1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Regular Session 5 Monday, February 13, 2023 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 RICH PACES, 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. 8 4 *** Commissioners' Comments. 10 5 1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 13 action to approve Proclamation designating 6 the week of February 18-25, 2023 as National FFA Week. 7 1.2 Passed. 8 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 17 9 action to accept a final report from the Capital Improvements Planning Committee (CIP) 10 and to recognize the members for their dedicated service, and dissolve the committee. 11 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 26 12 action to approve contract with architect Peter Lewis for Professional Design Services 13 for the Kerr County Animal Services facility. 14 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 28 action to accept donation from Justin 15 McClure with JAM Broadcasting for time, materials and equipment to paint the light 16 poles and flag pole on courthouse grounds. 17 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 31 action on request to use courthouse grounds 18 for Memorial Day event. 19 1.7 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 33 action to accept Racial Profiling Report 20 from the 216th District Attorney's Office. 21 1.8 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 33 action to accept Racial Profiling Report 22 from Constable, Precinct 3. 23 1.9 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 34 action to accept Racial Profiling Report 24 from Constable, Precinct 1. 25 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.10 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 34 action to submit application to the Texas 4 Division of Emergency Management(TDEM) to request a FY-2024 Hazardous Materials 5 Commodity Flow Study. 6 1.11 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 36 action to partner with the City of Kerrville 7 to host a collection event for household hazardous waste at the Hill Country Youth 8 Event Center(HCYEC) on April 22, 2023. 9 1.18 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 37 action to authorize copies of the Kerr 10 County's Subdivision and Manufactured Home Rental Community Regulations be made for 11 staff and available to sell to the public. 12 1.19 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 42 action to authorize repair of damaged roads 13 due to the East Kerr County/Center Point Wastewater Sewer Project. 14 1.12 Public hearing for proposed changes, 55 15 additions and/or clarifications to Kerr County's Subdivision and Manufactured Home 16 Rental Community Regulations. 17 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 55 action for the Court to adopt Addendums No. 18 1, 2 and 3 to Kerr County's Subdivision and Manufactured Home Rental Community Regulations. 19 1.14 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 57 20 action to open and receive bids for 2023 Road Reconstruction Project, read bids 21 aloud, refer bids to County Engineer for tabulation, and award to the lowest qualified 22 bidder. 23 1.15 Public Hearing for a revision of plat for 60 Verde Creek Estates Lots 6-7. 24 1.16 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 60 25 action for the Court to approve a plat for Turtle Creek Ranches Tracts 301 D1 and 301 D2. 4 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.17 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 61 action for the Court to approve a final 4 plat for YO Ranch Headquarters Subdivision and accept Letter of Credit No. 922001116952 5 issued by Cadence Bank in the amount of $495,888.00 as a financial guarantee for the 6 associated construction improvements. 7 1.20 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 62 action concerning the acceptance of the 2022 8 Kerr County Sheriff's Office Racial Profiling Report for period of 01-01-2022 - 12-31-2022. 9 1.21 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 63 10 action to approve a $600.00 donation from the Kerr County Federal Credit Union for 11 reimbursement of the purchase of six Dell 24-inch monitors to line item 72-370-531 to 12 be transferred and paid out of line item 72-562-569. 13 1.22 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 64 14 action to approve the Interlocal Agreement between Kerr County and San Saba County for 15 jail services. 16 1.23 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 65 action to approve adding a temporary position 17 of Land/Mobile/Radio Project Manager for the duration of the communication project. 18 1.24 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 69 19 action to ratify and confirm MOU(Memorandum of Understanding) with the Texas Department 20 of Public Safety(DPS) for the Texas Statewide Interoperability Channel Plan as required 21 for the Operation Lone Star Grant. 22 1.26 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 71 action regarding Magistrate position. 23 1.27 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 80 24 action regarding the new county website. 25 5 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.28 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 83 action to install signs at the county boat 4 ramps that would read "Use at your own risk." 5 1.29 Discussion regarding the use of the Hill 88 Country Youth Event Center for eclipse 6 resource storage and other uses. 7 1.25 Update from Enterprise Fleet Management 92 regarding their program and current status 8 of vehicles. 9 1.30 Discussion regarding recommendation from 92 Turtle Creek Volunteer Fire Department 10 Chief Wesley Gordon to put a burn ban in place during periods of inclement weather. 11 1.31 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 103 12 action to approve contract with Center Point Volunteer Fire Department. 13 1.32 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 104 14 action to change job title for Noel Putnam from Grant Administrator to Grant Coordinator. 15 1.33 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 106 16 action to require Elected Officials and Department Heads, and their designees, to 17 attend a grant workshop if they intend to apply for grants. Workshop scheduled for 18 March 6th at 9:00 a.m. 19 1.34 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 107 action to determine whether to allow the 20 retail fireworks permit holders to sell fireworks to the public in celebration of 21 Texas Independence Day, pursuant to Texas Occupations Code, Section 2154.202(h)(1). 22 1.35 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 108 23 action to permanently appoint Rosa Hernandez Sanchez to the Kerr County Human Resources 24 Director position. 25 6 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.36 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 109 action to set a workshop regarding the 4 Kerr County On-Site Sewage Facilities (OSSF) Rules. 5 1.37 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 111 6 action to approve and accept annual report on County Clerk's investments as it regards 7 the Registry Accounts of the County Court to comply with the Texas Estates Code 8 #1355.052 (standard procedure.) 9 1.38 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 112 action to offer Animal Services vehicle as 10 a trade-in for new property of the same general type per LGC 263.152. 11 1.39 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 112 12 action to set a workshop to discuss current election process. 13 1.40 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 127 14 action to approve environmental impairment annual liability renewal application for a 15 storage tank at 3766 State Highway 27 in Kerrville, and 3672 Highway 27 om Ingram. 16 1.41 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 127 17 action to renew ACA Reporting and Tracking Service(ARTS) Program agreement between 18 Texas Association of Counties and Kerr County. 19 1.14 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 129 action to open and receive bids for 2023 20 Road Reconstruction Project, read bids aloud, refer bids to County Engineer for 21 tabulation, and award to the lowest qualified bidder. 22 1.26 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 130 23 action regarding Magistrate position. 24 2.1 Budget Amendments. 134 25 2.2 Pay Bills. 135 7 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 2.3 Late Bills. 135 4 2.5 Accept Monthly Reports. 135 5 2.6 Court Orders. 136 6 3.2 Status reports from Elected Officials. 137 7 1.42 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 138 action to modify insurance coverage at 8 the Kerrville/Kerr County Airport. 9 *** Adjournment. 139 10 *** Reporter's Certificate. 139 11 * * * * * * 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 8 1 JUDGE KELLY: Court will come to order. It 2 is Monday, February the 13th, 9 o'clock in the morning, 3 and the Kerr County Commissioners' Court is now in 4 session. I want to remind everybody to please turn your 5 phones to silent or off so they don't interrupt the 6 proceedings. And with that, please stand for the prayer 7 and the pledge, which will be led by Commissioner Letz. 8 (Prayer and Pledge.) 9 JUDGE KELLY: Please be seated. As we start 10 every regular Commissioners Court meeting, the first 11 item is public input. This is our opportunity to make 12 sure that we hear what the public has to say to us. Is 13 there anybody that -- and if you want to talk about a 14 topic that's on the agenda, wait until that agenda item 15 is called. Is there anyone here who would like to 16 address the Court at this time? Ms. Deininger. 17 MS. DEININGER: I'm sorry. Yes, I -- I do. 18 JUDGE KELLY: If you would, go to the 19 podium. 20 MS. DEININGER: Okay. It's a little more 21 general than the election integrity but it really is 22 kind of on that subject. First of all, Susan Deininger. 23 Kerrville. I want to say thank you, Commissioners, for 24 the beautiful criss out there in the front with the 25 menorah. It was really lovely. And it gave meaning to 9 1 seeing some balls and bulbs over on the lot next to us. 2 You could see some joy for the reason. 3 But I am really -- moved here in '18 -- 4 2018, from California. Became immediately involved in 5 your local politics. All the first election saw lying 6 and disruptions, vote harvesting. And then I became -- 7 I tried to get involved with the real -- but they really 8 were wanting civility and I wasn't feeling too civil. 9 So I started the Patriots with a couple of 10 people and we began watchers groups. And I've watched 11 for four elections through. Went and got training 12 several times. And there are some who are sharper at 13 the elections, the voting machines. But I've been 14 watching the absentee ballots and the mail-in ballots. 15 And I have tried to and we have collected concerns about 16 it. 17 And now I understand that it is the 18 commissioners -- well, maybe I'm not correct on this -- 19 that have really made Bob Reeves our election 20 commissioner, specifically. And that he then is given 21 power and given administrator. 22 And my concern is that there have been 23 concerns about the mail-in ballots and the absentee 24 ballots. And -- and just about the election integrity 25 here. I would hope that you would support having 10 1 training for the machines that Commissioner Paces is 2 suggesting later on. But we need to have sharp 3 citizens. 4 We -- we are now going to be paying on 51 to 5 54 million dollars in this city alone for a new police 6 and safety plaza. And that's a lot of money. And we 7 need to have civil servants who are conservative, who 8 know the law and are law abiding, and who are concerned 9 about us. And that will only be gotten through 10 elections. And our election integrity must be protected 11 and confirmed. That's it. Thank you very much. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Let's move on to 13 Commissioners' Comments. Precinct 1. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I don't have anything 15 this morning. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 2. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: No burn ban. But 18 looking real hard at putting it back on. It's very dry 19 out there. Even when we have a little bit of moisture, 20 it doesn't take much to dry out. So be very careful. 21 And please, if you're considering burning, check the 22 wind forecast. That's the killer when it comes to brush 23 fires and things getting away from us. 24 Otherwise, been real busy with the East Kerr 25 EDAP project, the Center Point sewer system. And to be 11 1 honest I'm receiving a lot of complaints about the 2 condition of the roads. So we're doing all we can. We 3 have issued a notice of defective work to D Guerra and 4 they're starting to take action. And I've noticed that 5 they have been out on Stoneleigh doing some repairs. So 6 I ask the public to bear with us. We're on top of it 7 and we're going to talk about it a little bit later on 8 the agenda today. So that's really all I have. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Three. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I only have one thing 11 with regard to what Commissioner Paces said about burn 12 ban or burning. The burn ban is not the final word on 13 it. We also have to look at state law. And if our 14 winds are over about 15 miles an hour, it's against 15 state law to burn. So the fact of it is whether there's 16 a burn ban or not, it's irrelevant if the winds are 17 strong. And strong, really I think -- I think it's -- I 18 think it's 16. 19 But anyway, either way, it's not real strong 20 wind. And it's also illegal to burn. It's also illegal 21 to light a fire right before sundown. As a matter of 22 fact, it has to be completely out by dark. So there's a 23 lot of things that are -- kind of go with burning. I 24 think some of the people in the community that's looking 25 at the burn ban, okay, the burn ban is off so I can 12 1 burn. But that's not quite right. So just remember 2 that state law basis. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: That wind changes 4 quickly. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's all I have. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, we have a full 7 agenda. I wasn't go to say much. But I'm going to jump 8 on what y'all said as well. A little common sense goes 9 a long way when you're talking about starting fires and 10 what have you. 11 Another thing. A common courtesy is to call 12 the Sheriff's Department and let them know you're going 13 to be starting a fire. It wouldn't hurt to call your 14 VFD in your area. Give people a heads up so they don't 15 have false runs, you know, and they know what's going 16 on. And that's all I got. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Thank you for all your 18 words. 19 (Technical difficulty.) 20 JUDGE KELLY: It looks like our microphone 21 here at the bench is out. So we'll talk a little 22 louder. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: We've gotta get 24 rolling. I know we got some kids that want to get back 25 to school. 13 1 JUDGE KELLY: Follow-up on the 2 Commissioners' comments. And one thing -- two things 3 that I would share with you. On D Guerra, we are 4 meeting with them tomorrow afternoon. So that is being 5 pursued and followed up on. 6 But the other thing is that the Juvenile 7 Probation Department and I had a discussion with Rite of 8 Passage who, at one point, was looking to lease our 9 Juvenile Detention Facility and bring it back up to 10 code. Those conversations have been renewed. And 11 hopefully we'll be bringing proposals to the Court 12 within a week or two. 13 So with that, let's go ahead and go -- move 14 on to the Consideration Agenda. Item number 1 consider, 15 discuss and take appropriate action to approve a 16 Proclamation designating the week of February 18 to 25 17 of this year as National FFA Week. I got Commissioner 18 Harris here. Cammie Mitchell? 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Cammie is here. 20 Cammie, you want to say anything about it? 21 MS. MITCHELL: I can. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: You brought it up and 23 brought it to our attention, so -- 24 MS. MITCHELL: So I have a few of my 25 officers here. National FFA week is celebrated across 14 1 the country. We do different community service 2 projects. A few of our officers will be reading to 3 elementary students that week and we're going to be 4 renewing, or restoring our FFA sign as we're coming into 5 town. 6 We do -- FFA does all kinds of different 7 leadership and career development events that prepare 8 kids for their future. And also teaches them, you know, 9 just life skills in general. So it's not just all stock 10 show. It's very much a leadership organization. It's 11 the largest student led organization in the country, so 12 we're really proud to be in FFA. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: We are, too. And let 14 me read the Proclamation that we're going to do. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Speak up so they can hear you. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. I'm going to do 17 the first whereas. 18 WHEREAS, FFA and agricultural education 19 provide a strong foundation for the youth of America and 20 the future of food, fiber and natural resource systems; 21 and 22 FFA promotes premier leadership, personal 23 growth and career success among its members; and 24 Agricultural education and FFA ensure a 25 steady supply of young professionals to meet the growing 15 1 needs in the science, business and technology of 2 agriculture; and 3 The FFA motto -- "Learning to Do, Doing to 4 Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve" -- gives 5 direction and purpose to these students who take an 6 active role in succeeding in agricultural education; and 7 FFA promotes citizenship, volunteerism, 8 patriotism, and cooperation. 9 Therefore, I do hereby designate the week of 10 February 18th through the 25th, 2023 as National FFA 11 Week. 12 If we can get these students to come up 13 here, let's get a picture with y'all. 14 COURT REPORTER: What's your name? 15 MS. MITCHELL: Cammie Mitchell. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Why don't we get each one of 17 you go to the podium and state your name and we'll 18 have -- 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah, go up there and 20 then we'll have -- we'll take a picture. That way you 21 can be on camera. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sheriff, show them 23 where to go. 24 SHERIFF LEITHA: Where do you want them at? 25 Oh, okay. Right here. 16 1 MR. STAHL: I'm Christian Stahl, I'm the 2 President of Tivy FFA. I show pigs and livestock 3 judging and all that. 4 MS. GUERRA: I'm Graceland Guerra(phonetic) 5 and I'm the President of Center Point FFA. 6 MS. DIAZ: Hi, I'm Maria Diaz and I'm Vice 7 President of Center Point FFA. 8 MS. LOPEZ: Hi, I'm Daphne Lopez and I'm the 9 Treasurer of Center Point FFA. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Now gather up here with 11 Commissioner Harris. And for those of you who don't 12 know, he's a retired ag teacher out at Ingram. Tom 13 Moore. 14 (Photos taken.) 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I want to say that 16 Ingram FFA couldn't be here today. They're on the road 17 someplace. 18 UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: San Antonio. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: San Antonio. And I 20 will tell you that -- well, I'll speak up for one of 21 their -- their students last week. I put on a wildlife 22 contest and she got a $3,000 scholarship. The next day 23 she went to San Antonio and got a $10,000 scholarship. 24 So it's actually Caitlyn's cousin, so Maggie Rector. 25 Let's give a shout out for her. 17 1 (Applause.) 2 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. 3 Moving on to the Agenda. We're going to 4 pass Item 1.2 and go to 1.3. 5 Sheriff, if you would bring in the -- oh 6 yeah, we need to make a motion. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion to 8 approve the resolution. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 10 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 11 second to approve the resolution for National FFA Week. 12 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 13 None. Unanimous. 14 1.3 consider, discuss and take appropriate 15 action to accept the final report from the Capital 16 Improvements Planning Committee and to recognize the 17 members for their dedicated service, and dissolve the 18 committee. Got them in here? 19 SHERIFF LEITHA: One more. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Chris Hughes. 21 MR. HUGHES: All right. Good morning. 22 Thank you. So for the record, Chris Hughes, 550 Indian 23 Creek Road in Ingram, representing the Court-appointed 24 Capital Improvement Planning Committee. We have Bobby 25 Templeton, Pete Calderon, Brenda Hughes. No relation. 18 1 And Fred Henneke could not be here. So he may come in 2 later, but -- anyway. 3 I wanted to present our final report 4 assessment on County infrastructure needs. So we come 5 before you today on the -- for the 11th and final time 6 as your court-appointed Capital Improvement Planning 7 Committee. When you asked us to participate in this 8 committee three years ago, we had no idea about the 9 severity of the County's facility issues, nor how deeply 10 we would get involved. We want to thank you for the 11 opportunity to serve our County through your 12 instructions to identify high priority infrastructure 13 issues and to provide you recommendations on how to 14 resolve these issues. 15 During the three years of our work the 16 sitting court voted unanimously six times in support of 17 the proposed projects. Their scope and the budgets 18 demonstrating a shared acknowledgement of the issues and 19 the need to fix them. We celebrate the community's 20 support of the new animal shelter and we look forward to 21 seeing that project come to fruition; however, we're 22 disappointed with the final result overall, with only 23 one of the three bonds passing. 24 It was always going to be a tough ask of the 25 County voters. Unfortunately, it was made tougher by 19 1 poor economic headwinds, active opposition from some on 2 this court, and a renewal of County/City bickering that 3 alienated many of the potential supporters. 4 The electorate have decided to remove bonds 5 as a financing option and we respect that decision; 6 however, we would like to call attention to this Court 7 that even though the recommendations provided were 8 rejected, the problems you tasked us to identify still 9 remain. 10 This County is legally obligated under a 11 state mandate to provide an expanded jury room for the 12 County Court at Law. This committee's recommendation 13 included moving the tax assessor collector's office to 14 600 Earl Garrett, which we think provided a lot of 15 benefits for the courthouse and the citizens. This is 16 an issue that needs a solution. 17 This County is still legally obligated to 18 provide an annex in Precinct 4. We reiterate that the 19 Ingram ISD lease is a temporary solution available to 20 the County for only two to three years maximum. That 21 time is going to go by very quickly. So a new solution 22 needs to be developed immediately to address this issue. 23 The document and asset storage issue remains 24 one of the least exciting but still very pressing 25 concerns to be addressed. This Court must develop real 20 1 and executable solutions to meet the storage statutes 2 set before it. 3 One of the duties of this Court is to 4 protect the health and welfare of County citizens. The 5 conditions and safety issues present at the Hill Country 6 Youth Event Center fail to meet this responsibility. 7 This Court's awareness and continued inaction on this 8 issue make you and ultimate us taxpayers liable for 9 gross negligence for any safety incident that may occur 10 there. A new solution needs to be developed to address 11 this issue. 12 Regarding safety. We also wish to remind 13 you of security enhancements that need to be made to 14 this courthouse for your own protection and the citizens 15 who use it. The judicial actions held here are natural 16 sources of stress and security risk. Additionally, 17 we're living in a time of heightened political tension, 18 exacerbated by political extremists. We regularly hear 19 politically motivated or attention seeking acts of 20 violence. 21 Locally, a man was arrested in December for 22 sending an e-mail stating, quote, I could care less if 23 someone shows up at a council meeting with an AK 47 or 24 equivalent, and I could care less about the possibility 25 of any open caskets. And Judge Kelly was one of the 21 1 people that received this letter. 2 We are all vulnerable right now. It would 3 be naive to believe that real security risks do not 4 exist here. This is a serious issue that needs a new 5 solution. 6 Commissioner Paces, you've agreed that these 7 court issues we just mentioned need resolution, though 8 you campaigned against the bonds with your own 9 alternative solutions. We urge and encourage you to 10 begin implementing your ideas. And we sincerely wish 11 you success in those endeavors. Because if you succeed, 12 then we will all benefit. 13 Finally, only this Court has the authority 14 to resolve these very real issues. As your 15 constituents, we hold Commissioners accountable and take 16 appropriate action. Solutions are required legally, for 17 Public Safety, and to place this County in a positive 18 fast forward to better meet the future challenges we'll 19 face together. 20 Thank you again for the opportunity to serve 21 and to share our vision for our home County with you. 22 JUDGE KELLY: I'm going to make a motion 23 that we accept your final report and discharge them from 24 any further responsibilities with regard to capital 25 improvements planning. 22 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. Is 3 there any discussion? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just want to thank the 5 committee. I think y'all do -- I mean the amount of 6 work y'all put in is unbelievable. You spent a lot of 7 time on it, a lot more than any of us thought. You 8 really went into all of the issues, came up with 9 recommendations, and that -- that's what you were asked 10 to do. So you actually -- exactly did what we asked you 11 to do and I appreciate it. Thank you. 12 MR. HUGHES: Thank you. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Without a doubt. I -- 14 I appreciate each and every one of you. Two of the four 15 of y'all standing there are from Precinct 4 and I 16 appreciate y'all. Y'all have done -- went well beyond 17 what we ever expected. We never thought it would take 18 this long, but y'all tackled it and dug in. My gosh, 19 I'm just glad we didn't have to buy film for Brenda. I 20 mean, y'all did a great job. Thanks. 21 MR. HUGHES: Thank you. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll just make a 23 statement that there are absolutely some of your 24 recommendations that I did agree with or do agree with. 25 Unfortunately, there were a number of things that I 23 1 didn't agree with, particularly in light of the current 2 economic situation. You know, inflation at a 40-year 3 high. We're in a recession in my opinion. And people 4 are -- people are hurting. 5 So to me, the ask was too great, there were 6 too many things that were nice-to-have's and not 7 critical needs. Had we focused on critical needs, I 8 believe it all would have passed. So I'll leave it at 9 that. Or maybe even add, you know, hey, pigs get fat, 10 hogs get slaughtered. And that's kind of what happened 11 with those two bonds that were defeated. The ask was 12 too great. Thanks. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: One thing that was left 14 out is that the City had recently had a bond election 15 and people can only tolerate so much for so long. That 16 was left out of your list of things that were against 17 this bond -- these bonds. So I would throw that in 18 there, too. You can only take so much in any given year 19 and it was not a good year for this. It didn't start 20 off that way. It just worked out where timing was 21 really bad. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Timing was huge. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Let me say several remarks. 24 Two of the members of this committee I did not know when 25 we started. The public that doesn't know how the 24 1 committee was formed, each Commissioner appointed one 2 from their Precinct and I appointed one at large and 3 that's how we had five. Four Commissioners and the 4 Judge. 5 And it was -- it was interesting getting to 6 know one another. And it wasn't like we didn't have 7 ample opportunity. We met once a month for three years. 8 Plus special meetings. And then working with the 9 political action committee to try to get the bonds 10 passed. And through these years, I've become very close 11 to these people. All of them. And I have the utmost 12 respect for each and every one of them. And the ones 13 that I didn't know before we started, I've gotten to be 14 good friends with and let me tell you, they are the salt 15 of the earth. 16 The one thing that I agree with that I think 17 needed to be brought to the public's attention, is that 18 this committee did not charge off and do something on 19 their own and then take it to the public and the public 20 couldn't swallow the pill that they were trying to 21 serve. That's not what happened. They came to this 22 Court each and every stage of the way. And they 23 reported, and they asked for permission and blessing. 24 They debated whether or not this was the proper solution 25 or not. It was thoroughly discussed. It was not done 25 1 haphazardly. It was done very thoroughly and 2 completely. 3 And for that, I believe that their report 4 serves as a road map to where we have to go. We're not 5 done. We know we have a dangerous facility and we're 6 letting people use it. And I, for one, think that we 7 may need to consider closing down the indoor youth -- 8 the Youth Event Center. The indoor arena. We've got to 9 do something. Or just use it for storage. But it's 10 dangerous for the public. 11 And when you know you have a dangerous 12 condition and you don't address it, then you're liable 13 for gross negligence. That much is true. And so here 14 we sit exposed to liabilities that could have been 15 avoided. Now, with that, I'm going to miss you guys. 16 But I really salute you for what you've done, and with 17 the integrity with which you have handled the decision 18 of the people. The people have said no. That means no. 19 But the problems don't go away. And it is my commitment 20 to continue to bring before this Court each and every 21 one of these problems on a regular basis for someone to 22 have the creativity to find solutions and to build a 23 coalition so that the people can be protected. 24 So is there any other discussion? Then 25 those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Thank 26 1 you. And you are honorably discharged. 2 Next item on the agenda is 1.4 consider, 3 discuss and take appropriate action to approve the 4 contract with architect Peter Lewis for Professional 5 Design Services for the Kerr County Animal Services 6 facility. Commissioner Letz. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. Put this on the 8 agenda. We -- this is the one bond issue that did pass. 9 We had had an agreement with Peter Lewis to do 10 preliminary work, which he did very well. We're at the 11 point to where we need to enter into a contract. And 12 he's prepared a contract and forwarded it over to us, 13 which is attached. I mean that's my only comments on 14 it. 15 I think going with Peter on this facility 16 will save us money because he has done so much of the 17 research already on it. And it doesn't make sense in my 18 mind to go on to hire a different architect to put it 19 out for bid. I think that would be a waste of time. 20 Peter has invested a lot in this. He has all the -- he 21 has the preliminary drawings. He met with staff. Met 22 with the public. So to me that's the direction we 23 oughta go. And I'll make a motion to approve the 24 contract with Peter Lewis. 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second that. 27 1 JUDGE KELLY: Any discussion? 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I want to make sure that 4 the -- 5 MRS. STEBBINS: I've reviewed, yes. Thank 6 you. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The discussion is 9 that -- is that considered a continuing part of his 10 service? He's under contract. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. No. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So this is new. And 13 this stays under the budget for putting it out for bid? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, it's a professional 15 services. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Professional services. 17 That's why I asked what I did. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Not required. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Continue to do that. 20 So he's already provided that for us. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Yeah, he was 22 under a contract and he still is under a contract to 23 provide -- you know, answer questions. Do preliminary. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I just want to make 25 sure. 28 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So this is a 2 professional service and we're not required to go out 3 for bid on it. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 5 JUDGE KELLY: And let me clarify. I 6 contacted Peter Lewis and asked for a standard AIA 7 contract, because this is a multimillion-dollar project 8 and we need to know what the rules are. Standard 9 contracts, everybody that does construction law knows 10 what those rules are. 11 The contract we have with him was for 12 consulting services and it's, what, three or four pages 13 long, which does not address all the intricacies of a 14 construction contract. And I want it just standard. I 15 didn't want any bells and whistles. I didn't want 16 anything out of the ordinary so that we all know exactly 17 how we deal with one another going forward with this 18 project. Any other discussion? Those in favor say aye. 19 Opposed? Unanimous. 20 Item 1.5 consider, discuss and take 21 appropriate action to accept the donation from Justin 22 McClure with JAM Broadcasting for time, materials and 23 equipment to paint the light poles and flag pole on 24 courthouse grounds. 25 MR. EVANS: Yes, sir. Justin McClure with 29 1 JAM Broadcasting contacted me by e-mail and kind of went 2 from there, we discussed and whatnot of what he would be 3 doing. And he said he would like to very much paint the 4 flag pole, light poles. He will be paying for the 5 paint. 6 Five Star Rental may be donating some 7 equipment, maybe like the lift. But if not, they'll get 8 a lift for the flag pole. So it's the 18th, it's next 9 weekend, If accepted, they said they would be able to 10 start on that early next weekend, to start taking care 11 of that flagpole. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I'm going to make a 13 motion that we accept his donation. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 15 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 16 second. And the reason for making the motion, and he 17 contacted me about it and I passed it on to Shane. We 18 didn't do anything. Then he followed up on it. And 19 he -- he wants to help us paint the flag pole and -- and 20 light poles out there. And if you haven't looked at it, 21 that's kind of a scary job. But he's offered to do it. 22 And I have -- I can't imagine any reason why we wouldn't 23 accept that. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Do they only need to be 25 painted, Shane? They don't need to be sandblasted or 30 1 anything? 2 MR. EVANS: No. I was told they're going to 3 be sandblasted for sure. They definitely need to be 4 sandblasted, and yes. And also -- maybe the flagpole. 5 I don't know. We may just sand that. I'll -- I will be 6 here for -- me or one more staff on the weekend to 7 assist. 8 But yeah, the light poles will be 9 sandblasted. The flagpole -- we may just sand that. 10 Trying to get a sandblaster up there in a lift, you 11 know, at 25 feet in the air, is going to be a little 12 difficult, so -- 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And so what about the 14 clean up part of it? 15 MR. EVANS: We're going to have tarps and 16 stuff down, you know, because we are using the 17 sandblaster so we're going to try to put tarps and try 18 to catch as much of the sand as we can. But, you know, 19 like -- again, we'll be up here and what we don't catch, 20 we're going to use a blower to get rid of it. 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: I guess my only concern 22 is are they going to hire a contractor that will have 23 appropriate insurance? You know, the liability is the 24 biggest concern here. I'm all for accepting this 25 donation, but are we clear that we're adequately 31 1 protected since we've already acknowledged it's 2 hazardous? 3 MR. EVANS: That -- we didn't discuss 4 whether he had insurance or not. So that -- 5 (Commissioner Letz leaving Court.) 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I'd say pending 7 that, that everybody's protected as part of the motion. 8 We can amend it that way. Cure that. 9 MR. EVANS: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Does that make sense? 11 JUDGE KELLY: Perfect. From insurance 12 coverage. Liability. Subject to insurance coverage 13 availability? 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. 15 JUDGE KELLY: That will be my motion. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 18 in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 19 And believe it or not, we just got to 9:31, 20 and we're calling timed items at 9:30, which is 1.6 21 consider, discuss and take appropriate action on the 22 request to use courthouse grounds for Memorial Day 23 event. Miss Sanchez. 24 MS. SANCHEZ: Good morning. So today's 25 memorial -- or this year's Memorial Day then will be May 32 1 29th. Requesting the use of the courthouse grounds with 2 electricity, the IT Department so they could record it, 3 and then the courthouse so we could use the restrooms 4 and have them open. 5 And also, we are way ahead of schedule this 6 year so I'm just going to give you an update. Judge 7 Harris will be our emcee this year. Posting of colors 8 will be Civil Air Patrol. Our guest speaker will be 9 General Robert Walters, who is retired Army. Colonel 10 Eychner(phonetic), retired Colonel Eychner(phonetic), 11 will play taps. Reading of the names -- 12 (Commissioner Letz present.) 13 MS. SANCHEZ: -- we're going to have Marine 14 Veteran Ryan Talley. Bagpipes will be played. And we 15 will hand out flags as well as poppies this year. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Have we utilized the 17 courthouse before with the restrooms and stuff? 18 MS. SANCHEZ: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. A deputy 19 would be here. Yes, sir. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. I move for 21 approval. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 24 approve the Memorial Day event, the use of courthouse 25 grounds. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 33 1 Opposed? Unanimous. 2 MS. SANCHEZ: Thank you. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. We've got Mark 4 Del Toro and Gary Noller here, and Vicki Marsh. 5 Item 1.7 consider, discuss and take 6 appropriate action to accept a Racial Profiling Report 7 from the 216th District Attorney's Office. 8 MS. FLORES: Good morning. 9 JUDGE KELLY: And for those of you that 10 don't know, this is routine. 11 MS. FLORES: Yes, it is. Just want to say 12 it's part of our policy in the DA's office that we don't 13 make traffic stops. That's a report we have to do 14 annually. That's required through TCOLE and we file an 15 exception. So that should be where it is right now, is 16 our exemption report. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 20 approve the racial profiling report from the 216th 21 District Attorney's office. Any discussion? Those in 22 favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 23 Item 1.8 consider, discuss, and take 24 appropriate action to accept the racial profiling report 25 from Constable Precinct 3. 34 1 MRS. GRINSTEAD: If we could just accept 2 this. Paul wasn't able to be here. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move we accept the 4 report. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 7 accept the racial profiling report from Constable 8 Precinct 3. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 9 Opposed? Unanimous. 10 Item 1.9 consider, discuss, and take 11 appropriate action to accept the racial profiling report 12 from Constable Precinct 1. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 16 approve. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. And 17 there's going to be one more to report later. But it's 18 timed later. 19 So on Item 1.10 consider, discuss and take 20 appropriate action to submit an application to the Texas 21 Division of Emergency Management to request an FY 2024 22 Hazardous Materials Commodity Flow Study. Ms. Putnam. 23 MS. PUTNAM: I am here for Dub Thomas. He 24 was not able to be here today. And so basically what 25 this is is an application to be a participant in a flow 35 1 study for hazardous or biological waste that could flow 2 through Texas counties. We have the I-10 corridor here 3 that people go through. So he's -- he's applying to 4 be -- our County to be a participant in the emergency 5 management planning. And if accepted, then we will 6 participate in their flow study. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So the commodities part 8 of that is -- is they're transporting -- 9 MS. PUTNAM: Anything -- 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- ammonia? 11 MS. PUTNAM: -- anything rail or highway 12 that would come through our County that is hazardous. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 14 MS. PUTNAM: They're doing a study all over 15 Texas and so counties are applying to be a part of that 16 study in their area. So we are applying to be a part of 17 the study. And if accepted, this will begin sometime -- 18 I believe we'll know more in March as to when those 19 applications are awarded to be a part of it. And there 20 is no match or financial responsible to the County. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 24 approve the TDEM hazardous material commodity flow study 25 grant application. And got a motion and a second? 36 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Those two. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Good. For those of you 3 that don't remember, when we had the big ice storm in 4 2021 -- yeah, I guess it was, and traffic came to a stop 5 on I-10. That hazardous material sat there in Kerr 6 County and we had to babysit it until we could finally 7 get that freeway opened back up and have it move 8 through. So this is something of vital importance to 9 Kerr County. 10 Okay. Any other discussion? Those in favor 11 say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 12 MS. PUTNAM: Thank you. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.11 consider, discuss, 14 and take appropriate action to partner with the City of 15 Kerrville to host a collection event for household 16 hazardous waste at the Hill Country Youth Event Center 17 on April 22, 2023. Commissioner Harris. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah, this is 19 something we have been doing before I even got here in 20 conjunction with the City. And it's well received. I 21 mean cars lineup and get rid of their paint and oil and 22 all other kinds of things. Tires and stuff. So I move 23 for approval. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 37 1 approve the hazardous waste material event in April. 2 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 3 Unanimous. 4 Okay. All of the timed items at 10 o'clock 5 we're going to move past because we're not 10 o'clock 6 yet. 7 So I'll move down to Item 1.18 consider, 8 discuss and take appropriate action to authorize copies 9 of the Kerr County's Subdivision and Manufactured Home 10 Rental Community Regulations be made for staff and 11 available to sell to the public. Commissioner Letz. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on the 13 agenda. We have the rules and they're online. But we 14 generally have hard copies, at least for members of the 15 Court and Charlie and others. And to me, it's a lot 16 easier to go through them and I think we can make copies 17 of it for the public to purchase. Whatever our cost is. 18 I mean, I think maybe we should get, I don't 19 know, 20, 25 made. Something like that. And whatever 20 the cost is, pass it on to the public and let them be 21 available. And if the Court doesn't want to do it then 22 I'll just pay to get my own done because I want a hard 23 copy. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah, I'm one of those 25 old fogies that needs to have a hard copy that you can 38 1 see, so -- 2 JUDGE KELLY: I think we'll probably need 3 more than 25. 4 MRS. DOWDY: Do you have any idea what the 5 cost is per copy -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 7 MRS. DOWDY: -- in order to pass it on to -- 8 pass the charges on to the public? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, we'll have to -- 10 JUDGE KELLY: We'll find out. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We'll find out when we 12 go out to -- you know. 13 MRS. DOWDY: All right. Just wondering. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Are we talking about 15 having them bound or anything? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think bound. I 17 think they can be in a notebook as far as I care. I 18 just think that we -- the last ones were in a notebook 19 and hole punched and dividers put in and whatnot. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. It doesn't have 21 to be fancy. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Doesn't have to be 23 fancy. Just has to be usable. And I think a hole punch 24 is a good option because we will be adding -- 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's true. 39 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- some additional 2 sheets. I think we've already added some. 3 JUDGE KELLY: We're going to do that at 10 4 o'clock. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Add that issue. So it 6 can be a notebook and send it out to get copies made, 7 hole punched and put in notebooks. I mean, it can be 8 pretty simple. It just seems that -- I would like a 9 copy and I would suspect other people would as well. 10 JUDGE KELLY: I think it's a good idea. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I do, too. Can we 12 just say that -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Charlie's over here. Do 14 you think it's a good idea? 15 MR. HASTINGS: It's a great idea. And we 16 can get with Office Max and put something together and 17 let you know what it would cost. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: How many pages -- do 20 you -- you have a hard copy right now, don't you, 21 Charlie? 22 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. Probably 140 23 pages, something like that. With all the exhibits and 24 everything in the back. It's somewhere around there. I 25 can't remember the exact number. 40 1 JUDGE KELLY: About three-quarters of an 2 inch thick. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 4 MR. HASTINGS: Yeah. But we can do 5 double-sided to cut down on the amount of paper. Give 6 it to Office Max. Put something together for you. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Charlie? 8 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. I knew I got here 9 too early. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Would members of the 11 public want to purchase a copy, or do they just get to 12 run their own, or what do you think? Should we just 13 get -- 14 MR. HASTINGS: We should have some available 15 for them to buy for a nominal fee. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, so like -- 17 MR. HASTINGS: Just pass along the cost. 18 Whatever it is. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Would 25 copies 20 be enough? 50 copies? 21 MR. HASTINGS: I think so. I think that's a 22 good start. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 25? 24 MR. HASTINGS: Yeah. Yes, sir. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, you know, if we 41 1 get too many, I mean, a year from now somebody's going 2 to step up for one. It's not like they're all going to 3 go out the door and say -- they're not going to go to 4 waste. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Close enough. He said 6 50, I said 25. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Go ahead and make a motion. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion we 9 authorize Road & Bridge to -- 10 MR. HASTINGS: Or Engineering. I think I've 11 got some money in my budget for this. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- or Engineering to 13 produce 25 copies of the subdivision rules in an unbound 14 version. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Will you second that? 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: I will second it. 17 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 18 second. 19 MR. HASTINGS: Now we've got it. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Technically, we should have a 21 motion and a second before we start talking about it. 22 But it was all good. 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: It just creates an 24 obligation even updated as we amend it to add pages 25 before somebody buys one from us. 42 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, we can do that 2 in house. I mean, you gotta pay to -- is this motion -- 3 we didn't set a price. It's depending on what it's -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Whatever the cost is, 5 it's pass the cost on per unit. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Actual cost. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. We're not 8 trying to make anything off of it. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We got a motion and a 10 second. Any other discussion? Those in favor say aye. 11 Opposed? Unanimous. 12 Item 1.19 consider, discuss and take 13 appropriate action to authorize the repair of damaged 14 roads due to the East Kerr County/Center Point 15 Wastewater Sewer Project. Commissioner Paces. 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, I think 17 Commissioner Letz actually put it on. But you know, as 18 I mentioned in my opening this is a serious issue. We 19 have had numerous meetings where we discussed the very 20 poor condition of many of the roads in the Center Point 21 area as a result of the sewer project. And prime 22 contractor at least for Phase Two is D Guerra and they 23 have basically been deficient in adhering to the 24 contract terms and making temporary repairs at least on 25 time. 43 1 So a notice of defective work has already 2 been issued by Tetra Tech, who's the project management 3 engineering firm. And I am pleased that D Guerra has 4 been doing some work. Of course, right now it's very 5 much weather dependent, but we do need to keep all the 6 pressure on that we can to get them to adhere to their 7 contract terms, which they've accepted. So this is the 8 first step. We may want to consider some other action 9 depending on how things are addressed in the next week 10 or so. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: In addition to that -- 12 and I put this on the agenda two weeks ago. And things 13 have progressed since then. Some. But at the same 14 time, you know, I'd almost like to get authority granted 15 to -- maybe Commissioner Paces and I -- to continue down 16 the road and talk with the County Attorney. If this -- 17 if things doesn't get fixed -- I mean, I hate waiting 18 two weeks all the time. It's at a point, you know, like 19 kind of authorize or ask Heather to look at the process 20 as to how we do it, whether we file against their bond, 21 if that's the process. Exactly how we do it. I know 22 Don Burger has been looking at it and Charlie's been 23 talking to Don as well. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What's the issue then? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The issue is they're not 44 1 fixing them. They're not following -- even the fixes 2 they're doing now is not what they're required to do 3 under the contract. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So it's when the work 5 order is turned in and the time lapse, are they -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They're not doing it. 7 They're just not doing it. They're required to put 12 8 inches -- 9 MR. HASTINGS: Eight. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- eight inches of cold 11 mix in all these cuts. They're throwing a little bit in 12 and it's popping out as soon as the -- whoever drives 13 over it. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So they're in breach of 15 the contract. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Yeah. They're in 17 breach of the contract. But it's a matter of -- you 18 know, it's a long process and we want to be able to move 19 down the road. I mean, Commissioner Paces and myself 20 both are at the point that I'm tired of getting phone 21 calls, he's tired of getting phone calls. We want the 22 roads fixed the way they are per the contract. And 23 whatever we need to do to enable that or to make that 24 happen, that's what I want. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now, are -- is it 45 1 temporary because they got to go back to it at all or -- 2 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- is it completed 4 work? 5 MR. HASTINGS: No. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. So there's the 7 issue, I'm guessing. So the cost associated with doing 8 it right when you've got to come back and dig it up 9 again. That, as a businessman, you're saying well, I 10 don't think I want to do that. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: It's not dig it up 12 again. In most cases it's not that they have to dig it 13 up again, it's that they have to come in and do a final 14 repair. The contractor for cost reasons would prefer to 15 mobilize that third party subcontractor one time to do 16 all the final road repairs. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Sure. Well, my nature 18 of the question is as they finish what's in the ground. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: In a lot of these areas 20 they have. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. In most areas, 22 yeah, they're getting pretty close. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. So if they 24 haven't finished within the ground, it's a bad thing. 25 You don't want to put your final road on top of it. But 46 1 if they're just not doing -- on the finished work, then 2 they're in breach of contract on that. On the other one 3 it would be a little fuzzy, I would think. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, it's not fuzzy. 5 It's -- they're required under the contract, if they cut 6 the road, they've got to fill it with eight inches of 7 cold mix material. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: And we actually -- last 9 week we explored the contract with Tetra Tech. And 10 there are two areas of the contract, Section 14, the 11 general terms and conditions, and also Section 16 12 that -- that give us room to maneuver here. You know. 13 I -- I think again, we'll have that discussion with 14 Judge Kelly tomorrow afternoon, and we'll discuss the 15 pros and cons of either action. But there is the 16 possibility that Road & Bridge could take this over and 17 complete it on their own if the County chooses to do 18 that. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Or hire -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or hire an outside 21 contractor. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Exactly. And then you 23 hire somebody outside and we're going to bill you for 24 it. That's what we're looking at? We're going forward? 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: That's one possibility. 47 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. And people 2 realize there will be inconveniences. But they're fed 3 up with it and I don't blame them. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: And this is 5 pre-liability. I mean, people's vehicles are being tore 6 up. And you know, they're further degrading our roads 7 where there wasn't work done because people are driving 8 on the edges because they're trying to avoid some of 9 these potholes in problem areas and that's causing 10 further damage to our roads where they weren't damaged. 11 MR. HASTINGS: I'd just like to add that 12 what has taken place to date in the last few weeks is 13 that our project engineer, who's the design engineer, 14 Tetra Tech Engineering, Don Burger, has sent 15 notification that there are some deficiencies, and that 16 has already started a -- to get the ball rolling, so to 17 speak, so that if we're really in a bind and for some 18 reason we need to run out there and go fix some roads 19 because we just can't wait for the contractor, we can. 20 The other thing, I think that if you all 21 were to give some head nods, the contract already has in 22 there that I, as the County Engineer, have the authority 23 to send a letter to one of their representatives from D 24 Guerra and start making some requests or some demands. 25 I think what we don't like to do is to send -- for me to 48 1 send off a letter like that without the Court having 2 some consensus that that's okay to do. 3 I think if the Court today said, you know, 4 we're at a point where, you know, if Commissioner Letz 5 or Commissioner Paces says, Charlie, you need to send 6 that letter today, we would like for the rest of the 7 Court to say that that's okay to do that. I think 8 that's what we're really looking for. 9 What we're really looking for is, like 10 Commissioner Letz said, we don't want to wait another 11 two weeks before we have another Commissioners' Court 12 meeting or call a special meeting to -- to get the -- a 13 bigger ball rolling than the small one that's rolling 14 right now. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So does this to have to 16 be a certified letter or e-mail? 17 MR. HASTINGS: I always send it certified. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Which slows things 19 down, you know. 20 MR. HASTINGS: Well, I'd send both. I'd 21 send it multiple ways. E-mail and regular mail and 22 certified. But the certified so that we've got it in 23 the record. 24 JUDGE KELLY: In all fairness, let me put 25 this in perspective. This is a contract that there are 49 1 contractual obligations that are not being fulfilled. 2 And the contract provides for notice of default in order 3 to try to get it fixed. 4 You may recall a couple years ago they sent 5 us a notice terminating the whole contract because we 6 breached the contract in not being able to timely pay 7 them. And I called them in, and I set them down, and I 8 told them I didn't want to ever receive another notice 9 of default -- a notice of termination without sitting 10 down and talking about it. And we have faithfully sat 11 and discussed, what Charlie, nine or ten items? 12 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Ten, 12 items. To keep them 14 on track. And part of the problem is, that if they 15 default and we terminate them -- they have defaulted. 16 We sent -- that's why they got sent the notice of 17 defective work. But if they -- if they walk the job 18 then we've got to figure out a way to fix it. And 19 that's a tightrope to walk. We're getting close to the 20 end. 21 As an old construction litigator, I'll tell 22 you, that's where the rubber meets the hood on a project 23 and I don't know -- and we do have it bonded. So that 24 we do have the money available to fix it if we need to. 25 But I want to approach this -- my -- personally, I've 50 1 served as, what, a mediator pretty much. 2 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 3 JUDGE KELLY: To try to keep everybody at 4 the table, listen to the complaints and see if we can 5 find solutions. They've been cooperative. They've 6 tried. This is at a critical juncture that needs to be 7 addressed. That's why we have the meeting scheduled for 8 tomorrow. And so I suppose what we're authorizing, are 9 we authorizing negotiations with them or we're 10 authorizing it we're actually going to repair it 11 ourselves or -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I don't know. 13 What's the -- 14 JUDGE KELLY: If we terminate them -- 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't want to 16 terminate them. I want to -- but I want -- they're 17 using a subcontractor for this portion of it. 18 JUDGE KELLY: I know. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And their subcontractor 20 has lots of excuses and lots of false promises. I mean, 21 terminating the contract, I agree, is the worst thing to 22 do. We don't want to do that. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. We want to avoid that. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, we want to avoid 25 that. To me, the issue would be if their subcontractor 51 1 can't do it, then we need to hire another contractor to 2 make the repairs. And it'll be paid out of the 3 contract. That's -- that's the solution that I see. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: And Section 14 of the 5 contract actually gives us the right not to terminate 6 the contract, but to take over certain scope of work 7 within the contract. So I think that's probably the 8 most likely route that we would go. Let them continue 9 to do the work on the sewer mains and connections, but 10 if we wanted to do something it would be taking over the 11 scope that repairs the roads. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. And they would 13 probably be happy with that. 14 JUDGE KELLY: I don't know. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because it's their 16 subcontractor that's -- 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: They wouldn't be happy 18 about the unknown -- you know, how much -- 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The cost part. That's 20 the -- anyway. So -- 21 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Anyway, Commissioner 23 Paces and I -- we're in agreement as to where we'd like 24 to go worst case and that's the worst case so that's, 25 you know, use the definition in the contract. My 52 1 question is, how do we keep it moving? If it's to 2 authorize Commissioner Paces and I, or to authorize the 3 County Judge? Whatever. Charlie? I just want to make 4 sure that roads start getting repaired on a timely basis 5 per the contract. 6 JUDGE KELLY: So your motion is what? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't know. 8 JUDGE KELLY: They don't get X number of 9 days? 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: There's another -- you 11 know, a lot of places they lay down the heavy metal over 12 those deserts in the road. So -- 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: Sheet steel. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- they could do that 15 and then nobody has to repair it immediately. And, you 16 know, if -- if you -- 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: It would be a lot of 18 steel. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- talk to them about 20 that. Well, if you're talking about that, that's going 21 to be a headache if you require that. But you -- what 22 you're trying to do is expedite. And there's not really 23 a way to do that right here. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, we could -- we 25 could expedite the clause in the contract but that may 53 1 cause other problems. And I -- 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, right. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- acknowledge that. But 4 I will say -- I will probably -- because there is a 5 meeting tomorrow, to wait and put this on our next 6 agenda and see if we can get further down the road. And 7 at that next meeting, I think we will have a more 8 definitive answer what direction. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Well, let me try my hand at a 10 motion. I move that we authorize Commissioner Paces, 11 Letz, and myself to negotiate with the contractor, 12 D Guerra, which we have scheduled for tomorrow, and -- 13 MRS. STEBBINS: It should be two of you. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Don't need three, only 15 two. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Do what? 17 MRS. STEBBINS: It should be two of you. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Oh, so two of us. So just you 19 and I. You're not going? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. But authorize us to 22 negotiate with them regarding potential solutions to 23 bring back to this Court. Because we've got to explore 24 that and be able to commit to them what we'll recommend 25 back to the Court. 54 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I'll second that. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Got a motion and a 3 second. Any other discussion? 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That people be patient. 5 It's a headache when the roads are torn up. But you can 6 see that we're working on it and trying to get it fixed. 7 You can only do what you can do. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They were patient in 9 September. 10 MR. HASTINGS: Yeah, it's gone. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Exactly. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But you can see what 13 the problems are. I mean, it does help when you 14 understand what the issue is. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 16 JUDGE KELLY: But the worst thing that can 17 happen is for us to quit talking. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, I agree. Okay. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So those in favor say 20 aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 21 Let's take a five minute break and we'll 22 come back at ten o'clock. 23 (Recess.) 24 JUDGE KELLY: Court will come back to order. 25 It's time now for the 10 o'clock docket, timed docket. 55 1 The first item is 1.12, which is a public hearing for 2 proposed changes, additions and/or clarifications to 3 Kerr County's Subdivision and Manufactured Home Rental 4 Community Regulations. Mr. Hastings, he is here. 5 MR. HASTINGS: Public Hearing. 6 JUDGE KELLY: It's a Public Hearing. Is 7 there anybody that wants to address the Court on our new 8 subdivision rules -- revised subdivision rules? Very 9 well. Then I will adjourn that meeting and we'll move 10 on to the next timed item, which is 1.13 consider, 11 discuss and take appropriate action for the Court to 12 adopt Addendums 1, 2 and 3 to Kerr County's Subdivision 13 and Manufactured Home Rental Community Regulations. 14 Mr. Hastings. 15 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. Addendum 16 No. 1 will add the word "folded" into Page 43, 6.02.B. 17 The Developer shall submit eight (8) folded prints. 18 It's also on Page 44, 6.03. Same thing. 19 Eight (8) folded prints. 20 Page 45, 6.03.C.3. Folded copies. 21 Page 84, Appendix H, No. 6. Submit eight 22 (8) folded copies. The word "folded" is being added in 23 to each one of these. 24 And Page 106, Exhibit R, under the Survey 25 Requirements, (viii), eight (8) folded copies. Instead 56 1 of six copies it would be eight (8) folded copies. 2 These are little things that are going to 3 make life a lot easier for everybody. 4 Addendum No. 2 is to add the word "local" on 5 Page 52, 6.08.A. Statutory and Local Plat Exceptions. 6 We do have a local plat exception that the Court adopted 7 in 2016. It was omitted erroneously in the subdivision 8 regulations. 9 So on Page 54, here's how that reads. We'd 10 like to add in the -- this entire what I'm about to 11 read: 6.08.A(9) Adjacent Property Transfer. The 12 County need not require the owner of a tract of land 13 located outside the limits of a municipality who divides 14 the tract into two or more parts to have a plat of the 15 Subdivision prepared if: (A) one part is to be retained 16 by the Owner, and another part or parts are transferred 17 to an adjacent landowner; and (b) no part or parts of 18 either tract are in an existing platted subdivision; and 19 (c) the number of tracts does not increase; and (d) the 20 Owner does not lay out a part of the tract described by 21 Section 232.001(a)(3) of the Texas Local Government 22 Code. 23 We're asking to add that entire section in. 24 So that's Addendum No. 2. 25 And Addendum No. 3 is to change the size of 57 1 the survey to 24 inches buy 36 inches. That's on Page 2 106, Exhibit R, under Surveyor Requirements. Right now 3 it says to prepare a reproducible mylar that's 21 inches 4 by 26 inches. This is for the Manufactured Housing 5 Rental Community Regulations. There is a requirement to 6 turn in a development plan, and that is a very odd size. 7 Nobody uses that anymore. We would like it changed to 8 26 inch -- 24 inches by 36 inches. 9 Those are all three Addendums. We just held 10 a Public Hearing. Nobody spoke. We would like for the 11 Court to adopt each one of these. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 15 approve all three of the proposed Addendums, which one 16 deals with folded copies, one deals with local 17 exception, and one deals with the size of the survey 18 mylar. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Basically just editing 20 and cleaning up. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Right. It's just called 22 tweaking. This is house cleaning. Found out we need to 23 catch up with stuff. Okay. Any other discussion? 24 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 25 Item 1.14 consider, discuss and take 58 1 appropriate action to open and receive bids for 2023 2 road reconstruction project, read bids aloud and refer 3 bids to the County Engineer for tabulation and award to 4 the lowest qualified bidder. Mr. Hastings. 5 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. This is the 2023 6 road reconstruction project listing of the 7 reconstruction of Skyline Drive located in the Center 8 Point area, precinct 2. Plans and specifications have 9 been prepared by the County Engineer for the 10 reconstruction of approximately 1.0 to 2.2 miles of 11 Skyline Drive, depending on these bids that we open. 12 Let's see how far we can go. The bid package has been 13 broken down into a one mile base bid and quarter mile 14 additive alternates up to a total of 2.2 miles, Precinct 15 2. 16 What I'd like to have the -- as Commissioner 17 Letz, I believe, is opening the bids and if he'll read 18 them aloud, we'll scribe everything down. We will 19 double-check all the bids. We've got a computer and a 20 laptop. We'll leave and come back to the Court later 21 today. Hopefully, it won't take us very long to verify 22 the bids. And if we can find a low qualified bidder, we 23 would like to get that awarded today, if possible; 24 otherwise, we may have to push it two weeks from now. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The first bid we have is 59 1 from Dirt Boys, Inc. out of San Antonio. The one mile 2 base bid is $127,785.05; one and a quarter miles is 3 $151,471.23; 1.5 miles is $175,107.41; 1.75 miles is 4 $198,843.59; 2.0 miles is $222,529.77; and 2.2 miles is 5 $242,083.53. 6 Next is from Brannan Paving out of Victoria. 7 Base bid for one mile is $214,598.87; one and a quarter 8 miles is $267,263.51; for 1.5 miles its $319,928.15; one 9 and three-quarter miles is $372,592.79; 2.0 miles is 10 $425,257.43; and for the full 2.2 miles is $461,861.79. 11 This is from Fuller Excavation and Sitework 12 out of Bulverde. Base bid 1.0 miles is $219,727.05; one 13 and a quarter mile is $255,191.78; one-half miles is 14 $290,656.51; one and three-quarters miles is 15 $326,121.24; 2.0 miles is $361,585.97; and then for the 16 full 2.2 miles is $390,863.33. 17 The next is from Allen Keller Company out of 18 Fredericksburg. Base bid for one mile, $271,009.70; one 19 and a quarter miles is $320,705.50; one and a half miles 20 is $370,401.30; one and three-quarters miles is 21 $420,097.10; two miles is $469,792.90; and 2.2 miles is 22 $510,818.50. 23 Next is from J3 out of Comfort. Base bid 24 for one mile is $258,605; one and a quarter mile is 25 $313,464; one and a half miles is $368,323; one and 60 1 three-quarters miles is $423,182; 2.0 miles is $478,041; 2 and 2.2 miles is $523,329. 3 From LCR Transport, I'm not sure where 4 they're from -- out of Bulverde, base bid for one mile 5 is $323,826; one and a quarter miles is $381,912; one 6 and a half miles is $439,998; one and three-quarters 7 miles is $498,084; two miles is $556,170; and 2.2 miles 8 is $604,122. 9 And that's it. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. They're open and read 11 the bids and now we're going to refer them to the County 12 Engineer for tabulation and report back to us hopefully 13 before we adjourn. 14 Moving on, the next item on the agenda is 15 Item 1.15, which is a Public Hearing for revision of 16 plat for Verde Creek Estates, Lots 6-7. 17 It's a public hearing. Is there anyone who 18 would like to address the Court with regard to the plat 19 for Verde Creek Estates, Lots 6-7? 20 There being none, we will adjourn and move 21 on to Item 1.16, which is to consider, discuss and take 22 appropriate action for the Court to approve a plat for 23 Turtle Creek Ranches Tracts 301 D1 and 301 D2. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 61 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We've got a motion and 3 a second to approve. Mr. Hastings, you want to address 4 it? 5 MR. HASTINGS: I like this. This is better. 6 I've already presented this before, about six weeks ago. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's all right here. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Any discussion? Those in 9 favor say aye. Opposed? It carries. 10 Last timed item for ten o'clock is Item 1.17 11 consider, discuss and take appropriate action for the 12 Court to approve a final plat for YO Ranch Headquarters 13 Subdivision and accept Letter of Credit No. 922001116952 14 issued by Cadence Bank in the amount of $495,888.00 as a 15 financial guarantee for the associated construction 16 improvements. Mr. Hastings. 17 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. This 18 subdivision proposes 25 large tracts, all of them are 19 over 100 acres each, with two new private roads. One of 20 them is going to be called Zebra, the other one will be 21 called Exotic. Access to the subdivision will be off of 22 YO Ranch Road. 23 A portion of the subdivision is in the 24 floodplain and must meet requirements for development 25 within the floodplain. A preliminary plat for this 62 1 proposed subdivision was first approved on May the 10th, 2 2021, Order No. 38713, and it was extended on May the 3 9th, 2022, Order No. 39307. 4 The developer has been working on this. 5 There is a contractor that's been building the roads. 6 So they have a fair amount of the work completed. But 7 the remainder of the work is estimated at $495,888. 8 County Engineer requests the Court approve 9 the final plat for YO Ranch Headquarters Subdivision and 10 accept Letter of Credit No. 922001116952 issued by 11 Cadence Bank, in the amount of $495,888 as a financial 12 guarantee for the associated construction improvements. 13 Precinct 4. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 17 approve the final plat approval for YO Ranch 18 Headquarters Subdivision and accept the Letter of 19 Credit. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 20 Opposed? Unanimous. 21 Okay. Skipping down to item 1.20, which is 22 to consider, discuss and take appropriate action 23 concerning the acceptance of the 2022 Kerr County 24 Sheriff's Office racial profiling report. 25 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes. This is just a normal 63 1 yearly deal. I'm just looking for the Court to accept 2 our racial profiling report. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Move for approval. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 6 second to approve the Sheriff's Racial Profiling Report. 7 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 8 Unanimous. 9 Item 1.21 consider, discuss and take 10 appropriate action to approve a $600.00 donation from 11 the Kerr County Federal Credit Union for reimbursement 12 of the purchase of six Dell 24-inch monitors to line 13 item 72-370-531 to be transferred and paid out of line 14 item 72-562-569. Sheriff Leitha. 15 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes, sir. I'm just looking 16 for y'all's approval to be able to accept that money to 17 put in the line items. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So move. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 21 approve the donation from Kerr County Federal Credit 22 Union. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How do you get everyone 24 to donate you money all the time? 25 SHERIFF LEITHA: We do a good job. 64 1 (Laughter.) 2 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 3 Any other discussion? Those in favor say aye. 4 Opposed? Unanimous. 5 Item 1.22 consider, discuss, and take 6 appropriate action to approve the Interlocal Agreement 7 between Kerr County and San Saba County for jail 8 services. Sheriff. 9 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes. I'm looking for 10 y'all's approval to be able to sign this. I had a visit 11 with the Auditor just so we're transparent to the 12 public. Our jail count has went down. We normally used 13 to be around 220, 225. We're around 175 to 180. What's 14 happening is Medina County and Kendall County are our 15 two biggest customers. Their new jails are getting 16 ready to open soon so our count is going down. Their 17 putting less and less. 18 So what we do, we're reaching out to other 19 counties to be able to pick up our jail count. And I 20 think with that, in addition with the Court's opening 21 up, I think we'll be able to pick back up. But we are 22 monitoring that. So I'm just looking for the approval 23 for the Judge to be able to sign this. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 65 1 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 2 approve the jail contract with San Saba County. Any 3 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 4 Unanimous. 5 Item 1.23 consider, discuss and take 6 appropriate action to approve adding a temporary 7 position of Land/Mobile/Radio Project Manager for the 8 duration of the communication project. Sheriff. 9 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes. This one might take a 10 few more minutes. I'm looking for the Court's approval 11 to grant me this temporary position. Kind of explain. 12 We're starting our meetings this week, Wednesday and 13 Thursday, with Motorola. Their project manager will be 14 coming down, Wednesday's a half day, Thursday's an 15 all-day meeting and they'll be visiting the sites. 16 What we've been talking to the Court about, 17 whether it's been Motorola or LCRA, is the County 18 providing a project manager for this position. I have 19 worked with HR, it's been very good. County Attorney, 20 we've had several meetings about this. We've visited 21 with the Auditor about it. And we came up with a 22 temporary position for not to exceed 18 months or the 23 term of the job. The fees are in here. 24 I am requesting this be paid out of ARPA 25 funds. And we have spoken with GrantWorks, I believe it 66 1 was Laurie Gillson -- Gillson. This is an item that can 2 be paid for that. She actually recommends that because 3 it is such a big project, it's seven million dollars, 4 right under seven million dollars, kind of will 5 represent us and work with GrantWorks on a regular 6 basis. 7 You know, it's not only going to be with us, 8 we'll be working with Animal Services, the Volunteer 9 Fire Department, and also our Constables. So kind of 10 looking for your approval. We felt that this was the 11 best way to go with a temporary position. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So we have a MOU with 13 the -- we're on 124, right? 14 SHERIFF LEITHA: Excuse me? 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Item 1.24? 16 JUDGE KELLY: 1.23. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 1.23. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's why it didn't 19 make any sense. I was looking at the wrong one. Never 20 mind. 21 JUDGE KELLY: We need a motion and a second 22 to approve it. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion to 24 approve. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 67 1 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 2 approve hiring a project manager for 18 months -- not to 3 exceed 18 months. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, I'll make kind of 5 just a general comment. I mean, I've visited with the 6 sheriff and HR a lot about this. It's that whether you 7 hire as a -- as an employee or as a consultant. And 8 because of the situation, this is cleaner in my mind. 9 So it -- you know, there's -- we need to have a project 10 manager. That's clear. It's just how we fund it and 11 how we treat it, and this is the easiest way it seems to 12 me. 13 JUDGE KELLY: So this is as a consultant 14 or -- 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is an employee. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Temporary employee? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Temporary employee. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Now I'm looking at the 19 County Attorney and I'm looking at the HR director. I 20 know we have GrantWorks approval. I remember some of 21 the earlier discussions. We've got all the problems 22 solved? 23 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. Yes, sir. 24 JUDGE KELLY: That's all I want to know. 25 MRS. STEBBINS: And the Sheriff has worked 68 1 with us and GrantWorks and HR and the Auditor's Office 2 to make sure that -- 3 MS. WILLIAMS: We've all worked together. 4 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes. This is the best. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Y'all do the labor pains. 6 MRS. DOWDY: Temporary full-time? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Part-time. 8 SHERIFF LEITHA: No, I believe the title was 9 temporary, is that not correct? 10 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes. 11 SHERIFF LEITHA: It's temporary because of 12 the benefits. 13 MRS. WILLIAMS: Yes. It's for a set amount 14 of hours, which is 1,000 hours in that 18-month period. 15 It cannot be exceeded within that time. Because it's 16 for a specific project for a set amount of time. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We've got a motion for 18 temporary position for project manager for the 19 communication project with the Sheriff's Office. Any 20 other discussion? 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. Just -- I 22 certainly agree that we need a project manager for a 23 seven million dollar project that's highly technical and 24 none of us present have a clue about, so I think that's 25 great. 69 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Speak for yourself. 2 (Laughter.) 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: None of us here have a 4 clue. 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: However, I don't like 6 the source of funding for it being ARPA. So I think 7 I've already expressed my concerns about the ARPA 8 funding. And I'll kind of leave it at that. And as a 9 result I'll be abstaining. 10 SHERIFF LEITHA: I totally understand. 11 JUDGE KELLY: And I'll just remind the 12 public that this is under the $10 million claw back 13 section that we don't have to pay this back no matter 14 what. It's all good. 15 SHERIFF LEITHA: Great. Thanks. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. No other discussion? 17 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Abstain? 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: Aye. 19 JUDGE KELLY: So it's four, zero, one. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yes, sir. 21 JUDGE KELLY: 1.24 consider, discuss and 22 take appropriate action to ratify and confirm an MOU, 23 Memorandum of Understanding, with the Texas Department 24 of Public Safety for the Texas Statewide 25 Interoperability Channel Plan as required for the Lone 70 1 Star Grant. 2 MR. GAIGE: Yes. For Operation Lone Star, 3 the grant that we received, part of that grant in our 4 budget is some communications equipment. There's some 5 radios and -- outfitted for a patrol unit that's on 6 there. So we just need to enter into the Statewide 7 Interoperability -- we -- we're currently interoperable 8 with the State of Texas, this just extends the MOU 9 for -- it's a condition of the grant that we just need 10 to meet. So just to authorize the Judge to sign that 11 MOU. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 13 JUDGE KELLY: We got a motion. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Got a second. Open for 16 discussion. Any comments? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can you explain it a 18 little bit more, Scott? 19 MR. GAIGE: Yes, sir. So as far as radio 20 communications, so it's just a condition under Operation 21 Lone Star that if we buy communications equipment that 22 it allow our -- the State of Texas radio channels to be 23 programmed into our radios. We currently have that. So 24 it allows that other agencies that are operating on the 25 operation, they're able to come in. We're able to go to 71 1 a unified channel and effectively communicate with 2 those, so troopers come in. Other agencies come in. We 3 are able to go to those channels and operate. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Thank you. 5 MR. GAIGE: Yes, sir. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 7 in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 8 We've got a timed item at 10:45. We'll wait 9 until we get to 10:45. So we'll move on to Item 1.26 10 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action regarding 11 Magistrate position. Commissioner Letz. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on the agenda 13 mainly because we talked about it, I don't know, a 14 couple months ago and nothing ever happened. And Judge 15 Mitchell came to me and said that this really needs to 16 be solved and found out it was -- of the judges in total 17 were kind of working on it and the biggest obstacle was 18 finding a location and an office for the person and the 19 Sheriff has found an office in his department, which 20 used to be the library, I believe. And that solves that 21 problem. 22 And by -- so basically it's on the agenda 23 for us to proceed with advertising for this position. 24 It's in the budget. We're not in -- well, we're in 25 jeopardy of not being in compliance with the State 72 1 mandate on keeping track of all the stuff that goes into 2 the Magistrate files -- or someone else can go into the 3 details of it. 4 But I talked to Judge Mitchell a lot about 5 it. She strongly feels that we need this position. I 6 think the District Judges and County Court at Law Judge 7 also thinks this is an important position because there 8 are some severe liability if we don't keep their files 9 updated of people that are out on bonds. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And the issue was, as I 11 remember it originally, was whether or not they could 12 maintain it themselves, the four J.P.'s. So -- and they 13 thought at first -- it was -- it was a divided opinion. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So we still don't have 16 consensus on this. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But the records do have 19 to be kept and it doesn't matter if we have somebody 20 else, a new person to keep them or not, they have to be 21 kept. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And that's from the 24 last legislature. We've got another one two years 25 later. They've been keeping the record, though, haven't 73 1 they? I don't think we're out of compliance in that 2 regard. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not sure. I mean, I 4 can't answer that because I don't -- 5 JUDGE KELLY: I've been told by the District 6 Judges that if we are in compliance it's by a thread. 7 I'm not telling you that we're not in compliance, but 8 they are treading water as fast as they can to try to 9 stay up. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sheriff, where is this 11 room that you -- 12 SHERIFF LEITHA: Okay. Judge, I don't know 13 if you remember the spare territory to give them space, 14 but I think that was a big issue before. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Sure. 16 SHERIFF LEITHA: But what we're able to 17 do -- it's the law library. It's now available because 18 now the inmates are given a tablet and the law library 19 is on that tablet. So we've got a nice office. The 20 door closes. So I mean it's perfect. All I can tell 21 you, I mean, it has a built-in alluminum kind of 22 credenza. It will need, you know, depending on who's 23 hired, a desk and a computer and stuff like that. But 24 it's a good office. It closes. It's in there and I 25 think it's a perfect fix for the whole project. 74 1 JUDGE KELLY: What we did the last time when 2 we talked about this was I went out to KCSO and we 3 walked the entire building from the Sheriff's Office and 4 the jail. And we went across the parking lot and the 5 annex. And we walked that. And Judge Hoyne still wants 6 his extra room. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So it seems to me that, 8 you know, the problem was there was no place to put the 9 person. And I think there's not unanimous agreement 10 necessarily under -- by the J.P.'s anyway, but there is, 11 I think, more consensus is it's a good idea. And 12 needed. 13 JUDGE KELLY: And it's a mandate. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. So it's gotta be 15 done. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And it's unfunded. 17 JUDGE KELLY: We beat that drum all the 18 time. And people ask us what the consequences are going 19 to be and I have to tell them, I really don't know but 20 the potential is we could get all state funding cut off. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the question I have 22 is I don't know who does the interviewing and the 23 hiring. I don't -- I mean it's unclear as to me as to 24 who this personal reports to. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, shouldn't the 75 1 J.P.'s meet on that and decide? Or should the four of 2 them interview this person? Because they're all going 3 to have questions. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Exactly. 5 JUDGE KELLY: The Magistrate is going to be 6 a Kerr County employee. And we do not have -- we don't 7 have anybody to supervise them, so it falls to us. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. But for the 9 hiring part of it, I would think that -- they're going 10 to have specific questions that I know I'm not aware of 11 what to ask. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Well, that's going to be part 13 of the process. 14 MRS. STEBBINS: You could get input from 15 them before you all interview them on a list of 16 questions maybe that they have for this person. But 17 they are -- are your employee. 18 JUDGE KELLY: I'm good with having the 19 J.P.'s sit in on whatever the interviews are and 20 participate actively and even sit in Executive Session 21 with us to help us select this person. But the ultimate 22 supervision -- the ultimate selection and the ultimate 23 supervision has got to be right here. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 25 MRS. STEBBINS: I wouldn't recommend it -- 76 1 having all the people in Executive Session but -- 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 3 SHERIFF LEITHA: Judge, we'd be happy to do 4 a background if y'all want us to. 5 JUDGE KELLY: With the County Attorney's 6 approval. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Naturally. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I guess I'll make 9 a motion that we authorize the HR Department to post the 10 job opening, at least get that part of the process 11 going. And, you know, I don't know how -- I mean, I 12 have no idea how many applicants we're going to get for 13 this position and so leave it open for 30 days and see 14 what we have? 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It's basically a clerk 16 type position. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Would the Sheriff's 19 Department need to have any input on this, Sheriff? 20 SHERIFF LEITHA: No, we'll just be working 21 with them, just like we do with the J.P.'s. But now, I 22 don't know if it's necessarily a clerk. Heather, it's 23 -- it'll be more like a Magistrate, right? 24 MRS. STEBBINS: It's still like a 25 Magistrate. I believe it's a legislative -- 77 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, it's a bunch of 2 paperwork is all I know. 3 MRS. STEBBINS: And they'll still have to 4 Magistrate the people who come like -- just like the 5 J.P.'s do and the City Judges do. It will be an 8:00 to 6 5:00 position that's there at the jail, so that they can 7 do that all day long. Instead of what's happening now 8 is they're coming in in the morning and just spending 9 several hours of the day there and that's split between 10 our J.P.'s and the City Judge. So they're on a 11 five-week rotation. So they'll still do that. But 12 they'll be available to do it all day long. So it'll 13 save the County on meals, it'll get people magistrated 14 quicker sometimes and throughout the day instead of just 15 the four, five, or six hours they're doing in the 16 morning. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is it needed to be a 18 full time? 19 JUDGE KELLY: The J.P.'s tell me that it is. 20 And it is the intent of the J.P. that they be freed up 21 to do their other judicial duties and not have to 22 magistrate as much as they've been magistrating. So 23 this will be a magistrate, but they will also have the 24 specific responsibility and the job description to do 25 the data input to satisfy the statutory requirement. 78 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's the part I was 2 talking about. 3 JUDGE KELLY: That's the time consuming 4 part. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So there are -- the 6 J.P.'s have all said that they do after-hours transfer. 7 So if this is just an 8:00 to 5:00 job, is that going to 8 have -- are they going to do it themselves after hours 9 where necessary? 10 JUDGE KELLY: This is hearsay. But I've 11 talked to the J.P.'s and the J.P.'s see this as this 12 will be the full-time magistrate, Monday through Friday, 13 that is there at the jail, that will do the day-in, 14 day-out magistrate. Then they will take over for the 15 after hours and work them, and they have their own 16 system of how they do that and who's on call. 17 SHERIFF LEITHA: Correct. 18 JUDGE KELLY: When the jurisdiction of J.P. 19 Court went from 10,000 to $20,000, the dockets have 20 increased exponentially. So they have a lot of other 21 work that they need to be doing other than just 22 magistrate. And magistrating has become a halftime job 23 for them and it really just needs to be a part of it. 24 MRS. STEBBINS: And I -- I need to correct 25 something I said earlier. The legislation says that the 79 1 judges of the district in statutory County Courts in 2 Kerr County by unanimous vote may appoint the magistrate 3 as authorized by the Commissioners' Court of Kerr 4 County. So y'all have created the position. Those 5 three judges will appoint the person and then it will 6 still be your -- your employee. So that saves a little 7 bit of that. And they'll -- that saves a little bit 8 of -- 9 JUDGE KELLY: So they hire them. Do they -- 10 can they supervise them or do we supervise them? Who 11 supervises them? 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Keep reading. 13 MRS. STEBBINS: Yeah. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Can it be delegated? 15 MRS. STEBBINS: So the authorized 16 magistrate's position can be eliminated by a majority 17 vote of the Commissioners' Court in Kerr County. It 18 feels like they appoint them and y'all supervise -- 19 they're still a Kerr County employee. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 21 MRS. STEBBINS: It could be -- I remember 22 having some conversations about this when y'all were 23 discussing that, and it didn't seem like -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: Let me talk to the judges, and 25 then report back to the Court. I think -- I think if 80 1 they will do it, we probably -- if we can legally 2 delegate it to them. I mean as it is now, our District 3 Judges supervise Tanya, she's a County employee. Her -- 4 her role. So there is precedent for that. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, my motion is just 6 to post it for 30 days, and then we can decide how we're 7 going to handle this part once the resumes come in. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'll second that. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Very good. Got a motion and a 10 second to post the magistrate position. Any discussion? 11 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 12 Item 1.27 consider, discuss, and take 13 appropriate action regarding the new county website. 14 I put this on the Agenda two weeks ago. 15 Clint came. I'm going to keep pushing this until 16 something happens. I have worked with Lisa Walter, 17 who's our part-time PR Director. And I know she's 18 conferred with -- with you, Commissioner Belew, to try 19 to take point for us and head it up making sure we get 20 this website up and running as soon as possible. 21 And I discussed with her the possibility of 22 being the permanent point person for the Court on this 23 project. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That makes sense to me. 25 JUDGE KELLY: I know. And -- 81 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, a lot of this 2 falls on her. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Most of the notices, she's the 4 one handling it. She does the press release then let 5 her be the one that makes sure that it gets put up on 6 the website. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I agree. 8 JUDGE KELLY: So that's -- I don't know if 9 there's any action to take other than just to, I guess, 10 ratify my request for her to assist working with Clint. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, where are we as 12 far as going live? 13 JUDGE KELLY: I think we're -- I think we're 14 stalled in the IT department right now. And we need to 15 get -- 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Bruce? 17 JUDGE KELLY: -- we need to get some 18 traction. 19 MR. MOTHERAL: We are ready to go. 20 JUDGE KELLY: If you're ready to go and 21 Clint's ready to go, she's ready to go -- 22 MR. MOTHERAL: Yeah. 23 JUDGE KELLY: -- in two weeks, I want the 24 grand opening. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Be brave and how great 82 1 it is, right? 2 JUDGE KELLY: Absolutely. Good. Good work. 3 MR. MOTHERAL: We are ready. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Good work. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You don't know what 6 you're getting yourself into. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's a good question. 8 Bruce, when will it be live then? 9 MR. MOTHERAL: We're working with Lisa to 10 pick a date so all the newspapers can be notified ahead 11 of time. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So within the next week? 13 MR. MOTHERAL: Could be. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Should be. 15 MR. MOTHERAL: Should be. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: She needs to see what 17 all needs to be done and get her arms around the thing. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Lisa, where are you on 19 all this? 20 MRS. WALTER: He's the one with the magic 21 keys. 22 MR. MOTHERAL: Yeah, we're ready to go. All 23 I've got to do is redirect the -- the source of the -- 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: How about tomorrow? 25 JUDGE KELLY: Everyone be forewarned. If 83 1 we're not up and running by the time we have another 2 regular Commissioners' Court meeting, I'm going to be 3 standing and screaming. 4 MRS. WALTER: We don't want that. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Get a good YouTube 6 video out if it though. 7 (Laughter.) 8 JUDGE KELLY: We've put too much time and 9 money in this. It needs -- it needs to roll out. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Without a doubt. 11 Without a doubt. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Skip over that one now 13 for the time being. 14 Item 1.28 consider, discuss and take 15 appropriate action to install signs at the county boat 16 ramps that would read "Use at your own risk." 17 Commissioner Harris and Commissioner Paces. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, we -- we've 19 talked with Road & Bridge and looked at it with 20 maintenance and everything, and with the water level 21 down there's people that we've heard that have had 22 difficulties, maybe damaged trailers and stuff like 23 that. 24 And Commissioner Paces actually came up with 25 the idea and I think it's a good idea to post a sign 84 1 year-round that says, you know, if you're going to use 2 this, it's at your own risk. Because I've been at boat 3 ramps and watched the comedy capers that people try to 4 back in trailers and stuff and I don't want to be -- the 5 County doesn't need to be liable for people's 6 deficiencies, I'll say. And I think Heather has weighed 7 in as far as what the wording might be. And -- 8 MRS. STEBBINS: It at least puts folks on 9 notice that they're responsible for their own 10 deficiencies. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Or anything else. I 12 mean, if there is a problem, you know, from a flood or 13 whatever. Okay? Go ahead. 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: I mean we -- we had 15 three boat ramps. Two are in Precinct 2, in Center 16 Point. One in Flat Rock Park. And then the other one 17 is in Ingram. And I personally looked at the two that 18 are in Precinct 2. They're in okay condition. But the 19 water level is low and -- and people should be very 20 cautious when they use those things. And they're pretty 21 basic, so -- but I propose that we put that sign out 22 there. And I think that will be a good reminder to the 23 public prior to use that -- check it out. Make sure 24 it's going to work. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Is Kelly around the 85 1 corner? 2 Can y'all do us a sign for -- 3 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. Generally how we do it 4 is we get how big and the details of it. We send it in 5 to our sign vendor and then they send back stuff and we 6 order the signs and then we get the bill to maintenance 7 and then it comes directly to us. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Got it. Thank you. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Who monitors the 10 condition of the boat ramp? Is there any -- 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, the sign. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. The sign -- I'm 13 talking about the actual condition of the boat ramps. I 14 mean, is there a -- 15 JUDGE KELLY: Maintenance usually has the 16 boots on the ground out there. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Really? I'm just 18 curious as to -- you know, I heard that the one at Flat 19 Rock that there was a hole if you backed off. And, you 20 know, I don't know if we're under an obligation to -- 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'm not sure it's a 22 hole or if they just -- once they get to the end of 23 that -- but that concrete slab just drops off. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 25 MS. HOFFER: Yeah, that I'm not real sure. 86 1 I think because the water level is so low, but normally 2 you would probably not back down that far down that ramp 3 if the water was higher. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. So I'm just 5 wondering, I mean, if we have boat ramps even with a 6 sign are we under any obligation to maintain them at a 7 certain level? That's my question. 8 MRS. STEBBINS: I don't know the answer. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, last week, 10 Commissioner Paces and I met with Maintenance and Road & 11 Bridge and we -- we talked a lot about this. And 12 basically, I believe we decided it was Maintenance, but 13 sometimes it's over what they can do. And Road & Bridge 14 has pitched in and helped. 15 I know that we -- we've also discovered the 16 possibility of a grant to repair these different ones 17 when they get in poor repair. And it's a 75 percent 18 matching bid -- I mean grant, so we're in the process of 19 looking into that, I believe, aren't we, Noel? 20 MS. PUTNAM: Yes. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And it's with Texas 22 Parks and Wildlife. So hopefully the -- 23 MRS. STEBBINS: And it's just like other 24 property that's County property. We're required to 25 maintain them that are -- in a safe way since they're 87 1 open to the public. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: In this case it's less 4 about maintaining and -- I mean because the water level 5 is so low, I mean, ideally you might extend the ramp 6 further in. But that would require that grant because 7 it will get -- 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Exactly. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- expensive. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It would be expensive. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'm not proposing that 12 we do that at this stage. But that's kind of your 13 alternative. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Thank you. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Anything to add, 16 Shane? 17 JUDGE KELLY: So we have a motion and a 18 second at this time? 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: I move we go ahead and 20 put up signs that say, "Use at your own risk," and use 21 the language that our attorney has provided. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 24 Any other discussion? Those in favor say aye. 25 Opposed? Unanimous. 88 1 MRS. STEBBINS: I'll send that e-mail to 2 Kelly so she has it for the mock up of the sign. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We got a couple timed 4 items at 10:45, but let's go ahead and move on to Item 5 1.29, which is a discussion regarding the use -- and 6 it's not an action item, but a discussion using the Hill 7 Country Youth Event Center for the eclipse resource 8 storage and otherwise uses. 9 Dub Thomas and I serve on the round table 10 for preparing for the eclipse and we met -- we meet once 11 a month. And last month's meeting the question was, 12 are we going to be able to use the Hill Country Youth 13 Event Center as the, kind of, headquarters for all the 14 stuff we've got to store. Crates -- I mean the pallets 15 of water. Trying to -- and then we use the other side 16 for the Emergency Management coordination for the entire 17 county. 18 But the question here is can we start 19 storing things in there to prepare for the eclipse 20 because we're not going to have enough water. We're not 21 going to have enough of a lot of things. We need a 22 place to store them. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is for the first 24 eclipse? 25 JUDGE KELLY: Both. The first one is the 89 1 little one and the second one's the big one. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. The second one -- 3 that one, that facility is being rented out for a large 4 event already. 5 JUDGE KELLY: With the indoor arena? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The arena and the show 7 barn. It's all. And I don't want to say who it is 8 because -- but I think -- I'm pretty sure that that's 9 the event. The time that it's really a big event going 10 in there. So basically I would check with -- 11 JUDGE KELLY: Well, they're not -- that 12 event is not going to happen because we're going to have 13 150, 200,000 people in this county and we're not going 14 to be able to move. Much less -- 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Not all predictions 16 come true. So we don't know how many people we'll have. 17 But if you already got somebody booked and they've paid 18 their deposit then you've got to -- 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I don't remember what 20 it is and -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we need to check -- 22 we need to coordinate with Jake on -- 23 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. We definitely need to 24 coordinate with Jake. But something as big as the 25 eclipse, if we don't have Emergency Management 90 1 headquarters, we're not using that facility for what it 2 was really intended to use it for. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, that is another 4 question that Jake has asked. You know, do we want that 5 facility used for viewing or anything? So, you know, 6 that's -- 'cuz I guess it's a two thing. Is it an 7 emergency for which we get no revenue, which is a good 8 use of it, or should we try to get revenue? 9 JUDGE KELLY: Well, that facility was built 10 for the health, safety, and welfare of the public. 11 Especially the youth. And to me, that is the primary 12 function of that facility. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So -- but we just have 14 to remember that we're taking away a big revenue. You 15 know, I mean -- 16 JUDGE KELLY: Let's just -- let's just do 17 some investigation. Put this back on the agenda so 18 we -- until we figure out what we're going to do. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: The use of that 20 facility is different if it's going to be part of 21 emergency response. 22 JUDGE KELLY: There is not one. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's really ideal for 24 that purpose. It works. But I mean -- but I think we 25 need to visit with Jake a little bit about it and get 91 1 the schedule and -- and we can discuss it. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Where -- the first 3 question I had when you brought this up was, where were 4 you thinking about storing water? What part of the 5 facility? 6 JUDGE KELLY: Indoor arena. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I mean, when would you 8 start doing that? I mean -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's events there 10 all -- 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, but you have the 12 goat barns on the far east side of it. That's probably 13 big enough to store as much water as you're talking 14 about. So that's -- 15 JUDGE KELLY: This is just a topic that has 16 to be -- that's going to be discussed and have to make 17 some decisions about. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. I think we need 19 to get Jake in on the discussion as to the use of that 20 facility, period, for these two events. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And that -- that will 22 be during the warm weather so there's -- you're talking 23 about it happening in April so you have the rodeo arena 24 and Louise Hays Park and all those other places. It's a 25 big area out there. 92 1 MRS. STEBBINS: The maintenance yard. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, to store water? 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. Store water 4 there. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Then you got to move it, 6 though. Well, we need to -- it's a good -- 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Work that out with 8 Jake. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah, I think you need 10 to have an eclipse round table meeting and get all the 11 related parties together in the same room and thrash 12 some of these issues out. 13 JUDGE KELLY: I was tasked to ask for 14 permission to use it. So I came to ask and we have more 15 investigation to do. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. And it's a little 18 passed 10:45. The first item -- we have two timed items 19 to hear. One is Item 1.25, which is an update on the 20 Enterprise Fleet Management regarding their program and 21 current status of vehicles. Anastacia Sigel and Scott 22 Gaige. 23 (Presentation made and no action taken.) 24 JUDGE KELLY: I'll take the next item out of 25 order, which is 1.30, which is discussion regarding the 93 1 recommendation from Turtle Creek Volunteer Fire 2 Department Chief Wesley Gordon to put a burn ban in 3 place during periods of inclement weather. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. This goes back 5 almost two weeks ago when we had the winter storm and 6 the County closed the offices I believe three days. And 7 so Chief Gordon sent me an e-mail requesting that we at 8 least consider putting a burn ban in place when we have 9 that level of inclement weather. 10 So I'll let him go ahead and speak where 11 he's coming from. I can definitely see merit in doing 12 so, although I also think that -- well, I'm aware that 13 we have differing views from other fire departments and 14 their chiefs. And I believe Brian Alexander is here 15 today to possibly also address the Court and share his 16 opinions. But anyway, let's go ahead and hear from 17 Chief Gordon first from Turtle Creek Volunteer Fire 18 Department. 19 JUDGE KELLY: This is Wes Gordon. 20 CHIEF GORDON: Wes Gordon. My suggestion on 21 it was because of the up and down the hills that we have 22 in our terrain. Even the sheriff's department has 23 busted up to chains in the past years on their two-wheel 24 drive vehicles. And just getting a 3500 gallon tinder 25 or 1800 gallon tinders up and down some of them hills 94 1 could be deadly. 2 JUDGE KELLY: What -- what -- specifically 3 what's the objection, the proposal, recommendation? 4 CHIEF GORDON: Just for -- we were -- ran on 5 several calls this last winter because of the landowners 6 did not call in to say, hey, we're doing a burn here. 7 So we're sending people up and down hills that are icy 8 with loaded trucks and taking the chance on that. 9 JUDGE KELLY: So what are you asking us to 10 approve? To do what? 11 CHIEF GORDON: Just put the -- during 12 inclement weather, like the icy storms, to put the burn 13 ban in place. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Right now we do it by 15 Precinct. You understand that? 16 CHIEF GORDON: Yes. That's why I wrote it 17 in to Rich Paces just as a suggestion. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: I think at this stage 19 it's more for discussion and awareness. Because you're 20 correct, absolutely, it's each precinct needs to make 21 the call. And it's just, you know, giving this greater 22 consideration when there are icy conditions or any other 23 kind of hazardous condition that would make travel 24 difficult, do we want to add risk to our volunteer fire 25 fighters and their equipment to respond to something 95 1 that perhaps if we had a ban in place there wouldn't be 2 a need to. Now, who -- 3 JUDGE KELLY: But who's putting the ban in 4 place? That's what I want to know. 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, it's still going 6 to be the Commissioners, unless you decide otherwise. I 7 think this will remain -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's an informational 9 item. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is -- is Precinct 1, 11 Wes, alerted by the fact the roads are icy, if you tried 12 to get up, for example, one example, up on the Spicer 13 Loop when there's ice on the road, you're not going to 14 get up there. So there was somebody burning up there. 15 Someone thought it was a fire. They get a call. They 16 can't get up there. So he calls me and I said, okay, 17 I'll put on the burn ban. It's a good idea because I 18 knew those roads are impassable. 19 So then Rich's delay is on for our Volunteer 20 Fire Department. Wes said, you know, it might be a good 21 idea for everybody to announce -- Precinct 1 has a lot 22 of really steep hills. Some of the Precincts don't have 23 as many. But for us, it was -- it was pretty important. 24 So we put it on for a day until everything thawed out. 25 Doesn't mean there's not going to be a fire that they 96 1 have to go to. It just -- it was a suggestion. And 2 then -- 3 JUDGE KELLY: Well, that's the criteria that 4 each one of you consider and decide to ban or not. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, you know, I had 6 a discussion with Brian, and Brian, I'm sure, has some 7 input he wants to say. But, you know, a lot of the 8 problems, whether y'all went on call or whoever, and 9 hopefully our media is listening and will cover this and 10 a request will go out for a little common courtesy. 11 Those phone calls to the Sheriff's Department or your 12 VFD letting them know you're burning something because 13 it was an ideal time to burn. Everything's iced over. 14 I mean, people been sitting on brush piles 15 for a long time, looking for a good time to burn. And, 16 you know, I think -- Brian, y'all went on a call and the 17 people -- you educated the people. They realized they 18 should have called in and they went out there and it was 19 a false alarm, you know. There wasn't a burn ban on. 20 She's doing right. But who do they know -- who knows 21 until they get out there. You know, it could have been 22 a structure fire or whatever. 23 Brian, do you have something you want to 24 give us your input on? 25 CHIEF ALEXANDER: You know, I might educate 97 1 somebody on being a chief. So the problem is if you put 2 a burn ban during the ice storm, per se, the law states 3 that in order to keep you warm or feed yourself you can 4 burn. So two years ago we had 19 days and no 5 electricity. We had people burning to get themselves 6 warm and cooking. 7 So you put a burn ban in place, that doesn't 8 mean they're going to follow it. So the biggest -- the 9 biggest problem that -- and I had a discussion with the 10 Sheriff a couple days afterwards is, is educating people 11 to call in the Sheriff's Department. Because several of 12 us departments were sliding around trying to get to 13 these calls that we shouldn't even have went to. 14 Sheriff's department same way. People need to be 15 accountable for their own. You know. Call in. Say 16 hey, we're burning. But people don't do that. 17 I don't disagree with what Wes is saying 18 because we wreck a truck for somebody burning, I mean 19 that's -- the cheapest is a 160,000. So you kill 20 somebody that gets hurt there's nothing -- for -- for 21 somebody burning. So -- but on the other hand is is 22 people going to follow the rules. We all know they 23 probably won't. 24 And just like burning at night. There's a 25 law about burning at night. But like me and Sheriff 98 1 talked about, they have to prove just like -- they would 2 have to prove and write them a ticket if they were 3 trying to keep themselves warm or feed their self by 4 cooking outside. So it's a touchy subject but, you 5 know. 6 I know Bandera has an ordinance that if you 7 don't call in and they get called out, you get a ticket. 8 So they don't call the Sheriff's Department and tell 9 them that they're burning, they get a ticket. I don't 10 know if that's something y'all want to look at, but not 11 only just the ice storms but anytime. 12 I mean, you know, we have a plume of black 13 smoke, you know, going, we treat every call mainly as 14 possibly a structure fire. So, you know, just because 15 it's at night or day or whatever doesn't matter. We 16 still consider that as -- could be somebody's home or 17 whatever. 18 But I do think that the citizens do need to 19 do their part and call in the Sheriff's Department and 20 let them know that they're burning. And that would 21 solve probably a lot of the problems that we have. Now 22 are they going to do that? Probably not. But so. Like 23 I said, I believe Bandera has an ordinance. If that's 24 something y'all want to consider. But like I said -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: They don't have an ordinance 99 1 in the County, I'll tell you that. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: No, but they might 3 fine them. I mean -- and that would be something the 4 Sheriff would pick up if he wanted to do that. I think 5 Lisa's probably gotten notes down. I think we could do 6 a press release and try to educate people that even 7 maybe on a burn ban -- on our new website, where it says 8 burn ban. Please call in. You know. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: You know, one of the 10 problems is it's always a neighbor or somebody who can 11 see the plumes at a distance. But they're not aware of 12 whether it's out of control or it's just a pile that's 13 burning that, you know, the owner is monitoring. But 14 once that call is made, somebody's got to respond to it. 15 And the VFD is going to roll. And do we want to do that 16 in icy conditions? I can't even get off my hill when 17 it's iced up. So in terms of my response to that. 18 But yeah, common sense would go a long way. 19 And for people to call the Sheriff's Department so the 20 dispatch is aware that they are going to be burning, 21 that would be a huge help. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. I think it's 23 good to bring this up and to educate people and get the 24 word out. 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: And to Brian and Wes 100 1 and bring this up for a discussion at the next KARFA 2 meeting and see if there's a greater census from the 3 fire chiefs and see if we should do anything different. 4 But I guess at this time, we probably just need to leave 5 it up to the Commissioners to decide when it's 6 appropriate to put a burn ban in for each of our 7 precincts. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Well, let's -- let's put this 9 in context. Go up in the helicopter. Take a bird's eye 10 view. Commissioners' Court has authority to put the 11 burn ban in place. And that authority has now been 12 delegated down to the individual Precinct Commissioners. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It's what County's do. 14 All of -- the whole County. 15 JUDGE KELLY: I understand. I understand. 16 But Kerr County has chosen to delegate to each 17 Commissioner for each precinct. Which, for Kerr County, 18 because of our configuration, we're a long, thin county 19 and the weather is completely different on the west side 20 of the County than it is on the east side of the County. 21 I think we've got a good system. I'm -- I'm not ready 22 to change that. I like it being delegated to the 23 Commissioners. 24 Now, I don't believe we've got the authority 25 to delegate it down below that. So the Commissioners 101 1 are going to make the call. 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: And that's fine. I -- 3 to me this was more educate the public. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Right. And -- but this -- 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: Whatever we can do to 6 educate the public -- 7 JUDGE KELLY: I'm landing my helicopter 8 here. So we go down to the Commissioners. Each 9 Commissioner has your own internal criteria that you use 10 to decide whether to put the burn ban on or not. 11 Inclement weather is one more criteria. Okay. And I 12 think it's a good criteria. But other than that, we 13 don't have ordinance authority. We establish policy. 14 We do not -- we cannot pass ordinances. So I don't know 15 what you're asking us to do that we can do. That's 16 where I'm coming from. What more can we do? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think they're just 18 asking us to consider it. 19 JUDGE KELLY: As a criteria. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes. But I want to add 22 something to what Brian said and that's this: You guys 23 put out signs that say burn safely or burn ban on and 24 stuff like that. You can also educate the public, 25 coming from you, saying call the Sheriff's Department 102 1 before you burn. A real simple message like that at 2 every Volunteer Fire Department is going to be helpful. 3 And when you send out the fundraising 4 letters and any other time you have contact with the 5 community, if you just reinforce that, it -- it takes 6 people awhile to get. And we've got new people coming 7 here all the time. I get calls. I'm sure the other 8 Commissioners do. They ask me all these questions about 9 burning and if they're from some other place, they're 10 shocked and startled that you can just go outside and 11 burn your trash. So they don't know anything about it. 12 In other words, they've got zero background 13 on it and there's -- there are new people all the time. 14 Even people that have burned for years may not think to 15 call the Sheriff and -- just to give them heads up. 16 It's just a courtesy. But you guys have as much -- you 17 have more authority with the general public than we do 18 in that regard. That's your area of expertise. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: But we can utilize our 20 website. And if we want to issue a press release -- 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I'm just saying 22 it doesn't all just fall to one or the other. 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: I agree. I agree. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: These guys have a -- 25 they touch the public all the time. When I drive past 103 1 that sign and I see that it says burn ban or burn 2 safely, I see it every time. And so does everybody 3 else. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Anything else? 5 MRS. GRINSTEAD: I was also going to suggest 6 and I'll add it to the verbiage that I put on the burn 7 ban hotline. I don't know that anyone listens to us, 8 the first three lines, but I can certainly add that too, 9 to, you know, get you to -- 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I hang on every word. 11 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Thank you. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I do. I hear a dial 13 tone before I hang up. 14 MRS. GRINSTEAD: I mean, I don't know if 15 it'll help, but it certainly won't hurt. 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: Every little bit helps. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We're very mindful. 18 Thank you very much. 19 CHIEF GORDON: Thank you kindly, guys. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Let's take a five minute 21 break. And we'll be back at a quarter of 12:00. 22 (Recess). 23 JUDGE KELLY: Court is back in session. 24 Let's get back on the agenda is Item 1.31 consider, 25 discuss and take appropriate action to approve the 104 1 contract with Center Point Volunteer Fire Department. 2 This is routine. We do it every year. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: I move that we approve 4 that contract with Center Point Volunteer Fire 5 Department. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 8 Those in favor say aye. Unanimous. Well, three, a 9 quorum. 10 (Commissioners Letz and Harris not present.) 11 JUDGE KELLY: 1.32 consider, discuss and 12 take appropriate action to change job title for Noel 13 Putnam from Grant Administrator to Grant Coordinator. 14 Ms. Grinstead. 15 MRS. GRINSTEAD: You know, we created this 16 position, and in 2021 we hired Noel. She's doing a 17 great job. We don't want to change any of the job 18 description, we mainly wanted to change the -- 19 (Commissioner Letz is present.) 20 MRS. GRINSTEAD: -- title from Grant 21 Administrator to Grant Coordinator. She'll still do 22 everything she's doing now. Coordinate researching the 23 grants, help write the grants, help apply for the 24 grants, make sure everything goes forward the way it 25 should be. She just won't be administering any of that, 105 1 any of those grants. Basically it's going to be up to 2 the Departments that are requesting the grant to do any 3 of the required reporting. 4 (Commissioner Harris is present.) 5 MRS. GRINSTEAD: So basically we're wanting 6 to do this -- we want to change her title just to better 7 define her process or her role in the grant application 8 process. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Motion and a second to approve 12 changing the title from Grant Administrator to Grant 13 Coordinator. And I can echo, because I've been in the 14 epicenter of this thing. The administration part needs 15 to be the department that are actually applying for the 16 grant. So with that, those in favor say aye. Opposed? 17 Unanimous. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Did y'all do 31? 19 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, we did. We approved the 20 contract. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So when they call you 23 now, Noel, you'll say you're going to need to speak to 24 the Grant Administrator. 25 MS. PUTNAM: Yes. Definitely. 106 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's all she has to 2 say. And let them wonder who that is and hang up. 3 JUDGE KELLY: We have learned a lot today. 4 MRS. GRINSTEAD: We have. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Thank you. 6 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Thank you. I was going to 7 stay up for the next one, too, just because we talk 8 about the workshop. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. This is 1.33 consider, 10 discuss, and take appropriate action to require Elected 11 Officials and Department Heads, and their designees, to 12 attend a grant workshop if they intend to apply for 13 grants. The grant workshop will be scheduled for March 14 the 6th at 9:00 a.m. Ms. Grinstead. 15 MRS. GRINSTEAD: We just wanted to put this 16 on there. I know they're all Elected Officials but 17 everything's got to come through Court. Noel's been 18 working on a presentation basically to go over a grant 19 from beginning to end, the requirements, who's involved, 20 who needs to do what. And we just want all Department 21 Heads and Elected Officials, and their designees, if 22 they plan to apply for a grant, that it be required that 23 they -- if they want her assistance that they go through 24 that grant workshop to better understand the process. 25 JUDGE KELLY: What we've learned is we need 107 1 to have the people that are seeking the grants more 2 invested in the process and not just drop it off on 3 Noel's desk and walk away. So -- 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I move for 5 approval. 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 9 approve the grant workshop on March 6th. Any 10 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 11 Unanimous. 12 MRS. GRINSTEAD: And I'll send out an e-mail 13 to the Elected Officials and Department Heads and it's 14 going to be in here. It will be a Commissioner Court 15 workshop so all of you are involved as well. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Good. 17 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Thank you. 18 JUDGE KELLY: 1.34 consider, discuss and 19 take appropriate action to determine whether to allow 20 the retail fireworks permit holders to sell fireworks to 21 the public in celebration of Texas Independence Day. 22 We do this before every holiday. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is one that we have 24 to proactively say to do it or we have to proactively 25 say if we don't want them to do it. 108 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: You know, in talking 2 with Thomas Jeffers, I believe, with the church in 3 Ingram, he says we don't even mess with it. There's not 4 enough business for them at this time of the year. 5 And -- 6 JUDGE KELLY: But this is one that we have 7 to proactively permit it. 8 MRS. STEBBINS: That's right. If you -- if 9 you're going to -- that's right. 10 JUDGE KELLY: So let's just pass that one. 11 Item 1.35 consider, discuss and take 12 appropriate action to permanently appoint Rosa Hernandez 13 Sanchez to the Kerr County Human Resources Director 14 position. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. Third and 18 fourth. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Any discussion? Well, I do. 20 You're a very quiet person. And that can be mistaken 21 for we don't know how much you know. And it took 22 bringing Carmen in to open you up so we can see we've 23 got a jewel here. And we're very pleased to have you as 24 our HR Director. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I've tried to get 109 1 her to apply for it originally and she didn't do it. 2 I'm fussing at you a little bit but I'm proud of you. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Now we're going to make it 4 official. All those in favor say aye. 5 Thank you. 6 MS. HERNANDEZ: Thank you. 7 JUDGE KELLY: 1.36 consider, discuss and 8 take appropriate action to set a workshop regarding the 9 Kerr County On-Site Sewer Facilities Rules. 10 What this is, I know Commissioner Letz and I 11 have talked about this. We have now completed our 12 revised subdivision rules. And the OSSF rules that we 13 have in place are the bare minimum state standards. It 14 is time for us to take a look at these rules and revise 15 them, and make them reasonable. 16 At the same time, this is -- we only have -- 17 we have two tools in our tool box with regard to 18 development. Subdivision rules and OSSF. So we need to 19 make sure that we've got the rules in place that we want 20 going forward. And we need to have a workshop to 21 discuss it. I've talked it over with the Department 22 Head Badders, and I think she and I are in agreement 23 that let's take a look at it. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: When we want to do it? 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Stack it into another 110 1 one? Are there going to be a lot of changes or 2 suggestions? 3 MRS. BADDERS: Well, it depends on the Court 4 on what y'all decide. But I'm assuming you'd have to 5 have input. 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: Are you recommending a 7 lot of changes? 8 MS. BADDERS: Pardon? 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: Are you recommending a 10 number of changes? 11 MS. BADDERS. A few. At least two or three. 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: That's not bad. 13 MS. BADDERS: And I'm sure a few of our OSSF 14 professionals would like to attend as well. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Well, if -- if nothing else, I 16 think the public expects us to review these things 17 periodically and make sure that they do what we want in 18 the places that we want. And right now, we know we're 19 at the very minimum so why not take a look and see if 20 there's some other things we can use to help improve the 21 overall health, safety and welfare of the County. 22 So as to date, I propose that we just go 23 ahead and approve the workshop and then get with Jody 24 and we'll coordinate a date. 25 MRS. BADDERS: Okay. Perfect. 111 1 JUDGE KELLY: I'll make a motion that we go 2 ahead and set a workshop regarding the OSSF facilities 3 rules. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: There's a motion and a second. 6 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Unanimous. 7 1.37 consider, discuss and take appropriate 8 action to approve and accept the annual report on the 9 County Clerk's investments as it regards the Registry 10 Accounts of the County Court to comply with the Texas 11 Estates Code. Miss Dowdy. 12 MRS. DOWDY: Yes, this is standard procedure 13 and before you, you should have a letter of just the 14 numbers of the monies that I hold in registry. I have 15 two active accounts right now. And I'm just required to 16 report those numbers to you and I believe they are going 17 through audit as well, so you get two reports. I mean 18 basic standard audit. And I'm just requesting accepting 19 the report. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 23 approve the annual reports on the registry accounts in 24 the county court. Any discussion? Those in favor say 25 aye. 112 1 There you go. Thank you. 2 Item 1.38 consider, discuss and take 3 appropriate action to offer Animal Services vehicle as a 4 trade-in for new property of the same general type per 5 local government code. Ms. Shelton. 6 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. This is the trade-in 7 for the vehicle that Enterprise Fleet Management has 8 found for the Animal Services. I believe this is the 9 last one they were waiting for. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 14 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Those 15 opposed? Unanimous. 16 1.39 consider, discuss and take appropriate 17 action to set a workshop to assess current election 18 process. Commissioner Paces. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: This is a result of a 20 legislative briefing that was held in Austin on 21 January 24th on election integrity, and this was kicked 22 off by Senator Bob Hall. It was actually a five-hour 23 session, but they had five cyber security experts 24 presenting information about the ease at which voting 25 machines can be manipulated despite claims that they 113 1 cannot be connected to the internet or it has been 2 certified for use by various government agencies. 3 So several of our constituents attended the 4 legislative briefing and they may want to speak. But, 5 of course, they brought back some very serious concerns. 6 I viewed the briefing and a number of other materials 7 that are available on TexasFirst.org website. And this 8 is a group that kind of sponsored the legislative 9 briefing. 10 So you know, I too am appalled at how easy 11 it appears to be to manipulate voting machines as was 12 demonstrated in that briefing. Now, I'm not overly 13 concerned about fraud having occurred in the past here 14 in Kerr County and I make no such accusations. But I do 15 believe it's incumbent on this Court to do all we can to 16 ensure that our local elections are secure, transparent 17 and accurate so that our voters have the confidence that 18 their votes will be counted fairly and accurately and so 19 that they will continue to participate in one of our 20 most sacred democratic duties, that of voting for our 21 elected officials. 22 That's why I am moving that we hold a 23 workshop on election integrity, wherein we can explore 24 how Kerr County currently executes the election process, 25 understanding there's some vulnerability, and then make 114 1 informed decisions on how to improve, if necessary, our 2 election process to make sure that it's secure, 3 transparent and accurate. That's what I'm proposing, 4 that we hold a workshop where we can then get into the 5 details. 6 And I have lined up two of the same cyber 7 security experts that testified in August -- Austin and 8 they're willing to attend the workshop and hear directly 9 from them. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Do you -- is that a 11 motion or I mean -- 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: I move that we hold a 13 workshop on election integrity. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. I mean I don't 15 think there's any problem but -- 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Won't hurt anything. 17 Yeah. Help us understand everything better. 18 JUDGE KELLY: So we got a motion and a 19 second to hold an election process workshop. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess -- well, it's 21 your motion. Your idea. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The format -- I mean, I 24 think, yes, it's great to have outside people come in. 25 But I think we need to have either Bob Reeves or 115 1 Nadene -- 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: Oh, absolutely. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- explain our process, 4 but I think it's good for us to know exactly how it 5 works. 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: I a hundred percent 7 agree. I -- I've met with Bob a couple times and we 8 have talked about it and, you know, he's reasonably 9 comfortable with how it works now. But despite that, 10 this is about assuring the public -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Right. So -- 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- that we have a good 13 system. And if -- if we don't need to do anything 14 different, great. Let's come back and conclude that. 15 But if we do, then this Court can make whatever 16 decisions it can make within the State law to remove the 17 vulnerability. 18 JUDGE KELLY: We got a motion and a second 19 so this is the discussion part. And I know Ms. Bell 20 wanted -- signed up to speak. Did you want to speak? 21 MS. BELL: Well, I mean if you're going to 22 have a -- if you're going to vote now that's fine. 23 We'll talk about it during the -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: Well, this is the discussion 25 part. We have a motion and a second. And then we 116 1 discuss it. You signed up to speak. Okay? 2 MS. OCKER: I signed up. I live in 3 Kerrville, and for the past several years I have led the 4 election integrity focus group for -- 5 JUDGE KELLY: State your name, please. 6 MS. OCKER: Oh. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. I don't have an 8 application, so -- 9 MS. OCKER: I signed in this morning at 10 8:30. 11 JUDGE KELLY: It's okay. Go ahead. 12 MS. OCKER: Okay. For the past several 13 years, I have led the election integrity focus group in 14 Kerr County for -- on behalf of We, The People. In that 15 capacity, I attended the workshop that Commissioner 16 Paces referenced. And the cyber security experts who do 17 things like work for the Department of Defense, work for 18 NASA, they are experts. Absolutely experts. 19 And they demonstrated how simple it is to 20 alter the outcome of an election with a machine, even if 21 it is not connected to the internet. And I know that 22 ours are not. It was done -- they also -- they -- Mark 23 Hook, who is one of the presenters and who has agreed, I 24 believe, to come to Kerrville, showed that -- he asked 25 if anybody in the audience would volunteer their cell 117 1 phone and he took a cell phone and gave a couple 2 commands to the gentleman who designed it, and it 3 flipped the numbers. It flipped the numbers. It was 4 absolutely stunning. 5 And the question was asked would those 6 manipulations be possible using Hart machines, which is 7 what we use in Kerr County, and the answer was yes. 8 There was a case -- and I have a video -- in Mesa 9 County, Colorado, where the election administrator was 10 straight as an arrow, she did everything by the book, 11 just like Mr. Reeves and Nadene do, but they had a local 12 election in Mesa and the expected outcome was totally 13 upside down and she was accused of fraud. 14 It was -- she was just anguished about the 15 situation and she received a very unfailing visit from 16 the FBI, who destroyed her front door, went through some 17 of her property. It was just a nightmare of a 18 situation. These gentlemen who presented, came to Mesa, 19 investigated the situation and determined that the 20 machines had been manipulated. And that's a true story. 21 And I can send you the video if you'd like to review it. 22 I would strongly suggest and urge this body 23 to at least look into the situation. See what the 24 issues are. Hear from these gentlemen who I believe 25 have agreed to come to Kerr County and see what -- see 118 1 what they can do and how simple it is if you have a bad 2 actor. 3 The 2024 elections are coming up. They're 4 going to be here before you know it. And parties are 5 out to do whatever they can to win at all costs. So I 6 would strongly urge you to -- at least to have a 7 workshop. Hear from the experts and see what they -- 8 what they can do and then decide what to -- where to go 9 from there. And I appreciate your time. 10 COURT REPORTER: What was your name again? 11 MS. OCKER: Kitty Ocker, O-C-K-E-R. 12 COURT REPORTER: Thank you. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: And I'll just throw out 14 that one of these experts is a gentleman by the name of 15 Clint Curtis, was a Republican. This goes back awhile 16 in Florida. And he was asked by a Republican candidate 17 if he could generate software that would manipulate an 18 election and he said sure. Well, they did that. The 19 Republican won and now Clint is a Democrat because of 20 that. 21 But despite that, he has testified in a 22 number of areas and assures me that even when a machine 23 can't be connected to the Internet he is a very 24 competent hacker and programmer and, in fact, once it's 25 plugged in he can probably get in. It's interesting. 119 1 This is not a partisan issue. It affects everyone who 2 votes and wants to trust in our democratic process to 3 have a fair result. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, we've all heard 5 that some have been flipped or are very highly 6 suspicious of being flipped. You know, there's a 7 council race in Austin that you hear facts that 8 everybody swears up and down, you know, some kid in 9 pajamas in grandma's basement changed 100,000 votes. 10 Anyway -- 11 JUDGE KELLY: Well, let me -- 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It's worth looking 13 into. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Go ahead. I'm sorry. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I -- I -- you 16 know, I feel good about ours. But I was involved in a 17 close election. I mean it's -- I feel good about ours. 18 I wish we could mandate Austin and Dallas and Houston 19 and San Antonio. Those places will do the same. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Are the machines 21 Bluetooth? Is that how they hack them? So if they're 22 not -- you've got to -- you've got to have Bluetooth at 23 least to hack something. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: No. No, you don't. 25 MS. OCKER: No. 120 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: Plug it in some kind of 2 a USB drive in there. That can happen, software on it. 3 We need to hear from these guys. But they will -- 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I always vote on 5 a paper ballot so I don't know what you're talking 6 about. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: They even have paper 8 ballots. It has to be scanned by a machine and then 9 it's tabulated and, you know, reports that. There's a 10 lot of places where votes can be manipulated. But I -- 11 I encourage the Court to approve the workshop and hear 12 from the experts. I'm certainly not an expert. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I'd like to hear 14 it. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. My concern is that we 16 have an elections department. And I'd like to hear from 17 them before we start bringing in the outside experts to 18 tell us all the horror stories out there. I have no 19 doubt that there's ways to manipulate votes. I don't 20 know what they are. 21 But if we're going to have a workshop, are 22 we going to bring in a bunch of people from Austin that 23 we don't even know, or are we going to listen to Bob and 24 Nadene tell us first and let -- if we're going to bring 25 in experts, I would look to them to have the recommended 121 1 experts frankly. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: I think we certainly 4 need to hear from Bob and Nadene. But we should take 5 advantage of these people and these are the guys that 6 kind of created the controversy and have people 7 seriously concerned. And again, I remind the public 8 that you can view the whole briefing. It's available on 9 TexasFirst.org. See for yourself. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I think the 11 other -- I mean -- well, what you said earlier, that Bob 12 and Nadene, but I think that we also need to have -- if 13 possible, Bob, a representative from Hart. It's their 14 machines. 15 MS. OCKER: I just want to add one more 16 comment. Following the 2020 election where there was a 17 lot of publicity about alleged fraud and election stolen 18 and all that stuff. Theft catcher came to Kerrville. 19 And I don't know if you know who he is. He is formerly 20 with military intelligence. He has done data analysis 21 on all 50 states. He came to Kerrville at the request 22 of one of the organizations here, and I had the 23 opportunity to visit with him for just a few seconds 24 before he went on to do his program. 25 I asked him about Kerr County, because I was 122 1 interested in the voting process. And he pulled up some 2 data on his phone and he told me that there were 3 approximately 1000 fraudulent votes cast in that 4 election. I met with Nadene. She may or may not 5 remember. But Nadene and I met about it and we both 6 agree that we can't believe this. We think it's made 7 up. 8 Having seen the presentation and witnessed 9 it in Austin just about two or three weeks ago, I now 10 see how that could happen. Easily. It just takes a bad 11 actor. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Quite frankly, my concern is 13 that if we're going to have a workshop, and I'm in favor 14 of having a workshop, but we don't want it highjacked by 15 political action groups. What we want is experts. And 16 I want to look to my elections department to make the 17 recommendation as to who's going to talk to us about 18 this stuff and not -- not what We The People recommend. 19 Because now we're getting political. And if we've got 20 an election problem, then I want to look to them to help 21 get it informed and solved. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: These individuals 23 aren't recommended by We The People or any other action 24 group. They are just two of the individuals that 25 participated in the Texas legislative briefing. 123 1 JUDGE KELLY: Well, it's Senator Bob Hall. 2 MS. OCKER: It was Senator Bob Hall. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: And -- well, it was 4 under him. 5 JUDGE KELLY: And Terri Hall is related to 6 him. 7 MS. OCKER: No, she's not. 8 COMMISSIONER PASIS: No, I don't think she 9 is. 10 MS. OCKER: No. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: Anyway -- 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Bob, you have anything 13 to add, or are you sorry I asked that? 14 MR. REEVES: No, I was going to say, 15 Commissioner, I've been in a very slow political race 16 myself so I know where you're coming from. 17 JUDGE KELLY: For those of you that don't 18 know, he lost by three votes. 19 MR. REEVES: To him. With that said, our 20 office welcomes to hear -- I think it's good to get out 21 and express concerns as well as what we have to follow 22 and what we have to do. We work very close with IT on 23 theirs. But as we all know from an accounting 24 standpoint, we don't make the laws. They make them in 25 Austin, and they roll downhill. So we do our best to 124 1 follow them, but I welcome a workshop. Nadene does as 2 well. 3 With that, and as I've told in e-mails that 4 I've answered, as well as Commissioner Paces, we're open 5 to suggestions, we're open to work, as long as we're in 6 compliance with the laws. Because it's not a Kerr 7 County law. Just as what I do with motor vehicle, what 8 I do with property tax are not laws passed by Kerr 9 County; They're passed in Austin. 10 But on the election side, it even goes 11 further than Austin that we have to follow. So I 12 welcome a workshop where we can look and you can 13 understand, especially the Court as well as the public, 14 what we have, what we're following, and what we've seen. 15 JUDGE KELLY: But if we're going to have an 16 election workshop, shouldn't you be the one preparing 17 the agenda for it or what we're going to talk about and 18 who we're going to bring in to talk? 19 MR. REEVES: I'll be glad to work with 20 whoever you want me to, Judge. I will be glad to -- 21 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I want to look to -- I 22 want to look at the County Department Head to lead this 23 workshop. 24 MR. REEVES: Then all I would ask is at 25 least to have some outlines of what y'all would like to 125 1 see. You five up here, of what y'all would like to -- 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: I would be happy to 3 work with you. 4 MR. REEVES: I would like to see if all 5 five, with all due respect, Commissioner, because they 6 may have something that you don't have. If we're going 7 to do it for education, if we're going to do it for 8 making -- from the previous speaker, one of our greatest 9 fundamental rights more secure, I'm all for that. But 10 as I've said, we need to understand that a lot of things 11 we can't change at 700 Main Street. 12 JUDGE KELLY: So Bob, if we're going to have 13 a workshop, I want you to tell us the process that we 14 do. What we're doing. 15 MR. REEVES: I will be glad to present the 16 process. I'll be glad to work an outline. As you asked 17 earlier, when do we want to have this workshop? I'm not 18 trying to push it down or kick that can, but we're in 19 the middle of several other things. In two weeks I've 20 got to be in Frisco and Plano with a software provider 21 for three days for property tax. So just remember I've 22 got several different departments. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, we've got -- we've got a 24 number of these workshops that we're trying to get 25 scheduled. So we'll put it on the list with the others. 126 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You present -- 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: Tell us when you're not 3 available -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- show us the dates 5 that you think might be appropriate and share them with 6 Jody and then, you know, maybe we can select one and go 7 from there. 8 MR. REEVES: Would we prefer that it be on 9 one of the off weeks? 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. 11 MR. REEVES: Okay. That gives me a look 12 where I can do it and I'll get with Miss Grinstead and 13 work on that. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Sometimes we can work in other 15 times. But if it's something to think about, we always 16 know we've got that first and third Monday that we don't 17 have Commissioners' Court. So we keep that spot 18 available. 19 MR. REEVES: I'll be glad to work on those 20 and get with her on dates. And as I said, I'm leaving. 21 If we can get it out, what we're doing, and however 22 we're doing it. Not only will educate the public, it 23 will educate the Court as well. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Good. Very good. We've got a 25 motion and a second. Any discussion? Any further 127 1 questions or comments? Okay. Those in favor of 2 scheduling an election process workshop say aye. 3 Opposed? Opposed? Put that on the list. 4 Item 1.40 consider, discuss and take 5 appropriate action to approve environmental impairment 6 annual liability renewal application for Highway 27 in 7 Ingram. Ms. Hernandez. 8 MS. HERNANDEZ: Yes. This is just the 9 renewal for the fuel tanks that we have in those two 10 locations. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is standard. We do 12 it every year. 13 MS. HERNANDEZ: Yes. It's standard. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 16 JUDGE KELLY: I have a motion and a second 17 to approve providing the annual liability renewal 18 application for the storage tanks. Any discussion? 19 Those in favor say aye. 20 Moving on to Item 141.26. 21 1.41 consider, discuss and take appropriate 22 action to renew the ACA Reporting and Tracking Service 23 Program agreement between Texas Association of Counties 24 and Kerr County. Ms. Hernandez. 25 MS. HERNANDEZ: Yes. This also is a renewal 128 1 for the ACA. It reports the insurance for all of us 2 when it comes time to do the taxes. TAC actually keeps 3 up with that for us and sends out the letter for us as 4 well. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is new? 6 MS. HERNANDEZ: No. It's been something 7 that we've done for -- well, I know for at least awhile 8 actually. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's pretty specific. 10 MS. HERNANDEZ: But I don't know -- I 11 haven't seen how far back it's been, but I do know that 12 it's been at least the two years that I have been here. 13 Because I have received it myself. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I thought I remembered 15 seeing this. 16 MS. HERNANDEZ: Yeah. It -- they send it 17 out and you use it for your taxes. It was something 18 that was implemented when they did the Affordable Cares 19 Act and you had to report it on your income tax saying 20 that you have been covered through the insurance for the 21 whole year. If not, you're penalized for it, so -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. I 23 remember that. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. Second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 129 1 approve the -- to renew the ACA Reporting and Tracking 2 Services Program with TAC and Kerr County. Any 3 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 4 Unanimous. Thank you. 5 MS. HERNANDEZ: Thank you. 6 JUDGE KELLY: You batted a thousand. 7 1.42 consider, discuss, and take appropriate 8 action to modify insurance coverage for the 9 Kerrville-Kerr County Airport. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's in Executive 11 Session. 12 JUDGE KELLY: We will talk about that in 13 Executive Session. 14 And then, Charlie, you're reporting back on 15 the bids? 16 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. That was Item 17 1.14. We did tabulate all the bids. We didn't find any 18 errors in the bid tabulation. Everything seems to be in 19 order. 20 We would like for the Court to accept all of 21 the bids and then refer the apparent low bidder, Dirt 22 Boys, Inc., to the Engineering Department so that we can 23 do some research and make sure that we've got a -- that 24 they're qualified to do the work. And we would report 25 back at the next Commissioners' Court if they're 130 1 qualified and make a recommendation to award to 2 whoever's qualified, whoever's the lowest qualified. At 3 this time we -- we can't make that determination. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: I so move that we 5 accept the bids as submitted and that we refer the 6 matter to Kerr County Engineering to further evaluate. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 9 accept the bids and refer them to the Engineering 10 Department to report back to us. Any discussion? Those 11 in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 12 Okay. We're going to adjourn and go into 13 Executive Session. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: She has something. 15 MRS. STEBBINS: I have one more item that I 16 asked y'all to recall. It's Item 1.26 on the Magistrate 17 position. The statute says that a Commissioners' Court 18 may authorize the judges of the District Court and 19 statutory County Courts in Kerr County to appoint the 20 magistrate to perform the duties under that subchapter. 21 And y'all authorized posting of the 22 position, but in order for that authority to be clear, 23 it would be good for y'all to go ahead and make a motion 24 and have a court order authorizing them to appoint 25 someone to fill that position. 131 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Before or after a 3 candidate? Now, go through the chronology. 4 MRS. STEBBINS: So they will -- they'll do 5 the interviews after HR gives them the applications and 6 resumes, and they have to make that appointment. It has 7 to be a unanimous vote by the District Judges and the 8 County Court at Law Judge. So the three of them will 9 participate in that process. 10 JUDGE KELLY: But don't we have to formally 11 delegate that authority to them and then they take over 12 to do it? 13 MRS. STEBBINS: That's what I'm asking y'all 14 to do, so that they have the authority by court order. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So -- but still, I'm -- 16 I meant, do we hire this person and then say you guys 17 are in charge of this person or they're part of the 18 process of deciding who this person is? 19 MRS. STEBBINS: They are the ones who decide 20 who the person is. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 22 JUDGE KELLY: If we delegate it to them. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Which we can do 24 beforehand. 25 JUDGE KELLY: That's what she's asking us to 132 1 do. 2 MRS. STEBBINS: Which is what I'm asking you 3 to do. They are the ones who get to decide. Y'all have 4 created a position and funded it. And authorized HR to 5 post the position. But they're the ones that -- that's 6 what the legislature has said. Kerr County can do this, 7 and they -- they authorize those judges to make the 8 appointment. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So -- and if we do it, 10 they're the ones that interview it. 11 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So should we be 13 courteous and ask them about that and confer with them 14 first? 15 JUDGE KELLY: Oh no, I've talked to them 16 about it. 17 MRS. STEBBINS: They know. 18 JUDGE KELLY: They are 110 percent on board. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. Well, then -- so 20 what's the motion then, that we rescind this? 21 JUDGE KELLY: No. I'll make the motion. I 22 move that we delegate and authorize -- we delegate to 23 the District Judges and the Kerr County Court at Law 24 Judge, and authorize them to post the job position for 25 the Magistrate that we've discussed and did earlier. 133 1 And that they be authorized to hire the Magistrate after 2 they've done the posting and the applications. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 4 JUDGE KELLY: So we got a motion and a 5 second for the District Judges and County Court at Law 6 Judge to do this. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And we have -- we have 8 a salary? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's in the budget. 10 MRS. STEBBINS: You -- you have -- 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: There's a limit on this 12 as I recall. I'm trying to remember. 13 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. It has to be the 14 base salary of the J.P.'s -- 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. 16 MRS. STEBBINS: -- and y'all have already 17 approved -- I believe you've already approved the job 18 description. That posts the salary as well. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I didn't remember what 20 it was. I remember -- 21 JUDGE KELLY: It had to be the same as the 22 Justice of the Peace. We put it in the budget. 23 MRS. STEBBINS: Do you want to know? 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. 25 MRS. STEBBINS: $61,714.28. 134 1 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 2 in favor of delegating the Magistrate issue to the 3 District Judges and the County Court at Law Judge say 4 aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 5 Now we're adjourned to go into Executive 6 Session. 7 (Recess.) 8 JUDGE KELLY: Now we're back in session. 9 The next Item is 2.1 budget amendments. 10 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. Today we have four 11 budget amendments -- make that five. How about six 12 budget amendments. We've got three pages. The majority 13 of these are going to be line item transfers. Three of 14 these are -- deal with the Airport and the Airport Board 15 has already approved them and they are within the 16 Interlocal Agreement requirements on the amount of money 17 that they can transfer. So those are more just for your 18 information. And then on the last page, this is 19 bringing in the budget for the Operation Lone Star grant 20 for the Sheriff's Office. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Move for approval. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. Second. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and second to 24 approve the budget amendments as presented. Any 25 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 135 1 Unanimous. 2 2.2 pay bills. 3 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. Invoices for today's 4 consideration $3,236,824.39. These are higher than 5 normal because this is the one where we approve all of 6 the principal payment of the loans and the interest. 7 They're due -- most of them are due on the 15th of the 8 month. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 12 approve the bills as presented. Any discussion? All 13 those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 14 2.3 late bills. 15 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. $667.50. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 19 approve the late bills as presented. Any discussion? 20 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 21 Auditor reports. 22 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Then monthly reports. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. For December, 25 2022 Treasurer's monthly report, Tracy Soldan. For 136 1 January, 2023 Environmental Health OSSF Director Ashli 2 Badders. Auditor's monthly report, Tanya Shelton. 3 Veterans Service Office, Jenna Sanchez. Constables. 4 Precinct 1 Tommy Rodriguez. Precinct 2 Kyle Schneider. 5 Precinct 3 Paul Gonzales, and Precinct 4 Brad Rider. 6 Justice of the Peace. Precinct 2 J. R. 7 Hoyne. Precinct 3 Kathy Mitchell. And District Clerk 8 Dawn Lantz. I move for approval. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 11 approve the monthly reports as presented. Any 12 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 13 Court orders. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. We have the court 15 orders from our January 23rd meeting. No. 39766 through 16 39802. And there's a slight change on 39795. It 17 currently read pro rate distribution and it should have 18 been pro rata distribution. Just made that correction. 19 And with that correction, move for approval. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 22 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 23 Unanimous. 24 Moving on to Item 3.1 status reports from 25 department heads. 137 1 Moving on to 3.2 status reports from elected 2 officials. 3 MRS. DOWDY: I have something. 4 JUDGE KELLY: And 3.3 Status reports from -- 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: She's got one. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Oh. 7 MRS. DOWDY: Sorry. 8 JUDGE KELLY: No, that's good. 9 MRS. DOWDY: 3.2. I have my new records 10 management system. The live date is tomorrow. So we 11 are ready for recording land records into -- and -- and 12 our final records into the new system as of tomorrow. 13 And so the conversion for our older records, it's going 14 to take another several weeks, probably by the end of 15 March. So anything newly recorded, we'll be able to be 16 finished in the new system while the backdate will still 17 be used in the old system. 18 But anyway, getting there and I'm excited 19 about it. And so it's done. I just wanted to make that 20 report. Thank you. 21 JUDGE KELLY: 3.3 Status reports from 22 Liaison Commissioners. 23 Okay. We'll be adjourned and go into recess 24 and go into Executive Session. 25 (Executive Session.) 138 1 JUDGE KELLY: It is 12:52, and we're coming 2 out of Executive Session. And the -- Item 5.1 action as 3 may be required on matters discussed in Executive 4 Session. Are there any motions? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that 6 we authorize HR to modify the insurance coverage for the 7 Kerrville-Kerr County Airport as recommended by the 8 Airport Board. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 11 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Unanimous. 12 With that, we are adjourned. 13 * * * * * * 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 139 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 24th day of February, 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