1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Regular Session 5 Monday, April 10, 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. 6 4 *** Commissioners' Comments. 9 5 1.1 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 15 action to approve the Contract for Assessment 6 and Collection Services between Kerr County and Ingram Independent School District. 7 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 16 8 action on request to use Flat Rock Park on October 14, 2023 for a Christian concert. 9 1.3 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 22 10 action regarding examination of EAC Voting System Certification and Voting System Test 11 Laboratory Accreditation Relating to Certification by the Texas SOS and the 12 Requirement of Voting System Adoption in Texas. 13 1.7 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 52 action to accept the donation of a touchscreen 14 laptop with accessories from the Veterans Services Advisory Committee for use by the 15 Veteran Services Officer. 16 1.11 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 53 action to approve Proclamation designating 17 May 4, 2023 as "National Day of Prayer", and approve request to use the courthouse grounds 18 for an event that day. 19 1.12 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 56 action for the Court to accept Bond Number 20 1001193974 in the amount of $170,330.10, and release Letter of Credit Number 400640200 in 21 the amount of $170,330.10 as financial guarantee for the remainder of the one-year 22 maintenance period for Paloma Ranch Subdivision. Said maintenance began 12/12/2022. 23 1.13 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 57 24 action for the Court to set a public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on May 22, 2023 for a revision 25 of plat for Creekside at Camp Verde Phase 1 Lots 163-164. 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.14 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 58 action to open and receive bids for the 4 2023 Road Reconstruction Project Phase 2, read bids aloud, refer bids to County 5 Engineer for tabulation, and award to the lowest qualified bidder. 6 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 59 7 action to approve Resolution Supporting Texas State Legislation for accurate, 8 transparent, auditable elections. 9 1.19 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 70 action to approve Interlocal Agreement 10 between Kerr County and the Upper Guadalupe River Authority(UGRA) for administrative 11 services for the Plateau Water Planning Group(PWPG). 12 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 72 13 action to approve Resolution Supporting Texas State Legislation for accurate, 14 transparent, auditable elections. 15 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 79 action to discuss the safety and welfare of 16 the residents of Eagle Ridge Road. 17 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 83 action to set a public hearing on April 24, 18 2023 at 10:00 a.m. for the Kerr County, Texas Economic Development Program, Including 19 Guidelines and Criteria for Tax Abatement. 20 1.8 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 84 action to approve small renovation to the 21 main office at the Hill Country Youth Event Center. 22 1.9 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 87 23 action to accept donations totaling $247.00 for the month of March, 2023 to be added to 24 the Operating Expense line item, 10-642-330. 25 4 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.10 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 88 action to approve Kerr County Property 4 Renewal Questionnaire for Texas Association of Counties. 5 1.15 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 89 6 action to determine whether to allow retail fireworks permit holders to sell fireworks 7 to the public beginning May 1, 2023 and ending midnight May 5, 2023 in celebration 8 of Cinco De Mayo. 9 1.16 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 90 action to accept Emergency Services District 10 #2 (ESD #2) compilation report. 11 1.20 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 90 action to approve justification for Sole 12 Source procurement of products and services for the Operation Lone Star Grant in 13 accordance with Local Government Code 262.024 Discretionary Exemptions Subsection (c) if an 14 item exempted under Subsection (a)(7) is purchased, the Commissioners' Court, after 15 accepting a signed statement from the county official who makes the purchases for the 16 County as to the existence of only one source, must enter in its minutes a statement to that 17 effect. 18 1.17 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 92 action to appoint a member of Commissioners' 19 Court or designate a person to perform investigation under Section 751.005 of the 20 Texas Health and Safety Code for the purpose of determining if the minimum standards for 21 ensuring public safety and order as prescribed by law will be maintained under the application 22 for permit for mass gathering by the Kerrville Folk Festival Foundation from May 25-June 11, 23 2023. Hearing on Mass Gathering Permit has been set for April 25th at 8:30 a.m. 24 1.18 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 93 25 action regarding the Kerr County Public Relations information policy. 5 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 4.3a) Consider, discuss and take appropriate 98 action on the sale of 500 Ranchero Road. 4 2.1 Budget Amendments. 99 5 2.2 Pay Bills. 100 6 2.3 Late Bills. 100 7 2.4 Auditor Reports. 101 8 2.6 Court Orders. 101 9 2.5 Accept Monthly Reports. 101 10 1.14 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 102 11 action to open and receive bids for the 2023 Road Reconstruction Project Phase 2, 12 read bids aloud, refer bids to County Engineer for tabulation, and award to the 13 lowest qualified bidder. 14 1.3 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 104 action regarding examination of EAC Voting 15 System Certification and Voting System Test Laboratory Accreditation Relating to 16 Certification by the Texas SOS and the Requirement of Voting System Adoption in Texas. 17 *** Reporter's Certificate. 18 * * * * * * 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 6 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Court will come to 2 order. It is Monday, April the 10th, 2023. It's 9:00 3 o'clock in the morning and the Kerr County Court is now 4 sitting in regular session. With that, if you would 5 please stand for the prayer and the pledge, which will 6 be led by Commissioner Paces. 7 (Prayer and Pledge.) 8 JUDGE KELLY: Please be seated. I want to 9 remind everyone to turn your phones off or to vibrate so 10 it does not disrupt these proceedings. 11 The first part of our agenda is always for 12 our regular Commissioners' Court sessions is for public 13 input. This is our opportunity to hear what the public 14 wants us to hear. And I think we've got two people on 15 the agenda today that want to have public input. If you 16 want to speak on something that's on the agenda, if 17 there's an agenda item, we ask that you save your -- 18 your time until that agenda item is called. So with 19 that I believe we've got Mr. Rising. 20 MR. RISING: I wanted to remind you about -- 21 JUDGE KELLY: Podium. 22 MR. RISING: Sorry. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Name and address. 24 MR. RISING: Greg Rising, 116 Nimitz Drive. 25 Precinct 4. I wanted just to remind the Commissioners 7 1 about election integrity and that there are volunteers 2 to -- to help with that. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Excuse me. That -- that's on 4 the agenda. 5 MR. RISING: Okay. It's on the agenda? 6 JUDGE KELLY: Yes, it is. 7 MR. RISING: Okay. 8 JUDGE KELLY: We have election integrity on 9 the agenda. 10 MR. RISING: Okay. I'll wait then. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Next we have Mr. Henneke. 12 Fred Henneke, former County Judge. 13 MR. HENNEKE: Fred Henneke, 2595 Bandera 14 Highway. In the County. Precinct 2. I wanted to speak 15 about the notion in the paper last Saturday about a 16 select group of people crafting a system to take -- to 17 take the place of the current election system we have 18 here in Kerr County. 19 I find it dangerous to offer to a select 20 group of unknown individuals the opportunity to create 21 an election system here in Kerr County to replace the 22 one we have, which is operated and operates very well. 23 There is no controversy, there is no evidence, there is 24 no suggestion that the current election system in Kerr 25 County is not operating efficiently and accurately. My 8 1 dad used to tell me if it ain't broke, don't fix it. 2 And it's the hoops that we have to go through for such a 3 new program is -- are monumental. 4 Number one, it has to be certified by the 5 State of Texas. Election machines have to be certified 6 by the State of Texas. 7 JUDGE KELLY: I think we've got a selection 8 committee to election integrity. That's on the agenda. 9 So if you will just limit your remarks to -- the 10 election integrity is an agenda item. 11 MR. HENNEKE: Okay. I'll talk about a 12 private group -- 13 JUDGE KELLY: Right. 14 MR. HENNEKE: -- of individuals that we 15 don't know making a system to replace the current 16 system. I think that has several problems. One, it has 17 to be certified by the State of Texas. Second, 18 according to the American Voter Act in 2002, all voting 19 systems must be certified by the United States Election 20 Systems Commission. 21 And thirdly, I would remind the 22 Commissioners' Court not to contract for the 23 requirements of the State of Texas. Anything that's 24 going to cost more than $50,000.00 has to be 25 competitively open in bids unless otherwise exempt. 9 1 This would not be exempt. 2 So to head down that road is to take the 3 Commissioners and time and efforts and money away from 4 problems such as roads, such as water, such as traffic, 5 such as unfunded mandates, such as finding a home in 6 Precinct 4 for the JP and the Constable within the next 7 couple of years. 8 So I think this is a solution in search of a 9 problem, which means a necessity for the Commissioners 10 to go outside of the current system to an unknown, un -- 11 un-vetted group of individuals, obviously with an axe to 12 grind, to create a new voting system to impose upon Kerr 13 County. And I urge the Commissioners to look closely on 14 that because of not only the practical requirements, but 15 also the legal requirements of undertaking such an 16 effort. Thank you. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you, Fred. 18 Okay. With that, we'll go on to 19 Commissioners' Comments. I lead off. I usually deal 20 with the entire County. I lead the precincts with each 21 one of the Commissioners. And for those of you that 22 have not seen, there has been a ruling out of the 23 Federal Court in Austin disposing of the library issue. 24 And the books were ordered re-shelved because it was a 25 violation of the Constitutional Rights. So that library 10 1 issue is finally put to bed. That's a relief. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It will be appealed. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Sure, it will be appealed. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. Okay. 5 JUDGE KELLY: And then the other thing, had 6 a rash of complaints recently about abuse of public 7 authority. And I'm going to have to put a call in to 8 Chad Matlock with the Rangers to conduct an 9 investigation to make sure that we're compliant. That's 10 just what's going on here. Precinct 1. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Nice to get little bit 12 of rain and it was a nice weekend. Some of the kids are 13 still out of school today, so please be careful. Watch 14 out for them. They could be out on their bicycles and 15 playing in the road. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Two. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. Well, we've had 18 several meetings to try to find solutions to the safety 19 issues that will be created by Twin Creeks Development 20 on Eagle Ridge Road. We'll be discussing that as a 21 separate item or particularly the Court will discuss it 22 in Executive Session. So I won't say more now. 23 Toured Robertson Road in advance of what we 24 hope will be its reconstruction this year. And we do 25 have on the agenda today a pre-bid meeting -- or sorry, 11 1 I attended the pre-bid meeting last week. On the agenda 2 today we'll be opening those bids and I'm praying that 3 we'll have enough funds available to reconstruct 4 Robertson Road this year. 5 Also got an appeal from a concerned 6 constituent about safety or lack thereof for residents 7 turning onto Woodridge Drive off of 173. So we'll add 8 this to the list of TxDOT projects that we're chasing 9 after. 10 Look, we're coming to the end of the EDAP 11 Wastewater Project in Center Point and we're trying to 12 expedite the hookup of three-phase power for the Lift 13 Station H on Stoneleigh Road. Bandera Electric is 14 working with us. But they're waiting on some 15 right-of-ways from the Center Point ISD and TxDOT. 16 But the main thing there is that the 17 wastewater team is trying to identify all the 18 outstanding issues with respect to the condition of 19 driveways, roads, trenches on the side that -- that may 20 not have been adequately repaired. And I urge the 21 public if you have concerns, you know, make sure that 22 Road & Bridge or the Engineering Department are aware so 23 it gets on the list. Because we want these contractors 24 to address all of these issues before they de-mobilize. 25 Once they're gone, you know, you're kind of on your own 12 1 to make a claim against their bond. So again, make -- 2 make sure you get on the list and -- and our Road & 3 Bridge department has been great about coordinating this 4 project, so I encourage you there. 5 And we're also looking at whether there are 6 enough residents who want to be connected but somehow 7 missed the first three phases for whatever reason. We 8 still have grant funds available so we'll consider a 9 possible fourth phase for the Wastewater Project. 10 And I'm very pleased to inform the public, 11 and particularly those who have raised issues in this 12 Court about Serenity Hills. We found enough funds and 13 we have a change order with the contractor there to 14 repave the Serenity Hills road. And they really need 15 it. They've been torn up so badly. But I'm sure that 16 those constituents will be happy. 17 Okay. And lastly, just for everybody down 18 in that area who's had to drive the road, thank you for 19 your patience. You know, it's getting better and we're 20 almost at the end. Hopefully, by the end of this month 21 we're pretty much wrapped up. 22 And I'm still working with the Texas First 23 team, which is Mark Cook, Clint Curtis, and others, who 24 are trying to develop a low cost ballot hand-counting 25 system, which is basically just a bunch of digital 13 1 counters and cameras so that it would be recorded and 2 live-streamed so the public can watch and so we would 3 have an additional audit. It's not a system that's an 4 electronic voting system that would require any kind of 5 certification from the State. And, of course, this 6 Court would have to approve that system before it's 7 adopted. So we'll be talking more about election 8 integrity later on the list. 9 And happy to report that Osage County in 10 Missouri just went to hand-counting paper ballots due to 11 their safety concerns and to save money for their 12 taxpayers, which is what I want to do for taxpayers in 13 Kerr County. That's it. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Three. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Couple things. One, is 16 many don't go out to the airport, but the airport is 17 under way on a construction project. They're building 18 additional hangars. Box hangers and T-hangars. And 19 it's largely funded by TxDOT, and by the money that 20 the -- they had revenue that the airport generates. So 21 I don't think any taxpayer dollars really go into this 22 project, which is a good thing. It will increase 23 revenue for the airport. 24 The other thing I wanted to thank probably 25 Charlie the most, because Nicks Road, roads that got 14 1 halfway fixed, several -- about a month ago I guess. 2 All of a sudden, it was left and -- anyway, bottom line 3 is they were able to get, before Easter weekend, that 4 road patched again so it's at least driveable without 5 tearing up the front end of your vehicle. It's not 6 finished. But I appreciate the work that was done by 7 Road & Bridge, Bobby and Charlie. 8 The last thing is, you know, after the last 9 Commissioners' Court meeting when there was a lot of 10 discussion about Eagle Ridge Road, I thought about 11 something and I -- I don't see Charlie in the room right 12 now. But I wanted to apologize to Charlie. I should 13 have at that meeting stood up for him. 14 It was in my mind uncalled for, the 15 criticism that the members of the public, some of those 16 at Eagle Ridge, and I see them in the audience today, 17 attacked him in my mind. And Charlie is only 18 implementing the rules that this Court adopts. He's not 19 making the -- he doesn't work for developers. He's 20 objective and he does his job very, very well. 21 And I wish I would have apologized at that 22 time when he was here, but I'll do it today. So I 23 apologize, Charlie, for not standing up for you in that 24 court meeting. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: To continue on that 15 1 line, he works within some parameters and he calls balls 2 and strikes based on those parameters and he does a very 3 good job. I'm glad he's on our team. 4 Also, last month we -- we had a -- we talked 5 about canceling a hazardous waste collection for April 6 22nd. It was a TCEQ mix up. We'll find out later today 7 whether that event is going to be carried out or put 8 back on the agenda for -- I mean on the calendar for 9 April 22nd. We will know later in the day and I'm sure 10 Lisa Walter will -- will put out a PR release on that 11 when we find out for sure. So maybe you don't have to 12 put it back in storage until September or whatever. 13 That's it. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Now that we've received 15 your input and you've received our output, let's move on 16 to the Consideration Agenda, which is item 1.1 consider, 17 discuss, and take appropriate action to approve the 18 Contract for Assessment and Collection Services between 19 Kerr County and the Ingram Independent School District. 20 I wondered why Mr. -- Dr. Templeton was 21 here. 22 MR. REEVES: Good morning, gentlemen. In 23 your backup material, there is a contract to renew the 24 Assessment and Collection Agreement between Kerr County 25 and the Ingram Independent School District. It was 16 1 drafted and approved by the Kerr County Attorney. The 2 Board of Trustees of the Ingram Independent School 3 District approving the contract at their March 27th 4 meeting, been executed by the designated board members 5 of the Ingram Independent School District. 6 At this time, I request the Court to approve 7 the contract, authorize the County Judge to sign. I 8 will say Ingram ISD, their financial officer is in 9 administrative, and I'm not saying that because Dr. 10 Templeton is behind me, but we work very closely 11 together and have a very good working relationship. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 14 JUDGE KELLY: We got a motion and a second 15 to approve the contract with Ingram ISD. Any 16 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? There 17 being no opposition, unanimous. 18 Moving on to Item 1.2, which is to consider, 19 discuss and take appropriate action on request to use 20 Flat Rock Park on October 14th, 2023, for a Christian 21 concert. 22 By way of disclaimer, you have to avoid even 23 the appearance of conflicts of interest. This is my 24 son, Dan Kelly. So I will not be voting on this issue. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: He's better looking 17 1 than you. Just telling you. 2 (Laughter.) 3 JUDGE KELLY: It's his mother. 4 MR. KELLY: Good morning. Thank you for 5 letting us come and make a presentation to you. We have 6 the desire to use Flat Rock Park to put on a free 7 Christian concert in hopes of bringing a lot of the 8 ministries together that we have locally. We have some 9 commitments from Arms of Hope, the Sozo Home, Mercy 10 Gates. I'm working with Warrior's Heart, the Sober 11 Living Community. We've got some representatives from 12 Prodigal Road Ministries. We have the Alcoholics 13 Anonymous events coordinator with us. I believe Shay 14 Spencer is outside here in support. We have Julie Groce 15 with Ingram Ministries. 16 Bottom line, what we want to do is we have 17 several artists booked. I do know it's the day of the 18 eclipse. That's the only real concern I would think 19 that there is, but it would be a later in the afternoon 20 situation. We have -- and then into the evening. We 21 have secured stages, port-a-potties, generators, 22 everything that would be needed. We will serve free 23 food and have some bounce houses for the kids. And all 24 the food would be handled by people that have food 25 handlers permits. I don't know if the County requires 18 1 us to have a COI, but my business insurance agent has 2 assured me that he will provide a COI if that's 3 something that's required. 4 I spoke with the Kerr County Sheriffs last 5 week. They did not have any objections to it or 6 anything -- any prerequisites that they would have for 7 us as far as parking or any of that kind of thing. 8 So our hope is, here's the truth, there's a 9 lot of people in Kerr County that are seeking an answer. 10 And honestly, I think a lot of them are scared to go 11 into a church. We have a lot of people coming to this 12 event to share ministry and to share their testimony 13 that have been down the same road and found their hope 14 in Christ that then led them back into a church. And 15 that's our hope is that we have that opportunity to 16 minister to some of the super broken and bring them the 17 real answers that they're looking for. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: I second. 20 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 21 second to approve the use of Flat Rock Park for a 22 concert on the afternoon after the eclipse. Is that 23 right? 24 MR. KELLY: Yes, sir. 25 JUDGE KELLY: That evening? 19 1 MR. KELLY: Correct. Yes, sir. 2 JUDGE KELLY: And we've got a motion and a 3 second. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Couple of questions. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Just a couple? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a couple. I think 7 that -- what time will the event be over? 8 MR. KELLY: I would defer to the Court's 9 judgment on that. I don't know if 9:00, 9:30 is right? 10 I don't know what time we need to shut the park down, 11 but we will abide by whatever the Court asks us to do. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the other question 13 is volume. How loud will the event be? And I bring 14 this up because there are residents that live across 15 the -- from the park. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Across the river. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, across the river. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Got one of them behind 19 you there. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And a number of years 21 ago we did a concert down there and it was rather loud, 22 and it was not well received from the people across the 23 river. And since then we have not done a concert in the 24 park. So I think it's a great idea. It doesn't -- it 25 doesn't sound like it's going to be a real loud concert, 20 1 but that's the only concern I have. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I think it could -- it 3 could help if you have that in mind and the speakers are 4 pointed back towards, like, the Event Center as opposed 5 to any going across the river. 6 MR. KELLY: Yes, sir. So then I'm -- I'm 7 guessing what you're saying is have the stage set up 8 with the river as the backdrop maybe -- 9 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 10 MR. KELLY: -- and point it back? Yeah, we 11 can definitely accommodate that. It's hard for me to 12 say how loud it is. This is -- we're just doing this. 13 It's kind of all individuals pulling together the 14 finances for this. I don't see us having a giant sound 15 system because it's just us paying for it, you know. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. Right. 17 MR. KELLY: I -- I do expect there to be 18 some bass with it. I would be out of line if I said 19 there wasn't going to be. I think they'll be some noise 20 but I don't see us having a, you know, a Robert Earl 21 Keen style concert. It's not anything that's that out, 22 you know. But whatever requirements or whatever 23 suggestions the Court has, we will follow a hundred 24 percent. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think as we get closer 21 1 to the event, you know, maybe come back and we can kind 2 of look at -- you'll have a better idea as to planning 3 of it and we can state any concerns that we have with it 4 at that time. 5 MR. KELLY: Yes, sir. 6 JUDGE KELLY: And like I said, I'm not 7 voting on it. But I have heard the phrase that you've 8 used the committee and that is the recovery community. 9 This is for the recovered community. 10 MR. KELLY: It -- it is. There's, I don't 11 know, 40, 45 sober living homes in Kerrville. There's 12 four or five different treatment centers. Those are the 13 substance recovery places that we're targeting. But 14 also, I mean there's just a lot of brokenness. 15 And people come to Kerrville to get healed, 16 and if I'm going to be completely transparent and 17 honest, I think we give them a whole lot of sobriety, 18 but not salvation and I think that salvation brings 19 sobriety. And so we're trying to introduce some of 20 these people to that opportunity. Right? Where maybe 21 they hear it from people that have been in the same walk 22 and the same path that they're in, and it -- it seems to 23 be better received from that community when it's coming 24 from people that have been there, rather than the 25 traditional religion that they've heard most of their 22 1 lives. And so we're just trying to live on. That's 2 all. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Dan, I think this is a 4 great cause and I applaud you and encourage you. I 5 think as Commissioner Letz has pointed out, we can kind 6 of fine tune and tweak, if you come back. But I 7 certainly think we should move ahead and go and approve 8 this motion so that you can go ahead and plan, and 9 everybody can gear up for this event. 10 MR. KELLY: Yes, sir. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 12 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Abstain? Aye. It 13 passes, four, zero, one. Thank you. 14 MR. KELLY: Thank you. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Next item on the agenda is 16 Item 1.3 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 17 regarding the examination of EAC Voting System 18 Certification and Voting System Test Laboratory 19 Accreditation Relating to Certification by the Texas 20 Secretary of State and the Requirement of Voting System 21 Adoption in Texas. Mr. Woodward. 22 MR. WOODWARD: Good morning, Judge, 23 Commissioners. I truly appreciate the opportunity to 24 address your court today and citizens as well. My name 25 is Jarrett Woodward. I am a resident of Bexar County, 23 1 so I do not reside here. But I do think that the 2 information I will share with you guys today is very 3 important for the Court to consider, especially with 4 wanting to upgrade your voting system to the most recent 5 Hart version. 6 Today is a very big day for the State of 7 Texas because this information has been prevented from 8 being talked about for over two years. Citizens of this 9 state have known this since November of 2020. And I 10 will demonstrate the extreme lengths that the citizens 11 have gone to try and notify their public officials and 12 have them take action. We are going to have some 13 difficult conversations. They're necessary. There may 14 be some anger. I just ask that it not be directed 15 towards me, because I am just the messenger today. 16 Okay. 17 So if we start just with the title, I know 18 it's a whole -- a whole lot. And I'd just like to say 19 that I'm not accusing anybody up here of any intentional 20 wrongdoing. I'd like to display to you guys the 21 deception that's been going on, and pretty much being 22 taken -- you guys have been taken advantage of. 23 So if we start with just the first section, 24 Examination of the EAC Voting System Certification and 25 Voting System Test Laboratory Accreditation. So that 24 1 section is going to deal with the Federal level of our 2 certifications of voting systems. Relating to 3 certification by the Secretary of State of Texas, so 4 that's going to our state level of certifications. And 5 then we will discuss the responsibilities of the 6 Commissioners' Court as the adopting -- 7 (Person coughing.) 8 JUDGE KELLY: Excuse me. 9 MR. WOODWARD: Yes, sir. 10 JUDGE KELLY: How long a presentation do you 11 have? 12 MR. WOODWARD: I'm sorry? 13 JUDGE KELLY: How long a presentation do you 14 have? 15 MR. WOODWARD: I requested 30 minutes on the 16 agenda request. 17 JUDGE KELLY: 30 minutes? 18 MR. WOODWARD: I -- I will get through it as 19 quickly as possible. I'm hoping that you guys have some 20 questions. 21 JUDGE KELLY: We have timed items at 9:30 so 22 hurry. 23 MR. WOODWARD: All right. So we'll start 24 with definitions because that's really important when 25 we're talking about these things. 25 1 "May" gives you discretionary authority. 2 "Shall" imposes a duty. 3 "Must" creates a condition precedent. 4 And then "may not" imposes a prohibition. 5 Now the difference, we're going to talk 6 about voting systems versus voting machines. So the 7 definition of a "voting system" is a method of casting 8 or processing votes that are designed to function wholly 9 or partly by use of mechanical, electromechanical or 10 electronic apparatus. 11 Next slide, please. 12 All the documents came from EAC.gov. That 13 is a government website. All right. So this is the 14 home page. I just wanted to point out that the EAC 15 understands the importance of testing and certification. 16 It's the critical first step. 17 Next slide shows the State requirements for 18 certification in Texas. So we do require a minimum of 19 federal certification. And then there are two 20 election-related codes that are mentioned. 81.61 and 21 122.001. There are 12 states that require a minimum of 22 federal certification and 38 that require some form of 23 it. 24 So if we go to Texas Administration Code 25 81.61, this has to deal with the Secretary of State 26 1 certifying voting systems. So for any voting machine, 2 voting device, voting tabulation device, any software 3 used for each, including the programs, procedures for 4 any vote tabulation and testing, any modification of the 5 above, to be certified for use in Texas, the system 6 shall -- so no discretionary authority there -- have 7 been certified, if applicable, by means of qualification 8 testing by a Nationally Recognized Test Laboratory. 9 That's the point to focus on. Nationally Recognized 10 Test Laboratory. 11 In our next section, which is 122, it deals 12 with Voting System Standards. If we go to (a)(3), it 13 says: A voting system may not be used -- so it creates 14 a prohibition -- in an election unless the system 15 operates safely, efficiently, and accurately, which I 16 would like for everybody to just assume that everything 17 is operating a hundred percent correct. 18 We're not talking about any fraud, any 19 ballot switch, harvesting, vote switching, nothing. 20 This is just complying with law. So the important part 21 is complies with the voting systems standards adopted by 22 the Election Assistance Commission. 23 Next slide. 24 So if we go to the voting system 25 certification part of the EAC Testing and Certification 27 1 Program, a voting system is considered EAC certified -- 2 so that would be federal certified -- when it has been 3 tested by a federally accredited test laboratory. 4 Again, federal accredited. 5 Next slide, please. 6 This is from the Voting System Test 7 Laboratory Program Manual. In Section 3.6, a Grant of 8 Accreditation. Upon a vote of the EAC Commissioners to 9 accredit a laboratory, the Testing and Certification 10 Program Director shall inform the laboratory of the 11 decision, shall issue a Certificate of Accreditation, 12 and shall post the information regarding the laboratory 13 on the website. 14 So, next slide. 15 3.6.1. Certificate of Accreditation. There 16 are five requirements that shall be on the certificate. 17 It is not optional. The two to pay attention to: It 18 shall be signed by the Chair of the Commission; and the 19 effective date of the certification, which shall not 20 exceed a period of two years. 21 Next slide, please. 22 This is a Voting System Test Laboratory 23 Certificate of Accreditation from SysTest Labs. 24 And could you hit it twice for me? 25 If we see there, you see that the date was 28 1 issued 2009. It's signed by the chair. And the 2 effective through date does not last longer than two 3 years. So this is a valid certificate. 4 Next one. 5 In 2010, SysTest Labs changed their name to 6 SLI Global. All right? 7 Next slide. 8 Looking up on the EAC website, it says that 9 Kerr County uses Hart Verity Version 2. So I'm assuming 10 that it's the 2.0, but if you see testing lab was 11 SLI Global, and the testing happened sometime between 12 November of 2015 and April of 2016. 13 Next slide. 14 These are the SLI Global Certificates of 15 Accreditation. 16 Next -- 17 They do not exist. So if you guys are using 18 Verity 2.0, it was tested by a test laboratory that does 19 not have a certificate of accreditation. 20 Next slide. 21 In January of 2016, SLI Global changed to 22 SLI Compliance. 23 Next slide. 24 This is a Certificate issued to 25 SLI Compliance in 2018. 29 1 Two more, please. 2 If you check here, it is signed by the 3 Executive Director. It is not signed by the Chair. 4 Therefore, the certificate is invalid. It also has a 5 date of three years, which is more than the required 6 two. This was the only certificate ever issued for 7 three years. So right at the onset when this was issued 8 in 2018, the certificate was invalid. It was not a 9 federally accredited test laboratory and could not test 10 any voting systems. 11 Next one, please. 12 This is a screen shot from the properties of 13 this document. So you can see it was uploaded in 14 January of 2018, which lines up when it was issued, but 15 it was modified on December 22nd, 2020. Now I have 16 theories on why, but this should not be the case. 17 Again, this is going to show the deception that has been 18 presented to you. 19 Next slide, please. 20 This is the press release that the EAC 21 issued on January 27th, 2021, after citizens started 22 questioning in November of 2020, why their certificates 23 were not valid. 24 Next -- I'll blow this up for you. It says 25 SLI compliance has completed all the requirements to 30 1 remain in good standing. And then they quote Section 2 3.8 of their own laboratory manual. And that very first 3 sentence says, A grant of accreditation is valid for a 4 period not to exceed two years. So they put it in their 5 own press release. But then at the very bottom it says, 6 Due to the outstanding circumstances posed by COVID-19, 7 the renewal process for EAC laboratories is delayed. So 8 that's kind of concerning because if it would have 9 expired in January of 2020 like it was supposed to, 10 COVID wasn't around yet. Okay. So the date was 11 extended to three years. Now they can use COVID, but no 12 one's saying that a certificate was issued late. What 13 we're saying is that the certificate was invalid from 14 the moment that it was issued because it did not contain 15 the required signature. 16 Next one, please. 17 Next one. 18 Now, after they issued that press release 19 five days later, they issued this new certificate. 20 Next. 21 If you see, it is still not signed by a 22 chair. It was issued on December -- or sorry, 23 February 1st, 2021, and now there is no expiration date. 24 Instead, they put an original accreditation date of 2007 25 and then they put the little statement that says, 31 1 Accreditation remains effective until revoked by a vote 2 of the EAC pursuant to 52 USC 20971(c)(2). 3 So let's go to the next one. 4 And let's look at that code. This code is 5 discussing in (c)(1) the role of NIST. All right. 6 National Institute of Standards and Technology. They do 7 testing as well, and monitoring, but what it is saying 8 is that they can make recommendations to the Commission 9 on certification or revocation of certification, okay, 10 but the Commission in (c)(2) is the only one who can 11 revoke it by a vote. Now, what they are intentionally 12 doing is betting that you're not going to read. Because 13 revoke and expire are not the same thing. 14 Next one, please. 15 "Revoke," to take away during a period of 16 validity. So if the Voting System Test Laboratory has a 17 proper accreditation certificate and it is still valid 18 and then they are in violation, the Commission can vote 19 and revoke that license. 20 "Expire" means to cease being valid. Which 21 means that it has an expiration date, right. And at 22 that date it is no longer valid any longer. So if we 23 use the example of a driver's license, you are driving 24 down the road, you get pulled over for speeding, the 25 officer finds out that you're operating a motor vehicle 32 1 on a expired license. But you tell the officer, or when 2 you go to court, my license was still valid because it 3 was never revoked. That is the argument that the EAC is 4 making with that press release. That will never hold 5 up. 6 Next one, please. 7 Next press release came out July 23rd, 2021, 8 after we pushed back against those new certificates. 9 Go ahead and swipe. 10 Clarification. The intent of Section 3.8 in 11 the Voting System Test Laboratory Manual is to make 12 clear that VSTL accreditation is subject to 13 reassessment. Yes, we understand that. With a period 14 of approximately two years. I'm sorry, it said shall 15 not exceed two years. So there is no discretion. It's 16 not approximately. At the discretion of the EAC, no. 17 Because it said "shall." There was no "may" in there. 18 It is not intended to describe the EAC VSTL 19 accreditation revocation process. We were never to be 20 commenting on their revocation process, that's something 21 that EAC brought up to try and hide the dates. 22 Next one. 23 The Certificate of Accreditation that is 24 issued after the EAC performs the audit, and the 25 expiration date listed on the certificate relate to the 33 1 EAC program requirement to reassess VSTLs periodically. 2 Yes, that is correct. And then they say, For that 3 reason, the EAC has removed the expiration date from the 4 certificate and instead will track the reassessment 5 period separately. Ah. If the date didn't matter, why 6 are we taking it off? 7 Next one. 8 Also, if revoke and expire are the same 9 thing, why do they have a section on their website that 10 lists expired accreditation test labs? If licenses 11 never -- or sorry, the accreditations never expire, 12 there shouldn't be a section for this. 13 Next one. 14 This is the newest certificate that they 15 have issued. 16 Go ahead and hit it twice. 17 Again, does not have the expiration date and 18 it is not signed by the chair and now it's signed by an 19 intern executive director, not even an executive 20 director. 21 Next one. 22 This is the Hart Verity Voting 2.7, which I 23 believe you guys wish to purchase. You can see it was 24 issued on June 7th, 2022. The testing laboratory is SLI 25 Compliance. I just showed you all the accreditation 34 1 certificates for SLI Compliance. They do not comply 2 with the law. They're not accredited. They do not test 3 voting systems. 4 Next one, please. 5 Go ahead. 6 Why this relates to the Court. Because 7 under Section -- or sorry, Election Code 122.001(a)(3), 8 that section that says, Complies with the voting system 9 standards adopted by the EAC. 10 So I have proved that it does not comply 11 with that section. Therefore, it may not be used. 12 Next one. 13 So what happens if there's a violation of 14 this section? Who is the responsible party? Well, 15 122.005 shows that the venue for prosecution of an 16 offense under this chapter is in the county in which the 17 offense was committed. Why? 18 Next one, please. 19 123, is Adoption and Acquisition of a Voting 20 System. Before a voting system may be used, the 21 authority designated by this section by either 22 resolution, order or other official action, must -- the 23 "must" creates a condition precedent, which means that 24 the voting system has to be adopted first before it can 25 be used in an election. And I underlined this first 35 1 line in Section (b) because it's very important, where 2 it says, The decision on whether to adopt a voting 3 system, decision on whether. So that's giving you guys 4 discretion. You are not required to choose a voting 5 system to conduct your elections. But if you do, then 6 you have to choose a system that is on a certified list 7 that the Secretary of State provides, and then you must 8 adopt that system before using it in the election. 9 So what I'm trying to say is the Secretary 10 of State has put you guys in a bad position because they 11 gave you a list of all systems that don't meet the 12 requirements of Texas law. So no matter what voting 13 system you guys chose, you would have been breaking the 14 law. 15 Next one, please. 16 The legislature has thought through a lot of 17 this stuff. Because you're the adopting authority, they 18 also gave you the authority automatically to rescind or 19 modify the adoption, if you found that something was 20 wrong with it. So we don't need to address this with 21 the Secretary of State level as far as the adoption 22 goes. This is a Commissioners' Court responsibility. 23 Next one, please. 24 This is an advisory that was issued in 2019 25 by the Secretary of State, reiterating the five 36 1 requirements of information that needs to be on the 2 voting system adoption, either resolution or order. 3 Next one, please. 4 I would like to give a shout out to your 5 IT department, because Kerr County has one of the 6 easiest, most navigatable(Phonetic) websites out there. 7 Super extremely transparent. 8 (Laughter.) 9 JUDGE KELLY: We have to laugh about that. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Good thing you didn't 11 look at it a month ago. 12 MR. WOODWARD: Yes. I am saying that it -- 13 it is one of the best tools that I have come across as 14 far as a County for a citizen looking for transparency. 15 And so I do want to congratulate you guys on that. 16 I was looking through previous agendas and 17 documents, and I could not locate an adoption Resolution 18 for Kerr County, so I did submit a public information 19 request and it's still within the proper legal amount of 20 time to respond. So I'm just waiting for a response on 21 that. 22 Next one, please. 23 Now, I am assuming that before you guys 24 received an e-mail from me on March 10th that you guys 25 had never even heard of any of this information 37 1 whatsoever. Like I said, the citizens have known about 2 this since November of 2020. We have gone through 3 extensive lengths to notify our officials, and there's 4 just been extreme pushback. So what I'd like to do is 5 just briefly go over my e-mail that I sent you, and then 6 I'm going to go over the response from the Hart 7 representative and show you that he didn't address 8 anything that I said in my e-mail. 9 So my attempt is to demonstrate in the 10 simplest terms that the Hart Verity Voting System 11 currently adopted by the Court does not meet the 12 requirements as stated in Texas Admin Code 81 -- 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: Jarrett, let me 14 interrupt. 15 MR. WOODWARD: Yeah. 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: That would assume that 17 it was actually adopted. 18 MR. WOODWARD: I'm sorry? 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: That would assume that 20 the Court actually adopted it. 21 MR. WOODWARD: Correct. Correct. I sent 22 this e-mail before -- 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- found any evidence 24 of that. 25 MR. WOODWARD: -- before I started searching 38 1 for the document. So it doesn't comply with Admin Code 2 8161 or Texas Election Code 122.83. So I -- I explained 3 that the SOI compliance certificates aren't in 4 compliance. I quoted the section in the Voting System 5 Test Laboratory program manual for you guys to look up. 6 And then was trying to convince you guys that you have 7 the authority to rescind your adoption, if that adoption 8 exists. 9 Next one, please. 10 This is the e-mail that was received from 11 the representative at Hart, when you guys forwarded over 12 my e-mail to them. I was a little disappointed because 13 I sent my e-mail at 1:41 p.m., and by the same day at 14 4:09, this e-mail was back and I think 4:28 it was in 15 your in-boxes and I didn't receive a response at all. 16 Not even a "we looked into this and, you know, we're 17 going to disagree or whatnot." I mean, it was just 18 nothing. And so I waited until after your election 19 workshop to reach out to Commissioner Paces because he 20 was the one actually, you know, trying to push for 21 information. 22 But Peter here, very condescending man. 23 "Good afternoon. The exact misinformation 24 is being spread by the same individual across Texas 25 counties today. It's actually quite old news." 39 1 One, this information needs to be false. I 2 have not said anything false today. Number two, it's 3 quite old news. Why is this old news to Peter if you 4 guys are just hearing about it that day? Because he's 5 been dealing with it since November of 2020. This 6 information has never made it -- this evidence has never 7 made it into a Texas courtroom yet. But it's going to. 8 So now he says, "Sometimes in bureaucracies 9 administrative errors happen. In the case Mr. Woodward 10 told you about, SLI was complaint, trust me, but the EAC 11 was tardy in posting the information. They put out at 12 least two attached statements explaining the situation. 13 Mr. Woodward could have done a little more research and 14 found this information on the EAC website." 15 Extremely condescending that I haven't done 16 my research before sending the e-mail that I did. One, 17 I never mentioned anything about a certificate being 18 issued tardy. It has to do with the information on the 19 certificate which makes it invalid. If you went to a 20 college and got a degree and your diploma was signed by 21 the chair or the department head, it has no backing 22 whatsoever. It has to be signed by the Dean to be 23 valid. So the same things apply here. Okay. 24 So he goes on to say, "The Hart Verity 25 systems, of all versions, are validly certified by both 40 1 the EAC and the State of Texas. You, and any member of 2 the public, are welcome to check the facts that I shared 3 with you here by contacting the EAC and the State of 4 Texas Secretary of State Elections Division." 5 So you can verify everything that he told 6 you here by contacting the two entities that are lying 7 to us. Does not make any sense. And I'm curious if you 8 guys read what I sent you or looked it up, because this 9 was an okay response. And if you had read the EAC press 10 releases and read my e-mail, you would have seen very 11 clearly that they didn't match up and the arguments 12 don't hold water. 13 Next, please. 14 You can go three ahead. 15 And then they released another press 16 release. 17 Go ahead and blow it up one more time. 18 "The EAC takes additional steps to ensure 19 the laboratory policies are in place regarding 20 compliance, management and issues like conflict of 21 interest, record maintenance, and financial stability. 22 It also ensures the VSTL is willing and capable to work 23 with EAC in its Testing and Certification Program. This 24 is performed by regularly working closely with the test 25 labs and performing audits biannually" -- there's that 41 1 two years -- "and generating certificates." 2 Then they say, "The VSTL accreditation does 3 not get revoked until the commission votes to revoke 4 accreditation; and by that same token, EAC generated 5 certificates or lack thereof do not determine the 6 validity of a VSTL's accreditation status." That's a 7 flat out lie because in their own program manual it 8 gives the requirements a "shall." There is no 9 discretion. They have to issue certificates. Even if 10 -- even if their response later on, they said it -- that 11 the certificates weren't issued because of 12 administrative error, well, administrative error is 13 still breaking the law when a "shall" is there. And 14 there are consequences for that. It -- it can be done 15 unintentional, but it's still breaking the law. 16 Next one, please. 17 "The Testing and Certification program has 18 been fully staffed since May 2019" -- we shouldn't have 19 any issues -- "and we're confident that the integrity of 20 the labs and our voting system certification program has 21 remained strong throughout. The lack of generating a 22 new certificate does not indicate the labs were out of 23 compliance." Yes, it does. "All certifications during 24 this period remain valid as does the lab accreditation." 25 Trust us. "The quality of our labs' work is closely 42 1 monitored during certification campaigns. Both Pro V&V 2 and SLI Compliance are NAVLAP accredited laboratories." 3 That's great. NAVLAP can be accredited but EAC is the 4 one that matters. 5 Next one, please. 6 Again, grant of accreditation in the program 7 manual shall issue a certificate. 8 Next, please. 9 What required item from the Certificate of 10 Accreditation is never addressed a single time in any of 11 these EAC press releases? 12 Next one, please. 13 The signature. They can't dispute the 14 signature. They can try and argue away the date all 15 they want, which is a hopeless cause, but they can't 16 dispute the signature. So automatically the certificate 17 is invalid from the date that it's issued. 18 Next one, please. 19 It brings up logical constitutional 20 questions. So if the electronic voting systems are not 21 lawfully certified in compliance with voting system 22 standards, does it impede the citizen's lawful vote in 23 elections? 24 If the electronic voting systems and their 25 various devices are not lawfully certified, does it 43 1 cause the citizens to cast illegal ballots? 2 Since Texas officials presented uncertified 3 voting systems as certified, did they abridge the 4 citizens protected right to vote? 5 And the "elected" officials within Texas 6 courts prevent a fair hearing of cases involving the 7 election. Where can citizens find the objective 8 perspective without being denied redress of grievances? 9 The reason why I put that last one there is 10 because the proper venue is to file something in the 11 County of which the offense occurred. Right. So it's 12 in the County District Court. All those judges are 13 elected by the same machines. 14 Next one, please. 15 What have Texans tried to do with this 16 information? Well, state groups were created in January 17 of 2021 across the entire United States, and then they 18 are broken down into county and regional groups. We 19 began meeting in person weekly to discuss strategy, 20 research, and attempt different avenues of notifying our 21 officials. What we thought would be information 22 welcomed for integrity purposes, because this is a 23 non-partisan issue. This affects every single person's 24 vote, equally, including each of the Commissioners' 25 votes up there. 44 1 It was soon made clear that it was going to 2 be much more difficult than anticipated with the 3 roadblocks at every turn. 4 Next one, please. 5 There's just a small, small example of some 6 of the groups here in South Texas. 7 Next, please. 8 Between March 29th of 2021, and May 10th, 9 there were at least 89 requests for quo warranto across 10 16 counties against elected officials that were filed 11 with the DA. Quo warranto means under what authority. 12 Has to be brought in the name of the State of Texas, 13 typically by a DA or an AG, so we petitioned our DA's 14 across the state in our counties to file these. All of 15 them went answered. All of them. 16 Next one, please. 17 Summer of 2021. Letters, physical letters, 18 were sent to every single Texas Legislator about this 19 indignation. 20 July 2021. We began notifying commissioners 21 during public comment that issues with certifications 22 existed. 23 December of 2021. I personally attended an 24 in-person meeting with my county elections 25 administrator. We presented the accreditation issues. 45 1 We were told to contact the Texas Secretary of State, 2 and that there was nothing that our county could do. 3 December 2021. A writ of mandamus was filed 4 against all Texas legislators. A writ of mandamus is we 5 are asking a Judge to order a public official to do 6 their elected -- the duty that they are elected to do. 7 January 2022. Writ of mandamus filed 8 against Texas AG Paxton. 9 June of 2022. In my County, in Bexar, a 10 writ of mandamus was filed against those. Every single 11 one was dismissed. 12 Next. 13 Without a consideration of the evidence. 14 July of 2022. 24 pro se Plaintiffs filed a 15 petition for declaratory judgment against the current 16 and two previous Secretaries of State, Deputy Secretary 17 of State, former director of elections and 12 counties. 18 (67 Defendants total.) That litigation is still 19 ongoing. 20 August 2022. Pro se Plaintiffs from about 21 30 counties around the entire State of Texas filed 22 petitions for declaratory judgment and emergency request 23 to retain records within the same week. I'll bet no one 24 up here has heard of that at all because it was not 25 reported on. But I bet you -- I know for a fact that 46 1 those County Attorneys were scrambling like crazy for 2 months trying to deal with all this. 3 October 27, 2022. In our August lawsuits, 4 some counties were filing temporary restraining orders 5 against the machines and the judges were throwing them 6 out because temporary restraining orders are only good 7 for 14 days and it wasn't close enough to the election. 8 So then, when we stared filing them close enough to the 9 elections, they said, Oh, you're filing too soon. 10 You've waited too long. So we filed emergency 11 injunction with the Texas Supreme Court. That was 12 denied for standing. 13 December of 2022. I had to change 14 strategies. So I started personally traveling to 15 surrounding counties to educate the public on this 16 information. I began holding presentations of about 20 17 to 30 citizens, educating them, arming them with the 18 knowledge that they need so that they could address 19 their Commissioners' Court. This is an issue that has 20 to be addressed at the individual County level. There 21 are 254 counties across Texas. I'm personally taking on 22 six right now. 23 February of 2023. We began reaching out to 24 the Commissioner through e-mail. Just trying to start a 25 dialogue. And realized that most of you guys had never 47 1 even heard this information. So that just gave me even 2 more push. Because if I were in your position and I was 3 unknowingly breaking the law, I would want the 4 opportunity to find out and then an opportunity to 5 address it and fix it. Okay. And again, I'm not 6 accusing anybody of intentional wrongdoing. I think 7 that there's -- like Mr. Peters said in his e-mail, 8 misinformation, right. Information censorship is real. 9 For 30 counties in the state to have 10 simultaneous lawsuits filed against their Commissioners' 11 Court and it's not a peep mentioned, that's -- that's 12 pretty crazy. 13 Next one, please. 14 This is a press release that was just issued 15 on March 10th from the Secretary of State. Because we 16 do have a new Secretary of State. We are not going in a 17 good direction up there. And we need our Commissioners 18 to kind of have our back and start advocating for us to 19 them. The reason I say it's not going good. Keith 20 Ingram, he's been the Director of the elections for the 21 State of Texas for about ten years. He's the one that's 22 been in office this entire time while all this 23 accreditation issue at the voting system test 24 laboratories has been going on. All right. 25 He just got demoted, and now he's being put 48 1 in charge of the brand new interstate voter registration 2 cross-check program, because we're going to be getting 3 out of ERIC, right? So the one who's been not following 4 the law, we're going to put in charge of our voter 5 registration database. 6 Christina Adkins just got promoted to the 7 Acting Director of the Elections Division. She has been 8 a lawyer in the legal division. And if you see down 9 here, she's been there since 2012 and is a recognized 10 leader in the election community for her legal and 11 technological expertise in certifying voting systems and 12 ensuring County officials are trained to comply with the 13 Texas Election Code. I would say that she has failed at 14 her job for quite awhile and she just got put in charge 15 of all elections for the entire State of Texas. Not 16 okay with us. 17 Next one, please. 18 For two years these courts have been making 19 decisions that shape the legal climate affecting the 20 members of this Court because you guys are the sole 21 authority on how we perform elections in our county and 22 you guys didn't know that laws were being broken. 23 Next one, please. 24 Citizens don't have standing. Courts have 25 been continuously ruling that as a voter, citizens do 49 1 not have personal injury to hold officials responsible 2 for breaking election laws. So the concept of every 3 vote matters or one person one vote is very nice in 4 theory, it's a very nice talking point, but it does not 5 transfer over into our legal system currently. That is 6 bad case law and it's something that the citizens will 7 fix. 8 So this leaves the citizens with only one 9 legal remedy as a last resort, which is Local Government 10 Code Chapter 87. Now, I'm going to discuss this. This 11 is not a threat in any way. Again, it is just a 12 byproduct of the box that we have been put in as 13 citizens by the court system and this leaves us as our 14 only legal remedy if our officials do not wish to follow 15 the law. 16 Next one, please. 17 Chapter 87 deals with removal of County 18 officers from office. I'm not calling anybody 19 incompetent. I am just reading out the definition of 20 incompetency in this chapter. (A) Gross ignorance of 21 official duties; or (B) gross carelessness in the 22 discharge of those duties. 23 Next one, please. 24 Grounds for removal. An officer may be 25 removed for incompetence. 50 1 Next one, please. 2 Now, this you how we get around the standing 3 issue as a citizen. I highly suggest going and reading 4 this stuff. Letter (b). Any resident of this state who 5 has lived for at least six months in the county in which 6 the petition is to be filed and who not currently under 7 indictment in the county may file the petition. So a 8 lot of people think the petition for removal, you have 9 to go and gather a bunch of signatures. The 10 legislatures have given the citizens this remedy. It 11 only takes one citizen that's lived in the county for 12 six months to file a removal petition. And all you have 13 to do is in plain and intelligible language cite the 14 time and place of the occurrence of each act alleged as 15 grounds for removal. 16 Next one, please. 17 So just as a general recap. There's no 18 legal accredited VSTLs; therefore, no voting system 19 satisfies requirements of Texas law. Going to a manual, 20 hand marked, hand counted paper system with no electric 21 components whatsoever. This Court can just disregard 22 all of these laws that we went over because they only 23 apply to the definition of a voting system. So I'm 24 hoping that with this information that this will make 25 your decision that you have ahead of you much easier. 51 1 And I'm hoping for any questions if you have them. 2 JUDGE KELLY: I have a question. 3 MR. WOODWARD: Yes, sir. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Who are you? 5 MR. WOODWARD: I am nobody. And today I'm 6 everybody. I am -- 7 JUDGE KELLY: What are your credentials? 8 What do you do? 9 MR. WOODWARD: I'm a realtor in San Antonio. 10 Before that, I managed a luxury apartment complex in 11 Las Vegas. And before that, I worked in fast food for 12 ten years. I took an interest in our election process 13 here in Texas after what I saw happen in the 2020 14 election, and I wanted to learn firsthand what is the 15 correct process for Texas. And so I went to the source. 16 I just started with Chapter 1 of the Election Code and 17 started reading it. Got all the way through that and 18 went to the Government Code and Administrative Code. 19 And that's it. So -- 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Thank you very much. 21 MR. WOODWARD: You're welcome. 22 JUDGE KELLY: We'll take a five minute 23 recess. 24 (Recess) 25 JUDGE KELLY: Court will come back to order. 52 1 Where we are, we have an unusual situation that we 2 exhausted our time before the break. Now all we have 3 are timed items which we have to take as soon as they 4 are available. So we're going to take the 9:30 item and 5 then the 9:45 item and start the 10 o'clock items. And 6 we do have a scheduled 11 o'clock Executive Session with 7 our outside counsel. So we're going to be tied up with 8 timed items probably until at least noon or later. Just 9 so you know. And we'll come back to Item 1.4 after the 10 timed items. 11 So with that, let's call Item 1.7. 12 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action to accept 13 the donation of a touchscreen laptop with accessories 14 from the Veterans Services Advisory Committee for use by 15 the Veteran Services Officer. 16 MS. SANCHEZ: Good morning. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Introduce everybody. 18 MS. SANCHEZ: Vickie Marsh. Leslie North. 19 Jake Williamson. Jeff Harris, and Mark Del Toro. 20 Gary's over there. 21 JUDGE KELLY: I saw him somewhere. 22 MS. SANCHEZ: Yep. Pop up and wave, Gary. 23 But basically, I do a lot of outreach, home 24 visits and I have to do a lot of back and forth. And 25 they have graciously bought me a touchscreen so I can do 53 1 everything while I'm with them since everything's done 2 electronically now. And so this is the touchscreen. I 3 didn't bring the keyboard, I was afraid I'd drop it. 4 But I did bring a breakdown of it and hopefully y'all 5 say yes, that I can have it and it's something I can 6 better assist veterans who are homebound or in nursing 7 homes. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Well, let me make this easy 9 for you. I make a motion that we accept that donation. 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: We got -- 12 MS. SANCHEZ: Thank you. 13 JUDGE KELLY: -- a motion and a second. Is 14 there any discussion? Does anybody know any reason why 15 we should not help the Veterans Services Office? Okay. 16 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? There 17 being none, unanimous. 18 MS. SANCHEZ: Thank you. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 20 Let's move on to the 9:45 item, which is 21 1.11. Is Mike out there? Matt. I'm sorry. 22 1.11 consider, discuss, and take appropriate 23 action to approve a Proclamation designating May 4th, 24 2023 as National Day of Prayer, and approve the request 25 to use the courthouse grounds for an event that day. 54 1 Matt. 2 MR. MELTON: Yes, sir. I'm Matt Melton with 3 the KMA, Kerr Ministerial Alliance. 4 WHEREAS, America was founded upon the values 5 of Judea Christian faith and freedom; and 6 WHEREAS, throughout our history Americans 7 have prayed for God's guidance and comfort where needed. 8 And we have given thanks to God for many blessings that 9 he has graciously bestowed upon our nation since its 10 inception; and 11 WHEREAS, the National Day of Prayer is a day 12 set aside by Congress for all Americans to pray and 13 reaffirm the spiritual principles on which this nation 14 was founded; and 15 WHEREAS, across these United States today, 16 Americans are uniting in prayer for our nations, states, 17 counties, and communities to humble ourselves to God's 18 presence and to acknowledge or continuous -- or 19 continued dependence upon God, to give thanks for his 20 many blessings and to affirm our faith in God's 21 unfailing mercy, love, and grace, and to seek God's 22 blessings upon our national, state, and local leaders, 23 as we ask God to unite and heal our land; and 24 WHEREAS, in Kerr County, Texas, we choose to 25 participate in this National Day of Prayer observance to 55 1 demonstrate our honor of God and our dependence upon Him 2 as we invoke His blessing upon all the people of our 3 County and upon all our local leaders who so faithfully 4 serve among us. 5 RESOLVED, that Kerr County Commissioners' 6 Court, by adoption of this proclamation, hereby declare 7 May 4th, 2023 to be the National Day of Prayer in Kerr 8 County, Texas. 9 JUDGE KELLY: And approve the use of the 10 courthouse grounds for an event that day. 11 MR. MELTON: Yes, sir. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move -- 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: I move -- go ahead. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: -- for approval. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and second to 17 approve May 4 being the National Day of Prayer and using 18 the courthouse grounds. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You see how much they 20 need prayer. Just right on there. 21 MR. MELTON: We all do. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right on there. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Any discussion? Those in 24 favor say aye. Opposed? There being none, unanimous. 25 Thank you, Matt. 56 1 MR. MELTON: Okay. Thank you, sir. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Moving on to the 10 o'clock 3 docket. Item 1.12 consider, discuss and take 4 appropriate action for the Court to accept Bond Number 5 1001193974, in the amount of $170,330.10, and release 6 Letter of Credit Number 400640200, in the amount of 7 $170,330.10 as financial guarantee for the remainder of 8 the one-year maintenance period for Paloma Ranch 9 Subdivision, which began back in December of 2022. 10 Charlie Hastings. 11 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. The 12 developer has requested the Court accept a bond and 13 release the letter of credit as a financial guarantee 14 for the remainder of the one-year maintenance period 15 which began December 12th, 2022. 16 County Engineer requests the Court accept 17 Bond Number 1001193974, in the amount of $170,330.10, 18 and release Letter of Credit Number 400640200, in the 19 amount of $170,330.10, as a financial guarantee for the 20 remainder of the one-year maintenance period for Paloma 21 Ranch Subdivision. Said maintenance began December 22 12th, 2022. Precinct 4. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 57 1 approve replacing the Letter of Credit with the Bond for 2 the Paloma Ranch Subdivision. Any discussion? Those in 3 favor say aye. Opposed? There being none, it's 4 unanimous. 5 Moving on to Item 1.13 consider, discuss, 6 and take appropriate action for the Court to set a 7 public hearing for 10 o'clock on May the 22nd, 2023 for 8 a revision of plat for the Creekside at Camp Verde Phase 9 1 Lots 163-164. Mr. Hastings. 10 MR. HASTINGS: This proposal revises and 11 combines Lots 163 and 164, both of them are 5.11 acres 12 each, into Lot 163A (10.22 acres). The road frontage 13 remains on Cool Creek Road. This lot is partially in 14 the floodplain and must meet regulations for development 15 in the floodplain. And Cool Creek Road is currently 16 under construction. 17 County Engineer requests the Court set a 18 public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on May 22nd, 2023 for a 19 revision of plat for Creekside at Camp Verde Phase 1 20 Lots 163 and 164, Plat file 22-01280, Precinct 2. 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: I move for approval to 22 set a public hearing for this matter. 23 JUDGE KELLY: I'll second it. We got a 24 motion and a second to approve the public hearing for 25 May the 22nd of this year for a revision of plat for 58 1 Creekside at Camp Verde Phase 1 Lots 163 and 164. Any 2 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? There 3 being none, motion carries. 4 Item 1.14 consider, discuss and take 5 appropriate action to open and receive bids for the 2023 6 Road Reconstruction Project Phase 2, read bids aloud, 7 refer bids to County Engineer for tabulation, and award 8 to the lowest qualified bidder. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. The first 10 bid we received is from Brand New Paving Company, Inc. 11 Total amount is $127,640.00. There's just -- 12 MR. HASTINGS: There's just one. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- just one. 14 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A bid we received from 16 Sure Tech. 17 MR. HASTINGS: That might be the bonding 18 company. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh. That is the bonding 20 company. This one's from Fuller Excavation Site Work. 21 Their amount is $220,000.00. Next we have one from Dirt 22 Boys, Inc. The amount is $127,900.00. Next we have one 23 from Allen Keller, $196,400.00. Next we have one from 24 LCR Total Transport, $195,200.00. We have one from J3 25 Company, $159,600.00. 59 1 I make a motion that we accept all bids and 2 refer them to the County Engineer for evaluation. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and second to 5 accept the bids as presented. Any discussion? Those in 6 favor say aye. Opposed? There being none, it carries. 7 That's the last of our timed items, so let's 8 go back to Item 1.4, which is consider, discuss and take 9 appropriate action to approve Resolution Supporting 10 Texas State Legislation for accurate, transparent, and 11 auditable elections. Commissioner Paces. 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: I put this item on the 13 agenda for the Court to consider adopting a Resolution 14 which passed the ADA Texas Legislature to pass 15 legislation to secure the elections, ensure results are 16 accurate, transparent, and auditable and with 17 accountability. 18 So I guess I'm all the more keen to get this 19 done after having heard from Mr. Jarrett Woodward that 20 the systems that the County is using are not properly 21 certified or adopted. But, you know, I go back to the 22 last Commissioners' Court meeting and after public 23 input, you know, we -- we heard from Judge Kelly, he 24 said we don't have an election integrity problem in Kerr 25 County. Our system not only beats or exceeds all state 60 1 standards. And if you want to do something about this, 2 you need to go to Austin. There's no reason to do it 3 here. 4 Well, I agree. We need to go to Austin. 5 And we need to push our state legislators to change the 6 election laws as outlined in the attached Resolution. 7 However I do think we have a problem here. Particularly 8 one that's been pointed out that the system we're using 9 is not properly certified or adopted. 10 So again, I'm not saying that we've had any 11 fraud here in Kerr County. Who knows whether our voting 12 machines have ever been hacked here in Kerr County and 13 I'm not suggesting that they have been. But they could 14 have been. And no one would ever know, that's the real 15 point. 16 Mark Cook pointed out how difficult what -- 17 first, yeah, we have to trust basically a black box with 18 a mother board that's made in China. You know, the head 19 of Hart pointed that out in our workshop. The key 20 components, the mother boards, are manufactured in 21 China. Not the U.S.A., as they want to claim. Okay. 22 And then, of course, Mark Cook pointed out 23 just how difficult it is to verify that there's no modem 24 built into the mother boards, especially when these 25 systems are under lock and seal and only accessible to 61 1 the equipment vendors and their representatives. 2 Now, we do a great job of securing this 3 equipment. My hats off to -- to Bob and his team and 4 everybody involved. But the fact is, none of our County 5 staff have access to the election machines. Certainly 6 not to their internals or the software that runs them. 7 So -- and we also saw in the workshop that it's not 8 necessary to have a modem to gain access to a voting 9 machine and manipulate votes. 10 And of course Hart, their representative, 11 admitted that anything can be hacked. It only takes 12 access, knowledge, and time. Look, we all know 13 computers get hacked all the time. The Department of 14 Defense servers have been hacked. Now, if they're 15 vulnerable, how is it that we think our election 16 machines aren't vulnerable. 17 So I guess I'll read through the key 18 components of the Resolution. So we're asking the Texas 19 legislature to pass legislation to minimize election 20 mismanagement and vote manipulation by requiring: 21 Hand-marked, sequentially numbered paper 22 ballots, pre-printed on counterfeit-resistant paper, 23 signed by an election judge; 24 Paper poll books, fixed 30 days before the 25 election period; 62 1 Precinct "neighborhood" level voting 2 (no county-wide polling place program); 3 Tabulation of ballots by hand count at the 4 precinct level; 5 Verifying vote results with random hand 6 counts and robust audits; 7 Elimination of the gap between election day 8 and the end of early voting; 9 Limiting mail-in voting to only those who 10 legitimately need it; 11 Cleaning and securing our voter rolls 12 ensuring they contain only qualified and eligible 13 citizens; 14 Eliminating the costly and ineffective ERIC 15 system, which is Electronic Registration Information 16 Center; 17 Restoration of felony penalties for 18 fraudulent voting; 19 Reinstatement of Texas Attorney General's 20 prosecutorial authority to investigate and prosecute 21 election and voter fraud; 22 Prohibition of rank choice voting and any 23 foreign ownership of election processes, data storage, 24 or components; and 25 County-to-precinct and state-to-county 63 1 election results verification. 2 Now, there is plenty here that we actually 3 have the authority to control right here on this 4 Commissioners' Court, and that's basically those first 5 five items. And, you know, again, the main thing is 6 we've got to stop using the voting machines. They're 7 not certified. They're not adopted. They're a black 8 box that we're asked to trust. And I, for one, don't 9 trust anything where a mother board or any key component 10 of it's made in China. 11 So, again, I'm not ready to make any kind of 12 a motion here with respect to whether we're using these 13 machines or not, but I certainly want to sign off on the 14 resolutions because I think it's important that our 15 state legislators start working this issue to the 16 benefit of all citizens of Texas. 17 And again, we -- there's a lot we can do. 18 Those first five bullet points are all within the 19 authority of the County Commissioners, but it would be 20 preferable to see statewide a similar approach. 21 So -- and, you know, I've talked about the 22 reason why I'm not yet making a motion to eliminate the 23 use of voting machines here in Kerr County is because 24 I'm kind of waiting on this team that's working on a 25 process for hand counting. And I've suddenly learned I 64 1 have to be very careful about call it a system. And it 2 may be that we, based on Jarrett's comments, we no 3 longer can use anything electronic or digital in it. 4 But we definitely need to have a hand-counting process 5 that is transparent. I still think we need cameras so 6 that it's live-streamed and everybody can see it, just 7 exactly what's going on and it becomes -- 8 UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amen. 9 UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amen. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Please don't interrupt. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: So we'll -- we'll see 12 how that plays out and until we have a good solution 13 that can be presented to this Court, I won't be making 14 any further motions about how we use these machines. 15 And with that, I'll open it up to discussion. 16 JUDGE KELLY: I think somebody needs to make 17 a motion and a second for us to discuss. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: I move that we sign the 19 Resolution Supporting Texas State Legislation For 20 Accurate, Transparent, Auditable Elections. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I'll second it 22 for discussion. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 24 Discussion? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have a comment. I 65 1 mean, I like the idea of a Resolution; I don't like this 2 Resolution. And the problems I have is -- and I'll just 3 go to one -- there's lots of things. But one that goes, 4 you know, all I have authority over is Kerr County. And 5 it says, "Whereas, our voter rolls are inflated and 6 inaccurate." I don't know -- I don't think that's a 7 true statement. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: It may not be in Kerr 9 County. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Therefore, you know, 11 that right there, that one thing says -- you know, I'm 12 not going to support this. I mean -- 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- maybe a rewritten 15 Resolution I may support. This Resolution contains, you 16 know, black box -- you know, let's deal with fact. I 17 don't know what a black box is. There's terminology I 18 don't understand, don't know in here. So a cleaned up 19 Resolution, I could support. I can't support this one. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And that's the reason 21 I seconded it because we do need to have this 22 discussion. And there are several things in here and 23 you kinda stole my thunder on that one. Also, I'd like 24 to hear from Bob Reeves and his two cents on this 25 Resolution, if he would. 66 1 JUDGE KELLY: Mr. Reeves. 2 MR. REEVES: Good morning again. As far as 3 the Resolution, the wording, I don't sit up there 4 anymore so I'm leaving that up to y'all. 5 JUDGE KELLY: That's fair. 6 MR. REEVES: However, we're hearing a lot 7 about hand count. If that's the way the Court tells my 8 office to go, so be it; however, before you sign a 9 Resolution for a hand counting, I would like the five of 10 you to experience it with what a primary race would 11 have. This way -- and I'm not saying the entire 12 election. We will pick the smallest precinct and let 13 y'all follow through, and then we can go from there. 14 I'd like it to be about 7:30 in the evening 15 at the facility where we count, because the election 16 worker have already worked 12 hours before they begin 17 counting ballots. Then we can proceed from there. 18 The rest of it, our ballots are numbered. 19 The random hand counts, that's been going on for years 20 that required -- we don't know what Precinct, we don't 21 know what statewide race or local race. The Secretary 22 of State will come down and tell us. So I've got no 23 problem with that. 24 Robust audits. Nadene and another member of 25 my staff, and myself were in Georgetown last week. 67 1 They're coming here. Just like that movie, whether 2 you're ready for it or not, they're coming. 3 Mail-in ballots. We only follow what the 4 law is. We only do what the law tells us to do. To do 5 otherwise, as I said, I've been in front of Judge Biery 6 before and I don't want to go back there. 7 I'll thank Commissioner Letz. We do the 8 best we can every day we can to take care of only 9 properly registered people. Do we miss? Yeah, we're 10 human. But we do our best. And to say anything else 11 about my staff, I won't stand for that. 12 The ERIC system. Here again, that's at a 13 state level. I believe they've already passed in the 14 Senate, if they've not, the fraudulent -- making it a 15 felony. I know in the House, Representative Murr is 16 leading the charge on that one. The prosecuting rank in 17 choice, county to precinct, state to county election 18 results. I've got no problem with that. But to call 19 out my staff, or even insinuate it. 20 And I'd like y'all to experience hand 21 counting. Now, don't ask us to do it tomorrow night. 22 It's going to take time to reproduce an election. But 23 we will reproduce that. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I'm sure you remember, 25 Mr. Reeves, that you and I, and Commissioner Harris have 68 1 experienced hand counts. 2 MR. REEVES: We've experienced it. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And -- and I have in 4 the recount. So four of us in this room know how -- 5 yours is countywide. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Right. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Ours is Precinct. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Right. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And it does take a 10 while and there are nervous counters and there are 11 people that have to start all over again. 12 JUDGE KELLY: It took us four or five times 13 to get the same number from all the counters. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. But my is 15 question about the certification of the machine. 16 MR. REEVES: To, what Mr. Woodward -- 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes. If that 18 information is correct, then we actually do have a legal 19 problem. You've taken a note. We've all taken oaths to 20 make sure that we do this right and correct and if it's 21 out of our hands at present, we need to do something to 22 draw attention to it so we're within the bounds of the 23 law. 24 MR. REEVES: I totally agree, Commissioner. 25 I think I passed on to each one of you after Mr. 69 1 Woodward's e-mail about a month ago the answers from the 2 respective systems. I blind copied each one of you. I 3 believe I sent the original to Miss Stebbins with the 4 answers regarding that. 5 The other parts, the open records request he 6 referred, I'm looking at that. I didn't get it until we 7 were able to enter the courthouse again late Wednesday 8 afternoon after the Sheriff told me to leave my office. 9 We had a fire -- fire incident. So -- nonetheless, 10 you're correct. If we're off base on that, we need to 11 get back on the path. Find out what happened. I'm 12 researching that. I apologize if I'm looking at the 13 clock. I'm expected upstairs at 11:00, so -- 14 JUDGE KELLY: And we've got a timed item at 15 10:30 anyway. 16 MR. REEVES: All right. District court 17 upstairs. So excuse me. That's my two cents, 18 Commissioner. You have about 99 cents and it'll pay for 19 a cup of coffee. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: No, I understand. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I was out of pocket 22 Wednesday and Thursday this last week. And Commissioner 23 Paces called me and asked me if I was putting something 24 like this on and I said no. And I said go with it. I 25 came in Friday and read it. And I -- eh, I support a 70 1 resolution. This one needs to be tweaked, in my 2 opinion. And that's why we wanted a second to have 3 discussion and maybe we redo it. Bounce it back and 4 forth and maybe we can come up with something a little 5 bit better, cleaner, in my opinion. 6 We do need to push the State. And that's 7 where the changes need to be made. Going back to what 8 Judge Kelly originally said last time. And that's true. 9 So we'll tweak it and then come back with something 10 better. That's my opinion right now. 11 JUDGE KELLY: You want to pass this? 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: No, I want to hear from 13 the public. I know we had a lot of people signed up to 14 speak on this item. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We've got a timed item 16 at 10:30 so we'll do that right after the timed item. 17 Let me call 1.19 consider, discuss and take 18 appropriate action to approve an Interlocal Agreement 19 between Kerr County and the Upper Guadalupe River 20 Authority for administrative services for the Plateau 21 Planning Group -- Plateau Water Planning Group. 22 Commissioner Letz. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll defer to Tara. We 24 have an Interlocal Agreement that's been worked on 25 between the County Attorney and UGRA to reimburse the 71 1 County for some of the work that Jody has done. Tara? 2 MS. BUSHNOE: Good morning, Judge, 3 Commissioners. Tara Bushnoe, Upper Guadalupe River 4 Authority. Thank you for the consideration and the time 5 of the item. This is an Interlocal -- UGRA has the 6 primary contract with the Texas Water Development Board 7 for their cycle six planning for their regional water 8 plan. 9 And this is the first year that they have 10 allowed us to subcontract for additional administrative 11 expenses that will compensate for the administrative 12 services that the County is providing for the regional 13 water plan. 14 JUDGE KELLY: And we appreciate you being 15 willing to do that for us. 16 MS. BUSHNOE: Sure. Of course. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, the bottom line 18 is, it's -- what's the total amount for that? 19 MS. BUSHNOE: For this ILA, $23,865.00. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that's the amount 21 that the County can get reimbursed for -- basically for 22 Jody's time that she -- 23 MS. BUSHNOE: Yeah. And that's in addition 24 to transcription fees and printing and postage in 25 addition to her time. 72 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Got it. 2 JUDGE KELLY: It's -- it's pretty 3 significant, I think. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. She does a lot of 5 work for them and -- 6 JUDGE KELLY: Right. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- it's -- we've 8 authorized it. And this is a way for -- to compensate 9 for that time. So I'll make a motion to approve the 10 Interlocal Agreement. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 13 approve the Interlocal Agreement between UGRA. Any 14 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? There 15 being none, unanimous. 16 Thank you, Tara. 17 MS. BUSHNOE: Thank you very much. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Go back to Item 1.4, 19 and I've got three -- four people signed up. And 20 Mr. Rising, you were at the podium. Go ahead and take 21 your turn. 22 MR. RISING: Greg Rising, 116 Nimitz Drive 23 in Kerrville, Precinct 4. I'd like to thank Judge Kelly 24 for allowing Mr. Woodward to make his full presentation. 25 I think he hurried, but still I think we heard all of 73 1 it. That was more than fair to allow that, given the 2 time constraints. 3 What it reminds me of in this whole process 4 is who do you believe? I've been on a couple of juries. 5 We've all served on juries. And we get our instructions 6 from the Judge to decide whether -- what of the evidence 7 that's presented in a courtroom do you believe. 8 Evaluate the witnesses. Decide who you believe and who 9 you don't believe. Are they presenting valid 10 information or are they trying to pull the wool over 11 your eyes? And the standard is reasonable doubt in a 12 civil case. 13 And it -- it occurs to me that who do we 14 believe, and is there a reasonable doubt the information 15 that we get from both -- I'll call it both sides of this 16 election question, is there a doubt about the voting 17 machines? Can we clear up that doubt or are there 18 things that we just don't know? And from what I've 19 heard, there are so many holes in the current voting 20 system, intentional or otherwise, that they're 21 untrustworthy. It doesn't meet the standard of a 22 reasonable doubt, where it falls on the other side. 23 So with those questions in mind, I think we 24 have to look for the alternatives. I thank Mr. Paces 25 for taking the lead on that. 74 1 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Next -- is it 2 Nikki Caines? 3 MS. CAINES: Yes, sir. Good morning, 4 gentlemen. Nikki Caines, 1809 Mountain Laurel. I'm in 5 Precinct 1. When I spoke last time, I stressed the 6 personal testimony of how the e-polling systems, to me, 7 were not reliable and I still believe it. Because I got 8 to thinking about it afterward and I thought, you know 9 what, if I go into my polling place and at the end of 10 the day you have 251 people's ballots. You've got your 11 electronic and you've got your paper ballots and you 12 have 251 ballots, but you only have 250 names. How does 13 that days' count get legally justified? 14 Last year, I put in a public information 15 request and this was the result. And the results are 16 troubling, to say the least. There's marked out numbers 17 and numbers you can't read. And when I did my own math 18 multiple times, I kept coming up with a head scratcher. 19 So I passed it on to our SREC, who said the same thing. 20 Now we're talking one precinct out of 20. We're not 21 counting the early voting days, that the same thing may 22 be happening. 23 And I am still concerned with the 24 disenfranchised who -- did my vote count or did it not? 25 And I know that -- the county staff, because I worked 75 1 with them for a year. I know they do their best to do 2 everything. But when you say you're going to do an 3 audit, Texas Election Code 127.201 says that a DRE 4 cannot be audited. So if you're going to do an audit 5 and you're going to do a count, how are you going to say 6 that that audit is any near -- nearly complete, when you 7 can't get into the machine and you cannot fully audit 8 it? 9 So I -- I'm going to close with the same 10 thing I said last time. It's my word against the 11 machine, and I would much rather put my hand in our 12 local voters who will be sitting there hand-counting and 13 making sure that my vote and everyone else's vote 14 counts. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Alicia Bell. 16 MS. BELL: Alicia Bell. Precinct 1. I 17 fully support this Resolution that Commissioner Paces is 18 putting forth. And as far as the question about the 19 voter rolls being not -- as Commissioner Letz said, 20 saying we weren't sure that the -- that the voter rolls 21 were out of order. Well, I see papers on that board out 22 there. There's people dying all the time. So there's 23 always dead people on the voter rolls. And they do seem 24 to vote. I'm not sure how. 25 I have something to submit. I don't have 76 1 extra copies, but there's also ten ways to make voting 2 machines cheat with plausible deniability. I will 3 submit that. And also, there is -- I screen captured 4 this before it was scrubbed from the internet. It 5 was -- it's Smart Tech, which is the software that Hart 6 InterCivic uses. It is owned by Huawei, which is from 7 China. So I will submit that. Thank you. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Next is Kitty Ocker. Did I 9 say that right? 10 MS. OCKER: Yes, sir. 11 JUDGE KELLY: I'm trying to learn. 12 MS. OCKER: Good morning, gentlemen. I just 13 want to first reiterate that no one has said or 14 suggested that Bob Reeves or any member of his staff has 15 done anything illegal. This is totally about machines 16 that cannot be verified. And I want to make that very 17 clear. I've worked with Bob Reeves and Nadene for 18 several years, and not only for Kerr County, and they do 19 a good job and I appreciate all that they do. 20 This matter, though, is about machines. 21 Machines that cannot be verified. And that contain 22 parts that are made in China. Senator Bob Hall, who's 23 one of our state senators, he and his staff worked to 24 develop the Resolution that is being discussed today. 25 And this Resolution is being presented all over the 77 1 state, in counties all over the state, Commissioner 2 Letz. So it's not -- it does not point a finger at Kerr 3 County, but it's been -- there are other counties in the 4 state. 5 This Resolution -- I want to urge you to 6 consider adoption of this Resolution. Perhaps you feel 7 like -- feel more comfortable if you tweak it a little 8 bit for Kerr County, but I would urge you to adopt this 9 because it will be presented to our legislators in 10 Austin and some of us are really working hard to effect 11 certain changes in Austin, which is where the change 12 needs to be made. And Judge Kelly said that the last 13 time we were here. And he's right. We need to change 14 things from the state level. So I would encourage you 15 to consider adoption or to adopt this Resolution, and I 16 thank you for your time. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Those are all the 18 people we have signed up to present on 1.4. Any other 19 discussion? 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll just say I am 21 happy to take on any comments that the other 22 Commissioners or you might have on the wording of the 23 Resolution. And based on that, I guess we'll table it 24 for now and bring it back in another -- for further 25 consideration. 78 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I think it's -- I 2 think -- look around here. Everybody wants to -- want a 3 true and accurate election and want to push the State 4 for some changes. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And this thing about 6 the Resolution and doing it in our own wording, we have 7 done this. The Court has a history of doing that. 8 People have wanted us to pass a -- some Resolution they 9 presented to us. We agree with the sentiment. We agree 10 with the principals of it and the need for it, but we 11 don't necessarily agree with every little thing in it. 12 So it doesn't mean we're against it. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: They will -- they will 14 still get the point. 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: Kind of had the feeling 16 that would be the case and that's okay. The only thing 17 I'm not real clear on is because of the Open Meetings 18 Act, who can everyone send their specific comments to 19 for pulling it together and -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Send them to Jody. 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: To Jody? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Send something to Jody 23 and Jody will try to craft something or maybe work with 24 you. You being Commissioner Paces; not you. 25 MRS. STEBBINS: Oh, okay. I'll help. 79 1 JUDGE KELLY: So we'll pass that at this 2 time. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yes. 4 JUDGE KELLY: And on Item 1.5, I'm going to 5 pass that until after Executive Session? 6 MRS. STEBBINS: No. This item we can talk 7 about. It's -- it's brief. If -- if that's okay. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 9 MRS. STEBBINS: This isn't the Executive 10 Session item. 11 JUDGE KELLY: I know. 12 MRS. STEBBINS: Oh, okay. 13 JUDGE KELLY: But I got a whole lot of 14 people here that want to talk on 1.6 and -- 15 MRS. STEBBINS: Sure. 16 JUDGE KELLY: -- I was going to skip -- 17 MRS. STEBBINS: Perfect. That's perfect. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Let me call 1.6 consider, 19 discuss and take appropriate action to discuss the 20 safety and welfare of the residents of Eagle Ridge Road. 21 And we've got several people signed up to talk about 22 that and I know we have people here. We are going to 23 break at 11:00 o'clock because we have a scheduled 24 Executive Session to talk about these very issues, so -- 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: So we will have maybe 80 1 have a little bit of discussion and then come back to it 2 after -- 3 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I think Amanda is here 4 and I want to give her an opportunity to make her 5 presentation. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. 7 MS. McDONALD: Good morning. 8 JUDGE KELLY: I need you to identify who you 9 are. 10 MS. McDONALD: I'm Amanda McDonald. Eagle 11 Ridge Road. Good morning, Commissioners and Your Honor. 12 I do appreciate your time. And I hope y'all had a very 13 blessed and happy Easter. You know, I haven't been in a 14 courthouse this much since I was a child running around 15 the courthouse where my grandmother worked. And it was 16 a lot more fun then. 17 But, you know, anything worth having is 18 worth fighting for and that's why we're here. That's 19 why we're spending our own money and time to be here. 20 We all love Eagle Ridge Road. And we're all good 21 stewards of the land. And it makes us sick to see what 22 the developers are doing to it and our road. 23 Out-of-state developers that have no interest in 24 Kerrville, in the heart of the Hill Country, other than 25 greed. 81 1 I'm a nurse practitioner and have worked in 2 the healthcare industry since 2003. I also worked for 3 the State of Texas for 12 years. And you and I both 4 know that safety trumps everything and anything can be 5 put on hold or denied if people's lives are at risk, and 6 we continue to be concerned about the safety of our road 7 and the upcoming potential development. 8 I really do appreciate your time and I do 9 know that it's hard being in your situation and having 10 to make decisions day in and day out. So thank you. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. And let me just 12 assure you, we're taking this safety issue deadly 13 serious. 14 MS. McDONALD: Thank you. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Jack McGuire. 16 MR. McGuire: Good morning, Judge Kelly and 17 Commissioners. Jack McGuire, 680 Eagle Ridge Road. One 18 of the neighbors. And appreciate your allowing us to 19 come and speak. We have spent a lot of time examining 20 the issue. As you know, we hired our own traffic 21 engineer. Did a voluminous report. I think his report 22 speaks for itself. You've all got a copy of that. 23 And we're here today really just to 24 reiterate that hopefully you're going to do the right 25 thing to protect the neighborhood and the safety on 82 1 Eagle Ridge Road. Everyone agrees that the additional 2 traffic on Eagle Ridge Road resulting for the 3 development will create an extremely dangerous 4 situation. The existing substructure and the width of 5 Eagle Ridge Road are inadequate. 6 You all, County Commissioners, identified 7 the danger when you first heard about this. And this 8 has been acknowledged by Kerr County Road & Bridge that 9 the road is inadequate. They've talked to one of the 10 previous commissioners about the fact that it wasn't an 11 adequate road. Three traffic engineers' reports have 12 verified deficiencies in the road. 13 The developer does not deny that -- never 14 has denied the road is unsafe and inadequate. It's only 15 the case of who's going to pay for the road and the 16 developer has said he doesn't want to pay. I -- I mean 17 I sympathize with him. But I don't think that's an 18 adequate answer. 19 So we're here today to urge the Court to 20 refuse to approve the developer's plat until the 21 developer or the County makes the necessary 22 improvements. We thank you for your attention. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Are there any other speakers 24 on this issue? I think that's really just an 25 information item. Are we taking any action today? And 83 1 let me just assure you, those of you that are here, and 2 I've already talked to Dixon, I saw him in the back of 3 the room and I put him in touch with our outside 4 counsel, who is here. We're taking this matter very 5 seriously and that's what we're going to talk about at 6 11:00 o'clock. But it's not 11:00 o'clock, so -- 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: And that will be in 8 Executive Session? 9 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. It will be in Executive 10 Session. So let me go ahead and call 1.5, which is 11 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to set a 12 public hearing on April 24th at 10:00 a.m. for the Kerr 13 County, Texas Economic Development Program, Including 14 Guidelines and Criteria for Tax Abatement. 15 And this is really -- the County Attorney 16 and I put this on the Agenda because we have to have a 17 public meeting before we can adopt them. 18 MRS. STEBBINS: That's right. And this is 19 just to readopt the rules that you guys adopted back in 20 2020 and then again in 2022. There was some information 21 missing, so we've just put it back on to go ahead and 22 readopt. You've gotta do it every two years anyway. 23 JUDGE KELLY: So I make a motion that we set 24 a public meeting for April the 24th at 10:00 a.m. to 25 discuss the Texas Economic Development Program. 84 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 2 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 3 second. Is there any discussion? 4 MRS. DOWDY: Yes. Does it need to be 5 published? 6 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Public meeting. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Public meeting. 9 MRS. DOWDY: But does it have to be 10 published? 11 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. Yes. 12 MRS. DOWDY: How many times? 13 MRS. STEBBINS: I'll submit it to you. 14 MRS. DOWDY: Okay. One time? 15 MRS. STEBBINS: One time. 16 MRS. DOWDY: Okay. 17 JUDGE KELLY: So with that, those in favor 18 say aye. Opposed? It carries, unanimously. 19 Item 1.8 consider, discuss and take 20 appropriate action to approve a small renovation to the 21 main office at the Hill Country Youth Event Center. 22 Is Jake out there? We squeezed you in so 23 you don't have to wait. 24 MR. WILLIAMSON: Appreciate it. Thank for 25 your time today. I just wanted to get with the Court. 85 1 I met with Commissioner Harris, Shane from maintenance, 2 and we have a small renovation project at the Event 3 Center we'd like to accomplish. We will need permission 4 from the County Court to do so. 5 JUDGE KELLY: What are you doing? 6 MR. WILLIAMSON: Doing well. How are you? 7 JUDGE KELLY: No, what? What do you want to 8 do? 9 MR. WILIAMSON: So what it is, is we need to 10 rearrange the office. We have grown. We have a liquor 11 license. We need to store supplies. The current supply 12 area is more of a public area that is not conducive to 13 TABC laws. We've come up with a plan to change the one 14 office area into that storage room so only people that 15 access that, of course, would be us. It's not used by 16 anybody else. And therefore, we moved my staff into 17 main office complex. Pretty simple idea to do so. 18 To make it conducive would be also to add a 19 -- take out part of the wall and add a window, a 20 customer service window to -- 21 JUDGE KELLY: A walk-up? 22 MR. WILLIAMSON: -- to walk up on the inside 23 of the building, which would vacate the current office 24 door, making it an emergency exit only. But it would 25 very much appease definitely some challenges we've had 86 1 over the years of people in the office and us being 2 accessible. So it's a small renovation project. We 3 have a budget of about $2,000.00 for it. So we just 4 want to make sure everybody's on board with that so we 5 can find some funds and go forward. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: This will be a huge 7 improvement at very little cost. And with the liquor, 8 the way it is it needs to be locked up and not having to 9 be moved back and forth all the time as it is now. And 10 it's just going to streamline things. So I move for 11 approval. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 14 approve the small renovation at the Hill Country Youth 15 Event Center, as presented. Any discussion? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there any -- dollar 17 value, you said $2,000.00. Where is that -- 18 MR. WILLIAMSON: Ballpark. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- where -- where are 20 the funds coming from, out of your budget? 21 MR. WILLIAMSON: We were wanting to move for 22 approval first. If -- if the project needs to be done 23 this fiscal year as our -- we get closer, I can probably 24 bring it out of our budget. We know Shane's always 25 tight on his and we don't want to burden that. If need 87 1 be, we may come to the Court to find it from the Court 2 side. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: In the worst case, it 4 could come out of some of the money that's obligated for 5 that facility, correct? 6 MR. WILLIAMSON: That is correct. 7 Absolutely. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 10 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? There being none, it 11 carries. 12 MR. WILLIAMSON: Appreciate it. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.9 -- I saw Reagan here. 14 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action to accept 15 donations totaling $247.00 for the month of March, 2023, 16 to be added to the operating line item, 10-642-330. 17 Reagan Givens. 18 MR. GIVENS: Yes, sir. Just what you said. 19 It's all right there with a breakdown for you. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 23 accept the $247.00 donation. Any discussion? Those in 24 favor say aye. Opposed? There being none, unanimous. 25 Item 1.10 consider, discuss and take 88 1 appropriate action to approve the Kerr County Property 2 Renewal Questionnaire for the Texas Association of 3 Counties. Miss Sanchez. 4 MS. SANCHEZ: Yes. Good morning. I have 5 given you guys a handout about the Property Renewal 6 Schedule. And here -- which one was it. 1.8, I'll have 7 to get with Jake to put that on here. Because I'm here, 8 it does ask if we are having any construction or 9 undergoing major construction or renovations. I put no. 10 We'll have to put yes on the first one to make an 11 adjustment for that. 12 And on Number 2, I put yes for J.P. 4 annex, 13 so I will be putting down the 510 Ingram location, which 14 is the content only, which is what Commissioner Harris 15 had asked me about before. I was able to get that 16 there. It didn't reflect it at this point, but I did 17 add it to it. Okay. 18 And then on the shorter page, you'll notice 19 that I do have a whole lot of items that are listed in 20 yellow. Those are for Road & Bridge items that have 21 been sold and removed, so I have made those adjustments 22 as well. 23 JUDGE KELLY: And this is just the form you 24 fill out for TAC every year? 25 MS. SANCHEZ: That's correct. 89 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. It's part of our 2 building valuation. I move for approval. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 5 approve the questionnaire as presented. Any discussion? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a question. Rosa, 7 also there is a construction project at the airport 8 going on. And those T-hangars and Box hangars -- 9 MS. SANCHEZ: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- so we'll have to add 11 when it's done but there is construction out there as 12 well. 13 MS. SANCHEZ: Okay. I will make that 14 adjustment. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: So that's approval 16 with corrections. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So that's just changes. 18 We don't add it until it's completed. 19 MS. SANCHEZ: Correct. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 21 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? None. Motion 22 carries. Thank you, Miss Hernandez. 23 1.15 we're moving as fast as we can here. 24 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action to 25 determine whether to allow retail fireworks permit 90 1 holders to sell fireworks to the public beginning May 1 2 and ending midnight May 5 in celebration of Cinco De 3 Mayo. 4 And if we do nothing then they don't sell 5 them. We have to do something affirmatively if we're 6 going to sell fireworks. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, can we move on to 8 1.16? 9 JUDGE KELLY: 1.16? Nobody wants to do 10 that? Okay. 11 1.16 consider, discuss and take appropriate 12 action to accept Emergency Services District No. 2 13 compilation report. Commissioner Harris. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. It's pretty 15 standard. We've got a compilation report from ESD 16 Number 2. And I move for approval. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 19 approve the ESD 2 compilation report. Any discussion? 20 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 21 Then let's skip over -- go to the -- what 22 do we have? Sheriff, let's take 1.20. We'll take yours 23 last -- 24 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes, sir. 25 JUDGE KELLY: -- and try to get it out of 91 1 the way and then we'll go into Executive Session. 2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 3 action to approve justification for Sole Source 4 procurement of products and services for the Operation 5 Lone Star Grant in accordance with Local Government 6 Code, Discretionary Exemptions Subsection (c), if an 7 item exempted under Subsection (a)(7) is purchased, the 8 Commissioners' Court, after accepting a signed statement 9 from the county official who makes the purchases for the 10 County as to the existence of only one source, must 11 enter in its minutes a statement to that effect. 12 Sheriff Leitha. 13 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes, sir. Basically, I'm 14 looking for the Court to approve and make two Sole 15 Source purchases. Both items each are over $50,000. 16 And just to let the Court know and the public know, 17 these are Operation Lone Star funds; not out of my 18 current budget. 19 So basically, these are one of the options. 20 When this is over $50,000.00, I need y'all's approval to 21 be able to purchase this for the Sole Source. 22 JUDGE KELLY: What are -- what -- what is 23 it? 24 SHERIFF LEITHA: Oh. The two items are 25 going to be a -- well, I don't want to give a whole lot 92 1 of detail about it, but I'll tell you one is a Viking 2 detection. It's a portable x-ray machine. And the 3 other one is night vision. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Are we going to Sole Source? 7 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yeah, because it's only one 8 vendor for -- that makes these. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So we got a motion and 10 a second. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 11 Opposed? None. It passes. 12 Okay. With that, we have the mass gathering 13 discussion when I come back after Executive Session. 14 But we will be recessed while we go into Executive 15 Session. And as soon as everybody -- we'll reconvene in 16 five minutes. 17 (Recess.) 18 (Executive Session.) 19 (Judge Kelly not present.) 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. We're back 21 in session. 1.17, it's consider, discuss and take 22 appropriate action to appoint a member of Commissioners' 23 Court or designate a person to perform investigation 24 under Section 751.005 of the Texas Health and Safety 25 Code for the purpose of determining if the minimum 93 1 standards for ensuring public safety and order as 2 prescribed by law will be maintained under the 3 application for permit for mass gathering by the 4 Kerrville Folk Festival Foundation from May 25th through 5 June 11th. Hearing on the Mass Gathering Permit has 6 been set for April 25th at 830 a.m. 7 And I'll make a motion we appoint Harley 8 Belew to be the designated representative. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'll second. 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Any further discussion? 13 All in favor say aye. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Thank you. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 1.18 consider, 16 discuss and take appropriate action regarding the Kerr 17 County Public Relations information policy. 18 Commissioner Belew. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. Lisa Walter, our 20 public relations department, all by herself. She's very 21 professional but I feel like we've done her a little 22 disservice because we didn't give her really good 23 guidelines. We don't have a policy. 24 So in reviewing this, I've come up with my 25 suggestion. I've already talked to Lisa about this. 94 1 That we restrict what we have on our website and social 2 media to matters that pertain to the County. And I -- I 3 realize it's important to know if someplace is having a 4 fish fry or whatever. Everybody has their own social 5 media. We -- I don't -- I'm not opposed to us having 6 some kind of a link that we go to the volunteer fire 7 department and that kind of thing, but I want us to 8 restrict it to -- well, the farmers market is an 9 example. That is a private business enterprise. Okay. 10 Only certain business owners benefit from that. So 11 that's the kind of thing I don't want on our website. I 12 don't think we should have it on the website. 13 There are organizations that we don't 14 necessarily promote all the time or have any real -- any 15 funding going through them. But they may come to us for 16 a resolution. That should be published on the website 17 and on social media. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Example. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: An example would be if 20 we're going to put the signs out about child abuse 21 prevention and it's an organization we've never given a 22 dime to, but they have the corner of the courthouse. 23 That sort of thing. Hazardous Waste Day is one of the 24 few times when we would talk about the City of 25 Kerrville. We don't need to promote any of the 95 1 municipalities because Ingram has their website, 2 Kerrville has their website, they have their Facebook, 3 whatever it is. So we don't need to be promoting 4 anything except what's going on with people's County tax 5 dollars here. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And we don't have 7 anything to do with the library anymore. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We don't have anything 9 to do with the library. That's another example of it. 10 There are times where we would mention one of the 11 municipalities, but it would need to be something we're 12 doing with them. 13 So if we can just follow -- it's a real 14 simple thing. Before you publish anything ask yourself, 15 does it really inform the taxpayers about Kerr County? 16 If it's not exclusively about Kerr County or promoting 17 an organization Kerr County has a relationship with, 18 then I don't think that we should have it on there. 19 Everybody else has their own social media. Let them 20 take care of it on theirs. So -- and -- but we can set 21 up links to go to the school website, for example. 22 We're tied into all the schools in Kerr County. So that 23 kind of thing I would say is okay. And the volunteer 24 fire departments. So -- 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: That would be on the 96 1 web page, but not on -- on social media. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Just the link. Do we 3 have a link set up now, Lisa? 4 MS. WALTER: On the website, yeah. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So we can just add to 6 it. 7 MS. WALTER: They're there. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. They're there 9 already. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. Okay. So I'm 11 just trying to get away from promoting any individual 12 businesses, because I don't care if -- honestly if 13 What-A-Burger is having -- I'm not picking on them, but 14 I'm just pulling a name out of the hat. If 15 What-A-Burger is having a drawing to help the veterans, 16 that's a great deal. But that's not a Kerr County deal. 17 And -- and it sounds like a good thing for the 18 community, but that's not us. Kerr County, people pay 19 their taxes for Kerr County. We're informing them of 20 Kerr County. I don't care if somebody's having a hand 21 puppet show that's going to help, you know, the Girl 22 Scouts. God bless them. See what I mean? So if we can 23 just stick to Kerr County and/or any news about 24 resolutions with organizations that we have a handshake 25 deal with. 97 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I -- that sounds good. 2 But I'd recommend that we ask Lisa to write the policy 3 up and we'll bring it back to our next meeting and that 4 way we have a full policy. And maybe check with Heather 5 on that. 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'm just not real sure 7 on what -- what the concern is or the issue that 8 requires a policy. I don't -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's just so we 10 don't -- 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'm happy to have a 12 policy but -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's -- so the 14 way I understand it is so that -- 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: Too much clutter? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- so that Don doesn't 17 go out there and ask Lisa to post something about the 18 Hunt fish fry. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. That's Don's 20 problem. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Don's problem. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Pretty much. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So I think it's just 24 good to have a policy. That way Lisa has parameters. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: She has guidelines and 98 1 we -- we didn't give her that when we started. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And her role expanded 4 very quickly so that's where we're at. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Sounds good. 6 Let's go to -- 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: I guess, Jonathan. I 8 see Mr. Woodward is still here. And his item was closed 9 without any opportunity for any questions. I don't know 10 if any of you have any questions, I had a couple. Is it 11 possible to reopen that item? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess the only problem 13 is I have to be somewhere and he has to be somewhere, so 14 let's get through the rest of the agenda and -- 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Or you're going to 16 lose your quorum. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, you're going to 18 lose your quorum pretty quick. 19 Item 4.3(a), Commissioner Belew is going to 20 handle that in open session so -- and that is Consider, 21 discuss and take appropriate action on the sale of 500 22 Ranchero Road. He says it can be open session. 23 MRS. STEBBINS: It can be. Absolutely. If 24 y'all would like for me to prepare for a sealed bid 25 procedure to come back to you guys at the next 99 1 Commissioners' Court to approve and submit that for 2 sealed bids, we can do that. You have another option of 3 doing an auction, which I don't think y'all have done in 4 a while at least -- 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: On the courthouse 6 steps. 7 MRS. STEBBINS: Yep. And -- 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It would be fun. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: Is this that little 10 strip of land? 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What happened is 12 that -- 13 MRS. STEBBINS: No, it's not. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- there's a Court 15 Order that says we can't do it the way we were talking 16 about so now we're going back -- 17 MRS. STEBBINS: Uh-huh. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So everybody 19 understands. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. So there will be 21 no action on that item. 22 On the Approval Agenda. 2.1 budget 23 amendments. 24 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. There is just one 25 budget request this time and it's to cover the painting 100 1 at the AG barn. I think there was a leak or something 2 so it had to be repainted. And we're moving $5,000.00. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A motion to approve the 6 budget amendment as presented. Any discussion? All in 7 favor say aye. 8 Pay bills. 9 MS. SHELTON: Yes. Invoices for today are 10 $570,670.00. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Motion by Commissioner 14 Belew, second by Commissioner Harris to approve the 15 disbursements. Any further discussion? All in favor 16 say aye. 17 Late bills. 18 MS. SHELTON: Yes. We have two packets. 19 The first packet was for $2,710.00 and the second packet 20 is for $196,573.80. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Got a motion from 24 Commissioner Harris, second from Commissioner Belew to 25 approve the two late bills as presented. Any further 101 1 discussion? All in favor say aye. 2 Auditor's report. 3 MS. SHELTON: Yes. There was one internal 4 audit for the past couple of -- I mean last month 5 basically going on and there were no findings. It is 6 for the Environmental Health Department. We're asking 7 that you accept the report. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: I move that we accept 9 the report. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's a motion to 11 accept. Do we have a second? 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Motion and second to 15 accept the report. Any further discussion? All in 16 favor say aye. 17 Court orders. We have the Court Orders from 18 our March 27th regular meeting and they all look to be 19 in order. I'll make a motion to approve. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second from Commissioner 22 Harris. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. 23 Unanimous. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Monthly reports. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh yeah. I knew there 102 1 was something I skipped. Monthly reports. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. For March 2023, 3 Environmental Health, OSSF Director Ashli Badders. 4 Auditor's monthly report, Tanya Shelton. Constables, 5 Precinct 1 Tommy Rodriguez. Precinct 2 Kyle Schneider. 6 Precinct 3 Paul Gonzales. Precinct 4 Brad Rider. 7 Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3 Kathy Mitchell. 8 District Clerk Dawn Lantz. Treasurer's payroll report, 9 Tracy Soldan. Treasurer's monthly report, Tracy Soldan. 10 I move for approval. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Motion and a second to 13 approve the monthly reports. Any discussion? All in 14 favor say aye. Any opposed? No. Unanimous. 15 I need to go back to Item -- recall 1.14, is 16 to consider, discuss and take appropriate action to open 17 and receive bids for the 2023 Road Reconstruction 18 Project Phase 2, read bids aloud, refer to the County 19 Engineer for tabulation, and award to the lowest 20 qualified bidder. Mr. Hastings. 21 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. Kelly and I went 22 back and tabulated. We went through all of the bids. 23 Everything was in order. The lowest qualified bidder is 24 Brannan Paving Company out of Victoria. And we're 25 asking that the Court authorize -- it can be paid for 103 1 with the funds that are for road reconstruction. That's 2 in the Road & Bridge Department. They have about 3 $107,000 there and some change. It's almost 108. And 4 they also have 20,000 out of their contingency. You add 5 those two together, you get your $127,670.00. 6 The contingency would need to be handled 7 with a budget transfer, which I talked with the Auditor 8 about that. That'll get handled I guess by the next 9 meeting. 10 MRS. SHELTON: Uh-huh. 11 MR. HASTINGS: So with that being said, we 12 ask that the Court authorize the County Judge to execute 13 the contract with Brannan Paving. 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: I move that we 15 authorize the County Judge to execute a contract with 16 Brannan Paving for $127,000 for the road reconstruction 17 project of Robertson Road. 18 MR. HASTINGS: It was $127,670. Another 670 19 dollars. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We got a motion and a 22 second to approve the contract with Brannan Paving for 23 $127,670.00 and authorize the County Judge to sign the 24 contract. Any further discussion? 25 MRS. DOWDY: Can you spell the name? 104 1 MR. HASTINGS: B-R-A-N-N-O-N. 2 MRS. DOWDY: Thank you. 3 MR. HASTINGS: Out of Victoria. They did 4 some work for us three years ago. They did a good job, 5 too. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. All in favor 7 say aye. Any opposed? It's unanimous. 8 Information Agenda. 3.1 status report from 9 Department Heads. 10 3.2 status reports from Elected Officials. 11 3.3 status reports from Liaison 12 Commissioners. 13 All right. Let's go back and quickly call 14 1.3, I think. 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: Mr. Woodward, please 16 take the stand. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And we have about five 18 minutes until I have to leave. 19 (County Attorney and Court Reporter leaving 20 meeting to attend Juvenile Court.) 21 * * * * * * 22 23 24 25 105 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 21st day of April, A.D. 2023. 10 11 /s/DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD Certified Shorthand Reporter 12 No. 953 Expiration Date 04/30/2023 13 * * * * * * 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25