1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Regular Session 5 Monday, February 12, 2024 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 *** Public Input. 7 4 *** Commissioner's Comments. 10 5 1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 13 action on request from the 198th District 6 Attorney's Office for additional funding in the amount of $25,000 for line item 84-445-484 7 (appellate services) due to an unforeseen increase in appellate billings. 8 1.2 Presentation of the final report from Mercy 16 9 Gate Ministries regarding their project, Court Training and Court-Appointed Adult 10 Victim Advocates for Commercial Sexual Exploitation, Funded through the Office of 11 the Governor(OOG) Solicitation FY-23 State Criminal Justice County Funds Number 4498701. 12 1.8 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 22 13 action to authorize Texas Parks and Wildlife Department contractors to spray Arundo donax 14 on Kerr County property. 15 1.9 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 23 action to allow Texas Parks and Wildlife 16 Department contractor to fill water tanks at the Hill Country Youth Event Center for 17 the Healthy Creeks Initiative Program to manage giant cane, Arundo donax. 18 1.10 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 23 19 action on request from Upper Guadalupe River Authority to use Flat Rock Park for their 20 21st Annual River Clean Up on July 27, 2024. 21 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 26 action to appoint Marsha Baumann to the 22 Emergency Services District #2(ESD #2) for a two-year term. 23 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 27 24 action to re-appoint Lee Hall to Emergency Services District #2 (ESD #2) for an 25 additional two-year term. 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 28 action to appoint Kari Potter to Emergency 4 Services District #3 (ESD #3) for a one-year term. 5 1.14 Presentation regarding observations of the 28 6 Key Capture Energy proposal for Comfort, Texas. 7 1.15 Presentation from a small independent 37 citizens group regarding their review of 8 publicly available County voter roll data and history from the 2020 primary forward and the 9 feedback they have provided to County election officials. 10 1.16 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 39 11 action on request for a fee waiver for use of the Hill Country Youth Event Center on 12 April 11, 2024 from 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. for a "Preventing Targeted Violence Through Threat 13 Assessment & Threat Management" Program. 14 1.11 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 43 action on request from Leadership Kerr County 15 Class 38 to use Flat Rock Park from Thursday, March 28th - Sunday, March 31st for the 2024 16 Easterfest event. 17 1.12 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 44 action on request to authorize the County 18 Judge to prepare letter approving the sale of alcohol at Easterfest being held at Flat 19 Rock Park on March 30, 2024. Letter to be sent to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. 20 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 45 21 action to appoint a member of Commissioners' Court or designate a person to perform an 22 investigation under Section 751.005 of the Texas Health and Safety Code for the purpose 23 of determining if the minimum standards for ensuring public safety and order as prescribed 24 by law will be maintained under the application for permit for Mass Gathering for Easterfest on 25 March 30, 2024 at Flat Rock Park. Hearing on Mass Gathering Permit has been set for March 11, 4 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 2024 at 8:30 a.m. in the Kerr County Commissioners' Courtroom. 4 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 47 5 action regarding the Hazard Mitigation Plan pricing structure. 6 1.7 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 50 7 action to accept donations totaling $70.00 for the month of January 2024 to be added 8 to the operating expense line item 10-642-330. 9 1.17 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 51 action to obligate American Rescue Plan Act 10 (ARPA) additional funding not to exceed $120,000 for the Veterans Pathway Project. 11 1.18 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 54 12 action for the Court to award a construction contract to M&C Fonseca Construction Co., Inc. 13 in the amount of $309,804.25 for the VA Pathway Sidewalk Project. 14 1.19 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 56 15 action for the Court to set a public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on March 25, 2024 for a 16 revision of plat for Bandera Hills Subdivision Lots 22 and 23, Volume 3, Page 140. 17 1.20 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 57 18 action for the Commissioners' Court approval of the "Rural Mailbox Location Policy". 19 1.21 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 65 20 action to open and read the re-bids for the crushed paving aggregates. 21 1.22 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 67 22 action for Commissioners' Court approval of the General Contract with Grizzly Electric 23 for electrical upgrades/additions to the garage (mechanic shop) interior/workshop. 24 1.23 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 69 25 action to surplus one PA Amp, 15 2-way radios, and one Wigwag from the Road & Bridge Department. 5 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.24 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 70 action to surplus two filing cabinets, two 4 old security systems, and a Brother printer from Courthouse Security Department. 5 1.25 Discussion regarding the Kerr County 71 6 Sheriff's Office management of the current fleet and future purchases. 7 1.26 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 74 8 action to approve a $50.00 donation from a citizen for the Sheriff's Donation Fund 9 72-370-530. 10 1.27 Discussion regarding Road & Bridge building 74 a 50 x 50 pad for a metal carport at the Kerr 11 County Sheriff's Office complex. 12 1.28 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 79 action to amend the Resolution that was 13 approved by Court Order 40072 to reflect grant number 4587302. Resolution is for 14 the Fiscal Year 2024 Operation Lone Star Grant Program. 15 1.29 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 81 16 action to determine whether to allow the retail fireworks permit holders to sell 17 fireworks to the public in celebration of Texas Independence Day, pursuant to Texas 18 Occupations Code Section 2154.202(h)(1). 19 1.30 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 83 action to appoint/re-appoint a member of 20 the Commissioners' Court to be the Kerr County representative on the Alamo Area 21 Housing Financing Corporation Board. 22 1.31 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 84 action to approve a contract with Hill 23 Country Cares. 24 25 6 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.32 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 85 action to appoint a committee to assess 4 the space/storage needs for various county departments as discussed at the February 5, 5 2024 Workshop, and set date for next Workshop. 6 1.33 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 93 7 action to ratify and confirm the Texas Association of Counties Risk Management 8 Pool (TAC-RMP) member contact information form and the Texas Association of Counties 9 Health & Employee Benefits Pool (TAC-HEBP) member contact designation form to remove 10 Rosa Hernandez as the Human Resources Director and add Sylvia Zapata as the Interim Human 11 Resources Director. 12 1.34 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 94 action to ratify and confirm bond for Reserve 13 Deputy Constable, Precinct 3, Jeffrey Wendling. 14 2.1 Budget Amendments. 95 15 2.2 Pay Bills. 96 16 2.4 Auditor Reports. 96 17 2.5 Accept Monthly Reports. 97 18 2.6 Court Orders. 97 19 3.3 Status reports from Liaison Commissioners. 99 20 4.2a Consider, discuss and take appropriate 105 action regarding employee/position in IT 21 Department. 22 4.3a Consider, discuss and take appropriate 106 action to hire appraiser for property 23 located in Ingram, Texas. 24 *** Adjournment. 107 25 *** Reporter's Certificate. 108 7 1 JUDGE KELLY: Court will come to order. It 2 is Monday, February the 12th, 2024. It's 9 o'clock in 3 the morning and the Commissioners' -- Kerr County 4 Commissioners' Court is now in session. If you would, 5 please stand for the prayer and the pledge, which will 6 be led by Commissioner Letz. 7 (Prayer and Pledge) 8 JUDGE KELLY: Please be seated. First item 9 of business, turn this thing off or to vibrate so that 10 it doesn't interrupt the proceedings. And with that, 11 the first item we have on our regular Commissioners' 12 Court meetings is public input. This is an opportunity 13 for the Court to hear what the public wants us to hear, 14 receive your input. Bear in mind we do not get the 15 opportunity to provide our output back to you, so it's a 16 listen for us. So this is a tradition that we have 17 done. We ask that if it's -- whatever it is you want to 18 talk about if it's on the agenda, we ask that you wait 19 until that agenda item is called and address it at that 20 time. So with that, is there anybody that would -- I've 21 got one sign up. Mr. Tom Jones. 22 MR. JONES: You bet. Thank you for allowing 23 me a few minutes, Judge. I'm Tom Jones, Precinct 1, 105 24 Chula Vista. I had a couple of questions more than 25 anything. 8 1 You all submitted $850,000 for City roads 2 regarding the mega creek(phonetic) proposal. On 3 April 24th, it appears that you adopted the economic 4 development program. And so my question is, is this 5 falling into that plan that you adopted? Does that fall 6 into that development plan? Because I'm looking at what 7 authority does Kerr County have to fund Kerrville roads? 8 These apparently are completely City roads. 9 And so you entered into an Interlocal 10 Agreement, and in that agreement, I read through that, 11 and it appears that our only part is to provide funding 12 for City roads. And so that kind of concerns me a 13 little bit when we're looking at that particularly. I'm 14 sorry, I've got notes. A lot of times I don't have to 15 have notes, but I do for this. 16 The other part of it, I guess is my main 17 concern is our budget. I watched y'all struggle really 18 hard and you ended up with a deficit budget this last 19 year. And I know, Judge, you particularly were really 20 concerned with that. But it says on here under part 9B 21 in that Interlocal Agreement, "Each party paying for the 22 performance of its obligations under this agreement 23 shall make those payments from current revenues 24 available to them and budgeted by that party." Well, I 25 assume from the last budget we don't have that budgeted. 9 1 And part of your statement during this last budget was, 2 is that next year is going to be just as bad or worse 3 toward a deficit budget. Now we're adding $850,000 to 4 that for this Interlocal Agreement. That concerns me 5 greatly as to how we're going to accomplish that when 6 you've already acknowledged that we're going to have a 7 hard budget year this next coming year. 8 But then on top of that, you charged -- we 9 have the two bond elections that were voted down and you 10 have assigned Commissioner Paces to try to see how we 11 can resolve a lot of those issues. And I think that 12 money would be better served -- for me, would be better 13 served going towards resolving those unfunded portions 14 of the -- you know, that were voted down rather than 15 into a City road that they were probably going to do 16 with or without Kerr County. 17 And so there might be more to this story 18 than I'm aware of because you're entitled to a lot of 19 information I'm not. So I would just encourage you to 20 try to get any information that we can out before the 21 public so people like myself and others, that have a 22 real interest in this budget and our tax base this year, 23 how we can resolve that in our mind that this is a 24 healthy agreement for us to enter into. And I 25 appreciate your time. Thank you. 10 1 JUDGE KELLY: Any other public input? 2 And we'll move on to Commissioners' 3 Comments. Let's start at the other end today, start 4 with 4. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: All right. Well, 6 we're appreciative of some rain that we had over the 7 weekend. My house got an inch and a half. And that's 8 the same here at the courthouse this morning. So 9 fortunate. 10 As most of y'all know, we're knee deep in 11 the political cycle of campaigns and what have you. I 12 would encourage people to maybe go to Tucker Hall this 13 afternoon and see -- listen to some of the people 14 running or even better on Thursday, I think there's a 15 forum that will be most of the candidates will be the 16 cast. So -- and that's at the YO Ranch Hotel, I 17 believe, at 6:30. 5:30 today at Tucker Hall. So meet 18 these people. See who's running, what they stand for 19 and what have you. So that's it. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 3. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, we only had 22 three-quarters of an inch of rain but -- but we're, you 23 know, happy with what we got. The other thing is most 24 of y'all probably know I'm also very involved with Texas 25 Wildlife Association, and out at our ranch we hosted a 11 1 hunt this weekend for six kids that don't have the 2 opportunity to hunt and they come with their guardians. 3 That's put on -- and it's totally funded by the Texas 4 Parks and Wildlife and operated by the Texas Wildlife 5 Association, and it's really interesting to get young 6 people out into nature, out hunting. 7 A lot of them, about half the kids, were 8 able to harvest a doe. And -- but the experience they 9 had and the time they spent with their parents or 10 guardian is very worthwhile and it's a great program. 11 So those that do have property or want to get involved, 12 it's a very good event, annual event, and almost 1200 13 kids a year go out on these hunts across the state. And 14 most of -- almost all the kids that don't have the 15 opportunity for this kind of event. So anyway. Spent a 16 lot of time with that all weekend. That's it. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, the burn ban 18 remains lifted for the Precinct 2 and we are still in 19 Drought Stage 3. So despite the rain, and I only got 20 about eight-tenths at my place. We need a lot more to 21 make a dent in what's going into the aquifer and our 22 drought stages. 23 So otherwise, last Friday afternoon I 24 participated in the final walkthrough inspection for 25 D Guerra's Phase 2 and 3 projects, associated with that 12 1 sewer project. And so the public is aware, substantial 2 completion -- excuse me, was achieved on January 12th, 3 and they had basically 45 days to complete all the punch 4 list items and they've made very good progress on the 5 punch list. So there are some minor things left for 6 them to finish up, but I am confident they will. 7 There's nothing major. 8 And then, of course, we begin discussions 9 about the liquidated damages because the work on Phase 2 10 was late by 432 days. Phase 3, it was 583 days. Okay. 11 So that should be interesting. A lot of money at stake. 12 Okay. Otherwise, Commissioner Letz and I, 13 along with Road & Bridge, Engineering, and our Grants 14 Coordinator attended a meeting with Texas Water 15 Development Board and Holt Engineering regarding, you 16 know, grants that are available for floodplain analysis 17 and studies so that the County might prepare a flood 18 mitigation master plan. So we're looking into that. 19 We're trying to do all we can to get grants to cover the 20 vast majority of that expenditure so that we actually 21 can come up with a plan, and I think our initial focus 22 will be on east Kerr, which seems to be a little more 23 problematic, but we'll eventually, no doubt, try to 24 cover the County. That's going to take a lot of time, 25 so it probably won't have any impact in this coming 13 1 budget but we'll see. 2 Okay. Otherwise, I've got a lot of other 3 updates I'll make to the liaison assignments when we get 4 to that. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'm quick. I win. I 6 got two and a quarter inches at my house. I sat next to 7 a gentleman at church who got three inches. 8 So anyway. And biggest update in my 9 precinct is I had a new grandbaby last week, so we're 10 all excited. Yeah. Keep it short. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Judge, one more thing. 12 I may have to leave the bench for about five minutes in 13 a few minutes. I just want people to know I'm not 14 ducking out or anything, but it's something I have to 15 take care of. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So with that, let's 17 move on to the Consideration Agenda. Item 1.1 consider, 18 discuss and take appropriate action on request from the 19 198th District Attorney's Office for additional funding 20 in the amount of $25,000 for line item 84-445-484 21 (appellate services) due to an unforeseen increase in 22 appellate billings. 23 MR. ROSENBACH: Yes, sir. Good morning. 24 Good morning everybody. My name is Ben Rosenbach and 25 I'm the Assistant District Attorney for the 198th. My 14 1 boss is Stephen Harpold, and unfortunately he was called 2 out to a funeral in Abilene today so he couldn't be with 3 us here today. Hope he has safe travels out there. 4 Thank you so much for the time. 5 We submitted a letter dated January 19th of 6 2024, that -- for the Court's consideration. And 7 essentially, just kind of putting this -- the answer 8 to -- at the front, we spoke in -- with the Auditor, 9 Ms. Shelton, this morning, and there are funds available 10 to allow us to have that requested amount of money. So 11 we should be -- we're good there. 12 And essentially what happened is we have 13 contracting appellate attorneys. We do that to save the 14 County money. So they're not employees of the County. 15 And essentially what happened is they loaded us up with 16 bills at the very beginning of the fiscal year. And I 17 have Todd Burdick here, our investigator, that can help 18 me explain because this -- I'm a little bit out of my 19 element. But I just wanted to be here to let you know 20 that we're here. 21 And so essentially we had an appeal that 22 lasted approximately four years, and then the bill came, 23 and it was $17,000, which was just recently affirmed. 24 And we -- we won. 25 We also had the Eric Hall murder. That is 15 1 $11,200.00. Gilbert Carrion with aggravated assault 2 with a deadly weapon, it was a home invasion robbery, it 3 was $5,287.00. And then Troy Deets was a habitual 4 addict with assault of a child, was $10,800.00. 5 And so what we've done is, we got these 6 bills and we paid them. Now we also counseled our 7 appellate attorneys, hey, this was hard on us. Can you 8 please be more timely with your bills so that we can 9 plan accordingly. And they're all on board with that. 10 So essentially, I'm here to answer the 11 questions that the Court has to the best of my ability. 12 Todd's here, too. But at the end of the day, Ms. Tonya, 13 the Auditor, went over the numbers with us and it looks 14 like we have the ability to fund that extra request. So 15 that's what we're asking for today. 16 JUDGE KELLY: So at this time -- I'm 17 addressing the Auditor. Possibly with budget 18 amendments, we can meet all these obligations? 19 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. It'll take a budget 20 amendment but they have the money in the fund balance. 21 So for the 198th DA, both Bandera County and Kerr County 22 contribute to that. And so that's why it's important 23 that they have the fund balance there to cover it. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do we need to take 16 1 action today or can this be handled as a budget 2 amendment at our next meeting? 3 MRS. SHELTON: We can handle it with a 4 budget amendment at the next meeting. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. If you have any 6 problems with that come back and see us. 7 MR. ROSENBACH: Okay. Yes, Your Honor. 8 Thank you very much. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 10 Moving on to Item 1.2 presentation of the 11 final report from Mercy Gate Ministries regarding their 12 project, Court Training and Court Appointed Adult Victim 13 Advocates for Commercial Sexual Exploitation, Funded 14 through the Office of the Governor, Solicitation FY23 15 State Criminal Justice County Funds Number 4498701. 16 How are you, Ms. Solomon. 17 MS. SOLOMON: Good morning. My name is 18 Karla Solomon. I am the director of outreach and 19 training for Mercy Gate Ministries. Joining me is also 20 Florence Heartfield, she is our development specialist 21 and grant writer, and Aubrey Reed with the Advocacy 22 Resource Center program director. 23 So we are here to give you guys a final 24 report on the grant that we had through the County. We 25 saw much success with the grant, and have met and even 17 1 exceeded many of our projected goals. Our most 2 significant success is in the support and response that 3 we have been given throughout the six counties and the 4 Court that were specified in the grant, as well as 5 additional counties throughout the State. 6 We are actively working with 36 victim 7 Defendants and 80 percent of those are from the rural 8 counties of Kerr, Bandera, Medina, Kendall, Gillespie, 9 and Kimble Counties. 20 percent of those are coming 10 from the rural counties of Montgomery, McLellan -- 11 McLennon, I can never say that right, as well as Travis, 12 Harris, Bexar and Tarrant County. 13 Our Court-appointed adult victim advocates, 14 they have represented victim Defendants in Court 15 proceedings throughout these six County service area as 16 far away as Comal, Burnet, and Grimes County. 17 We are the first and only non-profit to 18 develop, recruit, train and assign a court-appointed 19 adult victim advocate to victim Defendants in Texas. 20 Because of the demand, we had to extend our training 21 locations to include additional classes and dates for 22 our customized court training. 23 While our original goal was to conduct four 24 trainings for the grant, we actually completed 11 by the 25 end of September. Four of those trainings had been 18 1 special requests from the Kerr County probation office, 2 the Kerr County Sheriff's Department, Medina pretrial 3 services, and the rape crisis center in San Antonio. We 4 have, through this training, received accreditation from 5 the State Bar of Texas to provide six mandatory 6 continuing legal education hours, including two hours of 7 ethics for those attorneys and judicial officials who 8 complete our training course. We are actually 9 scheduling our first one March 22nd. 10 This program has gained positive attention 11 throughout the State, as more and more courts and 12 judicial stakeholders better understand and identify 13 victims of commercial sexual exploitation within the 14 legal system and are aware of our advocacy and support 15 systems for these individuals. This improves outcomes 16 in our courts, in the women and, ultimately, in our 17 community and families. 18 Our customized court training to support the 19 victim Defendants of sexual exploitation, we created a 20 participation guide through that. And there are things 21 that are now required resources for several probation 22 offices and we are actually in the process of obtaining 23 formal copyrights for those materials. We are excited 24 to have continued support from the State Bar Foundation 25 to convert our training to an online instructor led 19 1 platform and offer it throughout the State of Texas. In 2 doing so, we can accommodate participants from any 3 county, provide more flexible training times and 4 eliminate time, travel expenses for not just our 5 participation but for our staff as well. 6 The books and handouts that were provided 7 during our training can be downloaded from the platform. 8 These videos integrated into teaching modules and 9 sessions are also going to be recorded to capture 10 participant questions, group discussions, etc. 11 So our accomplishments of the grant include: 12 We hired two contract advocates that were brought on as 13 employees in November, in addition to the two staff that 14 were handling cases in Kerr, Bandera, Medina, Kendall, 15 and Gillespie counties. We completed training and 16 ongoing coaching for our advocates. We actually 17 provided for them specialized customized training called 18 Trust Based Relational Intervention, Trauma 101, Mental 19 Health First Aid, and courtroom procedures. 20 We worked with a total of 49 victim 21 Defendants with a -- and with currently 15 assigned 22 right now with an advocate. We developed and published 23 our Court training participant guide, which is 99 pages, 24 including all the supplemental resources to go with it, 25 successfully completed the eight training sessions in 20 1 Kerrville, Medina, Bandera, Fredericksburg, Boerne, and 2 San Antonio. We trained 142 court officials and first 3 responders through in-person classes and another 180 4 through human trafficking 101 seminars. 5 We were approved by the State Bar to provide 6 the MCLE training, and we created two specialized court 7 task forces, 15 to 18 members each, to support the -- 8 our work and implement goals and objectives for not just 9 the task force but for us as an organization. 10 So we would like to extend our sincere 11 gratitude to Kerr County for their generous support 12 towards the development and implementation of our 13 customized support program. Your commitment to 14 addressing the issue of human trafficking and sexual 15 exploitation and supporting victims throughout our Court 16 system is truly commendable. We are grateful for the 17 opportunity to make a meaningful impact in our community 18 and we look forward to continuing our partnership in 19 this important endeavor. Thank you for your trust and 20 support. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Before you sit down. 22 MS. SOLOMON: Yes, sir. 23 JUDGE KELLY: How many of y'all know what we 24 did? 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: Just heard it. 21 1 JUDGE KELLY: Well, no. What happened was 2 we did not have a program in Kerr County. Of any kind. 3 And Mercy Gate came to us and they found grant 4 opportunities through the Governor's office and wanted 5 Kerr County to partner with them, and front the 6 application to be the applicant on that grant. And we 7 were successful in obtaining the grant. Those funds 8 were then passed through to begin the seed money for 9 this program, which is now privately sustained. So this 10 is something that didn't cost the taxpayers anything. We 11 just made ourselves available and they did the rest. 12 And now it's being maintained privately. 13 Congratulations. 14 MS. SOLOMON: Thank you very much. 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: The only question I 16 have is, is there an actual final report or anything 17 that -- 18 JUDGE KELLY: Well, she just read it. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: I know. 20 MS. SOLOMON: I can give it to you. 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. I would like it. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there any requirement 23 that we take action? Do we actually accept it or -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I think it's -- they're 25 politely waving goodbye to us. 22 1 MS. SOLOMON: We appreciate y'all. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I think we're done. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: That was probably it. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We'll move on to the 5 next agenda item, which is -- let's see. It's one -- 6 it's 9:20. We have a timed item at 9:15, which I will 7 take at this point. And that is Item 1.8 consider, 8 discuss and take appropriate action to authorize the 9 Texas Parks and Wildlife Department contractors to 10 spray -- is it Arundo donax? 11 MS. BUSHNOE: Arundo donax. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Arundo donax on Kerr County 13 property. Tara Bushnoe. 14 MS. BUSHNOE: Good morning, Judge. 15 Commissioners. This item and the next two are renewals 16 or annual consideration of partnerships that we have had 17 with Kerr County and UGRA. The first one is to allow us 18 to continue to work with your staff and Road & Bridge 19 and Maintenance to identify, survey, and then get the 20 parks and wildlife contractors to come and treat 21 invasive species. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Motion and a second to approve 25 contracting -- or working with Texas Parks and Wildlife 23 1 Department to spray the Arundo donax on Kerr County 2 property. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 3 Opposed? Unanimous. Thank you. 4 MS. BUSHNOE: Thank you. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Move on to Item 1.9 consider, 6 discuss and take appropriate action to allow Texas Parks 7 and Wildlife Department contractor to fill water tanks 8 at the Hill Country Youth Event Center for the Healthy 9 Creeks Initiative Program to manage giant cane, Arundo 10 donax. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: I move for approval. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 14 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 15 Unanimous. 16 And then finally 1.10 consider, discuss and 17 take appropriate action on a request from Upper 18 Guadalupe River Authority to use Flat Rock Park for 19 their 21st Annual River Clean Up on July 27th of 2024. 20 MS. BUSHNOE: And I'll pass it off to UGRA 21 Natural Resources specialist, Matthew Wilkinson for that 22 one. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Matt Wilkinson. 24 MR. WILKINSON: Thank you. Good morning, 25 Judge, Commissioners. Once again, I'm Matthew 24 1 Wilkinson. I'm the natural resources specialist at 2 UGRA. This year we're hosting our 21st annual River 3 Clean Up and -- on July 27th, it's the fourth Saturday 4 in July, and we're asking for your consideration to use 5 Flat Rock Park as the headquarters for the event. While 6 volunteers go all throughout the County, they pick up 7 all their trash, they do their clean ups and then 8 they -- we set up a headquarters for them to bring their 9 trash and then gather after the event just for our wrap 10 of activities. 11 We set up several different tables for 12 registration, for snacks, prizes, as well as ecological 13 fairs, to just share information about the Guadalupe 14 River and its ecology. 15 We plan to set up the trash drop off area 16 near the boat ramp and we're going to make arrangements 17 to make sure that they pick it up by the end of the day. 18 Last year we had 549 volunteers who collected over 8,000 19 pounds of garbage from the Guadalupe River and its 20 watershed all throughout Kerr County. So that was 21 pretty awesome. 22 Considering that, as well as previous years, 23 we expect anywhere from about 400 to 600 volunteers and 24 about -- anywhere from 8,000 to about 10,000 pounds of 25 garbage, depending on how, you know, littered everything 25 1 gets at that time. 2 If approved, this year will be the 12th year 3 that we will do it at Flat Rock Park. And it's been an 4 awesome venue and we really appreciate the opportunity 5 to partner with Kerr County and we're looking forward to 6 the opportunity to once again partner with y'all again. 7 And thank you for your consideration. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: This is a remarkable 9 event so I move for approval. 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: I second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 12 approve UGRA using the Flat Rock Park for their 21st 13 Annual River Clean Up on July 27th of this year. Any 14 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 15 Unanimous. Thank you. 16 MR. WILKINSON: Thank you. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Now we'll go back to 18 Item 1.3 on the agenda, which is not a timed item -- 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: Do you want to cover -- 20 it's related. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Go ahead and do 1.3. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. That's fine. No 23 problem. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I've got to take the 25 timed items as soon as we can. 26 1 Item 1.3 is to consider, discuss and take 2 appropriate action to appoint Marsha Baumann to the 3 Emergency Services District Number 2 for a two-year 4 term. Commissioner Harris. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I'm very pleased 6 that Marsha has said she would volunteer to take up this 7 position, so I move for approval and let's get her a 8 picture and sign on the dotted line before she backs 9 out. 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 12 appoint Marsha Baumann to the Emergency Services 13 District Number 2. Any discussion? Those in favor say 14 aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 15 Do we have the -- 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Is it in your backup? 17 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. Okay. We'll come down 18 front. 19 Okay. We've got two oaths. So if you would 20 please raise your right hand. 21 (Marsha Baumann was sworn in by Judge 22 Kelly.) 23 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. 24 MS. BAUMANN: Happy to do it. 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: You ought to be paying 27 1 her to do the job. 2 MS. BAUMANN: I'm happy to serve my 3 community. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Marsha, I appreciate 5 you. 6 MS. BAUMANN: Thank you. 7 (Applause) 8 JUDGE KELLY: We've got another one to go. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I know. This one's 10 quick. 11 JUDGE KELLY: And this is Item 1.4 consider, 12 discuss and take appropriate action to reappoint Lee 13 Hall to Emergency Services District No. 2 for an 14 additional two-year term. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Lee Hall also serves 16 as our president of ESD Number 2 and does a remarkable 17 job, so I'll move for approval. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: I got a motion and a second to 20 approve Lee Hall being reappointed For a two-year term. 21 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 22 None. Unanimous. And we'll get that -- get those oaths 23 to him. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. We'll probably 25 get Judge Ragsdale to go out there to get a couple of 28 1 them done at the same time. 2 JUDGE KELLY: I live out there. So if you 3 need me, call me. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. Good deal. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Quickly, let's take 1.5 6 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to appoint 7 Kari Potter to Emergency Services District No. 3 for a 8 one-year term. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. Thank you, 10 Judge. This is basically a replacement of the vacancy 11 that was created when Ed Story passed. And that's why 12 it's a one-year term, because he was already one year 13 completed in his two-year term. So Kari has graciously 14 stepped up and volunteered to fill the seat, and I'm 15 extremely happy to have her. So I make a motion that 16 the Court appoint Kari Potter to the ESD No. 3 for a 17 one-year term. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that 19 motion. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 21 appoint Kari Potter to ESD 3. Any discussion? Those in 22 favor say aye. Opposed? None. Unanimous. Very good. 23 So it is now 9:30 on the dot and we have 24 item number 1.14, which is a presentation regarding 25 observations of the Key Capture Energy proposal for 29 1 Comfort, Texas. Mr. Holt. 2 MR. HOLT: Well, thank you, Judge and 3 Commissioners for giving me an opportunity to talk about 4 the proposal that I witnessed and remain informed on. I 5 am a resident of Cypress Creek, 2855. Whereas, your 6 TCEQ water master representative for Cypress Creek, I 7 can say that half of the creek's been filled. One and a 8 half inches of rain. It's a blessing, but we need a 9 little bit more for the rest of the folks that live down 10 the creek. 11 But on this proposal, in particular Key 12 Capture Energy, I do want to talk about that for a few 13 minutes. What happens in our neighboring counties does 14 affect us here in Kerr County. And on 30 January, I 15 attended the biggest gathering of concerned citizens in 16 recent memory for Comfort, Texas, which is in Kendall 17 County. 18 The majority of the citizens were opposed to 19 the proposal for $80 million megawatt lithium battery 20 backup system that was proposed within a mile of 21 Comfort High School, the Guadalupe River, and the small 22 town of Comfort. The citizens that attended, which were 23 nearly 400 in number, provided hard questions for Key 24 Capture Energy representatives that were in attendance. 25 Mostly folks from Houston and a few executives from 30 1 New York. 2 The Kendall County Judge and Commissioners 3 were all present, and convened this as an open house and 4 as an official court gathering. In the end, the company 5 was requesting a seven-year tax abatement at 45 percent, 6 which was scaled down from 45 to 30 percent. They 7 needed a plat of the land and zoning authorization, 8 which is in Kendall County's Court to consider. The 9 citizens that attended from both Kerr and Kendall 10 Counties rely on our electrical grid, demanded more due 11 diligence and to the safety of the system, the fiduciary 12 integrity of the proposal in question. 13 I do have handouts that accompanied this 14 presentation and I e-mailed them this morning to the 15 Court Secretary for reference. I received no less than 16 ten calls from different folks about this proposal 17 before I attended, and spoke to the landowner that is 18 leasing the property -- not selling, but leasing the 19 property -- and the County Commissioner for that area, 20 which is Chad Carpenter, about this issue to understand 21 it. I actually spoke to Chad this morning as well to 22 see if there are any updates on this proposal, of which 23 there are none. 24 The company has not returned back to the 25 County to try to get this through for approval. I did 31 1 research this and many other folks researched this 2 before they came. If you will, Kerr and Kendall County 3 residents that were -- spoke about it, they had to line 4 up. There were probably about 40 people, Judge, lined 5 up to give them hard questions. A couple doctors, a 6 veterinarian, engineer, cyber security experts. 7 Frankly, folks at Key Capture Energy were not expecting 8 that were pretty well informed on the proposal. 9 I would say from my perspective, I would ask 10 for a call to action to recommend that a committee from 11 Kerr investigate this proposal to confirm this SWAT 12 analysis, strength and weakness opportunities and 13 threats. I believe the strength of this as proposed by 14 the company is that it's a 20-year reliable electricity 15 backup. Much like an UPS would have on your individual 16 computer, this would provide to ERCOT and the LCR 17 substation. 18 What is interesting is that location in 19 Comfort of that substation, down range is our core 20 substation here in Kerr County, has been designed since 21 1975. Tax revenue, $80 million project is significant, 22 even with an abatement, but that's a healthy abatement 23 at 45 percent. It is cheap money from Green Bond 24 currently on this type of investment, and they have the 25 tax credit, an investment tax credit so they can buy at 32 1 a discount rate at 30 percent all of the equipment that 2 would go into that. 3 There is a 20-year lease, so it's not a buy. 4 A 20-year lease on the private land and they have to 5 return that land to as-is at the end of the conclusion. 6 Their design is to buy low and sell high. Weaknesses of 7 it. I believe public sentiment, it's not there. It was 8 probably the angriest gathering I've attended in quite 9 some time. There is a County -- or a company desire for 10 tax abatement, that didn't go well. That's their 11 biggest weakness that they're asking for even more 12 discount. 13 The location of it within a mile from 14 school, river and town just did not play well. And then 15 no long-term goal for employment did not play well. 16 Opportunity. Frankly, I think this is one of many to 17 come. This is one company of others. They have 12 18 other locations where they're doing this in Texas on the 19 power grid currently. This will not stop as we continue 20 to improve the power grid. Not we, but ERCOT. There 21 will be new tech integration. That's an opportunity, of 22 course. 18-month construction revenue. There's some 23 benefit from that. As far as opportunity, employment. 24 But it ends after 18 months and some of us residents' 25 concern is who's going to be hired to do this. 33 1 Lastly, threat. Cyber security was a big 2 one. Just right after it, BBC came out with China has 3 been in the power grid, and could potentially crash it 4 and use this kind of a mechanism as an opportunity to 5 crash it. Fire control systems and our ability to do 6 something about it locally with the VFD is a big 7 concern. I would say third threat is remote monitoring. 8 No one on-site. That was pointed out by a lot of the 9 residents and is a significant threat. 10 And then lastly, the representational risk of the 11 company backing it, South Korean Energy. A lot of folks 12 did due diligence on that company and it did not look 13 good. I would say that is the recommended SWAT 14 analysis. 15 Lastly, calls of action is cross-county 16 coordination from Kerr to Kendall to understand this 17 proposal. Because again, Judge, I don't think this is 18 the last we're going to hear about this. Thank you. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, let me make a 20 couple comments. He did a pretty good summary. But 21 there's things you did leave out. ERCOT has mandated 22 that that substation has to be upgraded, and that 23 upgrade is going to require something, whether it's a 24 facility like this or something else. But there's got 25 to -- something's going to happen there that is going to 34 1 have an impact on that area and it has to pretty much be 2 adjacent to that substation, which is a mile from the 3 school and a mile from the river. So ERCOT is the one 4 who's pushing this, that something has to be done. 5 They're not -- they won't pick the proposal. 6 You know, what he said about this particular 7 proposal I think is pretty accurate. But that being 8 said, in talking to Commissioner Carpenter, the County 9 has no authority to stop this. They can certainly stop 10 the tax abatement, and I think Commissioner Carpenter 11 will vote against it. I don't know what the rest of the 12 Court is going to do, but he's advised me that he won't 13 support it, the tax abatement, and hopefully that won't 14 happen. 15 But again, you know, you mentioned zoning. 16 Counties don't have zoning authority so, I mean, from 17 what he said it's up to -- they can do it, if they can 18 financially approve it and I guess meet TCEQ 19 requirements. I'm not sure what TCEQ -- what there is 20 and -- but ERCOT is the one that's really driving this 21 and these facilities and things like this. 22 As I understand from what they're doing is, 23 basically the power comes in and surges, a lot of it 24 because of our winds and solar that we're onto, not to 25 make comment whether that's good or bad, but it's caused 35 1 a power during the day. In windy times we get a lot of 2 power and during the night, and not windy times we don't 3 have much power coming in and these systems are intended 4 to level it out. They take the power in when it's windy 5 or sunny and then they put it out the other times to 6 level out the power grid. So ERCOT's the one behind 7 pushing it. 8 Like, again, I think you're pretty accurate. 9 This system, I don't know enough about it. I think 10 you've done good research on that. But anyway, it's 11 something -- I really don't think that we need to get 12 involved. I think Kendall County and Chad are very much 13 on top of it. 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, until it comes to 15 Kerr County. If they do more of it. I mean, it's great 16 to have the heads up -- 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- and to start taking 19 a look at it now. Just so that everybody is informed. 20 And I will also say, I was out of state at the time, so 21 I couldn't attend. But my phone was blowing up. I had 22 probably a dozen calls or text messages about it. And 23 frankly, there was a lot of misinformation. The initial 24 message was, you know, they're going to have a lithium 25 battery disposal site. Which it's not. But that's what 36 1 a lot of people thought. And, of course, they were up 2 in arms because of that. 3 MR. HOLT: Sure. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: So I really appreciate 5 Mr. Holt's information that you've provided not only 6 this Court but to the public. And very comprehensive 7 and a good SWAT analysis. So thank you very much. 8 MR. HOLT: Yes, sir. Thank you. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: You point out a lot of 10 things to come that we'll see from you. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To my understanding it's 12 a called a Flat Rock power station outside of just 13 northeast of Comfort and the high school. It's one of 14 the major components of the State's power grid. I mean 15 power comes -- everything from West Texas goes into that 16 little power -- well, it's not little anymore. It used 17 to be little, now it's huge. The power station, I think 18 it's distributed basically to the east. So it's a very 19 important power grid and certainly any kind of cyber 20 security issues are very important because it -- it's a 21 vital substation to the State. Okay. Thank you. 22 MR. HOLT: Thank you. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Little known facts. How many 24 of y'all know that Comfort used to be the County Seat of 25 Kerr County? And we're very closely tied to them. And 37 1 another fact that you probably don't know is we're 2 involved in many joint ventures with our neighboring 3 counties, including Kendall County. And so we have very 4 good relationships with our neighboring counties. 5 Okay. The next item is a 9:35 item. We're 6 passed that. It's Item 1.15, which is presentation from 7 a small independent citizens group regarding their 8 review of publicly available County voter roll data and 9 history from the 2020 primary forward and the feedback 10 they have provided to County election officials. Mr. 11 Lambert. 12 MR. LAMBERT: Clay Lambert, 673 Town Creek 13 Road. Good morning, Judge, Commissioners. I come to 14 you today basically with just an information item. In 15 September of last year, against the continued backdrop 16 of nationwide concern over election accuracy, a handful 17 of Kerr County residents decided to form a citizens 18 review group to closely take a look at publicly 19 available voter roll and historical data. 20 The group has some analysis skills based 21 from their earlier careers with companies such as Dell, 22 NASA, the Arabian-American oil company. By analyzing 23 historical data for Kerr County, we now have a baseline 24 to use as a foundation to see if there's any anomalies 25 that pop up in the future. Our analysis methods go on 38 1 beyond anything that the County staff has provided by 2 the Secretary of State, which enables us to more easily 3 identify any type of anomalies and data excursions 4 whenever they occur. We also have several long-time 5 election judges that are assisting our efforts, and 6 their information and knowledge that they have as 7 valuable to the group, and we have a couple of folks 8 that are boots on the ground that whenever we see 9 something that's questionable, they can go out and 10 firsthand take a look. 11 We have a very good working relationship 12 with Bob and Nadene. Actually, we met with them I think 13 last week or the week before. And we will continue as 14 we find anything that looks unusual to provide that 15 information as a helpful source to them. So as long as 16 there's elections, we're going to continue to take a 17 look and make sure that everything is up and up. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Have you had the opportunity 19 to work with Mr. Collum? 20 MR. LAMBERT: I'm sorry? 21 JUDGE KELLY: Ian Collum? 22 MR. LAMBERT: Oh. No, we have not gathered 23 any information from him. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Well, that's where the 25 election office is now. 39 1 MR. LAMBERT: Yeah. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Registration is, yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. Their main focus 4 is voter registration, voter rolls. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Any other questions, comments? 6 Thank you. 7 MR. LAMBERT: Okay. Thank you. 8 JUDGE KELLY: The next item is a timed item 9 at 9:45, which is 1.16 consider, discuss and take 10 appropriate action on request -- oh, we did that. No, 11 we haven't done that one. 12 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: No. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Consider, discuss and take 14 appropriate action on a request for a fee waiver for use 15 of the Hill Country Youth Event Center on April 11, 16 2024, from 1:00 p.m. through 4:00 p.m. for a "Preventing 17 Targeted Violence Through Threat Assessment and Threat 18 Management" Program. Ms. Cortez. This is Hill Country 19 MHDD, no? 20 MS. CORTEZ: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So I was 21 one of our disaster response staff that went to Uvalde 22 after the tragedy there. I had an opportunity to work 23 with the FBI. Recently, we've seen an uptick in threats 24 of mass violence in our 19 counties. I think we've had 25 five. And so I reached out to my contact that I made 40 1 with the FBI. So Agent Stan Beasley, he is the threat 2 management coordinator with the FBI San Antonio. He 3 also works with the San Antonio Fusion Center and they 4 are considered the top threat assessment team in the 5 United States. 6 We did have an opportunity to go visit the 7 Fusion Center and we are also working on getting staff 8 training to be able to work with them when we have a 9 mass firing. But we're asking because of the increase 10 in high risk situations, we are very much on a path to 11 be preventative and have community collaboration. 12 So what we're asking is a location to -- for 13 the FBI to come and present with our law enforcement, 14 judges, attorneys, probation, school districts, and our 15 agency to coordinate when we have these situations how 16 we can collaborate and work together better because it 17 definitely takes a team in these situations. We -- we 18 can't do it on our own. We don't have the resources to 19 look into the things they can look into, the monitoring 20 they can monitor. And what we are learning is obvious, 21 our biggest -- the most important thing is relationships 22 in our community. I feel like we want to invite all our 23 19 counties officials. This is something that's very 24 important to us to be on a proactive nature to prevent 25 these situations in our community. 41 1 JUDGE KELLY: As I understand, Ms. Cortez, 2 this is a request to waive the $750.00 fee for the use 3 of the Hill Country Youth Event Center? 4 MS. CORTEZ: Yes, sir. 5 JUDGE KELLY: And this request is made by 6 Hill Country MHDD? 7 MS. CORTEZ: Right. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Which is a board that I serve 9 on and Kerr County as a mandatory member of that board. 10 And it services 19 counties. We handle the mental 11 health for 19 counties at the Crisis Stabilization Unit. 12 We work very closely with these neighboring counties. 13 And this is a request for Kerr County to sponsor this 14 event. Correct? 15 MS. CORTEZ: Yes, sir. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So that's what we're 17 really talking about. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: And I assume the Youth 19 Event Center is available on April 11th? 20 MS. CORTEZ: Yes. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 22 MS. CORTEZ: Yes. I had another date but it 23 was booked. 24 JUDGE KELLY: The only question is, are we 25 going to sponsor it -- 42 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: Absolutely. 2 JUDGE KELLY: -- so they don't have to pay 3 the $750.00? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't even -- I mean 5 it's a -- I'd call that a governmental entity. I don't 6 even think we need Court action but I'll be glad to make 7 a motion to waive the fee. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: And I'll gladly second. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 10 waive the $750.00 fee. Any discussion? Those in favor 11 say aye. Opposed? None. Unanimous. Thank you. 12 MS. CORTEZ: Thank you very much. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: One final question 15 though before you go. Who should attend from Kerr 16 County? 17 MS. CORTEZ: Oh. So we are working on we 18 want our District Attorneys, County Attorneys, our 19 juvenile adult probation, the Sheriff's Department, 20 Police Department, our J.P.'s, all our school districts, 21 Ingram, Center Point, Kerrville ISD, Schreiner 22 University. Our staff. And the same for all -- 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It may be good to let, 25 you know, Gillespie, Kendall, Bandera -- 43 1 MS. CORTEZ: Yes. Yes, sir. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- the other counties 3 know as well? 4 MS. CORTEZ: No, absolutely. That's our 5 plan. 6 JUDGE KELLY: We'll get it out. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: We'll get a pretty good 8 crowd so -- 9 MS. CORTEZ: Yes, sir. 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. Good. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Thank you. 12 MS. CORTEZ: Thank you. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Let's go back on the agenda to 14 Item 1.11, which is consider, discuss and take 15 appropriate action on a request from Leadership Kerr 16 County Class 38 to use Flat Rock Park from Thursday, 17 March the 28th to Sunday, March the 31st for the 2024 18 Easterfest event. Is it Caddell or Caddell? 19 MR. CADDELL: Caddell. Yes, sir. Thank you 20 very much, Judge. 21 Good morning. I'm James Cody Caddell. I'm 22 here on behalf of LKC Class 38. This item and the next 23 item are about Easterfest. This year's LKC club is 24 planning Easterfest for March 30th from 10:00 to 4:00 at 25 Flat Rock Park, which is an event that is open to the 44 1 community and free admission. We have local 2 entertainment. Corey Weaver is booked to perform at 3 Easterfest this year, and we have several local vendors 4 and food trucks on-site -- or will have several local 5 food trucks and vendors on-site. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Let me help you. We're very 7 familiar with the event. 8 MR. CADDELL: Awesome. 9 JUDGE KELLY: We sponsor it every year. 10 MR. CADDELL: Yes, sir. 11 JUDGE KELLY: So I'll entertain a motion 12 or -- 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll make a motion that 14 we grant the use of Flat Rock Park to LKC from Thursday, 15 March 28th to Sunday, March 31st for their 2024 16 Easterfest event. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that 18 motion. 19 JUDGE KELLY: We have a motion and a second. 20 Is there any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 21 Against? It's unanimous. 22 Let's move on to 1.12, which is the second 23 part of this. And that is to consider, discuss and take 24 appropriate action on a request to authorize the County 25 Judge to prepare a letter approving the sale of alcohol 45 1 at the Easterfest being held at Flat Rock Park on 2 March 30th and the letter to be sent to the Texas 3 Alcoholic Beverage Commission. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that. 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second that. 7 JUDGE KELLY: We got a motion and a second 8 to approve me sending a letter to the Alcoholic Beverage 9 Commissioner. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And again, this is 11 something we do every year. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Every year. Yeah. Any 13 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 14 Unanimous. 15 Now, here comes the new part. 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'm glad you said new. 17 Let's get to that part. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is in Precinct 2. 19 JUDGE KELLY: This is another tradition. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: You may see it as 21 tradition but -- 22 JUDGE KELLY: We're having a little fun 23 among ourselves, now. This is Item 1.13 consider, 24 discuss and take appropriate action to appoint a member 25 of Commissioners' Court or designate a person to perform 46 1 an investigation under Section 751.005 of the Texas 2 Health and Safety Code for the purpose of determining if 3 the minimum standards for ensuring public safety and 4 order as prescribed by law will be maintained under the 5 application for permit for mass gathering for Easterfest 6 on March 30th at Flat Rock Park. The hearing on the 7 Mass Gathering Permit has been set for March 11, 2024, 8 at 8:30 in the morning and it will be in my office. 9 So what this is, we have to get the mass 10 gathering permit. And we -- but we have to appoint one 11 of us to conduct the investigation. And it goes to the 12 new member. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I knew there was 14 something coming because everybody was smiling but me. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Well, he -- he did it for 16 several years. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Anne, something's 18 coming up later that -- 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: There's more. All 20 right. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion to 22 appoint Commissioner Overby. 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: I second. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Do I get to vote? 25 JUDGE KELLY: You do. You get to vote. 47 1 JUDGE KELLY: Say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 2 Okay. With that, let's take our morning 3 break. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, can we go -- take 5 care of 1.6 and 1.7 quickly so those people know exactly 6 what they're doing or what needs to be done? 7 JUDGE KELLY: Oh yeah. Okay. 1.6 consider, 8 discuss and take appropriate action regarding the hazard 9 mitigation plan pricing structure. Dub. 10 MR. THOMAS: Good morning, Judge. Good 11 morning, Commissioners. Thank you, Commissioner Letz. 12 JUDGE KELLY: I didn't see you back there, 13 Dub. 14 MR. THOMAS: I don't mind staying. You 15 know. I enjoy it. So you know, we've been trying to 16 get our hazard mitigation plan updated since December 17 10th when it expired. And original pricing plans the 18 pricing structure that came from GrantWorks was Kerr 19 County paid $50,000, all the other participants paid 20 5,000. It's taken awhile, but we finally ironed it out 21 to where the participants will be Kerr County, 22 Kerrville, KPUB, UGRA and Kerrville Independent School 23 District. I have not met with Ingram, it just -- until 24 the 19th when the City Council meets. 25 But the pricing structure will be looks like 48 1 27,500 for Kerr County, 27,500 for the City of 2 Kerrville, and 5,000 for all of the other participants. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Each? 4 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. Correct. UGRA, 5 Kerrville Independent School District, and KPUB. And 6 when the Ingram decides to participate, it'll be 7 $5,000.00 for them. So what I'm looking for is a 8 motion, a second and approval to where we get this 9 process started with GrantWorks and get our mitigation 10 plan done. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 14 approve the hazard mitigation plan pricing structure as 15 presented. Any discussion? 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: Just a question. Is 17 the $27,500 in the approved budget? 18 MR. THOMAS: Not in my budget. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: That's my question. 20 Where is the money going to come from to do this? 21 MRS. SHELTON: Professional fees or 22 contingency is the only place I'm aware of. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll say contingency. I 24 mean, it's something we have to do. 25 JUDGE KELLY: This is something we do once 49 1 every, what -- 2 MR. THOMAS: Every five years. We won't be 3 billed all $27,500 from the start. It's billed out over 4 the process, over the nine months, one year process for 5 putting the plan together. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there a line item? 7 Do you have a budget? 8 MR. THOMAS: I don't have -- I got a budget 9 but not a line item for that. No, sir. However, we'll 10 do it again in five years and I guarantee you it will be 11 there then. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Good. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess if we -- looking 14 to the Auditor. This can be handled at our next 15 Commissioners' Court through a budget amendment? 16 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. And I think probably 18 out of professional fees because you have to have it 19 prepared. 20 MRS. SHELTON: GrantWorks would be bringing 21 them a professional fee and -- 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: But Dub, this will be 23 completed during the current fiscal year? 24 MR. THOMAS: Should -- no, sir. It'll 25 probably -- it'll take nine months to a year to complete 50 1 the plan. 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: So some of the funds 3 would have to come out of next year's plan, too, then? 4 MR. THOMAS: Out of next year's. 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: So that we need to make 6 sure gets covered. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 8 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 9 MR. THOMAS: Thank you all. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.7 consider, discuss and 11 take appropriate action to accept donations totaling 12 $70.00 for the month of January 2024 to be added to the 13 operating expense line item 10-642-330. Mr. Givens. 14 MR. GIVENS: Good morning. These are our 15 January 2024 donations. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 19 approve the donations for Animal Services. Any 20 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 21 Unanimous. 22 Now we'll take our break and come back at 23 five after 10:00. 24 (Break) 25 JUDGE KELLY: Court will come back to order. 51 1 The next item on the agenda is 1.17 consider, discuss 2 and take appropriate action to obligate American Rescue 3 Plan Act additional funding, not to exceed $120,000.00, 4 for the Veterans Pathway Project. Miss Putnam. 5 MS. PUTNAM: Good morning. We're here 6 because we are ending -- we're getting into the final 7 stages to begin construction on Veterans Pathway. And 8 we have received the bids, and it looks like due to 9 increased costs of concrete and labor it will go over 10 what we initially anticipated. So we are asking the 11 Court to please obligate an additional $120,000.00 to 12 complete the construction to complete this project. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Surprise, surprise. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we talk about -- we need 15 to have a motion. 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. I'll make a 17 motion that we obligate $120,000.00 from ARPA funds in 18 additional funding for the Veterans Pathway Project. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 20 JUDGE KELLY: So we've got a motion and a 21 second. We kind of got the cart before the horse here. 22 If you look down at the next item, the actual bid came 23 in at 309804. Right? 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: They factored that into 25 this requirement -- 52 1 JUDGE KELLY: Right. And -- and one -- 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- and also for 3 engineering. 4 JUDGE KELLY: -- of the -- one of the things 5 that we considered was whether to put this out for a 6 rebid. And the conclusion that I was advised, I see the 7 heads nodding out there, that was not a smart thing to 8 do with the way material cost and labor especially have 9 gone up. So the -- the decision as I understand it is 10 to go ahead and accept the bid that we have and have a 11 little bit of cushion here to see what's going to happen 12 if we're now in completion of the project. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Our original -- 14 JUDGE KELLY: 250. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 250. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: -- 250? That's what I 17 thought. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. And I will say that the 19 Auditor and our grant coordinator and I have talked to 20 GrantWorks about this, and this is something that can be 21 included in the excess ARPA funds that we have not 22 obligated yet, which have to be obligated by the end of 23 this year. So this is a good way to spend the money. A 24 safe way to spend the money, put it that way. And a 25 good project. 53 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: And I believe to answer 2 your question, why is there a plethora of Precinct 2 3 Commissioners? Because Tom Moser is here. He was kind 4 of the father or grandfather of this idea. 5 MR. TOM MOSER: Grandfather. 6 JUDGE KELLY: We've got Commissioner Moser 7 here and we've got Commissioner Beck, Beck Gipson, yeah. 8 JUDGE KELLY: And Commissioner Moser, you 9 signed up to talk. Do you want to say anything? 10 MR. TOM MOSER: Well, Judge, I just want to 11 speak -- 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah, you've gotta get 13 behind the mic. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: We've gotta see your 15 mug. 16 MR. TOM MOSER: Yeah, I really didn't want 17 to speak, I just wanted to have the opportunity to 18 speak, if necessary. But if the Court's moving forward 19 on this very important project, then I was going to 20 please present some other ideas on how to get some 21 funds. But I don't think that's necessary so I will 22 yield to the next speaker. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Commissioner Gipson, do you 24 want to say anything? 25 MR. BECK GIPSON: I just came to make sure 54 1 he went. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We got a motion and a 3 second. Is there any other discussion about this? 4 Okay. And with that, those in favor say aye. Opposed? 5 Unanimous. 6 MS. PUTNAM: Thank you. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Moving on to the next item, 8 which is related, Item 1.18 consider, discuss and take 9 appropriate action for the Court award a construction 10 contract to M&C Fonseca Construction Company in the 11 amount of $309,804.25 for the VA Pathway sidewalk 12 project. Mr. Hastings. 13 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. The 14 Veterans Pathway Sidewalk Project connects the Kerrville 15 Veterans Administration Medical Center located at the 16 intersection of Highway 27 and Tucker Street to both 17 Flat Rock Park and the Kerrville River Trail. Two bids 18 were opened and received by the Court on January 22nd, 19 2024, and said bids were referred to Mendez Engineering 20 for evaluation and award recommendation. Those bids 21 were within two percent of each other. The lowest 22 qualified bidder is M&C Fonseca Construction Company, 23 Inc., in the amount of $309,804.25. 24 There was a qualification process. Both of 25 the contractors scored really well. Identical high 55 1 scores on their ability to do the job, on their bid 2 package, what they turned in. It came down to who was 3 the lower bid. 4 County Engineer requests that the Court 5 approve authorizing the Judge to execute a contract with 6 M&C Fonseca Construction Company in the amount of 7 $309,804.25 for the VA Pathway sidewalk project. 8 Precinct 2. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll move that we go 10 ahead and approve the award of the construction contract 11 to M&C Fonseca Construction in the amount of $309,804.25 12 for the VA Pathway Sidewalk Project. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Go ahead. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 17 Any discussion? 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: When are we looking at 19 starting that? 20 MR. HASTINGS: Immediately. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. 22 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 23 JUDGE KELLY: In fact, we're trying to get 24 it done before Memorial Day, I think. 25 MR. HASTINGS: Correct. 56 1 JUDGE KELLY: For our veterans program. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: To get it finished? 3 JUDGE KELLY: Uh-huh. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Long time coming, Tom. 5 MR. TOM MOSER: Three years. 6 JUDGE KELLY: I understand. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: But anyway -- it's a 8 good project. 9 JUDGE KELLY: But it a good goal. 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. With that, those in 12 favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Thank you. 13 Moving on to Item 1.19 consider, discuss and 14 take appropriate action for the Court to set a public 15 hearing for 10:00 a.m. on March 25th of this year for a 16 revision of plat for Bandera Hills Subdivision Lots 22 17 and 23. Mr. Hastings. 18 MR. HASTINGS: This proposal revises Lot 22 19 (16.312 acres as platted) and Lot 23 (19.488 acres as 20 platted) into Lot 22A. They're going to combine it into 21 one big 25.29 acre lot. And Lot 23A, which still will 22 be still two lots. One of them will get bigger, the 23 other one will get smaller but it still will be over 10 24 acres. 10.04 acres. Road frontage for both lots will 25 remain on Johnson Road. 57 1 County Engineer requests the Court set a 2 public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on March 25th, 2024 for a 3 revision of plat for the Bandera Hills Subdivision Lots 4 22 and 23, Volume 3, Page 140, Precinct 3. And you have 5 to drive out of the County to get to this road. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 9 approve the Court setting a hearing on the revision of 10 plat for Bandera Hills Subdivision Lots 22 and 23. Any 11 discussion? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's a very pretty drive 13 to get there, though. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So with that, those in 15 favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 16 Moving on. Next item is 1.20 consider, 17 discuss, and take appropriate action for the 18 Commissioners' Court approval of the rural mailbox 19 location policy. Ms. Hoffer. 20 MS. HOFFER: Before you is a rural mailbox 21 location policy. The State is no longer allowing the 22 addresses that are not a state highway address to have 23 their mailboxes in the State right-of-way. These 24 mailboxes will need to be put on the County maintained 25 roads that their address is for their property. 58 1 This policy will allow for the USPS 2 Postmaster and TxDOT to work together to move the 3 highway mailboxes that need to be moved. This policy 4 will also cover all new County maintained road 5 mailboxes. 6 At this time, I ask the Commissioners' Court 7 for their approval of the rural mailbox location policy, 8 and this is for Precincts 1, 2, 3 and 4. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Kelly, I got a quick 10 question. You know, we had -- we've had ongoing 11 discussions. You, Charlie and I, and a bunch of people, 12 TxDOT and the Postmaster out in Precinct 4 at the one 13 location. Is that ongoing? I mean, are they 14 grandfathered into this? 15 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. When authorized. 16 MS. HOFFER: Oh yes. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. I just -- I 18 couldn't remember exactly -- 19 MS. HOFFER: The last -- the last court 20 meeting Charlie had brought that up on those two 21 locations -- 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. Thank you. 23 MS. HOFFER: -- and we agreed upon. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. I lost my 25 memory on that. I wanted to make sure. Okay. I move 59 1 for approval. 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 4 approve the rural mailbox location policy as presented. 5 Any discussion? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A couple. The easier 7 one is the, County Attorney, item 4 on the list, is that 8 all mailbox installations in place as of the date of 9 this court order are grandfathered. Is that sufficient 10 that the word "grandfathered" or does it have a meaning 11 as to the date, you know, what we're trying to do here 12 is that those mailboxes can stay there as long as 13 they're there? 14 MRS. STEBBINS: I would -- I mean I know 15 that it does -- how people understand that. But I would 16 rather have some clearer language than grandfathered. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Like it's when 18 residence changes hands they're not grandfathered 19 anymore? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just think we need to 21 be real clear because this is going to have a huge 22 impact -- 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- potentially to -- 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: A lot of people. 60 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- to everyone. Just 2 about. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'm okay with modifying 4 it if our County Attorney comes up with better language. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, and that's -- 6 that's all fine. I just wanted to make sure -- I mean 7 it's an important policy, I just want to make sure that 8 the policy is enforceable. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Subject to clarification by 10 the County Attorney? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We can do that. And the 12 other question I have is -- I'm fine with that. The 13 other thing is, under 1A: Posts must be metal -- metal 14 posts must be galvanized or powder coated metal (thin 15 wall steel tube), 2.375 inches. That's really specific 16 for most people. Is it necessary that it's that 17 specific? 18 MS. HOFFER: I believe -- don't quote me on 19 it, but I believe that may be the spec that is posted on 20 the USPS site. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I think you're 22 right. I just wanted to bring that up. 23 MS. HOFFER: I believe that it is. And we 24 went with what the -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 61 1 MS. HOFFER: -- USPS has on their site. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Mine's on a cedar 3 post. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I know. There's a lot 5 of cedar posts out there. 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: We're probably not 7 going to send anybody out to measure it but -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. And I understand 9 it's a safety -- 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: It's fine for a spec. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's for safety. 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: Right. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the -- how -- and 14 it's up to the Post Office to let people know that are 15 applying that -- I mean who -- who let's these people 16 know what their requirement is? Because I don't want us 17 to -- I don't think you want to be an enforcer. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Exactly. 19 MS. HOFFER: No. Well, I think all along 20 it's been the United States Postal Service who's in 21 charge of it. They make sure that the approaches are 22 where their rural carrier can deliver the mail and -- 23 and that it follows their specs as posted on their web 24 page. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But they've shown in my 62 1 precinct zero ability to do that. I haven't seen one 2 yet that's to this specification. 3 MS. HOFFER: Uh-huh. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So I just want to -- you 5 know, I think we need to do it because it's truly a 6 safety hazard to have some of the things that are being 7 built, big rock walls almost, in the County 8 right-of-way. I just want to figure out, you know, how 9 we go about getting the word to people. 10 MS. HOFFER: I have spoke -- I have spoke to 11 one of the postmasters to just kind of -- I don't know 12 if you realize, but the majority of the mailboxes that 13 you have in the County's right-of-way does not meet the 14 specs that you have posted on your web page and I -- I 15 don't understand that. It's not -- I don't believe it's 16 my authority to, you know, go around and tell people 17 what they've got doesn't meet the Federal Government. 18 So -- and there was really no response on that. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I'm all in favor of 20 this. Because I think it helps for the County, you 21 know, to have some authority to go to some of these that 22 are really outrageous, especially, to tell them hey, you 23 know, you can't do that. 24 MS. HOFFER: Well, and some of them say they 25 have a contract for the rural carriers and so it only 63 1 covers so many miles, and so the people that live way, 2 way back may not be, you know, allowed to put a mailbox 3 way back on that. Because when those routes are bid, 4 they're losing money. That's what I was told by the 5 USPS. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I understand that 7 part of it. My concern is more the safety issue of 8 having rock pillars put in the County right-of-way right 9 next to the edge of the road. So -- okay. 10 JUDGE KELLY: And as I understand it, Kelly, 11 part of the purpose of the policy is because the United 12 States Postal Service is not doing anything. Okay. 13 MS. HOFFER: Right. 14 JUDGE KELLY: So now, this would authorize 15 you at least some authority to bring things that are in 16 the County right-of-way -- 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 18 JUDGE KELLY: -- because we have our own 19 policy. And basically, I think what we're doing is 20 taking this policy, putting it in the hands of various 21 postmasters and relying on them for the enforcement. 22 MS. HOFFER: Yes. 23 JUDGE KELLY: But you would still have some 24 authority to say something if somebody built a big rock 25 mailbox in the right-of-way. 64 1 MS. HOFFER: Right. And we did meet with -- 2 I think the only postmaster that couldn't make the 3 meeting, this was awhile back, was Ingram. But we had 4 all the other postmasters. We met at Road & Bridge and 5 talked about some of these issues and problems. 6 JUDGE KELLY: And I recognize the problem. 7 But I think this is a good step forward trying to get a 8 handle on it. So that we do have a form to be able to 9 discuss it. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Can we post something? 11 Can we simply post something that let's people know in 12 advance rather than after they've constructed it and 13 then we come and -- 14 JUDGE KELLY: Well, you've got to go through 15 the USPS, period. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I would hope that -- 17 JUDGE KELLY: You can't get one without 18 them. So what we're doing is giving the policy to the 19 USPS. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: In our county, this is 21 what -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we should post 23 it on the website though, yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To me. 65 1 MS. HOFFER: Do you have something to add, 2 County Attorney, on number four where it says, "this 3 court order are grandfathered; however", instead of 4 grandfathered, she had written "will not be required to 5 comply with this order." 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 7 MRS. STEBBINS: And the rest is just the 8 same. However -- 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah, that's fine. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. That's fine. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: I accept that. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Did we take a vote on 13 it? Okay. Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 14 Unanimous. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you, Kelly. 16 MS. HOFFER: Thank you. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Good work. It's been a 18 long time working on it. 19 MS. HOFFER: It sure has. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.21 consider, discuss 21 and take appropriate action to open and read the rebids 22 for the crushed paving aggregates. 23 MS. HOFFER: At this time we ask the Court 24 to open and read all re-bids received for crushed paving 25 aggregate. We will return to Commissioners' Court on 66 1 Monday, February 26th, 2024 to summarize and award the 2 bid. All bid prices are to begin February 26th and be 3 in effect until December 31st of 2024. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The first bid is from 5 Johnson City Crushed Stone. And on paving aggregates, 6 grade four, $26.00 a ton. Grade five, $24.00 a ton. 7 Delivery. In area one is 3175. Area two, 3465. And 8 area three, 3425. 9 Next we have a bid from CFA Materials. They 10 changed things a little bit. They say paving rock 11 Type C, $40.00 per ton. And then they changed type 12 crushed paving rock Type D instead of Grade 4, $47.00 a 13 ton. Area 1 delivery is 1775 per ton. Area 2 is 1990 14 per ton, and Area 3 is $23.00 a ton and there's some 15 other modifications it looks like as well. 16 Next is from Vulcan Construction Materials. 17 Crushed paving rock 5/8ths-inch, $21.00. Crushed paving 18 rock, half inch, $15.00. Crushed paving rock, 19 3/8ths-inch, $15.00. Crushed paving rock, Grade 3, no 20 bid. No bid on Grade 4. No bid on Grade 5. Area 1, 21 delivery is 1491 per ton. Area 2, 1676 per ton. And 22 Area 3, 1889 per ton. 23 Next from Colorado Materials, their bid. 24 All of the paving aggregates they bid $26.00 per ton. 25 And all of the delivery unit cost is $24.00 per ton. 67 1 They bid on everything. 2 And then next from Anderson Columbia 3 Company, they bid on crushed paving rock, 3/8ths, $16.00 4 a ton. Crushed paving rock, Grade 3, says modified 5 grade three, $21.00 a ton. Crushed paving rock, Grade 4 6 modified, $24.00 a ton. Crushed paving rock, Grade 5, 7 modified, $21.00 a ton. And then their delivery for 8 Area 1 is $25.00 a ton. Area 2, $25.00 a ton. And 9 Area 3, $25.00 a ton. They changed the specs a little 10 bit it looks like. 11 Make a motion we accept all the bids, refer 12 them to Road & Bridge Administrator for evaluation and 13 recommendation. 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 16 accept the bids as presented. Any discussion? Those in 17 favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 18 Okay. Next item is 1.22 consider, discuss 19 and take appropriate action for the Commissioners' Court 20 approval of the general contract with Grizzly Electric 21 for electrical upgrades, additions to the garage, 22 mechanic shop at Road & Bridge, the interior/workshop. 23 MS. HOFFER: Before you is a general 24 contract with Grizzly Electric to make some electrical 25 upgrades and additions to the garage interior workshop, 68 1 which is the mechanic shop. 2 Grizzly Electric is going to change out all 3 existing hi-bay T-8 lighting with LED 5000K tubes. 4 Also, add four UFO lights at center of garage, relocate 5 all switch locations to one centralized location by the 6 man door (as discussed). The total amount to do this 7 work is $4,800.00. 8 At this time, I ask the Commissioners' Court 9 for their approval of the general contract with Grizzly 10 Electric for light upgrades and centralized switch 11 location to garage interior/workshop (mechanic shop) and 12 to have the County Judge sign the same. Precincts 1, 2, 13 3 and 4. 14 If you've ever been in our shop, if the 15 doors are down, which this time of year they tend to be 16 down a lot more than up, it's pretty dark in there. 17 It's kind of hard to see. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I've been in there. 19 It's dark, yeah. 20 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. So this should help with 21 the lighting and brighten things up a little bit more 22 for the mechanics in the shop. 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: Kelly, do you have 24 funds available in your budget? 25 MS. HOFFER: Yes. 69 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 4 second to approve the general contractor, Grizzly 5 Electric, to upgrade the lighting in the Road & Bridge 6 workshop. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 7 Opposed? Unanimous. 8 The last 10:00 item is Item 1.23 consider, 9 discuss and take appropriate action to surplus one PA 10 amp, 15 2-way radios, and one Wigwag from the Road & 11 Bridge Department. Miss Mendoza. 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: What's a Wigwag? 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah, what is a 14 Wigwag? 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: Can somebody tell us? 16 I hope so. 17 MS. HOFFER: Tell you what a Wigwag is? 18 MS. MENDOZA: Good morning. So we have a 19 Wigwag. I believe it goes with the PA system. It's a 20 system that they connect the radios to when the other 21 radios aren't working. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Well, that's a legitimate 23 Scrabble word now. 24 MS. MENDOZA: Yeah, it was a comment in our 25 office. What's a Wigwag? 70 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's a pretty old piece 3 of machinery based on the picture. I move for approval 4 of the agenda item to surplus the designated items. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 7 approve the surplusing of the items as presented. Any 8 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 9 Unanimous. 10 Item 1.24 consider, discuss and take 11 appropriate action to surplus two filing cabinets, two 12 old security systems, and a Brother printer from 13 Courthouse Security Department. Ms. Mendoza. 14 MS. MENDOZA: I have two items on here, an 15 old security systems. And they're all pretty 16 non-functional. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: He's got it. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 22 approve surplusing the items as presented. Any 23 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 24 Unanimous. 25 Item 1.25 discussion regarding the Kerr 71 1 County Sheriff's Office management of the current fleet 2 and future purchases. Sheriff Leitha. 3 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yeah. Judge, I know you 4 don't like surprises. So with the budget just month's 5 away, I kind of felt like I need to give y'all an update 6 on our fleet program and our maintenance budget. What 7 I'm looking at doing is going into the four-year 8 rotation. 9 What I'd like the Court to know is 10 currently, today, I have 39 units but I just bought one 11 out of my seizure so that puts me at 40. 40 units. Of 12 those 40 units, currently 23 of those units are four 13 years or older. So with the 23 units, the mileage range 14 is from 23,000, which is only one, it goes up to 80 -- 15 118,000 miles on these 23 units. You know, a deputy 16 averages about 23 -- 23,000 miles a year in patrol. I 17 definitely feel an increase as all our mental health 18 transports is really putting a hurt on us. Like the 19 other day we had three transports in one day. Sometimes 20 two and one. And I think that really raised my mileage 21 up. 22 So with eight and a half month's to go in my 23 budget, I'm at 67 percent February 1st -- I should be at 24 67 percent. Today, I'm at 35 percent. So I kind of 25 want to go over it so you know what happened and things 72 1 I can't predict. In last year's budget of these older 2 vehicles, I went through two engines, $8,000.00 apiece. 3 16,000. Six transmissions at $6,000 apiece. That's 4 36,000. So I'll tell you my budget was 70,000. 32 5 brake jobs at $650.00 apiece, that's 21,000. 73 tires 6 at $130.00 apiece, which is $9,500.00. That's 7 $82,500.00. Okay. That's before we even get into some 8 other things. That's before any kind of maintenance, 9 crashes. 10 We had 11 hail damaged. We crashed a lot of 11 them. So, you know, just kind of giving you a heads up. 12 And when I want to go to these, I think I really need to 13 go to, like I said, you know, that's required like eight 14 to ten a year. Checking with the other sheriff's office 15 in Gillespie and Kendall, which are similar, Gillespie 16 being a little smaller they get anywhere from six to ten 17 Tahoes a year. I'm kind of just bringing you this 18 because it's a very big ticket item. 19 When I first got in office, the Tahoes were 20 $42,400.00. To outfit that Tahoe was 22 seven. That's 21 $65,100.00. Today, that Tahoe is $53,000. To outfit 22 it's $28,000, for a total of 81 to 82. Of that outfit 23 of the 28,000, 15,000 off the bat is for the digital 24 recording system, which isn't an option. We have to 25 have it. Doesn't leave much left. So you can just do 73 1 the math there, it's not pretty. 2 But if not, you know, I'm already -- like I 3 said, like this year's budget is already in bad shape, 4 you know, with months to go, eight months to go. Just 5 kind of wanted to make y'all familiar with that and 6 where I was at because I definitely -- and depending on 7 how to manage how many I can get, you know, I got three 8 coming in here. I appreciate it. It really doesn't do 9 me much good. We've got a day when I've got 23 old 10 ones. 11 I've already submitted for six for next year 12 and that's through Enterprise we were able to find us. 13 Now, I don't have to take those. But Enterprise has 14 changed. Now they do it where you're going to have to 15 take them but they know they can get rid of them. But 16 like I said, I'm already committed two years in advance. 17 So I really need anywhere from eight to ten a year. But 18 I'll kind of keep y'all posted. Any questions? 19 JUDGE KELLY: It's not an action item so 20 it's an information item. 21 SHERIFF LEITHA: No, just kind of giving 22 y'all an update of what's coming down the pipes. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It's just -- it's not 24 pretty, you know. Inflation is killing us. And this is 25 just another prime example. 74 1 SHERIFF LEITHA: I didn't want to waste 2 y'all's time but -- 3 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I appreciate -- I thank 4 you for that. 5 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yeah, it's -- but that's 6 it. That's it on that. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. I think you got a 8 couple more items here? 9 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes. 10 JUDGE KELLY: The next one is 1.26 consider, 11 discuss and take appropriate action to approve a $50.00 12 donation from a citizen for the Sheriff's donation fund 13 72-370-530. 14 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yeah, just looking for the 15 Court's approval to accept the $50.00. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 19 approve the donation -- accept the donation as 20 presented. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 21 Opposed? Unanimous. 22 The next item is 1.27 discussion 23 regarding Road & Bridge building a 50 x 50 pad for a 24 metal carport at the Kerr County Sheriff's Office 25 complex. Mr. Gaige. 75 1 MR. GAIGE: Good morning. Kinda talked to 2 Kelly. What we're asking to do is use some of the 3 spoilings that they already used for the asphalt 4 projects, to come back and a 50 x 50 pad to be there. 5 Under Operation Lone Star we're going to be able to get 6 a metal carport, which is going to help protect some of 7 this equipment that we're spending on. 8 Like the Sheriff said, last year we had 21 9 vehicles damaged from hail damage so this is going to 10 offset some of that cost for that in the future as well. 11 Just -- speaking with Kelly, she said that, you know, 12 she kind of worked it out and be able to use some of 13 those asphalt base material, so we're just asking for 14 the Court's permission for her to be able to use some of 15 her personnel to help us with that project. 16 JUDGE KELLY: It's going to be an asphalt 17 pad? 18 MR. GAIGE: It's from the milling. So 19 basically what they do is they tack them together. 20 Kelly, am I right? 21 MS. HOFFER: Yes. 22 MR. GAIGE: And they kind of do a -- they 23 use some of the bigger pieces of asphalt from that -- 24 when they tore up the roadways. They lay that down as a 25 base and they use some of the finer stuff and then kind 76 1 of connect it with an oil. And my understanding is it's 2 almost like a concrete pad. It's pretty solid. So that 3 will help us with some of the parking. And the area 4 where it's going to go, when it rains, we get a lot of 5 ruts in that area so it'll help offset some of that 6 water runoff in that area. 7 JUDGE KELLY: And this is all with Operation 8 Lone Star money? 9 MR. GAIGE: I'm sorry? 10 JUDGE KELLY: You said this was Operation 11 Lone Star? 12 MR. GAIGE: For the -- no, our part is 13 Operation Lone Star. But that would just be materials 14 that we -- or waste materials that we would utilize. 15 MS. HOFFER: Can I share a few things? 16 JUDGE KELLY: Go ahead. 17 MS. HOFFER: Yeah, the actual material, the 18 millings, and I think it was from one of the airport 19 projects and stuff, you know, those don't have any cost. 20 But I did -- you know, Road & Bridge will have to spend 21 money on some of the things. We definitely are not 22 opposed to helping out other departments, but I just 23 kinda want to remind the Court, I'm seven people short. 24 So every time that we stop and, you know, work on these 25 projects it does take away time in that. So, like I 77 1 said, if the Court orders us to go and do this, we'd be 2 more than happy. But I do want to remind you that I'm 3 still short staffed. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: Kelly, is this 5 something your crews could do like real soon while the 6 weather is still bad for -- 7 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- chip sealing, for 9 example. 10 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. It would be something 11 that we would start on pretty soon. Because once the 12 sealcoat starts up, right now we're getting roads ready 13 and prepped. 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. 15 MS. HOFFER: So, like I said, I just -- I 16 wanted to remind you on how short we are. Because every 17 day kind of counts for us on trying to get stuff done. 18 And I just don't know if I'm at estimated cost. If 19 that's something that Road & Bridge is going to pay for, 20 or is this something that the Sheriff's Department 21 should pay for? I don't know. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: I would guess whoever 23 has a bigger budget would probably want to pay for 24 something that benefits their department. 25 MS. HOFFER: But anyway, I mean, it's still 78 1 a pretty good deal. We're not charging for the 2 equipment use and the staff use. But, there is 3 materials that we're going to have to pay a bill on, 4 so -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion to 6 authorize Road & Bridge to build the pad and any cost to 7 come out of the Sheriff's budget. 8 SHERIFF LEITHA: That's estimated cost and 9 we'll pay for it out of our budget. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 13 approve the construction of the pad and metal carport as 14 presented. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the Sheriff pays for 16 any costs, labor and materials supplied by Road & 17 Bridge. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I got a quick 20 question. Scott, how many vehicles are -- without me 21 doing the math, are we looking at parking up there? 22 MR. GAIGE: At least three. That's mainly 23 our '24 -- the Operation Lone Star vehicles. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Three? 25 JUDGE KELLY: Three? For 50 by 50? 79 1 MR. GAIGE: Yeah. The dimensions of the 2 carport, so it has two roll up type deals and has a 3 larger overhang. So it actually could do -- it could 4 actually probably get five, four -- four to six vehicles 5 under there, so -- 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: Hopefully. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 8 in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 9 Next is 1.28 consider, discuss and take 10 appropriate action to amend the Resolution that was 11 approved by Court Order 40072 to reflect the grant 12 operation number 4587302. Resolution is for the Fiscal 13 Year 2024 Operation Lone Star Grant Program. 14 Miss Putnam. 15 MS. PUTNAM: Yes. This is just here to 16 amend the Court order. Initially when we went out for 17 the grant for the FY 2024, the grant assigned us a Grant 18 Number, we got the Resolution, and then a few months 19 later they changed that grant number and it has now come 20 to our attention that we need to update to reflect the 21 correct grant number that they changed it to. 22 JUDGE KELLY: So the Grant Number got 23 changed? 24 MS. PUTNAM: Yes. But we didn't change it; 25 they did. 80 1 JUDGE KELLY: Seems to be quite a bit of 2 communication back and forth on that one. 3 MS. PUTNAM: Yes. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So what we need to do is 5 cancel the previous court order and assign the correct 6 number? 7 MS. PUTNAM: No. What we'd like to do is 8 just amend. 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: We're just amending 10 it. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Just the grant number, not the 12 order number. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 14 JUDGE KELLY: But this is the correct grant 15 number? 16 MS. PUTNAM: Yes. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. And that's what we're 18 correcting it to? 19 MS. PUTNAM: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll go ahead and move 21 that the Court amend the resolution that was approved 22 for Court Order No. 40072 to reflect the new Grant 23 Number 4587302. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 81 1 approve the amendment of the Court Order to correct -- 2 to reflect the correct grant number. Any discussion? 3 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 4 Moving on. Item 1.29 consider, discuss and 5 take appropriate action to determine whether to allow 6 the retail fireworks permit holders to sell fireworks to 7 the public in celebration of Texas Independence Day 8 pursuant to statute. Miss Stebbins. 9 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. 10 JUDGE KELLY: If we don't do anything, they 11 can't sell them, right? 12 MRS. STEBBINS: Correct. 13 JUDGE KELLY: And we have to take a vote and 14 approve it if we're going to sell fireworks. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And I move for 16 approval. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We've got a motion. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: This is in -- Texas 19 Independence Day is March? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 21st. No, it's April 21 21st. 22 MRS. STEBBINS: No. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: No. It should be 24 March 2nd. 25 JUDGE KELLY: There's a whole bunch of 82 1 holidays in there. Some that I don't even know what 2 they are. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: No. Just this 4 specific one. And I'll tell you where I'm coming from. 5 I checked with the church that does this out Ingram way 6 and they said no, we don't want to halt those others, 7 but we would like the Texas Independence Day and 8 Memorial Day. So that's where I'm coming from. And if 9 you look at the map, we're solid blue as far as -- 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Because it's -- it's 11 pretty quick. Yeah. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Is there a 13 second? 14 JUDGE KELLY: Not yet. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll second. 16 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 17 second to approve selling fireworks on Texas 18 Independence Day as required by law. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Which is March 2nd. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: March 2nd. 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: Would there be any 22 restrictions on, you know, aerial fireworks or -- 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I wouldn't see any 24 looking at the map. 25 JUDGE KELLY: So this -- 83 1 MRS. STEBBINS: You can only restrict those 2 if the -- if there's -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For the drought. Or 4 we're dry. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And it's -- so we 6 can't. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: We still are in a 8 drought. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The Keetch Byram Index 10 says we're -- our moisture is good. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Virtually 13 three-fourths of the State is. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 15 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 16 Moving on to Item 1.30 consider, discuss and 17 take appropriate action to appoint or reappoint a member 18 of the Commissioners' Court to be the Kerr County 19 representative on the Alamo Area Housing Financing 20 Corporation Board. 21 And I'm volunteering to do that. 22 Commissioner Harris had done that. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, you know, 24 Judge -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: If you want to do it. Come 84 1 back? 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sir? Oh, no. After 3 reading through the backup material, I seen how this 4 happened. I was absent one time and y'all put me in. 5 And I didn't know for a long time that I was even on it. 6 So anyway. But I'm ready to let you re-appoint or -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion to 8 appoint Judge Kelly. 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Looks like we have a motion 11 and a second for me to serve on the Alamo Area Housing 12 Financing Corporation and there are projects coming to 13 Kerr County. So we need to do this. Any other 14 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 15 Unanimous. 16 1.31 consider, discuss and take appropriate 17 action to approve a contract with Hill Country Cares. 18 This is just renewing one that we do every year. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 22 approve the contract with Hill County CARES. Any 23 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion 24 carries. 25 1.32 consider, discuss and take appropriate 85 1 action to appoint a committee to assess the 2 space/storage needs for various departments as discussed 3 at the February 5 workshop and set the date for the next 4 workshop hearing. 5 Okay. I put this on the agenda because it 6 was unclear whether or not we have actually charged and 7 authorized this. And so with the questions that I was 8 being asked, I figured I'd just put it on the agenda and 9 make it formal. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. And I think 11 Commissioner Paces was going to be -- 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: I am happy to give you 13 an update because quite a bit of work has already been 14 done. And that's why I just gave you a handout to kind 15 of outline all of this work. And this just is an 16 attempt to formalize the members of the committee which 17 would include myself representing Commissioners' Court, 18 Bob Reeves from Tax, Bruce Motheral from IT, Larry 19 Leitha from the Sheriff's Office, Lucy Wilke 20 representing the district attorneys, Andrea Bode, Adult 21 Probation, and Shane Evans with Maintenance. Now those 22 are the members of the committee. There will be, of 23 course, other people that will have input, and we'll go 24 to Peter Lewis as required. I certainly want to get 25 input from either Judge Patilla or McGuire and Sergeant 86 1 Eric Piper regarding courthouse security. 2 I'll reach out once again to Judge Susan 3 Harris to confirm, as she's already told me some time 4 ago that the County Court at Law does not need an 5 expanded jury room to comply with the unfunded mandate 6 for a 12-person jury room. They're -- she's perfectly 7 happy with the arrangements that have been made or are 8 being made to use the rooms upstairs as and when 9 required, but it's very seldom. 10 I have already received additional input 11 from Kelly Hoffer, which has been great, and Heather 12 Stebbins. And I encourage anyone else in the County, if 13 you have concerns about office space or storage space to 14 let me know and we'll at least get it on the list. 15 Based on the workshop, we talked about coming back to 16 the Court within roughly one months time frame with some 17 recommendations. I see no problem in doing that. But 18 most of the recommendations will deal with the critical 19 needs, which will be to try to address the severe 20 shortage of space for the IT department, and we also 21 have overcrowding at the Sheriff's Office with the 22 expansion of activities in that area. So, to me, those 23 are the two main ones. 24 But I want to certainly look at other areas 25 and capture other needs, such as the AG barn, and Road & 87 1 Bridge material storage yards, etc. I've shown you a 2 list of available facilities that can be considered. 3 Certainly 550 Earl Garrett, the church at 600 Earl 4 Garrett, the Juvenile Detention Facility, the West Kerr 5 Annex has plenty of office space and storage space 6 available. The old Animal Control facility will be 7 available once the new facility is operational. We have 8 portable offices at the old Animal Control facility that 9 can be factored into the overall needs. And we do have 10 the courthouse basement, the old Treasurer's Office is 11 available. That can certainly help us on some of the 12 critical needs hear. And we actually have the 13 courthouse basement, there is an old storage room which 14 has all kind of ancient documents that could easily be 15 moved out of there if we can put that to better use. 16 So that's just kind of give you an idea. 17 The second page there just has various notes. You know, 18 quite a bit of discussion with the district attorneys 19 regarding the 500 yard restriction for convicted sexual 20 offenders from all facilities that might have -- house 21 children, such as schools, playgrounds, child care 22 facilities, etc. That's actually a condition of their 23 probation. 24 You know, we've looked at the criminal 25 procedure, 42A.453, and under subsection H(1), the 88 1 actual requirement that a defendant not go in, on, or 2 within a thousand feet of certain premises does not 3 apply to a Defendant while the Defendant is going in or 4 going immediately to and from a community supervision or 5 corrections department office. So a few other comments 6 there, but I think that's all I've got for right now. 7 We do have a meeting of the committee tomorrow morning. 8 I believe it's at 8:30 here in the courtroom. 9 MRS. STEBBINS: I have Peter Lewis 10 questions. Is this under a current contract or new 11 contract? It has him involved in this. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Do we need him 13 involved? 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, I don't even 15 know. In the short term, no. But maybe when we get 16 into looking at longer term things, like the AG barn for 17 example. But I've got a lot of material already from 18 Peter Lewis that has a lot of details that they looked 19 at before. Probably all the cost estimates are 20 significantly out of date. But -- 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Still, the 22 recommendations are -- 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: We'll look at that. 24 I'm not planning to involve him -- 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Good. 89 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- significantly. Put 2 it that way. 3 MRS. STEBBINS: Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: And we -- we're just 5 trying to identify the stakeholders so that we get input 6 from all the stakeholders. But, you know, I'll remind 7 everyone that one of the biggest stakeholders is the 8 public, the taxpayers. And they've already voted 9 resoundingly in the bond election when Prop A and B were 10 defeated. So, you know, my intent is to minimize the 11 cost impact on the taxpayers for any recommendations 12 that come out of this. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: The need still exists 14 so that's what we gotta deal with. 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, we'll identify 16 what those needs are. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A couple of comments. 18 One, and I asked the Judge to hand out to everyone, I 19 think he's got a copy of the assessment that was done by 20 the committee previously and those are the needs. I 21 mean, there's no question. You can prioritize them how 22 much you want, but those are the needs. 23 I think that -- I don't know that Peter 24 Lewis -- I think we need to go out for a -- probably an 25 RFQ on that because we can't make any budget decisions 90 1 until we have a good cost estimate, and when you go into 2 renovating this stuff, it costs about quadruple what we 3 think it's going to cost. Because everything that we're 4 looking at -- well, a lot of -- almost all of this is -- 5 well, it's almost all in the City limits somewhere. You 6 know, Ingram or Kerrville. And that's going to require 7 all kinds of permits and things done to certain codes 8 and things of that nature. And remediation of asbestos. 9 Like if anything done at the -- in the old school up in 10 Ingram, we've been told -- well, one, we don't own it. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And two, we know that 13 there are significant issues long term in that building. 14 Other thing is that, you know, our priority is good but 15 we need to be able to have a plan moving forward. And 16 I'm not -- I'm going to have a hard time voting for 17 band-aids I'm going to say right now. That's why we're 18 in the situation where we're in. We need to fix the 19 problems and move forward. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. I agree. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not patch. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: Sure. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: But y'all -- I 24 appreciate what y'all are doing and we do have -- you've 25 done a lot of leg work already. Got it going the right 91 1 direction. 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. And the other 3 thing to consider, you know, we can't come up with 4 another bond proposition for two more years. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: No, well it's -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, that's not 7 accurate. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: It's not? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You can't come into 12 the -- you can't do the same -- we cannot spend 13 public -- we can't borrow money other ways to do this 14 exact same thing. We can address the need. We just 15 can't -- we can't go out and build a new annex in 16 Ingram, for example. I -- actually I'm not even sure 17 about that because we're changing -- they were lumped 18 together in different things. But we cannot go out and 19 borrow the money for specific -- for the same project in 20 a different way. 21 But I think that we probably need to get our 22 bond counsel -- and it can be on a Zoom call, to explain 23 exactly what we can and can't do because that's going to 24 be an important thing. 25 JUDGE KELLY: That would probably be a good 92 1 thing to do. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. And that's -- I 3 don't think they -- 4 JUDGE KELLY: Because I'm retired. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, we can still call 6 him. And I'd also recommend on the next agenda putting 7 an RFP for architect. I know that Peter Lewis is really 8 snowed under with the Animal Control facility right now. 9 That's a big project. And the old contract we had, you 10 know, I think we ought to -- we need the service off and 11 on, and I think we should open it up to Peter and any 12 other local architects that may want to provide services 13 like this. So I think -- 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'm not opposed to 15 doing that but, obviously, Peter Lewis, who was so 16 heavily involved the first time around, you know, most 17 of the kind of things that we're going to want to try to 18 do here is just dusting off the work that he's already 19 done and refreshing cost estimates, so -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the product -- 21 the -- his estimates can be given to any architect and 22 all that he's going to do is go to a contractor and find 23 out a new cost estimate. So I mean, you know, the leg 24 work has been done by Peter Lewis. And I'm -- hopefully 25 he'll -- maybe he'll bid. I don't know. But I think 93 1 that we can't just go out and offer it. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. I agree. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But we're well on our 4 way, which is a good thing because budget will be here 5 before we know it. 6 JUDGE KELLY: So are we going to take any 7 action? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I think we could 9 formally formalize a committee, I guess. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I think that would be 11 good. 12 MRS. STEBBINS: That's the agenda item. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. So do you want 14 to -- 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. I'll make a 16 motion that we appoint the committee as listed, which is 17 Commissioner Paces, Bob Reeves, Bruce Motheral, Larry 18 Leitha, Lucy Wilke, Andrea Bode, and Shane Evans. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'll second. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 21 form the committee as presented. Any discussion? Those 22 in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 23 Next item is Item 1.33 consider, discuss and 24 take appropriate action to ratify and confirm the Texas 25 Association of Counties Risk Management Pool member 94 1 contact information form and the Texas Association of 2 Counties health and employee benefits pool member 3 contact designation form to remove Rosa Hernandez as the 4 human resources director and add Sylvia Zapata as the 5 Interim Human Resources Director. Ms. Zapata. 6 MS. ZAPATA: Good morning. Supposedly forms 7 have been submitted to Texas Association of Counties. 8 We just need to remove Rosa and put me as interim. 9 JUDGE KELLY: This is one we're asking for 10 forgiveness but that it had to be done. And it's late. 11 MS. ZAPATA: Yeah. For information and 12 contact. Yes. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: Move for approval. 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion to approve the 16 appointment of Sylvia Zapata as the Interim Human 17 Resources Director notice to TAC. Any other discussion? 18 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 19 Item 1.34 discuss and take appropriate 20 action to ratify and confirm bond for Reserve Deputy 21 Constable Precinct 3, Jeff Wendling. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: Is the Constable here? 23 JUDGE KELLY: I don't know if the 24 Constable's coming up or not. But this -- this was 25 something that had to be done. 95 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I'll move for 2 approval. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 4 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 5 second to approve action to ratify and confirm the bond 6 for Reserve Deputy Constable Precinct 3, Jeff Wendling, 7 as presented. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 8 Opposed? Motion carries. 9 Approval agenda 2.1 budget amendments. 10 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. You have in front of you 11 six budget amendments. The first one is just to correct 12 one that we did last time. We had the wrong number in 13 it, so it's correcting that. The rest of them, you also 14 have one of these in here is for the VA trail, because 15 we knew about it ahead of time. There's less money 16 showing there because we actually spent more money than 17 what we thought we were going to spend by the end of the 18 year, so it's kind of truing up what the true costs of 19 the whole project are. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval on 21 the budget amendments. 22 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 23 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and second 24 to approve the budget amendments as presented. Any 25 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion 96 1 carries. 2 2.2 pay bills. 3 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. Today's bills, they 4 include both principal and interest on debt payment. 5 There's about 200,000 that was Road & Bridge equipment, 6 and there's about $350,000 for an IT project completion. 7 Total bills $3,937,815.21. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Move for approval. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. Any 12 discussion? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This could be a record 14 for one to two week period. 15 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. I believe so. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Then those in favor say 17 aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 18 2.3 late bills. 19 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 20 JUDGE KELLY: 2.4 Auditor reports. 21 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. We have one internal 22 audit report for Justice of the Peace Precinct 3. We 23 ask that you accept the report. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval -- 25 or move we accept. 97 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 2 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 3 second to accept the Auditor report as presented. Any 4 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion 5 carries. 6 2.5 Accept monthly reports. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. For December, 8 2023, Treasurer report, County Treasurer, Tracy Soldan. 9 January 2024, Justice of the Peace, Judge Mitzi French, 10 Precinct 1, Judge Hoyne, Precinct 2, Judge Kathy 11 Mitchell, Precinct 3. Constable Tommy Rodriguez, 12 Precinct 1, Kyle Schneider, Precinct 2, Paul Gonzales, 13 Precinct 3, brad Rider, Precinct 4. Environmental 14 Health, Director Ashli Badders. Payroll, County 15 Treasurer, Tracy Soldan. District Clerk's Office, 16 District Clerk, Dawn Lantz. I move for approval. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 19 approve the monthly reports as presented. Any 20 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion 21 carries. 22 2.6 court orders. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have our Court orders 24 from our January 22nd meeting. 404 through -- 40414 25 through 40450. And also our January 25th meeting. 40451 98 1 through 40452. Two minor adjustments. Court Order 2 40433 currently reads it's approved for environmental 3 liability renewal application, and I think we should say 4 liability insurance renewal. Just adding the word 5 "insurance" after liability to clarify that. 6 And then on 40428, this is related to the 7 Lenco Bearcat. It currently reads The Court unanimously 8 approved by five zero vote to approve justification for 9 adjustments to Sole Source procurement. To me, that's 10 awkward. We didn't adjust the procurement policy. I 11 would -- or I think we should delete the word 12 "justification for adjustment" to just add the word 13 "as". The County Attorney looked at this one and she's 14 fine with that change. It's a little bit more -- we're 15 not adjusting the procurement policy. I just want that 16 real clear. And I gave both of these to Ian and he has 17 them. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: So we're just approving 19 the Sole Sourcing of the Bearcat. Good. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. And with that 21 I'll make a motion to approve the Court Orders with two 22 adjustments as noted. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Got a motion and a 99 1 second to approve the Court Orders as revised and 2 submitted. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 3 Opposed? Motion carries. 4 Information Agenda. 3.1 status reports from 5 department heads. 6 Okay. Moving on. 3.2 status reports from 7 elected officials. 8 Okay. And Item 3.3 status reports from 9 Liaison Commissioners. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll give an update. 11 There's been a lot of work and meetings on the Animal 12 Control facility. They're kind of finalizing the plans. 13 Everything from electrical outlets to computer outlets, 14 and types of kennels. I know the group went down to 15 Atascosa Friday to look at that facility again for 16 probably the third or fourth time, trying to -- looking 17 at different materials that were used at that facility 18 to see how they're lasting. So a lot is going on. 19 They're working with the City of Kerrville and, you 20 know, working on the final plans so we can put them out 21 for bid. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. I'll give a 23 couple updates. HR, we've had a lot of meetings with HR 24 since our previous director resigned and, you know, I 25 want to commend Sylvia and Nataly, they've really 100 1 stepped up. But just so that everyone's aware, we now 2 have a much needed temporary help that will focus on 3 billing and trying to get us caught up on all the 4 billing that was being handled in HR. And more 5 importantly, if you look at the process for how we 6 review and approve our billing. So I guess it's mostly 7 about insurance. 8 And Commissioner Letz and I discussed 9 briefly, we had some good work going on with the step 10 and grade system or review of that and see if we can 11 come up with any recommendations for improvement. And 12 again, when Rosa left it kinda set us back a little bit. 13 So we need to get back on track and get that committee 14 to meet. And I think Commissioner Letz proposed, is it 15 the -- no, the 21st? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 21st. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: Wednesday, the 21st of 18 this month, to meet. I'm already seeing one head shake 19 maybe. 20 MRS. STEBBINS: I won't be here. 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: You won't be here? 22 Well, anyway, we'll -- we'll circulate an e-mail and try 23 to see who all can attend. It's fine with me but the 24 point is we need to progress on that issue. That's very 25 important. 101 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sometime in the next two 2 weeks. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yes. Okay. And then, 4 I attended the airport emergency response training 5 exercise, I guess maybe two weeks ago. And it was a 6 good -- it was a table top exercise. Real good one. 7 But, you know, based on their scenario it was a plane 8 wreck north of Al Mooney Road. And when we actually 9 went out there to look, it was pretty clear that if it 10 occurred as was described, there would be a fire and it 11 would be very difficult to fight the fire because 12 there's such a steep embankment to get down into -- I 13 would describe it a floodplain. And so one 14 recommendation that came out from the guy that was 15 representing volunteer fire departments was that we 16 might want to maybe get either the City or our Road & 17 Bridge, just put a dozier or something, and just give us 18 a little bit of a path to make it easier for a brush 19 truck to get into that area should this ever happen. Not 20 priority, we don't need to spend much time. Just move a 21 little dirt. So that might come up. 22 And otherwise, you know, more eclipse 23 planning. But I think between the City and the County 24 we're in pretty good shape with eclipse planning. 25 And I can't resist making a plug for the 102 1 Center Point area, historic preservation association, 2 which is going to be hosting an Eclipse Festival on 3 April 6th, which is two days before, in the Center Point 4 park from 11:00 to 3:00. Take advantage of hopefully a 5 big turnout and excess people that will be available. 6 That's all I have. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: The five-year IT plan 8 committee met again. We meet again at the end of the 9 month on the 27th. We had some good discussions with 10 Bruce. Everybody has a better understanding of kind of 11 where everybody's at, and some of our frustrations were 12 discussed with Bruce. We're going to keep meeting. 13 We're going to contact -- we've got six different 14 counties that we're going to contact our peers in those 15 counties to see what they're doing. And everybody's 16 going to report back with that one on the 27th. So we 17 should have some more information by then. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Good. Anything else? Okay. 19 With that, we're going to take a brief recess and we're 20 going to reconvene in Executive Session. 21 MRS. STEBBINS: I have a question before you 22 go into Executive Session. On the 4.3 deliberation 23 regarding rural property, is that a deliberation 24 regarding rural property, or is that a contract 25 negotiation issue? 103 1 JUDGE KELLY: That's -- 2 MRS. STEBBINS: Because it changes how you 3 can -- 4 JUDGE KELLY: It's a contract negotiation 5 issue trying to hire an appraiser. 6 MRS. STEBBINS: Okay. So you'll need to 7 have an opinion from me in writing that deliberations in 8 an open meeting would necessarily have a detrimental 9 effect on the position of the Commissioners' Court in 10 negotiations with a third person. I can give you that 11 before you go in. And then you'll have to vote that it 12 will have a detrimental effect on the Commissioners' 13 Court in negotiations with a third person, and Deb will 14 need to stay with us for Executive Session if that's the 15 case. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: We'll probably come 17 out and take some action. More than likely. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. Uh-huh. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Would that suffice? 20 MRS. STEBBINS: No. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: No? Okay. 22 MRS. STEBBINS: We gotta do all this stuff. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. 24 JUDGE KELLY: So we need to take a vote? 25 MRS. STEBBINS: You need to take a vote. 104 1 And I'll give you a written opinion real quick. 2 JUDGE KELLY: And this about hiring the 3 appraiser for -- to do the appraisals. We had an issue 4 and went to Bob Reeves about whether you can hire the 5 same appraiser to appraise Kerr County property and 6 Ingram ISD property and you can. And so that's what 7 we're trying to talk about here. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Streamline. 9 JUDGE KELLY: So we can get on with that 10 trade. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: How does that work? 12 Can the County get an appraisal of a property that 13 doesn't belong to the County? 14 JUDGE KELLY: We'll, we're getting appraisal 15 for what we own. They're getting appraisal for what 16 they own. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Can we use the same 18 guy? 19 JUDGE KELLY: And we can use the same 20 appraiser but he has to put different hats on. 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. I'm familiar 22 with that. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So do we have a motion? 24 MRS. STEBBINS: The motion should be that 25 deliberation in an open meeting would have a detrimental 105 1 effect on the position of the Commissioners' Court and 2 negotiations with a third person. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'll move to approve 4 what she just said. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any second? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 8 in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 9 And we will get the written opinion and have 10 it with us when we reconvene in about five minutes. 11 (Recess.) 12 (Executive Session.) 13 JUDGE KELLY: Come back to order. It is 14 11:48, and we are out of Executive Session, and we'll 15 move on item 5.1, which is action as may be required on 16 matters discussed in Executive Session. And we go up to 17 4.2a, which is consider, discuss and take appropriate 18 action regarding employee/position in the IT Department. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we 20 approve a stipend to Scott Lambert in the amount of 21 seven hundred dollars a month due to the additional 22 duties and responsibilities he's taking on in the HR 23 Department -- or not HR Department, IT Department. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Effective today. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Effective today. 106 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and second. Any 3 other discussion. Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 4 Motion carries. 5 Next item is 4.3a consider, discuss and take 6 appropriate action to hire appraiser for property 7 located in Ingram. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do we have to name the 10 appraiser? 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. Make it more 12 clear. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There it is. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Carl Eisenhauer with LPA, 15 which is Lowery Property Advisors. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. With that I 17 move for approval. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Gotta second. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll second, but -- 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do we need to put the 22 dollar amount in there? 23 JUDGE KELLY: For both properties? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For our property. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. For ours. 107 1 JUDGE KELLY: Well, the engagement letter 2 that is County at 1500 dollars, and Ingram ISD at 3500 3 dollars for a total of $5,000.00. So we got motion and 4 a second. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 8 in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 9 Do we need to do anything on the attorney -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 11 MRS. STEBBINS: No, Sir. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: When I showed Dr. 13 Templeton the agenda item, he said he'd put it on there 14 next agenda as well. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other business 16 before the Court? There being none, we are adjourned. 17 * * * * * * 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 108 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 9th day of March, A.D. 2024. 10 11 /s/DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD Certified Shorthand Reporter 12 No. 953 Expiration Date 04/30/2025 13 * * * * * * 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25