1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Regular Session 5 Monday, December 12, 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 *** Public Input. 7 4 *** Commissioners' Comments. 9 5 1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 10 action on request to use courthouse grounds 6 on December 17th and 18th from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. for carriage rides. 7 1.2 Update from the Kerr County Sexual Assault 14 8 Response Team(SART). 9 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 18 action to accept a Memorandum of Understanding 10 between Kerr County and Mercy Gate Ministries to establish a grant agreement regarding the 11 Office of the Governor's County Innovations to Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation Grant 12 4498701 for "Court training and Court-Appointed Victim Advocates for Commercial Sexual 13 Exploitation." 14 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 26 action to authorize the Kerr County 15 Commissioners' Court to obligate a portion ($250,000) of the American Rescue Plan Act 16 (ARPA) funds to establish a new Veterans' Pathway to provide pedestrian access from 17 the Kerrville VA Medical Center to Flat Rock Park, and to connect the pathway to the 18 existing Kerrville River Trails system located near Loop 534 bridge. 19 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 52 20 action on a request from the Texas Pork Producers Association to use Flat Rock Park 21 from February 9, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. through February 12, 2023 at 10:00 p.m. for the 22 overflow livestock trailer parking during their Texas Elite Showcase event that is 23 ongoing at the Hill Country Youth Event Center. 24 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 53 action to accept the 2021-2022 annual report 25 of the Hill Country Youth Event Center. 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.10 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 68 action on a request to abandon, vacate and 4 discontinue an approximately 900-foot portion of Stewart Junkin Road. Said road 5 replaced with a different alignment approximately 150 feet east of its current 6 intersection with River Road, in accordance with the conditional court approval dated 7 08/22/22. 8 1.11 Consider, discuss and take action to 73 approve a list of active subdivisions that 9 will become vested in the 2007 Kerr County Subdivision Rules and Regulations. 10 1.12 Information and discussion for a potential 79 11 subdivision referred to as Hidden Draw Ranch. 12 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 81 action for the Court to approve the revision 13 of plat for Creekside at Camp Verde-Phase 2. 14 1.14 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 82 action to accept a reduction in Letter of 15 Credit No. 400640200 from $359,951.50 to $170,330.10 as a one-year maintenance 16 financial guarantee for the Paloma Ranch Subdivision. Said maintenance beginning 17 12/12/2022. 18 1.15 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 85 action for the Court to approve, and 19 authorize the County Judge to execute Change Order No. 4 to the Construction Contract for 20 the East Kerr/Center Point Wastewater Collection Project Phase III, increasing the 21 contract amount by $50,501.97 to pay for and coordinate the relocation of a communication 22 duct bank in direct conflict with Sewer Line A-Q. 23 1.16 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 87 24 action to open, read, and award the Annual Bids for Road Materials. 25 4 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.17 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 90 action to ratify and confirm the withdrawal 4 of FEMA's Request for Public Assistance for Texas Severe Winter Storms 4586-DR-TX for 5 Category C: Roads and Bridges. 6 1.18 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 95 action to approve a Memorandum of 7 Understanding with Camp Gladiator to offer an employee discount, and allow the County 8 Judge to sign same. 9 1.19 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 97 action to approve renewing the Kerr County 10 Incentive Program as part of the Texas Association of Counties Healthy County 11 Rewards Program for 2023. 12 1.20 (Passed.) Consider, discuss and take 99 appropriate action to approve contract with 13 Motorola for Communications System, and to authorize the County Judge to sign the same. 14 1.21 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 99 15 action to approve the contract with Motorola Solutions for Watch Guard Body Worn Camera 16 system and cloud storage network, and to authorize the County Judge to sign the same. 17 1.9 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 101 18 action to ratify and confirm the audits required by Article 59.06 of the Code of 19 Criminal Procedure and the FY 2021 Chapter 59 Asset Forfeiture Reports for the 198th 20 District Attorney, the 216th District Attorney, and the Kerr County Sheriff. 21 1.7 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 102 22 action to approve Thomson Reueters-Westlaw Edge Platform 36-month contract to renew 23 January 1, 2023 for Kerr County Law Library, and have County Judge sign same. 24 25 5 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.8 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 103 action to accept donations of gift cards that 4 were given to the Tax Assessor's Office for the Kerr County Christmas party. 5 1.22 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 105 6 action to approve $135.00 donation from Network for Good to the Sheriff's Equipment 7 Fund. 1.23 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 106 8 action to address possibility of prohibiting the sale or use of restricted fireworks, 9 (i.e.: "Skyrockets with sticks" and missiles with fins") in any portion of the 10 unincorporated area of Kerr County pursuant to Local Government Code 352.051 for the 11 December fireworks season. 12 1.24 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 106 action to determine liaison positions for 13 2023, and review liaison position duties. 14 1.25 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 113 action to approve surplus of three (3) 15 vehicles to Enterprise Fleet Program (2012 Ford F-150 and two (2) 2014 Dodge 16 Ram pickups. 17 1.26 Discussion related to design and 114 construction process of new Animal Control 18 facility. 19 1.27 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 117 action to acknowledge that Hill Country 20 District Jr. Livestock Show Association and the Kerr County Stock Show are the 21 same entities. 22 1.28 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 120 action to approve extension of housing 23 agreement for Interim Human Resources Director. 24 1.29 Update on Volunteer First Responder 122 25 Program. 6 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.30 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 123 action to renew contract with the Kerr 4 Economic Development Corporation. 5 2.1 Budget Amendments. 125 6 2.2 Pay Bills. 125 7 2.3 Late Bills. 125 8 2.5 Accept Monthly Reports. 126 9 2.6 Court Orders. 127 10 4.3a) Consider, discuss and take appropriate 129 action to conduct interviews for AgriLife 11 Extension Agent and hire for position as appropriate. 12 *** Adjournment. 129 13 *** Reporter's Certificate. 130 14 * * * * * * 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 7 1 JUDGE KELLY: Kerr County Commissioners' 2 Court is now in session. It is Monday, December the 3 12th, 2022 at 9 o'clock in the morning, and we'll begin 4 by the prayer and the pledge, which will be led by 5 Commissioner Harris. 6 (Prayer and Pledge.) 7 JUDGE KELLY: Please be seated. This is the 8 point where I remind everyone to turn your cell phones 9 off or turn them to silent. And I forgot mine this 10 morning so I'm without a phone. But I have my iPad for 11 the atomic time. 12 So the next thing on the agenda would be 13 public input. We have one person that signed up to 14 address the Court during public input, and Jim Sandy. 15 MR. SANDY: Good morning. My name's Jim 16 Sandy. I live at 3940 Oak Park Drive. At the November 17 28th Commissioners' meeting, Tony Wedig questioned the 18 value of the County's contract with Global Spectrum's 19 command at the Hill Country Youth Event Center. 20 Between Wedig's comments in Court and then 21 coverage in the Kerr County Lead, I was left with the 22 impression that the contract with Spectrum is a bad deal 23 for the County; however, after looking into this issue 24 myself, I found that a contract is significantly better 25 for the County than we did portray. And I thought it 8 1 was therefore important that I present my findings to 2 the public. 3 In this presentation to the Court, Wedig 4 stated that Spectrum has a sweet deal. He claimed that 5 while the County pays for operating expenses, Spectrum 6 gets a big management fee, along with the revenue from 7 the Event Center. I disagree with his characterization. 8 In fiscal year '21, Spectrum's total fee was 9 about $80,000. This fee does not seem excessive. And 10 it is the only money that Spectrum keeps after operating 11 expenses are paid. Here, operating expenses include the 12 salaries and benefits of the Spectrum employees who 13 manage the Event Center, as well as other expenses. 14 Contrary to Wedig's characterization, 15 Spectrum does not keep the revenue from the Event 16 Center; instead, the revenue is applied towards the 17 operating expenses. It should also be noted that since 18 2015, Spectrum has contributed $160,000 to the County to 19 be used for capital improvements at the Event Center. 20 In addition to his verbal presentation, 21 Wedig also presented a handout to the Court. The 22 handout contained an analysis which concluded that the 23 County lost $625,000 at the Event Center in fiscal year 24 '21; however, his analysis contained several errors, 25 including the incorrect assumption that Spectrum kept 9 1 the revenue. The correct analysis shows a loss of about 2 $430,000, significantly less than Wedig's estimate of 3 $625,000. 4 While it's true that the Event Center loses 5 money in the sense that expenses are greater than 6 revenues, this does not account for the additional sales 7 tax collected by the County from attendees spending in 8 the area. Also, some of the loss is due to official 9 County events held at the Event Center free of charge, 10 such as early voting. 11 Concerning the County's contract with 12 Spectrum, I don't know if it was the best possible deal 13 for the County, but I do know that it is better than 14 what was presented on November 28th. Thank you. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Thank you. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. That was the public 17 input portion of the agenda. We'll go on to 18 Commissioners' Comments. Precinct 1. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I finally burned the 20 brush pile this weekend. I'm very conservative when it 21 comes to that sort of stuff. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 2. 23 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I have nothing. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Three. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm good. 10 1 JUDGE KELLY: Four. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: A little burning, but 3 that's about it. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Very good. Let's move on to 5 the Consideration Agenda. 6 Item 1.1 is consider, discuss and take 7 appropriate action on a request to use the courthouse 8 grounds on December 17th and 18th, this next weekend, 9 from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. for carriage rides. 10 Mr. Goetsch. How do you say your name? Did I say it 11 right? 12 MR. GOETSCH: Yes, sir, you did. My name's 13 Mat Goetsch. I live at 155 Catalina Court, Precinct 1. 14 I'd like to use the courthouse grounds as the base to 15 load and unload carriage rides to folks that are wanting 16 to do the carriage rides. It would be from about 8:00-- 17 I mean 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. on December the 17th and 18th. 18 Is there any concerns or questions? 19 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I don't know. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's a staging area, is 21 what you're talking about? 22 MR. GOETSCH: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. It 23 definitely is. Yeah, it's a staging area. Here from 24 the Courthouse what we -- I was made aware that this is 25 something I need to have is a permit. I wasn't aware of 11 1 that before. I have actually did it before. But now 2 that I know that it's -- 3 JUDGE KELLY: The County doesn't permit; the 4 City permits. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. 6 MR. GOETSCH: Okay. 7 JUDGE KELLY: So -- and I'm just curious, 8 all this is legal? You've run this by the City. 9 They're good with this? 10 MR. GOETSCH: There's no City -- yeah, 11 there's no City -- I can go -- I can -- yeah, the City 12 has no codes or enforcement on carriage rides except 13 that I have a slow-moving emblem. Now, that's the only 14 thing that -- now in City Park there's more -- it's very 15 detailed down there. But inside the City limits, no. 16 The only thing I'm asking you guys is that I can use the 17 County premises for the staging area. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Where -- where do you 19 plan to take -- where do they go? 20 MR. GOETSCH: Okay. So I start at the tree 21 here, and then I go out and I go around -- down Earl 22 Garrett to Water and then I come back up on 16. And 23 then Jefferson. And then I come in the back of the 24 courthouse. It's about an eight, nine minute ride. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now, we have an event 12 1 on the 18th. It's the lighting of the Menorah. So 2 there will be people here on that Sunday evening for 3 that. So that adds traffic to the parking lot. 4 MR. GOETSCH: Sure. I've been here for it. 5 And again, I'm just now making aware that I may need a 6 permit from the County to use the County services. I 7 don't want to say that over and over, but so I've been 8 there -- 9 JUDGE KELLY: I don't want you saying it 10 over and over because we're not going to give a permit. 11 We don't permit. The County does not permit. 12 MR. GOETSCH: Okay. 13 JUDGE KELLY: We don't have authority to 14 permit. I'm looking at my County Attorney. 15 MRS. STEBBINS: He's probably been provided 16 a copy of our Courthouse grounds use policy and so he's 17 asking permission to be able to use it. And the only 18 question I have is, do you have insurance? 19 MR. GOETSCH: I do. I have a two million 20 dollar policy. 21 MRS. STEBBINS: There you go. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. Permission. No 23 permit. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Permission. 25 MR. GOETSCH: Okay. 13 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's one of these. 2 (Moving hands up and down.) 3 (Laughter.) 4 JUDGE KELLY: Well, you know, you can't take 5 the lawyer out of me. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have no problem. I'll 7 make a motion to approve. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 9 JUDGE KELLY: We got a motion and a second 10 to approve using the courthouse as a staging grounds for 11 carriage rides on December 17th and 18th from 5:30 to 12 9:00. Any discussion? 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Just that we -- that 14 you -- wherever you set up, you make provision for 15 what's going to be going on with the -- the lighting. 16 MR. GOETSCH: We can do it. We were -- we 17 made it work last time. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. Good. One way 19 or the other. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Anything else? Those 21 in favor say aye. 22 (All say aye.) 23 JUDGE KELLY: Opposed? There being none, 24 it's unanimous. Thank you. 25 MR. GOETSCH: Thank you, sir. 14 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Sounds fun. 2 JUDGE KELLY: 1.2 update from the Kerr 3 County Sexual Assault Response Team. Miss Olden. Got 4 Mr. Ives and Kim Olden here. 5 And I'll set the stage here for you. I'm 6 not -- I know y'all are going to present this. For 7 those of you that don't know, the legislature two years 8 ago decided that every County must have a Sexual Assault 9 Response Team and a protocol. But they didn't bring it 10 to my attention. And we were supposed to have done it 11 last year and we didn't. 12 We learned about it this year when Brent 13 gave me a call and advised me that this is something 14 that needs to be addressed. And so we have fortunately 15 two representatives here. We have been working on the 16 protocol, Sexual Assault Response Team protocol -- 17 response protocol, I guess I should say. And that's 18 what they're here to present. 19 And we have a deadline -- we have to have 20 this done by the end of this year. And we made it. By 21 the skin of our teeth we made it. 22 MS. OLDEN: Good morning. I'm Kim Olden. I 23 represent Hill Country Crisis Council. I'm the Director 24 of Programs. And this is Brent Ives, he's the Executive 25 Director. And I think we made it a little bit closer 15 1 than the skin of our teeth. We still have a few days. 2 So the MOU went out -- the MOU for the 3 Sexual Assault Response Team went out last week with 4 DocuSign Technology. We have two signatures left to 5 get, and then that will be sewn up. 6 Our first meeting is scheduled for the 7 second Wednesday in January, which is the 11th, I 8 believe. The mandate requires we have quarterly 9 meetings and on every odd numbered year before December 10 30th we present a report to the Commissioners' Court. 11 We're prepared to do that. So we will meet every third 12 month, beginning January, the second Wednesday of the 13 month. 14 Our members are Lucy Wilke from the 216th, 15 Stephen Harpold from the 198th, Carl Arredondo from Kerr 16 County Sheriff's Office, Jonathan Cline from Kerrville 17 Police Department, Aubri Reed and Chae Spencer from 18 Mercy Gate Ministries, Lisa King and Wendy Stone from 19 Peterson Health. Myself from Hill Country Crisis 20 Council, and Brent Ives. 21 JUDGE KELLY: And the action that we need to 22 take today is to have this Court approve the protocol 23 that's been established by the team. 24 MS. OLDEN: And when you -- and the protocol 25 to be approved at our first meeting and a presiding 16 1 officer will be elected. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Now, do you need any 3 action from this Court? 4 MRS. STEBBINS: Not for today. 5 MS. OLDEN: No. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Are there any questions or 7 discussions about the -- we're meeting a mandate from 8 the State to have this team. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Does the MOU have to be 10 done by the end of the year? That's the part that has 11 to be finished? 12 MRS. STEBBINS: Those -- that is an MOU with 13 the members of the SART team. So what y'all did -- 14 JUDGE KELLY: Is take over. 15 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. So what y'all did 16 in October, I believe, was approve a Resolution creating 17 this team. And then what they'll do is come to y'all 18 and provide a report every other year. And if a member 19 of the team leaves the team and a new appointment needs 20 to be made, they'll come to y'all and provide a 21 recommendation for that appointment and you'll make it. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So this is going to 23 operate kind of like our VFD and other things. Where 24 you have a nominee and make an appointment and you 25 approve it as people come and go. 17 1 JUDGE KELLY: There's essentially -- 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: There are a couple of 3 other boards we do that with. 4 JUDGE KELLY: They're essentially -- 5 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. 6 JUDGE KELLY: And they're already providing 7 the services. This is just a memorialization of the 8 services that they actually provide. But they will 9 report back to the County because the legislature says 10 the County had to form it. So we did. And so they'll 11 come give us -- I think they're required by law to 12 report every two years. 13 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Hopefully they'll come back 15 before then and just kind of let us know if any -- how 16 it's going. You know, if it's going good, we would just 17 like about 30 seconds of it's going good, thumbs up. If 18 it's not going good, you need to come let us know so we 19 can address whatever problems. 20 MS. OLDEN: And if I may, these entities 21 already work together responding to adult sexual assault 22 in Kerr County. We already work together. This is just 23 a formal mandate thing. We must work together. So the 24 good news is we're already doing it, but now we have 25 pieces of paper to kind of back us up. 18 1 JUDGE KELLY: And one of the members and 2 another item here on the agenda here in just a minute is 3 going to be Mercy Gate. We have a non-profit that sits 4 on that Board. And that's what we're going to have the 5 next -- is it the next one? Yes. So don't leave. 6 Let me go ahead and call item 1.3 consider, 7 discuss and take appropriate action to accept a 8 Memorandum of Understanding between Kerr County and 9 Mercy Gate Ministries to establish a grant agreement 10 regarding the Office of the Governor's County 11 Innovations to Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation 12 Grant 4498701 for "Court training and Court-Appointed 13 Victim Advocates for Commercial Sexual Exploitation." 14 MS. PUTNAM: That was very long. I 15 apologize. So what we have here is we have received the 16 grant from the Office of the Governor, and are in 17 partnership with Mercy Gate Ministries, and this is the 18 Memorandum of Understanding for us to work together with 19 the grant administration and management, and all the 20 procedures that are required by the Office of the 21 Governor. 22 And I do have Florence Hartsfield and 23 Michelle Faust from Mercy Gates here as well in case you 24 have any questions. 25 JUDGE KELLY: This MOU is required for them 19 1 to be able to participate in the Memorandum of 2 Understanding with our Sexual Assault Response Team. 3 That's the purpose of it. 4 MS. PUTNAM: No. 5 JUDGE KELLY: This isn't the one? Which one 6 is this one? 7 MS. PUTNAM: These are two separate things. 8 This is for the grant itself -- 9 JUDGE KELLY: Oh, the grant. 10 MS. PUTNAM: -- that we received from the 11 Office of the Governor on their behalf. And so because 12 County funds -- we received the grant from -- 13 JUDGE KELLY: This is for you to be able to 14 help them administer that grant? 15 MS. PUTNAM: Yes. 16 JUDGE KELLY: And have County oversight? 17 MS. PUTNAM: For the funding, yes. 18 JUDGE KELLY: For the funding. Any motions? 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So what is the MOU in 20 here, Noel? 21 MS. PUTNAM: I'm sorry? 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: There's an MOU 23 mentioned in here. What is the purpose of that? 24 MS. PUTNAM: The purpose is we receive money 25 from the Office of the Governor for this grant, which we 20 1 will then, in turn, hand over to Mercy Gate to 2 administer the grant. And because we will be giving 3 that money from the Office of the Governor, it's to -- 4 it is to make sure that our liability is protected in 5 case there's a misuse of funds or anything of that 6 nature to guarantee that Mercy Gate does what they need 7 to do, the County does what we need to do in order to 8 follow all the rules and procedures and regulations of 9 the Office of the Governor so that we can work together. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So the County is the 11 administrator for all parties in this, in these funds? 12 MS. PUTNAM: No. Mercy Gate will be 13 administrating the grant. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Sounds like that we're 15 somewhere in the middle of that. 16 MS. PUTNAM: Uh-huh. Exactly. 17 JUDGE KELLY: We're delegating it to them. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Which means we have to 19 be accountable for it. 20 MS. PUTNAM: Yes. Which is why we have the 21 MOU. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And what does that 23 actually mean? In other words, are they going to show 24 you receipts or are you going to -- how -- how do we 25 administer that, other than just being passthrough? 21 1 MS. PUTNAM: There is a grant portal. So 2 within the portal, we have Tanya, the Judge, and myself 3 can see what's going on. And there's annual reporting. 4 I think you will -- I think they decided they want to do 5 it monthly, but you can do it quarterly. So they will 6 place their report that will need to be certified by the 7 Judge if anything changes as far as the budget or line 8 item goes. 9 But they will come in and they will work 10 directly with me as well to keep all of our paperwork in 11 order. And we can -- we can -- I don't know how else 12 to -- 13 MRS. STEBBINS: I can help. I -- 14 JUDGE KELLY: Let's get in the helicopter 15 and go up about 10,000 feet. The County has to -- when 16 we apply for grants in the State of Texas, we 17 administrate those grants. We have accountability. We 18 have to provide accountings. We have to approve how the 19 grants are used and go through a whole complicated 20 process, which is why we finally hired a grant 21 administrator and supervisor. And they work tirelessly 22 doing this stuff. 23 When we get grants, they usually go to 24 specific -- they come to the County, and we use them for 25 Road & Bridge, we use them for Sheriff's Office, we use 22 1 them for crime victims, we use them for all kinds of 2 things where the County actually administers the grant 3 and their departments. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But that's within our 5 departments. 6 JUDGE KELLY: That's right. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now we're watching them 8 for somebody else. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Well, what we did this last 10 year is we agreed to help Mercy Gate apply for a grant 11 from the Governor's Office, which they got. But the 12 Governor's Office only gives the grants to the County. 13 So we get the money. And then what we have to do now is 14 deliver that money to Mercy Gate for them to perform the 15 services that they agreed they were going to provide and 16 we oversee that. 17 And there's an accountability system, which 18 as you know I'm not economically proficient so I have 19 two very capable women helping me do this. We report 20 back to the Governor's Office that we have overseen how 21 the funds were used and they were used appropriately. 22 That's really all it is. And because they're a 23 non-profit, this is the first time we've done this with 24 an outside group. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But this is a 23 1 contractual thing, okay? 2 JUDGE KELLY: That's right. And so we have 3 a Memorandum of Understanding which indemnifies us if we 4 make any mistakes. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It sounds like there's 6 more than that to me. 7 MRS. STEBBINS: It requires them to be 8 responsible for the physical management and that they 9 will do what they have promised to do. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Which could make them 11 accountable to us? 12 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. 13 JUDGE KELLY: That's correct. 14 MRS. STEBBINS: They are accountable to us. 15 MS. PUTNAM: And -- and in addition, this is 16 a reimbursement grant. So they actually provide the 17 services -- 18 JUDGE KELLY: The services first. 19 MS. PUTNAM: -- prior to getting the money. 20 So when they do the reporting, the services have already 21 been performed. And so it's a reimbursement and not, 22 oh we will do this, we have done this and now we get the 23 funding. We've met those -- we've met those criteria 24 for the funding. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is the goal -- or is 24 1 this -- I may be getting ahead of us -- for them to be 2 able to go directly to the State and make application in 3 the future? Is there a probationary period? 4 MS. PUTNAM: If -- if that's possible. This 5 particular grant is not available to non-profits. So 6 that is why the County had decided to help assist. 7 Because only -- only a local government could apply for 8 the grant. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So, in essence, for 10 people like me to be able to understand this, this is 11 kind of like what we do with our veterans office. It's 12 not something we have to do, it's something that we want 13 to do, and therefore we fund it. 14 MS. PUTNAM: Yes, sir. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And there's an 16 account -- now in the case of the veterans office, we 17 have employees of the County. This is -- this is 18 outsourced. 19 MS. PUTNAM: Uh-huh. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So that's why I asked 21 the questions about the accountability from them and 22 what we have to do to report back to the State to make 23 sure we are in compliance. 24 MS. PUTNAM: Uh-huh. 25 MRS. STEBBINS: Part of the agreement is 25 1 that they are agreeing to follow all of the conditions 2 placed on the grant by the Office of the Governor. So 3 that includes the financial management and all of the 4 other -- all of the other -- 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Processes. 6 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. So they're -- they're 7 agreeing to that and to indemnity the County, and I 8 think that this protects both parties. The agreement 9 that we finally reached does protect both parties. 10 JUDGE KELLY: And so the viewing audience 11 knows, Kerr County taxpayers are not paying a dime on 12 this. This is partnership with the non-profit that 13 we're proud to associate with and we're here to help 14 facilitate the services that they provide. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's a good thing. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 17 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and second to 19 approve the MOU with Mercy Gate Ministries. Any 20 discussion? Those in favor say aye. 21 (All ayes.) 22 JUDGE KELLY: Opposed? Unanimous. Thank 23 you. 24 And thank all of y'all. And to brag on Kim 25 and Brent. Brent is the one that woke me up to the fact 26 1 that we hadn't done what we should have done, and Kim is 2 a constant slave-driver. She cracks the whip and I 3 mean -- and everybody in that room -- I'm teasing her, 4 of course, but she has been the scrivener to put all 5 this together and we're very thankful. 6 MS. OLDEN: Thank you. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: No doubt. 8 MS. OLDEN: Thank you. 9 MR. IVES: And to the support of the 10 Commissioners Court and yourself. And for those of you 11 that probably already know, but in this space of victims 12 services there's a very strong collaboration in this 13 community between law enforcement and prosecutors and 14 services like Mercy Gate and services like ours. And so 15 this is just one other form of how we are providing a 16 very vital and critical service to the community and 17 those that need it. So thank you. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We'll move on to Item 19 1.4, which is consider, discuss and take appropriate 20 action to authorize the Kerr County Commissioners' Court 21 to obligate a portion ($250,000) of the American Rescue 22 Plan Act funds to establish a new Veterans' Pathway to 23 provide pedestrian access from the Kerrville VA Medical 24 Center to Flat Rock Park, and to connect the pathway to 25 the existing Kerrville River Trails system located near 27 1 Loop 534. Miss Putnam and former Commissioner Moser. 2 MS. PUTNAM: Yes. I'm just going to go 3 ahead and introduce former Commissioner Moser here. 4 What we are doing now is in the process of trying to 5 create a new plan which we're calling the Veterans 6 Pathway at this point in time. We would like to 7 obligate a portion of the ARPA funding for this project. 8 It would be about $250,000, which is what we have 9 earmarked at this point in time. And Mr. Moser would be 10 happy to answer any questions. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. Tom Moser, 12 218 Yorktown Boulevard, Precinct 3. Just to review the 13 bidding. Three years ago we had a meeting with the 14 County, the City, TxDOT, and -- and I think it was one 15 other there. Anyway. TxDOT and -- and so we were 16 looking at providing a pathway from the Veterans 17 Hospital down to Flat Rock Park, and then connecting to 18 river walk, okay. So that was three years ago. 19 A year ago we had a -- submitted an intent 20 for ARPA funds for this, and I think that it is, Noel 21 said, $250,000 was designated for this project. To 22 bring it up to date, what we have is three things. 23 We've got a desire by all parties to participate in 24 this -- this activity. The ones that I identified 25 awhile ago. Okay. 28 1 We have a schedule, okay, to do it. And we 2 have -- with that hopefully we'll get a commitment by 3 all parties to do this. So the -- where we -- where we 4 stand today, and I've passed out a concept. Let me just 5 review that for you real quickly. You can see the 6 pathway that goes from Veterans Hospital down to Highway 7 27. 8 And Veterans Hospital, they have the pathway 9 there, the sidewalk there, but there's some improvements 10 needed for ramps and things like that. Okay. Once it 11 crosses -- gets to Highway 27, the pedestrian crosswalk 12 is there. TxDOT thinks there may need to be some update 13 on that crosswalk to enable the veterans in motorized 14 wheelchairs to cross at that point. 15 Then from there it's down to a very, very 16 rough Tucker Lane, okay, which is a City street, 17 quote/unquote street, okay. It's full of rocks and 18 things like that, even though the veterans traverse it 19 today, so that would be a sidewalk that would be 20 required from there down to Riverside, and then the 21 County would pick up the effort from that point down to 22 Flat Rock Park. 23 Then to connect -- so that gives the 24 veterans access to Flat Rock Park, which a lot of them 25 are using even today. And they've been using it for a 29 1 long time. It's a very tough path for them to proceed. 2 Then the next phase would be -- or the next 3 step would be a sidewalk, okay, along Riverside Drive 4 going to -- from east to west, connecting to the low 5 water bridge there at Legion Crossing, okay. That 6 bridge is in existence. I've walked it. I think Beck 7 has walked it. 8 Oh, by the way, Beck asked me to give him a 9 hand on this whole thing. So I'm here at his -- pardon 10 the pun -- but the Beck and call, I guess, to helping 11 this and which I'm happy to do. 12 Then the bridge is in good condition as far 13 as a pathway for veterans and other people. So then the 14 next step is then connecting from the south end of the 15 bridge up to river walk. Now, the thing that's shown in 16 the map that you have is a switch back, and the question 17 today is on that portion of the pathway, it can go in a 18 more straight forward route if it goes a little bit west 19 and connects to the river trail and doesn't have to have 20 the switch back. 21 The engineering design exists for that but, 22 okay, that's in the TxDOT right of way. TxDOT said to 23 enter that right of way and to build anything in it, 24 it's got to have an environmental impact assessment. 25 And their warning was that could take up to two years. 30 1 The hope for this project, if it's approved 2 by all the entities, okay, the City, the County, 3 veterans and TxDOT, is to have this thing completed a 4 year -- next Veterans Day, which is November the 11th, 5 2023. The schedule that you have there is a way to 6 accomplish that. 7 Where we stand today is the City is looking 8 at the cost of -- of just a very rough cost to see where 9 we are, we're looking at $250,000. Seeing what that 10 connection between the low water bridge and the 11 Riverside -- I mean the walkway is, that's a question. 12 But I met with the Assistant City Manager, 13 Mike Hornes the other day, I think they're going to try 14 and estimate what that cost is. If not, they will 15 establish what the estimated cost is for the connection 16 other then a switch back, which again gets into TxDOT 17 right of way which we hope we don't have to do that. 18 Charlie Hastings and Kelly have said that 19 they can give a rough estimate on all the other work 20 that needs to be done, with the exception of TxDOT and 21 Veterans -- Veterans Hospital. 22 So we have a meeting next week where we're 23 going to see where this thing fits. Hopefully we'll be 24 able to get some feel for where we stand on the total 25 cost. It'll just be a rough estimate. 31 1 And then as you can see from your schedule, 2 then the next thing to do if everybody's still agrees to 3 move forward on this then to get a finite plan, a finite 4 cost and come back to Commissioners' Court, City 5 Council, etc., etc., and decide how to proceed. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Can I ask a real quick 7 question, Tom? 8 MR. MOSER: Sure. Sure. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Your meeting next week 10 is with the City? 11 MR. MOSER: No. It's with the whole group. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Oh, the whole group? 13 MR. MOSER: Yeah, it's -- it's with all the 14 entities involved. And Rich Paces has been there. And 15 Beck was there at our last meeting. So we've got -- 16 we've got everybody there, okay, from all -- all the 17 entities. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I -- I'm for it, but I 19 do have concerns. And my biggest concern is Tucker 20 Street as far as safety. 21 MR. MOSER: Uh-huh. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And if we build 23 something, can we keep the integrity of it with a lot of 24 traffic going over it, large trucks and stuff like that? 25 MR. MOSER: Right. Right. And that's a 32 1 very good point. We've looked at the sidewalk between 2 Highway 27 and Riverside Drive on both sides of Tucker, 3 which is the best. Okay. Looked at it from the safety 4 standpoint, so the City is very concerned about that 5 also. 6 Also, the City brought up a very good point 7 about when the -- assuming that the pathway sidewalk 8 along Tucker Street is there, then a crossing on 9 Riverside Drive, okay, it's in the middle of -- it's not 10 an intersection per se there, so they were concerned 11 about safety there of anybody crossing there. So -- but 12 those safety concerns are paramount, okay. Agree with 13 you a hundred percent. 14 The thing about -- there's one added beauty 15 to this. If this can be implemented, what it does is 16 open it up to the river walk, okay, all the way to Flat 17 Rock Park, okay. And to the Veterans Hospital, 18 obviously. But Flat Rock Park from the entrance down to 19 the Dog Park is about a half a mile, so that gives a lot 20 of access to a lot of people to take the six mile that 21 exists on the river walk and extend it for another half 22 mile to the beautiful Flat Rock Park. So that's where 23 we are today. 24 This is to brief you. And then as far as 25 the proposed action, I'll let Noel go over that. 33 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Tom, I have a couple 2 questions. Tucker Street is very similar to the place 3 where Mosty Nursery had. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Exactly. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Has anyone talked to the 6 Maldonado family about getting an easement on the west 7 side of their property so you don't have to go down 8 Tucker Street? You miss a very dangerous intersection 9 and you miss the middle of their business? 10 MR. MOSER: The answer is no. I talked to 11 Ed Maldonado several years ago about this whole thing. 12 He was willing to participate in any way. But Jonathan, 13 no, that -- that was not proposed but that would be -- 14 that could be a good idea. Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: The plan so far is to 16 go down the west side of it. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, he's talking about 18 the street. I mean their equipment crosses that road a 19 hundred times a day. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Which means, if you put 21 something there that belongs to somebody else and now 22 they're driving over it, it's different than crossing a 23 City street. Now you're talking about federal funds and 24 TxDOT and all these other entities having a say-so in 25 who drives what over it. And if it's designated for one 34 1 kind of vehicle and you're driving back and forth over 2 it all time, it seems to me that it could be 3 problematic. Don't know that it would be, but it sure 4 sounds like the kind of thing the government gets 5 involved in. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It just seems to me that 7 if you could -- that if you go to where there's this 8 little drainage area and you see the little dots that 9 are all -- and piles of material that's on the west side 10 of that and Maldonado owns both sides of that little 11 drainage area. And if it's put right next to the 12 drainage area and it would be cheaper to build and cross 13 Riverside at a much better place. 14 The other question is -- 15 MR. MOSER: But, Jonathan, for 16 clarification, you're suggesting that to consider on the 17 west side of the Maldonado storage yard over there, 18 correct? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 20 MR. MOSER: Okay. Okay. That -- there's a 21 lot of good things with that. There's probably some bad 22 things, too. I don't know. We just -- to answer your 23 question, we have not looked at that. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the other thing is, 25 have we looked at the right of way along Riverside Drive 35 1 as to how wide that is and who owns it? 2 MR. MOSER: Well, it's the City. It's a 3 City street, okay, and -- that -- that portion. And it 4 would just -- pardon me, would just be a sidewalk. It 5 would not be the 10-foot wide river walk along there. 6 And I think that there's also been a request 7 by Veterans Hospital for the City to put a sidewalk 8 there anyway for veterans to be able to get down to 9 Stripes and some other places. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. I was wondering, 11 some of that property has recently changed hands and 12 people are putting -- spending a lot of money on it. 13 And I'm wondering what the -- is it a prescriptive right 14 of way? Is there a 60-foot right -- I mean, it's a 15 pretty narrow road. I'm just wondering -- 16 MR. MOSER: Yeah. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- is there enough right 18 of way currently to put in a safe sidewalk without using 19 -- 20 MR. MOSER: Well, that's -- that's what 21 we're looking at right now. 22 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: A lot of this depends 23 on some engineering studies, which is part of the reason 24 Noel said we need to get approval to spend the funds for 25 engineering to get this started, to answer some of the 36 1 questions. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. It was -- it was 3 suggested that let's go get an engineer to do all this 4 kind of stuff. We said, well, first of all before we do 5 that, let's just try and scope this whole project cost 6 wise to see what it would be. 7 Then, Jonathan, the things -- you bring up 8 some very good points here, that then have to be done to 9 make sure that we've got the right clearance and the 10 right safety conditions and all for the best way to do 11 it. 12 JUDGE KELLY: And to put it in perspective, 13 we included this in our budget, I believe, and what 14 they're doing now is they're meeting with the right 15 parties. We have everybody that's had an interest, a 16 stakeholder in this, at the table. You got TxDOT, you 17 got the City. Everybody's there. 18 We need the seed money to do some of the 19 engineering and fine tune this stuff and bring it back 20 for final approval. This is just a go-ahead. What -- 21 what Noel is asking us to do is go ahead and obligate 22 the ARPA funds, which we haven't done, to be able to use 23 the seed money to get the engineering studies and 24 complete this stuff. 25 Now, in answer to some of your concerns, I 37 1 would think that we could sit down with the City and 2 talk about whether or not the City would be willing to 3 go ahead and abandon Tucker. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's a good idea. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Or Maldonado's use. And in 6 exchange for Maldonado to give us an easement on the 7 west side of his property that's going to be a lot safer 8 getting across there. 9 MR. MOSER: Good point. Good point. 10 JUDGE KELLY: But we're still in the 11 planning stages or in the exploratory stages in order to 12 be able to bring these fine-tuned solutions back to this 13 Court. But from my -- the thing I love about it is, I 14 never understood why Kerrville didn't do the river trail 15 before now. That is a wonderful addition to this 16 community. 17 And what this does is allows that river 18 trail de facto to now extend across Legion and come back 19 up to Flat Rock Park, which is also something that I 20 think would be very, very beneficial to the public to be 21 able to access that. 22 MR. MOSER: Right. 23 JUDGE KELLY: And veterans especially. The 24 whole public. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: There's been a lot of 38 1 entities that would benefit from this. There's one 2 other thing that I would bring up is, is I think the 3 City -- in my discussions with the City, they do not 4 have in their budget this year anything for this. Okay. 5 So I've talked with Tanya and Heather about what 6 restrictions, and with Noel, if the -- if the $250,000 7 is there, if that were to be sufficient for the whole 8 thing, could those funds be used to help provide the 9 services and the construction needed by all the other 10 entities? So -- 11 MS. PUTNAM: And that's one of the reasons 12 why we're coming forward today to ask for you to 13 obligate the funds, is because there is a set of 14 procedures and rules that we have to follow federally 15 for the ARPA funds. And so without putting the cart 16 before the horse, if we get those obligated we can go 17 forth and do the procedural requirements correctly in 18 order to make agreements, or Interlocal agreements, 19 easements of land. 20 There's very -- none that I know of, but 21 very limited, if any, restrictions on the use of the 22 funding for anything that could be required in the 23 project. We are pretty free to spend it however we need 24 to in order to get it accomplished. We just need it to 25 be obligated in order to go forth procedurally correctly 39 1 for the federal funding. 2 For instance, like RFQ's, if we needed to 3 get an engineer or anything of that nature. 4 JUDGE KELLY: And curiously -- actually the 5 County is out in front of this. The City doesn't have 6 it in their budget, it's not on TxDOT'S radar. So we -- 7 we brought them in. So we're leading this charge. And 8 that's why we're asking for authorization to obligate 9 these funds to get the study so that we can move this 10 thing forward. Because otherwise we're stuck in gear 11 before the City can go back and put anything in their 12 budget. 13 MR. MOSER: Right. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What is this amount 15 based on? 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It was just an estimate 17 that Charlie Hastings and I did a couple years ago. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'd like to hear a real 19 number for one thing. And if there are other entities 20 that are going to be part of this, if the $250,000 is 21 expected to be, and we don't know, if that's expected to 22 be the whole enchilada, paper everything, then the 23 others have a part to play in -- how is that going to be 24 worked out? 25 MR. MOSER: Look at your schedule there. 40 1 Because I've got -- 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I saw that. But I'm 3 talking about -- 4 MR. MOSER: Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- in real terms, dollar 6 amounts obligated to this. If we obligate all the money 7 to it and don't spend all the money, are the other guys 8 going to pay in and we don't have to use all the money, 9 or how does that part of it work? It's ARPA funds, so 10 you have to educate me, Noel. 11 MS. PUTNAM: Well, in addition to that, it 12 is allowable for that funding to also do enhancements or 13 improvements. So if there is additional funding that is 14 left over, say for instance, there is discussion and 15 could be done where we could put a fishing dock. A fish 16 feed or charging station. Anything of that nature to 17 enhance the park can also be used to make -- 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So you're saying it has 19 to be spent once it's obligated? 20 MS. PUTNAM: No. It does not have to be 21 spent. We can do whatever we want. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, then why can't we 23 obligate $100,000 and wait for the other guys to kick in 24 their money? A hundred thousand will carry us a long 25 ways on this. 41 1 MS. PUTNAM: I believe that would be up to 2 the Court to make that decision. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's my suggestion. 4 We don't go all in on this. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I agree with you a 6 hundred percent. And the way the agenda item reads it 7 says obligate a portion of it. So that's pretty 8 open-ended. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And -- 11 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: The portion is 12 referring to the entire ARPA fund. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The chunk of money. 14 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: This is -- we're 15 obligating $250,000 today because that's kind of where 16 we think it's going to go. Frankly, I'm -- I'm 17 concerned that it's not enough. But -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm -- I agree with 19 that. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I agree to that 21 too. And -- 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But we don't need to be 23 paying all of it until we know what it is. My question 24 is this. We obligate the money, must it be used or can 25 we just pay in our portion of it -- 42 1 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- and it's just 3 sitting in the bank and -- 4 JUDGE KELLY: The answer is yes. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 6 JUDGE KELLY: The procedural hurdle that 7 we're trying to overcome today is there's a complicated 8 process in dealing with the Federal Government to have 9 those funds paid. Okay. And so they need -- they need 10 to know that the Commissioners' Court has authorized the 11 obligation of a portion of those funds. 12 And we're not here to tell you exactly what 13 it's going to cost. They're not trying to tell us that. 14 The reason we're taking the lead is because we have the 15 veterans services office and council, and they've been 16 pushing for this for years and we thought it was a very 17 worthwhile project. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It is a worthwhile 19 project. But if it's going to cost $400,000, our 20 portion should not be 250,000. 21 JUDGE KELLY: That's just what's in our 22 budget. It's a placeholder budget that we do. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Which is why I'm 24 suggesting that you put -- it wouldn't matter how much 25 then. 43 1 MR. MOSER: Harley, to address your -- the 2 proposal is or the schedule -- the plan is come back in 3 March, okay, with the details of exactly what it's going 4 to cost for each portion and what each one of the 5 entities can do or should do and how we proceed then to 6 implement the program. So -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Could we authorize just 8 the amount for the engineering study at this point until 9 we find out what the total amount is? 10 MR. MOSER: Yeah, we could do that. Sure. 11 Sure. And then do the rest of it back in the March time 12 frame. And that -- that would be okay. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That makes more sense to 14 me. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I would prefer that. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's fine. That's 17 fine. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- I agree. In 19 fact, it's probably going to cost more than that. I 20 mean the whole project is committed and in the interim 21 we could -- the first step is the engineering study. 22 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Well, I don't know 23 that we know what the engineering will cost either. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Over a hundred thousand 25 dollars. 44 1 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I don't think so. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The Judge's idea about 3 having Tucker Street closed is a really good idea. 4 Abandon that. And that's something that should be 5 worked on I think before we get to any pricing or 6 anything. That's going to change the price. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Sure. I think the City is -- 8 MS. PUTNAM: I know that Charlie is -- is or 9 was working on preliminary schematic study engineering, 10 wasn't he? 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Uh-huh. 12 MS. PUTNAM: Have we gotten that yet? 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. We're due that 14 next Wednesday. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can we hold this until 16 when Charlie gets here at 10:00, bring this item back up 17 and get an estimate of what an engineering study is 18 going to be and at that point allocate those funds? 19 MR. MOSER: I don't know that Charlie's 20 looked at that, Jonathan. Because it's -- it's -- the 21 engineering study would -- you know, we haven't asked -- 22 gone back to the City and said if we do the switch back 23 concept of connecting the bridge to the river walk what 24 that engineering estimate would be. 25 I think if you look at this as this is the 45 1 status, okay. Okay. We haven't gotten an estimate 2 or -- or even a quote from the engineering on what it 3 would take to do each one of these -- or all this stuff. 4 So this is to bring it to the Court and say 5 it's a worthwhile project. The ARPA funds are there. 6 Let's proceed with the concept, okay. And with the -- 7 and maybe the term of obligation of the $250,000 is 8 putting the cart before the horse on that. 9 And if we could come back to the Court to do 10 that for next Wednesday and we can get an idea of what 11 this runoff cost is going to be, and Charlie could 12 probably have an opportunity to find out something about 13 an engineering cost to do this. I don't think he's got 14 it right now, Jonathan. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I guess the way 16 to go -- 17 MS. PUTNAM: I would -- I would like to 18 speak with GrantWorks prior to that as well. Because I 19 do want to verify that it is okay to maybe perhaps do an 20 engineering study prior to obligation, because it is 21 required to -- the procedures that are required so if we 22 do have an engineering study I don't know if we can do 23 that before we obligate the funds, or if it has to be 24 done after. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, we have to do a 46 1 contract or -- it's gotta come back to the Court before 2 we can do an engineering contract. 3 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Right. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we can obligate it at 5 that time when we know what the amount is going to be. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now, do we want to foot 7 the bill for that, or is that going to be split three 8 ways? 9 JUDGE KELLY: I don't think the other 10 parties are planning to -- 11 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Those parties are 12 not -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that we -- 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: If they're not, it 15 falls on us. Okay. 16 JUDGE KELLY: This is our baby. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Let me ask a question 18 about the switch back. You said that that's in the 19 TxDOT easement, Tom. 20 MR. MOSER: No, the -- the connection -- 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The right of way. The 22 right-of-way. 23 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: It's there to avoid 24 it. 25 MR. MOSER: Yeah. No. We're trying -- the 47 1 switch back is to avoid the right-of-way. Yeah. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 3 MR. MOSER: Right. Correct. 4 JUDGE KELLY: It sounds like to me that -- 5 and I'm just looking to my colleagues here. There's 6 consensus on the court to go forward. But what we 7 probably need to do is submit RFQ's for the professional 8 services and bring that back to us. 9 MR. MOSER: Sure. 10 JUDGE KELLY: And then let's do this in bite 11 size pieces rather than the whole bacon. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I agree. 13 MR. MOSER: Okay. 14 JUDGE KELLY: But where we are is check with 15 GrantWorks, we want to make sure we dot I's and cross 16 T's, just make sure that we know the next step we have 17 to take and let's get something that's a little bit more 18 concrete and specific. 19 MR. MOSER: I might add one thing. The 20 switch back, the detailed engineering on that has not 21 been done. The detailed engineering on the connection 22 which goes through TxDOT right of way has been done. 23 Those drawings exist. The City, Michael Hornes, was 24 going to discuss with TxDOT this requirement for the 25 environmental impact and see how hard that is. So if 48 1 that could be done -- 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's possible -- so we 3 might be able to avoid it is what you're -- 4 MR. MOSER: Right. And that would be able 5 to avoid a lot of engineering. Yeah. Precisely. Okay. 6 Good enough. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Anybody that's worked with the 8 State knows it's TxDOT. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, this is a good 10 project. I think everybody agrees on that. It's just a 11 matter of jumping in, you know, with both feet ahead of 12 time. 13 MR. MOSER: Sure. 14 JUDGE KELLY: If we get a little bit more 15 information through Noel about GrantWorks and the 16 precise steps that we need to take and what we can and 17 cannot obligate and what times, and then put out an RFQ 18 so that we can have engineers bidding and tell us what 19 they would do this work for us how much, that gives us a 20 lot more concrete footing to start with. 21 MR. MOSER: Sure. 22 MS. PUTNAM: So I'll -- due process at a 23 minimum is going to take two to three weeks in order to 24 do the publications and everything in the newspaper. So 25 someone would need to draft the RFQ and get it over to 49 1 GrantWorks to have their procurement team review it and 2 get it out there. So it's going to take a little bit of 3 time. That's probably the most time-consuming portion 4 that is going to be required for the ARPA funding. 5 Because we do have to put a notice in the newspaper, and 6 then later we can put another notice in the newspaper 7 and go around court in order to get permission. 8 So that's kind of why we're -- we were here 9 and trying to instigate this is because that is the most 10 lengthy part of it and it kind of needs to be done at 11 the beginning so we have a scope of work. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I think I'm -- well, I 13 gotta look at the County Attorney and make sure I can do 14 this based on what this agenda item says, but I think 15 that we ought to have -- we ought to authorize y'all to 16 submit an RFQ for the design of this so that we have 17 something more concrete to work with. And once we get 18 the RFPs back and we have a chance to evaluate those, 19 then obligate the funds. 20 I mean, what we're really doing here is 21 unofficially obligating the funds for the engineering 22 for this project. Is that what we're doing? 23 MR. MOSER: I think really it's the Court's 24 desire for the intent to proceed. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 50 1 MR. MOSER: It's the intent to proceed. 2 Yeah. 3 JUDGE KELLY: But what -- we're going to 4 have these technical steps that we're going to have to 5 take to obligate funds. 6 MR. MOSER: Right. 7 JUDGE KELLY: And so I prefer that 8 GrantWorks tell us what those steps are. But we want to 9 get the ball rolling. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 11 JUDGE KELLY: As soon as possible. 12 MS. PUTNAM: And I do have those steps. 13 It's just going to take a few processes but we can 14 definitely do it. 15 MRS. STEBBINS: So I don't think you need to 16 take any action then if that's the -- if that's your 17 intent. If that's what the Court wants, for Noel to 18 move on next. I don't think that you need to take any 19 action under the agenda item as it's posted. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. You have our blessing 21 to proceed. 22 MS. PUTNAM: But we need a court order in 23 order to go out for RFQ? 24 MRS. STEBBINS: You will need a court order 25 to go out for RFQ. So you'll have to get that -- 51 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 2 MRS. STEBBINS: -- drafted and then come 3 back to the Court and get that approved. 4 JUDGE KELLY: I'll make a motion that we 5 submit an RFQ on this project. 6 MRS. STEBBINS: Well -- 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is that okay with -- 8 MRS. STEBBINS: That's not okay under the 9 agenda item is what I was trying to say. So if she 10 understands that she needs to get to drafting or to get 11 help to get to drafting then you can get the RFQ 12 approved at a later time. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But Noel can work with 14 Charlie and Tom and whoever to develop -- 15 MRS. STEBBINS: Uh-huh. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- the RFQ and then we 17 can authorize it -- 18 MRS. STEBBINS: At a later time. Yes. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: They're you go. So 20 we'll have more information at that time. Good. Got a 21 plan. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Commissioner Moser, we 23 appreciate your persistence. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thanks. 25 MS. PUTNAM: Thank you. 52 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. The next item on the 2 agenda is 1.5 consider, discuss and take appropriate 3 action on a request from the Texas Pork Producers 4 Association to use Flat Rock Park from February 9th at 5 10:00 a.m. through February 12th at 10:00 p.m. for the 6 overflow livestock trailer parking during their Texas 7 Elite Showcase event that is going on at the Hill 8 Country Youth Event Center. Jake. 9 MR. WILLIAMSON: Good morning, Your Honor, 10 Commissioners. Back again for our annual ask to use 11 Flat Rock Park for the Texas Elite Showcase for their 12 staging area and overflow parking for the Elite Showcase 13 that's coming February 9th through February 12th. I 14 would be remiss, this does not include the Dog Park. So 15 Flat Rock Park; not the dog park. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 18 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: You've been there on that one. 20 We've got a motion and a second to approve the Pork 21 Producers Association even at Flat Rock Park. Any 22 discussion? Those in favor say aye. 23 (All Ayes.) 24 JUDGE KELLY: Opposed? Unanimous. Thank 25 you. 53 1 Item 1.6 consider, discuss and take 2 appropriate action to accept the 2021-2022 annual report 3 of the Texas Hill Country Youth Event Center. Jake. 4 MR. WILLIAMSON: Well, we do have a 5 slideshow presentation. I might skip over a few slides 6 because I know everybody can read and, again, this will 7 be posted on the County website later so people can 8 reference it at that time. 9 But I'm here today to present the 2021-2022 10 annual report. So, again, the statement of purpose for 11 the Hill Country Youth Event Center is to hold events. 12 And also be a public assembly facility in need of 13 emergency. The County has contracted us to manage that 14 for them and we do so with pride. 15 I'm turning in this annual report today for 16 approval. We'll go through the process there, the OP, 17 that we had a banner year, accomplished a lot of great 18 things, and as always are always striving to do better 19 this year. 20 To highlight, we have transitioned to 21 OP Group, officially OVG 360. What that means is you're 22 still contracted under Global Spectrum, we just then 23 merged with another larger entity. This is not a bad 24 thing; it's a great thing. This company is worldwide, 25 has a great portfolio, including the new Moody Arena in 54 1 Austin, Texas, which was just announced as the highest 2 grossing venue in the world. So big players. A lot of 3 good things come from that. A lot of good knowledge. A 4 lot of good employees. 5 So we're learning even more than we have as 6 professional assembly workers and event people to do 7 even better and to learn even more. So amazing things. 8 Especially for this region as OP Group has with Austin 9 and the surrounding areas offices there, where our 10 former company was in Philadelphia. So more local. So 11 very good things there. 12 As well as I've been transitioned to 13 different regions for my district general manager, which 14 is a lot closer to y'all. So I'm only four hours away 15 instead of a thousand miles. 16 JUDGE KELLY: So what you're here today for 17 is asking us to go ahead and approve this Pork Producers 18 event. 19 MR. WILLIAMSON: That and the annual report. 20 JUDGE KELLY: And the annual report? 21 MR. WILLIAMSON: Yeah. That's the next 22 item. 23 JUDGE KELLY: So do we have any action? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, these are just the 25 highlights. 55 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Hit the highlights, 3 Jake. 4 MR. WILLIAMSON: Just the highlights. So 5 everybody knows the Hill Country Youth Event Center is a 6 large campus. It includes the Happy State Bank Expo 7 Hall, the Show Barn, River Star Arts and Event Park, the 8 indoor arena, the outdoor arena. There's -- the places 9 we manage also has 4-H on site. 10 MR. WILLIAMSON: Things we accomplished last 11 year are we had the Hill Country Gala that featured Pat 12 Green. We had gun shows, we had a lot of ag events, to 13 include the Kerr County Stock Show, Hill Country 14 Grandstand, Texas Elite showcase and the Colton Tatsch 15 Memorial. 16 Along with that we had traveling shows like 17 MotoXtreme Circus, which was a motorcycle circus that 18 came to town, as well as the Renaissance Festival, which 19 is every year in January, February, which we thoroughly 20 enjoy. 21 So on to the numbers. I know it's what 22 people look for most of the time. And we came in 23 $7,534.00 under budget after income and expenses were 24 all taken care of. We welcomed by our count 77,128 25 folks into the building. 11,600 of those were people we 56 1 describe as youth, so under about 12 years of age. So 2 very good things there. 3 We had 427 event days. People might get 4 confused because there's not that many days in a year. 5 It's because the facility has multiple places to rent. 6 So there's hardly any day where we do zero events or one 7 event. There are many days there's three, four, or 8 five. 9 So if you want to look at the overalls 10 again, our overall income was $241,083 with $512,016 in 11 expenses. Ten percent of those expenses roughly were 12 maintenance related. Building supplies, housekeeping, 13 fixing light bulbs, fixing broken things. So just so 14 people know on that, which goes to our total. Next 15 slide. 16 We do like to break things down. As event 17 people we like to know kind of everything that's going 18 on. We call it event mix. Your event mix is meetings, 19 consumer shows, banquets, community and charity events, 20 our show barn events, and other conventions, and our 21 special events. Those make up 92 percent of your 22 events. 23 The remaining things are the animal rodeo, a 24 circus that might come through, and some other 25 conventions. So this is the bulk of what goes on out 57 1 there. To note, 52 percent of our events are community 2 or charity, which means free to those groups to use the 3 facility. 52 percent of our revenue comes from banquets 4 and consumer shows, they're our highest attended events. 5 Next slide. 6 This is just a graph depicting kind of a 7 ratio from year to year, showing paid event days. Event 8 days in total. So that people can see the total dip is 9 now visible, how we went down and right back up. Next 10 slide. 11 To look at our fiscal year comparison on 12 numbers, you will see that the easiest way to look at it 13 is 212 percent income growth since the end of our first 14 fiscal year. That's not when we started, that's when we 15 ended our first year, which means since the County was 16 managing it, that number could be even more. If you -- 17 just the way we report. 212 percent income growth. So 18 very good over seven years to do that. Of course, 19 expenses changed and all that with the time, and that's 20 why the loss is still there. The income absolutely 21 helps maintain the buildings and facilities, but it 22 doesn't cover all the expenses. Next slide. 23 We also like to show fiscal year. Like I 24 said, the event mix, the big bar in the middle is the 25 free events. They went way up during COVID, because we 58 1 had more COVID things, and then it started coming back 2 down. But they have remained high. More people are 3 using us for that. The County departments are using us 4 more. Elections now have more out there as well. So 5 we're excited for that. The biggest dip is from the 6 show barn events. Because we had a tenant, our roller 7 derby team, that when COVID hit went away. So that's 8 why you see it goes from over a hundred uses a year down 9 to about 30 something, okay. 10 Next. New data we've been getting from the 11 visitors bureau which is exciting to us, which we really 12 think brings it together and starts showing that impact. 13 We've not done an economic impact study to date, but 14 this really starts that off. Is the top half here, this 15 is your visitors. This is people that live 50 to 3,761 16 miles away. You'll see that we are a major point of 17 interest for town, as a County. 18 So trailing right behind the Kerrville 19 parks, the mall, and Schreiner University. We have more 20 visitors than the people that go to the convention 21 centers. But that's where they stay. So we are eight 22 percent of all trips that come to Kerr County come to 23 your event center. That's a big deal. Next slide. 24 All the data, so this is everybody that's 25 come out there, this is distance zero, so these are 59 1 locals as well, it shows up at the top 144,000 trips 2 from Kerr County, Texas. This is including the parking 3 lot, this includes 4-H, people going to the barn, and 4 this is trip. So this is why the number doesn't match 5 your attendance. But it's good to know how many people 6 come out there from all these places. 7 You know, almost 7,000 people from Bandera 8 came out to the facility last year. So again, big deal. 9 You have visitors coming, we're taking care of them for 10 you. 11 My favorite slide is this one that says 12 monthly volume by visitor days. You'll see a huge spike 13 in February. This is due to all the visitors coming to 14 town in February. Pork Producers is in February. The 15 Renaissance Festival is in February. We have the quilt 16 show, the spa show, dog agility, the rotary club, and a 17 gun show to name a few things last February. That's a 18 big deal. That's a big volume. 19 If people come to town in February, they do 20 know that it's hard to find a hotel room. It's hard to 21 find anywhere to stay. Because they're booked up. So 22 the other months match pretty well with our event mix to 23 show, again, these are people who live 50 miles minimum 24 away so these are your visitors. It shows good growth 25 from 2020 to 2021 and '21 to '22 on that graph there on 60 1 the bottom. 2 So you see we are growing, came back from 3 some COVID downturns for people visiting your facility. 4 So really good data. We're still learning more about it 5 to see what that means economically for y'all. But if 6 anybody looks at the sales tax roles you'll see that 7 they've been increasing, and we're part of that. Y'all 8 are a part of that. 9 So that was last year. What's the future 10 hold? A lot of great things. We're working on 11 maintenance projects. We're working on improvements to 12 the park. You now have a new liquor license that, of 13 course, it wasn't in use last weekend because of 14 cancellation but we will see returns on that in a hurry. 15 So you will see even more revenue coming from that 16 stream and we're excited to see kind of the results of 17 that in the first year and kind of grow it from there. 18 We have good groups coming that haven't been 19 here before. Of course, this report's from the past. 20 We already had Cirque Italia come to town. The Chamber 21 of Commerce had their work banquet this year in October, 22 November already. The garden has the Thin Blue Line 23 Convention next year. You're going to welcome a 24 national BMW motorcycle group next year for a 25 convention. And we have a new Jackpot, Ag shows, and 61 1 sales pending at this moment as well. So going to see 2 some new people. A lot fewer holes in your schedule. 3 So, you know, 427 events we did last year. 4 If we hit 450, I'll be ecstatic. But we're not going 5 down, so -- 6 Well, that will be your report. Kind of 7 nuts and bolts, trying to do it as fast as I could. I 8 know there's a lot of information there. I know people 9 have questions. But I'm happy to answer those at this 10 time or at a later time to the public. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That was good. Any 12 questions? 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. Jake, how do 14 you get your information as far as where people are 15 from? 16 MR. WILLIAMSON: The stat is from the 17 Visitors Bureau. It's off of cell phone data. So 18 anybody with a cell phone when it pings, it hits that 19 parking lot in our area and we know where you're at. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. 21 MR. WILLIAMSON: It's a great question. 22 That's where it's from. Pretty accurate. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, how reliable is 24 that? 25 MR. WILLIAMSON: Pretty accurate. From what 62 1 I'm told. I'm not -- 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Do you know how many 3 people in this County have area codes that are not from 4 this County or even in this state. So how do they track 5 that? 6 MR. WILLIAMSON: I can't speak -- 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The cell phone you 8 bring with you from Kansas or someplace else, how do 9 they tell that that person doesn't just live here? 10 MR. WILLIAMSON: I don't know that. 11 JUDGE KELLY: I don't think they do. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think there's a volume 13 on the tower out there. But you're right. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: There's some give, 15 that's all I'm saying. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: A gray area. 17 MR. WILLIAMSON: Yes. Like I said, we 18 haven't done the whole study but I think it's a good 19 representation of things. So it's a general number I'm 20 sure. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that 22 we accept the annual report. 23 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 24 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 25 second to accept the annual report. 63 1 MR. PACES: Taking comments on this, Judge? 2 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. Sure. Go ahead. 3 MR. PACES: Your Honor, Commissioners. My 4 name is Rich Paces. I live in Center Point. And look, 5 I asked to speak on this item just because I, too, have 6 questions. I was actually in the last Commissioners' 7 Court when Tony Wedig prepared his analysis, made his 8 comments. I thought they were very good comments. And 9 they may or may not be entirely accurate. That's a 10 different matter. 11 But I think that's a matter of the data that 12 he had to work with, which was available to the public. 13 And I just want to encourage transparency. I have some 14 questions for the report. I'd love to see a lot more 15 detail. We're talking about $512,000 in operating 16 expenses. What is that? 17 Within that, 53,361 maintenance related. 18 And of course, I'd like to see more detail on that, 19 because maintenance or lack thereof is what got us in 20 the position where we proposed a bond for $8 million 21 just for the AG barn. 22 So exactly what are we doing with respect to 23 maintenance and, you know, are we going to at least have 24 some bites? What's in this year's budget for 25 maintenance? Again, I just want to see a lot more 64 1 detail. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do you want an answer 3 any of these before you go into that? 4 MR. PACES: I do. Before or after. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 6 MR. PACES: I would have liked to have seen 7 it in the annual report, or at least during the 8 presentation here. Just greater detail. You know, I've 9 got some questions as to -- well, what's the actual cost 10 to the County? Because it's not real clear what happens 11 to the income and how that offsets expenses. 12 So is the net income, which is the loss of 13 $271,000, is that the County's cost, total for the year? 14 I don't know. Yes, please answer that. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's kind of -- under 16 the contract that's a loss. There is still some 17 additional expense by our Maintenance Department. Our 18 major repairs and things of that nature. Other nature. 19 Jake handles day-to-day maintenance. 20 MR. PACES: I understand. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Our maintenance 22 department does major repairs, capital improvement type 23 items or capital repairs as the landlord. Well, you 24 know, we own it. 25 MR. PACES: Yeah. 65 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But Jake does the -- or 2 through his company does all of the daily maintenance -- 3 MR. PACES: Sure. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- cleaning, that type 5 of thing. 6 MR. PACES: Yeah. Well, it would be great, 7 though, if we're talking about the Youth Event Center if 8 we could kind of wrap it altogether and include the 9 added costs that the County incurs on this facility. 10 It's a great facility. I'm sure it could be better. 11 Look forward to working with -- with Jake 12 and his group to make it better. But I just want to 13 encourage transparency. You know, it's -- look, I took 14 the tour with the capital improvements planning 15 committee. And I requested a lot more detail, never got 16 it. Hence, I kind of got active and campaigned against 17 the bond propositions, as you are probably well aware. 18 And again, it's a red flag when I don't see adequate 19 information, especially when you ask for it. 20 So again, I'm just looking for details, a 21 breakdown on the operating expenses, and the actual 22 maintenance cost. And I'd love to hear what the County 23 is incurring in additional costs and see some detail on 24 that, whether it's part of the OVG's report or not. 25 Additional questions, we're showing negative 66 1 revenue for charity community of 6,984 and special 2 events of 849. How -- how does that work? Does that 3 just mean that we have costs with those 4 non-revenue-generating events and that's how you're 5 dealing with that, or -- 6 MR. WILLIAMSON: Yes, sir. 7 MR. PACES: Okay. Yeah, that wasn't real 8 clear. And again, I guess the 212 percent incoming 9 growth, that's from the start of Spectrum's -- 10 MR. WILLIAMSON: The end of our first year. 11 MR. PACES: The end of the first year. 12 Yeah, that would just be good to put -- have a little 13 more clarity in the report that that's what that means. 14 Certainly, the year to year income growth is not 200 15 percent, which some people may have been confused on. 16 I guess those are the major questions. And 17 again, I really would like to get focused on maintenance 18 because I know that's an issue. Especially for the AG 19 barn. And although the bond failed, we still have work 20 to do there to try to make it better. But I guess we 21 need to see the details on what's being asked for and 22 how we might possibly address that. So I'll leave it 23 with that. Again, my ask is for far greater 24 transparency. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let me be clear about 67 1 something. We have a -- this is -- the sole purpose of 2 this is a report from Spectrum. It's not intended to be 3 an overall -- we can add an agenda item at some point 4 and put everything on it, but that's not what this is. 5 During the budget process we look at both of 6 them together. And it is open and it is to the public. 7 MR. PACES: Sounds great to me. Thank you. 8 JUDGE KELLY: And Jake, this detailed 9 information that he wants, you're available to provide 10 that information to him, aren't you? 11 MR. WILLIAMSON: At any time. You know, I 12 don't have all the information with me all times. 13 People have questions on all sorts of things but -- 14 JUDGE KELLY: Information they've requested 15 from you? 16 MR. WILLIAMSON: No. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. I think we'll start 18 with whoever wants information about the Youth Event 19 Center, call Jake. Anything else on this agenda item? 20 Okay. Let's take a five minute break and 21 we'll come back and see if we can approve it. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We've got to vote on 23 it.I made a motion and Beck seconded it. 24 JUDGE KELLY: All those in favor say aye. 25 (All Ayes.) 68 1 JUDGE KELLY: Unanimous. Five minute break. 2 (Recess) 3 JUDGE KELLY: Court will come back to order. 4 A brief explanation so that everybody knows what to 5 expect. We have timed items. We have a number of 10:00 6 timed items and 10:15 timed items and 10:30 timed items, 7 all of which have to be taken as soon as they are 8 available. So agenda items 1.7, 1.8, and 1.9 will be 9 deferred until after we've finished the timed items. 10 Just so everybody knows. I know people are waiting, but 11 we have to follow the schedule. 12 So we'll move on to the ten o'clock docket 13 and start with item 1.10 consider, discuss and take 14 appropriate action on a request to abandon, vacate and 15 discontinue an approximately 900 foot portion of Stewart 16 Junkin Road, said road replaced with a different 17 alignment approximately 150 feet east of its current 18 intersection with River Road in accordance with the 19 conditional court approval dated August 22 of this year. 20 Charlie Hastings. 21 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. On August 22 the 22nd, 2022 the Court conditionally approved a 23 petition to abandon, vacate and discontinue an 24 approximately 900-foot portion of Stewart Junkin Road, 25 subject to the construction of a replacement road with a 69 1 different alignment approximately 150 feet east of its 2 current intersection with River Road, in conformance 3 with the plans and specifications titled "Stewart Junkin 4 Road" signed and sealed by John M. Hewitt, P.E. #66142, 5 dated May the 13th, 2022. 6 The existing Stewart Junkin road alignment 7 was to remain in full effect until such time the new 8 alignment construction had been completed and accepted 9 by the Commissioners' Court, at which time the new right 10 of way for said road, and final acceptance of the road 11 would be considered by the Court. 12 Final acceptance of the petition to abandon, 13 vacate, and discontinue the road as well as acceptance 14 of the new road alignment and right of way would be 15 brought back to the Court for consideration at a future 16 court meeting. And that's today. 17 On September 29th, 2022 a pre-construction 18 meeting was held with the paving contractor, Masters 19 Construction, and construction commenced following the 20 meeting along with routine inspections by the 21 Engineering, and Road & Bridge Departments. 22 On November the 9th, 2022 a plat application 23 was received for a subdivision to be known as 4L 24 Estates. Said subdivision includes construction of the 25 relocated Stewart Junkin Road; therefore, any financial 70 1 guarantee requirements for the plat will be tied to the 2 construction and one-year warranty of the relocated 3 portion of Stewart Junkin Road, including establishing 4 vegetation in the completed right of way and demolition 5 of the old road. 6 And by the way, the area has been 7 hydromulched and we're starting to see some growth out 8 there, so vegetation is coming along nicely. 9 On December the 6th, 2022 the pavement 10 surface was completed; therefore, the Court is being 11 requested to take action on final acceptance of the 12 petition to abandon, vacate, and discontinue the road as 13 well as acceptance of the new road alignment and right 14 of way. 15 The County Engineer requests the Court adopt 16 two separate orders for the following two items: 17 Number 1, accept from Lee Leaman and Jan 18 Leaman a 1.15-acre tract of land as shown on the survey 19 plat and field notes description prepared by Lee C. 20 Voelkel, attached hereto as Exhibit A, to serve as right 21 of way for the public road known as Stewart Junkin Road. 22 Said road recently relocated and reconstructed in said 23 proposed right of way at the Leaman's expense, as 24 authorized by the Court on August the 22nd, 2022, 25 Precinct 4. 71 1 And number 2, accept a petition to abandon, 2 vacate, and discontinue an approximately 900-foot 3 portion of Stewart Junkin Road, said petition attached 4 hereto as Exhibit B. Said road has been replaced with a 5 different alignment approximately 150 feet east of its 6 current intersection with River Road in conformance with 7 the plans and specifications titled "Stewart Junkin 8 Road" signed and sealed by John M. Hewitt, P.E. #66142, 9 "Plan of Record" dated November 29th, 2022, and as 10 authorized by the Court on August the 22nd, 2022. 11 Precinct 4. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval of 13 both. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 15 JUDGE KELLY: We'll take them one at a time. 16 I think it needs two orders. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. 18 JUDGE KELLY: The first one has the 19 abandonment, vacate and discontinue of the 900-foot 20 existing. 21 MR. HASTINGS: The first one will be 22 accepting the right of way from Lee and Jan Leaman. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. I move for 24 approval. 25 JUDGE KELLY: And that's to accept the one 72 1 and a half acre tract from the Leamans; is that right? 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: That's right, Charlie, 3 isn't it? 4 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. 6 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And a second. 8 JUDGE KELLY: And a second. Any discussion? 9 Those in favor say aye. 10 (All Ayes.) 11 JUDGE KELLY: Unanimous. 12 Second motion has to do with accepting the 13 new road. 14 MR. HASTINGS: It's accepting the petition 15 to abandon, vacate and discontinue. So you accepted 16 right of way, so we've got a road built in it. Now 17 we're going to go ahead and abandon the old road. 18 JUDGE KELLY: So we need a motion to 19 abandon, vacate and discontinue the old road. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 23 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 24 second. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 25 (All Ayes.) 73 1 JUDGE KELLY: Unanimous. Do we need to do 2 anything else? Do we need to accept the new road? 3 MR. HASTINGS: You did on the first one. 4 JUDGE KELLY: When we accepted the one and a 5 half acres? 6 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. Yeah. That was 7 part of what I read. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Just want to make sure that 9 we've got it all done. 10 MR. HASTINGS: Yeah. And I gave -- I 11 believe I gave those to the clerk last week by e-mail so 12 that she's got the exact wording for how I read it. 13 JUDGE KELLY: So we've got everything done 14 on this? Just trying to make sure. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Y'all ready to go. 16 UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: You bet. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Move on to the next 18 agenda item, which is 1.11 consider, discuss and take 19 action to approve a list of active subdivisions that 20 will become vested in the 2007 Kerr County Subdivision 21 Rules and Regulations. Charlie Hastings. 22 MR. HASTINGS: The following subdivisions 23 are proposed to be vested into the 2007 Kerr County 24 Subdivision Rules and Regulations: 25 4L Estates - Precinct 4 74 1 Apache Trace - Precinct 4 2 Coltam Ridge - Precinct 3 3 Heavenly Acres Revision of Tract 5 - 4 Precinct 4 5 Hirsch Ranch - Precinct 4 6 Hidden Draw Ranch - Precinct 4 7 Hidden Valley Ranch Section I, Revision of 8 Lots 5 and 6 - Precinct 1 9 Hill Country Ranch Estates, Revision of 10 Tracts 11 and 12 - Precinct 3 11 Kerrville Country Estates 2, Revision of 12 Tract 26 - Precinct 3 13 Scenic Valley Springs Phase 2, Revision of 14 Lot 2 - Precinct 1 15 Soledad Springs Estates, Revision of Lot 15 16 - Precinct 1 17 Sky Harbor Ranchettes, Revision of Lots 19A 18 and 19B - Precinct 4 19 Steel Creek Estates - Precinct 2 20 Turtle Creek Ranches, Revision of Tracts 21 301-D1 and 301-D2 - Precinct 1 22 Twin Creeks. It's already vested by the 23 Court Order on November the 14th, 2022, but we want it 24 on this list. Twin Creeks - Precinct 2 25 Yellow Roses Estates - Precinct 4 75 1 YO Ranch Headquarters (formerly known as 2 YOHQ) - Precinct 4 3 County Engineer requests that the Court 4 approve that list to be vested into the 2007 Kerr County 5 Subdivision Rules and Regulations. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 9 approve applying the old subdivision rules, the 2007 10 subdivision rules to those properties -- subdivisions 11 that were just enumerated by Mr. Hastings. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I made a motion. 13 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 14 second. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I'll make a 16 comment just for the public, is the reason we're doing 17 this is that these subdivisions are all in process. And 18 they're already doing work on all of them. And we've 19 approved revisions and things of that nature. And so 20 it's not fair to change the rules in the middle of 21 construction project. 22 JUDGE KELLY: I don't think it's legal. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Probably not legal. 24 Minor point. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's one of those. Are 76 1 we pretty confident this is a comprehensive list, 2 Charlie? 3 MR. HASTINGS: I'm confident. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 5 MR. HASTINGS: I have -- so that you know, 6 the Court, I blind copied all of the surveyors that were 7 involved in those to make sure that they didn't have 8 anything else on their list. I haven't heard back from 9 them and -- but I'm confident. We went through our 10 files. We have extensive files in my office. And if 11 it's outstanding, it's still up on the file waiting for 12 something to happen, and we went through every folder. 13 JUDGE KELLY: And January 1 is approaching 14 and that's when the new rules go into effect. And so we 15 have itemized and enumerated in detail those 16 subdivisions that were grandfathered because they 17 were -- the process was begun prior to the new rules 18 being adopted. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do we need to, at some 20 point, I guess cancel it? I mean at some point if some 21 of these linger around for awhile, like in six months if 22 they haven't done anything on them, I mean do -- I mean, 23 how long do we continue it into the future? 24 MR. HASTINGS: That's a wonderful question 25 for Chuck Kimbrough, for our outside legal counsel on 77 1 this. Invariably, it may happen on one of these and 2 I -- as I present this list, I envision myself checking 3 it off as we go and coming back and saying, hey, we've 4 got two on this list. It's -- it's been nine months and 5 we're coming up on a year. What do we want to do? 6 Legally what are we supposed to do? I don't know how 7 long the vesting is. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we could as a court 9 limit the effectiveness of this grandfather grant that 10 we're giving these subdivisions and do it on an annual 11 basis. Say one year. And we renew it next year so that 12 they don't just slip through the cracks forever. That's 13 something we could do. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would be in favor of 15 that. I mean, I think that -- I just hate to have 16 somebody go into one of these subdivisions in five years 17 and say, oh, I'm under the rules from way back when. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That would kind of 19 depend on how egregious it all was. 20 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Well, it also depends 21 on what the law says, is what we don't know. 22 JUDGE KELLY: But what I like about it is if 23 we do this on an annual basis and if we grant this -- 24 these grandfather provisions to these subdivisions for 25 one year, and if they want it, they've got to come back 78 1 next year and show us -- show you why they want to 2 continue it. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 4 JUDGE KELLY: And so there is some 5 accountability. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I'll amend my 7 motion to include this list to expire one year from 8 today's date. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Well, why don't we just do it 10 at the end of the -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: End of the calendar 12 year? Okay. That's fine. 13 JUDGE KELLY: -- calendar year. 14 December 31. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: December 31. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is that pending 17 anything? 18 JUDGE KELLY: All we're doing is granting. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I understand what we're 20 doing. I'm saying is that pending us finding out that 21 we can or can't do it or if there's a State Law that 22 prohibits that so -- 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Between the next year, 24 I think we need to -- if there's any left on the list in 25 ten months, I think Charlie needs to -- or we need to 79 1 visit with Chuck Kimbrough, our outside counsel, and 2 find out where we are. 3 MRS. STEBBINS: And I think it'll become a 4 fact specific inquiry about how much work the developers 5 have done or what -- what exactly they've done to get 6 them into this -- to the rules that -- as they exist 7 today. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we're trying to respect 9 the fact that they had these underway before we changed 10 the rules. But at the same time, I want them invested 11 in the solution. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's a good faith 13 measure. 14 JUDGE KELLY: So if it goes beyond a year, 15 they've got to come back and show good cause to us why 16 we need to extend it another year. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. Right. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 20 in favor say aye. 21 (All Ayes.) 22 JUDGE KELLY: Unanimous. 23 Item 1.12 information and discussion for a 24 potential subdivision referred to as Hidden Draw Ranch. 25 Mr. Hastings. 80 1 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. This proposal 2 subdivides 57 acres off of FM 479 into three lots. Each 3 lot is proposed to be over 18 acres. Access will be 4 from a new road to be known as Pedernales Lane off of FM 5 479. It'll be approximately 275 feet long, so just a 6 very short road, a little cul-de-sac, and a safe place 7 for the people to pull off of 479 and access those three 8 lots. Also have a little place on that cul-de-sac for 9 them to collect their post, their mail. 10 This property was previously platted as 11 Tract 11 of the Theodore and Dorthea Oehler Estate 12 subdivision. At the developer's request, the Court 13 conducted a public hearing and approved the cancellation 14 of that particular plat on November the 14th, 2022, so 15 just a few weeks ago it got abandoned. This is now 16 allowing them to divide it. 17 The County Engineer offers this item to the 18 Court for information and discussion. Precinct 4. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 20 JUDGE KELLY: We don't have to -- it's not 21 an action item. 22 MR. HASTINGS: It is a preliminary plat. A 23 voluntary preliminary plat is what is submitted. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Voluntary pre-development. 25 We're coming up with new terms. Trying to keep it 81 1 straight. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Can we make an acronym 3 out of that? 4 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I'm sure we can. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: We've got enough of 6 them. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Moving on to the next item, 8 1.13 consider, discuss and take appropriate action for 9 the Court to approve the revision of plat for Creekside 10 at Camp Verde Phase 2. Precinct 2. 11 MR. HASTINGS: On August the 22nd, 2002 the 12 Court approved a final plat for Creekside at Camp Verde 13 Phase 2 and accepted Bond Number 0814615 in the amount 14 of $1,271,784.00 for associated construction 15 improvements. That was Order No. 39482. 16 This proposed revision increases the minimum 17 lot size from 5.01 acres to 7.01 acres and reduces the 18 total number of lots from 71 to 41 -- to 56. It also 19 eliminates approximately 400 feet of Palisades Drive, a 20 proposed road. 21 Proposed improvements that are within the 22 floodplain must meet floodplain regulations. The 23 minimum lot size is based on Headwaters Groundwater 24 Conservation District's East Kerr Management Zone. 25 That's what is predicating this change. 82 1 The County Engineer requests the Court 2 approve the revision of plat for Creekside at Camp Verde 3 Phase 2. Precinct 2. 4 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Move for approval. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 6 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 7 second to approve the revision of plat for Creekside at 8 Camp Verde Phase 2. Any discussion? Those in favor say 9 aye. 10 (All Ayes.) 11 JUDGE KELLY: Unanimous. 12 Moving on to Item 1.14 consider, discuss and 13 take appropriate action to accept a reduction in the 14 Letter of Credit Number 400640200 from $359,951.50 to 15 $170,330.10 as a one-year maintenance financial 16 guarantee for the Paloma Ranch Subdivision, and 17 maintenance beginning 12/12 of 2022. Charlie Hastings. 18 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. The Paloma 19 Ranch subdivision final plat was approved by the 20 Commissioners Court on November 22nd, 2021, along with a 21 Letter of Credit Number 400640200 in the amount of 22 $567,767.00, and it was issued by Guadalupe Bank of 23 Kerrville, Texas, as a financial guarantee for the 24 construction of roads and drainage. 25 On April the 11th, 2022 the Court approved a 83 1 reduction in said letter of credit commensurate with the 2 amount of road and drainage work that had been completed 3 at that time. The new letter of credit amount was 4 $359,951.50. 5 This subdivision includes one new public 6 road, and that's Paloma Ranch Road. It's about 3600 7 feet long, which is about 0.68 miles. It has roadside 8 ditches and a 40-foot span by 5-foot tall bridge, which 9 is -- consists of four 10-foot wide by 5-foot tall 10 concrete box culverts, with 100 linear feet of guardrail 11 on either side of that crossing. It's proposed to be 12 owned and maintained by the County, Paloma Ranch Road. 13 The storm water drainage detention ponds in 14 this subdivision are privately owned and operated and 15 maintained. A final walkthrough was conducted by 16 Engineering, and Road & Bridge staff on November 10th, 17 2022. Since that time, all deficiencies noted have been 18 addressed. All roads and drainage have been constructed 19 in conformance with the Kerr County Subdivision Rules 20 and Regulations, and the Engineering Department is in 21 receipt of As-Built Record Drawings dated November 11th, 22 2022 prepared by Hewitt Engineering. 23 The developer has requested that the Court 24 accept the reduction in the letter of credit to the 25 amount of $170,330.10, which is 30 percent of the 84 1 subdivision construction costs as required by Section 2 9.02 of the Kerr County Subdivision Regulations, and is 3 a financial guarantee that the developer will warrant 4 any defects in the materials or workmanship of the road 5 for the first year following construction completion, as 6 well as perform maintenance of the improvements until 7 they are legally accepted by the County. We're 8 anticipating that being one year from now. 9 Maintenance of the road is to include such 10 items as drainage by others, spilled concrete on the 11 streets, mud and debris in the streets, unknown springs, 12 etc. Maintenance of the drainage improvements includes 13 removal debris, resodding eroded areas, and the 14 installation of additional concrete riprap where 15 designated by the County to permanently prevent erosion. 16 That's just if all this happens. 17 At the conclusion of this one-year bonded 18 maintenance period, Paloma Ranch Road will be brought to 19 the Court to be considered for County maintenance 20 acceptance. 21 County Engineer requests that the Court 22 accept the reduction in Letter of Credit Number 23 400640200 from $359,951.50 to $170,330.10 as a one-year 24 maintenance financial guarantee for the Paloma Ranch 25 Subdivision. Said maintenance beginning today, December 85 1 the 12th, 2022. Precinct 4. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 5 approve reducing the Letter of Credit in the Paloma 6 Ranch subdivision. Any discussion? And this is to 7 reduce it down to $170,330.10. There being no other 8 discussion, those in favor say aye. 9 (All Ayes.) 10 JUDGE KELLY: Unanimous. 11 Item 1.15 consider, discuss and take 12 appropriate action for the Court to approve and 13 authorize the County Judge to execute Change Order 14 Number 4 to the construction contract for the East 15 Kerr/Center Point Wastewater Collection Project Phase 16 III, increasing the contract amount by $50,501.97 to pay 17 for and coordinate the relocation of a communication 18 duct bank in direct conflict with Sewer Line A through 19 Q. Mr. Hastings. 20 MR. HASTINGS: During the construction of 21 Line A-Q, the Sewer Line A-Q, located on State Highway 22 27 just west of FM 1350, also known as China Street, a 23 previously unknown duct bank was located by Hill Country 24 Telephone Coop locators. The Phase III contractor, 25 D Guerra Construction, potholed the duct bank prior to 86 1 excavating the trench and found that the duct bank 2 elevation is in direct conflict with the sewer. 3 The conflict is less than 200 feet from the 4 end of the sewer line and is preventing completion of 5 the Line A-Q. Upon the discovery of the conflict, the 6 County, Tetra Tech and D Guerra investigated multiple 7 alternatives to resolve the conflict. 8 The best resolution is to pay Hill Country 9 Telephone Coop to relocate the duct bank to a deeper 10 elevation so that the sewer can be constructed clear of 11 the communication facility. And it is fiber optic. A 12 quote was obtained from Hill Country Telephone Coop to 13 perform the work, and a request for proposal was issued 14 to D Guerra to support and coordinate with Hill Country 15 Telephone Coop. 16 This change order includes the payment to 17 Hill Country Telephone Coop to relocate the 18 communication duct bank and costs associated with 19 contractor coordination with Hill Country Telephone 20 Coop. 21 The change order increases the contract 22 amount by $50,501.97, of which $41,916.16 is payment to 23 Hill Country Telephone Coop for the relocation of the 24 communication duct bank. The change order and backup 25 information have been attached to the agenda bill. The 87 1 change order was reviewed and vetted by the Engineer, 2 Tetra Tech, and recommended for execution. This will 3 also add 30 days to the total construction contract. 4 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I'll move for 5 approval. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 7 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 8 second to approve Change Order No. 4 to the East 9 Kerr/Center Point Wastewater Collection Project Phase 10 III to Sewer Line A-Q. Any discussion? Those in favor 11 say aye. 12 (All Ayes.) 13 JUDGE KELLY: Unanimous. 14 Item 1.16 consider, discuss and take 15 appropriate action to open, read, and award the annual 16 bids for road materials. Miss Hoffer. 17 MS. HOFFER: Good morning. It's that time 18 of year that we do every year for our road materials. 19 If we are able to, after the bids have been opened and 20 read aloud, we would like to review immediately, return 21 on this Court date, December 12th, 2022 and award the 22 annual bids for road materials, if possible. If not, 23 we'll bring it back to award. But all bid prices are to 24 begin January 1, 2023 and be in effect until December 25 31st, 2023. 88 1 So at this time I ask the Court to open and 2 read all material bids. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. The first 4 one is from Wilson Culverts. Corrugated metal pipe. 5 Heather, there's a lot to read. Do we need 6 to read each of the amounts or can we just say the -- 7 what the subject is and who it's from? 8 MRS. STEBBINS: What the subject is and who 9 it's from. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: From Wilson Culverts we 11 have corrugated metal pipe. And that is -- we'll be 12 here a long, long time if I have to read each bid. 13 There's like 15 or 20. 14 MRS. STEBBINS: Afterwards they can be made 15 available to the public so that there is transparency 16 thereafter to accept them. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The next bid is from 18 Brauntex Materials, Inc. They bid paving aggregates, 19 base materials, hot mix-cold laid asphaltic concrete. 20 And that's it. 21 Next bid is from Wright Asphalt Products 22 Company. They did emulsion oils. That's it. 23 The next bid is from Wheatcraft Material, or 24 Wheatcraft, Inc. They bid on base material, paving 25 aggregates and that is it. 89 1 Next bid is from Jenschke Incorporated. 2 They bid on base material. I believe that is it. 3 JUDGE KELLY: No aggregates? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Make sure on that. No. 7 Next we have a bid from Ergon Asphalt & 8 Emulsions. They bid on emulsion oil. That's it for 9 them. 10 The next bid is from Jason Boney, B-O-N-E-Y. 11 He bid on hot mix-cold laid asphaltic concrete pavement. 12 And that was it. 13 The next one is from Vulcan Materials. He 14 bid on paving aggregates, base material, and hot 15 mix-cold laid asphaltic concrete pavement. 16 Next is P2 Emulsions. Bid on emulsion oils, 17 and that was it. 18 The next, Martin Marietta. They bid on hot 19 mix-cold laid asphaltic concrete pavement. 20 Next is from Malbec Materials. They bid on 21 hot mix-cold laid asphaltic concrete pavement. 22 And then we received a -- from Johnson City 23 Crushed Stone. But we received it late, and I did not 24 open that one. 25 I make a motion that we accept all bids and 90 1 defer to Road & Bridge Administrator for review. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Those that were timely filed. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, if they were timely 5 filed. 6 JUDGE KELLY: We got a motion and second to 7 accept timely filed bids. Any discussion? In favor say 8 aye. 9 (All Ayes.) 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 11 MRS. DOWDY: Was that unanimous, Judge? 12 JUDGE KELLY: It was. Okay. Then move on 13 to item -- agenda item 1.17, it's a 10 o'clock item, 14 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to ratify 15 and confirm the withdrawal of the FEMA request for the 16 Public Assistance for Texas Severe Winter Storms 17 4586-DR-TX for Category C: Roads and Bridges. 18 Miss Putnam. 19 MS. PUTNAM: Okay. So this is finally over. 20 I believe that this is one of -- if not the first thing 21 I was assigned when I started here a year ago was to 22 work on the winter storm disaster for the FEMA for the 23 roads and bridges. 24 In that time, the Road & Bridge Department 25 has been amazing. The engineer -- the County Engineer, 91 1 Charlie Hastings, has been amazing. They have helped me 2 so much. I do want to let everyone know that in the 3 process of building these -- redoing these roads, the 4 Road & Bridge Department had to go off of their 5 maintenance schedule in order to repair the ones that 6 had the damage in the storm significantly, which set 7 them back quite a bit on their regular maintenance, and 8 that department has worked so hard to get our roads 9 going, as well as giving me the information I needed for 10 FEMA, which was a lot. They asked for everything. 11 I believe we have records on our roads 12 dating back to the 30's, if not 50's, earlier. So in 13 the process of getting all this information over to FEMA 14 and giving them all the information, it has come down to 15 the point that we do not have pictures of the roads 16 prior to the storm to show what the condition was 17 previously. And so they do not think that the damage to 18 the roads was caused by the winter storm, although 19 anyone who has lived in this County has driven on them 20 and know what they were before and what they were after. 21 So it's with regret that we do need to 22 withdraw the -- our request for assistance in this 23 disaster because we have received determination letters 24 denying it. I have appealed, and there is no further 25 way to go. We do not have anymore evidence. 92 1 JUDGE KELLY: And for clarification, the 2 main issue here was Ranchero Road. 3 MS. PUTNAM: Ranchero Road. The biggest 4 ones were Ranchero, Sheppard Reese and Ranchland Road 5 were the -- were the major ones, but there was I believe 6 13 roads in total. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Right. And we applied and 8 they rejected and we appealed and they rejected. And 9 we've exhausted all our remedies to try to get them to 10 help us for the cost of the these roads. 11 MS. PUTNAM: Yes. And the amount of -- 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: As it turned out also, 13 we found out that Sheppard Rees Road was substandard in 14 some areas, so that was actually a good find, and that's 15 been fixed. 16 JUDGE KELLY: But all -- I think all you're 17 asking us to do is just go ahead and accept the fact 18 that we're not -- 19 MS. PUTNAM: Yes. So there's official -- 20 JUDGE KELLY: -- not going to appeal 21 anymore. 22 MS. PUTNAM: There is an official piece of 23 paper that they want us to sign that has -- and we need 24 to ratify it stating that we are withdrawing our request 25 for -- it's called public assistance, we're withdrawing 93 1 our FEMA request. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I think we knew it was 3 a long shot to begin with. 4 JUDGE KELLY: All true. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Why do we have to 6 withdraw it if they've already rejected us? 7 JUDGE KELLY: Because they're the 900 pound 8 gorilla in the room, and that's what we have to do. 9 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: And they'll probably 10 block anything if we have another request without it. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's just -- there you 12 are. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The hammer. 14 MS. PUTNAM: It's a lot of frustration, 15 especially with how hard everybody in the County has 16 worked on this. And again, I just cannot express my 17 gratitude to the Road & Bridge Department for all their 18 patience and diligence and -- we had, I believe it was 19 somewhere around 300 pieces of evidence that I uploaded 20 into the grant portal for this project. It was a lot of 21 work and they gave that all to me in order to do it. 22 And so, there are some frustration. But yes, we need to 23 ratify that this is signed and we are withdrawing. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that 25 we ratify the withdrawal of the grant request to FEMA. 94 1 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 3 ratify the withdrawal of the grant request. 4 And let me just say, this was Noel's baptism 5 by fire. And her and her supervisor, our boss, not only 6 pulled their own hair out, pulled out what little I have 7 left trying to get this thing done. 8 And I can tell you that everyone associated 9 with the County has done an outstanding job of trying to 10 help us with this and we are very grateful to your OJT, 11 on-the-job training. Learned grants the hard way. 12 But -- 13 MS. PUTNAM: I think I can do anything now. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Yep. I am confident that you 15 can. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You really shouldn't 17 say that. 18 MS. PUTNAM: It could not get worse, I 19 swear. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I don't know. 21 JUDGE KELLY: So with that, anything else? 22 Those in favor say aye. 23 (All Ayes.) 24 JUDGE KELLY: It's unanimous. 25 MS. PUTNAM: All right. Thank you. 95 1 JUDGE KELLY: And thank Jody, too. 2 MS. PUTNAM: Thank you, Jody. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We have a 10:15 timed 4 item, which is well past that. Consider, discuss and -- 5 it's consider, discuss and take appropriate action to 6 approve a Memorandum of Understanding with Camp 7 Gladiator to offer an employee discount and allow the 8 County Judge to sign same. Ms. Soldan. 9 MRS. SOLDAN: Good morning. I forwarded an 10 MOU to you from Camp Gladiator. They would like to 11 offer an employee discount to anyone who signs up for 12 their program -- any County employees that sign up for 13 their program. I believe it's five percent for the 14 employees. 15 MS. EBELING: Yeah. Ten. 16 MRS. SOLDAN: It's ten percent, sorry. And 17 then if a spouse also signs up then it's 15? 18 MS. EBELING: 35. 19 MRS. SOLDAN: 35. Apparently I don't know 20 any of this. There's no cost to the County. And -- but 21 there's just an MOU for the County Judge to sign. 22 MRS. STEBBINS: And I've reviewed it with no 23 recommended changes. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion? 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. 96 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll second. 2 JUDGE KELLY: A second? Okay. We got a 3 motion and a second. Discussion? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. What is Camp 5 Gladiator? What do the employees do? 6 MRS. SOLDAN: So we have some 7 representatives from Camp Gladiator that can explain the 8 program. It's a fitness program. 9 MS. EBELING: Yes. We're an in-person and 10 online fitness program. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Podium. We've got a public 12 that wants to hear what you're saying. 13 MS. EBELING: Okay. Great. No pressure. 14 We are an in-person -- 15 JUDGE KELLY: Identify yourself. 16 MS. EBELING: Oh, I am Madeleine Ebeling, 17 I'm the Regional Director for South Texas. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 19 MS. EBELING: And we are an in-person and 20 online group fitness program with nutrition support as 21 well. And so our -- what we'd like to offer all the 22 employees of Kerr County as just a discount if they want 23 to participate. It's not exclusive or anything, and 24 it's at no cost to the County. It's certified. We also 25 provide personal trainers who put people through full 97 1 body workouts. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And you do it -- it can 3 be done online, or is done online? 4 MS. EBELING: It's done online and in 5 person. So we partner with churches, schools and 6 businesses. And typically offer it outdoors. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Thank you. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Any reason we're not doing 9 this? 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Look around. 11 JUDGE KELLY: I resemble that. So we have a 12 motion and a second on the floor. Any other discussion? 13 Those in favor say aye. 14 (All Ayes.) 15 JUDGE KELLY: Unanimous. Thank you. 16 MS. EBELING: Yeah. Thank you all. 17 JUDGE KELLY: The next 10:15 item, timed 18 item is consider, discuss and take appropriate action to 19 approve renewing the Kerr County Incentive Program as 20 part of the Texas Association of Counties Healthy County 21 Rewards Program for 2023. Miss Soldan. 22 MRS. SOLDAN: This is just to -- well, this 23 is me coming to you to ask if you will renew the 24 incentive program that we've had in place for the last 25 few years for employees. If they complete three out of 98 1 the four challenges that TAC Healthy County sets and get 2 an annual physical and turns in that proof to HR, then 3 they get one paid day off -- extra paid day off next 4 year in 2023. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: How is this going? 6 MRS. SOLDAN: You know, I didn't ask HR to 7 see how it's going. We don't know yet for this year how 8 it's going, but I know that there are a number of people 9 that look forward to this and get the extra paid day 10 off. 11 JUDGE KELLY: That does not apply to elected 12 officials by the way. 13 MRS. SOLDAN: No. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Like it or not. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's why I delete 16 those e-mails. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 18 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 20 approve continuation of the Kerr County Incentive 21 Program. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Tracy, let me get a 23 follow up on Commissioner Belew to let us know -- 24 MRS. SOLDAN: Oh, I will. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You don't have to come 99 1 to court and do it, just send us an e-mail or something 2 as to how many participants. 3 MRS. SOLDAN: Okay. I will do that. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Those in favor say aye. 5 (All Ayes.) 6 JUDGE KELLY: Unanimous. 7 Okay. Now we're at the 10:30 docket. The 8 first item is 1.20 consider, discuss and take 9 appropriate action to approve the contract with Motorola 10 for Communications System, and to authorize the County 11 Judge to sign same. Sheriff. 12 MRS. STEBBINS: Judge, I'm going to ask to 13 pass on this item. We're still working with -- 14 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 15 MRS. STEBBINS: -- the attorneys from 16 Motorola, and GrantWorks to come up with a contract that 17 works for all of us. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Is that true for 1.21 also? 19 MRS. STEBBINS: No, sir. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So you are passing on 21 1.20. Are you good with that? 22 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes, sir. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Moving on to 1.21 24 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to approve 25 the contract with Motorola Solutions for Watch Guard 100 1 Body Worn Camera system and cloud storage network and to 2 authorize the County Judge to sign the same. 3 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes, Judge. We need -- 4 this is separate from the 1.20, but we need to pass on 5 that one, too. I believe Lieutenant Gaige has e-mailed 6 you. We need you to verify the budget line item 7 adjustment in the grants. So he has e-mailed you kind 8 of some instructions, so we'd like to pass until the 9 next court. 10 MRS. GRINSTEAD: We haven't got that. 11 JUDGE KELLY: The boss says we don't have 12 it. 13 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Well we -- we've gotten the 14 e-mail from Lieutenant Gaige, but nothing has been done 15 yet. 16 JUDGE KELLY: So we need -- is this the 17 portal that I go in and do that? 18 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes, sir. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Oh, I love going on my 20 computer with that. But I have good help. So we'll 21 pass on 1.21? 22 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes, sir. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So with that, we're 24 going back to the items that we skipped over because of 25 timed items. We're now back to the untimed agenda, and 101 1 we will start with item 1.7, which is to consider, 2 discuss and take appropriate action -- is she here? 3 Dawn was here. 4 MRS. STEBBINS: I reviewed this contract for 5 Westlaw, is that what you just read, Judge? I've 6 reviewed this contract. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I'm getting ready to 8 call it. I hear what you're saying. But I thought she 9 wanted to -- 10 MRS. GRINSTEAD: She was. She just might 11 need a few minutes to come back down. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. Let me go ahead and 13 call 1.9. She's here. I see her. 1.9 is consider, 14 discuss, and take appropriate action to ratify and 15 confirm the audits required by Article 59.06 of the Code 16 of Criminal Procedure and the FY 2021 Chapter 59 Asset 17 Forfeiture Reports for the 198th District Attorney, the 18 216th District Attorney, and the Kerr County Sheriff. 19 Ms. Shelton. 20 MS. SHELTON: Yes. The Auditor's Office has 21 performed the audit that you just described. The audit 22 covers receipts and specific expenditures of all 23 proceeds and property in seized and forfeited accounts. 24 I'm asking that Commissioners Court ratify and confirm 25 the attached report. 102 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 2 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 4 approve the ratification and confirmation of the audits 5 as required by law, as presented. Any discussion? 6 Those in favor say aye. 7 (All Ayes.) 8 JUDGE KELLY: Opposed? Unanimous. 9 MS. SHELTON: Thank you. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Let's go back to 1.7 11 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to approve 12 Thomson Reueters-Westlaw Edge Platform 36-month contract 13 to renew January 1, 2023 for Kerr County Law Library and 14 have County Judge sign same. Ms. Lantz. 15 MRS. LANTZ: Good morning, Judge, 16 Commissioners. This is the Thomson Reueters-West 17 ProFlex that the attorneys and judges use. So I'm just 18 asking that the Court renew our subscription for 36 19 months. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 23 approve the Westlaw contract for another 36 months. Any 24 discussion? Those in favor say aye. 25 (All Ayes.) 103 1 JUDGE KELLY: Opposed? Unanimous. Thank 2 you. 3 MRS. LANTZ: Thank you. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.8 consider, discuss and 5 take appropriate action to accept donations of gift 6 cards that were given to the Tax Assessor's Office for 7 the Kerr County Christmas party. Mr. Reeves. 8 MR. REEVES: Yes, good morning gentlemen. 9 From time to time my office receives -- my employees 10 receive gift cards for various merchandise. We have 11 three What-A-Burger gift cards if the amount of ten 12 dollars, one H-E-B in the amount of ten dollars, and a 13 Nobility gift card in the amount of ten dollars. 14 Since we cannot accept those, I would like 15 the County to accept them, the donations, and they'll be 16 used as in past years as door prizes at the Christmas 17 party so all County employees get the option to have 18 them. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, wait a minute. 21 You just reminded me, I have two of them in my pocket 22 for that. So do we have to include those or can I just 23 give them to Jody? 24 MR. REEVES: I'm going to leave that up to 25 you, Commissioner. 104 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'll give them to Jody 2 and she'll figure out what to do. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, if you give them 4 to Bob then he can donate them to Jody. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, that's why I'm 6 asking if those need to be included. I have two more 7 H-E-B cards to put in the thing. 8 MR. REEVES: Yeah. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Well -- 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So who do I give them 11 to? 12 JUDGE KELLY: To Jody. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 14 MR. REEVES: These were given -- 15 JUDGE KELLY: Those were given to his -- 16 employees in his office, and now he's giving them back 17 to the County. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, thank you for 19 reminding me. Because I would have walked off with 20 them. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Yours are given -- well, in 22 your possession for the benefit of the County so just 23 give them directly to Jody. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. Okay. That 25 will work. 105 1 JUDGE KELLY: So we've got a motion and a 2 second to approve the gift cards. I need a second. I 3 know we had a motion. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: You second that? Okay. Any 6 discussion? Those in favor say aye. 7 (All Ayes.) 8 JUDGE KELLY: Against? Unanimous. Thank 9 you. 10 Okay. Flipping back over to where we 11 stopped at the timed items, which is 1.22 consider, 12 discuss and take appropriate action to approve $135.00 13 donation from Network for Good for the Sheriff's 14 Equipment Fund. Sheriff. 15 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes. Judge and 16 Commissioners, just looking for your approval for 17 accepting this donation and put it in our equipment 18 fund. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 22 approve the donation to the Sheriff's Office as 23 presented. Any discussion? 24 MRS. DOWDY: Who made the motion and second? 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I did. 106 1 JUDGE KELLY: Don made the motion. Harley 2 made the second. 3 MRS. DOWDY: Thank you. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Those in favor say aye. 5 (All Ayes.) 6 JUDGE KELLY: Against? Unanimous. 7 SHERIFF LEITHA: Thank you. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Here we go. Consider, discuss 9 and take appropriate action to address the possibility 10 of prohibiting the sale or use of restricted fireworks, 11 i.e.: Sky rockets with sticks and missiles with fins, 12 in any portion of the unincorporated area of Kerr County 13 pursuant to the Local Government Code for the December 14 fireworks season. We have to consider it every year. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I checked this morning 16 and the Keetch-Byram report or index and we're not 17 there. So -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No action. 19 JUDGE KELLY: No action. 20 Move on to item 1.24 consider, discuss and 21 take appropriate action to determine liaison positions 22 for 2023, and review the liaison position duties. 23 What we did is we passed around to the 24 members of the Court, with the exception of Commissioner 25 Gipson because he's not going to be here next year. 107 1 This is probably your last official meeting unless we 2 call a special meeting. 3 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I believe, Judge, we 4 have one more coming. 5 JUDGE KELLY: One more coming? 6 MRS. GRINSTEAD: The 27th. 7 JUDGE KELLY: So I passed around all the 8 liaison positions that are available and there are some 9 new ones. Such as we haven't had a liaison position for 10 the aggregate producers. We need to have one for that. 11 We don't have one for the SART team. Technically, 12 you're -- the County is responsible so we ought to have 13 somebody paying attention to what they're doing. 14 And then also one of the big things that 15 have come up that we need somebody probably for the next 16 couple years is this eclipse viewing thing. This is 17 going to be a huge thing. And we need to have somebody 18 on this court that's working with the group that's 19 organizing everything to keep us in the loop of what 20 they're doing. So those were added positions. And sent 21 around to the commissioners and myself and we all ranked 22 the liaison positions in that we would be willing or 23 like to serve in. 24 And so what we're going to do is if you look 25 at what is attached to here is the -- and I think we've 108 1 got all the backup data. But what we're going to do is 2 the Commissioner liaison -- what I'm going to move, this 3 is my motion, that we appoint the following liaison 4 positions: For courthouse security, Commissioner Paces. 5 For Kerr County Animal Services -- yeah, Animal 6 Services, Commissioner Letz. 7 For Environmental Health and OSSF, 8 Commissioner Paces. Hill Country Regional Public 9 Defender's Office, myself and Commissioner Letz. We 10 serve on that Board. Information Technology, 11 Commissioner Belew. Investment committee, Commissioner 12 Paces. Maintenance and courthouse facilities liaison, 13 Commissioner Harris. 14 Public relations officer, Commissioner 15 Belew. Veteran Services Offices. I've been asked 16 personally by the Council to do that, so I will take 17 that on. Victim services coordinator, Commissioner 18 Paces. 9-1-1 -- and never make the mistake of calling 19 that 9-11. I did that one time. It's 9-1-1. 20 Commissioner Belew. 21 AACOG, I serve as primary position on that. 22 I was just elected vice chair of AACOG. And my 23 alternate is Commissioner Harris. And then on Airport 24 Board, be Commissioner Letz and myself. City fire and 25 EMS, Commissioner Belew. Economic development, 109 1 Commissioner Letz and myself. Extension Office, 2 Commissioner Harris. Hill Country Youth Event Center, 3 Commissioner Harris. Historical Commission, 4 Commissioner Belew. Library Board, Commissioner Harris. 5 And Volunteer Fire Departments will be Commissioner 6 Harris. And then -- pardon. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Go ahead and finish 8 it. 9 JUDGE KELLY: And for the APO, Commissioner 10 Paces since it's mainly Precinct 2. And then we have 11 the SART team. It says J. 12 MRS. GRINSTEAD: That is you. 13 JUDGE KELLY: That's me? The Judge, okay, I 14 got it. I've worked with those people and they're 15 really delightful to work with. And then the Eclipse 16 Roundtable, Commissioner Paces. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I spoke with Rich 18 Paces a couple weeks ago, and since I was going to go 19 ahead and take on the library position, I traded with 20 him and gave him the VFD. He's already a volunteer fire 21 department. I'd still work with the four VFDs in my 22 Precinct, but he'll be the liaison for that group. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And Judge, I have 24 another kind of a division that I'd recommend. Right 25 now the Animal Services, OSSF, Environmental Health are 110 1 kind of lumped together. They really -- 2 JUDGE KELLY: I separated them. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, you did? 4 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. I separated them. So 5 you're going to do animal services. Mr. Paces is going 6 to do environmental. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, okay. 8 JUDGE KELLY: And that's a separation that's 9 been needed for some time. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 11 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Thank you. I'm glad you 12 said that. And did you say Human Resources, who's going 13 to take that? Is it still Commissioner Letz? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll stay with human 15 resources for one more year and then someone else will 16 be taking it. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Right. So human resources is 18 going to be Commissioner Letz and he will train somebody 19 to replace him. 20 MRS. DOWDY: Judge, did you go over the 21 investment committee? 22 JUDGE KELLY: I did. That's Commissioner 23 Paces. I think I've done them all. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You got a lot of good 25 ones. 111 1 JUDGE KELLY: And this is more personal to 2 Commissioner Paces, or Commissioner-Elect Paces. 3 Seniority counts. The ones that were here got to choose 4 first. And I apologize for that. That's the way we did 5 it. So that's my motion. Is there a second? 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes. Second. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Any discussion? Any protest? 8 MR. PACES: Does it matter? 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We could put you on a 10 couple more. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, that's why -- 12 MR. PACES: I'll have to keep my mouth shut. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, before we vote, 15 though, just a comment. And this is -- you know, all 16 the liaison really is, is a point person for someone in 17 those departments to contact the Court with; it 18 doesn't -- certainly it's not intended and does not mean 19 that any Commissioner or Judge can't talk to any 20 department or do anything else they want. 21 I mean, so it's -- it's kind of a more 22 benefit to the departments so they have someone to 23 initially talk to. Because we have to be very careful 24 about we can't talk amongst ourselves. So they have 25 somebody they can talk to. And then a lot of times 112 1 they'll talk -- you know, like if something comes up 2 with Animal Services, Reagan will talk to each of us. So 3 it's not like you're cut out of anything, it's just a 4 way to facilitate communication and when questions come 5 up between agendas to kind of give some guidance. 6 There's no additional authority that comes with any of 7 these liaison positions. You give basic support and -- 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And the liaison does 9 not have to put an item on the agenda for any of these 10 organizations. 9-1-1 can put something on the agenda by 11 themselves. Historical Commission, whoever. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's purely for 13 convenience. 14 JUDGE KELLY: I agree with everything that's 15 been said. But a liaison is -- it's actually a two-way 16 street. And it's meant to give the Department Heads and 17 the Elected Officials a contact directly to the Court so 18 they've got somebody they can call. Whether it's good 19 or bad. Just a contact person that is assigned to look 20 after their interest and report back to them. 21 And then, the other part of the two-way is 22 that liaison commissioner then comes back and reports to 23 us. Usually in the information part of the agenda is 24 where we get that. Sometimes in Commissioner Comments. 25 But that's because of the open meetings act we can't go 113 1 talk to them all at one time. So that Commissioner 2 brings that information back to the Court and lets us 3 know how these departments are doing, which are usually, 4 if there's nothing going on and we don't get a report, 5 we assume everything's good. 6 But if there's things going on that we need 7 to know about, they bring it to our attention so that we 8 can address it. That's all I intended for the liaison 9 commissioner to do is for us to help the departments and 10 the offices and report back to the Court on how we're 11 doing. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it works very well. 13 MRS. GRINSTEAD: And this is an item that 14 also includes the duties of the liaison, which is part 15 of your backup to be reviewed and approved again, so -- 16 JUDGE KELLY: We do have written policies as 17 to what those duties are and they are attached. And the 18 motion and the second would include readopting those. 19 Any other discussion? Those in favor say aye. 20 (All Ayes.) 21 JUDGE KELLY: Opposed? Okay. Here we are. 22 The next agenda item is 1.25 consider, discuss and take 23 appropriate action to approve surplus of three vehicles 24 to Enterprise Fleet Program, a 2012 Ford F-150 and two 25 2014 Dodge Ram pickups. Reagan Givens. 114 1 MR. GIVENS: Good morning. So this is my 2 first time to come to court on this. But we did get a 3 couple new vehicles in. And we're looking at getting 4 rid of three that were in such a state they needed to 5 pretty much be parked, so -- 6 JUDGE KELLY: We're aware. 7 MR. GIVENS: So just put in for approval for 8 that. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval -- 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- to surplus three 12 vehicles. 13 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 14 second to surplus these three vehicles from Animal 15 Services. Any discussion? 16 MRS. DOWDY: Who made the motion and the 17 second? I'm sorry. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Jonathan made the motion. 19 And -- 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And I made the second. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Those in favor say aye. 22 (All Ayes.) 23 JUDGE KELLY: Opposed? Unanimous. 24 Item 1.26 discussion related to design and 25 construction process of new Animal Control facility. 115 1 Commissioner Letz. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, I put this on the 3 agenda so we can start moving forward on this. There's 4 a number of -- I don't know that any of them will take 5 action in the near future but they will eventually 6 certainly. 7 But what I recommend is that Peter Lewis has 8 done a lot of work on this. He's on the contract with 9 the County. And for this project alone to continue with 10 Peter Lewis. He's done a lot of design work already, 11 preliminary work and understands the needs. 12 The second thing that we need start working 13 on, this will be Kelly Hoffer and Charlie Hastings will 14 be involved with this is site plan. The site was 15 originally planned for part use by maintenance 16 department, part use by Road & Bridge, and part use by 17 Animal Services. Only the Animal Services portion 18 passed the bond, but we still need to in my opinion, you 19 know, coordinate exactly how that site is going to be 20 used so that it's planned for future use. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Right. And to clarify that, 22 we bought 16 acres off of Spur 100 by Road & Bridge. 23 Fronts on 47, fronts on Spur 100. And it's not -- it's 24 an unusually shaped 16 acres. But the site plan is only 25 going to be for Animal Services. The other things that 116 1 we planned to do out on the rest of it can't be 2 addressed at this time. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, we can plan for 4 where they would go if they're ever built. That's the 5 point. And -- but, you know, in essence kind of 6 coordinating that. The next -- 7 JUDGE KELLY: One of Road & Bridge's request 8 was to increase the size of their yard. And we own that 9 land and we can do that at very little expense. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 11 JUDGE KELLY: But in terms of doing anything 12 to the structure itself where Road & Bridge is located, 13 we can't do that. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, we can't do that 15 right now. Then the next actual plan of the facility, 16 we've had plans that we've looked at. Peter Lewis has 17 developed a plan. KPA has given Reagan a plan. My 18 recommendation at this point is that, you know, Reagan 19 kind of be in charge of working with myself, Peter, KPA 20 to come up with a plan to bring to Court and present to 21 the public. 22 I think it would be -- we've looked at it 23 enough and Reagan has looked at it enough that I don't 24 think we'll need a committee to design this. I think we 25 just needed to come up with a design because the budget 117 1 is going to be a big consideration as to what we do out 2 there. So that part of it. 3 And then after all of that, the site plan 4 and the facility plan is, you know, if Reagan's 5 comfortable with it and the other parties within the 6 County are comfortable, then present it to the public 7 for comment. Seems like that's a plan to move forward, 8 and then hopefully, you know, sometime first or second 9 quarter get that to Peter Lewis. He can come up with a 10 final cost estimate and see where we are. 11 So anyway, if that's acceptable to 12 everybody, I don't think we need a motion. That's a 13 discussion. But that's kind of how I see it moving 14 forward the next couple months. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Any discussion? 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes. A reminder that 17 this is animal control. This is not an animal shelter 18 that we're building. Some people seem to have that 19 confusion. We're not building an adoption center. 20 There's a lot more to Animal Control than that. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. There being no other 23 discussion, we'll move on to Item 1.27 consider, discuss 24 and take appropriate action to acknowledge that the Hill 25 Country District Junior Livestock Show Association and 118 1 the Kerr County Stock Show are the same entities. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on the agenda 3 just for clarity standpoint. Our agreement is with the 4 Hill Country District Junior Livestock Show for the use 5 of that facility. And the partnership we have with 6 them. 7 They are -- we now have a separate County 8 stock show, Kerr County stock show, and they run it. 9 They do it. They do it as a DBA. I just want it clear 10 that, you know, it's -- they are the same entities. No 11 action is needed on that. It's just a matter of 12 acknowledging it, I think. 13 JUDGE KELLY: That clarified it. And we 14 used to host the entire District show. That's why it 15 got named the Junior District livestock show. Now that 16 district show has been divided up and different counties 17 host different competitions. But we still have the same 18 people that are on that Board doing the local stock show 19 that we do here. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. And Judge, maybe 21 we should make a motion to memorialize it in the future 22 in some fashion that the Hill Country Junior Livestock 23 Show and Kerr County Stock Show are the same entities. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Well, really, it's almost like 25 a DBA. 119 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. That's what it 2 is. 3 JUDGE KELLY: It's an assumed name. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 5 JUDGE KELLY: And that's easily fixed. We 6 just file it in the assumed named records with -- 7 MRS. DOWDY: It should already be in there. 8 If they're already operating and collecting money. 9 MR. REEVES: Judge? 10 JUDGE KELLY: Yes, sir. 11 MR. REEVES: I asked the Association CPA 12 this morning about this event. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Did you wake her up? 14 MR. REEVES: No, she -- she got up before I 15 did. 16 JUDGE KELLY: For those of you -- 17 MR. REEVES: She's also on the executive 18 board. They have had an assumed name drawn up for legal 19 counsel. The corporation is still Hill Country District 20 Junior Livestock Show Association, Incorporated. And 21 the Kerr County stock show just operates under that 22 corporation. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Probably we don't need a 24 motion or anything. But probably we do need -- Bob, if 25 you would have Janet get that to us, we can put it in 120 1 our file. And so that way it'll be clear and we'll have 2 that in our record. 3 JUDGE KELLY: We've got it. 4 MRS. DOWDY: If it's a corporation it won't 5 go to us anymore. It goes -- they can, but it's not 6 required. 7 MR. REEVES: I'll get the appropriate 8 document. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That way we have it in 10 our files. And Jody has it in her file. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Well, thank your CPA for us, 12 okay? 13 Item 1.28 consider, discuss and take 14 appropriate action to approve extension of housing 15 agreement for Interim Human Resources Director. 16 Commissioner Letz. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We've talked about it 18 and extended the contract with Carmen for up to three 19 more months. Part of that comes in that we provide the 20 housing. And there is an increase. I did -- or I 21 didn't, Jody talked to him, that because there is an 22 increase that it may only be for two months and the 23 third month may be remote. That will be decided down 24 the road. And they were willing to stay with the same 25 rate. 121 1 So the total amount for a three-month period 2 would be $8,217.00. And it will be less if we go to 3 remote for that last month. And that's something to 4 decide in a couple months. 5 And I will make a motion to approve that 6 agreement with Paradise Retreat Vacation Homes for a 7 three month extension, which will be January, February, 8 and March. And the funds would come from contingency. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 10 JUDGE KELLY: We got a motion and a second 11 to approve the housing extension for our Interim HR 12 Director. 13 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Well, they talked about the 14 two months with the option of the third. Do you want to 15 sign the contract for three months, or do you want him 16 to send a new one with two months? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Two months with an 18 option for a third. 19 JUDGE KELLY: And the only thing that I 20 would add is I was struck this morning when we got the 21 report from Jake from the use of the Hill Country Youth 22 Event Center that January and February are our busiest 23 months here in Kerr County. And so it doesn't surprise 24 me that the price went up. I don't like it. Nobody 25 likes prices to go up. But under the circumstances, I 122 1 think that's probably -- it's market responsive. 2 So any other discussion? Those in favor say 3 aye. 4 (All Ayes.) 5 JUDGE KELLY: Opposed? Unanimous. 6 1.29 update on Volunteer First Responder 7 Program. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is very short, and 9 Harley made a presentation and I don't want to get 10 confused about it. And we found the confusion. I 11 didn't find it. HR and Misty with the Kerrville Fire 12 Department found it. They have not been communicating. 13 There are actually 20 plus active volunteers. But we 14 didn't know about them. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. They're not on 16 the list. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or HR didn't have an 18 accurate list. So I just wanted to clarify that and 19 we're still working on a workshop sometime this first 20 quarter, probably January, February to get up on that 21 with Misty, and Rosa went through it and found out that 22 we do have quite a few people that are first responders. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I know we pay for 24 supplies. The fact that I see all those invoices and 25 sign them, but I couldn't find a person that's part of 123 1 it. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the good news is 3 that the City and County talked with the proper 4 departments and now -- 5 MS. WILLIAMS: We'll be talking and moving 6 forward. 7 JUDGE KELLY: We're actually talking to the 8 City? 9 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I should have asked 11 Misty in the first place. 12 MS. WILLIAMS: Right? 13 JUDGE KELLY: What it goes to prove is, when 14 in doubt, check it out. Well done. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And Harley, in talking 16 to Brian Alexander, the next KARFA meeting in January, 17 and he knew that you had some questions of Eric Maloney 18 who's supposed to be there to talk about this and he 19 asked if you wanted to come, to extend an invitation. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes. What's the date? 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I don't have it right 22 off. Anyway, I'll get it to you. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. Thank you. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. The last item on our 25 consideration agenda is 1.30 consider, discuss and take 124 1 appropriate action to renew the contract with Kerr 2 Economic Development Corporation. Commissioner Letz. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. Going through the 4 paperwork and contracts, I realized that our contract 5 with KEDC is an annual contract. It doesn't have an 6 automatic renewal in it. We have not renewed it since 7 2019, even though we've been paying. So I thought it 8 would probably be good to go ahead and get a contract 9 and send it over. 10 I did make the change that it automatically 11 renews. Still has the same cancellation provisions in 12 there, and that we updated the annual amount this year 13 that's in our budget. And then talked about future 14 payment, which will be appropriate. Anyway, other than 15 that, it's the same contract. I'll make a motion to 16 approve. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 19 approve the contract from KEDC. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Did the County Attorney 21 look at it? 22 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, I did. Thank you. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's always good to 24 ask. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Those in favor say aye. 125 1 (All Ayes.) 2 JUDGE KELLY: Opposed? Unanimous. 3 Moving on to the approval agenda. 2.1 4 budget amendments. 5 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. You have in front of 6 you one budget assessment. This is just a reallocation 7 between existing budget lines. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Move for approval. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and second to 11 approve the budget amendments as presented. Any 12 discussion? Those in favor say aye. 13 (All Ayes.) 14 JUDGE KELLY: Opposed? Unanimous. 15 2.2 pay bills. 16 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. Today's invoices for 17 your consideration amount to $1,586,309.74. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move we pay the bills. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and second to pay 21 the bills as presented. Any discussion? Those in favor 22 say aye. 23 (All Ayes.) 24 JUDGE KELLY: Opposed? Unanimous. 25 2.3 late bills. 126 1 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. Late bills for today 2 $2,760.00. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 6 approve payment of the late bills. Any discussion? 7 Those in favor say aye. 8 (All Ayes.) 9 JUDGE KELLY: Opposed? Unanimous. 10 2.4 Auditor reports. 11 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 13 2.5 monthly reports. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. For November 15 2022, County Clerk Jackie, J.D. Dowdy. Auditor's 16 monthly report, Tanya Shelton. Environmental Health 17 OSSF Director, Ashli Badders. District Clerk, Dawn 18 Lantz. Constable Precinct 1, Tommy Rodriguez. Precinct 19 2, Kyle Schneider. Precinct 3, Paul Gonzalez. Precinct 20 4, Brad Rider. Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1, Mitzi 21 French. Precinct 2, J.R. Hoyne. Precinct 3, Kathy 22 Mitchell. I move for approval. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and second to 25 approve the monthly reports as presented. Any 127 1 discussion? Those in favor say aye. 2 (All Ayes.) 3 JUDGE KELLY: Opposed? Unanimous. 4 2.6 court orders. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have our court orders 6 from our November 28th regular meeting. Court Order 7 39679 through 39702. They all look to be in order and 8 accurate and I move for approval. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and second to 11 approve the court orders as presented. Any discussion? 12 Those in favor say aye. 13 (All Ayes.) 14 JUDGE KELLY: Opposed? Unanimous. 15 Information agenda. 3.1 Status reports from 16 Department Heads. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One six, the bids. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Let's not ask for department 19 head reports just yet. Let's go back and call 1.16, 20 which are the Kerr County material bids. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is Kelly out there? 22 MRS. GRINSTEAD: They're still working on 23 it. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, they're still 25 working on it? We can go back to it. 128 1 JUDGE KELLY: Any department heads have a 2 status report? 3 Any elected officials have a status report? 4 Okay. 5 Commissioners status report? I can't tell 6 if you're thinking or not. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm thinking that -- it 8 seems like I should, but no. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Then we have -- we're 10 going to recess and go into Executive Session and we'll 11 call item 4.2, which is consultation with our attorney 12 for the -- to seek advice from the attorneys regarding 13 (a) the authority and scope of grant partnerships; and 14 (b) any other matter described in the meeting agenda. 15 And we're also going to do 4.3(a). And 16 we'll do that at the hour of 11:00, which is to 17 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to conduct 18 interviews for AgriLife Extension Agent and hire for 19 position as appropriate. 20 So those -- that's what we're going to 21 consider in Executive Session. Let's take a brief 22 recess and reconvene in about five minutes. 23 (Recess.) 24 (Executive Session) 25 JUDGE KELLY: It is 1:36 and we are coming 129 1 out of Executive Session. And we'll go on to the action 2 agenda. 5.1 action as may be required on matters 3 discussed in Executive Session. 4 The AgriLife extension agent position that 5 needs to be filled. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that 7 we authorize Michael Haynes with Texas AgriLife to make 8 an offer to Mike Morris. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 12 second to let Mike make an offer to Mike. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To Phillip Mike Morris. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any discussion? Those 15 in favor say aye. 16 (All Ayes.) 17 JUDGE KELLY: Opposed? Unanimous. Thank 18 you. 19 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Are we adjourned? 20 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. We are. 21 * * * * * * 22 23 24 25 130 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 6th day of January, A.D. 10 2023. 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