1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Regular Session 5 Monday, May 22, 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 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Precinct 3 DON HARRIS, Commissioner Precinct 4 25 2 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 *** Public Input. 7 4 *** Commissioners' Comments. 13 5 1.1 Passed. 6 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 17 action to accept donation from the Ingram 7 Police Benevolent Foundation to Kerr County Precinct 4 Constable Brad Rider for the 8 purchase of equipment to properly outfit the Precinct 4 Constable's vehicle, and for any 9 other equipment necessary to safely and effectively perform his duties. 10 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 19 11 action to release four titles for vehicles to Enterprise. Vehicles have already been 12 approved for release to be sold by Enterprise. 13 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 20 action regarding Interlocal Cooperation Act 14 Agreement between Kerr County and the County of San Patricio for short-term sheltering 15 during an evacuation. 16 1.5 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 22 action to determine which areas, if any, at 17 the Hill Country Youth Event Center are available for rental between April 4th through 18 April 8th, 2024. This includes River Star Park and the campus parking areas, as well as 19 the main buildings. 20 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 27 action regarding Engagement Letter with 21 Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Company for 12/31/22 OPEB valuation and GASB 75 Valuation Report 22 for fiscal years ending 2023 and 2024. 23 1.7 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 29 action to offer Road & Bridge equipment as 24 trade-ins for new property of the same general type per LCG 263.152. 25 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.8 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 29 action to approve the MOUs, memorandums of 4 understanding, between the County Clerk's Office and ePN, E-Recording Partners Network, 5 IGS, Indecomm Global Services, and Corporation Service Company, CSC, as presented. 6 1.9 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 33 7 action to surplus chairs and miscellaneous items, as presented by list. 8 1.10 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 34 9 action to open sealed bids for lease of the Kerr County Juvenile Facility located at 10 3499 Legion Drive, Kerrville, Kerr County, Texas. 11 1.11 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 36 12 action to accept ESD #1 Compilation Report. 13 1.12 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 38 action to authorize County Judge to execute 14 deed transferring 0.51 acres to the Nichols Memorial Cemetery Association. 15 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 39 16 action to approve justification for Sole Source procurement of products and services 17 for the Lenco Bearcat Armored Rescue Response Vehicle and Trinity Innovative Solutions for 18 the Operation Lone Star Grant in accordance with Local Government Code 262.024 19 Discretionary Exemptions Subsection(c) if an item exempted under Subsection(a)(7) is 20 purchased, the Commissioners' Court, after accepting a signed statement from the county 21 official who makes purchases for the County as to the existence of only one source, must 22 enter in its minutes a statement to that effect. 23 1.14 Presentation of Fiscal Year 2023-2024 50 proposed budget. 24 25 4 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.15 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 63 action to accept Option 4 Exhibit & Cost 4 Estimate from Mendez Construction for the Veterans' Pathway Project. 5 1.16 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 76 6 action to approve the contract with Mendez Engineering for Engineering Services for the 7 Veterans' Pathway Project in the amount of $58,975.00 from the ARPA (American Rescue 8 Plan Act)funds obligated in Court Order 39733. 9 1.17 Public Hearing for a revision of plat for 77 Creekside at Camp Verde Phase 1 Lots 163-164, 10 Plat File 22-01280. 11 1.18 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 77 action regarding final plat for Sky Harbor 12 Ranchettes Tracts 19A and 19B. 13 1.19 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 80 action regarding a reduction in Letter 14 of Credit No. SB95797 from First Citizens Bank & Trust Company, Raleigh, NC from 15 $977,505.56 to $200,000.00 as a financial guarantee for the remaining construction 16 associated with Great Sky Ranch. 17 1.20 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 82 action for the Court to set a public hearing 18 for 10:00 a.m. on June 26, 2023 for a partial cancellation and revision of plat for 19 Rivenburgh Wine Addition Lot 1. 20 1.21 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 83 action for the Court to set a public hearing 21 for 10:00 a.m. on June 26, 2023 for a revision of plat for Y.O. Ranchlands Section 3, Tracts 22 126 and 131R, Volume 6, Page 17 and Volume 8, Page 164. 23 1.22 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 84 24 action for the Court to set a public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on June 26, 2023 for a revision 25 of plat for Real Oaks Subdivision, Lot 17A. 5 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.23 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 85 action regarding a final plat for Hidden 4 Draw Ranch along with Letter of Credit No. 33550 from Mason Bank in Mason, Texas 5 in the amount of $8,000.00, and Letter of Credit No. 33551 from Mason Bank in Mason, 6 Texas in the amount of $12,000.00 for associated construction improvements. 7 1.24 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 87 8 action to set a public hearing regarding the naming of an unnamed private road to 9 be "Schmidt Ln. N.", Precinct 3. 10 1.25 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 88 action to appoint Noel Putnam as the Kerr 11 County representative on the Emergency Food and Shelter Program(EFSP) local board. 12 4.2(a) Consider, discuss and take appropriate 90 13 action regarding staffing and personnel matters in Road & Bridge Department. 14 2.1 Budget Amendments. 100 15 2.2 Pay Bills. 101 16 2.5 Accept Monthly Reports. 101 17 2.6 Court Orders. 102 18 5.1a) Consider, discuss and take appropriate 105 19 action authorizing County Judge or other authorized officials to execute the Settlement 20 participation and release forms regarding settlement offers in the matter of Texas 21 opioid multi-district litigation for the County in the matter of County of Kerr versus 22 Purdue Pharma, Inc. et al., MDL PRETRIAL CAUSE NO. 2018-63587, in the 152d District Court of 23 Harris County, Texas. 24 *** Adjournment. 106 25 6 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 *** Reporter's Certificate. 107 4 * * * * * * 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 7 1 JUDGE KELLY: It's Monday, May the 22nd, 2 2023, it's 9 o'clock in the morning and the Kerr County 3 Commissioners' Court is now in session. If you would, 4 please stand for the prayer and pledge, which I will 5 lead. 6 (Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance.) 7 JUDGE KELLY: Please be seated. Let me 8 remind everyone, we start exactly at 9 o'clock with 9 atomic time on your phone. Now I have to ask you to 10 turn your phone off or to turn it to silent so it 11 doesn't interrupt the proceedings. Technically that 12 will be in contempt of court if that happens. We 13 haven't had to do that. 14 The next thing I want to point out is that 15 we always receive public input on our regular meetings, 16 which is twice a month. And I know we have a number of 17 people signed up here to address the Court. For those 18 of you that are going to address the Court, we ask that 19 you address on items that are not on the agenda. If 20 it's on the agenda, we ask that you wait to make your 21 input at the time the item is called. But if it's not 22 on the agenda, this is the opportunity for us to hear 23 your input. We ask that you limit your remarks to three 24 minutes. Identify yourself by your name and your 25 address and which Precinct you're in. And so with that, 8 1 we'll call for public input. I have a number of people 2 here. 3 I guess the first one is actually from Ross 4 Rommel and he sent an e-mail, which all of us have been 5 provided copies so let me just read that into the 6 record. This is Ross Rommel. He lives in Hunt. He's a 7 personal friend of mine. 8 He says from Rob Bradley, Re: Hazards at 9 the intersection. I am in charge of cooking hamburgers 10 for the St. Peter's School faculty and St. Peter's 11 Church staff today and must go to HEB at 8:30 to buy 12 meat and then go to the church at 9:00 and fire up my 13 cooker and serve it at 11:30, thus I'll be unable to 14 attend the meeting at the courthouse. In a nutshell, 15 here are my thoughts. 16 One, I believe that a person should be able 17 to improve or develop his property so long as the 18 development comports with the prevailing rules, 19 regulations, and ordinances. 20 Number two, I believe that the process to be 21 followed by County authorities in assessing requests, 22 such as Larry Howard's request for a variance, needs to 23 be transparent. The decision to be made here clearly 24 affects a community in a significant manner and the 25 process for deciding the issue needs to occur in the 9 1 daylight. Moreover, any conflicts of interest need to 2 be fully disclosed. 3 Number three, if after full disclosure is 4 made concerning extant conflicts of interest, and after 5 all reports and filings required by local ordinance are 6 properly submitted and considered, County officials 7 decide that the variance should be granted, then so be 8 it. I don't know how such issues -- I don't know how 9 issues such as safety factor into the decision for 10 making -- the decision-making process. 11 Rob raises a good point by alerting us to 12 the wreck that recently occurred at the intersection. 13 We all know that people coming west across the bridge 14 accelerate as they come through the intersection of 1340 15 and 39 and head west. It would seem that someone from 16 TxDOT should have to pass on the safety issue before a 17 variance is issued. I don't know whether they have. 18 Thanks for listening. And remember to come 19 to the Ice Cream Festival on Memorial Day. Ross Rommel. 20 That was his input. 21 The next person I have down here is Tracy 22 Belew. 23 MS. BELEW: Right. This will be my first 24 time. So anyway, no relation to Harley. 25 JUDGE KELLY: The good news is that this is 10 1 just input. 2 MS. BELEW: Okay. 3 JUDGE KELLY: You can tell us what you want 4 us to hear. We don't get to say anything back to you. 5 MS. BELEW: Okay. Well, my name is Tracy 6 Belew. I live at 125 Deer Haven Lane in Hunt. And 7 along with Ross, I agree with what he has just stated so 8 I'm not going to repeat everything. But yes, the 9 variance and issuing it, it needs to be open to the 10 public and to the Hunt community. At least -- that's 11 my -- you know, that's not circumventing anything. But 12 that's my big thing. Ross has actually said what I 13 probably would have said, so I just want you to know I'm 14 from Precinct 4 and I want you to know that it's a 15 serious matter for us. 16 And also, I'm not sure where that pole came 17 from, but that is a -- you know, that electric pole or 18 whatever it is there at the edge is a danger. It's a 19 complete danger at 1340 and 39. It's put on that piece 20 of property, and it's a serious danger to the community. 21 Thank you. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Next is Peter 23 Johnston. 24 MR. JOHNSTON: Good morning. Yes I'm a 25 resident of Hunt and Precinct 4. And I just want to 11 1 read a statement if that's all right. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Yes, sir. 3 MR. JOHNSTON: It has recently come to my 4 attention, as Ross and Tracy just stated, that the 5 County Commissioners approved at its May 8th, 2023 6 meeting a request by the 1605 Hunt Group, LLC, for a 7 setback variance and a waiver of water availability 8 study requirements on a development by the 1605 Hunt 9 Group in Hunt, Texas. 10 In their approval of the -- well, if this 11 is true, we weren't aware of it. But it -- in their 12 approval, if the Commissioners did approve that request, 13 it is unclear what documents the Commissioners 14 considered before approving the setback waiver, and the 15 water availability study requirements. If such 16 documents were received by the Commissioners, then I 17 respectfully request copies of those documents. 18 In the meantime, I also request the 19 Commissioners to set aside their approval of the 1605 20 Hunt Group, LLC's request until the residents of Hunt 21 can review such documents and have a hearing in front of 22 the Commissioners to discuss and consider the impact 23 that this development may have on the water availability 24 and other matters upon the residents of Hunt before the 25 Commissioners consider approval of 1605 Hunt Group, 12 1 LLC's request. Thank you. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Next is Mike Carothers. 3 MR. CAROTHERS: My name is Mike Carothers. 4 I live at 125 Sunset Place, downtown Hunt, Texas. I'm 5 just going to reiterate about five points about this 6 setback again. It's not apparent to us as Hunt 7 residents that the water study was done, a septic study 8 was done, an approval from the Headwaters group, no 9 public hearing for the Hunt area residents, and contrary 10 to subdivision rules because it's three lots. And if 11 there are going to be three condos, is that a 12 subdivision? If so, were those rules followed? Thank 13 you. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Sandra Chapman. I didn't see 15 you, you were behind Carothers there. 16 MS. CHAPMAN: I'm Sandra Chapman. I've 17 known the Judge a long, long time. I'm here not because 18 I'm mad; I'm here because I'm sad. I live between two 19 and 300 feet of this condo situation. And I have -- 20 we've been having traffic that you cannot believe. And 21 they do as they say. They turn right, and they start 22 heading, and I live at the driveway. 23 I'm very disappointed that they didn't come 24 before the citizens of Hunt and bring this up to us so 25 that we would have known more. But that was not the 13 1 case. I'm not just a little old 86-year-old widow, but 2 I also have my license as a broker in real estate. So I 3 do have some knowledge besides my emotion. Thank you. 4 JUDGE KELLY: John Staub. 5 MR. STAUB: Hello, I'm John Staub. I live 6 at 1755 Highway 39, which is about six-tenths of a mile 7 past the Hunt Store. The information that I got 8 yesterday was the first time I've heard about this 9 variance request. It just doesn't seem to be above 10 board completely or transparent. And I think Ross -- I 11 couldn't begin to say it that clearly, but those are my 12 sentiments. Thank you. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We're not allowed to 14 respond to that. But we will move on to -- is there 15 anybody else that wants to speak on that -- something 16 that's not on the agenda? Make sure. That's all I had 17 signed up. 18 We've got Mr. Moser's on 1.15. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So we move on to 20 Commissioners' Comments. Precinct 1. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I thought Moser 22 was here to fill this empty chair. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No way. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: No way. 25 The nice rain, that was good. And after 14 1 sitting through two hours of dance recital yesterday, 2 I'm ready for anything that can happen in here today. I 3 guarantee. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 3. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just want to -- you 6 know, there was a lot of criticism against all our 7 schools for various reasons. I just want to commend 8 them for something that they do very well in our whole 9 area, and that's extracurricular activities. They do -- 10 you know, we have I don't know how many kids from the 11 Kerrville, Ingram, Comfort, Center Point area that 12 participate in athletics or 4-H or the FFA programs, 13 dance, other things. And, you know, a lot of them have 14 been in the paper recently. I just want to hats off to 15 them. 16 And even though this isn't real close, but I 17 want to hats off to Boerne. Boerne has two teams, they 18 have two high schools. Both of those high school's 19 teams are in the -- if they win their next game in 20 baseball they'll be at the State tournament. And that's 21 a major accomplishment for anyone to do that. But they 22 have two schools out of one small community to it. It's 23 pretty remarkable. And a lot of those kids play with a 24 lot of the Kerrville kids on summer baseball teams and 25 some of them -- actually, Cameron Logan lived here for 15 1 quite a while. Anyway, hats off to all those kids and 2 all the extracurricular activities because they really 3 do a good job in the schools that promote that. 4 And the other thing I was going to say is 5 that Tivy, I know, has -- and all the schools have 6 welding programs and other things of that nature. Shop. 7 I know there's out of Sam's class two of them certified 8 welders that are working at Fox Tank. Just coming 9 straight out of high school. So a lot going on at our 10 high schools that are good. That's it. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Four. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I'll second what 13 Jonathan just said. And a lot of our kids are on the 14 fast track when they leave high school. And I'm sure 15 the gentleman in the back, both his daughters work for 16 the County straight out of high school. They're going 17 to be in good shape and they'll be able to retire before 18 they're 50 or what have you. So we do have a lot of 19 good programs, and thanks for bringing it up. 20 Also, I was gone over the weekend. Got in 21 late last night. I don't know how much rain I got at 22 the house. Didn't look this morning. Dumped out 23 six-tenths here at the courthouse this morning when I 24 actually got here. So that's it. 25 JUDGE KELLY: And by way of comments that 16 1 I'll make today as County Judge, I'll be presenting the 2 budget later today and I'll be talking a lot about how 3 local governments works. A lot of people don't 4 understand that. 5 But one thing that I want the whole public 6 to know, and I'm not responding directly to some of the 7 comments that were made, but anything you want to know 8 about the County go to our new website. It's great. 9 It's very user-friendly and all these notices are there. 10 Secondly, nothing can be approved that 11 hasn't been -- by way of subdivision can't be approved 12 until it's gone through the County Engineer's office. 13 And the County Engineer makes a recommendation on that. 14 It can't be approved until it's been posted and put on a 15 public agenda. And it can't -- all of those things are 16 there on the agenda. And if you want to know what was 17 said at the hearing where that order was actually 18 approved, there is a transcript of each and every 19 regular Commissioners' Court meeting that is posted on 20 the website. And you can find word for word exactly 21 what was said and disclosed by the engineer and by the 22 applicant at the time. And nothing was done in the dark 23 of night. I can assure you. Whatever discussion we 24 need to have, we're ready to have. But if you go to our 25 website, we are completely open and transparent. So -- 17 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Judge, can I add one 2 more thing to my input? 3 JUDGE KELLY: Sure. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: On the 30th of this 5 month we're going to have a town hall at Mountain Home 6 VFD, and it's about the human trafficking. And myself 7 and Sheriff Leitha, and the DAs will be there and, you 8 know, you're not going to get all that much information 9 out of me but you'll sure get some valuable information 10 out of them. So we encourage everybody to come out 11 there. The 30th at six o'clock. So that's it. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Good. So with that we'll move 13 on to the Consideration Agenda. The first item at 9 14 o'clock is 1.1, which is a presentation regarding the 15 AgriLife Extension and Kerr 4-H interpretation. 16 Jennifer Smith. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: We're going to pass on 18 that one. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We're going to pass? 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Moving on to 1.2 22 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to accept 23 a donation from the Ingram Police Benevolent Foundation 24 to Kerr County Precinct 4 Constable Brad Rider for the 25 purchase of equipment to properly outfit the Precinct 4 18 1 Constable's vehicle and for any other equipment 2 necessary to safely and effectively perform his duties. 3 Kerry Sutton. 4 MR. SUTTON: Good morning. And just pretty 5 much just as it says here on the agenda. We, as a 6 police foundation, we'd like to make a donation to 7 Precinct 4 for Brad's vehicles or however the County 8 deems to see fit. So I've got the check right here in 9 my hand and we would love to do that. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'm sure Brad can put 11 it to good use now that he's got a vehicle, so we 12 appreciate you. Brad, you got anything to say? 13 CONSTABLE RIDER: Well, one, I would like to 14 thank the Foundation for that and -- and anyone else who 15 had anything to do with it. But one thing I want to 16 make point is Commissioner Belew, when we started 17 talking about a truck specifically asked about 18 equipment. Well, as y'all all know how the truck -- 19 whatever you want to call it, phenomenon coming around, 20 we ended up with a Chevrolet and not a Ram or a Dodge. 21 And most of that equipment on the other truck won't fit 22 on the new one. So that's kind of our predicament. 23 Can't even use the spare tire, so -- but I'd like to 24 thank Kerry and his group very much. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Is there a motion? 19 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 4 approve the donation from the Ingram Police Benevolent 5 Foundation to Kerr County Precinct 4 Constable Brad 6 Rider for this donation as presented. Any other 7 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 8 Unanimous. Thank you. 9 MR. SUTTON: Thank you. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.3 consider, discuss and 11 take appropriate action to release four titles for 12 vehicles to Enterprise. The vehicles have already been 13 approved for release to be sold by Enterprise. Reagan 14 Givens. 15 MR. GIVENS: Good morning. This is part of 16 our Enterprise agreement dealing where they're going to 17 sell four vehicles. And I must apologize, I thought 18 this was actually something that was already taken care 19 of. It's not. And then I found out I needed to come 20 here and ask. So that's what we're trying to do is 21 release the titles to Enterprise so we can get those 22 removed. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move we release the 24 titles as proposed. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 20 1 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 2 second to release the titles to Enterprise as presented. 3 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 4 Unanimous. 5 1.4 consider, discuss and take appropriate 6 action regarding Interlocal Cooperation Act Agreement 7 between Kerr County and the County of San Patricio for 8 short-term sheltering during an evacuation. Dub Thomas. 9 MR. THOMAS: Good morning, Judge. Good 10 morning, Commissioners. So for several years we had an 11 agreement with San Patricio County that we would shelter 12 evacuees in the event of a major hurricane on the lower 13 Texas Coast. So what happens is San Patricio County 14 sends us a maximum of 250 people that we shelter at 15 Edington Gym on the Schreiner University campus. We 16 actually did it during Hurricane Harvey. 17 The agreement we tried to put on hold once 18 COVID hit, it was basically going to be impossible for 19 us to shelter those folks here. It was going to take 20 five shelters for 250 people and we just didn't have the 21 capability to do that. So now that COVID is over, San 22 Patricio County Emergency Management approached about 23 reinstating the agreement. And so you have that 24 agreement here before you. Everybody wants to do it 25 again. Hopefully we don't have to do it again. But we 21 1 feel like it's the right thing to do is to pick that 2 agreement back up again and for Kerr County to shelter 3 those folks if they cannot evacuate themselves. 4 County Attorney has looked at the agreement, 5 she actually made the agreement several years ago, and 6 nothing -- nothing of substance has actually changed. 7 Other than some of the names on the back. 8 JUDGE KELLY: I'll move we reinstate the 9 Interlocal Agreement with San Patricio County. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 12 Discussion? What happened back there in COVID is we 13 were worried that they were going to send us a bunch of 14 people and we didn't have a place to put them. And I 15 got on the telephone and talked to the County Judge in 16 San Patricio County and we agreed by mutual agreement to 17 suspend our agreement for COVID. That was in 2020. And 18 then that carried over into '21. And nothing happened. 19 But we still had COVID in '21. But by '22, we didn't 20 have an event. So there was no reason for us to revisit 21 this issue. But we want to be prepared for hurricane 22 season which we know is right around the corner. And if 23 something happens, we want to be able to help our 24 neighbors. So I'm very much in favor of reinstating 25 this while we can. 22 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I would hope they 2 would send us some of the rain, too, if that happens. 3 JUDGE KELLY: I think if they could, they 4 would. Any other discussion? Those in favor say aye. 5 Opposed? Unanimous. 6 MR. THOMAS: Thanks y'all. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Thank you, Dub. 8 JUDGE KELLY: 1.5 consider, discuss, and 9 take appropriate action to determine which areas, if 10 any, at the Hill Country Youth Event Center are 11 available for rental between April 4th through 12 April 8th, 2024. This is the eclipse. This includes 13 River Star Park and campus parking areas, as well as the 14 main building. Jake Williamson. 15 MR. WILLIAMSON: Good morning. I've been 16 called here today to discuss the upcoming eclipse and 17 then how we at the Event Center campus is going to be 18 facilitated with that or incorporated into any sort of 19 bigger plans and just looking for some guidance. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Have you had a chance to go to 21 the monthly meeting that -- 22 MR. WILLIAMSON: Uh-huh. 23 JUDGE KELLY: -- was just held? 24 MR. WILLIAMSON: Yeah. We have been and 25 I've been working with Dub, Mercy Management, and we 23 1 really just wanted to see how the County wants to tackle 2 the issue of either multi-purpose campus, single 3 purpose, how that looks so we can fill in the holes 4 around that and try to make some revenue for the County, 5 if possible. 6 JUDGE KELLY: So there's no recommendation 7 for us to consider then? 8 MR. WILLIAMSON: My recommendation would be 9 a hybrid of some Emergency Management areas. Housing 10 them, you know, maybe classrooms, some space so they can 11 use restrooms. But I -- I don't personally see the need 12 for the entire campus to be taken over because of the 13 large parking lots and all those things. I think 14 there's room for more than just one group. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it would be 16 probably the best thing, Jake, for you to come back 17 maybe at our next meeting or meeting after that with a 18 very specific -- you know, have the drawing of the whole 19 property and outlining, you know, a recommendation from 20 you as to what should be used in which areas. I mean, 21 you mentioned in the backup, the City looking at it for 22 a shuttle spot. That makes sense to me. We do have 23 parking there. I'm not sure what people who have been 24 going from downtown is what the City talks about, but I 25 haven't been going to the meeting. So there's that. 24 1 And then RV hookups. Certainly, to me, we oughta rent 2 those. There's no reason not to. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We could have primitive 4 camping at the River Star Event Park if we needed to 5 because there's a restroom there and you could put 6 port-a-potties. There's a lot that could be done. 7 JUDGE KELLY: And there are no 8 port-a-potties to be had. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, but we have a 10 restroom. An air conditioned restroom. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or we could rent the 12 park for a -- to a group if they want to. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Exactly. And that's 14 what Jake is looking for, some guidance, you know. 15 We've kind of had him sitting on hold. And now it's 16 time to figure out what we're going to do going forward. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Well, let me be more specific 18 in my recommendation. I don't disagree with what's been 19 said. What I am concerned about, though, is I want to 20 work with our Emergency Management group, the 21 stakeholder group that Dub and I go through. And I 22 missed the last one, I apologize. But we need to have 23 this as the topic of discussion at the group, where we 24 actually go through what the emergency need might be. 25 Because the first priority has to be to provide for the 25 1 emergency needs of the County and the citizens of this 2 County. And then the visitors that are coming in that 3 we're going to have to accommodate. 4 And -- and as far as, you know, being able 5 to generate some revenue, I think that's something that 6 we need to take a look at and balance against what the 7 needs are for emergency purposes. And so that really is 8 the discussion that I want to see had and conducted at 9 that group. And so, with the input from that group then 10 I think you could come back with some recommendations. 11 If we need to do a workshop, I'm fine with doing a 12 workshop on it. We've got time. It's an important 13 issue and the public needs to know how we're going to 14 use that facility, because that will be the epicenter of 15 all Emergency Management for that weekend. And it's 16 going to be near chaotic. So good work. Let's go back 17 and do some more. When's the next meeting, Dub. 18 MR. THOMAS: This Thursday at 1:30. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Thursday at 1:30. Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But also, at that 21 meeting look at possibly closing Riverside Drive. Isn't 22 it Riverside Drive that goes on the back side? 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yes. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just so that that is 25 available to get Emergency Management people in and out 26 1 of that facility. So you can get -- I mean it's kind of 2 a way to get around because the traffic gets pretty 3 heavy on 27. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But we have a park 5 there where people could camp in also. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Well, anyway. 7 Just -- all that stuff needs to be considered -- 8 JUDGE KELLY: And so the public knows, one 9 of the things that we considered in our Emergency 10 Management group is we're going to limit access onto the 11 major arterials. Some arterials will be one way, going 12 east, west, north and south. And that includes Sidney 13 Baker, Junction Highway, Broadway and -- talking about 14 Riverside, easy one for us to be able to close if that's 15 what we want to do. There are going to be a lot of 16 streets closed to try to keep the traffic moving. 17 Because otherwise we're going to be at gridlock. 18 So these are all things that really I think 19 are best discussed around that table when we have the 20 stakeholders there that can tell us what their needs are 21 and what their concerns are and we can better -- I think 22 it gives us a better opportunity to balance out the 23 respective needs for County as well as the people. So 24 Thursday at 1:30. 25 MR. WILLIAMSON: Is it at the library again? 27 1 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. 2 MR. WILLIAMSON: I'll be there. Thank you. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Very good. 4 Next is 1.6 consider, discuss and take 5 appropriate action regarding Engagement Letter with 6 Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Company for the December 31, 7 2022 OPEB valuation and GASB 75 Valuation Report for 8 fiscal years ending in 2023 and 2024. Miss Shelton. 9 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. Gabriel, Roeder, Smith 10 & Company have a shared service arrangement with the 11 North Central Texas Council of Government to provide 12 other post-employment benefits or OPEB actuarial 13 valuations. This agreement allows for two additional 14 two-year renewal periods. The first renewal period 15 would come this year and would extend the agreement 16 until June of 2025. The master agreement with 17 Gabriel -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Roeder. 19 MRS. SHELTON: -- Roeder, thank you, Smith 20 & Company to provide other post-employment benefits in 21 the actuarial valuations to Kerr County was signed in 22 2018. This agreement is based on the North Central 23 Texas Council of Government agreement. The engagement 24 letter under consideration today is for OPEB valuation 25 and GASB 79 Valuation Reports for the fiscal years 28 1 ending 2023 and 2024. 2 The engagement letter was reviewed by the 3 County Attorney. Cost of this services is $11,600.00. 4 Last year, Kerr County paid $12,150.00, and that was 5 slightly higher due to the restructure of the OPEB 6 benefits. This takes into consideration the County paid 7 health insurance if somebody retires after eight years 8 of service and is 60 years old. It takes into 9 consideration that we're going to pay those health 10 benefits until that person reaches 65. 11 JUDGE KELLY: But the valuation reports are 12 required. 13 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. It is part of the 14 annual audit. 15 JUDGE KELLY: And for those of you that are 16 sitting out there, the name that we're struggling with 17 is R-O-E-D-E-R, Roeder. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What is OPEB? 19 MRS. SHELTON: The OPEB, other post 20 employment benefits, so the health insurance that we pay 21 is considered in other benefits. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 25 approve the engagement letter with Gabriel, Roeder & 29 1 Smith for the GASB 75 Valuation Report. Any discussion? 2 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 3 1.7 consider, discuss and take appropriate 4 action to offer Road & Bridge equipment as trade-ins for 5 new property of the same general type per the Local 6 Government Code. Miss Shelton. 7 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. Road & Bridge has 8 requested that the three equipment items that you are 9 looking at be traded in to purchase new property of the 10 same general type. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 14 JUDGE KELLY: We have a motion and a second 15 to approve the Road & Bridge equipment trade-in as 16 presented. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 17 Opposed? Unanimous. 18 1.8 consider, discuss and take appropriate 19 action to approve the MOUs, memorandums of 20 understanding, between the County Clerk's office and the 21 E-Recording Partners Network, the Indecomm Global 22 Services, and the Corporation Service Company. 23 Miss Dowdy. 24 MRS. DOWDY: Yes. These are in addition to 25 Simplifile. They are an E-Recording system that will 30 1 connect with our new Fiddler system. The previous 2 system was limited to only Simplifile, so these will 3 open up more options to customers who would like to 4 E-record. So, I'm just -- the County Attorney has 5 reviewed them and made more modifications, a small one, 6 and so they have been reviewed. 7 JUDGE KELLY: So these are necessary 8 agreements to continue the online availability to 9 records? 10 MRS. DOWDY: To create more -- just other 11 option other than Simplifile. So a bank and an attorney 12 are the only qualified people that can use an E-Recorded 13 system which was approved back -- way back when. 14 Simplifile only connected to eDoc, because that's how 15 their software was built. Fiddler allows these other 16 companies in addition to Simplifile, which we still 17 continue to use. It just provides more options to 18 consumers. And, I mean, it doesn't necessarily continue 19 anything, it just opens up more options. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is there a demand for 21 that? 22 MRS. DOWDY: I would think so. I mean, I 23 think they compete with their pricing. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I mean from the 25 public. In other words, they say I can't log on this 31 1 way, do you have this other option. Have you had any 2 requests? 3 MRS. DOWDY: We still receive a lot of paper 4 recordings from the qualified users who could use 5 something other than Simplifile, so -- I wonder if we'll 6 see a reduction in paper filing because of the options 7 of these three. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I don't have any problem 9 approving agreements that you need with various vendors. 10 I'm just trying to understand what is it that each one 11 of these vendors -- what services they provide for. 12 MRS. DOWDY: They provide service to the 13 mortgage companies, which could be a bank or to aq title 14 companies, that was the other qualified users, and 15 attorneys to be able to E-record. It just makes things 16 more efficient and faster for -- 17 JUDGE KELLY: E-recording functions? 18 MRS. DOWDY: Yes, sir. 19 JUDGE KELLY: And they all -- 20 MRS. DOWDY: Yes. That is my understanding. 21 JUDGE KELLY: And we need all three of them? 22 MRS. DOWDY: Yes. I think so. I think it 23 would -- I think it will help consumers out there. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there a cost? 25 MRS. DOWDY: No, sir. 32 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 2 JUDGE KELLY: You should have led with that. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 4 JUDGE KELLY: I thought we were going to 5 have to pay for two different services. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So this is like when 7 you have an android phone and an iPhone and different 8 apps that you get, is that -- I'm trying to understand 9 what it is, why we need them. 10 MRS. DOWDY: Let's say there's a title 11 company out there that would like to use CSC because 12 Simplifile doesn't interface with their system or it 13 doesn't interface -- or it's not cost effective for 14 their balance sheet, okay. So they can't use -- they 15 won't use Simplifile so they just mail off the 16 records -- 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Oh, okay. 18 MRS. DOWDY: -- which just slows things down. 19 So now, if we open up CSC, for instance, they can say, 20 yay, I don't have to mail this, I can save on postage 21 and use CSC. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. These are services that 23 they use that they want to use to access your office, 24 and it's not costing the County anything and it's 25 helping them, I have no problems with it. 33 1 MRS. DOWDY: That's correct. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I made a motion. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I seconded it. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 5 Any other discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 6 Unanimous. 7 MRS. DOWDY: Thank you. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Let's move on to 1.9 which is 9 to consider, discuss and take appropriate action to 10 surplus chairs and miscellaneous items as presented. 11 Miss Dowdy, is this yours? 12 MRS. DOWDY: Oh. So we've been doing some 13 clean up. Through organization we created some space. 14 We even uncovered a window that was covered in boxes. 15 And so, we would like to surplus some outdated equipment 16 and very, very old ugly chairs that are broken. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Very good. 18 COMMISSIONERS HARRIS: I move for approval. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 20 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 21 second to approve surplusing items as presented. Any 22 discussion? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the only comment 24 I've had, and you've probably done this, but there is a 25 Dell laptop on there. And just want to make sure that 34 1 Bruce doesn't -- IT doesn't have any use for an old 2 computer. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You do that as a matter 4 of course, right, Bruce? 5 MR. MOTHERAL: Yes. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Got a motion and a 7 second. We do, don't we? 8 MRS. DOWDY: I thought we did. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Good. Those in favor 10 say aye. Unanimous. 11 MRS. DOWDY: Thank you. 12 JUDGE KELLY: We have a timed item at 9:30, 13 which is to consider, discuss and take appropriate 14 action to open sealed bids for the lease of Kerr County 15 Juvenile Facility located at 3499 Legion Drive, here in 16 Kerrville. Do we have any? 17 MRS. DOWDY: Oh. No, we didn't receive any. 18 JUDGE KELLY: We didn't receive any? 19 MRS. DOWDY: No, sir. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Well, that's a disappointment. 21 MRS. DOWDY: May I make a comment? 22 JUDGE KELLY: Sure. 23 MRS. DOWDY: Our budget for publishing items 24 is almost empty. So I'll need to be looking at a budget 25 amendment in the future, if the Court chooses to. I 35 1 mean, there are legal publishings that we have to do, I 2 understand that. I just wanted to make the Court aware 3 of that. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, on the -- that 6 item, how would we proceed? I mean, can we do it again? 7 I presume that you've been in contact with some people 8 we've been talking to. 9 JUDGE KELLY: No. We haven't been in 10 contact with them because we can't contact them when 11 we've got the RFP out. So we purposely had not talked 12 to them. Now that they didn't respond, we can talk to 13 them. But I think what they're doing is there were some 14 items that were being considered in the legislature that 15 were going to potentially affect monies available for 16 juvenile detention. 17 And I think what that -- I think what they 18 wanted to do was to wait until they saw it happen in the 19 legislation before they committed to us. Now, what Miss 20 Dowdy brought up is we probably have to repost in order 21 to be able to do anything, but this has to be publicly 22 posted. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 24 JUDGE KELLY: It's just a consideration 25 going forward. 36 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, we just have to do 2 a budget amendment to -- 3 JUDGE KELLY: And so what -- so that -- for 4 the public to understand, we have a 48-bed facility out 5 there that's been empty now for, what, probably a good 6 ten, 15 years, when we closed the juvenile detention 7 center. And we're looking to find a use for it and an 8 outfit called A Rite of Passage, and that is a 9 non-profit that provides these types of services, and we 10 are discussing the possibility of leasing the facility 11 to them. 12 We have also had the possibility to lease 13 the facility to TJJD, which is juvenile prison, for lack 14 of a better term, which we declined respectfully. We 15 don't want -- we don't want that here in Kerrville. So 16 that's what we're trying to do is put that facility to 17 use, so. 18 Moving on to item 1.11 consider, discuss and 19 take appropriate action to accept the ESD #1 Compilation 20 Report. Commissioner Harris. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: All right. This is 22 just a deal that -- an annual report that we have to 23 accept each year. They -- we did this last month for 24 ESD No. 2 and now ESD No. 1 has gotten theirs done and 25 they had a deadline of June the 1st to turn it in and 37 1 they complied, so I move for approval. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Got a motion and a 4 second to approve the ESD #1 compilation report. 5 Discussion? We have four ESDs in the County. So the 6 public understands. This is No. 1, which is the oldest 7 one. It's Ingram. And there is a requirement that 8 there had to be an annual accounting. 9 And initially, we were having accountings 10 done actually by our Auditor's Office for these ESDs, 11 and what we've come to understand is that a compilation 12 is better than an audit. These cost less. It gives us 13 the statement information. And so that's what we have, 14 we take -- every year each one of these ESDs has to 15 report back to us with their financials so we can review 16 them. Okay. So that's just their annual report. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. And I am 18 continually asked if our Auditor's Office will do it 19 again and I've assured them, Tanya, that you have enough 20 items in the fire right now. 21 MRS. SHELTON: Thank you. 22 JUDGE KELLY: That's an old issue that we 23 addressed some time ago. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. 25 JUDGE KELLY: So we have a motion and a 38 1 second to approve the compilation report for ESD No. 1. 2 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 3 Item 1.12 consider, discuss and take 4 appropriate action to authorize County Judge to execute 5 a deed transferring 0.51 acres to the Nichols Memorial 6 Cemetery Association. Commissioner Harris. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: This is basically 8 clean up from excess property. I mean the County does 9 not want to be in the cemetery business. And this is an 10 old deal and it had been cleared. The County Attorney 11 and I and the Cemetery Association have gone back and 12 forth, and finally figured out exactly where we're at, 13 and at first we thought we didn't own any property out 14 there. And we finally saw some documents that we do, 15 and we'd like to just turn it over to the Cemetery 16 Association and we've talked about this before in 17 Executive Session. And I move for approval. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 20 approve the deeding of 0.51 acres to the Nichols 21 Memorial Cemetery Association. Discussion? And I know 22 people wonder what we talk about in Executive Session. 23 This is one we spent quite a bit of time on. And just 24 historically we ended up opening a little piece of that 25 cemetery that we have no use for whatsoever. In order 39 1 to get the title cleaned up, we decided that it was more 2 cost effective for the County just to go ahead and deed 3 this to the cemetery. 4 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. You have a 5 Resolution in your packet and a Quitclaim Deed in your 6 packet as well, and these were used by the County back 7 in the '30s, I think, is that right, Commissioner? 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. 9 MRS. STEBBINS: So the Resolution states all 10 the facts related to the cemetery property. It is there 11 being used as grave sites on that property. 12 JUDGE KELLY: So the motion includes this 13 Resolution? 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Of course. Oh yeah. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 16 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 17 Item 1.13 consider, discuss and take 18 appropriate action to approve justification for Sole 19 Source procurement of products and services for the 20 Lenco Bearcat Armored Rescue Response Vehicle and 21 Trinity Innovative Solutions for the Operation Lone Star 22 Grant in accordance with Local Government Code 23 provisions discretionary exemptions Subsection(c) if an 24 item exempted under Subsection(a)(7) is purchased, the 25 Commissioners' Court, after accepting a signed statement 40 1 from the county official who makes purchases for the 2 County as to the existence of the only one source, must 3 enter in its minutes a statement to that effect. 4 Sheriff Leitha. 5 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes. I'm looking for the 6 Court's approval to make two Sole Source purchases. 7 First one, like I said, is a Lenco Bearcat, but let me 8 make it clear, these funds -- none of these funds come 9 out of my annual budget. These are funds that are from 10 grants and from the public. 11 The first one is for the Lenco Bearcat, and 12 this donation is $150,000. We're looking for y'all's 13 approval for that one. Also, the Motorola Vigilant A, 14 LPR camera system, which is license plate reader camera. 15 That one's $100,515.00. Basically looking for y'all's 16 approval for these two items, Sole Source items. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Does that second item 18 go with the first one? 19 SHERIFF LEITHA: No. They're separate. 20 JUDGE KELLY: They're cameras. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And that's a serious -- 22 that's more than one camera? 23 SHERIFF LEITHA: Oh yeah. Yeah. It's 24 several cameras. But we'll really be using this for the 25 uptake of the human smuggling. 41 1 JUDGE KELLY: Well first, do we have a 2 motion? 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 6 approve. Just to clarify, the Motorola is for the 7 cameras, and that was a grant application, Lone Star. 8 Is that right? 9 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes. Yes. Sure was. 10 JUDGE KELLY: And that is a Sole Source 11 because why? 12 SHERIFF LEITHA: Because they're the only 13 company that make the system that we're looking at 14 using. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So it's a one-of-a-kind 16 system? 17 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes. 18 JUDGE KELLY: And then the Bearcat -- 19 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yeah. They're the only one 20 that meets federal guidelines for Sole Source. 21 JUDGE KELLY: And so -- and the reason we're 22 doing this is so that we don't have to put it out for 23 bid? 24 SHERIFF LEITHA: Correct. 25 JUDGE KELLY: The Sole Source. 42 1 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The Bearcat is donated 3 funds, correct? 4 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just wondered, I 6 mean -- 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Does it require -- 8 SHERIFF LEITHA: That's a good question. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean they could -- 10 they're giving us a Bearcat so Bearcat wouldn't require 11 it. But they're giving us the money and we're buying 12 it? 13 MR. GAIGE: Yeah, that's -- that's correct. 14 So Bearfoot -- since Cailloux donated the $150,000 to 15 the Sheriff's Office and we got to put in the equipment 16 fund. So from there, procurement requires us to go out 17 for Sole Source or for a bid for that $150,000. The 18 remaining amount was donated directly -- or was given 19 directly to Lenco from the Sheriff's Foundation. So -- 20 JUDGE KELLY: Why don't you just go to the 21 podium so the public can understand you. 22 MR. GAIGE: Okay. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Because they can't hear you. 24 MR. GAIGE: So the total amount was $319,000 25 for the Lenco Bearcat. So the Sheriff's Foundation 43 1 donated directly their portion of it. The matching 2 grant of $150,000 from the Cailloux Foundation was 3 donated directly to the Sheriff's Office, so from 4 that -- going into our Equipment Fund since it's going 5 to be a County purchase. It needs to go out there for 6 procurement reasons or for Sole Source, which like it's 7 a Sole Source provider since it's customized. It's 8 built from the ground up so no other manufacturer 9 produces it. 10 JUDGE KELLY: And the Court has already 11 accepted the donation of this $319,000? 12 MR. GAIGE: I'm sorry, sir? 13 JUDGE KELLY: The Court has already approved 14 those donations? 15 MR. GAIGE: So the -- yeah. So the Court 16 has accepted the $150,000 from the Cailloux Foundation 17 which came into the Sheriff's Equipment Fund. The 18 remaining amount has been directly -- from the Sheriff's 19 Foundation has been given to Lenco. So this remaining 20 $150,000 is when we will -- we'll purchase that based on 21 our acceptance of that Bearcat which they will produce. 22 JUDGE KELLY: I'm a little confused. At the 23 end of the day, all the Sheriff's equipment is owned by 24 the County. Okay. All the cruisers, all the equipment, 25 everything is owned by the County. But it is in the 44 1 care, custody, and control of KCSO. 2 MR. GAIGE: Yes. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Now, if the Bearcat -- the 4 title of the Bearcat is going to go into the County? 5 MR. GAIGE: Yes, sir. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Is that right? 7 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes, sir. 8 JUDGE KELLY: And you paid Lenco directly 9 the part that your Foundation raised? 10 SHERIFF LEITHA: Correct. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Now this is the Cailloux part 12 that we've already accepted the $150 -- 13 MR. GAIGE: Yes, sir. 14 JUDGE KELLY: -- but now we're saying that 15 in order to be able to do this it will be Sole Source 16 because this is the only kind of vehicle like this that 17 we can get is from Lenco? 18 MR. GAIGE: Yes, sir. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. And the same thing with 20 the cameras on Motorola? 21 MR. GAIGE: Yes, sir. So part of that 22 vigilant system, which is Motorola product, so that 23 system will work seamlessly with -- currently with what 24 -- our in-car video system as well as our communication 25 system that we're currently in contract with Motorola 45 1 for the seven million dollars. It's all part of that 2 network and that system. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, I understand that. Got 4 to look at the County Attorney. Are we in compliance 5 with the government code if we go ahead and issue this 6 kind of -- I think there's a statement to that effect? 7 MRS. STEBBINS: That's why he's here asking 8 for that authorization, and he -- 9 JUDGE KELLY: I'm just trying to explain it. 10 I understand what he wants. 11 MRS. STEBBINS: Okay. His confirmation -- I 12 think that his confirmation to y'all is Sole Source, 13 it's sufficient. Yes. And he's -- they've been working 14 with the Auditor's Office and with our office through 15 the Sole Source products over the past year, and so I 16 think that you can trust their confirmation. 17 JUDGE KELLY: I've heard bits and -- 18 MRS. STEBBINS: What's that? 19 JUDGE KELLY: -- snippets of this 20 conversation. I've heard bits and pieces of it. 21 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Is there some kind of 23 certification that something has to be Sole Source? Is 24 that -- is there -- 25 MR. GAIGE: Sure. So they -- that 46 1 manufacturer provides a letter to meet that criteria and 2 that's part of that -- I think y'all got a packet. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And out of curiosity, 4 how many people will be trained to use this thing? 5 MR. GAIGE: The Bearcat? 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. 7 MR. GAIGE: Anybody that wants to go and 8 train it, so probably we'll have eight or nine deputies 9 that will be trained on how to operate and drive it. 10 Even Kerrville Fire Department, they -- some of their 11 drivers, heavy equipment operators. So they even came 12 over and said, hey, they'll give us an emergency vehicle 13 operation for heavy vehicles and things like that, so -- 14 JUDGE KELLY: And that's on the merits? 15 MR. GAIGE: Yeah. 16 JUDGE KELLY: I'm back to the procedural 17 stuff. 18 MR. GAIGE: Yes, sir. 19 JUDGE KELLY: This is the procedural cure 20 for us to be able to go ahead and deal with these people 21 directly and not have to put it out for bid. 22 MR. GAIGE: Yes, sir. 23 JUDGE KELLY: And we'll get a certification 24 from them and your representations and it's been 25 approved by the County Attorney. So anything else to 47 1 talk about? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just one question. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well -- go ahead. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: When is the Bearcat 5 going to arrive? 6 MR. GAIGE: We're expected probably the 7 September/November time frame. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And at that point we'll 9 accept the donation from the Sheriff's Foundation? 10 Because we haven't accepted that part of it, I don't 11 believe. 12 MR. GAIGE: So that -- that Sheriff's 13 Foundation was paid to directly to Lenco. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But they're still 15 donating it to the County? 16 MR. GAIGE: Yes. Yes. So once we've 17 received that, we'll come back and we'll do an 18 equipment -- 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A donation of the 20 equipment. 21 MR. GAIGE: -- a donation of the equipment. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just wanted to make 23 sure. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Because title to the Bearcat 25 goes into the County -- 48 1 MR. GAIGE: Correct. 2 JUDGE KELLY: -- or KCSO. So with your 219 3 or whatever you contribute, we'll have to approve that. 4 MR. GAIGE: Yes, sir. 5 JUDGE KELLY: So I don't want to end up you 6 own 51 percent and we own 49 or something like that. 7 That's not -- 8 SHERIFF LEITHA: Don't get divorced. And we 9 can go ahead and bring it up before you. It really 10 doesn't matter. We'll bring that up. 11 JUDGE KELLY: We have been working on this 12 procedural snag for months, what, maybe a year, I don't 13 know. 14 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yeah. Yes, sir. 15 JUDGE KELLY: So we finally have the 16 solution, let's take it. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I've got one 18 more thing. Just because the public is in here and also 19 watching, just give us a brief overview of what is the 20 Bearcat? Because you're going to spend $319,000 on a 21 vehicle, just go over briefly on what you'll use it for. 22 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yeah. So first of all, all 23 the funds have been donated either by the Cailloux 24 Foundation or by contributors to the foundation. So 25 there's no taxpayer money that came out of anybody's -- 49 1 any of the County taxpayers for this thing. So armored 2 rescue response vehicle. So it allows us to respond 3 with armored capability to critical incidents. Whether 4 we have barricaded suspects, any kind of thing, active 5 shooter events or anything like that. Provided an 6 upgraded event. 7 Also, it's four wheel drive capability. So 8 our rural application, so if we have winter storms or 9 anything like that, we're able to deploy those during 10 ice storms. Also be able to get medical personnel to 11 some of these rural areas. They're four-wheel drive so 12 it can act as an ambulance as well. We can load medics 13 up onto it, bring them out to the area. Search and 14 rescue. 15 It has a fleeter. So a forward-looking 16 infrared system that's on it. So we have nighttime 17 capability so we can get out in these rural areas and 18 search for people and get heat source and things like 19 that from that forward-looking infrared system. But, 20 you know, when we had these past ice storms we had an 21 issue with vehicles who -- people who were trapped on 22 the interstate. Their vehicles were there, they 23 abandoned the vehicles. We're able to get that Bearcat 24 up there. We can hold eight or ten, 12 people that are 25 in that. We can load those people up, bring them to a 50 1 safe area, to a shelter or to a hotel, wherever they 2 need to go. And move them from that interstate or those 3 other areas where they're trapped. It has a high water 4 capability. So some -- in some flooding areas, if we 5 need to cross some flooded areas, we can get people or 6 pick up people if we need to or render them help of any 7 kind or aid that we need to. So -- 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Thank you. 9 SHERIFF LEITHA: You're welcome. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Want to take a vote? 11 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 12 SHERIFF LEITHA: Thanks. 13 JUDGE KELLY: The next item on the agenda is 14 1.14, which is the presentation of the Fiscal Year 15 2023-2024 proposed budget by me. I'm going to go ahead 16 and start that, because if we don't, we'll take all of 17 the timed items first and I know some people here might 18 want to speak on the budget issues. 19 Let me just say, and I mentioned earlier in 20 Commissioners' comments how local government works. The 21 County Judge is the chief budget officer of the County, 22 and it is incumbent on me, it's my duty every year, to 23 submit a proposed budget, which I have faithfully done 24 the last four years, and which has been respectfully 25 declined the last four years. 51 1 And just so you know, and we're all friends 2 and work together well, but every -- everybody has the 3 opportunity for input. And this year in particular, I'm 4 inviting input. Because I don't know what to do about 5 some of these items. And you'll see that when I talk 6 about the capital items and you'll see it when I talk 7 about KCSO and the extended program. 8 So let me just kind of give you the brief 9 history. My first year on the court, when we did not 10 have an auditor by the way, I was working with the 11 assistant auditor at that particular time. And we 12 managed to get through the budget that year and we did 13 not raise the tax rate. It had been raised the year 14 before, if you'll recall. But we did not raise the tax 15 rate. 16 And the last three years, we have 17 consistently every year reduced the tax rate. Every 18 year. Mainly because -- and we call it the "no new 19 revenue," "no new tax revenue rate." And that is we're 20 receiving about the same amount of money but we've 21 long-ranged the rate because the appraised values have 22 gone up. So the tax revenue comes in because of the 23 appraised value. 24 I'll remind the public that we have nothing 25 to do with the appraised value. We are absolutely 52 1 powerless when it comes to the appraised value. All of 2 that goes through the comptrollers office and the 3 appraisal district. And they tell us what the values 4 are. And whether we agree with them or not, it doesn't 5 matter. That's what we have to do. 6 And in this year's budget we have increased 7 revenues because of those increased appraisals. But I 8 don't know if we're going to have enough of that revenue 9 to not be able -- to not have to raise the tax rates. 10 And that's one reason I left some of these big ticket 11 items that I'm going to discuss here in a minute to the 12 Court and to the various people for their input so we 13 can figure out what to do. 14 You probably do not know this, public, but 15 including the County surveyor there are 25 elected 16 officials at the County level. Over two dozen. And 17 each one is autonomous. They do not -- they are 18 entitled to run their office the way they please, the 19 way they choose. And there's limited things that we can 20 do, budget and funding the budget is one of the few 21 things that we can do with regard to those elected 22 officials. They report directly to the voters. And so 23 they know how to run their offices. 24 We are required, the County Commissioners' 25 Court is required, to provide sufficient funds for them 53 1 to run their office. And if we don't, we can be sued 2 and they can take us to court and make us pay them more 3 money and that's to stop any sort of intentional 4 retaliation of some sort that we can't go into and 5 discuss their budget today. So we have to be able to 6 fund these offices. 7 And then we have the department heads and 8 we've got over a dozen department heads. Well over a 9 dozen. And most of these people, while they may not be 10 elected officials and they might not be autonomous and 11 report only to the voters, they've been in these 12 positions for decades. All of them. And they know 13 their offices, they know what their needs are. They 14 know how to run their office. We don't try to 15 micromanage them. But they all need to have input into 16 their budgets. And so that's what we do in this budget 17 process. 18 There will be a series of workshops. And 19 the workshops will be televised. We put on YouTube the 20 workshops so that the public can see what we're talking 21 about. At the workshops we do not have public input. 22 We have input from the elected officials and from these 23 department heads. That's just -- that's the input we 24 are there to receive from these workshops. To tell us 25 that we're not giving them enough money or what they 54 1 need. And at the end of that process, we will 2 eventually hammer out a budget. 3 And I learned from Commissioner Belew my 4 first year on the Court that there is something that is 5 actually referred to as budget culture. And what budget 6 culture is, is they ask for more than they're going to 7 spend, is basically what it comes down to. And the 8 phenomenon -- I didn't know what to make of it. 9 And having studied economics in college, I 10 thought balanced budgets were the thing you were 11 supposed to do. In the private sector that's what we 12 did. I thought that's the way it went. That's not how 13 it runs in government. And it's not a bad thing when I 14 talk about this budget culture, because we're a very 15 conservative County. All our elected officials and our 16 department heads are very cautious and careful and 17 conservative. And they plan every contingency that 18 could possibly happen. And when COVID hit, we had 19 excess money. Remember? We did. Just because 20 everybody is so conservative in their budget. 21 And while we have a contingency fund at the 22 County level, and I have a healthy contingency fund in 23 this budget, every department and every elected official 24 in their own way, subconsciously or consciously, and we 25 used to tease the Sheriff -- not Sheriff Leitha but his 55 1 predecessor -- we knew he had padded his budget in there 2 somewhere but we could never find it. Well, it's true. 3 And every year at the end of the year, if you don't 4 spend the money that's been budgeted then that is 5 returned to the fund balance. 6 And so we had this budget culture of 7 adopting deficit budgets which drove me crazy. And I 8 finally said, your guidance, had to just sit back, relax 9 and let it happen. And trust and believe that at the 10 end of that fiscal year, there was going to be unspent 11 money that was going to cover the deficit. And it has 12 every single year. In fact, more than enough to cover 13 the deficit. We've increased the fund balance every 14 year. 15 So with that said, I have the duty and task 16 of having to come up with a budget when I know we're 17 probably looking at the first serious consideration of a 18 tax rate hike in recent history. And I'm not -- I'm not 19 pleased to have to preside over that, but we're going to 20 do it conscientiously. 21 And so what I tried to do with this budget 22 is keep it pretty much like it was this past year. We 23 know how much it costs to run these departments, these 24 offices. So I've tried to keep everything as close as 25 possible to what it was in prior years. And what I did 56 1 was leave some things out that were discussed that I 2 talked to the elected officials and I talked to 3 department heads about, but I don't know what to do with 4 them. 5 And so rather than unilaterally just making 6 a decision and sticking it in this budget, I left it 7 out, so that when we come back at these workshops, we're 8 going to have a chance to decide -- this Court will 9 decide -- what it is that we want to do. 10 So it's essentially the same as last year's 11 budget, with the exception -- and last year's budget 12 was -- had revenues of about 40 million and expenses of 13 about 42 and a half million, about two and a half 14 million deficit. And like I said, we had more than two 15 and a half million dollars left over at the end of the 16 fiscal year and we increased the fund balance, which 17 you'll see in the numbers. 18 This year's budget, and I'm just giving you 19 the bird's eye view, is going to be -- we're looking at 20 expenditures of $49.9 million. And most of that 21 increase is the bond issue, the animal control facility. 22 That's $5.75 million. And so I took that $5.75 million, 23 and I plugged it into the budget on top of last year's 24 budget. Add this on to it. Because if we don't budget 25 it, we can't spend it. So we budget it and don't expect 57 1 to spend that this year for sure. Don't expect to have 2 the facility completed this year. But those funds roll 3 over for next year's budget so it's in this year so it 4 looks like a big jump, but it's not really that big 5 jump. 6 My budget, again, assumes no new tax revenue 7 rate. It does not include some much needed capital 8 projects. And I'm talking about the project at the 9 airport. It does not include that. It does not include 10 all the antiquated and obsolete equipment we have at 11 Road & Bridge to keep it in place, have to decide how 12 much of that. Nor does it include almost a million 13 dollars of IT upgrades that have been requested. And I 14 have talked with the IT director about that. And these 15 are just decisions that are going to have to be made in 16 the budget process. 17 It does include capital carryover projects 18 for a couple of things. Our Incode System, which we had 19 a couple of those carryover. And also the vehicle for 20 the County Engineer. That's the only capital things 21 that I carried over. My budget assumes that all 22 positions are filled. It means we're full employment. 23 Every position that is authorized by the County has a 24 body in it. Well, that's not the case. 25 Now the Sheriff's going to talk to us, when 58 1 it's time, we've got shortages of deputies, we've got 2 shortages at Road & Bridge. Road & Bridge is down nine. 3 So we have a lot of vacancies at this point, but 4 we're -- the budget assumes funding for everything, 5 whether they're there or not. And that's usually where 6 some of our surplus comes over at the end of the year. 7 But that's an assumption that I make. 8 In my budget, I have not included any new 9 hires, new employees. A couple have discussed the 10 possibility of new employees. I'm very much aware of 11 that. And I'm going to let those discussions take place 12 in the workshops. What y'all don't know, what the 13 public doesn't know, is we take my budget, it gets put 14 into Incode, is that right? 15 And all of the department heads and all of 16 the elected officials have access to Incode, and they 17 will come back and submit to me, in about a month, a 18 month and a half, I will get their response to my budget 19 saying this is what we think we need to have. And it's 20 never the amount that I put in. They'll want a bit 21 more. And sometimes it may be a new hire or a part-time 22 employee or whatever. But they're going to give their 23 input back to me. 24 So when we have these workshops, I will have 25 already gotten back what they put in Incode, telling me 59 1 what they think it's going to cost to run their office. 2 And so what I'm telling you here is I have not included 3 any new hires in this budget. So if we're going to have 4 a new hire, that's going to be decided at the budget 5 workshops. It does include an unfilled position that we 6 have, which is the new magistrate. I've included the 7 salary in there for the new magistrate even though we 8 haven't filled the position. So just -- just so that 9 you know that, that is built in. 10 The next thing I would point out is there 11 are Road & Bridge taxes that are collected. And we can 12 go into -- I could get Road & Bridge and get Kelly in 13 here and have her go ahead and give you all the 14 explanations of the revenues that are collected, but 15 they are woefully short of what is required to run that 16 office. And so every year we have a capital transfer, 17 cash transfer, from our general fund to Road & Bridge, 18 just to keep our -- our roads and bridges up to speed. 19 This year, my budget includes a $1.8 million 20 transfer from, well, potentially our bank account, our 21 savings account, to Road & Bridge before we ever talk 22 about any of the capital improvements. 1.8 million 23 transfer. 24 It does not include the Sheriff's incentive 25 package. And the reason for that is we really haven't 60 1 sharpened the pencil enough, I don't think, Sheriff, 2 with exactly what we need to do. But it's something 3 that we know it's coming up. So I didn't include it, 4 but it's going to have to be added. 5 And those of you that have not heard this, 6 the Sheriff has told us that to be competitive in the 7 marketplace and fill the vacancies that he has, it would 8 probably take about 25 percent increase in salary and 9 benefits to the deputies. And so I did not put that in 10 the budget and I don't know what we're going to do, but 11 we'll do what we can. 12 Then it comes to the issue of what kind 13 of -- we call it market adjustments. It not a cost of 14 living allowance. We don't call it a cobra, because we 15 can't actually follow the COLA's. We kept track of the 16 COLA's. They've been bouncing around between 8, 9, 17 11 percent. We can't increase salaries like that. 18 That's an onerous burden on the taxpayers. 19 What everybody -- you know, I don't do the 20 grocery shopping, but when I get sent to the store to do 21 stuff I can't believe what things cost. And I'm sure 22 those of you at home appreciate that. And that is 23 passed on to everyone, whether it's fixed income or not, 24 for the price increases. 25 And so in order to try to keep the wage 61 1 rates here at the County competitive, I have included a 2 five percent wage adjustment across the board for all 3 employees. And then what we're talking about for Road & 4 Bridge and what we're talking about for the Sheriff's 5 Office, they may have -- may request something on top of 6 that. But that's what's been my recommendation that I 7 put in my proposed budget. 8 It does include the increase in insurance. 9 We have had about a 25 percent increase in insurance and 10 TAC, Texas Association of Counties. I've included that 11 in here and that's already been included. 12 And it includes the 2023 bond payment. 13 There was some discussion about bond payments at one of 14 our recent meetings. And this does include all of the 15 bond payments that we have projected to owe on the 16 proposition that the bond that we just issued. So 17 that's in the budget. 18 And it includes the complete construction -- 19 I said that, for the new Animal Control facility. And 20 it also includes the balance of our ARPA funds that were 21 sent to us, which is about a little over a million and a 22 half dollars. And we don't have any projects 23 designated. It includes the -- Commissioner Moser, 24 you're talking to us about Veterans Pathway, I know 25 that. But it includes that. 62 1 But we still have about a million and a half 2 of those ARPA funds left that we need to figure out what 3 to do with and they have to be spent by the end of 4 December '24. So I included that in there about 5 specialized projects, but that is just TBD, to be 6 determined. 7 And so with that, the budget that I 8 recommend is $49,964.951, with a deficit of 9 $9,709,598.00. Almost a ten million dollar deficit. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And there's one more 11 thing. The Legislature's meeting. They're not done 12 yet. We don't know what they're going to do to us. It 13 may offer us unfunded mandates periodically. 14 JUDGE KELLY: But bottom line, there was 15 enough money returned that was unspent from last year's 16 budget. We've actually transferred ten million dollars 17 from our fund balance into the budget to be spent. And 18 we still have a ten million dollars deficit. And this 19 assumes no new tax rate, which I know everybody likes to 20 know percentages. 21 We try to keep at least three month's of 22 expenses that can run the County for three months if a 23 disaster happened, without having to collect any 24 revenues. And so that's -- if you just think about it, 25 that's 25 percent every year. Right now, our fund 63 1 balance is at -- well, the general fund at 42.4 percent. 2 So we have a great healthy bank account right now. 3 Which is good going into this. Total general fund is at 4 40.88 percent. So we are starting a difficult budget 5 process in pretty good financial condition. 6 My budget at the end of the year would have 7 that fund balance down to 30.7 percent. Slightly above 8 the State recommended average. And so that's -- that's 9 the proposed budget that I've submitted and we'll take 10 it from there. I just kind of wanted to explain to 11 people how we do this and what I started with, which was 12 status quo, and then we'll take all these other things 13 one at a time, and they start with no new tax rate. 14 Status quo. And then we'll see where we end up at the 15 end of the process. So that's my report. 16 Let's take a break for five minutes and come 17 back. 18 (Break.) 19 JUDGE KELLY: Come back to order. The next 20 item on the agenda is 1.15 consider, discuss and take 21 appropriate action to accept Option 4 Exhibit and Cost 22 Estimate from Mendez Construction for the Veteran's 23 Pathway Project. Noel Putnam. 24 MS. PUTNAM: Okay. Good morning. We've 25 been working on the Veteran's Pathway and have a few 64 1 options that we were given as a committee and have 2 something at this moment we would like to present for 3 recommendation to the Court for approval. 4 I have here with me Charlie Hastings, Tom 5 Moser, and then also Mendez Engineering, if you have any 6 questions on accepting the bid. But this is what we 7 would like to propose to you to go forth with this 8 project. And Charlie, do you want to put that one up? 9 You have all this in your packet in front of 10 you but we'll go ahead and put a copy of the map that 11 we're recommending up on the screen. Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: If I may, Tom Moser, 13 218 Yorktown Boulevard. And I was asked -- had an idea 14 a few years ago that it would be really great if we 15 could connect the Veterans Hospital to the river trail. 16 And fast-forward to where we are today, with 17 ARPA funds of $250,000, we set up a committee, okay, to 18 look at what these pathways could be. And the committee 19 was comprised of the Veterans Hospital, the Veterans 20 Administration, TxDOT, since it crosses Highway 27, the 21 City of Kerrville, the County, and Maldonado, since it 22 crosses some of their property. 23 So we've had a series of meetings and we've 24 looked at various options on how to connect again, 25 Veterans Hospital all the way down to the river trail. 65 1 And the thing that you see as Option 4 is what we've 2 recommended. And I'll show you what we did. Because we 3 know a lot of questions were going to come up about, 4 what if we put it along the river all the way, what if 5 we go up to Stripes, etcetera, etcetera. We looked at 6 all those. Mendez Engineering is here. They've done a 7 great job of getting an estimate of what each one of 8 these options cost. 9 Now, let me just talk about the one that's 10 on the screen right now. This is the final that we're 11 recommending to Commissioners' Court. It goes from -- 12 at the top right of the pathway that you can see there, 13 that's the sidewalk along Highway 27, which goes from 14 east to west, it then goes on the west side of 15 Maldonado's Nursery, crosses Riverside Drive, and then 16 it goes down to the river to -- Flat Rock Park is the 17 north-south direction. 18 When it reaches on Riverside Drive and goes 19 across going west, it goes along -- there will be a 20 sidewalk along Riverside Drive, going down a pathway -- 21 a roadway actually, down to the existing low water 22 bridge, which is still there, it's easy to get across, 23 and then from the south side of the bridge, it connects 24 with -- to the existing river trail. So everything you 25 see in black there is what is proposed. 66 1 Some of the things that we have which we 2 have not fully, you know, discussed in detail, the 3 pathway along -- through the Maldonado property, the 4 City, now that we know what that will do, what the 5 action is, but the path would be is we would talk -- 6 the City has agreed to talk to Maldonado about that. If 7 you can go down to one of the other options there which 8 shows -- 9 MS. PUTNAM: Look at Option 2. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's not the option 11 I'm looking for. Anyway, while he's pulling that up, 12 what we did is basically look at -- no, one more. It's 13 still the other. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's Option 3 and the 15 other one's were Option 1 and 2. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Go all the way 17 back up to where you were. Okay. And I'll describe, 18 what it would be, instead of going along the -- the 19 sidewalk that you see in Maldonado property there, it 20 would go along Tucker Lane, which is a straight shot 21 from the -- 22 MS. PUTNAM: That's Option 2. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, excuse me. There 24 it is. No, it's not. That's not -- yes, it is. 25 Option 2. That shows the pathway not going through the 67 1 west side of Maldonado property, but more toward the 2 east side, and that's what the City is going to discuss 3 with Maldonado how best to do that. Because there's 4 some -- there's some property trades in there, but as 5 far as price -- assuming that either one of those are 6 acceptable, okay, price wise they're about the same. So 7 it fits within the $250,000 budget it appears to be 8 right now. We can do that. 9 The other thing is, the one that's in Option 10 2 that you see on the screen, it's more of a safety 11 issue, because there's a lot of traffic from Maldonado 12 operations going from their nursery side over to 13 their -- where they store their materials. A lot of 14 heavy trucks. Those heavy trucks and all would have to 15 cross that sidewalk. 16 So the top one that you see there along the 17 west side, I'm going to call it the Letz Loop, since 18 Jonathan Letz recommended that the last time we were 19 here in Commissioners' Court, came up with a very good 20 thing. That looks like the best way to go. But, again, 21 it's back to the negotiation between the City and 22 Maldonado's how best to do that. So it's going to be -- 23 that's the only deviation in that. 24 We also looked at -- because people are 25 going to say why not put -- instead of putting the 68 1 sidewalk along Riverside Drive, go from Flat Rock Park 2 and just stay along the river, that's a non-starter. 3 It's not a good option. You have to do a lot of 4 property purchases from individual property owners along 5 there. I think there -- it's shown right there. I 6 think there are probably about five property owners we'd 7 have to purchase property from. It's in the floodway, 8 floodplain. It would be another issue you there. 9 So even though we had Mendez price that, and 10 I don't remember what it is but it -- it falls -- gets 11 way outside of the cost, the allowable cost that we have 12 for the thing. But anyway we looked at it. We wanted 13 to look at everything possible. 14 So back up to the top one there. The one 15 we're recommending to the City that we proceed with is 16 what you see here in this -- this image. Again, pending 17 negotiation between the City and the County on the 18 Maldonado property. So if this is in the budget, it 19 connects -- the big thing is it enables the veterans 20 with their motorized wheelchairs to go from Veterans 21 Hospital all way down to the river trail and then six 22 miles or so along the river trail and down to Flat Rock 23 Park. 24 Veterans Hospital is going to do all the 25 improvements on their side of the project. So that's 69 1 not included in this price. But they're going to -- 2 they have the funds to do that. TxDOT is going to 3 improve the crossing, pedestrian crossing, that exists 4 right now from Veterans Hospital across Highway 27. 5 There's a veterans -- I mean there's a pedestrian 6 crossing there. They want to improve that. So that's 7 in their plans to do that. And I think that will be 8 done in the very near future. 9 So I think the only open items that we have 10 right now other than Commissioners approving this 11 procedure for this concept is a negotiation between the 12 City and Maldonado. The original schedule, my original 13 schedule, was to get this project completed by November 14 the 11th of this year on Veterans Day. Looking at the 15 schedule and the pricing and all, and Nichole(sic) can 16 talk more about that, is that I don't think we can do 17 that with the constraints we have on advertising bids 18 and etcetera. 19 But it does look like it's comfortable to 20 have groundbreaking on November 11th. So that would be 21 the objective in moving forward with this. If you don't 22 have a goal or dates, you'll never get a project 23 complete. So that's an overall -- that's a summary to 24 that. So I'll just turn it back over to Nichole(sic). 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Can I ask you a couple 70 1 questions first, Tom, before you leave. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yes. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And I may have -- 4 wasn't listening as intently as I could. Did you say 5 something about it looks like there would be an addition 6 to go up to, like, the Mini Mart because I feel a lot of 7 veterans go there? 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, that was -- this 9 was -- the original concept was to go connect Veterans 10 Hospital to the river trail. There was -- the City 11 looked at and would like to consider, okay going from 12 this -- what you see here connecting another sidewalk 13 along 534 up to Stripes. I think that's something to 14 consider. 15 But I think, you know, too many projects 16 like this, you get a requirements creep and all of a 17 sudden it gets out of hand. So we said let's put that 18 aside, okay. If the City wants to do that, I think the 19 City can come back and then we'll have to figure -- it's 20 not going to fit within the budget, okay, to do that. 21 We know that. All right. So we said if that's -- if 22 that's an add-on, that's an addendum or a separate 23 project, let it stand alone on its own merit. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. Because I see a 25 lot of them -- I said Mini Mart but I mean the -- meant 71 1 Stripes. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Right. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I see a lot of them go 4 up there and it's an ordeal for them right now. I think 5 that's going to be -- 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It would be nice. I 7 think it's something to consider. But I would -- you 8 know, I think the committee is saying what let's do is 9 let's stick with what we have. If we want to add 10 something to it, let's let it come in on it's own merit. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I hope the City 12 would consider that. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, and the City 14 clearly -- and Stuart has been very -- I mean, we've had 15 a -- there's been no disagreement with anybody on the 16 committee on anything. The City, the County, 17 everybody's worked really, really well together. So now 18 it's -- 19 JUDGE KELLY: Again, before you leave, the 20 people at home don't get to see these exhibits. Are 21 they seeing them? 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. They are seeing 23 them. 24 JUDGE KELLY: I just want to make sure 25 that -- to have them verbally summarized. You're going 72 1 to improve that pedestrian intersection there where it 2 crosses over Memorial -- 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's correct. 4 JUDGE KELLY: -- 27? 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yes, sir. 6 JUDGE KELLY: And then you're going to 7 proceed west down 27 to actually about midway through 8 the Maldonado yard? 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It would be at the 10 western edge of the Maldonado yard. Yeah. 11 JUDGE KELLY: And from there it would drop 12 south and come back in at Riverside? 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct. 14 JUDGE KELLY: And then it will cross 15 Riverside down to Flat Rock Park and have access to the 16 park. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct. 18 JUDGE KELLY: But at that Riverside 19 intersection would then go west, all the way down to the 20 low water crossing which parallels the high bridge. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct. 22 JUDGE KELLY: And pick up on the other side 23 so it connects to the river trail. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct. 25 JUDGE KELLY: So this would give veterans 73 1 access to the park, to Riverside Drive, to the river 2 trail, across the river. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Which is what we wanted to try 5 to do. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct. And to put it 7 in perspective today, okay, the veterans go -- they go 8 down to Flat Rock Park along Tucker Road, there's not a 9 sidewalk or anything for them, and they're -- quite 10 often, when it rains there's a lot of -- 11 JUDGE KELLY: They can do wheelies in there. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, right. There's a 13 lot of ruts. Okay. They go down there a lot. You 14 know, they go down there fishing and just to -- to get 15 out in the open air. So it's a big safety improvement 16 for them. So -- but what you described is accurate. 17 And the only thing I'd add to that is the crossing on 18 Highway 27, it's safe. It's -- 19 JUDGE KELLY: It's not very safe right now. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, there's a light 21 there. And there's -- but they want to bring it up to 22 standard with what they have in their system right now. 23 So -- okay. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you for all your 25 efforts. 74 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's not over. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 3 MS. PUTNAM: Okay. So on the present agenda 4 item what we are asking for is for approval of the 5 Option 4 presentation map that we have just showed you. 6 JUDGE KELLY: So I'll make a motion that we 7 approve the design as proposed. 8 MS. PUTNAM: Yes, sir. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Which is Option 4. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Pending the 11 negotiate -- the City's negotiations with Maldonado, 12 right? 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Subject to. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yes. 16 MS. PUTNAM: Which I -- I think I can be 17 confident in saying I don't -- from all the discussions, 18 I don't think that there is really going to be any sort 19 of issue. 20 JUDGE KELLY: There's been no pushback on 21 that. 22 MS. PUTNAM: No. There's never -- 23 everyone -- everything has been very much to the point. 24 JUDGE KELLY: But if we don't get it -- it 25 is subject to the agreement. 75 1 MS. PUTNAM: Yes. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But there's been no 3 real discussion with Maldonado, so -- 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sure. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I visited with Ed 6 Maldonado last week and explained Option 4, and he is 7 agreeable to visit with the City and County to see if we 8 can make it work. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Well, that's -- 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah, I would think 11 they would be welcoming, so -- 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I would, too. You 13 can't even see the blacktop, you know, I mean because 14 they use it so much. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Similar situation to 16 Mosty Nursery. I mean it's -- it's a road that 17 shouldn't be there. But there needs to be a way to get 18 around it. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Do we have a second? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Got a motion and a 22 second. Anymore discussion? I think this is well 23 thought out. I think under the circumstances this is 24 the best plan we're going to get. So -- 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Oh, yeah. 76 1 JUDGE KELLY: Let's go ahead and vote. 2 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous, with 3 approval of the design for Option 4. 4 Move on to Item 1.16 consider, discuss and 5 take appropriate action to approval the contract with 6 Mendez Engineering for Engineering Services for the 7 Veterans' Pathway Project in the amount of $58,975.00 8 from the ARPA funds, obligated. And what this is, is we 9 had put out for bid or for qualification, I guess, 10 wasn't it? 11 MS. PUTNAM: Yes, we did an RFQ. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Did an RFQ. And Mendez 13 Engineering responded and this is the recommended bid 14 for the contract for their services to get this design 15 so we can get it built. 16 MS. PUTNAM: Yes. So up to this point in 17 time, they have put all of this together for us but we 18 have not yet had a signed contract for their services. 19 So previously we did allocate or obligate an unspecified 20 sum in Court Order 39733 of the ARPA funding for 21 engineering services, so that has already been 22 obligated, and at this time I'm just asking you to 23 approve the contract as presented with Mendez 24 Engineering to go forward. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 77 1 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: And a second to approve Mendez 4 Engineering for the Veterans' Pathway Project in the 5 amount as presented, almost $59,000.00. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: County Attorney has 7 reviewed the contract, I presume? 8 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 10 in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 11 Thank you, Noel. 12 MS. PUTNAM: Thank you. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Now for the Charlie 14 Hastings show. 1.17, this is a public hearing for the 15 revision of plat for Creekside at Camp Verde Phase 1, 16 Lots 163 to 164. 17 So this is a public hearing. Is there 18 anybody who would like to address the Court at this 19 public hearing? Okay. 20 There being no one, we'll adjourn the public 21 hearing and we'll move on to Item 1.18, which is to 22 consider, discuss and take appropriate action regarding 23 final plat for Sky Harbor Ranchettes, Tracts 19A and 24 19B. Mr. Hastings. 25 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. This 78 1 property consists of 4.27 acres and is referred to as 2 part of Sky Harbor Ranchettes Tract 19 (an unofficial 3 subdivision). It's never been platted. It is jointly 4 owned by Jennifer Michelle Newman and Preston Lee 5 Walker, and it has two separate water connections that 6 are in existence and have been in operation for quite 7 some time under the existing water -- public water 8 system there. 9 This proposal divides it into two tracts. 10 Tract 19A will be 0.58 acres and Tract 19B will be 3.69 11 acres. Road frontage is on Sky Harbor Road in Mountain 12 Home. That is a privately maintained road. 13 The County Engineer requests the Court 14 consider, discuss and take appropriate action regarding 15 final plat for Sky Harbor Ranchettes Tract 19A and 19B. 16 Precinct 4. They did include an Exhibit M from our 17 Model Subdivision Regulations from the Water Supply 18 Corporation, saying that they will be able to provide 19 water for 30 years. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 23 approve the final plat approval for Sky Harbor 24 Ranchettes Tracts 19A and B. 25 This is a good example of our subdivision 79 1 rules when we have a public water system available. A 2 lot of people don't understand that if you have a public 3 water system available, you can have much smaller 4 subdivisions than if you don't. If you have to put in 5 that well and that septic with Headwaters now, that 6 permit is up to 10 acres. So we -- 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Or it will be. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, it will be. It will be 9 in August. But this one they can request because we've 10 got assurance that there's public water available to 11 them for at least 30 years. 12 MRS. DOWDY: I have a question, Judge. Is 13 this under the old rules? 14 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 15 MR. HASTINGS: It is. This is one of the 16 16 or 17 or 18 that are under the 2007, vested under the 17 2007 rules. 18 MRS. DOWDY: Okay. 19 MR. HASTINGS: Yeah. So some of the 20 certifications on the plat are going to look different 21 than the ones you've been seeing in the past few months. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It was started last 23 year. 24 MR. HASTINGS: They did. Yes. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We have a motion and a 80 1 second. Any other discussion? Those in favor say aye. 2 Opposed? Unanimous. 3 Moving on to Item 1.19 consider, discuss and 4 take appropriate action regarding a reduction in the 5 Letter of Credit No. SB95797, from First Citizens Bank & 6 Trust Company in Raleigh, North Carolina, from 7 $977,505.56 to $200,000.00 as a financial guarantee for 8 the remaining construction associated with Great Sky 9 Ranch in Precinct 2. Charlie Hastings. 10 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. The final 11 plat for Great Sky Ranch was approved February 14th, 12 2022. It contains 78 lots with 7 newly-constructed 13 private roads. The letter of credit No. SB95797 in the 14 amount of $977,505.56 with First Citizens Bank & Trust 15 Company, Raleigh, North Carolina was submitted as a 16 financial guarantee for the associated subdivision 17 construction. 18 Since construction of the subdivision is 19 nearly complete, the developer has requested the 20 reduction in the letter of credit as a financial 21 guarantee for the remaining associated construction, 22 which is largely erosion control, getting vegetation 23 established. 24 The County Engineer requests the Court 25 consider, discuss and take appropriate action regarding 81 1 a reduction in letter of credit No. SB95797 from First 2 Citizens Bank & Trust Company, Raleigh, North Carolina 3 from $977,505.56 to $200,000.00 as a financial guarantee 4 for the remaining construction associated with Great Sky 5 Ranch, Precinct 2. 6 And their design engineer is here, present, 7 if you have any questions for him. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Is there a motion? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 10 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 12 Discussion? For those of you who have not seen the 13 Great Sky Ranch and the -- how safe the entrance into 14 that property is, it's a model to a development. It 15 really is. And I actually went there one day when the 16 gate was open so I drove on some of the roads. Wow. 17 It's really something back there. Very well done. 18 Okay. 19 MR. HASTINGS: It's because they have a 20 really pretty darn good engineer working on it. I think 21 that's why. Hopefully he can get out of the building 22 after hearing that. But he is a very good engineer. 23 VOICE: Thank you very much. 24 MR. HASTINGS: He did a good job. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Then those in favor say 82 1 aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Thank you. 2 Item 1.20 consider, discuss and take 3 appropriate action for the Court to set a public hearing 4 for 10:00 a.m. on June the 26th, 2023, for a partial 5 cancellation and revision of plat for Rivenburgh Wine 6 Addition Lot 1. This is in Precinct 1. Mr. Hastings. 7 MR. HASTINGS: This proposal revises and 8 cancels part of Lot 1 of Rivenburgh Wine Addition. It's 9 a single-lot subdivision that was platted in August of 10 2022. It adjusts and moves lot lines approximately 125 11 feet in order to accommodate the locations of 12 improvement. 13 Lot 1, currently 5.18 acres, will be revised 14 into Lot 1R, 5.18 acres, by exchanging 1.78 acres with 15 the adjacent unplatted tract. Part of Lot 1, 1.78 acres 16 along the southwest side of the lot, will be cancelled 17 and returned to its previous condition as part of the 18 adjacent unplatted tract. They built their home in the 19 wrong place. 20 This lot is in Kerrville's ETJ. Since the 21 lot is over 5 acres, this proposal may be exempted from 22 platting through the City of Kerrville. That's why it's 23 here before you instead of the City of Kerrville or 24 both. 25 County Engineer requests the Court set a 83 1 public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on June 26, 2023 for a 2 partial cancellation and revision of plat for 3 Rivenburgh Wine Addition Lot 1, Plat File No. 22-06687, 4 Precinct 1. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 8 approve setting a public hearing on June 26th at 10:00 9 a.m. Any questions? 10 MRS. DOWDY: Yes, I have a question. Is 11 that how you want the public hearing notice to be 12 worded? Just -- 13 MR. HASTINGS: Partial cancelation and 14 revision of plat. 15 MRS. DOWDY: And revision of plat? 16 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. It's critical that it's 17 written that way. 18 MRS. DOWDY: Okay. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 20 in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 21 Item 1.21 consider, discuss and take 22 appropriate action for the Court to set a public hearing 23 for 10:00 a.m. on June the 26th, 2023, for a revision of 24 plat for Y.O. Ranchlands Section 3, Tracts 126 and 131R. 25 Mr. Hastings. 84 1 MR. HASTINGS: Well, this proposal revises 2 and combines two existing tracts. Tract 126 is 50.71 3 acres as platted and Tract 131R is 79.24 acres as 4 platted. They'll be combined into Tract 126R (129.94 5 acres). Road frontage will be on Camino Y.O. East and 6 Lost Man Road. 7 County Engineer requests the Court set a 8 public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on June 26, 2023 for a 9 revision of plat for Y.O. Ranchlands Section 3, Tracts 10 126 and 131R, volume 6, page 17; and volume 8, page 164, 11 Precinct 4. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 15 approve setting a public meeting. Any discussion? 16 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 17 Item 1.22 consider, discuss and take 18 appropriate action for the Court to set a public hearing 19 for 10:00 a.m. on June the 26th, 2023 for a revision of 20 plat for Real Oaks Subdivision, Lot 17A. Mr. Hastings. 21 MR. HASTINGS: This proposal divides Lot 17A 22 (11.37 acres as platted) into two lots. Lot 17A-1 will 23 be 5.10 acres with frontage on Highway 16 and Friar Tuck 24 Lane -- Friar Tuck Road, excuse me. Lot 17A-2 will be 25 6.28 acres with frontage on Highway 16 and Friar Tuck 85 1 Road. 2 These lots are located in Kerrville's ETJ. 3 Since both lots are over 5 acres, this proposal may be 4 exempted from platting through the City of Kerrville. 5 The County Engineer requests the Court set a 6 public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on June 26th, 2023 for a 7 revision of plat for Real Oaks Subdivision, Lot 17A, 8 Volume 6, page 251, Precinct 2. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 12 approve the revision of plat for Real Oaks Subdivision, 13 Lot 17A. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 14 Opposed? Unanimous. 15 Next item is 1.23 consider, discuss and take 16 appropriate action regarding a final plat for Hidden 17 Draw Ranch along with the letter of credit No. 33550 18 from Mason Bank in Mason, Texas, in the amount of 19 $8,000.00, and letter of credit No. 33551 from Mason 20 Bank in Mason, Texas in the amount of $12,000.00 for 21 associated construction improvements, Precinct 4. Mr. 22 Hastings. 23 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. This 24 proposal subdivides 57.15 acres off of FM 479 into three 25 lots. It was previously platted as Tract 11 of the 86 1 Theodore & Dorothea Oehler Estate subdivision, but was 2 cancelled on November 17th, 2022 by Order No. 39646. 3 Each lot will be over 18 acres. 4 Portions in the floodplain must meet 5 requirements for development in the floodplain. Access 6 will be from a new private road to be known as 7 Pedernales Lane. It will be approximately 275 feet long 8 off of FM 479. 9 Construction of the subdivision is nearing 10 completion. The developer has submitted two letters of 11 credit from Mason Bank, No. 33550 and No. 33551, which 12 total $20,000.00 for the remaining construction 13 improvements associated with the subdivision. 14 County Engineer requests the Court consider, 15 discuss and take appropriate action regarding the final 16 plat for Hidden Draw Ranch along with letter of credit 17 No. 33550 from Mason Bank in Mason, Texas in the amount 18 of $8,000.00, and letter of credit No. 33551 from Mason 19 Bank in Mason, Texas in the amount of $12,000.00 for 20 associated construction improvement. Precinct 4. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 24 approve the final plat for Hidden Draw Ranch and the 25 corresponding letters of credit. Any discussion? 87 1 MRS. DOWDY: I have another question. Is 2 this also under the old rules? 3 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, it is. It is one of the 4 other ones. 5 MRS. DOWDY: Okay. 6 MR. HASTINGS: That's correct. 7 MRS. DOWDY: Just want to make sure I get 8 all my fees. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Then take a vote. Those in 10 favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 11 Item 1.24 consider, discuss, and take 12 appropriate action to set a public hearing regarding the 13 naming of an unnamed private road to be Schmidt Lane 14 North in Precinct 3. Miss Hoffer. 15 MS. HOFFER: Mr. Jeff Lawrence applied 16 through the 911 office on 4-30-2023 requesting to name 17 an unnamed private road to be named Schmidt Ln. N. 18 There are multiple property owners listed with KCAD 19 listings. 20 At this time I ask the Commissioners Court 21 to set a public hearing regarding the naming of an 22 unnamed private road to be "Schmidt Ln. N." for Monday, 23 June 26th, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. And this is in 24 Precinct 3. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 88 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 3 approve setting a public hearing. We'll do it on 4 June 26th at 10:00 a.m. Any other discussion? Those in 5 favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 6 Item 1.25 consider, discuss and take 7 appropriate action to appoint Noel Putnam as the Kerr 8 County representative to the Emergency Food and Shelter 9 Program local board. Commissioner Harris. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. Jeannette 11 Santiago from Salvation Army sent me an e-mail, and 12 y'all have it in the backup, that if I or a 13 representative of the County would consider being part 14 of this, and I asked Noel if she would be interested in 15 it, and she wanted to make sure it wasn't -- it would be 16 all right with the Court if she accepted. And I also 17 told her if she didn't want to, that's all right, too. 18 So that's where we're at on that. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What -- is this like a 20 food bank? 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It's like -- yes, it 22 is. And they say they have probably -- maybe four 23 meetings a year via Zoom and that's about it. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Well, it's always good to have 25 a County representative on board -- 89 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Exactly. 2 JUDGE KELLY: -- just to know what's going 3 on. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And that's why they 5 reached out to us. 6 MS. PUTNAM: I believe it also potentially 7 had something to do with, like, evacuees and the shelter 8 status of Emergency Management and stuff like they -- 9 during hurricanes or something if we have people come 10 here also. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Have we got a motion? 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: If you're willing to 13 do it -- 14 MS. PUTNAM: Yes. If that is what you -- 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'll move for 16 approval. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We got a motion and a 19 second. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 20 Opposed? Unanimous. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Congratulations. 22 MS. PUTNAM: Thank you. 23 MRS. DOWDY: Judge, at this time -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: Before we get to the approval 25 agenda, there's one item on the Executive Agenda that 90 1 we're going to move to the public agenda, and that's 2 Item 4.2, it's personnel matters, and 4.2(a) consider, 3 discuss and take appropriate action regarding staffing 4 and personnel matters in the Road & Bridge Department. 5 Miss Hoffer. We're moving that up. 6 MS. HOFFER: Robert's got some handouts. 7 JUDGE KELLY: The reason is if we talk about 8 anybody specifically, we have to do it in a public 9 meeting. 10 MRS. DOWDY: A group as a whole in a public 11 meeting; specific individuals would be in executive. 12 MRS. HOFFER: Robert's got some handouts 13 that Rosa had put together. I heard the Judge say that 14 Road & Bridge is short nine. That is a true statement. 15 It is getting harder and harder just to even get anybody 16 who wants to fill out an application and come work for 17 us. 18 We did hire two new people this morning, but 19 that was because of the man that's in our shop. He did 20 a little recruiting on his private time and convinced 21 them to come to Road & Bridge. So hopefully they will 22 stay. But the last person that left -- or came and gave 23 me their notice, which was less than a week ago, I had 24 asked, you know, if you don't mind, where are you going? 25 And he said TxDOT Fredericksburg. We've lost a bunch to 91 1 the Kerrville office and some to the Fredericksburg 2 office. The starting pay that they're starting these 3 employees of mine that are at the entry level position 4 here at Kerr County, they're starting them at $24 an 5 hour and we start our road maintenance techs at a 15, so 6 we start them out at about 17. So it's very hard to 7 compete with that. 8 So I've come to the Court. I got with Rosa 9 from HR, we haven't been able to fill -- we haven't been 10 full in a really long time, and Rosa came up with an 11 option to try to keep the ones we have, and to take some 12 of the unused salaries and put together and do it in ten 13 checks, I think Rosa had figured, from here to the end 14 of this fiscal year, and to kind of give them a little 15 bump in pay to, I guess, show them how much we 16 appreciate them, and please don't leave. We value, you 17 know, you as a County employee. I don't know what else 18 to do. 19 It's just -- it's very hard to keep -- 20 compete with somebody who's going to pay seven dollars 21 an hour more than what we pay. And at that 24, that's 22 even higher than our crew leaders that run -- you know, 23 they're responsible for probably about a hundred miles 24 of roads in their work area. Starting pay for that is 25 at $24 an hour. So not real sure what can be done, but 92 1 I think for right now I'm just trying to hang on to what 2 I've got. 3 JUDGE KELLY: So exactly what is your 4 proposal? 5 MS. SANCHEZ: So what you'll see on the 6 second page is $500 -- 7 JUDGE KELLY: Per pay period? 8 MS. SANCHEZ: -- per pay period. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Per person? 10 MS. SANCHEZ: Per person. Just through the 11 end of the year -- end of the fiscal year. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: In the form of a 13 stipend? 14 MS. SANCHEZ: Yes. And then that goes away 15 at the end of the fiscal year. 16 JUDGE KELLY: So that would be 17 effectively -- I'm looking at the bottom, it's $5,000 18 per person? 19 MS. SANCHEZ: Right. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Between now and the end of 21 this fiscal year or -- 22 MS. SANCHEZ: Correct. And I wanted to make 23 a statement just for -- just so you guys know, with one 24 of the new hires that was hired today, when I was doing 25 his process for his testing, his statement to me was I 93 1 had to pay some debt off in order for me to come to work 2 for the County for the benefits. I want to be able to 3 retire from the County. But he had to pay off debts 4 just to come work for us. And to me, that was a pretty 5 big statement that he made, you know. 6 JUDGE KELLY: That's the first positive 7 thing I've heard in a while. 8 MS. SANCHEZ: You know, he wants to be able 9 to retire but he had to pay off some debt just to be 10 able get the pay cut to come here. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Well, that does sound -- this 12 is incentive for people who work for the County. 13 MS. SANCHEZ: Yes. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: The older people get 15 nice benefits. 16 MS. SANCHEZ: The benefits -- exactly, and 17 that's what he said. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Kelly, are you wanting 19 to -- I assume this one does, do they both have CDLs? 20 MS. HOFFER: One. One does. The other one 21 does not. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And that's a problem 23 that you have. That's a problem that, you know, I 24 visited with Bobby Templeton in Ingram ISD. I said, 25 what are you doing about bus drivers? And they have to 94 1 have a CDL. He says we're paying for it. 2 MS. HOFFER: We have figured that out. At 3 least we think so. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Oh good. 5 MS. HOFFER: The person that we have in our 6 shop, he said let me take a look at the criteria on 7 this. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: For training? 9 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. And then we grabbed one 10 of the desktops that we had received from IT for our 11 staff to do their payroll and took it out to the 12 mechanic shop in the office and he has them go through 13 everything. The first person that we started this with, 14 he's passed all his writtens, and I think he's a couple 15 weeks away from -- 16 VOICE: Actually, I think he's taking it 17 next Monday. 18 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. Taking the driving test. 19 So if that proves to be successful, which so far it has 20 been, that's a savings for the County. That you're not 21 having to pay for somebody to go to CDL school to get a 22 CDL which can vary anywhere from, I've heard, five to 23 $10,000.00 for that. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. I want to 25 visit with you a little bit later on about that a little 95 1 bit more. 2 MS. HOFFER: Okay. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What was the incentive 4 we gave to the Sheriff? 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It was basically the 6 same. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: $500 a pay period? 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I don't know how many 10 more of these we can stand. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I think this is it. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Well, so that the public 13 understands, what we did for the KCSO is being paid for 14 from the unused salary for the basis that we have and 15 that's exactly what Kelly is doing right here. And just 16 so the public knows, with the four vacant road 17 maintenance positions since the last budget year, it's 18 almost $148,000. And what we're doing here with the 19 stipends is we're going to spend -- we've got 18 staff 20 right now. So if we do that, that's going to total out 21 to almost $99,000. So we're spending money that's in 22 our budget that we haven't spent because we have 23 vacancies, and we're using it to provide the stipends. 24 And while I want to make sure that you 25 understand, Kelly, and these are stipends. And we're 96 1 able to do this because of the vacancies that you have. 2 The economics work out to be able to be able to give 3 this kind of positive message to the remaining 4 employees, which we're all behind. I think all of us 5 are unanimous about that. 6 But I did address this in the budget and I'm 7 looking at KCSO and I'm looking at you. You're going to 8 have to extrapolate how we -- we carry this forward in 9 next year's budget. 10 MS. HOFFER: Well, we -- we do have a plan. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I just -- and you 12 said -- that's what it's going to come down to. 13 MS. HOFFER: Well, and just to kind of bring 14 a little light on what we do have left, we have five 15 individuals that are eligible for retirement today, if 16 they so choose. Hopefully none of that five, two of 17 them are standing here, will want to leave. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Don't do that. 19 MS. HOFFER: Two out of the five are 20 standing here. And we always have a Monday morning 21 meeting to discuss what everybody's doing for the week, 22 where we're going to be, all of that. And one of our -- 23 he's been there for a while. He's probably been there 24 about 10, 12 years, but he's not eligible to retire. 25 His comment to everybody was, I hope none of you guys 97 1 retire or we're really screwed. And -- 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, we're always 3 talking about recruitment and retention. And this right 4 here is on retention. Because we've lost a lot lately. 5 And, you know, I've got a couple constituents sitting 6 out here and I know if they call the Sheriff's Office in 7 need, they want somebody to show up. And we're getting 8 stretched thin. Same way with potholes and everything 9 else. We can't let what we have invested in our roads 10 deteriorate, and we're getting very thin. 11 MS. HOFFER: And we also take call outs, 12 too. We've had -- recently we had a down tree. You 13 know. So we -- we take some of those calls, too, and 14 stuff. It's just -- it all kind of started with kind of 15 the supply chain and transportation and CDLs. And the 16 value of the CDLs has escalated and now that they've 17 kind of changed it up as far as how you get your CDL 18 also has made it challenging. 19 But I think we found what works for Road & 20 Bridge, and so that kind of gets away from some of the 21 shortfalls of how do we get employees that want to come 22 and work for us, how do we help them get their CDL? 23 Like I said, we've got one and we're getting close to 24 being successful with that, which will help a lot. 25 There's a lot that an employee can't do right off the 98 1 bat, so -- 2 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I personally want to 3 compliment you on the approach that you're taking with 4 this. We don't need to worry about why the milk got 5 spilled. It got spilt. We're try to patch this up and 6 clean it up as best we can with what we have. And 7 hopefully, we'll come up with a plan that we can live 8 with during the budget process. 9 MS. HOFFER: Well, and I would really like 10 to say Rosa really has stepped in. She took a look at 11 things to try to help us figure out what we could do. 12 So, thank you, Rosa. I really appreciate it. 13 JUDGE KELLY: I feel like she's been helpful 14 on a number of things. She takes little steps for man 15 and big steps for us. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, it makes sense 17 that the money comes from the budget that's not being 18 used already because everybody's working harder when 19 you're understaffed. 20 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So they deserve that 22 based on what they're having to do. Both the Sheriff's 23 Department and Road & Bridge. 24 MS. HOFFER: Absolutely. 25 VOICE: Not only -- not to interrupt you, 99 1 sir, but I know a bunch of them were offered -- 2 JUDGE KELLY: Come on up to the mic so 3 people can hear you. 4 MS. HOFFER: This is Robert Sims. 5 MR. SIMS: Yeah, Robert Sims. 6 MS. HOFFER: He's one of our crew chiefs. 7 JUDGE KELLY: I know who he is. 8 MR. SIMS: But a lot of the guys that did 9 stay, they were offered. I know -- we know they were. 10 But they did make a commitment to stay here. So this is 11 kind of in order to be able to thank them for their 12 commitment as well. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we've got to keep flying 14 the flag out there because it's a competitive market. 15 And we have to be an effective place to come to work. 16 MS. HOFFER: Once we know that our CDL 17 program, we can do it and it works, we've already got 18 banners put up that we can put on the signs at Road & 19 Bridge that says, Hey, we'll help you get your CDL. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Do we have a motion? 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Do we? 22 JUDGE KELLY: No. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'll make it. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 100 1 approve the post-stipend plan with Road & Bridge as 2 presented. Is that correct? 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. Yes. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 5 MRS. DOWDY: Is the plan written somewhere 6 for the clerk to have? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Those in favor say aye. 9 Opposed? Unanimous. 10 MS. HOFFER: Okay. Thank you. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Let's go back and 12 try to wrap up our approval agenda. Item 2.1, which is 13 budget amendments. 14 MRS. SHELTON: You have eight total budget 15 amendments in front of you. These are all line item 16 transfers. We are transferring out of general fund 17 contingency into the law library line for books and 18 subscriptions due to subscription cost increase. And 19 that's the very last one on the first page. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 23 second to approve the budget amendment as presented. 24 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 25 None. Unanimous. 101 1 Next item is to pay bills 2.2. 2 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. Invoices for today's 3 consideration, $695,612.51. 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Move for approval. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 7 approve the -- to pay the bills as presented. Any 8 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 9 Unanimous. 10 2.3 late bills. 11 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 12 JUDGE KELLY: 2.4 Auditor reports. 13 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 15 Item 2.5 Accept monthly reports. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. For April 2023 17 Environmental Health, OSSF Amended, Director Ashli 18 Badders. County Auditor Tanya Shelton. Justice of the 19 Peace, Precinct 1 Mitzi French, Precinct 4 Bill 20 Ragsdale, County Clerk Jackie Dowdy. No J.D. in there. 21 MRS. DOWDY: I know. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: County Treasurer's 23 monthly report, Tracy Soldan, and Animal Control 24 Services Director Reagan Givens. I move for approval. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 102 1 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 2 second to approve the monthly reports as presented. Any 3 discussion? There being none, those in favor say aye. 4 Opposed? Unanimous. 5 2.6 court orders. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There were Court orders 7 from the May 8th regular meeting. No. 39962 through 8 39996. Make a comment. There were three suggested 9 changes. The reason for the changes is not that our 10 County Clerk doesn't do them right, it's that frequently 11 I'm clarifying things and the -- a lot of times the 12 agenda items are a little bit broad, and so if we go so 13 move and we need to be careful, because then sometimes 14 you look at these and you don't know what we did. So I 15 try to clarify them a little bit. 16 So let me read you the three that I 17 recommended the change on. One is 39977. This is 18 related to the Hunt -- 1605 Hunt Group, LLC. And that's 19 modify -- it says approve a request for variance from 20 1605 Hunt Group, LLC by reducing the building setbacks 21 and exempting them from water availability requirements. 22 To make it clearer what we did on that one. 23 The other one was 39987, which related to 24 giving Sylvia Zapata access to the ALIS system. I 25 modified this a little bit to say, approve to designate 103 1 administrative access to Sylvia Zapata. It did say 2 administrative rights. So I just changed it to access. 3 And then 39979 was that we reduced the bond 4 subdivision, it was Hall Ranch Subdivision, and modified 5 this to read that more clearly. It says approve a 6 reduction letter of credit No. 154208 from Security 7 State Bank & Trust in Comfort, Texas from $446,827.00 to 8 $11,400.00 for associated construction improvements in 9 Hall Ranch Subdivision. It left off Hall Ranch 10 Subdivision earlier. 11 MRS. STEBBINS: There's one more that you 12 were going to -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I saw that one but 14 I didn't understand your note. 15 MRS. STEBBINS: So the note -- this is about 16 the donation of paid time off and sick leave. When I 17 recommended language to y'all that you used and made the 18 motion and adopted that way, I didn't include PTO. I 19 just included sick leave. But the agenda item said PTO 20 and sick leave. So it should have read more like the 21 agenda item without -- 22 JUDGE KELLY: I saw that e-mail too. 23 MRS. DOWDY: That's not the way it reads 24 though. Did you need me to read it into the record? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 3995, right? 104 1 MRS. STEBBINS: It may read that way. But 2 mine -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It reads right now, 4 approve to allow donation of sick time and/or PTO hours 5 among employees on a trial basis for 90 days. 6 MRS. DOWDY: However, I would like to make a 7 comment. On the form, though, it says sick leave. 8 MRS. STEBBINS: Okay. 9 MRS. DOWDY: It doesn't include PTO. At 10 least from what I saw briefly. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. And so with those 12 modifications, I move that we approve the Court orders. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 15 approve the court orders as revised. Any discussion? 16 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 17 Okay. This takes us back to the information 18 agenda. 19 3.1. Status reports from department heads. 20 3.2. Status reports from elected officials. 21 3.3. Status reports from liaison 22 commissioners. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Then we'll take a brief 24 break and we'll go into Executive Session and I think 25 we've got a couple items on there. We'll take a five 105 1 minute break and go into Executive Session. 2 (Break.) 3 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. It is 12:20, and we're 4 coming out of executive session. We'll move on to item 5 5.1a), which is consider, discuss and take appropriate 6 action authorizing County Judge or other authorized 7 officials to execute the Settlement participation and 8 release forms regarding the settlement offers in the 9 matter of Texas opioid multi-district litigation for the 10 County in the matter of County of Kerr versus Purdue 11 Pharma, Inc. et al., MDL PRETRIAL CAUSE NO. 2018-63587, 12 in the 152d District Court of Harris County, Texas. 13 And I'll make a motion that we approve the 14 proposed settlement that Jay Henderson has provided us 15 in the Purdue Pharma case. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and second to 18 approve the settlement as presented. Is there any 19 discussion? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can we state what the 21 amount is just for the public. The settlement amounts 22 approximately a little bit over 26 thousand dollars. 23 MRS. STEBBINS: That's right. 24 JUDGE KELLY: For this one part. 25 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, Sir. 106 1 JUDGE KELLY: We have had the big part of 2 the settlement, and this is one part that is settling it 3 at this time. So with that, those in favor say aye. 4 Opposed? Unanimous. 5 And we stand adjourned. 6 * * * * * * 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 107 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 23rd day of June, A.D. 2023. 10 11 /s/DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD Certified Shorthand Reporter 12 No. 953 Expiration Date 04/30/2025 13 * * * * * * 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25