1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Regular Session 5 Monday, August 26, 2024 6 Commissioners' Courtroom 7 Kerr County Courthouse 8 Kerrville, Texas 78028 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 PRESENT: ROB KELLY, Kerr County Judge ANNE OVERBY, Commissioner Precinct 1 24 RICH PACES, Commissioner Precinct 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Precinct 3 25 DON HARRIS, Commissioner Precinct 4 2 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 *** Public Input. 9 4 *** Commissioners' Comments. 12 5 1.1 Presentation of Certificate to the Kerr 16 County Clerk-Elections and the Kerr County 6 Tax Assessor-Collector, Voter Registration for a Rating of Outstanding per the 2024 7 Primary Election County Website Review by the Legal Women Voters of Texas. 8 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 20 9 action to appoint Sherri Walters to Emergency Services District #1(ESD #1). 10 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 21 11 action to approve Resolution against Battery Equipment Storage Systems (BESS) 12 proposed in Kerr County. 13 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 44 action to appoint a Regional Planning 14 Commission pursuant to Texas Local Government Code Chapter 391. 15 1.12 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 58 16 action to allow the Veterans Services Office to accept donations in support of 17 Veterans Activities/Events. 18 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 61 action regarding any changes to the proposed 19 Kerr County Budget for FY 2024-2025. 20 1.14 Public Hearing on proposed Kerr County 63 Budget for FY 2024-2025. 21 1.15 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 63 22 action to adopt the Elected Officials Salaries for FY 2024-2025. 23 1.16 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 64 24 action to approve special requests for specific positions and new positions for 25 FY 2024-2025. 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.17 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 71 action to approve the grade and step 4 schedule for FY 2024-2025. 5 1.18 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 72 action to adopt the Position Schedule for 6 FY 2024-2025. 7 1.19 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 73 action to approve General Provisions 8 for FY 2024-2025. 9 1.20 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 76 action to accept the order setting the 10 salaries for the County Auditor and Assistant County Auditor pursuant to the Texas Local 11 Government Code Section 152.031, and that the effective date be October 1, 2024. 12 1.21 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 78 13 action to accept the order setting the salaries for the 198th District Court 14 Reporter and 216th District Court Reporter. 15 1.22 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 79 action to adopt FY 2024-2025 Kerr County 16 Budget and take a record vote. 17 1.23 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 81 action to take a record vote on the proposed 18 2024 Kerr County tax rate. This will be a combined tax rate for Kerr County and Lateral 19 Roads. 20 1.24 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 83 action to set the date and time to hold a 21 public hearing for the 2024 tax rate for Kerr County and Lateral Roads. 22 1.25 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 84 23 action to set the date and time for adoption of the 2024 tax rate for Kerr County and 24 Lateral Roads. 25 4 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.26 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 85 action to take a record vote on the proposed 4 2024 Lake Ingram Estates Road District tax rate. 5 1.27 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 86 6 action to set the date and time to hold a public hearing for the 2024 tax rate for 7 Lake Ingram Estates Road District. 8 1.28 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 88 action to set the date and time for adoption 9 of the 2024 tax rate for Lake Ingram Estates Road District. 10 1.29 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 89 11 action to approve action regarding the optional $1.50 Child Safety Fee and the 12 optional $10.00 County Road & Bridge fee for 2025 vehicle registrations per request 13 from Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, and authorize the Tax Assessor Collector to 14 submit the approval to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. 15 1.7 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 92 16 action to allow Hill Country Youth Event Center(HCYEC), Oakview Group, to enter into 17 an exclusive beverage provider contract with Pepsi Co. for a three-year initial term. 18 1.8 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 104 19 action to partner with the City of Kerrville for a Household Hazardous Waste Event to be 20 held at Hill Country Youth Event Center. 21 1.30 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 106 action for Commissioners' Court approval of 22 a general contract with Secor Fence & Building Company for Gate and Operator 23 Project on Spur 100 at the Road & Bridge Department property, Precinct 2, and have 24 the County Judge sign the same. 25 5 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.31 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 108 action for Commissioners' Court approval 4 to temporarily close the concrete crossing section on Cougar Park Rd. SW in The Guadalupe 5 Ranch Estates for repair of concrete crossing. 6 1.32 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 110 action regarding a Revision of Plat for 7 Creekside at Camp Verde Phase 2, Lots 94, 95, and 96, Plat File #22-09621. 8 1.33 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 112 9 action on e-mail from Hill Country Alliance suggesting that interested County Commissioners 10 sign a letter requesting that an administrative correction to the 89th Legislative Session be 11 passed pertaining to the passage of HB 3697 which allows developers to circumvent the 12 subdivision platting process by declaring their roads private. 13 1.10 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 119 14 action to approve Memorandum of Understanding between the American Red Cross and Kerr 15 County Emergency Management. 16 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 121 action regarding lease agreement with Kerr 17 Area Rural Fire Association (KARFA) for a Zodiac FC 420 LSRF water craft and trailer. 18 1.9 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 124 19 action to accept donations to Kerr County Animal Services totalling $20.00 for the 20 month of July 2024. 21 1.11 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 124 action to discontinue Disaster Declaration 22 for the severe storms and flooding beginning on July 22, 2024. 23 24 25 6 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.34 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 125 action to approve and authorize County 4 Judge to sign TIPS Board Resolution and an Interlocal Agreement between Region 8 5 Education Service Center and a Texas Public Entity or Local Government. This agreement 6 expedites purchasing with approved vendors. 7 1.35 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 128 action to submit the 2024-2025 County Feral 8 Hog Abatement Grant pursuant to the Texas Legislature, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension 9 Service, Wildlife Services program. 10 1.36 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 129 action on requests from appointed and elected 11 officials to appoint clerks and assistants for their offices pursuant to Local Government 12 Code Chapter 151. 13 1.37 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 131 action for the Court to authorize issuing a 14 Request for Qualifications(RFQ) for general engineering services for Kerr County. 15 1.38 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 134 16 action to appoint members for the Selection Review Committee to rate the proposals for 17 the Request for Qualifications(RFQs) for general engineering services for Kerr County 18 and present the committee's recommendation for award to the Court. 19 1.39 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 136 20 action to approve the Selection Criteria and Rating Sheet for the Request for Qualifications 21 (RFQs) for general engineering services for Kerr County as presented. 22 1.40 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 136 23 action for the Court to authorize issuing a Request for Qualification(RFQ) for general 24 architectural services for Kerr County. 25 7 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.41 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 137 action to appoint members for the Selection 4 Review Committee to rate the proposals for the RFQ for general architectural services 5 for Kerr County and present the Committee's recommendation for award to the Court. 6 1.42 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 137 7 action to approve the Selection Criteria and Rating Sheet for the RFQs for general 8 architectural services for Kerr County as presented. 9 1.43 Consider, discuss and approve the 138 10 appointment of Election Judges and Alternates for the term of one(1) year to begin 11 September 1, 2024 in accordance with the Texas Election Code Section 32. 12 1.44 Consider, discuss and approve the polling 139 13 locations in accordance with Chapter 43 of the Texas Election Code for the November 2024 14 election. 15 1.45 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 140 action to approve the Central Counting Station 16 Personnel pursuant to Chapter 127.005 TEC. 17 1.46 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 141 action to approve letter of support for the 18 Alamo Area Council of Government's(AACOG) application to the Charging and Fuel 19 Infrastructure(CFI) Discretionary Grant Program to add electric charging stations in Kerr County. 20 2.1 Budget Amendments. 144 21 2.2 Pay Bills. 145 22 2.4 Auditor Reports. 145 23 2.5 Monthly Reports. 145 24 2.6 Court Orders. 146 25 3.3 Status reports from Liaison Commissioners. 148 8 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 5.1 Action as may be required on matters 148 discussed in Executive Session. 4 1.22 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 152 5 action to adopt FY 2024-2025 Kerr County Budget and take a record vote. 6 *** Adjournment. 155 7 *** Reporter's Certificate. 156 8 * * * * * * 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 JUDGE KELLY: Court will come to order. It 9 is Monday, August the 26th, 2024, 9 o'clock in the 10 morning, and the Kerr County Commissioners' Court is now 11 in session. If you would, please rise for the prayer 12 and pledge which will be led by Commissioner Overby. 13 (Prayer and Pledge.) 14 JUDGE KELLY: Please be seated. I think 15 everybody already noted I waited until exactly 9 o'clock 16 to begin court. That's a habit here. But if you would, 17 if you have your phone with you, which nearly everyone 18 does, either turn it to silence or just turn it off so 19 that it doesn't interrupt the proceedings. 20 The first item on any regular Commissioners' 21 Court meeting is to receive public input. This is our 22 opportunity to hear what the public wants us to hear. 23 You've got a captive audience, we're not going anywhere. 24 We're going to hear it. We ask that you limit your 25 remarks to no more than three minutes. 10 1 MS. BRENNAN: I'm hearing impaired. Can you 2 speak louder, sir? I hear you. But, if you're just a 3 wee bit louder, it would be helpful. 4 JUDGE KELLY: I don't know what to do about 5 that. 6 MS. BRENNAN: Speak louder. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I can't sit here and 8 just shout. 9 MS. BRENNAN: Yes, you can. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Anyway. With regard to public 11 input. We ask that you identify yourself and where you 12 live. Limit your remarks to not more than three 13 minutes. And with that, I've got several people that 14 have signed up. One that's signed up for public input. 15 I don't know if others want public input, but I'll call 16 you first, Brent, because you filled a form out today. 17 MR. BATES: And where do I speak from? 18 JUDGE KELLY: From the podium. 19 MR. BATES: Oh. 20 JUDGE KELLY: It's on YouTube. 21 MR. BATES: There we go. 22 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: There it is. 23 MR. BATES: Okay. Name's Brent Bates. 24 Precinct 1. I live at 434 Forest Ridge. I think the 25 last time I spoke to the Chamber here was 25 years ago. 11 1 And they didn't take my advice then because I told them 2 that being self-directed into health insurance explained 3 a lot of the major turns and they have a $650,000 claim 4 that happened the next year. So hopefully the advice 5 I'm going to give you all today, you'll heed better than 6 they did. 7 One of the reasons that you haven't seen me 8 for 25 years is generally the County runs pretty well. 9 And I've always seen the County as running a whole lot 10 better than the City. And I know most of y'all. I've 11 known Jonathan Letz since the day I moved here. And 12 Jonathan wasn't even married. He didn't even have a 13 girlfriend back then. 14 But what I'm here to talk about is all the 15 election falderal. Many of you know that I got all of 16 the election results, all of the actual votes for 2022, 17 and a group of people did a hand count. I'm the only 18 person in the room that knows the result, the total 19 results of that and the total analysis of that. 20 The result of that was so abysmal that I 21 then requested 2024. Jonathan said in a previous 22 meeting that nobody has brought him any evidence that 23 there's any kind of problem and our problem is -- in the 24 2022 was if you go from a range of one to a thousand, it 25 was closer to a thousand than it was to one. And math 12 1 is kind of my strong suit. But I wasn't really on any 2 kind of witch hunt against any of the County employees 3 or anything at all, I was just trying to help us get 4 things a little sharpened up. 5 And so I talked to some of these people and 6 I'm kind of on the periphery of everything. I don't 7 belong to anything other than my family and God. And on 8 the periphery of things, you know, there's a lot of 9 concerns out there and so I'm going to -- you know, I'm 10 kind of the get-it-done sort of guy. So as you all 11 know, I did a request for 2024. It wasn't produced. I 12 received a letter saying that there was a new dictation 13 from the Secretary of State, we're going to delay it. 14 Then all of a sudden I find out that we're modifying the 15 machines. I sent y'all a demand letter over a month 16 ago. I've heard no response whatsoever. 17 And the unfortunate thing is, is I see you 18 all going down the path that the City went when I caught 19 them illegally altering a permit of mine 19 months after 20 it was received. So on January 27th the City is facing 21 damages somewhere between seven and 70 million dollars. 22 And some of those people run a real good chance of going 23 to jail. I really don't have a bone to pick with 24 y'all. In fact, what I'm here to do is offer my 25 assistance that if you all decide to go down the path of 13 1 running a hand count at the same time that you do the 2 election, I would think you would want 200 people 3 involved in the count rather than one. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Any other public input? There 5 being none, we'll move on to the Commissioners' 6 Comments. Precinct 1. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'm good. Move along. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Good. Two. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. Yeah. 10 Currently, the burn ban is lifted but after talking to 11 both of the VFD chiefs in Precinct 2, I'm planning to 12 reinstate the burn ban for Precinct 2 tomorrow. So if 13 you've got some burning to do, get it done today. 14 Now, the forecast calls for some rain. If 15 we get some decent rain, I can always lift it again. 16 But the point is, it's so dry out there right now. And 17 this is what -- in the fire department world, what we 18 call one hour fuel. Which it's so dry between the dead 19 grass and the branches and shrubs and so forth, that 20 even if we get a rain in this semi-arid environment, 21 within one hour it's drying up and ready to go up. 22 The other fear is that we end up with some 23 of these storms like they recently had in Fredericksburg 24 and they ended up getting some fires due to lightning 25 strikes. So we'll see. But just so you're aware, 14 1 please be careful if you are burning or any activities. 2 Otherwise, I'll just report that I've been 3 meeting and talking to engineering -- engineers and 4 architects in preparation for the RFQ's that we're going 5 to talk about later today on the agenda. That's 6 primarily associated with the AG barn improvements and 7 the 550 Earl Garrett office modification, and we're 8 going to have a number of items that talk about the 9 lithium battery energy storage systems. And I've been 10 working closely with Commissioner-Elect Jeff Holt on 11 that. And, in fact, have also sent a letter to the 12 Governor expressing my concerns about it. That's 13 available on my website, RichPaces.com. That's all for 14 now. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Three. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I, likewise, will be 17 putting the burn ban on tomorrow morning. It is very 18 dry and we're having some pretty severe fires up north 19 of us in Gillespie and Mason Counties due to lightning 20 strikes. And it does happen. I mean, it's been a 21 number of years on our ranch since we've had it, but I 22 guess it was in the late 70's several hundred acres 23 burned due to lightning. Two different spots it hit on 24 the ranch. So anyway, it does happen. 25 The other thing, I want to congratulate our 15 1 neighbors to the east, the Boerne Little League. While 2 they didn't win everything, they did end up coming in 3 fourth place. They did play in the championship game, 4 and they did have a little bit of -- basically two 5 injuries; otherwise I think they probably would have won 6 the game, but they didn't. But still, what they 7 accomplished is remarkable, and then to get to 8 Williamsport and to get into the U.S. Championship game 9 is amazing. So hats off to those. I know a couple of 10 those parents, a couple of those kids, and I'm very 11 proud of that whole group over there. That's it. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Good. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And I'll echo that. I 14 have -- one of them is the grandson of a good friend of 15 mine. But they did -- they did well. And they should 16 be very proud and we're proud of them. 17 Speaking to the -- unfortunately, we -- the 18 burn ban is not going to help with lightning strikes. 19 And I've reached out to all four of my fire chiefs this 20 morning and they say let's hold off. So we're leaving 21 the burn ban off until -- got our fingers crossed on the 22 rain as probably everybody in this room, hopefully it's 23 not just the tease like we get a lot of times, but we'll 24 see. We're monitoring. 25 I've had several calls, especially in the 16 1 Hunt area, people wanting to put the burn ban on. And 2 I'll reiterate what I do. I always reach out to all 3 four of my fire chiefs and get a consensus of what they 4 want to do and as of this morning, they're saying let's 5 hold off a little bit longer. 6 So, Judge, let's get to it. We've got a 7 full agenda. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. The only comment I 9 would make, so there's no confusion. I think it was 10 our last board meeting, last Commissioners' Court 11 meeting, we passed the burn ban regulation. And the way 12 we handle that is each Precinct has a Commissioner, and 13 that Commissioner has been delegated the authority to 14 decide whether the burn ban is on or whether the burn 15 ban is off. So what you heard was a collection of 3's 16 on, 2's on, 4's off, and 1 -- 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Off. 18 JUDGE KELLY: -- off. And that's why 19 they're different. We found that we're so big in the 20 County, we're 1100 square miles, and so long and narrow 21 that we don't have the same weather conditions in one 22 place for the whole County. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Or in the same 24 Precinct in my case. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Right. Yeah. But -- and so 17 1 we've got to do it customized to make it more responsive 2 to the people's needs. So with that, we'll move on to 3 the consideration agenda. 4 And I'm going to let you know we're going to 5 take that one item out of -- out of order. We're going 6 to move 1.6 up to the 1.2 slot. Let me call Item 1.1, 7 which is a presentation of certificate to the Kerr 8 County Clerk Elections and the Kerr County Tax Assessor 9 Collector, Voter Registration for a rating of 10 outstanding per the 2024 Primary Election County 11 website, reviewed by the Legal Women Voters of Texas. 12 Ms. Bunny Bond. 13 MS. BOND: Good morning. My name is Bunny 14 Bond. I live at 213 Stephanie, which is in Precinct 4. 15 And I'm here this morning as the Voter Services 16 Coordinator for the Hill Country League of Women Voters, 17 and I want to introduce Janice Zitelman, who is the 18 president of the Hill Country League of Women Voters. 19 We now have our 6th County in the Hill 20 Country. Kerr was our County of origin, and our need 21 celebrating 45 years of service to the public this past 22 May. So Janice Zitelman, who is a resident of Gillespie 23 County, will present the certificate. 24 MS. ZITELMAN: Thank you, Judge and 25 Commissioners, for allowing us time. And most likely, 18 1 you're aware that voters across Texas rely on their 2 County to provide useful, accurate, and up-to-date 3 information about how, when and where to vote. A team 4 of league -- of women voter members volunteered and 5 completed a review of all 254 County election websites 6 for the primary election in March of 2024 in Texas. 7 This was important to ensure voters had ready access to 8 the information they needed to vote, and based on the 9 set of criteria, the league awards points based on the 10 information that's provided on the County website. 11 The Hill Country League congratulates Kerr 12 County as one of the 35 counties that achieved 13 outstanding results with a score of 92 out of 100 14 points. The County staff, who provided major 15 contributions to this website include Lisa Walter, 16 Public Relations Director and Web Context Coordinator; 17 Bob Reeves, Tax Assessor Collector for -- and Voter 18 Registration; Nadene Alford, Deputy Tax Assessor 19 Collector Voter Registration; Ian Collum, County Clerk, 20 Elections; and Denise Vela, Deputy County Clerk, 21 Elections. 22 And we have a framed certificate for their 23 office space to remind them of their important 24 contributions to make citizens aware of the information 25 that they have provided. And we're also grateful to you 19 1 for adjusting the tax dollars and providing clear and 2 accurate information regarding elections. Thank you. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Will everyone whose name was 4 called out please stand so we can recognize you? I see 5 Bob back in the corner and Nadene. Denise. 6 (Applause). 7 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 8 Clay, did you want to speak on this? 9 MR. LAMBERT: Yes, I do. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 11 MS. BOND: Can I speak on it? I just want 12 to say thanks for all the hard work. I have worked 13 elections in Kerr County since 2008. And I know how 14 much work goes in to making our elections free and fair 15 in our County. And I really appreciate the County staff 16 and the League is very proud. This is not the first 17 time that this award has come to Kerr County. 18 So thank you to all the County staff that 19 works in elections. And that includes the people in 20 maintenance who helped you. You can't forget, it takes 21 a lot of people to make our elections work in this 22 County. Thank you. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 24 Clay. 25 MR. LAMBERT: Clay Lambert, 673 Town Creek, 20 1 Kerrville. On behalf of our election integrity team, 2 we'd like to congratulate Bob and his staff also on 3 their award. We know all eyes are on the County website 4 on election day and the information there is refreshed 5 frequently and updated in a timely manner. 6 We also want to thank Nadene and Bob for 7 taking their time to take a look at our findings, review 8 things, and make any corrections that may be necessary. 9 Now, is there more work to do? Well, yes there is. 10 There are still some questionable things that need to be 11 looked into but everything's rolling along and we look 12 forward to continued collaboration with the staff. 13 Thank you. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Anything else on 15 Item 1.1? 16 Let's move on to Item 1.6, which is to 17 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to appoint 18 Sherri Walters to Emergency Services District No. 1. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: All right. I selected 20 Sherri Walters to be our incoming new ESD No. 1 Board 21 member. We needed a new Treasurer, and she's more than 22 qualified, over qualified for that position, and after a 23 little arm twisting -- no, not really -- but she has 24 agreed to do it. So with that, I move that we appoint 25 Sherri Walters to the ESD #1 Board. 21 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. You got it. 3 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 4 second. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 5 Opposed? Unanimous. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: All right. Do we have 7 the swearing in? 8 JUDGE KELLY: I'm trying to see if I do. 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Come on up, Sherri. 10 JUDGE KELLY: I'll come down. 11 (Photographs taken.) 12 JUDGE KELLY: There's two oaths that they 13 have to take. One is a non-corruption oath, which is 14 last. It's kind of boring. But first you'll be sworn. 15 Oh, photo opportunities. So stand right -- this way. 16 If you would raise your right hand and repeat after me. 17 (Sherri Walters was sworn in by the Court.) 18 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. 19 MS. WALTERS: Okay. Thank you. 20 (Applause.) 21 JUDGE KELLY: We've got one more that I've 22 gotta read. 23 (Sherri Walters was sworn in by the Court.) 24 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. 25 MS. WALTERS: Okay. 22 1 JUDGE KELLY: And I need to get you to sign 2 these. I didn't bring a pen down here. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Here's one. 4 JUDGE KELLY: All right. Here and here. 5 (Signing before the Court.) 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. The next item I have on 7 the agenda is Item 1.3 consider, discuss and take 8 appropriate action to approve a Resolution against 9 Battery Equipment Storage Systems (BESS) proposed in 10 Kerr County. I don't see Mr. Holt. Ma'am? 11 MS. BRENNAN: My name is Susan Brennan. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Yes ma'am? 13 MS. BRENNAN: I live in Kerrville. And I'm 14 speaking to you today, Judge Kelly, Anne Overby, Rich 15 Paces, Jonathan Letz, and Don Harris. Battery Storage 16 or Battery Energy Storage Systems are devices that 17 enable energy from currently found renewables, like 18 solar and wind, to be stored and then released when the 19 power is needed most. 20 Lithium-ion batteries, used in mobile phones 21 and electric cars, are currently a dominant storage 22 technology for large scale plants to help electricity 23 grids ensure a reliable source of renewable energy. The 24 safety -- and this is the document I have. The safety 25 and health information bulletin is not a standard or 23 1 regulation. It creates no legal obligation, and it's 2 intended to assist employers and provide a safe, healthy 3 workplace. Occupational safety and health act, 4 employers must comply with hazard specific safety and 5 health standards and regulations. This safety and 6 health information bulletin highlights hazards 7 associated with combustible dust, work practices and 8 guidelines that reduce the risk potential for a 9 combustible dust explosion or that reduce the danger to 10 employees if a combustion explosion occurs. Training to 11 protect employees. 12 And there's a background information. 13 Organic dust fire and explosion, massive killed three 14 and nine injured. In February 1999, a deadly fire and 15 explosion occurred in a foundry in Massachusetts. The 16 OSHA and State and Local Officials conducted a joint 17 investigation of this incident. The joint 18 investigation report indicated that a fire initiated in 19 a shell molding machine from an unknown source and then 20 extended into the ventilation system ducts by feeding on 21 heavy deposits of phenyl formaldehyde. A small primary 22 defineration(phonetic) occurs within the duct work. 23 This lodges in the ducts that settles on the exterior of 24 the ducts. The ensuing duct provides fuel for a 25 secondary explosion, which was powerful enough to lift 24 1 the roof and cause wall failures. In a joint 2 negotiations agency report, include the incompetency in 3 the following areas. Control dust accumulation. 4 Ventilation system design. Maintenance of ovens and 5 equipment safety designs. 6 Organic dust fire and explosion, North 7 Carolina, Six killed, 38 injured. In January, 2003, 8 devastating fires and explosion destroyed a North 9 Carolina pharmaceutical plant that manufactured rubber 10 drug delivery components. Six employees were killed and 11 38 people, including some firefighters, were injured. 12 The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard 13 Investigation Board, an independent federal agency, 14 charged with investigating chemical incidents issued a 15 final report of accumulation of combustible polyethylene 16 dust above a suspended ceiling due to the explosion. 17 I.e., the lithium-ion batteries here in 18 Texas, he just talked about it being so dry, I know our 19 grid is fragile, but if we had one of those -- and 20 electric cars have been known to explode -- if we had 21 one of these in a rural area, the fire would be rampant 22 like some of these ones in California. We do not need 23 this. Amen. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 25 Ms. Peters. 25 1 MS. PETERS: Good morning. I'm a resident 2 of Center Point. We're very close to one of the 3 locations in the project will be for the battery 4 emergency storage system. So out of the research that I 5 could view, which is minimal, there's not a whole lot 6 out there. But it's seems to me that the best seller 7 incidences are rising as more storage systems are 8 installed across the country, such as Arizona, 9 California, New York are a few examples of the most 10 recent large scale fire. 11 Some of the researchers track and publish 12 the utility scales table for commercial and industrial 13 incidences nationwide, but some report some smaller 14 incidences as well and it depends on reporting agency. 15 Which are not many. It's just so fresh and so new, 16 there's just not enough research to really accommodate 17 my case as far as the safety and the risks involved. 18 My questions though -- you know, I have 19 questions. You know, what are the standard operation 20 procedures for the battery management? Where can we 21 find them? That's my question. Another question is, 22 where can the citizens of Kerr County view operations 23 and maintenance plans? We haven't seen those. We need 24 those. You know, those are important questions. 25 You know, other questions that were asked 26 1 last time in Commissioners' Court was who maintains the 2 battery emergency storage system? The last 3 representative from -- from the last Court proceedings 4 we had stated that the owner would be the one who 5 maintains it. Well, I want to know who the owner is. 6 Is it going to be the landowner, which in this case 7 would be the real estate investors, the facility 8 container owner, which is the renewable energy company, 9 or could it be the actual battery manufacturer which is 10 the owner, which could be somebody out of India or China 11 which, to me, that compromises the safety and security 12 of American citizens. 13 It actually doesn't harden the grid, it kind 14 of makes it vulnerable if they have access to something 15 as important as that. I understand we have a grid 16 problem. We need to resolve that. But we're not ready 17 for this large of a system to be stored near a community 18 of people. We need to go further west if we're going to 19 do something like this. And we'll get there. We'll get 20 there. But this is a rush job. 21 So it's my -- my statement I'm making, you 22 know, it's a risk versus benefit. I feel like they're 23 not in our favor. The risk needs to be more than the 24 situation. There's not much known about the battery 25 design, and we know how our environmental conditions are 27 1 here at this location in South Texas, which are hot and 2 dry. Which means that we could have an inferno burn for 3 days, weeks, months. It can happen. It's happened 4 before. 5 I don't want to be the victim or I don't 6 want our community to be the victim of a situation like 7 that. So, you know, the substances that are used to 8 extinguish these flames or fire is a powdered chemical 9 substance. Well that powdered chemical substance is 10 not in mass production because there's not a high demand 11 for it right now. Hopefully there will never be a high 12 demand because we don't know what that chemical is. 13 After using that chemical to extinguish the fire, what's 14 in that chemical? Where does it land? Where does it 15 go? Where is the water taken it to the soil? Those are 16 major questions that I have. 17 As for many researchers and documents, the 18 current recommended response is to allow the noxious and 19 toxic gases burn for the fire to extinguish itself. 20 That could be a long time. That could be -- we don't 21 know what's going in the air. There are multiple 22 chemicals that are actually off gases from the lithium. 23 Off gases are actually -- you know, we've got thermal 24 runaway. Thermal runaway is not a good thing. I mean, 25 I'm not expecting our volunteer firefighters to take 28 1 care of some emergency disaster like that. We are just 2 volunteer firefighters throughout the County. That's -- 3 that's just -- in my opinion, that's an insult to our 4 firefighters, that's an insult to our community, to ask 5 us to actually wonder what's going on with those plants 6 as we live next to them. We live next to them. 7 Heat reaction. You know, we have another 8 issue, it's called exothermic. Exothermic is actually a 9 heat reaction which keeps getting hotter and hotter and 10 hotter. With our ambient temperatures here in Texas, we 11 never get really below 30. You know, ever. Really. 12 Very few days. But for the most part, that exothermic 13 steam that I'm talking about means that it could 14 continue to get hotter and hotter and hotter as it makes 15 contact with the air of our environment here in South 16 Texas. So common sense says that those gases would get 17 hotter with ambient temperature. 18 This market isn't really presenting itself 19 to be a viable market and it appears to be renewable 20 energy investors and real estate investors deems about 21 it one of the best, is an experiment deemed viable for 22 Kerr County citizens. It is an experiment. We are not 23 lab rats here. That's all I have to say about that. 24 The long term viability? Not where it can 25 be documented. I don't see the benefit being greater 29 1 than the risk for the residents of Kerr County or any 2 other County for that matter. The hazards this presents 3 to our eco system, human life, and our lifestyle are 4 much greater than a solar farm or wind farm. There are 5 people and ranchers who live near the substation. I'm 6 one of them. We, Kerr County residents tolerate power 7 lines. I tolerate them. I've been tolerating that for 8 years. Coming power lines. Giant. Giant poles and 9 towers. I tolerate that. 10 Now I've gotta wonder about this BESS 11 system. I'm not happy about this. I'm against it. 12 Totally against it. I feel that asking for our 13 Volunteer Fire Department to manage it and mitigation of 14 proper emergency response is insulting to their 15 volunteer duties. They are volunteers to our community. 16 You know, asking us to -- asking us citizens 17 to tolerate the idea of a disaster looming is not going 18 to be easy for the companies that you guys represent. 19 We don't want to have you store your off peak energy and 20 sell it back to us citizens at a higher kilowatt hour 21 through ERCOT. Not right. So I'm against it. Thank 22 you for your time. 23 COURT REPORTER: What is your name? 24 JUDGE KELLY: Christine Peters. 25 MS. PETERS: Pardon me. Christine Peters. 30 1 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 2 MS. PETERS: Thank you. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Would you like to say 4 something on your agenda item? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. At our last 6 meeting, Jeff Holt prepared a Resolution about the 7 battery system and I said I thought it was a little bit 8 too broad. I think it was in the agenda backup a more 9 concise version. And the thing that I thought was too 10 broad, a lot of it was against renewable energy. That's 11 a different topic. 12 I'm against renewable energy but it's not 13 part of the BESS system and I think you're better off 14 keeping them focused if you're trying to -- instead of 15 people trying to -- 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: It is related because 17 it's the reason that we need stabilization systems and 18 the BESS because we're adopting so much unreliable wind 19 energy. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. But anyway. So 21 there's one -- it was sent out in the agenda package. 22 There was one change that a citizen met with me and 23 recommended, and I didn't have any problem with it. And 24 this was under -- related to TCEQ. I originally said, 25 "formally request that TCEQ," and changed it to, 31 1 "formally require TCEQ." Just a little bit stronger 2 words. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Which you can give us 4 three versions. Which one are you recommending or like 5 to get approved? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The third -- and then 7 the citizen also mentioned that we should do two. We 8 should do one to TCEQ and one to our State Senator 9 and -- 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'm good either way. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Either way. So 12 it doesn't make that much difference to me so I have all 13 three attached. I also think that there is some 14 legislation -- I talked to Commissioner Harris a little 15 bit. But there is legislation pending on the distance 16 from property line. And so we probably should be 17 consistent. Is it a thousand? 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Fifteen hundred feet 19 is what they're going -- 500 yards is -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Okay. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: -- what the language 22 that Wes Virdell has and the Bill he's going to be 23 pushing. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Then I would recommend 25 that the sentence that says, "require any BESS 32 1 facilities to have at least 1,500-foot setback from 2 adjacent property lines." 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because that's 5 consistent with what he's already proposing. 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'm good with sending 7 this to everybody but the one thing we would have to 8 change is we're -- we are referring to Representative 9 Virdell, who hasn't been elected yet. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It should be Senator 11 Elect Virdell. You know, and I don't know if it's 12 better to do two or one. So I just -- you know, the 13 version that Terri Hall -- I think she said she thought 14 it was better to do two. 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'm okay either way. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let's do it. I make a 17 motion that we do two separate Resolutions, one to TCEQ 18 with the modifications mentioned, and one to 19 Representative-Elect Virdell and Senator Flores. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: We -- ordinarily I 21 wouldn't do this, but we have -- we haven't found one 22 person that's in favor of these things, folks. 23 Obviously there's a few landowners that are getting paid 24 off that I guess are in favor of it to some degree. Why 25 don't you read one of those so people will hear what 33 1 we're -- the Resolution that we're passing. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. The Resolution -- 3 well, I'll read -- okay. 4 WHEREAS, Resolution against Battery Energy 5 Storage Systems in Kerr County; 6 WHEREAS, Battery Energy Storage Systems 7 (BESS) are being considered to be located in Kerr 8 County; 9 WHEREAS, there's A history of lithium 10 instability and overheating that can lead to thermal 11 runaway fires and possible explosions, raising serious 12 concerns regarding their installation in Kerr County; 13 WHEREAS, it's extremely difficult to 14 extinguish a lithium battery fire and our rural 15 volunteer firefighters lack enough foam and water to 16 extinguish a lithium battery fire in a BESS facility; 17 WHEREAS, the environmental impact associated 18 with the lithium battery fire in a BESS facility from 19 the toxic gases that are released and the contaminants 20 that could find a way into our creeks and rivers, as 21 well as into our groundwater on which we rely; 22 WHEREAS, there is inadequate regulation 23 regarding the eventual disposal of the BESS lithium 24 batteries at the end of their life, ensuring a safe 25 disposal at a suitable approved disposal site; 34 1 WHEREAS, the installation of a BESS facility 2 will impact and likely lower the property value of 3 adjacent land; and. 4 WHEREAS, BESS is not a renewable or new 5 source of energy and has a power discharge cycle limited 6 to only a few hours rendering it useless in the 7 prolonged power outage. 8 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that Kerr 9 County Commissioners' Court formally requires the Texas 10 Commission on Environmental Quality to deny all 11 environmental permits for BESS facilities proposed in 12 Kerr County. 13 And then the other one is the same "whereas" 14 but instead it says, "NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, 15 that Kerr County Commissioners' Court formally requests 16 Senator Flores and Representative Elect Virdell pass 17 legislation during the 89th Texas Legislature that will 18 require TCEQ to require a local public hearing in the 19 County where a proposed BESS facility is proposed, 20 require any BESS facility to provide adequate fire 21 protection in case of lithium battery fire, and a 22 containment system to prevent any runoff or groundwater 23 contamination in the event of a fire, require any BESS 24 facility to have at least 1,500-foot setback from any 25 adjacent property line, eliminate and prohibit all 35 1 government subsidies for BESS installation, require a 2 bond or other similar financial guarantee for the proper 3 disposal of lithium batteries and other components of 4 the BESS facility basic fire or facility abandonment or 5 cessation of operations. 6 That's it. 7 For the motion, I'll make a motion to 8 approve those two. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: Can I offer a 10 suggestion? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: On the whereas that 13 deals with the environmental impact, I'm not sure that 14 we actually made an appropriate statement there to would 15 suggest a revision to that and insert, "Whereas, there 16 is a significant negative environment impact 17 associated," and then everything the same, and I would 18 strike out the "after contaminants." Just take out the 19 "that", and think it'll read better. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 21 JUDGE KELLY: So whereas -- 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: (Indicating to the 23 Judge.) 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Whereas, there is a 25 significant environment impact -- 36 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: A negative 2 environmental impact. And then strike the "that" after 3 "contaminants." 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Okay. That's 5 fine. Otherwise accept that? 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Good. We got a motion and a 8 second. Discussion? I know we have some people signed 9 up. Bill, you signed up for 1.2 and we passed that one. 10 Do you want to talk about 1.3? 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And let me be clear. 12 We passed because Brian Alexander couldn't come in again 13 and if -- we don't have any other VFD Chiefs so that's 14 why we passed it. But if you want to speak to this, 15 that would be just as good. 16 JUDGE KELLY: You didn't know that when you 17 signed up, that's why we're -- 18 MR. FITCH: Okay. Bill Fitch. City. And I 19 signed up for this one because I couldn't sign up for 20 both of them. But anyway, the VFW -- they're under- 21 equipped for this. And the speakers before me have done 22 a much better job. But we're under-equipped for this 23 and it's going to be terrible. 24 The little bit of research I've done on it 25 recently has been kind of looking at the river and going 37 1 downstream. And I think we're talking about a 391, 2 which again is a little bit over my head. But I know we 3 needed people to help us with that and so all of the 4 cities along the Guadalupe, all the way down to the 5 coast, are going to be affected by this if there is a 6 catastrophic event. And if we had one or two of them 7 going on at the same time, the Guadalupe is going to be 8 corrupted. And so we really need to -- I think we need 9 to go ahead and contact the folks down stream and let's 10 get a team. Because I don't think, except for the folks 11 who are making money off this, nobody else wants this 12 thing. Thank you. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. I bet you the 14 people downstream are fighting the same thing in their 15 County. So I mean they're probably from everywhere. 16 And -- 17 MR. FITCH: Well, we need to join them then. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: -- Jeff has done a lot 19 of research on this and what have you and 850 some odd 20 potential BESS coming? 21 MR. HOLT: 830. That's the current look. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: 830? Okay. That's 23 significant. So it's not just Kerr County. So, you 24 know, it's gotta be several monies pushing all this. 25 And probably the November election pushing it even 38 1 harder. So anyway. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Well -- 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Can I clarify? Does 4 the motion include two Resolutions that would -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. Both Resolutions. 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: So I request the same 7 amendment to the other one -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- that goes to TCEQ. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Jeff, do you have 12 anything to say? You've got -- 13 MR. HOLT: Yeah. I might just real quick. 14 Jeff Holt from Cypress Creek, Comfort, Texas. First of 15 all, thank you all for taking the time to -- it's not 16 easy to do a Resolution. I fully admit that. It takes 17 a lot to get people across the board, and I just want to 18 thank you, Jonathan, for working this. And it's not 19 easy to do it with the open meetings as well. You 20 actually gotta find somebody to work with. I totally 21 get it. Thank you. 22 This is the first step and it's a needed 23 step. It's not easy. My weekend research is there are 24 so many of these going in and they've gotten property 25 all around our counties, contiguous counties. And as we 39 1 look for a 391 commission, you look for partners. You 2 know, look for another County most likely as you come up 3 with a roster of folks, and there's no -- not 4 necessarily a number to go with it but there's -- there 5 is a ratio. A two-thirds ratio. As you come together, 6 you get the right people. 7 Thank you for working together with the 8 Court. I'll stand by to assist, of course, until I 9 swear in later. But I think this is a needed first 10 step. And I really hope that we can vote to get there 11 for a Resolution, or two, as they look at different 12 things, and then work together with State officials. 13 And it would be outside of my lane maybe to contact them 14 directly. I think that's up to the Court to do in order 15 to find a champion at the State level. I think you know 16 who it is already, but until maybe that person is sworn 17 in it has less to say. 18 So that's what I wanted to share with you 19 today. I continue to study. I can tell you, folks, the 20 map is really growing outside of this county. And I 21 found 20 additional sites this weekend that I put on the 22 map. And then with that -- not in our County but 23 outside, there is certainly a land grab going on. So 24 it's very real and it's about how to maybe get them in 25 the -- let them know that we oppose it. That's the most 40 1 important part. And if we are -- have to, let them know 2 what we're looking for in the future. That's all I 3 wanted to say. I covered a lot last time. 4 Thank you, thank you, thank you for 5 considering this. And that's all I have today. 6 Appreciate it. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you, Jeff. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: Thank you, Jeff. 9 MR. HOLT: Sure. 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: We are still going to 11 talk about the Chapter 391 next. But the only other 12 thing that I'm going to make a statement about is that 13 as great as it is that the Court looks like we may 14 approve a Resolution or two, you know, everybody who's 15 concerned about BESS, you know, you can take action, 16 too. Write your Governor. I sent him a letter on 17 Friday. If you need to go by with a lot of the 18 reasoning, you can shamelessly steal it if you want. 19 It's on my website. But I encourage you to put it in 20 your own words. And if you're concerned, take a stand. 21 Get up and do something. Send letters to the 22 Legislature. Because they truly are the people that are 23 going to have to do something to change this for the 24 better. So all I'm saying is, don't just rely on this 25 Commissioners' Court. That's it. 41 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. Our State 2 Rep -- your State Representative -- our State 3 Representative needs to hear from you as well. Even the 4 ones that, you know, emboldened even though they are 5 against this to begin with, it also helps to hear from 6 you, that yes, that's what my people support me doing 7 and carrying the fight to the rest of their people. So 8 send something to Peter Flores, Wes Virdell, and just 9 let them know you appreciate their efforts in fighting 10 this. Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a comment. Tell 12 your friends in other areas. This is a -- it'll be a 13 statewide problem as Jeff mentioned. But there -- rest 14 assured, I work with the Legislature a lot. There is a 15 lot of money pushing these things. So it's going to 16 take -- it's going to take a lot of people from across 17 the State, citizens to get it to their State Reps. 18 And it's going to -- and the problem is 19 that, you know, the rural areas where they want to put 20 these have fewer votes in the Legislature than the urban 21 areas. So it takes a lot of letters, a lot of pressure 22 to get them to do something like this. So I encourage 23 you to contact your friends and tell them to write 24 letters. 25 JUDGE KELLY: I want to make a comment. I 42 1 think it's important that the public, and especially you 2 that are concerned here in the courtroom today, 3 understand that there are some very thorny legal issues 4 with regard to interference with a person's property 5 rights. The corporation that owns this property has 6 property rights just like you have property rights for 7 your property. And a lot of people think that counties 8 can pass ordinances like the cities do and tell people 9 what you can do out in the County. We cannot. As much 10 as we would like to regulate some of these things, we 11 cannot. We don't have the legal authority to do that. 12 So as concerned citizens, we can certainly 13 express our dismay at what they're doing with their 14 property. We can do that. But we can't actually stop 15 them. And I think you've misunderstood the role of the 16 County here, we can't stop them. 17 MS. PETERS: No, I know. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 19 MS. PETERS: I'm very well aware of how deep 20 this goes. 21 JUDGE KELLY: And so with that -- but there 22 are other things that the County can get in trouble for 23 and that would be possibly an inverse condemnation case 24 if we interfere with the use of their property rights. 25 And so I'm going to immediately turn to our County 43 1 Attorney, who would say we need to look into that and 2 probably need to follow-up with Chuck. 3 Chuck is, we all agree, conservative when he 4 gives his opinions about these things. But we have to 5 be careful as a County not to interfere with those 6 property rights while still expressing our opinion that 7 we don't like the use they're putting the property to. 8 So we're on a -- we're walking a tightrope if you will 9 on how to do that. And that will, I think, impact what 10 we do on this 391 discussion that's coming up. Because 11 we want to be very careful that private citizens can 12 take any action you want. And hopefully legal. We -- 13 we don't have the luxury that you have. We have to be 14 much more careful. 15 But I -- I don't think I -- I haven't talked 16 to a single person that wants a lithium battery storage 17 facility near them. Anywhere. I haven't talked to one. 18 But I don't know if we can legally stop them. Now, the 19 Legislature can do things. They can make things happen. 20 So let me tell you. You contact our upcoming State 21 Representative and our current State Senator. They have 22 the power to do something that the Counties don't have. 23 And we want to be supportive of your wishes to express 24 our concern about this situation. But at the same time, 25 we do not have the authority to go in and tell them they 44 1 can't do it. So with that, any other discussion? 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: As a Federal worker, I 3 would say that phone calls and letters are counted and 4 are a pain in the butt. So send all the letters and 5 make all the phone calls. Because that does get 6 people's attention. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a comment. 8 Just in general as to why I worded the Resolution. 9 JUDGE KELLY: I thought you -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I did subsequently, but 11 one of the things I did and I thought about it is, with 12 the Legislature is, I represent Kerr County or part of 13 Kerr County or we represent Kerr County. We don't 14 represent Culberson County. If Culberson County and 15 their residents want to do this, that's up to Culberson 16 County people. That's why I didn't go blanket statewide 17 anything. 18 I think any County -- the things that I 19 recommended, any County should have, you know, those 20 protections. But if somebody wants to do it, it's not 21 for me to say that some counties don't want this. I 22 don't know why they would want it, but that's up to them 23 to decide. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: Money. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think money is 45 1 right. Anyway, that's it. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Then 3 those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous 4 Resolution. 5 Move on to 1.3, which is -- or Item 1.4 6 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to appoint 7 a Regional Planning Commission pursuant to Texas Local 8 Government Code, Chapter 391. Commissioner Harris. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: All right. I put this 10 on here, and there's been a lot of talk since the last 11 Commissioners' Court about forming a 391 Commission. 12 I've been in contact with our County Attorney. I've 13 talked with several people, our -- our Commissioners 14 Elect coming in I've talked to a good bit about this 15 and I don't think there's been a consensus yet what we 16 should do. 17 And in reading this, it's a little -- it's a 18 little confusing. In fact, I had conversation with the 19 County Attorney this morning, and she -- there's still 20 some things we want to clarify. So I know we probably 21 have people signed up to talk. There's talk about 22 trying to form a regional one. There's also talk about 23 trying to do just a County one to start with. And I can 24 see both. 25 But what -- if we do form a committee, 46 1 two-thirds have to be elected officials. And that gets 2 a little cumbersome in itself. Especially if we're just 3 talking about a County-only, you know. Who would that 4 be? Can't have more than two of us up here on it. So 5 who all do you have signed up to speak on this? 6 JUDGE KELLY: Mr. Jones. 7 MR. JONES: Yeah. I've -- I've looked into 8 this. I'm Tom Jones, Commissioner-Elect Precinct 1. 9 I've looked into this quite a bit. Not as much as 10 Mr. Holt has. Just read some of this today with the 11 authority and that brought up some questions for me. 12 But I'm in favor of a 391 Commission, but I also thought 13 it probably should be Kerr County. And that might be a 14 different opinion from others in here. But a lot of the 15 information that Commissioner Letz voiced awhile ago, we 16 don't know what other counties are thinking and where 17 they're at. 18 And I think if you're trying to make this an 19 effective committee, you need it to move sooner than 20 later. And when you try to organize a multiple County 21 organization, it's time consuming. You're not going to 22 get any result anytime soon. It's going to take you a 23 while to put together who would be there setting up 24 meetings and all that. You're looking at six months 25 down the road before you get anything done by the time 47 1 you go down that road. 2 So if you want this to be an effective 3 committee, I think it needs to be primarily Kerr County, 4 just represented this, because the citizens here know 5 what they want. They already know their opposition. 6 They already know their point of views. I think there 7 are plenty of people in Kerr County that are well 8 qualified to serve on this. 9 And Judge, I appreciate what you had to say 10 about everything as far as our levels of authority on 11 there. I do, however, have some questions that I think 12 the County Attorney can probably look at a little more 13 because environmental health regulations, we do have 14 authority on. 15 And we do not have the authority to impose 16 ourselves on private property rights, but we do have 17 already in place environmental rights. OSSF and 18 floodplains. So people have to come through the County 19 to get approved for. And I think we can show -- I think 20 we've got more authority than what we think we do right 21 now for special use permits. 22 And I think there needs to be a little more 23 digging in towards that to see what exactly we can and 24 can't do and don't have the authority towards. 25 Environmental impact is very big. We already know that 48 1 this facility, although it may not offer air or water 2 pollution by the building of the facility, we already 3 have seen clearly what happens in case of a disaster and 4 so whether we can't stop them from putting a facility 5 in, we might can impose certain things they have to do 6 to protect our environment and our quality in our water. 7 And so I think there needs to be a little 8 more digging in towards that on our side. That could 9 probably precede the 391 Commission. And I think we 10 might have some type of an impact now. But the County 11 Attorney's going to have to look and see how do we have 12 the authority towards OSSF, where it impacts the water, 13 and floodplains. Because I think you can probably 14 bridge that gap towards this and where it might have an 15 impact in case of fire hazards and that type of deal. 16 So anyway. So the Commission, in my 17 opinion, needs to be Kerr County residents, because we 18 are exactly on track and we're together and we have no 19 clue what other counties view. They may like the money, 20 you just don't know. So thank you. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Sir, you raised your hand in 22 the back. Did you fill out a form with us? 23 MR. BOERNER: I did, but it never made it up 24 there. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 49 1 MR. BOERNER: I can wait. Or I can -- I 2 just have one comment. I'm Jeff Boerner, local resident 3 here. Also have got land in Kendall County. And you're 4 right, Judge, there's property rights and they have 5 rights. But you're rights also include my right to be 6 free from them. So take that for what you want. 7 But we can regulate burn bans but we 8 can't -- this is very dangerous. It's just dangerous. 9 And so I'm really going to push hard. We have 10 Commissioner Carpenter in Precinct 4 pushing for us for 11 a 391. We think that the citizens coming together, 12 County to County, is a better option than just this 13 County. But I mean, I don't know. So I'm willing to 14 work with y'all in any way to help. Thank you. 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'd like to ask Jeff 16 Holt. Would you please take the podium and -- I'd like 17 to hear -- 18 MR. HOLT: Sure. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- your opinion. I'd 20 like to hear your opinion on whether should we stay as 21 just Kerr County if we do a Chapter 391 or should we 22 consider Kendall County? Because you've already had a 23 number of meetings with some of their Commissioners and 24 their Fire Marshal. And they're a little bit further 25 down the path than we are, and is there value in trying 50 1 to have a Chapter 391 with Kendall County? 2 MR. HOLT: Yes, sir. Great question. Thank 3 you again for getting a chance to address the Court on 4 this, different issue in taking action. I can tell you 5 the rest of the folks that are around here are pretty 6 pleased that we're talking about this. Honestly. So I 7 applaud the Court for standing up. And there's not that 8 many of them, they're not that easy to do. There's 9 legal reviews. And it's a debate about the roster right 10 now and I'm glad that we have someone on the Court 11 already taking up the roster and putting in some names. 12 I can tell you after meeting Jack Carpenter, 13 the Commissioner for Kendall County, they're very 14 interested in being a part of a regional Court. That's 15 just from my conversation with him and also Brady 16 Constantine, his Fire Marshal. Diversity. Regional. I 17 think we'll probably have more gravitas than just Kerr 18 County alone. 19 You know, it shows to our elected 20 representative that might be a part of it. And I like 21 the representative, it doesn't have to necessarily 22 represent both counties and in this case it wouldn't 23 with HD 53, right? It's just you need one to be a part 24 of it as an ex-officio non-voting member. And he 25 doesn't have to represent both counties. 51 1 And that's become a unique mechanism of a 2 391. You have to have some state involvement. You have 3 to have some local involvement. I would just ask that 4 when you do the roster, look at somebody from water, 5 somebody from environmental, somebody from agriculture. 6 Non-voting. In order to get that ratio of voting 7 members, which would probably be across County 8 Commissioners. And when we build a roster, it doesn't 9 have to be permanent. And Ms. Stebbins can look at that 10 for the future and make sure that's right. But it 11 doesn't have to be permanent. It can grow. And it 12 might grow with additional counties. 13 But right now my recommendation, to answer 14 your question, is Kerr and Kendall because I know 15 they're very interested. And the most interesting 16 public meeting I have ever attended and probably will 17 be, will be the Comfort meeting that they had on this 18 already. The residents right now are completely against 19 this. 20 And it was very interesting when that 21 company tried to present it. We were very civil in this 22 Court compared to what I saw. There's words I want to 23 use but I'm on camera. It was really interesting to see 24 that. And I thank y'all for taking a very measured 25 approach and a good legal approach and review on this. 52 1 And again, I believe it should be Kerr and Kendall. 2 Thank you. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree with Jeff. I 4 mean I talk with Chad Carpenter on a regular basis and 5 they're very involved. And we're on the same page. The 6 other advantage you get with bringing Kendall in is they 7 have a different State Rep and a different counselor for 8 their State Rep and they have -- Buckingham? 9 JUDGE KELLY: No, she's a land Commissioner 10 now. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Campbell. No, the State 12 Senator. It's Donna Campbell. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: Buckingham will be -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Buckingham is on the 15 other -- yeah, but anyway. So you're bringing in a 16 different State Senator and different State Rep to get a 17 little bit more. And they're both more on the -- they 18 represent a lot of urban areas. Both those do. So I 19 think it's good to probably work with Kendall County and 20 it's pretty easy to work with Kendall County. We've 21 worked with them on a lot on different things. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, so -- so what's 23 the action? I mean, I hear a lot of interest. I agree 24 that we should move forward but I -- we're not ready 25 to -- 53 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Exactly. We're 2 juggling a couple balls here. You know, do we do 3 strictly a County? There's pros and cons. Do we try to 4 do a regional? Well, we can't really do that. That's 5 going to take a while talking to people down the road. 6 So who's put on this. We can't -- we can't appoint 7 somebody from Kendall right here. And also the legal. 8 And I agree with the Judge. I think we need to consult 9 with our County Attorney, plus I think our outside 10 counsel as well, and see what's the best for the County 11 without us getting in hot water somewhere along the 12 line. 13 JUDGE KELLY: I want some legal opinion in 14 my briefcase. 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: Can we have that before 16 the next meeting and a recommendation at that point? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We can put it back on 18 the agenda and can update where we are. And just keep 19 it on -- otherwise, you know, and hopefully we'll have 20 something we can vote on. If not, we'll push it off 21 until we do. I mean -- 22 JUDGE KELLY: We've gotta start that ball 23 rolling. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, that's right. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: We've gotta start 54 1 someplace. 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: So who's going to take 3 the lead, I guess, is -- 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll call Chad and find 5 out what Kendall County wants to do and he can take it 6 to their Court and they can decide. That's pretty 7 simple. And then I guess you got the rest of it. And I 8 know -- I think let Heather look at it and get some 9 recommendations from the County Attorney, and then if we 10 need to go to outside counsel then we can and if not, we 11 don't need to. No need to spend money if we don't have 12 to. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: And keep Jeff Holt in 14 the loop then -- 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- and rely on him. 17 He's done an awful lot already, so -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 19 JUDGE KELLY: You know, I'd like to follow 20 up on something that Jeff said and which is absolutely 21 true. And that is state officials will listen to 22 regional organizations better than they listen to a 23 single county. 24 I serve as the chairman of AACOG right now 25 with all those elected officials and the two-thirds of 55 1 them are elected officials. And it's 13 counties. And 2 our Hill Country MHDD is 19 counties. Our regional 3 public defender's office is 5 counties that we 4 organized. We put that one together back in 2019 or 5 '20. And the thing about multiple counties, you know, 6 it's a two-edge sword. You get a lot more credibility, 7 but getting the consensus is more difficult. It's like 8 herding cats. It really is. 9 But I would encourage us to think in terms 10 of multi County. We work very well with Kendall County. 11 We work very well with Gillespie County. We work very 12 well with Bandera County. Precincts. Even Medina 13 County and the PDO. I don't think they have the same 14 issues that we have though. From the counties that have 15 a BESS issue, those are the ones that we want to 16 recruit, even if they're not contiguous. 17 If we had a coalition of just the BESS 18 counties that were affected by BESS, that would probably 19 be the most effective 391. In my opinion. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'm sure you're right. 21 But we may not want to start that broad and initially, 22 at least, work closely with Kendall and see where it 23 goes. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. It can be 25 morphed and changed. 56 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. That's what he 2 said. You can always add people. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: My push for having 4 strictly a county is that we can do something quicker. 5 If we try to do regional, it might take -- take longer. 6 Do you -- do either one of y'all think we can get 7 something done by the next court? You know, I don't 8 want this to drag out forever. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let me take -- I think 10 Kendall will go pretty quick. Because they're further 11 along than we are, to be honest. They're very familiar 12 with it. And we can get a -- certainly by the next 13 court find out if they're interested in doing a 391 14 jointly. And then so -- 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: In the meantime, I'd 17 like to hear a legal review from some elected officials 18 that would like to be on this committee. And something 19 came up over the weekend is, could electives like, you 20 know, we have Headwaters is elected. Does that count? 21 JUDGE KELLY: I think -- 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Hill Country Telephone 23 has elected. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Hill Country Telephone I don't 25 think can. 57 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They're not 2 governmental. 3 JUDGE KELLY: They're not governmental. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. That's 5 something that came up over the weekend when I was 6 talking to some people. You know, this -- which would 7 work? The school board members work? You know, and 8 there's lots of people I'd like to get on there. This 9 past Precinct 2 Commissioner, Tom Moser, he came and 10 spoke last time. I'd love to have him on a committee 11 when we form one. So anyway -- 12 JUDGE KELLY: I don't think he would be 13 counted as an elected official. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: No, he wouldn't. He 15 wouldn't. But I think he'd be good at the table. So 16 anyway. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We could also reach out 18 to the City. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: That's true. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But that might slow 21 things down. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well -- 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: They might be for it 24 but -- 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: So anyway. Can we 58 1 reach out to outside counsel now? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I think we need to 3 defer to the County Attorney. To me, I think -- 4 JUDGE KELLY: We've gotta listen to her 5 first. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well exactly. I want 7 to hear from both of them in the long run. 8 MRS. STEBBINS: So if you want to put it as 9 an Executive Session item on next agenda, I can give you 10 some legal advice. But in the meantime, I can send you 11 guys an e-mail that includes the legal advice. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. That's fine. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So with that, we've run 14 past our time. We had two 9:30 agenda items that we 15 have not gotten to and we have 16 9:45 agenda items that 16 we will take up when we come back from our break. Let's 17 start again at 10:15. 18 (Break.) 19 JUDGE KELLY: Court will come to order. 20 We're moving on to item 1.12. This is the 9:30 docket. 21 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action to allow 22 the Veterans Services Offices to accept donations in 23 support of veterans activities and events. Ms. Sanchez. 24 MS. SANCHEZ: Good morning. Just coming up 25 to see if I'm able to accept donations for our veteran 59 1 activities and events. It's leaving it kind of broad 2 but -- because we -- we're having our benefits that are 3 coming up next week. So -- and what is being donated so 4 far, I cannot give you a complete list because we don't 5 know everything as of yet. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 8 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 9 second to approve the list. What are we talking about? 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: To accept donations. 11 MS. SANCHEZ: I can give you list that we 12 have right now. So AMVETS has donated $250.00. This is 13 helping us get drinks and snacks. They've also donated 14 a couple of gift cards, Starbucks and HEB, because we 15 will have door prizes. VFW is donating $300 in Amazon 16 gift cards. And Mooney Airport has donated a gift 17 certificate purchasing a scenic flight for two. That 18 will be part of our door prizes. Dairy Queen is 19 donating a hundred vouchers for free ice cream cone. 20 Tivy High School Junior RTOC will be handing 21 out the 200 hot dogs, but our culinary nutrition are 22 cooking them. The NHS at Tivy, they are going to donate 23 a student snack. I don't know what this is as of yet. 24 I don't know how much, I don't know exactly what it is. 25 And our benefits fair has really reached a 60 1 lot of people. So we've been having more who have said 2 let us see what we can do, but I don't have that answer 3 as of yet. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: So there will be more 5 coming and -- 6 MS. SANCHEZ: Possibly. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And I have something 8 for you, so -- 9 MS. SANCHEZ: Okay. Oh, and -- I'm sorry, 10 Gunny's Warriors also donated a basket for door prizes 11 as well. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What I'd recommend, 13 Jenna, is we can go ahead and, you know, accept 14 donations. And once you get a complete list or once a 15 month, maybe at our first meeting in September, have it 16 written down so we can formally accept them all. And 17 then when there's -- that way we can keep a better 18 record of it. 19 MS. SANCHEZ: Yes, sir. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. If you'll give us your 21 list, we can put that in an order that that's what we 22 approved. 23 MS. SANCHEZ: Yes, sir. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's fine. 25 JUDGE KELLY: And then when you get more, 61 1 we'll do it again. 2 MS. SANCHEZ: Yes, sir. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, should I change 4 my motion to -- to -- 5 JUDGE KELLY: The list as presented. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: -- as presented. Send 7 me the list. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: And I'll second that. 9 MS. SANCHEZ: Okay. 10 JUDGE KELLY: So we've got a revised motion 11 and a second to approve the revised list of the Veterans 12 Services donations or contributions. Any discussion? 13 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 14 MS. SANCHEZ: Thank you. And I hope to see 15 y'all all out there next week. We're very excited. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. The next 9:30 item is 17 1.13 consider, discuss and take appropriate action 18 regarding any changes to the proposed County Budget for 19 FY 24-25. Ms. Shelton. 20 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. The Budget that you 21 received this morning, it shows expenditures of a 22 revenue increasing from the proposed Budget by around 23 $50,000.00. That was approximately 12,000 for the SA to 24 update Watch Guard for the prosecutor's case management 25 system. 20,000 for IT for the CJIS update, training, 62 1 and increasing the professional services Budget line 2 item to 250,000. 3 There were also some fine tuning, is how I 4 would call it, to where the latest position schedule was 5 used in order to fine tune what all the departments are, 6 and including the group insurance. When we estimate 7 that, we show that under non-departmental and that's 8 been worked into the different departments. So you'll 9 see changes in that. Again, the total of all of the 10 change were about $50,000.00. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Could you repeat that, 12 the total? 13 MS. SHELTON: 50,000 from the proposed 14 Budget. 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: And Tanya, does it 16 include, you know, the Court Reporters from the 198th 17 and 216th and the Auditors, and some of that stuff 18 that's going to be heard on the agenda later? 19 MS. SHELTON: It does. And including 20 y'all's special request and new items also. 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: All right. Just wanted 22 to be clear. Very good. 23 JUDGE KELLY: So you're comfortable we've 24 got everything in it now? 25 MS. SHELTON: I wouldn't know if I'd go that 63 1 far. But I'm as comfortable as I can be at this point. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: At 10:20. 3 MS. SHELTON: At 10:20. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, we have some 5 things we're going to go over later today, correct? To 6 make -- make some other adjustments? 7 MS. SHELTON: I'm sorry? 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: She said that's already 9 factored in. That was the question I asked. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, but there's -- 11 everything we've discussed. But there's a number of 12 action items on today's Budget that could modify things 13 a little bit more. 14 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. If there's something 15 there that does not get passed, we'll probably be taking 16 it out or adding if y'all are going to add anymore. 17 JUDGE KELLY: So do we have any action to 18 take right now? 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I don't think so. 20 MRS. SHELTON: I do not believe so. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So that was 22 informational. Thank you. 23 We'll move on to the 9:45 docket. And this 24 has to be done in this order. As Mr. Reeves has taught 25 me through the years, this is the way we do it. So the 64 1 first thing I do is Item 1.14, is I convene a public 2 hearing on a proposed Kerr County Budget for FY 24-25. 3 This is a public meeting. Would anybody 4 like to address the Court? There being none, we will 5 adjourn the public hearing. 6 Move on to Item 1.15 which is to consider, 7 discuss and take appropriate action to adopt the Elected 8 Officials Salaries for FY 24-25. Miss Zapata. 9 MS. ZAPATA: Good morning. The schedule in 10 front of you is what was posted or published in the 11 paper and I'm asking that you accept it. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 15 approve the Elected Officials Salaries that was posted 16 in the paper as presented. Any discussion? Those in 17 favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 18 Moving on to Item 1.16 consider, discuss and 19 take appropriate action to approve special requests for 20 specific positions and new positions in FY 24-25. Miss 21 Zapata. 22 MS. ZAPATA: So this is a summary sheet in 23 your packets of the items that -- or the special 24 positions or increases that you guys approved in the 25 Budget workshop. 65 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There were -- my 2 recollection, and this goes to a conversation out of 3 last meeting on special requests. The Sheriff, I know, 4 one about the jailer position that we talked about but 5 didn't vote on. There was also one as I recall that 6 I've talked to some of you about, maybe not all -- well, 7 I haven't talked to all of y'all because I can't do 8 that. 9 JUDGE KELLY: I hope not. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I haven't talked to 11 him. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I thought that the 13 Animal Control officers or the deputy constables in the 14 animal -- not Animal Control officers, deputy constables 15 in the -- that department, should get some sort of an 16 increase. The Judge and I put an increase in there. 17 They are law enforcement. They're not law enforcement 18 to the degree of deputies, but I think there should be 19 some increase in them as they got left behind and I -- I 20 think that adjustment should be made of some amount. I 21 don't know. You know, maybe a five percent increase. 22 There's only two -- three, employees. Two? 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Two. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that's just my 25 feeling. 66 1 JUDGE KELLY: When I was doing the proposed 2 Budget, I spent quite a bit of time looking at that. 3 And there's just -- as difficult as it is, there's a 4 difference between what the first responding law 5 enforcement does and what these -- they're also licensed 6 peace officers, but they don't have the same exposure to 7 danger and harm. And I really didn't know how to parse 8 it out. Do we do a step? I didn't think it should be 9 the same thing that -- what we did with KCSO. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I agree with that. 11 But, you know, you go up to someone -- and some of the 12 stuff they do on both solid waste issues and pet issues, 13 cruelty, animal cruelty, they're dealing with people 14 that are pretty irate. But anyway, that's just my 15 thought. I thought they should have a -- I don't know 16 if it's a step increase. I'm fine with that. I think 17 there's -- we need to show something. 18 And then I think when we look at our salary 19 study, I shouldn't say we, when you look at the salary 20 study next year, their income makes no deficit. I think 21 that there should be some -- at least a step increase 22 for those employees. That's just how I feel. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I said at the 24 beginning -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's not -- 67 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah, and I can tell 2 you I'll be voting against this. Even though I was a 3 part of these new hires and what have you. But I think 4 that's something that can be looked at down the road in 5 the committee you're on. My personal feelings. Nights 6 and weekends, arrests. There's a big difference. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They're not -- but 8 anyway. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I don't want any Kerr 10 County employee to feel neglected or that we don't 11 appreciate what they do. And they -- they are a step 12 above some of the other people that work in those 13 departments. Because they do have that license. I'm 14 not opposed to doing something. 15 I really had to -- was trying to define how 16 much it should be. And what I was really trying to say 17 is there's a difference between what our first 18 responders do and what they do. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To move forward, I'll 20 make a motion that we increase the -- those two, the 21 constables one step, and that we add the employee 22 that -- the jailer position because I think that's the 23 position for the Sheriff's Department in my -- that's my 24 motion. One step increase for those two and -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: Shouldn't those be separate 68 1 motions? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It could be. 3 JUDGE KELLY: They're two motions. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, but I made one. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: But it's all on the -- 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: Two and a half percent 7 or five percent? 8 JUDGE KELLY: Two and a half. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Two and a half. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: -- position. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'm okay with that. 12 JUDGE KELLY: That's the smallest raise we 13 can give. 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: That's what I thought. 15 Then why would we do two? 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: They're both on this 17 agenda item. The positions. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So anyway. That's my 19 motion. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that 21 motion. 22 JUDGE KELLY: We got a motion to -- and a 23 second to raise the two deputies in the -- 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Animal Control. 25 JUDGE KELLY: -- Animal Control Department, 69 1 one step each. And a second part of that motion is to 2 approve the request for the jailer which is, what, on 3 the next page? 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: So that's not already 5 in there? 6 JUDGE KELLY: No, it's not in there. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, it's on the list 8 but -- 9 JUDGE KELLY: It's on the list. I'm trying 10 to find out where it is. 11 MRS. SHELTON: It's not on there. 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: So it's not in the 13 Budget that you gave us today? 14 MRS. SHELTON: It is not. 15 JUDGE KELLY: It is not. 16 MRS. SHELTON: Neither one of these are. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: So between the two, 18 we're another hundred thousand. 19 JUDGE KELLY: I can't -- I can't find it on 20 the schedule here. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It's a little late in 22 the game. 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah, it is. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I mean, we've been 25 over this several times in workshops and stuff. 70 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Is that what we set it 2 on? 3 JUDGE KELLY: It's on the third page. The 4 bottom box. And it says telecommunication -- 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: It's an old one. 6 JUDGE KELLY: No. Where is it? 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right there. 8 MS. ZAPATA: It's not on any of -- it's not 9 on the current one, I don't think. It was on one of the 10 older ones and when -- 11 PACES: That is correct. 12 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Vote? 14 JUDGE KELLY: Those in favor say aye. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Aye. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Aye. 17 JUDGE KELLY: And I'm going to abstain. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll say aye. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You're aye? 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: No. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Whoa. Let's back it up. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: Three, one, and one. 23 JUDGE KELLY: So you're saying -- 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: I said aye. 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Aye. 71 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Aye. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Three, one, and one. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Three, one, one. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: That's what it says. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Very good. So that 6 passes three, one, one. 7 Moving on to the next agenda -- is there 8 anything else on new positions? 9 MS. ZAPATA: I think that's it. 10 JUDGE KELLY: So we have now approved the 11 new positions as revised. Okay. So is there a motion 12 for that? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval to 14 approve the new -- 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Are you on 16 or 17? 16 JUDGE KELLY: We're still on 16. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Let me see. We've got a 19 motion to approve the special requests for specific 20 positions and new positions as just revised. 21 MS. ZAPATA: Yes. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Oh, okay. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's my motion. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 72 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Second. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 3 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 4 Item 1.17 consider, discuss and take 5 appropriate action to approve the grade and step 6 schedule for FY 24-25. 7 MS. ZAPATA: We've calculated the new grade 8 and step adding the four percent wage adjustment as 9 approved. 10 JUDGE KELLY: And we will have to revise it 11 with these revisions. Oh, this is the one we can all 12 read, right? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second it. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We've got a motion to 16 approve the grade and step schedule as presented. Any 17 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: No. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Four, one. 20 Moving on to Item 1.18 consider, discuss and 21 take appropriate action to adopt the Position Schedule 22 for FY 24-25. Miss Zapata. 23 MS. ZAPATA: I ask that you approve the 24 Position Schedule and it includes the increases as 25 discussed at previous meetings -- workshops. The only 73 1 thing that's not on it are going to be the three 2 positions that y'all changed. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So this would be to 4 approve the position schedule as revised? 5 MS. ZAPATA: Right. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So move. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion. 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Second. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Second. Any discussion? 10 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: (Raising hand.) 12 JUDGE KELLY: Four, one. 13 Item 1.19 consider, discuss and take 14 appropriate action to approve the General Provisions for 15 FY 24-25. 16 MS. ZAPATA: Under General Provisions I've 17 added a few -- kind of revised a few items under four. 18 Salaries and four. Just kind of cleaning up a little 19 bit of the language. Also Kelly has offered a little 20 more guidance on the CDL drivers and some new position 21 and endorsement. So we've just made it more specific 22 and easier to follow. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Easier for them to understand. 24 MS. ZAPATA: Everybody. And then number 25 three on under four as well, clarifying you know we're 74 1 starting 14s and 15s at a Step 2 coming in. 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: And my question on that 3 item, so it's 4(b)3(c), you know, I note that it's the 4 same Grade 16, Step 3, so as (b). You know, is there -- 5 is that intended to be both of those the same, 16 Step 6 3s, without manual transmission restriction? The first 7 one says "or," the second one says "and," yet the -- 8 it's the same grade and step. So is that intentional or 9 why do we need two of those lines? 10 MS. ZAPATA: So my understanding is they 11 come in with different -- there's different scenarios. 12 There's some restrictions, some endorsements. Kelly? 13 Kelly can probably clarify that a little bit 14 better. She understands the -- 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. 16 MS. HOFFER: A "B" license is a commercial 17 license, it just cannot do all the things that the A can 18 do, that they can do a lot of different things. This is 19 kind of when you all were wanting to change this. This 20 is going to change the things at Road & Bridge also. 21 But they both are commercial licenses. And we really 22 couldn't avoid anything as far as the pay because you 23 weren't changing anything with the 16, so -- 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. So I -- I guess 25 as I read through it I was just wondering why we had 75 1 that little bullet point (c) and why don't we just make 2 (b) and/or? 3 JUDGE KELLY: I think six of one-half dozen 4 the other. 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: I guess so. 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, anyway. My real 8 intent was to clarify that there wasn't an intention to 9 have a different step. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: And if they're the same 12 step, then I just think we don't really need a separate 13 bullet. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it's fine the way it 15 is. 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: I guess so. 17 MS. HOFFER: Well, and I think too, part of 18 the -- I understand what you're saying, but the other 19 part of it is, you know, that person still needs -- 20 they still will need to do some things in order to get 21 to that Step 16. So, I mean, I know what you're saying 22 but from a -- kind of an accounting standpoint on it, 23 you can get hired with a B and you can do certain 24 things, but there are certain things that you will be 25 unable to do. So -- 76 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: It's not a major deal, 2 it's just -- 3 MS. HOFFER: No. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- to me it's an 5 "and/or" and we're giving them the same treatment so -- 6 but whatever. I can live with it the way it's written. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Do we have a motion? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I have a question. 9 MS. ZAPATA: Yes? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Under overtime under -- 11 for law enforcement, that officially -- I know there's a 12 lot of discussions as to how to handle that, and that -- 13 this handles the sixes issue? 14 MS. ZAPATA: So this specific one right here 15 is just speaking of anything over 171. And after 16 further discussion with the Sheriff and Jason, anything 17 over 171 will be paid overtime. When I speak for or 18 they could get comp time. But anything over 171 there 19 will still be an increase, it will be overtime. We 20 calculated overtime. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I'll make a 22 motion to approve the general provisions as presented. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 25 approve the general provisions as presented. Any 77 1 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion 2 carries. 3 1.20 consider, discuss and take appropriate 4 action to accept the order setting the salaries for the 5 County Auditor and Assistant County Auditor, pursuant to 6 the Texas Local Government Code. Ms. Shelton. 7 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. You have before you the 8 order from the District Judges. The hearing was held on 9 July the 23rd. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: What percentage are 11 these increases, do you know? 12 MRS. SHELTON: The wage adjustment that you 13 gave, that Commissioners' Court voted on. These will be 14 increased. When you get it, these are actually the 15 salaries as they were shown without any increase. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll make a motion 17 that we approve the General Provisions. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: We don't really have a 19 choice, do we? 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: No, we don't. 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: It's already -- it's a 22 done deal. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 78 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: No. Accept the 2 salary. Make a motion that we accept the salaries for 3 the County Auditor and Assistant County Auditors. 4 JUDGE KELLY: As ordered by the District 5 Judges? 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yep. There you go. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You've said the motion, 8 I'll second. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 10 approve the Auditors' salaries as presented. Any 11 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion 12 carries. 13 Moving on to Item 1.21 consider, discuss and 14 take appropriate action to accept the order setting the 15 salaries for the 198th Court Reporter and 216th District 16 Court Reporter. 17 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. The same with this. 18 The hearing was held on July 23rd. The amounts as shown 19 do not include -- and although there is a comment that 20 says please add -- or that the wage adjustment -- that 21 any wage adjustment that was voted on by Commissioners' 22 Court will be added to that amount. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll make another 24 motion that we accept this order setting the salaries 25 for the 198th District Court Reporter and the 216th 79 1 District Court Reporter. 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: So just to clarify, are 3 they getting the full percent or are they getting more 4 than that? 5 MRS. SHELTON: They're not getting more. 6 They're getting the exact same that y'all voted on for 7 everybody. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 11 approve the salaries for the two Court Reporters for the 12 198th and 216th. Any discussion? Those in favor say 13 aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 14 Okay. Moving on to Item 1.22 consider, 15 discuss and take appropriate action to adopt the FY 16 24-25 Kerr County Budget and take a record vote. Okay. 17 MRS. SHELTON: Okay. The Commissioners' 18 Court 24-25 Budget presented earlier today, that has not 19 been adjusted for what you just voted on, shows 20 estimated property tax revenues of 32.6 million and 21 non-tax revenues of 19.7 million. Total expenditures 22 are approximately 66.8 million. The estimated 23 expenditures over revenues are approximately 14.4 24 million, which basically means we are projecting the -- 25 we are projecting to spend savings to pay for 5.7 80 1 million for the Animal Control facility, 4.1 million for 2 Road & Bridge expenses, projects, software and/or 3 equipment, 1.1 million on airport projects, almost one 4 million for the Hill Country Youth Event Center, 600,000 5 for IT software or equipment, 436,000 for vehicle 6 purchases or leases, and 310,000 for 550 Earl Garrett 7 renovation. 8 Other projects include migrating to Incode 9 10, a new timekeeping system, case management software 10 for the prosecutors offices, seven air-conditioning 11 units, and re-striping or sealcoating 440 and 550 Earl 12 Garrett. Also, approximately 1.3 million of salaries in 13 payroll related expenditures were moved from ARPA funds 14 back to the general and Road & Bridge funds. 15 The property tax rate, the 42.33 is 16 projected to create a percentage of expenditures and 17 fund balance of 26.65 percent. The minimum standard is 18 25 percent. And, of course, those will be adjusted. I 19 believe, though, with what the Sheriff was saying last 20 Monday that we have 900,000 right now projected for the 21 out-of-county prisoner revenue, and I believe that could 22 go up at least 100,000, if not a little bit more. But 23 that would keep it about even with what y'all did this 24 morning. 25 SHERIFF LEITHA: Yes, ma'am. 81 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We don't need a motion, 2 we just need to vote? 3 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, we just vote. This is a 4 vote to adopt the FY 24-25 Kerr County Budget as 5 presented. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And revised. 7 JUDGE KELLY: And revised. Precinct 1. 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I vote aye. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 2. 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: I mean, I don't like 11 it. I think the Budget is too high. I think I've been 12 very clear that I did not support the four percent 13 adjustment for employees, I thought it should have been 14 a lot less. We've already made that decision. And 15 hence, I've been voting for the rest. And I'm not 16 opposed to anything else. So I'm going to go along with 17 this Budget and vote for it. Yea. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 3. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Aye. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 4. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Aye. 22 JUDGE KELLY: And I vote aye. Unanimous. 23 Five, zero. 24 MRS. SHELTON: Thank you. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 82 1 Moving on to the next timed item is 1.23 2 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to take a 3 record vote on the proposed 24 Kerr County tax rate. 4 This will be a combined tax rate for Kerr County and 5 Lateral Roads. Mr. Reeves. 6 MR. REEVES: Good morning, Commissioners, 7 Judge. Based on various Budget workshops and what the 8 Court voted on just a second ago, it's my understanding 9 that the Court desires to propose a tax rate being the 10 no new revenue tax rate for the 2024 tax year. The 11 total combined tax rate for the year 2024 will be 42.33 12 cents per 100 dollars valuation. 13 The breakdown of the tax rate is the 14 maintenance and operations rate will be 35.47 cents per 15 100 dollars valuation. The interest and sinking fund 16 will be 4.64 cents per 100 dollars valuation. And the 17 Lateral Road fund would be 2.22 cents for 100 dollars 18 valuation. 19 As I said, if you choose to propose this 20 rate that it would represent the no new revenue rate 21 based on my calculations. I will need a record vote on 22 this, please. A motion and a record vote to propose 23 this rate. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: So -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do you need a -- for 83 1 each -- we have to mention each specific different tax 2 rate or just the total? 3 MR. REEVES: Or if you want to accept what I 4 just read into the record. Whatever's easier and -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion to 6 accept what you read into the record. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And then we'll all 9 vote on it. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We've got a motion and 11 a second to approve the no new revenue rate as presented 12 by Mr. Reeves just a minute ago. And that would be 13 .4233 cents per hundred dollar valuation. 14 MR. REEVES: 42.33 cents. 15 JUDGE KELLY: 42.33 cents per hundred. Any 16 discussion? Precinct one. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Aye. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 2. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: Aye. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 3. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Aye. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 4. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Aye. 24 JUDGE KELLY: I vote yes. Unanimous. 25 Moving on to Item 1 -- we're still on the 84 1 timed items though -- 1.24 consider, discuss and take 2 appropriate action to set the date and time to hold a 3 public hearing for the 2024 tax rate for Kerr County and 4 Lateral Roads. 5 MR. REEVES: Yes, sir. Just as the agenda 6 reads, in order to meet my statutory requirements to 7 publish the notice of the public hearing, I will need a 8 date and time, please. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do you have a 10 recommended date and time? 11 JUDGE KELLY: September 9th. 12 MR. REEVES: I believe it is September 9th, 13 in accordance with our Budget calendar. I just need -- 14 if that's still good with you, I would need a time. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion to 16 set the date and time for the public hearing on 17 September 9th at 10:00 a.m. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: During our 20 Commissioners' Court meeting. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 22 schedule the public hearing for the tax rate for 23 September the 9th at 10:00 a.m. Any discussion? Those 24 in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 25 Item 1.25 consider, discuss and take 85 1 appropriate action to set the date and time for the 2 adoption of the 2024 tax rate for Kerr County and 3 Lateral Roads. 4 MR. REEVES: Yes, sir, Judge. After the 5 public hearing is held, you as a Court will need to vote 6 to adopt said tax rate. So, therefore, I would need a 7 time and a date. You could choose to adopt it at the 8 same meeting or a subsequent meeting. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion to set 10 the date as September 9th at 10:05. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 13 set the adoption of the tax rate for September the 9th 14 at 10:05. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 15 Opposed? Motion carries. 16 Item 1.26 consider, discuss and take 17 appropriate action to take a record vote on the proposed 18 2024 Lake Ingram Estates road tax district rate. 19 MR. REEVES: Yes, sir. The 2024 tax rate to 20 service the debt for the Lake Ingram Estates Road 21 District will be 11.07 cents per one hundred dollars 22 valuation. This entire tax rate will go for the 23 interest and sinking fund of the road district. A 24 record vote is required. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Is there a motion? Or is this 86 1 a record vote? 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll make a motion -- 3 oh. 4 MR. REEVES: Well, we would need -- this is 5 the proposed rate, so -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We need a motion. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll make a motion to 8 set the rate for the proposed 2024 Lake Ridge Estates 9 Road District at 11.07 cents. 10 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 12 JUDGE KELLY: And a second. Any discussion? 13 Those in favor -- oh, it's a record vote so I'll call 14 for Precinct 1. 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Aye. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 2. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: Aye. 18 JUDGE KELLY: 3. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Aye. 20 JUDGE KELLY: 4. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Aye. 22 JUDGE KELLY: And I vote aye. Unanimous. 23 Moving on to Item 1.27 consider, discuss and 24 take appropriate action to set the date and time to hold 25 a public hearing for the 2024 tax rate for Lake Ingram 87 1 Estates Road District. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we 3 set the date of September 9th at 10:10 for the Lake 4 Ingram -- 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Can you set them all 6 at -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- Estates Road 8 District. 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: -- 10:10 and just do 10 them one after another? 11 JUDGE KELLY: I just remember the way I was 12 taught when I sat in the blue chairs. We do this so 13 that there's a record that we did one first and then the 14 next one and then the next one and then the next one. 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. 16 MR. REEVES: That would -- 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Are we going to be 18 sitting around for four minutes between each vote? 19 MR. REEVES: -- be the preferred way. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: Chances are we'll be 21 late anyway but -- 22 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's true. There 23 you go. All right. 24 JUDGE KELLY: And this is the way we 25 always -- 88 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I know. I gotcha. 2 COURT REPORTER: Excuse me. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Fair. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Exactly. 5 MR. REEVES: And this is for the public 6 hearing. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Got it. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We've got a motion to 9 set the public hearing for the tax rate for Lake Ingram 10 Road -- Estates Road District for September 9th at 11 10:10. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'll second that. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 14 Motion and second. Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 15 Unanimous. 16 Item 1.28 consider, discuss and take 17 appropriate action to set a date and time for the 18 adoption of the 2024 tax rate for Lake Ingram Estates 19 road district. 20 MR. REEVES: Yes, sir, Judge. After the 21 public hearing for the Lake Ingram Estates Road District 22 tax rate, you will need to vote to adopt such rate and, 23 therefore, I need a date and time for this. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: We're at 10:15. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that 89 1 we set the date and time on September 9th at 10:15. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that 3 motion. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. Any 5 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Is this a record 6 vote? 7 MR. REEVES: No, sir. Not for this one. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Those in favor say aye. 9 Opposed? Motion carries. 10 1.29 consider, discuss and take appropriate 11 action to approve action regarding the optional $1.50 12 child safety fee and the optional $10.00 County Road and 13 Bridge fee for 2025 vehicle registrations per request 14 from Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, and authorize 15 the Tax Assessor Collector to submit the approval to the 16 Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Mr. Reeves. 17 MR. REEVES: Yes, Judge. Section 502.402 of 18 the Transportation Code allows the County to charge a 19 fee not to exceed $10.00 when registering a vehicle. 20 The $10.00 fund is dedicated to the county road and 21 bridge fund. According to the Texas DMV, during the 22 2023 calendar year Kerr County collected $589,210.00 23 from this fee. During the first seven months of this 24 calendar year, we've collected $356,140.00. The fee 25 must be approved prior to September 1 of each year. And 90 1 it becomes effective January 1st. Included in your 2 backup is the statutory language from that section. 3 In addition, Section 502.403 of the Code 4 allows the County to charge a fee not to exceed $1.50 5 when registering a vehicle. This fee is dedicated to 6 child safety. Must be approved just like the other one 7 prior to September 1st, and it becomes effective January 8 1st of the following year. We first began collecting 9 this fee January 1, 2021. In the current calendar -- or 10 in the 2023 calendar year, we collected $88,382.00, and 11 in this current year to date we have collected 12 $53,421.00. 13 The Court has an option to accept this on an 14 annual basis, hence the name optional fee. As the Tax 15 Assessor Collector, I respectfully request that the 16 Court approve the $10.00 optional fee for the Road and 17 Bridge fund of the County, and the optional $1.50 for 18 the child safety fee. These fees would become effective 19 January 1st of 2025. After your approval, I will 20 forward the Court order to the Texas DMV. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Bob, the child safety. 22 What's that entail? 23 MR. REEVES: That fee, I cannot tell you 24 where it goes. But I can tell you what it's been used 25 for. We're able -- we collect the dollar fifty and go 91 1 for anything on the roads like striping around school 2 zones, on County roads, crosswalks, signage. It can 3 also go to CASA for helping with one may need child 4 safety seats, whatever they may. 5 The County takes the entire amount. We are 6 able to retain ten percent off the top. The remaining 7 balance is divided between the County and the two 8 municipalities located in Kerr County proportionally to 9 population. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. Thank you. 11 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Is there any other 12 questions? I'll be glad to -- 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'll move for 14 approval. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 17 approve the optional fees for child safety and County 18 Road and Bridge fee as presented. Any discussion? 19 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Thank 20 you. 21 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Thank you. May I be 22 excused, Judge? 23 JUDGE KELLY: Yes, you may. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Escape while you can. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I'm going to take things 92 1 out of order. You've been very patient, Jake. Let's go 2 back and pick up your two items. 3 1.7 consider, discuss and take appropriate 4 action to allow Hill Country Youth Event Center, Oakview 5 Group, to enter into an exclusive beverage provider 6 contract with Pepsi Co. for a three-year initial term. 7 Jake Williamson. 8 MR. WILLIAMSON: Good morning, Court. 9 Thanks for taking the time today to hear me out with 10 this Pepsi contract that you do have in your backup. 11 When we were hired to manage the Hill Country Youth 12 Event Center, we took the charge of making sure we did 13 everything we could to reduce the operating expenses and 14 the need for taxpayer funding. So we take that 15 seriously. And at all times we look for new revenue 16 sources or ways to lower the operating expenses. 17 What you have before you today is something 18 that has come out as in our 9th year you will see when 19 we report we will have hit a financial or a revenue 20 plateau. The Event Center is near maximum occupancy. 21 It's very hard for me to find new spots to find paying 22 customers. That's a good thing. It's a great problem 23 to have; however, with the rise in costs of insurance 24 and all the things that everybody else knows about, in 25 the moving forward years the expenses will be going up 93 1 with no real way to see more revenue besides raising 2 rental costs. 3 Another way they use in the industry to 4 combat that is to have contracts. You guys already have 5 a liquor license. That's already helped in that 6 endeavor to bring in more revenue for people that use 7 the facility. In reference, to date that has brought in 8 $62,800 to your venue this year, for the liquor license 9 alone. 10 This beverage contract with Pepsi would not 11 be as lucrative as that, but it does give us the 12 opportunity to offer more services to those people using 13 the facility for that revenue stream. In addition to 14 sponsorship has always been something that has, for 15 whatever reason, not been to my standards, we do have a 16 great relationship with Happy State Bank for the extra 17 name rights, that's partnership revenue there. And a 18 few small people for the show barn. 19 This Pepsi contract comes with a sign-on 20 bonus. And they would also provide money to do 21 marketing materials. So they would have a marketing 22 presence in the building. But more so is that 23 sponsorship that's -- you know, I haven't been able to 24 find. So I had to recruit help. 25 This is not an effort of my own; this was 94 1 from our corporate sponsorship folks in Beaumont, Texas. 2 We had to reach out to a national group to get a meeting 3 and to get us to where we are today with that. It's a 4 long way of saying it would bring change to the event 5 center. 6 With this contract, there is a case minimum 7 purchase. For over three years we have to buy 3,000 8 cases of Pepsi products. In order to do that, I would 9 need your permission, your guidance, your authority to 10 enforce that people who use the facility would have to 11 purchase Pepsi products for the rest of their events. 12 As with the liquor license, some people would like that, 13 some people wouldn't care, and some people would be 14 against it. We would need to do this for all the 15 events, contracted and not, to get to this 3,000 cases. 16 So that includes water, of course. 17 So events like Renaissance Festival, easy 18 events like that we're already contracted with, we would 19 enforce this with them. Things like the gun show, it 20 would be a simple pass on. We would order Pepsi 21 products for them to sell at the gun show. One of the 22 biggest, hardest sales would possibly be your own 23 employees using the facility. The Sheriff's Office. 24 Not so much elections. 25 But other people if it's a week-long event 95 1 or they're for days on end or for a day, usually have 2 some sort of snack service, beverage service there. We 3 would need control of that to get to this limit. It's 4 not saying we have to charge an upcharge. The reason 5 being is that Pepsi is the sponsor and they're trying to 6 give us $4,000 up front, we just need to meet those case 7 limits. 8 Furthermore, in years two and three, you'll 9 see in the paperwork we would get a rebate, which means 10 every case of Pepsi we buy, they give us at least a 11 dollar back in return. So another revenue stream. 12 Small revenue stream, but yet revenue. So without any 13 expense to the Court, this could help bring in more 14 revenue, and help us serve the people who use the 15 facility even more so than they already do. So I do 16 know there's probably questions and comments on that, so 17 at this time I'd like to address those. 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay, I'll start I 19 guess. This is just another example of what Jake has 20 been -- how he works behind the scenes. I know that 21 this is not where the conversation starts and his 22 negotiations got us a more favorable deal. It's not a 23 big item like the naming rights and what have you, but 24 it -- it all helps. So he's done a lot of work on this. 25 And so I am -- I move for approval. 96 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I've got a question 3 for you. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 6 second. Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Now I got a question 8 for you. When you say people -- people can't bring in 9 other soft drinks on their own, can they? 10 MR. WILLIAMSON: Yes, they can. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Oh, they can? 12 MR. WILLIAMSON: So we have no enforcement 13 of that, because we don't typically operate concessions. 14 So -- 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Then if they're not 16 paying for a concessions with their rental, they can 17 bring in their own -- can they bring in their own 18 alcohol, too? 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: A good example would 20 be the stock show when it's out there. You know, you're 21 going to have families out there and they're going to 22 bring sandwiches and drinks and chips and everything 23 else. And so that's a pretty good example. 24 MR. WILLIAMSON: So would we limit that, 25 probably not. I can't afford to. What we could do is 97 1 the people that do sell concessions for the stock show, 2 because some people do not bring in those things, we 3 would have those for sale. So we would still work with 4 those concessionaires and we're not asking for a full 5 takeover of concessions because we can't cook, we can't 6 do a full gambit. But they have to order the Pepsi 7 products through us. Maybe they're waiting for them 8 when they arrive and they can then resell them. 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: How big is the $4,000 10 marketing signage? You know, like -- yeah. 11 MR. WILLIAMSON: It would be catered to what 12 we want. So -- 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: You don't have a 14 guess? 15 MR. WILLIAMSON: It's banners and things 16 like that. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Gotcha. 18 MR. WILLIAMSON: If I wanted to let them 19 pave the concession stand Pepsi I guess I could. I 20 don't think we're going to do that. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So basically, this is 23 going to be any kind of a -- anything that we kind of 24 control the concessions on, they'll have to use Pepsi. 25 MR. WILLIAMSON: And I would need to extend 98 1 that to people we haven't done that to in the past. So, 2 for instance -- well yeah, so food trucks. I would need 3 to work with them and they would either place an order 4 with us to have that product there for them. 5 So if that's truly what Pepsi wants, they're 6 trying to guarantee their revenue. Obviously they want 7 theirs. So I would have to work on that somewhere with 8 every group to make sure that we have that. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, it's going to be 10 hard to enforce a hundred percent but -- 11 MR. WILLIAMSON: Sure. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- it's a good -- I 13 mean, I don't know of anything that you go to where they 14 don't have a contract with somebody. So I mean, this is 15 just -- 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: So what about coffee? 17 Does Pepsi offer coffee or -- 18 MR. WILLIAMSON: They do. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: You know, at the stock 20 show are we going to be -- is somebody out there 21 offering coffee? 22 MR. WILLIAMSON: Yeah. So good question. 23 You know, ice coffees and stuff, they have the 24 prepackaged things so -- the Starbucks Pepsi has that 25 line. Pepsi is huge. If you wanted to look all this 99 1 stuff up, it does include Dr. Pepper. The other 2 question I would give to that -- 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. I'm just kind of 4 curious. We've had that -- 5 MR. WILLIAMSON: -- answer is -- 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- truck that had -- 7 MR. WILLIAMSON: -- if you're fine with 8 Pepsi venue -- 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- tea and coffee out 10 there -- 11 MR. WILLIAMSON: -- then I can't get my 12 existing Coke in my private event. It's stuff that's 13 for sale. So it sounded really good in the meetings. 14 And they have two concessions for gun show, State swap 15 meet, things like that. Renaissance Festival, of 16 course, will be our biggest player in that. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess the only 18 question I would have would be like, say, our Christmas 19 party. We have water and tea. And we can still do 20 that, right? 21 MR. WILLIAMSON: Correct. Uh-huh. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: So as long as we're not 23 selling it -- 24 MR. WILLIAMSON: Right. And that's where 25 I'll -- 100 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- for an employee 2 event or for an APO meeting, you know, if we offer tea 3 and water again, no big deal. It doesn't matter where 4 we get it? 5 MR. WILLIAMSON: Right. You know, with this 6 exclusive deal I would hope that if somebody was going 7 to offer, you know, soft drink service they would please 8 come through me because that's where I'm going to have 9 to enforce to get that case level. 10 You know, that's where we want to make sure 11 that if you let us enter into this agreement, you know, 12 we're locked into that 3,000 cases. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And do you have a 14 problem with that number, the 3,000? 15 MR. WILLIAMSON: If I can get the 16 meetings -- like, you know, this year we've sold 815 17 cases of beer and the liquor license just covers the 18 Expo Hall. So if I can get the stock shows, those 19 groups in the back to do their concessions, the food 20 trucks there, I'm pretty confident that we could get 21 that value. And if not, you know, if you want to just 22 say well, it's just going to be with the liquor license 23 in the Expo Hall and all County employees can -- if they 24 have meetings they'll have to buy Pepsi, you know, I'm 25 not -- I can't guarantee that. That's why I'm here 101 1 today. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, anyone who's 3 selling soft drinks has to get Pepsi products through 4 you. And if you have water or tea -- 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: I read through this 6 agreement but -- I mean, do we need anything else in 7 there just to cover us to clarify that for events that 8 are held where we don't have -- where we're not charging 9 for stuff that it doesn't apply? I mean, I don't know. 10 MRS. STEBBINS: The agreement is not with 11 Kerr County. 12 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It's with the 13 management company? 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: Would you say that 15 again? The agreement -- 16 MRS. STEBBINS: It's with the management 17 company. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It's with the 19 management company. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: Ah, I see. 21 MR. WILLIAMSON: And with the way it's 22 written -- so the Sheriff uses the classroom. They have 23 to go to HEB and buy sodas. That's the same as -- I 24 would need them just to buy them from me. You know, 25 like I said, with the pricing because of the sponsorship 102 1 that can just be a pass down. A lot of our groups said 2 great, we'll have sodas there and we don't have to buy 3 stuff. 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Sure. 5 MR. WILLIAMSON: Some groups, you know, work 6 more on donations and other groups purchasing stuff for 7 them so it would be a little complicated but, you know, 8 that's what I'm here for. And this goes through -- they 9 can deal with me and we can just make it work. But I 10 need that authority from the Court to back me up when I 11 do those deals. 12 JUDGE KELLY: It really sounds like it's 13 more of a best efforts to sell Pepsi. 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: Pretty much. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Jake will have the 16 conversation with the people when they sign up and what 17 have you. And if you need soft drinks, you need to come 18 through us. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So Miss Bell asked to 20 speak on this topic. 21 MS. BELL: Alicia Bell, Precinct 1. Jake, I 22 appreciate you're trying to reduce the Budget and 23 everything. But I think what needs to be taken into 24 account is Pepsi Companies uses Senomyx. Senomyx uses 25 fetal cells, so it's aborted fetal cells in their Pepsi 103 1 product. So that turns out to be cannibalism. So you 2 might want to consider that. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Senomyx? What? 4 MS. BELL: Senomyx. S-Y-N-O-M-Y-X. 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: That's in their 6 product? 7 MS. BELL: It is. Fetal -- it's from 8 their -- the taste buds of the fetal cells. It's 9 cannibalism. HEK vaccine. So it's cannibalism in the 10 product. And it's in a lot of products. 11 MR. WILLIAMSON: I would assume not just 12 Pepsi products. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So what we are doing is 14 authorizing you to enter into a contract, correct? 15 MR. WILLIAMSON: Correct. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion to 17 authorize -- oh, you already did that. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 19 MS. BELL: That is the Court's -- 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Those in favor say aye. 21 Opposed? 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: Aye. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Four, one. 24 Okay. Jake, the next one is 1.8 consider, 25 discuss and take appropriate action to partner with the 104 1 City of Kerrville for a Household Hazardous Waste Event 2 to be held at Hill Country Youth Event Center. 3 MR. WILLIAMSON: This is just -- the City 4 has reached out to us again to partner to use the venue 5 for the household hazardous waste in February next year. 6 It's on a Saturday. We'd love to host with them again, 7 if you guys agree to let us do that. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: Sure. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 12 approve partnership with the City of Kerrville for 13 Household Hazardous Waste Event next February. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And the date again? 15 MR. WILLIAMSON: I want to -- I hate to 16 miss -- see, I don't have my calendar. I believe it's 17 February 24th or that weekend. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's the 22nd. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: I think it was the 20 22ne. That's a Saturday, so -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Okay. 22 JUDGE KELLY: February 22nd. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I just wanted that out 24 there. Jody and I both have -- 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah, the 22nd. 105 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: -- a few people 2 inquiring. 3 MR. WILLIAMSON: Yeah, there's a lot of 4 interest. We're excited to be able to do that. 5 February the 22nd, 2025. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 7 in favor say aye. Opposed. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: Wait, wait. 9 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Judge, in the past -- I 10 don't know if Reagan's still here. But -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, Reagan -- 12 JUDGE KELLY: That's okay. 13 MRS. GRINSTEAD: They won't need him this 14 year? Because in the past -- 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They will. 16 MRS. GRINSTEAD: -- environmental health has 17 helped immensely with that event, too. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. They've worked 19 it. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: The City provides a 21 lot of the help inside, and our County people have 22 helped on the outside with cars and what have you. 23 So -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: So the vote was unanimous. 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 106 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. I'm trying to address 3 the people that are here. So let's go back and take up 4 where we left off at 1.30 consider, discuss and take 5 appropriate action for Commissioners' Court approval on 6 the general contract with Secor Fence & Building Company 7 for Gate and Operator Project on Spur 100 at the Road & 8 Bridge Department property, and have the County Judge 9 sign the same. Miss Hoffer. 10 MS. HOFFER: Before you is a general 11 contract with Secor Fence & Building Company for a Gate 12 and Operator Project on Spur 100 at the Road & Bridge 13 Department property. 14 This project will provide the installation 15 of a slide gate and commercial gate operator at our Spur 16 100 entrance. This will provide additional access 17 restriction and security to this property. This project 18 will be paid out of line item 15-612-575, maintenance 19 facility. 20 The County Attorney has reviewed this 21 contract. At this time, I ask the Commissioners' Court 22 for their approval of the general contract and have the 23 appropriate people sign the same. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll move to approve 25 the general contract Secor Fence & Building Company for 107 1 the Gate and Operator Project on Spur 100 at Road & 2 Bridge Department. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. With a 4 question. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Motion and a second. 6 Discussion? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is only along Spur 8 100? This doesn't go back across the -- 9 MS. HOFFER: By where the pipe yard is? By 10 the little league? Is that what you're -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, I'm talking about 12 the other -- back behind. 13 MS. HOFFER: Oh, no. Where the golf course 14 used to be? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, where the golf 16 course used to be? 17 MS. HOFFER: No. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's just along Spur 19 100? Okay. 20 MS. HOFFER: For right now. Yes. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. And just the -- 22 when we get to the point of -- I'm sure we will at some 23 point -- back towards the golf course, we need to look 24 at that because that -- we need some screening there. 25 Where that screening goes from the two cemeteries over 108 1 there. Because we need to look and try to get that 2 coordinated. 3 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. This -- we already have 4 been using the entrance and exit and it has worked 5 really well when everybody is trying to leave where 6 coming out of the parking -- the front parking lot is, 7 but this will secure it a lot more. Right now it's an 8 open gate, so -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Great. 10 JUDGE KELLY: And so we've got a motion and 11 a second to approve the general contract with Secor 12 Fence & Building as presented. Any other discussion? 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'll just throw in 14 that Secor is a local vendor and they do excellent 15 quality work. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They're in your 17 precinct, huh? 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes, they are. 19 JUDGE KELLY: My next door neighbor. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Next door neighbor. 21 That's right. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: How many votes did you 23 just pick up? 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'm not running, as of 25 now. 109 1 JUDGE KELLY: Those in favor say aye. 2 Opposed? Motion carries. 3 1.31 consider, discuss and take appropriate 4 action for Commissioners' Court approval to temporarily 5 close the concrete crossing section on Cougar Park Road 6 Southwest in the Guadalupe Ranch Estates for repair of 7 concrete crossing. Miss Hoffer. 8 MS. HOFFER: We are needing to repair the 9 concrete crossing on Cougar Park Road Southwest. This 10 is in the Guadalupe Ranch Estates Subdivision, which is 11 off of FM 1340, kind of near Long Ranch. I've added 12 some pictures so you can kind of see the condition. 13 But this project will require us to close 14 this area of Cougar Park Road Southwest from September 15 3rd, which is Tuesday after Labor Day, and through 16 September 9th. We will -- I've already notified the HOA 17 president and the Hunt VFD for the VFD that is out there 18 in the development. And we're going to be putting up 19 some signs probably today or tomorrow once we have 20 Commissioners' Court approval. I'm going to get with 21 Lisa, too, to notify everybody. 22 But we're going to fix this. It's really, 23 really bumpy, and it needs to be repaired. So we're 24 going to put a concrete cap over it. 25 So at this time, I ask the Commissioners' 110 1 Court for their approval to temporarily close the 2 section of Cougar Park Road Southwest from September 3 3rd, 2024 to September 9th, 2024 for concrete crossing 4 repairs. This is in Precinct 4. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 8 approve the temporary closing of Cougar Park Road as 9 presented. 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: I assume there's 11 another way in and out? 12 MS. HOFFER: Yes. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: Or are they just going 14 around it? 15 MS. HOFFER: You have Cherry Spring and you 16 have Fellow Run -- 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 18 MS. HOFFER: -- that are your main -- 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: I was just curious. 20 MS. HOFFER: -- so yes. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: For one week. Not too 22 bad. 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 25 in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 111 1 1.32 consider, discuss and take appropriate 2 action regarding Revision of Plat for Creekside at Camp 3 Verde Phase 2, Lots 94, 95, and 96. Charlie -- Bobby 4 Gore. 5 MR. GORE: Good morning. This proposal 6 combines and revises Lots 94, 95, and 96 of Creekside at 7 Camp Verde Phase 2 into two lots, totaling 23.07 acres. 8 Lot 94A will be 12.54 acres and Lot 96A will be 10.53 9 acres. Both lots will continue to front on Citadel 10 Drive. A public hearing was conducted previously on 11 July 8th. 12 The County Engineer requests the Court 13 consider, discuss and take appropriate action regarding 14 a Revision of Plat for Creekside at Camp Verde Phase 2, 15 Lots 94, 95, and 96. This is plat file Number 22-09621 16 in Precinct 2. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll make a motion to 18 approve the Revision of Plat for Creekside at Camp Verde 19 Phase 2, Lots 94, 95, and 96 -- 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- as presented. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 23 approve the Revision of Plat as presented at Creekside 24 at Camp Verde. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 25 Opposed? Motion carries. 112 1 Item 1.33 -- 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, Dub's been 3 sitting back there quite awhile. 4 JUDGE KELLY: I can't see Dub. Oh, there 5 you are. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah, but Bobby's 7 still -- 8 JUDGE KELLY: I couldn't see you, Dub. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, I'm sorry. The next 10 one's Bobby. Bobby is -- 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I was going to say 12 something after Bobby got through. 13 JUDGE KELLY: I can't -- from where I sit I 14 cannot see Dub at all. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You need to move your 16 chair, Dub. 17 MR. THOMAS: No, I kind of like being hidden 18 every once in a while. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 1.33 consider, discuss 20 and take appropriate action on an e-mail from Hill 21 Country Alliance suggesting that interested County 22 Commissioners sign a letter requesting that an 23 administrative correction to the 89th Legislative 24 Session be passed pertaining to the passage of House 25 Bill 3697, which allows developers to circumvent the 113 1 subdivision platting process by declaring their roads 2 private. 3 MR. GORE: On July 21st, 2024 Charlie and I 4 attended a County workshop in Boerne. Tom Jones also 5 attended. And there were other representatives from 6 other counties. Major concerns were some of the 7 unintended consequences from this House Bill 3697. So 8 the Hill Country Alliance, that group of counties, had 9 proposed as you know that we sent to you. And it 10 mentions, I'll just read part of the e-mail: To help 11 raise awareness about challenges posed by House Bill 12 3697 and demonstrate a common interest in finding a 13 solution, the Hill Country Alliance has drafted the 14 attached policy. 15 And it mentions there, if you would like to 16 add your signature to the letter, please let me know by 17 Wednesday, August 28th -- which is two days from now -- 18 and if so, they will then draft a policy, update it and 19 then circulate it for signatures. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Bobby, you really 21 think they were unintended consequences? 22 MR. GORE: Just a few. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'll move for 24 approval. 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 114 1 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 2 approve -- 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Sorry. I guess I 4 just -- I was a little confused when I read through it. 5 I mean, are we going to do it as a Commissioners' Court 6 in some kind of a Resolution, or are we just 7 individually putting our names to it? I mean, I'm all 8 for it. I want my name on this thing, but I'm not real 9 clear on the process here. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I guess the motion I'm 11 making is for us to sign. But if we want to do it 12 individually -- 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, I'm just asking. 14 MR. GORE: Well they -- as I mentioned, 15 they're going to -- once they have all the ones that are 16 ready and willing to do it, they'll have it properly 17 prepared and then I guess make a circulation and 18 distribute it accordingly, and then it'll be a series of 19 signatures. I assume, the Judge -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. I mean, I think 21 it's -- a more effective way is for each County to do a 22 resolution. It would be great if Hill Country Alliance 23 wants to prepare a resolution and get it -- rather 24 than -- I mean, and I think we're all in agreement that 25 something needs to be done. 115 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. It just sounds 2 like there's not a lot of time for them to come back 3 and -- you know, we won't have a resolution in front of 4 us before the deadline here. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, we can sign -- 6 they can do the letter. We can sign a letter and send a 7 Resolution. 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: We can do both. But 9 it's just the letter and then all of the signatures 10 underneath it when it goes out. Yeah. 11 MR. GORE: I mean I can notify them on 12 Wednesday that yes -- or if we'd rather do something 13 different or whatever you want. 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I don't think -- 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would expect their 16 deadline is more -- well, to make people do something. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because there's no 19 legislative reason for this. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, and I'm happy to 21 do both. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: Just put our individual 24 names to it, assuming you want to, and also if we can 25 come up with a Resolution, I'll support that. 116 1 JUDGE KELLY: I think we're all supportive. 2 I'm not sure exactly what it is that you're proposing to 3 do. And I'm not sure whether or not this is really 4 going to solve the problem that we've got. A lot of 5 these tracts have already been survived and deeded 6 and -- 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yep. It won't apply to 8 those. But at least -- 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Going forward. 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- going forward from 11 whatever they come up with for clarification. 12 JUDGE KELLY: But I -- I guess, just the one 13 fact of saying that I'm going to call it the feeder road 14 cannot be a private road, it has to be a public road, 15 that triggers the application of our subdivision rules. 16 That one thing. And when they say administrative 17 correction, then that's not what the legislature 18 intended. Do I understand that right? 19 MR. GORE: Right. That's what -- 20 JUDGE KELLY: I'm -- I'm for that. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So I guess are we each 24 individually signing a letter or is it -- or does the 25 Judge sign the letter on behalf of the Court? 117 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I think they want more 2 signatures. The most signatures. 3 JUDGE KELLY: I think they want -- 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: Both come up with 5 numbers. We should do both. I don't know. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Well, why don't we -- 7 MR. GORE: You know, it's not real clear. 8 It just says if you would like to add your signature. 9 As far as if Commissioners' Court so -- 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It's like when they 11 pass around a resolution and all -- every -- senators 12 and everybody signs it individually. That's what 13 they're looking for, kind of thing. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Well, when I got the letter -- 15 and I got one, I told Jody that I gotta have court 16 approval before I could sign that. I can't be signing 17 these things without y'all's approval. 18 MR. GORE: Well -- 19 JUDGE KELLY: But -- and so why don't we 20 just make a motion -- revise this motion to say to 21 authorize all five of us to sign the letter, if we want 22 to. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: There you go. 24 JUDGE KELLY: That's -- 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: That sounds good. 118 1 That was my intent when I made the motion. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 3 JUDGE KELLY: And so if somebody doesn't 4 want to sign it, they don't have to sign it. 5 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. 6 JUDGE KELLY: But we can get -- we'll just 7 get as many numbers as we can. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: There you go. That's 10 good. 11 JUDGE KELLY: So with that, those in favor 12 say aye. Opposed. Motion carries. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: I was just -- for 14 clarification purposes, I would think with or without 15 this Court's approval, we as individuals could sign this 16 letter using our titles. 17 JUDGE KELLY: I think so. But it wasn't 18 clear to me whether or not -- 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: I've had a discussion 20 with our County attorney, not on this particular issue 21 but in the past on similar issues and -- 22 MRS. STEBBINS: Uh-huh. 23 JUDGE KELLY: My -- my take on this one was 24 the I think I need -- I would have to come get y'all's 25 approvals. 119 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, I think that 2 related but a little bit different topic, there are some 3 other changes on the water side that we might want to 4 look at too. So I'd encourage the Court to work on a 5 Resolution that addresses this issue possibly and some 6 of the water issues. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, you know, water 9 availability stuff that really don't make sense. 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'm all for that. We've 11 had a lot of discussions about getting back to our 12 subdivision regulations. Some revisions. But that's 13 done. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So anyway. That's -- 15 MR. GORE: Just so I'm clear, if I respond 16 to the e-mail and it says yes, we just have one signed. 17 That's okay without having an official Resolution, 18 right? 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yes. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Right. 23 MR. GORE: All right. 24 JUDGE KELLY: We'll sign the letter. 25 MR. GORE: All right. Thank y'all. 120 1 JUDGE KELLY: I'm sorry, Dub. Let's go back 2 to 1.10 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to 3 approve a Memorandum of Understanding between the 4 American Red Cross and Kerr County Emergency Management. 5 You've waited a long time to do a very 6 simple thing. 7 MR. THOMAS: That's all right. I just like 8 seeing County government working, Judge. 9 JUDGE KELLY: You are a sadist. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It brings you joy. 11 MR. THOMAS: Sir? 12 JUDGE KELLY: You're a sadist. 13 MR. THOMAS: Yeah. So Annex O is the 14 recovery annex, is the basic words at the end of the 15 plan and it is up for review this year. In there is a 16 Memorandum of Understanding between the American Red 17 Cross and Kerr County Emergency Management. 18 The purpose of the Memorandum is to define a 19 working relationship between the Hill Country Chapter of 20 the American Red Cross and Kerr County Emergency 21 Management, jointly with Kerr County and the City of 22 Kerrville, City of Ingram, different agencies and 23 municipalities in preparing for and responding to 24 disasters. 25 This MOU provides the broad framework for 121 1 cooperation and support between the Red Cross and the 2 County in assisting individuals and families who have 3 been impacted by disaster and providing other 4 humanitarian services. 5 So this agreement did not change at all. 6 This is the same agreement that was signed in 2019. We 7 do them every five years. The only thing that's going 8 to change are the signatories on here. The City of 9 Ingram has a new Mayor. The City of Kerrville has a new 10 Mayor and we have a new disaster program management for 11 the American Red Cross. 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: All right. I'll make a 13 motion to approve the Memorandum of Understanding 14 between the America Red Cross and Kerr County Emergency 15 Management. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 18 approve the MOU as presented. Those in favor say aye. 19 Opposed? Unanimous. 20 Thank you, Dub. 21 MR. THOMAS: Thank you, Judge. Thank you, 22 Commissioners. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Let's just finish up this 24 page. Go back up to 1.5 consider, discuss and take 25 appropriate action regarding lease agreement with Kerr 122 1 Area Rural Fire Association (KARFA) for a Zodiac FC 420 2 LSRF water craft and trailer. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. Start with a 4 motion? 5 JUDGE KELLY: Sure. 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: Or would you like to 7 hear the background on it? 8 JUDGE KELLY: Technically, you're supposed 9 to have the motion and a second then we'll -- 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. Well, then I'll 11 make a motion that this Court approve the lease 12 agreement as presented, the lease agreement with the 13 Kerr Area Rural Fire Association for a Zodiac FC 420 14 LSRF watercraft and trailer. I need a second. 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 16 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 17 second to approve the lease agreement with KARFA for the 18 boat and trailer. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: So just -- 20 JUDGE KELLY: Or fast water -- 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. A swift water 22 response craft. And just as a background, we have 23 $31,000 in our Budget and it came a bit of updated quote 24 and the price went up and then I -- in our last Court we 25 approved the Budget amendment to give us the -- I think 123 1 it's $35,600 or so to go ahead with this purchase. 2 We've already issued the PO as a result of 3 having that approval. And I think the motor and the 4 trailer are kind of on backorder. So we don't have VINs 5 available. We have a VIN on the boat itself so. But we 6 don't necessarily need that to give you the authority to 7 sign the agreement as soon as those VIN numbers come in 8 and then we'll proceed with it. 9 The understanding is that KARFA will provide 10 insurance on it, as will the County. Because it's a 11 minimal cost to have kind of double insurance. So 12 that's kind of what's going on in the background. Once 13 we approve this agreement though, as soon as we have the 14 VIN numbers for the motor and trailer, KARFA will be 15 able to go ahead and pick it up. That's the background. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do we want to own it or 17 can't we just give it to them? 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: We went round and round 19 on that and apparently we have to -- we have to remain 20 the owner. So that's why the lease agreement. And it's 21 a $10.00 a year fee. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Why do we have to 24 make -- 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: Sorry? 124 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Why do we have to -- 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: It's the funding, 3 right? Didn't this go back to the bond counsel and they 4 kind of guided us on this that we had to maintain 5 ownership? 6 JUDGE KELLY: That's one of the items we put 7 in the financing part that we did. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. That's why. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: That makes sense. 10 Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: Otherwise, I would be 12 with you, I'd rather just give it to them but we have 13 to -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The Budget -- well, 15 never mind. 16 JUDGE KELLY: So we've got a motion and a 17 second to approve the agreement with KARFA for the swift 18 water boat as presented. Any discussion? Those in 19 favor say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 20 Move down to Item 1.9 consider, discuss and 21 take appropriate action to accept donations to Kerr 22 County Animal Services for the amount of $20.00 for the 23 month of July 2024. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that 25 we accept the donation as presented. 125 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 3 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 4 Motion carries. 5 Moving on down to Item 1.11 consider, 6 discuss and take appropriate action to discontinue the 7 disaster declaration for the severe storms and flooding 8 back in July 22 of this year. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So move. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 12 discontinue the Disaster Declaration. Those in favor 13 say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 14 Back over to where we were. Item 1.34 15 consider, discuss and take appropriate actions to 16 approve and authorize the County Judge to sign the TIPS 17 Board Resolution and Interlocal Agreement between 18 Region 8 Education Service Center and a Texas public 19 entity or local government. This agreement expedites 20 purchasing with approved vendors. Cory. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Not here. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 23 MRS. STEBBINS: Do you have any questions? 24 I can be helpful. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is like a lot of 126 1 those coop agreements, correct? 2 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That we were -- we can 4 get better deals buying through a Buy Board? 5 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll move for approval. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Second. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 10 approve the TIPS Board Resolution as presented. Any 11 other questions? 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: I just have a general 13 question. I mean I -- I -- 14 MRS. STEBBINS: Would you like me to go up 15 there? 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. Sure. 17 MRS. STEBBINS: Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: I have heard various 19 people suggest that we should have a -- what is it, a 20 procurement officer or somebody to -- to help us with -- 21 MRS. STEBBINS: A purchasing agent? 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: Agent. That's it. 23 Thank you. So, you know -- but obviously having this 24 service perhaps diminishes the need for a procurement or 25 purchasing agent. Sorry, that's a better word for that. 127 1 MRS. STEBBINS: Are you asking for my 2 opinion about that? 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yes. 4 MRS. STEBBINS: Oh. I don't think it 5 mentions the need for a purchasing agent in Kerr County. 6 A purchasing agent would be so helpful to all the 7 departments and elected officials and to the 8 Commissioners' Court. I think that there's a lot of 9 duplicated work. I think that it would make it more 10 efficient for all of us who make purchases, to get 11 guidance and give you guys guidance for those things. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Now that said, what kind of 13 price tag are we talking about for a purchasing agent? 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It wouldn't be -- 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, it's too late for 16 this Budget. I'm not -- 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Too late for this 18 Budget. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Once you do it -- 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: It's something to think 21 about. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 23 MRS. STEBBINS: I'll be glad to look into it 24 for next year's Budget. How's that? 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: There you go. Next 128 1 year's Budget. 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'm just kind of 3 asking, you know, would this help reduce that need? 4 MRS. STEBBINS: I don't know that that 5 helps -- 6 JUDGE KELLY: This is just a need here to -- 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. Yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This -- I don't think 9 this helps out a purchasing agent, which is hot and run, 10 but that means that you have to get a -- the good thing 11 is it would -- a lot of control would come in -- 12 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- so people can't go 14 spend over their Budget. They have to -- you know, they 15 have to get a purchase order before they go buy 16 anything, so -- 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it's good and bad in 19 my mind. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: Careful what you -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 22 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: All right. Fair 24 enough. Thank you. 25 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 129 1 second to approve this. Any other discussion? Those in 2 favor say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 3 1.35 consider, discuss and take appropriate 4 action to submit the 24-25 County Feral Hog Abatement 5 Grant pursuant to the Texas Legislature, Texas A&M 6 AgriLife Extension Service, Wildlife Services program. 7 Ms. Putnam can't be here today. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 9 As you said, Noel couldn't be here today so this is 10 something we've been doing each year, not always with 11 success. But she's got new information and the reason 12 that we haven't been that successful, there's so many 13 counties applying. 14 I think when it first initiated Kerr County 15 got it. I think Bob Reeves and Roy Walston were a lead 16 on that. But there wasn't nearly as many counties 17 applying for it. But, you know, maybe we can garner 18 some points and have better luck this year. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I second. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 21 approve -- I guess it's still submitting the feral hog 22 abatement grant. Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 23 Motion carries. 24 1.36 consider, discuss and take appropriate 25 action on request from appointed and elected officials 130 1 to appoint clerks and assistants for their offices 2 pursuant to Local Government Code. 3 We do this every year they've been 4 submitted. I wish we'd had them up here. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They all have been 6 submitted or most of them? 7 JUDGE KELLY: Most of them. 8 MRS. GRINSTEAD: I've got a bunch. I got a 9 few more this morning as well, so -- 10 JUDGE KELLY: We're close. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do we need to keep a 12 list of which ones, because they can't do -- I mean I 13 know it's a formality. But do we have a list of which 14 ones have -- we're approving today? 15 JUDGE KELLY: We can do that. 16 MRS. GRINSTEAD: I can have that -- I mean I 17 haven't done a list, they're all in the backup but I 18 don't have a list for you to read. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: I mean I'm okay with 20 what was in the backup but there's -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Okay. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- those who haven't 23 submitted it are -- weren't in the backup. It's kind of 24 hard to prove it. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Really what we want to do is 131 1 probably have Jody review them and let us know which 2 ones we need to get in. 3 MRS. GRINSTEAD: And we'll also have those 4 for you on the 9th as well for those that missed this 5 cutoff. 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Give them one more 7 chance. 8 JUDGE KELLY: So to all department heads and 9 elected officials, get your list in to us or you're 10 going to be called out at the next Commissioners' Court 11 meeting. 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: So we're going to pass 13 on it for now and just take it up on the 9th or what? 14 JUDGE KELLY: I think we have to accept what 15 we've got in. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I make a motion 17 that we accept the requests from elected officials to be 18 able to appoint their clerks and assistants. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 21 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Against? 22 Motion carries. 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: I guess we just need 24 to be careful with the way it's worded because it's as 25 on date or as to -- 132 1 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, as presented. 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 3 JUDGE KELLY: As presented. 4 1.37 consider, discuss and take appropriate 5 action for the Court to authorize issuing a Request for 6 Qualifications or RFQ for general engineering services 7 for Kerr County. Commissioner Paces. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. This -- we are 9 going to need engineering services for our capital 10 improvement projects, both for the ag barn and for the 11 550 Earl Garrett building modifications. So this is an 12 attempt to get the RFQ out, get the approval of the 13 Court to submit it. It's pretty broad, general. And 14 our County Attorney has reviewed it and is happy with 15 it. 16 It largely takes the form of prior RFQs for 17 engineering and/or architectural services. And, you 18 know, even further discussions we're going to need some 19 different types of engineers to assist us in these 20 projects and this should, I hope, will attract enough 21 interest that we'll be able to award contracts to 22 qualified engineers or engineering firms to provide the 23 services that are needed to complete those two projects 24 that I've referred to. 25 And it's a three-year deal, so if anything 133 1 else comes up in subsequent years, I guess if the funds 2 are still available, we could use this for that. This 3 is a $50,000.00 RFQ. Services are envisioned at 50,000 4 for engineering. 5 JUDGE KELLY: And just keep this in 6 perspective, we -- do we have a motion? 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll make it. 8 JUDGE KELLY: So we have a motion -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 10 JUDGE KELLY: -- and a second. Keeping in 11 perspective. In order to be able to retain these 12 professionals, we're doing general engineering on this 13 one and then we're doing one for architectural services. 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yes. 15 JUDGE KELLY: We've got to do an RFQ. We've 16 got to put out a request for qualifications. We also 17 have to do -- on the next one we'll have to appoint 18 members to serve on a selection review committee to rate 19 the proposals when they come in. 20 Plus, we've gotta have -- and then go down 21 to 1.39 and you'll see down there we're going to have to 22 have a selection criteria and rating sheet for the RFQs. 23 So it's Step 1, Step 2, and Step 3. So that's what 24 we're doing. This is Step 1. 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yes. 134 1 JUDGE KELLY: All right. 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: And even the rating 3 sheet is actually a part of the document that's been 4 submitted so -- but you're right, we need to approve all 5 of that. 6 JUDGE KELLY: So those in favor say aye. 7 Opposed? Motion carries. 8 1.39 -- or 38. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'm sorry. 38 is to 10 appoint members for the selection review committee. And 11 you know, we need a little discussion on that. I 12 certainly volunteer to be part of that. And I would ask 13 that, you know, Charlie Hastings would be part of it. 14 Noel Putnam would be part of it. And I'm not sure how 15 many we need. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: An odd number, you 17 know, five. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: That's fine. And I'm 19 open to whoever else. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not me, I'm -- 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I thought maybe Tom 22 Jones incoming -- 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: No, no, it's too late. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Too late? 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well wait. Can it 135 1 be -- can it be a non-employee or a non-elected 2 official? 3 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we've got Noel and 4 Charlie. But you'd have to be an elected official. 5 You'd have to be a member of the Court. 6 COMMISSIONER PACES: So it can be a member 7 of the public? Right? 8 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I -- 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: I mean I'm just asking. 10 I don't -- I don't know. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Can you go with three? 12 Do you have to have five? 13 JUDGE KELLY: We can go with three. My 14 experience is it has to be an odd number and the lower 15 it is the better. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think three is fine. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. You've got your 19 three. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. Then those are 21 the three. Okay. 22 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Poor Charlie. He's 23 not here. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: So I move that the -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: He's just been appointed. 136 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- selection review 2 committee consists of myself, Charlie Hastings, and Noel 3 Putnam. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 6 approve appointing Charlie Hastings, Noel Putnam and 7 Rich Paces to the selection review committee for general 8 engineering services. Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 9 Motion carries. 10 Going on down to Item 1.39 consider, discuss 11 and take appropriate action to approve the Selection 12 Criteria and Rating Sheet for the Request for 13 Qualifications for general engineering services. 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll make a motion that 15 we approve the selection criteria and rating sheet that 16 was contained within the RFQ for general engineering 17 services. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Motion and second. Any other 20 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion 21 carries. 22 1.40 consider, discuss and take appropriate 23 action for the Court to authorize issuing an RFQ, a 24 request for qualification, for general architectural 25 services for Kerr County. 137 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll make a motion that 2 the Court approve the RFQ for general architectural 3 services as presented. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'll second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 6 Any other discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 7 None. Motion carries. 8 1.41 consider, discuss and take appropriate 9 action to appoint members of the selection review 10 committee to rate the proposals for the RFQ for general 11 architectural services. 12 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Same group. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll make a motion that 14 the Court approve the selection review committee 15 consisting of Rich Paces, Charlie Hastings, and Noel 16 Putnam for general architectural services. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 19 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 20 1.42 consider, discuss and take appropriate 21 action to approve the selection criteria and rating 22 sheet for the RFQ for general architectural services for 23 Kerr County. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: I make a motion that 25 the Court approve the selection criteria rating sheet 138 1 that's contained within the presented RFQ for general 2 architectural services. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 4 approve the selection criteria for rating sheet for 5 general architectural services as presented. 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I don't mind being 7 second. I'll second. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: She's seconding. Thank 9 you. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: We're going too fast. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Now we have a motion and a 12 second. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yes. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Those in favor say aye. 15 Opposed? Motion carries. 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. That was quick. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Well, those are perfunctory 18 though. 19 1.43 consider, discuss and approve the 20 appointment of election judges and alternates for the 21 term of one year, to begin September 1, 2024, in 22 accordance with the Texas Election Code, Section 32. 23 Ms. Alford. 24 MS. ALFORD: Yes. This is the yearly 25 appointment for judges and alternate judges for the 139 1 year -- for their year to begin September 1. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Move for approval. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 5 approve the appointment of the judges as presented -- 6 the election judges as presented. Any discussion? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Does Roman Garcia live 8 at 314 now? Do you have to live in the Precinct? 9 MS. ALFORD: You're supposed to. But if 10 they can't find one that they -- I believe they put them 11 wherever. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. All right. I'm 13 fine for him to be the election judge, it's just I 14 didn't think he lived in 314. Okay. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Those in favor say aye. 16 Opposed? Motion carries. 17 1.44 consider, discuss and approve the 18 polling locations in accordance with Chapter 43 of the 19 Texas Elections Code for the November 2024 election. 20 Ms. Alford. 21 MS. ALFORD: Yes. This is the list for the 22 November 5th, 2024 election day precincts. We have a 23 few new ones. For Precinct 118, which we did use that 24 in the primary election, the Guadalupe National Resource 25 Center on Lehmann Drive. And then 202, we used the 140 1 Center Point Volunteer Fire Department in the primary. 2 And then the parties, the Republican party 3 has requested to change Precinct 314 from the Cailloux 4 to the First Baptist Church on Washington Street, and 5 then Precinct 416, they asked to change from the KOA to 6 the Cross Kingdom Church. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 9 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 10 second to approve the polling locations as presented. 11 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 12 Motion carries. 13 Item 1.45 consider, discuss and take 14 appropriate action to approve the central counting 15 station personnel pursuant to Chapter 127.005 of the 16 Texas Elections Code. Ms. Alford. 17 MS. ALFORD: Yes. This is the Central 18 Counting Personnel for election night at the juvenile 19 facility. And these are the people that I would like to 20 have appointed. As the Manager would be Denise Vela. 21 The Judge, Linda Bowman. The Alternate Judge would be 22 Bunny Bond. Tabulating Supervisor would be Anna Beth 23 Patterson. Assistant would be Nuvia Cruces. And then 24 several clerks would be TamRa Menro, Heidi Killeen, 25 Aaron Luebano. 141 1 And then to upload the voting history that 2 comes in from election night, would be Sandra Mendez and 3 Cintia Tejeda. And then we have to report to SOS and 4 that would be Nuvia Cruces and Jacquie McClintock. And 5 then the website will be the IT department, either Cory, 6 Scott, or Matt will be there that night. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 10 approve the central counting station personnel as 11 presented. Any discussions? Those in favor say aye. 12 Opposed? Motion carries. 13 MS. ALFORD: Thank you. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.46 consider, discuss 15 and take appropriate action to approve a letter of 16 support for the Alamo Area Council of Government's 17 application to the Charging and Fuel Infrastructure 18 Discretionary Grant Program to add electric charging 19 stations in Kerr County. 20 We've been approached by AACOG to -- as part 21 of the grant, that Kerr County would be available for 22 charging stations. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Judge, in reading the 24 e-mail back here or in the backup, you know, this is 25 talking about the Texas Triangle. We're not in the 142 1 Texas Triangle. Dallas, Houston, San Antonio. And it 2 talks about going from Dilley to Fort Worth. Well, if 3 they come through Kerrville, they're lost. 4 JUDGE KELLY: That's true. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: So it doesn't add up, 6 you know. Not to me. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'm pretty much against 8 electric vehicles and charging stations in general. I 9 don't see them as -- 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: How many do we have in 11 Kerr County right now? 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- something that the 13 government should be subsidizing. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: That was gone over for 15 the eclipse, there was a lot more than I thought. I was 16 surprised. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: There's a lot, yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah, there's 19 already -- they're already here. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And they want to add 21 more? Yeah. I don't know. 22 JUDGE KELLY: They got grant opportunities. 23 I understand that. At some point, Kerr County is going 24 to have -- 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, they're already 143 1 here, I'm just not going to support anymore. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Take up our parking 3 spots though. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. I'm not -- I 5 not very -- but I'm kind of like you on same boat for 6 that. But who pays for the electricity those things 7 use? I mean there -- 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: You -- again, generally 9 you have to pay for it. It's kind of like going through 10 a fueling station. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that how that works? 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: Uh-huh. Yeah. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. To me -- 14 JUDGE KELLY: I've seen where -- 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. Because they're 16 going to construct more, they're not going to put them 17 in spaces we already have. They're going to construct 18 more. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And bring in 21 electrical and maintenance and construction. Yeah, I 22 don't know what it's -- 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: But it's some private 24 company come up with the money to put them in. And if 25 they can make a profit on it, great. More power to 144 1 them. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I agree. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: We don't need the 4 government interfering with anything. This 5 particularly. They've already muddied the waters and 6 screwed it all up. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, this isn't a 8 good argument for it. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: Goes back to wind power 10 and what leads to BESS. Unreliable power sources 11 require stabilization facilities. It's all pure 12 stupidity. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And we're not -- 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: That's just my feeling. 15 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: -- we're not on the 16 line. We be out. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think we have a 18 motion, Judge, so -- 19 JUDGE KELLY: Motion fails. The agenda item 20 fails for lack of a motion. 21 So we'll move on to the approval agenda. 22 2.1 Budget amendments. 23 MRS. SHELTON: You have before you 12 Budget 24 adjustments or amendments. There are some dealing with 25 the contingent fee funds. We are moving 300,00 from 145 1 payroll contingency to contingency to cover some of the 2 last minute requests. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 6 approve Budget amendments as presented. Those in favor 7 say aye. Opposed? It carries. 8 2.2 pay bills. 9 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. Invoices for today's 10 consideration amount to $995,881.10. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 12 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 14 pay the bills as presented. Any discussion? Those in 15 favor say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 16 2.3 late bills. 17 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 18 JUDGE KELLY: And 2.4 Auditor reports. 19 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. We've performed interim 20 audits for the Justice of the Peace Precinct 1, the 21 Treasurer's office, and Environmental Health, and we're 22 asking that you accept the reports. 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: Move for approval. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 146 1 approve the Auditor reports as presented. Any 2 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion 3 carries. 4 2.5 monthly reports. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. June 2024. 6 Veterans Service Office, Director Jenna Sanchez. July 7 2024. Veterans Service Office, Director Jenna Sanchez. 8 Environment Health and Animal Services, Director Reagan 9 Givens. Justice of the Peace, Judge Mitzy French, 10 Precinct 1. County Treasurer's Office, County Treasurer 11 Tracy Soldan. I move for approval. 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 14 accept the monthly reports as presented. Any 15 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion 16 carries. 17 2.6 court Orders. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have the Court Orders 19 from our August 13th meeting. Numbers 40761 through 20 40785. I do have a couple of additions or 21 modifications. On 40765, which is related to the Bexar 22 County -- the contract with Bexar County jail services, 23 it currently reads, Approve the Interlocal Agreement 24 between Kerr County and Bexar County for jail services. 25 I think it should say jail inmate services, which is 147 1 actually what we're doing. 2 On 40784 -- actually, that one's fine. 3 407 -- no, that's right. 40784, it 4 currently reads, Approve entering into a professional 5 service agreement (PSA) with the developers of Bluewood 6 Project, semicolon, PSA to be prepared by McCall, 7 Parkhurst & Horton LLP. I think it should be really 8 broken up little bit more. It's to approve and enter 9 into a professional service agreement (PSA) with the 10 developers of Bluewood Project, subject to final 11 approval of PSA by Commissioners' Court. That part. 12 And then the other part is authorize McCall, Parkhurst & 13 Horton LLP to negotiate a PSA with Bluewood Project, 14 with Bluewood Project responsible for paying all of 15 associated commissions and costs of the PSA. 16 COMMISSIONER PACES: I like that. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. That one. And 18 then on 40785, there's two spots. One where it says 19 Step 21 should be Grade 21. And then the example of it 20 should be Grade 21. And with those modifications, I 21 move for approval. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 24 approve court orders as presented. Any discussion? 25 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 148 1 Moving on to the Information Agenda. 3.1 2 status reports from department heads. Any? 3 Moving on to 3.2 status reports from elected 4 officials. There's quite a few in the room today. This 5 is probably a record for this time in the Commissioners' 6 Court hearing to have that many elected officials in 7 this room. 8 Okay. There being none, we'll move on to 9 3.3 status reports from liaison commissioners. 10 There being none, then we have nothing -- 11 do we have anything in Executive Session? 12 MRS. STEBBINS: One. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll give you one quick 14 update from liaisons. I attended the airport workshop 15 with the board to discuss their master planning process, 16 which was last week. And you know the process, they've 17 got a lot of work to do. But concerns TxDOT, FAA 18 regulations and, of course, most important from our 19 perspective is the plan improvements. So it'll be a lot 20 of work on that. But I also had the opportunity to meet 21 the new airport manager, Andrew Munoz. And seemed like 22 he was off to a good start. That's it. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So we do have an 24 Executive Session item. We will adjourn and reconvene 25 in Executive Session. We'll take a break and reconvene 149 1 in five minutes. 2 (Break.) 3 (Executive Session.) 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. It's 12:15 and we are 5 coming out of Executive Session. And 5.1 is action as 6 may be required on matter discussed in Executive 7 Session. Am I making the motion? 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: You can. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's -- I can 10 probably make it. It's that -- I'll make a motion that 11 the 4H Coordinator qualifies and remains an exempt 12 employee and the salary will increase January 1 to an 13 annual amount of -- 14 MS. ZAPATA: 58656. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- 58656? 16 MS. ZAPATA: On January 1st. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's my motion. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 20 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 21 Unanimous. And with that, Court is adjourned. 22 MS. ALFORD: We have a couple of -- 23 JUDGE KELLY: Oh, I'm sorry. Forget that. 24 What do we have? 25 MS. ALFORD: On Item 1.16. 150 1 JUDGE KELLY: Oh, okay. Well done. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Thank you for keeping 3 us straight. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Well, see, we did that one. 5 MS. ALFORD: Yes. And there was three and 6 one, but I didn't get it on the vote. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I was a no. 8 MS. ALFORD: You were a no. Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: Oh, that was 1.17 that 10 he was a no. 11 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Well, no. This was a weird 12 one. 13 MS. ALFORD: Yeah. 14 MRS. GRINSTEAD: So you made the motion for 15 adding the con -- or the constables to go to two 16 point -- up one step, and the jailer position. And 17 we've got a vote -- Nadene and I were comparing notes. 18 We got a vote of 3, 1, 1 with Judge abstaining and there 19 were four against. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: Oh, that one. 21 MRS. GRINSTEAD: But then, you followed that 22 up with another motion to accept it as revised with 23 three making the motion, one making the second. It was 24 kind of a weird way to do it. We -- we don't really 25 understand why we have a second motion on that. 151 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, the first one was 2 to add the -- the three, one, one vote was to make the 3 modifications to the schedule and the second vote was to 4 approve the total schedule with that revision. 5 MRS. GRINSTEAD: As revised. Okay. So on 6 that vote was it a five, zero for the revision? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. It was 5-O. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I -- I made the 10 motion, Anne seconded. 11 MRS. GRINSTEAD: Yes. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: So you got the vote 13 as -- we talking about 1.18 or -- 14 MRS. GRINSTEAD: No, no. It's on 1.16. But 15 the first motion was to include that increase for 16 Constables from the jailer position. And that way we 17 had a vote three for it, one against, one abstain. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Three, one, one. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Right. 20 MRS. GRINSTEAD: But then they followed it 21 up with accepting the position as revised. 22 JUDGE KELLY: The revised -- 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Total positions. 24 MRS. GRINSTEAD: And so were you in favor of 25 that item? 152 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That was a five zero 2 vote. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: After we did the three, 4 one, one, which you lost, then we did the whole schedule 5 and voted for that. 6 JUDGE KELLY: It was -- that's all we're 7 doing. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 9 MRS. GRINSTEAD: We're trying to get the 10 vote. Because Nadene and I both were like -- did you 11 have five votes? 12 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, that -- that was a weird 13 one because we had two things in the motion. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We had two motions on 15 the same one. 16 JUDGE KELLY: That was three, one, one. 17 Right? And then, once that was decided we go back to 18 the schedule. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The whole schedule. 20 MRS. GRINSTEAD: The whole thing. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. The special requests 22 to the position, the new positions, we needed to approve 23 that and that was unanimous. That went on the merits. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Right. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that it? 153 1 JUDGE KELLY: No? 2 MS. ALFORD: On 1.22, should there not have 3 been a motion and a second before y'all voted? 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: There wasn't? 5 MS. ALFORD: No. 6 JUDGE KELLY: No, there wasn't a motion. 7 MS. ALFORD: There was no motion. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: Oh. 9 MRS. GRINSTEAD: And we've always said that 10 you need a motion and a second before we even talk about 11 it or vote on it. So that's why we think there should 12 be a -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, if you'll recall 14 it, I'll make a motion, Judge. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Let me recall 1.22, 16 which is consider, discuss and take appropriate action 17 to adopt the FY 2024-2025 Kerr County Budget and take a 18 record vote. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that 20 we adopt the 2024-2025 Kerr County Budget and take a 21 record vote. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And then -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: A second? 25 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: All right. 154 1 JUDGE KELLY: Now -- 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: No. 3 JUDGE KELLY: -- with that -- 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Oh, okay. Got it. 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: I already voted. 6 JUDGE KELLY: You're the second. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I was the second. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Now, we're going to 9 take the record vote, which we took earlier. And so 10 Precinct 1. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Aye. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 2. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: Aye. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 3. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Aye. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 4. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I voted no originally 18 on this. 19 (Talking over.) 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Then -- okay, then I 21 can vote aye. 22 JUDGE KELLY: And I vote aye. Unanimous, 23 5-O. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: You were no on 17, 18. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. Okay. 155 1 JUDGE KELLY: That's the same on the 1.23 2 because we took a record vote on that one. That was 3 awkward. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: Are we adjourned? 5 JUDGE KELLY: We're adjourned. 6 * * * * * * 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 156 1 STATE OF TEXAS * 2 COUNTY OF KERR * 3 I, DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD, Certified Shorthand 4 Reporter in and for the State of Texas, and Official 5 Court Reporter in and for Kerr County, do hereby certify 6 that the above and foregoing pages contain and comprise 7 a true and correct transcription of the proceedings had 8 in the above-entitled Regular Commissioners' Court. 9 Dated this the 6th day of September, A.D. 10 2024. 11 12 /s/DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD Certified Shorthand Reporter 13 No. 953 Expiration Date 04/30/2025 14 * * * * * * 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25