1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Regular Session 5 Wednesday, December 27, 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 ANNE OVERBY, Commissioner Precinct 1 24 RICH PACES, Commissioner Precinct 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Precinct 3 25 DON HARRIS, Commissioner Precinct 4 2 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 *** Commissioner's Comments. 5 4 1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 9 action on request to approve the 2024 Joint 5 Primary Election Services Contracts, the Primary Election Services Contracts, as well 6 as the Joint Resolution between the Republican Party of Kerr County, the Democratic Party of 7 Kerr County, and the County Elections Officer of Kerr County. 8 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 24 9 action to approve 7 revised job descriptions, including Chief Deputy Clerk, Senior Deputy 10 Clerk, Land Senior Deputy Clerk, County Court at Law Senior Deputy Clerk, Elections and 11 Archive Specialist, as well as five new job descriptions, including Deputy Clerk, Land 12 Deputy Clerk, CCAL Deputy Clerk, Vitals Deputy Clerk, Civil and Deputy Clerk Elections, for 13 the County Clerk's Office. 14 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 27 action regarding the replacement of Highway 15 Marquee at the Hill Country Youth Event Center, to include specifications that would 16 be needed to request bids on the project. 17 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 34 action to modify Court Order No. 40335, 18 reappointing members to the Emergency Services District #3, to remove Kathleen Vincent. 19 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 36 20 action to reappoint Danny Langbein to Emergency Services District #3. 21 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 37 22 action to approve a $100.00 donation from a citizen for the Sheriff's Equipment Fund. 23 24 25 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.7 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 38 action to submit Grant Application 4951901 4 for the Kerr County Sheriff's Office Ticket Writer Grant Project, funded through the FY-25 5 Criminal Justice Grant Program, to the Office of the Governor's Public Safety Office. 6 1.8 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 42 7 action to submit grant application 4954701 for the Rifle-Resistant Body Armor Grant 8 Program to the Office of the Governor's Public Safety Office. 9 1.9 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 45 10 action to ratify and confirm the audits required by Article 59.06 of the Code of 11 Criminal Procedure for FY 2021 Chapter 59 Asset Forfeiture Reports for 198th District 12 Attorney, the 216th District Attorney, and the Kerr County Sheriff. 13 1.10 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 46 14 action to approve contracts with Comfort Volunteer Fire Department and Castle Lake 15 Volunteer Fire Department. 16 1.11 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 46 action to send letter of support to Kendall 17 County regarding a "Kendall County Drainage Master Plan" and "Cypress Creek Dam 18 Improvement Project." 19 1.12 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 53 action to approve offer letter from 20 Kerrville-Kerr County Airport Manager to Carnegie Holding Company, LLC. for the airport 21 to purchase 54.95 acres adjacent to the airport. Such offer is in the amount of 22 $824,250.00. 23 1.13 Public Hearing for a partial cancellation 61 to a revision of plat for Montebello Estates 24 Section 2, Lot 31, 21-10118. 25 4 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.14 Public Hearing for a partial cancellation 62 and revision of plat for Y.O. Ranch 4 Headquarters Tracts 15, 16, 21 and 25. 5 1.15 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 62 action regarding a partial cancellation and 6 revision of plat for Y.O. Ranch Headquarters Tracts 15, 16, 21 and 25. 7 1.16 Public hearing for a revision of plat for 63 8 Kamira, Lots 19 and 22. 9 1.17 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 63 action regarding a revision of plat for 10 Kamira, Lots 19 and 22. 11 1.18 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 64 action for the Court to approve and 12 authorize the County Judge to execute a professional engineering services contract 13 with Tetra Tech, Inc. for a Safety Analysis and Master Plan for Eagle Ridge Road in the 14 amount of $80,850.00. 15 1.19 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 70 action regarding a request for the removal, 16 by the Road & Bridge Department, of an existing cattle guard located near 595 Indian Creek Road, 17 to be replaced, by the adjacent property owners, with a new cattle guard approximately 0.2 miles 18 west near 675 Indian Creek Road. 19 1.20 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 77 action for the Court to issue a certificate 20 of compliance regarding the completion of a 22-lot expansion of the existing Cedar Oaks 21 Manufactured Home Park. 22 2.1 Budget Amendments. 80 23 2.2 Pay Bills. 82 24 2.5 Accept Monthly Reports. 83 25 2.6 Court Orders. 83 5 1 JUDGE KELLY: Court will come to order. It 2 is Wednesday, December the 27th, 2023, 9 o'clock in the 3 morning, and the Kerr County Commissioners' Court is in 4 session on a Wednesday. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: On a Wednesday. 6 JUDGE KELLY: If you would please stand for 7 the prayer and the pledge which will be led by 8 Commissioner Overby. 9 (Prayer and Pledge) 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. I want to remind 11 everyone to please turn your phones to silent or off so 12 that it does not interrupt the proceedings. And this is 13 a regular Commissioners' Court meeting. For those of 14 you that don't know, we do that on the second and fourth 15 Mondays of the month, but this is a Wednesday because we 16 had the holidays. 17 And the first item of business at every 18 regular Commissioners' Court meeting is public input. 19 And this is an opportunity for the public to address the 20 Court and make us aware of their input. We are not 21 allowed to provide output at that time, but nonetheless 22 it is important that we offer the opportunity for input. 23 So we ask that if the item that you want to 24 speak on is on the agenda, to please wait until that 25 agenda item is called. We don't need to do that in the 6 1 input portion, and limit your remarks to three minutes. 2 So with that, do we have any input? 3 MR. COLLUM: Yes, sir. We have two for item 4 1.1, and then one for item 1.12, I believe. 5 JUDGE KELLY: One point, if it's on the 6 agenda we'll wait until the agenda item. Okay? 7 So with that, is there any public input? 8 Okay. There being none, we'll move on to Commissioner 9 Comments. And start with Precinct 1. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Precinct 1. I very 11 much enjoyed going to the County Christmas luncheon the 12 Friday before Christmas. A lot of people in the room, 13 and a lot of work went into that and very appreciated. 14 A bunch of tables. A bunch of good food. A bunch of 15 people. Sorry that I had to cut out early and didn't 16 get to clean up, but I very much enjoyed it. 17 My little house got an inch and 18 three-quarters of rain last week. I think I heard some 19 other people got a little bit more so we are very 20 grateful for that. But other than that, hanging through 21 the holidays. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah, I'm also grateful 24 for the efforts that went into our Christmas party, and 25 a few of the other parties that I've attended, so thank 7 1 you all for that. Jody in particular. 2 And also grateful for the rain. So as a 3 result, the burn ban remains lifted for Precinct 2, but 4 we still haven't had near enough rain to do much with 5 the drought and I believe that's still Drought Stage 3. 6 In terms of the Center Point sewer project, 7 progress is being made, so I'm pleased about that. 8 D Guerra has completed road repairs using asphalt in 9 Serenity Hills and on Nicks Road, and they are working 10 on the last eight connections. These are ones that 11 require electricity because a grinder pump is required, 12 and they've been draining septic tanks but we still have 13 about 40 septic tanks left to be demolished. The 14 downside, they are still way behind schedule. Phase 2, 15 they are behind by 416 days. And for Phase 3, by 567 16 days. 17 So because we are getting close, I am again 18 encouraging the public, anybody who needs to make a 19 claim for damages or warranty issues should contact 20 GrantWorks Rosie Daily at (512) 957-1465, between 21 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on weekdays. 22 No real update on the public improvement 23 districts. Commissioner Harris had scheduled a meeting 24 with the Medina Commissioners so we could find out more 25 about how they're doing it and, unfortunately, due to 8 1 illness that got canceled. But I'll look forward to 2 participating in that and thank Commissioner Harris for 3 making it happen. That's all I got. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Very good. Precinct 3. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Echo those comments 6 about the Christmas party. Appreciate all the work that 7 went into that. And ditto also to the rain. We didn't 8 get quite as much as Precinct 1, evidently. We had 9 right under an inch, but still it was welcome. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 4. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, we'll always 12 take the rain, even if it's very little. At least it's 13 one less dry day sometimes. 14 Stock show season. I mentioned it the last 15 time. Well, it's upon us now. Most of us up here will 16 be announcing one show or another at the County stock 17 show and so we look forward to that and encourage people 18 to come out and see what our young people have been 19 doing getting their animals prepared for the show and 20 sale. And don't forget the sale. So that's about all I 21 got. 22 JUDGE KELLY: And the only thing I would add 23 is we have Cowboy Breakfast on the morning of the 2nd, 24 right as we come back from the New Year's holiday. So 25 we'll start back bright and early. For those of you 9 1 that haven't done that, there will be goat milking, 2 believe it or not. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Should I practice? 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Not for that. 5 JUDGE KELLY: And they'll be cow chip 6 tossing. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'm the defending 8 champ. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: A lot of people said 11 that came natural for me. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. With that, let's go 13 ahead and go to the Consideration Agenda item 1.1 is to 14 consider, discuss and take appropriate action on a 15 request to approve the 2024 Joint Primary Election 16 Services contracts, the Primary Election Services 17 contract, as well as the Joint Resolution between the 18 Republican Party of Kerr County, the Democratic Party of 19 Kerr County, and the County Elections Officer of Kerr 20 County. Mr. Collum. 21 MR. COLLUM: Thank you, Commissioners. 22 Thank you, Judge. So again, this is just a little bit 23 of clean up from our last agenda. What I was able to 24 give y'all was the actual cost estimates for the primary 25 and the run off. I hope that you guys have that in 10 1 front of y'all. Again, the point of this is just to 2 keep everything running as smoothly as it has before. 3 Any questions or anything like that? 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. I guess I'm 5 going to ask you a question, Ian. 6 MR. COLLUM: Sure. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: Why are we doing this? 8 I asked Bob Reeves, who's been handling election 9 services prior to your taking over, and in fact in the 10 last Court he said there was no real financial benefit 11 to the County for this contract, our costs are more or 12 less the same, and I do appreciate you giving us the 13 cost breakdown. And so the big issue is why are we 14 doing this? Bob tells me that this is the first time 15 we've done it. 16 MR. COLLUM: Yes, sir. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: And you know, 18 fortunately, elections have always run really well. So 19 I'm just really curious, why are we doing it differently 20 now? 21 MR. COLLUM: Absolutely. So the reason 22 we're doing it this way is to actually maintain what 23 we've done in previous years. In previous years what we 24 have had is what is considered separate elections, which 25 is different than we have in front of you today is 11 1 referring to a joint election. We have run them as, for 2 all intents and purposes, joint elections. 3 When they're separate, due to there being 20 4 different districts we would end up needing to get 40 5 separate polling locations, which proves to be quite 6 difficult between, again, all 20 districts. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: I guess my point is we 8 haven't had to do that, we've only had 20 locations. 9 MR. COLLUM: Yes, sir. And essentially, 10 doing it this way with the joint would allow us to have 11 both parties in the same location, and only have to get 12 20, which is what we would have done previously. So 13 this truly is just keeping up with what we have done in 14 previous years to continue running as smoothly as it has 15 previously. 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. I mean as long 17 as that's what it's about, but I'll remind everyone that 18 when we talk about hand counting, I was repeatedly told 19 by concerned citizens, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. 20 So I'm kind of wondering why -- why this change. I'll 21 stop there. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion to 23 approve the agenda item. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that 25 motion. 12 1 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and second to 2 approve -- 3 MRS. HALL: Comment. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Just a minute. We have to 5 have a motion and a second, and I have to then call for 6 input. Okay? 7 Okay. We got a motion and a second. Is 8 there any discussion? Okay. For public input. Let me 9 take you out of order, Miss Hall. Get you up there. 10 Terri Hall. 11 MS. HALL: Thank you. Sorry, it sounded 12 like you were about to vote. So anyway, appreciate you 13 letting me speak today. I'm Terri Hall. I'm on 118 14 Independence. I'm speaking on behalf of We the People, 15 Liberty in Action. 16 We're very concerned about doing this this 17 way. Again, there's been no precedent for doing it this 18 way using a joint contract. From my experience, anytime 19 the Republicans and Democrats try to do a joint 20 agreement, the Republicans lose. Conservatives lose. 21 There's always something that's going to come back and 22 haunt us when we do it this way. Again, if it ain't 23 broke, don't fix it. And we want to see separate 24 elections run by the Republican party and run by the 25 Democratic party. 13 1 Joint, especially at a time in our country 2 when we are seeing the other side of the aisle literally 3 destroy every institution in this country right now, the 4 trust level is zero. Maybe even in the negative 5 territory. And this shouldn't be the process of the 6 County. There's no benefit financially. There's no 7 other real, you know, benefit that anyone can mention. 8 And so I don't know why we're doing it. We don't trust 9 it and we ask you to table aside them. Thank you. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Miss Heard. 11 MS. HEARD: Judge Kelly and Commissioners. 12 Thank you for this opportunity to speak on the subject 13 of joint primary elections. My name is Helen Heard and 14 I currently serve as the Secretary on the Kerr County 15 Republican Party Executive Committee, of which Paul 16 Zolan is the chair. The County Executive Committee is 17 currently comprised of the elected County chair, 18 18 elected Precinct chairs, and five non-voting officers. 19 For Texas Election Code 123001(B), the 20 decision on whether to adopt a voting system is made by 21 the following authority: For primary elections, the 22 County Executive Committee of a political party holding 23 the primary. I can attest that Chair Zolan has not put 24 the adoption of a voting system on the agenda of the 25 Executive Committee at any time this year. But in 14 1 previous Commissioners' Court meetings, he has been 2 outspoken to have paper ballots, hand counting, and he 3 has endorsed the Hart Verity software system, which has 4 been used by Kerr County in the past. 5 At some point, Kerr County proposed and 6 adopted a joint primary. Per Texas Election Code 7 172126, the decision to conduct a joint general primary 8 election or a runoff primary election, as applicable, 9 must be made by a majority vote of the full membership 10 of the Commissioners' Court and with the unanimous 11 approval of the County Clerk and the County Chair of 12 each political party required to nominate candidates in 13 primary elections. 14 It was interesting that Bob Reeves stated in 15 your December 11th meeting that there was no appreciable 16 benefit to conducting a joint primary election. My 17 question, then, is who benefits from conducting a joint 18 election? Is it the Kerr County Republican Party, the 19 Commissioners' Court, the County Clerk, or the County 20 Chairs of each political party. The election judges and 21 election clerks include the Precinct Chairs and workers 22 recruited by them. The joint primary is of no benefit 23 to them or to the Kerr County Republican Party. Neither 24 is it of benefit to the Commissioners' Court and the 25 County Clerk. So one must conclude that Chair Zolan 15 1 made this decision unilaterally in order to marginalize 2 his Executive Committee to the benefit of himself and 3 the opposition party. Thank you for your time. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any discussion? 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I have a question for 6 Ian. 7 MR. COLLUM: Yes, sir. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: What initiated this 9 change? What prompted this? 10 MR. COLLUM: So this was prompted by a group 11 meeting between myself, the Democratic Chair, and the 12 Republican Chair for the parties here in Kerr County. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. There was no 14 changes in voting rules or anything that prompted this? 15 MR. COLLUM: Not to my knowledge, no, sir. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Will there be both 18 Democratic and Republican representatives at each of 19 the -- at each of the voting locations? 20 MR. COLLUM: Absolutely. Yes, sir. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So it's the same as it 22 was. So when you walk into a polling location, you'll 23 say whether you want to vote in the Democratic or 24 Republican and then you'll go to a different table for 25 each one? 16 1 MR. COLLUM: Yes, sir. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess I don't 3 understand the reason for the change or what -- I don't 4 understand what's really different. I mean, about -- if 5 we don't have the change, if we don't do this, the same 6 thing happens, correct? 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: No. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's different if we 9 don't have the joint? 10 MR. COLLUM: If we -- if we have -- if we 11 don't do the joint and we do the separate, we would end 12 up needing 40 separate polling locations versus the 20. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: Why, if we've never had 14 to in the past? 15 MR. COLLUM: It's -- in my opinion, it's 16 best to follow through with things the way that they 17 are. In every -- in everything, there's a way that it 18 actually happens and the way that it's supposed to 19 happen, and I'm of the opinion that we should be doing 20 things the way they are supposed to happen. So if we're 21 doing something separate and we're supposed to have 40 22 different polling locations, it seems best that we go 23 through that route. However, through what we're doing 24 here today, we can maintain what we have done in past 25 years, which is have 20 locations, everyone at the same 17 1 place. With an additional 20 locations for, you know, 2 20 for each party, that will in my opinion -- in my 3 understanding, cost more as you would have contracts 4 with those locations, you would have to have additional 5 people staffing those locations. That would -- that 6 would end up being quite a bit. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: So you're saying if we 8 do not pass this, you're going to have to get 40 9 locations, whereas you haven't in the past? 10 MR. COLLUM: I believe so. Is that correct, 11 Nadene? 12 MS. ALFORD: Well, what they're doing here 13 basically -- 14 JUDGE KELLY: I need you to go to the podium 15 so people can hear you. 16 MS. ALFORD: Nadene Alford. Tax office. 17 This is -- we've always had it in the same location. 18 This is more formalizing as being a joint election. 19 Making it more formal than in the past. Where it's been 20 separate, it could be in 20 different locations. If 21 they don't share equipment, share -- this way they can 22 share more workers to help them out financially. 23 Republican/Democrat on the central count. Instead of 24 having two separate central count judges and presiding 25 and tabulations, they can have one, where they share. 18 1 So it'll save the cost on both parties in that they'll 2 be some cost savings on both parties in that. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Well, Nadene, let me ask. I 4 want to make sure I understand. We all know the way 5 that we've historically done it. We had the precincts, 6 we had, what, 20 voting places? 7 MS. ALFORD: Correct. 8 JUDGE KELLY: And both parties are there? 9 MS. ALFORD: Uh-huh. 10 JUDGE KELLY: And we've done that by 11 handshake agreement. 12 MS. ALFORD: Yes, sir. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Is that right? 14 MS. ALFORD: Yes, sir. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Is this agreement anything 16 more than just a written memorialization of that 17 handshake agreement? 18 MS. ALFORD: That's -- that's all. That's 19 all it is. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Now, moving on to the second 21 part of it is, with regard to the number of polling 22 places. In a perfect world, I suppose you would have 23 one party vote at one location and another party vote at 24 a separate location? 25 MS. ALFORD: That's correct. 19 1 JUDGE KELLY: And that's what Mr. Collum is 2 concerned about? 3 MS. ALFORD: Uh-huh. Yes. 4 JUDGE KELLY: And what this does is keep it 5 the way it is and have -- and minimize the cost to the 6 County? 7 MS. ALFORD: Correct. Yes. 8 JUDGE KELLY: And I suppose, Mr. Collum, the 9 reason that you're recommending that, is just out of 10 caution over what we went through with this voting 11 elections issue this past year. Is that right? Just to 12 be careful? 13 MR. COLLUM: Yes, sir. I might not 14 understand your question entirely. But I -- I think I 15 do. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Well, your recommendation that 17 we keep them completely separate so that every -- the 18 Democrats are in charge of theirs and the Republicans 19 are in charge of theirs, would require 40 polling 20 places? 21 MR. COLLUM: Yes, sir. 22 JUDGE KELLY: And you don't think that's 23 necessary? 24 MR. COLLUM: In my opinion, no, sir. 25 JUDGE KELLY: And so you're recommending 20 1 this contract that we do it the same way that we've been 2 doing it, we just put it in writing. 3 MR. COLLUM: Exactly. Yes, sir. 4 JUDGE KELLY: I got it. 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: I fail to see why we 6 would need to do this. I mean it's been working 7 perfectly fine up to now. There's no reason why we 8 can't continue to have separate elections between the 9 two parties in the same polling locations. It's always 10 worked that way and I just want to emphasize, 11 particularly based on some of the comments from Helen 12 Heard, the decision on -- to adopt a voting system 13 should be per the Texas Election Code, pushed down to 14 the Executive Committee of each party and they're free 15 to choose that. And I sense that this is taking that 16 decision away from the Executive Committee and I can't 17 support it. 18 JUDGE KELLY: I don't understand your point, 19 frankly. We're going to do it the same way we've been 20 doing it, we just put it in writing. What's the problem 21 with that? 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: Pretty much what I've 23 already said. There's -- we don't -- we don't need to. 24 And again, if it ain't broke, I don't know how many 25 times I heard that. Fred Henneke was real good at 21 1 reminding me. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Nothing 2 is broke here. It's worked perfectly fine for -- 3 JUDGE KELLY: Well, after -- 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- decades? I don't 5 know. 6 JUDGE KELLY: -- after the episode we had 7 over the elections -- 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. Sure. 9 JUDGE KELLY: -- and raising the budget 10 $250,000 by having to move it to a separate department 11 to conduct it because the other department lost 12 confidence in this Court because of your objection -- 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yep. 14 JUDGE KELLY: -- I don't blame you for being 15 careful about this. 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, that's fine. He 17 can make the proposal. I guess it's up to this Court. 18 But this decision on adopting a voting system belongs to 19 the Executive Committee; not to the party chairs. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Well, that's up to them. 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, this would make 22 it not up to them. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll ask the County 24 Attorney. Who -- I mean, I don't know the Election Code 25 in detail. So if the Code says the Executive Committee 22 1 makes the decision and the Executive Committee didn't 2 make the decision, can we approve something like this? 3 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Is that up to the 5 individual governance of those respective parties? 6 MRS. STEBBINS: If you guys enter into this 7 contract today, this authorizes it this way. And then 8 those individual executive -- 9 JUDGE KELLY: That's to keep it the way it 10 is, the way it's been. 11 MRS. STEBBINS: Pardon? 12 JUDGE KELLY: This contract is to keep it 13 the way it's been? 14 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. Basically. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 16 MRS. STEBBINS: From what I understand, I 17 don't believe the contract was entered into in the past 18 and it was just a -- sort of a hand shake -- 19 MS. ALFORD: Right. 20 MRS. STEBBINS: -- way of doing things 21 locally and they're just memorializing that. From what 22 I understand. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I'm very proud of our 24 Elections Department, back when it was in the tax 25 office. And now that it's with the County Clerk's 23 1 office, and I take to mind the compliments that we were 2 given by the Secretary of State representatives that we 3 had one of the best elections departments in the state. 4 And I don't want to do anything to change it. And if 5 this doesn't change it, I'm okay with it. If this keeps 6 it the same, I'm good with it. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I still don't see the 8 need. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I -- I don't want to get 10 involved between interparty politics. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the need, the 12 potential, as I understand the thing. Without this, 13 either party could say they don't want to vote at the 14 same location as the other party and then, all of a 15 sudden, you have to have it expanded. This says they 16 can't do that. And that saves us money. 17 JUDGE KELLY: For this election. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For this election. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: It actually doesn't 20 save the County money. The County handles -- if I'm 21 correct, Nadene? The County handles early voting and 22 mail-in ballots and we pick up the cost on that. The 23 parties pick up the cost for election day voting. So it 24 would be up to them -- if they really want a separate 25 voting location for each precinct, it would be up to 24 1 them and it would be their cost and not the County's 2 cost. 3 JUDGE KELLY: I don't see the need for this 4 fire. Pardon me. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Me neither. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We got a motion and a 7 second. Any other discussion? Those in favor say aye. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Opposed? 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: Aye. 10 (Commissioner Harris raised hand.) 11 JUDGE KELLY: Four to one. Oh, four, two? 12 I didn't hear the -- four two. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Three two. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. I lost my pen. Sitting 15 in one place. No, I just put that one out. Oh, there 16 it is. Very good. Three to two. 17 Item 1.2 consider, discuss and take 18 appropriate action to approve seven revised job 19 descriptions, including Chief Deputy Clerk, Senior 20 Deputy Clerk, Land Senior Deputy Clerk, County Court at 21 Law Senior Deputy Clerk, Elections and Archive 22 Specialist, as well as five new job descriptions, 23 including Deputy Clerk, Land Deputy Clerk, CCL Deputy 24 Clerk, Vitals Deputy Clerk, Civil and Deputy Clerk 25 Elections for County Clerk's office. Mr. Collum. 25 1 MR. COLLUM: So much like the last agenda 2 item, this is one that's carried over from our previous 3 agenda. I hope y'all have had time since then to go 4 over these in detail. I understand that was an issue 5 last time and I apologize for that. 6 Yes, I just want to make sure that y'all 7 have gone over them and like what you see. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: Ian, I've been through 9 them. They look perfectly fine to me. I support them. 10 I guess my only question is, I also heard from I think 11 it was HR that we didn't -- you didn't actually have to 12 submit this to the Court for approval. So I'm just 13 wanting to clarify for other department heads whether 14 this is required or not. I'm happy to approve it. I 15 think you've done a great job. 16 MR. COLLUM: Thank you. I found out after 17 our previous meeting as well that this was not something 18 that needed to happen either. But I find that there's 19 nothing wrong at least having you folks look at it and 20 verifying that it's good. However, yes, I think you are 21 correct. It seems like that's something -- this is 22 something that I could have done in my -- in my power as 23 an elected official, which I -- 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: Sure. Always happy to 25 look at it and give you any feedback. But I think 26 1 you've done a great job and so I'm going to move that we 2 approve the seven revised job descriptions that you've 3 submitted to the Court. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: We got a motion and a second. 6 Any discussion? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. Briefly. While we 8 don't have to approve these, if we don't, it starts 9 getting during the budget process, the step and grades 10 can start getting way out of whack basically. So it's 11 important that the Court does approve them, in my 12 opinion, you know, mainly to keep all of the positions 13 across the County aligned where they need to be aligned. 14 So there is a reason for it. But I also agree that it's 15 within the Elected Official's prerogative to set their 16 job descriptions the way they want to. Department Heads 17 not the same. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Well, let me say. I read 19 them. I read every single one of them. Cross-eyed. 20 And there are minor variations between these job 21 descriptions. There's some differences between the 22 different areas of responsibility that they're assigned. 23 And I, for one, in reading them felt like that this was 24 really the first time that we had comprehensive job 25 descriptions for every position in the County Clerk's 27 1 office and I commend you for that. 2 MR. COLLUM: Thank you, sir. 3 JUDGE KELLY: And while it's not required 4 that we approve this, I think it's best practices. 5 Thank you for presenting it to us. 6 MR. COLLUM: You're welcome. 7 JUDGE KELLY: And even though it's not 8 required that we approve it, I would like to support the 9 approval of the job descriptions. 10 MR. COLLUM: Thank you. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Is there any more discussion? 12 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Thank 13 you, Ian. 14 MR. COLLUM: Thank you, Judge and 15 Commissioners. 16 JUDGE KELLY: 1.3 consider, discuss and take 17 appropriate action regarding the replacement of a 18 highway marquee at the Hill Country Youth Event Center 19 to include specifications that would be needed to 20 request bids on the project. Jake Williamson. 21 MR. WILLIAMSON: Good morning, Your Honor, 22 Commissioners' Court. I come to you today, we are at a 23 point at the Event Center where the marquee is in need 24 of replacement. We've gone down this road to try to 25 find out the best way to do that and probably going to 28 1 end up in a bid process. So we come to you today to get 2 the Court's opinion on if they would like to see 3 anything specific that we can send out to be able to -- 4 in the proposal to potential bidders for the project. 5 I did do a suggested sign in your backup, a 6 modest sign that would increase the LED signage board to 7 something that falls within City standards to our 8 knowledge. Again, this is just suggested and I would 9 recommend this sign so that's why we're here today, to 10 see if there's any specific thing the Court would like 11 to see on a new highway marquee before we go out and 12 bid. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Well, were we going to get 14 designs or just bids? 15 MR. WILLIAMSON: We do have some money 16 earmarked for this project, so we do have a budget in 17 mind for it. So the hope would be once we got bids, 18 open those bids to go on with the project. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I've been -- I want 20 design and bids, Judge, in answer to your question. I 21 think it's a -- I think there is a budget. Obviously, 22 we can't go above our budget number and we probably 23 should do it not to exceed in the RFP. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But how they come up 29 1 with that, I think, would be part of it. And related -- 2 I would do an add alternate. Is this sign, the LED 3 screen portion, the same as at the stadium or smaller? 4 MR. WILLIAMSON: Smaller. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can we put a bid 6 alternate to have it the same size? 7 MR. WILLIAMSON: Sure. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because it's my 9 understanding from previous discussions with the City 10 that we could go with a larger sign. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: You know, and I think 13 it's important for the public to know, you know when 14 you're talking about cost, that this money we've been 15 sitting on for several years, and from Jake's parent 16 company or that do our management out there, and I think 17 it's time to use it. And I think it'll enhance the look 18 of things out there, and probably enhance turnout for a 19 lot of these events that we have that we can advertise 20 out there. So -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You could -- the LED -- 22 the intent is to have the LED sign able to put sell 23 advertising on it so it'll generate revenue as well? 24 MR. WILLIAMSON: That's correct. It'll give 25 us some sort of layout on the project. 30 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: Jake, are all three 2 screens in your -- what's attached to the agenda, are 3 all three screens LED or is it just the big one at the 4 top or in the middle or what? 5 MR. WILLIAMSON: In your packet, the middle 6 sign was -- that even has the temperature on it. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. 8 MR. WILLIAMSON: That's the LED sign. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 10 MR. WILLIAMSON: The top of the sign. We've 11 had both what's out there now, which is like a vinyl 12 covering where we can do LED channel letters on the top 13 portion, and then the division of the buildings as 14 proposed is an acrylic covering, lighted behind, of 15 course, but just more of a generic low cost options on 16 those. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: Understood. Well, I 18 guess I would only comment then I -- the LED portion of 19 it would probably be better if it was a little larger to 20 get a little more attention for advertising for events. 21 Otherwise, it looks fine. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the reason the City 23 has a sign ordinance and it's -- basically it's unclear 24 whether we're subject to it or not. 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Well, that was going 31 1 to be my question. Are we out of the City? Because -- 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: No, that's in the City. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, we're in the City. 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: Within the City limits. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the previous City 7 Manager says we can do as we want and if the City 8 doesn't object, it's okay basically. But we have a new 9 City Manager. So I think that -- and this is putting 10 the City on notice that, hey, you know, we're looking at 11 a bigger sign. We're going to get the bids in. We'll 12 see. And I think we can address it at that time and see 13 whether this qualifies or not. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I think we definitely 15 need the City's blessing. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 17 JUDGE KELLY: If this is not in compliance 18 with their ordinance that this is something we can get. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the -- so I think 20 we'll do it this way, which is with the ordinance and 21 then add alternate with what -- similar to what's at 22 Antler stadium. 23 MR. WILLIAMSON: When you asked for that 24 alternate, that's just on the LED portion or the marquee 25 sign size? 32 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just the LED portion. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Is somebody making a 3 motion? 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: Specific dimension for 5 the LED portion as opposed to the overall sign? From -- 6 from the Kerrville -- the City? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The -- I'm not -- I 8 don't know the exact dimension of the screen that the 9 booster club put at the stadium, which happened to be 10 exempted because it was school property. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Which is why -- 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: It seems to me they 14 would be more concerned about the overall sign as 15 opposed to the LED screen size. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Yeah. They're 17 worried about the screen size, the moving part of it. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. Okay. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I'm all in favor of a 20 bigger sign like out at the stadium. But let's just 21 make sure the City is going to -- 22 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Absolutely. 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: How much money do we 24 have available for this, Jake? 25 MR. WILLIAMSON: We earmarked $75,000. 33 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: That probably isn't 2 going to go very far in terms of a bigger sign. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Probably need some -- 4 kick those tires. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We've gotten other 6 quotes. 7 JUDGE KELLY: And just to remind the public, 8 anything over $50,000, it has to be a competitive bid. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And with that, I'll 10 move that we give Jake Williamson the authority to go 11 out and solicit bids for a new highway marquee at the 12 Hill Country Youth Event Center. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. But with a 14 question to the County Attorney. This is funded -- this 15 is being done by Spectrum. Their money. Does this get 16 bids through the County system or can he just go out and 17 get bids? So how do we bid something that is to be done 18 by a private company? 19 MRS. STEBBINS: I don't know that that makes 20 it any different from -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not any different? I'm 22 just asking the question. So then, make sure that 23 the -- I guess get with the County Attorney on the 24 format of the bid. 25 MR. WILLIAMSON: Okay. 34 1 JUDGE KELLY: It's still County tax dollars 2 paying for it. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not really. It's 4 earmarked as Spectrum dollars paying for it that has to 5 be used on improvements at that facility. 6 JUDGE KELLY: But we pay for Spectrum. 7 MRS. STEBBINS: Tanya said that if Spectrum 8 gave it to the County, so it is still spending County 9 funds. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 11 MRS. STEBBINS: There's no difference in -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So anyway, I just want 13 to make sure we do it correctly. So need to get with 14 the County Attorney on the format of that bid. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Is that good, Jake? 16 MR. WILLIAMSON: Yes, sir. 17 JUDGE KELLY: So we got -- we got a motion 18 and a second. Okay. Any discussion? Those in favor 19 say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 20 MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you, Jake. 22 Moving on to Item 1.4 consider, discuss and 23 take appropriate action to modify Court Order No. 40335, 24 reappointing members to the Emergency Services District 25 Number 3, to remove Kathleen Vincent. And I think it's 35 1 Danny Langbein. 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, that's the next 3 item. Both of these next two items are very closely 4 related. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: Unfortunately, one -- 7 in our last Commissioners' Court on the 11th an error 8 was made in that we sought and received approval to 9 appoint Kathleen Vincent. She had already been 10 appointed and, you know, she still has another one year 11 on her term, so we didn't need to do that. The 12 confusion was we should have sought and received 13 approval for Danny Langbein. 14 JUDGE KELLY: So we're going to pass on 15 this? 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, apparently we 17 have to actually modify Court Order 40335 to remove 18 Kathleen Vincent from that Court Order. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Got it. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: So I make a motion that 21 we do just that, and that we modify Court Order 40335 to 22 remove Kathleen Vincent from the Order, not from the 23 ESD. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Not from the board. 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: And then -- well, let's 36 1 just -- 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 5 Any discussion? This is just a housekeeping matter. 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yes, sir. 7 JUDGE KELLY: All those in favor say aye. 8 Opposed? Unanimous. 9 Now let's move on to Item 1.5, which is 10 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to 11 reappoint Danny Langbein to Emergency Services District 12 Number 3. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: Correct. And again, as 14 we've already discussed, he's already served two years 15 so this would be his second appointment. And he's 16 graciously volunteered and expressed his willingness to 17 do so. So I'd like to make a motion to reappoint Danny 18 Longbein(sic) to the ESD Number 3. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It's Langbein. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Just want to make sure we get 22 it right in the order. 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: Let's see. Is it 24 actually in the -- yeah, it's Langbein. Because it's in 25 the attachment. 37 1 JUDGE KELLY: Well, when the boss gives me a 2 pink sheet that says -- 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah, it's not 4 Longbein; it's Langbein. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We got a motion and a 6 second. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just so -- okay, and the 8 spelling is wrong on the agenda item. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Right. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: On the agenda item, 12 correct. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It should be "A" 14 instead of "O". 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: Correct. 16 JUDGE KELLY: So we got a motion and a 17 second. Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 18 Moving on to Item 1.6 consider, discuss and 19 take appropriate action to approve a hundred dollar 20 donation from a citizen to the Sheriff's Equipment Fund. 21 Is there a motion? 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 25 approve the donation. You don't have to get up, 38 1 Sheriff. Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Thank you. 2 Item 1.7 consider, discuss and take 3 appropriate action to submit Grant Application 4951901 4 for the Kerr County Sheriff's Office Ticket Writer Grant 5 Project funded through the FY 25 Criminal Justice Grant 6 Program to the Office of the Governor. Miss Putnam. 7 Oh, Mr. Gaige. 8 MR. GAIGE: Yeah. This would be the FY 25 9 Criminal Justice Grant, it's a local pass through to 10 AACOG. We applied two years ago for the body worn 11 camera. The grant's re-opened. So this will be a quick 12 grant. So what we're looking is for e-citation 13 equipment, which will be ticket writer type devices and 14 printers for our patrol deputies and basically all of 15 our County law enforcement to do that. So what that is 16 ability -- it's a hand-held device. They're able to go 17 up to the vehicles, scan driver's license, collect 18 registration, VIN numbers and all that kind of stuff, 19 and a lot more accurate, gain more accurate information. 20 Currently, deputies are handwriting 21 citations. They're turned in to the J.P. Court. So 22 this helps for that. Also, it's data collection in 23 general. More and more, we have to do more and more 24 reports to different agencies. So this gives us a lot 25 more accurate. 39 1 It'll also help with our racial profiling. 2 So Captain Prout, he's the one that does our yearly 3 racial profiling and we report to the State as well. So 4 this -- with these ticket writer devices or e-citation 5 devices, it has default fields. So everything that we 6 need to fill in for the racial profiling report, it'll 7 always get beeped to collect all that data. And then 8 we'll be able to finalize the report and send it to the 9 State and where it needs to go so it expedites that 10 project, you know. 11 The first of January he'll start on this and 12 he'll be -- you know, for the next 30 days he'll be 13 sitting there crunching numbers and trying to make sure 14 we put everybody's stuff online. 15 So also with this stuff, with these devices, 16 the outcome is merged out with our current systems so 17 port management system. So this is an internet based 18 software. So deputies will have access to look at that. 19 And actually have the -- it has the citation that's on 20 the screen, as well as it'll put it -- merge it into our 21 report writing system as well, which will be able to 22 open up to the JP courts, so actually, the judges will 23 actually be able to pull up on the computer and look at 24 the actual citation electronically, and have that person 25 in front of them. So they do have the ability to take 40 1 pictures of people. 2 I've used these devices in the past. A lot 3 of people, they give you bad information. You have a 4 picture of it. Hey, this is my -- hey, that's not me, 5 this is my cousin. You know, they give bad information. 6 So we're able to figure that out by pictures and things 7 like that. So looking for this local pass through grant 8 odes have an $80,000 cap on this because it goes through 9 AACOG. So we've used this before with Noel. 10 So as the local pass through basically AACOG 11 will approve it and it'll get sent to the Governor's 12 Office for the final approval and then the order will 13 come from there. So I'll work with Noel and we'll get 14 this hashed out. Any questions? 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. Scott, I'm all 16 for it. But you mentioned some -- a sensitive phrase on 17 racial profiling. So could you just elaborate a little 18 bit on what it does and doesn't do with respect to 19 racial profiling for the public? 20 MR. GAIGE: As per report wise? Yeah. So 21 the State requires us for every contact of law 22 enforcement we have to annotate of what this person's 23 race is or the location of it, and it's just an annual 24 report that has to go in. So we have to -- so what it 25 is, they take that data and they can kind of look at 41 1 overall whether these are being biased stops or anything 2 or -- or what the reason of the stop, if it's a racially 3 motivated stop. It just collects that data better. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: Sure. 5 MR. GAIGE: It's an annual report. 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: So it's just for 7 reporting. 8 MR. GAIGE: Yeah. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: I mean, our Sheriff's 10 department is not profiling or targeting -- 11 MR. GAIGE: Oh no. Absolutely not. 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- any particular -- 13 MR. GAIGE: No, it's just -- 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: That's what I wanted to 15 be clear on. 16 MR. GAIGE: It's just -- you know, they say 17 that -- the Annual Racial Profiling Report, it's just 18 kind of -- you know, it doesn't sound that great as per 19 what it's called but -- 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: I understand the need 21 to do it. 22 MR. GAIGE: It should be like, you know, 23 annual non-racial profiling report is what it should be. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: There you go. I like 25 that. 42 1 JUDGE KELLY: It's the same information as 2 on a handwritten ticket. 3 MR. GAIGE: Yes, sir. It just makes it 4 electronic. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Well, Scott, you had me at the 6 pass through grant from there. 7 MR. GAIGE: Yeah. All right. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Do we have a motion 9 yet? 10 JUDGE KELLY: Not yet. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move to approve. 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 14 approve. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 15 Opposed? Unanimous. Thank you. 16 Next one is 1.8 consider, discuss and take 17 appropriate action to submit grant application 4954701 18 for the Rifle-Resistant Body Armor grant. You going to 19 do this one, too, Scott? 20 MR. GAIGE: Yes, sir. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Go ahead. 22 MR. GAIGE: As we applied before, you 23 probably saw the Rifle-Resistant Ballistic Shield grant 24 that we did last year and completed that one. We're 25 coming up on probably five, six years ago under the old 43 1 administration, this kind of evolved from the Dallas 2 shooting where there was -- we had a lot of active 3 shooters and a lot of police officers were killed 4 because they didn't have rifle-resistant body armor. 5 From that -- after that, the Governor released money. 6 And so annually it comes out at the beginning of every 7 year. There's money that's allocated for it. So under 8 the '04 administration five, six years ago, they did it. 9 Well, those plates, those body armor plates 10 have an expiration date on them. So we're up for that, 11 probably within the next year or so they'll hit their 12 warranty. Stuff that we're looking at currently is 13 actually going to be an extended. So we're hoping to 14 get a ten year, we're currently five year. So we're 15 looking at a ten year, so kind of project some things 16 out a little bit further for the rifle-resistant. 17 The only concern I have about this is that's 18 overall one billion dollar State wide. So we're going 19 to put in for as much as we can to get everybody 20 deployed with the newer plates, but there's no guarantee 21 what we'll get ordered, so -- 22 JUDGE KELLY: So this is not a pass through? 23 MR. GAIGE: No, this is not a pass through. 24 This is directly from the Governor's office. 25 JUDGE KELLY: And there's no specific 44 1 matching requirement yet? 2 MR. GAIGE: No, no matching. 3 JUDGE KELLY: This is just you get what you 4 can and then we'll see what to do with the rest. 5 MR. GAIGE: Yes, sir. 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll make a motion -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: You want to let me make 9 the motion first? To -- to approve the submission of 10 grant application 4954701 for the rifle-resistant body 11 armor grant program. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 14 Any discussion? 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Scott, are these 16 substantially heavier for the officers to wear or -- 17 MR. GAIGE: Yeah. So what we currently have 18 is substantially heavier. We're just looking at some 19 options of some lighter. And also how we've kind of 20 changed uniforms over the past few years. So you'll 21 notice a lot of our deputies are kind of in -- they're 22 wearing outer carriers. Well, this -- this plate system, 23 our older one, kind of slips over that. Well, this puts 24 these guys' outer carrier stuff out here, right? So 25 we're looking at replacing some of the thinner body 45 1 plates that actually will fit into the outer carriers 2 that they're currently wearing, so -- but anything that 3 goes lighter and thinner, the cost goes higher. So -- 4 so we'll look at what we -- whatever option we need to 5 do for that. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It is lighter then? 7 MR. GAIGE: Yeah. It's -- 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Even more -- and more 9 resistant? 10 MR. GAIGE: Yeah. Absolutely. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We got a motion and a 12 second. Any other discussion? Those in favor say aye. 13 Opposed? Unanimous. 14 Going on to Item 1.9 consider, discuss and 15 take appropriate action to ratify and confirm the audits 16 required by Article 59.06 of the Code of Criminal 17 Procedure for FY 2021 Chapter 59 Asset Forfeiture 18 Reports for 198th District Attorney, the 216th District 19 Attorney, and the Kerr County Sheriff. Miss Shelton. 20 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. The County Auditor's 21 office has performed the required audit. The audit 22 covers receipts and specific expenditures of all 23 proceeds and property in seized and forfeited accounts. 24 I'm asking that the Commissioners' Court ratify and 25 confirm the tax report. This is an annual report that 46 1 we provide. 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: I make a motion to 3 approve. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 6 And just for the public's benefit, there was a deadline 7 to submit these and that's why you went ahead and 8 submitted them and we're asking for ratification at this 9 time. 10 MRS. SHELTON: Correct. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 12 in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 13 Move on to Item 1.10 consider, discuss, and 14 take appropriate action to approve contracts with 15 Comfort Volunteer Fire Department and Castle Lake 16 Volunteer Fire Department. 17 That's -- these are routine. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 21 approve both contracts. Any discussion? Those in favor 22 say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 23 1.11 consider, discuss and take appropriate 24 action to send a letter of support to Kendall County 25 regarding a "Kendall County Drainage Master Plan" and 47 1 "Cypress Creek Dam Improvement Project." Commissioner 2 Letz. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is something that 4 we -- Charlie and I received right before the holidays. 5 Rather short notice. But Kendall County's submitting 6 for two grants, early in -- I think it's next week, 7 isn't it? 8 MR. HASTINGS: January 2nd. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Anyway, the first one is 10 a -- definitely is -- I'm in favor of. It's the Kendall 11 County Drainage and Master Plan. To do that, they have 12 to do a lot of work up on Cypress Creek primarily. That 13 makes sense. That's going to be done and it may 14 actually save us money in the future. 15 The second one, the Cypress Creek Dam 16 Improvement Project, that one I'm not as certain about 17 because I don't understand or know where the location is 18 and -- 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: My understanding is 20 it's in Kerr County. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's in Kerr County. I 22 know that. I'm not sure of the details of it. I was 23 told by Kendall County that -- they had forwarded me a 24 copy of the report which has the proposed location in it 25 and more details about it, but I have not received that 48 1 as of yet. So I don't know a whole lot about that 2 project other than improvements on it. 3 My biggest concern there is -- well several, 4 but one of them is eminent domain. You know, I'm not -- 5 I don't know that I'm very much in favor of them using 6 eminent domain for this project. Which I don't know if 7 they plan to or don't plan to. I'm really not sure on 8 the permitting side on it and what problems Kerr County 9 would have. I would think that we would be very 10 involved with it because it is in Kerr County. 11 But the benefit of it is primarily the town 12 of Comfort. And they need the help. So I'm not against 13 the project, I'm just not -- I don't have enough details 14 right now. So, you know, my suggestion is that -- 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: Motion subject to 16 receiving that report? 17 JUDGE KELLY: Charlie, do you have anything 18 to add? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 20 MR. HASTINGS: I think Commissioner Letz is 21 hitting on all the -- 22 (Mr. Hastings going to podium.) 23 MR. HASTINGS: -- in full support of the 24 storm drainage master plan. Without details on a dam, 25 it's hard to support something not knowing details. So 49 1 the devil's in the details. How do we know if we could 2 support it or what parts to support until we see that. 3 But the storm drain and the master plan can cover 4 elements of that as well. 5 So my thought is full support of the storm 6 drainage master plan, so that's -- that's where details, 7 you know, come out enough that you have an idea of where 8 a project might be going. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Well, Charlie, are you willing 10 for us to approve the letter of support for both of 11 these projects subject to your and Commissioner Letz's 12 review and approval? 13 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 14 JUDGE KELLY: So that if it -- if somebody 15 wants you to support something, they need to give you 16 enough information to know in order to support it. And 17 if you don't have the information, then I don't think we 18 oughta support it. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And she's going to 20 miss her deadline. Because if it's not supported today, 21 she misses the deadline to apply for the matching funds. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Today? 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Well, that's what it 24 says. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's next week. 50 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It needs to be in 2 Court. 3 JUDGE KELLY: What's the deadline on this? 4 MR. HASTINGS: So they have an application 5 going in on January the 2nd. And they want me to give 6 this letter of support. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 8 JUDGE KELLY: So that's what I'm saying. If 9 we give you today -- it's like conditional approval, 10 that we approve it subject to your review of the backup 11 material and if you're satisfied, go ahead. 12 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that would work 14 if we did it, you know, in a letter. And I can do the 15 draft of the letter for your signature, Judge. Very 16 simply, yes, we support that. And we may support the 17 second one subject to County -- Kerr County review. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I'm fine with either way 19 you want to do it. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: If we could get it to 22 you in the report to where you can actually review it 23 before the deadline. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I think the real take 25 away here is the cooperation between neighboring 51 1 counties. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 3 JUDGE KELLY: And new projects are very 4 important and it looks like to me that the -- the first 5 motion is like on the plan, the master plan -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 7 JUDGE KELLY: -- and I think we can 8 wholeheartedly support that. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 10 JUDGE KELLY: And then the other one is 11 really making sure that we approve of what's in the 12 detail there. Because we don't know what's in that 13 detail. 14 MR. HASTINGS: And that would be sometime in 15 the future. It could be a year or two or three years 16 before -- 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yes. 18 MR. HASTINGS: -- we know what those details 19 are. They don't have it. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: They're just applying 21 for the grant to see if we can do the project. 22 MR. HASTINGS: Right. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we make it 25 subject to approval. 52 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: Subject to approval of 2 the final -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Subject to the final 4 approval of the project. 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: Something like that. 8 JUDGE KELLY: So somebody make a motion. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we, 10 Charlie Hastings and myself, draft a letter for the 11 Judge's signature that will state approval for the 12 Kendall County Drainage Master Plan, and that we may 13 approve the -- 14 JUDGE KELLY: Subject to review. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- the Drainage Master 16 Plan -- 17 JUDGE KELLY: Right. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And then on the Cypress 19 Creek Dam Improvement Project, we may support it 20 subject to review upon receiving details of the plan. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I second that, yeah. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 23 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 24 Unanimous. 25 Okay. Believe it or not, we're actually on 53 1 time. We'll take a short break and come back at 10 2 o'clock. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can you do 12 real 4 quick? I know we have a comment. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We'll call 1.12 6 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to approve 7 the offer letter from Kerrville-Kerr County Airport 8 Manager to Carnegie Holding Company, LLC for the airport 9 to purchase 54.95 acres adjacent to the airport. Such 10 offer is in the amount of $824,250.00. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is an item we 12 talked about last meeting. This is property on the -- 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: We talked about it in 14 Executive Session. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We talked about it in 16 Executive Session last time, but it was -- it was posted 17 at the City exactly as we posted so I think we can talk 18 about it here. If we need to go into Executive Session 19 we can, but I don't -- I doubt that we'll need to. 20 This is property that's exactly on the east 21 end of our primary runway. It's kind of a protection 22 purchase. This money is -- will be reimbursed by TxDOT 23 after the fact. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: Not all of it, though, 25 right? 54 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's probably 90/10. 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: 90 percent? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 90/10 reimbursement by 4 TxDOT. One of the issues we have is there's a runway 5 protection zone. Because of Silver Creek on the west 6 end, we cannot utilize that full length of that runway. 7 And that's something that -- the creek's not going to be 8 moved, but this -- there's no immediate plans to extend 9 the runway to extend it, but at some point it may be 10 something we would like to do or the airport would like 11 to come to the City and County to do, but without this 12 property you can never do it. It would be -- a home 13 would be built on this property. 14 So I think it makes a lot of sense, so I'll 15 make a motion to -- and this is budgeted money, $350,000 16 from the County, $350,000 from the City, and the balance 17 will come from the airport surplus account. And I'll 18 make a motion that we approve the agenda item. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that 20 motion. 21 JUDGE KELLY: We got a motion and a second 22 to approve purchasing the additional almost 55 acres on 23 the east end of the runway from the Airport Board. 24 We've got the motion and second. And I'll open the 25 floor for discussion. Mr. Fitch. 55 1 MR. FITCH: Good morning. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Good morning. 3 MR. FITCH: Thank you. My name is Bill 4 Fitch and I live at 403 Forrest Ridge Drive. Several 5 weeks ago, and I don't remember exactly when, I had 6 contacted a couple of you all regarding my concern about 7 the information that was put out when you all did an 8 agenda item, that I didn't feel like it was enough. And 9 I actually thought that there was some stuff that the 10 Governor or somebody, I'm sorry, but from the State had 11 said that there needed to be more specificity in your 12 agenda items as well as the supporting documentation. 13 Well, this is another one of those cases. I 14 was very interested in the airport. I'm a pilot and so 15 I was curious about what was going on here. So I 16 started looking. But I couldn't figure out where is 17 this 54 acres. Because there wasn't any way I could 18 find it. And the first thing I did was I looked up the 19 tax records and, surprisingly, Carnegie Holding Company 20 doesn't own any land. So I'm not sure who we're getting 21 it from. So that's one question. 22 Oh, and let me also say. I'm absolutely in 23 favor of this. Let me be sure you all understand that. 24 I'm very much in favor of this, especially as a pilot 25 and if they ever do need an over run or so. But my 56 1 point is, and I can wrap it up in one thing. I wish 2 y'all would give us a little more information in our 3 agendas as well as the supporting documentation so that 4 I would know. Because I didn't know where -- I guess I 5 should say, I don't know where the property is except 6 you just said it was at the east end of the runway, 7 which would make sense. 8 But as I say, I tried to look up Carnegie 9 and they don't have any property. So I'm not real sure 10 who you're getting the property from. And again, I'd 11 like to have more information if at all possible. Thank 12 you, gentlemen, and lady. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Anything else? 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Mary, maybe this is to 15 you or Jonathan, do you want to go up there? So it's a 16 90/10 grant possibly, or what's the odds of us getting 17 it and all that kind of stuff? 18 MS. ROHRER: Good morning. My name is Mary 19 Rohrer. I'm the airport manager at the Kerrville-Kerr 20 County Airport. During the budget season, both the City 21 and the County allocated $700,000, $350,000 apiece. We 22 had understood from TxDOT that that would be available 23 to get reimbursed 90/10 in fiscal year 2026. Since that 24 time, there's also been some new FAA grants that allow 25 purchase of land that protect runway infrastructure as 57 1 well, so the difference between the original $700,000 2 amount and the 824 whatever number we finally end up 3 with the developer on purchasing the land would then be 4 using some of that FAA money, all -- all the different 5 airports that are within the airport system within the 6 FAA have all been assigned different amounts of money. 7 So you've been hearing what's going on at 8 San Antonio International. They've got tons of money. 9 They're doing a lot of different work. A lot of this is 10 EIL money, and it all works its way down. So we've got 11 annual amounts for over five years that would help 12 support the purchase of this land. So once we get the 13 contract in hand, then we can make an application to 14 TxDOT aviation and then work on developing the remaining 15 balance of the account. Again, it would be 90/10. And 16 the airport has put in the ten percent part of our 17 budget as well. 18 So we're -- we believe we're in good shape 19 for hoping to maybe get some of your initial money 20 returned at the same time. So we're hoping that this 21 will work out really well for everybody. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: Mary, do you have any 23 further information about Carnegie Holding or can you 24 address that? 25 MS. ROHRER: Yeah, that's the holding 58 1 company that I've been -- that's the business card that 2 I get from them. I think they've probably put it into 3 some sort of a partnership. It was the old Wellborn 4 tract. It was owned by Mr. Wellborn and it went 5 through -- and I think they put it in -- 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: It's been acquired by a 7 developer who still plans to develop whatever's left of 8 that lot to the north -- 9 MS. ROHRER: Yeah. 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- but they've agreed 11 to make this land available to the airport. 12 MS. ROHRER: Yeah. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: And I guess to clarify, 14 this is not the final price, we're still negotiating? 15 MS. ROHRER: This is our -- we're giving 16 them -- this is -- the letter is a letter of intent to 17 them and it's based on an appraisal of the value of the 18 land. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: So that's the appraisal 20 value. 21 MS. ROHRER: Which is how TxDOT has worked 22 with us to make sure we get an appraisal done and 23 forward it to TxDOT and we'll submit it to them. And 24 they can come back with another appraisal and say hey, 25 this is my appraisal and then we'll have to look at it, 59 1 but right now that's kind of how it works out, how we 2 get started with the information that we've gotten from 3 TxDOT aviation. 4 JUDGE KELLY: And for the public's 5 information, we have to get an appraisal before we can 6 go buy a property. 7 MS. ROHRER: Yeah. 8 JUDGE KELLY: We can't waste public money. 9 MS. ROHRER: That's where we're at. And 10 Scott's -- the appraisal is ready to go and ready to 11 submit. And again, we needed to do this to get the City 12 and County approval to enter the interlocal agreement 13 that we have for you, and they approved it on 14 December 12th. 15 JUDGE KELLY: And Bill, by way of 16 explanation, when you see an agenda item and you see at 17 the end there's a pair of parenthesis as to who put that 18 item on the agenda, if you have any questions about any 19 agenda item, call whoever put it on the agenda because 20 they're the ones who did it. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He did. 22 MR. FITCH: I did. But thank you. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We visited about it. 24 JUDGE KELLY: And we have something like the 25 airport board and, you know, pick up the cell phone and 60 1 call Mary. She'll get it all to you. 2 MR. FITCH: Thank you. 3 JUDGE KELLY: We're not -- it's there. It's 4 available. Trust me. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You know, I'll make a 6 comment. When we're -- on real estate purchases, it's 7 always a little bit awkward on how much we want to talk 8 about it in open session because the more we talk about 9 it, the situation may inflate the price. And this 10 situation, the way it's already come out is -- 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I hate the way we do 12 it. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 14 MR. FITCH: May I respond to that? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. 16 MR. FITCH: Just -- just from my point of 17 view -- 18 JUDGE KELLY: Get on the podium. 19 MR. FITCH: As a citizen, I want to help 20 y'all make decisions. Sometimes I may want to help you 21 make a different decision. But without the information, 22 I can't. And that's my whole point. You said that just 23 a second ago on 1.11 when you said, I wrote it down, you 24 need the information in order to be able to make a 25 decision. And so I can't make a decision without having 61 1 much. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Appreciate it. 3 MR. FITCH: Thank you. Oh, I'm satisfied 4 now. I'm satisfied. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. When everybody's 6 satisfied, those in favor say aye. Opposed? 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: Thank you, Bill. 8 JUDGE KELLY: We'll stand in recess for five 9 minutes and come back a little after 10:00. 10 (Recess) 11 JUDGE KELLY: Court will come back to order. 12 The next item on the agenda is item 1.13, which is a 13 public hearing. I'll convene that public hearing at 14 this time. And it's for the partial cancellation of a 15 revision of plat for Montebello Estates Section 2 16 Lot 31, and 21 through 10 -- Charlie, I don't know what 17 that says. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: 10118. 19 JUDGE KELLY: 10118? 20 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. 21-10118. That's the 21 file number. 22 JUDGE KELLY: So this is a public hearing. 23 Is there anybody that's appearing that would like to 24 address the Court? Well, there's no one here to present 25 to the Court. Then we will go ahead and adjourn. 62 1 Then we'll move on to the next public 2 hearing which is item 1.14 that's a public hearing on 3 the partial cancellation and revision of plat for 4 Y.O. Ranch Headquarters Tracts 15, 16, 21 and 25. 5 Mr. Hastings. 6 This is just a public hearing. 7 MR. HASTINGS: Yeah. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Anyone here to speak to that? 9 Y.O. Ranch Headquarters? Very well. Then we'll adjourn 10 that public meeting. 11 Now we'll move on the next item at 1.15 12 consider, discuss and take appropriate action regarding 13 a partial cancellation and revision of plat for 14 Y.O. Ranch Headquarters Tracts 15, 16, 21 and 25. 15 Mr. Hastings. 16 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. This 17 proposal revises and cancels parts of Tracts 15, 16, 21 18 and 25 of the Y.O. Ranch Headquarters. A 60-foot wide 19 strip at the back of these four tracts, containing a 20 total of 16.33 acres, will be canceled and removed from 21 the subdivision, returned to unplatted property, and 22 transferred to the adjacent unplatted property. 23 This change will be reflected in revised 24 Tracts 15R, 16R, 21R and 25R in the plat that's in your 25 hands. Each tract will remain larger than a hundred 63 1 acres and road frontage will not change. 2 The County Engineer requests the Court 3 consider, discuss and take appropriate action regarding 4 a partial cancellation and revision of plat for 5 Y.O. Ranch Headquarters Tracts 15, 16, 21 and 25, Plat 6 File No. 23-00909. Precinct 4. 7 And the public hearing was held a moment ago 8 and no one spoke. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 12 approve the cancellation and revision of plat for the 13 Y.O. Ranch Headquarters Tracts 15, 16, 21 and 25. Any 14 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 15 Unanimous. 16 Moving on to Item 1.16, which is a public 17 hearing. This is a public hearing that I convene for a 18 revision of plat for Kamira, Lots 19 and 22. Is there 19 anyone here on behalf of that? 20 There being no one, we'll adjourn that 21 public hearing and move on to Item 1.17 consider, 22 discuss, and take appropriate action regarding a 23 revision of plat for Kamira, Lots 19 and 22. 24 Mr. Hastings. 25 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. This 64 1 proposal revises and combines Lot 19, 15.24 acres as 2 platted, and Lot 22, 13.13 acres as platted, into Lot 3 22R, 28.34 acres. Road frontage will be on Oakcrest and 4 Wildridge. 5 County Engineer requests the Court consider, 6 discuss and take appropriate action regarding a revision 7 of plat for Kamira, Lots 19 and 22, Volume 5, Page 186. 8 Precinct 1. And we had a public hearing a moment ago 9 and nobody spoke. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I make a motion that 11 we take a vote on that one. 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: You might need to speak 13 up for the -- 14 MS. OVERBY: I'm sorry. I will make a 15 motion that we'll take action on Item No. 1.17. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 18 approve the revision of plat for Kamira, Lots 19 and 22. 19 Is there any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 20 Opposed? Unanimous. 21 Moving on to Item 1.18 consider, discuss and 22 take appropriate action for the Court to approve and 23 authorize the County Judge to execute a professional 24 engineering services contract with Tetra Tech, Inc. for 25 a Safety Analysis and Master Plan for Eagle Ridge Road 65 1 in the amount of $80,850.00. 2 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. At the 3 request of the Court, a proposal was sought from Tetra 4 Tech to provide professional engineering services to 5 analyze Eagle Ridge Road for safety concerns and to 6 develop a master plan for the development of the road 7 to safely support existing and future traffic. Tetra 8 Tech has provided a proposal attached to this letter to 9 provide the requested services. 10 The proposal will provide review of existing 11 traffic impact analyses and roadway safety studies and 12 geotechnical reports. In addition, Tetra Tech will 13 prepare site distance, speed, and intersection analyses 14 for the intersection with State Highway 173. Tetra Tech 15 will also provide a review of the existing Kerr County 16 Subdivision Regulations and make recommendations for 17 modifications and amendments to improve roadways in Kerr 18 County subject to developmental growth. Tetra Tech will 19 summarize findings in a brief report with cost estimates 20 and attend public meetings to explain the 21 recommendations and to answer questions from the 22 Commissioners and the public. 23 There is $130,000.00 budgeted in line item 24 15-601-571, the "Eagle Ridge Road Project." Tetra Tech 25 proposes to provide these services for a lump sum amount 66 1 of $80,850.00. No topographical surveying is 2 anticipated as acceptable quality Light Detection and 3 Ranging data is publicly available for the area of Kerr 4 County that includes Eagle Ridge Road. 5 The County Engineer requests that the Court 6 approve and authorize the County Judge to execute a 7 professional engineering services contract with Tetra 8 Tech, Inc. to prepare a safety analysis and master plan 9 for Eagle Ridge Road in the amount of $80,850.00. 10 Precinct 2. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll make a motion that 12 we approve and authorize the County Judge to execute the 13 professional engineering services contract with Tetra 14 Tech for safety analysis and master plan for Eagle Ridge 15 Road in the amount of $80,850.00. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that 17 motion. 18 JUDGE KELLY: So we've got a motion and a 19 second. Any discussion? 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: This is what we had 21 before us before and it went two, two, one, if I 22 remember correctly. And hats off to you. You abstained 23 since you didn't have enough information. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. So nothing has 67 1 changed my mind. I have nothing -- 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: The cost has come down. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: A little bit. And so 4 I still feel the same way. And what kind of information 5 did you gain? 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I spent a lot of time 7 on this -- 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I figured so. 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: -- so I -- I've got 10 it. I understand. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the -- I mean 12 what -- I don't like it still. I think the only 13 difference is the -- some of the statements that have 14 been made in Court about the safety of this road. That 15 does put it a little bit different than other statements 16 about general roads. You know, I still think that it's 17 setting a bad precedent -- 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I agree. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- that the County is 20 spending a whole bunch of money on this. But this is 21 something that is on the forefront. So I'm willing to 22 go along with it. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I understand your 24 problem. But at the same time, we are duty bound to 25 protect the public. And any type of development or 68 1 potential development that has safety issues I think are 2 worth our taking the time and spending the money to try 3 to make it as safe as possible for the public. So I 4 understand your position on it, but I think we need to 5 do it. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One of the things that 7 I -- and since Mr. Burger's in the court and he's 8 talking about subdivision rules, I would be interested 9 to have him -- to know if we could legally do it, to 10 charge the developer for the study of this type in the 11 future. And have it in our subdivision rules that if we 12 have to -- if there's a safety concern on the road based 13 on the development, that the cost of that safety study 14 needs to be borne by the developer. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I would agree with 16 that. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't know if we could 18 do that or not but it's -- 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: If it's legal to do, 20 I'm with you. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I feel more comfortable 22 asking Mr. Kimbrough that. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I know, that's why 24 I want to make sure he puts it in the report and then we 25 can ask Mr. Kimbrough if we can do it. 69 1 MR. BURGER: We definitely -- I don't know 2 if that's allowable under the State law currently, but 3 we can definitely make a similar recommendation that to 4 be reimbursed to the extent possible under the law. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And then that goes to 6 our attorney to find out if we can legally do it. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: And this is Don Burger 8 representing the contractor, Tetra Tech, who would do 9 the safety study. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: We have one resident. 12 Anything that -- okay. I'll leave it at that. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Don? 14 Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: Oh. I'm going to ask 16 our County Attorney, is there any update on the appeal 17 from the court case? 18 JUDGE KELLY: They filed an appeal. 19 MRS. STEBBINS: They did. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: They did file? 21 MRS. STEBBINS: But I don't really want to 22 talk about that in open session. 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. That's fine. 24 That's all we need to know. 25 JUDGE KELLY: It's in the pipeline. 70 1 Okay. With that, any other discussion? 2 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 3 (Commissioner Harris opposd.) 4 JUDGE KELLY: Four one. Or did you abstain? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. I voted for it. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Item 1.19 consider, 7 discuss, and take appropriate action regarding the 8 request for the removal by the Road and Bridge 9 Department of an existing cattle guard located near 595 10 Indian Creek Road, to be replaced -- 11 (Commissioner Letz exiting courtroom.) 12 JUDGE KELLY: -- by the adjacent property 13 owners, with a new cattle guard approximately two-tenths 14 of a mile west of 675 Indian Creek Road. Mr. Hastings. 15 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. Pursuant 16 to Item 1.3 of the November 27th, 2023 Commissioners' 17 Court, consider, discuss and take appropriate action 18 regarding the removal of the cattle guard near 603/604 19 Indian Creek, Precinct 4 (Steve Henley), a follow-up 20 meeting was held with the Road & Bridge administrator, 21 Road & Bridge supervisors, County Engineer, and the four 22 property owners who used said cattle guard to access 23 their property, being Steve Henley, Albert King, Donna 24 Walker, and Brett Walton. 25 Removal of the existing and placement of a 71 1 new cattle guard at a mutually agreeable location was 2 discussed as indicated by the attached map. Said 3 location is approximately two-tenths of a mile west of 4 the existing cattle guard near 675 Indian Creek Road, 5 not in the floodplain, which solves a lot of issues. 6 Mr. Henley of 595 Indian Creek Road and Mr. 7 Albert King, 675 Indian Creek Road, agreed to pay for 8 the fabrication and installation of said new cattle 9 guard where: (1) Mr. Henley owns the north side of the 10 road as well as the prescriptive right-of-way which 11 includes the road, while Mr. King owns the property 12 south of and adjacent to said prescriptive right-of-way; 13 (2) there are no recorded traffic accidents in the 14 proposed cattle guard location; and (3) the average 15 daily traffic counts are less than 801 cars per day. 16 They've been calculated by the Engineering Department at 17 approximately 24 cars per day. 18 Kerr County adopted a Cattle Guard Policy, 19 which is attached, where cattle guards can be removed 20 based on following criteria: (1) both sides of the road 21 are no longer owned by one family; (2) traffic accidents 22 occur near the cattle guard more than three times in a 23 five-year period; and (3) when the traffic count on the 24 road meets or exceeds 801 cars per day. 25 So you can see those three things are all 72 1 not met. We don't have a bunch of traffic accidents 2 there, so if we want to install another cattle guard one 3 can be put in. We don't have traffic counts in excess 4 of 801 cars per day and the property is owned by one 5 property owner where the cattle guard would go. 6 The Texas Transportation Code allows for the 7 construction and removal of cattle guards on County 8 roads per the excerpt that I put in there of Section 9 251.009, covers the construction of cattle guards on 10 County roads. 11 (A) Commissioners' Court of the County may 12 authorize the construction of cattle guards on a county 13 road of any class. A cattle guard authorized under this 14 section is not an obstruction of the road, so you have 15 the authority to authorize a new cattle guard to take 16 the place of the old one. 17 (B) the Commissioners' Court shall establish 18 plans and specifications for a standard cattle guard to 19 be used on the County roads. The plans and 20 specifications must be plainly written and supplemented 21 by drawings as necessary and must be available for 22 inspection by the residents of the county. 23 Those specs are found in our 2023 24 subdivision regulations. Okay. 25 (C) A person who constructs a cattle guard 73 1 on a county road that does not conform to the plans and 2 specifications established under subsection (b) commits 3 an offense. An offense under this subsection is a 4 misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than five 5 dollars or more then a hundred dollars. 6 So they need the Court's approval. 7 The Commissioners' Court -- (d) -- may 8 construct a cattle guard on a county road of any class 9 and may pay for its construction from the county road 10 and bridge fund if the Court finds the construction of 11 the cattle guard is in the best interest of the 12 residents of the County. 13 I think the Court -- if they were satisfied 14 with the cattle guard we already have, that is why the 15 property owner said, well, we'd like to pay for a new 16 one a little further down in a better location. And it 17 was a mutually agreeable location. 18 Section 251.0096 is removal of cattle guards 19 from County roads from the Transportation Code. (A) the 20 Commissioners' Court of the County may remove the cattle 21 guard from a county road of any class if the 22 Commissioners' Court notifies each person who owns land 23 to the cattle guard by certified mail not less than 90 24 days before the proposed removal of the cattle guard. 25 So anyone adjacent. Which in this case, we 74 1 just have one person that is adjacent, they own both 2 sides, and that's Mr. Henley. We need to send him 3 certified mail. 4 (B) the Commissioners' Court is not required 5 to hold a public hearing on the cattle guard removal. 6 However, if a resident of the County requests a public 7 hearing, the Commissioners' Court shall hold a public 8 hearing on the removal of the cattle guard. To be 9 valid, a request for a public hearing must be made in 10 writing and be made before the 75th day after the date 11 the notice required by Subsection (A) is mailed. 12 So we've got a lot of moving parts here. 13 See if I can summarize it. If the Court wishes to 14 authorize one cattle guard to be removed, it cannot be 15 removed for at least 90 days from the date that 16 certified mail goes out. We would -- I would recommend 17 that certified mail come from my office and go to all 18 four folks that live back there, so everyone knows. 19 Even though the law only requires it to go to the one 20 who is adjacent to the cattle guard, okay. But that 21 just keeps everybody on the same page. Okay. 22 It looks like anybody can request that a 23 public hearing be held. And if that happens, they have 24 to do it in writing and they have until the 75th day 25 after that certified mail has been delivered or sent 75 1 out, and it needs to come to the Judge's office, saying 2 hey, I'd like to have a public hearing. If that 3 happens, then we would set a public hearing. But in no 4 case could the cattle guard be removed before 90 days. 5 Okay. 6 If a public hearing is requested and it ends 7 up being on the 75th day that someone requests that, 8 then it's going to be more than 90 days before that 9 cattle guard can be removed. 10 The County Engineer recommends that the 11 Court consider, discuss and take appropriate action 12 regarding request for the removal by the Road & Bridge 13 Department of an existing cattle guard located near 14 595 Indian Creek Road, to be replaced by the adjacent 15 property owners with a new cattle guard approximately 16 two-tenths of a mile west near 675 Indian Creek Road. 17 Precinct 4. 18 The new cattle guard would be 16 feet wide. 19 The existing cattle guard is ten feet wide. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 23 Any further discussion? 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: Charlie, I just have a 25 question. In terms of the County's policy, I mean do we 76 1 have any other roads where cattle guards are in place 2 that have the traffic -- 3 JUDGE KELLY: They're everywhere. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: No, no. That have 5 traffic anywhere close to 800 cars? 6 MR. HASTINGS: No, sir. Not yet. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: Because, I mean, that 8 just seems -- seems like a really big number. I realize 9 it's connected to the connector road criteria -- 10 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- but I was just 12 wondering if that policy shouldn't be something -- a 13 number something quite a bit smaller, that's all. 14 MR. HASTINGS: Well, and I'm glad you 15 brought that up. Our new subdivision regulations have 16 reclassified a collector road to about 400 vehicles per 17 day instead of 801. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 19 MR. HASTINGS: At the time that that cattle 20 guard policy was written, our old regulations called a 21 collector road at 801. So you're exactly right. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: To me as a minimum we 23 should reflect the new subdivision regulations -- 24 MR. HASTINGS: I think so. 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- and change the policy 77 1 to the 401 then. Even that seems high to me. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 3 Got a motion and a second. Those in favor say aye. 4 Opposed? Unanimous. 5 Next item on the agenda is 1.20 consider, 6 discuss and take appropriate action for the Court to 7 issue a certificate of compliance regarding the 8 completion of a 22-lot expansion of the existing Cedar 9 Oaks Manufactured Home Park. Mr. Hastings. 10 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. 11 On July the 8th, 2019, the Court approved 12 the development plan for the 22-lot expansion of the 13 existing Cedar Oaks Manufactured Home Park located at 14 332 Westway Drive, Kerrville, Texas. The expansion 15 being on approximately 3.25 of a total of 21.25 acres, 16 thus bringing the total lots to 45. The construction 17 consisted of the removal and replacement of 600 feet of 18 Whispering Woods Loop South, a privately maintained 19 road, and an approximately 700-foot new privately 20 maintained road, Whispering Woods Court, which included 21 the construction of a cul-de-sac. Drainage is handled 22 through a series of privately owned and maintained 23 ditches and culverts and an existing privately 24 maintained detention pond. This lot is served by the 25 completed expansion of an existing Aqua Texas community 78 1 water system which has a three-inch water main in it and 2 construction of a community on-site septic collection 3 and treatment system, which went through Environmental 4 Health. 5 In accordance with Section 1.03.C of the 6 Manufactured Home Rental Community regulations, the 7 steps for approval, construction, and a certificate of 8 compliance are the following: 9 1.03.C. Construction of the proposed 10 manufactured home rental community may not begin before 11 the date the County Engineer approves the development 12 plan. County Engineer or Commissioners' Court may 13 require an inspection of the infrastructure during its 14 construction and shall require a final inspection. The 15 final inspection must be completed not later than the 16 second business day after the date the County Engineer 17 receives an affidavit from the owner of the manufactured 18 home rental community that construction of the 19 infrastructure has been completed in accordance with the 20 approved Development Plan. 21 If the County Engineer determines that the 22 infrastructure complies with the Development Plan, the 23 Commissioners' Court shall issue a Certificate of 24 Compliance not later than the 5th business day after the 25 date the final inspection is completed. 79 1 The County Engineer is in receipt of 2 As-Built record drawings submitted by Wellborn 3 Engineering, completed a final inspection on 4 December 22nd, 2023, and has determined that the 5 infrastructure complies with the approved Development 6 Plan. 7 County Engineer requests the Court issue a 8 certificate of compliance regarding completion of a 9 22-lot expansion of the existing Cedar Oaks Manufactured 10 Home Park, Precinct 1. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I make a motion that 12 we discuss item 1.2 as Charlie just detailed. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Discuss it? 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Uh-huh. Do we need to 15 discuss it? They met all of the required 16 specifications? 17 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, ma'am. They also -- I 18 verified with Headwaters, this was done in the 2019 19 initially. I wanted to make sure that there wasn't an 20 issue with the number of lots that they had. And 21 Headwaters verified that they're allowed to have 45 22 lots -- not lots, but spaces in their manufactured home 23 park. No more than 45. And that's exactly what they 24 have with this 22-lot expansion. It brings it to a 25 total of 45. That's all that that water system can 80 1 handle according to Headwaters in their regulations. 2 JUDGE KELLY: So do we have a motion to 3 issue a certificate of compliance? 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yes. I make a motion 5 to issue a certificate. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Is there a second? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 9 approve the issuance of a certificate of compliance for 10 the expansion of Cedar Oaks Manufactured Home Park as 11 presented. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 12 Those opposed? Unanimous. 13 Okay. That concludes the consideration 14 agenda. We'll move on to the approval agenda. 15 2.1. Budget amendments. 16 MRS. SHELTON: You have in front of you four 17 budget amendments -- 18 JUDGE KELLY: Start over. He just got 19 approval for the letter of support that you said we need 20 more information. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Oh. 22 JUDGE KELLY: So we're there. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: You didn't call -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: So with that, we'll go back 25 to -- we have budget amendments. 81 1 MRS. SHELTON: You have in front of you four 2 budget amendments. Three of these are pretty standard. 3 The last one is to clear up and give enough money in the 4 budget for the cloud -- storage in the cloud for the IT, 5 as part of the project that they had. In looking at 6 this, it will lower the amount that we will need for 7 debt. We had it originally as part of the debt budget, 8 and because it's a three-year subscription, it does not 9 comply. So we need to move it back to general funds. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 11 MRS. SHELTON: I did discuss this in depth 12 with our external auditors. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Go ahead. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 17 approve the budget amendments as presented. Any 18 discussion? My understanding is from talking with the 19 Auditor is that we can't finance as much of the IT 20 budget as we wanted to. That we don't meet the 21 requirement. We have to move it from being financed 22 that we had planned to do, to being able to put it back 23 in the budget. And sitting down and going over it with 24 her, we can move that money back into this part of the 25 budget without any adverse consequences. 82 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And we can't because 2 it was spread over three years? That was -- 3 MRS. SHELTON: I'm sorry? 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And we can't do that 5 because it was spread over three years? 6 MRS. SHELTON: It's a service agreement. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. 8 MRS. SHELTON: So it's not really buying 9 something that's a capital asset -- 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Gotcha. 11 MRS. SHELTON: -- or improving the capital 12 assets that we have. 13 JUDGE KELLY: But the three year was a 14 problem, too. 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 16 JUDGE KELLY: So we got double whammied on 17 that one. So we've got a motion and a second. Any 18 other discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 19 Unanimous. 20 Pay bills 2.2. 21 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. Invoices for today's 22 consideration $698,503.39. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 83 1 approve the bills as presented -- paying the bills as 2 presented. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 3 Opposed? Unanimous. 4 Late bills 2.3. 5 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Auditor reports 2.4. 7 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 9 2.5 Accept monthly reports. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. For November, 11 2023, Animal Services, Director Reagan Givens. 12 Constable Brad Ryder, Precinct 4. I move for approval. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 15 approve the monthly reports as presented. Any 16 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 17 Unanimous. 18 2.6 court orders. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have our Court Orders 20 from our December 11 meeting. Numbers 40353 through 21 40376. We also had two that we didn't approve last 22 time. One of those was 40341. There was some wording 23 on that one related to the digital forensic examiner for 24 the Sheriff. And the wording was correct as originally 25 put in the Court Order. 84 1 And I'll go ahead and make a motion to 2 approve those. I will note that I need to get with the 3 County Attorney on 40339 relating to Tucker Street to 4 make sure we handle all that proper information in that 5 court order. But that one is not approved at this 6 point. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that. 8 JUDGE KELLY: We have a motion and a second 9 to approve the Court Orders as presented and revised. 10 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 11 Unanimous. 12 Information agenda. Status reports from 13 department heads. Any department heads? 14 Very well. We'll move on to 3.2. Status 15 reports from elected officials. 16 We'll move on to 3.3. Status reports from 17 Liaison Commissioners. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have one on that. I 19 met last week with the current president and secretary 20 of Little League for Kerrville Youth Baseball and 21 Softball Association. We have not had an agreement with 22 them for years, official agreement. It's been kind of 23 on a month-to-month basis. Anyway, everyone agrees that 24 we need to get a new agreement. So I'll be getting with 25 the County Attorney on that agreement where we will 85 1 clearly specify the County's responsibilities on that 2 property and Little League's responsibilities on that 3 property. So that's moving forward. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll just throw out 5 that Commissioner Letz and myself have been meeting with 6 a committee to look at the step and grade system, and I 7 think we've had two meetings, and we have another one 8 scheduled for January 25th, so I think good progress is 9 being made. I just want to make everybody aware that 10 that's going on. And we've got the County Attorney and 11 the Auditor and HR Director and -- oh, and Tracy is also 12 on board so. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: As a follow-up on that, 14 I think that after -- hopefully after the next meeting 15 it'll be an agreement out of the committee to then kind 16 of put it out to all department heads and elected 17 officials and Commissioners' Court for comment on 18 proposed changes, if any. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Any other liaison reports? 20 The only thing I would add is looking forward to a big 21 turnout for the Cowboy Breakfast on the 2nd. It starts 22 at 6:00 a.m. and goes to 7:30, I think. So it will be 23 early. And that is in advance of the County stock show, 24 which will be the following Saturday. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And it's right here at 86 1 the courthouse. 2 JUDGE KELLY: The breakfast is at the 3 courthouse. The stock show is at the Youth Event 4 Center. 5 MS. WALTER: What's the dates of the stock 6 show? 7 JUDGE KELLY: Pardon? 8 MS. WALTER: The dates of the stock show? 9 JUDGE KELLY: It starts on Saturday. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Saturday, the 6th, I 11 believe. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: The sale. 13 JUDGE KELLY: The breakfast is the 2nd. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Thursday or Friday 15 that week is the -- on Wednesday and the show starts on 16 Friday. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah, last year I got 18 to announce sheep. And this year I'm on goats. Is that 19 a demotion or a promotion? But I enjoyed it. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We don't have any 21 executive session items, right? 22 MRS. STEBBINS: No, sir. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Anything else? Then we 24 are adjourned. 25 * * * * * * 87 1 STATE OF TEXAS * 2 COUNTY OF KERR * 3 I, DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD, Certified Shorthand 4 Reporter in and for the State of Texas, and Official 5 Court Reporter in and for Kerr County, do hereby certify 6 that the above and foregoing pages contain and comprise 7 a true and correct transcription of the proceedings had 8 in the above-entitled Regular Commissioners' Court. 9 Dated this the 6th day of January, A.D. 10 2023. 11 12 /s/DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD Certified Shorthand Reporter 13 No. 953 Expiration Date 04/30/2025 14 * * * * * * 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25