elected 13 officials, chief deputies and/or department heads were 14 contacted and confirmed assets were no longer in service 15 or had already been disposed. Electronic items, 16 accessories on vehicles that have already been disposed, 17 an armored vest account for most of the items. These 18 assets were purchased between 1970 and 2009. Remaining 19 book value is approximately $251,000. 20 Just to kind of put it in perspective, there 21 are 16 assets that have a purchase price of over 22 $5,000.00 each, for a total of $503,000.00. That 23 depreciates -- the net book value on those are about 24 $83,000. 25 There are 244 assets that are less than 142 1 $5,000.00, and they have a net book value of $168,000 at 2 this time. These assets would not be entered into the 3 fixed asset list under the current policy. 4 So we are asking for these assets to be 5 removed. And just need your -- it's kind of like you're 6 disposing them, but they've already been disposed and so 7 we're deleting them off of the book. 8 JUDGE KELLY: So this is really correcting a 9 notebook entry? 10 MS. SHELTON: It's a clean up. Yes. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that 12 we surplus, dispose, or remove the items from the fixed 13 asset list and -- from the attached list. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Motion and a second. Any 16 other discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. 17 Unanimous. 18 MS. SHELTON: Thank you. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Let's go back to 1.25. 20 Miss Hernandez is back. That is consider, discuss and 21 take appropriate action to appoint committee members to 22 the Safety Committee for FY 22-23. 23 MS. HERNANDEZ: Okay. So we have the safety 24 committee member list. And it was -- it consisted of 25 the County Judge, the County Treasurer, the Chief Deputy 143 1 Treasurer, Maintenance Supervisor, County Sheriff, 2 Deputy Sheriff, and County Bridge Administrator. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we need to -- 4 the previous list named the actual people in those 5 positions. I think it would be better to -- I'll make a 6 motion that we name to the safety committee the County 7 Judge or designee, County Treasurer or designee, Chief 8 Deputy Treasurer or designee, Maintenance Supervisor or 9 designee, the County Sheriff or designee, the second 10 Deputy Sheriff or designated by the Sheriff, and Road 11 and Bridge Administrator or designee. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I agree. Is that a 13 motion? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's a motion. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And that's a second. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I would ask that as 17 part of that that the -- anyone who is designated as 18 someone other than those positions that they would 19 notify HR Department so we can keep an accurate list of 20 the names. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any discussion? Those 22 in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 23 Back on the regular agenda. The next item 24 is 1.32 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to 25 hire an interim Human Resources Director pursuant to an 144 1 agreement with Strategic Government Resources and sign 2 an appropriate agreement. Commissioner Letz. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. I think the 4 Court's aware, but I'm not sure the public is aware that 5 at our last meeting we interviewed some people for the 6 interim HR Director's spot. And from that we directed 7 or had communication with the SGR Consulting Firm to try 8 to finalize that with a candidate, and that candidate is 9 Carmen Williams, who is right here. 10 Carmen has a lot of experience in HR, a lot 11 of experience with municipalities primarily, but still 12 very similar to County government. And I think that 13 it's going to be a big help. I think she's exactly what 14 we need right now to kind of help evaluate that 15 department a little bit. Figure out what we need to do, 16 and give us some guidance on the next step for a 17 permanent person to that position. So I'll make a 18 motion that we approve Carmen Williams as our interim HR 19 Director. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 22 Any discussion? 23 What I would really like to do is officially 24 introduce Carmen by having her go to the podium. I want 25 Kerr County to meet our new interim HR Director. 145 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: She's always got a big 2 beautiful smile. 3 MS. WILLIAMS: Good morning. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Just give us a little 5 introductory. 6 MS. WILLIAMS: Well, good morning. My name 7 is Carmen Williams. As is stated, I have 30 plus years 8 of human resources experience across about three or four 9 states. I look forward to this opportunity. I've met 10 the staff already and we're looking forward to working 11 together. And hopefully I can bring some positive 12 influence and some assistance in the area. And 13 hopefully you are better when I leave. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you very much. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Thank you. 16 JUDGE KELLY: We're very excited about 17 working together. 18 MS. WILLIAMS: Thank you, Judge. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Did we take a vote? 20 MRS. DOWDY: No. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, we need to vote on 22 that. But then there are some other items also related 23 to this. 24 JUDGE KELLY: For Executive Session? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. No. 146 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 2 MRS. GRINSTEAD: It'll probably be a 3 separate motion, though. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, a separate motion. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So do this one. 7 JUDGE KELLY: The motion to hire Carmen 8 Williams. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Those in favor raise your 11 hand. Unanimous. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And just an 13 informational item. Under our contract with SGR, that 14 pay rate is designated in that contract and those funds 15 will come out of the line item for the HR Director. Do 16 we have to talk about -- Jody, I know we have to talk 17 about -- is this the housing portion of it? 18 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Yes. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. In addition, 20 under that contract we are obligated to provide housing 21 as needed. And after much research by Jody -- 22 JUDGE KELLY: And Noel. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- and Noel, and others, 24 I think Carmen is familiar with the housing as well. 25 But I'll make a motion that we approve up to -- $7,000 147 1 cover it -- up to $7,000 for the three-month period of 2 this contract for interim housing for our Interim HR 3 Director. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 6 approve the housing required under the contract for up 7 to $7,000. Any discussion? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And Jody is raising her 9 hand. 10 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Yeah. If we could specify 11 two things; where that money is going to come from, and 12 that that it can be paid immediately. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Need to have an 14 immediate check for that as soon as possible from the 15 Auditor's Office for the actual amount and to the party 16 that it's going to. And if the funds are available in 17 the HR Director's salary, it would come from that line 18 item. If there's not available from that line item, it 19 comes from contingency. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So the motion has been 21 amended. And the second approves the amendment? 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? All 24 those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 25 And the next agenda item is 1.33 consider, 148 1 discuss and take appropriate action to approve Business 2 Associate Agreement and License Agreement between Kerr 3 County and SWBC Life Insurance Agency, Inc. Ms. 4 Hernandez -- Ms. Sanchez. 5 MS. HERNANDEZ: Both. I have before you a 6 Business Associates Agreement and a License Agreement 7 from SWBC. They have never had one in the seven plus 8 years that we've been with them. So they approached me 9 this last time and said that they needed to get one with 10 us to be able to use their now employee navigator 11 system. They do not charge us. 12 They had something in place to where it was 13 going to be like a two dollar to a five dollar charge to 14 use it; however, they waived all of that. So that is 15 something that they have done for Kerr County. So I 16 believe that you have -- you all have copies in front of 17 you. There is a Business Associate Agreement as well as 18 a License Agreement where it says -- shows the license 19 fee is zero dollars per year. 20 MRS. STEBBINS: I've reviewed it. 21 MS. HERNANDEZ: Okay. And then the end user 22 and conditions for license service. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And this relates to 24 payroll deductions, correct, for some employees that 25 have chosen to -- 149 1 MS. HERNANDEZ: Yes. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- to have and 3 receive -- 4 MS. HERNANDEZ: Yes. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- and to the agreement 6 is providing the -- the process for doing that. Has the 7 County Attorney reviewed the contract? 8 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, I have. I don't have 9 any suggested changes. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I'll make a 11 motion to approve. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 14 approve the Business Associate Agreement and License 15 Agreement between Kerr County and SWBC Life Insurance 16 Agency. Any discussion? Those in favor raise your 17 hand. Unanimous. 18 Addendum Item 1.35 consider, discuss and 19 take appropriate action to approve the Interlocal 20 Agreement for the Hill Country Regional Public 21 Defender's Office for the counties of Bandera, 22 Gillespie, Kendall, Kerr, and Medina. 23 And this is the same Interlocal Agreement 24 that we had for the first year and a half of the PDO, 25 this one just adds Medina County. 150 1 MRS. STEBBINS: It has some changes for the 2 overpayment in it as well. 3 JUDGE KELLY: And -- and the last time we 4 talked about it here, y'all authorized me to go sit down 5 and talk to Judge Schuchart. We overpaid when we 6 calculated the actual case count. It turned out that we 7 paid a higher percentage from the actual cases that we 8 had. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So we're going to have 10 a credit going forward? 11 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is that how it's going 13 to work? 14 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 16 JUDGE KELLY: And he agreed to that. And I 17 spoke to the other judges and they agreed. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Is -- this is saying 19 that -- wasn't it Medina and Bandera that we overpaid? 20 Was that -- or -- 21 JUDGE KELLY: No. No. The counties that 22 were overpaid, Gillespie had a little bit. Kendall had 23 an amount worth looking at, we had $75,000. So we 24 wanted to make sure that we got credit for it. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. 151 1 JUDGE KELLY: And they get credit, too. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And moving forward, this 4 is annually they'll be a readjustment. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, sure. Can this 6 thing keep growing? 7 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Just keep adding 9 counties in? 10 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we can add counties 11 and -- we've stayed with five -- 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. 13 JUDGE KELLY: -- which we're comfortable 14 with. We want to make sure we can master this before we 15 start bringing in others. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, that's what I'm 17 asking. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There was a lot of 19 discussion to add three counties and -- 20 JUDGE KELLY: We didn't do it. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- we didn't do it. And 22 it looked like it was a good thing not to do it at this 23 point. In the future, if you want to add them. But at 24 the moment we're real happy the way it's operating -- 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. 152 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- and -- 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: We don't need any 3 growing pains right off the bat. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Just so the people know, when 5 we formed the PDO we went to the Office of Court 6 Administration, OCA, and we took actual case counts. 7 And with that, with the five counties, and that's how we 8 apportioned the percentages that we were going to have 9 to pay. And ours came to be 38 percent of the total 10 PDO. 11 When we ran the numbers -- actual numbers at 12 the end of, what, this was probably 15 months? The end 13 of 15 months? And that was because of the grant, the 14 reason that we don't have 12 months. But it actually 15 came to 33 percent. And that five percent difference 16 translated into $75,000 that we wanted credit for. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Which shows that it 18 ain't cheap. 19 JUDGE KELLY: What is? 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It ain't cheap. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Do we have a motion? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion we 23 approve the Interlocal Agreement as presented. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We got a motion and a 153 1 second. Any discussion? Those in favor raise your 2 hand. Unanimous. 3 That takes us through the regular agenda. 4 We now get to the approval agenda. 2.1 is budget 5 amendments. 6 SHERIFF LEITHA: Judge -- 7 MS. PUCCIO: Judge, I'm sorry. I was 8 supposed to hand you a letter that one of the home 9 school moms wrote and I totally forgot. And I also 10 printed off that article that I cited from Fox for each 11 of you. Thank you so much. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Budget amendments. 13 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. You have before you 14 14 budget amendments. These are the final budget 15 amendments for the year. The first amendment is to 16 cover the compensation payout that y'all authorized last 17 time. So we looked at all the Departments to ensure 18 that they were going to have dollars in their budget for 19 that. 20 The other one that I would like to bring to 21 your attention is the very last item. And we are moving 22 a budgeted item from line ten in contingency to cover 23 the indigent healthcare cost. We had about $68,000 24 worth of invoices that were presented this past pay 25 period. 154 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval on 2 the budget amendments. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 4 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 5 second to approve the budget amendments as presented. 6 Any discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. 7 Unanimous. 8 Next we have pay bills. 9 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. Invoices for today's 10 consideration, $1,259,608.05. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 14 second to approve paying the bills as presented. Any 15 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 16 Late bills. 17 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. Today's amount is 18 $326,189.64. Since this is to authorize the Treasurer 19 to disburse the funds, can we include that up to $7,000 20 check also in the motion? 21 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Motion and a second to approve 155 1 late bills as presented. Any discussion? Those in 2 favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 3 Auditor reports. 4 MS. SHELTON: There are not any. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Monthly reports. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. For August 2022. 7 Animal Control Services Director, Reagan Givens. County 8 Treasurer's monthly report, Tracy Soldan. For July 9 2022. County Treasurer's monthly report, Tracy Soldan. 10 I move for approval. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 13 approve the monthly reports as presented. Any 14 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 15 Court orders. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have our Court Orders 17 from our September 12th regular meeting. Court Orders 18 39521 to 39557. They all look to be in order. I move 19 for approval. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 22 approve the Court Orders as presented. Any discussion? 23 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 24 Okay. Information agenda. Status reports 25 from Department Heads. I see none. 156 1 Status reports from Elected Officials. 2 3.3 status reports from Liaison 3 Commissioners. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I do have something. I 5 have two. One that I've been meaning to bring up and I 6 keep on forgetting. But it's, I believe, Killdeer 7 Mountain Manufacturing. They had a target that by the 8 end of this year under all of the agreements, not with 9 us but with the City, to have 60 employees. About a 10 month ago there were 61 and still hiring. And they 11 anticipate that this will be the largest office of all 12 of their offices between here and South Dakota. 13 And they expect it up to be in the hundreds 14 before too long, largely due to their heavy workload 15 with Boeing, and their 737 and other aircraft they're 16 doing. They're doing very well. They're training 17 people. They're working with I know -- I believe 18 Schreiner and Tivy to look to get workers. They prefer 19 to do the training themselves. And these are high 20 paying jobs. So it's a real good -- it's a big -- 21 probably one of the best -- since I've been a 22 commissioner, the best economic development thing that 23 has come to pass. And initially Gil Salinas and -- 24 really worked with this, and to be commended. But also 25 associates of that company for really, really doing a 157 1 fantastic job. 2 The other one is Andrea Bode this past week, 3 community service, for those that don't know, it's 4 adults that are put on probation are often assigned 5 community service. That program has shrunk and shrunk 6 and shrunk, and is smaller and smaller all the time. 7 They were considering eliminating it because 8 there's not the workers to do it, and that's partly due 9 to the Judge is not assigning that much anymore. But 10 after communications with the State office and others, 11 they're going to keep the office open. 12 The workers will primarily be used at the 13 Hill Country Youth Event Center. Some will go to some 14 of the other non-profits around town. But they work 15 very closely with Jake right now and are going to 16 continue that relationship. So it's going to continue. 17 But some of the non-profits that have been 18 using the service, they may have cut back service. And 19 one of the ones that I'm speaking of is the cemetery. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And I was going to ask 21 about that this week and go talk to them. So they need 22 the money. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And they're -- they just 24 don't have the people. Because they're looking at -- 25 and you know, they just may have to cut back some of 158 1 that service. And they will be communicating with each 2 of the -- I think it's like 12, 13 different non-profits 3 that they have assisted with. So that's kind of an 4 update. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Well, for what it's worth on 6 community service, we actively require community service 7 in juvenile. That's a very important part of their 8 rehabilitation. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. And one of the 10 things that -- I won't say that they're not assigning 11 it. They're given a choice between some educational 12 programs or community service, and most of them are 13 choosing the educational programs, and I believe the 14 courts and adult probation thinks those are, from a 15 rehabilitation standpoint, probably more worthwhile and 16 getting more bang for the buck. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I think Judge Ragsdale 18 needs somebody -- 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, there's some -- 20 they're still going to be there but just reduced 21 numbers. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I can tell you it was an 23 ah-ha moment, and I won't identify which one of my four 24 children, had to put on one of those iridescent vests 25 and had to go clean up the park in Schreiner. And it 159 1 was very educational. An exercise in humility. Well, 2 you gotta wear the vest; it's not a fashion show. 3 Okay. Any other comments? Okay. Well, 4 we're going to take a five minute break and come back in 5 Executive Session. We're going to have to take a vote 6 before we can. 7 We've got a contract negotiation we're going 8 to have to consider, so I have to make a motion that we 9 authorize to go into Executive Session for contract 10 negotiation. I need a second. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Any discussion? Those in 13 favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 14 We'll be in Executive Session in five 15 minutes. 16 (Recess.) 17 (Executive Session.) 18 JUDGE KELLY: Okay, it's 1:02, we've come 19 out of Executive Session. And do we have action 20 following Executive Session? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. Action on, it 22 would be, 4.1(a). I'll make a motion that we authorize 23 myself and County Judge to review some insurance 24 coverage and make application for additional insurance 25 for the County as may be desired. 160 1 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 3 Any discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. 4 Unanimous, five zero. 5 Any other business before the Court? Then 6 we are adjourned. 7 * * * * * * 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 161 1 STATE OF TEXAS * 2 COUNTY OF KERR * 3 I, DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD, Certified Shorthand 4 Reporter in and for the State of Texas, and Official 5 Court Reporter in and for Kerr County, do hereby certify 6 that the above and foregoing pages contain and comprise 7 a true and correct transcription of the proceedings had 8 in the above-entitled Regular Commissioners' Court. 9 Dated this the 7th day of October, 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