1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Regular Session 5 Monday, March 25, 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. 12 5 1.1 Presentation regarding the 2023/2024 15 Livestock Show and Contest Results; 6 students will be present. 7 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 22 action on request to allow the Kerr County 8 Child Services Board to place a sign on the courthouse grounds for the month of April 9 for Child Abuse Awareness Month. 10 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 24 action on request from the Kerrville 11 Christian Homeschoolers(KCH) to be added to the non-profit list for use of the Union 12 Church Building in order to receive a 50% reduction of the rental fee. 13 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 25 14 action to accept annual financial report, with included independent auditor's report 15 and audited financial statement for the period ending September 30, 2023 as presented by 16 Armstrong, Vaughan & Associates, P.C. 17 1.5 Passed. 18 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 31 action to approve expenditure of Senate Bill 19 22 funds for salary for new hire Assistant District Attorney/Intake and Grand Jury 20 Prosecutor in the 216th District Attorney's Office to begin with the first full payroll 21 after the funds are received. 22 1.7 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 35 action to approve expenditure of Senate Bill 23 22 funds for salary increases for Assistant District Attorneys and Investigators in the 24 216th District Attorney's Office to begin with the first full payroll after the funds 25 are received. 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.8 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 36 action to approve Hazard Mitigation Planning 4 Services contract with GrantWorks to develop a Hazard Mitigation Plan update. 5 1.9 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 37 6 action to authorize Animal Services Director to make possible changes to multiple services 7 provided to Kerr County residents, including but not limited to: Owner-requested euthanasia, 8 only picking up trapped animals that are "high risk" for rabies, and not picking up trapped 9 cats. 10 1.14 Public hearing for a revision of plat for 58 Bandera Hills Subdivision Lots 22 and 23. 11 1.15 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 58 12 action for the Court to set a public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on May 13, 2024 for a revision 13 of plat for Y.O. Ranchlands Section 2, Tracts 97 and 98. 14 1.16 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 59 15 action regarding a proposed concept plan addressing the requirement of a water 16 availability study as required by the Kerr County Model Subdivision Rules for a revision 17 of Lot 94 in Hidden Valley Ranch Section 2. 18 1.17 Passed. 19 1.18 Passed. 20 1.19 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 77 action for the Commissioners' Court approval 21 to purchase a new Etnyre Chip Spreader 4WD 12'-14' variable width chip box. 22 1.20 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 82 23 action for the Commissioners' Court approval to purchase a brand new 2022 International 24 Brush Truck. 25 4 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.21 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 83 action for the Commissioners' Court approval 4 to name a private driveway "Almosta Ranch Rd. E.". 5 1.22 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 84 6 action for the Commissioners' Court approval of a General Contract with The Lift Guys, LLC 7 to install the new BendPak HDS-27X Equipment Lift for the Mechanic Shop at Road & Bridge. 8 1.32 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 86 9 action to clarify payroll policy for the April 8, 2024 Solar Eclipse Day. 10 1.10 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 97 11 action to appoint Albert Martinez to Emergency Services District #2(ESD #2). 12 1.11 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 97 13 action to appoint Mike Simmons to Emergency Services District #1(ESD #1). 14 1.12 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 98 15 action to allow the use of the Hill Country Youth Event Center free of charge on March 27, 16 2024 at 6:00 p.m. for an Agricultural Use Questionnaire Workshop/Town Hall Meeting with 17 the Kerr Central Appraisal District(KCAD). 18 1.13 Discussion regarding the Shred-It contract 101 and how to fund it in the FY 2024-2025 budget. 19 1.23 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 103 20 action to approve the "Interlocal Cooperation Agreement Between Counties Associated with 21 Special Operations for Law Enforcement Services" between Kerr County and Kendall 22 County. 23 1.24 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 103 action to approve the Interlocal Cooperation 24 Agreement between Kerr County and Kimble County for Jail Services. 25 5 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.25 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 104 action to amend the Budget Calendar for 4 FY 24-25 that was approved on March 11, 2024. 5 1.26 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 105 action to determine whether or not to 6 continue Kerr County's membership with the County Judges and Commissioners Association 7 of Texas and pay the annual dues of $2,592.00 for 2024. 8 1.27 Passed. 9 1.28 Discussion regarding what department will 109 10 be responsible for updating the Position Schedule for FY 2024-2025. 11 1.29 Discussion regarding the progress that has 113 12 been made by the Committee that has been looking at the County's office and storage 13 space needs, and to take direction from the Court on the current approach and direction. 14 1.30 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 123 15 action to modify the IT and Tax Office space by adding a wall that would give the 16 IT Department a much needed additional 300 square feet of space, and then moving the 17 Tax Office storage and meeting area to the now vacant former Treasurer's Office in the 18 basement. The cost of the new wall and creating an opening in the existing wall 19 between IT and Tax Office was estimated at $700.00. 20 1.31 Discussion regarding Tax Increment 132 21 Reinvestment Zone's(TIRZ) and Public Improvement Districts(PID). 22 2.1 Budget Amendments. 137 23 2.2 Pay Bills. 138 24 2.4 Auditor Reports. 138 25 6 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 2.5 Accept Monthly Reports. 139 4 2.6 Court Orders. 139 5 3.1 Status Reports from Department Heads. 140 6 3.2 Status Reports from Elected Officials. 144 7 3.3 Status Reports from Liaison Commissioners. 149 8 5.1 Action as may be required on matters 155 discussed in Executive Session. 9 1.17 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 155 10 action to authorize County Judge to execute settlement agreement with Randall Nabors. 11 1.18 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 156 12 action on payment request from D Guerra Construction Company for the East Kerr 13 County Wastewater project Phases 2 and 3. 14 1.27 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 157 action to set Director's salary range, 15 appointment of interim and compensation for additional duties, and other matters 16 related to organization and structure of the Information Technology Department, 17 including possible outsourcing of information technology services. 18 1.17 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 159 19 action to authorize County Judge to execute settlement agreement with Randall Nabors. 20 *** Adjournment. 162 21 *** Reporter's Certificate. 163 22 * * * * * * 23 24 25 7 1 JUDGE KELLY: Court will come to order. It 2 is Monday, March the 25th, 2024. It's 9 o'clock in the 3 morning and the Kerr County Commissioners' Court is now 4 in session. Please stand for the prayer and pledge, 5 which will be led by Commissioner Overby. 6 (Prayer and Pledge) 7 JUDGE KELLY: We start every meeting by 8 reminding everyone to either turn this off or turn it to 9 vibrate so it doesn't interrupt the proceedings. 10 Nex on the agenda is public input. We've got two 11 requests. The first one is George Baroody. 12 MR. BAROODY: Good morning. George Baroody, 13 1616 Glen Road. Thanks for having me and not throwing 14 me out. So I come here, and frankly I'm as tired coming 15 here for this same stuff as you are. But, Judge, you 16 just keep doing it, man. You keep putting out 17 information that isn't even factually correct. 18 So just to clear up the misunderstandings that were 19 quoted in the most recent Community Journal article, the 20 case with Mr. Belew did not speak to anything about what 21 this Court has done or not done. It didn't speak to 22 what the Judge has done or not done. The facts actually 23 bear out that you did more than just refer the case, you 24 sought out someone to take the case, and when you didn't 25 get the response from the County Attorney that you were 8 1 hoping for, you shopped to the district attorney. And 2 when you weren't sure whether you'd get that, you 3 actually -- I won't say threatened, but you basically 4 pressured are we going to have to take this to a higher 5 level if you're not going to take it. So your hands 6 aren't clean in the process. 7 Now, I wouldn't go so far as to call it 8 conspiracy, because a conspiracy involves more than one 9 person I would think. And best I can tell, there was 10 only one person really pushing this. You know, there's 11 the other aspect of it that makes it seem like there's 12 more to it than you've led people to believe is we put 13 in -- various people put in public information requests 14 to see your correspondence with various people. At no 15 time did you have anything to do with this case, yet 16 you're claiming to have had an attorney-client privilege 17 with an attorney that would not have taken this case and 18 would not have been part of your -- would not have taken 19 you on as a client as far as going against another 20 Commissioner or the bodies taking it on because it just 21 wouldn't have happened. You essentially put Miss 22 Stebbins in an awkward position of having to claim that 23 she was or wasn't acting as your attorney in these cases 24 and that's the reason you're telling the Attorney 25 General that you can't provide this information 9 1 publicly. 2 Sir, the information is public information. 3 It has nothing to do with anything legal, because you 4 had -- you had admitted that you had nothing to do with 5 this case. You couldn't have had an attorney 6 representing you on this case, you weren't the 7 prosecutor or the defendant in this case, and you've 8 done a disservice to the people and you've -- frankly, 9 the position that you sit in, I honor that position. 10 I've lost a lot of respect for you as far as how you 11 handled this situation. 12 You can't just be a public official and keep 13 the citizens away from the information they rightly 14 deserve. It leaves with Mr. Belew, this -- he can say 15 that whatever mistake he made was 50 years ago; yours is 16 ongoing as you sit in your chair. You are preventing 17 citizens from -- you basically -- it's unchallenged yet, 18 but in my view, you -- you violated the Public 19 Information Act. And I expect to pursue it a little bit 20 further, in a little different manner. 21 I'm going to actually have to ask -- you 22 claimed -- you hid behind having the County Attorney as 23 your attorney in this case. I'll have to reach out to 24 her directly and ask for that, whether that's true or 25 not, and it puts her in an awkward position but what 10 1 else -- what choice do I have. She has you to thank for 2 that. You could have just been open. There can't be 3 anything in those e-mails that have anything to do with 4 anything. Yet as soon as this case is over, you 5 somehow -- a case you had nothing to do with, you 6 somehow wanted to put yourself back in front and link 7 yourself up to that case. And I'm sure my minutes are 8 up. So I'll stop right there. Thank you for all you 9 do, sir. 10 JUDGE KELLY: As you know, we cannot have 11 any response. 12 Moving on to the next public input is Terri 13 Hall. Did you want to speak this time or at 1:31? 14 MS. HALL: Now is fine. I'm Terri Hall, 118 15 Independence. I'm with Liberty in Action and it's about 16 agenda Item 1.31 regarding the taxing and finance zone. 17 There's very strong points against that in the GOP 18 platform for a reason and it's a targeted tax. Texans 19 have a unique constitution and we are protected from 20 such targeted tax zones. In fact, I was just reviewing 21 an appellate court case regarding that. So at the end 22 of the day, we don't want it. 23 It's going to increase taxes, and it's 24 actually going to take away taxes that would normally be 25 going to the County and putting them to this specific 11 1 zone, which then means you will have to raise the tax 2 burden on everybody else in order to makeup for that 3 loss in local tax revenue because it's going to be going 4 to some special interest or some project and I have to 5 make a note that this really doesn't even comply with 6 the Open Meetings Act because it doesn't have sufficient 7 specificity and notice to public about what the zone 8 involves. It doesn't tell us the location, it doesn't 9 tell us the amount, it doesn't tell us the length of 10 time or -- or even the purpose of what it's for. 11 So even if you were to take action today, it 12 could be legally challenged because it was not noticed 13 within compliance of the Open Meetings Act. So, and I 14 think especially the timing of doing such a zone after 15 this election, when we're going to have a whole new 16 court here shortly, I don't think this is the time to 17 enact a zone that usually goes some 30-plus years. We 18 should wait for our new commissioners to be seated to do 19 that. And that's all. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Technically, you're out of 21 order, because if you're going to talk about an item on 22 the agenda, you wait until that item is called. I 23 understand your eagerness to address the Court, but if 24 you'll check, 1.31 is a discussion item. So with that, 25 we'll move on to the Commissioner comments. 12 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: You start with me? 2 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Busy two weeks. I 4 don't know how much rain Don got, but I got two inches 5 of rain in the last two weeks. I got a half inch last 6 night, brought it to two. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: You're the winner, I 8 bet. 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Winner winner. 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, I didn't get to 11 check how much I got overnight, but we have gotten some 12 rain. Everything is nice and green. So the burn ban is 13 lifted for Precinct 2. Yeah, praise the Lord. 14 However, I attended an eclipse coordination 15 meeting last Wednesday night with all of our first 16 responders who are working so hard on the eclipse 17 planning. And at that meeting, the fire chiefs who were 18 present asked me if the Court would be willing to -- or 19 the individual commissioners would be willing to impose 20 a burn ban just during the eclipse. So we kinda got 21 around to it. 22 The proposal is to put a ban in place from 23 April 5th through Tuesday, April 9th. I will certainly 24 be doing it for Precinct 2. This is just precautionary. 25 With heavy traffic and potential gridlock, the last 13 1 thing we don't want to do is encourage anything -- any 2 activity that would result in fire fighters having to 3 respond when it's going to be very difficult. So I hope 4 the public will understand. It really isn't because 5 there's a high risk of fire, but it's just precautionary 6 so there's one less thing that we have to worry about 7 and be concerned about traffic impeding a response. So 8 if the other commissioners would like to do that, that 9 would be wonderful. And our volunteer fire fighters 10 will appreciate it. 11 Otherwise, I've been reviewing the reports 12 submitted by D Guerra on the sewer project. We're going 13 to talk about that a little bit later today. So I'll 14 hold any further comment. 15 I did hold a Town Hall Meeting in Center 16 Point last Tuesday and I'll be holding another one here 17 in Kerrville tomorrow night. It's at 6:00 p.m. at the 18 Hosannah Lutheran Church. A host of topics and 19 information. So if you're interested in attending, you 20 can pick it up off my Facebook page or off my website, 21 richpaces.com. 22 And I just have to put in a plug, since this 23 is the last Commissioners' Court meeting. On behalf of 24 the Center Point Area Historic Preservation Association, 25 they have a fundraiser on Saturday, April 6th in the 14 1 historic park in Center Point, from 11:00 to 3:00. 2 Food, music, fun. So if you're not afraid to venture 3 out on Saturday when it shouldn't be too bad, we're 4 trying to take advantage of a lot of excess people in 5 town, and maybe we can raise some extra funds for the 6 much needed park. That's it. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Three. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I didn't have two 9 inches but I have had an inch 30, I believe. Maybe 10 slightly more than that. So catching up little bit, 11 which is good news. 12 I agree with Commissioner Paces sentiment; 13 however, I don't believe State Law allows us to do that 14 with the current Keetch Byram index; however, I do 15 believe that the Judge may be able to do it, declare 16 through his powers to declare an emergency, may be able 17 to do that specific day as an emergency item. 18 General comment. Might want to review and 19 get with the County Attorney on both those items. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah, we need to check 21 that. I agree with the deal and I'll be talking to the 22 four fire chiefs in my Precinct, but that's probably -- 23 you're probably right. You're probably right on that. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: I don't know. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: So we'll check with 15 1 the County Attorney. 2 And rain wise, I dumped two-tenths out of 3 the gauge here at the courthouse this morning. Probably 4 about same at my house. And about the same last week, 5 so y'all are the winners. Three and four. I mean three 6 and one. So that's all I got. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Good. Let's move on to the 8 Consideration Agenda. Item 1.1 is presentation 9 regarding the 2023/2024 Livestock Show Contest Results. 10 And who is going to present this, Jennifer Smith, as I 11 understand. 12 MS. SMITH: Good morning. My name is 13 Jennifer Smith. I am the 4-H agent here in Kerr County. 14 And every so often we like to come to Court and bring 15 some of our kids who participated or have done something 16 that deems being brought to the Court's attention. And 17 so today we have brought some of our kids that have 18 either participated in -- or they've all participated in 19 some kind of judging contest, sometimes team 20 competition. Many of them have also competed in 21 livestock shows. 22 As some are aware, we have finally finished 23 the stock show season for this year. Austin finished up 24 this past weekend. And so these kids have been on the 25 road a lot, going anywhere from the State Fair, Fort 16 1 Worth, San Angelo, Houston, Austin, San Antonio. But 2 they've gone all over the state, either stock showing 3 with their animals or competing as teams. 4 And so today we just want to recognize some 5 of them and let everybody know that these kids are doing 6 more than just going to school and staying, you know, in 7 the community. They're going out and promoting Kerr 8 County as a whole. And so some of the contests that 9 they have to sit in, consumer decision-making, robotics, 10 range and plants ID, sheep skillathon, swine skillathon, 11 sheep skillathon, wool judging, horse judging, horse 12 skillathon, and food challenge. And some of those 13 contests have been in multiple locations, multiple stock 14 shows. 15 The horse judging team, we are happy to 16 announce they qualified for State Roundup in June, so 17 our senior team will be attending A&M and representing 18 us there. 19 We do have our District 10 spring roundup 20 coming up in April where more of our teams are going to 21 compete and hopefully we'll have more qualifiers for the 22 state competition in June. 23 So what I'd like to do is bring up our kids, 24 and of them introduce themselves and what contests they 25 have participated in and how they did. So we want 17 1 y'all just to kind of start lining up here. Who wants 2 to go first? 3 JUDGE KELLY: Why don't we just take a 4 minute and get y'all to go ahead and lineup. And you 5 can stand out in the hallway, that way it'll go a lot 6 faster. 7 And just to clarify, after speaking, if you 8 would go ahead and come up here so that we can get a 9 picture of everybody at the end, okay? That way we'll 10 move from there to here and be a little bit more 11 efficient. 12 MISS WAISER: Hi, my name is Callie Waiser, 13 I competed for plant identification and wool judging in 14 San Antonio. I got 8th place individually, and as a 15 team we got second place in San Antonio. And then at 16 Houston for plant ID, I got 18th place and then for wool 17 judging, I got 22nd place. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. Very good. 19 MISS WAISER: Thank you. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: And we'll hold the 21 applause until the end? 22 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, we're going to do it all 23 at the end. 24 MR. BAIMBRIDGE: Hello, I'm Kip Baimbridge, 25 and I showed swines and I placed first in Kerr County in 18 1 livestock show, and I also I placed 18th individual and 2 third highest in Junior team. In Houston. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. 4 MISS BRAIMBRIDGE: Hi, I'm Lili Baimbridge 5 and I have competed in livestock judging, I got third in 6 Kerr County. And I also competed in the San Antonio 7 one, I didn't place then. I showed my -- this year and 8 I got first in County. And I also in Houston I placed 9 9th as an individual and third as a team. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. 11 MISS WAISER: I'm Addison Waiser. I 12 competed in Fort Worth with plant ID and I got 5th 13 place. I also did plant ID at Houston and I got fourth 14 place. And I also participated at Houston. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. 16 You're going to have to speak up. 17 MR. CLEMENS: My name is Sydney Clemens, and 18 I competed in Kerr County livestock skillathon and got 19 second place. I participated in Austin and San Antonio 20 for sheep skills. I didn't place in those two. And 21 then in San Angelo I competed and I didn't place there. 22 So that's okay. And I got third place in -- 23 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: Good job. 25 JUDGE KELLY: And you get to stand in front 19 1 of one of these taller people. Okay? 2 MISS HALL: I'm Madelyn and I placed -- I 3 participated in horse judging and I placed fourth 4 individual in District 10 and then my team placed third. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. 6 MR. HALL: Hi, I'm Samuel Hall. I guess 7 I'll start with the big one. I am -- we're going to 8 State in horse judging. We got third place as a team. 9 And then robotics. Her, me, and another individual 10 were -- we placed 8th at Austin Rodeo. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. Up here. 12 MR. LOCKWOOD: My name is Gus Lockwood, and 13 I competed in consumer decision making at San Angelo and 14 San Antonio. In San Angelo, I got 1st place and at 15 San Antonio, I did not place. I also competed in sheep 16 skills but I did not place -- in San Antonio and I did 17 not place. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. 19 MS. FIEDLER: I'm Rynlee Fiedler, and I 20 competed at consumer decision-making in San Angelo and 21 San Antonio. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. 23 MR. HALL: I'm Benjamin Hall, and I competed 24 at Houston horse judging. I got 4th place in district, 25 third place as a team, and 5th place as individual. 20 1 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. 2 MS. LIPKA: Hello, my name is Julie Lipka. 3 I was also on the team that got third place in Houston 4 in horse judging. As an individual I got 5th in the 5 region at Houston. And I was also 4th in District 10, 6 and as a team we won District 10 in Houston. 7 I also competed in sheep skillathon. I got 8 second at State Fair, 1st in San Angelo, 2nd in 9 San Antonio, and 3rd at Austin. 10 I also did livestock skillathon at our 11 County and I got 1st in that. And I got 2nd place at an 12 invitational over the summer in livestock skillathon. 13 And I also made a top ten in the horse skillathon in 14 San Antonio. 15 JUDGE KELLY: That's a whole lot of 16 congratulations. This way. 17 MR. ALEXANDER: Hi, my name is Sutton 18 Alexander. I'm 11 years old. I got 2nd place with 19 my -- grandstand. I got 5th place in sheep skillathon 20 in San Angelo. I went to San Antonio and Austin for 21 sheep skillathon. What showing livestock has taught me 22 is how to be responsible and how to take care of 23 animals. My favorite thing about showing is being with 24 my friends and family. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. 21 1 VOICE: Show him your buckle. 2 (Showing buckle.) 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Good job. That's 4 something you can grow into. 5 MR. HALL: Hi, my name is Jonathan Hall. I 6 attended the San Antonio horse judging, the Houston 7 horse judging, and I was part of the team that won 1st 8 at District and won 3rd at Houston as a team. And I 9 also attended consumer and robotics in Austin. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. 11 MS. LOCKWOOD: Good morning. My name is 12 Francie Lockwood, and I am a part of the plant 13 identification team, the consumer decision-making, and 14 the food challenge team. We recently went to San Angelo 15 and the Houston livestock show for consumer and plant 16 ID, I do not remember my placing but I know we all did 17 really well. And I went to the San Antonio livestock 18 show for an independent food challenge. And we are 19 currently preparing for District and hoping to do well. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. We'll bring 21 you up on this side over here. 22 MS. FIEDLER: Hi. I'm Reelyn Fiedler, and I 23 placed at the San Antonio/Houston decision-making 24 contest, and I placed 14th out of 108. 25 JUDGE KELLY: All right. Congratulations. 22 1 MR. GREEN: I'm Tyler Green, and I was part 2 of the Houston horse judging team and we placed 3rd in 3 team, and then I got 4th place in individual, and for 4 District we got 1st, and I got 1st place. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. 6 MISS GREEN: Hi. My name is Hailey Green 7 and -- 8 JUDGE KELLY: There you go. Go ahead. 9 MISS GREEN: Hi, my name is Hailey Green, 10 and my team got 3rd place in the senior division horse 11 judging at the Houston Rodeo and will be attending State 12 in June. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. Anyone else 14 out there? 15 VOICE: That's all. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Here's the way we're 17 going to do this. I'm going to get Samuel right here in 18 the middle because you're the tallest. And then just -- 19 let's feather down both ways. If you're taller than 20 somebody, step behind them. Okay? Let's get everybody 21 up here. Big picture. 22 (Photo time) 23 JUDGE KELLY: We're a little late on the 24 next timed item, it's a 9:10 item, and that's 1.2. 25 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action on a 23 1 request to allow the Kerr County Child Services Board to 2 place a sign on the courthouse grounds for the month of 3 April for Child Abuse Awareness Month. Kellie Early. 4 MS. EARLY: Well, that was a hard act to 5 follow. Good morning, Court and Judge. I'm with the 6 Kerr County Child Services Board. And we are -- we're a 7 non-profit organization that is actually statutorily 8 mandated. Some other counties call it their child 9 welfare board, and we fall under the Commissioners' 10 Court, and we help children who have been abused, 11 through the Court -- they have been taken into custody 12 through the Court system, we help with different items 13 that the case workers can't -- don't have money for or 14 can't -- we work directly with the case workers. 15 So we -- it's -- April is Child Abuse 16 Awareness Month. We have 138 confirmed cases of child 17 abuse in Kerr County. And we want to just put up our 18 sign on the courthouse square for awareness. So. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Second. 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and second to 23 approve putting -- allowing the Kerr County Child 24 Services Board to place a sign on the courthouse grounds 25 for the month of April for Child Abuse Awareness Month. 24 1 Any discussion? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just want to thank 3 that whole board for volunteering their time. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Absolutely. 5 MS. EARLY: Thank you. 6 JUDGE KELLY: So with that, those in favor 7 say aye. Opposed. Unanimous. 8 Moving on to the 9:15 item, that's still 9 running a little late, 1.3 consider, discuss and take 10 appropriate action on a request from the Kerrville 11 Christian Homeschoolers to add the non-profit list for 12 use of the Union Church building in order to receive 50 13 percent reduction on the rental fee. Michelle 14 Burzynski. 15 MS. BURZYNSKI: Yes. Good morning. Just as 16 it said, we are a registered non-profit. We submitted 17 proof of that with our request by a letter dated August 18 2022. We are a non-profit organization that provides 19 support for other homeschooling families in the 20 community and surrounding counties. And we would just 21 like to be recognized by the City and County on your 22 list. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll move for approval. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 25 1 approve putting the Kerrville Christian Homeschoolers on 2 our non-profit list for the use of the Union Church 3 building. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 4 Opposed. Unanimous. Thank you. 5 9:15 item, which is 1.4 consider, discuss 6 and take appropriate action to accept the annual 7 financial report with included independent auditor's 8 report and audited financial statements for the period 9 ending September 30, 2023 as presented by Armstrong, 10 Vaughan & Associates. There you are. I've been looking 11 for you. 12 MS. FRASER: I was out in the hall. You had 13 a crowd this morning and I guess you didn't make them 14 stay and hear the audit, which is good news. It's not 15 as fun as they were. 16 I want to thank Tanya and crew, as well as 17 Tracy and everybody else that we harass during the 18 audit. We are, as I say every year, we're very 19 invasive. But they were very, very forthcoming and gave 20 us everything we asked for, so they did a really good 21 job. 22 Additionally, I think we have five journal 23 entries, two were -- three were PUCs, so we made two 24 journal entries and they made three after review. 25 On page one -- and you don't have to turn to 26 1 it, I'm just going to tell you what it says. That's our 2 opinion. It basically says that you have an unmodified 3 opinion and it is a clean opinion. 4 If you turn to page 20 and 21, this is your 5 balance sheet. And I won't go over the whole report, 6 I'm just going to give you some highlights and then if 7 you have any questions you're welcome to ask. 8 So if you have -- turn to Page 20 and 21, 9 this is your balance sheet. It's showing governmental 10 funds, and it's the way you budget basically. So the 11 total governmental fund on Page 21, you have $62,568,673 12 in total assets. If you take a look at that, 41 million 13 is available for you to spend cash and -- well, not 14 available to spend, but cash and cash investments. 15 That's the first line. 16 Of that, 30 and a half million are in your 17 general fund. If you look down at the bottom, second 18 line from the bottom, you'll see that restricted cash 19 for Center Point is 15.4 million and that is your 20 restricted cash. So when all in all, of your $62 21 million of total assets, 56 million is in cash and 22 investments. 23 And again, this is showing modified accrual, 24 so you don't see fixed assets. You wouldn't see your 25 debt compensating that. Those types of liabilities. 27 1 On Page 22 and 23, your total liabilities 2 are 20.2 million. Of that, you'll notice that Center 3 Point makes up 9.6 million of that and then you have 4 10.2 million in general funds. Of the 10.2 in general 5 funds, 8.2 is unearned revenue. This is basically 6 unspent funds, unspent ARPA funds. 7 Deferred inflows of resources is the next 8 line down. Available revenue. This is basically your 9 municipal fines and your taxes that have not been 10 collected over the years. This only includes tax and 11 court revenues that have been collected 60 days after 12 year-end. So that brings us down to fund balance. You 13 have 62 -- or I'm sorry, 39.4 million in total fund 14 balance. Non-spendable, 795. And then you have 21.6 in 15 your unassigned fund balance. And this is what you have 16 that's available to spend in the next year. 17 I'd like you to turn back to -- do you have 18 any questions before I go forward? 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Say that very last 20 line one more time that you did. 21 MS. FRASER: You have 21 and a half million 22 that's unassigned fund balance, and that's available to 23 spend in the following year. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. 25 MS. FRASER: So the current year. 28 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. I see where 2 you're at now. Okay. Thank you. 3 MS. FRASER: I'd like you to turn back to 4 page 63 and 64. This is your general fund revenue. And 5 this sheet actually showed basically what you look at on 6 a routine basis when you did your financials. It's 7 shown your final budget, your actual amount, and then 8 your 2022 actual amount. 9 You have total revenue that you budgeted of 10 $44 million. You actually spent 38.4 million. So you 11 had an unfavorable variance of 5.6, but the bulk of that 12 is ARPA grants that weren't completed during project -- 13 ARPA grant projects that weren't completed during the 14 fiscal year that you budgeted for. Your investment 15 earnings last year, in 2000 -- the year that ended 16 2022, were 257,000. This year, 1.7 million. Again, 17 that's because of the increase in interest rates. 18 If you look at your expenditures, your total 19 expenditures you budgeted 42.8 million. This also 20 includes ARPA projects that were incentive. You 21 actually spent 33 million, leaving you with a positive 22 variance of 9.8 million, and compared to the 29 and a 23 half million you spent in 2022. You budgeted to have 24 excess revenue of 1.2 million. You ended the year with 25 5,380,000, so 4,176,000 more than you budgeted. 29 1 If you go down to the actual net change in 2 fund balance, you budgeted a negative one-and-a-half 3 million. That's the third line up. But you actually 4 ended the year with 2.8 million. So that increased your 5 fund balance at the end of the year from 19.3 to the 6 22.1. The fund balance is over six months, which we 7 consider very healthy. The FOA recommends four to six 8 months of operating expenditures in your fund balance. 9 If you look at Page 64, this is your Road & 10 Bridge fund. You had total revenues of 3,380,671. The 11 prior year you had spent very similar, 3,128,000. Your 12 total expenditures were 5.3 million, Compared to the 13 budget set of 6,121,000, so you ended the year with a 14 deficit of 1,967,000. You actually transferred in $2.2 15 million, leaving you with a net positive change in fund 16 balance of 281,810.00. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And the transfer in 18 was from the sales at the bottom? 19 MS. FRASER: It's from general fund. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: General fund. Okay. 21 MS. FRASER: -- real property and -- 22 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. Gotcha. Okay. 23 Thank you. 24 MS. FRASER: But you had budgeted as well 25 for a loss of 786,000 and you actually had a positive 30 1 increase in revenues of 281,810. So your fund balance 2 increased from 955,000 to 1.3 million. 3 The Public Defender's Office is on the next 4 page. And I just did last year and we'll see this -- in 5 a major fund because it's gone to a different County. 6 But you actually had only administration of justice of 7 367,000. And you transferred that to another County. 8 Do you have any questions on that? 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: How many days were 10 y'all here for the audit? 11 MS. FRASER: Well, we were here a week. But 12 our practice is we upload a list in the first week of 13 January, I believe, and so we do a lot of work before we 14 come out. Because you guys have done a really good job 15 of uploading all -- a lot of information for us. So -- 16 and that's really fortunate for us. And it also is 17 fortunate for you guys, because it keeps us out of your 18 hair. So -- 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: For shorter time. 20 Great, awesome. 21 MS. FRASER: I wasn't going to go over 22 anything else, except I was going to tell you that we 23 did a single audit, a compliance audit, and we chose 24 ARPA funds, and then the Lone Star grant. You did have 25 no comments on either one of those grants. And then we 31 1 issue a letter. We had no issues performing the audit. 2 We did make a verbal comment to Tanya and the Judge, and 3 then we had no written comments. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Any questions? Discussion? 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Sounds great. 6 Congratulations. 7 MS. FRASER: If you do -- you know, if I 8 leave and you have questions, our opinion letter has our 9 phone number. Please give us a call, we would love to 10 talk about the audit. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: Always pleasant working 12 with you. Even through your illness this year. 13 MS. FRASER: Oh. I was out a week and a 14 half after I left here, so -- 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I'll make a 16 motion that we accept the annual audit. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that. 18 JUDGE KELLY: We got a motion and a second 19 to accept the annual audit as presented. Any 20 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 21 Unanimous. Thank you. 22 MS. FRASER: Thank you. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Item 1.5 has been 24 passed. Move on to Item 1.6 consider, discuss and take 25 appropriate action to approve expenditure of Senate Bill 32 1 22 funds for salary for a new hire Assistant District 2 Attorney/Intake and Grand Jury Prosecutor in the 216th 3 District Attorney's Office to begin with the first full 4 payroll after the funds are received. Miss Wilke. 5 MRS. WILKE: Yes, good morning. Basically 6 what I'm seeking approval on is to spend the SB 22 funds 7 that have already been received. Those are not taxpayer 8 dollars. Well, they are but not local, I should say. 9 All funds are taxpayers. 10 But these are funds that were made available 11 to prosecutors in rural areas this last legislative 12 session and I'm just seeking permission to basically run 13 this through payroll. Everything -- there's not any 14 additional funds needed for my budget. It all comes out 15 of the SB 22 funds, including any additional roll-ups. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Any discussion? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm curious, I mean how 18 are you dividing up the funds? I mean -- 19 MS. WILKE: Yes. I can go over that. I have 20 a handout to give you, if you like. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it's your -- it's up 22 to you. I'm just -- 23 MS. WILKE: Yeah, yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- more curious than -- 25 MS. WILKE: -- that's fine. 33 1 MRS. STEBBINS: But you don't have to talk 2 about any specific employee or -- 3 MS. WILKE: I have it at home so -- 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Not specifically. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Just as a reminder as she's 6 passing these out, the SB 22 funds were funds paid out 7 that were provided by the Texas Legislature to rural 8 counties and they do not affect the County budget. This 9 is not the County taxpayer money. It's one of the few 10 times that we've been given funded mandates and we're 11 very tickled to get the money. So go ahead, Miss Wilke. 12 MS. WILKE: Yes. So I've just given you a 13 handout of how they're -- I've distributed the funds. 14 One of them that's the largest expense is a new hire, a 15 new assistant DA, that will be handling grand 16 jury/intake and then, of course, handling the grand jury 17 on the day of grand jury presenting the cases to the 18 grand jury. 19 And it's been a huge help. He started about 20 a month ago and he's doing a great job and has been a 21 great help to the rest of the prosecutors to be able to 22 concentrate on jury trials and pretrial hearings. 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: Lucy, just a real quick 24 question for me. What's your plan for whenever the SB 25 22 funds dry up? 34 1 MS. WILKE: Well, I don't think at this time 2 there's any plan for the SB 22 funds to dry up. But 3 next year, the spread will be a little different 4 because the funds came late in the year this time. So 5 next year the funds will be spread out a little bit 6 different. Most of them will go for the new prosecutor. 7 At this point I don't think there's any plans for the 8 plans to dry up. But obviously if they do, I'll cross 9 that bridge when I get there. I'm going to spend them 10 while I have them. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question, Miss Wilke. 13 You may not know the answer. But my guess is that we 14 cannot ask you to use these funds to offset County 15 payroll? 16 MS. WILKE: That's correct. 17 MRS. STEBBINS: That is the law. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's what I thought 19 but I just wanted to make sure that the public was aware 20 of that. Okay. Thank you. 21 MS. WILKE: Thank you. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, do we -- 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: Do we have to approve 24 this or not? 25 MRS. STEBBINS: You need to approve it so 35 1 they can go through payroll. 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. I'll make a 3 motion to approve the expenditure of Senate Bill 22 4 funds for the salary for the new hire Assistant District 5 Attorney and Intake Grand Jury Prosecutor for the 216th 6 District Attorney's office. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 9 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 10 Unanimous. 11 Moving on to 1.7 consider, discuss and take 12 appropriate action to approve the expenditure of Senate 13 Bill 22 funds for salary increases for the Assistant 14 District Attorneys and Investigators in the 216th 15 District Attorney's office, to begin with the first full 16 payroll after said funds are received. Miss Wilke. 17 That's the remainder of this chart that you 18 gave us? 19 MS. WILKE: That's correct. That's correct. 20 And again, that will be different next year. If there's 21 even any pay increases, but that's for this year only. 22 Since the -- the rest of this fiscal year. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 36 1 approve the allocation of funds as presented by 2 Ms. Wilke. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 3 Opposed? Unanimous. Thank you. 4 MS. WILKE: Thank you. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.8 consider, discuss and 6 take appropriate action to approve the Hazard Mitigation 7 Planning Services contract with GrantWorks to develop a 8 Hazard Mitigation Plan update. Mr. Thomas. 9 MR. THOMAS: Good morning, Judge. Good 10 morning, Commissioners. So you should have a copy of 11 the contract between GrantWorks and Kerr County for 12 development of our Hazard Mitigation Plan. That 13 contract has been reviewed by Miss Stebbins in the 14 County Attorney's Office, and she has no changes. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Is this the one we've been 16 working on for last eight months? 17 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any discussion? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And authorize the Judge 22 to sign it. 23 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 24 second to approve the Hazard Mitigation Planning 25 Services contract with GrantWorks as presented. Any 37 1 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 2 Unanimous. 3 MR. THOMAS: Judge, while I've got podium 4 real quick, I'd like to introduce our new County Liaison 5 Officer from TDEM, Shorty Harman. Hopefully, we'll be 6 able to have the opportunity to -- 7 JUDGE KELLY: Name again? 8 MR. THOMAS: Shorty Harman. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 10 MR. THOMAS: -- to get him in to meet you in 11 your office later on this week sometime. But he was 12 already here, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to 13 introduce him. 14 JUDGE KELLY: And I did declare the 15 disaster. 16 MR. HARMAN: All right. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And you're out at the 18 West Kerr Annex, right? 19 MR. HARMAN: Yes, sir. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: That's good. 21 MR. THOMAS: Thank you all. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Good to meet you. 23 Moving on to Item 1.9 consider, discuss and 24 take appropriate action to authorize Animal Services 25 Director to make possible changes to multiple services 38 1 provided to Kerr County residents, including but not 2 limited to: Owner-requested euthanasia, only picking up 3 trapped animals that are high risk for rabies, and not 4 picking up trapped cats. Reagan Givens. 5 MR. GIVENS: Good morning. 6 JUDGE KELLY: We talked about this last 7 time. 8 MR. GIVENS: Yes, sir. I gave you guys a 9 heads up about some of this. Just to kind of run 10 through some of this. I guess I'll start with the 11 owner-requested euthanasia. In our advisory committee 12 it's been proposed that we not euthanize any 13 owner-requested animals anymore. But it's also been 14 suggested, too, that we do it if we think it's 15 absolutely necessary, which is obviously what we're 16 doing already. 17 Right now, we -- you come in and pay a fee, 18 and we will euthanize your animal if it needs it. We 19 will not euthanize animals that don't need to be 20 euthanize. They're perfectly healthy. So somebody 21 comes through the front door and they have an animal 22 they want to put down, there has to be a legitimate 23 reason for us to do that. Either be a vet 24 recommendation or obvious trauma, whatever the case may 25 be. Some of these animals come in and they're very old, 39 1 they're sick, they're dying, and they need to be 2 euthanized. 3 So basically I come to you guys because I 4 want to know what the Court thinks about doing that, 5 too. Whether we continue, stop altogether, or raise our 6 fee. Right now it's $10.00 to -- which we can raise and 7 continue, or we could -- we could completely stop. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My recommendation is 9 that we raise the fee to a hundred dollars and then -- 10 but however give the Director discretion to lower that 11 based on the situation. You know, the vets in the area, 12 as I understand it, generally charge more than that, 13 depends on which vet you go to. But in their charge, 14 there's a roll up of different things, disposals and 15 other things. 16 But there are situations where we have 17 people that -- you know, people that just frankly can't 18 afford to go to the vet. And I'd rather have us provide 19 the service rather than people just abandon the animal 20 on the street somewhere. So -- 21 JUDGE KELLY: And that will be discretionary 22 with the Director? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Set the fee at a 24 hundred dollars but if the person is in a situation 25 where he thinks it should be lower, you know, I would 40 1 give him that discretion. Just my opinion on it. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That $10.00 has been 3 there since what year? 4 MR. GIVENS: I'm not sure what year it's 5 been. 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It's been so long, 7 yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Ten dollars is too low. 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It is too low. Yeah. 10 MR. GIVENS: Well, I think that's it's -- I 11 mean, honestly, I think it's a good service, you know, 12 euthanizing animals is not a fun thing. But out of all 13 the ones, you know, that come through the doors, we have 14 healthy animals and we have animals that it's the humane 15 thing to do. So I think this is probably a good way to 16 go. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Reagan, I assume it 18 would also cover aggressive or vicious animals? 19 MR. GIVENS: Yes, sir. So depending on the 20 situation, you know, if you have somebody come in that 21 has a dog that, you know, has killed a whole bunch of 22 livestock, things like that, or they come in and they 23 want -- you know, that's going to be something that we 24 look at, too. It's pretty rare that that actually 25 happens, but it does on occasion. But these guys are 41 1 looking for vet recommendation or legitimate reasons. 2 We're not going to just put an animal down. We just 3 won't do it. We have no problem turning people away if 4 need be. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I particularly like the 6 discretionary facet of being able to determine the 7 absolute necessity of having to put them down and also 8 giving you the discretion on a needs basis of whether or 9 not the people can afford the fee. I think that's the 10 humanitarian thing to do. And let me also say that I 11 would never expect to guess what the Animal Services and 12 Kerrville Pets Alive and your group has done and 13 recommend on this stuff. Because we have a system that 14 it's fixed, it's working very well, and the last thing I 15 want to do is unnecessarily meddle with something that 16 y'all are doing a fine job with. 17 MR. GIVENS: Well, and that kind of goes 18 into some of this other stuff here. 19 JUDGE KELLY: I understand. I'm just 20 letting you know where I am on this thing. 21 MR. GIVENS: Yeah. So I don't -- 22 JUDGE KELLY: Do we vote on these policies 23 individually? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd recommend hearing 25 them and then I -- I think it's probably going to be 42 1 better to come back with an actual change in the fee 2 schedule or change in -- I mean, we can -- or we could 3 do it now. 4 MR. GIVENS: That would work. Change the -- 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: I mean, my question to 6 you, Reagan, is that -- a hundred dollars, is that your 7 number? Are you good with that? Do you want more or 8 less or -- 9 MR. GIVENS: I mean people will -- you know, 10 I mean, if this is discretionary we're still going to 11 have people come in that just can't. I mean, they're 12 coming to us because they can't afford a vet. And it 13 just depends on what those fees are at a vet whether 14 we'll keep ours at what it is and -- it just basically 15 comes down to helping. 16 JUDGE KELLY: I can assure you you're a lot 17 cheaper. 18 MR. REAGAN: Yes, sir. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Several times out. 20 MR. REAGAN: But yeah, I mean it's -- 21 anything's worth a try, you know. If it doesn't work, 22 we can go back to where we're at. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Well, go ahead and start 24 talking to us about the policy regarding picking up 25 trapped animals. 43 1 MR. REAGAN: So -- so as far as this goes, 2 this has been something that's actually come up quite a 3 bit which I -- you know, right now if you trap any 4 animal and you're a City of Kerrville resident or you're 5 in Kerr County way out in the middle of nowhere, on the 6 edge of the County, you trap any animal, call us, we 7 will come and get it. That is not -- there's been no -- 8 no limit to what we'll come get. So what we're looking 9 at here is some of the time is spent, it's a huge amount 10 of call volume to go on these calls for armadillos, 11 squirrels, possums, all the non-high-risk rabies 12 carriers, which are raccoons, bats, skunks, coyotes and 13 foxes. So you're not going to catch a bat in a trap, but 14 those other four you may. 15 And my suggestion is we'll still go and get 16 the high-risk rabies carriers but, to me, I mean, you 17 know, people kind of take advantage of some of these 18 rural places. I mean, you can set a trap and catch 19 something every night. Of course, when you look at the 20 reasoning, too, it's why are people trapping in the 21 first place? Because I guess it's a nuisance to them 22 and they believe that it's a nuisance. So that's been a 23 question that's come up. And it really comes down to, 24 is that a service that the County wants to continue to 25 provide? And I think that that's one, you know, I'd be 44 1 okay with if -- we'll still pick up trapped animals. Of 2 course, this is also if you've got an injured animal or 3 something. Depending on the situation, we're still going 4 to go and deal with it. 5 But your run of the mill, hey, I've got a 6 possum in a trap, basically -- well, we don't pick those 7 up. And basically we go tell them to either call 8 someone else, a pest control company or somebody that 9 does trapping, or just deal with it themselves. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree with that. For 11 a rabies control department, we should only pick up 12 high-risk rabies animals. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Without a doubt. If 14 people can set a trap, they can take care it their 15 selves. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It's a wide County to 17 drive across every day. 18 MR. GIVENS: It's a lot. It's a huge part of 19 their call volume. So, I mean, this is something -- 20 we'll look at it at some point, you know, and figuring 21 something out. But it's -- they spend a lot of time 22 picking up these animals. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Now talk to us about 24 cats. 25 MR. GIVENS: All right. So cats. So this 45 1 one's come up and -- and let me give you a little back 2 story explanation of where we're at and why -- why we're 3 here. 4 So the reason that we -- the reason our 5 euthanasia numbers are so low is because I authorized 6 several years back for Kerrville Pets Alive, and 7 basically Freeman-Fritts is your -- the main ones to 8 work with Austin Pets Alive, and maybe even others, for 9 a barn cat program, which has been very successful in 10 getting a lot of these feral cats out of the facility 11 without having to be euthanized. They're sent, most of 12 them I believe, to Austin. And they go through their 13 feral cat or their barn cat program. 14 And so basically what that does is that 15 gives us a way to get these animals out without having 16 the euthanize them and we're not putting them back out 17 on the street here. They're going into a program where 18 someone may want a barn cat that's not the friendliest 19 cat but it will -- it's a barn cat. So what has happened 20 is, I guess we've got several months. It's been building 21 up. Not only have we be doing that, but other counties, 22 other cities, other organizations are doing the same 23 thing now. They figured out what our secret was, I 24 guess, so to speak. And so they're -- they're sending a 25 lot more there. And it's getting a lot harder for these 46 1 volunteers to get these cats out quick enough for us 2 to -- for our needs, basically. 3 And you guys know, we're space based in the 4 facility. So whenever we fill up, if there's no room 5 and we got cats coming in or dogs, basically whoever's 6 been there the longest that hasn't been reclaimed, 7 they're the ones that may have to be euthanized to make 8 room for the others. And we're getting back into a 9 situation where that is becoming an issue. Because 10 there's just not enough time to get these animals out. 11 And the reason this is a talking point as well, is I 12 guess probably about six years ago the County allowed 13 for cat -- we omit cats from the County order. So State 14 Law says dogs and cats have to be restrained. 15 In our County order we omit cats. It 16 doesn't apply to cats. Okay. So they can run loose out 17 there and I get it, it sounds funny. Because who's 18 going to keep -- you know, most people don't keep their 19 cats restrained. This was never something that we were 20 out, you know, heavily enforcing. See a cat out. Okay. 21 But that's -- that's pretty much a complaint-based 22 enforcement type of situation, because what you do is 23 you have people that trap. And why do they trap? 24 Because they believe that there's a nuisance. And so we 25 have a lot of issues out there with cats, that's why we 47 1 end up with these cats, because people trap them. 2 My officers do not go out and catch cats. 3 They do with dogs, but cats are different. You're not 4 going to catch a cat unless he's sick or hurt or 5 friendly and comes up to you. We don't -- we just don't 6 do that. We're only picking them if they're trapped. 7 So basically where we're at here is since we omit cats 8 from the order, it has opened up the door to ask the 9 question, well, why are we picking them up? It's not 10 illegal for them to run loose, so why are we picking 11 them up? And I agree with that. Why are we picking 12 them up? Well, the reasoning is because they're a 13 nuisance for somebody and they trapped them and so we're 14 trying to help. 15 So basically what we've gotten to here is, 16 and it's been okay because, you know, they've been able 17 to move these animals and it hasn't been a big problem 18 because of all the hard work they've put in to get them 19 out. But now we need to make a decision on what we're 20 going to do. If we're going to continue to pick up 21 these cats, there will more than likely be -- our 22 euthanasia numbers are going to come up. 23 So the question arises, well, what are we 24 here to do, what are we going to do? Are we -- so it's 25 really -- the problem doesn't seem that complicated. It 48 1 kind of is, but are we going to assist people with a 2 nuisance condition if they believe the problem? Are we 3 going to still allow them to bring them in? Are we 4 going to limit how many they bring in? Where is the 5 line of helping people versus helping the cats, the 6 euthanasia going up versus -- you know, that's -- that's 7 why I'm here to ask these questions. Because I want to 8 know what the Court thinks about that. Because, you 9 know, I can make those decisions but I want to know what 10 guys want to do. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because we get the 12 calls. 13 MR. GIVENS: You get the calls. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, he does, too. 15 We need to support him. 16 MR. GIVENS: But I want it to be known that 17 once the decisions are made on that will affect the 18 euthanasia numbers. They will go up. But, you know, as 19 you look at it, this is another part of it, I want to -- 20 one thing I'm a little worried about, the City of 21 Kerrville, I'm not sure everybody's aware. I don't 22 think I've sat down and talked to you guys about it. 23 The City of Kerrville is actually redoing their animal 24 control ordinance right now. I've actually been a part 25 of that. Karen has been a part of that. A good little 49 1 committee. We've been meeting on Wednesday nights for 2 awhile. And I used a really good ordinance they're 3 coming up with. It's going to go to City Council here 4 pretty soon. Actually, I think tomorrow there's a 5 workshop on it. But I don't want to do anything here 6 with us in the County that's going to, you know, counter 7 any of that. I'm just concerned. 8 This is -- this is one of those things that 9 you look at and go, well, like I just said, you know, 10 what are we going to do? Because like I say, the 11 decisions that are made will affect euthanasia, it's 12 going to go up. And unless we keep doing what we're 13 doing and -- or -- or change it to where we're not 14 picking up cats, but then I need to know what does the 15 Court want to do? Do you want to limit people? Do you 16 want to limit how many cats people can bring in per 17 week? Because that's what we're doing right now. We're 18 doing that right now. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A couple things on this 20 one, in my opinion. One, I'd like to wait for the City 21 of Kerrville to get their ordinance through. Because I 22 think it's helpful, even though they're not required for 23 us to try to be in line with City of Kerrville on animal 24 control issues. So I think I'd just like to wait. 25 The other thing I'd like to do, and I don't 50 1 know who you would contact, but years ago -- I'm sure 2 it's over ten years ago, probably closer to 15 years ago 3 -- the County approved TNR, which is trap/neuter/release 4 cats. And the idea was that that will eliminate cat 5 colonies. Well, I'd like to find out if those cat 6 colonies have decreased with TNR, because in 15 years 7 those colonies should be down and there's a couple of 8 groups that do that. 9 And Karen, you may be able to help with that 10 too, or look into that a little bit, too. You may know 11 some of the folks. Because I think cats, feral cats are 12 a real problem. They're a problem and I'm -- Lord knows 13 I'm a pretty big wildlife proponent. And they're 14 terrible for wildlife. So, to me, they are a public 15 nuisance and I think we need to try to do something with 16 them. We modified -- State Law says you have to control 17 your cats. The Court agreed to let things settle down 18 and you don't have to control your cats. And now the 19 problem's just continuing and it's a problem in my mind 20 and I think that we need to do something. 21 So, you know, I don't have a definite 22 recommendation at this point, but I think that we need 23 to help the public with the feral cat problem. I think 24 that's a worthwhile thing for this County to do. 25 MR. GIVENS: Karen wants to say something. 51 1 MRS. GUERRIERO: May I say a few words? 2 JUDGE KELLY: Sure. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Please do. I was 4 going to call on you anyway. 5 MRS. GUERRIERO: Awesome. I'm Karen 6 Guerriero with the Kerrville Pets Alive. And just to 7 speak on that a little bit. Yes, we do have a cat issue 8 in Kerr County. And 75% of the animals that end up in 9 Animal Control are from the inside the City limits. I 10 want to let you know that every group in Kerrville that 11 helps with animals is doing our part. Every month at 12 least 100 cats are -- both friendly and feral -- are 13 getting euthanized -- or not euthanized, I don't want to 14 say that -- are getting fixed and vaccinated monthly. 15 We're trying to tag them from all over the areas. 16 We're also helping with the -- I know the 17 City of Kerrville is trying to get the city 18 certification, and we're working with them. And it's 19 all about everyone working together with Animal Control 20 at the Alive cats and Animal Control interaction and the 21 owned cats that end up in the feral room that we're 22 actually -- the County does allow us to go in and 23 socialize and give them back to their owners. 24 There's a lot of different factors, but know 25 that there's a lot of effort going on right now to deal 52 1 with the situation. And our recommendation, as far as 2 the committee, though, was to not have -- be picking up 3 the cats to allow people to bring in their cats, to give 4 a little bit of a barrier right now. It might reduce 5 the numbers. So it's not only about just saving the 6 cats, it's public safety and we are doing our part, just 7 give us a little bit of time to address that. We can 8 even come back and report to you on that. 9 JUDGE KELLY: The one thing I want to 10 know -- 11 MRS. GUERRIERO: Yes. 12 JUDGE KELLY: -- are you and Reagan working 13 together, and is this a joint recommendation? 14 MRS. GUERRIERO: Absolutely. 15 JUDGE KELLY: That's what I want to hear. 16 Good. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I think Austin is a 18 great place for these cats. Sounds like a lot of other 19 people figured that out, too. You might check with 20 Houston for a few others. 21 MRS. GUERRIERO: Well, these colonies are 22 being -- I mean we're -- our community is becoming more 23 dense, and these colonies are being more recognized and 24 HEB has a colony and so now that we've got some folks 25 there, they're flushed out. So we are identifying the 53 1 colonies. We know where the colonies are, and they are 2 managed and -- there are some good things. Some -- a 3 lot of companies do like the colony cats population. 4 We'll be glad to help, and one has a colony that needs 5 to be vaccinated. Oh, that's my phone. Any other 6 questions? 7 JUDGE KELLY: So this is really a bring it 8 back to court issue? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On this one, I'd like 10 to -- I really want to see what the City does. And I 11 feel -- 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah, and we need to. 13 JUDGE KELLY: I'd like to see written 14 policies. 15 MRS. GUERRIERO: Right. Well, let's see 16 what the workshop tomorrow is and then we'll see. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So this has been an 18 information item. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. And I agree with 20 Commissioner Letz. Let's wait and see what Kerrville 21 does so that we're more less in sync or in line. But 22 I'm also -- just my view on it is, you guys are already 23 doing a great job, and do all you can to neuter and find 24 homes for these cats. But if you can't and, you know, 25 we reach the point where, you know, the public is just 54 1 no longer interested in taking these things, I'm okay 2 actually if the euthanization rates go up. 3 So how you decide whether it's, you know, 4 first in, first out or whatever, I mean that -- that's 5 up to you. If you have a view that there's a particular 6 cat that's more likely to get placed and it just hasn't 7 happened yet, again, up to you. 8 MR. GIVENS: Well, I've seen this in the 9 past. You know, we -- we don't adopt out the actual 10 feral cats. And that's another thing I'll say. These 11 guys, and I'll mention that Shelly Sandy has worked with 12 these cats for years. They go in and you wouldn't even 13 believe how much time they spend working with them. 14 Because when these cats come in, they pretty much all go 15 in the feral room. Because no cat likes to be trapped. 16 It doesn't like being in a trap, and they all are 17 scared. So we're trying to give them time and let these 18 folks work with them so they can see if they're really 19 feral or if they're not. Because there's a lot of them 20 there aren't and they end up being a friendly cat. They 21 get moved. They can be adopted out in the public. 22 But what I'm getting at is, you know, in the 23 past we haven't adopted feral cats out to the public 24 because, you know, they're -- well, A, nobody really 25 came for them. They wanted a friendly cat. But, you 55 1 know, there was a risk there is what you get. Here's a 2 cat that if you grab it, pet it, it's going to tear you 3 up pretty good. So they've just done a real fantastic 4 job of working with them. 5 I just need some assistance with where to go 6 from here. Do we continue picking the cats up? Do we 7 stop picking them up and allow people to bring in an 8 unlimited amount? Do we limit the amount that you bring 9 in if we stop picking them up. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Like what is -- what 11 is the limit right now? 12 MR. GIVENS: Well, we were doing two. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: So people brought in 14 more then two cats a week? 15 MR. GIVENS: Yeah. I mean, there's 16 situations where it's -- I think -- the most I can think 17 of in like one week was actually nine over the course of 18 several days. They had a huge problem. They were 19 trapping a bunch. But then you get into, you know, 20 that's a problem in and of itself and you get into our 21 72-hour hold time and then us having to put crates in 22 there and put cats in crates and things like that in 23 order to meet the hold time and make sure that we don't, 24 you know, that's basically just running out of space, I 25 think. But yes, people do. They trap and they bring 56 1 in. 2 Now, can I stand here and tell you guys that 3 I think that any of this stuff works? I don't know. I 4 don't know. You can trap cats and bring them all to us 5 in one day. Is that going to take care of your problem? 6 I don't know. But I can tell you that not -- that 7 limiting it is not taking care of it. So like for a lot 8 of you it's not taking care of the problem. So I'm just 9 trying to be honest with you guys that it's like -- I 10 mean, you know, what are we going to do? 11 JUDGE KELLY: Well, establishing a policy 12 is a work in progress. And we're still waiting on the 13 City Council and we'll see what the City does. And 14 y'all refined your recommendations and put together the 15 written policies that you're going to recommend to us. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I'm -- I mean just 17 from my standpoint, I'm fine with people having to bring 18 cats in. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Me too. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't know that we 21 need to go pick them up. 22 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I don't think you need 23 to go pick them up, yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I'm fine with -- let 25 them bring it in. 57 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Especially if it's a 2 sick cat. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I think we need to 4 have a policy that we do accept them and either try to 5 adopt them out and if, you know, worse case, euthanize 6 them. But you know, I think if you limit the number, 7 you certainly are helping the adoption side of it. 8 MR. GIVENS: Right. Yeah. 9 JUDGE KELLY: So thanks. Thanks. With 10 that, we're going to take our morning break and we're 11 running a little late, I apologize. 12 MRS. STEBBINS: I -- before you go, I just 13 had a question on the -- for the traps, the trapping of 14 animals. Did y'all want to make a decision on that one 15 today and pass anything or do you want to just come 16 back? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think I'd rather just 18 have a written policy. 19 MRS. STEBBINS: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think it's good to 21 have it in writing so that Reagan then can go here's the 22 policy. 23 MR. GIVENS: Okay. So continue on like we 24 have been for now and then come back -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But on the first two 58 1 items, you can go ahead and write the policy up and then 2 bring it back next court and we can go ahead and approve 3 those. 4 MR. GIVENS: Okay. Okay. 5 JUDGE KELLY: So at this time we're going to 6 take our morning break. Be back by 10:15. 7 (Brief recess.) 8 JUDGE KELLY: Court will come back to order. 9 We will now proceed to the timed items. We're going to 10 come back to 1.10 through 1.13 after we finish these 10 11 o'clock timed items. 12 First one is 1.14 public hearing for a 13 revision of plat for Bandera Hills Subdivision. 14 I call the meeting to order. Is there 15 anyone here that would like to address the Court with 16 regard to Bandera Hills Subdivision Lots 22 and 23. 17 There being none, then we'll adjourn the 18 public hearing and move on to Item 1.15 consider, 19 discuss and take appropriate action for the Court to set 20 a public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on May 13th, 2024, for 21 revision of plat for Y.O. Ranchlands Section 2, Tracts 22 97 and 98. Mr. Hastings. 23 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. This 24 proposal revises and combines two existing tracts. 25 Tract 97 (49 acres) and Tract 98 (71 acres) will be 59 1 combined into Tract 974 (120 acres). Road frontage will 2 be on Camino Y.O. East and L Dry Pasture. 3 The County Engineer requests the Court set a 4 public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on May 13th, 2024 for a 5 revision of plat for Y.O. Ranchlands Section 2, Tracts 6 97 and 98, Volume 5, Page 357 through 360, Precinct 4. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 9 JUDGE KELLY: We got a motion and a second 10 to approve setting a public hearing for Y.O. Ranchland 11 Section 2, Lots 97 and 98, for 10:00 a.m. on May the 12 13th of this year. Any discussion? Those in favor say 13 aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 14 Moving on to Item 1.16 consider, discuss and 15 take appropriate action regarding a proposed concept 16 plan addressing the requirement of a water availability 17 study as required by the Texas -- by the Kerr County 18 Model Subdivision Rules for a revision of Lot 94 in 19 Hidden Valley Ranch. Mr. Hastings. 20 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. I've been 21 asked if this would be an acceptable method and I said I 22 don't know. It's the Court's decision. Let's take it 23 to the Court. This proposed revision of plat would 24 divide Lots 94 into three lots (94A 2.0 acres, 94B 2.78 25 acres, and 94C 2.0 acres), thus invoking compliance with 60 1 the Model Subdivision Rules, and that is anywhere a 2 residential subdivision creating two or more lots of 3 five acres or less when they kick in, and it 4 necessitates a water availability study on an existing 5 public water system, that's been a topic that we've been 6 trying to tackle, trying to see if there's a way to do 7 this. 8 The developer is seeking concurrence from 9 the Court to move forward with the water available study 10 that utilizes existing data on the Southern Hills wells 11 to obtain the information necessary to complete 30 TAC 12 Ch. 230, Sections 230.1 through and including 230.11, in 13 lieu of drilling new wells. 14 Per a phone conversation that I had with 15 Kaveh Khorzad, he did confirm in his March 8th, 2024 16 letter that is attached, that he erroneously listed that 17 they would comply with 230.2 through 230.11, but it -- 18 that was in error; it's 230.1. 19 So all -- they want to comply with 20 everything; however, they are seeking if the Court would 21 accept the report once it's done if a new well is not 22 drilled. 23 The County Engineer requests the Court 24 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action regarding 25 the proposed concept plan addressing the requirement of 61 1 a water availability study as required by the Kerr 2 County Model Subdivision Rules for a revision of Lot 94, 3 Hidden Valley Ranch Section 2, Precinct 1. And I 4 believe Kaveh is here if you have any questions for him. 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. I guess I don't 6 see how it complies with 230 water availability study. 7 So, you know, when we accepted EDAP funds, we obligated 8 Kerr County to comply with the Model Subdivision Rulse 9 and we've had a number of different discussions. We've 10 heard from our legal counsel on this, and I just don't 11 see a way to get around it. And I'm informed that the 12 law has even been made stricter on this issue. 13 To me the issue is groundwater is a huge 14 issue here in Kerr County. And relying on anything 15 that's old data just doesn't cut it anymore. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Where do you find that 17 language that says that relying on old data doesn't cut 18 it? 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, that's what's 20 being proposed here. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I know. I'm just 22 saying where is that in the rules? If it -- I look at 23 it -- and any engineering, you're an engineer -- 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yes, sir. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- if they -- you know, 62 1 a water issue and the engineer says he can do a water 2 availability study using old data, if I'm going to 3 challenge that and I think the Court challenged it, we 4 have to hire an engineer to say he's wrong. Because a 5 Court cannot challenge the engineer. If he goes ahead 6 and does it, that's my understanding of engineering law, 7 rules, regulations, whatever you want to call it. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So I mean I think that's 10 the issue. I mean, it almost does more to a legal 11 issue. If we get a report from a hydrologist -- and 12 this happens to be a very renown hydrologist, that says 13 this qualifies and it meets the requirements of a water 14 availability study, I don't see how we can say no. 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, I guess, number 16 one, we haven't seen the report. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: But a lot has happened 19 since the data was obtained that he's going to -- he's 20 already referred to that he'll be using a lot of 21 additional development. So -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. But I'm not a 23 hydrologist is the problem. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: As an engineer and 25 somebody who has looked at a lot of aquifers -- 63 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You're not a -- 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- and read a lot of -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- you're a petroleum 4 engineer. 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: Doesn't matter. We 6 deal with aquifers too. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He's a civil engineer. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: Anyway, my point here, 9 you're not letting me make my point. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: My point is, you know, 12 you're not using all the data. And to use data that 13 that's old, I think it's, what, 2010? Is that what I 14 saw in there? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's 2010. That's 16 what's in there. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah, well that's 14 18 years ago. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: What's in the 20 regulations? Isn't there specific wording in the 21 regulations that we were using? If there was a water 22 study -- a water study done within how many years? 23 MR. HASTINGS: Oh, no. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: No, we didn't -- 25 MR. HASTINGS: No, we don't do -- that's not 64 1 in the regulations. There's no language like that. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Charlie, would you 3 expect to get a -- get different information from a new 4 well? 5 MR. HASTINGS: I -- I don't know. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: That's right. 7 MR. HASTINGS: I'm -- this is not my area of 8 expertise. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Oh, I understand. But 10 I just wanted to throw that out there. 11 MR. HASTINGS: I don't know that I'm 12 qualified to question what he would sign and seal. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Is anybody here that 14 could answer that or -- 15 MR. HASTINGS: Well, I thought he was going 16 to be here. I -- I'm not -- he didn't call me but I 17 thought he was going to be here so I did list him on the 18 agenda so he could speak. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: I notice we have three 20 representatives from Headwaters Ground Water 21 Conservation District. Does anybody want to -- 22 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we've got one signed up 23 to talk and that's Tom Jones. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: Oh. Now would be a 25 good time. 65 1 MR. JONES: I was just waiting to be asked. 2 You know, I had a great conversation with Jonathan and 3 Charlie a minute ago, and part of it was what does TAC 4 230 call for? And my questions were going to be for 5 comment. Because y'all might have the answers to that. 6 And I do need to talk to him and get some answers from 7 him. But it is very specific. 8 Even from the modeling of it that they have 9 to do for a complete buildout on a subdivision when they 10 do a water availability study. The rules do not say 11 that you may have an observation well, it says you shall 12 have an observation well. And so you do need an 13 observation well when you do conduct this test. It's not 14 an option. 15 And so if -- if Texas Water Development 16 Board, and I think Charlie will tell you, that they 17 might approve something along these lines, you still 18 have to dig further into the rules and go to TAC 230.8. 19 And when we get down to there, it starts talking about 20 how you can use an existing well. But to use that, it 21 has to have adequate levels compared to when the wells 22 were originally drilled to where they are today to be 23 able to use that well. So our aquifer is changing all 24 the time. 25 I just had a conversation with Gene the 66 1 other day about even looking at changing our levels and 2 what we consider a max full aquifer because they've 3 dropped so drastically over the last 15 years. If this 4 well was drilled 14 years ago, those levels will not be 5 adequate. They will not be comparable, most likely. 6 That's the question that I have for Kaveh. And he has 7 to sign a report that states that this will be good for 8 30 years. 9 Well, when that well was drilled 14 years 10 ago, you're halfway there. And you did not have all the 11 information on a complete buildout for a subdivision at 12 the time. So left with that, you could go in and start 13 trying to utilize these old well systems and you could 14 end up with this situation, the one in Hunt, all these 15 different situations to where you have a platted 16 subdivision and all of a sudden somebody wants to come 17 in and divide it up into more and more and more on wells 18 that never had a water availability study to begin with. 19 That's the danger you can run into. 20 Now I'm not anti growth at all. But I will 21 tell you that water is a very precious commodity here 22 and we need to protect it and that's y'all's job. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I agree totally with 24 everything Tom said. But unfortunately Kaveh isn't 25 here. So I think, you know, to me if he does a study 67 1 and signs it, then it's up to us at that point to say 2 yes, we'll accept it, or no, we're going to hire an 3 engineer to challenge it. 4 MR. JONES: Right. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's the process in my 6 mind. I mean, I agree with everything you said. 7 MR. JONES: Yeah. It's a problem. And I 8 don't think the State should allow us to use older 9 wells, but I'm not -- 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, as a monitor 11 well, sure. 12 MR. JONES: But -- well yeah, but you can't 13 do a water availability study without a monitor well. 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: Right. 15 MR. JONES: And there's a reason for that. 16 So you can measure the gradient and the levels of all of 17 it. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: That's right. 19 MR. JONES: It's -- it's going to be a real 20 problem, I think, going in the future, because you're 21 going to set a precedence here that's not going to be 22 able to be controlled later. Then you're going to have 23 everybody coming in and saying, well, want to use this 24 old well. It could be a real problem in the future 25 going forward so. But anyway. 68 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: Tom, before you step 2 away, maybe you could help me, and perhaps the public as 3 well, understand our public water suppliers, when was 4 the last time any of them did a water availability 5 study? 6 MR. JONES: I don't think there's been any 7 done. Where is Chris? 8 VOICE: He walked out a minute ago. 9 MR. JONES: Oh, that chicken. I don't 10 believe there have been any done. We've only had two or 11 three done recently and that's it. We've never had a 12 water availability study done here in forever. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: How did they -- 14 MR. JONES: And so I believe we've done two 15 or three recently and in every one of them he drilled an 16 observation well. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The ones that have been 19 done recently in subdivisions, I know Hidden Springs did 20 it but they're not a public water system, but they did 21 do a water availability study. 22 MR. JONES: Right. Right. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The most recent 24 subdivision -- 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: Creekside is one. 69 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- on a public water 2 system is probably -- well, they're -- 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. Right. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- probably Falling 5 Waters. And I don't think they ever did -- they haven't 6 done one, I don't think. 7 MR. JONES: Well, they haven't got it yet if 8 they did. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. I don't believe 10 they did. That's the most recent large public water 11 system that I'm aware of that was done. 12 MR. JONES: I do know Kaveh is not familiar 13 with dealing with the PEGMA, which we are. And that's 14 the reason I was looking at those aquifer levels 15 dropping consistently. Because the definition of a 16 PEGMA shows that over a 50-year period we're going to 17 drop substantially in our water. That's what they're 18 projecting. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 20 MR. JONES: And we're already showing that 21 happening and occurring. And that -- that would be my 22 concern with using old wells. Trying to use old levels 23 and saying, well, they were good when we put them in, we 24 did get enough measurements to make it safe. Well, 25 considering this area. Because a PEGMA is a pretty 70 1 serious thing. There's only seven in the state of 2 Texas. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Right. 4 MR. JONES: And it's pretty serious for us 5 to be in that area and start depleting our resources by 6 being irresponsible by accepting just whatever the State 7 may say and not challenging it. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And what you're saying 9 is if we do a water availability study and one is done 10 by then, it shouldn't be too hard to find an engineer 11 that may disagree with that. 12 MR. JONES: Right. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that gives us the 14 basis for saying that in my mind. 15 MR. JONES: Right. 16 JUDGE KELLY: But I think this just gets us 17 back to the same conundrum that we knew when we passed 18 the new subdivision rule. And that is that when a 19 developer comes in with a water availability study, that 20 may be technically challengeable. We don't know if it's 21 going to be a good study or not a good study. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 23 JUDGE KELLY: And we're probably going to 24 have to have our own expert review whatever's presented 25 to see is that an accurate representation of what the 71 1 water situation is. 2 MR. JONES: I've never -- I mean, I've dealt 3 with looking at a lot of Kaveh's reports and he's 4 excellent. 5 JUDGE KELLY: I know. 6 MR. JONES: He is. And -- and -- but to go 7 down this road, even today y'all do the workshop he was 8 in here, I was trying to challenge him on some of it 9 then. Because I was hearing language I've never heard 10 before. And -- and I don't know if it's because we're 11 trying to change the way that they're viewing all of it, 12 but we've -- we've even asked him about a PEGMA and he 13 was not familiar with it. He's never dealt with that in 14 the PEGMA designation before. And that's huge. 15 JUDGE KELLY: But that goes to the merits of 16 any challenge that we have of what's provided to us. 17 MR. JONES: It does. 18 JUDGE KELLY: And so, really, we're 19 speculating about what is Kaveh going to provide us. 20 MR. JONES: Right. 21 JUDGE KELLY: And -- and whether or not 22 that's going to be sufficient -- 23 MR. JONES: You're a hundred percent 24 correct. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Which is hard to do. 72 1 MR. JONES: And that's the reason I was 2 hoping he'd be here today. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: I mean, he can do the 4 study. But it's at his risk or whoever's paying for 5 it -- 6 MR. JONES: Correct. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- because it may not 8 satisfy this Court. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 10 JUDGE KELLY: But so the public understands, 11 and the developers understand, this is a dilemma that 12 the developer faces -- 13 MR. JONES: Yep. 14 JUDGE KELLY: -- and the owner of the 15 property faces. You gotta bring us a water availability 16 study that's going to pass muster. 17 MR. JONES: And it would be very high risk 18 for -- for Kaveh or any engineer to sign off on a 19 30-year without doing a lot of -- I mean he's -- he's 20 good, without doing a lot of backup planning and 21 working. But he still has to abide by TAC 230. He has 22 to do that. And so I'm not sure how he can do that and 23 still provide that report. 24 JUDGE KELLY: And so, are we even in a 25 position to act on it today? 73 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: I don't think so. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think so. Until 3 he does the report, we can't do anything. At that 4 point, we can hire someone to say we disagree with it. 5 JUDGE KELLY: So this -- this issue is 6 really not ripe for determination today. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: No. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: No, it's not. But 10 it's -- it's feedback. It's good feedback -- 11 JUDGE KELLY: It is good feedback. 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- for Kaveh and 13 whoever's likely to be paying for this thing. That just 14 because they go ahead and do it doesn't mean we're going 15 to accept it. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 17 MR. HASTINGS: I would just, like, for the 18 record just to read Kaveh's letter since he's not here. 19 I was anticipating him being here. I don't know what 20 happened. But just so the public knows, it's dated 21 March 8, 2024. It was sent to me. 22 Mr. Hastings: Wet Rock Groundwater 23 Services, LLC, proposes to aid G&H Holdings, LLC in 24 completing a Certification of Groundwater Availability 25 for Platting form detailed in Title 30, Texas 74 1 Administrative Code, Chapter 230, Sections 230.2 -- 2 which I called him and I said, are you trying to skip 3 230.1, and he said no, no, that's an error in my letter, 4 it really should be 230.1 -- through and including 5 230.11. G&H is proposing to subdivide Lot 94 (6.78 acre 6 tract) of Hidden Valley Ranch Section 2 into three lots. 7 The source of water to these lots will be from an 8 existing public water system (Southern Hills), owned by 9 Texas Water Utilities, LP. 10 According to the Texas Commission on 11 Environmental Quality, Southern Hills currently serves 12 325 connections via four wells completed within the 13 Trinity aquifer. G&H will provide a water service 14 agreement with their plat application showing that the 15 water system is capable of serving these three 16 additional lots. The existing water supply and water 17 system facilities are sufficient to serve these three 18 additional lots. 19 30 TAC Chapter 230 contemplat4es drilling 20 wells and conducting aquifer tests to show that the 21 water supply has sufficient quantity and quality of 22 water to serve the proposed subdivision. In addition, it 23 requires groundwater modeling to determine impacts of 24 that production after 10 and 30 years. In lieu of 25 drilling and conducting aquifer tests on newly 75 1 constructed wells, G&H proposes to use existing data on 2 the Southern Hills wells to obtain the information 3 necessary to complete 30 TAC Chapter 230, Sections 230.2 4 -- which we know it was supposed to be 230.1 -- through 5 and including 230.11. Below is a summary of how that 6 will be accomplished: 7 1. He was going to obtain well construction 8 data including aquifer testing and water quality on the 9 Southern Hills Well No. 4. Well No. 4 is the closest 10 well within the Southern Hills water system that will be 11 serving the proposed subdivided tracts. Wet Rock 12 Groundwater Services conducted the aquifer testing on 13 this well on August 12th, 2010, including an aquifer 14 test report that was submitted to Headwaters Groundwater 15 Conservation District;. 16 2. Wet Rock Groundwater Services will 17 analyze the aquifer test data to determine a 18 transmissivity value. The aquifer testing conducted by 19 WRGS, that's Wet Rock Groundwater Services, also 20 included an observation well and a calculated 21 storativity. During that test, the drawdown in the 22 observation well of (Southern Hills Well No. 3) was 23 minimal making a storativity calculation difficult. We 24 propose to use a published value for storativity from 25 the Trinity Aquifer Groundwater Availability Model (GAM) 76 1 from the Texas Water Development Board. 2 3. Existing water quality data from the 3 Southern Hills water system is available from the TCEQ 4 Drinking Water Watch database which will be used to 5 fulfill the water quality requirements in 30 TAC Chapter 6 230.9, and 7 4. WRGS also has geophysical logs of 8 Southern Hills Well No. 4 that will be used in the 9 report. 10 With the available data from the Southern 11 Hills Well No. 4, WRGS will be able to complete all of 12 the required information within 30 TAC Chapter 230, 13 Sections 230.2 -- supposed to be 230.1 -- through and 14 including 230.11 using existing data in lieu of drilling 15 new wells. 16 And then he signed it. And if had any 17 questions I can call him. So I called him and said, 18 Are you going to be there? And he said, Yeah, I'll be 19 there. I said, Good, because they're going to have 20 questions for you. He's not here. I can't answer for 21 him. But I did want to read that letter so that the 22 public knows. This is -- this is what this is about. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I think it's been very 25 informative. We'll go ahead and pass on to the next 77 1 agenda item, which is 1.17 consider, discuss and take 2 appropriate action to authorize County Judge to execute 3 settlement agreement with Randall Nabors, Precinct 1. 4 Charlie. 5 MR. HASTINGS: I believe that we need to 6 discuss this in Executive Session. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We'll pass that to 8 Executive Session and go to 1.18 consider, discuss and 9 take appropriate action on payment request from D Guerra 10 Construction Company for the East Kerr County wastewater 11 project, Phases 2 and 3. 12 We're going to do that in Executive Session 13 also? 14 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Be patient with us. 16 We'll get over there. 17 Next is item 1.19 consider, discuss and take 18 appropriate action for the Commissioners' Court approval 19 to purchase a new Etnyre Chip Spreader. 20 Did I say that right? 21 MS. HOFFER: Yes, sir. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Ms. Hoffer. 23 MS. HOFFER: Before you is a sales agreement 24 from Cooper Equipment for a new Etnyre chip spreader. 25 This piece of equipment is listed on our five-year 78 1 equipment replacement program. The Auditor's Office 2 surplused the unit that will be traded in. This unit -- 3 the unit we're going to trade-in is RBU220, which has 4 already been surplused on February 26th. The purchase 5 of this new unit will be under BuyBoard Government 6 Purchasing Contract No. 685-22, with a seven percent 7 discount. The trade-in value of the old unit is 8 $175,000. The final purchase price will be $263,670.53. 9 At this time, I ask the Commissioners' Court 10 for their approval to trade in RBU220 towards the 11 purchase of the new Chip Spreader and have the County 12 Judge sign the same. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Kelly, this chip 14 spread, is that -- is that the one we put on for this 15 year in the budget? 16 MS. HOFFER: Yes. Yes. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: That's one piece? 18 MS. HOFFER: Yes. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: How many more do we 20 have? 21 MS. HOFFER: We have completed everything. 22 We just -- some of them we haven't received the order 23 yet. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Gotcha. 25 MS. HOFFER: But everything is completed as 79 1 far as ordered or we have in our possession. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Good. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 6 approve the purchase of the new Etnyre Chip Spreader as 7 presented. Any discussion? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just so the public knows 9 how expensive some of this equipment is, the list price 10 is $436,000 for this piece of equipment. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Crazy. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Amazing. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But that's their end. 14 This is critical for the -- our Road & Bridge 15 operations. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Oh, without a doubt. 17 How many years will we get out of it, you reckon? 18 MS. HOFFER: Well, the one we're trading in 19 is a 2018 and I know that Commissioner Paces, you know, 20 had questioned that. We were going to surplus it. The 21 problem is with a lot of equipment, especially this one, 22 is lots of electronics. And when you're -- 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. 24 MS. HOFFER: -- when you're filling up the 25 bin, the hopper bins, with the rock to place down on the 80 1 road surface, you know, that rock is washed, but you 2 still have dust from it. And so there's a lot of dust 3 that gets into these boards, these electronic boards, 4 and they start having problems. 5 So, you know, I would say if you could get 6 five to seven years without running into some pretty 7 serious electronic issues you're probably doing pretty 8 well. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Potentially miles at 10 our rate of 50 miles a year we try -- we shoot for. 11 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. You know, and the 12 problem is with it is, you know, you lay out so much 13 oil, and this is the piece of equipment that comes right 14 directly behind it. If you have a problem, you've got 15 all this oil laid down on the road. 16 So, you know, it just seems everything today 17 has electronics. Sometimes I wish we could get stuff 18 that didn't have any of the electronics because anytime 19 you've got construction equipment, you've got a lot of 20 dust and it wreaks havoc on all of your electronic 21 boards, you know. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What kind of warranty do 23 these have? 24 MS. HOFFER: This one, I'm not for sure on 25 this. I'm not even sure -- 81 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm guessing like three 2 years probably. 3 MS. HOFFER: Yeah, I would guess. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It doesn't matter. I 5 mean, we need to get this piece of equipment. It's 6 okay. 7 MS. HOFFER: But I think our whole goal, as 8 you can see, you know, $175,000 is a pretty good trade 9 value. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 11 MS. HOFFER: When we bought this unit that 12 we're trading in, we had kept the other unit a lot 13 longer and the trade value on it was $50,000.00. 14 Granted it was a while back, but this has a pretty 15 sizable trade value on it. So that should help us with 16 our future purchases and it kind of keeps some of these 17 high costs of the electronics. Because this stuff is 18 really, really expensive when you have to start 19 replacing it. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And we gotta have it. 21 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. If you want to continue 22 chip sealing the roads you do. 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: Need to do that. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Are we ready to vote on 25 this? 82 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Those in favor say aye. 3 Opposed. Unanimous. 4 Move on to 1.20 consider, discuss and take 5 appropriate action for the Commissioners' Court approval 6 to purchase a brand new 2022 International Brush Truck. 7 Miss Hoffer. 8 MS. HOFFER: Before you is an invoice for 9 the purchase of a brand new 2022 International CV515 SFA 10 brush truck. This truck will be installed with a 11 16-cubic yard chip box that can be removed, if need be, 12 and turned into a small dump truck. This unit does not 13 require a CDL in order to drive, so any new employee 14 that does not have their CDL yet will be able to drive 15 this unit. 16 This brush truck is on our five-year 17 equipment least plan. The only difference was we 18 originally had a Ford F-750 unit which would have 19 required a CDL in order to drive. It was going to cost 20 $125,000 and instead, this unit that any licensed driver 21 could drive is a cost of $85,647.58. It's a savings of 22 $39,352.42. 23 The purchase is under the Sourcewell 24 contract No. 060920-NVS, which you will see in the 25 backup information is a flat $6,000.00 discount. 83 1 At this time, I ask the Commissioners' Court 2 for their approval to purchase an brand new 2022 3 International brush truck from Kyrish Truck Centers 4 under Sourcewell Contract and have the County Judge sign 5 the same. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 9 approve the purchase of the 2022 International Brush 10 Truck as presented. Any discussion? Those in favor say 11 aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 12 Item 1.21 consider, discuss and take 13 appropriate action for the Commissioners' Court approval 14 to name a private driveway "Almosta Ranch Rd. E.". Miss 15 Hoffer. Almosta? 16 MS. HOFFER: Yeah, I had to have somebody 17 point that out to me in my office. Ellis Mann -- or 18 Main applied through the Kerr 911 office on March 19th 19 to name an unnamed private driveway "Almosta Ranch Road 20 East." 21 This request is to assist with deliveries to 22 this property. Kerr County does not maintain this 23 private driveway. 24 At this time, I ask the Commissioners' Court 25 for their approval to name this unnamed private 84 1 driveway, "Almosta Ranch Rd. E.". This is in Precinct 2 2. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll move for approval. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 6 approve naming the private driveway "Almosta Ranch Rd. 7 E.". Any discussion? There's a subdivision in Lakeway 8 that they call "Cost Alotta." Who makes this stuff up, 9 I don't know. 10 MS. HOFFER: I don't know. 11 JUDGE KELLY: So with that, ready to vote? 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Those in favor say aye. 14 Opposed? Unanimous. 15 That last timed item is Item 1.22 consider, 16 discuss and take appropriate action for Commissioners' 17 Court approval of a general contract with The Lift Guys, 18 LLC, to install a new BendPak HDS-27X equipment lift for 19 the Mechanic Shop at Road & Bridge. Ms. Hoffer. 20 MS. HOFFER: Before you is the general 21 contract with The Lift Guys, LLC to install the new 22 BendPak HDS-27X equipment lift that the Court approved 23 at I think the last Commissioners' Court meeting. 24 We got news that we are going to save a 25 little bit of money, so it probably will be $1,525.00 85 1 cheaper than the initial installation cost, which would 2 bring it to $3,150.00. I'd like to keep that amount, 3 just in case that there is something but, you know, we 4 will not exceed that amount. 5 But I'm pretty confident that the lift 6 rental for the forklift, we've got equipment that will 7 be able to do that, and we won't have to rent a forklift 8 to do that. 9 At this time, we ask the Commissioners' 10 Court for their approval of the general contract with 11 The Lift Guys, LLC for $4,675.00, and have the County 12 Judge sign the same. 13 Like I said, I think it'll be about 14 $1,500.00 cheaper. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sounds good to me. I 16 move for approval. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Got a motion and a 19 second to approve the general contract with The Lift 20 Guys to install the new lift at Road & Bridge. Any 21 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 22 Unanimous. 23 MS. HOFFER: Thank you. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. With that, turn back in 25 your agenda -- 86 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, we have another 2 timed item. Yeah, it's 1.32. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 1.32 consider, discuss 4 and take appropriate action to clarify the payroll 5 policy for the April 8, 2024 solar eclipse day. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on the agenda 7 based on Sylvia contacted me and refreshed my memory on 8 something we did during budget and we -- it just kind of 9 clouded how we handle this. Both the Sheriff and Road & 10 Bridge are budgeted funds, overtime funds, for this day 11 to work. 12 And the question then comes up -- came up 13 from Road & Bridge, is to -- do they follow the policy 14 we adopted last week, which was you get a -- those -- 15 you get a -- basically you don't have to work and you 16 get an admin day, such as a bad weather day, or do they 17 work and get overtime? And they -- Sylvia asked me and 18 I said I don't know. 19 But my thought would be in looking at it, 20 I'm looking and I'm glad, you know, Kelly is still here. 21 You know, the intent was, I think, that the -- trying to 22 keep as many employees that don't have to work, home 23 that day and just give them a personal day they can take 24 later on. 25 JUDGE KELLY: That is the intent. 87 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. That is the 2 intent. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The Sheriff's Department 5 is probably the one that, you know, draws the short 6 stick. You're -- you have to work. We know that going 7 in. Road & Bridge, I don't know that Road & Bridge 8 falls in that category. They need to be on call. 9 But I would think that we're not going to be 10 able to get much Road & Bridge work done because we 11 can't -- the roads we anticipate being snarled. So the 12 question was which policy -- do we go by the budgeted 13 discussion for Road & Bridge or do we go by the policy 14 we did last week? 15 MS. HOFFER: I think a lot of it, at least 16 for Road & Bridge, our duty for this is to support the 17 Sheriff's Department with barricades and signs. I think 18 until we really see amount wise what we're dealing with, 19 I think will dictate a lot. 20 The problem is with us, when it's time for 21 time is that I already have a lot of people who, by the 22 time we get to the last month of the fiscal year, may 23 have got huge numbers that they need to get down, you 24 know, to that 320. And so we run into issues when we 25 start building a lot of time for time. 88 1 You know, at Road & Bridge if they earn a 2 little bit of comp time from a call out on the weekend 3 or at night, I'm a real stickler on we need to get that 4 time used up so we don't end up in September, where I've 5 got everybody off and we don't chipseal any roads. 6 And so you know, for us, when we had Winter 7 Storm Uri and we had, you know, multiple days. It 8 really helped us to not get to that part where all of a 9 sudden, everybody's trying to burn up their time at the 10 end of the year. And unfortunately for Road & Bridge, 11 that's the way it falls because we usually start our 12 chip seal program usually in May. If it's warm enough 13 and dry enough. And then we usually will shut down 14 anywhere from the very end of September. And if we're 15 lucky and we have a warm October, we can, you know, 16 shoot maybe the first two weeks and then we shut it down 17 because ground temperature is getting too cold. 18 So, you know, it's up to the Court on that, 19 but anytime we're at time for time for us, it -- people 20 start to build, you know, comp time type. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess the question 22 would be if -- I don't know where barricades will be 23 needed. I think -- I know the City -- and I presume all 24 the barricades of one-way streets and all that will be 25 done by the City of Kerrville. So we're talking about 89 1 the County. 2 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I don't know if -- 4 where in the County we'll be doing stuff. I just don't 5 know. 6 MS. HOFFER: Dub will be releasing -- I 7 can't remember the date. But Dub will be releasing that 8 traffic control plan. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: My understanding in all 10 the meetings I've attended is that we will not be 11 closing any County roads. 12 MS. HOFFER: Right. No. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: So we'll have, you 14 know, some of the Sheriff's deputies or possibly even 15 some volunteer fire fighters directing traffic so that 16 traffic lights on major intersections don't, you know, 17 screw up the timing and we can let a lot more people go 18 in one particular direction were there's a need. But in 19 terms of barricades, I don't know. I don't think 20 there's too much in the count. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. And may 22 understanding -- and Sheriff, you connect me if I'm 23 wrong -- like in my Precinct, people coming from Hunt on 24 39, right after the event they're going to be funneled 25 out 27 to, you know, Highway 41 or something like that 90 1 to get to 10. 2 SHERIFF LEITHA: Correct. And I'm going to 3 be talking about that in 3.2. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. 5 MS. HOFFER: And I think in that location I 6 think TxDOT is going to have a message board sign at 7 that location to help with that. I think that there 8 might be another one or two locations, we're going to 9 message board. 10 JUDGE KELLY: There's at least one if not 11 two more locations that I know of -- 12 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sure. Yeah. 14 JUDGE KELLY: -- where traffic is just going 15 to be diverted. It's going to flow. Hopefully. 16 MS. HOFFER: Well, the whole thing is to get 17 people onto highways that will get them, most of them, 18 to I-10. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Back towards Austin or 20 whatever. 21 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. And so, you know, we've 22 worked on this for two years. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Almost three. 24 MS. HOFFER: You know, I -- yeah, I think 25 the public, you know, does have some concerns, you know, 91 1 what -- but we -- I can assure the public we've been 2 working on this for a long time and there is a plan. 3 Some of the locations, TxDOT will take care of. Some 4 the City of Ingram, the City of Kerrville, and then Kerr 5 County. So, you know, if all of a sudden the Sheriff's 6 Department calls us and says, man, we got a bad spot 7 over here, we need you to bring in a barricade with this 8 verbiage on it, we'll be able to go and -- and help them 9 with that. So -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The thing is, I mean, I 11 don't -- you know, I'll leave it up to you. But I don't 12 want to pay employees overtime for sitting at the 13 office. 14 MS. HOFFER: Right. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: At Road & Bridge office. 16 If you can't go out and do work -- 17 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If we need a select 19 group up there, that's one thing. But I just don't -- 20 I'm not in favor of your whole department reporting to 21 work and getting overtime on a day like that. 22 MS. HOFFER: Right. What we're hoping is we 23 don't have to do something like that. Like I said, it's 24 just I hear varying things. I just read an article this 25 morning that because kind of our location, the length of 92 1 the total eclipse, that we've got a major interstate 2 that runs through has dictated why -- Kerrville, Texas 3 is the one that's supposed to have the highest number. 4 The State of Texas is supposed to have over a million. 5 But, you know, now places are starting to talk about how 6 they're going to need to face, you know, 500,000. I 7 don't know if that's true but -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Well, I agree 9 with you. We need to be prepared. 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: I think the main thing 11 is if you don't get those barricade in place, you know, 12 Friday before, you're not going to get them in on 13 Monday. So, you know, if we're going to put any kind of 14 barriers or barricades or -- 15 MS. HOFFER: Well, we're going to -- 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- other signs -- 17 MS. HOFFER: -- get the things out 18 on-site -- 19 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- they need to be out 21 well ahead of time -- 22 MS. HOFFER: -- or to -- 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- to the side of the 24 road -- 25 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. 93 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- where a Sheriff's 2 deputy or whoever is going to try to use them can drag 3 them out. 4 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: Otherwise, to try to 6 put them in place on Monday. 7 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: And I'm only going to 9 add that the City of Kerrville has put their traffic 10 plan on their website, Kerrvilleeclipse.com. So you 11 can -- you can review it and it talks about how they're 12 redirecting traffic and -- and all that, so -- 13 MS. HOFFER: We're going to try to change 14 ours to something because we just -- we have a fear of 15 people going, oh, I'd like to put that out on my road. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Souvenir from 17 Kerrville. 18 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So I guess to answer the 20 question because the question came from HR on how to 21 code this, any employees that you think has to work that 22 day would get overtime, other employees that don't have 23 to work get a comp day or get a -- whatever you call it. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: Admin day. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: An admin day. 94 1 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that's how it works 3 if it's not the whole department. Okay? 4 MS. HOFFER: And then our hope is to not 5 have to be fully staffed. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 7 MS. HOFFER: That's what we hope for. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the problem, as 9 Commissioner Paces said, it probably makes sense to have 10 a skeleton crew there, because you're not going to get 11 them there if you need them. 12 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And -- you know, and 14 that's the risk but, hey, it's not the whole department. 15 MS. HOFFER: We're going to try to keep some 16 out on the west end -- 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: Sure. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 19 MS. HOFFER: -- some out on the east end, 20 and then we'll have the central location where the main 21 office is. And some of those supervisors, they'll be 22 taking their trucks home that normally don't -- 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. 24 MS. HOFFER: -- and they'll be equipped with 25 some extra barricades, some extra signs. So if we do 95 1 get a call from the Sheriff's Department, if they've got 2 another location that needs something, we'll be ready to 3 go. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sounds good. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's a combination. All 7 right. 8 MS. HOFFER: That works. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: So do we need to -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, there's no 11 action. I think it's just clarification because I 12 didn't know how to code it. Because it gets 13 complicated. 14 SHERIFF LEITHA: Just so we're clear, 15 this -- that is the handbook policy so -- from the 16 County. And so we kind of took care of this during the 17 winter storms. And we have -- we have policy, and we 18 have income set to follow that policy. There was just 19 some changes of some ideas about whether we do comp 20 time, but if we follow the policy, those codes are 21 already in Incode and since we've already used that, 22 everybody should be familiar on what we need to do with 23 that. If we use that. It was just a change in the 24 idea, I think, when this first came up about the 25 eclipse, instead of using our essential employee 96 1 emergency time in our policy. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Law enforcement, y'all 3 are -- you're different. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Well, but that's a written 5 policy. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. And I agree with 7 that. Yeah. 8 JUDGE KELLY: That's what we do. I'm 9 looking at my HR Director. 10 MS. ZAPATA: Yes. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Are you clear? 12 MS. ZAPATA: Yes, Sir 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The policy that we did 15 last time was really the employees outside, you know, 16 outside those that deal with emergency stuff, which is 17 Road & Bridge, generally, and law enforcement. 18 JUDGE KELLY: So this -- basically it's been 19 clarification. Is there any action that we need to 20 take? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, I don't think so. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Everybody good? Okay. Let's 23 go back onto the agenda and go back to the items that we 24 skipped over with the timed items and that goes back to 25 1.10 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to 97 1 appoint Albert Martinez to the Emergency Services 2 District No. 2. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. Albert's not 4 here. But Albert has actually been a member of our ESD 5 No. 1 for sometime. And he moved to -- 6 JUDGE KELLY: Number 1 or Number 2? 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Number 1. And he 8 moved to Mountain Home, which puts him at ESD Number 2. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Oh. Gotcha now. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And so happens we have 11 a vacancy. So I move for approval on this. And he'll 12 get with Judge Ragsdale to get sworn in for that 13 position. 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. I'll second. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 16 appoint Albert Martinez to the Emergency Services 17 District No. 2. Any discussion? Those in favor say 18 aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 19 Item 1.11 consider, discuss and take 20 appropriate action to appoint Mike Simmons to Emergency 21 Services District No. 1. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, since we put 23 Albert out of No. 1 and onto No. 2, we had a vacancy and 24 Mike Simmons has stepped forward. He's out of town 25 today, but, again, he'll get with Judge Ragsdale. So 98 1 I'll move for approval of Mike Simmons to be appointed 2 to ESD No. 1. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We got a motion and a 5 second to appoint Mike Simmons to the Emergency Services 6 District No. 1 Board. Any discussion? Those in favor 7 say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 8 Item 1.12 consider, discuss and take 9 appropriate action to allow the use of the Hill Country 10 Youth Event Center free of charge on March 27th, 2024 at 11 6:00 p.m. for the Agricultural Use Questionnaire 12 Workshop/Town Hall Meeting with the Kerr Central 13 Appraisal District. Commissioner Harris. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I guess we 15 better do this since it's on the front page of the paper 16 that Lisa showed me today. And I knew -- I didn't 17 mention it this morning, but anybody with the 18 agricultural use questionnaire they got, this is a good 19 time to get in there. 20 We'll have representatives from the 21 appraisal district there to answer any and all your 22 questions. And if you had already filled one out, 23 you'll be able to amend it if you already turned it in 24 before you -- you know, before you knew about this 25 workshop. So I move for approval. 99 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 3 approve using the Hill Country Youth Event Center for 4 the Agricultural Use Questionnaire Workshop/Town Hall 5 meeting. 6 COMMISSIONER LEZ: This is an important 7 issue. And I'm really glad -- thank you for putting 8 this together. Because a lot of people, myself 9 included, has thrown them away many times. And it 10 does -- and then we go and complain about our values. 11 This is data that they do use at the appraisal district. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sure. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it's important that 14 it gets accurate information. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Especially those with 16 hunting leases and stuff. And so that's where a lot 17 of -- a lot of the water's a little cloudy. And so if 18 we can get some clarification and I think the help -- 19 and I think it would be good feedback from the people 20 there to the appraisal district. 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: Don, I think it's great 22 that you are doing this. I think that I may not be able 23 to attend myself, but there's a lot of interest in it. 24 So any thought to recording it so that it could be 25 posted on your website or somewhere? 100 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: You know, we -- we've 2 done that. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: There's going to be a 4 lot of people that -- 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: We did that -- 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- are going to miss 7 it. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: If -- we've done that 9 out there and the sound was so bad. 10 JUDGE KELLY: The acoustics are awful out 11 there. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And it was terrible. 13 Now, we don't know -- 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: But anything's better 15 than nothing. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I'm sure there 17 will be a press release and people they can talk to 18 about it and what have you. I don't -- right now, we 19 don't know how many people will show up so we're trying 20 to use one of the bigger classrooms as opposed to the -- 21 the big hall. But we'll see. We'll see. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: Thank you, sir. Give 23 it some thought. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: All right. Appreciate 25 it. 101 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Before we vote on it, 2 let me emphasize. This is on March 27th at 6:00 p.m. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: That's right. 4 JUDGE KELLY: At the Youth Event Center. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 7 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 8 Okay. The next one is Item 1.13, which is 9 the discussion regarding the Shred-It contract and how 10 to fund it in the FY 24-25 budget. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My suggestion is to go 12 to the non-departmental. I think every department uses 13 that service just about. It has been in the District 14 Clerk's, as I understand it. And it doesn't belong 15 there. So I think it should be a non-departmental item. 16 JUDGE KELLY: I just want to know. I seem 17 to be the one who gets the calls. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To me that makes sense 19 because it's -- multiple departments use it. 20 JUDGE KELLY: And so -- so people understand 21 what we're talking about, the Shred-It contract has 22 traditionally been through the District Clerk's office 23 because of some special funding that was available. But 24 it really goes -- everybody uses it, and so what we're 25 going to do is move it from the District Clerk's office 102 1 to the non-departmental. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And for the public -- 3 what it is, we have a lot of documents -- mostly out of 4 the law enforcement areas and County Attorneys, District 5 Clerks -- need to be shredded for confidential reasons. 6 And there's a company out of San Antonio called 7 Shred-It. They come up here, I don't know how often, 8 once a week, once a month. They're going to pickup 9 volumes of paper and shred it for us. So it's a -- and 10 people -- it's a good outfit. I mean, I know my wife 11 has used it with her job. She'll take stuff down to 12 San Antonio and drop it off and they shred it. And 13 sometimes they charge, sometimes they do it free, so -- 14 but it's a good service contract. 15 JUDGE KELLY: That's for information. 16 There's no action to be taken. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: The cost going to go up 18 at all or will it be more like the same as it was? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It should be the same. 20 It's a contract. 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: That's good. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Back on track. We'll 23 go to Item 1.23 consider, discuss and take -- I'm going 24 to call both of these, Sheriff, at the same time. 25 SHERIFF LEITHA: Okay. 103 1 JUDGE KELLY: 23 and 24. 23 is consider, 2 discuss and take appropriate action to approve the 3 Interlocal Cooperation Agreement between Counties 4 Associated with the Special Operations for Law 5 Enforcement Services. The first one is between Kerr 6 County and Kendall County. And then the second one is 7 between Kerr County and Kimble County for jail services. 8 SHERIFF LEITHA: Okay. Yeah. The first one 9 I'm looking for the Court's approval on 1.23, to have 10 this Interlocal Agreement between us and Kendall County. 11 We have the same thing right now in our Interdiction 12 Unit with Kendall, Gillespie and Kerr County. This is 13 just so we'll be able to work together. 14 This has been reviewed by our County 15 Attorney, also the Kendall County Attorney. So it's 16 just for our special response team to be able to work 17 together. We have been training together for a while. 18 Just kind of a multi-force in case we ever needed it. 19 JUDGE KELLY: This is nothing new? 20 SHERIFF LEITHA: No. No. No. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'll move for 22 approval. 23 SHERIFF LEITHA: The second one is a little 24 bit different, 1.24 -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: And that's for jail service? 104 1 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes, sir. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So I'll second that one. 3 JUDGE KELLY: So on 23 we've got a motion 4 and a second, Commissioner Harris and Commissioner Letz, 5 to approve the Interlocal Cooperation Agreement between 6 Kerr and Kendall County. Any discussion? Those in 7 favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 8 Now 24 is the one for jail services with 9 Kimble County. 10 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yeah. We're just redoing 11 our contract with them to be able to hold their 12 prisoners here and charge them for a daily rate. 13 JUDGE KELLY: And if you've -- no one's ever 14 seen the Kimble County jail, it's a sight. 15 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yeah. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll move for approval. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 20 approve Item 1.24, which is the Interlocal Agreement for 21 Kerr County and Kimble County for jail services. Those 22 in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 23 SHERIFF LEITHA: All right. Thank you. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.25 consider, discuss 25 and take appropriate action to amend the budget calendar 105 1 for FY 24-25 that was approved on March 11. 2 And the Auditor and I sat down and looked at 3 this, and what we're trying to do is move a workshop 4 that we had scheduled on Thursday, May the 23rd, down to 5 June 6th. And that is to allow more time for us to be 6 able to get input with regard to the budget. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sounds good. I move 8 for approval. 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 11 amend the budget calendar as presented. Any discussion? 12 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 13 Moving down to Item 1.26 consider, discuss 14 and take appropriate action to determine whether or not 15 to continue Kerr County's membership with the County 16 Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas and pay 17 the annual dues of $2,592.00. 18 We discuss this every year. And I recommend 19 that we quit it. You went to keep it, I suppose. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just want to -- you 21 know, I'm not much -- we use them for training. I don't 22 know if we get a cut or a discount rate on training or 23 not. You know, it probably doesn't equal the amount 24 that it is. You know, originally they provide -- 25 basically it's a lobby, lobbiest for counties. 106 1 Sometimes I think that they're -- they don't look after 2 small counties too much. Well, they didn't last year 3 when some things happened. 4 You know, we use the Texas Association of 5 Counties a lot. Obviously, through our insurance we do a 6 lot of training through them as well. This is the other 7 state organization that we're involved with that does 8 training and has conventions and things. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: What training are you 10 referring to? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just some of the 12 training that -- Rick Avery, I know is -- you know, I 13 don't remember which ones exactly, but the trainings 14 that we're required to go through every year. 15 Commissioner training and Judge training. I don't know 16 about judge training, where they go. I know the 17 Commissioner training, this -- they offer a lot of that. 18 And if you remember, you get a lower rate to go. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: Are you sure about 20 that? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But -- 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Does this include 23 other departments such as the Treasurer or -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: No. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Only commissioners. 107 1 JUDGE KELLY: I have not talked to a single 2 living human being -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's what I was 4 looking for. 5 JUDGE KELLY: -- that has received any 6 training under this program. If you were there, speak 7 up or forever hold your peace. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is specific to 9 commissioners and judges. 10 JUDGE KELLY: I know that. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. So it's like the 12 treasurer -- the County Treasurers, they have an 13 association, the County Attorneys have an association, I 14 presume. So it doesn't -- I mean it doesn't make that 15 much difference to me. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I haven't used it 17 since I've been in office. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Tracy, were you just 19 at one last week? 20 MS. SOLDAN: I was at a TAC training. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: TAC training, okay. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah, TAC -- we do -- 23 we use that a lot. 24 JUDGE KELLY: This is the Allison & Bass 25 firm, law firm. And this is their baby. And they got 108 1 all 254 counties hooked up to pay this a year. And as 2 far as I know, we haven't used it. And what little 3 lobbying that that firm has done has been very 4 negatively received in the legislature. I can assure of 5 of that. So I don't know why we're paying them 2600 6 bucks a year. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And I'll tell you 8 something else. I looked at some of the people they 9 were endorsing this round and I said no. So -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I'm fine with not 11 paying it. I just thought -- 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: Like I'll said, let's 13 not pay it this year and let's see what happens. If 14 there's any pushback -- 15 JUDGE KELLY: Probably the last year on the 16 Court and we've been doing this for -- 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm good with it. I 18 don't go to the training anymore anyway. I'm exempt 19 after 16 years. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, lucky you. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: So I'll move that we 22 discontinue our association with them. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 25 discontinue membership with the County Judges and 109 1 Commissioners Association of Texas. Any discussion? 2 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 3 1.27 consider, discuss and take appropriate 4 action to set Director's salary range, appointment of 5 interim and compensation for additional duties and other 6 matters related to organization and structure of the 7 Information Technology Department, including possible 8 outsourcing of information technically services. Are we 9 going to do this in Executive Session? 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Uh-huh. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Then we'll move on to 1.28 12 discussion regarding what department will be responsible 13 for updating the position schedule for 24-25. 14 And I'm sorry to do this, but I gotta know. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One thing I will say on 16 that is that the -- I think my feeling is that the 17 committee, that's Commissioner Paces and I, and the 18 Auditor and Treasurer and HR are on to look at the Step 19 and Grade thing, is that there will be a recommendation 20 to make a change. We're getting close to what I think a 21 recommendation is to put out to all the department heads 22 to get feedback, which may negate that, but it looks 23 like there's -- that's the direction it seems to be 24 moving. Last year, it was confusing. 25 JUDGE KELLY: It was a fire storm. 110 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. So -- 2 JUDGE KELLY: The perfect storm. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- you know, I don't 4 know if the time has to be done right now. It's either 5 HR or the Auditor. One of the two. 6 MRS. SHELTON: It's not the Auditor. 7 JUDGE KELLY: It's not the Auditor. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's not the Auditor so 9 then -- 10 JUDGE KELLY: Maybe the Treasurer. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Then it's HR. 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: I don't think there's a 13 reason to change it from HR. You know, regardless of 14 whether we get into a salary range or keep it step and 15 grade, I think we can come up with a better way to use 16 the step system in the budget process. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: If we keep in mind it's 19 just a budget. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Ms. Zapata. 21 MS. ZAPATA: I've only been doing this for a 22 few weeks so I -- you know, in my current seven, eight 23 weeks that I've done it, I've -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: And we appreciate those eight 25 weeks. 111 1 MS. ZAPATA: -- I've gotten myself familiar 2 with the position schedule. But it makes sense for this 3 to be in Tracy's office. I mean it has to do with 4 payroll. You know, that -- it'll answer a lot of their 5 questions that they'll have while they're processing 6 payroll. All they're doing is kicking it back to us 7 and, I mean to be honest with you, HR in itself is super 8 busy. FMLA, workers comp, the property -- 9 JUDGE KELLY: Well, she is too. Trust me. 10 MS. ZAPATA: She is. She is. But they 11 already do payroll so. I mean, I don't care either way. 12 I'm going to do the job that you guys tell me to do. 13 But it does make sense for it to be in her office, so -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Well, whether we make a 16 decision today or not, I wanted this topic of discussion 17 to be front and center because we're going to have to 18 make our minds up. We're getting into budget. 19 MS. ZAPATA: I -- I agree. 20 JUDGE KELLY: We start the budget process 21 next month and I want to know that we're going to have a 22 position schedule. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Tracy, what did -- were 24 you involved in it last year? 25 MS. SOLDAN: With the position schedule? 112 1 No, not really. A little bit with helping with 2 calculations. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, I know. It was 4 kind of -- it was all over last year -- 5 MS. SOLDAN: Yeah. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- which is what you're 7 trying to avoid, Judge. Do you have any comments about 8 you being responsible for it? 9 MRS. SOLDAN: No. I mean we -- we've 10 discussed it before. And I'm okay with that move if 11 that's what the Court wants. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Well, as thin as you are, you 13 sure have broad shoulders right now. We appreciate 14 that. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ. Okay. So it'll be -- 16 the Treasurer's responsible? Is that what I'm hearing? 17 JUDGE KELLY: Is that a motion? 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: I think we probably 19 need to take a little bit closer look and see how it is 20 between Sylvia and Tracy and see how this is going to 21 work. And again, I just want to make sure that a 22 position schedule doesn't create problems and delays in 23 our budget process. Let's -- let's make sure it's not 24 going to get overly complicated. But again, it's a 25 budget and it's always wrong anyway. 113 1 JUDGE KELLY: I don't want to replow that 2 ground. But what I want to do is make sure that we're 3 all on the same page as we get into the process. And we 4 don't have to do it this week, but this is something 5 that has to be decided. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 7 JUDGE KELLY: So we'll pass on that right 8 now. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Good. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Next is 1.29 discussion 11 regarding the progress that has been made by the 12 committee that has been looking at the County's office 13 and storage space needs, and take direction from the 14 Court on the current approach and direction. 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. All right. And 16 I have provided the Court and the stuff there for the 17 public now with basically notes from titled County 18 office space and storage needs assessment. And you've 19 got the committee members. Myself, Bob Reeves, well, it 20 was Bruce Motheral on March 20th. Scott Lambert is 21 going to replace him in IT. Sheriff Leitha, Lucy Wilke, 22 Andrea Bode, and Shane Evans have been all part of the 23 committee. 24 And, you know, we've been looking at needs. 25 And let's be very clear, what -- what we're doing here, 114 1 we have identified a clear need for IT. In fact, theirs 2 is the most dire need. Their office is extremely 3 cramped and crowded -- 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And referred to as the 5 bat cave. 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: Probably it gets 7 referred to as a lot worse than that. And should be. 8 Then we have the tax office. And Bob has discussed 9 possibly moving the tax office to another location. 10 We're not ready for that decision yet, so I'm not saying 11 that that's going to happen. But I can tell you that a 12 lot of other dominoes fall, and possible changes fall 13 out of that if he does move. 14 And again, I don't want to put words in his 15 mouth. I think Bob has to come to the Court and provide 16 the justification and he's looking at various options on 17 what that would look like. But until that happens, you 18 know, then we don't have any other office space 19 available other than, you know, we have the 550 Earl 20 Garrett, that there's plenty of room right now in. 21 Right now, we only have environmental OSSF located over 22 there. And we have the Veterans Services over there. 23 That's also -- okay. 24 Let me just say that the only other need 25 that's been identified here at the courthouse was a 115 1 request to have a conference room in the basement. And 2 the possible use of the Treasurer's Office for that. 3 Okay. Having said that, you know, we have also 4 discussed, and Bob has agreed, to give the tax office 5 the back half of his area. But in return for that, 6 since he still needs that space, you know, the idea was 7 to go ahead and let him utilize the Treasurer's Office 8 until we have a better plan for the longer term. If -- 9 it's a short term fix but that's the next agenda item 10 that I'll come to after we try to get some direction on 11 this. 12 Whatever Bob decides to do, that's a longer 13 term effort. It's going to take a while to figure out 14 what he wants to do and where he goes and find the funds 15 to make that happen and is actually implemented. If it 16 happens. And in the meantime, the Sheriff has 17 identified all sorts of growth and a need for additional 18 space, and he's kind of targeting the area that the 19 Adult Probation staff currently has. And of course 20 they're very happy and would prefer to stay there. And 21 so there's -- there's a big debate as to how we meet the 22 Sheriff's need. And I'm not prepared to address that 23 here today; I'm just telling you it's something we're 24 working on. 25 It's important that we find a reasonable 116 1 solution to that need. And, you know, I've made every 2 effort to try to utilize existing facilities as opposed 3 to, you know, having the same problem with raising 4 another bond proposition that may or may not pass. I 5 mean, there are other ways to finance these, and we'll 6 talk about that eventually. But I'm trying to take 7 advantage of existing facility such as our 550 Earl 8 Garrett that's, you know, 75 percent vacant. 9 So we have the whole Juvenile Detention 10 Facility that's other than a place to store a lot of 11 junk and our election equipment and if those get used 12 during election, it's the central counting stage. But 13 there's a lot of space available there for other use. 14 We have a lot of space available right now in the West 15 Kerr Annex that could be utilized. 16 There's only one other request that's been 17 made. The historic commission has asked for a different 18 office space. They're down in the basement. You know, 19 and I guess it all depends on what we do at 550 Earl 20 Garrett or the alternative is, and I've kind of offered 21 it to them, they could go out to the West Kerr Annex. 22 To free up a small office in the basement, it's way back 23 in the corner there that probably -- well, it would be 24 interesting to see. Nobody's putting any bids in on 25 that for all sorts of different reasons. 117 1 So I guess on a -- what I'm trying to 2 express here is what does the Court really want to do? 3 When we first formed this, we had a workshop and we 4 talked about office space needs in forming this 5 committee, which it all came out of. And the idea was 6 to come back to the Court in the relative short period 7 of time. 8 And, you know, the last capital improvements 9 planning commission took three years. I don't think 10 we're going to take three years, but it's going to take 11 a lot more time. We're looking at things like the AG 12 barn and the improvements required there. That's really 13 a separate issue. And it's going to take a lot of work. 14 But in terms of office space, you know, I 15 expect in the next couple months we'll be in a better 16 position. At least in time for the budget process, I 17 hope, to factor some of this stuff in. So -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would -- this is a lot 19 more what I was hoping for, Commissioner. The last time 20 I said that I needed a plan. And this -- 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. And it's -- it's 22 difficult. Because I -- 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- and a lot of the 25 stuff is much longer term so it's not going to happen 118 1 quickly. The only thing that I have is a good, I think 2 a very good, recommendation to the Court, is to go ahead 3 and take advantage of Bob's willingness to give up the 4 back portion of his storage area where he has a meeting 5 room and a training -- training and store stuff, and 6 give that to IT. It would give IT 299 square foot of 7 additional much needed office space. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I'm okay with that. 9 As long as it's understood that the movement of -- or 10 making the availability of the former Treasurer's office 11 is a temporary thing, that's okay. 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. Well, it's -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just don't want to say 14 okay, we've solved the tax problem, they're downstairs 15 now or -- because that's not -- 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Musical chairs. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- that's not a solution 18 to me. But a temporary thing, I'm fine with that. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: I just -- I agree with 21 you. It's a temporary -- it's a quick fix, temporary 22 solution. The longer term solution with the tax office, 23 I don't know what it is yet. And Bob's working on it. 24 Until he comes to the Court with a proper solution, 25 hopefully he'll talk about it in the committee and -- 119 1 and we'll get some buy in for it but -- yeah, because 2 there are a bunch of options. I just don't see anything 3 there is going to be easy and quick. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One thing -- I don't 5 want to get in the weeds right here. The roof at the ag 6 barn. I don't remember who did it or the company that 7 did it, but we redid and put a film over all the roofs 8 at the airport, at Mooney's Manufacturing thing. I'm 9 not sure what that process was, but it was a whole lot 10 cheaper to put a -- some kind of a film over it as 11 opposed to re-roofing it. And that may be something to 12 look at. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. And that's -- 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I think that was 15 Cypress Roofing. Albert Martinez said we could put it 16 on at ESD No. 2. I'm pretty sure. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, and we're going 18 to try to get somebody out there just take a look at it. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: Because, you know, a 21 few years back we had a major hail storm and it damaged 22 a lot of those sky lights. And that's where all these 23 leaks were coming from. And as a result of that 24 insurance claim, you know, it all got repaired. And 25 Jake Williamson is telling me that there are no leaks 120 1 right now in the roof. He's thinking that it may just 2 be getting a contractor up there and tightening all 3 the -- or resealing all the little nuts and bolts that 4 anchor that roof. I don't know. Until we get somebody 5 up there to actually take a look what it will take. But 6 your suggestions, right. We'll ask about that, too. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: There's several other 8 members of your committee. Any of y'all want to -- 9 anybody want to say something? 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: Feel free. 11 SHERIFF LEITHA: I think Rich has done a 12 very good job. I mean he really has. I mean it's kind 13 of a hard subject. I know that -- what I've learned, I 14 guess Bob holds the big key on this, what he's going to 15 do, where he's going to go as far as the future. 16 But, you know, I kind of support Rich on 17 this temporary -- I say temporary fix, I mean everybody 18 knows IT, I mean they don't have any room. I think $700 19 is the minimal cost to get them in there. And I think 20 down the road if it all -- even mine when I'm wanting, I 21 mean, I think, you know, this is probably the most 22 important one right now for a permanent fix. Mine is 23 going to be more long term. But, you know, in saying I 24 think it's a good fix right now and it's appropriate and 25 I support Rich on that. 121 1 JUDGE KELLY: What about adult probation? 2 MS. BODE: I agree with what the Sheriff 3 said as far as being IT that we've identified that the 4 situation is moving us out of our current facility is 5 longer term and that we have got specific operational 6 needs that are not easy to just move to another 7 location. 8 So in the short term, I'm in agreement with 9 the current problem with IT. And then we can go a 10 little bit more in depth into looking at either 11 relocating our office or looking in a different 12 direction on how we need to get the Sheriff the room 13 that he needs as well. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. My concern is that 15 on the four to one vote, four of us wanted the plan. 16 And we still don't have a plan. And it seems like to me 17 we're back to the same thing you presented two weeks 18 ago. That's what the next item is. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, and that was why 20 on this item I wanted to get some direction from the 21 Court. Because, I mean, what's the plan. I mean, how 22 long do you want to wait to get a plan? It's going to 23 take a while. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- this is more 25 of a plan than the last time, in my opinion. I mean, 122 1 you understand that the AG barn has -- it's got some 2 issues and we're working on it. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: That's a separate deal. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. And that's good 5 with me. The storage needs, you know, IT and moving IT, 6 that fix isn't going to be impacted by that. You're 7 looking at, it sounds like, the new annex or the annex 8 in West Kerr County or the juvenile facility, one of 9 those two. And I think that needs to be worked on. 10 We've got to solve that problem. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: There's still some 12 moving parts. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And then the sheriff and 14 the -- 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: I don't want to jump 16 that gun. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- adult probation are 18 working on how they're going to fix that. As long as 19 we're working, I'm okay with it. That is the plan. I 20 just don't want to all of a sudden say do a little 21 piecemeal and forget about the rest. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: As long as we're 23 looking at all the needs. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: We're working on it. 25 It's like the juvenile detention facility. Man, 123 1 there's -- we have an obligation to go through there and 2 get rid of most of the stuff that's being stored there 3 right now, other than the election equipment. There's a 4 lot of junk. Old computers that are floppy drives. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Right. Oh, I 6 agree. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: And all kind of 8 furniture that really we need to identify if it's truly 9 surplus and nobody is ever going to use it, get rid of 10 it. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I think that we, you 12 know, we do need storage space and that, to me, is a 13 logical use of that building. 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: And that's fine. And 15 it has tons of extra space that's not being utilized 16 right now is another point. So -- 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Judge, this -- 1.29 18 is -- we probably ought to call 1.30. We've been 19 bouncing all over it. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And one other -- are you 21 going to call 1.30 first? 22 JUDGE KELLY: 1.30 consider, discuss and 23 take appropriate action to modify the IT and Tax Office 24 space by adding a wall that would give the IT Department 25 a much needed additional 300 square feet of space, and 124 1 then moving the Tax Office storage and meeting area to 2 the now vacant former Treasurer's Office in the 3 basement. The cost of the new wall and creating an 4 opening in the existing wall between IT and Tax Office 5 was estimated at $700.00. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The idea of a conference 7 room somewhere in the courthouse. The other spot -- 8 I'm looking at the Treasurer now. There is a small 9 conference room in her suite that could be used, in my 10 mind. I don't know how much -- I'm not sure what you're 11 doing with it, Tracy, but it's the old -- it was an old 12 small conference room that was used by -- when 13 Environmental Health was there. 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: Sure. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that could be made 16 available and probably not a whole lot of change, you 17 know, to it. I'm not sure, are you using that room at 18 all right now? 19 MS. SOLDAN: It's where our copy machine is. 20 It was the only place wired for it. 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: But that back room -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. It's a back -- 23 it's got a door, an exterior door. That's the reason it 24 worked as a -- but is it just a wiring issue on the 25 copier? 125 1 MS. SOLDAN: I don't know. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I say just, I mean, that 3 may be a big issue. I'm not sure. 4 MS. SOLDAN: I don't know if that's an IT 5 question or -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I'd ask y'all to 7 look at that and -- 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah, we can look at 9 that. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- because -- 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Or is it a space 12 question? Because it's sitting -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, it's -- 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It's a small space. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- 12 people. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: No, the copy machine 17 goes somewhere else. That's what I meant. There's 18 space. 19 JUDGE KELLY: We're losing the public. 20 We're losing the public. I need you to go to the 21 podium. We've got multiple conversations going on. 22 MR. EVANS: Sorry. That small conference 23 room, that's where she does have her printer set up. If 24 that was going to be utilized then IT would have to move 25 all the support stuff for her printer. And maybe into 126 1 the hallway or something. That long hallway right in 2 the middle of her office. And it -- the hallway, you 3 have all the offices on the side of it. There could be 4 a place to put a printer there. Possibly. But all that 5 would have to been moved. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the other way that 7 was -- the plan that was looked at early on was you -- 8 that it gets, you know, more detail and expensive, was 9 to move the walls on the interior offices a little bit, 10 make those offices smaller. And create a new copy room, 11 storage room. That was originally -- kind of the 12 original drawing down there, and then that required -- 13 it was going to be dust and everything for a long time 14 and we said no, we just need to make this move right now 15 and we just did it and didn't make any modifications to 16 the office space. So -- so that's another option that 17 could be done down there. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: We can look at it. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. So I'm just 20 bringing that up just so somebody can look at it. 21 Because I -- I really do think that this courthouse 22 needs a small conference room for all departments to be 23 able to utilize, because there is nothing right now. 24 And we've looked at the law library before. But same 25 thing, you get into a lot of expense up there if you 127 1 start moving books and all that. That's the other space 2 that's under utilized. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Like I said, we could 4 have the historic commission's area for a meeting room. 5 And I kind of laugh about it, but it is available. It's 6 just a little awkward to get there or it could be 7 available if they decide to move. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's not -- those other 9 two options are far better in my mind. 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: I agree. Willing to 11 look at everything. 12 JUDGE KELLY: This is exactly how the 13 courthouse got like it is today. It's just -- 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. 15 JUDGE KELLY: -- piecemeal. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Lipstick on a pig. 17 JUDGE KELLY: It is. We're just rearranging 18 deck chairs on the Titanic again. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: But the -- the closet 21 issue is something that needs to be -- 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: And we also heard from 23 the taxpayers and when they voted the proposition down, 24 you know, so -- yeah, it would be great to have a whole 25 new courthouse. 128 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I like the 2 courthouse. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Ain't going to happen. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I mean -- 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: But if we do the best 6 we can at a minimal cost -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's -- yeah. 8 JUDGE KELLY: This is half baked. It's 9 totally half baked. 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: That's okay. Anyway, 11 I'm going to go ahead and make a motion that we approve 12 spending $700.00 to put a wall between the IT and tax 13 office that would give the IT department an additional 14 300 square foot. And then give the tax office the old 15 Treasurer's Office in the basement. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It's my understanding 17 that it didn't pass because we were concerned about 18 giving it to -- not that it's a great fit, but doing it 19 in advance of Bob's office moving out, depending on who 20 comes in there, if they need that space or not. So 21 it's -- because we don't know who would come -- who's 22 going to come into that space next, if Bob leaves? 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: Oh, if he -- well, then 24 it opens up all sorts of possibilities. 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. And I think 129 1 that was the only reason -- 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: And that's why we need 3 a plan. 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah, but is he going 6 to move? What if he doesn't? Then why hang your hat on 7 that plan and force IT to continue working in the dark, 8 crammed little rabbit hole? 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And Bob gives his 10 blessing on this? 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: Bob is -- he's in. 12 He's agreed. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 14 JUDGE KELLY: And this is a temporary 15 solution, huh? 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: You can call it that. 17 I mean, who knows. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Well -- 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: So if somebody else 20 wants to come -- 21 JUDGE KELLY: -- you're the one reporting to 22 us on the plan. Is it temporary or is it permanent? 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. It's temporary. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. About how long do you 130 1 expect it to be this way? 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: I don't know how long 3 it's going to take Bob to come in with a firm 4 recommendation and whether that will pass, on whether we 5 can come up with the funds. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My -- my comment would 7 be on that, I'll vote for this because -- a temporary 8 fix, because IT does need something. So I think it's 9 just moving things around, it's not solving anything. 10 But I would -- we really need to have this kind of 11 flushed out with a plan by budget. Because it has 12 budget implications in it. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: It sure does. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And at least it -- you 15 know, at least a plan as to what, you know, the AG barn, 16 this is what this cost, A, B, C. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The tax office, this is 19 the plan to move them forward. And then storage, those 20 are the main things. I mean, we're fortunate that 21 the -- working with the Ingram School District solves 22 the Ingram annex problem. That issue. But the other 23 issues -- and the Animal Control passed. So -- and the 24 other issues I think still need to be addressed and I 25 think by budget we need some kind of a plan. 131 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: Working on it. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I agree. 3 MS. HOFFER: What's the plan with the 4 current Animal Service property building? I mean I 5 realize that's a ways away out. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What do you mean? 7 MS. HOFFER: Building a new building -- 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: -- the old building? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, you mean the old 10 facilities? 11 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh. The plan is to sell 13 it. 14 MS. HOFFER: If it's available -- 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It's a valuable piece 16 of property. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Well, the original plan from 18 the CIP was that would be sold for commercial purposes. 19 But everything's up in the air again. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I still think that 21 property needs to be sold. I probably won't be around 22 at the time. So I'll look to my successor, I recommend 23 that you sell that one. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It's pretty good real 25 estate, yeah. 132 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We got a motion and a 2 second. Those in favor say aye. And opposed, say nay. 3 Nay. Four, one. 4 1.31 a discussion regarding Tax Increment 5 Reinvestment Zone's and Public Improvement Districts. 6 I put that on the agenda for us to talk 7 about because we're going to have people approaching us 8 to talk about these things and we really haven't had any 9 workshops for the Court to learn exactly what each one 10 of these are. 11 And there's two major commercial ventures 12 that have already approached the City that are going to 13 be asking for PIDS and TIRZ, and these are significant. 14 And if we're going to be able to deal with that 15 knowledgeably, I thought maybe we oughta try to arrange 16 some kind of workshop to learn. I know there's been 17 some investigation into PIDS. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: Uh-huh. 19 JUDGE KELLY: But not in conjunction with 20 the TIRZ. And that's what they're asking for. And I've 21 met with the City. And I have cajoled Michael Horness, 22 who is their resident expert over there on TIRZ and 23 PIDS, to come put on a seminar for us or a workshop so 24 that we can learn more about them. But if you don't 25 want to do that, we don't need to do that. 133 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I'm in favor of 2 doing it. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I am too. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah, we can always 5 talk, I think we need to. But I didn't know exactly 6 which direction you're going with this. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Information wise. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. So let's 9 discuss it. So, yeah. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think one of the 11 things is that's in the back of my mind, again, you 12 know, we've identified two things that happened as a 13 court as a whole, is that we've identified low cost 14 housing. Whatever you want to call it. Middle income 15 housing. Whatever you -- 16 JUDGE KELLY: Attainable housinging. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Attainable housing is an 18 issue in this community. And we've also made a decision 19 pretty much through our subdivision rules that we don't 20 want entity developments in the County, that means they 21 have to be in the City. 22 So if we're going to get anywhere close to 23 the first one, we're going to have to try to figure out 24 how to work with the City to try to make some of the tax 25 for the real estate that's very expensive and makes the 134 1 economics very difficult. 2 So I'm just putting that out there that 3 that's why I think it's important that we look at these, 4 because if we don't want the -- any kind of growth in 5 the County where property values are lower, then they 6 have to go to the City. And we're being hypocritical if 7 we're not saying, okay, we're not going to help you do 8 that. I mean, that's just, you know, my opinion on it 9 and the direction this court has gone in the past couple 10 years. And we don't have anything -- you know, right 11 now. I mean, I think most of us have met with one 12 developer. I know he said -- well, I met with with one. 13 And the City gets a lot more involved in this than we 14 do. But I think that we need to understand what we're 15 being asked, which I don't. I mean, I don't understand 16 the TIRZ. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Well, that -- that's -- when I 18 sat through that meeting, you know, with my background 19 and everything I at least knew what they were talking 20 about. But I didn't really understand how it all fit 21 together. And at least one development outside the City 22 limits that we looked at, you and I have met with on 23 Twin Creeks, we asked them for a PID and they -- they 24 said no, they didn't have time. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, they -- that -- 135 1 JUDGE KELLY: Now -- 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: -- in my -- in my 3 understanding is they were a little bit too far down the 4 road. PIDS needs to be from the very beginning. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Well, and -- and if we're -- 6 if that's what we're going to use as the developmental 7 tool out into the County, then we really need to start 8 learning that because they're going to come up. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, we had what's 10 his name from Medina County come talk to us about PIDS. 11 We told him about that development out there. And it 12 was already in progress. It was too late for them. 13 Newer ones might be -- 14 JUDGE KELLY: Well, but they're -- they're 15 starting over. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: But they're starting 17 over, yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, that's true. 19 COMMISSINOER OVERBY: It's a whole -- 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: But based on the 21 discussions we had in Medina County with their 22 Commissioner -- what's his name? 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Larry Sider. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah, yeah. I mean, 25 you know, don't get me wrong, I -- I want to learn more 136 1 about PIDS and TIRZ and I'm all for the workshop. I 2 just -- you know, a PID probably wouldn't have helped us 3 a heck of a lot on Eagle Ridge Road. It helps you with 4 the infrastructure in the side and directly outside, 5 adjacent to, whatever. But -- 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: They were too -- 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- turning the -- 8 upgrading the whole road, it probably wouldn't have 9 worked. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. They had -- 11 they have a lot more people contributing because they're 12 selling one acre lots. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And so there's a -- 15 you know -- 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: So anyway -- Yeah. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And so it's a little 18 bit different deal. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: But I am for PIDS 21 right off the bat because it's -- 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: I am too. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: -- it's built into the 24 new subdivisions and what have you. And taxpayers that 25 are already here aren't paying for it. So -- 137 1 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I thought we might want 2 to learn about it before we just -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we do. We need 4 a workshop. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: So if we're going to 6 get a workshop, you know, have -- 7 JUDGE KELLY: I talked to Michael Horness. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. Do we want to 9 bring what's-his-name back from Medina County as well 10 for, you know -- 11 JUDGE KELLY: Whatever. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: -- PIDS? I mean, I 13 think it would be worthwhile. 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: Depending on the day 15 and time. We need to do the workshop pretty quick 16 before we get into all the budget workshops. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: For sure. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So that was for 20 information only. 21 Okay. Let's go ahead and do the approval 22 and information agenda. 2.1 budget amendments. 23 MRS. SHELTON: You have before you seven 24 budget adjustments. There was also an additional page 25 passed out, so if I start at the end and move backwards, 138 1 the extra page in the last two of the original entry all 2 deal with issues that you've already passed as a court. 3 So this is just to budget to follow the items that have 4 already been approved. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll move for approval. 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I second. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 8 approve the budget amendments as presented. Any 9 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 10 Unanimous. 11 2.2 pay bills. 12 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. Invoices for today's 13 consideration, $1,075,499.58. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 17 approve paying the bills as presented. Any discussion? 18 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 19 2.3. Late bills. 20 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 21 JUDGE KELLY: 2.4. Auditor reports. 22 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. The Auditor's Office 23 completed an internal audit for Justice of the Peace 24 Precinct 1. We ask that you accept that report. 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I make a motion that 139 1 we accept that report. 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 4 approve the report by JP Number 1 as presented. Any 5 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? None? 6 Unanimous. 7 That takes us to 2.5 monthly reports. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. For January, 9 2024, Justice of the Peace, Judge Mitzi French, Precinct 10 1. Amended. February of 2024, Justice of the Peace, 11 Judge Bill Ragsdale, Precinct 4. Environmental Health 12 and Animal Services, director, Reagan Givens. And I 13 move for approval. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 16 approve the monthly reports as presented. Any 17 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 18 Unanimous. 19 Court Orders. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have our court orders 21 from our March 11th, 2024 meeting, and numbers 40520 22 through 40548. 23 I'm recommending two slight modifications. 24 On 40528, this was -- currently reads, "Include Flat 25 Rock Park in the solar eclipse plan for the Hill Country 140 1 Youth Event Center." I recommend we add the language, 2 "under the oversight of Jake Williamson." 3 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. That is important. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. And the other one 5 is 40534, which currently reads, "Approve Kerr County 6 Sheriff's Office job description for Senate Bill 22." I 7 think it needs to read, "Approve Kerr County Sheriff's 8 office job descriptions for employees being paid out of 9 Senate Bill 22 funds." 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I agree. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'm okay with that. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: With those two changes, 13 I move for approval. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 16 approve the Court Orders as presented, with the 17 revisions denoted. Any discussion? Those in favor say 18 aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 19 Moving on to the Information Agenda. Status 20 reports from department heads. Miss Hoffer. 21 MS. HOFFER: We finally got our three brand 22 new fuel tanks installed at Road & Bridge. It's been a 23 long process. But I think the company that insures them 24 will be very pleased to know that we have brand new 25 tanks. 141 1 JUDGE KELLY: Good. Any other departments? 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Charlie is going to 3 speak up for us. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Charlie? 5 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. A few weeks ago the 6 Engineering Department, myself, Bobby Gore attended a 7 meeting with Commissioner Overby, and it was put on by 8 the Hill Country Alliance. It was in San Marcos. And 9 the purpose of the meeting, they just wanted a meeting 10 of the minds of different commissioners and department 11 heads and so forth that have to do with roads and 12 conservation in Texas, in general. Whether it was 13 municipality or County. 14 And different counties have different tools 15 in their toolbox to manage growth. There is an abridged 16 report that was put out. And I did look through it and 17 there was a graphic in there that showed different 18 categories that different counties were using. And if 19 you look at our County, it's -- I don't who put the 20 report together -- oh, I do -- it was Cap Strategy, but 21 I don't know where they got their information. But they 22 listed us as only having one or two tools in our toolbox 23 to manage growth and it's just not the case at all. 24 Subdivision regulations, they looked at us 25 as having that. And that was about it. But we have so 142 1 much more. That were in our old regulations and in our 2 new regulations and I'll go through the list of the 3 things they missed. We do have storm water detention 4 requirements. We do have street regulations. We have 5 regulations for utilities. Erosion, sediment, best 6 management practices. That's all in our subdivision 7 regulations, always have. And some of it's been 8 enhanced with our new regulations. Water quality ponds 9 or others. That may not be Kerr County's regulations 10 explicitly, but Upper Guadalupe River Authority has been 11 a leader in that area. Setbacks. Right-of-way building 12 setbacks. We've had that in our code 30 years, 40 13 years, a long time. Water quality, filtration and 14 sedimentation. Again, that gets back to your best 15 management practices and things that you do when you're 16 constructing. Those aren't just county regulations, 17 those are federal regulations. 18 So I'm not sure why those items were missed 19 in their report, but I know what we do and I amended 20 this report with a pen. Just wanted to share that. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Charlie, I have a 22 question. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: We -- we came away 24 from that feeling like we were doing a pretty good job. 25 There were three different case scenarios that 143 1 presented. Let's see, Travis County presented. Who 2 were the other two? It was Kendall and -- 3 MR. HASTINGS: Was it Kendall County? 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Kendall County. 5 MR. HASTINGS: Yeah. 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And so they brought 7 forth a problem and how they fixed it and it was awesome 8 to listen to what they were doing. It was great for us 9 to make relationships with some of the people that were 10 there because they brought a lot of their staff as well. 11 And we came -- we walked away thinking we're doing 12 pretty good. Yeah. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The question I have is, 14 are there maybe -- if the other counties are having 15 rules outside of subdivision rules, I'd like to know 16 where they get their authority. I mean, the floodplain, 17 you know, we're -- we handled that. But if you're 18 outside a subdivision, we don't have setback rules 19 outside the subdivisions. And I'd like to know if some 20 of these counties think they have that, where they think 21 they're getting their authority to do that. 22 Now, some of the counties that are adjacent 23 to San Antonio, and our situation with Kendall County, 24 they do have additional authority that we don't have. 25 So I mean -- I would, you know, be interested if those 144 1 that think they have this authority, where they think 2 they're getting it. And Kendall County is one that 3 comes to mind because I'm pretty familiar with them. 4 They kind of say they have authority, but I'm not so 5 sure they do. 6 MR. HASTINGS: We just follow the law, sir. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: We're just going to 8 keep quiet on that one, yeah. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Anything else? 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Nope. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you, Charlie. 12 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Any other department heads? 14 Okay. We'll move on to 3.2. Status reports 15 from elected officials. Sheriff. 16 SHERIFF LEITHA: Hey, just real quick. This 17 is the last Commissioners' court meeting before the 18 eclipse so I kind of want to visit with y'all. And wish 19 us some luck and we'll see what happens. But there's a 20 lot of misinformation being put out there. I know a 21 couple of you Commissioners are asking me questions 22 about road closures and different information like that, 23 so I highly suggest -- this is for y'all manning the 24 public. Please go to Kerrvilleeclipse.com for any 25 information. You can go to the City of Kerrville's 145 1 website, Kerrville Police Department or Kerr County 2 Sheriff's Office website for any information. 3 What I want to say is, you know, we are not 4 closing any roads. Okay. You know, that misinformation 5 keeps getting out there which causes a lot of phone 6 calls and other stuff. We are not closing any roads. 7 Now I'm not telling you that we will not redirect any 8 traffic. Captain Prout here and Chief Lalonde have 9 identified, you know, the AG barn down there at Flat 10 Rock dam. 11 You know, we don't know how many people. 12 That's the unknown. They're going to come out of there, 13 we'll have to identify, you know, how bad is traffic 14 going to be? Is 534 going to be really bad so when they 15 come out of the park and they take a left, we may have 16 to redirect them to the right to 27. So there's a lot 17 of things that can't -- you know, after it lets out 18 we're going to try to direct them, you know, towards 10. 19 The problem is the City is going to try to 20 get them out of the City as fast as they can into the 21 County and then we've got to deal with them. Okay. 22 Some of the good information we talked to the Department 23 of Public Safety. They're assigning 20 troopers, state 24 troopers here for Kerr and Kendall County. They've told 25 us, from my understanding, they're going to try to 146 1 handle the Interstate. That will be a tremendous help. 2 And like I said, if the Interstate bogs down, you know, 3 we're in trouble. So just wanted to make sure everybody 4 knows, we are not closing any county roads. And like I 5 said, that misinformation keeps getting out there. 6 Phone calls and stuff like that. Please go to reputable 7 sites for your information. 8 We're all trying to work the 9 Kerrvilleeclipse.com. Dub and I jumped on the radio 10 station every day this week. We're getting with media 11 out of San Antonio this week. So we got a lot of things 12 going. But, you know, we're about as prepared as we can 13 be. And just wish us some luck and we'll see what 14 happens. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And I think to add to 16 that, Sheriff, I know Lisa Walters has shared stuff on 17 Facebook -- 18 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: -- and stuff like 20 that. People can check out the Kerr County Facebook 21 Page and online and what have you. 22 SHERIFF LEITHA: It's time to put the SO 23 down and get it out there and we'll be ready for it. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And I think anticipate 147 1 problems are immediately after. I mean -- 2 SHERIFF LEITHA: Correct. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: -- that's -- that's 4 where it starts. People shouldn't be -- have a problem 5 before, other than heavier traffic. But as far as 6 not -- they're not going to get re-routed beforehand or 7 what not. 8 SHERIFF LEITHA: Correct. We look at Sunday 9 to be a busy day but Monday, you know, we're going to 10 stay as normal as we can as long as we can and, just 11 like the City, I'm not sure of the exact time when 12 they'll implement the plan. Like 7:00 or 8:00 in the 13 morning. But like I said, you know, we'll be doing the 14 same thing. We won't try to redirect until right after 15 it's over. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: A lot of unknown. 17 SHERIFF LEITHA: Oh, there's a ton of it. 18 Yeah. 19 JUDGE KELLY: It builds to a crescendo 20 and -- and temporarily everything's going to stop for 21 the eclipse. And then when it's over, we're trying to 22 manage the exit. 23 SHERIFF LEITHA: Exactly. Everybody trying 24 to get to the Interstate and get home. That's where the 25 problems are going to lie. If we can keep it moving, 148 1 we'll be fine. 2 JUDGE KELLY: And I've encouraged everyone 3 that lives here, stay home. That's the best thing you 4 can do. Everybody. The people that are coming in, if 5 at all possible, stay Monday night. Could be a whole 6 lot easier. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Another thing, I 8 recommend we really watch closely to weather forecast. 9 Because if people are here Sunday and all of a sudden 10 they expect it to be cloudy on Monday, they're going 11 to -- Sunday's going to be a mess. So I mean watching 12 the weather forecast is going to be an important issue. 13 Not that they're right very often but -- 14 MS. HOFFER: As of this morning, partly 15 cloudy. 16 SHERIFF LEITHA: So we just ask everybody to 17 be patient. That's all. 18 JUDGE KELLY: And -- and just let me say, 19 Sheriff. I've watched your office and working with KPD 20 and KFD and the volunteer fire departments. This has 21 been one of the biggest collaborative efforts that we've 22 been able to prepare for. Now, when we had Winter Storm 23 Uri, we all collaborated but it was after the fact. We 24 were frozen in. 25 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yeah. 149 1 JUDGE KELLY: But these people have been 2 working for over two years, well over two years, to get 3 ready for this. And I guess the last plea that I would 4 make to the public and all of us, is cooperate with 5 these first responders. They have been trained. They 6 know what they're doing. We don't need to have 7 incidents where we're being oppositional to instruction 8 to divert and go this way or that way. Just do it, get 9 through it, and it'll be something that we'll be able to 10 remember for the rest of our lives. 11 SHERIFF LEITHA: Correct. Thank you. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Then any other 13 elected's? 14 Then we go to 3.3 Liaison Commissioners. 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'm going to jump in 16 here a little bit more on the eclipse. We've beat it 17 around quite a bit but I do want to emphasize a couple 18 other points. And I agree, you know, between Kerrville 19 police department and their fire department, they have 20 done an outstanding job in being prepared, particularly 21 for the City. And our Sheriff's Office has done a great 22 job. And we do have all the volunteer fire departments 23 involved as well, and that's one of the points I want to 24 make. 25 You know, if we have gridlock on Monday -- 150 1 Sunday for that matter, because our Volunteer Fire 2 Departments, all their stations will be manned at least 3 from Sunday through Monday. And they have recently gone 4 through additional training on first-aid. You know, 5 stop the bleed, using the AEDs, the defibrillators, and 6 CPR, in an effort to be able to assist the public until 7 an ambulance arrives. Even though we're going to have 8 four extra ambulances. We'll have a total of eight. 9 Normal is four. 10 If there's gridlock, you could -- if you 11 have a major injury and you need an ambulance and to get 12 somewhere, you could be sitting there waiting for an 13 hour or two. So try to get to a fire station where 14 there will be some support. And some of the stations 15 will have EMTs based there. Okay. Look, all patients 16 are going to be sent to Peterson Regional. They're well 17 equipped. They won't have any discretionary services on 18 Monday. So it's all preparing for an influx of who knows 19 what. And anything they can't handle, you know, we'll 20 use LifeFlight to get people to San Antonio. Right now 21 we only have one helicopter. Still working to try to 22 get another one. 23 Oh, and we do have four public safety sites. 24 So we got -- oh shoot, this doesn't have the names. But 25 anyway, they're available also to get some first-aid 151 1 treatment where we'll have EMTs based as well. So I 2 think it's all coming together. Don't be surprised if 3 you're cellular service is not working. That's likely 4 to black out. 5 And so, again, if can't make a call for 6 help, try to get somebody to go to a station, because at 7 least, you know, you'll -- at all of our fire stations, 8 they'll have a radio that will be working, they'll have 9 first net phones that will be working, and other means 10 to get in touch with emergency services. 11 JUDGE KELLY: And just a footnote there, one 12 of the things I learned when Dub and I talked to the 13 Chamber last week, land lines work. Those of you that 14 still have a land line, you're going to be able to 15 communicate. Text will work on the internet. The 16 internet protocols will work. So just letting you know 17 that you will be able to have some means of 18 communication, limited as it is. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Don't the SOS -- on the 20 cell phones, when they get overwhelmed doesn't the SOS 21 service still work? 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: I think so. But, you 23 know, this is the unknown. We just don't know what the 24 traffic volume is going to be or the call volume, 25 whatever. And how they work, I don't know. 152 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And good advice is, if 2 you don't need to be on your phone, don't. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah, absolutely. And 4 the best advice for anybody is don't undertake any risky 5 behavior. Don't get your chain saw out and decide to 6 take down a tree or something. And don't burn a burn 7 pile. I mean, hopefully the Judge will put a burn ban 8 in place if that's what we have to do. But minimize and 9 keep -- 10 JUDGE KELLY: As a precautionary measure. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: You know, to piggy 12 back on something you said, Judge. You know, schools 13 are going to be out. So the parents with teenagers that 14 are driving, try to get them to stay home. That would 15 just -- you know, stay off the phones a little bit more 16 maybe. If you have that kind of control. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the County Attorney 18 is looking at me like we're getting into a discussion. 19 MRS. STEBBINS: It's true. That's how I was 20 looking at you. 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: Anyway, that's my 22 liaison report so I -- 23 MRS. STEBBINS: Thank you. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And we all pitched in. 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. I do have one 153 1 other thing I want to report. We had our first 2 aggregate production operators advisory council meeting 3 last week. And it was successful. It's been quite 4 awhile. I think May was the last time we did one of 5 these things. So our materials showed up. They 6 presented on the progress they've made towards our 7 voluntary best management practices. 8 Martin Marietta was supposed to be there to 9 do the same, but they didn't attend. And we had a 10 report from Tram. So, like I say, it was a good 11 meeting. I think the general perception was, yeah, glad 12 to see these kicking up again. And we decided we would 13 do this quarterly. 14 So the next one will be in June. I need to 15 look at the calendar to finalize a date on that. But 16 hopefully the minutes from this meeting will go out and 17 they'll be provided to the Commissioners' Court since 18 when it was first set up there was a requirement to 19 report to the Court so we'll just send it then. That's 20 all I've got. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Anything else? Anything else? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't know. Just to 23 mention the Animal Control facility. The final plans 24 are getting very close to being done. They'll be coming 25 to the Court. But there is a potential delay it looks 154 1 like on construction. FEMA -- part of the road -- the 2 whole process is we've had to do a CLOMR, which is a 3 conditional letter of revision with FEMA maps. That has 4 been done. At least -- and it's about to be sent to 5 FEMA? 6 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. It's been submitted. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But that could take six 8 to nine months for them to approve it. And the City -- 9 we've been talking to the City about that, whether we 10 can start construction prior to that happening. And 11 we're looking at different rules to see. So there is 12 some -- there's some things going on. 13 Hopefully, it will keep it on schedule to 14 have construction start late this year, early next year. 15 But FEMA, the federal government, may tie our hands a 16 little bit. We're not sure. That's all I have. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Anything from four? 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: No. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. With that, we're going 20 to take a short break and go into Executive Session. 21 MS. HOFFER: I have one question for the 22 department heads, employee evaluations at 2:00 p.m. 23 today. Is that -- do the Department heads need to be at 24 that meeting at 2:00 p.m. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I didn't think so. That 155 1 seems like it's just a discussion among the Court. 2 MS. HOFFER: Okay. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: We're just going to 4 review the evaluations that were filled out. 5 MS. HOFFER: Okay. That's fine. I just 6 wanted to make sure. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. And it will need to be 8 confidential. 9 MS. HOFFER: Okay. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Anything else? Going to take 11 a small break and go into Executive Session. 12 (Break). 13 (Executive Session.) 14 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. It is 1:10, and we're 15 back in open session. And I'm going to call 5.1, which 16 is action as may be required on matters discussed in 17 Executive Session. Let's take 1.17 we discussed, and 18 that was -- 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we 20 accept the counter-offer from Mr. Nabors in the 21 settlement amount of total -- 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: I thought we weren't 23 going to mention it. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: We're not going to 25 mention that. 156 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: Just the counter-offer. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, accept the 3 counter-offer. 4 MRS. STEBBINS: And the Judge is to be 5 authorized to sign the settlement agreement with 6 Mr. Nabors. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the County Judge is 9 authorized to sign the settlement agreement presented by 10 Mr. Nabors. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 13 approve the Nabors' settlement as presented. Any 14 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 15 Unanimous. 16 Next is Item 1.18. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Make a motion that we 18 authorize -- what's the wording we have to use on this? 19 Yeah, we recommend a payment of the two pending payouts 20 with D Guerra, and authorize the County Judge and 21 Commissioner Paces to enter into negotiations with 22 D Guerra related to the retainage. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second, and 25 that we intend to do that right after this meeting at 157 1 two o'clock, if you could meet with us? 2 VOICE: Absolutely, sir. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So with that, is there 4 any more discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 5 Unanimous. 6 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Can we -- do you know the 7 numbers of those payouts? 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: 28. Payout 28, Phase 2 9 and Phase 3. 10 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Phase 2 and Phase 3. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Do you want the exact dollar 12 amount? I've got it. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: She's got it right 14 there for her. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: She's got it. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. And then last is the 17 Item 1.27, which was taken up in Executive Session and 18 that was to establish the salary range for post for a 19 job description for a new IT Director. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I'll make a motion 22 that we appoint Scott -- what's his last name? 23 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Lambert. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Lambert. I just know 25 Scott. So Scott Lambert as interim IT Director. 158 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Any discussion? Okay. Those 3 in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. And salary 4 range? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the salary range. I 6 make a recommendation that we post the salary ranges 7 from 80 to 100,000. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Depending on experience. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Depending on experience. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And we're going to put 11 that for four weeks? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that we post it on 13 the list serve and that will be posted for one month. 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Second. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So we got a motion to 16 list a starting salary for the new IT director for 80 to 17 $100,000.00, depending on experience. Be posted on list 18 serve. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: The IT list serve. 20 JUDGE KELLY: IT list serve for a month. 21 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 22 Unanimous. 23 There being no more business, we are 24 adjourned. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Wait. Judge, do you 159 1 want to adjourn based on what you and Commissioner Paces 2 had a visit with D Guerra about? 3 JUDGE KELLY: Why don't we take a recess. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Take a recess. 5 MRS. STEBBINS: Y'all have to be back at 6 2:00 anyway, right? 7 JUDGE KELLY: Let's take a recess and we'll 8 reconvene at 2:00. 9 (Recess) 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. It is 2:07 and we're 11 coming out of our recess after the Executive Session. 12 And we have one more item of business under 5.1, which 13 is action that may be required on matters discussed in 14 Executive Session. 15 I met with Jimmy Pousson, who is the 16 designated representative with D Guerra, along with 17 Commissioner Paces. And Commissioner Paces informed me 18 that we had already agreed to make -- to pay the payment 19 request of $60,645.62 and $57,218.50, both of those. 20 And in our settlement discussions, 21 Commissioner Paces tendered an offer to settle with D 22 Guerra to satisfy all the terms of the contract for an 23 additional $209,000.00. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: Out of the retainage. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Out of the retainage. 160 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: That we -- yeah. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Right. Did I get that right? 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yes. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sounds right. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So the balance of the 6 retainage would come back -- we would retain? 7 JUDGE KELLY: Right. And that's for our 8 cost and the settlement. And so Jimmy has advised me 9 that he has talked to Danny Guerra, who has accepted the 10 offer. I'm reading it into the record. We now have a 11 settlement. And send my best regards to Danny. Tell 12 him to stop by and see us anytime he's up here. 13 MR. POUSSON: Yes, sir. Thank you, Your 14 Honor. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, we're making the motion. 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: So I'm only going to 17 ask that you continue to deliver on all of the punch 18 list items. I believe there's still some outstanding 19 documentation that we'd very much like to have all that. 20 MR. POUSSON: Absolutely. Is this 21 documentation that -- 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: It's on the punch list. 23 Yeah, it's from -- from you guys. 24 MR. POUSSON: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: Some of the lift 161 1 station equipment and so forth. Check with Charlie. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Are you going to make a 3 motion? 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. I'll make a 5 motion that the Court approve the settlement -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We already paid those 7 two. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah, I know. Well, 9 but the final settlement in terms of liquidated damages 10 in that the Court will pay out of the retainage of 11 738,000 and some change to D Guerra $209,000. The rest 12 the County will retain, which is somewhere on the order 13 of 530, I believe. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 16 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 17 Unanimous. 18 Give Danny our best. 19 MR. POUSSON: Yes, sir. Thank you, Your 20 Honor, and ladies. 21 JUDGE KELLY: And we'll make arrangements to 22 draw up the settlement papers and get those to you. 23 MR. POUSSON: Yes, sir. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: You need anything at 25 all, please contact me. I'll be more than happy to take 162 1 care of it. 2 MR. POUSSON: Thank you. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thank you. 4 MR. POUSSON: Thank y'all. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Long morning for you. 6 Thank you. 7 MR. POUSSON: No, it was all good. 8 COURT REPORTER: How do you spell your last 9 name? 10 MR. POUSSON: P-O-U-S-S-O-N. 11 COURT REPORTER: Thank you. 12 MR. POUSSON: Yes, ma'am. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. It is now 2:10, and we 14 are adjourning the regular Commissioners' Court meeting. 15 * * * * * * 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 163 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 of April, 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