1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Regular Session 5 Monday, September 23, 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 *** Commissioners' Comments. 8 4 1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 12 action to appoint Amy Harding to the Kerr 5 County Child Services Board. 6 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 13 action to approve a Resolution honoring 7 Laurie Lowe for her service on the Kerr County Child Services Board. 8 1.3 Introduce Kerr County Water Alliance to 16 9 the Court and provide information regarding this resource which is focused on citizen 10 advocacy of water conservation in Kerr County. 11 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 18 action regarding the Kerr 9-1-1 budget. 12 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 19 13 action regarding a Resolution to approve funding for installation of an automated 14 weather observing system and appoint the Airport Manager as the designated 15 representative for the project with authority to make approvals and disapprovals 16 on the County's behalf. 17 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 20 action to appoint Kari Short as Kerr 18 County's Representative to the Texas Silver-Haired Legislature. 19 1.7 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 21 20 action to authorize an Interlocal Agreement between Kerr County and the Upper Guadalupe 21 River Authority(UGRA) for Water Quality Protection through Feral Hog Management. 22 1.8 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 25 23 action associated with the administration of our elections. 24 25 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.9 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 33 action to allow the Texas A&M AgriLife 4 Extension Master Gardeners to design, install and maintain new plant/flower beds 5 in the existing bed areas directly in front of the Happy State Bank Expo Hall at the 6 Hill Country Youth Event Center. 7 1.10 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 38 action to authorize County Judge to execute 8 contracts with Republic Services for County facilities. 9 1.11 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 43 10 action to authorize County Judge to accept Audit Report for Kerr County Waste from 11 Garbish 365. 12 1.12 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 44 action to ratify and confirm letters sent 13 to the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) to withdraw grant applications for 14 the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program(HMGP) submitted under grant numbers 4705-0006 and 15 5420-0045 for the Hazard Mitigation Plan Update. 16 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 46 action to approve and authorize County 17 Judge to sign a three-year contract with KnowBe4, a Security Awareness Training 18 provider. The training provided will be a continual cyber security training program to 19 enhance our network security along with meeting network insurance coverage requirements. 20 1.14 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 49 21 action to approve the IT Department network management policies. These policies have 22 been refreshed and updated from the previous County versions with the appropriate 23 terminology and names. Final intent would be to post them on the IT Department website for 24 ease of accessibility. 25 4 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.15 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 52 action to approve the new network administrator 4 job description and subsequent realignment of IT Department staffing. The move aligns with 5 the approved budget for FY25 and more accurately defines current staff responsibilities. 6 1.16 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 53 7 action to evaluate the Selection Review Committee's recommendation to award bid for 8 Request for Qualifications(RFQ) for general architectural services for Kerr County. 9 1.17 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 56 10 action to evaluate the Selection Review Committee's recommendation to award bid 11 for Request for Qualifications(RFQ) for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing(MEP) 12 engineering services for Kerr County. 13 1.18 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 57 action to evaluate the Selection Review 14 Committee's recommendation to award bid for Request for Qualifications(RFQ) for 15 structural engineering services for Kerr County. 16 1.19 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 58 17 action authorizing the Request for Proposals (RFPs) for construction services for the 18 Kerr County Indoor Arena Re-roofing Project using previously allocated American Rescue 19 Plan Act(ARPA) funds. 20 1.20 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 60 action to appoint members for the Selection 21 Review Committee to rate the proposals for the Request for Proposals(RFPs) for 22 construction services for the Kerr County Indoor Arena ReProofing project and present 23 the committee's recommendation for award to the Court. 24 25 5 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.21 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 61 action to approve the Selection Criteria and 4 Rating Sheet for the Request for Proposals (RFPs) for construction services for the 5 Kerr County Indoor Arena Re-roofing Project. 6 1.22 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 62 action to set a public hearing for 10:00 a.m. 7 on November 12, 2024 to change the speed limit on Eagle Ridge Road from 45 to 40 miles 8 per hour. 9 1.23 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 63 action to accept the 198th District Attorney's 10 Chapter 59 Asset Forfeiture Report/Budget. 11 1.25 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 67 action to designate a day of the week on 12 which the Court shall convene in a regular term for FY 24-25 pursuant to Local 13 Government Code Section 81.005. 14 1.26 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 69 action to set the Kerr County Christmas 15 Party for Friday, December 20, 2024 at the Hill Country Youth Event Center. 16 1.27 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 70 17 action to approve License Agreement with the Kerrville Christmas Lighting Committee 18 for holiday decorations on the courthouse grounds. 19 1.24 Consideration and action on an order 76 20 authorizing the County to enter into an agreement with the Bluewood Hillside Heights, 21 LP regarding a multi-family residential development pursuant to the County's Economic 22 Development Program and related matters. 23 1.28 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 85 action on hiring a consultant for the HR 24 salary survey. 25 6 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.29 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 89 action on the renewal of the Texas 4 Association of Counties Risk Management Pool Liability Insurance. 5 2.1 Budget Amendments. 90 6 2.2 Pay Bills. 91 7 2.3 Late Bills. 91 8 2.4 Auditor Reports. 91 9 2.5 Accept Monthly Reports. 92 10 2.6 Court Orders. 92 11 3.1 Status Reports from Department Heads. 93 12 3.3 Status Reports from Liaison Commissioners. 99 13 *** Adjournment. 100 14 *** Reporter's Certificate. 101 15 * * * * * * 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 7 1 JUDGE KELLY: Court will come to order. It 2 is Monday, September the 23rd, 2024, it's 9 o'clock in 3 the morning and Kerr County Commissioners Court is now 4 in session. If you will, please stand for the prayer 5 and the pledge, which will be led by Commissioner Letz. 6 (Prayer and Pledge) 7 JUDGE KELLY: Please be seated. The first 8 thing I ask everyone to do is to turn your phone off or 9 to vibrate so you do not interrupt the proceeding. And 10 with that, the next item on the agenda is public input. 11 This is where we invite the public to talk to us about 12 things that you want us to hear. 13 And we don't have the opportunity to provide 14 output at this point because that's not on the agenda. 15 But we can do that, put it on an agenda item. We ask 16 that the speakers limit all of your remarks to three 17 minutes. 18 And so we got -- I know I've got one request 19 for public input. And I'm going to go ahead, Mr. 20 Baroody. He's outside. It's Item 1.24, so I'm going to 21 have to call it on the agenda. If you want to talk 22 about something that's on the agenda, we ask that you 23 wait until that agenda item is called. So does anybody 24 else want to make public input to the Court? Very good. 25 Then we'll move on to Commissioners' 8 1 comments. One. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Precinct 1. 3 Precinct 1 has not gotten any rain since the last time 4 we were here, just so you know. Also wanted to extend 5 condolences to the family of R. Gordon Morgan. He was a 6 County Commissioner, Precinct 1, from 1989 to 1992. He 7 passed away on September 10th. 8 Also, I attended a meeting at the Historical 9 Commission. They had The Archeological Society there. 10 Interesting findings dating back to the Paleolithic 11 Period on a ranch near Mo Ranch. Fascinating 12 presentation. 13 Also, I'm appreciative of IT Director Cory 14 Theonnes for helping everybody find solutions to our 15 technical relationship between law enforcement and our 16 prosecutors. 17 That's all I've got today. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Good. Precinct 2. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: Precinct 2. Burn ban 20 remains lifted but it is getting dry. We haven't had 21 any significant rain and Center Point Volunteer Fire 22 Department was called out late Saturday night for a pile 23 that was out of control. It basically rekindled. So be 24 careful. 25 Otherwise, I want to report that we held an 9 1 aggregate producers operations advisory council meeting 2 last Tuesday night. And we had two excellent 3 presentations, one from Kerrville Sand and Gravel, and 4 Megacrete showed up, which they had missed it in June. 5 They actually did a very good job with their 6 presentation. They had three senior managers who were 7 there to take questions. And I think they did help 8 dispel a lot of the concerns that particularly residents 9 in a near vicinity to that facility have. 10 So, unfortunately, for whatever reason, the 11 meeting was poorly attended, compared to June when it 12 was first thought that they would be presenting and it 13 got screwed up, they couldn't attend. We had a huge 14 turnout for that. And very few from the local area. 15 But the word will get out, and I'm waiting on a copy of 16 their presentation, which we'll share with the larger 17 distribution which includes a lot of those folks, and I 18 hope to have that out in the next couple days once I get 19 a copy of their presentation, which I believe was very 20 interesting. They had a video that also shows one of 21 their facilities so people get a better idea. 22 Otherwise, the last thing I'll comment is I 23 did attend the election judge training last week, and I 24 want to commend everybody who's involved with our 25 elections, both the folks on staff here under Nadene, 10 1 and all the volunteers for judges and clerks that are 2 being trained right now. And they're doing a great job 3 with that. 4 But again, I have never faulted our staff. 5 I think they do an excellent job with running our 6 elections. There are a lot of things about the entire 7 system that I don't trust, but that's a whole separate 8 item. So that's it for now. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 3. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rain. We definitely 11 need some in the Eastern part of the County. The far 12 Eastern part of the County has had virtually nothing. 13 Even when I looked at the drought map and it's all blue 14 out in your area and it's all yellow and orange still in 15 my area. So we do need rain definitely in parts of the 16 County and hopefully temperatures will go down a little 17 bit. 18 And then I think the other news is that I 19 keep looking for all the people that do use Cypress 20 Creek Road, FM 1341. Hopefully it will be reopened this 21 week. Projected to be reopened. I'll believe it when 22 it happens. But I believe that road has been closed 23 for, what, 45 days or so. And I'm looking at 24 Commissioner-Elect Holt, whose wife has to go out a very 25 long way to get to Comfort every morning right now and 11 1 lot of other people who very much are in need for that, 2 but hopefully that will be reopened Wednesday. That's 3 it. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 4. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: All right. Not a 6 whole lot to report other than what y'all said. We can 7 always use some rain even if somebody says we are in the 8 blue, we could use some out west. 9 A couple things. The stock show fundraiser 10 is this weekend, Saturday at the Event Center. That's 11 always a fun event and raises money for a good cause. 12 Scholarships and stuff for our 4-H and FFA youth. So 13 try to attend. I think you'd enjoy it if you've 14 never -- never been there. It's a lot of fun. 15 It seems like the season for fundraisers. I 16 know there's several coming up down the road. Ingram 17 just had one, I believe, last weekend. Yeah. Last 18 Saturday. Hunt School will have one later, at the end 19 of the month. Divide School will have one the Friday 20 before deer season opens. So that's an annual event 21 that's a lot of fun. So help these people when you can. 22 And if you go, you'll have a good time. So that's all I 23 got today. 24 JUDGE KELLY: And on behalf of the County, 25 just to follow up on the rain discussion. As I left the 12 1 house this morning about 7:30 and I looked in my 2 rearview mirror, there were dark clouds in the west, so 3 pray. Pray. 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Pray hard. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Move on to the consideration 6 agenda. Item 1.1 is to consider, discuss and take 7 appropriate action to appoint Amy Harding to the Kerr 8 County Child Services Board for CSB. Kellie Early. 9 MS. EARLY: Hello, I'm Kellie Early. I'm 10 the president of the Kerr County Child Services Board. 11 And we are a board that is all volunteer. We have no 12 paid staff and we have no overhead. And all the money 13 that we raise in our community goes straight to the 14 children who are in foster care or under -- their 15 families are under investigation in Kerr County. 16 So we needed a board member, and I cannot 17 think of a better person than Amy Harding. And she's 18 been in child welfare, for the last 20 years we've 19 worked together. She works for CASA but she is willing 20 to volunteer on this Board. And we need somebody who's 21 going to be able to help us guide through community 22 based care and knows all the ins and outs of it and she 23 is definitely that person. 24 And so I'm just asking the Court to approve 25 Amy Harding as a new member of our Board. 13 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll make a motion to 2 approve Amy to the Kerr County Child Services Board or 3 CSB. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: We have a motion and second to 6 approve the appointment of Amy Harding to the Kerr 7 County Child Services Board. Is there any discussion? 8 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Thank 9 you. 10 Welcome. 11 MS. HARDING: Thank you very much. 12 JUDGE KELLY: We're moving on to Item 1.2, 13 which is to consider, discuss and take appropriate 14 action to approve a Resolution honoring Laurie Lowe for 15 her service on the Kerr County Child Services Board. 16 Miss Early. 17 MS. EARLY: So there's a Resolution before 18 you. We just wanted to come today and honor Laurie Lowe 19 for her over 14 years of service on our Board. She's an 20 accountant by trade, and her expertise on our Board over 21 the years has been invaluable. She has been a huge part 22 of just being able to make sure that the needs of these 23 kids are met. 24 And we do a lot of our -- a lot of our board 25 work is 24/7, seven days a week, 365 days a year. We 14 1 get e-mails from case workers that a kid has a need, and 2 we -- we do it right then and there. So they don't have 3 to have all the paperwork for the state. And we just -- 4 we're just a resource. And Laurie has just served so 5 well for all these years and we just want to thank her 6 for her service and thank her for just always being 7 there. We have a hard time having a quorum sometimes. 8 We have a hard time -- we're just a small group of 9 people that work behind the scenes. So I just want to 10 thank you for your years of service and -- 11 MS. LOWE: Thank you. 12 MS. EARLY: -- you want to say anything? 13 MS. LOWE: Thank you for your leadership. 14 And I also want to thank the Court. Because without you 15 all, we wouldn't have an entity like this. And it 16 serves our most vulnerable children at their most 17 vulnerable time, when they are moving into care and we 18 provide that bridge. 19 All the funding goes directly to their 20 needs. Nothing else. We're volunteers. And we thank 21 you. This is a very important part of the team on this 22 end. Law enforcement helps with our vulnerable children 23 as well. We learned -- just recently we were reminded. 24 But also, without you all doing this, it would not 25 happen. And I appreciate you appointing leaders and 15 1 it's been an honor to serve. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Well, you stay right 3 there and let me embarrass you a little bit and read 4 this Resolution. 5 Resolution of the Kerr County Commissioners' 6 Court honoring Laurie Lowe for her service on the Kerr 7 County Child Services Board. 8 Whereas, Laurie Lowe has been a member of 9 the Kerr County Child Services Board since August 9, 10 2010; and 11 Whereas, under the leadership of Laurie Lowe 12 and other board members, foster children in Kerr County, 13 Texas, have had their emergency needs met; and 14 Whereas, Laurie Lowe has participated in 15 bringing awareness to the residents of Kerr County, as 16 to the number of children served each year by Kerr 17 County Child Services Board and their needs through 18 presentations, child abuse awareness, and training 19 provided by the Board to the community; and 20 Whereas, Laurie Lowe has faithfully attended 21 Board meetings and community events, training and 22 fundraising events to further the mission of Kerr County 23 Child Services Board; and 24 Whereas, Laurie Lowe has announced her 25 retirement from the Kerr County Child Services Board, 16 1 effective September 15, 2024. 2 So, therefore, be it resolved, that the Kerr 3 County Court -- Kerr County Commissioners' Court honors 4 and recognizes Laurie Lowe's dedication to the foster 5 children of Kerr County and to all the citizens of Kerr 6 County during her tenure on the Board of Directors of 7 the Kerr County Child Services Board. 8 Adopted this 23rd day of September, and will 9 be signed by all of us here on the Court. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 13 approve the resolution. All those in favor say aye. 14 Opposed? Unanimous. 15 Laurie, thank you. 16 MS. LOWE: Yes, sir. Thank you. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.3 on the agenda is to 18 introduce Kerr County Water Alliance to the Court and 19 provide information regarding the resource which is 20 focused on citizen advocacy of water conservation in 21 Kerr County. 22 Miss Andrews, there you are. 23 MS. ANDREWS: Hi. Good morning, y'all. 24 Judge. Commissioners. Thanks for -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: Introduce the stranger you 17 1 brought with you. 2 MS. ANDREWS: Oh, I will. Absolutely. If 3 you needed it. I'm Karolyn Andrews. And with me is 4 Weir Labatt, known to a few of you, I think, as Old Man 5 Water. And we are here to introduce Kerr County Water 6 Alliance, so speaking about water and its importance. 7 This is a timely introduction for us. We're a citizens 8 group. We came together last summer. A bunch of people 9 interested, sharing stories about water and dried up 10 wells. Worried about developers, so on and so on, which 11 y'all are familiar with, I'm sure. 12 So we thought we could come together and 13 support our community and advocate for water 14 conservation. We do educational events. We became a 15 non-profit and a Board. We've got our vice president 16 here. And we are looking to possibly have a symposium 17 sometime in the near future discussing water with our 18 community and sharing ideas what about we can do and 19 also worries about what's coming. 20 Ultimately, we want to meet with our 21 residents, our agencies like UGRA, and our elected 22 officials. Some of our members have met with y'all and 23 we hope to continue to do so. We also want to connect 24 with the developers. We have some ideas that we think 25 could change the conversation of our water for them and 18 1 the communities in which they build. And that's about 2 it. Anybody got any questions. 3 MR. LABATT: Just say we're not adversarial; 4 we're just advocating good water policy and we're here 5 to support the Commissioners' Court in whatever you can 6 do to help in that endeavor. I know you have limited 7 powers. But we're -- we're trying to be a positive 8 group for things, we're not adversarial at all. 9 JUDGE KELLY: And we appreciate that. But 10 if you would step behind the podium, in front of the 11 camera, so people on YouTube can see and put a name with 12 a face. This is the Kerr County legend, Weir Labatt. 13 You're always welcome here. Thank you. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank y'all. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. The next timed item at 16 9 o'clock is 1.4 consider, discuss and take appropriate 17 action regarding the Kerr 9-1-1 budget. 18 MR. DEL TORO: Good morning, Judge. Good 19 morning, Commissioners. I'm here in Court with Texas 20 Health and Safety Code 772, subchapter (d) and to ask 21 for your consideration and your approval of the budget 22 that is before you. 23 Once again, I have to submit a deficit 24 budget thanks to an unfunded mandate that we have 25 complied with. And hopefully we will not have a deficit 19 1 budget in the future, but we're going to do our best. 2 JUDGE KELLY: And I think you know that 3 we're very familiar with them, both unfunded mandates. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion to 5 approve the budget as presented. 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 8 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 9 second to approve the budget from Kerr 9-1-1 as 10 presented. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 11 Opposed? Unanimous. 12 Thank you again, Mark, for all you do. 13 MR. DEL TORO: Thank you very much. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Moving on with the 15 agenda. Item 1.5 consider, discuss and take appropriate 16 action regarding a Resolution to approve funding for 17 installation of an automated weather observing system 18 and appoint the airport manager as the designated 19 representative for the project with the authority to 20 make approvals and disapprovals on the County's behalf. 21 And this is Andrew Munoz, our new Airport 22 Manager. 23 MS. CEYNOWA: Yes. Good morning, Judge. 24 Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Crystal 25 Ceynowa. I want to introduce you real quick to our new 20 1 airport manager, Andrew Munoz, who started with us last 2 month and he's going to present the Resolution before 3 you today. 4 MR. MUNOZ: Good morning, everyone. Judge. 5 Commissioners. Thank you for your introduction, 6 Crystal. This is a Resolution with TxDOT for an AWOS 7 system at the airport. This is an upgrade to our 8 existing AWOS system. It's just a Resolution 9 authorizing me to be the signatory for the grant. We 10 are within budget -- within budget appropriately with 11 the local -- with TxDOT. So we look forward to a 12 favorable consideration. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 16 approve the Resolution approving the weather observing 17 system as presented. Any discussion? Those in favor 18 say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Thank you. 19 MR. MUNOZ: Thank you. 20 JUDGE KELLY: And welcome aboard. 21 MR. MUNOZ: Thank you. 22 JUDGE KELLY: You got out easy this time. 23 Next item on the agenda is Item 1.6 to 24 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to appoint 25 Kari Short as the Kerr County representative to the 21 1 Texas Silver-Haired Legislature. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. This is the oath 3 taking. Okay. 4 (Kari Short is sworn in.) 5 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. 6 MS. SHORT: Thank you. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: Judge, how come she 8 doesn't have silver hair? 9 MS. SHORT: I'm working really hard on that. 10 JUDGE KELLY: I got a call from Clairol 11 about that. 12 MS. SHORT: My first initiative is no silver 13 hair. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. The next item on the 15 agenda is Item 1.7. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Judge, we have to vote 17 on that, don't we? 18 JUDGE KELLY: I think we did. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: (Raised hand.) 21 JUDGE KELLY: I already swore her in. 22 (Talking over) 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Those in favor say aye. 24 Opposed? Unanimous. That covered up that mistake. 25 Item 1.7 consider, discuss and take 22 1 appropriate action to authorize an Interlocal Agreement 2 between Kerr County and the Upper Guadalupe River 3 Authority for water quality protection through feral hog 4 management. Ms. Bushnoe. 5 MS. BUSHNOE: Good morning, Judge. 6 Commissioners. Tara Bushnoe with Upper Guadalupe River 7 Authority. This is an annual item that we bring to 8 y'all to continue the feral hog management program. It 9 was approved by the UGRA board last week. There's no 10 change to the terms of what we've done during FY '24. 11 Just to continue that through the next fiscal year. 12 It's been a very productive program. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 16 approve continuation of the feral hog management ILA 17 with the UGRA as presented. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Tara, why don't you 19 just since this is on YouTube, explain what the program 20 is. 21 MS. BUSHNOE: Sure. So primarily it funds 22 bounties for feral hog tails. So the UGRA in Kerr 23 County shares a cost of paying those bounties and Kerr 24 County administers those payments. So if you harvest a 25 feral hog within Kerr County, you can take the tail and 23 1 freeze it. And then bring it to Animal Services and 2 then you'll fill out a form, submit it, and then that 3 payment, that bounty payment, will be processed. 4 So, so far in the program, since December of 5 2017, we've paid 12,495 tail bounties. And another part 6 of this program, too, is that we have currently two 7 traps that we partner with the County to deploy on 8 landowners' property. And so the combination of what's 9 been harvested in those traps, the tails, and as well as 10 what USDA Wildlife Services, up to a total of 15,156 11 hogs since December. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And they keep coming. 13 MS. BUSHNOE: I know. We had a -- not to 14 get off topic. We had a seminar on Friday and one of 15 the speakers was a feral hog expert with AgriLife and, 16 yeah, there's just an estimate of feral hogs in the 17 state is 50,000. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Crazy. 19 JUDGE KELLY: And for those of you that live 20 in the City that don't know there's a feral hog problem, 21 it is enormous. 22 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 23 JUDGE KELLY: And very destructive. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: Tara, if you don't 25 mind. As I was reading through all the documents, I 24 1 wasn't aware -- apparently, you can borrow some trap 2 equipment. Can you talk a little bit about that? 3 MS. BUSHNOE: Yes. So we currently have 4 one -- well, we have two traps. One of them is with a 5 trapper and he has certain ranches that he works with to 6 deploy that trap. 7 The second one, between AgriLife and UGRA 8 staff will bring that out to your property but it's up 9 to the landowner to deploy it, to put the bait in the 10 trap, and then also to take care of the hogs after 11 they're captured. And there's some limitations on that 12 because if they know you're pro trap and it goes through 13 an app on your cell phone, so you need a solid AT&T cell 14 signal in order for that to be able to drop the trap. 15 And there's nothing more frustrating than making those 16 calls in there finally and then because you don't have a 17 cell signal, they won't drop. 18 So -- but we do -- we carry a website on our 19 feral hog page. We have a simple sign up form. If 20 you're interested, we have a little bit of a list now 21 because it does stay out on the property for -- for 22 several weeks in order to be effective. But you can go 23 ahead and submit your interest and one of our staff will 24 contact you. 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: Great. 25 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And these traps are 2 state of the art. You can watch -- see a camera on your 3 phone and when they all get in there, and that's the 4 ticket, you don't want to leave any witnesses. So you 5 wait until they all get in there and then you can drop 6 that gate from your lounge chair. Neat stuff. 7 MS. BUSHNOE: Mainly at 3:00 a.m. It'll 8 wake you up. Thank y'all. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: Thank you. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thank you. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we already did 13 that. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: We did that? 15 JUDGE KELLY: Those in favor say aye. 16 Opposed? Unanimous. Thank you. 17 The next item on the agenda is consider, 18 discuss and take appropriate action associated with the 19 administration of our elections. Is this a program or 20 is this a presentation? What are we talking about here? 21 MR. RISING: Short presentation. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Well, our rules are -- 23 limit everybody's input to three minutes. So are we 24 within the three minutes? 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: It's about 10 minutes. 26 1 MR. RISING: I would like a few more than 2 three. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Do you have other people that 4 wish to give you their minute? 5 MR. RISING: I'm sorry. I didn't hear you. 6 JUDGE KELLY: You've got three minutes. Do 7 you have a couple other people that would give you their 8 three minutes? 9 MR. RISING: No. 10 MS. BELL: I could do so. 11 MR. RISING: I -- I expected more of a 12 presentation. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Well, if this is a workshop, 14 we do it in a workshop format. This is -- if you want 15 to make a presentation to us, you're welcome to do that 16 but we still have the rules. That's what I'm saying, do 17 you have somebody that you can share the minutes with 18 and give you three more minutes? Miss Bell has raised 19 her hand. 20 MS. BELL: I'll give you three minutes. 21 MR. RISING: Thank you. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So you have six minutes. 23 MR. RISING: Okay. I can go fast and use 24 six minutes. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 27 1 MR. RISING: I have some handouts. 2 Greg Rising, 116 Nimitz Drive, Kerrville. 3 I'm the new guy in town. Four years ago we escaped the 4 rotten politics in California, and we are chasing 5 freedom and so we came to Texas, landed in Kerrville. 6 Got to know people, went to some meetings. Decided we 7 needed to know about Kerrville City, and Kerr County 8 politics and see what the issues were. See what we 9 could help with. 10 So we -- we volunteered to be -- my wife 11 and I volunteered to be poll workers. We were at Church 12 of Christ on Harper Road last May for the runoff 13 election. Saw how the County does things like that. 14 Noticed a couple of things that -- that I might have a 15 suggestion about. 16 And we went last week to the precinct 17 judges' training. Judge Kelly, I saw you there, sat 18 next to you at the table. Rich Paces was there. And we 19 had an excellent demonstration and presentation about 20 how the Precinct elections are run, a nuts and bolts 21 sort of thing. And I was impressed with the County's 22 presentation. 23 I spent 34 years as an air traffic 24 controller in California, and the way the County runs 25 their election training reminded me of the training I 28 1 went through. You go through the manuals and the 2 classroom setting. And then you go in and you do some 3 simulation, and then you go start working live traffic 4 under direct supervision. County's running the 5 elections training in a very similar manner. 6 And I noticed when I was working years ago, 7 that sometimes the new kid on the block will notice 8 things that the old-timers don't notice. It's like 9 we've always done it this way, we'll just keep doing it 10 that way. Somebody comes in with fresh eyes, you notice 11 a few things. In that training, I noticed that in 12 passing out the equipment, the signs, the placards and 13 everything else, there was only one sign that specified 14 the hundred foot margin, the boundary for election 15 nearing. In some places you need two or three to make 16 that clear. And I asked how many there were. Well, 17 there's only one. I might suggest two or three. That's 18 one thing that the newcomer, me, has noticed. 19 Also, we got involved with the hand counting 20 procedures, and noticed a few things there. On the 21 handouts, these are just some of the reasons, some of 22 the background, of the opinions and the -- the 23 observations that I've made. I've seen poles where a 24 lot of people in general, the general public, has 25 questions about election integrity. From any number of 29 1 standpoints. So we've talked to a lot of people, and 2 that comes up. 3 Prior to the 2020 election, a lot of people 4 on a national level, I remember seeing, question parts 5 of the election process. Kerr County Republican 6 convention, election integrity was the number one item. 7 I was there. I was at the State Republican Convention. 8 Election integrity was that number one legislative 9 priority. The national RNC, Republican National 10 Committee, has that as one of their primary issues. 11 You remember it's been in the news January 12 24th, Alex Halderman and the Georgia Federal Court in a 13 case involving election integrity, he said within 14 seconds he manually flipped an election right in the 15 courtroom for everybody to see. So these things are 16 real concerns. 17 Would you play, Charles, the video? On 18 March 24th, Gillespie County Republican party 19 successfully completed a hand count of 8,000 ballots. 20 (Video played in open court.) 21 MR. RISING: Thank you, Charles. 22 I participated in Chapter 65 hand counting 23 method that did not use the Echo. It was good, but the 24 Echo enhancement makes this thing almost foolproof. 25 When we were the poll workers in May, we had trouble 30 1 with one of the machines. Out of 231 voters, only one 2 person asked for the machine. Everybody else wanted the 3 paper. And that fella, when we tried to use the 4 machine, we couldn't get it to work. I don't know if it 5 was a problem with the -- I think it was simply operator 6 error. We didn't quite know how to get it turned on. 7 We got it turned on. But it still made me wonder about 8 the reliability of doing that. I like the simplicity of 9 paper. It's hard to mess that up. 10 Another thing that paper does, like you saw 11 in the videos, was it's instantly verifiable. As a 12 controller, whenever I gave an instruction or clearance 13 to a pilot, I did not consider that as having been done 14 until he read it back to me. Every transmission I made 15 requires a read back so that I know he understood 16 exactly what I meant. So something that is not 17 confirmed, verified, is as though it never happened. 18 This counting method is instantly verifiable. It 19 doesn't have to come back. 20 Now Texas Election Code, as I understand it, 21 requires every machine counted election has three 22 Precinct hand count audits to be done later on. We have 23 to do that. They have a minimum requirement of three 24 people doing this audit. I've done it with less than 25 five. It works, but it takes time. And it's not as 31 1 accurate. I've seen errors. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Mr. Rising, I'm sorry to 3 interrupt but you've been doing this over ten minutes 4 now. 5 MR. RISING: I'm sorry. I didn't see a 6 clock. 7 JUDGE KELLY: No, we don't have a clock. 8 The County Clerk does the timing on it. 9 MR. RISING: Okay. 10 JUDGE KELLY: And she's been getting my 11 attention for the last -- 12 MR. RISING: So the Echo 65 method is one 13 that we could use for this after -- after election audit 14 and I would recommend, being the new guy in town, that 15 we adopt this Echo 65 method for this required audit. 16 It would be a perfect time to see how well it works. 17 Thank you for your time. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: So I'm going to make a 20 motion that we instruct our election group to use the 21 Chapter 65 Echo method to do the manual count that's 22 required after the election. This is not election day. 23 They have 21 days to complete the manual count per 24 Section 127.201 of the Texas Election Code. This is 25 just something that we're confident, we've seen it used, 32 1 we're -- we know it'll work better. 2 And some of the negative stigma about hand 3 counting would be resolved. So why not give it a try. 4 We have to do three voting precincts anyway. But this 5 is a better procedure than the three person traditional 6 recount method. So that's my motion. 7 MRS. STEBBINS: I'm sorry. I don't think 8 that you can take that action under this agenda item 9 because it wasn't very clear that that's the action that 10 the Court would be considering today. This just says 11 associated with the administration of our elections. 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, this is part of 13 the administration of the election. We're required to 14 do the manual count. 15 MRS. STEBBINS: The posting has to be very 16 clear so that the public understands the action the 17 Court is going to take. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. Well, understand 19 it will be on the next Commissioners' Court agenda. So 20 I'll withdraw my motion at this time. 21 JUDGE KELLY: So that's for informational 22 purposes today? 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: Apparently so. But I 24 thank Mr. Rising for the shortened presentation. Very 25 informative and -- 33 1 JUDGE KELLY: I was looking at -- did you 2 know this was going to happen today? 3 MS. VELA: I did not know that, sir. 4 JUDGE KELLY: No opportunity to respond. 5 MS. VELA: Hello. I am the Chief Deputy for 6 the County Clerk, Denise Vela. Our County Clerk is 7 Nadene Alford. I did not know that this was going to be 8 part of Commissioners' Court today. I will need to take 9 this back to our County Clerk at this time. So I really 10 did not know that this was happening today. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Very well. Thank you. 12 Is there any action to be taken on this 13 item? There being none, we'll move on to the next item, 14 which is 1.9 consider, discuss and take appropriate 15 action to allow the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Master 16 Gardeners to design, install and maintain new plants and 17 flower beds in the existing bed areas directly in front 18 of the Happy State Bank expo hall at the Hill Country 19 Youth Event Center. Jake Williamson. 20 MR. WILLIAMSON: Good morning, Your Honor 21 and Court. Thanks for the time today. Coming to Court 22 simply to ask permission for some area beautification in 23 front of the Happy State Bank expo hall. We do have 24 mature tree beds that could use a little more life. And 25 we've been working with AgriLife Extension which, of 34 1 course, is the Master Gardeners group. They're 2 wonderful. They're here today to talk more about it. 3 If there are questions. We're just asking permission 4 since this is deviating from the landscape plan. It's 5 simply why we're asking permission for them. But I'd 6 love to bring up Cheryl and Rita to discuss what they 7 have so you guys can see that and make a decision if 8 you'll allow it. 9 MS. LANDRUM: Hello. I'm Cheryl Landrum and 10 I'm the current president of the Master Gardeners. And 11 this is Rita Alberto. And if this project is approved, 12 she will be our project manager. And we thank you for 13 your time and your consideration. Our objective as 14 master gardeners is to help educate people in 15 horticultural and environmental issues. 16 But the Event Center is probably the most 17 used and popular place in Kerrville. And we are very 18 excited to have the opportunity to help beautify it. 19 And I'm going to let Rita talk to you a little bit more 20 and tell you what we plan on doing. 21 MS. ALBERTO: Good morning. We propose 22 installing a beautiful, professional landscape in front 23 of the Happy -- whatever we call it -- Hill Country 24 Youth Event Center. We're going to do a combination of 25 Dischidia and evergreen plants. You'll have year-round 35 1 color. There will be a combination of native and 2 adaptive plants. Possibly 40 to 50, depending on 3 availability, will be installed. They're all going to 4 be sun-loving, drought tolerant, low water volume, and 5 deer resistant plants. That's on both sides of the 6 front door of the Event Center. 7 In the middle, directly under the windows, 8 we have partnered with Bird City Kerrville. And I know 9 this is on your website as well. We would like to do a 10 pretty bird habitat in that area. And those plants 11 would also be very low maintenance. And we would like 12 to do that event on Saturday, November 2nd. Kerrville 13 Bird City want to make a press event out of this and 14 they're -- they have various other plants that are 15 around the County. 16 Our mission is to today educate the 17 community on the best practices of horticulture and 18 environmental stewardship, and we just feel that the 19 sheer volume of people that will walk by this every week 20 will showcase -- help us showcase our way or what we do 21 and to help educate our community. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think I'll make a 23 motion to approve the request. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 36 1 approve the request for the A&M AgriLife Extension 2 Master Gardeners to design, install, and plant new 3 flower beds at the Youth Event Center as presented. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a quick question. 5 The beds are going to stay basically where they are? 6 MS. ALBERTO: Right. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because -- I doubt if 8 anyone else knows this -- the rocks that are around 9 those beds are the original courthouse -- are from the 10 original courthouse. 11 MS. ALBERTO: What we plan on doing is power 12 washing the blocks that surround the trees and taking 13 the blocks that are in the middle part of the windows 14 and replacing them in other areas and then mulching that 15 area. So we won't be removing anything. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. I didn't think 17 so. But at any rate, this was -- the square cut whole 18 rocks were from the courthouse that burned. Anyway, 19 just a few of 'em. That's about it. 20 JUDGE KELLY: And do you want your motion to 21 include the event on November 2nd? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. 23 JUDGE KELLY: We have a motion and a second 24 to approve the event at the Youth Event Center on 25 November 2nd as presented. Any discussion? 37 1 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. I went out 2 front with Jake last week and kinda looked at this. I 3 knew this was coming up and what have you. And it -- 4 the front of it needs a facelift. It -- over time it 5 has kind of gone backwards. And I think it's an 6 excellent idea. And appreciate y'all stepping forward. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Y'all are going to 8 maintain it as well? 9 MS. ALBERTO: Yes. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Great. 11 MS. ALBERTO: Our only hurdle is irrigation. 12 And there is a water spigot on one portion. We have 13 about 120 volunteers that we will get to sign up to 14 water. 15 MS. LANDRUM: And we have a demonstration 16 garden there by the Ag building, which is where our 17 office is located. And we -- 18 JUDGE KELLY: You need to go to the podium 19 so people can hear you. 20 MS. LANDRUM: Okay. We have a demonstration 21 garden there. To get an idea of the kind of plants that 22 will be in there if you choose. But we have -- the 23 master gardener committee has -- or executive board has 24 taken this on as a project. Just like we have the 25 demonstration garden. So it should be well maintained. 38 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Very good. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 3 in favor say aye. Opposed? There being none, 4 unanimous. Thank you. 5 Let's move on to Item 1.10 consider, discuss 6 and take appropriate action to authorize the County 7 Judge to execute contracts with Republic Services for 8 Kerr County facilities. Miss Jones. 9 MISS JONES: Good morning. Thank you so 10 much for having me. And thank you for your 11 consideration. And I'd like to especially, once again, 12 always thank Jody and Commissioner Harris and our 13 faithful attorney Heather and Shane for meeting with me 14 last week. And we presented our findings and I believe 15 you do have that. Is that correct? 16 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 17 MISS JONES: Have you had a chance to review 18 that? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: If you want to kind 21 of -- maybe fill us in on what our savings might be and 22 what have you. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Just the elevator speech. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. Yeah. Short 25 and sweet. 39 1 MISS JONES: I can do that for sure. So the 2 good news is we were able to audit the account and look 3 for opportunities of improvement and savings. Not only 4 in your monthly invoices, but also over the life of your 5 term and agreement. And so what we did in auditing 6 that, we were able to negotiate the rate down for our 7 savings in the first 12 months of $2,946.96 in year one. 8 And in year two, we are at $2,014.16. Then in year 9 three, you're only going to be increased by $229.46. 10 So not only in an increased industry rate, 11 we have now rolled you back to what you were actually 12 before 2021. So I feel like it was extremely 13 successful. And our meeting was successful. And we 14 were able to negotiate your term of your agreement, and 15 it allowed us to save you over the next three years in 16 that way also. 17 One time charges, such as an exchange, extra 18 pickup, overages, things of that sort were all 19 negotiated also. That is not included in these savings, 20 but it will be savings. But it's one you can't really 21 judge or know in advance what that will be. But that is 22 my report. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How do you go to these 24 big companies and negotiate savings like this? 25 MS. JONES: Being in the industry for 12 40 1 years -- 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: She knows the -- 3 MS. JONES: -- really and truly allows me to 4 ask the right questions. It makes me know what the 5 behind-the-scenes things are that are happening and the 6 questions asked. I wish somebody would come and be my 7 AT&T rep because I have no idea how to communicate with 8 them. But that allows me to be an asset. 9 And I truly resigned my position just so 10 that I could work directly for the client, and that 11 being you, and I believe you saw my references from KPUB 12 and Kendall County. And it just allows me to truly ask 13 the right questions on your behalf so that you get the 14 best possible, that no one else would know to ask. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Appreciate it. 16 JUDGE KELLY: The bottom line is it gets -- 17 MS. JONES: Appreciate you. 18 JUDGE KELLY: -- we had savings the first 19 two years and by the end of the third year we're barely 20 over where we are now. 21 MS. JONES: Yes, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Has the County 23 attorney looked over the contract? 24 MRS. STEBBINS: I have. Yes, sir. And it 25 looks good. And I've made a couple of changes that 41 1 are -- that are included. 2 MS. JONES: And we should have no problem 3 implementing those for sure. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 7 approve the contract with Republic Services as 8 presented. Is there any discussion? 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah, just a question 10 on my part. 11 MS. JONES: Yes, sir. 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: Is this a monthly 13 savings we're talking about? It's not an annual, right? 14 MS. JONES: That is -- there is an annual 15 savings that is calculated by what you save per month. 16 So that's rolled in and that's what's why it's an 17 overall. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: So what's the annual 19 number? 20 MS. JONES: The annual number for the first 21 12 months is $2,946.96. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: That is an annual 23 amount. 24 MS. JONES: Yes, sir. 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 42 1 JUDGE KELLY: But we're looking at 2021 2 prices. Is that right? 3 MS. JONES: Rolled back to -- some. Your 4 dollar -- everything I look at, I don't want to give all 5 of my industry secrets away, but I look at it as a 6 dollar per yard. What is your dollar per yard. Is it a 7 good market value? Can it be improved? And it was. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 9 JUDGE KELLY: But we're locked in for three 10 years? 11 MS. JONES: Yes, sir. 12 JUDGE KELLY: That makes me happy. Any 13 other discussion? 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I'll tell you 15 that Shane and I and the County Attorney met with you 16 and Sharon the other day and had a great meeting. And 17 came away feeling good about it. 18 MS. JONES: Thank you. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Good. 20 MS. JONES: Thank you for your support and 21 for your help. Really truly. Honored to have you. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 23 in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Thank you, 24 Sherri. 25 MS. JONES: Yes, sir. 43 1 JUDGE KELLY: You have the next item, too. 2 MS. JONES: Yes, sir. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.11 consider, discuss 4 and take appropriate action to authorize the County 5 Judge to accept the audit report from the Kerr County 6 Waste from Garbish 365. 7 And that's the audit that you just 8 referenced? 9 MS. JONES: Yes, sir. And that is -- I 10 believe that they're referencing to my payment for those 11 services. And after my -- because, of course, I need to 12 make a living and enjoy the fruits of labor. And even 13 after my charges to the County for my work, my 14 consulting, your savings are still $1,736.96. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 18 approve the audit report from Garbish 365 as presented. 19 Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 20 Unanimous. Thank you. 21 MS. JONES: Thank you. May I just say thank 22 you again for supporting small business. We appreciate 23 it. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Sherri, we've known you for a 25 long time. 44 1 MS. JONES: Yes, sir. 2 JUDGE KELLY: I want to get Item 1.12 in 3 before we take a break, and that's because I have been 4 known to keep Dub Thomas here for hours on end, waiting 5 to make his presentation. And I want to atone for my 6 sins on that. 7 So let me call Item 1.12, which is consider, 8 discuss and take appropriate action to ratify and 9 confirm letter sent to the Texas Division of Emergency 10 Management to withdraw grant applications for hazard 11 mitigation grant program, submitted under grant numbers 12 4705-0006 and 5420-0045 for the hazard mitigation plan 13 update. 14 MR. THOMAS: Good morning, Judge. Good 15 morning, Commissioners. So this is related to the 16 hazard mitigation plan. If you'll remember our plan 17 expired. We were waiting on mitigation grants from TDEM 18 and FEMA in order to complete that plan. And since it 19 took so long for them to even be under consideration, 20 our plan expired. So we chose to do the cash option 21 with the other participants in the plan. 22 Therefore, TDEM came back last -- well, 23 within the last two weeks and has asked for a letter of 24 withdrawal for those mitigation programs. 4705-0006 and 25 5420-0045. So we did two letters. They weren't really 45 1 very clear what they wanted in the letter so we wound up 2 doing two letters of withdrawal, one for each of those 3 particular funding streams. 4 JUDGE KELLY: And they sent us the form 5 letters they wanted us to send them and put it on my 6 letterhead. 7 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. 8 JUDGE KELLY: And I wrote -- I sent them. 9 And now we're asking for forgiveness for these to be 10 ratified and confirmed? 11 MR. THOMAS: Correct. 12 JUDGE KELLY: That was a decision that we 13 made. 14 MR. THOMAS: Right. Yes, sir. 15 JUDGE KELLY: And Jody was in on that, too, 16 by the way. 17 MR. THOMAS: So basically what we're just 18 looking for is just to give you information that we are 19 withdrawing from those mitigation grant plans, those 20 funding streams. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 24 approve to ratify and confirm the letters that were sent 25 to TDEM withdrawing the grant applications as presented. 46 1 Any discussion? 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. So, Dub, does 3 that mean that there's no further opportunity to secure 4 any grants for this type of thing or -- 5 MR. THOMAS: No. Not at this -- not for 6 this particular time. Now, I have been instructed that 7 we probably need to -- our mitigation plan is good for 8 five years. And I've already been instructed that when 9 the next plan expires in five years, it's probably a 10 good idea to go ahead and start putting in for those 11 grants now. So we may be looking at the first of the 12 year to see what planning streams are available for the 13 2029 plan. 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Looking ahead. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 16 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Thank 17 you. 18 MR. THOMAS: Thank you, Judge. 19 JUDGE KELLY: And with that, let's take a 20 ten-minute break. 21 (Break.) 22 JUDGE KELLY: Court will come back to order. 23 The next item on the agenda is Item 1.13 consider, 24 discuss and take appropriate action to approve and 25 authorize the County Judge to sign a three-year contract 47 1 with the KnowBe4, a security awareness training 2 provider. The training provided will be a continual 3 cyber security training program to enhance our network 4 security along with meeting network insurance coverage 5 requirements. Cory Thoennes. 6 MR. THOENNES: Good morning, all. Yes. 7 KnowBe4 is the writer that's used through TAC for their 8 cyber security training. What we are doing currently 9 meets the bare minimums for our CJIS requirements in 10 our -- for our TAC liability insurance. 11 This program will give everybody within the 12 County that network advance training. So instead of 13 just a once-a-year type training, we'll be getting 14 random spoof e-mails, phishing e-mails through our hubs 15 to train people on how to identify bad actors and, you 16 know, bad e-mails. 17 So it will start off at a baseline -- 18 baseline measure for all of the users. And as each of 19 the users gain proficiency and become better at 20 identifying these problems, their training, 21 individualized training, will also advance. So it's 22 very customizable and it allows us to get out ahead of 23 any phishing attacks or any ransomware attacks. 24 JUDGE KELLY: And the added advantage is 25 this qualifies us for our higher limit on our liability 48 1 insurance. 2 MR. THOENNES: Yes, sir. This would 3 actually be the final piece of that, along with the MFA 4 details that's coming down the pipes. 5 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 8 approve the three-year contract with KnowBe4 as 9 presented. Any discussion? 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. Cory, you put 11 this in the budget, right? 12 MR. THOENNES: Yes, sir. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And you're not going 15 to, like, publish if somebody doesn't move up the ranks? 16 MR. THOENNES: No, it's all individualized. 17 The reports come back to my department. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Just to your 19 department. Okay. 20 MR. THOENNES: Just my department, yeah. 21 No, it won't be made public. But the e-mails will come 22 up randomly. And they will be different e-mails, just 23 kind of based on what your profile has been. And 24 it's -- it's seriously driven to advance each 25 individual's knowledge and proficiency. 49 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: So it doesn't use peer 3 pressure, huh? 4 MR. THOENNES: It won't help. I'll say 5 we'll see, like, the general reports on whose -- on how 6 we as a entity are improving. But that's really about 7 it. 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's great. 9 MR. THOENNES: Yes. A little based are, you 10 know, based on computer users. They shouldn't feel fear 11 on -- on the screen because it is -- it will start out 12 at the baseline level and will help -- help the user. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Got it. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. 15 Any other discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 16 Unanimous. 17 1.14 consider, discuss and take appropriate 18 action to approve the IT department network management 19 policies. These policies have been refreshed and updated 20 from the previous County versions with the appropriate 21 terminology and names. Final intent would be to post 22 them on the IT department website for ease of 23 accessibility. 24 MR. THOENNES: Yes. So when I first started 25 back in June, it took me a long time to find each of 50 1 these policies that were drafted up years ago. So, as 2 you can imagine, a lot of the terminology was outdated 3 or no longer consistent. So all these policies that 4 have been presented were just refreshed with correct 5 terminology and context. 6 So once this is approved, I will get them 7 onto my website. So that way, should there be better 8 concerns, security incidents, the information will be 9 readily accessible. 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: Those policies aren't 11 attached to the Court documents so -- 12 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: He e-mailed them to 13 us. 14 MR. THOENNES: I e-mailed them. 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah, I know. I've 16 seen them. But you e-mailed them. But I guess they're 17 kind of -- going public yet. So -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: Can we approve them if 21 they haven't been -- gone public? 22 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 24 MR. THOENNES: They're local policies. 25 Software users. You know. 51 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 2 JUDGE KELLY: So who made the motion? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I did. 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: He did. I seconded. 5 JUDGE KELLY: So we've got a motion and a 6 second. Discussion? Anymore discussion? 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I looked through them. 8 I'm relying on your authority that they're all good. 9 Because I wouldn't know if something wasn't. 10 MR. THOENNES: Coming down in the next 11 couple months, I'm putting together a full on cyber 12 policy, cyber response policy. It will be a high level 13 policy without any technical data on it that would 14 expose any vulnerabilities. But that's something I am 15 also working on. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: I mean, my main 18 question I've already asked you via e-mail and we talked 19 briefly. But it's -- it's about the remote usage. A 20 lot of us take our laptops home with us at night or as 21 we travel. But say -- 22 MR. THOENNES: Well, that would be part of 23 the process. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- if there's one of 25 those forms that we had to ask for permission or 52 1 something. 2 MR. THOENNES: Yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. So it's kind of 4 how that works. Whether it's one permission gets you a 5 year's worth or -- I don't know, you tell me how often 6 we have to seek that approval. 7 MR. THOENNES: Yeah. It'll be once a year. 8 An annual -- annual signature. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I appreciate you doing 11 it. Being no other discussion, those in favor say aye. 12 Opposed? Unanimous. 13 Item 1.15 consider, discuss and take 14 appropriate action to approve the new network 15 administrator job description and subsequent realignment 16 of IT department staffing. The move aligns with the 17 approved budget for FY 24-25 and it more accurately 18 defines current staff responsibilities. 19 MR. THOENNES: Yes. So this is just the new 20 position, if you will. It's just kind of a 21 re-designation of what my staffers are doing. So my -- 22 as it -- when I took over, my current staff was actually 23 doing more network administration duties. This was 24 prudent to match his responsibilities. My Specialist 25 three was doing more of the sys ad type roles. So that 53 1 that person will move up from step three to sys ad. And 2 then my techs one and two will move up to two and three. 3 JUDGE KELLY: So this is just truing up the 4 actual duties and responsibilities to the job 5 descriptions? 6 MR. THOENNES: Yes, sir. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And these are all 8 budgeted? 9 MR. THOENNES: Yes, sir. No additions at 10 this time. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'll move for 12 approval. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second. Any 15 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 16 Unanimous. Thank you, Cory. 17 MR. THOENNES: Great. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.16 consider, discuss 19 and take appropriate action to evaluate the selection 20 review committee's recommendation to award bid for 21 request -- for RFQ for general architectural services to 22 Kerr County. 23 And we're going to do several of these, Miss 24 Putnam. 25 MS. PUTNAM: Yes. 54 1 JUDGE KELLY: So we're going to start with 2 this one first. 3 MS. PUTNAM: Okay. And just to -- for time, 4 to make it quick, all of these went out on Monday, the 5 16th, and the selection review committee met on 6 Wednesday, the 18th. We have some recommendations to 7 you, the Court, for -- to go ahead and award the bid. 8 And for 1.16, for the architectural, our 9 recommendation and the highest scoring company was 10 Mustard Architects out of Fredericksburg. 11 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'm not sure if it's 12 appropriate since I was part of the committee. I'll 13 move to approve it but if -- is it better if somebody 14 else does it? 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Probably. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Well -- 17 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. Well, then I -- 18 I -- as long as it's okay, I'll move to approve the 19 selection committee's recommendation to -- 20 JUDGE KELLY: And what was the name of the 21 contractor? 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: Mustard, wasn't it? 23 MS. PUTNAM: Mustard. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. And they're out 25 of Fredericksburg. So it's a big plus to be close to 55 1 us. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So we have a motion and 3 a second to approve the recommendation for general 4 architectural services to be awarded to Mustard 5 Architecture in Fredericksburg. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a question. Is 7 this specific to the Hill Country Youth Event Center or 8 is this going to be -- 9 JUDGE KELLY: No. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- similar to what we had 11 with Peter Lewis? 12 JUDGE KELLY: Don't know. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: It's a three-year 14 contract with a maximum expenditure of $50,000.00. The 15 priority, at least initially, there's two of them. It's 16 the AG barn. Although that really -- for architectural 17 services, that's a little bit further down the road, 18 because that will be gearing up for the future 19 modifications that are not included in the next fiscal 20 years budget. So it's gearing up for the following 21 year. But we do have the 550 Earl Garrett project we 22 need an architect for right away. So that will be the 23 initial scope to get them involved. 24 MRS. GRINSTEAD: And just to clarify, the 25 architectural is a hundred thousand. 56 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'm sorry, what? 2 MS. GRINSTEAD: The architectural contract 3 is for a hundred thousand. The engineering is for 50. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: Oh, I'm sorry. Thank 5 you. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Better restate that. 7 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. Well, I heard -- 8 I said it was for 50,000. That's the engineering 9 contract. So the architectural is a hundred thousand. 10 I stand corrected. But it wasn't part of the motion. 11 So -- 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. But -- 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: Right. For the public. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: -- for everybody 15 watching. 16 JUDGE KELLY: So we've got a motion and a 17 second to approve the recommendation to award the 18 general architectural services contract to Mustard 19 Architecture in Fredericksburg. Any discussion? Those 20 in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 21 1.17 consider, discuss and take appropriate 22 action to evaluate the Selection Review Committee's 23 recommendation to award the bid for RFQ for mechanical, 24 electrical, and plumbing engineering for Kerr County. 25 Miss Putnam. 57 1 MS. PUTNAM: Okay. And so on the MEP for 2 mechanical, electric, and plumbing, it is the 3 recommendation of the committee to award that to Keener 4 Engineering Services and they are also out of 5 Fredericksburg. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's the name? 7 JUDGE KELLY: Keener. 8 MS. PUTNAM: Keener, K-E-E-N-E-R. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: So I'll make a motion 10 that the Court go ahead and award the bid to Keener 11 Engineering for mechanical, electrical and plumbing 12 engineering services for Kerr County. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 15 approve the recommendation as presented. Any 16 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 17 Unanimous. 18 Item 1.18 consider, discuss and take 19 appropriate action to evaluate the Selection Review 20 Committee's recommendation to award the bid for RFQ for 21 structural engineering for Kerr County. 22 MS. PUTNAM: Okay. And for structural 23 engineering, it is our recommendation to award that to 24 Maxwell Engineering of Kerrville. 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: And I'll make a motion 58 1 that the Court award a contract to Maxwell Engineering 2 for engineering services specifically for structural 3 engineering, and this is on the AG barn, for the indoor 4 arena. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll second. 6 COMMISSIONER PACE: Okay. 7 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 8 second to approve the recommendation from the Selection 9 Review Committee as presented with regard to the 10 structural engineering services. Any discussion? Those 11 in favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. 12 Moving on to Item 1.19 consider, discuss and 13 take appropriate action authorizing the RFPs for the 14 construction services for Kerr County Indoor Arena 15 Re-roofing project using previously allocated American 16 Rescue Plan Act funds. 17 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. Kerr 18 County Indoor Arena Re-roofing Project generally 19 consists of removing and replacing the existing metal 20 R-panel roof and the associated metal building 21 insulation with new, like-kind materials. The project 22 also includes an alternative bid, which generally 23 consists of relining the metal building insulation with 24 new insulation and retrofitting the existing metal 25 R-panel roof with a mechanically attached singly-ply 59 1 thermoplastic polyolefin roofing system. 2 Ridge vents, gutters and downspouts would 3 all be removed and replaced in either bidding scenario. 4 And the construction plans and specifications have been 5 completed. Funding for this project is with American 6 Rescue Plan Act 2021 funds. And the contract must be 7 secured prior to December 31st, 2024. 8 The advertisement for bid is attached in 9 your agenda bill, and consists of the following 10 schedule: We would like to solicitate -- solicit for 11 bid, as well as advertise, on September 25th. And a 12 second advertisement on October the 2nd. Bids would be 13 due October the 25th. That's a Friday. They would be 14 opened on Monday, the 28th of October, and then they 15 would be evaluated and brought back to the Court on 16 November the 12th for award. 17 The County Engineer requests that the Court 18 authorize the Kerr County Indoor Arena Re-roofing 19 Project to be solicited and advertised for construction 20 bid proposals. Precinct 2. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. That's a tight 22 schedule. 23 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Move for approval. 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll make a motion that 60 1 the Court approve this. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He made the motion. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Oh, you made the 4 motion? Then I'll second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second -- 6 and this is to solicit the bids for the project for the 7 indoor arena, right, as presented. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Uh-huh. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Any discussion? Those in 10 favor say aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Thank you. 11 Item 1.20 consider, discuss and take 12 appropriate action to appoint members for the Selection 13 Review Committee to rate the proposals for the RFP for 14 construction services for the Kerr County Indoor Arena 15 Re-roofing Project and present the committee's 16 recommendation for the award to the Court. Miss Putnam. 17 MS. PUTNAM: Okay. So this would be to go 18 ahead and designate the selection review committee once 19 we receive those bids. We need to have at least one 20 elected official. I'm recommending Commissioner Paces 21 for this one. We haven't really discussed who we would 22 like to be on the selection review committee, I would 23 like to be there for ARPA standards. Charlie, of 24 course. If there's any others that we would like to 25 have on there that have an interest that can help us in 61 1 reviewing these. 2 COMMISSIONER PACES: Maybe Commissioner 3 Harris would like to do that. Join? 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, no, not 5 necessarily with y'all on there. But I would like to 6 recommend Shane's input. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Good idea. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. 9 MS. PUTNAM: So the selection review 10 committee for the RFP for construction services for the 11 ARPA spending for the request for proposal to be Shane 12 Evans, Noel Putnam, Commissioner Paces, and Charlie 13 Hastings. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make that motion. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 17 approve the nominees for the Selection Review Committee 18 as presented. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 19 Opposed? Unanimous. Thank you. 20 Item 1.21 consider, discuss and take 21 appropriate action to approve the Selection Criteria and 22 Rating Sheet for the RFP for construction services for 23 the indoor arena. 24 And this is the rating sheet that you need 25 to use in making your recommendation? 62 1 MS. PUTNAM: Yes. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move for approval. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 4 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 5 second to approve the rating sheet as presented. Any 6 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion 7 carries. 8 Item 1.22 consider, discuss and take 9 appropriate action to set a public hearing for 10:00 10 a.m. on November the 12th, 2024 to change the speed 11 limit on Eagle Ridge Road from 45 to 40 miles per hour. 12 Mr. Hastings. 13 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. A speed 14 study and safe stopping sight distance study was 15 conducted by Tetra Tech Engineering for Eagle Ridge 16 Road. The results of the study were presented to 17 Commissioners' Court in a public meeting on September 18 16th, 2024 by Don Burger, professional engineer, and 19 Philip Utubor, professional engineer, both with Tetra 20 Tech. And they concluded that 80 percent of Eagle Ridge 21 Road can be -- can support a maximum speed limit of 40 22 miles per hour; therefore, Tetra Tech recommended that 23 the speed limit be set for 40 miles per hour for the 24 entirety of Eagle Ridge Road. 25 The County Engineer recommends to the Court 63 1 set a public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on November 12th, 2 2024 to change the speed limit on Eagle Ridge Road from 3 45 to 40 miles per hour. Precinct 2. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll move to approve as 5 presented. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 8 approve lowering the speed limit from 45 to 40 miles an 9 hour -- 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: Or to hold a hearing. 11 A public hearing. 12 JUDGE KELLY: To have -- hold a public 13 hearing to reduce the speed limit from 45 to 40 miles an 14 hour on Eagle Ridge Road as presented. Any discussion? 15 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 16 Next item. Thanks, Charlie. 17 MR. HASTINGS: You're welcome. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Consider, discuss and take 19 appropriate action to accept the 198th District 20 Attorney's Chapter 59 asset forfeiture report and 21 budget. 22 Mr. Harpold is not here. What this is, 23 you'll remember back when we were doing budget and there 24 were some recommendations for raises in his office and I 25 sat down and talked with him and he graciously withdrew 64 1 his request. And now he's taking the money out of the 2 forfeiture fund to be able to give those increases in 3 pay to the staff, which I admire greatly. 4 He was -- I didn't know what to expect. And 5 finally he just said well, Rob, whatever you ask me to 6 do, I'll do. That's what he did. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Good. 8 JUDGE KELLY: So I'll personally make the 9 motion that we approve this. 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Motion and a second. And for 12 those that don't understand what the forfeiture fund is, 13 the District Attorney's offices have forfeiture funds 14 that they collect from the fines of people that are 15 convicted. And they control those funds. They are not 16 County controlled. They have exclusive control of them. 17 And so his use of these funds is his to use at his 18 discretionary assets available to him, which I commend. 19 So any other discussion? 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. It -- so is this 21 in addition to the SB 22 funds? Because I don't think 22 he used them all. Is that -- he's trying to supplement 23 or -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: These are for non-attorneys. 25 COMMISSIONER PACES: Non-attorneys. 65 1 JUDGE KELLY: For non-attorneys. And you 2 can't use the SB 22 funds except for the attorneys. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Oh, okay. Okay. 4 MRS. STEBBINS: Or new staff. This is an 5 existing staff. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. So this -- 7 MRS. STEBBINS: So you can't use it for 8 that. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: I know. But you were 10 just saying though he had the discretion to do this 11 anyway, these are his funds. So why does he need our 12 approval? 13 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we have to approve his 14 expenditure of the funds. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have to -- it has to 16 get into our budget. It comes from -- my understanding 17 is he has one account into the -- our account into 18 the -- to the -- 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: And more than one 20 county. 21 MRS. STEBBINS: And those entities that have 22 asset forfeiture funds, they're required to make a 23 report to the Court annually. And so you probably get 24 them from the Sheriff's Department and the other DA's 25 Departments. And we don't do forfeiture funds; 66 1 otherwise, we'd present one to you as well. So that's 2 probably part of this, too. 3 JUDGE KELLY: It is. And the other thing 4 is, and Commissioner Paces pointed it out to me, the 5 198th rides two counties, Kerr County and Bandera 6 County. And we share the expense for that office 7 proportionally. So the funds that are coming into Kerr 8 County to pay these increased salary -- requested salary 9 increases to non-legal staff is partially paid for by 10 Bandera County and partially paid for by Kerr County. 11 And so, the funds have to come into our budget in order 12 to be able to include them in our payroll. 13 COMMISSIONER PACES: He hasn't provided how 14 those funds are going to be allocated. I didn't see 15 anything in that -- or for how much we're approving? 16 VOICE: He did that during the budget cycle. 17 JUDGE KELLY: You know, I don't know if he 18 handed something separately, but it was in the original 19 budget request that he was doing. 20 MRS. STEBBINS: It was. And he presented it 21 in a workshop. Maybe even two. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. I remember him 23 making a proposal. I just don't remember what it had to 24 do with SB 22, that's all. 25 MRS. STEBBINS: There were two separate -- 67 1 JUDGE KELLY: He had -- he had SB 22 funds 2 in there also, but he did not use all of it. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: I remember that. 4 JUDGE KELLY: But he can't use them for the 5 non-legal personnel. 6 MRS. STEBBINS: The existing. 7 JUDGE KELLY: The existing personnel. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 9 JUDGE KELLY: So we're -- we're just 10 following, really, the Office of the Governor's rules on 11 this. Any other discussion? Those in favor say aye. 12 Opposed? Motion carries. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: The agenda item was 14 pretty simple. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. It's pretty much a 16 rubber stamp. 17 Moving on to Item -- I can't get to Item 18 1.24. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 1.25. 20 JUDGE KELLY: We'll go down to 1.25 21 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to 22 designate a day of the week on which the Court shall 23 convene in a regular term for FY 24-25 pursuant to the 24 Local Government Code. 25 And every year we have to designate what day 68 1 of the week or which day of the week we have regular 2 court meetings. And we can have scheduled court 3 meetings on other days as we determine. But the 4 regular -- there are many things under the Local 5 Government Code that have to be done on a regular 6 session meeting. And historically, you know, as County 7 has -- we've always done it, you know, we've always done 8 it on the second and fourth Mondays. And so -- and we 9 have to make a designation and turn it in to the State 10 so they will know what day it is and then we can 11 proceed. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion for 13 the second and fourth Monday. 14 MRS. STEBBINS: Last year y'all just said 15 Mondays. Because there are some items that have to be 16 on regular meetings and so you just designated -- 17 JUDGE KELLY: That's right. 18 MRS. STEBBINS: -- Mondays as -- 19 JUDGE KELLY: We did do that. 20 MRS. STEBBINS: -- your meeting date. 21 JUDGE KELLY: We designate all Mondays -- 22 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Monday is your day. 23 JUDGE KELLY: -- except -- 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I forgot that. I 25 withdraw then. 69 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: And -- and the language 2 is a day of the week. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: Not how often. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Yeah. I'll make 6 a motion that Monday is the -- 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Meeting day. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- day for the regular 9 meetings. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 12 designate Monday as the day for regular Commissioners' 13 Court meetings. Any discussion? Those in favor say 14 aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 15 Let's move on to Item 1.26 consider, discuss 16 and take appropriate action to set the Kerr County 17 Christmas Party for Friday, December 20, 2024 at the 18 Hill Country Youth Event Center. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 21 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 23 have the Christmas Party on December 20th at the Youth 24 Event Center. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. 25 Those opposed? Motion carries. 70 1 I'm going to go ahead and take 1.27. Again, 2 not to keep you in the room any longer than you need to 3 be here. But -- and this is consider, discuss and take 4 appropriate action to approve the license agreement with 5 the Kerrville Christmas lighting committee for the 6 holiday decorations on the courthouse grounds. 7 And this is something that we've discussed 8 and we've tentatively agreed. And, of course, George 9 Eychner is here with the Christmas Lighting Committee, 10 and they're going to take over and do the decorations 11 for the courthouse and our goal is eventually, with 12 generous support of the public, to be able to outshine 13 Blanco County Courthouse. 14 MR. EYCHNER: Yeah. This is out of pride 15 for Shane and his crew because they do a marvelous job. 16 What we're looking for is spectacular. And we have not 17 signed the contract yet. We're waiting for this MOU to 18 be approved. And Commissioner Letz and I and the Judge 19 have talked a number of years about having an MOU to 20 formalize our relationship. So I think that's a good 21 idea. And I appreciate, Heather, you getting in there 22 and helping us get this through. We intend to sign the 23 contract with Hill Country Christmas Lighting. And 24 they're out of Spring Branch and they've done quite a 25 bit -- we've researched three different committees -- or 71 1 three different organizations and they've done a lot of 2 work around this area, particularly in Boerne. And -- 3 and we're prepared to enter into a contract. And the 4 first year is 26,000 and then the succeeding years is 5 14,000. 6 So we're raising monies. And we'll take 7 donations from anybody that would like to do that. 8 We're having a meeting today to formalize our 9 organization, assuming then we would approve. So thank 10 you for your consideration and your support. 11 And then, if I may adding onto this. One 12 other thing I'd like to see if we could formalize is the 13 Christmas lighting ceremony. It's going to be on the 14 26th of November. 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: The 26th? 16 MR. EYCHNER: Yes, sir. And I'd really 17 like -- if it's -- it's in front of the County 18 Courthouse. And I'd really like to see if we can get 19 the County to possibly invest money. It costs about 20 $2,000 -- $2,000, $2,500 to do it. But the one long 21 pole and the -- this year is the lighting. Arredondo is 22 no longer doing lighting and so we need to find somebody 23 that can do space lights. 24 MRS. STEBBINS: I have a couple of comments 25 about the agreement. Were you about to say what we 72 1 talked about earlier? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 3 MRS. STEBBINS: Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Under 2.02, exclusive 5 control, there are two other Christmas themes that we 6 historically left to be on the courthouse square. One 7 is the menorah and the other is the nativity scene. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: I was going to -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I just think that 10 both -- both of those will be the only two in addition 11 to whatever y'all do. But those two need to be 12 included. 13 MR. EYCHNER: Okay. 14 MRS. STEBBINS: I can modify that section 15 quickly and get it to you guys for your signature today. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Well, there may be others in 17 the future. I don't know. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, this is just this 19 year. And I think it's a good idea to limit it to what 20 we have historically done. And this -- 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I agree. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because at times in the 23 past we've had things we really didn't want on the 24 courthouse square. So we -- it's good to limit it and 25 be very specific on it -- 73 1 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Somebody could come to 2 Court and ask for it, though, right? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- in my mind. 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: The nativity scene is 5 beautiful and it happens to be from my church. 6 MRS. STEBBINS: I have another question. 7 Usually the courthouse lighting ceremony that has taken 8 place is in coordination with the City's lighted parade. 9 Is that the same date? 10 MR. EYCHNER: Yes, it is. 11 MRS. STEBBINS: Okay. 12 MR. EYCHNER: Yeah, the parade starts at 13 6:00 and normally is done by 7:30, and the lighting 14 ceremony starts around 7:30. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I'll make a 16 motion to approve the agreement with the two additions 17 on 2.02. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a section to 20 approve the license agreement with Kerrville Christmas 21 Lighting Committee as presented. I will confess that 22 George came up to me at an event and asked me if I 23 remembered have we approved this. I couldn't remember. 24 I just thought we were taking it for granted. So your 25 reminder got us back on track. 74 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It was working. We had 2 two attorneys working on it. And it was -- it was 3 discussed that it was coming previously, and then the 4 attorneys worked out the details. And George, thank you 5 for spearheading this. 6 MR. EYCHNER: You're welcome. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And for all the years 8 you've been doing it. And you're going to continue for 9 the next ten years or so? 10 MR. EYCHNER: Oh you bet. Well, and I thank 11 you that -- you guys for your trust and support. It 12 means a lot. So it's a community effort. No doubt. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: It's great. 14 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. Do we need to do 15 anything about the money he talked about, the $2,500? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think we can -- 17 I don't know if it's -- 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: It's not really on the 19 agenda but -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's not on the agenda 21 and -- 22 JUDGE KELLY: No, we can't do it now. 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 24 JUDGE KELLY: We need to look for the money 25 in the budget. 75 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: Fair enough. 2 MR. EYCHNER: Bless you. 3 JUDGE KELLY: So with that -- 4 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, just one more 5 question. So that's your Christmas tree, that big 6 monster tree that goes up out there? 7 MR. EYCHNER: Yes, sir. 8 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. 9 MR. EYCHNER: The one thing about it, Ingram 10 has advertised that they got a 40-foot tree. But ours 11 is actually 45-foot tree. 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well, there you go. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Tallest tree in the 14 County. 15 COMMISSIONER PACES: We've gotta fix the 16 lights in the upper portion. 17 MR. EYCHNER: We've ordered a new cross. We 18 shopped for that. 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: Great. We'll have a 20 competitive Christmas. That's good. 21 MR. EYCHNER: Yes. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Those in favor say aye. 23 Opposed? Unanimous. 24 Okay. It is now 10:30. And we'll go back 25 to our timed item, which is a 10:30 item. Let me call 76 1 the agenda item, is consideration and action on an order 2 authorizing the County to enter into an agreement with 3 Bluewood Hillside Heights, LP, regarding a multi-family 4 residential development pursuant to the County's 5 economic development program and related matters. 6 MR. BINFORD: Good morning, Commissioners. 7 I'm Clay Binford, representative for the special 8 council. I know that you're familiar with this project, 9 but I will give you a brief background. In late May, 10 you received a presentation from a group that was going 11 to come in and build a multi-family apartment complex, 12 237 units with full amenities and basically a 13 development that does not currently exist in the 14 community. 15 On May 28th, you approved a Resolution 16 authorizing the negotiation of an agreement that would 17 be a 10-year tax abatement at the time, based on 70 18 percent of incremental tax growth resulting from the 19 development for the first to occur of ten years or the 20 receipt of $800,000 in total benefit. 21 Shortly after that, the developers submitted 22 a petition that committed to do several things, 23 including minimum job development or job creation within 24 the County. And also, the commitment to build and 25 invest 25 million dollars as a minimal amount of new 77 1 investment within the footprint of this building process 2 of 11 acres. The Court then approached me and asked for 3 me to document the transaction. So we have been working 4 on this since that time. I came back and presented to 5 you about a month ago and said that my recommendation 6 instead of an abatement agreement would be to grant the 7 equivalent amount to the developer after payment of all 8 property taxes when and as due, that would be 9 accompanied every year by a certificate that would 10 evidence compliance with the document. Meaning that 11 they are compliant with the covenants that they -- that 12 they have agreed to on day one. And then that way, you 13 have control over the resources throughout the remainder 14 of the investment period. 15 To memorialize that, we also took it a 16 little bit further and we included within the document, 17 which you should have in your package in this agreement, 18 multiple things that the developer agreed to, not only 19 the minimum requirements we talked about before, the 25 20 million dollars investment, the job creation, but we 21 also put things in there as to the operational standards 22 of the property throughout the life of the incentive 23 period. That what you get on day one is what you will 24 have at the end of the ten-year period as well, which is 25 a project that is built to a particular standard, and it 78 1 delivers living unit to the occupants that is not 2 rundown in disrepair and that is consistent with what 3 was incentive at the beginning of this program. There 4 was also requirement that the developer pay my legal 5 fee. And he has delivered a check for $15,000, which 6 will be my fee, that was delivered to the County Auditor 7 and upon completion of this I will then invoice the 8 County. 9 So we also established the increment -- the 10 value of the property before development and we excluded 11 that from the increment. So you are currently 12 collecting taxes on approximately $136,000 of value. So 13 even though it's a relatively small amount of money, we 14 did not want you to lose that from a budgetary 15 perspective. So the incentive is only truly based upon 16 value displayed from the ground. They have a HUD 17 loan -- I'm sorry, a HUD guaranteed loan that is going 18 to be the source of funding of this development, so 19 that's supposed to close on that loan, I believe October 20 23rd. 21 MR. BYERS: (Shaking head yes.) 22 And so at that point in time, they'll 23 commence construction. 24 We have a termination provision on this 25 contract that is elective to the County. Understanding 79 1 that there is a bit of a chicken and an egg, someone has 2 to go first. In order for him to get this loan, he has 3 to receive the economic incentive that he's depending 4 upon to make his financial model work. So you have to 5 take the first step; however, if he does not close on 6 his loan by December 31st, you have the opportunity to 7 come back and negotiate with him further, perhaps extend 8 it, or figure out why he hasn't started construction on 9 this loan. 10 So the developer is sitting here, Mr. Shay 11 Byers. He has been -- he and his team have been 12 wonderful to work with and clearly excited to be here 13 and I'm pleased to stand here in front of you today 14 based on the direction I received and recommend approval 15 of this agreement. I'm happy to answer any questions 16 you might have. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion to 18 approve the agreement with Bluewood Hillside Heights, 19 LP. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We got a motion and a 22 second. Discussion? 23 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll just say. I mean, 24 I congratulate you on the agreement. I think it's the 25 right approach. You've done a good job with it. 80 1 Fundamentally I'm opposed to tax abatements so it's a no 2 for me. 3 JUDGE KELLY: By the way. We have one 4 member of the public that would like to speak. Mr. 5 Baroody. 6 MR. BAROODY: George Baroody, 1616 Glenn 7 Road. And just as an aside, and nobody offered to pay 8 for my services that I'm providing for you today, just 9 so you know, not the developer or the attorneys or 10 anybody. Anyway, so not just opposed to tax abatement. 11 This is specifically tax abatements for residential 12 property, which is a total kind of misunderstanding of 13 what property taxes are for. You'll hear that right now 14 you're receiving negatives, we'll just call it none, no 15 property tax on this property right now. 16 If you check your books, you're also not 17 providing any services. Your budget is not being 18 impacted in service -- cost of service way at all with 19 this property right now. You've had 273 dwelling units, 20 presumably new families coming to the town, you're 21 adding an unmeasured amount of cost of service that is 22 not being talked about in this discussion. 23 So the end result is, I can say with pretty 24 fair certainty, that the net result financially to your 25 budget is going to be in the negative. So you can't 81 1 just look at the revenue side. That's the first problem 2 with this deal. 3 Second is you're claiming to have affordable 4 housing. Has anybody looked at what the breakdown of 5 the units are going to be? So 160 of the units are 6 supposed to be one bedroom units. Maximum 600 square 7 feet. Price is $1,300 a month. That does not fit with 8 affordability. It's not any better, it's not any worse 9 than what's currently in town. It's not something you 10 should be incentivizing. If the market's for that, then 11 they could do that. 12 There's 110 two-bedroom units, maximum 1200 13 square feet. It's actually really 900 square feet -- or 14 950 square feet, for $1,700. Again, that's not 15 affordable for a family. Put them in there and see what 16 it comes out to. It's $200.00 a square foot. And then 17 there's only going to be two or three, three-bedroom 18 units, so it's not really designed to get families in 19 there. 20 The other thing is the talk -- the 21 development basically is -- the developer itself is 22 coming to you has just stated that they don't have the 23 funding to produce this market rate project. If they 24 don't have the backing to produce a market rate project, 25 you're not incentivizing something, you're padding their 82 1 bottom line. Because you're now subsidizing their 2 actual ability to get the loan. If they could have 3 gotten the loan on their own and then came to us and 4 said we need an incentive to lower the rates to 5 affordability, that would have made sense, but that is 6 not what they're doing here. So you're actually just 7 subsidizing the developer. It's not being passed on to 8 the rent because they've already announced these are 9 going to be market rate. So you are achieving nothing 10 for the citizens of Kerrville. And it's actually 11 marketing, like I said, the single person; it's not 12 actually marketing families. 13 So let's discuss this concept that it's 14 going to house firemen and their kids and teachers and 15 their kids. It's not. This is aimed at single person 16 household. 600 square feet is the bulk of the unit. 17 That's -- that's a hotel suite. So when you guys are 18 giving this away, and it is a give-away, you are getting 19 nothing in return, which doesn't meet the article to 20 read Section 52(a) requirement. You are controlling 21 what you're getting, but I saw no really clawback in 22 this agreement. You're not requiring them to do 23 anything. 24 If they don't build 273 units, there's not 25 wording in there that really says you can clawback 83 1 anything. So it's not very -- it's not guarding against 2 the return that you supposedly are getting. I put 3 quotes around it because in my view we're getting 4 nothing. So it seems like a ball rolling down a hill. 5 So it's more here to inform you. You should read the 6 unit sizes and breakdown before you approve this so that 7 when you're touting it to the public, as you will have 8 to do, you'll at least know what it is that you're 9 misleading them about. Thank you. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, George, I'm 11 going to agree with most of what you said. One thing. 12 I don't think they ever advertised it was affordable 13 housing. 14 MR. BAROODY: It's in the agreement. The 15 words are. Sorry. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, it isn't, by 17 anybody's calculation. Clay, I'm going to go down in 18 flames but I'm glad you're involved with this. So 19 that's all I've got to say. 20 MR. BINFORD: Thanks. 21 JUDGE KELLY: You want to say anything else? 22 MR. BINFORD: No. The only thing I would 23 say is that understand there are difference in opinions 24 as to what you're doing and, you know, that's what 25 you're up here debating process for. There has been a 84 1 recognition that it -- you know, accomplishing the 2 diversification of your housing stock is beneficial to 3 your local economy. You know, people might disagree as 4 to how you go about getting there. I will say that we 5 do have plenty in this agreement that says what they're 6 supposed to build. We have images. We have standards 7 of amenities, and they have to deliver you a no default 8 certificate every year before you're required under this 9 agreement to give them the incentive that is within the 10 document. And if they can't give you that certificate, 11 then you don't owe them anything. And so you do have an 12 agreement. 13 You're always going to be able to track back 14 to and they're going to have to tell you, yes, we've 15 done everything in here before we're entitled to 16 anything. So that's -- that's really the distinction 17 between where I started and where we ended up as to 18 providing that protection so that you do have control. 19 If you're in agreement with what's in this 20 document, then they have a requirement to deliver what's 21 in this document and then continue it, including 22 operationally, or they're not entitled to any incentive 23 return. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The only comment I'll 25 make is that going back to when this was first presented 85 1 or shortly thereafter, both the Superintendent of KISD, 2 James Avery Vice President, talked about the Ingram 3 superintendent, and Corey Edmundson, the hospital, they 4 all support this and think that there is a need for this 5 type of housing. And that's the main reason I support 6 it. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I think we need to 8 think about how many people make up a family. We've got 9 a lot of families with single parents that have children 10 that could use this housing. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? We have 13 a motion and a second to approve -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The agreement 15 with Bluewood Hillside Heights -- 16 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, the agreement with 17 Bluewood Hillside Estates, LP as presented. Any other 18 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? 19 COMMISSIONER PACES: Aye. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Aye. 21 JUDGE KELLY: It's a 3-2 vote. Thank you. 22 MR. BINFORD: Okay. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Motion carries. 24 Item 1.28 consider, discuss and take 25 appropriate action on hiring a consultant for the HR 86 1 salary survey. Miss Zapata. 2 MS. ZAPATA: Good morning. So we went out 3 and requested quotes from several different companies 4 and have reviewed some of them. Do you want me to 5 discuss them all or -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll just make a brief 7 comment. Rich and I met with Sylvia last week and had 8 some questions. And one of the -- we got three bids or 9 she got three bids. Quotes. One of them was -- 10 COMMISSIONER PACES: Two were under 50,000. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Two of them 12 were -- well, one of them was over -- whatever. We 13 threw that out right away. The other one said they 14 could -- it was over 50,000 and said they could work on 15 it to get it lower. And the other one was below 50,000, 16 like 36,000. And Sylvia went back and talked to the 17 two, the one that said they could get it below 50,000 18 and the one that was below 50,000. And one of them is 19 in Tampa, Florida. That was the one that got us to, 20 like, 48 or 49 thousand. The other one's out of San 21 Antonio. And then -- 22 JUDGE KELLY: For 36,000? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The 36,000 one. And 24 that's -- Commissioner Paces and Sylvia and I met this 25 morning briefly -- 87 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: 36 or 38 thousand? 2 MS. ZAPATA: 32. 32,750. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: 36,750. 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: 32. 32,000. 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: Oh 32. Sorry. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that company is kind 7 of the one that I think we're recommending. All three 8 of us agree that -- go with them. They're going to -- 9 if they focus, we're not looking at all the job 10 descriptions. It's very focused on looking at salaries. 11 And they're going to look at 10 to 12 different entities 12 and see how our salaries compare. We'll be able to pick 13 those entities. And then they're going to look at that 14 and then if we decide to go with a range system, it 15 covers making that transition. 16 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. We're getting 17 close. 18 COMMISSIONER PACES: I'll make a motion that 19 the Court award a contract to -- is it just Worthing or 20 what's the -- 21 MS. ZAPATA: Worthing Associates. 22 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- full company name? 23 MS. ZAPATA: Worthing Associates. 24 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. Award a contract 25 to them based on their bid of $32,750. It's what I 88 1 think we need to have additional funds in the budget 2 available if this scope broadens a little bit. So not 3 to exceed 40,000. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 6 accept the bid of Worthing & Associates for the salary 7 study as presented for $32,750 but not to exceed 40,000. 8 Right? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 10 JUDGE KELLY: So with that, is that a 11 motion? 12 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah, I made it. And he 13 seconded it. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I seconded it. And 15 also, you know thanks, Sylvia, for really, one, going 16 out and finding these three companies and talking with 17 them, interviewing them, and then getting them to answer 18 the questions that we came up with. So good job. Thank 19 you. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: Yeah. In a short 21 period of time. 22 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: And they turned 23 around. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: In a short period of 25 time. 89 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: Well don. 2 MS. ZAPATA: Time is of the essence. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Then those in favor say 4 aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 5 Item 1.29 consider, discuss and take 6 appropriate action on the renewal of the Texas 7 Association of Counties Risk Management Pool liability 8 insurance. Ms. Zapata. 9 MS. ZAPATA: So this is our annual renewal. 10 This is our general liability, public official 11 liability, so I just -- I'm asking the Court to accept 12 it. The only difference this year is the cyber security 13 is a stand-alone item now. So instead of being covered 14 under the public official liability, it's now its own 15 section in the policy. Probably be included in your -- 16 JUDGE KELLY: We worked that out with Mr. 17 Thoennis. 18 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 19 MS. ZAPATA: Yes. Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I'll move for 21 approval. 22 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 24 approve the renewal of the contract with TAC for 25 liability insurance as presented. Any discussion? 90 1 COMMISSIONER PACES: Just a question. So is 2 that cyber security policy for the one that's included 3 here, or is that -- you're still working on that one? 4 MS. ZAPATA: No, it's included in here. 5 COMMISSIONER PACES: Okay. I saw one that 6 kind of was, it just wasn't as clear. I thought it 7 might be but -- 8 MS. ZAPATA: It's included in here. 9 COMMISSIONER PACES: -- it mentions it a 10 little bit. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So with that, those in 12 favor say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. 13 Okay. Moving on to the approval agenda. 14 Item 2.1 budget amendments. 15 MRS. JOHNSON: Good morning. You have 16 before you a list of ten budget adjustments. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move to approve the 18 budget amendments as presented. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 20 JUDGE KELLY: We have a motion and a second 21 to approve the budget amendments as presented. Any 22 discussion? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not as many as usual for 24 this late in the year. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Late in the year. 91 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We must have done a 2 better job budgeting. 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Oh, don't go that far, 4 man. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Those in favor say aye. 6 Opposed? Motion carries. 7 Item 2.2 pay bills. 8 MRS. JOHNSON: Invoices today for 9 consideration in the amount of $1,608,617.78. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 11 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 12 JUDGE KELLY: We got a motion and a second 13 to approve paying the bills as presented. Any 14 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion 15 carries. 16 Item 2.3 late bills. 17 MRS. JOHNSON: Yes. There are a total of 18 $73,421.35. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 20 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 22 approve the late bills as presented. Any discussion? 23 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 24 2.4. Auditor reports. 25 MRS. JOHNSON: Accept the reports of the 92 1 Animal Services. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move to accept. 3 COMMISSIONER PACES: Second. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 5 accept the Auditor report as presented. Those in favor 6 say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 7 Item 2.5 monthly reports. 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. For April 2024. 9 County Clerk's office, County Clerk, Nadene Alford. May 10 2024, County Clerk's office, County Clerk, Nadene 11 Alford. June 2024, County Clerk's office, County Clerk, 12 Nadene Alford. July 2024, County Clerk's office, County 13 Clerk, Nadene Alford. August 2024, County Clerk's 14 office, County Clerk, Nadene Alford. Environmental 15 Health and Animal Services, Director, Reagan Givens. 16 And District Clerk, Dawn Lantz. I move for approval. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 19 approve the monthly reports as presented. Any 20 discussion? Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion 21 carries. 22 2.6. Court orders. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. We have our Court 24 orders from September 13th 40833 through 40868. And 25 also from our meeting on September 16th. I don't have 93 1 those numbers. There's three of them, I believe. 2 Anyway, move for approval. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 5 approve the court orders as presented. Any discussion? 6 Those in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 7 Moving on to information agenda 3.1 status 8 reports from department heads. Mr. Thoennis. 9 MR. THOENNES: Yes. Well, hello once again. 10 I'd like to take a moment just to give a quarterly 11 snapshot of what my department has done since I got 12 hired. As you'll see there on the screen, our -- the 13 number of the different projects that our department has 14 been involved with so far as this year. And many of 15 those are actually going to bleed over into the next 16 year. 17 So first off, I'd like to point out all the 18 hard work and dedication that my IT team has been doing. 19 They work tirelessly which shows availability and 20 security of our County network. Their dedication and 21 can-do attitude is what makes my job successful. 22 I'd like to update the Court and all the 23 County personnel of what has been accomplished or 24 initiated since my arrival two months ago. Jumping into 25 the tail end of the budget cycle was certainly a 94 1 learning experience for me. There's a lot of back and 2 forth and a ton of questions for the County Auditor and 3 her team. I believe I set up my department with a 4 five-year budget plan that will be progressive to allow 5 for a full, continuous modernization plan moving 6 forward. My intent is to implement a five-year rotation 7 plan for all of our systems and our equipment. I'd like 8 to make it a three-year plan. I just don't have the 9 manpower. 10 Along with that, I've had several good 11 discussions with many of the different department heads 12 and officials about standardization and compatibility 13 concerns. It's my focus to have each of the department 14 heads define a standard configuration for their 15 department. They know more about what they need than I 16 do. 17 Having said that, we also need to work 18 together to ensure the standardization and compatibility 19 of our equipment throughout the County is maintained and 20 achieved. Through collaboration efforts between 21 department heads and the IT department, we can see that 22 a status will ensure a seamless continuity of operations 23 moving forward. We would like to define these 24 requirements and provide the required support throughout 25 the County. 95 1 Now, for the more visible changes coming 2 soon. Cyber security, it's always at the front of the 3 IT department concerns. Cyber threats are always in the 4 news and our County is not isolated from these threats. 5 The most vulnerable element to any cyber network is the 6 human in the loop. It is the easiest factor to overcome 7 and for the bad actors to gain access to our network. 8 We are taking the steps needed to ensure to help improve 9 our resistance to these threats. 10 Two of the measures that will be implemented 11 in the coming weeks are the advance cyber training that 12 we had discussed earlier, along with multi-factor 13 authentication. Most people are already familiar with 14 MFA in their daily life, whether it be through banking 15 accounts, health records or what have you. MFA will not 16 be implemented here within the County at the system 17 level. Meaning wherever you -- whenever you log into 18 your work station, whether it be locally or by a remote 19 VPN, you'll need to authenticate that it is actually you 20 logging into your system. What that actually looks like 21 yet is still under final development. And that may be 22 either an app on your phone or a physical token that 23 you'll be carrying along with you. Those two will be 24 the most visible for the majority in the County. 25 The IT team is working diligently to upgrade 96 1 and modernize and secure our network availability, 2 operations and survivability. We're actively working on 3 completely redesigning our active directory network, 4 which is the baseline protocol to give each user the 5 correct rights, roles and responsibilities to 6 effectively do their job. 7 This is a six-month process which involves a 8 deep dive into our current structures, relationships and 9 policies, and identifies the outdated items, create and 10 migrate to a new domain. Most of this happens behind 11 the scenes until the very end of the migration, at which 12 time a simple restart can hopefully implement these 13 policies. 14 In addition to the active directory project, 15 we are working through years of current and old data 16 files to ensure records availability. We are in the 17 process of backing up all of the County files to a 18 central secure location. This is also -- this location 19 is also being backed up into what's called a Fort Knox 20 solution, essentially provides an off-site secure 21 storage location for all County vital records. 22 Along with this, we are installing new 23 equipment throughout the County to ensure security, 24 survivability and availability. Without getting into 25 too many specific details, new servers and fire walls 97 1 are being deployed throughout the County at their 2 respective locations. 3 And finally, our office remodel is almost 4 complete. We are waiting for power to be installed and 5 we will be moving forward. 6 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: All right. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Awesome. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Well, let me comment, Cory. 9 MR. THOENNES: Yes, sir. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you for that. Those on 11 the Court that have been on the Court for awhile 12 remember years ago, we used to get regular status 13 reports from departments. We would call on departments 14 in rotation and get a status report. We've done away 15 with that. I appreciate your initiative to do this and 16 to come tell us this. These are things that are 17 important for us to know and be kept in the loop. 18 Those of you that may be working may know 19 some of these things already but for the entire Court, 20 because of the Open Meetings Act, we really need to hear 21 it from, pardon the expression, the horse's mouth. And 22 for those department heads that are watching on YouTube, 23 I would encourage you to take a look at what Cory has 24 done here and consider, do you have anything to come 25 report to the Court that you think we ought to know? 98 1 You know your departments better than we do. And if 2 there are things that we need to know, we're relying on 3 you to tell us. And so I would encourage people to take 4 this, take initiative like Mr. Thoennis has, and come 5 talk to us and let us know what's going on. Thank you. 6 MR. THOENNES: As you can see here, we've 7 got 18 different job titles, I guess you could say. 8 Each one of them are multi -- broken out into multi 9 steps. Probably the most highlighted line item on there 10 that Miss Overby commented on earlier is down there at 11 the bottom, the case management solution that we are 12 working together on a team with the Sheriff's 13 Department, the PD, and the District Attorney's Office 14 and the County Attorneys. That project will bleed over 15 into the next calendar year. But the team so far that 16 we have put together has been making great progress in 17 finding a viable solution for all parties. 18 JUDGE KELLY: And we need to know that. 19 MR. THOENNES: Yes, sir. 20 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Yeah. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Thanks for coming. 22 Okay. Any other department heads? 23 We'll move on to 3.2 status reports from 24 elected officials. There's only a few of us in the room 25 so take a quick look. 99 1 And then we'll move on to Item 3.3 status 2 reports from Liaison Commissioners. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have one. I know that 4 Peter Lewis is visiting with JK Bernhard on the Animal 5 Control facility. Looking at areas for cost savings. 6 Once they have a plan, I've asked Commissioner-Elect 7 Holt to join me. He's to continue as liaison for Animal 8 Control after the first of the year. So I've asked him 9 to attend those meetings as we're going through the 10 discussions so he's up to speed on that before it comes 11 back to Court and moving to the New Year and 12 construction phase. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Anything else? 14 Well, I would add one thing, and that is if 15 you turn to the last sheet of the agenda, we have our 16 liaison appointments. And I'm certainly talking to our 17 commissioners elect. We're going to have a turnover at 18 the first of the year. And we're going to have to 19 juggle some of these liaison assignments. So I want to 20 encourage everybody, including the department heads and 21 the offices that are supervised, or at least overseen by 22 these -- not supervised, but overseen by these liaisons, 23 to offer input into who's interested in what. 24 And personally, I'd like to hear it from the 25 department heads, as well as from the Commissioners and 100 1 commissioners elect. And whether or not there's other 2 things that we oughta put on the list to liaise. And 3 it's an important function of what we do in order for us 4 to manage the 350 employees that we have over our 1000 5 square miles of the County. Quite a daunting task. But 6 just to look that over so that we can be prepared to 7 make these assignments and everything as we get closer 8 to the end of the year. 9 So with that, there being no further 10 business, Court is adjourned. 11 * * * * * * 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 101 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 7th day of October, 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