1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Special Session 5 Monday, November 21, 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 1.1 Canvass the official election results for 3 the 2022 November General Election as per TEC 4 67. 5 1.2 Consideration and approval of a Resolution 10 canvassing the returns and declaring the 6 results of a bond election. 7 *** Adjournment 22 8 *** Reporter's Certificate. 23 9 * * * * * * 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 JUDGE KELLY: Court come to order. It is 2 Monday, November the 21st, 2022. It's 9 o'clock in the 3 morning, and the Kerr County Commissioners' Court is now 4 in session for a special meeting. We'll have no 5 perfunctory things. We'll move right on to the 6 consideration agenda. 7 1.1 is to canvass the official election 8 results for the 2022 November General Election. Mr. 9 Reeves. 10 MR. REEVES: Good morning, gentlemen. 11 Before you Judge is a sealed envelope with the canvass 12 returns. If you'll verify that you did receive that 13 it's sealed, I'd appreciate it. 14 JUDGE KELLY: So noted. 15 MR. REEVES: And inside there are the 16 official returns compiled by my office. We do need the 17 results read into the record, if somebody could open 18 them. I have a copy for each one of you. 19 (Commissioner Letz opening envelope.) 20 JUDGE KELLY: I pass the envelope to the 21 Commissioner who have knives in their pockets. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We're going to take a 23 corner off your name card for not having a knife. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Well, it's in the truck. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Don't ask what else 4 1 he's got in his pockets. 2 MR. REEVES: I believe there's copies for 3 each one of you. 4 JUDGE KELLY: This is the report. If you 5 could pass that down to her, to the County Clerk. And 6 then here's one, two, three, and four. Okay. 7 MR. REEVES: And as you read through the 8 totals, gentlemen, you will notice towards the back 9 there will be some races reported for various school 10 districts, and the Headwaters Conversation District. 11 You do not need to canvass those. But on the last page 12 is the results of the bond election, you will need to 13 read those into the record. So however you would like 14 to start with those. 15 JUDGE KELLY: You going to read them all, is 16 that right? Or did you want us to? 17 MR. REEVES: I would prefer the Court to. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Every race, every candidate. 19 MR. REEVES: Every race. 20 Ms. Alford, do they need undervotes and the 21 overvotes recorded? 22 MS. ALFORD: No. Just the results for each 23 candidate. 24 MR. REEVES: The totals, which would be in 25 the green column to the far right-hand side. For 5 1 example, Chip Roy 17,712 votes. Claudia Zapata 4,555. 2 Something to that effect. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Each precinct? 5 MR. REEVES: Each precinct. There -- all 6 precincts are combined in this. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. So we just need 8 the one reading. 9 MR. REEVES: The one reading. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Then I will read the 11 results of the general election that was held on 12 November the 8th. For the United States Representative 13 Chip Roy received 17,712 votes, and Claudia Andreana 14 Zapata received 4,555 votes. 15 For the Governor's race Greg Abbott received 16 17,524. Beto O'Rourke received 4,648 votes. Mark 17 Tippetts received 249 votes, and Delilah Barrios 18 received 55 votes. And Jacqueline Abernathy received 3 19 votes, and Mark Goloby received 1. 20 For the race for Lieutenant Governor, Dan 21 Patrick received 17,267 votes. And Mike Collier 22 received 4,649 votes. Not much different than Beto's. 23 Pretty close. And then Shanna Steele received 540 24 votes. 25 Moving down to the Attorney General's race. 6 1 Ken Paxton received 17,125 votes, and Rochelle Mercedes 2 Garza received 4,683 votes, and Mark Ash received 611 3 votes. 4 Okay. We've got the reverse side of the 5 Page. Comptroller of Public Accounts. Glenn Hegar 6 received 17,681 votes, and Janet Dudding received 4,273 7 votes, and V. Alonzo Echevarria-Garza received 387 8 votes. 9 Commissioner General Land Office. Dawn 10 Buckingham received six thousand -- 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: 17 thousand. 12 JUDGE KELLY: 17,689 votes, and Jay Kleberg 13 received 4,362 votes, and Alfred Molison, Jr. received 14 270 votes, and Carrie Velyn Menger received 11 votes. 15 Commissioner of Agriculture. Sid Miller received 17,587 16 votes. Susan Hays received 4,726 votes. 17 For the Railroad Commissioner. Wayne 18 Christian received 17,426 votes, and Luke Warford 19 received 4,196 votes, and Jaime Andres Diez received 425 20 votes, and Hunter Wayne Crow received 236 votes. 21 Moving on to the next page. Supreme Court 22 Justice Place 3. Debra Lehrmann received 17,526 votes. 23 Erin A. Nowell received 4,325 votes, and Thomas Edward 24 Oxford received 451 votes. 25 Justice Supreme Court Place 5. Rebeca 7 1 Huddle received 17,733 votes, and Amanda Reichek 2 received 4,519 votes. 3 For Justice Supreme Court Place 9. Evan 4 Young received 17,452 votes, and Julia Maldonado 5 received 4,580 votes. 6 Judge of Court of Criminal Appeals. Scott 7 Walker received 17,705 votes, and Dana Huffman received 8 4,526 votes. 9 Turning to the back page of this. Judge, 10 Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 6. Jesse F. McClure 11 III received 17,742 votes, and Robert Johnson received 12 4,431 votes. 13 For State Senator. Pete Flores received 14 17,624 votes, and Kathy Jones-Hospod received 4,578 15 votes. 16 State Representative. Andrew Murr received 17 17,795 votes, and Joe P. Herrera received 4,450 votes. 18 Justice, 4th Court of Appeals, Place 6. 19 Todd McCray received 17,488 votes, and Irene Rios 20 received 4,490 votes. And that concludes that page. 21 The next is Justice, 4th Court of Appeals, 22 Place 7. Lori Valenzuela received 17,556 votes, and 23 Rebecca "Beckie" Palomo received 4,465 votes. 24 Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4. William 25 Ragsdale received 4,995 votes, and Dwight Snider 8 1 received 756 votes. 2 Headwaters Groundwater Conservation 3 District -- do this one, too? 4 MR. REEVES: No, Your Honor. You can skip 5 over to the last page. The last three on the -- on the 6 last page of that will be the bond propositions. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So moving past the 8 other local elections. The Kerr County Bond Election 9 Proposition A. For, 8,756. Against, 13,087. And 10 Proposition B. For, 9,296, and against, 12,710. And 11 then Prop C is 12,101(sic) for, and 10,006 against. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 12,102. 13 JUDGE KELLY: 12,102. I stand corrected. 14 I think we've read all the votes, canvassed 15 votes for general election. Do we have a motion? 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 19 Moving for approval of the canvass of the general 20 election. Any discussion? Those in favor raise your 21 hand. 22 And Bob and Nadene, y'all did a great job. 23 MS. ALFORD: Thank you. 24 JUDGE KELLY: We're really proud of what you 25 do. 9 1 MR. REEVES: Thank you, Judge. But it's not 2 without a full team effort from my department. I 3 brought election clerk Ellen Barrister, first heavy one 4 she's had to work. Cynthia Tejada, she's with us today. 5 But also, IT department, Sheriff's Department, the 6 Maintenance Department. It takes a team effort. So 7 thanking us thanks all of them. 8 JUDGE KELLY: We extend that. Compliments 9 to everybody involved. It was just very well done. 10 Especially in the election climate that we've had. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You had new places that 12 people were voting. How did all of that go? 13 MR. REEVES: Very well received, 14 Commissioner. One of them within your Precinct we moved 15 from the Inn of the Hills to a church that you 16 recommended on Harper Road. They were more than happy 17 to be of service to us. We were very pleased with that. 18 It's the third election we've used early voting at what 19 now is the West Kerr Annex, and formally Imgram ISD 20 building, that received a very heavy turnout this year. 21 And we were very pleased with that. Jake at the Event 22 Center and his staff with the room that we could spread 23 out for early voting there also worked very good. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We got a motion and a 25 second. We voted on it, didn't we? 10 1 Then the next item on the agenda is item 2 1.2, which is to consider and approve the Resolution 3 canvassing the returns and declaring results of the bond 4 election. We read those results earlier. So is there a 5 motion to accept the bond election results? 6 MR. REEVES: There is a Resolution. The 7 signature pages are not on your copy. It requires three 8 copies, the County Clerk has it, that the Judge and the 9 County Clerk will need to sign. Miss Dowdy's passed 10 around the signature pages. This Resolution was 11 prepared by our outside legal counsel at McCall, 12 Parkhurst & Horton. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Bob, it looks on here 14 that we're supposed to fill in some of the numbers. To 15 keep from having to use my math, do you have a combined 16 total for the absentee and the early, because it looks 17 like we have to combine those. 18 MR. REEVES: In other words what you're 19 saying, Commissioner, I need to use my math? 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That Tivy math you brag 21 about all the time. 22 (Laughter.) 23 MR. REEVES: But election day for 24 Proposition A, election day voting was 2,379. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not those. I need the 11 1 ones we've got to add. The early and -- which includes 2 the absentee, I think. 3 MS. ALFORD: Is that what it says on there? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It says early votes 5 including mail ballots, so I presume that -- 6 MS. ALFORD: That would be yeah. 7 MR. REEVES: The absentee. Does somebody 8 have a calculator. I failed to do that. 9 (Calculating.) 10 MR. REEVES: I apologize for this, 11 gentlemen. You want to compare with what you got with 12 mine? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On the A, I have 14 early -- the first line 6377. 15 MR. REEVES: Yes, Sir. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And then 8810. 17 MR. REEVES: Yes, Sir. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And election day 2379 19 and 4277. 20 MR. REEVES: On Proposition B. I have 6606 21 for against -- no. It would be for. And 8683 against. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's what I have. 23 MR. REEVES: Proposition C. For, 8,608. 24 6,832 against. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I didn't do that one. 12 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: How many against? 2 MR. REEVES: 6832. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It's a little bit 4 different than what I got. 5 MR. REEVES: Then again, Commissioners, it's 6 Tivy math. I apologize for that. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: For C, I have 11,186 8 for. And against, 9,517. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I came to 8508. 10 MR. REEVES: 8508. 11 (Calculating.) 12 MR. REEVES: 6842. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, the 6832 was 14 correct? 15 JUDGE KELLY: 42. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: 42. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The 6508 and 6842. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Let's go back over the numbers 19 so that we have it clear in the record. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. Do all of them. 21 JUDGE KELLY: The vote count on the bond 22 election Proposition A was 6,377 for. 8,810 against. 23 Proposition B -- 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You gotta do the 25 election day. 13 1 MR. REEVES: That was early voting and 2 absentee. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Election day was 2,379 4 for, and 4,277 against. 5 MR. REEVES: For a total of 8,756 against. 6 JUDGE KELLY: For. 7 MR. REEVES: For. We're going to get it 8 right yet. 8,756 for. 13,087 against, as a total. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Total, right. 10 MR. REEVES: Proposition B early voting and 11 absentee ballots or by mail. 6,606 for. 8,683 against. 12 Election day, 2,690 for. 4,027 against. Total 9,296 13 for, 12,710 against. 14 Proposition C early voting, 8,608. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Thought we changed that 16 to 5. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah, 5 is what I got. 18 8,508. 19 MR. REEVES: 8,508 voting for in early 20 voting. On election day 3,594, for a total of 12,102 21 voting for the proposition. Voting against the 22 proposition absentee and early voting, 6,842. Voting 23 against 3,164 on election day. Total votes against this 24 proposition 10,006. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Bob, it looks like on 14 1 each one of these we're supposed to come up with three 2 other numbers, too. Total votes cast, total number of 3 accounted provisional ballot and total number 4 unaccounted provisional. 5 MR. REEVES: Do you have those, Ms. Alford? 6 MR. REEVES: Total votes cast I can give 7 you. 8 MS. ALFORD: Yeah. 146 provisional 9 submitted, 37 accepted. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is it the same for all 11 of them? 12 MS. ALFORD: Yes. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What were those numbers? 14 MS. ALFORD: 146 total provisional, and 37 15 accepted. 16 MR. REEVES: The total number of counted 17 provisional was -- 18 MS. ALFORD: 146. 19 MR. REEVES: Counted. 20 MS. ALFORD: No. That's the total. And 37 21 was counted out of that 146. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we have to subtract 23 those two. So that would be total number accounted was 24 37. The total number unaccounted was 109. And what was 25 the total votes cast? 15 1 MR. REEVES: Total votes cast for 2 Proposition A 21,843. 3 Total votes cast for Proposition B 22,006. 4 Total votes cast for Proposition C 22,108. 5 JUDGE KELLY: We got them all now? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we got them all. 7 Am I make a motion that we approve the Resolution as 8 read into the record. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 10 MRS. DOWDY: Question. I apologize. Do we 11 have to declare the -- the agenda item talks about 12 declaring the results. Does that motion that care of 13 that? 14 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I would assume so. 15 MRS. STEBBINS: I haven't read the 16 Resolution. 17 MR. REEVES: The motion language that I 18 presented before you came from bond counsel. 19 JUDGE KELLY: That's this one right here? 20 MR. REEVES: No, Sir. It's just the one 21 page. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. The Resolution 23 back -- 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's the back page, 25 isn't it? 16 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's that section 2 that -- section where it says two three and four. It 3 says a -- Section 2 says the majority of qualified 4 voters of Kerr County voting in the election having 5 voted Proposition A. The Court hereby finds and 6 determines the proposition failed the election. 7 And three is majority of qualified voters of 8 Kerr County voting in the election against proposition 9 B. The Court hereby finds and determines the 10 proposition failed. 11 And the majority of qualified voters for the 12 County voted for proposition C. The Court hereby finds 13 and determines that this proposition carried the 14 election. And that the Court hereby authorize to issue 15 bonds to levy tax in accordance with regarding to 16 proposition with law. 17 MR. REEVES: Commissioner, to the back of 18 your agenda. 19 JUDGE KELLY: This one right here? 20 MR. REEVES: The motion -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let me rescind my 22 previous motion and change it to -- I move to adopt the 23 Resolution canvassing the returns and declaring the 24 results of the bond election. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 17 1 JUDGE KELLY: So we got a motion and a 2 second to adopt the resolution canvassing the returns 3 and declaring the results of the bond election. And 4 those results are Prop A failed. Prop B failed. Prop C 5 passed. Any other discussion? Anybody want to comment 6 on the stinging refute we got on this election? 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I think we asked for 8 too much. And the timing was terrible. The City just 9 had a bond election, so it was a lot of things. 10 MRS. DOWDY: And Ingram ISD did. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It did. And I 12 described it as a Cadillac ad for an F150. So I think 13 that's what happens with committees. You know, you add 14 a little more and a little more. A little too much 15 frosting. And the next thing you know the cake falls 16 over. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I think timing was 18 more of it myself. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And the recession. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Without a doubt. This 21 administration. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the other thing 23 that is Animal Control has been the front page issue for 24 years. The people were aware of that. The other two 25 issues, people didn't really understand the full scope 18 1 of them, I don't think. And I think that, you know, I 2 don't know how -- how you get that across to the public. 3 Because those are not interesting items. I mean they're 4 not controversial. We need space, we need this. But 5 it's not going to get a whole lot of coverage. 6 I think the majority of people that I talked 7 to didn't have a clue about the bond election, period. 8 So that shows that they just didn't know the issues. 9 They read Animal Control, oh yeah, we've heard about 10 that. We know that's a problem. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, there's plenty of 12 signage and plenty of people out there on both sides of 13 it, and messaging was it going to raise taxes. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I said all along I 15 didn't think the people we brought in on the committee 16 would have thought we had the needs we did looking 17 around the courthouse and what have you, until they 18 looked themselves, looked behind the curtains of what 19 we've been dealing with and what we have. Our flaws and 20 what have you. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the challenge 22 we're going to have in the next couple months, we're 23 going to have to look at the needs. Which were the 24 critical ones, Animal Control can be off the table and 25 that can start moving. 19 1 But the other one, I mean we have got to do 2 something. And we're going to have to figure out how to 3 pay for it, and get a plan in place. To me for the next 4 couple years as to how we implement those things that 5 have to be done. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: The show barn, outdoor 7 arena, definitely have critical needs, right off the 8 bat. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Well, the indoor arena is not 10 safe. And we know it's not safe. And we've got to do 11 something about it. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The roof is really bad. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's gotta be done, 14 but a concrete floor. So I mean there's immediate needs 15 that have to be done. It needs a concrete floor in my 16 opinion. But it needs the roof and the electrical 17 redone, and plumbing first. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And better heating. 19 I've spent a lot of time out there where I couldn't feel 20 my feet walking around behind kids and goats and sheep. 21 MRS. DOWDY: You remember it though. It's a 22 memory. It's all about the experience. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And then we gotta figure 24 out the courthouse reshuffling. We've gotta do 25 something with some of the space in the departments 20 1 here. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I want to shout out to 3 our capital improvement planning committee, CIP. They 4 worked three years on this thing. They have given 5 themselves, sacrificed to this County. And I feel sorry 6 for them the most. Because they tried to give birth to 7 what is a County that is at least in the 20th century. 8 It's not -- maybe not the 21st century. 9 And I'm very saddened by the loss. But I'm 10 listening to the people. People are not happy with this 11 Court. And I don't know what that means, what it 12 forbodes. But people are not happy with us. And so 13 we're going to have to respond to that. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You've got a lot of 15 single issue voters that came out for the Animal 16 Control. If you look at the numbers, that's pretty 17 obvious. A lot of people were going to come out for 18 that. Probably didn't even vote for the other two. So 19 I don't know if that's an issue with somebody being 20 angry with the Court. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Well, people have talked to me 22 that were angry, I can tell you that. I got a lot of 23 angry calls. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I haven't. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I haven't either. I 21 1 feel what you said, Commissioner, that the courthouse 2 annex had more total votes cast than Animal Control. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, but this is 4 single issue stuff. And look at the numbers on -- you 5 know, look at all three of them and look at what 6 happened with Animal Control. I think we had a lot of 7 people that voted only on that. And on the positive 8 note. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. On the positive. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And it goes to your 11 point of it being the most issue and the front page 12 issue. It's both. Because then you have animal lovers, 13 people want to make sure we take care of our strays and 14 find homes for them and all that. 15 JUDGE KELLY: As a Court, we got it handed 16 to us big time. And I don't know if we need to schedule 17 a workshop or put together some sort of ad hoc committee 18 to start working on what we can do, to be in better 19 favor in the eyes of the public. But this is a stinging 20 review. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't look at it like 22 that. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I don't. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I don't either. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I don't buy in to that. 22 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: If we have a workshop, 2 we need to figure out the dates going forward. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'm not worried about 4 my image; I'm worried about how we're going to house 5 everyone and appeal to the demands of the unfunded 6 mandates and stuff. That's what we need to figure out 7 to do. Because we gotta fund some of that stuff anyway. 8 Some way or other. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Do we of any other votes. 10 Have we taken all the other votes. 11 MRS. DOWDY: Need a vote on 1.2. Y'all 12 didn't vote. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We got a motion and 14 second to accept the bond election results as read into 15 the record. Any other discussion? Those in favor raise 16 your hand. Unanimous. 17 Is there anything else before the Court 18 today? There not being any, we are adjourned. 19 * * * * * * 20 21 22 23 24 25 23 1 STATE OF TEXAS * 2 COUNTY OF KERR * 3 I, DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD, Certified Shorthand 4 Reporter in and for the State of Texas, and Official 5 Court Reporter in and for Kerr County, do hereby certify 6 that the above and foregoing pages contain and comprise 7 a true and correct transcription of the proceedings had 8 in the above-entitled Special Commissioners' Court. 9 Dated this the 19th day of December, 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