1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Regular Session 5 Monday, May 13, 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 *** Commissioner's Comments. 6 4 1.1. Consider, discuss and take appropriate 11 action to approve Proclamation declaring 5 May as Mental Health Awareness Month. 6 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 12 action to approve Proclamation recognizing 7 June as Elder Abuse Awareness Month. 8 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 13 action to approve Proclamation recognizing 9 May as Community Action Month in recognition of all Kerr County Community Action 10 Partnerships. 11 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 14 action to approve Proclamation recognizing 12 April 28, 2024 - May 5, 2024 as Texas Soil and Water Stewardship Week. 13 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 15 14 action regarding Interlocal Agreement between Upper Guadalupe River Authority(UGRA) and 15 Kerr County regarding Guadalupe River crossing patrols. 16 1.6 Passed. 17 1.7. Consider, discuss and take appropriate 19 18 action to accept donations to the Kerr County Animal Services totaling $160.00 19 for the month of April 2024. 20 1.8 Passed. 21 1.9 Passed. 22 1.10 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 20 action to accept the 2023 OPSG, Operation 23 Stone Garden, grant award from the Office of the Governor(OOG) in the amount of $162,465.00. 24 Grant Number 4899302, Grant Period 3/1/24- 2/28/25. 25 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.19 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 23 action regarding MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) 4 with Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA) for including Integrated Public Alert and 5 Warning System(iPAWS) in conjunction with the CodeRed System, and permit the County Judge 6 to sign same. 7 1.20 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 27 action regarding Interlocal Cooperation 8 Contract - Failure to Appear(FTA) Program with the Texas Department of Public Safety. 9 1.21 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 27 10 action on Implementation of the Burn Ban. 11 1.22 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 28 action to determine whether to allow the 12 retail fireworks permit holders to sell fireworks to the public in celebration of 13 Memorial Day, beginning May 22, 2024 and ending at midnight on May 27, 2024. 14 1.11 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 32 15 action to accept water donation from Discount Tires for the Memorial Day Event. 16 1.23 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 33 17 action to surplus IT items from the IT Department, and an office chair from 18 Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3 office. 19 1.24 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 34 action on budget costs to improve e-mail 20 access. 21 1.25 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 43 action to approve donation of a Heart Sine 22 Samaritan American Defibrillator and a Concept II Rowing Machine from Texas Association of 23 Counties (TAC). 24 1.26 Update regarding issues related to the 44 Comfort radio tower and other radio issues. 25 4 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.27 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 45 action regarding contract with the City 4 of Kerrville for Firefighting and Emergency Medical Services(EMS) Agreement, which expires 5 on September 30, 2024 this year. 6 1.12 Presentation of the Safety Achievement 48 Award from representative from Texas 7 Association of Counties(TAC). 8 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 50 action on amending the Health County Wellness 9 Contact Designation Form, and allow County Judge to sign same. 10 1.14 Public hearing for a revision of plat for 51 11 Y.O. Ranchlands Section 2, Tracts 97 and 98. 12 1.15 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 52 action for the Court to set a public hearing 13 for 10:00 a.m. on June the 24, 2024 for a revision of plat for Y.O. Ranchlands Section 2, 14 Tracts 97 and 98. 15 1.16 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 53 action for the Court to set a public hearing 16 for 10:00 a.m. on June 24, 2024 for a revision of plat for Staacke Ranch, part of 17 Lot 1 and part of Lot 2. 18 1.17 Consider and discuss revision of plat for 55 Staacke Ranch, part of Lot 1 and part of 19 Lot 2. 20 1.18 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 62 action for Commissioners' Court to approve 21 the General Contract with JCW Construction, LLC regarding the installation of guardrail 22 near 761 Wilson Creek Rd. N. 23 1.28 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 64 action to review implication to Kerr County 24 Subdivision Rules and Regulations in light of revisions to Section 232 of the Local 25 Government Code(LGC) and the use of groundwater. 5 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 2.1 Budget Amendments. 70 4 2.2 Pay Bills. 75 5 2.3 Late Bills. 75 6 2.5 Accept Monthly Reports. 76 7 2.6 Court Orders. 76 8 3.3 Status reports from Liaison Commissioners. 77 9 1.17 Consider and discuss revision of plat for 80 Staacke Ranch, part of Lot 1 and part of 10 Lot 2. 11 *** Adjournment. 81 12 *** Reporter's Certificate. 82 13 * * * * * * 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 6 1 JUDGE KELLY: Court will come to order. It 2 is Monday, May the 13th, 2024, 9 o'clock in the morning, 3 and the Kerr County Commissioners' Court is now in 4 session. Please stand for the prayer and pledge, which 5 will be led by Commissioner Harris. 6 (Prayer and Pledge) 7 JUDGE KELLY: Please be seated. The first 8 thin I do every Commissioners' Court meeting is remind 9 you to turn your phones off or to vibrate so as not to 10 interrupt the proceedings. 11 Secondly, the first part of our agenda is 12 always public input and this is an opportunity for 13 members of the public to offer input to the Court. We 14 are not permitted to give our output back to you, but we 15 are required to listen. And that's something you want 16 to do, we ask that you limit your remarks to items that 17 are not on the agenda. If they are on the agenda, 18 please wait until that agenda item is called, and limit 19 your remarks to no more than three minutes. Is there any 20 public input today? 21 There being none, we'll move on to 22 Commissioners' Comments. Precinct 1. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Precinct 1. I'm not 24 going to share my rain total because it's just not fair. 25 So, in other words, I want to wish congratulations to 7 1 Joe, Brenda, and Kent in the City elections. And I 2 think the best thing is, the signs in Kerrville are all 3 down and Kerrville's beautiful again without all the 4 signs. 5 Also, I wanted to say congratulations to 6 Terry Lyle. I was reading the TAC monthly magazine. 7 She was the Governmental Collectors Association of Texas 8 2023 Collector of the Year. She's been with the County 9 for 22 years. Her most proud moment was successfully 10 rebuilding a collections program for Kerr County. 11 Through that process, she's increased 12 compliance of Defendants in paying their Court-ordered 13 costs. And I loved it because she spends all her time 14 and her money on her granddaughter. So congratulations 15 to Terry. I'm glad I saw that. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Good. Precinct 2. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, I'm probably 18 envious of whatever kind of rain you got because we sure 19 haven't gotten that much down in Center Point. But 20 anyway, the burn ban remains lifted. Just be careful, 21 because there's a lot of dry grass underneath that 22 little bit that's green and it's browning up real quick. 23 I don't really have much else, but I want to 24 acknowledge our friends at TxDOT. You know, I've been 25 trying to coordinate with the local area engineer and 8 1 get some projects done in Precinct 2. And well, they've 2 come through for us at least on one, which was an 3 important one. Boerne Park Boulevard down in Center 4 Point, it's right off 480. What we had was a County 5 maintained road that intersected with the TxDOT ranch to 6 market road 480. And our county road was two lane but 7 where in the right-of-way it narrowed down to one lane, 8 which created quite a safety concern for vehicles 9 pulling in and out, particularly when there was one 10 waiting to get out while somebody was pulling in. So 11 anyway, TxDOT has widened the road in the right-of-way. 12 It looks great. Everybody's happy. So thank you very 13 much to TxDOT for doing that. 14 And they're was another one recently. We 15 had a little bit of rain a few weeks ago, and you know 16 how it's just enough where it loosens up the oil. And 17 the surface of the roads are real slick. One of our 18 Road & Bridge guys, who is operating one of the big 19 trucks was driving down 173, just across from River Hill 20 Ranch, and he actually hit some of that real slippery 21 surface because it was resurfaced last year, and he did 22 a 360 degree spin out in a big truck. So, thank God, no 23 one was hurt. No damage was incurred to the truck, but 24 it highlighted a safety concern, which Kelly Hoffer 25 raised with TxDOT. And almost immediately they got a 9 1 crew out there. And if you're wondering why the road on 2 173 is a little rougher than it was before, well they -- 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Fixed that. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- they fixed that. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Roughed it up. 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: Roughed it up. So 7 hopefully that will address the problem. So I just want 8 to thank TxDOT for being very responsive, at least on 9 those two projects. That's all I got. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 3. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All I have is talk about 12 a topic I haven't talked about in a while. Baseball. 13 Tivy is -- baseball is doing really well. They had an 14 up and down season, and going into the playoffs they 15 were tied for fourth place with two other teams and 16 ended up through a coin toss and a flip in the wind 17 ended up in the playoffs. And they have since pretty 18 much won four straight games, and they will be playing 19 Boerne Champion this week for the third round, I guess 20 it's the regional quarter finals I guess is what it is. 21 But anyway, not sure where the games will be, I suspect 22 it'll be divided between both home teams. But that's 23 always a fun game. It's probably the biggest rival that 24 Tivy has right now is Champion. 25 JUDGE KELLY: It will be a spirited game. 10 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It will be a spirited 2 game. So I encourage everyone to go. And too, Tivy 3 just has two outstanding pitchers. That's just where 4 their real strength is, Stormy Rhodes is going to 5 Oklahoma State University, and Aiden Cline is going to 6 Midland College or Odessa. One or the other. They're 7 both really good. Midland College, I believe. Yeah, 8 I'm pretty sure it's Midland. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I don't have a 10 whole lot after you three went through everything. I 11 did dump one drop of water out of our gauge out here 12 this morning. 13 Something I want to mention that's coming up 14 Memorial Day weekend. It's a start at Crider's. And 15 that's kind of a legendary place for us in Kerr County. 16 I think it's the longest running rodeo in the state. It 17 runs from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend 18 and it's -- it's very wholesome. Family oriented. You 19 see little kids out there dancing and stuff. And a lot 20 of tradition. So if you haven't ever been out there or 21 haven't been there in a while, check it out. That's all 22 I got. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. The only thing that I 24 would add, I know it's spring and everybody's restless, 25 but settle down, get ready. Budget season is coming. 11 1 As of next week, we will have all of the proposed 2 budgets in from the departments and elected offices and 3 the fun begins. And just to remind everybody, we're 4 going to have a series of workshops. And when we have 5 our workshops, we do not take public input. They are 6 workshops for those of us that are trying to hammer out 7 that part of the budget; however, they will be on 8 YouTube, so they can be viewed. 9 We will have at least probably five or six 10 opportunities for public input. That will be on the 11 agenda over the course of the budget process, which will 12 culminate on August the 22nd. So put that on your 13 calendar. We've got between now and August the 22nd to 14 figure out the budget. 15 So with that, is there anything else? Then 16 let's move on to the Consideration Agenda. Item 1.1. 17 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action to approve 18 a proclamation declaring May as Mental Health Awareness 19 Month. 20 You want to go to the podium, please. And 21 for those of you -- this is not Tod Citron. Please 22 identify yourself. 23 MS. CORTEZ: Hi, my name is Joan Cortez. I 24 serve as the Director of Crisis Services for Hill 25 Country MHDD. 12 1 MS. LEWIS: I'm Becky Lewis. I'm the 2 Director of the Crisis Stabilization Unit for Hill 3 Country MHDD. 4 MS. COX: And I'm Nicole Cox. I am the 5 Clinic Director here at the Kerrville Clinic. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. And I work closely with 7 all these ladies as the mental health Judge for the 19 8 counties in our catchment area. And y'all are here to 9 request that May be declared as Mental Health Month. 10 And I talked this over -- we had -- we discussed it at 11 the board. 12 MS. COX: Yes, sir. 13 JUDGE KELLY: And with that, I will move 14 that May be declared Mental Health Month -- Mental 15 Health Awareness Month. 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 18 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 19 Unanimous. Thank you, ladies. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. It's a huge 21 problem. Huge problem nationally, mental health. 22 JUDGE KELLY: You have no idea. Absolutely 23 no idea. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You're probably right. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Moving on to Item 1.2, which 13 1 is consider, discuss and take appropriate action to 2 approve the Proclamation recognizing June as Elder Abuse 3 Awareness Month. 4 Come on. No one's going to get up? Okay. 5 Then I will make a motion that June be declared as Elder 6 Abuse Awareness Month. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that 8 motion. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 10 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 11 Unanimous. 12 Moving on. Item 1.3 consider, discuss and 13 take appropriate action to approve a Proclamation 14 recognizing May as Community Action Month in recognition 15 of all Kerr County Community Action Partnerships. 16 Miss Oneill. 17 MS. RAMIREZ: My name is Vicki Ramirez. I'm 18 with the Community Council of South Central Texas. And 19 I just want to give a brief comment about what programs 20 the Community Council provides to you and the Kerr 21 County residents. 22 We have services or programs for Kerr County 23 residents. One of them is the Energy Assistance 24 Program, who provides household assistance with water, 25 gas, propane bills. 14 1 The Home and Rental Assistance Program, this 2 program provides rental subsidy to enhance housing and 3 some relief for Kerr County residents. 4 The Veterans Financial Assistance Program, 5 this program offers financial support to eligible 6 veterans, dependents, and surviving spouses during times 7 of crisis. The MHM grant program assists with different 8 needs, like moving expenses, rental, deposit and case 9 management services. Those are some programs that we 10 have for Kerr County residents. And I'm here to 11 declare -- to ask for May -- the declaration of May as 12 Community Action Month. And thank you for your support. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Very good. Then I will move 14 that May be declared -- or proclaim May as the Community 15 Action Month in the Kerr County community action 16 partnerships. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 19 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Against? 20 Unanimous. Thank you. 21 Moving on to Item 1.4 consider, discuss and 22 take appropriate action to approve the Proclamation 23 recognizing April 28th through May 5 of 2024 as Texas 24 Soil and Water Stewardship Week. I don't see Missie 25 here -- 15 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I don't either. 2 JUDGE KELLY: -- but I'll move -- are you 3 going to move? 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sure. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Make a motion. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. I move to 7 approve the Proclamation recognizing April 28th, 2024 8 through May 5th, 2024 as Texas Soil and Water 9 Stewardship Week. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that 11 motion. 12 JUDGE KELLY: We have a motion and a second. 13 Any discussion? 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: Just hoping that we 15 would have heard from Missie a little bit about the 16 program. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we can always call her. 18 Okay. So with that, those in favor say aye. Opposed? 19 There being none. Unanimous. 20 Moving on to Item 1.5 consider, discuss and 21 take appropriate action regarding Interlocal Agreement 22 between UGRA and Kerr County regarding Guadalupe River 23 crossing patrols. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, before we do 25 that. Back to Commissioner Paces's comment on that one. 16 1 Basically, I'll make a comment about it. At the end of 2 the week, they had a land -- 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Cow Pokes and Land 4 Folks. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- Cow Pokes and Land 6 Folks, something like that, and it was well attended, a 7 very good little trade show going on and they had a lot 8 of talks about basically water conservation and land 9 stewardship. Things of that nature. So they ended the 10 week on a bang. And a good barbecue. Okay. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Her actions spoke more than 12 words. I'm sorry to interrupt, go ahead. 13 MS. TABER: No, you're good. 14 Good morning, Judge and Commissioners. I'm 15 Shelby Taber with the UGRA. This item for your 16 consideration will allow us to continue the patrol 17 program through this year. Like the UGRA, Kerr County 18 has partnered on this program to reduce the incidents of 19 litter at Guadalupe River recreation areas. 20 Changes to the program would include the 21 addition of monitoring at Center Point Lions Park, in 22 addition to the three sites we've already been 23 patrolling since the beginning of the program which are 24 Hunt Crossing, Ingram Dam, and Brinks Crossing. 25 The site collection change is a result of 17 1 feedback we received from the officers last summer. 2 During -- oh, we're also increasing hourly wage that 3 UGRA will pay directly to these officers. We 4 coordinated with Reagan Givens on this as a scheduled 5 officer to patrol. We'd like to, again, thank you for 6 your consideration. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's been a good 8 program. I move for approval. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 11 approve the Interlocal Agreement with UGRA on the 12 Guadalupe River crossing patrols. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And this is -- some of 14 y'all may not know a whole lot about why this thing 15 happened. It was found or determined that law 16 enforcement people have a far more or better impact on 17 the public not littering when there -- you know, as 18 opposed to just a -- an individual walking around and 19 checking. And then in the part UGRA pays them to do it 20 outside of their time. And then, I guess, the 21 maintenance firm handles the trash pick up. So it's kind 22 of a -- it's a good partnership. And it allows our 23 constables to use County equipment while they're out 24 there doing this, but we don't pay them for it. 25 JUDGE KELLY: There's something about a 18 1 badge and a gun. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Stole my line. Works 3 a lot better. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: What about the 5 Sheriff's deputies, do they play any role to kind of 6 reinforce this, or is it just the constables? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just the constables. 8 Just the constables. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 10 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? None. Unanimous. 11 Moving on to Item 1.6 consider, discuss and 12 take appropriate action on a request from the Alamo 13 Letter Society to place a bronze plaque containing the 14 Colonel William Barrett Travis "Victory or Death" letter 15 on the courthouse grounds. Don Frazier. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Oh, he's not here? 17 JUDGE KELLY: Let's pass this one and put it 18 back on the agenda. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah, because this is 20 really cool. Yeah. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's cool but not wild 22 about things on the courthouse square. 23 JUDGE KELLY: It's two foot by three foot 24 and it weighs 203 pounds. And somebody paid for it and 25 we don't know. 19 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah, it's 4,000 -- 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We can put it in the 3 building maybe. 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. It's pretty 5 cool, though. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We'll pass on that one. 7 1.7. Consider, discuss and take appropriate 8 action to accept donations to the Kerr County Animal 9 Services totaling $160.00 for the month of April. 10 Reagan Givens. 11 MR. GIVENS: Good morning. Yeah, so this is 12 our April donations for $160.00. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Oh, you got it. 17 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 18 second. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 19 Opposed? Unanimous. 20 Moving on to 1.8 consider, discuss and take 21 appropriate action to approve Kerr County Animal 22 Services policy for Trapped Wildlife Pickup. 23 Mr. Givens. 24 MR. GIVENS: Yes, sir. So I actually need 25 to pass on both this and 1.9. I got them on the agenda 20 1 hoping -- excuse me, I was hoping to be able to get that 2 done and I just -- I couldn't get a final draft done. 3 So we'll get it all completed for the next court. 4 JUDGE KELLY: We'll put it on the next 5 agenda then. 6 MR. GIVENS: Yes, sir. 7 JUDGE KELLY: These are things we want to 8 address, though. 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 10 MR. GIVENS: Yes. It's just been a little 11 more complicated than I thought. 12 JUDGE KELLY: We understand. Okay. Thank 13 you. 14 The next item is 1.10 consider, discuss and 15 take appropriate action to accept the 2023 Operation 16 Stone Garden grant award from the Office of the Governor 17 in the amount of $162,465.00. Scott Gaige. 18 MR. GAIGE: Good morning. Just a couple 19 weeks ago we came for the Resolution for it. So we were 20 presented with the award for $162,465.00 for Operation 21 Stone Garden for the fiscal year 2023. Just looking for 22 the Court's approval to accept that award. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 21 1 approve accepting the grant on the Operation Stone 2 Garden as presented. Any discussion? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is this the amount we 4 were expecting? 5 MR. GAIGE: Yeah. It was, yeah. There 6 wasn't any change. The only thing that's inside the -- 7 internal inside grant, we're just waiting for the 8 Governor's Office. They had to move around a couple 9 items in the budget. With Stone Garden it's not as easy 10 as with Operation Lone Star, where we can move stuff 11 around inside the grant. It actually has to come from 12 the Governor's Office to move it around so we're just 13 waiting for that. So the money amount's not going to 14 change, it's just some of the budget items will be moved 15 around. So they'll actually delete -- there's a couple, 16 like, mobile radios and stuff that we won't utilize on 17 this. That money is going to be reallocated into a 18 different line item. 19 JUDGE KELLY: We're just accepting this 20 grant in that amount. 21 MR. GAIGE: Yes, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: Is that the maximum 23 amount that we applied for or did they trim it down? 24 MR. GAIGE: So with this kind of -- with 25 this grant with Stone Garden, they call it a campaign. 22 1 So Val Verde County is the primary campaign from it. So 2 whatever counties are all enrolled into that, it kind 3 of -- that money, it's split up amongst those counties. 4 So like last year with Stone Garden we had altogether 5 seven counties for the campaign. And that was our first 6 year with it. So we kind of got like seed money, it was 7 about $44,000 just for a little -- for overtime. 8 This one includes that overtime, another 9 license plate reader trailer. It's a vehicle 10 maintenance cost and some fuel cost as well is included 11 in this one. So we're slowly going up. Next year we'll 12 move to a campaign that's under Kendall County, which 13 we're actually four in that campaign. We'll pull in 14 Gillespie County and Kendall County into that as well as 15 Menard and Kimble County. So that will be our third 16 year for Stone Garden, next year. So we're looking at 17 February/March time frame as well, and so we're probably 18 looking at a higher award next year. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: That's great. Okay. 20 But just -- just -- since you mentioned the other 21 counties, to be clear, this full amount, $162,000 is 22 coming to Kerr County? 23 MR. GAIGE: Yes, sir. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: Great. 25 JUDGE KELLY: We got motion and a second? 23 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: Uh-huh. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So those in favor say 3 aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Thank you. 4 The good news is it's 9:35. It's not 10 5 o'clock. So we'll go all the way over to Item 1.19. 6 And I see TAC people sitting here. But when we put it 7 on a timed item, that's where we're stuck. 8 Okay. Item 1.19 consider, discuss and take 9 appropriate action regarding an MOU (sic), a Memorandum 10 of Agreement, with the Federal Emergency Management 11 Agency, FEMA, for including Integrated Public Alert and 12 Warning System in conjunction with the Code Red System, 13 and permit the County Judge to sign the same. 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: Dub's not here. 15 JUDGE KELLY: I talked to Dub about this. 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: Oh, okay. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. What this system is, is 18 we have our Code Red system and this allows the Federal 19 Government to put their warnings into our Code Red 20 system and, also, our Code Red system into their iPAWS 21 system. And this is something that we routinely do, it 22 renews every three years, and this is time to renew it. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Easy peasy. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second 1.19. 24 1 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 2 second. Any discussion? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The question I have is 4 that this system does not put out -- we seem to be 5 getting a severe weather alert from the Governor's 6 Office or somewhere all the time. Almost every day. 7 We're getting winds and storms and things. That's not 8 going to go on this system? 9 JUDGE KELLY: No, that's -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I just -- 'cuz I 11 mean, it's quite annoying when it's sunny out. 12 JUDGE KELLY: But I think it's more the 13 problem with our Code Red system. Which picks it up. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. And I don't get 15 it on my phone, it's just -- we get emails a lot. 16 Which, you know, anyway. It's just -- seems to me that 17 it's being used a whole lot more as emergency stuff than 18 it used to and it gets to the point where people don't 19 listen to it, in my mind. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I think that's a concern 21 because I have learned to ignore some of these emails. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. Before we get 23 off this, Jason, I hate to put you on the spot, but I 24 am. On Code Red. I get some complaints from people out 25 our area, you know, when maybe we have bail outs or 25 1 something like that and maybe, and correct me if I'm 2 wrong, maybe if DPS is in charge or something, then the 3 people out there don't get a Code Red -- 4 SHERIFF WALDRIP: Yes. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: -- unless, I guess, 6 we're in the lead or something. Can you talk to that a 7 little bit? 8 SHERIFF WALDRIP: Specifically what we 9 decide to do when we have a bail out event, if it's a 10 DPS led case, then that is their decision on whether to 11 put out information on that. That's not our -- we're 12 not in charge of that operation. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And that's where my 14 complaints come in. 15 SHERIFF WALDRIP: Yeah, and if we -- if 16 we're the lead agency on, say, a bail out situation -- 17 it depends on what happens during a bail out. If we 18 capture everybody or we think we have captured everybody 19 on the bail out, we don't put in the Code Red. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. 21 SHERIFF WALDRIP: There's no reason to. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Understandable. 23 SHERIFF WALDRIP: If we get a large bail out 24 and we may or may not have captured everybody, we 25 typically do a Code Red but we do it in a geographical 26 1 area. We don't do it countywide. We try to do it in a 2 two to three-mile radius from wherever the bail out was. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Sure. 4 SHERIFF WALDRIP: So depending on where the 5 bail out was, there may not be that many residents 6 within that two to three-mile radius. Even though you 7 may live in Mountain Home or you may live out toward 8 Hunt or whatever, you may not be in that two to 9 three-mile radius even though you consider yourself a 10 Mountain Home resident. So when one ranch owner gets a 11 Code Red and then the other rancher owner doesn't, 12 sometimes we'll get some complaints that they didn't 13 receive information on it. It's just they weren't in 14 the geographical area that was involved. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I think the 16 biggest thing that people are having a hard time 17 swallowing is like the DPS takes the lead and then they 18 don't inform anybody through our Code Red and that's 19 where the complaints are. 20 SHERIFF WALDRIP: Well, I mean, that's their 21 department and that's their decision to make on what 22 information to put out. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. Thank you. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Do we have a motion and 25 a second on this yet? 27 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. 2 JUDGE KELLY: We do? Okay. Then those in 3 favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 4 Moving on to Item 1.20 consider, discuss and 5 take appropriate action regarding Interlocal Cooperation 6 Contract and Failure to Appear program with the Texas 7 Department of Public Safety. 8 And this is just a renewal of the same 9 contract that we've been using for years with them. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll -- 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Got it. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 15 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 16 Motion carries. 17 Item 1.21 -- I see you back there, Jenny. 18 We're waiting on 9:30. 19 MS. SANCHEZ: Yes, sir. Thank you. 20 JUDGE KELLY: 1.21 consider, discuss and 21 take appropriate action on the implementation of the 22 burn ban. Time to renew. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 28 1 renew -- implement the burn ban -- continue to implement 2 the burn ban. Any discussion? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just -- because we do 4 this so regularly, I will make a comment as to why we do 5 it this way is that this enables each Commissioner to 6 lift -- lift the burn ban in their Precinct. Without 7 this, we don't have that authority. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. A lot of 9 counties it's all or none. And they may have to wait 10 until a Commissioners' Court to do something. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I think Kerr County's 12 kind of got partly spoiled because they like their 13 Commissioners to put it on. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, of course. And it's 15 a big County and we get sometimes rain at Commissioner 16 Overby's house and nowhere else in the County. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 18 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 19 1.22 consider, discuss and take appropriate 20 action to determine whether to allow the retail 21 fireworks permit holders to sell fireworks to the public 22 in celebration of Memorial Day beginning May 22 and 23 ending at midnight on May 27, 2024. Commissioner 24 Harris. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. I move for 29 1 approval of this. 2 JUDGE KELLY: If we do nothing, they can't. 3 Right? So we have to take action for them to -- 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Uh-huh. 5 JUDGE KELLY: -- be able to -- 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: In order to sell. 7 JUDGE KELLY: -- sell fireworks. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm indifferent. 9 There's some that want to. Second. 10 JUDGE KELLY: We got a motion and a second. 11 The floor is open for discussion. This is always a 12 nervous conversation that we have. As of this morning, 13 I feel pretty good about it. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well -- 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: But today's the 13th. 16 That's two more weeks, yeah. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And, of course, I 18 checked the Keetch-Byram report and -- 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It looks good? 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: -- it looks great. 21 You know. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I understand. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And as Commissioner 24 Paces said earlier, it's drying out a little bit but 25 we're still there. We're right there where we need to 30 1 be. We're not in the critical stage. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: How many -- how many 3 retailers do we have that will participate in that 4 holiday fireworks? 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I can only speak to 6 the ones out in Precinct 4 and one large one, right 7 there on 27. 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And it's run by a 10 church group and they do good things with the proceeds. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Uh-huh. I don't think 12 there's a whole, whole lot. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Well, let me tell you, they're 14 very vocal. You'll learn. 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: The big concern, 16 though, is that things can change mighty quickly with 17 the weather. And the amount of time it takes to dry 18 things out here and -- 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, sort of. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: If there's a huge -- 22 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It's two weeks. Yeah. 23 JUDGE KELLY: And that's the reason I say 24 this is a healthy but nervous conversation we have every 25 time. 31 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I think that we 2 have two things going right now. We're in severe 3 drought from the groundwater standpoint because we're 4 not -- we haven't had in several years any substantial 5 rain that helps the aquifers. We had a lot of little 6 rains that are keeping the surface sort of green, but 7 it's no deep moisture. The good news is that, you know, 8 generally May is our wettest month of the year. So we 9 should get a little bit more. Maybe even today, 10 according to the forecast. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. In the next 12 few weeks, yeah. 13 JUDGE KELLY: I'm nervous about that one, 14 too. 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'm real nervous about 16 it. I was mowing over the weekend and talk about dust 17 and dirt flying and -- 18 JUDGE KELLY: You mow dirt? 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. It's all the 20 tall stuff on top of that dirt. 21 JUDGE KELLY: My wife saw me out there 22 mowing th grass one day and she said, quit mowing that 23 dirt. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: Anyway. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Back on the fireworks. 32 1 We got a motion and a second. We've had the discussion. 2 Any other discussion? Then those in favor say aye. 3 Opposed? 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: Aye. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Four, one. And it's a nervous 6 yes, Rich. 7 Okay. It is 9:30. We'll go back to our 8 timed item, which is 1.11 consider, discuss and take 9 appropriate action to accept the water donation from 10 Discount Tires for the Memorial Day event. Jenna 11 Sanchez. 12 MS. SANCHEZ: Good morning. Discount Tires 13 has been gracious enough to donate water for us for our 14 Memorial Day event. It will be probably hot. Last year 15 we had a couple people -- we did have some water so they 16 were just dealing with heat exhaustion. So I'm just 17 hoping we can accept the donation. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move we accept the 19 donation. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 21 JUDGE KELLY: We got a motion and a second. 22 And let me kind of follow up. I work with the Veterans 23 Service Council. And we met on Friday. And one of the 24 things that we're doing this year is setting up some 25 canopies and the water will be in the shade. We' trying 33 1 to be able to keep people cooler and not overheat. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: A shady area. 3 JUDGE KELLY: It's always a great event, but 4 it can be a warm event. Any other discussion? Those in 5 favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous as always. Thank 6 you, Jenna. 7 MS. SANCHEZ: Thank you. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you, Jenna. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 1.23. 11 JUDGE KELLY: 1.23 consider, discuss and 12 take appropriate action to surplus IT items from the IT 13 department and an office chair from the Justice of the 14 Peace, Precinct 3. Ilda Mendoza. 15 And for those of you that don't know, we 16 cannot surplus these things without approval. 17 MS. MENDOZA: I just have about 20 items for 18 the IT they want to get rid of. Monitors, USB parts, 19 and an office chair for Judge Mitchell. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Move for approval. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 23 approve the surplus item as presented. Any discussion? 24 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Thank 25 you, Ilda. 34 1 Next is Item 1.24 consider, discuss and take 2 appropriate action on budget costs to improve e-mail 3 access. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on. This is 5 not against Scott at all. I have continued to be 6 incredibly frustrated with our e-mail, our County 7 e-mail. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Any delayed response intent? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. For a two-week 10 period, and Scott's aware of this, I couldn't get 11 e-mail, period. It just wouldn't download. So they 12 came in and they fixed it. So now I get it; however, I 13 only get my e-mails on my computer if I'm in the 14 courthouse, take it home, it won't download anything. I 15 go to my phone, I can download it when I'm at home. If 16 I reply, they get lost. I don't know where they go. 17 But they're not back -- they don't show that I've sent 18 them on my -- 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: I got that problem. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- on my computer. And, 21 you know, I -- along the way it seems that it's -- the 22 problem is server -- 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Syncing. The 24 computer's not syncing. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not syncing. And also, 35 1 just not having enough -- I don't know if it's memory or 2 whatever the term is -- to handle keeping track of all 3 this stuff. And, you know, it's not going to be a big 4 impact to me. But it is ridiculous that we can't from a 5 budget standpoint fix this problem. 6 And I just really put this on the agenda to 7 ask Scott or whoever is going to be working with 8 preparing the IT budget that there needs to be funds 9 allocated so our e-mail system works. Whether I'm on my 10 phone, County phone, County computer. I don't care if 11 I'm in Alaska or at my house or here, it should all be 12 seamless. And, you know, we all have other e-mail 13 services. They work wherever I am. And I just think 14 that this needs to do the same thing. And I would guess 15 other elected officials and County employees have the 16 same issue, but I don't think they're zeroing in on my 17 little computer. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Not just you. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I've had the same 20 problem plus a few more. You know, if I put something 21 in a folder, I just -- I pull up -- I have a big folder 22 for Jody. And if I put something in that folder today 23 and I go home with -- or right here on my phone, the 24 last one I can pull up is from 2021. And that's a 25 problem. And I think we need to get better than that. 36 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. So anyway, 2 that's just -- the only reason I'm hearing this is 3 during budget I'm just asking IT to figure out what it's 4 going to cost to fix this. Countywide. 5 JUDGE KELLY: So no action to be taken? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No action, just -- 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: Scott, do you want to 8 add any comments? I mean, what -- what are we talking 9 about? I'm sure you're aware of the problem? 10 MR. LAMBERT: Want me to go up? 11 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. Absolutely. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it's been this 13 way -- 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: No, it's not -- it's 15 not a Scott problem all of a sudden, it's -- 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's been there. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. 18 MR. LAMBERT: And I've been here a whole 19 month in charge. So, the problem is storage. I mean, 20 there's two different flavors of mail. You have pop and 21 imap. Imap means whatever you do on Device A, it 22 reflects on Device B. And I believe that's what the 23 Commissioner's looking to get this. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: There you go. You 25 want to find that. 37 1 MR. LAMBERT: What that will take is 2 storage. So there's several options. You know, Texas 3 Association of Counties are big fans of Office 365. The 4 problem with that is it's a large number. We have a lot 5 of people and a lot of devices. So, you know, I have 6 some numbers here but we'll go over it during budget 7 unless you just want a quick snapshot. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I wouldn't mind that 9 snapshot. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Yeah. 11 MR. LAMBERT: Okay. Quick snapshot. 12 Currently y'alls server -- 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: How many employees and 14 devices do we have, just to start with? What is the 15 number? 16 MR. LAMBERT: I think we're at 325 for 17 employees. Devices, you know, there's multiple -- I'd 18 have to look. But, you know, you have your -- your 19 people with the desktop and some people with a laptop. 20 Some people with two laptops. And there's a lot of 21 prosecutors -- 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: So at least double. 23 MR. LAMBERT: -- they need to have something 24 just to show videos. Or just to store stuff that they 25 don't want on the network. 38 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So at least double that 2 number probably. 3 MR. LAMBERT: Yeah. So -- 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: Easily. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Put 150, yeah. 6 MR. LAMBERT: So current mail server, it's 7 been in service for about two years. We pay $1200. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: $1200 -- what do you 9 mean, a month? 10 MR. LAMBERT: No, $1200 for the guy to come 11 configure it. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. 13 MR. LAMBERTY: Or he wasn't actually on-site 14 but, you know, he does e-mail servers everyday all day. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. 16 MR. LAMBERT: So we want somebody like that 17 to come in and help us set that up. That was two years 18 ago, $1200. That's been our cost. Our other cost is, 19 let's see, proof point. Our spam filter, virus filter. 20 It went from a basic which was unlimited. Next year, it 21 will cost $3,600 for our current usage. And that's -- 22 you know, that's been there for awhile. 23 So when we bought it last time it was three 24 month's contract. But they don't offer that one anymore 25 and so now it's per user, per mailbox I should say. So 39 1 we're estimating 3,600 for next year. If we go Office 2 365, with the amount of mailboxes we have, so there's 3 two different tiers. One is, you know, the user. So 4 the office having e-mail services provided. And that's 5 tier 3. And that would be $132,825.00. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Almost $133,000. 7 MR. LAMBERT: Yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that a one-time or an 9 annual? 10 MR. LAMBERT: That's an annual. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: There you go. 12 MR. LAMBERT: So I was looking at, you know, 13 build a new e-mail server, I think we'll build it on the 14 new -- our new big server, large server. That would 15 give us the ability to create these Imap accounts. So 16 it would sync from your phone to your desktop. You 17 wouldn't come in and go, have I read that one? Oh yeah, 18 I read that one on my phone. But you don't know because 19 it doesn't sync. 20 So if we rebuild a new e-mail server on our 21 current hardware, we're looking at probably about 22 $2,000.00. You know, prices have changed. So we'd have 23 to up that. 24 JUDGE KELLY: I think -- I think we can 25 afford that. 40 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: But that one -- 3 MR. LAMBERT: Or if we go to Office 365. 4 Now, you also get your -- your office subscription with 5 that. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's our -- we have 7 some sort of Windows now. I mean we have -- what's 8 our -- what are we paying right now for whatever? 9 MR. LAMBERT: We have an LPSD, which is a 10 long-term service channel subscription. It's a little 11 bit cheaper per subscription, but it's only -- its life 12 cycle is five years. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But like we have Word 14 and Excel and all this stuff -- 15 MR. LAMBERT: Yes. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- that's in Office 365, 17 so what -- we're paying something for all of that right 18 now annually? 19 MR. LAMBERT: Yes. That is like 286 per 20 device. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: $286.00? 22 MR. LAMBERT: Yes. And it's -- like I said, 23 life cycle's usually about five years. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 286. 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: So if we build our own 41 1 e-mail -- like you said, if we -- that's another option? 2 MR. LAMBERT: Yeah, we'll have to bring 3 somebody in. 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: But can we build it 5 better than the one we have right now? 6 MR. LAMBERT: Absolutely. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we're paying about 9 20,000 annually right now for the Windows -- 10 MR. LAMBERT: What we got now. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just -- that -- 12 MR. LAMBERT: Well, not -- not annually. 13 With -- that's -- that license on that device until that 14 OS4 Pop is gone out. Until it's no longer supported. 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: So it's a one-time fee 16 then. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But doesn't -- and I'm 18 looking to Jody because sometimes I've been talking to 19 her and there's -- we're using an old version of 20 Windows, or we were for a while, which had some 21 compatibility issues. Is that right, Jody? 22 MRS. GRINSTEAD: We're using an old version 23 of Word. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: An old version of Word. 25 But I'll -- I mean, we're using old versions of Excel 42 1 and Word and all those, which I would say it's difficult 2 because I trend to try to work on -- 3 JUDGE KELLY: Scott, I think this 4 conversation is very worthwhile, but it would probably 5 be more productive if you would gather all this 6 information and prepare a handout for us and be able to 7 present it and maybe something that we do in the budget 8 workshop. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, I know. 10 JUDGE KELLY: But we definitely want you to 11 pursue this and be able to advise us what the best 12 course of action really is. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'm heading to the TAC 14 training next week, the IT conference. So hopefully, 15 get some ideas there as well. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Anyway, that was the 17 whole reason for -- my whole purpose for putting it on 18 the agenda was just really to say, during the budget 19 process we want this, we want that. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Right. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not that we can afford 22 it but -- 23 JUDGE KELLY: I think Scott understands 24 that. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. Thank you, 43 1 Scott. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. It's almost, not quite 3 9:45. So let's take one quick one here. Item 1.25 4 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to approve 5 a donation from TAC of a defibrillator and a rowing 6 machine. 7 SHERIFF WALDRIP: So as a team, you know, 8 process within the Sheriff's Department, we maintain a 9 physical fitness policy we've been working on for the 10 last probably year or so. And we ran it through Heather 11 at one time and also working with TAC on development of 12 this policy. As a part of that, TAC has donated a 13 Concept II rowing machine, which is what we use for 14 physical fitness testing. And, of course, as precaution 15 when we do test, we want to make sure we have an A&D on 16 standby. So they have generously donated both this 17 items to the Sheriff's Department. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Make a motion we accept 19 the donation. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 21 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 22 second to accept the donations from TAC of a 23 defibrillator and a rowing machine as presented. Any 24 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 25 Unanimous. 44 1 Okay. One more. Item 1.26 update regarding 2 issues related to the Comfort radio tower. 3 SHERIFF WALDRIP: Not a lot of update. 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: This will go quick. 5 JUDGE KELLY: That's okay. 6 SHERIFF WALDRIP: We're still in contact 7 with the land lease company, which is Infrastructure. 8 We have e-mails going back and forth with West Central 9 Wireless. Our contract ends with them in '25. We're at 10 least trying to get them to keep us on their tower until 11 the end of December of '26. We are in contact with two 12 other cell phone towers that were a backup 13 consideration. So that's the place we're at now. 14 As far as retro radio project, we are 15 installing some subscriber equipment. We are putting -- 16 we will have -- begin installing mobile radios into 17 several of our CID and administrative fleet. And so we 18 are moving forward at least installing radios. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Good. Just keep us informed. 20 SHERIFF WALDRIP: Yes, sir. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I got an e-mail from 22 AT&T, they put in something new in Center Point. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Do you have any news 25 to tell? 45 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They have a new tower in 2 Center Point. Well, I -- 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Is it a new tower? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's something that 5 you can now use your cell phone at some point. 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. My phone works 7 over there now. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's a big plus. 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I didn't know if it 12 was a new tower or just a boost. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It was a new tower, I 14 believe. 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Let me quickly handle 1.27 17 consider, discuss and take appropriate action regarding 18 the contract with the City of Kerrville for firefighting 19 and emergency medical services agreement, which expires 20 September 30th this year. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll just make a quick 22 comment on it. I brought this up probably half a dozen 23 times between now. The City Manager invited the Judge 24 and myself over just to go discuss it. There was really 25 full agreement from the City and from the Judge and I 46 1 anyway, that the contract is good. They don't want to 2 make changes. And so, to me, another ten-year contract 3 is super. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Spot on. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's the same. It's got 6 an escalator in it based on the -- I think it's an 7 annual escalator. And the contract is based on the DOW 8 -- I think it's DOW CPI index. 9 And in the last ten years, it's gone up 10 about 200,000, plus or minus. It's like 1.4 million 11 something now. And it started out at 1.2 million, I 12 think. So it goes up every year, but it goes up with -- 13 just on the CPI index based on the DOW. 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: Unfortunately it's 15 going up a lot more here. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: But anyway. 18 JUDGE KELLY: To put this in context, ten 19 years ago when this contract was negotiated, it created 20 a firestorm in the community. And those of you that 21 were here will remember, it was a very hostile 22 environment. And contentious. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Every year was 24 contentious. 25 JUDGE KELLY: And so when I -- 47 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's an annual deal. 2 JUDGE KELLY: -- when I got -- first got 3 elected, the first thing I had Jody do was go pull a 4 copy of that contract to see if it was going to be on my 5 watch that we had to renegotiate it. Because it was so 6 bad. 7 And I will tell you that the cooperation and 8 the community mindedness, my case was at the meeting, 9 Heather, the City sat down with us and said we like what 10 we have, we'll just continue it. And we -- well 11 actually, they asked what we wanted and I said if we 12 could continue it, and they jumped on it. And this 13 is -- this is good. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's been good for the 15 community. 16 JUDGE KELLY: And it's been affordable for 17 the County. And their response to -- in the County has 18 gotten better and better through the years. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: Absolutely. I hundred 20 percent agree. As a volunteer firefighter, they show up 21 so timely. The kind of service we get from EMS is 22 phenomenal. And the cost for the County to try to 23 replicate that service, yeah, it was a factor of three 24 or five. But it would be a heck of a lot. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. So I'll make a 48 1 motion that we approve a ten-year extension to the 2 existing fire/EMS contract with the City of Kerrville. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 5 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 6 Unanimous. 7 We have Stuart Barron in the courtroom here. 8 Good things about the City. We like working with you. 9 9:45. Sorry to keep you waiting, Clem. 10 MR. ZABALZA: No worries. 11 JUDGE KELLY: This is Item 1.12, It's 12 presentation of the Safety Achievement Award from 13 representative from TAC. And this is Clem Zabalza, am I 14 saying that right? 15 MR. ZABALZA: Yes, sir. 16 JUDGE KELLY: And he's our new 17 representative for Kerr County. 18 MR. ZABALZA: Good morning, Judge and 19 Commissioners. My name is Clem Zabalza. I'm the Deputy 20 Director from risk control services at TAC. This 21 morning we bring good news to Kerr County. Every year 22 the task force management pool recognizes counties that 23 go above and beyond their safety effort to keep their 24 employees safe. And this year I'm very proud to be here 25 today to present one to Kerr County. Out of almost 212 49 1 counties that participate in the workers' comp pool, 2 less than 40 actually qualified for this award and Kerr 3 County is one of them. 4 So the requirement for this special award is 5 that the County have a safety plan in place, which the 6 County does. That includes inspections, that includes 7 safety training, that includes active investigation. 8 Support from the Judge and Commissioners to make sure 9 that the program is in place. In addition, also having 10 policies that also help to protect. For example, 11 seatbelt policy, mobile use device policy, social media 12 policies. All of these combined together with the 13 efforts of every employee in the County keeps your 14 County safe and in the long run, helps prevent losses to 15 life, to property, and ultimately their valuable 16 resources in the County. So we are very proud to 17 recognize Kerr County today as a very good example of 18 having an excellent safety program in place. 19 JUDGE KELLY: How many years in a row do we 20 have this? 21 MR. ZABALZA: You've gotten it for at least 22 seven years that I can think of. Because I've be at TAC 23 six years and you've gotten it before I was even there. 24 So you guys are continuously above and beyond when it 25 comes to safety in the County. 50 1 JUDGE KELLY: I sat in the blue chairs in 2 2017 and '18 and I think we've probably gotten over a 3 dozen of these. 4 MRS. GRINSTEAD: A lot. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We've gotten a lot. And 6 the benefit, obviously, to the health and safety of our 7 employees and the public, it also saves us money. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yes. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because our workers' 11 comp rate is as low as it could possibly be. 12 MR. ZABALZA: Correct. 13 JUDGE KELLY: And this is a photo 14 opportunity so I'm going to come down and let you 15 present it and get our PR Director and newspaper 16 reporter to get the news out. 17 (Photographs taken.) 18 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Thank you. 19 One more timed item at 9:45, which is Item 20 1.13 consider, discuss and take appropriate action on 21 amending the Health County Wellness Contact Designation 22 Form. Miss Soldan. 23 MRS. SOLDAN: Good morning. This is a form 24 that we fill out to designate who the Healthy County 25 Wellness Coordinator and Sponsors are. Dawn Lantz has 51 1 been a sponsor, and she has asked to be removed from the 2 committee because she's got too much going on upstairs 3 and wants to focus on her office. Other than that -- 4 JUDGE KELLY: And you're the new one? 5 MRS. SOLDAN: I've been the coordinator for 6 several years now. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Good. 8 MRS. SOLDAN: Just removing her as sponsor 9 and putting Natalie on as well. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: You're putting Natalie 11 on. Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 15 approve the Healthy County Wellness Contact Designation 16 form revision. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 17 Opposed? Unanimous. Thank you. 18 With that, we're going to take a ten-minute 19 break and be back at 10:00 for the ten o'clock timed 20 items. 21 (Recess.) 22 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Court is back in 23 session. The next item on the agenda is Item 1.14, 24 which is a public hearing. I convene -- I call the 25 meeting to order for a public hearing on the revision of 52 1 plat for Y.O. Ranchlands Section 2, Tracts 97 and 98. 2 Is there anyone here to speak at this public meeting? 3 MR. HASTINGS: Judge, I need to speak on 4 that. This item didn't get published in the newspaper. 5 And so you'll see the very next item is to start the 6 process over again. 7 JUDGE KELLY: I remember this. 8 MR. HASTINGS: And that's why we left it on 9 the agenda, was six weeks ago we asked you to set this 10 date and the Court passed a court order to do that. But 11 it did not get published in the newspaper. It was an 12 oversight. And -- 13 JUDGE KELLY: We're about to fix that. 14 MR. HASTINGS: -- we're back to correct 15 that. Yes, sir. 16 JUDGE KELLY: So there being no one else to 17 appear on the public meeting, the public meeting will be 18 adjourned and we'll move on to Item 1.15, which is 19 consider, discuss and take appropriate action for the 20 Court to set a public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on June the 21 24th of 2024, for a revision of plat for Y.O. Ranchlands 22 Section 2, Tracts 97 and 98. 23 MR. HASTINGS: Judge, a public hearing for 24 this proposed revision of plat has already been set for 25 today. We noted that it didn't get published properly 53 1 in the newspaper so here we are again. Just a reminder 2 to everyone, this is a proposal that revises and 3 combines two lots -- different tracts. Tract 97, 49.09 4 acres, and Tract 98, 71.16 acres, will be combined into 5 Tract 97R, 120.25 acres. Road frontage will be on 6 Camino Y.O. East and Dry Pasture Road. 7 The County Engineer requests the Court set 8 a public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on June 24, 2024 for 9 a revision of plat for Y.O. Ranchlands Section 2, 10 Tracts 97 and 98, Volume 5, Pages 357 through 360, 11 Precinct 4. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 14 JUDGE KELLY: We got a motion and a second 15 to approve re-setting the public hearing for June 24th. 16 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 17 Unanimous. 18 Moving on to Item 1.16 consider, discuss and 19 take appropriate action to set a public hearing for 20 10:00 a.m. on June 24th, 2024 -- for June 24th, 2024, 21 yeah, I said that right -- for revision of plat for 22 Staacke Ranch, part of Lot 1 and part of Lot 2. Charlie 23 Hastings. 24 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. This 25 proposal revises part of Lot 1 and part of Lot 2, 33.75 54 1 acres combined, into two lots. Lot 1A will be 10.13 2 acres and Lot 1B will be 23.62 acres. Frontage for both 3 lots will remain on Bear Creek Road. 4 County Engineer requests the Court set a 5 public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on June 24th, 2024 for a 6 revision of plat for Staacke Ranch, part of Lot 1 and 7 part of Lot 2, Volume 5, Pages 77 through 85, 8 Precinct 3. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So move. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 12 set the public meeting for Staacke Ranch as presented. 13 Any discussion? 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: Charlie, how many 15 tracts are in the original subdivision? 16 MR. HASTINGS: About 25. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: This one gets a little 18 complicated with recently passed Senate Bill 2440. 19 MR. HASTINGS: It does. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: And I -- I mean, I have 21 no problem with the hearing. I'm all for it. But I 22 guess that's what we're going to talk about in the next 23 item. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Good enough. 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: It's coming up. 55 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So any other 2 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 3 Unanimous. 4 Moving on to Item 1.17 consider, discuss and 5 take -- consider and discuss revision of plat for 6 Staacke Ranch, part of Lot 1 and part of Lot 2. And we 7 do have a speaker on that. Jared Martin. 8 MR. MARTIN: Thank you, Judge. 9 Commissioners. Yeah, I just wanted to bring this one up 10 as to what Commissioner Paces was just alluding to. 11 There are complications of the new passage on the state 12 law -- 13 COURT REPORTER: Excuse me, could you speak 14 up a little bit? 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. Can barely hear 16 you. 17 MR. MARTIN: Sorry. Yes. And how they work 18 with the -- with the, you know, new rule changes in 19 Chapter 232. And how they also work with the current 20 Kerr County Subdivision Regulations. And as I read the 21 current Kerr County Subdivision Regulations, this one 22 would be exempt from water availability. It doesn't 23 create more than ten tracts. And so how does that -- 24 you know, how does that work with Chapter 232? And 25 really, the biggest question is, how do I explain that 56 1 to my client whose faced with -- 2 JUDGE KELLY: Welcome to our world. 3 MR. MARTIN: You bet, yeah. So, yeah, 4 this -- I'm kind of looking for guidance or answers 5 there as to how to respond to her. Because as she 6 looks, she's subdividing in Kerr County. This was 7 within the rules of Kerr County but then it somehow 8 conflicts with Chapter 232. Which, if I read Chapter 9 232, I see that there are some leeway for the County 10 through Commissioners' Court to waive certain -- certain 11 requirements. 12 And so, you know, we're -- are we to assume 13 that since there are exceptions within the County's 14 rules, that there's some sort of consensus that that 15 criteria is -- is acceptable to the Commissioners' Court 16 in light of the exceptions that are allowed to Chapter 17 232? So that's kind of where I'm at. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Can we defer this discussion 19 until we get to that agenda item or -- 20 MR. HASTINGS: No. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Go ahead. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I want to go a little 23 bit more into detail on this situation it's -- one, in 24 my mind it's pretty easy to fix by two different ways 25 that are available in our subdivision rules or State Law 57 1 232. 2 The situation is here, two sisters inherited 3 this property, an undivided interest in it. And all 4 they want to do and -- is divide it between themselves. 5 They're getting caught under the new rule in that the 6 interpretation that the 25 lots in the subdivision, this 7 is going to make it 26 if they go through the process, 8 that requires a water availability study. And to me, 9 that is -- just violates the property rights, waste of 10 money and everything else. And we should try to figure 11 out a way to help these people. There are -- 232.010 12 says: Exceptions apply requirement. County 13 determination. A Commissioners' Court of a County may 14 allow conveyance of portions of one or more previously 15 platted lots by metes and bounds description without 16 revising the plat. That right there, it gives us 17 authority to say we're going to waive our platting 18 authority, they can do this by metes and bounds and move 19 on. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: What was that section? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 232.010. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Which subsection? I'm trying 23 to look at it here. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 232. 25 JUDGE KELLY: I understand that. 58 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. So I mean, 2 there's a way there. There's also -- if you look at -- 3 we put in our rules under plat exceptions, that there's 4 nine or ten state exemptions from platting. State 5 exemptions from platting. We put in our rules that 6 those exceptions do not apply for re-plats. That is not 7 a State Law. We put that -- added that in. So we can 8 take that out. And since this is an undivided interest, 9 it would allow this to happen, by taking out those 10 exceptions. And I think that there's a pretty good 11 argument. They -- we added this in. State Law didn't 12 really -- it's kind of silent on this issue. And I 13 think it's a pretty good argument that those exceptions 14 apply to re-plats. It's a whole different issue. But 15 we added that in; it's not a state law. So we can make 16 that exception. 17 And all that's going to do is allow 18 situations of undivided interest to divide their 19 property without platting and, you know, agricultural, 20 veterans land bank, there's a few other things that are 21 exempt under State Law and it's a pretty good argument 22 for those exemptions, whether it's in a subdivision -- a 23 plat subdivision or not. 24 That's something that -- to answer that, I 25 think we have to wait until Executive Session and talk 59 1 to outside counsel. But I think either one of those 2 give us clear ability to do it. In the ETJ right now we 3 frequently waive platting authority and give it to the 4 City of Kerrville. So we certainly have a precedent of 5 waiving our plat authority and I think that we have the 6 ability to waive it here. And that solves the problem. 7 So -- 8 JUDGE KELLY: What do you think, Jared? 9 MR. MARTIN: Yeah. I think that's a good 10 avenue. I mean clearly that was allowed many, many 11 years ago. We're dealing with a part of Lot 1 and a 12 part of Lot 2. This is divided by metes and bounds in a 13 very similar manner. So, you know, and specifically, 14 these kind of scenarios, I think that's where it works 15 the best. You know, I think the blanket Chapter 232 16 rules and the main rules of the Subdivision Regulations, 17 really there for the bigger developments, right, and try 18 to keep that authority in those situations. But 19 these -- you know, two lots in one -- or I mean one lot 20 into two, one lot into three type scenarios, it seems 21 reasonable to come up with an exception that would allow 22 those kind of revisions. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I can personally speak 24 to the intent of the Revised Subdivision Rules was to be 25 able to handle these cases like this on a more 60 1 individual basis and not have some kind of blanket 2 statutory rule in place. So I don't see this as a 3 problem. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, I'm very 5 sympathetic on this one. And I don't see it as an issue 6 of -- I mean, look, the smallest lot is over ten acres. 7 So it's not a major concern that way. But it is a new 8 State Law. So my concern is just about, you know, 9 whether we comply with the State Law or not. So I 10 highly recommend that we get outside counsel, particular 11 from Chuck, an opinion on how best to do it, if we're 12 going to -- if we even can do it. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: We're going to do 14 that. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I don't disagree 16 with that, Commissioner. But the State Law says -- 17 comes into place if you plat it. If you don't plat 18 it -- 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- if it's just a 21 division, it doesn't say if you divide property it 22 requires a water availability study. It says if you 23 plat it you're required to do water availability. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: I understand. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we're not platting. 61 1 Just -- so you waive platting authority. There's no 2 platting required. They can go ahead and make this 3 division. And like the Judge said, these situations 4 will come to us on a case by case. Now if they were 5 taking the same tract and dividing it into -- 6 JUDGE KELLY: Nine or ten. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- five or six or as a 8 bigger property they were doing ten, well, then we 9 should have -- you know, I would go along with no, we 10 don't, we're not going to waive that authority. But we 11 do have the ability to waive it. And this is a -- to me 12 it's a classic situation where we should. But, you 13 know, I will -- I mean I would make a motion to do it 14 now, but I will defer that motion until after Executive 15 Session. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we're just trying to 17 give him some information. 18 MR. MARTIN:: I can be patient. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Are we're not going to take 20 any action -- 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: You'll have to wait on 22 this. 23 JUDGE KELLY: -- until after Executive 24 Session. 25 MR. MARTIN: Okay. 62 1 JUDGE KELLY: And I think this has been a 2 constructive discussion. I hope it helps. 3 MR. MARTIN: It does. Thank you very much. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. With that, we'll move 5 on to Item 1.18, which is consider, discuss and take 6 appropriate action for Commissioners' Court to approve 7 the General Contract with JCW Construction, LLC 8 regarding the installation of guardrail near 761 Wilson 9 Creek Road North. Miss Hoffer. 10 MS. HOFFER: Good morning. We have an area 11 near 761 Wilson Creek Road North that needs guardrail. 12 The road surface right at this location when it's 13 measured is 16 feet wide. This would widen that road up 14 by two feet. The easement is 35 to 40 foot wide at this 15 location. I think at one time -- I think the property 16 owner that owns this, I think owns on both sides of the 17 road, and I think at one time, don't know if they still 18 do, to be able to get livestock through there to go to, 19 you know, the pasture on the other side. 20 We didn't really realize how much of a drop 21 off it was until we were getting Wilson Creek ready. 22 And all of a sudden realized it's a pretty significant 23 drop-off. We worked with engineering on it to show them 24 what we wanted to propose, and engineering said, you 25 know, that they would be for it. We got a quote from 63 1 JCW that does our guardrail projects. It would add a 2 hundred feet on both sides so a car doesn't go off in 3 this area and go down that pretty steep embankment. 4 It will allow us, like I said, to widen the 5 driving surface by about two feet. The general contract 6 amount is $40,500.00. We have 30,000 in line item for 7 guardrail, 15-612560. And then we'll need to make a 8 budget amendment to take 10,500 from contingency, which 9 is line item 15-612-599. 10 At this time, I ask the Commissioners' Court 11 for their approval of the General Contract with JCW 12 Construction, LLC in the amount of $40,500.00, and have 13 the Judge sign the same. And I think the one side is in 14 Precinct 3, and I'm not sure if the other side of the 15 road is too, but it's right there somewhere in there. 16 But it will just make this location a lot safer. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The County Attorney's 18 reviewed the contract? 19 MS. HOFFER: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 23 approve the guardrail contract with JCW Construction, 24 LLC as presented. Any other discussion? Those in favor 25 say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 64 1 MS. HOFFER: Thank you. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Moving on. We're all the way 3 over to the last item on the Consideration Agenda. It's 4 Item 1.28 consider, discuss and take appropriate action 5 to review implication to Kerr County Subdivision Rules 6 and Regulations in light of revisions to Section 232 of 7 the Local Government Code and the use of groundwater. 8 We seem to have several people in the room 9 for that one. This is -- is there action that we're 10 going to take? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, this goes -- most 12 of this, I think, will be in Executive Session. I don't 13 see action. Well, it could be action today. I just 14 think -- 15 JUDGE KELLY: Before we go into Executive 16 Session, why don't we -- 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I think it's an 18 issue that we just talked about is the most glaring 19 example of a problem we have right now with our rules. 20 And I think there are some solutions that -- in my 21 opinion, I think we need to -- but I -- you know, 22 probably should visit with our outside counsel on that. 23 And I think that there -- you know, we just 24 need to -- there's also confusion in my mind between, 25 you know, I see conflicts between -- there's just a 65 1 bunch of weird language. And if you look at 230 of 2 the -- of TAC 230, TAC 290, it's just a lot of confusing 3 language in there. And I think we need some guidance as 4 to when -- what type of study is required. 5 There's language in there about some 6 general -- like if it's overall dumped on Commissioners' 7 Court if there's groundwater we don't have to do it 8 under certain situations. I don't know what that means. 9 I mean, I don't know the well -- or very few, if any, 10 wells in the Kerr County that have been drilled that 11 couldn't find water at some depth. Some of them aren't 12 very good, but it's just thinks like that that, to me, 13 we need some guidance and we need to really look at this 14 whole issue. Because the State law change kind of took, 15 I think, everyone by surprise. And I think we need to 16 look at it. And I'm in favor of water availability, but 17 I'm not in favor of putting excessive burdens on 18 landowners and taxpayers for no real reason. 19 And if we can figure out a way to -- in 20 fact, frankly, I think some of it you get into a takings 21 issue almost. Those people own that groundwater. And 22 we're making it so expensive for them to drill a well 23 it's ridiculous. They combine a piece of property into 24 two large lots and just because it's a subdivision, they 25 have to go ahead and do a -- spend 50, $60,000 on a 66 1 water availability study does not make sense. But 2 that's what the legislature did to us so we need to 3 figure out how to look at our rules and hopefully modify 4 them to be in compliance with State Law and the public. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I definitely 6 want to hear from outside counsel. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Well, certainly we do. But 8 the public doesn't even know what the issue is. And 9 we're dealing with some fine tune issues and 10 complication. Because what you're talking about are 11 subdivisions that our rules do apply to. The big action 12 that the Legislature took is the exception of what does 13 not need to be platted. And that's what the public 14 really needs to hear. And that's going to be under 15 Section 232.0015 of the Local Government Code. And it's 16 going to be under subsection F, that says the County may 17 not require the owner of a tract of land located outside 18 the limits of a municipality to divide the tract into 19 two or more parts, to have a plat of the subdivision, 20 if -- and so this is the exception to the subdivision 21 rule -- all the lots of the subdivision are more than 22 ten acres in area, and the owner does not lay out part 23 of the tract described by Section 232.001(a)(3). So you 24 gotta go back and read that. 25 And what it says is that you have to have -- 67 1 these are the requirements for a plat. The owner of a 2 tract of land located outside the limits of a 3 municipality must have a plat of the subdivision 4 prepared. If the owner divides the tract into two or 5 more parts to lay out, and it goes through one, two, and 6 three. And item 3 got revised. And what it says was, 7 if it has streets, alleys, squares, parks or other parts 8 of the tract intended by the owner of the tract, and it 9 used to say -- or and now it says, to be dedicated to 10 public use. So if you do not dedicate the property, the 11 roads to public use, and it's more than ten acres, you 12 don't have to plat it. That's a huge change in the law. 13 And what we're talking about is the 14 possibility of subdivisions going up out in the western 15 and eastern parts of the County on caliche roads, and 16 no -- no oversight by the County whatsoever. And it 17 is -- it is a seismic shift in the law. And it is one 18 that the developers lobby spent their lobby dollars on 19 our legislators, both in the House and in the Senate, 20 and bought off this change and slipped it passed the 21 people without us even knowing. And I -- I am very 22 upset about it. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I keep telling people 24 every legislative sessions the developers get more and 25 more chips on their side of the table. 68 1 JUDGE KELLY: And people are not paying 2 attention to what the lobby -- lobbyists are doing in 3 Austin and it is a crime. It is a crime against the 4 people, in my opinion. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, Judge, you're 6 right there, but there's -- you know, that's one big 7 seismic shift. The other seismic shift was water 8 availability. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Oh yeah. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That they're requiring 11 it on basically any subdivision in the state. I mean, 12 there's a few exceptions to it but subdivisions require 13 now a water availability study and it's -- very few 14 exceptions to it. And that's the one that I was talking 15 about with the people down on Staacke Ranch. Both of 16 these are huge shifts that are going to impact private 17 property in County government. 18 JUDGE KELLY: And with that said, we are 19 going to go into Executive Session in a minute. But we 20 have a number of people that are very interested in the 21 water situation in Kerr County, that are here in the 22 courtroom, and haven't field out your speaker forms yet, 23 I understand. But if any of you want to address the 24 court, we'll need you to go to the podium and identify 25 yourself so that we can -- the people at home will know 69 1 what's being said. But I think we've been pretty clear 2 about what we're upset about. 3 MR. JONES: I'm Tom Jones, Precinct 1. I 4 was -- Jonathan already knows what we're looking at. 5 It's Senate Bill 2440. And he's correct. It's going to 6 make it so restrictive. You can't do anything is where 7 you're headed with it. And that's -- what you talked 8 about, Judge, is always -- that is a big concern, 9 changing that language. 10 But Senate Bill 2440, that's going to lock 11 it down to where you can't really do any subdividing 12 here without a water availability study. Right? And 13 that -- and that is very expensive. I'm not sure how 14 you're going to get around it, or work within it, to 15 make it work for Kerr County I guess would be better. 16 But we do want to make sure that we stay within the 17 confines of State Law, but I think it's going to be a 18 difficult task. 19 So I'm hoping that Mr. Kimbrough has looked 20 at this already because it's going to take a lot of deep 21 thinking to try to figure out how he can work within 232 22 to get around that, particularly for County authority. 23 But that's all I have. Jonathan is already very aware 24 of all of it so he knows all of it. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Again, this is a timely topic. 70 1 Is there anybody else who wants to share anything 2 publicly before we go into Executive Session? Okay. 3 Then we will adjourn into Executive Session. And hang 4 around and see what we do then when we come out. 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: We're not going to do 6 the Approval Agenda? 7 JUDGE KELLY: Oh yeah. We gotta do that. 8 I'm sorry. The approval agenda. We'll do this quickly. 9 2.1 is budget amendments. Do we have some? 10 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. You have ten budget 11 amendments in front of you and there's line item 12 transfers. 13 JUDGE KELLY: And these are fiscal year end 14 adjustments? 15 MRS. SHELTON:: Yes. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion -- 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: -- and a second to approve the 20 budget amendments as presented. Any discussion? Those 21 in favor say aye. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: I was going to just ask 23 a quick question. Some of these bigger adjustments are 24 for the Sheriff's Office and jail? I guess that was the 25 overtime holiday payout or -- 71 1 MRS. SHELTON: Yes, some of it was the -- 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: Was that an -- 3 MRS. SHELTON: -- holiday -- 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- the eclipse? 5 MRS. SHELTON: This was the first year the 6 Sheriff had requested that we delineate between what was 7 from -- being paid extra for holidays and what was -- 8 specifically what overtime was. And so we knew that we 9 were going to have to shift between those. 10 The holiday payout I think has been higher 11 than what any of us kind of anticipated, but that we 12 could use the eclipse that was -- what was leftover from 13 the eclipse overtime to cover that. 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. 15 MRS. SHELTON: We also took a look at -- 16 we're looking at salaries and making it through the end 17 of the year. We took a look at the insurances. And so 18 the great insurance on -- I don't remember if it was the 19 jail or the Sheriff's office. Just one second. On the 20 jail was running a little short and that was because of 21 their being fully staffed. And so it was more based on 22 what last year's was rather than taking into 23 consideration what the effects would be with how many 24 open positions there were. 25 So that kind of takes care of all of that. 72 1 And we balanced it basically through going through 2 prisoner meals. We've had a decline in the number of 3 prisoners. We've also -- I think we've budgeted that 4 somewhere around $6,000 a week, I want to say, for 5 prisoner meals. And it hasn't cost us that much this 6 year. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 8 MRS. SHELTON: So we feel like there will 9 be -- there -- of course, everyone knows that if we're 10 getting toward the end of the year, we have to feed the 11 prisoners no matter what. And at that point, the money 12 would need to come from contingency. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. So how much of 14 this is a function of the eclipse? 15 MRS. SHELTON: None. 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: None of it is? 17 MRS. SHELTON: The eclipse actually 18 contributed about $41,000 to what the issues were. So 19 that's that second line in that budget. So they 20 actually only spent -- 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. So we're into 22 the usual -- 23 MRS. SHELTON: They spent 41,000 and so we 24 were able to move about 34,000. 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. Good. 73 1 JUDGE KELLY: And just a question. I've sat 2 in some of these meetings with GrantWorks that -- with 3 our grant administrator for the ARPA funds. And this 4 topic has been widely discussed with regard to salaries 5 and the allocations between -- these types of 6 allocations that we're making here. Is this partly for 7 us to be able to comply with the GrantWorks requirements 8 for allocating these salaries to help satisfy whatever 9 the accounting review may be for the use of the ARPA 10 funds? 11 MRS. SHELTON: No. ARPA funds are being 12 spent in Fund 30. So every -- the line item adjustment 13 that you're looking for here are all for general fund. 14 And so we are in discussion with GrantWorks. There is 15 concern with -- GrantWorks is saying if we haven't spent 16 the money through the end of December, that we cannot 17 use it from then on. That's a change than what we were 18 told last year at budget time, when we thought we still 19 had until December of 2026 to spend that. So when we 20 first start looking at the ARPA and at the budget for 21 next year, we're kind of looking at how much is left of 22 ARPA and how much do we project because we still don't 23 know exactly until the end of the year how much we 24 actually will have. So we'll have to be doing a 25 projection of that. 74 1 And then also looking at possibly taking the 2 raises that were given last year to both Road & Bridge 3 and the Sheriff's Office, and moving those back into 4 general fund. We thought we'd have a couple of years 5 before that happened, but in looking at it now we're 6 looking at changes what we might possibly do in order to 7 make it happen. They've got a few ideas on how to make 8 it with an interagency agreement between I guess 9 Commissioners' Court and the Sheriff's Office. I'm not 10 quite sure who the interagency agreement would be 11 between. 12 Or is it simply easier -- there's -- we know 13 we've got other items that are needed, such as capital 14 items, so could we not use the money, go out for bids. 15 Whatever we needed to do and -- and so again, just 16 moving it from one place to another, which is exactly 17 what we did last year. But it's just too early to tell. 18 JUDGE KELLY: And -- and the point that I'm 19 making is that we're working very closely with 20 GrantWorks to make all of these necessary allocations 21 back and forth during whatever time periods in order to 22 comply with the ARPA requirements. There was a lot of 23 concern early on with ARPA that there might be a 24 clawback. And I can assure the public that we are 25 working diligently. I can tell you almost that 75 1 GrantWorks is making the allocations to make sure 2 everything is proper. Even if it is fund dated. 3 Anything else? We already voted to approve 4 the amendments, right? 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: Uh-huh. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So then we'll move on 7 to pay the bills. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move to pay the bills. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 10 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion to 11 approve -- a motion and a second to approve paying the 12 bills as presented, which is $1,182,965.88. Correct? 13 MRS. SHELTON: Correct. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any discussion? Those 15 in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 16 Next item is late bills. 17 MRS. SHELTON: Yes, we have $40.00 in 18 invoices for late bills. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move to approve. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 21 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion to approve 22 the late bills as presented. And a second. Any 23 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 24 Unanimous. 25 Auditor reports? 76 1 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Very good. Thank you. 3 Moving on to monthly reports. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. For March 2024. 5 District Clerk's Office, District Clerk Dawn Lantz. 6 Veteran Services Office, VSO Jennifer Sanchez. April 7 2024. Payroll approval, County Treasurer Tracy Soldan. 8 District Clerk's Office, District Clerk Dawn Lantz. 9 Auditor's Office, County Auditor Tanya Shelton. Justice 10 of the Peace Mitzi French, Precinct 1. Judge J.R. 11 Hoyne, Precinct 2. Judge Kathy Mitchell, Precinct 3. 12 Constable Tommy Rodriguez, Precinct 1. Paul Gonzales, 13 Precinct 3. And Brad Ryder, Precinct 4. I move for 14 approval. 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 17 approve the monthly reports as presented. Any 18 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 19 Unanimous. 20 2.6. Court orders. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have our Court Orders 22 from April 22nd, numbers 40596 through 40615. All look 23 to be in order. I make a motion to approve. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 77 1 approve the Court Orders as presented. Any discussion? 2 Yes, ma'am? 3 MS. GRINSTEAD: Do you have the Court Orders 4 from our special meeting last week? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, they look fine. 6 One was Hall Ranch, and the other was approve payment of 7 PTO, and those look good. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So those in favor say 9 aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 10 Moving on to the Information Agenda. Status 11 Reports from Department Heads. Any status reports? 12 3.2. Status Reports from Elected Officials? 13 And Item 3.3. Status Reports from Liaison 14 Commissioners. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have one related to 16 the new Animal Control facility, kind of where that is. 17 They're going through a final costing of the new 18 facility to see where we are exactly, what we think 19 we're going to come in. At the same time, they're 20 working on their final plans, the final bid documents. 21 And once they have all of that together, we'll be coming 22 to the Court, probably will be in early June. 23 They have also provided a list that I've 24 asked Reagan and Shane to work with -- or together on, 25 for things that are not included in the construction 78 1 part of the contract, such as everything from soap 2 dispensers to paper towel holders to furniture. You 3 know, some of the -- there's some other items in there, 4 there's a lot of items. 5 The security system is a different item, 6 because it comes through Guardian. You know, it's a 7 requirement that we have to use it through them. 8 They're going to do a lot of the -- running the conduit 9 and all that stuff, where to go for the actual 10 installation of that is separate. 11 Another additional cost or other costs that 12 are not included, you know, are monitors. There's just 13 a lot of little things that go into moving into a new -- 14 like a new home, new building, that are not part of the 15 construction of the structure. And those two, Reagan 16 and Shane, are working on that. I've asked them to have 17 that available for us for budget so that we can have 18 that there. It may not be something that's, you know -- 19 and once we get final plans, then we'll know kind of 20 construction timeline. But we're going to need to know 21 those numbers. 22 Anyway, that's where that is. Probably 23 early June we'll get the final plans and put it out for 24 bid. And after that point, finish up some of the 25 permitting as well. You can't get permits from the City 79 1 until you have final plans. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Got a lot going on in 3 June. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Anything to add? Two things 5 I'd like to bring to everyone's attention, is don't 6 forget the VA Pathway dedication service on May the 24th 7 at 10:00 a.m. This is a great thing that we've done. 8 It's a wonderful project. And if you can, at all 9 possible, try to make that dedication service. 10 And then also remind everyone that we do 11 have our Memorial Day service here at 10 o'clock on 12 Memorial Day, which there's been a lot of planning and 13 hard work that's gone into that and I think it's going 14 to be very well presented. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And Judge, along that 16 line, because Memorial Day would be our normal 17 Commissioners' Court day, Commissioners' Court will be 18 on Tuesday, the 28th? 19 JUDGE KELLY: Correct. We do it the next 20 day. 21 Okay. With that, we're now going to adjourn 22 to Executive Session. Take a brief recess and we'll 23 start back up. 24 (Recess) 25 JUDGE KELLY: It's 12:16 and we've come out 80 1 of Executive Session. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a comment on 3 1.17, which was discussion of the Staacke Ranch 4 question. And there was -- a public hearing was set at 5 that time and the advice we were given is that there is 6 an argument for us to grant a waiver to allow that -- 7 division of that property and any discussion related to 8 that would take place at the public hearing -- from the 9 public will take place at the public hearing which was 10 set for June 24th, I believe. But that there was an 11 argument that we could grant a waiver on that. 12 And on the other stuff, we talked a lot. 13 It's -- there's some confusing, conflicting issues. 14 And -- oh, but there is -- there is another important 15 issue. That we will start the process to do a 16 subdivision -- our subdivision rules and regulations 17 revision in light of the State Law change, and some 18 other things that we have discussed that are kind of 19 related to that. So that process will start and there 20 will be public hearings and meetings and assessments 21 about that. And we've asked Charlie to start that list 22 and it'll come back to Court. 23 So, unfortunately, the time to get some of 24 that done looks like it'll be somewhere between 60 and 25 90, probably 120 days, before that will actually take 81 1 place. Because a lot of those are -- there are some 2 things in our rules that are just, you know, the new 3 State Law prohibited some things that we have in our 4 rules and we need to get that cleaned up and clarify 5 some other things. So -- 6 JUDGE KELLY: Anything else? 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: No, sir. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. With that, we are 9 adjourned. 10 * * * * * * 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 82 1 STATE OF TEXAS * 2 COUNTY OF KERR * 3 I, DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD, Certified Shorthand 4 Reporter in and for the State of Texas, and Official 5 Court Reporter in and for Kerr County, do hereby certify 6 that the above and foregoing pages contain and comprise 7 a true and correct transcription of the proceedings had 8 in the above-entitled Regular Commissioners' Court. 9 Dated this the 23rd day of May, 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